Players in Attendance: Chris Rocco (Pendrynn Hamut), Jason Jurisch (Froimos), Dustin Haugen (Barack Tenderfoot), Jason Alway, (Kurok Stonehammer),Greg Sallee (Davros)

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Recap: The Dragonslayers, after having wiped out a village of Bullywugs and lost their horses to the swirling toxic vapors of the Mist Fens, redoubled their efforts and discovered the wandering island of the Marsh Wizard. Careful scouting identified a Forgeworks in one of the island’s shallow valleys, with the sounds of hammers on metal and the red glow of the massive central forge lighting up the night sky. Bypassing the factory, the party moved further up the island’s central hill, when a rare strong wind cleared the mists away to reveal a moss and vine covered  stone fortress crowning the hill.  After fruitless searching for access from the basement, our adventurers pulled out their grappling hook and decided the best plan of attack was from above. As our party soon discovered, attacking a wizard’s fortress is not a simple task.

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A slim robed figure hunches over a mountain of plate steel illuminated by the dim blue light, “Averast, hand me those tongs, and that cog as well.” The marsh wizard’s assistant dutifully follows his masters orders, searching out the requested items from the laboratory table piled high with metallic parts, bubbling alembics and hastily scrawled blueprints. “hopefully this will fix up that nasty clicking problem with the right arm.” Closing the access panel on the massive armored figure, Balthazar Grandy, steps up to the large stone altar rising from the center of  circle of burning tapers, standing before an ancient stone arch. Atop the altar is a crumpled humanoid form, completely covered by an unnaturally shimmering cloth. Sliding the blanket off reveals an intricately detailed small golden box with several thin gold wires connecting it to the still warm and well preserved corpse. “It looks like the transfer is complete, tis time to see how well those combat abilities have meshed.” Gently disconnecting the golden tendrils from the remains, Balthazar walked it across the room to the hulking form of his ultimate creation. “I’ve waited for this day for quite some time, the master will be pleased to know that his army will be stronger than even I had believed possible.”

A silver bell on the heavily laden table began to chime a series of short rings, someone had triggered the alarm from the throne room above!

“You”, the marsh wizard directed one of his three metal mastiffs, “summon my troops from the forgeworks, tell the commander to activate all reserves and send them immediately!” The iron dog bounded away, disappearing down the spiraling stone staircase. “Averast! Activate the red portal, I’ll be needing you to complete a critical mission for your master. I’m going to give you an important treasure that you must immediately bring to the tower of flames, K’raggargh will know what needs be done with it.” The marsh wizard flexed his thin bronze fingers fingers and pushed against his temple, activating the hidden latch. With a barely imperceptible click, a small rectangular cover slid aside revealing the interior of his bronze skull. Small golden gears, counterweights, and a tangled web of fine wire surrounded the four golden squares located directly in the center of the Marsh Wizard’s right temple. “Ahhh..wha?” the wizard muttered as he pressed down on one of the squares; it silently elongated and slid out into Balthazar’s hand revealing it to be a slender rectangular rod of gold inscribed with spidery magical runes. MEMORIES. “I’ll need you… uh.. short one, to bring this to.. bah, what was I going to do..” Averast grabbed the rod, “I am aware of my orders master, you must prepare for battle, the fortress is being being attacked!”

The Marsh wizard closed the access port in his skull protecting the three remaining rods labeled ABILITIES, PERSONALITY and COMPULSION. As Averast bolted for the stone arch, he stopped to withdraw a small red crystal from a velvet bag hanging from the arch. Placing it into an identically shaped depression on the arch, a shimmering red curtain of energy snapped into place with a loud “CRACK!” Averast stepped into it and disappeared. The marsh wizard reached into one of his many pouches and pulled out a small bronze globe, giving it a twist, he tossed it into the stairwell, where an expanding ball of darkness began to form, sucking up all light that touched it’s surface.

“Having a few problems are we?” a deep voice asked from the heavy iron cage in the corner of the room. The dark skinned and heavily muscled orc questioned from within his prison, “It sounds as if your bill is due wizard! Free me and I promise not to kill you in revenge for your dark deeds against my people!”

Ignoring the trapped orc warlord, the marsh wizard drew his wand from his belt and moved over to begin the incantations to wake his inactive bodyguard.

~~~

Day 10 – Midnight, Iounsday, the 22nd of Tyden – On the top floor of the Fortress of Mists

Fourth Floor – Throne Room and Balcony

“The open top floor of the Mist Fortress is buffeted by brisk winds, driving away the wispy vapors of the fens. A curved and crenelated balcony extends out from  the covered throne room; the blue light of the sconces and the flickering firelight thrown from the large stone braziers combine to cast odd hues of light about this empty room. A pair of large ornate looking rugs and intricately crafted statues balance out each side of the room. A large stone throne sits directly across from the circular staircase descending to a lower floor.”

• The party finishes off the Resounder and Champion in the fortress throne room.
• Lifting one of the rugs, a pressure plate trigger can be easily identified, this must be what triggered the animation of the Metal Men.
• The magically inclined members of the party sensed a large buildup of dark energy coming from nearby and slightly below their current position.
• Poe, from his position in the rear of the party, noticed that the hammering sound of the forge had stopped. Looking in the direction of the Forgeworks, approaching lights and the sound of heavy tromping gave warning to the group that the Metal Men are on the move  towards the Fortress. Using the spyglass situated here, the group could see that these forces were comprised of a large host of heavily armored Hammerers, Launchers, Arbalesters and are and led by an imposingly ornamented commander.
• Sounds of movement could be heard from down the spiral stairwell.
• Barack sneakily descended to scout out the next floor.

Third Floor – Living Quarters, Study, Guest Quarters

“The staircase opens to a well lit sitting room. Four large statues guard the corners of the room, illuminated by the same sconces filled with glowing blue pebbles providing full illumination for the room. A large circular rug covers the center of the room, along with a couch and several dusty chairs facing a table littered with a handful of scattered papers. A large set of double doors are located on the west wall, and two smaller separated doors on the east wall.”

• Barack sneaks into the room, being especially wary of the statues and the rug. The rest of the party descends the staircase once Barack indicates the coast is clear.
• After many a wary glance at the statues, the party can see that they’re not inanimate metal men like the statues in the throne room, they’re actually solid iron cast statues without any articulation or ornamentation. (Thus unlikely to spring to life anytime in the near future.)
• Searching the first door on the east wall, Barack found a darkened guest bedroom with a large amount of cobwebs. “The pebbles in these sconces are either completely extinguished, or are barely radiating the faintest of blue light. There is a bureau littered with parchments bearing letters of an unidentifiable and slightly wicked looking script, as well as bed that is completely free of linens and blanketed only by a fine lattice of cobwebs.”
• Moving to the adjacent room, “The door opens up to a dimly lit library with the walls almost completely covered with dusty wooden shelves that are sparsely populated with dusty tomes. In the middle of the room, several chairs are arranged around a table that is topped with several scrolls, as well as what seems to be a deck of cards.
• Master Bedroom – “Opening the doors to the master bedroom, you see a large bed, made up and slightly dusty. Flanking the bed are two short nightstands. A rug adorns the floor in front of the doorway, a cozy sitting area with two chairs in a table are tucked away into a corner of the room. A steel banded chest, and a heavily constructed sturdy dresser round out the furniture in the room.”

• Barack discovers a pressure plate under the rug and avoids the trigger, but ends up activating a whirling blades trap as he attempts to pry open the chest, which is actually the trap in pre-triggered disguise. The party launches themselves into the fray to rescue their threatened brother.
• While trying to disarm the trams (while it actively attacks him!) Barack disconnected a hose that actually sped up the blade mechanism, the whirling blades moving so fast as to become a mere blur. Axe blows, hammer smashes, and arcs of eldritch energy from the Dragonslayers reduced the intricately constructed machines into a pile of cogs, gears, pulleys and sharp metal bits embedded in the walls of the room as the machines literally ripped themselves apart under the violent assault. 
• Loot: Deck of Cards, Local Area Map, Potion, Gold.
  
• Experience for “disarming” the whirling blades trap – 67 XP (Players not present receive half experience)
• A wall of blackness occupies the stairwell halfway down to the next floor. After investigating it for a while, it seems to be convex, as if it were spherically shaped. It isn’t solid, and simply consumes any light inside it, resulting in a pure pitch black.
• Barack scouts ahead again. Steps into the wall of darkness, and promptly all lights are snuffed out, as if he went blind. Barack had to feel his way down the staircase, being careful not to trip.

Second Floor – Portal, Lab and Library

“Stepping out of the pitch black, the bright lights of the laboratory assailed Barack’s eyes, raising tears of pain. Sweeping his eyes across the expanse of the room, Barack saw two doors on the east side, bookshelves, a laboratory table, a large stone arch decorated with mystical symbols, and standing before it, an altar with an unmoving body on top of it, encircled by a ritual ring. In the southwest corner of the room, a large orc looks to be trapped in a cage, to the northwest, a large mirror stands in the corner. Standing before him was a massively powerful looking metal man, four times his height, covered in heavy plating and thick steel cables. The rogue had barely enough time to duck under the gigantic double bladed war axe that whooshed loudly through the space occupied by his head not seconds before.”

• Combat with the Marsh Wizard, his Juggernaut bodyguard, Iron Defenders and the repeater crossbow turret.
• The marsh wizard taunted “Defeat me if you will, I have prepared the means for my master’s army, my work is complete!”
• The battle started with Barack tumbling through the room to engage the marsh wizard directly.
• As Pendrynn attempted to follow the agile halfling, the massive metal juggernaut smashed him full in the center of his reinforced breastplate sending him careening back into the darkness of the stairwell.
• Froimos followed soon after, shouting encouraging words and pointing out the weak spots on enemies.
• Kailithe steered a searing ball of flame about the room, toasting the automatic crossbow turret that had been peppering the party, unfortunately, his focus on maneuvering his ball of fire led him distractedly into the path of the juggernaut, who quickly pounded the wizard into unconsciousness.
• Kurok stepped in to strike many decisive blows against the juggernaut after manhandling (er, dwarfhandling?) it about the room. After becoming bloodied by the warriors relentless assault, the thick cables attached to the juggernaut disconnected from his body with a torrent of hissing steam.
• Through the obscuring mist, the party saw 4 metallic snakes emerge to join the fray. Pendrynn, recovering from the powerful blow he received rushed back into the battle, destroying several of the jugger-snakes in a din of radiant light. Seeing that the rogue was best upon by many foes, he taunted away the fire elemental soldier that was attacking the trapped Barack.
• Surrounded by the hissing metallic snakes, Froimos did his best to fend off the snapping jaws, but was unable to keep up with the quickly darting enemies. Soon enough he felt a painful sting on the back of his leg, where one of the snakes had buried it’s fangs in the meat of his thigh. A hot painful warmth began to spread from the site, a sure indication of a poisonous bite.
• Davros blasted away at the Iron Defenders and landed a massive vampiric embrace against the Marsh Wizard, bolstering his self-confidence and his stamina. After dodging the juggernaut bodyguard’s stone shattering blows, the rogue tumbled across the room to decisively shut down the Marsh Wizards offense, despite being trapped in a cage of lightning for a short period of time.
• Poe dashes around the roomy, bringing Kailithe and Froimos back from the brink of death through prayers to the Raven Queen while while fending off incoming crossbow bolts and the long reach of the marsh wizards bodyguards.
• The marsh wizard’s body popped up again later in the battle after a lengthy period of self repair, only to be blasted into submission yet again.
• Combat Experience for Fighting the Fortress of Mist Defenders (The Throne Room and the Laboratory) – 550 XP (Players not present receive half experience)
• After the battle the fire on the laboratory table was put out and the room was thoroughly looted. Loot: Polyglot Gem, Nail of Sealing, Magical Blanket, Goggles, Adamantine and Mithril Rods, Spellbook and Ritual Scroll and the personal belongings of the ex-Marsh Wizard, pouch of crystals hanging from the arch (including black, red, green and blue shards)
  
• The party spoke to the trapped orc in the corner who threatened them harm if he wasn’t released. Stone Bear indicated he was a member of the tribes of the south and when questioned as to his people’s motives against the town of Blackfield, he simply indicated that his tribe only wanted to stay on their land and reclaim that which was taken from them. The party left him in his cage.
  

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