-- In Progress --
The Towers
Copyright (C) 1997 by Charles Tryon
17: The Second Tower
Timing is important and it appears that you have planned well. Sucaba and Red's initial spells go off as planned. Those of you inside the tower hear sudden cries and shouts that sound surprised as the creatures react to what they see. One of the creatures at the door motions to the ones behind him and barks out a command. Two of them grab the mounts and charge out followed by two more on foot and then the one that ordered them. The remaining two from the middle of the room join the one at the doorway, watching outside. The six guarding the stairs remain at their posts, watching the doorway. As Horton see the first creatures emerging, he bugles his challenge and swoops over the fighters heads flying directly at the creatures on the mounts. From about 40' away he opens his mouth and a black stream of acid jets out and catches both creatures and mounts full force. Several screams of agony are heard as the creatures melt into a bloody mass. One of the fish- creatures drags himself from the steaming mass, and staggers to its feet.Inside, all is going as planned. Sucaba and Laurel cast their sleep spells, Sucaba takes out all three at the door while Laurel takes out the first two guarding the stairs. As Sucaba moves towards those at the doorway, Laurel leaps over the two fallen creatures at the base of the stairs and heads up to take on the next two. From the look on the creatures faces, they are obviously confused and start shouting, looking up at the trap door in the ceiling. They don't appear to see Laurel coming and she scores an excellent hit with her long sword in the middle of one creatures back. Unfortunately it collapses and falls off the stairs with her sword still buried deeply in it. She quickly pulls out her knife and engages the other one on this landing. Up above the last two creatures start pounding on the trapdoor in the ceiling, shouting. Outside Coyle and GreyEagle rush to block the doorway, trapping the last creatures outside. Ormec also joins in the battle, from the other side of the creatures, making sure there is no retreat. GreyEagle quickly strikes the first blow, and draws blood. One of the creatures lunges at Coyle and lands a glancing blow, drawing blood. Ormec delivers a blow with his battle axe, but it doesn't penetrate the creature's chain mail. It seems angered by it's injury and breathes a jet of fire at Ormec, surprising him. It catches him in the face and he staggers back, beating out the flames in his beard. The third creature, slightly bigger than the other two, delivers a blow to GreyEagle, who deftly twists aside and it strikes armor, leaving a slight dent. Coyle also draws blood with his weapon, landing a solid blow. GreyEagle quickly lands another blow, striking her opponent for a second time. Ormec also swings again, and this time he is not denied. His battle axe bits deeply into the creature's leg and it cries out in pain, before falling to the ground. On the roof, hearing the battle start, Red weaves his magic spell and the trap door swings open. Below is one room about 10' in height, with five more creatures. These are particularly tough looking creatures, and towards the other side of the room, you can see what appears to be a couple of humans tied up and lying on the floor. GreyEagle fights on fiercely now, her sword blazing brightly to match her eyes, and a deep throaty cry breaking out over the shouts of the fish-creatures... GreyEagle strikes out at the creature in front of her, but her sword is deflected by it armor. The creature breathes fire at her, but having seen the other creature do this, she is not surprised and is able to dodge most of it. The creature battling Coyle lashes out with its pike, but this time is denied. Coyle returns it's blow with one of his own, and falls his opponent. Ormec trades blows with his new opponent, neither one drawing blood. Coyle turns his attention to the creature that just breathed at GreyEagle and lands a solid blow, and it topples to the ground. Horton swoops by and catches the staggering, burned creature up in his claws. He lets go a moment later, letting the creature plummet to its death far below. Meanwhile, Marianne pokes her head in the door to check up on the mages inside. After a moment she withdraws her head and says, "they're going to need help in there pretty quickly, should I go?" Coyle gives Ormec a quick look. "Go ahead," Ormec shouts, "I'll be joining you in no time." Coyle nods and looks to GreyEagle, "let's go help out inside. Marianne stay here, I don't want to leave anyone alone." With that he charges through the door. GreyEagle gives a quick scan around to check for any unforeseen changes (in particular checking the skies [remember she has her "eyes']), and to see how the web on the trapdoor is holding, and then follows Coyle inside. The windows are 2' high by 1' wide. There is no door on the first level into the tower. The walls are made of thick stone and the two trapdoors are heavy wood reinforced by metal banding. They can be bolted, with pretty heavy bolts, locking off the second floor from both the roof and the first floor. This structure looks like it could withstand quite a bit! Basically the mages are in hand-to-spell combat and not happy about it. Coyle will move in front of the mages to engage the creatures. Laurel will also fight the creatures, you do notice she is singed a bit, but otherwise appears unharmed. Your scan outside shows nothing new, the web is still in place and the only thing you see in the skies is Horton! We are in better shape than I had hoped for. GreyEagle will move up to join with Coyle. Given a choice, she will back up the no-longer-silent one. She doesn't want to see Sucaba killed, but she has put up with enough of his boasting that she wants to see how he will do on his own. Then again, Red has shown he knows how to handle a sword pretty well himself, so she will help out Trouble or Sucaba if they look like they are in real trouble. It is Laurel, Trouble, and Sucaba inside! The trapdoor is still closed, there are two creatures at the top of the stairs near it, and two more charging down towards Trouble at the base of the stairs. Sucaba looks as if he has just dispatched a creature with the dagger he is holding, Trouble is aiming a wand at those charging down the stairs, and Laurel is retrieving her long sword, which is stuck in the back one a creature lying on the floor. I'm going to have you shoot at the creatures near the top of the stairs, while Coyle runs over to join Trouble, and give him someone to hide behind! Good. Any decorations or marks of rank? If any on the stairs show marks of rank (or obvious MU attire), she'll take shots at these first. Trouble looks up the stairs at the two creatures charging at him and points a wand in their direction. At the same time, Coyle and GreyEagle come charging through the door to assist. Laurel retrieves her long sword and races over to join Trouble, as does Coyle. GreyEagle takes in the situation for barely a moment and then draws her bow. A sudden flash of brilliant, green-white light, with blazing golden rays erupts in a globe enveloping both the two creatures charging down that stairs as well as the two still standing at the top. The light blinds everyone for a moment, then you hear a scream as one of the creatures falls off the stairs. It lands just behind Laurel who shakes her head and moves to strike it. It's companion is huddled against the wall and rubbing its eyes. Suddenly it breaks out into uncontrollable fits of laughter. Coyle is also rubbing his eyes and has stopped moving, unable to see. One of the two creatures at the top is also shaking it's head, but the other, deciding the door isn't going to open, heads down the stairs, showing no signs of blindness. GreyEagle and Sucaba, who weren't actually looking up at the time the light flashed, continue their actions. Laurel brings her sword to bear on the creature in front of her and slashes its neck. With a gurgling cry, it stops moving and lies still. Trouble notices Coyle for the first time, and moves over to him. "Sorry about that, I didn't know you were there. You'll be able to see in a minute." GreyEagle, who was reaching for her bow, changes her mind and heads over to meet the creature descending the stairs from the top. It kicks the one huddled against the wall laughing in disgust as it passes. Laurel comes over to join GreyEagle at the bottom of the stairs. The creature gets close to the bottom of the stairs and then leaps at the two women, attempting to knock them over. GreyEagle quickly brings her short sword up and slashes at the creature, making a small cut on it's leg. It slashes viciously back at GreyEagle and opens a wound on her leg. GreyEagle hisses in pain, but fights on... Laurel stabs at it with her long sword, but it deflects off the creature's armor. GreyEagle makes another stab at the creature, but this time her sword doesn't penetrate. Coyle now joins in the battle, being able to see well enough to determine the difference between the fish-creatures and humans. The creature at the top of the stairs can also see well enough to head down the stairs, grabbing hold of the one still cowering and laughing against the wall and pushing it ahead of him. GreyEagle again strikes out with her blazing short sword, and delivers another blow to the creature. Coyle also delivers a blow, and the creature falls to the floor, oozing blood from it's many wounds. Coyle grabs hold of GreyEagle's arm to steady her. Besides the blow to her leg, she is singed a bit, evidently a victim of one of the creature's fire breath. "Maybe you'd better find Marianne and let us handle these last two creatures. That wound looks bad." At the very least he will put himself between GreyEagle and the stairs. GreyEagle protests, but it seems that Coyle is not about to take "no" for an answer, so she backs up... Sucaba, who has been casing spells from the back of the room, continues his concentration, and suddenly the creature that is not laughing yelps and stumbles a bit. It waves its sword around a bit, trying to figure out what's going on. The other, who is finally recovering from it laughing fit starts a bit reluctantly down the stairs to confront the fighters waiting at the bottom. Suddenly it stumbles too, and losing its balance, tumbles the rest of the way down the stairs, to land in a heap at Laurel's feet. She takes advantage of the situation and with a quick cut of her sword, makes sure that the creature will not get back up. It is getting very slippery here at the base of the stairs and footing is becoming a problem. There is a great deal of blood covering the floor, fortunately most of it belongs to the creatures. The last creature looks about, and then leaps down off the stairs and charges towards Sucaba. It lets out a blood-curdling scream as it raises it's long sword to strike him. It is not quick enough however, as Coyle intercepts it before it can get that far. A knife buries itself in the back of the creatures neck, as Laurel contributes to the effort. Coyle strikes first, and barely manages to penetrate the creatures armor, drawing blood. Enraged, the creature swings back at him and opens a cut on his arm. Grimly Coyle swings again, but his blow is deflected by armor. At this point Marianne pokes her head in and then comes all the way in, looking around to see who is in need first. Coyle trades blows with the creature again, both scoring hits, but Coyle's is the telling blow and the creature falls to the floor and moves no more. Sucaba looks up the stairs. "That looks like all of them," he says with conviction. "The door to the upper level must open from above, as these cowards had no luck getting through themselves." The gash you saw Sucaba take from one of the fish creatures is no longer evident, though his robe is still torn where he took the blow. "I'm heading outside," Sucaba says as he heads out the door. "Where do you want us to go?" she calls after him. "Is there any way to help out those on the roof, or should we wait until someone opens the trapdoor?" The mage made no reply as he swept out the door. Trouble turns to Laurel and offers her the group Healing potion he carries. He tries to be jovial: "Boy do they have bad breath!" Laurel a bit weakly at Trouble's humor, and shakes her head at his offer of the potion. "Thanks, but I am not that badly hurt. We have a couple of minutes to catch our breath, I'll see if Marianne can fix me up. Save that for a more dire situation." Laurel smiles at Trouble and then heads over to where Marianne is tending to GreyEagle's wounds. At Laurel's request, Marianne nods and lays her hands on her for a moment. Laurel breaths a sigh of relief and thanks Marianne. GreyEagle gives her a pained look, and limps in her direction. Since GreyEagle looks worse than Laurel, Marianne will move over to her first and use her healing powers. GreyEagle pauses for a moment while Marianne . She suddenly gives a surprised sputter, but the nasty wound on her leg stops bleeding and looks a lot less ragged! It is strangely quiet at the moment, you don't even hear sounds of battle from outside. Just as Sucaba is headed out the door, Ormec heads in with a satisfied look on his face. "All finished out there, what's next?" She looked to the others. "Where to now? We do not have a way to get up on the roof. Does someone know how to get through the door?" Sucaba re-enters the tower just as GreyEagle finished her sentence. "Stalemate up on the roof," he scowled. "The creatures inside are guarding the entrance, so our men can't get in without being killed. Laurel, Trouble, any magic to flush them out?" Laurel thinks for a second, "if we had some way of creating a breeze in there, I could use my spell to make them light as air. If they can't keep on their feet, it'll be tough for them to fight. But we have to have at least a small breeze for the spell to work. Maybe Horton could flap his wings near the trapdoor and then I could cast my spell. I don't know how well this would work, but if they're floating around the room, maybe all we'd have to do is grab them and toss them out the trapdoor." Sucaba shakes his head. "Horton can't do that. The best he can do it fly by. Any other ideas?" Coyle smiles at the idea of tossing the creatures around. "Perhaps you could take a couple of us up to the roof with you and leave a couple to guard this door. Once Laurel has cast her spell, I would be willing to lead the assault inside. I'm sure Ormec could hold things down here with a little backup." Trouble inquires: "Do you mean the creatures are waiting inside with the trap door open, but ready to slash anyone who drops in? If so, I ought to be able to ride by on Horton and zap a Sunburst in there, blinding them for a minute so that our people can get in." Sucaba's eyes flash toward Trouble. "Yes. That could work." "Did you get any idea how many creatures were there?" "I don't know, Conrad yelled down to me. I didn't catch it all. Shall we put this into action? You folks stay in here and make sure they don't come this way. I'll go out with Trouble and guide Horton as he rides and shoots." Coyle nods his head, but looks thoughtful, "shouldn't you take one of us more experience fighters as well. You could maybe drop one of us off, I am not too sure of Rex's or Conrad's ability to lead a frontal attack, without putting their lives in a lot more danger." Sucaba glares at Coyle as he stops Sucaba from leaving the room. "Then what good are they?!", he says brusquely. "Damn it." Coyle opens his mouth and seems about to say something, then shuts it and shrugs. "As I said before, I will volunteer to lead the foray into the tower once you indicate it is time. Or perhaps Red could provide a lift up for one or two of us if his potion is still in effect, I think Horton said it would last a long time." "Maybe they'll be able to open the door and you can get in from here," Trouble suggested. "We need to get in from this side." Sucaba fumed. "Can you break the door in?" he asked, indicating Coyle and the dwarf. "That should get their attention away from the roof." Coyle looks doubtful but says, "we can try anyway. That may prove enough of a distraction in itself." GreyEagle bit her lip for a moment and then continued. "I have a potion which MAY help. I was trying to save it for an emergency, but this may be the time." She looks at the door above them. "I have a potion which will give me the strength of a Hill Giant for a short time. Do you think I would be able to break through the door above? It would certainly surprise them!" "OK. Let do it!", Sucaba barks. He motions for the fighters to move ahead and deal with the door. "I will apply magic force to the door first, then signal you to break it down. Trouble will cast a spell at the same time. GreyEagle quickly pulls out her potion and then starts up the stairs, ready for Sucaba's signal. As GreyEagle heads up the stairs, she looks down and sees both mages preparing spells. At this she suddenly stops, afraid to get TOO close to where they might be aiming. "Do we need the potion?" she asks, looking back at Coyle, "Or will the mages weaken the door with their spells to the point where we can just break through?" Coyle shrugs, "let them work their magic and we'll try. If we are unsuccessful, then use your potion. I'm sure with all the noise the other creatures were making pounding on the door, that the noise we will make will hardly matter." Coyle and Ormec take the lead up the stairs, with GreyEagle and Laurel right behind them. Marianne follows them, with Sucaba and Trouble trailing behind her. Sucaba stops about halfway up and concentrates. You don't see any apparent effect from his magical effort, but he directs Coyle and Ormec to give it a try. Ormec takes a higher position, and then he and Coyle give the door a shove. Nothing happens, and they try again. The door appears to be quite solid and it seems unlikely they will succeed. Just then you hear a sound like a bolt sliding. Ormec reaches up and easily pushes the door open, and scrambles up. He is quickly followed by Coyle, GreyEagle, and then Laurel. Marianne glances back at the two mages for a moment to see if they are following. Sucaba waves her up as he and Trouble follow far enough to get a look in. As you enter the upper level you can see five fish-creatures across the room. One is wearing a headdress and is wielding a mace that is glowing a dull red. Beside him is the largest of the creatures, a fearsome looking creature, snarling and holding a pike at ready. In front of them are three others, one of which is wounded, all of whom are larger than your average fish-creature. They are all wielding battle-axes, and all of the creatures are wearing chainmail. In addition to those five, there is another creature lying on the floor apparently dead. As the group from the lower level enter, they can see Conrad and Rex crouched behind a couple of large boxes. There are several boxes, open and empty, scattered around the room which seems to be decorated as a temple of some sort, to a god of fire. It is extremely warm in here, the floor itself seems to be hot. The prisoners are lying to one side, and it is quickly evident that they are dead, and have been for some time. They appear to have been partially burned, probably while alive judging from their expressions. Ormec doesn't hesitate, he heads directly over to do battle, Coyle moves up to stand at his side. GreyEagle and Laurel join them a moment later. marianne hangs back, and observing Rex's wound, moves to his side to offer her assistance. The mages, who had a hard time seeing around the others will be a round behind. BUT, before she does so, GreyEagle looks worried, and quickly downs a potion which she had been holding on to. "Watch out for the mace, watch out for the lance, watch out for the mace, watch out for the lance..." a (hopefully) familiar voice says from low on the floor to the first few folks through the trap door. Sucaba turns his head and tries to get a glimpse of who is behind the voice. Assuming all is most huge, he turns his attention to the creatures at the far wall, after a very fast scan of the room. "You finish them off," the disembodied voice called out. "I'll go check on the web." Sucaba stares for a moment and then tries to locate the creature's master. Ormec leads the way into battle. followed closely by Coyle and Laurel. GreyEagle hesitates for a second, then downs a potion she has at ready. As she does, her eyes open wide, and she lets out a howl as the liquid burns its way down her throat. Her eyes flash bright and her knuckles turn white as she clenches the hilt of her sword. With a throaty growl, she dives into the battle... Rex smiles as Marianne tends to his wounded shoulder, while Conrad takes advantage of the fighters advance to move off into the shadows. Sucaba looks about for Red, but doesn't seem to find him. As Ormec approaches, the largest of creatures breaths fire at him, enveloping him in a wave of flame. He swears loudly in dwarven and charges forward, only to erupt in a fiery burst of glowing, colored fireworks. The bright explosion blinds you for a few seconds, and the creatures press their attack. Laurel cries out as she is hit by the fire breath of another creature. She stops where she is and beats wildly at the flames, unable to see to put them out! Another one breaths at Ormec, relighting his beard, while a third breaths at Coyle, who ducks most of the effect. Curses are heard from the back of the room as the two mages rub their eyes and shake their heads. Ormec reacts with anger and bring his battle-ax down on the creature in front of him, drawing a cry of pain. Coyle also brings his weapon to bear, drawing blood from the creature he is facing. GreyEagle finishes her potion and rushes forward to intercept the creature harassing the blinded Laurel. Rex nods his thanks to Marianne and also springs forward to help. Marianne moves over to Laurel to get her out of harms way. Ormec swings his battle-ax again, but his blow lands harmlessly on the creature's chain mail. GreyEagle brings her short sword to bear with blinding speed and makes short work of the wounded creature that was after Laurel. With incredible strength she almost severs the creatures neck, and it falls lifelessly to the floor. The large creature with the pike takes a poke at Coyle and lands a blow. Coyle grimaces and fights on but he misses his first opponent badly. Rex takes on the creature wearing the headdress and lands a blow on its arm. It retaliates and lands a terrific blow on Rex's chest. The mace flashes red and you can smell seared flesh. Rex gives a howl of pain and stumbles back a step from the blow. Rex howls in pain and exclaims, "He only said `Watch out for the mace'... but no..." as he tries to regain his balance. Ormec and his creature trade blows, neither doing any damage. Suddenly from somewhere above, 2 glowing missiles appear and streak across the room to strike the large creature with the pike. He doesn't appear to be bothered and fights on. GreyEagle comes to Rex's aid and again lands a might blow, this time on the priest. Her blow drops the creature, as again she nearly decapitates one. Coyle gets a blow in on his and draws blood as the creature howls. GreyEagle now turns her attention to the large creature harassing Coyle. A fierce light burns in her eyes as she lands yet another mighty blow. Her sword bites deeply into the creature, but it remains on its feet. Suddenly it howls again, and Conrad can be seen behind it with his short sword buried deep in its back. He also has a dagger in hand, but it was apparently ineffective against the creature's chain mail. Coyle is struck again, this time by first creature he engaged. He is bleeding heavily from several wounds, but grimly fights on. His blow doesn't penetrate the creature's armor, however. Ormec and his creature trade blows, each scoring a small hit. Rex regains his senses, and joins GreyEagle in battling the large creature with the pike. His eyes flash as he drives forward and scores a hit on the creature. A ghostly hand appears from one side of the creature and reaches out to touch it. It screams in pain and anger and then topples to the floor. The hand remains hovering in mid-air. With the priest and the large one taken care of, GreyEagle spins and strikes at the creature on Ormec with Rex helps out Coyle. Sucaba and Laurel regain their sight to witness the end of the battle. GreyEagle's sword flashes as it contacts the creature's armor, doing no damage. Rex eagerly slashes at Coyle's creature, but he is also thwarted. The two creatures strike at their primary targets, and both land solid blows. Coyle is staggered by the blow, but gets a blow of his own in before dropping to one knee in pain. Ormec is bleeding profusely from his many wounds, but strikes his creature as well. Conrad helps him out and gets a good blow in from behind, dropping the creature. GreyEagle, seeing Coyle's distress, leaps in front of him and brings her sword down on the creature's head, partially cleaving it. The creature staggers a bit and then falls. Having felled their opponents, GreyEagle now stands in the center of the room, her eyes wild and her breathing heavy and ragged through her clenched teeth. Her head jerks back and forth, looking for other enemies, as if she expected them to leap from the walls. After a time, she slowly regains control of herself, though her eyes are still blazing, and she paces the room. Occasionally, she shakes her head and hisses. Marianne rushes to Coyle's side and quickly starts to bandage the worst of his wounds. GreyEagle stops for a moment and kneels beside Coyle and gently touches his shoulder with her hand, but she doesn't say anything, and after a second, she jumps back up and continues to pace. Ormec, still caught up in the fervor of battle looks around for another opponent, and is disappointed. Rex too, is still caught up as he joins Ormec for a moment. Suddenly they both realize how badly they are hurting and let Laurel direct them over to where Marianne is tending to Coyle. Red appears again in the trapdoor and steps over to levitate down to the floor. Status: Trouble, Sucaba, & Laurel have regained their sight. Laurel is a bit toasty, but otherwise alright. Ormec is bleeding from several wounds and looks to be quite hurt. Dark Star & Marianne both appear ok, as do GreyEagle and Conrad. Coyle is quite badly hurt, as is Rex. In addition to the other wounds he sustained, Rex has a large circular burn in the middle of his chest. Now that they can see, both Sucaba and Trouble are fine. Conrad takes a deep breath and gains some composure. "I'm glad we all showed up on time. Quite the potion GreyEagle," the gnome added with a laugh GreyEagle snaps around and looks at Conrad, but doesn't say anything. Then suddenly, she resumes her pacing, this time a little more slowly than before... Conrad rased an eyebrow at first, but then he shrugged. "If we're certain all these creatures are dead," he went on, "we can begin to take inventory of what is here. We left one dead one on the roof, I expect you didn't leave any able to recover in the lower level." Sucaba shakes his head and heads back downstairs, still visibly shaken by the blindness. The red-haired mage appears tired, he moves slowly but with purpose among the injured party members. His field bandages are not sophisticated as the healers would be, but he does go first to the worst looking of the injured. He does not bind the burns but does help with the closure of the penetrating and bleeding wounds. Conrad then begins the methodical process of checking and cleaning. The cherubic young mage keeps Laurel company until Marianne gets around to looking over her wounds. Meanwhile he casts a spell familiar to mages everywhere and looks around the room, especially at the nasty weapons. Rex and Ormec have been standing in the middle of the room with GreyEagle looking for more to fight. As Rex realizes what has transpired, he slowly makes his way over to the "healing area." He checks in on how Coyle is doing, "Is he alright???? I'm sorry not to have been able to help quicker." Rex then moves closer and gives him a manly reassuring arm about his shoulder (wincing as his pain shows through). As the various healing is going on, Rex will motion for the others to be assisted first, "I am fine for now." He smiles weakly and adds, "Everything hurts, but I think I'll be alright. My chest certainly hurts though." He looks at the burn and gingerly touches it, wincing at the sensation. "That mace would come in quite handy should it prove to not be evil as these creatures were. I would like to possibly use it if no one else has a need for it." "Do you wear a magnet underneath your clothes?" Conrad laughed. "At least they didn't have enough time to incapacitate you again." Rex smiles at the feisty Conrad's wit and notes, "Even I am fortunate on occasion. Perhaps I need to be as wise as you. You vanquish your opponents *without* getting hurt in the process. As I noted before this battle, it was indeed a pleasure to be able to work with you." Rex chuckles a bit and adds, "At least now I know why the beasts ran away into the corner. What was that.... trap... anyway???" He waits patiently for aid and adds, "I hate to mention this now... especially with our condition as it is... but what is our plan now??? More of these beasts will be coming here later on. Sucaba saw them at night. I can fight again, but our magic is surely used up. So many impressive displays... we can not have much more left." About what to do now: "I don't know if the rest will pose much of a problem. We've killed their leaders here. Perhaps we can set a trap for them outside the tower and decimate them. We should be able to blockade that front door and pick them off leisurely from the roof. Horton looked like he wasn't satisfied yet." Rex nods. Conrad: "We got to the roof without any problems. When the fun started he popped the door and we set up around it. The 5 bigger monsters came over and started coming out. We slept 1 and blinded one. I hit one as it came out and it fell back in (he didn't come back up. Another one came up and Rex and I hit it, but it breathed on me and was able to come out. It took a little, but we nailed it up there. Then I checked in with Sucaba and we got ready to come down the steps. That's when you came in too. As Rex waits to be tended to, he eventually decides he is well enough to check things out. Rex goes over to the priest-fish-lizard and picks up the mace that it used against him. He winces a bit from his pain and begins "bouncing" it back and forth between his hands to test its balance. As he does so, he says, "Yes... indeed... this is quite a weapon. I have the injuries to prove it." Then he directs his voice to the group again, "I mentioned this before... and I'd really like to use this mace. I will gladly repay the group as needed for this... or at least I'd like to just borrow it for now." Trouble says "Watch out, that mace is magical!" "So is the pike, and the star shapes on the wall, and there's a whole lot of magic in that chest behind the bodies." Rex smiles at Trouble's words and says, "Indeed... I believe you are right about that. That is why it will be a fine weapon for me with which to help us battle further. It suits me quite well." Rex then drops down to one knee to rest and wait for a healers helping hands. He smiles at anyone directing their attention to him. Conrad finds humor in the mace banter: "I don't think anyone thought the glowing mace that seared the chest hairs off Rex was not magical..." When the injured begin moving around (or are more professionally tended to,) the more-frequently-than-not silent mage goes over to examine the creature that was struck by his magic missiles. Marianne frowns over at Rex as he plays with the fish-creature's mace, "Rex be careful with that thing. I'm about done with Coyle, come here and let me look at those wounds. You shouldn't be walking around." Rex chuckles at Marianne, "Hey, I made it through a battle without losing consciousness. I think I'm doing pretty well all in all!" He makes his way over to Marianne, stopping along the way to take some practice swings with the new found mace. He shakes his head a bit and says, "This thing really feels good. The balance is wonderful." Marianne finishes up with Coyle, who gives her a weak nod of thanks, and moves on to Rex. She watches the red-haired mage as he bandages Ormec, and nods approvingly. "Nice work." The red-haired mage wraps things up and sits down with his back to the wall. She turns back to Rex and bandages his wounds, and then carefully examines the burn on his chest. "Sucaba, have you ever seen anything like this," she asks and points to the burns, which seem to be a pattern. Rex looks down to see what Marianne is speaking of. He touches his chest and winces a bit. "This must have been part of what Raal, the silent one, and Trouble were talking about. I think it would really help us all out if I could use the extra magic provided by this weapon. It is much more effective than the long sword I'm using right now. This thing put a pretty good hurt on me." As Marianne goes on with the bandaging and whatever, Rex patiently stands/sits and watches her as she works. "Set that down for a moment, would you Rex?", Sucaba asks as he emerges to see Rex fondling the weapon. Rex has placed the mace across his lap as he is sitting and being bandaged. Assuming that Sucaba will say "Put it down" again, Rex will roll his eyes and sigh softly, setting the mace down next to wherever he is seated. Sucaba nods and moves to kneel near Rex. After examining the burn marks he stares off at the walls for a few moments and then speaks. "You have been marked by these beasts. You now bear one of their worship symbols. Look there," Sucaba states as he motions to similar symbols on the walls of the tower. Rex frowns and nods his head. "This I am *not* pleased about. Hopefully, it is just a burn that can be tended to... and soon it will fade away. I do not desire to be scarred by the likes of these creatures." "Trouble, do you read anything from our friend here?" Trouble looks over from the chest. "No, but if it concerns worship, perhaps our priest (nodding at Marianne) should take a closer look." He returns to studying the chest, looking at each side. Sucaba to Rex, "I have no problem with you using the mace, but I fear this mark and your desire to wield the weapon are related. Surely you have heard such tales in your travels? I think it best that the mace be packed away until we learn the nature of your affliction. I have magic that may aid us in understanding, but it will have to wait until we have dealt with the matter at hand, as I will need rest to cast its probes into your soul." [Sucaba asks Trouble's advice and he suggests asking Marianne instead] Rex adds, "Yes, we can pack the mace for now... but I should be the one to pack and carry it. The mace *is* hot and may hurt someone else if you try to touch it. And indeed... I have heard stories of weapons such as this. They are so finely constructed that they inflict extra damage on solid hits. This weapon hurt me more than any other I have ever encountered. Sucaba starts to object but does not. Rex then shakes his head once and adds, "There are other stories of these weapons, but I can not quite remember them right now. It was long ago and I did not really believe them until now. The one other thing I do remember is that the weapon will `reject' someone who can not use it... and I am certain that it has not rejected me. So from this time on, the weapon could be used for purposes other than evil." "The weapon and the fish-men's mark may be related in ways you do not under- stand," Sucaba replied. "Carry the packed mace, but DO NOT unpack it until we have learned more about what has occurred." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Eventually, GreyEagle slows her pacing and regains control of herself. She stands leaning against the wall and breathes deeply, closing her eyes to calm her jangled nerves. After a while she looks about at the carnage laying at their feet and slowly shakes her head. Looking up, she sees that Coyle, Rex and Ormec appear to be well taken care of, so she silently walks over to the bodies of the dead prisoners. She kneels next to them. They are not wearing any clothing, it is a man & a woman. It looks as if the bodies were just discarded when the creatures were done with them. They have obviously been severely burned, you'd guess that they'd been burned alive by the twisted pained expressions on their faces. The fish-creatures don't appear to be wearing anything other than the chainmail. There are red cloths draped on each of the walls you could pull down if you'd like to. This room is littered with boxes of various sizes, misc. junk, the large chest Trouble and Sucaba are working on, 2 dead prisoners, and several dead fishes. There appear to be red cloths on each of the walls, and a makeshift altar near one of the walls. Well, assuming that GreyEagle's sword is no longer blazing, and all the fires have been put out, there is daylight coming in from the open trapdoor in the roof, and some from the one in the floor. Beyond that, the room is lit by lanterns covered with some kind of red shade to produce a dull reddish glow. Uh... In that case, it is probably still glowing. Actually, knowing her condition, it is probably still glowing pretty brightly -- almost as bright as the fire in her eyes... "These bodies will need to be put to rest properly," GreyEagle says sadly. "I only wish that we had come a day earlier, but that cannot be changed now." If there is any loose material around (a cloak off of one of the fish creatures?), she will take it and lay it over the bodies. OK. She will go to one of the walls, check behind the curtain, and if there is nothing of particular interest behind it, pull it down to cover the bodies. Trouble speaks up: "Careful, magical star-shaped areas behind the curtains!" Rex looks over and adds, "Yes, be careful. It is not likely, but those objects may be somewhat like the mace and able to inflict some sort of damage on you." GreyEagle carefully pulls down one of the red cloths, but all you can see is somewhat smooth stone wall. No visible sign of a star. Rex wrinkles his nose at this development. He looks to Trouble and says, "Those shapes are not in the cloth are they?" "The magic is upon the wall, not the cloth," Trouble replied. Rex then looks back to the wall and picks up the cloth pulled off the wall. He is about to wrap up the mace when he looks back up to the wall again. "Sucaba... Trouble... the star shapes that were seen. If they match the mark on my chest, then they also match the symbols on this mace." GreyEagle, after covering the bodies, goes back to the wall. "Trouble, where did you say the star shapes were?" She runs her fingers lightly over the wall in an attempt to pick up any slight depressions where the star might be. He stops for a brief moment and goes on, "There is also writing here on the handle. Perhaps you will be able to read it... I will hold it out for you to examine so as to keep you from being hurt. I am thinking.... maybe this mace and its writing is also some sort of key to what you see in the wall. Perhaps even the chests... I do not know... but someone who knows magic may want to examine this." "All in good time," says Trouble as he returns to studying the chest. He glances at the Rat-Master mage as if to say `how about taking a look at that writing?'. GreyEagle keeps looking over at Rex with a worried expression. "The stars on the wall are probably far more ancient than these creatures. I expect that they are the same as the stars we discovered in the first tower." "The same may be true for this weapon," Rex replied. "My question is if the stars in the wall are the same as the others that we see." Having done that, she will begin to help the others search the room. (She goes through the motions, but her thoughts seem far away... Check walls behind curtains. Loose stones, engraved symbols, twelve pointed stars, etc... The others appear to be working on the chest, and she in not keen on going over the "fish" bodies yet.) GreyEagle's mind was still buzzing from the potion. She had not known what to expect when she had taken it, and she had certainly not expected the shock that she got! Every nerve and muscle fiber in her body still tingled with the magic. She wasn't sure if she would ever take one of THOSE potions again. Yet, she had to admit that the effect was seductive. She could still feel the power that had surged through her entire being every time she had struck one of the creatures. Combined with the magic of the sword, she had almost felt like she was loosing control. It was as if someone else were directing her motions, while she stood by and watched. She shook her head again in an attempt to clear the fog, as another shiver rolled down her spine. The others around her seemed so far away. She kept watching Coyle out of the corner of her eye. It occurred to her that she had almost lost him, that she had stepped in front of him just in time to deliver the final blow to the beast before it had stolen Coyle's life away from her. She wanted to go to him and throw her arms around him, but the magic still roared in her head. She couldn't stand still. She poked around behind the curtains and ran her hands over the walls, looking for loose stones or shallow depressions, trying to force herself to concentrate, and wondering when the potion would wear off. Conrad jingling some coins in his hand returns from the roof and heads to the shaman type thing. After checking it over, he holds up a blood red vial. "Hey, it looks like the symbol is this thing's focus for its spiritual powers. Anybody recognize the religion? I'm sure it is one devoted to fire worship." He sets the holy symbol aside, and continues checking the other creatures. GreyEagle sighs. "Why are these towers always converted into temples?" Trouble walks over behind the pile of bodies and peers at the large wooden chest. "This appears to have some sort of magical trap on it." If the chest has a keyhole or lock, he searches the dead bodies for a key. Sucaba waves his hand in the air, gesturing towards the chest. After a moment, a look of disapproval crosses his face. After another, a small thin piece of metal rises from the floor and moves toward the chest, and then into the locking mechanism. Again, moments later, Sucaba looks unhappy. "Trouble, where is the trap?" Trouble replies: "There are magical lines around the entire area where the lid meets the base. It may be that when the lid is opened, the lines will be broken, and something will happen." He reaches down to the side of the chest and pushes on it to try to gauge its weight. Sucaba looks back towards Trouble and the chest and waves for Trouble to step back. He then waves his hand again and that same piece if metal scrapes the seal between lid and base. Sucaba's frown persists as the piece of metal works completely around the chest without incident. "If this trap can be set off without opening it, I certainly don't know how," he remarks in disgust. "Well," Trouble says doubtfully, "I suppose the magic could be simply holding the chest closed. A magical lock of some sort." After a moment, Sucaba starts to inspect the items mentioned thus far. "The mace, the vial, the wall and Rex all bear this fire symbol (Darcy, what does it look like?)...... Conrad, find anything other than coins so far?" "Care to take a crack at this chest?" he continues to Conrad. "The trap seems to be around the lid, not the lock. If you can pick the lock, I can open it from afar." "Well, ok, I don't suppose anyone has actually touched the chest yet..." Conrad then appears to do his best `bomb squad' imitation, only instead of covering the chest, he covers himself! He makes a make-shift barrier between himself and the chest (boxes for support, an ordinary hunk of chain mail as a shielding curtain, whatever else looks like it would keep a blast from him.) Then he gingerly reaches out and touches the lock itself. First a tap to see if it explodes, then he touches each part of the lock he thinks he will need to touch in picking the lock. He specifically avoids the seal of the chest where Trouble has indicated the magic is. After either A) determining there will be no explosion, or B) getting blown up, He returns to pick the lock. First he removes his chain mail shirt, and stretches out his arms, then he gets down to business... After a few seconds, you all let out a huge sigh of relief, nothing has gone kaboom yet. Conrad removes his chain mail shirt and wiggles his fingers. He selects several tools and carefully begins work. After a couple of tries he puts one back and gets a couple of others. Several minutes pass as Conrad struggles with the lock. Finally, after and eternity, he sits back on his heels and smiles, "I think I got it. Just let me back up before you blow that thing up." Once everyone is an acceptable distance from the chest, Sucaba waves his hand in the direction of the chest again. Despite being heavily bandaged, Coyle climbs the ladder out to the roof and leans against the parapet looking out over where Horton is guarding the trapdoor. Ormec accepts the bandaging of Red, and then eagerly checks the creatures for loot as Conrad heads to the roof to roll that body. Trouble casts a spell and determines the magical nature of items in the room while Rex fiddles with the mace and Marianne bandages him. Sucaba after a quick peek downstairs returns and helps Trouble work on the chest of magic. They pause a couple of times to check out Rex's wound, and Sucaba tells Rex to put the mace away. GreyEagle tears one of the cloths down off the walls as Red settles in against a wall and keeps an eye on everyone. Laurel helps GreyEagle cover the bodies of the dead prisoners, and then starts systematically checking out the boxes and rubbish. With GreyEagle and Marianne helping her, they determine there is nothing of value lying about. Ormec comes up with various coins from the bodies inside, then checks out the leader with Conrad goes after the shaman. As Conrad reports what he has found, Sucaba requests him to attempt to unlock the chest so that he can open it from a distance. Laurel suggests that GreyEagle and Marianne help her check the downstairs and the bodies outside, if anything is left of them. Ormec suddenly lets out an excited whistle and holds up the chain mail he has stripped off of the leader type. He is amazed at the lightness of the stuff, easily less then half what it should weigh. GreyEagle looks around. "Mythril?" Ormec holds it up examining it closely. "I'm not sure, but it is very well made. The work of a master I bet." Ormec passes the armor over to Laurel and GreyEagle to examine and finishes collecting the leader's stuff. Conrad holds up a silver chain (necklace) in response to Sucaba's question, and heads over to the chest. At Ormec's whistle, he takes a quick gawk in that direction. "Hummm, not magical, but I bet it works well. Probably need tailoring..." The red-headed mage gets up and walks over to the trio. He will examine the armor too. The male mage examines the piece. He hefts it to test it's weight and looks inside to check its construction. He holds it up to himself, it looks a bit big. Finally he holds it out to offer it back to Ormec, Laurel or GreyEagle. (If non are interested, he lays it near the lance.) GreyEagle will take the armor to examine it. Her eyes glow as she turns it over in her hands and checks it out for size... Laurel helps GreyEagle hold the armor up, but it is clear that it is sized for someone well over 6' and is larger around the middle than the shoulders. This armor would have to be modified to fit anyone in your party. Sucaba and Trouble check out the mark on Rex's chest, which is not in the least similar to the star markings, and then return to the chest. As Rex remarks on the writing on the mace, Trouble sends an inquiring glance towards Red, as he indicates to Rex that he and Sucaba will check it out later. I may have gotten events slightly out of sync, but I wanted to establish a bit of a time line. If I missed anything important, let me know, but assume all actions took place within the above time frame. As no one seems interested in looking at the mace, Rex shrugs his shoulders, picks up a cloth that is not covering bodies, and wraps the mace in it. He then slides the setup into his belt. "I guess it doesn't match the other symbols anyway. It might do something for the chest, but probably not." GreyEagle ducks down and looks away After everyone has backed away, Sucaba concentrates and opens the chest from a distance. You are rewarded with a loud explosion as flames burst forth from the chest. Fortunately you are far enough away, and no one is hurt by the flames. The lid remains open and after a few seconds, you press forward to check out its contents. Inside you see a lot of coins mixed in one side of the chest, while the other contains: a black rune-covered staff, a leaf- shaped brooch, a shattered glass flask, a small shield (its color is hard to determine, it appears to be one color until it moves, than it appears to be another color) and three egg-shaped objects, resting on black cloth, encased in glass. Each egg has it's own case, one egg is red, one green, one blue. The eggs are large, about 1' long, and 6" in diameter. Sucaba hurries over and looks into the chest, as items in the chest float up into the air and then lightly onto the floor one by one: - a piece of shattered glass - a case with a blue egg - a staff. Once the staff is extracted, Sucaba snatches it out of mid-air. He sends a look of surprise at the staff and walks to the side to examine it. No further items extract themselves. GreyEagle looks with wide eyes, but she doesn't touch anything (yet). Trouble also heads over to the chest to look inside. If the staff isn't yet levitating he will naturally reach in and pick it up, otherwise I guess he will pick up the brooch. Rex let's out a whistle and moves over to the chest. He picks up a case containing an egg (in order of preference, red, blue, green). He holds it up and examines it closely. The case is fairly heavy, but manageable. The egg appears to be a real egg and is nestled quite deeply in the black velvet cloth inside the case. You don't see any obvious way to open the case. Conrad give a low whistle. "wow"... He doesn't appear eager to fondle any of the items, but after they are removed he set down to count and sort the coins. Much later on he gives the chain mail a going over. You can tell from his mumbled comments that he knows a thing or two about the construction of armor. GreyEagle, who has been watching carefully, turns to Rex. "I wonder if there is something still alive inside that egg, perhaps kept by some magic of the case..." Rex looks at her and shrugs, "Perhaps you are right. The egg seems real enough. And this case is quite finely crafted... unfortunately, I do not see a way to open it... surely it should come open though." After looking at the case/cases a bit more, Rex gently places the case he has looked at with the others. "No, you most likely must break the case, and then whatever is in the egg will hatch." She looks around quickly and adds, "It might not be a good idea to open it right here though..." After the opening of the chest, when Conrad is examining the armor, GreyEagle asks him, "Do you think this could be modified to fit any of us?" "Hummm, yeah, I think I could do it," Conrad replied, scratching his chin. "Big job though, need a workshop." After the smoke clears from cheat the "second tallest" mage moves until he looms over it. He looks back briefly to the stair to the roof... then begins extracting things. (Some people have already removed somethings.) He is not interested in the eggs, staff, leaves, etc.; he hands them to those that would take them or sets them gently on the floor. He continues removing things, (all the while being careful not to get his hands wet from the spilt potion,) and works his way to the bottom of the chest until he has uncovered THE THING he seeks. But as he removes the last of the chest's contents, he still doesn't have IT. He is not deterred and continues with unfailing confidence. He feels at the bottom of the chest (avoiding shards of glass) until he has a grip that allows him to remove the chest's false bottom. He stands quickly and turns away from the chest, (which I figure is towards most folks) clutching a 12 pointed star. He studies it carefully as he walks to the stairs leading down... "Ah, there it is!" Trouble exclaimed excitedly. "So that was the intense magic inside the chest." Trouble's look turns to a curious and disapproving one as the other mage begins to exit the room. Sucaba chances to glance up from his mothering of the staff to see the star, as Trouble comments on it. He rises and moves toward the quieter than average mage. "Is that another key?", Sucaba inquires. Turning to Trouble, "Is it the right size for the magical star marks you saw on the wall?" Trouble nodded his head. If Red keeps heading downstairs, Sucaba will inquire. "Where you off to? An idea regarding the star?" The mage takes a few steps before he realizes someone is talking to him; he nods his head without looking back. Sucaba follows curiously. As Conrad is sorting through the pile... "Bunch of gold and electrum here, probably 5 thousand worth or so... So, is anyone going to tell us what happened outside and downstairs?" "It will be difficult to carry that many coins," GreyEagle added, looking back at the gnome, "with all the weight we already have. We may have to take it into the hills to hide it and come back for it later." "No GreyEagle, these coins weigh in at 150 pounds or so. All this chain mail, now that will weigh a lot!" Rex announces to the group, "The glass is unbreakable.... it was made by magic. Perhaps it requires magic to open it." Eventually he puts the egg case down again. Rex heads downstairs again and begins examining the bodies down there. After a few minutes the red-haired mage returns upstairs. He still looks to the star, but also looks at the walls and to that `inner space' (read: blank stare) where concentration occurs... From near the center of the room he holds the star up and tilts it left and right as if he were trying to line it up on something. After a bit, he scowls. The mage is no longer interested in the star; he puts it back in the chest. (Or hands it to the first being that might indicate an interest.) If there is an egg un-held, he will turn his attention to that. "What did you determine?", Sucaba addresses Red up close. The read-haired mage shakes his head and pushes the star towards Sucaba. Dark Star then goes over to examine an egg. As you are winding up your searching and discussing your next move, you hear the scratching of claws on the roof, and then Horton pokes his head in the trap door. He eagerly seeks out Sucaba and then, assured his friend is fine, he looks about the room as best he can. "Raal and Rex said you had quite a battle, and have found some interesting treasures. Can I see? I can help remove the bodies. If someone hands them up to me, I can toss them over the side." Horton looks eager to help, and even more eager to see what you have found. Sucaba smiles broadly as Horton sticks his head in. He waves to Horton and indicates the pile of magic stuff from the chest. "We have recovered many magical items: a mace (Sucaba looks over to see that the mace is still packed away), pike, chain mail, a star like the one from the first tower and many magical items from a chest." Sucaba moves to the pile from the chest as he speaks. "The chest contained this staff (he holds out the staff he is carrying), a brooch (he points to Trouble), a shield and these magical eggs. Sucaba picks up a random egg and brings it over for Horton to examine. Horton exclaims over the egg. He carefully takes it from Sucaba and disappears back up the hole. You hear a long dragon whistle and then Coyle asking, "do you know what that is, Horton?" Horton pokes his head back through the door and announces, "this looks like a real dragon egg, shrunk a bit in size!" Horton will hand it carefully back to Sucaba and then take a look at the other items. "No potions..." he sighs a bit wistfully. GreyEagle watches carefully. "I had a feeling..." she whispers softly. Sucaba looks surprised at the identification of the egg, but says nothing. As to the potion comment.... "There was one potion, but it was broken when we got to it. Looking for something special, my friend?" "No... just thinking about replacements that's all. Sure is a shame the only one broke." Conrad listens to Horton, and then the others... "I had that same premonition. Do we all become Dragon riders? I would guess the colors of the egg indicate the color of the dragon baby? (To Horton) They would probably require some time to raise and train though. Very interesting stuff here." "How's the web holding up?" Sucaba asked. "Looks fine for now. Rex is keeping an eye on it, and I asked Laurel to help him out. He showed me the mace and the marks on his chest. I couldn't read what was written on the mace, could you? Looks like an interesting item, and he sure seems interested in it." "Is Rex using the mace, or is he keeping it wrapped up?", Sucaba retorts quickly. "Well, he unwrapped it to show it to me, and then wrapped it up again," Horton replies a bit surprised. Hearing the talk between Sucaba and Horton, Trouble heads for the stairs. "I told Rex I would look at the writing on that mace, might as well do it now unless there's something else someone needs me for up here?" Horton caught sight of the piles of coins, and his eyes gleam once again. "Looks like a good haul, and no one too badly hurt even. At least everyone is walking," he adds as he glances over at Coyle and Ormec. "I hear you were quite an animal," he adds glancing over at GreyEagle. GreyEagle blushes. "Well.... I suppose I might have gotten a little carried away." "So, what are we going to do with this stuff?" Grey Eagle asks. "We should take a day or two to rest, and we should give these people a decent burial at least." During the rest of the morning, Conrad was busy cleaning out the tower. He packed all the normal combat equipment into some of the spare crates on the second floor and pushed most of the trash down to the first floor. "I think we should sleep up here tonight," Conrad said. "Will one of you mages be able to magically lock the doors behind us? Maybe you want to start napping now to get spells back early. I see no reason to try carting the extra weapons and armor back with us, perhaps by leaving it here nicely packed Schimray will throw a few more gold our way." (conrad) "So, do we fly back to the horses and ride back to Rethmar, or do we clean out the tunnel under the trap door out on the plateau? I don't expect the lizard-things to be much of a threat with their leaders killed." "We should probably finish our business here," GreyEagle replied, "seal the tower with the scroll Schimray gave Sucaba, and return to the horses. I do not think it wise to pick more fights than we must, and risk further injury, unless these creatures are an immediate threat to communities in the area." Sucaba watches Red go upstairs and starts to say something then stops and his face sours slightly. "We will need to focus immediately on the status of the web before we can rest." Sucaba nods in agreement with himself and starts up the stairs. "Go outside and join Rex and Trouble by the webbed door. I'll get those on the roof and join you." With that, Sucaba heads upstairs and asks Red and Coyle to head outside. He mounts Horton and rides down to join the others. Conrad looks up at Sucaba's request, dons his chainmail shirt, tucks in the appropriate parts of his outfit and heads outside. GreyEagle nods her head at Sucaba's request, and heads downstairs behind Conrad. Ormec gathers his things and makes sure that all the treasures are gathered up as well, then he too heads downstairs to join the others outside. Presuming the party will not travel the rest of the day, Conrad spends the afternoon cleaning out the lower level as well, and then combs the tower looking for odd-placed stones in the floor and lower 3' of the wall (of both the first and second levels) At lunch time Conrad starts out "It doesn't look like it was much of a struggle on the lower level... Of course we did get into the upper level before you..." ((clearly baiting someone to tell him what went on) "Oh," GreyEagle responds, "The creatures we fought there were not so fierce as those on the second level, but it was difficult enough. It is good that we caught them off guard, or we would not have arrived here in time to see your glorious battle skills. Coyle, [Ormec?] Marianne and I encountered some small resistance getting to the front door, but Horton took out a number of them before they could reach us. Once inside, there were too few to pose a significant threat, though they did some damage before we dispatched them. We were not sure how to get through the trap door, but the mages did something which released it so that we could break through." As requested, the whole group gathers about the webbed trapdoor. The toll of the battle becomes more apparent with the numerous bandages worn by many. Marianne efforts have eased some of the pain, but the wounds are obviously more than she can handle. Once everyone has assembled, Sucaba speaks: "Despite our need for rest, we must address how we plan to deal with this," he states in a matter-of-fact tone of voice as he points to the (hopefully) still webbed trap door into the plateau. "The web magic will not last the hour, unless Red is more powerful than I think." Sucaba sends a friendly smirk in the mages direction. "Our job here is not finished. We must eradicate all of the fish men, lest they harass Schimray when he comes to claim his prize. I have little left to offer, and it is doubtful that Horton can go below." Sucaba rubs his bearded chin as he continues. "I see two choices. Enter or wait. To enter puts us into their realm. To wait delays our cause, but seems more wise. If they come to us, Horton can help us. If they do not, than we are left with entering, but a day later. Unless someone has a better idea, I say we lay in wait for them. Perhaps trap the door, or setup an ambush while we hide behind or in the tower." "It is even possible that they know nothing of the battle and they will come worship again this evening," Sucaba adds as he pulls his curved dagger out and cleans blood from its shiny surface. Trouble nods at Sucaba's words of wisdom, agreeing that we should wait here in ambush. Coyle wearily leans on GreyEagle shoulder as he nods agreement to Sucaba's ideas. He is obviously still badly hurt, as is Ormec. Clearly these two would be hard pressed to take the brunt of another battle. Laurel, still a bit singed, also nods her head. "Let us hope that they do not return before tomorrow. Without much magic, and hurt from the battle to take the tower, a second battle today would be pushing our luck. Is there any way we can seal ourselves in the tower and wait till tomorrow? But then what would Horton do?" Laurel shrugs, unable to offer any additional ideas. Marianne remains silent, standing by Rex's side. GreyEagle begins to fidget nervously once the talk turns back to fighting. Her fists clench and un-clench. She keeps looking at Coyle, and tries to hold herself still as he leans on her shoulder. When Sucaba is done, Red walks about the tower looking for things. Sucaba sends a helpless look toward the departing mage and looks to the others for input. Conrad listens to Sucaba and others... "My idea of standing up in the tower is sounding better and better. We can arrange a suitable welcome for them on the first floor, and pelt them from above. I saw no indication that they had anything to throw at us. If we really want to eradicate them we close the trap door behind them and run them off the plateau (looking at Horton)." Conrad: "We should be able to barricade the trap door to the lower level as they did. If we end up sleeping here, horton could fly back and sleep with the horses, it looked safe there yesterday." Conrad: "So, we have a fortress of sorts, let's make use of it!" Rex has been listening and nodding as the conversation goes on. Finally, he says something, "I agree with Sucaba that these creatures are evil and must be eliminated." Sucaba smirks. Rex continues: "It is obvious however, that we are not at full strength. I firmly believe that those below do not know what has transpired in the tower. We should remove the web and let them come forth to worship. As Conrad has said, we have a fortress that we can use to our advantage." Then Rex sighs. "We need our magic users to rest as much as possible. Then they will need study time. The rest of us need to set up watch to keep an eye on the plateau. When the creatures come back to the surface, Horton can give them his special welcome. Those that flee will likely head for the tower. And that is where we will be waiting. If we have anything we can use from a distance, we should do so and draw them up the stairs. As they try to come through the trap door, we can pummel them one by one... hopefully." Rex chuckles, "I didn't see anything to indicate they could fly in another way..." Conrad jumps in: "I'm not letting any fish creatures up any trap door I'm above. I expect to have a ton of stuff sitting on top of it. If they want to try to hide in the tower below us I'll pick them off when they come out for food and water. We make it so any coming in the front door get a nice surprise, and we fire our bows and drop boiling oil on them as they stand in front of the tower. Ok, so we don't have any boiling oil, but I do have plenty of arrows. There is no reason for us to fight them toe to toe. If the mages get enough time to rest and study, so much the better." "Fine. I was not sure how much we had in the area of `long distance' attacks. At some point, I would think the beasts will try to come up after us. But, again, if they don't, so much the better for our wounds." Then Rex shifts his weight and says, "I don't suppose we have any additional means of healing remaining? If the beasts do not come up, then we are still better off getting the rest rather than going down there. As for losing a day.... I feel that if the star is a key, it may be a key for something useful here. And perhaps this will help us be able to travel more quickly." Rex holds out a hand and says to the group: "May I look at the star?" "I also think the star is a key element to our success. Do not activate it in any way until I have time to consider our plans," Sucaba asks as he pulls off his backpack and retrieves the star and hands it to Rex. Correction: Actually it is Trouble who takes out the star and gives it to Rex to examine, not Sucaba. Rex smiles at the suggestion, "Of course not. We are not ready to do much else at this point and I certainly don't want to activate something I do not yet understand. Do not worry, I am just examining it to see if I recognize anything about it." Sucaba: "We will use the tower, but we cannot wait to flush them out based on them needing food. We must finish the job by tomorrow night. I believe Rex is correct. They do not know what has transpired here. We will use this to our advantage. First we must clear the plateau of dead bodies and acid. If there is not enough materials here to soak up or cover the mess, Horton,", Sucaba smiles at his best friend, "will retrieve what we need from the mainland. Once the appearance of normality is restored, we will hide in the upper part of the tower as has been suggested, with lookouts on the roof. If the creatures emerge, we will allow them all to get out of the hole and out onto the plateau, even if this means some make it into the tower. When the lookouts believe that all are out of the hole, we must seal it to prevent their retreat. This will require someone on the ground, or more magic. Sealing the hole, and Horton's first sweep will be triggered by the lookouts signal." "If they do not come out, we go in after them tomorrow." Sucaba looks at the group for reactions. "We need ideas for sealing the hole, and if it must be done manually, we need volunteers to hide behind the tower or invisibly near the hole. GreyEagle does not speak at first as the others discuss, but carefully takes in each of their comments. Finally, she takes a breath and speaks. "We have many wounds, and the mages have used up much of their strength. An immediate attack would certainly result in loosing some of our members. It is likely that the creatures, once they have lost their fortress temple and their priests, would simply leave and not bother Schimray when he comes to claim the tower." GreyEagle looks around quickly. "I still think we should leave now, but if you are intent on finishing off these creatures, then we should fortify ourselves within the tower. Those who have a bow and arrows can guard the opening from the roof of the tower. We may not be able to defend the first level, with all its windows, but the upper level could probably be held against attack, unless these creatures can scale the outer wall. Horton, I suspect, will have little difficulty taking care of himself."