The Two Towers

We were ushered away to the tower in the town center, where the commanders told us that the town was likely lost, and that the Nothrog were killing anyone who was resisting. They were getting ready to surrender, and there was nothing left to do except to retreat from the town. In time, we may be able to gather a large enough army to retake the city.

Our own next step was to intercept the Dwarven force approaching, and to have them return home, since the city was lost. We met them the next day, and we returned to our original destination at the new Dwarven Keep.

It was a few days later before we entered into the keep, and explored the rest of the temple. There didn't appear to be anything there. We contemplated what our next steps were. I tried to divine where the Nothrog would attempt to attack next, but it didn't seem like I was able to get a firm answer. Obegard attempted to contact both the Spire and Cassandra. During the conversation, he also received a troubling vision, where he saw that the army of the Dwarves and Humans were surrounded by the Armies of the Nothrog and Elves. Both the spire and Cassandra reported that they'd heard of some buildup of monsters in the mountains far to the west.

Obegard summoned a number of mounts that permitted us to quickly to the mountains. Even though it was hundreds of miles away, it took only a few days for us to reach there. On our way, we encountered a group of Lizardmen who seemed to be starved. I tried to get them to give us some answers in exchange for some food, but as soon as I threw some out, they all began clawing at me in an attempt to get food. I felt that I had given these things enough of a warning, and I had defend myself with my blade. Two of the lizardfolk survived, and we were able to detect the presence of Enchantment magic upon them. Perhaps they were dominated by another eye-tyrant? Obegard had the good idea to brand him with his Arcane Mark, so that we'd be able to track their movements in the future. These beasts might be headed toward whatever master was compelling them.

We kept moving and eventually located a largely abandoned giant's village. The buildings there were large but in ruins. We did manage to find a pair of Cyclops who had remained behind. They told a tale of a Cloud Giant that had attacked, slaying many, before a foul sorceress named Sorcha came along with her Lizardfolk minions. It wasn't long before they had erected a keep of sorts, and whatever dark magic they had practiced caused the river running next to the town to become rancid and foul. We scouted out the keep a bit, and found out that Sorcha had actually recently moved to a newer, even more sinister tower. Perhaps some sort of compulsive magics filled the air around me (I wasn't affected, because I had recently found out that magics that tried to change my thought processes simply didn't work), because Obegard seemed to suddenly grow almost...shall I say...obsessed at the prospect that the ringleader was perhaps a female wizard. He insisted that she must not be evil, and that she had to be the prisoner of these monstrous beasts. Right. Prisoners who built you two towers to stay in, and prisoners who guarded you even to the brink of starvation. Once we are back in more civilized lands, I shall have find out more about the Spire. Perhaps there aren't many women who study in the Spire, which would account for Obegard's odd behavior.

All around the tower, we saw monstrous creatures of sorts, all staring right at the tower as if in some kind of trance. That night, we crept toward the tower under cover of darkness. We used magical means to reach the top of the tower, but got there only to discover that whatever magic we had get absorbed by the tower itself. We weren't able to find a way into the tower, at least not without causing some commotion by hammering away at the trapdoor on the roof. I made a note to Obegard that we should investigate the method by which the tower was so impervious to magic, and perhaps reverse engineer it for our own keep. It would certainly go a long ways to prevent any sort of intrusion.

The next next, we decided to investigate the older keep instead. We were pretty easily able to get to the large gate of the tower without any problems. We entered into the tower and explored what was there. The only occupants of the tower were lizardfolk, and most of them were asleep. We took the time to give each of the sleeping lizardfolk a good whack in the head to ensure that they'd stay asleep through the night.

The tower was well furnished, though the group, especially Obegard, couldn't understand why I began taking several of the wall torches, which apparently were Torches of Continual Flame, a relatively uncommon, and therefore valuable tool that was light and easy to carry. Well, Obegard couldn't understand until he came across a large polished mirror which would work very well as a tool for scrying. Then he suddenly understood the meaning of taking evil creatures' ill-begotten goods, and turning it into your own rightfully-begotten goods. During the exploration, we also found a great deal of art pertaining to Medusans -- creatures with snake-like hair that seemed to be repeatedly depicted in positions of dominance over humans and other races. We surmised that perhaps this Sorcha was a Medusan, and it has pretty much wiped all doubt about whether or not she's evil.

At the top floor of the tower, behind a secret door, we found what appeared to be a teleportation circle -- powerful magic. There was nothing left to explore in the tower, so our only choice was to take the leap and see what was on the other side...