Part 10

"And it's even bigger on the inside."

"If you say so. How phallicly challenged do you have to be to have five spires?"



"I don't know, that is the exact opposite of where we'd look just like we were told…"



"Maybe going up this tower isn't such a good idea after all."

"Nope, not on a shelf right inside the door. I guess we should start searching discreetly."



"This is the exact opposite of discretion."



So here we've got our first host tower mage. The wizards inside of the tower are still about even with our characters right now, but they're awfully exposed and easy to keep pinned down. It doesn't help that their guards have longbows and their AI will default to using that from the back row as opposed to protecting their squishy masters. The encounters are lucrative, however, with the guards dropping gold and the mages dropping pieces of jewelry.



I have the strangest feeling of deja vu right now…"



The gimmick here is that up to a certain point each encounter in the libraries will produce more mages in a simple arithmetic progression. This makes each encounter increasingly more dangerous as the odds keep going up that at least one of the mages will get initiative on us and get off one of their third level spells.



"Undead patrols… classy."

"Certainly saves you money on salaries and food expenses."



It's all skeletal fighters all the time in here, but… that's not a problem. Two turn undeads later it's clear.



"Oh come on… how many libraries does this place even have?"

"This is a tower full of mages, so I couldn't even guess. However, I do believe I see some stairs over there."



Unfortunately, it looks more like a tunnel drawn by the famous artist Wile E. Coyote.

"Man, the mages upstairs sound like a bunch of party animals."

"That would be because they appear to be owlbears… and probably not owlbears who are also wizards, hopefully."



One of the things that is mentioned in the description of owlbears is that they're commonly used as guards, especially by wizards. As such, you can expect to see a few in the tower.



"Well, you're welcome to hang out here with the mages, owlbears, and undead patrols all by yourself if you really want to."



"Of course, everybody has to be a smart ass…"



The numbers escalate as we continue upward, although considering that only a couple of them can engage us at a time due to their size it's not as threatening as it might be.



"How quickly do owlbears breed, anyway? This is kind of feeling genocidal."

"One to two eggs every couple of years, I think… so yeah, you're probably right about that."



"Geeze, you just won't shut up about this will you? Are your the stairs too much for your legs?"



"Ooh, can any of them juggle?

"Probably not, but they can probably tell your fortune with your entrails."



"Wait, was that one of us or one of them?"

"It should have been one of them."



This latest battle is very much along the lines of the last couple, but in a tiny room and with the mages actually behind the owlbears or off to the sides where you will have some difficulty getting to them. You're also perfectly lined up for one of them to drop a lightning bolt and severely damage half of your characters with one shot.



"And not a gods damned word from you, Krevish."

"I guess our only option is to go back and check those libraries… they're the only other rooms we've found so far. If we're lucky they'll be empty by now."



"This isn't looking like our lucky day."



"We're not even looking for the statue in these rooms now, are we?"

"Nah, this has become something for our own personal amusement."



The final battle in the sequence here is against five host tower mages and three fighters. Unfortunately for them, they're also clustered together in a perfect spot to have several fireballs dropped on them… and there's no reason to hold back at this point.



"Huh, how'd we miss that?"

"Probably something to do with the undead patrols, mages, and owlbears I would imagine."




"I wonder if they intentionally put undead here, or if they started with live guards and just forgot to send them food eventually?"




"Looks kind of like a jail… well, there's got to be another entrance outside of the secret entrance, if we keep looking around."





"I think we're here… but this map is pretty terrible and it doesn't tell us anything but where the doors are."



"Well, I've got to say that this is definitely not the kind of dungeon I thought it was…"





"Ooh, Lord Nasher didn't mention anything about you. That must have been a REALLY secret mission."

"You helped me, and I'm willing to help you. I'll join your party and fight for you if you'll have me."

"Sounds great! Why don't you get out front and lead the way?"



Our new companion is a pretty high level mage, and luckily doesn't have fireball. People who've played this game series know why that's a lucky break.



For the curious, the ripped green figure is a ghoul.

"Eh, at least it's not an otyugh.



"I've changed my mind… this isn't a dungeon, it's a zoo."



One of the "features" of this particular dungeon is a lot of one way doors. The door to the left here will send us back toward where we found the map and require us to go the long way around.



"You guys must have lost the kitties we found earlier… umm, we're awfully sorry about that."



"Uh… Brin, I know that sometimes cats think they're people but that doesn't mean that charm person will work on them."



"Unhand… er.. hand over that statuette!"

"Give us the statuette and your lives!"



A reasonable combat formation for once! It's worth it to take the hit for one of your characters to move over and engage the mage and the manticores off to the side. There's another one off to the left where it's a bit hard to see, making that entire row a great target for a lightning bolt. Hold person can clear up the front three fighters and end this pretty quickly.



"Brinshaar, what are you… ack… can't breathe…"

"The enemy's over… there…"



"You know what I give up, you just do what you want."

And this is why an AI controlled mage is a bad idea. Through enormous effort I was able to keep the enemy from taking Kedzie out and finish this fight without casualties. Considering that I had two characters helpless in the middle of a stinking cloud, that qualifies as a minor miracle.



"Well… that's definitely not what I expected for a statuette. I was kind of imagining a little miniature person."

"Yeah, but you can't argue that it's definitely in the opposite direction of where we first looked."



"You'd better run before I get my hands on you! And hope I don't see you in Neverwinter!"

A short walk to the exit of the tower later..



"And it was most convenient of you to not go very far so that we had to chase you down to kick your ass."

"It was for trying to steal it that I had been imprisoned before you rescued me. Seems you are always doing favors. it is a pity such fine folk as you have so little time left live your good and petty lives."

"Speaking of which Zanros, have you reconsidered the offer of membership the tower sent you?"

"Somehow I have a feeling I wouldn't be exactly welcome right now. There's normal jockeying for power, and then there's killing a sizable percentage of the tower's population while stealing a valued magical treasure."

"I should be surprised, but I'm not."

"You definitely wouldn't have fit in here… these guys are more than a little bit evil, you know."



Brinshar didn't learn any lessons about hiding in the back row and peppering us with spells… luckily, since with lightning bolt, charm person, and stinking cloud he could have made quite a mess of the party. Instead, this is butchery.

Leaving the tower and heading into Luskan proper...



"So, anybody else feel like a nice refreshing sea voyage far away from here?"

Character Snapshot


[timg]http://lpix.org/1455