Post by hubertbartels on Aug 19, 2018 14:52:04 GMT -5
When the party awoke, Longdreamer was at their side. The huge star monarch, an emissary of Desna had a divination. “To lay the foul polluting creature to rest, you must accomplish three tasks – first, you must remove his assistance, his loyal three machine minds. Secondly, you must destroy his own smoke, ever-flowing. And lastly, you must shut down the source of his power – his smoking furnance.”
Armed with that information, the party went up to the tower. After retrieving the wheel from the Hill Giants’ fire pit, they were able to open the door. Inside, they found 20’ high ceilings, wide corridors and well illuminated chambers, all dusty and deserted. On the first floor, they found out that Master Xoud did not merely worship Zyphus, the god of accidental death, the missing wizard tried to help any visitors to an untimely death by leaving traps. The party also defeat the first of robotic riot suppressors stolen from the Technic League and used by Furkas Xoud to protect the tower. Part of the first floor was given over to an extensive library of research on matters arcane and things having to do with smokes, fogs, and swarms.
On the second floor, the party found small dorm rooms used by the apprentices, They also triggered another trap and defeated the three gear ghosts that maintained the traps.
The third floor opened into an atrium with a directory sign. Astrovel began collecting various nanite cocoons the party kept discovering on the way up. This floor had laboratories. The alchemical laboratory had some potions but was in good shape. The Fluid Siphoning Lab had a Mihtsu – an evil elemental elemental- trapped inside. It had wrecked the contents of the room and started to attack the party but Eramus charmed it to become friendly. The third laboratory on the floor was the Gaseous Ooze Research Lab. But the lead researcher had become unhinged after studying the Hungry Fog in a large glass tank, smashed the tank and merged with the fog to become an undead horror. The party made short work of her. Astrovel found a Gust of Wind wand.
The fourth floor had more laboratories, pretty smashed up. The party defeated the inhabitants of the Infernal Vapors Research lab. The two Achaierals, a form of devil, had broken their cages, killed everyone and were nesting.
The fifth floor was set aside for Furkas Xoud’s private quarters. The door blasts Astrovel with lightning when Astrovel tried to unlock the door. Eramus stepped in and disabled the trap. Behind the door, they found a comfortable bedroom, study area and bath. But in moments, the ghost of Furkas Xoud showed up, asked how dare they and tossed a fireball into the room. The party beat on the ghost until hurt, it disappeared through the ceiling.
Checking the rest of the floor, the party found a vacuum chamber where Xoud had been suffocating victims to learn more about smokes and vapors. While there, they decided to leave their Mihtsu in the chamber. The elemental avoided the entrapment and attacked. The party was forced to put their evil elemental down.
The sixth floor was given over to a foundry. Three azers were working here, overseen by 3 more robotic riot suppressors. The party defeated the suppressors and freed the azers. The azers found themselves at a loss as what to do until Astrovel mentioned the fires of Torch. The three azers decided to follow the party to Torch later.
The seventh floor of the tower was used as a storage area for materials for the foundry below. There was a animated crane but the party soon broke it.They took a short rest.
Continuing up to the eighth floor, the party found more laboratories. In the Smoke and Particle Lab, they found two Belkers whirling in a mess of a room. In the center of the room, there stood the wreckage of a machine with a black ceramic bottle protected by a wire mesh cage. After despatching the two elementals, the party removed the bottle. Astrovel identified it as a Ever-smoking bottle. True to the divination, they destroyed it. As the shards hit the floor. Furkas Xoud reappeared, a look of shock and horror on his face. The party finished him off. But being a ghost, he would reappear in 4 days.
On the ninth and top floor, the party found a large room, given over to research. Two robotic apprentices were running experiments, collecting data and doing research. Seeing the party enter the floor, they came over. “Has the master finish extracting lore from the android? Does he require out help?” Istovar tried to bluff them but failed. The robotic apprentices decided to take the lot of people down to the master and let him decide their fates. They did not know that Xoud had been destroyed for the moment.
So, the party let themselves be captured and led through a sealed door in the master’s bedroom down
to the basement to learn their destiny.