Logrivich's Tower - Part 3

 Santrel exclaimed that the little doll creature was an Attic Whisperer.

"It is undead and can steal your voice in some way.  I will stay away from it for that reason."

Just as the party was rearranging to attack the two monsters, Milos found himself swallowed up by the iron stove.  He was inside the firebox, where is was extremely hot.

The flue pipes continued to attack Amadeo and the room began to fill with black smoke.

Casia and Jorgen continued to attack the Attic Whisperer while Santrel used the Ice Wand on the iron stove.  Amadeo began choking and coughing because of the smoke and was unable to attack.  Milos tried to escape from the stove but was unsuccessful and then he continued to take damage.

The Attic Whisperer fell to the floor in a pile of gears, bones, and twigs which allowed the large Fanara to head toward the iron stove.  Jorgen looked in the pile of junk for anything of interest but it was all mundane.

The party now was focused on the iron stove but Amadeo continued choking and coughing and felt some minor injury to his throat.  Casia moved into the kitchen and along with Fanara continued to attack the flailing stove.  The flue pipes continued to attack and Milos provided healing via channeling and then the stove fell into a broken pile of metal with Milos sitting in its midst, singed but not aflame.

Casia opened the doors to the north in the kitchen revealing a room with crates and barrels filling most of the floor, and a rack hung on the eastern wall, dangling with kitchen equipment and utensils, above a shelf covered in small glass containers. Shallow laundry basins stained a rusty brown inside sat in the southeast corner. A faint sickly sweet odor hung in the air.

A quick look determined the crates and barrels contained more foodstuffs, similar to those in the kitchen. The glass vials contained nothing more than household herbs and spices.  More appalling were the hooks driven into the ceiling above the laundry basins.

At the same time Jorgen had found Granny Nan's lavatory, a bathtub to the south and washbasins and a privy to the north.  He then headed to the stairs up to the next level but stopped before any sight of that floor came into view.

Fanara was again encouraging everyone to hurry to the next level as she wanted to keep her enlarge going as long as possible. After Santrel took the magic cauldron and everyone was satisfied with the state of the second floor, the group headed up again with Fanara squeezing up the staircase.

Jorgen was first to see the area relatively barren except for a column of clockwork gears that rose right through the ceiling above it. An icy draft wafted from above, and the ticking and ratcheting of the giant clock drowned out any other sound. To the east there was a door and as Jorgen moved in further he saw to the north several steps up leading to ladder on the wall which reached a trap door in the ceiling.

Jorgen headed for the door but could not hear anything in the room given the clockwork noise.  The door was locked so he pulled out the keys garnered from downstairs and one of them opened the lock.  Inside the comfortable suite held a bed, dresser, chair, and bookshelf. A large mirror hung on the eastern wall above the bookshelf. Sitting on the bed staring at Jorgen in disbelief was a beautiful young woman.

She softly let out a sigh of relief, "You are not the dragon nor one of the trolls.  Have you come to help me?"  She then almost collapsed on the bed.

"Are you Bella? If so, we will help get you out of the tower Solveig Ayrdahl sent us.  She would like you to come to see her." Jorgen replied.

"Solveig is alive? Great news. But I am so afraid of being eaten.  Have you killed the dragon yet?"

"No, but that is our next task. Wait here while we finish the job."

Fanara squeezed into the chamber and smashed the mirror as the discussion was going on. Bella gasped at the size of Fanara and her ferocity in smashing the mirror.

The party then began to head to the next floor, Fanara assisted everyone up through the trap door and she followed after casting a new enlarge on herself.  The large chamber contained the workings of an enormous clock, with huge clock faces on the north, west, and south walls. To the east, the entire exterior wall had been knocked out, and a platform of gleaming ice extended out into the open air. A chill wind blew through the opening. Tracked rails weaved in and out of the corners of the room, passing through five-foot square openings in the walls. A block of clockwork gears and mechanisms ran to the ceiling toward the west.

As the party all made it to the top floor a dragon flew into view above the ice.  It moved into position and breathed cold upon the party.  Luckily the party had prepared with potions of resist cold, so the damage was minimal.  The battle was fully engaged as Jorgen prepared his crossbow and Casia drank a potion.  Fanara moved up, in her large size she was able to reach the flying dragon and hit it but she was vulnerable to the return full attack of bite, claw and wing which damaged her extensively.  Milos had cast a Bless and was moving around the clockwork to get at the dragon.  Amadeo had the same idea.  Santrel moved to use his burning arc and then Casia walked out and breathed fire at the dragon.  All the fire attacks were doing extra damage.

Jorgen and Amadeo fired their crossbows and the dragon moved in to attack Fanara once again.  After the bite Fanara hit the floor unconscious but the dragon was too high to use its wings and claw against Amadeo.  This was its downfall as the party then attacked again in masse and the dragon fell to the ice.

After another channel from Milos, Fanara was back on her feet and the rest of the party felt stronger. Casia set off a skyrocket from the top of the tower and watched as it illuminated the sky. The party hoped that Solveig's plan would come to fruition.

The dragon's hoard had a magic shield and magic figurine, some scrolls and a wand along with the usual coinage. Cleanup of the rest of the tower found more coins among the ashes of burned trolls and a fine looking composite bow.  No other magic was found.  In the nursery a collection of children's books included a dubious and inappropriate exception is entitled The Wilewood Labyrinth.  It's collection of ghastly illustrations of shadowy creatures was certainly not correct for children.

Under Granny Nan's desk was a box which containing dozens of handwritten letters to Queen Elvanna and children's parents, one from Inge indicated she was overjoyed at the food she had been fed, "I'm gaining weight". Alongside them were requisition orders, all stamped with approval, for children from orphanages in Whitethrone to be brought to the clock tower. 

The party gathered Bella and the children together and then headed back to the shrine of the Everbloom.  As they left the tower the sounds of upheaval could be heard across the city, along with plumes of smoke. Several times the group made detours around fighting in the streets and no one stopped them to ask for their papers.  They easily returned to the Shrine.

Solveig and Bella were overjoyed to see one another alive again.  They both complimented the party vociferously for their bravery and skill.  Solveig again said they could stay in the Shrine to recover but she warned them that the uprising would likely only last for two or three days.  If they wanted to take advantage of this to find Baba Yaga's hut in the market square they should not dawdle.

DM's Notes: The party now has 17,095 XP and is at sixth level.