The bugbear vanishes into the darkness, as far as Eva, Kali, and Asvald can tell, but not before the skald takes another piece out of him. Kragnor, it looked like he went around the glowing pillar in the middle of the room.
Round 4:
Initiative order
Eva
Kragnor
Kali
Melody
Senja
Asvald
Bugbear
The dwarf rounds the corner to see the bugbear up against the wall.
Round 4 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Eva
Kragnor-acted
Kali-acted
Melody-acted
Senja-acted
Asvald
Bugbear
Eva is able to get up to within sight and reach of the bugbear, and so she and Kali (and Kragnor) are able to see when the creature opens a hidden door in the wall behind it and steps through, immediately dropping out of sight as the door closes behind it.
After a little bit of fumbling, you're able to find the latch and open the door, revealing what was probably once a concealed exit staircase out before the tower was attacked and damaged. Now, only a few inches of the landing remain outside the door before about a sixty-foot drop to the ground. The bugbear's body is fifty or so feet away from the tower, and is currently being looted by about four goblins.
If he had fallen to his death, he would have been a lot closer to the tower.
After looking around and finding not a whole lot in the room (the central spire, by the way, terminates just above the cracked ceiling), the party returns to the lower level to check out the last unexplored area. This is an empty barracks, though being a goblin barracks it looks more like a junk pile. The stench of rotting food is overpowering. There is a distinct lack of anything of value, unfortunately; the place seems to have been ransacked quite recently.
On exiting the tower, you find the body of the bugbear, stripped of everything except its weapons and armor. Interestingly, it shows no sign of damage from the fall; it has a couple of goblin arrows stuck in it, which appear to have been enough to kill it after the damage you did.
The party returns to town, laden with everything of value that could be salvaged from the upper level of the spire. Morvius, the half-elf, is indeed in the taproom at the Red Shield tavern, nursing an ale while he studies a book. Without looking up he waves you over to his table. "Th-that didn't take long. Find anything interesting?"
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”Bunch of goblins, led by a bugbear who they turned out to have little love for,” Senja says briefly. ”Weird place, though. Most of the gang could barely see past the end of their arms, even light spells and such didn’t do much to drive back the darkness. I kind of liked it, felt right somehow, all shadowy. But it didn’t make for easy adventuring, I’ll tell you that.”
He raises a slender arm and catches the eye of a serving girl going by and asks quietly for a drink. ”Stout, as black as you’ve got, eh?” Turning back to Morvius, he says, ”Does the Society have any further tasks for us at the tower, beyond exploring more? We found a door leading down into some kind of basement, marked with a magical sigil. Not sure what waits behind it.”
Morvius mulls that over. "Write up what you found, rest for a bit, and then go back in. I'll see your chronicles on the w-way back to the Grand Lodge, and I or someone else will be here when you come back."
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"Yeah, the darkness was pretty creepy, no offense Senja." Kali pipes in after the others, "There was also this weird construct thing that exploded, but luckily we didn't get too hurt by it."
"Oh, hey Melody? Could you let me see your chapters too? I want to make sure I don't miss any important information before I write mine up."
Yeah, that's the ticket.
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Even though it'd been healed by Melody's magics, Asvald's arm still throbs where the bugbear smashed it. He's quick to order drinks while the others go over drafts for the Chronicle.
"I think I can manage a second light spell", the young ulfen adds. "That should give us more visibility when we go back down tomorrow."
Morvius collects the chronicles when you're all done and lights out for points south; the documents will be passing through Cassomir on their way to Kortos, so VC Trotter will get a chance to read his daughter's very first chronicle. The items coming from your factions (i.e., your PP purchases) should get here soon after that.
Over the next couple of days, you're able to take care of other purchases and prepare to reenter the Spire. There is word by then of a goblin cleric of Lamashtu who seems to be gathering a tribe to himself, but the Hellknights of Fort Inevitable are planning to put him down.
With your newly-obtained items in hand, you set out for the Spire again. Since you pacified the ruins level, Lady Commander Audara Drovust has decided to institute a regular patrol of the area, to ensure that any new occupants are detected before they can get established. The Hellknights recognize you, though, and let you pass without incident. A quick jaunt through the darkness and you're back at the top of the stairs. You can still hear the shuffling and moaning from below.
At this point the light absorption field is still active, Kali. You notice no traps...so far.
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Melody takes up her position in the back. Before heading into the tower she takes out a scroll and casts it on herself, walking a bit lighter despite her bulging backpack. (scroll of ant haul)
As the party goes along, she occasionally uses create water on the stone floor to check for seams that might indicate a pit trap or something similar.