Pindleton, you extract an odd little winged figurine. After cleaning it up a little, it seems to be made of jade and diamond. If you had to make a wild guess, you'd probably think it had some religious, rather than artistic, purpose.
The four wings of the tower are completely open on this level, forming one great, cross-shaped chamber with arched ceilings. The decayed remnants of a carpet run from the doorways at the end of each wing, meeting in the center, where a spiral staircase drops out of sight below. A large, throne-like chair stands in the middle of the eastern wing next to a big chest, and a huge albino crocodile.
Beyond the throne, gazing into the approaching night or perhaps the city in the distance, is the slender figure of a troglodyte.
Pindleton shrugs, and shoves the figurine in his pack to study more later. He moves up behind the others, ready with his bow.
Gloriana moves a few feet to her right, keeping her eyes on the albino crocodile and the lone trog. Cursing herself for not having her bow ready, she glances at her companions...specifically those with missile fire, either mundane or magical, and whispers, Light him up!
Round One:::::
Odan <--UP
Croc and Trog
Sohar, Pindleton, Seth
Gloriana
The troglodyte turns, a full moon rising on the horizon. The light seems to echo on his silvery skin, and faint magenta runes can be seen.
Odan launches a javelin, them charges with his axe.
The javelin whizzes by the troglodyte, who turns and squints in your direction. He pulls at thin air, seemingly manipulating the moonlight, drawing it into thin strands. The strands lash out at a nearby chest, ripping its top apart in splinters, out from which burst 1000 tiny silver spiders...
The white crocodile snaps out at Odan as he approaches...
...its 3 inch teeth finding a new home in the folds of Odan's armor, locking on hard.
Pindleton steps a little to the side both to spread the group out and see about getting a cleaner shot at the troglodyte. First, however, he takes advantage of the croc’s focus on chewing on Odan and sneak attacks!
Argh! Odan exclaims as he starts raging.
-
Sohar, you recognized the casting of the troglodyte as druidic magic.
Just a split second before Sohar's spell takes effect, the floor on the eastern side of the tower gives way! Nearly instantaneously, a thundercrack bellows hard out into the night.
As they begin to fall with every stone dropping one by one to the ground far below, the spider swarm is blown hard by the force of the thunderwave into the also falling wall.
Odan and Sohar, you get a reflex save DC 15 for each floor. First success is what you fall to. Roll 4 checks: floor 4, 3, 2, ground. Between each floor is 15 ft, for a total of 60 all the way down.
The nimble troglodyte catches himself down on the fourth floor by a hand. The crocodile falls all the way to the ground far below...
...and bursts like a ballon in an explosion of blood.
As the troglodyte hangs on for his life he catches sight of his companion die horribly on the ground below. He lets out a screech to challenge the thunderwave, looking back at you all with tears in his eyes and pure hatred in his heart.
Seth points to trog using his index and middle finger and says
Bang!
- He would get pushed 10 ft away.
If Danger Sense works, then that's 5d6 damage. Otherwise it's 6d6.
Even if Danger Sense works, that's enough damage to bring Odan to negative in his hit points, which is instant death.
Gloriana slides across the stones atop the tower, her and Odan's hands just inches away before he falls.
Seth's energetic stream squarely knocks the troglodyte in the face, pushing him far off the side of the tower.
He gets crushed far below on the rocky plains, before the moon has fully risen.
Those left standing have taken the tower.
NOOOOOOO!!!!
Gloriana cries as Odan slips away from her, just out of reach, and falls to his death. She clenches her teeth, breathing heavily, just staring at him.
Do you think he might still be alive? she asks her companions.
Sohar! Can you tell from where you are?
Seth barely know these people, but Odan's Fall make him feel very unsettled. Seth look away unable to answer to Gloariana. He puts his hand inside his pockets to hide from the others the fact that they are trembling.
Balenor, the captive bard from earlier carefully makes his way to the edge to inspect the scene. "Gods, you've done it...but what a terrible price. I suppose the Historian's League wasted a fortune on this place, and nothing to show for it but the death of a great man." he gazes below for a few moments. "I say we raise the banner of his clan over this place." nodding to a large stone flagpole currently barren of symbol.
Pindleton becomes quite somber and agrees to with raising Odan's clan banner over the tower. He had approached this as his first exciting trip out of the dusty stacks of the library and into actual field research. Such adventures sounded so exciting, and those who lost their lives were heroes to be honored. But helping to recover Odan's body, Pindleton realized the real sacrifices those explorers made, and the brutal reality out here away from the safety of his books.
Perhaps somewhere out here there was a means of bringing Odan back. If it took years or if it was never possible it all, Pindleton hoped Odan was celebrating with his ancestors at least.
Should we bury him here or take him back with us? Did he have any family?
Gloriana sighs and shakes her head. I'm sorry to say I did not get to know Odan very well.
Seth remains quite, not really knowing what to say. He didn't knew Odan, like at all. But everything was going so well and then dead came so suddenly.