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Cautious, Lazarus moves toward the exposed gloom dragon, now surrounded by his companions.
As Denair attempts to grapple the evil fey creature, the ecclesitheurge bestows upon her Desna's blessing of the faithful.
Content to let the second twigjack go, Yorad hustles forward towards the now-visible gloom dragon. Not wanting to risk it getting away and causing more havoc, Denair swoops down like a bird of prey...
...and grapples the wily fey in midair, though she does suffer a nip from the gloom dragon's teeth in the process!
"让我走！下车，你长满了树," the little dragon squeaks in protest as both Meredith and Frankie try to stab it. But even grappled, the creature is slippery and evasive, managing to jiggle its way under or over both strikes.
"Let me go! Get off, you overgrown tree!"
Lazarus then offers Desna's blessings upon Denair, granting her a small boon to aid her on her next action.
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Yorad
Frankie
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Orange Gloom Dragon
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Meredith
Denair
Lazarus
Jan
Active Conditions: None
Jan is UP!
With Denair holding the creature in place Jan delivers another blow with his axe and the gloom dragon squeals again, thrashing and twisting enough that the Ulfen's follow-up strike with his shield misses...
...but the gloom dragon remains tangled in Denair's grip!
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Yorad
Frankie
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Orange Gloom Dragon
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Meredith
Denair
Lazarus
Jan
Active Conditions: None
Everyone is UP!
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Frankie follows that up with his own mean spirited stabbing as Denny holds it down. "I'll teach you to eat the last of the cake!" He yammers angrily as he plunges the dagger into its ribs.
Bewildered: The target becomes bewildered, taking a –2 penalty to AC. The target takes an additional –2 penalty to AC against all attacks made by the rogue. At 10th level and 16th level, the penalty to AC against attacks made by the rogue increases by –2 (to a total maximum of –8).
Denair goes for the pin!
1...2...
3?
Though it's a bit difficult with everyone now up in the fray and wanting a piece of the action Denair manages to pin the little dragon to the ground where Yorad and Frankie are finally able to put their daggers to good use to shank the creature good and proper. The gloom dragon gives a shuddering, burbly cry of pain and its struggles cease as blood pools underneath it.
"Heh...mission...accomplished..." the dragon says weakly before giving another shudder and growing still.
Having managed to kill and drive off the attacking fey, you're now able to take stock of the wider situation. While there's still the distant sounds of battle here and there, the chaos that had been sown by the attack seems to have abated somewhat. The Clock Tower continues to tick away and the strange red and blue portals remain scattered about, though it's uncertain as to how long they'll persist.
When you turn your attention to the fey that you slew you don't find much in the way of either clues as to the motive or items of interest; it's mostly just tiny weaponry. You do find a single scroll on the gloom dragon though, as well as the wand that it had been using against you.
It's a scroll of Dispel Magic.
It's a wand of Scorching Ray (CL 7th) with 8 charges remaining.
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Pointing at Jan Eriksson, the ecclesitheurge bestows upon him Desna's blessing of the faithful.
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"Good job, everyone." Meredith pauses and feels the burns on her abdomen. "Everyone alright?"
"Hmpf. Stupid dragon." She pulls out her wand of Cure Light Wounds. "Frankie, hold still."
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The samsaran waves off Meredith. "Thank you, but please conserve your resources. I'll use my own wand."
Lazarus casts an orison, enabling him to read the magic inscribed on the scroll. "It's a scroll of dispel magic."
Hopefully, we won't need to use it. I'd love to add this to my spellbook.
The wizard-priest prays for Desna's guidance and examines the wand, but he can't quite identify all its properties. "The gloom dragon's employment of the wand gives us a pretty good indication it's a wand of scorching ray. The dragon employed two rays at once, so it's more powerful than a typical wand of its sort."
Hefting it in his slender blue hand, he looks at his companions. "I can use this, but if one of you would prefer to use it yourself, just let me know."
"Of course, the wand would be far more reliable, if we could identify its command word and know how many charges still remain. Could one of you take a look at it?"
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Jan nods to Lazarus, "Thank you... the Star-Goddess' blessings are welcome."
Jan will use his Wand of Cure Light Wounds on himself (4 charges) and then if Meredith still needs someone to use her wand for her Jan will volunteer to do so.
All damage healed.
"The little evil fey-dragon said something about its 'mission' being accomplished... does anyone know what it meant?"
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Frankie growls at Meredith as she starts poking him with a wand. She hasn't seen him this worked up in QUITE some time. However with some healing he calms down and starts to regain his cheery self. "Thanks." He quickly turns to Denny for a hug "I'm glad you're not like those fey. I don't like them, they sure are mean."
His eyes do linger on the wand the dragon was using That must be the thing she shot me with!
Denair hugs Frankie back. "It's okay. The Boss means well. Life hasn't been good for her either. She's just trying to help."
Then she squeezes a bit harder and smiles. "Thank you, Frankie. It means a lot coming from you."
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Meredith gives Frankie his space when he talks to Denair. "No problem." She stays quiet for a bit. I'm exposing myself too much.
Instead, she turns to Jan. "Yes, their mission. What were they talking about? How much time do we have? We need to check on the clocktower. If it was built using stones from the fey realm, maybe this was just a distraction."
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Denair could tell Frankie wasn't himself when Meredith tried to heal him, he seems much more normal now.
Frankie's eyes linger on the wand as Lazarus waves it around like a piece of steak in front of the family dog "I bet I can figure out the password Laz!" He grabs at it and starts waving it around calling out sounds he heard the Dragon saying.
"Huh. Well its not gobblegooper."
About the time you finish mending your wounds you do indeed see Mayor Ogden beelining towards you through the streets, Cerotious fluttering along behind her.
"There you are! Folks said that they'd seen you here at the square, fighting off some of the attackers," she huffs as she reaches you, pausing a moment after to catch her breath. "Good work but I'm afraid we've been had! During all the commotion I caught a glimpse of a bunch of gremlins slipping inside a second-story window on the tower's eastern side!"
She scowls. "We should have known. This has to be Mather Nithra's doing; gremlins and corrupted fey are known to be that one's allies, after all. And whatever they're up to, it can't be good."
"Will you hurry to the tower and see if you can put a stop to things while the rest of us finish mopping up any stragglers out here in the streets?"
"Can either of you identify the properties of this wand? It might prove helpful, in the event we encounter more violent opposition."
Mayor Ogden blinks, caught off-guard by the question, but quickly recovers her wits and nods. "Aye, I'll certainly try. Let me see that for a moment, sonny," she remarks as she reaches over and plucks the wand out of Frankie's hand. After some scrutiny her eyes widen and she whistles.
"This is pretty powerful bit of work. By my reckoning it's a wand of Scorching Ray with 8 charges remaining; made by a relatively powerful mage at that."
She then hesitates for a moment before slowly offering the wand back to Frankie. "I probably shouldn't do this but some of the unlikeliest folks often know how to make use of these things. Just be careful waving that around, okay?"
"Oh, and the activation phrase is, 'firing my laser'," she adds with a shake of her head. "Did you pull this off one of the dead fey? Only they'd come up with an activation phrase like that..."
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"Oh no! We need to get to the tower as soon as we can!" Denair runs in a circle.
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"Francis, I'm not trying to steal your shiny new toy, but the odds would favor a wizard using that wand over a, em, young man, of your talents, incredible as they most certainly are," Lazarus suggests as the team makes its way toward the clocktower.
"Some of us will have to use the stairs inside the tower to pursue the fey. Would any of you hazard climbing up the outside to the second-story window, where the gremlins entered the building?"
You hurry towards the clock tower, uncertain as to what you'll find once you arrive. As you reach the base you can see that the tower itself still seems to be in one piece but, just as Mayor Ogden said, you can see a single open window on the second story of the tower's eastern face. It looks like climbing up to it would be somewhat tricky, but not impossible.
Any attempts to open the front door are stymied, as it appears to have been magically sealed shut in some manner. That said, it should still be possible to break through with a sufficient display of strength or perhaps with the use of certain magics.
A cursory check of the windows on the ground floor reveal them to be locked and quite possibly magically enforced to prevent them from breaking. Frankie and Yorad can tell that it would take a bit of work to jimmy them open but it's not completely impossible.
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Before the climb, Lazarus retrieves three of his wands. He uses one to cast bless on the party. While Jan free climbs the stonework, the wizard-priest uses another wand to cast mage armor on himself. Then another to cast monkeyfish. He stows his wands, ready to go.
Once Jan drops the rope, and a couple of his companions have reached the window and entered the clocktower, Lazarus climbs up the exterior of the tower like a skinny blue monkey with his wand of magic missile clenched between his teeth and joins the team.
Jan quickly slings his axe and shield and begins his assent up the tower.
"Wait here... I will toss down a rope when I get to the top, unless Denair wants to come up with me."
"I'll come with you. Boss, Unfetter me please. Whee!" Denair spreads her leafy wings and flies up to the second floor.
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After helping Denair, Meredith uses the wand of Mage Armor on her.
Once they climb up, Meredith summons an Unseen Servant
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Frankie smiles and returns the wand to Laz "See? I can share my toys." He glares at Denair accusingly.
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Yorad turns to beckon Frankie but he's no where to be seen.. until he looks up and sees the boy clinging to Denair's back as she flies up to the window "WOOOOT! I think I can see Russia from up here!" He whoops.
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Jan smiles at the Fey creatures as she flutters through the window.
"Those wings come in pretty handy...We need to make sure our companions get up safely."
If possible Jan will secure the rope rather than just holding it. If that isn't possible he will use himself as the anchor as everyone makes their assent.
As soon as everyone is up and safely inside, Jan will deploy his ioun torch and ready his axe and shield.
"Let's shed a little more light on this situation."
All of you are easily able to scale the tower wall and reach the second floor window thanks to Jan's skill at free-climbing (and Denair's powers of flight). The walls of this wooden balcony are still filled with shelves of papers and the three-foot-tall fences continue to be all that stands between the balcony and the intricate spire of gears that extends from the floor below, growing thicker and wider as it ascends to an impenetrable tangle twenty feet above. Unlike before, the gears now spin rapidly and erratically.
That said, what immediately catches everyone's eyes are the red and blue portals that shimmer in various spots across this second level, much like the portals you saw earlier in the town square. And while there are no signs of fey here, you can easily hear a ruckus coming from one floor up - gleeful laughter and the clatter and clank of machinery. Looking up, you can see tiny arms reaching into the gears in an attempt to tear them apart!
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As you entire the blue portal closest to you, you both feel a strange sluggishness wash over you and slow you down. But there's another sensation as well that feels...familiar, in a way. And welcoming.
Same as before, you feel mighty sluggish as you pass through the Blue Portal!
Feeling experimental, Meredith, Denair, and Frankie all decide to test out the nearest Blue Portal, passing into it one-by-one. For a moment, nothing happens and then with a *SCHLOOP* Frankie appears from the...
...Red Portal in the southwestern corner. Meredith & Denair appear from...
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Lazarus summons an air elemental to help against the gremlins that you hear up on the third level and then steps into the closest Red Portal, followed by Yorad...
As you each step into the nearest Red Portal you both feel a sudden boost of energy hit you, followed by the rather unnerving sensation of being pulled in several directions all at once...
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Lazarus emerges from blue portal near the southeast corner of the second floor of the clocktower, with a sense of being more fleet of foot for the moment.
He keeps his eyes fixed on the open space around the gears and mechanisms at the heart of the tower, up near the destructive activity of the fey vandals on the third floor.
Denair enters the portal. She relaxes. "Boss, do you smell that? She looks around. It's like Home." She takes a deep breath. "I think I know where to go."
Denair emerges from one of the red portals. "Wow! This is so cool! If you're fey or you're close to fey, you can choose your destination. As long as it's the opposite color." She claps happily.