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Noting earlier that the stairwell and ceiling are blocked by some strange barrier, Lazarus asks Pavan in Auran, to fly up to the remaining floors and yell down to him whatever she can see through the windows in the clocktower.
"Can one of you bind the purple gremlin? It might be able to answer questions we have, now or later when time permits. I'll heal Yorad."
"Jan, can you heal yourself, or do you need help?"
Then the wizard-priest turns his attention to the barrier, casting detect magic.
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Frankie tucks his dagger into his belt and rushes over to try to help Yorad but Laz beats him to the punch "Is... is... he dead?" Frankie kneels down and sticks a finger in a arrow hole while smelling the man.
"This hole is really deep!" He calls out, half grossed out, half excited. "Peeew, he really needs a bath. He smells like sweaty sour milk!" Frankie hops up as the man wakes up "You saved him Laz!"
While Meredith ties up the goblin, Denair flies up to the strange barrier.
"What- why are they doing this?" Denair grumbles as she flies to the barrier and looks up.
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Winded, but satisfied with the carnage he was able to cause Jan takes a few deep breaths, between which he smiles,,,
"That was a good one! Thanks for the offer of healing Laz, but I can manage on my own... Great job all around. I am glad to see that we didn't lose anyone... but it was close."
*Jan will use his Wand of CLW on himself as necessary to get his hit points up to maximum. Either by rolling or taking an average of 2 charges healing 9 points.
After healing, Jan will check his gear and weapons and well as checking over the bodies of the fallen gremlins...taking a trophy or two for his collection!
With the bulk of the gremlins defeated and the single remaining one offering surrender the hectic and confusing battle comes to an end. As Lazarus sees to Yorad's wounds (with some questionable help from Frankie) he sends Pavan out the nearby window and up to see what she can see since the way to progress further is blocked...
Huh...when you peer into the windows of the 4th floor you don't see anyone but you also don't see the barrier between the 3rd and 4th floors that you thought you saw earlier. You do see a barrier blocking the way up to the top of the tower, however.
As you fly further up to try to get a glimpse into the top your efforts come to an end. The top of the Clock Tower is swathed in bright light and barriers of glowing violet block any view of the interior.
...except that it isn't? Huh. Meredith and Denair could've sworn they saw a barrier blocking passage to the 4th floor but when they look again there's nothing there. Maybe they imagined it or maybe it's all the wibbly wobbly timey wimey shenanigans going on in the tower right now. Yes, that's certainly it...
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While Meredith & Denair secure the gremlin Jan sees to his own wounds before scavenging through the corpses of his fallen foes...
Warhammer x3 (tiny)
Leather Armor x2 (tiny)
MWK Longbow x2 (tiny)
MWK Warhammer x2 (tiny)
...and while most of it consists tiny weapons and armor that would be useless to any of you, there is a potion as well as two jars of a light pink creamy substance! One of the gremlins, the one that tumbled over the railing when Meredith skewered him, also dropped a satchel that contains a jar holding a thick, grayish substance.
It's Cure Light Wounds~
About the time that Pavan returns from her short scouting flight outside and that Meredith & Denair finish securing your prisoner you hear a familiar, feminine voice call from somewhere below.
"Hey! Who's up there??? If you're here to cause trouble, you'd better get out! And if you're here to help...well, HELP! The supplies are attacking!"
It sounds like Seripan somehow found her way inside the tower as well...
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Once the binds are secured, Meredith examines the magical equipment.
"Cure Light Wounds." Meredith hands the potion to Yorad. "Just in case another one gets lucky."
"Universal Solvent will come in handy if something is stuck together."
"I have... no idea what this gray stuff is."
Seripan shouts from above and Meredith casts Long Arm to better prepare herself. "Mayor Seripan? We're coming, hand tight!"
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Frankie stumbles back out of Yorad's way when he gets up, looking around to see exactly what he was so afraid of nearby Huh, he must have gotten bumped on the head. Its just me and Laz!
As the group ponders the findings Frankie looks on, eager to get his tiny mitts on some of the cool looking prizes "Wow, check out those bows, they are so small!" He snatches one up along with some arrows before heading upstairs to help the mayor.
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Lazarus studies the gray substance in the jar, but ultimately shakes his head in failure. "I can't identify this. Perhaps the Society would ask Elminster or Merlin to take a look at it."
Hearing Seripan's call for help, Lazarus follows the team back down the tower.
Though initially confused on where Seripan's voice came from, Lazarus determines that she called up from a lower level and so motions for everyone to head back down the stairs. Thankfully the passage back down to the 2nd floor remains unblocked as does passage from the 2nd floor down to the 1st - where you can now hear the sounds of something rattling and banging around.
As you all hurriedly file down the steps to the ground floor you can see that arcs of purple energy ripple from between the Clock Tower’s gears and the white stones that make up the fey circle. The pungent scent of ozone and fresh rain fills the room, though there are no storms in sight. But more alarmingly you can see Seripan leaping desperately about the room, pursued by a rather large...bag? What?
"Help! The bag's got a mind of its own!" Seripan cries as she leaps atop a small stack of barrels in the corner. "The tools are rising up against their masters! It's total anarchy!"
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Lazarus
Yorad
Frankie
Meredith + Denair
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Bag
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Jan
Active Conditions: None
Lazarus, Yorad, Frankie and Meredith + Denair are UP!
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"Frankie the Flash to the rescue!" In an instant Frankie hops into the nearby RED portal, drawing out his cold iron dagger as he goes.
And pops out a ways behind the oversized tool bag with fresh legs. He races up behind the bag and starts waving his dagger around "Come at me bro... bag!"
"Frankie! Wait!" Denair hops into the red portal and travels to blue portal 2, exposing her to danger.
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"A hopping...bag. Now just how am I supposed to kill THAT thing?" Yorad grumbles. Still he does follow Frankie into the Red portal...
...unfortunately he finds himself much farther away from the battle than he liked.
Stupid magic...
He elects to move up closer to the battle, drawing his last vial of alchemist fire as he goes.
Ready to leap to Seripan's defense Frankie whips out his dagger and dives into the nearby Red portal, shooting out of a Blue one on the far side of the room. He moves up as much as he can and adopts a defensive position, taunting the bag to come at him!
Denair and Meredith also move to engage the bag, a little nonplussed by this strange development. The pair make use of the portals and their inherent affinity to them to maneuver into flanking position, lashing out with spear and mighty arm. But even though they have the advantage neither strike manages to connect with the clanking bag.
Though rather distrustful of the portals Yorad follows after Frankie but ends up spooting out from a Blue portal way up in the northwest corner of the room. Grumbling he draws out a vial of alchemist's fire and advances.
Lazarus knows the basics of what this thing is - an animated object, a rather unique type of construct - and some of its basic traits but nothing more specific. He decides to go back to the old standby and fires a magic missile from his wand, which slams into the bag and even burns a small hole in its fabric!
Being unsure of what to expect it comes as a rather unwelcome surprise to everyone as two pouches within the bag open and erupt with a barrage of weapons and alchemical items!
In spite of his best efforts to be careful Frankie catches a longsword slice to the arm as it goes whizzing by him while Denair manages to duck a club that would've otherwise caught her in the shoulder. Unfortunately neither Denair nor Yorad are able to avoid the vials launched like high-speed projectiles; one shatters against the eidolon's chest and splashes her with liquid fire while a second connects with Yorad's knee and douses his legs with burning acid! The only silver lining is that neither the fire nor the acid seem to really cling or linger like they normally would, sparing the pair further injury.
"Whoa, hey, ouch, stop!" Seripan yelps as other vials and bits of weaponry shatter and clatter all around her, forcing her to duck down behind the box she's perched upon.
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Lazarus
Yorad
Frankie
Meredith + Denair
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Bag
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Jan
Active Conditions: None
Everyone is UP!
Understandably sticking to what works, Lazarus continues to pepper the errant bag with magic missiles! It seems quite effective.
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Lazarus
Yorad
Frankie
Meredith + Denair
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Bag
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Jan
Active Conditions: None
Jan, Yorad, Frankie and Meredith + Denair are UP!
Yorad has no trouble giving the bag a taste of its own medicine as he flings his alchemist fire and watches it shatter against the thick burlap, beginning to burn quite nicely!
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Lazarus
Yorad
Frankie
Meredith + Denair
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Bag
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Jan
Active Conditions: None
Jan, Frankie and Meredith + Denair are UP!
The chemicals burn Denair, but she just presses on. "Frankie, stay behind me if it gets too tough, okay?"
Undaunted by the projectile-spitting bag Meredith and Denair simply redouble their efforts to bring it down. This time, Meredith's spear easily pierces the bag and leaves a noticeable hole in the thick burlap. Denair also manages to connect with a mighty fist, though barely. As her fist *POOMFS* against the bag's fabric she notices that it doesn't seem to leave quite as much of a mark as she would've expected...
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Lazarus
Yorad
Frankie
Meredith + Denair
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Bag
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Jan
Active Conditions: None
Jan and Frankie are UP!
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Frankie looks down in disbelief as his arm starts to bleed as the perfect shot landed, cutting Frankie the Flash. "Why you rotten good for nothin' sack of dog crap!" He starts mouthing out a flurry of foul mouthed retorts that he obviously picked up from his friend Schwarz, not Mom...
As he does so he points at the creature and a loud bang centers on it and reverberates outward.
Losing his patience - this trip to Uringen hasn't been as fun as he thought it'd be - Frankie directs a stream of profanities at the pesky bag and then gives it the finger points his finger at it...
...and a loud *BANG* can be heard, followed by the *KERSSHHH* of breaking glass! The bag seems to lose some of its mass and dark stains can be seen spreading across and through the burlap from within.
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Lazarus
Yorad
Frankie
Meredith + Denair
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Bag
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Jan
Active Conditions: None
Jan is UP!
Rather unwilling to risk taking potshots at the bag with so many of his companions up in the fray Jan simply hefts Feykiller and hustles forward and around the gears, grumbling all the while...
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As the group closes in and continues to pummel the unruly bag it suddenly attempts to pummel back, lashing out at...
...Denair with a thick, heavy drawstring!
The bag's string slams into Denair and then winds tightly around her, squeezing the very breath from her body! Denair feels faint, her homeland calls to her...
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Lazarus
Yorad
Frankie
Meredith + Denair
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Bag
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Jan
Active Conditions: None
Everyone is UP!
A bit alarmed at the toughness of this bag of supplies Lazarus continues to get his pew-pew on, hoping that they'll be able to finish it off before anyone else gets seriously hurt!
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Lazarus
Yorad
Frankie
Meredith + Denair
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Bag
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Jan
Active Conditions: None
Jan, Yorad, Frankie and Meredith + Denair are UP!
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"DENNY!" Frankie the Flash rushes to his bestie's aid as best he can.
Frankie rushes in, doing his best nimble dance moves just in case that draw string slaps at him, then hacks at the stitches along the edge of the bag.
Frankie ducks in behind the tangled and stranged Denair and tries out his 'healing hands' Desna power on her.
As Meredith intercedes to shift some of Denair's wounds to herself Yorad steps up and drives his dagger deeply into the bag! He then pulls it upward with a loud *RRRRRRRRIP*, slicing the thing open and spilling the remainder of its contents out onto the ground. What's left of the bag collapses to the ground, the magics propelling it spent at last.
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As the dust settles and the tower grows (somewhat) quiet again, you can see that a number of objects spilled out of the angry bag upon its defeat. At glance there appear to be four longswords and four clubs as well as four each of Uringen's special enhanced versions of alchemist’s fire, acid flasks, tanglefoot bags, holy water and antitoxins. In additional, a side pocket reveals some loose coin and six colorful vials.
Meanwhile Seripan pokes her head out from behind the boxes she'd dived behind, looking around nervously. "Is the coast clear? Holy moly! Gremlins are one thing but they even recruited the ding-dang supplies!?"
She flutter-hops closer to the group and her expression shifts when she realizes how injured some of you are, especially Meredith and Denair. "Oh wow...that thing did a number on you, didn't it? I'm sorry, it's all my fault! Cerotious was trying to help the Mayor so I thought I'd try and do him a solid and scope out the tower in the meantime," the little grig explains. "But those gremlins were wrecking things up above and then that stinking bag of junk came to life! And I couldn't get back out again..."
"Oh! But...maybe I can make it up to you?" Seripan produces a piece of parchment and passes it over. "Darnedest thing, it just appeared out of thin air before things got crazy with the bag and I managed to snatch it before it fell into the gears! You see the drawing in front yes but it's also got words written on the back, too, in Sylvan! 'Alternate' and 'Progress in an orderly fashion'? I don't know what it means but maybe you guys can make some sense of it?"
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"The coast is clear, Seripan. You can come out now."
Lazarus casts an orison and examines the six vials of magical elixirs. "Two of the vials are elixirs of hiding. A third vial is an elixir of truth. The fourth and fifth vials are elixirs of tumbling. The sixth and final vial is an elixir of green dragon breath."
Then he takes a look at the sketch. "Sylvan, eh? Something these fey were using, I presume, their plan of attack maybe. Hmm... It seems to be a sketch of the clocktower, with a series of hashmarks annotated on each floor, 2,3,4,6, and 8 from bottom to top, if we discount the horizontal slash. On the left, in blue, 2,3,4. On the right, in red, 3,4,6."
He pauses, considering the information. "If it's not a plan of attack, then perhaps it offers some clue about how to get to the upper floors of the towers. Who knows what mischief is underway up there, even as we speak. Do you hear anything?"
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"I have a theory," Lazarus says. "Let's attempt to follow the numbers in sequence, using the stairs and the portals. Enter the floor marked 2 and climb the stairs to 3. On 3, enter one of the blue portals. If my theory is correct, then we should reappear on floor 2. Assuming we do, then we enter the red portal there and, hopefully, arrive back on floor 3. If all that works, we should take the stairs up to floor 4."
"Selecting the appropriate red and blue portals may take some trial-and-error, but thanks to our prior use of some of them, we should be able to narrow things down considerably."
He casts his white-eyed gaze upon his companions. "We won't know for sure, until we test it. If we succeed, we can repeat the sequence all the way up to the top of the tower."
"Seripan, can you check with the mayors and Cerotious and apprise them of our efforts here?"
"Shall we proceed?"
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While Lazarus talks on and on about whatever, Meredith runs up to Denair. "You alright? Stupid bag." She prods it with her longspear. Then she pulls out her wand.
She turns to Frankie. "You okay, Frankie?" She remembers his reaction to the last time she tried to help him. "Do you want me to heal you?"
"Seripan, are you okay?" Denair grins- or as close as she can to a grin. "Boss, Mister Lazarus has a good idea. And we know where to exit."
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Jan, relying upon Lazarus' knowledge of magical and arcane lore, offers his support.
"Lazarus, I think you are right. Whatever course of action you think is best... I will follow. Just tell us what you want to do."
Checking his equipment, Jan tucks Feykiller back into his belt, drawing his cold iron throwing axe, quickly checking the blade's balance.
"Oh I'm fine but this is the last time I try doing Cerotious a favor when it comes to this stupid tower," Seripan replies to Denair, a bit huffily. "I'm just happy you and your friends are okay! You took care of the gremlins that were higher up, right? I saw one of them come tumbling down and splat on the floor over there so I figure you did. Good riddance, too!"
To Lazarus, the little grig nods and throws a salute. "Aye sir, right away! Hopefully they've got things outside settled down a bit."
And with that, she flutters off towards the second floor and (presumably) the window that you'd originally entered through. After finishing mending wounds and getting your bearings - as well as ensuring that you don't hear any other gremlins or fey lurking around nearby - you decide to give Lazarus' suggestion a try and hoof it back up to the third floor. The various portals here twinkle and sparkle with possibility...but there are three different Blue portals here, none of which you happened to test earlier during your battle with the gremlins, though you did inadvertently test one of the Red ones here as well as one each of Red and Blue on the second floor. Which one do you start with?
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Lazarus climbs the stairs to the second floor and waits to see if either of the blue portals transport Meredith or Denair to the floor below. "Let's see if this works."
"If it does, I'll follow," he adds.
"If it doesn't, then we need to modify our plan." He scratches his cheek. "We observed earlier that entering a blue portal, one immediately exited a red portal on the same floor. It might be that we need to enter a second blue portal on the same floor, in order to make the transition."
"For now, let's avoid the portals within the clock's gears."
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She turns to Frankie. "You okay, Frankie?" She remembers his reaction to the last time she tried to help him. "Do you want me to heal you?"
Frankie stares at bit right through Meredith as she talks to him, he finally calms down and nods slowly as she offers to heal his cut. "Thanks!" He quickly returns to normal once he's healed: all is right in the world of Frankie the Flash once more.
"You ok Denny? I thought you were gonna die!" He gives her a big hug, checking to see if all her wounds are healed up, followed by Meredith's.
As soon as Lazarus hits his monologue math lesson Frankie's eyes glaze over, he sits on the busted up bag and stuffs a handful of vials in his pocket, then taking a sip or two of cold cocoa. "Yup! Sounds good!" He follows the others, not having listened to a word the man said.