The sun is heading down the Spire when Dain, Tilver and Velika decide to hire a carriage to take them from the Smoke Shop to Holys's house in Rivergate. After having collected the mage from his tea and afternon nap, they proceed on into Oldtown and down Toner Street to Pythoness House. It is dusk as the quartet arrives back at the haunted house.
Silas has spent the day in the courtyard. He's learned that the house is simply creepy, with half-heard whispers and shadows moving in the corner of your eyes. Tables rattle and candlesticks move on their own. He is tired and truly positive he does not want to sleep here alone, or at all if possible.
He has also learned that "the voice" speaks up at least every half hour and no less than every three hours. There are three statements: "Come to me...", "I must feed..." and "Chaos is the key...". Whenever the voice says "Come to me..." the wall of force activates until it says something else. The order of statements appears to be completely random, but never repeats a statement twice.
Silas rises when they arrive and relays how the wall of force works and then stiffles a yawn and says, "We should deal with the hounds and then I would like to rest before we try to pass the ghost. As tired as I am I doubt I would be able to do much against a ghost."
Silas stretches and continues his thoughts, "I doubt he has left as the strange voice is still present. In my day of musing I think he is keeping guard on whoever the voice is and they seem content to stay in the tower for now. Once the hounds are gone that should be the last of the creatures that might spill out into the city. Were we able to recover Dain's lost vitality?"
"I'm feeling much better, thanks." Dain yawns and stretches. "Getting a little sleepy though."
"We also found some really great mince pies, Silas. I'll take you there when we finish with this business. They have lamb too, even."
Tilver checks the edge on his spear. "Ok, so we have some hellhounds to dispatch. Let's do it quick, so we don't get burned."
Silas says, "That sounds great. Business first though." He then turns and begins heading up the stairs. "I think we should go up the secret room and attack from above. I will need to jump down, but your spears and ranged weapons can strike from the higher points and might be a bit safer."
"Have I mentioned that I think it's a bad idea to fight in our condition? After this fight we really need to get some decent rest.
But if we're doing this now, it does make sense for Holys and I to attack from the tower - but don't forget their fiery breath. I don't know the exact range but we might not want to be packed into a small space where they can get us all. The rest of you will probably want to spread out a bit more. It might even make sense for Holy and I to be in different towers."
Dain considers his companions words, "Having Holys and Velika in the tower makes sense, but our spears aren't long enough to reach the hounds from up there. Tilver and I will need to either climb a rope down the 20' from the tower to the roof where the hounds are, or go up through the trap door to the roof while the hounds are distracted by Holys and Velika making ranged attacks."
"There are several arrow slits at the top of the central tower. Perhaps Velika and Holys should go there and the rest of us should drop down from the secret tower room."
With Silas at the lead, the group heads back to the top of the square tower.
Tilver follows the others up to the square tower. "I'm telling you, I can hold them off with my spear! I mean, until they breathe fire on me...On second thought, yeah, let's just shoot them from the tower."
Not long after your arrival, the creepy voice says "I must feed..."
The team emerges onto the top of the square tower and closes the trap door beneath them. The pair of burning hounds seems not to have noticed them yet.
"Just shoot them from here. They can't do much about it."
"Only if they decide to stay on this roof. If you wish to do that I will go down to the level below them in case they jump to get away."
"What do we have for ranged weapons? I don't think I have enough bullets to take them down alone. If we need to have people down there it would be better if you climbed down before they notice us."
Tilver shakes his head and growls. "I don't have much in the way of ranged weapons. Silas and I can go down below. You hit them hard from above and we'll take care of the rest. Just keep firing." He spins his longspear. "We'll just try to keep them at arm's length."
Silas cast shield and ties a knotted rope to the trap door and climbs down the back side of the tower.
As Silas is tying the rope, Dain calls out to the spirits of the streets to lend his companions the strength of the city's walls. He touches Silas first, then (after some more beseeching) Tilver. The gray color of the tower stones flows up from the floor through their feet and legs until their entire bodies have a grayish hue.
Tilver quaffs his mutagen and then drinks his last extract and an alchemical field appears to protect him. He hurries down to the base of the tower and prepares for the assault.
The hell hounds are smarter than they look. Shortly after Silas and Tilver lower themselves down, they bay excitedly and charge forward.
Initiative Order
Holys
Dain
Silas
Tilver
Velika
Hell Hounds
Once Silas has moved, Dain quickly makes his way down the rope.
Velika starts to sing a song about icy cold, creating such an illusion of chill that her companions find themselves eager to charge in close to the flaming beasts.
You should absolutely do something. My mistake in just indicating Holys.
"Hey, you stupid firedogs!" Tilver sets his spear to prepare for the hounds' charge. He tries to use the tower to keep the hounds from surrounding him.
Silas moves around the tower and readies an attack for the first hound that comes close enough to strike with his falchion.
Holys's blast of acid misses, scouring the stones beside the fiery dogs. They each stop at the head of the stairs to belch forth gouts of fire, one left and one right, then move in for the kill. Tilver expertly stabs one hound, but exhausted Silas's stroke is clumsy and off-target.
Initiative Order
Holys
Dain
Silas
Tilver
Velika
Hell Hound A (15 damage)
Hell Hound B
Holys launches more acid at the hellhound, hoping his aim will ring true this time!
(+1 from Inspire Courage)
(acid, no SR, no save)
Tilver dodges to avoid the worst of the flames. He steps back quickly and then slams his longspear forward at the hellhound.
Silas gets scorched by the flames and then swings his large blade and bites at the creature in front of him.
Continuing to sing, Velika moves to lean over the parapet and shoots at hellhound next to Silas.
Apparently Velika is taking advantage of her rare opportunity to shoot from above something rather than below it.
Dain catches the scent of burning fur, so he moves around the tower in Silas' direction. Seeing wisps of smoke wafting off Silas, he moves up behind him and channels the gift of healing from the spirits to Silas.
Tilver and Silas slaughter the hell hounds before they can do any more damage. Velika looks slightly peeved as she is forced to uncock Alakablam without having fired it.
Dain prays for Silas's health and it turns out that the big litorian was not burned nearly as badly as had at first seemed the case.
Initiative Order
Holys
Dain
Silas (1 damage)
Tilver (5 damage)
Velika
COMBAT OVER
"Well now, that nasty bit of business is finished." He wipes off the blade of his spear on the still fiery hound corpse.
"So, should we try to parley with the ghost again? Maybe things have changed? Or should we opt for a good night's rest? Or shall we see what's in the central tower?" He points up at the tower which the hellhounds seemed to be defending.
Silas wanders around the area the hounds were at and checks to see if they were guarding anything.
As Silas is searching he glances over at Tilver, "This place wears on you. I think now that the immediate dangers have been dealt with we should retreat to rest. When the strange voice speaks the Wall of Force returns to keep it trapped. In the morning I will be more prepared to deal with the ghost assuming we don't find the key out here or in the final part of the tower."