Roll call:

Matt – Oxley the Seer
Andre- Niall the BASTard
Jon – Apollonia the Cleric
Chris – Clap/Klamlydia
Trevor – Battu / Eitsa
Bill – III the Beggar

Opened on Day 141 with the gang returning from their journey to Canopus. They were reunited with Oxley and recounted the last few sessions events to him.

They learned that General Gerson has cleared out the Western Gatehouse and kicked all of Hevralyn’s Phesters out of the City (or at least most of the city.) Gerson has established a small trading post and HQ in the palace now.

Gerson proposed that they should take over the Eastern Gatehouse too, as he needs it for security and intelligence and Niall agreed, as long as the PCs still have access to their “chapel” which Gerson was fine with. Gerson agreed to pay some compensation if warranted. Niall also healed 9of Gerson’s men, which continues to engender positive feelings and 4 more converts.

Oxley bought the following stuff for 787 gp total (between Gerson’s supplies & trading with desert people):
camels x9 50ea. = 675
riding saddles x9 30ea. = 270
saddlebags x9 2ea. = 18
feed x100 5cp eac. = 5gp
arrows x100 25
waterskin x22 5sp eac. = 11gp
oil, flask x30 2sp ea = 6gp
rope 50’ x8 25cp ea = 2gp
In addition, all PCs had 10 days food/water when they left on day 142.

Niall sent a sacrifice to Bast and requested an acolyte to minister his churches and interests in the City, should get a response ~Day 160.

PCs then left with supplies for the Invisible Tower (as they had agreed via email.)
Tayo, Stormcat, Deathlion and Jaspandar were left behind with gear and supplies while Team A went into the tower (III, Oxley, Clap, Klamlydia, Battu, Etsa, Apollonia, Niall).

FIrst floor— As before, when the torches lit, the tower sank down. This time they didn’t run out. PCs found a shark’s head with a lever in it— shark’s head closed on rope that Oxley had enchanted to try the lever. Also some very warm robes and slippers. Robes had strange insignia. Oxley felt a strange communication from an ambivalent life form, loud and penetrating.. he took 1hp of damage and nose bled from it

As the tower went down, it got uncomfortably cold.

Second floor- a strange cushion bed thing in spiral pattern, as well as murals of snake-men torturing humans and “human-hides” hung on the wall.

Third floor- Dining room with human bones in a box. Deathtrap here— 5 “fang-keys” under the rug had to be inserted into the snake’s head at the top of the door: “Jadinum”, Gold, Silver, Copper, Tin. III f ound a trap on a metal panel that opened and let water gush in (also through some other pipes) but III was able to shut the panel just in time to stop two monsters from rushing in and eating everyone.

Fourth floor- A serpent man vampire in a water-tank coffin attacked and was struck down by Oxley’s epic Scorching ray crit and spellburn. (He also owes Azi-Dahaka an agreement on a sidequest within 24 hours….) Inside his tank were three tablets of spells (scrolls): Invoke Cthulhu, Summon Deep Ones and Banishment. There was a magic circle and instructions on how to prepare a sacrifice, as well as remnants of shackles on the walls. There were water-breathing gill potions as well (they drank 8 out of 12). the tablets also mentioned that a sacrifice must be made before “the lever can be pulled”— explaining then that the lever in the shark’s mouth is the means to return to the surface— AFTER the sacrifice is made.

FIfth floor- A magic circle to be used to summon the Mindless Master. There are wards and sigils on the inner walls to protect the tower from the MM (and maybe other stuff). Two panel doors flew open and a tentacle tried to grab a “sacrifice” but Clap and Klamlydia severed it. PCs had a discussion about how to defeat the thing but didn’t feel that they had the firepower to do it. Oxley tried to banish it with a tablet they hand found in the vampire’s watery tank/coffin but this did not work (MM made its Will save.) The PCs, not sure that they have any hope of killing this thing directly and not willing to sacrifice to it, retreated back down to Floor 1 to try to buy time to devise a way forward.

wrap-up:
Andre asked a good question— last time the tower sank, it returned to the surface with no sacrifice. Would it eventually do so again? Answer: Probably not— what’s different this time is that the MM made contact with Oxley and is expecting a sacrifice.. so there would appear to be some sort of hold on the tower, geas on the tower, etc.

XP:
Shark-trap: 1
Water & Snake-teeth trap: 4
Snake-man vampire: 3
The Mindless Master: 4

Total XP: 12