3/27/2024 Fireday, Fertility Week, Sea Season, Year of the Overlord 2164 The party continued exploring the Yangan Dow’s tower. Igny opened a door to a room containing all sorts and varieties of mushrooms. The effect of the dense concentration of fungi spores was nearly overwhelming. Chance cast “Detect Magic” and determined there were two magical items in the room. He used “Mage Hand” to grab the first, a ring – still attached to a finger bone. Chance carefully wrapped the ring (and bone) in cloth and stored it away for safekeeping. Xaris decided to retrieve the second item, stepping into the room. No sooner he did so, than a zombie popped up from among the mushrooms. Xaris quickly dispatched the zombie with his maul, and retrieved a jeweled sheath containing an ornate magical dagger. Continuing to the next room, the party discovered a larger room containing a 25 foot ship! The boat appeared perfectly seaworthy, despite being apparently stuck in a tower. Interestingly, the ship was not inscribed with a name. Not knowing what to do with the boat, the party wondered if there could be a connection between the ship and the ring they had just found. Gunther cast “Identify” to determine the effects of all the magical items the party had found in the tower so far. The ring was a ring of water walking. The dagger from the previous room was a dagger of fury, which becomes twice as deadly when the wielder’s blood is on it. Guther was also able to determine the spells contained within the books the party had found. Additionally, the two magic scrolls the party had found were a scroll of “Stone to Flesh” and a scroll of “Greater Teleportation”. Finally, the unidentified large magic gem the party had found was a gem of soul capture, which currently did not contain a soul. The ship contained two compartments. When Igny touched the brass doorknob to the first compartment door, a voice filled his head. “Who are you?” it asked. Igny responded, “Igny.” “And who am I?” asked the voice. Igny paused a second before responding, “um, a brass doorknob?” “Unusual, but I accept,” said the voice. Suddenly, the name “A Brass Doorknob” appeared on the side of the boat. Inside the compartment, the party found the ship packed with supplies, as if prepared for a long voyage. Continuing to the wheelhouse of the ship, the party found a chart of islands. Surely this was the chart that Bilius had referenced! The chart itself was not magical, but at the bottom bore the sigil of the Old One, Netosa – Tempest’s nemesis. The party could tell that the chart was not of the Thousand Isles, but beyond that they could not decipher much. Moreover, A Brass Doorknob was no longer speaking to Igny, despite the party’s attempts to resume conversation. The party packed up the map, and continued to a ladder in the corner that led to the roof of the tower. Looking down from the roof, they could see that the guards they had left at the base of the tower had been attacked, with several of them lying bloody on the ground! Quickly, the party made their way back down the tower and offered what healing they could to the three surviving guards. The guards described how they had been ambushed by a group of halflings, and the unconscious man the party had tied up was taken away. Gunther was able to deduce that the tower had been powered by the man. The party returned to the tower to finish their exploration. First, they went to the door on the first floor the blood maggot had come from, but it no longer contained a vast expanse. Instead, it was a mundane room with walls of peeling paint depicting the countryside. Finally, the party ventured down into the basement. Igny led the way, and chained in the center of the room was some sort of wretched vampire creature, with horns and bat-like wings. Igny immediately rushed at the monster and attacked it with Kekax, delivering a divine smite to the abomination. Garrack joined in, and twice smote the monster, while Tempest cast “Chill Touch” on it. As Igny was about to deliver a fatal blow to the creature, it begged for its life. However, Igny was unmoved, and cut down the vampire. Before leaving the tower, the party used the scroll of “Stone to Flesh” to cure poor Rudolph of his petrification. The party camped outside the tower, as it was too late in the day to return to Strum. The next morning, on Wildday, the patrol of 8 soldiers the party had sent to scout, returned to the camp, but had been stripped naked! As the party offered them what clothes they had available, the patrol described how they had encountered a large force of 64 halfling slingers, 12 halfling mages, a troop of devils, and some sort of pink dragon with purple polka-dots and antennae on its head. Chance identified the description of the creature as a dream dragon! The dream dragon had blown some sort of haze over the patrol, which promptly fell unconscious and, much to their embarrassment, awoke naked. The party, and the surviving guards, returned to Strum. Shortly after arriving in the town, a falcon arrived from the east bearing a message. The Duke was extremely pleased with the party’s progress so far, and agreed to move their investiture three weeks back to Godsday of Illusion Week. The party decided to spend the day assisting in the fortification of Strum, and waited to see if the army the scouts had encountered would attack Strum. The next day, a halfling army indeed approached the town. The halfling forces were exactly as the scouts had described. The leader rode out on a pony to parley with the party. He explained that he was there to negotiate the surrender of the town. “Baron” Markowitz would allow the party and the denizens of Strum to peacefully vacate the town without interference, but in return he demanded control of Strum. After several counter proposals were offered – to no avail – the negotiator said he would return in 24 hours to resume negotiations. The party deduced that there was something special about the town itself that Markowitz wanted access to. Something that would allow him to increase his power. The party gathered the townspeople and explained the situation, asking them what about the town would be of value to Markowitz. After an initial silence, finally one elder lady spoke up, suggesting that maybe Markowitz wanted to tap into the power of the lizard men upon whose ruins the town was built. The party thanked her, and decided to further investigate the ruins on the south end of the town to see if they could find the power source Markowitz coveted. And with that the session ended. TL;DR: The party finished investigating the tower, and a halfling army stands outside Strum.