The heroes faced a difficult task on the roof of Blossoming Thorn. They were still faced with four burly Gnolls, and eagle, Biting Lash and something that was casting spells while invisible.
Gavril shifted over and killed the eagle as Erevel continued the battle against the Gnolls. Ciprian yelled out that Hakoor, the halfling bodyguard of Princess Njano was invisible near the old Glitterdust area. He then moved down and cast a new Glitterdust which covered Hakoor, and apparently seven other copies of the halfling. Paullus fired arrows into the fray.
Ciprian saw some movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Kisetz appear behind him. His view was enough to counter the sneak attack, also defying the Death Attack, but he took significant damage.
The respite was short though as Armania, Ursina, Gavril and Erevel felt a waves of negative energy washed over them and rendered them all Fatigued. The only saving grace was that the Gnolls close to the heroes also appeared afflicted by the spell.
Armania move her flaming sphere to the curtains that she saw enclosing the pavilion. It appeared as thought the walls were not solid wood like the rest of the building. Fine flags flew on the top depicting a heraldic camel being ridden through a flaming desert. She then cast magic missiles at a remaining Gnoll.
Now the Gnolls attacked, although two were blind and prone, one of which attacked a fellow Gnoll the other missed Erevel badly. The two sighted Gnolls were more dangerous. Gavril continued his attacks against a Gnoll and Erevel also attacked and killed both Gnolls next to her.
"We mean no harm to you, we are only here to talk. Call off your guards and we can parlay," Armania began.
"You were sent by that bitch Njano to kill me. She wants to remove me from competition in Okeno. I won't let her do that!" Biting Lash responded spitting on the ground.
"You have been misinformed by these two supposed bodyguards of hers." Armania desperately wanted this battle to end. Still she moved the Flaming Sphere to a corner of the pavilion.
The remaining Gnolls attacked again with little success. Gavril moved down to the rear of Hakoor and Erevel joined her as they knocked down multiple images but a couple of attacks still landed. Ciprian and Kisetz were still involved in their invisibility battle.
"Take that you dirty bitch!" Ciprian shouted in triumph as Kisetz fell invisibly to the ground.
Ursina attacked the last remaining blind and prone Gnoll just as Hakoor threw a spell at Armania who felt a dark wave dance around her attempting to draw out her intelligence and charisma but she fought down the effect. Paullus joined Ursina in attacking the last Gnoll and Armania kept up her conversation with Biting Lash.
"Stand down, we will talk with these monsters," Biting Lash cried out.
The last Gnoll lay its weapon on the ground and backed away from Paullus and Ursina. Erevel and Gavril continued their attacks on Hakoor who was soon lying on the ground.
"Follow me into the pavilion and we will talk!" commanded Biting Lash.
The party cautiously entered the building while Ciprian, now visible, hung around outside checking for magic inside. Biting Lash lit up like a lantern but nothing else magic appeared inside. After asking Gavril to collect some items from the Gnolls he finally sauntered inside.
The building was minimalist in nature: there was a simple lounge, a few well-stuffed cushions, two folding chairs, a table for food, and another larger table for business. A carved wooden cupboard decorated with a desert scene towered along the south wall.
"Who sent you to find me?" Biting Lash lashed out at the party.
"Princess Njano. We are trailing a Count Lowls and she thought you might know where he has gone," Ciprian added in.
Spitting on the floor Biting Lash responded, "Damn that Hyena to Hell. I will destroy her as soon as I can."
What followed was a long discussion of Count Lowls, his visit, and where in the Parchlands was he headed. Biting Lash produced a map which allegedly showed Lowls planned route. He was apparently convinced of the location of Neruzavin but Biting Lash was unsure that anything actually existed in the desert at that location.
At one point the heroes again had a vision in their minds of a stone cell whose walls held fetters. The voice once again pleaded with them to find it. There was urgency to the request as if the person was worried about time passing.
"Do you have an old slave we could buy?" Ciprian inquired.
"Hmm, I think we have an old woman who probably won't bring me any profit. For 100 gold I could sell her to you." Biting Lash answered. "Thinking about someone to carry your wands? You seem to have grown lazy!"
Further discussion was mundane as Biting Lash did not have any more information about Count Lowls. The party then asked to see this slave woman and she led the party down a staircase to a lower level where they found Gnoll guards turned to stone and some others fighting a Basilisk. Biting Lash led the battle to defeat this Basilisk and assured her guards that everything was fine.
The mechanisms for two great portcullises stood at either end of this room, bracketing rows of murder holes linked by iron rails. Next to these are a score of neatly organized barrels and racks for weapons. A door led to a huge and extremely well-stocked storage area, crammed with barrels, crates and other objects. A ramp led down to the next lower floor.
The next level was a room having a powerful musky smell, which seemed to emanate from two shrouded cages in the room. Hanging nearby were six blindfolds and a riding crop. Near these are six sets of leather equine blinkers that completely obscure vision. Ciprian, sensing the Basilisks took a blindfold and a pair of blinkers. Further to the northeast were barred cells that were currently empty.
An arched passage led to an area in which three large timber cages stood against the north wall, and piles of refuse lay in neat rows along the outer walls. Loose bales of dried grass lay on makeshift piles of timber fifteen feet above the floor.
The room held several human slaves all turned to stone, a Basilisk, a Dire Tiger and two dead guards. Panicked camels charged their way recklessly around the chamber. Again a battle was started to kill the Basilisk and Tiger after which Biting Lash led the heroes further around the tower.
The walls of the next open chamber were adorned with anchors for manacles and fetters. A long, thick chain locks through looped in the outer wall. A single spherical iron bell etched with images of raptors in flight hung from a large iron frame near the interior wall. There were two dozen or so frightened slaves chained up here, mostly humans and halflings many of them suffering from exhaustion. Beyond was an alcove sectioned off with mud brick walls approximately ten feet high. Sturdy wooden doors with high, barred windows sit nestled in the walls.
"She is in this cell," Biting Lash revealed pointing to the west door. "I will open it for you."
turns to him with a faraway look, stared for a moment, and then smiled.
She immediately began telepathically communicating with the heroes, and begged them to hurry and free it from its prison. It warned the heroes that this is a dangerous place and its body is frail—if anything happened to this current body, the yithian will forever perish.
Gavril asked Biting Lash for they key to unlock the fetters and upon seeing the Gnoll, the woman recoiled in horror. She was assured that all was fine from Armania and allowed the group to usher her out of the cell.
Ciprian had been surreptitiously trying to get Armania to join him in killing off Biting Lash all the way down the tower. Armania was only interested in getting out of the tower especially now with this old woman in tow.
"Can you open the portcullis to allow us to leave now," Armania inquired of Biting Lash.
Biting Lash ordered one of the Gnolls to open the gates and let the group out. "I really hope this is the last I see of them."
The gates opened and the party headed back to their inn. Along the way the frail old woman let all know that her name was Kaklatath. "Lowls visited the place days ago and is even now headed for Neruzavin. I can help you get to Neruzavin, but warns them that my knowledge of the exact path is incomplete.
Arriving at the inn the party began to sort through the magic items taken from Hakoor and Kisetz along with a few items from a couple of Gnolls. They were exhausted and headed for a nights rest.
DM's Notes: The party earned 22,400XP for the night's work. The group is now at 297,521 XP and are still at 12th level.
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