Castle Amber: A D&D Adventure

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 2:45 am

Voulton, ever mindful of the battlefield led the others towards the tower to the east. It was a little bit closer than the other towers and an equal distance compared to that of the main ruined building. It also had a large side near the top that Voulton thought a manticore could have flown into.

The horde of undead, seemed to loos all their muster after Kalar cast his spell. They made no move towards the party as the party approached the tower. More to Kalar's delight, they made no move towards him. Rather, a few of them looked at him and if mindless undead had emotion based looks on their face it could be said that they looked at him with a questioning gaze.

Voulton, Lynda, Rachelle, and Rob reached the musty tower entrance. A rotted old door stood halfway open. Quickly inside, the party noticed there stairs leading up were crumbled and that the upper portions of the tower seemed utterly destroyed. They found stairs leading down as well though. The stairs leading down trailed off in a dark spiral to some unknown dungeon.

Kalar begins calling upon the power of his god to influence the undead around him. Ten skeletons, five zombies, and a ghoul willingly decide to follow him. Kalar is pleased that things went so smoothly. He prepares his new minions to guard the wagon. He assumed the undead weren't attacking him of the bloodhulks because they were undead, but the wagon and the horses were too big to easily fit in the tower and the spell hiding them from the remaining undead horde would not last for the duration of their journey into what Kalar is now certain is Nathaire's lair.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 3:12 am

"Lynda, would you mind flying up and seeing if there is anything worth seeing in the ruined upper bits"

While he is saying this, Rob idly takes out a copper piece and tosses it down the downward stairs.

Am I correct to assume that Rob left Stumpy concealed with the wagon?

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:19 am

Kalar is cautious. He knows that Stumpy and the rest of the houses are with the wagon, but he cannot see them because of the spell. And he can't feel around for them, or the spell well end, putting his comrades in danger.

With few other options open to him, he decides to stay put for now, giving the others more time to get into place. Voulton has a good head on his shoulders, so he'll trust the half giant to make the first move and direct the others.

He readies his magic in case he needs to attack, and then calls the undead around him into a fighting circle with his bloodhulks forming the outer ring, followed by the zombies, then the skeletons, and lastly himself, Hrulgin, and the second ghoul.

How tall is the tower and how far away is it from Kalar?

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:39 am

"I wonder... how are we going to know when they're able to see us again? That door's not gonna hold anything and I don't wanna be near it when we start showing." Voulton debates what axe to use while waiting anxiously for the copper to hit bottom.

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:46 am

"Boss, I'm going to head on over to the towers to tell them, if they can even hear me, our situation."

With that, Hrulgin heads for the central tower. He has no idea where the others are, so he simply stops a few feet from the tower and calls out:

"Kalar has taken control of a great number of the undead. There are still bloodhulks around, but we should be able to take them. Kalar and I will stay back to defend the wagon, the horses, and Stumpy. Might be best if you go on ahead and explore the tower, make use of your hidden nature for as long as possible."

After finishing his little speech, he returns to Kalar.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 2:47 pm

Only Rob hears the coin as it hits the ground a few moments after his drop. He gauges the distance to be less than 60ft down. Lynda would have heard it but she was already flying up towards the top of the tower. The remains of a room held nothing but stone and old broken furniture. A quick search turns up nothing of value. Lynda rejoins the others in time to hear Hrulgin call out that the wagon needs to be defended and that Kalar plans to do it alone. The notion that Kalar has been left behind in a dangerous situation with the horses he suggested killing not too long ago hangs on the edge of everyones' mind.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 3:21 pm

"Stumpy better still have skin when we get back", murmurs Rob, but he feels confident that Kalar wouldnt do such a thing without permission

"Let's head down together." Rob suggests. "If we run into any threat bigger than we can handle, everybody touch me, and we can retreat back here using my Cape of the Mountebank."

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 3:38 pm

Rob leads the way as he carefully descends the stairs. The stairs lead into darkness as he goes down. At the bottom of the stairs, a large braced door can be vaguely seen in the darkness blocking the path forward. The door seems locked.

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:10 pm

With nothing happening yet, Kalar assumes that the others have yet to run into any undead. Still, might be a good idea to do something other than simply waiting around.

He returns to the wagon and retrieves a barrel. He calls over a bloodhulk and orders it to pull apart the metal bands holding the barrel together. Once that's done, he'll pass out the thirty or so staves to the skeletons and zombies to use as clubs, and then he'll store the remainder away in the wagon. Still won't do a whole lot of damage, but it'll do a bit more than just clawing at the enemy.

Kalar turns to the one ghoul who joined him and asks, "So, what's your name? And what do you know of this place?"

Feenicks · Post by **Feenicks** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 5:01 pm

Rachelle takes out the 10-foot pole she's fortuitously been carrying around and gingerly pokes the door. She had no desire to fall to any trap even she knew this door would probably have.

How does a 10-foot pole work, anyway? Do you have to assemble it together or does it just stick way out of your bag?

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 7:20 pm

Pictures I saw a long time ago in the PHB showed that it was like one of those painting sticks. It's a bunch of pieces that screw together to form a longer whole.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 8:13 pm

Kalar ordered his undead to arm themselves with clubs. HE also conversed with his new ghoul. The ghoul answered in a language Kalar did not recognize. "Mon nom est Sean . Je ne comprends pas ce que vous me dites," said the ghoul.

Rachelle took out the large ten foot pole that was sticking out of her backpack. It got in the way a lot during the boat trip but would hopefully come in handy here. Thock, thock, thock, went the door as Rachelle jabbed the pole into it. She poked the knob, around the knob, up near the top, and down near the bottom. Nothing seemed to happen.

Back at the wagon, Kalar knew that he would eventually see the horses reappear. The undead horde would turn quickly his way and begin to approach. The undead horde was currently grouped up. They were currently 70ft away from the wagon. Kalar considered taking the initiative.

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 12:06 am

Voulton shrugs and opens the door.

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 1:52 am

Kalar wonders whether or not to strike first. On the one hand, if he does, it allows him to rejoin the others more quickly. However, keeping things quiet up here could potentially prevent any alarms from going off. Still, the last time they were separated, one of the group died. He decides to act.

He passes his holy symbol over himself, hardening his bones against any sort of damage.

He then moves closer to the front lines, ready to challenge the horde. He holds up his holy symbol, focusing divine energy into it. He then points towards the group of undead, summons up a wyvern zombie, and orders it to attack.

Spell cast: Iron Bones +6 natural armor bonus for 10 mins/level

Kalar current AC: 32

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 2:49 am

"I must admit," says Rob "that I forgot to bring a torch. Does anyone have a source of light? Lynda, do any of those artifacts you are carrying glow?"