End of the Line --- Total Party Kill in
Runestone Tower...
After resting up in Nibblott for the better part of a week, the
adventurers elected to return to the Runestone Tower. Duncan
washed the Fu dung off of his head and suffered some damage -- he also
felt “off,” as though he were under a curse of some
kind. They hooked up with a fighter named Kristov and
a cleric named Wibered the Silent, bought a
few more supplies, and headed back across the Valley of the Fu.
On the second day they ran into a band of Goblins. The goblins
ambushed them with arrow fire; Mandrake’s sleep spell laid them low and
the goblins were dispatched. Late in the afternoon the Fu
appeared and splattered both Ott Ahht and the Duncan the Hobbit with
dung.
Finally they reached the ruins of Castle Runestone. They searched
the abandoned shell of a small house and found nothing so they moved on
to the keep --- a heavily damaged 3 story tower.
They entered and found a wide hallway with the body of a man who had
been killed by a tiny arrow. Duncan took a silver dagger off of
the body.
A carrion crawler popped it’s tentacles around the corner and
paralyzedDuncan.
The Dwarf Ott Ahhhhht slashed at it with his sword and was promptly
paralyzed.
Attacks by Wilbered and Kristov, as well as a spell from Mandrake
brought the worm down.
They then searched an ajoining room. Kristov found a gold ring on
the finger of a skeleton and put it on his finger. Duncan was
suprised by a giant spider lurking in the chimney flu and took a great
deal of damage before killing the loathsome creature with his dagger.
Around a corner they found a set of stairs. They climbed up to
the second floor and found a large landing with a single door.
Opening
the door, they found a large room furnished with tables, chairs and
bookshelves, as well as heaps of books. A huge hole had been
battered or blasted into the western wall. Duncan stood watch at
a window slit and Ott
Ahhhht stood in the middle of the room while the rest of the
party
searched the shelves. They found a few scrolls and scraps of
parchment
covered in obviously magic writing. They found three arrows
behind
a row of books and gave them to Duncan. After an hour of
searching,
the Dwarf noticed a large, birdlike creature had flown past outside the
hole
in the wall. The creature circled round and flew into the hole --
obviously to investigate. It looked like a vulture with the head,
breasts and arms of a human woman; a harpy!
The party attacked the harpy with crossbow bolts and arrows. A
second harpy flew in the hole and began singing, instantly charming
most of the
party. The mage managed to take out one of the harpies with his
sleep
spell before being charmed (incidentally knocking out the cleric,
Wilbered,
in the process). After a heroic battle with Kristov, the second
harpy
flew off to lick it’s wounds. Since the charm was broken, they
killed
the sleeping harpy and awoke Wilbered the Silent.
The party discussed leaving in order to regain hitpoints and spells,
but decided instead to go up another flight of stairs. Here they
found a
landing with 2 doors. One door was standing ajar. After a
whispered argument on the stairs as to who should go and peek in, the
Mage snuck to the door and looked in. He saw a room with several
harpy nests with two harpies at rest. He began to cast his sleep
spell and the harpies heard his incantation; they flew at the mage and
the first harpy struck him with her claws, ruining the spell. The
other harpy began singing, charming most of the party. Duncan fired
three arrows at the first harpy while the rest of his companions,
charmed, stood motionless around him. He backed down the hall,
fighting with his daggers (one in each hand) but it was too late.
The harpy attacked with claws and a handaxe. Duncan fell under
the onslaught of the sharp claws of the harpy and it is presumed his
charmed comrades, helpless under the charm spell of the harpies, met
with a similar fate. The story ends here...