A Cleric, a Rogue, and a Ranger walk into a tower...

With some trepidation, we entered the tower, now unopposed. The first room was small and circular, with no distinguishing features other than a stairwell leading down. Shatain went first, looking for traps. He quickly found one.

The stairs appeared to be a straightforward mechanical trap. It was designed to collapse the stairs into a slide, unless they were locked in place. There was no trigger upstairs, and no way to tell what was at the end. We roped up Shatain & sent her down first. While we rigged a simple harness, Shatain was able to get the rope tied to Brennen's ankle without him noticing.

About 20-30' down, sure enough, the stairs collapsed. Shatain didn't slide much, thanks to the rope. We inched her down slowly. At the bottom was a pit, with several skeletons impaled on spikes. Shatain also found the mechanism to raise the stairs again and lock them in place, and close the pit trap. (She figured.) I went down next; Shatain & Brennen held the rope taught as a guard rail just in case. I got down without any problems, and Brennen also followed safely.

The bottom of the stairs had a bit of a social feel; there was seating and decoration. This was arranged around the reset pit trap. There was a set of double doors on one end. Brennen looked for any sign that the room had been recently used. He found no dust, oddly.

Shatain looked about for traps. There were none other than the pit trap. Examining the door, it was well built with a complex lock. I checked for magic, but found nothing. Shatain tried the door, but it was locked. The lock was superior, and she had no luck opening it. Shatain & Brennen conferred, and decided the door had deadbolts at the top & bottom.

Brennen tried throwing a shoulder into it, but the door didn't budge. He was sure his shoulder would break before the door did. I sat down to rest and recover my spells, as well as learn a spell to shape stone.

Once I was ready, I removed about 6" of stone from around the edges of the door. The stone resisted a bit, but it worked. We gently lowered the door. It seemed the door was layers of wood and steel; we wouldn't have gotten through it any other way.

Down a long corridor into another room, we saw 2 figures lit by a dim, eery light. We immediately dropped the door and jumped to the sides of the doorway. The 2 figures did the same. The acoustics were very good; we could hear them whispering that they needed to be ready.

I recognized the wizard was conjuring black tentacles. Shatain danced free, but Brennen & I were grappled and took a little damage. (I took 7, Brennen took 8.) I attempted to dispel the tentacles; I got through the distraction of being grappled, but couldn't break the spell. Brennen broke free from the tentacles and charged as far as he could; he was almost to the edge. Shatain charged down the hallway as well, but got grappled by the tentacles.

I attempted to cast again, but couldn't get past the grasp of the tentacles. Shatain broke out and got down the hallway. The mage conjured a fog of poisonous gas that began rolling down the hallway; Brennen made his save and lost 1 point of Constitution. Shatain missed her save and took 2 points of Constitution. The necromancer shot a burst of unholy energy in the hallway, in between Brennen & Shatain - I was unaffected, but they were both in the middle of it. Brennen made his save and took 14. Shatain missed her save, took 17, and became sickened. She dipped her sword in poison. Brennen broke out of the tentacles fully, and got down the hallway a bit.

I attempted to cast again, but couldn't get around the tentacles. I was able to break their grip and get out of the area; unfortunately right into the poisonous fog. I made my save, but still took 2 points of Constitution. The necromancer tried to cast a curse on Brennen, but Brennen made his save. Shatain went for the mage, striking with her longsword but failing critically. Brennen attacked the necromancer, hitting critically with a 2-handed power attack for 28.

Brennen attacked necromancer again, but missed. The mage waved a spell I couldn't see and disappeared. The necromancer cast carefully, avoiding Brennen, and seemed to heal himself. I moved through the fog, avoiding any further damage, and cast a burst of holy energy in the room. Both the mage & necromancer made their saves, and took only 8. Shatain made a best guess on the invisible mage's location, but missed with 2 attacks.

Shatain dropped a smoke bomb one one side of the room, where another corridor entered. She was fairly certain she heard someone swear inside the fog, and leaped for it. The mage cast a lightning bolt at Shatain & I. Shatain dodged it, but I took 40. Brennen attacked the necromancer, but missed with both swings. I healed myself for 45. The necromancer cast another burst of unholy damage, hitting me for 31. Brennen & Shatain made their saves and only took 15. I would be sicked for about 3 rounds.

Shatain moved to the necromancer and struck with her longsword (which was still poisoned) for 7, and 1 point of Constitution. I channeled holy energy to heal the 3 of us for 18. The necromancer dropped another burst of unholy energy, hitting Brennen & I for 10. Shatain missed her save, and took 21. She would be sickened for 1 round. Brennen swung for the necromancer, but failed. The wizard cast a spell, but we couldn't see its effect.

The necromancer succeeded in his save against the poison. Shatain had him flanked now; she missed with the first attack, but hit with the 2nd for 17. The necromancer attempted to cast, but this time failed. Brennen followed up with a hit for 17. I healed the 3 of us again for 13. The mage cast a fireball; he found a pocket that would get us without hurting the necromancer. Brennen & Shatain took no damage since our fire resistance was still up; I took 16. Just before it exploded, we noticed the fireball came from above.

40' up, a ball of darkness, about 40' wide, appeared. The ball quickly descended to us, and we heard the clatter of a coin as we were engulfed. The poison killed the necromancer. I felt around for the necromancer and excluded him before channeling energy again to heal the 3 of us for 19. Meanwhile, Brennen & Shatain searched for the coin without success.

I healed us again, for 12. Brennen kept searching for the coin, but couldn't find it. The wizard said "well played" and didn't cast any spells at us. We assumed he left. Shatain searched for the coin again as well, but couldn't find it.

It took us a few more minutes, but we found the coin and cast it down the corridor, back where we entered. We searched the necromancer. He had a flanged mace that was very nice. I couldn't immediately identify it, but set it aside for later. There was a comfortably sized pouch of coins, which Shatain almost slipped out of sight; Brennen & I both noticed it. There was a thin, high-quality chain vest. It could be moonforged, but we weren't very sure. It was very light, and we knew it took a blade well. There was as signet ring, which I identified as a noble's signet from Oritan - the house of Prellian.. There was a non-magical ruby ring. The clothes were dark and nice; proper noble attire for travelling, if a bit cut up and bloody. There was also a ceremonial dagger, not magical. His non-magical necklace was strung together bones & small skulls; we left that alone.

We counted out the coin purse. It held 100 platinum, 56 gold, and 10 copper. We split that mostly evenly.