13th Age - Enter the War Forged!

Amras

Last week we left Rarity dangling on the edge of a rope while another monstrous starfish threatened to attack her. Her companions were struggling to hang onto the rope and haul her up when a second star fish appeared and attacked them too. Did they release the rope to fight the creature, or pull the now raging barbarian up?

With Rarity now lashing out at the starfish with her broad sword, Amras started hurling spells at the star fish, while the elf ranger scout who had accompanied the party from the court of the Elf Queen hauled the barbarian to safety and Jordan Young, the Buccaneer Bard, tooted on his bugle.

Both star fish were quickly dealt with once Rarity was back on firm ground and Amras had dumped a couple more spells on them. With the smell of the monsters cooking behind them, the party abseiled down to investigate the tower. It quickly became obvious that they were at the tower's base, not its summit, and that the structure had seemingly been rammed into the ground, as if more an enormous height. Amras cast light spells and they cautiously negotiated an entry.

NB - It is perhaps worth mentioning at this point that our DM built a 3D cardboard model of the tower to help illustrate the crazy angle at which the rooms now presented themselves. With the aid of miniatures it helped us to visualise where we would need to climb, etc. If he ever publishes the adventure, we've suggested it should come with the plans for the structure to allow other DMs to build it. Kudos.

Inside the structure, the heroes encountered two more star fish, which were again duly engaged and dispatched, although not before they demonstrated an ability to generate sonic blasts to make the adventurers' ears bleed [ongoing damage effect]. Amras seemed to spontaneously cast some kind of infernal spell that he does not recognise and has not learned, leaving behind the ominous smell of sulphur.

At the 'top' of the tower, the party discovered a lab, with a huge, pulsing magic gate, broken furniture strewn around, and more star fish. A robed man lay here with a small star fish firmly clamped over his face. Rarity sprang to his aid, to tear the creature from his visage, while the others faced the monsters that had come through the gate. Jordan Young was felled by a punch from the star fish, and started to die, but was saved by Sartheen, who sprang to his aid, administering a healing potion. Rarity threw the small star fish through the gate, and Amras destroyed the gate with a freezing spell.

Sartheen

The group now searched the rubble. A recovered Jordan Young collected some of the fragments of the gate to sell on. They also found parts of a War Forged, complete with a detached talking head that introduced itself as Neon, a former monk and librarian of the Great Gold Wyrm who worked for the Wyrm in the Overworld, a land in the sky, from which this tower had indeed plunged. Neon had been enslaved by the owner of the tower, who now lay comatose on the floor of the crazily slanting lab. It was a simple matter to reunite Neon with his missing limbs.

NB - Neon is in fact a Sorceror, but is using Monk as a background.

The party assembled a stretcher for the unconscious mage and proceeded back through the forest in search of the Elf Queen's mobile court. During their trip through the woods they camped and in the night encountered a gaseous figure that whispered to Amras about a pact they had made.

Upon finally discovering the mobile court, the adventurers rested. Attempts to revive the comatose wizard from the tower proved unsuccessful. He remains with the court in the custody of the elves. Jordan Young took the opportunity to inspect how the elven sacred war axe Glazentorg is guarded - it seems to be carried by a burly elven warrior who travels with the court.

A major council had been called to discuss the attack on a stronghold in the Elf Queen's lands, and how the elves should respond. Amras spoke for the war party, and finally persuaded a majority of the court that some kind of attack be made against the Three as an appropriate response to the attempted theft of the elven artefact Glazentorg. Sartheen spied on the elven general responsible for planning the attack, suspecting he might be a spy for the Diabolist, but he seemed innocent enough.

The party have now been tasked with planning an attack on a town to the south of the elven domains that is controlled by the Three, and have been asked to assassinate its 'mayor', and leave an elven dagger at the scene as a message to the great wyrms. The mayor, it transpires, is also a blue dragon...

NB - apologies if I missed anything. I was making teas and towards the end feeling the effects of a very busy and exhausting week at work. :(