Chapter 16: Confronting Crane
16.1 Shopping in Arcturus
The party decided that it would be a good idea to make a quick (teleportation) trip to Arcturus to reclaim their funds from the Arcturus Bank and pick up some useful magic items before going after Crane.
Hork got an extremely powerfully enchanted chain shirt, Daergel upgraded to a Keen crossbow, and in general the party stocked up on potions to resist the various spells Crane might throw at them.
While they were in Arcturus, they also attempted to track down Balthazar and Mystara. From what they could discover, Balthazar disappeared quite some time ago, and his property was put up for auction. Another sage had purchased his tower, library, and research materials, but was unwilling to pick up Balthazar's old line of research for the party (for fear that whatever happened to Balthazar would happen to him). The party could not ascertain what had happened to Mystara, since no one answered the door of her tower.
The party also had a meeting with an old guard captain they had been involved with upon their first visit to Arcturus (the captain responsible for investigating Balthazar's previous assassination). From him they learned that Crane was the son of a pair of powerful wizards who had lived in Arcturus. Crane's father had led an attempted coup of the gnomish merchants' guild which governed the city. The plot had been discovered, and all the conspirators and their families had been forever banished from Arcturus. Crane's family had settled in Skullport, a free city of ill repute located on the coast of the Western Sea.
16.2 The Journey to the Tower
After their shopping trip in Arcturus, the party teleported back to Darktower and began their trek into the Black Forest towards the wizard's tower. The first night in the forest, giant wolves attacked the party at one of the run-down shelters on the side of the path. Although Morgrim was dragged unceremoniously to the ground a few times, it didn't take the party long to slay several of the wolves and drive off the rest. Magnus healed the wounded and they slept well the rest of the night.
The next day, the party left the main trail and headed south through the underbrush, towards the tower. Half a day's slow journey south, they came upon a small, fat, green, winged demon snoozing in a tree. They continued on and saw several more of the creatures. Eventually, they discovered the explanation for the presence of the demons. The leader of this loose gang of demons was the small demon the party had freed from the holding circle upon their previous visit to the wizard's tower. Although it had grown fat, sprouted wings, and its color had grown redder, the party recognized its voice. And the demon recognized it's old "friends".
Luckily, Morgrim was able to talk their way past the demon without (much) violence. He also found out from the demon that Crane had indeed been residing in the wizard's tower recently, and that he had some sort of magical protection from the demons.
The party continued south. The underbrush grew thicker and the trees more crowded together. The black forest proved much harder to travel through in summer than it had been in winter. Every now and then, the party would hear what sounded like something large moving through the underbrush in the distance. Before long, the discovered the source of the noise, as they were attacked by half a dozen living (or undead) trees (each around 10' tall), and several vaguely humanoid creatures made of tangles of thorny vines. The tree-creatures were able to absorb a significant amount of damage, giving Magnus and Morgrim a difficult fight, while Daergel and Hork did their best to take down the vine-creatures. There were several close calls, but it looked like the party would pull through safely, when a 25' living tree, much larger than the others, came into view, shuffling through the underbrush towards them. Things looked dire, but Hork survived the onslaught of the creature's club-like branches long enough to slay it.
After the battle, the party was out of healing spells, and in hard shape, so they found a clearing, made a memorable pattern of boulders to give Magnus something to memorize for future teleports, and teleported back to Darktower to recover. The next day, they returned to the clearing, and continued on to the wizard's tower.
Outside the tower a bunch of owlbears were wandering the clearing and nearby forest. Hork used her bag of furry mammals to give the owlbears a snack/distraction, so the party got by them without combat. But, as they approached the tower, they were ambushed by four gargoyles. The gargoyles were unable to pierce Morgrim's armour, so settled on lifting him into the air. Although Morgrim suffered a 60' drop, his injuries weren't dire.
While still in a rage from the battle with the gargoyles, Hork smashed the front door of the tower to splinters.
16.3 Ascending the Tower
The party picked their way through the traps of the entrance corridor of the tower and made their way into the living room. There they were assaulted by a supernaturally fast, four-armed skeleton wielding four magical scimitars. It sliced and diced Hork and Morgrim but was then quickly brought down under their attacks in return.
The padded chairs in front of the fireplace were still warm, indicating someone had been sitting here recently, so Daergel cautiously scouted ahead. As he climbed the stairwell, he saw a black-skinned demon oozing red slime crouching on a landing above. Before he could react, a globe of blackness appeared around Daergel. He could see nothing, so quickly scrambled back into the living room. The demon followed, and launched itself into a messy combat with Hork and Morgrim. Every time someone struck the demon, the red ooze splattered those nearby. It turned out to be highly acidic, burning clothing and flesh alike. To make matters worse, the demon seemed to have some magical resistance to the party's weapons. Eventually, however, the demon fell under Hork's axe and Morgrim's hammer.
The party continued to the second floor, which held the sitting room and sleeping chambers. There, they found the bedclothes rumpled and the mattress still warm. But as they investigated, another demon entered the sitting room from the stairwell. This one was insect-like in appearance, with an exoskeleton and four arms ending in sharp pincers. Before engaging in melee, it summoned a cloud of green, noxious gas, which expanded to fill the sitting room. As the party fought the demon in the cloud, their health deteriorated quickly. Luckily, it didn't take them long to finish off the demon and flee up the stairwell to safety.
They heard noises above, so quickly ascended to the top level of the tower, where the wizard had kept a casting/summoning chamber and a library.
16.4 The Confrontation
The summoning chamber was crowded. Near the back of the room, Drake stood near some portal to what looked like an icy cave. With him stood the three assassins that had once gone after Daergel's uncle Kiro. And it looked like they had gone after him again. Their leader, the dark-haired human woman, held Kiro in front of her as a shield, with a dagger held to his throat. In the summoning circle in the center of the room were 3 nasty-looking demons. The flesh golem that had been incomplete and inanimate the last time the party explored this tower stood blocking the way from the door to crane. And four animated suits of armor with longspears stood guard in the four corners of the room.
Each party member took a different approach to the dilemma. Morgrim tried to negotiate Kiro's release, Hork told Crane "You stupid!", and Daergel tried to get a clear shot at Crane with a sleep-poison tipped bolt. Eventually, Daergel took the shot, knocking Crane out. Kiro's throat was slit, and the assassins grabbed Crane's limp form and dragged him through the portal. Magnus dimension doored the party across the room to the portal, and they followed Crane and his minions through, but not before Magnus took a beating from the flesh golem.
The cave was huge, and lying in one corner were the mostly-skeletal remains of a gigantic white dragon... probably 60' long or more from head to tail.
Once in the cave, the party spread out. Once they spotted the assassins hiding behind an icy stalagmite, they closed in. Hork lay waste to the assassins, but due to the thieves' guild magic, took equal damage herself for every blow she dealt. Morgrim and Magnus kept her alive with healing, and dealt with the flesh golem, which had also followed them through the portal. Daergel continued firing sleep-poisoned bolts at Crane to keep him out of the battle.
Unfortunately, Crane came too before the party could finish off any of the assassins, and teleported them all away. The portal winked closed as well.
16.4 Wrapping Up
The party took the opportunity to smash the skull of the dragon and remove it's teeth and claws in the hopes of making Crane's task of animating it more difficult, then explored the cave. A tunnel led out and eventually to the surface. It emerged on a ledge on a sheer cliff face of a tall mountain. The ledge overlooked some lower mountain ranges and foothills, and beyond that, a wide, snow-covered plain. It was clear they were quite far north.
The party returned to the cave, to find four demons and the four animated suits of armor there waiting for them. It seemed Crane had re-opened the portal or teleported these reinforcements in to protect the dragon corpse. Low on spells and injured, the party decided discretion was the better part of valor in this case. Magnus gathered them together and teleported back to Darktower.