They debate passwalling out, and decide to go into the middle and see what happens. The remaining portcullises all slam down with a deafening echo, and the party finds themselves in an arena. One of the walls of the arena begins to slide upwards, revealing a huge doorway. Beyond the doorway lurks such an evil presence that most of the party can do nothing but quake in fear.
Consciousness returned to the Tanar'ri as painful light flooded its sleeping chamber. Centuries of inactivity made it slow in realizing that it was time to feed. Not since the Mistress had given the thing away as a gift had the monster sensed prey in such abundance. It was time to feed, and feed it would. One appendage reached for a cord which hung from the wall and pulled it, allowing magical darkness to descend. No longer was it blind, but the prey would be.
Darkness suddenly descended on the party before they could see what lay beyond the doorway. The feeling of great evil projecting from the wall across the chamber began to increase. A presence was about to join the party! The first moments were confused, as the party tried to get organized into some form of action. The huge creature lunged towards the group, grasping the terrified Haedake in its mandibles and causing him to pass out.
Shzzt pulled the hood up on his cloak and disappeared from sight. He then moved near to Allan, thinking that such unspeakable evil must seek out the one in the party with the purest of hearts. Once Allan was located, the Drow then levitated himself near the fighter. Sure enough, as the spider dropped the limp body of Haedake the MU, it turned its hundred eyes towards the near-paladin, and lumbered forward. Shzzt waited until the thing was directly below him, and then dropped onto its back. However, now there, Shzzt found he was not really sure what to do. Safe, at least temporarily, from the fangs of the monster, Shzzt tried to figure out his next move.
Each minute that went by saw the horrible creature attempt to grasp one party member in its jaws, while spewing out horribly strong and sticky webs from its posterior at any who were attempting to move in from behind. The creature was amazingly fast for such a large monster, and those unlucky enough to get webbed were struck at with the mandibles before the glue even set.
Just as things seemed at their darkest, Leif tried to dispel a web in which he has been caught. He found that instead of removing the webs, the dispel caused the magical darkness to dissipate in a cubic volume about 30' to a side. The immobilized MU started to call out and the party tried to meet each other by Leif's voice. They wanted to attack the thing in the light. Quartz was headed off by the monster, and attacked. He managed to slip by the demon and arrived where he heard the voices of the others, but he still can't see! The lighted area was 5' above the floor, just over the unfortunate dwarf's head! Leif tried to dissipate more of the darkness at this time, and succeeded. Quartz was guided to the area, as Shzzt downed a potion of Super-Heroism he had purchased just a few days ago at Keilbasa's magic shop in Castle Greyhawk. He barely finished gulping down the mixture when he was suddenly thumped in the head by a low bridge; the Tanar'ri was re-entering its lair! Shzzt is effectively flipped off of the spider's back, but managed to find a handful of hair before he fell too far. He swung back up onto the spider's back and was ready to fight! The monster, now in it's lair, hit the cord to cause darkness to fall once more. The party panicked as darkness descended upon them once again!
Meanwhile, Shzzt remained calm and cast a haste spell on himself (no easy feat whilst riding a demon spider's back!). Within moments, Shzzt was transformed into a Dark-Elven "sewing machine" and he proceeded to slice up the helpless spider in just two minutes.
2nd Growfest
[Lief]:
The party prepared to explore the next level of the Tower. Upon climbing the ladder between the two levels, the party found themselves in a 20 x 20 x 20 room which was made entirely of green stone. As they investigated this room, the entire group suddenly turned white, as if covered in flour. The Game had begun.
They spent a few moments experimenting with the white color on their bodies and, satisfied that they are in no immediate danger, they went through the only door in the room. They were now in an entirely blue 20 x 20 x 20 room, with only one other exit. The party did not realize they were actually on a large chessboard, designed by the worshippers of Tharizdun in their growing madness. The party travelled from room to room exploring, not realizing that specially bred Tanar'ri from the Abyss are being released onto the board at regular intervals of five minutes.
The party met and easily defeated a Palm Tanar'ri, happily killing the only creature in some time that they had met which didn't totally decimate the party. The party started to get suspicious that they are being teleported around, since the rooms were all identical, the colors changing from blue to red every time a door was negotiated. To try and test their theory, the party marked one of the doors with a sword. The specially designed "Regenerating Wood" door was soon indistinguishable from the other doors, and the party failed to find their marked door. This decided the issue as far as the party goes: They were being teleported around and were hopelessly lost.
The party then battled a Poshib Tanar'ri which came at them through yet another door. They found it's ability to cure its own wounds quite disturbing. Next the party met a Kroo Tanar'ri, and were demoralized by its resemblance to a Stone Golem. They find a larger (40 x 20 x 20) room which had illusionary walls to make it look like four of the smaller 20 x 20 x 20 rooms. Leif found himself once again in the unenviable position of having to prove to several less intelligent members of lesser races that there was nothing where they thought something was. He was completely unsuccessful until Irving (Shzzt's Imp familiar) popped visible and suggested that Leif use his staff to dispel the illusion for a moment, thus revealing the true nature of the walls for all to see. Leif took the suggestion, and the party then realized they had been duped by the glamer of illusion once again. As they entered the large room, Shzzt happened to glance behind him (a habit he picked up long ago in the Underdark) and sees a King Tanar'ri enter.
The party was unaware, and Shzzt had no time to warn them. He rushed at the thing and tried to nail it with his whirling shortswords, but missed it. The King Tanar'ri then wished that the party was back at the beginning of the maze. The party suddenly found themselves in the green room from which they had started. The party leapt into action, however, rushing back to the place where Shzzt saw the King Tanar'ri. Upon arrival, however, it was gone. It was in an adjoining room, listening to the party and planning its actions.
The party began to explore again, and the King Tanar'ri followed a room behind, allowing time for some of the other more dangerous Tanar'ri playing pieces to catch up to the party. The party found what appeared to be a closet in one of the blue rooms. After some discussion and a cautious search for traps, they opened the door. The closet was 10 x 10 and had a lever in it. They found they could not move the lever while the door was open, so they all crammed into the space and pushed the lever up. The door slid down the wall and disappeared through the floor, but on the opposite wall, a door appeared at ceiling level and slid down the wall to stop at floor level.
The party decided to check out this new level of the Tower. They found that they were in a maze, and Phaedrus suggested they go back down before they became hopelessly lost.
They climbed back into the "closet" and pushed the lever down. As they opened the door to the blue room they left only an hour before, they were met by three Palm Tanar'ri, one Kroo Tanar'ri, a Night Tanar'ri and the King Tanar'ri. Fortunately for the party, the King Tanar'ri wished the party back to the starting room before anything else could happen. The party retired to the level below to rest for the night and regain their spells.
3rd Growfest
[Lief]:
Leif and his party awoke in the morning upon the third level of the Tower. They broke their fast and then began to pray and/or memorize to regain their various and sundry spells. Once this was completed, they then went back up to the fourth level. They began their exploration again, once again turning white in color. Suddenly they are face to face with another Palm Tanar-ri and a Poshib Tanar'ri. They polished off these minor minions of evil without sustaining any losses.
However, the luck of the Keolanders was not with them for the duration of the day. They entered a chamber and found themselves face to face with what was possibly the most powerful piece on the board- a Night Tanar'ri. The party scrambled into position for battle, as the Night gated in 6 Palms and a Kroo. Having to only think the thought for the gate to work, the Night had free hands to slash at Phaedrus with its poisoned blade, taking the unfortunate fighter for the third time into the realms of poison-inflicted death. Leif cast a magic missile at the Night, and Steele Bonecrusher, seeing his downed companion Phaedrus, went into a such a blind rage that he downed the Tanar'ri with a mere two swipes of his great sword. The black creature from the very depths of the Abyss disintegrated, and the party then easily defeated the remaining Tanar'ri.
The party then decided to use a heal spell on Allan, who was downed in the battle, to give them a fighter to lead the party. The party was aware that the magic holding up the Tower would not support it more than another week, so they felt they could not risk taking Phaedrus back to town to have him brought back to the ranks of the living. They NEUTRALIZE the POISON in Phaedrus' body, and then place Leif's ring of regeneration on Phaedrus in the vain hope he would come back to them. They rested for thirteen hours, allowing the damage to be restored to Phaedrus' body. Now, I can tell you from my own experience with those miraculous life-saving rings of regeneration, that they only function on people who are sliced, bashed, bruised, poisoned or killed if said damage occurs while they are wearing the ring. You can't put it on just anybody who is injured and have them cured. Just as well, too, or it would put us clerics out of business. But some benevolent God must have taken a liking to Phaedrus, or saw the great things that Phaedrus was destined to do in the future, because contrary to its very nature, that ring brought Phaedrus back from the dead, and restored him almost to full health. (Of course, the heal spell cast upon him from the scroll may have helped).
4th Growfest
[Lief]:
Morning saw our hero Phaedrus completely healed and raring to fight the foulest demons (the Oerthlings word for Tanar'ri) from the very depths of the Abyss. The party ascended the ladder to the fourth level once again. At 9:30 AM, Greyhawk time, the party rebegan their exploration of what they are terming "the chess level". They encountered several demons, and surmised that their objective to win was the kill the King Tanar'ri. They did not yet realize that the game was a far cry from true chess, and that their objective was simply to reach the other side of the maze-like board.
The party set up formation in the large center room of the maze, and waited for the Demons to come to them. Eventually, the King would show up, and all they would have to do is kill it before it wished them back to the beginning.
After several groups of Tanar'ri met and waited around outside the room, teaming up to attack the party with ever-increasing numbers, the party decides they had better move. They began to explore the level again, and quite by accident they ran into the King. The King was caught by surprise, and the party unloaded on it for much damage. With its last breath, however, the King once again wished the party back to the start of the board. Not willing to give up their advantage, the party surged forward, back to where they had just left the terminally injured King Demon. But It was no longer there. The party scratched their various heads in confusion. The King was bleeding on the floor moments ago, and now it was gone. They decided to begin exploration again, and opened the nearest door. There stood the King, who promptly wished them back to the beginning again.
Almost as soon as they materialized, the group began their rush back to the room again. Once there they tried to quickly decide which door the King was hiding behind this time. Suddenly, a Night Demon teleported itself into the midst of the party. It caused a large gash to appear in Steele's midriff, beneath his armor, with a mere thought, while using its free hands to deliver a demolishing hack to Leif with Its poisoned two-handed sword. At the same moment, the Nightmare steed upon which the Night rode struck at Phaedrus' henchperson Kay with both hooves, and bit her as well. The next deadly swing of the envenomed blade also hit Leif, and the renewed poison was too much for the Grey Elf's veins. He fell to the floor, alive but deeply comatose. But before the foul Night could do further damage, the remaining fighters in the party took him out. The party was now badly decimated, but they decided to push on in the hopes of finding the King and getting a shot at him. Leif was revived using clerical magic, but could not think straight or even walk unaided. He wasn't even sure how many charges are left in his Staff of the Magi, and therefore let Haedake the henchman carry the Staff.
Suddenly, as the party entered another room, the King appeared, surprising all the group except for the ever alert Drow. Shzzt had only a moment to react as the King took in a breath to wish them once again to the beginning of the maze. Shzzt knew the enchantment of his magic shortswords would not be sufficient to break through the magical protections surrounding the King. So Shzzt then cast a quick and useful spell, a magic missile. The red arrow sped through the magical barriers surrounding the King, and added even more damage to what the Party had already managed to do since entering this level of the Tower. The King fell. They waited patiently for some sort of fanfare or other nonsense to go off, which would indicate that since they had killed the King, they win the game. No such hubbub materialized. The party shrugged, almost as a unit, and began to pursue their original course once again.
After a bit of travelling the boring, same-looking rooms, the party almost decided they are on the wrong track and should start over. But perseverance is one of the better qualities needed by adventurers, and these ones had it. They continued on course after only a few minutes of indecision. Unbeknownst to them, a Kleen Tanar'ri had been generated on the playing board. She began to immediately plot her moves so she would interact with the party in three minutes. When they arrived at the room just before the winning room, they almost turned back, thinking that they were on the wrong track. The Kleen Tanar'ri was preparing her spells behind the door to the party's right side. In a moment, they would all be crispy barbecue lumps! Just as the Kleen was about to complete the party's horrible deaths, the tension in the air was felt by the party and they continued through the next door. The members of the party towards the rear saw a door open and saw the Kleen level her hand at them, but she suddenly disappeared and a voice spoke: "Congratulations! You have won the game!" The King Demon (fully healed now) arrived in the midst of the party to award the prize, but Shzzt instinctively attacked it with his shortswords. The King tried to put a hold on Shzzt, but this failed, as it often does with elves and their kin. The King decided to try once again, and if the Drow did not cease, the King would simply wish him into Limbo. This time, however, the Drow was held in place. The wounded King turned to the party to inform them that they now had one wish as a prize. The King warned the party, however, that the wish was limited in that it must have something to do with the Tower, since the King's power to wish is limited that way.
The party discussed the wish for a full half an hour before they are satisfied on the wording. If Leif had not been gibbled, he could have worded the wish in such a way as to make it operate just as the adventurers wanted (or wished). But as it was, the party goofed.
They inscribed a circle around themselves, making sure there were no breaks in it. Quartz then said, "We Wish that all of the magic items under 150 lbs. found within 350 feet of the circle we are standing in would be teleported into the largest room of this level of the Tower." It was carefully worded and carefully thought out, but the King Tanar'ri just laughed loudly and disappeared. The party rushed to the large room indicated in their wish, only to find it empty.
The King Tanar'ri did indeed teleport all magic items "found" within 350 feet of the circle into the room, but since all the items of the Tower which had been found were either in possession of the party (and hence within the circle and not on the outside of it) or already removed from the Tower by Trempette (and hence out of the Spell's jurisdiction), this was an empty set. This was certainly not the intent of the wish, but was the literal interpretation of the wording. The Chaotic-Evil Tanar'ri fulfilled his contract and the party received nothing in return. Had the word "found" but been omitted, Leif pointed out later, the Tanar'ri would have had no choice but to comply.
As the party pondered their possible mistake, having no reason to believe that they had erred, the Tower lurched to one side. Dust and debris filtered down from the roof. The party then made a hasty decision to make for the ground floor and out the main door. However, Shzzt happened to remember the tale told earlier of the Tarot Deck of Magic Cards in one of the rooms, and he made a detour to check it out. The rest of the party followed, although tentatively.
Phaedrus then lead Shzzt to the required room. As Shzzt entered, a black candle atop a skull on the table in the room lit up, and a voice said,
"Welcome to the Place I Be
Long Time since a Visit to Me
You'll Be here for Eternity
Or Draw a Card and You'll Be Free
But Things Will Happen - You Will See"
A Deck of Cards appeared beside the skull (it was a tarot deck of many things). Shzzt, who knew what was expected of him, drew the top card from the deck. It was the Queen of Cups. Just as he was assessing this, a throne appeared in front of him. It was much too heavy to move, but as Shzzt examined it, he found a secret panel. Inside this area was an Item called the container of tuerny. It was a minor artifact. Next Steele entered, fascinated by this cheap way to get stuff, and drew a card. He had drawn the IV of Wands, and this card made him begin to miss his home town sorely. Since his home town no longer existed, the card simply caused him some heartache.
Then Captain Koole decided to try his luck. He cut the deck and drew the Ten of Swords. Suddenly the entire party had the urge to rush in and kill the cleric. Most of the party recognized the spell for what it was, but Phaedrus and his two cleric henchpeople and Haedake all ran through the one-way wall of force and attacked him. They almost killed him with the first blows they rained upon him, and he tried to plead with them. Phaedrus was beyond reason, however, and he killed Captain Koole with two slashes through his chest with Phaedrus' mighty sword. The spell was immediately broken now that Koole was dead, and Phaedrus now saw what he had done. He vowed silently over the lifeless form of Captain Koole, cleric of Olidammara, to even this awkward score. Somehow. The silent fighter then helped the rest of the party take Koole's body to the doorway and hand him to those upon the other side. The body slid easily through the one-way wall of force now that the priest is dead (non-living objects are apparently not affected by the WALL).
However, now four party members found themselves trapped on the inside of the room, with no way out except to pull a card. Haedake was the first to draw his card. His card was the judgement card. Suddenly a board of Lawful Good Gods appeared only to Haedake, with St. Cuthbert and Heironeous sitting at the head. Several of Haedake's deeds were reviewed, and Haedake could also watch as these illustrious Deities viewed a hologram showing the truth of Haedake's actions. Haedake realized how these actions would be viewed by these Deities, and so he threw himself on his knees and begged that justice be swift. The Gods indeed found him to be lacking that certain something, and reduced him to a zero-level nothing as punishment. They removed all of the knowledge he had gained by adventuring, and all of the things he had learned regarding magic spells.
Haedake was now depressed. He could not even use his master's staff of the magi. He then decided to draw another card. What worse could happen? This card was the WHEEL OF FORTUNE. The card transmogrified into a 20-sided die. Haedake knew that the die was meant to be rolled. He rolled a 4, 6 or 7 (those present were never really sure afterwards) which caused his to lose all wealth and possessions, both carried and at home. This made Haedake very unhappy, especially when he realized that Leif's staff of the magi had also disappeared! Having nothing left to live for, Haedake drew a third card (and the drawing was becoming more and more difficult). This card brought him a feeling that it was probably a good idea to join the nearest army (which was probably good advice since soon Leif would discover the loss of his Staff).
Haedake fought desperately with the forces which tried to prevent his drawing a fourth card. But Haedake knew he must change his luck or his life was ruined. He got his fingers on one, drew it out, and then he himself disappeared.
Quartz shook his head at this spectacle. Not wishing to remain in such an unsteady structure any longer than neccessary, however, he went immediately up to the deck. With little apprehension, he cut the deck and grabbed a card. He saw that it was the Nine of Cups, and as he noticed this, nine cups appeared on the table in front of him. At the same moment, Quartz was imparted with the knowledge of three things:
- 1. At least one of the cups contained poison
- 2. At least one of the cups would raise an attribute
- 3. He must drink down one of the cups before he could leave the room.
Quartz grabbed a cup at random and quaffed it without even pausing for breath. He suddenly felt his skin begin to harden. It stopped after a time, but Quartz's skin was now permanently hard as leather [thus gaining him -1 on his AC vs. slashing weapons only].
Next Kay approached the pile. She hesitated, then quickly drew from the middle of the deck. Suddenly a Death Knight appeared! She had drawn the DEATH card. The Death Knight was there to take Kay with him (after killing her of course). As Allan rushed into the room to help the lady, the Death Knight cast a horizontal wall of ice at the rest of the party. Then the Death Knight swung his sword at Kay, and she could not completely avoid the blow. This enraged Phaedrus, who was already trying to cleave the Death Knight, and he drove his sword deep into the Knight's thigh. Then the Death Knight decided the woman was not worth all this grief, and decided to go out in a 20HD Fireball, which would probably take everyone else with him. But as the phrase to release this awesome display of power was leaving the Death Knight's lips, Phaedrus slashed the thing in the face, thus ending its words forever.
Phaedrus glanced over toward the door, where Shzzt and Steele watched the battle anxiously (but quite safely). Phaedrus was not impressed. He turned from his companions, walked boldly up to the Deck of cards, drew a card and threw it down. He, too, missed his homeland, and felt he may want to visit it soon.
Then it was Allan's turn to draw a card. He had entered the room to help save Kay, but was now stuck there like the others until he, too, drew a card. But he drew the same card as Shzzt had earlier, and the throne reappeared. The hollow part behind the panel was empty, however, since Shzzt was already in possession of the container of Tuerny.
The party was now able to leave the room of the Tarot Deck forever, as the Tower dropped yet more dust upon them.
The party made their way back to the Druid Temple to cure themselves. Leif was then cured by the Druids, who then initiated him into the higher circle and prepared him to rain in the druidic art of Shape-Changing. The Druids also helpfully reincarnated Bill the Horse/Boar into Bill the Black Bear. The Blessing (or Curse) on Bill which allowed him to speak as a human even when not in human manifestation survived yet another reincarnation.
5th Growfest
[Lief]:
The party then returned to the Tower to watch it's collapse. It took three whole days for the Tower to end it's above_ground existance, crumbling and settling a little more each day.
7th Growfest
[Lief]:
Finally the Tower gave in with a great rumbling sound. The entire structure seemed to crash through the very mantle of the Oerth's crust as it went down, leaving only the very tip of the Tower showing within a large crater. As the party watched from their vantage point a mile away from the Tower, Leif spied an object in the sky, coming closer to the fallen Tower. Kay used her eyes of the eagle and told everyone it was a huge Green Dragon (after her initial screaming). The party wasted no time taking cover as the Dragon loomed closer. The Dragon circled down, examining the Tower and sniffing at it. [It then sniffed the air, smelling the smell of man, elf and Dwarf mixed together, which usually meant..."Adventurers". The Dragon launched himself off the ground and he circled up and back into the sky.
The party was fairly shaken by the encounter with the very large Dragon. Leif tried to track it as it moved off South, but he soon lost sight of it. Leif knew this must be the Dragon Chloros, once the prisoner of the Druids of Ehlonna.
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