Finn sits dejected at the foot of the sundial, he was so sure that he had figured out the puzzle. His logic was sound but it seems this place is devoid of logic, is there even a right path to be found in this place? What if they never find their way out? Garrick decides to try and get some idea of where they may be and what direction they should head next. Climbing up on the sundial he can see the tower off into the distance to the north, turning to tell the others he looks back and the tower has shifted and is now to the east, every time he looks away and back again the tower has shifted it's location. So much for that plan. Farraine asks if the gems are in the correct slots but Lucian doesn't have much of an idea, there are still two empty slots and so they assume, two more gems to find. Sigrid then has a bright idea and suggests that she can summon 8 cats and send each one off down one of the pathways. If we tell them to stay there if they encounter a sundial and continue if they encounter anything else. Sigrid begins to summon 8 black cats but is soon cut off by Finn, rising from the doldrums.
"Wait, make them different, we need to be able to tell which cat is which should any of them come back."
It seems the bright ideas have not completely left the young halfling. Sigrid continues with her incantation and there is "poof" and all of a sudden there are 8 cats of varying breeds sat around the feet of the druid. She bends down and they look at her expectantly, well as expectantly as a cat can look at least. She issues her commands and each of the cats heads off down the various paths branching away from the sundial a few moments later the tabby cat that had headed down the westward path emerges from the path to the south. The party discuss their options and decide that they may as well follow the cat at this point so they head off down the path to the west and after a few moments find themselves back at another sundial or the sundial, I don't really know at this point. Anyway the sundial contains not 2 but 3 gems slotted into it and a grand total of 8 shadows pointing towards each of the paths leading back into the maze. Once again Finn is all out of ideas, in fact the only one in the party who seems to have a theory is Lucian who holds his magical staff out infront of him and proceeds to walk towards one of the hedges dividing the paths. It passes through the hedge as a staff would normally move through shrubbery, unperturbed, the wizard follows his staff and tries to walk through the hedge, could it be that the hedge is merely an illusion? Is it really there? Yes, yes it is, the wizard is scratched and poked by the twigs and branches of a very real hedge. Slightly embarrassed he returns to the sundial as bemused as everyone else. With no theories on which direction to take, the party decide they may as well just pick a path and see what happens. Once more the party wander aimlessly down one of the mazes paths and after a little while emerge in an open field. A number of sheep stand frozen in a small pasture and a couple of one-eyed giants are standing still in the centre a pond sits off to one side. As the party emerge into the field the scene seems to come to life, the sheep start moving as do the giants who seem to be in the middle of a game of Rock, Parchment, Daggers. Lucian interrupts them with some weird language the party have never heard of before. One of the Giant Cyclopes (yeah you read that right I even checked the pluralisation and it is pronounced sye-Kloh-Peez) turns to face the Wizard and in a similar tongue replies in similarly confounding sounds. Lucian translates what is spoken to the confounded party, apparently the Giant is surprised to hear someone speaking to them in their mother tongue. Lucian then turns back to the Giant and asks for his assistance in helping them through the maze. The Giant agrees to help on the condition that they win a game of Rock Throwing. It seems that despite there large size, they certainly enjoy their little games. Lucian agrees to the contest and the Giant promises to keep his word. The hulk of a man bends down and easily picks up a large boulder from a pile of similarly sized boulders that seems to have been prepared for such a contest. Muscles contort and stretch and the boulder is sent hurtling through the air landing on the other side of the large field. The party take a collective gulp. After double checking that they do indeed have to use a similarly sized rock, Farraine steps up to the plate, Lucian whispers in his ear as he passes and a sly grin flickers across the fighter's face. He walks up to the pile of boulders, wipes his hands on his armour, spits on them and bends down and grasps a rock with both hands. Being careful to lift with his legs and not his back he straightens up to a standing position. He takes a couple of steps forward and winks at Lucian who walks over to him and touches him on the shoulder, uttering words of power the Wizard casts a dimension door and teleports both he, Farraine and the rock over to the other side of the field, beyond the Cyclops' boulder. Farraine place it down on the floor triumphantly as he does so it cracks open to reveal a gemstone. Farraine picks it up and places it in his pocket. The Giant roars with laughter, congratulates Lucian on a well played game and walks over to the two of them. The rest of the party follow and true to his word the giant points them in the direction of another pathway. As the party turn back to look at the glade once more the Cyclopes and sheep are again frozen in time.
Walking down the path the party soon emerge into a clearing and lo and behold, at it's centre, stands a sundial. As they move closer they notice that this time the dial casts no shadows at all, it does, however, contain the 3 gemstones the party had already gained. Farraine reaches into his pocket and tosses the final gemstone to Lucian, who promptly slots it into place. There is a satisfying click, and nothing else. The party look to one another in bemusement. Looking towards each of the identical paths branching off in eight directions from the sundial, it appears the party has finally reached "Fuck it" and with no sense of logic, reasoning, gut instinct, or any supernatural guidance they simply start down a random path. As they walk for a short time they suddenly emerge at the base of the Tower of Xonthal!!! A feeling of elation and excitement washes over them swiftly followed by the realisation that they still have along and dangerous road ahead.
A quick glance at the tower shows that there are no obvious doors or ways into the structure. Lucian finds a circle on the floor near the base of the tower and on the tower wall adjacent to it a glyph. Consulting his knowledge of the occult he tells the party that what he has found appears to be a teleportation circle, activated by pressing the glyph on the wall. With little time to lose the party stand together in the circle and Lucian places his hand on the glyph, with a sudden pop the party vanish from sight leaving only a wisp of smoke and a glowing magical circle on the floor. A second pop and the party appear in a circular room, on the floor lies a woman in a pool of blood, a wound in her chest. On either side of the room are two internal balconies, overlooking the circular room. Climbing up to one of the balconies the party find another Tower Teleportation Circle on the floor, on the wall beside it is a series or runes arranged in a circle. Once more the party gather in the teleportation circle and press on one of the glyph shapes, there is a pop and a puff of smoke and the party are once more standing in the circular room. Finn suggests to the party that as the key they are seeking was last seen on a balcony perhaps the glyph shape they should try should look like a balcony. Again they gather in a circle and press on a likely glyph, there's a pop and a puff of smoke and they are gone.
Another pop and they find themselves cramped together in what appears to be a cupboard, muffled voices echo from beyond their confines. Feeling around Finn finds a doorknob and checks the door for traps, nothing, just an ordinary door it seems. He takes his flask of oil from his pouch and adds a couple of drops to the hinges before Garrick slowly opens the door. Stepping out they notice a couple of cultists in rooms to either side. Sneaking out of the cupboard our heroes sneak up on their enemies and unleash a flurry of attacks, surprising the cultists. Somehow though Finn manages to miss his attack, the rest of the party are more successful with their attacks, even Sigrid manages to entangle one of the cultists. The enemies shout out an alarm, one of them is immediately silenced by a well aimed firebolt from Lucian and he drops to the floor in a smouldering heap. Success is short-lived as all of a sudden Garrick is paralyzed by an enemy spell. Sigrid takes the opportunity to seek cover whilst Lucian sends another couple of beams of magical energy streaking towards one of the remaining cultists. The robed enemy utters words of power and a magical glyph appears on the floor around Farraine, holding him in place. The battle rages on in a flurry of swords and spells, One of the remaining 2 cultists falls to a scorching ray of magic from the wizard and the final one falls to a sickening blow from Garrick's Morning Star. Only the spiritual weapons of the cultists remain, floating in the air. Garrick, adrenaline still pumping through his veins and apparently little between his ears decides to take a swing at one of the ghostly weapons. His fist passes predictably through the weapon and he loses his balance and falls to the floor in an embarrassed heap. Searching the rooms the party find no balconies and loot the cultist bodies before relocating back to the cupboard and pressing on the star shaped glyph. A familiar pop and the party appear in an observatory, a large telescope dominates the centre of the room, on the other side, a door.
Finn rushes over to the door, checks it for traps and gives the all clear, Garrick, Lucian and Farraine stand with attacks ready for when Finn opens the door, Sigrid on the other hand has been distracted by the large telescope and is currently gazing at the heavens. Opening the door reveals a balcony beyond distinctly lacking an hourglass shaped key. Finn turns back to the room in disappointment and searches the shelves for any sign of the key but returns to the party empty handed. Stepping back into the teleportation circle they press the next glyph and reappear back at the fucking sundial. Fortunately it appears that all of the gemstones remain in place so once more they take the northern path and again find themselves outside the tower. Like seasoned professionals they step into the teleportation circle and once more appear in the first room they appeared in. Huddling tightly together in the teleportation circle once more Lucian presses on one of the remaining glyphs and the party find themselves in a large round bed chamber, an old but luxurious bed sits in the middle of the room. They spread out to search the room for the key, their heads turn as one as they hear the squeak of tired bed springs and are surprised to see Lucian climbing up onto the bed. Like a little child he starts to jump up and down but as is usually the case with such feats of athleticism he immediately loses his balance and falls flat on his arse. Farraine decides to show the wizard how it is done and soars majestically through the sky like some Olympic trampolinist. Shouting words of encouragement the fighter manages to get the wobbly Wizard back onto the bed and with a little assistance manages to land a couple of bounces before Finn of all people gets them to refocus on the task in hand.
With no key to be found in the room Lucian and Farraine get off the bed and join the rest of the group on the teleportation circle, touching another glyph there is a familiar audible pop and a puff of smoke. The party appear in a large circular room, in it's centre stands a stone alter surrounded by 5 cultists. Finn immediately fires a bolt from his crossbow but with little time to take careful aim, the bolt misses it's target. It seems that whiffing is the order of the day as both Garrick and one of the cultists also execute meaningless attacks. Farraine steps forward and advances on the enemy managing to land at least one blow from his sword. Lucian springs into action (figuratively speaking of course we all know what his athletic abilities are like) He makes a complicated motion with his hands and a massive fireball springs forth and erupts in the centre of the cultists. Whilst he manages to craft it so as not to strike Farraine it seems he neglected to take into account the height of the ceiling. With nowhere else to go the flames erupt outwards toward an unsuspecting Finn who somehow manages to nimbly dodge most of the flames as they lick at his armour. One of the cultist utters a spell and immediately vanishes from sight another casts a spell on Farraine who becomes paralysed, unable to move, unable to attack. Garrick strides into the temple and climbs up on the alter he summons his Spirit Guardians who begin to glide around him dealing damage to all enemies in their path. Sigrid attempts a spell of her own, trying to confuse the enemy but it seems to have little effect on the Cultist. Another cultist suddenly turns invisible, this fight is certainly going to be very different to those the party have faced thus far. Finn, still steaming slightly, decides that he too can play the invisibility game and pops out of sight completely.
Lucian, wanting to atone for his fiery miscalculation send scorching rays of light at one of the visible cultists, their eyes burn under the ferocity of the attack, blood pouring from their sockets as they fall to the floor, dead. With only invisible foes remaining Garrick strolls forward, his Spirit Guardians swirling around him as he moves, a howl of pain emanates from somewhere in front of him. Realising that the party is at a significant disadvantage he cast See Invisibility and the remaining cultist slowly emerge into sight. He immediately calls out the location of the remaining invisible cultist to the rest of the party. With the tide turned the battle rages on with spells flying through the air. Sigrid manages to finally land an effective spell and lights up one of the cultists with a Faerie glow. Finn immediately capitalises on the opening and fires a crossbow bolt at the lit up target, skewering the Cultist in the head and dropping him to the floor. Farraine now able to move heads towards where Garrick is pointing and swings his sword in a wide, hopeful arc and somehow managed to connect, blood drips onto the floor as the Cultist whimpers in pain. Lucian concentrates on a spell and hurls an extremely well crafted and thought out fireball at the last invisible cultist. There is a scream of pain, cut short and a pile of ash appears on the floor. Lucian smiles, he's starting to rack up quite the body count of which even Gimli would be proud.
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