With the taste of sweet victory still on their lips, the party begin the task of looting the bodies of their defeated foes. Amongst the odd dagger and gold coin they manage to locate a stone, carved in the shape of an intricate hourglass, the very hourglass shaped key they have been looking for. Garrick tosses the stone to Finn, who promptly pops it into his pocket. The heroes gather together to discuss their next move. Should they head straight for the end goal and try to find Iskander or should they at least check out the last remaining room. Completionist heads prevail and the party gather on the teleportation circle once more and press the last remaining glyph. There is a familiar pop and they reappear in a circular room with a large fireplace in the centre. Around the fire is the aged skeleton of a dragon. Finn looks at it quizzically, wondering how much the skull weighs and whether he would be able to carry it back with him to Trollskull Manor. It is with a sense of great reluctance that he realises that the skull will have to wait for another time. The rest of the room is remarkably unremarkable and so after a short rest the party gather for hopefully the final time on the teleportation circle, Finn inserts the hourglass shaped stone and the party disappear from sight .
With a puff of smoke the band of heroes appear in a walled room (ceilings approximately 10ft high), on the floor lay 3 dead bodies garbed in cultist robes, blood oozes from fatal wounds and pools on the stone floor. A trail of blood leads from the room, one which begs to be followed. They party give the dead bodies a quick pat down and liberate any items of value before heading off down the corridor in search of Iskander and the Blue Dragon Mask. The corridor opens up into another room with a table off to one side, on top sits a small box. Finn walks over and carefully inspects it for traps before picking at the lock with his thieves tools. The box pops open to reveal some useful potions and a couple of magical scrolls. As quickly as the contents is revealed the items find their way into the backpacks of the party and after a close inspection of the rest of the room they continue their journey down another corridor leading out of the room. A door stands before them and the group gather around with spells and weapons prepared should any enemy stand on the other side. Finn picks away at the lock and pops open the door. There is a collective sigh of relief as the room beyond is largely empty, well, besides the huge whirlwind in the centre of the room. A silent agreement is reached between the party members and they slowly back out of the room and close the door behind them. Moving further down the corridor the party find a set of stairs leading down to an infinite starry sky. Two doors hang suspended in mid air. One directly infront of them some 50ft or so away and one off to the side. Walking carefully down the stairs the party reach the bottom and peer off into the nothingness. Sigrid takes out her staff and pokes at the foot of the steps and is surprised to find that it makes contact with something. It seems there is a path here, carefully Finn steps down into the void and he is relieved to feel firm ground under foot. Moving carefully forward he reaches the suspended door off to the side and checks it for traps and to see if it is locked. Sigrid moves up to Finn and boldly opens the door and walks into the room beyond. The rest of the party follow her lead and find themselves in what appears to be a wizard's Library. Ancient magical tomes line the shelves, covering the walls from floor to ceiling. A table sits in one corner of the room, a large map rests on top displaying what appears to be the Elemental City of Fire. The last word seems to peak Lucian's interest and he immediately starts to roll it up and slips it into a handy container he found nearby. Finn, with the assistance of Garrick's shoulders, scours the shelves and finds a book of special interest to him which he quickly stuffs carefully into his backpack. Garrick also scans the shelves and finds a book to his liking which he places in his bag. Lucian, never one to pass up the opportunity to advance his knowledge of the arcane, peruses the shelves for a fair few minutes before settling on a particular ledger which he slips into his robes for some light bedtime reading. Sigrid, in difference to others, simply pulls at a couple of books in the hope that they may open a secret door of some sort...they don't.
Farraine, who to this point has done very little worthy of narration, continues to just look around and wonder when the fighting will start.
The party move back out of the room and return to the invisible walkway suspended in space, Finn has an idea to try and gauge the width of the path on which they are all standing. He heads back to the stairway and scrapes off some dust from the stone walls with his dagger and then scatters it on the floor. The dust settles on the walkway and shows there to be a distinct lack of walls on either side, not even invisible ones. With increased caution the party edge forward to the end of the invisible path. A corridor leads off to one side and Finn catches sight of a red skinned, other-worldly creature sat by a table, on which there appears to be a chessboard. Lucian clears his throat and as he does so the creature looks up and a flaming smile appears on his face. Lucian asks what he is doing here. He replies, telling him that he is being held captive by Xonthal, cursed to play chess with him until the end of time he also mentions that he has seen a man with a Blue Dragon Mask. Finn notices that there is a circle of salt surrounding the creature and warns Sigrid not to disturb it, fearing it to be a trap of some sort. The Party gather for a quick huddle and discuss what to do next. Soon it is decided that it would be a good idea to release the captive creature, providing he means no harm to the group. Finn steps forward and lays out the conditions of the creature's release. Deal accepted, Finn casts Mage hand and brushes away a section of the salt circle imprisoning the creature. Standing up it flips the table over, scattering chess pieces all over the floor and then simply walks away, laughing as he does so.
"Well that was a bit rude" exclaims the halfling.
The party move further into the room and notice a chest lying open, gold and jewels fill it to the brim. As they move closer to it to investigate, it flickers slightly and pops out of existence. As they leave the room Garrick bends down and picks up one of the white Bishop chess pieces off the floor and stows it in his pocket. Walking down the corridor they arrive at the final doorway, using their normal level of caution when it comes to doors the party get it open without incident and find themselves in what seems to be a spell component store room, a corridor leads off to one side and the walls are filled with shelves stacked with a plethora of magical ingredients. As the party pillage the collection, Sigrid wanders off alone and brazenly enters another room. Fortunately there doesn't appear to be any traps or enemies in the room beyond.
Noticing that Sigrid has left them looting, the party catch up with her and enter the room moments later. Inside, two massive hourglasses dominate the room and a body lies propped against the far wall, blood trails from multiple wounds and pools on the floor around it. As the party move closer they notice that it is Iskander and he is holding the Blue Dragon Mask. Garrick takes the mask and places it carefully in his backpack. Lucian is inspecting the massive hourglasses, it appears that they are part of some kind of magical experimentation into time manipulation. He tells the group of this and after balancing up the various options available to them they decide that it is prudent to leave it well alone, they have what they came for and now it is time to get the fuck out.
The party retrace their steps out of the Tower and back to the sundial. If they never see one of these things again it will be too soon. They head down the southern path in the hope that it leads to the exit and lo and behold their prayers are answered for once. They emerge from the hedged puzzle to find their surroundings a lot different to the way they were when they entered. The town in the distance is punctuated with spots of flickering red light and smoke rises into the evening sky. They look up to see a large Blue Dragon spewing bolts of lightning on the buildings below. It looks to be slightly injured and is snacking on something. Upon closer inspection it turns out to be a wyvern, one of their wyverns to be more precise. Scanning the skies they notice two of their preferred modes of transport, hovering in the air away from the Blue Scaled Assassin in fear for their lives. Seeing the dragon Sigrid lifts her hood over her head and tries to blend into a nearby tree.
The Dragon turns its head towards our adventurers, it can sense the presence of the mask in Garrick's backpack.
"The mask, fools! The mask is what I've come for. Give it to me, and I'll leave these crawling ants with their miserable lives. The Queen is returning! Who are you to hope to stop her? Give me the mask!"
In reply to the Dragon's demands the party, knowing that any vocal reply could not be heard at this distance, resort instead to sign language. 5 middle fingers are held to the heavens and the party ready themselves for another epic battle. They spread out to ensure that they can't all be attacked at once, Finn heads off towards a nearby building and hunkers down in the shadows casting invisibility on himself in the process. Binky also blinks out of sight as Farraine reaches for his crossbow, tries to load a bolt but fumbles it and it drops to the ground. Garrick and Sigrid prepare a couple of spells and as the Dragon swoops down towards the party it triggers them and lets out a howl of pain. In response, the Dragon turns its head, opens it's massive maw and streaks of lightning burst forth in the direction of Sigrid who tries to dodge out of the way. Rolling to the floor, her hair standing on end it appears she managed to escape the worst of the damage. From the cover of the building Finn manages to get a shot off with his crossbow and it pierces the Dragon's scaled skin causing it to howl once more, with a sly grin on his face, Finn returns to the shadows. Farraine manages to find the crossbow bolt he dropped on the ground and attempts to load it for a second time, however it appears the severity of the situation is having an effect on him and the bolt falls to his feet for a second time.
Lucian enters the fray in the only way he knows how, hurling a massive ball of fire at the chest of the winged creature, draconic screams fill the air as the flames lick at it's torso. Turning to face Garrick the Dragon's mouth opens and blue bolts of lightning shoot out towards the Cleric. Garrick takes the full force of the attack and small arcs of electricity wash over his entire body. Farraine finally manages to load his crossbow but the shot bounces harmlessly off the dragons protective scales, he loads a second bolt and manages to find a chink in the armour, blood drips slowly from the wound. Once again a ball of flame erupts from Lucian's palms and heads towards the blue beast. This time however, it manages to swoop out of the way avoiding most of the potential damage from the searing fire. Having gotten the Dragon's attention the wizard picks up his robes and beats a hasty retreat.
What happened next will live long in the annals of the Forgotten Realms, bards across the land will sing of this event for decades to come and dragon's will wince at it's very suggestion.
Finn, with the dragon now swooping away from him towards the flame wielding Wizard, takes an old and splintered bolt from his quiver and slides it into place. He raises the loaded crossbow and gazes down the sights, searching for a chink in the scaled armour. A mischievous grin spreads across his face as he finds exactly what he was looking for. Time slows. His finger squeezes gently on the trigger and the iron tipped bolt of many splinters fizzes through the air. In a split second the bolt reaches it's target, the eyes of the dragon widen in shock and surprise as the iron tip rips into it's mud button, swiftly followed by the splintered shaft. As it tears through the the dragons poop chute, depositing tiny wooden daggers in it's colonic walls, the dragon cries out in pain, several octaves higher than any sound it had hitherto made. The bolt continues it's journey through the insides of the beast, shredding the intestines before finally puncturing the heart. Wide eyes become lifeless as the dragon's heart beats it's last, it's wings stiffen and it plummets towards the ground. Dirt explodes from the impact as the mass of scales, flesh and bleeding fart funnel flesh come crashing down.
Finn leaps into the air, arms aloft in triumph, not even he can believe what just happened. The party are cheering in celebration, did he really just do that? Yes, yes he did, and it was fucking awesome!
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