The party began the night by having a surprisingly productive conversation with an ancient red dragon named Argun the Conflagrator. He gave off some cool Trogdor the Burninator vibes, without burninating the party like a bunch of dumb peasants. And why did Argun, the aeons-old fiendish überbeast that he is, treat the party so well? Were they not a bunch of dumb peasants ripe for the flames? Since DCC and not AD&D, this isn’t a lawful evil creature dedicated on furthering the reach of e-vile forces bent on domination. Nope, it’s a chaotic creature that knows killing a party like ours would be a quick and forgettable act. And when he saw the deified dental artifacts that pass for Stacia’s teeth, he knew this was likely going to make for some wild entertainment.
It is worth noting that the dragon took time to gently tap those very teeth. I imagine that would make a great shot in a movie or in a painting by Clyde Caldwell, who probably would’ve gone to town drawing Stacia’s cleavage.
Within Argun’s lair was a number of possible directions the party could go. He explained that north led to the Tower of Mitra where they could get help. To the south was the Dark Tower of Set. And Nick’s Locate Object spell kept pointing to that direction. To the northwest, behind the dragon, was where his treasure was kept. And while the smell of all that gold made Calvert float in the air like a Looney Tunes character, the party knew better to inquire further.
The party first visited to the north, where they arrived in a cavern in front of the entrance to the Tower of Mitra. The party proceeded cautiously and met with a senile but reverent cleric of Mitra. He provided a banquet for them (although he himself claimed to subsist on the crumbs that his friends, the mice, brought him). I think he cast restore vitality.
The party then went and talked to three lammasu (Orestes, Langdon, and Orphredd). They were willing to help the party on their quest, again in awe of Stacia’s magic teeth. Seriously, the fact that David solved a riddle and got one of the weirdest magic items of all time that are a golden ticket in the Dark Tower campaign. The lammasus allowed the party to pick 2 potions and 2 scrolls from a fancy chest they kept around for special occasions like this. I guess they have to keep the rest just in case another party with a partial avatar of Mitra arrives.
The party, rejuvenated by the power of Mitra (in spite of another bout of disapproval by Stacia- starting to think Mitra is a misogynist), headed into the Dark Tower. Once there they sent a goblin into almost certain death by having him open a door. Given by everybody’s decision to stay FAR AWAY from the door, the poor goblin just didn’t read the room and went right along with it. Naturally the explosion that covered a 20′ radius did not leave much goblin left to thank for his/her service.
Once inside the Tower, things went about as well as to be expected. This isn’t a dark tower. This is the Dark Tower. It took us 26 sessions to get here, and not to mention a couple dozen more to get to the actual campaign, but this is it. And naturally, it has proven to be dangerous. Which can only mean one thing: statues.
Statues have plagued the party since the a couple of real stationary bastards nearly wiped TPKed them in By Mitra’s Bones…. Much like that episode, another jackal-headed statue (as opposed to snake-headed ones that took the life of Randy Savauge) laid out some Scorching Ray doom. There was also a room with walls that caused fear. And it is here, when the metaphoric shit started hitting the fan, that we paused.
