03 The Crow

Having rested overnight, the party gathered at Underbridge and paid a sailor in gold to journey from the shadowy and dangerous district out across the gentle blue waters of the Varisian Gulf, to the Crow. The Crow, one of ten 220 ft tall towers rising from the waters to once support the collossal bridge, stands proud, an impressive monument. Now only part of the bridge remains at Magnimar, covering the Underbridge and crumbling just a short distance out over the waters below.

The towers looked spectacular, their white stone bright in the morning sun, as the party were ferried further and further out, to moor with 3 other vessels at the base of the majestic ruins. Iradil gazed over the waters, the summoned ancestor was merged within Iradil, prepared for the ventures ahead. He thought idly of gossip, rumour and talk of the Crow, sharing with the party how criminals and unsavoury sorts were said to hide out in the towers, now. Smirking, he called out, "Tsadok, you're going to fit right in!"

Advancing in to the monument, Iradil thought of the shard hidden within the tower, another potent artifact, so very near. The inside of the tower, unlit, pooled with darkness and a fetid stench. Eyes adjusting to the gloom, the colour faded as the party cautiously entered, surveying the ruins in black and white darkvision. A quick discussion confirmed that Shikoba, Dariz and Iradil were adept at subtle scouting whilst Hellov (in his heavy armour) and Tsadok lacked this discretion.

The lower levels of the tower were found to be empty, save for a cloying room recently used as a privy. Part of the unwholesome stench was the rotting corpse of a dog. Shikoba poked at it, discerning that as she saw more, it was no dog, but was some sort of massive rat. The scouts shared this with Hellov and Tsadok as they passed by them, before padding slowly up stone stairs.
 

Their scouting was not as stealthy as they believed. In this poorly lit room, behind an upturned table, a woman called out demanding that they drop their weapons then leave, or face defeat. The scouts swiftly snuck downstairs to share the ultimatum with Hellov and Tsadok, planning a swift assault. The party charged up, Iradil dashing around the table, to see the defenders.

Iradil saw the women, simply defending their squalid home, so paused and invited them to stop and simply let the party move on, passing them, with no conflict. They readied for battle but paused their attacks until, on seeing Tsadok charge at them with his mighty two handed hammer, their crossbows discharged a volley of bolts before they were dropped, shortswords drawn and fierce battle was joined. With the Tower Girls was a large half human half rat. On the two Tower Girls' defeat (with Dariz tending the unconscious fallen foes), this rat creature dashed off with speed and agility, through rooms to reach a space hundreds of feet above the waters below, before deftly leaping across the open space. The platform, beams and rope were perilous, Iradil hurled a ball of acid at the fleeing rat creature before the party were forced to halt their pursuit. Dariz crossed effortlessly, to then pull out ropes and cautiously help others cross, aware of the waters churning around the tower's base, some 200 feet below.

Advancing through a room with 7 Tower Girls and huge rats, more battle ensued. Tsadok smashing them, Shikoba shooting them, Hellov healing and slicing with his might axe, Dariz punching swiftly and powerfully, Iradil slashing with taloned gauntlets, the party came to victory once again. Rushing on, the party found the half person half rat readied for battle.

Shikoba drew her bow, arrow after arrow striking true, but none of her arrows harmed the creature. Similarly, Dariz's powerful strike and Iradil's raking talons struck true but then failed to draw blood, with the creature shrugging off their blows. Tsadok strode forth, the half-orc wielding his mighty Earth Breaker, but although these collosal blows bruised and bloodied her, the rat creature took little harm from even these fearsome thundering strikes. Iradil hurled spheres of acid which slowly seared and hurt her, Hellov called on divine powers to empower Tsadok's weapon with magics to do greater damage and, eventually, she finally fell to him.

Tired and breathless, Tsadok rested whilst the others also recuperated, gathering themselves before pressing onwards to claim the next shard of the Sihedron.