What Happened?

Neth 7th, 4714 AR (cont.)

You continued your battle against the Dragon Belshallam:

• The Dragon decided to “take the gloves off” and started Power Attacking.
• This quickly had Tatonga in trouble as Belshallam’s attacks starting taking a terrible toll.
• Belimont and Rodrick were able to keep Tatonga in the fight with their healing spells
• The Dragon kept himself in the fight with liberal uses of powerful Vampiric Touch spells.
• After crippling his left fore-leg for a second time, Belshallam, surrendered to you, offering his treasure in exchange for his life.
• The Dragon was clearly terrified of being killed while serving as a Chained Spirit.
• You modified the arrangement – if you could find a way to free of of the spiritual chain, Belshallam would tell you everything he knows of Castle Scarwall.

Leaving the Dragon grievously wounded, you fled the castle to rest at your camp. Several new developments awaited you at the camp:

• Laori and Sial were attacked at the camp by a band of Deadwatcher Orcs (members of the same tribe as the Orcs you eradicated to claim this camp site).
• The were able to kill a few and drive the rest off, but Sial believes they will be back in overwhelming numbers.
• You have not been scryed upon since your (mostly) successful mission in Deathhead Vault. That changed today.
• You were scryed upon numerous times through the rets of the day and night.
• Roninn is concerned by the frequency and power of the Scrying spells being used to watch you. There is definitely more than one person magically watching you, and they all seem to bypass your saving throws against he spell with ease.
• Ronin believes your long-distance spies have somehow gained intimate knowledge of you and like have body parts (lock of hair, bit of nail, etc.) from each of you.

Neth 8th, 4714 AR

Using a pair of Commune spells, you discovered that a Dispel Evil spell would be able to free a creature from the Chained Spirit. So, you went back inside Scarwall to talk with Belshallam.

• Dispel Evil successfully released Belshallam form the Chained Spirit.
• When this happened, there was a terrible howl through the entire castle. At the same time, the pervasive feeling of dread you’ve experienced every waking moment in the cursed castle went away.
• The place is still darkly evil, but you no longer become automatically Spooked each time you set foot inside Scarwall.
• Belshallam insisted on leaving the castle to speak with you atop a hill within in site of your camp.
• The Dragon kept his word and told you everything he knows about the castle. ((To simulate this conversation, you are able to ask me questions like, “What does this hall lead to?” or “What’s behind this door?” or other questions like that. If Belshallam would have the knowledge, I will tell it to you.))

Based upon what you learned, you decided to head for the Star Tower to try to find the “fiend” serving as one of the remaining two Spirit Anchors.

• You had two ways into the donjon attached to the Star Tower: 1) enter through the mysterious structure on the roof and risk the attention of the Gargoyles and Aerilaya (a Ghost-like Undead creature that Belshallam warned you about) or 2) break your way through one of the sealed doors leading intot he donjon from the second floor.
• You decided to batter down the smaller of the two doors. This proved more difficult than expected.
• Even after bashing the door down, Tatonga had a very difficult time getting through the modified Forbiddance spell protecting the area.
• Eventually, Tatonga resisted the spell, smashed down two more very tough doors, and made your way inside the donjon.

The first creature you faced was a Juju Zombie Ash Giant called Mingorc.

• Mingorc was little more than a pile of hit points with a pair of battering arms.
• Although Saoirse and Tatonga were injured a bit, you managed to defeat the Undead Giant.