Chris (Gruul), Chuck (Galen), Paul (Marik) and Bruce all show up and waste no more time than is normal. Tim, of course, remains in Ireland...
The characters start the session hiding down underneath the Tower of Owls, resting and dividing up the magical items they looted from Surgul's shattered corpse. Gruul badly needs to sharpen his axe.
Gruul decides to put off sharpening his axe. Taking an inventory of the loot provides a nice diversion. He finds that the pile includes:
Galen expresses some desire to have Ghelgul's Heartseeker identified. Marik is rather dismissive: "It's a magical sword. You stab people with it. It seeks out their hearts. I don't even need magic to tell you that." Galen continues to press, pointing out that it might have some other, less-helpful features.
This ignites a wider debate over the uses for Ghelgul's Heartseeker. Galen notes that he has a fairly low Broadsword skill, and still needs to hit by a fair margin to get the magic to work. On the other hand, fast-drawing the thing and stabbing somebody through the heart would be a good trick in a bar. "But he was a good customer..."
Gruul suggests that he'd like to have the Necklace of Eyes, and would be happy to let Galen have Ghelgul's Heartseeker. Galen is dubious, but eventually agrees that he makes the best choice for beneficiary.
The next item to deal with is Surgul's 8 ST Powerstone. It is currently drained, but that doesn't stop both Marik and Galen from wanting it. Marik suggests that he should have the stone, and that in recompense he could trade his 6 ST Powerstone to Galen later on (Marik currently has three Powerstones: one 2 ST, one 3 ST and the 6 ST stone).
Ghelghul's Heartseeker is a thrusting broadsword. It's name is engraved upon the hilt in Parqui. A strange red vein runs in a twisting path along the length of the blade. The blade hungers for the heartblood of the living, and anyone who picks it up and points it towards another will be able to feel the sword yearning to drink down a life. It applies a -2 penalty to any attempt to make an aimed attack at any body part other than the torso and a -2 penalty for any cutting attack. Aside from this penalty, it acts as a normal blade when used for cutting attacks. It's true strength becomes apparent in any stabbing attack against the torso. If the attack roll succeeds by five or more, the blade strikes out with a horrible clanging sound, rushing for the target's heart. It may still be dodged, blocked or parried, but if it hits it ignores all armor and inflicts an additional +1d damage (impaling).
The characters talk to the Sewn Man Eyes, who tells them that the underground and wall corridors to the Tower of Bells have been blocked off - Surgul's men collapsed some of them, and the others fell apart on their own. There are still several ways to get into the tower. You can run across the walls from the Tower of Swords or the Tower of Owls, go through the doors in the inner courtyard, or through the single door in the outer courtyard.
Galen listens to Eyes' rather long-winded description of the history and occupants of the Tower of Bells and starts to wonder, "How many factions are there in this miserable castle anyway? We already know about the giant bauskers, the Sewn Men, Surgul's men (whom we've already dealt with), the big flame thing in it's tower, and Joluth in the basement. Are there any more?" Eyes claims that there aren't.
Gruul wonders if the big fire-spirit Thukurukah could be an ally of the Tekkuturlings. Nobody answers him.
Marik opens up the debate on how to assault the Tower of Bells by chirping out that he can use the Missile Shield spell now. Galen rather innocently offers, "But who'd be shooting at us anyway? We don't need to worry about Surgul's men!" Marik sputters and responds, "Are you on drugs? Surgul's men are in the Tower of Bells, and Joven has a lot of reasons to want to shoot arrows at us." He frets that he can't cast Missile Shield on three people without going unconscious, though he might be able to use the Parcyclan Gyre to fuel the spells. The other characters fail to notice the eager gleam that appears in the back of his eyes as he says this.
Gruul thinks about this and suggests, "But at least this time we know where the arrows will be coming from, so the table-shield plan should work much better." This has to come as an incredible endorsement, considering that Gruul suffered the most from the table-shield plan's previous failures.
The characters can see two guards on the top of bell tower, and one more on top of the gate tower. One guard on each tower has a crossbow, but the second guard on the bell tower appears to be armed only with a spear. The towers are topped with crenellations that provide the sentries with anywhere from -3 to -7 cover, depending upon how low they huddle.
The characters' initial plan is to rush the tower from the Tower of Owls, levitate to the top of the gate tower, then send Gruul over to the bell tower with a rope and grapple. Gruul decides that he'd prefer to spoil Joven's aim, so he asks Eyes to get some Sewn Men archers to fire at the sentries. Eyes agrees to go and ask Boot.
Boot eventually arrives with four Sewn Man archers in tow. He agrees to shoot at the sentry when the characters take off.
By this time, the plan has evolved somewhat. Marik suggests that he can cast the Flight spell on everyone, using the power of the Gyre. After hearing about how flight works, the characters decide to dispense with both an attack on the first tower, and with having crossbows ready. Their ability to Move at a rate of 10 only contributes to this decision. Before anyone is really able to object, Marik draws first five hit points into the Gyre, then another three.
The other characters are disturbed by the way Marik has become addicted to slashing himself with the Gyre. "Ahhhh! More power! Ohhh! Here, let me cast some more spells on you!" He dribbles blood from dozens of tiny slitted wounds.
The characters start from the top of the Tower of Owls. Gruul turns on Rear Vision and readies his pick. Galen draws out his crossbow. Marik casts Flight three times then readies his shield and staff.
Everything happens far too fast. The first crossbowman fires wide as the characters tear overhead. The second one is occupied with something happening at the Tower of Flames ( "Hey, I think I saw somethin' move...") and doesn't even notice the characters when the touch down. The spearman is more awake ("Aaaaaahhh!") Then the Sewn Men open up on the first crossbowman.
Gruul uses his pick to pierce the inattentive crossbowman's heart. The man dies instantly. Marik gasps out, "I'm stunned this round. That is a frighteningly effective new combat technique you've got there."
Galen sees the axeman approaching him and tries to draw his greatsword. He panics and gets the hilt caught in his armor - it will take him two rounds to free it. The axeman comes in screaming and swinging. Galen quickly throws up a PD 4 Block and evades the blow.
At this point Gruul notices the problem and goes apeshit on the guy. And kills him in one blow. He bows to the stupefied crowd: "I just wanna thank my Mom for drinking lots of milk while I was in the womb, and my Dad for feeding me lots of meat when I was young."
A crossbow bolt goes whanging off a piece of crenellation near Gruul. His rear vision shows him that the crossbowman on the other tower is still there. Nobody pays him any attention.
Gruul goes for the roof hatch, quickly finding that it is locked. He manages to remember that one of the items taken from Surgul was a big bronze key. More to the point, he remembers that Marik already identified it as a Passkey for the doors of Parcyclus Castle. He presses it against the hatch, which magically opens itself right up.
Gruul drops into a room full of hostile people and magically impenetrable mist. Obviously, a fight breaks out. Gruul starts out by killing three onrushing axemen with pick blows straight to the heart. Galen drops in after him, draws out his greatsword, and starts chopping his way around. Marik decides that he doesn't really want to get involved, so he parks himself up at the trapdoor and tosses Sleep spells at anyone who comes into range.
Things don't last long. Gruul takes his own sweet time fighting with Ghello, a Faian fighter armed with a long spear. Galen gets bored watching Gruul and Ghello dance back and forth and hunts out the source of the magical mists. He finds the sorceress Tabe and cuts her into pieces.
The battle over, Gruul explains to the others why his battle took so long: "This guy's got magic armor! Or at least he used to." Marik: "Yeah, yeah. Make your excuses." Gruul removes Ghello's limbs for an easier carry (it seems simpler than removing the armor). The regular looting party uncovers 350 clavars from the goons, plus Galen finds a nice silver ring with a gem and a staff on the witch-woman Tabe.
Not to distract from the characters original purpose, the characters manage to find Hulfri Wren locked up in a nearby cell. The Parcyclus Castle Passkey gets her out in a twinkling. She turns out to be a middle-aged Sangorn woman in a simple robe. She looks at the bloody figures at the mouth of the cell and asks, "How many people did you kill?" Galen replies with no hesitation: "Twenty-eight!" Wren grimaces slightly, but doesn't offer any verbal commentary.
On the way out, Galen accidentally mentions that one of the axemen is still alive, but unconscious. Gruul kills him. He licks his axe blade clean and says, "I feel we did the right thing." Marik is unimpressed: "Killing the prisoners? You always think that's the right thing."
Recognizing that Marik is short of both hits and energy, the characters decide to rest in the Tower of Bells. Aware that there might be more locals about, Marik releases the Flight spells and places a Glue spell on the trapdoor in the floor. Hulfri Wren claims that she can use a weapon "a little" and accepts a hatchet and a suit of leather armor. Gruul strips the scale armor off Ghello's body while the characters wait for Marik to recover.
Marik exhausts himself casting more Flight spells (sucking himself down to 3 fatigue). Thus-equipped, everyone flies down to the ground level of the Tower of Swords. The characters are a touch anxious about other visitors in the Tower, but find that aside from a lot of char, there is nobody home. They head up to the hurbausking lair on the fifth floor to rest (by this time, Marik is moving at half speed due to exhaustion). Once there, Marik releases his spells and everyone rests. Again. Marik heals himself of the damage he has suffered due to the Gyre.
Gruul notes that the twenty-six broadswords and the two suits of chain mail are still sitting down underneath the Tower of Owls. He asks if the characters should go get them, or just get what they can from the Maker-Thing. Gruul explains that he can carry almost 70 broadswords if he had to.
The characters head down to the forge, bringing along a ratty old carpet from the fifth floor. The Maker-Thing is smelting something at the forge, working a bellows with one hand in a way that would exhaust any natural thing quickly.
The characters look around at the Maker-Thing's racks. In addition to various weapons, they notice that one rack is stacked with dozens of metal plates. That is, dinner plates. Galen surmises that someone may have told the Maker-Thing to "make plate", hoping for armor.
The Maker-Thing's inventory consists of:
Everyone turns to Marik and asks, "So how much can we carry?" Marik hems and haws, "It depends on how much I want to hurt myself. Besides, we have to take the woman too, don't we." Gruul: "Don't talk like that - she can hear us..." Hulfri Wren glares at the characters.
Marik estimates that the twenty energy he can spend will allow him to move 1000 pounds of cargo. This will buy the characters 10 minutes of flight at Move 17. Chost-by-the-Spring is about 25 kilometers away, or 30 minutes of flight. The other characters watch Marik carefully as he goes through all these calculations. They particularly watch the way his left hand keeps on unconsciously clawing towards the sharp spines of the Parcyclan Gyre. Marik finally claims that he can get everyone to the village, with 500 pounds of cargo, and still probably live through the experience. He'll be making a six-hex carpet. Everyone else carries things.
Marik goes up to the roof to spread out some cloth. The other characters start hauling stuff up the tower. Marik needs 29 energy to make the trip, and wounds himself down to three hit points to get it. Everyone else makes a point of not being on top of the tower to hear his orgiastic screams during the process. They are not, however, shy about voicing their objections later on. Gruul protests, "You're falling in love with a soulless piece of metal!" Marik angrily replies, "It's not soulless! It speaks to me! All I have to do is sacrifice pieces of myself to it and it loves me too!" Sudden understanding dawns in Galen's eyes: "Oh. Just like a real woman." Hulfri Wren scowls.
One crossbow bolt almost hits the carpet on the flight back. Gruul shouts out, "He tried to kill us! Turn the carpet around." Needless to say, Marik doesn't turn the carpet around.
By the time the characters land in Chost-by-the-Spring they have acquired quite a crowd. That is, three villagers. They watch from a safe distance as Marik collapses off the carpet and heals himself of his wounds.
Headman Hulfri comes out to greet the characters and welcome them into his house. He is Sangorn, but most of the folk in the village are Faian. The headman seems oddly fascinated by all of Marik's new scars, but that doesn't stop him from offering everyone the hospitality of his house.
Gruul goes to the blacksmith to get his axe resharpened. The blacksmith is a little nervous about Gruul being some kind of savage demek thing, but once again he doesn't let a little prejudice stop him.
Marik identifies the new stuff. Tabe's staff proves to be a standard Staff. The stone in the silver ring is a ST 5 Powerstone. Galen takes both of these items. Ghello's scale armor turns out to be enchanted with Lifewell 10, currently totally drained. Marik uses his spells to heal it back to full, then Gruul takes it over to the blacksmith to fix the holes. The blacksmith claims that the work will take several days to fix, and to modify so Gruul can wear it. The blacksmith offers to charge only 50 clavars for the job. Gruul pays him, even though everyone expects that the Headman is going to give the characters a reward.
Creates a pool of magical vitality (hits) to protect the wearer of the armor enchanted with this spell. Half of any damage that penetrates the DR of the armor is applied against the Lifewell reserve, until it is gone. For example, an attack that delivers 4 points of damage through DR will only inflict 2 points of damage upon the wearer, provided at least 2 points remain in the Lifewell pool. Damage reduction is applied after any multipliers for attack type (e.g., impaling or cutting bonuses).
The Lifewell pool will not recover without aid, but may be restored through magical healing. Every time the pool is reduced to zero points, the maximum value of the enchantment is reduced by one.
Energy cost to cast: 50 per point.
Prerequisite: Enchant
Item: Clothing or armor.
Each character gains three experience points. Gruul mourns, "We never did find Ogango's Sparrow! Maybe we should go back there!" Marik groans, "Guh. Maybe not."
Chris borrows Dork Covenant. Bruce hopes that he will become completely obsessed by the great Jar-Jar Binks cartoon.