Dragonbane: Alone in Deepfall Breach Session 10- Up the Mage's Tower

Aleric sets off on what will likely be the most challenging journey he's faced so far. A test of his wits and willpower will push him to his limits!


 
The winding stairwell is familiar to Aleric at this point. He knows that the landing will eject him out into the depths of the Breach and his destination will be different from the last two journeys. It still takes him aback slightly as he exits out into a large opening at the base of a massive tower. Clouds swirl around the tower, obfuscating the sky above, making it seem as if he has exited out into an open plain with the tower at its heart. “Well… At least I don’t have to go searching for this damned tower. I hope this pendant that Stone-Gaze gave me is worth its weight…” With a bit more trepidation than his previous ventures, Aleric steps forward and heads towards the looming tower.

1. The Moon Door

As Aleric approaches the base of the tower, he eyes the massive double doors that appear to be the entrance. “Stone-Gaze mentioned an illusory wall marked with a crescent moon… Should be easy enough to spot.” He begins circling the base of the tower, eyeing the smooth obsidian walls hoping to spot the crescent moon.

 
Roll: Spot Hidden(7): 17; Failure


Aleric takes his time as he makes a wide circle around the tower. After the first round, and then the second round, he growls in frustration. “Damn it all! This must be more well hidden than Stone-Gaze let on!”  After several more circuits around the base of the tower, he finally spots the small crescent moon, hidden under moss that has overgrown the tower wall. With a huff of impatience he presses his hand on the wall. The tower gives way to nothingness, as Aleric almost falls through the illusionary wall of the tower.

 
GM Note: As I was worried, this mission is going to be the most problematic for Aleric’s skillset. With his first failure, the threat die will advance to 2 out of 6! The threat of the Troll guardian will likely come to pass well before Aleric has found his way to the top of the Mage’s tower. 
 

2. Petrified Arboretum

Aleric moves through the illusory door into a small entryway. The dark room is lit by small flickering torches. Aleric attempts to pull one of the torches from the sconce but finds that the torch is held firmly in place. As his grip slips on the torch, his hand passes through the flame of the torch and the fighter lets out a grunt as he braces for the pain of the heat of the fire. But he recognizes quickly that the flame burns no hotter than the rest of the stagnant air in the tower. He waves his hand over the torch again after the jolt of expected pain has passed. “Hmmm… No heat. And unmovable. I suppose I don’t have to worry about light in this place. Must be some sort of magical fixture. I’ll not complain about the little blessings I suppose.” With that he turns to the exit from the room. He presses his hand against the massive dark wood of the doorway and it slowly, yet noiselessly, slides open at his push.

Aleric follows a winding pathway before coming across the Arboretum. Petrified trees stand in his way. There is no sense to their placement. It seems as if he has stumbled into a natural forest untrodden by human feet. He thinks back on Stone-Gaze’s warning. “Dryads… These trees aren’t all that they appear. Best to move quickly and with purpose! Don’t want to be drawn into some sort of fey trap in the depths of this tower.”  With that he makes his way into the petrified grove of trees. As he goes, he begins to hear sounds off in the distance. The laughing of children. A celebration. Joyful sounds, hard for Aleric to ignore. He presses forward, but feels more and more drawn to these strange sounds that seem to be a respite from the harshness of the breach.

 
Roll: Willpower (16): 17; Failure!


As Aleric presses forward, the sounds of the joyful celebration overtake his will to keep on his path through the Arboretum. “Ah… An ale and a nice turkey leg wouldn’t be so bad now, would it? I might as well see who is celebrating in this forest! They must have something nice to celebrate to feel this happy here of all places!” Aleric thinks to himself, as his feet begin carrying him off his path and towards the happy sounds. Aleric finds himself entering a clearing with tables and tents set up all around. Small fey like creatures joyfully prance from table to table, laughing and celebrating, feasting and dancing. He quickly finds himself whisked into the celebrations as a group of these small creatures surround him and drag him into the festivities. He drinks and dances and laughs joyously.

What feels like days of celebration goes by. Aleric is overwhelmed. And just as quickly as he was swept up in the celebrations, his surroundings seem to vanish. The small creatures, the tents, the tables, the food and dance all vanish before his very eyes. Aleric is faced with the petrified trees of the Arboretum yet again. A wave of frustration and exhaustion overcome him as the truth sets in. He was tricked by the spirits of the dryad. Valuable time has been lost and he is still no closer to finding his way to the top of the tower.

 
Roll: Constitution (17): 1; A critical success! 
 

Even with the wave of exhaustion, Aleric is able to shake it off. He grits his teeth, pressing forward, and making his way through the petrified forest, now all but silent as he continues on.

 
GM Note: Aleric’s failure again will cost him some time. The threat will advance to 3 out of 6! Although the Dryad’s were attempting to bring Aleric to the brink of exhaustion, the fortitudinous fighter is able to push off the exhaustion of the trick. He luckily does not gain the exhausted condition for the remainder of this adventure. And with the critical success, I will allow him an additional roll to advance his skills at the end of the mission. 
 

3. Unknown


 
Location: 12; A lofty bridge
 

Aleric leaves the petrified forest of the Arboretum through a massive wooden door at the other end of the massive chamber. Looking back, Aleric hardly believes his eyes, as he is unable to make out the opposite wall of the tower. Squinting into the distance, he shakes his head. “Must be some magical trick. This tower certainly wasn’t this large from the outside. Maybe some magic has made the interior of the tower larger than its exterior leads one to believe…” With one last look back at the trees, Aleric almost senses a slight sway to the petrified forest. Before he is tricked back into the depths of it by the dryads, he turns and makes his way through to the next room. What he finds in front of him is equally as confusing to the fighter. A small platform meets the wall at the threshold of the door. And from the platform, an almost endless wooden bridge sways over an endless pit. The bridge goes on well past his keen vision. With a shallow gulp, Aleric gathers his courage and sets out on the crossing.

After some time of walking, Aleric sees a platform and a door almost mirroring the place he had first departed. The bridge spanned much farther than he expected. Again, he shakes his head, chalking it up to the fact that he was traversing the tower of a masterful mage. Nothing inside could appear as it seemed from the outside.

 
Roll: Awareness (12): 18; Failure 
 

He quickened his pace across the bridge, seeing the end in sight filled him with some hope that the only danger of the bridge was the length of its crossing. As he did so, Aleric failed to notice the bridge begin to swing and sway unnaturally. Suddenly, the bridge began to buckle and shake, as if to throw him off!

 
GM Note: Failure on that awareness roll means that Aleric was unable to recognize the motion of the bridge before it became dangerous. He’ll need to use his brute strength to hold on or else he’ll be thrown from the bridge.
 


Aleric quickly grabbed the rope guides the bridge hung from, hoping that he would be able to hold on and pull himself to the other side before this strange bridge threw him off into the inky darkness of the pit below!

 
Roll: Strength (18): 4; Success 
 


Thankfully, what Aleric lacks for awareness, he more than makes up for in strength. He quickly grabbed the rope and continued the trek across the bridge. Pulling himself along as he stabilized himself on the rope, the remainder of the crossing was slow going, but eventually he makes it to the other side. As soon as his foot touches the landing of the other side, the bridge ceases its unnatural swinging, laying as still as when he first set foot upon its planks at the start. Breathing heavily, he stands on the platform recovering from the ordeal. As he glances back, he sees the platform from where he left just 100 yards behind. He stares in disbelief for a moment before shaking his head again. “Wizards… If I don’t go mad in this place, I’ll never be visiting somewhere like this again. Stone-Gaze can make his own journey into such a fraught place next time!”  Laughing to himself to calm his nerves, Aleric pushes open the door into the next part of the tower.

4. Peering Walls

Aleric opened the door into a small landing with a spiraling stairwell leading upwards. He climbs up to the next level of the tower, finally feeling like he’s made some progress towards the top of the tower. Reaching the top of the stairway, Aleric thinks back to Stone-Gaze’s warning of his next challenge, shivering as he does so. “Peering walls… Damn, can’t there just be something I can stick my sword through and be done with!” He pauses for a moment, thinking how best to avoid the strange challenge ahead. He quickly pulls a small bandana from his pack, folding it over before tying it around his head. He unbuckles his sword from his belt, holding the sheathed longsword out in front of him. “Well, if I can’t see I can’t look right… It might take a little bit more time than I’d like, but better to chance the extra time than deal with these strange walls.” Pulling the blindfold over his eyes, Aleric shoulders the doorway open and carefully navigates a twisting hallway using his sword to guide him through. Occasionally the tip of the sword hits a part of the wall that seems to give more than normal stone. His going is slow, but he finds no hallways branching off from the main pathway. Finally after some time, Aleric’s sword reaches a dead end. Aleric steps up, feeling for some kind of handle on the obvious doorway. After a moment, he simply braces his shoulder to the door and pushes. The wall gives way and Aleric carefully makes his way through. He turns and shuts the door before removing his blindfold.

 
GM Note: Aleric takes the safe approach to this challenge. Though he is able to get through this strange hallway of eyed walls, his progress was extremely slow. He’s traded time for some safety for now, though this increases the threat to 4 out of 6! He’s about halfway through the known challenges that Stone-Gaze mentioned to him, but well on his way to encountering the roaming troll. Odds are, there’s a troll fight in Aleric’s near future. 
 


He realizes that his nerves were more heightened than he expected from the experience, but he’s yielded nothing but time.
Strapping his sword back to his belt and stowing his makeshift blindfold, Aleric continues pressing forward into the strange and bizarre mage’s tower.


Aleric presses on towards the top of the tower, though these traps are more time consuming than a simple fight. He certainly doesn't appreciate that! Next time he'll likely get his wish as the threat of the Troll guardian rears its ugly head.
 

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