The Evils of Illmire: Room of Doom

Spoiler alert: if you plan to play The Evils of Illmire, don’t read this!

• Our doughty band of adventurers, Anistor the Fighter, Evalore the Magic User, Kivarg the Cleric and Kristos the Thief move on from the Gecko Lair and Buried Bastion and find a safe place to recuperate. It is an uneventful night, after which they decide to explore further north and see if they can pick up the trail of the cultists there.
• The following morning is spent moving carefully through boggy terrain which becomes more dangerous as they proceed and enter The Sinkhole Pits. A plane of grainy mud interspersed with watery pools and sparse copses stretches out ahead of them; the terrain here is treacherous with quicksand hidden under the thin sandy crust. Progress is slow.

• Their careful exploration pays off as they spot five human-like figures easily traversing the mud. Moving closer they realise these are cultists moving on a pathway of wooden boards set on poles permitting safe travel – this path leads south back towards Illmire and stretches out to the northwest.
• Spotting our heroes the cultists flee to the south, but are quickly caught and dealt with. Two are caught in Evalore‘s sleep spell and after the others are dispatched, questioned. The party learn these cultists are opportunists, brigands who saw an easy life in the cult. They tell of the cultist lair which can be reached following the board walk, of the dangers both nearby and inside the lair: the powerful sorceress Virica the Vile (sister to Rancidius) and of the Fearmother who they haven’t seen, but who’s terrible presence is felt throughout the whole place. Honouring their agreement to set these wayward bandits free in exchange for this information, the two figures slink off to the south, stripped of weapons.
• The party reconsider their options, wondering whether the dangers of the cultist lair may yet be too much for them. However, if they had Yorivar the Druid to help them, they may stand a chance. Unfortunately Yorivar is a captive in the mysterious tower to the southwest.
• Heading southwest back into Mantisman lands the party spend the night in their empty lair (while it is safer, it is unpleasant with the rotting remains of the mantismen they killed a few weeks earlier adding to the rotting half eaten bodies already in there). The following morning they continue their journey southwest and head back into the Redthorn Forest, approaching the mysterious tower.
• An unnerving quietude has settled over the woods here with the silence growing in intensity as the party approach the tower. Our brave band reach the borders of the clearing in which the tower stands and gaze up at the alabaster spire reaching for the sky above them. The tower is broken halfway and by all laws of nature should have come tumbling down in ages past, yet it stands still, held in place by an unseen force.

• Kristos sneaks towards the tower entrance, a huge oak door that is slightly ajar. Beyond is only silence, dead leaves on the floor and an ungodly stench. The rest of the party join him as they explore this level; two rooms, a broken statue and stairs heading up and down.
• The spiral stairs heading down are followed and after five minutes continuous walking seem to head deeper still. Focusing again on their mission to rescue Yorivar, they decide he is most likely kept in the tower and so head back up, their legs aching from the ascent.
• Climbing stairs to the second level they find a spiral stairwell in the centre of the single room which occupies the whole of the floor. The ground is thick with leaves up to knee height and our canny adventurers expect some hidden danger. Evalore prods ahead with his staff while the others move carefully through the leaves. There is a snap as something clamps onto the end of the staff, a nasty gecko trap that could easily have taken a foot off.
• Moving to the central stairwell Anistor ascends with torch in hand and hears chattering above. Kristos and Evalore identify it as a goblinoid dialect interjected with clucks, tweets, barks, moos and various other animal noises. Caution is applied as they move up the stairs.

• On the next level the stairs open into a small chamber occupied by three of the strangest creatures (and the source of the foul smell) they have seen, a horrifying combination of goblin and animal, but each different and mutated in some way. Their initial reaction is uncertainty to the party who try to show they mean no harm, but botched attempts at communication lead to their monsters attacking and more pile in from side rooms.
• Once more we move to the last resort as Kivarg‘s eyes fill with the fervour of Gamrax, God of Light, at the thought of destroying these aberrations. Each creature has a unique mutation, some of which will help them in combat, but two have the ‘clever’ mutation which means they will try to parley, realising they will lose this battle. With one of these Chimera Goblins already fallen under Kristos‘ blade, these two intelligent once plead for calm and so the fight is ended before it really gets started. Kivarg‘s disappointment is quite evident.
• The party learn that a powerful wizard known as The Observer lives in the tower above. These creatures have not seen the druid Yorivar. They talk of their ancestors who were abandoned by the wizard, but they have not seen him as he never comes down into the lower tower. The goblins also tell of a danger on the floor above, one of their kind but much more deadly, a creature called Squat.
• The two intelligent Chimera Goblins lead the party up to the 4th level of the tower and introduce them to Squat, a much larger goblin with horns and a nasty sneer. He has briefly seen The Observer and recalls only a large mass and an eye…
• An picture is being formed of this wizard; clearly powerful, fickle, cruel maybe. How will our adventurers deal with The Observer when they finally encounter him?
• Reaching the 5th level our heroes jaws drop as they look across Illmire and nervously consider the ladder ascending into the floating part of the tower. We’ll find out what happens when they climb up there and explore beyond next session.