B. Dark Tower

Following: A. The Battle of Leilon (pursuit of the Quest: Ebondeath's Mausoleum )

As the dust settles following the Battle for Leilon, our heroes seek to put to a final end these threats from beyond the grave: the dark powers of the Church of Myrkul residing in the dark Uthtower deep within the Mere of Dead Men.  After efficiently dispatching the rear guard of the Army of Myrkul, six skeletal warriors riding similarly skeletal horses called "deadmounts", the party was met by friendly Lizardfolk, who provided skiffs (lightweight floating barges) and poles to more easily travel the deeper stretches of muck. 

But the party seeks has overlooked another important player in this dread swamp...

Dragon Lord of the Swamp

For centuries after the fall of the Uthlords, the undisputed lord of the Mere of Dead Men was the Unknown Chardansearavitriol, called "Ebondeath" before seeking an immortal form. In present times, following a long absence of Ebondeath - another black dragon has claimed the apex position in the swamp - this one called Voaraghamanthar, reputedly a particularly adept user of magic even by dragon standards.

Following a convenient black dragon intervention with a dangerous swamp inhabitant (resembling an elephant-sized frog-beholder-hydra awful something), as the hiss of its acid-breath still sizzles while it devours the last of the creature, the current Dragon Lord of the Mere presents the party with a proposal and shares useful information:

• This living black dragon is not fond of sharing with the undead black dragon now-dracolich, called Ebondeath.
• The creature called Ebondeath has passed beyond even the form of a Unknown to become some kind of a ghost-dragon, and will simply reform after defeat.
• It claims to have the power to permanently destroy this spirit if given the bones of Chardansearavitriol.
• Those bones are believed to lie within the ghost-dragon's lair beneath the Uthtower in the Mausoleum of the Uthlords.

The Proposal

Swear to me an oath you will bring me the bones of Chardansearavitriol and The Myrmoran Crown, and I swears to guide and safely escort your party to and from the tower, and ensure your safe return to Leilon (those who survive the Dark Tower at least), and allow you to keep for yourselves anything else found within the tower (other than the bones and crown).

The black dragon seems confident this "Myrmoran Crown", a relic from the days of the Uthlords, will be found in Ebondeath's hoard.

Conferring amongst themselves, Belcoria speaks for the party and agrees to these terms.  The dragon indeed proves quite skilled at facilitating the journey without incident and easily finding the tower's location.  Along the way, it shares further information about the Uthtower and its residents important to this quest:

1. The ancient tower (1346 years) itself has defensive powers that are held by structures and guardians within. As these are destroyed, this power is weakened.
2. One of these powers is a warding circle 500 yards from its walls - preventing entry by dragons, giants, celestials and other powers and preventing use of any sort of divination magic seeing or guiding actions within that range.
3. This includes the power that allows the tower to rise from the murk of the swamp in the times of the Eye of Myrkul, and would begin its return - so be wary. The sinking will not be fast, but it will be unstoppable.
   
4. Additional powers from this provide advantage to the undead while weakening the living within the walls themselves: turning food moldy, spoiling wine, infesting water with parasites, rests provide no benefit, exhaustion is accelerated, and undead rise unless sprinkled with holy water or stricken with divine radiance.
5. During daylight, the mausoleum beneath the tower floods 20 feet deep with the dark water of the Mere, but this is slowly drained at sundown (4 feet per hour). However, during daylight many of the undead guardians of the upper tower will not be active. Approaching the tower night or day will likely mean facing ranged attack from the upper level, and will certainly require surviving the Darkness Vines that surround the tower and have fed for centuries on its evil and the churn of the dead in the surrounding muck.
6. It would be wise to respect the buried Uthlords and leave their crypts undisturbed - to avoid powerful curses and magical retributions.
7. This sort of information has been taken from prior adventurers who have explored the tower over the years, interrogated after escaping. Such adventurers may have looted some parts of the tower and crypts already. On the other hand, many have died inside who carried valuable items with them - perhaps to be discovered?
8. The Mummy Lord Ularan Mortus, commander of the undead army that marched on Leilon, has retreated to the tower which it claims as its lair (and in a sense - a shrine to the Death Lord Myrkul whose power permeates the structure). Mortis no doubt is preparing for the tower to sink with the star leaving the sky - readying to once more surge forth with power on the next cycle, since time has little meaning for the immortal unliving.
9. The Army of Myrkul has mostly disbanded - sinking once more beneath the waters of the Mere of Dead Men - but Mortis retains guards and devoted servants in the tower and crypts.
10. As a Mummy Lord, Mortis' destruction will require finding its mummified heart, no doubt carefully hidden and guarded - but with certainty somewhere within the tower or mausoleum.

Lair of the Mummy Lord

As the shape of the Uthtower first emerges through the mists of the swamp and the tangle of mossy trees, the dragon halts, noting the border of the warding circle. He indicates he will be waiting - something between reassuring and ominous (perhaps best filed under "to be seen") and offers an unenthusiastic "good luck" before slipping into the swamplands, disturbingly practiced, as if he has wished the same a hundred times before. 

Before even reaching the tower, the party faced a deadly pair of daunting obstacles, the first of which being the Darkness Vines. Seemingly endless in number and in reach, these root-like tendrils moved with the agility and intelligence of tentacles, raising a terrifying thought that the tower's evil runoff had created some sort of swamp-kraken within the muck. These limbs would not only grasp and pull, but could even wield melee weapons left in the muck over centuries (fortunately most shattering upon impact). However, these vines being plants, they were no match for the wood-thirsty greataxe Hew, wielded by the giant dwarf Tallon the Tall. With each devastating chop, even surrounding vines drew back, clearing a path so long as the barbarian remained focused and continued to deliver such blows - otherwise it was clear, fully-surrounded, the party would become overwhelmed by dozens of constricting roots.

Upon entering crossbow range from the tower's high floor, bolts stabbed into the barbarian, fired from a crossbow-wielding figure barely visibly framed in a window. Aimed with an assassin's accuracy, the party knew all to well from Yeet Longshade that even a single shot might drop even the notoriously tough barbarian. Timing with the reloading of the weapon and the beating back of the vines, Belcoria and Mon-Kei moved to the front to intercept the bolts, while relying upon the plant-cleaver to keep back the ever-intruding vines. Willow alone had the range to attempt counter-fire with her longbow, and employed Hail of Thorns to deter the assassin, though the strikes continued until the steps to the tower's entry finally came close enough to reach.

Into the Uthtower

From the tower's walls a vile liquid dripped like a curtain, hissing as it reached the muck - one final trap before the tower's door.  Ujio employed telekinetic psi powers to move a large flat rock to part the dripping and avoid the fluid in entering the unlocked door. From the onset, the first room was further trapped with a Glyph of Warding, bringing Belcoria temporarily to her knees before a (natural 20 rolled) Dispel Magic by Willow shorted out a number of the floor's defenses all at once. Two enormous skull carvings on the walls are destroyed - and with this can be sensed a release in the tower's corrupting presence, just as advised by the dragon.

Aware the archer would likely alert any creatures awake within the tower floors above, the group proceeded with caution. The first floor had no further defenses, but indeed showed signs of prior intrusions - mainly in the corpses left behind. Paying with muddied armor and clothes,. Ujio won an intriguing discovery digging through the muck of an ancient armory - a shortsword glowing with light when grasped, later learned to be named "Illuminus" - once wielded by one who sought the Uthtower's treasures, but now becoming the first this party would find.

Indeed the stairs descending remained fully flooded, so the party headed upward to clear out threats inhabiting the tower itself. In its current state, the central spiral stairs twisted in a tight curve, until an open archway revealed the Church of Myrkul's commander himself: the Swamp Mummy Lord Ularan Mortus, before a throne formed of bones and flanked by two intimidating figures (a Boneclaw and a Knight of Hades) and two hovering shimmering shadows (Eidolons). Speaking with absolute certainty in his superiority and lack of concern over the threat the party might pose, the Mummy Lord began the typical villain's words of disdain for the foolhardy schemes of such pathetic troupe, naming the mercies he could offer should they simply give up now - which, true to the epic tales of heroes, led to defiance and a charge to attack!

Fortunately, a few members of the party with less trigger-reaction also employed some clever precautions. Ujio blocked one of the side doors with his Immovable Rod and Willow cast Spike Growth on the stairs leading up to deter reinforcements from above.  But from there, the battle initially unfolded very poorly for the party. Ularan Mortus truly wielded strong magics, and his minions had been underestimated. Tallon and Belcoria were blinded just as they rushed the undead lord, becoming vulnerable to the boneclaw and knight. The shimmering shadows slipped into great stone statues - delivering blows upon Ujio and Mon-Kei while themselves turning blades and Ki-fists. Willow and Belcoria struggled to keep up with spellcraft healing and countermeasures. While the physical combat waged, the mummy lord unleashed an Insect Swarm and deeply injured with Blight, and though its gaze never succeeded - the paladin contracted Mummy Rot. The tide of battle turned as Ujio forced one of the statues out a window, tumbling into the swamp, and the rage-sustained barbarian stepped aside as Belcoria delivered a glorious divine smite upon Ularan shattering him upon the throne of bone.

From his robes, a tiny spark of flame shot out and flew up the stairs - with one of the group barely hearing something like "must hide the path to the heart"... but it is not followed. The party instead investigated the adjoining rooms. The first of which is vacant, but appears to have been a tactical planning room with maps of the region. Ujio, a trained cartographer, is particularly fascinated by a depiction of the wider region carved into one of the walls that includes towers and ruins that in modern times have likely been forgotten - perhaps opportunities for later exploration?  Noticing chanting from the other room on this level, peeking through the doorway, the group sees a necromancer in a deep trance and four zombies pinning two men against the outer wall of the tower with long pikes - energies from the ritual extending to their bodies.  The party plans an ambush - the monk, barbarian, and fighter entering from one door while the paladin, ranger-druid, and warlock from the other. (Until Ularan was vanquished, Alorrik had been maintaining a magical cloaking upon the group in hopes of preventing unwanted attention from the Death God himself.)

Infiltrators & Infernos

Upon entering the room, protective glyphs lit up - faltering against those within the paladin's aura, but turning all at the other door to stone. The necromancer is protected by warding spells, but these are taken down and the vile man defeated by Willow and Belcoria. The zombies are easily crushed, releasing the pinned men, who slowly slide to the floor, barely alive.  Despite sensing their evil, the paladin grants the men the benefits of her life-tethering aura, and death does not take them. The men are questioned in Belcoria's well-practiced aggressive manner while Alorrik and Willow investigate the necromancer and room for some means of restoring Mon-Kei, Tallon, and Ujio to flesh. The would-be turned-undead men respond defiantly to the righteous questioning, perhaps having already accepted death and seeing little opportunity for escape. Their claims:

• Amalkyn the Black was the leader of the group (that consisted of himself, Helduth, and the four men now the dead zombies who had the pikes). He appears a powerfully-built human, but has eyes of a serpent and fangs. His arrogance is the main source of the defiance, taking delight in a certainty of coming destruction and vengeance with the arrival of Tiamat. Indeed, he identifies his group as agents of the Cult of the Dragon, speaking with contempt of the dracolich Ebondeath and the tower's history with the "old school" Cultus Draconis before the new movement to bring the dragon goddess to this plane. His bandit-adventuring group ("The Black Vipers" - a name vaguely known to Our Party) had recently entered the Uthtower, seeking its fortunes for the glory of the Cult's Hoard, and with the aid of the mere's black dragon lord, Voaraghamanthar. Alorrik's magic-detecting vision notes Amalkyn has three magical items, which are (later) Identified as a Bag of Holding (holding a half-orc corpse), a Ring of Warmth, and a shortsword "Scalesbane" (+1 / +2 vs. reptilians). 
• Helduth Flamespell has his own sort of arrogance, more of a calm certainty of his superior intellect to all the fools with whom he must suffer company. He is an instantly unlikeable human with pale features of a well-to-do noble and thinning blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. His distractingly expensive clothing of silks and satins is now torn, bloodied, and muddy. He claims to have been trained by the Arcane Brotherhood,  but left them months ago - eventually joining with the Cult of the Dragon who he felt better appreciated his talent. He claims to have masterminded this expedition for them and speaks with certainty that the pathetic party before him is destined to utter failure.  Alorrik notes Helduth carries two magical items and two spellbooks (which he happily takes for himself).  One item is a glass orb that occasionally shows a reptilian eye, seeming to peer from it. The other is a throwable dagger (later) identified as "Bloodflow" (+0 / +2 vs. humanoids : once per dawn after damaging a living humanoid it will drip with blood and whoever grasps its hilt can heal 1d6-1 HP as the blood flows into their hand).

Further interrogation is interrupted by the distinct scent of smoke, and recalling the tiny flame, the not-stone party members rush up the stairs to investigate after the frustrated paladin delivers final justice upon the vile cultists. Careful and ready to engage the sniper who had attacked during the approach to the tower, Willow and Belcoria find the third and highest floor of the tower to be two dirty and squalid bedchambers and a library now brightly lit with flames. Entering the library, the little fire-bug (a Nyth) gleefully zooms from shelf to shelf lighting up more and more ancient books (having overcome the damp and soggy defenses).  Willow, acting decisively, employs her Druidcraft to snuff, snuff, snuff out the fires and chasing off the Nyth, which shoots out the window, disappearing into the Mere of Dead Men. Unfortunately, the books have already been almost completely turned to ash. A miraculous search by the perceptive half-elf ranger-druid (perhaps attention drawn by divine influence?) notes a tome with a distinctive cover and spine - and a small unburnt passage reads, "eternal heart beneath the entry to the tower in the crypt of " (argh!) - something that would have been most helpful, no doubt! Willow keeps the burnt book and she and Belcoria return to the room below. Alorrik has meanwhile found a magical charm upon the necromancer that he believes tied to the Flesh to Stone enchantment. Acting decisively, to end the waffling of the warlock's puzzlings,  the paladin swipes the bracelet away and crushes it under her foot - thankfully returning Ujio, Tallon, and Mon-Kei to flesh (though confused at all the sudden change that seemed to happen in an instant).

After catching everyone up on what has happened - including the still unknown location of the tower's sniper, the group waits until sundown, taking a fortified position in the stairwell and watching the mud-blackened water slowly drain to reveal the passage mausoleum below.  Descending the stairway to an entrance hallway, the air is thick with the musty stench of the swamp water and foulness of the tower's evil. Torches flicker angrily in the choking humidity, lending unreliable light - Belcoria casts Daylight on her shield to penetrate the darkness.  All behind the door are sure to be undead or otherwise able to survive a day's worth of submersion in muck, so unrelenting attack without mercy is declared and the party bursts through the doors to leap upon a small group of ghoulish guards in the guard chamber.

Exploring a side hallway to defeat the right hand of Ularan Mortus, a Swamp Mummy called "Adrovan Mortis", two more large skulls are destroyed - further diminishing the tower's evil enchantments.  A side room of uncountable zombie reserves, stacked like logs, is left alone while another behind a hidden doorway is discovered to hold a freshly-summoned fiend with the appearance of a sharp-toothed and horned four foot tall baby so fat as to be nearly egg-shaped. Eager for action, Mon-Kei leaps into melee only to find not only is the floor slick with slime, but this tubby terror moves with blinding speed, exploiting the monk's loss of balance, to parkour off wall and ceiling and drop heavily atop, delivering not only a bludgeoning blow with its weight, but a gassy blast of choking foul stench.  As the monk empties and empties his stomach, followed by heaves and gasps, the rest of the team sends the creature back to whatever hell from which it had been summoned.

This seemed the extent of the rooms below, but this could not be! So a careful search for secret passages began, with hopes the zombie room could be avoided.  Fortunately, upon himself giving up and taking a break, Tallon leaned on a wall at just the right angle,  falling clear through it into a further hallway hidden by magics.

Lair of the Dracolich

Sloping lower into the muck and even more slick with slime,  the air of the space was thick with acrid humidity, torches struggled to stay lit.  The hallway turned and a long corridor stretched ahead, leveling off - but crammed with long-dead corpses, perhaps of many past heroes seeking the treasures in the vaults of the Uthtower?  An enchantment emanating through the space of this corridor impaired movement. While less than 50 feet long, it greatly slowed progress of physical speed by a factor of five while range and reach of weapons and spells remained unaffected. The guardian at the end of this corridor, initially giving the impression of further distance was a halfling death knight, mounted upon a swift and ghostly pony: the now-legendary Frobo Braggens the Merciless, Eternal, and Devourer of Starlight.  Able to move with full speed, it raised its war cry "Frohhh Bowwww!" again and again, charging forward to attack, turn and retreat, bracing behind a shield so great as to provide full cover. 

Six enormous vaults flanked on each side by stone caryatid statues (clearly magical - untouched by dust or age) composed the Mausoleum of the Uthlords, with a palpable presence of its spirits - truly felt in the raised hairs all over one's skin. Hundreds of powerful dead placed in crypts marked with "grandfather plaques" naming their titles and times. Heeding the warning of the black dragon, the group dared not disturb any - and slowly crept forward toward the Royal Crypts, grand tombs of the founding Kings and Queens.

 "Who dares disturb the rest of Chardansearavitriol the Ebondeath?"

Here Our Party faced Ebondeath himself, whose voice taunted with a deep echoing sound as if spoken by the vast room itself. Incorporeal, Ebondeath would emerge from ceiling, wall, or floor and attack - with teeth and talons or flesh-twisting breath. His Dreadful Presence of dragonkind, the instinctive fear projected was countered each and every time, confounded by Belcoria's Aura of Courage - and for those outside perhaps by intervention of ancient spirits seeking peaceful rest.

For a second voice, light and smooth - the ghost of a queen of old - advised on a strategy to remove the horrid creature from their burial chamber - and Alorrik began to follow her instruction, inscribing magical symbols upon the floor connecting the four grand tombs at the corners of the great room.  Needing to remain close to the paladin to defy the fear, the warlock began to project a Mage Hand to write with the chalk in the further reaches of the room.  Once completed, the dracolich Ebondeath was confined within the room and the strafing attacks came to an end - the party focused, unleashing fury holding nothing back - finally avenging the fallen of Leilon. 

Not So Fast!

Unfortunately, the elation and celebration were cut short as Tallon, having delivered the final blow and rippling with storm-energies was impaled by a familiar bowshaft ... the tower's assassin had stalked them to this moment, and now was flanked by Amalkyn the Black and Helduth Flamespell, now turned to wights by some dread curse. A costly skirmish followed, but these undead ambushers once more underestimated our heroes and were dispatched. To each side of the Royal Crypts had once been vaulted rooms of honored deeds, antiquities and artifacts - treasure! One of these rooms had been consumed by the mud of the Mere, but the other was piled with the dragon's hoard worthy of Ebondeath's lair in life before his ghostly form in undeath. Atop the mound of coins, chests, gems, and magical items, curled the ancient bones of the black dragon.

Before examining even the first gold piece, the pool of water surrounding the treasure erupted into the Uthtower's final guardian: a creature later identified as a "Skuz": something between undead and elemental - it was composed of the uncountable liquified remains of so many dead in the region, their essence pooled into a black liquid ichor rancid with decay and rot. Commanding water and moisture of the region, infused with all this evil, despair and suffering, likely the center of the root-tentacle nightmares on the tower's approach - the weary party confronted one last wretched foe. Waves of muck, choking humidity, seeming immunity to many forms of attack, the path to defeat (and even survival) seemed bleak - until the champion of the Order of Starfire called forth her radiant glory, Belcoria's Smite piercing its vulnerabilities to put it to an end.

However - with its defeat - the realization its presence was the source of power to hold the Uthtower above the muck, which began to slowly pool as the structure began to sink once more, perhaps forever.  Its progress was not to rapid as to trigger panic, but sufficiently concerning that the group adjusted its plans for looting the place. Among the findings, a bowl the muddled memory of Ujio recalled from Astral days among the Veterans of the Psychic Wars as a Chalice of Blackfire - able to create a flame to unburn the burned. The book taken from the library was exposed to the flame, which then went out, revealing the remainder of the page identifying the tomb hiding the mummified heart of Ularan Mortus.  That tomb was in a chamber not collapsed - and crushed by Novastrike, hopefully forever destroying the swamp mummy.

The body in the Bag of Holding taken from the other party was dumped and the bag filled - as carefully as could be done in the circumstance - with each and every bone from the ancient skeleton of Chardansearavitriol. Tallon hefted its skull and Belcoria carried the spine and tail. The remainder of the party grabbed what treasures they could - guided by Detect Magic, and escaped through a Teleportation Circle, created by Alorrik, linking a nearby chamber to the circle of stones at Castle Naerytar. 

Uncannily, patiently greeting them at this far-off site was the black dragon Voaraghamanthar.  Indeed this was a dragon with peculiar and powerful arcane abilities! The bones were turned over to him for permanent destruction, along with the requested Crown.  Upon returning to Leilon to report the success, the magical items were carefully identified and shared (see Ebondeath's Mausoleum), rewards paid (including granting of titles and estates), and a feast shared, with only Yeet Longshade absent.  Months would then pass until another calling came to the group...

(Next: C. Bane of the Kraken)