The party awoke to a dry and arid day atop the plateau where they had made camp. From there, it took them a good hour further down along the winding river to reach the mysterious tower in the distance.
Along the way, Gan Jedi took notice of hoof-prints and cart tracks along the dustry road, suggesting that they had found a common trail for whoever were moving through the region. Up above, the party also took notice of several flying creatures patrolling the skies -- exactly what they were the party could not tell from the distance, but their flight did not seem random and they looked as though they had riders atop.
They found a fork in the road, where one way seemed to lead up along a path to the tower, while another saw more cart-tracks leading away and further down into the valley. Tsunaman had mentioned before they it had sensed another source of power, somewhere in the area, and so it did not seem unlikely that this other trail could lead to it.
For now though, the party set along the way up the tower. It was a winding road, taking them hundreds of feet up from the river-bank along the hilly side of the valley, before it eventually let out onto a rocky extrusion. The tower stood just there, out on a pillar by its lonesome and only connected to the road by a raised drawbridge. Now that they were up close, the party could see the banners that were hanging from the tower's sides; long and dark, a greenish shade of blue, and bearing the white silhouette of the spire with some adornments around.
They looked like guild banners.Was this a group in league with the Twilight's Hammer, or were they someone else? The party chose to assume the former, and so Zachariah Hallowhold quickly donned a clever cultist disguise and went for the drawbridge together with Orida Darkcloud -- as a Grimtotem clan tauren, it would not be out of place for her to join along. The others kept a safe distance, weapons at the ready as they observed.
When Zachariah called out, a window near the drawbridge opened and a masked elven woman greeted them. They introduced themselves as an envoy of the cult, and though their presence had not been expected at the tower, the drawbridge was lowered for them so that the tower's enigmatic "commander" could greet them in person. Through this, the party also learned that the place was known as the Shadewind Spire and the people there the Shadewind Order. Apparently they were a guild of adventurers, monster hunters, and the like.
Once the two were inside, however, the rest of the party were quick to act. Jung-Won Oxhide led the charge for the rest to get across the drawbridge, and once inside she delivered a decisive blow to stun this elven gate-guard so that Yuma Stonehoof could tie her up. They tried to be quiet, and did not waste time grilling the elf for question. Sadly though, all the commotion quickly drew attention and armed knights from nearby chambers descended upon the party.
Zachariah decided to act quickly, and rushed his way up the tower under the guise of being ambushed by the rest. Perhaps if he could still trick the tower guards, he could learn more from its commander before the situation went entirely out of hand? At the top, he met a broad-shouldered human flanked by a number of elven guards; a man who introduced himself as Renault Blakemore, who spoke boisterously to say the least and who was keen to hear word from the Twilight's Hammer.
In particular, he spoke of a Lord Arkkus, a person who in turn sounded to have quite a bit of sway within the Twilight's Hammer. Much more than that Zachariah was not able to work out of the situation, as Blakemore reached for his sword in response to the alert that the tower had been attacked. He together with his guards descended down the stairs, with Zachariah close in tow behind.
Down below at the ground levle of the tower, the party was fending off the elven guards as they came. Yuma conjured forth a stone pillar to block the hallway, effectively cutting them off and letting the party deal with the group just a few at a time -- though the guards seemed to have plenty of tricks up their sleeves, including dark spells with which they tried to shatter the stone.
After the guards were dead, the party had a brief moment of respite before battle was joined with Blakemore and his guards. They quickly made their way up the stairs, barged into the tower's grand hall, and tried to topple its grand table so they could use it for cover. Sadly, they could not in time, as the table proved too much for them, forcing them to change their plan last minute as Blakemore and his companions entered the fray.
Again, battle was joined, though the party was ready for them when they came. Blakemore charged at Yuma with his sword now searing almost hot-white, though despite the injuries the shaman managed to conjure forth another pillar to block the way.
In the heat of the battle, Zachariah had managed to conjure forth a void being to aid the party; a small, flying mindbender octopus that quickly went after Blakemore's guards to latch onto them and disorient them. As it did, the party managed to make quick work of the lot -- though Blakemore himself was among the first to fall, brought down before he could do too much harm. With his fall, Jung-Won reached for his blade and seized it for herself so she could wield it against the rest of the knights.
Turned out soon enough that there were more people, hiding jut out of sight. Out from some of the conecting rooms, initiates of the Shadewind Order emerged and let spells fly at the party -- with each ones they cried out aloud, "Fire is eternal!". As they emerged, Kimbul charged into the fray to attack them, the tiger as fierce and brutal as always. It was clear that these initiates were not too battle-hardened, though the spells they could bring were impressively potent all the same.
In the aftermath of the battle, once the party could not hear the sound of others around the tower, the party took some time to rest and recuperate so they could regain their powers. After that, they spread themselves around the tower to investigate and see what they could find.
Alongside trinkets, coins, and spare equipment that the party could take along with them, they found a letter sealed within a carrying tube within what seemed to be the private quarters of the commander. In it, the previously named Lord Arkkus addressed the commander's work. It looked as though the true purpose of the Shadewind Order was to find and indoctrinate hopeful recruits into the Twilight's Hammer; a recent batch of recruits had recently been brought into the cult, and apparently the next such event would happen just a few months ahead into the future.
Apparently there was also a Black Dragon somewhere around in the area that Blakemore had been trying to hunt, which had recently been spotted again.
Of course, soon after this, the party came to notice that there had been a few people left alive in the tower, people who had now fled the scene. Footprints left out from the main hall and through the dirty on the other side of the drawbridge, fresh enough that Gan presumed they could not have gotten too far away.
They did have one way they could track them down easily, though; at the top of the spire Zachariah had previously seen a spyglass mounted at the edge of the platform up there. And so the party rushed their way for the top, and sought the spyglass out. Through it, they found that it was aimed at a strange ravine far off in the distance. Could that be the site that Tsunaman had sensed when they last talked to the elemental at Sun Rock Retreat? They made note of it, and then searched around to try and find the runaway order members.
With a bit of luck, they saw the small group of stragglers running away. They certainly had not gotten so far away that the party could not catch up, and they had seen a menagerie of mounts in a stable at the bottom of the tower that could perhaps be of aid -- especially considering their own mounts were at least a day's march away at the entrance of the valley they were in.
The only challenge was the small spread of winged riders in the air above. Now closer to them, the party could see that they were more elves -- no doubt more knights of the Shadewind Order -- mounted atop hippogryphs. It did not seem like they had sensed trouble or were trying to come for the party, and hopefully they could keep the situation as that.
Also atop the tower was a large, glowing sphere mounted high up in the air. The party could deduce that it was of no danger to them, that it was a magical conjuration of sorts that had been deliberately placed there. It was hard understand exactly what it was for, but in it the party swore they could see the flickering silhouette of some strange figures, as though the sphere was a reflection of things happening somewhere else.
For now, the party's primary goal was to track down and stop the small group of fleeing order members.