Loose threads: Winter Orb for the Elemental Portal Shrine, whatever remains in the rest of the tower.
Participants The Ashen Hawk, Sukemoru Uzuto, Gharok, Cornix the Beaker, Tinkado Mushameri, Jirel Flyr
Locations Unexplored Continent, Selementai Sanctum
Short summary:
We traveled to the Lich Merry's tower and explored it, eventually figuring out where her soul cage was to lure her in and kill her.
Full Report
Hey there, Uzuto here! I am writing this report to tell people how we defeated Merry! First, we met in town and made preparations for the battle. Then, we journeyed to the castle to go through the teleporter that lead to the tower where we were sure that Merry was. Dangers were almost immediately met as several Large statues attacked us, but we made short work of them thanks to the Ashen Hawk's leadership. With the vanguard vanquished, we were able to quickly heal and move down the tower, where I was sure that Merry must have been, as liches are undead and undead like to stay in deep places. Sadly, as we found out later, she stayed up somewhere higher, as liches are wizards and wizards stay at the top of towers.
The first thing we encountered was a puzzle room that worked with some sort of lights. I was unable to come up with a solution at first, but after communing with the Dao, it came to me. Unfortunately, there was no treasure in that room, and I we left despondent. Luckily, a few floors down, I found a room full of bottles that I was able to save! You never know when you will need glass bottles. Even better was how we found the teleportation room on the -6 floor. Thanks to the Ashen Hawk's careful lockpicking, we were able to enter the room. However, without much knowledge as to how it worked, our careful experiments did not bear much fruit at the moment, leaving us no choice but to continue lower.
At the very bottom of the tower, the Ashen Hawk was able to get us into a room filled with glowing lines and marked with danger. But Merry was tricky and it turned out that the lines were the danger, causing him to get blasted back and almost die to an energy that would have annihilated lesser men. Thankfully, Cornix was there, and I had cookies. Seeing as how there were no more floors to descend, we instead ascended once more to a higher floor, where I met butlers. In the interest of class solidarity, I was going to let them go, but Cornix insisted that they die because they were zombies. Continuing up, we found some medical supplies that we were able to give to the Ashen Hawk so that he could heal up. In the higher part of the tower were even more butlers, who helpfully opened a door for us so that we could see where the outside led but were unable to tell where Merry was located. Tipping them nonetheless, we continued upward and encountered even more golems, who needed a beating before we moved on.
On the fourth floor, we found a group of students being taught different things, but the subject was too complex for me to make sense of any of it. Hawk had the good idea of copying down their notes, but the penmanship was terrible. Even further up we found a dining area and above that a kitchen. Just then, Hawk had the idea to check the teleporter room to see if it could bring out what was on the eighth floor, and we quickly hurried to try the idea. As expected, Merry's soul cage and treasure were in that room, but before we could retrieve any of it, an alarm went off and covered us in chains that made me think unpleasant thoughts. We were able to break out and then break the teleporter, giving us enough time to prepare before Merry could come into the room with her golem servants.
Once she did appear however, we all focused on her, a flurry of blows tearing into her. The Ashen Hawk especially did well, dodging a lightning bolt that would have surely caused trouble for all of us if it did as the Immortal pleased. I even got strikes in myself, though I believe it was the Ashen Hawk who got the finishing blow as I quickly left to ensure she did not escape with her soul cage. Without their leader, the golems were made quick work of, and the fight was completed. Tinkado cataloged the treasure while the Ashen Hawk destroyed the soul cage, sending Merry's soul off to judgement. Then we recalled and I got something to eat. It was a new type of meat that I had not tried before called... [The next few pages of the report contain a description of Uzuto's food escapades.]