The children were further interrogated and we learned that they had basically been bred for this purpose and it was hard to determine if they were even grateful of us saving their lives. They seemed intent upon returning to their tribe and we were forced to bind them temporarily. We wanted to make sure that our job here was completed - the tree burnt, and the Titanite stone discovered before we set the children free.
Uphir described her strange encounter with a ghost from the past. A strong male voice was heard in her head indicating that it had been waiting centuries for a great warrior to come along. This voice directed her towards the cairn with the spear in it. It would seem that whatever strange force that was in the spear, and likely was the source of the eerie voice, had been transferred into her great axe. She did not describe any further communications, but we will all be watching her for any signs of possession.
The fire roared the rest of the night and by mid-morning nothing but ash, smoke, and small fires in debris piles was left of the giant Black Banyan tree. When it was safe enough, we moved in and dug around the ash and dirt at where the base of the tree used to be. Nim used his magic senses to locate and remove the acorn size glowing stone. We had done it!
We did not want to go right back to the winery with our prize, some felt we should hold onto the power of the stone ourselves, rather than returning it, to see if it could be used to battle the evil of this land. If the Martikov's simply bury it in the land to begin their next crop of grapes, it could easily be stolen again. We eventually decided we would spend our day in the Svalich woods north of the road leading from Vallaki to Krezk. This was the area of our ambusher.
We traversed the forest and gained the ridgeline from the west. We followed it along looking for any clues or tracks which would lead us to our target. Several areas in the trees along the ridge were perfect spots to lay in wait for an ambush on the road below. In the roots of one tree, we found a tightly wound bundle of fabric. Nim went forth to investigate and soon a cleverly disguised trap was tripped, shooting sharpened bolts up from the ground at our hobbit friend. He managed to avoid most of the pointy things, but cursed himself for not seeing the trap in time. More Black Banyan poison had been applied to those bolts as well.
Investigating further it was determined that they were in fact a pair of pants and shirt. My immediate thought was that a werewolf had stashed his clothing in secret so that he could prowl the forest in his misshapen half-wolf half-man state, looking for prey. Somewhat angered by my friend almost becoming a pin cushion, I must admit that this was not one of my finer moments. I defiled the crotch of the pants with my dagger and defiled the whole outfit with...... egesta of the liquid variety.
We decided to set up a search pattern and began our mundane task in earnest. The person who left the clothing and trap had left no tracks to be found and it was proving futile. Soon a set of wolf tracks was discovered, heading west. All in the group decided we should follow these tracks to wherever they led and where they led was to the north-south running track from the Old Svalich road in the south to the Vistani camp in the north. We could tell from our map that the Tower of Khazin on lake Baritok was only a short trip along this road to the south, and decided rather than confronting the Vistani and/ or searching out the Dusk Elves to the north, we would see if Rictavio had ended up there after all.
A narrow track branched west off the main trail and we followed this a short way until we approached the edge of Lake Baritok. A long, narrow bridge led from the shore to a small island dominated by a ramshackle tower. The sound of wolves howling could be faintly heard from far across the lake and as we approached the tower we noticed a small covered wagon of vistani style was parked just to the side of the tower.
Dim candle light could be seen coming from the fogged glass windows on the third floor. A huge gash could be seen running down the western side of the tower near the top. There was a rickety scaffolding on the west side as well, leading from the ground to the damaged section. The ground floor door was on the south of the structure and had a plaque with strange symbols on it.
Tetsuo went to check out the west scaffolding and crack. He declared the scaffolding to be very unsafe and that there was not much to be seen within the crack. It opened into a dark interior with a squarish hole in the floor, with ropes dangling from the ceiling and down through the hole to the level below. The walls were covered with mildew and greasy mold.
The Wagon was inspected, but it proved to be locked and nothing could be seen through it's curtained windows. Uphir and Janlyn approached the door and as soon as they tried to knock, a bright flash of lightning erupted from the door as bolt after bolt of lightning coursed through their jerking forms. They were thrown back to the ground with smoke trailing behind them. It took some time for the lightning to die down. Luckily none were severely wounded from the ordeal, but no doubt felt somewhat chastised for not heeding the magical glyphs upon the door.
One of the top floor windows opened up and a familiar voice called down. It was Rictavio! He said he would be down to open the door for us. It took several minutes before the door stopped discharging lightning and then the door was opened and Rictavio invited us in. Inside was a platform with connecting ropes trailing up into darkness. There were two large clay humanoid statues holding on to ropes as if they were going to come to life and hoist the platform up to the higher levels.
Well, that is exactly what they did. The statues used their animated arms to raise the platform to the top floor and in groups of two we ascended. This was remarkable, but caused many questions to swirl in my mind. Was Rictavio really a powerful wizard? How could he control the clay statues? How could he overcome the magic of the door? Soon we were all settled in at the top of the tower and found it to be quite homey in its own way. There was a comfortable looking bed, a warm wood stove with enough cut firewood to last some time, a small desk and chair, a cabinet and some suplies.
Rictavio assured us he was no wizard and that he was just really good at figuring these things out. We asked and he graciously offered to have us stay the night in his humble abode. We talked for some time, but really, I must confess, laying my head down to rest was of paramount importance for me.
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