Session 15: the Serpent Tower

Thanks to the late Robert E. Howard for the inspiration for this (and probably the next) session. 

• The PCs get a long rest
• The next morning, Abbot Lightman calls Simon in, telling him it is time for him to leave the temple for a year. He says that Simon is clearly has extraordinary potential, and he will not realize that potential burning incense in the temple. He needs to be out in the world.
• Simon moves into a room at the Inn of the Eye, next door to the Eye of the Beholder.
• The next day the PCs meet with the head of the town council, Lana Setch. She greets them, offers them a drink, and thanks them on behalf of the council for saving the head of the Merchants Guild. She gives them each a bag with 20 gp, and she describes their adventures she had heard about. They are on her radar.  
• As they leave the council building, Mick sees a gem merchant (fence) he knows -- Lando Falrisian. They agree to meet at the Eye of the Beholder that evening.
• At the Eye, Lando gets increasingly drunk, and blabbers loudly about a wondrous legendary diamond, the Heart of the Serpent, hidden somewhere in the tower on the Serpent Isle.  Mick chats him up about it. Debi overhears it, as does Simon. Debi makes a history roll, and her study of local legends pays off. She remembers a legend of the cultist Thrax Sobranis imprisoning a Serpent God in the tower 200 years ago, on what has come to be called the Serpent's Isle.
• Lando agrees that he'll find a buyer for the Heart of the Serpent if Mick and his crew can steal it, which he doubts, due to tales of parties that never returned from the island. 
• The PCs get ready for an expedition. They have found out the that Isle is a few miles north of the city wall, where the river widens out into a lake. The tower is an ancient guard post, built at the high point of a small wooded island. 
• Simon readies his spells. 
• Mick seeks out extra muscle for the venture. He finds Lorian the Knife has been fired by Rivas -- a falling out of sorts -- as Rivas' wife (wives) found Lorian attractive. Lorian, somewhat aimless, agrees to go on the adventure.
• Debi researches the Heart of the Serpent legend in Langon's World Library. She finds 2 things - 1) "All that remains of the god and his minions are the guardian creatures they left" and 2) a theory that "The Serpent God is not a god, but a flesh and blood being from another world"
• Mick visits an alchemist and spends his last 50 gold on a vial of anti-toxin.
• They set out, leaving the walls of the city, travelling through the slum ring just outside the gates, then the agricultural ring surrounding the city, following the river.
• They reach the lake, and can see the island and the tower about 1/2 from shore.
• They bargain with an unsuccessful fisherman for the use of his boat.
• It is afternoon. They paddle out to the island. There is a sandy beach on one side where they land.
• Beyond the beach, the island rises sharply, and is heavily wooded. They can see the tower from the beach, but as soon as they begin through the woods they lose it. They think it about 1/2 mile away.
• 1/3 of the way to the tower, with Mick at the head of the marching order, he sees a 10' giant snake in a tree. Clearly one of the guardians beasts. The snake attacks, biting him. He saves vs. poison, but is badly hurt.
• The party opens up on the snake with bows and crossbow. As it opens its mouth for another strike on Mick, Debi fires a crossbow bolt into its mouth, into its brain, putting the killing shot on it.
• Simon heals Mick back up to full health
• They continue up the hill until they are in sight of the tower, which is in a small clearing. It is not huge -- about 40 feed per side, and 45 feet high.
• They skulk along the tree line and find the front door
• There are two human guards wearing ragged clothing and chainmail. They look weirdly glassy-eyed.
• The party does a plan...
• Simon ritual casts Silence on the spot between the two guards. Luckly no more snakes attack while he's doing this. Mick, Debi, and Lorian are then able to kill them with arrows with no danger of they crying out.

End of session. The Odd Three and Lorian are still in the trees, having just slain two guards. There is still about 10 minutes of the silence spell left.