Session 1 recap

Our brave adventures journeyed to the edge of civilization, up to
forested hill lands near the pass leading to legendary Forbidden
Valley. In a small village along a lake they heard rumor of a wizard's
tower in the area where lightning was seen constantly striking. They
followed the trail towards the Valley until finding a second less worn
trail through the woods. After walking several miles along this trail
they could see and feel violent crashes of lighting. Upon drawing
closer they saw an ashy blasted clearing with a great tower at the
center, drawing in each bolt like some giant lightning rod.

The clever Man Helsing thrust a pole into the ash and watched it for several minutes before it was disintegrated adding fresh dust to the ground. He and several other members of our party sprinted across the wasted land surrounding the tower, up its stairs, to the main door of the tower. After delicately pulling on the handle with his bow The Farmer, drew back the knocker, which fell with a resounding BOING, and the great doors to the tower drew inward. The party then proceeding cautiously with their exploration of the tower.

Upon the first floor, they found a spotless waiting room, a large closet with nothing but mildewing clothes and moth-balls, and a well-furnished sitting room with a large statue in one corner. Bosinator and (the self-styled) Sir Loin of Beef spent some time exploring a few of the walls of these mundane rooms for any signs of secret compartments or passages, but, alas, to avail. Meanwhile, Tavaris Rhet found that his powers overqualified him for most of these mundane tasks, and decided to make himself useful drawing a map for the party. However, being unaccustomed to anyone else having to interpret his scrawls, his descriptions of the layout were crude at best. Stairs running along the inner circumference of the tower lead up from this room to next level.

Our team, anxious to continue upward, examined the second floor from landing between separated the stairs that wound further up. There they found a plain room with cooking utensils and an oven; the room seemed to occupy about half of that level of the tower, with a hallway leading off to the side. Man Helsing and Farmer led the exploration and were the first to see the trail of blood oozing down the stairs from the above. Following the trail up, they discovered a locked door at the top of the stairs with a bleeding keyhole.

 The Farmer skillfully picked the lock, and the party entered the room to discover an old wizard trapped in a circle of salt near the center of his chambers. First appearing bumbling and asking for the characters to free him, he quickly turned hostile and threatening. Our team wisely ignored this demon-worshipper, and gathered from his room what valuables they could find, namely a skull-sized egg-shaped crystal. Through a door in the back, they discovered an elevator chamber, and ascended to the top floor.

At the top of the elevator, they discovered the wizard's workshop. By playing with a simple control panel, the team figured out how to operate a strange inter-planar telescope that blasted a giant red laser beam into the sky. A curious Bosinator looked through the eyepiece of the telescope to see what lie beyond the great the red beam in the sky, only to be sucked into and through the telescope, and causing the focusing crystal of the telescope to explode a great fury. Sir Loin of Beef was the unfortunate soul to discover the fate of Bosinator who was transmogrified into a pulpy version of herself and devoured by mandrake-like demons on some plane lying at the other end of that otherworldly beam.

I don't plan on doing recaps every week. For one, somebody else could do a much better job of it stylistically. And, while I could catalogue every session's activities, it will be much more challenging, involving, and fun if you guys try to remember what you've done, where you've explored, etc. so that you can truly interact with the enviroment without me goaling you towards things.

Any questions before the next game, email me.