4.10.21 - Tower to Phlan

It was decided that Blink and I should be the ones to move towards the sleeping black dragon because we could possibly sneak up and grab the collar and disk from the dragon’s neck. We decided to divide the large cavern and try to flank the sleeping form with Blink descending from the ceiling onto the dragon’s back; however, after we had parted ways I heard the shifting of rubble from the direction Blink had snuck off in so I froze in my tracks. Suddenly, the mound began to shift as the dragon opened its eyes and swiveled its head to face Blink. It greeted Blink, who asked for its name. The dragon declared that it’s name was Xythontoren, The Slumbering Death, and that it had been warned by its friend, Ixmylit the beholder, that we were coming and that they were expecting us to arrive the day before. They boasted of being the chosen protector and that they had been there for many years protecting the tower and the many possessions of the mages of the towers when they were asked by Blink if they had some items we were looking for that we could trade. It looked her over, eyeing the green dragon mask carefully before declaring that it knew Blink had friends and there were more of us that needed to come join the discussion, so I stepped out of where I had been hiding and we all waited for She-rah and Rhys to come join us. We began to discuss what we might have of value that we could barter with for the gauntlets by their feet and the key out from around their neck that weren’t the dragon mask in Blink’s possession. Xythontoren then spotted my sword and decided that we had to die. With her nimble feet, Blink managed to run across the dragon’s back and retrieve both the items we needed and a number of other items from the hoard after Xythontoren    abandoned it to chase Rhys and drop a swarm of bugs in the room. After that, she yelled for all of us to run, she got what we needed, so we did. I waited by the door until my friends were through and left Xhythontoren with a few good slashes.

   We regrouped in the next room where we took a short rest to recuperate while we looked at what Blink had recovered from the hoard. She had managed to grab several bags of holding, a pair of goggles to help Rhys see in the dark, the gauntlets we needed, the key we needed, and some healing potions. The bags had a variety of gems and coins that stayed with the person who had claimed it as theirs. Rhys took the gauntlets once we knew what we had to do with them in order to drain the pool once we locate and reach it.

   After our short rest, we placed the disk key into the door which opened into a golden portal much like some of the previous doors. Upon stepping through, we emerged into an observatory-like space with giant windows for the outer walls and a central pillar with ten sides that each had a door with a small window. When we looked through the windows in the doors, we could see the many places the doors must lead to, and the large outer windows showed us the views from the tops of the towers that were connected to the corresponding door. Without any issues, we found the door that leads back to Phlan right outside the Laughing Goblin Tavern and the door that would take us back to Tamsin’s tower at the lake. The other ones look just as interesting, but they don’t seem so helpful right now (Maybe someday?), though some of them are dark and have nothing on the other side. We decided then to go back to Tamsin’s tower to talk to him one more time before returning to Phlan through the tower. When we emerged, I noticed that each of us now possessed a necklace with the symbol of the observatory on it around our necks, and there was now a little divot in the top of the door to the tower that when we put the necklace into it opens to the observatory so we don’t have to go back through past the challenges each time we need to go somewhere.

   We went back into Tamsin’s tower where we found Canon! They were both reading books in his sitting room when we were brought in by a little winged impish thing. Rhys and Tamsin started talking about rebellion while Cannon pulled me aside to talk about where he went when he couldn't go into the tower with us. He told me that he went back to talk to Eli. Cannon said that she was being forced to go back to the Ma'ams to protect the island they lived on , and she was to become a hag and be their third sister on her thirteenth birthday which is one month from now. Elisande is at a crossroads but that she currently has no choices because of my sticky fingers, but Cannon sent her a book to help her make a choice if I can help set things right so she doesn’t have to be doomed to a life she didn’t choose. I asked Cannon to ask the Ma’ams what we can do to fix my mistake and their reply was that their protection will be good in thirty days, so even though their ancient magics were disturbed they will be fine because Elisande was destined to join them and she never had a choice. (I think I took eight gold bars from a skull-like cave with a drawing of a leviathan in it  when we were there, and I think I could retrace my steps to get them all back.) Then we all took a long rest, some sleeping more soundly than others, before deciding how we should make our re-entry to Phlan.

   Together we said our goodbyes to Tamsin and exited his tower to reach the observatory again. From there, Rhys turned into Sparrow-Rhys to check that we were not on the wanted board before I headed out to do some reconnaissance at the Laughing Goblin. While we waited for Rhy’s scouting I used my disguise kit to make myself look as nondescript as possible before going out.

   The docks are busier than they had been for quite some time as it seems that the dragon in town has inspired some new construction projects and more trade. There seem to be a few more guards, with their new green hand print on their armor, then there were before, but also more drunken pirates so that seems reasonable. Looking around inside the bar, it is busier than I had ever seen it before, so busy in fact that Mar can’t even stop to say hello. I find a seat at the bar to get a better vantage point and the only people who seem to be locals are Mar and the other people working as the staff and everyone else is a traveler of some kind. After talking with one of these traveling pirates, I decided to stop Immazale at the bar to get a goat’s milk and a short rundown on how things have been. A short while later, I left to go into Phlan to run a few errands, and to go to Madame Fiona’s Teakettle; however, I was stopped by the gate by a guard who demanded to see my “papers” to get into town. When I told them I had urgent business they told me to go around to the main gate from the docks down in Pike to go get my papers from the main gate. I went back to the Laughing Goblin to see if any of my “new friends” that I had met needed help with their papers on the way back to their ships, but the person I helped back to the ship called The Electrum Eel, had no papers with him. I decided my final attempt to get into the city before returning to my friends at the tower would be to find someone with papers at the Laughing Goblin, but when I tried to search Mar by helping him pull his pants up a guard spotted me. (Level up to 11!)