As I mentioned before, we were just preparing to rest. Before we did, we decided to examine the book that Trap had found. It turned out to be the Journal of the Witch Lord. We began reading it, but were disrupted by the screams of Korin from the room below! When we ran to his aid, we found him being attacked by an undead elf! (Apparently he had been making quite a racket, and attracted the thing’s attention.)

We were able to dispatch the horror, but not before it had drained much life from Korin.... Knowing that he would need treatment, we locked ourselves in one of the other rooms and rested for a day, while Drusilia and Ghelt looked after the half-wit. He is looking a little better now, but is not back to his normal self.

After resting, we explored the rest of the tower. Trap was zapped as a lightning bolt came flying from a door he had decided was NOT trapped, and the rest of the party went diving for cover. (That lightning bolt would be a useful spell to know... I may have to look into that further.) Behind the door, buried in a pile of garbage, Trap found a sword with the symbol of Pelor on it. Drusilia looks a little concerned about letting him use it, but so far it is working out OK.

Continuing below, we eventually came to the lab of the Witch Lord! In the center of the room was a glowing blue crystal. Standing nearby was another undead elf, and off in the corner was the Witch Lord himself. The Witch Lord looked awful, as if his skin had all been sewn onto his body!!! Some pieces kept falling off! As Trap and Ghelt rushed into combat, Drusilia began praying for her God to smite the undead fiends. She was able to turn the Undead Elf to dust, but the Witch Lord was unaffected!

Thinking this might have something to do with the glowing crystal, I cast a Magic Missile at the crystal and shattered it! At first I was excited, but then a voice shouted “At Last! I am free!” and I began to worry.

It seems that my worry was misplaced however, as with a Flaming Sphere, Trap and Ghelt’s Fighting, and Drusilia’s turning power, we were soon able to dispatch the Witch Lord. Further examination of his journals showed that he had failed in his attempt to become a Lich, and that had left him trapped in his current Undead state. It had also caused the tower and everything around it to age drastically... thus explaining all of the undead orcs!

After searching the the Witch Lord’s lab (in which we found lots of loot — some rings, a potion, a wand, and more!), we explored the rest of the tower and found the scepter we had been told about. We soon headed out to free the slaves.

Once we arrived back at the mine, Drusilia was able to release the collars using the Witch Lord’s Scepter. Now the slaves are free, and we must move on towards the Heart of Nerull. It is obvious that other forces are still seeking the evil Relic and we must find (and destroy) it before they succeed!.

~=Fafnir Flamebrewer=~
Planting 27, 592CY

P.S. - One of the rings allows me to cast more spells, and another is a Ring of Jumping! The wand casts a spell which I believe is Melf’s Acid Arrow. I gave the other ring (which had a protection magic of some type on it) to Drusilia, but she didn’t want it and gave it to Korin... Its now sitting unworn in his backpack, I believe. Oh well — maybe when he does something dimwitted enough to get killed, his backpack will survive. I guess I am most surprised he didn’t put the thing on his cro-bar to protect it!

~FF~