The Rescue

As the heroes caught their breath, everyone’s attention was momentarily drawn back the way they had come, to the most imposing structure any of them had ever seen. Off in the distance, probably a day’s journey, was a group of towers. Even in the dark of a moonless night, they were a black spot against the horizon. They seemed to absorb every bit of light. While they had never seen it before, everyone immediately recognized it as a place they had visited, the Tower of Acererak!

Entering the remains of the temple, the ghouls kept their distance outside. Sneaking down a hallway to the source of light, the party could see the remains of a room, that had sunk down 20 feet. They witnessed Osternath and Damakos depart and saw Leenia trapped at the far side of the room. The room was inhabited by a pair of Bodaks and several Wights. As a side note, one of the other D&D blogs I read had pointed out what a great combat the wight and bodak are. A wight can weaken a character and a bodak can reduce a weakened character to zero hit points. I was afraid this encounter might be too much.

As usual, my players surprised me. Using exceptional planning, a pair of fire walls, and some clever tactics, they were able to reduce this encounter to a much easier one. No one was reduced to zero hit points, despite my best efforts. To be honest, I was disappointed in how easily this was handled. I wanted this to be a “boss” encounter and it just didn’t play out that way. So it goes.