Our newest assignment is once again increased in scope: the saving of the accursed city of Ghalasine. Some evil wizard is using the king's heart for a dark ritual[1] and we need to remove the heart from the city. Further details to be found from Naevys, captain of the royal guard. And of course, some confirmed rumors: there's a huge ball hovering above Ghalasine, and it's vacuuming the city upwards. Locals cannot enter due to a magical barrier.
On to our newly acquired brooms of flying! We flew into the city of Uluvin, neighboring Ghalasine, to meet up with the captain, apparently an elf woman whom 50 tried to seduce, repeatedly, unsuccessfully.
Naevys was all too keen to tell us how the evil wizard Charmayne turned the king from a benevolent ruler into a withdrawn old man[2]. When Naevys came to Uluvin to consult the local mages, Charmayne unleashed his curse. The city is turning to ash minute by minute, sucked up by a giant grey ball hovering 200 feet above the castle. Naevys tried but failed to get inside.
We decided on a rendezvous at the city gates, then let her ride out, while we ordered some beers at the local tavern. Flying on our brooms, we had time to circle the town and observe movement near the castle before Naevys showed up.
We conducted some experiments with the magical barrier and the giant vacuum, involving Naevys and mundane items, liquids, and so on. After much laughter on our side and despair on the DM's, we entered the city.
We flew into the royal neighborhood, but I got invisible[3] and did a flying recon of the castle first. Besides checking out the patrols, looking into all the windows to see ashen faced human-looking guards, and generally circling the place, I also observed a couple of rooms floating upward. While the armory contained nothing of interest, I detected and opened a secret door on the bedroom wall. Inside was a huge monster with his chest ripped open and a crown on his head. Looking around, I detected rhythmic noise, like a beat. Well screw the dungeon crawl, time for a surgical strike.
I flew back, the guys got into a Bag of Holding, and we got out in the floating bedroom. I still tried to sneak in to steal the heart, but it apparently beat from the direction of the king's feet. We saw no other recourse but to battle the monster.
It was going well, but the pavement soon ruptured, and a fire elemental threw a Fireball inside. All the floor gave out, and we landed in a melee with a patrol of ashen guards.
Unfortunately they were fireproof, but the unrelenting duo that is Thaldohr and Grog soon beat everything into the ground.
We had a couple of turns until more guards showed up, so we looked for the heart and found it in a hidden box that fell out of the bedroom along with the pavement. Mounting our brooms, we flew up to the armory to recover. I opened the box to reveal the beating heart, we drank potions, Daramin healed us. We decided on not risking dawdling around. The guys went back into the bag, but not before I got invisible again. I mounted my broom with heart in hand, and dashed out of the city at 150 feet/round.
I still got accosted by the wizard Charmayne, flying after me as a burning comet[4] and launching fireballs. I dodged one but had to land after another. It looked like a tough fight, so I asked how much distance do I still have to cover. 450 feet. Well don't you say! This looks like a job for...
I got Daramin out of the bag, and he dimension door'd us outside.
Charmayne dispersed into ash, the ball disintegrated and the pieces of the town fell back into place. Around the castle, a huge throng of people appeared. Mission accomplished.
We played out the closing scenes, with us approaching the milling mob and easily locating the confused king. He thanked us profusely, and rewarded us richly with cold hard cash. Naevys gave us her magic sword. All was right in the world.
And we did that all in one session.
[1] What is it with wizards nowadays.
[2] Theoden vibes.
[3] Good thing to have a wizard in the party.
[4] Being completely on theme.
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