Skullshank and the Sinking Spire

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Uktar 23

    Our party has rested and are creating items to aid themselves in the upcoming fight for Faerun.  During this down time they are approached once more by one of the Harper leaders and are asked to investigate the hidden tower of the Wizard Skullshank for any magical artifacts or tomes that might aid the Harpers.  (He happens to have been the brother of Shendankin the Sorcerer).

   What they are told of Skullshank is that he was known to be an expert on summoning evil creatures from the outer planes.  These are the same type of creatures that are streaming out of the World Scar since Lolth's ritual went awry. His hidden tower was rumored to be on the middle of The Vast Swamp, near the border of Sembia and Cormyr, not much more than a few day's ride from Saerloon.

Map of the vicinity the party is at now.

    After several days of investigating the swamp, they come upon a clearing cut from the very forest itself.  The clearing stretches several hundred yards across, dominated by the black twisted spire they have been seeking.  The tower lists to one side, leaning slightly to the east at a 15 degree slant.  Rumors led them to believe that the tower was 5 or 6 stories tall, but only 3 sections can be seen.  They also realize the tower is in the middle of a tar pit 100 years across!  Riddick scouts ahead and spots some type of contraption made of metal on the far side of the clearing so they move to investigate.  They get to the structure but no one has training in engineering so they can't make anything out of this mysterious device.  Before they can set out, they are attacked by two large Deinonychus!  These large reptiles are strong and dangerous, but stupid.  Hannibal and Landon use tactics to their advantage while Azten fires spells and moves away to a safe distance.  After several rounds the beasts are dead and our party works out a plan to get to the tower without going through the tar pit.  They settle on casting fly Hannibal so he can carry over those that can't fly or levitate themselves.  Half the group makes it to the top of the tower while the other half is on its way.  Before they get there a Black Dragon attacks!  He announces that his name is Tarfoot and that he is Skullshank's tower guardian.  The party looks to be in some trouble when the fight breaks out.  Luckily, Azten is there to cast a spell on Tarfoot that reduces his intelligence and other mental skills to that of a mere animal.  The fight is still hard, but not nearly what it could have been.

    The remainder of the party makes it to the tower and they enter from the top.  Riddick is in the lead scouting ahead followed by Hannibal, Landon, Azten, Rusty, and Seriade.  As they go room to room, they encounter an Assassin Vine, a trapped Chaos Beast (which was handled expertly by a wall of fire), and a lab and library filled with strange equipment.  Some decent loot was found along with several maps of magical ley lines (some running through the World Scar), and a few books on devil and demon summoning.  Having explored the top and middle levels, they decide to take a short rest before clearing out the last level.