Tower of Destruction, Play 1 Part 5

Happy Christmas, solstice, Yule, and so on, all! I am celebrating with another night of Tower of Destruction. I have been going strong in my quest for revenge: exploring workshops and storehouses, freeing ghosts, and finding out that the wizard is very afraid of a sword inside the cathedral. The cathedral is locked, though, and needs a magical bird statue to unlock it. So, next up are the five towers surrounding me.

I pick the closest tower and am confronted by an ice golem guarding a staircase. It’s slow but lucky, and I take a few hits before I destroy it, down to 11 of my 23 stamina. Dang! I pick a door at random and find… a bird-and-book statue, which sounds like exactly what I need. What a stroke of luck! I have to solve a puzzle, which I do eventually figure out… despite the puzzle actually being wrong. (it’s a known number series) So the bird is mine.

Back at the cathedral door, I pay more attention this time: it wants to know the number of colorful stripes on the bird. But it has none. Hm. So I pick another tower. I descend into the basement, and am attacked by another ghost! So far the ghosts here have been friendly, so this is something of a shock. Even more of a shock, is that this horrid thing drains skill points when it hits, so I’m super lucky that it only gets one good hit on me. Fortunately my +1 sword and my 12 skill (ahem, 11) are still not too shabby.

In the next room beyond the ghost, is a magical light and noise, that cause my bird to light up and grow colorful stripes. Hey awesome! Okay, now I’m ready for the cathedral!

Sure enough, on this third visit the bird squawks and the cathedral doors open. I am asked about silver jewelry and about incense, and for a moment I wonder if I’m about to be attacked by a snow vampire or something. But no, the spirits are dispelled (hm, what spirits?) and I am left at peace to grab those ice keys (I remember a door that needed those!). I also poke around at the organ where I see some sheet music, but have no idea what to make of it, and see some clear ice tombs which I look at but do not plunder, because I’m a hero and not a scoundrel.

So, now to check out that magical door.

It is at this point that I make a huge mistake. Rather, two huge mistakes.

The magically-locked gates open, and I make my way down the passage, where I encounter some guy with knives who asks who I’m here to see. I’m offered four names, none of which are at all familiar. I guess at random, and I guess I guessed right? He steps aside, and I get to talk to another ghost. It checks my honor, then asks if I have an ice sword (wait a second, the cathedral! I was supposed to get a magic sword in the cathedral! shit!) which it would have blessed or magicked or something… I’m gonna regret that.

I try out another of the three passageways, and this one asks if I know how many times to call out. Nope… so, door number three.

This one leads to a wrecked graveyard. I know that if I don’t clean it up I will lose honor points, but if I do clean it up I will be attacked by elf ghosts. And… yep, that is exactly what happens. I fight off three ghosts, and in the process gain 1 honor point and some star mark drawn onto me by a ghost. It’s probably elvish for “sucker” and now I’m gonna clean every cemetery that’s ever desecrated. Oh man!

So now I head back up the stairs… and am suddenly confronted by the Tower of Destruction as it rises out of the cloud bank, and comes towards me. What the heck? I still had 3 more towers unexplored, and had assumed that one of those was the ToD. I re-check my notes, and the book said that I should visit the magical gates after I had finished exploring, so… yeah, that was my other mistake.

For a moment I wonder how I could get up into the Tower, since I have no way to fly. Fortunately, a cackling fire demon with a whip grabs me as it flies by, damaging me for 4 more stamina and yanking me up into the tower. I have to kill it, and take another hit, and realize that I have only 2 food and 9 stamina left, and have only now entered the tower.

I eat a quick sandwich and head down the hall. I open the first door I see, and it’s not good. Nightgaunts. So many nightgaunts. They’re not very tough, but they attack in pairs and there are 4 of them, and it’s only a matter of time as I am whittled down, overwhelmed, and overrun. My adventure ends here, barely a step into the Tower of Destruction.