Having established a more than reasonable price for the service, Stormwatch set about preparing for the journey to Xonthal’s Tower at the foot of the Mount Hlim.

Immediately following the meeting, Otaaryliakkarnos (in the form of Elia) approached the now revived Jorin to present him with a replacement for Hazirawn. She handed over a beautifully crafted silver sword, which Jorin could immediately tell was of more than superior craftspersonship. She gave a warm smile and told you it was a far more appropriate weapon for a good souled fighter and will swing well in the coming fights, before bidding you farewell.

Ash too was equipped with a staff of masterful construction via the antiquities dealer, and Stormwatch was soon ready. Lord Neverember and Marshall Ravengard updated you on the turncoat — a human wizard going by the name Iskander — and his message. From all evidence it appears that the offer of a Mask is legitimate and the message contains no obvious deception.

Cult activity has been confirmed in the area, and their intelligence reports that there was some factions within the Cult that were given leeway to delve deeper into the Dragon Mask’s powers in order to confirm Severin’s plans. None the less they agreed that a trap is the most likely scenario.

Thunderspells Hornblade gives you a briefing on the Mage Xonthal before you depart. He explains that Xonthal is somewhat of a mystery individual, a legendary mage of great elemental and conjuring power who has not been seen for over a century.

Before his disappearance, he lived alone in a Tower that was protected by powerful magicks, including an nigh insoluble maze that surrounded his abode. A nearby township had established itself and thrived as Xonthal provided some manner of support and protection from marauding bandits and monsters.

Hornblade then prepared a portal that would take you directly to the village of Xonthal’s Tower, which you stepped through with no hesitation — though perhaps some apprehension. A maze presents challenges different to Stormwatch’s traditional approach.

A tower stands in a giant hedge maze

Xonthal’s Tower

You stepped out into an open field, and were immediately confronted by the immense hedged maze that lay at the foot of a gentle slope. The maze reached as far as the eye could see, and surrounded the tower standing at it’s centre, a solid stone square structure with a pyramid base.

You decided to gather what information you could from the village before proceeding any further. The townsfolk greeted you in a friendly enough manner, curious to see visitors. You soon established that they knew very little about the maze, the tower, and Xonthal. They did hold all three in high esteem, warning you that entering the maze was a very foolish idea, and imploring you not to disrupt the peaceful balance of the township — ‘there’s no trouble here and we don’t need strangers bringing any’.

The Mayor was more willing to listen to your tales of the destruction being wrought by the Cult, and cautiously supported your mission. The Tower had come to some kind of life in recent times, with strange flashes of light and even the alleged, unconfirmed, and hotly contested, sighting of a Blue Dragon overhead.

The following morning you headed to the maze, trailed by a gaggle of curious children and a few of the braver villagers. All stopped well short of the maze, the caution obviously bred into them.

Stormwatch, being of a more gung-ho nature, plunged bravely on and into the maze.

The first garden of the maze was beautifully tended, restful and serene, with a single path leading further inward. You called out to the watching villagers, who confirmed that no one tends the garden, presenting to you the first of many mysteries to come.

As you start toward the pathway, you suddenly hear a voice shouting from the direction of the Tower. A figure emerged onto a balcony, crying out to you. “Heroes, you must hurry! They’ve seen you and I think have found me out! I have the Mask, but must hide — look for me below the tower, here is a key you will need to teleport to the dungeon — I will leave it for you!”

As he speaks you can see he is holding what could well be a Mask, and holds aloft an hourglass shaped item which you assume is the key. Before he can finish completely, another purple robed figure steps out onto the balcony, and a flashes of blades and spell-fire erupt. The figure who spoke eventually hurls the newcomer over the balcony and disappears inside the Tower.

Hurrying forward, you soon entered an eight way junction, in the centre of which stands a sundial. A lone shadow is cast pointing away from the direction you came. With a jolt you noticed that the shadow didn’t follow the sun, conflicting with your own shadows and immediately confusing Jorin’s inate direction sense. The Tower too seemed to move each time you looked, giving you no trustworthy reference point.

After some debate, you decided to follow a side path instead of the path pointed by the shadow — and Martmaal left a marking on the foot of the dial indicating direction. You wandered for a short while down a curving path, before it opened out into a 150 foot long pasture, which seemed impossible given your viewing of the maze from without.

In the pasture you made out some sheep seemingly frozen in place, a large farmhouse in the distance, trees and large boulders strewn about the field, and two enormous Cyclopes, also frozen. Stepping into the field, the whole scene suddenly came to life. The sheep started chewing and baaing, a light breeze blew, and the two Cyclopes turned to look your way.

They were unarmed, and once they noticed you they played a quick game of rock/paper/scissors. The losing figure shrugged his massive shoulders before climbing to his feet and heading your way. As he approached he grunted something unintelligible, before picking up a boulder and pointing to it. He then turned to look down the meadow, before hurling the boulder as far as he could. It travelled some 80 feet in the air before landing with a soft thud. He then pointed to you, and indicated you should try the same.

Jorin, being the brawn of the team (and wearing the belt of giant strength), immediately got the idea and went to pick up a similar sized boulder, before hurling it with all his might. Alas it only travelled 10 feet before dropping, much to the amusement of the Cyclopes. A second attempt was no better, and the Cyclopes settled in for a long afternoon of entertainment. Jorin attempted to carry the rock, but a waggling warning finger from the two shepherds put paid to that plan.

Martmaal was quick to figure out a possible solution, casting a spell that doubled Jorin’s already enormous strength. Picking up the rock was suddenly easier than lifting Marko, and with a single mighty heave the massive boulder sailed downfield and landed a good 10 feet past the Cyclops' attempt. The two guardians were wide eyed with amazement, before bursting into wild applause and clapping Jorin on the back. Such a feat! Such strength!

Meanwhile Marko, who had been scouting the farmyard, noticed that the boulder when it landed had split cleanly in two to reveal a glittering hand sized topaz. Donald took possession, and you exited the field via the far gateway.

After a short walk, you found yourself once again in the eight way junction, however this time there were two shadows pointing at 90 degrees to each other, and no sign of Martmaal’s earlier marking. He scratched a new pattern into the sundial, and you followed the path in between the two, and after following it for a while the path emerged back at the junction — again with no markings, but this time with three shadows equally spaced.

You chose and marked again, and headed inward. The maze opened into a square garden, beautifully maintained with a 60 foot large round pool in the centre. Hovering above the dead centre of the pool was a large garnet gemstone, suspended by forces you could not see.

The water of the pool seemed deeper than you could determine, though Marko’s fishing line seemed to indicate at least 50 feet deep. You jury rigged a rope apparatus with the intention of scooping up the gem without entering the water. This went well, and you managed to get a basket under the gem in the centre. However after carefully manipulating it into the basket, the gem proved impossible to budge, simply slipping it’s confines and returning to place once the pressure was applied.

As you pondered this and debated sending someone out on the ropes, Ash decided it was time to test the water. He dipped his hand in, and almost immediately the water began to roil and bubble. Out of the depths four hideous Chuul emerged, all pincers and carapace, and plunged into battle.

The rope structure meant you were split to the four corners, so it was mostly one on one fighting. This was of course more Stormwatch’s speed, and despite some fearsome claw action, you took all four creatures down before too long. Donald suffered the most, being caught in a pincer action and an attempted drowning.

Once all four were dead, Ash did one of those Ash things, dashing over the water to retrieve the gem without seeming to touch the surface. You headed on, and back to the junction.

This time four patterns presented themselves. You chose one, and much to your astonishment emerged into the Cyclopes field again. Exactly the same. Frozen, then alive. Luckily the strength spell was still active, and Jorin once again triumphed, and you once again left (now with two Topaz — Donald mused that maybe this could be a very slow get rich scheme?).

Returning to the sundial you found it still had only the three points, and no marker. Trying a new path, the same Cylopian scenario repeated. Magic was afoot.

This time on returning you set about trying to solve the puzzle. Gems were pushed into the sundial, you tried to decipher the symbols carved into it, but nothing was revealed. Eventually Ash, for reasons best known to himself, decided to climb atop the dial. As he did so, he promptly sunk into the stonework and disappeared!

Panic quickly set in for the rest of you, and it was decided splitting the party was a bad idea so you all quickly climbed up and fell through. To emerge at: the sundial. Ash greeted you with a grin, and pointed — there were now shadows pointing to all eight exits. Progress at least!

As there seemed to be no correct path — or eight correct paths — you tried again to climb and manipulate the sundial, but nothing was working. Eventually you decided to set off in a random direction. You soon emerged inside what was obviously another maze. A maze inside a maze. Your heads hurt, but as you started solving it — always left — you heard a loud snorting and trampling of hooved feet. You wisely assumed defensive positions, as suddenly a huge armoured bull burst charging through the hedges.

Becasue you were prepared, the fight lasted barely any time and the Gorgon bull was dropped in short order. Donald begged for rest, needing time to recover from his wounds, and you agreed this might be wise. But as you settled down, that same sound was heard. Another beast came charging through, and this time the fight was more of a struggle. Donald had had enough at this point, and you watched in amazement as he started to levitate above the maze, casting spells as he did so… and were those horns growing out from his head?!

The Gorgon struggled mightily, and managed to let off a petrifying breath that froze the normally constant motion machine that was Ash. As the bull roared his breath attack, Martmaal noticed a small gem drop to the ground. And after struggling with his swordwork all day, Bally had a few mighty swings to defeat the beast.

The gem was quickly recovered, and Donald from his high vantage point noticed that exits had appeared at each quadrant of the maze. You scampered through them, only to return again to the eight pointed sundial. Donald floated above to see if any path was visible, but all he could see was a tangle of impenetrable maze. There seemed no solution.

Donald did however notice that the corners of the exits seemed to have open space behind them. In desperation, you started hacking through the tangles to see if there was a way through. And miraculously, there was.

You emerged to find yourself suddenly at the foot of Xonthal’s Tower. The huge square building towered above you, and directly in front there is a large circle inscribed with magical etchings. You also notice the body of the cultist that you saw Iskander throw from the balcony sprawled dead on the ground.

Behind you you see a clear path leading to the sundial junction, and beyond that you can the garden entrance at the end of a clear straight path. So simple! Alas there was no going back now though. The Tower — and a Blue Dragon Mask — awaits.

Maps of seven maze areas

Map of Xonthal’s Maze. Buy from Jared Blando here

Session played: 20 December 2017