The Tower of Illusion

In the heart of the Bright Desert stands a tower amid the ruins of an ancient city. Many have journeyed through the hundreds of miles of burning sand and desolation to reach this spot -- few have returned. Those who have seen the ancient city of Leum have come away with strange tales of other worlds, cities of living dead and bizarre visions.

Samandra Talgris, four year old daughter of Kalavor and Jessica Talgris, has been kidnapped from the Mage's Guild of Greyhawk. The villains identity, however, is known; he was kind enough to leave a note:

     Jessica

     

     
 

     

    Meet me at the Tower of Illusion

     
 

     

     

    Chamois

Why Chamois, an enigmatic Tuskar-warrior would steal the infant is a mystery. A bigger mystery is the man himself; he claims to come from the future, one where the illithid won their war against humanity. Using the psionic gifts he inherited from his father, Chamois claims he's come back in time to change the past. And yet, the most powerful of spell casters agree, THE PAST CANNOT BE CHANGED. The best one can hope for is to create a new reality. Chamois' psi powers should tell him that, but...

And how does this ties into the Tower of Illusion? The Tower is all that remains of a Seuloise-conquered Baklunish ruin. It is said the Tower can open doorways into the Five Worlds, but the secrets of this ancient site have been lost.....or have they?

The party includes:

With the help of the sorcerer, Aris Tradewind, the party arrived at the ancient city of Leum, deep in the heart of the Bright Desert. A quick exploration of the city revealed little more than millennia-old ruins. That evening, however, the party found themselves witness to an odd and grisly sight. After the sun set, the ancient city came to life, peopled by skeletons, apparently oblivious to their undead state. More searching revealed a host of odd monsters, mostly illusionary. The city's inhabitants, however, seemed uninterested in the living mortals.

A bit of luck and some well-remembered lore about Leum led the group to the ancient smithy. Instead of skeletal smiths plying their trade, however, the adventurers found a salamander dwelling within. The forge was nearly white-hot and the creature within wished not to be disturbed. A short battle allowed the heroes to search the forge where they found one of the magical gems which control the Tower itself. With a bit of luck, in fact, Creslin was able to attune the gem to himself, plumbing its secrets.

Using the gem, the party entered the Tower and quickly traveled to another world where Chamois and Samandra were waiting. The little girl happily told her parents about all the fun she'd been having with Chamois ever since he took her for a "world walk". Chamois had brought her to many different worlds and explained to her how they all fit together with the Tower and ley lines. It would seem that Chamois' tale of time travel may have some merit; his Tower gem seems to be causing the ley lines to destabilize since it exists twice in this time (once in his hands and once, originally, in the hands of Andar). Chamois' goal in kidnapping Samandra was to use her spiritual connection to his Tower gem to guide him back into his own time. It would seem that fifteen years in the future, well before the gem came into Chamois' possession, Samandra attuned herself to his stone and to Chira's stone on a primal level. Such a tie can never be broken -- not even by time or paradox. Using this connection as an anchor, Chamois wants to go home. Samandra will use Chira's green gem to anchor the Tower in 'the past' so the Tuskar warrior can safely go to his 'future' rather than an alternate history.

Prepared for what lay ahead, the adventures went to sleep within the safety of the Tower. But in the middle of the night Creslin awoke to a strange pulsing in his gem. Playing with the stone, the traveler sent himself and Margo into the heart of the Tower while stranding the group on another, strange world. Chamois went back to rescue Creslin and Margo while the rest of the party waited. Soon, however, the local fauna of this green-skied world found them! Huge, vaguely-reptilian creatures prowled about. A short melee defeated one huge predator, but brought the attention of two score of hunting lizard men! A fierce battle ended with piles of dead lizard men and the near-loss of Samandra to the creatures. Soon afterward, Margo returned, explaining Chamois had gone after Creslin and may be days or even weeks. Traveling to a large, nearby plateau for safety, the party was again ambushed and this time Margo was spirited away.

The heroes met with several humans dwelling upon the plateau in the ancient city of Old Neshfal. Their head mage explained the party now found themselves in the land of Torsh, a common way-station for portal-hopping adventurers. On this world, Lazan, reptiles were the dominate life and, other than on the plateau of Old Neshfal, the world proved slowly toxic to most mammals. The lizard men rule Torsh and it is their custom to eat most other sentients they encounter. Margo was certainly headed for the main lizard man city of Gnitrax, where she would serve as a main course!

In exchange for aid with some local difficulties, the head mage, Omortarif, agreed to transport the adventurers to Gnitrax. He would return for them in two weeks.

The heroes journeyed many days, trying to head off the lizard man slavers who took Margo before they reached Gnitrax. While many of the dinosaurs they encountered fled or were no match for the party, a tyrannosaurus finally broke both of Wooden Thigh's legs less than a day from the lizard-city. The Amerind survived but the slavers escaped to the "safety" of Gnitrax.

In Gnitrax, the party soon tracked Margo down and attempted to purchase her. She had already been bought by a group of lizard man adventurers who were preparing for a feast. The party (lowly humans!) were rebuked for their audacity and soon it came to blows. Kalavor tried to fight Margo's "owner" fairly, according to lizard man customs, but he and his friends bum-rushed the werelord. In his wereform, however, Kalavor was more than a match for all the patrons of the eatery. Lizard men "police" arrived, but by then Zarabell had already freed the goblin-mage. A quick spell from Jasmine almost allowed the heroes to talk with way out of a fight, but the second most powerful lizard man in the city challenged Kalavor to a duel, believing the werelord had employed magic.

A large number of the city's scaly inhabitants turned out for the fight, including the lizard man Chief. The battle was fierce, short and one-sided. The humans were pardoned from any wrong-doing and given the freedom to come and go as they pleased. Six days later, Omortarif picked them up as arranged. After a short rest, they set out to deal with whatever creature is mutilating the humans' livestock on the plateau.

After a few tangles with Pterodons, the party sought out "the Castle" of the Old City. They had reason to believe they were dealing with a vampire and that it dwelled therein. The odd thing was that there had been no vampires in living memory on the plateau. Undaunted, the group entered and explored the towering spire of blue marble. Despite the anti-magic field the Castle radiated, the heroes were able to easily overcome a pair of purple worms, the vampire and other foes. In the process, the party found yet another portal and even a secret door leading into the bowls of the castle.

The heroes explored the hidden passage, discovering a vast complex of chambers. Various extremely powerful magical guardians and traps blocked the way. Kamendallil was nearly dissolved by a huge vat of acid -- only Zarabell's quick response saved the poor elf. As it was, the trap painfully burned away the scout's skin, forcing him to await a slow and agonizing recovery. Meanwhile, the heroes pressed forward.

The party discovered a hidden enclave of lizard men, sophisticated descendants of the original inhabitants of Torsh. Unfortunately diplomacy failed when the party attacked the lizard men in their own lair...! A lizard man mage began hammering the party with strange spells. Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, the group plunged deeper into the dungeon being cut off from the surface by a huge, underground waterfall. The adventurers soon discovered that they had entered a mystical testing area created by the K'thoi Empire to determine those worthy enough to lead. A strange oracle, appearing as a sphinx to the invaders, answered many questions for the lost humans. It also provided an excellent means for the lizard man adept, N'thog'm, to join the heroes. The lizard man inquired of the oracle (to him appearing as a dragon) the question "What is the nature of conscious thought?" It never occurred to the K'thoi adepts that humans may be just as sentient as reptiles...

The adventures thoroughly explored a large portion of the lizard man testing grounds. In the process, they recovered a magical deck which grant wishes. These they used to recover Zarabell (lost when they entered these lower caverns) and to restore Margo's humanity. Finally with the aid of Chamois, the group escaped.

A long rest followed as the heroes waited for everyone to heal and Margo to finish transcribing the spells the group had uncovered. At last, several months later, the party entered the Tower of Illusion one last time -- to restore Chamois to his own time and return to their own world. The oracle revealed to the group that Chamois had indeed traveled backward in time through a combination of unique circumstances -- perhaps divine in nature. He had indeed helped to change his past so that his reality would never happen. And the gem he used to bring him to this Oerth was in part responsible for the terrible ley storms wracking the world. The Tower was designed to work with 15 gems, not 16, and it was this parallel-universe-version which prevent the balance from being restored. With Creslin awaiting the group on Eon, everything was set.

The heroes explored the Tower and reached its "root" where Samandra "set" the Tower in time. Using this as an anchor, Chamois shifted worlds to return to his own time and reality. The backlash was incredible -- ley storms exploded across all five worlds plus Torsh. And when the heroes opened their eyes, they found the storms had cast them across both space and time...

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