Shadows of Time, Part 2 (Monday, Neth (XI) 18, 4707 AR)

After the heroes defeated the flesh golem, they used magic to ascend up the tower.

The Terrible Stair. The inner wall of this vast space was traversed by a winding wooden stairway supported by an intricate network of wooden beams but lacking, at many stretches, a handrail or other enclosure. In certain places, two or even three stairs at a time were partially missing or gone altogether. This stairwell looked treacherous.

When the faceless stalkers in the bells above noticed the heroes, they waited until the party was halfway up the tower before they made their move by cutting several ropes that supported the massive bells above. Once the ropes were cut, the southeasternmost bell gave way, causing the immense bronze bell to ring for the first time in years as it swung down and then tore free with a tremendous crash. The bell tumbled and smashed along the walls, tearing through the section of stairs just below it (and leaving a 10-foot-wide gap) before crashing its way down into the flesh golem's lair below. Along the way, it struck Bruthien and Fen. Bruthien didn't hear the ropes and timbers snap and was caught unaware by the bell's attack.

This trap could only be disabled form the bells; since the heroes approached form below, they didn't have a chance to prevent this dangerous event from being triggered.

The Bells. Three immense bronze bells hung from timbers here, affixed by rusty lengths of chain and thick ropes. Above the bells were massive gears and clockworks, although they seemed both rusted and scavenged - many of the smaller components were missing entirely. The rickety wooden stairs wound up and around them but didn't quite reach the ceiling above, coming to an end at an opening in the wall. Here, the stairs continued up the exterior of the tower to a room that must have lain just beyond the ceiling directly above the bells.

The rickety stairs led up and over themselves out through the hole in the wall to the clock tower rookery above. Three faceless stalkers that guarded the Terrible Stair were waiting patiently here for intruders to attack. Their first gambit was to drop a bell on intruders; once they dropped the first one, they lurked here, waiting to attack anyone who progressed further up the tower.

Clock Tower Rookery. A timber cabinet with a mesh door sat against the southern wall of this room, while a boarded-up door stood to the wall in the east. The cabinet contained a single black messenger raven.

Clockworks. This large and cluttered room was filled with immense gears and clockworks. Most of them appeared to have rusted in place.

Whereas the stairwell leading up the inner walls of the clock tower was quite rickety, the wooden floor of this chamber was solid. The clockworks themselves had long since fallen into ruin - it would take many months of repair work by gifted tinkers to repair and restore the clock. Although the room looked sinister and dangerous with all its gears, there was nothing to be found here.

The Angel. The smoky, filthy rooftops of Underbridge sprawled below this dizzying perch. The conical roof supported the onyx statue of an angel. Towering like a god, her weathered features were caked with grime, making her seem almost demonic in countenance. At the far end of the hollow space under the roof, in the angel's shadow, was a nest of cushions, silk sheets, and a line of several small chests.

This space was enclosed within the partially open shell of the tower's roof - cunningly engineered supports in the sloping roof itself supported the statue 15 feet above the center of this room. A lamia matriarch had claimed this area as her lair.

Although powerful, the lamia matriarch was also careful. When the heroes invaded her home, she likely noticed soon (if not from the sound of a fight against the flesh golem, then certainly as a result of a falling bell). She prepared as detailed below, but did not seek the heroes out - instead, she waited form them to come to her.

When she realized the heroes were near (as was the case when the faceless stalkers dropped a bell), the lamia matriarch became invisible and created a number of illusory doubles. She made an illusory flying demon appear in a cloud of smoke that then begun to circle the top of the tower. She then moved to make an attack on Shalelu. After this attack, she preferred to fight in melee. The heroes were outmatched in this fight, and were making their retreat down the tower.