Road to Kebnegard, Chapter Six

The Black Tower, part III
Wednesday, January 11th, 988 AD

We heal up, rest a bit, and heal some more before going back to the Tower. We head downward, hoping to find the key that will unlock the door. The third floor is also empty, but the second floor contains a creature that looks like a knight with a skull-head, but it is actually a shadow creature in disguise. A disbelieving Thalia and a blinded, thus fooled, Ivan quickly kill it. Edward tells Ivan that if he cannot see the monster for what it truly is, he should back off and let those who can see past the illusions kill the monster. Ivan guffaws and says that he did see the monster for what it truly was, and that is why he would not allow his friends to come to harm. Edward shakes his head. On the first floor, a dog made of shadows that jumps from shadow on the wall to shadow on the wall attacks. It is quickly disposed of and Reynaldo notices a doorway made of shadows on the southern wall. Ivan foolishly walks in and finds himself in the Shadow Plane, surrounded by growling Shadow Dogs. He quickly scrabbles back into his proper plane. We go down into the final level, which is the basement and see a screen blocking off the southern wall from our view. Ivan shoots an inflamed arrow and burns the screen to see a black chest with a cat sitting on it. Through Isabela, Reynaldo learns that the cat calls the owner of the Tower its master and we should not take what's inside the chest because it's not ours. Ivan kills the cat quickly and a second, bigger cat appears. Jean-Claude and Reynaldo race to the chest and take what's in it (a black, egg-shaped thing, a magic key, most likely to the door on the tenth floor, and a black potion) while Ivan and Thalia kill the second cat. A third, larger cat appears and Reynaldo guesses that this thing is going to have a total of nine lives. We kill a total of five cats before we reach the fourth floor and get out. We once again rest in the woods.

Shadow Dog Attack
Thursday, January 12th, 988 AD

During our last watch, the shadow dogs from the Shadow Plane creep into the camp. Even though everyone fights valiantly, Thalia and Anna deliver five of the six killing blows, while Reynaldo takes the last. We rest for the remainder of the day and night.

The Black Tower, part IV
Friday, January 13th, 988 AD

We go back into the tower and make our way upwards. On the sixth floor, those damnable shadows attack us again. We kill all of the small shadows and see not one wisp of the large shadow, so we think we get off easy. It isn't until Jean-Claude tries to kill Ivan that we realize how stupid we've been. Nicolae blinds Jean-Claude, forcing the shadow out into the open, and we kill it before it can possess anyone else. Reynaldo complains a great deal about why we didn't think of blinding him instead of beating him near death. We head towards the seventh floor.

End Chapter Six
Previous: Road to Kebnegard, Chapter Five
Next: Road to Kebnegard, Chapter Seven