On the morn of the thirteenth of Sunsebb, Gronk, Oleg, Triben, and West met in a small inn for breakfast. Much of the morning was spent catching up on what they had been up to. Gronk, especially, told several tall tales of his adventures to the west. In addition to catching up, they reminisced over old times, battles fought, and mysteries left unsolved. Once the last tale was told, the last melee regaled, the party looked to the future. For their own reasons, each reaffirmed their pledge to the group, and their desire to assist Irongate however possible. Bearing in mind all their options, they decided to see what opportunities the Adventurer's Guild held.
At the guild, they learned of four quests the military needed handled. To the north, a lighthouse had been posessed and needed to be reclaimed to watch the northern seas for an invasion fleet. To the east, one of the outlying keeps had been seized by hostile forces and, the military wanted it back. An alchemist lived to the northeast; the military had not heard from him recently and feared the worst. To the southeast, a blue dragon the size of a horse had taken up residence among ancient burial cairns. After some small discussion, they decided to seek out the alchemist's tower.
In preparation for their journey, they acquired horses and sought out information about the alchemist, one Durzh. They learned that he was a reclusive alchemist of no small repute, and that he carefully guarded his privacy. As the day was long in the tooth, the party decided to spend the night in Irongate and leave at sunrise for the tower.
Three days travel brought the group to within a few miles of the tower. West, scouting ahead as an eagle, saw a combat between a group of dwarves and some short, hairy humanoids. Even as he closed to engage, the last dwarf fell. Rather than engage them unsupported, West returned to the group and reported his observations. The party made best speed for the tower. A group of humanoids stood at the base, poking around. The party girded for battle and approached. The humanoids, dwarves in fancy clothes with odd chainmail shirts, claimed to be merchants. They said they had just arrived, and were preparing to head inside to check for survivors. Triben was suspicious, though, and used his powers to scan their minds. Hearing thoughts of blood and consumption, Triben calmly said "Gronk, kill them all."
A fight quickly broke out, with the dwarves mutating their form almost immediately, becoming twisted, hairy, misshapen humanoid beasts. They proved resilient in battle, shrugging off the impact of many blows, but were taken down with little difficulty. Proceeding inside, the party passed an open pit trap, with another of the beasts impaled on spikes below. Searching the floor, they quickly found the kitchen, with another of the beasts inside. Accompanying it was some manner of flying demon. Both were quickly dispatched. As Gronk led the party upstairs to the guard post of the tower, he noticed oil liberally coating the floor. There was some movement from behind a ballista, and then the whole open floor of the tower went up in flames! The group quickly retreated down the stairs, and decided that down would be a better direction for now.
The next floor down was curiously arranged. Surrounding the stairs at a distance of 10' were curtains, except for one short segment with a locked door. Four dwarven bodies littered the floor. Checking behind the curtains, they quickly realized they were in a barracks area. Most of the area was empty, but on pushing aside one curtain, the group was rushed by a dwarf. Striking in fear and surprise, Gronk slew his attacker in one mighty swing. Only then did the party realize it was merely a frightened dwarf, not one of the werebeasts.
Proceeding down to the next level, they found the alchemist's significant supply of stores. They gave the floor a once-over, finding many supplies but no foes. Pushing on, Oleg triggered a trap two steps down to the next (and final) floor. There was a bright flash, and an earth elemental materialized in front of them. The party fought it valiantly, but seemed woefully underpowered in the face of the stony monstrosity. They backed into the storage areas, pursued by the creature. Fortunately, it disappeared only a few moments later just as suddenly as it had appeared, yielding access to the laboratories beneath.