12. The Dark Spire

Tyne explains that she first ventured into the Dark Spire alone after Tallybrooke fled Bloodpurse Isle. There, she met a group of drow, and barely escaped with her life. Tralamin is not eager to meet his dark elf brethren and tries to persuade his friends not to venture within.

Inside, they find many strange and wondrous things, such as a door that gets farther away the closer you come to it and a fountain that transforms those who drink its waters into a skunk. Irving transforms himself into a skunk and seems quite happy about it.

And, of course, they find drow-- drow who recognize Tralamin, and explain to his horrified friends that Tralamin betrayed the eladrin to the drow and the drow to the eladrin, and had become the sworn enemy of both. Perhaps against their better judgment, the group fights off the vicious drow to perserve Tralamin's life.

Jarmangle transforms himself into a skunk, eager to see what happens when his tiefling demonic transformation ability is triggered in skunk form; he gives all his gear into his sister's keeping. Faced with a boobytrapped locked door in a room with a strange portal, it is Tyne who must attempt to pick the lock-- and Tyne who fails. She is blasted into the portal, and the Linked Ring of Telepathy she shares with her brother goes dark. They fear she is dead.

They find Tallybrooke, who has been driven insane by the tower's weird magicks. He had come to seek out a djinn at the top of the spire, who might grant him a wish.

Making their way up the tower and solving its fiendish puzzles, our heroes find the djinn. They carefully parse their words so that they can bring Tyne back to them safely. They forget, however, to specify that she should have her clothes and possessions with her, including Jarmangle's equipment. Everything-- his demonic sword, his money, his tools, his clothing-- is gone.

Everything save the strange orb he found within the paperweight they stole from Firepalm. It is discovered that the orb is a dormant sphere of annihilation. Wishing to stash it somewhere where it will not do any harm, our heroes resolve to return to the Merman Prison and put it there. Perhaps, also, they will explore the dungeon beneath it, and Jarmangle might start to replace some of his lost possessions.