Otto, Caoimhe, and Finlay awoke on the third floor of Seylon’s Tower, hungry and sore but determined to press on. With their hall passes, they ascended to the next level and immediately found themselves in a room crackling with lightning and lined with scorched, Frankenstein-like corpses.
As metal gates slammed down behind them, a cold voice announced a breach. Moments later, the bodies began to stir.
Finlay turned a glass wall to powder with Finestra, giving the group access to the only safe spot in the room: a strange muggle control room. Inside, they found a brass-plated console, a torn manual, and a puzzle they’d have to solve fast, all while undead clawed at the door and lightning pulsed dangerously outside.
They began inputting words. Most failed. Some gave strange feedback. Eventually, the word ALONE unlocked the Generator Room, but by then the zombies had breached the control room and chaos was setting in. Finlay blinded one with Obscuro. Otto and Caoimhe charged into the generator chamber and began attacking the core directly, while Finlay kept testing inputs at the console. At last, ROAST shut the defense grid down. The lightning ceased and the zombies collapsed.
But the generator was already cracking under their relentless attacks. It exploded moments later, slamming Caoimhe into the wall. Badly injured, Otto and Finlay downed healing potions and the party limped to the next floor.
The air was warm and thick. Cracked dragon eggs rested in nests under incubators and copper tubing. They found scattered journal fragments (presumably notes from Seylon) detailing experiments with magically created mini-dragons. Promising results, but short lifespans. One entry mentioned a key stolen by a mischievous hatchling.
The party began examining the eggs. When Caoimhe touched the white one, a gentle Antipodean Opaleye dragon emerged. It was shy, but took a liking to Finlay, likely due to the sea-glass marble he’s carried since childhood that gives him a way with animals. A corrupted egg turned into an Ochre Jelly and nearly overwhelmed them, but the party and tiny Opaleye fought it off with surprising ferocity. Caoimhe bonded with a rambunctious Chinese Fireball, and Otto earned the favor of a proud (and somewhat aggressive) Hungarian Horntail. The remaining eggs were either empty or dangerous, and one nearly poisoned Otto.
With no sign of the key and their dragons too young to fly, they made the reluctant decision to return to Hogwarts. Navigating the castle’s halls with practiced stealth, they slipped back into the Ravenclaw Common Room just before midnight. No one had noticed their absence, yet.