How's this for anti-climactic: The Cowl's name was Trevor. That's a name you give a little dog or a mouse, not a high-level necromancer. Jeebus. I think we killed him rather easily. We hit him hard but before we could confirm the kill, he fell off Night's Reach and into the sea. Orrenthal sent his familiar, Icarus, to investigate Trevor's death. More on that later.
We knew that there was some magic and shennanigans tied to the full moon and the tower, that something was supposed to arrive with the full moon. In Trevor's abyssal-driven madness, he was screaming something about an "ambassador" or "emissary" or something like that, arriving. What arrived was something we identified as a "Moon Calf." And when it arrived, it at first didn't seem interested in us, only wanting to complete its mission which I guess had something to do with shooting a light beam from the Night's Reach into the sea below. I'm no expert in these things, but that's probably not good.
The Moon Calf came from The Dark Side of the Moon; no, not the head shop in the Scholar's District. The literal dark side of the moon. Interestingly, while the creature certainly had the appearance of something extraplannar, one of the Os (Orrenthal or Osbert) was able to identify it as something from this plane. In other words, it's not related (at least I don't think so) to the creatures from the Void (i.e., the Dominion of the Beholder). It's all tied together though, I'm sure.
The Moon Calf was smart. I tried repeatedly to get it to wrestle with me, but it didn't take the bait. The thing was hard to bring down and as it kept flying around and attacking. Missle attacks did the most damage. Finally Osbert was able to grab it with his grappling hook and rope. However, that twenty foot through of a three pound object proved too much for Osbert and he was unable to hold on. So I grabbed the rope and did my thing. We killed it.
Moving back to Trevor, here are some key facts and assumptions to remember, based upon the notes we found in what appeared to be his quarters in the Night's Reach (8th Floor I believe):
1. He was working in the Black Sticks - Icarus retrieved a Black Stick's patch from the sea and the notes seem to indicate as much.
2. He was working in the Black Sticks as a Cook.
3. He was working in the Black Sticks as a Cook and he was skilled in poisons.
4. He was working in the Black Sticks as s Cook and he was using his skills in poisons to poison the Black Sticks.
5. He was poisoning the Black Sticks during cooking for the Black Sticks
6. The poison he was using on the Black Sticks was a poison that caused fear. (this may explain their ineptitude and general reticence to enforce the law. This might explain that.)
7. He was searching the Graveyard (where we met/fought Bill)(The Spectre Bill told us that someone was using 'necromantic rays' to raise undead in the Graveyard and the rays were coming from the palace)(As an aside, Jerricho has the hand of Vecna and has requested us to locate the eye)
8. He was searching the Graveyard looking for powerful necromantic object(s).
9. He was working with Horace, whom we interviewed before hiring Tamlin
10. Horace cleared out the poisons from the Apothecary at the direction or in partnership with Trevor
11. Trevor was going to raise an undead army to defeat the Topaz Syndicate
This last bit is interesting and where I start making assumptions: We know that the Topaz Syndicate is running this city. We know the Black Sticks are having a very difficult time with the Topaz Syndicate. Why would a powerful necromancer work in the Black Sticks and concern himself with something as seemingly mundane as the Topaz Syndicate; the necromantic interests seem to lie with larger concerns. My hunch is someone knew what Trevor was doing and implicitly sanctioned it. In other words a deal was made something along these lines: you raise me an army to defeat the Topaz Syndicate and I'll ignore the rest of your business. This is an assumption, I have nothing firm to base this on.
Moving on from Trevor and the Moon Calf, after resting from the fight we moved to the 7th Floor. The 7th floor contained another tomb, but this tomb was sealed by an ornate door with Giant script written on it basically warning us not to open the door. We opened the door. Because, why not. Standing in the tomb was a massive figure wearing gold armor. The figure was mechanical in nature but it was intelligent. One of the Os identified the figure as an "Inevitable" called Marute. He was summoned by the people that retook the tower 800 years ago, roughly the time of the Godslayer Wars. We decided it best not to involve ourselves with the Inevitable. He was guarding something in the room beyond the antechamber we were standing in. We asked him if anyone else had opened the doors to the antechamber before us and he said no one else had. I'm not sure we will keep this to ourselves. Probably not.
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