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<blockquote data-quote="htetickrt" data-source="post: 1940899" data-attributes="member: 16534"><p style="text-align: center">A Response to A Message</p><p></p><p>The party summons weapons and prepares spells with alacrity, but the troll has been waiting for his foes’ arrival and moves even faster, stoking his own might with a powerful roar. Making full use of his superior reach, the large giant lashes out with his claws at the enemy nearest his position. In short order, Khail's arms and torso are raked by razor-sharp claws, and a chunk is taken out of his shoulder by jagged teeth.</p><p></p><p>Erdrick is unfazed by his companion's sudden massive blood loss. Ordering his mount to join Calla in protecting the spellcasters in the rear, the samurai ducks a blow to close with the troll, and begins an odd speech:</p><p></p><p>“Once a group of ten blind masseuses were traveling together in the mountains, and when they began to pass along the top of a precipice, they all became very cautious, their legs shook, and they were in general struck with terror. Just then the leading man stumbled and fell of the cliff. Those that were left all wailed, "Ahh, ahh; how piteous!" But the masseuse who had fallen spoke up from below, "Don't be afraid. Although I fell, it was nothing. I am now rather at ease. Before falling I kept thinking 'What will I do if I fall?' and there was no end to my anxiety. But now I've settled down. If the rest of you want to be at ease, fall quickly!''</p><p></p><p>Trella and Kyree share a time-honored look of "Is he insane?" but nevertheless they do feel oddly inspired to action, if only to drown out the story. Erdrick, on the other hand, revels in it, driving his blade again and again into remarkably tough troll flesh. Though the wounds so caused are discouragingly small, Erdrick does not waver in his intent. Kyree takes heart from the image of the samurai standing there, gore-covered sword raised in salute, and fires off a barrage of arrows at the troll. He scatters when a quartet of lightning bolts is flung at the group; others are not so lucky.</p><p></p><p>Kai's subsequent spell coats those invisible in fine sparkling dust, but not in time for Rhien's charge to prevent the plump mage from 'suggesting' “Dorina still lives; you must run to her coffin immediately to destroy her for good.” Kyree spins and rushes back toward the center of the level, joined by Khail's warhorse.</p><p></p><p>The paladin tries to maintain concentration despite the attrition, but after more of his blood decorates the floor upon his approach to the troll, he is forced to reassess and heal the most serious of his wounds.</p><p></p><p>The troll scoffs, focusing his ire on what he deems to be the more potent threat. Erdrick's exhibited skill earns him a helping of what Khail experienced earlier, and the samurai's blood mingles with the paladin's on the floor below.</p><p></p><p>Trella charges past him to deal a ringing blow, but Erdrick barely notices her as he focuses utterly on the troll. In a display of swordsmanship worthy of the songs of bards, the purple dragon knight plunges his katana into the troll’s abdomen, pulls it up through his body to his right shoulder with a mighty slice, and then withdraws the blade while ripping through the troll’s neck like parchment. The troll, having suffered the greatest injury of its (admittedly short) life, reels in shock and pain, while Erdrick pauses his odd tale briefly to honor those whose training of him made this possible.</p><p> </p><p>Kai reclaims one of her signature spells; her ‘suggestion’ “Your kind master can't possibly have meant to place you in so much peril. You should return to Solom and request a more reasonable assignment,” sends two mages packing.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, this leaves the plump mage, and he exacts a horrible revenge upon the noble samurai. Digging into his deepest fears, the drow evokes an image of the great dragon that slew his former liege Azoun reaching for him. Powerless to fight the mighty creature, and torn by more than a little guilt over his failure in his duty--though in truth he wasn't there--Erdrick watches in horror as the dragon’s phantasmal claws reach through his chest and stop his heart. With a gasp, the samurai collapses to the earth, dead. Chag opens his mouth and lets loose a mighty roar of anguish.</p><p></p><p>Quid screams, “Too much death!” and stuns the drow assembled with the sudden summoning of daylight into the region. Her summoned earth elemental chooses to manifest then as well, pummeling the troll about the head.</p><p> </p><p>Calla breaks away from her position, tumbling toward the troll in an attempt to flank him. Though her efforts are clumsy, the opportunistic strike is worse, and she ends up in perfect position to strike. A swift stab plunges her dagger in the troll’s kidney, and a sharp turn insures it does maximal damage as she pulls it out, drenched in gore.</p><p></p><p>Khail strikes next, but the troll shrugs off the one blow that connects. Seemingly reverting to an earlier intellectual state, the beast snarls and pounces on the paladin, swiftly reducing him to a quivering pile of bloody flesh, barely holding to life.</p><p></p><p>Trella unleashes a snarl of her own, but her blows barely penetrate his thick skin, adding to her mounting frustration. Rhien takes a different tack, focusing his ki before lashing out at the plump mage. This time the monk succeeds, stunning and bloodying the drow.</p><p></p><p>With their leader out of commission, the remaining wizards move to flee. This marks the end of the troll's reign of terror, as Kai, the earth elemental, and finally Calla assault it in turn. The halfling's blade is the last, spearing and then drawing out the troll's still-beating heart.</p><p></p><p>Trella hurdles its body as it falls, ignoring the spiked chains that tear into exposed flesh as she runs. The goal of her charge is Erdrick's murderer, and the stunned mage does not get a chance to recover after she shatters his skull with the butt of her quarterstaff.</p><p></p><p>Rhien leaves his fallen enemy and kneels before the samurai. Expending much of the power of his gloves, the monk returns life and full health to Erdrick's torn body and shattered mind. The warrior sits up with a start as the pure white light that suffused him begins to fade, and he spits blood from his mouth as he struggles to his feet. Rhien calms him with a touch, pointing out the outcome of the battle, allowing the samurai finally to relax.</p><p></p><p>Calla spurns a similar chance at peace, dragging the troll's head off to the side. With a broad—and a little scary—smile plastered on her face, she drives the point of her corrosive dagger into the troll’s brain twice. Though the wounds she creates are grievous, the troll continues to regenerate. Stabbing down twice more while screaming “Die!” seems to do the trick, however. Its massive body jerks once, then falls still, regenerating no more. Calla wipes the gore off her blade and rises to her feet. “Good times…” she says, oddly.</p><p></p><p>Kyree returns soon after, sheepishly scratching his head and commenting, “I could have sworn Dorina was still alive.”</p><p></p><p>Quid smiles at this briefly, but Rhien can find no such mirth. Staring at the opening to the chasm, the monk says thoughtfully, “Those mages have surely told Solom what’s happened by now. I would advise that we either go to meet him now, on our own terms, before he has opportunity to ambush us again, or leave the crypts until we are ready to face him. Continuing on otherwise would seem to be foolish given his recent actions.” He looks at the dead troll meaningfully.</p><p></p><p>Trella puts an end to such caution, smiling a wicked grin and announcing, "We're going after him. Now. Stand behind me or step aside." She swipes the troll's remains like a hockey puck when she passes them and says to Erdrick, with audible admiration, "Nice work with that troll." Quid seconds the compliment; Calla gets behind the druid, cleaning her dagger as she does.</p><p></p><p>Trella corrals Rhien and Kai for planning; the two, despite some misgivings about assaulting the archmage immediately, dutifully offer opinions. How to deal with invisibility is a frequent topic, often centering on the use of Snicker's innate detection ability.</p><p></p><p>Upon hearing his name, the pseudodragon pokes his scaly snout out of Kai's garments and flaps over to perch on Rhien's shoulder. Looping his neck around so as to be able to shade his eyes with one claw, he feigns peering intently around the room. With one of his signature whinnying chuckles, he then skids over to Erdrick and bats him with mock ferocity in the knees. Kai smiles down at the tiny dragon and then, relentingly, at Erdrick. "You do good work," she admits to the knight. Snicker slinks over to Chagripor and greets him in a dragonly way.</p><p></p><p>Quid chuckles and joins the discussion, which quickly expands to include Kyree and Erdrick. The latter continues his odd manner of speech, whispering to Trella, "When I was slain, was my corpse facing the Troll?"</p><p></p><p>Trella scrunches up her face. "I was too busy trying to bash it to take note of your final pose, but I think you were." Suddenly curious she asks, "Why?"</p><p></p><p>Erdrick mumbles something about the samurai code to Trella, apparently not wanting to reveal the source of his wisdom and motivational stories. Instead of elaborating he changes the subject, offering, "The only magic I can add is the casting of light with this ring," which he promptly exhibits by summoning a glowing ball over Snicker's head. In response, the pseudodragon squints at him as if reconsidering his opinion of the warrior, then rolls his serpentine eyes and makes a big show of sheltering in the shadows under Chag. Kai clucks at her familiar in affectionate reproach of his sense of humor. Snicker snickers back from his hiding place.</p><p></p><p>Erdrick nods sagely at the tiny dragon's antics. "If there is time, I’d like to go and check up on my men."</p><p></p><p>Trella shakes her head. “Sorry big guy, no time for checking right now. It’s ass-kickin’ time. I'm gonna summon a posse of elementals, and we're going to show that bastard who's broken."</p><p></p><p>Kai cautions, "Just don't forget about his spells. They could turn things bad quickly. "I'm on it," Kyree assures; Rhien also voices his intent to do contribute in this manner.</p><p></p><p>Once the elementals have all arrived, Trella announces that she and her boys are "Rollin' like stones, baby," without much explanation. The druid seems eager to fight, and does her best to sprint up the rope of climbing to reach the inverted tower level once again.</p><p></p><p>Calla has to grab her arm roughly to make her stop, padding off through the entry arch before having to deal with Trella's glare. The halfling moves easily through an empty room and into deserted guards' quarters, finding nothing of interest to anyone not drow. Her report does not please Trella.</p><p></p><p>“My boys want to smash!” the druid exclaims, though this would not be obvious to an observer, given the elementals’ impassive miens.</p><p></p><p>The halfling holds up her hands. “Sorry, boss, but I’m pretty sure those rooms are a bust.”</p><p></p><p>Rhien strokes his chin thoughtfully. “Not entirely; we’ve slain four arcane guards so far, so there are possibly no more than six left, and three have exhausted their most potent magic.”</p><p></p><p>Quid responds, “Yay.”</p><p></p><p>Trella snaps, “Got a better idea?”</p><p></p><p>Quid looks smug. “As a matter of fact, I do.” The Waukeenar first grants herself flight, and then heightens her perceptive abilities. As soon as she does so, she sees what the others in the group cannot. “Three doors are set in the walls of the tower, covered by illusions.”</p><p></p><p>Kai immediately grants herself flight, and between the four flying and the rope of climbing, the distance to the first of the doors is soon closed. Calla moves to the door, but is dismayed by what she finds. “It’s magically sealed; I can’t get in.”</p><p></p><p>Trella is unperturbed. “Boys, smash it down.”</p><p></p><p>Though it takes a couple of blows, even the magically enhanced portal cannot stand up to the might of the posse of earth elementals, and the door splinters inwards. Trella, first to pass through, immediately is sheathed in a fog that obscures all vision beyond five feet. She sees nothing of interest in the hallway. “Quid, a little help here,” she cries, not believing her eyes.</p><p></p><p>Quid pushes forward, discovering four additional doors along the hallway, all warded as the external one. Four elemental assaults later and the apprentices' bedchambers are revealed, Spartan in decoration and absent of significant interest to the ever more impatient group.</p><p></p><p>After returning to the central tower, Trella directs her boys to take out the next highest portal without pause, and rushes through the broken portal before the last shards of wood hit the stone floor. Inside is a pair of rooms off of a short hallway. The first is dominated by a large arcane diagram traced on the floor in paint, powdered silver, and colored sand. Odors of smoke and sulfur hang in the air as if a large chemical fire had burned in here recently, and it does not take Kai's intellect to deduce that this chamber is used as a conjury. While nothing is spied within, Kyree’s sharp eyes note that the summoning circle is broken, and another enemy is mentally added to the tally.</p><p></p><p>The second room on the level sports walls covered with slate and whitened with chalk powder and arcane scrawlings. Quid deciphers them with the aid of an orison, and shares her finding that Solom must have recently been instructing his students in the intricacies of the detect scrying spell, as well as general information about scrying spells and the magical sensors they create.</p><p></p><p>Kai responds, “Well, he would know. I saw his sensor twice now in the tower. He knows we’re here, but we knew that.”</p><p></p><p>Trella slams her staff to the ground. “Let’s not keep him waiting then.” She leads the elementals back to the tower and the party gathers around the last door, making hurried final preparations for what is rightly assumed to be the deadliest battle they have thus far faced. Once they are done, Trella signals the elementals to kick down the door.</p><p></p><p>A gust of wind emanates from the now-open portal, powerful enough to send flying party members reeling. They struggle to maintain control as they gaze into the opulent chamber revealed, so different from the rest of the tower. An impressive throne made of heavy-looking black metal looms on a high dais on the far side of the room from the door. Though most see it as unoccupied, Quid spies the hated form of Solom Ned’razak lounging atop it invisibly, though he is anything but indolent as he prepares a spell. A mere foot in front of him, below his position, is a shimmering sphere of oscillating prismatic hues. To the right of the sphere is another invisible form, which appears to Quid to be a large gargoyle with powerful batlike wings and thick, green skin. Its hands and feet sport razor-sharp claws, and its head is vaguely canine, with small webbed ears and horns.</p><p></p><p>To the left of the sphere are the two quite visible mages from the previous battle. They do not look particularly thrilled to be where they are, but neither is shaking with fear. In front of the sphere, roughly ten feet from the doorway, is another demon-like creature, also visible, standing nearly ten feet tall and clad in hideous coal-black armor. The only hint of humanity underneath the metal is a tusked mouth visible behind the stylized fangs of the armor. The figure holds a cruel-looking spiked chain in both hands, while a large shield dances in front of him.</p><p></p><p>Finally, five feet from the door are five arcane guards arrayed in a half-circle around those assembled. The three central ones are visible and familiar to the group; the two on the outside are seen only by Quid, and appear to be the two carrying the wands the party met earlier on this level.</p><p></p><p>Having finished his preparations while the party members right themselves, Solom rises to his feet. With a sneer marring his handsome features, the archmage pronounces, “The mistake you have made in returning shall be your last.” He then begins casting.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="htetickrt, post: 1940899, member: 16534"] [CENTER]A Response to A Message[/CENTER] The party summons weapons and prepares spells with alacrity, but the troll has been waiting for his foes’ arrival and moves even faster, stoking his own might with a powerful roar. Making full use of his superior reach, the large giant lashes out with his claws at the enemy nearest his position. In short order, Khail's arms and torso are raked by razor-sharp claws, and a chunk is taken out of his shoulder by jagged teeth. Erdrick is unfazed by his companion's sudden massive blood loss. Ordering his mount to join Calla in protecting the spellcasters in the rear, the samurai ducks a blow to close with the troll, and begins an odd speech: “Once a group of ten blind masseuses were traveling together in the mountains, and when they began to pass along the top of a precipice, they all became very cautious, their legs shook, and they were in general struck with terror. Just then the leading man stumbled and fell of the cliff. Those that were left all wailed, "Ahh, ahh; how piteous!" But the masseuse who had fallen spoke up from below, "Don't be afraid. Although I fell, it was nothing. I am now rather at ease. Before falling I kept thinking 'What will I do if I fall?' and there was no end to my anxiety. But now I've settled down. If the rest of you want to be at ease, fall quickly!'' Trella and Kyree share a time-honored look of "Is he insane?" but nevertheless they do feel oddly inspired to action, if only to drown out the story. Erdrick, on the other hand, revels in it, driving his blade again and again into remarkably tough troll flesh. Though the wounds so caused are discouragingly small, Erdrick does not waver in his intent. Kyree takes heart from the image of the samurai standing there, gore-covered sword raised in salute, and fires off a barrage of arrows at the troll. He scatters when a quartet of lightning bolts is flung at the group; others are not so lucky. Kai's subsequent spell coats those invisible in fine sparkling dust, but not in time for Rhien's charge to prevent the plump mage from 'suggesting' “Dorina still lives; you must run to her coffin immediately to destroy her for good.” Kyree spins and rushes back toward the center of the level, joined by Khail's warhorse. The paladin tries to maintain concentration despite the attrition, but after more of his blood decorates the floor upon his approach to the troll, he is forced to reassess and heal the most serious of his wounds. The troll scoffs, focusing his ire on what he deems to be the more potent threat. Erdrick's exhibited skill earns him a helping of what Khail experienced earlier, and the samurai's blood mingles with the paladin's on the floor below. Trella charges past him to deal a ringing blow, but Erdrick barely notices her as he focuses utterly on the troll. In a display of swordsmanship worthy of the songs of bards, the purple dragon knight plunges his katana into the troll’s abdomen, pulls it up through his body to his right shoulder with a mighty slice, and then withdraws the blade while ripping through the troll’s neck like parchment. The troll, having suffered the greatest injury of its (admittedly short) life, reels in shock and pain, while Erdrick pauses his odd tale briefly to honor those whose training of him made this possible. Kai reclaims one of her signature spells; her ‘suggestion’ “Your kind master can't possibly have meant to place you in so much peril. You should return to Solom and request a more reasonable assignment,” sends two mages packing. Unfortunately, this leaves the plump mage, and he exacts a horrible revenge upon the noble samurai. Digging into his deepest fears, the drow evokes an image of the great dragon that slew his former liege Azoun reaching for him. Powerless to fight the mighty creature, and torn by more than a little guilt over his failure in his duty--though in truth he wasn't there--Erdrick watches in horror as the dragon’s phantasmal claws reach through his chest and stop his heart. With a gasp, the samurai collapses to the earth, dead. Chag opens his mouth and lets loose a mighty roar of anguish. Quid screams, “Too much death!” and stuns the drow assembled with the sudden summoning of daylight into the region. Her summoned earth elemental chooses to manifest then as well, pummeling the troll about the head. Calla breaks away from her position, tumbling toward the troll in an attempt to flank him. Though her efforts are clumsy, the opportunistic strike is worse, and she ends up in perfect position to strike. A swift stab plunges her dagger in the troll’s kidney, and a sharp turn insures it does maximal damage as she pulls it out, drenched in gore. Khail strikes next, but the troll shrugs off the one blow that connects. Seemingly reverting to an earlier intellectual state, the beast snarls and pounces on the paladin, swiftly reducing him to a quivering pile of bloody flesh, barely holding to life. Trella unleashes a snarl of her own, but her blows barely penetrate his thick skin, adding to her mounting frustration. Rhien takes a different tack, focusing his ki before lashing out at the plump mage. This time the monk succeeds, stunning and bloodying the drow. With their leader out of commission, the remaining wizards move to flee. This marks the end of the troll's reign of terror, as Kai, the earth elemental, and finally Calla assault it in turn. The halfling's blade is the last, spearing and then drawing out the troll's still-beating heart. Trella hurdles its body as it falls, ignoring the spiked chains that tear into exposed flesh as she runs. The goal of her charge is Erdrick's murderer, and the stunned mage does not get a chance to recover after she shatters his skull with the butt of her quarterstaff. Rhien leaves his fallen enemy and kneels before the samurai. Expending much of the power of his gloves, the monk returns life and full health to Erdrick's torn body and shattered mind. The warrior sits up with a start as the pure white light that suffused him begins to fade, and he spits blood from his mouth as he struggles to his feet. Rhien calms him with a touch, pointing out the outcome of the battle, allowing the samurai finally to relax. Calla spurns a similar chance at peace, dragging the troll's head off to the side. With a broad—and a little scary—smile plastered on her face, she drives the point of her corrosive dagger into the troll’s brain twice. Though the wounds she creates are grievous, the troll continues to regenerate. Stabbing down twice more while screaming “Die!” seems to do the trick, however. Its massive body jerks once, then falls still, regenerating no more. Calla wipes the gore off her blade and rises to her feet. “Good times…” she says, oddly. Kyree returns soon after, sheepishly scratching his head and commenting, “I could have sworn Dorina was still alive.” Quid smiles at this briefly, but Rhien can find no such mirth. Staring at the opening to the chasm, the monk says thoughtfully, “Those mages have surely told Solom what’s happened by now. I would advise that we either go to meet him now, on our own terms, before he has opportunity to ambush us again, or leave the crypts until we are ready to face him. Continuing on otherwise would seem to be foolish given his recent actions.” He looks at the dead troll meaningfully. Trella puts an end to such caution, smiling a wicked grin and announcing, "We're going after him. Now. Stand behind me or step aside." She swipes the troll's remains like a hockey puck when she passes them and says to Erdrick, with audible admiration, "Nice work with that troll." Quid seconds the compliment; Calla gets behind the druid, cleaning her dagger as she does. Trella corrals Rhien and Kai for planning; the two, despite some misgivings about assaulting the archmage immediately, dutifully offer opinions. How to deal with invisibility is a frequent topic, often centering on the use of Snicker's innate detection ability. Upon hearing his name, the pseudodragon pokes his scaly snout out of Kai's garments and flaps over to perch on Rhien's shoulder. Looping his neck around so as to be able to shade his eyes with one claw, he feigns peering intently around the room. With one of his signature whinnying chuckles, he then skids over to Erdrick and bats him with mock ferocity in the knees. Kai smiles down at the tiny dragon and then, relentingly, at Erdrick. "You do good work," she admits to the knight. Snicker slinks over to Chagripor and greets him in a dragonly way. Quid chuckles and joins the discussion, which quickly expands to include Kyree and Erdrick. The latter continues his odd manner of speech, whispering to Trella, "When I was slain, was my corpse facing the Troll?" Trella scrunches up her face. "I was too busy trying to bash it to take note of your final pose, but I think you were." Suddenly curious she asks, "Why?" Erdrick mumbles something about the samurai code to Trella, apparently not wanting to reveal the source of his wisdom and motivational stories. Instead of elaborating he changes the subject, offering, "The only magic I can add is the casting of light with this ring," which he promptly exhibits by summoning a glowing ball over Snicker's head. In response, the pseudodragon squints at him as if reconsidering his opinion of the warrior, then rolls his serpentine eyes and makes a big show of sheltering in the shadows under Chag. Kai clucks at her familiar in affectionate reproach of his sense of humor. Snicker snickers back from his hiding place. Erdrick nods sagely at the tiny dragon's antics. "If there is time, I’d like to go and check up on my men." Trella shakes her head. “Sorry big guy, no time for checking right now. It’s ass-kickin’ time. I'm gonna summon a posse of elementals, and we're going to show that bastard who's broken." Kai cautions, "Just don't forget about his spells. They could turn things bad quickly. "I'm on it," Kyree assures; Rhien also voices his intent to do contribute in this manner. Once the elementals have all arrived, Trella announces that she and her boys are "Rollin' like stones, baby," without much explanation. The druid seems eager to fight, and does her best to sprint up the rope of climbing to reach the inverted tower level once again. Calla has to grab her arm roughly to make her stop, padding off through the entry arch before having to deal with Trella's glare. The halfling moves easily through an empty room and into deserted guards' quarters, finding nothing of interest to anyone not drow. Her report does not please Trella. “My boys want to smash!” the druid exclaims, though this would not be obvious to an observer, given the elementals’ impassive miens. The halfling holds up her hands. “Sorry, boss, but I’m pretty sure those rooms are a bust.” Rhien strokes his chin thoughtfully. “Not entirely; we’ve slain four arcane guards so far, so there are possibly no more than six left, and three have exhausted their most potent magic.” Quid responds, “Yay.” Trella snaps, “Got a better idea?” Quid looks smug. “As a matter of fact, I do.” The Waukeenar first grants herself flight, and then heightens her perceptive abilities. As soon as she does so, she sees what the others in the group cannot. “Three doors are set in the walls of the tower, covered by illusions.” Kai immediately grants herself flight, and between the four flying and the rope of climbing, the distance to the first of the doors is soon closed. Calla moves to the door, but is dismayed by what she finds. “It’s magically sealed; I can’t get in.” Trella is unperturbed. “Boys, smash it down.” Though it takes a couple of blows, even the magically enhanced portal cannot stand up to the might of the posse of earth elementals, and the door splinters inwards. Trella, first to pass through, immediately is sheathed in a fog that obscures all vision beyond five feet. She sees nothing of interest in the hallway. “Quid, a little help here,” she cries, not believing her eyes. Quid pushes forward, discovering four additional doors along the hallway, all warded as the external one. Four elemental assaults later and the apprentices' bedchambers are revealed, Spartan in decoration and absent of significant interest to the ever more impatient group. After returning to the central tower, Trella directs her boys to take out the next highest portal without pause, and rushes through the broken portal before the last shards of wood hit the stone floor. Inside is a pair of rooms off of a short hallway. The first is dominated by a large arcane diagram traced on the floor in paint, powdered silver, and colored sand. Odors of smoke and sulfur hang in the air as if a large chemical fire had burned in here recently, and it does not take Kai's intellect to deduce that this chamber is used as a conjury. While nothing is spied within, Kyree’s sharp eyes note that the summoning circle is broken, and another enemy is mentally added to the tally. The second room on the level sports walls covered with slate and whitened with chalk powder and arcane scrawlings. Quid deciphers them with the aid of an orison, and shares her finding that Solom must have recently been instructing his students in the intricacies of the detect scrying spell, as well as general information about scrying spells and the magical sensors they create. Kai responds, “Well, he would know. I saw his sensor twice now in the tower. He knows we’re here, but we knew that.” Trella slams her staff to the ground. “Let’s not keep him waiting then.” She leads the elementals back to the tower and the party gathers around the last door, making hurried final preparations for what is rightly assumed to be the deadliest battle they have thus far faced. Once they are done, Trella signals the elementals to kick down the door. A gust of wind emanates from the now-open portal, powerful enough to send flying party members reeling. They struggle to maintain control as they gaze into the opulent chamber revealed, so different from the rest of the tower. An impressive throne made of heavy-looking black metal looms on a high dais on the far side of the room from the door. Though most see it as unoccupied, Quid spies the hated form of Solom Ned’razak lounging atop it invisibly, though he is anything but indolent as he prepares a spell. A mere foot in front of him, below his position, is a shimmering sphere of oscillating prismatic hues. To the right of the sphere is another invisible form, which appears to Quid to be a large gargoyle with powerful batlike wings and thick, green skin. Its hands and feet sport razor-sharp claws, and its head is vaguely canine, with small webbed ears and horns. To the left of the sphere are the two quite visible mages from the previous battle. They do not look particularly thrilled to be where they are, but neither is shaking with fear. In front of the sphere, roughly ten feet from the doorway, is another demon-like creature, also visible, standing nearly ten feet tall and clad in hideous coal-black armor. The only hint of humanity underneath the metal is a tusked mouth visible behind the stylized fangs of the armor. The figure holds a cruel-looking spiked chain in both hands, while a large shield dances in front of him. Finally, five feet from the door are five arcane guards arrayed in a half-circle around those assembled. The three central ones are visible and familiar to the group; the two on the outside are seen only by Quid, and appear to be the two carrying the wands the party met earlier on this level. Having finished his preparations while the party members right themselves, Solom rises to his feet. With a sneer marring his handsome features, the archmage pronounces, “The mistake you have made in returning shall be your last.” He then begins casting. [/QUOTE]
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