Meanwhile...
Rush toward the back as I told you. NOW!
Maur's word shake Brutus's inner anger into his throat. He senses the dwarf means what he says. The young warrior can only hope that the dwarf won't hold his rashness against him in the future. He retreats from the damnable wizard into the other corridor and hopes Maur makes quick work of the duergar. He stops when he reaches Timmins.
Eike dashes down the corridor towards Meridith. Fear drives him forward, recklessly. Meridith moves out of his way, as she's more concerned with Timmins who is trying to stop his cloak from smoldering. Brutus doesn't think to stop the mad cultist's rush to get away from the source of his fear.
"Eike, don't run!" Aries yells.
As he passes by Maur, the dwarf uses strikes out at the man but doesn't try to kill him. Maur's hammer thumps the man's backside but he keeps running past the dwarf and by Phar and Aureus. The hutaakan rogue thinks about trying to stop the man, but instead she fires two bow shots at Xander. Without his invisibility, the wizard is an easy target for her. The first arrows sink into his arm while the second nicks the duergar's thigh. He yelps in pain.
"Ha! Got him!" Her tail swishes, and she turns to look at Maur smugly.
"He's all yours, I've made my point... to him and to you."
Timmins finally puts out his cloak and turns back to Aries. "Maur says to listen, so talk... but no shouting."
Aries sighs. "As I said, the fight here is meant as a distraction. Tarrak and the other leaders have already left the temple through a secret underground passage on the upper level you just came down from. Very few of the acolytes know it's there, but Tarrak had begun to trust me. Anselm -- he's another ghast - might still be around here somewhere but he'll probably just hide out in his room or somewhere elsein hopes you won't find him. He's not much of a warrior, but he's still dangerous."
"And the attack on Carnell?" Wieland asks.
"The rooks are already on their way or they're already there. As I said, Tarrak and his senior acolytes won't attack the village until dark. The passageway leads under the water and shoreline. It comes up on the beach close to the village but is still far enough away to have remained hidden for decades."
Phar watches the cultist's mad dash, but he doesn't try to stop him. He's more concerned with who or what frightened him. The paragon elf wizard gives the dwarf the fight he wants. He moves back towards the double doors and the reddish light. He goes past Meridith and stops by the open doors. He looks inside and sees a massive forge sitting in the center of a large room that is roughly 50 feet long and 30 to 35 feet wide. Several crates are stacked up in the corners closest to the double doors. He can see another door that is ajar on the southeastern wall. The reddish glow emanates from the forge. Phar can clearly see there are piles of coal and two old barrels on the other side of the room and a weapon's rack leaning against the northwestern wall.
Beyond the forge is a large anvil. On the anvil is a greatsword. It looks to be in the finishing stages of its creation.
"This forge room. Is there anyone else inside?"
Aries shakes his head. "No. While Xander can call forth hell hounds from the forge, Tarrak already had him do that and took the infernal beasts with him for the attack on the village. There is also a deadly bird called an anathaema eagle that is attacking with the rooks. It is quite large and carry a rider. One of the senior acolytes, a man named Crisenth, is leading the rooks."
"This is bad," Meridith says.
"How many more in the temple?" Phar asks from the open doorway.
"Not many, we were told to fight to the death, but after Tarrak left, several of the acolytes deserted. There were a few old boats on the other side of the island that Tarrak had forgotten about. I fixed up two of them just in case I needed a quick escape. The last time I check on them, the boats were still there but I wouldn't be surprised if the fleeing acolytes discovered them. If they didn't, they probably swam to the mainland." He pauses. "There are half-a-dozen ghasts waiting for you on the next level. That's the main level of the temple. There are probably rooks still in the aviary and hatchery, but if you don't go in there, they won't attack you. There is some sort of plant monster in the aviary too."
"Can you get this Xander to surrender?"
"Unlikely."
1d8 damage per 5' of movement, half speed, and Ref save DC 18 to have the speed halved again.