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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pacdidj" data-source="post: 5350710" data-attributes="member: 86793">Having done what you can to regain your strength, you follow closely behind the wraith, racing down the corridor after Hekthesh. You pass through a room that appears to have served a double purpose as a crematorium/reflection pool and follow the sound of retreating footsteps down another corridor to the west, that once again seems to slope gradually uphill. You run toward a flickering light at the end of the corridor, but just as you are about to reach the chamber at the end of the corridor, an intricately-wrought, steel portcullis slams down before you. The portcullis is marked with 6 dark runes of the sort you ran afoul of in the antechamber. You hear Hekthesh's voice snicker from within.Hold!, the dead king warns as you approach the portcullis, Time is short. Stay back and I will deal with this.At the same time you hear Dhakanmirr's voice chanting in a strange tongue beyond the portcullis.The wraith glides up to the bars, beutifully and delicately shaped to resemble one of the flowering vines you saw when you first landed on the island, but now despoiled with the repugnant shadow magic. As King Paerlanthas wraps his hands around the steel bars he says to you, you feel the shadow magic on the portcullis intensify, the light of Alnar's sunrod dims, and the air in the corridor turns suddenly frigid. Then paradoxically, the bars suddenly glow red hot, and there is a deafening explosion, and a flash of light so bright it blots out the light of the sunrod. As you blink your eyes back to normal, you see that the king is gone, and where the portcullis stood there are now only a few twisted metal stumps.Beyond the portcullis you see a large, unsculpted chamber with rough, natural walls and a rough-hewn staircase that leads up to a massive natural well that spills over on all sides: evidently the source of the canal that runs through the Eladrin tomb. You notice dense and unnatural shadows playing about the well that seem to thicken from moment to moment.Two ancient-looking altars sit on either side of the well, and behind the southern altar stands Dhakanmirr. The altar before him is covered with strange objects including his strange dagger and the silver mirror you saw previously, as well as not one, but two objects that are unmistakeably tjurunga. One you recognize as the snake's-head-shaped object that Dhakanmirr showed you at the Rripangu-clan camp. The other is almost certainly the tjurunga of Marna, shaped like an elongated and flattened oval, with what seems to be a triangular dorsal fin protruding from the top. As the Rripangu leader chants, another voice emanating from the mirror echoes his words in the same strange tongue:[sblock=Primordial]...and let what was sealed with death be reborn through death. Four by four. Blood for blood.The first seal now lies before you great Lord of Shadow![/sblock]Hekthesh, who stands barring your way forway spits, "You are persistent. But, your fight is futile! Even now the ritual draws to a close. Come," he beckons motioning you forward with a maniacal grin, "Let us put our steel to the test one last time before all our lives are forfeit to the Bringer of Shadow."Dhakanmirr pays little heed as you enter the chamber, absorbed as he is with the final steps in the performance of the ritual, except to quickly slice the air with what you now recognize as a warlock's blade, cutting through the light and allowing tendrils of darkness to ooze across the veil between worlds, before returning to his chant.[sblock=Combatant stats and tracking]PCs and AlliesAlnar - AN31; 26/31 HP; 1/8 surges Cyr - AN32; 22/26 HP; 3/7 surges Ferris - AN30; 19/29 HP; 1/8 surges Jezebel   - AN29; 33/37 HP; 4/12 surges Sir Exsixten - AN33; 19/33 HP, 3 THP; 5/13 surges  Paerlanthas -   dead EnemiesDhakanmirr - AT14? Max HP; AC: ?; Fort, Ref, Will ?Hekthesh - AN22 ? Max HP; AC: 20, see also Shadow Parry; Fort: 15, Ref: 19, Will: 17[sblock=Shadow Parry]Hekthesh will interrupt the first successful melee    attack against him with <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/m.gif"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":melee:" title="Melee    :melee:" data-shortname=":melee:" />Shadow Parry    against the triggering creature (Attack: +10 vs. AC; Hit: 2d6+6  damage   and Hekthesh shifts one square and gains total concealment till  EONT).   Recharges when bloodied.[/sblock]Rotshadow Tendril 1 - AR17Rotshadow Tendril 2 - AM16Rotshadow Tendril 3 - AO18Rotshadow Tendril 4 - AQ16Minion; AC: 16; Fort 13, Ref 14, Will 13[/sblock][GM]Initiative Results: Everybody but Sir Exsixten gets to act before the baddies on Round 1 <a href="http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2724688/" target="_blank">(roll)</a>Special Rules for this Battle: The ritual is almost complete! Dhakanmirr needs to complete only 5 more steps to finish the ritual, causing untold havoc on the island of Kythira. Each round, Dhakanmirr can spend a minor action to complete another step of the ritual. He can still make attack and move actions as normal in addition to this minor action, though he must be adjacent to the altar in order to make progress on the ritual.Once on each of your turns, if you are within 6 squares of Dhakanmirr, you can as a minor action make a skill check vs. DC 18, using any skill you can justify, to stall Dhakanmirr's progress. Each successful skill check will increase the number of minor actions Dhakanmirr must spend on his turn to complete the next step by 1. Each failed skill check will decrease the number by 1, to a minimum of 1. If the number of minor actions Dhakanmirr is required to spend exceeds the number he has available, he cannot make any progress on the ritual that round.You may also take a minor action to Aid Another with any of these checks using the standard rules as presented in the errata.We will use the same rules for movement into/through the canal as last time.[/GM][OOC]Let me know if you see anything wrong with the stats above. I'm assuming everyone but Ferris and Alnar spent their second wind.@<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=64280" target="_blank">samursus</a> - did you want to use a healing potion along with your final surge?PCs are up![/OOC]</blockquote>

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