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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gfunk" data-source="post: 1014126" data-attributes="member: 1813">Session 46 Romping through the Bastion Avoiding the blinded Po for now, both Noir and Joachim turned to aid Hor’ahun who was being crushed by the draconic dire bear.  However, the Psychic Warrior rendered their assistance unnecessary as he teleported from the grasp of his foe to outside of the Bastion.  In frustration, Grisly reached forward and grabbed Joachim, tearing and clawing at him all the while.Smiling, Noir decided that she would “trust in Tyr” that her companion could extricate himself as she turned on the chimera.  Unable to use his spells or magical items, Joachim’s life slowly began to fade as his opponent mauled him.  Before the killing blow could be struck however, the bear unexpectedly dropped his prey and began dancing!Standing, the Inquisitor turned around and saw a bloodied and battered yet quite living Pit Fiend standing behind him.It smiled, vile, green poison escaping from its fangs, “It will take a lot more than a puny kobold to kill me I’m afraid.”As Noir struck the killing blow against the chimera, Entropy finished off Grisly and Joachim and Hor’ahun overwhelmed Po.  Without sight, the poor kobold did not last long.“What do you suppose these things were,” Hor’ahun speculated as he rooted through the half-dragons' belongings looking for items of value and power.Noir threw him an annoyed look, “They are spawn of Nalavara you dolt!  Can’t you tell that they are draconic!”Stepping between the two before violence could erupt, Joachim tried to change the subject, “Entropy, what do you want to do about Nurn?  I can resurrect him of course, but I have not asked Tyr for that particular spell so we must rest for a day.”“Bah!  I like that toad better dead anyway, he’s too noisy.  In any case, his timely demise will allow us to explore the Bastion at our discretion.  I have no desire to take orders from Demogorgon’s lackey and I assume you feel the same.”Without further discussion, the party promptly stripped Nurn of his valuables and “re-distributed” them.  Though they were forced into an alliance, it was clear that all four of them bore no love for the death slaad nor the agenda of his demonic master.----------------------------------------------As the companions moved through the Bastion, they noticed that it was very much like a forest.  However, in lieu of wooden trees were plants composed of pure crystal.  Upon them grew glowing fruits – the pre-incarnate souls of legend.  In one particular room, they noticed that a large patch of trees were reduced to dust.  As they stopped to examine, a large tremor tore through the area.Appearing out of the ground were gigantic worms, seemingly constructed of crystal.  Both of them fired sonic beams at the party, injuring both Entropy and Noir.  It was clearly this type of potent energy that had utterly disintegrated the trees in the area.To Entropy’s surprise and chagrin, Hor’ahun grabbed Joachim and teleported the pair to the opposite side of the area, safely out of reach of the Crystal Screamers.  The Alienist yelled after them, “You traitors!  I thought you were supposed to protect me, get your asses back here!”While the Githzerai didn’t even deign to answer her, the Inquisitor was more forthcoming, “Our job here is clear, we are to slay Nalavara.  I am not some imbecilic game warden looking to mount the heads of strange creatures on my mantle place!”Growling, Entropy tore a planar hole open in the Bastion, sucking the Screamers into a random plane.“Now listen to me very carefully Inquisitor,” Entropy lectured now that the threat was neutralized, “Nalavara has spent years in this place preparing defenses carefully.  We must peel them back one by one.  Simply bypassing all her retainers would lead to a quick death.  Though we might face her, we would fall before the combined might of her servants.  Our only hope is to isolate the Wyrm from her minions!”Joachim shook his head, “I disagree.  I am here for one goal and one goal only.  How you choose to interpret your mission is your own business, but mine is clear . . .” The cleric looked again at the trees that had been reduced to dust, “. . . crystal clear.”----------------------------------------------The remaining rooms contained a virtual cornucopia of interesting sights.  In one area of the Bastion, the party found the skeletal remains of a Paladin of Torm.  Clutched in the figure’s hands was a sword radiating tremendous power and magic.  Noir seized it at once but dropped it just as quickly.  “It’s cursed!  I should have expected such duplicity from a follower of that hypocritical god!”However, subsequent handling by Joachim showed that the sword was quite safe.  “Had you not forsaken all that was good and bright by fleeing to the den of our common foe, you could proudly hold this weapon.  It is clearly a holy artifact of great power.”  Stowing the item away for later identification, the party pushed on.Further exploration in the Bastion revealed that the Crystal Screamers were not the only creatures indigenous to this complex.  The party battled four glowing, incorporeal creatures that resembled leeches.  After they were defeated, the “soulsippers” exploded in a burst of positive energy.  Entropy, knowledgeable about such things, identified them as Energons.  ----------------------------------------------As the party pushed further into the fortress they found that the number, size, and power of the Energons was gradually increasing.  During one pitched battle, where the party was fighting a pair of “soulmarauders” which appeared as monstrously large manta-rays, Joachim decided that he had enough of these pointless skirmishes and left Noir and Entropy behind as he pushed forward.Despite the Alienist’s previous complaints, Joachim had no intention of “clearing out” the Bastion.  As he moved to the next room, he paused for a moment as he saw what could be the object of his quest.Across the chamber stood a huge red dragon besides a diminutive human female.  Though Joachim was invisible, the wyrm’s head sprang up as it scanned the room for the perceived intruder.  Pinpointing his foe’s position, the dragon yelled a warning to his companion, “Lady Myra!  Beware, there is a humanoid intruder in this room.  Prepare yourself, I will take him!”Confused as to why a dragon of obvious size and power would be addressing a human so courteously, the Inquisitor’s gaze slowly fell upon the herald of the female cleric.  TIAMAT!  The queen of evil dragons!  Without thinking further, Joachim dropped a Flame Strike on her just as the red dragon leapt upon him.----------------------------------------------After a prolonged battle, Noir and Entropy had finally dispatched the Soulmauraders.  Using their typical combat strategy, the Blackguard had stayed in the thick of things while her Alienist mistress safely lobbed spells from a distance.  Wearied from a prolonged struggle and suffering from near fatal wounds, Noir sheathed her greatsword.  Unfortunately, instead of a respite she was treated to a retreating, bloodied Joachim followed shortly by a rampaging dragon.The dragon, in an absolute rage, was not particularly choosy about its opponents so directed its full fury at Noir.  As her retainer fell yet again, Entropy screamed at Joachim, “You fool!  How many times must we be crippled by your rank incompetence!!”Entropy sent the dragon into a dancing frenzy and pelted it with Cones of Cold until its body fell to the ground, frozen and unmoving.  As she was doing this, both Joachim and Hor’ahun slew the cleric of Tiamat.“As I’ve told you before, we are not here to dally!  I seek only to take the direct route to Nalavara,” Joachim was indignant after the conflict.Shaking her head, Entropy knew that there was no point in arguing.  Removing a rope from her pack she enchanted it as it magically straightened and formed a gate into an extradimensional plane.  “My friend, before we resurrect Nurn and Noir, we have a matter to discuss.”</blockquote>

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