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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gfunk" data-source="post: 640981" data-attributes="member: 1813">Session 19 Undead Outsiders with four arms and +20ish listen checks suck hard Responding to the diversonary assualt quickly, the party flew up the primary wall surrounding the massive towers.  To their surprise they found that despite the siege by Kurgoth's forces, the structure appeared to be utterly unguarded.  <img src="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/cotsq_gallery/44446_20.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Flying and invisible, the party took their time attempting to find a suitable entrance.  Of course the obvious point of entry was the main door.  However, it was massively reinforced and would take considerable force to open, not to mention the fact that it would most assuredly alert Irae.  Studying the door, Entropy came up with a plan, "Perhaps I could summon some Oozes.  With their acid I'm sure they could dissolve this door in short order."Her companions pointed out that even if they were able to enter and dispatch the front ranks quickly and quietly, no one would miss a 10 foot hole in the main door.They continued searching and found a similar door, albeit significantly smaller, at the rear of the main tower.  This particular entrance was at the end of a twisting staircase, preventing foes from effectively tearing it down with siege weapons.At this point, the party gushed with creativity as they brainstormed a way to enter the tower stealthily.  Some of the highlights included:Entropy "Why don't I send a greater Magma Paraelemental to tear down the main gate as a diversion?  In the meantime, my summoned Oozes can dissolve the back door.""The main problem we have is that we don't know what's on the other side of this door.  A Formian Myrmarch could solve that problem -- it can cast spells that would let us observe the forces directly behind the door."Hor'ahun "With my armor, I can psionically phase through the ground and into the tower.  With luck, I could take out the guards quickly and open the door for you guys."Noir "Instead of going through either entrance on the ground floor, we would be better served if we scouted around more.  Maybe we could find a window on the upper levels where we could enter."Joachim "Noir has a good idea.  There seems to be a massive stalactite that is connecting both towers.  I will fly up there and see if I can find an alternative entry point."Ultimately, the party adopted the plan of Noir and Joachim -- deciding that entering the tower via a less obvious route would be the best way to go.  Flying to the top of the structure alone, Joachim was able to find a barred window at the level of the stalactite."I have found a window where we can enter.  I suggest that we bend the bars, enter, and bend the bars back so that our passage remains undetected," the Inquisitor recommended upon his return to the group.The party agreed but began to argue about whether they should continue straight away into the tower.  Entropy argued that the diversionary assault by the Hidden was critically important and that they would be fools not to take advantage of it.  However, the others (Joachim in particular) wanted an additional day to prepare.  Arguing that he could be infinitely more effective if he prayed for the correct spells to combat undead, Joachim's argument eventually prevailed.  The party returned to the blasted remains of Tilverton and rested in a Rope Trick for the night.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Grunting, Noir was finally able to pull the bars open, thereby allowing her companions access to the stalactite linking both towers.  As Joachim had suggested, she bent them back to hide their break-in.Prior to their entry, Entropy had rendered the entire party invisible.  In addition, she cast an abjuration upon them that would block most magical divinations attempted against them by all but the most powerful spellcasters. As soon as they entered, the party saw a rather narrow spiral staircase leading up.  Trying to tread as quietly as they could (in full plate armor anyway) the party ascended single file.Joachim was the first to reach the upper level.  The entire room was lavishly decorated, obviously a room meant for a noble.  On an ornate throne sat a drow in full plate.  His armor made him look like a demon with a horned head and wickedly clawed hands and feet.  He was sipping wine with one hand as he absent-mindedly twirled his greatsword in the other.Not wanting to start a fight without his companions, Joachim treaded quietly in the corner.  Following Joachim was Noir, wielding Badrazel's vorpal greatsword.  As she hit the top stair, it creaked and the drow stopped sipping his wine and raised an eyebrow.Noir immediately tensed and held her breath, not wanting to raise the alarm.  Luckily, the drow dropped his suspicious countenance and continued twirling his sword.  As Hor'ahun ascended the stairs, he slipped a little and made a slight noise as he caught himself before he went tumbling down.This time, the drow gingerly placed down his glass and, brandishing his greatsword, began to walk towards his closet.----------------------------------------------------------------------------Despite outward appearances, Khumarr was far from being a noble drow.  Originally a dweller in the slums of Tilverton when the city was ruled by Lolth, the male drow eked out an existence through pitiful mercenary contracts.  At times he simply slaughtered some of the less fortunate ghetto inhabitants when he was running short of coin.His miserable life was turned upside down with the disappearance of Lolth and the emergence of Kiaransalee.  He watched in delight as the noble drow who scorned him were summarily butchered, their bodies flayed as Kiaransalee's clergy turned them into undead servants.Offering his service to Irae T'sarren herself, Khumarr knew that his hatred of the drow nobility and his skill at arms would serve Kiaransalee well.  The priestess agreed and Khumarr was trained as a Blackguard, an unholy warrior of the evil drow goddess.  He relished his new role as he destroyed the dark elves who had once scorned him.Helping himself to his victim's considerable riches, Khumarr was now able to live the life he had always wanted.  Not only did he surround himself in opulence, but he had real power now.  Able to direct undead hordes to crush his enemies, Khumarr was in heaven (or in the Abyss, if you will).-------------------------------------------------------------------------Khumarr took broad strides towards his closet.  He thought he had heard some noise a moment ago, but waved it off to stress.  However, there was no mistaking the second noise -- intruders had obviously entered the tower!  Although the blackguard could not see invisible foes, his minions suffered no such handicap.  He moved quickly to unleash them upon his unseen foes.Of course the other companions heard Hor'ahun's slip and the drow's subsequent reaction.  Thinking that he was going to raise the alarm, Noir stepped in front of him and swung hard with her greatsword, gleaming with divine energy.  The powerful blow nearly decapitated Khumarr outright, only his intense martial training prevented his instant death. Quickly moving to aid his friend, Joachim struck Khumarr as well though he had a tough time penetrating the spiked armor.“Who in the name of Kiaransalee are these two humans!?”  Khumarr thought.  He was shocked that such heavily armed and armored foes had simply waltzed into his chambers.  He was expecting a scout or perhaps a small but weak strike force, but not this!  No matter, he thought, aid would soon be forthcoming."Kiaransalee, grant me power to crush my enemies," Khumarr's own greatsword began flowing with black energy as he slammed it into Noir.  The paladin fell back as the dark elf landed several powerful blows.The response was deadly; Noir slammed her vorpal sword into Khumarr several times.  As the drow's body began to fall, the paladin struck one final time, sending Khumarr's head flying across the room.At that moment, the closet burst open and three abyssal ghouls rushed the party in a mad fury.  Entropy found herself in a familiar position as one of the ghouls, noticing the invisible sorcerer at the bottom of the stairs, promptly jumped on top of her.  Fortunately, she was able to extricate herself once again with a Dimension Door.After about a minute of combat, the party dispatched the undead.  They waited tensely for reinforcements, but no succor appeared to be forthcoming.  While Entropy remained invisible near the ceiling the party searched the area.  In one room they found an ostentatiously decorated bedroom, clearly the domicile of Khumarr.  Joachim struck upon an idea, “Why don’t I disguise myself as this drow?  Although I’m sure we wouldn’t be able to walk unhindered through this whole tower, it would at least give us an edge against most enemies.”  The party agreed to the plan and the Inquisitor’s form changed to match that of Khumarr’s, complete with greatsword and demon armor.Before proceeding on further, both Noir and Joachim decided it was best to detect evil through each door before entering.  When they tried this in a room adjacent to Khumarr’s throne, both felt a painful shock as they registered the immense magnitude of evil.  Joachim had detected such power on very few occasions – he guessed that the next room either contained evil outsiders or a very powerful priest.  In either case, he knew that he would be subjected to various destructive spells and abilities.  Before opening the door, he placed an abjuration upon himself that made him resistant to all but the most powerful spells.With Noir and Hor’ahun in flanking positions (but out of sight of the door’s entrance), Joachim entered.  He immediately recoiled at the disgusting stench of rotting flesh and carrion.  The room was adorned with all manner of demonic runes, with supporting pillars that seemed to be constructed from the bones of various creatures.  Still disguised as Khumarr, the Inquisitor strode forward.Immediately to his left, from behind a pillar appeared a giant monstrosity.  It was well over 9 feet in height with skin so crimson that it almost appeared black -- and  it seemed to possess multiple arms.  Quickly regaining his composure, Joachim played his part.  Speaking in Undercommon, “There has been a disturbance in the lower levels.  I must pass through to Irae T’ssaren, move aside!”The Blood Fiend carefully studied “Khumarr’s” facial features, tone of voice, and general demeanor – something did not add up.  In Abyssal, the fiend responded, “Lord Khumarr, we heard combat in your chambers.  Have the intruders been dispatched?”  Unfortunately, Joachim had no idea what they were saying.  Trying his best to appear confident he nodded towards the fiend and continued to walk towards the stairs.  That was all the evidence the Blood Fiend needed, it bellowed in Abyssal, “That is not Khumarr, kill him!”From behind another of the pillars emerged one more fiend.  With a single word, the fiend caused the entire room to reverberate with unholy energy.  Although the Inquisitor was warded against magic, he began to lose focus as the spell tore through his abjuration.  Noir, who was waiting behind the door was sent reeling as well.  In addition, another Blood Fiend appeared in the adjacent room ready to engage in melee with the remainder of the party.An invisible Entropy stared at the creature from her vantage point near the room’s ceiling.  Of all her companions, she was the only one who spoke Abyssal, so she was able to react quickly.  Despite her encyclopedic knowledge of all things extraplanar, Entropy had never seen a beast like the one below her.  Although it clearly appeared to be fiendish, she could neither classify it as a tanar’ri or baatezu.  “No matter,” she thought, “we have fought evil outsiders before and one of them will undoubtedly keep us off balance while the remainder tear us apart at their leisure.”  To block any spells coming her way, the sorcerer immediately erected a hemispherical force wall below her.Indeed, the Blood Fiend who had teleported into the room intended to do exactly as Entropy surmised.  Just like its comrade, it emitted a wave of evil energy that rolled over both Noir and Hor’ahun.  All of a sudden, the Githzerai felt disoriented as his body began to fall through a void.  He saw a great flash of light before him – when he opened his eyes, he saw he was back home.  A plane of raw chaos, Hor’ahun’s home plane of Limbo swirled around him in its random dance.  He realized, in shock, that the spell cast by the fiend had banished him to his own plane!Entropy saw her friend disappear as the wave of energy continued its path toward her.  However, mere inches from her body it was abruptly blocked by her wall of force.  In the room of bone pillars, the Inquisitor charged one of the fiends and began tearing into it with his holy sword.  In response, the demonspawn filled the whole area with an inky black cloud, channeling negative energy into the area and damaging both Joachim and Noir.Looking down, Entropy saw that despite her invisibility it was very clear that the fiend knew exactly where she was.  Dismissing her force wall, she brought into being a large disembodied fist which slammed into her foe with terrific force.  Entropy was more than a little surprised, however, when her spell failed to stun the creature.  Recovering from her stupor, Noir entered the room with Joachim and slashed one of the fiends with her vorpal greatsword.Noir and Joachim were holding their own against their foes despite being pelted continually with chaotic and evil bursts of energy that crashed into them.  Entropy, however, fled back to the party’s original entry point and realized – too late – that she couldn’t exit because the bars had been re-sealed by Noir!  In frustration, she tried to slow the approaching Blood Fiend with her magic fist but it continued unabated.  Moving up to the sorcerer, it grappled her with all four of its massive arms.Slowly being weakend by the spells of the fiends, Noir and Joachim were beginning to wear down.  To even the odds Joachim tried to call forth several celestial dire bears which, he knew, would make short work of these enemies.  As he completed the incantation nothing happened!  Confused at first, he quickly remembered that Irae T’sarren had warded the entire tower against summoning.  The Inquisitor knew that such spells were the bread and butter of Entropy’s repertoire and screamed at the top of his lungs, “Entropy!!  Summoning spells don’t work here!!”Unfortunately, Entropy was too busy having her skull crushed by the Blood Fiend grappling her to pay much heed to anything else.  In desperation, she tried to loosen the creature’s grip by ramming it hard with her clenched fist, but to no avail.  As a final measure, she managed to concentrate long enough to teleport outside the tower and into relative safety.Teaming up, Joachim and Noir finally brought down one of the fiends.  Fully expecting it to drop dead to the ground (or perhaps explode in a brilliant flash of energy as the Balor had), they instead saw the creature assume a gaseous form as it began to float away!  Could it be that these creatures were actually vampiric?  To test the theory, Joachim sent a radiant beam of light towards his foe, a potent evocation that could do considerable damage to undead.  Though the fiend was not destroyed outright, it was severely damaged by the blast.Seeing his prey slip through his fingers, the Blood Fiend attacking Entropy flew back upstairs to aid its surviving companion.  In the meantime, the sorcerer flew back to the window and was relieved to see that the fiend had left.  She could not risk entering melee with them again so she decided to summon something that would.  As she finished the words to her spell, attempting to pull a creature from the infinite insanity of the Far Realms, it simply fizzled.  Like Joachim, she realized that she could not summon anything within the confines of the tower.With the arrival of the second fiend, Noir and Joachim were fighting for their lives.  While one of the creatures engaged both combatants in melee, the other hammered them with potent spells from behind.  Since she could not summon, Entropy tried the next best thing.  Drawing energy from the Plane of Shadow she projected a quasi-real duplicate of herself into the room.  More than a mere illusion, she could see through its eyes and – more importantly – channel her spells out of it.  The image ascended the stairs to see the paladin and Inquisitor fighting the two remaining fiends.  Seeing that one of them had been severely injured by Noir’s powerful sword thrusts and Joachim’s sunbeams, Entropy finished it off with a blast of sonic energy.As the party dispatched the remaining Blood Fiend they were surprised to hear someone casting above them.  Joachim recognized the spell, a powerful divine incantation that not only slew the target but consumed the remains with unholy fire.  Suddenly, Noir began to glow with energy as the spell attempted to destroy her.  By the grace of the Red Knight, her patron deity, Noir was able to avoid utter annihilation but winced with pain as the spell inflicted considerable damage nonetheless.  Looking up, the party saw a drow priestess raining spells down upon them.  Joachim rushed up the stairs, while Noir activated her winged boots and rose to meet the cleric in melee.  Entropy  saw her friends run and, since she had to keep her projected image within her own visual range, could not progress further.  All of a sudden she saw a streak in the sky behind her and spotted three more demons diving towards her screeching with glee at their latest meal.-------------------------------------------------------------------------Cabrath Nelinderra heard the ruckus long before she struck.  As the sounds of combat rung below her, she rushed downstairs to intercept the intruders.  She heard a familiar voice next to her, “Have a care my love, I would hate to have to convince Irae to resurrect you if you were careless.”  Cabrath smiled at her invisible lover, “Delay them Maas, that is all I require.  If you can keep them preoccupied, it will be their death.”  She heard a grunt of affirmation as the vampiric assassin ran ahead of her.-------------------------------------------------------------------------Before he could reach the stairs, the Inquisitor heard some movement behind him.  He immediately ducked, his honed battle instincts telling him that a sneak attack was imminent.  Indeed a foe appeared behind him, striking the cleric with his bare fist.  However, due to Joachim’s quick thinking the blow did considerably less damage than the attacker hoped it would.  As he stood, Joachim’s foe had already tumbled to the other side of the room.  Hefting his longsword, the Inquisitor charged him.Although Noir was in melee with the drow priestess, she had a hard time connecting with her blows.  Perhaps the paladin was a little too eager to decapitate her foe for she did not notice the drow whisper a quick incantation as her hand pulsed with negative energy.  With hardly a hint of effort, the priestess laid her hand on Noir and the paladin winced as unholy energy coursed through her body.  Although the blow was severe, the warrior stood her ground.Entropy despised Vrocks, vulture-like demons.  Ever since she had the misfortunate to meet one who was the retainer of a particularly powerful wizard, she hated fighting them.  As she had done with the Blood Fiend, she put up a force wall to protect herself.  However, she greatly increased the area this time, for she would not be the only contained within.  The sorcerer, outside the range of Irae’s Forbiddance spell, summoned a large ant-like creature from the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus.  From the Formian race, this particular specimen was the elite of their society -- groomed for command.  And, like all creatures on Mechanus, it despised chaos with all its being.It was clear that Joachim’s opponent had fatally underestimated him.  Veritably glowing with a number of spells that greatly magnified his combat capability, Joachim tore into his foe with surprising ease.  As the Inquisitor administered the final blow, he wasn’t terribly astonished to see the assassin turn into a cloud of mist.Despite hitting the Paladin with her most damaging spells, the drow cleric could not take Noir down.  The paladin struck the priestess several times, nearly decapitating her.  The clergy of Kiaransalee stepped back from her foe.  Her lover had been dispatched and the Blood Fiends destroyed.  There was no point in sacrificing her life as well, for she could rest and meet her foes on the battlefield once more.  Noir saw the priestess began to disappear as she moved into the Ethereal Plane.The Vrocks clamored around Entropy’s force wall, trying in vain to attack her with their claws and spells.  Seeing that there appeared to be ample room within the hemisphere itself, all three Vrocks teleported inside appearing next to Entropy and the Formian noble.  Exactly what the sorcerer was hoping for . . . The Formian gave the demons a glare of pure hatred as it prepared to dispatch of its most hated enemies.  Stepping back it summoned the very essence of Mechanus – a radiant burst of energy that was lawfulness incarnate.  Immediately, all three Vrocks recoiled as the powerful spell sent them careening back to the Abyss.  Entropy was momentarily deafened by the Formian’s magic as well, but she decided it was well worth the price.In utter frustration, Noir and Joachim saw the drow priestess escape their clutches just as they were about to strike the killing blow.  Thinking fast, the Inquisitor made a request to Tyr himself that he be able to enter the Ethereal Plane to finish his foe.  The god of justice deemed the Inquisitor’s request a righteous one and Joachim entered the transitive plane.  Here, he was able to quickly dispatch a very surprised Cabrath Nelinderra.As the companions re-grouped on the balcony they knew that their victory was a pyrrhic one for two reasons.  First, their Githzerai companion had been banished to Limbo and could not return for a day (and bringing him back to their location would take considerable resources).  Second, and most important, Irae T’sarren knew they were coming . . .</blockquote>

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