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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gfunk" data-source="post: 698179" data-attributes="member: 1813">Session 22 Destructions and Enervations galore! In a flash, the party found themselves where Joachim and Noir had taken out a ghostly cohort of drow warriors.  Quickly and quietly they ascended the stairs.---------------------------------------------------------------------Of course, Yashar heard them coming seconds before they ascended to the next floor.  Irae had informed the sorcerer that the intruders preferred direct attack spells and melee combat.  Yashar smiled as he put up a personal Wall of Force around himself.  "Let them waste precious time and resources trying to attack me, before they are turned to stone," he thought.  The snakes on his head writhed with delight.Joachim ascended first, moving invisibly and silently he escaped the notice of the medusa sorcerer as he rounded the corner and waited for reinforcements to arrive.  Directly behind him came two psionically charged arrows, both of which were aimed at Yashar.  Just as if the missiles were fired into a stone wall, they were violently deflected away mere inches from the sorcerer’s body.  Charging ahead, Noir had similar luck as her longsword crashed harmlessly against the force wall.  Drunk with power and shapechanged into a Solar, Entropy swung her quarterstaff at the medusa and obtained a similar result.During this time, Yashar’s penetrating gaze locked the eyes of each party member but their mighty array of abjurations protected them well against the medusa’s petrifying attack.As the party contemplated their next move, a group of ghosts appeared through the floor and walls, including Taharak, the lead drow ghost wielding a spiked chain.  The companions felt a wave of negative energy coarse through their bodies as the ghosts’ gaze began to corrupt their souls.  They gritted their teeth and pushed on.As Noir, Hor’ahun, and Entropy engaged in melee with the legion of ghostly drow, Joachim decided to go directly to the source.  Moving to the next room, he saw two doors and was surprised to see a portal that seemed to be permeated by a hazy, insubstantial mist.  Trusting in Tyr, the Inquisitor rushed through the portal and into the Ethereal Plane.  A veteran of planar travel, Joachim immediately realized where he was, but turning around he only saw a solid wall behind him!  The portal was nowhere to be seen.Raising his longsword, Joachim continued on, knowing that he could do no good standing still.  As he continued to ascend the ethereal tower, he eventually reached a semi-circular path in the center of which was the massive black orb the party had spotted outside.  During this entire time, waves of negative energy swept through the whole area slowly trying to destroy the living, Joachim included.The Inquisitor paused to regard the sphere when a massive wraith appeared from it.  Looking somewhat like a spectre, it was the largest undead creature Joachim had ever seen save the dreaded Nightshade Nightwalker.  It immediately projected a beam of pure negative energy which hit Joachim squarely in the chest.  In horror, he realized that he could no longer remember his most powerful spells.  One of the incantations he had prayed for that morning that could bring forth the direct intervention of Tyr himself was gone!  Not prepared for this type of assault, Joachim ignored the ghostly creature and continued to ascend the stairs.---------------------------------------------------------------------The remainder of the party was having a difficult time with the ghosts.  Although their weapons were highly enchanted they harmlessly passed through the drow apparitions almost as many times as the blows landed true.  Yashar made things particularly tough for them by erecting invisible walls of force, isolating party members and allowing his allies to take maximum advantage of their incorporeal nature.  As the battle raged on, the ghosts’ corrupting visages and Yashar’s petrifying gaze were continually at work trying to turn the tables.  For now, Noir, Hor’ahun, and Entropy resisted, but if the battle was protracted as Yashar hoped to make it, things could go downhill rapidly . . . ---------------------------------------------------------------------Joachim rapidly flew up to the next level, narrowly avoiding another energy beam from the orb wraith.  He paused to cast a spell that would channel positive energy that partially reversed the damage done by the undead spirit.  Looking around, the cleric saw several doors that he could choose.  He had no idea how his companions were faring and he knew that he had to move forward as quickly as possible.  Selecting a random door, he opened it and was greeted by a blast of multi-colored energy that washed over him.  Suddenly he felt as if his blood was on fire as the magic tried to kill him outright with a poison of exceptional potency.  Through sheer luck he managed to throw off the magic before it slew him.  Obviously, moving up this tower would be harder than he thought.---------------------------------------------------------------------As per Yashar’s design, his three foes were slowly succumbing to the slow, steady onslaught of magical attacks.  Their love of melee combat was their undoing as their weapons passed uselessly through the ghostly drow.  Finally, Entropy decided that she would have to crush this troublesome medusa before things really got out of hand.  Shapechanging into a spectre, she moved quickly through the floor, easily bypassing the force walls that Yashar had erected.The medusa sorcerer did not hear the incorporeal form sneak up behind him, but he could not miss the loud thunderous footsteps soon afterwards.  Whirling around, he was completely taken aback as a massive iron golem approached him.  The construct moved to grapple him and he could not resist its massive strength.  As an iron golem, Entropy not only acquired terrific strength, but also a total immunity to magic.  If she could speak, she would have laughed at Yashar’s feeble attempts to break her grapple with his spells.  After a few seconds of struggle she smashed the medusa’s head into a bloody pulp, effortlessly tossing his mangled corpse across the room.While Noir was combating the ghosts she suddenly saw a drow appear out of nowhere, trying to slip his rapier cleanly between her ribs.  Although the blow was powerful, it was not enough to topple the mighty paladin.  Happy that she was finally able to face a corporeal foe, Noir rained all of her attacks upon the rogue, smiting him for good measure.  The offensive barrage was too much for the drow rogue who rapidly fell to Noir’s sword swings.  Before the body hit the ground however, the rogue was suddenly encased in a black energy field.  Inexplicably, he stood again from what should have been a fatal blow!  Smiling, he easily tumbled away before the paladin could strike him again.---------------------------------------------------------------------Choosing another door, Joachim went through without incident.  As he did so, he heard a moaning in the distance.  He cautiously moved forward and saw what appeared to be a wailing apparition of some sort.  Focusing his gaze he realized it was none other than Cabrath Nelinderra, the drow priestess he had slain the day before!  He paused too long however, as the spirit’s head suddenly shot upwards at his approach.  Since she could not see the intruder, Nelinderra quickly cast a spell that purged all invisibility in the area.  Seeing her slayer standing in front of her she sneered, “So you return!  I would love to flay your skin myself but unfortunately, there is a long line for that privilege.”As if on cue a voice appeared behind the Inquisitor, “Did you miss me human?”  It was none other than Khumarr, the drow blackguard that the party had slain before.  Also a ghost, he charged the cleric with his greatsword.---------------------------------------------------------------------The death of Yashar was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Without magic support, the ghosts quickly fell to the enchanted weapons of the party.  To thin out their ranks, Noir brandished her holy symbol and caused the majority of them to flee in terror.  With their foes dispatched, the party looked around for their companion but he was nowhere to be seen.  As they considered their next move, a bolt of negative energy appeared out of a wall, striking Entropy in her Solar form.  Cursing, she felt her most powerful spells slip away just as Joachim’s had.  She quickly shapechanged into a Bodak and kicked the wall violently, “Try it again, I dare you!”---------------------------------------------------------------------When he was alive, Khumarr had seriously erred when he entered into melee with the party without backup.  Now an undead revenant, his all-consuming rage caused him to make the same mistake.  Deprived of his most powerful armaments, Khumarr’s blows fell woefully short as Joachim dodged them easily.  Empowered by divine energy, the Inquisitor speedily sent the blackguard from undeath to death.Enraged by her ally’s demise, Nelinderra tried to consume Joachim with unholy fire but she could only damage him.  To aggravate the damage however, a bolt of negative energy flew out of the wall and into the High Inquisitor.  As before, he felt his most powerful spells being erased from his memory.  As Joachim battled the drow priestess he wasn’t terribly surprised as powerful necromantic magic continued pouring out of the walls, inflicting massive damage upon him as he fought.With effort, he slew the keening spirit of Nelinderra but was seriously depleted.  Not only had his high level spells been drained, but the repeated negative energy attacks had considerably diminished his combat capability.  Sick and tired of being attacked by an unseen foe, Joachim placed an abjuration upon himself that would make him completely immune to any future energy draining attacks.Moving on, he came upon an ornately decorated door flanked by standing suits of armor.  Joachim could not be sure if they were constructs or undead, but since they did not notice his invisible form he really didn’t want to find out.  Bypassing the guards, he continued his ascent.  He entered what appeared to be a small altar room of some sort.  As he peered inside he heard a loud noise as a large iron construct with four arms took him by surprise.Vaguely resembling a drow warrior, the golem belched forth a gout of spider web at him.  Unable to dodge in time, Joachim was enmeshed in the net.  The golem casually strolled towards his immobile foe so that it could pummel him into the ground at its leisure.</blockquote>

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