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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gfunk" data-source="post: 850517" data-attributes="member: 1813">Session 34Return to the Undying Temple and Disco Nirvana [Part 2] Joachim, moving quickly on his flying carpet, ascended the stairwell to meet his foes.  Waiting for him stood two priestesses of Kiaransalee.  Dorina T’ssaren, her vampiric fangs clearly evident, was dressed in ornate robes befitting her esteemed position in the hierarchy of the Revenancer – she embodied the undeath aspect of her patron’s portfolio.  Next to her was an unholy union of drow and demon, eight feet tall and hundreds of pounds of muscle; Flenser was a living personification of the vengeance of the White Banshee.  Striding calmly between them was Maas, a vampiric monk-assassin whom the party had defeated in their first foray through the Temple.Dorina spoke first, scorning the Inquisitor as he approached, “Enjoy your final living moments human, for the Revenancer will own your soul in death!  The Mistress was foolish to spare your life out of hollow sentiment!  Understand that I will not be as magnanimous.”Without responding, Joachim fired a beam of light that was so brilliant that it was comparable to the blazing sun on a cloudless day.  Sending it into all three of his foes, two of which he knew to be undead, he was somewhat surprised at the result.  Executing a perfectly timed back flip and attaching himself to the ceiling with his vampiric powers, Maas cleanly avoided the spell's deadly effect.  Conversely, both Dorina and Flenser stood perfectly still, accepting the fury of the Sunbeam.  Kiaransalee must have been smiling upon them that day, for it went harmlessly through both priestesses.Hor’ahun followed quickly behind and triggered a powerful psionic surge that could incapacitate even the most powerful of beings.  Unfortunately, both Dorina and Maas were walking undead whose organic brains had longed ceased functioning.  Flenser, who had born witness to the depravities of both drow and demons, similarly shrugged off the effects of the blast.Laughing all the while, a ceiling-bound Maas cast a spell that plunged the entire area into a dense fog obscuring everyone’s sight. -------------------------------------------------------------“Come now, you didn’t think you could escape that easily did you?”Her hand pulsing yet again with a powerful enchantment, Entropy moved towards the Cathezar – eager to send the assassin dancing to her doom once more.  However, this time the demon was prepared and able to leap back to avoid being ensorcelled.  The Cathezar needed to buy herself some more time, as she had not yet healed fully from the beating she had taken mere seconds before.  Of course, if she simply teleported out as last time, this annoying pair would simply follow . . . obviously, a diversion of some sort was required.Opening a channel to the Abyss, she brought forth a Balor and addressed it quickly, “Kill the descendant of Dydd and return the corpse to me!”  With that the Cathezar left, leaving the powerful creature to its own devices.The Balor could see that both his foes were covered with powerful magical auras and tried to bring them down.  As the demon completed his spell, Entropy returned to her human form while Nurn lost his invisibility.Nearly tearing her hair out in frustration, Entropy was positively seething with rage.  “She escaped AGAIN!!!!  And she thinks we are worth a single, measly Balor!  Oh, by the White Banshee, this is too much!”Deciding not to waste her spell, the Alienist moved forward and clasped her glowing hand on the Balor’s shoulder.  In seconds, the demon – among the mightiest of his kind in the Abyss – was dancing the Irish jig.  Seeing the perfect opportunity, Nurn executed a flawless tumble and flanked the Balor.  Choosing his targets with care, he plunged his short sword repeatedly into the demon’s vital organs.  In a pool of blood and gore, the Balor collapsed and disappeared as its broken body returned to the Brine Flats, the home of Demogorgon. -------------------------------------------------------------Joachim’s dire bears were having more luck than their master.  Though the celestial creatures faced powerful foes in the Gray Render and the abnormally large displacer beast pet of Zedarr T’ssaren, they were holding their own.  However, magical support from Umaerh was quickly turning the tables as he began rendering his allies invisible and accelerating their speed.  As it stood, one bear was locked in a death grip with Zedarr’s displacer beast Ripper – with both foes tearing into each other with feral rage.Momentarily blinded, Joachim immediately evaporated Maas’ Fog Cloud using a Flame Strike spell – centered directly on his foes.  As before, Maas’ dodging was truly a marvel to behold as he emerged completely unscathed.  Dorina, fully aware of Joachim’s propensity towards this spell had taken steps to render herself completely immune to it.  Flenser, on the other hand, was only singed as she shrugged off the power of the spell with her monstrous resistance to elemental magic.  Seemingly unconcerned with the volley of offensive spells being used against them, the priestesses calmly continued casting defensive spells.Hor’ahun, seeing that Joachim’s dire bears were not holding back the opposition, switched directions as he sent multiple arrows into Zedarr T’ssaren who was ascending and attempting to flank the intruders.  Already injured by his celestial foes, Zedarr fell.Suddenly, Noir appeared from her extradimensional prison, finally making her way out of the maze.  Seeing the chaos of combat around her, the paladin kept a cool head and stayed true to her assignment.  Once again, she directed the positive energy of her faith into the Temple's central orb.  This time, the results were far more dramatic as the entire structure shuddered.The Undying Temple’s telepathic screams became desperate, “QUICKLY!!!  DISPATCH THE PALADIN OR I WILL BE NO MORE!”Immediately, the Temple opened a hole in the floor below Noir and Hor’ahun – thus revealing both of them to the group of foes on the lower floor.  While the Paladin managed to jump away and did not fall, the Githzerai fell straight down – into the claws of the waiting Grey Render.As Noir regained her balance, she was hit with a powerful bolt of electrical energy.  Looking down she saw that Umaerh the drow-lich, now given a clear line of sight, could launch evocation spells at her with impunity.  Before Noir could respond, the Temple immediately sealed the hole, trapping Hor’ahun below. -------------------------------------------------------------“Entropy!  Calm down!  The Cathezar is a canny adversary and I dare say we have hurt her more than any foe she has ever encountered.  Luckily we managed to drive her off.  Look on the bright side, at least we still have her belongings!”Nurn’s comments, though accurate, brought the Alienist scant gratification.  After dispatching the Cathezar’s Balor servant, the pair had returned to where they had left the assassin’s myriad bookshelves and journal.“Damn it Nurn, we were so close!  If those cowards Noir, Joachim, and Hor’ahun hadn’t run at the first sign of danger, we could have won.  We could have!!!”Picking through the scattered remains of the Cathezar’s chamber, Nurn only nodded.  While Entropy sorted through the ruined bookshelves, Nurn pried open the demon’s sizable desk.  Inside he found a leather-bound book.  As he moved to pick it up, he heard a slight popping noise – Nurn looked up to see the Cathezar facing him once again!“THAT BELONGS TO ME YOU DIRTY THIEF!!”With a gesture, the Cathezar sent a fireball into the middle of the area.  Though Nurn easily dodged it and Entropy took no damage due to her abjuration spells, the assassin did not have the pair in mind as targets.  In a flash, the entire contents of the Cathezar’s chamber ignited and was burned to ash.This time, Entropy knew it was her last chance.  Projecting a quasi-real image of herself next to the Cathezar, she cast her final dancing spell through it.  As the Alienist’s hand fell upon the demon’s body the magic discharged but nothing happened.  It seemed that this time, the assassin’s resistance to magic had held.“DAMN IT!!” -------------------------------------------------------------Miraculously, Hor’ahun managed to avoid the claws of the giant Gray Render long enough to activate his magical cloak which immediately sent him to the Ethereal Plane.  Now insubstantial, the Psychic Warrior moved upwards, through the ceiling to re-join Noir who was about to channel more positive energy into to Orb.  As the Githzerai left, he did not notice Jhorganni the drider vampire enter the Ethereal Plane right after him.Trying to buy Noir more time, Joachim moved into melee with Flenser and Dorina, landing several punishing hits on the Draegeloth.  Both Dorina and Flenser responded with necromantic death spells but as the Inquisitor had taken precautions to ward himself against such magic, they had no effect.  Maas however, leaped over Joachim’s head and he tumbled down the stairs as he quickly approached the Paladin.  The monk-assassin bore no illusion that he could go head to head against such a powerful foe, but all he had to do was prevent her from destroying the Undying Temple.  As he ran past Noir, Maas executed a spectacular flying kick that caught Noir in the small of her back.  Though the damage was minimal, Noir nearly fell forward from the impact.Maas, keeping his momentum, moved to the other side of the room and began taunting Noir, “COWARD!  How long will you stand there trying to destroy a defenseless construct!  There are worthy, honorable foes all around you, come test your mettle you weakling!”The taunt hit exactly the right button as Noir lowered her holy symbol and charged Maas.  Though the monk was quick, he could not possibly match the martial skill of Noir who clocked him across the head with her greatsword, sending Maas flying backwards.  Through the pain, Maas was at least consoled by the fact that he had bought the tower a few more seconds to dispatch its foes.  As if on cue, the floor opened once again as Umaerh sent another powerful bolt of lighting into Noir. Slowly but surely, the defenders were being worn down -------------------------------------------------------------She had her final chance and she blew it.  Entropy knew beyond a doubt that the Cathezar would teleport out having utterly humiliated the Alienist.  Though Entropy had briefly held the winning hand, the Cathezar had escaped and returned long enough to destroy any information of worth.Then she remembered the demon god Ochremeshek!  Entropy had procured a powerful item from the den of the demon lord which allowed her to warp reality itself – just once – to give her one more chance at fate.  As she caressed the grotesque shrunken demon head around her neck, she screamed out to activate it,  “Chaos and Evil for Ochremeshek!”The very fabric of reality and time was re-spun as Entropy’s spell once again discharged on the Cathezar.  This time, however, it had the desired effect as the assassin once again began dancing.What Nurn and Entropy lacked in tactics they made up with sheer power.  Using their most potent spells and abilities, the pair rained horrendous damage upon the already wounded Cathezar.  Finally, after breathless seconds of combat the bloodied and battered assassin fell over as she breathed her last.Nurn was positively beaming with pride, but Entropy was more somber, “Wow, who would have thought that old Ochremeshek would pull my ass out of the fire?”As Nurn continued to stab the Cathezar’s still twitching body, Entropy moved cautiously among the destroyed remains of the assassin’s fireball, hoping that at least one scrap of information survived. -------------------------------------------------------------Though Noir was making short work of her opponent, every second she spent fighting Maas was one moment lost for her to channel positive energy to destroy the Undying Temple.  In the Ethereal Plane, unbeknownst to all, a battle between Jhorganni and Hor’ahun was raging.  While the Githzerai tried to bring down the drider with a hail of arrows, Jhorganni tried to grapple her foe to maximize her most destructive abilities.  Once she seized Hor’ahun, the drider began tearing into him with her wickedly sharp claws.  As they fought, the situation for the heroes was rapidly deteriorating on the Prime.Although Joachim managed to dispatch Flenser, he saw that his dire bears below had been slaughtered as the Gray Render began ascending the stairs.  In response, the Inquisitor fired a dazzling Sunbeam at the beast completely obliterating its myriad eyes and blinding it.  Joachim turned his attention towards Dorina, thankful at least that he had only one foe to dispatch before he could aid his friends.His optimism was quickly dispelled when another drow calmly walked out from behind the vampiric priestess.  Dressed in arcane robes, this particular drow gave off an aura like no other – Joachim nearly shivered in his presence.  It was Laerekh, the Chief Necromancer of the Cult of Kiaransalee.  Expecting a barrage of spells, the Inquisitor steeled himself but was surprised as a ghostly hand appeared next to him, moved past him and appeared behind Noir, who was locked in mortal combat with Maas.  Casting a second spell through the hand, Laerekh directed it to touch Noir and she screamed in pain as the necromantic energy drained her lifeforce.Joachim saw the plan now!!  The Undying Temple had identified the Paladin as the key player in this assault.  The tower had correctly surmised that if this threat was removed then the other foes would present little problem.  Moving quickly towards his friend, Joachim hoped to heal her before things got too out of hand.  However, he came seconds too late as Umaerh launched a final electrical strike at Noir sending the warrior’s smoking corpse crashing to the floor.“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”Seeing his victory melt away before his eyes, the Inquisitor directed his Sunbeam squarely at Maas.  The monk-assassin, so elated at seeing his diversion’s success, hardly noticed the spell and was positively disintegrated by the holy power of the magic.  Moving quickly towards Noir’s body, the cleric hoped that he could at least reclaim her corpse before retreating.Unfortunately, Dorina T’ssaren proved the quicker as she ran past Joachim.  Seeing that she bore the Claw of the Revenancer, an artifact that could turn dead foes into undead revenants, the Inquisitor flicked his sword forward and tripped the priestess as she went tumbling to the floor.  Thinking that Dorina would stand up, thus giving him the opportunity to reach Noir’s corpse first, Joachim made a fatal miscalculation.  Her momentum kept her going as Dorina simply slid into the Paladin, animated her body and raised her as a Revenant in service to the White Banshee.To make matters worse, Jhorganni and Hor’ahun returned from their battle in the Ethereal Plane and the Githzerai appeared on the verge of death.  Before he could be healed by Joachim, Laerekh’s Spectral Hand appeared behind the Psychic Warrior and drained the final bit of life that connected Hor’ahun to his material existence.  Wordlessly, the Githzerai’s lifeless body fell over.Alone now and facing overwhelming odds, the Inquisitor was not yet ready to submit.  Immolating Laerekh in a column of divine fire, Joachim finished off the troublesome Necromancer once and for all.  However, his remaining foes had had enough.  Dorina, Umaerh, and the Revenant Noir entered the Negative Energy Orb while Jhorganni, picking up Hor’ahun’s corpse, quickly followed.Sensing victory, the Undying Temple sealed off the entire room, removing all stairwells and doors.  It contacted Joachim telepathically, “There is no escape.  Bow before the White Banshee and you may yet live to see another day.”</blockquote>

Verification