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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(contact)" data-source="post: 456904" data-attributes="member: 41">The end of the beginningTwenty Four:  “The ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.”  - - Sun Tzu, The Art of War or, “Well, I’m out of ideas.  Let’s let the mage decide.”Heydricus, C’min, Ren Qi, Ethel, Prisantha, Gnomer and Thrommel remain to pursue their course.  Thrommel, much to Jespo’s chagrin, vows to remain with the group to the bitter end.  The Diviner of Mittrik is sent on a desperate errand to the court of Furyondy to inform the King of his son’s return, and the party’s plight.  It is believed that the Diviner’s courtly status and his shocking news may prevent war between Furyondy and Verbobonc.  But even the most optimistic estimates cannot predict any hope of military aid arriving in time to put a stop to Zinvellon and his Master’s scheme.The party tends to the bodies of the fallen, and prepares them for travel, taking care to hide them from scrying eyes.  After resting, they stealthily return to the lair of Anna, and search it thoroughly, noting that no one seems to have disturbed the battlesite.  In the library of the Alu-Fiend the party discovers four scrolls.  Read magic determines that two are divine scrolls of the highest sort - - those that possess the ability to return the dead to life.   The third contains a limited wish.  The fourth and last scroll, when read, instantly summons a Babu.  The demonic fiend prepares to shred the nearest mortal, when quick thinking (and a suggestion spell) from Prisantha convinces the demon that there are a horde of lesser Baatezu in the next room.  It dashes off to maul its ancestral enemies, and the party dashes off to the surface to decide what to do with the scrolls.The debate is simple, and in the end, brief.  Is it better to use these scrolls to return two fallen companions to life, or hold them against the death of a currently living member.  The conclusion reached is that success against the Temple is the paramount concern, and nine heads are better than seven.  The limited wish scroll is saved against emergency.That decided, the question of who to raise is next.  If it were for love, Esril or Tisha would be high on the list.  For practical purposes, Egil might be best, but his body was never recovered.  Keriann could bring both fighting capability and healing power to the group.  Keriann it is, but who will be the second?  The party splits down the middle between Tisha and Esril.  It falls to Heydricus to cast the deciding vote, and he chooses the swordswoman from Almor.  The party takes a grim oath:  the nine that now face off against the forces of Chaos and Evil will all be there to celebrate a victory.Speak with dead is employed to assure that both of the chosen wish to return to the mortal plane, and when affirmations are given, the spells are cast.  Groggy and weak (and smelling like dirt), the two women embrace their companions and rejoice in the renewed opportunity to combat Evil.Jespo secretly takes Esril aside and assures her, in his most confidential tones, that even though the descision was split, he voted for her.  Esril, never one for subterfuge, takes Jespo at his word, and thanks him, promising one day to return the favor.Prisantha is able to discover that it was Anna’s magical ring that allowed the Alu-Fiend to enlist the aid of so many giants.  Furthermore, the ring removed from Crynnek’s clutching corpse is a meta-magic ring enhancing summoning spells.  It allows the caster to summon “over her head”,  calling more powerful creatures than normal, and keeping them present for a full day.  Prisantha uses Crynnek’s ring to summon a few Celestials:  lantern archons - - beautiful motes of light that radiate the joy of the noble planes.  Jespo’s jealousy of the ring practically drips from his open mouth, and he casts a few scathing comments Prisantha’s way, dismissing her craft as “provincial magic”.   Prisantha points out how she is coming to understand Fräs’ point of view, and swears that no matter what should happen to her in the dungeon, Jespo will never get his clutches on her ring!  Helthrax is next on the “to do” list, and the now sizable party travels to his area of the dungeon, discovering an octagonal room with four doors at the cardinal directions.  From behind three of the doors comes the sounds of shod hooves on stone, and a low rumbling in a language C’min recognizes as Abyssal.  The armanites, at last.The party kicks in a door, surprising the two fiends within.  Heydricus, Ren Qi and Gnomer attack one, and the spellcasters target the second.  Things are going well, but as might be expected, the remaining armanites join the fray, six in all.  One of the beasts is charmed, and while the fighting is vicious and brutal, the cause of Good prevails.Leaving the amanite’s lair, the group travels south and west, C’min and Ren Qi scouting ahead.  Rounding a corner, the rogues spy a fountain, bubbling with a white, brackish liquid.  Hovering next to the fountain is a spectral figure, a translucent female form, with long wisping hair.  Her eyes are shot through with white, and her delicate elven face is contorted in a mask of agony.  She turns to face the rogues and whispers a courtly greeting in elvish.In a footrace, they discover, Ren Qi is decidedly faster than C’min, and is the first to return to the party with the dreadful news.  Mere seconds later, an awful wailing is heard.  The charmed armanite breaks rank and flees.  The remaining PCs are horribly thrust into a world of excruciating sound, shook to the core of their belief in life.  The experience is so terrifying that C’min stops breathing for a few seconds, and Heydricus collapses, his heart ruptured by the strain.The party scatters.  Some members flee randomly, while others stick together and sever the banshee’s tenuous hold on unlife, banishing the spirit from the material plane.  The survivors gather Heydricus’ body and return to the armanite’s lair.  Ren Qi and C’min are sent out to find and gather the lost party members.As the adventurers are regrouping in the small chamber now smeared with the foul ichor that passes for blood in Abyssal monstrosities, footsteps are heard approaching.  In an attempt to beguile whatever unfriendly being approaches, Prisantha quickly uses magic to disguise herself as the banshee and positions herself in the doorway, moaning ominously.The tall, feral man who approaches her seems not the least afraid, and as he comes fully into the party’s light, his priestly rainments become clear.  An Iuzian of legendary depravity, the priest called Helthrax speaks.  “What are you doing here, love, so far from where I bound you?”Helthrax is not fooled by the ruse, and strikes Prisantha where she stands, instigating a furious melee.  The party lands telling blows, but the wicked priest calls upon the power of his dread master, conjuring a cloud of inky blackness that sucks the very life from the combatants.  For the second time, Esril is slain by an evil priest.Helthrax calls on all the unhallowed magic at his disposal, summoning a flame strike on Jespo and Gnomer.  The conjurer and priest manage to avoid the worst of it, but Fräs, who chose that moment to worm free of Jespo’s clutches, is struck full on by the pillar of fire, and is instantly killed.  Jespo wails and falls to the ground protectively over the charred cat corpse crying out, “No, no . . . It should have been me, Fräs!”The rest of the party is not so anguished over the loss of the disagreeable feline, and continues the fight.  Good is triumphant, proving more than a match for the fell cleric in raw destructive power, and soon Helthrax’s fetid corpse is doused in holy water.  The group readies the bodies of Esril and Heydricus for transportation with a practiced ease.  Jespo cries softly to himself, stroking the crisp, blackened form of his former familiar.A search of Helthrax’s quarters turns up a third scroll containing the spell raise dead.  Freed from the difficult choice of which companion to return to life, the group retreats to their hiding spot on the third level, confident that they will be unseen.  Prisantha remains distant from the others, immersed in conversation with the lantern archons.Jespo demands that the party use either their raise dead or limited wish to return Fräs to life.  His suggestion is not taken seriously, but his wild-eyed demeanor does cause some concern.  Jespo, rebuked, takes to alternately conversing with Fräs’ scorched body and crying.  He bemoans the fact that he never studied invocations, because he now wishes to make the Iuzians pay in kind for their most foul murder.  He begins an earnest study of the sections of Anton’s spell books not completely obscured by blood.  His muttered implications that the party are somehow responsible by denying him resurrection magic fall on deaf ears.  Heydricus’ corpse is awakened by a kiss from Prisantha (and a raise dead), but Esril proves troublesome.  Just when it seems that the limited wish will fail, she rises.  But she has changed.  She tells the party that she has been blessed by her patron Kelanen, and is now a vested priestess, in addition to her fighting ability.  She is filled with the faith that Kelanen has given her this gift that she might take revenge on all Evil priests (since they keep killing her).The party looks at their list:  Anna, did her.  The Nabassu, did it.  Helthrax and the armanites, did ‘em.  That leaves either the Grazz’t worshippers, or the most vile adversary in the whole Temple, Zinvellon.“F--k it, homes.”The party crafts a strategy to avoid the antipathy spells protecting the fourth level.  They intend to use their partial map of the fourth level (made when the children were rescued) to approximate where on the third level they could use passwall to burrow through the floor and gain access.They settle the matter, and lay down for the night, each hero keenly aware that tomorrow, the battle will be decided, once and for all.</blockquote>

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