Return to the Tomb of Horrors finally gets a Story Hour!

[James McMurray]

The party started out as they usually do, recovering from a recent death. Luckily, they had found one of the only two good clerics on the continent willing to perform a True Resurrection. Unluckily, he was not interested in money, and insisted that they quest to destroy the Black Academy that had killed their paladin friend. (insert link to a thread here).

While resting and recuperating for three days, the group wisely decides to stay inside a Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, whose doorway is obscured within a Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum. This manages to avoid the planned ambush by the Necromancer's Vampire Associates, the Dim Triad, an ancient trio of oriental vampires: Samurai, Shugenja, and Wujen. The ambush would have targeted a single party member (the Cleric of Heironious, and killed him in his sleep, stripping him, mutilating him, and leaving a message along with 3 body bags "The Dim Triad Comes for Thee." But, despite the cleric's protests (he expected an ambush and was itching for a fight) the party slept safe and sound.

During those three days, they also met up with several old friends, and gained new followers themselves, and would be heading back into battle doubled in size:

William Siege, Cleric of Heironious (cleric 14, ranger 1)
Kargur Melasur, Paladin of Heironious (paladin 8, Knight of the Middle Circle 6)
Galrond Glorykin, Sorcerer of Heironious (aasimar Sorcerer 14)
Cristoph Siege, Rogue and Son of William Siege. (Cohort rogue 14)
Side note: Due to a time shift effect William was trapped in, Cristoph is actually two years his father's senior.
Amastacia, Half-elven artist (Bard 7, Sorcerer 1, True Artist 5)
Gundarag, Amastacia's Husband (Cohort Half-orc Barbarian 1 / Fighter 11)
Lanis, Elven Guide (Cohort Ranger 8)
Teflon Billy, Dwarven Fireball expert (Dwarven Wizard 13 with Signature Spell: Fireball)

Finally the time came for the group to renew their assault upon the Academy. Being much larger than they were used to caused come travel difficulties, forcing the party to split up on their trip to the swamp, as 3 members teleported and the remainder wind walked to an area near Skull City. Meeting up outside, the group decided to send a scout ahead, so Cristoph was made invisible and flying, then headed towards the gate. He reached it with no difficulty and watched for an hour or so, and was rewarded by seeing a group of chanting, black robed individuals coming up the mossy path towards the large bone gate. The gate challenged the group, asking “What is the sign?” and the group replied “Acererak.” This let the party know that the password to the gate had been changed. The gate ground itself apart and back together, forming into a huge humanoid figure and then stepping aside. The rogue was satisfied with his trip, and headed back.

Upon reaching the group, it was decided that a couple of party members should try to walk through the gate, using the password. So Cristoph and Amastacia headed towards the gate, walking this time. However, the wraiths which guard the area heard the tell-tale sounds of squishing on the thick surface of the massed vegetable matter that makes up the path, and when it was not accompanied by chanting, they knew that intruders approached. Moving towards the scouts, three wraiths came up and hissed a warning, then the battle was joined.

Amastacia and Cristoph were both quickly sapped of life force from rapid touches to their hearts by the wraiths, and decided that retreat was in order. However, the wraiths can fly faster than the two people could run, so Amastacia was forced to use her magic. Drawing out a paintbrush, she began spreading paint upon her face. It dripped and flowed, covering her and one of the wraiths (who just happened to be in range), and everywhere it touched, the painted being turned translucent. Unable to see them, the wraiths (including the invisible one, who soon reappeared) struck about aimlessly, while Amastacia and Cristoph headed back towards camp.

Back at the camp, the Heironious followers (especially the Cleric and Paladin) were getting antsy, as was the fireball wizard. It was decided that the time for stealth was nearly past, so the group took to the air with a mass fly spell cast by the wizard and several invisibilities cast by the sorcerer and bard, and headed up and over the city. Unable to see it through the trees, they landed atop the hill where they knew the Academy (which they still believe to be a Temple) lay. Heading down, they come out of the trees directly above the entrance the Black Academy.

Waiting for a few minutes to decide what to do, they spot a group of four black robed individuals come out of the Academy and head towards where they know a huge black tent is. Not wanting these people to get away, Billy lobs his first of many fireballs for the day, slaughtering the low-level necromancy students easily, and also alerting those still inside the Academy that someone was outside.

Gundarag leaps down and charges inside, swinging at the 8 ½ foot tall full-plated figure who seemed to be guarding the door. Although he manages to cut through a slot in the armor, it feels as if he is cutting into stone, and Leon, the Troll Fighter 7 only laughs.

Lanis and Amastacia also come down, and shoot at two black robed figures in the back of the room, mildly injuring one. They also notice swarming masses of snakes writhing around four columns which support the ceiling, and a statue in the corner of a man holding a large tome.

The battle gets fully under way as the entire group piles into the room, the cleric killing one necromancy student before he can react, and the paladin nearly fumbling his sword at the feet of the Troll, who took that opportunity to swipe a nasty gash along Kargur’s arm. Meanwhile, Lanis, Gundarag, and Cristoph all fall victim to the hypnotic swaying patterns of the venom golems, effectively removing them from the battle for a half minute each.

As the fight continues, Leon shouts out in infernal “Entryway!” and concentric rings of illusory black flame sprout from the floor and head towards the entrances of the room, to shoot down the hall in trails of dark fire, alerting all occupants of the academy (The Dim Triad, Instructor Ngise (the Penumbral Lord), Headmistress Nuala (Necromancer 18 and previous foe of the party), and Academician Drake (Cleric / Contemplative follower of Tharizdun)). Those occupants soon begin buffing themselves with magic, and will head toward the battle shortly.

The surviving graduate student casts mirror image on himself, and steps away from the cleric, trying to survive the onslaught. The golems move forward, hissing and biting, scoring several hits on people. Only the daily hero’s feast saves them from the deadly venom. Galrond, knowing that their only hope is to close off avenues of assault, places a wall of force across the western twoo entrance, and rapidly follows it up with another a few seconds later, this one covering the eastern entrances, and leaving only a pair of double doors to the south as entrances to the remainder of the Academy.

The battle rages on, with one golem slamming fruitlessly into a wall of force, and the graduate student heading around to try to get into the room from the other direction. Leon’s natural armor, coupled with his ensorcelled full plate, hold off many blows, and his regenerative capabilities handle the rest. He is weakened a bit, but not enough to worry him. This continues for 30 seconds or so, when a quick shot from the cleric, an acid arrow from Billy, and a tandem attack from the paladin fell the troll, who begins to immediately heal. Billy, seeing what is happening, and realizing that fire has yet to hurt the thing, moves over to remove its gauntlets and, seeing two rings, also remove those before starting to remove its leggings. A couple of coup de graces later, the beast is finally dead.

But the leaders of the academy have not been sleeping, and Amastacia, seeing the battle is nearly over, opens the double doors. She is greeted by the sight of the student, who casts a magic missile at her, before he is dropped by a shot from Amastacia’s hand crossbow (frost and holy). Moments after he falls though, Academician Drake rounds one corner and instructor Ngise enters the opposite side of the room. Drake points to Galrond and tells him “Hextor will destroy you utterly” (he likes to taunt his foes, he is not actually a follower of Hextor himself). Galrond, aided by the magic of William, survives the initial assault, but sees his life flash before his eyes as fire chews its way out of his belly to be vomited on the floor at his feet. The group attempts to charge Drake and bring him down with sheer weight of numbers, but an invisible force holds back all but William, preventing them from stepping towards him. Billy casts a greater Dispel, but fails to drop the repulsion. He does succeed in dropping several other spells though, including invisibility purge, would have actually helped the group. Galrond also casts a sacrifice spell, maximized, in an attempt to blast Drake from the face of Oerth, but it washes harmlessly away, stopped cold by Drake’s Spell Immunity (Sacrifice Spell, Sun Spear, Flame Strike, and Lightning Bolt).

(Out of game, a large confusion happened here, which saw Galrond fail a save against he second destruction spell. However a miscalculation of movement showed that Drake had already double moved, and only had his haste action remaining. So that fate was held back a round. The next round, a debate had interrupted Amastacia’s action, and her Hold Monster had failed to be dealt with, so Drake got to cast again. When reminded, we rolled back the clock one action, and she cast her spell. He rolled a 3 or 4 on his save, and was screwed! Thus Galrond is now believed to have only 6 lives remaining. )

Meanwhile, Ngise has animated Amastacia’s Shadow twice, attacking her with it in an attempt to drain her strength and leave her defenseless. Her defensive magics hold them off though, an they soon falls to her crossbow.

With Drake dead (William charged his held form and brutally annihilated him) and Instructor Ngise seemingly dead (a shadow image had been destroyed by a fireball) the party seemed to be doing good. However, they did not foresee the arrival of two members of the Dim Triad and Nuala. With her Flame Skull guardian.

Nuala and the guardian teleported in, with Nuala under Improved Invisbility. The Flame Gaurdian Magic Missiled William, and a bolt of flame from its eyes also scorched him, while Nuala dropped a cast a spell, summoning tortured souls to assault Galrond, Amastacia, Gundarag, Cristoph, and Lanis, stealing portions of their life force and delivering it to her. (Leech field, upped her hit points 115). Galrond and Amastacia were both dropped unconscious by the blow, but Kargur rapidly revived Galrond, and Lanis also revived Amastacia a few moments later.

The party knew something was up, but only truly realized how bad it was when an ornately armored figure wielding a katana appeared in front of William, and cut him down rapidly with 4 swings and four hits. The Samurai Vampire’s arrival was coupled with a flame strike from the Shugenja, which hurt a large portion of the group, although it killed no one.

Nuala hits people with black bolts, draining their strength considerably (enervation, maximized) and her Flame Skull continues its assault. The group assails the samurai, as they cannot find the improved invisible Shugenja, and although they hurt him, he is nowhere near out. A couple more flame strikes hit, and Kargur falls to the Samurai’s onslaught, leaving Gundarag as the group’s only true warrior.

Gundarag fall a moment later, and it seems that the assault will not be stopped. Galrond throws up another wall of force, to block off the final entryway into the foyer, leaving the group alone with the samurai, who turns gaseous after a few shots from Lanis and Amastacia, coupled with a maximized Sacrifice spell from Galrond. However, Nuala and her skull teleport into the area, and continue their assault. An energy drain aimed at Billy reflects several times off of each person’s Spell Turning effect, fizzling them out and leaving Nuala free to be targeted, if she can be found.

Billy begins blasting the corner of the room where she is believed to be with fireballs, 2 per round, and a few of them are made of acid (via a rod). He does drop the flame skull, and manages to also drop Nuala low enough that she is forced to flee. He doesn’t see her go, and pumps two more fireballs into that corner, then Galrond and Billy teleport out with Amastacia, Gundarag, and the bodies of Kargur, Lanis, and Cristoph. Galrond teleports back immediately and grabs William’s body, but the fleeing Nuala had already stripped it of the easily removable magical gear.

The next day, the group decided that they needed to rescue Whitefire, the elven rogue who had been turned to stone the last time they attacked, so Billy and Galrond teleported in. Billy casts flesh to stone and Galrond teleports them out before anyone seemingly notices. However, they are as yet unaware that Whitefire has been transformed into a Vampire and then returned to stone, to act as a trap should they decide to rescue him. He will assassinate whoever he can before being found out.

 

[James McMurray]

Our weary band returned from the Black Academy beaten but not broken. Although some had fallen in battle, they were confident that they could soon be returned to the land of the living. Also, William Siege had yet to realize it, but many of his most potent items, including the Holy symbol he himself had created and consecrated to Heironious had been stolen by Nuala, Headmistress and old foe.

In a daring hit and run raid, Teflon Billy and Galrond take time the next morning to teleport into the foyer of the Academy, free Whitefire from his prison of stone, and return to the Temple of Pelor in Greyhawk. Whitefire, seemingly shocked and confused, and looking somehow “gray” and “frayed along his edges” flles the templs to the street, and begins digging into the ground, crying for freedom. A few moments later, he stops and looks about partially calmed. “Where are we? How did we get here? I don’t feel safe, can we get to the Mansion soon?” He was referring of course, to Galrond’s Magical Mansion, which he creates nightly for the party to sleep in, safe from prying eyes and teleporting foes. “Of course, Galrdon replies, and beckons to the planes, who deliver the mansion’s doorway to him.

The party enters and talks a bit, filling Whitefire in on what has occurred, and Teflon Billy leaves for some shopping (for both himself and others).

That evening, watches are set, as our paranoid party fears reprisals, especially while many of their friends still lie dead. William had been Raised, but Cristoph and Kargur still needed tending to. Unfortunately, their preparations and defenses were seemingly smoke, as the next morning, William failed to come down for breakfast, which he normally provided as a Heroic Feast from Heironious.

Investigating his room, Amastacia and Gundarag enter to find gore strewn all about, with a message written in blood on the wall: THE DIM TRIAD COMES FOR THEE. Atop the bed were three large burlap body bags, one of which, marked ‘William’ in blood, contained the corpse of their friend, his mouth sewn shut. The other two were marked Galrond and Kargur, but were thankfully empty.

Pulling their friend from the bag, Amastacia and Gundarag alert the rest of the party, who try to figure out how the assassins entered the mansion, and discuss the only clue, a human sized boot-print in the blood, scraped clean before seemingly leaving the room. Wary, they give a full search of the mansion, but find no one, so they return to the temple with William’s body and pick up their friend Cristoph, who had perished in the previous fight.

The priest agrees to raise William, but only if all other members of the party who had not previously agreed to the Geas would do so. They do, and the party returns to a new mansion, this one designed to allow the group to all sleep together in a common room.

That night, as Whitefire, Amastacia, and Gundarag stand watch, Whitefire makes his move. Sauntering nonchalantly over to Galrond’s sleeping form, he lifts his arm high and throws it down again. The sound of breaking glass is the last noise heard, as magical silence engulfs the room. Moving with inhuman speed, he snaps his fingers and a flaming Rapier appears in his hand, to be instantly driven through Galrond’s throat. One short gurgle, and Galrond is no more. Turning to the rest, he prepares to defend himself, as Gundarag and Amastacia look on in shock.

Whitefire tumbles out of Gundarag’s reach, and heads towards another body, intent on taking someone else’s life before they can be awoken. But Gundarg charges, kicking Teflon Billy as he passes, and strikes twice, hitting hard with his bastard sword, and driving Whitefire back. Amastacia also attacks, calling her hand crossbow from her magical glove, and shooting a holy bolt into Whitefire’s side. Whitefire, seeing the odds turn against him, attempts to dominate Gundarag, but his fledgling Vampiric powers are no match for the veteran warrior, and Whitefire turns to flee. Gundarag follws, and hits a solid blow again, while Amastacia fires another holy bolt. Whitefire seems to be standing perfectly still, then a flicker of speed and he is out of the way of the bolt. Billy meanwhile, is waking up, still clouded with sleep.

Whitefire disappears from sight, but Amastacia, who had ensorcelled her eyes to be able to see the unseen during her watch, sees him head towards the hallway, while Gundarag swipes at the air where Whitefire once stood. Billy moves out of the area of silence, and prepares himself with spells for the battle he has been awoken to.

Whitefire hides in the kitchen area, while Lanis and Cristoph are awakened. Lanis moves to search Galrond’s body, intent on protecting his gear in the hopes that they can revive him later. Cristoph also gives chase. Whitefire remains hidden though, until he sees a clear shot on Amastacia, and puts two arrows deep into her belly form behind. Staggered, Amastacia moves to try to cure herself, while Gundarag heads to the kitchen to kill the thing that harmed his wife.

Cristoph follows Gundarag, and readies his net to strike if Whitefire moves towards him. Again outnumbered, Whitefire turns invisible, while Billy moves down the hallway to join the fray. However, Cristoph’s Magical Blade “Vigilance” grants him the ability to see invisible beings, and Whitefire is not as safe as he hopes. Meanwhile, Gundarag and Billy move into the kitchen, searching for Whitefire, who is soon found as he reappears and shoots Teflon Billy twice, nearly killing him.

Gundarag charges, and drives his sword through Whitefire’s neck. As the vampire’s head rolls from his body, he turns to mist, and flees for the door to the outside world and the sunlit street beyond. The party follows, and Lanis and Cristoph head to the Temple to alert the priests. The high priest hears the warnings and cries of “Vampire!” and although puzzled, as it is 5:45 in the morning, he heads outside to investigate.

Teflon Billy dispels the forces that allows Whitefire to remain gaseous, dropping him to the ground, where Gundarag swings at him wildly before Whitefire shifts form to that of a massive bat and turns to fly away.

“Pelor, destroy this foul beast of the night with your Holy Power!” rings out, and the morning clouds part. A ray of sunlight falls from the sky, and although the magics which have protected him so far try to save him, Whitefire falls to the ground before the unstoppable power of the Sun god.

Many thanks are made, and explanations given. The group finds a salve which, when identified, turns out to be a way for vampires to avoid the light of the sun for a time, and the priest seems very concerned. The party, knowing they must prepare, has Amastacia, their most people-friendly person, try to sway the priest into allowing an extension on their quest, that they might better prepare. After a moment of Starflower’s beautiful eyes and pleasing voice, he concedes, allowing for another week to prepare.

The group gets set, Amastacia begins ensorcelling weapons to make them sharper, and storing them in everyone’s magical gloves so that the spell will not wear off. Other do research to look into how to kil vampires. Billy takes the time to scribe a see invisible spell into his books, while everyone else has potions of the same made.

The group, all raised and ready for battle, decides that a diversionary assault is I order. They have been slaughtered every time they went due to massive preparations on the enemy’s part, and feel if they attack once, those spells will get cast. They can then flee, and return a few hours later, when the most potent defenses have been wasted.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the group, Nuala has taken the stolen goods from William and sold many of them, while taking a powerful circlet to use herself. She has ordered several items from mages in Greyhawk City, Lopolla, and the Lands of Iuz, and many will be prepared by the time the party attacks. Additionally, she has enlisted the aid of a dark priest to erect a forbiddance upon the entryway to the Academy, to refuse admittance to all non-evil people and teleportation. The day of the group’s planned assault, she will be traveling from city to city picking up many of the items.

The day before the planned assault, Galrond and Billy teleport the group the swampy outskirts or the Skull City, and they take shelter in a mansion, where William casts many spells, extended and made to last at least 24 hours. The next morning, the group flies to the hilltop above the Academy’s doors, and Lanis shoots and kills a black-robed figure seen leave the Academy to the macabre circus tent outside.

The group charges in, only to find the area filled with billowing fog, and Amastacia unable to enter due to the Forbiddance. In a quick and mostly blind scuffle, they kill a couple of students, while Harrow, the Vampire Shugenja, engages the group. Clouding many minds with Confusion magic, he also turns himself invisible and awaits an opportunity to strike. Amastacia, confused, begins to wander away, while Lanis shoots Galrond at point blank range with his bow.

Seeing the situation, and knowing the alarm has already gone up, William gives the order to retreat, and moves to drag Amastacia back to the group. Meanwhile, Galrond continuously attempts to dispel the fog, and finally succeeds, teleporting away with Cristoph, Gundarag, and Kargur shortly after. William returns with Amastacia, and Billy teleports them out as a gout of unholy fire engulfs the party. Thanks to quick reflexes and Energy Immunity spells, they take very little damage, and return to camp wounded but unhurt. William drains a wand to ensure everyone is at full strength, and the group debates what to do, as the forbiddance destroyed their plan for a secondary assault ia teleportation.

They finally decide that Billy, Galrond, and Amastacia will teleport in and try to Dispel the Forbiddance, then teleport back out. They do so, and Billy manages to destroy the ward, then Galrond teleports them back to camp as the alarm is raised yet again.

Now all that remains is for the party to begin their final assault, hopefully strengthened by the fact that they have used considerably fewer magical resources than their foes have.

 

[James McMurray]

Preparations are made, and spells are cast. The group decides to teleport into the amphitheatre. Teflon Billy and Galrond cast their spells, when disaster strikes! Due to the unfamiliarity of the target area William, Billy, Cristoph and Kargur find themselves standing in a similar, yet different Temple-like area. The room is smaller, yet pews still line a central isle up to a stage. Atop the stage stands a red-robed figure, speaking in guttural tones to several Orcs who line the chairs. It takes but a moment for Kargur and William to recognize the sign of Erythnul, God of Slaughter behind the priest. William rightly decides to Word of Recall himself and his friends back to the Temple of Heironious in Lopolla, leaving Galrond, Amastacia, Lanis, and Gundarag to assault the Temple on their own.

Appearing in the central area of the amphitheatre, the remaining band immediately notices a single robed figure standing guard with the Samurai vampire. A moment later, and battle has begun, with Lanis shooting and killing the novice necromancer before he can make a sound, and the rest of the group attacking the vampire. With ferocity and sheer destructive power, the samurai is quickly forced to shift to gaseous form and flee, but not before the two other vampires standing guard outside the amphitheatre hear the commotion and move into the room as well.

Even so, the preparedness of the party combined with the distractive assaults earlier in the day show the vampires to be woefully under prepared. The fact that their Headmistress Nuala has chosen this day to not be present (as she is out picking up magic items she had commissioned) does not aid their cause. Soon, these vampires too are forced to flee in mist form, leading the band of heroes to the secret trapdoor whose underground passage soon emerges into Headmistress Nuala’s private quarters.

The band searches quickly, finding Nuala’s library and taking several books and scrolls. They also find her sleeping quarters, but a trap set off when her wardrobe is disturbed fills the room with fiery gas. All furnishings are destroyed in the conflagration, but the party remains unscathed, due the protective magics placed upon them by William Siege, rendering them immune to fire (originally intended to allow Billy to Fireball at will without having to worry about collateral damage to his teammates).

However, amidst all of the searching, there is no sign of the vampires they follwed here. Finding no hidden passageways, the band returns to the amphitheatre and attempts to decide where to head next. Meanwhile, Blaeseg, Harrow, and Absalom, the Dim Triad, are recuperating in their Coffins. Harrow is the first to revive himself, and he heads out to find the party again. This time, he is prepared with Improved Invisibility and casts confusion when he reaches them. Both Amastacia and Gundarag succumb to the spell, and Gundarag attacks Galrond, nearly killing him instantly. Galrond, beaten and battered, decides it is time to flee, and teleports the group back to the Temple to Heironious, where he, Cristoph, and others quickly subdue Amastacia and Gundarag.

The group decides to prepare again, and return in three days for another assault. They decide to teleport into a small side chamber and fan out from there, hoping to avoid the main guards in the entryway and Amphitheatre. Appearing where they wished this time, they see a large group of robed figures standing in the main entryway. These unsuspecting necromancers die to a surprise arrow and fireball from Cristoph and Billy respectively. Then the party moves in to join battle with the mass of snakes which guards the front door. The serpent golem takes but amoment to destroy, but it is long enough for Blaesig, the Samurai, to come out of the amphitheatre, hasted by Harrow, and ready for battle. He attacks Lanis, wounding him severely, then releases his sword, which continues to attack. Drawing another, he prepares to kill Lanis, who moves away quickly. The group is well prepared however, and the vampires are quickly forced to flee in gaseous form. Galrond’s spells, Lanis and Amastacia’s arrows, and the rests swords make short work of the vampires. They flee again, secure in the knowledge that they will heal and return. The group follows, and this time they stumble upon Nuala in her chambers. She has had a bit of time to prepare however, and Billy’s Greater Dispelling rebounds upon him, taking out many of his protective magics. Kargur moves in as well, and Billy uses his haste action to cast anti-magic field, presumable sealing Nuala’s fate.

Cornered by the burly paladin and the spindly dwarf, Nuala does the only thing she can do and attempts to shove her way past Teflon Billy. Seeing an opening when Nuala turns her attention from him, Kargur leaps to grapple her and pull her to the ground, where she will be trapped within the field and easily killed. Unfortunately he missteps and accidentally grabs Billy, giving Nuala the chance she needs to stand and flee to her chambers, slamming the door shut behind herself.

Meanwhile, the group has bottlenecked at the entrance to her chambers, as the small area does not allow more than one person to climb up at a time. Billy, William, and Kargur reach the door to Nuala’s chambers, and William and Kargur begin slamming into it to try to force it down. A moment later, Billy moves up and turns the doorknob, afterwhich the door opens easily, revealing a room with bare furnishings (Nuala had to replace her destroyed goods), but no Headmistress.

Angry at not having found her, but determined to press on, the party begins to search for secret passageways. They do find one, but only because Blaesig opens it just wide enough for two Flame Strikes to slam into the group. Cristoph nimbly dodges aside, but Galrond, Gundarag, Amastacia are hurt. William’s Shield other also leaves him mildly wounded.

As the party strives to open the doorway, Blaesig continues his assault. An arrow from Lanis sends him back to gaseous form though, just in time for Absalom to appear and hit the band with a cone of cold, before he too is forced to flee again. This time, the vampires decide to rest until fully healed, and let their traps do some of the dirty work for them.

The party moves through the doorway and into a sarcophagus. As they step out of it, they find themselves in a dark hallway, lined with several alcoves, each of which holds a sarcophagus, except for two of them, which hold Iron statues of the Death-like creatures which previously assaulted the group. The party begins to search, looking for secret passages. Cristoph climbs into a large sarcophagus and finds a switch. When he presses it, the lid slams shut. Moments later, Kargur opens the lid, but the sarcophagus is empty. Cristoph, having been teleported to another sarcophagus does not even realize he has moved. However, he does realize that he is in trouble after spike protrude from the base of the sarcophagus and enter his back, where they begin to rapidly drain all the blood out of his body. After screaming and clawing at the lid for a bit, he realizes he cannot escape and will soon die, so he breaks the small rod given to him by William, which teleports him to Lopolla, safe, but no longer able to aid the party in their assault.

Searching near where they heard Cristoph’s screams, the group finds a secret door behind one of the Scythe wielding statues. William casts Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, expecting the statue to come to life when the door is opened. He slams his mace into, putting a small dent in it. Gundarag hits it as well, putting several large dents into it. At this point, Kargur and Lanis realize that it is only a statue and they move away, while William and Gundarag open the door.

Inside the small chamber are three sarcophagi. Two are unadorned, but the third has a lid carved in the shape of a screaming Cristoph. Inside it is empty though, and only a few tiny fresh blood marks attest to the fact that Cristoph was here. Worried, but unable to do anything about it, the party presses onward.

Lanis, tinkering with a stone sarcophagus shaped like a dwarf, manages to trigger a gas trap, which seems to have no effect, until the group looks around to see Amastacia’s face frozen in agony, having been turned to stone. Gundarag, her loving husband screams and rails, and it takes Galrond wuite some time before he can convince Gundarag that they can fix her, but that the group must press onward still.

Kargur, at the urgings of William, detects evil near all of the sarcophagi, and finds that none of them seem to contain vampires, so the group decides that they will have to search for secret passageways again. They soon find one, behind the second Scythe wielding statue. When it is opened, William is assaulted by the statue’s scythe. It hits his several times, but even though the group is fatigued from the aftereffects of the Righteous Wrath, the Iron Golem is no match for them. Even its highly poisonous gas is stopped by the heroes’ feast the party ate the day before.

As the group moves forward, it is decided that Billy, with his anti-magic field still up, should lead the way, as he is proof against any magical traps. Unfortunately, as he moves to pass Kargur and William, the field momentarily negates the Heroes’ Feast’s effects, allowing the poison to weaken Kargur, and kill William.

Determined to press onward, and knowing that they cannot get him True Resurrected without something to show the High Priest, the party applies a Resurrection Salve to William, who awakens missing several spells and a level, but otherwise unhurt. He quickly casts heal on himself and Kargur, and the party moves onward again.

At the end of the hall is an unlocked doorway. However, the door turns out to be false, and only hides three spears of light, which slam into Galrond and Lanis.

Feeling that there is no reason to have a trap hidden behind a secret door, William urges the group the search the walls. doing so finds a passageway to the south, which leads deeper into the hillside, to a hallway lined with candles, from which three passageways diverge. Kargur convinces the group that to press onward would be foolhardy. Although they have yet to kill any true enemies, many protective magics will soon be fading, and the vampires are likely fully healed and prepared for them by now.

The group decides to place Walls of Force between them and the rest of the are, dragging Amastacia into a corner so that they can retreat to a Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion. However, although the wall goes up, the Mansion’s door fails to materialize, and the group realizes that the area is protected by a permanent Zone of Respite, blocking all inter-dimensional access. They instead decide to stay up all night, behind successively cast Walls of Force, and the next morning, shielded from prying eyes by a Private Sanctum spell, Billy returns Amastacia to flesh, and the group dispels the Zone so that they can teleport back to Lopolla. A brief discussion and they decide that they were most definitely on the losing end of this exchange, although they gained great insight into where the vampires may be.

Now they prep and plan for their return, and of course, so do the necromancers...

 

[Schmoe]

Hehe, this is very cool. I love to see an intelligent high-level challenge played to it's fullest, and it seems that this academy is just that. Hmm, do you think the adventurers are beginning to feel like Weeble-wobbles?

Anyway, I've heard that the 3rd time's the charm. Or was it the 4th? The 5th? Um, maybe it was the 6th ...

 

[James McMurray]

Well, the odds are fairly good that they'll actually make some headway this time, since they are very close to the vampires' lair. If they can knock them out and get to them in their cofins, they're set. Also, the anti-magic field was pretty nasty, the Headmistress just got lucky. She has changed her chain contingency though: now it is: When she sees Teflon Billy (the dwarven wizard with the field) he gets hit with two chain lightnings and a greater dispelling. (I could be wrong about that loadout, I've got it written down though). Odds are he'll die as soon as she sees him (unless his ring of evasion couples with some luck rolls to let him survive). Unfortunately, she's never seen the ring in action, so doesn't know to avoid reflex save spells.

 

[Krellic]

This sounds hellish to keep track of everything but an awful lot of fun. I take it your group really like combat 'cos they're getting plenty!

These vampires have really got their backs to the wall, they're going to have to start fighting dirty...

 

[James McMurray]

Yeah, keeping track of things is a nightmare. I have steadfastly refused to remember that anyone dying in the area has a 20% chance of returning as a zombie. I also never remember that certain doors are trapped. The party avoided two blade barriers already, but I won't forget them this time!

James

 

[James McMurray]

The group headed back into the Black Academy three days later, feeling confident with their spells recast and their swords thirsty for the "witch's" throat. This time, calculations were correct, and the group appeared dead center of the amphitheatre, but it was pitch black. Moments later, Gundarag's sword was lit, and daylight spells filled the room with light, showing that all was dark and apparently abandoned. Galrond sealed off two entrances to the room with walls of force, and the group moved into the Black Academy, Cristoph scouting the way.

The first area he entered was apparently a lab. However, the shelves had mostly been cleared, and the cabinets were empty. Whoever used this room wasn't here anymore, so they continued. Around the corner they found a room tiled in black obsidian, whose only feature was a statue of a skeleton against the far wall. As the group lined up (expecting an attack) and entered, the statue's eyes lit with fire and it spoke: "Enter supplicants, and be judged." The group prepared for battle, and moved into the room. As soon as they stepped in, the statue spoke again, "To gain full access to the Black Academy, place your hands in mine." Talking it over, the group decided to see what would happen, and Kargur, the insanely courageous paladin moved forward.

He placed his hands in those of the statue, and the statue's grip tightened around them, "Hold still." The fire in the statue's eyes narrowed into a tightly focused beam that played over the paladin's head and shoulders. Moments later, the beams turned to black flames, and the paladin fell backwards, scorched and burnt, and having just barely managed to keep his soul from being torn from his body. "You have been judged unworthy. Next." No one else volunteered. They did search a bit more though, and a secret door was found behind the statue. It only hid and empty room however.

Moving onward, Cristoph listened to a door and heard a faint mewling as if a sick cat. He returned tot he group, "I thin I've found a cat in heat," he told them. Suitably confused, the group moved forward, and the paladin detected for evil through the door, which was successful. They prepared a bit, then kicked the door down, to find a laboratory seemingly in use, but empty. On one table was a cat, partially dissected, yet still living. "Mwrar, mwaaar."

Trying to put the cat out of its misery, the paladin drove his sword clean through it, and the mewling ceased, but only for a moment, as the cat's wounds healed back up, except for those parts which were kept from joining by pins in the dissection tray. "mwawr, raaar." Detection of magic showed that the cat was definitely magical, but no evil could be detected, from either the cat or anywhere in the room. The two adjoining laboratories were likewise clear. The group left the cat behind, and moved onwards.

Around the next corner, they entered what appeared to be an anatomy classroom. Pictures of bodies, and a few actual bodies hung from the walls. Chairs and desks were lined up to face a central podium, atop which lay a partially dissected human form. As the group looked around, an imp appeared next to Lanis, and struck out, only to hit his armor. Moments later, the imp was unconscious, as several arrows plowed into his body. Billy tells the group that it will regenerate though, and he had already used his Melf's Acid Arrow in a doomed attempt to kill the cat. Gundarag moves up and begins repeatedly hacking at the imp with his bastard sword, ensuring it will not be getting up for quite some time. Meanwhile, Cristoph opens a door in the back of the room, and a shadow reaches up from the floor to touch his shadow. Cristoph's shadow leaps up and dives for his throat, only barely being dodged.

Cristoph turns to flee back through the group, and William takes a swipe at the passing shadow, but his sword goes right through it. Lanis's arrow hits the mark though, and as the shadow is pierced in the belly, it falls into quiescence. However, a mirror wound appears in Cristoph's stomach, and Amastacia moves to heal him.

Kargur heads into the back room, and this time 6 shadows leap up to touch his, and set it on him as well. The group manages to make short work of the shadows though, and killing one seems to dissipate the remainder. The one dead shadow transforms into a dark robed man, whose left hand is made of shadow. Galrond tells the group that the man's dagger and robes are magical, and as Kargur moves to collect them, the robes leap off the floor and flow around him, sapping his health as they try to force themselves onto him.

William recognizes the robes as being a wraith, and attempts to turn it. The attempt is successful, but before it can flee, Kargur slashes it to ribbons. Collected the tattered remains, he uses them to pick up the dagger and place it into his haversack. The group moves into the next room, which is filled with small stacks of books surrounding a cot. They find a small sack of gems hidden in the iron stove, but nothing else of value apart from the books, which seem to mostly focus upon anatomy and necromancy.

Satisfied that this side of the area is clear, they move to the East side of the building, still unopposed by the inhabitants of the Academy, except for the one instructor. Reaching the room where a large Tome summoned deaths when touched, they find it empty. The doors marked Necrohazard are still shut, and the group decides to investigate. As the first door is opened, the inside of it is seen to be filled with shadows. Cold seeps from the room like a physical presence, and moments later, a heartbeat is heard. Lub--dub, lub--dub.

The cold intensifies, as does the heartbeat. da-dum-da-dum-da-dum.

The group disperses and prepares for whatever is coming, but nothing ever comes. The paladin moves forward and detects for evil, finding a presence. His daylight enhanced flaming sword allows him to see a bit into the room, so he moves in slowly to investigate, using his senses to pinpoint the evil, which turns out to be a small beating heart on the floor. He cuts it in half with his sword, but moments later, the cloying cold increases, and the heart is yet again beating slowly.

The paladin spears the heart with his sword and moves to carry it outside, noticing in passing that the inside of the door is covered in a gray metal, which Billy tells him is Lead. By this point, both he and the cleric (who has a shield other protecting the paladin) have taken quite a bit of damage from the heart. The paladin drops the heart outside, and the plant life around it rapidly wilts away. da-dum-da-dum-da-dum. Galrond dispels the darkness in the room, and the group finds that the room is mostly empty. Only a bare pedestal stands in the center, with a desiccated black-robed corpse next to it. Two of the inner walls (those facing areas where people would be) are lined with lead as well.

Leaving the heart as a mystery for later, the group moves to the next door marked Necrohazard, this one barred from the outside. The bar is removed, and the door is opened. Several small piles of black ash litter the floor of the room, and a shelf on the back wall holds a skull, wreathed in an eerie corona of black flames. Cristoph moves forward to investigate, and as he gets close, the flames leap out, and he too is wreathed in blackfire. As it slowly begins to burn his soul, he runs into the hallway. As he passes Kargur, the flames leap at the paladin, who manages to avoid them.

Cristoph, writhing in agony, begins to roll on the ground in an attempt to put the flames out, as the group stares on helplessly, afraid to approach the malevolent flames, and they seem to try to leap onto whoever gets near them. Billy, thinking he may be able to put the flames out, creates an anti-magic field around himself, and moves towards Cristoph. The flames are snuffed out by the field. Unfortunately, so too is the Endurance spell, which was the only thing keeping Cristoph alive, and he falls to the ground dead.

While protected, Billy goes back to the cat, and it does stop moving when the anti-magic field nears it. However, as soon as Billy moves away, it returns to life and begins mewling piteously. The heart outside is completely unaffected by the field however.

Knowing that they'll need to make more headway if they are to get him resurrected, the group moves on. Billy, still protected by his anti-magic field, moves up to open the next door, with the group arrayed just outside the boundaries of the field. As he opens the door, spinning and whirling blades fill the entire chamber, except for the area around the Dwarven Wizard. Everyone in the group is wounded by the blades, but William is wounded worst of all. In preparation for battle, he had cast Shield Other on Kargur and Gundarag. Kargur had then cast Shield other on Lanis. Thus, William took damage from the blades hitting him, Kargur, Gundarag and Lanis (54 (him) + 27 (Kargur) + 27 (Gundarag) +13(Lanis) = 121 points). He falls to the ground, cut to ribbons by the whirling blades. Billy, thinking fast, moves to where the group is all within his field. This act nearly kill Amastacia, and her endurance drops and she begins to feel the full weight of the tears in her flesh (she is left with 2 hp).

The group moves carefully into the next room, where they heal up a bit via Amastacia's wands. This room and the room behind it turn out to be the Cleric of Tharizdun quarters. Having previously killed him, they are unmolested as they destroy his altar.

Returning to Greyhawk City, the group meets with the High Priest of Pelor, who tells them that their task is still unfinished. Communing has shown him that the Vampires are still in residence at the Black Academy. They also manage to allow the apparently immortal cat to escape, after the priest suggests they remove it from the tray. It is apparently not undead, nor is it evil, so the priest is at a loss for what to do with it. He would rather see it free than tortured like it is though, so he lets it flee after his attempt at Hold Monster and Halt Undead fails. This worries Amastacia, as she has visions of generations of immortal cats overrunning cities, but the group doesn't try to hunt the cat down. The priest, felling that the group has made definite headway with the death of an instructor and the apparent abandonment of the city decides to perform True Resurrections on the two casualties. That will take two days, leaving the party time to plan.

 

[James McMurray]

Yet again they have prepped, and return into the heart of the crypts. Teleporting in again in two groups, it is odd that the Zone of Respite no longer exists, but no one comments, and exploration begins in earnest. Rapidly searching the area, Cristoph finds the mechanism for the trap which sprayed iron spikes at Kargur previously, but informs the group that he cannot dismantle it. He also finds two secret doors and a concealed iron door with a barred window. From behind the door pitiful moaning can be heard, and the party moves to investigate.

Opening the locked door, they find 20 emaciated people chained to the walls. As they free the people from their chains (after a quick negative scan for evil by Kargur), most of them slump to the floor in utter defeat or even catatonia. The 9th leaps to his feet and quickly runs for the exit, only to be grabbed by Kargur at the door. "If you flee, this place will kill you." That doesn't seem to have much affect, as these people are no longer scared of death. It is prefereable to the slow torture that is being a sadistic vampire trio's food source.

William, seeing an opportunity to calm the people, stands and gives a sermon on the glories of Heironious, and how the God of Honor will protect them in this place, if they do as requested. During this, he manages to calm people down enough to get some questions answered. These people are being fed upon by three vampires, who some singly or in groups, and at no particular time. While this is being explained, Cristoph, Galrond, and William catch the faint sounds of spellcasting from the Southwestern corner of the room, where a prisoner explains that there is a secret door.

Cristoph rapidly searches for, and finds, the door, and opens it up as others prepare for the battle, including a Mass Haste from Galrond. Behind the door he sees three Vampires, but noone else can see them well, as they are back a bit from the entryway. William fills the hole with a Blade Barrier, and Cristoph shuts the door back, while billy moves to watch the other entryway.

Right at that moment, the Samurai vampire heads around the corner and nearly slices Billy's Arm off with his blade. Billy leaps back and attempts to Dispel whatever buffing spells the vampire may have up, before fleeing to the far corner of the room through a Dimension Door. Kargur hangs back, hoping that the Vampire will move into the room and give more people an opportunity to attack him. Gundarag however, not being the tactical genius, moves in to start wailing on the vampire with his Flaming Bastard Sword. The Vampire's ornate full plate armor stops what few strikes were not dodged with preternatural speed and grace. It does not protect against a Maximized Bolt of mana from Galrond however, nor from Lanis' arrows, and the vampire is soon forced to retreat in mist form.

His compatriots have finished preparing however, and soon move to continue the assault on the party. The Shugenja unleashes multiple Flame Strikes, while the Wujen peppers the group with a Cone of Cold. This almost kills William, who is again caught unprepared at the end of a Shield Other chain. He has just enough strength ni him before he slumps to the ground to pray to Heironious for healing, and a second later is back at full health.

The fight is about equal at this point, as Repulsion is keeping some combatants out of the fray (except for missile weaponry). Kargur manages to charge however, and swings all out, giving up every ounce of finesse to aim for maximum damage to the Wujen. This turns out to be a serious mistake on his part, as every attack is tauntingly dodged. Meanwhile, the Shugenja decides it is time to stir things up a bit, and casts 2 Confusion spells, getting Lanis, Amastacia, and Cristoph in the process.

Lanis shoots at Galrdon, and is soon tackled by Gundarag. Amastacia gets caught up in the workmanship of a nearby Sarcophagous lid, while Cristoph could swear he hears his mother calling from the back of the prison, and moves to help her get the hot apple pie from the oven.

The group rapidly forces the vampires into mist form with magical and physical force, and they race to catch the sleepers in tehir coffins around the corner. As they get close, Billy raises an Antimagic Field, this time to prevent the spellcasting vampires from escaping via magic before the group manages to pry the lids off of the Sarcophagi. That will be harder than it seems however, as the lids are solid stone, and apparently locked from the inside. It takes five people nearly a minute to wrench top off of the first, where they find the still sleeping form of the samurai, not yet recovered from William's earlier spear thrust, nor the Searing Light which had been stored in the Spear.

Cristoph studies him for a moment, then strikes with a stake. As it pierces the vampire's heart, his flesh withers and he becomes no more than an emaciated heart. Research and study have shown them that this is not enough, so William prepares the holy wafers and then decapitates the beast. As he does so, the head's eyes and mouth fly wide as the creature screams its way into hell before turning to dust.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the group have been working on the next sarcophagus. It requires quite a bit of work, with two people using crowbars to remove the lid. As it comes off, the Shugenja inside leaps for the cieling and begins to scamper off, before being grabbed by both Gundarag and Kargur and slammed back down into the coffin. Kargur quickly moves to pin him so that he may be staked. As they wrestle, the Wujen hears his opportunity and flings his coffin wide, leaping for the cieling in an attempt to escape the anti-magic field. Gundarag, acting quickly, grabs the vampire and slams him to the ground. Even the strength of the grave is no match for Gundarag's massive sinews.

Meanwhile, the shugenja has put up a terrible fight, but Amastacia's third strike is the charm, and moments later William is stuffing holy wafers into the mouth of the meaciated corpse, before sending it to Hell screaming as well. As the group pins and stakes the last vampire, Billy leaves to check on the prisoners. Rounding the corner, he is shocked as a cold blue ray and 2 lightning bolts splash against his field. He turns and spots "The Hag" as they call her. Nuala, Necromancer and Headmistress of the Black Academy. She sees him too, and as he cries out a warning, she prepares to assault the first free target she can, hoping that someone will be foolish enough to leave the antimagic field. Nobody does though, and soon Billy is charging her. As the edge of his field nears, she disappears in a flash of light. The group fans out to find her, but has no luck, and decides to begin the long process of teleporting the prisoners to safety.

The group rearrives in Greyhawk, with the prisoners in tow. The priests of Pelor are more than happy to help these poor souls, and the High Priest is greatly relieved when he is shown the vampire dust and told the story. The next day the group makes a rapid hit and run raid on the courtyard, grabbing up the heart, which lays quiescent on the ground until someone nears it. Locking it into a lead box, they return to the Temple of Pelor with it, to be locked away, hopefully forever. They also ask that the Samurai's katana be destroyed, as it is an unholy weapon.

As they head out into the street that evening, they look across the street to see a rapidly panting dog. Following his eyes, they see a familiar yellow cat, sitting unconcerned about five feet from the exhausted dog's face. Its hard to tell, but it almost looks like it is mockingly smiling at the dog.

 

[James McMurray]

The party divided

Kargur suggests that he and William prepare Detect Undead for the next day. Galrond heads back into the mansion to take some time out to scry for the cat as suggested. An hour later, he finds it. The cat is running around a construction site being chased by 3 burly men. It scampers up a fence, across a drainpipe, and in the process manages to drop a large bucket of paint onto one of the men's heads. The others redouble their efforts to catch the cat, but he is always a few steps ahead of them. He nimbly climbs up a nearby pile of debris in the site and sits atop it looking down at the men and licking his paws and rubbing his face. A couple of them toss rocks, but their aim is incredibly poor.

One of the rocks misses and hits a large chunk of debris on the pile. The cat leaps clear just as the stacked refuse from the construction site begins to collapse. As the cat saunters away, the men start cursing and cleaning up the mess.

It takes a couple of days to get the prisoners up and about. Kargur does not notice any of them being suspiciously healthy, nor does the cat show up again. The physical damage is fairly easy to fix just with William alone (although it will require three days of Heal spells to fix the mental damage on some of them). Its the malnutrition and psychological scarring that are the hardest parts. Heal will fix deep rooted insanities, but it can't let them look back at the past few months without risking a recurrence. The temple of Pelor is happy to tend to them while they recuperate. As they become ready to travel, the priests will inform the group and they can be teleported back to their homes. Of course, only those who lived in Shiboleth will be transportable via teleport, as neither Galrond or Billy have been to the cities North or West of the Swamp.

However, during this time Amastacia and William begin to debate taking these unfortunate souls on as followers. They are chilled by the thought of the prisoners' accounts of their captivity: Alone in the dark. The only light comes infrequently, in the form of two glowing orbs with a hissing voice, "You smell delicious. I will savor you." Then the sharp stab of pain as the skin is ripped from the neck. Weakness overcoming everything as lifeblood is drained. Moments before you drift into a blissful eternal sleep, another voice chants prayers to dark spirits and the energy flows back. Along with it the terror of knowing that this will never end.

Even less frequently, the light flares to a blinding level, and as your eyes become adjusted to it, you see a beautiful dark-robed lady. "Don't worry little ones, I'll free you from your fleshy prison." Behind her is another robed person, fully hidden from view. As your chains are loosened, you breathe a sigh of relief. Staggering towards the door, the unknown robed one moves to steady you, as it does, a black tentacle curls out from a sleeve and firmly holds you on your feet. The hood falls back, and staring back at you is a scarred a brutalized face, dripping a black blood from its pores. A scream wells up inside you and breaks free. You think you could not scream louder, then you realize that the creature before you has at least one human looking feature, and they are the eyes of Jacques, your husband."

Amastacia continues to pour through the old tomes. So far all she has managed to learn is that the Devourer is believed to be roaming far planes. The fact that that tidbit was scribbled in the margin of a book on weaponry indicates that it may take a bit of time for her to sort through the books more thoroughly. They do find a map however, which shows two previously unseen hidden rooms.

The group decides they should take a couple of weeks and pour through the tomes. They teleport back to the Black Academy, and enter the library. Although they do notice a few books are missing, they are curiously unmolested as they take several trips to gather all of the books. Back at the Mansion, the research begins in earnest. They find out the following things:

 Acererak the Devourer roams far planes, and is setting in motion a great change.
 Nuala rose to power in the Academy by staking the previous Headmistress, and plans to become a Lich herself once she has plumbed all of the Devourer's secrets.
 The Tomb of Acererak is only the first, and the least of his holdings.
 He has prepared a path to his stronghold, and he himself is somehow the key.

Armed with this meager knowledge, and the tidbits they have gleaned from the journal of Galen, they head into the tomb. Sending Cristoph ahead into the first of three entryways, he finds a large pair of double doors at the end of the hallway. When he opens them, a loud grumbling sound is heard, and he turns to run, only barely diving past the massive block of stone sliding into place to seal him into the cave. Having seen the bare stone wall behind the doors, the group moves to the next entryway.

Moments into the place, their protective magics begin to wither and fade under the oppressive pallor of the place. They find themselves in a highly decorated hall filled with Mosaics of Torture chambers, Wizardly workrooms, and human-like slaves building vast fortresses. To their immediate left is a mural of two large Jackal-headed men holding a box, but the box itself is real, and protrudes from the wall. Experimentation with it finds an invisible lever inside. Pulling it causes the floor around the box to open up into another pit, and then rapidly close again. Cristoph's quick thinking had him pull the level while suspended form the wall via his Boot of Spider Climbing, and thus he avoided another plummet.

A 2' wide red tile path winds its way down the hall, and Cristoph elects to follow it, searching for traps every step of the way. Only 15' or so into the place though, he misses the first pit trap, and falls 30' onto two sharp spikes. Where the first spike pierces his leg, he skin begins to turn gray and flake away. Activating his magical boots, Cristoph quickly clambers out and receives healing from his father, which seems to fix his leg.

Even more careful now, he decides to move in again, this time staying off the path. He spots three more pits along the way, and Billy follows him, while the remainder of the party follows at a "safe" distance. About 40' in, he suddenly notices words engraved into the path, and moves back to read them:

Go back to the tormentor or through the arch,
And the second great hall you’ll discover.
Shun green if you can, but night’s good color
is for those of great valor.
If shades of red stand for blood the wise
Will not need sacrifice aught but a loop of
magical metal – you’re well along your march.

Two pits along the way will be found to lead
To a fortuitous fall, so check the wall.
These keys and those are most important of all,
And beware of trembling hands and what will maul.
If you find the false you find the true
And into the columned hall you’ll come,
And there the throne that’s key and keyed.

The iron men of visage grim do more than
Meets the viewers eye.
You’ve left and left and found my Tomb
And now your soul will die.

Remembering the torture chamber motif earlier in the chamber, the group heads back. A few minutes later, they have pried the plaster away from a painting of a door, only to find a real door underneath. It is directly behind a pit however, and Cristoph's boots are all that allow him to go through. He moves ahead and opens the door, entering the hallway behind it. As he opens another door, he sees 4 6' tall vaguely humanoid figures made of crackling energy ahead. They are secured to the floor via chains of pure force, which fasten to collars around their necks. As he watches, the chains begin to melt away, and Billy, who had stayed in the main entryway but at a place where he could see, lets loose a fireball. As it bursts around the creatures, the flames are dimmed, while the creatures inside seem to grow larger. Cristoph slams the door shut on the now 6 1/2' tall beings. From behind it, he hears the faint sound of metal clasps slamming shut.

Billy recognizes the creatures as Mana Elementals, beings made of the stuff of magic. Although not truly elementals, they are called that for lack of a better term. They are masters of the magical flow, and if captured in a device known as a Mana Prism, can be used by unscrupulous mages to power spells. Billy warns the group not to use magic on them, as they feed on it. Kargur leaps across the pit and prepares to enter the fray, whilst the remainder of the group debate what to do. Cristoph reopens the door and the once-again chained elementals are freed. As battle commences, Kargur slams one of the beats with his sword. The creature does seem phased by the blow, but the sword's electrical emanations die out as the thing feeds on its enchantment, then strikes back. As it feeds on the mana from which life flows, Kargur feels sharp pain in his neck and throat.

William prays to Heironious out in the hallway, and cast a Formation spell, rearranging the group into a more combat worthy setup. Kargur remains on the far side of the pit, while Gundarag and Lanis are also transported there. Cristoph is placed back in the hallway, where he won't be able to fight, but he doesn't mind as it was the warriors who were moved forward.

Billy remembers that Mana Elementals feed on all magics which are near them, but that Dispel Magic can harm them, and he unleashes an area Greater Dispelling. The first of the four beasts is completely disrupted, and the remaining three seem hurt badly. A rapid follow-up Greater Dispel from Galrond finishes them off, and Amastacia leaps towards the now clear room. She misses by a hair, and the beautiful bard plummets into the pit. At the bottom, the spikes slam into her chest, and her entire body rapidly turns gray and dead. She is left looking like a mummy without wrapping. Gundarag and Cristoph pull her to the surface, and place a Resurrection salve on her, which restore her to life, and cleanses the poison from her body. William recognizes it as Negative Planar Essence, an incredibly deadly poison made from liquefied matter from the Negative Material Plane. As the group begins to jump across, Billy decides not to risk it and touches William and Galrond while opening a Dimension Door for them to step through.

They enter the door, but do not come back out in the Tomb where Billy had intended, instead finding themselves stranded in the Astral Plane. Looking around to get their bearings, they see a hulking 4 armed demonic figure. "So, foolish mortals, you dared to explore Acererak's Tomb?"

Acting quickly, the three spellcaster enter battle. Finding themselves on the plane of magic, they are astounded at the power they feel coursing through them. Billy lashes out with a Quickened (via the plane) Disintegrate, followed by a flurry of magic missiles. William unleashes Destruction spells, but the wash harmlessly over the beast, foiled by its spell resistance. Galrond however finishes it off with a flurry of Magic Missiles and a Maximized bolt of pure magical energy. The taunting beast failed to even act before it was destroyed, and the now confident group decides what to do. Knowing they must get back, they know they have to find a way to rest so that William may pray for a Plane Shift spell.

Pooling their knowledge of the plane (no pun intended) they determine that travel is generally done via color pools, and that of the four planar destinations they can remember, Opal pools lead to the Blessed Fields of Elysium, a very nice place to rest. Propelling themselves forward by sheer force of will, they begin to search for one, a process which will take them approximately one week. Due to the nature of time on the plane though, they will not even notice how long it takes.

Back on the prime, the group has done a bit of exploring. Cristoph has found a complex of small interconnected rooms with secret doors. However, every step he takes in the rooms sends a blue bolt hurtling from the walls or ceiling to slam into him. As he reached what appears to be the last room, he finds no more exits and returns to the group, burnt by the many magic missiles. Kargur lays hands upon him and the wounds are healed. It is at this point that the group realizes the Cleric, Wizard, and Sorcerer are nowhere to be found. Realizing they are now without magical transportation or true Healing capabilities( Amastacia can heal, but nowhere near as effectively as William) the group decides its time to hide. They do not want to continue travelling through this trapped place, and fear leaving the area because Nuala would likely attack them.

They decide to hide out in the Academy proper, staying in the darkness until their friends return. With only Gundarag's eyes and Kargur's Goggles of Darkvision to guide them, they hunker down. They've only got 5 days worth of food for the group before Lanis will be forced to venture into the swamp to forage for food, but even when that happens, they still do not want to travel. They know that the only thing they have which will stop the Necromancer from scrying on them to pinpoint their location is the shelter of Darkness. Amastacia's Detect Scrying reveals at least once per day when the group is scried upon, but other than going stir crazy from being grouped together in the dark for a week, nothing untoward occurs.

Meanwhile, back on the Astral, the spell casters travel onward. 12 hours into the trek, they come across a group of 4 large blue-skinned beings flying rapidly in another direction. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, they avoid the Djinnis (and thus miss out on an opportunity to leave the Plane sooner). They also attempt to avoid all other encounters, which include:

 A Bebilith that they are unable to avoid. They kill it, but not before it manages to shred William's Chain Shirt of protection from negative energy.
 The group of Djinnis returning from whence they came, this time carrying a large covered chair on their shoulders.
 A group of 5 Githyanki standing guard outside a Fortress (another, slightly more dangerous) method of travelling back to the Prime)
 A Priest of Tharizdun. This time, it is the encountered creature which avoids them.
 A Robed figure, with Stars Embroidered on his robes.

Finally reaching an Opal color pool, they step through it and their hunger and exhaustion catch up to them. Galrond and Billy pass out immediately, and William only manages to stagger to an idyllic stream before he too passes out.

Awakening some 12-15 hours later, the group quenches their hunger with a Heroes' Feast, then Plane Shifts back to the prime and teleports to Lopolla, where they find out it has been almost a week since they left. They scry upon their friends and find that they are in the dark, whereupon they guess that they are still in the Academy, and travel there, using Locate Object to track down Kargur's shield. The group is rejoined, and they once again reenter the tomb of Acererak.

Back at the complex of doors, and more thorough (and painful) search find two more doors, which deposit the group in a second mosaiced hall. This one is decorated with many human and human-like figures, each one holding a large colored sphere. Following the message in the path, they find an entryway through the red and black orbs, which are illusions covering small crawlspaces. After much debate, they elect to go through the red one, as the "great valor" part leads them to believe that it would be more dangerous.

Cristoph crawls ahead, with Billy yet again following (albeit at a safer distance this time). At the end of the crawlspace, Cristoph finds a small hidden door. When he opens it, the floor tilts and dumps him, tumbling and unharmed, into a small chamber with three chests made of Gold, Silver, and Wood. Checking diligently for traps, he opens the Gold chest. Looking in, he sees a swarm of 1' long Cockroaches, whose feet and mouths drip with green slime. As the creatures swarm out and over him , he slams the chest's lid back. Unfortunately, Cockroach demons can compress themselves to fit through any crack, and they swarm out at the hapless Rogue. Several fly and crawl on to him, biting and scratching. Where their mouths hit, the green slime begins to erode away his flesh. Another group charges into the tunnel after Billy, and begins to swarm over him.

William reacts quickly, and shouts a magical battle cry down the passageway, stunning many of the Cockroach demons on Billy, while Amastacia's attempt at a Color Spray is ignored by the vermin. Meanwhile, Cristoph manages to kill one roach, but the others drag him to the floor, nearly dead.

As Billy flees the crawlspace, William decides his only chance to save his son is to crawl in with him. He risks a Flame Strike, knowing his son to be adept at avoiding spells, but miscalculates. Although he does torch every roach, he also kills his son with the blast. After using the next-to-last salve, the group decides to retreat and recuperate, that they might reenter the tomb later, more properly prepared.