Amastacia moves to heal her fallen husband, and gets him back from the brink of death. He does not run back out though, as he in still incredibly weak and awaiting more healing.
Galrond casts Fly on William, who then charges the hag. She deftly turns his grapple attempt aside with a burning slash across his right arm though. Gundarag and Lanis both shoot their bows at Nuala, but only Lanis hits.
Nuala peppers William again with Magic Missiles, and the stings of the ten bolts make him light-headed. Billy also fires a volley at her, but they bounce harmlessly off of her Shield, so Billy casts fly on Gundarag.
At this point, a robed man bearing the symbol of Al-Akbar climbs up out of the pit where one of the massive Yrthaks had previously entered. He runs toward Nuala with his symbol outstretched.
William Readies a bow shot at the Cleric who has entered the arena, while Kargur Lays Hands on Gundarag. After Amastacia heals him again, he charges into the fray.
Lanis shoots at the cleric and hits him three out of four times. The wounds are rapidly closing though, and the man seems to ignore the pain, his single-minded determination to help Nuala overriding such pitiful concerns as his won health. His aid is made harder to deliver though, as Nuala blasts William with ten more missiles, then flees in the opposite direction from the cleric of Al-Akbar. Billy Centers an acid-altered Fireball on the Cleric, then readies a shot for when he attempts to cast a spell.
The cleric moves towards Nuala, and then casts. Although Billy’s magic missiles slam into them, many wash off of his spell resistance, and William’s shot misses. Casting through the pain, his Mass Heal goes off, and Nuala’s wounds heal completely, as do his own. As the spell takes effect, the glaze in her Feebleminded eyes fades and she regains her senses.
The Sultan’s Magisters react, and the dome flickers as several of the wizards maintaining the structure momentarily break away from the ritual. A swarm of magic missiles blasts out of the sidelines, but most of them slide harmlessly off of the Cleric’s Spell Resistance.
William Charges Nuala again, but although he notices that her wounds have healed, he does not notice the spark of intelligence has returned to her eyes, and so he slams his sword into her wand, shattering it. Gundarag also charges the Necromanceress and tackles her. Amastacia moves up and shoots Nuala.
Lanis readies a shot to hit the Cleric when he casts another spell, while Kargur moves up and Calls upon the power of Heironious to grant him Divine Might. William sees this and says too low for anyone else to hear, “Quit wasting time!”
Nuala manages a lucky squirm and breaks Gundarag’s grapple. She then calls forth a Power Word, Stun, and sends him reeling. Billy takes the opportunity to slap the dagger out of Nuala’s hand, and he then dives towards the arena floor to grab it.
The crowd has meanwhile begun booing both the cleric and Nuala, as they do not appreciate cheating. From this point onward, copper pelts the two. Additionally, the guards continue their crossbow assault, and several of them manage to hit the cleric. His wounds are still rapidly healing, and he moves with preternatural speed to protect his mistress.
Kargur Charges and also grabs Nuala. Lanis readies another shot at the cleric for when he casts, but it misses. Nuala’s Leech Field again goes off, and the tortured spirits drain more life force from Gundarag, Kargur, and William.
Galrond turns his Golden eyes upon the cleric and shouts, “By the Power of Heironious, I command you to fix your wrongdoing and heal our team members!” As the arcane energies of his suggestion wash over the cleric, a slight nod shows that perhaps the spell has worked.
Amastacia fires at the Cleric, and drops him to the ground with a single shot. However, moments later he stands back up on wobbly knees and moves towards Lanis.
The Sultan’s Magisters again pelt the cleric, as do Lanis and the Guards. The first spell he attempts to cast is horribly ruined. He then moves over to Lanis and reaches out to touch him. Lanis’s worry turns to relief as the touch begins to cure his wounds, rather than cause some horrible fate.
William casts Divine Power, while Lanis fires several arrows at Nuala.
Nuala throws her head back and screams, and the sound of a thousand tortured souls issues forth from her lungs. The sheer power of her scream Paralyzes Gundarag (who is still stunned) Galrond, Kargur, and William. Kargur is also deafened, as his ears begin to bleed from the cries.
The guards’ arrows slam into the Cleric, and this time he dies. However, when he does not fall to the ground and instead dissolves into mist, several party members recognize the effect. Apparently he was a Life Bane duplicate created by Nuala. This means that somewhere there is an older version of him getting younger. It also makes several people think that perhaps the Sultan may also be a duplicate.
Lanis continues firing at the Necromancer, and hits her four out of four times. She returns fire, sending two black rays lashing out at him. One misses wildly, but the second slams into his chest and through. It then arcs back to her, and her wounds begin to heal.
Billy drags Cristoph behind Galrond’s Wall of Force, while the crowd continues to pelt Nuala.
Amastacia has meanwhile fired a few shots, several hitting. But without the backup of her magic crossbow, the damage is minimal. She decides to ready a shot to attempt to interrupt a spell. Moments later Nuala casts and Amastacia’s shot goes wild. The Chain Lightning slams into several people, and Cristoph dodges nimbly out of the way. Unfortunately, a moment later she reaches towards him with a hand dripping with negative energy, and he fails to dodge it, falling unconscious and floating in midair, his blood dripping to the ground below him, while the life-force she sucked out of him heals her wounds more.
Amastacia and Lanis fire again, and both hit. Nuala responds by casting Slow at Lanis, severely dampening his offensive capabilities. She also hits him with an enervation ray, effectively removing him from combat as his loss of skill will make it incredibly hard for him to hit her.
Lanis shoots and misses, while Nuala fires a ray and also misses. Her second Ray of Enfeeblement does slam into Lanis, but is not enough to drop him to the ground. Billy flies up and stabs at Nuala with her own dagger, but misses.
Amastacia and Lanis shoot and miss. Nuala’s return fire hits Lanis with a bolt of mana, and he falls to the ground, sheathed in a crackling cocoon of energy. Another mana blast slams into Billy, and he too drops, sheathed in the cocoon.
Amastacia shoots and nicks the hag, who sneeringly ignores her and takes her dagger back from Billy, then drags it across his throat, killing him.
Amastacia shoots again, and the hag renews her Haste spell, then stabs Kargur. Gundarag, seeing his wife fighting alone, breaks free of the paralysis brought on by the hag’s earlier screams and charges. His blade slams into the hag. She returns fire at him, slamming a ray of enfeeblement into him, and dropping his strength to human average. She then slams several magic missiles into him.
Amastacia shoots and hits, while Gundarag’s weakened arms miss with a barrage of blows. The Mistress peppers him with missiles again, killing him.
Amastacia fires again and hits. Nuala’s return volley of Magic Missiles rebound off of Amastacia’s Shield spell. Nuala changes tactics and flies down towards Amastacia, as she is nearly out of spells. Amastacia’s tear ducts begin to drip acid that both burns and blinds.
Amastacia’s next shot is blind and goes wild, while the Hag slams a bolt of pure shadow energy into her and then charges into melee with her dagger.
Amastacia’s eyes clear and she readies a punch dagger and then attempts to grab Nuala but misses.
Nuala flies up a bit and drinks two potions, which heal many of her wounds. Amastacia leaps up and grabs Nuala’s feet, but Nuala quickly wriggles free. A ray of enfeeblement fires out of her ring of spell storing and drops Amastacia to the ground.
Nuala moves over to Galrond and draws her wicked blade across his neck, killing him. William breaks free of the paralysis as well, and when he turns to face the battle he is shocked at the carnage. He charges Nuala and hits her hard, but she manages to slide the dagger past his guard and into his belly. He doubles over and falls to the ground.
Nuala moves around the arena, killing helpless foes while the paralyzed Kargur is forced to watch. Both Amastacia and Lanis fall as her blade slides across their necks.
Kargur screams and breaks free from the paralysis and charges. Nuala was ready for that though, and although he manages to hit her fairly solidly, she uses the exact same move she used on William and slips the dagger into Kargur’s ribs, where he falls lifeless to the ground. As the last of the party falls to the ground, the Headmistress of the Black Academy, Keeper of the Lifebane moves towers where her husband-to-be sits, and begins to receive the accolades of the Sultancy, amidst the harangues of the crowd.
The group finds themselves sitting in an opulent chamber surrounded by luxury. Across the room from them sits a handsome goateed man, and in his laps sits a familiar yellow cat. “Hello there, having a bad day are we?”
William replies a bit confused, “You could say that.”
“Well, allow me to introduce myself. I am Raffi, and this is Azrael. It is a pleasure to meet you again.” The names are unfamiliar to the group.
Amastacia speaks up, “Is the cat yours?”
“In a manner of speaking. The cat is me. He is an avatar. However, to the business at hand. The dark forces have interfered already on behalf of Nuala, and this opens us up for an opportunity to interfere. It only remains to ensure that you will fight for the right side when the time comes. I’m assuming that won’t be much of a problem, as I can plainly see the lightning bolts everywhere.”
Billy remains silent, remembering his jokes about restaurants that serve cat. William and Kargur quickly acquiesce, sensing a chance to get vengeance upon Nuala. “If we could be back in that arena with our spells restored, that would be great. We’ll still need to find her life force though.”
Raffi reaches down beside him and under the cushion of the chair he sits in, and pulls out a well-chewed finger. The hair stuck to it and teeth marks show that it has been a cat toy for at least a little while. “I assume you mean this?” Raffi says with a smile, as he tosses the finger to Billy.
“I hope you’ll forgive me for being so forward Raffi,” Amastacia says politely, “but we’ve had some bad experiences in the past with deal making.”
Raffi chuckles and says, “I’ve seen.”
“What exactly do you want from us?” Amastacia asks.
“Simply fight for the right side when the time comes.”
“And which side is that?”
“Why, the side you are currently fighting for of course.”
“So we should just continue what we’ve been doing?” Amastacia asks, a bit confused, as she is unused to dealings that do not involve ulterior motives.
“Basically, yes.” Raffi responds. “Well then, do we have a deal?”
The whole group rapidly agrees, and moments later the arena crowd is shocked into silence as all eight members stand up from the sand. The group charges Nuala and several people drag her down and begin to stab her. William moves to Billy and tries to get the finger so that he can destroy it, but Billy insists they should break it together. The time they spend debating rather than simply destroying it allows Nuala’s wicked blade to yet again slip into Cristoph’s ribs several times. Although the cuts are not deep, the poison that oozes into him sends him plummeting to the ground dead.
Kargur grabs Nuala, who breaks free. William and Billy then break the finger in unison, and Nuala’s head flies back in a horrible scream as her body withers and dies. In seconds it looks as if she has been dead for 100 years.
The Sultan, his entourage of eunuch guards, and several of the Magisters around the arena also scream. They rapidly turn to mist, with the connection to Lifebane destroyed at Nuala’s death.
The crowd goes wild and everyone but Cristoph catches silver.
That night, the party goes over Nuala’s corpse, while the real Sultan and his men are found in the dungeons below the Arena. The party is rewarded for their efforts, and they head to Greyhawk City to get Cristoph raised.
They decide to take a month off and rest ad relax, do some shopping, and some research. Amastacia looks into the names Raffi and Azrael at the Lopollan Metropolitan Library, but does not turn anything up. She has not come near exhausting its resources though, and will continue looking later.
The group’s newfound fame in Lopolla sends many people flocking to the doors of the party, and William, Kargur, and Amastacia gain many followers. Amongst the people attracted by the fame are Oskar, a Dwarven Defender, and Milo ThornBlade, self-styled hunter of evil.
The party returns to the Tomb of Acererak with two new members. They again fight the cockroach demons in their explorations, but also fight a Soul Ravager. Although it merges partially with Cristoph and tears his soul, it soon falls to the combined might of the party, and a Mass Heal from William fixes the damage dealt by it and the Cockroaches.
