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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James McMurray" data-source="post: 1408862" data-attributes="member: 743">Farlight’s eyes flick open and he gasps in pain. Angered and dejected, he retires for the evening to Bumtin’s Magnificent Mansion. That night he prays for forgiveness from Corellon for putting his personal vengeance over his protectorate role in the world, and vows to clear the anger from his heart and re-enter the Pool the next day, fully focused on taking out the High Priest of Orcus. St. Solliers enters his dream and warns him that the Pool is a Force, not a Tool. It draws vengeance from the user’s heart, and does not always choose whatever target is in the forethought. Farlight nods, and still desires to take the risk, even though he knows that it could pit him against the Grandfather of Assassins, someone who is probably quite capable of capturing his soul and preventing its return.The next morning Farlight prepares himself and steps into the Pool. But it seems there is some sort of time limit on entry, and he finds himself walking across the surface of the placid black waters. The group decides to continue onward, and head towards the glittering golden corridor to the East. Through the large double doors they find a large area with several booths in it. The booths on the right are shuttered and locked, while the booths on the left are open. Two of the ones on the left contain several large kegs and rows of mugs, and one appears to be a kitchen. In the center of he room is a stairway leading upwards, with a small red velvet rope draped across.Erebus attempts to rip the lock off of one of the shuttered booths, and then when that fails, he asked Ru Ton Pe to smash it. Although the monk is fairly certain that their primary goal, the High Priest of Orcus, is not locked in a booth, he allows the party members to talk him into opening the booths. Inside all of them is the same general scene: 1-3 chairs, a table, a safe, and a chalkboard on the wall, with unlabelled rows and columns which only hold the legends: W, L, D, 2, 4, and 6.The ascetic shakes his head when the group asks him to open a chest with his fists, but doesn’t feel that it is his place to put hi own morality onto the shoulders of others. He barely even “tsk”s as the gnome shovels the coins and lacquered wood chips inside into his portable hole. He does balk at opening all of the safes, and the party continues onward.Through the room they enter a large hallway which leads to a massive pit. Looking up they see a second layer of chairs to match the bleachers on the level they are at. Looking down shows a huge unwalled pit with large doors on the far end. Deciding against investigating this direction yet, they return to the booth room and slip the velvet rope off of the staircase. At the top of the stairs is a corridor with two door on the left, a door on the right, and an opening to the left.Toshiro steps up and opens the door on the left, and is greeted with three swords slamming into his armor. He is sent reeling back on his heels and his ears ring. Looking behind he sees 40 or more figures lined up in ranks. Each figure is shorts, stocky, and fully covered from head to toe in jet black adamantine armor. Black adamantine swords and shields are in their hands. The back three ranks instead hold bows, and they send arrows into the samurai as he cries out in warning.Erebus, Toshiro, and Ru Ton Pe move into the room, while Bumten and Farlight buff themselves. The duergar move in tight units, and arrows and sword come crashing down. The battle rages back and forth, and then Bumten gives reality an arcane twist. The world around him stops and what once was a raging battle is now a perfectly quiet 3-d mural. He flies into the room and erects two walls of force to cordon off the archers. But before he does, he leaves them several surprises in the form of delayed blast fireballs. He casts a few more defensive spells and then time returns to normal.Behind the walls, a few of the archers yell out  a warning to avoid the beads, and the group scatters. Only one fails to get far enough from the beads, but the explosion washes over him harmlessly and Bumten realizes that they are protected from fire. The battle rages on, and several of the duergar warriors are killed as the fight spreads out into the hallway. At least one hero would also have been killed if it were not for the protective and revitalizing magics of the priest of Corellon.Inside the cage of force, the warriors tear holes in the walls with their swords and begin to pour into a far hallway. After another Mass Heal Farlight finds himself the primary goal of every duergar defender. Each one hurtles himself carelessly past the fighters of the party in an effort to bring the priest down. Bumtin’s magic lashes out, and this time he sees his electricity also fail to harm the elite guardians of the temple’s treasury vaults. The main bulk of the defenders again pours into the hall, and Farlight goes down. He is not killed though, but for almost half a minute Erebus and the Duergar take turns administering to him. Erebus’s ministrations come from a Ring of Healing, whereas the dark dwarves’ bedside manners are a bit more… rugged. Bumten alls of more of the warriors, and they cut their way again through the stone walls, this time pouring out into the room above the stairwell, cutting through the stairwell wall, and jumping over the stairs into the hallway. Erebus’  magics run out, and two more sword cuts combine with an arrow to kill the priest. At this point, it dawns on the party that they are about to be overwhelmed. Looking around, they see that not even half of the warriors have been killed, and they know that without Farlight they will be unable to survive. Retreat is called, and Bumten fully walls off the area, forcing the warriors to begin assaulting the floor in an attempt to get to them. But before they can get partially through it, Erebus has grabbed up Farlight, and the group has met in the Pool room, where they teleport away to the  safety of Greyhawk city.</blockquote>

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