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Message: <blockquote data-quote="htetickrt" data-source="post: 2179317" data-attributes="member: 16534">The End of Szith MorcaneSnicker tries to fly over to Kai’s body, but is repelled by the wall of force.  He keens once, a cry of pain and loss, and then takes the long way out through the hole in the floor.  Rhien goes with him to collect the sorceress’ body, tears falling like blood from a wound that cannot heal.Kyree rifles through the bodies of the dead drow and half-ogre, looking for anything of value.  He quails upon touching the barbarian’s demon armor and unholy spiked chain, unable to grasp the evil implements without negative energy suffusing and weakening him.Trella snaps to at this point, and orders her two elementals to pound the foul things into sheets.  They comply with efficient strength, rendering both forever useless before departing for their own plane.When they are gone, she turns to her remaining friends with a lump in her throat.  “What’s the tally?” she asks quietly.Rhien answers in a similar tone.  “Kai and Chag are both dead and poisoned.  Khail and Erdrick were slain by more conventional means, though I fear that Erdrick’s altered behavior immediately before his demise indicates a serious mental injury.  Quid and Steve both live, in a sense, encased within stone.  We will need to find a potent arcane or divine caster to return them to sentience.Snicker interjects with a telepathic command.  <Kai can do it.  Bring her back!>Rhien tries to respond placatingly, but Snicker will have none of it.  <She can use her ring.  Bring her back!>Rhien nods, understanding.  “If Kai can indeed perform this task, that would be highly beneficial.  We’ll bring her back as soon as we can, Snicker.”Mollified, the pseudodragon wraps its tail protectively around her unmoving neck and half-closes his eyes in watchful rest.Trella stares sadly at the prismatic sphere.  “What about Calla?”This time it is Kyree’s turn to speak.  “I don’t honestly know.  We were both fighting the archmage in the dark, when she apparently was shoved into the prismatic sphere.  We’ll have to wait until it falls, I suppose.”  His voice gets softer.  “Though that bastard counted her off, so I don't think the prospects of her survival are good.”Trella sighs and rises to her feet.  “Fine.  Gather up all of the bodies and put them in Khail’s portable hole.  As soon as the wall of force falls, I want all of these rooms ransacked.  Get anything of value that we could sell.  As soon as the sphere drops we’ll get whatever remains of Calla and get out of here.  I don’t want to see this blasted place a minute longer than I have to.”Rhien and Kyree nod and get to the grisly tasks of body collection and corpse searching.  Snicker at first refuses to leave Kai’s side, but relents after the situation is explained to him three or four times.Kyree discovers that the wall of force is gone about twenty minutes later, and moves into the richly appointed room that apparently served as Solom’s bedchambers.  Decadent luxury was the order of the day when the room was furnished, with the centerpiece a gigantic bed draped with soft silks and velvets.  A low dresser next to the bed holds a smoldering brazier that sends thick smoke with a heavy odor of sandalwood into the air.  A plush divan smothered with pillows stands against another wall, and on the floor beside it sits a short stack of books.  Kyree dumps the last into a sack for Kai’s later perusal, where they are soon joined by a pile of precious metals, courtesy of a secret safe.While the archer explores the bedroom, Rhien searches the library.  Books and scrolls spill over every available shelf surface, their organization not aided by the wrestling match that just took place in the chamber.  Rhien shovels them all into Quid’s bag of holding, shrugging off the burst of fire that arises from Solom's trapped spellbooks.Trella picks half-heartedly through the spoils in the audience chamber, mostly waiting for the prismatic sphere to fail.  When it finally does so the absence of Calla is not really a surprise, but it nevertheless sends the druid into a paroxysm of anger, which only passes once she runs out of curios to smash.  Rhien joins her once he is done.  “We'll get her back, Trella.”Tears spill unchecked down her ruddy cheeks.  “Yes, we will.  Or I'll bring down the whole bloody Underdark on top of the drow.”The monk looks away, uncomfortable both with the sentiment and the slight echo of it he feels in his own darkening thoughts.Kyree emerges soon after.  “Let's go.  I feel the need to be aboveground.”The trek back to the surface is slow and silent and, as beautiful as the night is on the surface, it provides little comfort to the trio.  Rhien offers, “I'll stand watch here,” and the two elves take him up on it, moving to the woods.They come back on the third day from the death of Solom to return Kai to the living.   Her body, wrapped in cloth within the extradimensional space, is withdrawn and laid out along the bare earth by Rhien.  “We have need of you, my friend,” the monk whispers, and smooths her lustrous hair back from her face.  The touch triggers the potent magic of the gloves, and she returns to life with a start as her soul reenters her body.  The sorceress struggles to a sitting position, made difficult by Snicker's need to wrap his tail around her neck just then.  Once in place, the pseudodragon purrs somewhat smugly.Kai’s first action is took look around for her friends.  “Khail, Quid, Calla, and Erdrick, are they...?”Rhien nods sadly.  “Khail and Erdrick are dead.  Quid is stone, but Snicker informs us that you can restore her.”  The tiny dragon exclaims <She can!>, earning a flicker of a smile from the young woman.  “Of Calla, we know not.  Her body was not found.”  The monk pauses, looking pained.  “I am sorry I failed you.”Kai sighs and rises to her feet.  “We all failed, Rhien.”  Her voice quavers as she says this, but she dutifully alters her ring to provide the service needed.  “I'll restore them, and then....”  Her voice trails off, leaving the thought unstated.As the stone melts off of Quid, the priestess prepares to continue the battle from below.  Eventually the stubborn Waukeenar is convinced of the party's victory—though she does point out the need to desecrate the altar in Szith Morcane to alleviate her geas—and is given the accumulated treasure to assess its worth.  This calms her, as the others knew it would, and the partially-reconstituted party settles in to make the hard decisions: How to bring back Khail, Erdrick, and Calla, how long to wait before returning to the Underdark, and how to approach the city of Maerimydra to stop the Great Revenance, whatever that might be.[End of Part I.  At this point I started making more story-hour-ish notes, so hopefully I can now keep up a faster posting rate.  Hopefully my pauses haven't scared too many people off.  As always, feedback is extremely welcome.]</blockquote>

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