24 Wealsun, 593 CY
When they woke the next morning, the Silver Phoenixes (minus Greyjek) stared groggily around themselves. The bloated corpse of the beholder that had been Lord Vhalantru sat rotting on the floor of Oblivion’s Womb, and the sight of it caused each of them to shudder involuntarily. Ashton set back to work studying the notes on the former noble’s desk, trying to make sense of the chaotic scrawling. He was able to find a map of the underground compound which spelled out the secret to opening the OBLIVION doors. Each of them was keyed to a particular spell, one for each of the beholder’s eye stalks. Except he seemed to be missing one. While he puzzled over this peculiarity, Bransen whooped aloud, startling everyone.
“Hey, y’all. Check this out,” he cried triumphantly as he gestured and chanted a new spell. A grand table with numerous chair appeared out of nowhere, piled high with a grand feast, the like of which none of the adventurers had ever seen. Roast beef, potatoes, steaks, eggs, bacon, vegetables, and numerous other delights awaited the party. “Dig in!” he crowed, following his own instruction and taking a seat. Everyone stared incredulously for a few seconds before joining Bransen at the table.
As they dined, Karamus started talking, apparently to himself. But then he said the elan’s name, and the group rapidly deduced that Greyjek had contacted him mentally. The cansin chastised the man for having fled the fight, calling him ten kinds of coward and worse. Moments later, Greyjek appeared in the chamber near the table, and the party sat him down for a heart to heart.
Frighteningly, Jarvyk and Karamus were of a similar mind regarding Greyjek’s actions, but Bransen and Ashton were willing to give the elan the benefit of the doubt. The “sorcerer” asked Greyjek if he was put in the situation again, would he make the same decision to leave them in the lurch, not even trying to rescue anyone else. Initially, the elan said that yes, he would, and even Ashton started to change his mind about continuing to allow Greyjek to accompany them. After more discussion, the erudite grudgingly changed his position, stating that he would indeed endeavor to be more party-minded, as long as they would listen when he informed them that his powers were more or less tapped for a given time period.
That resolved, they spent some time finishing the delightful meal, and when they were full, they decided to explore the rest of the complex. First, however, they had to get the door open from this side. Greyjek had the requisite disintegrate power that it would require to open the door the way it was designed to, but Karamus wanted to take a crack at it, in order to save the erudite’s power for more important things. As it turned out, the OBLIVION door was much more difficult to open from the inside. He was blasted by magical force several times as he tried and failed to disarm the trap. A few serious bruises followed by healing magic saw the door tri-sect once more, and the party passed swiftly through into the trophy room.
They intended to descend to the bottom of the shaft through which they had entered Oblivion, and so Karamus gritted his teeth and set to work on the door leading to it. In the meantime, the magically and/or psionically inclined party members empowered everyone for aerial travel and potential combat. It took Karamus several tries (and cost him more bruised ribs), but he was able to shift the magical gemstones to which the trap was keyed sufficiently to attempt the lock without risking further harm. A couple of minutes later, the door opened, and the party exited the trophy room into the open air of the shaft.
Which was when they were attacked.
Greyjek felt a magical force trying to lobotomize him, but his highly disciplined mind shook off the enchantment. He snapped his head upward, seeking the source of the attack. Within the same second, a man wearing heavy spiked armor appeared out of thin air just above Ashton’s head and reached out his mailed hand to touch the magus. The vicious green spell energy stole into the young man’s body snuffing the life from him, and he began to sink slowly to the bottom of the shaft. The party, enraged, reacted quickly and decisively.
Bransen cast silence on a small stone to prevent the enemy cleric from repeating his death spell, and handed the stone to Greyjek who didn’t need to speak to exercise his power. Then the young man levitated upward and out of the range of the spell. Greyjek manifested touchsight and felt a glimpse of the mage that had attempted to assault his mind near the top of the shaft. Jarvyk and Karamus closed on the cleric, bringing their blades to bear, despite the man’s armor and pinning him close to the wall. The mage lashed out at Bransen with an green-black ray, sapping his life force and stealing a few of his most powerful spells. The cleric, eager to engage with Jarvyk and Karamus, brought his own weapon down hard on the cansin.
Greyjek felt his mind assaulted a second time, but again he resisted the debilitating enchantment. Vaguely annoyed, the elan dispassionately disintegrated the insolent wizard, and his belongings rained down on the group. The cleric, less certain of himself after crossing blades with the paladin and rogue, vehemently fought on, but could find no clear openings. His body joined Ashton’s in a slow descent shortly thereafter.
Disheartend, the surviving members collected the few magical trinkets carried by the attackers as well as Ashton’s body. They decided to put off the search of Oblvion and to instead make for the Temple of St. Cuthbert, hoping against hope that Jenya could bring the wizard back and swiftly. Greyjek offered to teleport the party closer, and they agreed, though they advised against going to the Silver Phoenix house, which they were sure was being watched. Unfortunately, Greyjek had never been to the church before, and so chose to go to the house anyway.
They were attacked again.
Adrick Garthun sat in the corner of the main room, where the party had appeared. Two of his dwarf mercenaries stood on the opposite side of the room, and all three appeared a little surprised to see the Silver Phoenixes arrive so unexpectedly. Garthun ordered his men to attack and also whistled shrilly, presumably summoning more back up. Karamus dashed over to the merchant to engage him while Jarvyk called Fer Lomarcan. Bransen and Greyjek were attacked by the charging mercenaries, and then the fight changed as a half-black dragon half-minotaur monstrosity smashed through the front door to join the fray.
The dwarves were felled relatively quickly, and Karamus dropped Garthun as the man attempted to flee. This left only the beast, which was tamed somewhat by Greyjek’s dominate. Unfortunately, the willful brute had little interest in doing more than following the letter of the elan’s commands. When ordered not to fight, he picked up Garthun’s unconscious body and turned to walk out the door. When ordered to stop, he dropped the dwarf in the street and resumed the fight. Then he seemed to shake off the mind-control completely and Karamus fell in a large pool of his own blood.
The others brought the creature down, and Bransen moved swiftly to revive the cansin, who had miraculously survived the vicious assault. Then the “sorcerer” healed the others’ injuries, and they proceeded as swiftly as possible to the church, bringing Garthun’s unconscious form with them. On the way, they were spotted by some of the half-orc mercenaries, who rushed off down the street in the opposite direction, presumably to report their position.
When they arrived at the church, Jenya greeted them immediately and ushered them to the back. She assured them that she had a resurrection spell prepared, having figured that someone would be needing it, what with all the strife occurring lately. She lacked only the material component, which Bransen was able to provide. It was a nerve-wracking ten minute wait for the group while Jenya worked the spell, but after she finished, the magus stirred and sat up, looking groggily around at the others.
As they breathed a collective sigh of relief the silence was broken by an ominous bang from the front room. “The Cudgel preserve us,” said Jenya. “They’ve breached the front door!”