Game summary for September 27, 2007; present characters included Ashkor (lizardfolk barbarian/battle sorcerer/dragon disciple/fighter), Iapetus Hasur (hu-charad giant rogue/vigilante), Lady Aridarye Phylund Brokengulf (human aristocrat/harbinger/ranger cohort), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Stormwind Abthek (illumian soulknife), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger), Taravin Truesilver (human gray guard/paladin of honor), and Thoril Songsteel (human thug).
The Mercenaries set out further across the sea of worms after Lyrin dropped his wall of fire. They discovered a pair of locked doors, and so they knocked on them. After a few moments, they heard shuffling and creaking on the other side as well as mumbling and swords being drawn. Ashkor smashed through the doors and found himself face-to-face with a trio of Kyuss knights. They immediately began hacking away with their unholy swords and damaging his mind with their intelligence-draining eye-worms.
The rest of the group moved in quickly, with Syvarius laying down a steady rain of arrows. Lyrin attempted to use ionize on the creatures and found them unaffected by the electrical magic. Taravin marched in with his glowing holy sword, Lightbringer, and drew the attacks from several of the knights. Their eye-mouths dripped drool as they longed to rend the flesh of the paladin. In the end, the team rather easily dispatched the trio.
Afterward, the party went to investigate another room and discovered a spellweaver lich! In no time, hostilities erupted. The Mercenaries soon discovered the lich’s apparently frail body was stronger than steel and resisted their weapon attacks. In addition to this resistance, the lich’s innate aura of fear proved too terrifying for Ashkor and Syvarius, driving both into a blind panic away from the room. The rest of the team pressured the lich and backed it against a wall. However, it surprised everyone when it isolated a small portion of the party within using a wall of force.
Things looked bleak for Aridarye and Stormwind, trapped as they were with a lich protected by displacement. Fortunately, Lyrin’s knowledge of all things arcane provided an answer, and he disintegrated the wall of force. With the barrier removed, Iapetus’ silence spell hampered spellcasting from the lich. This allowed the party to batter the creature with melee attacks, but they discovered its damage reduction and displacement were tremendously effective. The party tried to grapple the lich but ended up with Stormwind paralyzed and the undead sorcerer moving about freely. The lich then positioned itself near Morak (and far from Iapetus) and unleashed a prismatic spray!
The rainbow of energy flooded the room, catching those within. Fortunately, Syvarius and Ashkor were safe (having fled earlier), Morak was behind the lich, and Lyrin was out in the hallway beyond harm’s way. The others were not as fortunate. Scathing acid tore into Stormwind and flames whipped about Taravin. Iapetus took the full force of a yellow ray and its electrical blast. Aridarye was bathed in a green ray and succumbed to a lethal poison instantly. An insidious violet ray caught Thoril full on, and he disappeared. Unknown to the party at the time, he was transported into the Plane of Negative Energy where he met an almost immediate and truly excruciating death.
After seeing this blast, Lyrin sealed his allies in the room with the lich using a blade barrier. Of course, it sealed the lich in as well. The lich then jockeyed around the room with the survivors a bit and ended up far from Iapetus and his globe of silence once again. It unleashed a chain lightning at the giant, but he evaded the blast. All of his allies took the brunt of the secondary bolts, however.
Taravin, Morak and Iapetus moved to pin the lich into the corner and prevent it from casting. They succeeded in driving it back, but it reached out and paralyzed Iapetus with its horrific touch. As he fell to the ground, the lich attempted to slip past. The paladin slapped the monster with the full force of his lay on hands, filling the undead with positive energy. Having just taken a brutal hit from one of Lyrin’s hunter missiles, the lich was in bad shape. It continued to try to move, but a raging Morak Beardfist chopped it down with his magical battlehammer.
In the aftermath, a new vision filled their minds. Then the Mercenaries took everything of value while Morak restored Aridarye to life. The fleeing party members were brought back, and the team holed up in the slain lich’s lair to nurse their wounds. Where shall they go from here? Are there additional dangers lurking beneath the Spire of Long Shadows?
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