Game summary for July 22, 2008; present characters included Eolas Windmaster (moon elf duskblade), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Ranulph Wathbater (human berserker/fighter/hellreaver/paladin of freedom/rogue), Saedd West (human fighter/pious templar/wormhunter), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger/peerless archer), and Taravin Truesilver (human divine crusader/gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).
Wasting no time, the Mercenaries moved forward and found the awesome Unlife Vortex contraption. It was a mechanical monstrosity of steel girders, whirling gears, and complex controls. The room housing the vortex was illuminated by dozens of green flames emitting light but no heat. As the team approached, four ghostly avolakias materialized and launched attacks. Curses and divine fire flowed over the party, but the team remained resolute.
Quickly, the main brawlers of the team charged forward to find themselves swinging right through the ghostly forms. Some blows rang true, but the majority swished through empty air. Syvarius, and his bow, encountered a similar problem, but his ability to launch such a volley of attacks allowed him to drive some of the spirits back. The ghosts moved into positions where negative energy flowed into and healed them. One went into the vortex itself, and two others floated within a circle inscribed on the floor. These used some fell power to shove Taravin into the circle where he became trapped and blasted with negative energy.
Soon, the ghostpriests found themselves over matched, and the Mercenaries began splattering their ectoplasmic forms into puddles of goo. The avolakia in the vortex bought himself some time with a wall of stone, forcing Morak to step into the ethereal plane to pass. Ranulph, on the ghost’s side of the wall, floated up and attacked with his blade. The spirit mystically shoved him directly into the vortex, which ripped asunder his soul, sending pieces of it hurtling into oblivion. The brave warrior barely escaped using his skeleton key.
Taravin went in next, warded by the strength of Kelemvor. Meanwhile, Eolas flitted past the wall with but a thought and a dimension door. Taravin channeled positive energy into the ghost, weakening it greatly. From the ethereal plane, Morak blasted the ghost with scathing divine fire, destroying it.
With the guardians defeated, Saedd was able to discover the secret of the vortex controls and shut it down. The island shook with Kyuss’ screams of rage. When he emerges from his prison, he will no doubt seek to carve out satisfaction to his frustrations from the Mercenaries’ hides.
