XXVII. "Here We Are Together Again!"

The dark figure resolved itself into a pale man in a dark hooded cloak. He pulled back the hood, then snapped his fingers. Behind him suddenly appeared a crowd of similarly pale figures, both male and female.

"Ah, Amalla Su!" exclaimed Arvid. "And Green Arrow! And your friends. Here we are together again!" He detected Green Arrow’s thoughts. "I take it you’re here because of your friend."

"Hand him over, now!" Green Arrow barked, offended by the excessive familiarity of Arvid’s greeting.

"Really now," replied Arvid, somewhat miffed by the elven archer's rudeness. "That isn't any way for you to behave, especially when you are the visitors in my house."

Firiona’s true seeing confirmed what she had earlier recalled about Arvid: they were dealing with a vampire. A powerful one at that. Her knowledge of religion told her something else: intelligent undead-- and vampires such as Arvid were certainly highly intelligent–didn’t willingly serve Orcus.

Miae came to the same realization. She conferred with Amalla. "Maybe we can negotiate with this guy," she whispered to Amalla. "There’s something wrong here, vamps serving Orcus and all."

Amalla agreed. She strode forward toward Arvid, and spoke to him in her most charming and ingratiating voice. "Surely you of all people should have nothing to do with Orcus," she suggested.

"Ordinarily, you would be right," the vampire answered. "But this isn’t an ordinary situation I’m in. It’s really a question of un-life and death." He went on to explain his situation. Without going into great detail, he let it be known that Khadija had been able to gain control over his actions and compel him to serve her and her dark master.

Firiona and Amalla quickly did spellcraft checks. There it was: a mark of injustice lay on the vampire. "If we get rid of the mark, will you join with us against Khadija? After what she’s done to you, this would be a perfect opportunity for you to even the score."

Arvid appeared to think for a long moment. "If you free me," he said at last, "I and my followers will aid you. Not only that, I’ll tell you how to free Edward–he’s locked up below, or should still be."

The adventurers agreed. Firiona prepared herself, then cast greater dispel magic on the vampire, targeting the mark. It took two attempts before the mark was removed.

"You have done as you promised," said Arvid, "and now I’ll do as I promised. Your friend Edward is being kept two levels below here, in a special cell warded by a permanent dimensional anchor spell. There is a password that will temporarily deactivate the spell." He gave the party the password.

"On your way down, be wary passing the temple. There are many guards and spells set up to detect intruders such as yourselves." He smiled a malevolent smile. "And there likely will be many cultists present. It’s getting near time for the evening’s festivities."

"How will we contact you when the time’s right?" asked Firiona.

"Just look for us when the need arises," Arvid assured the party.

The adventurers thanked the vampire (a novel experience for them all, to be sure), then continued on their way. Amalla jaunted ahead, flying while in normal space. Miae spelled up with invisibility, spider climb and fly, while Green Arrow achieved similar effects via Edward’s sword Sharkbite. Firiona shapechanged into a dread wraith. Thus prepared, they headed down the next twisting, rugged stairway.

Midway down the stairway they reached a landing. Suddenly a stone wall dropped, blocking their path. No problem–Amalla jaunted the party out. They made it to the bottom of the stairway.

Heeding Arvid’s warning, they rushed through the junction at the bottom of the stairway. They could hear voices to their right–cultists! Another stairway ahead led downward to the lowest level of the underground complex. After about fifty feet, the party reached a landing. Another fifty feet or so and the party reached the end of the stairway, about forty feet below the shrine level.

Still another door blocked their way, but proved ineffective as usual against Amalla’s jaunt ability. The adventurers now found themselves in a short corridor about twenty-five feet long, the end of which was blocked by yet another door. They headed toward it.

Halfway down the corridor, the party felt themselves assailed by an invisible attack! Amalla, Green Arrow and Miae resisted the assault. Firiona felt as if she had actually gained vitality! She considered the situation briefly, then remarked, "Energy drain trap. Good thing I’m a wraith!"

Jaunting past the final door, the adventurers entered a roughly circular room about forty feet in diameter and about twenty feet high. Four passages led from the room, separated by roughly ninety degrees from each other. Standing in the center of the room was a strange sight: a reddish, humanoid figure at least fifteen feet tall. It had taut, shiny, translucent skin all over its body. Its eyes were dull. Steaming vapors leaked from its mouth.

"We’re going to have trouble here, friends," whispered Firiona. "Unless I miss my guess, that’s an alchemical golem."

"A what?" hissed Miae.

"Essentially an animated bag of acid," answered Firiona. "It’s very dangerous. We’d better be extra careful."

Quickly, Miae cast resist elements (acid) on herself. Green Arrow held, waiting for the right opportunity to attack.

From the golem, a blast of acid and toxic fumes spewed forth, a thirty-foot cone that burned Firiona for serious damage but was avoided by the others. Firiona immediately shapeshifted to phase spider form, then jaunted into the corridor behind the golem. Amalla teleported after her, taking Green Arrow and Miae with her.

Suddenly the party heard a door open. Mystic syllables began to sound. Firiona recognized it: someone was about to cast greater dispel magic!

Amalla found her stoneskin under assault, but resisted the attack. Miae was not so successful, and felt her skin revert to normal. Even worse, Firiona found herself compelled to revert to her natural form; shapechange had been dispelled.

Preparing to do some healing, Miae held back. Green Arrow, not holding, raced down the corridor to a door on the right, then turned invisible. Firiona ran past Green Arrow and found another stone door, this one on the left. The golem advanced.

Suddenly, Amalla became aware of another combatant. Her true seeing revealed who it was who had dispelled the party’s magic. A skeletal figure, armed, cloaked, magically protected, bearing a rod, wearing a medallion of some kind–a bone sorcerer! Immediately, she cast dispel magic at the undead caster, trying to remove some or all of his magical protections. Unfortunately, the bone sorcerer’s magic proved too potent for her efforts. None were dispelled.

"Find Edward!" Miae shouted to Green Arrow as she maintained her place. Green Arrow opened the door of the room he was facing. It was empty! "He’s not here!" cried Green Arrow. He activated his boots of speed. "He must have been moved!" said Firiona. She tried to open the door she was facing, but couldn’t open it. The door yielded when she cast knock on it. She entered a comfortably furnished and strangely bright room, with red and black furniture and wall hangings. A closet filled with sexy red clothes stood open. "Some female’s quarters, no doubt. And not a very nice one, I am sure," she said to herself. Seeing nobody at home, she left the room and returned to the corridor.

The bone sorcerer spoke a word of power, and Amalla reeled, stunned. At the same time, the golem breathed at Amalla, missing her, but striking Miae for serious damage and weakening her severely. But Miae was able to cast heal on Amalla, returning her to action. A barrage of arrows from Green Arrow all found their mark, devastating the alchemical golem but not bringing it down. The golem remained in place.

Suddenly, a huge, disembodied hand appeared and reached for Green Arrow. The bone sorcerer had used a scroll to bring Bigby’s crushing hand against the elven archer. But the undead caster suddenly found himself being grappled! Amalla had teleported behind him and, now visible, came to grips with the bony foe.

While Amalla and the undead sorcerer grappled, Miae charged the hand, hitting it but doing little damage. Green Arrow tried to break out of the hand’s grapple, but failed, taking serious crushing damage. The bone sorcerer likewise failed to break out of Amalla’s grasp. Even the golem failed in its attempt to break in on the grapple.

Firiona’s attempt to dispel the hand was unsuccessful, but then she managed to summon a greater earth elemental, which succeeded in slamming and grappling the undead!

With Miae and Green Arrow still struggling against the hand, the bone sorcerer cast power word, stun at Amalla, and she was again stunned. The golem was unable to grapple the elemental, which slammed the undead for heavy damage. But the sorcerer then succeeded in casting maddening whispers on the elemental, driving it to hysteria and opening it to the golem’s slam attack.

The hand finally dissipated under the combined attacks of Miae and Green Arrow. The bone sorcerer, seeing Green Arrow now free, tried to hit the elven archer with a ray of stupidity, but the ray failed to affect him.  He in turn was the target of Firiona’s maximized sonic orb. With a frightful moan and rattle, the bone sorcerer fell to the ground and shattered.

The golem slammed at Amalla, but missed, and was in turn slammed by the elemental. Amalla, now no longer stunned, teleported to Miae, while Green Arrow was finally able to bring down the golem with a hail of arrows. The construct exploded in a burst of acids and toxins, but none of the party were in range of its destructive demise.

Quickly, the party looted the remains of the bone sorcerer, finding powerful magic items, including a medallion of thought and a rod of cancellation. Miae’s spontaneous mass cure moderate wounds helped restore the party.

"So what do we do now?" asked Firiona. "There’s a shrine full of Orcus’s finest up above, unless I miss my guess. Let’s spell up. Then Amalla can get us up there without tripping any more traps." Everyone agreed: the shrine was the best bet for finding Edward.

Meanwhile . . . .

Edward woke with a start. He was tied to the same column in the temple that he had been bound to previously. A sharp prod in his side told him he wasn’t alone. He looked around. Soiartze was at his left side, dressed in tight red and black leather. To his right were three small figures.

Children. Bound, crying, terrified children.

"Now Edward," purred Soiartze, "we must have a talk. Tonight. Right here, you and I."

"I have nothing to say to you," answered Edward, defiantly.

"Oh, I think you do, and I think you will. Because this time, you talk or they die!" She pointed a black-gloved finger at the children next to the paladin. They shrieked in terror and tried to move away, but their chains kept them in place. They turned their faces from Soiartze.

Edward tried to think. His mind was muddled as badly as ever. He was weak and injured. His strength was failing. He felt as if he had nothing left with which to fight any further.

"I . . . don’t remember much," began Edward. "The weapons come from an alternate material plane. Not much magic there. Mostly mental powers, not many of them. Weapons pierce armor like paper . . . " He paused for breath. "Reached through a magic mirror we found in Greyhawk. Opened onto the Plane of Mirrors, then to a door to the plane. We called it "the gunpowder plane.""

The paladin looked up at Soiartze, trying to keep his emotions in check. "That’s all you get now. More later, but only if you release those children."

He hadn’t expected her to do what he asked, but she surprised him. She unlocked the chains binding the children to the column next to Edward’s. A cultist came at her signal. "Take them to the initiation room," she instructed. "Don’t hurt them." Then, to the children: "Stay where you’re put, and you’ll be OK." She seemed sincere. Edward couldn’t tell if she really meant it. The cultist took the children with her out the shrine entrance, then turned left into a room off the entrance corridor.

The sound of footsteps to Edward’s left caught Soiartze’s attention. "We’ll continue this later on, after the party," she said in her honeyed-poison voice. "It’s show time now!"

Eritlu, Oconee and Khadija entered with another struggling victim in the custody of their acolytes. Up he went onto the altar, and the vile rites began again.

Meanwhile . . . .

Amalla jaunted back up to the shrine level and began reconnoitering. She evaded the spells in place at the shrine entrance. She could see through the entrance corridor into the temple. There were two doors in opposite sides of the corridor, at the bend where it turned from south to east. An opening led off to the right as she proceeded.

Suddenly she was aware of a spell in place. There was a dimensional anchor effect that extended into the entrance corridor, stopping a few feet short of the opening on the right. It would be impossible to enter by magical transportation. She quickly returned to the rest of the party to report.

"I could see Edward chained to a column near the far end of the shrine, near an altar where my old enemy was about to begin whatever foul ceremony was scheduled," Amalla began. "She had Oconee with her too, and some other vile individual as well. The whole chamber is filled with cultists. This won’t be easy," she concluded.

Miae listened intently to Amalla’s tale. So intently that she almost didn’t notice something was wrong. But not quite.

"I’m being scryed on!" she cried. The time for action was now.

"Frontal assault!" declared Firiona.