Lady of the Mists

As Demin watched the Lady attacked him, moved past and then attacked two other party members.  Alhellara moved into the stone circle and placed her Astral defenders in the battlefield.  Melisana determined that Radiant damage was less effective against the Lady.  Pretis planted the standard but fire damage was also less effective.  Meanwhile Mara moved forward to attack the Lady while the rest of the party moved into the cavern area.


A Crashing Tide hit several members of the party, inflicting damage and pushing them away from the Lady and knocking them prone.  Lythandar inflicted damage and then teleported Mara and Pretis to flank the Lady, which was immediately countered by her Drowning Wave attack against Mara which pushed her away.

The battle became more interesting as Alhellara started shooting arrows at Demin and the Lady teleported behind the party and made three attacks.  Gofin moved into the Lady's shadow and followed her around for a time while she again made several attacks on each turn.  Lythandar finally bloodied her at which point a Crashing Tide blast again hit most of the party.

Mara found herself feeling commanded inside the gold mist but overcame the feeling.  All the party members were trying to surround the Lady but she teleported again to the rear of the chamber staying in the golden mist.  Alhellara again shot an arrow at Demin, who was feeling perturbed but had to concentrate on the Lady who know made five attacks on her turn.

Mara moved up to engage her, and the Lady attacked her 5 times but as Mara pounced on her she finally fell.  In the meantime Alhellara emerged from the cave and quit attacking Demin.  Other party members had to overcome a commanded feeling in the mist also.  Mara dragged the body out of the mists.  Lythandar looked for magic in the area but saw nothing except the charming function of the mists.  Mara saw a bauble around the Lady's neck and as she removed it she noticed notches along one edge like the teeth of an ornate key.  One end was sculpted in the shape of a closed fist.

Mara wanted to revive the Maiden, Lythandar suggested binding her hands and blindfolding her as she was able to teleport seemingly at will.  Using a healing potion the party brought the Maiden back to some health.  They asked her how she came to be in the grotto.  She indicated that an evil fiend had captured her and placed her in the golden mists of the grotto.  She profusely thanked the group for freeing her from the effects of the mists and then she disappeared.

After they healed up the party discussed where they should head next.  Lythandar suggested the door that led nowhere with the metallic grinding sounds.  Mara wanted to check the flooded room that led to the great pillared hall.  A search of the flooded room gave no evidence of any hidden exit.  The party wondered if they could return to the main "Tomb" but Gofin remembered that they had circled around out of the pillared hall back to the X intersection and again to the grotto, so it seemed possible.

They headed for the blank door where nothing new was found.  Back through the mummy room, where they again felt the shift to the Shadowfell.  There was a door that the group left unopened beyond the mummy room.   Upon opening that door the found a chamber littered with wood fragment, stone pieces and shattered bone.  On the wall was a plaque.

“Who dares to disturb the rest of Acererak?  It is your death you have found.”

Hereupon the Marvelous Wizard of the MaBell group led the party in battle against the arch fiend Acererak.  The battle raged mightily for several hours.

Upon finishing the battle the hearty band of souls found that this was the “false tomb” of Acererak.  They still had days to go before they slept.

Leaving this are the group returned to a northern hallway that only Pretis had gazed down.  Mara led them north here to a jammed door.  Lythandar and Pretis conspired to open the door beyond which was crushed and broken stone, the passage had collapsed.  So it was back through the chapel, where they again felt the shudder but were unsure where they were, to the twisty passage.

Coming out into the previously painted hallway there was an opening they had not ventured into.  This passage led to a large step down to a chamber with bits of wood littering the floor.  Enough was left to suggest that there were once three good sized chest here, but something or someone had shattered them.

Mara was searching everywhere for hidden concealed passageways but she found nothing.  Lythandar recalled that one end of the main entry hall  led outside so the party moved there.  Leaving they found themselves exiting a rather plain opening in a hillside.  The outside area was some kind of a covered courtyard.   They moved farther out and looked upon a semi ruined city spreading around, distance was hard to judge as the air was filled with smoke and ash, with a dim green glow starting to emanate.  Looking behind themselves they saw a great skull rearing up behind them, its surface scarred and smoldering with black fire.

The skulls teeth stood 20 feet high and framed the opening the party exited from.  Demin used his flying hook to climb up and examine the nostrils and eye sockets, which turned out to be simply carved into the stone of the skull.  Looking around he saw vast ruins as the skull was on top of a hillside.  The city was surrounded by a wall int the distance.  The group decided to try and circumnavigate the skull  before deciding where to head in the vast ruins.

Moving out from the edge of the skull they came upon a courtyard, haphazardly piled rubble walls rose across the courtyard to a height of 5 feet.  A stone pool was set in the center, it appeared cracked and empty except for the skulls and shattered bones strewn in it.  As the group moved farther into the courtyard they noticed two robed figures moving amid the rubble.

Scorecard: The group earned 2286 XP for the nights adventures and now have 78185 XP needing 4815 additional to reach 17th level.