The party followed the Hand up two more flights of stairs where they entered a large circular room. Scintillating colors seemed to engulf the chamber, spinning in wild kaleidoscope patterns, appearing at once like beams of light and sheets of material carrying on an invisible maelstrom.
Alhellara noticed at once that the chamber shared many of the features of the circular chamber at the entrance to the Palace of Vecna. The walls were covered in murals displaying Vecna's armies waging bloody battles against forces of knights and priests. Scattered on the floor were bodies of ogres and humans. Several other ogres are seen scattered around the chamber, some in battle with two liches. Smaller half-ogres are also seen in the battle.
Against the far wall was the Spider Throne of Vecna. On the steps before the Spider Throne stands a bent, ugly old man dressed in black. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he slashed with a short sword at the colors spinning around him. His left eye glowed with an intense red light that seemed to cut through the waves of color as easily as the sword. The word he wielded appeared to Mara to the Sword of Kas.
Seated upon the Spider Throne was a hideous figure: a robe clad, decaying skeleton with a single eye that glowed with unearthly malevolence. The undead creature traced glowing symbols and patterns in the air, making arcane gestures with his right hand. His left arm ended in a withered stump.
The battle continued as Vecna and Iuz each stood their ground, Pretis took 50 HPs damage at the beginning of her turn as she charged, via teleport, one of the Ogres. Alhellara stood in the doorway to the stairs lending her support to the party while Gofin, Demin, Lythandar and Melisana all took 50 HP damage at the beginning of their turns. The Ogres from the southern part of the room moved to attack with javelins and mauls. Mara and Demin were stunned, and when they recovered they still found themselves dazed. The part saw several Ogres and half-ogres near the Spider Throne also take damage before they attacked. The liches seemed to be healed.
So the party started moving away from the Spider Throne, in fact Lythandar teleported behind Alhellara to escape line of fire. Melisana dazed several of the Ogres and a lich. Pretis attacked the Ogre she was flanking with a lich and then sprinted away from the Spider Throne. Alhellara's Fire Storm created an area where several Ogres took continued damage while attacking the party. Melisana saw one of the Ogres push and knock prone a lich, and felt a shiver as she thought about the Ogres pushing the party back toward the Spider Throne.
Alas the Ogres were dazed and therefore couldn't use their triggered action to push a group of enemies. Mara called around 5 Ogres next to her and Lythandar summoned a Stormstone Fury among the ogres. The Ogres near the Spider Throne and the half-ogres all fell in battle while the party struggled with the rest of Iuz's forces.
Pretis and Demin found themselves on the edge of the room across from the Spider Throne at which time they saw a look of disbelief appear on Vecna's withered features as Iuz raised the sword and brought it down in a dreadful arc ---
____ only to see its blade shatter against Vecna's chest.
The old one stood as if transfixed, he couldn't even muster a surprised gasp as he stared at the bladeless hilt in his had. Vecna, however, arose to his feet and said.
"You were always feeble minded and weak, Iuz," his voice sounding not like a single man but rather like a thousand whispering voices speaking in unison. "You inherited your father's brains and scope of vision, and it show. But now you will pay the price for your arrogance and stupidity."
Vecna placed his right hand on Iuz's balding pate, and Iuz burst into flames. He screamed as the flames were drawn to Vecna's body, disappearing into his empty eye socket. Iuz's body dissolved into smoking ash and a final few wisps of flame spun upward through the air. The ash and flame merge to form a ghostly hand on Vecna's left wrist stump. Nothing remained of the Old One but a small, black gem where he stood.
Within a split second, the decaying, rotting form that had been struggling with Iuz was transformed into a tall, dark-haired man with handsome features. His eyes glowed with an unholy red fire, and a cold humorless grin appeared on his face. "You have lost! You have all lost," he bellowed.
As the new Vecna prepared to grab the small black gem a skull moved through the floor and scooped the gem up in its left eye socket. Pretis started to run toward Acererak but was held back by Demin and Mara. The skull phased out through the ceiling as Vecna howled. A wave of arcane energy flew out from Vecna and hit every creature in the chamber. As the party, ogres, liches and the Hand took damage and lost a healing surge the room again dissolved around the party.
The hearty group arrived in a crumbling courtyard, with a teleportation circle at the center set within a field of blasted dark red stones. Steep slopes strewn with rubble fell away in all directions but one. There, a ruined staircase twisted down and across the shadowed landscape where pulsing white fire in the distance, cut through a ever present darkness. The circle was surrounded by six foul looking creatures and a look of dismay passed amongst the group, until they realized that they had just completed an extended rest.
Scorecard: The group earned 11157 XP for the nights work and now have 136791 XP, requiring 6209 additional XP to reach 20th level.
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