Our hearty band was in the Hidden Temple of Nerull's Fortress Necromanteion. They had just heard a raspy voice challenge them again as they had heard in other Acererak constructions. It was again a forbidding of doom for the party. The group decided to explore the side passages before proceeding "through" an archway.
The various side passages all eventually led to areas of collapsed rubble blocking further exploration. It seemed as if the temple was much larger at some point as they found satellite chambers, hallways, and various passages. All eventually were blocked so the group returned to the main chamber. Mara examined the brickwork of the arches without the white roiling mist but they appeared to just be brick. When Lythandar checked for magical auras in the area he had a vision, " The even brickwork of the hallway oozed with black sludge, and feelings of despair assailed him." Melisana and Lythandar recognized having these visions previously in the Garden of Graves and the Shadow Tomb.
Lythandar noticed that the arches that had had their teleportation activated seemed deactivated again. Surmising that there was some time limit on the activation he again activated the southeastern portal. The party quickly stepped through into an irregular chamber, the middle of which contained a wide pool that shone pale light against the white marble walls. A wordless lament arose from the shadows. The corpses of six devils were scattered around the pool. On the far side of the chamber, a snarling vampire directed more devils, who were attempting to activate a portal. They were facing away from the party - at least for the moment. There were also several 3-foot high stone benches set around the pool.
The group took their surprise to move forward, mostly hiding behind the benches and then let off an attack. The vampire quickly returned fire and the storm devils let loose Infernal Thunderclap and Lightning Fork amongst the party. The Legion Devil moved toward the group and were very difficult to hit. They turned out to be minions though so Lythandar's magic missiles were useful. Pretis charged the vampire while Demin let loose with the crossbow. As Melisana moved up to try and use Rebuke Undead the pool suddenly attacked her with stunning results. Mara also moved up towards the vampire who alternately dominated his quarry or attacked twice with his Flaming Broadsword. Pretis fell prey to the domination but quickly recovered although she was reduced to 0 hit points and had to use her ring to recover.
Ranged attacks from Gofin, Melisana and Alhellara eliminated several minions devils but suddenly one minion moved on the vampires turn to insinuate itself among three party members. It then exploded killing itself but causing fire damage to the party members. Mara found herself weakened by the vampire and then when she failed to save found herself stunned and then with another failure fell unconscious. The Storm Devils then moved into the middle of the battle using their Tridents to inflict ongoing lightning damage and dazing their victims. One was certainly intent on following Lythandar around the room. Melisana and Alhellara both used the Rebuke/Turn Undead powers on the vampire and Demin unleashed a critical crossbow hit that inflicted 91 points of damage to the vampire, who stood tall.
In return the vampire used a devastating cleave of his Broadsword to crush Mara with 98 hit points. Mara withstood the pain and drew the remaining Devil and the Vampire to her and continued the attack. Meanwhile the pool was still attacking party members who happened to get too close. At last the party succeeded in killing all the enemy and they all moved away from the pool.
Taking a short rest the group set to searching the bodies. Each enemy had a bony hand and eye tattoo on the palm of a hand, the sign of Vecna. Lythandar again checked for magic and had a in which he saw pale green vines growing on the walls which also held gray mold. The air was moist, heavy with the scent of decay. He then returned from the vision holding that he had seen the Garden of Graves. The Vampire had two magical pulsing white gems. The pulses were of the same distinctive energy noted in all of Acererak's eldritch engines. Great amounts of planar power were being drawn from this place and siphoned away to some other location. Melisana noted that to safely carry the gem would require attuning its power to the carrier but that even then there was a drawback. Carrying the Gem without attuning would cause damage also, but failing to attune also held damage.
Lythandar suggested just smashing the Gems but Melisana noted that they might be "keys" to some as yet found trap/passage as the group had found keys in each Acererak location. It was determined that Arcana or Religion would be needed to carry the gems. So first Lythandar attempted an Arcana check, attuned himself to a gem, grasped it and lost a healing surge. Now the group decided that maybe someone should only carry one key, so Melisana attempted a Religion check and attuned herself to the other gem, grasped it and lost a healing surge.
Now the heroes examined the rest of the chamber, four of the five arches were filled with swirling white mist, including the one they entered through. Melisana noted that this shrine was built in the memory of He Who Was - the god slain by Asmodeus. One of the three (or is it four) gods mentioned in the raspy speech from Acererak. Discussing which arch to open the group decided on the one the devils were attempting to activate. They may know where they were going, or not. Lythandar successfully activated the arch and the party stepped through.
Another irregular chamber with broken weapons and shattered bones littering the floor. Along the blackened walls were racks of burnished steel. The bodies of six devils lay on the floor, but a broader view was obscured by the hulking metal figures crashing forward to attack.
Scorecard: The party earned 7771 XP for the battle with the vampire and Devils and now have 173290 XP. They only need 1710 more XP to reach 21st level.
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