The party continued to search the room for various armor or weapons that could be useful, though they found nothing new or interesting. Most of the armor was plate mail, unusable by any party member. Mara searched for secret openings anywhere in the room but found no escape routes other than the glowing arches. The party had entered by the northeast archway, which now was inactive, and decided to leave via the southwest archway. Mara suggested that when leaving the arch on the far side maybe moving away would be helpful since everyone was clustered together coming into the present chamber. Lythandar an arcane check to activate the southwest arch and the party stepped through, Pretis leading the way.
Mara followed and they both felt a by now familiar lurch as the headed into a chamber of cold stone bricks that were mortared with a foul black sludge. Pretis moved southward and Mara westward, they were followed by the rest of the party who all moved away from the walls. The chamber, the light in which was subtly muted as if they were looking through a veil, was partly filled with rows of shelves. The archway they entered through was filled with a glowing orange haze. Pretis could see along the south wall, a cracked marble statue of an angelic woman standing on a raised dais. In the corners were two smaller statues of perching ravens. The group realized that they had traveled to the Shadowfell, into a chamber reminiscent of one in the original tomb of Acererak.
Pretis, Lythandar and Melisana moved to examine the shelves which gave evidence that this is, or was, the home a collector. Various odds and ends sat upon the shelves, so old and decayed that they had become worthless. Other shelves held moldering books and scrolls. Most were utterly decayed: the scraps that remained showed lists of names, none of which Melisana found familiar. Lythandar performed a magic check and found nothing in the first two rows of shelves. There was also an alcove to the southwest closed off by a portcullis. Pretis found to the east a tiny passage leading to who knew where.
Mara looked at some other shelves discovering a frame that was almost pure tarnish and no silver holding the last fragments of a mirror; she noted that a cracked , glowing white gem floating withing the vacant frame. Mara called Lythandar over and he determined that this was magic and resembled the other gems that he and Melisana carried. Using his mage hand he attempted to pick up the gem, but the hand merely passed through the gem.
As this happened the other party members noted that black sludge started to flow down the walls and four ghosts manifested themselves from the four walls. Demin who had moved to the top of a bookshelf immediately shot a crossbow bolt and found that the ghosts were likely insubstantial. The ghosts then possessed Mara and Pretis which in Pretis case caused psychic damage as she also took necrotic damage from the sludge on the wall. Various attacks were attempted and Demin dropped a ghost from the sky with his crossbow. Lythandar repeatedly used magic missiles which bypassed the insubstantial effect to inflict more damage.
Alhellara cast her turn undead and Melisana her rebuke undead to good effect. Gofin shrouded and hit the ghost near her before being possessed by the ghost. Then two of the ghosts used mortal terror to inflict psychic damage, ongoing damage and push several heroes to the walls, where they took necrotic damage.
Lythandar invoked a mass resistance against psychic damage, while Melisana gave everyone necrotic resistance for a turn. The sludge was spreading over the floor and rising as the battle continued. The ghosts continued attacking even blinding some of the adventurers. Mara again pulled all four ghosts to her and used close bursts to inflict damage. Meanwhile Melisana was missed by the ghosts again and again, not allowing her to steal their insubstantial attribute. Alhellara and Pretis also had to heal party members including themselves while Pretis found that her Ruinblade now did even more damage to the undead.
Everyone scrambled for the bookshelves or dais as the sludge covered the floor hindering movement. Demin dropped other ghosts out of the air and Mara knocked them prone. Soon the ghosts started to fall to the attacks of the party, Lythandar eventually inflicted the damage to kill three of the ghosts. As the fight ended the sludge had now risen to two to three feet deep, Lythandar moved to the gem and performed the ritual to take the gem, thereby losing another healing surge. He also noted that the teleportation seemed to be active in the door that the party had entered. The group leapt from shelf to shelf and then to the door and through as Mara checked out the niche in the west wall which evidenced no other exit. Minimal damage was taken by the party as they made their way out the door back into the Tuern shrine.
Scorecard: The party earned 5829 XP for defeating the ghosts and now stand at 183219 XP needing an additional 26781 to reach 22nd level. The Star Opal ring was claimed by Melisana, the Ring of Winter by Gofin and the Gauntlets by Pretis. Lythandar now has two gems and Melisana has one.
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