Reaper's End

The party had just dispatched the Aspect of Vecna, Demin grabbed the gem in a bag with his glove and a black ooze lurched out of the black pool in the room.  The party set to work on the Black Blood Bone Collector as it moved blindly around attacking with Slam and Tendrils.  The necrotic damage was still reduced by the power Lythandar had used, but it was substantial.  In addition when Tendrils were used the heroes that were hit were grabbed and lost a healing surge.  The Bone Collector also seemed to regain strength when grabbing a victim.


Demin soon determined he should drop the bag holding the gem.  The battle went quickly as most of the party attacked from distance while Gofin, Mara and Pretis attacked from close range.  The Bone Collector was dazed, slowed and generally held at bay by the party.  It finally succumbed to the attacks and the party set about searching the bodies and looking around the chamber.  No loot was evident as Demin searched mightily.  Melisana roamed around the side passages finding no other exits.  Mara attuned herself to the gem and collected it.  The group now held 6 gems.

Lythandar tried to detect magic and found that the glowing archways of course were magical, and the bottom of the pool shown magic.  The pool looked as though it still had some black sludge in it, less since the Bone Collector moved out of it.  Melisana took a sword from the Assassin and probed the pool.   The sludge was around a foot deep, whereupon Melisana felt some resistance but no real bottom.  The party surmised that there might be another Bone Collector in the pool but that seemed to be incorrect.  Lythandar tried using his Mages hand to search the bottom of the pool but he found only some slight resistance but no real bottom.

Since there were three arches that the party had not passed through they determined to explore them one by one.  The arches led back to the Hidden Temple Entry, the Tuern shrine and the Amoth shrine.  Each passage required returning to the Black Pool room in 2 or 3 steps.  So nowhere else to go the party attempted to scoop out the black sludge but this seemed very time consuming and didn't accomplish much.  Melisana said that the magic seemed to be teleportation so Gofin jumped into the pool, she took damage from the sludge and disappeared.  The rest of the party followed taking damage from the sludge and then falling 20 feet to the floor of a new chamber.  Lythandar, Mara took no damage from falling as they drifted to the floor.

The heroes had arrived in a seven armed chamber of red and black stone which was adorned by an image of a crowned skull etched into the floor.  The space within the skull's open mouth pulsed with arcane power.  Melisana and Lythandar determined that the mouth of the skull was a portal linked to the Hidden Temple Entry.  The portal seemed to have another function -- and perhaps another destination -- locked away behind powerful magic wards.

Demin was looking around and saw that each of the seven points of the crown featured a faint sharp edged depression the size of a fist.  One of the points had a gem placed in it.  The others were about the size of the gems collected by the party.  Alhellara perceived that Arcana, Religion and Thievery were appropriate skill to attempt placing the gems in the crown.  Alhellara move up and determined that one had to be standing on the skull or crown to attempt to place a gem in its depression.  She then successfully placed the first gem and was attacked by Nerull's claws in the form of a black wisp which attacked her and anyone else standing on the skull.

As Alhellara regained a healing surge after placing the gem, an Aspect of Nerull emerged from the mouth of the skull.  The battle was joined as Melisana and Alhellara used Turn and Rebuke Undead, Lythandar moved away and fired magic missiles continuously.  Gofin shrouded the flying Aspect while Demin shot his crossbow in the air.  Pretis and Mara moved up close and personal.  The Aspect used Nerull's wrath and Halo of Pain with an action point.  The group soon found that their attacks were reduced by an aura from the Aspect.  

Demin moved to the skull and used Thievery to place his gem in the crown, taking damage from the Claws as did Pretis and Mara although Mara ended up dazed also.  Pretis was slowed and weakened while several heroes had to fend with ongoing damage from the Halo of Pain.  As the Aspect stood its ground, flying reduced by Demin, it took much damage and was finally killed.  Lythandar then moved up to attempt to place his gems in the crown,  Attempt number one failed miserably as he teleported away from the Claws.  Attempt number two also failed as did attempt number three.  At this point all the gems crumbled to dust and were destroyed.  Each hero took damage and lost a healing surge from the destruction of the gems and they felt a powerful pull from the mouth of the skull.

The group was yanked through the mouth and found themselves in a vast chamber.  Arcs of lightning illuminated the enormous eldritch engine that filled the chamber.  Tight wound mithral cables and platinum rods twisted along rune covered walls like a spider's web, with thousands of gems set among them in a blazing riot of color.

An enormous multifaceted gem floated in midair at the center of the giant engine, it pulsed with silver light.  A huge figure stood on an altar -- a skeletal form armored in crystal shards wrapped with strips of black flesh.  Its head was crystal skull with a human sized skull mounted in its left eye socket.  The eyes and teeth of this smaller skull were set with gleaming gems.  Lythandar lay unconscious on the floor.

Scorecard:  The party earned 11347 XP for battling the Aspect of Vecna, Cultists of Vecna, Assassin Devil, Bone Collector, the Aspect of Nerull and the Claws.  They now have 206138 XP and need 3862 additional XP to reach 22nd level.