Acererak's Last Stand

Our hearty adventurers were searching for Acererak having destroyed his phylactery.  They determined that Acererak had taken refuge in the original Tomb of Horrors.  Finding the correct archway in Pluton to step through they again journeyed to the temple of Acererak in the Tomb.  Arriving in the temple they found the wooden pews intact, the altar on the dais was empty but the small opening leading east was passable.


The group squeezed through the opening and followed the stairs down and the hallway lead back to the west.  Beyond the open doors and pit they crept.  At the third pit they lowered themselves down and headed to the south.  Eventually they ended in the laboratory room and followed the hallway to the main crossing.  The group then headed north and finally entered the Hall of Pillars.

The enormous chamber sprawled before them, with many ornate pillars rising from the floor to the ceiling.  In the middle of the south wall, a small table covered in bits of gems and intricate equipment stood atop a steep dais.  The group started to move out into the room but a short time later an age-begrimed skull rose into the air from the atop the dais.  Gaping sockets stared at the party, and a jewel encrusted jaw dropped open in a furious scream.  Many of the skull's teeth had been replaced by jewels, but only on of its eye sockets held a similar gem.  The other was occupied by a shriveled orb of raw flesh and coagulating blood.

Demin led off the combat by shooting a crossbow which hit its target.  Acererak immediately followed with a Prismatic Burst which did cold, fire, lightning and thunder damage and stunned most of the party.  He then followed with Azure Eye slowing and causing 20 ongoing psychic damage on Lythandar who decided to leap out of the way.  Acererak then used Drain Soul on Mara and Necrotic Ray on Pretis.  At this point Melisana was sure that the party was dead.

The few party members not stunned took their turn but found Acererak hard to hit.  Mara saved against stunned and led the assault.  When Melisana and Alhellara were no longer stunned they used the Rebuke, and Turn Undead powers unleashing Radiant damage.  Acererak flew, slowly, around the chamber and seemed to be immune to being slowed, immobilized or knocked prone.  He also would make a save at the start of his turn.

Soon powers were flying around the room, magic missiles from Lythandar, crossbow bolts from Demin, Shrouds invoked by Gofin with Mara, Melisana and Alhellara creating zones that would limit movement and cause additional damage.  Pretis was swinging Runeblade with animation as it bit into the skull.  Critical hits became rampant in the middle of the combat with Mara and Demin seeming to take necrotic damage from a random source.

At one point in the battle Alhellara rose 20 feet into the air and stayed there till the start of her next turn when she floated easily to the floor.  Acererak seemed able to use his Azure Eye on every turn as party members took turns being slowed and taking ongoing damage.  Each time a adventurer was hit by Drain Soul they ended up stunned and restrained but the always overcame the effect easily.  

In the middle of the battle when Acererak was bloodied he suddenly looked much more fit and resumed his attacks with vigor, even using his Prismatic Burst again.  Slowly the group wore down the demilich and with a might swing Pretis cleaved the skull which crumbled to dust as the raw orb fell to the floor, where it was caught by a skeletal creature missing its left eye and hand.  This creature grinned and disappeared.

In the middle of the battle Demin had swept the contents of the table into his bag of holding.  After a short rest the party started to examine the contents.  There were 15 gems worth 5,000 GP each, various alchemical and arcane accouterments worth a total of 250,000 GP, 6 Astral diamonds, 7 potions of recovery, and 7 deathspawn potions.

The appearance of Vecna worried the party as they made their way out of the Tomb into Skull City, did his appearance bode anything for the group's future?  Possibly only further adventuring would tell.

Scorecard:  The party earned 9879 XP for the battle and the quest and now have 222,203 XP at 22nd level.