Cullinan and Torunn

The more the heroes looked at the dark and ominous city below, the less they fancied the idea of venturing into it. While the objective of trying to identify and block any other (army-sized) exits made sense, the chances of success approaching down these stairs looked slim.

So, pausing only for Sack to check the stairs for tracks (some regular traffic, but not of army-sized proportions), and for Hildraft to test his Ethereal Jaunt (failure again, though this time with more a feeling of being counterspelled than the flat failures before), they returned up the spiral staircase, back to the prime material, and into the Necropolis of Arech.

Their next step was to leave the Necropolis and relocate Hansen, who was probably fairly worried by now. However, as they were traversing the northernmost corridor, Sack spotted tiny telltale signs that betrayed a secret door in the wall.

It yielded fairly easily, but what was revealed on the other side was a considerable surprise.

The room beyond the opening was 10' wide by 15' (along the near side) and is entirely faced with black crystal of some description. The facing comprised  individual squares (6 x 4), each one bearing a different arcane symbol in glowing red script. The whole thing radiated very strong magic. A steel door was located directly opposite the one they'd just opened.

Sack, without touching the floor, reached in and placed a hand on the wall, planning to Spider Climb over and avoid whatever magic was tied to the squares. Two things were instantly apparent; firstly, his hand did not adhere as he expected; secondly, his fingers registered a familiar but unexpected texture. In his teens the half-orc had been a burglar and cracksman in the city of Karennal, and had occasionally handled this substance - and once felt, never forgotten.

The entire room was faced with some form of diamond...

Everyone was agreed that stepping blindly onto the symbols would not be a good idea. Perhaps physical contact was needed?

Sack went and fetched one of the wooden pews from the Dark Temple. At twelve feet long, it was more than adequate to bridge the room; but when the half-orc stepped onto it, he felt sudden painful heat run up his legs, and hurriedly stepped off again. A bridge was not the answer.

Pondering the likely use of the chamber - a trap guarding an entrance - they realized there should be a sequence of "safe" steps to cross on. It occurred to Surya that an Identify spell might allow them to discern the nature of the tiles without being caught by the full effects.

Stretching out his hand over the next nearest, he cast the spell. His mastery of the magic allowed him to scan five tiles at once, and he moved quickly from one to the next. In each case, he could feel its' effects reaching out into him, but he managed to shrug them off - something made easier by the very brief contact.

He discovered cold, safety, death, and mindlessness, but on the fifth square he lingered a second too long - and was caught! There was a flash, and he vanished from sight, leaving only a small curl of smoke.

Somewhere Else, 14^th February 1602

Surya blinked in surprise. With almost no feeling of transition, he found himself enclosed in a very small space indeed. Seamless, featureless stone walls, neither warm nor cold, surrounded him, no more than six inches away from him on each side. It was quiet, and some stentorian bellows from the Tellaran produced no response. Nor did striking the walls with a metal object; and the blows left no perceptible mark, either.

Considering his options, he wormed the Quiver of Efficiency off his shoulder, and by sliding it down to waist height, managed to get the blade of the halberd Dramendeslal out into the open.

"Well, you're in a mess," it commented as soon as it was out. Surya glared at it. ''Unless you want to spend Eternity in here," he snapped, "I suggest you help me. Where are we?"

''Looks like underground somewhere," opined the evil weapon unhelpfully. "How's the air?"

"Fine"

"Magical then. Best I can do. Sorry." Surya pushed it back in the Quiver with a snarl. He was beginning to worry.

Fens of Korvux, Stryre, 14^th February 1602

Sack and Hildraft, meanwhile, were exploring alternatives. The dwarf worked a Locate Creature spell, keyed to Surya, but received no results. Sack tried to deduce the likely path of safe squares, based on what they already knew, and worked his way across to where Surya had been before his disappearance.

It occurred to that half-orc that, if Surya was trapped, he might need help; also that if he was trapped so far away that Hildraft's magic couldn't locate him, he might be somewhere whence the Helm of Teleportation could rescue him. Throwing caution to the winds, he leaped boldly onto the square that had undone the Tellaran, but its' magic failed to grip and he stayed where he was.

Shrugging, he stepped from there to another square - and was instantly fighting for his life. A roaring column of rushing water appeared, enveloping him completely although remaining bound within the outline of the tile. Submerged, the water began to force itself into Sack's mouth and nose, and in seconds he was drowning. Desperately he scrabbled at his chest and touched his Bull's Strength brooch. With his already formidable muscles enhanced, he was able to force himself out of the waterspout to safety.

Once he'd got his bearings, he realized that the square he was on was nearer the other side. It was only another step to the door, and he took it. He was across! Cautiously, he opened the door, and found another corridor leading off into the complex.

Back on the other side, Hildraft decided the time had come to ask for help. Only the most powerful of his magic was going to be of avail here. Reaching out in appeal to Kord, he cast a Miracle, beseeching his patron to return Surya as if he had never trod on the fatal square. There was a brief wash of ineffable goodness, and suddenly Surya was standing there, rather bemused and more than a little angry.

He suggested - rather forcefully - that Hildraft might have taken rather more time than strictly necessary to pull off a rescue. A glance at Sack showed that he couldn't really criticize him; he'd obviously risked his neck and crossed the squares the hard way. Only the fact that he was rescued in the end prevented the Tellaran from inviting the dwarf to pick a square to be precipitated onto.

After the dwarf, the Tellaran and the Stryran knight Ingamin had picked their way across the squares to the doorway, they pressed on down the corridor. At the far end was a single door, and from beyond that the sounds of a large gathering of people. Cautiously, they cracked the door open and peered inside.

Within was a mighty chamber, more than a hundred feet long and seventy broad. The door they were looking through was 35' up the wall, and opened onto a gallery; the ceiling was another 25' above.

Gathered in the space below was a great confluence of people, dancing, drinking, laughing and talking; and at a glance, all four of the intruders knew that they were all vampires. Over a hundred of them.

At the far end was a dias. Ranged around it, facing outwards and clearly guarding the occupants, were thirteen of the same creatures Sack had shot one of in the Hidden City. The dias itself had four thrones placed on it. One was occupied by a familiar figure; the vampire master strategist Cullinan, whom they had last seen fighting the cambion general Zerhal Avara in their own secret stronghold of Khundrukar. Next to him was another vampire, far less imposing though clearly powerful, who was probably the Lictor Torunn Yalastair.

On the other side, a wizened, skeletal undead creature in decayed robes sat with one rotted hand resting possessively on an item all three recognized instantly - a Sancrist Crystal. Although it was not familiar, this looked worryingly like a lich to the adventurers. Next to him was seated another skeletal undead, this time clad in archaic plate armour and wearing a heavy sword on his shoulders. A Death Knight! For a moment, the heroes seriously entertained the idea of not going any further.

However, a plan came together in a few whispered sentences. Sack stuffed Surya into the Bag of Holding, along with a small gem enspelled with Silence 15' radius, and crawled unobserved around the gallery until he was directly over the dias. Hildraft and Ingamin prepared to make a frontal assault down the stairs into the main hall, Hildraft positively glowing with holy magic and Ingamin wielding a Web wand in one hand and a Rod of Daylight in the other. All preparered, they crouched, awaithing the signal.

Timing themselves to perfect synchronization, Sack and Surya vaulted the ballustrade and plunged down onto the back of the dias. Landing in complete silence, the pair struck together, and in a blizzard of blows the vampire Cullinan, second only to Cain himself, was cut almost to pieces before he could move or speak.

The pair strode forwards across the dias. Sack fell on Yalastair the necromancer, while Surya leveled a crushing blow at the lich. While Sack was met with similar success, reducing the vampire to dust, Surya watched in shock as his sword-blade passed through the form of the undead wizard without effect. Notwithstanding the magical Silence enveloping them, the Tellaran was sure the lich was laughing.

Their assault had been so quick and quiet that no-one not on the dias had noticed them at all. The attention of the vampires in the hall was elsewhere; for Hildraft, his eyes blazing with the power of his Righteous Glare, had stalked down into their midst, enveloped in his Holy Aura, and begun slaughtering them where they stood. Ingamin had flooded the whole front half of the hall in painful daylight, and had pinioned a great swathe of the undead to the left and right by enveloping them in a Web.

Sack unleashed the Sunburst, and three of the massive guardian creatures around the dias reeled away and collapsed, including one of the three that had started forward to intercept Hildraft. Two more bore down on him, wielding twin scimitars each. Close to, the creatures were even more horrible than they had been at a distance, and Sack felt uncanny terror grip him and take away his strength.

Surya, sensing where the lich was probably drawing its' power, flicked a backhand blow at the huge Sancrist Crystal, and was further perplexed when the sword passed through that like smoke, too. The undead wizard gestured, and for an instant, a horribly powerful force was trying to pull Tormentor out of Surya's hand. He hung on doggedly, and the lich abandoned that line of attack to unleash a Chain Lightning spell. It was defeated by Surya's resistances, however, and no-one was struck. Abandoning the spellcaster as unreachable, Surya turned instead to the oncoming guardians, and hacked two down - after a struggle. Opposite, Sack had worked a Remove Fear spell on himself, and was back in the fray.

By now halfway up the hall, Hildraft gauged that he was within range, and cast a Greater Dispelling at the lich, hoping to stop whatever magic was causing the effects that protected it. He was successful in a way; like a snuffed candle, both the lich and the Sancrist disappeared.