Sarenith 18, 4712
With the magical doors now closed, the Coopers minus Thorne are reunited again , but they find themselves once again locked in a hostile dungeon. As there appears not to be any exits except for the closed door, Darelle searches for secret doors. She quickly discovers that the statue next the west wall features a spot for a key in a similar shape to the leviathan's eye. She retrieves the crystal eye, and inserts in the statue. The entire statue and its pedestal slides silently over, revealing a secret passage.
The party enters the hallway, followed by the four Azlants. Daryle listens to the southern door, and hears nothing. At the other door, Roscoe can hear some chanting drifting from the other side. It appears more than four people are conducting some sort of ritual. Omok barges through the door. Twelve knights of the ioun star in their ancient garbs have been brought back to life in a hideous mockery of what they fought for millenia ago. Armed with their battle axes, the undead knights attack. Gerald fireballs the dead knights, which Roscoe and Omok follows up with a channel positive energy. A rain of acid falls on the Coopers. Daryle and her sister Darelle drop a stream of arrows on the knights, and Roscoe and Omok unleash another channel positive energy, which drops all of the knights.
The room appears to be an ancient chapel. The stone furniture was not affected by Gerald's fireball, but the drapery hung on the north wall burned to ashes, revealing a flight of stairs and another door heading north. Roscoe successfully avoids a magical trap located on the top stair, but the prismatic spray hits Omok instead. Roscoe opens the door, and he finds a platform heading to the middle of a cylindrical room with no visible ceiling or floor. The howling winds shake the paladin. Roscoe ties a rope around a stone pew and around himself, then heads out on the platform. In a stroke of bad luck, the rope unties but Roscoe remains standing and reaches the center of the room.
He is greeted by an eerily voice that introduces itself as a devil. Ten thousand years ago, Nhur Athemon swore fealty to this devil, but as he grew powerful he forgot where his loyalties laid. Now the devil wants its revenge on the Azlanti who became a lich. He offers a wish to Roscoe in exchange for the lich's head and his phylactery. Roscoe questions where the phylactery could be found. The devil identifies it as the mechanical heart inside the leviathan. Roscoe motions to Omok to join him on the platform. With the winds having abated, the hobgoblin reaches the edge of the platform. Roscoe tells the devil they already have the heart, and after a short discussion Omok agrees to throw the Heart of Nhur Athemon into the abyss. The deal made, the platform pivots and reaches a hidden door in the East wall. Roscoe and Omok go through the door.
Meanwhile, the triplets and their Azlanti allies returns to the main room, looking for another path. Darelle places the other eye in the other statue's base, and it slides open, revealing another passage. The party enters a workshop filled with clockwork parts. As they carefully search among the wreckage for anything of value, they are attacked by animated parts. The Coopers quickly defeat the constructs. Gerald finds scrolls of expeditious retreat and of obscuring mist. Darelle discovers an alchemical silver dagger +2, while Daryle lays her hands on a headband of vast intellect +2 made of fine pink feathers and featuring a bouncing wooden flamingo mounted on springs on either side.
As Roscoe and Omok enter the room, they realize they have stumbled upon Nhur Athemon's throne room. Standing on a balcony, they see Nhur Athemon in full undead splendor, sitting on a throne carved into the Emerald Spire, facing away from them. Eight undead nobles stand before him. His throne slowly pivots and soon the two Hellknights are face to face with the lich. Athemon welcomes them, and tells them he has been following their exploits. Seeking new servants to lead his armies to defeat and enslave the outside world, he offers them a bargain. In exchange for them swearing fealty in a ritual, he will provide them with enhanced abilities. Roscoe and Omok debate the pros and cons of accepting such an offer, but eventually agree that this is the wisest course of action, firstly because they are unlikely to be able to defeat the lich by themselves, and secondly because they would enjoy being more powerful. Roscoe hopes that his deity will forgive him his trespass.
Roscoe is the first to participate in the ritual. A noble brings Roscoe a blade of pure silver. The Hellknight pricks his finger, and a drop of blood falls onto the Spire. Immediately tendrils of green smoke rise, and bind Roscoe as he swears fealty. He suddenly feels stronger and more nimble on his feet, as well as incredibly blessed with fast healing [+2 temporary modifier to Strength, +2 temporary modifier to natural AC, temporary +10 fast healing per round]. Omok follows suit. The hobgoblin also bargains for the ability to read the Book of the Damned he found a while back. Athemon grants him this ability, and soon Omok becomes smarter and embued with the ability to control some undead. Unfortunately, this is accompanied with a slide into insanity. Both Roscoe and Omok also experience an alignment shift of one step towards evil.
As a rewards for his loyalty, Athemon summons the Mistress of Thorns, who appears next to his throne. He paralyzes her, and offers her head to Roscoe. Roscoe swings his sword and with one mighty blow decapitates the Mistress of Thorns. Thus ends her hold on his soul, something that had weight heavily on the paladin.
This is the exact moment that Daryle opens the door from the workshop into the throne room. She sees Nhur Athemon sitting on his throne, surrounded by his undead nobles, with Roscoe holding the Mistress of Thorns' head in his hand and a weapon in the other, while Omok looks bemused. She wisely closes the door and reports to Darelle and Gerald. Roscoe and Omok soon come through the door, and the paladin has some explaining to do. He attempts to justify himself to his siblings, telling them that he has found a way to save Fort Inevitable from the menaces that threaten the town,
but soon the sisters decide to leave their brother, and they pursue their exploration of the dungeon.
Daryle and Darelle return to the stone chapel, and decide to investigate the door in the opposite hallway. They barely get it opened that a nightmarish vision stands in front of them. Undead yet animated by evil, a humanoid very much resembling the statue of the Lady Estrekan of Almorain Blue, Knight Commandant of the Western Star that they discovered in the hallway, immediately attacks. This fearsome vision scares Darelle out of her wits, and she runs away, only to fall victim to the prismatic spray trap in the stone chapel. Luckily, she is transported back home, right at the foot of her bed. Daryle, meanwhile, is not so lucky and suffers a crippling hit that drops her down. Her last vision before passing out is that of the Lady Estrekan methodically walking away from her.
Back with the remaining Coopers, Gerald decides to pursue his exploration, and he stumbles upon a room in a circular shape with white walls. There he meets a strange bird-like creature. In an extremely condescending tone, the jyoti informs Gerald that he is here to fulfill one of his requests. Gerald asks it to find his sisters. The jyoti departs, and returns a few minutes later with the corpse ... of a female knight previously encountered and killed in the stone chapel. Gerald takes greater care to describe his sisters. The jyoti rolls its eyes, but leaves again. It returns a few minutes later with Daryle, and tells Gerald that trouble is coming before he vanishes. Gerald heals his sister just as Lady Estrekan steps in the room. Daryle pretends to be still dead, and Gerald is swiftly defeated.
The Lady departs, and Daryle heals her brother. Meanwhile, the Lady Estrekan enters the other room, and confronts Omok and Roscoe. Omok suffers the same fate as Darelle and runs away in an irrational fear. Roscoe confronts the fell knight, but he too bites the dust in a combat quickly concluded. Fortunately for him, he heals quickly and returns to the world of the living a few minutes later.
Daryle and Gerald discover their brother, and they decide they have had enough. Gerald casts dimension door, and the party leaves the level.
Omok eventually recovers his wits, only to discover that he has been abandoned by the Coopers. Fortunately Gerald returns once more, and with Omok they depart. The Coopers return to Fort Inevitable, where they are reunited with Darelle.
