Chapter 7: Endgame

We continued upstairs, and into the top level of the tower. There were four doors, and we opened the first one. Inside awaited the drow torturer. He didn't get much of a chance to act, and Igbot tossed a flurry of darts at his neck. The drow stumbled back in pain, and I took the opportunity to charge in and deliver a heavy blow square on his forehead. We searched the room and entered another door on the level. Inside was a torture chamber will all manner of cruel devices. There was comely-looking elf chained to the wall, who pleaded with us to let her out. However, she seemed a bit too insistent, and when Janne detected evil on her, she was certainly evil. We decided to not let her out, at least for the time being, and explored the rest of the floor. The other door lead out into the dark cavern outside. There were several large riding birds of some sort out there, and we decided that we'd best not disturb them, lest the noise warn the rest of the cavern.

The others wanted to head back with the freed prisoners, and though I wanted to stay to defeat the lead drow, they really didn't give me much of a choice, since they're the ones with the spells. We went downstairs to gather the others before returning. However, as we returned, there was quite a surprise waiting for us. It looks like our suspicions were right! In the elf's place was a cruelly beautiful demon. She also brought friends. Both (all three?) the conjoined drow, and her resurrected lieutenant.

Only Janne, Igbot and I were up on the top level. Igbot and Janne wanted to retreat, but yelled out to stand and fight. This ended here today. The disfigured drow first opened up with a rainbow colored spray, which I resisted from sheer force of will. Then she moved forward and touched Janne with baleful magic, and he crumpled in a heap. The fight was not shaping up well, so I yelled to get down to buy time to cast protective spells against our foes. I quickly ran down, and Igbot soon appeared next to us with Janne's body. We quickly told the freed prisoners to flee downstairs while we began casting spells. Damien turned Igbot invisible, while Aeriana sang a song to bolster our courage. Then, all of a sudden a huge spider appeared, and pierced into Brother Alfus. Fortunately, our morning feast protected him from poison, and he was able to back off safely.

At this point, I had enough time to cast a number of spells, and I was glimmering with magic. I moved forward to attack the spider, and it was crushed beneath the force of my blows. The twin drow and him/her companion appeared, but we were able to mire them down in our spells. They cast a spell and whisked themselves away, but Damien was able to determine that they had just retreated to their sanctuary. I concentrated on a spell that allowed me to locate their position exactly: they were in the office where we first fought them.

We quickly came up with a plan of attack, and transported via magic into the room. Aeriana first fired off a barrage of spells, covering the room in silence. Brother Alfus backed off to cast an spell of Antimagic, while Igbot tried to move into a better position. The twin drow approached me and attacked, striking me several times hard with a quarterstaff. I was hurt, and I realized that I probably would not be able to survive another flurry of attacks. However, I also saw Damien right behind me. If I retreated, they would surely kill him. Since I had already resolved to fight to the bitter end, I stood my ground, and delivered a powerful blow to the other drow, killing her. I then turned my attention to the demon that was threatening Damien, striking her twice as powerfully as I could, also killing her. However, this left me open to attack from the disfigured twin drow, and she struck me with a powerful blow from her staff. The blow must have killed me, for the next thing I knew, my spirit was being called back to my body, and I woke up in the Church of Lothian.

The others filled me in on what had happened, however. It looked like my efforts were not in vain. Damien remained safe, and I had cleared a path for Brother Alfus to close in with the twin drow, negating all her magical protections, including her ability to see the invisible. Igbot had taken the opportunity to launch a barrage of darts into her throat, killing her nearly instantly. After that, the tower began to collapse, and the others quickly went to retrieve Bemmut and save whatever prisoners they could find. They were only able to recover Bemmut's body, as he had been long sacrificed by the Drow. However, we at least had interrupted whatever fell plans that the Drow had, and for the time being, we were safe. It's unfortunate that I never was able to ask Bemmut where the Boots of Unending Journey were located, but I feel that it was close, and if I continued to explore Ptolus, Fharlaghn would guide me to them.