As we stepped into the next room, Myntilly made herself invisible. She stepped over to the right side of the room. At the far end I could see a statue. It was a hideous figure with wings and a pointed tail. Since early in our adventure we’ve had a distrust of statues. I made a note to stay away from it in case it came to life.

Sadi, Cinder and Alek moved to the left side of the room. There was more rubble on the ground and I could see Sadi and Cinder scanning the ceiling for Driders. Then several things happened at once. Myntilly must have been having a heightened reaction to the statue because she unleashed a lightning spell that blew it into several pieces.
It made a lot of noise.

At the same time, I saw a blurry figure appear in front of Alek. It was vaguely female and bathed in a shimmery white light. And then in the next moment, a wall of fire 20 feet high blocked my view of the left side of the room.

Acgar and I had just stepped toward Myntilly, which was a good thing since the wall appeared where we had just been standing. I found out later that Cinder & Sadi saw the female figure too. To them, at first, she looked like an angel. Later they found out the truth.

The wall of fire started at the base of the (now shattered)statue. I yelled to my friends that I wanted to get closer to the statue. The heat was intense and the fire seemed to suck away any sound. It was eerie. We moved cautiously, expecting an attack at any moment.

I had a status spell still active from our fight with the Driders. I knew that our companions on the other side of the flames were alive and uninjured. The shimmery white figure, however, worried me. I wanted, more than anything else, to be on the other side of the flames.

I have made a silly, and so far, silent vow to keep Alek alive. Considering his reckless behavior, I might fail, but I keep imagining riding up to St. Cuthbert’s with Alek at my side. Jenya runs up to Alek and in the middle of their tearful reunion, she meets my eye and whispers “Thank you.”

As we got closer to the statue, we realized that a giant salamander was squatting at base of the statue. It was belching flames and, if possible, looking very pleased with itself. Myntilly let loose another lightning spell. We saw an arrow land on the creature and burst into flame. Hooray for Sadi or Cinder!

I realized that Alek was unconscious. Aw shit. What was that shimmery creature?!

The salamander suddenly turned white all over and bellowed. Acgar was close enough to see clearly. “Frost!”
Myntilly turned to her excitedly — “Yes, of course! Cold spells….. I don’t have any cold spells! Yet.”
“Alek is unconscious. Does Sadi have a cold spell?” I suddenly felt stupid.
“Gotta be Karuphon,” Acgar said with a shrug. “Let’s see what it thinks about acid.”

The creature bellowed as each new spell hit it. The flame wall began to wavier. I could see the shimmery figure move towards Cinder. And then I felt Cinder fall unconscious too. She wasn’t injured, like Alek, she just suddenly was out. Like she’d been hit over the head.
I saw Sadi draw her bow as if to shoot at the salamander, and then at the last moment she turned and shot the shimmery figure. As the arrow hit, I realized that it was a succubus.

Sadi’s arrow lodged in her chest. She screamed, beat her wings and then disappeared.
A few moments later Karuphon, Myntilly and Acgar had defeated the salamander. The wall of flames vanished and I ran across the room to Cinder. She was unconscious but unhurt. Alek was about 30 feet away, but when I checked him, the same.

We’ve laid them side by side. Karuphon has assured me that they will wake up without any damage from their brush with a succubus. I pray that he’s right. I pray for myself as well. Something is changing inside me. I feel sullied by this battle, this place. Is the evil of Ocipitus poisoning me?

There is a spell called “assay spell resistance.” Our sorceress cast it the other night. Michelle, the DM, was having trouble locating the monster in the MM. So one of the other players found the info really quickly on Google. We decided that for our group, “assay” would now be called “Google.” As in, “I’d like to cast Google spell resistance on that demon.”

The battle was not even over and Kaurophon was talking about the test of the smoking eye or some such. Alek took some serious damage and I wanted to focus on healing. I overheard the others talking. Kaurophon made a strong case that we shift to the Ocipitus plane, pass the tests and then head back to Cauldron.

We decided to message Jenya with news in hopes that she could keep the mayor from attacking the merchants. We heard back that Cauldron is at a balance point. For the moment, there is peace. Her final words were, of course, about Alek.

Kaurophon says that the strength elixir saps the person’s wisdom. It makes sense why Alek seems so deranged. I thought it was simply god madness. Sadi cast owl’s wisdom on him to help focus his thoughts. It helped.

The next morning we joined hands, the eight of us, and Kaurophon cast plane shift. Suddenly we found ourselves on this hot smoky plateau. In the distance, in all directions, were huge mountains. Blasts of fire periodically filled the sky. Kaurophon had explained that there are three tests to pass in order to control this plane. If we can do it, perhaps we all become the savior.

As we started to the first test, we practically stumbled on to three vulture-like creatures. We saw them first and before we could group to discuss what to do, Alek pulled out his sword and charged the one on the far left. “Pelor, give me patience”, I thought. He certainly caught it by surprise, but his sword seemed to glance off the creature’s shoulder instead of taking off its head. Alek took a step back in surprise and the creature opened its mouth and spewed chunks of something all over him. The other two creatures cast a circle of darkness over themselves.

I whispered a quick prayer to Pelor for aid. Cinder and Sadi took cover on opposite sides. Glonda and Acgar moved to the left near Sadi. I wondered what Kaurophon would do, would he turn on us? He took two big steps towards Cinder but then let off a huge fireball right in the middle of the dark cloud. We heard squawks of pain. I ran up behind Alek as the vulture raked him with both claws and tried to tear his arm off with that powerful beak. Alek kind of sighed and slumped to the ground. As I reached him I saw that small plants were growing out of his face. The chunks from the vulture’s mouth had been seeds, I guess. It was horrible to see his handsome face covered with small green tendrils. And I couldn’t help but be aware of how close I was to the creature. If he decided to spew again, I would be hit. I could sense the life force ebbing in Alek. I called upon my most powerful healing spell; I would save him for Jenya. The wounds were most important — the spores could wait until after the battle.

I heard Sadi’s bow close by. The arrows bounced off the vulture. Myntilly, Kaurophon and Cinder were working on the other two. I heard Acgar say “Move!” I pulled Alek closer to me as Acgar breathed acid at the vulture. That got his attention! With Alek stabilized I turned to the battle. I pulled out my golden sun, held over my head and cried out. “Hear me, demon spawn. The great god Pelor commands you fall in supplication. Fall to the ground. I command it!” The one in front of me swayed but stayed upright. Damn. I couldn’t see if the others were affected.

At that moment Glonda called down lightning on them. It seemed to hit all three and my heart lifted. The vulture in front of me flapped his wings and flew about 30 feet behind me. Double damn. He landed near Kaurophon and Myntilly. They half bowed to each other and let loose with fireballs. He almost exploded from the impact.

Acgar opened her mouth to breathe acid again and this time Alek got splashed. Since he was unconscious, he didn’t flinch. I shot her a dirty look and she shrugged her shoulders. I healed Alek again and by the time I looked up the cloud had dissolved and I could see Cinder ramming her rapier into one of the vultures. The other collapsed from three spells fired at once.

Sadi ran over to tell me that Cinder had been hit by some of the spores from her vulture. I removed the disease completely. Unfortunately I can only do that spell once a day. Sadi, however, was able to neutralize the spores in Alek. I can’t help but wonder if he will bear scars of the attack. And if so, what will Jenya think when she sees his face?

A brief replay. (This is as I remember, apologies if I have it incorrect.)

Round -2
Ragnara and Cinder approach a door and it slides open. Surprised, they both jump back and the door slides shut. Ragnara approaches again, and the door opens again. As she steps back, the door closes.

Round -1
Cinder searches the floor, but finds no pressure plate trigger. She also tries spot around the area to see if there are motion sensors of some kind. Even with a high roll, she sees nothing.

Meanwhile, Ragnara continues to test the door. Approaching slowly door opens. Approaching quickly, door opens. Retreating slowly door opens, retreating quickly, door opens.

Surprise Round
A red hot piece of metal burst through the door while it is open, hitting Ragnara for some major damage.

All players must roll for initiative.
Looking back, what would you have done differently?

Round 1
Ragnara is not very wise, and when attacked will run toward the attacker. Thus, she runs into the room.
Acgar – uses a ranged weapon
Cinder – uses a ranged weapon
Sadi – holds action, guarding the rear
Myntilly – uses a spell to deal damage
Indira – uses a ranged weapon
Submeera – sings to inspire courage

And…

Fire Giant – has only Ragnara as a target, so attacks her

Round 2
Ragnara – uses a melee weapon against the giant
Acgar – uses a ranged weapon
Cinder – uses a ranged weapon
Sadi – holds action, guarding the rear
Myntilly – uses a spell to deal damage
Indira – uses a ranged weapon
Submeera – runs into the room as a double move

And…

Fire Giant – still has only Ragnara as a target, so makes a full attack on her

Ragnara dies.

What do you notice? How would you play this differently?