Ganeth:
- "Does Nomistrus get major access to elemental earth?"
- Silvana:
- "No, he doesn't."
- Ganeth:
- "Then nobody else get stoned, okay?"
Ganeth spotted some astral activity on DI, he and Kelmin prepared to grab the door and teleport to the Hollerith Temple, and the party got off a last-minute flurry of precasts.
- Silvana: [to Ganeth]
- "What happens if you port back and the mat isn't down yet?"
- Ganeth:
- "Probably something icky."
- Silvana:
- "If the mat and I are stoned?"
- Ganeth:
- "Probably something really icky."
- Beeel:
- "Don't ask the question when you don't want to know the answer."
A 10'x10' astral doorway opened above the excavation, inclined 45 degrees w.r.t. the plateau. On the other side were a barbed wire whip-wielding something resembling a yagnoloth (but only 8' tall and dun-colored), a big pile of manes (which Zenig said he'd seen before), and an unpleasant-looking landscape with orange skies, dark clouds, and lots of lightning.
- Loth: [elvish]
- "I have been brought here by the violation of the agreement. Restrictions upon my actions have been removed. This is your final chance to escape with your lives."
- Ganeth:
- "Hmmmm...I don't remember making any agreements with you. Must be some other elf you want to acidify and digest."
- Loth:
- "Just doing my job."
- [in elvish, w.c., and e.c.]
- "Any creatures that remain within 60' of this portal, or who initiate any spellcasting ability, item activation, or hostile action, may be (at our option) be attacked with lethal force."
Kelmin grabbed the Vault, and the earth worm tried to stone her, but Stealth's pet air elemental interposed and was dispelled by the stoning attack. Beeel discovered that the worm was immune to +1 weapons. The gnomes fled the scene. The loth spat out a gas-mediated slowing attack. Ganeth and Kelmin teleported away; an astral tentacle tried to grab them on the way out, but there was no obvious pursuit.
In the ensuing combat, it appeared the the loth couldn't or wouldn't step through the gate, though it could use its whip to try draging people to its side. (It got a grip on Beeel's neck but had trouble coping with the kensai's flying manuevers. It also had paralytic venom in its bite, which was foiled by Beeel's free action. And when Thor disarmed the whip and everyone got back through the gate, it was really unhappy.) The manes swarmed out and did their usual thing, but the ones killed on the other side didn't explode -- they hovered around as little clouds of gas and kept on attacking people. The earth worm turned Zenig into a tasteful angelic statue. The loth tossed a pair of pebbles through the gate, but Silvana closed it with a dispel evil before it could finish its plan.
- Loth:
- "I hate unfinished jobs. Half pay."
Meanwhile, Ganeth and Kelmin turned the Vault over to Ylena, who had it moved into the temple's inner sanctum. This closed off astral access to evil creatures, effectively sealing any occupants inside until the door was opened (unless they wanted to try a shortcut through the Void).
The pebbles grew into a medusa and a maedar; the medusa grew face-down and was carrying a bow. Luckily, this turned out to be the universe's most benign uncontrolled summoning, as they just sat and asked for instructions (in Eastern Common). Beeel (who still had the prot petrification/free action combo going) took charge and got the maedar to restore Zenig and Ifix.
- Maedar:
- "Would you not prefer ground meat?"
Silvana got the teleport mat down in time for G's return. He (or, to the especially suspicious, a gaze-reflecting humanoid who looked like G, carrying a golden glowing sword that sounded like Elissa) reappeared facing the medusa, but Silvana had thought ahead and was standing in the way, blocking line of sight. The earth worm reappeared, attacked Beeel, and took a round of attacks before sinking again.
- Beeel:
- "How many more minutes do you have here?"
- Maedar:
- "Until you slip up, master."
Beeel decided that having everyone looking away all the time was going to complicate things, so he ordered the medusa to stick her head in a sack and submit to being bound.
- Medusa:
- "You insult me, sir, with your degrading commands."
- Maedar:
- "When you are insulted, dear, I cannot bear to watch. Master, I beseech you not to treat the love of my life suchly. We have obeyed your bizzarre instructions without complaint."
- Beeel:
- "What, you've never tied her up before?"
Beeel walked up to the medusa, stared her down, and whacked her with his nunchaku.
- Medusa:
- "I would prefer to be given an opportunity to gain your trust. I am not some unintelligent monster who would accidentally stone your allies."
- Erich:
- "I am an intelligent monster who would intentionally stone your allies."
She was bagged.
The worm appeared again, missed Thor, and was killed before it could escape. (It decomposed into mud and quickly seeped away.)
The medusa and maedar appeared to be permanent, so the party sent them on their way with a few threats to keep them from making trouble in the future (with particular attention paid to the gorgon carcass).
Sending time.
- Silvana: [with ghost-editors]
- "Expecting diabolic trouble tonight, here and Hollerith. Evil body blues? Need Alliance for Law mediating dispute concerning Kharnzeel. Strong intervention now could save grief later."
- Clynthia:
- "OK. Remain alert."
- Dan:
- "Hey! She just wasted 22 words!"
The gnomes decided to go exploring off to the north, and the party started heading south toward Cthul-Ra. They quickly noticed smoke in the distance, indicating a rather large fire behind a ridge, toward the end of the grassy plain they were walking along. (Oddly, there'd been absolutely no sign of this when they'd flown over the area the previous day.) Zenig scouted ahead and saw at least a hundred red figures moving in a circle around the blaze. Fearing that the devils or their followers were working on an extra-nasty summoning for the party's nighttime encounter, Silvana summoned Tylerion, who'd heard rumors (possibly started by the devils) that Imix, a Chaotic Evil fire elemental lord, was in the area. After a lot pf discussion, the party decided to press on.
Early on the jaunt, the party surprised and disarmed a trio of sleeping gnolls. One of the gnolls spoke Western Common and said they'd been watching a lot of priests build a fire for many days.
- Gnoll:
- "They come for our treasure. We watching and waiting to see if they find it. They make big fire to ask God where Yeenoghu treasure is. But drood god not tougher than Yeenoghu."
Beeel broke one of the gnoll's bows. The gnoll, who'd spent a long time crafting said bow, went ballistic, drew a dagger, rushed Beeel, and had to be disarmed again. They party decided not to break the other bows or take the gnolls' treasure (some money, a bone knife with little red gem eyes, and a cat's eye gem), so they tied them up and went on their way.
- Gnoll:
- "You tell drood god that Yeenoghu kick him back to Fryrestrum."
- Silvana:
- "Pyrethrium? You seem fairly well informed about this ceremony. You must have a shaman in the area."
- Gnoll:
- "Yeenoghu's eyes looking everywhere. His hands working behind his back. Yeenoghu watch and wait and act with much cleverity."
The party eventually made it over the ridge and saw about 150 red-cloaked figures swaying (in a flamelike fashion) around a big tree that was on fire but not being consumed. Some wore red banded mail, some wore red leather armor, and most of them were holding torches -- much like the "Flames" that were in the area around Pyrethrium back in the mid 570s (before the undead saw to their destruction). Tylerion used his invis 10', the party snuck around the ceremony uneventfully, and the deva went home.
A bit later, the party overtook an old man in rags walking away from the ceremony. He turned around, looked at the party, and screamed.
- Old man:
- "The Red One! He is upon us! It appears that I cannot flee my fate."
- Silvana:
- "Who are you? Druid, chaos lord, demon?"
- Old man:
- "They call me the Miracle Worker. I have gifts."
- Silvana:
- "We're not interested in your gifts."
- Old man:
- "I'm not offering you any gifts. I have gifts. I paid for them. Dearly."
This guy (known among his colleagues as the Miracle Worker, and sometimes as Flame of the Forest) turned out to be from a long time ago, when Auramkil was the City of Golden Dragons (he dislikes dragons). The "Ice Creatures" had started permafrosting civilization as the Pyrethrium folk knew it (much as they'd tried to do in the Vlurshollow area in AK 576); he and his followers escaped by transporting themselves through their holy fire. They arrived only a few hours before the party spotted them, which fits with the boringness of the area the day before but not with the gnolls' several-day surveillance of the pyre preparation. (The old man thought that the gnolls might also have been carried forward through time in some kind of backwash.) The ceremony now underway was to reduce the fire to a portable form, the Eternal Flame of Pyrethrium (which "represents the consuming passion with which sentient creatures seek to understand the universe" -- the primary purpose of this religion is to educate people, quite unlike the Pyrethrium natives the original party encountered).
It turned out this was yet another light/fire/anti-shadow organization the whilgs were reviving for their feud with the Shade Lord. They sent the old man dreams where Ganeth killed him, becoming strong enough to face off with the Shade Lord (this time in a city with cobblestone streets, but with a rainbow bridge in the background).
- Old man:
- "The dark one seeks godhood. We cannot let that happen."
- Ganeth:
- "That'd be the Shade Lord again...she was my predecessor."
- Old man:
- "You have tangled with the dark one?"
- Ganeth:
- "Not one on one."
- Old man:
- "You are not ready."
- Ganeth:
- "No kidding."
Silvana and Ganeth tried to set FoF straight about the whilgs' general manipulativeness and the self-fulfilling nature of their "prophecies"; since he wants to refound the Pyrethrium University (which doesn't use books) before dying (or merging with Ganeth, or whatever happens when "Ones" duke it out), he's got some time to think it all over.
The old man had also been warned about Imix (by the whilgs) but didn't see how he could be summoned with the holy fire, unless the ceremony was being perverted. (Do we know anyone who does that sort of thing?) Bloodwood was being used in the fire, and there was incense ("to ward off evil spirits") masking whatever odors were being generated, so from a distance it was hard to tell what was going on. The old man decided to head back and monitor the closing ceremony, just to be sure, and the party (figuring there wasn't much they could do about an Asmo perversion anyway) moved on.