You continue along the curving hallway, traveling for quite some distance before it opens into another huge room. Enormous alcoves with floors of packed soil line the walls of this large room.
Two huge elementals stand guard in this chamber, one a towering edifice of earth and stone, the other a raging inferno. Both immediately move to attack!
The fire elemental surges forward, slamming a flaming fist into Amnayel's chest before leaping back twenty feet!
Ulrich blasts the fire elemental with a ray of void energy, taking apart the elemental one atom at a time.
She hasn't rejected his argument out of hand at least...
------------------
Allie slaps her hand onto her sister's shoulder and infuses her with magic.
"I have no reason to oppose that fight. Though I am curious, why do you both wish his death so vehemently? It does not seem to me like the same desire as to eradicate all undead. You have a personal stake in it... pardon the pun."
Amnayel screams as her body suddenly erupts in flame! She drops to the group instantly, trying to extinguish the fire. She's successful, but her body is charred and blackened as smoke still rises from her burnt skin.
Elementals are something new for the inquisitor, but she draws a bead on the fire elemental and releases arrows at it.
Gabby lands several hits on the fire elemental, then Ulrich zaps it with powerful magic, reducing it to a pile of fine ash! Amnayel rolls on the floor to extinguish her flames, but that makes her a prime target for the earth elemental, which lumbers forward to stomp on her! Somehow, it misses, the paladin inadvertently rolling away!
Ulrich imbues Gabriella's arrows with a spell.
Allie steps in to the paladin and infuses her with healing energies, once she can land a touch...
Gabbi calls down a final bane on the elemental as she redirects her attacks to the creature of earth.
Amnayel holds her shield above her and takes her feet.
Ulrich:"He raped our mother and then ripped her throat out and left her to die." Allie replies, her teeth showing. "She was practically giving birth already, but he wanted to defile the town's priestess, so he broke her mind and raped her. Physically and mentally. He's a bastard and all the abuse, all the s!*# we've had to put up with because of what we are... that's on him!"
Despite Amnayel's attempts at defense, the elemental still bludgeons her as she rises to her feet. Allie darts in to heal the paladin. Gabby shoots the elemental several times, though it's not quite enough to finish it off. The creature attacks Amnayel again, but this time she wards off its blows.
Another couple of arrows from Gabby and the elemental crumbles to rubble!
Turning to Allie, Amnayel offers her thanks "I appreciate your quick assistance, Alessandra."
She then channels twice to heal herself the remainder of the way.
"Nice shooting Gabriella. Thank you for finishing it."
"Do you think we're nearly done?" Allie asks with a grin. "I'm tired of seeing my girls getting so beaten up!"
Knowing that elementals are unlikely to have anything of use she looks once around the room and then heads onwards. "Might as well move while my magic is still going."
Finding nothing of use here, you continue down the corridor. Mirrors of tarnished silver line the walls here, creating a thousand reflections and the illusion of endless depth in every direction.
As you navigate the confusing maze, three creatures suddenly leap out from the mirrors! These blood-drenched humanoid skeletons stare with hate-filled eyes as their bones drip with streams of fresh gore. They slice Allie, Ulrich, and Gabbi with their claws, leaving bleeding wounds behind!
"They can move through the mirrors," Gabbi calls out. [b]"Blunt weapons if you have them."[/]b
Gabbi shoots the undead attacking her, wounding it but not slowing it down. The bloody bones retaliate with teeth and claws, and while Allie and Ulrich are lucky enough to ward off some attacks, Gabbi is not so lucky. The creature she shot rips her belly open, spreading gore and entrails on the floor as the inquisitor falls!
"NO!" Allie screams, a heart-rending sound. Completely ignoring the creature seemingly intent on ripping her apart she hurls magic at her sister, twisting the normally life-giving spell and willing Gabbi back to life.
Amnayel steps away from the creature adjacent to her, beside the fallen inquisitor and casts her own spell to help ensure that she does not fall again.
Ulrich grimaces, but his false life helps protect him from most of the attack. He feels little fear, but his concern for Gabriella is getting pretty high. He casts a spell to turn Kamosh's beak blue with negative energy, then directs Kamosh to peck the skeleton closest to Gabriella.
Kamosh is scared!
The bloody bones near Ulrich shrieks as he touches it, eyes bulging wide with terror. Allie's spell brings Gabbi back to life as Amnayel swears an oath to defend the inquisitor.
Gabbi's eyes snap open as she gasps for air. Not wanting to acknowledge what just happened, she refuses to look down at the gore fouling her clothes. She stumbles to her feet as she attempts to bring her bow to bear again.
Gabby stands and shoots the skeleton attacking Allie, wounding it. The creature snarls and retreats, leaping into a mirror and disappearing. The panicked undead follows suit, leaving only the one attacking Ulrich for the time being. It rips into the mage, sending him sprawling to the floor, then steps over and claws at Allie.
Gabbi turns her ire on to the undead attacking her sister.
Kamosh tries to stabilize Ulrich and staunch the bleeding.
Amnayel watches Ulrich start to die and hesitates. She wants him dead and should not save his life right now. Allie is so busy keeping Gabriella and herself alive that she can't spare the time to save Ulrich.
All you have to do is nothing and he will die, Amnayel. The world will be a better place without him.
Shaking her head no, she knows she can't let the others suffer to accomplish what she would have done. With a pang of regret, the paladin sends a burst of healing energy to help restore Allie, Ulrich and herself.
"Kill it Gabriella!" she shouts, trying to manage the situation the best she can.
Allie floods the room with another burst of healing magic before stepping in front of the prone wizard.
"Get up here Amy!" She yells, "I can deal with him!"
Ulrich practically rises from the grave as he's pumped with positive energy. He stands up and prepares to use Chill Touch on the next skeleton that comes near him.
Kamosh turns invisible again.
Allie and Amnayel channel healing energy to keep the party alive while Gabby turns her ire on the undead attacking her sister. Each of her arrows strikes true, and the bloody skeleton crumbles!
As she glances around, she catches a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. That reflection suddenly changes as the skeleton that leaped away before suddenly bursts forth to attack the inquisitor!
Gritting her teeth against the new pain, Gabbi takes a step back from the vicious undead and looses arrow after arrow at it. With her vision swimming, though, not all of her arrows find their target.
Allie claps a hand onto her sister's shoulder, "I'm sorry." before closing her wounds.
Gabbi's arrows are enough to finish off the bloody bones! The one affected by Ulrich's chill touch doesn't seem to be coming back any time soon. After a tense couple of minutes, it seems you are in the clear.
Making your way through the maze of mirrors, you come to a locked door. The door seems to contain a puzzle requiring four concentric rings, though only two rings are present. The ring you found earlier fits in one slot--it seems you are still missing the last one, though.
Allie smashes each and every mirror that they pass, to ensure that the skeleton can't come back and ambush them.
"Where on earth haven't we looked?" She says in frustration when it becomes apparent that they don't have all the pieces. "I bet there's some other undead nightmare holding the last one!"
She takes advantage of the quiet to patch everyone up.
Smashing all the mirrors incurs many, many years of bad luck for Allie! But it also reveals a secret door leading to the east.
Allie laughs at the bad luck and seems interested when the door is revealed. "Maybe this will be it!" She says, looking hopeful.
She washes the group in positive energy and shares a long, long 'healing' session with her sister, full of relief that her sister is still around to be healed.
Before the 'healing' session gets too carried away (and based on the sounds the sisters were making, it very well could have), Gabbi pushes her twin away. "Focus," she says. Although, it's not entirely clear if she was talking to Allie or to herself.
As she reins in her competing desires and her breathing, she looks around at all the broken glass.
"Don't forget that there are rooms around the inner circle that we haven't checked yet as well," she reminds Allie.
"Secret room first?" Allie suggests, making puppy eyes at her sister once she stops pouting. "I'm curious..."
"As you wish," Gabbi replies with a head tip towards the secret door.
The writhing, severed heads of various fantastic creatures line the walls here, framing a display of a cracked mechanical man pieced back together with lead. The heads include several dragons, a phoenix, an emerald-skinned angel, a boar-faced demon, and a particularly large wolf. The heads are animated with necromantic magic—just enough to move and gnash their teeth, but not enough to make them dangerous.
The mechanical man lurches to life as you enter, moving jerkily as if in great agony. ”It is a cruel fate indeed that you have become imprisoned in this accursed place like me. Allow me to free you from the destiny of pain.” They take several threatening steps towards you.
Unsure as to the nature of this particular being, Gabbi keeps one hand on her bow while she holds up the other.
"Wait. We are not imprisoned in this place and so there is no need for you to free us. Our destiny is our own to choose. If you attempt to interfere with it, we will have to defend ourselves with deadly force."
"If you are imprisoned then we may be able to free you!" Allie adds, "We have defeated many of the undead in this place. The way out is clear if you wish to depart and we have a wizard skilled in magic if there are bindings upon you."
The creature pauses its advance. "No matter how many undead you have defeated, there are many more. I do not know how you managed to get inside, but so long as the Great Seals remain in place, there is no escape--for Tar-Baphon and his servants, or for us."
"Are you saying that those who die here are incapable of moving on to their afterlife?"
"No," the creature rumbles. "I am saying there is literally no escape. The Seal blocks both physical and planar travel. It is what has kept the Whispering Tyrant's legions locked away ever since their defeat during the Shining Crusade. I had the misfortune of journeying to Gallowspire shortly before the Crusade's conclusion to punish Tar-Baphon for ending the life of a demigod. For my hubris, the Whispering Tyrant captured me and tortured me, repeatedly shattering my body and using his necromancy to hold my suffering essence together while his minions repaired my body with shoddy materials. I have been in pain for so long. I barely recall my existence before being trapped."
"Are you aware that Tar-Baphon and everyone else are free now? Gallowspire is no more and Tar-Baphon has left. All that remains are the basement levels and a handful of his minions, most of which we have already killed."
"What? How is that possible?" the marut exclaims. They pause for a moment, staring at nothing, then they let out a relieved sound. "Ah, yes. I can feel my connection to the Great Beyond restored. At last, I can return to Axis. After so long, it did not even occur to me to try to escape again. Thank you for informing me of these recent developments. You have my gratitude, mortals. Perhaps I will find a way to repay you in the future. For now, I must go."
The creature glows faintly before vanishing, shifting to another plane of existence.
With conflict averted, you are able to search the room. Several magical treasures seized from foes line the walls between the animated heads. These include a quick block buckler and a bouncing metamagic rod. Two of the heads on the walls—the planetar angel and the nalfeshnee demon—are actually illusion concealing niches containing even more powerful magical treasures: a scarab of protection and +5 bracers of armor with fire resistance.
The phoenix head holds a large ring of green bronze in its beak, which can be easily removed. The ring is virtually identical to the one you found before, although it is significantly smaller in diameter. It looks like it will fit the empty slot in the locked door.
"Oh wow, I was planning on learning this technique myself, but I am glad to use this instead." Ulrich says while examining the metamagic rod. "Gabriella. Take the scarab. I insist."