The precision born of decades of special operations was evident as the elves took advantage of the hospitality of the Pleasure Salon of Calistria in Absalom. While Mule was throwing off healing spells and others were consuming any potions they needed or casting appropriate spells, Quill teleported into a shop that sold tower shields. He hurled his entire coin pouch at the shopkeep and shouted, "Tower shield, NOW!" The other patrons dove for cover at the appearance of a blood-spattered elf in their midst, and as soon as a tower shield was brought in sight Quill grabbed it and teleported away, ignoring the shopkeep's protestations that he hadn't even looked in the pouch let along counted the coin. Blink and Shells were near the others and joined them, as did a half-elf Calistrian cleric who normally worked at the Pleasure Salon but decided that an afternoon saving the world was time well spent.
The group was back in Allevrah's sanctum in under three minutes. Most of the corpses had been hauled into a corner and there were three more drow guards than had been there previously, but the big surprise was that Allevrah was in frantic negotiations with a marilith who hadn't been there before. Allevrah, the surviving vrock, and a surviving priestess had all been healed of their prior wounds.
As the party started to maneuver, Allevrah shouted at the marilith, "I'll pay anything! Just do it!"
Quill cast antimagic field and walked up to stand next to Allevrah. Other party members tried to get into position to assault her, but she fled before they had a chance.
The remaining priestess seemed extremely wary of Phos, who had frightened her badly only a few minutes before. She was riding Happenstance (Zara's fiendish companion who had been left behind the previous session) and casting all of her spells defensively even though nobody appeared to be nearby.
Things looked a little worse when a nalfeshnee demon appeared overtop of Allevrah (though it was right overtop her, which made her grumble and the marilith chortle). Allevrah herself tried to throw a wall of stone between herself and the antimagic field, but misjudged the range and placed it too close to Quill (thus leaving a big enough hole in it that people could walk through it).
The fight continued. One of the drow soldiers was rifling through the pile of bodies and throwing gems to the ground, causing a new elemental to arrive each round. Allevrah tried several things and ended up running into the antechamber east of the temple. Quill promised the marilith a year of service if she would stun Allevrah for ten rounds. Looking amused, the marilith teleported away.
The battle changed radically when a critical hit on Allevrah stunned her. The priestess on Happenstance tried to ride in and whisk away the body, but that brought her too close to Quill's antimagic field and Happenstance was suddenly on Zara's side again. Allevrah died soon afterward.
The battle was quieting down when the marilith reappeared. She was carrying a bundle of clothes. "Is the deal still on?" she asked Quill. "I don't think you can stun a corpse," he sneered. "Oh, is that the only problem?" she replied. As she pointed at Allevrah's body and started to chant he quickly shouted that the deal was still on. She desisted.
Zara asked for her help with they glyph. There was some silent communication between them, and soon the two of them went through a secret passage. Before long they returned and Zara had a big pile of notes. The marilith teleported away, and the group spent a couple of hours in research. Eventually they learned what they needed to know and successfully shut down the glyph.
The world was safe.
PCs:
Celias "Syl" Gorgorathtel'taur (ranger 10/fighter 4)
Elidlara "Aubrey" Seldanica (evoker 13/archmage 1)
Merisiel "Mule" Galanodel (cleric 15)
Phos Adanien (rogue 15)
Seldon "Quill" Galanodel (cloistered cleric 15)
Zara (paladin 10/blackguard 5)
NPCs:
Hadnabral "Shells" Seldanica (ranger 9)
Salabith (cleric 11)
Shivira "Blink" Shanfariala (beguiler 10)
Wow. I finally got a chance to read this. It sounds like it was awesome.
Many kudos to you TBUG for concluding another Adventure Path.
CJ
Thank-you, sir! It was a fun time!
Many thanks to Ryan Downing, who acted as an assistant GM for the last two sessions with the bazillion NPCs needing to be run in the final battle.