The Cost of the Quarry

Life, Death

The Fracture Pack finish their descent into the temple of Zehir. They located the essence of Voriski but found more threats than just here spirit. Swarms of Zehir's children and a guardian hydra worked against the heroes' efforts to destroy Voriski forever. Despite their victory, they also bore the burden of defeat with the loss of both Clive and Xanstaer to their infernal foe.

The Fractured Pack made it through the acidic trenches in into the cave within. Before the temple of Zehir, the only entrance into the main chamber was through a submerged tunnel filled with bouyant dead. Within, a massive statue of the Cloaked Serpent stood at the end of a runway with flooded troughs on either side. The crystal containing Voriski's essence stood at the far end. While Buck and Clive held back with Norzim to discuss possibilites, Xanstaer and Broxon continued forward. The swirling mirk within took the shape of the tigress when the companions strode close enough and her influence could be felt in the immediate vicinity. Greetings quickly turned to threats and threats to action. Broxon's initial blows were not true enough to break the prism but were forceful enough to dislodge it from it's nestled seat. The depth underneathe now unclogged, the aquatic inhabitant rose, the guardian of Zehir's shrine. A massive Hyrda.   As the battle commenced, all force was thrown towards the hydra. In doing so however, Voriski was given the chance to call upon the serpentine younglings all through the waters not once but twice. Watching the threats all around grow, intention was finally directed at the crystal causing it to shatter and separate throughout the chamber. Voriski's influence spread and grew unchecked as the prism were broken giving her more fully to Baator all around. Choices early on however proved damning the longer this went on. With so much focus on the hydra, the swarms of snakes proved overpowering and by the time the hydra was dealt with and most of Voriski's crystal broken, the snakes were too overflowing of a threat. Xanstaer utilized the Wand of Magic Missiles to devastate many of the rakshasa spirit's remaining fragmented prisons before falling to the snakes that writhed through their entire construction. Voriski's final trick was one of domination. Selecting Clive as her target, she puppeteered him against you. Broxon sought to peacefully bring his companion down but the deceit of the chamber was that no body remained safe for long. Despite being felled nonlethal, the snakes then turned on the useless marionette to make sure he would not rise against Voriski again. With two friends down despite Buck's efforts, Broxon's fury fell fully upon Voriski's final anchoring point.   As Xanstaer and Clive fell and Voriski's essence was destroyed forever, Buck took up the scroll of Sending and fumble through it, getting the spell off but causing a wild magic surge in the process. For one moment among this fight, luck was on your side as not only was the Fly spell cast in the surge, but it was cast on the 33% of safe targets rather than the 66% chance of having a flying snake swarm. With the Sending through, a portal in the floor opened, the lot of you dumped through with two hydra head, your companions carcasses, and a writhing host of snakes to be burned away by the archmage.