Loopholiio!

The decision is made to advance. Well, first there are long discussions about whether or not Goldpiece should draw the Demonbane – but in the end the ill effects seem to outweigh the good so they close the distance on the wings of a magic potion.

Flying through the archway, Malchor sees nothing but a vast room, filled several feet deep with corpses, bones and equipment. Then the snakewomen appear. They immediately summon vulture demons that begin shrieking and releasing clouds of poisonous spores as they fly around attacking all within reach. Malchor lets fly with lightning and an ice storm, temporarily sealing off the passageway occupied by one of the demon women. Courier and Gal want to attack and Goldpiece flies into the fray. The snakewomen teleport into to the party and one cuts off the avenue of escape. Kormnier is slain – then brought back by the mace he carries. Moonshine is slain and dumped into the abyss. Justicar and Gutboy battle valiantly while Malchor and Elulyn fire off magic spells and Goldpiece hacks away.

While the vulture demons are annoying they don’t seem too terrible until one of them stuns Malchor and then they slay him in rapid oprder, chasing his body towards the ground and attempting to tear off chunks of flesh. Bad goes to worse when Gutboy is slain and unceremoniously dumped into the abyss as well.

Goldpiece rallies valiantly and manages to slay the trio of vulturefolk, but the snakewomen are still dishing out major damage to all within reach. Finally, one takes enough damage to convince her to teleport away and the group is slightly buoyed by the removal of such a dangerous foe. A few seconds later, the second one quits the scene and the group wastes little time in returning Malchor to the living. They debate a few moments and then decide to planeshift back to the Tormite Mound.

The silver lining is that the newly risen Malchor seems to be freed from the geas placed upon him. Faced with the prospect of returning to that foul place and being forced to do battle with all they have already seen and whatever even more terrible things might lie beyond, the other geas bearing folk kill themselves. Well, death appears to be the lesser of the two evils in this case and when they are restored, it is a slightly more somber group that plans to journey with Goldpiece on the quest for repairing the magical loincloth. First, however, there are some empty slots to fill inthe party roster, given Gutboy and Moonshine’s untimely demise. Gal and Kormier decide to remain in Immersea and Malchor, Elulyn, Goldpiece and Justicar look about for some new fodder…err…traveling companions.