Ring of the Sun

"I'm blind!" Jorgen bellowed.

"So am I," echoed Milos.

This was followed by a similar pronouncement from Amadeo and Santrel.

"So all the boys are blind," Fanara noted with a snigger.

A stone call followed and the whole party was hit by a deluge of small stones falling from above.  The floor was littered with stones making movement difficult.

 "I say we retreat, follow my voice and lets get out of here if we can," Casia ordered.

The blinded party began to retreat even as Fanara cast enlarge person on herself and moved into the chamber. Caigreal gave a resistance spell to Santrel and Casia but otherwise deigned to get into the battle. Milos checked if the blindness was a curse or some other effect but was disappointed when it seemed to be permanent.

As the party congregated slightly, the nymph threw a burst of acid filled nettles at Fanara, Casia and Amadeo.  The rest of the party continued to retreat as Fanara moved into battle with the nymph.  Santrel threw a fireball and then retreated.  He felt the presence of a creature in the tunnel.

"Be still and quiet," a voice whispered to Santrel. "You should not have released Marislova."

She then touched Santrel and his blindness was gone. Santrel could then see a tall and winsome maiden with shells in her hair stood before Santrel. She held a quarterstaff and wore a cloak trimmed with raven feathers.

"Move back here," Santrel suggested to Amadeo and Jorgen, "There is help."

Before Fanara could engage the nymph, she and Casia were hit by a Flame Strike. Finally Fanara attacked with her cold iron greatsword which did full damage against the fey.  Casia retreated to the hallway as she was in distress. Jorgen and Amadeo moved back in the hallway until they met the maiden, even though they could not see here yet.  In time both were healed of their blindness and re-entered the battlefield.

As Milos retreated Caigreal changed into a large hag and attacked, blocking the hallway. Amadeo moved up but no one else could get into the melee, ranged weapons would have to do. Casia and others were begging for healing but before Milos could react Caigreal channeled Negative Energy, further damaging the party. Finally Milos could counter that with his own channel. 

This left Fanara and the nymph to battle one on one.  The claws of the nymph bit deep and nasty but eventually Fanara won the day. Santrel tried Burning Arcs against the Hag, but she kept saving taking limited damage. He then switched to Magic Missile but even one of those fizzled out of his hand.

Amadeo was the lead warrior against the Hag but her own claws and bite were dangerous. Suddenly the Maiden appeared behind Milos and cured his blindness.  She also pressed a key into his hand.

"Jadrenka, I will kill you now," the Hag howled and directed some attacks against the Maiden. Fanara caught up from behind and began to attack with the lucern hammer. Jorgen and Casia attacked from range but there damage was limited, the hammer though did full damage as did Amadeo's greatsword dropping the hag to the floor.

Just as Casia began to ask Jadrenka a question the Maiden disappeared from view.  

"We really needed to talk with her." Casia sadly stated.

"We also need healing," Amadeo begged and Fanara seconded.

Milos then channeled again but for some reason Fanara did not receive any healing although the rest of the party did. When another channel was done Fanara was healed.  

Milos pondered that maybe it had something to do with the "debased" nymph and her claws.

Santrel removed the magic skull from the north wall, its eye sockets shone with a flickering light. At this point the party decided to head back to the dazzling light bright room.  Santrel wanted to head to the other chamber they had bypassed on their way here from Marislova's prison.  Fanara wished to visit Marislova's prison once again to see if she was there once again. Amadeo wanted to check out the two passages closer that the party had not traversed yet.

 DM's Notes: The party earned 2,134 XP for the night.