A sincere butt kicking...

The group gathered their thought and strength, performed healing and restudying of spells to prepare for what was sure to be an exciting trip somewhere. John Z. cast a Contact Other Plane spell to see if they could glean any data about what awaited them on the other side. The results were not unexpected. The gate led to the Astral Plane and yes, there was something waiting for them on the other side. John Z, having been off plane before, tried to prepare the rest of the team for what they would encounter.

After a night's sleep, they plunged thru the gate. First thru were Kunder and John. Looking around they found a typical Astral scene. A lot of open empty space, a curious pocket of fire and bits of turf here and there. On one of those bits were two Thri-Kreen warriors. They stood and just watched the party members enter. Next thru were Raifer and Noze. Raifer froze as he stepped thru, not truly acclamating himself to the off plane movemnet mode. Immediately, a column of fire burst from the fire pocket and struck Raifer dead on.

The fire blast seemed to jar him free and he moved again. Raifer, Kunder and Noze moved to engage the Thri-Kreen while John eyed the fire pocket. Agamemnon and Duther stepped thru and this time Duther froze and was immediately hit by another column of fire. John Z moved up to cast against the fire while Indigo and Parker stepped thru. He cast a Cone of Cold at the fire, but the spell failed and caused a backlash energy jolt to John. With that attempt failing, a creature stepped out of the fire. It was all pearly ashen in color, the features oddly distorted, its body extraordinarily muscled and was carrying a large battle axe that had flames licking all abouts the handle and blade. It focused on John Z., GAZED at him and John dropped lifeless.

Agamemnon was surprised by this and decided to attempt a turning of the foul creature, but the turn did not work, but he seemed to acquire some other knowledge about the situation. He immediately told everyone to retreat. They were in over their heads here. Parker cast a Protection from Evil to garner some additional protection. By then, Raifer and Kunder were engaged with the Thri-Kreen and trading blows. Duther, now able to move, shot a crossbow bolt at the fire thing and hit it dead on. But it was barely even fazed by the wound. Instead, it moved in on Agamemnon and engaged him. Agamemnon moved to block John's body from the thing and Parker went to heal him. But her Death's Door spell did not work.

Raifer ordered a fighting retreat and the dwarves tried to fall back, but the Thri-Kreen would not give them clear passage out. Duther and Indigo jumped back thru the gate, which seemed to offer some resistance on the return trip. Noze tried and was repelled back from the portal and paralyzed. Parker tried to move John Z to carry him thru the gate, but was unable to move him. Agamemnon was able to cast his own Death's Door on John to stabilize the body. But while he cast, the fire thing struck at him with the axe. It hit with tremendous force for a blade its size and fire erupted from the blade as it struck, causing more damage.

Kunder made it to John's body and tried to scoop it up and move it to the gate, Raifer shifted to engage the two Thri-Kreen to give Kunder room to go. The three traded more blows. Agamemnon, wounded seriously now, cast a Cure Critical on himself, hoping to hold off the thing while everyone escaped. But as Kunder tried to push John thru the gate, the gate would not permit him thru. He then released the body and moved to assist Agamemnon and engage the creature. Parker had made her way to Noze and cast a Remove Paralysis on him, releasing him from the hold. Noze then attempted to traverse the gate again, but failed a second time. With his third attempt at the gate, he plunged thru.

The battles continued as the thing, Kunder and Agamemnon traded swings and Raifer and the Thri-Kreen exchanged blows. Raifer just wanted to get one of them down to allow everyone passage to get clear. Parker was then able to cast a Cure Serious on John to bring him back around and he immediately jumped thru the gate. At that moment, Raifer got his break and dropped one of the Thri-Kreen. The thing now sensing a small shift, attempts a gaze at Agamemnon, but he shrugs off the attack.

Parker and Kunder now disengaged and jump thru the gate. Raifer, with the clear path he made, tries to follow, but it bounced off and right back into engage with the fire thing. The thing, with a convenient new target, attempts a gaze at Raifer, but the attack fails. With an opening, Agamemnon once again heals himself with a Cure Serious. Agamemnon and Raifer were now the only two left on the plane.

With instructions from Agamemnon, Raifer tries to pass thru the gate again, and fails yet again. This time he is propelled back a long distance, leaving Agamemnon one on one with the two creatures. Where Raifer stopped, was next to the fire pocket. His attention turned to the fire as he could hear from within voices calling his name and for help. He stood transfixed and confused for a moment trying to decide what to do. At that point, the thing struck Agamemnon again inflicting an even more serious wound leaving him in a very dire position.

Raifer decides to try to make it out one more time. Agamemnon tries to grab the healing potion at his belt. Both fail as Raifer bounces yet again and Agamemnon fumbles for a moment to handle the bottle. It was a moment he did not have. the fire thing attacked again and the axe tore thru Agamemnon's flesh and he fell.

By now the group back thru the gate were getting concerned. Knowing that the portal had offered some resistance, they tried to figure out why it would behave so. John tried to cast a Dispel Illusion, thinking that maybe they were being fooled by something. When that proved fruitless, they decided to go back. John, Parker and Indigo jumped back thru. Parker moved immediately to Agamemnon to heal him with a Cure Serious which did not entirely revive him. It would take a second to bring him back to the living. John cast a Lightning Bolt at the thing, which seemed to have almost no effect.

Raifer now moved to engage it and swung one last blow. This blow sent the creature back to whence it came. It exploded in a fireball casuing wounds on both Raifer and Indigo, who had moved in and was shooting arrows at the remaining Thri-Kreen. Raifer gestured to the Thri-Kreen to leave and it did readily. As it left, the flame pocket faded away and the last of the voices from within disappeared in to the void.

They all now were able to pass thru the gate with no difficulty or resistance at all. On the other side, John cast a Dispell Magic and was able to destroy the gate. The he conjured an Earth Elemental and they instructed it to destroy the area and cave it in. They rested for the remainder of the day and hiked back to the way station a day's walk back to the opening.

During the night, they heard great noises around them. Nothing challenged them, but they heard the sounds of large creatures crawling around in passages around them. No one slept well that night. They made their way back to the main barracks the next day to find that Gliksnar had a platoon of Xvarts scouring the area. When they told him they had cleared the area and shut down the gate, he asked if they got all four tunnels. This was not good news. They never saw any more than the one. This information guaranteed that the stories about mutated Gold dragons must be true and the sounds they heard were likely those creatures in the other passages.

They asked Gliksnar to draw up some maps of the other tunnels, or at least what they knew. Raifer and his team would stay until more Xvart troops could come to reinforce the post. Meanwhile, John went back to the outpost to inform King Al-Alin of the situation. The King decided to send a platoon of his own to reinforce as well and 40 or 50 dwarves would be there as soon as possible.

John then contacted S.D. and informed him of the situation. Gravely concerned by the news, S.D. put out word in Midway that any and all adventurers that were interested were needed for this next mission. The best, the strongest and any one who thought they could help would be needed for this dangerous task. There was only one thought that went through his mind about this next job.....

"There'll be nothing left in the bag when this one's done."

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