While Arvien cowered in terror from the vision of Renee a huge fire monster coalesced from the dripping fire that covered the ceiling of the room. Renee had disintegrated into ashes on the bed and the party moved to attack.
Baru, Seglun and Varrid moved closer to attack the fire. Varrid found all attempts to flank were useless. The creature was burning stronger. Baru was attacked and burst into flame while Ralom cast a bless on the party. Grunyar fired arrows and Arvien finally roused herself to try ray of frost which missed entirely. Drovic tried lightning arc while Seglun raged attacking with fury until she burst into flames herself. The battle was fierce, as the party tried to stop burning alive(?) while still attacking the creature. The creature moved form hero to hero attacking with flames until finally Arvien succumbed.
As Arvien awoke in the Twilight Yawn, she gasped from the feel of smoke in her lungs, watching her life pass before her eyes. Wounds appeared on her skin as she felt an attack on her intelligence. Ralom, Drovic and Seglun also awakened in the Inn. Angus, Shelly and Peg were shocked at the appearance of the heroes. They looked as if they hadn't slept at all. Drifting listlessly down to the common room the party saw Koth interviewing young women, possibly to be a cook or maid in the Inn. Peg went into the kitchen and whipped up an excellent breakfast which she served to all the party but Arvien. The group was appreciative of her efforts and praised the taste and look of the meal.
Peg approached Arvien with a tray of food and before she handed it over proposed an exchange of spell-book entries. Arvien still groggy from the nightmare, agreed heartily and then devoured the meal greedily. As the party was discussing what action to take for the day they saw Koth emerge from his rooms, carrying a double headed axe with a pair of hand axes tucked in his belt. "I'll get 'im," he muttered over and over again. "I'll make 'im pay.
When asked who he was after, he replied "im, whatever monster 'e be." His eyes were fierce beads of anger as he headed out the door. The party had no method to help Koth so they hoped he would walk off his despair. The group headed out to explore the underground once again. Ralom said "Let him go, he is still Koth, not some doppleganger".
They traveled underground back and forth, up and down, with Ralom yelling coordinates into the sewers at various street corners. They also found that at certain points the main artery was blocked by a metal gate, sturdily anchored into the stonework. The bars were too close together to allow passage, even if they were bent. Up down and around they searched without any luck in finding their mates. Where were they being held, they wondered. Just as the group was headed to another manhole cover they once again saw Koth wandering in an alleyway. Drovic eyed his axe even as Ralom was attempting to detect evil once again. The axe as a single headed battle axe, not the same, and the hand axes were missing. As Drovic cautioned the group, Ralom bellowed that this was an evil creature, possibly a doppleganger. Arvien cast a web over Koth before Angus, Shelly and Seglun moved to attack. They had to slog through the web while Koth tried to attack in spite of the sticky strands. Ralom moved up to the edge of the web to look beyond it where he saw two Jackals approach. One reached him through the web while the other was stuck fighting the strands.
Angus and Shelly engaged Koth, while Peg tried a color spray on the Jackals. Magic missiles flew from Arvien's hand. Drovic used his lightning arc to attack the Jackals. No one fell asleep during te fray and Peg again blinded a Jackal. Before long the Jackals and Koth were dispatched. In Koth's place was the familiar ash grey misshapen body the party was beginning to dread.
DM's Notes: The party earned 829 XP for the nightmare battles and the battle with Koth and the Jackal(weres?). They now have 18956 XP and need an additional 4044 XP to reach 5th level.
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