Azkadelia (mounted), Lim’Dul,
and Little Rock enter the cave. They
meet a guard at the door, but Azkadelia convinces him that she’s here for the
flame crystal ceremony, and he lets them pass.
Azkadelia ties up her horse. On
the other side of the cave, Optimus and Nyridius enter from their “shortcut.” They, too, find a guard. Rather than rely on their diplomacy skills,
however, they take him out quietly without alerting the others.
Inside the main
chamber, Windsor is leading a ritual for the flame crystal and the power that
it will give him and the cultists.
Optimus causes a slight
interruption when he tosses a photon grenade at Windsor’s feet, blowing him
across the room. The cultists are
immediately all over him, and he takes a severe beating from them. Optimus’ allies rush in to assist him, and a
proper battle erupts. Azkadelia, Lim’Dul,
Little Rock, and Nyridius make short work of the cultists while Optimus sprints
forward to utilize his venus-fly-trap attack on Windsor, fatally wounding
him. Windsor, spilling his intestines,
crawls helplessly on the floor.
The battle becomes much
more challenging, however, when the cultists consume small pieces of the flame
crystal. Their bodies erupt in flame,
giving them enhanced powers and stamina.
They teleport around the area, shooting pillars of flame from their
hands and charring everyone with their flaming auras. Facing the challenge, the party divvies up
the load; Little Rock and Azkadelia whomp on one burning skeleton, Nyridius and
Lim’Dul on another, and Optimus struggles with the last two cultists.
The battle becomes a
brutal slug fest, thanks to the burning skeletons’ high hit points. Every member of the party drops to single
digit hit points, takes a break with a second wind, and then takes another
beating. Optimus fends well at first, but stumbles when he has a critical failure on a marijuana-based attack. The failure results in the attack becoming "self-directed," and Optimus gets high as a kite. Lim'Dul also rolls a critical failure on a mind control attack, resulting in a sudden bout of narcolepsy. Little Rock eventually pounds
his skeleton into the dirt, which frees him to assist his allies. Lim’Dul is felled by the last remaining enemy, but the rest of the party is able to gather their strength and defeat
him.
While the party’s
attention was on the skeletons, Windsor was using his dying breath to crawl
over to the flame crystal. As he reaches
out to it, he is consumed by flames. The
party breathes a sigh of relief as they watch his funeral pyre, but they get
nervous as it continues to grow, absent of any form of fuel. A terrible form takes shape out of the fire;
Windsor has harnessed the full power of the flame crystal.
Clenching his burning fists,
Windsor pounds the floor of the cavern.
The earth heaves, and the party is sent skyward.
