5 Alturiak, 1372

Dear Master Zorthaster,

We have destroyed Irae T'sarran and her minions of the Undying Temple and tomorrow we hope to eliminate the dark force that disrupts the weave in this place. Tomorrow we plan to assault the black sphere of negative energy and the tower itself.

The evil temple still held many enemies when last I wrote. Following that brief note, we fought a powerful Blackguard of Kiransalee in a room decorated with an oppressive face set in the floor as a mosaic. During the fight I polymorphed a door into a unicorn which helped battle the blackguard. The unfortunate being tried to attack the sphere of negative energy after the Blackguard fell, but as soon as its horn touched the globe, large black wispy hands pulled the magical beast into the sphere and it was gone. The face in the floor was inscrutable. I could not tell if it held some clue to the nature of the tower's oppressive evil or it was merely a horrid representation of the temple's wickedness.

The tower and sphere of dark energy are linked somehow, but it is difficult to understand the connection. I have, in the short time since encountering them, been able to determine that the tower itself has a sentience and is highly malevolent. It can cast spells including destruction and finger of death, and likely others of similar power as well. I suspect, that like most magical constructs, it is immune to many of my most powerful spells. It is harmed by positive energy, but the amount of damage it takes from even powerful spells such as heal, is limited. Primula touched a wall of the tower with a heal spell, cutting into the black stone with the holy energy and causing a shallow crater to form as the evil rock dissolved to a depth of about an inch. Many, many such spells would need to be employed to have any significant effect on the structure. Very powerful arcane spells such as Mordenkainen's disjunction or wish may affect it, but I remain unable to master the art enough to cast those spells.

We finally started making some progress on getting on with our mission when our priestess decided to jump through the portal on the stairs. Following close behind, the rest of the party discovered a corresponding, reverse tower on the ethereal plane. This ethereal tower appeared to be carved from the interior of a gigantic stalactite and it spiraled down around the dark sphere. The ethereal medusa was there, still injured from our previous encounters and we fought with it again. But again, before we could kill it, it fled.

The way continued upward through a series of rooms connected by open holes rather than stairs. Movement on the ethereal plane takes a little while to get used to, but we were able to travel without too much difficulty after a short period of adjustment. The drow took full advantage of the shadowy overlap between the ethereal and prime material planes. In one spot they had an ambush set up behind a prime wall. Further on we faced keening spirits and an obsidian golem. As we proceeded through the rooms, it struck me that the tower was no longer casting any harmful spells at us. It could have been that it was not capable of doing so on the ethereal plane, but I thought it more likely that it had exhausted itself against us earlier. I hoped that the latter was the case, as getting back out of the tower while it hurled destruction and finger of death at us was an entirely unappealing thought.

Just after finishing off the golem and the keening spirit, we were approached by what appeared to be a drow under a flag of truce. He had glowing pinpoints of light where his eyes should have been and I believed at the time that he was probably undead. His name was Umaerh, and he gave up a peace offering. It was the head of the ethereal medusa. He proposed an alliance to defeat Irae T'sarran. Recognizing that such alliances never last for long, he proposed help for help and for all of us to leave in peace afterwards.

Umaerh timed his approach well, for we soon encountered the murderous drow of whom we were in search. Xan quickly scouted the next room and reported that it held the T'sarran along with a number of undead and one of those gigantic, armor shredding spider demons. I peeked up far enough to launch a sunburst into the room and then cleared out so the warriors could lead the way. Umaerh rushed past and we could hear the blasts of a flame strike and an ice storm as soon as he entered the room.

The battle with the last T'sarran forces was a thing of nightmares. The demon spider was perched over the entrance to the room so we had to rush past its horrible, weapon-like legs to even enter the area. Fortunately for me, Oskar and the Breath of Moradin were distracting the monster and it missed me with a slashing leg as I dashed past. Meanwhile Shane was busy attacking the pale drow leader, but she was clad in an evil blackness that drained the life force of the halfling every time his fists and feet struck true. I was able to help some by disintegrating the bebelith to free up Oskar and his mount. My sunburst had cleared the room of all but the most powerful foes that remeained in the temple's inner sanctum. Kerith was playing marvelous battle songs, buoying our spirits and protecting us from some of the spells that were flying in every direction. Primula seemed to be everywhere at once, restoring Shane when he appeared ready to collapse and healing wounds right and left. Xan's arrows pounded into our enemies in a steady, punishing stream. Even so, in the first few breaths of battle, our opponents seemed overwhelming and I despaired. The tide of battle quickly turned in our favor when all of the Wandsmen fully entered the fray.

There was another nasty turn of events when the last of the T'sarrans fell. Umaerh ended our truce earlier than we expected when he cast a prismatic spray in our direction. I am embarrassed to say that I mistook the opening somatic components for the relatively harmless color spray and initially believed that he was simply acting to cover a hasty retreat.

The Wandsmen, protected by Primula's powerful spells and Kerith's songs, shrugged off most of the effects of the spell cast by our one-time ally. He followed up with another casting of the same spell that caused more harm. Mr. Tuskgrin, who had been clinging to my cloak in terror throughout out the battle, fell to the floor, turned to stone. I was hit by a ray that rocked me with a powerful shock of electrical energy. Oskar's friend shield, cast earlier in the day, enabled me to survive the effects. We in turn pounced on the sorcerer-lich, blasting him with spells, weapons and fists. We destroyed his body, but without any idea about the location of his phylactery, his destruction is likely to be only temporary.

There was little else we could do today against the tower so, after carefully searching all the rooms on the ethereal as well as the prime planes, we retreated back into Castle Maermydra and took refuge in the magnificent mansion. It was a long, exhausting and terrifying day. Tomorrow we face the tower and the globe of darkness at its heart. Even with that frightful prospect ahead of us, I feel that we are certain to prevail and that we will restore the weave.

Sincerely,

Cedar