6/8 session recap

The air above the pit was filled with the not-so-whispered deliberations of the party. Some sort of concensus was reached, and Enli conjured two celestial monkeys to go down the spiral stairway as scouts. The monkeys came back very shortly, and said (in celestial) that there was a side passage. The party proceeded down the stairs, and saw a 10' wide corridor stretch 30' to a door. Enli instructed the monkeys to open the door and check inside. They fumbled with the latch a bit, then slipped inside. There were monkey screams and orc grunts, and then silence.

The party whispered some more, and then Hrir kicked in the door. Five orcs stood waiting, including one that was wearing ornate, black spiked armor. That one also carried an axe with a head of pure energy. Combat ensued. Every time that the lead orc was injured, he seemed to grow stronger and more dense. Hrir was hit and stunned. Spikes then shot from the lead orc's armor on chains, but everyone dodged somehow. After a couple of viscious backstabs from Siala, the leader grew to be ten feet tall. An invisible, beardless dwarf attacked, becoming visible. Urgmob fired several arrows at him, but the should pads on the dwarf's armor deflected the first, and he caught another scant inches from his face. Hrir recovered, and landed a few blows on the leader, but was then stunned again, as was Davinov. Siala delivered a couple of extra sneak attacks, which caused leathery wings to sprout from the orc's back. He resembled a cross between a devil and an orc. The orc then summoned a retriever, normally a demonic construct, and it attacked the party with it's eye rays. Urgmob had donned his spider climb slippers, and was perched high on the wall, firing arrows into the retriever. The retriever responded by turning Urgmob to stone with a ray. After taking massive damage, the beardless dwarf clicked his heels and teleported away.

During the melee, spells continued to rain down upon the party, seemingly from nowhere, or near the vicinity of the walls. Eventually the party figured out that there were casters in there, and passed through the illusions to attack them. Before either of the sorcerors could be killed, however, they teleported away. Rhin broke the enchantment on Urgmob, who resumed firing arrow after arrow into enemies.

Spikes shot forth from the armor again, impaling Davinov and Bob the Orc. They were then dragged foward, and lifeforce seemed to drain from them. Bob the Orc expired, but Davninov ripped himself from the spike with a cry of pain. He then fell to the ground, unmoving. Hrir was looking extremely bad too. Enli and Rhin stepped in with healing spells, reviving them and closing their wounds. Hrir shed his tower shield, put away his axe, and then drew the demon axe. Davinov recovered, and dealt the final blow to the lead orc before Hrir could even swing the artifact, however. As the lead orc fell, he cried out "No! I won't go! No, don't take me!" And then his body shriveled in on itself, shedding all of the features of a devil.

As a side note, the four other orcs were slain during the course of the combat.