Nor, Elaryan, and Malak teleport back to Bladechapel Manor, where they are reunited with Xhotl, Lor, and Eovan. After healing and restoring, Elaryan uses a limited wish to return the entire party back to the Ivory Labyrinth. Unfortunately, the heroes arrive back at the plaza where they encountered the marilith Odeenka. Malak leads the way through the bone-strewn halls, trying to remember the path to the section where they lost Arthas. After several hours, it is clear that they are lost. Eovan opens a door in a nondescript chamber, and a diamond golem animates, attacking the party! The golem is resistant to both spell and sword, but it is also at a disadvantage in the tight confines of the labyrinth. The heores overwhelm it, and it crumbles, leaving behind a large pile of diamond dust. The party continues to explore, eschewing rest and working past their fatigue, in a desperate attempt to find the paladin. After many, may hours of wandering, they finally discover something new: a large chamber with multiple pillars and daises. As they make their way across this grand hall, several things happen at once. Eovan is transmuted into a statue, while simultaneously, all of the party's magical items are rendered inert . It turns out that the chamber is the lair of a mythic beholder named Xaejil. Its spheroid body is covered in chitinous horns and leathery flesh. Its great bulging eye sits above a wide, toothy maw, while the smaller eyestalks that crown its body twist and turn to keep its foes in sight. As it floats into view, the eye tyrant demands tribute and praise in payment for the party's transgression. The heroes respond by charging into in battle! As Xhotl clears the cone of the beholder's antimagic field , a green ray blasts forth from one of the eyestalks, reducing the shambling mound to dust. Undeterred, Lor and Nor roll from the (disintegrated) saddle and continue their charge. They are joined by Malak, who runs out of the antimagic field and uses dimension door to teleport within melee range. Xaejil moves with mythic swiftness, however, and a few seconds later both Nor and Elaryan are petrified. A third eyestalk launches a violet fear beam at Malak, causing him to flee the chamber entirely. The only hero who remains is Lor. The tiny ghoran begins to grovel, praising Xaejil and offering to spread word of the beholder's greatness. Xaejil is flattered, and allows Lor to escape with his friends, leaving only a single token of their defeat behind: the statue that was once Eovan. Eventually, Lor and Malak manage to find each other in the twisting hallways that surround Xaejil's lair. Using break enchantment to return Elaryan and Nor to flesh, plus resurrection to restore Chotl, they continue their search for Arthas. A few hours later, they stumble across a familiar hall. A grizzled ranger sits there, roasting a haunch of hippogriff over a makeshift campfire. The ranger introduces himself as Ensilote, and explains came to the Ivory Labyrinth long ago while pursuing a rogue mage. Ensilote confronted his quarry and killed him, but has since been stuck in the Labyrinth. He spent his first decade trying to find the way out, but in the years that followed, his desire to escape the Labyrinth has vanished. He is suspicious of mages and demons, and mostly desires to be left alone. Nonetheless, after hearing about the party's plight, he offers to help them find Arthas. The first place that Ensilote suggests looking is the town of Blackburgh. The patrol of minotaurs that the party encountered is loyal to a mythic nalfeshnee named Orengofta, whose seat of power is there; if Arthas has been captured, the city is his likely destination. Ensilote offers to lead the heroes to Blackburgh, and seems somehat embarrassed to have been caught eating the paladin's mount (though he explains that there is no reason to let the "beast join the bones of a million others"). After a brief rest, the party presses on. Nor is sure to bring along a large enough piece of Hubris's carcass for resurrection. Over the next several days, Ensilote leads the party though the labyrinth. The ranger seems quite capable at avoiding traps and encounters, and the time passes largely without incident. Eventually, the osseous halls of the Ivory Labyrith open up into a type of hedge maze, which Ensilote calls the Starflower Hedges. Though the hedges are only fifteen feet tall, the ranger warns against trying to fly above them. Flight, teleportation, and other attempts to "cheat" the maze are dealt with harshly in this realm, with the transgressor shunted back to a random point in the Ivory Labyrinth. A day or two into the Starflower Hedges, the party has their first encounter. As they come around a corner, they see a statue at the end of hede row. It is in the form of an angel, her face buried in her hands. Ensilote seems terrified. The mage hunter explains that this statue is in fact one of ancient race of assassins. When observed, they are "quantum-locked", which means that they are both immobile and indestructible. But when unobserved, they move with breath-taking speed. Their mere touch will send a victim back in time before their birth-- allowing the Angel to feast on the energy of their unlived days. The party begins to edge away but Elaryan, who is in the rear, accidentally blinks. In a fraction of a second, the angel has halved the distance to the party. No longer weeping, its face is instead twisted into a terrifying snarl. The party increases its speed, careful to not let the statue out of sight for too long. Unfortunately, they soon encounter a second Weeping Angel, then a third. At that point, Nor has a clever idea. He summons several arbiter inevitables, clockwork beings with a single, unblinking eye. He commands these to watch the Angels, as the party runs from the area. The heroes follow Ensilote through the Starflower Hedges for several more days. Eventually, abandoned structures begin to appear along the path, squeezes in among the hedge rows. As the party travels, these buildings become more numerous, until the hedges disappear entirely, replaced by a tangled, densely packed city of wooden and stone buildings. They have found their way to Blackburgh. Unsuprisingly, the city forms yet another maze, The buildings themselves make up the 20-foot high walls of the maze, leaving alleys that are generally 5 to 10 feet wide and a sky above thick with smoke and fog. Primarily a town for demonic ritual and veneration of Baphomet, Blackburgh also contains demonic hatcheries, breeding grounds for beasts and monsters, and warehouses for various materials coveted by demons (urns of blood, certain gemstones, larvae, and more). The ground is damp with blood and ichor, and the air reeks of smoke and decay. In the distance, just visible though the smog, Baphomet’s Dread Tower serves as a constant reminder of the demon lord’s presence. The heroes move swifty through the alleys, avoiding eye contact with the balors, kalavakuses, and mariliths they pass. Ensilote explains that they are looking for one of Orengofta's coloxus servants. Once they find the servants, they can be brought to the nalfenshee, who will hopefully be willing to barter for Arthas's life. Everyone who played gains 40,000 XP.
