The group step out as Evanna runs stumbling from the Narthex. She attempts to flee but they are able to convince her that they mean her no harm. She tells them about a cult that lives in the Narthex that abducted her and her brother Shome. She claims that the leader, Abrassal, has been trying to brainwash them into being a part of the cult but she could stand it no more and is attempting to escape. She was unable to free her brother who, she says, is manacled in Abrassal's chambers. The group offer to go in and free him. They give her a knife and show her where their hidden campsite is. Using a key that Evanna had stolen, the group are able to enter the Narthex. Inside is much huger than outside, perhaps 1000 ft across. The chamber is the bottom of a huge cylinder with an elevator shaft in the middle. The group go up the elevator and across a clearly marked walkway, dotted with glowglobes, candles and small trinkets. This leads into a complex maze of synth tunnels, but the group continue to follow the marked path. Suddenly they hear noises up ahead. They duck into a nearby corridor to hide as the group of cultists they had previously seen outside the Narthex go past. They are talking about finding Evanna and returning with her. The group ambush them from behind, killing all but two. The leader of the small group, Gregor, is the one that was so rude to them earlier and who they learn who has treated Evanna atrociously. They tie his hands behind him, take his key and eject him from the Narthex, yelling at him to leave and never come back - hopefully loudly enough for Evanna (and her new knife) to hear. Fean is the other captured cultist. He surrendered easily and they learn that he is the one who has learnt how to predict where the Narthex will appear. There is little understanding of the Narthex, but it travels throughout the world. The cult has been in the Nathex for generations and worship a force called 'the Vortex' which communicates only with Abrassal, teaching him wisdom which he shares with the rest of the group. The cult used to be much bigger, but the outside world has become more dangerous and more and more often, foraging groups have not returned. Recently Abrassal had told the group that they needed to start recruiting aggressively in order to keep the cult alive. They had found Evanna and Shome and brought them into the Narthex. Abrassal has been indoctrinating them since then. The group decide that this Abrassal is dangerous and needs to be dealt with. They make their way through the complex, with Fean cooperating. They arrive in a large chamber that has been turned into a headquarters for the cultists with lots of furniture, cushions and hobbies scattered throughout the room. There are a small group of cultists in the room, but they show no hostility to the adventurers so are left alone. They then go down an elevator to a passage with two doors leading out. They try the first door and find in there an obese snoring man asleep in a luxurious bedchamber. Also asleep, manacled to a solid chair is a filthy, naked young man. He looks as if he has been smeared in blood and filth. The group decide to sneak into the bedchamber and execute the obese man while he sleeps. However they find that some force is keeping them from entering the room. Even when they try and shoot the man with a tranquiliser, the needle will not enter the room. Eventually they figure out that there is some sort of force shield preventing any metal items from entering the room. Chips removes all metalic items and sneaks into the room, but trips over the leg of a coffee table, scattering a wooden bowl full of pharmicuticals across the room and waking both the inhabitants. Abrassal rises from the bed, puts on a bathrobe and exits the chamber - forcing back all except Chips. He tries to convince in his bullying way that the group need to leave the Narthex and never return or the pain and suffering they will endure will be unthinkable. The party attack, limited by the force shield that prevents metal items. With some awkwardness they defeat Abrassal. Immediately the shield drops and Kel hears a voice in his head, initially talking in various unintelligible languages but eventually settling on the truth. "Ah, thank goodness. I can finally talk to somebody, it's been such a long time". It turns out that the voice is an entity on the other side of "the vortex" - an artificial intelligence created by a race of people from long ago designed to monitor and maintain a station buried in the sun. This station gathered energy from the sun and transmitted it through the vortex to the Narthex in order to power various extradimensional craft. However the station has now been there for so long that the structure is getting close to failure. The intelligence requires people to enter the vortex in order to use a matter manipulator and rebuild the structure of the station. The intelligence promises that if the group can help it, they will be able to use the matter manipulator for any use they require. He gives them directions to a room in the Nathex where they can don environmental protection suits. Even within the safety of the structure, the heat is so high that humans would not survive without protection.
