Rutgar senses the hags appearance and as they materialise he charges them, cutting deep into one of them. Another hag gives him an evil look and he collapses to the ground asleep. A massive battle follows with the hags throwing spell after spell at you, drawing out the worst fears in your head and giving them life. However one by one you cut them down, making the best use of b'Urps stunning abilities to prevent them from returning to the ethreal plane. You take a short rest to heal and restore some of your strength. That was a tough one. Then you return to the skeleton gate and use the keys. The gate opens revealing a scene of horror. Crumbling balconies overlook a pool of lava filling this triangular chamber, above which is suspended an enormous crystal cylinder held in place by three adamantine struts. Wraithlike forms swirl inside the cylinder, and otherworldly screams hang in the air. Four long, writhing tentacles sprout from the cylinder's cap. A shriveled monstrosity the size of an elephant floats near the cylinder. Its body is wet and malformed, its arms and legs are atrophied, and its oversized head drips black goo. The creature is attached to the cylinder by a twisted umbilical cord. An ornate archway looms over a balcony to the sourth. Grinning skulls are molded into its frame, and glowing mist swirls within. The gods inhabiting you have opinions about this situation. Fickle I'jin encourages Rutgar to investigate the mist-filled archway on the south balcony. He climbs his way around and enters the mist, disappearing. Kind Moa encourages b'Urp to free the souls trapped inside the Soulmonger. He climbs around looking for a way to damage the crystal or the struts supporting it. Shrewd Papazotl suspects that the atropal might be vulnerable to radiant damage but warns Javlin that killing it might summon forth its evil master. Grizz-Lee pulls out his horn of blasting and blows a blast towards the crystal. Hairline cracks begin to form. However now the eyes of the monstrosity open and it wails. A horrible piercing sound that drains energy from all that hear it. It looks at Grizz and he feels the life being sucked out of him, healing the atropal. Meanwhile one of the tentacles from the top of the soulmonger lashes out striking Grizz hard. A battle ensues with you attacking both the atropal and the soulmonger. The soulmonger is the first to be destroyed after a hit from Besh's spiritual weapon. The crystal cylinder shatters, and a myriad of tiny lights pour forth from within. These bright souls coil through the air like a tornado, blazing upward and then vanishing in a blinding, spectral flash. You have destroyed the soulmonger and the souls are able to travel to where they should be. The atropal screams again and continues draining life, sending blasts of cold and wailing, draining energy from you. But you eventually defeat it and it drops into the lava. Suddenly a skeletal figure wrapped in moldering robes and clutching a skull-tipped staff appears on the south balcony. Hateful pinpricks of white light burn in its eye sockets, and a two-foot-diameter sphere of utter darkness floats in the air beside it. It is Acererak, the lich who is responsible for the tomb and the soulmonger, the author of all your woes. Suddenly all of you who have gods inhabiting you feel surges of power and strength as the gods demand revenge for their murders. "Nope", b'Urp mutters and starts running away. While all this has been happening, Rutgar has been having his own adventure. He steps out of the mist into an underground chapel with black basalt pillars and a polished obsidian altar. Resting on the altar is a leather bag the size and shape of a human body, and which appears to have been sewn shut. Beyond the altar, a heavy black drape hangs from an archway. Eight emaciated, green-skinned creatures are shackled to the walls of the chapel, each one gazing toward you with a single baleful eye. The monsters begin to gibber and drool as they shake their manacles, eager to be set free. Rutgar ignores the nothics for now, absorbed by the bag. I'jin is very curious and encourages Rutgar to examine it. But as Rutgar approaches the bag suddenly moves and a groan emerges. Rutgar panics and starts chopping at the bag. Whatever is in the bag starts screaming as Rutgar chops, until the screaming is suddenly cut off and the bag lies still. The Nothics start becoming frantic as the bag turns red and at the sight of the meat in the bag. Rutgar is now in the depths of rage and moves towards the Nothics to attack. They all turn their eyes on him and he feels his life being drawn into their gazes....
