After stocking up on equipment, the party boarded the Storm's Grace, along with the crew and 150 of the King’s best men, then set off The Demon Wastes, Selene d'Lyrandar at the helm. Bludak Mal K'shaar was still injured from his near death experience, but came along for the ride anyway. Not long into the journey, flying over Aundair, disaster struck when some of the patched repairs ripped off the side of the ship, sending several men to their death, as the ship started banking heavily.
Daellin was little help, getting in the way more than anything else. Fortunately, Smithand Elias Minch saved the day. Smith proved a natural at woodwork, supporting the crew to repair the patches with ease, whilst Elias used his natural agility to carry supplies and tools around the affected area. They were soon back on track with little time lost.
Later on in the journey, there were more problems when a freak storm came out of nowhere, enveloping the ship, lightning slaying more men. Selene expertly used her navigator’s tools and strength on the wheel to navigate out of the storm to safety. On reaching the destination, they were down to 139 men, and 2 crew members lost as well.
The party were met with a harsh, red, barren landscape with rivers of lava as they approached Vostethratra. As they disembarked on the primitive docking bay, they were hit with windy conditions, sand and dust spraying in their faces. On the horizon, a strange gathering of storm clouds could be seen, lightning shooting down.
At the ruins they were approached by the stoic Grashaak K'shashar (Grash) who was to be their guide. Bludak acted as ambassador. Grash informed them that the horses for the men hadn’t arrived yet, and that the party would have to proceed ahead of the main group with haste. They agreed and Grash led the way. The harsh conditions proved too much for all but Smith, suffering from it badly.
Grash failed to spot an ambush of serval carrion tribes-orcs and worgs in a ruins on the way, losing his horse to them. The party stormed in to save him, just in the nick of time, slaying the foes as they attacked Grash’s unconscious body. Following this, worsening conditions caused more exhaustion on Selene and Elias. They both took a dubious looking drink from Grash, which did help their exhaustion, but also left them drunk, affecting their battle skills.
Resuming the journey, he led them to a deep chasm, spreading for miles around. This was the Lair of the Keeper. They were now under the storm, but it strangely had no rain, only lightning. Grash seemed to think it was the doing of a ritual. He explained that he would show them the easiest way down the chasm where they could meet General Yorin Thaurum, who was at the bottom. As they gingerly descended, they were set upon by 3 cockatrices. They managed to jump / fall onto ledges and fend the beasts off, but not before Grash got knocked-out again, failing to land gracefully on his ledge.
Due to keeping their guide alive, they made it to the bottom of the chasm in good time, meeting up with Thaurum. He explained that the Lair of the Keeper spread out below this area. There were corpses around of humans, orcs, skeletons, and zombies. Thaurum said that he had sensed Vol within the lair and had spent several days scouting and observing. He had not seen her but had seen her minions coming and going. He had also found several tunnels in.
Thaurum then stated that the storm was due to a ritual being cast – probably Erandis Vol attempting to open the manifest zone to Dollurrh. He had a plan, but unfortunately it involved sending the party in as a decoy, so he could attack Vol in the midst of her ritual casting. He had hoped the whole army would have arrived, but now there was little time. The party agreed but needed to rest first. Thaurum reluctantly agreed to this; hopefully, the time would not be critical. When they awoke, the army had still not arrived, so they proceeded into the Lair.
It was colder inside and there was an eerie quiet. The party sensed pure evil within. The party split with Tharum, him heading to the ritual chamber (or where he thought it was ant any rate), and them heading to a main cavern, which Thaurum said was a primary meeting point for the undead (although he did not know how many they would face). Thaurum stressed that their mission was to create a distraction, and even to try to feign their numbers in order to pull protection away from Vol. It was a likely suicide mission. Selene tried to suss Thaurum out, ultimately deciding that his intentions were honourable.
On the way to the main cavern, the party came across several dretch in a long corridor, whom they attacked. The door slammed shut and the walls on either side of the corridor started to close in, threatening to crush them all to death. They sprinted up the corridor for their lives, only to be attacked by 2 previously invisible imps, with extremely nasty, poisonous stings. The party escaped by the skin of their teeth, as the surviving minions (and Smith’s flamethrower) got crushed behind.
Battered, bruised and broken, the party arrived at the main cavern…