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Continuing from the previous session, the party storms into the now (hopefully) unguarded section of the city controlled by the merchant Azêllay. There, they encounter a large number of Dark Ones patrolling the rooftops and alleys.

Once they defeat a number of Dark Ones, the remaining ones scatter – with Ibiza in pursuit. The remaining party spends several minutes locating a secret entrance to Azêllay's fortress – which turns out to have a similar arcane enchantment as the secret door on the crypt in Hammerfast.

Despite having lost Ibiza, the party decides to enter the fortress to confront Azêllay. Inside, they find a chamber much larger than the outer building. There they fight a Flux Slaad and Azêllay himself – who turns out to be a capable necromancer.

In the end, badly wounded and leaking small black spiders from his cracked skin, Azêllay flees by pushing Erasmus through one of the open doors and closing it behind him. When the party reopens the door, they find it opens to a completely different location.

After some experimentation and exploration, the party determines that Azêllay's fortress has four doors – each one opening to a random destination. Some of the destinations appear to be other planes of existance - though most seem to be of “normal” locations around the region.

In the process, the party finds the following loot:

• 1 Level 7 Magic Item: Badge of the Berserker +2 (Ibiza)
• 1 Level 8 Magic Item: ??? (Oin)
• 1 Level 9 Magic Item: ???
• 1 Level 10 Magic Item: ???
• 2,400 gp

The first encounter was a home-brew using the “Thieves Quarter” map from “Fantastic Locations: City of Peril”. The party entered from one side, with five Hex Knight Dark Ones (Monster Manual 3) waiting for them in the alleys, along with five Shadow Bolter Dark Ones (Monster Manual 3) positioned on the rooftops.

As the party entered, Damazi placed his cat on the first rooftop and started pushing the planks off – thus restricting the Shadow Bolters from moving around freely. Imbo used his “(name here)” power to pull Shadow Bolters from their position. Despite the saving throw, he was remarkably effective at this – and by the end of the fight, all of them were on the ground.

One of the Hex Knights tried to sneak around behind the party, but the weak-ass Stealth rules prevented me from doing anything really cool.

The second encounter was a home-brew using the “Tomb of Queen Peregrine” map from “Fantastic Locations: Fane of the Drow”. It consisted of a Flux Slaad (Monster Manual 2) and “Azu Morn, Necromancer” (from the RPGA module “Out of Hatred”). “Azu” fit the idea of the merchant Azêllay (complete with Shadow and Necromancy) – not to mention a similar name!

Azu first moved closer to the party and used his “Call of the Grave” encounter power to summon four Nighthaunt Slips (Open Grave). Despite the Slips being minions, their high defenses kept them in the fight for several rounds. Unfortunately, they were unable to effectively mob a single target like they want to do.

Next, Azu wasted his “Life Trap” encounter power with a bad die roll. He then held back and used his “Slashing Darkness” ranged attack, alognside “Shackles of Death” every time it recharged.

The Flux Slaad's “Vulnerability Shift” never came into effect. He started the fight with Vulnerable 10 against psychic damage and Resist 5 against the other five energy types – but never got hit with a psychic attack, so it never shifted. This defense (and his annoying 2 square teleport move) made him an effective enemy who lasted most of the fight.

Eventually, though, it was just down to Azu. Just before he reached bloodied, he opted to flee – but Oin used a Run maneuver to get ahead of him and block one of the exits. He tried for another, but Erasmus blocked him. In the end, because he was a vital NPC, I opted to go with a small cheat to allow him to escape. With the door open (due to a tiny tactical flaw from Erasmus), he did a 2-square Bull Rush maneuver (normally only one square) to push himself and Erasmus through the door.

Despite being a 12th level Elite Controller, the party managed to pummel Azu from 236 down to only 47 hit points! (Every time I bump the maximum monster levels up, the party seems to meet or exceed the challenge)

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