@OB: Thanks for the map comment! @Ameena: Yeah, sitting tight and doing nothing while the NPCs win the battle for you is certainly how I run my games :p
Aurek begins specifically channelling his abilities as a paladin to feel the influence of darker High Lord's power, and the taint that introduces to normal people's actions. Petal says she does not have such a thing, instead she can only feel those who are attuned to nature - as she calls it. She had always equated it to good, to being so outlooking and connected to the world.
Deephold and Westian know that only paladin - with far more of a black and white focus - have the ability to be so sensative to evil. Aurek's senses slowly drown out the rest of the room. The greatness of the evil in this place is a physical thing, starting to crush Aurek as he tried to touch it.
Take 3 non-lethal damage, I'm afraid. The nearness of the Demon Queen is terrifying, and a ticking clock. It takes longer to ignore than and feel the more subtle evils underneath. Aside from the Queen, Aurek can feel only one other difuse evil aura around - most likely Gholst. Other than that, there seem to be nine distinct auras in the room. Since only five people can at present be seen, this is troubling. Is this proof the Trolins or his own party are evil?
However, it only takes a moment more of concentration to realise nothing truly aligned to evil - not even the Trolin Knig - are at his side. Instead, Aurek can start to see the blooms in his mind's eye... The five on the dias, with the explosion of the demon queen above that. Oddly, Passin does not show an aura, it is his armour sitting on the altar beside him. Theron does not give off a bloom, instead there is a diffuse aura in the air between the soulstone and Theron. And two more fainter auras somewhere t the back of the room...
And two more, directly to the party's right! Haynuus's warnign regarding what could face them had been correct. Forewarned by the half orc and now his own senses, the paladin could sense what the moving shadows were. Somehting evil, powered directly by the demon queen Lolth. Haynuus's night sight, once drawn to the area, could work out exactly that his fears were realised. Two of those creatures, such as they had faced before, were lurking behind the pillars. What they were waiting for was unknown. Perhaps they awaited their true mistress to reveal herself, and order them to attack. Unfortunately, Haynuus was now positioned poorly to be able to tell properly, even though he saw enough of a ragged hand to know they could be nothing else but those frozen undead. Uumack did not have the same experience, and so while he readied his weapon, he still did not fully appreiaate why the coldness was linked to Haynuus's concern over mummies, nor could he appreciate more than Aurek and Haynuus's concern for the poinpointed moving shadows..
Westian tried to hold the group at bay, however teh Trolin King seemed to be impatient, especailly when the fighters huddled together, and Ameena and Petal started trying ot use other senses. "Why not attack now, when all distracted!" hissed the King. "Kill strongest. let weakest fight with us and do most of fight, then kill weakest when we win!" Clearly, he was falling abck on Trolin tactis that had probably worked very well for him over the years. Deephold gave the King a black look.
Ameena was lost in the smells of the place. The cold air was making it hard to breath, and yet the crisp air also seemed to be destroying some of the harsh metallic scents. It allowed her to latch on to a very familiar scent - Falkor's! It was so faint ,for the halfling had not left a scent trail, goign throguhthe ether. Obviously, he must have re-appeared for her to smell him. Petal seemed to notice what she was doing, that she had scented something in that vague direction. "Theron, good he still is!" she said of Theron, apparently having tried to sense his aura. She turned her powers to Ameena's side of the room, and pointed to the area of pillars. "Something good that was is!" Ameena knew that must be Falkor. She had scented enough things to know how far he must be, if the scent was fresh, to be this faint. She could nopt see him, but she almost did not need to, so confident could she be of his location.
Since I'm NPCing Petal right now, decided to use your good roll Ameena to justifying havign Petal's powers be useful. And now, something else fun for that DC 30 roll... I'll use an OOC questions as a base, hope you don't mind!
However, there was somethign else. Ameena's eyes had been drawn to the lights, wondering what the small shapes on some of the pillars were to be castign such bright light on the central dias. Als, it seemed as if the central altar itself was also adding to the glow. And then, suddenly, a few odd flashes of thought and memory came together. The altar had not been hear in the other time that was now hard to recall. The altar had been in the Grey Lord and Theron's private rooms. And the glow, the glow had meant something. No, it had disguised something. No one looked at the glowing centre of the altar, that was supposed to represent the sun, wasn't it, somehow? And it was a place Theron had long since got used to. Gholst could only have placed the last Soulstone piece more cunningly if he had placed it in the pillar where it used to be. And that had been under Dargat's control. No, instead, Gholst had placed it where the Grey Lord's essence was already infused, where the glow of it even if triggered would never be seen, a place that Theron would always be looking at yet never looking at, and so be the last place the archmage would ever check.
The last piece of the Soulstone was now right under eeryone's nose. It was in the centre of the altar.
Meanwhile, even as the Trolin King attempted to speak to Westian, the half-elf tried to take advantage of his position without alerting anyone else. Westian tried to concentrate on the things his eyes could see, however his 'affliction' came back to him, and he felt dizzy. All around him, the voices and thoughts and senses of his friends bled in to his thoughts. He could not help it, a map of the room - of the thigns Haynuus saw and Aurek felt, of the conflux of senses that pinpointed Falkor - all formed so easily in his mind. And worse, or better, the room itself was intruding in to his mind. He could see it all, laid out from memory when he had been here before, and from his connection to it now. He knew exactly where the two blackskull soldiers were standing that Aurek had detected, he could feel Falkor's presence and almost hear the halfling's thoughts, filling with worry for something was happening on the ethereal plane to do with Gholst, Theron and Karnadee. And knew those thoughts were dreamlike, for the halfling had once more been knocked unconscious by Gholst's power. And Westian felt the creatures standing awaiting their mistress, Passin standing, hesitant and uncertain in his choices, thinking of Westian and Aurek's words even now. Of Dargat and Garax so focused on hate for each borne out of an odd mutual respect and bonds of fellowship through the cult. Ready to murder each other for the betrayal the other assumed, all engineered by Dolo.
Westian knew that he was still linked lightly to the others, as they were to him. That even now Deephold, Helm, Petal, Aurek, Haynuus, Falkor, Ameena, Uumack, Guree and the Grrl the King were beginning to see the same picture that was forming in Westian's mind.
I can give Westian a DC26 pass for having a bonus from his unusual senses. And so, a metagame thing becomes narrative. All your characters will have a vague awareness of the entirety of the gaming map. And Westian will intimately know it all.
Dolo screamed. An inhuman scream. Higher pitched than any mortal should be able to manage. He lifted himself up on to his hands, head thrown back. Theron did not look around, but everyone else in the place did. Fighting was forgotten as even Garax and Dargat simply stared at the dark elf. The two mummies then screamed an inhuman scream too, adding to the chorus.
Lolth was getting stronger. She was gaining her foothold. She was almost here. And all at once, even as the rest of the enemy looked to Dolo and the mummies, Dolo and the mummies turned to look at the party.
Lolth could feel Larethian's minions. She was not pleased.
And there we shall stop. I'll update the map for everything hidden, and let you guys figure out your actions. everyone mortal except Theron is looking to Dolo and the mummies. Theron is apparently focused on somethign to do with the ethereal plan and Gholst/Karnadee. Meanwhile, Lolth is now focused o nthe group. How soon before the mummies attack, and the rest of the enemies get focused on you guys because of that, is probably an easy guess. Very soon 
You have you literal PC hivemind, know where everyone is, know where the soulstone piece is, don't have anyone in the ethereal plane helping with the Theron situation, and apparently might well have an ally in Passin. Go team!
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) And now I have returned to the DM forums. YAY!
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