Sands of Time

Nihlus, Shadow, Xander and Coop met the caravan heading for the High Forest at DaggerFalls.

After slaughtering all the Duke's men at the Evil Encampment, they decided to go after the Black Duke himself.
With his capability of raising an army quickly and rallying Evil underlings even sooner, he cannot be allowed to roam the lands any more..

And although they haver gotten quite precise coördinations from Wee-Wak, they still need a guide to cross the searing Anauroch.

And so they hire one from the caravan which is about to cross it.
With the help of Divine Wind Walk, they'll be able to cross it in one day instead of a tenday.

Soon, it becomes clear it will take them a little longer.
They have a short stop every half hour for the guide to get his bearings straight.
And after several stops they encounter a Projected Image of High Priest DarkRose.

"Hail, Heroes. Here I send my image before you to inform.
The perimeter around HellGate cannot easily be breached.
In days of old it was sealed by a Mythal, which now is wavering.
Entrance will be difficult and deadly even with outside help.
The treants are led by Turlang, an ancient arboreal.
He, in turn, takes orders from the High Elves.
To enter the complex without disturbing the Mythal's Magic Mayhem.
You'll need an Artifact that helped cast it.
The Mythal's main purpose was to hold the Baatezu in stasis.
Now, the Orb that counters it is held by Tanar'ri.
I shall lead you to its hiding place.
There you have to defeat the one who holds the Orb of Mythanthar.
Godspeed to you all."


They deliberated for a short time, whether to trust this image and/or to proceed without trying for the Orb.
Eventually they decided to both trust the image and to go grab Mythanthar's Orb.

They were led to a site where, after digging for quite some time, they came upon a stone door set in a stone foundation beneath the Sands of Anauroch.
Leaving the Guide outside, with Templar (Nihlus' Mount) to guard him, they entered the dark, desolate and dry dungeon.
The complex was quickly and exact scoured of any loose or protruding objects, all secret doors, hatches and ways were opened and discovered.
All traps were found and set off.
All corridors and rooms were mapped.
And in the end, they had only one more way to discover.

A pitch-black veil of darkness was at the end of one grand hall.
With trial and error they finally all went through after Nilhus.

On the other side they were beset by an Acid Fog and Demons.
First by small, winged teleporting Gadacro who all invoked a Mirror Image to confound the Heroes.
Then charging in came the Carnage Demons, empowering each other and slashing away with their Reaving Fists.

Finally all were slain or driven off.

Triumphant they were healed, then a roar shook the stone door around the corner.
Raising werapons and handling material components they idled closer.
A rock-shattering Thud cracked the door.
Gripping his Lord's Rod-Empowered Flaming Longsword tight, Nihlus stepped forward to defend his group against the upcoming onslaught of Demon-Infused Ember.
With a last loud burst of strength the entire door split, each 2 foot thick half crumbling to the floor.

Standing in the large door way a massive bulging shape stood, burning their sight with the agony of a dozen souls.