After pissing off the members of this pro-Daes cult, a disguised Null quickly returns to her friends. She warns them of the cult members giving chase, but she is overhead as they approach and her cover is blown. The cultists retreat and the Ashen Company is back at square one. They decide to carefully advance, following the sounds of voices speaking a language they can't understand. Null grabs the ledger she saw the priest writing in earlier. Cade summons a draconic spirit. As the party advances into the complex, a close-quarters fight with several warriors and a spellcasting priest ensues.
Kel casts Haste on Lotty on his turn, and quickly retreats to stay out of the melee. He does not reappear. The fight itself is difficult and drawn out. Warriors try to separate the party from each other and the priest controls the battlefield with spells like Evard's Black Tentacles and Hunger of Hadar. The priest also manages to get Silas to grovel for an entire turn, which thankfully Null and Berrik don't witness. So embarrassing. As the fight continues, Cade tries to check on Kel on each of his turns , but to no avail. He is gone. Eventually the Ashen Company prevails and all their enemies lie dead in front of them (permanently, I hope). They loot the priest's body. Null takes the fancy robe, just in case.
The party anxiously searches for Kel. Eventually they find a small hidden chamber behind some barrels in the foyer of the complex. They locate a tablet with a strange runic inscription and struggle to figure out what it's for. On a whim Silas throws a corpse on it, which promptly disappears. Cade sends an owl through the portal to scout ahead and determines that an empty tavern lies beyond. Forgoing a much-needed short rest in order to pursue their friend, the party follows the owl through. They find themselves in an empty tavern on the other side of the complex. A large, red arcane sigil covers the floor in the centre of the room. The party spreads out to search the area. Null takes some papers from a table that are in a language she doesn't understand. Cade locates a button behind the bar and pushes it. Suddenly, all ambient light in the area goes dim as the sigil illuminates. Cade flies his owl over it and it disappears. Another portal - much creepier than the last! The group decides they can't afford to risk Kel's life by resting, so they jump through.
The Ashen Company finds themselves in a larger chamber that appears similar to a run-down temple. A large statue can be seen in the central area. It depicts an angelic, feminine figure in ornate gold armour with black trim. She wields a large scythe. This is definitely religious iconography, but no one can place her. Berrik spots a set of doors that are ajar just beyond the top of a set of stairs. He ascends towards them, but accidentally triggers a trap. He is afflicted with a wave of necromantic energy from the Blight spell. Shrugging off his wounds he continues to the top of the stairs and beckons the party towards the doors, warning them of the possibility of traps. Null scales the railing to avoid the steps while others takes turns hopping aboard the Draconic Spirit Express, which ferries them safely across the flight of stairs, On the second level, the party finds a couple of morbid processing rooms: one filled with instruments (and evidence) of torture, and one filled with coffins and bones and more creepy shit.
The party approaches the set of doors that Berrik had flagged: two large, intimidating statues flank it. Cade decides to send the draconic spirit through first. As the spirit passes between the two statues they both attack, swinging out with their scythes and doing immense amounts of damage to the draconic spirit. Now knowing not to pass between the statues, Null moves behind them and look through the doors. She sees a hallway that seems to go on for hundreds of feet, with no end to be seen. The party follows suit, being careful to only move behind the statues as they approach the doors. Cade then sends the severely wounded draconic spirit down the hallway. At around 75 ft. it triggers a trap, a barrage of bolts coming out of the wall. This ends the spirit, but now the party knows to avoid this kind of trap by crawling beneath it. The Ashen Company advances down the hallway, with Null taking the lead and the rest of the group following behind. Everyone stays about ten feet apart from each other.
After a little while of travelling, Null and Cade notice a length of wall to their left begin to collapse. They are not able to warn their friends of this in time, as everyone tries to avoid getting crushed beneath the rubble. Cade, Null and Silas manage to dodge in time, but unfortunately Berrik, Lotty and Nessie are pinned by pieces of the collapsed wall. The Ashen Company is immediately shocked to find that the wall did not collapse due to engineering faults or tectonic anomalies. It collapsed as a troop of warrior skellies busted through it like the Kool-Aid man. With half the party trapped under rubble, dawning horror washes over them as they realize that this is an ambush!