Having heard of the tragedy befallen the recent expedition to the Cultist Tower, several of us set out to recover the bodies of Odo and Arnulf. Toril set out with his old friends Hoftar, Dalgatha, Vana, and Korlinn — as well as his recently hired man-at-arms Gorm and a magic-user recently come to town by the name of Balnor. We cross the inlet, climbed the stairs, and descended the entrance to the dungeon under the tower.

The entrance stair was painted in some rather colorful and unusual murals, of skeletons and children and happy sunlit days. Exiting the stairs, we found ourselves in a great chamber with several exits, several areas open to below, and six statues of dieties of death. We advanced forward, in a hallway slightly offset to the left. We opened a door on the right, and found several zombies tattooed with the symbol of Nerull. We dispatched some. As others fled from the power of Pholtus, we chased them down the corridor. Somewhere down the hallway, we were teleported back to the middle of the hallway, facing the opposite direction. We finished dispatching the zombies and continued down the original corridor.

We came to a door on the left, and a large opening to the right from which illumination came. We investigated the illumination, and found a small complex devoted to Wee Jas — a temple, a baths (with 3 dark obelisks), and the chamber of the attendant. The temple had several fires in large braziers, and a golden statue of Wee Jas that was twice my height or more. The attendant was an unusually civil personage, given that he apparently was undead. He encouraged us to worship at the temple, and cheerily asked us to return later.

We opened the door opposite the opening to the complex, and found a room with some writings on it. The room also had a couple of doors and 3 black obelisks in the center of the room. We continued down the original corridor. Near its end (in a tee), we ran into a party of 2 zombies and 6 dark cultists. From their garb, we recognized the cultists as followers of Tolxci, Orcus’ cheif rival. Melee ensued, and we vanquished our opponents. From them, we recovered precious little aside from two precious items: a dweomered staff, and a curative potion.

As we recovered those items, our trusty rear guard Gorm was approached by an apparition of a Pholtan priest. Gorm was transfixed by it immediately, and Hoftar and Balnor quickly followed suit. The rest of us did our worst. I threw arcane darts at it, which caused it harm. It was impervious to both the mundane missiles of Vana, and the powers of the Gods as channeled by Korlinn and Dalgatha. Soon we discovered that it was also immune to my silver arrows. Our attempts to engulf it in Holy Water met with little success, but Korlinn used Pholtus’ Rod to bring Hoftar back to his senses. He quickly seized the staff from Balnor and struck the ghost with it, banishing it. Gorm was quite melancholy from his contact with the apparation, and we quickly vacated that foul place. I do believe my sharp elven ears heard something coming down the passageway toward us, but we seem to have outrun it.