Nadroc and Yldar, being held firmly into place through blindingly fast hold person spells, were left out for important seconds. Jorel and Zeek, spring into battle while calling their companions attentions. Jorel manages to spring past the undead trio who push forward to close the party in on the Worm Sea behind them. Zeek swats away falling Kyuss worms in strategically jumping under one of the floating divine minions, taunting and thwarting him from behind. Conventional attacks and arrows seem to be doing little good, when Vasco, Maeron unleash their full power against them, first thoroughly destroying the undead warrior before dropping one of the spell casters who had unsuccessfully been trying to control their minds. The third undead floats up and past the party, disappearing around the corner into the cavernous room.
The immediate surroundings waver and fade, replaced by a bird’s-eye view of the city of Kuluth-Mar at its height. The streets are empty, as the thousands of citizens seem to have gathered in a mass in the central plaza surrounding the Spire of Long Shadows. Suddenly, a foul energy wells from the spire at the center of the city, sweeping outward and felling the living as it passes. For each creature that falls, you feel a silent but potent sense of wrongness, as some indescribable part of the creature, perhaps its soul, is drawn back toward the Spire of Long Shadows to be absorbed by the strange black monolith of stone balanced at its peak. As the energy builds around the peak, a shimmering image of a colossal humanoid figure, its body composed of a million writhing worms, takes form around the Spire of Long Shadows, its arms raised in triumph. Yet in another moment, that triumphant pose seems to change to one of rage, and a soul-wrenching cry of fury tears from the undulant face. The image shrinks, pulled into the stone monolith at the Spire’s peak, imploding with a horrific wet burst. In an instant, the city is quiet again, yet as the vision fades, the first signs of unlife spread through the thousands of dead bodies strewn around the ziggurat’s base as bodies, now festering with green worms rise from death.
With the massive worm withdrawing in the real world, and his wounds nearly crippling him, Vasco weakly calls out that he is teleporting out right now. One by one the party steels their will and lay hands on Vasco who, not before a slashing force of necromantic darkness lunges out of the worm-priest’s boney fingers, blinks his colleagues back to the safety of their inn-room at Magepoint.
After taking healing and recovering time, the party sets out to restock. They contact Celeste for more of those 15th-level caster greater teleport spells to get them to and from Kulleth-Mar, and take some time to become more liquid, with some of the treasure recovered from the worm nagas and various armour and weapons picked up and stashed in bags of holding along the way. Zeek works on Celeste and other of Manzorian’s officials to attempt to secure a loan of more powerful weapons, but these sources respond with dry denial. Sluthing around the adventurers and merchants in town, Zeek realizes that they have all seen his type before – a massive risk that is nearly certainly not worth even the greatest return with little or no security on offer. This town has seen far too many adventurers come and never return. Yldar, meanwhile, finds time to complete some of his studies of arcane archery and levels up. Nadroc, Maeron and Vasco medidate and study on their spells. Soon, they are ready for return.
Standing in Vasco’s inn room at the agreed upon time, Zeek asks again, why is it they are all so convinced that they should go back and get pounded relentlessly again. Reminded of the importance of his role in this move grave threat to the living, Zeek returns to a conversation of strategy, debating Vasco, Maeron and Nadroc on the best places to teleport to and re-engage battle. Against his better judgement, Vasco agrees on Zeek’s strategy to attempt to draw the Overworm, as they have dubbed him, into the 10' wide corridors that to his massive bulk, should be narrow enough to give the party the advantage. Nadroc wonders what exactly is going to be the bait as their bodies dematerilize...
... and reappear in the hallway where Jorel had several days before alerted the party to the Sword of Kyuss. Ever alert and standing more ready than they have for over 1000 years, two of the worm gods’ priests stand at the entrance of the cavern and unleash again powerful blasts against the wills of the party. This time, rested and buffed, the party resists their spells. Nadroc and Vasco establish walls of flame which dispatch one quickly and sends the other badly scorched out of view into the worm sea.
The party heads back down the hall to the rooms where the ancient bodies lie, when Yldar notices at the far end of the hall, the double doors that had once been closed are now open, and two more worm priests advance upon them. The third, tatterd robes gone and armour scorched, joins them from behind. Again with godly smite from Maeron, and flames from Vasco’s skilled hands, these three are utterly destroyed before they pose much of a challenge to the group.
Wary of the Overworm who they imagine has returned to the unknown depths of the nearby worm sea, the party moves towards the now open doors at the end of the hall. Yldar, invisible and stealthy, enters and finds a large but spartan chamber whose only remarkable feature is a black fountain, built as an alter of burbling water to Kyuss. Having heard Yldar’s all clear, Maeron joins beside him at the fountain alter, and is taken with an insatiable desire to have a drink. Moments after she ingests Yldar looks at her in puzzlement as she clutches at her head with an intense and incredible pain. Nadroc comes beside her and pulls her out of the room, looking suspiciously at the fountain, while Zeek, Vasco and Jorel look worried but continued stand cautiously on guard for any other disturbance. Maeron screams again, hear body in sharp agony from some fast and deadly intrusion. Realizing that it must be some worm-related disease, Yldar pours a potion down Maeron’s throat. Maeron sputters and coughs, and a blackened and lifeless worm drops out of her nose. Maeron is left standing, blood dripping from her face, having extremely narrowly avoided death, and the certain undeath that would follow.
