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The storm ended quickly, but the party only moved up the street to another hideout and rested some more. After a few hours, with activity in the Labyrinthian City increasing, the party finally decided to approach the canyon at the city's edge. An army of devilish undead was not far behind.
The canyon was flooded with acidic water, made passable by following an ancient road up its center. Many party members walked above the water, aided by a druid's spell of water walking. Dharistra's companions (and pets) flew above the canyon to avoid the water entirely.
Just inside the canyon the party was puzzled by the many devilish statues that stood staring at a low black tower in the center of the canyon. The statues were a distraction, and the real threat was discovered by the party members flying above. Dozens of steam mephits hid atop the canyon walls, waiting to ambush the party below. Once they were discovered, they changed their attack to the flyers above. While the mercury dragon -- Cleave -- dove down to warn the party, the mephits killed both of Dharistra's firedrakes and pursued Chrysantha, Hanna and their hippogriffs out over the Labyrinthian City.
Morgoth -- Colin's amethyst dragon -- reverted to his natural form and gave chase. He killed bunches of mephits and scared others away. But before he could come to the aid of Chrysantha and Hanna, the sky dragon (a quarter mile long snake with wings of fire and a stinger tail) descended from the clouds overhead. Morgoth and many of the remaining mephits dove for cover, but a few mephits continued to pursue Chrysantha and Hanna to a ledge above the city. The sky dragon impaled one of the mephits with its tail and ascended back into the sky, and Morgoth was soon able to come to the womens' aid. But he was not soon enough to save the two hippogriffs, and Chrysantha was just barely rescued from the brink of death and healed.
The party finally reached the temple described in Ipsar's journal. In a large cavern they found the place where Ademis must have once been chained, but the cavern was deserted and Ademis was no longer there. Cheung -- High Priest of Ademis -- cast the spell he was given at the start of this adventure, and fell into a deep sleep, as his spirit moved back in time to meet with his god. While Cheung slept, the party defended the cavern's only entrance from an army of lemures who had finally caught up with them.
The carnage was great. Although the party was little challenged by the hundreds of lemures (they were able to keep them in the long hall outside the room, with spells including "blade barrier"), they were sickened by the blood and gore from the many mindless creatures pushed through the whirling blades. The lemures kept coming, and the dead lemures were regenerating, soon ready to rejoin attack again.
During this slaughter, Tasha -- the winged woman met before -- appeared, and claimed she was sent to lead the party away from this place. Unsure of her motives, the party decided to wait.
After nearly an hour, with Cheung still asleep, the baatezu attack changed. Aegmir dispelled the party's magical defenses and horned devils began to flood into the room. Next time we play, the party must push back this new attack and decide what to do next. Should they try to fight their way past an army of powerful devils, or follow Tasha into the unknown.