-----Lovan charges in right after the young mage. The hunters, Garrison and the two guards can do little but follow.
-----Just inside the dark entrance is a small portico area. Sol races on into another larger chamber just beyond. The chamber almost seems the size of the Great Hall in Sir Greene's keep in Oakwood. However most of the chamber is difficult to make out in the dim lighting of the place.
-----At the opposite end of the chamber, a long table or altar looks to be aflame; its decorations and vestments set afire. Large braziers stood at opposite ends of the altar, now knocked aside. On the back wall are hangings also being quickly consumed by fire. As Sol roars into the large chamber, he sees no sign of the horrid creature he had described outside.
-----Just as he rushes into the room, a strange thing occurs. Sol suddenly struggles to maintain his balance as his body continues forward. His feet skid across the surface of the floor as if it had turned to ice. He slides for ten feet luckily not falling down, when he suddenly stops. Somehow the young warrior still keeps his balance.
-----Just as he stops, a form just a few inches shorter than Sol pops up out of the shadows. In the dim light it looks to be a young light-haired woman dressed in dark clothes. Before anyone can react, she stabs in at the young warrior with a short sword drawing blood from an ugly gash on his arm.
-----Sarah, almost right behind Sol, hits the slick spot on the floor before she realizes what has happened. Unlike the warrior before her, the Lord Wizard's daughter falls forward, skidding on her belly. She stops right behind Sol's booted feet, fortunately not knocking him over.
-----Suddenly as Sol tries to recoil from the stab wound to his arm, two magical bolts of energy fire at him from what must be an upper balcony somewhere in the shadows toward the back. They slam into him causing light injuries.
-----Lovan, seeing what has occurred, stops and eases himself around the corner of the opening into the large chamber. Presenting a rod shaped object topped with a sphere, he shouts at the woman who had attacked Sol, "Suffer thyself before the Fury of the Rager!"
-----For a moment, the woman meets the priest's eyes. Suddenly a very fearful expression crosses her face as she drops her sword. She then runs toward the dark interior at the opposite end of the room screaming.
-----"Blast it!" Sol yells in annoyance more than anything else. He reaches down and grips Sarah by the arm and yanks her to her feet. With that done Sol heads straight towards the back left corner of the room, not following the spelled cultist who stabbed him. "Stairs!" The Gorian yells in explanation.
-----"Thanks." Sarah says meekly as Sol helps her up. She feels stupid for charging in when she should have waited, and she feels clumsy for falling where Sol kept his balance. You wouldn't think to dance with him that the warrior was so good with his feet, Sarah reflected. But she gracefully got up and this time followed Sol at a close distance, ready to blast the cultists.
-----Raven snarls and then runs after Sol. Raven avoids the slick area sidestepping around it.
-----As Sol, Sarah and Raven run toward the stairs pointed out by Sol, Garrison tiptoes through the slick area. As he makes his way out of the affected area, he then quickly turns to help Rinda, Romney and Shema who have lost their footing getting through the mess.
-----Just a few feet from the steps, Sarah stops, letting Raven past her to continue charging after Sol. On the upper balcony of the large chamber, the young mage spots movement where the top of the stairs would lead. Quickly summoning up a spell, she weaves her arms pointing at a location behind the motion on the balcony while mixing a few things in her hands.
-----Suddenly a blaze of fire glows on the balcony silhouetting the shape of a man working his hands, perhaps casting his own magic. Noticing the light, the man's shape turns and, seeing a three-foot sphere of fire approaching him, begins to run past the stairs that the two heroes are climbing.
-----Lovan, looking as if to prepare his own spell at the balcony, curses when he sees the man begin to move. He then runs closer to the stairs where Sarah stands.
-----Sol races to the top of stairs and turns to follow the man running past the steps.
-----Sarah sends the flaming sphere after the man, following it up the stairs so she can give chase.
-----As Sol bounds to the top of the stairs, the robed man gains a few feet ahead of the steadily rolling flaming sphere. Turning to position himself on the balcony that runs above the back of the large chamber, he then turns toward Sol who appears behind Sarah's conjured spell. At the charging Gorian, the evil one stretches forth one finger intoning a quickly phrased spell. From his finger springs a light gray beam, which shoots across over the flaming sphere shining its dull light on Sol.
-----The young warrior seems to slow in his progress as he is followed by Sarah, Raven, and Lovan.