The wall of fire sprang up twenty feet high forming a semi-circle over fifty yards long, consuming half a dozen of Azelore’s warriors and leaving a dozen more badly burned as they scrambled away from the inferno, only the two sentries who stood watch behind Azelore were spared. Scowling in frustrated rage at what he assumed was a magical trap left to protect the entrance to the vault, triggered by the clumsy fools who had already paid for their mistake, the Zhent wizard focused his mind to dispel it, but before he could complete his incantation a blast of fire erupted right in front of him, blossoming out to engulf several of the remaining men who had staggered away from the initial blaze. Left severely burned, Azelore realized that he was under attack, turning rapidly to seek his unknown foe even as he cursed himself for not reacting sooner, he barely had time to register the threat when a figure moving at unusual speed was upon him, a crushing blow that shattered several of his ribs driving him back before he could even focus his thoughts on the arcane formulas stored in his memory to cast a spell. Coran knew he had to completely disable the dark wizard before he had a chance to cast a spell if he and his companions were to survive this assault without taking casualties; a single spell from a powerful mage could be devastating, as the ones Zharilee just cast had proven. Enhanced by his magical bracers, his crushing blow to the wizard’s chest had sent him staggering, but was not enough to finish the job, so he struck again and again in rapid succession, leaving him little more than a broken husk of flesh as he crumbed to the ground… relieving the world of one more festering evil. Turning his attention to the other combatants, Coran saw Roryn deliver a final fatal blow to the sergeant, as Katerinin and her warriors made quick work of the remaining Zhents. Although he typically sought peaceful alternatives, he knew that some situations could not be resolved without bloodshed, but when violence was necessary, he preferred that it be decisive and as humane as possible; thus he had devised a strategy to eliminate the opposition as quickly and cleanly as they could, while minimizing the chance of casualties amongst his companions, but it all hinged on Zharilee’s fireball spell and his blitz attack disabling the wizard before he could cast a devastating spell of his own. He was relieved that the plan had worked, with only a few minor injuries between them, which Tessele quickly tended to with healing spells. It had taken the companions less than an hour to stealthily make their way from the temple to the remains of the Morningstar estate, only to find a group of men and orcs already toiling to clear the entrance to the catacombs. From the cover of a ruined outbuilding a few hundred feet away, Zharilee had sent Nykodeamous aloft to survey the scene, gaining a bird’s eye view, then he reported back, through her translation, allowing Coran to concoct a strategy to eliminate them with minimal risk. The tressym had recognized the Zhent insignia on their uniforms, but several important questions remained to be answered; what were these Zhents doing here at the Morningstar ruins, how did they know where the entrance of the catacombs was and what were they after? While Katerinin and her men surveyed the surrounding area to assure that they had eliminated all the Zhents and Roryn set about searching the wizard’s remains under Zharilee’s watchful eyes, Coran motioned for a confused Tessele to join him as he approached the remains of a collapsed wall a short distance from the excavation site. When the Sunite cleric reached the debris, she was surprised to discover a woman crouched there… naked, save for a harsh leather collar with wicked, bladed spikes protruding from it. “You can come out now. It’s over. You’ll be safe with us,” Tessele tried to assure to clearly distort woman who kept her head down and her face shielded by her hands, as she knelt beside her, only to recoil in shock when she raised her head to relieve her stunningly beautiful face and blazing, blood red eyes… a tiefling!