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After a tense night, and a strange meeting with your “patron”, Zur Nav, who obliquely threatened the townsfolk of Al’Veydra if you and your Companions abandoned the Galol after killing the Great Veyd, you found yourself alone and tumbling down a slanted tunnel into…

…a sandy coliseum, criss-crossed by spike tipped iron walls (topped by roaring flames), lit by the glow of a massive red gem in its center, and dotted sporadically with green circular transportation sigils. Radiating from the coliseum’s walls, like spoke from a wheel, were other tunnels, and as you watched in horror, they disgorged not only your disorientated Companions, but other horrors as well!

…the Lamia Liss, clothed momentarily as Althaea…

…the Beholder Eye of Flame from Devil’s Due…

…Natha the Medusa and her Male Medusa consort, also from Mahar’s Devil’s Due…

…Formorian pikemen…

…Trolls runts…

…an Angel of Torment, a gift from Torog to Lady Flay…

…a Balor Husk, a demon skin bound with Angels (the work of Kaius Dantus, associate of Gazul Kill, and in theory, a rival of Lady Flay’s)…

…and the Great Veyd himself, his missing eye filled a phantasmal replacement, and his body covered in shamanistic sigils of his once proud empire…

It was truly a terrifying host, and in the moments that followed, as cheering and screams rose from the gathered observers, you could not imagine how you and your Companions could ever prevail.

And then battle was joined, and everything became a blur. The Beholder scoured the sands with flaming eye rays, the Angel lashed out with spiked chains, while the Balor Husk pressed Dei and Sered with a flaming whip and a soul-stealing sword. Rhogar locked in combat with the male Medusa, as Azrael sat pinned near the middle of the battle, his back against a spike-tipped wall, the Lamia at his throat, firing arrows across the battlefield. Utilizing a whistle provided my Mahar, the Shadrim Bard tried to rally Fellbane to him, even as Natha tried to do the same on her side. Bingo was initially savaged by the Beholder, but even as the Halfling ranger ran across the sands, leaving a smoking trail of embers behind him, he let arrow after arrow fly. Althaea was the first to fall, pinned down by Troll Runts and the Angel of Torment, but as the seconds spun by, more and more of Fellbane started to weaken. Zenith held Veyd and the Natha in place momentarily, but suffered for it; eventually ducking through one of the teleportation gates to flicker randomly about the coliseum to safety. Veyd took the opportunity to go after a distracted Dei, as the Invoker was locked in mortal combat with the Balor Husk. Using the Radiant might of Pelor, Sered went after the Angel/Demon hybrid as well, bringing one glowing strike after another down on the beast’s hide.

Even as the Beholder exploded in a gout of final flame, Fellbane started to give way, with more and more of your Companions nearly too damaged to press the battle on further. In that moment, the Great Veyd looked to the stands were Zur Nav sat, had words with Sered across the bloody sand and over clashed claws and sword, and then the Troll Chieftain suddenly tore into his allies! Shocked at this turn of events, it took a minute for Fellbane to comprehend that your nemesis, the foe you had chased across two planes, was suddenly fighting on your side, but taking advantage of the momentum, you rallied and tore into Lady Flay’s Champions.

The Balor Husk finally imploded in a necrotic wash under your combined attacks! As Veyd fought off the medusae, nearly becoming petrified in the process, you and your Companions brought down the Angel, harried Liss the Lamia to her grave, and weeded through the Fomorians and the Troll Runts. As the battle clearly turned in your favor, the Great Veyd eventually drove Natha and her companion to surrender, and then gave himself to your blades; martyring himself while pretending to fight.

And then, it was over…with Veyd’s body burning and the coliseum silent, except for a laughing Zur Nav, who tore the Eladrin wig off his sister Lady Flay, and claimed all that she had for himself.

Barely alive, you and your Companions picked over the dead and were escorted out the arena, where you met the duplicitous Zur Nav. He explained that he had cut a side dea with the Troll Chieftain (negotiating through his own spies and Curran Jep), promising he would release Veyd’s people to the Murkendraw Swamp in the Feywild where they could live unmolested – free of Fomorian servitude or retribution from Man - if Veyd agreed to “throw” the fight.

The Great Veyd, Leader of his Clan and true King in the end, thus had made one last deal to secure his followers’ safety. He had realized that the Trolls’ time as a true Empire in the Vaer (the World) had come and gone – that he had lost it once already with his battle against the tribe of Man - and that it could never be rebuilt and that any further attempts would result in the total destruction of his Clan. All he could give them was a new chance in the hinterlands of the Feywild, and so he purchased that chance with his second death…for the last time.

Freeing you and your Companions, and Al’Veydra, from the threat of the Trollhaunt Warrens forever…