The party descended into the caverns underneath Zhentil Keep. There they were conveyed to Burn Bone's small holding. Burn Bones was a Cyric follower and lead their forces against the Bane Lich. The war was rather sporadic, with most of the fighting being in one room and the adjacent corridors, as first one side and then the other gained the upper hand and captured some ground, only to be pushed back again.

But the Bane Lich was slowly winning, as he was more powerful and could create more undead than Burn Bones. Burn Bones also indicated that there were two other passageways connecting the two territories: one was buried by a cave in and neither side wanted to open a second front by excavating the passageway. The other passageway was guarded by a permanent Blade Barrier put there by the Bane Lich. Burn Bones was of an insufficient level to Dispel the Blade Barrier. We decided to go the Blade Barrier route.

It was a simple matter for Tolma to Dispel the Blade Barrier, although it did take two tries. We wandered around a bit, heading for the Bane Lich's dungeon, which Burn Bones had pointed out to us. Tolma wanted to check them out just in case Gi was there, although why he would be none of us could hazard. Just before reaching the dungeon we heard a little girl crying. Suspecting a trap we carefully investigated, finding a small girl who claimed to have fallen down a sewer drain into the caverns. She had been wandering for quite some time.

Not sure what to make of this, Randolph tried to Detect Evil. But this whole area was warded against detection spells, and Randolph was stunned for ten minutes. So we decided to believe the girl, who claimed to be the daughter of a high ranking Zhentarim mage. With the girl in tow, we went into the dungeon. Guarding the cells were a Ghoul and a Ghast, which were easily dispatched once Randolph turned them. In one cell was a Zhentarim soldier, who we freed. A slight discussion as to what we would demand of him came to naught. Now burdened with two defenseless humans, we returned to the surface and returned the girl to her grateful father.

Returning to the Bane Lich's realm, we stopped for a time to deface some Bane murals. The murals were protected by magic and Tolma used seven Dispel Magics to give us the time to deface them. We continued onwards and met a sentinel of the Bane Lich's. Through the sentinel, we conversed with the Bane Lich and convinced him to talk with us, so we were led to the throne room. It was a huge room, some 200 feet across. Sitting on a throne was the Bane Lich, to his right being his top lieutenant, who had Filbert's sword. To the Bane Lich's left was an obsidian hand, about the size of a full grown man, obviously magical since it floated by itself.

The talks were making some amount of progress, with Filbert trying to negotiate for the sword and information on Gi, when a lighting bolt came down from the ceiling and struck the Lich, doing no damage. The fight was on. As the Lich cast a Protection From Good and Randolph cast a Prayer, Kormack and Heather engaged the Lich while his lieutenant ran away. Elsbeth summoned some Beserkers to guard the entrance of the room, while the obsidian hand grasped Calcli and started to squeeze the life out of him.

Tolma cast a Phantasmal Killer on the lieutenant, who got out of the room. The Beserkers reached the entrance of the room as ten Skeleton Lords appeared. Filbert created two Walls of Stone to keep the Skeleton Lords out, while everyone else turned on the obsidian hand to destroy it before it crushed Calcli. As we destroyed the obsidian hand, it exploded into a multitude of shards. Luckily, most of us had Stoneskins left and escaped unscathed. Calcli even survived the whole ordeal, although he was by now unconscious. The Bane Lich, decided to Word of Recall out of the room, as the one Skeleton Lord in the room dispatched two Beserkers and was quickly killed.

Sensing gems nearby, Kharlan found a secret door behind the throne, and stepped into the treasure room, surviving a Death spell that guarded the doorway. Unwilling to step inside the room, we let Kharlan fill out the Bag of Holding, and he took the opportunity to sneak in a Book of Eternal Damnation, which Elsbeth would love to have again. So now we're stuck in the throne room, only one exit out, down one Cleric and quite a few spells, with nine Skeleton Lords waiting outside, plus an almost fresh Lich, his lieutenant, and who knows how many undead. The fun's about to start.