#52 - A hot show at the theater

In the middle of the night, the party broke into the theater.  They toom a long rest in one of the back stage rooms, but did not venture any further.  The wanted to allow Perra to perform Dispel Magic on the Sigil to prevent anything from coming through.

Little did they know, that just on the other side of that stained veneer door, an Efreeti had already come through the sigil.  He polymorphed himself into the form of a stage hand, and began to set up a deadly surprise for tomorrow's matinee.

He set up 7 clay pots, each containing a magmin waiting to burst out and set fire to the crowded theater.

In the early morning, the party awoke, and went further into the theater.  They found the sigil, which Perra dispelled.  They also found 3 of the clay pots behind the back stage curtain.

Samm heard the Efreeti and peered through the curtain to see him.  The man that he saw said "Don't miss the matinee.  It's going to be a really hot show!" and then turned to smoke (gaseous form).  He floated off into the theater seating area.

The clay pots all popped open, releasing little magmin eager to light fires.

The Efreeti landed in a balcony seat, and cast Wall of Fire across the front of the stage.  .

The Party engaged in combat against the Magmin, who were quite weak, but exploded at the death, spreading flame and doing damage.

From his balcony perch, the Efreeti summoned 2 fire elementals to battle the party.  Lenny was quite effective at fighting them off.

Eventually, it came down to just the party and the Efreeti.  Perra tried to contain him with a pearl of power, but missed.

He fly down into the seating area.

Perra again tried the Pearl of Power.  This time succeeding.  He was able to trap the fire genie for a full minute.  But in this time, the genie used a spell to enlarge himself to huge size.

The party surrounded him,waiting for the pearl's prison to expire.  When it did, the huge Efreeti was able to land two deadly blows on Volaryn with his scimitar.

In the end, the party was too much for this foe.  But the theater was badly damaged.  This city's board of directors was getting impatient with these deadly attacks.

Back at the magic shop, the party was once again paid a visit by the strange old goblin.  Once again, some distant being spoke through him.  He offered once again to buy the crown, this time adding that the attacks were the result of a curse (lying) and that by selling the crown, the party could be rid of it.
The goblin (not under control of the distant voice) agreed to let Merl scry on him, in exchange for payment.  Merl was able to conjure an image of a huge crystal floating about a natural pier.  This pier was jutting out into the ocean from a beach somewhere to the south of Fort Aralan.