We finished dealing with the mass of orcs and their ogre-mage master and were desperately trying to catch our breaths and understand the transformation that had come over Atterwood and Kanar (as well as our apparent betrayal at the hands of Barille, when we heard humanoid voices coming from an adjoining chamber. Atterwood proved his loyalty, even in undeath, by using one of his more powerful spells to seal off that entrance, giving us a few minutes at the least. We immediately took stock of our situation and provisions and added to them by looting the body of the mage. From the ogre's body our gnome friend managed to find the spell-book, including a chant that allowed him to open up an extra-dimensional safe haven that we all (except Rufo, who's skill at stealth should save his skin) clamored into. This spell proved unbelievably useful as it protected us from the cultists' search parties for the next two days while Barille called upon his god to restore our undead comrades to true life again. It took a while, but we were eventually ready to go further into the depths and face the cultists again.
We emerged from the rope trick hole and reunited with Rufo, who had scouted a bit during our absence. He led us to a massive temple nearby where we found battalions of zombies awaiting some call from some foul master. We were hesitant to search too closely in the rooms where the zombies stood guard, and so were outside discussing options when we were again found by the cultists. Atterwood's writhing black tentacle spell once again held them at bay, although this time only briefly, as we heard a resounding bass chant coming from beyond the tunnel. The cultists were calling to some powerful being, some creature they called "Maltor, The Eye". If only that had been a simple nickname. Our hearts began to pound as the chanting was soon joined with the shuffling, rambling sound of the legion of zombies behind us marching towards the door. Once again, Atterwood proved an effective cork and threw up an invisible wall of energy, trapping the undead horde within the temple. We took up a defensive stance, facing the wall of tentacles and began formulating our battle plan knowing we had a few minutes before the spell would end, when it suddenly vanished before our eyes. Atterwood let out a yelp of surprise as he saw his spell end without his command. We all let out yelps of surprise when we saw Maltor coming towards us through the tunnel where the tentacles previously stood. This creature was massive, at least ten feet from 'bottom' to 'top'. It appeared much like a fleshed out skull, except in place of two eyes and a nose, it had a single enormous eye above its toothy maw, all of which floated a few feet above the floor. Above its eyebrow were arrayed a number of small 'fingers', each ending in a tiny eyeball, like a twisted mockery of a noble crown.
The sudden reappearance and grounding of Atterwood leads us to believe that this beast carries with it some sort of magic suppressing aura, and so Dukek, Novarg and myself rush in, attempting to distract it, allowing Atterwood, Barille and Kanar time and room to maneuver to hopefully get free of the field. As we pushed towards Maltor many of the smaller eyestalks began blinking rays of energy at us, which we reflexively avoided to the best of our ability. I'm not sure exactly what their purpose was, but we seem to have avoided the worst of it. The battle was fierce, and swift, with a few choice cuts by Novarg and Dukek, aided by a few choice spells distracting the cultists attempting to outflank us, and we managed to drop Maltor to the ground, seemingly dead. I say seemingly for a reason. The cultists we thought of as nothing more than a distraction, combined with the foul death magicks of this realm, combined to raise Maltor almost as soon as his carcass hit the floor. The Eye rose and rushed straight towards the temple door, apparently hoping to use his magic nullification to remove Atterwood's wall and free the zombies within. We pushed forwards again, attempting to slay him a second time just as easily, but Barille yelled out to us to hold, and let him do something. The priest's training has always fared well against undead thus far, and so we obeyed as he worked a few spells and brought the abomination to the ground for a second time. With their master slain from unlife, as well as from life, the few cultists were disheartened and quickly scattered or were killed. Turning back to the temple, the zombies were no match for us now that they had no living brain to guide them.
Free to explore the temple, we searched for whatever clues we could find as to the location of the Ruby, and of Leptor. We were getting closer with every step, I could feel it. We found a set of spiral stairs leading up, to a series of rooms where the mark of Plague, the mark on Kanar's forehead, was situated all around. There were a number of cloaks with the mark, as well as doors and columns. We eventually found ourselves in a room with six marked columns arrayed in a circle around an empty space on the floor. We took a flying leap of logic, donned the cloaks and stepped in the center, finding ourselves in the midst of a teleport magic not unlike that in Baltron's tower.