Apex IC

[Ridai]

(Please note that not every religion is hounding Katarina to join them and religions don't consist entirely out of aggressive evangelists. Mystra and Sune would love if Katarina would join them, but the other religions don't go after her unless she suddenly has a change of heart. Selûne is a moon goddess associated with travel, fate, and lycanthropy, so she has little reason to go after Katarina)

The people Katarina passes are struck by her attention, however brief. It is a combination of not knowing how to deal with this and how it makes them feel, amounting to a battle of being taken instantly by Katarina's charisma and the fact that they are mere feet away from an Apex who could easily level the entire castle as a little morning exercise.

Nico's frown deepens as Katarina goes straight into discussing splitting up the loot after her greeting and turns away halfway through, looking at the maps. Perhaps Katarina expected a bigger reaction from the rest of the adventurers, but it doesn't seem to go beyond a neat side benefit for them, which mirrors Quinn's reaction earlier as well. They are in it to find and stop this evil, if it is there, not the money.

The request for what they have seems to confuse Faldriga, who looks over to Quinn, who wordlessly responds with an expression saying to go over it again.

"Well..." the elven wizard begins, gesturing Katarina closer. "We have reason to believe Kranrakor's lair is somewhere the Titan's Spine. We have a rough search area based on the journal we found describing stumbling upon the entrance, but no specifics." She draws a circle over an area to the south-east of the castle with her finger. "I will create a host of ethereal mounts for us to travel with to speed up the search process and largely eliminate the need to traverse the terrain."

"We'll be making good time with the mounts. A good four times faster than a fast horse, untiring, mindless, and able to simply ride through the sky. Still need to be both careful, though. Stay close together to not lose each other when the snow makes visibility pretty bad for most of us. Faldriga and I will use our share of travel protections, divinations and such, but we don't exactly know what's out there or who may be standing guard, if anyone." Severin continues on the travel portion of the mission, though he keeps a pretty conversational tone.

"Exposed in the air, but ground is too slow," Amrita says. Katarina at first tries to place what sounds like an accent, then a certain lack of education, but ultimately, it feels more like she does not feel the need to say more words and there is something unusually primal to her, which tints her voice and how it feels.

Quinn continues. "Faldriga has worked out likely mountain formations that could have valleys fitting what has been described in the journal, so we are not flying entirely blind. Amrita is our primary eyes and ears during the search with her keen senses, and Nico will be watching out for any indications of an ambush or trickery." Amrita gives a short nod, while Nico does not respond, simply rolling her shoulders. Quinn continues. "Our hope is to find the lair quickly, and once we do, we will have to enter it quickly. Nico can get us around a great many security measures, Amrita will pick up on anything closing in, and Faldriga and Severin can help hide us and watch for any magical dangers, but hiding an entire group in the lair of a draconic lich will most likely not be easy and we are expecting to be detected sooner or later, as we are dealing with a lot of unknowns. Go in, find out with Kranrakor still exists and is there, destroy him and his phylactery is so, and get out alive, ideally." And the bout of tenseness among the party indicates they are not necessarily expecting to survive in all scenarios.

Faldriga glances about at the group, and then to Katarina. "Well... those are the rough outlines of what we seek to do. We planned according to what we could realistically do, as we can't... appropiately gauge what you are capable of, Apex." And that seems to be a little hard to say for the elf.

Severin jumps in continue the sentiment. "Meaning if you have the means to make this quest go more smoothly, beyond helping us defeat the villains, if we find any, it would be greatly appreciated. After all, you know best what you can do." And while everyone has heard of the extreme power of the Apexes, it is also extremely hard to quantify for someone who isn't an Apex or close to their status, so the party also has a sense of wondering what Katarina can bring to this quest.

[MikelaC1]

Katarina looks over maps, saying nothing at first (seemingly oblivious to the fact that it allows anyone to look down her blouse). Finally, she straightens up and addresses the group. Okay, this is the way I see it. First of all, is this where we are starting from or do you have a jumping off point closer to the search area decided on. If you do, I need a good description of it, and then I can teleport us there. From there, or here, if you dont have a spot picked out, there is a spell that is called Find the Path, it doesnt have a range on it. The way I cast it, it can last for 4 hours, and if it runs out before we find the lair, I just keep casting it. I dont actually use that spell, its kind of hard to explain, but I cast another spell which duplicates it and when using the spell in that manner, there is no material cost (Miracle duplicates any lower level spell, and when used like that, the cost doesnt kick in, it only kicks when you ask for something more). We use that spell over and over until we find the entrance. Your mounts will give us speed to utilize the spell most efficiently.
Now, in the way of protections, I can supplement some of your protections. For one thing, I can cast a death ward over all of us, which will protect against the undead's nasty habit of draining life energy. I can also grant all of us immunity to one form of energy, I can give us all protection from the same type if we have any historical reference on what attacks he favors or I can switch it around, giving some of us fire, or electrical or whatever.
And dont worry about death. I dont let my companions die on adventures, or at least stay dead, it brings down my street cred.

[Ridai]

Amrita seems to simply nod in acknowledgement, like a yeah, makes sense. Severin laughs at the ludicrous disparity in power between them and Katarina and what the Apex can casually bring to bear. Nico looks almost like why am I even here. Faldriga looks like she is going to be sick. And Quinn, taking all this in, raises his eyebrows, and answers "That sounds great."

It's pretty much shellshock for the party, between just how much power Katarina brings to the table, able to just straight up find the lair, block the most horrible things with ease, grant immunities, and resurrect people, all while seeming not in the least concerned about any danger, even presenting her cleavage for good measure.

"No good landmarks, describing won't do. Too much similar terrain, easy to get lost," Amrita answers the question about teleportation while the others seem in various states of shock or disbelief or still trying to collect themselves. She inclines her head as a thought crosses her mind. "Can spell find lich or phylactery, instead of cave?" At that, Faldriga looks up like she is expecting that it can't just be that easy, right?

[MikelaC1]

Katarina easily picks up on the mood of the group, shes not about to make them all feel like 5th wheels here. In answer to your question, no, it cant find the lich or his phylactery. It finds only locations, not people or items. If I knew that forest X held a green dragon, I could find forest X, but I couldnt, for instance, use the spell saying I want to find a forest that has a green dragon in it.
And while it may sound like I have short-circuited all of you, nothing could be further from the truth. Those ethereal mounts are going to be huge time saving, and thus spell saving devices, we can cover a lot more of the path on them than we could on foot. And once we get there, lichs always have a good supply of undead minions, while I might be the one to actually battle the lich himself, Im going to be relying on you all to keep the minions off of me, lest they swarm me before I can do my thing. Apexes may be powerful, but getting dog-piled by 15 opponents is going to cramp anyone's style.
So, are we ready to go then?

Spoiler: Diplomacy=pep talk

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(1d20+40)[44]

[Ridai]

Faldriga still seems a bit shaken, but seems to take heart. Quinn regains his composure, Nico seems to accept what Katarina says (while still showing little in the way of an obvious reaction), and Severin, who didn't seem so much disheartened as just amused by the disparity of power, does manage to get his laughing fit under control and seems approving of Katarina giving a little pep talk. Amrita still seems pretty neutral about it all, as if the whole power disparity thing completely passed her by. Instead, the ranger inclines her head to the other side.

"You can find cave by only knowing it is a cave that belongs to the lich. Why can't you tell the spell to find the room that holds the phylactery or that is the lich's chambers?" Amrita still seems to consider the spell's logic.

Quinn looks at the group, then to Katarina. "I think we should be good to go. No time to waste."

With that Faldriga collects herself, and with a quick chant, the wizard imbues everyone with resistance against the temperatures. They head outside, into the courtyard, then out of the castle proper, with everyone they walk past watching them. Obviously, Katarina dominates the attention, but they also recognize the party. Outside of the castle, in the snow, Faldriga takes out a small sphere that Katarina recognizes as a magical prayer bead, which briefly increases her magical might, and she begins to summon the ethereal mounts, a process Severin informs Katarina will take about 10 minutes, so if she has any long-lasting preparations to apply, now is a good time. The group is checking their equipment one last time, now entirely unbothered by the cold. Quinn secures a long chain for quick retrieval after doing a few quick motions with them. Severin silently prays with his finger tips touching. Nico does a few motions, Katarina only seeing blurs at first, until she spots the knives at some point, both in hand and thrown. Very good speed, but still nothing compared to Meave. Amrita, meanwhile, shifts back into her medium-sized shadow dragon form, simply laying down in the snow and waiting, tail lightly moving, claw sometimes pawing at the snow.

[MikelaC1]

Katarina's regular buffs are all in place, so she doesnt have to take care of that. She does move around the party, casting an Energy Immunity on each one. She asks each time which energy form they wish to be immune to, personally taking fire. She then addesses the group. A death ward usually only lasts 20 minutes, the way I cast it lasts 40 minutes, so theres no point in casting it untill we enter the lichs lair. While there are spells that could potentially locate the phylactery, every lich I have ever come up against takes great pains to hide their item from any form of detection
With that, she is ready to go.

[Ridai]

"But not the hidden lair?" The matter continues to make little sense to Amrita, her voice coming from the maw of the shadow dragon. Nico looks like she wants to say something, but decides against it. After 10 minutes, six ghostly, vaguely equine creatures appear in the snow. It is difficult to see where exactly their contours are. Faldriga attributes one mount to each person, telling them that the mount will only allow them on it, no one else. The mounts briefly look to their specific "owners", their features obscured, but still giving the impression that this mount was not designed as a functional biological being, but rather a magical "construct" of sorts.

The group gets on their mounts like they have clearly done this before, Severin helping Faldriga onto hers and exchange a few words and a smile, shadow dragon Amrita's sleek form simply resting itself on the broader back of her mount. Katarina finds a saddle that also seems part of the creature, keeping her in place, but still allowing her to lean forward.

"Keep your body low and behind the mount's head, and pull your hood and clothes as tight as you can, unless you snow in your face and under your clothes," Quinn calls over to her, the party doing the same. "Amrita is going to take point to keep an eye out for trouble, the other mounts will follow hers. Give her a direction, and give her a hand sign to stop when it changes. No chance to talk while moving at these speeds, most of us will be pretty much blind and deaf while flying due to the snow and winds."

When everyone is ready and has secured themselves in the saddle, everyone gives a "Check". Katarina casts Find the Path (feeling a certain resistance, but her magical might simply ignores it) and points into the exact direction the spell is pointing her into, the shadow dragon's head briefly leaning against her outstretched arm to get the exact angle (the scales feeling very smooth, even through the winter clothing), and soon after, they are taking off. Ethereal mounts effectively behave like phantom steeds, reaching very high speeds at reasonable maneuverability. When they are able to fly, it also means they are moving at the maximum possible speed this spell can achieve, and Katarina immediately feels it as they ascend at a 45° angle, her saddle preventing her from sliding back, but instinctively applying pressure with her legs to the mount's flanks, grasping what appear to be grips near the neck tightly, and keeping her head out of the oncoming whipping winds. Once Amrita has guided them up high enough, the castle appearing pretty small when looking back, the mounts start to move horizontally, and thus at full speed. Mages who don't use this spell extrapolate that the mounts move at about 27 miles per hour. Only to find out that these mounts can do the equivalent of sprinting, and aren't exactly tiring animals.

Thus, the wind howls and whips past them as the six mounts race through the falling snow and freezing air at a good 109 miles per hour. Even though Katarina can fly and teleport, she is rather glad to have an Endure Elements and that the saddle and magic of the mounts keeps her where she is supposed to be, as well as still allowing her to breathe. Visibility may as well be zero, Katarina sometimes seeing glimpses of the others and the terrain below, seemingly an endless array of mountains and valleys, further made near impossible to distinguish by the blur of them whipping past. Amrita is able to fly them remarkably close to the angle Katarina pointed them at, the Apex slowly, very slowly feeling the vertical angle getting steeper, only having to stop the group twice to make a small adjustment to the horizontal angle.

The group is flying for a long time, until Katarina feels they are very close and stops the group. From high above, they are looking down into an easy to miss valley, crescent shaped and deep. Katarina's spell points at a section in the middle of the crescent, on the western wall, but the lair isn't visible from above, as there are a lot of snowy rock outcroppings obscuring the view. Amrita guides the group out of the air, onto a high-up small plateau overlooking the valley, but still out of sight.

"Sure hid it well. We've been traveling for nearly 4 hours," Severin comments, a quick calculation telling Katarina they are somewhere around 400 miles away from Castle Aurorae. The chances of someone stumbling upon this place are nearly zero.

"What's the spell telling you, Apex? Can you sense anything else?" Quinn asks. The group is noticably tense, being this close to the lair.

[MikelaC1]

If the phylactery is protected from divination, then the spell will not be able to locate it, and thus will not be able to provide a path. Same goes for the lich himself. His lair cannot be covered in the same way.

When the group arrives, in the air, at the location indicated, Katarina considers the scenario for a moment. She then gives the group a collective heart attack by simply tumbling out of the saddle, falling through the air, using her arms, legs and body as a "rudder" to guide herself on the course the spell gives. Only at the last moment does she activate her flying power along with an invisibility to land on the ground where the spell leads her to. She looks around carefully, not actually entering the lair, for any sort of guards (living or non-living) along with wards (magical) or traps. If the area is clear, she dismisses her invisibility and moves to a point where the group can see her and come down to her. If they cant traverse the distance, she will fly back up and bring anyone who cant do it, one at a time. (the "dragon" should be able to, and carry at least one or two as well). If there is something, she will deal with it (presumably, she would have initiative)

[Ridai]

Katarina, only barely hearing the party's surprised shouts, has to adjust her angle mid-flight as she whips just past the overhang, as she was not able to see the lair from above (and thus the party can't see her now). The lair is a gaping hole in the cliffside, above ground, and as soon as Katarina moves in front of the opening that seems to be more than 50 feet in diameter, she is greeted by a barrage of magic missiles, elemental orbs, fireballs, oversized arrows, and boulders. The Apex spots undead, scattered across the ceiling and walls, behind shaped rocks acting as cover, out of reach of melee defenders. Further back, she spots undead giants and foot soldiers, with any melee combatant having to cross a large distance where they are completely out in the open beneath the ranged attackers and having to ascend an incline. Katarina's invisibility seems to be entirely ignored. Thus, this is an ambush. Undead standing at the ready to maul any intruder coming by, and as they do not tire or run out of patience, that may have been what they have been doing for the last century. In short, this ambush has been designed to be as unfair as possible, to kill intruders before they can really do anything and put them at as much of a disadvantage as possible.

Unfortunately, the intruder in question is an Apex.

What would have entirely mauled most other people results in next to nothing here. Magic missiles shatter against the shield's perimeter. The orbs and arrows and boulders all simply miss. The fireballs explode, but the heat is unable to touch Katarina, unable to overcome her massive spell resistance, and even if one had gotten by, it would have shattered against her immunity. These aren't elite troops. Their number is deadly, and many would be alarmed by the number of spellcasters. A necromancer with enough resources and time can create next to anything, to a point. But this ambush is there to destroy chaff (although "chaff" in this case would include the vast majority of adventurers).

And with their ambush having amounted to nothing, the Apex' retaliation begins.

Spoiler: OOC

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Katarina walked into the readied actions of a good three dozen undead, scattered along the ceiling and walls of the about 55ft diameter cave and further in the back (about a hundred feet from the cave's mouth) on the ground. She is currently hovering right in front of the cave, there is no ground before it, the cliffside continuing down below it.

Katarina's turn.

[MikelaC1]

Katarina has the perfect spell to wipe out masses of undead and thanks to her improved metamagic, she can cast it twice using quicken. She casts undeath to death a version of circle of death, designed to wipe out undead foes instead of living ones.

Spoiler: Rolls

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(20d4)[54]
(20d4)[36]

Of more concern than the undead is the fact that they were waiting for her...although given that they are undead, they may have been waiting here for years, attacking everything that came by

[Ridai]

The spells pulse through the cave, and soon after, conserved cadavers, bones, and weaponry start to rain from the ceiling and walls, creating a rather grotesque percussion. The walls and ceiling have been wiped clean of the undead, the only remaining ones being not quite a dozen ones in the back, between giants and armor-clad creatures that now start to move forward in unison, but are unable to reach Katarina.

Katarina's turn.

[MikelaC1]

Mindful of keeping her higher level spell slots and wanting to take out as many creatures as possible. Katarina lobs a maximized fireball (60 points) into the middle of the group of foes

[Ridai]

The tiny bead of fire races through the cave, before it leads to a roaring detonation, violently scattering the remains of most of the foot soldiers, leaving only the two undead giants, who survived solely by virtue of their massive stature, though some of the withered flesh and bones have been very clearly scorched or burned off altogether. At that moment, the party arrives at the cavern, two figures zipping past the Apex, and in the blink of an eye, the best way to describe it is that one undead giant is hit and smashed apart by a cannonball, while the other is riddled by a flashing rain and subsequently bursts into dust, Katarina sensing holy energies. Sunspark Nico, standing upon her mount without any indication of having trouble balancing there, is holding what looks at first like two spiky fans, but turn out to be a great many shifting knives. From the ruined remains of the other giant, meanwhile, rises a grotesque creature. It looks like a form of troll, though far less goofy looking and far more vicious and muscular, with two giant claws. However, unusually, Katarina also spots large horns, a stinger tail, foot talons, a tentacle sprouting from one shoulder, and it is unusually big. True seeing reveals the creature as Amrita. The rest of the group arrives as well, but the party now finds the cave to be devoid of hostiles.

They look around, seeing the complete carnage. Amrita and Nico are looking around for additional threats, while Faldriga looks like she is in utter awe and disbelief, Severin raises his eyebrows in surprise, and Quinn is trying to keep his reaction in check, so he can still act as a leader.

"Supremely done. I am sure they now know we are here, we need to keep moving. Finding the phylactery is the first priority, and we should do it before we are drowning in undead. Amrita, Nico, gather around if there are no more undead." Both named adventurers soon meet up with the others, the mounts simply waiting at the edge of the cave. The party gathers as Faldriga and Severin apply buffs to the party, boosting their resistances against spells and effects, granting them immunity to fear, imbuing their (natural) weaponry with undead bane (Severin retrieving a rod to do so), everyone getting an application of hide from undead, and a Girallon's blessing having Amrita's troll form sprout two more arms with giant claws. Many of the spells they cast simply can't help Katarina, as she already has much better defenses in place. Nico also retrieves a few scrolls, applying shorter buffs on herself and Amrita. Meanwhile, it is clear the party tries not to focus on just how many undead Katarina destroyed in such a short time, and how many more may still be lurking within the lair. There is tension among the group, preparing for the dive, like they are about to step out onto a battlefield. No going slow in this case, not with Kranrakor possibly still lurking within and now starting to prepare.

[MikelaC1]

Before the group moves out, Katarina applies the last buff she has for them all, casting a mass death ward. Hopefully we find them before this runs out, but I can re-apply if needed. Normally, I dont like to be in the front row, that way I can cast and not be grappled in the process. If someone else would like to lead the way, I can manage in the second row. She does look around the cave, seeing if she can find a way forward, and also checking the walls to see if there are any passages hidden by illusion or other forms of secrecy.

[Ridai]

Nico disappears from sight, Amrita and Quinn take point, Faldriga follows, Severin acts as sort of a rear guard. They follow the only way leading further in, designed to funnel any intruders. They come across fortified defensive positions, but there is simply a lot of ash. Undead who were unable to spot Nico due to the combination of her stealth and hide from undead, otherwise this would have been a slow advance. Traps have been found and disabled. They reach a gate, Nico reappearing, informing the group of undead being on the other side, and a lot of them, no way around them.

Quinn does a quick explanation for Katarina. "Generally, Amrita and I form the frontline and make sure no one gets through, Amrita more offense, I more defense. Nico takes out priority targets, Faldriga provides crowd control or artillery, Severin has a flexible role depending on what we need. If you spot especially dangerous undead, take them out, otherwise help us destroy the undead as quickly as possible."

And with that, they kick open the door. Immediately, they are greeted by a hail of large arrows and fireballs, the arrows slamming into the ground and gate, and the party only surviving the fireball splash damage due to the fire immunity granted by Katarina. Looking into the hall beyond, it is once again set up to be a straight up kill zone. Armored archers and mages on a higher level behind cover, the only way up at the other end of a large open area, guarded by tall heavily armored figures. The stairs up are still open to be shot at by the ranged units, and up top, more melee units await from an advantageous position. Quinn swears under his breath at the bad tactical situation, gesturing to Faldriga, who quickly casts a mass fly on the group, needing to move topside immediately and take the fight there in order to not be sitting ducks.

Katarina's turn.

[MikelaC1]

Cover would be a problem...for anyone else. For Katarina, its merely a reason to chose a different tactic. Aiming at the higher level, Katarina intones a maximized chain lightning, dealing 120 points to the poor sap that is its first target and then arcing around 20 times, dealing 60 points to all of the other targets up there.

[Ridai]

A giant lightning bolt arcs from Katarina's fingertips down at the gate to the ramparts above, not so much frying the undead up there as blowing them apart, eviscerating a large part of the forces above, Faldriga's fireball looking almost feeble in comparison as it destroys a few more, taking to the air. Amrita pretty much crashes into the melee forces at the top of the stairs, eviscerating several them, sending body and shredded armor parts flying. Nico's knives pick off the remaining ranged and magic undead. Quinn positions himself relatively low on the stairs with his chain, and as the melee undead at the bottom try to engage him, Katarina notes a surprising amount of reach, the chain ripping into the undead and sending them tumbling back down the stairs, preventing the unit from going up the stairs to support. Severin, meanwhile, flies up to the unit engaged by Amrita and releases a cone of holy energies (a rare alternative to standard turning), destroying the undead Amrita did not immediately crush.

And like that, only a small armored unit at the bottom of the stairs remains.

Katarina's turn.

[MikelaC1]

The fact that Quinn is in melee would be a hindrance to most casters, but Katarina already made him immune to fire so she just lobs a maximized fireball 60 points into the remaining armored unit...if it doesnt finish them, it will at least soften them up for the others.

[Ridai]

The fireball and the combined strength of the party lead to the quick destruction of the undead. There is a growing uncertainty in the party, given the escalating situations they are facing. The interiors by now are clearly crafted, becoming more elaborate as they go, until they come to another great gate, heavily ornamented. Faldriga and Nico cooperate in disarming a great many traps and countermeasures, until the door finally opens. They step inside of what appears to be grand inner chambers, with vaulted ceilings, lavish decor, rows of tall bookshelves with ancient tomes, and signs of treasure... until the room turns into an unfathomably dark shade of black, absorbing all light, and the gate slams shut behind them. Severin attemps to create a daylight spell, but it fails immediately. Katarina, with her true sight, can peer through the magical darkness, seeing Amrita snarl, clearly sensing something. And Katarina does spot something else.

Giant black shapes, quickly identified as Nightwalkers, two of them, towering over the party, accompanied by four dread wraiths (who would be powerless in a daylight spell, but are protected by the deeper darkness). Powerful vile auras flood the room, such creatures being a walking nightmare for nearly any adventuring party in existence. And Katarina does only have a few seconds to act before they will unleash hell on the party.

Katarina's turn.

(Nightwalkers on opposite sides of the party, dread wraiths further surrounding them in the air above)

[MikelaC1]

Nightwalkers. Time to bring out the big guns, and Katarina has a perfect big gun for undead. Taking a step back to get an angle to hit both nightwalkers,(and hopefully a dreadwraith or two) Katarina unleashes a spell flooding the area with pure healing energy, a bane to undead.
Mass Heal, 250 points each.

[Ridai]

The party can hear Katarina cast, but they do not know what, only feeling the surge of positive energy flowing through them and the screech of the wraiths getting annihilated, along with one of the nightwalkers. However, the other nightwalker resists, repelling her magic. The creature briefly looks to the Apex, and she can only watch as it reaches out into the party, grasps Quinn, who is surprised by the cold, hard grasp, beginning to say "Wha-" and the undead creature and the warrior simply disappear. A plane shift.

The party still struggles to find out what happened.
Nico: "Where're the monsters?! Can't see a damn thing!"
Severin: "Deeper darkness, my daylight isn't working!"
Faldriga: "I'm trying to dispel it, but it's powerful!"
Amrita: "No more monsters." A short pause. Amrita sniffs the air, then turns to Katarina. "Where is Eren?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Mass Heal heals for 10 HP per caster level, up to a limit of 250, so Katarina heals for 200, as I don't see any caster level increases

Katarina failed to get through the second nightwalker's spell resistance and only barely managed to get through the one of the first.

[MikelaC1]

An emotion that almost no one in the estate, and certainly not the party grips Katarina at the moment. A cold rage and fury. While her comment about not losing a party member came out as a joke, it was also completely true, she views losing a party member as a personal insult to her pride and does not tolerate the loss to her credibility.
The monsters are down, but one of them has kidnapped Quinn. I'm getting rid of the darkness and working on finding him. Her voice has lost its usual musical and pleasant tone.
Her first move is get rid of the darkness with a greater dispel magic and if that doesnt work, she will invoke a dispel evil. Once that is taken care of, she will once again invoke her miracle spell to cast the most powerful location spell, one that cuts through any sort of anti-divination protection, even if the person is on another plane, discern location
(next actions dependent on results)

[Ridai]

Katarina sees Faldriga's shocked reaction, Severin gritting his teeth, cold fury in Nico's eyes, and Amrita turning very quiet at the news of Quinn having been taken. Katarina attempts a dispel at first, but has to try again to remove the darkness. While mortals are bound by hard limits, monsters are not, and the potency of the spell rivals that of Katarina's, perhaps even slightly exceeding her. The discern location reveals that Quinn is on the negative energy plane, also giving her the exact location.

[MikelaC1]

Quinn has been taken to the negative energy plane. My death ward is still in effect as are yours, and I can plane shift to him, along with whoever wants to come with me.

[Ridai]

The party decides to come with in its entirety and immediately, quickly linking hands when directed. Katarina plane shifts the whole group. Never having been to the target location, the spell dumps them miles away from where Quinn is. And while the deeper darkness already was pitch black, it was nothing compared to the negative energy plane.

It is an absolutely absence of light all around them. Oppressive darkness sapping all energy and life, Katarina's true seeing no longer aiding her because there is nothing magical obscuring her vision. What they are standing on does not truly feel material, like darkness made mostly solid, and they have a sense like down is not necessarily down. Severin's daylight is extremely dim, flickering even, struggling to remain lit as the plane itself seeks to devour it. The endure elements and death ward protects them from the worst. However, they have two quite pressing issues. One is that none of them are able to breathe in this place, the space between them simply devoid of anything. As the group gasps for breath, Amrita quickly shifts, turning into a huge air elemental, engulfing the group within her, but it is clear that she can hardly fight like this, and even if she could, this form is much weaker than her previous one.

And secondly, the negative energy plane is utterly filled with innumerable undead horrors, beginning to emerge from around them from several directions (even vertical ones), slowly appearing at the edges of the dim light they have, or even clawing its way from what may or may not be solid darkness.

[MikelaC1]

Katarina has never been on the negative energy plane, and its conditions are momentarily disconcerting. But shes not an Apex because she is just a pretty face, and has more than enough ways to deal with things. Her first instruction is to the party...
Douse the lights, the undead can only know we are here because of the light given that they were given hide from undead we turn that off, they cant see or detect us.
Before the group can even complain that they will not be able to see, Katarina is casting, this time using miracle to duplicate the cleric spell Planar Bubble, surrounding the group with a prime material like atmosphere, including light and air, allowing them to function normally once again, and allowing Amrita to get out of her air elemental form
They pick a path away from the undead who can no longer "see" them, until they are in the clear. Katarina mentally curses herself for wasting a high level spell on the Discern Location spell, given that she has the damn scroll, and so she uses one of them to get a direction. Teleporting in the plane carries its own risks, so they will have to travel it normally. If we can summon up those mounts, or some has another idea to speed our transit, I will guide us. Katarina doesnt verbalize it, but if Amrita can assume a dragon form, they could all climb aboard and ride her.

[Ridai]

(While Katarina doesn't have a direction from her current position, she still knows the location)

Severin dismisses the spell warily, and everyone huddles closely around as the planar bubble forms, which is like a shining beacon in the dark, drawing the undead to it. Nico speaks fast and low, leaving little doubts about her being dead serious. "Eren doesn't have hours or minutes. They want to kill us. Dividing us makes us easier to kill. You know where he is, and if you don't teleport us, right now, his blood is on your hands." Every muscle in the halfling's body is taut as Amrita shapes herself back into her war form.

[MikelaC1]

Katarina draws a deep breath, she knows Nico is right but she also knows that the halfling doesnt understand the dangers of teleporting on one of the outer planes. But its going to have to be done.
Gather around and link hands. Im not going to mince words here, teleporting on the outer planes is one of the riskiest things a person can do but you are right when you say we dont have the time. I am going to use a Greater Teleport which has no chance of being off target in the Prime, and I do have the exact location. Be prepared for what happens when we arrive, we will likely be under immediate attack.
With that, Katarina settles in her mind what she plans to do when she arrives, draws another deep breath as she focuses on what her Discern spell gave her, and casts her spell.....

[Ridai]

(The negative energy plane is one of the inner planes and there is no blanket teleportation hindrance/misdirection in the D&D cosmology that I am aware of, not even in the Abyss)

As Katarina goes past "not going to mince words here", Nico's patience seems to run out entirely. "It's dangerous, shut up, ******* do it!"

Katarina teleports with the group. Upon arrival, she gets the impression that they are in an enclosed space, floating in midair (held there by everyone's subjective gravity), with somewhat less oppressive darkness. There is just enough light to spot the Nightwalker, along with a variety of lesser undead near it, some of which are turning to the sudden source of light. As soon as the group arrives, Nico's blades immediately turn the nearest undead to dust, Amrita lashes out and tears apart two more, Severin turns several of the nearest, and Faldriga makes a mass of black tentacles burst from thin air, ensnaring and beginning to crush a great many of the lesser undead. Amidst the chaos, Katarina spots Quinn in the grasp of the Nightwalker, on the brink of suffocation and looking like there is barely any life left in him, not just because of his wounds.

Katarina's turn.

(The Nightwalker is the only "real" threat here, the other undead being much weaker, but quite numerous, arranged around the Nightwalker (and sometimes attacking Quinn) and between the group and the Nightwalker)

[MikelaC1]

Beat me once, shame on you. Beat me twice, shame on me The last time, the Nightwalker defeated Katarina with its spell resistance, but she has ways to level that playing field. She applies an Assay Spell Resistance to herself as a swift action and then lobs a Mass Heal at the Nightwalker, which will have the added benefit of restoring Quinn and taking out any undead in range as well, including the ones joining in tormenting him.