Pug said to Amirantha, “Take the lead.”

Amirantha nodded, but instead of crawling forward as Brandos had, he stood, motioning for the others to follow, and started walking straight to the gate.

The sentry was looking the other way for a moment when Amirantha loomed up in the darkness, and when he turned his sheep-like head in the Warlock’s direction, he uttered a curious sound, “Uh?”

Before he could make another, Amirantha had used a single word spell that stunned the creature, causing the huge axe he held to drop from limp fingers. Amirantha said to Pug, “You have perhaps ten minutes. Five is more like it.”

Pug said, “I’ll be back in five minutes.” He took a quick glance at Amirantha who stood with hand outstretched, his magic controlling the demon. Brandos stood ready to strike a killing blow if needed, with Gulamendis ready to banish the creature.

Pug took a deep breath, then started walking toward the now unguarded entryway. As he moved around the makeshift wooden barrier, he unleashed a spell he had never used before. It was a difficult cantrip, causing him to be ignored. Not invisible, but rather when someone glanced at him, he didn’t garner notice, as if he wasn’t important enough to remember. It was a spell taught him by Laromendis the week before, and while the elf had judged Pug’s mastery of it sufficient, Pug still had doubts.

He walked through the opening and paused a moment, glancing in all directions.

The four towers rose up overhead, arching toward an open center. This close Pug could sense there was power in them, faint, perhaps dormant was a better word, but there. A tiny flicker of light danced across the tip of each from time to time, but otherwise they were quiet.

Pug could not enjoy the luxury of investigating any one aspect of this place, no matter how much he wished he could. He moved toward the massive excavation in the center of the ring, glancing from side to side to see if he was being observed. A sentry on the wall looked directly at him for a moment, then turned away, looking out over the dark berm outside the wall. Apparently the spell was working or there were other humans in dark robes seen trekking around the facility after dark.

He reached the edge of the pit and glanced in. His stomach knotted. The pit was less than thirty feet deep, but he could see the piles of bodies. The stench that rose clearly indicated they had been dead for days. Elves, humans, dwarves, and even some demons lay sprawled in the mass.

Pug stepped back and felt the freshening breeze blow the stench away. Had the air been still he would have smelled the dead at the outer gate.