A barrier stopped us from entering into the circle of the spires, flashing an angry red, as a number of sigils danced across the surface. “I think I can undo this...” Elvira shouted, as she hesitantly began to cast against the sigils on the barrier, slowly undoing them as if pulling the string from a grand tapestry.

Morticia chuckled from the other side, eyes dripping with a red ichor, as she continued to perform the ritual. “You are far too late, my dears. We are far beyond the point of return, should you even break the barrier before Killgrov’s arrival, you cannot stop me.”

I looked around frantically, trying to think of a way I could assist Elvira or to disrupt the ritual from outside. I tugged towards the earth below, perhaps even a small piece of undead could be used to break the seal, but my aura caught at the dome. She had pulled herself into a separate plain overlaid on top of ours.

I can see why she had tenure. Too bad she was bonkers evil.

What felt like a foreign thought, though in my own voice, entered my head saying “If we cannot use subtlety, force shall suffice.” My eyes sparked blue, and I stabbed my staff into place at my side, using both hands to gesture sigils I have not seen before. Two portals appeared on opposite sides of the dome, a strange misty gray color, and from each, huge silver hooks connected by some large bone looking chain cracked against the barrier, sinking into the magic.

Morticia faltered, landing on one knee momentarily, sweat dripping down her brow, before studying herself. Elvira, meanwhile, recoiled a bit from the feedback of one of her sigils that was unthreading a sigil the impact of the chains sparked off. “That made this easier!” She called, waving her hand, fingers smoking a little, before returning to her work. “Try more stuff like that!”

“Turn the sigil.” the voice, or maybe voices, rang out, and I slowly turned my hands in opposite directions from one another, and the chains began to pull back into the void with the movement. More sigils sparked as Morticia snarled at me, abandoning her attempts to add to the barriers security, and focusing on the ritual. “We’re almost through!” I called out.

“I have it!” Elvira shouted back, tugging at the last sigil. As the orb fizzled from existence, we rushed into the circle. A loud gong, as if from a giant bell, rang across the landscape.

Morticia grinned at us smugly, as it rang out again. We looked up at the third gong, the eclipse perfectly in place, looking a blood red, with oosing bleeding tendrils that seemed to flow towards the obelisks. At the fourth gong, the blood pooled atop us into a firey portal. At the fifth gong, a chitnisy hand reached out into the sky, and at the sixth and final bell, an ancient horrific demon rose from the portal.

Killgrov the Devourer had risen.