Campaign catch-up

I missed updating for the last couple of sessions, so now I'll attempt to recap what happened since we teleported away from the doomed elven town.

• Given the choice between extracting an orb from the dwarves and pursuing another, we chose to pursue another.
• We ran into a long-wandering ambassador (new PC) from the dragon-ruled continent, to which we were flying.
• Upon arrival, a "cleansing" appeared to be going on. Interrogation of the not-Nazis-I-swear led us to a Temple of Doom, which we investigated.
• Inside, we passed many, many deactivated traps until we reached a room with a large, ominous book on a pedestal. After debating what to do with it, we decided that the rest of us would vacate the temple and then Gerrard would attempt to take the book.
• Gerrard, not having learned from touching the explosive crystal way back when, snatched the book immediately and ran (using his blinking tunic) back through the wall through which we had entered. Everybody else sensed that something terribly bad had happened. Koslov and Garcin (Aleistair's replacement) decided to throw up a wall of force separating them from the rest of the party and knock a hole in the stone wall to find out what was beyond. Cue clouds of acidic, disintegrating, soul-trapping dust that annihilated them instantly. The rest of us, knowing the wall of force would not last long, began desperately strategizing and casting spells to help us survive. I had one idea involving my most recently-acquired binder powers, but just before the wall ran out, I was visited by Sethos, who offered the tools for all of us to escape in exchange for my soul. Not seeing much other choice (and not planning to die soon anyway), I agreed, promptly receiving several scrolls of Time Stop and a cube of force.
• Back to normal time. I used my last Miracle for the day to compress the fog into a 2-ft sphere, around which I summoned a Sphere of Annihilation (a rare and powerful artifact, and exactly what it says on the tin. Do Not Touch). Those of us still alive managed to use Sethos' toys (I didn't tell them where I got them) to get past the rest of the traps (all of which had been activated my moving the book) on the way out. We then sent in trap-disabling specialists to clear out the temple and revived Garcin, Koslov, and Gerrard. The first two immediately attempted to slaughter the latter again, but they were restrained. Gerrard, having proved himself dangerously unstable yet again, was carted off to the loony bin and out of the campaign. (His replacement character is Not-The-Doctor-I-Swear, who flies around in Not-The-TARDIS-I-Swear)
• Further exploration orb-wise took us to the regent of the nation: a bratty young man with an overinflated ego. At one point, some of us accepted his invitation to join him in hunting dire eagles (illusions created for his benefit, actually). During the "hunt," an assassination attempt was made on him (foiled by the party, albeit with some reluctance). Kosliv, Ulgrath (an illusionist PC in the employ of the Athertons), and I investigated this further (not all of the party was with us), eventually leading to us becoming trapped and powerless in a mind-screwy interrogation room. Ulgrath disappeared through a mysterious door, and Koslov was drenched in modified demon blood, providing the final clue to him that we were within an Abaci Macabre.
• Cue to outside the palace, where the others have gotten wind of trouble on the inside. It was also discovered that the Calisa had been seized. Everyone switched over to playing various Atherton marines (I got Meteledes, who has progressed from merely dying and getting hurt a lot to actually being a masochist) for the retaking of the ship. Given the marines' sneaking and dispatching capabilities as a team, this part was a success. Regaining access to the scrying orb, we found where the rest of the crew and specialists (read: PCs) were being held.
• Currently, we are halfway through rescuing the crew (and absolutely massacring their captors in the process), after which we will come after the PCs.

When we finally confront Sethos, I have figured out how Hakh'net will sort through his Chronic Backstabbing Disorder and pick a side. The DM really wants to know, but I think he can find out with the rest of the group. And I know you might be reading this now, so I won't say it here, either! :P