A maze in your mind

The stairs fly past as you jump two at a time, the sounds of battle distinctly audible deep in the mansion above you. The landing at the top of the stairs opens into a long hallway lined with statues and sturdy-looking rich brown doors, but you rush by them and follow the clashing of swords ahead. The echoing suggests some sort of wide open area: perhaps a living room? You crash through the door at the end of the hallway, spilling into a large lounge area, seemingly completely empty and undisturbed. Plush chairs sit around a large coffee table and bookshelves line the walls.

Another hallway flies by as you dash through the opposite door and onward towards the noise. This one looks much the same as the first: this mansion is massive. The room beyond is dark, only a few beams of pale moonlight pouring in from a large window across the wall to your left. Blueish light illuminates a huge desk behind which an ornate, imposing chair faces towards the window, its back towards you. The walls are lined with bookshelves containing neatly organized, dusty tomes.

The instant you step inside, a bone-chilling scream echoes from behind the desk. The chair spins to reveal a pale, transparent woman with flowing hair and a distraught expression on her face. Her jaw sinks deeper than ought to be possible and another wail pierces your eardrums; you collapse on your knees and press your hands to your ears to try to keep the sound out, to no avail. Arrows from your ranged companions soar through the ghost and lodge in the chair behind her, leaving ragged holes in her form as she floats towards you with the same sad expression. Her chest heaves as she draws in a massive breath.

Banshee (Level 37)
Monster, Ghost, Incorporeal, Explicit
Said to be the souls of young women who died of heartbreak or shock at a great loss, these spirits possess a terrible cry that drains the very life **** from their victims.

The air above the banshee roils as you begin to summon a flame strike, but another piercing scream brings you to your knees once again, the spell dissipating as you feel a sensation like needles stabbing through your eyelids. The wail eats away at your sanity, your very vitality draining from the horrible noise. A spike of ice flies through the spirit to little effect. Just as she opens her mouth to let loose another wail a beam of evil green energy from Ari impacts the ghost and blasts her back, smashing her into the outside wall of the building. You take the opportunity to begin calling down another pillar of fire, and this time the banshee is consumed by the blaze before she can draw breath. A burst of red light from Celestina's daemonic portal finishes her off, and you take a few breaths before rushing down the hallway opposite the one you exited.

"Babe, wait!" Ari calls out to you when you near the opposite door. "What are we even looking for?" You're not really sure what the point of her question is given the urgency of the situation. You need to get to the paladin and whoever she's fighting: presumably in the master bedroom or something. Not the master bedroom, apparently: the door swings open to reveal a massive, regal bed surrounded by gorgeous mahogany cabinetry, but which is otherwise completely empty.

"Slow down, Aze! Where do you think they'll be?" Ari grabs you by the shoulder and pants from exertion at the rate you've been careening through the building.

"Why does it matter where they'll be? I assume they're wherever the sound is coming from." You tug to urge her to start running again, but she stands firm, and the others enjoy a breather of their own: Tlax is the only one who seems invigorated after the mad dash.

"Something is odd about this place. We've run way farther than the width of the house, but we've never turned." She quiets for a minute and chews her knuckle. "Where did you expect them to be?"

"Honestly, I'm kind of stumped." You allow yourself the chance to lie back on the bed for a moment. "I figured they might be in some sort of common area, or maybe a study, or maybe even the bedroom... but we've been to all of those places and haven't seen anyone other than Mrs Depression a moment ago."

"Say, I think Ari is on to something here. We're looking for magic items, right?" Mariel plays with a few strands of her hair as she thinks over the situation. "At least that's what the paladin was saying: who knows if she was telling the truth. Maybe they have some sort of vault or trophy room or something?"

"What does it matter what we think we're looking for anyways?" Having had enough of a breather, you stand up, frustrated at the puzzling direction of the conversation. "It's not like I have a map."

"Every door we've passed through thus far has led exactly where we expected it to. Why should the next be any different?" Ari lays it out plainly, her voice betraying excitement at a puzzle she's nearly solved. "At no point have we seen any indication that anyone else has been there, despite the fact that it stands to reason they ought to have come the same way."

The idea seems far-fetched, but you don't have a better one. "Okay, let's look for a trophy room. Worst case we're still heading in the direction of the noise. Everyone ready?" A series of nods greet you, so you dash down the hall once again. When you push open the door on the other end the clash of combat rings loud in your ears. The room is long and vaulted, various pedestals displaying all manner of art and weaponry. Alastra wields a gleaming longsword in both hands and battles two vampires. One is the woman from earlier: the other is a short, gaunt man in a dark robe. Despite being outnumbered, the paladin has nearly finished off the man; his movements are sluggish, one of his arms hangs limp from his side, and the other struggles to parry her blows with an ancient-looking rusted sword. The woman isn't faring much better: she lunges to defend her ally, but Alastra simply kicks her aside as she beats down the male vampire.

A burst of brilliant light fills the room. When it fades, the two vampires crackle with a merry blaze, cowering near the ground with their hands held in front of their eyes. You begin to channel a flame strike above the adventurer's head, but before you can finish your spell she dispatches the healthier female vampire. The remaining undead is paralyzed in fear of the radiant glow, and by the time that your melee companions reach the paladin she's able to easily dispatch the now-unguarded man. "So we meet again, daemon!" The paladin blocks your flame strike with a shield of golden light, then spins around and holds her blade at the ready for your allies' charge. Her other hand held up as if to stop you. "I'm impressed that you got this far, but I'm afraid I can't let you have the crystal."

Tlax and Sera reach her at the same time, but the adventurer swings her sword in a perfect arc, deflecting all four of Tlax's scimitars as well as Sera's sword with effortless grace. Her offhand momentarily leaves the blade to summon her gleaming shield once again: your firebolt and your companions' arrows cash into it harmlessly. Her next swing nearly drives Sera to her knees, and you take a moment to see what you're dealing with.

Alastra, Level 48 Paladin
Adventurer, Aetheling, Explicit
The aetheling are elves with a trace of angelic blood, known for their wisdom and for the pale glow of their eyes.

Level 48!? It's hard to believe that this is the same adventurer who you casually spared only a month ago. You've got to give her credit: she may have 'cheated' much of the way with the lich's help, but she's kept busy since his defeat. A fireball roils in your hands and you launch it behind her. While the paladin manages to spin her divine shield in time, her exposed back is struck by green and blue arrows, and then a minor hellhound throws itself on top of her. The daemon wolf savagely bites at her neck before she throws it off, frustration burning in her eyes.

"Too scared to stand against me alone, daemon? Need to hide behind your minions? I can't believe my old friends were so terrified of you!" A massive hammer of golden light appears in her hand and she slams it to the ground: the shockwave knocks your entire group flat. The paladin walks up to Sera's prone form confidently and begins to swing her sword, when a crash of splintering wood echoes from somewhere beyond the door and she pauses her blade just above the angel's neck. The slight hesitation is all Sera needs to knock away the paladin's sword and jump back to her feet, once again forcing Alastra on the retreat as blows rain down on her. Seeing as she hasn't managed to get much done with her bow, Ari charges forth with Frostfang held high, and soon the paladin is **** to take step after step back as three of your champions bring down strike after strike on her sword.

Tlax and Ari give confident grins as the paladin bumps into the display case holding the crystal, nowhere left to run. She suddenly lets go of her sword with one hand and smashes open the glass, gripping the blue gem tightly in her fist. A hail of attacks from your group cuts her down, and a moment later her limp corpse vanishes, replaced by a sack of loot: a sack which does not include the crystal.

"Well, that's a shame, but against an enemy like her I suppose a win is a win." There's a certain bitter irony in her stealing away a mana crystal in the exact same way you achieved against Akserrak when he first invaded your dungeon, although in this case the mana crystal was little more than a nice-to-have: you'll have plenty of time to find another one once this Radiant Soul situation is dealt with.

"Ooh, look at this!" Mariel takes a long spear from one of the suits of armour which lines the room. The weapon has a haft of ebony and a tip of black iron, light almost seeming to sink into it.

Darkspear
This pitch black spear is said to have been woven from the hair of the lady of night, her fury at her unfaithful husband giving it a perfectly-sharpened edge.
Effects
Sublime – The spear is perfectly balanced and impossibly sturdy, absorbing shocks entirely when they're blocked at the right angle. If your DEX is higher than your STR, DEX applies for damage, parrying, and any other STR-based abilities when wielding this weapon.

The dark angel tosses aside her trusty but generic spear and gives the artifact a twirl, testing out the balance of the much-longer weapon, before giving a satisfied nod. Her find inspires the others to look harder for more prizes, but suddenly the door across the room slams open, and a butler leads in a large party of guards.

"Stop, thieves! Men, this daemon and his accomplices have broken into my master's house and robbed his most valuable possession: a mana crystal of uncommon power. Stop them!" The guards charge in with weapons drawn, seemingly not in the mood for talk, and you and your champions regroup across the room.

"Tlax, ready for a ride?" The marilith looks at you with a confused expression and you break out into a run at the huge window ahead, your champions quickly joining you. Catching on, the snake woman tosses herself at the glass, and the rest of you launch yourselves out after her and grab on, soaring down into the mansion grounds as the guards pepper you with arrows from the smashed window above. Despite never having turned when inside, you exit the same side you entered. The raven outside gives an annoyed croak and flaps away as you speed towards its roost, crashing into the tree and sprawling on the ground.

"Well, shame we didn't have more time, but they should've gotten a good enough look at us. Let's hope that that's enough: time to head back to the dungeon before things get ugly." Sure enough, it isn't long after you've left the city gates that tooting horns announce a new notification.

World Bounty: Avenge Mannfred's Mansion
Mannfred von Brennenburg, noble of Fairweather Bay, has had his house sacked by a dungeon boss and his cohorts. The city guard has issued bounties for the return of a large mana crystal stolen this way and for retributive actions against the daemon. Teach Azazel to keep the peace in the crossroads city!
Location: Imporne – Azazel's Lair
(Starts in 4 days)

You can't help but feel that you played into the paladin's hands somehow, although given you got what you wanted as well it's hard to argue with the results. In any case, she can wait. You'll need to confront her sooner or later, given she's apparently one of the other contenders for the Radiant Soul. For now it's time to head back to your dungeon and hope that Selena and her group got the message. An hour later, deep in the towering pines uphill from the city, you set up camp for the night. It will be the first of several on your way back to your lair, and for once you anticipate the impending invasion of your dungeon rather than dreading it.