Gilra walks into town (stealth check: 17). She's a dark elf and looks ageless (but nobody notices her anyway). She's just observing what's going on, not intervening in anything.

From time to time if someone happens to walk too close to her they grasp their neck and start choking and dying. She doesn't notice it most of the time - it's been happening to living things around her for an eternity.

Archy sits back, not talking. He slashes into the paladin's armors and they die almost instantly. His blackened Demon armor shines brilliantly, and his ring has a strange glow. His pet pseudodragon, hornet, stabs people with his tail. They die of poison, and Archy smiles. No one can see it though, as he is fully covered by his magnificent armor.

The destruction lasts well into the night.

When you are finished, your group commandeers a well appointed inn near the town square that once catered to wealthy travelers as a base of operations.

Preparations for the ritual begin.

Incense smoke hangs thickly in the air and intricate chalk lines ring the town square. In the center of the square, a fountain that once flowed with clear water is now tainted with blood. In the bowl of the fountain float the heads of several citizens, their eyes frozen in disbelief at the horror that befell them as they died.

The other members of your group show no sign of distress at the grisly scene. You are not surprised. They could not have come this far if they were squeamish about killing innocents. Although you are not friends —you are comrades in circumstance. Ordinarily you may prefer to work alone, but there is strength in numbers and a great deal of strength will be needed in the trials ahead.

You do not know what lies in your way, but you know the powers of so-called good will do everything in their power to stop you.

Are there any preparations you would like to make before the ritual concludes and the portal opens?

Barosh is prepared. He places his broom of flying into his bag of holding and two golden dragon's wings burst out of his back.

Archy puts on his circlet of blasting and is ready. Hornet is dismissed temporarily as he prepares. Archy then summons him back, recognizing the dire situation he's in.

     Raze steps into the inn, his steel and brass frame speckled with the blood of his victims - no effort made to clean it off. He scans the room, briefly measuring each of those whom he has recently allied with. With a blank expression, he turns his attention to the ceremony and prepares for what may come through the portal. 

Mankur simply waits watching the portal closely 

Ileanys steps back into a corner, casting Invisibility on himself as he does so, and waits for the Portal to open with his crossbow ready.

Laucian walks into the inn, looking utterly spotless as he didn't have a single drop of blood on him despite all of the chaos and mess he had helped in creating outside. He gazed around at his fellow 'partners', temporary allies that will only serve to help him until they get the Blood Stone and he finally becomes a demi-god. While waiting for the ceremony to end, he is simply fine tuning his viol while keeping a close eye for when the portal does open at the same time. They had done all that they needed to do in order to complete the ritual, eager to get going and feeling more than prepared for what is to possibly come, hoping that the others are also the same and won't get in his way at all.

Gilra turns into a bat and hangs upside down from the rafters of a nearby building. 

Valrakas will clean his blades on the clothing of the fallen townsfolk. He sheathes his weapons and enters the inn for the ceremony. Valrakas will tidy himself up the best he can, readjusting his clothing, cleaning his hands in the sink, slicking back his hair. 

As the ritual completes, the air in the circle’s center begins to twist and deform. A pinhole opens and through it, a black claw and red finger emerge. As you watch, more fingers appear and the hole widens. The hands grasp the edges of the portal, peeling back the fabric of reality, opening a window to the center of the world. The rift grows wide enough for you and your acquaintances to pass through.

It is time.

 Ileanys remains where he stands, waiting to let someone else enter the rift first to see what happens.

Mankur slowly walks through the portal looking over his shoulder one last time before fully going through 

Vaqlrakas will follow in second, eager to attain his prowess.

Archy follows third, followed by Hornet, and happily leaps into the portal, no stranger to anything.

Assuming nothing obviously bad happens to the others as they walk through, Ileanys follows, still invisible.

With a beat of his wings, Barosh hurls himself through the rift.

      Raze tightens its grip on their staff of striking - a cherry wood staff with gold bands and the last foot on the ends being rods of twisted steel. They calmly march forward through the portal. 

Gilra flutters through as a bat and assesses the newfound situation (and I apologize for this, but her passive perception is 27).