Nobody Home?

(Art from Black Gate)

So, lizard-cleric takes a long view with his superior infra-vision across the night-time snowy wastes and suddenly spots two humanoid figures moving as quickly as they seem capable through the snow toward the rope trick where the party is hidden. Lizard-cleric awaits their approach and hales them when the couple, a bare-chested human and a half-giantess, is within 40 feet.

Just as the couple make the location of the party's rope, masses of ghouls appear behind following them, ghouls being room-temperature undead and invisible to lizard-cleric's infra-vision.

The humanoid newcomers turn to stand and fight, while haughty paladin and several companions drop down to join the fray. Despite brutal destruction and waves of undead-turning waged by the adventurers, ghouls keep coming in numbers approaching hundreds. As combat continues lizard-cleric notices heat from a tall gaunt and armored shape perhaps 500 feet in the distance on a large hill opposite the source of ghouls from whence the humanoid couple ran.

As battle rages a huge undead knight approaches, half snake and wielding weapons in its four arms. The giant half-snake is adorned over its eyes with a blackened visor.

The new bare-chested man motions toward half-giantess companion, indicating he sees the visor, when the giant half-snake lobs a small globe into the midst of the heroes. The globes explodes in fire and necrotic magic. Haughty paladin leaps in front of his dragonborn associate, sparing her from certain destruction, while the others, severely wounded, retreat back into the rope trick (shrinking the half-giantess to fit everyone).

As the battle seems futile a large band of githyanki warriors, as they had briefly encountered in white elves cavern lair, magically appear shifting in and out of existence engaging the ghoulish warriors.

Haughty paladin's left leg is missing from the orb's explosion, and adventurers retreat up the rope trick. Lizard-cleric takes I final look to locate the strange gaunt and armored person, who is now bounding through the snow in their direction.

The party rests and heals for some time within the extra-dimensional space of the rope trick, when it is decided to take a look about before the spell ends.

Outside extra-dimensional space they seem to be floating in dark and silvery clouds. Off in the distance a city stands on a huge floating rock. The city is marked by two ivory towers intertwined in a double-spiral, a double-spiral exactly the same as the towers on the assimar's banner...