What happened to Stephen?

With their return back to Idera, the heroes were once again celebrated for their actions. Unfortunately, they lost nearly 75% of their force in the battle, including Roduka and Krill.

During the debriefing, Erdan pulled the heroes aside and told them Stephen was at the Tower of Wizardry at the Citadel of the Seasons. Heading there right away, the heroes found a female Eladrin overseeing the work of rebuilding the tower. She directed them to the basement lab, where they had previously found the enhanced teleportation circle.

Meeting up with Stephen in the lab, Alexander laid into him about not participating in the battle and Stephen simply informed him this was more important. He had found a way to open a portal to Za'ha'dum, Vecna's fortress. Additionally, the heroes only have a finite amount of time before Osterneth comes back since they are carrying her phylactery.

After a rest, Stephen opened the portal and the heroes stepped through. The trip was extremely bumpy, resulting in the loss of 2 or 4 healing surges, based on a saving throw.