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Annals of Rabirius, Magus of the Lyceum Arcani
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<blockquote data-quote="Firanus" data-source="post: 2648857" data-attributes="member: 37576"><p><strong>Fall of the Fire Temple</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="color: DarkGreen">Much has befallen us since our ordeal at the moathouse, </span></p><p><span style="color: DarkGreen">including the deaths of Shane and Villeaus, and our banishment from Citadel Karek. </span></p><p><span style="color: DarkGreen">We have also acquired our own keep, located deep in the mountains east of Duvik's Pass. But those tales are for another time. For now, you shall hear of the</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><span style="color: Red">FALL OF THE FIRE TEMPLE</span></span></p><p></p><p>After several weeks spent exploring the dungeons of the Temple of All Consumption, after vanquishing the Air Temple, weakest of the four elemental temples, and after the departure of Dutchess (led by a noble Mountain Man who had been trapped in the endless subterranean labyrinth, our team of five intrepid adventurers found itself at the gates of the Fire Temple, largest and most powerful of the Four. Wildcat, the warrior mage whose precision sword strikes have ended many a foe; Steve, the heavily armored Knight of Helios, both healing hand and lethal axe; Candala, expert scout and explorer; Rabirius, powerful air mage whose words began this journal; and I, Firanus, equal parts battle mage and arcane scholar, were set to face the most difficult challenge of our lives so far. </p><p></p><p>We had warning of what we might face inside the temple, after finding a strange and disturbing Bear Warrior who claimed to be an exile from the temple. So, augmented by our many powerful defensive, offensive, illusional and temporal magicks and aided by a summoned Guardinal, we charged headfirst into the mouth of the proverbial lion. We first were met with a sight more disturbing to me than the most horrifying aberration: a praetorian knight guarding the entrance. But this was not the time for unravelling political intrigues, and so aided by our silence and invisibility we dispatched him out of hand after gaining some valuable information. Unfortunately, while we stood there debating the best course of action, a fey warrior came upon our position, saw the bloody corpse, and raced into the temple to sound the alarm before any of us could react. </p><p></p><p>...So much for secrecy.</p><p></p><p>Our surprise blown, we raced headlong into the temple in an attempt to catch the alarmed cultist before he could bring down the entire temple on us at once. The first obstacle we encountered was a large cavern, adorned with a large black marble diamond set in the floor. At each corner of the diamond was an obelisk at which stood a man-sized fire elemental. These four creatures were dispatched fairly quickly, again due to our invisibility, and we moved on. After encountering and eliminating six fire mephits, a hellhound, and several teams of warriors and priests consisting of both feymen and humans, we came upon the center of the temple. At the first door we came to, we paused to consider our plans, at which point Candala was snatched up by a salamander that had managed to hide in a nook in the ceiling and surprise us from behind. Despite its ominous threats, we managed to dispatch it fairly quickly, and cure the poison that had afflicted Candala. Of course, the noise from the fight brought another opponent out to face us. This one was quite intimidating, covered in horrifying scars, wielding fierce looking twin shortwords, with the same manic look in his eye that we had seen from every high-ranking cultist so far. Luckily I managed to affect him with a Hold spell, ending the fight before it ever really started. I shudder to think what that maniac may have done to us had he been given the chance. </p><p></p><p>With the way now clear to the central altar of the temple, we now paused briefly to consider our options. We knew the rough layout of the area ahead, but had no idea what sort of opposition it held. We decided simply to charge straight into the temple area instead of exploring the caverns to the side...unfortunately, going left turned out to be by far the worse of the two options. While we explored the empty altar room, and Steve resolutely hacked away at some inanimate statues, Wildcat decided to investigate the first of the attached caverns. And so it was that we were caught with out pants down--in that room were the chief priestess, Tessuman; a small enthralled Feyman; and most disturbingly, the grotesquely transformed figure of Lord Governor Octavius, now resembling a 12-foot-tall ape and still wearing the Antlers of Oberon. </p><p></p><p>Wildcat wisely retreated into the altar cavern as the infernal trio advanced upon us. They appeared to have spent the last half hour or more preparing for us by casting a great many spells upon themselves, for Tessuman and her feyman thrall immediately jumped up through the roiling flames in the center of the chamber and onto the altar platform, remaining completely unaffected by the fire. The battle began with the horribly tattooed priestess banging on a large drum on the altar. That she would chose to do this instead of attacking us filled me with dread--if this is the most effective defense she has, it can't be good. Upon banging the drum, the statues steve had been attacking immediately came to life, causing Steve to turn his back on the action in the chamber and focus on the newly attacking skeletons. The rest of us immediately took to the air, thanks to the fly spell that Rabirius had cast, to avoid the imposing figure of Octavius. Wildcat and Candala advanced upon Tessuman with swords drawn, while Rabirius and I focused on the feyman, whose first act was to summon a dancing sword to attack Rabirius. </p><p></p><p>My first move was to attempt to eliminate the feyman (obviously a mage) immediatly to tip the odds in our favor. I cast a banishment spell on him, one of only two that remained to me, but he resisted its effects. Rabirius then attempted to dominate him. His spell took hold, and he focused on ordering the small creature to attack Tessuman, but he later discovered that some greater power had already enthralled it, and his orders were useless.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Wildcat took a moment to cast a spell on himself while Candala charged at Tessuman, who had somehow commanded the floating altar platform to rise straight up in the air. The obsidian altar itself had begun a strange transformation, warping its shape and turning increasingly translucent. Candala's sword thrust hit home, and Tessuman was injured, but she immediately reacted by using the strage dancing tentacles on her staff to entangle and immobilize Candala, and slam her body down on the now-transforming altar. </p><p></p><p>Intending to save my remaining spell, I loaded my crossbow and fired at the feyman, but missed. As Steve continued fighting with the skeletons, kept up his attack on the feyman and Wildcat beared down on Tessuman.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Firanus, post: 2648857, member: 37576"] [b]Fall of the Fire Temple[/b] [COLOR=DarkGreen]Much has befallen us since our ordeal at the moathouse, including the deaths of Shane and Villeaus, and our banishment from Citadel Karek. We have also acquired our own keep, located deep in the mountains east of Duvik's Pass. But those tales are for another time. For now, you shall hear of the[/COLOR] [SIZE=4][COLOR=Red]FALL OF THE FIRE TEMPLE[/COLOR][/SIZE][COLOR=Red][/COLOR] After several weeks spent exploring the dungeons of the Temple of All Consumption, after vanquishing the Air Temple, weakest of the four elemental temples, and after the departure of Dutchess (led by a noble Mountain Man who had been trapped in the endless subterranean labyrinth, our team of five intrepid adventurers found itself at the gates of the Fire Temple, largest and most powerful of the Four. Wildcat, the warrior mage whose precision sword strikes have ended many a foe; Steve, the heavily armored Knight of Helios, both healing hand and lethal axe; Candala, expert scout and explorer; Rabirius, powerful air mage whose words began this journal; and I, Firanus, equal parts battle mage and arcane scholar, were set to face the most difficult challenge of our lives so far. We had warning of what we might face inside the temple, after finding a strange and disturbing Bear Warrior who claimed to be an exile from the temple. So, augmented by our many powerful defensive, offensive, illusional and temporal magicks and aided by a summoned Guardinal, we charged headfirst into the mouth of the proverbial lion. We first were met with a sight more disturbing to me than the most horrifying aberration: a praetorian knight guarding the entrance. But this was not the time for unravelling political intrigues, and so aided by our silence and invisibility we dispatched him out of hand after gaining some valuable information. Unfortunately, while we stood there debating the best course of action, a fey warrior came upon our position, saw the bloody corpse, and raced into the temple to sound the alarm before any of us could react. ...So much for secrecy. Our surprise blown, we raced headlong into the temple in an attempt to catch the alarmed cultist before he could bring down the entire temple on us at once. The first obstacle we encountered was a large cavern, adorned with a large black marble diamond set in the floor. At each corner of the diamond was an obelisk at which stood a man-sized fire elemental. These four creatures were dispatched fairly quickly, again due to our invisibility, and we moved on. After encountering and eliminating six fire mephits, a hellhound, and several teams of warriors and priests consisting of both feymen and humans, we came upon the center of the temple. At the first door we came to, we paused to consider our plans, at which point Candala was snatched up by a salamander that had managed to hide in a nook in the ceiling and surprise us from behind. Despite its ominous threats, we managed to dispatch it fairly quickly, and cure the poison that had afflicted Candala. Of course, the noise from the fight brought another opponent out to face us. This one was quite intimidating, covered in horrifying scars, wielding fierce looking twin shortwords, with the same manic look in his eye that we had seen from every high-ranking cultist so far. Luckily I managed to affect him with a Hold spell, ending the fight before it ever really started. I shudder to think what that maniac may have done to us had he been given the chance. With the way now clear to the central altar of the temple, we now paused briefly to consider our options. We knew the rough layout of the area ahead, but had no idea what sort of opposition it held. We decided simply to charge straight into the temple area instead of exploring the caverns to the side...unfortunately, going left turned out to be by far the worse of the two options. While we explored the empty altar room, and Steve resolutely hacked away at some inanimate statues, Wildcat decided to investigate the first of the attached caverns. And so it was that we were caught with out pants down--in that room were the chief priestess, Tessuman; a small enthralled Feyman; and most disturbingly, the grotesquely transformed figure of Lord Governor Octavius, now resembling a 12-foot-tall ape and still wearing the Antlers of Oberon. Wildcat wisely retreated into the altar cavern as the infernal trio advanced upon us. They appeared to have spent the last half hour or more preparing for us by casting a great many spells upon themselves, for Tessuman and her feyman thrall immediately jumped up through the roiling flames in the center of the chamber and onto the altar platform, remaining completely unaffected by the fire. The battle began with the horribly tattooed priestess banging on a large drum on the altar. That she would chose to do this instead of attacking us filled me with dread--if this is the most effective defense she has, it can't be good. Upon banging the drum, the statues steve had been attacking immediately came to life, causing Steve to turn his back on the action in the chamber and focus on the newly attacking skeletons. The rest of us immediately took to the air, thanks to the fly spell that Rabirius had cast, to avoid the imposing figure of Octavius. Wildcat and Candala advanced upon Tessuman with swords drawn, while Rabirius and I focused on the feyman, whose first act was to summon a dancing sword to attack Rabirius. My first move was to attempt to eliminate the feyman (obviously a mage) immediatly to tip the odds in our favor. I cast a banishment spell on him, one of only two that remained to me, but he resisted its effects. Rabirius then attempted to dominate him. His spell took hold, and he focused on ordering the small creature to attack Tessuman, but he later discovered that some greater power had already enthralled it, and his orders were useless. Meanwhile, Wildcat took a moment to cast a spell on himself while Candala charged at Tessuman, who had somehow commanded the floating altar platform to rise straight up in the air. The obsidian altar itself had begun a strange transformation, warping its shape and turning increasingly translucent. Candala's sword thrust hit home, and Tessuman was injured, but she immediately reacted by using the strage dancing tentacles on her staff to entangle and immobilize Candala, and slam her body down on the now-transforming altar. Intending to save my remaining spell, I loaded my crossbow and fired at the feyman, but missed. As Steve continued fighting with the skeletons, kept up his attack on the feyman and Wildcat beared down on Tessuman. [/QUOTE]
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