Selm's Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil

[Selm]

Episode 9-2

Episode NINE - Problems in Hommlet, is it really the end? - PART 2
(A mysterious letter ...)

- Waterday, 26th Planting -

Hopefully nobody tried to steal the coffer during the night and they
are able to open it on the next morning. Their efforts are nonetheless
rewarded as they are able to find a big book and a letter carefully
protected into a black cloak and an ocre robe.
The tome is in fact a spellbook and they lend it to Brune for
examination. The letter is a lot more interesting. It is signed by a
certain Naquent, who seems to be a highly ranking priest of
Tharizdun. It describes the objectives of the priests in Hommlet:
infiltration of the town, recovery of the Moathouse artifacts, and
inquiry of the Temple of Elemental Evil state.
There is a map with the letter, indicating a secret entry into the
Temple. It is worth noting that absolute discretion is required of the
priests. They clearly want to remain undiscovered.

After a talk with Brune and Rufus they decide to go to the Temple of
Elemental Evil, finally. They will stop by the Moathouse on the way
back.
As Ezekiel is assisting Y'Dey in the raise dead spells, they will
depart without him and he will catch them on the road.
And so, soon after midday, they quit Hommlet for the old evilish
Temple they fear so much.

The sun is bright today and the way is easy. They follow the road near
the river towards broadly north-east. After a few hours, they arrive
near the hills between Hommlet and the Gnarley forest. There they are
the witness of a strange scene. A black horse with white patched feet
is fighting a pack of wolfs. Hearing only her courage, Killasha refuse
to let the horse die without her help.

So, suddenly, they are dragged into a fight. And this will be a bloody
one. There is six wolfs and two huge stronger dire creatures. Killasha
is soon surrounded by several creatures and tripped down by one of the
dire wolfs. Diane arrives to help her but the wolfs are fast and she
can¹t be everywhere. Rousing Fox is also in a bad situation, as he his
the last line of defense between the wolfs and Lywen (Gandigoot could
also help but he is better with a crossbow), he tried to stop three
wolfs charging them. But the second dire wolf attacks him and trips
him too, while two wolfs charge the two others.
Lywen starts to unleash waves of magic missiles, Gandigoot shoots
bolts and bolts and bolts, while Diane stabs as much as she can. But
soon Killasha is finished, trying to stand up while you are surrounded
by wolfs is often quite hard. Rousing Fox is also bitten hard by his
dire wolf and finally falls on the ground for the last time. They are
nonetheless able to survive but the fight was hard. Hopefully,
Killasha and Rousing Fox survived to their wounds.
They were able to save the horse, which fled at the end of the fight
after a single glance for them. But the cost was high, without their
priest, they will be unable to continue their journey towards the
Temple of Elemental Evil. They decide to send back Alahija to Hommlet
with the task of hurrying Ezekiel, while the others will search a rest
place for the night.
And so it is done ...

Alahija departs and they go north to hide in the nearby hills. After
an hour Gandigoot decides that they have found a good spot for a camp,
between two high hills. They pitch their tents and make a fire before
resting, but not without having established guard turns.
Around one o'clock, Gandigoot spots shades on the top of one of the
surrounding hills, they clearly appear over the sky lighten by the
moonlight. With discretion, he wakes up the four others. After a few
minutes, they have a plan. Killasha will continue the guard to confuse
the culprits, and the others will ambush them.
After ten minutes, they are able to see the newcomers. It is a group
of five orcs, one of them clearly leading them. Diane sneaks past them
while Gandigoot, Lywen and Rousing Fox prepare an ambush. And then
they strike: Gandigoot and rousing Fox shoot, Lywen casts, Diane
strikes (from behind, as always ). After only a few rounds, these
losy scums have been dispatched. Good plan, quick attack, great
success !

And you know what? They are finally able to rest peacefully for a
night ... and they will need it, as their next day will see their
arrival at the old Temple of Elemental Evil.

... stay tuned ...
next episode will finally see their arrival at the temple

-------------------------------------------------------
Episode TEN - Back to the Temple of Elemental Evil - Part 1
(I'm a poor lonesone hero ... on a dark rainy road ...)

 

[Selm]

Episode 10-1

Episode TEN - Back to the Temple of Elemental Evil - Part 1
(I'm a poor lonesone hero ... on a dark rainy road ...)

- Earthday, 27th Planting -

Alahija reached Ezekiel yesterday night. She informed him of the "wolf
incident" and they decided to depart early at dawn to reconnect with
their friends as soon as possible. In fact the other members of the
party are not so well this morning. Without their healer their were
barely able to reach half of their life for two of them (Killasha and
Rousing Fox) and they overslept quite a bit. The half-elf and the
priest of Kord were able to find them on the road, they even waited
for nearly half and hour at the spot of yesterday's fight. After this
meeting, they take the road towards their fated destination: the
ruined Temple of Elemental Evil.

They reach the outskirt of the Gnarly forest before midday. If the sun
was bright until now, the weather seems to change and will become
worse and worse during their advance towards the old evilish
Temple. As if its evil soiled even the sky itself around it. Less
than one hour after they entered the forest and they started to follow
the forest track towards Nulb (which will lead them to the temple as
it was explained to them by Elmo, among others), it started to rain
stronger and stronger, until they are forced to stop and wait for a
better weather. Gandigoot finds them a cover in the form a great tree
in a glade near the forest trail. They have to wait under the rain,
loosely protected by some oily tent parts, for more than one hour. But
finally the rain stopped, or diminished enough to allow them to
continue their way.

It should be around half in the afternoon (it is so hard to say
without sun and in a forest), when they encounter the first problem. A
strong patch of spider webs blocks the trail. Giant webs block the
road and extend in the woods around, the size of the webs clearly
indicate the presence of Giant Spiders around there, as said
Gandigoot. As you can imagine, this is not really reassuring for hour
heroes. The decision is taken to try a way round the potential danger
and they follow their gnome guide in the dense forest towards the
south. After several minutes, Gandigoot change direction, going north
again. It is only a few minutes before they reach the track that they
spot a big ugly spider lurking in a tree. Time is short, before some
of them could even react two giant spiders jump on them from their
cover and two others spit web strings towards the last members of the
party. A new fight has started, hopefully this will be a quick one. On
the very first round, Diane stabs one of the monsters, killing it
right on the strike. If Ezekiel is stuck into the spider strings,
Killasha is not and supported by Gandigoot and some magic missiles
from Alahija she is able to kill a second spider on the second round.
Lywen has cast his flight spell and carefully placed himself to be
able to shoot a lightning bolt the round after (which is not easy to
do in a forest). The whole confrontation lasted less than five combat
rounds. It was bloody, quick and furious, but the combined might of
our seven heroes was too much for four giant spiders. Gandigoot use a
vial to get some of the spider poison ... it could be useful someday
as he said.

After this "other incident" they resume their journey towards THE
Temple. And, more precisely, are now approaching the ghost town of
Nulb. When they finally found a way out of the Gnarley forest, they
are able to see in the distance what remain of the so badly famed
village of Nulb. This small village appeared during the rise of the
Temple of Elemental Evil and was more a rally point for all the scum
around than a peaceful farming village as Hommlet is. But the
destruction of the evil temple sealed the fate of the village, which
quickly disappeared after it. Now, all what remain is a bunch of
burned houses and the port area. Our heroes are not able to see more
through the mist, but they were advised to skip the village as it is
now only inhabited by undead. Or at least it was what Elmo said to
them. They decide to follow the outskirts of the forest on this side,
keeping their distances with Nulb. After having crossed the river
which go trough Nulb, they continue their path until they reach a
trail going back into the forest. It is hopeful that this way was
indicated to them, especially by the map they found on the letter
hidden into the coffer in Hommlet mill cellar. Without such
indications, they should have searched trough the woods, and it should
have been a lot more dangerous, even if the proximity of Nulb surely
is dangerous enough It took them one hour from the end of the first
trail to reach the second one. It is now more than half in the
afternoon and with the continual rain light starts to be short. Anyway
they didn¹t reach this point to go back and they courageously engage
on the new forest trail going south, south-west.

During their way south, Gandigoot search for the hidden track, going
to what seems to be a small barn on their map, which should be on
their left. But he is unable to spot the track entry and they finally
reach what seems to be huge glade were the evilish temple found its
nest several decades ago. They reached the Temple of Elemental Evil
!!!

The nature itself seems corrupted all around. Trees started to become
parched and burned. Birds are nowhere to be found or even heard; only
flocks of black ravens seem to inhabit the area. The sky is dark and
the sound of the pouring rain is the only "sign of life" around. But
all these dark signs are not enough to discourage our heroes and they
decide to carefully advance towards the black walls of the temple.


... next installment will see their fated arrival at THE Temple ...

... keep tuned ...


----------------------------------------------------------------
Episode TEN - Back to the Temple of Elemental Evil - Part 2
(Fight against the HORDE.)

 

[Rousing Fox]

Well, I'm back after moving in my new house, that was very time consumming.
Sorry dear master, but I have to correct you : I've never been in the mill. At least before its explosion. It's one of the 3 men that opened the trap.
But it's not really THAT important

 

[Selm]

Loose Memory

Hehe,

Welcome back Foxy. you know, this game session was something like two month and a half ago ...
So, yes, I could make mistakes

But not on this point. I even have notes were you are searching the back of the mill where flour bags are deposited before beeing sold.
With Lywen you were the "inside searching team" while Diane was outside.

Hopefuly I write down notes after each sessions, or it will be absolutely impossible for me to recall the events so far away

But I must admit that the following fight (next installment) was so hectic that my scarse notes could not be sufficient to recall all your actions, you're welcome to correct me anytime young monk.
One day you'll become a jedi you know

see you,
Selm

 

[Selm]

Episode 10-2

Episode TEN - Back to the Temple of Elemental Evil - Part 2
(Fight against the HORDE.)

- THE Temple -
DMNote: This description is quite a classic, now , for those who
have not played the first ToEE campaign this is the description
written in the module (T1-4) which should be red to the players when
they arrive at the temple. When I read it I'm quite jealous as I'm not
able to give you such a vivid image ^_^but I hope you enjoy the show
anyway.

"The road leading from Nulb to the Temple is rutted and spotted with
rank weeds - thistles, burrs, thorns, nettles, etc. Some foot and
animal traffic has been using the track, but it is not a busy
thoroughfare.

As you approach the Temple area, the vegetation is disconcerting -
dead trees with a skeletal appearance, scrub growth twisted and
unnaturally colored, all unhealthy and sickly looking or exceptionally
robust and disgusting. The ruins of the Temple's outer works appear as
dark and overgrown mounds of gray rubble and blackish weeds. Skulls
and bones of humans and humanoids gleam white here and there amidst
the weeds. A grove of some oddly stunted and unhealthy looking usk
trees still grows along the northern end of the former Temple
compound, and a stump of a tower juts up from the northeast corner of
the shattered wall. The leprous gray Temple, however, stands intact,
its arched buttresses somehow obscene with their growth of climbing
vegetation.

Everything surrounding the place is disgusting. The myriad leering
faces and twisting, contorted forms writhing and posturing on every
face of the Temple seem to jape at the obscenities they depict. The
growth in the compound is rank and noisome. Thorns clutch, burrs
stick, and crushed stems either emit foul stench or raise angry weals
on exposed flesh. Worst of all, however, is the pervading fear which
seems to hang all over the whole area - a smothering, clinging, almost
tangible cloud of vileness and horror. Sounds seem distorted, either
muffled and shrill or unnaturally loud and grating.

Your eyes play tricks. You see darting movements out of the corner of
your eye, just at the edge of vision; but when you shift your gaze
towards such, of course, there is nothing there at all. You cannot
help but wonder who or what made the maze of narrow paths through the
seedy courtyard. What sort of thing would wander here and there around
the ghastly edifice of Evil without shrieking and gibbering and going
completely mad? Yet the usual mundane sounds of your travel are
accompanied only by the chorus of the winds, moaning through hundreds
of Temple apertures built to sing like doomed souls given over to the
tender mercies of demonkind, echoed by macabre croaks from the
scattered flapping, hopping, leering ravens.

There is no doubt; you have come to a place of ineffable Evil. Still,
it is most certainly a place for high adventure and untold
treasures. It is time to ready spells, draw weapons, check equipment,
and set forth into the maze of peril that awaits you."

... I love the ending
but back to *our* heroes

- still Earthday, 27th Planting, but near dusk -

They arrive from the north, and at the nearest corner of the
surrounding wall a dark tower raises as if lurking from the
shadows. But the dark will be a shelter for them as it is one for the
veil of this place. They advance in the field to reach the middle of
the north wall, there is no sign of activity raised by their move, but
lights can be seen into the tower at the ground and first floors.

They are now at the base of the huge dark wall, which surrounds the
temple. If it is partially crumbled here and there, no clear opening
exists into its structure. But vines cover its whole surface and they
will ease their climb. Alahija, Rousing Fox and Diane are the three
first to climb, using a rope with a grappling hook. After them, all
the others follow.
From the high of the wall, they are able to see the innards of the
temple fence. Some small greatly damaged buildings still stand near
the big black structure, but it seems that only the guard tower and
the temple itself are inhabited. The huge temple is still in good
shape, all stained-glass windows are broken but the walls are still
nearly intact. Fires lights could be seems coming from into the temple
itself. As they don't see any specific guard from their viewpoint,
they go down the wall and start their "invasion" of the temple
structure.

They continue to stick to their organized plan and the "sneaky ones"
take the lead (i.e. Diane and Rousing Fox, with a bit of Alahija
^_^). They chose to clear the tower first, avoiding perhaps an
alarm. Diane stops several hobgoblins into the tower, they seem to be
completely unaware of their presence, and they decide to attack them
immediately with all their might. The door from the temple courtyard
is not even locked. While Alahija and Lywen shoot magic missiles
through the ground windows, Diane, Ezekiel and soon all the others
enter the tower by the main door, they rush on the hobgoblins,
completely surprising them. There was four hobgoblins in the room,
less than thirty seconds after, there is only four corpses
remaining. But the tower is not yet empty, and the surprise effect is
now finished. In a room next to the first, they find a bunch of
goblins. Despite their fear, the desperate creatures attack them and
they are completely slaughtered, goblins are no match for them
... these pitiful creatures seemed to be enslaved by the
hobgoblins. Now they have cleared the ground floor, but they know that
guards could also be upside, silently they climb the stairs going
up. Rousing Fox reports that two more hobgoblins are on the first
floor, they are awaiting them, with crossbows ready, but were unable
to spot the stealthy monk. Ok, operation "clean the room" three is
launched, charge, doge two bolts and strike. Once again the monsters
are easily dispatched. If only the temple itself could be as easy as
its tower ...

After this success, they meet outside the tower. They have to decide
how they will try to gain access to the temple itself. As, from their
good point of view when they were on the wall, they didn't spotted any
other entry beside the main gate on the other side, they will have to
go round the building, probably warning any guard on the way ...
They decide to split, to disable all the sentinels. Alahija and
Gandigoot (the two taller members of the party ) decide to go to
the right of the building, while the others go to the left in a direct
way towards the main gate. Lywen, deciding on his own as usual, cast a
flight spell and go up the temple, visiting the roof.
From there the situation was quite erratic (DM Note: over the table
too, as we switched from one group to another every five minutes to
keep the simultaneous time between them).

Alahija and Gandigoot walk discretely to the west, towards a ruined
tower, of which only the ground floor seems to be still standing.
Using the dense cover of the numerous bushes on the north side of the
temple, they are able to go unnoticed and approach the small building.
During this time, all the others, except Lywen (who decided to cast a
flight spell and go up the temple), went southward, on the east side
of the temple. They encounter three dogs, but the poor beasts only
have one round to bark before being silenced (by a spell of Ezekiel)
and slain. After this ridiculous incident, they resume their advance
towards the main south gate.
As I said Lywen decided to use his new powers in the form of a flight
spell, as a transmuter wizard, it is quite his specialty. And, even
without a great training in flight moves, our wizard is able to "jump"
over the big structure and flight straight south up the temple.
It seems good ?
Yes, until Lywen is attacked by a gargoyle !
One of the stone statues on the roof of the temple suddenly animates
itself and rushes towards the fighting wizard. The creature is not
fast, and hopefully for Lywen he is able to escape the first attack. A
strange dance then starts in the dark sky, a wizard pursued by a
gargoyle. After a bunch of rounds, Lywen has enough advance to try a
lightning bolt spell. The magical energy rushes from his hands towards
the stone construct. But with a last moment escape, the gargoyle is
able to prevent most of the bolt from hurting it. And the pursuit
continues ...
During this time, the main group cautiously progressed in direction of
the main south gate of the temple wall. They are completely unaware of
the strange moves in the sky As always, Diane and Rousing Fox lead
the way. They spot four hobgoblins guarding the south gate of the
wall, and decide for a silent attack. They hope to disable the guards
to be able to launch a surprise attack on the temple itself. With
stealth and skill, sneak attacks, arrows and a silence spell they are
able to dispatch these scum without a cry. And they now approach the
huge broken doors of the temple themselves: the door of the Temple of
Elemental Evil.

But what are doing Gandigoot and Alahija?
They are near the westward entry of the crumbled tower. Voices are
heard inside, which our two heroes identify as humanoids, probably
other hobgoblins. But they are not afraid a single bit, such lowly
creatures are no match for the two main characters of our story
. After a minute of preparation, Gandigoot appears into the door
opening and shoots a crossbow-bolt before going back under cover.
Wooooo, this is heroic ;D. But this was a trick in fact and they were
hoping to attract the monsters outside by doing it. Bad luck this
time, after some cries of surprise, the silence installs. And then a
spell-casting chant starts, before they are able to react, a strong
fog starts to go out of the tower and a huge voice resonates ...
"Pitiful humans, how dare you attack such powers as mine. Now is your
time to die." !!!!


... and the real confrontation will be soon, in the PART 3 ...
... stay tuned ...

----------------------------------------------------------------
Episode TEN - Back to the Temple of Elemental Evil - Part 3
(A *BLOODY* mess! Alahija is captured.)

 

[Selm]

Episode 10-3

Episode TEN - Back to the Temple of Elemental Evil - Part 3
(A *BLOODY* mess! Alahija is captured.)

In this episode and the next one, I will use some extract from the
campaign book, I hope it could help you to grasp the atmosphere of the
temple. As there is some very "good" descriptions of this awful place.

- still Earthday, 27th Planting,
sometimes you can really say that some days are longer than others -

We take back our two heroes - Alahija the half-elf half rogue, half
sorcerer and Gandigoot the gnome ranger - at the most crucial
moment. What has been summoned into this small tower?
Are they really in such a bad situation, the two of them alone?

Dark fumes are still pouring from the tower entrance and they have to
wait until they will be able to see trough it. Seconds and minutes
seem to last for hours ... they are awaiting to see a huge demon going
out at each moment ... but time passes without such a hazard. After
five minutes, the fog starts to slowly decrease and they decide to try
an eye into the tower basement. As he did before, Gandigoot jumps into
the entrance door, his crossbow ready. But there is nothing, and none
to be seen ... the ground floor is empty, except a big cauldron in its
middle and a small fire under it. Some disgusting gruel is still
boiling into the dark iron cauldron but that's all. No demon, no
terrible sorcerer and more than anything else, nobody at all!
The two heroes enter the room and quickly search for any sign
indicating what has been up here before. But they don't find anything,
not even a single sign of a hasty fleet. After five more minutes of
inquiry, they decide to rejoin their friends and depart from the tower
...
"There is still unsettled matters here.", said the gnome.

But their friends have done quite a bunch of things during these ten
minutes!! Really *quite* a bunch
The four hobgoblins guards at the wall gate have been cleaned. All
seem clear to attack the front gate. They gather near the entrance and
prepare for more fight while waiting for Alahija and Gandigoot. But
there is still something up in the sky
Lywen has not been able to kill the gargoyle and is still flying in
escape moves, seeing his friends ready for battle, he falls to them,
the gargoyle behind him.
That's how, suddenly, Lywen appears into his circle of friends, coming
from the air ... and crying "Look up, a just get you a gargoyle."
... and as you could imagine, a new fight followed. But a gargoyle is
quite a dangerous opponent, as its skin is made of stone, most weapons
can't damage it. Killasha is powerless, hopefully Diane's rapier is
magical and Ezekiel uses a flame weapon spell (DM Note: lvl3 from the
priest and paladin handbook DD3 ^_^). Lywen also helps his friends
now that he is out of danger, casting two salves of magic missiles.
Actually the beast is slain quite cleanly ... but they have used a bit
more of their power ... and the real fight has not even started ...


-During this time, at the temple doors, two hobgoblins are playing-

"Hey, brother, don't you hear a sound outside?" said the hobgoblin guard
to his sibling seated near him on the ground.
"No, it must be the wind, and if anything happened we will be warned by
the guard at the gate, this is the chief's plan."
"Yeah, ok, you're right."
"Do not waste time, roll your dices, I will get your pants before the
night."
"Maglubiyet! I'm not lucky today."
... sound of dices rolling on the stone floor ...
"Hey there is a fight on the steps!"
"Seems that you were right before. Drop an eye, I will warn the chief."
While the second hobgoblin goes deeper into the temple, the first one
tries a discreet approach of the broken main bronze doors.
Sounds of fighting are still loud in the air, he courageously tries to
get a glance on the scene, quickly coming back to cover. He was right,
a bunch of humans are fighting one of the gargoyles guarding the
temple roof. There are numerous and seem fiery and dangerous ... this
is not good for Tanduk (yeah, hobgoblins have names ). But, after a
bit of time the fight seems over, at least he doesn't hear those
clashing sounds anymore. Tanduk hopes that the gargoyle got the upper
hand, the chief does not like to be awaken unnecessarily during his
rest time, but this is better than these fool adventurers, who could
even have killed Tanduk.
Gathering all his remaining courage, Tanduk decide to spot the scene
again. He is not without fear, the gargoyle could still be here, but
there could also be interesting things on these foolish humans.
Slowly, the hobgoblin passes his head trough the space between the
temple doors.
"There a guard!" cries Diane.
Damned, they were victorious, and now what will befall to me? Think
Tanduk while running inside.
But the hobgoblin could not challenge the speed of the hasted
fighter-rogue and Diane is quickly on him, slaying poor Tanduk on the
inside entrance floor.
It is the end of the story of Tanduk the hobgoblin. ... please restrain
your tears ...

-back to the heroes point of view-


The fight against the gargoyle is just finished that they have another
one to settle. Even if Diane was able to spot and dispatch the
hobgoblin in only a bunch of seconds, the alarm is probably running
trough the temple. They will not have more time for preparations and
they will not have the time to wait for their friends. Now is the time
of their entrance into the Temple of Elemental Evil itself.

The Vestibule:
"The floor of this area is made of reddish-brown stone squares. Dim
light filters through the stained-glass windows, casting revolving
colors upon the floor. The walls are plastered and painted with scenes
befitting the nature of this despicable place - torture, murder,
enslavement, robbery, and far more unspeakable acts. The creed of the
worshipers is evident from these depiction: Evil is supreme.

Ahead, the floor stones are green, and the nave of the temple is
filled with pillars of a pinkish material, shot through with
worm-colored veins. Their arches lead to an unremarkable pair of
lesser side aisles. The columns supporting the archways, as well as
the archways themselves, are worked in relief scenes of vile
activities conducted mostly by human men and women."
--

Diane and rousing Fox chose to take the side aisles, while Ezekiel and
Killasha advance right in the middle of the temple nave. Lywen used an
invisibility spell and disappeared.
Arrows flight in the temple, Ezekiel and Killasha use their shields as
best as they can, Ezekiel magical protections are really useful here
(DM Note: he raised his Ac to something like 24, even 26 with his
shield, this is quite hard to touch for my poor hobgoblins). Diane
and Rousing Fox have another tactic, they run trough the side aisles
using pillars to get a bit of cover. When they reach the barricade,
the two of them tumble past it. (DM Note: hum, in fact it takes three
rounds to Rousing Fox whom player decided that 6 was really to hard to
roll on a d20 and preferred a 3 and 2 for the first two rounds ).
They are now able to consider the force they are opposing, there is
several dozens of hobgoblins, most of them have medium to bad
equipment but several of them have banded armors and big two-handed
swords. This is really a sight! And they are only five for the moment!
The odds are nearly of ten hobgoblins for each member of the party
... will they survive such a tremendous fight?

After a few rounds, the fight is at his climax. Ezekiel and
Killashalandilis are standing on the center of the hobgoblins
barricade, fighting against half a dozen of hobgoblins - several of
them wearing half-plate armors and using two-handed swords. Diane has
jumped over the barricade on the right side; she is slaughtering
hobgoblins, using her superior speed and the surprise effect (the main
force is at the center, and currently quite busy with the two front
rank fighters of the party). Rousing Fox, even if he had difficulties
to pass the left side barricade, is now fighting hobgoblins too. All
is quite a mess, but they are only four against ten times more
hobgoblins ... It is the very moment Lywen chose for a timely
intervention. Using his flight and invisibility spells, he was able to
get a good position over the right part of the barricade. And then he
launches a lightning bolt spell, it was not an easy task as he could
have fried up his friends, but will a mighty spellcraft check, he only
barely heated them, while burning to the core more than ten
hobgoblins.
The barricade is broken, only two elite hobgoblins fighter still
remain, and they are quickly killed by the duo of Ezekiel and
Killasha. Even if some humanoids still remain, Diane is able to
connect with her two friends and they catch up with the last
hobgoblins on the center and right side.
But during this time on the left ... rousing Fox is still fighting
four evil humanoids, one of them being an elite fighter, when a big
monster comes out of the stairs going down. It is a massive beast of
more than height feet high, with two strong arms and a sparkle of fury
in its eyes. They will identify it as a dire ape afterwards. Anyway,
the beast seems to answer the calls of its master, coming from a
location ... where none stands! Which does not prevent it from
attacking the monk, who starts to tumble away from such a fight,
trying to gain time until his friends are able to help him.
Finally Diane and Killasha are able to help the "tumble-to-survive"
monk. While Ezekiel finishes the last hobgoblins on their side, the
two female fighters move to the left side. With a well timed
surrounding move, Rousing Fox attract the dire ape towards Diane and
she stabs it from behind (she seems to love backstabs ;p). Diane and
Rousing Fox dispatch the remaining fighters and Killasha successfully
strike the invisible master of the monstrous ape. Strangely, its
corpse remains invisible ... they will have to investigate further
afterwards.

It seems that all is finished. The big dire ape corpse lays motionless
on the ground and the clashing sounds of swords on shields are finally
over. Only the crackling fires, the tired breathes of the heroes and
some dying hobgoblins voices are heard. It was really a blood bath and
the two heavily armored heroes (Killasha and Ezekiel) are now soaked
in hobgoblin blood. The scent of the monsters fried by Lywen lightning
spell is also awfully strong in the air. For some of our heroes, it
reminds them of the war they fought, the crusade against the Old One
armies up to the north of Furyondy. Even if they know they fought for
justice, this is a terrible scene to see.

But, as you can imagine, all is not finished ...
Our heroes are still scattered trough the temple and not necessarily
aware of the doings of their friends as only three big fires lighten
the area. Shadows are everywhere on the walls and in the building,
reducing their sight, and bringing fears in their hearts.
Gandigoot meets Rousing Fox in the center of the temple, while Ezekiel
starts to investigate the east aisle of the temple and Diane finishes
to search the body of the invisible master of the dire ape lying on
the floor into the western branch.

Wait, do you realize that we lost Alahija, and it's not her style to
be long forgotten, she has to do something spectacular!
Our courageous half-elf descend the inner wall of the temple using a
rope, the stained-glass window she chose bring her directly in front
of the large curtain separating the main nave of the temple from the
vestry. Lywen sees her and flies in her direction, and ...

it is to be continued in the next installment
... keep tuned ...


----------------------------------------------------------------
Episode TEN - Back to the Temple of Elemental Evil - Part 4
(Alahija is captured ... fight for the half-elf, and the treasure behind!)

 

[Selm]

Episode 10-4

Episode TEN - Back to the Temple of Elemental Evil - Part 4
(Alahija is captured ... fight for the half-elf, and the treasure behind!)

-as they just fall into a time warp, it seems to be
Earthday, 27th Planting forever-

The young half-elf approached the blood red curtain; she advances
cautiously, trying to listen for signs of activity and passes her head
through the curtain. Suddenly, a big leather-gloved hand grasps her by
the neck, another hand shutting her mouth. Alahija tries to cry and
struggle like one possessed to escape. Lywen, seeing his friend in
trouble flies up the curtain. A sap then knocks out Alahija, and a
volley of arrows is shot on Lywen.

And you will ask me, what are doing the other members of the party?
They were not even able to see anything as the half-elf was quickly
dragged behind the curtain. But ... Lywen, our flying wizard, is still
hanging in mid-air, quaffing a potion with several arrows
protuberating from him. Needless to say, they all rush towards the
red hanging curtain; all but Diane and Ezekiel, who are currently
engaged in a fight against a bunch of goblins hidden in the east aisle
behind a big pile of wooden debris.

So we have now Lywen, Killasha and Rousing Fox, engaged in an
operation to rescue their half-elf maiden, our well-known friend
Alahija.
They rush through the curtain (Lywen a bit after the others, to get
some cover from the archers), and discover the temple vestry. An old
altar, used as a fireplace, occupies the middle of the room; behind it
is the vestry itself and an imposing stone throne, standing on several
stone steps of different colors, and covered with carvings of winged
demons and human skulls (the well known throne of the Temple of
Elemental Evil, which was a direct access to the lower levels ten
years ago).
"A large room in its own right, this old vestry is filled with
numerous couches, tables and padded chairs, although most of the
furniture has seen better days. In the middle of the room, two couches
have been pushed together to make a sort of a grand bed. Beyond the
bed is a pile of bags, boxes, and other items."
But for the moment, this is not their main concern. Several hobgoblins
and goblins still inhabit the area, and they are ready to fight. One
of them is even throwing the unconscious Alahija on the grand bed at
this very moment, before taking a big two-bladed sword and preparing
for the fight. Four other hobgoblins, wearing splint mail armors,
start to shoot volleys of arrows towards them, Killasha and Rousing
Fox being the main targets.
The sound of the fight is hopefully enough to warn Diane and Ezekiel,
who, after a short fight against their goblins (during which Ezekiel
tried his famous goblin-throwing trick), run to help their
friends. With so many fighters, the hobgoblins are quickly surrounded
and soon, only the chief remains, fighting Killasha. Or should I say,
enraged against Killasha - because se tries to destroy the temple
stone by stone ... (our "Paladinette" scored three misses in three
rounds against the hobgoblin boss, and she started to really "wound"
the stone floor with her two- handed sword).

It is the moment Alahija chooses to regain consciousness. And, as you
could imagine, she doesn't want to let pass an occasion to do
something really ... stupid.
The half-elf tumbles past her goblins guards and jumps on the head of
the boss, where she manages to cast a magic missile spell, stunning
the massive hobgoblin and allowing her friends to finish it. "No pity
for the scum ..."

All is now quiet, only the sounds of the numerous fires still inhabit
the temple. It is the time to search for ... treasures? ... hum no,
clues about the whereabouts of this hobgoblin tribe. The numerous
objects behind the grand bed do not offer any help. They are the
evidence of a band of brigands, what the hobgoblins were for
sure. There is several bags of coins, several hundreds of gold, silver
and copper pieces. A bronze statue of a mounted elven warrior,
weighting more than two hundred pounds. A small iron box, opened by
Alahija, and containing dozen of small precious red stones (they are
more precisely blood stones). Several bolts of precious cloth, one of
them with gold embroidery. A complete suit of plate armor. And a large
box wrapped in iron chains, that Lywen opened with a bit of magic,
containing several useless but precious things like a green dragon
painting.

They also approach the old stone throne.
"a great throne of purplish basalt, covered in leering demon faces and
carved skulls with evil grins. Above the throne, the following words
are chiseled into the curved wall:
The power of elemental death
Brings mortal low
But raises the Nameless One High"
After a close inquiry, it seems that the throne mechanism, which
allowed it to descend into the earth to the temple lowermost level, is
now completely broken. If this throne still stands as a sign of the
wickedness of the place, it is probably no more used in any way.

---

But their goal, when coming to the old Temple of Elemental Evil, was
not to slaughter the bandits raiding the region, but to inquire about
possible activities of the Dark god priests around. They decide to
spend one more hour in the temple, searching for passages and
stairways going down, into the lower levels. Diane, as the historian
she is, has a good knowledge of nearly everything that was written
about the temple; and she knows that several underground levels were
sealed and protected by magical scriptures like the one on the broken
doorway, and that deeply underground, on the lowest level, the
demoness Zuggtmoy was held prisoner.

But the two side stairways are completely crumbled and ruined. Even if
you removed the stone debris, it is not sure it would be safe. The
only way down is the main stairway, just behind the central altar of
the temple.

"The pillars here are white marble, veined with ugly red. The altar
block of pinkish white marble is roughly oval(...). Its top has a
hollowed-out portion resembling a humanoid form, with legs apart and
arms away from the body.(...)Just north of the altar is a circular,
marble-lined pit ­ a well of sorts ­ 20 feet in diameter."

"A flight of steps 20 feet wide, each step broad and tall, delves down
to the north. The stone is a dull gray, but flecks of color ­ black,
blue, green, red, and white ­ dot its surface. To the north of the
staircase is a stone railing, with supports of alternating brown,
green, and white stone."

Our heroes courageously, but cautiously descend the steps.

"The stairs descend 30 feet to a pair of smashed and fallen bronze
doors, obviously battered down. Like those in the temple entrance,
they are covered in mostly faded markings, with bits of broken iron
chain lying all around them. The area immediately beyond the doors is
collapsed except for a small space(...), cleared out with great
effort, long ago."

These smashed doors still radiate a faint magical aura, so much years
after they fall (around ten years). It indicates the power of the
magic, which was used to create them. They bounded a demoness into her
prison after all.
But the area is clearly collapsed and unusable. They decide to try the
small tunnel anyway, it could lead to another, less ruined, part of
the temple underground, after all. But this is also inconclusive. All
they are able to find is the dire ape nest, a small round cavern with
a straw couch and numerous bones all around.

Coming back to the ground level, Diane spots the body of the invisible
master of the dire ape. It is now completely normal and appears to be
an also normal hobgoblin. It was wearing leather and a whip, but there
isn't anything particular ... it is a mystery how he became invisible.

What will they do now?
They can't sleep in the temple with so many dead bodies, the strong
odor of the fires mixed with blood and fried meat ... "How awful!" as
said Alahija already ready after her capture (nothing can shake this
half-elf mood ).
They decide to further investigate the guard tower were they fought
their first fight into the temple complex. While the main group go
back to the guard tower, Gandigoot and Alahija decide that it is now
time to search the "demon invocation ruined tower" more closely. And
once again the party split in two ...

Hopefully this time the complex is empty. All the goblinoids were
killed or fled ... and our friends are able to peacefully search the
towers. Alahija and Gandigoot find a hidden trapdoor into the small
ruined tower. It leads them to a concealed wine cellar, inhabited, but
showing signs of occupation. It was probably here that the hobgoblins,
they saw before, hid themselves after the "demon conjuration
incident".
The other members of the party search the guard tower. After quite a
bit of search, with only the light of torches to help them - as the
coming night, reinforced by the obscurity of the place, now rules the
temple - they find a well-concealed trap door under a flagstone in the
room were the goblins slaves were. The hobgoblins probably didn't find
it.

As their map (from the letter found in the secret camp under the mill
in Hommlet) seems to indicate, it could be the entrance of a secret
tunnel leading out of the temple to the north. They are tired and
nearly out of any magical energy, but they want to settle this once
and for all. So they decide to push forward with the end of this very
day.
One after the other, they descend into the darkness, using the ladder
which is fixed to the wall.

There is a small room under the tower, with four couches and a small
wooden table with a bronze coffer and an iron box on it. A wooden door
reinforced by iron is the single exit of the room, in the east
wall. This place was obviously well suited for defense.
Lywen is out of opening spells, and they do not have so much time
before the "real" night, so they decide to forget about the coffers
for now, and advance towards the east.
After several minutes of careful march into a stone carved tunnel,
they reach a natural cavern with another tunnel going north this time.

After another march in a new tunnel, they reach a concealed door,
which opens into a wheel. Iron bars are set in the walls and they are
easily able to go out using them.
As they expected from their map, they are now near a small
building. It is an old stone barn, partially ruined but still offering
a bit of protection.
They could pass the night here, but they decide that the temple guard
tower is the best place for defense. They go back to the temple
through the forest, to get back their horses and find the hidden
pathway leading to the barn, that they didn't find earlier. (DM Note:
after such a victory it seems that they do not know fear anymore
... but, sometimes, luck is with them and they didn't found one of the
kind night encounter lurking around the temple)

They sleep into the guard tower with a heavy watch. But the night went
well, any monster around was probably frightened by the butchery
inside the temple.
With the first light of dawn, which is probably quite late as this
area is so dark, they decide to go back to Hommlet.
But one last encounter still awaits them at the temple entrance: a
woman, wearing a hide armor, made of different leather, and a
scimitar.
She names herself as Kella, and asks them about their actions
here. She seems happy to see the end of the hobgoblins tribe, but she
warns them that several other groups of monsters lurk around. She saw
a group of three ogres two days before. After a quick, and a bit cold,
discussion they split and the woman watch them depart from the temple,
still seated on the main wall entrance.

If the trip to the temple was full of encounters, the journey back was
uneventful. As always, it seems that lady luck is with our adventurers
... for their return to safety.

DM Note:

Pffiuuuu, this episode is finished, at last.
As you could imagine, we played a long time on this session
But greater dangers await our heroes ...
who are still enjoying their perfect record: ten sessions of play in
the Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign without a death!


... soon ...

----------------------------------------------------------------
Episode ELVEN - To the Temple of Elemental Evil, again.
(What! But we just ...)

 

[Rousing Fox]

DM Note: hum, in fact it takes three rounds to Rousing Fox whom player decided that 6 was really to hard to
roll on a d20 and preferred a 3 and 2 for the first two rounds ).

Well, I already told you everybody : dices hate me, and I hate them in return.

BTW dear Master, I still swear I never entered the mill before its explosion

 

[Greg Dickens]

Bump and where are you Selm? Haven't heard from you in awhile.

 

[Rousing Fox]

Well, not too many things to had for now, and our dear master is moving in a new appartment