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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rybaer" data-source="post: 172935" data-attributes="member: 118">Session #12.3 – The Salien HunterAfter resting up and studying/praying, Zalman finally decided it was for the best to tell the others what he knew of the Salien Empire – of the Mind Flayers.  If they weren’t happy in the first place about facing some unknown undead creature stalking the crypts, they most certainly weren’t any longer.  Talk turned from whether they should take on the ghostly minotaurs’ task or just flee the temple and find the dwarves.  They came to the consensus that they would do everything they could to avoid facing the Salien Hunter, moving quickly through the temple and checking what was through the secret door they had passed earlier.  If they encountered the Hunter after all, they’d either face it down or flee, circumstances permitting.  Believing the treasure vault/hall of the kings to be the safest place down here, Amblin ordered his dog to stay put.Rurik led the group back through the crystal doors and up to the temple level.  The complex seemed just as quiet as before, but now they could put a name to their sense of unease.  As they reached the top of the stairs on the temple level, the whispers in their heads began.“I see you…”“You cannot hide from me…”“One of you is already under my control.  Can you tell which companion will stab your back?”“Do you still control your own thoughts?”The voice seemed to be speaking to them individually, whispering taunts and threats in their minds.  With the first couple whispers, nothing was said, but eventually they each started sharing what the voice was telling them so the others would know.  Paranoia began to run a bit higher for they could neither see nor hear anyone around them.They hurried toward the secret door and Bommer set about opening it.  Meanwhile, Amblin walked a short distance to peer down one of the halls running alongside the temple.  He saw nothing, but in the distance could hear a rapidly building shuffling sound.  At a guess, he thought it sounded like a small horde of tiny creatures charging down the hall in their direction.  (He was right about this…it was about 100 undead rats.)Amblin informed the others of the impending company.  Working under immense pressure, Bommer finally go the secret door open and pulled it open, revealing a very tight spiral staircase leading up.  “Do we go up?” Bommer asked.“Go!  Yes, go!” Everyone else shouted.  Just then, an overlooked secret door just a short way down the hall began to open and the wave of undead rats started to round the corner on them.The mind flayer had continued to taunt them throughout all of this, whispering little words to create doubt and fear.  Bommer had, in fact, fallen under the foul creature’s sway and was given very specific instructions:  “Do not let the cleric touch the door at the top of the stairs.  Tell him that it is trapped.”Bommer had slipped into the stairwell and started climbing up the walls to allow the others to get in and past him.  Amblin, by far the fastest of the group and scared half to death of what was coming up behind them, led the way.  Rurik came in next while Nigel and Zalman were still out in the hallway when the mind flayer stepped out from behind the other secret door.  Neither got a good look before it hammered them with a mind blast.  Zalman resisted the agonizing pain in his head but Nigel crumpled.  The wizard, fortunately, was physically strong enough to haul the elf under one arm and throw him into the stairwell, pulling the door shut behind him.Rurik took Nigel off Zalman’s hands while the wizard turned back to the door.  His immovable staff would be useless in keeping it closed due to the way it swung, but he had another idea.  He hastily cast an Enlarge spell on the stone door, swelling it just enough to jam it tightly shut in its frame.  Feeling a bit more secure, Rurik and Zalman helped Nigel up the stairs to the sound of the undead mind flayer and horde of rats scrapping uselessly at the door.“How long will that hold em?” Rurik asked.“Couple minutes,” Zalman replied.  The pounding at the door became louder and more determined.  “Maybe less.”Amblin had reached the top of the rather long spiral staircase well ahead of any of the others.  It stopped at a dead end wall.  Having some experience with these things, he immediately suspected there was a secret door.  Finding how to open it, however, was much more Bommer or Nigel’s forte.  Time was pressing, though, so he started running his fingers over the cracks looking for some sort of mechanism.  Instead, he set off an Acid Fog trap.  Thick clouds of green gas poured out of the wall and filled the stairwell behind him.  The gas burned his skin and almost blinded him.  He tried to race back down the stairs to get clear of the gas but found it nearly as difficult to move through the thick gas as it would be to run through water.Finally, he escaped the front edge of the caustic fog and hurried down the stairs to warn the others.  Zalman ran up a few more steps and summoned a Wind Wall to contain the Acid Fog.  Rurik healed the substantial burns that Amblin had sustained.  The problem now, though, was what to do next.  They were trapped on a very narrow spiral staircase with an undead mind flayer behind, a cloud of acid fog ahead, and Nigel was still a stunned sack of drooling elf.Next session:  Almost escaping is a far cry from actually escaping...</blockquote>

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