Temple of Elemental Evil - part 9 (session 8)
Temple of Elemental Evil - part 9 (session 8)
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The other exit led into a smaller circular room. The same black polished stone was used in this room's construction as in the last. A phosphorous glow also illuminated the chamber, but instead of an indistinct, diffuse light there were pinpricks all across the ceiling.
"Some kind of map of the stars maybe?" Milo postulated.
No one replied. Milo broke his gaze from the fascinating lights on the ceiling and surveyed the rest of the room. A broken obsidian altar stood between them and the other exit from the chamber, directly opposite from the entrance. Milo turned to look the way they came and noticed carved letters along the arch of the passage leading into the circular depression chamber.
"'Exalted Chamber of High Augury' it says," Milo stated, pointing up at the writing. "So that's what those cones and rods were for, and the shallow center with the bench. I'm glad I didn't throw them in. I don't think we'd get much of an answer from that particular augury, judging from the atmosphere of this place."
"I don' know nuthin bout this augury stuff, but this place certainly ain't no vacation spot." noted Brigit.
"You know, I had a faint recollection about this place when we first saw it in the clearing." Mazi interjected. "I was reminded of my childhood." Mazi paused, her expression one of deep thought.
"Well? Out wi' it elfie, what d'ya know O this place?" Brigit said impatiently.
"As a child, I remember the stories told around the campfire of terrible days long ago. When the dwarves allied with the elves to fight against the Ancient Evil, Zahadun. The greatest of these battles ended with the allies chasing the servants of Zahadun to their Temple stronghold. While the Red Queen, The Scholar, and The Beast escaped and were later brought low, The Rotting Stench was defeated and entombed in the ancient Temple." Mazi took a deep breath before continuing her story, "As I gazed on the ruins outside I knew in my soul that this was the place of Her defeat. I know that the Baron is unwittingly about to raise one of the ancient evils from the dead and free her from her eternal prison." Mazi almost seemed unable to continue before finishing with, "This is the place of childhood nightmares come alive - this is the Temple of Evil."
"Wheeeew." Milo let out a low whistle. "That's pretty serious Mazi, The Rotting Stench? It's a She? And the Baron is digging her up? This can't be good."
"Aye, I remember tha tales now Mazi. Ya jogged me memory but good. O all the stories me pa told round near the fire, those were tha worse. I never paid em no heed once I got out on me own and learnt tha ways O the fighter." Brigit said.
"So now we know what's in here, but we don't know how much of it our dear friend the Baron has dug up. Lovely." Milo quipped sarcastically.
"Nothing to do for it but destroy what's in here." said Jeremiah.
The others looked at their normally quiet with surprise. He stared back with a serious expression set in his face. After a few seconds of the focused attention he actually blushed a little.
Finally, Brigit broke the silence, "Our quiet friend has tha right O it I fear. We gotta clean this place out at least as far as tha Baron has dug up, an' hope nuthin' more comes O it."
"At least as far -" Milo left the statement hanging. After a second of pondering he shrugged, all grins and laughs again. "Well let's get to it then, as pretty as the ceiling is here, I don't think we're getting any closer to that goal standing around gabbing all day."
Brigit and Mazi chuckled at Milo's swift change in attitude. They all had their own way of dealing with the new sense of dread that Mazi's tale instilled in them.
The hall leading out of the star room led north a few paces before slanting slightly to the west. It ended in an intersection, the new hallway stretching from the east to the west. They followed the easiest pattern, taking the right hand turn and heading east.
At the end of the hall, only forty paces or so from the intersection, they found a door to the north. The door was decorated with strange runes and had a sturdy lock. Milo motioned for the others to hang back while he investigated. He used his limited knowledge of other written languages to decipher the script on the door.
Before he could make out the first word of the writing the runes glowed brightly. In mere moments the runes exploded outwards, spraying white-hot energy towards Milo. His fast reflexes served him well as he ducked and tumbled away from the exploding trap.
"Right! No reading strange runes on doors!" Milo said to himself.
"Nice trap findin', halflin'. I bet ya woke up tha whole place wi' tha one!" Brigit scoffed.
"Hush you, let me work." Milo answered.
Milo approached the door again, cautiously. The runes were gone and all that remained was a simple, if not stout, oaken door. He examined the lock, noting the fine craftsmanship and its surprising complexity considering its size. He couldn't find any traces of another trap in the lock.
Milo broke out his trusty picks and went to work on the door. The lock was much more complex than he had thought on the first inspection. Five tries later a frustrated Milo finally heard the satisfying "CLICK" of the lock opening. Milo turned around to the sound of sarcastic clapping.
"You can try your hand at it next time Brigit, we'll see how smug you are then." Milo said, finishing by sticking his tongue out at the grinning dwarf.
Inside the group found an apparently empty room. Cabinet doors lined the walls of the long room. The walls started about ten paces from either side of the door before narrowing down to ten feet wide at the end of the room. Eleven doors in all were set evenly along the walls, five on each side with a single center door.
Milo moved from the group to the first door on the right. He looked over the simple wooden construction. No runes, that's a good thing, he thought to himself. The doors were not locked, just held in place with a simple latch. Milo pulled open the first door, peering into the alcove beyond. A decomposed mummy lay on a carved rock bed. Milo looked over the body, paranoid that it would spring to life and reach for him. His fears were laid to rest after a good poking and prodding with his hand axes produced no reaction.
Milo found a ring of bronze with a jet triangle device on one of the corpse's finger. He figured it would be worth at least forty-five gold pieces if they could find a buyer. Acting on a hunch, or a whim, Milo casts his cantrip for detecting magic. The ring didn't respond, nor did anything else he could see besides their magic items.
"It's not magic," he told the others as he showed them the ring, "but it may be worth something. Shall we open the rest and see what's here?"
"I'm not in the habit of desecrating tombs," Mazi started, "but after the caves, I don't want to leave anything behind me that could catch up later. Go for it."
Jeremiah seemed indifferent. There was nothing to kill here, yet. He simply shrugged.
Milo checked the next door down for traps. Finding none, he swung open the panel and looked in. Another mummified body lay inside, as well as another ring identical to the other. Milo slipped the ring off the bony finger and closed the cabinet after a quick search inside.
"Looks to be more of the same." Milo said, holding up the ring. "Brigit, would you like to do the honors with the rest of them?'
"Aye, outta the way, halflin'." She answered.
Brigit moved to the third, not even bothering to check for traps, and swung it open. More of the same lay inside: A body and a ring with the jet triangle. Milo kept track of the rings as Brigit made her way around the room.
The rest were the same as the first three, until she swung open the second to last door. A rush of air accompanied the door as well as a blast of dust and dirt. Not expecting anything out of the ordinary, Brigit inadvertently breathed the dust in. She sputtered then coughed, hacking on the age-old dust.
"You okay, Brigit?" Milo asked, concerned.
"::HACK:: I'm ::KOFF:: fine, ::WHEEZE:: jus gimme ::HACK:: a minute!" Brigit coughed out.
Brigit recovered and seemed all right. Milo peered into the alcove that Brigit had opened, ready for a ghoul or a wight to spring out at them. Nothing. He drew closer and saw that the alcove contained the same as all the others. Milo slipped off the ring and stood to the side as Brigit moved to the last door, in the center of the far wall.
The same burst of air and dust were expelled as Brigit opened the door. She didn't seem as affected by the stale air and stinging dust as she had the first time. The body that lay inside was slightly different than the others. A brown cloak draped the mummified remains. Milo slowly drew the cloak off the body, careful not to disturb the corpse too much. He examined the robe, it was a good weave. A black triangle was embroidered over the front left side. The body had the same ring as the others, no different as far as Milo could tell.
They decided to keep the cloak, in case it came in handy later, and closed up the alcove doors. Milo searched the room for any secret stones or switches before they left. He found nothing beyond the doors to the small crypts.
"I think we're all done here, guys." Milo told the others after he had combed the walls for clues. "I can't find anything worth noting. This must have been the burial chamber for the temple's priests or something."
Yes, but what are those rings for, and what does the device on them signify?"[/I} Mazi questioned. "I don't recognize it, but I'm sure these were no priests of light or anything." she finished.
Milo nodded his agreement. "I don't recognize them either. I'm sure they're some sort of insignia ring. I'm willing to be we'll find out who's insignia they belong to before we're done here."
All week long I hear how one of us may die. Anything he throws at us we just throw Jeremiah back. 
