Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 15139" data-attributes="member: 202">Temple of Elemental Evil - part 7 (session 8)Temple of Elemental Evil - part 7 (session 8)-----------------------------------Following Mazi's impromptu fashion show the group trooped back into the main room where they encountered the harpies.  Brigit went to work hacking up corpses while the others searched the area.  Milo noticed something fishy about a section of the west wall, near the corner of the room.  He called Mazi over, recalling the elven trait of seeing past illusion, magical or otherwise.  She noticed the wall as well, particularly a man-sized section that seemed to swing out.  Try as they might though, neither could find any catch or release to work the secret door.  Shrugging, Milo figured out loud that it could be a one-way door leading into the harpy’s room, but not out.The other door in the room led to the north.  Brigit had finished her grisly, self-imposed job and was already examining the door, listening for any sounds of occupants in the room beyond.  Milo joined her at the door, both with their ear to the rough wood.  Neither heard anything on the other side.  All seemed quiet.Never trusting the apparent state of things, they proceeded cautiously.  Brigit opened the door with Jeremiah close behind.  Milo followed with Mazi bringing up the rear.  The door opened into a mid-sized room, full of broken furniture and rotted rags strewn about.  A broken chest lay in one corner and another door led out to the west.Milo was the first to notice that they were not alone in the room.  Four shadowed shapes detached themselves from the walls and began to shamble towards the adventurers.  Moaning, they raised their clawed hands and lurched forward.  Milo was standing behind Brigit and Jeremiah as they readied their weapons.  He quickly raised his hand, calling on the power of his deity.  A holy light broke on the ghouls.  Three of the four shrieked and turned to flee.  Jeremiah was faster than they were.  He leapt forward to bar their way, coming close to the three that turned to flee.  His sword whistled through the air before sinking into the putrid flesh of the ghouls.  His first swing sliced a nasty wound through the belly of the middle ghoul, a blow that would have killed it if it weren't undead.  He quickly reversed his swing and chopped through the same wound, severing its spine and dropping it to the ground.  Jeremiah kept swinging, his sword found its way into the chest of the ghoul to his right, slicing clean through the decrepit muscles and tendons. The ghoul shrieked again and fell as well.  Jeremiah was in rare form as he spun around full circle, his sword extended.  The huge blade was a silver blur as it sped towards the third ghoul on his left.  The ghoul shrieked from the wound but still had enough strength, and enough fear, to flee from Milo's outstretched palm.  The ghoul ran through the door to the west, shrieking the entire way.  Milo could hear its unearthly voice grow faint as it fled.  The other ghoul was made of sterner stuff, it ignored Milo's invocation and sprung towards Jeremiah, its yellowed teeth gnashing.  Jeremiah warded off the biting undead with his gauntlet, pushing back and cracking one of the brittle teeth.Brigit stepped in to aid her barbarian friend.  Trollgrater cleaved the air in a vertical stroke, coming down hard on the ghoul's shoulder.  Bone was sheared from bone as the magic axe crashed down.  Brigit was left with her axe embedded in the ghoul's tough breastbone.  The corpse toppled with her axe still mired.  She stepped up onto the corpse and heaved at the axe while shouting to the others, "Well don' jus stand there lookin cute.  Go get tha other un!"The battle was over in a matter of seconds, Mazi didn't even have time to react.  She came to her senses after hearing Brigit and ran over to the other door.  She pushed it open and peered through, seeing a dimly lit hallway leading to the south and ending in another door.  The ghoul was nowhere to be found.By that time Brigit had recovered her axe and stomped up to the elf.  "Move aside, lassie.  We gots one more O them ugly critters ta get rid of before it calls down tha whole place on us."Mazi stepped to the side to let Brigit by, Jeremiah and Milo followed close at the dwarf's heels.  Mazi just shook her head and fell in behind the others.Brigit came to the door at the end of the short hallway and planted her steel clad boot right in the middle.  The wooden door swung on its hinges before slamming into the wall of the room beyond.  The ghoul was there, as well as two larger, similar creatures.  Milo recognized them as ghasts."Gas is right!  This place stinks!"  Brigit said.  Mazi would have agreed if she weren't busy retching behind the others.  The smell seemed to affect her more than the others.The ghasts were standing over a half-eaten orc.  The room appeared to formerly be quarters for a lesser priest of the temple.  The walls were plastered and had paintings of unmentionable scenes scrawled from corner to corner.  There were couches and a bed, broken furniture and bones scattered across the floor.  The room reeked of rotted flesh and other, less recognizable odors.Brigit and Jeremiah stood side by side in front of Milo, Mazi hung back in the doorway, holding herself steady with one hand on the frame.  Milo raised his hand again, summoning forth the power of Usamigaras.  The light burst forth from his hand once more, shining on the undead.  The ghoul screamed and ran to the corner to cower but the ghasts merely winced at the bright flash of light.  Mazi knocked an arrow to her bow and sited the ghasts from in-between Jeremiah and Brigit.  She loosed the missile and watched it fly in an unerring path directly into the forehead of the ghast to the right.  The undead creature growled and turned its baleful glare on the slightly nauseated elf.  It started forward to exact its revenge on Mazi.Before it could move a step, Jeremiah had sprung to the attack.  He leaped forward, in range of all three undead, and started his deadly swordplay.  The Windsword blurred in the low light of the cavern.  Jer attacked the cowering ghoul first, hitting it twice in quick succession.  The ghoul couldn't take the extreme amount of damage Jeremiah was dealing out with his enchanted sword.  It practically fell apart, the decomposing skin stretched taut along its bones peeled back under his assault and the ghoul nearly exploded from his attack.  Jer didn't even pause to see the ghoul fall, his sword was already stabbing at the wounded ghast.  The point sunk deep into the scabrous flesh, creating a bloodless wound that stung nonetheless. The ghast turned it's gaze from Mazithra and focused on the new threat of the barbarian's greatsword.  The undead bared its fangs and lunged for the exposed flesh of Jeremiah's head.  It was rewarded with a mouth full of steel as Jer raised his gauntlet to fend off the blow.  The rings of magic radiated from the impact before dying down again.  The ghast to the left of the group attacked the closest enemy, Brigit.  She performed a similar defense, using her arm to block the incoming teeth of the undead creature.  Her armor came back dented, but whole.  The impact of the supernaturally strong jaw had numbed her arm.  She slashed ineffectively at the ghast, her axe feeling heavy in her numb hand.A fresh wave of stink washed over the party seconds after they had entered the room.  It was as if in moving the ghasts had revealed an even more nauseating odor.  Mazi retched again, marring her aim.  Her arrow missed the wounded ghast Jeremiah fought against.Milo gave up his attempts at turning the undead.  They seemed to be especially resistant to the divine power.  He grabbed his handaxes, Reft and Rend, and tumbled into the fray.  He got near the wounded ghast and the wall and planted his feet.  The frenzied battle between Jeremiah and the ghast left Milo little room to attack, he missed with both axes.  'I should practice more often,' he thought to himself.Jeremiah and Brigit rendered him without targets to practice on with their next flurry of attacks.  Jeremiah lunged at the ghast with his sword, piercing its preternaturally tough hide.  Once impaled, he wrenched the sword to the left, cutting completely through and spattering the other ghast with gore.  He continued his cut, free from the confines of the ghast's body, into the other.  The sword slid against bone as he slid the blade into the undead's rib.  He withdrew the greatsword and stabbed at the still-standing creature.  Brigit's axe crashed down on the pinned ghast, cleaving straight through and jarring against Jeremiah's sword that still impaled the creature.The only sound they could hear after the last ghast fell was their own heavy breathing and Mazithra's quiet retching near the door.</blockquote>

Verification