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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 1720" data-attributes="member: 202">Temple of Elemental Evil - part 5 (session 7)Milo whistled a merry tune as they made their way out of the forest into the temple's clearing. It sounded out of place in the gnarled and twisted wood but it lifted his companions' spirits nonetheless. The clearing was as they left it, nothing was disturbed through the night that they could see. The temple squatted in the center of the clearing, its secrets waiting to be unfolded.Surveying the actual building for the first time Milo noticed the huge double doors that guarded the interior. The doors were six or seven times his height and almost as wide. It looked as though an army could pass through at full march without pause. They were chained shut with thick iron links. Oddly enough Milo couldn't focus on the chains, they seemed to hurt his eyes. As they got closer they noticed runes etched all along the planks of the doors. They seemed to crawl and shift unnaturally, making it impossible to decipher them. As Milo moved to get a closer look he suddenly had the compulsion to bolt. He quelled his inexplicable fears and fought to take the next step forward. His body would not obey, the only direction he seemed able to move was away from the temple. As soon as he made his way back to where the rest of the party stood the blanket of dread lifted from his shoulders. "There's some powerful magic protecting those doors. Mazi, can you get close enough to make out those runes?" Milo asked when he covered the few short steps between the invisible wall of fear and his companions.Mazithra nodded and started towards the huge double doors of the temple. Milo watched carefully as she walked. He noticed her falter about the same time he had. Her face went ashen pale and he could see her throat work to swallow. She made it two more small steps before she too had to return to the group. "I can't do it. Someone or something is keeping me from getting close to the doors." Mazi said after she returned. Her skin was recovering its color, not remarkably different from the pale hue it had adopted nearer to the temple."It be whether it's a someone or a something that worries me, Iff'n ya get my meaning." Brigit said to no one in particular. "Bah, lemme take a lookit the things." Brigit said with a wave of her axe.She stomped towards the doors with a heavy step. She got no further than Milo or Mazi had and was forced to turn back. Whatever power enchanting the doors was too much for them to overcome."Ah well, vast conspiracies underway, evil enchantments warding us away, probably mounds of undead to slog through." Milo started half-jokingly. "When has it been any different? Let's look for another entrance."They started around the temple, intending to walk the length. Milo hadn't realized how big the ruined structure was. The temple itself had to be fifty feet high and it stretched back into the clearing at least nine times its height. Milo felt small walking past the temple. Near the rear of the temple they found three more doors. They were unchained and unmarked by runes of any sort. They all noticed the extensive foot traffic that had to have recently passed through the doors though. The grass near the doors had been trampled and dirt had been thrown up near the entrances. It looked rather recent to Milo too."Well you all know how I feel about front doors, or rear doors that get used just as much. I say we try that shack again. I bet the other trap door leads into the temple as well." Milo stated. "I'm all for coming in through a secret passage and surprising the devil out of whatever is in there."Ever the voice of reason, Mazi said, "That's assuming whatever is in there doesn't know we're coming.""True, but better safe than dead, right?' Milo countered. The others agreed and they set out for the shack again. As they walked they thought of some way to fend off the rats long enough to find out what else was down there. After a couple of abortive plans vetoed by Milo (mostly involving tossing the halfling) they settled on throwing down some oil and lighting it with one of Jeremiah's torches.Drawing near to the shack they could see that the hatch was intact and no apparent movement around the portal. Milo bent over to place his ear against the heavy wood and listen for the rats. He heard squeaking and the scrabbling of claws on stone, but nothing immediately near the hatch. "OK Jeremiah, you light up a torch." Milo said. "Brigit, you heave open the hatch, I'll toss down my oil and Jeremiah will chase it with his torch. Sound good to everyone?" Brigit was already at the hatch, her hand grasping the ring that would lift it on its hinges. Milo removed a vial of oil from his pack and nodded to Brigit. She heaved on the ring and the door swung up with a loud protest from its rusty hinges. Milo threw his oil into the darkness, and then Jeremiah tossed in the lit torch. They heard the tinkle of breaking glass followed by the unique "whoosh" of flame as the torch made contact. This was followed by a mass amount of tortured squeaking as the surprised rats were caught in the impromptu fireball.Once the flames died down the group peered into the smoky darkness as they stood around the hatch. No more squeaks rose up from the passage down. Milo pulled out another of his sunrods, grateful that he was able to find the handy glow sticks in Specularum. He struck the ground with the bottom end and it flared to life. Once the glow diminished to normal he tossed the rod into the hole, watching the light plummet through the smoke.They waited until the sooty darkness cleared and they could see the sunrod and floor of the chamber below. The stones were charred and they could make out blackened remains of the dire rats. Milo started down first, descending the ladder as quick as only a nimble halfling could. He looked around, noting that many of the corpses from the day before had been picked over before the flame hit. He also noticed the smoldering bodies of more rats, slumped over the old carcasses. He called up an all clear to his friends and started kicking at the charred remains of the woven rug covering the other hatch. He had the door uncovered by the time Jeremiah clinked down the ladder, being the last one.Brigit bent over the heavy door and pulled up on the similar ring. The door swung upwards, revealing another ladder down. Milo shrugged at the sight, grabbed his sunrod, and started down. He reached the bottom just before Mazi, whom Brigit followed, then Jeremiah. They found themselves in a slightly larger room than above. This one also lined with shelves. The only intact item they could see was a cask of what appeared to be brandy. Brigit gave a low whistle at the find. She recognized the seal and told the others how much the brandy would be sold for from the distillery. Milo's mind boggled at the price of 400 gold pieces for such a small cask of liquor. Brigit tied the cask to the bottom of her pack, securing it for later sale or consumption. Just as she finished shouldering her hefty gear they heard a familiar sound. Squeaking noises, off in the distance, but growing near. The direction was not clear, but they could hear them from more than one side of the chamber. With nary a word they started back up the ladder, Milo once again leading the way with his sunrod. He didn't even pause in the first cellar chamber, but headed straight up the other ladder. He could hear the squeaking grow closer as he ascended the rickety ladder. Jeremiah kicked the hatch closed on the second chamber and followed Brigit up to the surface. Once he emerged Brigit swung the heavy door closed once again."They jus don' quit. I'm as tired as tha elf of these durn rats!" Brigit said vehemently. Jeremiah nodded his agreement."Okay, okay. It doesn't look like we'll find our way into the temple through here. The back door it is then." Milo said with resignation.They walked back to the temple, warily approaching the doors in the rear. There were three of the smaller entrances. All three had apparently been used recently too. Milo chose the right most door from the rear and walked up to the portal with a light step. He examined the lock and latch as well as the ground around the entrance. He eyed the stonework around the door, especially the arch that curved above the wooden planks. He could spy no crafty device or devious trap. Examining the lock closer he realized how simply of a mechanism it was. He slipped out his tools and selected two of his largest picks. After two seconds of manipulating, the lock gave the audible "click" that Milo loved so well.He pushed open the door and jumped back, allowing Jeremiah and Brigit to enter first. They stepped over the threshold cautiously, wary of an ambush after the tower garrison. No arrows were there to meet their approach, no guards shouted an alarm as they entered the ruined temple. They walked through the rear door unchallenged, into the unknown mysteries of the temple.Milo and Mazithra followed them in. They stayed close, but out of the range of Jeremiah's greatsword, in case trouble happened upon them and he had to start swinging. The door opened into a large chamber, a foyer of sorts. There was a door leading further into the temple and a staircase leading down into the depths underneath. The smooth walls were painted a reddish brown, somehow simulating the color of dried blood. Milo felt a shiver run down his spine as he set foot into the place. It felt - unholy, somehow.Pushing the sudden feeling of dread back, Milo said, "So, business as usual friends? Top floor first, then stairs?""Yes, I don't relish the thought of leaving anything behind that may follow us down." Mazi voted."Aye, jus show me ta tha baddies an' we'll clean this place out, eh Jer-boy?" Brigit joined in."Yes." came the proliferate reply from the normally silent barbarian. Milo noticed a look of determination on his face that indicated he felt the same as the halfling. He was committed to ridding the temple of the oppressive feeling of doom that pervaded the very rock.They pushed through the swing doors that led into the main chamber of the fell temple. They had entered through what appeared to be an antechamber at the rear of the temple, emerging near the dais and altar of the temple. The walls stretched up past them and curved into a vaulted ceiling far above their heads. Arches led into smaller antechambers here and there, composed of a sickly, pale pink color, reminiscent of material found after a particularly active night of carousing. A darker pink material hung from the arches, veiling the hallways from easy view.Pink marble was wrought all along the walls and the floors. Broken pews littered the floor leading up to an altar made of a white marble streaked with red veins. The altar reminded Milo of the walls in the cursed caves. Atop the altar was a form that appeared humanoid, obviously dead. Sacrificed in some evil rite no doubt, Milo thought to himself. In front of the altar was a well of stagnant liquid, Milo didn't need to hazard a guess as to its contents. Channels ran from the altar down to the well, streaked with the ruddy brown of dried blood. Broken crystal vials were scattered on the altar and the ground along with a knife. Most likely used to perform the unholy ritual that cursed this temple even more than it already was, thought Milo.Paintings depicted shadowy acts all along the walls. Some rites of evil, others great battles being won by unspeakable horrors, still others seemed to be portraits of unnamed gods and creatures."I don't like the feel of this place." Milo said in a small voice. Still it echoed against the vaulted ceiling."Yer right there, halflin. This place ain't right." Brigit agreed.The grand chamber was devoid of life, a preternatural silence lay like a blanket on the cavernous room. To the right of where they emerged, along the east wall, stood one of the veiled arches. A similar arch led to the west as well as one to the south. They chose the east arch and stepped cautiously towards it.Jeremiah reached out his greatsword and moved the tattered pink veil to the side. He revealed a vestry of sorts, also apparently empty. They moved into the new room, peering in every direction. Each minute that passed by without an outside sound made them more on edge and cautious. Another altar stood in the vestry. A broken bronze knife lay atop the marble. Thick stone columns crowded the vestry. It was smaller than the main chamber, but large in its own right. A slimy film seemed to coat the altar at the end of the room, spreading from the stone to the floor around it. Mazi wrinkled her nose in disgust and made her way into the room with dainty elf steps."I don't want to know what this stuff is, do I?" Mazi asked rhetorically."Probably not, I have a feeling we'll find out before this is all done." Milo answered anyway.</blockquote>

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