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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 1721" data-attributes="member: 202">Temple of Elemental Evil - part 6 (session 7)Another door led out of the room behind the altar, as well as a set of grey steps leading up to another wing. Skirting the slime, they made their way to the door. Milo checked it for traps but found none, indeed, the door was unlocked. He pushed the large door in, ready for anything.The room was smaller than the vestry. Broken furniture littered the floor. On the far side a staircase led down to the southwest. A large, old-fashioned wardrobe stood in a corner, one of the doors hanging on a single hinge. A broken triton jutted from one cracked chair. One of its tines was missing and its haft was snapped in two. Milo gingerly picked his way to the wardrobe and pulled the broken door open. Inside was a few moss green robes, stained with other colors. A few stains Milo could easily identify. From what he could make out, he didn't think he wanted to find from what the others were caused. Nothing else appeared to be of interest in the room, apart from the stairs leading down. They marked them for their first foray down after they checked out the rest of this floor. Back in the main chamber they chose the arch to the south. Still cautious, Jeremiah used his sword tip to once again push aside the veil. Another vestry waited beyond.This room was different than the last vestry. A broad staircase wrought of green and brown stone led upwards. More slime coated the sides of the stairs and crept upwards with the steps. The room extended to either side of the grand staircase. The party moved to the right and continued past the putrid smelling muck. The vestry stretched on, couches and chairs were scattered about as well as tables. A humanoid skeleton slumped in one of the chairs while another was strewn about a table. Bones littered the ground. A couple of the skeletons still wore tattered robes. Milo eyed the remains warily, certain they would hop up and attack. His caution was unnecessary, the skeletons remained where they were while they explored the room.A huge bronze altar and a throne shaped in a semi-circle sat at the end of the vestry. A long chain descended from the ceiling to hang directly over the large altar. Burnt bones hung from the links, belying the altar's purpose. Above the altar and throne were inscribed words that were easily legible:The power of elemental deathBrings mortals lowBut raises the nameless one high"That's rather ominous, isn't it?" quipped Milo. "I just hope we don't have to find out who the nameless one is. Heh heh." he said, trying to lighten the mood. His attempt failed in the oppressive atmosphere of the cursed temple.Milo spied a large cupboard to the rear of the room, the door still intact. He checked them for traps before opening one side. Silk robes hung within, embroidered with skulls and other generally evil markings. Milo snorted in disgust and closed the closet.The room was otherwise empty. They made another circuit through the vestry to make sure nothing was hidden from their eyes, but none of them found anything out of sorts. With one more vestry to investigate they moved back through the veil."So far so good, I don' like tha lack O people here." Brigit spoke up. "Where be all tha feet that trampled that grass outside? This ain't right." She said, repeating her previous statement.No one answered her as they crept towards the last vestry. Jeremiah repeated his actions, pushing the sickly pink veil away. The west vestry contained more furniture and another altar. This room was different though. The brownish-red stone that composed the altar was crumbled and broken. Hammers lay about the ground around the shrine. Broken bowls and cups, rimmed with crusted blood lay about the altar as well. The companions shared knowing looks, thinking back to their adventure in the caves a mere week ago. It appeared that someone else had performed a similar activity here. They wondered why only one altar had been destroyed. The answer occurred to each of them in moments though. They were all determined to have a different fate than whoever came before them. Clothes and broken candles were strewn about the room along with the obligatory broken furniture. Milo found some sets of brown robes in a corner of the vestry. Another staircase led down from this room as well. That made three staircases leading down to investigate. They decided to check the stairs behind the first vestry they looked into, towards the east of the temple. Milo left the robes where he found them and they headed towards the other vestry.The stairs led down three separate flights, folding back on each other. At the bottom a corridor led off to an intersection. Milo moved to the front of the group to watch for traps. Brigit and Jeremiah side by side with Mazi bringing up the rear followed him. They walked through the corridor as quietly as possible, which was not that quiet with Jeremiah clanking along in his full plate. Brigit had been practicing her movement and made considerable less noise, but they could still probably be heard throughout the tunnels.They chose the passage to the right and saw that it came to another intersection after a few paces. This intersection led straight, left, and right. They chose right again, trying to keep their bearings by using the tried-and-true method of spelunking. The passage led into a large chamber, high ceilings stretched up above them.Milo stopped them before they could enter the room. His keen eyesight made out a pressure plate set into the ground. No doubt it would set off a deadfall of some sorts. He pointed out the plate to his friends and they skirted the trap safely.No sooner had Mazi stepped past the plate did a soft singing filter to their ears. The tone had a strange, hypnotic quality and Milo found himself almost lost in its melodious notes. He shook his head as he realized that he almost started blindly towards the source. Looking around he noticed that Brigit and Mazi had shaken off the effects as well. He was too late to help Jeremiah though. The barbarian started forward, a distant look to his eyes. He had a wide smile on his face as he stepped further into the room.Milo looked ahead and saw what was producing the music. A half human, half fowl creature flapped grimy wings above the ground. A harpy! The music was decidedly out of place coming from the throat of that hideous amalgam of female and vulture. Jeremiah moved in a beeline for the singing creature.A second harpy flapped into sight. Milo wasted no more time, he pulled up the crossbow he loaded before they headed down the stairs and let loose his bolt. The missile grazed the singing harpy but did not interrupt her song. "We've got to stop the singing, Jeremiah will be enthralled until we do!" Milo shouted to the others as they raced forward to help their friend.The other harpy recognized the threat of Milo's crossbow and swooped down to deal with the annoying halfling. Milo dodged too late as her filthy talons dug into his shoulder. His armor protected him from most of the damage but he felt their sting nonetheless.Two paces in front of him the other harpy descended to attack Jeremiah, singing all the while. Her sharp talons scratched at the barbarian, wounding him lightly but not bringing him out of his reverie. The singing continued to hold him in the harpy's thrall. Brigit paused before running forward to aid Jeremiah. She saw the other harpy in her range and took the opportunity. Her axe swung with unerring aim, finding a critical weakness in the harpy's back. The dwarven axe sliced through the creature's flesh, rending it in two. Brigit had a fierce look in her face as she turned to deal the same blow to the other harpy.Mazi reached the singing beast first, wielding her longsword with expert grace. The wooden blade easily cut through the feathers and hide of the grimy half-bird, half-woman. The harpy loosed a hideous screech, cutting off its song. Jeremiah recovered instantly. The light of comprehension dawned in his eyes. He heaved the greatsword he had been dragging behind him like a heavy stick towards the harpy. It flapped out of the way in the nick of time, showering the companions with dirty feathers.Milo moved towards the creature while he drew his handaxes, the bird was flapping low enough for him to reach and he intended to pay it back for its damage on his friend.Just as he reached the struggling harpy it fled. Turning its back on the combatants it strove to gain altitude. Mazi struck out at the exact moment, her sword finding the same critical weakness Brigit had plumbed on the other. The harpy screeched and lost rhythm as it waved its wings. Jeremiah took the opening, stabbing through the air with the Windsword. The point struck the harpy in the back, slicing straight through to the hilt as it pierced the creature's black heart and emerged from its breast.Jeremiah withdrew his sword from the wound and turned as a new sound drew their attention. A door on the same wall they entered in opened as moaning figures emerged. Ragged tatters of cloth hung from gaunt bones. They recognized the pale figures with their shrunken, taught skin as ghouls. A total of six undead filed out of the room, all reaching out their arms in hunger as they shambled towards the group."I knew it'd be undead eventually." Milo said as they approached them.Jeremiah and Brigit sprung from their positions, leaping ahead of the halfling and elf to attack this new threat. Jer brandished his sword in a full swing. The point sliced into the chest of one of the ghouls as they closed in a rough semicircle. He swung the sword back and deepened the gash, managing to fell the first ghoul. He followed his swing with a mighty thrust into the gut of the ghoul to his right, creating a bloodless wound from belly to back.Brigit was next to attack as she reached her barbarian friend. She stood to his right and hacked away at the wounded ghoul. The creature toppled backwards with an unearthly scream. Brigit ignored the noise and sliced into the third ghoul to reach them to the right. The ugly wound she inflicted ran from its shoulder to its hip, but it still pressed on, lunging for the dwarf. It gnashed its teeth at Brigit, trying to bite at any exposed flesh. Her plate mail protected her from the undead's teeth.Milo and Mazi had moved to the left and behind Jeremiah, each member of the group faced a single ghoul. Milo dodged a swiftly moving claw near Jeremiah while Mazi sidestepped a lunging bite from her own opponent."Do they have to bite?" She asked plaintively as she prepared her own counterstrike."I don't - suppose - they have - to do - anything." Milo answered between swings of his handaxes. "Bite - or not - they're - going down." He hacked into the undead ghoul, making twin wounds appear on either side of its torso. The creature merely moaned and moved to attack him again.Brigit wasted no time in speech but showed her distaste of the ghouls with her furious attacks. Her axe came down and up in a great "V". Both ghouls attacking her and Jeremiah fell under her attack. One had the wound to mirror the other as they fell side by side.Freed from his own opponent Jeremiah turned to attack Milo's assailant. The ghoul didn't notice the sword bearing down behind it. The heavy sword slashed into its shoulder, severing its arm from its body before continuing into its torso. The spark of unlife died in the creature and it fell away from his sword.Mazithra dodged a claw from the last remaining ghoul but was unable to land a blow with her own sword. The ghoul moaned unintelligibly as it ignored all other threats. Jeremiah had kicked away his last kill and swiveled to attack the last ghoul. His greatsword chopped completely through the creature's torso, putrid grey slime oozed from its innards as it too joined its undead brethren on the ground.The friends stood up and looked around, waiting for the next villain to jump out and attack them. No further threats emerged from the darkness though. Milo allowed himself to relax a fraction from the nervous edge he maintained during battle."See Mazi, told ya they were going down. And no one has any teeth marks to show for it." Milo said to break the silence."I'd rather they didn't bite at all, Milo." Mazi said good-naturedly.They took a moment to survey their surroundings, noticing another door on the far side of the chamber in addition to the one the ghouls emerged from. It was decided to check the ghoul room before heading towards that door though.An almost empty room greeted their gaze as they walked in. In the corner was a small pile of coins. Milo could make out copper, silver, and gold coins glittering in the torchlight. An odd glitter shined from the bottom of the pile though. The glitter caught Mazithra's eye as well and she hurried over to investigate. She reached down and pulled on the metal that glimmered through the coins. In a shower of money a finely worked shirt of chainmail emerged. Mazi gave a startled exclamation as she realized what she held."Mithral! It's an elven shirt of mithral chain!" Mazi said excitedly. She showed the finely wrought metal to Brigit. Pointing out the fine craftsmanship. "You won't see anything this delicate yet strong in your dwarven forges!""Girlie, who do ya think taught ya durn elves how ta do that? Tha goblins? Phfaugh!" Brigit replied. Still she took off her gauntlet and ran her fingers over the small links of silvery metal.Mazi tossed the whole shirt at Milo. Surprised, he raised his axes to fend off the seemingly heavy chain shirt. He was surprised as it landed lightly on the axe heads. He barely noticed the weight. Stowing one axe he retrieved the shirt from the other. The metal was cool and almost slick in his hands."So this is mithral? Nice, very nice, Mazi. This is worth a pretty copper, I can tell you." Milo said.Mazi was on him in a flash, snatching the shirt from his hands. "I know you don't think you're going to sell this! You can haul out my old shirt if you want to sell something." She said, indicating her mundane suit of chain.A few minutes later Mazi had donned the new shirt over her tunic. She pranced in front of the others, showing off the perfect fit. It was obviously crafted for an elf to wear."Alright, enough O yer dancin, missy. We gots baddies ta take care of. Let's be off." Mazi said after a few moments, a laugh evident in her mock-gruff voice.</blockquote>

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