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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 244639" data-attributes="member: 202">Temple of Elemental Evil - part 38 (session 16)Their next trip into the temple brought them back to the secret door leading into the Water Temple.  Mere minutes ago the decision was made to finish their explorations past the watery room by the flip of a coin."Okay, heads for water, tails for fire." Milo said as he flipped a copper piece.The shining coin spun in the air, reflecting the light of the sun filtering through the trees near the Temple of Elemental Evil.  Milo snagged the coin mid-spin and opened his palm."Heads.  Water Temple it is.  Maybe we'll meet up with old stony." he said after viewing the coin."Aye, an' mebbe this time he won't run through a solid wall.  Ah canna stand cowards." Brigit spat, remembering their last encounter with the head priest."I just don't like how much he knew about me.  That and the whole 'vessel' thing." Mazi said with a chill, despite the warm morning sunlight.Into the temple they went.  Milo noted as they traveled through the depths that many of the dismembered corpses were still present.  Good, he thought, I hate undead.  The corpses meant no undead, but they did leave quite a stench.  As if the temple wasn't repulsive before, the mess they were making was leaving an even more grotesque mark on its vile stones.  Milo's musings were cut short when they reached the secret door.  He stepped forward and triggered the release.  The heavy stone wall swung back to reveal an empty hallway stretching to the south and a door to the east.  "We tried the door before, shall we head down the hallway this time?" suggested Milo."Sure, let's see where this leads." Mazi agreed.  She wasn't eager to meet up with the priest quite yet.The hallway twisted to the southeast before straightening south again.  A single door stood on the west wall.  The door led to another set of stairs leading down.  They left the stairs for later, intent on eliminating the evil on one floor at a time.  The stony passage led away from the door through many twists and turns.  They eventually turned to the east again, according to Brigit's cavesense.  After some time the passage led north to an intersection.  It continued north while a branch led to the east.  They could make out a fair sized room from their vantage point."Into the slaughterhouse my friends?" Milo asked good-naturedly."Oh aye, but not fer our slaughter." Brigit said with a malicious grin.Just as she spoke Trollgrater hummed to life in her hands.  A ruddy glow suffused the chamber, centered on the legendary waraxe.  There were crates, boxes, barrels, and sacks all along the walls.  A door led to the east.  The room reeked of dung and spoiled meat.  Brigit took a look around and spoke one word:"Trolls"What they thought was a pile of refuse lying in the corner suddenly shifted.  A mass of warty green skin rose until the stooped figure of a troll glared at the intruders.  Drool dripped off its tusks in thick strands as the thought of its next meal filtered through its mind.  It stretched out its claws as Brigit's axe flamed in its full glory.  Brigit's face was highlighted by the strong glow and her eyes burned much as the axe as she stared down the troll.  With a scream of recognition, then rage, the troll sprung at them.It's claws swiped down before they could get into range to bring their own weapons to bear.  Luckily it appeared either the troll was dim-witted or sluggish from sleep.  Brigit, Jeremiah, and Milo dodged its claws and teeth easily.  They each moved in, harrowing it as they tried to surround it.  Mazi fired her arrows into the melee as the others attacked.  The troll screamed again as Brigit's axe cleaved through its thick skin.  It was obvious that the creature was not used to the pain that the flaming Trollgrater inflicted.Their attacks quickly wore down the large troll with Brigit's flaming weapon dealing the final blow.  They paused to take account of themselves.  It seemed they all made it through the fight unscathed.  Brigit wasted no more time, while Trollgrater still burned she decapitated the troll and proceeded to completely dismember the beast.The others searched the room and the containers lining the walls.  All they found were rotting food, watered wine, moldy grain, and old clothes."They sure are fond of the threadbare here, aren't they?" Milo said as he lifted a tattered cloak from a crate with his handaxe."Perhaps no one has told them that it's out of style." Mazi said with a completely straight face."Uhm, yeah, right." Milo said, unsure whether she was serious or not.Brigit joined them as they examined the door.  It led into an antechamber of sorts, a small room with another door leading to the east.  This door led into what seemed like a makeshift throne room.  The walls were decorated with the bones of countless creatures, mostly humanoid.  Another door led to the east.  A huge throne fashioned from more bones dominated the room.  Sitting in the throne was an equally huge troll.  Brigit's axe flamed into new life, thirsting for the blood of its enemy.  The troll grinned as it fingered its club.  It was dressed head to foot in a strange bone armor.  One moment it lounged on the throne and the next it lunged at Brigit.The stout dwarf dodged its blows while she lined up her own attack.  Taking careful aim, she brought down the axe right into its chest.  The axe burst into a small fireball, the flames licking at the troll's horrified face.  Although Trollgrater inflicted a horrible wound, it didn't seem to do as much damage as it had before."Its armor must be enchanted!" Milo shouted as Jeremiah swung the Windsword at the huge troll.Milo tumbled behind the huge troll, avoiding its attacks easily with his small, lithe frame.  Reft and Rend dug into the troll's exposed hamstrings, bringing it crashing down.  Brigit finished it off with a vicious chop to its now accessible neck.  The flames from her axe cauterized the wounds immediately and she went to work on the rest of the huge monster.They managed to grab a couple of things off the troll before Brigit could bring her axe to bear.  Mazi found a beautiful gold necklace adorned with 4 large rubies and a belt set with 4 large emeralds.  On a whim Milo sat back and cast detect magic.  He could see two glowing objects in the room, but was surprised to find that neither of them were what they had already found.  One was the ring on the troll's dismembered hand, the other a diffuse glow under some rags.  He struggled removing the ring from the thick finger of the troll before pocketing for later identification.  The glow under the rags turned out to be a vial of liquid, some potion of sorts.  He tossed it to Brigit for safekeeping until it too could be identified.Listening to the door Milo could make out some guttural growls and other troll-like sounds.  Trollgrater seemed to growl back.  The door opened into a large chamber with a passage leading out from the northeast.  More boxes, crates, barrels, and sacks were piled around the room.  A lone troll wielding a trident stood near the exit, growling in their direction.The warriors arrayed themselves before the troll, waiting for it to make the first move.  Brigit's axe lent an orange cast on the scene, four adventurers with weapons at the ready and a lone snarling troll.  A dim thought seemed to occur to the beast as it stood, leaning forward, then back.  Finally it seemed to make up its mind: it ran."Bugger!  Every time!" Brigit shouted as she stood from her battle crouch."Hang on, before you give chase let me pump up your defenses." Milo said, prepared just for such an occasion.  Three shields of faith on Jer, Mazi, and Milo later and a short jog out of the chamber led them to a north-south passage.  They could hear noises coming from the north, more than just a single troll this time though.  Milo was glad he took the time to cast.  The passage led to a huge circular chamber.  A great post rose from the center with a sturdy iron ring at the top.  Chained to the ring was a seven-headed beast, slavering at the end of its reach for the entrance to the chamber.  The troll that ran away was at the other end.  It had obviously skirted the edge and stood waiting to see how the adventurers dealt with this obstacle before it fled out the exit to the west."Hydra, just pray it doesn't grow back heads like the ones I've heard of." Mazi said."Let's see if I can't soften it up for you guys, plug your ears!" Milo said before chanting a quick spell.A thunderous boom echoed from in-between the hydra and troll as Milo finished casting his sound burst.  The troll was stunned but the sound only seemed to anger the hydra.  Mazi made to cast her own spell but was impeded by her armor.  The arcane magiks swirled around her fingers before sputtering to nothing.  Jeremiah cautious approached the hydra, trying to bring his sword to bear.  Brigit decided to sheath her axe for now, hoping to do more damage at a distance with her bow.  She let out a frustrated growl when she lost grip of the heavy composite bow on the first loosing.Out of offensive spells, Milo tumbled towards the hydra, hoping to avoid any heads looking his way.  His maneuver drew attention from one of the hydra's heads but he was able to avoid its lunging teeth.  The other six heads were busy attacking Jeremiah.  His armor and sword fended off all but a small nick.  By then Brigit had moved in with her axe, dealing major damage with the still burning weapon.  The troll recovered and lurched for the nearest enemy, Milo.  He saw blood trickling from its hairy ears.  Milo took a quick swipe at the beast as it moved in but took two heavy wounds from its trident in return.  He thought twice about tangling hand-to-hand with the troll.  Mazi tried another spell, this time succeeding in her ritual.  The now familiar sticky strands of her arcane web sprang into existence around the hydra and troll.  Mazi's expert casting ended the web right between Milo and the troll.  The hydra took a second to stomp the web out of its way.  Its seven heads whipped about, tearing the web around it.  Mazi shrugged and drew up her bow.Milo felt a little more confident in fighting the now trapped troll.  He scored two vicious attacks as the creature struggled in its bonds.  He was dismayed as it broke free, first one ham-sized fist, then the other.  Meanwhile Jeremiah managed to move in on the hydra, ducked under the heads, and dealt a deadly blow to its squat body.  The hydra raised all seven heads and screamed.  The high-pitched sound was cut short as Mazi's well-placed arrow brought the enormous creature crashing into her web.The troll lumbered towards Milo.  He kept his ground for one more attack, waiting for just the right moment.  Reft sliced through its powerful quadriceps as Milo darted past its defenses.  He quickly tumbled backwards after avoiding the troll's counterattack.  Behind him Mazi had drawn her own flaming weapon, the flametongue from the human warrior.  She set the web afire with the longsword and watched as the flames neared the troll, still picking its way out of the strands.As soon as Milo was out of the way, Jeremiah moved in with his greatsword.  The clash of metal on metal could be heard as he broke past the upheld trident.  With no room to approach the troll, Brigit drew her bow again.  She fired her arrow just as the flames from the web reached the troll.  The troll was overpowered by Jeremiah's greatsword and Mazi's flametongue.  She seemed eager to join the fight after her two spells seemed ineffective.  It died in the flames of her web, gurgling its death.Seeing that the room was fairly nondescript and empty, and still feeling the rush from the battle, they headed towards the exit.  A passage led past huge double doors to the north and a wide staircase leading down to the south.  They could hear a 'click-clack' noise from further down the hall."I remember that sound." Milo said."The caves." Jeremiah spoke."Yeah, that's it.  Give you odds it's an owlbear."The hallway led into a triangular room, they were in its northeast corner, a diagonal wall led southwest while the north wall stretched east before making a right angle to end at a passage in the southwest corner.  The owlbear sat hunched near a post similar to the hydra's, hissing and hooting.  It clacked its beak as the adventurers entered the room and hissed even louder."They keep odd pets here." Milo noted."Not 'xactly a run-O-the-mill Temple, Milo." Brigit said as she drew an arrow to her bow.The owlbear pounced forward, drawing a heavy chain behind it.  A volley of arrows from Brigit and Mazi met it, their hands moving from their quivers to bowstring almost faster than the eye could follow.  Three arrows contributed their feathers to the owlbear's coat by the time it reached Jeremiah.  The barbarian was waiting.  He knocked away its claws and brought the sword down through its beak.  The beast slumped to the ground, dead.</blockquote>

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