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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 278685" data-attributes="member: 202">Temple of Elemental Evil - Part 42 (session 18)Milo bounded over to Jeremiah before he could charge after the priest.  He quickly channeled a spell into healing energy and mended what wounds he could on the flagging barbarian.  His hands were soon resting on empty air as the raging Jeremiah vaulted towards the door.  He was soon followed by a fiercely growling Brigit and an equally ferocious Mazi.  Milo brought up the rear with no less enthusiasm.He skidded into the room in time to see Brigit held stock-still, the apparent victim of a hold person spell.  He groaned at her luck.  Milo glanced towards the priest and realized what actually happened to the stationary dwarf.  The priest had stopped in the middle of the room and was brandishing his mace.  The weapon was horrible to behold, but Milo's eyes felt drawn towards it.  The shaft was crafted of the blackest wood, harvested from the most twisted forests.  The butt was capped with a shiny metal that was fashioned into a miniature death's head with small black onyx for eyes.  The most fearsome aspect of the weapon was the head.  A grinning skull with long fangs was sculpted from some black ferrous metal.  Wicked iron studs protruded from the polished dome of the skull.  Ruby eyes shone out towards the heroes.  Milo felt as if they bore a hole straight into his soul.  For a moment Milo faltered in his step, almost stumbling onto the stony floor.  He drew from a reservoir of faith and courage deep within and stared back at the glinting ruby eyes.  Slowly, Milo was able to push down his fear to a point of tolerance.  He couldn't quite shake the ice-cold feeling in the pit of his stomach.  He hoped Brigit was able to break free soon, but he had other things to concentrate on.The priest held his mace aloft until Jeremiah, bleeding from several wounds, attacked.  Mazi spied the exit that the priest was running towards and settled back in a casting stance.  Soon a flaming sphere appeared between the priest and the door."I may not be able to touch you," she said, "but you're not getting away this time."In desperation the evil cleric cast one more spell.  A summoned fiendish dire ape appeared before the heroes.  It roared at the nearest foe, Jeremiah.  The tall barbarian nearly matched it for size.  He fended off its claws and teeth then swiveled to face the fearful priest.  His will overpowered the invisible barrier Mazi could not penetrate and his sword came crashing down.  The Water Priest was dead.The ape was quickly dispatched by Reft and Rend.  Milo paused to wipe the blood off the enchanted hand axes and look around.  "The tongue has got to go." Mazi said.Milo was taken aback at the ferocity of her statement.  She drew her dagger and crouched down over the priest.  When next she stood the dead priest was without a tongue.  She tossed the bloody organ over her shoulder and nodded with satisfaction. Just then Brigit shuddered to life.  "GRAHHHH!" she loudly expelled the air from her lungs.  "He's lucky he's dead!"The dwarf glowered at the priest's corpse.  Milo was quick to interpose himself between the two."Let's divest him of his goods before you go butcher on him." he said.Milo cast detect magic and surveyed the scene.  He could tell the priest's full plate armor was enchanted.  The mace was as well, but that came as no surprise to him or the others.  The priest also wore a magic ring on his right hand.  There were other non-magical odds and ends on the corpse as well.  They found an iron key inside the cleric's purse along with some coins."Finished, Milo?  Good, he's all yours Brigit." Mazi said with spite.Milo was again surprised by her vehemence.  She really disliked the priest.  Most likely due to the business about her being a vessel for some ancient evil and the abuse he heaped on her good friend, the Lady Tillahi.Milo sat back and looked around.  The room they had run the priest down in was longer than it was wide and lined with greened tapestries depicting the element of water.  The room was illuminated by two stands with greenish-blue glowing stones atop.  A lit brazier burned a fish-scented incense.  Six plush armchairs sat in a semicircle at one end of the room.  A table near the chairs bore a finely crafted ivory serving tray.  The door Mazi had blocked led to the south.Two armoires squatted at either end of the room.  The northern armoire held a solitary shield.  They grabbed it in case it turned out to be magic.  The southern armoire held a black cloak with gold thread throughout.  A ten-armed octopus dominated the back with twelve gems of varying size."Ach, another cloak?  How many O these do we have ta lug around?""Here," Mazi said as she drew her dagger again.Soon Mazi's simple solution produced a roughly cut patch of material adorned with the gold octopus and gems.  Brigit grinned at Mazi's ingenuity.  She then turned her attention to the tapestries along the north and east walls."Ah am getting' really tired O these things."She placed a physical exclamation on her statement by tearing down the nearest tapestry.  She proceeded to shred the material into unrecognizable pieces.  Once finished she did a dwarven jig on top of the mess with a sneer towards the dead priest's remains.The door to the south led into a narrow room.  A writing desk stood at the end of an empty shelf.  A mirror was set on the east wall, opposite the shelf.  Near the door a closed chest was partially covered by some old clothing.  There was a small table that had a few dishes piled atop as well.  Milo carefully opened the chest to reveal a small coral box, a book, and some clothing.  Carefully lifting the box from the clothing, Milo opened the lid to reveal the contents.  Inside were a fair amount of tiny pearls.  He figured they'd be worth some money, or useful as spell components for Mazi.Leaning next to the mirror they found a trident with barbed tines.  Jeremiah stashed the spear-like weapon.  His fascination for shafted spears and tridents sometimes turned out for the best.  Meanwhile Mazi had begun perusing the book from the chest."Whatcha reading, Mazi?" the inquisitive Milo asked."Nothing more than I expected." she replied, "Rituals concerning the element of water.  Summoning instructions and information on the properties of water.  Pretty boring, actually.""Hmph, if you say so.  Any information is good information I think.  Hang on a second, I think I found something."Milo had run across a catch in the wall near the mirror.  The wall the mirror was mounted on swung inward as he tripped the catch.  The sound of moving water could be heard beyond.  The four shared a brief glance of trepidation before and decided they would come back to the door after they investigated the other door in the main chamber.The opposite door led into a room that mirrored the priest's final resting place.  Even the door was mirrored to the south.  Four bronze pedestals, four arm chairs, and four tables sat in a circle in the middle of the room.  A large wardrobe sat against the west wall and a writing desk sat near the southwest corner.Milo checked the wardrobe first.  Inside the closet were another set of robes.  It had the ten-armed octopus insignia as well, but this was just a patch stitched on.  A shelf in the wardrobe held a box with six sugared fruits inside."Wait a second, sugared fruits?  Here?" Mazi said with disbelief."Sure, the priest had a sweet tooth or something." Milo suggested."I don't think so."Mazi cast a spell to detect poison on the sugared fruit.  Her distrustful nature paid off this time.  The fruit was indeed poisoned.  They decided to hang on to the fruit.  Milo's reasoning was that if anyone decided to try to rob them they'd have a nasty surprise if they tried out the goodies.While searching the desk Milo found some blank parchment.  As he picked them up to hand to Mazi he noticed a loose panel.  Behind the wooden plank was a rolled parchment.  He excitedly unrolled the paper and read the contents.  Three spells were inscribed upon the parchment.  True seeing, resist fire, and neutralize poison.  Milo happily rolled the scroll back up and stowed it with his others.The southern door led to another room that mirrored the western chamber.  This one contained two beds separated by a screen.  A chest lay at the foot of each bed.  After Milo picked the locks on the chests they found more coins, a bronze mace, and a ring set with a rare green pearl.  One of the chests had a large potion with at least two doses as well.  As far as any of them could tell this room had no secret passages.  They agreed to check out the secret chamber leading from the western room.A large chamber awaited them with an oval pool that filled most of the room.  It's greenish water reflecting from an identically shaped crystal set in the ceiling.  Soft green light emanated from torches set in the wall.  A huge bas-relief of the ten-armed octopus stretched out over a portion of the pool.  The noise came from a merman chained at the bottom of the pool.As soon as they entered the room a tortured voice filled their minds."It's coming!  It's coming to destroy you!  It will live soon!" the merman said, "I can help you!  Get me out of here!  Please, it will kill us all!"As one, the four friends shrugged.  Too tired to care, again as one, they turned their backs and walked out on the telepathic merman."Probably a trap anyways." Milo muttered as they made their way out of the temple for the day.</blockquote>

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