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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 340661" data-attributes="member: 202">Temple of Elemental Evil - Part 47 (session 20)Stumped by the meaning of the scroll they found, the heroes decided to retire for the night and think on it before they ventured to the next floor.  That night they discussed possible meanings of the message.  After some discussion they settled down for sleep no closer to a solution to the riddle than before.Morning found them as stumped as the night before.  Nonplussed, the four friends decided to head back into the temple.  Perhaps more investigation on the next floor would shed some light on their puzzle.  The temple was eerily quiet on the first two floors.  Mazi pointed out all of the stairs they had uncovered during their initial search of the second basement floor.  One of the staircases they had discovered behind a secret door so recently seemed to be the perfect place to go down.  The stony steps led deep into the darkness.  The familiar dank smell of the temple filled their nostrils as they carefully made their way down.  The stairs ended in a dead-end with a single door set in the north wall.The door led to a passageway running east to west.  To the east they found an oddly angled room lined with shelves.  The room struck Milo as odd, it was the first time they had seen anything on shelves that were completely intact.  Mazi seemed the most interested in the varied bottles and flasks crowding the shelves."There must be enough spell components in here to cast just about anything!" she said excitedly."Wha?  Ya mean all this worthless dreck?  There ain't anythin' in here worth packin' 'round." Brigit decided."Speak for yourself." Mazi said as she pored over the labels on the closest shelf."Well these might come in handy," Milo said as he picked up some empty flasks.  "I can bless some water and fill the flasks, since we used all of ours upstairs.""Tha's more like it.  Ah'll carry 'round as many of those as ya like." Brigit said.Milo and Mazi took some time to scan the shelves and stock up on empty flasks and spell components.  Mazi grinned from ear to ear as she practically skipped from shelf to shelf of arcane material.  The other end of the passageway twisted around a sharp bend before coming to an intersection.  One way led to the north, the other continued to the west.  The northern passage led them around another corner into circular room.  This room was filled with tables, lined orderly in rows.  Upon the tables were beakers, glass tubes, and other alchemical devices.  A table full of pottery turned out to be alchemical supplies.  Mazi identified many of the powders and liquids.  She paused at a pot full of what appeared to be liquid silver."Hmmm, quicksilver.  This would sell for a pretty copper, Brigit.  Quicksilver is valued highly by many alchemists." Mazi said slyly."Really?  How much?" came Brigit's answer."Oh, I don't know.  This much quicksilver would probably go for a few hundred gold back home.""Well then, Ah can hold onta some O' that.""And this," she said as held up a flask from a matched set. "is acid, sulfuric I believe.""Now tha' can come in handy!  Gimme some O' tha' stuff." Brigit said eagerly.Brigit stowed five flasks of the corrosive liquid in her pack, cushioned by an empty sack she carried around.  They split many of the rest of the ingredients between the four.  Mazi estimated that there was over a thousand gold pieces worth of potion brewing material.Back at the intersection they found the western passage slanted to the north before emptying into another hallway heading north and south.  They kept to the "right turn only" mantra and followed the passage to its end.  A stout oak door opened into a short east-west passage.  Both ends of the passage opened to the north into a large workroom.  Tables, desks, and shelves were arrayed in an orderly fashion along the walls.  To the west was a small fountain and to the east was a supply area of sorts.  Milo approached the nearest desk first.  Just as he neared the desk a thin tentacle whipped out towards his feet.  His quick reflexes saved him from being wrapped up and hauled under the desk to an unknown fate.As Milo tumbled backwards the owner of the tentacle slinked out from under the desk."A roper!  That's all we need." Mazi groaned.The amorphous body of the roper elongated to a pillar of greyish flesh with constantly shifting tentacles.  The creature's only eye focused on the speaker, Mazi.  One of its rope-like tentacles shot out towards the elf.  Mazi wasn't nimble enough to avoid its steely grip.  The roper hauled back and Mazi was inexorably drawn to the creature's opening maw.  A quick count revealed to Milo that five more tentacles were free to attack the three free heroes.  He prayed for assistance in the form of as many summoned creatures as his god could spare.  Three celestial badgers winked into existance around the roper.  Milo hoped they'd be enough distraction for the roper to spare them the tentacles until they could vanquish it.  Brigit and Jeremiah tried to keep their distance but attacked fiercely with their bows.  The roper's rubbery hide was difficult to pierce but they were able to exact a small amount of damage.  Brigit snarled in frustration.  Milo's hope for the badger's assistance was short lived as three tentacles snaked out and rendered all three completely helpless in a matter of seconds.  Milo was next to feel the creature's constricting hold.  The tentacle shot behind him before looping around his waist and pulling him towards the central pillar.  Milo struggled to break free but found his strength was severely sapped from the roper's paralyzing hold.Jeremiah was soon in the same predicament as Milo and Mazi.  The roper snagged his armor in its inflexible grip and yanked him off his feet.  His gauntleted fingers scraped the stone floor as he was dragged to the roper's waiting mouth.Left alone to face the roper, Brigit dropped her bow and drew her axes.  She brandished them high and charged with a dwarven battle cry.  Her axes bit deep into the roper's flesh, but weren't enough to free her comrades.  She was hard pressed as she avoided the other three tentacles.  Only her dwarven fortitude kept her from being affected by the creature's paralyzing touch.  Milo twisted and turned as he tried to free himself.  He managed to twist his shoulder back enough to free some slack and dropped to the ground.  He immediately began a prayer to strengthen his allies and weaken the roper.Brigit continued to hack away at the creature, finding the job considerably easier with two tentacles focused on Milo and two on herself.  Jeremiah and Mazi continued to struggle in the adamantine hold of the roper.Milo despaired, the roper showed no signs of weakening.  He drew a scroll that he had been saving for emergencies.  The flame strike spell was the most powerful spell he had in his arsenal.  He spoke the divine incantation and gestured to the roper, centering the strike away from his companions.  The holy flames rained down on the creature with a loud 'woosh'.  Milo grinned in satisfaction.  His smile was soon replaced by a look of shock.  As the flames cleared he could see that the roper was completely unscathed."They're...resistant..." wheezed Mazi as she struggled, "to...magic!"Milo's curse changed to a shout of exclamation as one of the roper's tentacles reclaimed him.  The air was filled with the heroes' shouts as the roper gnawed on each in turn.  Brigit doggedly attacked over and over, batting away the persistent tentacles when they'd draw near.  Suddenly the roper's hold slackened.  Brigit's Trollgrater came down with a final swing, embedding itself in the roper's single eye.  She shouted in triumph as the pillar of gray flesh collapsed on itself.  The others climbed to their feet shakily as Brigit took out her frustration on the remains of the roper.  Jeremiah, Milo, and Mazi took a few moments to steady themselves.  All three felt weak after the struggle against the roper's touch.  As Milo shook the cobwebs from his head he noticed a gleam in the roper's remains."Hold on a minute Brigit.  What is that?""Wha?" Brigit paused, "Yer right, there is somethin' in there."Brigit crouched and drew out a perfectly cut gem from the gory remains.  She whistled in admiration at the fine craftsmanship as she stood to examine it closer.  The gem was small, but well made.  Brigit shuffled some of the gore around and found more of the precious jewels.  She eventually crouched back down and rifled through the remains until she found twelve more of the stones.Meanwhile Mazi had been examining the shelves.  She came across three rolled scrolls near the fountain to the west.  Unfurling the first, she began to read.  A cloud of smoke suddenly appeared near her with a loud noise.  The acrid smell of the smoke caused Milo's eyes to water.  He squinted into the smoke as it cleared.  Standing before them was a skeletal demon, its grinning skull peered directly at Mazi."You summoned me, fleshling?" the demon's voice was like a thousand screaming voices combined into one."Errrr, no.""No matter, I'm in no mood for games."The demon attacked Mazi with his serrated long sword.  She leaped out of the way, but the spell she was working on was lost in the ether.  Brigit had already reached into her pack.  She drew her rope of entanglement and aimed it for the demon's back.  The rope wrapped around the demon, hampering its movements.Milo intoned a prayer and centered the effect on the demon.  It reeled from the sound blast but kept fighting.  Mazi took the chance to finish her spell.  The jagged lightning bolt sprang from her finger to play over the skeletal demon's bare bones.  Brigit and Jeremiah jumped into the battle then, wary of their friends' spells.The demon couldn't withstand the combined attack from the burly dwarf and huge human.  Milo and Mazi continued to cast.  Another lightning bolt, perfectly aimed to miss Brigit and Jeremiah, slammed into the demon.  Milo's sword stream and knife spray finished the infernal beast off.  The demon's skeleton seemed to fracture in all over before imploding on itself into a pile of dust."Does anyone know what demons do when they get desperate?" Milo asked. "We're lucky we finished him off so quickly.""Nah, wha' do demon's do?"  Brigit asked as she scattered the demon dust."Thorough, Brigit, very thorough" Milo said before answering. "They tend to call for help when the going is rough.""More demons?  I don't think we could have handled more than this one.""Ach, bring 'em on Ah say." Brigit scoffed."Easy for you to say, you weren't sucked dry by the roper." Milo countered, "I couldn't have scratched a pudding with my axes, much less that thing.""I'm with Milo.  One demon is one too many." Mazi said as she absent-mindedly opening another scroll."Wait!" all three of her friends shouted in unison."Let me see if I can detect evil on the other two." Milo said after they caught their breath.Milo prayed for the insight to detect evil and focused on the remaining scrolls.  He couldn't tell a difference until he looked at the scroll at Mazi's feet.  The residual taint of evil still hung about the parchment like a greasy cloud.  "Nope, those scrolls seem unmarked." he said.Mazi opened the first one and read its contents."This has four spells scribed!" she said eagerly, "Polymorph other, charm monster, fly, and magic mouth!  I can scribe those to my book.""How about the other?" Milo asked.Mazi peered at the scroll.  She turned it upside down and sideways.  She squinted at the printed text, obviously confused."Can't make it out.  It doesn't make much sense."Milo grabbed the parchment from her loose hands.  He could understand the script perfectly."That's because this isn't arcane writing," he told Mazi, "There's an animate dead spell on here.  Oh, and raise dead and restoration spells too.  Excellent!  We could probably use the restoration spell after the fight with the roper.""Aye, ya prolly could.  But let's use it outside.  If yer all weak Ah don' wanna stick 'round to see wha' other demons come outta tha woodwork." Brigit seemed to have taken Milo's warning to heart.They left the temple for the relative safety of the woods.  Milo was a little disappointed that they didn't have more time to explore the third floor of the temple, but three of them were in dire need of rest.  The next day Milo prayed for restorative magic.  His lesser restoration spells weren't enough to heal all three of them in one day.  The group wound up spending more time in the forest than they had planned.  It was three days before they were ready to head into the depths of the temple again.</blockquote>

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