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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 369541" data-attributes="member: 202">Temple of Elemental Evil - part 53 (session 23)"Jeremiah, MOVE!" shouted Mazi.  Just as he spun to the side two expertly aimed arrows sped into the massive giant's bulk.  Milo took the chance to tumble to Brigit.  He cast another spell and touched her arm.  Another shield of faith shimmered into existence around the dwarf's form.  Mazi then showed the true reason for her shout.  A sizzling lightning bolt zigzagged from her pointed finger to slam into the giant full force.  The huge monster reeled from that spell and roared his defiance.Jeremiah stepped into the unoccupied space and swung into the hill giant.  His sword found just the right weak spot and Jer exploited it for all he was worth, shoving the sword in to the hilt.  The giant groaned loudly.  As Jer withdrew his sword the giant's ponderous weight seemed to fall in slow motion.  The fierce barbarian followed through with another savage blow, this time to one of the ogres.  The large monsters seemed unable to land a telling blow against the magically bolstered duo of Brigit and Jeremiah.  Milo stayed at Brigit's side anyway, keenly aware of the damage the club had done on top of her already fried nerves.  He sacrificed another spell to channel more healing energy into his indomitable friend.  Brigit grunted a terse thanks before dealing with the bound ogre.  Her axe and Jeremiah's sword soon made short work of the two ogres.  The room echoed with the last ogre's death rattle.  All that could then be heard was Brigit's shallow, ragged breathing.  She stood with her hands on her knees and panted heavily.  Milo stood next to her with a concerned expression.  Brigit waved Milo away after regaining her breath.  "Thanks all tha same Milo.  Ah gotta take care O' these things," Brigit waved at the numerous corpses laying about. "Keep an eye out for tha' wisp tho', elfie.  Don' need 'em comin' back ta zap me no more."With that Brigit the Butcher set about her grisly work."I'll say one thing about her, she's consistent." Milo said."So is Jeremiah, our giant killer." Mazi said as she patted the barbarian on the back.Jeremiah blushed.  Milo ignored Brigit's protest and healed her once more for good measure.  They gathered what valuables they could find and headed up the stairs.  Mazi kept close watch on their path for the last wisp.  The telltale blue glow never appeared though.  The journey back to the surface was uneventful.They spent two nights recuperating in the woods.  Brigit's wounds required serious healing from Milo and he was tapped out of divine energy by the end of the first day.  The others had to nurse their wounds as best as they could until the next day.The third day found them back in the temple.  They descended down to the Chamber of Eyes cautiously.  Whoever was in the lower levels would surely begin laying traps if they continued to use the same path, but all four were eager to solve the mystery of the statue room.Nothing had changed in the Chamber.  They stepped over the grisly pieces of giant, bugbear, and ogre on the way to the statue room.  There was no sign of the will-o-wisps in the room.  The only light reflecting off the statues was from Milo's lantern."I think we can assume the statues are trapped somehow.  I don't think magic weapons and the sort would just be left here for anyone to take." Milo said."How's this then, you check for traps and I'll use mage hand to bring them over here just in case?" Mazi suggested.Milo thought for a moment, then nodded.  "That's an excellent idea.  Especially considering my track record for finding traps lately.  Either way I'm going to take my time looking.  Just make sure nothing pounces on me while I do."Milo quietly padded into the room.  He chose to examine the manticore's crossbow first.  He noticed the absence of a string before anything else.  He thought that very odd.  Beyond that he couldn't find anything else amiss, either on the crossbow or the manticore statue.  Milo shrugged and walked back to the others."All yours, Mazi.  I can't find anything on it."Mazi concentrated on the crossbow.  Imperceptibly at first, the crossbow shifted from its stand.  Nothing happened.  The crossbow dragged across the floor to rest at Mazi's feet."No problem." Milo grinned.He examined the beholder's tube next.  With the absence of a trap on the crossbow Milo decided his first estimate was wrong.  He didn't take as much time examining the tube.  A couple of close glances revealed nothing.  Strolling back to the others with a grin, he gave Mazi the thumbs-up.Milo was suddenly pitched forward from behind.  As Mazi used her mage hand to shift the tube a trap had been sprung.  The small explosion ripped the tube apart and would have done the same to Milo if he hadn't been halfway across the room.  Milo stood from his hands and knees and brushed off the dust from the explosion."Nice, Milo.  Real nice." Brigit said."Okay, okay.  I'll be more careful.  I thought that's what Mazi's telekinesis was for.  Jeesh."Milo slowly made his way around the room, taking extra time to examine each enchanted item and its statue.  It appeared that they had found the only two traps the hard way.  Brigit's blindness from the staff and the tube's explosion were the only safeguards over the room.  Before long a healthy pile of goods lay at Mazi's feet.  The fire giant's spear lay under the medusa's cloak, the mummy's staff lay near the ogre mage's necklace and the raksasha's ring.  The last item Mazi couldn't drag over with her spell.  The two-foot wide box was too heavy for her mage handMilo returned to re-examine the blue dragon's box.  He tried his hand at the clever locking mechanism but was completely unable to spring it.  Mazi instead prepared her knock spell and walked towards the container.  As she neared she noticed invisible glyphs scribed onto the surface of the box.  "Someone went to the trouble to place invisible runes on this thing." she said.After closer examination she found that there were four words inscribed, Glooben, Gleeben, Glouben, Globen.  She grinned at some private memory of the words before trying one out loud."Glooben."The box suddenly shrunk to a tiny two-inch cube.  Mazi's eyes lit up.  She tried another word."Gleeben."Nothing happened."Globen."Milo and Mazi had to back away as the box suddenly expanded to eight feet wide on each side.  "Glouben."The box returned to normal, two feet each side.  Milo had an idea."Try that one again, the one that didn't do anything.""Gleeben?"The box slowly went transparent before winking out of sight completely.  The box was gone.  Even Mazi's spell-enhanced vision couldn't detect the box.  "Way ta go Milo!  Ya made her lose tha box.  Ah could think O' a ton O' uses fer that thing."  Brigit said disappointedly."No no, try one of the other words again Mazi." Milo said."Globen." Slowly the box appeared again, this time eight feet wide.  Brigit let out a low whistle of appreciation."Glouben."The box returned to its original state.  Mazi looked very pleased with herself.  She then cast knock to see if anything was inside.  The box was indeed full.  A couple hundred small gems winked back at them in the light.  Brigit reached in and grabbed a few.  She made a show of examining each closely."Bah, quartz.  Mebbe worth a gold piece each.""That's a couple hundred gold though, not bad." Milo said."None of you would mind if I hang on to it, would you?" Mazi asked."Nah, I don't want to lug it around and Brigit's already carrying enough to break a mule's back. Jeremiah?" Milo said.The barbarian shook his head and Brigit shrugged.  "Great!  Glooben."  Mazi said.  The cube shrunk again and Mazi stashed it into her pack."You just better hope no one else knows the command words.  I'd hate for an eight foot box to flatten you in the middle of battle." Milo said.  "Before we stash the rest of this stuff I want to be sure of something."Milo cast detect evil on the pile of gear they had looted from the statues.  He peered intently at the gear, but nothing was inherently evil.  Just to be safe he concentrated on the walls around them as well.  He felt a strong evil presence when facing the west.  He concentrated harder on the wall and found he could tell the aura was strong, and near the limit of his spell."There's something really bad down that way," he said pointing at the northwestern passage.  "Let me get the four of us ready and we'll go find out what it is."Jeremiah was practically jumping in his armor at the chance to hunt down something again.  Milo cast shield of faith on the two warriors and a magic circle against evil centered on himself.  They moved together through the passage.The hallway opened into a large room.  To their right along the north wall was a big fountain.  Looking to the south they could see what seemed to be a subterranean field of fungus.  Mushroom caps of different sizes emerged from a dark, rich soil.  Growths of fungus were all over the walls.  A narrow path led south through the field and split off to two doors, one to the east, and one to the west.  "Jeremiah, you're our wilderness expert.  Are these dangerous?" Mazi asked.Jeremiah crouched over a patch of bulbous mushrooms and examined them carefully.  He stood up, thought for a moment, then answered."Shrooms.""Uh huh, thanks, we weren't sure of that." Milo said sarcastically.A voice called out from the south end of the field, "Stand still, some of the fungi are dangerous.  I know the path, I'm coming to help you."They could make out the form of a woman carefully picking her way through the field.  Milo immediately had a bad feeling about her.  This was the room where he detected the evil, after all.The woman drew closer.  She was dressed in a simple white dress, barefoot.  She approached Jeremiah first, staring into his eyes intently.  Milo thought he noticed a snarl of frustration before she covered it with a smile.  She turned her gaze towards Brigit.  Her smile grew wider."Some of this fungus causes insanity.  You need to restrain your friends in case something happens." she said to Brigit.Brigit nodded slowly and turned to face her companions with a beatific smile on her face.</blockquote>

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