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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 412824" data-attributes="member: 202">Temple of Elemental Evil – part 59 (session 26)All Milo could hear was screaming.  At first he thought it came from somewhere else in the room, then he realized it was he that was screaming.  An unnatural fear gripped him.  It was as if his deep-seated fear and hatred of undead had shot to the surface of his emotions and blocked out all other thought.  Heedless of anything around him, Milo spun to face the door, intent on running as long and far as his legs could carry him.Suddenly, he stopped screaming.  A warm, calm peace settled down over him.  Milo felt confident, secure, and above all else, lucky.  He didn’t know what would have happened had he still been panicked.  He could still hear screaming, Mazi and Jeremiah had added their voices to the otherworldly sound emanating from behind the dressing screen.  A ghostly apparition floated through the screen just as Mazithra and Jeremiah fled, unable to resist the wailing terror.The apparition floated slowly through the screen.  It’s head emerged first.  Milo could make out elfin features.  Could it be the ghost of the mummified corpse?  The mouth was opened farther than any natural elf could stretch though.  The piercing scream that oddly had no more effect on Milo was emanating from the wailing banshee.  Milo looked around for support and was more than surprised to see Brigit standing next to him, similarly unaffected.”Ah know what yer thinkin’, but Ah gots no time ta figger it out neither.  Ya got somethin’ fer this thing?” Brigit said hurriedly.Milo had just the thing for the banshee.  Ever since they had started to encounter magic users he kept a certain spell memorized.  He whispered a prayer to Usamigaras and cast the spell.  Suddenly the banshee’s wail was cut off completely as a preternatural silence enveloped the room.  Brigit shouted something, but Milo couldn’t hear through the magical silence.  He had placed the epicenter just beyond where he was standing.  If the banshee made it out of the silence he would hop into the area and hopefully lure it back in.The dwarf charged the banshee, wielding both axes and still shouting silently.  Her axes whiffed cleanly through the banshee’s incorporeal form causing no damage.  The banshee merely reached out a translucent hand and touched Brigit through her armor as a friend may place his hand on her shoulder.  Brigit was visibly weakened.  She muttered a mute curse and dropped her family axe.  Fast a blink of the eye, she had the heavily enchanted warhammer that Mazi had just identified in her hand.  This time two of Brigit’s lightning fast attacks seemed to whisk away some of the banshee’s wispy form.  Milo couldn’t tell if the banshee had stopped screaming or not.  He didn’t care to find out.  He lifted the holy symbol he had crafted high in his hand and delivered the second part of his attack.  The divine might of Usamigaras coursed through his being, centralized on the focal point of the holy symbol.  Milo nearly shook from the power before it was released in a flood emanating from his uplifted hand.  The banshee impossibly opened its mouth wider at the sight of the symbol and the wash of holy energy pouring forth.  Its form shifted and without turning around, it was facing the other way.  The ghostly apparition fled from Milo much faster than it had approached.  Its thin form trailed behind as it fled through the dressing screen and then the wall. Milo breathed a sigh of relief.  He only hoped it wouldn’t come back before they or the silence was gone.It took a few moments before he could tell that Brigit was talking to him.  She was still in the silence bubble, apparently unaware that Milo couldn’t hear her.  He shrugged with his palms upward then pointed to his ears and shook his head.  Brigit dismissed him with a scoff then turned to investigate the rest of the room.Milo figured that Mazi and Jeremiah ran upstairs.  With all of the work they had done so far, that was probably the safest place in the temple.  Without knowing which way they had run he thought it best if Brigit and he stayed put and let them come back after the banshee’s wail wore off.  He entered the magical silence and stooped over the elf’s body.  The clothes it wore were extremely fine, even in their aged state he could tell that this elf knew how to live well.  The stone it clutched in its skeletal hand turned out to be an amulet of some sort.  He dropped it into his bag of holding for Mazi to identify later.  He then set his foot to its side and pushed the elf over with some effort.  He let out a silent whistle when he saw the jewelry that the elf had died with.  A crumpled scroll was also lying under the body.  After a few seconds of close peering he could tell it was of an arcane nature, better left to Mazi.  He looked up from the scroll just in time to see Brigit grab one of the obscene sculptures from the curio cabinet and smash it on the floor.  Milo jumped up to his feet and shouted for her to stop to no effect.  Brigit systematically toppled all thirteen statues, one at a time.  The floor was littered with shards and chunks of ancient sculptures.  Milo jumped up and down and waved, trying everything to get the oblivious dwarf’s attention to no avail.  Brigit turned about and stomped on the pieces, doing a fine dwarven jig to some internal beat.  Milo grew red in the face trying to gain her attention.  Brigit finally noticed the wildly gesturing halfling and stopped her dance.  She ran over to Milo, grabbed his arm and excitedly pulled him to the edge of the spell.”Didja see?  Didja see Milo?  Ah smashed all tha dirty statues!” Brigit said proudly.”I saw you!  I saw you!  Those were money!” Milo said, still red, ”Do you have any idea how much collectors pay for those?  Hmmmm?  You could have just lost us thirteen thousand gold in those thirteen statues!”Brigit looked abashed, her enthusiasm drained.  Milo felt bad for taking her down. ”Don’t feel so bad, Brigit.  I’m sorry.  Besides, there’s plenty of jewelry on the mummy over there, so long as it’s not shaped in any obscene manner do you think we could sell it?” he joked.”Ah’m sorry Milo.  Ah jus’ thought-“ Brigit let her sentence hang.  ”Ach, so what?  We gots more art than we know what ta do with.  Screw tha statues!  Er, Ah mean-“ again she let her sentence hang.”I know what you mean.” Milo said. ”Let’s go take a look at the jewelry.”Just then Mazi and Jeremiah burst into the room, weapons at the ready.  The sight must have been odd to them, shattered sculptures all over the ground and Brigit and Milo stooped over the overturned mummy.Brigit turned from the mummy and waved to the two.  She stood and explained everything, gesturing wildly to illustrate her points.  Mazi waited patiently for Brigit to finish before pointing to her ear and shaking her head.  Brigit smacked her forehead with the heel of her palm and walked to the edge of the spell again.Moments later they had swapped stories and cleared the confusion.  Mazi and Jeremiah had fled blindly.  Their feet took them all the way to the ground level of the temple before the banshee’s terror had run its course.  Mazi was impressed that Milo was able to turn such a strong undead.  Milo grinned and handed her the scroll he had found under the body.Mazi studied it while the quick halfling was busy divesting the mummy of its sparkling jewelry.  He found a pair of earrings with the most perfect diamonds he had ever seen.  Around the mummy’s neck was an ornate gold necklace of such fine craftsmanship that Milo was almost afraid to touch it for fear of breaking it.  Each hand had a matching emerald ring as well.  One was a bit less cloudy than the other and obviously worth more.  Milo sat back on his haunches and grinned at the set.Meanwhile, Mazi had found a gust of wind, a polymorph self, a remove curse, a tongues, and a breathe water spell scribed on the busy arcane scroll.  She was overjoyed at the find and more than eager to learn the spells well enough to cast without the aid of the scroll.  Of course none of them knew this until Milo’s spell ended.  The sudden onrush of noise, even the small sounds that they were making, was almost deafening after so long of an absence. Milo loved that spell.</blockquote>

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