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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 45229" data-attributes="member: 202">Temple of Elemental Evil - part 15 (session 8)There was a round of agreement for venturing further into the temple.  Milo felt that they hadn't yet found the 'meat' of the temple yet, and he was eager to explore more. But first, Milo thought, the chest.  Milo approached the table with the beakers and chest while withdrawing his lockpicks.  "Hang on Milo, lemme try this time." Brigit spoke before he could begin the work on the lock."Be my guest, Brigit." Milo said as he made room for the sturdy dwarf.  Milo examined the beakers while Brigit worked on the lock.  He discovered they were full of oil, perfect for rigging as firebombs.  Milo pocketed a couple and told the others of his find.  By that time Brigit had managed to spring the lock on the chest.  She lifted a small box out of the chest.  Milo peered in and saw what filled the rest of the chest.  Coins were heaped up inside, some platinum and gold pieces as well as quite a bit of silver and copper pieces.  Brigit opened the box and pulled out two vials of healing draught.They split up the potions and stowed the coins for later.  The other door beckoned to them from the other end of the room.  It still stood ajar from the swift exodus of the other troops.  Milo peeked past into the hallway beyond.  The passage began at the door and stretched west.  He could make out a side passage leading left a few yards away.Milo led the others from the room.  Brigit and Jer followed behind with Mazi trailing closely.  They skipped the intersection, choosing to continue west.  The passage took a sharp turn to the north, continued for a few yards, then turned to the east.  A sharp intersection with a passage leading southwest branched off midway through the passage.Scouting ahead, Milo found that the eastern passage led back to the main hallway.  It appeared that the large marble hall led around the earth elemental room.  They had skirted the main part of the hall by moving through the smaller outlying rooms and passages.Milo returned to the others and reported what he found.  They chose to investigate the southwestern branch before returning to the main passage.  They spotted a door set in the northern wall of the passage further in.  Milo searched the area, wary of the last deadly trap.  The only thing he found was an unlocked door.  They opened the door into another hallway.  Three doors were set on the western wall and a curtained arch was set in the east.  The passage turned back east in the distance.  The doors to the west had barred windows set about human height.  Jeremiah peeked inside and made out three dwarf sized shapes.  Brigit perked up when she heard Jer's findings.  She moved closer to the bars and called out in dwarven.  Her eyes lit up with the answering call.  She recognized the voices, as they had her.  Brigit hastily pulled out her lockpicks and went to work on the lock.  Her hands were shaking as she tried to unlock the heavy mechanism.  After a few failed attempts Milo gently pulled her aside and pulled out his own set.  Soon the door was open and the light from the hall spilled on three slumped dwarves in the cramped cell.Brigit swooped in and helped up the oldest of the prisoners.  He was an old dwarf with a patch over his right eye.  He greeted Brigit, happy to see that she was alive.  The two spoke in hushed dwarven.  Bored, Milo spent the time examining the curtained alcove on the other side of the cells.  The curtain hid an alcove with a bed and table.  It appeared to be a jailer's quarters or the like.  There didn't seem to be anything valuable around.  He returned to the cell to find out what had happened to the dwarves.Brigit explained that the one-eyed man was Bill, a family friend from her village.  She was overjoyed to find that there were survivors.  Not only that, but she found that her father and mother had survived along with her sister.  Bill had grim news though, her uncle had turned traitor.  Bill had described to her how he seemed to gloat over her father as they were taken into slavery.  He also had news that disturbed Brigit greatly, it seemed that her father had been sent to be sacrificed recently.  Bill didn't know what kind of sacrifice or for whom, but he was certain that he would never see him again.  Her sister and her mother had been taken away by her uncle not too long ago as far as Bill could reckon.  He didn't know where they were going, but it seemed to be away from the temple.  The rest of the dwarves had been pressed into service excavating under the temple along with some humans that were locked up nearby.Bill and the others begged to be led out of the temple, most were severely beaten and barely able to walk.  As saddened as Milo was by their plight he felt it was necessary to find their jailer and terminate that threat before leading them out.  Mazi and Jeremiah agreed, not willing to leave any threat behind them as they tried to lead the dwarves from the temple.  Bill agreed reluctantly, not having much choice.  He told them that he would take them as far as the door of the path they were led every day.  Milo moved to the other doors and freed six more prisoners.  Bill told of three more cells on the other side of the wall from their own, also full of dwarves and humans.They found the other cells in a hallway just down from the original door.  Six more dwarves and three humans were freed.  All were weak from hunger and broken in spirit.  Bill showed the adventurers to a door at the end of the diagonal passage, refusing to go any farther.  Brigit told the prisoners to wait in the unlocked cells in case a sentry passed.  All but Bill shuffled back to their cells, downcast at the prospect of sitting in their prisons any longer than they had to.  Milo had found food in the jailer's room and he distributed it evenly among the prisoners before they left.  There wasn't enough to make a full meal for any one man or woman, but it seemed to be more food than they had seen in a long time.</blockquote>

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