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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 45236" data-attributes="member: 202">Temple of Elemental Evil - part 16 (session 8)The door was unlocked, as Bill had said it would be.  He had also told them that there were stairs down that led into a room behind the door.  Milo tapped into Usamigaras' trickery and turned invisible to scout ahead and surprise whomever he discovered.  Milo told the others to wait near the bottom of the stairs for him to act. Milo had no trouble creeping down the stairs without making a sound.  He could hear the others follow, barely though.  He was impressed that Jeremiah could move so quietly considering his heavy armor.  A dimly lit scene of horror awaited them at the bottom.  Iron bars sectioned off part of the room into small cells with chained humans.  The rest of the room was full of various torture devices.  An iron maiden stood open in the corner, it's spikes brown with the lifeblood of past occupants.  Assorted racks and tables lined the walls as well.Only one table was occupied.  A dwarf lay stretched out on a rack worked by two shadowy figures.  As Milo drew closer he could see that it was a large human and a bugbear.  Milo moved behind the human torturer and prepared to strike.  He glanced to the stairs to make sure his companions had arrived.  The torturer and his lackey were completely oblivious to their presence, too intent on their perverse task.  Intent on the working of the rack, the torturer didn't know what hit him.  Milo's axes fell with vicious strokes, cutting into his back.  Milo turned visible just as the others charged into the room, weapons raised.Brigit and Mazithra made it to the torturer first.  He didn't even have time to find a weapon.  Two blows fell, one from the dwarf, one from the elf, and the torturer fell dead.  Milo tumbled over to the bugbear and slashed at its legs.  The creature ignored the pain from the axes.  With a malevolent gleam in its beady eyes it stared right at Brigit, raised an axe it picked up next to the table, and brought it down.  Brigit was unharmed, the axe was not meant for her, but for the prisoner.  The bugbear's attack was fatal to the already weak dwarf on the rack.  A rumble emerged from the bugbear's throat, it was chuckling!  Jeremiah charged the beast, outraged at its callous disregard for life.  Jer's fury tore through the bugbear, leaving a barely reckognizable corpse behind.Brigit rushed to the dwarf's side.  "Can ya help him Milo?" Brigit asked.Milo stood next to Brigit and put his hand on the corpse.  He felt nothing, no spark of life at all.  "I'm sorry Brigit, he's beyond my help." he said sadly.  "Did you know him?"Aye, course I knew 'im.  He's not me father, if tha's what yer aimin' at." Brigit returned.  "They're gonna pay fer this, whoever's behind this is gonna pay."The others were taken aback with her vehemence.  None had known Brigit to feel so strongly, this was a side of her that she rarely showed.  "Ahem" they heard a small voice say at the top of the stairs.  Bill waited for them, eager to know if the torturer had been stopped.  Brigit spoke with him briefly in dwarven and his eyes lit up.  Milo assumed she had told him about the torturer's death.Milo found a set of keys on the torturer's corpse.  He used them to free the rest of the humans in the cells downstairs.  They gathered the dwarves and the humans together and cautioned them to be a silent as possible as they wound their way out of the temple.  Regardless of their warnings the group made some considerable noise as they moved through the halls.  No alarms were sounded though, no guards came running.  It seemed that they had done an efficient job in cleaning out this section of the temple.The clearing outside was quiet when they emerged.  Milo scouted the path ahead, making sure that no ambushes waited.  He was certain the Baron had heard of his missing garrison by then.  He found no opposition in the woods or on the trail.  They led the prisoners within one day of the town, worried that a sudden influx of disheveled, wounded, and newly liberated dwarves and humans might raise more than a few eyebrows.  Mazithra and Milo went ahead to the town.  They decided to check in with the smith/stable owner before anything.  The jovial man greeted them warmly, a little surprised to see them.  He warned them of a current investigation of a rumor.  It seemed that a band of brigands had cleaned out the Baron's garrison.  Milo and Mazi had the decency to look sheepish.  The smith told them to lay low, he had no love for the Baron either.  Milo broached the subject of the liberated prisoners with the smith, asking if he knew of any place that many people could go without raising too many questions.  The smith looked sly, he told them of a clearing where they might find food and supplies for just that many people.  He also knew of transportation that could take the same amount of people back to the capital.  He wouldn't tell them who was willing to go to so much trouble.  Milo and Mazi both tried their best to read the smith and his intentions.  They excused themselves and stood away for a moment.  They had both come to the conclusion separately that the smith was honest and had good intent.  What his own motives were they couldn't tell.  They returned to the smith and hinted that a group of people would probably find their way to the specified clearing by the next evening.  The smith looked happy and relieved, perhaps he had personal reasons for wanting the prisoners safe.They settled their bill for the keep of their mounts and gave the smith a little extra for his help.  Milo and Mazi left the town quietly, choosing a roundabout way to get back to the rest of the group.Bill was excited to hear the news.  They left immediately for the clearing.  Night fell by the time they approached their destination.  Milo went on ahead to make sure that the smith wasn't mistaken in his trust of the mysterious benefactor.  Milo couldn't spot a soul  Blankets and clothes were set in a neat pile near the edge and a fire had been set in the middle, ready to be lit.  A chest of food and two barrels, one of ale, one of water, were near the fire.Milo returned to the others and led them into the clearing.  Many of the prisoners went straight for the clothes while others rushed for the food.  Brigit moved to the dry wood in the clearing and started the fire.  Milo found some ponies tethered a little distance from the clearing along with a small chest of healing salves and directions to the capital city.  When he returned to the clearing the fire was blazing and a celebration was in the works.  The adventurers decided to camp the night with the freed dwarves and humans before seeing them off in the morning.  Brigit and Jeremiah won a few drinking contests with the brandy they had found.  They stayed up late in the night, celebrating the freedom of Brigit's townsfolk and the other humans.In the morning Milo and the others helped to see Bill and his people off to the capital.  Brigit and Bill had one last dwarven conversation that ended in a fierce embrace.  Milo could see tears in the one-eyed man's eyes, he swore he saw a bit of moisture in Brigit's as well.  The ex-prisoners got on their way, refreshed and clothed from the supplies left for them.  The adventurers decided to leave their other keg of brandy as well as some platinum pieces for the mysterious benefactors to find.  They made their way back to the temple, making sure no new developments had occurred.  The temple was just as they had left it.  By mutual consent they all decided a few days of rest before heading deeper into the temple would do them all a world of good.  The four friends spent the next four days training and scribing scrolls in the forest.</blockquote>

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