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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 71796" data-attributes="member: 202">Temple of Elemental Evil - part 19 (session 9)Pressing the stone that triggered the secret door, Milo stood back and watched.  A low rumbling was followed by the grating sound of stone on stone as a section of the wall swung inward.  Brigit and Jeremiah went through the dark portal, followed by Milo and Mazi.  Milo's eyes adjusted to the gloom quickly, revealing the contents of the room.  It was a guest room at one time.  A single door led out of the room in the back.  A large pile of cushions sat in the middle of a cracked and ruined bed.  Two hulking ogres rose from the cushions as the heroes entered.  "Mmmmmeat!" one said.  The other grunted in agreement as they both lifted heavy clubs and advanced.Brigit charged right in, drawing her two axes as she ran.  Milo tumbled into the gap left by her charge, trying to get behind one of the huge humanoids.  As soon as the two came within range of the ogre's clubs they were attacked.  The beasts moved too slowly to make contact with either wily veteran.Brigit made Milo's fancy tumble a useless gesture.  With two mighty blows from her axe the first ogre fell, its club clattering to the ground.  Jeremiah and Mazi concentrated on the other ogre.  Jer moved in close, swinging twice and wounding the huge beast.  Mazi's arrow brought it closer to the brink of death.The ogre got one more good swing in before Brigit's axe brought it down.  It swung its club straight at Jeremiah's head, its aim dead-on.  Jer raised his arm to deflect the blow.  The force of the club sent him sprawling and would have broken bones if it weren't for his enchanted armor.  Brigit attacked the ogre from behind, inflicting a massive wound to its back and bringing the beast to the ground."Meat nuthin!" Brigit said after the last one fell.  "This dwarf be no one's meat!""They wouldn't have liked you anyway Brigit, you'd be all tough and stringy.  Too gamy." Milo quipped."Tough an' stringy?! Wha?!" Brigit sputtered.Milo laughed and scuttled out of the way of a polished steel toe zoning in on him courtesy of the offended dwarf.They found a big open chest of weapons on the far side of the room.  The weapons were serviceable, obviously a surplus for the guards.  Just to be on the safe side Milo spoke a magic detection cantrip.  None of the weapons in the chest glowed, although the ones they carried shined bright.  Milo winced at the thought of some greedy enemy casting detect magic on their little band, they'd turn a few more shades of green if they could see what he could.There were a few quivers of arrows and a barrel of shortspears as well.  Milo noticed something rather odd about the stone slab under the barrel."Hey Brigit, you know a lot about rocks, come take a look at this." Milo said.After a few seconds of examination Brigit said, "Aye, tha stone's been moved, and often. Jer, come over here an' help me push tha barrel off."Jeremiah had been admiring the trove of weapons in the chest when he heard his name.  He walked over to his smaller companions and took the barrel in both hands.  With a heavy push he and Brigit were able to muscle the barrel off of the stone slab.  Brigit pulled her crowbar out of her pack to work on the slab."A crowbar Brigit?" Milo asked in disbelief.  "What don't you have in there?""Ya never know, tha's all I'm sayin'." Brigit said as she pushed down on the bar.Once they managed to move the stone they found a sizable cache of silver coins.  A silver bracelet was buried under all of the coins as well.  "Nice place to keep your payroll." Milo noted.  "Let's check out the next room."Milo listened at the door before checking for traps.  He heard nothing, and found even less.  The door was unlocked and untrapped.  The other side wasn't a room at all, but a large hall stretching to the left and right.  They entered the passage cautiously, checking both ways for patrols.  The cavernous hallway was silent, no echoing boots or clattering claws sounded.  They could see another door further down the hallway and decided to check it before continuing.  Hearing noises at the door, the party prepped for battle.  They hoped the grunts and shuffling feet they heard belonged to one unaware of their presence.  Brigit barged in through the door and the others followed.What lay beyond was a half-surprised ogre.  This one was far larger than the last two.  It reclined on a bed made from four ragged couches pushed together.  The plaster walls of the room were peeling and stained with smoke.  Rotten food was piled next to the door leading out of the other side.The ogre growled as it stood, it's ham-hock-sized hands grasping a huge maul.  The crew was ready for it.  The fight was over in seconds.  Mazi fired an arrow at the same moment Milo tumbled past the ogre with his twin axes drawn.  The arrow sunk into its thick hide, protruding from its ribs.  One of Milo's axes sliced at the beast's hamstring, crippling it.  Brigit ran forward with her waraxes gleaming in the torchlight.  The monster had enough time to swing its giant maul at Brigit, missing by a wide margin.  Brigit finished the ogre off with a fantastic blow from Trollgrater.  She actually cleaved through its thick neck and brought its heavy head tumbling to the floor."Bring on more of those!" Milo said in a rush, grinning ear to ear.  "What's that they always say?  The bigger they are-""Tha harder they fall, aye!" Brigit finished.They found an iron bound chest in the corner, locked of course.  Milo found no traps and went to the precise work of picking the lock.  He rubbed his hands in anticipation, always up for a good challenge.  The lock sprung open on one try.  Milo leaned back and popped his knuckles, grinning at his friends.  They all looked on impatiently, apparently unaware of Milo's brilliance.  He muttered and flipped open the lid.The contents shined brightly.  Inside were two huge agates atop a heap of gold coins.  It was hard to tell who's eyes lit up more at the sight, Milo's or Mazi's.  Jeremiah lost interest quickly and turned to occupy himself with the rest of the room.  He found a copper belt on the ogre, figured it would be worth something, and removed it.  As he heaved on the belt a coin purse fell from the ogre's corpse.  More silver and gold coins lay within.Just as the four gathered together to venture further, the door burst open.  Three gnolls charged in, surveyed the room, saw the dead ogre, and attacked.Milo and his friends made even shorter work of the gnolls than they had the ogre.  Mazi shot one in the chest just as Jeremiah cleaved through it.  He slashed clean through the next as well.  Brigit finished the fight with a vicious swing of Trollgrater, slicing through the last gnoll.</blockquote>

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