Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, Session 12- Homecoming (or “THAT’S NOT A COCKROACH!!!!”)
The Main Gate, a portal that had stood open ever since the great battle with Strider, now stood closed. The Band had expected many things, but not such a sudden fortification by the enemy. Creeping up to the door, Merk noticed movement behind most of the arrow slits and heard noise beyond the doors. After informing the party of her discovery, Lathander offered to shape an entrance through the stone itself with divine power. Everyone agreed; however, that Lathander’s plan would be far too dangerous with each of the arrow slits manned by experienced archers. Many plans were put forth, including another variant on Lathander’s wherein he would drill a hole through the mountainside with his divine power directly into the Mines…but of all these plans Sentian’s produced the most commotion.
Sentian: “Why don’t we just go see if the door is actually locked?”
Stunned, the rest of the Band agreed that this would be the best course of action provided that it was quick and bloodless. Lathander quickly cast
Silence upon Sentian and
Sanctuary on himself to prevent the archers from harming him. The plan worked nearly as expected; the only surprising feature was that Sentian’s armor did not protect him from the incredible accuracy of the archers’ hail of arrows…the door was indeed locked.
The party retreated to a safer distance in order to come up with a better plan. Elias listened patiently to all the solutions, but decided on his own that action was the only real solution. Using ancient arcane secrets, the elf summoned his globe of fire and had it collide with the great doors again and again until it ignited in flame. With options quickly fading from their repertoire, the Band had no choice but to back up its most junior member’s decision. Bandar waited until the fire died down before pummeling it with powerful waves of psychic force. It wasn’t long before the doors were blasted from their hinges, exposing the familiar entrance to the Crater Ridge Mines.
The men guarding the entrance had not stood idly by while the fire raged, instead they had overturned a wagon near the entrance and stacked as many supplies as they had around its edges in order to create a makeshift barricade. The enemy did attempt to make a valiant effort to resist the righteous forces of good, but in the end it was utterly futile. Lathander opened the battle with a ray of
Searing Light and things just seemed to fall into place from there. In a matter of a few minutes the enemy force had been reduced to three prisoners. Not one to be without mercy, Lathander attempted to warn the men what would happen if they were seen here again. The soldiers turned out to be mercenaries who were new to the organization…apparently times had become hard with many of the great Kingdoms waging war on Iuz’s dark Empire; men took the jobs they could. This gave the priest of Pelor much to think about as Merk grilled them about the “cargo” they were transporting into the temple. It was mostly food and replacement clothing, but the men did confide that they had turned over a corpse to a strangely robed a day from the Mines. After turning the prisoners loose, the Band went to rest up in the cave where they had defeated the Basilisk [DM Note: evidently they are beginning to think that staying in the same place every night may not be such a good idea…go figure
].
The next morning the party made its way down the tunnel they had begun to explore before Lathander was unceremoniously turned to stone. The tunnel had many branches that led to empty caves and even a few connecting passageways, which coupled it to a parallel tunnel containing similar tracks for supporting an ore cart. To make sure that all of the possibilities had been explored, the Band made every effort to check all of the branches so that they would not face enemies from the front and the rear should they ever begin a battle in these tunnels. On one such exploration, the group did not take the necessary precautions to ensure safety before heading down a passageway. This particular corridor was one of the few connections between the parallel tunnels and unfortunately housed a malicious life form. Bandar and Lathander only had time to look up as green slime sloughed off the ceiling and covered the pair of adventurers. Both men screamed in agony as the slime began to eat away at metal and flesh while they rolled about on the ground. Bandar had the right idea by scraping the substance off with his gauntlets, but it wasn’t coming off fast enough so Elias had to step in once again. Conjuring his burning globe of fire, Elias watched as the orb rolled over his companions numerous times to purge them of the ooze that was digesting their flesh [DM note: this was hilarious…I guess you had to have been there]. Needless to say after this confrontation much had been consumed by the slime: shields, backpacks, a spear, a crossbow, banded mail, some vials of holy water, Redithador’s note, and most importantly: pride. The bedraggled Band returned to Rastor once again to heal up and re-equip themselves with whatever was available in the village.
Once again, the Band of the Rising Sun entered the Temple of All Consumption to test their mettle against the forces of evil. This time; however, the Band chose an alternate tunnel to test their bravery. The path they chose didn’t seem any safer than the last one when armor-plated magma worms burrowed out of the floor directly beneath them in their explorations. Armor of any kind seemed to little avail against these fiery foes, but the Band soon left their burning blood to pool on the ground as they continued onward. The tunnel continued downward for quite sometime before it opened up into an enormous cavern. An overturned cart lay next to the tracks that traveled through the cave and a smaller cave was attached to the larger cavern a few paces from the tunnel. Directly above, the party noticed (through a rather large hole) that the parallel tunnel they had traveled before crossed over the one they were currently using. Spreading out the group began exploring the cavern…this didn’t last very long as everyone was abruptly jerked away from their respective examinations when a large scream erupted from the smaller cave. The party conglomerated quickly as a screaming Ettin emerged from the darkness wielding two impressively large clubs. Bandar had barely enough time to bring his shield up as the behemoth brought the club down on his shoulder, emitting a sickening crunching sound. Merk reacted quickly to the situation by planting an arrow in the ettin’s belly, while Sentian attempted to shove his enchanted sword into the giant’s leg. Sentian’s attacks were effortlessly blocked by one of the monster’s clubs, while it continued to pummel the retreating Bandar. Merk and Elias paid the ettin back in kind by peppering it with another volley of arrows. The battle became a bit more complicated with the emergence of a large cockroach. None of the party paid it any attention, as they were more concerned with the ettin…this proved to be a fatal mistake. With both Lathander and Bandar supporting him, Sentian began to find his rhythm in battle and severely wound the ettin. Before long, Sentian was predicting every swing the ettin could conceive of and counter it with swift sword strokes. The paladin barely noticed the insect’s feelers as they lay themselves upon his armor. The paladin watched in horror as the armor his family had handed down for generations dissolved into a pile of rust right before his eyes! Sentian remembered his father telling him how Heironeous himself had blessed the armor and that it was an invaluable heirloom only given to the greatest of champions the Thann family had to offer. The armor had not only absorbed the impact from many foes, but also served as a mantle of courage Sentian had always carried…he felt helpless without its comfort. In blind rage, Sentian lashed out at the creature that had robbed him of his heritage with
Ice, the weapon taken from Strider’s fallen body. With a scream of anguish, Sentian saw the blade crumble before him as the metal touched the foul monster’s carapace. The ettin took advantage of his this distraction to inflict more pain upon the paladin and with his armor gone it was an easy task. It took all of Lathander’s healing powers to keep the great warrior aloft as the giant beat down upon him with a savage fury. Bandar attempted to reverse the tide of defeat by sending blasts of sonic power into both adversaries. This coupled with Elias’ most powerfully destructive spells were enough to send the Rust Monster back to the hell that had spawned it. The ettin succumbed shortly thereafter to Sentian’s mirage of steel and hatred.
With their most powerful warrior without any fitting protection, the Band was forced to return to Rastor to think of ways of overcoming their obstacles.
Elias: “Well, what now?”
Lathander: “We must travel to Greyhawk. There we can restock our lost equipment and maybe find something that will help us against in this struggle.”
Bandar: “That is foolish. We cannot leave this place for such a long time.”
Lathander: “What can they possibly do?”
Bandar: “Plenty and we would have no idea until it was too late. We have the initiative here, let’s not lose it.”
Lathander: “Sentian will not last out there without proper armor.”
Sentian: “I fear Lathander is right…I will be no use to you in our battles if I am dead.”
While the Band argued as to what they would do, Merk talked to Tymerian and asked her if Burne had been in contact with her. The great wizard had told Tymerian to inform the party that he had left for the kingdom of Furyondy as well as the fact that Aramek was on his way to Rastor. With this new information, the party agreed to let Sentian travel to Greyhawk to obtain new armor while the rest of the members waited for Aramek.
It wasn’t long before the familiar dwarf entered the village. With a warm welcome, the Band embraced their oldest member and dearest friend.
Aramek: “Sorry I’m late…had to pay me respects.”
Lathander: “It’s good to see you Aramek. What did you do with Dr. Noh’s body?”
Aramek: “I gave it to Yether like ye said…and I gave him the letter ya gave me. You priests of Pelor sure have strange burial rites…never known a priest ta stab the earth with a spear.”
Lathander: “What are you talking about?”
Aramek: “I found a spear with a note attached to it stabbed in Strider’s grave. I didn’t think it was proper for no Moradin-loving man, so I took it out.”
Merk: “We didn’t do that!”
After a slight uproar, it was determined that the spear belonged to the strange man known as Tresh who had disappeared after the initial encounter with the Band. The note was also his…
It was good traveling with you for a time. I am beginning to understand where Strider’s strength came from. Be careful because the Brotherhood is looking for your friend Eblis…I tried to delay them. Good luck.
-Tresh
This produced even more confusion as the man had never met Strider before and no one knew what he was referring to with the word “Brotherhood.” This seemed to make little difference to Aramek as he informed the group that he was going to systematically destroy everything in that Mine. Lathander spoke up against this idea, citing Pelor’s scripture in reference to “mercy” and “compassion.” This didn’t sway the dwarf from his policy of “give no quarter;” he even threatened to go in alone if he had to.
Bandar: “You won’t survive alone. We need you just as much as you need us.”
Aramek: “A dwarf’s gotta do what a dwarf’s gotta do. If you don’t like my me methods then find yerself another dwarf.”
Lathander: “Is this what Strider would want…your death? You know it is suicide out there by yourself.”
Aramek: “Maybe…maybe not…who knows until ye try.”
Bandar: “Don’t do it. We need you.”
Aramek (with a slight grin on his face): “Alright lad, I’ll tell you what. You get Merk not to go in with us and I’ll play nice.”
That one is for you old friend.
Bandar: “Fine with me.”
Lathander: “Thank Pelor you’re here!”
Elias: “Whatever.”
Of course Merk wasn’t too happy with these arrangements. The Band tried to comfort her with “important” jobs she could be doing in town to gain valuable information, but the perceptive elf saw right through the ruse. It took all the persuasion skills Lathander could muster to convince her that this was “for her own good” and that it was “what Strider would have wanted.” Her replies, when not in curses, alluded to the fact that “she was her own woman and not some dead man’s property.” However, at the end of the day Merk finally agreed to stay in Rastor on the condition that if she found out that the party died, she would go into the Mines by herself and finish the job. No one had any problem with that, as they would all be dead at the time.
Aramek (with Merk out of earshot): “Let’s go pick up another man…it’s suicide to go in there with just the four of us.”
Lathander and Elias had to restrain Bandar from throttling the headstrong dwarf. It seemed as if the dwarf’s trip to Hommlet hadn’t changed him one bit: he was still brash, lewd, and knew exactly what to say to piss everyone off…
