DM's Log of Session Forty Eight
The party run into the temple and dump the bodies, all of them lending a shoulder to shove closed the temples stone doors, Zamtap then sealing them with a Stone Shape spell. The group quickly grab a few small items from the corpses and whatever valuables they can find, and then head into the temples interior, walking into the main chamber for worship where a halfblood cleric is giving a sermon to an audience of halfbloods and ophidians. Stood by the altar though, cloaked in a greater invisibility and sphere of unvulnerability is the wizardess Hereth who the party battled a few days previously.
Hereth further bolsters her defences with a Stoneskin spell, and the High Priest casts a Protection From Good on himself, pointing at the interlopers and hissing "Kill them!". All the Halfbloods draw their scimitars and advance towards Jebodiah and Chand, as the Ophidians draw swords and shields and form a line of defense around the High Priest himself. Masembe immediately starts summoning, realising that the group are going to need reinforcements and quickly! Aeron casts an extended Haste on the party, as Jebodiah wastes no time in getting stuck into the foe, hacking into a halfblood, he being bolstered by a Protection From Evil cast on him by Zamtap. Chand drives his mace into the chest of another halfblood, shattering its ribs and killing the yuan-ti instantly.
Hereth blasts the group with a Fireball, injuring Chand,. Zamtap and Jebodiah, but killing the halfblood who was caught in the blast too, as the High Priest drops a Flame Strike on the party further bathing them in fire. A crocodile appears but misses an Ophidian with its bite, and Masembe starts summoning again. Aeron sighs and sends a Scintillating Sphere into the High Priest, injuring him and wiping out five of the Ophidians gathered around him, clearing the way for Jebodiah to charge into him, his axe leading the way! Chand's mace brutally dispatches another Ophidian, and yet another of them advances and slashes at Aeron, the wizard narrowly sidestepping the scimitar, as Zamtap steps in to defend the genasi, smacking his hammer into the Ophidian.
The High Priest steps back and casts Hold Person at Jebodiah, though the spell fails to paralyse the mighty dwarf. Hereth sends a Phantasmal Killer at Aeron, but the spell only wounds him. Another crocodile appears, and both of the big lizards bite into their respective foes, an Ophian and the High Priest.. Still in Dire Ape form, Masembe rips into another Ophidian, tearing it apart with its claws, and drenching Zamtap and Aeron with its blood in the process! Wiping the blood from his eyes, Aeron grins and blasts the High Priest to death with a volley of Magic Missiles. Chand casts Invisibility Purge, which reveals Hereths position beside the altar. Seeing her appear, Jebodiah marches towards her and attacks, his axe barely managing to scratch her, much to his amazement! Zamtap casts Spirtual Weapon, but his conjured warhammer has no effect on Hereth at all.
Hereth grabs her Rod of Enlargement and fills the temple with a huge fireball, severely burning Jebodiah and one of the crocodiles, though not without the dwarf chipping her with his axe in retaliation. Both crocodiles mkove towards Hereth, as Masembe moves towards the doorway the group need to head through to get down to the next level, opening it. Aeron focuses a Dispel Magic on Hereth, negating both her Mage Armor and Stoneskin spells, Jeb then hacking her into chunks! Zamtap casts a Detect Magic and the group grab whatever is glowing off the bodies of the High Priest and Hereth.
Masembe, Zamtap and Chand see to Jebodiahs and their own wounds, the Gondite also taking a moment to reload his pistol, as the group head out of the chamber and to the stairs. Aeron turns and seals the door behind them with a Hold Portal, though he mentions that it won't hold back the yuan-ti for once once they get through the main temple doors.
Heading down to the first basement level of the temple, the group waste a few minutes while Masembe tries to remember the correct route to take to reach the next set of stairs, the tunnels twisting and turning. Whilst walking down a long straight corridor once he is sure of the proper path to take, the group get run over by a giant rolling ball of stone, the trap badly hurting Chand and injuring both Aeron and Jebodiah. Still they reach the stairs down to the second basement level without further incident.
DM's Notes:
I enjoyed this session, it was very much a close quarters battle in the temple, and the group got the rematch they wanted with Hereth who had eluded them the last time they fought. No such luck for her this time! As for the trap... ehh I love the start of Raiders of the Lost Ark, so I just had to fit that rolling ball in somehow.
The maps I'm using for the temple, are adapted from the maps for the top 5 levels of the huge pyramid from the old module B4 The Lost City, though I'm using them in reverse order (going from the largest to the smallest heading downward). I'm a big fan of cannibalising stuff from anywhere, and have used that tactic many times during the course of this campaign.