Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil (IC): Thread 2

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Out-of-Character Thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62587

First IC Thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65354

The Valiant Heroes

• Megiddo: Mystic Cerebremancer
• Grigor: Cleric of Olidammara
• Moonshadow: Mystic Druid
• Halgrim: Terramancer
• Tom Underhill: Psychic Rogue

Cohorts

• Aratos Tell: Magnificent Druid Explorer. Currently tending to the Grove in Hommelt

Current Initiative

1. Howling Beast (20)
2. Halgrim (13)
3. Tom (11⁺)
4. Gnolls (11)
5. Megiddo (7)
6. Moonshadow (10)
7. Grigor (7)
8. Humans (3)

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1
Chapter 1: Shadows Rising

Between the Gnarley Forest and the Lortmil Mountains lies the Viscounty of Verbobonc. There was a time when the only remarkable feature of this peaceful province was its capital, which served as a major center of trade.

Then Evil came.

Just over a generation ago, a temple was built just north of the village of Hommlet. This temple was devoted to the cause of destruction through elemental fury and became known as the Temple of Elemental Evil.

Though it had its own goals, the Temple acted as a beacon for all other sorts of evil. It attracted bandits, brigands, and vile monsters that slowly began to lay waste to the surrounding countryside.

It was not long until the people of Verbobonc and the surrounding territories took notice and realized the Temple of Elemental Evil threatened the entire realm and needed to be destroyed. They raised an army. This army met the forces of the Temple on Emridy Fields. Though the forces of Good were victorious, they could not destroy the Temple itself and so they let it stand as a monument to darkness.

But letting the Temple stand meant that its threat was not destroyed but simply dormant. Within the next decade, the forces of Elemental Destruction sought to reclaim what was once theirs. The Temple began to rise again.

This time, the people of Verbobonc put their faith in several small groups that focused tactical strikes on the Temple itself. While not campaigning against Evil, these heroes found solace in Hommlet.

It soon became apparent that the threat posed by the Temple of Elemental Evil was greater than previously imagined. Within the Temple's dark dungeons, the priests hatched schemes that sought to wreak chaos and destruction throughout the Flanaaes and beyond.

The forces of Good struck at the temple with renewed vigor. Eventually, one of the teams confronted a powerful demon in the heart of the Temple. After defeating this paragon of darkness, they managed to bring the entire Temple down, eliminating the threat posed by Elemental Evil for good.

...Or so it would seem. For, in its own way, history is about to repeat itself.

Temple of Elemental Evil: Planting 9, Early Afternoon

(( Okay. You didn't specify what the Listen was for. Since I already told you what Pyro was "saying", I'll just throw that as a gimme. ))

Round 16

There's some noise that comes from inside the temple. Chief among it is the barking of dogs.

Round 17
Two dogs run out of the temple doorway, snapping and snarling. One runs towards Lor (( double move, so it can't attack )), and the other immediately pinpoits Pyro. The dog snaps at the elf, but she quickly dodges, despite her surprise.

Meanwhile, a quartet of hobgoblins appear in the doorway, ready for battle, but as yet only observing the current scene.

(( Map #9 ))

[hr]
Moathouse: Planting 8, Late Evening
"Mair," Haunor interjects before the hot-headed militia member can make a retort, "Ya gotta remember to know your environment. We're in the enemy's den right now. He's runnin' and he wants us to follow. Don't let him decide the terms of the battle. You know what can happen if you do that."

Mair looks in turn at Haunor, Grigor, and Tell for a moment. Then he throws a hand in the air in defeat. "Fine. But don't blame me if he gets away." He sulks back into the crypt.

Did the militia men finish checking out this room?

"I would recommend a thorough search of the area, now that the enemy have been pushed back. It would be unfortunate to find a surprise later on between us and a hasty retreat."

Moathouse: Planting 8, Late Evening

(( The militia did give an "All clear" in regards to obvious dangers in the crypt. But they certainly haven't had time for a thorough search for anything else. ))

"I agree," Haunor nods at Megiddo, "There are some passages back there that we haven't secured yet." Haunor turns back to Mair. "If you're so hot on blocking this one's movements, Mair, then you won't mind standing guard here with Bellamin and Rein."

Mair barely stifles a grunt of frustration at this.

"Cheer up, Mair," Bellamin adds with a grin, "If-if he, uh, shows up again, we'll be sure to let you have the first go."

Grigor human cleric

"And remember: Don't be too proud to call for help when something attacks you. Or you might be too dead to do so."

With his caution delivered, Grigor turns back to the others and goes on
"Yes, we need to check out those other corridors. Especially to make sure we don't get trapped down here."

Lycar

Tell

Following Grigor's advice, Tell starts to mosey back throuh the dungeon. He stays close to Megiddo, guarding the wizard whom he presumes will want to scan everything for auras.

Megiddo will begin to scan for auras, beginning with detect magic, then detect evil, then the other alignments.

Moathouse: Planting 8, Late Evening

The militia chooses to follow Tell, Grigor, and Megiddo's lead, wary of possible traps.

Despite the slight sensation of dread suffusing the crypt, it does not appear to contain any magical aura.

When the party reaches the southern room, they find a large pit in the floor (( not the pool of water shown on the map )). Suspended by an intricate rope-and-pulley system over the pit is a round wooden platform, approximately ten feet in diameter. Scattered about the floor are a number of picks and shovels. In the southwest corner is a stone block, about half the height of a human man that appears to have some sort of relief carving on it. A stone disc about as wide as the pit is propped against the north wall. The entire room is surprisingly cold and has a damp stench to it. Megiddo detects no magical auras.

(( Do you want to look in the pit with the detection spells or just stick with the current plan? ))

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Gee, call me crazy but I think we'll... LOOK IN THE PIT! :P

Tell will also throw a light down there to see how deep it is. If it os more than 60' deep we'll need to lower Megiddo on a rope to check for auras... and if he is unwilling to do that, I completely understand. But assume we check the first 60' by looking down from the top.

Tell peers into the pit. He asks to borrow a torch from a militiaman and throws it in, whether the militia man likes the idea or not.

Grigor human cleric

While Tell goes about to examine the pit, Grigor dies the same to the relief on the stone.

"Good thinking Tell. Seems like what they are after could be down there. I'll take a closer look at that stone over there."

Lycar

Moathouse: Planting 8, Late Evening

The pit is exceptionally deep. About 15 feet down the pit, a stream of water comes out of an opening in the wall and falls into the blackness below. However, the sound of the water hitting stone echoes back up. No magical auras are detected from within the pit.

(( The only torch is Haunor's everburning torch, which is secured to his belt and too valuable to throw away (i.e. he'll fight for it). The rest of the light the militia carries are lanterns, which will break if they crash against something. Bellamin has the stone that Megiddo cast light upon, but he's back by the maze. Alternatively, there's plenty of scrap wood in the crypt or you could light the handle of one of the nearby picks or shovels. ))

Meanwhile, Grigor examines the statue. Each of the sides other than the top and bottom are a different color with a carving of a different figure. Facing the pit is a black face featuring a tall, musclar man in intricately fluted plate armor holding a wavy-bladed sword. Another side is dark green with a man in a high-collared robe in a strange grimace-faced mask. The blood-red side depicts a man in high boots, doublet, twisted gauntlets, and a tightly-drawn hood. The final side is a deep indigo with a figure in a many-pleated robe with a sigil-covered sash, a cowled head, and a scepter cradled in folded arms.

Tell

Tell reaches as if to take Haunor's torch and then pauses, glancing down at the alchemical item. "That's a fine piece of equipment," he says simply.

He decides instead to root around in the scrap wood until he has a bundle of tiny kindling. With a wisp of his own tinder and a few sparks from his flint and steal he lights the bundle up. Once it is a fair-sized fireball he walks to the edge of the pit and casts it in, hoping to see how deep the shaft is before the fire is put out by the fall or the water.

Moathouse: Planting 8, Late Evening

Haunor watches Tell quizically after the druid pulls his hand away.

The torch drops somewhere between 70 and 90 feet before landing on a black stone floor or ledge. The water landing nearby mostly runs away from the torch and so takes about half a minute before it douses the flame.

"I would be very interested in finding out where that passage leads, however, we ought to finish the rest of this area first."

Tell

"Agreed."

Tell will accompany the others on finishing their circuits of the dungeon.

Grigor, human cleric

Grigor ponders the images on the stone but does not seem to recognize anything.

"Uh people? Maybe you should take a look at this... does this mean anything to one of you?"

Lycar

(( Getting Back to that roll: You're right. Grigor doesn't recognize it. ))

Moathouse: Planting 8, Late Evening
Ricarlooks at Haunor, who nods towards Grigor and the statue. The spellcaster wordlessly steps up and looks over the statue with a steel gaze. "Strange indeed. But I know not what purpose it may possess."

The party continues to search over the dungeons.

The southeast hallway abruptly terminates in a solid stone wall that fails to blend with the surrounding masonry.

The living quarters remain much as before, only the few remaining personal items have clearly been removed.

The north-eastern room contains six very old beds, barely held together and padded with damp straw. Bits of cloth, rotting fruit rinds, bones, and other waste litter the floor.

None of the other areas appear to have been touched since the party left.

Megiddo's magic reveals nothing Magical, Good, Lawful, or Chaotic. However there is a Strong Evil presence suffusing the entirety of the crypt as well as one emanating from the pit.

(( Okay, even with help from the militia, it will take all night to take 20 searching the place. Two minutes per square, most of which has some debris. Any specific place you want to focus on first, now that you've done a quick scan of everywhere? ))

((the funny wall at the end of the SE hallway))

(the area around the pit and the crypt - areas that detected evil)

(Grigor will just keep watch and guard Megiddo while he does his thing.)

Lycar

Moathouse: Planting 8, Early Night

Ricar studies the wall along with Tell while Haunor and the rest of the militia follow Megiddo to the crypt.

The wall appears to be a solid, uncut wall as would naturally appear in a cavern. However, it strangely seems to merge with or grow out of the surrounding masonry and tiles. This is reminiscent of the scaled clerics' own wall, except that it evenly merges with both walls, the floor, and the ceiling, rather than just one wall.

The crypt itself seems to be produce the evil aura Megiddo sensed. The chill of the room is a bit much, even considering its location, and as the search progresses, various almost every militia member expresses some statement of discomfort with the area. After the better portion of an hour's fruitless searching through bits of wood, cloth, and bone, Megiddo leans on the side of one of the sarcophagus alcoves only for the wall to give way a little. The mage pushes it in and finds it can then slide away, revealing a cramped tunnel, about three feet wide and five feet high. (( No time to update on the map right now. Tunnel extends from (20, 38) and moves northward. ))

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I like how the elf finds the secret door. ;)

"This crypt will need to be cleansed of this taint, but for now, there are greater concerns. An example of which would be what lies beyond this secret tunnel?"

Tell

Unaware of the crypt situation, Tell takes his hand axe and taps the back of it (the non-sharp side of the metal part) against the strange wall. Does it sound hollow, even distantly?

((He taps the other walls for a comparison point.))

If not, he simply looks at Ricar and says, "Any ideas?"

Planting 8, Early Night

Tell
The sound produced by the wall appears to indicate an open chamber on the other side. It's not likely to be more than a few inches thicker than the wall produced by the scaled cleric.

Megiddo
(( Map updated with secret passage, though the tunnel actually goes under the room with the pillars for a way, which is not shown.

Also: Tunnel is only 3 ft. wide and 5 ft. tall, so most medium characters have to use squeezing rules. ))

The passage extends about 60 ft. north before terminating in a dead end. On one wall, there are a number of iron bars forming a ladder leading up into a circular opening. A little less than 10 ft. up on the ladder, Megiddo finds a lever which opens a door that leads to the disused torture chamber near the dungeon entrance. The door itself had been concealed in the side of the south pillar of the chamber.

Megiddo will wait for someone else to catch up with him, and will then pull the lever to open the door.

Grigor human cleric

Grigor stays with the group as the search progresses and sticks to Megiddo as he finds something interesting: A secret door.

"Hrm, figures. I bet the whole place is full of secret doors and passages. All the better for the evildoers to sneak into our back. We need to be extra carefull people."

True to his own words, Grigor keeps his sword drawn for the time being, resting it on his shoulder as he walks about.

Lycar

Tell

No sooner does Grigor speak his words of warning than a distant, methodical chunk-chunking noie can be heard. It sounds like metal ringing against stone, and echoes down the halls.

Should anyone come to investigate they will find Tell working on breaking through the stone wall at the end of the SE tunnel, swing-swing, swng-swing, swing-swing, relentless with his handaxe.

He knows the hatchet isn't really the best tool for the job, but figures he has to get through sooner or later.

Moathouse: Early Night

Megiddo
With Grigor and Haunor backing him up, Megiddo quickly finds himself back in the torture chamber near the dungeon stairs.

Tell
As tell begins hacking at the wall, Ricar excuses himself and exits the corridor. The arcanist returns a moment later with a pick from the pit-room. Just behind him is Kevril. "What's going on here?"

Megiddo will move over to where Tell is trying to break through the wall.

Tell

Tell takes the pick, tucks his hatchet into his belt, and tells Ricar, "False wall."

Unless the mage offers to clear the wall with magic, Tell goes back to work, this time using the pick.