Post by David on Sept 16, 2008 17:26:20 GMT -5
The heroes (Dion, Mikhail with Samhain, Sky, Cliffy, Daj, Pepper, Semi, Ingemar, and Kirby) descend the stairs of the Temple, spying a steady light ahead of them. As the heroes rounded the bend, ahead of them was a familiar figure. Very tall, slightly rotund, fair-skinned with freckles, yet not a folicle of hair...Clanndennagh.
"So, what took you so long," he began with very feminine gestures, "I've been waiting for a while..."
The heroes asked a number of questions, including how he got there.
"Oh, yeah," he said, looking at his body, "a girl works with what she's got..."
Now very uncertain, several of the heroes accuse this man of being a shapeshifter or a demon that's possessed their friend's corpse.
"Well, possessors are actually devils, and while I'm sort of squatting, it really is in his best interest. Hi, I'm Thera, cleric of Hades...!" The bulky Baklun flashes the party a smile. "Your pal's soul is currently circling the drain about three levels below here, to the north. I can even feel it. You've got a couple of days to complete your mission or his soul won't be coming back. I've come to help; gotta thwart the Elder Elemental God anyway we can," she winks.
The heroes are at a loss of what to do, but Mikhail uses his empathy to confirm the entity within Clanndennagh's body is sincere. After much discussion, the heroes agree to join forces with this individual...which is right about when they hear noise and see some light back up in the Temple. It's Jellie along with Dobbie and Helga.
"Oh, there you are. We saw you go into the Temple, but it took us a while to catch up."
"Hi, Jellie, it's been so long," smoothly greets Clanndennagh/Thera.
"Uh, yeah, since a couple of days ago," answers the unruly illusionist. To the heroes, "what's with Clanndennagh."
"It's me, Jellie, Thera...Hi Dobbie! *wink*"
Jellie questioned Thera about their previous adventures together, quickly determining if then entity within Clanndennagh's body wasn't the cleric of Hades, then it sure knew a great deal about the Valley of Spirits, Hanaman, Dobbie's journey into the past, and the New Heroes.
Satisfied, the party began exploring the first level under the Temple of Elemental Evil. They searched a long wallway, coming upon a pair of massive bronze doors 20' wide and 24' tall. Dion astutely deduced that these were the backside of the doors the heroes had already found and moved on. The group came to a pair of abandoned armories. They searched these, then looped back to make a thorough search, also finding two other such armories, all empty.
Continuing, Helga cast a find traps so as to avoid any nasty surprises. The group came to a room with tall columns and a mechanical trap in the entryway. Cliffy tried to disarm the danger, but failed, so the heroes skipped the room and continued on. At this point Helga and Cliffy both began actively searching for secret walls and doors, using their respective dwarven and elven skills. The heroes came to a cone shaped room 30' wide whose ceiling disappeared into the gloom above. Helga bravely check the place out, as no traps were evident...but a dozen living stirge swooped down to make a meal of her! And another half-dozen went after the party! The fight was fairly easy, but Helga was very seriously drained of blood. Just as the heroes were turning to leave, Dobbie casually walked up and triggered a secret door the other two had missed.
Beyond was a short corridor, ending in another secret door and then a strange, spherical room of smooth, black stone. The group skirted the center and Semi took point...as a pale white cloth-like monster drifted down from above and engulfed the hapless paladin. Helga tried to hack it off, but her axe just as badly hurt Semi! Mikhail managed to reach an exposed portion of the paladin's skin and used his psionic powers to teleport on the living creature he was grapsing. *bamf!* Semi appeared a few feet away while the creature was still enwrapped in the man's armor. Thera user her power as a cleric to command the creature and the heroes made short work of it, creeped out that Thera clearly was well-versed in necromancy (as if stealing Clanndennagh's body wasn't enough..."hey, I'm simply borrowing it to help you!"...I stand corrected!).
The heroes continued finding another door with runes, these were different and Dion recalled that the previous party had been here before. Helga verified that the door was magically trapped, so the rest of the ground stepped back and Thera dispelled the ward. Right about then, a particularly pale ghoul rushed down the corridor. It sprang on the party but lacked a paralyzing touch. Instead, it had an acidic spit! Just as the heroes formed up to deal with the first creature, a second arrived to join it. Thera commanded the second to fight the first and then the party finished off the survivor. Phew!
Next the heroes tried to enter the rune-covered door, but found it locked. Cliffy tried to pick the door, but failed, so Daj used her cantrip to unlock it. The heroes found a crypt within containing eleven burial vaults. When the heroes opened the first one, all eleven black, descicated corpses animated and attacked!
The heroes fought fiercely and with much luck managed to prevail. Semi found his new sword quite effective, taking out multiple undead. Wisely, Thera had offered to chant while the heroes searched the room ("ra ra ra, go Hades!" *blink blink*), so the party gained the benefit of this spell. In the end, nearly everyone, however, had been afflicted with mummy rot, requiring the cure diseases of everyone capable of the spell or power. As Thera said, "I get one cure disease and Cliffy has prepaid for it!"
The heroes searched a few more rooms, including one with an eerie eye painted on the ceiling. Then they came to a hallway of brown marble, with arrows of yellow marble pointing Northward. Following these, the heroes entered a massive chamber with an earthen floor and a raised, flat-topped pyramid of soil in the center. On the far side were three more doors, two small with a large double-door in the middle. Thera again began a chant ("gimme a H, H! Gimme an A, A! Gimme a D, D! Gimme an E, E!, Gimme an S, S!, go HADES!"). Exploring the room, the heroes fanned out...with two earth elemental rising out of the ground to cut off their escape!
Helga and Ingemar charged but were no match for the earthen creatures, which smashed both fighters into the dirt. The heroes scattered throughout the chamber and two more earth elemental rose from the ground. Luckily, however, both paladins, Semi and Kirby, did not attack thereby afording their allies a hedge of safety from the extraplanar threat. Working in concert, the heroes retrieved their fallen comrades while Dajamira used her enchanted throwing scimitar to harry the elementals from within the safety of Semi's aura. Meanwhile the elementals surrounded Kirby and Mikhail trapping them.
What followed was somewhat comical as Daj continued to use her scimitar to slowly hack down first one elemental and then another. Dion and Helga each invoked a spiritual hammer to aid the half-dryad while she and Cliffy also used the last of their chant-augmented magic missiles. The rest of the heroes set out watch. After four minutes, two of the elementals were dead and a third was ready to fall. Kirby and Mikhail had slipped out to join the other heroes. That's when arrows out of the dark dropped Ingemar....
Kirby rushed to the Norsk woman's aid and was also taken out. Thera dropped her chant to shout a (hoarse) warning! Gnolls charged in to slaughter the party, letting out a keening wail. Sky crushed one and Samhain took out another. Three bugbears moved to join the gnolls but a hold person from the cleric of Hades stopped them.
Yet the noise brought not only Cliffy, but other creatures. Three lizard man-like creatures appearantly made of river rock but lacking a mouth ran up. Jellie conjured the illusion of a marilith and a minotaur, but the creatures ignored the first and all but one charged past the second. Four more followed behind this first wave. The stone-men used daggers of crystal and stabbed Sky, Samhain, and Mikhail repeatedly, but in the end, a hold took out two and the fighters finished the rest...just as Dajamira (with Semi's help) used her throwing scimitar to finish the final earth elemental...
...and get the boys to the train on time...
Current party status:
Daj: 29 of 36, 6gbs, 5ph, used unlock, MMx3 and slow
Pepper: 14 of 22, used PAx2
Ingemar: -4 of 12, 6gbs
Dobbie: 36 of 42
Kirby: 0
Dion: 19 of 35, used CLWx4, aidx2, shamx2, cure diseasex2
Sky: 38 of 61, 6ph
Jellie: full (18), used all first, impfx3, sf
Thera: 44 of 46 (and Faaat!), used CLWx4, holdx2, chantx2, dd, cure disease, dispel
Cliffy: 24 of 35, used sleep, mmx3, fb
Helga: 1 of 44, 10ph, out of spells
Semi: 14 of 21, 8gbs, lay on hands
Mikhail: 17 of 39, 4 gbs, 2 ph PSPs: 17 -4 salves and herbs
Samhain: 8 of 24, 2gbs
"So, what took you so long," he began with very feminine gestures, "I've been waiting for a while..."
The heroes asked a number of questions, including how he got there.
"Oh, yeah," he said, looking at his body, "a girl works with what she's got..."
Now very uncertain, several of the heroes accuse this man of being a shapeshifter or a demon that's possessed their friend's corpse.
"Well, possessors are actually devils, and while I'm sort of squatting, it really is in his best interest. Hi, I'm Thera, cleric of Hades...!" The bulky Baklun flashes the party a smile. "Your pal's soul is currently circling the drain about three levels below here, to the north. I can even feel it. You've got a couple of days to complete your mission or his soul won't be coming back. I've come to help; gotta thwart the Elder Elemental God anyway we can," she winks.
The heroes are at a loss of what to do, but Mikhail uses his empathy to confirm the entity within Clanndennagh's body is sincere. After much discussion, the heroes agree to join forces with this individual...which is right about when they hear noise and see some light back up in the Temple. It's Jellie along with Dobbie and Helga.
"Oh, there you are. We saw you go into the Temple, but it took us a while to catch up."
"Hi, Jellie, it's been so long," smoothly greets Clanndennagh/Thera.
"Uh, yeah, since a couple of days ago," answers the unruly illusionist. To the heroes, "what's with Clanndennagh."
"It's me, Jellie, Thera...Hi Dobbie! *wink*"
Jellie questioned Thera about their previous adventures together, quickly determining if then entity within Clanndennagh's body wasn't the cleric of Hades, then it sure knew a great deal about the Valley of Spirits, Hanaman, Dobbie's journey into the past, and the New Heroes.
Satisfied, the party began exploring the first level under the Temple of Elemental Evil. They searched a long wallway, coming upon a pair of massive bronze doors 20' wide and 24' tall. Dion astutely deduced that these were the backside of the doors the heroes had already found and moved on. The group came to a pair of abandoned armories. They searched these, then looped back to make a thorough search, also finding two other such armories, all empty.
Continuing, Helga cast a find traps so as to avoid any nasty surprises. The group came to a room with tall columns and a mechanical trap in the entryway. Cliffy tried to disarm the danger, but failed, so the heroes skipped the room and continued on. At this point Helga and Cliffy both began actively searching for secret walls and doors, using their respective dwarven and elven skills. The heroes came to a cone shaped room 30' wide whose ceiling disappeared into the gloom above. Helga bravely check the place out, as no traps were evident...but a dozen living stirge swooped down to make a meal of her! And another half-dozen went after the party! The fight was fairly easy, but Helga was very seriously drained of blood. Just as the heroes were turning to leave, Dobbie casually walked up and triggered a secret door the other two had missed.
Beyond was a short corridor, ending in another secret door and then a strange, spherical room of smooth, black stone. The group skirted the center and Semi took point...as a pale white cloth-like monster drifted down from above and engulfed the hapless paladin. Helga tried to hack it off, but her axe just as badly hurt Semi! Mikhail managed to reach an exposed portion of the paladin's skin and used his psionic powers to teleport on the living creature he was grapsing. *bamf!* Semi appeared a few feet away while the creature was still enwrapped in the man's armor. Thera user her power as a cleric to command the creature and the heroes made short work of it, creeped out that Thera clearly was well-versed in necromancy (as if stealing Clanndennagh's body wasn't enough..."hey, I'm simply borrowing it to help you!"...I stand corrected!).
The heroes continued finding another door with runes, these were different and Dion recalled that the previous party had been here before. Helga verified that the door was magically trapped, so the rest of the ground stepped back and Thera dispelled the ward. Right about then, a particularly pale ghoul rushed down the corridor. It sprang on the party but lacked a paralyzing touch. Instead, it had an acidic spit! Just as the heroes formed up to deal with the first creature, a second arrived to join it. Thera commanded the second to fight the first and then the party finished off the survivor. Phew!
Next the heroes tried to enter the rune-covered door, but found it locked. Cliffy tried to pick the door, but failed, so Daj used her cantrip to unlock it. The heroes found a crypt within containing eleven burial vaults. When the heroes opened the first one, all eleven black, descicated corpses animated and attacked!
The heroes fought fiercely and with much luck managed to prevail. Semi found his new sword quite effective, taking out multiple undead. Wisely, Thera had offered to chant while the heroes searched the room ("ra ra ra, go Hades!" *blink blink*), so the party gained the benefit of this spell. In the end, nearly everyone, however, had been afflicted with mummy rot, requiring the cure diseases of everyone capable of the spell or power. As Thera said, "I get one cure disease and Cliffy has prepaid for it!"
The heroes searched a few more rooms, including one with an eerie eye painted on the ceiling. Then they came to a hallway of brown marble, with arrows of yellow marble pointing Northward. Following these, the heroes entered a massive chamber with an earthen floor and a raised, flat-topped pyramid of soil in the center. On the far side were three more doors, two small with a large double-door in the middle. Thera again began a chant ("gimme a H, H! Gimme an A, A! Gimme a D, D! Gimme an E, E!, Gimme an S, S!, go HADES!"). Exploring the room, the heroes fanned out...with two earth elemental rising out of the ground to cut off their escape!
Helga and Ingemar charged but were no match for the earthen creatures, which smashed both fighters into the dirt. The heroes scattered throughout the chamber and two more earth elemental rose from the ground. Luckily, however, both paladins, Semi and Kirby, did not attack thereby afording their allies a hedge of safety from the extraplanar threat. Working in concert, the heroes retrieved their fallen comrades while Dajamira used her enchanted throwing scimitar to harry the elementals from within the safety of Semi's aura. Meanwhile the elementals surrounded Kirby and Mikhail trapping them.
What followed was somewhat comical as Daj continued to use her scimitar to slowly hack down first one elemental and then another. Dion and Helga each invoked a spiritual hammer to aid the half-dryad while she and Cliffy also used the last of their chant-augmented magic missiles. The rest of the heroes set out watch. After four minutes, two of the elementals were dead and a third was ready to fall. Kirby and Mikhail had slipped out to join the other heroes. That's when arrows out of the dark dropped Ingemar....
Kirby rushed to the Norsk woman's aid and was also taken out. Thera dropped her chant to shout a (hoarse) warning! Gnolls charged in to slaughter the party, letting out a keening wail. Sky crushed one and Samhain took out another. Three bugbears moved to join the gnolls but a hold person from the cleric of Hades stopped them.
Yet the noise brought not only Cliffy, but other creatures. Three lizard man-like creatures appearantly made of river rock but lacking a mouth ran up. Jellie conjured the illusion of a marilith and a minotaur, but the creatures ignored the first and all but one charged past the second. Four more followed behind this first wave. The stone-men used daggers of crystal and stabbed Sky, Samhain, and Mikhail repeatedly, but in the end, a hold took out two and the fighters finished the rest...just as Dajamira (with Semi's help) used her throwing scimitar to finish the final earth elemental...
...and get the boys to the train on time...
Current party status:
Daj: 29 of 36, 6gbs, 5ph, used unlock, MMx3 and slow
Pepper: 14 of 22, used PAx2
Ingemar: -4 of 12, 6gbs
Dobbie: 36 of 42
Kirby: 0
Dion: 19 of 35, used CLWx4, aidx2, shamx2, cure diseasex2
Sky: 38 of 61, 6ph
Jellie: full (18), used all first, impfx3, sf
Thera: 44 of 46 (and Faaat!), used CLWx4, holdx2, chantx2, dd, cure disease, dispel
Cliffy: 24 of 35, used sleep, mmx3, fb
Helga: 1 of 44, 10ph, out of spells
Semi: 14 of 21, 8gbs, lay on hands
Mikhail: 17 of 39, 4 gbs, 2 ph PSPs: 17 -4 salves and herbs
Samhain: 8 of 24, 2gbs
