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From the Diary of the Cleric: Temple of Elemental Evil (Earth), Session 40

Game log of a ToEE adventure that somehow turned into an Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.  You can find the original google doc here.


Rogues Gallery – “General Puggin’s Moribund of Mercenaries”*

The Hommlet Raiders
The Hommlet Raiders
  • The Rogue – Giselle der Gauner the Soulknife due to a mutation granting her telekinetic powers (character #2, previous character was Mirka the Rogue – Deceased)
  • The Monk – Augusta “Tof” Bamberger and her henchmen Elmo the Ranger and pet pug General Puggins.
  • The Druid – Lilie the Elf and her henchmen Wolfram and animal companion Fuyuko, the white wolf.
  • The Knight – Lintelfaden Toshcobble, squire of Rufus the Bold.
  • The Fighter – Fencil the Android (brain tape swap) (Character #2, previous character was a cleric – Deceased) and his (henchmen Zof the Jarhead Wizard – Deceased).
  • The Ranger – Bustov Daman and his animal companion, The Mou-Mou Bird (bloodthirsty sparrow).
  • The Cleric – Lorenz Brandt (character #2), the scribe.
  • The Wizard – Boris the Jaws-Dodger (Deceased Session 25, retired from the game).

*Due to a transcription error by the Verbobonc mercenary company registrar, “Merry” become “Moribund.”

Session 40 Recap

As it would turn out, the stairs leading down from the monastery didn’t lead to the temple but to another underground base. It was mostly destroyed and abandoned, devoid of cultists or any life other than the hulk that escaped its cage. Renwick had disposed of most of the remaining Black Earth forces that tried to take back their monastery and, after sending a force of elementals and warriors that never returned, the rest must have retreated deeper into the temple.

“Oh, over there!” Augusta called, ordering Elmo to head over to a massive cage. Unlike the others, there was a hole beneath this one like an elevator, leading deeper into the base.

“The temple is probably below this,” Fensal deduced. “And the Greater Temple even further below.”

“This is an elevator?” Lorenz asked. “Wait, does everyone here use metal cages with chains?”

“The elevators in the Space Station are much more advanced than what we have here.”

“I guess, but this is surprisingly primitive.”

He kicked the metal bars but they didn’t make a sound nor did it echo in the large and empty room. Tapping them again, the cage was completely silenced, permanently under a spell inside and out. No one was worried about casting spells in the small elevator and they got ready to descend, they were cautious of what might hear them as they infiltrated the temple.

It was a long way down, much longer than they thought it would be, but they were eventually able to see a few cultists below. They seemed to be arguing about something while chipping away at stones in the wall but the silence field cut off information by sound. Suddenly the ground shook and the cultists panicked, dropping their war picks and hammers and frantically trying to escape.

The party had never been more thankful for the silence, unable to do anything but stare as a massive… monster crawled out into the massive room on all fours. Its long arms groped around in front of him, crushing boulders and the wall, stuffing anything he could find into its mouth and crushing it with several rows of razor teeth. The creature was almost twice the size of the Guardians, riddled with nails and iron plating throughout its body, bleary eyes wildly darting around and rolling back into its head.

They watched in horror as he dashed across the room, swift for its size, and slammed one of the cultists into the ground. Grinding into paste instantly, he consumed him and reached for the other without chasing; his freakishly long arms lifted the guards off his feet and the mutant gleefully twisted him in half, drinking the blood as it poured down.

If there was one good thing about this situation, the Centipede Beast was blind. The cage gradually lowered them down into the large room but, as it was silent, they were able to infiltrate unnoticed. Four doors exited the trapezoid-shaped room and they planned to head to the exit farthest from the creature. Gisella went first, putting on her Ring of Invisibility and leaving the cage, stealthy dashing towards the exit-

And the Centipede chased her down, pinpointing exactly where she was. Gisella could have sworn she didn’t make a sound and froze on the spot, covering her mouth in case it could sense her breathing. He charged over, dragging itself over the ground and stopped right above her, trying to figure out where his prey went.

Lorenz quickly shot a bullet to the other side of the room, still in the silence field so as to not make a sound. The mutant reacted to the sound as the laser struck the wall and it charged over, slamming the wall with all its might. Without hesitation, the party used this moment to sprint out and escape its presence.

“I hate that thing!” Lilie cried, breathing a sigh of relief. “It’s so freaky!”

“Shh!” Gisella hissed. “It might come back!”

Luckily, the Centipede seemed bored and crawled back through its tunnel, squeezing through the small entrance no bigger than a doorway. It practically slithered down which only added to its already horrific appearance.

“Whatever,” Bustov dismissed, not wanting to see it ever again. “Let’s just focus on the room we’re in now; anything of interest here?”

Nothing of value grabbed their eye either information wise or with money. The ground itself however was rather peculiar, riddled with small holes that could see into the lower levels. It was a long drop down into what seemed like a rather empty room but it gave them a rough idea of what the layout could be. Unlike the air temple with multiple rooms and winding corridors, this place seemed to have more of a vertical layout; small single levels but multiple paths down.

“Oh, hey, this is what the cultists were looking at, right?” Aki called, dusting off a part of the wall. It revealed three stone blocks that served to hide something valuable behind, sort of like a cache built into the wall.

Augusta tried forcing the blocks out but they weren’t going to be budged. “Ouch, I can’t break this open. I think we can-”

To their shock, Lorenz melted a hole through with the fusion torch. The sound of the laser slicing through stone was ear-piercing and chunks of heated rock flew in all directions. By the time he finally cut through, they could hear rumbling outside as it attracted the Centipede towards them.

Unfortunately for the cleric, he was quickly tied and gagged to prevent further destruction.

He did get the cache open and there was a lot of treasure. Mostly gemstones or crystals, several of them in different colours and sizes along with hundreds of precious metals and coins to add to their wealthy collection. They couldn’t transport it all to KIT but they had brought along empty packs for this very reason.

Bustov wandered around the room while the rest of the party packed up the loot. He sifted through scrolls and notes on a desk, not with any plan in mind, only to see if he could find hidden plans or whatnot. What he found definitely wasn’t expected in the least hidden among the files.

“Why in the world… are there paintings of Aki?” he wondered. There were five perfect paintings of when she was autumn coloured.

“Aki paintings?” Lorenz echoed, rushing over to see the art. “Wow, that is pretty good too.”

“H- Huh?!” Aki stuttered, embarrassed that she had a secret admirer. “Don’t look at those!”

Augusta cocked her head to one side, brushing her hand over the art. “Didn’t Aki charm that random earth guy back when the bullettes attacked us? I guess she got a fan on the way.”

“Well that’s creepy,” Bustov scoffed. “Can’t believe he’s drawing pictures of her; burn them up!”

“Yep, horrible thing,” Lorenz agreed, folding the paper paintings in half. “Gotta get rid of them.”

And he pocketed one of the pieces when no one was looking, pretending it was burned with the rest.

Before he was caught, he quickly convinced the party to move along, knowing there wasn’t anything important left to take. The trapezoid room was thankfully quiet and the Centipede was nowhere to be found. They weren’t going to linger for long and quickly dashed to the next room as quietly as possible. Anywhere that could take them deeper was what they were looking for and this room seemed to be a good place to start.

The first thing they noticed were the dormant wheels, a smaller one that could be turned by manual manpower connected to a massive wheel encircled by a chain. The chain lead into a hole in the ground much like the elevator they took to reach the temple; an elevator to reach another level.

“You think we can move this?” Augusta wondered, pushing the smaller wheel.

“No point, really,” Fensal sighed. “Even if we could, we need someone to push while we’re in the elevator.”

Gisella was preoccupied with a life-size marble chariot sculpture in the corner. The craftsmanship was remarkable and the details were perfectly accurate, even the horses seemed like they could come alive at any given moment. The only strange thing was that it could not fit through the door they had just come from, being over twice the size. It had to be built in the room or brought up from beneath but it wasn’t easy to move at all.

“You think we can sell this for a killing?” she wondered, trying to figure out a way to transport it around.

Lilie knocked on the marble wheels, bored with all the monotonous searching. “I guess… I’m not moving this though-”

She kept tapping the wheel and hit something metal, knocking it out of place. The axle of the wheel was steel, not marble and could be easily removed. It didn’t reinforce the statue or keep it in place in any way, it was a steel axle strangely out-of-place in the statue.

“Oh, it’s magical,” Aki explained, casting her spell and feeling a faint aura. “I don’t know what it does but it isn’t normal metal.”

“Maybe we can melt it down in the Autoforge,” Elmo wondered. “I think we- Lorenz!”

The cleric was tied again and stopped from melting a hole in the wall to open another stone cache. Whether the loot was worth it was debatable as the ground rumbled in the other room. The Centipede slammed open the door to their room and stuck his head inside, attracted by the sound, clouded eyes darting all over the place. No one moved a muscle, holding their breath lest he hear it, and they waited for it to strike.

Surprisingly, it pulled away from the doorway and crawled away without attacking. Not until it was completely out of earshot did the party dare speak again.

Bustov shivered and scratched the back of his head. “How did it fit it’s head through the door? There’s no way it should be able to get in…”

“I kinda looked like it forced itself through,” Gisella muttered. “It squeezed through and… was able to fit.”

Aki glanced at the metal door on the far end of the room. “So if we go down there it can still chase us…?”

Elmo didn’t want to think about it. “Probably. Don’t open any more caches. We can always come back for them later.”

“Got it, got it, hahaha,” Lorenz laughed. “Can you let me loose now?”

There wasn’t any chance they could head down the hole without the elevator so the steel door at the far end was the only way forward. Pushing on, it revealed a spiral staircase that led them down for a long time. A very, very long time. There were so many steps it seemed as if it would go on forever, leading them deeper and deeper into the abyss.

Then it suddenly stopped at a hole in the wall and revealed the elevator shaft connected to the wheel. The chain led on into the darkness far beyond the reach of their light, the only other path was to jump across to another opening.

It was simple to pass through thanks to Gisella’s telekinesis flying them over and it revealed a room filled with crates.

“Are these gems?” Augusta thought, jumping into one and landing lightly on the precious gemstones. They reflected her appearance like a mirror but this wasn’t glass. “What are they?”

“I think these are Cervit,” Gisella guessed. “I’ve read about these highly reflective crystals… We can definitely sell these for a ton.”

Fensal scratched his head, counting the crates. “But there’s at least ten filled to the brim with this stuff.”

“We’ll come back, don’t worry. When we can properly loot the place we’re going to leave rich. This place is underground and that means crystals.”

“There’s stuff down here too!” Lilie called, heading down a ladder to another room.

Piles of fine silk lay in neat piles on the ground beside a tapestry embroidered with a six-armed ghost. It seemed to be screaming as if trying to escape the linen; a unique artstyle filled with colour and details. A few more bales of different coloured silk were tucked neatly in the corner, some red, some blue with a little bit of purple.

“Hey, midget!” Marvin snapped. “Why am I not made out of that nice silk stuff?”

Augusta shrugged as Elmo picked her up and put her on his shoulder. “I don’t know, I didn’t make you.”

“I just made out of low quality fabric! I want to be made of nice stuff! Hey, rogue lady, do something!”

“Stop being so loud!” Gisella retorted.

“I’m worth so much more but you guys think I’m cheap!” he continued to complain obnoxiously. “I deserve more love than getting burned up; I’m not fire resistant!”

“…yes you are,” Elmo sighed. “That’s why we bought you.”

His incessant noise wasn’t going unnoticed and the ground above them began to rumble. But they couldn’t focus on that as the bales of slik began to shake and unravel themselves only to intertwine and create two golems. The tapestry fell off the wall and floated up, writhing in strange patterns and coalescing energy at its core.

The banshee in the tapestry animated and let out a soul-shaking screech, shocking the party’s minds and reverberating violently throughout their body. Gisella, Fensal, and Bustov were knocked out instantly and collapsed to the ground. The fight suddenly grew a lot more dangerous and the healers rushed to stabilise them as soon as possible, even a moment’s delay could mean death.

One of the silk golems hardened and charged the party, knocking Augusta off her feet and into the wall with an arm of steel. The other golem was like a mage, creating a bird of threads and releasing into the party, slashing them with razor sharp wings.

The monk, though no bigger than a doll, grabbed the silk golem’s outstretched arm and flipped it over her shoulder, slamming it into the ground. She gave Lilie and Aki the chance to heal the two rangers and quickly regroup for a proper fight.

“Hey, get up now!” Lilie ordered, smacking Fensal awake while healing him at the same time. “Aki’s healed Bustov already; now go blast these guys with the cannon!”

“Ouch, thanks,” he muttered, charging the Wand of Bullets +1 with energy. “Wait, what about Gisella?”

“She’s gonna be fine, just blow them to bits!”

Trusting her, he fired a shot point blank at the warrior silk golem, tearing a hole through it and into the wall behind. It stitched itself back together but the mending wasn’t perfect, clearly staggering from the sheer force of the shot. But the cannon was anything but quiet and the rumbling above grew louder and louder.

“Geez, where is Lintelfaden when you need him?” Bustov cursed and fired an arrow, trying to freeze the golem and prevent it from unravelling. “He went to see Kwalish at the worst time.”

“We’ll be fine,” Lorenz assured, firing a bullet into the air that burst in a wave of healing. “Let’s take these guys out fast!”

Wolfram pulled Lilie out of the way and blocked another attack from the golems. Their attacks were much heavier than it looked and the tapestry continued to dance at the back, buffing its allies while remaining far out of melee reach. They couldn’t get distracted by its magic and had to focus all attacks against the silk golems, taking them out one at a time. The warrior had to go first followed by the tapestry, then the mage.

Lorenz helped Gisella to her feet and healed her as much as he could for now. “I can’t heal you completely, I need to focus on the frontline.”

“I’m fine,” she assured. “I’m standing and that’s all I need.”

She targeted the golem with her telekinesis and forcefully tore it apart, snapping the silk and unravelling it out from the core. The daggers flew in and sliced through, breaking the magic that held it together and destroying the golem.

“Two down,” Fensal declared, annihilating the tapestry with a single shot.

The silk mage created a scarab of threads and protected herself from attacks but the sounds of battle had attracted the Centipede. His body was unreal, squeezing through the small hole in the roof and destroying the ladder with its weight. Grinding rows of teeth, its rubber-like arms bent in unnatural ways as it sought a target, eventually finding the golem. In a single blow it shattered the magical defense and lifted it off its feet, twisting it apart and stuffing the silk into its mouth.

“How does it even fit?!” Lilie panicked, hiding behind Wolfram and firing a lightning bolt. It struck it directly but the beast hardly felt the shock.

“It’s body is unreal,” Lorenz shivered. The Centipede continued to squeeze through the hole, starting to fit its shoulder through. “Fensal, don’t hold back!”

The android was supercharged and he locked the canon in place, preparing for a devastating blast. It glowed white hot and released a half a dozen shells of pure energy. Something inside the party sunk when a hand reached through the smoke of the blast, burned and bleeding but regenerating rapidly, hardly fazed by the power of the shot.

Even when it missed, its claws dug deep into the earth, tearing out a boulder and crushing it into pieces, stuffing the stone into its jaws. If anything, this beast was unhinged, groping around randomly as its clouded pupils darted around its eyes.

“Elmo!” Augusta cried as the Centipede finally found its mark. “Let him go!”

It didn’t even flinch as a punch of wind struck it squarely against the head. Almost gleefully, it tried to twist and snap Elmo in half. But it got mad when the ranger resisted his pull and simply tried to crush him in its jaws.

Gisella pulled Elmo out and brought him back to ‘safety’, ordering Lorenz to heal him. She focused her mind and tried to lock the creature in place even for just a moment, long enough for the party to capitalise on the opening and deal serious damage.

This was the first creature that resisted her hold.

Breaking out with ease, it screeched and reached out to crush her… but it suddenly froze, cocking its head to one side. Gisella didn’t move, trapped as the palm loomed over her, nails digging into the stone. For some reason, it never continued the attack and chose to swat Fensal instead, slamming him against the wall. It continued to ignore the rogue, focusing on those furiously attacking it.

Lucky guess, Gisella thought and unsheathed her daggers. It doesn’t have blindsense, it’s attracted to movement. That’s why it sensed us in the silenced cage and ignored us in the wheel room.

The Centipede picked Elmo back up and tried to eat him again while reaching out for other targets at the same time. It couldn’t grab Fensal, the android was too quick and would always counter with a cannon shot, and it got frustrated and slammed the walls. Swallowing the ranger, it lunged for another target to eat.

“Light it up!” Bustov cried and ice began to crystallise around him.

For once the shot stunned the Centipede and it staggered from the blow, protecting itself with its long arms. The arrow embedded in its head exploded and stunned the beast again, forcing it back up the hole it crawled from. For a moment, the frost slowed its movements and began to climb across the body but plans to hinder its movement continued to be foiled. Bloodshot eyes, grinding teeth, slamming the walls; it suddenly grew enraged and grabbed Bustov, trying to twist and tear him in half.

“My magic can’t keep up with this,” Lorenz cursed. He fired a healing bullet at the ranger but still couldn’t mend all the wounds. “If I don’t give the tanks all the healing I’ve got they’re gonna get killed.”

Bustov was flipped into the air and swallowed much to Aki’s horror. She panicked and shot another arrow but her basic bow pinged harmlessly off the hide without so much as a scratch.

“Let Elmo out!” Augusta cursed and kicked off of Wolfram’s black blade. She channelled her ki into her knuckled and manifested tendrils of flame. “He’s my tree knight and your stupid stomach is gonna kill him!”

The uppercut to the jaw was still a tried and true tactic for rattling the brain and even a beast like this would be affected. Though the attack itself was lacking power, the Centipede cringed from the flames and shrieked, trying to focus its rattled mind and pull away at the same time. She flipped in midair and kicked again, empowered by the engines on her calf and struck it straight in the eye, causing the massive creature to reel from fear and shock. Tiny but strong, her physical strength didn’t matter as long as she had the Belt of Oni Strength.

Fensal was slammed into the wall again and his more robotic parts began to show and spark. But as long as he could fire the +1 Wand of Bullets, his condition didn’t matter, empowered by UNITY’s magic. He tore a hole through the beast’s hand causing it to screech in pain, shaking the room and threatening collapse. Its cries were suddenly cut short and it covered its mouth, trying not to vomit the people attacking from the inside.

“C’mon!” Bustov cursed, charging another arrow. “Puke us up!”

The dire situation was looking brighter and brighter as their attacks began to pick up steam. They didn’t give the Centipede a chance to attack, locking it in a battle between those outside and the ones struggling from within. Its random swings were still dangerous but he was no longer targeting them, only thrashing about in rage and panic. He grabbed Lorenz and started to twist the cleric apart but a strong spell caused his prey to suddenly slip out of its grasp, only enraging it even more.

Wolfram stoically pulled Lorenz aside and took a deep breath. As he swung, the skulls on the guard of the blade glowed a bright crimson and began to suck in the air around him, whispering dark unintelligible omens. As soon as the blade got even close to the Centipede it siphoned the remaining life out of it, bypassing all defenses and going straight for the soul. Not until the creature dropped dead did the souls finally quiet and the blood red light vanished.

“It is… dead?” Lorenz coughed, barely able to pick himself up off the ground.

“Let’s go, Wolfram!” Lilie cheered, rushing over and hugging him.

The party quickly rushed to cut the Centipede’s gut, freeing those trapped inside before they were digested. Only a partial heal could be performed as both Aki and Lorenz were drained of magic and Lilie didn’t have enough to go around. But a win was a win and the battle was finally over.

“That was stressful,” Gisella chuckled. “I honestly thought someone was going to die again…”

Lilie laughed and her knees buckled under her, relieved that everyone was still here. “W for Wolfram! Big W!”

Fensal was still in overdrive and he couldn’t completely calm his mind, still waiting for another target to destroy. His focus turned to the Centipede lying dead in the room, half of its body still blocking the room to the Cervit crystals. “It’s regenerating…” he analysed.

The party rocketed back to their feet and unsheathed their weapons. It shouldn’t be possible but the enemy’s stomach began to heal and the hole in its hand was completely mended.

“Kill it, kill it, kill it!” Augusta panicked and the party hacked at it again.

No matter how much damage they did the regeneration would keep up. It was steadily getting faster and faster, even coping for cauterised wounds or missing limbs, trying to return to its peak form… even if it was missing a head.

“Uh, er, the cells or something!” Gisella ordered, racking her brain for a plan. “How do we kill the cells?!”

Fensal pulled out a scimitar and hit the corpse… but nothing happened. He hit it again and again in the same spot, getting faster each time until finally, the area around the cut began to turn to stone. The stone gradually spread throughout its whole body until it was completely petrified. Only then did it seem to cease its regeneration.

And they smashed it to bits for good measure.

◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️

After retreating and taking a much needed rest under the safety of Renwick, they felt refreshed and ready to take on the challenges the temple might impose, confident that it could be overcome. Lintelfaden was still not back from Kwalish’s lab but they didn’t bother waiting, unsure of how long he would take with no way to contact him. They headed back down to the trapezoid room and glanced at the four exits.

“So where to from here?” Gisella asked, spinning a pencil around her finger and looking at her map.

“One exit is a dead end,” Fensal recalled. “The other way is to the wheel room where we fought the Centipede…” He turned to a tunnel and a locked door. “That leaves the locked room and where that monster’s lair probably is.”

“Let’s head to the lair then,” Lorenz decided. “Nothing messes with that thing anyway so it should be empty.”

After traversing through the winding corridor much too small for the Centipede, they came across a strange room with a mirror in the ceiling. It was reflecting a massive, green gemstone hanging in midair off a string but the area was empty with no gem to be seen.

“Oh, it’s probably reflecting something invisible,” Bustov deduced. “That’s usually how it is… Yeah, the crystal should be right around… here.”

And there was nothing. He looked back at the mirror and checked his location in relation to the gem and he should be right next to it. His hand clearly passed through but there was nothing else in the cave.

Being the greedy lot they were, the next thirty minutes was spent trying to figure out where the crystal was even if they had to use multiple spells and drain their limited supply. See invisibility, telekinesis, detect magic, trying to cut the string, trying to break the mirror; they tried every trick in the book.

“Why don’t we just touch the mirror?” Augusta sighed and channelled her ki into the soles of her feet. Leaping up, she touched the mirror and was immediately sucked into an alternate space, nothing but darkness and null-space as far as the eye could see… and a very big crystal. Looking down at the glass ‘ground’ she could see the party waving at her and signalling to come back down. But try as she might, there was no way to leave the way she came.

“Do you think she’s stuck?” Aki wondered. “Why won’t she come back through?”

Fensal hit the mirror with a rope but it bounced off. “Hmm, we can’t break it and non-living things don’t pass through.”

“Non-living… Aha!” Lilie conjured up eight sheep and named every single one. “Let’s stick half of a sheep through the mirror and Augusta will grab the top half! Then we can pull her back through!”

“So use the sheep as a rope…?” Gisella wondered. “That’s not going to work.”

But she still conceded and lifted the sheep into the air until it touched the mirror. And its whole body went straight through.

“Why did they send me a sheep?” Augusta muttered, petting the confused animal. “Aha, it’s because I’m tiny and can’t reach the crystal!” She brought the sheep over to the gem and stood on it, just barely tall enough to reach the string and cut it. “Easy! Now I need to-”

The mirror shattered into thousands of pieces, trapping the monk inside.

All she could see was endless darkness, an alluring crystal, and a sheep. Wandering around for a bit, there really was nothing on this plane, not even an end to the darkness. She knew what had to be done but she really wanted to find another way to escape.

“But I don’t know magic,” she sighed. “I’m sure you could do some teleporting stuff and escape.” She looked at the big gem, still glowing brightly. “Ah, well, money isn’t worth my life.”

She shattered the gem in one blow and, in the blink of an eye, she was spat out of the mirror shards and back to the cave. And the sheep came with her.

“Sean!” Lilie cried and hugged the sheep, pushing Augusta out of the way. “Did you hurt my precious sheepy?!”

“Huh? No?” Augusta stuttered. “I didn’t attack the sheep.”

“I swear you shorten my life span with every stupid thing you do,” Elmo sighed and picked up his mistress, allowing her to sit on his shoulder. “Don’t run off again like that.”

“Hahaha, I’m fine, you worry too much, you know?”

Fensal glanced around him and even checked the sheep’s wool but there was no sign of treasure. “Where’s the crystal?”

“Uh, hahaha, gone!” Augusta uncomfortably laughed. “Just kinda went poof, you know?”

“Did you break it?” Lilie asked.

“Nope, why would I do that? Uh, Sean did! Uh huh, Sean broke the crystal.”

“No he didn’t. Sean is a good boy.” She looked into his eyes and cast a spell. “Did you break the crystal, Sean?”

The sheep looked through her, not at her, trying to understand what in the world was going on. “What happened in null-space… stays in null-space.”

And the case of the broken crystal was closed. No one knows where it went, vanished and never seen again after the mirror shattered. Only Augusta and Sean would remember the events that happened beyond and in the darkness but they would never tell.

“What happened in null-space… stays in null-space,” the monk giggled.

“You definitely broke it,” Lilie sighed. “That’s so much money just gone!”

“It’s fine, she’s alive and that’s what matters,” Gisella interrupted. “Let’s move on.”

Continuing on from the little mirror event, the tunnel led on and out to a cliff face. The tight path winded around and led them down and down; a wall to their left and the abyss to their right. They could barely see the edge of a cave far, far away from them and a roof above, but there was nothing but a sheer drop below. Tying a rope to Gisella, she flew away from the path a little to get a good look at the ‘cliff face’ they were traversing and was shocked by what she saw.

The entire temple was just one, massive stalactite in an even bigger cave.

“Where’s the Greater Temple then?” Bustov asked. “Isn’t it below this temple?”

Gisella shook her head and rejoined the party. “I have no idea. There could be something at the very tip of the stalactite. It was so big I couldn’t see the end.”

“Oh, there’s a room here,” Bustov called. “It’s a way back into the temple.”

From the looks of it, the place was a storage, filled with massive chests filled with crossbows, bolts, ropes, swords, armour; anything an army would need to fully equip themselves. The ‘chests’ were filled with at least a hundred weapons each, maybe even more but it would take too long to count exactly how much equipment there was. And it wasn’t cheap weaponry either, most of it detecting as magic thanks to Aki’s spell, especially the bolts and arrows.

A massive scale could lead them further below, sort of like an elevator, or the locked steel door at the far end would serve as the next path to tread.

“Crossbows, double-crossbows,” Fensal muttered. “There’s a lot of stuff here that we can take. My Typhon Bow got melted because of the Radiation Hulk upstairs so this could serve as a replacement.”

“Grab some stuff too, Aki,” Bustov suggested. “The bolts will be magical so you can bypass resistances.”

Lorenz started dragging one of the chests towards the cliff side. “Then we toss the rest into the abyss. If we aren’t using it, better not let the earth guys use it either.”

The place was devoid of life thankfully and even the grating sound of steel as the chests were dragged didn’t garner any attention. They were wary of another Centipede, praying that it was a one-of-a-kind monster, and were thankful that one didn’t suddenly squeeze through the small doorways and start attacking. With one good heave, they tossed the massive chest filled with crossbows into the darkness and headed back for the next one.

Pulling over the next chest they paused for a moment and glanced over the edge, wondering how deep the pit was. For something as heavy and filled as the chest, the echo of it crashing against the ground should have been deafening. Yet it had been over ten minutes and not a single sound could be heard from below.

“We definitely threw that chest off, right?” Lorenz asked. “The one that was filled with a hundred-something crossbows?”

“Uh huh,” Gisella replied, peering off the edge. “Is it really that deep?”

Lilie shivered and got ready to run. “Or maybe something ate it!”

The thought she put in their minds was not a pleasant one. Underground, if there really was something down there eating the chest as it fell the size of it could dwarf even the Centipede that they struggled against.

“You know what?” Bustov uncomfortably laughed. “Let’s just not deal with what’s down there. How about we go back up and check out the other rooms?”

“A capital idea,” Lilie agreed and quickly dashed away.

Back to the trapezoid room, they planned their next route to take to find Marlos and recover Ironfang, the elemental weapon the prophet of Black Earth needed to bring back Ogremoch.


Interlude (Cutscene)

(a cutscene is something the PLAYERS know but the CHARACTERS do not).

You see a small dark figure moving through the Temple of Elemental of Evil Earth, super-humanly fast. You recognise her as Mahlyn the Lady Vampire (The Crow). She quickly loots a cache in the area known as the Armoury (where you found all the arrows, and weapons). She draws out a strange amber pearl the size of a human head along with what looks like a short bow which is sparking with energy. She carefully puts them into her backpack.

She uses her gaseous form ability to bypass a giant locked garage sized door and she stands in a cavern filled with stars. As she crosses the bridge through this cavern the sound of gnashing teeth comes from her backpack. She stops and looks inside. The amber pearl explodes in her face spilling the contents of her backpack everywhere and a centipede giant pulls itself out of the backpack fully grown.

There is a quick battle between the two, but it’s clear Mahlyn is trying to get the dropped treasure as opposed to killing the giant. She is too fast for him and eventually gives up and turns into a flock of bats and flies away forced to leave some of the treasure behind.

The giant lifts its head as if listening, howls and a few minutes later Marlos, The Prophet of Ogrémoch appears. He pats the giant as if it was a dog and the giant mewls like a newborn baby at the attention.

Marlos says “Well done my son, I bless you in the name of Ogrémoch to better destroy our enemies”. He touches the giant and his skin turns into stone yet he still moves.

The prophet then disappears in a flash of light and the giant begins prowling the halls once again.

Posted in 5e, Dungeons & Dragons, Game Log

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