From the diary of Vida Pankhurst
The volcano rages quietly within, the madness of the void.
Finally I woke up and we journeyed back to the Temple of Elemental Evil. It seems to falls to me to organise those who stand against Zuttogmy and Iuz, so I led these men back to the earth temple. If it is a false alliance we seek with the air temple leader Kelnoo then nothing can be more convincing than the head of the leader of the opposing temple!
We found Rommag and his worm-like servant Harstch where we left them. They must have saw their deaths in our eyes because they attacked us with as much fervour as they could muster. Harstch conjured a Protection from Good spell, much to my amusement, but it did him no good and we easily dispatched him. Seeing the battle lost Rommag retreated after stunning my companions with a Sound Burst spell.
He ran to the earth elemental room, which we could not set foot in without being attacked by the powerful elementals that guard the place. He taunted us from safe upon a raised platform in the centre of the room. Much to my surprise the elf wizard proved useful when he hurled a fireball at the cleric and succeeded in ending Rommag once and for all. The problem was that the cleric died wearing the very cloak we need to enter the room. Sameson remembered the other magical cloak we found on the gargoyles and used it to transform into a gargoyle himself and fly over the elementals to retrieve Rommag's singed corpse. Then I did something she wouldn't approve of and cut his head off to show to Kelnoo.
Fillian then put on Rommag's cloak and entered the room without activating the elementals. In this area he found a chest buried under the earth. Whilst debating how to reach this chest one of my companions asked if I had a pick-axe being a dwarf. She must be having an influence on me because I found myself launching into a tirade about stereotypes and dwarves. Then Sameson remembered his figurine! To my astonishment he commanded it to grow into a live badger and sent it digging for the chest. When the badger was done we opened the chest and emptied its contents. I took a wand, which Fillian identified as a Wand of Paralysis, as well as some healing ointments and scrolls.
We proceeded to the air temple and this time I greeted Kelnoo by throwing the head of her enemy at her feet. Impressed she offered us employment with the air temple. We tried to convince her to comply to an alliance with the fire temple against the water temple, and she eventually agreed and gave us a letter to give to the leaders of the fire temple. Following her directions we arrived at a huge hall of red granite, lit by scores of flambeaux and pervaded by the odor of heated metal and sulfur. We had no doubt that this was the rfire temple with its great brass doors. Tapestries adorned the walls , depicting scenes of fire in evil forms. Also despite the many torches and flaming cressets, the air seemed to carry motes of rust-colored luminescence, and the streaks of blue and mica flakes in the polished granite walls appeared to leap and dance as if flames, caught within the rock.
A brass tube, was suspended from the ceiling by chains above a shallow fire pit and beyond lines and lines of pillars were great copper cauldrons, flanking the main area of the Temple. Glowing and pulsating in the pots were some sort of amber liquid. At the far end of the Temple stood a translucent block of golden apatite, about three feet wide and high and nine feet long. Skulls grined from its sides, their forms inlaid with hammered gold. Atop the altar was an eight-pointed fire symbol, set in wrought gold. Before this altar is a fire pit of diamond shape, ten feet long north-south and eight feet broad. No doubt for sacrificing those foolish enough to cross this temple. I advised caution in my companions when dealing with this magnificent section of the temple!
We were greeted by some clerics of the temple, some bugbears and some human, and we told them our purpose in allying ourselves with them versus the water temple. They led us further in to a more powerful looking cleric that must be in charge. I saw what I reckoned to be fire salamanders inside the cauldrons as we passed them. The head cleric gave us nothing in the way of aid and said he was happy for us to try and kill the water temple whilst he watched and did nothing. Fool! He will pay for his inaction eventually. Still at least we managed to have a look at the interior of this temple ready for when we attack it in the near future.
Leaving the temple would have been simple but, as we reached the end of the adjoining corridor, we almost walked right into a huge black, bubbling ooze-like monster. Fillian shouted a warning that this was a creature known as a black pudding and impervious to physical attacks against it. We retreated and to slow its progress Fillian pelted the black pudding with charges from his magic missile wand and Sameson hurled a small magical globe, he had found from the statues, at it which exploded into a icy sphere. It barely seemed to notice though as it pursued us inexorably back to the fire temple.
Too slow to bar the doors the thing slid in after us. After overcoming their initial surprise the fire temple clerics called forth the salamanders from the cauldrons who hurled balls of fire at the black pudding until it became no more than a sticky mess upon their floor. Angered by this they made us use our air temple robes to scrub the floor. They shall pay for that humiliation when we return at full strength! For now we decided to vent our frustration on the air temple leader Kelnoo who served us no more purpose.
Returning to her temple we inadvertently activated an air elemental when Joe took some items from their precious shrine. The creature appeared out of thin air and began to spin and grow into a tempest. As Ugg, Joe. Fillian and I battled the elemental another ghost like apparition flew into the chamber from a nearby room and started attacking Sameson with its chilling touch. He dissipated the creature by brandishing his holy symbol. It seems clerics of Obad-Hai are not always as useless as I first assumed! The rest of our group managed to slay the elemental before the tempest became too out of control, but not without sustaining heavy damage.
As we re-entered the air temple we discovered a new secret passage and a trap door within it. This led to a room containing some treasure including a strange bottle with what appeared to be swirling mists within it. Fillian took this for safe keeping and we excited the room to find Kelnoo waiting in the main chamber. Her threats to us fell on dead ears and her powers were no match for ours. She tried to conjure a Darkness to hide within but I swept it away allowing the others to end her days on this plane forever!
Pleased with ourselves but injured and weary we retired to Kelnoo's quarters to rest and plan our attack on the fire temple tomorrow. The progress I have facilitated today however seems to have come with a price: my new found companions are becoming suspicious of me, especially the cleric of Obad-Hai. Our goals may well be the same but I wonder how much the ends justify the means for them. Time will tell!
