Doomed
to wait eternal, which one of us will burn until the end.
Awake
once more I listened to my companion’s talk of plans to consecrate the earth
and fire temple shrines. Travelling with them Sameson managed to accomplish
this feat without summoning any demons this time, although he did look a bit
singed after consecrating the fire shrine. Once this errand was complete I
suggested we again go down to the third level of the temple and continue our
search for Mitrik's whelp. And so we went west from 'king' Scorpps old lair
into unknown terrain. Joe spotted a
hidden door and inside were some descending steps that oddly had been swept clean
by a broom we found at the bottom. So...something that has a desire for
cleanliness resides in the temple after all.
A
corridor led round a corner at the bottom and we sent Joe ahead to investigate.
Only he did not return! So Fillian went ahead to see what had happened to our
little thief and he in turn did not return. Sameson used that badge of his to
investigate, but it saw nothing...or at least could not communicate what it saw
to us. So we decided there was nothing for it but for the remaining three of us
to try our luck. I turned the corner and was horrified to look into the eyes of
large lizard. A basilisk, I realized as I looked into its reptilian eyes and
felt my skin harden as I turned to stone along with Sameson. Ugg was the only
one to shrug off the creatures gaze and promptly closed his eyes. But what good
could a blind half orc do against such a monster with his comrades statues
around him...
…
who knows how much blasted time I spent incarcerated as a statue. I was aware
of nothing, except the rage of my deity pulsating within my head at allowing
myself to be imprisoned so. Finally, his hand guided those who would free me to
my side. None other than the trickster gnome, Wonillion, and its comrades Taki
(the lover of the favoured one), a cleric of Saint Cuthbert by the name of Cedric
and Ugg himself. Wonillion is a mage and used scrolls of stone to flesh to
reverse the transmutation. Later it was revealed that it was this very same
gnome who conjured the basilisk, which in fact was nothing more than a very
convincing illusion. It did this under the service of an evil mage named
Falrinth (the very same who gave the half-orc in Nulb the cursed sword) and now
sought redemption in freeing us from the results of its handiwork. Redemption
however seems to only go so far with gnomes because in our incarcerated state
the treacherous creature had covered us all in brightly coloured paints for its
amusement.
Should
I meet this trickster again I shall find a way to get even with it. However,
for now it worked its magic to change us all back to our true forms. The
transformation was a dangerous one which required the strongest of
constitutions to survive. Joe would not have lived through it were it not for
my intervention; calling upon my deity to keep this most useful thief alive.
Amusingly, another side effect of the gnome’s magic was that its familiar, a
ferret, turned to stone and shattered upon the chamber floor leaving the gnome
to release a cacophonous wail to rival that of any banshee. Then the warrior with the misplaced
affections announced his intentions to leave in his search for Mai and
blessedly took the distraught creature with him.
This
left us with the Cuthbertite who simply shrugged and joined our ranks. There is
something else about this cleric. Something more than his obvious religious
fervour that I can’t yet put my finger on, but I intend to get to the bottom of
when the opportunity presents itself. A look around revealed we were in some
kind of storage chamber away from the basilisk illusion. It also revealed that
Fillian (the elf mage) was no longer with us. Cedric told us that Falrinth had
put our statues in different elemental temples guarding by powerful monsters.
They had been unable to get Fillian back because he was guarded by the
Juggernaut within the water temple.
Together
we agreed upon the folly of throwing our lives away against the juggernaut for
an elf and headed down deeper into the temple in search of the high priest of
the greater temple. Iuz’s days as the master of this domain are numbered. On
route we opted to investigate a stairway as yet unexplored near what was the
lair of ‘King’ Scorpp. Down it was a large chamber in which laired a two-headed
giant, an ettin. Sameson clumsily slipped down the staircase on route to engage
the beast and knocked himself unconscious, so it was left to Ugg and our new
pious friend, Cedric, to engage the beast whilst Joe peppered it with arrows. I
attempted to shatter the mind of the giant but the two heads proved impossible
for me to dominate. Regardless we made short work of the monster with Ugg
striking the killing blow.
We
found little treasure within this room and Joe picked the lock on one of the
huge double doors that exited it. The door lead to a long corridor and after
much exploration of all manner of chambers (including a banquet chamber adorned
with gaudy pictures of battles worn by the temple of elemental evil) we finally
came to a room adorned completely in black. In typical fashion my comrades
recklessly entered as if it were their own bedchambers and were set upon by shadows
hiding unseen within it. These undead creatures would have been dealt with most
succinctly by three clerics had it not been for one such creature that gripped
a rod within its shadowy claw. A rod
adorned with the symbols of Iuz that protected them from our turning abilities.
We
were left with no choice but to attack with our weapons and I concentrated my
attacks, along with Cedric, on the one which held the rod. Together we bested
the creature that attempted, unsuccessfully, to drain the strength from our
bodies with its touch. As it dissipated the rod fell to the floor and I crushed
this symbol of a lesser god under my booted feet. Sameson lifted his holy
symbol and the rest of the shadows were cast away by his god’s wrath leaving us
free to continue to explore the area. Joe spotted a secret door and through
which was a huge burial chamber with skeletons cast all about the place. Aware
of the threat of undead I cast a death … but after finding that nothing was
undead within the area I stayed by the door and let my comrades explore the
chamber.
Whilst
they continued to make as much racket as humanly possible I sensed another
group of shadows approaching from back down the corridor. These unfortunate
souls had no such protection as the rod from before and so I managed to
silently dispatch them before my comrades even knew they were there. I seized
control of half of them and made them destroy the other half and repeated the
process till none were left. It amused me to make these dark puppets dance their
silent battle whilst my companions stomped around unaware.
In
my absence Joe had discovered another secret door in the burial chamber.
However, at this time we decided to find somewhere to rest and recover our
strength for whatever lay ahead. After all we had been awake for days. I took
the first watch and when nothing occurred went to the battle of sleep.
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