Long Hot Summer

Summer of Common Year 592

The Second Level
We were quite happy to have finished clearing out the first level of the recovered temple.  Having Falrinth behind us was a big turning point in the quest to stop the cultists and their lunatic plans.  Of course it was much too early to be celebrating, when the main force of Doomdreamers were still to come.

The cultists placed two sets of very capable guards in the first section of the lower level.  The first group were ropers, who had illithidae brains planted in them.  We could not help but think that the mind flayer Satau, Oracle of the Outer Fane, was involved in this twisted process.  The second set of guardians were stone golems with the Tharizdun obex chiseled into their bodies.  The battle was challenging, because we had a golem on each side of us and a group of archers firing arrow volleys at our front.  Victor once again showed his wrestling prowess by pinning one of the golems.  Uthgar also was able to stand toe to toe with the other one.

We proceeded down a corridor marked “danger” and found out it was an apt warning.  Of course signs like that draw adventurers like moths to a flame.  A huge mass or writhing tentacles swallowed Vannay, and we beat a hasty retreat.

The Ghost and the Worm
We returned the next day to do battle with the tentacle creature, which turned out to be a purple worm from the Far Realms.  It turned out that there was a sorcerer ghost accompanying him.  Our level of spell preparation made short work of the worm, and the ghost was quickly dealt with.

We then found a raging insane dog tied to a chamber wall.  We debated about whether or not to kill it, when Safadin determined that it was not actually a canine.  We removed a few curses from it, and we discovered that it was an archon hound.  It became apparent that this was the scout sent by Canoness Y’dey.  Kainell D’fehund was his name, and he agreed to help us in our exploration of the temple.  He told us that there were powerful glyphs placed around the temple site, so his ability to disable them would prove useful.

Where Dreamers Sleep
The next morning we made our way over to the other side of the main corridor.  We found some goblin excavators with their ogre master working on the clearing process.  Delvanos shot the ogre dead, and we freed the goblins.

We then discovered two prisoners kept in cages.  They appeared to be Spugnoir and Zerosh of Hommlet, but Kainell informed us that they registered as evil beings.  The imposters realized that the ruse was up, and they began attacking us with spells.  It was a quick battle, and when they were slain they reverted to their rakshasa form.  This led us to believe that the cultists had infiltrated Hommlet again after Dunrat’s group had been killed.  It also reminded us that Canoness Y’dey had not been in touch with us for some time.

We pressed on and found the bed chamber of the Doomdreamers.  A journal of their activities and another book called The Tome of the Black Eye were discovered.  The journal was written by Susain Carun, who had taken over the duties of The Third.  It mentioned a number of other cultists as well.  They were Thucos, Estalion, Maliskra and our old nemesis Tessimon.  Maliskra’s entry stated that she was already in the Fire Node with the Champion.  The journal said that this was the job she had been training for her entire career in the cult.  It also said that Tessimon was not overly popular, and that she was given the duty of guarding the Fire Node entrance.  The Tome of the Black Eye was a religious text detailing the control of their altars.  It said that an altar was in the old moat house, and that one was in the Fire Temple in the Crater Ridge Mines.  Vannay and Victor remembered the one under the moat house, and we destroyed the one in the Fire Temple.  The third altar was placed in the Greater Temple, which by the description indicated that it was nearby.

We also found glyphs in all three hallways exiting the Doomdreamer’s room.  Vannay recalled that the aboleths are one of the most powerful glyph makers, so we decided that these were probably the work of The Second.  We found the aboleth’s chamber near the other cultist’s room.  It had a large tank with two skum in it.  They did not put up much of a fight.

The Greater Temple
The next day saw one of the most deadly battles of our quest thus far.  We made our way down the main center hallway, and we were assaulted by the remaining archers and an arrow demon.  As we pushed forward, we found Susain in the midst of a ritual in front of the third altar.  It was already in its heliotrope state, and there was an ogre with his eyes gouged out beating on a drum nearby.  There was also a person bound on the altar, who appeared to be the sacrificial member of the ceremony.  Delvanos acted quickly and destroyed the candelabrum with a well placed volley of adamantine tipped arrows.  The other creature visible in the Greater Temple was a cornugon from Baator.  

The battle was joined with a flurry of spells and arrows being traded back and forth.  We wisely kept casting buff spells, since this looked to be a long and deadly battle.  All but one of the archers were dropped, and he began to flee the battle.  We let him flee, but the arrow demon dropped him when he tried to pass.  The archon hound was banished, when Susain used Word of Chaos on us.  Safadin managed to get off a successful greater dispel magic on Susain, but she retaliated by destroying him completely.  We began moving into the room and engaging the spiked chain wielding devil, and we found another Doomdreamer, Thucos waiting on us.  Uthgar nearly dropped him in one round of attacks, but it was not quite enough.  Thucos buried his pick in Uthgar’s head dropping him to the floor.

The battle raged on, and through the combined efforts of our group we slew the cornugon and Thucos.  Susain was nearly finished, when a huge water elemental appeared.  It was too little too late for the newest member of the Triad.  Another few attacks and she lay dead at our feet.  

We discovered that it was Delvanos’ brother Lucas on the altar.  He had also had his eyes gouged out, and he had severe scarring visible on all his exposed skin.  He told us that he had been kept in a prison and tortured relentlessly by a creature named Yrthruk.  The main question he was asked during the torture was the location of the binder.  Even in the midst of the wracking pain, he lied about who had it.  After he was blinded he was taken to the temple site by a creature, who we knew to be Infinitus.  We promised him that the horror was over, and we would see to it that his sight was restored.    We took Safadin’s gear and Uthgar’s body and teleported to Chendl.  The next day, we met with Canon Heldenster, and he agreed to perform the True Resurrection on Safadin.  Several of us pitched in on a donation to the Church of Heironeous to pay for the spell.  We also raised Uthgar from the dead.  Lucas was restored to full health, and he said he would be staying in Chendl for the time being.

Beyond the Veil
We returned to the Greater Temple the following day.  The purple curtain beyond the altar, which we destroyed, had tentacles that attempted to attack us.  Victor managed to avoid them and pull back the curtain.  On the other side of it, we saw three altars in a triangle pattern and a strange creature on the other side of that.  The feminine creature had pseudopods on her lower half and a human upper torso.  Vannay and Safadin recognized her as the demoness Zuggtmoy, who had been instrumental in the construction of the original temple.  It was our good fortune that she was just an illusion.  After she was dispelled, an aboleth encased in a water cocoon entered the room.  It was also an illusion of The Second, but it could be used as the source of the aboleth’s spells.

Once again we put up our buffs and protective wards as the battle go underway.  Victor’s true seeing revealed the presence of Estalion in addition to The Second.  The battle was quite dangerous, and the aboleth was nearly impossible to hit.  We fired off a number of dispel magics on it, and that allowed us to actually hit the creature.  Creden took the worst of The Second’s melee attacks, but he was able to heal himself before falling.  Victor used silence and was able to completely neutralize Estalion.  She fell quickly after being grappled by him.  We managed to finally overcome the number two member of the Triad after several rounds.

Beyond the second temple area was a large chamber with a fungus covered silver throne.  The ceiling and walls of the room were painted with scenes of slaughter by the original denizens of the Temple of Elemental Evil.  Uthgar sat on the throne, and he heard a voice promising him three wishes if he would destroy the grand altar in the Tabernacle of Utter Darkness.  The voice said that she would be free if he managed that task.  After informing the rest of the party about the communication, all the party scholars decided that it was Zuggtmoy speaking to him.  Perhaps the stories of her return to the abyss after the fall of the temple were not as accurate as we thought.  We decided that thrones that channeled demon princes were not that safe.  Victor, Creden and Uthgar smashed it into pieces.  After gathering up all the cultist’s gear, we returned to Chendl for a well-deserved break.