Session 34

September 28th, 2014 - 12th of Harvester (High Summer) 580 CY

- The companions ponder their situation. Do the gates lead to important components of the "key" to the Temple? Are they merely distractions and possibly death traps? They decide to ruminate upon their dilemma while exploring other areas of the interdiction.
- Melath explores ahead and comes upon a room of loamy earth. As he signals forth the other members of the party, vaguely humanoid-shaped fungi spring forth from the soil and attack with their gangly tentacles. Smaller, hooting versions of the squat creatures break through the earth and seem to wither in the light of Zohar's magically lit coin. The larger violet colored mushrooms leave a rotting disease upon Melath's arm - yet they are easily destroyed by the lit spheres of Zohar and some Pelorian magical missiles. Neirdre calls forth the powers of Pelor to heal the putrescence afflicting Melath. Neirdre reveals something magical in the center of the room and Rennard, tied to his friends, wades in and retrieves the ivory case.
- The companions move on to another room with walls depicting fungi triumphant. There is also a non-descript armchair. The adjoining room contains four highly suspicious suits of armor. Rennard concentrates and detects an evil emanation. As he enters the room, the metal constructs animate and attack! Rennard battles with his sword while Zohar casts forth a lightning spell, which appears to not affect the monsters. After some time and wasted spell casting, it is determined that the creatures can only be affected by mundane means. Zohar throws caution to the wind and invokes the powers of his mysterious wand dropping one of the creatures in a deep pit. Rivermist and Neirdre chip away at them with their respective weapons. Melath's inexplicable clumsiness rises to the forefront. Insects are summoned. Eventually the clanging, metal creatures are destroyed. A strange scream is heard, or was it... Cackling? The companions bind their wounds and move on.
- Melath, scouting ahead, comes to a long corridor which abuts a tapestry shrouding the room beyond. He notices four dusty stones sitting in a niche opposite the tapestry. An eerie chuckle is heard from beyond the tapestry. The rest arrive to meet him while he takes a peek under the tapestry. The old crone he sees staring directly at him distresses, especially as Rennard whispers that she is of a great and ancient evil. Melath stands and extracts a stone from the niche. His wrist is immediately met by a blade slicing down from inside the niche. He draws back a bloody stump, his dismembered hand flopping to the floor. Neirdre rushes to staunch the bloody wound and successfully and expediently dresses the wound. Melath gathers what was once "his."
- In the meantime, distracted by the ineffable evil, Rennard draws back the tapestry and enters the chamber beyond. He discovers, kneeling before him, the crone that Melath spied. She begs for the Paladin's help in escaping her prison and former home. She offers the electrum pillar as a gift for helping to achieve her egress. The stoic Cuthbertine ignores her pleas. Meanwhile, Rivermist and Zohar make their appearance in the throne room of the demoness Zuggtmoy. The Druid calls forth her magical rope to constrain the hag. The crone seems to cringe as the rope entwines her limbs. She again pleads with the good knight for her release. She offers the gold pillar for her release. Again, the knight ignores her pleas. She then disappears from sight, the rope falling to the stairs of the dais. Zohar retreats to the corridor. Melath has disengaged from the group and is communing with Skritch, his familiar. Neirdre witnesses the disappearance of the crone as he steps beyond the tapestry.
- Back in the corridor Zohar uses his psionic ability to move the four stones from the niche without physically touching them. The traps spring and Zohar is affected only by a lightning trap. he takes minimal damage. The back side of the niche opens to reveal a small room containing magical implements. Melath explores the hallway for hidden doors and traps and discovers only the twin of the southern secret door through which they entered on the north side of the corridor. Rennard hears, seemingly in his own thoughts, the voice of the old crone offering up the last and most precious of the three pillars, the platinum. His resolve is strong, his mettle true.
- The party, with the help of the elven Druidess' rope, retrieves the items from the trapped room. With a lingering thought from the demoness - "Thieves!" - they take their exit. Beyond short encounters with some two-headed giants and oblivious trolls, the party heads to Nulb to reflect on their experiences and identify the loot garnered from the evil edifice.

Session 33

September 7th, 2014 - 3rd of Harvester to the 12th of Harvester (High Summer) 580 CY

- The Moat House Men are surprised to find Prince Thrommel's war horse, Nubis, has arrived to meet his master in Nulb. He is accompanied by Thrommel's Aide-de-camp and field staff.The Prince suggests the party return to the Temple to finish the job they have started. Despite protestations, the heroes of Hommlet agree and detour to the Moat House to train and refit for their return to the Temple.
- Zohar and Neirdre allow Burne access to Falrinth's spellbooks in exchange for some of his own spells and future favor. He readily agrees.
- The party returns to the Temple's third level. They encounter a lurking, constricting creature, but for Neirdre's recently learned Stoneskin spell, the monster nearly killed him. A couple of handy Flaming Sphere applications were integral.
- After avoiding a large sliding wall trap in another chamber, Melath finds a ruby in a jar. A fine film on the gem gave him a scorching case of "sausage fingers" for a short time. Thankfully he had extracted the stone from the jar before touching it.
- The party finally confronts the demon-head trap guarding the door of an obviously important room. After Rivermist divines the trap as lethal, Neirdre creates snakes from sticks to set it off as the party finds shelter. The trap emits poison darts and a lethal gas. After the gas clears, the band enters the room beyond.
- The laboratory beyond the demon door contains all sorts of spell components and materials used in spell research. It also contains a body - the stitched-together constituent body parts of a number of monsters. Rennard hacks the abomination to pieces. It was then that a many armed beast attacked, roping it's tentacles around Rennard and others. The Paladin's natural good luck fails him here. He is rendered powerless by the tactile venom on the beast's tentacles. The party, however, defeats the beast and Melath finds a treasure in it's belly.
- After resting up in the roper room, the party ponders their next move. They conclude that they should return to the preceding level and attempt to break down the locked doors down to the blocked area to the north. The great bronzewood valves are sundered in no time at all.
- The party comes into a great throne room. The many stylized fixtures depict fungi in triumph. The demoness Zuggtmoy is also mentioned in runes. The heroes search various anterooms to the throne room. The party discovers a large room with what they believe to be extra planar gates depicted in the four symbols of elemental evil.

Session 32

August 31st, 2014 - 1st of Harvester to the 3rd of Harvester (High Summer) 580 CY

- The Pelorian, Cuthbertine, Invoker, Rogue and Druid move on to the great hexagonal room which Elladan the elf had explored slightly on an earlier excursion. When they enter the echoing chamber, they are confronted by eight drooling, hungry trolls. Zohar keeps them at bay with his fire spells while the rest begin to torment them using guerrilla tactics. It soon becomes apparent, however, that they will only defeat them with other-than mundane means. They finish the nasty beasts with oil and fire. Four iron keys are looted from the bodies and lairs of the creatures.
- In another room, the party finds a hidden pantry stocked with valuable goblets and expensive brandy.
- Further on, our heroes enter a richly decorated room and discover the body of an elf who met her end in an obviously violent manner. Revenge, apparently, was on her dying breath because her implacable spirit remained nearby. As the keening shade attacked, Zohar was stricken with great fear and flew through the corridors of the temple. Meanwhile the remaining members of the party magically silence, corner and banish the shrieking she-elf. The party retrieves a stone from the hand of the corpse and a scroll of wizard spells which were detected as magic. The Druid and Paladin also retrieve the disoriented invoker.
- Another room reveals alchemical components and materials in great quantities. Rivermist magically works the stone into a barrier before the entrance to the circular room. The intent of the party is to return and bring the items back to the moat house in order that Zohar might dabble in his actinic endeavors.

Crown Prince of Furyondy and Provost of Veluna, Thrommel

- The Moat House Men proceed to the northwest. Melath's sharp vision picks out the opening device of a secret door. As the party enters the area beyond the door, they notice disuse and dust. It is quite apparent that this area has not seen footfall in many years. Rennard takes the lead and nearly stumbles into a deep pit. It is determined that Melath will be lowered into the pit to get a better look at the corpse spotted lying at the bottom. He discovers that the liquid is a sort of acid and that the poor victim impaled on the spikes and partially dissolved was a warrior of the Shield Lands. Melath fills four flasks with the demonic liquid. After returning to the top, the cutpurse is once again tasked with climbing the walls of the corridor, over the pit, and into what lies beyond.
  Astonishingly, the dark elf discovers a shrine to Pholtus "of the Blinding Light" and a silver cross over the west wall. In the shrine is a silver idol created in the image of the bright god and a votive lamp - also silver. There seemed to be a great deal of silver... The paladin kneels and prays sensing a presence of evil emanating from beyond the silver cross. Melath dons the ring of transparency and peers through the wall to what was likely the room in which they had previously divined the presence of Prince Thrommel - disguised as a vampire. A secret door leading into the room also becomes evident to Melath.
- The group decides to utilize the secretive area to rest for a full day. Upon regaining their spells and wits, the cohort enters Thrommel's resting place, carefully. What lies in this room matches Melath's and the party's expectations. They spend some time determining how to bring the Provost out of his torpor. Rivermist suspects that the sarcophagus should be brought out of the chamber. Upon exiting the room the Prince appears to revive from his undead state and takes some time to come to his senses. Upon his revival, he asks for the band's help to exit the Temple.
- As the Moat House Men escort the Prince to Nulb and possibly beyond, to
Mitrik, they consider the ramifications of what they have done.