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The Abduction Of Arno
Smallfang rushes to the spot where the trolls took Arno into the sewer. Lifting the old grate, he peers down into the deep and dark shaft. Even with his newly crafted ability for darkvision he cannot see the trolls, his friend Arno or the bottom. He calls to the others for aid. H rushes to the side of Smallfang but his normal human vision is no further help. H grabs a nearby rock and drops it down the shaft. He counts for what seems a very long time until he hears the faint splash from far below.
Meanwhile, Lithareal has taken to exploring the ruins. First she transforms into an eagle to view the area from above. The area is old and ruined. Ancient buildings are no more than rubble outlines of walls, sometimes even just the remnants of stone foundations. She lands and walks towards a cave like entrance which lies in the mountain above a rocky landing some thirty feet above the ground. As she walks towards the landing, she passes before two large stone statues old and crumbling. They come alive as the elf approaches and even with portions of their carved human bodies missing they address the elf, asking the intentions of the new visitor. "Diderious extends wisdom and Diderious offers knowledge. Which do you seek?"
Lithareal responds defiantly, "Who are you and who is Diderious?"
The statues turn their heads down in disappointment and do not converse with Lithareal further. The elf climbs a ladder, conveniently left in place at the foot of the landing and climbs up. Before being able to explore further she hears the loud whistle of H's and returns to the group. There she finds that Arno has been taken and quickly decides to pursue. Pulling 50 feet of rope from her pack, throwing one end to Smallfang and tossing the rest down the shaft, Lithareal rappels down. Smallfang braces for the wait, and H jumps to grab on as well, but there is no resistance. Lithareal is unable to get a grasp on the rope and plunges down the shaft. Thirty feet of shaft fly by, and in a panic Lithareal transforms into a spider to protect herself from the fall.
Unfortunately, it is a giant spider, which is too large for the shaft and the creature becomes wedged facing upwards, feet reaching skyward and unable to move. She tries wiggling, trashing and finally spinning web, which simply results in a splat of webbing against the side of the shaft, all without any resulting freedom. Finally she transforms back into an elf, grabbing the rope and is hauled back to the surface by Smallfang and H. Seemingly unable to pursue, the group decides to seek out other possibilities of rescue from within the temple.
The Watchful Statues
They approach the landing, briefly explored by Lithareal, passing in front of the two statues, as Lithareal did before. The statues move to life again and speak the same question. Lithareal pipes up again with the same question to their question and Smallfang simply shrugs. H begins to drawl irreverently and the statues again move their heads down in disappointment. Moving on the group climbs the ladder and comes to the entrance of the temple carved into the mountain.
The entrance is beautifully and intricately carved with depictions of past heroes and ominous future visions. Smallfang glances along some of these and exclaims, "Hey, I think this is my dad!"
They pass into a passageway, moving away from the dying light outside. The corridor is lined with three large statues on each side. Each a hooded figure holding a staff, looking downwards, their faces hidden by their cowls. As Smallfang and H, now holding a torch, approach a statue to inspect further they note the dozens, if not hundreds, of bones scattered along the floor.
The statues move and Smallfang and H both look up into the rising face still hidden in shadow. They both feel the rush of magic as their minds try to grasp the multitude of knowledge that pours into them. Smallfang feels elated and for a moment seems to know everything. All secrets. All knowledge. After the initial rush, he is able to retain, at least temporarily, much of this knowledge and he is quick to answer most of the groups questions with ease for the next long while.
H has not fared so well with the onslaught of knowledge. He is drooling, babbling and wandering aimlessly. Lithareal who up to this point had been examining the carvings on the wall has missed what had occurred with the statues and now sees H as a babbling idiot. He tries to use remove curse to help H but to no avail. Smallfang simply lifts up H and carries him cradled in his arms while Litharael removes H's weapons from his hands. They move through the remaining corridor and into the next room.
The Mosaic Chamber
The doors lead to a darkened room in the middle of which is a large pit. Dropping down a magically lit torch, Lithareal watches as the torch dwindles in sight and finally coming to rest, some 60 feet below in water. The pit is ringed with a large patch of mushrooms which are the color of fresh blood. Lithareal collects up several of these in a a bucket which was nearby on a long thin chain. H takes the chain from the bucket. (never know when a chain might come in handy). Along the wall there is a small ramp, at the top of which is a small basin with a plug at the bottom. Lithareal experiments with the lever near the basin and it would seem the lever controls the plug.
H moves up the basin and begins to relieve his bladder into the basin. Once finished, throws the lever ad watches his used water drain down below the basin and the group hears his urine flow through some sort of piping from within the walls. H asks is anyone else has to use the facilities and when no one takes him up on the offer, shrugs and they return to the mosaic room.
As they return to the chamber, H catches movement out of the corner of his eyes. It looked like the tile image of the chimera had moved. Just as H is puzzling over this, the chimera pulls itself off of the wall and attacks. The group quickly finds the battle easier when attacking the side of the chimera, since it is made of tiles, it is hard to hit when directly facing it. Soon the room is filled with the sounds of clacking, moving tiles as well as the sounds of smashing and breaking of tiles as the group soon finishes off the mosaic chimera.
As they catch their breath, some of them notice that some of the tiles have moved of their own accord, one the broken tiles mending itself. The group moves quickly to scatter and stow several of the tiles and decide to quickly move on.
Boulders of Stone and Bone
Lithareal rushes to the large double doors at one end of the room. The doors are covered in copper engravings of several priests surrounding a pool, kneeling and raising their hands upwards with a larger priest at the top. The doors are quite obviously buckled in towards the room the group is currently in. The hinges broken and barely holding on. Lithareal pulls them open.
Opening the doors unleashes an avalanche of boulders, rocks and other rubble which sends the two doors flying across the room. Lithareal is badly hurt and half buried under the rubble. Smallfang and H are injured but not grievously. Smallfang begins to pull rocks off of Lithareal until the elf can stand again. It would seem that the passage way beyond the double doors is impassable. Looking for other passages the group begins inspecting the walls and H finds a passageway concealed behind the large mosaic sun.
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As they enter the descending passageway behind the rotated sun, the move single file down towards the bottom. As they do, they hear the clatter of what they will soon realize is hundreds of bones and bone shards collecting into a large bone boulder. The bone boulder is hoisted by itself, using the multitude of hands, feet and arms that are incorporated into the boulder, into the passageway and begins to propel itself towards the trio. Smallfang and H are able to run and make it to just outside the mouth of the passage and take only minimal damage as the boulder passes them.Lithareal though who is behind the others, is grabbed by the multitude of skeletal hands and is pulled inside of the bone boulder, her body slashed and pierced by the sharp bones.The boulder picks up speed as it descends, with the elf now trapped inside, until is smashes upon the opposite wall of the room at the bottom of the passage. Lithareal is smashed against the wall and lies unmoving and unbreathing. Smallfang who had watched in amazement rushes to the dead body and lays his healing paladin hands upon the elf, reviving her.
Throne Room Antechamber
Once everyone is back on their feet again, they inspect the room. The room is richly adorned with tapestries hanging on the walls and the room is filled with the scent of incense. The group inspects the tapestries and each depict various stories or situations but common between them is the presence of priests using a divination pool to direct people who have come seeking assistance. Each of the seekers of knowledge are kneeling in supplication with their hands raised above their heads.
As the group moves to richly adorned doors, H kneels in the pose that is depicted again and again in the tapestries. The door opens and no harm comes to the group.
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The Throne Room
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| Just have to picture him sitting on a massive throne |
At the massive figure's feet are the offerings of centuries of individuals or groups who have come seeking the help of Diderius. A huge treasure hoard is before the group. Gold. Silver. Platinum. Weapons. Potions. Scrolls. Trinkets and Personal Items.
Smallfang is intrigued by more than a few items. He inspects a particularly fascinating potion, which with his newly found encyclopedic knowledge, he knows to be a potion of fire breathing. In the meantime, H pulls out one of his handmade bullets and reverently places it at the foot of the dais. The figure nods solemnly at H. Smallfang sighs and places a page torn from his precious prayer book. Lithareal takes a moment to decide, finally placing one of her swords down among the treasure.
The group begins to ask all of their questions which they are seeking answers to but the figure stops them, telling them that Diderius will answer their questions at the Pool of Divination. He turns and gestures with his look towards a door off the the side.
The group moves through the door and up a small set of stairs. They can hear talking, arguing and laughing. Entering the room, they see five hooded figures in filthy clothes playing at dice on a massive and ornate marble table. When the group approaches them, they realize the hooded figures are actually bearded devils. The devils like to gamble. Unfortunately, so does H.
A Twisted Contest
H, without hestating, fires two shots. The explosion of his guns echoing throughout the chamber. When the gunsmoke clears there are two holes in the wall near Lithareal's head. The elf simply looks bored. The devil then throws his two daggers, the daggers go straight at Lithareal's head and only with a bit of magic, Lithareal is able to deflect the daggers to the side.
Shrugging sheepishly and smiling a wicked smile, the devil's conceit defeat. The offered assistance to the group and they now debate how to best fulfill their vague promise. They offer knowledge of a great collection of treasure which lies in the room off one end of this chamber but warn that others had gone there and none had returned. They suggest if the group wishes to live then they should just admit their shortcomings and avoid the room. Reinforcing their advice, is the fact that scrawled in chalk on the wall beside the exit to this room is the word '?DAnGeR'. The devils also tell the group that they have been sworn to stay here and kill anyone exiting the other door. Their dwarven, cultist leader, Varram, had days ago went through that door, but has not yet returned. They are devils and have all the time in the world. Besides, when their job is done, they have to return to Avernus. They are in no rush to do that.
The group, decides for now, that their priority is finding their gnome friend, Arno. They move through the other door.
The Divination Pool
The room they enter is a large room with a huge basin at one end. Surrounding the basin are dozens of bodies. They range from old rotted corpses to freshly killed humans....in Cult Of The Dragon garb. There is no sign of the dwarf Varram but the walls here show signs of battle. Several arrows are stuck in the walls and some bodies.
The bodies though seem not to have died by arrows but each has had their throat cut and some are still lying half in the basin. The basin is no longer filled with water but there is a sheen of fluid which smells strongly of urine.
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Lithareal, who by now cannot resist a door to open, moves to the massive double doors at one side of the chamber. The double doors are adorned with carvings, this time no longer depicting numerous priests but only one main priest who's hands are raised to the sky.
Inside the chamber they are welcomed by a warmly lit room with oil lamps already lit. The room holds a large sarcophagus sitting on a large and ornate pedestal. As Lithareal approaches, she hears a loud and strong voice issuing from the coffin. It says it knows why they have come and that their friend Arno can be found in the company of two trolls at the bottom of the well in the other room. H asks about the whereabouts of the dwarf Varram and the dragon mask. The voice says Varram is with the Yuan-Ti and he will show them the way.
With a loud rumbling sound of rock grating, a section of the wall on the other side of the room begins to lower showing a passageway beyond. The air emanating is hot and humid. The group is torn. They need to retrieve Arno first but they do not wish to battle the devils. By doubling back they will exit the door the devils warned them that they were told to kill anyone who exits. After much debate Smallfang and Litharael each ingest a potion of gaseous form. passing through the rubble strewn passage way that is the most direct route back to the well. H is left behind but he spends it trying to put the finishing touches on the firearm he has been trying to get to work.
The Rescue Of Arno
As they return to the well room in gaseous form they travel down the well until the enter the sewer system which soon leads them to a bound gnome, Arno. A little further down the sewer are the two trolls which are arguing on how to best divide up such a small meal.
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Returning to their normal form, they cut loose Arno and together they battle the trolls. They first try to send the trolls running with a command spell but only one troll temporarily flees. They are able to inflict much damage on the remaining troll before his companion, comes to his senses, returns. As they try to dodge claws and teeth they, together, hatch a plan.Arno casts water breathing and Lithareal takes control of the vile sewer water and fills the passageway with water. As the trolls struggle within the water, the group grabs onto Litharael who transforms into a shark and pulls them quickly up and out of the sewer and back into the well room.
Unfortunately, the trolls have decided to pursue the group and they must fend off the trolls who are relying on their regeneration to aid them in their battle. Smallfang's sword helped in negating their much needed regeneration and the group is able to kill of the trolls.
Rushing to return to H and continue the pursuit of Varram the group moves swiftly along the familiar corridors. But perhaps to swiftly.
The Bone Boulder (Again)
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Lithareal jumps back into the passageway in which he was earlier almost killed by the bone boulder trap. He runs into the passageway while Smallfang yells out a warning. Sensing it is already too late, Smallfang retreats into the well room, not wanting to be in the same room as the quickly collecting skeletal remains.
The boulder forms and begins rolling down and quickly grabs the elf again. This time as the bone boulder crashes into the far wall, the body of the elf is beyond healing. Smallfang and Arno soon follow along and sadly pick through the elf's belongings.
Finding H again, they have to explain the absence of the elf and H shrugs and they move on.
This time when Diderius moves the stone wall again for them, there are lizard folk and yuan-ti awaiting the group. They have to fight taking massive amounts of damage from the lizard folk's spears and the yuan-ti's arrows.
Finally, Smallfang has to abandon his favorite great sword, Hazirawn, pulling out his shield for extra protection. Finally swords and bullets prevail but the group is severely battered.
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