This site is an online accumulation of the Post Reports for my current ongoing D&D Campaign - for anyone who might be interested in reading them.

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Temple of Elemental Evil - Meet 29, 4/19/23

The first fight was with the 26 brigands in the tower, which taxed the party's resources and capabilities. A well timed Dominate Person Scroll on the enemy leader helped stem the tide. The kids have a healthy respect already for the Temple and are taking nothing for chance. Half want to leave now and get some hirelings, half want to explore a bit of the temple itself. Both ideas have merit, but the vote is to explore at least a little bit.

Follows:

With Torrand holding the door, the archers and crossbow wielder’s within shot at the fighter, ringing off his platemail. Rowan was doing all he could on our end while Hamburger was struck repeatedly by the spear wielders. Albert called out another summons and Pestle fired off a number of magic missiles from the wand. We tried to get to Aredhel to heal her as the grunting thugs stabbed and slashed. A crocodile was called into being as we finally got Aredhel up.

Then Ophelia went down, the cleric getting a number of blows that threatened to rip her apart. More missiles, magic and common fired about and the ring and clang of armor and weaponry was everywhere. Hamburger was critically hit in the chest and the main fighter who hit him snarled as Rowan as he busted the spear off in the great bull’s heart. No!!

Torrand was struck again and again, but refused to drop, holding his own while bleeding profusely. We finished off the closer foes as Albert summoned Jimmy the kobold and Rowan called for a badger to add to the fight. We pressed forward, healed Ophelia and were finally able to catch up to Torrand and healed him while Aredhel fired a sleep spell into the tower and knocked out a large portion of the archers within.

After that the fight drew easier and we were finished in short order. Two of the foes broke free and charged across the tower floor to a closed door and ran through it. Torrand and Furd gave chase along with the badger and Jimmy. The two thugs shoved a chest aside and ran into a tunnel to escape. But we managed to grab one and the badger ran into the tunnel finishing off the other.

We spent some time healing wounds and going through the bodies inside and outside the tower. Treasure was taken and we snagged a few knives and daggers. Albert got mad at Aredhel who healed Cheddar the dog first and then the two of them were going at it, brother and sister calling names. Furd got involved and it descended to just running around aimlessly.

We stashed some weapons to sell back at Nulb aside, split up the coins we found amongst ourselves, and then policed every body outside and behind the tower. It was almost 2 PM when we were done and we decided we were going to rest for now. The inside of the tower had little more to offer, a few rooms, some sleeping areas, and plenty of food. Enough for weeks if we played our hands right. So we didn’t have to run back to Nulb for now. Water was also a good thing with 2 40 gallon barrels on premises.

Eventually we rested and it was that evening that we realized that the spell making Torrand susceptible to suggestion had ended. However, he was willing to stay. Being unable to speak except in grunts and his own name, he did manage to get his thoughts and wants across. 10 gold per day. Every day. Starting tomorrow.

Er…sure.

Furd and Torrand gambled with dice for a bit, Aredhel joined in when able. But the group did eventually rest. We heard the ravens return and caw unhappily for a time. Then we also heard something, lots of somethings, try to get into the tower, scratching at the door’s base but the 3” of oak held firm. We awoke on Birthmonth the 11th and studied, broke our fast, and by 8:30, were ready to leave.


We could see the Temple in the distance south of here on the other side of some grove of trees, but we wanted to check the area out first. Some outbuildings were seen at the western end of the compound so we went there to look them over. Along one of them we did find by the foundation a set of stairs that went into the ground – and rats. Dozens of giant rats, milling around. A single flame burst went in but we did not know the size of the room down there and figured screwing with some undetermined number of huge rodents was a terrible idea. So we dragged loose boards and fallen walls over the stairway down to trap them down there and looked around the desolate landscape, discussing what our next move was.

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