Birthmonth the 13th. We expected to return to the Temple of Gruumsh tonight, the local watch had finished their investigation, and an 18 count of orcish and half orcish militants headed by a Karraway, had been taken out and placed in the jail awaiting trial. The Temple had been briefly looked over and a new set of chains and locks were in place. So we would have to sneak again through the refuse trench along the back and enter through the broken wall.
Father Falder was getting worried, there were precious few rags for us to take to cover feet with, and we promised to bring back the bundles we had left at the wall when we returned next. When curfew was called at 8 we got ready and at 8:15, snuck out of the Uller Temple grounds and made our way westward to the main road. From there we snuck behind Temple Row and traveled westward until we came upon the break in the wall again. And when we looked for the hobo sacks of rags we had left here – they had been found and taken – most likely by the city guards when they raided the place.
We worked our way west and then north, crossing the grounds along the wall of the Temple. We passed the stables and this time heard nothing from within. At the front of the place, we came to the Woodcutter’s shed and it too was uninhabited. A Detect Evil by the paladin had 2 pings, he was sure was ghouls by their taste, south and far from here.
We snuck along to the portcullis and slipped through the bent bars here and slightly out of view from the main street. The 2nd set was down and we were going to need to lift the gates. 5 of us grabbed the lower bars and lifted – the gates rose to about 2 feet tall and Gun slipped under. He went to the eastern winch house, wound the chain slack up, and then engaged the locking bar.
Once safe, the party crawled under and looked about the Courtyard. The burn marks were pretty deep. There was a set of double doors running south which the slave child assured us led to the way out he took between the legs of Gruumsh. There was also an eastern door here. According to the escaped slave, both Elwita and Karraway would come from above many times, and it wasn’t always from the other way in the temple. Meaning there might be another way down.
We checked the eastern door and once sure it was ok, opened up. The Temple beyond here had been cleaned up and the passage went east, then turned south. We entered, lit the lantern, and moved on. Passage went east, then south, then east again. The smell of sewage and standing water was climbing. Along the 2nd eastern hall we saw 2 doors on the north wall, one about 30’ down, the other maybe 50’ and at the end of the hall.
After clearing the first door, we opened it to see the Cloister Garden, an open air garden of vibrant flowers, a single dirt path running north 70 feet to another door, and stunted dying trees. We did NOT enter at first, the path showed signs of often use, booted prints – orcish? Plus a few places were some oversized eagle or vulture had hopped around. Not nice. Rhareli tried to stay in there a moment door closed to listen or spot anything, and no go.
The last door we opened and saw a slow moving river of moving water about 3’ down. It was a mix or water and sewage and it ran off to the north. There was a door here propped up on the side, and a 10’ long pole. We could risk getting on the door and poling down the passage…or we could just not do that at all because it sounds terrible. We shut the door and went back to the garden.
We crossed with care, NOT STEPPING OFF THE PATH OR ON THE GRASS!!
There was a single oversized vulture greasy feather a few feet off the path under a tree. Atlas used a mage hand spell to swarm over there, pick it up, and bring it back to him. At the other side of the chamber we listened and then opened the door, returning to the temple. Large room, nice floor. Two candles here, picked over as if tallow as ripped off. The group thought it was a good idea and took a bunch of tallow as well. After making sure there were no secret doors, we left on the east door.
Passage south joined up with the other end of the shit river passage, corridor north had a door on the left side and a section that kept going. We checked the door first and entered. Slave room. South wall had 20 chains and manacles mounted there. There was a side room with a table and some hooks. Gave the room a solid once over. At the far end we found a ring set in the floor and was sure it was a hatch that would lead down. Right now we wanted to clear out the rest of the area so we went back to the hall and went north.
As we traveled along we got to a final door and the temple here was in bad shape. Opening it up it was a dormitory but it looks like the fire had reached here. The ceiling was partially collapsed. Before we risked entering, Rhareli was staring at the ceiling intently and assured us that it would cave in if we went in and poked around. Taking the gnome’s advice, we left and traveled all the way back to the Courtyard.
At 10:30 PM we opened the double doors looking south and stopped. The hall was long, 80’, and there were alcoves on each side every 10’, each one had a full sized stone statue of either an orc with a weapon up ready to attack, or a gargoyle claws wide and mouth open to bite. No one trusted it. We summoned a creature, getting a monkey. It came in, hooted ,and started down the hall at our request. After 50’ there was a flash of light and some groaning and the two statues on either side lifted up and slammed across the hall to the other side. The monkey was dispelled.
We got closer and a detect magic let us know there was a 10’ wide, 10’ tall, 5’ deep magical area. Not sure what it was we looked around and then had the thought to throw something in the zone. Instead, Hrimvir picked up a nearby gargoyle statue, placed it outside the magic zone, and pushed it in. Again a flash of light and the 2 statues on the floor flew out, hit the existing statue and broke into a bunch of pieces. A few of us got peppered with rubble but now there were 3 broken statues here. We tried another statue and again parts flew everywhere, over 2,000 lbs of flying rubble.
Not wanting to risk getting hurt, Hrimvir used the rod of cancellation we had and for a solid minute, turned off the glyph. We all ran through and stopped at the last set of double doors. Once sure it was clear, we entered and beheld the temple itself.
Large room, 12’ statue to Gruumsh with an upraised sword on a 3 step dais. A poor box mounted on the wall here. We entered and spread out. There was a door at the back of the room behind the dais. The Poor box was hung on the wall. We took it off and slid the back open, revealing a couple dozen brass bits and 8 commons. There was also a stone statue of a troll, about 3 to 4” tall in here, like a child’s toy. But when we picked it up, it swelled to full size and attacked the party. Sylas got a lucky fast attack on it but the troll was right there and was hitting us.
Sylas’ flaming sword gave it pause, and then there were other targets to attack. We shot at it and stabbed at it, and it healed every round. Finally we got enough blows in to drop it to zero. Sylas was letting the group know that we had a few minutes tops to burn it before it would spontaneously heal and attack us all over again. Oil was doused, we tore open one vein, got a vial of blood, and then set the damned thing alight. The smell was foul and it turned to sludge quickly, rotting away.
Through the back door we heard squeaking. Lots of it. No one thought it was worth opening especially since someone had written on it, Danger, do not open, in charcoal.
We looked over the base of the statue and found a section of stone that flipped up, revealing an iron ring below. Success. We twisted it, and it took a few tries, but we opened it up showing a dark hole going down. Smell of dirt, pus, bugs, and sewage wafted up. Yandr was volunteered to go first, and he went down 25’ to 30’ to the bottom. Rough dirt and stone cave, barely 5’ wide, 8’ tall. One by one we all went down and were discussing marching order. Path only went north from here. Birthmonth 13th, 11:20 PM
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