Dear Diary….marshaling our forces

Alert: Contains spoilers for the adventures “The Village of Hommlet” and “The Temple of Elemental Evil”

When we left Cleric Romag at the tower last night, Ezekiel took what he thinks is Romag’s holy symbol, so hopefully he can’t use it to cause trouble for anyone.

(We’re letting Heiran wear his special magic chainmail for the time-being, as it’ll help him survive longer while traveling with us, and Raven asked to hang onto the magic mace just in case it came in handy.)

After breakfast, Eze headed to the elder’s house to give a report and request a council meeting so we can get further instructions and advice.

Raven went shopping (he said he wanted more cheese), so I had him buy me more arrows (since Ezekiel still says I shouldn’t wander around town talking to people too much). He also bought arrows for Heiran, since the idea is to train him in bow so we have more ranged options.

Lydia headed out to get all our treasure appraised and converted, and as she didn’t seem to want my help (see above) I took Heiran to the back yard to go over the basics.

He’s not exactly a fast learner, but once he gets something down, he really gets it.

(Oh, and he almost snapped the practice bow we had. Have to think about this…)

****

Ezekiel and Raven were back by the time Lydia was, so we divvied up the treasure.

Eze says there’s a meeting in one week at the chapel of St. Cuthbert.

He also said he wanted to trade/sell the two scrolls we found to the chapel (since we don’t have much use for “Protection from Earth Elementals” and “Animate Dead”) and someone (I don’t remember who) said that if we were turning the scrolls into cash, then we should divvy that up, too.

Well that took a little while, but when we were done, Ezekiel kept counting his share over and over– but the number he kept getting wasn’t what he wanted (in my limited knowledge of clerical fees and book costs and such, I can see why).

I still haven’t paid him back for what he spent to get me raised, and I was kind of waiting for him to say something (especially since it was my own dumb fault for being murdered)…but then he started talking about how important it would be for me to work out this week, and maybe find someone to teach me new techniques.

I don’t know where I would find someone like that, since Elmo said he’d pretty much taught me all he knows, but maybe he knows someone else.

Yeti and Ezekiel say they can handle getting the ladies back to the Chron Hills, so it’s not like I have to worry about that, either.

****

Turns out Elmo did know someone.

We headed for the chapel this evening for the meeting. I think Canon Turjon had done something “spiritual” to the building…it felt “safe” to be there, like no one would be eavesdropping on us.

Everyone was there, from Druid Master Geru to the constable to Masters Rufus and Bern from the tower, even the “smith” from Nulb – who introduced himself to the others as Otis.

Ezekiel gave the long and the short of the whole matter: we went to investigate as requested…the Temple has been reopened, and a large section of the Chaotic Earth Temple are cleaned up…sacrifices seem to be underway.

He showed them the brooch that interested him so much, and though Lord Otis didn’t know the individual it belonged to, we all agreed that losing a Knight of Veluna and of the Hart was a bad thing.

The elder pointed out that Furiundy has its own problems to deal with (what with the Prince disappearing and all) and You Know Who making trouble on their northern border, so we can’t expect much help from them. However, Sir Rufus has sent to Veluna for professionals to give us advice and training as we advance through the Temple.

Because Ezekiel made it clear we’re “declaring war” on the Temple…we’re not in stealth mode anymore (which is fine, since that’s not our strong suit) but we’re heading in to clear them out for good.

For Good!

Everyone expressed their moral support – and Otis the “smith” revealed that when we saw his smithy burning, that was actually on purpose! He says one of the scouts had noticed we were having “difficulties,” and that we might benefit from a diversion as we passed through Nulb. (Oh, the adrenaline hang-over I had that day.)

Just goes to show they’ve had our back longer than we realized.

They suggested we visit Old Lady Edai if we need healing supplies, and Otis invited us to visit the smithy in Nulb – although he warned us that he has an assistant who seems too nosy that is natural.

Oh, yes – and Canon Turjon took a look at Ezekiel’s mace had found it very interesting…he says there’s some kind of “spell charge” on it, and would be interested in checking it out with Ezekiel some time when we’re back in town. That should cheer him up.

We’ll visit the blacksmith here in Hommlet before we leave again, to see if we can get a good, sturdy bow for Heiran…I see he’s kept up with the drills I taught him while I was gone, and a stronger bow would help the arrows hit a little harder. We’ll see.

****

Bought rations and returned to Temple with no issues (Wonillon the Gnome and Heiran riding in the cart).

This time we descended by the red stairs in the south-west nave – the same staircase we came up when we had all our prisoners. The first right turn brought us smack against an ogre, which Yeti and I took down from a distance. (That magic boomerang hammer of his is really coming in handy!)

That corridor led to two opposite rooms, which both looked like they used to be armories – with weapons racks, pegs on the walls for shields, etc.

One of them was littered with the skeletons of humans and gnolls – I assume from ten years ago.

While the party was investigating the second armory, an ogre came up from behind us, and Heiran and I shot it to death (I took more arrows to do it, but at least I got it through the eye. Heiran has really seemed to grasp the basics so far).

Meanwhile, Wonillon had noticed something and called for a “tall person” (which would not be me).

Something shiny sat on an arch – and the ceilings were high, so it was at least ten feet up.

Raven climbed up and found it was a crossbow bolt…possibly magical, with how much care went into making it. (He also found lots of cobwebs, but nothing worse.) So Yeti has it for now for his crossbow.

Continuing down the main corridor to the east, we found a passage to the left that ended in huge bronze doors covered with carvings or moldings of ugly faces.

There were also two openings to either side, which Wonillon and Yeti told us sloped gradually down.

After some discussion, we went far enough to confirm that they led to another floor entirely, before returning to the main corridor so we could finish clearing the Earth Temple.

(We also glimpsed what I’m pretty sure is a hydra…though it didn’t seem too interested in us, I’m not looking forward to fighting it.)

Not far along, we found the green stairs where we descended the very first time. It seems the two staircases are mirrored along this corridor, since there’s also a short passage to the south that branches off into two armories.

There were bones here, too, and Ezekiel pointed out teeth marks on some of them. Ghouls, probably (which I hate, by the way).

Raven and I checked the second room while the others were busy looking for secret passages, and found a quiver with seventeen arrows that looked useable.

We then went north, past the harpy room (smells like something else died in there recently…or maybe just the ghouls have been busy).

The passage across from that door led west. We ignored a branch on the right for the moment and took a turn to the left, which twisted around to a rickety door…which reeked like nothing I’d ever smelled, by the way. We could even smell it partway down the passage, and if I could imagine a smell between the gnoll latrine and something rotting, that’d be about it.

Wonillon pointed out a large rat hole chewed in the edge of the door, so we stood by with our weapons while Raven opened the door…but didn’t see anything living. In fact, what we did see was a lot of garbage and unidentifiable mess.

No one seemed interested in digging through that mess, so we returned to the west-leading passage.

These corridors all have to meet up at some point, but if it weren’t for the map I’ve sketched (and copied to a big parchment while we were in town) I’d be totally lost.

I still wonder sometimes where we’re going…but fortunately we just have one goal.

Kill everything (unless it’s obviously a kidnapped civilian).

(Ezekiel and Yeti are done poring over the map now. Let’s see what we find next.)


Read the next entry here.

Find the previous entry here.

Start at the beginning of the Temple adventure here.

Subscribe to the mailing list for book updates!

2 thoughts on “Dear Diary….marshaling our forces

  1. Pingback: Dear Diary….what I'm made for - Kimia Wood

  2. Pingback: Dear Diary….fresh air at last - Kimia Wood

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *