Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “The Temple of Elemental Evil”

The corridor to the west split – south and north. We headed south first, and a doorway branched down to two little rooms. They might have been kitchens at some point, but now they’re full of garbage and disgusting.

That passage probably joins up with the corridor by the stairs, so we returned to the crossroads to explore the north passage.

It turned to end up in a door…and as soon as Ezekiel opened that, I was hit with a familiar stench – and Ezekiel was hit with gnoll throwing spears.

I must have been distracted so that I missed my first shot…but then Heiran and I shot down a couple gnolls, and Raven smacked one so hard I think its neck broke or something.

Yeti also rushed forward and threw his magic flying hammer to hit a gnoll right in the face.

Yeti, Wonillon, and Corby had moved just into the room, while Ezekiel had charged across the room to engage (since his mace doesn’t have magic flying).

As I stood in the doorway, hunting for a shot, a gnoll in the opposite corner pulled a cord trailing from the ceiling – and a huge net dropped from somewhere above and tangled up the three of us closest to the door.

(That didn’t stop Yeti from shoving his arm through the net and flinging his hammer again and killing a gnoll.)

I didn’t see any more gnolls, so I drew my sword to help get Wonillon out of the net.

Raven had just come to help us when a door opened to the north (almost banging Ezekiel as it did so) and a gnoll threw something.

I didn’t know what it was until it cracked against my head and splashed sticky oil all over me.

Raven dodged an arrow from yet another door to the west, while another gnoll entered from the north and threw a torch or a fire box or something and beaned Wonillon in the head (I guess their throwing wasn’t all that great).

I glimpsed hobgoblins firing arrows from among the gnolls. Raven deflected a thrown ax while Wonillon kept cutting at the net. Lydia asked if we needed an egg, while Heiron nailed another gnoll with an arrow.

Apparently Raven was as frustrated as I was by that time, as he pulled out the magic ring and pointed it at the gnolls blocking the door to the west.

A flash of light, and the gnolls fled, squealing, as sparks covered their bodies. I don’t know what that is, but it looks nasty.

Well, that gave the rest of us a chance to focus on the north door. I swapped my sword for my bow again and took two gnolls through the throat. Ezekiel hit one, and it shriveled and crumbled in a storm of purple lightening.

As Mikael fought the net to get Corby free, I heard heavy thumping footsteps from the room beyond.

No surprise when an ogre appeared, swinging at Ezekiel. Lydia ducked forward and rolled an egg forward to break at its feet.

I don’t think the stench affected him particularly, but it must have distracted him long enough that I could get two arrows into his vulnerable areas and take him out.

Mikael got Corby free of the net in time for her to help Ezekiel and Yeti kill another gnoll and hobgoblin, respectively…although they weren’t alone. I saw a gnoll fly across the room in a way that only an ogre could make happen.

Sure enough, as I moved forward (shooting a hobgoblin as I went) a tree branch came out of nowhere and bashed Yeti in the face.

I fired at the second ogre, but apparently I got him in the flab – since it didn’t seem to hurt him. In fact, both ogres were wearing leather jackets covered with thin bronze plates – so someone had invested in dressing them better than ogres usually are.

Yeti got in a blow on the ogre before I got an arrow through its throat.

When the battle was finally over, I realized that Corby and Raven were both missing. Lydia said they’d run after the fleeing gnolls, so I went into the room to the west to find them (several people followed me).

That room was plain and bare, with a single table and a door to the south.

That door opened into a corridor, where I met Raven just coming back with Corby riding on his shoulders. He said they chased the two fleeing gnolls until they killed them both – one of them making it up the stairs to the Red Temple before they could kill it.

Well, since I knew they were safe, I examined the room a little more closely and found a pile of dirt in the corner – right beside a barrel full of water. Very suspicious…but I couldn’t find anything unusual about the dirt. It must be some kind of religious reagent or something.

(Also found three unlit torches in that room. Why didn’t I grab them? Should remember to do that just in case…)

Meanwhile, Yeti and Ezekiel found a secret room off the one where we killed the ogres…wasn’t too hard, since there was gnoll plastered around the doorway (part of the one the ogre threw, I believe).

This “secret” room used to be pretty nice, with plastered walls and polished brown granite floor. However, now it stinks like ogre (as do the piles of cushions the residents were using for beds).

Ezekiel opened a chest which had a bunch of weapons in it – maces, battle-axes, hand-axes, morning stars, and a couple swords of different lengths.

There were also some barrels (it’s a biggish room) – sour wine, salted fish, and spears…so it’s obvious you could supply several squads from here.

(They also had bows and quivers hanging on the walls, so Heiran and I restocked.)

I looted our fallen enemies as I made my way back to Ezekiel, and Raven found some flasks of lamp oil to give to Lydia (she’s going to have quite a stockpile…hope she doesn’t get any wrong ideas…).

I tried to give Ezekiel the “Rope of Climbing,” since, after all, he puts himself in front more than anyone else, and he’s also obnoxiously heavy in all that armor…so if he were ever to step into a pit (as you do) he’d have that much more edge in getting out. After all, if we can’t get to him right away, a few extra seconds might make all the difference.

But he said he’d be fine, and after all he’s not the only one who goes up front (though you can’t give the rope to multiple people, now, can you?), so although he appreciated the thought he’d have me keep it in the bag of holding.

As Wonillon was wandering around the secret room, he noticed one of the floor tiles was loose – under the barrel of spears. Heiron was able to shift it without any trouble, and underneath the stone was a hole with a bunch of money and a silver bracelet.

With the money from the monsters, and silver chain with carnelian stone one of them was wearing, we’re starting to restore our fortunes (well, those of us who have to pay for things). Which is good, because we’re paying Heiron now (though not much; I can’t believe he went for a few gold a month).

The secret room has a second door leading out – to the east – into a corridor I don’t think we’ve been to before. There’s a pile of bones or something to the north.

Just when I think I have a handle on this place, we find yet another room or hallway or secret door. This is a place of Elemental Evil…do room dimensions even still work the same?

[rough sketch of area]

---

Read the next entry here.

Find the previous entry here.

Find the start of the Temple adventure here.

Subscribe to the mailing list for book updates!