I had the mapping duty and we covered quite some ground before discovering an illusory wall beyond which lay a distinctive red circular room with many exits. Gordon now demonstrated his burgeoning talent for mindlessness, charging into the room aiming for the opposite exit. He never made it. A necrophidius popped up half way across from a large pit; fortunately, Gordon’s battle axe was in perfect working order and with one swing he destroyed the ambushing creature before gracefully toppling into the pit himself.
Once we had stopped laughing, we pulled him out. His pride was slightly damaged, but he’d found a magic longsword which he presented somewhat surprisingly to the ranger. He then, having failed to learn the lesson of his impetuosity, went to inspect one of the exits, triggering a second trap as he did so. This time a green mist poured into the room at floor level. This appeared harmless, until we began to hear and sense something metallic slithering about concealed by the fog. Then the elf was bitten by something unseen. If the bite was poisoned, it did not work on elves, and when the fog cleared the assailant, whatever it was, had gone.
We looked for a place to rest up, passing rooms containing pools and a waterfall and negotiating the first of several portcullises we were to encounter. Presumably the portcullises once provided a second line of defence to the inner part of the temple complex, but this one was jammed in the halfway position. We rested in a throne room of some sort, finding there the elf’s equipment. Now with Calenderil, we were a fighting force of five.
After resting in that quiet place, we moved on into the unknown, and again Gordon rushed forward as we reached another large room, this one containing two statues. Continuing to demonstrate how much we did not need a thief to search for traps, Gordon brilliantly discovered yet another purely by instinct. The paralysing darts could easily have hurt someone had he not intercepted them with his considerable frame. At a moment like this with your top fighter paralysed, the last thing you need is for the statues to animate and attack. And sure enough, that was the last thing that happened before I left in some haste.
On my return the statues had been dealt with and there was another rest and healing session required. I decided that as the way had been made safe by Gordon, it would be ok for me to tackle the doors. No. Two more poisoned darts. Fortunately these did not affect me. Somewhat alarming though – the room beyond had two even bigger statues now coming towards us. Luckily they did appear inclined to leave the room and we decided to try another direction, stumbling upon two more of the missing party – a halfling thief and dwarf fighter assassin. There was not exactly a tearful reunion, the first party had probably been thrown together like us, but they were pleased to be rescued from a lingering death. The halfling thief was named Roscoe, the assassin Thorri. They both looked rough pieces of work, though the halfling could not avoid being slightly cute with it.
Seven of us now though the dwarf had no equipment. We next found a room full of skeletons that were dealt with fairly easily thanks to Gordon. We also found the corpse of another member of the first party. I had some fortune here, discovering a spellbook on the body that increased my resources considerably. Feeling somewhat more powerful now having increased in number and easily beating the skeletons, we moved on through another portcullis and into a room containing zombies. We proved a trifle over confident, Gordon scorning turning the main body of the attack. As a result we got embroiled hand to hand and nearly lost him. Dagnar, the monk drove them off with fire, and Thorri the assassin proved an enthusiast for combat, finishing them off. This was only the first of many occasions he was to display a penchant for taking people from behind.
In an adjacent room, huge spiders attacked us and I successfully tried out the magic missile spell that I’d learned from my shiny new spell book. This spell quickly became my new favourite. Gordon has also proved useful doubling as a pack mule as he carries both my books with no complaint. After the spiders had expired with our assistance, we found a kitchen and banquet hall that was lit by magic skull torches which handily solved our torch shortage. In a chest’s false bottom Dagnar acquired some protective bracers. In this area, there seemed a danger of flooding and we retreated again to check other avenues. In doing so, we discovered the fifth member of our predecessor party - a young cleric named Zionestes.
We rested up again, but this time the tranquillity of our recuperation was swiftly broken: An aquatic ogre attacked us, then an iron cobra, the corpse of which our new assassin friend appropriated for his own purposes afterwards. We then checked another couple of directions, finding some undead shadows which Zionestes drove away, and a web filled room. The assassin searching it discovered a strange pyrimidical crystal, more of which later. We also battled with some stirges in a storage area. A very unpleasant experience as I was one attacked by one of the bloodsuckers. Gordon then entertained himself destroying some rot grubs he found, like a child playing with matches he little realised that if just one had got lucky and attached itself, it would have burrowed its way through his flesh to the brain and eaten him alive from the inside. His expression when he found out was quite amusing.
Happy that we had checked in all directions behind, we plotted the attack on the large ogre-like statues that we had fled from before. Gordon smashed his flail trying to break down the door (at least he’s consistent with his habit of using brute force as a universal panacea), but the diminutive halfling with patient drilling and prying managed to remove the hinges and achieve with guile what muscle had failed to do . Roscoe then suggested using the strange crystal to try to command the statues, and unbelievably, on brandishing the object they returned to their harmless statue form. Respect to the short stuff! Beyond lay the main temple of the complex, a huge statue dominating. We carefully avoided disturbing any of the many skeletons lining the walls (though the over-inquisitive dwarf did manage to get attacked by a water weird). I tried on a priestly robe and quickly regretted it as it burned my flesh – Gordon likewise. Thorri had no trouble at all. What does that tell you?
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