Day 6 - The Altar of Evil

The day begins like any other.

Waking up on a stone cold floor, covered in several days worth of blood, guts, and gore, some of which doesn't even belong to you. A stiff dungeon draught speeding under the wooden door, broken down to with an inch of falling completely off its hinges - only that door, Lotto's magical glyph, and that one eye of whomevers turn it is to be on watch.

Arnie has come to like the last watch. He meditates on the smell of a summer morning in Ainsun. He hasn't seen a sunrise in about a week now, or squinted through the dewey glare of a hillside as he absorbs the sounds and smells of a clean, peaceful morning.

A hundred push-ups, a stretch, armour up, and it's back to duty.

"What of this Orb?" he wonders. The good clerics feel its innate evil, and shun it. A simple gold sphere, three inches in diameter, shaped to resemble a human skull, sans lower jaw. Atop the crown is a raised diadem with depressions, perhaps designed to hold a small object.

As Arnie examines the object, he too starts to feel its power. Whilst holding the object, he feels as though it is searching for evil, and in so doing, contrasts strongly with the good clerics, Lotto, Guru, and Kazandra. Arnie senses that the possessor of this thing will be able to use its power to sense alignment, to know truth, and perhaps even to inflict harm on others. He wonders also, what might this device be capable of if possessed by a minion of evil, or used on an evil creature? And what might it turn into if indeed there are pieces missing that might fit into those depressions?

"Lotto! Wake-up! Catch!!" Arnie rouses Lotto and tosses the thing at the fumbling priestess. The prank conceals his deep-seated relief as it leaves his grasp.

Lotto reviles as she catches it - it might have been the testicle of a 3-days dead troll. "So what is this thing?" Arnie asks, "Why do we even have it?"

Lotto places it carefully on the ground, and reaches back to turn its face away. "I don't know. I don't think I want to know. But I'll see what I can divine."

Over the course of the morning, Lotto's research confirms the following:

• the item may also be known as The Orb of Golden Death, Yellowskull, Goldenskull, or the Death Orb;
• no good cleric or paladin will willingly touch it;
• the possessor can employ it to Know Alignment and Detect Lie;
• it has the ability to Poison, but you're not sure how this works;
• it may have detrimental effects on the possessor;
• it may have a powerful effect on certain Chaotic Evil creatures.

---

"Ok guys - let's get this job done. By the way Pan, I wouldn't go playing with that little statue. Remember what happened last time..." Vandross rallies the party, and gives a plain observation that, if you don't want to alert yourself to the "PTB" (Powers That Be) in these parts, fiddling with the little ebony statue of a four-inch tall grinning horned skull is probably the last thing you want to be doing.

---

To room 419 - The Greater Temple

This vast centre is impressive in its simplicity. The ceiling is a full sixty feet overhead and appears as a quiet outdoor night sky with stars gleaming in their constellations. The walls are lined with smooth onyx, of such fine craftmanship that the joints can barely be detected.

Around the sides of the room, eight corridors lead off into the unknown. High on the walls between each corridors are small flying buttresses.

Thirty feet north of the entrance is a series of broad steps, leading five feet upwards to a stone altar. Draped across the altar is a sheet of red silk, with an eight-pointed fire symbol embroidered upon it in golden thread.

Flanking the altar are two pillars of gold which reach to the ceiling overhead, and behind the altar is a glistening purple curtain, unmarked by any design. The walls beside the curtain bear ornate carvings - a triangle, an eight-pointed star, a square, and a circle.

In the niches just north of the altar stand monumental statues, each twenty feet tall. To the left is a humanoid garbed in robes, with a horned and grinning skull head. To the right is a monstrosity with a fat bulbous body, four elephantine legs, a long thin neck, and a tiny humanoid head surmounting the whole.

The party decides to explore west (420, leading to 421) and is suddenly engulfed in sleet. A trap? An invisible caster? To make matters worse, gargoyles swoop from the buttresses and attack the party, who are not only blinded by the ice, but also struggle to keep their feet. Pan flies up to avoid slipping, and confronts the main assault team. His stoneskins quickly evaporate, but Chris Bright manages to engage all four in a Hypnotic Pattern. Once Arnie is free of the storm, his decisive and powerful blows make short work of any enemy within range.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the storm, Vandross finds himself in an interesting pickle. Seems there are now TWO Vandross's. After a brief exchange of finger-pointing as to who the REAL Vandross is, and some less than helfpful suggestions from the party as to how best to resolve this problem, Vandross takes matters into his own hands and takes on the doppleganger one-on-one. Now if the doppelganger's mind reading capability had have been working properly, he would of known not to get too close those propellor blades Vandross calls daggers.

With the battle over, the party has the chance to examine the triangular room at the end of the brown corridor. The walls are unmarked save for a huge triangle on each wall, and a baleful red and white eye within each figure. A large circle is inscribed in the centre of the floor, and within it is another triangle, but without an eye.

Not wanting to be hasty, the party moves back to the Greater Temple, looking to explore some of the other corridors. But this time - ICE STORM! The party is hit hard by hail stones as they cross the room, knocking Dwervyn down. Vandross moves quickly to perform CPR, whilst Lotto steps forward to Detect Evil. Pan uses the Gem of Seeing, and reports that one of the statues seemed to be laughing at you. The party flees down the main corridor, with Lotto and Vandross covering the retreat.

What you learn is that the curtain itself radiates evil, and possibly behind the curtain are more evil creatures using magic against you whenever you are in range.

Now that you are back to a point of relative safety, the question is what to next? Do you attempt to avoid the barrage of spells from the altar area and continue to explore the corridors? Do you tackle the curtain directly? Or do you look for another way?

Comments

[Jason]

Sahrim, here, take this ring (invis).

[TheDM]

Just need to borrow a ring from someone...or what about a shapechange?

[Sahrim]

Maybe would should put some effort into trying to work out what's going on with the curtain.

Sahrim's got a detect poison and a detect magic. Maybe we should get him invisible and see what we can find out about the curtain?

[Jason]

Agreed

[Mark]

How about we set a date for a sit down and sort this out properly?

[TheDM]

Some good ideas there...leveraging party strengths, and using Kelno as bait?

[Sahrim]

Let's assume that we do this and assume that he is going to betray us.

Is there a way we can use this to our advantage?

What if we have Lotto and Pan follow him in invisibly and silenced, with Lotto ready to hit any leader type guy with a dispel magic (to take down any stoneskins) and
Pan ready to backstab once ths stoneskins are down.

If he doesn't betray we've got someone there to hear what's going on.

Does anyone have a basic illusion spell memorised. It might be handy to throw up an illusion of Pan and Lotto just so Kelno doesn't think pick up on what's going on.

[Kaz]

Party huddle - Might be a good way of drawing out the bad guys. Downside is that he will probably try and betray us and join them.

[Prefect Kelno of the Air Temple]

Right you are Master Druid. But I believe whoever is behind these traps of ice that you speak of may be nothing more than a ne'er do well, looking for leadership and direction. Let us find out who they are, invite them to join our cause, and if they will not, insist that they sacrifice themselves on the Altar of Evil. If they fail on that measure, we can always make them into a sacrifice.

[Sahrim]

Kelno, I don't think it is wise to reveal ourselves just yet.

That gives me an idea though, can someone cast Alter Self or some form is disguise spell?

[Arnie]

Doesn't work for me. Sit down and shut up.

[Prefect Kelno of the Air Temple]

Fear not! As High Prefect of the Air Temple, and now High Leader of the Elemental Temples, I will assert my right to audience with the Supreme Commander. Whoever is now assuming command will show himself. I will assess his strength and support, and propose a spill. With your support I will then be elected (I dare say, unopposed) as the Supreme Commander of the Greater Temple. We will then set about purging the Temple of all opposition forces, and setting a new agenda according to whatever priorities we set.
We will move forward from this era of bitterness, evil, and conflict, and establish a new order.
The Temple will be re-born as a beacon of peace.
We may need a bit of landscaping top-side, and some remedial works in the lower levels, but I dare say this Temple will be glorious once more.
Who's with me on this one?

[Kaz]

Kaz hit him with a Charm so she will lead off with "Kelno, its much too dangerous, please don't go".
Vomit vomit vomit.

[Prefect Kelno, Leader of the Air Temple]

Hey...c'mon guys...put the metal away hey?
I'm on YOUR side - remember?
Listen...whatever you wanna know I'll tell you. But seriously, what's wrong with my plan? I go in, I'm entitled to be there, I'll talk to whoever is left, and then you guys do what you want with them.
We're so close now to this Temple being ours - let's finish this thing!

[Kaz]

Hey Kelno, Save vs Spells

[Prefect Kelno, Leader of the Air Temple]

It's a brilliant idea. What can possibly go wrong? I'll just tell them I'm in charge now and they'll have to join us or get the hell out.

[Arnie]

We've got a situation after my interrogation where Kelno thinks he's going to go down to the altar room and ask them all about it. Arnie is currently threatening to chop him. Requesting party backup!

Arnie's interrogation of Mugwort, the Half-Orc we found with the Doppelganger and Kelno.

Here's the break down.

From Mugwort -

Senshock is a wizard who followed Zuggtmoy (I'm going to guess Zuggtmoy is the non-Iuz statue in 419). I believe Senshock was the guy that threw up the wall of fire only to have Arnie walk through it and cut him in half.

Hedrack is a priest who followed Iuz. Pan killed him at some point by being sneaky.

These were the two biggest bosses (aside from Iuz and this Zuggtmoy character).

There's a guy called Barkinar - the troop commander who is a priest. He's a clever scavenger (half-orc?) who was part of the Earth Temple and was in the good books with Hedrack. Not sure if we've killed him already.

There's a guy called Deggum who is a guard commander and he's a wizard/priest. He's a half-elf and studied under
Hedrack and Senshock - "liked Senshock best" so maybe more of a wizard than a priest.

There's a sneaky fighter (maybe thief/fighter?) called Smigmal who was Falrinth's girlfriend. Not sure if we've killed her.

From the Half-Orc -

I was told "Leave the locks on the doors and let Iuz and Zuggtmoy have their wars." So let's just go ahead and leave
those big doors with all the saving throws shut.

He reckons he never goes in the altar room but says he's heard there are traps but none of the bosses ever get caught in them. His well considered random guess is that the bosses avoid any trouble via magic. Some people who have been sneaking around down there have contracted a bad disease and rot away. The unlucky ones have only lost limbs to rot and then been tortured to death.

From Kelno -

Doesn't know what causes the rot. Seems to think that summoned elementals come out of the East side tunnels -> Planar portals? I'm guessing the West side tunnels lead to the node portals.

Kelno is keen to go down to the altar room and find out about traps etc. I'm not sure he'll pull this off without dooming us all.

[Lotto]

I like the idea of smoking them out...

... I'm sure Chris Bright, despite having no direct damage spells, still knows a trick or two. Sahrim has Wall of Fire too. Pan probably has some good stuff that's area of effect.

I'd suggest someone who's sneaky goes about dropping a coin of continual darkness near to the curtain, along with a coin with Silence 15' radius... whilst the rest of us hang back waiting..

Then get the real party started whilst our opponents are blind and silent... lob in a few greek fires, holy waters, beagle-hydras...etc I've got a Pyrotechnic's spell that will create plenty of smoke given a fire source too.

Part B would be a physical beat down by Arnie, Vandross, Pan...etc as our opponents run towards the light (or atleast, out of the darkness)
Anyway, food for thought...

[TheDM]

Control Temp still reduces damage by 5hps per caster level, which is pretty huge.
Protection scrolls also tend to be pretty good. I note you have some in the magic item registry. Some PC's might have forgotten they have them. Maybe you need a stocktake?

[Taran]

Can Lotto or Sahrim summon some sort of sacrificial scout? Send an invisible flying rat (Rattimus Maximus) behind the curtain and observe the effects?

[Sahrim]

Sahrim's not that good ... I should have said Control Temperature, not weather.

[TheDM]

For those that weren't present last face-to-face, you can completely heal hp's and re-memorise all spells.

Control weather - that's some serious spell levels.

[Sahrim]

Sahrim's got the healing and elemental protection covered.

He's got a bunch of cure lights, a cure crit, heal (but I'm I'd like to save that for an emergency)

He's also got a control weather which might lessen the sleet and would cancel out one fire or cold based spell, a few protection from fire and a protection from lightning.

[Pan]

What about an invis Pan having a closer look with thegem of seeing from the entrance way?

[Arnie]

So have we been able to gather any info about the remaining leaders that might be responsible for the attacks in 419? From what I understand, the party was able to get various baddies to play for our team. Did we get an account of who the leaders are and have we been ticking names off the list as we diced them into little pieces?