Embedded Files
There are many reasons for clearing out a dungeon, even after your main objective has been achieved! Let's take a quick look at what else our party encountered after their defeat of Aerisi Kalinoth in the Temple of Howling Hatred
After yet another long rest beneath Leopold's Tiny Hut, the party arose refreshed and confident. They spent the night going through the valuables they had recently acquired, which was really something, even for those used to the finery of nobility such as Kahntun. Alexander was left in awe at the dazzling craftsmanship in the items the air prophetess had acquired. Plus, now they each had cool matching rings!
In the morning, while Alexander prepared a simple, yet nutritious breakfast, Leopold spent the time enthusiastically practicing with his new spear. Cracking a smile, LiKi gently teased our bard, commenting, "It seems, moment to moment, our warrior poet is becoming more warrior and less poet!" When he didn't respond she added a halfhearted "don't you know it?" that trailed off as she was saying it. Unused to being ignored in this fashion, our sorceress shrugged, concluding that her friend had merely become transfixed with his new relationship with this new acquisition.
The Stone Golem!
The Stone Golem!
Upon exiting the temple, the party remembered the moat. Since they had lowered the water level to about a foot, they could see a variety shiny looking debris beneath the slow current moving westward. They wanted that loot! Also, LiKi thought she might make more pellets from her dust of dryness; she still had about four pinches left. So, Leopold and Alexander tied ropes around their wastes, and Kahntun held the other ends. LiKi kept a sharp eye peeled for any dangers as the party made their way along the moat. They found rusted weapons and dented armor, but also gold and silver items: a few torcs and rings set with semi-precious stones, pendants, brooches, and the like. In all, they collected what they guessed to be about 600 gp worth of stuff.
When they got closer to the western edge of the moat, the water seemed to be rising and the current grew in strength. Perhaps the flow control mechanism was on some sort of timer that would reset. Suddenly, from her vantage point above the moat, LiKi spotted something very shiny, right before the waterfall that was at this point trickling over the edge. Leopold made a dash for it. It was then that they each heard a spalshy thud . . . then another. Then a stone giant turned the corner! It seems that there was more than meets the eye to those stone dwarf sculptures holding the bridges up above the moat!
Alexander immediately tried to rationalize with the stoney monstrosity (which drew looks of incredulity from his compatriots), but the golem only responded in a deep, mechanical dwarven as he continued to advance. LiKi was able to decipher the response as being some ancient form of dwarvish translating to something along the lines of "that command word does not compute."
Fight Highlights
Fight Highlights
- Alexander sloshed through the moat, rushing at the monster and striking it with his magical sword, delivering full slashing damage;
- Leopold used the rope to climb up by LiKi and Kahntun, then chucked his boomerang at the golem, landing some bludgeoning damage, but not the magical lighting damage he expected; he was perplexed;
- LiKi engage the stone golem with a witchbolt, searing the monster with electrical energy;
- Kahntun hacked and slashed at its face while standing on the walkway; he landed a critical hit as his sword tore into the monster's neck in an explosion of stone fragments;
- Leopold rushed up and delivered two powerful attacks with his new spear, Windvane; as its point plunged into the golem, it erupted with lighting;
- the monster turned on this new shocking adversary and slammed him twice, rendering him unconscious;
- the party finished the golem off.
After the fight the party retrieved the shiny near the waterfall which turned out to be an ornate gold and platinum goblet of old Belsimerian make worth somewhere around 2,500 gp.
The party next encountered an umber hulk in an old ruined villa. Other than briefly confusing first Alexander, then Kahntun, this fight ran pretty smoothly. They made short work of the lumbering beast, even as it bore into the ground only to pop up again from beneath where our heroes stood. A little scavenging after the fight uncovered 92 gp, a minature electrum anvil with etchings of funerary rites in honor of Moradin worth about 150 gp, and . . . an immovable rod!
Another magic item that Leopold was more than happy to add to his growing collection of powerful oddities.
Next the party continued to explore the northern area of the temple; here's what happened:
- They broke down two gigantic stone doors covered in twin reliefs of dwarven gods in profile looming fifteen feet high; beyond the doors, the floor declined toward a great chasm; the tombs and crypts of dwarves sprawled like a city in minature before the chasm's edge; suddenly, emaciated figures appeared from behind these tombs and fixed their hungry eyes upon our heroes; our heroes then killed them, searched the place, and found fourteen figurines, keepsakes, and funerary masks worth about 50 gp each; as Leopold and Alexander went about sweeping this loot into their bag of holding, Kahntun looked on in disgust, but kept quiet;
- they encountered what looked like a recently abandoned camp in the Plaza of Moradin in which several streets converged around a granite statue of the great dwarven god grasping a shining (continual flame) stone lantern;
- they searched several old Tyar-Besil shops, the proprietors long gone; carvings above the doors indicated the owners' former professions: tailor, jeweler, smith, baker; all that remained of these places were small, rubble-strewn rooms; apparently this neighborhood of the ancient subterranean city had once been a happening, mercantile spot;
- suddenly, as he he was exiting one of these old shops, out of nowhere, something bit Alexander on the head, delivering piercing damage, but then attached itself to his face rendering our folk hero retrained and unable to breathe!
- Kahntun used an action to free Alexander;
- the cloaker let out a terrible moan, fearing Alexander (bad rolls!);
- the cloaker conjured three illusory copies of itself, making it harder to hit;
- nevertheless, the party killed the creepy thing.
After this fight, the party seemed pretty much over this part of Tyar-Besil. They entered an old hall with a very old bar. They noticed another recently-abandoned campsite. Apparently the cultists headed for the hills once their "queen" was destroyed by the party.
Next they stumbled into a very old chamber within which they found the skeleton of a long-dead purple worm! Dwarven skeletons and old, rusted weapons littered the floor. A fierce battle had been fought here. But they also noticed that the worm skeleton seemed to have acted as a tunnel downward for some time. They could see fresh footsteps leading both into and out of the mouth. The segments of the worm acted as a sort of stair, descending into the unknown and profoundly dark depths below. Leopold casually suggested that they follow this tunnel downward, but didn't put up too much of a fight when LiKi expressed hesitation, arguing that it would probably be more prudent to check back in with the aarakocra at Feathergale Spire, rest, and resupply before they figure out their next move. All agreed, they backtracked, and exited the temple very early the next morning.
The remains of an ancient beast, a tunnel downward.
TL;DR
TL;DR
- The party wanted to clean out the other foes inside the Temple of Howling Hatred.
- They fought and killed an automated stone golem that appeared to function as a guardian of the original dwarven palace.
- They fought and killed an umber hulk.
- They fought and killed some ghouls.
- They found some recently abandoned campsites.
- A cloaker surprise attacked them; they killed that too.
- They found a purple worm skeleton leading deeper underground.
- They agreed to check back in with their allies, the aarakocra at Feathergale Spire.
Google Sites
Report abuse