Entry the Third

We pressed on, of course. Koda moved forward like the aftermath of a dwarven dinner party - silent but deadly. After searching the gnoll barracks, the party possessed two elemental keys, but of separate elements. Neebo explained to me that they had briefly encountered a Kuo-tah, a man-trout agent of the water temple who explained the temple's key system. We would require two keys of the same element to gain access to the inner temple, if we wanted to do some real thwarting.

Eventually we came to the sandy shore to a vast, underground lake. I suspected we were close to the Water Temple, the next victim in my ledger under the column "Maximum Thrashing!" I stood on a pier, taking in the sight of the lake when a living wave crashed upon the shore and grabbed me by the throat. The team moved in to save me from its grasp when the same breed of slimy fish men began to march out of the water. As we piled on the elemental with sundering blows, the fish men began to pitch tridents at us. But know this, Jaxton Chase fears no dire man-trout, no matter how big his spear.

As the wave submitted to my righteous pummeling, the soaking wet party split to engage the fish-wizard and his guard. Immediately another party of fish men came from the opposite end of the beach. Dreading a pincer maneuver, Deiter remembered the fish-men's great weakness - they are entirely susceptible to explosions.

Our first engagement with the water temple concluded, we set out to continue searching our surroundings for the next key in the set. We found an enormous chamber containing only a pit lined with spikes, clearly intended to keep something wthin. Neebo shivered at the notion of penetrating the dank hole, sensing the obvious trap, so we pressed on.

Koda advanced stealthily on his own, leaving us to wait as he infiltrated a dwarven forge. He came back to us muttering about a flying sword. Much to his consternation we insisted on witnessing the levitating weapon for ourselves. I surmised we could recruit the blade to our side, gaining a potent weapon against the sanctuary's transgressors, but the blade was not listening to our recruitment pitch. It simply lunged for us as we moved through the forge. Neebo, Deiter, and the surprisingly dwarf-literate Rog tried to reason out some way of disabling the sword, but nothing short of Jaxton-brand pummeling seemed to put it down. Rather than destroy a valuable artifact, we evaded the blade and left the chamber to emerge in a darkened cave. As Rikka's faith somehow illuminated the room, it revealed flickering movement in the shadows.

Rikka's light quickly revealed two large bipedal reptiles, with wide circular mouths lined with serrated teeth and hunger for man-flesh. But today all they'd found was a league of top-notch adventurers ready to dispense castigation to would-be predators. I wrangled the beasts into position while the others focused on putting them down. One of them reared back and lashed out at Rog with it's savage maw. As he fell, I was incensed at the idea of my new friends dying at the hands of these creatures. I had toiled in mundane labor for too long to lose one the chance at true adventure now.

I am not proud of what happened next. As you know well by now, my mind is my greatest weapon, and it is a sacred vow that I must wield it in the name of heroism. If I were to use my powers for a lesser cause, or sully myself in the trappings of a lesser man, a weaker soul, it would undercut all the epic deeds that lay before me. As the beast struck, my entire mind was seized with outrage. I wish I could blame it on my frustration with the dwarven blade, or our search for the key. But it was no other falling than my own weakness.

I swore with all my psionic might. Loudly and profanely, in clear violation teachings of my order. Although my outburst felled the beast and helped my friends, in doing it I sullied myself. I had failed to be all that I could be, and succumbed to a weakness of his spirit. It was a method only used by the tawdry, the cheap and common man. It was not the way of a true hero, and for my failure I new I would have to pay penance.