Ninth Entry - in which shapes change

With the newly recruited Hank, we followed his directions directly to the chambers of the priest Verrakahn. Hank had described him as the most merciful of the temple leaders, but his surroundings did not betray his gentler nature. He wore robes of a cleric of Bane, and sat at a long table clutching his holy symbol tightly in his hand. When he saw me kick in his door, he actually seemed to relax.

He bid us to enter, and explained his station. He had been the chief agent of Hedrac, ruler of the Temple of Elemental Evil. Seeing what the Lord of Chaos would unleash on the world had caused a crisis of faith, and Verrakahn had chosen to abandon the order. He gave us a rundown of the temple's leaders, most importantly Hedrac's newest Chosen One, who would try to loose Bane upon the world. With this, he dropped his holy symbol and tore the symbols of office from his robes. I demanded that he make up for his sins by giving more details about the temple's layout. He described Hedrac's private chambers in the rooms ahead, and that we must fear the temptations of a succubus in his employ. There were monstrous beasts held in closed pens, by a troglodyte beast trainer. Hedrac seemed to prefer employing Trolls, as he used them as jailors also. I was surprised the temple could be supplied well enough to support this much staff, being hidden so deeply within the mountain. Verrakahn answered that there was a portal Hedrac used to move supplies back and forth and to import new slaves. Neebo brightened at mention of this, knowing that we must seek out the portal if we sought to escape this mountain of madness. Verrakahn left us promptly, saying he felt his part was played and that he would escort the remaining slaves to safety as best he could. I believed he wanted to be sincere in his pledge to do no more harm to the world, but I warned him of the consequences should he fall in to his old lifestyle.

We moved stealthily into Hedrac's chambers, and Koda pilfered some scraps from the cult leader's private journal. The pages described his most recent activities, preparing a new Champion to unleash Bane and perform a specific ritual in the Purple Veil, vaguely alluding to a Black Cyst containing the Essence of Bane. The Champion would also have to carry a special rod and Armor of Force before the ritual could be complete.

This was in the most recent entry, and Neebo said we must be swift. The preparation of his new champion neared completion, and we had to beat them to the punch - my new favorite metaphor! Neebo begun to strum his lute and perform a rapid ditty describing Verrakahn, the Illithid Satow, and the Drow couple we met earlier. We saw ourselves take on the guises of our former enemies, although Rog and Koda simply became generic slaves, ones Hank had referred to as Dirt and Dirt. I found myself curiously sprouting illusory feminine wiles of the drow maiden. I disapprove of lying, but I believe there is an edict of Sensei Ping's back at the Order about the deceptive feint leaving an enemy open for a devastating strike. I think the principal applied here, although I believe I caught Rog's eyes drifting in a direction to which I object unless I've received a formal letter of romantic intent first.

We adjusted to our new disguises, and Neebo explained that we must stay in character at all costs. Koda was visibly uncomfortable, but he muttered that would do this if it meant killing Hedrac and his champion earlier. I found myself staying a few feet behind Gwen, now disguised as Satow.

We made quick time down the temple halls until we saw a large room with straw floors housing cages for all manner of animals, each several sizes beyond their breeds' average. We were hailed by a Trog, who wanted to know why we needed so many Dirts outside the living quarters. Neebo as Verrakahn bluffed that Hedrac had summoned us telepathically, to bring slaves for sacrifice as the next stage of an important arcane ritual. The savage laughed, joking that slaves were good for little else. The beast master muscled arms swung out and struck Koda, but he remained true to his vow. We soon came to a group of ogres, whom Neebo ordered to fall back to the Thane entrance and search the dragon's chambers for intruders.

The temple's structure became more maze-like, and we had many possible routes to move forward. Koda spied long swooping paths in the dust on the floor, a sign that someone had been dragged down a descending staircase. Hearing a light shuffling side down below, Gwen came to the conclusion that this could be where they were holding her former master. In search of a new ally we hurried down the staircase. What we found was not good for my mental state. The chamber was almost a hundred feet long, and every ten feet we saw a man fixed to the wall by an elaborate mechanical shackle. Only one of them in the far back stirred as we approached, and Koda fiddled with the apparatus to free the prisoner. The man lurched on all fours, and Gwen stooped to help him up. Nervously, I glanced around the chamber and realized every person in every trap on the walls was exactly identical. The man on the floor rose with sudden speed and embraced Gwen in liplock. Some readers would find this ribald, but I remind you that at this time Gwen's face was an ever wriggling mass of tendrils most closely associated with devouring the brain of it's enemies. The face of the mind flayer drew suddenly pale, and Gwen fell to her knees as soon as the kiss was over. The man we had freed suddenly shimmered in my vision, and revealed the demonic feminine form. Neebo's eyes drew wide, and after regainining his composure, yelled "Succubus! It's a demon!" I leapt through the others like lightening to lead the assault on the un-lady-like demoness. Unfortunately Gwen was now firmly in the thrall of the succubus, and rose to protect her new love. It took some subtle breaking of the fabric of space around me to get Gwen away from her, causing the effect to die down. Unfortunately, the effect was soon transferred to Rog, who tried to disembowel Hank! I dove between the two for Hank's safety, while Gwen avenged herself on the un-lady.

We were at a loss to explain the duplicates lining the walls, but left with haste before our disguises wore off - the spell would only last for one hour, and had wasted precious moments being romanced by evil.

We moved through the endless hallways of the temple until we found a chamber dedicated to the worship of elements. When I first entered I was struck by the elaborate tile work on the floor, vast geometric shapes representing earth, wind, water and fire. There were also four large elementals swirling about and releasing their energies. Rog was quick to charge into the fray, leveling his battleaxe at everything in the room. But immediately after his swing he found himself surrounded by beings intent on tearing him apart. I wrangled with the living forces of nature while I saw Gwen's familiar Didi hovering by the ceiling, unleashing a torrenta lightning over us. The result was fire, earth and water mixing in a pile on the floor, prompting Hank to try to clean up the resulting mud.

Unfortunately Koda had was ravaged badly by the elementals, and Neebo's healing prowess proved futile in invigorating the hairy rogue. Neebo himself was exhausted by the day's events, and we thought we might have rest before killing Hedrac. I was looking forward to killing him today, or at the very least having a lengthy exchange of banter before crossing weapons. I've always wanted to have a true Nemesis.

Pressing on, we found an alchemists' lab adjacent to the prison Verrakahn foreshadowed. He failed to inform us that there were fresh prisoners. One was a well dressed if slightly ragged halfling, a strange looking dwarf whose hair was a kind of shimmering fire, a wounded beast with a lion's body and a human face, which I recognized as a mythical lamasu, and a human paladin who bore the markings of Pelor. Sadly the troll jailors were also present, for the time being. Recalling the ruse that worked so well on the beast master, Neebo demanded that they free the Paladin, for yet more sacrifices. The human jailor Doggra released the Paladin to us, but said the others were still scheduled to be tortured for information. The party took our new 'prisoner' to the alchemist lab and explained. She demanded that we free the other prisoners, especially Athamel the halfling. She was very hesitant to believe our story, since we still bore our disguises, but allowing her to arm herself earned enough loyalty for the time being. Fortunately, the exit from the prison to the lab provided a natural choke point, and Neebo in Verrakahn's voice demanded the trolls "Help us defend against the intruders!" The hallway was barely big enough for one troll to traverse, so the first came out alone. Still disguised as the drowess, I stood directly in front of him and yelled, "Watch out! Jaxton Chase is here, and he brought both of his biceps!" and my hammer started swinging. The troll took only a moment to realize it was a trap, but by that time he was already being savagely pummeled by Rog and myself. I only stopped swinging after I saw a crossbow bolt fly past us at Neebo. I looked past the immediate troll threat and saw Doggra reloading his weapon. Fortunately I've got a real knack for teleportation, and put myself between the archer and the others. The next time he tried to fire down the hallway, I took full advantage of his distraction and pressed the attack. Meanwhile the troll fighting in the hall fell quickly to Rog's massive axe. Gwen had hurled an orb of acid on the others, whose wailing rang through the chamber. Doggra the remaining troll to free the lamasu, but the creature apparently remembered his abuse at their hands. The creature mauled the troll until Rog pushed him back into his cage as I pulled a lever to shut the cage door. One of the trolls began to regenerate until Gwen poured fire over his prone body.

Reader, rest assured we freed the other prisoners, and they had much to tell us of the temple, and recent events in the outside world. But after having slain so much evil, I am thoroughly exhausted. My writing hand grows tired, and I must rest. Tonight I sleep in the evacuated prison, and tomorrow I will write of new companions.

Entry the Eigth

We slept poorly in the creature's home. We all felt the loss of Rikka, and I slept especially poorly. My dreams were troubled by the psychic violation the day before by the original occupant of the dark chamber. It had called itself Satow, and was identified by Neebo as an Illithid, though even he had never seen one in person. The creatures are well known in Water Deep as horrific creatures, known for devouring the brains of their victims. The Illithid resonated within my psyche somehow; I'd encountered a horror like it only once before, early in my heroing career. In writing this I shudder at the memory, and have had to explain to Rog that sometimes it looks like tears, but I have a technique for sweating directly through my eyes. If there are more things like it in this temple, I have suggested that we find someway to bring the entire mountain down, lest they threaten the outside world. Rog approved of the idea, clapping his hands at the idea of crushing a mountain, but Neebo only laughed. He has failed to realize that I am serious.

We proceeded with all due caution as we explored the other chambers. The team briefly toyed with the mystical sphere, but we could think of nothing new to thwart it's random motions. I've given up on trying to keep track of our path through the labyrinth, as Neebo has been taking excellent notes of our movements. with loose paper and charcoal. After many days traveling together, we've fallen into an regular pattern; Koda several paces ahead, quietly sneaking about to find enemy units, while Rog and I stand in front of the remaining formation, with Neebo and Rikka close behind. She used to dart in and out of battle with such ease, leaping over or sliding under our enemies, it mattered little how the rest of us formed up.

Soon we came upon a room dedicated to holding the enemies of the temple, with one lone prisoner. She was human, with an accent from the Dalelands said her name was Gwen Lazzano. Rog commented that it sounded delicious. She pretended not to notice his comment and pressed on without pausing, explaining that her mentor had been taken by agents of the same temple and she sought his freedom, as he had been protecting a powerful tome of mystical significance. Koda seemed indifferent to her presence, I suspect after seeing so many allies fall he may hesitate to let new friends in to his circle of trust. Neebo let her free without hesitation, declaring that the enemy of our enemy was our friend. Upon her release, she introduced us to her ally, an arcane familiar called Didi. It is only about two feet long, like a small dragon hatchling, but even its diminutive stature raised all the hair on Koda's body. They took turns hissing at each other for several moments. Ignoring his feline shortcomings of etiquette, I introduced myself. I admitted that I knew little of the ways of magic, but I offered to take her mentor's place, and to educate her in the ways of pugilism and bravado. She declined. I will try not to let on at my offense.

Koda guided us to a chamber housing a clan of savage Orcs. They were deftly handled by our team work, and Gwen apparently excels in offense spellcraft. Her magic seems to be much more aggressive than Deiter's. Once the howling of our green skinned enemies subsided, we found much more spacious living quarters. Koda identified a human mopping floors, who was immediately set upon by an ash-faced matron that he identified as Drow. I was warned about them by my teachers at the Order of the Pointed Stick; as they are enemies intelligent and nefarious. They are the most cruel and self-centered lot, as evidenced by the savage beating this female (I cannot bring myself to call her a lady) as she savagely beat the poor slave who fell prone before her. I could see Koda's teeth set and his lips part revealing gnashing fangs, but he stayed silent for the time. The drowess gave orders to the hunched bawling mess on the floor and returned to what we later discovered were her chambers. We agreed that she seemed to be in charge and taking her out would allow us greater freedom to move throughout the temple.

I kicked in the door to her chambers, finding her in the company of another male Drow. Neither of them had wedding bands, and they were unchaperoned! The male drew a longsword as I dashed to meet his steel with my own, and the battle was on. Unfortunately I had much to learn about fighting drow, and after my first strike threw him across the room he seemed to burst with a noxious black smoke, blinding us all and buying him a few precious seconds to reposition himself. The female shouted orders for the slave to release the beasts. By the time the smoke cleared I saw Gwen bracing the door while throwing acid into the drowess' face. Her death incensed the blade master, who was somehow able to hold his own while surrounded by Rog, Koda and myself. The drow was willing to parlay, but only long enough to share how much he despised us and assuring that we would be consumed by the agents of the Temple of Elemental Evil. Our feline rogue finished him quickly while I telekinetically repositioned Gwen so I could open the door to meet the next threat. Apparently the temple maintained a stable of demonic chitinous bugs nearby, which swarmed over the entrance. I held the line in the doorway while my allies decimated them, followed by killing the remaining nine tenths.

The slave we had witnessed earlier was unharmed. He had curled in the fetal position while the demons crawled past him. Eventually he stopped whimpering long enough to tell us his name was Dirt, and begged us not to kill him. Koda and I were especially horrified at his treatment, and vowed to keep him safe until this damage is undone. Neebo is uncomfortable with calling him Dirt, and we have collectively decided to call him "Hank." He seemed to improve slightly at this, and offered up what little he knew. Hank warned us of some of the dangers ahead - he was most afraid of Heckran, leader of the Temple. His second in command was Verrakahn, who was just ahead in his own private chambers, and that there would be less to fear in dealing with him. He also mentioned a ferocious troglodyte called Yukkamel. I have noticed Hank seems able to evaluate his surroundings in only slightly differing levels of fear. Afterwards, I spoke with him privately, assuring him that he was safe from all harm as long as he was in my care, and that it was our personal mission to destroy each of these evils. I cannot tell if he believed me, yet - but I hope he will be empowered in his new position as President of my official Fan Club.

We would shortly meet these enemies, and so far I have been surprised by them all.