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.
