| Session Date | November 17, 2018 |
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| Base XP Gained | 9667 |
After consideration, the party decided to return to the ruined temple in the swamp, but with increased firepower. Cadwallider would summon an elemental. There was some discussion between an elemental of earth or water, but they decided on earth. After poling across on their raft without incident, they approached the temple landing, hidden in the thick winter mist. When ashore but still out of sight of the shell curtain, Aldeberon used his clairvoyance to reconnoiter beyond it. He noted two sentries, both seated and apparently chatting without paying much attention to their surroundings. Iban, invisible, snuck up to where Aldeberon indicated and hit them with a sleep spell. Verifying the area clear, the party moved forward and dispatched the brigands; they dumped the bodies in the dragon cave, behind the secret door. In the secret cave, Cadwallider now cast summon earth elemental. When the bulky thing appeared, the party made their way down into the dungeon, the earth elemental leading. The landing room below contained three brigand sentries, which the elemental easily crushed into pulp.
They continued southwards, exploring new areas of the dungeon, and soon broke into a brigand barracks. Most were awake but, upon seeing the elemental, fled in every direction. Iban pursued some of them while the party slew a few just waking up. All but one were slain; the sole survivor disappeared into the darkness. As the party continued south cautiously, ZZ in the rear rank was attacked by a party of lizard men. A short melee ensured, but all were slain without much trouble. The party now discovered a temple to some unknown demon or god. Through a door to one side of the temple, the party encountered a number of clerics. These managed to hit Aldeberon with a hold person spell, but then Cadwallider released the elemental on them. The clerics had no chance and had nowhere to flee. They were slaughtered mercilessly by the elemental. Also slain was the sole brigand that had escaped earlier. The p[arty took the chief cleric's head for later use in speaking with dead. To the other direction, the party found a robing room and a small library beyond that. There was a single book open and chained to a reading stand in the library, and ZZ decided to peruse it...to his great dismay, it was a Tome of Vile Darkness. Although he managed to avoid being slain outright for peering at it, such was the evil things he read that his rank within his church dropped precipitously, leaving him a far weaker than he had been before (120,000 XP weaker!). The party took the tome, careful not to read or touch it further.
The extent of the dungeon seemed reached, so the party began to systematically search for secret doors in locations that seemed promising - they found three. One was beyond the chief cleric's quarters and contained a notable treasure, as well as a cursed scroll that drained a magic item of ZZ's (not his night, to be sure). Beyond the other two off the temple were passages that led to small rooms with a pair of doors in each, more or less mirror images of one another. In one the first proved to be fake and the second a killer Mimic. This was killed with only minimal trouble (and a lot of weapons stuck to it). The other had two fake doors. Both, however, had secret doors leading to a short hall connecting the rooms. In the floor of this one they discovered a secret trap door leading to stairs going far down. Here they decided to rest for the night, atop the secret trap door to prevent it from being opened without their knowledge.