Session 41: old friends and new enemies Report

General Summary

The heroes assessed their options: investigate the rooms shrouded in darkness or move deeper into the fane. Investigation seemed the first order of the day and they cautiously moved into the large ceremonial chamber with magical darkness covering the walls. The evil cold pervaded this room. A carved table in the large chamber held a huge iron horn atop it. A black folding screen obscured the north wall and passages left the room to the south and west. To the west the passage held a series of lilac walls of force, each fronted by a demon statue. To the south a wide passage led to an altar room with iron railings to direct worthies into the room.
  Emmanuel Woodsmoke approached the statue fronting the lilac wall of force in the passage to the west. As he drew near the statue asked in a rasping voice, "who are you?" Emmanuel gave his name and the wall of force vanished revealing a second statue and lilac wall. Here the statue asked "what do you bring me?" and after a few moments of no reply form Em, he vanished, only to come running out of the southern chamber a few moments later. He had been teleported into a temple room with an altar, demon statues, an inscribed floor and likely other horrors.   In the large chamber the heroes used their magical torch from the moathouse dungeon to investigate. Doing so they found three silver switches on the wall behind the black screen. Emmanuel Woodsmoke used Mage Hand to throw the first switch, but nothing (known) occurred. The evil and cold of this place tested the party's nerve and they left the horn in the room.
  The group made their way back through the vampire's chamber, past the store room and down a corridor to west, not yet travelled. After mounting a short set of stairs the party was attacked in the corridor by an assassin, and one known to some in the group as Chatrilon Unosh, a face from Secomber who ultimately betrayed the party in the moathouse dungeon (see Session 16: Moathouse Dungeon--death below or death above? Report) . Soon another assailant and a black armoured priests, assuredly Hedrack, attacked from an open door in the corridor. The assassins attacked and retreated, attacked and hid, while Hedrack cast fireball and other spells. As the battle turned to favour the heroes, Hedrack dissappeared, from some dark spell cast.
  The assassins were defeated, but as the heroes entered a nearby chamber, four elementals arose from the floor and attacked without mercy. Spells and weapons eventually cast the elementals from the prime material plane, but at a cost to the party. Wounded and tired they are now considering their life choices...

Rewards Granted

Monster XP:
Assassin x 2: 7,800
Elementals x 4: 7,200
  Adventure advancement: 1,000
  Total per PC: 3,200 xp