Session 30 Report

General Summary

Before setting off to the Temple of the Eye, Mogi Delvin pulled Haymin’s Heroes aside for a private discussion. Liam and his companions waited off to the side and waited as Mogi addressed the party. Mogi revealed his concerns about entering the temple and about what they might find within. He looked to the others for support, especially if faced with a difficult and personal situation related to his past and his family. They reassured him as best they could and briefly speculated about what they might find within. When they finished, they reunited with the other party and set off to the bugbear cave. In the bugbear chieftain’s room, they opened the secret door to the hidden passage. At the end of this passage, Auren Sylynn prepared the next secret door with oil in an effort to make it easier to move, and hopefully quieter. They opened the door and found a set of storage shelves before them. Sliding them aside revealed a storage room with fresh food and supplies. Sconces without torches could be seen on the walls and the room showed obvious signs of recent use. They were certain they had entered the Temple of the Eye and hoped the element of surprise was with them. One of the tables in this storage room contained a set of gear, including weapons, armor, clothing, and a backpack full of adventuring supplies. None of this gear belonged to Liam or his companions, so they left it there and moved on, through the storage room’s only visible exit. The hallways they traversed were illuminated by torches every so often down the length of a long corridor or placed at an adjoining intersection. A short ways from the storage room, they came to a door. Voices could be heard beyond this door and they sounded as if they came from a level below. They opened the door and found a set of descending stairs. At the bottom of the stairs they came to a sort of barracks. Fourteen mercenaries occupied this room, a mix of warriors and rogues, their gear and bedrolls spaced around the perimeter. They were not alarmed by the appearance of Haymin’s Heroes and company, but they were curious as to their presence. Titta Morco told them that they were late to a meeting with Pleponei, which the mercenaries received with surprise. But before they could question Titta too much further, she attacked the nearest one. The rest of the party rushed in and caught these men flat-footed. The mercenaries armed themselves as quickly as they could and fought back. Haymin’s Heroes suffered a couple wounds and Sonya of the other party fell in battle, and required healing from Ladigo Farthon . But overall, the battle went well and the mercenaries were quickly defeated. Haymin’s Heroes then went back upstairs and continued exploring the corridors. They came to an intersection and decided to turn right towards a door. They heard labored breathing coming from beyond the door, but around the corner from it was another set of stairs leading down. And from this direction came the sounds of voices discussing the methods of torture they would employ. Titta waved the others on and descended the stairs. At the bottom was a torture room. Implements of torture occupied the majority off the room, but the eastern portion was occupied by six comfortable chairs for viewing. Two cultists dressed in purple and black robes were preparing the equipment when Haymin’s Heroes came in. Again, Titta led with talk of a meeting with Pleponei. The closest Doom Bringer questioned her, wondering why Pleponei had sent them and who they were. But before the conversation proceeded much further, Titta again sprung a surprise attack, killing the Doom Bringer before her. Then she turned to the other one a short distance away and commanded him to answer their questions. She instructed Pyzar Zim to tie the man’s hands, which he did, encountering no resistance from the frightened cultist. The cultist answered her questions, truthfully, as far as they could tell. He informed them there were about a dozen mercenaries, which Titta casually informed him they had already killed. There were also about a dozen cultists, six acolytes and six adepts, including the one she had just killed. And finally, there was their leader, Pleponei. This Doom Bringer adept knew nothing of any higher leadership to which Pleponie answered. He told them they just served the Elder Elemental Eye, hoping to bring about the prophecy, “Under a moon sheathed in smoke and fire, the Great Beast will rise and bring ruin upon the world…” When asked why he would want this, he replied that the Elder Elemental Eye was much older than the gods of Embril. His elements were the fire with which they warmed themselves, the earth they stood upon, the water they drank, and the very air they breathed. The elements belonged to the Great Eye; the gods had stolen them. The Elder Elemental Eye was going to take them back and destroy the world, taking his true believers with him to paradise. When Titta had heard enough, they took the Doom Bringer to the prison which they learned was just upstairs. He told them the prisoner was an agent of the Vigil of the Weather Eye. They entered the room upstairs, unlocking the door with the keys found on the dead cultist in the torture room. Inside was a lone prisoner, and a man Haymin’s Heroes recognized. He was Arnell, a young man they had met two years earlier when they were confronted by three members of the Vigil after having found one of their magical brooches. They freed him and shackled the Doom Bringer to the wall instead. Arnell had been investigating Doom Bringer activity in the area with three other agents of the Vigil. When they neared the ravine on April 29, 498 AV, they were ambushed by the Doom Bringer and the numerous undead they had at their disposal. His three companions were killed. Arnell was taken captive and has been tortured here daily since. He said his companions were turned into zombies. The gear on the table in the storage room was his. After they healed him and fed him, they took him back to the storage room so he could get dressed and equipped. Arnell was gladly willing to help Haymin’s Heroes combat the Doom Bringers. Unfortunately, he has not seen any other parts of the temple, but he could recount how to reach the entrance, which was pretty straight forward. As a group, they all continued to explore the complex. They ventured down a darkened corridor which ended in a lone bedroom. After some searching, they discovered a signet ring with the Cornwall crest on it. The room must have belonged to Bremmen Cornwall. They took the signet ring and some of Bremmen’s personal effects with the intention of returning them to Morgen Cornwall on the way back to Rowadin. A set of stairs led up to a door. Beyond this door was a wide corridor that led west and south. The walls here were black stone with purple veins running throughout it. The floors were smooth and their footfalls echoed down the immense passages. To the south, the corridor eventually branched towards the temple entrance from which Arnell remembered entering. That corridor continued south beyond that, however, into the unknown. To the west, the corridor continued a short distance before the passage sloped upwards to another level. But just beyond the corner they entered from was another door. Some voices conversed casually on the other side. As they lined up by the door, prepared to enter, Mogi noticed his ring was glowing and the symbol of the Elder Elemental Eye had reappeared upon its setting. Not knowing exactly what to make of it, they continued. They entered a chamber inhabited by six acolytes. The acolytes seemed welcoming and tried to answer their questions as best they could, but it quickly became evident that they were relatively new at the temple and did not know much. Titta informed them of the “meeting” and they seemed willing to go. Pyzar suggested taking them to see the adept they had spoken with first. Titta agreed, but then suddenly attacked the acolytes. They were taken down quickly. And afterwards, Titta admitted she misunderstood Pyzar’s meaning, which was to take them to the prison, so they could shackle them there with the other Doom Bringer they had imprisoned. Next they went up the sloping passage to the west. It ended in an intersection heading north and south. These corridors continued to be very wide and made of the black and purple stone. Some distance to the south, it opened up into a sort of chapel with four pillars holding up a domed ceiling. On the domed ceiling was an image depicting a purple slit of an eye, like on Mogi’s ring. The floor was checkered black and purple, with alternating elemental symbols on each tile. One of the four pillars was wreathed in fire, one in swirling water, one by a cyclone of air, and the fourth by shifting stone that slowly grinded around it. At the back of the room a tapestry depicted a scene of a darkened sky full of smoke with a black disk in the sky ringed in fire. Beneath that, a monstrous creature full of teeth, claws, and spikes was bursting from the earth. Before the tapestry was a black altar holding four bronze vessels – a shallow bowl, a pair of goblets, and a vase-like pitcher. Auren checked the floor for traps, but did not find any. He stepped just within the room onto the checkered tiles, but nothing happened. They did not linger here and decided to turn back to the north. Along this corridor they found the adepts’ chamber. There were four of them inside. These cultists seemed perturbed by the intrusion and argued with Titta. But Titta and the party continued to approach them and quickly attacked. A couple of them tried to flee, but they never made it out of the room’s other exit before being cut down. Back down the northern corridor, it turned northeast before straightening out north once more. It opened into a great chapel with eight candelabras which magically alighted when they entered. A large iron bell set in the middle of the room. Three altars could be found farther within, one purple with black veins, one solid black, and one black with purple veins. The solid black one in the middle held a black bowl atop it. At the end of the room was a large dais. On this dais was a jeweled throne flanked by four smaller chairs. Purple tapestries lined the north, south, and east walls while the west wall was covered in a swirling amorphous colors. They did not venture far into the chapel before Titta turned to a door on the east wall just before the chapel. They heard no sounds beyond this door and were about to open it when Titta decided to go back into the chapel. This time the entire group entered and as they slowly crept towards the center of the room, four of them stopped in place and began chanting, “Under a moon sheathed in smoke and fire, the Great Beast will rise and bring ruin upon the world…” Auren, Pyzar, and Liam stopped and chanted, as did Selia Roselyn Maxwell , who had been paying particularly close attention to the swirling mural on the west wall. As they chanted, the great bell began to chime on its own. Their companions began to shake them out of their trance, and all but Liam were freed from the enchantment when the door behind them opened and numerous skeletons began coming through the opening. Simultaneously, from the northeast corner of the chapel, a tapestry was pushed aside and numerous zombies began entering from there. And at the southwest corner of the room, a tapestry moved aside as well, revealing three more zombies. Outnumbered by the undead, Haymin’s Heroes and friends prepared for battle.

Campaign

The Heart of Embril

Protagonists