Fireseek 12 (continued):  Back at Dwarf Haven, Tarva and Taizu cast Cure Light spells to heal each other; and Ahb casts two Cure Medium spells to bring Arvee back to full health. 

Tarva spends the last eight hours of the day casting Identify and determines that:
1. the Clear Potion raises INT by 1d4+1 for 3 hours;
2. the Steel Grey Potion is a potion of Endurance (as per the spell);
3. the Orange Red Potion provides Protection from Fire (as per Protection From Elements::Fire);
4. the bag of Dust generates an Illusion, which lasts for 1d6+6 hours, equivalent to the Change Self spell, but the person the dust is sprinkled on gets to decide on the illusion's shape.

We get through the night.

Fireseek 13: 
7:00am  Tarva describes what the four potions (and dust) are.  Ahb will carry the Clear, Arvee the Orange Red; Glendon the Steel Grey, and Taizu the dust.

8:00am  We are going back to where we left off yesterday.  Once in the "dragon mouth" room (where we fought the Cloakers) we take the right-hand passage, which leads into a room with dusty wall shelves full of bottles.  A hallway goes 60' north into a 40'x40' room with empty, dust-covered weapon racks.  Carven into the floor rock is a 6' diameter circle with a hammer and anvil inside it.  Just next to the right hand side of the circle is the body of a dead gnoll.  There are a pair of double doors, also with the hammer and amvil sigil, at the NE end of the room.  Ahb moves to search the gnoll's body; Taizu studies the floor sigil to see if it has a trap or secret compartment.

The double doors fly open and we see this semi-transparent disembodied head with glowing eyes.  Around him are several bladed weapons, apparently hovering in thin air.  Behind him -- through him -- we can see that the next room was a forge.

1:  Tarva sings Inspire Courage and moves to beside Glendon (who was at the doorway when they opened); Head (or rather its weaponry) attacks Glendon for 6, 4, criticals for 25; attacks Tarva for 8, 7, miss, miss;  the name "Blade Spirit" pops into Taizu's head, but nothing beyond that to suggest effective ways to fight it; "¿Blade Spirit?" he tenatively says to the rest of the group, shoots and hits  (maybe) for 2; Glendon does a full defensive withdrawal - Head's AoO misses him - to 20' back, where he cocks his crossbow; Rowan shoots a +1 arrow which hits (maybe) for 13; Ahb casts a spell on the Head which has no effect, then moves to Glendon; Darred casts Lightning Bolt for 19 (the bolt seems to sink into and be absorbed by the Head); Arvee charges the Head for (maybe) 19 (he feels no resistance as his scythe goes through).

2:  Inspire Courage takes effect, Tarva keeps singing, uses Expertise to transfer +5 from ToHit to AC, Fights Defensively to transfer another +4 from ToHit into +3 to AC, attacks one of the swords - Head AoO for 6, miss, miss - miss, and doesn't use her second strike; Head on Arvee hits for 1, 5, 5, miss, on Tarva miss, miss, miss; Taizu shouts, "I think it's a Blade Spirit", casts Shatter on the scythe but it saves; Glendon says, "Ahb, if it's a spirit, can you dispel it?", casts Magic Missile for 8; Rowan says, "Darred, would a Hypnotic Pattern stop it?", shoots another +1 arrows for (maybe) 9; Ahb Heals Glendon for 29, moves center; Darred casts Hypnotic Pattern; Arvee strikes at one of the longswords - AoO for 11, 8, 2 - does no damage, strkes at Head for 16 (no drag).

3:  Tarva sings, Expertise at +5, goes full defensive; Head on Arvee hits for 7, miss, miss, 4, on Tava miss, miss, miss; Taizu casts Shatter on the scythe but again it saves; Glendon casts Magic Missile for 11; Rowan disbelieves in the apparation but it does not vanish (even for her); Ahb casts Detect Evil, and finds the Head is indeed evil; Darred moves to the side, casts Lightning Bolt for 21; Arvee switches to his hammer (holding the scythe in his other hand) and hits for 6 (no drag)

4: Trava sings, Expertise at +5, full defensive; Head on Arvee for 2, 2, 5, miss, on Tarva for 5, miss, miss; Taizu casts Summon Monster III for a small Air Elemental [lasts through 13] AE misses; Glendon casts Magic Missile for 13 (Head appears to be wavering); Rowan shoots a flaming arrow for 7 + 2, blades all drop to floor as Head disappears.

Experinece Points: 343.

Ahb Heals on Trava for 21, on Arvee for 44.

Arvee tells us that the weapons are all high quality. 

The forge room starts off at 30' wide, expanding to 40' wide over the first 20', and then runs for another 85' (105' total length), door at the far end.  Besides the fire pits, the only notable item is an odd looking big (our-size) non-humanoid skeleton.  Glendon casts Detect Magic on the forge and its contents: none. AHb finds that the gnoll body has weapons and armor, an Air Temple sigil, and 13gp,   Glendon takes a dagger and Ahb takes the gold.

9:00am  Darred casts Mage Armor on himself [lasts until 2:00pm].  Taizu, examining the skeleton and tapping into his Bardic Knowledge, announces that the skeleton belongs to a member of a class of species collectively known as aberations.  Tarva is fairly sure that it is not from some other plane; she thinks the structural weirdnesses of the skeleton are an indication that it was a (magically) 'made' creature.

We go on, through the room and the far door, along a passage into another open area.  The walls are sparkling with anthracite and iron ore, there is a ripple texture to the walls - not natural but obviously not worked, either.  To the left is adoor, broken and with chains hanging loosely from it.  To the center the passage continues while sloping up.  There is a side passage to the right.  We go right.  This opens up into a bigger space.  Off to the right is a dead human in black armor, temple symbol, he looks like he was exploded from inside, and his equipment is shattered, torn, or burst.  Path branches, to the right is a small cavity with nothing in it.   To the left it aigs into a room with the walls having the same texture as the passageway. 

Before we notice it, Arvee, Glendon, Rowan, Ahb, and Tarva have all stepped into a substance very like quicksand, only dry, and are beginning to sink. Darred and Taizu are alerted in time to stop short.  Darred pulls out a rope and tosses it to Arvee, who is farthest away, and tells all of us to grab hold.  He and Taizu notice as two live and flesh-covered aberations of the same skeletal type show up on the other side of the (let's just call it) quicksand.

1:  Rowan grabs the edge of the pit, pulls herself out; Tarva grabs for the edge, misses, successfully grabs the robe, but is now over her head; Glendon misses the edge, successfully grabs the rope, is now over his head; Taizu helps Darred hold the rope; Darred continues to hold the rope; Arvee grabs the edge, pulls himself up, does a partial charge at Destrachan₁ for 16; Ahb casts Airwalk, graps rope between Tarva and Glendon, walks out of quicksand holding rope; Destrachan₁ "howls" at Arvee for 9, Tarva for 9; Destrachan₂ howls at Taizu for 14, Rowan for 7, Ahb for 7.

2: Rowan tosses her light stone, which falls near the monsters, then shoots Destrachan₂ for 8; Tarva climbs out, starts Countersong; Glendon fails to get out, also loses his hold on the rope, suffers 6 hp and sinks out of sight; Taizu casts Sclupt Sound on Destrachan₁ and Destrachan₂; Darred, still holding the end of the rope, yells, "Ahb, go after Glendon!"; Arvee on Destrachan₁ hits for 18, 18; Ahb walks down into the sand (holding the rope and her breath) in a spiral; Destrachan₂ howls for 7 hp each to Rowan, Ahb, Taizu, and Tarva.

3: Rowan shoots Destrachan₂ for 11, 10; Tarva shoots but misses; Glendon has dropped far enough to feel rock under his feet, pushes off and tries to swim up; Taizu shoots Destrachan₂ for 5, 8; Darred holds rope, paying it out as Ahb goes lower; Arvee hits Destrachan₁, kills, moves to Destrachan₂ - AoO for 8; Ahb doesn't find Glendon; Destrachan₂ howls for 11 hp each to Rowan, Ahb, Taizu, and Tarva.

4: Rowan shoots Destrachan₂ for 5, 12; Tarva shoots Destrachan₂ for 7, kills; Glendon meets Ahb, gets rope; Darred pulls Glendon out.

Experience Points: 380

Ahb casts Healing Circle for 12; Cure Moderates on Tarva for 19, on Taizu for 13, on Rowan for 13. 

While the rest of us clear the sand out of our belongings, Taizu and Darred search the rest of this dead-end cave and find four mutilated bodies,  Someone recognizes these monsters as being Destrachae, who are adept at using sound for attacks as well as destroying objects.  The rippled walls are undoubtedly a sign that they have created these tunnels and rooms.  Since their sound is inate and not magical, Countersong does not work against their attacks.

We go back to the last junction room, then through the broken door.  120' down is a door on the right side, we pass it by and 20' later the passageway opens up into a room: the same dragonmouth room where we fought the cloakers.  Back to the door.  When we open it, we see the guards we previously met (yesterday) accompanying the Kuo-Toa ferryman.  We wave, neither side starts hostilities, and we close the door again. 

10:00am  Back to the junction room and up the center, sloping passageway.  Up 60' the passageway turns to the right and opens into a room.  We can feel a breeze coming from the room, which is about 50' in roughly circular diameter.  The passageway continues on the other side, 20' wide; and there is also an opening to the right, where the breeze is coming from.  A rock formation in the center of the room looks vaguely like a reclining serphent.  We take the non-breeze continuation.  After 80' it bends slightly to the left, bends back right, widens to 40'.  80' after the widening it splits into three.  To right is a 15' radius round room; empty.  To the left the passageway continues, sloping sharply downward.  The center way enters  a large, nearly spherical cave, with its dome rising overhead and the floor sloping down to a central depression. On the other side of the room is a ledge, even with the level at which we entered, but 15' up from the 'floor' of the sphere.

1: Destrachan₃ appears on ledge and howls, causing subdual damage of 28 to Rowan, 14 to each of Ahb, Arvee, Taizu, and Tarva; Rowan shoots it for 9, miss; Glendon shoots his crossbow but misses; Arvee charges, then starts climbing the 15' ledge wall; Taizu shoots for 8, 3; Ahb casts Airwalk, charges, hits for 7; Darred casts Magic Missile for 11; Tarva shoots, criticals for 15.

2: Destrachan₃ howls for subdual to Darred and Glendon for 24, to Ahb, Tarva, Taizu, and Rowan for 12; Rowan shoots and hits for 10, kills.

Experience Points: 190

There is nothing on the ledge.

10:20am  Go back out, take the passageway and keep going.  Reach a room, possibly 30' in diameter, it's hard to tell because of the extrteme proliferation of fungi growing in it.  As we come up to it, a voice from inside says, "Come no further or I will kill you."  Arvee (and therefore the rest of us) stops, says, "All right, now come out where I can see you."  "No."  The exchanges don't get any friendlier, and Arvee moves forward again.

1: Taven (as we find out later) mutters (Animal Growth, as we also find out later); a huge -- twice normal size -- Dire Bear rises up from the fungi; Taizu sings Inspire Greatness on Arvee, moves up next to Arvee, and shoots for 5; Ahb reserves to run&flank after Arvee has moved; Bear charges Arvee, hits for 24, 19; Tarva disbelieves (because the bear is so unnaturally large) but it is still there; Rowan shoots for 11, 10; Arvee activates his boots, hits for 17, miss, criticals for 65; Ahb moves to flank - Bear AoO on Ahb for 23 - hits for 11; Glendon shoots but misses; Darred casts Slow on Bear (it saves).

2: Taven mutters (Wall of Fire), and a wall of flame splits the group in two, covering the entire mouth of this room, with the hot side of the wall facing the corridor, and only Arvee and Ahb on its cool side.  Taizu is in the wall as it appears and takes 15 hp, the rest are on the hot side: Glendon takes 5, Darred 2, Rowan 2, and Tarva 2; Taizu keeps singing, Inspire Greatness takes effect, moves to the edge of the cave (out of the fire wall) cannot see anyone; Bear hits Ahb for 22, Arvee for 23, 21; Tarva runs through the fire wall, takes 21 hp, moves into the cave while avoiding the Bear; Rowan casts Resist Elements::Fire on herself, moves through the wall and takes 3 hp - Bear AoO for 24; Arvee yells, "If you're an ally against Evil, then this is an unnecessary fight", hits Bear for 17, criticals for 64, hits for 18, his boots self-deactivate; Ahb hits Bear for 7, knocks it unconscious and bleeding to death; Glendon steps back away from the fire wall; Darred casts Lesser Ice Orbs at the wall, but then tells everyone that he "can't take the wall down".

3:  Darred and Glendon each take 2 hp from the firewall, Taven mutters again (Spike Growth), Taizu takes 4 hp, and his feet are cut enough to slow him to 2/3 movement; Tarva, Rowan, Ahb, and Arvee all take 4 hp; Taizu move 20' through the fungi, takes 11 hp more, sees a human male crouching, yellls, "I found him, he's over here!", casts Sculpt Sound on Taven; Tarva moves to Taizu, taking 2 hp, but doesn't notice the crouching figure, "Where?  Where is he?"; Rowan shoots towards where Taizu indicated, twice, and kills four fungi; Arvee moves 10', taking 8 hp and cutting his feet up, swings and hits Taven (and fungi) for 13; Ahb casts Dispell Magic on the firewall and it goes away; Glendon looks for a target; Darred looks for a target.

4:  Taven says, "All right, I surrender!"

Experience Points: 507.

Tie him up.  Glendon and Arvee begin interrogating him, with help from Darred.  He's a druid, named Taven  He specializes in fungi, and in making potions from them.  Offers to sell some he has on hand: Healing, Extra Strength.  Arvee expresses interest, and seems as indignant as the druid when others suggest just taking them.

Ahb casts Cure Minor Wounds on the Dire Bear to stablize him: still unconscious but no longer bleeding towards death.  Ahb casts Detect Evil and finds that, surprisingly, the druid is evil..

Taven came here of his own free will, to offer his servcies to the DoomDreamers.  Tried first at the Air Temple, but they were such obvious losers that he tried elsewhere.  Yeah, interjects Darred, they were such losers that we killed them all.  Next Taven tried getting in with the Fire Temple, but the priest in charge wasn't willing to grant Taven the respect, honor, and position he deserved, so he left them also and came here to raise fungi.  The Fire Temple High Priest is named Tessimon; There's also a bard, and a sorcerer, and Zirk who is a pretty good fighter with maybe a dozen under him.  Also there are whole bunch of mephits: small elementals (fire elementals of course).. 

What does he do with potions?  He sells them.  To whom?  He goes outside: he has regular customers out there.  What gate does he use to get outside, where is it?  Uses the Air Temple gate.  Why not the Fire Temple gate?  They don't have one: they use the Air Temple gate also.. Tell us about the layout of the Fire Temple.  The foyer has an eternal flame; to stay safe, always go left once you're inside.  Has he ever been in the Inner Fane?  No, you need a Greater Key for that.

We have a key, says Darred, holding up the key to the Dwarf Haven treasury room.  Taven sneers: you need both Lesser Keys to make the Greater Key.  We have those, says Darred, and goes off to get them from Taizu.  Only Taizu won't give them to him, tells Darred that we're supposed to be questioning the druid, not gifting him with information about us.

Ahb wants Taizu to decide what to do with the druid, since he's a prisoner. The choices seem to be to either kill him or else leave him free to inform on us; but Ahb offers a third choice: she can petition Pelor for a Mark of Justice spell, cast it on the druid, and thus seriously discourage him from doing anythiing to harm us (and punish him if he does).  Only she can't ask Pelor for this spell until tomorrow morning.  Reluntantly -- the druid is evil and did attack us, so Taizu thinks executing him is the proper course, but Arvee is for some reason adamant about keeping him alive -- Taizu agrees to this compromise. 

Out of the druid's hearing, Tarva is insistant that we not take the druid into Dwarf Haven, or even mention its existence.  She suggests taking him back to the Air Temple - as if we ourselves would be spending the night there - tossing him into a room, and then going to Dwarf Haven without him.
With everyone (except the druid) right here, Ahb casts Healing Circle twice, for 18 and 17, and then casts a Cure Critical on Arvee, bringing us all up to full hit points.

We go back the way we came, taking the still-trussed druid.  After dumping him in a room in the Air Temple we go back into Dwarf Haven before noon.

Glendon casts Detect Magic on all the druid's belongings (which we'd stripped off him), those being a set of leather armor and a periapt.  We left all the potions behind.  Both the armor and the periapt are magic.  Tarva expresses the opinion that if we're not going to kill the druid, then it isn't right to take his armor.  Ahb agrees.  Tarva offers to find out about the periapt, and also three more potions, and Ahb tells her to go ahead.  Meanwhile Ahb, with Arvee as a guard, goes back to the druid and spends several hours explaining to him the glory (and tenets) of Pelor.

Tarva casts Identify and (eight hours later) determines that:
(1) the Periapt is +4 versus poison;
(2) the Red potion is Heroism: provides a +2 on attacks, saves, and skills;
(3) the Grey, not so fuzzy potion is Levitation;
(4) the Purpely potion is Bull Strength.

Tarva pushes really hard for Ahb to take the periapt: her reasoning is that if Ahb is struck down by poison, the rest of us will be unable to do anything for her - but if one of us is poisoned, then so long as Ahb isn't, Ahb can save that person from the poison.  Ahb agrees with this and takes the periapt.  Arvee declines the Bull Strength potion, stating that between his gauntlets and the wand Darred uses on him, it would be better for someone else to have it.  By a kind of reverse logic, it goes to Taizu as the weakest member of the party.  Glendon will carry the Levitation potion; and Rowan, as our second-best fighter, the Heroism.

We get through the night.

Fireseek 14: 
8:00am  Ahb casts Mark of Justice on Taven: he is to obey the tenets of Pelor, or else suffer a loss of Wisdom.  We take him back to his fungi cave, untie him, and leave him (and his armor) there.

Go back to the last branch, check out the bulge to the side: empty.  Go on down the main corridor, which opens up into an egg-shaped room with an uneven floor: it is 80' long and at its widest is 60' wide, every 20' the floor takes a giant step up 2', so the far end is 6' above us.  The too-frequently encountered ripple marks are here on these walls also.  As we go across (and up) there are sounds as if stones were moving under us: very unnerving.  However Arvee tells us that the room is solid and we should just ignore the noises.  Back in the continuation of the corridor we go 40' before it jogs at a 45° angle to the left, then goes another 20' into the next room.  Which, roughly, is a 60' across, 90' long parallelogram.  There is another opening far up along the left wall, and beyond it are six giant black ants.  We proceed cautiously, but they ignore us as we leave the room.  This corridor segment runs 60' before opening into a 40' wide by 60' long  room of dark rock which shows no tool marks.  The corridor seems to continue at the far end; but between us and it, and next to a two-foot radius circular opening on the right, are eight more giant black ants.  At least four of them seem to be alertly watching us.  They aren't blocking the room, so Arvee tries walking up to, amongst, and beyond them.  They don't bother him, so one at a time we each do the same.  The continuation of the corridor turns right, doubles back, we can see light in a room 60' ahead. 

When we get to it, it is a large space 100' across, 80' deep, slightly oval in shape, with one opening directly across, plus two other openings at the opposite (from where we are) corners.  The floor has a 40' x 40' red diamond set flush into the center of the room.  7' over the center of the diamond is a floating, glowing red orb.  Each side of the diamond has, centered just outside it, an obelisk, each is black with red flecks, standing 8' high on a square base.

9:00am  Darred casts Mage Armor on himself [lasts until 2:00pm].  Ahb casts Protection from Elements::Fire on herself [lasts until 10:40am].  Rowan casts Resist Elements::Fire on herself [lasts until 9:04am].  Darred casts Endure Elements::Fire on himself [lasts until 9:00am Fireseek 15].  Darred uses the wand to cast Bull Strength on Arvee, but the advantage of the spell does not stack with, and is obscured by, his gauntlets.  Darred casts it again, and this time the spell's +5 to Strength obscures the gauntlets [lasts until 2:00pm] [N.B.: the Bull Strength wand now has 17 shots left.] 

We go to the central opening (ignoring both the "stay left" advice from the druid [which is fine with Tarva, as she didn't trust him], and also Ahb's usual Right Hand Rule).  100' down it we come to a cavern with broken floor, a strong smell of sulpher, a 20' diameter pit from which sulphurous smoke is rising, and two other entranceways: one to our right and the other beyond the pit.  There are torches on the walls (there were in the passageway, too) by which we can see that there are also wall paintings of demonic subjects.   We move into the room, and Arvee goes to check out the pit.

1: Taizu doesn't notice as several Fire Mephits rise up from the pit; Glendon shoots and hits Mephit₁ for 6, but the bolt bounces off;  Ahb moves to the front line and shouts, "Fire Mephits!";  Mephit₁ casts  Heat Metal on Arvee's armor: Arvee feels his armor getting very hot, and takes 3 hp; Mephit₂ casts Magic Missile on Arvee for 4 hp; Mephit₃ casts Magic Missile on Ahb for 5 hp; Rowan asks, "What the hell hurts these things?" and shoots at Mephit₁ with silver-tipped arrows, hits for 7 and nicks it, reserves her remaining shot for knowledge; Darred moves to the front and casts Lightning Bolt so as to affect Mephit₁ through Mephit₄ for ???, Mephit₁ dies; Tarva moves 30'; Arvee moves to the edge of the pit, from where he can reach and hit Mephit₂ for 17, kills.

2: Taizu watches our back passageway; Glendon shoots at Mephit₃ but misses; Ahb casts Create Water just over Mephit₃, much steam rises, but Mephit₃ seems otherwise unaffected; Mephit₆ and Mephit₇ appear from the far passageway; Arvee's armor burns him for another 3 hp; Mephit₄ casts Magic Missile on Arvee for 3, Mephit₈ appears in the far passageway; Rowan shoots at Mephit₆ with a normal arrow for 4, but it bounces, shoots again with a silver-tipped arrow for 8, nicks;  Darred casts Lightning Bolt on Mephit₆ through Mephit₈ for 7, Mephit₆ dies; Tarva shoots and hits Mephit₇ for 11, kills; Arvee starts taking off his armor.

3: Taizu keeps watch; Glendon shoots at Mephit₈, criticals for 5 (but it bounces off), announces "It Bounced!"; Ahb casts Holy Smite on Mephit₃ through Mephit₅ for 23, Mephit₃ and Mephit₄ die; armor burns Arvee for 3 hp; Mephit₅ casts Magic Missile on Tarva for 5; Mephit₉ appears from the pit; Rowan changes to her sword (drops her bow) and moves to the center of the room; Tarva shoots Mephit₉ for 7, 13, kills; Arvee continues taking off his armor.

4:  Taizu keeps watch; Glendon casts Magic Missile on Mephit₅ for 7, kills; Ahb runs 40'; Arvee's armor burns him for 5 hp; Mephit₈ casts Magic Missile on Tarva for 3; Darred moves to and watches the passageway to our right; Rowan moves to Mephit₈, hits for 14, kills.  Over the next three rounds, while taking off his armor, Arvee suffers burns for 4, 8, and 5 hp, and then it is cool enough to be safe again.

Experience Points: 286.

We take the passage at our right hand, it leads back to the room with the red diamond and floating orb.  We go back to the pit room, take the other passage.  20' to a 40'x40' room with blackened walls.  There are two sacks with coins.  Tarva casts Easy Math twice to count 220 gp and 160 sp.  There is also a box with a lock.  Taizu unlocks it, finds it is empty.  Ahb dumps all the coins into her haversack.

Back to the diamond & orb room, and take the remaining, left corridor (as advixed by Taven).  30' to a side passage to the left, while straight ahead, 45' away, the passage turns to the right and goes down a flight of stairs.  Just at the top of the stairs is a table with seven guards standing or sitting around it: three humans and four elves.  Some of them see us at the same time; one says, "Stop there."

1:  Tarva runs to the top of the stairs, to cut off their retreat (and any attempt to gather more forces); Ahb runs to beside Tarva; Guard₁ drinks a potion, seems to blur; Taizu begins singing Inspire Courage, moves 30', shoots and hits Guard₂ for 3; Guard₃ on Ahb hits for 7; Guard₄ on Tarva misses; archers shoot at Taizu and hit for 11; Glendon shoots at Guard₂ for 3; Arvee charges Guard₂, hits for 16, kills, cleaves Guard₅, kills, cleaves Guard₆, misses; Rowan charges Guard₃, criticals for 22, kills; Darred moves forward.

2:  Tarva on Guard₄ hits for 9, 14, kills; Ahb charges Guard₁ under the table, misses; Guard₁ hits Ahb for 7; Taizu keeps singing, Inspire Courage takes effect, shoots Guard₁ for 5, miss; Guard₁ flips the table out of the way - Ahb AoO for 9 - table does not land on anyone; Glendon turns and watches our back; Arvee takes a 5' step, hits Guard₆ for 16, kills, cleaves Guard₇ miss, hits at Guard₇ for 16, kills; Rowan on Guard₁ miss, miss; Darred moves to the top of the stairs and watches down them.

3:  Tarva moves back to the other passage and watches down it; Ahb on Guard₁ miss, miss; Guard₁ on Ahb hits for 20; Taizu sings, watches the corridor we came from; Glendon still watching our back; Arvee moves 5', says "we need this one alive", strikes at Guard₁ to subdue, miss, hits for 7 subdual; Rowan says, "put down your weapon and maybe we won't kill you" strikes at Guard₁ to subdue, criticals for 22 subdual, Guard₁ falls down.

Experience Points: 64.

Taizu and Ahb search the bodies.  Glendon casts Detect Magic, and finds a grey, 4" long feather, a vial with a steel grey potion, and several healing potions.  There are nine potions of Cure Light Wounds.  Tarva gains Ahb's concurrence, then distributes these to everyone in the group, with the two extras going to Darred and Taizu.  Aside from the feather and potions, there are a number of pieces of armor and weapons that nobody seems interested in - except that Tarva wants to look, later when she has time, more closely at a thick composite longbow and some (19) very good-looking arrows.

The one not-dead soldier is tied up (unfortunately before anyone notices and strips off from her the mithril chain shirt she is wearing).  Impatient at waiting for her to come around after Rowan's strong subdual blow - and concerned about our losing valuable time now that we're inside the temple - Ahb casts her Cure Minor Wounds cantrip all six times.  The guard still doesn't regain consciousness, so Arvee pours a Cure Light potion down her throat.  Then she wakes up, and the interrogation begins.

How many guards?  Twenty-two: humans and elves; also a salamander, a sorcerer, two clerics.  Tessiman is the head cleric, and in charge of the temple.  He, all the rest of the temple, are down those stairs and through the smoky room. The floating sphere in ther foyer is just ostentation.  There are two raiding parties with varying numbers of members, usually six to fifteen.  Both priests can call Fire Elementals.  The other passageway leads towards the Water Temple.  The head of the guard is named Zert.  The second cleric is a gnome named Fir.  There is a crypt past the temple, full of dead bodies - some more animated than others.  There is no outside gate here: they raid the Air Temple to use that one whenever they need to go outside.  Stay to the left to get by. 

We knock her out, conceal her still tied up body under the table, start down the stairs.  [Note: leaving behind: the mithril chain shirt still on our prisoner; the magic feather; and the vial of steel grey potion; plus all weapons and armor, of interest or otherwise.]

0:  We go down the stairs and plunge into a room so thick with heavy, sulpherous smoke that we cannot see anything.  Moving more than 5' per round will mean that we can't stop in time to keep from smashing into a wall, piller, etc., when we come up on one.  We proceed slowly.

1: Trying to breathe as we move, Trava, Glendon, and Darred choke on the fumes and cough so strenously that we cannot move - this strings the group out even more than the slow pace had.

2:  Taizu is coughing and not moving, rest move forward.

3:  Taizu, Rowan, and Glendon are coughing; Tarva does not move away from Taizu; everyone else moves forward.

4:  Ahb, Glendon, and Taizu are coughing; Tarva still does not leave Taizu's side; everyone else moves forward.

5:  Darred is coughing, everyone else (including Tarva when Taizu does) is moving forward; Arvee reaches a far wall, turns left.

6:  Arvee comes out of the smoke, into a hall, 40' wide and rather long, with three openings along the left hand wall.  Near the center of the hall is a large stone column and statue with a large gong.  Next to it are two elf guards;  Rowan, Ahb, and Darred are coughing; rest move forward.

7:  The elves - Guard₈ and Guard₉ - ring the gong, then run down the hall, yelling; Glendon makes it out of the smoke to Arvee, who is waiting for others; Darred is coughing and not moving; Taizu and Rowan, moving along the far wall but not yet out of the smoke, trip open a trap door in the floor and fall 80' to the bottom of a pit, each taking 34 hp; Ahb and Tarva stop in time to not fall in after them; Ahb tells Tarva, "I'll deal with this.  Get out of here" casts Airwalk, and starts walking down into the pit (whose air is much cleaner); Tarva moves on out of  the smoke to Arvee and Glendon.

8:  Ahb moves 20' down; Arvee gives the end of a rope to Glendon, saying, "Here, hold this", then, holding his breath, runs back into the smoke, finds Darred, and starts to tie the rope around him; Darred is coughing; Glendon holds his end of the rope tightly, but tells Tarva that he hears footsteps, as from several people, coming towards the hallway; Rowan uses wand to cast Cure Light on herself for 6; Taizu casts Cure Moderate on Rowan for 16; Tarva runs full out down the 140' long hall (gong is at 75') - which like the rest of this temple (except the smoke room) is well lit - glancing down the three side passagesways as she passes them: the first at 50' is empty, the second at 90' has a ferocious looking dog-like creature, the third at 110' is empty.

9: Ahb moves 20' down, Arvee finishes tying the rope and runs back out to Glendon; Darred is still coughing; Glendon holds the rope; Rowan uses the wand to Heal herself for 5; Taizu casts Cure Moderate on himself for 18; not having Glendon's good hearing, and thus not knowing which corridor foes might be approaching along, Tarva moves back to the 90' passageway with what she thinks is a hell-hound (having encountered them in a different world, but this could be just a parallel look-alike).

10:  Ahb moves 20' down; Arvee and Glendon pull together on the rope, very hard; Darred comes flying out of the smoke (but lacking his usual batlike grace); Rowan uses the wand to Heal herself for 8; Taizu casts Cure Light on himself for 11; Tarva exchanges glares with the maybe-hellhound, who disdains to even get up from his prone posture, 40' down the corridor.

11:  Ahb reaches the bottom of the pit, hand a potion of Levitation to Rowan, the Slippers of Spider Climb to Taizu; Arvee unties the rope from the prone Darred; Darred lies there and recovers from the bad air; Glendon drops his end of the rope and pulls out his crossbow; Rowan drinks the Levitation potion; Taizu puts on the Slippers; Tarva consdiers taunting the dog, but doesn't; around the corner of the 110' corridor come eight people: the two elf guards who ran away, four other human guards, a human in a really fancy suit of armor - half plate, dark green and scaly - probably Zert, and a sorcerer or wizard who immediately casts Magic Missile on Tarva for 11.

12: Ahb moves 20' up; Arvee moves 20', yells, "Tarva, get your ass back here!"; Darred gets up, moves to Glendon; Glendon shoots Zert for 4; Rowan Levitates up 20'; Taizu Spider Climbs 30'; Tarva decides that being at the far end of the hall from magic and missle users isn't wise, charges Zert and hits for 10; Zert, clearly the boss, tosses out directions: "Archers take out the damned dwarf! <Guard₈> and <Guard₉> take out this bimbo!", hits at Tarva for 11 + 4 fire with a flaming short sword, then for 7 from his other short sword; Sorcerer uses a wand to cast a Fireball to land among Arvee (9hp), Darred (no damage), and Glendon (18hp); Guard₁₀, Guard₁₁, and Guard₁₂ all move to the their-left hand wall and shoot at Arvee; Guard₈ strikes at Tarva, misses; Guard₉ circles around Guard₈ and Tarva; Guard₁₃ does nothing (?stays to guard the Sorcerer?).

13:  Ahb moves 20' up; Arvee activates his boots, goes berserk [through 22], double moves 60', charges 30' at Guard₈, hits for 22, kills, cleaves on Zert for 21; Darred  moves 30' forward, casts Melf's Acid Arrow [through 14] on Sorcerer for 5; Glendon moves 80' forward, casts Grease so as to affect Guard₁₃ and Sorcerer; Rowan Levitates up 20'; Taizu Spider Climbs 30'; Tarva on Zerf criticals for 25, hits for 10; Zerf on Tarva hits for 12 plus 5 fire with one short sword, aims the other halfway between Tarva and Arvee and a burst of flame hits both for 15; Sorcerer steps out of the Grease and casts Fireball to affect Arvee (12), Tarva (12), Glendon (12), and Guard₉ (killed); Guard₁₀, Guard₁₁, and Guard₁₂, all shooting at Glendon, hit for 1; Guard₁₃ is trapped in the Grease.

14:  Ahb moves up 20'; Arvee on Zert hits for 20, kills, moves to Guard₁₀, kills, cleaves Guard₁₁, kills, cleaves Guard₁₂, kills; Darred -- Melf's Acid Arrow burns Sorcerer for 3 -- moves 30' forward, casts Lesser Ice Orb on Sorcerer for 9; Glendon shoots the Sorcerer for 10; Rowan Levitates 20'; Taizu Spider Climbs 30' and is out of the pit; Tarva moves to Sorcerer, hits, kills; Guard₁₃ surrenders.

15:  Ahb reaches the top of the pit; Arvee turns off his boots, comes out of his berserker fury, starts to recover; Darred starts searching bodies; Glendon takes charge of Guard₁₃; Rowan Levitates to top of pit; Taizu gets out of smoke and into hall; Tarva goes back to the 90' corridor with the maybe-hellhound, who still hasn't bothered to get up.

16:  Ahb get out of smoke and into hall; Rowan gets out of smoke and into hall.

Experience Points: 317.

Ahb does much healing (no details) and everyone is at or very close to full points.

Arvee and Glendon interrogate the remaining guard:
Corridor 1 (50') is where the master of the temple, Cleric Thessimon, has his quarters, guarded by a salamander. 
Corridor 2 (90') has a hellhound (Tarva did recognize it).  Questioned again, he says there is only one hellhound (with a conotation of "isn't that enough?").
Corridor 3 (110') leads to their barracks, then a common room, then quarters for the second in command, Cleric Fir, then the Temple.
There is no "back way" around the smoke room - they all go through it by holding their breath and running with one hand along the wall.

Glendon casts Detect Magic and finds: a 9" iron wand on the Sorcerer; both of Zert's short swords; a scroll (which he determines is for Invisibility),  and an iron key with a red symbol.  There are also eight potions of Cure Light Wounds (everyone receives one and the extra goes to Rowan); and five other potions: kelly green, white, goldish, teal, and steel grey. 

There are also lots of weapons and armor, some of very good craftsmanship, and a second key, also iron, but not magical.

To begin with, Ahb will carry all five of the 'other' potions.  Tarva is takiing both short swords: not wanting anyone else to use them until she's had a chance to cast Identify on them.   That leaves the wand, scroll, and keys to determne who is carrying what.  Plus any weapons or armor anyone might want.

We start discussing what to do next:.  We are almost completely healthy, but far down on spells.  Choices suggested: (a) withdraw and come back tomorrow with full spells; (b) hole up and hide somewhere here inside the Fire Temple until tomorrow, then resume with full spells; (c) charge ahead now while we still have some hope of surprise.