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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8801155" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 36: THE TEMPLE OF BURNING DESIRE</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 8</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 4/paladin 4</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 8</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Streggin Cavedelver, dwarf ranger 3</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p><p>Game Session Date: 8 October 2022</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>"Let's go," said Thurloe, gathering up his pack and heading back out of the kobold warren. "The sooner we get on our way, the sooner we're back to the surface." It had been his idea yesterday to spend the rest of the day and the subsequent night in the kobold warren, to rest up and allow the spellcasters to regain a full complement of spells in the morning - and he'd even spent the day poring over the spellbooks he'd gathered over his adventuring career, making sense enough of the <em>summon monster II</em> spell to figure out how to cast it on his own - but now it was the start of a new day and he was eager to leave the Underdark behind.</p><p></p><p>Besides, the kobold corpses were starting to stink.</p><p></p><p>Streggin, as their guide, led the way out of the warren, past the <em>deeper darkness</em> zone and into the tunnel that went sideways, both north and south. They'd come from the south and he led then back that way for only a short while before he held his hand up suddenly and brought the procession to an immediate halt.</p><p></p><p>"What is it?" asked Alewyth in a whisper.</p><p></p><p>"Thought I heard something ahead," Streggin replied. Then, pointing down the corridor, he said in a hiss, "There!"</p><p></p><p>With her dwarven darkvision, Alewyth was able to see exactly what the ranger had been pointing at - a pair of duergar kavalrachni, mounted on the horse-sized spiders called steeders, crawling down the corridor and headed in their direction. Then, looking up at the cavern ceiling above the two kavalrachni, Alewyth saw two more, the duergar and their mounts hanging upside-down from the ceiling and looking rather like an inverted reflection of the pair below. But recent experience with these spider-riders had shown the duergar kavalrachni used an intricate saddle that kept them belted into place so that traveling along the ceiling was no more dangerous than riding right-side-up on the cavern floor.</p><p></p><p>The duergar had darkvision as keen as any surface dwarf and they spotted the six adventurers at the same time Streggin and Alewyth had noted them. "There they are!" yelled one of them in the Dwarven tongue. "Get them!"</p><p></p><p>"What's that?" asked Zander, who had heard the shout but hadn't made out what was being said, nor could he see who was down the corridor yelling at them. Alewyth quickly brought those without the benefit of darkvision up to speed. "More of those duergar riding giant spiders," she said. "Four of each, headed this way." Getting a grip on <em>Sjondra</em>, she faced the approaching gray dwarves without flinching, showing them she wasn't afraid.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe cast a <em>mage armor</em> spell upon himself and stepped forward as he squinted past the edge of the illumination provided by Zander's <em>everburning torch</em>. Xandro unpacked his <em>Dardolian lute</em> and began playing his song of inspirational courage; after all, the enemy already knew where they were so a little music wasn't going to give away their position or anything. And he knew the team fought better when buoyed up by the power of his song. But unlike Thurloe, the bard took a few steps back, wanting to put a few of his friends - those better suited to hand-to-hand fighting - between him and the approaching foes.</p><p></p><p>The steeders moved forward with implacable determination. As they entered the circle of illumination, Xandro and Thurloe could see each duergar had a lance projected in front of the steeder he rode but also carried a battleaxe in his right hand. And as they got closer to the six heroes, the two on the ceiling each circled down along a different wall, falling into place behind the other pair of kavalrachni. After all, there wasn't room for more than two of the steeders side-by-side in the tunnel, nor would hand-to-hand fighting be possible from the tunnel's ceiling.</p><p></p><p>The lead steeders rushed at Thurloe, their duergar riders leaning forward and swinging with their battleaxes as the spellsword raced forward himself, dodging the lances and purposefully getting in too close for the lengthy weapons to be able to be a factor. But one battleaxe got past Thurloe's defense and he ended up with a gash along one arm.</p><p></p><p>Zander was even less of a melee combatant that Xandro; he cast a <em>haste</em> spell while they were all close enough for him to still affect everyone, then stepped back out of immediate range of the spiders and their gray dwarf riders. Alewyth also cast a spell on the assembled group - in her case, <em>bless</em> - and then stepped forward to come to Thurloe's aid. Streggin shot a crossbow bolt at one of the duergar attacking Thurloe, hitting him in the side.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren saw an opportunity and took it. Raising his right hand, upon which he wore the <em>gauntlet of Cal</em>, he invoked the power of his god and a <em>javelin of lightning</em> appeared in his upraised hand. Hurling the weapon down the corridor, the <em>lightning bolt</em> hit two steeders and the two duergar riding them, one of the gray dwarves being the one Streggin had just hit with his bolt. That one died from the magical assault, but his special saddle kept him upright despite his death.</p><p></p><p>The two steeders bit at Thurloe; the spellsword successfully avoided one but couldn't prevent the other from getting its fangs into him. He felt a burning sensation at the site of entry of the creature's mandibles and could already feel the venom start its work, making him feel sluggish, the weight of his bastard sword seemingly heavier in his hands. But there was a way to overcome that; the spellsword activated his <em>torc of the titans</em> and felt his missing strength return, if only for a brief moment - but long enough for him to swing his blade at the living duergar still within range. In the meantime, another steeder crawled up the side wall to get to Wakuren, the fourth one following behind it.</p><p></p><p>Xandro pulled his <em>frost short sword</em> from its scabbard and charged the spider whose rider had been slain, his blade slicing deep within a hairy, twitching leg. The three duergar were quick to react with strikes from their battleaxes at Alewyth, Thurloe, and Wakuren. Zander cast a <em>lightning bolt</em> through two of the steeders and their riders, slaying the spider with the already-dead duergar and killing the duergar riding the spider behind that one. That left only half of the duergar still alive with their mounts, as well as one extra steeder whose rider was now dead.</p><p></p><p>Streggin focused his aim at one of the remaining duergar, hitting him in the shoulder with a crossbow bolt. Alewyth attacked the other one with <em>Sjondra</em>, her warhammer striking the gray dwarf in the side of his helmeted head. Wakuren focused his attention - and the pointed bottom of his shield - on the head of the "extra" steeder, deeming the giant arachnids the bigger threat because of their venomous bites. With the full power of an enraged half-orc behind it, the shield buried itself deep into the steeder's head and it died, legs twitching spasmodically.</p><p></p><p>Xandro got bitten by one of the two remaining steeders, while the other went after Thurloe but failed to get a grip on him with its venom-dripping mandibles. But Thurloe took advantage of the steeder's nearness to activate another charge from his torc and lash out at its rider with his bastard sword, <em>Spellslicer</em> cutting through the base of the duergar's throat and causing his life-blood to go spilling down his torso. He slumped in the saddle, dead, but the oblivious steeder fought on.</p><p></p><p>Xandro cast a <em>magic missile</em> spell at the steeders, splitting the attack between the two. The missiles all hit, but the bard was disappointed to see neither steeder drop as a result. The sole surviving duergar swung his battleaxe into Alewyth's side, her armor absorbing some - but not all - of the blow. But then Zander took him out with a <em>magic missile</em> spell and the two remaining steeders no longer had anyone guiding their actions with the control rods kavalrachni employed to tell their mounts where they wanted them to go. Streggin shot at one steeder while Alewyth attacked the other with her warhammer. Wakuren ran up beside her and added his shield to the assault, then cocked his head to one side - despite the battle going on all around him, he thought he could hear footsteps approaching from further down the tunnel, from the direction these four steeders had come. Zander confirmed his findings with a shouted, "More gray dwarves on the way - lots of 'em!" to his friends, having picked up the sounds of the tramping of dozens, if not hundreds, of pairs of booted feet marching in unison.</p><p></p><p>"We need to retreat - this way!" shouted Streggin, pointing back the way they'd come; the map had them going back to the south but now that way was blocked by a duergar slaver army, so north would have to do. Of course, none of the passageways to the north of the kobold warren were on the map the elderly dwarf from Agatesgate had hastily drawn up, so Streggin would have to rely upon his instincts to find them an alternate way back to the surface.</p><p></p><p>The steeders bit at Xandro and Thurloe again, but the two were already starting to retreat back the way they'd come. "Hang on!" called back Thurloe to the others. "Let's take these steeders out quick so they can't follow us! They've got to be faster than duergar on foot!" In this, he was absolutely correct, for the duergar were of dwarven stock and weren't able to move as fast as a human or an elf, let alone an eight-legged spider the size of a large horse. Activating the last daily charge of his torc, the spellsword swung his bastard sword for all he was worth, killing the steeder that had been trying to bite him. As it crashed to the stone floor of the tunnel, Thurloe turned and started to sprint to the north. Xandro started jogging backwards away from the other steeder, casting a <em>magic missile</em> spell at it and only turning to sprint after Thurloe once he saw the giant spider had been slain by his spell. The others ran to follow, Streggin a bit distraught to note of the six people in his group, he was the slowest among them. But that was alright, for they stopped at each fork in the tunnel to allow him to catch up and determine which way they should go next. The sounds of pursuit were never far behind, though, and the dwarven ranger was well aware that what the gray dwarves lacked in speed they more than made up for in knowledge of the local terrain. While Streggin was making his best educated guesses about which way was the best to go, the duergar no doubt knew exactly which passageways went where - and likely knew of any shortcuts that might allow them to cut the heroes off as they fled. <em>That</em> was not a pleasant thought!</p><p></p><p>"We can hide in the lamp!" suggested Wakuren.</p><p></p><p>"Too risky," shot down Thurloe. "If they find it, we're done for. And we don't have any way of seeing if the coast is clear when we're all inside. We'd never know when it was safe to come back out."</p><p></p><p>"Then you all get inside and I'll pick up the lamp, turn invisible, and use <em>gaseous form</em> to fly past them."</p><p></p><p>"If the whole slaver army's out," Streggin advised, "they're bound to have spellcasters. They could likely detect you and probably dispel your magic. Then we'd get to spend the rest of our lives as duergar slaves. Better we keep running."</p><p></p><p>"What if we run into a dead end?" Wakuren countered.</p><p></p><p>"Then we can give your plan a try," suggested Streggin. Wakuren just shrugged and kept running.</p><p></p><p>They had been running for at least a half an hour and could still hear the marching footsteps behind them when there was a reddish light from the tunnel ahead. "Wait a minute - I think I know where we are!" Streggin wheezed, slowing to get his bearings and catch his breath.</p><p></p><p>"You've been here before?" prompted Alewyth.</p><p></p><p>"No, but I've heard of it. A temple, carved among pools of magma."</p><p></p><p>"It's a way out?" asked Zander, whose frail constitution was already tired of all the running they'd been doing - he had a stitch in his side something fierce. But Streggin was forced to admit he didn't know.</p><p></p><p>But the duergar apparently did. "Hold up!" the group heard one of the gray dwarf leaders call back to his men. "The temple denizens will make quick work of those surface-scum who killed our soldiers - and if not, they've got nowhere else to go but right back here, where we'll be ready for them!"</p><p></p><p>"Well, crap," said Thurloe, not liking the "temple denizens" part of that prediction. Still, there was no way he wanted to face down an entire duergar slaver army; better to take their chances with whatever "temple denizens" might be around. "Streggin, any idea what we'll be facing?"</p><p></p><p>"Nothing for certain," admitted the dwarf. "But this is the Temple of Burning Desire - a shrine to Infernia, said to have been built centuries ago by a powerful wizard. He built it here because there's supposed to be weak areas here between the Mortal World and the Elemental Plane of Fire."</p><p></p><p>"So we can expect to see fire creatures: elementals, that sort of thing?" surmised Alewyth.</p><p></p><p>"That would be my guess."</p><p></p><p>"Well, crap," Thurloe muttered again, going over a mental inventory of the spells he'd prepared that morning before setting out. Nothing in the way of protection from fire, or even cold-based attack spells, which would likely be especially dangerous to creatures made of living flame. Still, they might as well check the place out; maybe they'd get lucky and the elementals would have all gone home or something. He pulled a <em>potion of neutralize poison</em> from his belt and drank down its contents, so if any of the unknown dangers they'd be facing in this Temple of Burning Desire were venomous, he'd at least have a leg up in surviving the encounter.</p><p></p><p>Xandro, in the meantime, took the opportunity to cast a <em>cure light wounds</em> spell on himself now that he had a moment's respite from the constant running. The cuts in his skin where the steeder's mandibles pierced him and injected their venom healed up nicely. Zander, his earlier <em>haste</em> spell having worn off, cast an <em>expeditious retreat</em> spell upon himself. It was always to his benefit to be able to run faster than anything likely to be chasing him.</p><p></p><p>"Well, let's see what we're up against," suggested Streggin, leading the group into the natural caverns that comprised the Temple of Burning Desire. There was a leaf-shaped pool of magma off to the left, and the tunnel curved off to the right just past it, and just beyond the turn there were another two long pits of magma, one on either side of the tunnel. The passageway then opened up into a wider cavern, from which a much larger pool of magma to the southeast spilled into the larger space through a pair of jagged cracks in the floor. The level of the magma was within a foot of the cavern's floor.</p><p></p><p>There was a blur of motion from the right as Streggin advanced past the turn in the tunnel; before he could spin in place and aim his crossbow at the small, gargoylelike figure flying down from the cavern ceiling above the magma pool, it dropped to his level, opened its maw wide, and let loose with a cone of steaming vapors, engulfing the dwarven ranger and Thurloe, who had followed him closely as he advanced. Seeing combat was already starting this close to the entrance to the Temple, Alewyth cast a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell upon herself and moved up to join the others. Wakuren did likewise, casting a <em>bull's strength</em> spell upon himself and feeling the enhanced power flow through his muscles. He'd already felt more physically powerful in recent days and wondered if Cal was sending him enhanced strength to deal with the travails he dealt with on a nearly daily basis as an adventurer.</p><p></p><p>From the pool behind them to the left, an impish figure rose up from the magma, its body seemingly composed of fluid, black rock with driblets of magma dripping through the cracks. It also belched forth a breath weapon, this one a cone of magma spray that covered Wakuren's back, charring his armor and causing burning welts to rise up from his exposed skin. He roared in pain and surprise, mentally chiding himself for not having given the magma pools a more careful visual examination as he passed them.</p><p></p><p>Another, similar creature dropped down from the cavern ceiling above the magma pool on the left just past the turn in the tunnel, only this creature seemed the most likely to be a fire elemental of sorts, for its gargoyle-shaped form was made up of living flame. The fire mephit breathed forth a cone of flames that briefly encompassed Zander, singeing his robes and his hair.</p><p></p><p>However, once the initial surprise of these unexpected attacks had worn off, the adventurers quickly gave back as much or more than they'd taken. Thurloe's bastard sword cleaved the steam mephit's body in two, causing it to lose full cohesion and scatter to the hazy air of the ceiling. In the back ranks, Xandro cast a <em>heroism</em> spell upon himself and moved up, ready for combat. Zander cast another <em>magic missile</em> spell, splitting the arcane projectiles between the magma and fire mephits, slaying both at the same time. He then congratulated himself on a job well done in taking out two-thirds of this initial attack force all by himself, as Streggin pushed on ahead, crossbow still at the ready.</p><p></p><p>It turned out, though, that the elf's self-congratulation was a bit premature, for the three mephits were just the initial strike force, to "test the waters," as it were. Three more steam mephits descended from the ceiling of the magma-flooded cavern from which the first one had come, surrounding Thurloe and blasting him with three cascades of steaming breath. As Alewyth and Wakuren moved up, three more magma mephits arose from their pool of molten rock and sprayed their lava-breath at Xandro, Alewyth, and Thurloe, while a trio of fire mephits dropped down from the ceiling of their own side-cavern and concentrated their fire (quite literally) on the dwarven priestess. None of the creatures was that much of a threat to the group singly, but in greater numbers their attacks were much more dangerous.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe's bastard sword killed another steam mephit, and then the spellsword took a step to the side, getting away from the deadly arc the three had formed around him. Xandro's <em>frost short sword</em> slew the closest magma mephit, whose fiery body froze up in death as it sank below the magma of its pool, never to rise again. Zandro, whose greater speed had placed him in the far front of the group's formation, spun about and had a perfect <em>lightning bolt</em> path lined up - only Thurloe was in the way. "Thurloe - move to your left!" the elf called out, and as soon as the spellsword complied he let loose with his spell, slaying one each of the three types of mephit in one fell swoop.</p><p></p><p>Streggin shot at a magma mephit and hit, but was disappointed to see the creature yank the bolt from its shoulder and toss it disdainfully into the pool of magma from which it was emerging. Thurloe cried out in sudden pain as a rainstorm of boiling water suddenly formed above him; he knew its cause by the sudden, evil gleam in the eyes of the pair of steam mephits still flying around the tunnel. Alewyth killed a fire mephit with <em>Sjondra</em>, the mighty warhammer easily crushing its fiery body into embers and sending them flying from the force of the priestess's blow. Wakuren slew a steam mephit with the side of his shield.</p><p></p><p>Having exhausted their most powerful attacks - which they could only use so often before needing to recharge - the two remaining magma mephits flew out of their pool and swiped their burning claws at Xandro. The two fire mephits continued their attacks upon Alewyth, each sending a <em>scorching ray</em> her way - one of which she was able to successfully dodge. It seemed the heroes would be able to make short work of these mephits after all.</p><p></p><p>And then four more creatures entered the fray. These four were each twice the size of the mephits, with glistening, hairless bodies dripping with magma as they rose out of the larger pool ahead to the right. Each of the four spit a hunk of burning lava into its hand and then threw the burning mass at their nearest target: Wakuren. This caused the lava children to giggle with frenzied delight at Wakuren's roars of pain as the hurled globules burned his flesh even more.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe didn't like the sheer numbers of enemies they were facing and decided to take out the ones in the back first so they couldn't attack the group from behind. Casting a <em>magic missile</em> spell from his wand, he slew the sole remaining magma mephit, causing it to fall lifelessly back into the pool from which it had come. Zander, in the meantime, was much closer to the lava children and cast another <em>magic missile</em> spell, splitting the projectiles between the two in the first row. Streggin's follow-up crossbow bolt slew one of those two and it too sunk beneath the burning magma pool from which it had risen.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth took the time to cast a <em>prayer</em> spell, aiding her allies' attacks while hindering those of their enemies. Wakuren cast a <em>divine favor</em> spell upon himself, boosting his combat abilities - and he was more than ready to dish out some physical damage to these creatures of fire! Infernia might be a Goddess of Love, but his heart held nothing but hatred and contempt for the creatures infesting her Temple. His hatred only intensified when the three remaining lava children rushed up out of the magma pool, clawing at the enraged half-orc with their burning claws. Thurloe slew one of the bald, glistening menaces with another blast from his <em>wand of magic missile</em>.</p><p></p><p>Xandro stabbed at the last of the fire mephits with his <em>frost blade</em>, but missed outright. It fled for the safety of the magma pool, diving beneath the molten rock where the heroes couldn't follow (and, over time, it could heal the wounds it had suffered at their hands). "I'll get him if he resurfaces!" Streggin promised, pointing his crossbow at the spot where the fire mephit had submerged. The bard, in the meantime, cast another of his <em>cure light wounds</em> spells upon his burned and battered body.</p><p></p><p>Just beyond the cavern in which he, Wakuren, and Thurloe stood, Zander saw a natural stone bridge rise over another long magma pool, the bridge leading to a smaller cavern in which burned a blazing bonfire. Off to the right of this cavern was an obviously carved passageway, inside of which sat a serpentine creature whose body blazed in flames, its upper torso not that dissimilar from that of an elf or a human, although it seemed to have a fin of flames running down its spine. It carried a metal spear, glowing red-hot from the heat of the creature wielding it. Zander was pretty sure he'd heard of these creatures before: salamanders, they were called, although they were nothing like the newtlike creatures of the same name with which the elf was much more familiar. Fortunately, the salamander's back was turned to the elf, nor did it seem to hear the sounds of combat behind it; its full attention was focused upon a black disk embedded in the wall of the small chamber in which he sat.</p><p></p><p>Beyond the chamber with the bonfire, the stone floor ramped down into a much larger pool of magma, at the far side of which rose up a sort of "island" of stone, upon which had been carved an obsidian statue of the burning form of Infernia, identifiable by her body sheathed in flames and the two great, curving horns projecting from her forehead. She had been carved leaning forward, holding out a bottle in one hand.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth advanced, catching up to the lava children right as Wakuren killed one with the sharp edge of his shield. The other two each took a final swipe at the half-orc before fleeing back towards the relative safety of their magma pool. But before either one of them could make it to safety, Thurloe slew one with another charge from his <em>wand of magic missile</em>, focusing all of the arcane projectiles into the one target. Xandro stepped up to the spellsword and, seeing his wounds, cast a <em>cure moderate wounds</em> spell upon him. Alewyth took the moment's respite to cast a similar spell upon herself.</p><p></p><p>Looking around the magma pool ahead and the bridge that spanned it (the elf noticed that unlike a manufactured bridge, this natural span had no "handrails" or anything preventing someone from falling over the side to their death) and saw a pair of creatures flying around at the top of the ceiling. These were no steam mephits like before, though: they were skeletal from the waist up, their lower bodies ending in trails of mist and sparking embers. The cinder ghouls dropped in elevation, coming down lower, the elf sorcerer feared, so they could attack the intruders in this Temple of Burning Desire. "It will do you no good," one cinder ghoul whispered in the Dwarven tongue. "There are too many guardians, too many defenses. If you try to reach the bottle in the statue's hand and gain your wish, you will be slain...like us." Zander, who understood the dwarven language, surmised these apparitions were some sort of undead creatures that had likely been duergar in life, which could possibly explain the duergar army's hesitance to follow the group into the confines of the Temple.</p><p></p><p>Wakuren raced after the remaining lava child, trying to smash its skull in with his shield before it could escape back into the magma pool, and this time the half-orc's rage worked against him, for he swung too soon and sent himself reeling off to the side, off-balance as a result of the swing and the miss. The lava child, just to be nasty, took a final moment to claw parallel lines of pain down the half-orc's arm before diving into the magma pool. Wakuren roared in frustration.</p><p></p><p>The two cinder ghouls surrounded Zander, one dissipating into a cloud of smoky vapors and flying directly at his face, entering the sorcerer's body through his nostrils and mouth. Zander immediately fell into a coughing fit at this intrusion, making him unable to prevent the other one from attacking him with its claws and stealing away some of his vitality. Seeing this, Thurloe cast a <em>protection from evil</em> spell upon himself and ran up to help his elven friend. Xandro pulled out his <em>Dardolian lute</em> and began the chords to his song of inspirational courage. Eventually, Zander managed to cough the cinder ghoul's vaporous form out of his lungs and staggered away weakly, casting a <em>magic missile</em> spell at the other one, who had thus far maintained its partially-solid, skeletal form.</p><p></p><p>Alewyth presented her holy symbol of Aerik and called out, "Begone, foul beings!" as she tried turning the two undead forms, channeling positive energy through her body and sending it across the chamber to the floating cinder ghouls. But her attempt met only in failure; undeterred, the dwarven priestess advanced, <em>Sjondra</em> held in her other hand. If one weapon failed, she'd give the other a try....</p><p></p><p>Wakuren raced up and brought his <em>shield of Cal</em> smashing through the vaporous form of the cinder ghoul who had trespassed into Zander's lungs, just as it was regaining a more solid form (at least from the waist up). The attack sent the newly-reformed bones of its skeletal torso flying in all directions and the half-orc congratulated himself on having slain one of these two strange types of undead. The other cinder ghoul tried clawing at him, but Wakuren caught the attack on the flat of his shield.</p><p></p><p>However, the lava child popped its head up from its magma pool at that point, spit into his hand, and tossed the glob of molten rock at Alewyth, who happened to be a closer target than Wakuren. It was a move generated out of hatred for the intruders, and it was one that cost the lava child his life, for Zander blasted him with a <em>lightning bolt</em> and he died with a wicked grin still plastered on his face at the success of his surprise attack against Alewyth. Thurloe cast a <em>shield</em> spell upon himself from his wand, while Xandro used his <em>frost short sword</em> against the cinder ghoul attacking Wakuren and discovered these vaporous creatures didn't like the cold energy from his blade any more than had any of the other fire-based creatures they'd met up with thus far in the Temple.</p><p></p><p>Closer now to her target, Alewyth tried another turning attempt, and this time the positive energy she channeled through her holy symbol had the desired effect: the cinder ghoul jolted as if physically struck, turned to face the priestess, and then fled at full speed across the ramp into the larger magma pool, to cower against the wall to the left of the statue of Infernia.</p><p></p><p>But as all of this had taken place on the natural stone bridge cresting over the magma pool just to the south of the blazing bonfire, the salamander finally became aware of the commotion outside his extraplanar chamber, where the black disk he'd been staring at occasionally opened up to the Elemental Plane of Fire, the place to which he desperately wished to return - it was <em>cold</em> here, and while his curiosity had drawn him to explore this strange world, he'd had quite enough of it. But, curiosity once again compelling him, he slithered out of the chamber and saw a group of a half-dozen local denizens of this world. A look of confusion crossed his features: now what? There had been sporadic incursions from the locals into the Temple during the weeks the salamander had been here, some seeking treasure, others seemingly content just to slay whatever creatures they could find. He raised his spear, pointing it towards the closest of these intruders.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe's actions didn't do anything to allay the salamander's suspicions about the ruthlessness of the local denizens of this mortal plane: the spellsword cast a <em>ray of enfeeblement</em> spell that struck the salamander in the chest and immediately robbed him of his physical vigor. Xandro cast a <em>cure light wounds</em> spell on Zander, and then the elf sorcerer followed up with a <em>ray of enfeeblement</em> spell of his own, such that the weary salamander could now barely even lift the metal spear he relied upon as his primary weapon and means of defense.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately for the salamander, the next attack upon his person was a spell from Alewyth: a <em>dismissal</em> spell that returned him to his own plane of existence. Upon realizing the effect of this "attack," the words - in the Ignan language, which sounded like nothing so much as the sounds of crackling flames to the dwarven priestess - "Thank you" spilled from the salamander's lips as he vanished from the mortal plane. There had been no telling how much longer he'd have had to wait for the <em>planar gate</em> to open back up to the Elemental Plane of Fire; this way was so much easier.</p><p></p><p>As the salamander was now gone and the only remaining cinder ghoul was cringing along the back wall, Wakuren took a moment to cast a <em>cure moderate wounds</em> spell upon himself, healing over the worst of the burns and gashes he'd received. Thurloe approached the bonfire, suspicious as was his nature, for he saw nothing fueling the flames. He was well aware the Underdark had a distinct scarcity of trees like the surface world, and he also knew there were magical ways to generate a burning flame like the one before him, but he also knew this could also be some sort of trap, if not some sort of flame-based creature itself. But, having attended to Zander's wounds, Xandro stepped up behind the spellsword and cast a <em>cure light wounds</em> spell on him.</p><p></p><p>Zander activated the full power of his <em>scout's headband</em> and looked around, his vision now powered with <em>true seeing</em>. With the ability to now see things as they truly were, he could see perfectly well that the bonfire was indeed a large fire elemental, but one content to just remain in place and not bother anyone. He stepped forward by the large pool of magma and saw three shapes beneath its surface, two of them about his own size and one much, much larger.</p><p></p><p>Voicing what he'd seen to the others, Zander stepped aside as Wakuren walked boldly down the ramp, stopping just short of entering the molten rock. The two smaller shapes were the first to break the surface; these were humanoid in build but covered in molten lava and burning flames. They each took tentative steps towards the half-orc, hands outraised as if trying to grab him up into their fiery embrace.</p><p></p><p>As Xandro picked back up his song of inspirational courage, Thurloe cast a <em>magic missile</em> spell at the first of the fire phantoms. Alewyth summoned forth a <em>spiritual weapon</em>, causing the warhammer of solid force to go crashing into the fiery body of the second phantom. Neither attack stopped them from moving forward, but fortunately they didn't move all that fast and Wakuren was able to stay out of the grasp of them both. Then, taking a step backwards up the sloping ramp, Wakuren cast his own <em>spiritual weapon</em> spell, sending his heavy mace crashing into the face of the one Thurloe had hit with his <em>magic missile</em> spell. And it was then that the third form rose up out of the magma, directly in front of the half-orc.</p><p></p><p>The creature had the shape of a giant snake, or perhaps it was more like a sea serpent, for all the heroes could see of it was a long neck and a wedge-shaped head with a mouth full on sharp teeth. It darted forward at Wakuren, snapping its black teeth at him, but he dodged back in time and the jaws snapped shut on empty air.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe continued his <em>magic missile</em> assault on the fire phantom he'd originally targeted, while Xandro continued playing his inspirational tune on his magic lute, well back from the fiery attackers. Zander cast a <em>bear's endurance</em> spell upon himself and backed up out of range himself. Then, in a sudden burst of speed, the fire elemental lunged out and grabbed at Alewyth, having been instructed to do so by the silent mental summons of the serpentine lava weird from the magma pool before it. Alewyth rolled to the side and summoned an elemental of her own to protect her, this one from the Elemental Plane of Earth. It wasn't particularly impressive, standing not even as tall as the dwarf, but it positioned itself between her and the fire elemental and was ready to give its all to see to her protection. And behind her, Alewyth's <em>spiritual warhammer</em> continued its attack upon the fire phantom it had first attacked, not having been given any orders to the contrary.</p><p></p><p>One of the fire phantoms waded up onto the sloping ramp and approached Alewyth. In a flash that belied its small size, the earth elemental interposed itself between this new threat and its mistress, slamming the flaming undead thing with its stony fists. The fire phantom returned the attacks, although the elemental's rocky build was not particularly flammable and it had not much to fear from the flames engulfing the undead foe. The other fire phantom reached up at Wakuren, but he managed to block the attack on his shield.</p><p></p><p>To the cleric-paladin of Cal, however, the fire phantom was a mere distraction: Wakuren wanted to take out the lava weird that had tried to bite him. Channeling all of his prodigious strength into an overhead blow, he brought his shield down upon the lava weird's head, cracking open its rocky outer surface and causing it to leak lava, which the half-orc hoped was the equivalent of a bleeding head wound that had opened up his foe's skull. The lava weird snapped its jaws at its half-orc foe but once again Wakuren was quick enough to avoid being bitten.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe pumped another <em>magic missile</em> spell into the fire phantom he'd been fighting, as Xandro pulled out his <em>frost short sword</em> and stabbed it deep into the fire elemental intent upon attacking Alewyth. Zander aided the bard's efforts with a <em>magic missile</em> spell of his own, but not before the burning creature brought its flaming fists down upon the dwarven priestess, hitting her hard and setting her cloak ablaze. But the dwarf took that all in stride, spinning about and slamming the fire elemental with <em>Sjondra</em> before taking the time to release the cloak's clasp and let it fall to the stone floor behind her. Also behind her, the small earth elemental continued pounding on the fire phantom intent upon reaching Alewyth.</p><p></p><p>The fire phantoms continued their own attacks with their flaming fists, one still trying to get to Wakuren and the other fighting the earth elemental. Wakuren ignored the attack from the flaming humanoid, concentrating on another devastating strike with the pointed bottom of his shield, which hit the lava weird on the top of its already-damaged head and split the rent there even farther. Wakuren had to dance back up the ramp as the lava weird collapsed onto the sloping ramp before him, then slowly slid back into the magma pool, unmoving and no longer alive.</p><p></p><p>Thurloe's next <em>magic missile</em> spell killed the fire phantom engaged in battle with Alewyth's earth elemental, at just about the same time Xandro's <em>frost blade</em> took out the fire elemental, which seemed to go out like a campfire doused by a bucket of water.</p><p></p><p>Despite most of the fiery foes having been taken care of, Zander was feeling particularly vulnerable, so he cast a new spell for the first time: <em>stoneskin</em>, which covered him in a protective sheath that would deflect the majority of most physical attacks made against him. He would discover later just how expensive a spell that would prove to be, as casting it devoured all of the diamond dust he carried in his spell component pouch.</p><p></p><p>The earth elemental continued its attacks on the sole remaining fire phantom, and with a bit of redirection there were now two <em>spiritual weapons</em> focused upon taking it out as well. Wakuren, still stoked at having slain the lava weird by himself, turned his attention on the undead thing beside him and provided the killing blow to it. Thurloe killed the cowering cinder ghoul with a <em>magic missile</em> spell just so they wouldn't have to worry about it snapping out of its fear of Aerik's holy symbol.</p><p></p><p>And then the heroes found themselves no longer in combat for the first time since stepping into the Temple of Burning Desire.</p><p></p><p>"So now what?" asked Alewyth. "This looks t' be a dead end. Are we going to have to turn around and face that duergar army after all?"</p><p></p><p>"Maybe not," replied Zander, telling the others what the cinder ghouls had whispered to him about the "wish" in the bottle in the hand of the statue of Infernia. Looking across the magma pool, they could see there was in fact some sort of bottle held in her outstretched hand.</p><p></p><p>"I'll send me bee t' go fetch it!" announced Alewyth, summoning forth the giant bee imprisoned in her <em>amber amulet of vermin</em>. The bee manifested in the air and at Alewyth's direction flew over to the statue and landed on the bottle. "Bring it back here!" Alewyth directed, but the insect just crawled back and forth over the bottle (and Infernia's hand), as if in puzzlement.</p><p></p><p>"I don't think the bottle detaches," observed Xandro.</p><p></p><p>"Hang on," replied Wakuren, fetching the <em>rope of climbing</em> from his pack. Holding onto one end, he commanded the magic rope to go attach itself to Infernia's outstretched wrist. While it did so, Thurloe began pounding a piton into the ground by the top of the sloping ramp and securely tied the end of the <em>rope of climbing</em> in place. Then, once it was secure, he used his own length of rope to attach around his waist and the <em>rope of climbing</em>. Finally, with precautions in place to prevent him from falling into the magma pool if he lost his grip, Thurloe climbed over to the statue of Infernia.</p><p></p><p>"Bottle's attached to the statue," Thurloe called over to the others. "But it's got a removable stopper."</p><p></p><p>"You know what this is?" asked Xandro. "It's a genie bottle! Release the genie, make a <em>wish</em> to get back to the surface!"</p><p></p><p>"In this place, probably an efreet," corrected Thurloe - and that proved to be the case. After having decided upon what exact wording to use (for wish-granting creatures like genies were often said to warp the wishes of foolish mortals when possible), Thurloe pulled the cork from the <em>iron flask</em> embedded into the Infernia statue and was immediately rewarded by a blast of smoke shooting directly into his face. Thurloe winced but held his grip, and the smoke flew out into the open air above the magma pool and coalesced into the form of a hovering, red-skinned giant with horns protruding from his head.</p><p></p><p>"WHAT IS YOUR WISH?" demanded the efreet, glaring down at the mortals gathered below him.</p><p></p><p>"The six of us wish to be teleported, safely, along with all of our possessions and gear, back up to the dwarven surface city of Agatesgate," Thurloe replied.</p><p></p><p>"SIMPLICITY ITSELF," scoffed the efreet, waving his hand as if shooing away an irritating insect. Just that quickly, the five heroes, their dwarven ranger guide, the <em>rope of climbing</em> and the giant bee, even Thurloe's piton - all vanished from the area. Looking over his handiwork with an appraising eye, the efreet nodded to himself in approval, turned back into a column of smoke, and returned to the <em>iron flask</em> in Infernia's outstretched hand.</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>I wrote this adventure with two goals in mind: I wanted to force the PCs to find a different way back to the surface (it's not a whole lot of fun and excitement going back the same way you came, having already cleared the path of any obstacles two days ago) and it gave me an opportunity to use some fire-based creatures the players had never met up with before. And my son Logan has a 5-inch tall female fire elemental miniature based on the same image he'd used for Infernia back in our Wing Three campaign (when she was the fire elemental familiar of his wizard Telgrane), which I used for the Infernia statue at the end of the Temple of Burning Desire.</p><p></p><p>We had a bit of a surprise during this game session, as not only did Joe join us (it was a three-day weekend so he drove home to his parents' house and decided he'd run his own PC, Zander Quilson, instead of having his dad run him for him as we did the previous session), but Joe's older brother Jacob also came to see how we were all doing. Jacob gamed with us during the Wing Three and Kordovian Adventurers Guild days, so we turned over the Streggin NPC sheet for him to use. He stuck around until the fight with the mephits, then had to leave to go deal with some scheduled stuff at his old work (turning in a laptop, I believe), but I could tell gaming with us again had him remembering how much fun our two families have together. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a bit more of Jacob in the days to come, now that he's living back in the same general area as the rest of us. (He quit our campaigns when he moved off to college, and now that's all behind him.)</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>T-shirt worn: My TSR 25th Anniversary T-shirt, for two reasons: it's gray, like the stone of the Underdark, and one of the D&D monsters depicted on it is a salamander.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8801155, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 36: THE TEMPLE OF BURNING DESIRE[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 8[/INDENT] [INDENT] Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 2[/INDENT] [INDENT] Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 4/paladin 4[/INDENT] [INDENT] Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 2[/INDENT] [INDENT] Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 8[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Streggin Cavedelver, dwarf ranger 3[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] Game Session Date: 8 October 2022 - - - "Let's go," said Thurloe, gathering up his pack and heading back out of the kobold warren. "The sooner we get on our way, the sooner we're back to the surface." It had been his idea yesterday to spend the rest of the day and the subsequent night in the kobold warren, to rest up and allow the spellcasters to regain a full complement of spells in the morning - and he'd even spent the day poring over the spellbooks he'd gathered over his adventuring career, making sense enough of the [I]summon monster II[/I] spell to figure out how to cast it on his own - but now it was the start of a new day and he was eager to leave the Underdark behind. Besides, the kobold corpses were starting to stink. Streggin, as their guide, led the way out of the warren, past the [I]deeper darkness[/I] zone and into the tunnel that went sideways, both north and south. They'd come from the south and he led then back that way for only a short while before he held his hand up suddenly and brought the procession to an immediate halt. "What is it?" asked Alewyth in a whisper. "Thought I heard something ahead," Streggin replied. Then, pointing down the corridor, he said in a hiss, "There!" With her dwarven darkvision, Alewyth was able to see exactly what the ranger had been pointing at - a pair of duergar kavalrachni, mounted on the horse-sized spiders called steeders, crawling down the corridor and headed in their direction. Then, looking up at the cavern ceiling above the two kavalrachni, Alewyth saw two more, the duergar and their mounts hanging upside-down from the ceiling and looking rather like an inverted reflection of the pair below. But recent experience with these spider-riders had shown the duergar kavalrachni used an intricate saddle that kept them belted into place so that traveling along the ceiling was no more dangerous than riding right-side-up on the cavern floor. The duergar had darkvision as keen as any surface dwarf and they spotted the six adventurers at the same time Streggin and Alewyth had noted them. "There they are!" yelled one of them in the Dwarven tongue. "Get them!" "What's that?" asked Zander, who had heard the shout but hadn't made out what was being said, nor could he see who was down the corridor yelling at them. Alewyth quickly brought those without the benefit of darkvision up to speed. "More of those duergar riding giant spiders," she said. "Four of each, headed this way." Getting a grip on [I]Sjondra[/I], she faced the approaching gray dwarves without flinching, showing them she wasn't afraid. Thurloe cast a [I]mage armor[/I] spell upon himself and stepped forward as he squinted past the edge of the illumination provided by Zander's [I]everburning torch[/I]. Xandro unpacked his [I]Dardolian lute[/I] and began playing his song of inspirational courage; after all, the enemy already knew where they were so a little music wasn't going to give away their position or anything. And he knew the team fought better when buoyed up by the power of his song. But unlike Thurloe, the bard took a few steps back, wanting to put a few of his friends - those better suited to hand-to-hand fighting - between him and the approaching foes. The steeders moved forward with implacable determination. As they entered the circle of illumination, Xandro and Thurloe could see each duergar had a lance projected in front of the steeder he rode but also carried a battleaxe in his right hand. And as they got closer to the six heroes, the two on the ceiling each circled down along a different wall, falling into place behind the other pair of kavalrachni. After all, there wasn't room for more than two of the steeders side-by-side in the tunnel, nor would hand-to-hand fighting be possible from the tunnel's ceiling. The lead steeders rushed at Thurloe, their duergar riders leaning forward and swinging with their battleaxes as the spellsword raced forward himself, dodging the lances and purposefully getting in too close for the lengthy weapons to be able to be a factor. But one battleaxe got past Thurloe's defense and he ended up with a gash along one arm. Zander was even less of a melee combatant that Xandro; he cast a [I]haste[/I] spell while they were all close enough for him to still affect everyone, then stepped back out of immediate range of the spiders and their gray dwarf riders. Alewyth also cast a spell on the assembled group - in her case, [I]bless[/I] - and then stepped forward to come to Thurloe's aid. Streggin shot a crossbow bolt at one of the duergar attacking Thurloe, hitting him in the side. Wakuren saw an opportunity and took it. Raising his right hand, upon which he wore the [I]gauntlet of Cal[/I], he invoked the power of his god and a [I]javelin of lightning[/I] appeared in his upraised hand. Hurling the weapon down the corridor, the [I]lightning bolt[/I] hit two steeders and the two duergar riding them, one of the gray dwarves being the one Streggin had just hit with his bolt. That one died from the magical assault, but his special saddle kept him upright despite his death. The two steeders bit at Thurloe; the spellsword successfully avoided one but couldn't prevent the other from getting its fangs into him. He felt a burning sensation at the site of entry of the creature's mandibles and could already feel the venom start its work, making him feel sluggish, the weight of his bastard sword seemingly heavier in his hands. But there was a way to overcome that; the spellsword activated his [I]torc of the titans[/I] and felt his missing strength return, if only for a brief moment - but long enough for him to swing his blade at the living duergar still within range. In the meantime, another steeder crawled up the side wall to get to Wakuren, the fourth one following behind it. Xandro pulled his [I]frost short sword[/I] from its scabbard and charged the spider whose rider had been slain, his blade slicing deep within a hairy, twitching leg. The three duergar were quick to react with strikes from their battleaxes at Alewyth, Thurloe, and Wakuren. Zander cast a [I]lightning bolt[/I] through two of the steeders and their riders, slaying the spider with the already-dead duergar and killing the duergar riding the spider behind that one. That left only half of the duergar still alive with their mounts, as well as one extra steeder whose rider was now dead. Streggin focused his aim at one of the remaining duergar, hitting him in the shoulder with a crossbow bolt. Alewyth attacked the other one with [I]Sjondra[/I], her warhammer striking the gray dwarf in the side of his helmeted head. Wakuren focused his attention - and the pointed bottom of his shield - on the head of the "extra" steeder, deeming the giant arachnids the bigger threat because of their venomous bites. With the full power of an enraged half-orc behind it, the shield buried itself deep into the steeder's head and it died, legs twitching spasmodically. Xandro got bitten by one of the two remaining steeders, while the other went after Thurloe but failed to get a grip on him with its venom-dripping mandibles. But Thurloe took advantage of the steeder's nearness to activate another charge from his torc and lash out at its rider with his bastard sword, [I]Spellslicer[/I] cutting through the base of the duergar's throat and causing his life-blood to go spilling down his torso. He slumped in the saddle, dead, but the oblivious steeder fought on. Xandro cast a [I]magic missile[/I] spell at the steeders, splitting the attack between the two. The missiles all hit, but the bard was disappointed to see neither steeder drop as a result. The sole surviving duergar swung his battleaxe into Alewyth's side, her armor absorbing some - but not all - of the blow. But then Zander took him out with a [I]magic missile[/I] spell and the two remaining steeders no longer had anyone guiding their actions with the control rods kavalrachni employed to tell their mounts where they wanted them to go. Streggin shot at one steeder while Alewyth attacked the other with her warhammer. Wakuren ran up beside her and added his shield to the assault, then cocked his head to one side - despite the battle going on all around him, he thought he could hear footsteps approaching from further down the tunnel, from the direction these four steeders had come. Zander confirmed his findings with a shouted, "More gray dwarves on the way - lots of 'em!" to his friends, having picked up the sounds of the tramping of dozens, if not hundreds, of pairs of booted feet marching in unison. "We need to retreat - this way!" shouted Streggin, pointing back the way they'd come; the map had them going back to the south but now that way was blocked by a duergar slaver army, so north would have to do. Of course, none of the passageways to the north of the kobold warren were on the map the elderly dwarf from Agatesgate had hastily drawn up, so Streggin would have to rely upon his instincts to find them an alternate way back to the surface. The steeders bit at Xandro and Thurloe again, but the two were already starting to retreat back the way they'd come. "Hang on!" called back Thurloe to the others. "Let's take these steeders out quick so they can't follow us! They've got to be faster than duergar on foot!" In this, he was absolutely correct, for the duergar were of dwarven stock and weren't able to move as fast as a human or an elf, let alone an eight-legged spider the size of a large horse. Activating the last daily charge of his torc, the spellsword swung his bastard sword for all he was worth, killing the steeder that had been trying to bite him. As it crashed to the stone floor of the tunnel, Thurloe turned and started to sprint to the north. Xandro started jogging backwards away from the other steeder, casting a [I]magic missile[/I] spell at it and only turning to sprint after Thurloe once he saw the giant spider had been slain by his spell. The others ran to follow, Streggin a bit distraught to note of the six people in his group, he was the slowest among them. But that was alright, for they stopped at each fork in the tunnel to allow him to catch up and determine which way they should go next. The sounds of pursuit were never far behind, though, and the dwarven ranger was well aware that what the gray dwarves lacked in speed they more than made up for in knowledge of the local terrain. While Streggin was making his best educated guesses about which way was the best to go, the duergar no doubt knew exactly which passageways went where - and likely knew of any shortcuts that might allow them to cut the heroes off as they fled. [I]That[/I] was not a pleasant thought! "We can hide in the lamp!" suggested Wakuren. "Too risky," shot down Thurloe. "If they find it, we're done for. And we don't have any way of seeing if the coast is clear when we're all inside. We'd never know when it was safe to come back out." "Then you all get inside and I'll pick up the lamp, turn invisible, and use [I]gaseous form[/I] to fly past them." "If the whole slaver army's out," Streggin advised, "they're bound to have spellcasters. They could likely detect you and probably dispel your magic. Then we'd get to spend the rest of our lives as duergar slaves. Better we keep running." "What if we run into a dead end?" Wakuren countered. "Then we can give your plan a try," suggested Streggin. Wakuren just shrugged and kept running. They had been running for at least a half an hour and could still hear the marching footsteps behind them when there was a reddish light from the tunnel ahead. "Wait a minute - I think I know where we are!" Streggin wheezed, slowing to get his bearings and catch his breath. "You've been here before?" prompted Alewyth. "No, but I've heard of it. A temple, carved among pools of magma." "It's a way out?" asked Zander, whose frail constitution was already tired of all the running they'd been doing - he had a stitch in his side something fierce. But Streggin was forced to admit he didn't know. But the duergar apparently did. "Hold up!" the group heard one of the gray dwarf leaders call back to his men. "The temple denizens will make quick work of those surface-scum who killed our soldiers - and if not, they've got nowhere else to go but right back here, where we'll be ready for them!" "Well, crap," said Thurloe, not liking the "temple denizens" part of that prediction. Still, there was no way he wanted to face down an entire duergar slaver army; better to take their chances with whatever "temple denizens" might be around. "Streggin, any idea what we'll be facing?" "Nothing for certain," admitted the dwarf. "But this is the Temple of Burning Desire - a shrine to Infernia, said to have been built centuries ago by a powerful wizard. He built it here because there's supposed to be weak areas here between the Mortal World and the Elemental Plane of Fire." "So we can expect to see fire creatures: elementals, that sort of thing?" surmised Alewyth. "That would be my guess." "Well, crap," Thurloe muttered again, going over a mental inventory of the spells he'd prepared that morning before setting out. Nothing in the way of protection from fire, or even cold-based attack spells, which would likely be especially dangerous to creatures made of living flame. Still, they might as well check the place out; maybe they'd get lucky and the elementals would have all gone home or something. He pulled a [I]potion of neutralize poison[/I] from his belt and drank down its contents, so if any of the unknown dangers they'd be facing in this Temple of Burning Desire were venomous, he'd at least have a leg up in surviving the encounter. Xandro, in the meantime, took the opportunity to cast a [I]cure light wounds[/I] spell on himself now that he had a moment's respite from the constant running. The cuts in his skin where the steeder's mandibles pierced him and injected their venom healed up nicely. Zander, his earlier [I]haste[/I] spell having worn off, cast an [I]expeditious retreat[/I] spell upon himself. It was always to his benefit to be able to run faster than anything likely to be chasing him. "Well, let's see what we're up against," suggested Streggin, leading the group into the natural caverns that comprised the Temple of Burning Desire. There was a leaf-shaped pool of magma off to the left, and the tunnel curved off to the right just past it, and just beyond the turn there were another two long pits of magma, one on either side of the tunnel. The passageway then opened up into a wider cavern, from which a much larger pool of magma to the southeast spilled into the larger space through a pair of jagged cracks in the floor. The level of the magma was within a foot of the cavern's floor. There was a blur of motion from the right as Streggin advanced past the turn in the tunnel; before he could spin in place and aim his crossbow at the small, gargoylelike figure flying down from the cavern ceiling above the magma pool, it dropped to his level, opened its maw wide, and let loose with a cone of steaming vapors, engulfing the dwarven ranger and Thurloe, who had followed him closely as he advanced. Seeing combat was already starting this close to the entrance to the Temple, Alewyth cast a [I]magic circle against evil[/I] spell upon herself and moved up to join the others. Wakuren did likewise, casting a [I]bull's strength[/I] spell upon himself and feeling the enhanced power flow through his muscles. He'd already felt more physically powerful in recent days and wondered if Cal was sending him enhanced strength to deal with the travails he dealt with on a nearly daily basis as an adventurer. From the pool behind them to the left, an impish figure rose up from the magma, its body seemingly composed of fluid, black rock with driblets of magma dripping through the cracks. It also belched forth a breath weapon, this one a cone of magma spray that covered Wakuren's back, charring his armor and causing burning welts to rise up from his exposed skin. He roared in pain and surprise, mentally chiding himself for not having given the magma pools a more careful visual examination as he passed them. Another, similar creature dropped down from the cavern ceiling above the magma pool on the left just past the turn in the tunnel, only this creature seemed the most likely to be a fire elemental of sorts, for its gargoyle-shaped form was made up of living flame. The fire mephit breathed forth a cone of flames that briefly encompassed Zander, singeing his robes and his hair. However, once the initial surprise of these unexpected attacks had worn off, the adventurers quickly gave back as much or more than they'd taken. Thurloe's bastard sword cleaved the steam mephit's body in two, causing it to lose full cohesion and scatter to the hazy air of the ceiling. In the back ranks, Xandro cast a [I]heroism[/I] spell upon himself and moved up, ready for combat. Zander cast another [I]magic missile[/I] spell, splitting the arcane projectiles between the magma and fire mephits, slaying both at the same time. He then congratulated himself on a job well done in taking out two-thirds of this initial attack force all by himself, as Streggin pushed on ahead, crossbow still at the ready. It turned out, though, that the elf's self-congratulation was a bit premature, for the three mephits were just the initial strike force, to "test the waters," as it were. Three more steam mephits descended from the ceiling of the magma-flooded cavern from which the first one had come, surrounding Thurloe and blasting him with three cascades of steaming breath. As Alewyth and Wakuren moved up, three more magma mephits arose from their pool of molten rock and sprayed their lava-breath at Xandro, Alewyth, and Thurloe, while a trio of fire mephits dropped down from the ceiling of their own side-cavern and concentrated their fire (quite literally) on the dwarven priestess. None of the creatures was that much of a threat to the group singly, but in greater numbers their attacks were much more dangerous. Thurloe's bastard sword killed another steam mephit, and then the spellsword took a step to the side, getting away from the deadly arc the three had formed around him. Xandro's [I]frost short sword[/I] slew the closest magma mephit, whose fiery body froze up in death as it sank below the magma of its pool, never to rise again. Zandro, whose greater speed had placed him in the far front of the group's formation, spun about and had a perfect [I]lightning bolt[/I] path lined up - only Thurloe was in the way. "Thurloe - move to your left!" the elf called out, and as soon as the spellsword complied he let loose with his spell, slaying one each of the three types of mephit in one fell swoop. Streggin shot at a magma mephit and hit, but was disappointed to see the creature yank the bolt from its shoulder and toss it disdainfully into the pool of magma from which it was emerging. Thurloe cried out in sudden pain as a rainstorm of boiling water suddenly formed above him; he knew its cause by the sudden, evil gleam in the eyes of the pair of steam mephits still flying around the tunnel. Alewyth killed a fire mephit with [I]Sjondra[/I], the mighty warhammer easily crushing its fiery body into embers and sending them flying from the force of the priestess's blow. Wakuren slew a steam mephit with the side of his shield. Having exhausted their most powerful attacks - which they could only use so often before needing to recharge - the two remaining magma mephits flew out of their pool and swiped their burning claws at Xandro. The two fire mephits continued their attacks upon Alewyth, each sending a [I]scorching ray[/I] her way - one of which she was able to successfully dodge. It seemed the heroes would be able to make short work of these mephits after all. And then four more creatures entered the fray. These four were each twice the size of the mephits, with glistening, hairless bodies dripping with magma as they rose out of the larger pool ahead to the right. Each of the four spit a hunk of burning lava into its hand and then threw the burning mass at their nearest target: Wakuren. This caused the lava children to giggle with frenzied delight at Wakuren's roars of pain as the hurled globules burned his flesh even more. Thurloe didn't like the sheer numbers of enemies they were facing and decided to take out the ones in the back first so they couldn't attack the group from behind. Casting a [I]magic missile[/I] spell from his wand, he slew the sole remaining magma mephit, causing it to fall lifelessly back into the pool from which it had come. Zander, in the meantime, was much closer to the lava children and cast another [I]magic missile[/I] spell, splitting the projectiles between the two in the first row. Streggin's follow-up crossbow bolt slew one of those two and it too sunk beneath the burning magma pool from which it had risen. Alewyth took the time to cast a [I]prayer[/I] spell, aiding her allies' attacks while hindering those of their enemies. Wakuren cast a [I]divine favor[/I] spell upon himself, boosting his combat abilities - and he was more than ready to dish out some physical damage to these creatures of fire! Infernia might be a Goddess of Love, but his heart held nothing but hatred and contempt for the creatures infesting her Temple. His hatred only intensified when the three remaining lava children rushed up out of the magma pool, clawing at the enraged half-orc with their burning claws. Thurloe slew one of the bald, glistening menaces with another blast from his [I]wand of magic missile[/I]. Xandro stabbed at the last of the fire mephits with his [I]frost blade[/I], but missed outright. It fled for the safety of the magma pool, diving beneath the molten rock where the heroes couldn't follow (and, over time, it could heal the wounds it had suffered at their hands). "I'll get him if he resurfaces!" Streggin promised, pointing his crossbow at the spot where the fire mephit had submerged. The bard, in the meantime, cast another of his [I]cure light wounds[/I] spells upon his burned and battered body. Just beyond the cavern in which he, Wakuren, and Thurloe stood, Zander saw a natural stone bridge rise over another long magma pool, the bridge leading to a smaller cavern in which burned a blazing bonfire. Off to the right of this cavern was an obviously carved passageway, inside of which sat a serpentine creature whose body blazed in flames, its upper torso not that dissimilar from that of an elf or a human, although it seemed to have a fin of flames running down its spine. It carried a metal spear, glowing red-hot from the heat of the creature wielding it. Zander was pretty sure he'd heard of these creatures before: salamanders, they were called, although they were nothing like the newtlike creatures of the same name with which the elf was much more familiar. Fortunately, the salamander's back was turned to the elf, nor did it seem to hear the sounds of combat behind it; its full attention was focused upon a black disk embedded in the wall of the small chamber in which he sat. Beyond the chamber with the bonfire, the stone floor ramped down into a much larger pool of magma, at the far side of which rose up a sort of "island" of stone, upon which had been carved an obsidian statue of the burning form of Infernia, identifiable by her body sheathed in flames and the two great, curving horns projecting from her forehead. She had been carved leaning forward, holding out a bottle in one hand. Alewyth advanced, catching up to the lava children right as Wakuren killed one with the sharp edge of his shield. The other two each took a final swipe at the half-orc before fleeing back towards the relative safety of their magma pool. But before either one of them could make it to safety, Thurloe slew one with another charge from his [I]wand of magic missile[/I], focusing all of the arcane projectiles into the one target. Xandro stepped up to the spellsword and, seeing his wounds, cast a [I]cure moderate wounds[/I] spell upon him. Alewyth took the moment's respite to cast a similar spell upon herself. Looking around the magma pool ahead and the bridge that spanned it (the elf noticed that unlike a manufactured bridge, this natural span had no "handrails" or anything preventing someone from falling over the side to their death) and saw a pair of creatures flying around at the top of the ceiling. These were no steam mephits like before, though: they were skeletal from the waist up, their lower bodies ending in trails of mist and sparking embers. The cinder ghouls dropped in elevation, coming down lower, the elf sorcerer feared, so they could attack the intruders in this Temple of Burning Desire. "It will do you no good," one cinder ghoul whispered in the Dwarven tongue. "There are too many guardians, too many defenses. If you try to reach the bottle in the statue's hand and gain your wish, you will be slain...like us." Zander, who understood the dwarven language, surmised these apparitions were some sort of undead creatures that had likely been duergar in life, which could possibly explain the duergar army's hesitance to follow the group into the confines of the Temple. Wakuren raced after the remaining lava child, trying to smash its skull in with his shield before it could escape back into the magma pool, and this time the half-orc's rage worked against him, for he swung too soon and sent himself reeling off to the side, off-balance as a result of the swing and the miss. The lava child, just to be nasty, took a final moment to claw parallel lines of pain down the half-orc's arm before diving into the magma pool. Wakuren roared in frustration. The two cinder ghouls surrounded Zander, one dissipating into a cloud of smoky vapors and flying directly at his face, entering the sorcerer's body through his nostrils and mouth. Zander immediately fell into a coughing fit at this intrusion, making him unable to prevent the other one from attacking him with its claws and stealing away some of his vitality. Seeing this, Thurloe cast a [I]protection from evil[/I] spell upon himself and ran up to help his elven friend. Xandro pulled out his [I]Dardolian lute[/I] and began the chords to his song of inspirational courage. Eventually, Zander managed to cough the cinder ghoul's vaporous form out of his lungs and staggered away weakly, casting a [I]magic missile[/I] spell at the other one, who had thus far maintained its partially-solid, skeletal form. Alewyth presented her holy symbol of Aerik and called out, "Begone, foul beings!" as she tried turning the two undead forms, channeling positive energy through her body and sending it across the chamber to the floating cinder ghouls. But her attempt met only in failure; undeterred, the dwarven priestess advanced, [I]Sjondra[/I] held in her other hand. If one weapon failed, she'd give the other a try.... Wakuren raced up and brought his [I]shield of Cal[/I] smashing through the vaporous form of the cinder ghoul who had trespassed into Zander's lungs, just as it was regaining a more solid form (at least from the waist up). The attack sent the newly-reformed bones of its skeletal torso flying in all directions and the half-orc congratulated himself on having slain one of these two strange types of undead. The other cinder ghoul tried clawing at him, but Wakuren caught the attack on the flat of his shield. However, the lava child popped its head up from its magma pool at that point, spit into his hand, and tossed the glob of molten rock at Alewyth, who happened to be a closer target than Wakuren. It was a move generated out of hatred for the intruders, and it was one that cost the lava child his life, for Zander blasted him with a [I]lightning bolt[/I] and he died with a wicked grin still plastered on his face at the success of his surprise attack against Alewyth. Thurloe cast a [I]shield[/I] spell upon himself from his wand, while Xandro used his [I]frost short sword[/I] against the cinder ghoul attacking Wakuren and discovered these vaporous creatures didn't like the cold energy from his blade any more than had any of the other fire-based creatures they'd met up with thus far in the Temple. Closer now to her target, Alewyth tried another turning attempt, and this time the positive energy she channeled through her holy symbol had the desired effect: the cinder ghoul jolted as if physically struck, turned to face the priestess, and then fled at full speed across the ramp into the larger magma pool, to cower against the wall to the left of the statue of Infernia. But as all of this had taken place on the natural stone bridge cresting over the magma pool just to the south of the blazing bonfire, the salamander finally became aware of the commotion outside his extraplanar chamber, where the black disk he'd been staring at occasionally opened up to the Elemental Plane of Fire, the place to which he desperately wished to return - it was [I]cold[/I] here, and while his curiosity had drawn him to explore this strange world, he'd had quite enough of it. But, curiosity once again compelling him, he slithered out of the chamber and saw a group of a half-dozen local denizens of this world. A look of confusion crossed his features: now what? There had been sporadic incursions from the locals into the Temple during the weeks the salamander had been here, some seeking treasure, others seemingly content just to slay whatever creatures they could find. He raised his spear, pointing it towards the closest of these intruders. Thurloe's actions didn't do anything to allay the salamander's suspicions about the ruthlessness of the local denizens of this mortal plane: the spellsword cast a [I]ray of enfeeblement[/I] spell that struck the salamander in the chest and immediately robbed him of his physical vigor. Xandro cast a [I]cure light wounds[/I] spell on Zander, and then the elf sorcerer followed up with a [I]ray of enfeeblement[/I] spell of his own, such that the weary salamander could now barely even lift the metal spear he relied upon as his primary weapon and means of defense. Fortunately for the salamander, the next attack upon his person was a spell from Alewyth: a [I]dismissal[/I] spell that returned him to his own plane of existence. Upon realizing the effect of this "attack," the words - in the Ignan language, which sounded like nothing so much as the sounds of crackling flames to the dwarven priestess - "Thank you" spilled from the salamander's lips as he vanished from the mortal plane. There had been no telling how much longer he'd have had to wait for the [I]planar gate[/I] to open back up to the Elemental Plane of Fire; this way was so much easier. As the salamander was now gone and the only remaining cinder ghoul was cringing along the back wall, Wakuren took a moment to cast a [I]cure moderate wounds[/I] spell upon himself, healing over the worst of the burns and gashes he'd received. Thurloe approached the bonfire, suspicious as was his nature, for he saw nothing fueling the flames. He was well aware the Underdark had a distinct scarcity of trees like the surface world, and he also knew there were magical ways to generate a burning flame like the one before him, but he also knew this could also be some sort of trap, if not some sort of flame-based creature itself. But, having attended to Zander's wounds, Xandro stepped up behind the spellsword and cast a [I]cure light wounds[/I] spell on him. Zander activated the full power of his [I]scout's headband[/I] and looked around, his vision now powered with [I]true seeing[/I]. With the ability to now see things as they truly were, he could see perfectly well that the bonfire was indeed a large fire elemental, but one content to just remain in place and not bother anyone. He stepped forward by the large pool of magma and saw three shapes beneath its surface, two of them about his own size and one much, much larger. Voicing what he'd seen to the others, Zander stepped aside as Wakuren walked boldly down the ramp, stopping just short of entering the molten rock. The two smaller shapes were the first to break the surface; these were humanoid in build but covered in molten lava and burning flames. They each took tentative steps towards the half-orc, hands outraised as if trying to grab him up into their fiery embrace. As Xandro picked back up his song of inspirational courage, Thurloe cast a [I]magic missile[/I] spell at the first of the fire phantoms. Alewyth summoned forth a [I]spiritual weapon[/I], causing the warhammer of solid force to go crashing into the fiery body of the second phantom. Neither attack stopped them from moving forward, but fortunately they didn't move all that fast and Wakuren was able to stay out of the grasp of them both. Then, taking a step backwards up the sloping ramp, Wakuren cast his own [I]spiritual weapon[/I] spell, sending his heavy mace crashing into the face of the one Thurloe had hit with his [I]magic missile[/I] spell. And it was then that the third form rose up out of the magma, directly in front of the half-orc. The creature had the shape of a giant snake, or perhaps it was more like a sea serpent, for all the heroes could see of it was a long neck and a wedge-shaped head with a mouth full on sharp teeth. It darted forward at Wakuren, snapping its black teeth at him, but he dodged back in time and the jaws snapped shut on empty air. Thurloe continued his [I]magic missile[/I] assault on the fire phantom he'd originally targeted, while Xandro continued playing his inspirational tune on his magic lute, well back from the fiery attackers. Zander cast a [I]bear's endurance[/I] spell upon himself and backed up out of range himself. Then, in a sudden burst of speed, the fire elemental lunged out and grabbed at Alewyth, having been instructed to do so by the silent mental summons of the serpentine lava weird from the magma pool before it. Alewyth rolled to the side and summoned an elemental of her own to protect her, this one from the Elemental Plane of Earth. It wasn't particularly impressive, standing not even as tall as the dwarf, but it positioned itself between her and the fire elemental and was ready to give its all to see to her protection. And behind her, Alewyth's [I]spiritual warhammer[/I] continued its attack upon the fire phantom it had first attacked, not having been given any orders to the contrary. One of the fire phantoms waded up onto the sloping ramp and approached Alewyth. In a flash that belied its small size, the earth elemental interposed itself between this new threat and its mistress, slamming the flaming undead thing with its stony fists. The fire phantom returned the attacks, although the elemental's rocky build was not particularly flammable and it had not much to fear from the flames engulfing the undead foe. The other fire phantom reached up at Wakuren, but he managed to block the attack on his shield. To the cleric-paladin of Cal, however, the fire phantom was a mere distraction: Wakuren wanted to take out the lava weird that had tried to bite him. Channeling all of his prodigious strength into an overhead blow, he brought his shield down upon the lava weird's head, cracking open its rocky outer surface and causing it to leak lava, which the half-orc hoped was the equivalent of a bleeding head wound that had opened up his foe's skull. The lava weird snapped its jaws at its half-orc foe but once again Wakuren was quick enough to avoid being bitten. Thurloe pumped another [I]magic missile[/I] spell into the fire phantom he'd been fighting, as Xandro pulled out his [I]frost short sword[/I] and stabbed it deep into the fire elemental intent upon attacking Alewyth. Zander aided the bard's efforts with a [I]magic missile[/I] spell of his own, but not before the burning creature brought its flaming fists down upon the dwarven priestess, hitting her hard and setting her cloak ablaze. But the dwarf took that all in stride, spinning about and slamming the fire elemental with [I]Sjondra[/I] before taking the time to release the cloak's clasp and let it fall to the stone floor behind her. Also behind her, the small earth elemental continued pounding on the fire phantom intent upon reaching Alewyth. The fire phantoms continued their own attacks with their flaming fists, one still trying to get to Wakuren and the other fighting the earth elemental. Wakuren ignored the attack from the flaming humanoid, concentrating on another devastating strike with the pointed bottom of his shield, which hit the lava weird on the top of its already-damaged head and split the rent there even farther. Wakuren had to dance back up the ramp as the lava weird collapsed onto the sloping ramp before him, then slowly slid back into the magma pool, unmoving and no longer alive. Thurloe's next [I]magic missile[/I] spell killed the fire phantom engaged in battle with Alewyth's earth elemental, at just about the same time Xandro's [I]frost blade[/I] took out the fire elemental, which seemed to go out like a campfire doused by a bucket of water. Despite most of the fiery foes having been taken care of, Zander was feeling particularly vulnerable, so he cast a new spell for the first time: [I]stoneskin[/I], which covered him in a protective sheath that would deflect the majority of most physical attacks made against him. He would discover later just how expensive a spell that would prove to be, as casting it devoured all of the diamond dust he carried in his spell component pouch. The earth elemental continued its attacks on the sole remaining fire phantom, and with a bit of redirection there were now two [I]spiritual weapons[/I] focused upon taking it out as well. Wakuren, still stoked at having slain the lava weird by himself, turned his attention on the undead thing beside him and provided the killing blow to it. Thurloe killed the cowering cinder ghoul with a [I]magic missile[/I] spell just so they wouldn't have to worry about it snapping out of its fear of Aerik's holy symbol. And then the heroes found themselves no longer in combat for the first time since stepping into the Temple of Burning Desire. "So now what?" asked Alewyth. "This looks t' be a dead end. Are we going to have to turn around and face that duergar army after all?" "Maybe not," replied Zander, telling the others what the cinder ghouls had whispered to him about the "wish" in the bottle in the hand of the statue of Infernia. Looking across the magma pool, they could see there was in fact some sort of bottle held in her outstretched hand. "I'll send me bee t' go fetch it!" announced Alewyth, summoning forth the giant bee imprisoned in her [I]amber amulet of vermin[/I]. The bee manifested in the air and at Alewyth's direction flew over to the statue and landed on the bottle. "Bring it back here!" Alewyth directed, but the insect just crawled back and forth over the bottle (and Infernia's hand), as if in puzzlement. "I don't think the bottle detaches," observed Xandro. "Hang on," replied Wakuren, fetching the [I]rope of climbing[/I] from his pack. Holding onto one end, he commanded the magic rope to go attach itself to Infernia's outstretched wrist. While it did so, Thurloe began pounding a piton into the ground by the top of the sloping ramp and securely tied the end of the [I]rope of climbing[/I] in place. Then, once it was secure, he used his own length of rope to attach around his waist and the [I]rope of climbing[/I]. Finally, with precautions in place to prevent him from falling into the magma pool if he lost his grip, Thurloe climbed over to the statue of Infernia. "Bottle's attached to the statue," Thurloe called over to the others. "But it's got a removable stopper." "You know what this is?" asked Xandro. "It's a genie bottle! Release the genie, make a [I]wish[/I] to get back to the surface!" "In this place, probably an efreet," corrected Thurloe - and that proved to be the case. After having decided upon what exact wording to use (for wish-granting creatures like genies were often said to warp the wishes of foolish mortals when possible), Thurloe pulled the cork from the [I]iron flask[/I] embedded into the Infernia statue and was immediately rewarded by a blast of smoke shooting directly into his face. Thurloe winced but held his grip, and the smoke flew out into the open air above the magma pool and coalesced into the form of a hovering, red-skinned giant with horns protruding from his head. "WHAT IS YOUR WISH?" demanded the efreet, glaring down at the mortals gathered below him. "The six of us wish to be teleported, safely, along with all of our possessions and gear, back up to the dwarven surface city of Agatesgate," Thurloe replied. "SIMPLICITY ITSELF," scoffed the efreet, waving his hand as if shooing away an irritating insect. Just that quickly, the five heroes, their dwarven ranger guide, the [I]rope of climbing[/I] and the giant bee, even Thurloe's piton - all vanished from the area. Looking over his handiwork with an appraising eye, the efreet nodded to himself in approval, turned back into a column of smoke, and returned to the [I]iron flask[/I] in Infernia's outstretched hand. - - - I wrote this adventure with two goals in mind: I wanted to force the PCs to find a different way back to the surface (it's not a whole lot of fun and excitement going back the same way you came, having already cleared the path of any obstacles two days ago) and it gave me an opportunity to use some fire-based creatures the players had never met up with before. And my son Logan has a 5-inch tall female fire elemental miniature based on the same image he'd used for Infernia back in our Wing Three campaign (when she was the fire elemental familiar of his wizard Telgrane), which I used for the Infernia statue at the end of the Temple of Burning Desire. We had a bit of a surprise during this game session, as not only did Joe join us (it was a three-day weekend so he drove home to his parents' house and decided he'd run his own PC, Zander Quilson, instead of having his dad run him for him as we did the previous session), but Joe's older brother Jacob also came to see how we were all doing. Jacob gamed with us during the Wing Three and Kordovian Adventurers Guild days, so we turned over the Streggin NPC sheet for him to use. He stuck around until the fight with the mephits, then had to leave to go deal with some scheduled stuff at his old work (turning in a laptop, I believe), but I could tell gaming with us again had him remembering how much fun our two families have together. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a bit more of Jacob in the days to come, now that he's living back in the same general area as the rest of us. (He quit our campaigns when he moved off to college, and now that's all behind him.) - - - T-shirt worn: My TSR 25th Anniversary T-shirt, for two reasons: it's gray, like the stone of the Underdark, and one of the D&D monsters depicted on it is a salamander. [/QUOTE]
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