Meet the Dwarves

We head out to find the dwarven mining camp. Ozzie guides us and we get there is two days with no drama. It is afternoon as we find the canyon they are working. That is when we get the surprise. "Dwarven Mining Camp" is two dwarves named Dazelene and Norbus. (Dazelene is the social one, Norbus the reserved one.) It seems that they have found a ruined dwarven temple to an evil dwarven god.
 
I am in a tad over my head as there are not clear symbols but I think we are looking at Abbathor here. His symbol is a jeweled dagger pointing down and his main thing is greed and acquiring wealth by any means necessary. All we have to go on is the generic temple, ancient, blood covered altar, and a couple of leering dwarven statues.
 
It turns out that Dazelene and Norbus (and previously Ozzie) knew they had more than they could handle in that they had encountered Slithering Terrors that would attack them and then flee into cracks in the rubble. Thus, they had sent Ozzie off to get healing potions from Attabrah Quinn. It strikes me after the fact that these are expensive items and none of them had equipped Ozzie with a way to purchase such expensive items. Hmmm.
 
First I took care of business. I got Norbus to sign a note that they had been warned about the white dragon in the area. Then, as a party, we made plans. Dazelene and Norbus wanted help clearing the monsters from the temple. My party members immediately wanted to know how they were going to get paid. It is a clear reminder that my party is made up of mercenaries, including Ozzie who was into charging his prior compatriots as much as the rest of our party was. I argued that there was a clear need and that we should rise to the occasion. I think they may have worked a deal but they did opt to join me in exploring the temple. Deciding that now was a good a time as any, or perhaps that it was better to deal with local monsters before sleeping in the area, we entered the temple area. Tuath and Ozzie were evidently not concerned about light but I needed some so I lit a torch. That goes to show that I am getting the hang of this adventuring thing as I do have a cantrip to address this issue.
 
Soon after heading underground, we found a clear temple and those evil dwarven statues. Along the way we passed a broken secret door which clued us in to search for more. We found a couple and explored the passage ways they opened up. Sure enough we got attacked by grey amorphous blobs that attack with pseudo-pods and flee into cracks or under doors when wounded. They seem highly acidic and Ozzie's attacks quickly destroyed his sword. I have lent him my mace as I can smite the creatures with Mitra's radiance. So far we have fought three of these creatures. Ozzie has taken a little damage and (by Mitra's grace) I have given him some healing.
 
The dwarves had a fondness for secret doors. We are going to have to search in a methodical manner to find all these doors but the symmetry of the temple design may help us determine exactly where to search.
 
While I have my reservations about looting a temple, bringing down even an abandoned locus of evil is clearly a good thing. My party members seem to have no thought to the morality of our actions so it will be up to me to guide them.