The Followers of Tolgid

The heroes encounter a cult of serpentfolk devoted to the demon Tolgid.

The next day, the party returned to Level 6 of The Spire, and continued their exploration, trying to find the way down. They encounted a pech and his pet cockatrice who exclaimed that he served the Master of The Spire, and that this master was not Zargolash or Noul'zadan, but did not elborate further, choosing to continue mining away with his pickaxe.   The group explored the level further, doing battle with an Aghash and a pair of fiendish leopards, eventually navigating the maze correctly and finding the stairs down.   After traveling down several staircases, they found themselves on Level 7, entering into a room with iron racks shaped like serpents and dozens of lit candles. Jimmy identified this as a magical trap, but no one could read the writing on the racks. Jimmy attempted to disable the trap, but set it off instead, which caused the Shrine to cast a fireball at them. The group elected to head further in, where they found a room with troglodytes with spears fighting from behind barricades. As the group battled the troglodytes, they learned that they were worhsippers of Tolgid, a powerful demon, and they cried out to him even as they died.   From the barricaded room, they traveled further, encountering a fearsome snake with a charred human head that attempted to entrance them, but only Christie fell under it's sway. They also encountered a humanoid snake blacksmith (a salamander) who also praised Tolgid and attacked them with his hammer. They slayed him and found a magical barrel that created cold water, and took the barrel with them. They next found a jail, guarded by serpentfolk, who had imprisoned another serpentfolk. They killed the guards and learned the prisoner was the former leader of the serpentfolk, but he had been imprisoned by the new high priest and his mistress. He offered to heal Jimmy if they let him out, and when they did, he chose to instead praise Tolgid and drain him of further strength, and then was swiftly killed by Guiliman.   They were badly beaten and drained, and wanted to leave The Spire to rest, but before that Christie used a magic spell to send insects to scout the level, learning that there was a chamber full of statues ahead, as well as a secret hidden door to a bedroom, and another great chamber with The Spire, as well as a magical portal, and another set of doors that led to stairs going down.   They rested up and returned the next day, and went into the room of statues, the largest being a statue to the demon Tolgid, illuminated with magical fire. In that same room they found the remains of other, smashed statues. Mongoose used her door sight to see into the next room, the great chamber, and saw a great snake beast there. The party cast many spells to protect themselves before entering.   In the chamber, they did battle with a Dark Naga, and the Serpentfolk Priest, who wielded dual raipers of acid, and commanded a giant swarm of snakes. He praised Tolgid, promising to feed the interlopers to the naga. The group fought valiantly, but the priest used his powers to enchant Hans, forcing him to bome Guiliman, which eventually killed him. Jimmy tried to fight the naga, but he perished as well. Christie and Mongoose's spells did not effect the serpents much, and Christie fled, figuring they were all going to be dead. Mongoose continued to fight on, and Hans eventually threw off the enchantment, and they were able to defeat the serpentfolk and his minions, moments before he traveled through the mysterious portal in the room.   They took what they could off of the serpent folk and retrieved their dead companions, returning to outside The Spire, and met with Jormez, who had been sleeping. They asked if he had seen Christie and he responded no, and the three did look for her tracks, but did not find any.