Session 37: Temple of Acheros Report

General Summary

Session 37 – Wednesday April 12, 2023 – The Temple of Acheros

4.5 Hour Role Play/battle session 5:30 PM to 10:30PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 5

It is the 28th day of the month of Uktar (The Rotting) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Late November.)

• Abrash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L7 Druid – Jacob Munson
• Ajani– High Elf, L7 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L7 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi (School)
• Thomas – Human, L7 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L7 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Juan Peyote – Gnome L7 Paladin – Will Johnson

Entering the Temple

The party entered the cavern and saw a large ancient temple before them. They walked through slimy water that was about 2 feet deep. Thomas lit up his chain whips and it consumed his blood. Abrash gave him 10 good berries to compensate for it. They felt a dark psychic presence emanating from the entire temple. The Temple was extremely old and quite dilapidated. The stonework was crumbling in places, but the front wooden door looked fairly sturdy.

Isabella walked up and opened the door. The Air was unusually still in the building. The entry way was just as waterlogged as the rest of the cavern. A carpet floated in the entryway, bounding between a pair of pillars erected in the room. Thick, heavy water sloshed underfoot, leaving a sticky mucous attached to the walls and pillars. Faint blue light shone through a window and shimmered across the water’s surface and illuminating tiny creatures that darted between the ripple’s shadows across the surface. Seeing the creatures caused Juan to hallucinate. He perceived the tiny fish as horrific creatures and gained a level of madness. Isabella talked him down a bit, but it was Ajani who used his Encode Thoughts spell to distract him.

Abash examined the pillars. A monstrous creature (an Aboleth) was carved on the pillars. Its Runes were ancient. Ajani and Thomas looked at the Runes and determined they corresponded to various mind-controlling magics, but they were nothing like Runes used today. Isabella pushed open the door that led from the Entry way into the hallway and they moved forward.

The Submerged Hallway

As they entered into the hallway, they saw that the blue light from the crystals casts an eerie glow across the water. A pair of destroyed benches sat in the water, drenched in a thick slime; the bench cushions drooped over the edge into the water, sinking to the floor. Bricks and stones were scattered throughout the hallway, left behind by the ravages of time and decay. Thomas touched one of the bench cushions and it crumbled in his hands. He noticed that the slime is preserving much of this place somehow. Juan couldn’t resist it, and took some of the slime and spread it over his body. The hallway went east to west. At both ends, they saw a stairway that head north. There were also a couple of other doors heading north and an opening in the wall.

The untouched room

The party headed east and went up the stairs into a room that was raised above the slimy water. The room had a dry wooden floor which was greatly damaged, and a decaying carpet in the middle of the floor. A door at the top of another flight of stairs invited them to climb. Its dusty handle did not look to have been opened in many years. Isabella tried to open the door, but it was jammed. Thomas cast Thaumaturgy to help, Isabella put her back into it, and the door opened.

A massive hole laid just inside the room, its gaping maw spanning nearly the width of the entryway. A scroll covered in cobwebs sat atop a pedestal in the opposite corner. A horrifying visage stood vigil over the chamber, forever enshrined in stone. Isabella jumped over the pit. Looking down they saw that the pit had water in it only a few feet down. Isabella approached the pedestal and read the inscription: “give thanks to your master, in exchange for his power.” Since no one wanted the master’s power, they left the scroll where it was and left the room.

The kitchen.

Walking back into the flooded hallway, they headed west. Abrash glanced through a section of a collapsed wall and saw a kitchen area. In the kitchen, cracked barrels laid sunken in the water. Their wood was warped and twisted from decades or centuries in the water. Space between boards was filled with thick mucus. A table and dining ware must have shattered in the water many years ago, as all the sharp edges were rounded off. Oddly, an intact stove and wooden sink had been erected in this room, though nothing seemed to be actively in use.

A Walkabout

Thomas became curious as to the size of this building. He and Isabella decided to split the party and leave the others to walk around the perimeter of the building to gauge its size. They made it just around the front corner when they heard something approaching from the opposite direction. Whatever it was could move through the thick mucus much faster than they could. Thomas suggested they scale the side of the building and hide at the top. Thomas started to attempt to put his bolts into the loose bricks to try to make a ladder of sorts. Isabella quickly downed a Potion of Climbing, grabbed Thomas, threw him over her shoulder, and began to climb, jamming her fingers and toes into the mortar between the bricks.

At the top, they couldn’t squeeze out of sight as there was no room between the cavern ceiling and the roof of the temple. They just clung to the wall and held their breath. They saw one of the large Chuul creatures (the Lobster like creatures with the tentacles hanging from their faces.) It seemed to be walking around the temple as a guard. It didn’t even bother to look up at them as Isabella and Thomas remained totally silent. After the Chuul guard walked away, they climbed back down. Thomas glanced back down the side of the building and estimated it to be about 100’ deep.

They made their way back towards the front and spotted a window through which they could see the rest of the party, waiting in the hall. Isabella grabbed at a few loose bricks around the window when Abrash noticed them and moved enough for Thomas and Isabella to squeeze through back into the Temple. Now that they were together again, Thomas relayed the approximate size of the place, and the party knew they had a lot of area to search to find Leszyr.

The Dining Hall

Back in the hall, the party opened the door in the center of the hall on the northern side. All 6 adventurers lined up on either side of the door and peered into the room. A pair of heavy oak tables were set in this chamber. Broken chairs and broken plates had been recklessly tossed across the floor; shattered wooden legs floated in the water, collecting pools of slime around them. A pair of human-like beings stood near the walls wearing robes of a priest. They were surveying the walls and occasionally using a piece of chalk to make a small note on it. Abrash saw something stir in the dark hole under the floor – a set of tentacles became briefly visible through the thick mucus coating the water’s surface.

One of the priests turned around and spotted the 6 heads looking into the room. He said, “Well come on then, there is work to do on that wall over there. Get to it!” All the party came in and walked over to the wall. The Priests ignored them for the time being. Isabella searched her backpack for any tools. Ajani handed out chalk to everyone. Abrash started asking questions to the priests about what’s in the next room. The priest shot Abrash a disgusted look and said, “Questions? I told you what to do now do it. Are you not the new recruits? Why are you using chalk, we already marked up where the repairs need to happen. Where are your tools!?”

Surprisingly, Abrash and Isabella convinced the Priests that they left their tools in the other room and received permission to retrieve them. Thomas, however, took out his tool kits and started making mortar, which convinced the priests to leave them be for now. Everyone other than Thomas went back into the hall and discussed a plan on how to subdue or attack them. Abrash snuck his head back in the room and was about to cast Entangle on them he saw Thomas had started making mortar and the guards were again looking at the far wall with their backs turned.

A Ruined Library

Shocked by what he saw, Abrash turned back and explained the situation to the others. Ajani said, “Let’s go look down the hall.” So the party snuck away, leaving Thomas to work on the wall. Walking down the hall to the western end they found another set of steps that led up to a door. Isabella opened it and they saw a ruined Library. Books and pages floated on the floor with everything covered in mucous. The floor boards and furniture was warped and broken. There were three humans in the room and Abrash could hear them grumbling beneath their breath.

Abrash listened to the grumbling and heard them saying “This isn’t what we signed up for…” Abrash and the others walked in. Abrash handed out rations, and the party ate their lunch and began complaining to each other about the poor working conditions. Soon, the humans joined in the complaints. One said, “It’s so good to speak freely about this. We’re not getting everything we were promised, and we’re stuck with this menial labor.” Abrash mentioned forming a union and one of the other humans said, “We shouldn’t be having this conversation!”

The first human introduced himself as Che and continued to discuss the horrible conditions with Abrash. Abrash had convinced Che that a union was a good idea. He started saying “Power to the people!” Abrash noticed a little trickle of blood come out of Che’s nose. Slowly Che started to wince in pain and fell face first onto the table. Ajani quickly cast Detect Thoughts. He heard two voices. The first was the voice of Che saying “I’m sorry.” The 2nd voice said “Intolerance is not tolerated.” The voice had a bad case of rhotacism.

The other two cultists quickly returned to their tasks and told the party: “No more talk. Worship the void.” The party returned to the hallway. Abrash tried to liven the mood by saying: “Well we killed one, that’s a good thing, right?”

Back in the Dining Room.

Thomas continued pointing the stone wall, while also discretely putting some Phase Spider poison on a couple of darts. The rest of the party discussed a plan in the hallway. They had Isabella go into the kitchen and put some stones next to the door to block it. The party decided not to trap and question the priests but to just attack. As the party entered the room, Abrash psychically told Thomas that they’re attacking. After everyone entered, Abrash stuck a chair in the door to block the exit. The priests turned and saw him. They asked, “What are you doing.” Battle broke out.

Two priests and a Chuul walk into a room.

Thomas shot one dart at a cultist and then smacked him with his chain whip. Ajani stared at the pit and cast chromatic orb, he held it and waited for something to come out of the pit. One of the cult priests used his maddening presence trait and everyone except Abrash became confused. Both Juan and Isabella failed to do anything but were able to shake off the effects. The 2nd priest cast Spirit Guardians. Abrash hit the priests with Faerie Fire. Confused, Ajani let the Chromatic Orb fade without using it but then he was able to shake off his confusion.

A Chuul emerged from the pit and stood before Isabella. A confused Thomas only made one attack against the Chuul but it was a critical hit. Thomas took a bit of damage from the Spirit Guardians. Juan cast spiritual weapon and hit one of the priests hurting him badly. Isabella struck the Chuul twice with her axe bloodying him. The priest smacked Thomas with a long slimy tentacle of a tail. Abrash said “Pew” and cast firebolt at one of the priests leaving him critically wounded. The Chuul hit Isabella with his claw and grappled her.

Thomas separated himself from the priest with the Spirt Guardians. The priest smacked Thomas hard with his tail and Thomas hit him back with his whip and killed him. Ajani cast Detect Thoughts on the last remaining priest who started to run away. Juan knocked the priest unconscious. Isabella recklessly attacked the bloodied Chuul with her axe and left it barely alive. Abrash said “pew” and hit it with a firebolt killing it.

The mind of an Abolithic Priest

Ajani was detecting the thoughts of the priest that was perishing. The first thought was “oh crap.” Ajani delved deeper as the party roused the priest back to consciousness. The Priest refused to answer any questions, but he was incapable of hiding his thoughts. Ajani learned that he’s the foreman for temple repairs and reports directly to Acheros. He also learned that Acheros is in the northern part of the building. Juan stuffed slime into the priest’s mouth until he died.

The Skum

The party went through the northern door into another east-west hallway. There was another door leading north. They found the ceiling was collapsed at each end of the hallway blocking passage in those directions. Thomas noticed a door behind the rocks to the east. Juan took his maul to try and break through rubble to get to the door, but they realized it would take a long time and make a lot of noise. The party decided to open the door going north and walked into a large room.

Four stone pillars stood around a central hole in the floor. A Drow wearing cult robes stared into the depths of the hole. A pair of green crystals faintly illuminated the water’s surface. A pair of thorny red plants were growing in the chamber. They appeared to be some form of thistle on the surface. They radiate malice, Abrash discovered and were unlike any plant Abrash had ever seen. A broken staircase ascended to a closed door with two inhuman statues gazing over it. Abrash heard the Drow mumbling to himself wishing to be blessed.

Abrash spoke with the cultist, agreeing that they all need blessings. The cultist explained that he bathes in the blessed secretions every day and he has yet to receive the blessings. He asked the party if they received their blessings yet and if they too are following the rituals. After some discussion and comforting of the Drow a horrific pale tentacled creature (a Skum) rose from the pit and joined the conversation.

The Skum explained that bathing in the blessed secretions and devotion are what helped him to achieve his blessing. The Skum then took slime from the top of the water they were standing in and covered every inch of Juan with it. After 15 minutes of slowly bathing Juan in the mucous, he stopped and said: “I admire the devotion of this one. You should all continually bathe in the blessed secretions, and you will eventually be blessed.” The creature then went back into his hole.

Abrash looked at the red plant and recalled an herbology book he had read that the plant is known as Red Madness. The plant was very rare (worth about 250gp) and he knew that with alchemists supplies and a little time, the plant could be turned into a potion that makes a person unable to conceal their thoughts (or perhaps a potion of poison, if not followed perfectly.) He collected the plant.

The clean Library

Isabella saw the stairs going up and she said, “North is up” and the party followed her up the stairs. Opening the door at the top, they saw a very clean and restored Library not flooded or covered with slime. Rows of bookcases were filled border to border with books. Several couches were set along the walls, with a study area filling the middle. A small office was set up in the library’s rear; a set of crystals glowed along shelves in the office. Their light gives off a foul, evil feeling. A human sat at the desk, calmly studying a tome in front of him.

The party began discussing what to do and the human in the study looked at them angrily and said, “Shhh!” Thomas walked over and closed the door. A moment later the door opened, and the human stuck his hand out holding something and said, “Here take it!” Ajani reached back and was given a single sending stone. Ajani started to ask, “Who does this go to?” Thomas said, “shh.” The human said, “It goes to the other one!” and then he shut the door.

Ajani and Thomas examined the books in the library and came across three books that stood out as a rare collector’s items. One was called “The Divine Among us” worth about 150gp. Another called “A Mortifying Mucous” worth about 200gp. The Third book entitled “The Freeing of the Mind” worth about 200gp. Bored, Isabella started throwing her axe against the wall. The Human came out and yelled at her saying, "Need I remind you that It is a privilege to be in the library?” Isabella stopped and the man went back into the study but was very annoyed.

Thomas found a dark purple mucous stain on the desk. He examined it carefully for a bit and put it into a vial having no idea what it was. He was very careful not to touch it. The others – bored of the books – suggested they leave. The party went back down the stairs into the large room.

The Restored Foyer

The party went out the western door into a North-South Hallway. Heading north they came to another door that opened into a Foyer. The empty chamber hummed with foul, psychic magic. Its walls and floor had been restored into perfect condition; the stonework stood sturdier than elsewhere in the temple. The mucous that saturated the water was thicker and almost seemed to crawl, searching for something. Deep, tremendous malice emanated from just beyond a set of wooden doors to the west.

Isabella opened the door before Thomas could say no. They peered into the room and immediately saw another hole in the floor. Abrash said, “This is a Holy place.”

The room was a grand cathedral immaculately restored into perfect condition. Two rows of golden statues lined the room; each statue stood 8 feet high and positioned as a royal precession. A monstrous statue stood atop a raised dais; tentacles extended in a demanding display. Two people, a Drow and a human, knelt in the water. Their faces were mere inches above the water’s surface as they chanted a prayer to a monster in front of them. The horrendous object of their worship, also sitting in the water, stared down at its worshippers, its thousand teeth exposed in a foul grin. Fins and tentacles whipped the water, stirring up a froth around it; waves of psychic energy pulsated from the tentacled creature, encapsulating the worshippers. The party also spotted Leszyr seemingly unconscious and floating in the mucous.

Acheros

With a bad case of rhotacism (all Rs and Ls pronounced as Ws), Acheros the Aboleth addressed the party. He began an evil monolog “Hewwo and wehcome to my wair” while the party snickered at him. Acheros cast Mirage Arcane and the room became a beautiful forest. The party could fell the cool breeze and smell the fruit laden trees. Acheros monologed about his deity and demanded that the party kneel before him. Juan feigned acceptance and approached the creature while reached into his pocket. Thomas stepped forward and pulled out a vial to throw into Acheros’ mouth. This action initiated the combat and the two priests stood up to protect Acheros while Acheros just sat back to watch the events unfold, overly confident in the powers of his priests.

The first priest used his maddening presence to confuse everyone but with the help of Abrash’s Resistance spell, nobody succumbed this time. The second priest did the same thing and only confused Thomas. Juan disengaged from Acheros and cast Spiritual Weapon and struck one of the priests. Ajani summoned his fey creature, and it struck one of the priests. Ajani shot lightning at the Aboleth and used his potent to make him miss. Isabella shot her magic arrows at the priest and one of them hit badly blooding it. Confused, Thomas just walked in a random direction and then shook off his confusion. The bloodied priest cast Spiritual Weapon and attacked the fey creature but could only land a glancing blow.

Acheros joins the fight

Seeing one of his priests in critical condition so soon, Acheros shouted “Insowence!” and tried to enslave Ajani but failed. The Priest cast Hold Person and held Ajani. Juan hit the wounded priest with his maul and spiritual weapon, killing him.

Acheros was in shock and became enraged at Juan. Abrash focused his and his fey’s attacks on the Priest who was magically holding Ajani and was able to break his concentration. Angered that Juan killed his priest, the Aboleth used all his legendary actions to hit Juan. Ajani killed the other priest with a chromatic Orb.

Isabella focused her axe attacks on the Aboleth. Thomas hit the Aboleth with his chain whips. Three cultists came down the hall and saw Abrash hiding behind the door. They started attacking him. Acheros tried to enslave Isabella but due to her gnomish abilities, she was able to resist the magical charm. Juan laid into Acheros and used his smiting ability to bloody the Aboleth. Abrash started to fight off the cultists attacking him and with the aid of his Fey spirt he was able to knock one of them unconscious. Juan took a critical hit from the Aboleth’s tail and was very hurt. The Aboleth was about to use his legendary tail attack to knock out Juan when Ajani yelled out “Duck” and used his Potent to help Juan miss the swing.

Ajani shot a lightning bolt at the cultists attacking Abrash and critically hurt one of them. Isabella started to rage and laid into the Aboleth badly bloodying him. The cultists continued their attack on Abrash and bloodied him. Thomas swung his chain whips into Acheros, and he was in bad shape. Acheros hit Isabella with his tail and stunned her. He then hit Juan and knocked him unconscious. Abrash tried to hit one the cultists with a spell but missed. He threw a splash potion of healing at Juan and revived him. Abrash’s fey creature then hit the last remaining cultist badly bloodying him.

Acheros flees the fight

Being horribly hurt and seeing that the Stone bearers were clearly dominating the fight, Acheros caused his appearance to magically blur as he retreated into the hole in the center of the room. Ajani, tried to strike at the fleeing Aboleth but missed. Juan, just brought back to consciousness, saw the escaping creature and he too swung at its fleeing blur, but he too missed. Isabella was still stunned and couldn’t use her reaction.

Acheros had escaped into the slimy pit of water.

Campaign

The Forest

Protagonists

Thomas Elliot

Abrash Asim

Chaotic Good Moon Wood Elf (Folk Hero)
Druid 1

9 / 9 HP

STR
7

DEX
10

CON
13

INT
8

WIS
19

CHA
14

Report Date

15 Apr 2023