The Fire Temple Report

General Summary

Wanesun 16th

2022-07-27

The companions then begin searching through the fire priest's rooms. Rudy and Rostam investigate the chest in the antechamber where the fire priest with a molten heart guarded the suite. Having the keys from the high priests, they quickly opened the chest, which exploded loudly with a fire trap. Both companions, already significantly damaged by the battle, fell dying. Adrea was able to spare the dying, and Balan laid hands on them and restored some of their vitality, but the process of opening chests, drawers and doors slowed considerable after this little surprise. During this time, Elyot recalled her faithful familiar Paisley, who was slain and banished in the fireball.
After this, the Venatore moved up the corridor from the audience chamber, in the direction the bugbear's human leader used to attempt escape. They entered a twenty-foot wide north-south processional hallway. The walls were frescoed with scenes of death, demons and elementals, sometimes almost merged, killing their enemies and destroying the lands. Close inspection of the walls reveals inset symbols of bronze adorning the pictures of the priests — a square on a figure wearing silvery gray robes, a circle on a green-robed cleric, and an eight-pointed device on the figure in red. To their south, the procession ended and two doors faced one another across the hall. The western door was decorated with square symbols, while the east door with eight-pointed stars.
Surmising that these were the air and fire temples, the Venatore chose fire. That brass doorway led to another hall which went southeast before turning south. Opening the next set of brass doors, they looked into the Fire Temple. Two sets of great doors of beaten brass reflected the leaping flames, the doorway the companions entered from, and another set to the west. Tapestries adorn the walls of the north (wider) section, depicting scenes of fire in evil form. Despite the many torches and flaming cressets, the air seems to carry motes of rust-colored luminescence, and the streaks of blue and mica flakes in the polished granite walls appear to leap and dance as if flames, caught within the rock. A brass tube, 20' long and 2' in diameter, was suspended from the ceiling by chains of the same metal. Just to the north of it is a shallow fire pit; and to either side of the tube are low stands of brass, upon which are many small blocks of charcoal. To either hand, east and west beyond lines of pillars, are great copper cauldrons, flanking the main area of the Temple.
The large firepit in the northern section of the room was filled with a magically-sustained fire over a bed of hot ash and coals. The ash pile seemed to be mounded over another object. Using her mage hand, Elyot swept away the ash to reveal a large iron box, at least three-feet long in the pit. Her mage hand wasn't enough, so she called over Rostam, who finally entered the temple. Even both mage hands were unable to pick up the iron box.
Elyot then conjured a fire elemental spirit to enter the pit and retrieve the box. Once the spirit entered the pit, however, a thin cable to adamantine swept across the pit, chopping the spirit in half and dispelling it. A thin line ran around the pit a few inches above the ash, and it appeared strong enough to chop whatever crossed its path in half. Luckily it wasn't anyone's hand.
Crasokk held back as his companions entered the temple and began exploring. The altar far to the south was covered with bones and ash. Using his guan dao to move some of the debris, Balan activated a magical alarm on the altar which exploded in a ten-foot burst of fire and screamed out, "WHO DARES DEFILE THE SACRED ELEMENTAL FIRE?!".
Finally overtaken with curiosity, Rostam entered the temple, shortly followed by Crasokk. Once everyone was inside, the doors slammed shut and four tiny fiery salamanders leapt out from the firepit, growing to their normally large size in seconds.

The salamanders had some incredible hits at the beginning of the combat, and the party began to wonder if this would be their last. One moved to Elyot and nearly impaled her on its burning spear until she used her magical shield to thwart the attack. Crasokk, already injured, was grappled by one of the creature's tail. When Rostam blasted the thing with his eldritch blast, he not only moved the creature back away from the party, but Crasokk as well. Rudy discovered fairly early that they were not immune to her poisoned dagger of venom, but she switched to her hand crossbow after taking some brutal stabs. Balan wisely decided not to use his new fiery guan dao on the fire creatures, and kept the attack with his moon-touched guan dao, while Adrea called upon spirits of vitality and sprits of guardianship to aid her companions.

Elyot quickly misty-stepped out of the range of the creatures, attacking from a distance while Rostam covered himself in the Armor of Agathys, giving the fiery salamander that attacked him a frosty surprise. Luckily, the battle turned and the Venatore were triumphant. Though Rudy looked close to dropping, with Crasokk not far behind. Opening the western doors, the viewed a long and wide corridor. The eastern portion, right outside the fire temple glowed with a reddish haze, while the western hallway glowed with a greenish haze. In the middle, to the north a blush-gray haze could be seen and powerful winds could be heard around the bend. When Adrea entered the reddish glow, she was burnt by the very air.
After some more experimenting with the fire pit, and the extremely tempting iron box below, the Venatore had to decide what to do next. While some wanted to stay and retrieve the box, Adrea and others thought they should move on and continue clearing the temple forces.

Campaign

Trouble in Hillsboro

Protagonists

Crasokk

Rostam Qajar

Balan

Rudy

Adrea Ravensworn

Elyot

Report Date

31 Jul 2022

Primary Location

Temple of Chaos