Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil

[Another_Poet]

((and those were supposed to be 2d4 each so here are the missing dice.... sorry))

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Another_Poet]

Gah.

[roll0]

[roll1]

[Lycar]

Grigor human cleric

"Well crap," mumbles Grigor as he sees the wall of stone form, "that'll give 'em ample time to set up an ambush."

Thinking over his strategy as the others struggle to bring the wall down, Grigor decides to sheathe his sword for now but keep his bow ready in his left, Instead he uses the time to produce a Tanglefoot Bag from his backpack,

"Gotta gum this guy down if we get a chance to, makes casting a bitch too..."

Lycar

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Moathouse: Planting 8, Late Evening

Round 18 (cont.)
Tell steps in front of Megiddo and starts to pound on the wall with his heavy chain, knocking a large chip out of the wall. Meanwhile, Grigor stows his bow and prepares a tanglefoot bag.

The militia members begin to spread out, checking all the dark corners of the crypt for unwelcome surprises.

Round 19
(( Oh, it seems we're getting ahead of ourselves. Megiddo's second Energy Missile hasn't been resolved yet. I was just about to apply the Sword, too. Assuming Megiddo still wants the Sonic missile here… ))

Megiddo hurls more sound orbs at the wall, using his psychic ability to guide them around Tell. However, the druid still has to shield his face from the flying stone shards.

The druid continues his work, too, breaking a large hole through the wall. It's not large enough to climb through, but with a little light, one could see what is on the other side.

(( Map #14 (http://alpha.dragonflightstudios.com/showmap.php?mapNum=mthsdungeon&turn=14) ))

[Skjaldbakka]

Well, if it is almost big enough to climb through, Megiddo will just an energy ray sonic instead:

[roll0]

edit - hehe, well, it does ignore hardness....

[Entertainer13]

Lor raises her shield and cries, "Whoever is there, show yourself!"

She's going into total defense. Whee.

[Lycar]

Grigor

"Watch out! The hole is large enough to get an arrow or spell to the face!"

[Anything to see and shoot at in the light of Grigor's head lamp?]

Lycar

[Another_Poet]

Tell

Tell crouches and hurls a ball of fire from his hand through the opening. His hope is that it will provide enough light to see the cleric.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

(( Sorry for the wait, everybody. Busy Weekend. :smallredface: ))

Temple of Elemental Evil: Planting 9, Early Afternoon

Round 13
As Lor issues her challenge, Pyro ducks into a corner in the wall and readies to attack whatever may come out of the door.

The Temple occupants don't appear willing to respond to Lor's challenge, as the doorway remains empty.

(( Map #6 (http://alpha.dragonflightstudios.com/showmap.php?mapNum=toee2&turn=6) ))

[hr]
Moathouse: Planting 8, Late Evening

Round 19 (cont.)
Grigor moves to get a better look through the wall, but it's difficult to see through the opening without getting close. Especially with a psychic wizard and a druid in the way. However, he can tell that there's nothing moving on the other side.

The militia continues to scan the room, but they don't appear to be finding anything.

Round 20
Megiddo directs more sound at the wall, this time focusing it into a thin beam, and carefully carving out a little more space in the hole. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much to aid passage.

Tell hurls a fireball through the hole in the wall to get a better look at the passage beyond. The ball strikes a pillar of rock, briefly illuminating a narrow passage that quickly opens up into a larger chamber. Both the passage and the chamber appear to have been dug out of the surrounding damp earth. Aside from the pillars, all the walls seem to be of a relatively soft, yet stable material.

(( Map #15 (http://alpha.dragonflightstudios.com/showmap.php?mapNum=mthsdungeon&turn=15) ))

[Skjaldbakka]

Megiddo sways a bit on his feet, and stumbles over to the wall, leaning against it.

"I am afraid I have tapped the last of my reserves. Any more destruction will have to be wreaked with muscle and steel."

[Another_Poet]

Tell

Tell obliges his elven friend, swinging at the breaking door with his chain once again.

[roll0] (Incl. +10 pwr attack)

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Moathouse Dungeon: Planting 8, Late Evening

Round 20 (cont.)
The militia members all slowly begin to report, "All clear".

Round 21
As the militia declares the area safe, Megiddo makes his request of Tell. With a mighty swing, the enlarges the hole to the point that, with a bit of effort, everyone should be able to climb through (( An Escape Artist check will be required. )), but then, it shouldn't take more than one more swing to take the rest of the wall down.

(( Map #16 (http://alpha.dragonflightstudios.com/showmap.php?mapNum=mthsdungeon&turn=16) ))

[Entertainer13]

Lor keeps her shield up and approaches the entrance.

((I need to check more...))

[Another_Poet]

Tell...

...takes the rest of the wall down :)

[roll0] (Incl. +10 pwr attack)

[Lycar]

Grigor Human cleric

Grigor keeps his bow ready and his helmet lamp illuminates the 'workplace'.

"Let us stick a bit more together this time. It's bad enough that damn thing escaped. The gods may know what is waiting in ambush for us now..."

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Temple of Elemental Evil: Plantin 9, Early Afternoon

Round 14

As Lor nears the steps to the Temple, Pyro holds up a hand and mouths something, but Lor has trouble telling what (( Spot to Read Lips (DC 10 because Pyro wants to be understood): 1d20=1 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2203051/) ))

There is still no sign of activity from the hobgoblins.

(( Map #7 (http://alpha.dragonflightstudios.com/showmap.php?mapNum=toee2&turn=7) ))

[hr]
Moathouse Dungeon: Planting 8, Late Evening

Round 21 (cont.)
Grigor brings his light to bear on the wall as the militia begins to regroup behind the adventurers.

Round 22
With one more hefty swing, Tell smashes through the wall, sending stone chips everywhere.

(( Hey, guess what: The cave-in on the map I'm using isn't actually there. There's a cleared out maze of tunnels, as anyone who goes further inside will soon find. I just needed to get a supplementary map up. See the maze link for movement in this section of the dungeon. Note that any squares in the maze that are more than half-full with wall space (but less than full) will require squeezing (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/resources/systems/pennpaper/dnd35/soveliorsage/movement.html#squeezing) to get through. ))

(( Maze Map #1 (http://alpha.dragonflightstudios.com/showmap.php?mapNum=mthsmaze&turn=1)

Dungeon Map #17 (http://alpha.dragonflightstudios.com/showmap.php?mapNum=mthsdungeon&turn=17) (for reference) ))

[Entertainer13]

Lor holds and will try and "read lips" again.

Listen check: [roll0]

[Entertainer13]

((DM can do the "spot check"))

[Another_Poet]

Tell

After a quick peek inside, Tell stands back.

"Let's hold up. Going in there is a Bad Idea."

Though generally short-spoken, Tell argues in favour of backtracking, getting together with the rest of the group, and scouring all other corridors and dead-ends before dealing with the maze.

Once they have backed up a bit from the entrance he whispers, "We should try to come up with a better plan to take out those tunnels - I could commune with the earth tomorrow morning and get ready for some cave-collapsing. Or we could smoke them out."

[Skjaldbakka]

"Where there is fire, there is smoke. If these tunnels exit to the surface, the smoke from a fire would reveal them, without traveling through this maze. It would require a great deal of smoke however, as well as a mechanism to force the smoke to move into the maze, and not back into this room."

[Another_Poet]

Tell

"There is a spell I have heard of, of unusual effect. They call it Pyrotechnics. Can you cast it?"

Whether yea or nay:

"I could send in a fire elemental, if we had some fuel for it to light up. And then a wind elemental to billow the smoke forward."

[Skjaldbakka]

"No, I can not. Nor would I highly recommend summoning... elementals for this purpose. They would not remain here long enough for any great effect."

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Temple of Elemental Evil: Planting 9, Early Afternoon
(( Listen checks don't play a part in reading lips. Since Lor's Spot and Listen are the same, I'll go with the 19 you rolled. ))

Round 15
Seeing that Lor didn't quite catch her message, Pyro takes several steps back to Lor, still hugging the wall. She repeats the exaggerated silent-talk, this time accompanying it with hand gestures. "Wait. Let them come to us."

(( Map #8 (http://alpha.dragonflightstudios.com/showmap.php?mapNum=toee2&turn=8) ))

[hr]
Temple of Elemental Evil: Planting 8, Late Evening
(( Poet: How far in did Tell go before deciding it was dangerous? Just curious—no ambushes or traps so the above discussion takes place just fine. Probably have to make it to square (15, 34) to really notice the thing expands into a maze. ))

Tell scouts out the tunnels for a short way. Just far enough to see them branch out in a whole host of different directions. The entire maze appears to have been dug out of the earth by hand. More foreboding than the maze though, is the stench of death that pervades the system.

The druid backs out of the tunnel and offers his advice. After Tell's short exchange with Megiddo, the militia member named Mair bursts out, "Hey! We can't let him get away! We need to get that bastard!"

[Another_Poet]

Probably have to make it to square (15, 34) to really notice the thing expands into a maze. ))

Tell scouts out the tunnels for a short way. Just far enough to see them branch out in a whole host of different directions. The entire maze appears to have been dug out of the earth by hand. More foreboding than the maze though, is the stench of death that pervades the system.

Yeah, that seems about right. Just far enough to see the maze.

Tell regards the militia man for a moment without answering. Then he turns to Megiddo.

"What do you think he weighs? He's got a lot of muscle. I'll bet they make him into a zombie instead of a skeleton."

He stands aside so the militia men can go into the maze if they want. At just that moment, his Produce Flame spell ends and the fire flickering along his arms and chain gutters out.

[Lycar]

Grigor human cleric

Grigor follows Tell just far enough to get a glimpse at that dug-out labyrinth of earth himself.

"Looks like an open grave to me. And sincethey made it, they will know even better how to collapse it. As much as I agree that we ought to make sure to catch those guys, as much I must caution against blindly forging ahead. Life is too much fun to throw it away carelessly. Let us take a look around, there were other corridors and passages. Maybe those also lead somewhere. Besides, Won't do to have them sneaking up on our back while we bicker."

Lycar

[Skjaldbakka]

Megiddo raises an eyebrow at Mair's outburst, and looks toward the captain, waiting for his input.

[Entertainer13]

((That was a general listen check for the area. Like I said, I was leaving the spot check up to you. Either way, I'm waiting until they do something.))

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Temple of Elemental Evil: Planting 9, Early Afternoon

(( Okay. You didn't specify what the Listen was for. Since I already told you what Pyro was "saying", I'll just throw that as a gimme. ))

Round 16

There's some noise that comes from inside the temple. Chief among it is the barking of dogs.

Round 17
Two dogs run out of the temple doorway, snapping and snarling. One runs towards Lor (( double move, so it can't attack )), and the other immediately pinpoits Pyro. The dog snaps at the elf, but she quickly dodges, despite her surprise.

Meanwhile, a quartet of hobgoblins appear in the doorway, ready for battle, but as yet only observing the current scene.

(( Map #9 (http://alpha.dragonflightstudios.com/showmap.php?mapNum=toee2&turn=9) ))

[hr]
Moathouse: Planting 8, Late Evening
"Mair," Haunor interjects before the hot-headed militia member can make a retort, "Ya gotta remember to know your environment. We're in the enemy's den right now. He's runnin' and he wants us to follow. Don't let him decide the terms of the battle. You know what can happen if you do that."

Mair looks in turn at Haunor, Grigor, and Tell for a moment. Then he throws a hand in the air in defeat. "Fine. But don't blame me if he gets away." He sulks back into the crypt.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

(( Okay. I just realized we're already on page 51. That means it's time to start up a new IC thread in order to save the forum the trouble of an overly long thread.

New IC thread here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121918

Subscribe it.

Please respond in that thread rather than this one. I have included my last update in that thread for reference.