Category: Princes of the Apocalypse

Haerelben examines the statues in the fire cult lobby. One of them is unusually breezy. Lefty slips behind that statue and finds a stale room, undisturbed by the cult occupiers. Within, Theridan locates a pair of sarcophagi for short folk. Bromsby reads the twin Dethek inscriptions:

Rest well, Findon Stonemender, dream of hammer and chisel echoing in your halls.

Beloved Gitte, heavy are the hearts of all who knew ye.

Haerelben recollects the dwarven legend of a Stonemender who slew a kraken. Said Stonemender had a main squeeze, so it could be this pair.

Theren enlists Meega’s strength to open Findon’s stone lid. For the good of the mission, Theren retrieves a sapphire-eyed mask from the skeletal remains. Theren exchanges his hobgoblin graft for the new mask which gently sucks onto his face with a slight foomp. He can see and breathe easily despite having neither mouth nor nose holes. He next retrieves what seems to be an oak oar but with a sharp point instead of a grip. Bromsby reckons the mask and weapon are a set, designed for unimpeded combat under water. Martial master Meega accepts the set wondering when she would ever find the opportunity to use them.

Meega opens Gitte’s stone lid. Theren and Theridan examine the remains while everyone else capitalizes upon the secret room to grab some sleep. It is during the second watch that Haerelben and Lefty find Gitte’s lovely crown beneath some wood chips. Lefty dons the crown, and nothing terrible happens. Haerelben wonders about Gitte’s fish-like skeleton.

Rested, the party explores deeper into the cult. A hallway of symmetrically spaced doors, many of them secured by hasps on the outside, attracts Lefty’s attention. She hears faint snoring at the first unlocked door. Theridan opens the door just a tiny bit. The door thunks, waking the occupant who wonders whether it is already time for his watch. The roused cultist ignites into his work uniform of fire. Theridan backs away in time to avoid Bromsby’s conjured sphere of water that traps the fire guy in his room. Lefty is ejected farther into the hallway, isolated from the party but safe from the fire guy.

Meega, seizing the perfect timing, dons her new water breathing mask, hefts the new oar weapon, and charges into the sphere of water toward the fire guy. Meega knocks the fire guy to and fro with the oar axe from within the sphere while the fire guy fire punches at the sphere. When punching proves futile, he steams the place up with an equally futile scorching ray.

Theridan peaks down the stairs ahead where an efreeti oversees operation of a foundry worked by enslaved azers, salamanders, and dwarves. So far the tussle in the hallway has gone unnoticed from the commotion of the foundry. Theridan backs away.

A cult dullard exits his room and demands an explanation from isolated Lefty. Lefty ignites. The dullard is unsure whether ignition makes Lefty his superior. He yells down the hallway for others to wake up. Bromsby, observing the unfolding complication on the other side of his water sphere, shifts the sphere into the fire guy’s room. The sphere engulfs the fire guy and all his TPS reports. Meega wails on this floating, drowning, extinguished person. The hallway is now open for Theridan to thornwhip the dullard. The dullard retaliates by punching Bromsby. The sphere spell falters. A second fire guy emerges from his room and cones up some burning hands. Lefty gives him the claw treatment and Theren lends his crossbow. The fire guys begin launching fire balls into the clustered party. Bromsby drops and Haerelben retreats around the corner with a sliver of life.

Meega switches back to Giant Slayer and extinguishes the last bit of her fire guy. Theridan becomes a water elemental and absorbs the other fire guy, forcing him back into his room. Lefty finishes off the dullard. Theridan slams the last fire guy dead. Haerelben revives Bromsby. Theren, mind full of visions from his brother’s clockwork goldfish of the destruction of his ancestral village by the fire cult, impatiently heads for the locked doors to find and release the enemies of his enemies, extracting promises from the salamanders not to engage the neutral azers. The party barely has time to duck into one of the vacated rooms before a parade of liberated salamanders files past to wreak havoc on their former captors. Theren yells encouragingly in ignan, ¡Viva la revolucion!

Once the commotion of slaughter subsides, the party slips out of the living quarters. They meet several liberated azers and dwarfs. Theren encourages them to arm themselves from the many dead goblins and hobgoblins before showing them the way out of the cult area.

The party returns to the secret tomb of Findon and Gitte.

Theren hears a fluttering just outside Vergedain’s hall and then a knock at the door. Lefty answers the door to a wood elf named Theridan, recently obliterated at the Vale of Dancing Waters but more recently rescued from Black Earth. Theridan impatiently explains that Ardak, recently missing but more recently not missing, eagerly desires for the party to hasten toward the vulnerable fire cult.

Bromsby leads the party through the tunnel network below Dessarin Valley. The rock appears increasingly obsidian as they approach the fire cult quarter. They descend a volcanic flute and enter a hallway with an obvious archer defense slit, presently and fortunately unoccupied. Theridan dashes forward attracting the attention of a hobgoblin guard unit. The guards demand the secret passphrase and/or gesture. Theridan stands dumbstruck, but that seems not to be the desired secret response. Meega flies by and buries Giant Slayer into the nearest hobgoblin.

Theridan identifies the guards’ commander and heats his metal armor. The commander commands the guards to increase their efforts, and they do. Theren crossbows the first casualty of the day. Meega knocks the commander to the bone-strewn floor. Lefty slays a second guard and leaps into a wounded third, killing him too.

The ruckus attracts a pair of magma-armor-spear-guys who request Imix’s prompt protection. They emerge from a room up some steps where four columns ignite into shimmery magma. The spearmen flank out around the party as the hobgoblin commander finally cooks to death.

Theridan faerie fires and shillelaghs one spearman with Meega and ignited Lefty critically attacking until he explodes into fiery shrapnel. Bromsby erupts earth with Iron Oath into the other spearman. Haerelben casts a hold on him to escape his anticipated fiery shrapnel explosion. Lefty swoops in to slay the spearman in a fiery shrapnel explosion.

A short rest allows the dressing of wounds, concealment of hobgoblin corpses, acquisition of fire cult armor by Haerelben (half plate with cult tabard) and Meega (chain with cult tabard), and some primo hiding in plain sight by Theren who spends an hour indistinguishably pressed against the wall.

Theren flays the face off a hobgoblin for the ultimate hobgoblin disguise. Lefty disguises herself for the penultimate disguise, a cat-like hobgoblin. Druids Bromsby and Theridan opt for the antepenultimate disguises of an auroch and a huge anaconda, respectively. Meega and Haerelben don their hobgoblin armor and hope for the best.

The rested and “disguised” party inconspicuously resume exploration of the underground fire cult complex. They are immediately spotted by a pair of crossbowmen across the painfully heated room of magma columns. The guards have never met such a rough specimen of a hobgoblin as Hobgoblin Theren, and that’s really saying something. They demand the secret passphrase and/or gesture. Hobgoblin Theren, slurring through his carrion mask, explains that the cat-like prisoner critically injured him, thus his disheveled appearance, trouble recalling the passphrase, and general confusion. And then of course the cow got loose. The guards dubiously observe that the cat-like prisoner is unbound. Lefty ignites. Behold the conversion of an infidel!

Ultimately unconvinced, the guards send a couple of bolts at Theren and withdraw to covered firing positions across the magma room. Anaconda Theridan starts to cross the hot room, but is burned. He summons a tidal wave across the left two pillars to cut a cool path through the room, but instead the room fills with an obscuring fog bank. Theren ignores the pain and runs through to engage the guards. They surround and pummel him with flaming swords. Lefty, immune to the heat in fire form, easily crosses between the magma columns. Encouraged by the absence of scalding death screams, the rest of the party crosses to rescue Theren.

Anaconda Theridan constricts one guard while the party drops his cohort. Meega knocks the remaining guard unconscious. Haerelben revives the disarmed guard and channels divinity to read the passphrase from the his thoughts: Fire Is Eternal. Haerelben commands the guard to make the secret gesture: a two-handed bowl surrounding a pinky finger flame. The guard is allowed to depart through the magma room with his precious few hitpoints to start a new life. He is unable or unwilling to shut off the magma columns as he leaves.

Haerelben goads tired auroch Bromsby into continuing the exploration. Haerelben promptly walks into a swinging axe trap amidst a hallway lined with statues set in niches. Theridan once more stumbles into a room of fire cult guards, one ogre and one half-ogre. As the three-halves of ogres plan a meal featuring the bounty of fresh snake meat, cult-armored Meega steps in and authenticates with the secret cult gesture. That’s her snake the ogres are pummeling, that’s her roasting auroch they smell, and that’s her pseudo hobgoblin cat. None of them are for eating. That puzzles the ogres. Meega offers to arrange a food delivery for them indefinitely later.

The party turns back, deducing that the ogres are guarding a second entrance into the cult area.

Limping Lefty looks for some Sehanine sympathy, but the party is otherwise in good shape after the cloaker(s) encounter. Lefty finds 150 gold from the real deceased real cloaker and receives a light curative via Haerelben. Meega points out that the bustling noises of departing cultists has ceased, leaving open the possibility of returning to investigate the two large, initiate-powered mill wheels discovered earlier, and their relationship to the changing water level. Bromsby and Theren continue to explore the marketplace, listening at a couple of different doors. Decorative walls and flagstone floors in this area are embedded with coins featuring a smiling dwarf which match signage above one of the doors. Haerelben confidently identifies the likeness of Smilin’ Mordy.

Bromsby and Theren detect sounds of breathing and shuffling beyond the barred doors. Lefty starts hand burning her way through a wooden door, but gives up when the door does not ignite. Theren knocks on the Smilin’ Mordy door and offers cheerful greetings to the shufflers within. The reply invites Theren to go away. Theren inquires whether that would be Smilin’ Mordy speaking. There is no Smilin’ Mordy, go away.

Once verbal diplomacy yields nothing, Bromsby suggests the occupants either unbar the door or step away from it. He pops a hole in the stone wall with Iron Oath. Lefty peeks in and sees a robed cult sorcerer evocating up some nastiness. Meega, with Sehanine-enhanced strength, kicks the door open a couple of feet.

Lefty dodges the lightning bolt that erupts through the hole. The bolt singes Bromsby and catches Haerelben full in the face. Haerelben staggers around a corner to collect himself. Bromsby erupts earth under the sorcerer. Lefty charges in through the ajar door, sees several other waiting cultists, and charges right back out. Meega dashes in, face to face with the sorcerer. What name? KILL HER!

Killher the cult sorcerer passes a lightning bolt through Meega and into Bromsby. Theren makes his entrance yelling for diplomacy and shoots a couple of bolts from his crossbow, Diplomacy. Cultists leap over the tables to assault Meega and Theren, and one slams the door shut. Bromsby picks off a cultist through the hole. Lefty can’t shove the door open so she squeezes through the hole. A thunderous boomerang smashes into Theren, but he continues diplomacizing his assailants with bolts.

Meega chops down the sorcerer, already gravely wounded by the crushing eruption of earth. A second chop splits a cultist. Meega scrambles through the erupted earth to assist Theren by taking out another cultist.

Lefty runs down the last cultist, cornering the thunderous boomerang thrower. Bromsby orders him to yield. His boomerang [Storm Boomerang] is surrendered to Lefty. The obliging cultist answers questions, revealing that the large mills control water gates. He is released and departs.

Bromsby reads engravings in the room: Welcome to Vergadain’s Hall. Strange that the dwarven god of trade would use the likeness of Smilin’ Mordy. Bromsby proposes that this area has been thoroughly explored, and the fire cult area is conveniently nearby and ripe for disruption by the increasingly capable [ding 10] party. But first, a rest.

With the umber hulk in retreat for now and the distant sounds of the air cult in panicked disarray, the party is free to contemplate the very, very hot flame stone plucked from statue Moradin’s lantern. Meega attempts to persuade Theren to not attempt to persuade Lefty to pick up and handle the stone. Meega fails, and Theren succeeds.

Lefty picks the stone out of the cast iron pot. Her paw erupts in searing hot pain and she drops the stone back into the pot. Haerelben examines her paw, but it is physically undamaged.

The party continues exploring the abandoned Besilmer market. Bromsby and Meega cautiously listen at doors before opening to a crumbled Besilmer haberdashery and a crumbled Besilmer pottery barn. Theren yanks open tall, stone double doors, kicking out the spike set by cultists to keep in the ghouls.

Theren plugs a ghoul with a couple of bolts. Bromsby shatters it with a ray of frost. Lefty punches the next ghoul in line. Haerelben gets between a pair of ghouls and turns the undead. Sehanine’s disdain for the undead leaves one undead, but crumples the other. An array of tall crypts obscures the fact that the undead turning has destroyed eight unseen ghouls surrounding the party.

Meega dashes up in time to watch Theren, Bromsby, and Lefty take out the surviving ghoul. The party fans out to gather up any remaining ghouls. Only three more are found and are quickly exterminated, especially the unfortunate ghoul found by Meega, irritated at missing so much of the action. Meega critically double chops the ghoul into an unrecognizable re-dead torso heap.

A search of the crypts is made for anything that might help the fight against elemental evil. Theren decides that 27 figurines, masks, and keepsakes [50 gp each] would help, if but indirectly. No one disputes it.

A short rest is made while Meega repairs Theren’s heavy crossbow. Again.

With fresh minds, the party gathers to brainstorm the fire stone. Meega holds the bright stone aloft with her smith’s tongs for Bromsby and Haerelben to examine. Theren convinces Lefty that pain is an excellent teacher. Lefty grasps the burning stone and this time holds on to it despite the pain. She learns that the pain goes away.

Lefty bursts into flame. Bromsby and Meega freak out while sociopaths Theren and Haerelben look on. Lefty insists she is no longer in pain despite the flames. Theren calmly conjectures that all her pain nerves have burnt away. Haerelben touches Lefty’s nose to see if she has a fever and recoils in burning pain. Lefty relaxes her grasp of the stone and the flames extinguish leaving her quite well.

Exploration of the market resumes. Lefty pokes into a room and is attracted to a black leather duster hanging on the wall. The duster envelopes Lefty’s head when she advances for a closer look. A moaning attack paralyzes Meega and Theren. The cloaker’s tail whips at Lefty.

Haerelben slips around Meega who is blocking the doorway. There are three leather cloaks flying around the room while one engorges on Lefty. Haerelben casts confusion which has no effect except upon Lefty’s assailant who stops attacking but remains attached to suffocating Lefty. Bromsby, Theren, and Meega take out the other three cloakers quickly. Too quickly. Bromsby pulls the confused cloaker off of Lefty and the party goes weapons-free on it. Meega knocks it to the floor and Lefty ignites, killing the prone cloaker with a fiery punch.

Bromsby cautiously follows the golem who has resumed patrolling around the moat that traces the temple pyramid. Unconscious Theren has been thorn whipped out of the water. Haerelben boops Sehanine’s wound curative into Theren’s Lefty-stabilized nose. Meega studies the golem to learn its number of seasons and to quantify its well-being. Satisfied with the golem’s further disinterest, the party retreats to the Flametongue throne room for a badly needed snooze.

Lefty times a quick bath in the moat, avoiding the golem patrol, to remove the previous day’s gore splatter. The party explores a walkway north where a giant statue of Moradin stands at a crossroads of what was once a network of underground shops, now fallen into ruin. Haerelben ponders [critically failed arcana] a perpetually illuminating lantern the statue holds aloft. He gets a headache. Meega, eyeing discarded cultist garb and indications of bloody struggles, remains vigilant. Theren enters a long-abandoned jeweller’s shop and finds no valuables in the rubble. Something about the lantern continues to tickle Bromsby’s curiosity and he returns to examine the statue, much to Haerelben’s annoyance. Headached Haerelben, having thoroughly examined the statue and lantern already, dissuades the others from wasting any more time on it. Bromsby persists after encouragement from Meega.

Meega climbs up Moradin. Bromsby tosses Iron Oath up. Meega deftly breaks out the top crystal facet of the lantern exposing the brightly burning rock centered within the lantern by a spork. Lefty runs up Moradin to have a look for herself. Bromsby shifts to a giant bat and critically inspects the phenomenon. He squeaks excitedly, takes the temperature of the stone, and shifts back into a svirfneblin who cannot safely fly back to the floor.

Nearby shuffling is heard.

Meega retrieves the burning rock with her smith’s tongs. With Lefty’s help, Meega transfers the burning rock to her double gloved hand. The burning rock burns into the gloves. She transfers it into a cast iron pot she’s been lugging around. Haerelben, despite his disadvantageous headache, confirms the arcanic significance of the artifact, quite possibly one of the anticipated elemental foci.

Haerelben holds up the iron pot and dashes toward the shuffling noises to test the artifact’s channel of sacred flame. Lefty explores ahead and quickly locates an umber hulk. The radiant energy of sacred flame erupts into the umber hulk, but no differently than usual. Disappointed Haerelben returns the pot to Meega. Bromsby, using Iron Oath to make enough sand to extinguish the burning rock, maneuvers to erupt earth under the umber hulk. The umber hulk creates a zone of confusion. Lefty gets doubly confused and attacks the umber hulk. Theren, with perfect clarity, pours crossbow bolts into the umber hulk. The umber hulk burrows away.

The party gathers around the burning rock artifact to collaborate, but ultimately cannot reach a conclusion as to the nature of the item.

From the ancient dwarven throne room most recently occupied by vanquished elemental air prophet Aerisi Kalinoth, the party hears a ruckus. Bromsby and Theren investigate the scale model map. Haerelben finds Kalinoth’s mundane hand mirror which is anything but mundane to Lefty. Meega repairs Theren’s snapped crossbow. The ruckus persists.

The party descends to the entry level of the pyramid temple where a mob of initiates has cornered a halfling known to some as Welby. Kalinoth’s demise has unleashed a starvation revelation within the cult, and Welby is on the menu. Again.

A pair of cult warriors attempt to establish order over the initiates preparing to bisect Welby at his wishbone. Theren drops an initiate with a crossbow bolt. Lefty hands a starving initiate a vial of poison which he gratefully drinks and dies of. Meega and Bromsby join together axe and thornwhip to slay a third initiate. Haerelben makes his way to Welby to find him healthy if a bit tenderized. Haerelben commands the initiates to eat some air instead of Welby.

The cultists are trounced, especially the one Theren explodes with a boosted crossbow shot. A cultist escapes by jumping into the howling air pit and descends to parts unknown. Parts unknown seems worth taking a few moments to explore. Theren combines their ropes into a 200 foot length secured to a nearby column. Welby walks down the side of the shaft like a spider. Lefty ties on the rope and jumps in, featherfalling. Bromsby floats down in a controlled fall by gathering his priestess dress. Theren and Meega follow Brombsy’s example, using cloaks and clothing to modulate speed and direction to fall into the updraft. Meega pipes up some bubbles which begin to fill the temple above. Haerelben waits at the top, peering down and messaging for news from downshaft until the rest of the party floats out of range. 

Lefty dangles at the end of the rope, within view of the bottom where Bromsby, slowing with his cloak, can make out a pile of corpses in the chamber below. Welby hammers pitons into the stone shaft to secure the end of the rope. Lefty shadow steps to the floor, and immediately a gust viciously assaults her and smashes her into the wall. Theren desperately fires a silvered crossbow bolt at the cyclone, but the bolt strikes the floor right through the elemental. Apparently not a werewind. Lefty runs along the wall and jumps back into the shaft, smacking Meega into Bromsby. Meega quaffs a potion of spider walk to steady herself, but the cyclone attacks and throws her into the chamber.

 

Theren plays the magic flute and enthralls the cyclone, now hovering and awaiting Theren’s command. Unsure whether he has committed himself to a lifetime of flute playing, Theren experimentally commands the cyclone to gather corpses and feed them into the shaft for looting at the top. The cyclone complies.

Lefty has had enough and floats to the top of the shaft. Haerelben inquires as to the fate of the rest of the party. Lefty shrugs and starts a cat nap. Welby lowers a rope from the bottom of the shaft to allow Meega, Theren, and Bromsby a way up out of the chamber. The rope is slackening as though it won’t drop into the chamber.

The corpses fed into the foot of the shaft by the cyclone get churned up by the air turbulence and form a gore plug that chokes the updraft, isolating Meega, Theren, and Bromsby below. The gore plug begins to accelerate up. Bromsby hangs ten on the gore plug and rides it to the top. Haerelben sees the approaching danger and reacts in time to shield himself with his cloak, but Lefty is caught napping and is sprayed with gore, presumably the remains of Meega, Theren, and Bromsby. Lefty and Welby co-vomit.

The dangling rope Welby prepared, now generously coated in slick gore, drops into the chamber. Meega, Theren, and Bromsby make their way into the shaft and float to the top, reuniting the whole party. Some restful time is spent cleaning gore out of wounds in the relative cleanliness of the upstairs throne room.

The party abandons the gore-coated temple to investigate the change in water level of the moat. The water level is some ten feet lower than the edge where it had been. A stone head pokes from the surface of the water and is slowly heading downstream toward the waterfall flowing out a break in the surrounding chasm wall. Theren quickly hatches a plan to tether himself with the gore rope and leap into the rushing moat toward the stone head. The plan goes without a hitch. Theren discovers the head belongs to a stone golem who begins beating him to death. Bromsby thorn whips Theren away from the golem and Meega reels him up the edge of the moat. Lefty stabilizes Theren’s unconscious body.

The party collectively reevaluates Bromsby’s black arm situation. Bromsby confidently asserts the condition resulted from his attempt to simultaneously wield two opposing elemental artifacts, the earth hammer Iron Oath and the bamboo flute. The cure, already administered with some success, is to simply not do that anymore.

Haerelben, on the merits of his initial medicine check, offers to divine Sehanine’s recommendation if Bromsby thinks that’s worth 25 gp. Bromsby quickly fishes out 25 gp with his good hand, and Sehanine confirms Bromsby’s diagnosis:

Purification
Remove the antagonist
Earth and Air don’t mix

While recuperating near the cult area entrance, the party observes six cult warrior reinforcements stride in, no doubt summoned to eradicate the intruding adventurers. One warrior notices the absence of the usual kenku cacophony and derisively inquires whether the dirty birds are keeping watch. Theren caws out a convincing, Yes! The warriors move on through into the cult area leaving the party enough time to rest up for the next day’s assault on the temple.

 

The party plans to infiltrate by disguise to the upper temple and then fight Aerisi Kalinoth. Or die trying. Some effort is spent arranging their purloined cultist outfits. Haerelben and Bromsby play the part of temple priest and priestess. Meega and Theren go for rageful sky weavers. Lefty assembles whatever pieces convincingly conceal her felinity. Once more or less satisfied, they head back toward the temple looking and listening for any indication of the warriors’ whereabouts. Careful perception reveals that the three initiates chained to the three obelisks the previous day are now gone.

The purpose-filled party retraces the most direct path to the main temple entrance. They pass the room from which they previously liberated several commoners tortured by kenku. Now two of the warriors torture the surviving kenku. “Priest” Haerelben offers them some quick encouragement and closes the door so the party might pass unobserved. After the sound of a kenku murder, the warriors seem indefinitely content to silently sequester within the room. The party proceeds toward the temple.

Ahtayir continues his perpetual rebuilding task. Haerelben pockets a shard of the aquamarine stone. The party passes along the bridge lined with columns inscribed with dwarven names to reenter the temple hall, now occupied by a pair of warriors. “Priest” Haerelben directs the pair to each guard the outside of the temple doors. The party proceeds upstairs.

Aerisi Kalinoth sits on a high throne overlooking this ancient dwarven throne room. A half moon elf, Windharrow sits at her feet. The floor is etched with a map of the dwarven city. Ten swaying, armed initiates line the sides of the thickly incensed chamber. Ahtayir’s summoning horn is prominently displayed on the back wall.

Aerisi, grasping what must be the elemental spear Windvane, seems unconcerned and unsurprised by the intrusion, boding ill for the adventurers. A few moments of unsettling conversation are followed by Haerelben attempting banishment of Aerisi and Windharrow. Windharrow pops out of the plane; Aerisi definitely does not.

Lefty leaps to action, rapidly mowing through a line of lethargic initiates. Bromsby erupts earth under Aerisi, injuring her as she floats off the encased throne dias. Theren marks Aerisi and sticks a mean crossbow bolt in her, but the crossbow breaks. Meega surges across the room and plants Giantslayer in Aerisi who is more equipped to deal with magic than martial damage. Like the initiates, Meega and Haerelben succumb to the effects of the incense, a fragrance best described as poison. An invisible stalker advantageously bludgeons Meega. Aerisi orders Meega to attack Bromsby.

Lefty continues her onslaught against the initiates who have snapped into action. Haerelben counteracts his poison and sends a spiritual quarterstaff in to clobber Aerisi. There arises a clatter and Bromsby springs to see what’s the matter, that Aerisi has been slain and dropped Windvane. Meega, released from Aerisi’s enthrallment, charges the dias but only finds Aerisi’s dropped treasures, not Aerisi. Meega scoops up a dropped torc, puzzled by the absence of a corpus delicti.

It’s now weapons free on the initiates who are quickly slain. Bromsby conjures some strong winds to ventilate the poison. The invisible stalker continues to harass Meega until Theren plays a tune on the bamboo flute, and plays it unnaturally well. The stalker dissipates as does Bromsby’s strong wind. Haerelben destroys the summoning horn and liberated Ahtayir zips through the room on his way home. Theren collects the treasures [4x gold and sapphire rings worth 1000 gp each, diadem worth 6400 gp] other than Meega’s new fancy torc [1600 gp] and a spellbook Haerelben yoinks [Kalinoth’s air spells].

The party arranges itself for Windharrow’s inevitable return from banishment. He pops back in and surrenders. With Aerisi Kalinoth’s apparent demise, Windharrow claims under scrutiny of zone of truth that he has completely lost all interest in Howling Hatred. While the party negotiates Windharrow’s fate, he pops up his own dimension door and escapes.

Theren identifies Windvane. It is impossibly light for a metal weapon [+2, finesse, + lightning damage]. Haerelben digs out 25 gp to divine whether Sehanine thinks the weapon is inherently evil. Yes, yes it is. Haerelben digs out another 25 gp to divine whether its power might be used for good, please. No, no it can’t.

Bromsby cradles his arm sheepishly, wisely concealing the blackness encroaching up it until pressed by Meega about his sudden sullenness. Haerelben, proficient medical practitioner, determines immediately [critical 1 medicine check] that Bromsby has mere moments to live before succumbing to black arm and directs Theren [23 persuasion versus critical 1 wisdom check] to amputate. Theren suspects wyvern poisoning is more likely than black arm, whatever that is, but readies his longsword anyway. Bromsby transforms to a crystalline orange turtle in self defense, balking at the lack of consultation regarding his medical treatment. Lefty offers to provide care for Bromsby if the others want to go explore or something, just please go away for a while.

Meega leads Haerelben and Theren stealthily and cautiously back into the Howling Hatred cult area following along the right wall, keeping distance from the stirred-up temple pyramid. They enter an unlocked living quarters scattered with bits of bone and rubble. A neat, recently made bed poses an obvious mystery considering the only footprints in the dusty floor belong to the intruding adventurers.

Proceeding through to the corridor continuing beyond the dusty quarters, the party notices a single existing footprint but cannot determine a reasonable context, other than recalling that the cultists in the temple did tend to levitate a bit.

A second living quarters has existing footprints, ironically left by birds. The bed is poorly made as is a desk improvised into a bunk bed.

Proceeding through to the corridor continuing beyond the birdy quarters, the party encounters a recently installed, padlocked, black iron gate blocking the corridor. Lacking thieves tools or Bromsby’s navigational talents, they elect to bypass the gate and double back to the nearest junction to continue along the right wall. The passage wends around taking the party to a section of floor made of cracked aquamarine flagstones. The distinctive sounds of stoneworking emanate from just around the corner.

Haerelben carefully peeks around the corner, but the large, blue craftsman working to restore the section of stonework points out that Haerelben need not bother being sneaky. Air djinni Ahtayir knows the three have been creeping closer the whole time, easily detecting them from their hot breath. He is friendly and informative while he continues repairing the worked stone.

Once upon a time, back in the days when the Besilmer dwarves constructed Tyar-Besil, king Torhild Flametongue found an etched horn capable of summoning servant Ahtayir every century or so. They became besties. Then a long time passed until Aerisi Kalinoth found the horn and directed Ahtayir to single-handedly rebuild Tyar-Besil. It’s not like Ahtayir to complain, and he wouldn’t like to characterize his situation as enslavement, but he’s enslaved to Aerisi Kalinoth until the horn is destroyed or used to nullify his obligation. In fact, he’d be obliged to explain their meeting to Aerisi if she asks, so Haerelben explains *wink* that they are from Black Earth impersonating Howling Hatred to wreak mayhem *wink*.

Ahtayir goes on to describe his summoning horn in detail. He knows the air elemental artifact, a filigreed sapphire spear called Windvane, will be found with Aerisi in the highest level of the temple pyramid and is somehow tied to the elemental evil eye. He reveals that although Aerisi Kalinoth presents herself as a winged elf, a recently absent race of flying elves, she is actually “just” a moon elf. He also completes their knowledge of the Howling Hatred secret whistle, a refrain from a tune called Close Encounters.

The party bids adieu to Ahtayir and continues along the right wall, skipping the corridor back to the temple pyramid. Theren takes the lead, bursting into side rooms with perfunctory efficiency. A couple of angry cultists demand the air from Theren’s lungs. His crossbow bolts take the air from cultist Yellow’s lungs. Meega’s axe takes the air from cultist Red’s lungs. Haerelben notes these sky weavers seem to have authority over Theren, still dressed in his flight suit disguise. Haerelben helps himself to a looted feather-mantled cloak just before Theren begins removing the sky weavers’ lungs with one of his many, many purloined daggers. A smear of Black Earth Rulez graffiti on the wall completes the scene.

Continuing the systematic exploration along corridors, the party comes to a closed door from which agonized screams can be heard. Theren throws open the door dramatically, a cult-like unamused look on his 10% lofted countenance. Three kenku torturing five bound commoners. Theren requires the air from the kenkus’ lungs. The kenku can only mimic their orders by way of explanation. Theren and Meega release the air from the lungs of two kenku, and the third surrenders. Let’s use this kenku as a meat shield, suggests Theren. Let’s use this kenku as a meat shield, mimics the kenku.

The party leads the liberated commoners to the unlikely safety of the entrance to the cult area and releases them. One begs for the rescue of prisoner Nerise Gladham. Haerelben assures him that is their highest priority, why not.

Meega, Theren, and Haerelben check in on Bromsby’s progress while taking a short rest. Lefty has packed his grounded arm with goodberries and dances around him with smoldering incense. Lefty invites them to come back just a little later.

Theren leads Meega and Haerelben around to an unexplored door. From outside the door they hear grinding, yelling, whipping, and an order to reverse the direction. Theren opens the door dramatically, a cult-like unamused look on his 10% lofted countenance. Two gaunt priests encouragingly whip five commoner initiates into rotating a mill of unseen purpose. A second mill is unoccupied. The commoners mob Theren angrily, forcibly propelled through the doorway by a wind gust generated by a priest. Theren bolts down the commoners while Meega chops at the priests. The priests attempt to escape their inevitable demise in gaseous form, but Meega and Theren run them down. Haerelben notes the Howling Hatred priests seem to have authority over Theren in his sky weaver cloak disguise. Haerelben helps himself to a looted robe.

The party drags the bodies into the mill room. Then it’s time to go check on Bromsby.

The party contemplates a few different passages away from the three starving, chained air cult initiates. Haerelben leverages his invisibility to become the inquisitive pneumatic projection of Yan-C-Bin. The first starving, chained initiate doesn’t buy into the ruse. The second starving, chained initiate doesn’t buy into the ruse. The third is willing, but can’t muster the moisture to produce the recognition whistle of the cult. He does report that Prophetess Aerisi Kalinoth can be found in the temple.

“Initiate” Theren leads the party north toward a moat-surrounded pyramid of dwarven construction that doesn’t look unlike a temple. Meega and Bromsby are loosely bound by rope as Theren and Lefty’s “prisoners”. The crashing sound of falling water fills the underground chamber. Bromsby notices a wyvern perched atop the pyramid and a rider perched atop the wyvern. The rider notices Lefty and they swoop down to ask Lefty just who she thinks she is, bringing prisoners to the temple? Lefty takes the sky weaver’s point and was just wondering the same thing, but Theren persists and wishes to offer Meega, one of the butchers of Feathergale Spire, as wyvern food. Lefty flicks a dart at the rider, but accidentally sticks Meega instead, outraging both Theren and the rider. Imposter Lefty is bound to Meega and Bromsby, and the rider directs Theren to lead the procession to Aerisi.

It takes just a few moments for Theren to realize he isn’t actually in the air cult, and he doesn’t know which direction to follow for Aerisi, but that never stops Theren. He leads the procession straight to double doors across from the waterfall into the temple pyramid. He confidently throws open the doors and leads the prisoners in. The rider, a sky weaver, blocks the doorway behind them with his wyvern.

Seven cultists levitate slightly off the floor of the chamber, chanting the praises of Yan-C-Bin. Pillars of carved dwarves stretch twenty feet to the ceiling. A pair of staircases lead up. Howling air blasts up into the room from a pit in the center.

Theren addresses Aerisi directly and begs pardon for the interruption. The cultists all touch down, turning their piercing attention to Theren. Theren again offers up Meega, this time to Aerisi. The cultists swarm and attack Theren. They know something Theren does not: Aerisi is not here.

Theren is brutalized by the riled cultists and the wyvern who whips him nearly to death with its poisonous stinger. Invisible Haerelben, observing the mayhem from outside the chamber, banishes the wyvern and its sky weaver rider to a harmless demiplane for a hot minute. Lefty and Meega each drop a pair of cultists. A sky weaver chases Bromsby with lightning, and a hurricane chain punches Theren while catching Theren’s retaliating crossbow bolt.

Bromsby grasps the magic flute and launches a thunderwave at the sky weaver. The magic flute and Iron Oath launch themselves in opposite directions and the thunderwave backfires on Bromsby. Meega charges the sky weaver, smashing her to the ground and bisecting her with Giant Slayer. Bromsby decides he can wield only one artifact at a time and grabs up Iron Oath to critically and lethally erupt earth under the hurricane. That’s more like it. Theren eagerly accepts the magic flute.

The cultists are searched and mined for their uniforms. A pile of magic darts [10 seeker 120’ range 1d4 + DEX + 3d4 lightning] is collected up by dextrous Lefty.

The wyvern and sky weaver will return imminently. Theren channels a wind wall outside the doors through the magic flute to prevent the wyvern’s escape. Haerelben blesses the party. Everyone prepares a surprise attack and the wyvern and rider pop back in.

Damage pours on the duo with the grand prize going to Bromsby’s erupted earth. Neither the wyvern nor the sky weaver can manage a counterattack before being brutally cut down.

The party prepares for a short rest, dragging bodies into the chamber and closing the doors. Bromsby points at the stairs that everyone else has forgotten. Resting might be difficult if the ruckus was heard from upstairs. Hopefully a more discrete location, nearer to the exit of the cult area, can be found to catch some rest. But the party does take a moment to toss a dead cultist into the howling air pit to see which direction it goes: down, but slowly.

The party observes a ritual in progress through the slightly ajar door. A terran-chanting priestess and her quorum of cultists stand around a pit where a bald, grey, svirfneblin lady is chained to an obelisk. Black pudding oozes over the prisoner.

Theren wastes no time popping into the room. He sends two crossbow bolts vaguely in the priestess’s direction and pops back out again. Bromsby erupts earth under the proceedings killing one cultist. Lefty heads straight for the priestess while the scimitar wielding cultists, met by Meega and Bromsby, clog the doorway. Theren takes out the priestess and then comprehensively atomizes a cultist’s head with an overcharged bolt. Lefty drops the two cultists blocking the doorway. The black pudding envelops the prisoner. Haerelben banishes the black pudding to a harmless demiplane where it spends an anxious minute not eating.

Haerelben revives the prisoner. Rescued svirfneblin Rukh Glitterstone, an undertraveler like Bromsby and Lefty, was captured by Black Earth while exploring the Fane of the Eye below. From what she’s seen, it seems as though the four elemental cults are channeling up some elemental mischief through elemental nodes deep below.

Lefty finds a box of samoa cookies on a cultist, but concludes, to her own disappointment, they must be poisoned and she smashes them to crumbs. Bromsby checks out the obelisk where the black pudding resides in its porous surface. He spots an object in a crevice and retrieves an oiled bamboo flute.

The group cleans up the hallway outside the pit room and piles the slain cultists in the pit. When the black pudding returns from the demiplane to its porous obelisk pit home, it finds several freshly-butchered cultists set out for supper. The svirfneblin has been removed from the menu.

Cult-dressed Theren answers a knock at the door. Cult guards drop off a bound and gagged prisoner. Cult-dressed Lefty accepts delivery on behalf of the slain priestess. The parcel is none other than presumed-dead druid adventurer and dear friend Theridan. How Theridan held off an army of fire cultists at the Vale of the Dancing Waters is a story for another time and another place. For now, he is in bad shape, clearly the object of extreme torture, and deprived of his druidic capacities.

The party makes a quick escape through the nearby elf gate to Quartermaster Schmeck’s supply room. Theridan and Rukh are left in Quastarte to convalesce. The party resupplies and researches the bamboo flute at the library.

The party uncovers nothing definitive about the flute, but it is clearly magical, probably powerful, and possibly associated with air elements. For lack of any better ideas, Theren volunteers to “play” the flute. In addition to its great potential as a powerful elemental artifact, Theren demonstrates the flute’s application as an instrument of torture.

The party [level 9 now] returns to Red Larch to retrieve their cart. The denizens of Red Larch offer unimpeded access out of town for the controversial adventurers to make an uneventful journey overland to Feathergale Spire and its nearby elemental air temple.

A search is made of Feathergale Spire for a safe passage down to the floor of Knifepoint Gully. No such passage is found so they descend by a winding path down the steep edge into Besilmer ruins. They locate the entrance to the air cult operation where Haerelben’s original team met its demise. The sounds of wailing become discernible and then louder as they approach. Haerelben self medicates with a potion of invisibility.

Air cultist flight suit wearing Theren takes Meega and Lefty “prisoner”, securing them in manacles. Bromsby takes bat form. They enter a zigzagging corridor prodigiously lined with arrow slit murder holes. Haerelben puts his eye up to an arrow slit murder hole and finds himself invisible-face-to-bird-face with a wailing kenku. Bromsby switches to spider form and crawls through an arrow slit murder hole to check out the several wailing kenku. Theren theatrically bullies Meega and Lefty down the hall. A kenku puts an arrow into Lefty. Theren, with his faux authority rudely usurped, “accidentally” puts a crossbow bolt into the kenku. The party rushes through the rest of the murder hall while Theren attracts several kenku arrows.

Haerelben explores ahead, opening a door into a courtyard where an air cultist is conducting an ensemble of flautists. The conductor is highly dissatisfied with their performance and berates the flautists. Then he berates the interrupting flock of kenku squawking, “Imposter! Imposter!” The conductor well-knows when an untalented group of hacks have misrepresented their fluting proficiency, thanks very much.

The kenku give up on convincing the conductor and take matters into their own wings. They charge Theren and Lefty, just peeking through the door. Suddenly it occurs to Theren that he has cuffed Lefty and Meega. He scrambles to free them while Bromsby rays frost at the attacking kenku. The kenku are swiftly defeated and dragged out of sight before the conductor approaches to inquire whether the unpleasant interruption is over. Imposter Theren assures him, quite truthfully, that the unpleasantness is over KA-KAW!

Haerelben explores ahead and finds three starving cultists chained to three obelisks in seemingly ritual fashion. What is it with cults and obelisks?