The fire elemental dissipates from Snake Theridan’s bite and a hush falls over the courtyard but for the crackling of the burning wicker giant. Welby, not trusting the calm, scooches along the wall, bow ready but eyes averting Hadar’s hunger. Haerelben and Allana freeze in place, sacred flame and eldritch blast tingling in their respective fingers.
Theren searches the deceased priest who arose the fire elemental and finds an orange agate.
Snake Theridan, unwilling to wait for trouble to come to him, makes his way to a pit beyond a crumbling wall where he finds a makeshift hell-kennel where hell-handler Guard Two keeps a couple of hellhounds for his hell-protection. Theridan heals himself and bites Hellhound Two. Meega follows him into the pit lending her axe to the project and she is all but knocked out when Hellhound One flamebreathes her lifeforce away. Haerelben calls in a large heal for Meega. Snake Theridan constricts Hellhound One, holding it for Meega as she catches her second wind and chops at it.
Theren puts a bolt into Hellhound Two but his rig critically malfunctions and deafens him. Hellhound Two turns his flamebreath on Theridan and Theren, but he gets feathered by a tenaciously wounding arrow from Welby. Hellhound One succumbs to two crossbow bolts from Theren. Meega turns her attention to Guard Two who decides he wants to leave, but Theridan’s tail pins his feet down and the last thing through his mind is Welby’s arrow.
Allana sees a guard just outside the hunger on a corner of the scaffolding and she knocks him off with an eldritch blast. Before he can regain his composure, she blasts him again down the hill behind the SMH. He suddenly remembers a previous appointment and continues running in the direction Allana launched him.
The hunger of Hadar slurps its last and the tower becomes visible again. The adventurers scale the scaffolding except for deafened Theren who, distracted by the agate he turns over and over in his hands, can’t manage a good grip on the scaffolding.
Upon the upper scaffolding Haerelben listens at an open door and senses an ambush. He rolls a thunderwaving thunderstone into the doorway and Theridan pokes his snake head in. Guard Six and Guard Seven wait just inside the door with a bronze-looking flaming dwarf, an azer. Theridan bites Guard Six and Allana squeezes around Snake Theridan to eldritch blast the azer. Meega follows in calling forth the water weird and siccing it on Guard Seven who is pulled and grappled.
Theridan lunges for and misses the azer, but it burns Theridan for his effort. Allana decides it would be a good idea to blast at the azer from outside the doorway and Meega interposes herself to keep the azer away from the puny elves. Meega and the water weird extinguish the azer.
Guard Seven hits Snake Theridan back into elf form, bad news for Welby who was snake surfing and finds himself in midair, but he sticks the landing in proper rogue form. Meega puts down Guard Six.
Guard Four and Priest Three arrive down the stairs and join Guard Seven attacking Theridan. As Allana disengages into the room, Theridan disengages out. Allana, clinging to life, knocks new arrival Guard Four over the stair railing into an open pit where he falls upon rubble from bits of collapsed tower and furniture. Meega and the weird finish off Guard Seven.
Now Guard Eight bullrushes down the stairs at Welby who sidesteps the impact as Theridan sentinels Guard Eight’s momentum. Welby draws his shortsword.
The priest, wary of being knocked into the pit, fireballs Allana down. Theridan gets Allana back on her feet and she blasts the priest over the railing where he dangles precariously. Meega chops at his hands until he falls into the rubble.
Deaf Theren, finally able to follow the party up the scaffolding, looms above Welby in the doorway. In no kind of mood, Theren sends a couple of bolts into Guard Eight’s face exploding his mellon. Welby, unaware of Deaf Theren’s lethal shots, admires his shortsword’s destructive force before climbing up the stairs to the next level. From the staircase he gets a good view of the rubble pit where little flame creatures move around the north wall.
Up on the next level a dozen stinky bedrolls litter the floor. Theridan and Allana investigate around but the floor collapses beneath Allana and she crashes to the floor below. Fortunately for nearby Theren, the fall knocks Allana unconscious. He stabilizes her and she awakens to find Theren holding the agate in her face.
“Allana! Can you identify this rock?”
“I nearly died!”
“What?”
Allana uses the helm of identify to learn the agate is a flamestone which casts flaming sphere when thrown. She relates this to Theren telepathically along with a request that he not talk so loudly.
Welby, unimpressed by dilapidated bedding and floors, proceeds to the next level up where he discovers an older fellow studying a book and smoking a pipe, seemingly unaware of Welby’s presence and unconcerned with the kerfuffle below. Welby spiderwalks along the wall to where a ladder leads to a hatch in the ceiling.
Deaf Theren enters the chamber after Welby but far more conspicuously. The old man greets him as though expecting the visit which seems promising at first but he then throws a blight of necromantic energy against Theren, now barely conscious. Hearing the commotion, Meega rushes in. The water weird pulls the old man close and starts to drown him. The distraction allows Haerelben to heal Theren. Welby peeks into the roof hatch where giant bats, too large to leave their cramped attic, subsist entirely on nosy adventurers.
Allana attempts to parlay with the the old man but he’s very busy drowning just now. Theren and Meega quickly dispatch the grappled old man before he can demonstrate his power or name.
The old man, named Elizar if the camp druids Mahoon, Iniri, Virigo, and Fariya were correct, was fastidiously tidy. In his desk Haerelben finds 250gp, two fire opals [50gp ea.], and a scroll of flame arrow.
Allana locates Elizar’s pipe, given to Welby [summons four mephits], and the journal he carries containing the personal dealings of one Elizar Dryflagon. Elizar’s supervisor is Vanifer, all hail Imix. Vanifer’s performance review of Elizar rates him “needs improvement” for the number of sacrifices and “unsatisfactory” for the progress widening the temple entrance, all hail Imix. Vanifer threatens Elizar with tinder strike if he doesn’t improve his productivity, all hail Imix.
Allana notices a long scar down Elizar’s chest. When Theren opens his shirt to investigate, an elemental eye emerges from the scar and immolates Theren. Theren’s quick reflexes save him from much of the damage but the attack nearly knocks him out. Meega gives the hideous manifestation a couple of her best axe strikes but it appears to repair itself after each strike before receding back into the scar.
Theren finds and takes three books in Elizar’s library with information on the destruction of Thel’Usaren.
Welby returns to the attic to stealth past the three giant bats and up to the roof where he finds nothing except a climbing kit which he retrieves for Theren. Since the sought hidden temple is not on the roof, a short rest is taken before the rubble pit must be explored.
Before descending into the rubble pit, a closer inspection with the new context of the journal makes the party realize the flame creatures are digging out a tunnel out the north end of the pit. Rather than descend into the pit to explore the tunnel, the adventurers agree it’s probably the temple entrance and call it good.