Campaign Journal 37 - Temple of the Shadowed Veil

We last left our heroes standing on a high ledge overlooking a large lake below. A boat with three occupants was creeping along the base of the cliff below...

July 26, Friday [day 13, cont.] - As the boat passed directly below them, Sleep was cast on the occupants, causing two of the three to fall into magical slumber. The remaining person, faced with a well-armed adventuring party, surrendered quickly. Pulling the boat to the shore, the person in the boat proved to be a half-orc named Shrashtak. After much conversation, he turned out to be an escaped slave, one of a band of other such people of various races and backgrounds who lived in hiding from their former Traniskan masters.

He eventually agreed to take the party back to one of their hideouts (in two shifts due to the small size of the boat), where he and his companions were headed to originally. Once there, he was able to tell the party much about the city of Traniska, including how it was laid out, social structures, main areas of the city and outlying areas, etc...

When asked about the Blood Orb, he was able to tell the party that there was a temple called the Temple of the Shadowed Veil, located on an island offshore from the city proper. In the courtyard of this temple, high up on a cliff overlooking the lake, was a large stalagmite, atop which was a swirling ball of red and yellow energy. He thought this might be the Blood Orb, since this temple was the center of the religious cult of Querelath, the patron deity of the demon-worshipping Masters.

The party rested, had a good dinner with their hosts, and slept the night. They would decide what to do next in the morning.

July 27, Saturday [day 14] - After a good night's sleep, the party decided to go directly to the Temple of the Shadowed Veil and see if this was the location they were seeking. They traded some equipment for the use of a larger boat from Shrashtak, and with his directions in hand, made their way toward the Temple.

The trip across the lake was uneventful, and after a ~2 mile journey, they saw their destination ahead: a brightly lit temple compound on a cliff overlooking the lake. As they neared, it became apparent from the number of worshippers, the booming of drums and the chanting of priests, that there was a ceremony of some sort underway.

Temple of the Shadowed Veil

The party crept their boat toward the shoreside docks, and with a combination of spells and missile fire, were able to surprise and dispatch the dock guards. Niam and Malachy snuck across the docks and up the first set of stairs, surprising and killing another pair of guards on the second landing.

As the first of the characters climbed to the main level two things happened: a pair of summoned demons came out of a pair of portals in the temple, and the two glass golems guarding the stairs came to life, attacking the party.

Fighting to Destroy the Blood Orb

The long and complicated fight went on for quite some time. There were clerics, golems, major demons, minor demons and guards on the enemy side. The full complement of seven characters of the good-guy side. Niam, Badric and the spell casters did everything they could to deal with the lesser threats while Malachy and Thalmyr (wielding the Ruby Knight's magical warhammer) tackled the Death Demon, a fiend of great power.

The bitter fight went on for a long time, draining hit points, healing and spells from the good guys. The fight hung in the balance. And the summoning portals began to pulse once again with an unnatural reddish-orange light...

Next - The conclusion of the big fight...

GM Commentary - Pardon the abbreviated writeup containing not too much detail, but this session was mainly driven by a long and involved combat sequence once the party reached the Temple. There were 7 different characters and probably as many different "initiative" groups of enemies at the Temple. This made for ~12-14 different initiative order turns in each round, with many spell casters involved on both sides. In over 2 hours of a 4 hour session, we probably only got about halfway through the climactic battle.

The details of this long drawn-out combat elude me at this point (and probably wouldn't make for great reading anyway). These were powerful enemies, and this was probably the closest any of the party members had gotten to death since perhaps first or second level. And the outcome was by no means a sure thing at this point...