Campaign Journal 46 - The Temple of Harilos

We last left our heroes outside a carved stone doorway to a passage leading into a cliffside. Zarya Udak's ambushers had gone that way. A guard was killed outside but no alarm raised...

Niam the Rogue snuck into the passage and found an entry chamber in which was piled a bunch of carpentry tools, some lumber, and some partially finished crude furniture. Advancing down the passage and down a number of flights of stairs, the air grew hot and acrid smelling. He then cam out into a square cavern with lava and very strange looking stonework.

Lava entry chamber

With three choices of direction to go, the party chose to go to the right, which had them working their way through a small temple area devoted to the Harilos (god of chaos, destruction and anarchy). Furnishings were sparse and looked new. There was nobody in the temple, so they desecrated the altar.

They next found chamber that seemed to the bedroom and study of someone important. There were many (low quality) wall hangings and other religious iconography, and a desk with a bunch of papers that they couldn't read. Zarya took the papers to read later.

They found a secret door in the priest's chamber which led them through a narrow passage to a regular door leading out into another lava lined passageway. They then doubled back through the narrow passageway to finish exploring the temple area.

Near the priest's chamber, Thalmyr broke down a closed wooden door, falling flat on his face in the room and surprising 4 lounging humans, who recovered quickly and leapt to the attack. A few vicious Thunderwaves later, and the enemy were dispatched.

A kitchen and some storage areas were searched, and a couple of magic items were looted from the area. One was a Rope of Mending, and one was a small bluish-white crystal orb that radiated coolness in a 20 foot radius. This was handy in the heat of the area for keeping the temperature at a comfortable level. When placed in the first chamber in from the lava entry room, it seemed to keep the whole temple area behind it cool.

When this area was cleared, they went back through the secret door and back to the lava passage.

Advancing cautiously, they moved down the passageway and came out on the edge of a massive lava cavern with a lot of complicated stonework. On a platform in the center of the chamber, in front of a large monument of some sort, a couple of humanoids in dark robes were talking to a towering red-skinned figure (which would prove to be an efreeti...)

Next - Lava Cavern battle.

GM Commentary - This was a briefer session of 100% dungeon crawl. Having done a lot of non-combat role playing in the last session, this was a good time for  change of pace. Next time will be the boss fight, and then back to

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - Not much new here, other than a lot of lava...

Present - All but Malachy and Duncan.