22: Black Earth Temple

  

After their quick preparations, the group mounted their recovered horses and made a swift dash eastwards over the Sumber Hills. Bessok's newly acquired ability significantly boosted their travel speed, bringing them to the Sacred Stone Monastery just before sunset. Their Hippogriffs were patiently waiting atop the hill overlooking the Monastery, having made short work of several wolves that had foolishly tried their luck, instead becoming meals for the large flying beasts.

Leaving the horses to run free, the group fed and watered their Hippogriffs, then descended into the valley and back to the Sacred Stone Monastery. Ignoring the bodies they'd left behind earlier, they quickly checked on Renwick, the friendly lich, to ensure all was well. Satisfied, they descended into the mines below and further down the steps into what was once called Tyar-Besil, now referred to as the Temple of the Black Earth.

Map of the Temple of Black Earth

A Gargoyle

The stairs spiraled downwards for almost 250 feet, turning every twenty to thirty, steadily circling until they opened into a long hallway that then turned south. Here, a large chasm was crossed by a zigzagging ten-foot-wide stone bridge (1). Lurking on the ledges above, Joe's keen eyes spotted several stone Gargoyles crouched and waiting to pounce. No longer new to this, the group positioned themselves with Bessok at the front, moving far enough ahead to provoke the Gargoyles' reaction. Bessok swiftly pulled back, allowing Morthwyl to take point, while arrows flew over her head from Joe as the Gargoyles approached. The first was smashed repeatedly by Morthwyl, the final impact sending it tumbling over the bridge to shatter on the cavern floor below. Another was struck by holy and natural fire from Bessok and Gark. The last didn't even have time to reach the group as multiple arrows from Joe extinguished its life, turning it back into solid stone, its body crashing onto the stone bridge to act as a permanent decorative statue.

Taking a moment, Bessok took to the air to survey the rest of the cavern (2), flying west into another open area with a small walkway leading from a path to the south, across to a narrow arrow slit in the western side of the cave. Returning to the group, Joe decided to throw some dust into the air, turning everyone invisible, but not before Gark had time to wave his staff and aid in silencing everyone's steps.

A Hobgoblin

Onwards they moved to a small plaza where two massive stone doors lay broken (3), flanked by iron torches that illuminated the area. Arrow slits were placed on either side of the plaza, and Joe's keen ears picked up the quiet murmurings of Bugbears beyond. For now, they remained unseen. They continued through the doors into a once magnificent hall with a soaring ceiling, marble floors, and intricate carvings decorating the walls (4). Their attention was swiftly drawn to a group of Hobgoblins, a Bulette, and an Earth Cultist type they hadn't seen before, actually riding the Bulette.

Multiple doors opened from this room, but they instead took the western corridor, avoiding the urge to unleash their wrath upon the gathered enemy. They passed another doorway as they traveled along the corridor, eventually coming to a larger room with multiple exits (19). Near the western wall stood a ten-foot-tall crude humanoid statue composed of earth, boulders, and sharp crystals, one massive rocky fist raised above its blunt head. Bessok assessed this would be a statue to the Prince of Earth, Ogremoch, expressing his distaste at the sight of the destruction of the ancient Dwarven statue that used to be in its place.

Moving north, then west again, they ignored the closed doors for now until they came to a room in the far northwest of the complex (24) with four massive square columns supporting the ceiling. In the middle of the hall, a ten-foot-tall statue of a stern dwarf warrior with spiked balls instead of hands stood. Bessok, still running a detection spell, sensed that this was a construct, likely to come alive and attack if they were visible. So, they pulled back and headed south instead.

In a wider section of corridor, they found a set of double doors that looked official. They were searching for the leader of this cult, and he could be here, so it was time to give up the subterfuge and get to work. Joe pushed open the door, disturbing a couple of cultists who seemed to be involved in a ritual. With the group still invisible, the cultists were naturally confused by the door opening. The two moved over to look outside and called out, but when nothing came, they started to head back inside.

This is when Joe struck. Inside the room (23), an obelisk of glistening black stone sat in the middle of an irregular pit, with bleached bones scattered around it. A smaller post held a strange gray-skinned gnome, locked in place by a pair of manacles attached to a strong chain. In front of these, a Cult Priest was performing a ceremony, causing blackish blood to ooze out of the obelisk, the other cultists watching with interest. Two arrows from Joe's longbow brought a swift end to the priest, who was propelled forward by the impact, landing face down in front of the gnome.

The blood oozed out of the obelisk and pooled around the gnome's feet, burning through the skin, while the dead priest's face also began to sizzle. Joe switched his longbow to blades and quickly put an end to the two cultists at the door, giving Morthwyl space to rush through and smash the chains that bound the gnome, quickly grabbing and pulling him away from the steadily spreading black gore.

Bessok and Gark followed with more fiery attacks, burning the last two cultists to the ground. But the ooze continued flowing, following Morthwyl and flowing up her legs, slipping through the gaps of her platemail to burn her flesh. Reacting quickly, she sliced her longsword through it, though this only caused it to split into two, which now attacked her individually. Switching to her warhammer, she pounded one into the ground, while the other was attacked by the rest of the group, putting the final half to rest.

A Deep Gnome

Now left with this deep gnome, who introduced herself as 'Rukh', they had many questions answered. An explorer from the Underdark—which, she revealed, had an entrance a couple of levels lower—she told the group about the person they were searching for, a Medusa called Marlos Urnrayle. From overheard conversations, Rukh explained that a group of powerful adventurers were hunting down the cults, and the leaders had retreated to what they called "elemental nodes," the areas from which they drew their power. Rukh told them these were also a few levels lower and pointed them to a set of stairs leading down close to where they were.

When the conversation was over, the gnome thanked them for the rescue, then sneaked out of the room and headed down the nearby stairs, aiming to return to the Underdark. The group, however, had heard from the gnome that the Medusa's room in the temple was only a little way to the north-east, so they quickly traveled in that direction, hoping that perhaps he had returned.

Pushing open the double doors to the room (21), they moved in quickly, expecting a fight, but were met with an empty room of flowstones, stalagmites, and stalactites. A few stone steps led to a stone throne, but more noticeably, a collection of statues gathered around the room in various stages of shock, fear, or agony. The statues appeared to be adventurers who had encountered more than they could deal with. Gark reached out to touch one on the shoulder, casting a spell that returned the adventurer to normal.

Surprised but grateful, this Cleric thanked them and answered Bessok's question about what it was like to be turned to stone. He gave a horrifying description: he was still aware, his mind still ticked on, his stone eyes still saw the passage of time; he was trapped in an eternal prison, alone with his own thoughts. He reached out to another of the statues, bringing life back, and Bessok did the same. Before long, another adventuring group of four stood with them: an Elven Wizard, a Barbarian, a Rogue, and, of course, the Cleric.

For now, they decided to split up to take down this Temple together. The new team travelled east to clear out those rooms, while the group headed south to clear their direction. They returned to the path they were already on, entering another room (18), an area with multiple bunk beds and several guards. Bessok rushed in, bringing death to a few, with Joe and Morthwyl mopping up the rest with arrow and axe.

Onwards they went, noticing the stairs to the west (17) but continuing southwards to an area they recognized. They had been here before; this was close to where Rowan was sent into another plane. They had already killed an Ettin and several other creatures here, though they could still hear the escaped Dao hammering away at the forge in a room to their east.

Ogres

Ignoring that for now, they travelled west into a large room (16) that looked like an old Dwarven armoury, but was now full of rusted scraps of metal and remnants of armour. More importantly, five large Ogres were gathered in the room. The nearest three realized the group had arrived as a fireball from Joe engulfed them. The battle began, with two Ogres cautiously rushing those at the door, dodging incoming arrows and attacks, while the three still smouldering closed around Bessok, who had rushed into their midst. A few lucky strikes landed, but this expert group now felt untouchable as they sliced their way through Ogre after Ogre, taking only minor damage in return.

After the battle, they checked the nearby door and found a long corridor leading off into the darkness, noticeable heat emanating from that direction—a passage to the Temple of Eternal Flame. Back into the previous room, they turned south this time, opening a door to what looked like a torture chamber (14). Several people in rags were held in cages, while a few cultists put up a very brief fight, one managing to cause an eruption of earth near the doorway, hitting everyone but Bessok, who had rushed in ahead. They decided to release the prisoners but allow them to find their own fate, as the group had other things to do than look after unknowns.

A Dao

North they went again, this time to where the Dao was still hammering in the forge (15). As the door opened, the Dao turned quickly and put her hands up, informing the group that she didn't want to fight them, that it wasn't in her contract, and she didn't care about these people or the cult. As weapons were aimed at the elemental, she faded and became invisible. Though they were still aware of her rough position due to the ongoing conversation, they couldn't see her.

That is, until Gark felt a tingling in the back of his skull, as if he was willing himself to be able to see her. Slowly, the Dao came back into focus—at first a glittery light around her form, slowly growing until she became visible. One after another, the rest of the group experienced the same; for some strange reason, they were now able to see invisible at will.

Joe pulled out a scroll during the conversation, read it while throwing an arrow into the air. Suddenly, the entire room was filled with arrows, striking the invisible Dao and wounding her gravely, but not enough to stop her putting up a fight. Things had taken a turn for the worse, and the rest of the group charged in. The Dao swung her massive hammer into Bessok, knocking him clean off his feet. The mass of attacks, however, weakened her quicker than she could stop them, and with a wave of her hand, a portal opened around her, pulling her through, escaping into another plane.

With the battle over, Joe's ears picked up other noises in the brief silence: a happy Barbarian moving around the complex and in the group's direction—no doubt he also heard their ongoing battles. The Barbarian recounted the battles they'd had, a couple being so dangerous that they almost lost the Wizard, one of the Cultists having turned into a Giant Ape and pounded the poor Elf into the ground. The Bulettes were also more trouble than they expected, so this new group decided to move on for now, needing to rest and recuperate before returning. With good wishes passed around, the rescued adventurers retreated back up to the Sacred Stone Monastery, while the group continued searching the Temple.

A brief stop in the north-west corner (24) allowed Morthwyl to pull out her Mace of Smiting against the spiked-hand stone golem, smashing it into dust and rubble. Then, they decided it was time to move lower, heading down the stairs (17) into the depths below.

Map of the Discovered Areas in
The Fane of the Eye

The stairs descended for another three hundred feet, circling an unnerving black stone obelisk and down to a more naturally shaped cave that seemed familiar to the group (11). It had the same strange angles to the ceilings and the same glowing lichen in the corners offering a weird violet light. They had been to this section before, but another part of it—this was where they encountered the oily clouds that gave them twisted visions from the Elder Elemental Eye. They could already feel goosebumps rising on their skin, a tingle of something uncomfortable at the back of their necks.

A Grimlock

From this section, they could open doors to the west or south. They decided on west, opening the door to an abandoned mine (12), with rail tracks, abandoned carts, and rubble strewn around the chamber. In a collapsed section of wall to the north, four specters of Grimlocks huddled, rushing out when they sensed nearby life. They lasted mere seconds, as Bessok summoned the power of his God to destroy these lesser undead. The specters briefly seemed to return to life before fading from sight with a whispered, "Thank you..."

Ignoring the doors for now, the group followed the tracks southwards until they came to some stairs leading up. Bessok decided to take point, marching up them to find a large room with a blackened ogre skeleton pinned to the north wall, above filthy bedrolls where three large minotaurs were resting (16). Bessok rushed into position as Joe threw a fireball into their midst. The fire engulfed their forms but didn't seem to do as much damage as expected. This was explained as the first rose to its feet and rushed the group still on the stairs, breathing out a cone of flame that engulfed them in return. These were no ordinary minotaurs.

Fire Breathing Minotaur

Bessok experienced the same as the other two minotaurs surrounded him, breathing their fire across the Dwarf, followed by huge greataxes that managed to connect. As if this wasn't bad enough, the noise drew another two from a nearby room; five fire-breathing minotaurs now swarmed the group. Though they were tough and caused considerable damage, very little faced this group and survived. Bessok, surrounded by three minotaurs all breathing fire, even managed to pull off a manoeuvre that had him spinning on the spot, reflecting every flame with his shield, moving at such a speed that he briefly became a blur. His God truly had his back!

As the last of the minotaurs dropped, the group began healing their wounds before searching further into the area. In the middle of a huge shaft that travelled both upwards and down, a ten-foot-wide slab of stone levitated at the end of a bridge-like pier of rock (15), inviting travellers to ascend or descend. Looking over the edge, the group was hit by a wave of heat from below—a red glow of fire and lava illuminated the shaft.

Leaving that behind, they travelled south to find a cavern with a strange symbol of overlapping circles cut into the stone on the ground (17), a summoning circle of some kind, perhaps. To the west, however, was something that truly raised their hackles. That familiar oily black cloud, churning upon itself, the same cloud that gave them such horrifying visions. Nope! They weren't going that way!

Instead, they retraced their steps back to the mining carts (12) and opened the door into the room to the south of the area. Here, weird crystals jutted from the walls and floor, giving off more violet light. The crystals on the east side formed a distinct doorway or gate to an area that sloped downwards (13). Next to that doorway, two huge hill giants were playing a game akin to tic-tac-toe with rocks of different colours. Noticing the door opening, one immediately pointed at them and declared, "I wanna play dem li'l guys! You wanna play?!"

A Hill Giant

Introducing themselves as Karg and Maul, Maul and Gark decided to play a game. Even though Gark didn't know the rules, he somehow ended up winning, which upset the huge hill giant. With nobody trying to calm him, Joe sensed things were spiralling out of control, so he took advantage of the situation, unleashing a surprise attack on poor Maul, who was struck with multiple arrows, appearing like a pincushion by the time he realized what was happening.

Hill Giants are very tough, however, so Maul snapped a few of the arrows poking out of his shoulder. Then the pair grabbed their huge clubs and started wading in. Morthwyl, jumping in to defend, took a few solid hits, Bessok taking a few more. But with repeated arrows coming from Joe and fire from Gark, the two mountainous creatures didn't have much hope. Karg was the last to fall, causing the ground to rumble as he thudded down against it.

Not wanting to descend further right now, the group continued heading south and found a very familiar place, one they had travelled through before—an area of weird fungal growth, giant toadstools, and puffballs (9). Gark called out to a fungus he had given life to last time he was here, and it came squelching over with its strange humanoid features on display. "Hello!" it grunted, happy to see its old creator—as happy as a fungus can look, at least. Not wanting the fungus to be left lonely, Gark created another for it to be friends with. Though with such low intelligence they didn't really know how to talk to each other, they just said, "Hello!" Replied with, "Hello!" A pause, then "Hello!" And on it went as the group continued their search of the area.

East this time, through another doorway and into an old Dwarven crypt, a stone sarcophagus resting on a dais in the southern half of the room (10). A tomb to a dwarf named 'Hendrel Foebreaker', a Dwarvish phrase inscribed suggesting the reader, "Bow your head, and remember valour." Bessok showed the proper reverence and was granted a blessing, making him feel more prepared for the troubles ahead.

Sensing this area was under divine protection, Bessok suggested they rest here for a while, recuperate, before delving further. The group agreed and they all pulled out their bedrolls, ales, and rations, settling down for a long rest before facing the horrors ahead.