A LITTLE BACKGROUND:
Way back in 1985, our gaming group played through the original Temple of Elemental Evil. It was a grand adventure and ran over several years (they also played through Scourge of the Slave Lords and Queen of Spiders). The adventures of Darklight Shadowbinder (the first drow PC in our campaign), Slick, Ronder Treefeather, and the others have never been forgotten. While many of our original group members have since moved away or gone their separate ways, three of them, my brother, a good friend, and my wife (who was, at the time, my girlfriend), have formed the core of my current D&D group.
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When I made ready to run Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, it seemed only perfectly logical that the PCs be descendents of the original group that forayed into the darkness. Since they were also the original characters, the players had no problem with this and the group began to come together. Each player was asked to generate two PCs, only one of which would be in play at any given time (the other is assumed to be doing other adventures and advances simultaneously). They can be switched out freely, though only at logical break points (i.e., not in the middle of a dungeon) but the main purpose of the secondary PC is to provide a standby character in case something untoward happens to the primary.
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Currently, the group membership is:
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TALINA (SHADOWBINDER) [Female Half-Drow Sor3/Ftr1]
Talina is a half-drow, the unacknowledged daughter of Darklight Shadowbinder. During the original quest, Darklight had been seeking the destruction of Lloth to take her place as the new Queen of SPiders (unknown to the rest of the party, of course). When the time finally came and Lloth lie bleeding at the feet of the adventurers, Darklight could not bring herself to do it and sacrificed a chance at godhood for her friends. This saved them (and allowed Lloth to survive), but also formed a rift between them that never healed. She has not been seen by anyone who recognizes her (and survives) for 20 years.
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In actuality, she is a drow hunter, dedicated to eradicating the scourge of her brethren from this world. At some point in her new quest, her dalliances led to the conception of a half-breed daughter. The child was abandoned soon after birth, as Darklight had no use for a protégé, but somehow she survived and remembers enough of her mother to drive her to find the renegade drow. It was this quest that brought her to Hommlet in the first place, but it is her heart that drove her to join the investigation into the rumors of the evil cult.
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SARINA LETHESCHE [Female Half-Elf Ftr2/Rog2]
Sarina is one of a pair of twins, the son and daughter of Slick (a.k.a. Slick “the Stud” Elf) and Samantha Lethesche. Where her brother is a stay-at-home who is currently studying magic under his mother’s tutelage, Sarina is driven to adventure. Hommlet seemed a great place to start, since her father’s career began there. Before leaving, her father gifted her with a magical blade called Anüre (“defender”). She knows little of its powers, but will soon begin to discover just how precious an item it is (can you say “leveled magic item?”).
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Sarina is the practical sort, but she also loves a good fight. She knows Geldor through his family’s infrequent visits to her parent’s home and while she considers him a friend and ally, she is also convinced that he needs a lot of experience. She has taken him under her wing to a minor degree, seeking to insure that he doesn’t manage to get himself killed and to this end, she will sometimes go along with even the most foolish of plans.
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GELDOR TREEFEATHER [Male Wood Elf Rng4]
Though the oldest of the group, Geldor is still just a child, barely into puberty. Where the others were born sometime after their parents had completed the (seeming) destruction of Lloth, Geldor had been born several years earlier and was still a babe in arms when his father Rondor undertook that epic quest. Despite his youth, this gelding is a prodigy and has already proven himself against an impressive array of foes.
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If Geldor has an ulterior motive, it is probably to heal the rift that exists between he and his father. His decision to become a ranger, rather than to follow in his father’s footsteps as a druid, left Rondor quite angry and the proud wood elf has refused to have anything further to do with his son (though he secretly cares very much for him and even now has spies watching over him). His inexperience shows in his brash nature and oft careless manner.
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SILAQUI [Female Wood Elf Rng1/Ftr1/Drd2]
Silaqui is one of two current companions who are not descendents of the original questors. She was given a message to deliver to a mysterious figure who was rumored to be in Hommlet. Instead, she found Talina. An outsider by nature, she felt drawn to the half-drow and the two formed a fast friendship which even now grows stronger. Silaqui has little use for Geldor (considering him a stripling who has no business adventuring) or Sarina (whom she views as a city-dweller), but still fights alongside them as allies...for now.
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Silaqui can’t say what draws her to this group. Her head tells her that she should have delivered the message and left without getting involved. After all, what does she care for the problems of a human village? Her nature tells her to leave them to their fate, but her heart tells her something else entirely.
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ALBERT REEDWELL [Male Human Clr4 (St. Cuthbert)] Albert is a novice adventurer, though quite a skilled cleric. He has lived in Hommlet, more specifically, in the cloister of the temple, for the entirety of his young life and though he has always wanted to be a part of a grand adventure, he is only now finding out just what that entails. Though he was woefully unprepared at first, the group has seen to his needs, outfitting him with proper armor and weaponry, and he has begun to prove himself a valuable member of the party.
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Unbeknownst to Albert or the other party members, he is actually the son of Cannoness Y’dey of the Temple of St. Cuthbert. When he was born, she realized that having a child out of wedlock would endanger her chances for advancement within the church and so she “abandoned” him at the doorstep of the temple, knowing that he would be taken in as a ward. Since that time, she has watched over him carefully, nurturing him from a distance, until she sensed that the time was right for him to leave. She has placed him in the care of this group, from whom she senses great things.
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Caution: This tale reveals major plot elements from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. Do not continue reading if you are currently involved in or planning on playing this adventure in the near future.
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****Spoiler Space****
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The story so far...
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Our heroes came together in Hommlet and determined that a good starting place was the ruins of the moathouse. After a sound thrashing by the dragon, they rallied and came up with a good plan to defeat the beast, driving it off. They then penetrated into the dungeons, where they found the first of the excavations being performed by the clerics.
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After a brief respite, during which time Talina satisfied her curiosity about some of the magical items that had discovered (information she has chosen not to share with the rest of the group), the group continued their foray into the dungeons beneath the moathouse. As of this time, they had not discovered any of the secret passages that led into the hidden areas, but that soon changed after the ghouls in the torture chamber were cleared out and they found the passage to the secret tunnel.
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They followed the tunnel to the catacombs, where they met with more ghouls and Albert began to prove his worthiness to the group. For a cloistered cleric, he wields a mean holy symbol! They briefly entertained the notion of working their way into the warrens, but after a few yards of exploration, decided that it wasn’t worth running the risk of being trapped in close quarters in a fight. Instead, they proceeded southeast to the pool room.
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It was there that they began to piece together what was happening. They caught the two clerics working in the upper area by surprise and managed to slay Geynor Ton without too much difficulty, but Ysslansh managed to slip away under the cover of an obscuring mist and rode the platform to the deeps. After some effort, the group managed to retrieve the platform, but the troglodyte cleric had already moved to the secondary platform, where he waited in the darkness to see what they would do next (and also because he was afraid to go any deeper without protections).
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Upstairs, they party investigated the smaller four-sided statue (one side still embedded in rock) and prepared to ride the platform to the top of the obelisk. They were dismayed by the unnatural chill, but forged ahead until they alit atop the obelisk. As they stepped off, they noticed the unusual actions of the “veins” within the floor and through experimentation with some rations, quickly deduced that it was not someplace they wished to be. They saw the other platform (but not the hiding Ysslansh) but the chill in the air, the unusual floor, and that two of their number were already weakening were enough to convince them to ascend. At the top, they tied off the platform and moved on into other regions of the dungeon (unknowingly leaving two clerics trapped below).
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Their explorations brought them to the bedchamber of the clerics in the moathouse, which was largely deserted, but in rambling about that area, they attracted the attentions of Garrik, the gnoll ranger. Geldor, sensing a kinship with the beast, tried to engage him in conversation (through ther goblin tongue, the only one they had in common) and Garrik played him for a fool, keeping him busy until Garrik’s warriors could arrive (he had called to them in gnoll when he first spotted the party). The battle was joined and after a brief, but decidedly dangerous struggle, the party prevailed. Geldor faced off against Garrik (both identically armed) in a battle to the death between two equally-matched rangers while the rest of the party held off the others! Geldor prevailed, but only by a very close margin. It came down to a matter of one blow.
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After the gnolls were dispatched, the party investigated the iron chest that belonged to Geynor Ton. Silaqui failed to mention the key she had found upon searching Ton’s body, not making a connection, and Sarina missed the glyph of warding. Talina might have seen it (she did have a detect magic up and running), save that Sarina and Geldor blocked her view and thus, she could not warn them. Geldor used his magical longsword to open the chest, only to be sprayed with acid from the glyph! A Reflex save prevented too much damage, but his precious sword became pitted and damaged and will need repairs.
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In the chest, they found Ton’s journal, as well as a few other goodies, and Talina immediately set about identifying some of the other items they had come across thus far. After another rest period to allow the now exhausted Talina to recover her magics and to permit Albert to apply some much needed healing, the foray continued as they decided to investigate the side corridor they had ignored previously. They came upon the wall of stone and Talina (through spellcraft) recognized it for what it was. There were a few moments of indecision about why the wall was placed there before the group decided to batter it down using some of the mudane weapons they had been collecting from the bodies of fallen foes.
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It took only a few moments of effort to break the wall enough to permit passage and our hardy band continued their exploration into the long-forgotten and sealed areas of the dungeons. They came across the cockatrice lair and Geldor, whose favored enemy is magical beasts, recognized them and shouted a warning. At this, Sarina, Silaqui, and Talina all began backing from the room, Talina blasting one with a magic missile as she went. Geldor, however, charged recklessly into the fray and Albert, torn between retreat or helping a friend, chose to aid him. Seeing this (and watching as Geldor took one down by himself), Sarina charged the second, damaging it badly enough that Geldor could easily finish it. As they searched the nests, the put two and three together and surmised that one must still be about somewhere.
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Carefully now, expecting possible ambush, they moved into the next room and began searching, coming upon the third cockatrice. It proved easy prey for the well-prepared group and they also located the gems that had been hidden in the ruined room. Despite the fact that the door to Lareth’s chamber was locked, they easily penetrated this barrier and came upon the sight.
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Gedlor examined the remains to find that he had been slain by disease, not violence, though it meant nothing to him. As Sarina searched the walls and Talina, Albert and Silaqui stood guard, Geldor also came across the wand and slipped it into his pack, unnoticed by the rest of the party. The spider amulet caused some brief consternation when Talina saw it and recognized it, but Geldor snagged it before she could destroy it and slipped it into his pouch. It was only a few moments later that they followed the exit tunnel to emerge into the midday sun.
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Back in Hommlet, a visit to Y’dey confirmed the identity of the god the dark clerics worshipped (as Y’dey could easily identify the holy symbols). She also asked to be permitted to retain and study the journal. The party, by this time having gleaned all relevant information from it, agreed. It was then that Geldor got another of his patented ideas.
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Dressing in one of the cloaks of Lareth’s group, he went to see Jarro. Now, the party had been to see the druid on a previous occasion and, upon talking to his assistant, surmised that the druid must have come under the sway of the evil cult (which, as anyone familiar with the adventure knows, is true in a roundabout way). Disguised as a cleric of Tharizdun (he thought), he questioned “Jarro” about the cult and arranged a secret meeting a the mill at midnight.
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Unknown to Gedlor, originally the doppleganger had thought just to be rid of this troublesome intruder but a peek with ESP revealed that two allies were waiting outside for trouble. Instead, “Jaroo” played up his involvement in the cult and arranged for this newcomer to join. He happily acknowledged that he did indeed know of the cult and that he could set up a meeting. Geldor took the bait hook, line, and sinker and promptly told him that three of them would be at the mill that night at midnight.
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That night, after Geldor briefed the party on what he had learned, Silaqui and Talina waited in the nearby woods for signs of trouble, while Sarina, Geldor, and Albert, wearing the cloaks, posed as acolytes of Tharizdun seeking to join the cult. “Jaroo” met them at the mill and bade them enter. Silaqui and Talina moved to the windows for a better view.
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Once inside, the druid got them to speak aloud their intents, then brought up the lights to reveal a large number of townsfolk standing in the shadows. “You have heard them confess with their own voices, my friends and neighbors, of their involvement with an evil cult! I declare them traitors to Hommlet!” Before they could move, the guards were on them.
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Outside, Talina watched with growing concern. She had not been willing to go along with the plan because she feared that they might be getting in over their heads, but this was nothing like what she had suspected. In desperation, she broke out the window and tossed in a thunderstone. In the confusion, Albert, Sarina, and Geldor managed to wriggle free and escape, but it would seem that their welcome in Hommlet may be getting thin. Y’dey had told them of Nulb, several days away, and it is beginning to look like that may be their next stop.
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Unknown to them, “Jaroo” (who is, of course, a cult member) has dispatched a group to the moathouse and they are already in the process of covering their tracks, replacing the capstone in the pool room and evacuating anything of value that remains. This, sadly, leaves Ysslansh trapped below (which will drive him further into madness). Spugnoir, until recently trapped in a storeroom in the moathouse, has also returned to town and resumed his business, but not before noting (with some interest) that the dragon is gone.
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John Grigsby
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