Session 29: The Sunken Temple of Yuan Report

General Summary

The party gets ready to head into the treasure room of Black Dog when Rothgar suddenly appears in a flash of light in the middle of the party. His glorious mustache in full view. Having come back to the party in astral form to help them in there time of need.   The party has Green Pate to unlock the large iron door. He has a bit of trouble but manages to open it. The party opens the old door and beyond a large specter who referred to himself as Black Dog apparats. He warns to the party to leave or he will attack. Diala tries to ask him multiple questions so he ends up attacking the party. Rothgar quickly channels turn undead and causes Black Dog to flee. The party quickly and brutally destroy the undead specter. They begin to loot his treasure room finding a very large amount of coins, jewels, jewelry, gear, and potions. Despite the trapped chests they are able to disarm them all without incident.   The party gathers back into the rowboat and heads back south on the water channel they had come down and decide to explore the small channel to their left. Beyond is another quick moving current that pulls them into the area beyond, however Ganbold manages to keep the boat under control. Here they find a boarded up passage that warns of "Danger! Keep Out!" Removing this barrier they come face to face with a large jade door depicting serpents. The party decides to spend a short rest taking a quick breather. While Diala spends the time deciphering the Vallossan writing on the door. She discovers that one must prove their courage by placing their hand within the serpent's mouth and they will be able to open the door. As she does so she finds the serpent's mouth closing on her arm. However being a successful wizard trained in the arts she realizes it is just an illusion. Once she realizes this she no longer feels the pain of the mouth closing and opens the door.   The party moves inside the temple leaving Green Pate with Diala's Owl. The party moves towards the staircase once they decide that they should return to this room after they have found the statue to clean it. As someone has defaced the room with red ink. The words repeat over and over saying "Yuan will abandon us!"   The stairs before them lead into dark murky water. Jorin volunteers to scout ahead given his underwater capabilities. He finds a circular room fill with water beyond another set of stairs with a light coming from it, as he checks out the light source he finds the water is defying gravity and is not spilling into the chamber below. He checks the rest of the room and heads to the statue where he notices an amulet with a snake head. He takes it thinking it could be valuable but is immediately attacked by an undead creature who was invisible in the water.   Jorin slips away and returns to the rest of the party, they take a defensive stance around the stairs but realize the undead is not following Jorin. The party heads back underwater to confront the creature. Fighting the Deathlock, Diala knows it as is tough given the underwater environment they find themselves in. But they are quickly successful. The party quickly moves to the light source on the stairs not wanting to hold their breath for much longer. As they come out of the stairs they find another Deathlock making gestures towards a jade bowl on an altar. He doesn't notice the party but as they attempt to sneak past him they make a bit of noise and manage to start it. It appears to be friendly still having it's original mind intact. He offers the party the Jade Serpent, the relic they seek if they can help him complete his ritual that will end the undead nature that effects his people and allow them to return to Yuan's fold. They party must collect 4 items scattered within the temple. First one the amulet of the snake. Which they had found earlier. Second the scales of the serpent. 3rd fangs of the serpent. And lastly the venom of the serpent. Once they bring back these relics they can conduct the ritual.   With a lot of raised eyebrows, un-trust, and unease the party takes the quest for now. As they head down to the next level they are found in a hallway with multiple doors. Choosing the first one ahead of them they open it to discover what might have been an infirmary at one time. Two deathlocks await them demanding they kill them and release them of their suffering. In exchange they will give what info they know of the relics the party seeks. With a direct promise to end their lives immediately they tell the party, Vrosh the warrior priest holds the Scales of the Serpent, the armor makes him invulnerable to all attacks magical and mundane except for a single weakness that is a discolored scale under the right breast. As well as the Avatar of Yuan is a giant serpent located in the lowest levels of the temple, he holds the fangs of the serpent and lives within the great pit used for holy sacrifice.   Now armed with this info Diala kills both Deathlocks and the party moves onto the next room across the hall. Here they discover what might have been a gymnasium of sorts. Here stands a Deathlock wearing green scale mail wielding a spear. The party realizes this is the deathlock that holds the scales of the serpent. They have some trouble making it through his armor however they quickly defeat him. His body crumbles to dust on the killing blow leaving nothing but the armor, as well as the spear. The party gathers their gains and continue their exploration of the temple. The next room they try is shown to be an incense room. Inside an unlit brazier that they decide to light, nothing happening as they do so. Checking the shelves they find a couple odd candles within a urn.   The party continues on and takes a left at a t intersection. The room beyond is a bit more dangerous given four deathlocks lurk within. Four deathlocks that don't seem interested in talking. They prove to be quite adept at dispelling magical buffs on the party, however they prove to be not to difficult and the party defeats them in short order. The party gathers and takes a moment to collect themselves. It is quite possible they have only scratched the surface of this temple beneath the waves...