Return to the Temple of the Snake God

Party at the start:
Mace Blackstar (Mike D.; Human Fighter)
Wilbered The Silent (Bob S; Human Cleric)
Castor Bean (NPC; Human Bard)
Trygvie (NPC; Elven Wizard)
Kane (Al G.; Human Monk)
Zuran (NPC; Human Fighter)

It was noon and the players stood outside the stockade of the frogmen, having defeated Cirdis and the frogmen, last session.  They wished to return to the Temple of the Snake God, where Castor, the Bard, had removed two gems from the eyes of a statue.  The ghost of Alaric the Brave, whom they had met in the burial vaults of Asthar Rho earlier, had informed them that in order to rid Castor of the curse that was slowly killing him, the gems had to be returned to the Temple of the Snake God.  Unfortunately, they had a long journey across the Valley of Asthar Rho in order to reach the Temple and the fight with the frogmen had drained most of their spells and healing.  They wondered if resting in the stockade formerly occupied by the frogmen might not be a good idea.

The stockade itself was about 10 feet tall and built of logs with sharpened ends planted in the marshy soil.  There was a gate which was apparently for the convenience of non-frogmen -- the frogmen simply leapt over the fence.  The fence surrounded a low grassy mound topped by a small wooden watch tower.  As the players explored the compound they found three muddy cave-like holes leading into the mound --- the presumed lair of the frogmen.  This made the prospect of resting in the fort much less attractive since they had no idea who (or what) might lurk in the tunnels under the mound.  All of the frogmen save one had been killed --- a single frogman had fled the battle and leapt into one of the tunnels despite their best efforts.  After brief discussion, Kane and Trygvie decided to explore,  and, with the elf in front, entered one of the small and muddy tunnels.

After passing through the cave mouth, Trygvie fell into a concealed pit filled with mud and punji stakes.  Kane reached in and dragged the elf's body out of the pit --- the elf was unconscious and barely breathing, bleeding from many wounds.  Wilbered brought him back to life with his Wand of Healing and Trygvie was glad to be alive but upset that his snappy clothing was torn and punctured by the punji stakes and stained by blood and mud.  Trygvie's negative experience soured the group on the idea of resting in the stockade or exploring the tunnels beneath the mound further.`

The players had decided to abandon the fort and followed the trail south, passing through swampy reeds and scrub until encountering a road that ran east into the crumbled walls and broken pillars that made up the ruined city.  Another road took them south to a wider east-west avenue lined with crumbling pillars and piles of ruined masonry.  Suddenly  with little "phhhhht" sounds some tiny wooden missiles were fired from the ruins at the party, but most either missed or splintered on Mace's breastplate and shield.  Quick as a flash, the players dove into the cover provided by shrubs and broken walls by the side of the road, surprising the ambush party that was waiting there for them.  These wretched creatures appeared to have the worst features of most humanoid races -- flat, orc-like faces, large brows, sunken eyes, etc.  They were dressed in ragged clothes, scraps of leather and armed with various cast off weapons.  The creatures were no match for the party in a stand-up fight -- after half of them had been cut down, the rest fled.  The wretched crossbreeds had only a few silver coins, some blow tube guns and darts and old and rusty weapons.  The party elected to press on along the road, heading east, rather than seeking to pursue the mongrel attackers.

The party were still following the crude sketch map and notes of the valley that they had obtained from Cirdis.  The map showed a large volcano in the center of the valley.  Previously they had circled around the North side of the volcano and had a run in with a large tribe of bugbears.  Although a location ominously named "The House of the Master" was marked as being along their route if they passed along the south side of the volcano, the players felt that a single location would be easier to avoid than a tribe of bugbears and thus they chose the southern route.

After several more uneventful hours of travel, the adventurers felt tired and decided it was perhaps time to rest for the night.  They found a grove of tall trees with thick brush and thorn bushes and considered resting there, but changed their mind.  Instead, they chose one of the more intact-looking ruins --- which still had three standing stone walls, a doorway which provided a decent defensive position and a fourth broken wall, and made camp for the night.  After a nights rest, their spells were replenished and Wilbered cast his Cure Light Wounds spell multiple times.  Since the party was still pretty beaten up, they elected to rest another night.  During the course of this resting, the Bard suffered the further effects of his curse (lost another two points of CON).

Everything was relatively quiet for most of the second night.  Near dawn, Mace and Zuran heard high pitched and whispery voices.  Peering out of their improvised fort, they saw three small humanoids moving towards their bunker.  Zuran crept back to warn the others to arm whemselves while Mace waited in hiding.  As soon as the creatures drew closer, Mace saw that they were small and furry creatures of a very simian appearance; doubtless the same species of "monkeymen" that had attacked them in the tunnels earlier.  Mace leapt forward and cut down the three monkey men in fairly short order; at the same time, other groups of monkey men began swarming over the walls of their improvised shelter.

The fight was fast and furious and the monkeymen were soon fleeing, leaving their dead behind.  Trygvie had taken out a swarm of the creatures with his Sleep spell, Wilbered had squashed several with his mace and Mace Blackstar and Zuran cut down others with their swords.  Rather than allow the surviving monkeymen to return with greater numbers, the players elected to press on to their destination.

A few hours later, the characters sighted what was probably "The House of the Master" in the distance.  It was a large stone walled compound with gates guarded by pairs of pagoda-like towers.  The tops of trees and bushes as well as the shingled roof of a high gabled house could be seen peeking over the wall.   The characters decided to give the house a wide berth and proceeded on to The Temple of the Snake God.

The temple doors were closed and the area around it rather quiet.  There was a hole in one of the walls and the players sent in Hootie, Trygvie's owl familiar, to "check things out" while they waited outside.  Hootie flew over to the temple, landed, and walked in through the hole.  After a short interlude, Hootie returned.  He stated that the statue and two stone braziers were still in place in the temple and that the braziers were lit.  Other than some sticks scattered on the floor at the enterance and near the opening that Hootie had entered through, he saw nothing else.  The party elected to try a full frontal assault.  They formed up their ranks and threw open the front doors, bravely striding into the temple with weapons drawn.  Suddenly they heard chanting of some kind from the gloom in the back of the temple --- a huge snake, with human arms and a human head slithered out from behind the right hand pillar, waving his arms and chanting the magical words and phrases of a spell.  Another giant snake, this one with the torso and arms of a man and the head of a huge snake, slithered out from behind one of the pillars, withdrew an arrow from the quiver strapped on his back, licked the point and then shot it at Mace.   The spell took effect and the sticks beneath their feet turned to snakes which coiled up and bit at them.  The arrow pierced Mace's armor but he was able to resist the poisoned spittle the snake man had applied to the arrow -- thus suffering only a flesh wound.

Mace charged forward and engaged the snake-headed snake man while the monk engaged the human headed snake man.  Trygvie snatched a flask of acid from his belt pouch and smashed it upon the floor where the snakes were wriggling.  The Snake man spell caster and Wilbered exchanged spells -- Wilbered casting a silence spell which the snake man managed to slither out of -- the snake man attempted a polymorph spell on Mace, but Mace resisted the spell.  Wilbered cast Spiritual Hammer on the Snakeman spell caster; the Snakeman spellcaster cast a Fear spell of some kind on Wilbered and the stalwart cleric of Cuthbert screamed like a schoolgirl and ran for the hills.  The Snakeman who had engaged Mace cut at him mightily with a curved scimitar; Mace, in turn, cut all the way through the Snakeman's neck with a single blow, decapitating and killing the monster instantly.

With magic missiles, hurled missiles and physical attacks, the party finally backed the human headed snakeman into a corner and killed it as well.  With a sigh of relief, Castor the Bard scuttled up to the statue an replaced the gemstone eyes in their sockets.  It is presumed, if the information obtained from Alaric the Brave's ghost was accurate, that this would end the curse that was slowly killing the bard.  Only a night's rest would determine this for certain.

The adventure ended here.

character/player:	class/level:	XP at start:	Base XP award:	bonus:	XP at end:
Mace (Mike D.)	human FTR 7th	79,208	1158	116	80,482
Wilbered (npc)	human CL 6th	53,409	579	58	54,046
Castor (NPC)	human Bard 6th	29,713	579		30,292
Trygvie (NPC)	Elven MU 6th	51.294	579	58	51,931
Kane (Al G.)	Human Monk 5th	44,121	1158		45,279
Zuran (NPC)	Human Fighter 3rd	6,598	579		7,177