We started, surrounded by enemies. Between the Vrocks, the tower and the cliffs to either side, there was nowhere to maneuver. The Vrocks had two at will AOEs, (stun and poison) that kept recharging. We started slugging. Unfortunately, the mages took the brunt of the damage. Esmeralda could take it but Patrina could not. She went down before her turn came up. But we had Ezra back. Not only did he do a ton of damage to these fiends with his Holy Avenger smites, but gave people bonuses to their saves as well. Other than Patrina, we did okay. At the end, the NPC cast a Time Stop spell. (9th?) She ran to the top of the tower, cast a Disintegrate against which it saved and some other high-level spell. All on the same turn. It was over soon after that. We chose to try for a long rest rather than take a short rest. But Irena did bandaging, several did Prayer of Healing and Ezra did Lay on Hands just in case we got attacked again. We did not and continued on our way the next morning.
The Amber Temple was impressive. There were massive steps (10 foot high) leading down into it which we navigated without issue. Loki spotted some arrow slits up high but they were not manned. This place seemed empty as a tomb. The first room had more stairs going down plus a closed door to the left and an opened door to the right. Esmeralda’s research told us that the Sun Sword was purportedly dropped off the main path near the entrance. We figured that ought to be the open door way. Loki snuck in and found a hole in the floor. It appeared to have been blasted although there was no debris. Patrina sent her manifest mind down the hole and ran into 5-6 Flaming Skulls. Initiative. Initially, Brian put them all into the room but it was argued successfully that they ought to move on their initiative. The first came up and fired a Fireball with its free action. That got most everyone. The DC was low so all saved but even half of 30 was nothing to sneeze at. (Although some Evaded it.) It then used its eye beams on Loki who was the closest.
Patrina went next and decided to launch a (radiant) Fireball down the hole. She tried to target it such that it wouldn’t get Loki or the one Skull but given the size of the room below, Brian ruled that the spill over would get them anyway. Just before she fired, Brian said her manifest mind saw 3-4 sarcophaguses in the room as well. But she cast it anyway. We heard a boom, the floor shook, we heard a crack and saw red mist rising through the hole. Esmeralda started yelling about telling us there were evil demi-god in here and we needed to be more careful. We were worried although it turns out only one had cracked open. More Skulls came up and cast a couple more Fireballs. Loki saved against all but was hit by all and was nearly out. We blasted the Skulls. Baron Q bravely ran in and cast his Gust of Wind spell. That pushed the mist down but he could tell it was fighting against him. Esmeralda waited for Patrina’s mind to determine the sword was not in the room below and then cast a Stone Wall to seal the hole. The last Skull was crushed and it was over. After 10 minutes of concentration, the wall became permanent during which some healing was done.
A bit shaken, we pressed on. We opened a door into an empty room. Then down a hall to the north and through a door on the right. That was some sort of evil chapel great hall. There was nothing obvious in there and since the door was shut, we left it alone. At the end of the hall was a half-destroyed room with an amber statue (golem) in it. It turned its head and we rolled initiative again. We blasted away although its AC was higher than most foes. This time, Ezra was rocked with a crit. It also had a Slow AOE power but only Kharn missed that save. It moved through the door and started down the hall. Ezra used up a lot of his smites and we whittled it down. Loki finished it off with a crit. It exploded for minor damage as a parting shot. Thankfully, no demi God demon emerged from it however no Sun Swords did either. We stopped there. I think we’re already deeper into this Temple than we hoped. The stakes feel higher and higher.
