The Coopers encounter their first Prophet

Pharast 21, 4713, part 2

As the distant chorus resumes its dreadful hymn, the Coopers continue their exploration of the Howling Hatred Temple. Turning a corner, they see the swiftly flowing river on their left a water fall dropping beyond view, with a roar almost covering the hymn. The path continues and meets two stone doors on the east side.

Dhukhean checks the stone doors for any dwarven markings, and he finds an antique dwarven script that indicates this room to be the great hall. Thorne steps to one of the door, oils the central pole, and quietly pushes it open. The great hall's ceiling is over twenty feet tall, and is supported by large stone pillars on both side. In the middle is a central pit from which blows a hurricane-force wind, moving upwards and disappearing in a similarly-sized opening in the ceiling. On the other side of the pit stand seven humans wearing Howling Hatred vestments. Four of them are cloaked in a light blue cape and wear feather masks covering most of their faces.

Howling Hatred Hurricanes

Two more individuals wear armor and stand behind the central figure, clearly a Howling Hatred priest. He faces the wind blowing from the pit, and thought the roars of the wind are so loud nothing else can be heard, he is clearly conducting some sort of religious service. Behind them are two stately stair cases, which climb past the great hall's ceiling.

Howling Hatred Priest

Thorne enters the room and stealthily hides behind a pillar. Daryle follows him and takes point on the other side, followed by Ruddy. Dhukhean assumes the rear but remains outside. Naga, Earl and Darelle, for their part, noticed the double stone doors behind the cultists on the other side of the great hall and decide to circle back on the path and take the enemy by surprise.

Ruddy shoots an arrow, hitting one of the initiates, quickly followed by Daryle. Thorne maneuvers himself and stabs another one of the initiates. Alerted to their presence, the cultists assume a combat position. Two of the initiates charge Thorne, while one of the Hurricanes casts a spell and creates a wall of force separating the room in two. The priest moves towards Thorne and casts hold person, paralyzing the rogue. The remaining cultists assume a fighting position next to the wall of force, ready to strike when the wall collapses.

Seeing this turn of events, Dhukhean opens the door with a flourish, hoping to attract the cult's attention, and walks to the wall of force, hitting it as hard as he can. It doesn't make a dent. Concentrating, the dwarf swings again, and this time he notices some of the magical energy is dissipated and the wall wobbles a bit. Encouraged, the dwarf continues to hit it, while the initiates on the other side make rude gestures at him strongly implying that his mother was nothing more than a lilly-livered slate-carving dung-eating pebble. In the back, both Hurricanes have been performing arcane motions, but Dhukhean is not able to decipher their meaning.

Sensing the futility of attempting to penetrate the wall, Daryle and Ruddy decide to follow the other group and round the great hall, use the back entrance and surprise the priest and his acolytes. They exit the great hall and turn right, heading north.

In the great hall, Thorne is roughly grabbed by two initiates, and he is carried up the stairs, followed by the priest. The two Hurricanes move back, then as Dhukhean strikes the wall of force one more time, it shatters on impact. The dwarf barely has time to enjoy his success, however, before he is engulfed in two delayed blast fireballs and one fireball, all cast at the center of the room. A well-toasted Dhukhean, his beard singed, falls to the floor, unconscious.

Meanwhile, even before the confrontation in the great hall begun, Naga, Earl and Darelle traversed the bridge and headed east, rounding the corner and seeing the east doors of the great hall. Unfortunately, sitting on top of a pillar bridge stood a large purple wyvern and its rider, clad in metal garb. Darelle sends a tree token to inform her sister Daryle they are being attacked by a wyvern and therefore will be delayed.  

Naga is the first to react, and he casts phantasmal killer at the rider and the wyvern. The fear is too much for the rider, who falls to his death in the lake. The wyvern, however is unaffected and immediately swoops down from the pillar, striking the tiefling. Earl the monk, almost as if he was someone completely different during this encounter, suddenly lose his monk abilities and acquires sorcerous powers. He casts black tentacles on the wyvern, which gets entangled, while Darelle summons a griffon that attacks the wyvern, and launches her own strikes against it. The lizard manages to free itself, and the combat continues. Naga is thrown in the fast-moving waters, but flies out and lands on the path again, only to be struck by the wyvern. Earl becomes invisible, casts form of the dragon II on himself, and attacks the wyvern. Turning away from the tiefling, the wyvern strikes at Earl's dragon form, and the two become entangled. A few good hits finally finish the wyvern off, and it falls on the bridge. Naga emerges from his rage and drops to the floor, too winded to do much of anything else.

Emerging from the great hall, Daryle receives her sister's message. Turning the corner, she and Ruddy run into a patrol of two initiates, a Howling Hatred priest, and one of the bird men. They were already on the move, attracted by the sounds of battle on the other bridge. They instead divert their attention to the ranger and the gnome.

Howling Hatred Featherbeaks

Ruddy and Daryle fire their weapons and manage to knock the two acolytes into the river, and they are soon swallowed by the water fall. The Howling Hatred priest and the featherbeak, however, are not so easily dealt with. The priest casts plague storm but it has no effect on the gnome and the ranger, while the featherbeak charges the two of them. Violent combat continues for a few minutes, but eventually the Coopers are triumphant. Daryle loots the priest's body, while Ruddy searches the dead featherbeak. This accomplished, they pursue the path around the outside of the great hall. Daryle turns the corner and proudly holds up the priest's feather mask, only to see the dead wyren draped over the bridge, and her friends taking a well-deserved rest.

While most of the Coopers recover by the great hall, Thorne is carried to a large room. The floor of this room features an extensive map of the Sumber Hills, showing the location of Tyar-Besil as well as several other cities within the dwarven kingdom of Belsimer. Sitting on a marble throne at the end of the chamber is a beautiful winged elf maiden, holding a elegantly crafted spear in her right hand. The initiates slap heavy magical irons on the rogue's hands and legs, binding them. Releasing the hold person spell, she welcomes Thorne by name, and thanks him for bringing her the dwarf. She informs the rogue she sees great potential in a profitable relationship between him and her. Thorne thanks her, and inquires what that might be. She tells she she will show him. First, she asks her Howling Hatred Priest to secure Dhukhean. The priest walks over, and drops a small blue fluorite of slumber on the dwarf's chest. The initiates pick up the dwarf with difficulty, while the Hurricane guides the rogue down the stairs, into the pit where the wind has inexplicably changed directions, and through a system of caves.

Aerisi Kalinoth, Prophet of Elemental Air

Thus, a chained Thorne and an unconscious Dhukhean are brought to the altar of the Howling Hatred caves. While still in his bindings Thorne is chained to the floor about 30 feet away from the altar, while Dhukhean is laid on top of the altar. As Aerisi walks away, she whispers to the rogue that his contribution to the success of the Howling Hatred will be to assist her in opening the portal to release Yan-C-Bin from his elemental prison ...