3rd Day of Flocktime, CY 579 (continued)

It is the morning of the 3rd Day of Flocktime, CY 579. The party has just driven off or slain most of the inhabitants of the Greater Temple of Elemental Evil, including Hedrack, when, into the middle of the temple appears The Old One himself, Iuz - in the flesh.

Iuz scans the room and begins to probe everyone's mind, searching their darkest, innermost secrets. To the great warrior, Pontus, Iuz proclaims that his lost god will return soon. To Sarril the cleric, he casts doubt about the legitimacy of the one he prays to every day. But for Athan, the skull-bearer, he took particular interest. Athan quickly burned a Scroll of Protection from Magic to protect himself from whatever the demi-god might throw at him. But Iuz did not attack. He simply commanded Athan to hand over the skull. The compulsion was so strong that Athan could not resist, but when he tried to comply with the command, he found that it conflicted with an equally powerful, but opposite command from another. The conflict overwhelmed Athan's mind, causing him to lose consciousness. But the circle of protection remained where he fell.

(DM's note: The command from Iuz for Athan to hand over skull was in direct conflict with Zuggtmoy's command for Athan to bring the skull to her. Both commands were of equal power, which caused the suggestion spells enthralling Athan into Zuggtmoy's service to finally be broken.)

Pontus picked up the dead body of Hedrack and ran to stand over his friend to protect him. Moving into the circle caused all of Hedrack's magic items to be nullified, and most of Pontus' as well (DM's note: I realized later that I misinterpreted the spell, and the Protection Circle is supposed to be broken after the first magic item is nullified, but this one nullified dozens). Breaking free of the web, Luapan also ran over to intervene, as did Delvin and Sarril. Iuz then cast Dispel Magic on the circle, reached down and grabbed the pouch that contained Gareth's finger. Delvin tried to stop it but couldn't get his spell to penetrate Iuz' magic resistance. Iuz' next move was to take the skull, but before he could act, Sarril burned a scroll of the 8th level magic user spell "Otto's Irresistible Dance." Through sheer luck of the dice, he managed to penetrate the demi-god's magic resistance, and the spell worked! Iuz the Old, Lord of Deceit and Pain, began to dance a jig. That was the cue to everyone left in the room to run like hell! Pontus grabbed Jarrus' body and everyone ran down the hall, being chased by the remaining trolls.

Halfway down the hall was a Wall of Force, behind which were ogres, bugbears, another giant, ettin and a half-orc. One of the magic users was able to dispel the wall of force. Athan brandished the skull, sending the bugbears and half-orc fleeing (and losing another point of charisma). The party fought the remaining enemies, through physical combat and a holy rain of fire. The victory was short lived, however, as the spell keeping Iuz at bay wore off, and he began in anger to slay party members left and right, taking out Delvin and Luapan. Just as Sarril and Pontus were about to meet their doom, there was a clap of thunder and a loud voice shouting "Iuz! Stop!"

St. Cuthbert

In the middle of the hallway appeared St. Cuthbert himself, in his gleaming plate mail, brandishing his famous cudgel. After a brief dialogue between the two gods, they disappeared together in a puff of smoke. All of the dead party members were raised from the dead and fully healed, but so too was Hedrack raised from the dead and the other dead enemies were animated as monster zombies. Luapan immediately turned the monster zombies, who ran down the side hallways and disappeared. Hedrack, all of his magical armor and items destroyed by the Magic Protection Circle, could not withstand an assault from Jarrus, who managed to exact his revenge on the evil priest, slaying him with extreme prejudice.

Pontus began messing around with the purple curtain behind the altar, which was actually a wall of Violet Fungi, whose tentacles infect their victims with rot that destroys limbs or kills their victims in a single round, unless a cure disease is cast. Lucky for Pontus, Delvin was able to cast Cure Disease immediately, saving him from permanent disablement or death. The party decided to use the massive amount of flaming oil they found earlier to set the curtain on fire, easily killing the fungi and revealing the room beyond.

This ended the session as we moved on to watching the Super Bowl.