My Gaming Journey: The Temple of Elemental Evil - Journal Entry #2

Greetings and salutations from the Pacific Northwestern U.S., everyone, Animeman73 here. It’s time for another journey into the world of Greyhawk and The Temple of Elemental Evil. In the last chapter we were introduced to Jerrod Northstar, a Paladin of the Heironeous. Jerrod told the tale of how the party came together as they travelled with Pilgrims and a Merchant Caravan to Mitrik in Veluna. In the course of the journey, he met Anya Kerros, a Red-haired ranger with secrets of her own, Karlan Sunseeker a cleric of Pelor, Viera Whitemane a Half-Elf rogue who stowed away, and finally Garvin Moonstar a Half-Elf Sorcerer and worshipper of Boccob on a mission to stop an ancient evil of unknown origin.

With the party assembled they reached their destination…were paid in full and celebrated. However, on their way to the temple of Heironeous they heard a scream from a dark alleyway.

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Author’s Note: I will be taking some creative leeway with the story just to add some depth to it.

And now, with that having been said let’s get this chapter of the story underway. Off to Greyhawk we go!

Anya Kerros, human ranger

My name is Anya Kerros, a human woman from woodlands in the north. Since the time I was young I had been trained by my father as a Ranger.  I’ve never been much for Gods let’s just say having met my fair share of sleazy preachers with my father I’ve developed a healthy skepticism for Gods. If there are Gods why don’t they keep their corrupt servants in line! During one adventure where I escorted a group of travelers through the woods I met and eventually married a Woodsman named Duggan Kerros, the man who would become my husband, at the time my maiden name was Sorin. We lived on the outskirts of the Northern Woods for several years, I even had a child with him, a boy, Markus.

Anya's home for several years with her husband..and son!

The cruel world of Greyhawk ended my happiness the day I came home from hunting to find the cabin destroyed My husband and son slaughtered! I eventually tracked down and killed the Murderous thieves…and then buried my husband and son in the soil. Without them and alone I left my homeland and travelled South. Then I came across a wagon of pilgrims and merchants on their way to Mitrik. 

The wagon train where Anya met Jerrod.

If there are Gods why didn’t they protect my husband and son? Then I met the paladin Jerrod Northstar, at first, I wanted to hate him because of his faith. But as I talked to him, I began to see that perhaps I had been too harsh on him. I still don’t understand his faith but I believed he was a good person. Karlan, and the Rogue Viera have proven much the same. Garvin Moonster being true Neutral has absolutely no reason whatsoever to lie to us.

Once we reached Mitrik we had our celebration, a good keg of ale is always good for the spirit I say. The Paladin chose milk. Drinking it seems is against Heironeous’ religion, oh well that means more for me! Once we had our meal, we left the local tavern and headed for the Heironeous temple to grab some bunks and see if we could gather some work. 

From an alleyway...destiny calls!

On our way…that’s when we heard the scream that changed our lives! Readying my Greatsword we ran into the alley where we heard the screams. We found a Murderous thief standing over the corpse of a dead woman. The thief tried to rush us clearly aware he’d been caught, was outnumbered, and as good as dead.

This nurderous thief thought hey could take the party out. Silly boy!

The fool dodged an attack from Viera’s crossbow. However, Karlan was absolutely furious and rushed in with his mace. One hard swing…and he broke that Murderous thief’s skull! We then went over to the body of the woman and found she was the Cannoness Y’Dey of St. Cuthbert from the village of Hommlet.

The village of Hommlet

When we arrived, I found Hommlet was a peaceful place. It reminded me a lot of the Northern woods before those bandits who murdered my husband and son came. But I digress. We headed up what looked like the main road of the town. And that’s when we ran into a poor half-drunken soul named Elmo. Overcoming the smell of drink on his breath we were able to discern that he was a man-at-arms looking for work. His only requirements were that he needed chain mail and a big axe and he’d take only a quarter of our loot we found.

A drunkard name Elmo wanted to join the party...um no thnaks!

One look at Jerrod and the others and I saw nonverbal agreement that this guy wasn’t someone who would fit with this group. While we told him no we did hear mention form him of an Otis his older brother who left with some guys to make his fortune. We did manage to get a number of directions from Otis about where the Church of St. Cuthbert was.

Elmo’s directions proved true and we soon found ourselves outside the church of St. Cuthbert, as uncomfortable as I am with going to churches and such, we did promise the late Cannoness Y’Dey we’d deliver word of her passing to the church. When we entered the building the first person, we met was a Priest of St. Cuthbert named Calmart.

Calmart, priest of St. Cuthbert will let you see his boss...for a donation to the poor box.

Jerrod explained that we needed to see the leader of this church Terjon I believe Elmo called him. Calmart however seemed rather adamant about contributing to the poor box. This is another reason I really don’t work well with religion. Then when Jerrod inquired about St. Cuthbert, who in my opinion is a little too lawful for my tastes, he found out that someone named Cavanaugh, who had recently converted to St. Cuthbert, had failed to pay his dues. Jerrod agreed to go talk with him. Great, more bloody work for the church…just dandy!

Then we went upstairs and we met Terjon the canon of the church, and ho boy, this guy looks to be as stuffy as any High priest of any church. Still, he was visibly distraught when we presented him the broach that had belonged to the canoness Y’Dey. It seems Terjon is from a much larger church elsewhere and misses his friends, which is understandable. Jerrod explained he was unable to resurrect her; such spells are beyond us currently.

Meet Terjon, High Priest of the church of St. Cuthbert in Hommlet.

However, when Terjon mentioned the frequent bandit attacks on Hommlet that peeked my interested. From what Terjon told us the re's a Moathouse that has been like magnet to bandits and evil over the years. Most recently it was used as an outpost for something called the Temple of Elemental Evil. Why does that name send chills up my spine? We then learned the Temple was supposedly destroyed in a war ten years ago. 

The Moathouse has always been amagnet for evil. The party will visit this palce later.

It was during that war, which Canon Terjon was involved in, that he lost something important to him. Specifically, it was a relic given to him by his late father when he first joined the St. Cuthbert priesthood. He lost it somewhere in a place where the final battle with the Temple of Elemental Evil took place, Emridy Meadows.

Do not even THINK of visiting Emridy Meadows until the party is at least Level 2!

I’d heard of that place when the group was in Mitrik, it’s supposed to become an evil place full of undead and other things since the time of a great battle, probably the final battle. Jerrod then learned that Terjon wanted more followers for the church of St. Cuthbert. He mentioned there was a leather worker in town who would make an excellent addition to the church of St. Cuthbert. I reiterate, great doing business for the church not my favorite thing in the world!

Once we headed down to the main level, we found a stair to the lower level there we met a serving maid named Myella, she needed to get some grain for flour from one of the local farmers named Mytch to get the problem solved.

Before you leave, after talking to Calmart and Terjon, Myella has a task for you.

So, we took it on. With that solved exited the church.

Heading down to the Inn we had passed earlier the Welcome Wench. Heading on in Jerrod walked over to a robust fellow named Ostler Gundigoot, the plan had been to pay for a room for 2 gold. However, the fellow served us up a way to get our room for free at any time. There was a fellow named Furnok who he believed was cheating at games of chance with the people who are just passing through. Viera turned on her Elf charms and talked to him. Turns up she has her own way with cards and dice. But she still managed to catch him in the act. We reported the cheating swine to Ostler…and true to his word gave a room for free to use at any time. I appreciate people who keep their word.

There was a fellow who tried to coax us into a drinking game, but Jerrod wasn’t having any of it. Paladins, sheesh!

the Welcome Wench has a cheating thief you can nail for free Lodging. Don't do the drinking game if you have a Paladin in the party!

Next up, we headed over to the home of the local tailor, a dwarf named Jinnerth. It seemed he had a problem. AS much as he enjoyed being a tailor, he wanted to be in the town militia. The one problem was…his size is an issue that is he’s too small. He’d wanted to talk to Renton, a local man who recruits for the militia, about this but had work he needed to get done. Jerrod decided we should volunteer to do so. This is actually something I can go for; this isn’t helping some church or noble. This is what I enjoy the best helping the people. We headed over to Renton’s place and found the elderly gentleman home. I have to admit Jerrod has quite the skill as a diplomat. He was able to talk Renton into agreeing to let Jinnearth join as the militia’s tailor. We went back and told Jinnearth about his new role. At first, he was horrified because he wasn’t sure how he’d recover his costs. However, 20 Gold pieces helped out. Yes, it cost us some gold but it was a small price to pay to help one of the people. That’s what being good is all about helping people.

Next up, we visited a local house near the Church…and I had to open up to the party about something. When I first met my husband a number of years ago, before the tragic events that occurred, I escorted him through the woods. With him, on that trip,  was another fellow an aspiring soldier named Jay who was seeking his fortune. Based on the fact from what I heard at the Inn he’s now called Black Jay something happened. I found the man outside looking over his sheep a sour expression on his face. “Oh, Jay, what’s happened to you, my old friend?”

Black jay's home, he'll be outside during the dya.

At first Jay was incredibly rude…until he saw me. Jay has always been gruff and rough around the edges but deep down the man has a big heart. The man swept me up in a hug and nearly sobbed his heart out. Jerrod then coaxed him to tell the story of what had happened. And that’s when we learned of the tragedy that struck when he got involved in a war. His entire unit was killed, save for him, a tragedy in and of itself. But things got worse, his wife and child were slaughtered by raiders. That explains why I never received anymore correspondence from him. Afterwards, I explained my own tragedy, and I think Jerrod and the others were moved by my tale as much as Jay was. My old friend then told me that he was having problems because his sheep were dying and he couldn’t figure out why. We decided to help him. It was the least I could do for my old friend. We went out into the fields…and found a strange plant growing there. We took it back to Jay. He’d never seen it before but believed Jaroo, a druid, and one of the spiritual leaders of Hommlet would. It took some time and asking a few guards for directions but we finally found the Druid’s place.

Take this plant nto Jaroo but be careful it's dangerous!

Jaroo, who worships Oaerth, one of the older Gods, was a pleasant enough fellow. I’ve met my fair share of Druids and I’ve always appreciated they’ve never tried to force their faith on me, probably why I like them so much. As it turned up the plant, we’d found was Hemlock, a particularly nasty poison. It was a surprise to Jaroo because he knew it didn’t grow around here, and if it did, he would’ve taken care to see that it doesn’t spread. Druids are very meticulous when it comes to keeping things in balance.

Jaroo, Druid of the Old Faith. Someone important to be friends with.

With this information we returned to Jay, though I suspect this won’t be the last time we visit the Druid. We talked to Jay and my old friend was absolutely furious! Someone trying to poison his sheep. We waited in his home until evening and then went out. Who of all people did we find in the fields but the Teamaster’s son! Based on his surprise and fear it was evident who had been planting the Hemlock. Jerrod tried to get him to talk but he refused. He kept mentioning that if he said anything, they’d kill his parents. It would seem that there’s some intrigue in town afoot that we didn’t know about. Afterwards Jerrod told him to go home and not come back.

We returned to the Inn and slept to the next day. Then we went out and back up to the cliff ledge just across from Black Jay’s home as on our way to the church, I had noticed what looked like footprints. As it turned up my previous observation was right on, they turned up to be tracks of a goblin. We followed the tracks and found the nasty little bugger wielding a light mace and looking like he wouldn’t give me up his treasures without a fight. 

Outnumbered and outmmatched the little creaton refused to give up his ill-gotten gain!

So, I rushed forward and cleaved the nasty little thing apart with a swing of my Greatsword! Then we found a ring on him, and found…the name on it was the name of Jay’s deceased wife. We immediately returned the ring top him. Let’s just say seeing the stunned, and relieved look on Jay’s face was reward enough. But Jay insisted on taking something for our trouble. We chose the Boots of Elvenkind. Viera immediately donned the boots because Moving silently is important for a rogue.

Boots of Elvenkind, magical boots of stealth from the Elves, perfect for a sneaky rogue.

The next task was a bit hairier. While wandering around the village we heard that the Woodcutter, Tarim, was having some problems. In Hommlet word seems to get around the small village fast. We went to Tarim and inquired about his problem. My late husband was a Woodcutter and they are of the people so this was one quest I didn’t mind doing. As it turned up the man was having some issues. Nearby was a wood full of Delko trees. Being a ranger, I know about various types of trees and I know Delko wood is very strong and very sought after my Woodcutters. The problem was the Delko woods near Tarim and the village were infested with giant spiders. Ugh, I hate spiders!

Ew, Giant Spiders in Delko Grove! Time for some pest control!

I’ve seen a few of the giant variety and they are just disgusting creatures! Such creatures could potentially pose a hazard to Hommlet so we took up his quest. We went to the Delko woods. Yikes it didn’t take us long to find those nasty spiders because they came at us hungry! I don’t know how we did it but we managed to get out of that fight with a victory and not get poisoned, something of a relief. We headed back to town and told Tarim the news, and the excited look on his face spoke volumes.

We’re heading back to the Welcome Wench for the night to get some rest.

Back to the Welcome Wench for some rest and preparations for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we begin the Church of St. Cuthbert’s quests the sooner these things are done the better. Though I have sinking feeling this adventure has only just begun!

Well, there you have it, folks, there’s Journal Entry #2 of My Gaming Journey: The Temple of Elemental Evil. I hope you found this tale entertaining. The P.O.V. next time shits to Karlan Sunseeker Cleric of Pelor. I’ll see you then. Meanwhile please feel free to like, remind this on to your Minds timeline, or share this on Facebook and Twitter. Also, if you’re just reading this please feel free to subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already done so. Also feel free to follow me on Gab. I’ll leave links at the bottom.

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Until next time I’m Animeman73 saying stay true to yourselves, stay classy, and God bless you all.

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