As we rejoined our heroes, they were at the anteroom to a great dungeon, where we discovered two large statues: one to the Serpent King (whose minions we'd battled before) and one to the Eagle King (who we assume is good). Having battled a crew of bugbears, we secured the area and spent some time working out, studying arcana and contemplating the meaning of the gods....all in the pursuit of leveling up, which we did. During this time, we also examined our immediate surroundings...eventually figuring out that this temple was actually dedicated to Unga-unga...a great neutral god who appears to have been trying to mediate between the Eagle and the Snake gods. As we were all in deep contemplation, Toobelcain developed romantic feelings for Chloroxina that he masqueraded behind an aura of hostility and paranoia. Guy asked, "Are you sure you've never been married before?'
When we all felt sufficiently elevated enough to proceed, our clerical duo of Hugo and Chloroxina practiced the divine art of augury in order to determine our best path in to the temple...should we go left...or right...does death face us left....or right....will we find riches left...or right....Hugo was getting such a headache trying to formulate just the right question..."Ach...dis is so confusink"...so we went left....The first room we enter is barren, except for a massive door in the far side...a veritable bank vault...Fingar realizes that even if he had memorized Knock it would have been worthless...the party sighs collectively...that detached voice we keep hearing in our heads cackles..."This lock will be a b---- to open. This will take you a long time...sooooooooo long....you will....."...Don Pacheco cracked his knuckles...rubbed a little sandpaper across his finger tips...Click...it opened...so much for high priced locks!!!
We ventured into the depths of the dungeon...Hugo muttering all the way..."This is soooo 1.0...."....Of course we came to a door...tried it...it opened...and we were attacked...two air elementals had been trapped in the room for eons...they immediately launched slamming attacks...we fought back valiantly...or at least some of us did...our party took this opportunity to hotly debate just leaving them behind or finishing them off...wisely splitting into two groups, one team finished off the elementals while the other group investigated ahead....in a cruel twist of fate, Chloroxina missed searching the air elementals chamber which was purported to be the "cleanest room in the dungeon"...moving ahead, she did manage to find a small lab containing potions of cure critical wounds and gaseous form, a scroll of wind walk, and a 1,000 GP gem.
We next happened upon a great mural room....completely fascinating, it seemed to show the badlands as a lush and vibrant countryside....rivers, streams, bountiful crops...truly a land of milk and honey...what could have happened to make it the waste land that it is today???? Part of the cause seemed to appear in the mural itself...Unga-unga appeared to be trying to warn the Eagle and the Serpent Kings of a pending threat from Blue Dragons....Fingar...feeling the tug of his earlier dabbling in the wilderness arts, wondered if there was some way we could restore this land to its previous state....the more mercenary amongst the group contemplated the mural as well....how could we chop it up and get it out of here...and how much cold hard cash would it fetch...pondering those weighty issues...we pressed on....then, WHAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.....a solid iron slab dropped behind us...cutting off our return...even young Hugo could not batter down the wall...
Faced with no other option, we moved on, happening upon a room filled with odd statues…adventurers…town folk…people of all sorts appeared to be represented…so lifelike in appearance, one had to wonder who the artist was…such realistic portrayals…and then we found it…a cockatrice 
suddenly burst upon us…threatening to turn Tooblecane into a Rodin exhibit…fortunately we rallies quickly and turned it into chicken fricassee…
Moving on, we arrived at a room containing a statue of the Eagle King...telepathically he seemed to speak to us...."Fear not...I must test you...."....a genie appeared....swinging a massive scimitar, he challenged us to a test of combat….quickly we all moved into action…sweeping left and right, we quickly flanked him…allowing Don Pacheco to make use of his awesome sneak attack capabilities… Chloroxina using her signature move, when invisible to launch surprise attacks…Tooblecane skirmished for added advantage….and Fingar, once again throwing his familiar in harm’s way (hey, that genie already used his attack of opportunity) had Haawken deliver a shocking grasp attack…in short order, the party reduced the genie to a fraction of its health…acknowledging the strength of our group…it disappeared before we could deliver the final blows…finding a small alcove, we took the opportunity to rest and refresh our spells under a statue of a mighty hound archon…for we sensed another major battle ahead…and we were right….
No sooner did we move off the next morning, but we were faced with another test from the Eagle King…a real hound archon appeared before us…projecting an aura of menace, he challenged the will of any that came close to him…his blows to our morale were countered by the blessings of our clerics…wielding a mighty great sword, he dealt severe damage to the party…massive blows to Hrolf and Tooblecane…we hurled spell after spell at him, but were only partially successful due to his strong magic resistance…finally it was young Hugo…fully powered…enlarged…with ridiculous pluses of 16 to hit…in a Conan-like charge….rolls a 9….Don Pacheco quickly does the math…”that’s 25”…”Bah, nein…das is not!....it’s 9 +16….dats….25!”… ”I hit and I do 2d6 +22”….[DM: No way…you’re cheating]…yes way…Hugo then proceeds to rip through an impressive calculation….oops, it’s 2d6 +20 [DM: self satisfactorily…see, I knew you were cheating…]….no matter….even with a roll of 7, Hugo blows the hound archon away…claming his +1 Great Sword as bounty….
And so another adventure drew to a close…we believe we are almost through the Eagle King side of the temple…it appears in the end that our augury did send us the right way…down the side of good rather than evil (though we still have to clear the side of evil anyway)…the mural presents the most intriguing mystery…how did such desolation befall the badlands?…what became of the Eagle and Serpent Kings?...what if anything can we do to restore it to bounty?…will the Red Sox hold on to their lead for first place?
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