Tomwell's Diary

15th Deecambor, Year 1297
Last night, the most miraculous thing happened. As I was about halfway from Thunder Lake to Seven Pillared Hall, and looking for a good place to camp, I spotted some smoke rising from behind some rocks, down in a deep ravine. Carefully, I made my way down, curious as to see what kind of creature would brave the dead of winter, traveling in such a desolate place. As it turns out, nothing could have prepared me for what I would find.


The traveler was not human, nor elf, nor dwarf. She was a dark elf - drow, and she saw and heard me coming a mile away. Once I got to the camp, after digging my way through 4 feet of snow, it did not take her long to surprise and overpower me.


Much to my surprise, she spared my life. Gre'as'antoI, she said - Peace. Usstan ssinssrin ulu telanth - I want to talk, she continued. Now granted, I was never an expert at the elven language, but something in her tone and body language made me focus - as if the dagger pointing at my throat wasn’t enough.


She bade me sit down and sat down herself, on the opposite side of the fire. It was then I realized that she was wounded, breathing heavily. I could see the blood on her vest, right above the belt. She would probably not last the night, maybe much less.


For a while, we just sat there. Me wondering when she was going to kill me, or if she might die before she decided to kill me. She, on the other hand, was just sitting there, starring at me with a sense of wonder. Inquisitively, with her head slightly on the side.


Then, the creature spoke. And spoke. And then spoke some more. She told me the tale of a wicked place, a place of demon-worship, a place of primordial evil. The Temple of Elemental Evil, she called it, a place where the leaders of evil sects congregate and plot the end of the world. The temple itself draws them there, through dreams, visions and hints in ancient books and scrolls.


Most of the things she told me, I can not bring myself to put on paper, but by the grace of Avandra, the Temple is indeed a most evil place.


After hearing her tale of despair, I asked myself: Why? Why is a drow sitting 5 feet from me, with tears in her eyes, telling me tales of this evil temple? As if reading my mind, she said: Because they must be stopped. Almost no one knows of this temple and where to find it.  A great evil is growing, and it must be stopped, lest l'ulin xal naut tlu - the future might not be.


According to the drow, in order to find the Temple of Elemental Evil, one must first find the old Moathouse, not far south from where we were sitting. The Moathouse, only remains of an ancient castle, destroyed by the ancient war between Arkhosia and Bael Turath, is a ruin. But beneath the Moathouse, there are some chambers that are still intact. In one of those chambers, a portal can be found. But beware. As the Moathouse is a ruin, it is often occupied by foul beasts or undeads. The portal will teleport anyone triggering it far beneath the mountain, in a huge cave, where he or she will find the Temple, a pyramid suspended above a lake of magma. But be warned, once you step through that portal, there are very few ways to return. Also, the cave exists in two worlds, in the mortal world and in the Elemental Chaos. As such, the elements can be manipulated by anyone with enough force of will.


The entrance to the Temple is from below, either via flight or one of the many floating rocks in the cave. Once you find your way up and into the Temple, you will find yourself in what its inhabitants refer to as the Common Chambers. Since the Temple is inhabited by very evil creatures with somewhat different alliances, they have a long time ago decided that it was best for all to keep certain creatures separated by more than a few corridors.


The Temple has 6 areas. The Common Chambers, The Fane of Fire, the Fane of Winter, the Fane of Madness, the Fane of Demons and the Fane of Gruumsh.  All the fanes are accessible via portals in the Common Chambers, except the fane housing the current High Priest of the temple. Currently it is the half-orc Muntza who is the high-priest of the Temple of Elemental Evil. To enter the fane of the High-priest, one must acquire 4 runes of passage, each held by the leader of the other four fanes. Each leader also holds another rune of passage, this one granting exit from the fane.


The Fane of Fire is occupied by the Followers of Imix, mad cultists that revere the Fire Lord and seek destruction of everything by fire.


The Fane of Winter is occupied by the Sons of Winter, also mad cultists who wish to plunge the world into eternal winter.


The Fane of Madness are likewise occupied by mad cultists, called the Bleak Cabal, these worshiping the Far Realm. They seek to open rifts to the Far Realm, letting the madness seep into the world.


The Fane of Demons is occupied by the Demonlords, again mad cultists who want to flood the mortal world with demons.


The Fane of Gruumsh is occupied by orcs worshiping the One-Eyed, reveling in chaos and destruction. 



Or so one would think. In reality, she tells me, these widespread cults are just a cover for something vastly more sinister. The Elder Elemental Eye. Thought to be an ancient primordial seeking to be free in order to create havoc, it is instead much more. The Elder Elemental Eye is none other than he-who-should-not-be-named. An ancient evil god imprisoned for thousands of years, so powerful that all the other gods banded together in order to capture him, since they could not kill him. He was the one who started the Dawn War, mythical war between the gods and the primordials. He was the one who opened the Living Gate, allowing the Far Realm to connect with this universe. He was the one that created the Abyss, by plunging an ancient shard of pure evil (some say a part of his soul) into the Elemental Chaos. Together, the different factions work towards his release, so that he once again can be loose in the world, continuing its destruction.


Personally, I have never heard of any such god, but something in her eyes convinced me that she believed what she said. And after hearing her astonishing tale, I decided that the lords of Drahar needed to know of the threat so that they could deal with it, and I immediately left the drow whose name I never learned, and headed straight north.