Starting in the air node after having found the Water Gem. (Pol is absent).

We have to get past the vapor rat swarm again. After a discussion of sneaking, we decide to have Kella use her animal empathy. That keeps the swarm calm as we creep past.

We head back to symbol where we entered. Before leaving we decide to summon an air elemental to check out the rest of the node to see if there are other people or treasure. It finds the other symbols, a dragon with loot, three humans.

We decide to go talk to the humans about the dragon. Elmo hangs back with Darley to keep an eye on them. The new guys all tell their stories - fighting against the temple, a weaver working for the bandits, and a priest of the air temple. The last says he's recanted. We decide to take them with us.

We check out the dragon - it's large and appears to be sleeping. We opt not to fight it or try to get it to trade treasure for an exit from this place. It's scary so we leave it alone and head back to the portal where we entered.

We attempt to head back to the main temple and ... end up there. We let them loose on the bottom floor of the temple, showing them where a couple of rooms are. And Elmo is keeping an eye on things as we head into the fire node.

It's a central room with doors all around. We take one at random and find a chimera. We beat it up, it retreats a ways and we kill it. In it's pile of loot we find the gem for this node!

We start exploring further to find a portal out. We come across some little fire satyrs things. They attack us, we take exception and kill them. Moving on we bypass a few mephit type things lounging in coal heaps. Then we find an earth symbol and use it to port back to the fourth level.

Then we plan. And head up to the first level to talk to the bandits. Trailed by Darley, her minions, and the three from the air node. Xargen is convinced we need to leave so we can infuse the temple with super-extra evil power. We also tell the bandits they'll need to leave as we're destroying the temple.

We discuss hiring them on as a small standing force of men-at-arms and occupying the moathouse. But first we have them haul out the good furniture and rugs and whatnot from the temple. It'll take a day or so.

We have the minions start to break camp. And then we head to Nulb trailing our prisoners. We arrive at Otis's and he goes and gets the Canoness Ydai. Xavier recounts our victories in the nodes. She inspects our captives and helps us sort out the good from the bad.

The evil cleric (from the air node) and Xargen will be sent to Verbobonc to be sorted out legally. The weaver from the air node will be forgiven if he weaves some nice altar cloths for St. Cuthbert. The guy in the blue armor is actually good and we tell him he's free to pursue his own interests, but he's always welcome at our place and the moathouse if we occupy it. Darley hasn't done anything evil we know about so we can't prosecute her. But Elmo does talk her into repenting a bit and talking to the Church of Pelor about atoning (with the spell atonement).

So the next day, we go to Otis's. We melt some snow in the basin of the dragon turtle shell. We summon an air elemental. We set the gems in the skull. The elemental holds the bejeweled skull in the air in whirlwind form. Elmo smashes it with his granite hammer. Then the elemental plunges the skull into the forge. Then the skull is tossed into the turtle shell of ice cold water.

There's a rumbling in the distance and a levitating Moth can see the temple in the distance is falling and crumbling. And then snow begins to fall.

...

At the moathouse, Francoise and the bandits have cleaned things up and started moving in the furniture. Our hirelings have erected our tents in the courtyard. Pire starts consecrating things all around. And we plan...

Theldin wants to retire, perhaps he can run the moathouse. Diren wants to find someway to become a dragon - perhaps a study of sorcery.