The Shrine of Bhal-Hamatugn

9 March, 596

After several more hours of travelling, the Lords of Chaos happen upon a large cavern featuring a large lake protecting a fishlike structure. As the party descends down upon the beach, a canoe appears out of the mist, driven by a froglike creature armed with a shortspear and a paddle. Not sure whether to attack him or jump in his boat, the party stands stunned. After some unsuccessful attempts at conversation in common, Symon suggests that he try in the Undercommon tongue. Many eyebrows are raised that the young apprentice would know such an obscure language.

After a short conversation, Symon explains that the creature is a kuo-toa and is offering to ferry them across the lake. The kuo-toa speaks cryptically, though, with numerous references to the "darkness." The creature seems to know about Zenith, but not much coherent information can be gathered from it.

The party departs the boat and approaches the shrine, a long staircase ascending into the maw of the fish. About halfway up, the heroes are met by crossbow fire originating from inside the eyes of the fish above. Before they can reach the portal, several kuo-toa leap from the eyes and land on Baxtor and Alfir. The creatures take a lot of damage in the fall, and are not much trouble after that. Moving into the entry chamber, the group hears movement from beyond a tapestry to the left. As they approach, several more kuo-toa guards rush forth with weapons ready. Alfir is quickly taken out of the fight (seemingly a recurring theme) but the guards are overpowered. In the room beyond the party discovers a mound of dung and what appears to be the resting quarters of the guard. A stairway leads to the now empty outposts that served as the eyes of the fish.

On the other side of the entry way is a series of cells, but that way is closed off by a portcullis. A lever is located on the inside of the gate, which presumably opens the portcullis. Some attempts are made at pulling the lever, but it is just out of reach. The other doors in the room are a set of granite double doors engraved with a zig-zag pattern. Alastriel tries to open these but she triggers a trap which emanates a blast of sound. She goes down hard but Baxtor is quick to administer aid and revive the spell-caster.

Symon bravely attempts to open the door again and eventually the group finds themselves in a large chamber dominated by a 70-foot high statue of a lobster-shaped woman. 4 larger kuo-toa are positioned about the room, engaged in some chanting ritual. They party charges into the room, and almost immediately a blue winged female wielding a flaming longbow appears in front of the statue and flies toward them. Not long after that, a lightning bolt is channeled from the kuo-toa and the statue, and zaps through half of the group. Alfir goes down again. Kyladrian sneaks down the stairs and attempts a sneak attack on one of the kuo-toa priests, while the rest of the group flings spells and ranged weapons at the she-devil, who has flown to the ceiling, firing her bow. Baxtor succeeds in casting a hold spell at the female outsider, and she drops a great height to the ground, killing herself on the stairs. The combat ensues, and more kuo-toa guards arrive to shoot crossbow bolts from the upper balcony. Various members of the party suspects that there is some sort of magical protection that is preventing some of their attacks from hurting the creatures in the room. Danielle and Alastriel utilize their flaming sphere spells to harm the priests as they continue to hurl lightning bolts and cast spells. As each priest is killed, the lightning bolt seems less effective. Finally, the battle is won, but not after taking a toll on the party, and burning through valuable spells.

Alfir is revived again, and he claims the flaming longbow left by the summoned devil. The other bodies are looted and there is talk about resting here. The general consensus is that the statue makes everyone very uneasy and it would not be very restful here.