Hall of Elemental Magic – Temple of Elemental Evil Area of the Week 06/06/03

This page is a part (Dungeons of Elemental Evil #339) of a playthrough that spanned the year of 2003. All the information was taken from TSR’s original AD&D adventure, the Temple of Elemental Evil.

For the players: This huge echoing hall is constructed of polished black stones, which give back odd reflections of your light. The most striking features here are the symbols set into the chamber floor.

To the north is a triangle of dull ecru stone, outlined with some sort of gray metal; a throbbing radiance seems to spread in dun-colored pulses that wash over the area. To the east is a great 10′ square of translucent stone, blue at the edges and shading to a deep green at the center, bordered by a strip of pale green; the whole gives out undulating sheets of blue-green light. To the south is a circle of translucent crystal ringed by a silvery band; the whole sends forth slowly rising clouds of pale light, that spread and disappear. To the west is a long diamond shape with four points radiating from the sides of the lozenge. The whole is fashioned of translucent stone mottled red and amber, outlined in red gold. It sends up sudden tongues of brightness, planes of pale fiery light that vanish as quickly as they appear.

All of these radiations gleam from the walls and floor of the hall. Any object in the center of the four symbols shows the four different illuminations, and the ghastly purple of their mix. If you look upward long enough, occasional glints of light can be seen from the vaulted ceiling, that peaks 60′ or more overhead. The 30′ wide aisle to the west appears to be the only entrance to the place.

For the DM: Both evil and magic can be found here. The magic radiates from the floor symbols, the evil from everywhere. Any creature who steps into the area of an elemental symbol and stands there for 3 segments is transported to the corresponding Elemental Node: the Air Cavern (circle), the Earth Burrows (triangle), the Fire Pits (lozenge), or Water Maze (square). The only way to escape therefrom is to win through to another “gate” area or to possess the complete Orb of Golden Death, inset with all four proper gems.

Zuggtmoy once used the symbols to visit the Elemental Nodes, and to send screaming sacrificial victims to their dooms in these places. Now, however, the demoness is prevented from entering this hall until all four of the sealed portals are broken. If this has been done, she will certainly come here to thank her liberators, in her own way. If Zuggtmoy is destroyed, the symbols lose their magic, and the Elemental Nodes themselves wink out of existence, destroying everything within them at that moment.