Netherstorm
First Post
11. The Grand Temple of Lolth
1/9/12: The characters hit 5th level at the end! All caught up with summaries. Until Monday, that is...
Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger Vovoidja
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk Almoner
Hartaniel - Elf Barbarian Groom of the Stool
Lucky - Human Warlord Constable
Ryltar - Drow Avenger Constable
Scarlet - Human Fighter Constable
Varis - Half-Elf Warlock Hostarius
The adventurers had obtained another cylinder of blood veil from the evil drow. The drow planned to use the magical disease to weaken and kill the people of the heroes' home city. Once that was done, the drow could overtake the remaining populace, create a web tower and open a permanent gate to the Demonweb Pits.
The Cult of Urgathoa had been after this particular cylinder a well, but the adventurers slaughtered them. The weird, steaming blood still trickled from the fresh corpses of two leukodaemons.
Amongst the treasure horde in the drow enclave of House Darkweb were ritual scrolls. There were two scrolls of a seeming ritual that the heroes thought could be quite useful. Seeming allowed up to eight people to appear as another race for four hours.
The remaining cylinders of blood veil were housed in the Grand Temple of Lolth in the center of the drow city. Only drow were allowed in. With the Seeming ritual, the adventurers could gain access to the temple.
They made their way to a nice inn. Along the way, they heard many citizens talking about the black dragon, and how it had killed Lochar and then been slain. They surmised that the dragon killed Lochar as revenge. Lochar had tossed a cylinder of blood veil into the creature's mouth on his journey to Rilauven. Rumor had it that the High Priestess might cast raise dead on Lochar.
The adventurers got ready to rest. They questioned Solufine, the eladrin they'd freed, about things. He said that the drow had particularly enjoyed torturing him.
Ardra asked, "Before you were a slave, what were you?"
He said, "I am from the city of Senaliesse, in the Feywild. I sang! To the delight of many. Now you have saved me, and I will write a ballad about it."
Scarlet groaned, "No. Don't. That's just too much."
Hartaniel said, "I've never had a song written about me."
"Well prepare yourself for a treat", the eladrin boasted.
They talked with Solufine about whether he should go with them to the Grand Temple or say in the relative safety of the inn.
From inside Hartaniel's pack, Vecna said, "He should be worshiping me, don't you think?".
Teddy, Varis' skull familiar piped up. "What's the point? Nothing matters.. I can hear my mother screaming in the back end of this skull."
Varis eldritch blasted his familiar. Teddy screamed in pain, and then said disappointedly, "I'm still here."
Ardra asked Solufine what topics he liked to write music about. He said: "Unicorns, rainbows.... birds of hope..".
Ardra asked, "How about long-forgotten gods like Vecna?".
"I don't know who that is." The King of Terror had erased the memory of Vecna from most all of existence.
Hartaniel smiled and said, "Well have we got a secret for you!".
Solufine didn't find Vecna's ethos appealing.
Once rested, the adventurers gathered around Ardra. She cast Seeming, which made them all look like drow. A drawback to this ritual is that they had to stay within 25 feet of Ardra, or else the illusion would end. Ryltar, already a drow, was not included in the ritual.
They took to the streets and headed to the Grand Temple. Out of the top of it was a huge shaft of red light that shot all the way up to the underdark ceiling.
Two jade spiders guarded the ornate double doors. There were braziers holding purple fire. As the adventurers approached, wearing drow house insignias that Ryltar had been collecting from the drow the heroes had slain. The jade spiders scuttled to the side. They pulled the doors open, and stepped into the main hall.
The shaft of fiery light shot through a hole in the center of the room and extended upward. Apparently its' source was in a sub-level of the temple.
The walls of the hall were covered in murals of Lolth. In some, Lolth was depicted in her beautiful drow form. In others, she was shown as simply a drow head affixed to a massive spider body. In many, she loomed over a sacrificial table.
Scattered throughout the hall were about a dozen drow priestesses kneeling on rugs, praying to their foul deity. There were stairs that led up, and stairs that led down. A few male drow guards holding death lances stood guard solemnly, perhaps even fearfully. Nobody seemed to make note of the heroes' presence.
The adventurers decided to head up the stairs. They came to another large, circular hall. The thick column of light shot up through the center of this room through a hole in the floor as well.
There were many more drow priestesses in here as well. Many were gathered around a human - one of the plaguebringers sans mask - who they'd apparently been experimenting on. He was chained to the wall, and appeared to have been half-transformed into a spider-like humanoid.
In another part of the room was a cold-looking woman with a scythe, accompanied by four leukodaemons and six plaguebringers. This was Lady Andaisin and the Cult of Urgathoa! They had come to Rilauven to retrieve the cylinders of blood veil, but the drow had been making her wait for days. The drow seemed to be trying to cut the cult out of the process entirely, perhaps so the drow themselves could unleash the disease on Olwynn and perhaps keep some of the blood veil for their own nefarious purposes.
The adventurers recognized Lady Andaisin. They'd run into her during the Battle of Olwynn, and were none too keen on engaging her at this time.
Alone, across the room, was a lone seated drow studying a ritual book.
There were stairs leading further up, but there was a leukodaemon and a jade spider guarding them.
The adventurers sidled over near the Cult of Urgathoa and overheard the plaguebringers complaining to each other. They were sick of waiting. One of them said, "We should just go down there and take the cylinders!".
The heroes looked at each other. The blood veil was apparently held in the sub-levels of the temple.
They strolled over to the priestesses studying the poor plaguebringer who'd been turned half into a spider. After a bit more eavesdropping, they learned that the priestesses were trying to perfect a spell called Spiderform, which could turn the target into a tiny spider. It hadn't worked quite as they hoped on the plaguebringer.
They then approached the lone drow with the book. Ardra said carefully in drow, "You look concerned. What's the nature of your studies?".
She looked up at Ardra and asked, "Who are you?".
Ardra hadn't prepared a fake name. She pointed to her drow house insignia and asked, "Don't you recognize the house that I come from?".
The drow said, "This is important business that only Charinidia should know about. And I don't appreciate you trying to horn in on it."
"I merely thought perhaps I could help. If you do not need assistance, I will walk away."
Ardra explained/bluffed that her role in the temple was that of a researcher and that she was invaluable to some of the houses.
The drow looked her over and said, "You're no threat to me. I could kill you in an instant. Most everyone knows anyway... Apparently some of our agents have infiltrated the city of Olwynn. They're telling us through rituals to send them the cylinders and they can unleash them at once. But we're not sure who these agents are or how they are able to contact us!".
Ardra nodded, "That is worrying."
The drow continued. "As far as we understood, the drow were utterly repelled from Olwynn. And that's why we've been counting so much on those ones over there." She nodded in the direction of the Cult of Urgathoa.
The drow added, "They're also telling us to signal the drow on the World of Dracos to send their ships to Olwynn for the second wave of attacks. We're just trying to verify that this isn't some kind of trick from Olwynn's drow King, Thennrynnia."
The heroes became concerned. The city was still rebuilding from the first attack. Most of Olwynn's army had been sent to the city of Dunnwynn to repel the drow that occupied that city! So much so, that the King had to request the use of Korvosa's elite soldiers to deal with the similarly-occupied city of Starbed! Olwynn was in no way able to repel an attack by a fleet of spelljammers full of the drow from the nearby world of Dracos!
Ryltar the drow avenger was especially concerned. He'd just escaped the main drow city of Dracos before coming to Olwynn. His kind matron had been taken away, and he'd been forced to serve a drow necromancer. Fate intervened, and agents of the Raven Queen had come and killed the necromancer, which had given Ryltar the means to escape.
He'd been lucky not to have been killed by them once before for a slight transgression. Should the heroes face them now and fall, they either end Ryltar's soul to become Lolth's plaything, or they'd re-make him as an undead servant. Either fate was an affront to the Raven Queen.
Hartaniel urged the drow woman to consider this a trick from King Thennrynnia. Scarlet whispered to him that the secret agent contacting the drow could be Lady Tarentia. The Lady had a long history of treachery, and was likely outraged that the king had recently cost her her standing in the Summer Court of the Feywild (when he killed Ambrosius the unicorn-man a few sessions back).
Hartaniel grabbed a stack of books from a nearby desk and carried them casually. He was hoping to pilfer them. A priestess took notice and said to Ardra, "Why do you let your males touch holy texts of Lolth?".
Ardra explained that she'd carefully trained him herself. Hartaniel drew upon his history as a slave of orcs to act in a genuine manner.
The adventurers headed back to the main hall, and then took the stairs to the sub-level. the stairs led down at an angle, away from the shaft of light. The stairs led to a forge. Four grubby dwarves hammered away on anvils in a large cavern. Pools of glowing primordial ooze littered the area. Objects jutted out of the pools - adamantine ore, and some fully-formed adamantine arms and legs!
Two lolthbound goblins carried things from anvils to pools, and two man-sized spiders kept guard over a far set of stairs that went down even deeper. Three familiar faces watched over the whole scene. It was Commander Warda, the drow with the adamantine arms and legs, and her two male drow, each bearing an adamantine arm.
Warda looked at them and snarled, "What are you doing down here?".
Ardra gestured to Hartaniel, who was carrying the stack of books. "We are transporting this research from the group upstairs.."
Warda glowered and said, "To where?!"
Ardra started to make like she'd gone the wrong way.
Warda said, "I want to know exactly who you are and what you're doing here! Charinidia did not give you permission!"
The heroes paused..
Warda cracked her adamantite knuckle joints and said, "I'm starting to think we're going to have to crush you."
Then Warda looked at Ryltar, and recognized him. They'd both fought the black dragon in the Dragon's Tooth Inn!
She shouted, "Destroy them!".
Ardra summoned her armor and her bladesong kicked in (Ryan had actually made a song and played it on his phone... awesome). The heroes tried to stay close to Ardra so they wouldn't break the Seeming.
Ardra raced forward and battled Warda and her men. The spiders and goblins converged on the rest of the heroes. One of her men broke away from Ardra, ran up to Hartaniel and punched the eladrin with his adamantine arm. Hartaniel was knocked back 10 feet, too far from Ardra. His illusory appearance as a drow faded.
One of the goblins let out a thunder blast from his mouth that staggered the group.
Scarlet and Ryltar joined Ardra in battling Commander Warva. They quickly bloodied her. Scarlet grabbed hold of her and slashed away with her broken blade. Varis pelted her with an eldritch blast as well.
Warda cracked Scarlet in the chest with an adamantine punch, sending her hurtling back fifteen feet.
Hartaniel faced off with one of the goblins and stabbed it to death. Then he flung its' corpse at a nearby drow. The drow stumbled and then turned right into the Blue Monk, who was trying to make his way to the Commander. The drow punched the Monk, sending him flying.
Ryltar sliced into Warda with his scythe, bloodying her badly. Then he put his hand on her head, uttered a prayer to the Raven Queen, and sent her soul to the Shadowfell.
Lucky turned and stabbed a drow, delivering a mortal wound. Ardra finished him off with a magical missile, and then absorbed his soul into a gem on her helm of seven deaths.
Scarlet turned and battled the last remaining drow. The Blue Monk fired off a crossbow bolt, but the drow deflected the shot with his arm. Ardra ran up and cut that drow down, absorbing his soul into her helm as well.
Ryltar sliced through the other goblin, and the heroes made quick work of the spiders.
As the dust settled, four dirty dwarves fearfully peeked up from behind their anvils.
Hartaniel asked them, "What are you making?".
Ryltar added, "Also, don't worry. Everything's fine."
One of the dwarves took a deep breath, walked over to the primal mud, and pulled out an adamantine hand - fully formed. The heroes gasped.
Lucky said, "All right everyone, stock up. You might need them for a rainy day."
Scarlet pulled out her bag of holding and speculated that they might be able to sell them to Curra the sorceress.
Hartaniel studied the primal mud. He could see that the dwarves used it to cool the adamantite. The mud also seemed to have healing properties. Ardra understood that when making adamantine limbs, it took a year for them to form and cool.
The mud also had additional benefits for fey, making them faster and healing them more effectively. Hartaniel scooped up a bunch in a container and put it in his pack.
Then they looked at the dead drow, with all their shiny, glowing, fully-working adamantine limbs.
Lucky sighed and got to hacking. She stuff the severed limbs into Scarlet's bag.
Ardra asked the dwarves if they'd seen the cylinders. The dwarves flinched and said, "Don't hurt me!".
Lucky told the heroes they should free the dwarves. "They have valuable knowledge on how to make limbs..!".
The heroes quietly discussed killing them and stuffing their corpses in the bag of holding, and then arise them once they were back in Olwynn.
They told the dwarves to wait in the forge. The heroes then patched up their wounds and headed down the stairs.
The stairs angled back toward the temple. They made their way out of the forge and down into the lowest level beneath the temple. After walking through a hallway half submerged in molten magma, they peeked around a corner to see drow gathered around the base of the shaft of light that shot through the temple's roof and all the way to the underdark cavern's ceiling! Four priestesses were around it, chanting, led by a high priestess in elaborate garb. She could only be Charinidia, high priestess of the temple.
Near the heroes were two male guards holding tall, grey death lances.
The column of light flickered like fire, or rather, drow darkfire. Suddenly it flared to life and fired off three beams of darkfire at the heroes! One shot went wide, but the other two passed through stone walls and struck Varis and Ardra! Both were shrouded in darkfire, making it impossible for them to hide. The darkfire also guided the attacks of the drow.
The drow shouted in alarm and turned toward where the heroes lurked. The guards readied their death lances as the four priestesses pulled out their fang whips, each ending in four snake heads. The heroes' hearts sank a little as Charinida pulled out a non-descript rod and uttered a command word, causing three purple tentacles to extend out. They'd battled a priestess with a tentacle rod once before, aboard the Sreen Ultrin, and they'd nearly been defeated.
Ardra made her way into the room and engaged a drow guard. The guard plunged his death lance into her gut. She watched in horror as shadowy tendrils coiled down the lance, entered her body and drained her very soul (lost 2 surges)!
The Blue Monk raced in near her and the priestesses launched off pain web and spider curse spells which wracked the monk with necrotic energy. He fell to the ground, dying!
Scarlet blew by the guards and made her way around the priestesses. She wanted to get at Charinidia herself. Scarlet grabbed hold of Charinidia's arm and stabbed at her with her broken blade.
Charinidia was furious. She lashed at the bandit with the tentacles, bloodying her. Then she commanded her priestesses to finish off the rivvil (human). The fang whips came down, and Scarlet fell to the ground in a bloody heap.
Varis, Ryltar and Hartaniel made their way back through the magma hallway and opened a double door in it, which also provided access to the main hall where the column of darkfire was. A guard was by the door. As the drow turned, Varis chanted and called forth a burning spray, scorching the drow guard. The dark elf sneered and leveled his death lance.
Hartaniel stabbed the guard and kicked him to the ground. Ryltar brought his scythe down on the prone guard, slashing deep into his neck and killing him (with a critical). One of the two guards was slain.
Varis made his way past the corpse and through the doorway, and was struck with spells from the priestess, which dropped him to the ground. The boy warlock was dying...
Lucky made her way past the other guard, and knelt down next to Ardra and The Blue Monk. She healed them and said, "Life is probably barely worth living". Both opened their eyes, conscious and back in the fight. Ardra called on the power of the helm of seven deaths, releasing the souls of Cabbagehead and a drow warrior from the Sreen Ultrin in exchange for a burst of magical healing powered by a portion of their spirits.
As Lucky stood up, the guard stabbed her with his death lance (Another critical by me... my dice were on fire).
The Blue Monk staggered to his feet. The column fired off another beam of darkfire that hit him and shrouded him in evil drow magic. This made him furious. The half-orc pulled out a container of his trademark blue dust, and covered his hands in it. Then, he ran in an arc, allowing him to run past each enemy and strike them. He became a screaming cloud of blue dust, punching the drow in the face, sending them reeling.
Hartaniel let out an orcish war cry as he watched his ally devastate the drow.
Scarlet, bloody and prone, saw The Blue Monk's epic assault and said calmly, "Go team."
Lucky disengaged the drow guard and began shouting out tactical orders. She feinted, drawing Charinidia closer. As she dodged the purple tentacles, She created openings for Ardra, Ryltar and Hartaniel to charge the drow priestess. Charinidia shrieked as she was stabbed over and over.
Ryltar then spun and slashed a nearby drow priestesses. He could sense she was close to death. He placed his palm on her head and uttered a prayer to the Raven Queen. The drow's spirit left her body. Her corpse plopped to the ground.
The drow guard turned away from Lucky and stabbed Hartaniel (another critical!). Shadowy tendrils wound into his body, infecting his soul (draining him of two surges). Charinidia then brought down the tentacles on the eladrin, staggering him and bloodying him badly. A priestess struck him with her fang whip. He succumbed to the many snake bites and fell to the ground, dying.
Ardra teleported away from the battle to bandage a nasty wound (she was now out of surges!). But the nearby drow guard ran over and stabbed his lance into her (yes another critical), dropping her for good (poor Ardra was out of surges and down - there was no way for the party to heal her).
Lucky leaned over Varis' body. He had a faint pulse. She pulled out a flask and dumped its' contents into his mouth. Then she realized she'd given him booze instead of a healing potion, and dumped that down his throat. Varis coughed and awoke. He could taste the alcohol on his lips. He looked up at Lucky and said, "Tastes like dwarf."
She pulled him to his feet. Then he reached out and drew a tiny piece of Ryltar's soul, transformed it into eldritch energy, and launched an eldritch blast into Charinidia. She shrieked and spit blood.
Charinidia made her way away from the column of darkfire, to an elevated area where there was an altar of Lolth. The slab on the altar had a human-sized impression in it, to catch and drain the blood of those sacrificed upon it.
Lucky made her way to Hartaniel. She fed him a potion, which revived him. He reached into his pack and retrieved his container of primal mud. He smeared it over himself, healing his wounds. He got to his feet, adjusting his owlbear skull helmet.
The Blue Monk and Ryltar went after Charinidia. Ryltar sliced a bloody gash in her side. Then Ryltar took aim from afar and fired off one more eldritch bolt. The bolt exploded through her chest. Her limp body tipped back, half in the depression in the altar. Her blood began to fill it.
The remaining three priestesses and the guard looked around. Half of the heroes were dying. With their leader dead, one of them could seize the opportunity and become the new high priestess. All they had to do was finish off the invaders.
The drow guard stabbed Ryltar with the death lance. A priestess struck Varis with her fang whip. Scarlet grabbed a priestess and smashed her into a pillar. Another priestess brought down her fang whip on the bandit. The snakes bit deep into her shoulders, creating little streams of blood (Scarlet had 6 hit points left).
Hartaniel plunged his blade through a priestess, killing her. Then he tossed her body into another, killing that priestess as well!
The heroes rallied and made quick work of the final two.
They fell to their knees, exhausted and badly wounded. They tended to Ardra as best they could. She was badly hurt, but in time she would re-awaken.
They quickly searched the place before the many drow from above realized what they'd done. They found the cylinders in a secret alcove in Charinidia's room. In the alcove was an insane human of great strength chained to the wall with a ball gag in his mouth. Near him was a floatchest brimming over with cylinders. They'd found every last canister of blood veil!
They snatched up Charinidia's ritual book and all the magic items and gems they could carry. Then they stood over a teleport circle, ready to use a newly-found scroll of linked portal.
Where would they go? They talked in hushed tones. Olwynn? Echo Warrens? Even the probably-abandoned enclave of Honglath..? All they knew for sure was that they had to get out of Rilauven right away.
1/9/12: The characters hit 5th level at the end! All caught up with summaries. Until Monday, that is...
Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3
Chapter Eleven: The Grand Temple of Lolth
Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger Vovoidja
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk Almoner
Hartaniel - Elf Barbarian Groom of the Stool
Lucky - Human Warlord Constable
Ryltar - Drow Avenger Constable
Scarlet - Human Fighter Constable
Varis - Half-Elf Warlock Hostarius
The adventurers had obtained another cylinder of blood veil from the evil drow. The drow planned to use the magical disease to weaken and kill the people of the heroes' home city. Once that was done, the drow could overtake the remaining populace, create a web tower and open a permanent gate to the Demonweb Pits.
The Cult of Urgathoa had been after this particular cylinder a well, but the adventurers slaughtered them. The weird, steaming blood still trickled from the fresh corpses of two leukodaemons.
Amongst the treasure horde in the drow enclave of House Darkweb were ritual scrolls. There were two scrolls of a seeming ritual that the heroes thought could be quite useful. Seeming allowed up to eight people to appear as another race for four hours.
The remaining cylinders of blood veil were housed in the Grand Temple of Lolth in the center of the drow city. Only drow were allowed in. With the Seeming ritual, the adventurers could gain access to the temple.
They made their way to a nice inn. Along the way, they heard many citizens talking about the black dragon, and how it had killed Lochar and then been slain. They surmised that the dragon killed Lochar as revenge. Lochar had tossed a cylinder of blood veil into the creature's mouth on his journey to Rilauven. Rumor had it that the High Priestess might cast raise dead on Lochar.
The adventurers got ready to rest. They questioned Solufine, the eladrin they'd freed, about things. He said that the drow had particularly enjoyed torturing him.
Ardra asked, "Before you were a slave, what were you?"
He said, "I am from the city of Senaliesse, in the Feywild. I sang! To the delight of many. Now you have saved me, and I will write a ballad about it."
Scarlet groaned, "No. Don't. That's just too much."
Hartaniel said, "I've never had a song written about me."
"Well prepare yourself for a treat", the eladrin boasted.
They talked with Solufine about whether he should go with them to the Grand Temple or say in the relative safety of the inn.
From inside Hartaniel's pack, Vecna said, "He should be worshiping me, don't you think?".
Teddy, Varis' skull familiar piped up. "What's the point? Nothing matters.. I can hear my mother screaming in the back end of this skull."
Varis eldritch blasted his familiar. Teddy screamed in pain, and then said disappointedly, "I'm still here."
Ardra asked Solufine what topics he liked to write music about. He said: "Unicorns, rainbows.... birds of hope..".
Ardra asked, "How about long-forgotten gods like Vecna?".
"I don't know who that is." The King of Terror had erased the memory of Vecna from most all of existence.
Hartaniel smiled and said, "Well have we got a secret for you!".
Solufine didn't find Vecna's ethos appealing.
Once rested, the adventurers gathered around Ardra. She cast Seeming, which made them all look like drow. A drawback to this ritual is that they had to stay within 25 feet of Ardra, or else the illusion would end. Ryltar, already a drow, was not included in the ritual.
They took to the streets and headed to the Grand Temple. Out of the top of it was a huge shaft of red light that shot all the way up to the underdark ceiling.
Two jade spiders guarded the ornate double doors. There were braziers holding purple fire. As the adventurers approached, wearing drow house insignias that Ryltar had been collecting from the drow the heroes had slain. The jade spiders scuttled to the side. They pulled the doors open, and stepped into the main hall.
The shaft of fiery light shot through a hole in the center of the room and extended upward. Apparently its' source was in a sub-level of the temple.
The walls of the hall were covered in murals of Lolth. In some, Lolth was depicted in her beautiful drow form. In others, she was shown as simply a drow head affixed to a massive spider body. In many, she loomed over a sacrificial table.
Scattered throughout the hall were about a dozen drow priestesses kneeling on rugs, praying to their foul deity. There were stairs that led up, and stairs that led down. A few male drow guards holding death lances stood guard solemnly, perhaps even fearfully. Nobody seemed to make note of the heroes' presence.
The adventurers decided to head up the stairs. They came to another large, circular hall. The thick column of light shot up through the center of this room through a hole in the floor as well.
There were many more drow priestesses in here as well. Many were gathered around a human - one of the plaguebringers sans mask - who they'd apparently been experimenting on. He was chained to the wall, and appeared to have been half-transformed into a spider-like humanoid.
In another part of the room was a cold-looking woman with a scythe, accompanied by four leukodaemons and six plaguebringers. This was Lady Andaisin and the Cult of Urgathoa! They had come to Rilauven to retrieve the cylinders of blood veil, but the drow had been making her wait for days. The drow seemed to be trying to cut the cult out of the process entirely, perhaps so the drow themselves could unleash the disease on Olwynn and perhaps keep some of the blood veil for their own nefarious purposes.
The adventurers recognized Lady Andaisin. They'd run into her during the Battle of Olwynn, and were none too keen on engaging her at this time.
Alone, across the room, was a lone seated drow studying a ritual book.
There were stairs leading further up, but there was a leukodaemon and a jade spider guarding them.
The adventurers sidled over near the Cult of Urgathoa and overheard the plaguebringers complaining to each other. They were sick of waiting. One of them said, "We should just go down there and take the cylinders!".
The heroes looked at each other. The blood veil was apparently held in the sub-levels of the temple.
They strolled over to the priestesses studying the poor plaguebringer who'd been turned half into a spider. After a bit more eavesdropping, they learned that the priestesses were trying to perfect a spell called Spiderform, which could turn the target into a tiny spider. It hadn't worked quite as they hoped on the plaguebringer.
They then approached the lone drow with the book. Ardra said carefully in drow, "You look concerned. What's the nature of your studies?".
She looked up at Ardra and asked, "Who are you?".
Ardra hadn't prepared a fake name. She pointed to her drow house insignia and asked, "Don't you recognize the house that I come from?".
The drow said, "This is important business that only Charinidia should know about. And I don't appreciate you trying to horn in on it."
"I merely thought perhaps I could help. If you do not need assistance, I will walk away."
Ardra explained/bluffed that her role in the temple was that of a researcher and that she was invaluable to some of the houses.
The drow looked her over and said, "You're no threat to me. I could kill you in an instant. Most everyone knows anyway... Apparently some of our agents have infiltrated the city of Olwynn. They're telling us through rituals to send them the cylinders and they can unleash them at once. But we're not sure who these agents are or how they are able to contact us!".
Ardra nodded, "That is worrying."
The drow continued. "As far as we understood, the drow were utterly repelled from Olwynn. And that's why we've been counting so much on those ones over there." She nodded in the direction of the Cult of Urgathoa.
The drow added, "They're also telling us to signal the drow on the World of Dracos to send their ships to Olwynn for the second wave of attacks. We're just trying to verify that this isn't some kind of trick from Olwynn's drow King, Thennrynnia."
The heroes became concerned. The city was still rebuilding from the first attack. Most of Olwynn's army had been sent to the city of Dunnwynn to repel the drow that occupied that city! So much so, that the King had to request the use of Korvosa's elite soldiers to deal with the similarly-occupied city of Starbed! Olwynn was in no way able to repel an attack by a fleet of spelljammers full of the drow from the nearby world of Dracos!
Ryltar the drow avenger was especially concerned. He'd just escaped the main drow city of Dracos before coming to Olwynn. His kind matron had been taken away, and he'd been forced to serve a drow necromancer. Fate intervened, and agents of the Raven Queen had come and killed the necromancer, which had given Ryltar the means to escape.
He'd been lucky not to have been killed by them once before for a slight transgression. Should the heroes face them now and fall, they either end Ryltar's soul to become Lolth's plaything, or they'd re-make him as an undead servant. Either fate was an affront to the Raven Queen.
Hartaniel urged the drow woman to consider this a trick from King Thennrynnia. Scarlet whispered to him that the secret agent contacting the drow could be Lady Tarentia. The Lady had a long history of treachery, and was likely outraged that the king had recently cost her her standing in the Summer Court of the Feywild (when he killed Ambrosius the unicorn-man a few sessions back).
Hartaniel grabbed a stack of books from a nearby desk and carried them casually. He was hoping to pilfer them. A priestess took notice and said to Ardra, "Why do you let your males touch holy texts of Lolth?".
Ardra explained that she'd carefully trained him herself. Hartaniel drew upon his history as a slave of orcs to act in a genuine manner.
The adventurers headed back to the main hall, and then took the stairs to the sub-level. the stairs led down at an angle, away from the shaft of light. The stairs led to a forge. Four grubby dwarves hammered away on anvils in a large cavern. Pools of glowing primordial ooze littered the area. Objects jutted out of the pools - adamantine ore, and some fully-formed adamantine arms and legs!
Two lolthbound goblins carried things from anvils to pools, and two man-sized spiders kept guard over a far set of stairs that went down even deeper. Three familiar faces watched over the whole scene. It was Commander Warda, the drow with the adamantine arms and legs, and her two male drow, each bearing an adamantine arm.
Warda looked at them and snarled, "What are you doing down here?".
Ardra gestured to Hartaniel, who was carrying the stack of books. "We are transporting this research from the group upstairs.."
Warda glowered and said, "To where?!"
Ardra started to make like she'd gone the wrong way.
Warda said, "I want to know exactly who you are and what you're doing here! Charinidia did not give you permission!"
The heroes paused..
Warda cracked her adamantite knuckle joints and said, "I'm starting to think we're going to have to crush you."
Then Warda looked at Ryltar, and recognized him. They'd both fought the black dragon in the Dragon's Tooth Inn!
She shouted, "Destroy them!".
Ardra summoned her armor and her bladesong kicked in (Ryan had actually made a song and played it on his phone... awesome). The heroes tried to stay close to Ardra so they wouldn't break the Seeming.
Ardra raced forward and battled Warda and her men. The spiders and goblins converged on the rest of the heroes. One of her men broke away from Ardra, ran up to Hartaniel and punched the eladrin with his adamantine arm. Hartaniel was knocked back 10 feet, too far from Ardra. His illusory appearance as a drow faded.
One of the goblins let out a thunder blast from his mouth that staggered the group.
Scarlet and Ryltar joined Ardra in battling Commander Warva. They quickly bloodied her. Scarlet grabbed hold of her and slashed away with her broken blade. Varis pelted her with an eldritch blast as well.
Warda cracked Scarlet in the chest with an adamantine punch, sending her hurtling back fifteen feet.
Hartaniel faced off with one of the goblins and stabbed it to death. Then he flung its' corpse at a nearby drow. The drow stumbled and then turned right into the Blue Monk, who was trying to make his way to the Commander. The drow punched the Monk, sending him flying.
Ryltar sliced into Warda with his scythe, bloodying her badly. Then he put his hand on her head, uttered a prayer to the Raven Queen, and sent her soul to the Shadowfell.
Lucky turned and stabbed a drow, delivering a mortal wound. Ardra finished him off with a magical missile, and then absorbed his soul into a gem on her helm of seven deaths.
Scarlet turned and battled the last remaining drow. The Blue Monk fired off a crossbow bolt, but the drow deflected the shot with his arm. Ardra ran up and cut that drow down, absorbing his soul into her helm as well.
Ryltar sliced through the other goblin, and the heroes made quick work of the spiders.
As the dust settled, four dirty dwarves fearfully peeked up from behind their anvils.
Hartaniel asked them, "What are you making?".
Ryltar added, "Also, don't worry. Everything's fine."
One of the dwarves took a deep breath, walked over to the primal mud, and pulled out an adamantine hand - fully formed. The heroes gasped.
Lucky said, "All right everyone, stock up. You might need them for a rainy day."
Scarlet pulled out her bag of holding and speculated that they might be able to sell them to Curra the sorceress.
Hartaniel studied the primal mud. He could see that the dwarves used it to cool the adamantite. The mud also seemed to have healing properties. Ardra understood that when making adamantine limbs, it took a year for them to form and cool.
The mud also had additional benefits for fey, making them faster and healing them more effectively. Hartaniel scooped up a bunch in a container and put it in his pack.
Then they looked at the dead drow, with all their shiny, glowing, fully-working adamantine limbs.
Lucky sighed and got to hacking. She stuff the severed limbs into Scarlet's bag.
Ardra asked the dwarves if they'd seen the cylinders. The dwarves flinched and said, "Don't hurt me!".
Lucky told the heroes they should free the dwarves. "They have valuable knowledge on how to make limbs..!".
The heroes quietly discussed killing them and stuffing their corpses in the bag of holding, and then arise them once they were back in Olwynn.
They told the dwarves to wait in the forge. The heroes then patched up their wounds and headed down the stairs.
The stairs angled back toward the temple. They made their way out of the forge and down into the lowest level beneath the temple. After walking through a hallway half submerged in molten magma, they peeked around a corner to see drow gathered around the base of the shaft of light that shot through the temple's roof and all the way to the underdark cavern's ceiling! Four priestesses were around it, chanting, led by a high priestess in elaborate garb. She could only be Charinidia, high priestess of the temple.
Near the heroes were two male guards holding tall, grey death lances.
The column of light flickered like fire, or rather, drow darkfire. Suddenly it flared to life and fired off three beams of darkfire at the heroes! One shot went wide, but the other two passed through stone walls and struck Varis and Ardra! Both were shrouded in darkfire, making it impossible for them to hide. The darkfire also guided the attacks of the drow.
The drow shouted in alarm and turned toward where the heroes lurked. The guards readied their death lances as the four priestesses pulled out their fang whips, each ending in four snake heads. The heroes' hearts sank a little as Charinida pulled out a non-descript rod and uttered a command word, causing three purple tentacles to extend out. They'd battled a priestess with a tentacle rod once before, aboard the Sreen Ultrin, and they'd nearly been defeated.
Ardra made her way into the room and engaged a drow guard. The guard plunged his death lance into her gut. She watched in horror as shadowy tendrils coiled down the lance, entered her body and drained her very soul (lost 2 surges)!
The Blue Monk raced in near her and the priestesses launched off pain web and spider curse spells which wracked the monk with necrotic energy. He fell to the ground, dying!
Scarlet blew by the guards and made her way around the priestesses. She wanted to get at Charinidia herself. Scarlet grabbed hold of Charinidia's arm and stabbed at her with her broken blade.
Charinidia was furious. She lashed at the bandit with the tentacles, bloodying her. Then she commanded her priestesses to finish off the rivvil (human). The fang whips came down, and Scarlet fell to the ground in a bloody heap.
Varis, Ryltar and Hartaniel made their way back through the magma hallway and opened a double door in it, which also provided access to the main hall where the column of darkfire was. A guard was by the door. As the drow turned, Varis chanted and called forth a burning spray, scorching the drow guard. The dark elf sneered and leveled his death lance.
Hartaniel stabbed the guard and kicked him to the ground. Ryltar brought his scythe down on the prone guard, slashing deep into his neck and killing him (with a critical). One of the two guards was slain.
Varis made his way past the corpse and through the doorway, and was struck with spells from the priestess, which dropped him to the ground. The boy warlock was dying...
Lucky made her way past the other guard, and knelt down next to Ardra and The Blue Monk. She healed them and said, "Life is probably barely worth living". Both opened their eyes, conscious and back in the fight. Ardra called on the power of the helm of seven deaths, releasing the souls of Cabbagehead and a drow warrior from the Sreen Ultrin in exchange for a burst of magical healing powered by a portion of their spirits.
As Lucky stood up, the guard stabbed her with his death lance (Another critical by me... my dice were on fire).
The Blue Monk staggered to his feet. The column fired off another beam of darkfire that hit him and shrouded him in evil drow magic. This made him furious. The half-orc pulled out a container of his trademark blue dust, and covered his hands in it. Then, he ran in an arc, allowing him to run past each enemy and strike them. He became a screaming cloud of blue dust, punching the drow in the face, sending them reeling.
Hartaniel let out an orcish war cry as he watched his ally devastate the drow.
Scarlet, bloody and prone, saw The Blue Monk's epic assault and said calmly, "Go team."
Lucky disengaged the drow guard and began shouting out tactical orders. She feinted, drawing Charinidia closer. As she dodged the purple tentacles, She created openings for Ardra, Ryltar and Hartaniel to charge the drow priestess. Charinidia shrieked as she was stabbed over and over.
Ryltar then spun and slashed a nearby drow priestesses. He could sense she was close to death. He placed his palm on her head and uttered a prayer to the Raven Queen. The drow's spirit left her body. Her corpse plopped to the ground.
The drow guard turned away from Lucky and stabbed Hartaniel (another critical!). Shadowy tendrils wound into his body, infecting his soul (draining him of two surges). Charinidia then brought down the tentacles on the eladrin, staggering him and bloodying him badly. A priestess struck him with her fang whip. He succumbed to the many snake bites and fell to the ground, dying.
Ardra teleported away from the battle to bandage a nasty wound (she was now out of surges!). But the nearby drow guard ran over and stabbed his lance into her (yes another critical), dropping her for good (poor Ardra was out of surges and down - there was no way for the party to heal her).
Lucky leaned over Varis' body. He had a faint pulse. She pulled out a flask and dumped its' contents into his mouth. Then she realized she'd given him booze instead of a healing potion, and dumped that down his throat. Varis coughed and awoke. He could taste the alcohol on his lips. He looked up at Lucky and said, "Tastes like dwarf."
She pulled him to his feet. Then he reached out and drew a tiny piece of Ryltar's soul, transformed it into eldritch energy, and launched an eldritch blast into Charinidia. She shrieked and spit blood.
Charinidia made her way away from the column of darkfire, to an elevated area where there was an altar of Lolth. The slab on the altar had a human-sized impression in it, to catch and drain the blood of those sacrificed upon it.
Lucky made her way to Hartaniel. She fed him a potion, which revived him. He reached into his pack and retrieved his container of primal mud. He smeared it over himself, healing his wounds. He got to his feet, adjusting his owlbear skull helmet.
The Blue Monk and Ryltar went after Charinidia. Ryltar sliced a bloody gash in her side. Then Ryltar took aim from afar and fired off one more eldritch bolt. The bolt exploded through her chest. Her limp body tipped back, half in the depression in the altar. Her blood began to fill it.
The remaining three priestesses and the guard looked around. Half of the heroes were dying. With their leader dead, one of them could seize the opportunity and become the new high priestess. All they had to do was finish off the invaders.
The drow guard stabbed Ryltar with the death lance. A priestess struck Varis with her fang whip. Scarlet grabbed a priestess and smashed her into a pillar. Another priestess brought down her fang whip on the bandit. The snakes bit deep into her shoulders, creating little streams of blood (Scarlet had 6 hit points left).
Hartaniel plunged his blade through a priestess, killing her. Then he tossed her body into another, killing that priestess as well!
The heroes rallied and made quick work of the final two.
They fell to their knees, exhausted and badly wounded. They tended to Ardra as best they could. She was badly hurt, but in time she would re-awaken.
They quickly searched the place before the many drow from above realized what they'd done. They found the cylinders in a secret alcove in Charinidia's room. In the alcove was an insane human of great strength chained to the wall with a ball gag in his mouth. Near him was a floatchest brimming over with cylinders. They'd found every last canister of blood veil!
They snatched up Charinidia's ritual book and all the magic items and gems they could carry. Then they stood over a teleport circle, ready to use a newly-found scroll of linked portal.
Where would they go? They talked in hushed tones. Olwynn? Echo Warrens? Even the probably-abandoned enclave of Honglath..? All they knew for sure was that they had to get out of Rilauven right away.
