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Wing Three
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 6154579" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 70 - THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Cal Trop, human cleric of Kord</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Chalkan, half-elven ranger/cleric of Corellon Larethian/sorcerer/arcane archer</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Feron Dru, half-elf druid</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Telgrane, human wizard (conjurer)/archmage</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Thunderwolf, human fighter</p><p></p><p>I should mention up front that in this adventure I tried something I'd never done before, and probably couldn't get away with had I had a different group of players. (My oldest son, Stuart, for example, would have had an absolute fit that I had decided how his character would had reacted in a given situation and ran with it.) But I had what I thought was a cool concept for an adventure, which necessitated me deciding how some things would have happened earlier in the day that the adventure takes place, and part of that was how the PCs had reacted, what they had decided to do, and so on. Also, for this to work, I had to assign specific PCs to each player for this adventure, rather than allow them to select between their two PCs as to which they wanted to run.</p><p></p><p>To set up the adventure, I did what I occasionally do to my players when readying a "twist" for an adventure: I lied to them. I told them that I was going to try something a little different this time around, and set them up in a scene at their Headquarters, telling them what each PC was doing at the moment, and that I would then be introducing a number of different plot hooks into the starting scenario to see which ones they responded to first. I left them with the impression that we'd be dealing with a number of these disparate plot hooks over the course of the adventure, but I was letting them decide in which order they'd be tackling them. And, of course, trusting players that they are, they bought it. But in my defense, I lied to them for a good cause, and I was reasonably sure that after the true course of events was revealed they'd all be perfectly okay with it. And I was right: they were. So I guess the moral of this introduction is that when a DM knows his players well, he can get away with things he normally wouldn't.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, let's get on with it. I pulled out my geomorph for the Wing Three living quarters and placed the PCs in various locations, explaining what their "starting status" was. It was about 10 in the morning on whatever the equivalent of Sunday is in the standard Greyhawk calendar; those PCs who prepare spells had already prepared them for the day (and I let them choose their spells as normal, although I had already made some private notes about some changes I'd be making to their spell choices). I put Feron and Telgrane on a sofa in the general living area; they were each having a glass of wine and discussing spellcraft. I put Chalkan and Thunderwolf in two chairs in the same room; they were attending to their weapons - Thunderwolf polishing Xanthros to a fine sheen and Chalkan coating the bowstring of <em>Rilisivae Athelgala</em> with beeswax. Cal I put at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the Wing Three living quarters; I explained that he wasn't initially in the scene but would be entering almost immediately, so he wouldn't miss much. And again I reinforced that I would be introducing some plot hooks in the form of a visitor or two, and that we'd just be role-playing those encounters, so they should just ad lib their reactions.</p><p></p><p>And we were off.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Cal's booming voice preceded him as he clomped up the stairs in his heavy boots; he had been to the Church of Kord early that morning, to give another demonstration of his strength and general prowess to the novices, who took any opportunity they could get to spend time with an experienced cleric of their faith who had their god's own blood coursing through his veins. Feron and Telgrane continued their spellcraft discussion without looking up at their adventuring companion. It wasn't until they heard the sound of feminine laughter accompanying Cal's voice - he was once again relating the story of how he had singlehandedly obtained the <em>Gauntlet of Kord</em> - that Feron looked over to see who else was with him. Cal was shirtless and glistening in body oil from his demonstration of strength at his church, and hanging onto his arm (and his every word) was a young woman, <strong>Sharilla</strong>, a serving girl from a local tavern. She stared up at him in obvious adoration. Feron only rolled her eyes and returned her attention to Telgrane and their talk of various spell strategies.</p><p></p><p>Cal had only just finished introducing Sharilla to everyone when two more people came up the stairs. The first was a Guild page, escorting a rather regal-looking elf in long robes with intricate designs along the sleeves and hem. "A visitor for Miss Feron," announced the page, then turned on his heels and left the way he had come.</p><p></p><p>The elf glanced at everyone in the room, then studiously ignored all but Feron. As he walked over to where she was sitting, his steel-grey eyes fixed her with an appraising stare from head to foot. Standing before her, he gave a quick half-smirk to himself and said, "Yes, you'll do quite nicely. My name is <strong>Kukisha Kusir</strong>. Please go upstairs and gather your belongings; I have arranged with your mother for your hand in marriage. Pack only what you need for a few days; I'll have the rest of your possessions forwarded to my forest villa."</p><p></p><p>"I beg your pardon?" asked Feron, astonished.</p><p></p><p>"Do not tarry," commanded Kukisha. "You have half an hour to pack. After that I expect us to be on our way, for I wish us to be wed this very afternoon."</p><p></p><p>"Oh you do, do you?" asked Feron. "And supposing I don't share your eagerness?"</p><p></p><p>The elven nobleman seemed shocked by the very notion that Feron might believe she had any say in the matter. He gave a heavy sigh. "I can see the first thing we shall have to work on is your obedience," he said. "I am not in the habit of repeating myself, but I will do so this once, and this once only: go upstairs and pack your things, or we shall leave without them."</p><p></p><p>Her eyes narrowed angrily into mere slits, Feron set her wine glass down on the low table in front of her and bent down to pick up something from the floor at her feet. It was her own longbow, which she brought up with a practiced flourish, drawing back an arrow and aiming it at the elven nobleman's chest. "I believe I have everything I need right here," she replied. "Now I suggest you turn around, go back down the way you came, and get out of here while you still can. The wedding's off."</p><p></p><p>Kukisha looked around him, as if rediscovering the existence of the adventurers in the room with him and his intended. Thunderwolf had stopped polishing Xanthros and was holding it at the ready. Chalkan, likewise, had an arrow nocked on his White-Wood Whisperbow and aimed at the elf. Cal was weaponless, but made a tight fist with his right hand (his left arm still was already in use, wrapped around Sharilla's waist as she rubbed her hands appreciatively on his left bicep and his chest). Telgrane made no threatening gestures, but just leaned back and smiled as if to enjoy the upcoming spectacle.</p><p></p><p>"This isn't finished," Kukisha vowed, then turned on his heel and stormed down the stairs in a foul mood. In his haste, he almost ran into the Guild page, who had returned with another visitor, this one a gruff-looking dwarf with reddish hair and beard.</p><p></p><p>"That's the one!" the dwarf called out, pointing a stubby finger at Thunderwolf. "That's the one what stole Xanthros from my collection!"</p><p></p><p>"Say what now?" asked Thunderwolf. "I didn't steal Xanthros! Just who do you think you are, barging in here making ridiculous accusations?"</p><p></p><p>"You know blasted well who I am," snarled the dwarf. "I'm <strong>Morros Rosnak</strong>, a weapons collector, and the rightful owner of that sword you've got in your hand, which you stole from me! Now hand it over, or there's gonna be trouble!"</p><p></p><p>"There must be some mistake," replied Telgrane, getting up from the sofa and setting his drink next to Feron's. "I was there when Thunderwolf found Xanthros, and it wasn't in some weapons collection - it was strapped to the hand of a troll, along with a bunch of other swords and daggers." There was a soft <em>plop!</em> behind him, as a spider fell from the ceiling and into his wine, but he didn't notice it.</p><p></p><p>"Lies!" replied Morros. "Xanthros was stolen from my collection, and I paid good coin to a diviner, who cast spells and saw this one" - again he pointed at Thunderwolf - "making off with it! Now I show up here and catch him red-handed! Give it back or I call for the constabulary!"</p><p></p><p>"Settle down," suggested Cal. "I can vouch for the fact that Thunderwolf didn't steal your sword."</p><p></p><p>"But the diviner--" spluttered Morros.</p><p></p><p>"Spells can be tricked, and even divinations can be led astray. Now who was this diviner who cast the spell for you? Is it possible he was just trying to swindle you?"</p><p></p><p>"That's Xanthros right there!" argued the dwarf. "I don't care how he got his hands on it, it's my sword! Now give it back!" His face was now redder than his beard.</p><p></p><p>"Maybe we should get my uncle," suggested Thunderwolf, referring to Guildmaster Farthingale. </p><p></p><p>"Thief!" called Morros, spittle flying from his mouth. "Gimme my sword back!"</p><p></p><p>"Now wait just a minute," began Chalkan.</p><p></p><p>"Fine!" snarled Morros. "I see how it is with you adventuring types! Think you can just take whatever you want, is it? Fine, I'll play your damned game - I'll give you a thousand gold pieces to buy my own sword back from you den of thieves!"</p><p></p><p>"Xanthros is not for sale!" stated Thunderwolf, shielding the weapon behind his own body.</p><p></p><p>While all of this commotion was going on, another version of Sharilla, this one dressed in a slinky black gown, walked up the stairs and smiled lasciviously at Cal. "I hope you don't mind," cooed the tavern worker at Cal's arm, "but I invited my twin sister <strong>Madrissa</strong> to join us here. She's...very interested in seeing those feats of strength I was telling her about. Perhaps you could give us a private session, say, up in your room?"</p><p></p><p>Madrissa ran her hand appreciatively over Cal's well-muscled chest, and the cleric of Kord could tell just from the icy coldness of her touch that Madrissa and Sharilla might be identical twins, but only one of them was still alive. Madrissa's skin tone was pale, and when she ran her tongue across her lips, Cal could see that her eyeteeth were just a bit pointed. <em>Vampire!</em> he realized at once, and began wondering how she had gotten here in the daylight, how he was going to fight her here in their living room without any of his weapons....</p><p></p><p>"Let's go upstairs, just the three of us," suggested Madrissa. "Away from these others, embroiled in their petty arguments."</p><p></p><p>"After you, ladies," replied Cal, pushing them forwards ahead of him towards the stairs. He wanted to keep them in front of him, where he could see them. Maybe lock them in his room, then alert the others?</p><p></p><p>"I'm not paying you more than a thousand for my own sword back, you thieving varmint!" yelled Morros.</p><p></p><p>"You're not paying me anything!" countered Thunderwolf. "Xanthros is <em>not</em> for sale!"</p><p></p><p>"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" thundered a new voice. Everyone in the now-crowded room turned to face a furious Guildmaster Farthingale, all voices silenced by his uncharacteristic outburst.</p><p></p><p>"That's much better," he replied in his normal voice. "Now then, let's try to discuss everything in a civilized manner, shall we?" As he spoke, he removed his outer jacket, draping it over the back of a chair and then slipping quickly out of his vest. He practically tore the buttons off of his starched white shirt in his haste to remove it, and then started slathering body oil over his own prodigious belly and chest. "Let's start with you two," he said, addressing Madrissa and Sharilla. "Did you know I taught Cal everything he knows about endurance?"</p><p></p><p>Cal didn't even get a chance to respond to this ridiculous assertion before the final visitor entered the room. Surprisingly, it was Chalkan's half-sister, Caeline Laniela, recently raised from the dead. However, she did not look like her normal self, for she wore a thick coating of black face paint, and was juggling what appeared to be a trio of small brains in her hands.</p><p></p><p>"I'm too sexy for my mind, just check out this behind!" she sang heartily, her concentration fixed on keeping the brains in the air without incident.</p><p></p><p>Feron had had enough. Surely this wasn't all really happening, was it? She said the words to the <em>true seeing</em> spell she had prepared that morning...</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>...and woke up in near darkness.</p><p></p><p>Feron's confusion was absolute. She was instantly aware of several things, although she had no idea how these things had come to be. First of all, she was lying down on her back, on what felt like a rigid hammock. She was bound tightly from neck to feet, wrapped up like a mummy. There was a strand of something attached to her forehead, which gave off the faint blue illumination which was the only light in this large, underground cavern. She could tell she wasn't wearing her dragonhide armor, but it felt like she still had on the padded undersuit she wore beneath it. She had no weapons, none of her adventuring gear, not even any jewelry - her Guild ring was not on her finger, nor was the dolphin necklace she normally wore around her neck.</p><p></p><p>Her last memory was of climbing into her bed the night before - whenever that was.</p><p></p><p>Feron stretched her head back, and saw that the others - Cal, Chalkan, Telgrane, and Thunderwolf - were in similar positions. The five of them were wrapped in silk bindings, laying in a circle in the middle of an enormous spiderweb. Each had a bluish strand of silk adhered to their foreheads; these strands all merged together and ran off to one side of the web, into a cavern carved into one side of the wall.</p><p></p><p>Attached to the other end of these blue web-strands, standing in the shadows of this side-cave, was the largest spider Feron had ever seen. Its eight hairy legs easily spanned some forty feet between them.</p><p></p><p><A pity,> echoed a voice in Feron's head. <You have awakened before my feast is complete. Now I shall have to render you insensate yet again.></p><p></p><p>Feron screamed aloud, and the combination of the scream and her panicked thoughts in the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell that she suddenly realized was apparently still active between them got the others awake as well. The half-elf druid sat up in her bonds, just as a <em>chain lightning</em> spell from the massive spider slammed into her body, arcing off to hit the others in turn.</p><p></p><p>Cal grimaced with the pain of the electrical burns, then readied himself for glory and used a feat of strength granted by Kord to shred the webbing keeping him bound. He leapt to his feet, bouncing slightly on the taut web, and stepped over to aid the companion nearest him, Chalkan. Telgrane and Thunderwolf struggled to escape their own bonds, with no luck.</p><p></p><p>Feron, in the meantime, chose to wildshape into a form that could easily slip from the bonds; after initially deciding to become a fire elemental, she quickly opted against that, since a quick look below her showed that the spiderweb was strung across an enormous vertical chasm of unknown depth. She figured a fire elemental's flames would burn through the binding webbing all right, but would likewise burn through the spiderweb she stood upon and she had no desire to plummet to her death. (Feron didn't realize it, but the depths below were a <em>permanent illusion</em>; the space beneath the web went all of ten feet or so.) With that in mind, she took on the form of an air elemental instead, tightening her body into a narrow whirlwind and sliding effortless from the web-bindings in which she had awoken.</p><p></p><p><Your efforts do you justice, but they will not avail you in the end,> said the spider's raspy voice in the minds of the heroes, as it tossed another <em>chain lightning</em> spell at them, this time catching Cal as the focus and arcing off to the others from him. Cal, by this time, had ripped through Chalkan's bindings and was stepping over to where Telgrane was bound. The young archmage was no physical powerhouse like Cal, and had had little luck in even loosening his bonds. Not so Thunderwolf, who while not yet free on his own was loosening up the webbing that bound him; another half-minute or so and he'd have it.</p><p></p><p>Another voice echoed in Thunderwolf's head. "Young master!" it cried, and the fighter immediately recognized it as his sentient sword, Xanthros. "You must defeat the brain spider that has captured you, and then come to my rescue! I am in a room just beyond, along with all of your other equipment, but beware! There are four drow fighters in here with me, inventorying all of your goods, and another two guard the corridor leading from this room to the brain spider's web!" Xanthros provided details on where to find this corridor, and Thunderwolf passed the information on to the others over the <em>telepathic bond</em>.</p><p></p><p>Cal was ripping Telgrane's web-bonds apart and freeing the grateful archmage when the brain spider cast a third <em>chain lightning</em> spell at the heroes, this time catching all of them but Feron, who in her air elemental form had flown over to find the corridor that Thunderwolf had mentioned. It was about 10 feet above the web and about a third of the way around the circular chasm from the brain spider's lair. <I see I will have to deal with you on a personal level,> noted the arachnid as its final spell failed to drop any of the heroes. It started skittering out of the side cavern and joined the group on its web.</p><p></p><p>Telgrane took a quick mental spell inventory and noted that he was under the effects of not only the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell, which he habitually cast on the group before going into combat, but also a <em>mage armor</em> spell and a <em>stoneskin</em> spell as well. Odd, since he had no memories of casting them, but he wasn't going to argue. In the meantime, he shot a <em>magic missile</em> spell at the brain spider as it headed his way. Then he recalled that the <em>scorching ray</em> spell didn't require any material components, either - his spell component pouch was likely in the inventory room with Xanthros and the drow - and sent a few of them at the spider for good measure as well. Chalkan followed suit, as an archer could hardly rely upon those skills without his bow and arrows at hand, and while he wasn't able to manifest as many individual <em>scorching rays</em> as Telgrane could, at least those he did conjure up struck true. Still, the massive brain spider skittered over to Telgrane, its horrid mouthparts open wide to bite the young archmage.</p><p></p><p>Cal took note of the spider's position and maneuvered away from it, such that a mass version of one of his <em>cure</em> spells would heal up his comrades but not similarly heal the spider; the heroes by this time were well in need of some healing, and his timely spell likely saved the lives of more than one of his friends. Feron, meanwhile, cast a <em>call lightning storm</em> and started dropping bolts of electricity down upon the brain spider's body. The continued onslaught took its toll on the massive arachnid, and finally Telgrane, sensing the spider was on its last legs, reached out to the staggering monster and cast a low-level <em>shocking grasp</em> spell to finish it off. The spider collapsed at his touch, its legs twitching spasmodically in death. <em>I can't wait to tell Akari about this!</em> thought Telgrane, pleased at his having dealt the finishing blow to the gigantic spider with such a relatively weak spell.</p><p></p><p>As the spider died, however, the blue light from the memory webs that had been stuck upon each of the heroes' foreheads when they awoke started fading, and the illumination in the cavern went from "barely any" to "none at all." Chalkan responded by casting a <em>light</em> spell on his own chest, and the shirt he wore under his armor glowed enough to allow the others to find their way to the corridor that Feron had discovered. Cal boosted Chalkan up, and the archer grabbed onto the ledge and pulled himself the rest of the way up. Doing so exposed him to the two drow fighters guarding the corridor, however, and he received a pair of bolts from the drows' hand crossbows as a result. Feron dropped a bolt of electricity onto one of the drow, while Thunderwolf gave Cal a boost up onto the ledge and the cleric then cast a <em>mislead</em> spell, turning the cleric invisible but sending a fierce-looking copy of himself to swagger confidently down the corridor as if to break some drow heads. The drow took the bait, jumping out and slashing at the image of Cal with their blades with their large steel shields up for protection, but the unarmed Cal merely winced slightly at their blows and kept approaching, a manic grin forecasting all kinds of pain he'd be bringing to the drow in retaliation.</p><p></p><p>Telgrane decided to <em>polymorph</em> himself into a form that could fly; on the spur of the moment he chose a pseudodragon, thinking its venomous tail might come in handy. It wasn't until his body had already assumed its new form that he belatedly recalled that pseudodragon venom caused sleep, and the drow were likely to be immune. <em>Oh well</em>, he thought, <em>at least I can still fly past them</em>, and proceeded to do just that, hugging the 8-foot ceiling to try to stay out of the drow fighters' reach.</p><p></p><p>The drow were too busy to notice him, however, for Chalkan had cast a <em>charm person</em> on the drow fighter who had not yet been hit with Feron's lightning bolts and convinced him that they were here to root out the enemies of the spider-goddess Lolth, furthermore explaining that the drow's partner was disloyal. The confused drow fighter looked aghast at his treacherous partner, who managed to sputter an astonished "You've got to be kidding m--" before being run through by his partner's sword. A still-invisible Cal pulled Thunderwolf up from the web and onto the corridor's ledge, while Telgrane, in pseudodragon form, flapped over to the door at the end of the corridor and opened it with his feet.</p><p></p><p>A rectangular room was just beyond, with three drow fighters holding up various pieces of the adventurers' equipment and a fourth one writing down the contents on a sheet of parchment. As the door opened, the first three dropped the stolen goods and unsheathed their longswords, while the fourth dropped his quill and parchment and grabbed up his shield. However, he then proceeded to flip it over and leap upon its underside, riding it through the air towards the set of stairs leading further down into darkness.</p><p></p><p>Spotting a familiar-looking tinderbox in the corner of the room, Telgrane called out to Infernia through his empathic link, and the lid popped open as a line of cinders arced out of the box and onto the stone floor. Then Infernia resumed her normal fire elemental shape, and both archmage and familiar both got a shock, for Infernia stood about 9 feet tall - much taller than the 3 feet tall Telgrane was used to; he must have cast a <em>polymorph any object</em> spell on her at some point that morning - while Telgrane was a tiny little pseudodragon flapping furiously in the air. "Master!" cried an astonished Infernia. "You're so <em>cute</em> like that!"</p><p></p><p>"Not now," advised Telgrane, over the mind-link. As expected, Infernia was part of the group of minds connected by the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell, and while she had been mind-blasted into unconsciousness with the others by the brain spider, as fire elementals do not sleep they do not dream; thus, she had been spared the shared dream sequence fueled by five unconscious minds still linked together by magic. "Let's finish off these drow! But not that one," added Telgrane, pointing to the helpful drow that Chalkan had successfully charmed. The Large fire elemental got to work with relish, setting a few of the fighters ablaze as she batted at them with her fists. Chalkan pointed out to his newly charmed friend that these four drow were also traitors to Lolth, and the fighter attacked his own compatriots with gusto. Thunderwolf rushed into the room and found Xanthros, and helped finish off the last of the three drow still in the room.</p><p></p><p>Feron, in the meantime, had used her increased speed as an air elemental to follow the fourth drow down the stairs. He was calling a warning to others in the room at the bottom of the stairs, when Feron swatted him from behind. Amazingly, as the spry drow was thrown to the side from her blow he ran a few steps on the wall and jumped back onto his shield - actually a <em>drow floatdisk</em> - and carried on as if nothing had happened. However, Feron got another punch in before he reached the bottom of the stairs, and this time he was thrown forward off of the floatdisk to tumble the remaining way down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom with a broken neck. His floatdisk clattered down the stairs behind him, to finally fall in a tight circle like a spinning coin winding down.</p><p></p><p>The room at the bottom of the stairs held a dozen bunks, and four more drow who had just been awakened from their sleep shift. They grabbed up swords and shields, and while three of them ran to face the air elemental who had infiltrated their lair, the fourth ran through a door beneath the stairs, calling for <strong>Almathea Jhaundallavin</strong>, the drow priestess in charge of this outpost. While the group upstairs grabbed up their gear (and Chalkan posted their charmed drow ally back where he had been stationed, "to ensure no enemies of Lolth approach from that direction"), Feron took on a trio of drow fighters by herself. She was quickly joined by Infernia, who needed no equipment to fight, and thus had been sent on ahead while Telgrane pulled on his <em>robe of the archmagi</em>, grabbed up his spellbooks, and slipped his magic rings back onto his fingers.</p><p></p><p>Almathea summoned a Large monstrous spider to attack Feron, but it proved to be even less of a threat than the fighters had been, and was quickly slain. The drow cleric, seeing that she was soon to be on her own in the outpost, ran back into her own chambers and cast an <em>invisibility</em> spell on herself, then ran to hide behind the carved obsidian statue of Lolth (in drider form) that graced one end of her own lavish quarters. Infernia entered the room and found nobody there; Feron soon followed and a pair of smaller spiders manifested, but were quickly put down. By this time, Telgrane had joined the pair, and Almathea tried casting a <em>bestow curse</em> spell upon the archmage, only to have it fail to pierce the spell resistance granted by his robes. However, it did turn her back to visibility, and she didn't last much longer after that.</p><p></p><p>There was a second set of stairs from the soldiers' bunk room leading even further down to another level. Stationed there were two more drow fighters, guarding another massive, vertical shaft leading down into darkness. Chalkan took the opportunity to try one of his untried-in-combat arcane archer stunts, and shot a seeking arrow down the stairwell that made a sudden left turn at the bottom and pierced the side of a very surprised drow. By this time, the others had all gathered up their equipment - a still-invisible Cal even brought Feron hers, and she gratefully resumed her half-elven form to gear up, looking askance at the strange sight of an invisible Cal wearing his quite visible armor - and Cal sent his duplicate image stomping down the stairs to draw the drow's fire. He went clomping down the stairs behind his own duplicate image, and was quite surprised when Chalkan tried another stunt, this time sending a phase arrow harmlessly through Cal's own body to strike the drow at the bottom of the stairs. Before long, the last of the drow were slain, and everybody regrouped up in the soldiers' bunk room to catch up with what had happened.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, neither Xanthros nor Infernia had had their recent memories drained by the brain spider, and thus were able to fill in the group on what had happened since this morning. At about seven bells, Farthingale had sent the five heroes - the only ones about in Wing Three, for the others were off at the market or doing who-knows-what - to the Cathedral of Corellon Larethian, to investigate a kidnapping. It seems the night before, a drow raiding party had entered the Cathedral and grabbed <strong>Maestro Elias Quespaterno</strong>, an elderly elven organist who was practicing a new musical piece of his own composition for a Festival of Corellon two days hence. During the kidnapping, the Maestro's assistant, a young elf maiden named <strong>Alaestrianna Rainsong</strong>, was hit on the head and left for dead. Although unconscious and barely alive, she survived the assault and was discovered the next morning by the Cathedral's High Priest; she was healed of her injuries, told what had happened, and a plea for assistance was sent to the Adventurers Guild. Cal performed a divination spell which led the heroes to a hidden passageway beneath the Minotaur Inn; they had to fight their way past a group of cultists, but found a secret door which led them to a spiraling passageway which corkscrewed its way along the inside of an enormous vertical shaft. However, that led to the brain spider, who had knocked everybody out with a powerful mind blast. They all plummeted to the web below, where the drow allied with the brain spider stripped them of their weapons, armor, and items, leaving the spider to bind them up and begin devouring their memories, after which time they'd be eaten alive.</p><p></p><p>However, that didn't quite work out as the brain spider had hoped.</p><p></p><p>So now, ready to continue their quest for the Maestro, it seemed the only way to go was through the vertical tunnel leading even deeper below the ground. Not wanting to leave any loose ends behind them, though, they returned to Chalkan's charmed drow soldier and interviewed him about the plans involving the Maestro. He hadn't been part of the raiding party and didn't know the big picture, but apparently kidnapping the Maestro had something to do with an attack to come in a few days. Having learned all they could from their unwitting ally, the group quickly killed him before he realized his new friends were in fact directly opposed to Almathea's plans.</p><p></p><p>Using the <em>drow floatdisks</em> seemed like the best way to travel, and since there were 13 of them to be had (Almathea had one as well as each of her dozen soldiers), the heroes practiced using these new devices in the relative safety of the bunk room. It was primarily a matter of balance; the feet slipped under the straps that one held when using it as a shield, and leaning in a given direction steered the device that way. After deciding that it might be best to appear to be drow themselves, Feron used her "thousand faces" druidic ability to take on the coloration of a drow, while Telgrane <em>polymorphed</em> directly into a dark elf. The other piled into the <em>Daern's dollhouse</em>, which Feron held in her hands rather than stow it in her <em>Heward's handy haversack</em>, since the extradimensional nature of the haversack's interior would prevent the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell from keeping everyone in mental contact. Infernia, weighing in at a mere 4 pounds even in her Large size, stood on the back of her master's floatdisk and held on to his shoulders, and he and Feron were off.</p><p></p><p>The vertical chasm was about 30 feet in diameter and dropped straight down for over 400 feet. When they dropped out of it, they found themselves in an immense cavern of a size previously undreamed of - it looked to be about a mile down before hitting the floor, and easily a mile or more in each direction. Telgrane, having gained the darkvision of a drow after assuming such a form, could see tiny mushroom forests below, with enormous stalactites hanging down from the ceiling above, and what looked to be an underground lake in the distance; Feron, still relying upon her half-elven low-light vision, couldn't see as far, and was grateful for Infernia's illumination to allow her to see what little she could. However, faint blobs of light indicated there were patches of phosphorescent fungus about.</p><p></p><p>That wasn't all there were about, though: in the lightless realms of the Underdark, Infernia's flames stood out like a beacon, and soon attracted a trio of hungry cloakers, who sent their sonic moans at the two heroes. The adventurers were able to shake off the effects, but they were surprised at being caught in a subsequent <em>cone of cold</em> that blasted down at them from above. Telgrane looked for the source with his <em>arcane sight</em>, but saw nothing; whatever it was was likely covered by a <em>greater invisibility</em> spell. A mental summons sent the other heroes spilling out of the dollhouse, each regaining normal size upon having done so and immediately activating their floatdisks. What followed was a mid-air battle between the heroes and the three cloakers; Telgrane, after the quick casting of a <em>see invisibility</em> spell, saw that it was a cloaker lord that had cast the <em>cone of cold</em> spell down at them. Feron cast a <em>protection from energy</em> spell on herself to prevent another such spell from harming her, but the three lesser cloakers were quickly slain and the cloaker lord decided soon thereafter to go find some easier prey elsewhere.</p><p></p><p>As Cal gathered everybody up into a close formation again for the application of some ranged mass healing, a jellyfishlike form floated up to Telgrane. "You...are...a.. drow," it said, each word expelled with some effort through air-holes along the four-foot-wide mushroomlike "cap" of its upper body, "but...your...allies...are...not...drow. Did...you...take...the...disks...from...slain...drow?"</p><p></p><p>Conversation with the floating creature was a bit tedious, but they managed to make do, for it spoke in fluent - if halting - Common. It introduced itself as <strong>Galaedia Whispertouch</strong>, and claimed to be an elf from the surface. "I...was...fighting...drow," she explained. "They...overtook...me. When...I...awoke...I...had...been...trans...formed...into...this...shape." Feron and Telgrane shared a troubled look. Their own studies had taught them about a fungal life form, the sapromneme, which laid spores on the bodies of the dead. As the spores grew into a sapromneme, it absorbed the memories of the slain form, eventually attaining its adult stage, which looked like a floating jellyfish with the full memories of the host organism that had given it birth. Galaedia Whispertouch, it seemed, was dead somewhere down here in the Underdark, and this being before them that thought it was her was actually nothing more than a living, fungal ghost. The group silently discussed it amongst themselves over their <em>telepathic bond</em>, and agreed not to break the sad news to the poor thing. They did, however, explain who they were and what they were doing in the Underdark.</p><p></p><p>That proved to be a very good move, for the sapromneme had seen a drow party on floatdisks go by many hours before (the term "last night" having no apparent meaning in a land without a sun), and was willing to show the group where they had gone. There was a small island upon the Underdark lake in the distance, and on that island was a small, one-story stone structure - that was where the drow and their elven captive had gone. The group thanked "Galaedia" and wished her well, and the fungal ghost in turn wished them luck with their endeavors. Infernia returned to her tinder box, everybody else piled back into the dollhouse, and Telgrane and Feron - still looking like drow - approached the building. Telgrane could see a pair of beetle-men guarding the only visible door to the building, so he and Feron went on a circuitous route along the lake to approach the building from behind. Not seeing any other visible entrances to the structure, they decided to alight onto the rooftop.</p><p></p><p>Telgrane wanted to call forth some extra muscle, so he spoke the words to a <em>summon monster</em> spell and caused a greater earth elemental to manifest on the rooftop next to him. That proved to be a bit more than the roof could handle, for Telgrane had forgotten that the average greater earth elemental weighs in at somewhere around 54,000 pounds. It appeared in the middle of the rooftop and then went instantly plummeting through it, destroying a retaining wall directly underneath it on the way down (although not, oddly enough, the door that linked the two rooms, which remained locked a mere few feet from the smashed wall beside it). The cacophony caused by the massive destruction instantly alerted everyone inside the entire building, as well as the two diopsid guards at the front door, along with a drider and a draegloth abomination that nested in a mass of webs along one side of the building.</p><p></p><p>The drider and draegloth reacted first, popping up the sides of the building to see what was causing the ruckus. Feron cast a <em>whirlwind</em> to pummel the drider, and when it scrambled onto the rooftop to avoid the magical effect Telgrane had his greater earth elemental stand back up through the hole in the roof and smash the drider to a wet pulp. In the meantime, the other heroes started spilling back out of the dollhouse, which Feron had set down on the rooftop so she could have her hands free for what looked to be some serious spellcraft.</p><p></p><p>Looking down into the rooms below through the gaping hole in the ceiling, Telgrane could see a partially-demolished bedroom of sorts to the east, where two narrow partitions divided the room into sleeping areas for three people; each had room for little more than a rough cot and a few hooks upon which to hang a cloak or robe. The western side of the hole was filled with impenetrable darkness, apparently a spell effect that only applied to that particular room.</p><p></p><p>Telgrane and Feron each took a moment to summon some further allies: the archmage called forth a greater fire elemental (and released Infernia back out of her tinder box), while the druid called forth three greater earth elementals of her own. Telgrane sent his fire elemental down into the breach to check the place out, while Feron, hearing some moaning coming from the darkened room below and assuming it was the Maestro, figured they'll already done enough damage not to have to worry about further alerting the residents and summoned all three of her earth elementals onto the northern side of the rooftop, to crash through as Telgrane's had done. They demolished three guest bedrooms and part of a hallway to smithereens, then Feron had them earth glide down into the floor to verify there wasn't another level below. They reported back in the negative; this looked to be a one-level structure.</p><p></p><p>While this was going on, the two diopsids had climbed up onto the rooftop from the front of the building and started moving towards the intruders. Chalkan cast an <em>enlarge person</em> spell upon Cal, who grew to twice his normal height. The arcane archer then teamed up with Thunderwolf to send barrages of arrows into the draegloth abomination - equal parts drider and four-armed demon - and the approaching diopsids. Inside the building, a furious <strong>Baella Xordaxi</strong>, the drow priestess in charge of this workshop and the mind behind the kidnapping of Maestro Elias Quespaterno, looked through the hole in her rooftop and saw only Cal, who at double his normal size was quite visible. She cast a <em>slay living</em> spell at him, but it failed to penetrate his spell resistance - for by that time, Cal had cast a <em>holy aura</em> spell that covered all of the heroes. However, for her trouble, she was attacked by Telgrane's greater fire elemental, who had to reach for her through a doorway while on hands and knees, but managed to set the drow cleric ablaze.</p><p></p><p>Inside the magically darkened room, there was panic abound. Three frantic male voices called out to Baella, asking for permission to use their higher-level spells against the intruders. "Of course, you fools!" she shrieked, while desperately trying to put out the flames that covered her. Telgrane jumped into the darkness and had Infernia follow suit, and the Large fire elemental shrieked in fear upon entering the room, for her flames did nothing to light the area, and for the first time in her existence the flames of her body seemed to be extinguished. Unseen in the lightless room, she patted herself down to ensure she was still actually there.</p><p></p><p>Feron tried a <em>dispel magic</em> against the darkness with no luck, and Cal tried the same with similar results. In the meantime, Telgrane heard the same low moaning from the western edge of the room and called to the others that he thought he might have pinpointed the Maestro. (It suddenly struck the others how reckless their "roof-smashing earth elemental bombs" had been - they might have easily crushed the very man they were trying to rescue!) He called to the Maestro to stay where he was, then cast a <em>cone of cold</em> spell north of the Maestro's position, slaying one of the unseen spellcasters in the room to judge by the cry of pain and the sudden <em>thud!</em> as his body struck the ground and remained still. </p><p></p><p>"We're on our own!" Telgrane heard one of the sorcerers call to the other. "Grab the crown - we'll have to advance the timeline and strike now, while we still can!"</p><p></p><p>That didn't sound good. The archmage commanded his greater earth elemental to cast about in the darkened room and try to grab anyone moving. It caught a figure in one hand, and then, hearing the figure swear a drow oath, the elemental crushed him to pulp in his hands. Using his ability to shape a spell's effects, Telgrane tried casting a <em>fireball</em> into the room, leaving the areas where he knew the earth elemental and the Maestro to be free of the fire's effects, thinking to fry the last enemy spellcaster in the room. But that didn't work, and the Maestro's cries became suddenly muffled; Telgrane learned why when he rushed forward and ran smack into a <em>wall of stone</em> that the final drow sorcerer had sprung into being just seconds before.</p><p></p><p>Passing the news on to the others via the <em>telepathic bond</em>, Telgrane cast a <em>disintegrate</em> spell on the <em>wall of stone</em> and had Feron command one of her nearest earth elementals to repeat the "grope and squash" maneuver that Telgrane's greater earth elemental had used to such great effect. A wet crunching sound and a drowish scream heralded the death of the last of the three sorcerers.</p><p></p><p>Topside, Cal, Chalkan, and Thunderwolf had taken care of the diopsids and the draegloth abomination, and the greater fire elemental had managed to grapple Baella into a fiery death. It wasn't perhaps the textbook way to handle an assault upon a structure - "Remind me why we didn't just go through the front door?" asked Cal - but it seemed to have gotten the job done. Now all that was left to do was to free the Maestro and go back to the surface world.</p><p></p><p>But Cal was in no hurry, for he had some unanswered questions he wanted to solve first. The summoned elementals dismissed, Cal back to his normal size, the group entered the darkened room and questioned the Maestro about what had happened.</p><p></p><p>"I was taken from the Cathedral of Corellon," the ancient elf answered, his breath a ragged wheeze. "They took me straight here, stripped me of my robes, and fastened me to this table. Then, for hours on end, three men used sharp instruments to carve deep into my flesh. They stopped for several hours, presumably to rest, and then started up again shortly before your arrival."</p><p></p><p>Several things bothered Cal. One, the fact that this room was covered in pitch-black darkness that even Telgrane, still wearing the form of a drow with full darkvision, couldn't see through, and that two <em>dispel magic</em> spells cast by high-level spellcasters had been unable to remove. Why would a trio of drow sorcerers do their work in absolute darkness? And for that matter, <em>how</em> could they? Cal got his answer when they dragged the remains of the drow sorcerers out of the darkened room and into the light of Infernia's flames the next room over - and saw that all three were blind. Not "eyes that don't work" blind, either: they had had their eyeballs removed, and some time ago, judging by the scar tissue that remained behind their eyelids. "This Baella wanted three blind sorcerers, so she made sure she got them," commented Cal.</p><p></p><p>The other thing bothering the cleric of Kord was the fact that these drow chose to do their work in a small building, on a small island, on an Underdark lake far away from any other structures. Drow were supposed to live in Underdark cities, but this was going on in a distinctly remote location. The logical assumption was that whatever the three blind drow sorcerers were doing to the Maestro was inherently dangerous, and there was a possibility that the whole thing could blow up in their faces.</p><p></p><p>And that brought everything together, once Cal had voiced his concerns. "They've made the Maestro into a bomb!" gasped Telgrane.</p><p></p><p>The spellcasters had a quick conference, trying to figure out how such a thing might be possible. The closest thing anybody could come up with was the <em>explosive runes</em> spell, but that only worked on inanimate objects, and went off when the runes were read. Still, if the drow had found a way to make something similar that worked on living flesh....</p><p></p><p>Cal directed everyone to explore the rest of the building, to see if there were any notes left around explaining the drow cleric's plan. The closest they got was in Baella's bedroom - quite lavish, Feron noted, compared to the stark quarters of the three male sorcerers. There they discovered the designs for a pair of magical items, each a crystal carved in the shape of a spider. One was placed on the head of the user - "The crown the blind sorcerer mentioned!" Chalkan pointed out excitedly - and when activated, it <em>teleported</em> the user to the location of the other crystal spider.</p><p></p><p>"So when the drow raiders showed up at the Cathedral to kidnap the Maestro," Telgrane reasoned, "they left behind the other crystal spider. Tomorrow at noon is the Festival of the Elf-Lord; the Cathedral will be packed with elves--"</p><p></p><p>"--And while everyone's there, <em>Bam!</em>" finished Feron, blanching at the thought. "In pops the Maestro, covered in these carved runes, exploding the moment somebody first sees one of them!"</p><p></p><p>"It would likely kill everyone present, and possibly destroy the Cathedral as well," agreed Cal. "I wonder how many runes have been carved on the Maestro already, and how can we get them off?"</p><p></p><p>They reconvened in the room of darkness, apologizing to the elderly elf for keeping him waiting. Thunderwolf gave him some water from his waterskin, while Cal explained the situation. The Maestro understood completely, and offered up that about half of his body was covered in the runes - there were about two dozen of them, by his estimation. Realizing that the normal <em>explosive runes</em> could be "deactivated" by an <em>erase</em> spell, the group reasoned that these drow runes, which had been painstakingly carved into the flesh of the elderly elven organist, might similarly be "erased" by the application of healing magic. Just to be sure of the group's safety, though, Cal insisted that the rest of them huddle together behind a <em>wall of force</em> while he tried healing the Maestro. As an extra precaution, he sliced a bit of his own fingernail off with a knife and gave to to Feron for safekeeping. "Something to <em>resurrect</em> me with if this doesn't work," he explained.</p><p></p><p>He needn't have worried, for one <em>heal</em> spell and the Maestro's wounds all closed up. Cal unstrapped the the elderly elf from the table to which he had been bound, and led him out of the darkness and into the next room, illuminated by Infernia's constant flames. Everyone eagerly entered the <em>Daern's dollhouse</em>, Infernia returned to her tinder box, and Feron and Telgrane flew their floatdisks back the way they had come without further incident.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>The next day, at noon, the five heroes were present at the Cathedral of Corellon Larethian at the High Priest's insistence for the celebration of the Festival of the Elf-Lord. The High Priest began the ceremony by introducing the heroes to the congregation, explaining the role they had played in not only saving their beloved organist, the Maestro Elias Quespaternos, but also in saving the lives of everyone present and the beloved Cathedral itself. The grateful cheering could be heard several blocks away.</p><p></p><p>The ceremony itself went well, and the Maestro's reputation as a musician was well-earned, for he brought the house down with his music, if not quite in the fashion the drow had originally intended. At the end of the ceremony, the High Priest took the heroes to a room in the back and presented them with a chest full of coins, a small token, as he put it, of their appreciation for the hard work the group had done on the elves' behalf.</p><p></p><p>And from that day on, the names of Chalkan, Feron, Cal, Telgrane, and Thunderwolf carried a great amount of weight to any elf in Greyhawk City and its nearby environs.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>We had a great time with this adventure, although I had warned the players ahead of time that this one held the possibility for a TPK. I also pointed out that since this was an "unplanned and sudden adventure" on the part of the PCs, they didn't have the normal backup they normally enjoyed; once they got their Guild rings back they could always "bink" back to Headquarters if they needed to, but there was no guarantee that their counterparts would be there to replace them. It had been intended to be a day off, after all. And while I knew that had they dragged the Maestro into the light and read the <em>explosive runes</em> themselves they'd have been instantly slain (each rune held 4d6 points of explosive energy, and the Maestro had 24 of them on his body, with room for another 24 that the three blind drow sorcerers had intended to craft during the rest of the day), but that wasn't my primary concern. After all, <em>true resurrection</em> was now well within the group's grasp, and they had companions who would look into their deaths. No, I knew it was the irretrievable loss of all of their equipment - Telgrane's <em>robe of the archmagi</em>, the <em>Daern's dollhouse</em> that Feron carried with her on all of her adventures, Chalkan's <em>White-Wood Whisperbow</em>, Cal's <em>hammer of frost</em>, and Thunderwolf's sentient sword, Xanthros - that would have the players howling for my head. So when the drow workshop had been cleared of all enemies, I did give a little prompting to get the players trying to figure out what the drow plan had been with regards to Maestro Elias Quespaterno, and they pretty much put the pieces together on their own.</p><p></p><p>Our next session is scheduled for the first Saturday in August, as our respective families both have family reunions to attend in the meantime. Next time, Telgrane will get his shot at becoming a half-elemental (or die trying).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 6154579, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 70 - THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cal Trop, human cleric of Kord Chalkan, half-elven ranger/cleric of Corellon Larethian/sorcerer/arcane archer Feron Dru, half-elf druid Telgrane, human wizard (conjurer)/archmage Thunderwolf, human fighter[/INDENT] I should mention up front that in this adventure I tried something I'd never done before, and probably couldn't get away with had I had a different group of players. (My oldest son, Stuart, for example, would have had an absolute fit that I had decided how his character would had reacted in a given situation and ran with it.) But I had what I thought was a cool concept for an adventure, which necessitated me deciding how some things would have happened earlier in the day that the adventure takes place, and part of that was how the PCs had reacted, what they had decided to do, and so on. Also, for this to work, I had to assign specific PCs to each player for this adventure, rather than allow them to select between their two PCs as to which they wanted to run. To set up the adventure, I did what I occasionally do to my players when readying a "twist" for an adventure: I lied to them. I told them that I was going to try something a little different this time around, and set them up in a scene at their Headquarters, telling them what each PC was doing at the moment, and that I would then be introducing a number of different plot hooks into the starting scenario to see which ones they responded to first. I left them with the impression that we'd be dealing with a number of these disparate plot hooks over the course of the adventure, but I was letting them decide in which order they'd be tackling them. And, of course, trusting players that they are, they bought it. But in my defense, I lied to them for a good cause, and I was reasonably sure that after the true course of events was revealed they'd all be perfectly okay with it. And I was right: they were. So I guess the moral of this introduction is that when a DM knows his players well, he can get away with things he normally wouldn't. Anyway, let's get on with it. I pulled out my geomorph for the Wing Three living quarters and placed the PCs in various locations, explaining what their "starting status" was. It was about 10 in the morning on whatever the equivalent of Sunday is in the standard Greyhawk calendar; those PCs who prepare spells had already prepared them for the day (and I let them choose their spells as normal, although I had already made some private notes about some changes I'd be making to their spell choices). I put Feron and Telgrane on a sofa in the general living area; they were each having a glass of wine and discussing spellcraft. I put Chalkan and Thunderwolf in two chairs in the same room; they were attending to their weapons - Thunderwolf polishing Xanthros to a fine sheen and Chalkan coating the bowstring of [i]Rilisivae Athelgala[/i] with beeswax. Cal I put at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the Wing Three living quarters; I explained that he wasn't initially in the scene but would be entering almost immediately, so he wouldn't miss much. And again I reinforced that I would be introducing some plot hooks in the form of a visitor or two, and that we'd just be role-playing those encounters, so they should just ad lib their reactions. And we were off. - - - Cal's booming voice preceded him as he clomped up the stairs in his heavy boots; he had been to the Church of Kord early that morning, to give another demonstration of his strength and general prowess to the novices, who took any opportunity they could get to spend time with an experienced cleric of their faith who had their god's own blood coursing through his veins. Feron and Telgrane continued their spellcraft discussion without looking up at their adventuring companion. It wasn't until they heard the sound of feminine laughter accompanying Cal's voice - he was once again relating the story of how he had singlehandedly obtained the [i]Gauntlet of Kord[/i] - that Feron looked over to see who else was with him. Cal was shirtless and glistening in body oil from his demonstration of strength at his church, and hanging onto his arm (and his every word) was a young woman, [b]Sharilla[/b], a serving girl from a local tavern. She stared up at him in obvious adoration. Feron only rolled her eyes and returned her attention to Telgrane and their talk of various spell strategies. Cal had only just finished introducing Sharilla to everyone when two more people came up the stairs. The first was a Guild page, escorting a rather regal-looking elf in long robes with intricate designs along the sleeves and hem. "A visitor for Miss Feron," announced the page, then turned on his heels and left the way he had come. The elf glanced at everyone in the room, then studiously ignored all but Feron. As he walked over to where she was sitting, his steel-grey eyes fixed her with an appraising stare from head to foot. Standing before her, he gave a quick half-smirk to himself and said, "Yes, you'll do quite nicely. My name is [b]Kukisha Kusir[/b]. Please go upstairs and gather your belongings; I have arranged with your mother for your hand in marriage. Pack only what you need for a few days; I'll have the rest of your possessions forwarded to my forest villa." "I beg your pardon?" asked Feron, astonished. "Do not tarry," commanded Kukisha. "You have half an hour to pack. After that I expect us to be on our way, for I wish us to be wed this very afternoon." "Oh you do, do you?" asked Feron. "And supposing I don't share your eagerness?" The elven nobleman seemed shocked by the very notion that Feron might believe she had any say in the matter. He gave a heavy sigh. "I can see the first thing we shall have to work on is your obedience," he said. "I am not in the habit of repeating myself, but I will do so this once, and this once only: go upstairs and pack your things, or we shall leave without them." Her eyes narrowed angrily into mere slits, Feron set her wine glass down on the low table in front of her and bent down to pick up something from the floor at her feet. It was her own longbow, which she brought up with a practiced flourish, drawing back an arrow and aiming it at the elven nobleman's chest. "I believe I have everything I need right here," she replied. "Now I suggest you turn around, go back down the way you came, and get out of here while you still can. The wedding's off." Kukisha looked around him, as if rediscovering the existence of the adventurers in the room with him and his intended. Thunderwolf had stopped polishing Xanthros and was holding it at the ready. Chalkan, likewise, had an arrow nocked on his White-Wood Whisperbow and aimed at the elf. Cal was weaponless, but made a tight fist with his right hand (his left arm still was already in use, wrapped around Sharilla's waist as she rubbed her hands appreciatively on his left bicep and his chest). Telgrane made no threatening gestures, but just leaned back and smiled as if to enjoy the upcoming spectacle. "This isn't finished," Kukisha vowed, then turned on his heel and stormed down the stairs in a foul mood. In his haste, he almost ran into the Guild page, who had returned with another visitor, this one a gruff-looking dwarf with reddish hair and beard. "That's the one!" the dwarf called out, pointing a stubby finger at Thunderwolf. "That's the one what stole Xanthros from my collection!" "Say what now?" asked Thunderwolf. "I didn't steal Xanthros! Just who do you think you are, barging in here making ridiculous accusations?" "You know blasted well who I am," snarled the dwarf. "I'm [b]Morros Rosnak[/b], a weapons collector, and the rightful owner of that sword you've got in your hand, which you stole from me! Now hand it over, or there's gonna be trouble!" "There must be some mistake," replied Telgrane, getting up from the sofa and setting his drink next to Feron's. "I was there when Thunderwolf found Xanthros, and it wasn't in some weapons collection - it was strapped to the hand of a troll, along with a bunch of other swords and daggers." There was a soft [i]plop![/i] behind him, as a spider fell from the ceiling and into his wine, but he didn't notice it. "Lies!" replied Morros. "Xanthros was stolen from my collection, and I paid good coin to a diviner, who cast spells and saw this one" - again he pointed at Thunderwolf - "making off with it! Now I show up here and catch him red-handed! Give it back or I call for the constabulary!" "Settle down," suggested Cal. "I can vouch for the fact that Thunderwolf didn't steal your sword." "But the diviner--" spluttered Morros. "Spells can be tricked, and even divinations can be led astray. Now who was this diviner who cast the spell for you? Is it possible he was just trying to swindle you?" "That's Xanthros right there!" argued the dwarf. "I don't care how he got his hands on it, it's my sword! Now give it back!" His face was now redder than his beard. "Maybe we should get my uncle," suggested Thunderwolf, referring to Guildmaster Farthingale. "Thief!" called Morros, spittle flying from his mouth. "Gimme my sword back!" "Now wait just a minute," began Chalkan. "Fine!" snarled Morros. "I see how it is with you adventuring types! Think you can just take whatever you want, is it? Fine, I'll play your damned game - I'll give you a thousand gold pieces to buy my own sword back from you den of thieves!" "Xanthros is not for sale!" stated Thunderwolf, shielding the weapon behind his own body. While all of this commotion was going on, another version of Sharilla, this one dressed in a slinky black gown, walked up the stairs and smiled lasciviously at Cal. "I hope you don't mind," cooed the tavern worker at Cal's arm, "but I invited my twin sister [b]Madrissa[/b] to join us here. She's...very interested in seeing those feats of strength I was telling her about. Perhaps you could give us a private session, say, up in your room?" Madrissa ran her hand appreciatively over Cal's well-muscled chest, and the cleric of Kord could tell just from the icy coldness of her touch that Madrissa and Sharilla might be identical twins, but only one of them was still alive. Madrissa's skin tone was pale, and when she ran her tongue across her lips, Cal could see that her eyeteeth were just a bit pointed. [i]Vampire![/i] he realized at once, and began wondering how she had gotten here in the daylight, how he was going to fight her here in their living room without any of his weapons.... "Let's go upstairs, just the three of us," suggested Madrissa. "Away from these others, embroiled in their petty arguments." "After you, ladies," replied Cal, pushing them forwards ahead of him towards the stairs. He wanted to keep them in front of him, where he could see them. Maybe lock them in his room, then alert the others? "I'm not paying you more than a thousand for my own sword back, you thieving varmint!" yelled Morros. "You're not paying me anything!" countered Thunderwolf. "Xanthros is [i]not[/i] for sale!" "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" thundered a new voice. Everyone in the now-crowded room turned to face a furious Guildmaster Farthingale, all voices silenced by his uncharacteristic outburst. "That's much better," he replied in his normal voice. "Now then, let's try to discuss everything in a civilized manner, shall we?" As he spoke, he removed his outer jacket, draping it over the back of a chair and then slipping quickly out of his vest. He practically tore the buttons off of his starched white shirt in his haste to remove it, and then started slathering body oil over his own prodigious belly and chest. "Let's start with you two," he said, addressing Madrissa and Sharilla. "Did you know I taught Cal everything he knows about endurance?" Cal didn't even get a chance to respond to this ridiculous assertion before the final visitor entered the room. Surprisingly, it was Chalkan's half-sister, Caeline Laniela, recently raised from the dead. However, she did not look like her normal self, for she wore a thick coating of black face paint, and was juggling what appeared to be a trio of small brains in her hands. "I'm too sexy for my mind, just check out this behind!" she sang heartily, her concentration fixed on keeping the brains in the air without incident. Feron had had enough. Surely this wasn't all really happening, was it? She said the words to the [i]true seeing[/i] spell she had prepared that morning... - - - ...and woke up in near darkness. Feron's confusion was absolute. She was instantly aware of several things, although she had no idea how these things had come to be. First of all, she was lying down on her back, on what felt like a rigid hammock. She was bound tightly from neck to feet, wrapped up like a mummy. There was a strand of something attached to her forehead, which gave off the faint blue illumination which was the only light in this large, underground cavern. She could tell she wasn't wearing her dragonhide armor, but it felt like she still had on the padded undersuit she wore beneath it. She had no weapons, none of her adventuring gear, not even any jewelry - her Guild ring was not on her finger, nor was the dolphin necklace she normally wore around her neck. Her last memory was of climbing into her bed the night before - whenever that was. Feron stretched her head back, and saw that the others - Cal, Chalkan, Telgrane, and Thunderwolf - were in similar positions. The five of them were wrapped in silk bindings, laying in a circle in the middle of an enormous spiderweb. Each had a bluish strand of silk adhered to their foreheads; these strands all merged together and ran off to one side of the web, into a cavern carved into one side of the wall. Attached to the other end of these blue web-strands, standing in the shadows of this side-cave, was the largest spider Feron had ever seen. Its eight hairy legs easily spanned some forty feet between them. <A pity,> echoed a voice in Feron's head. <You have awakened before my feast is complete. Now I shall have to render you insensate yet again.> Feron screamed aloud, and the combination of the scream and her panicked thoughts in the [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spell that she suddenly realized was apparently still active between them got the others awake as well. The half-elf druid sat up in her bonds, just as a [i]chain lightning[/i] spell from the massive spider slammed into her body, arcing off to hit the others in turn. Cal grimaced with the pain of the electrical burns, then readied himself for glory and used a feat of strength granted by Kord to shred the webbing keeping him bound. He leapt to his feet, bouncing slightly on the taut web, and stepped over to aid the companion nearest him, Chalkan. Telgrane and Thunderwolf struggled to escape their own bonds, with no luck. Feron, in the meantime, chose to wildshape into a form that could easily slip from the bonds; after initially deciding to become a fire elemental, she quickly opted against that, since a quick look below her showed that the spiderweb was strung across an enormous vertical chasm of unknown depth. She figured a fire elemental's flames would burn through the binding webbing all right, but would likewise burn through the spiderweb she stood upon and she had no desire to plummet to her death. (Feron didn't realize it, but the depths below were a [i]permanent illusion[/i]; the space beneath the web went all of ten feet or so.) With that in mind, she took on the form of an air elemental instead, tightening her body into a narrow whirlwind and sliding effortless from the web-bindings in which she had awoken. <Your efforts do you justice, but they will not avail you in the end,> said the spider's raspy voice in the minds of the heroes, as it tossed another [i]chain lightning[/i] spell at them, this time catching Cal as the focus and arcing off to the others from him. Cal, by this time, had ripped through Chalkan's bindings and was stepping over to where Telgrane was bound. The young archmage was no physical powerhouse like Cal, and had had little luck in even loosening his bonds. Not so Thunderwolf, who while not yet free on his own was loosening up the webbing that bound him; another half-minute or so and he'd have it. Another voice echoed in Thunderwolf's head. "Young master!" it cried, and the fighter immediately recognized it as his sentient sword, Xanthros. "You must defeat the brain spider that has captured you, and then come to my rescue! I am in a room just beyond, along with all of your other equipment, but beware! There are four drow fighters in here with me, inventorying all of your goods, and another two guard the corridor leading from this room to the brain spider's web!" Xanthros provided details on where to find this corridor, and Thunderwolf passed the information on to the others over the [i]telepathic bond[/i]. Cal was ripping Telgrane's web-bonds apart and freeing the grateful archmage when the brain spider cast a third [i]chain lightning[/i] spell at the heroes, this time catching all of them but Feron, who in her air elemental form had flown over to find the corridor that Thunderwolf had mentioned. It was about 10 feet above the web and about a third of the way around the circular chasm from the brain spider's lair. <I see I will have to deal with you on a personal level,> noted the arachnid as its final spell failed to drop any of the heroes. It started skittering out of the side cavern and joined the group on its web. Telgrane took a quick mental spell inventory and noted that he was under the effects of not only the [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spell, which he habitually cast on the group before going into combat, but also a [i]mage armor[/i] spell and a [i]stoneskin[/i] spell as well. Odd, since he had no memories of casting them, but he wasn't going to argue. In the meantime, he shot a [i]magic missile[/i] spell at the brain spider as it headed his way. Then he recalled that the [i]scorching ray[/i] spell didn't require any material components, either - his spell component pouch was likely in the inventory room with Xanthros and the drow - and sent a few of them at the spider for good measure as well. Chalkan followed suit, as an archer could hardly rely upon those skills without his bow and arrows at hand, and while he wasn't able to manifest as many individual [i]scorching rays[/i] as Telgrane could, at least those he did conjure up struck true. Still, the massive brain spider skittered over to Telgrane, its horrid mouthparts open wide to bite the young archmage. Cal took note of the spider's position and maneuvered away from it, such that a mass version of one of his [i]cure[/i] spells would heal up his comrades but not similarly heal the spider; the heroes by this time were well in need of some healing, and his timely spell likely saved the lives of more than one of his friends. Feron, meanwhile, cast a [i]call lightning storm[/i] and started dropping bolts of electricity down upon the brain spider's body. The continued onslaught took its toll on the massive arachnid, and finally Telgrane, sensing the spider was on its last legs, reached out to the staggering monster and cast a low-level [i]shocking grasp[/i] spell to finish it off. The spider collapsed at his touch, its legs twitching spasmodically in death. [i]I can't wait to tell Akari about this![/i] thought Telgrane, pleased at his having dealt the finishing blow to the gigantic spider with such a relatively weak spell. As the spider died, however, the blue light from the memory webs that had been stuck upon each of the heroes' foreheads when they awoke started fading, and the illumination in the cavern went from "barely any" to "none at all." Chalkan responded by casting a [i]light[/i] spell on his own chest, and the shirt he wore under his armor glowed enough to allow the others to find their way to the corridor that Feron had discovered. Cal boosted Chalkan up, and the archer grabbed onto the ledge and pulled himself the rest of the way up. Doing so exposed him to the two drow fighters guarding the corridor, however, and he received a pair of bolts from the drows' hand crossbows as a result. Feron dropped a bolt of electricity onto one of the drow, while Thunderwolf gave Cal a boost up onto the ledge and the cleric then cast a [i]mislead[/i] spell, turning the cleric invisible but sending a fierce-looking copy of himself to swagger confidently down the corridor as if to break some drow heads. The drow took the bait, jumping out and slashing at the image of Cal with their blades with their large steel shields up for protection, but the unarmed Cal merely winced slightly at their blows and kept approaching, a manic grin forecasting all kinds of pain he'd be bringing to the drow in retaliation. Telgrane decided to [i]polymorph[/i] himself into a form that could fly; on the spur of the moment he chose a pseudodragon, thinking its venomous tail might come in handy. It wasn't until his body had already assumed its new form that he belatedly recalled that pseudodragon venom caused sleep, and the drow were likely to be immune. [i]Oh well[/i], he thought, [i]at least I can still fly past them[/i], and proceeded to do just that, hugging the 8-foot ceiling to try to stay out of the drow fighters' reach. The drow were too busy to notice him, however, for Chalkan had cast a [i]charm person[/i] on the drow fighter who had not yet been hit with Feron's lightning bolts and convinced him that they were here to root out the enemies of the spider-goddess Lolth, furthermore explaining that the drow's partner was disloyal. The confused drow fighter looked aghast at his treacherous partner, who managed to sputter an astonished "You've got to be kidding m--" before being run through by his partner's sword. A still-invisible Cal pulled Thunderwolf up from the web and onto the corridor's ledge, while Telgrane, in pseudodragon form, flapped over to the door at the end of the corridor and opened it with his feet. A rectangular room was just beyond, with three drow fighters holding up various pieces of the adventurers' equipment and a fourth one writing down the contents on a sheet of parchment. As the door opened, the first three dropped the stolen goods and unsheathed their longswords, while the fourth dropped his quill and parchment and grabbed up his shield. However, he then proceeded to flip it over and leap upon its underside, riding it through the air towards the set of stairs leading further down into darkness. Spotting a familiar-looking tinderbox in the corner of the room, Telgrane called out to Infernia through his empathic link, and the lid popped open as a line of cinders arced out of the box and onto the stone floor. Then Infernia resumed her normal fire elemental shape, and both archmage and familiar both got a shock, for Infernia stood about 9 feet tall - much taller than the 3 feet tall Telgrane was used to; he must have cast a [i]polymorph any object[/i] spell on her at some point that morning - while Telgrane was a tiny little pseudodragon flapping furiously in the air. "Master!" cried an astonished Infernia. "You're so [i]cute[/i] like that!" "Not now," advised Telgrane, over the mind-link. As expected, Infernia was part of the group of minds connected by the [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spell, and while she had been mind-blasted into unconsciousness with the others by the brain spider, as fire elementals do not sleep they do not dream; thus, she had been spared the shared dream sequence fueled by five unconscious minds still linked together by magic. "Let's finish off these drow! But not that one," added Telgrane, pointing to the helpful drow that Chalkan had successfully charmed. The Large fire elemental got to work with relish, setting a few of the fighters ablaze as she batted at them with her fists. Chalkan pointed out to his newly charmed friend that these four drow were also traitors to Lolth, and the fighter attacked his own compatriots with gusto. Thunderwolf rushed into the room and found Xanthros, and helped finish off the last of the three drow still in the room. Feron, in the meantime, had used her increased speed as an air elemental to follow the fourth drow down the stairs. He was calling a warning to others in the room at the bottom of the stairs, when Feron swatted him from behind. Amazingly, as the spry drow was thrown to the side from her blow he ran a few steps on the wall and jumped back onto his shield - actually a [i]drow floatdisk[/i] - and carried on as if nothing had happened. However, Feron got another punch in before he reached the bottom of the stairs, and this time he was thrown forward off of the floatdisk to tumble the remaining way down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom with a broken neck. His floatdisk clattered down the stairs behind him, to finally fall in a tight circle like a spinning coin winding down. The room at the bottom of the stairs held a dozen bunks, and four more drow who had just been awakened from their sleep shift. They grabbed up swords and shields, and while three of them ran to face the air elemental who had infiltrated their lair, the fourth ran through a door beneath the stairs, calling for [b]Almathea Jhaundallavin[/b], the drow priestess in charge of this outpost. While the group upstairs grabbed up their gear (and Chalkan posted their charmed drow ally back where he had been stationed, "to ensure no enemies of Lolth approach from that direction"), Feron took on a trio of drow fighters by herself. She was quickly joined by Infernia, who needed no equipment to fight, and thus had been sent on ahead while Telgrane pulled on his [i]robe of the archmagi[/i], grabbed up his spellbooks, and slipped his magic rings back onto his fingers. Almathea summoned a Large monstrous spider to attack Feron, but it proved to be even less of a threat than the fighters had been, and was quickly slain. The drow cleric, seeing that she was soon to be on her own in the outpost, ran back into her own chambers and cast an [i]invisibility[/i] spell on herself, then ran to hide behind the carved obsidian statue of Lolth (in drider form) that graced one end of her own lavish quarters. Infernia entered the room and found nobody there; Feron soon followed and a pair of smaller spiders manifested, but were quickly put down. By this time, Telgrane had joined the pair, and Almathea tried casting a [i]bestow curse[/i] spell upon the archmage, only to have it fail to pierce the spell resistance granted by his robes. However, it did turn her back to visibility, and she didn't last much longer after that. There was a second set of stairs from the soldiers' bunk room leading even further down to another level. Stationed there were two more drow fighters, guarding another massive, vertical shaft leading down into darkness. Chalkan took the opportunity to try one of his untried-in-combat arcane archer stunts, and shot a seeking arrow down the stairwell that made a sudden left turn at the bottom and pierced the side of a very surprised drow. By this time, the others had all gathered up their equipment - a still-invisible Cal even brought Feron hers, and she gratefully resumed her half-elven form to gear up, looking askance at the strange sight of an invisible Cal wearing his quite visible armor - and Cal sent his duplicate image stomping down the stairs to draw the drow's fire. He went clomping down the stairs behind his own duplicate image, and was quite surprised when Chalkan tried another stunt, this time sending a phase arrow harmlessly through Cal's own body to strike the drow at the bottom of the stairs. Before long, the last of the drow were slain, and everybody regrouped up in the soldiers' bunk room to catch up with what had happened. Fortunately, neither Xanthros nor Infernia had had their recent memories drained by the brain spider, and thus were able to fill in the group on what had happened since this morning. At about seven bells, Farthingale had sent the five heroes - the only ones about in Wing Three, for the others were off at the market or doing who-knows-what - to the Cathedral of Corellon Larethian, to investigate a kidnapping. It seems the night before, a drow raiding party had entered the Cathedral and grabbed [b]Maestro Elias Quespaterno[/b], an elderly elven organist who was practicing a new musical piece of his own composition for a Festival of Corellon two days hence. During the kidnapping, the Maestro's assistant, a young elf maiden named [b]Alaestrianna Rainsong[/b], was hit on the head and left for dead. Although unconscious and barely alive, she survived the assault and was discovered the next morning by the Cathedral's High Priest; she was healed of her injuries, told what had happened, and a plea for assistance was sent to the Adventurers Guild. Cal performed a divination spell which led the heroes to a hidden passageway beneath the Minotaur Inn; they had to fight their way past a group of cultists, but found a secret door which led them to a spiraling passageway which corkscrewed its way along the inside of an enormous vertical shaft. However, that led to the brain spider, who had knocked everybody out with a powerful mind blast. They all plummeted to the web below, where the drow allied with the brain spider stripped them of their weapons, armor, and items, leaving the spider to bind them up and begin devouring their memories, after which time they'd be eaten alive. However, that didn't quite work out as the brain spider had hoped. So now, ready to continue their quest for the Maestro, it seemed the only way to go was through the vertical tunnel leading even deeper below the ground. Not wanting to leave any loose ends behind them, though, they returned to Chalkan's charmed drow soldier and interviewed him about the plans involving the Maestro. He hadn't been part of the raiding party and didn't know the big picture, but apparently kidnapping the Maestro had something to do with an attack to come in a few days. Having learned all they could from their unwitting ally, the group quickly killed him before he realized his new friends were in fact directly opposed to Almathea's plans. Using the [i]drow floatdisks[/i] seemed like the best way to travel, and since there were 13 of them to be had (Almathea had one as well as each of her dozen soldiers), the heroes practiced using these new devices in the relative safety of the bunk room. It was primarily a matter of balance; the feet slipped under the straps that one held when using it as a shield, and leaning in a given direction steered the device that way. After deciding that it might be best to appear to be drow themselves, Feron used her "thousand faces" druidic ability to take on the coloration of a drow, while Telgrane [i]polymorphed[/i] directly into a dark elf. The other piled into the [i]Daern's dollhouse[/i], which Feron held in her hands rather than stow it in her [i]Heward's handy haversack[/i], since the extradimensional nature of the haversack's interior would prevent the [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spell from keeping everyone in mental contact. Infernia, weighing in at a mere 4 pounds even in her Large size, stood on the back of her master's floatdisk and held on to his shoulders, and he and Feron were off. The vertical chasm was about 30 feet in diameter and dropped straight down for over 400 feet. When they dropped out of it, they found themselves in an immense cavern of a size previously undreamed of - it looked to be about a mile down before hitting the floor, and easily a mile or more in each direction. Telgrane, having gained the darkvision of a drow after assuming such a form, could see tiny mushroom forests below, with enormous stalactites hanging down from the ceiling above, and what looked to be an underground lake in the distance; Feron, still relying upon her half-elven low-light vision, couldn't see as far, and was grateful for Infernia's illumination to allow her to see what little she could. However, faint blobs of light indicated there were patches of phosphorescent fungus about. That wasn't all there were about, though: in the lightless realms of the Underdark, Infernia's flames stood out like a beacon, and soon attracted a trio of hungry cloakers, who sent their sonic moans at the two heroes. The adventurers were able to shake off the effects, but they were surprised at being caught in a subsequent [i]cone of cold[/i] that blasted down at them from above. Telgrane looked for the source with his [i]arcane sight[/i], but saw nothing; whatever it was was likely covered by a [i]greater invisibility[/i] spell. A mental summons sent the other heroes spilling out of the dollhouse, each regaining normal size upon having done so and immediately activating their floatdisks. What followed was a mid-air battle between the heroes and the three cloakers; Telgrane, after the quick casting of a [i]see invisibility[/i] spell, saw that it was a cloaker lord that had cast the [i]cone of cold[/i] spell down at them. Feron cast a [i]protection from energy[/i] spell on herself to prevent another such spell from harming her, but the three lesser cloakers were quickly slain and the cloaker lord decided soon thereafter to go find some easier prey elsewhere. As Cal gathered everybody up into a close formation again for the application of some ranged mass healing, a jellyfishlike form floated up to Telgrane. "You...are...a.. drow," it said, each word expelled with some effort through air-holes along the four-foot-wide mushroomlike "cap" of its upper body, "but...your...allies...are...not...drow. Did...you...take...the...disks...from...slain...drow?" Conversation with the floating creature was a bit tedious, but they managed to make do, for it spoke in fluent - if halting - Common. It introduced itself as [b]Galaedia Whispertouch[/b], and claimed to be an elf from the surface. "I...was...fighting...drow," she explained. "They...overtook...me. When...I...awoke...I...had...been...trans...formed...into...this...shape." Feron and Telgrane shared a troubled look. Their own studies had taught them about a fungal life form, the sapromneme, which laid spores on the bodies of the dead. As the spores grew into a sapromneme, it absorbed the memories of the slain form, eventually attaining its adult stage, which looked like a floating jellyfish with the full memories of the host organism that had given it birth. Galaedia Whispertouch, it seemed, was dead somewhere down here in the Underdark, and this being before them that thought it was her was actually nothing more than a living, fungal ghost. The group silently discussed it amongst themselves over their [i]telepathic bond[/i], and agreed not to break the sad news to the poor thing. They did, however, explain who they were and what they were doing in the Underdark. That proved to be a very good move, for the sapromneme had seen a drow party on floatdisks go by many hours before (the term "last night" having no apparent meaning in a land without a sun), and was willing to show the group where they had gone. There was a small island upon the Underdark lake in the distance, and on that island was a small, one-story stone structure - that was where the drow and their elven captive had gone. The group thanked "Galaedia" and wished her well, and the fungal ghost in turn wished them luck with their endeavors. Infernia returned to her tinder box, everybody else piled back into the dollhouse, and Telgrane and Feron - still looking like drow - approached the building. Telgrane could see a pair of beetle-men guarding the only visible door to the building, so he and Feron went on a circuitous route along the lake to approach the building from behind. Not seeing any other visible entrances to the structure, they decided to alight onto the rooftop. Telgrane wanted to call forth some extra muscle, so he spoke the words to a [i]summon monster[/i] spell and caused a greater earth elemental to manifest on the rooftop next to him. That proved to be a bit more than the roof could handle, for Telgrane had forgotten that the average greater earth elemental weighs in at somewhere around 54,000 pounds. It appeared in the middle of the rooftop and then went instantly plummeting through it, destroying a retaining wall directly underneath it on the way down (although not, oddly enough, the door that linked the two rooms, which remained locked a mere few feet from the smashed wall beside it). The cacophony caused by the massive destruction instantly alerted everyone inside the entire building, as well as the two diopsid guards at the front door, along with a drider and a draegloth abomination that nested in a mass of webs along one side of the building. The drider and draegloth reacted first, popping up the sides of the building to see what was causing the ruckus. Feron cast a [i]whirlwind[/i] to pummel the drider, and when it scrambled onto the rooftop to avoid the magical effect Telgrane had his greater earth elemental stand back up through the hole in the roof and smash the drider to a wet pulp. In the meantime, the other heroes started spilling back out of the dollhouse, which Feron had set down on the rooftop so she could have her hands free for what looked to be some serious spellcraft. Looking down into the rooms below through the gaping hole in the ceiling, Telgrane could see a partially-demolished bedroom of sorts to the east, where two narrow partitions divided the room into sleeping areas for three people; each had room for little more than a rough cot and a few hooks upon which to hang a cloak or robe. The western side of the hole was filled with impenetrable darkness, apparently a spell effect that only applied to that particular room. Telgrane and Feron each took a moment to summon some further allies: the archmage called forth a greater fire elemental (and released Infernia back out of her tinder box), while the druid called forth three greater earth elementals of her own. Telgrane sent his fire elemental down into the breach to check the place out, while Feron, hearing some moaning coming from the darkened room below and assuming it was the Maestro, figured they'll already done enough damage not to have to worry about further alerting the residents and summoned all three of her earth elementals onto the northern side of the rooftop, to crash through as Telgrane's had done. They demolished three guest bedrooms and part of a hallway to smithereens, then Feron had them earth glide down into the floor to verify there wasn't another level below. They reported back in the negative; this looked to be a one-level structure. While this was going on, the two diopsids had climbed up onto the rooftop from the front of the building and started moving towards the intruders. Chalkan cast an [i]enlarge person[/i] spell upon Cal, who grew to twice his normal height. The arcane archer then teamed up with Thunderwolf to send barrages of arrows into the draegloth abomination - equal parts drider and four-armed demon - and the approaching diopsids. Inside the building, a furious [b]Baella Xordaxi[/b], the drow priestess in charge of this workshop and the mind behind the kidnapping of Maestro Elias Quespaterno, looked through the hole in her rooftop and saw only Cal, who at double his normal size was quite visible. She cast a [i]slay living[/i] spell at him, but it failed to penetrate his spell resistance - for by that time, Cal had cast a [i]holy aura[/i] spell that covered all of the heroes. However, for her trouble, she was attacked by Telgrane's greater fire elemental, who had to reach for her through a doorway while on hands and knees, but managed to set the drow cleric ablaze. Inside the magically darkened room, there was panic abound. Three frantic male voices called out to Baella, asking for permission to use their higher-level spells against the intruders. "Of course, you fools!" she shrieked, while desperately trying to put out the flames that covered her. Telgrane jumped into the darkness and had Infernia follow suit, and the Large fire elemental shrieked in fear upon entering the room, for her flames did nothing to light the area, and for the first time in her existence the flames of her body seemed to be extinguished. Unseen in the lightless room, she patted herself down to ensure she was still actually there. Feron tried a [i]dispel magic[/i] against the darkness with no luck, and Cal tried the same with similar results. In the meantime, Telgrane heard the same low moaning from the western edge of the room and called to the others that he thought he might have pinpointed the Maestro. (It suddenly struck the others how reckless their "roof-smashing earth elemental bombs" had been - they might have easily crushed the very man they were trying to rescue!) He called to the Maestro to stay where he was, then cast a [i]cone of cold[/i] spell north of the Maestro's position, slaying one of the unseen spellcasters in the room to judge by the cry of pain and the sudden [I]thud![/I] as his body struck the ground and remained still. "We're on our own!" Telgrane heard one of the sorcerers call to the other. "Grab the crown - we'll have to advance the timeline and strike now, while we still can!" That didn't sound good. The archmage commanded his greater earth elemental to cast about in the darkened room and try to grab anyone moving. It caught a figure in one hand, and then, hearing the figure swear a drow oath, the elemental crushed him to pulp in his hands. Using his ability to shape a spell's effects, Telgrane tried casting a [i]fireball[/i] into the room, leaving the areas where he knew the earth elemental and the Maestro to be free of the fire's effects, thinking to fry the last enemy spellcaster in the room. But that didn't work, and the Maestro's cries became suddenly muffled; Telgrane learned why when he rushed forward and ran smack into a [i]wall of stone[/i] that the final drow sorcerer had sprung into being just seconds before. Passing the news on to the others via the [i]telepathic bond[/i], Telgrane cast a [i]disintegrate[/i] spell on the [i]wall of stone[/i] and had Feron command one of her nearest earth elementals to repeat the "grope and squash" maneuver that Telgrane's greater earth elemental had used to such great effect. A wet crunching sound and a drowish scream heralded the death of the last of the three sorcerers. Topside, Cal, Chalkan, and Thunderwolf had taken care of the diopsids and the draegloth abomination, and the greater fire elemental had managed to grapple Baella into a fiery death. It wasn't perhaps the textbook way to handle an assault upon a structure - "Remind me why we didn't just go through the front door?" asked Cal - but it seemed to have gotten the job done. Now all that was left to do was to free the Maestro and go back to the surface world. But Cal was in no hurry, for he had some unanswered questions he wanted to solve first. The summoned elementals dismissed, Cal back to his normal size, the group entered the darkened room and questioned the Maestro about what had happened. "I was taken from the Cathedral of Corellon," the ancient elf answered, his breath a ragged wheeze. "They took me straight here, stripped me of my robes, and fastened me to this table. Then, for hours on end, three men used sharp instruments to carve deep into my flesh. They stopped for several hours, presumably to rest, and then started up again shortly before your arrival." Several things bothered Cal. One, the fact that this room was covered in pitch-black darkness that even Telgrane, still wearing the form of a drow with full darkvision, couldn't see through, and that two [i]dispel magic[/i] spells cast by high-level spellcasters had been unable to remove. Why would a trio of drow sorcerers do their work in absolute darkness? And for that matter, [i]how[/i] could they? Cal got his answer when they dragged the remains of the drow sorcerers out of the darkened room and into the light of Infernia's flames the next room over - and saw that all three were blind. Not "eyes that don't work" blind, either: they had had their eyeballs removed, and some time ago, judging by the scar tissue that remained behind their eyelids. "This Baella wanted three blind sorcerers, so she made sure she got them," commented Cal. The other thing bothering the cleric of Kord was the fact that these drow chose to do their work in a small building, on a small island, on an Underdark lake far away from any other structures. Drow were supposed to live in Underdark cities, but this was going on in a distinctly remote location. The logical assumption was that whatever the three blind drow sorcerers were doing to the Maestro was inherently dangerous, and there was a possibility that the whole thing could blow up in their faces. And that brought everything together, once Cal had voiced his concerns. "They've made the Maestro into a bomb!" gasped Telgrane. The spellcasters had a quick conference, trying to figure out how such a thing might be possible. The closest thing anybody could come up with was the [i]explosive runes[/i] spell, but that only worked on inanimate objects, and went off when the runes were read. Still, if the drow had found a way to make something similar that worked on living flesh.... Cal directed everyone to explore the rest of the building, to see if there were any notes left around explaining the drow cleric's plan. The closest they got was in Baella's bedroom - quite lavish, Feron noted, compared to the stark quarters of the three male sorcerers. There they discovered the designs for a pair of magical items, each a crystal carved in the shape of a spider. One was placed on the head of the user - "The crown the blind sorcerer mentioned!" Chalkan pointed out excitedly - and when activated, it [i]teleported[/i] the user to the location of the other crystal spider. "So when the drow raiders showed up at the Cathedral to kidnap the Maestro," Telgrane reasoned, "they left behind the other crystal spider. Tomorrow at noon is the Festival of the Elf-Lord; the Cathedral will be packed with elves--" "--And while everyone's there, [i]Bam![/i]" finished Feron, blanching at the thought. "In pops the Maestro, covered in these carved runes, exploding the moment somebody first sees one of them!" "It would likely kill everyone present, and possibly destroy the Cathedral as well," agreed Cal. "I wonder how many runes have been carved on the Maestro already, and how can we get them off?" They reconvened in the room of darkness, apologizing to the elderly elf for keeping him waiting. Thunderwolf gave him some water from his waterskin, while Cal explained the situation. The Maestro understood completely, and offered up that about half of his body was covered in the runes - there were about two dozen of them, by his estimation. Realizing that the normal [i]explosive runes[/i] could be "deactivated" by an [i]erase[/i] spell, the group reasoned that these drow runes, which had been painstakingly carved into the flesh of the elderly elven organist, might similarly be "erased" by the application of healing magic. Just to be sure of the group's safety, though, Cal insisted that the rest of them huddle together behind a [i]wall of force[/i] while he tried healing the Maestro. As an extra precaution, he sliced a bit of his own fingernail off with a knife and gave to to Feron for safekeeping. "Something to [i]resurrect[/i] me with if this doesn't work," he explained. He needn't have worried, for one [i]heal[/i] spell and the Maestro's wounds all closed up. Cal unstrapped the the elderly elf from the table to which he had been bound, and led him out of the darkness and into the next room, illuminated by Infernia's constant flames. Everyone eagerly entered the [i]Daern's dollhouse[/i], Infernia returned to her tinder box, and Feron and Telgrane flew their floatdisks back the way they had come without further incident. - - - The next day, at noon, the five heroes were present at the Cathedral of Corellon Larethian at the High Priest's insistence for the celebration of the Festival of the Elf-Lord. The High Priest began the ceremony by introducing the heroes to the congregation, explaining the role they had played in not only saving their beloved organist, the Maestro Elias Quespaternos, but also in saving the lives of everyone present and the beloved Cathedral itself. The grateful cheering could be heard several blocks away. The ceremony itself went well, and the Maestro's reputation as a musician was well-earned, for he brought the house down with his music, if not quite in the fashion the drow had originally intended. At the end of the ceremony, the High Priest took the heroes to a room in the back and presented them with a chest full of coins, a small token, as he put it, of their appreciation for the hard work the group had done on the elves' behalf. And from that day on, the names of Chalkan, Feron, Cal, Telgrane, and Thunderwolf carried a great amount of weight to any elf in Greyhawk City and its nearby environs. - - - We had a great time with this adventure, although I had warned the players ahead of time that this one held the possibility for a TPK. I also pointed out that since this was an "unplanned and sudden adventure" on the part of the PCs, they didn't have the normal backup they normally enjoyed; once they got their Guild rings back they could always "bink" back to Headquarters if they needed to, but there was no guarantee that their counterparts would be there to replace them. It had been intended to be a day off, after all. And while I knew that had they dragged the Maestro into the light and read the [i]explosive runes[/i] themselves they'd have been instantly slain (each rune held 4d6 points of explosive energy, and the Maestro had 24 of them on his body, with room for another 24 that the three blind drow sorcerers had intended to craft during the rest of the day), but that wasn't my primary concern. After all, [i]true resurrection[/i] was now well within the group's grasp, and they had companions who would look into their deaths. No, I knew it was the irretrievable loss of all of their equipment - Telgrane's [i]robe of the archmagi[/i], the [i]Daern's dollhouse[/i] that Feron carried with her on all of her adventures, Chalkan's [i]White-Wood Whisperbow[/i], Cal's [i]hammer of frost[/i], and Thunderwolf's sentient sword, Xanthros - that would have the players howling for my head. So when the drow workshop had been cleared of all enemies, I did give a little prompting to get the players trying to figure out what the drow plan had been with regards to Maestro Elias Quespaterno, and they pretty much put the pieces together on their own. Our next session is scheduled for the first Saturday in August, as our respective families both have family reunions to attend in the meantime. Next time, Telgrane will get his shot at becoming a half-elemental (or die trying). [/QUOTE]
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