(4e) Saga of Valor

[Netherstorm]

This is the beginning of what I hope will be a very long story hour. I intend for this campaign to stretch from levels 1-30, and then to start over with a new batch of heroes and do it again. I am going to write this more in the form of a summary rather than a short story. I record my games, and the dialogue in this story hour is for the most part exactly what is said at the table.

I've been running d&d games in this homebrew campaign world since I was a kid in the year 1989. The basic premise is that when your character reaches a high level, he or she can become a god and live on forever in my game. All of the gods in my world are former characters. You can see summaries of all of my campaigns here

I've decided that instead of running smaller, separate campaigns, to just run one massive never-ending campaign. I have been running 2-3 games a week for different groups of players. Now I would like to limit myself to just one game, every Monday night. I'll still run Encounters at my local game store on Wednesdays, but that doesn't really "count" to me.

I've decided to post this story hour in part so that I can link it to a blog that details my ongoing ideas for the campaign. I've decided to try and be more like the mighty Chris Perkins, and 'wing it' more. I know I am going to need help, because that is not my forte. It is my hope that other DMs will read my blog and give me advice on story ideas, and how to run a better game.

The biggest drawback to doing this story hour is that, you, the reader are walking in on twenty real-life years worth of continuity. I am going to try my best to give you the essential information in as few words as possible:

The plan for this campaign is to switch perspectives. The first session stars "the gods", aka my players' level 30 characters from previous campaigns. Most of them went through the entire Scales of War adventure path from dungeon magazine. Three others - Zev, Kava and Clarissa - went through Revenge of the Giants and then P3-E3. Killing Tiamat and/or Orcus gave them 'divine energy', allowing them to ascend. The old gods (characters from my 2nd edition days) handed over the universe to them. The old gods left to create a new universe.

I say "my universe" because I use the spelljammer rules. Each star system is contained in a massive crystal sphere that floats in a rainbow river called the phlogiston. My sphere is known as Nyrodspace (named after my core world of Nyrod). Only the most powerful gods in all of creation (Moradin, The Raven Queen, etc) have power in all of the spheres. The new gods, when outside of Nyrodspace, are more or less their level 30 characters - Avatars that discorporate if killed.

Nyrodspace has about a dozen planets in it, most of which are habitable "campaign worlds". At one time, it was my goal to run a campaign on each different world.

The storyline in this campaign begins with Lolth teaming up with a primordial called the King of Terror. Lolth has had a number of skirmishes with the denizens of Nyrodspace since my first-ever campaign, and is looking to slaughter and take over once and for all.

I am using a lot of material from the pathfinder path "Curse of the Crimson Throne", so this might be a bit spoiler-y. Also, Elminster makes an appearance in adventure 1. I run him like he's a bit of a jerk.

This first session kicks off with the gods in mid-investigation. They're on the trail of one of the King of Terror's exarchs, Urgathoa. The trail has led them to Dispater's city in hell. Dispater has had dealings with the gods in Scales of War and has kind of weaseled his way in, setting up temples in many major cities. His followers have been careful to be nothing but a boon to the cities their in, or at least, to appear to be such.

Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3


Chapter One: The Battle of Olwynn
​

Anjou Beurre - Primal Spirit of Storms
Clarissa - Goddess of Fire and Battle
Galasis - God of Magic
Kava Frosthowl - Primal Spirit of Ice
Reshkar/Io - God of Dragons
Storm - God of War
Zev - God of Night and Trickery

The gods were in hell. Specifically, Dispater's city of Dis. Because they were outside the confines of Nyrodspace and their plane of Annuvin, they were cut off from much of their divine power. Should they be killed in the planes, they would discorporate and slowly reform over the course of a few months in their home realm.

Dispater had ordered one of his pit fiends named General Merodach to escort them through the city in their search for the Pallid Princess. The Priness, also known as Urgathoa, was an exarch of the primordial known as the King of Terror and had tried to spread a disease in the city of Korvosa. The Gods had caught word that a a blue abishai called Archlain had caught a disease similar to one that the Princess dispensed. Merodach brought the young deities to where the abishai worked - the Bastille of Flesh.

In the Bastille, devils tortured caged mortal prisoners through deprivation. They found the abishai known as Archlain leaning against a wall, lazily poking a caged prisoner with a pitchfork. A bucket of water was on the floor just out of the man's reach. He clearly hadn't had a drink in days.

Archlain had many diseased postules growing out from under his blue scales.

"How are you feeling?", Kava asked.

The abishai looked at the heroes and at Merodach, alarmed. He backed away.

"Ignore the man in the corner. You have bigger problems right now", Anjou said.

"Wh-what are you doing here?", the abishai asked.

"We're looking for that.. pallid.. lady", said Reshkar.

"How would I know anything about her?!", Archlain asked nervously.

Galasis said, "It looks like you've been sucking on her teat. That's why."

"Hard." Anjou added.

They continued to question him, but he feigned innocence. Finally Archlain said, "Listen, unless you want to get in a cell, I've got a lot of work to do. That guy's gotta stab that guy over there by 3 o'clock."

Kava said, "How about we put you in a cell until you start answering questions?"

The heroes freed the prisoner from the hanging cage. Anjou grabbed Archlain and tossed him into it. Archlain begged Merodach to help him. Merodach ignored his pleas and said to the heroes, "I kind of like what I see so far."

The freed prisoner kneeled before the gods and said, "Thank you! Who sent you to save me?!"

"Shut up, sit down, don't say a word", Galasis responded.

They began to stab Archlain with his own trident through the cage. Unfortunately, the devil seemed to enjoy this kind of torture. They also noticed that he had a particular hatred for some of the gods.

Galasis had an idea. He stood over the bucket of water and blessed it in his name. Then he hoisted the bucket of holy water. Reshkar held Archlain's mouth open. Galasis poured the holy water down the devils' throat. He shrieked as his tongue began to melt. Archlain promised to talk.

They let up. Archlain explained that the Pallid Princess was on God Street in Dis, in the temple of Zzelth of the Eighth Order.

Merodach gleefuly asked the heroes what they'd do with Archlain now. Reshkar shrugged and dumped the holy water on Archlain, melting him. The pit fiend nodded approvingly. He led them out of the Bastille and to God Street.

God Street was a special section of Dis where Lawful Evil entities were spawned and slowly accumulated power. Once they had enough, they wandered to a mortal world to enact their evil schemes. Merodach told Zev that if he were willing to make some philosophical adjustments, he could have a temple on God Street.

Duskeater, demon lord of the white kingdom, hid in Zev's robes and asked Zev to make the devil stop talking. The Blood War was in full swing, and the imp was terrified that he'd be discovered by the devils.

Merodach mentioned that the abishai hated some of the gods, because the abishai race had been created by Tiamat. The Gods had killed Tiamat (in the Scales of War campaign) and thus were hated by the abishai.

They arrived at Zzelth's white temple, where a white-robed woman stood at the door and requested a donation of an astral diamond to enter. Some of the gods paid, some barged past her. Inside was a marble hall lined with mirrors, one of which was shattered. Zzelth was there as well - a huge-headed man in white robes. He was accompanied by Thanalar, his aide. Zzelth was a deity of false knowledge.

The aide whispered something to Zzelth. Zzelth told the heroes that he was busy, and unless they were going to make donations...

Before he could finish, Galasis fired a magic missile in his eye. Zzelth stumbled back, in pain and shock. Thanalar made a break for the mirrors. Anjou teleported in front of him, but he barreled past her. Clarissa tried to snatch him up with a lightning lure, but he evaded it and jumped into a mirror. It became a shimmering portal and he vanished through it. The mirror then cracked.

The heroes studied the remains of the mirrors but could not discern much. They knew the portal had taken Thanalar to the Abyss, to one of Grazz't's realms... but that's all. Thanalar was a secret ally of Urgathoa, and Zzelth claimed to know nothing. The gods were eventually certain this was true.

The gods returned to their home sphere. They gazed upon the intangible, mostly invisible Lightning Web that had spread throughout Nyrodspace. It had been created by Lolth, the evil goddess of spiders and dark elves. In the year -1 CY, she'd come to Nyrodspace and had been driven out by the old gods. Kaylin, the old god of good, killed her avatar with his hammer of thunderbolts.

Six hundred years later, she sent a drider to the center of nyrodspace with a magic egg. A band of heroes caught on to her scheme but failed to stop the drider (in the one-shot Webbed Toes adventure from 1996). The egg exploded and created the lightning web. The web stretched from one end of the sphere to the other, was impervious to any kind of manipulation, and slowly grew in power. It had many effects, the main one being that it randomly turned people to stone, with no known cure.

400 years after that, Lolth decided to side with primordials, the enemies of the gods. She helped to raise a primordial called Piranoth to use as an ally to attack Nyrodspace with, but Piranoth was defeated by Kava, Clarissa and Zev when they were mortals. Furious, she attacked their home city and tried to drag the heroes into her demonweb pits, but even with the aid of her then-consort Grazz't, she was thwarted.

Another 400 years passed. Her lightning web continued to accumulate energy. The old gods of Nyrodspace, including Kaylin who had raised her ire to begin with, left to create a new universe. The old gods left the sphere in the hands of mortals who had acquired divine power through slaying Orcus and Tiamat!

Lolth quietly helped a temple of elemental evil grow on the world of Nyrod, allying herself with a demon lord called Nocticula and a cult of Tharizdun. She hoped that the temple would gain power through sacrifices to four elemental nodes and could call Tharizdun to Nyrodspace so that he could utterly destroy it forever.

Again, her plans were dashed by heroes who had the divine aid of Galasis and Zev. To make matters worse, her lover Grazz't left her for one of the heroes who toppled the temple and even turned against her.

Lolth was enraged by her repeated failures. A universe that she had considered no more than a nuisance had grown into a powerful force for good. She spent a century gathering together an army of titans from the elemental chaos and called on the entire Twilight Nation of Void Elves (space-faring drow) to attack the worlds of Nyrodspace in a final, massive effort to destroy and conquer the crystal sphere once and for all.

While Lolth spent a century preparing for her final assault on Nyrodspace, each of the gods spent the majority of the time pursuing their own interests...

Galasis read many books he'd obtained from Vecna's repository of secrets, in a magic tower on a world in another crystal sphere. He was accompanied by his five green dragon exarchs (He was encountered in the tower by the heroes of the Lights of Kalandurren campaign).

Clarissa re-made her manticore into a noble, more warlike version with fire eyes and flames trailing from its' wing-tips.

Kava wandered the frozen wastes, righting wrongs and having many epic adventures.

Anjou raised her exarch dragons and continued to search the planes for the King of Terror and his exarchs. She also created a holy mountain for her followers to attempt to climb. If the most devout could defeat the challenges while climbing the mountain, they would reach the top. There, they could ring a bell that would summon Anjou to grant them a wish.

Storm teamed up with General Merodach and his devils to fight against the demons in the Blood War. Then, after a time, Storm switched sides and fought alongside the demons. Dispater was not pleased.

Then came the year 1600 CY. Mari, goddess of luck, owned a casino in the astral sea. She raked in a tidy profit from the gamblers who foolishly tried their luck against Mari there. Playing Three Dragon Ante in the casino at the time were:

- Her two blue dragon children of Tiamat, in the form of blue-skinned human twins. They worked as waitresses in the casino.
- A polychromatic child of Tiamat, in the form of a blue and red-scaled dragonborn. He was the bouncer.
- Darsidian, a humanoid dragon from the city of Olwynn. He was fascinated by the children of Tiamat, and had become something of a father figure to them.
- Quellena Entromiel was there, too, looking longingly at Mari.
- Valinor, the former goddess of healing of Nyrodspace. She too was fond of Mari.
- Githyanki pirates had arrived, hoping to bet or trade away the skins of some of demogorgon's two headed couatls who plagued the astral sea.
There were also a pair of Onis lurking about.

The doors blew open, and in stepped an old wizard with a white beard and a pointy hat.

Mari said, "you're gonna pay for those doors."

He said dramatically, "I am Elminster! A wizard of... some renown..."

Mari hadn't heard of him.

"Elminster! Sage of Shadowdale! And I have come to gamble with a god." He looked around, impressed with himself. "Milady, would you suffer the company of a well-traveled wizard? Have your servants bring me libations!" He took a seat on the cushions across from Mari.

Mari said to one of the twins, "Get Elmer a drink."

"Elminster," he corrected. "I have played a game or two with The Simbul - a goddess...! As well as with a drow matron who I spent quite a bit of time getting to know... if you know what I mean...!". He looked around to make sure everyone knew what he meant. Then he continued.

"I've heard quite a bit about your casino, milady. I'd like to make a wager. I'd like to put up my magic staff against.. an evening with the lady. What say you, goddess of luck?"

"Well that sounds interesting, Albaster. Let us take this to the VIP room!"

The VIP room, of course, had the famous "tower of power" mural on all of the walls. The mural depicted Mari, Galasis, Reshkar, Anjou, a ferret (Burrage, ally of Galasis) and the Arrow of Fate (Anjou's artifact spear) all nude and connected by the genitals over and over in many different positions. The game of Three Dragon Ante began!

Elminster won the first hand. He talked of his time living as a woman named Elmara.

Elminster lost the second hand, and showed Mari his scars he'd gotten while being tortured by the Arch-Devil Nergal. Mystra herself had come to free him, he pointed out.

Mari was so into the game, that she was unable to aid her friends in their defense of the city of Olwynn....

Back in NyrodSpace, the other gods gods suddenly sensed thousands of their followers calling out to them for aid. After 10 dormant centuries, Lolth's lightning web surged with activity! All of the stone statues created by her cursed cracked and... hatched. From the stone shells came lolthbound goblins and web golems! The creatures ran through the streets of 9 different cities on three different worlds, attacking any they saw!

And at the same time, in those cities, titans loyal to the primordials appeared, taller than any building. Ships full of space-faring drow called Void Elves lowered from the sky and fired down boulders into the major buildings. Cities all over NyrodSpace were being attacked at once!

Olwynn, the largest city on the world of Nyrod, ruled by the demi-god Thenrynnia, received special attention. Three drow ships, six massive titans and an avatar of Lolth herself appeared, gleefully crushing buildings beneath their feet and with spells! Scores of citizens perished in mere moments.

The five immortal guardians of Olwynn sprung into action and fired back. But while powerful, their attacks caused such minor injuries that they were mostly ignored by the invaders.

The gods appeared outside the walls of Olwynn and grew themselves to massive size. Lolth's lightning web sent an invisible, intangible beam through the city, preventing the gods from using their full godly power against the attackers.

Olwynn had three many-stories-tall statues that thousands lived in (basically, the size and color of the statue of liberty). Two were of beautiful elven women. The third was of Kava herself (built during the revenge of the giants campaign). Kava possessed the statue, animated, and attacked!

Reshkar turned into Io, the Prime god of dragons. Anjou remained her normal size but projected an intangible second self at colossal size so that her steps would not hurt the people of Olwynn.

Lolth hissed in glee and fired a massive web of acid that scorched a wide section of the city. She cackled as the screams of thousands filled her ears. Then she dropped a huge web on the gods, ensnaring them at the outskirts of the city. The titans roared. Two death titans and two eldritch titans rampaged across the city, crushing dozens of buildings and killing hundreds beneath their feet. The titans brought down their axes and hammers on the gods. The hundreds of citizens' dead souls coalesced into soul shards that swirled around the death titans.

The two storm titans stayed on the far side of the city, firing lightning arrows at the gods.

Storm teleported himself free of the webs and beyond the titans. He appeared next to Lolth. She shrieked in surprise and plunged one of her spider legs through his torso (a critical), impaling and poisoning him. Undaunted, he cut her with his blade and knocked her prone. She fell onto a cluster of buildings, which were crushed. Great plumes of dust rose as hundreds of shrieking citizens fled in panic. The void elf ships fired down on them, hoping to pick off the survivors.

The other gods teleported about and battled the titans. Zev took to the air, hovering above the fray and casting spells down. He cast a sequester spell, banishing one of the storm titans to The Mazes of the Lady of Pain, where Aoskar once was imprisoned. Galasis followed suit, sending the the other archer to an extra-dimensional maze.

Kava buried her axe in the chest of a storm titan, causing blood to spray everywhere. She breathed cold on the other titans and snapped free of Lolth's webbing.

Anjou teleported free of the webbing and assumed the form of the world forger. She became a being of magma and fire, and many burning motes of earth hovered near her, protecting the citizens below from debris and blasts. She pulled Lolth and some of the titans close and stabbed them with her artifact spear, The Arrow of Fate.

Storm slashed into Lolth again, causing her poison blood to spray out and flood the section of city below her. Alarmed, she teleported to a safer section of the city and plunged her spider legs into fresh buildings that crumbled under her immense weight.

Clarissa stabbed the bloodied eldritch titan, stunning it. Anjou fired off a blast of lightning that killed the titan. Zev cast shattering of Swords, stunning one of the death titans. Kava charged over a park and at Lolth. She dodged one of Lolth's impaling legs and cleaved into her. Lolth shrieked (as she took 75 points of damage!). Kava then swung three more times, carving up the goddess and leaving her a bloody mess (hurricane of blades... 148 points of damage!).

Zev, god of trickery, sensed the power of the lightning web weakening. He sense the thousands and thousands of dead citizens around him. He quietly infused them all with power, raising them all as ghouls subservient to Duskeater! They were the Darakhul, intelligent, sinister, spell-casting undead. Immediately the darakhul lashed out at the panicked living citizens of Olwynn, momentarily insane in their new forms. Duskeater quietly cackled in glee at his master's opportunism.

Anjou snared Lolth with lightning and flung her into one of the parks, where there were many fewer citizens that would be harmed. Anjou then plunged her spear into Lolth, nearly killing the avatar.

Galasis, at the outskirts of the city, had been weaving a powerful spell. At last it was ready - Legion's Hold! His eyes turned black and he issued a magical command that stunned all of the invaders - from the lowliest lolthbound goblin to Lolth herself! Lolth shook it off in a second but was still dazed, and saw only one death titan remained.

The three spelljammers began to hurtle toward the city below. All of their crew was stunned! The dark elf Warbird ships crashed into the city, most of their crew dead.

Lolth called upon her lightning web with the last of her strength. She used it to teleport herself and one death titan away.

The gods cursed and looked over the city, half in ruins. They bitterly turned the sequestered titans to stone, and set them by the walls of the city as a warning to future attackers.

Anjou decided to attempt to bring all the slain back to life. To her shock, she realized that Zev had already turned them into Darakhul. She angrily accosted the god of treachery, and they entered into a duel of godly power - a battle of wills. Zev put forth a mighty surge, but Anjou was bolstered by her conviction. She let out a scorch of lightning and killed all of the Darakhul! (We just did a straight d20 head-to-head roll. John rolled a 17. Matt rolled a natural 20! His giant red d20 lit up! It was awesome)

The whole crystal sphere was under attack. But back in the astral sea, Mari was in the middle of a game. She and Elminster were playing the final hand to see who would win...

Mari suddenly sensed a major entity looming over the casino. It was the King of Terror and a horde of titans! He was bringing his axe down on the place, about to cut it in two. She had moments to pull the twins out of the way of the path of the King's legendary axe. She quickly began to weave a spell to save her exarchs, though it would likely mean her own doom.

Elminster too sensed danger, as he saw Mari weaving. He looked around, eyes wide with alarm. He had just enough time to cast a teleport spell to bring him far away from the casino, saving himself, and leaving Mari and her friends to their fate.

The Casino exploded. The patrons screamed. Elemental blasts reduced the place to ash. The King of Terror's Titans grabbed the limp bodies of Mari, Darsidian, the exarchs and the others. The King rifled through Mari's belongings. He held aloft her deck of many things, studying it closely....

On Monday, our new level 1 heroes try to survive in the city of Olwynn during this battle! Thank you for reading!

 

[Netherstorm]

11/7/11: This is a "0-level" adventure, where ordinary citizens try to survive as the city of Olwynn is attacked by drow and the godzilla-sized gods fight Lolth and some titans.

Basically, everyone had +0 to hit, 10 for all defenses, and +0 to all skills. And d4 hit points! Most enemies in this do d6 damage, so each player has three characters.

Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3


Chapter Two: The Survivors
​

Brendan:
Rorin - Kenku Gong Farmer
Veris - Helf-Elf Squire
Thorn - Longtooth Farmer

Greg:
Blue Monk 1 - Half-Orc Noble
Blue Monk 2 - Half Orc Outlaw
Blue Monk 3 - Half-Orc Vagrant

Krista:
Audra Marijanne - Eladrin Soldier
Skip Waits II - Human Potato Farmer
Mikolina Persephone - Human Woodcutter

Matt:
Scarlet Hydra - Human Mercenary
Saltim Borum - Half-Orc Ranger
Lykke - Hengeyokai Urchin

Ryan:
Hartaniel - Elf indentured Servant
Thorsmash - Human Forester
"Snots" McGee - Human Sage

Samantha:
Lenore "Lucky" Greyweather - Human cutpurse
Adamantia the Unbreakable - Goliath Warrior
Canvessa Thenpallete - Half-Elf Artisan

Tom:
Riltar - Drow Slave
Kraven - Tiefling Scholar
Sidhar - Shade Thief


The statue of Kava Frosthowl loomed over a busy marketplace in the city of Olwynn. Dwarves and dragonborn sold furs, weapons, exotic meats and jewelry. The red sun hung in the sky, whispering evil formulas to any who looked directly at it. Near it was the smaller, yellow sun. And taking up a quarter of the sky was the world of Dracos, a swirl of blue and green.

A half-orc was demonstrating his "mega-catapult". It amounted to two 3 foot tall sticks and a massive rubber band. Nearby were massive boulders with glowing runes. Shetro, the vendor, claimed that the boulders would explode on contact when launched.

Not far from there, a dragonborn flirted with a comely female dwarf. She seemed unimpressed by him.

And close to them was vendor called Forn who was selling huge hookahs and three different kinds of herbs to smoke from them. He smoked some with Sidhar the shade as a demonstration. Snots McGee quietly crept up and began pocketing herbs as the pair inhaled. Sidhar was amazed - he became insubstantial and was seeing through the prime material plane and into the Astral Sea! He saw a massive dead god - Rundorig the dwarf. Sidhar could make out a village built on Rundorig's massive belly.

30 feet from there was a massive water tower on wooden stilts. Pipes ran down from it, with faucets, for people to clean themselves with. A wall monkey was cleaning bugs and filth off of itself. Many citizens were repulsed, but did nothing.

A foulwing pulled a cart through the square, gently mooshing people aside and grabbing handfuls of fruit from stalls. The draconic humanoid beast of burden was ten feet tall, grey and very fat. Its' wings were a pinkish hue. Hartaniel chased down the wall monkey and threw it at the foulwing. The foulwing looked at it, picked it up, and held it to its' mouth. Hartaniel waved it off.

Two blue monks and Riltar climbed onto the foulwing's cart, curious abou the cargo and the lack of an intelligent driver. In it were 5 statues, all victims of Lolth's curse of stone. Over the last few hundred years, more and more citizens had suddenly and irreversably turned to stone. No magic seemed able to restore them.

Suddenly, cries rang out all over the city. Lolth's lightning web surged, and all at once, every statue cracked like an egg and hatched minions of Lolth! People in the square gave a shout as the five statues cracked open, revealing fully grown Lolth bound goblins ready to attack!

The hookah seller had been bragging about how his hookahs could shoot clouds of smoke from their tops (like a bazooka). Audra picked it up and blasted the cart with vapor. The goblins, the monks and Riltar all were hit with a cloud of ameno leaf fumes. They began to hallucinate, seeing images of the beautiful noble named Lady Tarentia. They were also immobilized.

Hartaniel shouted at the foulwing to eat the goblins. The foulwing slowly understood what he was saying, and snatched one of them up and began chewing. He tossed Hartaniel a severed arm to eat.

Snots stole some waterskins from a stall.

Citizens assembled the "mega-catapult", and Adamantia loaded her pet pig into it. She shouted, "I will never be a farmer again!" and fired the little fellow squiggly-tail first. It crashed into a goblin, knocking it off the cart, killing it. Somehow, miraculously, the pig was fine.

Lucky raced toward the goblins, hoping for death to end her miserable life. She had already lost a leg and an eye through varius mishaps, and the idea of it finally ending put a little spring in her step. To her dismay, the citizens swarmed and killed the goblins before they could cut her down.

With the five lolthbound goblins vanquished, Lucky, Snots, and the other citizens ran to the north, as shouts and sounds of battle rang out in all directions. Lolthbound goblins and massive golems made of webbing had hatched in all sections of the city, and were mauling anyone in sight.

They neared a junction. From it came another band of citizens, who shouted, "Run!". They were being chased by thousands of little spiders. A foulwing hovered nearby, confused. Riltar, the drow, leaped and climbed onto it.

The heroes saw an abandoned stall nearby, where a fire-eater had left her things. There were two burning torches and two jugs of alcohol. As the swarm approached, the citizens dumped the alcohol on the ground in a thick line and set it ablaze!

The spiders hit it and burst into flames. Some flaming spiders made it through and crawled all over poor Lucky. The flaming spiders bit her and brought her down. As things went black, she said "At last...". Apparently, Lucky had got her wish. One of the blue monks leaned down, closed Lucky's eyes, and took her dagger.

Another spider bit one of the three blue monks. He swatted it away, injured but still alive.

The fire devoured the spiders. As the arachnids' remains curled and spewed smoke, the citizens caught their breath. Then, the air crackled and four 200 foot tall titans appeared in the city! They were led by Lolth herself, her spider legs cruelly impaling buildings beneath her. The gods appeared a moment later, grew in size to match the titans and began to do battle with the invaders!

Three flying ships appeared in the sky.. Drow leaned over the side, aiming their crossbows at the people of Olwynn below. One ship swooped down, passing the heroes overhead, firing down on them. The blue monk flung Lucky's dagger into the neck of one of the drow. The drow fell over the side and landed on the street, dead. The other blue monks looted him, grabbing a strange black iron cloak clasp in the shape of a hook. They also took his sword and crossbow, both dripping with drow venom. the Blue Monk tossed the crossbow to Scarlet.

Other drow on the ship continued to fire down. A bolt struck Skip Waits in the neck, killing him.

The ship began to turn to make another pass. The citizens raced down the side road. Nearby, Lolth cackled as she flung spells at the gods. She created an acid web zone that hovered a foot above the pavement and filled a good portion of the city, burning through buildings and blocking the heroes' path.

Four elderly citizens were trying to get to the safety of a nearby shrine, but a strand of the acid web was in their way. Behind them, the drow ship was bearing down on them. The citizens had a choice - help the elderly get past the acid and put themselves at risk, or hop the strand and leave the elderly to their doom.

They decided to help, save for a few. One of the elderly gentlemen said he needed no help. He claimed he was spry and had elven blood. Varis slipped by the acid strand and taunted the old man, daring him to try to cross without aid. The old man did try, and was fried by the acid. The scene was chaotic enough the Varis' fellow citizens didn't really register what had happened.

The drow ship came close. They could see a drow aiming the lightning projector at them. Scarlet took aim with the drow crossbow and fired a bolt through the drow's head. The citizens let out a cheer. The ship passed overhead, and more drow fired their crossbows down. Rorin the kenku was struck and killed.

A colossal death titan stepped near, crushing a building and nearly squashing Adamantia. The death titan summoned the souls of the hundreds of dead citizens around his feet, turned them into 5 foot tall black diamonds called soul shards. The death titan's innate magic caused them to orbit around him. He could use them to fuel his deadly attacks against the gods! The citizens were nearly struck by the swiftly moving soul shards. The shards crashed and passed through the walls of nearby buildings, collapsing them.

Choking dust was everywhere. A lone wall with a window stood nearby. A web golem emerged from the haze, debris stuck to its' body. A halfling was stuck to its' back, and screamed for help. The golem paid it no mind. It was pre-occupied with pulling a brick from it's inherently sticky body. The golem hadn't seen the citizens. They could have crept away to safety. But they decided to stay and save the halfling.

Adamantia charged, used her staff to pole vault over the web golem, and grabbed the halfling as she hurtled over. His shirt ripped off, and he was free! The golem turned and snarled at her as the halfling cowered behind her. Thorsmash picked up a chunk of wall, charged, and and barrelled into the golem. The golem stumbled back as Thorsmash used the chunk of wall as a ram to pushed the golem into a wall. The golem became stuck! It swiped at them, but could not reach. The citizens collapsed the wall, killing the golem.

Nearby, Storm, the currently massive-sized god of war, teleported next to Lolth and threw her across the city as Zev and Galasis caused two titans to vanish. Storm chased down Lolth and stabbed her, causing her blood to spray everywhere. Anjou assumed the form of the world forger, causing earthmotes to spring up and swirl around her.

The blood of the spider goddess rained down near the heroes. They could see pink, wriggling spider-creatures in her blood. Then, from down the street came a tidal wave of Lolth's demonic-tainted blood!

The heroes turned and tried to outrun the blood. An earthmote dipped toward them. They clambered on as it pulled up. Two of them were splashed with the demonic blood, and for a moment they were overcome with evil in their hearts. It passed, but they'd soon learn they had acquired the ability to speak with spiders.

The earthmote swung up past a rooftop. On it were eight drow warriors, who jumped and grabbed on to the side of the earthmote. The drow were intent on climbing up and skewering the citizens! The heroes ran to the edge, and pummeled them, causing the drow to fall to their deaths.

They caught a glimpse of another earthmote. On it, they spotted King Thenrynnia, ruler of Olwynn, wielder of the legendary sword Blackrazor, and a drow himself fighting two six-armed drow women. They lost sight of him as his mote passed behind Anjou's body.

Soul Shards of the death titan swirled and crashed into the earth mote. One of the blue monks was hit and knocked off the side. He fell hundreds of feet to the city below, crashing through a canvas overhang and into a fruit stand. He looked to be dead.

The earthmote was struck again and again by the soul shards, causing the mote to crumble and disintegrate. The citizens plunged through the air, and fell into a lake.

The citizens swam up to the surface and gasped for air. Dozens of corpses floated in the lake beside them. Dust from the raging battle of the titanic divine beings nearby made it difficult to see. The heroes could hear talking by the lake'sshore. They swam closer, and spotted a woman with a huge scythe speaking with plague doctors and a strange demon. She was demanding that they find some live beings to abduct.

The woman looked deadly. The citizens wanted no part of her, or the strange vulture-like demon that spewed flies and clouds of disease as it exhaled. They swam over to the south, and spied on a lone plague doctor on the shore. He was talking to a magic lantern. The lantern was talking back. It seemed that the doctor had just found the lantern and had somehow gotten into an argument with it.

They'd soon learn that inside the magic lantern was the discorporated fading cloud that was all that remained of the former god of secrets - Vecna.

The citizens, treading water, silently agreed to rush the doctor. They grasped their pitchforks, clubs and stones tightly. They made their way out of the lake and jumped the plague doctor. Snotz snatched the lamp away as the others mobbed and killed him. Audra took the plague doctor's mask. They also found a scroll on him. As far as they could tell, the woman with the scythe and her allies hadn't heard the sounds of battle.

They snuck away to the south, where the grass of the lake area met with pavement. They came upon a foulwing drinking barrels of water from a cart.

It was then that Zev, god of night and treachery, cast his secret spell as his allies fought Lolth and the titans. All who had died in Olwynn were suddenly brought back to life as a special breed of ghoul subservient to Zev - the Darakhul!

The lake stirred. The dozens of floating dead shivered, animated, and made their way to the shore. The citizens ran as the darakhul made their way out of the lake toward them. They ran down a street toward a temple of Fra, which looked safe. Darakhul were everywhere, though, lunging out of alleys and jumping off of rooftops to get at the heroes.

Burnglow, one of the immortal guardians of Olwynn, suddenly appeared and set all of the Darakhul ablaze, and then moved on.

The citizens caught their breath just outside the temple. They heard a sound getting louder and louder in the air above them. A drow ship hurtled from the sky above, damaged and plummeting uncontrollably. It hit a spire, split in two, and crashed on the street before them.

On the ruined ship was a statue connected to the mast. It was in the form of a large demon. Three inert drow laid unmoving on the broken deck near an upturned treasure chest. Riltar and a few citizens climbed on to search for loot. The mast statue magically animated and attacked! The drow rose up bloodied and injured but still able to fight!

A drow warrior ran Sidhar through with its' poison sword. Storm jumped on the demon's shoulders. The other citizens jattacked the drow as well. They used a disease bomb they'd taken off the plague doctor, and the blue monks closed in and proceeded to pummel them. Audra raced forward snatched up a poison sword from a fallen drow warrior, and killed the demon with it.

The citizens caught their breath and searched the chest. Inside was gold, posion, antivenom, and a scroll. They snatched it up, and saw more darakhul closing in from all sides.

Lolths' titans were defeated. She was hurt badly. Galasis stood at the edge of the city and cast legion's hold, stunning all of the invaders. Lolth cut her losses, summoned the power of the demonweb, and teleported herself and the remaining death titan away. The invasion was over!

Anjou accosted Zev, realizing what he'd done. They entered into a battle of wills, which Anjou won. All of the Darakhul were scorched and destroyed by lightning.

The survivors breathed a sigh of relief. They divided up the gold they'd found. Then, they investigated some shouting nearby. They saw a mob of citizens standing over a lone drow in white. Half of the mob wanted to kill her. The other half wanted to take her alive for questioning. None knew it, but King Thennrynia lurked in the shadows, observing.

The survivors intervened and convinced the people to let her live. Satisfied with what he'd seen, King Thennrynia emerged from the shadows. Everyone bowed, save for the blue monks. He asked the heroes to take the drow and come with him to Moonstone Keep.

They walked in silence through the ruins of a once great city. Inside Moonstone Keep, ladies in waiting cleaned off the heroes as they walked. The King lead them into the throne room where his council waited with news. The King sat on the throne as they immediately updated him on what was going on:

- Two other nearby cities were attacked by drow ships and titans as well. It was apparent that the thousands of people petrified by the urse of stone all throughout the kingdom, and perhaps in all of Nyrodspace, had all hatched various monsters loyal to Lolth.
- Darsidian, Thenrynnia's most trusted advisor, had gone missing.
- A cleric of Mari had no access to her spells. She feared that something had happened to Mari, Goddess of Luck.
- Lady Tarentia asked the King to go into hiding in the Feywild. She said that she was friends with unicorn-people there that could keep him safe.

The King wanted the heroes' advice. Each of his council members had their own agenda. Darsidian had been Thenrynia's most impartial advisor. He had brought the heroes to Moonstone Keep to get their perspective in his stead.

The rest of the council introduced themselves to the survivors. Each represented a different faction.

Ambril (The Hundred) - Regal Deva.
Strom Wakeman (The Us) - Mysterious robed figure.
Zanestra Shadowborn (Shadowborn) - Shade cleric of Zev. Her imp, PaunchCrammer, was entirely too friendly.
Maynard Grey (Silverfist) - Tough and gritty fellow.
Lady Tarentia (none) - Beautiful, intent on marrying King Thennrynia.

Maynard Gray was enraged by the invasion and wary of the heroes' sudden influence on the king. He walked up to Hartaniel, yelled at him, and punched him. Hartaniel punched him back. Maynard liked that. Then he grabbed Scarlet and kissed her passionately. The other council-members apologized. Maynard tended to slap and kiss a lot of people, and the invasion was too much for the volatile fellow to process.

Paunchcrammer wanted to know if anyone wanted to share a pretzel. Zanestra scolded him. Imps of Zev were supposed to be cruel and to taunt those who did not follow Zev.

The heroes told the King that he should not hide in the Feywild. He agreed. The heroes showed him the scrolls they'd found. Lady Tarentia snatched them and unfurled them for the king, leaning close to him as they looked over them together.

The scroll that the heroes had found on the plague doctor showed a map of a nearby town called Dagger Rock. One spot had an "x" on it.

The scroll from the treasure chest on the drow ship showed a map of Nyrodspace. Three planets were circled, and city names were listed for each of them...

Nyrod: Olwynn, Starbed, Dunnwynn
Reldain: Sasserine, Scuttlecove, The Isle of Dread
Kathenira: Cauldron, Romgarl, Amashi

The heroes decided to investigate the town of Dagger Rock, to see what the X on the plague doctor's map was all about. The king suggested that the heroes rest, equip, and prepare themselves for the journey. They agreed to do so...

Meanwhile, lying in a pile of burnt spiders, Lucky awoke. Somehow she had survived the spiders' deadly, burning toxin! "No!", she shouted. "My face!".

 

[Netherstorm]

11/14/11:All Seven players made it and we got plenty done. Listed next to each character is the title the King has bestowed upon them.

Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3


Chapter Three: Belgos & Silussa
​

Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger Vovoidja
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk Almoner
Hartaniel - Elf Barbarian Groom of the Stool
Lucky - Human Warlord Constable
Ryltar - Drow Avenger Constable
Scarlet - Human Fighter Constable
Veris - Half-Elf Warlock Hostarius

King Thenrynnia had selected a band of heroic survivors of the Drow assault to become his new advisors. During the assault, the survivors had encountered a woman with a scythe and a strange demon at her side. She was also attended to by a number of strange physicians. They had killed a physician and found a map of nearby Dagger Rock with an X on it, and decided to go investigate it.

The King asked them to leave in 2 days' time. During that time, the citizens met up with different factions to hone their skills, to better prepare them should they battle the drow again.

Veris, the 12-year-old former slave of the drow, headed to the clock tower of the Shadowborn clan. There, Skelogha Shadowborn trained Veris in the ways of a warlock. Paunchcrammer the imp was nearby. It waved politely. Veris stared it down, scaring it.

Skelogha had Veris kill some bats with his eldritch blast, dodge thrown daggers, and then practice detecting magic. "You're pretty good, kid." Skelogha said. "One day you're gonna be a pretty good warlock."

Lucky, Scarlet, and Ryltar headed to the Church of Io. There, Ambril the deva showed them a magic door in a mural depicting Bahamut and Amyria that only they could see. The door led to a temple on Nyrod's moon, the world of Dracos. Lucky peered at it and sighed, "We're probably going to die. It's not a big deal."

As they stepped through, Ryltar heard Ambril quietly arguing with herself. He didn't know what to make of it.

They appeared in the Mountainroot Temple, a sacred place that held portals to a number of different places. There, the Azer Caretaker brought them to a great door. One other hopeful member of The Hundred was present. Her name was Tam.

The Azer said, Open the door and gaze beyond it. It will either give you great power, or it might kill you."

"Sounds good enough to me", Scarlet said.

Ryltar nodded and said, "Those are some good odds".

Tam, the woman who'd been at the temple when the heroes arrived, backed away and whispered fearfully, "One of you open it."

They opened the door, which led to the Astral Sea. Weird energies washed over them. Tam was overcome and passed out. The others absorbed the energy, and wielded its' power (they now possessed the Spellscar theme power).

Ardra headed down beneath the city to Thunderspire Labyrinth and met with Vortrax Battler, a tiefling mage of Saruun. When she walked in, his back was to her. He was punching the wall angrily. Ardra quietly watched him. He grabbed his head and yelled "Bats! Everywhere! Yarrggh!". He grabbed his head and thrashed about. Then he noticed Ardra watching. He straightened up and snapped, "Were you going to watch me forever?!".

"Depends on how long you were stuck in your.... state," she said.

"The name's Vortrax Battler. We don't have a lot of time. so don't waste ... my time." He realized how stupid that sounded, and so did she.

She laughed. "That sounds logical."

"Shut up and read this book," he said, and tossed her a tome. "If you have any skill at all, you'll soon be able to comprehend any language you've heard recently. I'll go get myself together."

She read the book. He returned and began to speak to her in Infernal. And she understood. "My father was a devil named Vilitrax. I escaped his cages after a time, but I still remember the bats. Picking at my skin! They'd descend on me every night!". He began to shout and pound the wall, suffering more flashbacks. Then he straightened up and said, "You've done well." They proceeded to train for two days. She learned to wield magic through her blade.

The Blue Monk met with some other Blue Monks in a ruined temple in the city. There, Elder Teal said, "I know you are already a great warrior, but I wish to teach you a new technique."

Another Blue Monk produced a bound and bloodied lolthbound goblin.

Elder Teal showed him four pressure points on the goblin, which, when struck in rapid succession, caused instant death!

The Blue Monk struck the goblin in the four points, and watched in amazement how it gagged and expired as blood poured from its' nose. "Thank you, sir," he said.

Hartaniel headed to the Seekers Enclave, which was in an old museum. There he met with Darvana Violet, who had her nose in a book. She looked at him and said, "About time you got here."

He said nothing.

She said, "Stop talking so much!", and laughed. "My name's Darvana. If you want to be a Seeker you have to go downstairs. Are you ready?".

"Yes."

Downstairs was a dungeon area, where a crude obstacle course had been made. "You know what I like to do?", Darvana asked. "I like to go to ancient ruins, find antique pottery, and break it!". Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Isn't that funny?". He just looked at her. His task was to jump over a pit. "Don't fall in the pit!", she called. "Poison spikes in there!".

Hartaniel jumped and easily crossed the pit. Then he swung across some ropes. And then she tested him on dungeon slopes. His knowledge of Dungeoneering was sub-par. He failed the test.

She said, "You suck at dungeon slopes. Here's your Seeker pin. You should be donating stuff to us once in a while, don't keep it all. It could be knowledge or magic items. I'll make sure it gets stored safely."

Hartaniel wasn't sure if she'd just break whatever he brought her. He bowed.

As they trained, the spirit of nature known as Stormhawk hovered over the city, striking it with lightning and blasting it with heavy rain. Stormhawk was angry that gods had stepped upon the mortal world and done battle.

The city's five immortals directed the clean-up effort.

All dead bodies were to be brought to Burnglow for incineration.
All live enemies were to be brought before Maleficia the Hag, to become part of her carpet of ladybugs.
All trash was to be brought to the Incomprehensible one so that it could be transformed into a prism that transmuted light into weird, unearthly music (sounds like space whales).
All wounded or dead citizens were to be brought to the Barbarian to be healed or laid to rest.
All disputes were to be abjudicated to the seven-headed demon Lord Foul.
And the church of Dispater was even doing its' part, collecting all of the soul shard created by the colossal death titans. They were even offering to pay for them, so they could be stored safely beneath the church.

It was also noticed that the church of Mari, goddess of luck, had been hit by lightning twice. The heroes heard rumors of the legendary hero Tiger-man boarding one of the spelljammers and heading into wildspace to hunt down drow ships. The Silverfist clan led the army of Olwynn to Dunnwynn, which had been overtaken by the drow.

Two days had passed. The heroes met with the King and were given titles. He told the heroes he'd used a ritual to observe his missing council member, Darsidian. The dragon was imprisoned with the goddess of luck Mari and her dragon exarchs in a dungeon somewhere far away.

He'd also used a ritual called History Revealed on the drow prisoner in the white dress. He learned she had been ordered to build a tower out of webbing in the ruins of Olwynn. He also learned many details of her harsh life. She was addicted to poppy juice, and was begging for more. He asked the heroes and the other advisors if he should give her some.

Strom Wakeman said yes.

Lady Tarentia said no. "We should kill the prisoner and be done with her. The drow cannot be trusted!".

Scarlet said to her, "King Thennrynnia is a drow."

She stammered and said, "He is a demi-god." She fluttered her eyes at the king. "No slight intended, your highness."

The King brought the heroes to drow's cell. Her name was Derinnil. "Is she not beautiful?", he asked.

"She's alright," shrugged Scarlet.

The King asked, "Would it help if I let her out?".

The heroes all said "No", in unison.

The King grabbed the hilt of his sword, the legendary artifact known as Blackrazor. "Blackrazor yearns to eat her soul...". He told Hartaniel to go procure some poppy juice.

Hartaniel quietly pulled Ryltar, his drow ally, aside. He asked him if he knew where any poppy juice was. Ryltar explained he'd only been in Olwynn a few days and had no idea.

Hartaniel headed out into Olwynn to find some poppy juice. The city was still in chaos, everyone pitching in to clean up the rubble of many ruined buildings. He wasn't having much luck.

Lucky headed into the city, and approached some sleazy orcs and half-orcs. Long ago it had been controversial to allow the orcs to live in ghettos, but now they were accepted as equal citizens.

Scarlet walked the devastated streets as well. It made her remember...

She was about 10 years old, raised by friends of her parents who had joined a cult of Bane. The cult had laid siege to a small village. Scarlet then was known by her given name, Nemesis.

Her step-mother had paused in the midst of battle. She was staring at the Red Sun. It's evil curse flooded her mind, begging her to raise eight death knights so that they could free Ebonbane and Lord Soth from their prison. As she stood, entranced, a farmer rushed her with a pitchfork. Nemesis tried to stop the farmer's charge but slipped. She watched as her mother calmly snatched the pitchfork away and killed the farmer with it.

Then Nemesis heard her step-father arguing in a nearby hut. Nemesis rushed in to find her step-father arguing with his rival, Banelar. They had killed the family in the hut. Banelar wanted to kill the wife as well, but her step-father said she could be indoctrinated to speed the cult's growth. Nemesis convinced them to let the woman live.

Nemesis hated the cult. She began to try to think of a way to destroy it from within....

The heroes returned with the poppy juice and gathered on a balcony overlooking Olwynn. Lady Tarentia offered to have a network of pixies travel with the heroes and report back to her, so the King would be aware of how their trip was progressing.

The heroes were off. They made their way through the forest to the west, heading to Dagger Rock.

They came upon a few shattered statues with pink webbing inside. Some had hatched Lolthbound goblins, who were seemingly long gone. They also came upon the broken remains of a Roc. Judging from the tracks around it, it had hatched a tremendously huge spider.

The heroes were passing through a clearing when suddenly a spelljammer came rocketing toward them! As it passed overhead, the heroes scattered. The drow onboard gleefully fired their crossbows down. The poison in the bolts put Scarlet and Ardra sleep. The ship continued on to the east.

Teddy, Veris' floating skull familiar (who was a young drow in life) said, "Wow! I wonder where they're going!".

"We'll soon find out", the Blue Monk said grimly.

The heroes rested for a few minutes and awoke those who were poisoned.

Soon after, they came to a bridge. On the bridge was the statue of a beautiful woman, and a bunch of lolthbound goblins were poking at it. They wondered aloud why it hadn't hatched.

The heroes decided to surprise them. Ardra blasted one with a magic missile, and the Blue Monk charged forward and bloodied one with punches. Ardra killed it with a second magic missile. Two goblins were on the far side of the bridge. They fired arrows at the heroes. The Blue Monk was hit, and nearly killed. Lucky healed him, and he stumbled back.

Some of the heroes on the periphery of the battlefield noticed a number of rats and bats about. They weren't sure what to make of it.

Ardra teleported behind the enemies on the bridge and stabbed one in the back, killing it. Another goblin let out a thunder blast that dropped Lucky and Ardra.

Ryltar turned invisible and ran over the bridge to deal with the two ranged attackers. The goblins on the bridge were cut down. The archers tried to flee. The heroes kept one and questioned it. It knew little.

Hartaniel said "Give us your money, fool."

The goblin sheepishly offered a pouch of gold coins.

Hartaniel continued, "..and leave your weapons."

It placed its' pick on the ground.

"Now I'll crush his head!" Ryltar exclaimed, raising his weapon in the air. Other heroes protested.

"Why would you want to do that?", Veris asked. The 12 year old boy walked up to the goblin, looked into his eyes and cast spiteful glamor. The mere sight of Veris became anathema to the goblin. It shrieked and bled from the eyes.

Lucky laid in a puddle of her own blood, watched, and took a drink from her flask.

Ryltar asked him about the statue of the woman. The goblin indicated that he didn't understand why it hadn't hatched a goblin. He looked at the heroes with a cheesy smile and said "Lolth tlu malla, everybody...?". That was drow for 'praise Lolth'. The heroes sternly shook their heads and said "No!".

Scarlet bashed his head in.

Then the statue began to shimmer. It became flesh! Before them stood a beautiful blonde-haired eladrin wearing filmy garments.

"Thank you!", she said in a sultry voice.

The heroes were suspicious, and asked her what was going on.

She said, "I was wandering the forest, alone, when I saw the goblins. I had learned a trick from my master long ago, which allowed me to turn to stone for safety.

Ardra asked, "Who's your master?".

The woman began to swoon at the thought of him. "A handsome man named Belgos! He's my beloved."

"Where were you headed?" asked the Blue Monk.

She brushed back her hair. "My friend Nilonim was captured. And I was looking for help!"

"Is he still captured?" asked the Blue Monk.

"The evil drow have taken him. He is a good drow." She gestured to Ryltar, who she presumed also to be a good drow.

"See, she gets it." Ryltar said approvingly.

Scarlet asked where the evil drow were. She explained that they lived in a small underdark community called Honglath. An entrance to it could be found in a cave not far from Dagger Rock.

Veris knew of Honglath. He'd been a slave in a drow city called Rilauven, which sometimes traded with Honglath.

"I could lead you there. Perhaps you could free my friend? I'd be ever so grateful, as would the handsome Belgos." She sighed at the thought of him. "He's so handsome. Perhaps you'll meet him some time."

Scarlet asked about the bats and rats around. She claimed not to see any bats or rats. Ryltar pointed out five bats in a nearby tree. She said it was odd, but didn't know why.

Lucky solemnly said, "Must be just another ill omen."

"Belgos is lost in the forest. Perhaps we'll encounter him on our journey. I know he'll find me one way or another."

Ryltar said, "If he's so great, how did he get lost - eh it's not worth it." Hartaniel agreed.

The heroes looted the goblin corpses. The lantern of Vecna whispered to Hartaniel, "Beware the one in the filmy clothing! There are secrets abound!".

Ryltar said, "The cloud is talking again."

"Tell it to shut up if it's not going to give us treasure", Scarlet added.

"The lamp is probably right," Lucky said mournfully. "She's probably going to lead us to doom and peril." Lucky took her peg leg off, re-adjusted it, and put it back on.

The heroes healed up for half an hour. During that time, the woman told them that Honglath held a total of about 70 drow and slaves. The two leaders of Honglath were dangerous. There was Commander Pellanistra, who had a magic arm made of an adamantite alloy. And the matron was called Yathrin Faeryl, a priestess of Lolth.

Once rested, the heroes headed off, led by the mysterious woman. She said her name was Silussa.

"Maybe we could free the slaves," Ryltar said.

Hartaniel responded, "You'd be ending their lives."

Ryltar was taken aback. "Yes - you'd be ending their lives as slaves."

"Everything they've lived for. They would not know what to do next."

"All right. So. You're kind of an idiot."

Hartaniel calmly explained, "I was a slave. I liked it! I wanted to stay there."

Veris said, "You must not have been enslaved by the drow."

Ryltar shook his head. "Impressively weird."

Veris' skull familiar, Teddy, said "You're all probably going to be drow slaves soon." He cackled.

Lucky patted the skull and said, "Ah you're a good kid."

Teddy looked down at the ground, floated away from Lucky and said quietly, "Thank you, matron".

The Blue Monk scouted ahead. He saw a lot of bats in the trees, and rats on the ground. The heroes could not figure out what that was all about. Lucky got drunk off her flask and began shouting at the rats. "I'm tired of this magic nonsense!". The rats scattered.

After hours of walking, it was becoming dark. They made camp. They sat around the fire. Silussa sat next to the boy, Veris.

She asked him, "What's a young man like yourself doing adventuring with these people?"

Veris nervously said, "Killing drow?"

Teddy whispered to him, "I think she likes you!".

Hartaniel threw a rock at the skull. Teddy flew over to him and said, "You got a problem?!"

Hartaniel said, "Let the boy become a man!"

Teddy the skull responded, "that should be me! When I was alive, I used to beat him up all the time!".

"I see how that ended".

Silussa asked, "Do you want to take a walk, Veris?"

"OK!".

The Blue Monk tried to follow them without being noticed, but he stepped on a branch. Silussa turned, annoyed, and waved him off. Two other heroes crept in the woods, watching to make sure something horrible didn't happen to Veris.

Silussa asked, "Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

"I'm 12," Veris answered.

"When I was 12, I was a long way away from meeting Belgos. But I met a lot of nice young boys."

"..."

"Tell me about the prettiest girl you've ever met."

"Probably my mommy. I burned her alive."

"Oh. How about someone not related to you?"

"She wasn't related to me. She was the woman who raised me."

"Where did you grow up?"

"In her house, as a slave."

She sighed. "OK, lets go back to the camp."

They returned and she plopped down on a log. "Oh, Belgos...." she moaned. Lucky handed her a flask.

Scarlet leaned over and said to Silussa, "Honestly! He's 12!"

Silussa scowled at her and said, "You have a lot to learn."

Everyone went to sleep. Ryltar and The Blue Monk laid awake and talked of the Raven Queen.

Hartaniel got up early and practiced shooting a crossbow he'd got from a goblin. He fired bolts into the trunk of a tree. He spotted some bats. He shot one, and killed it. Suddenly, in all of the trees around, 30 bats squealed and took flight! They headed off to the east.

The next day, they continued their journey. The spelljammer returned from the east! The heroes ducked under trees and behind rocks for cover. The drow fired down on Silussa with bolts and elemental fire. She looked up at the ship, barely harmed and furious!

She suddenly changed. Yellow bat wings sprouted out from her shoulders. She was a succubus! A bunch of bats from nearby treetops flew up to join her. One was larger and made of mist. They flew up to the ship.

The drow onboard recoiled in fear. "Belgos! Silussa! We had no idea it was you!"

Silussa angrily shouted at the drow, who turned the ship and flew off.

Silussa and the mist bat flew down and hovered over the heroes. "It's ok! I'm not going to hurt you." The mist-bat shape-shifted into a shirtless drow with vampire fangs. she looked at him and said, "Oh Belgos, I missed you so!"

Belgos said, "I missed you as well, my darling! Every moment where I had to watch you try to seduce that boy... it tore me up inside!"

"But now we're together again!"

"Nobody understands us, my darling!"

"No one!"

Scarlet whispered, "They're talking about the really creepy thing that happened in the woods last night."

For a moment, Ryltar wondered how a vampire was appearing in broad daylight. Then he remembered that because of the mind flayers tampering with the three suns of Nyrodspace a hundred years ago, things worked differently. (The mind flayers had shunted much of the suns' energy into a device called the Engine Consummate. The Engine's ultimate goal was to pull an alternate reality into this one. A band of heroes stopped them.)

The heroes noticed a horde of bats and rats closing in from all directions.

Belgos said proudly, I am a master of bats and rats!"

Silussa added, "It's true! They just flock to him naturally!"

"And Silussa can turn into a statue at will. No other succubus can do that! She's special... aren't you, my darling?" He put his hand on her face. She touched it.

He addressed Veris. "You had a rare opportunity to become a man, my friend! You will rue the day for the rest of your life."

Veris looked at him and said, "I repeat - I'm 12."

Silussa looked at the heroes and said, "Maybe I lied to you a little."

"Or a lot..", Scarlet said.

The succubus continued, "But. Those drow made me angry. I am supposed to be working with them. But Pellanistra punched me with her metal arm. And they did capture Nilonim. We're not helping them any more, are we, Belgos?"

"No, my darling! They don't treat us with any respect at all!"

Lucky rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "The world has never seen a love like theirs." The heroes chuckled.

Belgos said, "While I urge you to go to Honglath to kill the drow, I only hope that you all one day can find love the way that I have!". He lowered his gaze on the most beautiful female in the group - Scarlet.

"Perhaps a raven-haired beauty such as yourself could go for a walk with me some day." He turned to Silussa and asked, "You wouldn't mind, would you my lover?"

Silussa said, "Of course not, because I know you're coming back to me at the end of the day with wonderful stories to tell!"

Scarlet said, "I'll be busy washing my hair. Forever."

With that, the succubus and the vampire said farewell and flew off.

The lantern of Vecna muttered to Hartaniel, "You know, they could be powerful allies, Hartaniel! And vampires - they live forever..."

Hartaniel wasn't interested.

The adventurers decided to go to Honglath and see what was going on.

Later that day, they came upon a cave with vines that had roses growing from them. The heroes were certain that a secret entrance was inside somewhere. Ardra reached out with her arcane senses, and realized a rose had to be pressed three times.

The back wall slid open and revealed a large stone disc that acted as a type of elevator leading down. Ardra activated it, and the heroes sunk into the underdark.

At the bottom, Ardra disabled a drow wayfinder rune trap. In the cave beyond was a herd of Rothe being hunted by a single bugbear. A tunnel lead off to the north. The heroes tried to sneak into the tunnel but the bugbear noticed them. Ryltar raced forward and cut its' head off. It was a slave, he realized, a bit sadly.

The tunnel was lit by little cages with fire beetles in them mounted on the walls. It led to Honglath. The small drow community was little more than a few caves surrounding an altar to Lolth. In a hanging silver cage next to the altar was a drow male, who had a number of scars on his body.

The heroes crept around. They slipped into a ritual room, where they found a ritual book and notes on their dealings with the cult of Urgathoa. Apparently the drow of Honglath's role in the drow invasion was to protect a cult in Dagger Rock, and to transport whatever the cult was making to the larger drow city of Rilauven to the east.

Veris shuddered. He'd been a slave in Rilauven, until he set fire to his master and made his escape.

Ardra found a magic secret page in the ritual book, which detailed the cult of Urgathoa. Urgathoa was one of the King of Terror's three exarchs. The cult in Dagger Rock was run by a priestess called Ilcanya Alonar, assisted by a necromancer called Rolth.

The heroes snuck about a bit more, and saw a bunch of sleeping bugbear slaves in a cave. Ryltar took off, turned invisible, and crept past the bugbears... Then he became visible as he stumbled upon the ruler of Honglath herself! Yathrin Faeryl was reading a prayerbook of Lolth as her handmaiden sewed up some silk garments.

Yathrin Faeryl turned, and scowled at the drow. "What is the meaning of this?!", she hissed. She looked at his collar, confused by the lack of a drow house insignia. "Where is your.."

Ryltar let out a shout, grabbed her, and put the blade of his scythe to her throat. She called out for Commander Pellanistra,slipped out of his grasp and immobilized him with a pain web spell. Ryltar called forth a cloud of ravens to blind the drow if they came close.

The other heroes ran to help Ryltar. Hartaniel came over to Nilonim's cage. Nilonim promised to get help from his House, House Kilsek. Hartaniel chopped the silver cage open and the drow raced off.

Commander Pellanistra burst out of a door near Hartaniel and threw off her cloak, revealing an arm made of adamantite! The arm glowed blue with magic! She ran over and punched Hartaniel, sending him flying back ten feet. He got up and cut her. "Vith Dos", he said, which was drow for f- you. She laughed. Pellanistra grabbed him with her adamantite arm and tossed him into a human-shaped depression in the altar of Lolth. Little holes in it came alive, about to wrap him in a cocoon of webbing!

Ardra cast suggestion on the four groggy bugbear slaves. She urged them to join her. They did! They surrounded her and protected her. One raced over and pulled Hartaniel off of the altar.

Four drow of House Tormtor emerged from a nearby area to aid Commander Pellanistra. They killed one of the bugbears.

In Faeryl's chamber, The Blue Monk aided Ryltar as they fought her while Scarlet blocked the exit. Ryltar bloodied the handmaiden with a slash. The Blue Monk finished her off. Faeryl tried to barrel past Scarlet, but Scarlet grabbed her by the leg and flipped her to the ground. Ryltar ran over, and slashed her guts open with his scythe. She was dead.

Outside, Pellanistra continued to fight alongside her drow allies. From a tunnel came Nilonim and his men, a dozen drow with crossbows. They plugged Pellanistra's men full of bolts, killing them.

Pellanistra knew she'd lost. Lucky wanted her adamantite arm. Nilonim smiled. The bugbears placed her on the altar. The webbing shot out and wrapped her up. Nilonim raised his blade staff and hacked off the adamantite arm. He tossed it to the warlord.

He thanked the heroes, and told them that they were welcome in Honglath any time.

 

[Netherstorm]

4. Dagger Rock

11/21/11: My house was robbed! My laptop is gone with all the campaign notes and pictures in it. Luckily, all of the really important stuff has been stored elsewhere, so the campaign won't be overly effected.

Also in this adventure, I used a giant mini from warhammer. It's this big spider with seven goblins on the back. It's about 3 squares wide and 6 squares long. I'll try and find a picture once I get a new laptop!

Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3​

Chapter Four: Dagger Rock​

Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger Vovoidja
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk Almoner
Hartaniel - Elf Barbarian Groom of the Stool
Lucky - Human Warlord Constable
Ryltar - Drow Avenger Constable
Scarlet - Human Fighter Constable
Varis - Half-Elf Warlock Hostarius

The adventurers had made their way to the drow enclave known as Honglath and defeated the leaders of the ruling house, House Tormtor. Nilonim, leader of the rival faction of House Kilsek, offered to pay the heroes to help him finish off his rivals for good. The heroes talked it over. As they did so, they noticed two female drow hovering close to Nilonim. They were:

Quarra - who gazed at him longingly and covered him with her crossbow.
Nuliira - who openly resented the heroes' presence

Before storming House Tormtor, they'd need to circumvent its' magical protection. For that, they'd need to extract the word of passage from Commander Pellanistra, who was webbed to the altar, her adamantine arm torn off. The arm now belonged to Lucky. Nilonim was ready to torture her to extract the information, but he decided to ask the heroes if they'd like to tr firsty.

Varis, the boy of 12 who actually looked to be 8, and his floating skull familiar stepped forward. Nilonim chuckled and said, "What's that, boy?".

Lucky said, "They're both good kids." She patted them both on the skull.

Teddy the skull looked down and said, "Thank you matron", and flew away quickly.

The warlord drunkenly explained to Nilonim, "They're just advanced for their age. They see how the real world is."

Nilionim held out a curved dagger to Varis. "All right, boy..."

"I won't be needing that," Varis responded.

Varis walked up to the altar and looked down at Pellanistra. He said," You see him over there?". He pointed at teddy the floating skull. "I think he could use a friend. Perhaps you could donate your skull as well as your arm... What is the word of command?". Varis glared at her, his eyes flaring with energy.

Pellanistra regarded him with genuine fear and said "Ollst". It was drow for 'caution'.

Nilonim congratulated Varis. Then he declared that once House Tormtor was taken down, they would summon a yochlol and have Pellanistra turned into a drider.

The heroes huddled up. Scarlet wasn't too sure if she liked the idea of having a drider running around in the world looking for revenge against them. Scarlet thought having Pellanistra dead was better.

Lucky piped up. The heroes could not help but notice her eye patch, peg leg and hook hand as she said somberly, "I'd have to say that dead is better than a lot of things...". But there were fifteen drow members of House Kilsek, as well as dozens of warrior slaves. There was little they could do.

The heroes and House Kilsek gathered together and closed in on House Tormtor's large dwelling. The word of command was spoken, deactivating the house's protective wards, and the adventurers burst in through the doors to find the enemy ready for them. The drow were across the large main chamber, behind a barricade of furniture, aiming crossbows and readying spells. Their bugbear slaves roared and charged forward.

The drow flung flash globes. One exploded at Hartaniel's feet. He couldn't see a thing, but he could hear the bugbears rushing close. He let out a magical shout, blasting the slaves back. Lucky flung Pellanistra's severed adamantite arm at a bugbear, kiling it.

Scarlet dodged blasts of dark fire and crossbow bolts laced with drow poison. She grabbed a luxurious plush chair and flung it at the drow. Two of them were hit by chair legs, and died instantly. The blue monk hid in a shadowy corner, waiting for his time to strike.

Nilonim and his aide, Nuliira were battling three male drow warriors. One warrior had Nilonim down, and was choking him to death. Ardra cast Spook, causing the drow to shriek and stumble off of Nilonim. Nilonim slew the drow and nodded at Ardra.

One drow of House Tormtor raced past the heroes, trying to flee out the front door. Varis cursed the drow with a devouring worms spell, but he did escape. Ryltar saw Nilonim fighting... and Nuliira behind him, menacingly drawing her poisoned rapier. She meant to strike him down and claim House Kilsek for herself! Ryltar let out a shout of warning. Quarra fired off a crossbow bolt and killed Nuliira with one shot.

The battle over, Quarra approached Nilonim to congratulate him. He blew right by her. He excitedly prepared to summon the yochlol.

Hartaniel pulled Nilonim to the side. Quarra had her crossbow trained on him. The Blue Monk crept behind her, ready.

Hartaniel said, "I think Quarra is interested in you. She'd probably produce good, strong children for you."

Nilonim scowled. "She is useless."

The heroes gathered near the altar in the main hall, and watched from a distance as the fifteen drow of House Kilsek gathered around where Pellanistra was bound. Ardra noticed sigils aroud the base of the altar. She could see that the altar doubled as a teleportation circle. The drow chanted and prayed for twenty minutes, and then Urialle arrived. She was a beautiful drow woman with broad shoulders and a metal helmet. She wore a brooch insignia of a bone spider, which glowed from within. In one hand she held a heated brand. In the other, she held a glass of wine.

Varis knew that Urialle could shift into a form of a yellow blob with a single, hideous eye. He also knew that as a yochlol, she was one of Lolth's handmaidens in the Demonweb Pits.

Urialle went to work on Pellanistra, using the brand, tongs, and knives. Pellanistra screamed throughout the process, in incredible agony. At one point, Urialle paused to behold a bugbear slave. She ordered it close and then cut its' head off, just so she could laugh at its' headless body prancing about.

After half an hour, Pellanistra was transformed. She now had the lower body of a spider, and a thirst for blood. Urialle declared that she'd live a life of rage and hopelessness. Pellanistra scampered into a tunnel that lead to the underdark below. And then, with a sneer, the yochlol used the altar to return from whence she came.

The drow clapped excitedly, and offered the heroes food - rothe and spider meat. Nilonim declared to House Kilsek that they'd be leaving Honglath. He was going to take them deeper below to the sea of Black Blood, where they'd ally themselves with Velkyn Phindar.

The name made Varis remember...

Varis was ten years old, and a slave to the drow in the city of Rilauven. The son of Varis' owner, the drow boy who would one day become the floating skull known as Teddy, had taken Varis to the caves near Rilauven to do some exploring. They spotted a cave thirty feet up a wall. A rothe was in there. Teddy wondered how it had got there.

He raced Varis up to the cave. Inside, they saw the rothe was bleeding from its' underbelly. They also saw a glow coming from the back wall of the cave. Teddy ordered Varis to check it out. As Varis got close, he saw that the glow was coming from a secret wall panel left ajar! Inside was a pile of platinum pieces! On top was a gem lit with fire inside.

Varis knew immediately that it was a gem that could summon an efreet. The slaves in the city had heard of such gems, and often hoped one day to find one so that they might change their fates.

Varis picked it up, and a voice from inside said to him: "You who touch this gem may summon a mighty efreet ruler who must obey your command! Say the command word and I shall be your humble servant, confidant, and soldier!"

Varis had no idea what the command word was.

As he wracked his brain, the pile of platinum stirred. A huge snake with shimmering black scales emerged! It slithered out onto the cavern floor and transformed into a tall, black-scaled dragon! He was Velkyn Phindar, a deep dragon!

He lowered a glowing, milky eye to Teddy and Varis and said, "The treasure belongs to me, rivvil."

Teddy immediately put all the blame on Varis.

Varis put it back as the deep dragon began to drool. It gobbled up the rothe. The poor beast cried out, and then was swallowed. Velkyn Phindar regarded the trembling youths once more.

"You are all bones. Begone!"

The pair climbed down and ran all the way back to Rilauven.

The adventurers left Honglath and resumed the journey to Dagger Rock. It was only a few hours from the cave. Along the way, they found three human corpses wrapped up in webbing. They were cut up badly, and had many tiny arrows sticking out of them.

The heroes continued on until they could see Dagger Rock in the distance. Music was coming from the small town. They fund the "X" on the map. It indicated a huge tree just outside of town. The tree was hiollowed out. Inside, they saw markings that indicated canisters had been stored inside it recently. The warped wood on the back suggested the canisters held some kind of alchemical solution.

The adventurers made their way into Dagger Rock. The market was buzzing. There were over a dozen stalls, all filled with local business people selling their wares. A woman walked about, loudly playing the flute. The heroes split up and mingled with the locals.

The Blue Monk and Ryltar spotted a dwarf with pale grey skin and coal black eyes, who was wearing the symbol of Dispater. He looked suspicious. They approached him.

"Greetings," said The Blue Monk.

The cleric looked irritated. "What?!"

"Admiring your vestitures."

"Well, why don't you stop it? You don't wanna piss me off."

"I was just curious as far as what you're up to here."

"What does it look like? I'm getting something to eat! Freak."

"Ah. Aggressive. I know your type."

The citizen running the stall nearby dispensing said meat said in his Dagger Rock accent, "We don't want any trouble he'ah in Daggah Rock. Why don't you go dat way and you go dat way?".

The Blue Monk ignored the pleas of the meat handler and continued to question the dwarf. "I'm just curious as to your business in town."

"My business... is none of your business. We're not friends."

The citizen piped up again. "Don't make him angry! Where'd you guys come from? You here to kill dah spidah?"

Ryltar perked up. "What spider?"

"Whadda ya stupid? We can't leave town cause of the spidah out dere! Buncha goblins ridin on it tryin ta kill everybody..!"

Ryltar nodded. "That explains the bodies in the forest..."

The Blue Monk turned to the dwarf and asked him if he knew anything about the spider.

The dwarf said, "If you say one more thing to me, I am going to make you sorry!"

Ryltar leaned down and looked at the dwarf. Then he said, deliberately, "One. More. Thing."

While that was going on, Ardra and her three bugbear slaves checked out a farmer's wares.

Othikan, one of the bugbears, said, "Mommy can we have corn? I mean... master..?"

Another slave, named Pentrac, sniffed it. "It smell so good!"

Ardra laughed and said, "Let's go speak to the nice man."

The farmer offered her corn for one silver, and explained about the spider. He said that adventurers had tried and failed to kill it. He pointed to the dwarf cleric of Dispater and told her that he had refused to help.

The town drunk staggered about, drinking sloppily from a flask.

The farmer told her the spider appeared two to three days ago. And people have been disappearing for the last month.

The farmer said, "I don't wanna scare ya lady. You seem nice, and your dog-men are real fun! But yer probably gonna die. I just wanna warn you. Enjoy ya life!"

Ardra smiled and said, "Yes, we'll all enjoy it with a round of corn."

Lucky approached a goliath who was the head of the town militia. She said to him, "Listen up. My name's Constable Greyweather from Olwynn. I want to inform you of a situation."

The goliath looked at Lucky, with her eyepatch and pegleg. "Jeez lady, what happened to you? Losin a leg.. and an eye..? Might as well give it up!"

Lucky sighed and said, "Yeah I think about that a lot. Tell me about your spider problem."

Captain Bearclaw told her about the spider and the people disappearing. "I'm sorry lady. I'm tryin my best! But yer probably gonna die."

Lucky nodded. "You're probably right."

Hartaniel approached the mayor, who was old, frail and hated newcomers. He held a scarf over his mouth. As he saw Hartaniel approach, he said, "Aw no, we got more!".

They talked. Hartaniel learned of the spider and the disappearances.

Hartaniel said, "I'll make you a deal."

The mayor was taken aback. "Make me a deal!?"

"Yes. I'll cut you a deal. We'll get rid of the goblins.. with the spider underneath them. You mobilize your forces to take on whoever's behind the disappearances."

The mayor glared bitterly. "My forces? You mean my four guards?! That'll take about five minutes." He turned to the guard next to him and said, "Go get the other guards. No wait, don't, I'm being sarcastic."

He turned back to Hartaniel.

"You kill dat spidah, we give you money."

Varis skulked about, keeping a low profile. Nearby a beautiful woman was playing the flute. She sized up Scarlet. Scalet sized her up in return. They tried to intimidate each other through glaring. Scarlet won. The flute playing woman swiftly pranced away.

And that's when Kurik the dwarf got into a fight with The Blue Monk and Ryltar.

The Blue Monk punched Kurik, the dwarf priest of Dispater, right in the face. Hartaniel saw it going down, and tried to distract the mayor. Ryltar turned invisible and bloodied Kurik with his scythe. Ardra abandoned her corn on the cob and ran over and cracked the dwarf with the hilt of her weapon.

Kurik chanted in infernal and called forth a wave of energy that knocked all of the heroes back! He bolted for a side street, but the blue monk chased him down and pinned him to the ground.

Captain Bearclaw angrily shouted at them. He told Kurik he'd been a problem in the town for long enough, and told him to leave Dagger Rock. He told the heroes to leave as well. Only Hartaniel, Lucky and Varis were allowed to remain, as they had nothing to do with the altercation.

The heroes regrouped with their banished friends outside of town. Kurik was barely conscious. They decided to go hunt the spider. They told Kurik he was "free to go", and then quietly followed him through the forest. The nasty fellow did not realize that he was being used as spider-bait.

As they had hoped, Kurik came upon the giant spider!

Over ten feet high and fifteen feet long, venomous ichor dripped from its' mandibles. Seven purple, lolthbound goblins lurked on a platform made of webbing on its' back. They gleefully levelled their short bows at the fearful dwarf.

Scarlet, The Blue Monk and Hartaniel charged the spider. It brought down one of it's pointed, tree-trunk-like legs on Scarlet, bloodying her. Ryltar skulked in the woods nearby, slowly closing in, unseen. Varis pelted the huge spider with a spell, and Ardra fired off a magic missile.

The spider stabbed Scarlet and dropped her. The Blue Monk was bloodied from a similar blow.

Lucky came close and healed Scarlet's wounds. Varis pelted the spider with an eldritch blast.

Kurik tried to run, but Scarlet got up and grabbed him. She shouted at him to fight. Kurik cursed at her and struck her with his mace. Then he called upon the magic of Dispater to heal himself! Scarlet scowled and tossed Kurik at the spider's face! He crashed to the ground before it, prone and terrified.

Hartaniel teleported onto the spider's back, drew his sword, and cut down four of the seven goblins before they could even scream. Then he plunged his blade into the spider, bloodying it. Toxic spider blood spewed everywhere, injuring the heroes.

Varis continued to blast the spider with spells. Ryltar struck from the shadows, carving into its' side with his scythe. Ardra got close and cut into it as well. The spider began to tremble. The heroes had swarmed it and were injuring it badly. Ardra used her magicto toss a goblin hurtling through the air and into a tree, killing it.

Lucky, who was 20 feet to the east, gave out a shout, luring the spider to her. This created an opening, allowing three of the heroes to charge after it as it loomed over the warlord. The Blue Monk, Ardra and Scarlet tore into the spider.

Kurik had been lost in the shuffle. He made a run for it, pausing to shout "f**k you!" at the heroes. Ryltar chased him down and used a spell to blind him.

Hartaniel remained on the spider's back, keeping a hand on a support strand of hardened webbing for balance. He cut down the last of the goblins.

Varis staggered the spider with an eldritch blast. Ardra finished it off, slicing open the creature's side.

The Blue Monk swiftly powdered the faces of the dead with the four point mark and then ran over to Kurik and knoicked him out.

The heroes rested for a moment as the three bugbear slaves tied up the spider's corpse, so that they could drag it back to town. Once ready, the heroes made their way back to Dagger Rock.

On the way back, Kurik admitted he was in town looking for a magic horn that had been stolen from Captain Bearclaw. The horn could summon a roc. He insisted that he didn't know who stole it, or where it was.

Ryltar began to try to teach the heroes drow hand-code. Varis quietly urged him not to. Varis felt that knowing the hand code was an advantage he'd like to keep to himself.

The people of the town cheered as they saw that the heroes had killed the spider. The air was filled with shouts of "They killed tha spidah!".

People gathered around them in the town square and patted them on the back. The heroes proceeded to hand Kurik over to Captain Bearclaw, when...

Undead hordes, led by a single masked plaguebringer, emerged from three side streets! Zombies, wisp wraiths and severed zombie hands all attacked!

The bugbears took on the hands, while the heroes split up and dealt with the wraiths and zombies. The Blue Monk put his fist through a zombie's skull. Varis blasted another... only to watch in horror as it got back up! Hartaniel had one of the giant spider's severed legs in his hand. He threw it and impaled a zombie with it.

Ardra chanted and used a spell to pull the plaguebringer close. She smelled alcohol on him. She surmised that, beneath the mask, was the face of the town drunk.

Varis was near her, firing off spells. The woman who'd been playing on her flute earlier crept close and snatched two gems from his pack. The poor boy was none the wiser. She grinned to herself and raced out of the square. Varis fired off a burning spray spell, killing three zombies. Ryltar and The Blue Monk were having trouble keeping the zombies down.

On the other side of the square. Scarlet slashed into four wisps, destroying them. Lucky closed in on five wraiths and said, "These don't look like the usual wraiths that haunt my nightmares. Goodbye, fallen comrades."

She turned and looked at Captain Bearclaw, who was protecting the mayor. "Hey guys, do any of these look familiar to you? Missing people, maybe?"

In the heat of battle, they stook a glance. They would, in fact, eventually recognize the undead as many of the travelers who had passed throguh town.

Ardra and The Blue Monk pummelled the plaguebringer, knocking him out.

Kurik, once again, escaped during the confusion. He made sure to turn before making his exit and shouting "f**k you!" one last time. Unlike the other attempts, this time Kurik was able to escape Dagger Rock for good.

The heroes and the bugbear slaves took out the undead. Then they rested and questioned the plaguebringer. He explained that the cult of Urgathoa's lair was located beneath a stone near the river. Their job had been to create a disease to unleash on Olwynn should the drow invasion fail. That disease - blood veil - had already been sent to Olwynn. Now the cult was in Dagger Rock awaiting further orders. They'd been spending the down-time torturing and experimenting on the populace, creating new strains of the disease.

The heroes immediately sent one of their pixie messengers to Olwynn with the news. Then, they resolved to go to the lair and to wipe out the cult for good...

 

[Netherstorm]

5. The Dead Warrens

11/28/11: The party hit level 2 at the end of this one...

Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3​

Chapter Five: The Dead Warrens​

Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger Vovoidja
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk Almoner
Hartaniel - Elf Barbarian Groom of the Stool
Lucky - Human Warlord Constable
Ryltar - Drow Avenger Constable
Scarlet - Human Fighter Constable
Varis - Half-Elf Warlock Hostarius

The adventurers were on the trail of a drow plot. A cult of Urgathoa had sent canisters of a disease called blood veil to the drow city of Rilauven. Their goal was to unleash the disease on the people of Olwynn. The drow's hope is that once the plague wiped out the city, the drow would swoop in and take over.

The heroes had just fended off an attack from the cult. They gathered at Grog's Half-Ogre Inn and Tavern with key members of the town to discuss what to do next.

Captain Bearclaw, the goliath in charge of the town guard, had questioned the town drunk, Jim Aremsee. It turned out that he was a member of the cult. Jim admitted other citizens were members as well. They'd all gone to the cult's lair under the river to warn their leader, Ilcanya.

Grog, owner of the inn and tavern, told the heroes they could stay at his place for free any time.

Elmo the farmer approached Ardra. He offered to buy her three bugbear slaves. She told him she'd think it over.

Old Ezmerelda Fipps had knitted a pair of mittens and offered it to the heroes. They were blue, with a grey dagger stitched on the back. Hartaniel took one glove, and the Blue Monk took the other.

Cristina Andovan, a schoolteacher, told the heroes that her parents owned the general store. She said that the adventurers were welcome to take whatever they needed if they thought it would help them defeat the cult.

Father Hiram, of the church of Mari, offered two potions of healing. He said he'd try to heal them, but his magic was faltering. His goddess had been imprisoned by the King of Terror.

The owner of the wine shop, Gretchen, showed up with her two big dogs. She came bearing gifts for the heroes - bottles of red wine. She noticed a note had been pinned to the front door with a dagger. It read:

"We are ready for you"

The note bore the symbol of the cult - a moth with a skull imprint on its' back.

The adventurers were hurt from their defense of the town. They decided to rest for the night.

Scarlet, however, decided to creep through the streets and make her way to the Green Grape Wine store. She opened a window and sneaked inside. Scarlet snatched some bottles of wine and then quickly made her way back to Grog's. She had stolen a total of 400 gold worth of wine!

Hartaniel, Ardra and The Blue Monk went to the General Store. Merik Andovan, the owner, greeted them. Hartaniel asked for healing potions.

Merik said in his Dagger Rock accent, "You're gonna want to go to duh priest for healing potions. We got stuff like rope, sacks - all sorts of sacks, need a shovel? Rake?"

"For free?", Ardra asked.

"Hey - if you're gonna take care of dat cult, den help yourself!"

Hartaniel grabbed a bag. Merik nodded and said, "Knock ya'self out."

Hartaniel looked at the bag and asked, "It's not going to fall apart, is it?"

"How dare you impugn duh quality of our sacks?"

Hartaniel took a variety of empty vials and flasks.

The Blue Monk asked, "Do you have any oil?"

Merik said enthusiastically, "Oh - we got oil. We got a barrel full of it."

The monk took a jug's worth.

"You got candles?", he asked.

"Oh, we got candles. My wife with the candles..!"

"I don't need to know about your personal life."

Merik's wife piped up, "So what? I like candles. Everybody buys 'em."

Merik turned to her, angry, "You sell 'em to ya friends for half price. Do ya think I don't know dat?!"

The monk took some candles. Hartaniel took some torches. They got some rope and an adventuring kit.

The Blue Monk asked, "Where do you keep the good stuff? Do you have a safe?"

Merik paused. "Why you askin me about a safe? I think your visit is about over."

"Are you hiding something? In the safe?"

Merik was incredulous. "Hiding something?! My safe? Why don't you get the frick outta here?"

Ardra said, "I think it's time for us to go."

Merik's wife asked her husband, "Should I go get Captain Bearclaw?"

The heroes made their exit. The Blue Monk said to his friends, "Every time I talk to someone a fight breaks out..."

Ryltar the drow stayed back at Grog's. He said to Ezmerelda, the old lady who had made the mittens, "Thank you for your kind words. I know that The Raven Queen will guide your soul safely when you die."

Ezmerelda got a good look at Ryltar for the first time and said, "Oh! You're one of those awful drow! Stay away from me! First half-ogres, now drow. Dagger Rock has gone to s**t." She left Grog's and went home.

The heroes settled in to their rooms at Grog's.

Lucky went in to Varis' room and told Varis and his skull familiar a bedtime story. It was about how her parents died. Varis seemed to enjoy it, noting how his parents had died as well.

"Ah you're good kids", she said.

That night many of the dreamed of Urialle the torturer, with wine in one hand and a glowing brand in the other.

The next morning, the heroes set out for the river just outside of town. There, jutting out of the water, was a huge stone in the shape of a dagger. Captain Bearclaw escorted the heroes there. He reminded them to look for his magic horn, which was stolen from him. It could summon his friend, a roc.

Hartaniel swam out to it while the others waited by the dock. The floating lantern of Vecna floated along with him. Vecna told Hartaniel that agents of the King of Terror had his eye and hand. With those, Vecna could become whole again! He promised Hartaniel a great reward. Hartaniel decided to keep this information for himself.

The river was deep, but there was a stone shelf that the "dagger" was implanted into. Hartaniel stood upon it, and saw the water was only a foot deep. He looked in the base of the stone, and saw a two-inch slit.

The spirit of Vecna, in his floating lantern, said "You're quite bold, Hartaniel."

"I was wondering why you haven't spoken in a while..".

"My energy ebbs and wanes! As you know, I was once a god but now I am almost completely discorporated!"

"Doesn't ebb and wane mean the same thing?"

"Flow! This place might be a good repository of secrets for my followers... if I had any followers."

Hartaniel thought for a minute and asked, "If we find any secrets, what should we do with them?"

"Keep them away from the King of Terror! He knows too much. And so does Galasis, your God of Magic. He's got a big mouth, that one. Your gods once attacked me when I had my back turned! They discorporated me! It was most humiliating. Most die in seconds just being in the aura of my godly presence!"

Hartaniel began to stuff the Vecna lantern in a backpack. Vecna continued talking. "Let me tell you something, Hartaniel. If you can find my Eye and Hand, I can become a god once more and you will get a great reward! The followers of the King of Terror have the Eye and Hand. I've been following them for centuries."

Hartaniel nodded and decided to keep all of this to himself, as his allies swam up to the dagger rock. They had the iron dagger, which was the magic "key" to open the way.

The adventurers joined him, used the dagger in the slot. There was a spark of energy, and a man-sized aperture appeared. A magical field prevented the water from pouring in and flooding the lair.

Scarlet said, "Maybe there's some way to turn this field off! We could flood their lair."

Vecna piped up again, "I'm afraid your magic is too feeble! Urgathoa is an epic entity! You have no chance against her magic! If she is here, you will all have a miserable death."

Scarlet sighed. "That sounds fun. Let's go, guys."

"Your best bet, should you find her, is to pray to your gods. They might have a chance against her!"

They dropped through the aperture into a hallway that lead to a chamber with pillars. There were pits on either side filled with bones. The muddy walls had skeletons embedded in them. As the adventurers watched, the skeletons animated and pulled themselves free! A skeleton of an owlbar loomed over the rest, all ready to kill the adventurers!

Ardra ran up to a skeleton, infusing her blade with radiant energy, and sliced into a skeleton. Varis hit it with an eldritch blast, and destroyed it. The heroes poured into the room. An arrow sank into Ryltar's side. Ardra destroyed another skeleton.

The blue monk chased down one of the skeleton archers and cracked its' skull with his fist. The owlbear skeleton loomed over Scarlet, swiping at her with its' claw. Under Lucky's direction, Scarlet grabbed hold of a rib as Ardra teleported past it and into a flank. Her radiant blade sliced into it twice, causing it to let out a strange, pulsing howl that dazed Lucky. The Owlbear sliced open Scarlet's stomach, dropping her to unconsciousness.

Varis and Ryltar battled an archer, whittling it down. It side-stepped Ryltar's ice scythe and fired an arrow into the drow avenger's neck, dropping him.

Ardra staggered the owlbear with another radiant slash. Varis took aim and destroyed it with a burning spray. The last skeleton stabbed Hartaniel and brought him to the ground. Ardra pelted it with a magic missile, and the Blue Monk finished it off with a mighty punch.

They stopped for five minutes to heal, and then snooped around. There were two hallways leading further in the complex. From one, they heard bouts of laughter. From the other, they heard buzzing.

They crept up to the room with buzzing. Inside, they saw a lone plaguebringer placing stirges on a dead body and taking notes. They burst in. The Blue Monk staggered him with a punch, and then Hartaniel beheaded him. They killed the stirges. Once they went over his notes, from what they could tell, he was working on a new strain of blood veil - one in which caused those killed by the disease to rise up as plague zombies!

The heroes split up and advanced on the other chamber. Half of them went in the hallway, the others lurked in a secret passageway. They saw four plaguebringers inside playing a cruel game. They had a rat in a maze, and wherever it went, they doused it with acid or poison or blood veil. They laughed uproariously at this.

The heroes had seen enough. They burst in and brutally slaughtered the doctors. The Blue Monk punched a lady so hard, bones came out of her nose and brain came out of their eyesockets!

They kept one of them alive. They took off his plaguebringer mask. He was Yuri, owner of the Dagger Rock Tavern. Hartaniel grabbed a pair of pliers off of a dead plaguebringer.
Hartaniel knelt down, pliers in one hand, and slapped Yuri to attention. Hartaniel began to pull on Yuri's ear with the pliers. Yuri screamed.

Hartaniel said, "Talk."

"Whuddya - whuddya want me to say!? They made me do it! Stop pullin on my ear!".

Hartaniel stopped pulling on his ear, and began to use the pliers on his nose. Yuri screamed again.

"What is your goal?"

"Just makin some diseases, that's all. What's tha' big deal? Hey - you let me go, I'll give you money."

Hartaniel put the pliers back on the guy's ear and tore it off! Blood spurted everywhere. Yuri passed out from the pain.

Varis sighed and shook his head. The 12 year old looked at Hartaniel and said, "You have no idea how to scare people, do you?"

Lucky pulled out her blade and ran Yuri through. "He's better off this way. Trust me," she said in a depressed tone. "If someone had done this to me when I lost the first one of my limbs, I wouldn't be in this mess right now."

the heroes took the magical plaguebringer masks and put them on. They were now all immune to blood veil and were magically protected from disease and poison.

In another room, they found an otyugh chained in a pit. It cried out: "WARM FOOD!". Hartaniel threw Yuri's body at it. The otyugh devoured it. They pelted it with magic missiles and crossbow bolts until it died.

They made through a hallway lined with skulls. They carefully, step-by-step, tested the floor for traps. They found three pressure plates, and carefully avoided them. The hall led to a trashed room where a lone plaguebringer was sweeping up a mess. He immediately surrendered.

"Please don't kill me! Yaahhh!", he screamed in terror.

Scarlet stepped forward. "Give me a reason. Several."

"I didn't think you guys were comin'!"

"That is a really bad reason."

"You - you promise to let me go, and I'll tell you somethin really important."

"If it's not important, we'll kill you."

"I got two words for you. Carrion. Golem." There was a pregnant pause. "Intrigued? I thought you would be."

Ryltar said, "I guess that is kind of interesting."

"Now why don't you slide ovah and I'll just make my way toward the exit."

Scarlet blocked his path. "I think we would have figured out that a carrion golem was in here sooner or later."

The plaguebringer began to stammer. "Ilcanya's gonna kill you with it. Ilcanya's the priestess of Urgathoa with tha' big hand. And a tail. She's almost as powerful as Lady Andaisin herself. You know, lady wit a scythe?"

He was describing the woman the heroes had seen during the Battle of Olwynn.

The Blue Monk suggested using the plaguebringer as a hostage or a human shield. Scarlet, a fighter who was all about grappling, thought that was a good idea.

The plaguebringer looked at her and said, "Dis might actually be fun! Go ahead, grab away, lady." She grabbed hold of him. "Wow lady, you smell so nice! I ain't never seen you in Dagger Rock before."

She pulled out her broken longsword and put it at his throat. "My family is called the Brokenblades. We break swords. Does that conjure any mental imagery that may or may not be important in the coming ten minutes?"

Hartaniel walked up to a door in the room and pointed at it. "What's in this room?", he asked the hostage.

"Pantry. Carrion golem wrecked it. The thing went on a rampage oilier."

Ryltar asked, "'Earlier' or 'Oilier'?"

Beyond the door was indeed a pantry, in ruins.

"We locked duh carrion golem in dere. Ilcanya came and got him out of there. Tellya what, Lady Andaisin would'a been real mad. She's got these big disease demons. She's so beautiful." He thought for a minute. Then, "...Almost as beautiful as duh lady grabbin' me. How long you been in Dagger Rock, toots?"

Scarlet twisted his arm. He shouted in pain.

The heroes thoroughly searched the pantry but found little of use.

"Hand me ovuh to Captain Bearclaw. I been a bad boy."

Scarlet smashed his in-step. He shouted in pain. She dragged him to the mouth of a hallway that led left and right.

The hostage asked, "So where we going'? We goin to see Cabbagehead?"

They stopped and listened. From the right, they heard a a woman moaning or weeping.

The Blue Monk asked him what was down that way. "Soy-tin doom, pal," responded the hostage.

"Be more specific," said Scarlet.

"Ya go right, he's gonna kill ya. Ya go left, she's gonna kill ya. You're in way ova your head, jack. Take me ta Captain Bearclaw. I got rights in Dagger Rock. I'll do five years in Bearclaw Keep. I'll do my time like a man. So Scarlet, you got a boyfriend or what?"

Hartaniel said, "The last time someone talked to us like that, I pulled his ear off and then he died."

"That happened about five minutes ago", Ryltar added.

The hostage started yammering about "his friend Roy", so Scarlet punched him in the solar plexus. Hartaniel busted out the pliers and started yanking on his ear. He began to scream in pain and called out, "Cabbagehead, help me!".

The heroes heard a loud, inquisitive groan come from the right hallway, followed by thunderous footfalls. The thing called Cabbagehead yelled out, "Who dere?"

Scarlet put her broken sword to the throat of the hostage. He continued yelling out for Cabbagehead to come help him. Scarlet flung off his plaguebringer mask, which protected him magically from poison and disease. Then Varis approached him with a vial of blood veil. Varis sprayed him with it, and he shrieked. His skin began to bubble and a rash formed.

"Just lemme go! I got three days to live!"

The voice from down the hall boomed, "Is dat you, Ilcanya? What is happening in dere? Cabbagehead want to know!".

Ardra called out, weaving magic into her words, trying to convince Cabbagehead to stay where he was. Cabbagehead didn't recognize her voice, and asked, "Are you scythe lady come to see Cabbagehead?"

The hostage yelled, "Cabbagehead you idiot! Get in here, they're tryin' ta trick you!"

Scarlet choked him into unconsciousness.

Cabbagehead called out, conflicted. "But Ilcanya told me not to leave here! Hello? Cabbagehead don't know what to do!

Hartaniel yelled out something about Cabbagehead and self-flagellation.

Cabbagehead was confused. "Who saying that?!. Then Cabbagehead yelled out for Ilcanya. The sound echoed past the heroes and down the hallway to the left. The heroes decided they'd best kill Cabbagehead quickly.

Cabbagehead was a half-ogre with a deformed face. Near him were three pits where prisoners were kept. All were dead, save for one weeping female. The heroes rushed Cabbagehead and Ardra and Hartaniel sliced into him. He shouted, "You go in pit now! Cabbagehead feed you later! Maybe!"

Three pits were nearby, holding corpses of his prisoners. There was one live prisoner, a shivering female named Tiora.

Scarlet knocked Cabbagehead to the ground and The Blue Monk used his four blues of Azure Elimination. Cabbagehead's heart stopped. A tear ran down his cheek. He said, "Cabbagehead..." and died.

The Blue Monk placed his blue dust marking on Cabbagehead and closed his eyes.

Lucky took a drink, looked at the deformed creature and said, "A lot of times I say things are better off dead. But this time I mean it."

The prisoner in a nearby pit called out weakly, "Please don't leave me here! I'm chained!".

Hartaniel climbed down and used his sword to chop the chain.

Lucky healed her. You probably won't die now. You might. But there's a chance you won't.

From the far end of the hall, a woman barked orders. It was Ilcanya. "As soon as you see them, you know what to do!" she cried.

Ilcanya was ready for them, but still, the heroes advanced.

 

[Netherstorm]

6. Blackrazor

12/5/11: We experimented with cutting monster hit points in half and bumping their damage. It was deadly. Matt played his level 30 character Anjou for a minute, during an interlude. And Ryan Wade is out of town, so no Hartaniel tonight...

Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3​

Chapter Six: Blackrazor​

Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger Vovoidja
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk Almoner
Lucky - Human Warlord Constable
Ryltar - Drow Avenger Constable
Scarlet - Human Fighter Constable
Varis - Half-Elf Warlock Hostarius

Also,

Anjou Beurre - Primal Spirit of Storms

The adventurers were in a complex beneath the river near the town of Dagger Rock. The complex was home to a cult of Urgathoa, allies of the Drow invaders. Our intrepid heroes had just freed a prisoner of theirs, a malnourished thief named Tiora. Scarlet loaned her a dagger.

They crept toward the final room - the lair of the cult's leader, Ilcanya Alonar.

Ilcanya had been alerted to their presence thanks to the shouts of the now-deceased jailer, a deformed half-ogre called Cabbagehead. The heroes crept up the narrow cave tunnel. As they spotted the lair of Ilcanya, they also saw a plaguebearer ready for them. He flung a vial of acid that burned Scarlet. She took aim and killed the guy with a shot from her crossbow.

The Blue Monk made his way up past Scarlet and into the room. Ilcanya was on a raised platform. She had a huge hand, a deformed body, and a massive tail. Next to the doorway was a reeking golem made of the corpses of six different creatures. This was the Carrion Golem they had been warned about. It raised its' hand and struck the Blue Monk, bloodying him.

The Blue Monk dodged his way past it, leapt on to the platform and engaged Ilcanya. A plaguebringer off to the side flung acid at him. The Blue Monk was burned, and was out on his feet. Ilcanya spit acidic bile at him, but somehow he evaded it.

A plaguebringer raced down a side hall, hoping to catch the heroes from behind. Scarlet spotted him and shouted a warning. Ryltar and Tiora raced over to the side tunnel to face him. Tiora dodged his scalpel as Ryltar, the drow agent of the Raven Queen, turned invisible and flanked. The plaguebearer lunged again, and sliced Tiora. Blood spewed from the wound. She stabbed and killed him.

Ardra burst in to the main chamber to help the Blue Monk. She stabbed the Carrion Golem with her enchanted blade and sent it crashing off to the side. Scarlet charged in and knocked the staggered golem to the ground. Then she plunged her blade into it, pinning it to the ground.

Lucky healed the Monk as Ardra raced up to the platform to help battle Ilcanya. Varis, the 12 year old former drow slave, stepped in and drew a portion of life-force from Scarlet - so much so that he opened a wound in her arm! With that power, he launched a massive bolt of power at Ilcanya, killing her. She fell over, and muttered an arcane word. The place began to rumble. The magic field keeping the water above from flooding down was gone!

They heard a rush of water from the west. The ceiling shook. Dust and small stones began to fall as cracks in the ceiling appeared.

Scarlet looked up, alarmed. The golem, from its' prone position, swatted her to the ground. The remaining plaguebearer ran down the side hall. Ryltar rushed to meet him, and beheaded him with his ice scythe.

Scarlet got up and finished off the Carrion Golem.

They heard louder rumbling. Chunks of ceiling began to fall! The heroes ran back to a tunnel near the prison that they believed lead out. Along the way, Scarlet and Lucky were pinned by rubble! Scarlet had been holding the Carrion Golem above her to protect herself from the debris, but a massive stone not only pinned her, but caused diseased goo to ooze over her.

Tiora was near Lucky, and helped hoist the rock off of her.

Water flooded the complex. Scarlet was freed by the current as well as her allies further ahead. Soon the heroes were being washed rapidly through the crumbling tunnel. At last, they were ejected into the river.

The mud and debris made the water completely dark. Some were confused as to which way was up.

The heroes one by one swam up and their heads emerged into the sunlight. Except for Varis. He was somewhere down below, drowning!

Varis sank, desperately trying to hold his breath. Tiora and Ryltar dove back down, found him, grabbed him, and pulled him up.

Varis gasped for air. Tiora said to Scarlet, "Heah's ya daggah!" and handed her back the loaned dagger. Then she turned to Varis and asked, "Are you all right, little boy?".

Varis said, "I don't like water any more."

"What was a little boy doin' down there anyway?"

Ryltar smiled at Varis and said "How ironic - a drow saved you."

Scarlet said "Don't point that out until we're all safe."

The adventurers swam to shore and bandaged their wounds.

Tiora said "I'm gonna go to my house and get your reward."

The characters got the sense that Tiora honestly wanted to change her ways.

The people of Dagger Rock gathered around as the heroes returned to town. Captain Bearclaw said, "I heard a big noise! What happened?"

"Oh, just us," said Ardra.

"Didja find tha cult?"

"We eliminated the cult", The Blue Monk said somberly.

The people of Dagger Rock let out a cheer. Even old, frail Mayor Winston Jacob coughed out a congratulation.

Elmo the farmer had watched Ardra's three bugbear slaves. She looked at him and asked, "Did you keep them well fed?"

"Sure did! They like toinips!".

Ardra laughed. Then, Gretchen Marmin's dog Buttercup began to bark. It raced up to Scarlet. The people of Dagger Rock began to look at each other. The dog bit at Scarlet's backpack. Scarlet had secretly stolen four bottles of wine from Gretchen's wine store the night before! The dog had picked up the scent!

Scarlet said, "Now this is some unfair treatment."

Captain Bearclaw said, "Well... this is awkward! Gretchen got robbed and now the dog seems ta be sniffin' ya out dere, Scah-let."

Scarlet said, "Would Gretchen happen to be the seller of wine in town?"
"That's right."

"Oh. Well I happened to find these.." she pulled out two of the wine bottles she'd stolen, "..in the pantry of the cult. As it turns out, they've been lifting stuff from the town."

The townspeople looked at her suspiciously.

Varis stepped forward. The young boy opened his eyes wide and said, "Trust me. She's telling the truth."

How could the people of Dagger Rock resist the charming young lad? The people waved it off and laughed. Gretchen even let Scarlet keep the wine as a reward.

Merik, owner of the general store, mumbled, "Ya know, they were askin' about a safe oilier...". Then Grog the tavern-owner chastised him.

"Safe? That doesn't sound like us!", Scarlet said with a smile.

Then, a spelljammer arrived from Olwynn. The crew on board called down to the town, informing them that the King requested the heroes' presence at once. They unfurled a rope ladder.

The heroes met the crew, who included a pandarian, a tiefling member of the Shadowborn clan and a dwarf who'd lost an arm in the Battle of Olwynn.

As the ship, known as The Night Passage, rocketed toward Olwynn, the heroes played Three Dragon Ante with some of the crew. The Blue Monk and Lucky joined in. Lucky lost every hand. The Blue Monk won the last two, and came out 100 gold ahead. The crew shared some rumors:

- The King may have fallen in love with Derrinnil, the drow prisoner.
- The gods had turned the Titans who had attacked Olwynn to stone. They left the stone titans at The gates of Olwynn as a warning to future invaders.
- Some claimed that a few drow had power over Lolth's lightning web to altar reality slightly.
- There was talk that the people of Dunnwynn had actually sided with their drow conquerers under the promise of free drugs.
- Lolth's own Spider ship supposedly lurked in the stars near Nyrod. The legendary shifter hero Rellskar Grave, the "Tiger Man", was on the case.

During this, poor Lucky coughed up a small fish onto the playing table.
They all quietly watched it flop about in silence. She swept it off the table without a word.

Scarlet was watching the game and asked who the Tiger Man was. The crew enthusiastically explained that he was a gentleman and a great hero. He'd saved the city of Olwynn four times.

The ship passed over Mermaid Lake. It was said that the lake sometimes held a portal to the feywild, where mermaids and mer-man princes passed through.

Meanwhile, back at Dagger Rock, Captain Bearclaw had taken the day off to go fishing with his son, Raven. The debris from the collapse of the cult's lair had mostly been washed further down the river.

Stormhawk, the mighty spirit of nature, hovered in the sky above. He was a cloud in the shape of a bird with eyes of lightning. He called out to his consort, "Anjou, my beloved. I am angry with you! Come to this river!"

She sighed. "Very well, darling...", and appeared in the sky with him.

"Behold - the river! Tainted by blood veil and alchemy! Disease will spread, tainting the natural river and destroying the town of Dagger Rock. Is this a just punishment for you breaking the rules when you came down to the Prime Material Plane to battle Lolth and Primordials, perhaps re-igniting the Dawn War?"

Anjou said, "I did only what had to be done. I will clean this up."

In the boat, Raven asked his dad about the heroes who'd just left Dagger Rock. Captain Bearclaw said "We ain't nevah gonna see them again. Everything's gonna be just fine...". Raven cut open a fish, exposing himself to blood veil.

Captain Bearclaw said "Fish tastes great, and it's good for you!". Raven enthusiastically gutted it, unknowingly throughly tainting himself with Urgathoa's disease.

Stormhawk turned to Anjou and said, "It's not good for him. Not good for him at all. The boy will have blood veil, and will die in three days."

Anjou waved her hand and puirified the river. All that remained was the matter of the infected boy. Anjou decided that if the boy could beat blood veil, he'd be rewarded with special powers. She made it so that he was not contagious.

Raven Bearclaw died three days later.

Back on The Night Passage, the crew and heroes looked over the side down at sparkling Mermaid Lake. Then, to the east, another spelljammer was spotted! It was a drow ship closing in on The Night Passage! The drow on the Castle Deck launched off a catapult. The boulder struck Lucky and bloodied her!

The ships closed in together. The heroes boarded and attacked the three drow manning the catapult. As Ryltar, Scarlet, and Varis made quick work of the drow, The Blue Monk disabled the catapult. Ardra and Lucky ran down a set of stairs to deal with the crew below.

They heard shouting from behind a door. They kicked the door in, to find a priestess and two drow warriors sniffing mushroom powder from a bowl! The males wore chain armor emblazened with a massive metal spider symbol. Their helmets had elaborate spires on the sides. They wore ruby eye cusps as well, making their eyes look pure red. Their brooches were in the shape of black iron hooks, like the drow who had invaded Olwynn.

The priestess wore a revealing, sheer gown, with just tiny metal spiders covering her most intimate of parts. She held out a metal rod and spoke a command word. Suddenly, three writhing purple tentacles extended from it, lashing about. "ELGG!", she shouted. That was drow, for "KILL!".

Back up top, four deathjump spiders emerged from a hatch, keeping the heroes busy for a moment.

Down below, the priestess lashed out at Lucky with the hideous tentacle rod. The tentacles pummeled the poor warlord into unconsciousness. Ardra conjured up her bladesong, which gave her magical protection from the two drow warriors' rapiers. She knelt down and poured a potion down Lucky's throat.

The priestess hissed, half-mad in her drug-rage. In moments, the purple tentacles thrashed Ardra and dropped her to the ground, bleeding and unconscious. The priestess screeched "Oloth Plynn Dos!" (Darkness take you).

Lucky stumbled to her feet and bloodied one of the drow. She urged Ardra to her feet.

The heroes above took down the spiders, and made their way down the stairs to aid Ardra and Lucky. More drow, however, were coming up the stairs beside them! The Blue Monk began to punch through the wood wall that seperated the two stairwells, and he actually killed two drow warriors in the process.

Varis made his way into the room as Ardra and Lucky killed the two drow warriors. The priestess struck Varis with a tentacle. Ardra, barely up, infused her blade with radiance and plunged it through the chest of the priestess, killing her! Her tentacle rod clattered to the floor, lifeless.

The crew of The Night Passage had swarmed through a hatch to the lowest deck and slaughtered the drow inside. The pandaman had dealt with the drow ship's demon-statue. The heroes joined up with them, and the looting commenced.

The heroes called dibs on a number of items, including cloth-of-gold sheets, evil drow tapestries, and some lewd items from the deviant drows' living quarters. The more they explored the ship, the more evidence of the drow's depraved nature they found. The drow had kept slaves onboard for nightly erotic torture. They had lewd statues of demons. They had a stockpile of drugs like poppy juice and mushroom powder. The drow also played darts by strapped a halfling to the wall and painting a bullseye on the poor fellows' chest!

The prisoners from Starbed told tales of horror. They hoped that the King was sending help to the drow-controlled city of Starbed.

Ardra laid claim to a holy book of Lolth called The Book of The Spider. The cover had gold dragon scales embedded in it. She also took an adamantine symbol of Lolth. As she gazed at it, she became overwhelmed with the desire to keep and cherish it. She would eventually learn that it was cursed, and that it made her more vulnerable to attacks from the drow.

The ship sped to Olwynn. There, the adventurers met with King Thenrynnia, who was very tense.

He told them that he wanted them to stay on the trail of the blood veil. He wanted them to go to the drow city of Rilauven, deep in teh underdark!

But there was an immediate concern. The King explained that Queen Iliosa of the city of Korvosa was going to visit that very day, and that he was going to request the use of 1,000 of her elite soldiers - the Grey Maidens.

"If Quenn Iliosa says no to me, should I take her life with my sword?", he asked.

The heroes all said "No!".

"Blackrazor is hungry. If I don't take her soul tonight.." he looked each of his advisors in the eye... "I'll have to take someone else's."

Lucky asked, "Can't you take a prisoner's soul?"

"Blackrazor has become bored with the soul of common ruffians. It prefers the souls of those who are close to me." King Thennrynnia looked out a window over the vast city of Olwynn. "I've been trying to wean myself. From what I understand, if I go too long without taking a soul, I'll become a hideous wight forevermore."

"So, you're basically feeding yourself," said Scarlet.

"I grow bored with this. I shall wait on my throne."

The heroes got dressed in the style of Olwynn, which involved sheer loincloths, golden arm and leg-bands, and little else. Lady Tarentia had set up a gathering for the occasion. A number of prominent people were awaiting the arrival of Queen Iliosa:

Zanestra Shadowborn: The overachieving leader of the Shadowborn Clan
Phideas Silverfist: A high-ranking member of the Silverfists, who was injured in a battle at Dunnwynn and forced to return to Olwynn
Ambril: The deva member of The Hundred
Citirian: A mysterious Mage of Saruun in a shimmering mask
Glarice Lagu: An opera singer waiting to sing the Anthem of Korvosa when Queen Iliosa arrived.

Lady Tarentia had brought a number of her entourage from the Feywild city of Senaliesse:
Ambrosious: A unicorn-man, considered handsome and pure by the fey people
Jad & Skroine: Little, whispering pixies
Lazelle: A witch

There were Satyrs playing music and hamadryads dancing. Intelligent blink dogs teleported about, cutely offering food and drink. Ambril warned the heroes that she believed that the King was going to kill someone on this night.

Scarlet made her way to a satyr and began to flirt. She flexed. He wasn't so impressed. He flexed. She was impressed. She drank wine and fake-laughed at his jokes.

Lucky talked with a pixie named Skroine. The pixie was a bit uppity.

Ryltar watched King Thennrynnia intently.

Zanestra pulled Varis aside and told him that she'd heard that not only was Lolth's spider ship spotted in the stars above, but also that the drow were trying to build one of their strange web towers on the ruined asteroid city of Nedragaard, which orbited the heroes' world of Nyrod.

Varis said, "That's nice."

She stopped to yell at her evil imp, PaunchCrammer, for politely offering Varis some orange juice.

Then she pulled Varis close and pointed out that both she and Varis, both Shadowborns, had the King's ear. If they worked together, they might be able to help the Shadowborn Clan's influence grow throughout Olwynn.

Phideas Silverfist strode up to The Blue Monk. He'd heard the tale of how the Monk's mother shamed the Silverfists by having a half-orc child. He said to The Blue Monk, "I've heard about your mother."

"What about my mother?", asked the Monk.

"You make me sick."

"Ah. I've had that effect on you."

"Maybe you should just hide in a corner..."

The Blue Monk grew angry. "Maybe you should shut your mouth."

Scarlet stopped touching the satyr's muscles for a moment and called out to the Monk, "Every single person you talk to you get into a fight with!".

Phideas raised his eyebrows at The Monk. "Bold words! I don't think the King would like to hear these words coming out of your mouth! Maybe I should go tell the King!"

"This is how you thank us?"

"Thank you!? You're nothing but a lousy half-breed freak!"

The Blue Monk entered into a combat stance. The King took notice and sat up. Everyone in the chamber gasped and watched carefully.

Phideas growled, "You're gonna have to take the first swing, blue boy!"

The Blue Monk took a swing. The grizzled war veteran dodged the Monk's blow, then swung back and cracked the Monk in the jaw.

The King called them both to the throne. He asked, "Why are you fighting?"

"My family name is Silverfist, but I do not like to speak of this. I am known only as The Blue Monk."

The King nodded and asked, "Why don't the Silverfists like you?"

"It is through no fault of my own. They are a racist group."

Phideas Silverfist scowled, but spoke carefully. "I know that The King - a drow - has faced similar issues. And I never... I am humble..." Phideas began to tremble as the King stood and held the mighty sword known as Blackrazor in his hand.

The King said, "I too have faced the scourge of racism." He looked at the Monk and asked, "Do you think I should strike him down?"

The Blue Monk said, "Perhaps you should show him mercy..."

Varis stepped up. The boy said to the King, "He's disrespectful and a racist! You should kill him!"

"How articulate..", Ryltar mumbled.

Phideas dropped to his knees and whimpered. The King plunged the blade through Phideas' chest. He vanished. The people in the room cried out, but quickly composed themselves. King Thennrynnia let out a sigh and smiled a bit. He sat back on the throne.

The Blue Monk bowed to the King.

Two more people arrived. A drow vampire and a succubus! Belgos and Silussa! Belgos concealed his fangs as best he could. Silussa had used her shapechanging powers to appear as her normal beautiful blonde self, save for her giant yellow bat wings.

People began to murmur as they entered. Belgos, not shy, called out, "I am Belgos! And this is my beloved - Silussa! We were invited here as guests of the Silverfist Clan! Come now - where is our friend Phideas?!"

Belgos did not see Phideas but he recognized the heroes. He chuckled and approached them. "Remember me? I am a master of bats and rats!"

Scarlet said, "What the heck are you two doing here?"

"After rejecting the drow, we hoped that the people of Olwynn would embrace us! Isn't that right, my beloved Silussa?"

She swooned at his touch and said, "Of course it is, my lover!"

Belgos asked, "Where is our friend Phideas?"

The Blue Monk stared and said, "He is with the Raven Queen."

Varis asked, "He just got his soul swallowed, right?"

Lucky nodded. "That's right. He's in a better place."

Varis said, "His soul's in the blade." He pointed at the king's magic sword.

Belgos stammered, "Phideas took us in..! What has happened?"

The Blue Monk said, "He got mouthy. Talk to the King."

Silussa looked at the handsome, powerful king and fluttered her eyebrows. "Maybe I will talk to the King!"

Belgos grumbled, "We'll get to the bottom of this." Belgos then caught the eye of Zanestra Shadowborn. He approached her and began to woo her.

Silussa approached the King. Lady Tarentia scowled from across the room. She had long hoped to marry the King.

Silussa quietly chatted with the King, and before long, they were walking together around the room, talking. Lady Tarentia grew more and more upset. She glared at The Blue Monk.

The Blue Monk walked over to her. Her unicorn-man consort, the pure and masculine horse-headed Ambrosious, stepped in front of her.

Ambrosious said, "You've encouraged murder here, friend. I am from the feywild! Only enchanting things happen there. Not the dark and ugly things you've brought to this chamber today."

Ryltar said "...Actually, there's a thing called the Feydark..."

The Blue Monk asked Ambrosious, "Has anyone cursed your family name?"

"Only enchanting things happen in Senaliesse, where I am from."

"I come from the gutters."

"I don't think Lady Tarentia wants you to talk to her. Do you, my lady?"

Lady Tarentia said icily, "Let's hear him out."

The Blue Monk looked at her and said simply, "Hello."

She said, "Thank you for ruining our evening."

"You perceive it in that fashion? I shall leave you alone." The Blue Monk began to walk away.

As he did so, he overheard her whisper to Ambrosious, "Who is that woman talking to the King?! I don't like it!".

Ambrosious whinnied slightly and whispered, "Don't be jealous! You're with me!".

Silussa continued to walk and chat with the King as everyone awaited the arrival of Queen Iliosa. Lady Tarentia grew more and more tense.

Ryltar decided to throw a wrench into Silussa's plan of seduction. He walked up to her and said in front of the King, "Silussa - what happened to your wings?"

Silussa said, "What?"

Ryltar said, "When last we saw you, you had great wings sprouting from your back."

Scarlet chimed in, "Great big bat wings."

Ryltar grinned and said, "They looked quite fetching on you."

The King looked at each of them, expressionless. Silussa stammered, "I ch-changed shape. I can change shape - that's all!"

"How was it you could do that again?", asked Scarlet. "I am a country bumpkin, as you can see."

The King looked at the heroes and asked, "Why does she have wings?". He fingered the hilt of his sword, the soul-stealer - Blackrazor!

The King looked at Silussa. "What do you mean? Wings? Change shape?"

Ryltar said, "I believe she is a succubus!"

The court let out a collective gasp. Silussa became defensive. "Nobody understands me!", she cried. Ryltar and Scarlet pointed out that she had helped the heroes. Belgos charged in.

Belgos cried, "What is this? My beloved! Have they hurt you?!"

Things devolved into an argument. Lady Tarentia got involved, accusing Silussa of trying to harm the king with her dominating kiss. Belgos warned her.. "I am a master of bats and rats!".

The King glared at Belgos, ready to take another soul. "Is that a threat?", he asked.

Belgos and Silussa both told the King that they'd die if their lover would be spared. Varis began to taunt Lady Tarentia, pointing out that Silussa had almost done what Lady Tarentia had been unable to do for hundreds of years.

Scarlet pointed out to the King that Belgos and Silussa knew much about the drow invasion, and could be powerful allies. Lady Tarentia said that they could not ally themselves with a demon. "Strike her down with your sword!", she cried. "There are some creatures you can never trust!".

Ambrosious watched on, his nostrils flaring.

Scarlet replied in a pointed tone, "...like...drow...?". The King, of course, was a drow.

Lady Tarentia backpedalled. Ambrosious stepped forward and said, "I don't think I like your tone, your highness!"

The King's eyes went wide. Ambrosious whinnied angrily. The King shouted, incredulous, "UNICORN-MAN?!" and raised Blackrazor once more.

The Blue Monk protested, "Please...!"

The King said quietly, "Blackrazor's already made its' choice...". And with that, the most handsome male in all of Senaliesse had his soul stolen by Blackrazor. The fey in the room cried out in anguish. Lady Tarentia shouted, "Noooo!". Ambrosious was an ally of hers in the fey court. His death would ruin her standing with The Summer Queen.

Ryltar looked at the King and said, "All hail Blackrazor, King of Olwynn."

 

[Netherstorm]

7. Vecna's Secret

12/12/11: Tom was in the city. We ended early tonight as I needed to prepare for the Expedition to Cat Island. This summary is as close to a verbatim session summary as I ever hope to get!

And just to be clear, Vecna was defeated in a previous campaign. He was discorporated. Usually when a god is discorporated, they reform after a few months. But the primordial known as The King of Terror was able to seize Vecna's "spot" as a deity. The primordial then killed as many of his followers as he could, and used his power to make people forget Vecna ever existed.

In a blog on this site, I described my "power points" system. The gods have power points, which allow them to do godly things beyond what level 30 characters do. As an example, it costs 5,000 power points to create a heroic tier being and 100,000 power points to create an epic tier being.

The discorporated cloud of Vecna, who resides in Hartaniel's lantern, has 1,000 measly power points. Should he find followers, he will gain more...

Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3​

Chapter Seven: Vecna's Secret​

Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger Vovoidja
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk Almoner
Hartaniel - Elf Barbarian Groom of the Stool
Lucky - Human Warlord Constable
Scarlet - Human Fighter Constable
Varis - Half-Elf Warlock Hostarius

The adventurers had somewhat influenced the King to kill two influential people with his cursed sword, Blackrazor. The following day, the King was in a great mood and was getting ready to cast a ritual that would send the heroes back on the trail of canisters containing a disease called Blood Veil. The canisters were to be delivered to the underdark city of Rilauven, where Varis was from.

In a ritual book in the Cult of Urgathoa's lair, the adventurers had found a rune configuration for a teleport circle in a place very close to Rilauven, called Echo Warrens. The King planned on casting a ritual to send the heroes there right after breakfast.

The King awoke, and Hartaniel entered his chamber to help the King don his ancient, magical spiked armor. King Thennrynnia was in a fine mood, as Blackrazor had been fed and would not tear at the King's soul for at least a few days.

Hartaniel said, "Sire, I am glad that Blackrazor was fed last night. It was a great party you threw."

The King chuckled and said, "Thank you, Hartaniel. I feel very good today! I'm sure Lady Tarentia will be angry with me for slaying her unicorn-man friend - but I'm sure she'll recover."

"I agree, sire. And you know what? She's not the King!"

"'Tis true. She is not the King."

Zanestra Shadowborn, leader of the Shadowborn Clan, led Varis away from the castle to meet with her at the Shadowborn's 'home base', a gothic clock tower in the city of Olwynn. Inside was Skelogha, the tiefling who'd heloped young Varis harness his eldritch power. Zanestra's not-evil-enough imp PaunchCrammer was there as well.

So too, were a pair of familiar faces. They were Belgos and Silussa, the vampire and succubus who had abandoned the drow invasion and then failed to seduce the King. They were sitting at a table feeding each other cooked eggs. They kept saying things to each other like, "Here darling, have another one!".

Skelogha pulled Varis aside and said, "I heard what you did last night, kid! That's some good stuff!". He was of course referring to Varis convincing the King to kill the injured soldier Phideas Silverfist for insulting Varis' ally, the Blue Monk.

Zanestra nodded and whispered, "There are certain advantages to your youth and apparent innocence! The King is more apt to trust you. Now then...", she gestured toward Belgos and Silussa. "I think that they know more about the drow invasion than they are telling anybody. I tried my best last night to... interrogate Belgos... but I didn't get much information..". She blushed. "Silussa might be more pliable. Do you know of any way we could get information out of her?"

Varis thought for a moment. Then he said, "They seem to love each other very much. We could use that to our advantage."

Skelogha came over and stood next to Zanestra. He nodded and said quietly, "How so?"

"As I saw last night, when one of them is threatened, the other jumps in front to take the blow..."

"Whaddaya sayin'? We imprison one of 'em?".

Varis said, darkly, "Torture. Imprison. Threaten. Kill."

Skelogha cackled and said, "I like the cut of your jib, kid!"

PaunchCrammer sucked on an orange peel and whispered, "Maybe we should just go on a walk with one of them and just chat for a while?".

Zanestra scowled and shook her head, angry. "Want some orange juice? I freshly squeezed it myself!". Zanestra threw up her hands, furious at her not-even-close-to-evil-enough imp.

Varis rejoined his friends in the castle just in time for breakfast.

The adventurers and King Thennrynnia sat around a grand table, eating a massive breakfast.

The Blue Monk asked, "How did you sleep, your highness?"

"I slept well, friend! I still am unsure of what to do with our drow prisoner, Derrinnil."

Ardra asked, "Has she over come her poppy juice addiction?"

"She is still in the throes."

"Perhaps you should allow her to make it through the woods," the Blue Monk suggested.

The King nodded. He mentioned that Lady Tarentia had been kicked out of the fey city of Senaliesse. Her luggage was being brought through a portal in the dungeon level of the castle. The heroes suggested that they should leave her alone.

After breakfast, the heroes headed into town to buy healing potions, a halfling-sized cloak, and extra crossbow bolts.

They re-grouped in the ritual room of the castle. The King chanted, and in a flash, the adventurers appeared in a massive underdark cavern. Nearby were stalagmites so big that humanoids had carved them out and made homes out of them. The Sea of Black Blood was not far, and quite closer to them was a central well.

The cavern was full of a maddening, constant echoing noise. In addition, Hartaniel's floating lantern that contained the gaseous remains of the long-discorporated deity known as Vecna suddenly surged. Vecna's cloud became more solid, and much more vibrant.

But the most immediate detail that the heroes were concerned with was the band of surly goblins and hobgoblins that had stopped in their tracks and trained their crossbows on the newly-arrived adventurers. One of the goblins said to another in a drawl, "Hey, Slippery Torg! We got ourselves some pink skins!"

"Dang, Cud! Whaddaya think we should do? Should we shoot 'em?"

"Let's see if they got any gems on 'em first!"

The one called Cud waved his crossbow at the bewildered adventurers and said, "Don't make any funny moves. You're in the presence of the Cave Whippin' Boyz!".

The goblins and Hobgoblins yelled out "Yeeee Haa!" and fired crossbow bolts in the air.

Cud then looked at the heroes and asked, "So how about it? Got any banded agates? Onyx?"

Slippery Torg shook his head and said, "'Hain't no way they got any onyx, Cud!"

Ardra was slightly bemused. "We're freshly out, I'm afraid."

The Blue Monk scowled at Cud and said, "Guard your tongue, wee one."

A hefty goblin called Boss Corker stepped forward and said, "Now, Now! We Cave Whippin' Boyz, we just want us some gems! You come to Echo Warrens, you gotta pay the toll! This teleport circle hain't free, ya know!"

Hartaniel suddenly sprung forth and grabbed Slippery Torg. He put a blade to his throat. The goblins shouted in alarm.

Cud told all his boyz to aim their crossbow bolts at The Blue Monk. "Two kin' play at that game! All we want is a banded agate - equivalent value, ten gold."

Then he squinted and got a good look at the floating lantern. Inside it, the cloud of Vecna's remains shone through. "Actually.. we'll take that lantern!"

Lucky tossed him a pouch with ten gold in it. "We're probably going to die soon anyway," she noted.

Hartaniel tried to take Torg's money pouch as he shoved Torg away, but the Boyz' mother, Ma Gouty, spotted him. Hartaniel quietly chucked them the pouch.

The Blue Monk said, "I'll give you boys another five gold if you can tell me about this place."

Boss Corker stepped up. "I'll take that five gold, if'n you please! Ya'll might want to invest in some gems. Gold coins are kinda... eggghh... but we'll take it. Now, the noise here in Echo Warrens, some folk'll tell ya that it makes ya go crazy. But we're just fine, ain't we, Cave Whippin' Boyz?"

The boyz again shouted "Yee ha!" and shot crossbow bolts in the air.

Boss Corker continued. "Now listen here, pink skins. By the way yer dressed, I reckon yer on some kind of adventure. If yer looking for information, go on over to The Muddy Barrel tavern over yonder. If'n ya need ridin' lizards, you just waddle that'away to the stables.

Now, normally, lotta people come here to take a boat over to Rilauven. We're havin' a problem with the black dragon, and all our boats are currently incapacitated. So you might have to pop a squat here in Echo Warrens for a couple weeks."

Scarlet groaned and said sarcastically, "That sounds great. Really lovely."

He pointed to a large salagmite complex. "Ya got the Fungus Fellas over there. They kin sell you some fungus." He pointed to a smaller stalagmite and said, "You got some creepy drow over in that stalagmite. They say a lot of smart things."

Boss Corker pointed to another small stalagmite home and said, "And there's a few odd people livin' there. They got gems, that's all that matters to me."

The heroes checked out a nearby fighting pit. Boss Corker told the heroes there'd be fighting in there later in the day.

Hartaniel looked at Boss Corker and said, "Maybe you and me should go hand-to-hand in there."

The Cave Whippers started hootin' and hollerin'. Boss Corker said, awkwardly, "I hurt muh hamstring a'two month ago. H'ain't fully healed."

The heroes joked around with the Cave Whippin' Boyz and then wandered around Echo Warrens. Vecna spoke up. "I feel a surge of power, Hartaniel! I am overwhelmed with divine power! I feel almost like I could create sentient life!"

Hartaniel asked, "Has this happened before?"

"Not since back when I was a god! Now I am but a mere cloud!"

The Blue Monk said, better watch our torches, you might catch fire."

Vecna said, "Blue Monk, you'll be the death of us all! You talk with your fists! You must learn to trade in secrets, my boy."

Blue Monk nodded. "You make a point."

Hartaniel wanted to find out why Vecna's power had suddenly surged. He suggested investigating the stalagmite that was home to the few mysterious people. As they approached it, they saw that a symbol was carved in the stone of the building. The symbol was of a hand and an eye. Vecna gasped and said "That's the symbol of Vecna! Me! I have followers here? Centuries after I lost my influence? How could this be?"

Hartaniel decided to hide the Vecna lantern in his pack for the moment, until the heroes could find out more about these mysterious followers. Vecna agreed to this, and warned that "They likely know many secrets of magic!".

Ardra perked up. "Secrets of magic?", she asked.

They sensed that the front door had a magical enchantment on it, that could doom those who opened it. Scarlet knocked on the door.

A man's voice called from inside. "Who's there?"

Hartaniel said "The friends of Vecna."

"What do you mean?"

"Unless I am mistaken, you have the symbol of Vecna carved into your dwelling."

The door opened. Beyond it was a man with skin of dark, shadowy purple. He had a ring of spiky growths crowning his bald head.

In the room, the heroes could see four stone pillars each emblazoned with a glowing red symbol of Vecna. As the door opened, the runes surged with energy.

The strange, shadowy humanoid looked at the runes and back at the heroes. "What is going on?".

From inside Hartaniel's backpack, Vecna called out a muffled, "The Incunabulum! That's what they are. Let me out!"

Ardra murmured to Vecna, "Is this bad or is this good?"

The shadowy Incunabulum being asked, "What's that in your bag?"

The heroes kind of side-stepped the question. The Incunabulum man was intrigued by them. He knew that he was much more powerful than the heroes, so he saw no issue with inviting them in. Two more Incunabulum sat on the floor near the pillars, each wearing a death shroud and meditating.

He introduced himelf. "My name is Kell. How do you know of Vecna?".

Ardra said, "We are students of the arcane, and such things intrigue us."

Kell removed the death shrouds and introduced his two allies to the heroes. They were also Incunabulum, one male and one female.

Ardra wracked her brain and remembered hearing about the Incunabulum. They were a dispassionate race of humanoids driven to pilfer knowledge wherever they could find it. Most of them had lived in The Shadowfell.

Hartaniel asked the Incunabulum about Vecna. Kell explained that they were enraged at how the King of Terror had stolen Vecna's secrets centuries ago, and had used his newfound divine power to erase as much of Vecna's history as possible. They were dedicated to locating what scraps of knowledge of Vecna still existed, whilst they searched for Vecna's fabled hand and eye to restore Vecna to godhood.

Hartaniel said, "I believe I have someone here who wants to meet you."

He pulled out the Vecna lantern. Inside Vecna's swirling cloud, a skull face missing an eye could be seen.

Vecna called out, "Behold! The remains of Vecna! I have awesome power!"

The Incunabulum bowed down in awe.

Vecna told them, "You will be rewarded for your loyalty!"

The Incunabulum took them all down to a basement level, where a massive statue of Vecna stood tall. From the statue's eyehole and hand-stump leaked blood. A book sat open on a stand in front of the statue.

Hartaniel asked Vecna if, thanks to the power of the Incunabulum's belief, Vecna had enough divine power to create a life. Vecna said he'd need to convert one more powerful being to his worship in order for that to happen.

Ardra looked at the book and saw that it was a treatise on creating different types of undead. It was written in draconic, but thanks to her training under the Mages of Saruun, she understood the language.

The Incunabulum pledged themselves to aid the heroes' cause. They shared the secrets they knew, which included:

- How to graft adamantine limbs. Learned from some drow books they'd pilfered
- They owned a copy of the Scroll of Mauthereign, a treatise on the history of Vecna.

Lucky pulled out the severed adamantine arm of Commander Pellanistra. "I couldn't find Vecna's eye or hand, but I did find this."

Kell smiled grimly and said, "It would be my honor to attach that for you."

Kell prepared an area for the procedure. Ardra and Varis aided in the flow of arcana, while the Blue Monk and Hartaniel handled the rather excessive loss of blood. After four grueling hours, the graft was a success. Lucky now had a working adamantine arm.

In thanks, the Blue Monk gave Kell a plaguebringer mask to study. Kell was appreciative, and mentioned that a drow had come to Echo Warrens a day ago with a floating treasure chest. He'd taken a boat to Rilauven. The boat had never returned. Soon after, the black dragon came to echo Warrens and destroyed the three boats at the dock.

Vecna urged the heroes to convert. He explained that if they worshiped him, he'd gain more power.

Lucky flexed her new arm. It glowed a slight blue. She said, "I worship Mari, goddess of Luck. That seems to have worked out for me..."

Meanwhile, on some desert world in another crystal sphere, Mari, Goddess of Luck, was lying imprisoned in a stone tomb, her magic blocked. She could hear her friends chained to a wall nearby. They were the other unfortunates who'd been in her casino when the King of Terror cut it in two. There was an Oni, a band of githyanki, three draconic children of Tiamat, and Darsidian - King Thennrynnia's dragon advisor.

Darsidian called out to Mari. He warned her that someone was coming into the room.

It was Urgathoa, also known as the Pallid Princess. She was a woman with gold skin and black hair. From the waist down, she had no flesh or muscle, just bloody bones. She was accompanied by two leukodaemons - vulture-like creatures that breathed flies and disease clouds. The daemons removed the lid to Mari's coffin/prison.

Urgathoa leered down at Mari, and said, "You. I've been thinking about killing your friends, one by one. The githyanki. The children of Tiamat. Should I use typhus? Leprosy? Vorel's Phage? What do you think?"

Mari raised an eyebrow and responded, "I think if you kill them you're not going to find anything out from me."

"I have a question for you, and you'd better answer. Your deck of many things... what does the donjon card do? What did it do to the King of Terror?"

Mari realized that when the King attacked her, he'd taken her deck.

Apparently, even the mighty primordial could not resist drawing from it!

Mari said, "He's been thrown into a prison somewhere, possibly inside of a world."

Urgathoa shrieked "Noo!". The leukodaemons flinched in fear. "What world?"

Mari smiled and said, "Just go through them one by one and eventually you'll find him."

"This is your fault! You shall pay for this!". She ordered her daemons to seal Mari back in her prison.

Back in Echo Warrens, the adventurers went to visit the stalagmite home of the drow. Above their door was the symbol of the elemental eye. The constant echo in the cavern was starting to get to the heroes.

The heroes knocked on the door. A sweet voice from beyond asked "Who is it?". She slid open a little slot in the door and looked at them. "Pink skins? What're y'all doin' down here in Echo Warrens?"

The Blue Monk said, "Looking for some fun."

"Lookin' for some fun?". She opened the door. She was a beautiful drow wearing nothing but a tabard bearing the symbol of the elemental eye. "Well, I think you found it. I was just makin' my way to the Muddy Barrel."

The Blue Monk said, "My lady, may I accompany you?"

"Sure can!". She held out her arm. He took it. The heroes walked with her to The Muddy Barrel. Along the way, the goblins, hobgoblins and myconids of Echo Warrens all whistled and said "Dang!" as she went by.

Scarlet said, "Let me guess. You're the most beautiful lady in this town."

"You're such a charmer."

"Yeah, whatever."

"My name's Vaona. What all y'all pinkskins knockin on my door for?"

The Blue Monk said, "I heard wondrous tales of your beauty."

Aww. You better buy me drink."

"Oh I will."

The heroes arrived at The Muddy Barrel and stepped in. The tavern was split into two sections. One section was for small-sized creatures. The other was for medium sized creatures. The bartender was a dwarf. The cook was a limping goblin. One waiter was a floating spore ball. There was also a hobgoblin waitress.

They saw a lone dwarf drinking in a corner. Ten zombie dwarves stood around him, staring blankly.

A hobgoblin member of the Cave Whippin' Boyz, the muscle-bound Buford T. Ripper, leaned against the bar and drank in the sight of Vaona the drow. As she walked up to the bar with the heroes, he said to her, "Yew sure are lookin' good today. When yew gon' go ahead and feel my muscles?". He flexed.

Vaona muttered to the Monk, "His muscles are so boring. It's all he talks about." The Blue Monk bought her some fungus wine.

As Buford went on about his muscles, Hartaniel said quietly, "If she could find your muscles maybe she would..."

Buford gave the eladrin the stink-eye. "What you mumblin' over there, pinky?"

The Monk sighed. "Here we go."

Hartaniel repeated himself to Buford.

Buford got all riled up. "You know what? You know I'm one of the Cave Whippin' Boyz?" He yelled, "Hey Cave Whippin' Boyz, we got us some trouble!".

A few of the goblins and hobgoblins lurking outside came in to the bar. Slippery Torg pulled out his garrotte.

Hartaniel suggested that he and Buford settle their differences in the fighting pit. Everyone in the bar shouted their approval.

The people of the town gathered around. The pit had spiked walls, and was imbued with magic. The magic would fire off random effects when certain conditions were met (when a critical was rolled or when someone was bloodied).

Hartaniel faced off against Buford. Boss Corker yelled out that this battle was to unconsciousness, not death. Scarlet uncorked a bottle of wine that she'd stolen from Dagger Rock. Scarlet shared some with a goblin lady named Trista the Agreeable. She also shared some with Cross-Eyed Piffy. Ardra now had the Vecna lantern in her pack.

Hartaniel circled Buford as the people let out cheers. He lunged and stabbed Buford in the arm. "How you feeling, pretty boy?", he asked.

Buford spat and said, "You cut the skin, but you sure didn't penetrate mah rock hard muscles!". Buford jabbed jab with his spear, but missed.

Hartaniel's Seeker pin glowed, aiding his next strike. He slashed Buford again. "Just let me know when you want to give up!".

Buford winced and said, "Why, you're just a fancy elf. I h'ain't even tasted my own blood yet."

Scarlet was a bit tipsy and called out, "He is a fancy elf! He's right!"

Lucky drank from her flask and squinted. "Really?", she asked.

Buford stabbed again, and plunged the spear into Hartaniel's thigh. The bloodthirsty townsfolk let out cries of approval.

The Blue Monk bet ten gold on Hartaniel.

Hartaniel let out a shout and slashed Buford's chest open. Blood trickled from the wound. The pit surged with magic, healing Buford's wound and making Hartaniel's worse! Hartaniel used his innate ability to teleport, and appeared underneath Scarlet. He called out for some wine. He opened his mouth and Scarlet poured it in.

The crowd laughed, impressed. "He's drinkin' and beatin' up on old Buford!", they called out.

Buford snarled and said, "Yew son of a bee-itch!". He pulled out his hand crossbow and fired. He missed.

Hartaniel charged the hobgoblin, but his blow was blocked by Buford's spear. Buford swatted at Hartaniel's leg, knocking him to the ground. Blood trickled from Hartaniel's nose. The hobgoblin raised up his spear to bring down on the eladrin, but again the pit surged, and teleported Hartaniel back to the corner underneath Scarlet.

He looked up at her, hurt, and said, "More wine, please."

Scarlet said, "It doesn't seem to be helping. But.. here you go."

Scarlet poured some wine down. Hartaniel opened his mouth and drank it as he rose to his feet. "Maybe a healing potion, while you're at it..." he grumbled.

Then, Hartaniel charged and stabbed Buford, causing a new bloody gash to form. Raging, he swung again. Buford blocked the blow with the shaft of his spear, but staggered back. Hartaniel followed up with a third strike, stabbing Buford in the gut. The hobgoblin fell over, badly hurt and defeated.

The people let out a cheer. The Cave Whippin' Boyz climbed in and tended to Buford's wounds. Hartaniel offered his hand and helped Buford to his feet. The Cave Whippin' Boyz decided that Hartaniel was Cave Whippin' material.

Boss Corker asked Hartaniel if he wanted to join their gang. "You ready to shoot bats? Eat bats? Ride a lizard 'round?". Hartaniel agreed to it. The Cave Whippers yelled "Yee haw!", and everyone returned to The Muddy Barrel for some free fungus wine.

The adventurers talked with the Cave Whippers. They again were told about the black dragon, and how she'd burned all three boats. They also said they'd heard that the dragon could shift into a humanoid form, like a kind of dragon-person. The goblins told the heroes the legend of how the deep dragon, Velkyn Phindar, had gotten into a fight with the black dragon and tore open the black dragon's throat. The black dragon survived but was no long able to utter a sound.

Varis shivered, remembering his encounter with the Deep Dragon in his younger days.

Boss Corker surmised that the ship that had left the harbor a day prior was taken down by the dragon, and was now a ghost ship - if anything.

Hartaniel looked at the table where the quiet dwarf sat, with 10 zombies standing around him. Hartaniel asked what his story was.

"That's Lombard Thickbeard. The zombies are his crew. He don't like no duergar. Every time he kills a duergar, they become a zombie member of his crew. the dragon burned his boat down."

The Blue Monk said to his friends, "I'll go talk to him very nicely."

The Monk bought him a drink. Lombard explained that he was depressed that his boat had been sank. He also spoke of Cat Island - an island in the Sea of Black Blood that held nothing but angry swarms of feral cats.. and treasure.

The door opened and into the tavern entered another drow - Oonglax the Mad Believer. He began to preach of the Elemental Eye. He spoke of the Chained God, and how when he was freed he'd reward the devout with wisdom.

The Blue Monk rejoined his friends and whispered that he felt they needed to leave town quickly, so that none of them caught the Echo Madness.

Vaona admitted she found the Eye a bit boring. Oonglax yelled at her. She asked The Blue Monk to go to a fungus farm with her to "make out or something". He agreed.

Scarlet quietly followed them and watched from behind a huge mushroom.

Vaona sat on a shroom with The Blue Monk. She explained her drow friends had gotten kicked out of Rilauven due to their worship of the Eye.

The rest of the party crept up to where Scarlet and watched as well.

Vecna sighed quietly. "Bunch of peeping toms! Nothing to see here."

The Monk asked her if there was any way to get a boat or some kind of conveyence. She said "Not unless you got some magic way to do it". Then they made out.

The Monk returned and met with the heroes. They decided to go talk with the myconids. They talked slow and didn't have much useful information. They did sell Ardra some roper extract, which was said to make your muscles grow.

They talked with Kell again. They realized that if they converted more people to worship Vecna, then Vecna would have enough power to create them some kind of vessel. The heroes decided that they could convert Vaona. As a fairly powerful drow, her belief would in fact bolster Vecna enough for him to have the power of creation.

They found her sitting on the edge of the well, legs crossed.

The heroes began to talk to her of Vecna. Vaona seemed bored. The Blue Monk flirted with her and kissed her, and she decided she'd do a little listening.

Ardra used prestidigitation to show Vecna's story. Hartaniel threw in a backflip for effect. Vaona was pleased. Some of the goblins came over, entertained as well. "So what kind of things kin Vecna do?", Vaona asked.

Varis piped up. "I was once an old man, but thanks to Vecna I'm a little boy again!". A total lie! Vaona bought it completely. The heroes tried not to laugh.

Lucky took a swig from her flask and said, "I lost my arm. My life was horrible. Then, Vecna's followers gave me this cool adamantine arm! My life is still horrible, but it's slightly less horrible." Vaona was impressed with her magic arm.

Scarlet took the opportunity to walk around and pick some pockets of the goblins watching. She snatched two onyx gems.

The Blue Monk crept up and kissed Vaona, and whispered sweet Vecna nothings in her ear.

Vaona smiled and said, "Ya know, I think Vecna is what I've been waitin' for all my life!"

Vecna quietly groaned as the adventurers walked her to the Incunabulum's home. He muttered, "Maybe we can kill her once she's converted. Make her undead!".

Scarlet whispered "No!".

The Incunabulum agreed to teach her prayers of Vecna. Varis helped explain things to her using more common words.

Vecna decided to speed things up by having her breathe in his vapors. Her head would be filled with fragments of his knowledge. He explained that it might kill her.

She breathed in the discorporated cloud and seized up. Varis helped her survive. She breathed him out, sat up, and said "I just learned so much, y'all! We gotta find the hand and the eye!".

Vacna surged with energy! He swelled with divine power. He proclaimed that he had enough power to create and object or creature. The heroes debated what to make. They thought of a viking longship, a flying boat, a flying whale, or a giant turtle. Someone suggested a giant pony...

The heroes finally came to an agreement. Vecna created a massive bird with black feathers and one red eye. When it opened its' mouth, it let out whispers.

Scarlet named it: Dark Secret.

And there it was, flying over the Sea of Black Blood. It swooped down and landed in front of the adventurers.

The heroes nodded in approval. Lucky called out, "To Cat Island! And certain doom!".

They climbed on, ready to fly to the drow city. After a quick stop at a certain feline isle, that is....

 

[Netherstorm]

8. Expedition to Cat Island

12/20/11: I used material from the legendary Dungeon Magazine adventure called The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb...

There's a few "meanwhile" scenes featuring other characters from other campaigns. I put those in to show what the PCs would have been doing if they had chosen a different path.

Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3​

Chapter Eight: Expedition to Cat Island​

Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger Vovoidja
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk Almoner
Hartaniel - Elf Barbarian Groom of the Stool
Lucky - Human Warlord Constable
Ryltar - Drow Avenger Constable
Scarlet - Human Fighter Constable
Varis - Half-Elf Warlock Hostarius

The adventurers were set to fly on their giant Vecna-style bird over the Sea of Black Blood through the Underdark. Their destination: The Drow city of Rilauven. There they hoped to find the canisters of blood veil before they could be unleashed on the city of Olwynn. But first, they wanted to explore Cat Island in search of treasure!

Far away, other events were transpiring in the war against the drow.

Up above the world of Nyrod, the wizard known as Hirbe had joined the spelljammer fleet led by the Shadowborn Clan. Their mission was to wipe out the drow ships near the floating asteroid that held the ruins of the city of Nedragaard. The drow ships had ambushed the Shadowborn ships and killed or captured all - save for the ship Hirbe was on.

Hirbe was flying the ship, which was crewed by the black samurai mercenary group. Rounding out the crew were a few kara-kara (green skinned savages), Hirbe's quintessence golem, his wife Arla, and the legendary hero Relskar Grave, aka Tiger Man. He was a shifter who looked like a tiger.

They'd been picking off enemy ships one by one. There was only one left, and it was in their sights. Hirbe ordered the samurai to fire the ballistas. The shots went wide. The drow returned fire, and struck Hirbe's ship with a huge bolt.

Hirbe flew the ship directly at the drow, aiming the ship's dragon-shaped ram at the enemy ship's hull. With a massive crash, the ram tore through the ship's side. The samurai shouted and climbed over, hacking away at the enemy drow. Hirbe left the helm to join them.

As he hopped the gap between the ships, he saw an enemy priestess emerge from below decks. She held a purple tentacle rod, and immediately began choking the life out of two samurai with it! Rellskar was nearby, but had his hands full. He was fighting five drow at once!

Hirbe steeled his gaze and drew the dreaded Sword of the Flayer - a hideous blade he'd acquired on Penumbra, the home world of the illithids. He closed in and plunged his blade into the priestess! Its' magic coursed through her as she shrieked. Due to the Sword's power, she was now his thrall! Her eyes went white. She awaited Hirbe's orders. This effect wold last for a full week.

He ordered her to turn on her drow allies, and she did so. Her tentacle rod made short work of a number of drow warriors.

This turned the tide of the battle. As the fighting wound down, Relskar approached Hirbe and said, "Well done, friend! What do you want to do with her now?".

Hirbe was about to talk about how she could come in handy, if they needed to dupe some drow....

But then, a call came out. Another ship was approaching! It was massive and silver. It was Lolth's spider ship! Hirbe reached through his pack and pulled out his psionic goggles, which gave him eagle-like sight. He saw through a porthole on the spider ship that Eclavdra may not have been present on the ship, but there was an aspect of Lolth herself!

Back on the world of Nyrod, the army of Olwynn was camped outside its' sister city - Dunnwynn, City of Thieves. When the drow attacked Olwynn, the gods themselves came down and fended off the enemy. When Dunnwynn was attacked, the people immediately surrendered. The drow kept the people happy and controlled through the distribution of drugs.

But the army of Olwynn had learned that there were certain spellcasters, traitorous wizards of Dunnwyn, who were using magic to keep the citizens of Dunnwyn subservient. The name of one such scoundrel was Belarba Gankor.

A small team was assembled to attempt to assassinate Belarba. Netochka Nezvanova and Klott, priest of the Raven Queen, were recommended by none other than Evard himself. They were to be escorted by a band of soldiers led by a man called Captain Silverfist. Three soldiers who were to accompany the heroes introduced themselves:

- Horl, who had a girl back in Holmaren.
- Thad, who hadn't talked since his family died in the Battle of Olwynn.
- Rathgor, who also had interest in Raven Queen.

It was night time. The band approached the city swiftly. A drow manning a city wall spotted them and fired his crossbow. Horl was hit! He fell to the ground, dying. Klott healed him. The soldiers made their way into the city, going block to block. They could see the drow web tower in the center of the city, looming over all.

A drow on a rooftop spotted the soldiers. He fired a crossbow... into Horl's neck. The poor guy.

Rathgor said to Klott, "I think the Raven Queen is trying to tell us something, sir."

Klott said, "It's not his time yet," and healed the soldier again.

They arrived at the building where Belarba was said to be. There were two drow guards on the roof, a guard at the front door and a guard at the back door. Captain Silverfist told them they had one hour. Klott and Netochka nodded.

Netochka began to climb. Poor Klott was never too good at climbing. Netochka helped him as best she could. They crept onto the rooftop. The drow guards were on opposite sides of the roof. In the middle of the roof was a skylight.

Netochka crept up behind a guard and slit his throat. Blood sprayed out in an arc. He was dead.

She crept across to the other guard. Klott watched from behind a chimney, and began to pray. He quietly cast Inevitable Doom, charging her blade with deadly dark energy. As her blade cut his throat open, he heard a deep voice whisper "Doom!".

The pair looked into the skylight. They saw Belarba drinking and sitting on a couch. He was accompanied by two drow maidens who seemed barely able to disguise their contempt.

Netochka rappelled to a window behind them. Klott flung a drow body through the skylight! The body crashed in front of the trio. The drow drew curved blades and cursed. Netochka swung in through the side window feet-first. She crashed through the glass and kicked the couch, sending all three of them sprawling and tripping over the drow corpse. Netochka raced forward, kneeled down and plunged her dagger into the traitorous wizard's back. Then she nimbly rolled back to the couch.

Klott jumped through the skylight, screaming. He brought his hammer down on Belarba, cracking him in back. Belarba called out, "Who..? What is happening?!"

The drow maidens hissed at him to be silent.

Netochka raced up and stabbed Belarba one more time. He was dead. Klott called forth a Death Surge and launched the energy at a drow, who shrieked and died. The other slashed at Klott and missed. Netochka closed in, plunged her blade into the maiden, and killed her.

Klott ad Netochka rifled through the place, and found a partial map of the web tower's interior. They brought it back to Captain Silverfist, not mentioning the handful of jewelry she snatched on the way out.

Far from Dunnwyn was the Underdark, where our heroes took one last look at Echo Warrens. Boss Corker gave Hartaniel one of the Cave Whippers' repeating crossbows. He warned the eladrin that they jammed from time to time. Hartaniel thanked him and said, "Save a bat for me."

Vaona, the beautiful drow who was recently converted to the cause of Vecna, said, "Blue Monk, please tell me you'll come back some day."

"I shall."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"Here's something to remember me by." She handed him a magical drow item called a spider mask. The mask protected against a variety of drow attacks.

The dwarf captain, Lombard Thickbeard, yelled goodbye in dwarven on his way to repair his ship.

And with that, the adventurers climbed on the massive bird. The Blue Monk blew Vaona a kiss. Dark Secret took flight.

The heroes soared through the vast cavern, the dark red sea below them. The Vecna Lantern had gone out completely. No one seemed to notice. They lit torches and looked around for Cat Island.

After a few hours, they spotted an island full of glowing, tree-size mushrooms. They swooped down closer, and saw a cat on the beach. It was playing and rolling around in a red canister.

Dark Secret landed and murmured fractured secret whispers. The heroes looked at the canister. It had been bit in half by a creature with a large mouth. They realized it was one of the blood veil canisters. What was more - Ardra quietly realized her master had made them! He had trained her in the ways of magic and had been killed by an explosion set by unknown enemies. Her master used the canisters to transport dangerous liquids. She was becoming certain that he had some kind of role with the cult or the drow...

Five cats emerged from the mushroom forest, purring. The heroes were wary. They'd heard that Cat Island was full of swarms of nasty, shrieking, violent cats. But these cats were like any house cat you'd find in a village. They purred, approached the Blue Monk, and rubbed against his legs.

Scarlet looked at The Blue Monk and said, "Please don't start a fight with all the cats."

Fifteen more watched from the nearby mushroom forest.

Soon, ten cats were rubbing on the Monk, and ten more were rubbing on Hirbe. The cats then tried to get the heroes to follow them into the mushroom forest. The heroes began to follow.

Teddy, Varis' skull familiar, piped up. "Why are we doing this? Can we just go to Rilauven?". Teddy in life had been a drow boy who lived in Rilauven, and was anxious to return to his home city.

Scarlet said, "Teddy.... Treasure."

"I don't care about treasure!".

"That's because you're dead."

"I lived in Rilauven and I want to go back there."

Varis said sarcastically, "Well, that's a good enough reason for me! Let's go!".

Teddy, the floating skull, mumbled, "You're all going to be sorry soon enough...".

Lucky said in a dour tone, "I'm already sorry."

The adventurers followed the cats until they saw a pair of huge mushroom trees up ahead. Beyond it, the heroes spotted hundreds of angry cats hiding. They were being led to an ambush!

Ardra created an illusion of a bunch of fat, slow mice scampering past the trees. When the cats pounced, the heroes chopped down a pair of trees. The mushroom trees toppled onto the horde of felines, sending them hurtling through the air! Varis set a tree on fire. The horde scattered.

From there, the heroes hustled about the island in search of the treasure. Cats began leaping out from behind trees, swiping at them and running away.

The adventurers eventually found a stone block in the side of a rocky mound. The cats were in hot pursuit. The rock held three dwarven words on it: "Errukiz", Ezrubal" and Elomcwe". The heroes immediately saw that the third word was an anagram for "Welcome", but they were unsure of what to do with it. As they talked, more and more cats gathered, getting ready to pounce. Hundreds, from all over the island were coming!

The Monk realized that the letters of the third word could be pressed in. He spelled out "Welcome", and the block became muddy. The heroes walked through the mud and emerged into a dungeon inside the hill with a splorch.

They were in a room with 4 pillars, two long pools of water, a smaller pool of mud, a bell, and a green door. The door had a key hole but no handle. The pillars bore symbols relating to mud sorcerers. A few of the heroes had heard of them - elementalist wizards who specialized in water and earth spells. They worshiped Bwimb II, the paraelemental princess of ooze.

After a lot of careful prodding, the heroes rang the bell. The muddy pool sank and drained away. At the bottom of the pool was many bones, along with a magic item and a green key. The key worked on the door.

Past that door was a room with a black door on the right wall and a stone face carved into the wall straight ahead. A dwarven word was inscribed beneath it - no one knew what it meant. Ryltar and Scarlet approached it. The face was blowing a gentle breeze through pursed lips. They saw that there was a lever in each of its' ears. They decided to pull them both simultaneously. Each gave a yank.

A bladed portcullis dropped, splitting the room up. Then the face blew a massive gust of wind, sending Hartaniel, the Monk and Lucky into the portcullis! They hurtled through the air and were impaled on the blades, causing bloody wounds.

Then, the gust died down, and the face spit out a black key. The heroes bandaged their wounds and used the key on the door.

This door led to a room brimming with bizarre and devious traps. They saw the following:

- A ceiling mural depicting drowning dwarves
- A rug covering the middle of the room's floor. It depicted drowning dwarves.
- Two braziers with glowing coals
- A tapestry depicting dwarves staring straight ahead
- A tapestry depicting drow at a banquet, behaving poorly. Mud grues, muddy crocodile-men, stood near them and watched.
- An altar with an ebony box on it, as well as two candelabras. Each candelabra held 6 black candles and one red one.

The adventurers were cautious. Scarlet peeked behind a tapestry, and found a secret door - the exit! Then, she lifted up the corner of the carpet... and vanished!

The heroes looked around, and then realized that Scarlet was now depicted in the art on the rug. She looked to be in the sea, drowning! She actually floated in some black nether-realm, slowly dying.

The Blue Monk had an idea. He pulled out his guardian whistle, which had teleportation powers. He blew it, and called Scarlet back in the room. Scarlet gasped for breath. She was drained a bit, but alive.

Lucky held out a pole and poked the rug. She vanished! She was now a part of the rug! The magic of the Monk's whistle had been expended. The heroes frantically tried to figure out a way to get Lucky out before it was too late! The Monk lit a red candle, hoping it would do something. The candle caused the secret door to glow, but nothing more.

Varis cast a fire spell, hoping to burn the rug. It did nothing but injure Lucky slightly. Teddy, Varis' skull familiar, tried to bump Varis into the rug, but he was not strong enough.

Ardra went to wrap a rope around the altar. As she did so, she touched the altar, which let off a painful spark of frost. The frost swirled and formed a mud grue! The thing clawed at Ardra and cackled.

As Ardra battled the grue, the monk flopped the rope onto the rug, hoping it would pass through and provide Lucky with a means of escape. It did not work. Hartaniel fired a crossbow bolt into the grue.

Hartaniel called out to the creature, "If you don't tell us how to release our friend, you will die where you stand!".

The grue said, "You should never have come here. You cannot kill me! Bwimb II shall see to it that you suffer!".

Ryltar thought there might be something in the ebony box on the altar that could help. He picked the lock on the box and was pricked with a poison needle. The avenger was barely affected by it. He opened the lid. A fire trap spell went off, burning Ryltar, Ardra, the Monk and the grue. Poor Ardra and the grue took the brunt of the blast.

Varis studied the rug. It fascinated the boy. He wanted to make one of his own some day. Then he cast dark worm feast on the grue, injuring it greatly.

Ardra ducked a claw swipe and fey-stepped across the room/ She pelted the grue with a magic missile, causing it to turn into a pile of mud which slowly vanished. Ardra focused and forced the grue's soul into one of the gems on her helm of seven deaths. The grue howled at this twist of fate. He'd expected to return to Bwimb's home, and now instead was a prisoner until Ardra used the power of his soul to fuel the magic of the helmet!

Hartaniel wanted to see if he could fling one of the coals from the brazier onto the rug. He jabbed one coal with his dagger. To his shock, a miniature fireball rocketed out of the brazier and struck his chest, setting him ablaze! He cursed, put out the fire and ran over to the altar. He looked inside the ebony box. In it was a tiny snake, which looked up at him. Also inside was an obsidian dagger, four octagonal disks, and a magic item.

The Blue Monk wasn't sure how to help Lucky. He decided to open the secret door. Past it was a hallway leading to a room with a coffin in it. Nothing useful there. He looked back at the altar and saw the little snake in the ebony box. He figured, the way things were going, that the snake was going to bite them. He thought maybe he should kill it. He saw its' mouth moving - It seemed to be talking quietly.

Ryltar was in front of the altar. He leaned down so he could hear the snake's faint voice. It whispered, "I can answer three questions about this place! Ask!"

Ryltar asked, "How do we get Lucky out of that rug?"

The snake whispered, "The boy can walk the plane ethereal! He can rescue her!".

Varis did have a spell called Ethereal Stride.

The snake said, "You have two more questions."

The Blue Monk sighed. Good thing he hadn't punched the snake in the mouth.

Varis chanted and shifted into the ethereal. He saw Lucky and Scarlet floating in a black void, slowly dying. Varis felt like he was drowning. He held his breath. Teddy cackled and bit at Varis' clothes, trying to make him stay in the rug forever.

Varis floated over to his allies, and pushed them up and out. He followed out behind them.

Lucky, Scarlet and Varis appeared in the room once more. Hartaniel quickly said, "All right everybody. Don't..touch..the rug!".

The heroes surmised that the dwarves depicted on the rug had died and were permanently a part of it.

Scarlet coughed, stood up, and said, "Well that was horrible."

"And yet you jumped in...", Varis said sarcastically.

"I was trying to save her! I didn't see you doing anything useful at all."

Hartaniel pointed out, "He saved you."

Lucky said mournfully, "I was so close to finally dying...". Awkward silence.

Ryltar asked the snake, "What other threats are beyond this chamber?".

The snake whispered, "There's fake tombs, and drowning, and big statues of Bwimb!".

Lucky suggested leaving the last question until they were stumped.

The tiny snaked crawled in circles around Ryltar's ring finger. The drow avenger of the Raven Queen liked the snake, and thought maybe he'd just keep it.

The next room had no exit save the way the adventurers had entered. There was a sarcophagus on a stone pedestal. Dwarf suits of armor flanked it. The oak sarcophagus was locked with three padlocks.

Hartaniel took apart the armor and tossed the pieces on the rug in the previous room. He was afraid they were going to animate and attack.

Ryltar looked at a suit of dwarf armor and said, "Maybe we should punch it".

"Blue Monk, we have a job for you," Ardra said, laughing.

Ryltar looked at the locks, and saw that the middle one was trapped. Ardra suggested that maybe the person with the metal arm should deal with the locks. Lucky stepped forward, her adamantite arm shimmering, giving off a faint blue glow. She reached down, grabbed them one at a time, crushed them in her adamantite fist and tossed them aside.

The poison needle pricked her hand harmlessly. She said, "I've built up a tolerance...".

Ardra stood to the side and asked, "How's that new arm working out for you?".

Lucky said, "Pretty good. I want to die slightly less."

Hartaniel opened the lid of the sarcophagus. Inside was the corpse of a dwarf with long grey hair. It had a talisman of ebony and ivory around his neck. He wore a gruesome grin, and had a coin over each of his eyes.

Scarlet searched the walls. The wall to the right felt odd, and it shimmered slightly. Hartaniel wanted the talisman. He grabbed it. Suddenly, the corpse sat up and grabbed Hartaniel's arm. The wall to the right shimmered and closed in on the heroes, creeping forward to the base of the stone pedestal!

The Blue Monk delivered a sweeping kick to the chin of the corpse. To his astonishment, the kick had no effect! The corpse cackled!

To make matters worse, a barred portcullis blocked the exit hallway! Varis and Ardra were stuck on the far side! Ardra fired a magic missile at the corpse. To her astonishment, her missile ricocheted off of him and struck the far wall harmlessly.

Ryltar reached over and grabbed the talisman and tore it from the neck of the corpse. Its' smile became a frown. The undead dwarf roared in rage. Hartaniel tried to pull himself free of the thing's grip, but could not shake it.

Scarlet ran over to the wall. She tried to push against it, to slow it. Lucky came over and tried to help.

Varis tried to use a spell to blast the corpse, to no effect. Varis' mind was racing. This made no sense. Why weren't their attacks affecting the undead dwarf?

The wall continued to advance. The stone pedestal that held the coffin sunk into the floor so that the wall could pass over it. Lucky was knocked into the coffin. She shrugged, pulled out her flask, and lied down.

The wall pushed over her, breaking off the corpse's fingers. Hartaniel was free! But he, the Monk, Ryltar and Scarlet were pushed to the left side of the room... right on top of a pit trap. The floor gave way beneath them, and the heroes tumbled down a slanted, zig-zag pit lined with blades and hooks!

They plummeted and rolled as hooks tore into them. Lucky could hear their screams from the safety of the coffin. "I made the correct choice..", she murmured.

The moving wall struck the far wall, and then faded away. The corpse of the dwarf vanished as well! Varis took note of this, and went to work with Ardra, lifting the portcullis.

After much cursing, the heroes in the pit bandaged their wounds and got up. In the pit with them was a stone face embedded in the wall. Ryltar and Scarlet remained in the pit while the others climbed out. The pair examined the face with incredible caution and care. They saw that the jaw had a hinge. They pulled it open. There was a lever in it. They tied a rope to it and pulled. The mouth slammed shut. It surely would have severed a hand!

They noticed an eyelash on one of the eyes was actually a lever. They pulled on it, and the stone eye slid away. The heroes could look through the eye hole and see the next room. In there, they saw a wall of glass on the right, a stone block, and another stone face on the opposite wall.

Ryltar and Scarlet were having trouble figuring out how to get in to that room. The eye hole was small, maybe 8 inches or so.

"By the way...". Scarlet called out. "When we get out of here, we're renaming Cat Island "F**k You Island". This place is not notable for the cats."

As Scarlet and Ryltar continued to poke and prod, Varis called down sarcastically, "Are you guys all right down there? That pit looks like fun!"

Scarlet scowled and called up, "It's great fun! Why don't you try it?"

Hartaniel stood next to Varis soaking up blood from one of his hook wounds. He looked at Varis and said, "I'm going to throw you in in a second, kid."

In the pit, Scarlet looked through the hole to the next area. She pulled out her crossbow. She fired a bolt into the glass wall.

The glass shattered. It turned out the glass was holding back a whole lot of water! The far room began to fill up with water. The heroes cleared out of the blade pit as water poured through the eye hole and eventually filled up the blade pit.

Things had gotten a bit more complicated. They weren't sure how to get through the stone face, and now it was underwater.

Hartaniel dove in, swam down the pit and peered through the eye hole. The next room was completely full of water. He fired some crossbow bolts at the stone block. Nothing happened.

Hartaniel swam back up the pit. The heroes were stumped.

Ryltar decided to ask the tiny snake how to get past the stone head. The snake whispered the answer. Ryltar put his ear up to the snake to hear its' words. It said, "Reach through the hole and there's a lever, fool!". It then bit Ryltar on the neck, and turned into a muddy ring.

Ryltar suddenly felt strange and tired. He wasn't sure what it had does to him, but he knew it was bad. Extremely bad. Only time would reveal what had happened.

The adventurers dove in, reached through the eye hole and pulled the lever. The stone head swung open. They swam to the next stone head. It appeared to be holding its' breath. It's cheeks were puffed out. The adventurers noticed the mouth had a hinge. They pulled the mouth open. Inside it was a plug. They pulled up the plug, and the water began to drain out.

The heroes fought the growing current. As the water lowered, they could tread water and breathe. After 5 minutes, the water was drained. They climbed into the drain hole, and found a ladder that led to a hallway.

The hallway had a pit trap that the Blue Monk spotted. The adventurers jumped over it, and came to a vast room. In it were:

- Five pillars which spelled out the phrase: "Tzolo Shall Vanquish You All".
- A clear water pool that had tiles in its' base that repeated this phrase.
- Dwarf statues on either side of the pool. Hartaniel saw that one's head screwed off. Inside its' hollow chest was a magic item.
- A 20 foot tall statue of a kneeling muddy woman covered in worms. Her arms were extended, palms up. She had gem eyes, gem teeth, and a ruby in her forehead. Above her belly button was a tattoo of the letters ATYVS.

Ryltar approached and went to place some coins in one of her palms. The hand suddenly animated, and began to crush the drow! The adventurers raced forward to help him. He slipped out of its' grasp, and the arm became inanimate once more.

Ryltar looked at the tattoo on the belly of the statue, and saw that each letter could be pressed in. He pressed the letters in this order: TSVYA (for "Tzolo Shall Vanquish You All). Her belly was a secret door!

The adventurers paused to rest for a few minutes. The tomb had proven to be quite deadly. They were sure that whatever was ahead would be dangerous indeed....

 

[Netherstorm]

9. Rilauven

1/2/12: We skipped a week due to Christmas, and then got back to the campaign. I decided to skip the final room of the mud sorcerer's tomb, as there wasn't much to it and we had quite a bit to get to tonight. The heroes got their loot and we joined in progress....

I fell a bit behind due in part to the holiday. I have one more session to recap, as well as the one Ill be running on Monday. Hopefully by next week we'll be caught up. Soon we'll be ready to start Madness at Gardmore Abbey, which ought to be fun.

Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3​

Chapter Nine: Rilauven
​

Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger Vovoidja
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk Almoner
Hartaniel - Elf Barbarian Groom of the Stool
Lucky - Human Warlord Constable
Scarlet - Human Fighter Constable
Varis - Half-Elf Warlock Hostarius

The adventurers' packs were brimming over with loot from the mud sorcerer's tomb. They'd emerged by a clear pool on Cat Island, high up where the cats seemed unable to go. The adventurers decided to rest. When they awoke, they found that the cloud of Vecna had reformed inside Hartaniel's magic lantern.

"Whu... Where am I?", he asked. "I expended almost all of my power!".

"We'll find more converts for you, don't worry," Hartaniel said.

Vecna continued, "The only thing that awoke me was prayers from that drow in Echo Warrens. She's praying about The Blue Monk! Disgusting."

Scarlet smiled slyly at the monk and asked, "What's she saying?".

"That is between her and her deity."

Dark Secret, the giant bird created by Vecna swooped down and landed near them. The heroes prepared to climb on and fly to Rilauven.

Teddy, young Varis' skull familiar, said "Finally! We get to go back home."

Varis moaned, "Joy."

Teddy the former drow child turned to the heroes and said, "He set my mom on fire. And now he's going to pay."

Ardra asked Varis, "Are you a wanted.. adolescent in this city?".

"Why do you think I have this cloak and mask?", he asked in response. The mask he wore was one of the plaguebringer masks.

Ardra said, "I took that clue. What are we to expect?".

"A relatively powerful woman - pissed at me."

Before long, they were again on the back of their giant black bird, Dark Secret. Below them was the Sea of Black Blood. And off in the distance was the drow city of Rilauven.

They could make out the central temple of Lolth. A shaft of red light shot through its' roof to the ceiling of the massive underdark cavern at all times. Teddy explained that when the light was red, it was considered 'daytime'. When it was purple, it was 'night'.

The heroes discussed the best way to approach. Ultimately, they landed near the gate and sent Dark Secret away. Hartaniel whispered to the creature. He asked it to return in a few hours to steal one of the drow ships at the docks. He wanted Dark Secret to bring it to Echo Warrens, to give it to the dwarf who had his ship destroyed by the black dragon.

Vecna muttered, "A bold plan!"

The heroes approached the gate and were allowed into the city for the fee of one malachite (ten gold) apiece. Blocking their entrance was what looked to be a giant jade statue of a spider. A guard with a lance asked what the heroes business was. The answers included: "vacation" and "sight-seeing". As they paid, the jade spider suddenly came alive! It scuttled to the side, allowing the heroes to pass. Hartaniel gave the guard an extra malachite and said, "We weren't here".

They stepped in to the cruel city, noticing that small spiders crawled everywhere freely. There were stalls selling potions and poisons. There were also slave auctions going on. The Blue Monk put on the spider mask given to him by Vaona in Echo Warrens. They watched a drow woman using a whip on a halfling slave. The whip was actually a snake with three heads. The heads bit at the halfling, who screamed.

Many citizens had treasure chests that floated alongside them as they walked.

There were drow, lolthbound goblins, orcs and bugbears walking about. A number of human, elf and dwarf slaves were near as well. Drow guards were riding in carts that had animated spider legs instead of wheels. Mounted on the carts were harpoon guns. These conveyances were known as spider-walkers.

The heroes entered a bar called BloodWeaver's. Varis had gone to BloodWeaver's often as a slave, for help running impossible errands. A white-haired man who claimed to be a fallen angel named Saureya was often found there. Saureya was fond of Varis, and would aid the lad however he could. The Blue Monk bought him a fungus wine.

Varis removed his mask. Saureya was happy to see him and warned, "your mother's agents are everywhere."

He told the heroes that "the drow hero, Lochar," had arrived a day or two ago. Lochar had delivered the canisters, but had sold one or two on the side to wealthy citizens for an enormous profit. They also again heard the story that when Lochar was on the boat to Rilauven, the black dragon had attacked. Lochar threw one of the canisters into the mouth of the beast, giving it a mouthful of blood veil! The creature had flown off.

They asked about getting near the central temple of Lolth, but found that it was in the walled-off religious district. The only way a non-drow could get in was by obtaining a special green cloak from a drow authority.

Saureya informed the heroes that Lochar had sold a canister of blood veil to a nasty band of black-furred gnolls. He said that they lived in an abandoned theater in the ghetto.

Hartaniel headed into a shop to get his crossbow repaired. It had been broken in the mud sorcerer's tomb. The drow inside looked it over and said the repair job would take a few hours.

"How much?", asked Hartaniel.

"One malachite. Ten gold."

"How about I give you 5 gold and not kill you?".

The drow looked at him, incredulous. "Get out of here right now." He drew a poisoned blade and began to yell.

Hartaniel said, "Fine. Ten gold it is."

The drow was incensed. "Get out of here. Keep your filthy gold."

Hartaniel had a counter-offer. "20 gold."

The drow began shouting out the windows of his shop for the guards.

Hartaniel shrugged. "Your loss," said the eladrin. He left the shop.

The other heroes, waiting outside, sighed and drew their weapons. From around a southern street came a spider-walker with three drow guards on it. From a northern street came another, and their ogre ally approached from the east!

As the battle unfolded, drow and lolthbound goblins sat on rooftops and cheered. The drow guards often attacked surface-race visitor for their own amusement.

The Blue Monk and Hartaniel charged the spider-walker to the north. The monk jumped and climbed onto the walker and attacked the three guards One drew a rapier dripping with poison and stabbed at him. Hartaniel ran underneath it and hacked through its' wooden undercarriage. The cart scuttled to the side, and a drow fired a harpoon into Hartaniel. Hartaniel angrily puled the harpoon out and threw it at the drow. Hartaniel turned and looked at some goblins watching on a rooftop and raised his hands. They cheered for him.

The Blue Monk extinguished a drow with a fatal heart punch, and killed another with a blow to the head. He turned and jumped off of the cart onto the roof of a nearby dwelling. Hartaniel slew the last drow, and then cut off one of the cart's spider legs and threw it to some cheering goblins on a nearby rooftop.

Scarlet and Ardra charged the other cart with Lucky nearby. Varis stood at an intersection, preparing to cast spells. Scarlet grabbed one of the spider-walker's legs and gave it a mighty wrench, tipping the cart on its' side. The drow guards cursed as they fell to the side. Ardra raced over to a prone drow and plunged her blade into him, and then tossed him near Lucky. Lucky finished him off, and took his glowing spider-ring which controlled the cart.

Varis turned to see the massive ogre charge at him and deliver a brutal crushing blow to the young warlock. He fell back and called out for help. Scarlet raced back while Ardra continued to battle the drow. The bladesinger killed another. The drow's soul swirled and fused with one of the gems in her helm of seven deaths.

Scarlet stabbed the ogre and got a tight grip on the creature's arm. Lucky healed Varis. The heroes converged on the ogre and cut it down, to surprised cheers from goblins and drow alike. Varis finished it off with a burning spray spell.

Victory in hand, goblins began to gather. The smell of tasty cooked ogre filled their nostrils. The heroes made a hasty retreat.

Lucky and Ardra were interested in finding someone who dealt with adamantine limb replacements. One name came up: Curra the Sorceress. It was said that something was wrong with Curra's brain. She operated out of a small forge in a better section of the ghetto.

They found the forge and stepped in. They saw a number of duergar hammering away on anvils. Curra, a drow sorceress, stood near them, gazing longingly into a rock crystal tear.

Curra looked at the heroes, and at Lucky's adamantine arm. She said, "I am Curra. Are you slaves?"

"No."

She nodded thoughtfully. Then she asked Lucky, "How did you get that arm?".

Hartaniel interjected, "I have a crossbow that I'd like to have repaired. Please."

"I don't repair crossbows."

"I'd be happy to pay any price."

Lucky cut in with a pun. "I'm a fan of your handi-work."

Curra smiled and took a look at the arm. "Commander Pellanistra?".

Lucky nodded. "She won't be needing it any more."

"Oh, my. So what is it you want from me?".

Lucky pointed out her missing leg and eye. "I'm interested in more appendages. I can keep you in work for a while. On the off chance that I don't get brutally murdered, maybe I'll come back and visit you."

Ardra expressed an interest in learning how to craft and attach the limbs. Curra explained she'd learned it when she was a member of the church of Lolth, before she was kicked out. Curra explained that as a priestess, a pain web spell misfired and affected her brain. She said she now had pity for the non-drow and slaves of the city of Rilauven.

Ardra bought a book on the art of crafting and attaching adamantite limbs.

They said goodbye and headed to the run-down theater. Along the way, they passed through the dock area. The saw Dark Secret swoop down from the sky, pluck a boat in it's massive claws and fly off. The drow guards shouted and fired volleys of arrows and ballista bolts into the creature, injuring it quite badly.

The heroes made their way to the theater. A gnoll guard led them inside. He had a brand on the palm of his hand in the shape of a spider. Varis recognized the brand as the mark of his own House Talshalee.

Half a dozen gnolls lurked about. Four child slaves were combing the fur of some of the gnolls. Their leader lurked in a shadowy balcony high above them. It hissed in a female voice, "What do you want?". They herd a weird scraping sound as she moved closer to the edge.

"We want the blood veil."

She cackled. Varis recognized the voice. The thing up there in the darkness was his former owner, Matron YasnaBrinna Talshalee! Teddy gasped. Varis immediately shoved him as far into his pack as he would go.

Scarlet leaned over and said quietly, "Stay in the pack and talk to Vecna!". Scarlet was pretty sure Teddy was naturally inclined to obey females and would listen.

"If you want the canister, you'll have to do something for me. I need a key from the home of Xenla Amandrucil. Get it for me and I'll give you the blood veil - free!". Again she cackled.

She moved again, and again they heard a scraping noise. Hartaniel said, "I like to see who I'm working for."

"Not this time, boy."

The heroes left and walked the streets. They talked about their options. Ardra asked if that thing in the balcony was Varis' "mother".

"Ask Teddy", he said, and pulled his skull familiar out of his pack.

Teddy said, excitedly, "She sounded different! Let me go back in!".

The heroes ignored him. They headed to the residential district, and found the home of Xenla Amandrucil.

They knocked on the door. A little slot opened. A lolthbound goblin peered through and asked, "Whaddya want?".

Ardra said, "We have some information -"

"I don't know what that means."

"...Where's the boss lady?"

"She's at the temple. Won't be home until later tonight. Little girl is home. What a bunch of white-faces want?".

The Blue Monk said something about the goblin's purple face. The goblin paused and said, "I am a butler." There was another pause. "I not supposed to let anybody in. If you try to open door, big fire explode and kill you!". The goblin laughed heartily at this. Then he said, Now you open door and die in explosion!" He shut the slit and hobbled away from the door. They heard him call out, "Ok... go!".

The heroes smiled and looked at each other. Lucky yelled, "It's not working!".

The goblin called out, "What you mean, it not working? You not try to jiggle door!"

Scarlet called out, "We did! You try it!".

The goblin was skeptical. He thought they were just stupid. Varis continued to insist i his innocent, boyish manner. The heroes quietly backed up.

So the goblin opened the door and the fire trap exploded. The goblin was a fiery husk. The blast echoed throughout the street. They heard footsteps from further within the dwelling.

"I thought we were going to try to be nice...", Scarlet said.

Ardra pointed out, "He was just trying to open the door for us. We didn't do anything."

Two more goblin butlers appeared. One was a maid and one a butler. The little drow girl came through a door. She was wearing a key around her neck and was holding one of the whips that ended in three snake heads. She scolded the goblins and then shrieked when she saw the heroes through the smoldering doorway.

The maid shut the door. The heroes knew things had gone awry. They ran. They could hear shouts of "Help!". They raced past many fields of rothe and fungus. They finally ducked into a fungus farm, hiding behind massive mushroom stumps as tall as a giant.

Then they planned. They decided to go back to the house at night. They thought about sending a letter, that started off with "Sorry we killed your butler..". Instead they decided to go to the market to buy a replacement slave for the drow, as a way of apologizing.

They saw that most goblins went for 300 gold. That was a bit steep. They found some discount slaves. One had a bad leg, another had permanent brain damage. Another was just naturally really stupid. They inspected the slave with the bad leg. Scarlet and The Blue Monk didn't like any of this, and went shopping.

The adventurers bought the goblin. They brought him to a huge fungus field. They broke his bad leg, and then had Lucky use healing infusions to try to re-set it. Some guards heard the goblin's screams, and a drow patrol in a spider-walker came over and questioned them. The guards left the heroes, which seemed odd to them.

They crept near the Amandrucil house and saw guards lurking near it: 2 spider-walkers and an ogre. They watched for a while. On spider-walker left down a street. Scarlet thought they had a chance to talk their way out of things. Hartaniel promised not to say or do anything.

The heroes approached the guards outside the dwelling. There was general alarm. Xenla, a tall drow priestess came out. Lucky smooth-talked her and then explained the situation. She told Xenla that Yasnabrinna had the chest, and that Xenla had the key.

Xenla angrily explained that she had bought the chest with the blood veil canister inside. YasnaBrinna's gnolls had stolen it from her, but needed the key to open it without triggering the protective glyphs Xenla had put on the chest.

Hartaniel offered Xenla the goblin slave to replace the butler. Xenla seemed pleased. The ogre guard loomed over them and asked, "Should I crush dem?"

Xenla thought a better idea was to have the heroes retrieve her chest for her. The heroes agreed to do so.

The heroes returned to the theater. The gnolls let them in when the heroes lied that they had the key. They stood before the dark balcony. YasnaBrinna asked, "Do they have it?". The heroes heard a scraping sound as she moved closer to the edge.

And then the heroes attacked!

YasnaBrinna lurked on a balcony with two archers. One more archer was on the ground floor, along with three brutes. Lucky raced toward the balcony and lured YasnaBrinna to the edge. She fell over the side and crashed to the ground.

The heroes got a good look at her. Her entire body was burned. Her once-beautiful face now resembled a skull with tufts of hair growing from its' scalp. Skin was melted over one eye. The sound they were hearing was her dragging herself over the floor with her arms. Her legs did not work at all.

The adventurers rushed her and stabbed her while she was down. She chanted and cast a spell that caused her to hover 20 feet in the air, well above the adventurers. Her burnt legs hung limply underneath her, useless. Varis pulled off his mask and looked at her. Her good eye went wide. "You!", she shrieked. "You did this to me!".

Teddy, Varis' skull familiar and her son, called out to her. She recognized Teddy's voice and said coldly, "You are of no use to me." Teddy continued to call out to her, but his cruel mother made it clear that she had no sympathy for his plight whatsoever.

Gnoll archers took aim and plugged Scarlet full of arrows. She fell to the ground, hurt badly. YasnaBrinna began firing off dark bolts at Varis, dropping him as well. Lucky gave him a quick heal. Then he got up and blasted the drow with a spell that blew off her legs!

Scarlet was healed as well. She made her way up to the balcony to deal with the archers while the other heroes tried to handle to powerful gnolls below.

Varis closed in on his former matron. He pelted her with spells, knocking her to the ground as his friends fiercely battled the gnolls all around him. YasnaBrinna, nearly dead, held her hand out to her former slave. "My boy..", she croaked. "Spare me. You did this to me! You did it!"

Varis said, "Say hi to my real parents in hell." He cast burning spray. She shrieked and died. The gnolls saw that their leader was done for, and the ran for the exits.

Varis held his hand over her remains and drew out her soul. Teddy shrieked as Varis forced her soul into the skull to join him for all eternity.

The heroes found the chest, as well as green cloaks that would give them access to the religious district. They were unsure of how they would get in to the Main Temple of Lolth to get the remaining canisters.

 

[Netherstorm]

10. The Black Dragon

1/9/12: Almost caught up...

Saga of Valor
Book One - NyrodSpace War 3​

Chapter Ten: The Black Dragon

​

Ardra - Eladrin Bladesinger Vovoidja
The Blue Monk - Half-Orc Monk Almoner
Hartaniel - Elf Barbarian Groom of the Stool
Lucky - Human Warlord Constable
Ryltar - Drow Avenger Constable
Scarlet - Human Fighter Constable
Varis - Half-Elf Warlock Hostarius

The adventurers rested in Saureya's room in the inn called BloodWeaver's. Ryltar felt very odd as he prepared to rest. He'd felt very strange since getting bitten by the tiny snake in the mud sorcerer's tomb. At night he did not sleep, but rather entered into a Drow Trance. He felt that, if he did fall asleep, he might not wake up.

Ardra examined his aura with her arcane senses, and could see that his soul had been somehow tainted by the paraelemental princess of ooze, Bwimb II. Ardra could not discern more, and felt that Ryltar should be checked out by a more powerful master of the arcane arts.

The heroes took Ryltar to Curra the Sorceress. She laid the drow avenger of the Raven Queen down on a slab in a back room. She whispered quietly to him in drow, "Why are you with them?".

He said, "I have my reasons."

She smiled and said, "Me too."

Ardra entered and offered to help. Curra and Ardra combined energies to reach out to the source of his cure. They saw, looming over Ryltar, a giant woman covered in slime. Large worm-like creatures crawled all over her body. It was Bwimb II.

Curra snapped out of it and said to Ryltar, "You have angered the paraelemental princess of ooze. She has cursed you. The next time you fall asleep, you won't wake up for one year."

Ardra and Ryltar gasped. "If you can find a more powerful ritual caster, they might be able to petition Bwimb and work out some kind of arrangement."

Ryltar cursed. "All I did was piss off a tiny snake..."

They returned to BloodWeaver's, healed their wounds and got a full night's rest. Ryltar entered a drow trance. Then, the next morning, they donned the green cloaks which gave them passage to the walled-off religious district. Now they had a near-impossible task - take the cylinders of blood veil from the drow in their own city.

Each of the three entrances to the district were guarded by a giant, animated jade spider. The walls were manned by male drow wielding tall, grey death lances. They chose an entrance and passed through, the jade spider scuttling aside and allowing them to pass.

The streets were full of drow accompanied by lolthbound goblins. They saw a number of spider-walkers. The guards on board scanned the streets, and seemed on a mission to find someone or something.

Ardra kept her ears peeled, and heard one drow on a spider-walker talking to another. A murder of a healer had just been committed and they were searching for the culprit.

The heroes quietly discussed this.

"Are they looking for us?", Scarlet asked.

Ardra shook her head. "We just got to this district. The Blue Monk just got to this district."

A drow in nice clothing leaned against a wall as his three lolthbound goblins played dice games at his feet. The drow had a ring on every finger. He looked over the heroes while flipping a platinum piece in the air.

The Blue Monk approached him. Scarlet quietly went with him.

The drow said, "Lolth tlu malla, friend."

"Yeah, sure." The Blue Monk responded.

"You look new here. The name's Quilzar. What brings you here?"

"Just trying to rest up after our wonderful adventures."

"What kind of adventures?"

"You know... Stuff. Things. Those kind of adventures."

"Oh yeah? Hmmm. I'm the kind of guy who knows a lot of things. If there's anything you need to know, all you'll need is an onyx and I'll tell you one thing."

Scarlet produced an onyx and handed it to Quilzar. She said, "We have a vendetta against the drow who came through here with some merchandise. Some canisters in a floating chest."

Quilzar perked up. "You talking about Lochar the hero?"

"Yes."

"You have a vendetta against the hero?"

"He wronged my family long ago," Scarlet lied.

Quilzar slipped the gem into his pocket and said, "That sounds fun. If you want to find Lochar, he's down at the Dragon's Tooth Inn just two blocks that way."

Scarlet thanked him. Blue Monk looked at Scarlet and said, "That cost fifty gold? Ridiculous."

The heroes headed to the inn. Inside were:

- 3 Lolthbound goblins devouring a large plate of cooked spider.
- Three Priestesses of Lolth sitting at a table studying scrolls.
- On female drow with adamantite arms and legs, sitting with two males who each had an adamantite arm.
- Hanging by his wrists from a rope tied to a crossbeam was a poor, scarred eladrin in a loincloth. His mouth was gagged.
- In a far corner sat a lone cloaked figure.
- And by the fireplace, Lochar the drow hero ate a hearty meal.

Scarlet approached the bartender, who was playing with his pet spider (which was the size of a small dog). The spider bared its' fangs and hissed at the non-drow. The bartender calmed the spider and asked, "What can I get for you?".

Scarlet eyed the spider. She said, "That's cute. Give me a fungus wine."

Hartaniel sidled up next to her and said, "Make that two."

Scarlet sipped the wine and said to the bartender, "I hear there's a legendary hero in town."

"Yeah. So what?"

"Well I was hoping to meet him. Maybe get an autograph or something."

The bartender nodded in the direction of Lochar, by the fireplace. "He's right there."

Lucky approached the table of drow with the adamantite limbs. She said, "Hey, those are some nice arms." They glared at her. She continued, "How do those legs work? They working out pretty well for you?"

The female, Commander Warda, asked "What do you want to know about our arms for?".

Lucky pulled back her green cloak to reveal her own adamantine arm. The drow's eyes went wide.

Warda asked, "Where did you get that?".

"I got this from a traitorous drow who was killed by her own kind. She was turned into a drider. She didn't need it any more."

Warda nodded respectfully. She got up and examined the arm, comparing it to her own.

Ardra was nearby, subtly watching the three lolthbound goblins. They were cackling and eating a huge plate of fried spiders. She was repulsed.

She turned her attention to the three priestesses looking over the scrolls. They seemed to be studying and sometimes looking at each other with hate in their eyes.

Ryltar walked over to the hooded figure. The drow avenger sat at the table, as if the hooded figure wasn't there. Its' head turned toward Ryltar.

"Yes?", Ryltar asked. It said nothing in response. He asked, "Do you mind if I sit?". It did not respond.

The Blue Monk walked up to Lochar. "Kind sir, how are you?".

The drow 'hero' looked up from his plate of rothe meat and asked, "Who are you to approach the mighty Lochar?".

"Ah, I've heard of you. You are famed in this town."

"That's right. I am."

"You seem to be enjoying your meal alone."

"... Yes."

The Blue Monk gestured to the bound eladrin hanging from the ceiling. "Do you know anything of this man hanging from the ceiling?".

"They always got one of those. You can do anything you want to him. Punch him!". Lochar smiled and waited for the monk to punch the poor eladrin.

The Monk shrugged. "All right." He gave the eladrin a very light blow.

Lochar groaned. "Come on! Punch him harder!"

The Blue Monk hesitated. He asked, "If I punch him in the stomach will you tell me of your travels?"

Lochar thought for a moment, and said "All right."

The Blue Monk hauled off and punched the eladrin in the stomach (for two points of damage). Lochar rolled his eyes. "Who taught you how to punch?".

Lochar told the Blue Monk of his latest 'adventure' - selling another of the cylinders of blood veil. "I am loaded!", he cackled. "I sold one to the Andrucils, and I just sold another to House Darkweb."

Blue Monk asked, "Got any left?".

"The rest were brought to the great Charinidia - who's always watching." He looked around nervously.

Then, the cloaked figure sitting with Ryltar stood up. It turned and looked at Lochar. It threw off its' guise to reveal a it as a black dragon in humanoid form. It had a claw scrape across its' throat. It was the dragon of the Sea of Black Blood! It changed shape into a full-fledged black dragon and raced past Ryltar to get to Lochar.

It breathed acid, hitting Lochar, Commander Warda, and The Blue Monk. Lochar screamed, fell over, and died.

The Blue Monk ran up and began punching the dragon. Varis hit it with a dark worm feast. Scarlet charged the dragon and knocked it on its' side and said, "Now it's a party."

Hartaniel was at the bar. He said to the bartender, "You fill these up while I go kill a dragon."

The dragon oozed a shroud of gloom from beneath its' scales until it spread to a good portion of the bar. All within it were covered by it, and were thus more vulnerable to the dragon's attacks.

Ardra shot through the rope holding up the eladrin. He plopped to the ground. His hands were still bound. Lucky made her way to the injured eladrin and guided him to the far wall of the room. The freed captive gave Ardra and Lucky an appreciative look.

The three drow priestesses decided to leave, and to try to take Ardra with them. To them, she looked like a worthy sacrifice to Lolth. Hartaniel raced over to help Ardra, knocking one of the drow priestesses to the ground. Ardra turned to the priestesses, her eyes flaring with magical energy. They fearfully backed away and ran for the exit.

The dragon bit Scarlet as Lucky hacked into it with her halberd. The Blue Monk and Hartaniel struck it as well.

The dragon clawed Ryltar. Ryltar swung back with his scythe, bloodying the dragon! It immediately breathed acid again. Ardra charged forward and cut a bloody wound in the dragon's hide. Acid sprayed from the wound, injuring a few of the heroes.

Scarlet grabbed one of the dragon's horns and pulled it near the bar. The other adventurers, wary of the beast's acid blood, hung back and fired off range attacks.

The dragon clawed Scarlet, who fell to the ground, injured. Then the dragon leapt at The Blue Monk and Varis.

The three goblins had decided that the battle provided a great distraction for thievery. They crept toward Ryltar, and then jumped. One hung from his backpack, trying to tear items from it. Ryltar uttered a prayer to the Raven Queen and cast Cloud of Ravens. He was instantly surrounded by ravens, to the point where the nearby goblins were blinded. Ryltar strode past the would-be thieves and said "I don't have time for this", and sliced one with his scythe.

"Leave or me or die", he said. The goblins shrieked and ran. Ryltar cut them down with his scythe as they did so.

The drow with the adamantine arms, Commander Warda, jumped in. She'd been hit by some acid and was angry. She ran up and punched the dragon. The dragon bit back at her, but the drow blocked the attack with her arm.

Ardra grabbed some wine from the bar and slashed away at the dragon.

Scarlet made her way to Lochar's remains and said, "Great hero Lochar, are you OK?". Then she made like she was checking on him, but really she was trying to loot him. To her dismay, Lochar and his things had all been ruined by the acid.

Hartaniel stabbed the dragon, killing it, then turned and cut a chair in two for good measure. He pulled out a tooth, reveling in taking a dragon's tooth in the Dragon's Tooth Inn.

Commander Warda nodded respectfully to the heroes, and chastised her men for not helping.

The adventurers left the inn and patched up their wounds in a dark alley.

Lucky said to the shivering eladrin, "I know things look bleak. I'll tell you some stories of my life sometime."

The eladrin looked at her many missing body parts and said, "Oh my!".

Scarlet nodded and said, "Once you hear that, the events in your own life will sound pretty good."

Quilzar and his three goblins approached, looking at them suspiciously. He asked if they needed anything, they said no. He walked away and said, "See you around, chumps."

The Blue Monk sneered and decided to follow the drow. But as he started to leave, the heroes grabbed his cloak. They did not want a repeat of the battle in Dagger Rock.

The adventurers knew that House Darkweb had a cylinder, but they were unsure of where the house had stored it.

Teddy, Varis' skull familiar, piped up. "Why bother? You can't handle House Darkweb. Your lives are so hollow." Obviously he had not recovered from the fact that his evil mother's spirit now inhabited the skull with him, and that she had no regard for him whatsoever.

Teddy continued, "You're totally lost. You don't even know where to start."

Ardra opened up her ritual book and cast Seek Rumor. The casting went well. She discerned that the cylinder was held in a Darkweb enclave of Lolth in the religious district.

The heroes now knew where to go. Solufine, the eladrin they'd freed, asked, "Should I come with you? Perhaps I could pretend I'm a slave?"

Ardra agreed with that idea.

He smiled and said, "It won't difficult. I am an actor!". Then he said "Suffering!" and proceeded to act like he was suffering.

Scarlet, non-plussed, said, "Wow, your acting is really great. I am totally convinced."

They asked how he had become a slave. Solufine explained that the drow raided the Feywild (through the crossing in the Chaos Scar) and that he'd been traded from drow to drow ever since.

He bowed to Ardra and said to her, "And thanks to your marksmanship, I am safe. My family shall reward you handsomely."

The heroes made their way to the enclave, and noticed the door was open. Inside, two drow corpses laid near stairs heading to a basement level. The corpses were strangely bloated. A few flies buzzed about. This was odd - the heroes had seen no flies since entering the underdark.

They headed below and explored some rooms. They found more bloated corpses, and more flies. They also found a magical laboratory, which contained a number of useful potions to pilfer. A nearby open door led to a room full of webbing and cocoons. Inside the cocoons was quite a pile of treasure!

Before the looting could commence, though, the heroes heard the sounds of battle.

In a main hall dominated by a vast magic symbol of Lolth, the invaders battled the last remnants of House Darkweb's defenses. The invaders were agents of the Cult of Urgathoa! Apparently, the drow of Rilauven were hesitating to deliver the cylinders of blood veil as promised, and so the cult decided to steal the one bought by House Darkweb so at least they'd have on cylinder to use to attack Olwynn with.

The heroes peered around a corner and saw two wounded spiders fighting a band of plaguebringers, and two massive leukodaemons - hooved, vulture-demons with horse skulls for heads. The daemons had flies flying all around them.

As the cult finished off the spiders, the heroes set up a two-pronged assault. Ryltar and Hartaniel came from a southern hall, while the rest went through the door from the laboratory.

The heroes burst from the laboratory into the main. A leukodaemon turned and breathed a massive horde of corpse-bloated black flies at them. Scarlet burst out of the cloud, grabbed one of the daemons and cracked it onto the symbol of Lolth over and over, killing it.

Hartaniel jumped the other one, knocking it prone. Lucky dragged it into the center of the symbol, and ordered three of her allies to charge it. They quickly reduced it to a bloody mess. Ardra killed it, and absorbed its' soul into a gem on her helm of seven deaths.

The plaguebringers were cut down in seconds. The heroes had slaughtered the invaders. They headed back to the webbed room. In the cocoons, they found magic items, gems, and the missing cylinder. Again, Ardra noticed the mark of her grandfather on the bottom...