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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 1191353" data-attributes="member: 5675">Yvgeny's ReportsThirteenth Letter---------------To His Eminence Pietr Orik,Temple of Ilmater,King’s Palace Square,Heliogabalus.Your Grace, Although it has been a while since my last letter, it seems the Clearwater Crusaders have made little progress in our quest. We have discovered our drow quarry are a cult of Kiaransalee, but new revelations have shown that drow loyal to Lolth are also embroiled in the morass of Underdark politics being enacted mere miles from Dagger Falls. I fear it will take months, if not years to get to the bottom of what is happening, but these are the tasks I have agreed to undertake, so undertake them I shall. Returning to the narrative that I finished (in Dagger Falls, as usual) at the end of my last report, I will begin again with our return journey to the Underdark. This time, walls of stone, a fairly typical spell that both wielders of magic and clerics alike can cast, blocked our way. Now, Adamo and Aeron were both still in Dagger Falls (cooking up some new magical item between the pair of them most probably), so it was down to me to get us past the walls. Not being of a mind to make a commotion whilst we were short two members short, I used my one and only memorised spell of stone shaping, which opened a hole large enough for Miles, Grim, Halbrinn and I to squeeze through. Halbrinn performed his usual sleight of hand on the traps, and we arrived in the vicinity of the first drop shaft without further ado. However, we were stymied again just short of our goal by another wall of stone. This was the one that Adamo had constructed, but further blockaded by the drow: They had filled in the opening we were using as a doorway, completing the enclosure. Suspecting that a trap of some sort could be waiting for us on the far side, the Crusaders decided that we would wait until I could recast my spell of stone shaping on the morrow, so we would not give advance warning to any concealed foe. After some hours spent resting, I tested the Weave, and again found the link provided by our God. I therefore prayed again for the stone-shaping spell, and went forth to break apart the sections of stone added by the drow to Adamo’s wall… Only to find that the spell had not affected the accursed rock! So bewildered was I that when Grim and Miles pointed out that the stone wasn’t real, I attempted to prove them wrong by punching the wall, before my normal good sense told me to trust their judgment. The trap, therefore, was hidden before our very eyes, for my fist triggered a fireball spell as soon as it passed through the illusory stone. My reactions were quick enough to respond to the bead of flame before it exploded, but those Triad-accursed drow had thought of that, and my defensive leap away was brought up short, literally, by the webs that had been spun across the opening to catch the unwary in the full blast. I guess that my general stupidity had at least prevented Halbrinn, say, from catching a face-full of fire, and only my arm received a roasting (another judogi ruined!) but it was mostly of scant recompense. Grimm had got caught in the blast of flames along with me, so I therefore used a curative spell to salve his burns and my own. The additional benefit of setting off the trap was that the fireball destroyed some badly positioned waiting skeletons on the far side of the wall. Thanking Ilmater for small mercies, we continued, once all the webs had burned away. We moved swiftly down the dropshaft, dodging any traps that had been reset, and made our way to the webs’-edge cavern, still unmolested. Halbrinn scouted ahead, under invisibility and fly spells, and reported back that the first cavern down from our current position had not been repopulated, and that there was another cave even further below. At this point Aeron and Adamo turned up, but unfortunately were spelled-out. It was decided that they would keep to the rear of the group, and provide what assistance they could through magical equipment. After we had agreed strategy, I cast my silence spell and Grimm, Miles and I descended after Halbrinn, who was still flying and invisible, followed a little after by Adamo and Aeron. We reached the chasm without incident, but as soon as we entered a tunnel cut into the wall a short distance from our point of ingress, a flash of fire told us Halbrinn was in trouble. Rushing into the room he occupied, we were confronted by several drow magic users. However, they had no muscle to back them up, so we used the tried-and-tested tactic of rushing them to spoil their spell-concentration: They were quickly bested, but a booming voice stopped us before we could perform any rituals to ensure these creatures would not be raised as undead. The voice belonged to the master of these mages, none other than an arch-mage of the local Underdark town. The appellation of the mage was that of the town itself: Szith Morcane. Apparently, we were a test for his students (a ‘test’ where failure results in death? Only the drow or the Thayans could be so callous!) He offered us a deal: That we cease our depredations versus his cadre of magicians in exchange for him withholding support for the clerics of Kiaransalee. I assumed that the support was grudging at best (the spellcasters being exclusively male, whilst the clerics are female-only; the battle of the sexes is fierce when drow are involved, your eminence!), but the advantage would be useful. The rest of the Crusaders agreed, although I didn’t like the look in Grimm’s eye. The drow mage also requested that we did not molest the people of the town, which the Crusaders happily accepted. The pax was therefore declared, and although I chafe at the thought, Miles was quite determined that we honour the agreement. Considering we are so close to Dagger Falls, I would say that I am not surprised at his zealousness and the contract is only binding if the drow honour their side as well. We did also attach the caveat that no further attacks would be expected on the peoples of the surface, to which the mage responded that none would come from ‘his people’. This tied up about as many bindings as we could connect to the agreement, so with that, we left the cavern and retreated back to our ‘haven’ to recuperate. After our period of rest, and then of prayers, Adamo sent himself out on a recce, using spells that made him almost undetectable. Apparently he has a ring that disrupts the energies given off by the body, rendering him invisible to the dark vision of the drow. I’m sure some technically minded gnome mage must have come up with this clever device, and I can certainly vouch for its effectiveness, your eminence, for he did disappear completely from my sight as soon as he put it on. I must ask him whether its effectiveness continues even after you have interacted with your enemy, for if it does, it could be a potent weapon against all denizens of the night that rely on darkness to cover their nefarious activities. When he returned, he reported the location of a populated area where barter was occurring. However, the buying and selling was being done by a number of denizens of the Underdark, and some of the more unsavoury judging by his descriptions: grey dwarves, drow, some amphibioids (‘Kua-Toa,’ supplied Miles) and some skinny humanoids in cloaks and hoods. Adamo seemed fairly unfazed, so he went to take a second look but when he came back he was less cheerful. He said that the cloaked figures had an aristocratic bearing compared to the others, and also seemed able to sense Adamo’s presence. When he described this last, with the rejoinder that ‘they appear to have tentacles for beards’ I was certain he was describing Illithids! Now as I’m sure you are aware, your grace, these unholy creatures can stun you with the power of their mind, and pick the thoughts from your head with but a moment’s concentration. Naturally, I was loath to get too close, and Grimm just looked like he was keen to meet the drow personally, so I argued that we should go around the marketplace, which won qualified agreement. However, as we descended to a different part of the web, the arguments of Miles and Adamo became more persuasive; we needed any information we could gather, despite the risk. Adamo did take pains to mention that the majority of sellers were duergar, and he gave a meaningful glance at the staff strapped across my back. Between us, we managed to wrestle the thing into the bag of holding, although it was certainly not happy to go. Finally, I managed to drop the thing in, promising to use it should we be waylaid by duergar or derro with the intention of doing us in. By the Triad, that is one bloodthirsty staff! It is such a shame that its creator couldn’t have put a similar amount of skill into creating a staff that reduces strife. We then changed direction, this time heading towards the marketplace. On entering the marketplace, we approached one likely group of duergar stallholders, only to be greeted by surly looks and non-committal grunts when Miles asked them for information: Apparently, we had scared away their drow customers. I’m not sure whether we scared away the Ilithids, too, but there were none to be seen when we arrived at the market, for which I offered a prayer of thanks to Ilmater, Torm and Tyr. I think I will need to do some research on ways to safeguard the mind against such creatures: I am certain aasimar and Illithids are not compatible species, and I certainly do not wish to be a mind-thrall to such a creature for the rest of my days! Offering the duergar hard currency mollified them somewhat, and we got various useful items of information and a map of the local environs. The information, your eminence, concerned the two drow factions that have emerged in Szith Morcane. The ‘new’ drow (the Temple and Faith of Kiaransalee, I assume) are more powerful than the ‘old’ (drow of the goddess Lolth) and there are fewer females around. Now both you and I know, your grace that Lolth is a major power, and that Kiaransalee is purely a demi-goddess. It behoves me to find out how the Church of Kiaransalee is usurping power from ancient and evil Lolth, (Kiaransalee’s superior, I believe), who has a presence on more than one Prime. Perhaps this is the reason: Her concentration has been diverted by politics away from Faerun. Whatever the cause, I am sure that you and I will not be complaining, your grace! As to the map, I could not read it (without the use of a spell, of course) but Miles seemed to be managing fine. He said most of the major landmarks were shown, including the town we were approaching (Szith Morcane) and a temple. Taking his word for it that the barter was not totally in the dwarves favour, we decided to head straight for the temple. On arriving at the temple, we were presented with another fairly typical cave mouth, well chiselled this time but otherwise apparently non-descript. I was standing on the wall of the shaft we had descended, just outside and to the left of the cave mouth when Halbrinn, who had crept in first, shouted that there were undead to fight. I swung like an acrobat from the side wall, but just as I entered the cave, dark bolts of energy seemed to fly out of thin air striking me in mid-flight. From the tang of ozone that I smelt as I flew backwards, I knew this was not a localised spell (i.e. one cast directly at me) but from an area spell, probably a Forbiddance. That was the limit of my thought on the matter, however, as I was now falling through the air on the way to very hard ground some distance below! I reached into my backpack and withdrew my silk rope (thank the Triad for these handy haversacks that bring your desired item to the top as soon as you reach your hand in!) that I might fling it against the webbing and arrest my fall. As it was, I fell amongst some stray strands of the web, which I grabbed at with my free hand, bringing me up short. Still, I was a goodly way from the battle, and had to attach my slippers of spider climbing to the web I was holding before I could unstick myself. Then, I clambered aboard the webs and raced back at top speed. The battle was fairly short, as we were well prepared. Facing a brace of the Quth Maren and some drow vampires, a daylight spell was already in effect when I arrived back on the scene, although some of my comrades had managed to get caught up in the same type of filament-fine strands that had arrested my fall. With the daylight doing for both vampires (one fleeing, the other exploding into a cloud of dust when it could not escape) the rest of the Crusaders swiftly destroyed our remaining foe. We then took the opportunity to make safe our immediate location, smashing a selection of coffins we found to render as many vampires homeless as possible. We also found a drow female, in chains, who had been used as a moveable feast for the vampires, it seems. With the help of Miles, who acted as translator, we found out that the name of this drow was Dessa-sik-Morcane. Not only this, but also she was able to provide enlightenment on how the Faith of Kiaransalee had seceded from the Church of Lolth. Being a cleric of the Spider Queen, she had first hand knowledge that the goddess had fallen silent, and was not answering prayers! By the Triad, I didn’t dare hope that Lolth had suffered deicide, but it did give me optimism that a major power in the Underdark would not now be able to stop the Crusaders from performing our allotted task. Moreover, any additional quests that we may execute as opportunity arises (such as freeing slaves) would now have a better chance of being undertaken. I thanked Ilmater for this blessing, but then it was back to the work at hand. After releasing her, the drow priestess provided information on our foes. Apparently, there was one more vampire to fight, as well as the one that got away in our initial skirmish. It was not long before we found these vampires, and more! A short journey down a corridor from the cell where the drow was chained, the Crusaders opened a door to be confronted by our quarry. I was first, and was sprung upon by the two vampires, who struck at me with speedy swords, then darted back out of range of my fists. I hurled a curse at them, and then converted one of my memorised spells to a curing spell. My fists thus charged with positive energy, I advanced upon one of the two vampires and hit it a glancing blow, but my curing spell attacked its link with the negative energy plane, as was my intention, and it was the vampires turn to shriek a curse at me in the glottal tongue of the Underdark! ‘Eye for an eye’ I called back, but then did a swift double-take as two driders descended from the ceiling! By the holy House of the Triad, these things are exceptionally ugly! Worse, we soon discovered that these driders were vampires, too, and additionally that the room had been unhallowed. This became clear when Aeron and I attempted a joint turning attempt, only to find the vampires laughing at the puny glow from our holy symbols, dimmed by the evil force that pervaded all around us. Adamo’s summonings were similarly defeated; their attacks striking against the dark shields of the vampires, who were clearly Protected by the unhallowing. The fight was not well set up. We had been ambushed right in the doorway, and were blocking the swing of each other’s weapons. I had taken some injuries, so extracted myself from the battle, and retreated back the way we had come (the drow priestess had already disappeared, but I had no time to consider this). Using my wand of curing at regular intervals, I managed to find a second corridor (the configuration of all temples are similar, your grace, even those of evil drow goddesses) and managed to locate, through sound and guesswork, a side door into the combat arena across from my comrades. I fired off a wand of searing light, but succeeded only in attracting the attention of a drider as the spell fizzled around it (note, your eminence: drow undead still keep their resistance to magic). Adamo, who was all out of mana, sounded the retreat, so I called to a dazed Miles, who had managed to get further into the room than the rest, that there was another exit available. He made good his escape, with me in close attendance, and drow and drider just behind. I received a painful slap as I slammed the door behind me, but I still managed to wrap my silk rope around the handles before our foe could punch the doors open, and it held them at bay whilst we made good our escape. Ilmater! Another rope lost. Oh well, at least this time it was sacrificed to save lives. When Miles and I met up with the Crusaders again, we all retreated the goodly distance back to our secured cave, that we might salve our wounds and our pride. Admitting the fact that his summoned creatures could not touch our enemy within the area of the unhallow, Adamo sat down to plan a spell list that could be used to our best advantage, with hindering spells to limit the movement of drow being top of his agenda. Halbrinn’s illusions would still be effective (within the confines of the drows’ resistance to magic) and Aeron’s spells would still work, as would his mace. I would concentrate on support spells and healing, allowing Grimm and Miles to do the wet work. With our strategy thus decided, we settled down to a fitful rest, I being thankful that my ring of Sustenance had by now energised, allowing me to take but a few hours sleep before being ready for action once again. It has also given me time to write this missive, your eminence. Now, we make our final preparations before trying again to destroy these vampires. Pray for Ilmater's grace, if you will your eminence, that I might strike a blow for the Triad, for Damara and for the King. I will write anon, if I live. Yvgeny. Ilmater save the King.</blockquote>

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