Tag Archives: Erelhei-Cinlu

Dro… Spide… eh, Driders!

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Another corridor stretches out in front of them, the distance lighted by a queer blue sheen. It could be moss or crystals, which can glow with a soft light. When her brother can’t detect any magical influences, she silently scouts ahead. The corridor broadens into a large hall with massive pillars in the middle, covered in quarts. Ever-burning torches mix the shadows with bluish light. Movement draws Phaedra attention, and she sees a drider hiding behind one of the stone columns. Half drow half spider, the creature seems to guard the place. Often they are fallen clerics or wizards.
Lilith orders Jharrath to summon elementals, and soon three of them appear in front of the hidden drider. But when they lash out, the drider disappears. It was an illusion. The arrow that strikes Phaedra is no illusion though. Arcane phrases call up a lightning bolt, which strikes the earth elementals. Two of the summoned creatures are able to jump aside, the third one vanishes. Phaedra’s eyes follow the lightning’s path back to a plateau.

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Suddenly another spell is cast and a second drider appears, hanging on to a pillar. The lightning ball sizzles straight into the corridor where the Xaniqos are. The scout nimbly jumps aside, while Lilith’s spell resistance enables her to shrug off the effects without any damage. Rolling his muscles, Alvra is fine too, but his brother takes the full brunt of the attack. He’s badly hurt and shakes like a leaf. With a growl, the cleric calls forth dark flames in her hand, ready to use them when she sees an opponent.

Phaedra tumbles past her sister and runs towards the other side of the very large cave.

Jharrath, move!

Frustrated the fighter returns his kukri to his belt, eager to get an overview of the situation. Jharrath steps into the cave and takes up position around the corner, and soon a blur distorts his frame. Alvra follows his siblings and sees the two remaining earth elementals at the foot of the pillar, waiting for the drider to come down from its height. With a threatening yet fluid movement he throws his javelin at the creature and scores a hit. Green pus oozes from the deep wound.

A third drider, bow in hand, climbs down at the far side and only Phaedra notices this new threat. Dark words trickle through the silence, barely audible. They remind her of a spell Jharrath uses more often. She fires her crossbow at the drider, but it disappears. Yet another illusion.

The other driders also take refuge in spells. The beast on the plateau sends forth magic missiles, aimed at the elementals, while the drider on the pillar casts a web at the Xaniqos. When all three easily evade the sticky substance, the drider climbs on top of his perch. Just the thing Lilith has been waiting for. Instantly she launches her dark fire at the drow-spider. Twice the creature gets hit by her sizzling flames and it screams in agony. Then it slowly topples forward, one of Alvra’s javelins embedded in its head.

Jharrath and Lilith, still standing under the cave’s entrance, find themselves under attack by a third drider. The beast had been hiding right over their heads. It lashes out at the wizard with two daggers, and claws scrape over Lilith’s armor – to no avail. Its bite attack also misses.

Leave, priestess, you will fail!

Several voices grind into the cleric’s head.

I will not!

Her determination to bring this quest to a successful end never wavers. She hurls another round of dark flames at the abomination hanging above her head. The flames burn into the creature’s flesh.

You failed the Mistress,

it hisses. The cleric retorts:

Eh, who exactly is the drider here?

after which the beast hangs its head.

drider

A little stone alerts the scout to impending danger and she quickly turns around. The drider – the real one this time – is surprised by her alert reaction and his arrow misses its target. Phaedra puts her crossbow away and – spiked chain in hand – awaits her opportunity to take out her opponent. The earth elementals come to her aid, only to get hit by lightning. The damage proves too much for one of the elementals. Phaedra again evades the energy bolt. The drider looks very frustrated and shuffles back a little. Immediately the Xaniqos drow lashes out with her chain and pulls big chunks of meat from the beast’s body. Green pus mingles with black blood.

Jharrath teleports, trying to get away from the imminent danger and finds himself face to face with yet another drider. Daggers are raised threateningly, but the wizard sees through the illusion. His arcane knowledge is too extensive to fall for these tricks.

Hurling his last javelin towards the drider that is threatening his mistress, Alvra takes his sword and stands ready. Meanwhile the conversation continues.

You will join us soon, we can’t wait.

Lilith rolls her eyes.

Do you always talk this much?

The beast fires a ray of enfeeblement at the fighter, and immediately Alvra feels his strength seep away, but his brother counters with a spell of his own to nullify the effects. Dark flames shoot from the cleric’s hand, straight into the drider. The smell of burning flesh fills the air and heavily wounded, it hisses in pain. Pondering on how the drider holds on onto the wall, Alvra aimes a tanglefoot bag at the creature. Goo splatters all over the creature. It tries to levitate to safety but is stuck. After retrieving his javelin from the other drider corpse, Alvra throws the weapon at their entangled enemy, while Lilith’s dark flames finally end the life of the beast.

An arrow flies past the wizard’s head. Fed up with the attacks, Jharrath hurls a fireball through the opening of the plateau. An enormous explosion rocks the cavern and they hear a loud scream, then silence.

On the other side of the cave the last drider suddenly jumps down, surprising the scout in the act. The drow falls backwards and the beast is all over her, biting her. Fortunately her natural resistance to poison is sufficient. She gets up quickly and lashes out with her chain. Feebly, the drider tries to counterattack, but its wounds are too severe. With one stroke, Phaedra ends its misery.

Dead silence surrounds them – the fight seems to be over for now. Lilith orders all to gather close and casts a healing circle, while her faith in the Spider Queen strengthens them.

 

Too Many Arms

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The only way forward is through the previously mentioned small opening. Lilith buffs herself with spells and steps through, her flail at hand. At a junction, she keeps to the left and continues to do so where possible. Slowly they work their way deeper into the maze. The cleric occasionally hears spider feet scuttle past. The corridor opens up a bit, revealing filth, left-overs and chunks of rotting meat. The smell is awful. Lilith notices two piles of bones, a skull on top of each. Drow skulls, with wisps of long white hair still attached. Rounding another curve, the cleric finds herself stuck in a web. She grabs her dagger starts cutting.

In the dark corridor, Phaedra is attacked by a bone-white chitine, a spiderlike, four-armed humanoid. The spider’s piercing eyes glow and it tries to stab the scout with its short sword. To its surprise, the drow disappears, only to appear again further up. It hisses and follows the drow. Both engage in a vicious fight.

Chitine

Lilith hacks at the sticky spider webbings and manages to severe some strands, but by far not enough to free herself and counterattack the two chitines that draw near. The first attack ricochets off her armor, but the other sword hits. The weapon seems to suck the blood from her body. Grabbing his kukri, her fighter brother comes to her aid and lashes out at one of the chitines. He doesn’t seem to be able to pierce its web armor though.

With her flail in special attack mode, the cleric pounds on one of her opponents and wounds it severely. The creature cautiously pulls back and avoids a second attack by Alvra, who fumbles and drops his kukri. The other spider attacks Lilith with its multiple arms and draws more blood. The fighter searches for his missing kukri and finally spots it dangling in the webbings. Totally fed up with the situation, Alvra jumps on the chitine and tries to strangle it with his bare hands. A sword in his side is the reward. Enraged, he crushes the creature with his gnashing armor and squeezes its throat shut. The chitine is very resilient and hangs on, even when Lilith crashes her flail into the beast.

Filthy drow, get off me!

the creature hisses. Suddenly one of Jharrath’s Kellgore’s firebolts ends the fight.

His three summoned earth elementals have been engaged in several fights with the remaining humanoid spiders. Aiming his wand of magic missiles, the wizard kills the chitine near the scout, while an elemental starts working on the spider that was heavily wounded by Lilith. Phaedra follows the other elementals, and witnesses how both are finished off by the last chitine. She grabs her dagger, attacks and scores a hit when the spider decides to go for the wizard in front of him. It must have pure adrenaline in its veins, for it even survives a magic missile. Attacking in many directions with its four arms, it wounds both Jharrath and Phaedra, until the scout kills it with a mighty stab.

Aided by Alvra, the cleric drow has managed to free herself from the web with a mighty pull. When she picks up the chitine’s short sword, she feels an irresistible urge to stab someone. This is one eager magic sword! Her brother frees the dead spider from its web armor and stashes the armor in his backpack.

What other challenges will await them? Only the Spider Queen knows…

Last Fight of the Chwidencha

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While Alvra hesitates, not sure whether he may interfere or not with Lilith’s test, the spider has no such doubts. The beast charges and pins the drow fighter to the floor by stabbing its steel-like claw straight through armor and leg. It drags Alvra forward, stabbing deeper and deeper. It’s a chwidencha, an aberration heavily punished by Lolth. It seemingly consists of nothing but a writhing mass of long, hairy, flexible spider legs. Each leg ends in a barbed spike. There’s not a shred of drow awareness left.

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Phaedra is shaken by the presence. The cleric has seen far worse and fires a crossbolt at the beast, but misses in the commotion. Her sister quickly mirrors her action and shoots one too. The beast contracts its legs and four spikes now puncture the fighter, leaving its victim heavily wounded.

A large earth elemental joins the fray, summoned by Jharrath. The spider turns and focuses on this new challenge. Alvra is tossed through the air and collapses against the wall. The four steel pins embed themselves in the elemental, which strikes back. Lilith rushes over to her brother and tends to his wounds. Her healing spells pull the drow back from the brink of death, and after taking an additional potion he feels somewhat better. When Alvra slowly gets up, his injured leg gives way. Again he tries, and this time he manages to stay upright.

Earth Elemental

Meanwhile the scout takes out her spiked chain. The earth elemental pummels its attacker, but doesn’t do much damage. A Kellgore’s firebolt slams into the chwidencha, turning the scales a bit. Focusing her deity’s power, Lilith sends a beam of searing light into the creature.

The burst of the firebolt causes the spider to turn around and see what causes the sudden pain. It lashes out at the wizard, who is struck in the side, and grapples its way deeper. Jharrath is pinned down. Phaedra, whose weapon can reach far, sees a weak spot in the middle of the chwindencha and expertly hits the beast. Taking advantage of the diversion, the drow wizard uses his magic boots to teleport; he appears twenty feet away. He looks awful. After a punch by the earth elemental, the spider doesn’t look too good either.

Chwidencha-deadAlvra’s attempt at attacking fails, his javelin lands among the discarded bones of the former opponents of the aberration. The cleric’s crossbow bolt also flies wide. The fight between spider and elemental continues, until rays of scorching fire score direct hits. Jharrath kills the beast with two blasts from his wand and earns himself a healing from his mistress.

In the Lair of the Forsaken

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The four adventurers move through the streets of Erelhei-Cinlu. It’s an interesting district where House Xaniqos roams. The Ghetto of Outcasts harbors various races and professions. The situation for the few poor and sick drow that reside there, is hopeless. The party stays rather unobtrusive. Foreigners are allowed into the district, but they are being exploited. One can quite make a good living as a villain. Still it’s quite ‘safe’.

They walk past inns and dilapidated houses until they reach a dead end: the city wall.

Behold, the entrance to the Lair of the Forsaken,

Alvra says. A five feet wide hole looms black and uninviting.

The Forsaken are mainly priestesses, sorcerers and wizards who have failed Lolth. They have been expelled by their houses. Often they are drow who have been magically punished by turning them into a drider and other lugubrious forms of spiders. Shunned by everyone, these creatures are not allowed into the city.

Phaedra hears the wind howling and feels a draft. It’s pitch black inside. She climbs over the rubble and walks down a slope, followed by her sister. The path slowly goes upwards again, until they reach a wider corridor. The height is enormous. The wind blows right through it, straight towards the Upperdark. Huge pillars take up the middle of the path. Alvra casts dancing lights to see what’s up there. There seems to be no ceiling. The ground is covered in rubble, rocks and boards and it’s dusty and filthy. Jharrath cloaks himself in mage armor.

As the cleric steps forward, Alvra flanks her on the opposite side of the pillar. When the fighter directs his lights in front of them, they see skeletons and humanoid skulls. The bones are cracked and fractured and strewn across the entire floor. Even the skulls are broken. Lilith intently gazes upwards but doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The scout, whose eyes are better, notices long scratches on the smooth walls. It’s quite damp. Moving forward, Phaedra moulders shelves and crushes bones. Further ahead, a small low opening is visible.

Lilith, her crossbow at the ready, stands next to her sister, while the males follow. From the corner of his eye, Alvra sees a movement. It seems like the debris is alive. Then long claws appear from under the bones. They belong to a huge spider, three times as big as the drow, eleven feet in diameter. It’s hard to discern if it has jaws, the legs originate from its center. The creature is probably transformed.

Mistress!

the fighter urgently whispers, ready for action.

Chwidencha

Handmaiden of Lolth

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After freshing up a bit, Lilith heads towards the Xaniqos shrine, accompanied by her siblings. Though deserted at first, soon they are joined by Lady Thandysha, their eldest sister Quarra and many other clerics. In unison they thank the Spider Queen, chanting in a trance.

Suddenly the session is crudely disturbed by a dark and heavy omnipresent voice. Near the altar a Yochlol appears. The form alternates between a big black spider and a pulsating cloud. The voice speaks in Abyssal, a language that both the cleric and the wizard understand. Then the mass changes into a beautiful drow female. She addresses Lilith directly, saying:

The Spider Queen has noticed you. You have been very loyal to House Xaniqos, but not quite enough. You’ll have to prove yourself.

Yochlol

They all feel that they are in the presence of one of Lolth’s handmaidens. It’s not often that the Spider Queen directs her attention directly to House Xaniqos, and all are affected – even Lady Thandysha. Phaedra cowers in fear, together with the other clerics.

Go to the lair of the forsaken. Kill all in your path and deal alone with the One who is shunned. She wishes to redeem herself to me. Prove your loyaly and strength. Do not fail, or the lair will show you what I do with the ones who fail me. Go now!

With these words the Yochlol changes back into a cloud and then disappears all together. The scout is able to draw breath again, the terror slowly subsiding.

The Matron Mother steps up to her daughter.

This is the final test to become a priestess, Lilith. Everyone must deal with this. You have to face this alone, do not fail me!

Thandysha solemnly looks at her other children.

Do not let her fail. Is she has to sacrifice you all to give the House one more high priestess, then she will.

Quarra echoes her mother’s words and smirks.

Yes indeed, sister, many fail…

Maybe many fail, but I won’t, sister.

Lilith retorts, and then turns around to get her party ready. Alvra takes the looted weapons and armor to the armory and receives new javelins in return. The drow are healed and all fatigue is removed by the clerics. They need to be in tiptop shape before they leave for the Ghetto of the Outcast. The Lair of the Forsaken is situated in the most northern part, the fighter says, an area avoided by the other citizens of Erelhei-Cinlu.

I’ve never actually been there, but I can lead you there.

 

One, two… Principle missing!

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Suspiciously eyeing the pentagram, Lilith tries to erase part of the circle. After a few moments she succeeds, thus severing it. She takes some time to heal herself and be ready for the challenges ahead.

The room of Thra’esue is bare, apart from a small stone table with parchments. Phaedra takes a chart of a graveyard with her. On the map directions have been indicated with arrows. Lots of humanoid skulls litter the floor. At the back is a locked door. Jharrath summons an earth elemental and orders it to demolish the door. With several power attacks, it splinters the wood. Inside is a sarcophagus, which – the lid pushed aside by the summoned elemental – reveals the resting body of the ogre. The cleric takes a vial of holy water and pours half of the contents in the giant’s mouth. His eyes snap open, and with a horrible scream, he pulverizes. No mist, no nothing; the beast is gone. In his sarcophagus  lie a pouch with three potions, a key and a magical chain shirt. The potions inflict moderate wounds when used.

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The drow now move towards the room of Mephisolis, the upper Principle. The corners of his room are decorated with big urns. Something clicks when the scout passes the threshold and she gets hit by an arrow full of acid. With Thra’Esue’s key she tries to open the door to the inner sanctuary, but it doesn’t fit. Jharrath gets the same treatment, when he tries to open the lock with a scorching ray. One of his Melphs acid arrow takes care of the problem: the door is gone. The inner room is lit by four ever burning candles. A huge jump brings Alvra almost to the sanctuary… almost. Another acid arrow finds its target.

Now the method to destroy the Principles is clear, the cleric decides to leave it up to her siblings to take care of the vampire ogre. Elegantly she throws the still half full vial of holy water towards her brother, almost into his waiting hands… almost. Fumbling Alvra fails to catch the little bottle and it crashes to the stone floor. Quickly he wets a piece of his robe with the remnants of the holy water, while Lilith scowls at him. He walks towards the second sarcophagus – lined in red silk – and pushes the lid off. It takes quite some strength and the help of the wizard to accomplish, but finally they succeed. The wet cloth is not enough to finish the ogre, so they cut off his head and set the corpse on fire. Principle number two is gone from this world.

In the coffin another key, a beautiful magic chain shirt and a ditto great sword stay behind. Phaedra decides to keep the chain shirt for herself, though she will have to resize it. There are also two pouches and two shiny flasks, containing a silvery liquid. Alvra recognizes it as silver sheen. With a mighty jump, the fighter manages to reach the safety of the central room. His brother isn’t that fortunate, his clothing damaged by the acid that’s still eating its way through the fabric. The fighter hands the pouches to Lilith, and she finds gold pieces and two blue sapphires, worth 3.500 gold pieces.

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Checking out the Principles’ third room, Lilith commands her shield to transform into a spider and sends the arachnid to investigate. When nothing happens, she walks in to and tries out the keys she has found. They won’t fit. Out of holy water, Alvra and Lilith coat their weapons in silver sheen and hammer down the door. A closed coffin awaits them, which proves to be empty though. Where is the third Principle?

The Xaniqos gather in the central space, where the cleric casts a mass shield of faith. She warns her siblings to let their guard down before releasing the spell. Then they continue towards the last door: the library. The key fits the lock smoothly, and inside there are several shelves with lots of books and scrolls. Two are especially beautiful, but when Phaedra tries to read them, she gets nauseated. The wizard takes her place and soon finds out these are magic scrolls about necromancy. He takes them with him.

In the room of the ghouls, Alvra discovers a pouch with a black opal. Hurriedly he leaves the filthy nest. The cleric once again checks out the central room and the pulpits, but there is nothing there. All siblings search for hidden doors and other hiding places, but there’s absolutely nothing. The bats have found a quiet corner and witness the search.

The drow decide to go back to the first room. The corpses of the two ogres are still there, but the body of the mage ogre has disappeared! Could he be the missing Principle? It must be. A trail of blood leads upwards, but when they enter the upper floor again, an occasional drop and boot prints in the dust are all that is left of the trail. Though they search the mansion, even the upper parts and outside, there’s no trace of the mage ogre. He must have regenerated. Perhaps he ran off to House Shi’quos, they simply don’t know. The Matron Mother can be content: the leader of the Principles is dead and the rest has been slaughtered.

Of Bats and Rats

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Once again they find themselves in front of a door. Phaedra searches for traps, but it just looks like a regular one. Keeping his distance, the wizard releases a spell and unlocks the door. In a flash, a chain of lighting zips trough the corridor. The scout is able to jump aside, but the others are hit, one after the other. Apparently Alvra feels as bad as he looks, for he drinks a healing potion. He receives another vial from his cleric sister.

Drink this and get stronger again!

she orders.

Cautiously, Phaedra grabs the handle and opens the door. In front of her a big circular space opens, with three small stages and a pentagram in the middle. On each stage is a pulpit. Six doorways indicate there are more rooms.

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Taking no unnecessary risks, she once again climbs the wall to the right to scout ahead. With a lot of fluttering, a group of bats passes, but they move away again and return to the ceiling. When Phaedra glances through the first doorway, she sees a small room. Four ghouls are sharing a gruesome meal. Making her way across the ceiling, she silently heads for the second opening, when one of the ghouls notices her. They gather beneath her, craving for a bit of fresh meat. Quickly Phaedra climbs back over the wall and then drops down to the floor. The ghouls give chase and try to bite her. Fortunately they miss. The dark elf tumbles back and continues towards the other drow. Again a group of bats flies past, but they don’t bother her. Yelling Four Ghouls!, she climbs the walls again, and watches how two of the ghouls get awfully close in their attack. They don’t succeed though. A third undead makes his way towards Lilith. She steps in and lashes out. Chunks of flesh splatter in all directions. Then an earth elemental appears next to the wounded ghoul and with an enormous blow it kills the undead. Jharrath can be proud of his summoning.

When Alvra enters the room, he is greeted by a peculiar sight: his younger sister is hanging on the wall, while two undead are jumping up and down, desperately trying to reach her. Soon he’s engaged in a fight with the ghouls. For a moment the passing of eight rats draws the attention away from their opponents. The earth elemental, Alvra and Lilith each manage to kill one of the vermin, but the other five swarm towards the wizard. Soon they are all over him. The rats are aided by the bats, that fly round the wizard’s head, obscuring his sight. Enraged, Jharrath fires his wand of scorching rays again and again. For such small beasts, they are quite tenacious.

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Meanwhile the battle against the ghouls continues. One of the creatures lies dead at the cleric’s feet, soon to be followed by its comrade. Alvra wipes his blade clean, battle rage contorting his face. Finally freed from her opponents, the scout climbs further. She blinks. In the middle of the pentagram mist is forming…

 

Hallway of Horror

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The only way forward is through a simple door. It is deadly quiet. Phaedra examines it and when she doesn’t find any traps, the wizard opens it with a creak. Jharrath sees a small corridor, and another door at the end. The walls of the hallway are covered in very old, almost faded paintings, depicting scenes where humanoids die in the most horrible ways. Some are incinerated by fire, others impaled by spears; there’s lighting and knives. A horrific scenario.

I see six ways to die when we enter, so be warned!

Upon his brother’s words, Alvra hurls a chair into the middle of the corridor, and… nothing happens. Phaedra moves towards the door. The moment she steps over the threshold, she’s engulfed in flames. Only her magical abilities save her from being burned from head to toes. When the flames disappear, she stuffs pieces of the shattered chair into the cracks of the floor, so her siblings can safely follow her. Cautiously she takes another step, and another, when suddenly spears shoot from both sides of the wall. With a loud click and some rumbling the trap resets itself. Phaedra counts six spears, including the two that hit her. When she tries to disable this device too, another spear is driven into her leg. She grunts and moves ahead.

Holding a chair as protection, the fighter walks sideways through the doorway, back-to-back with Lilith. The cleric is shielding herself with Spider Bound. Again the flames roar up, incineration the pieces of wood that Phaedra had wedged into the openings, and burn Alvra in its wake. Lilith is unharmed. Alvra’s chair is reduced to ashes. He picks up the seat of the chair he has thrown in earlier and together with his sister moves past the spear section. The deadly bolts again flash forward, finding their target in the female drow. This time Alvra is saved by his wooden shield.

Opening the second door, the scout quickly climbs up towards the ceiling and investigates this new corridor. At first she sees nothing out of the ordinary, but when she focuses, two sets of feral eye become visible. They are filled with hatred. When one of the creatures charges, she drops to the ground. It is an emaciated humanoid with filthy long teeth and claws. The beast hisses, frustrated that its surprise attack didn’t succeed. Jharrath doesn’t waste any time and slams two rays of fire into the undead. The other one stares at Phaedra, mentally ordering her to walk away with an enchanting gaze, but – strong willed as she is – she doesn’t feel compelled to do that at all. Lilith steps closer and attacks the vampire spawn, for that is what it is. Her magic flail wounds it badly.

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Then mist appears from both walls, and changes into two more vampire spawn. A total of four foes, and a welcome challenge for the fighter. Alvra attacks one of them with his sword, but doesn’t seem to do much damage. The scout’s spiked chain has the same limited effect. Seeing an opportunity, the original opponent jumps down from the ceiling and slams into Phaedra. Its cold touch fortunately has no effect on her. Jharrath counterattacks and a hail of stone rains down on the creatures. One of them desperately tries to grapple the cleric, and in a reflex she slams her weapon into its flesh. It dissolves into smoke. Lilith calls out to her deity and holds forth her holy symbol. She rebukes the undead creatures, which instantly cower before her. Together the siblings attack the vampire spawn, with sword, chain, magic missiles, Kellgore’s firebolts and flail. Again and again they strike out, until all vampires have dissolved. The remaining mist slowly trickles into the wall. How does one kill an already dead attacker? It seems like they are not totally destroyed yet. The wizard focuses and appears near the other drow. Would the three Principles be behind the next door?

Open Sesame

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The doors won’t budge and have neither lock nor handles. There’s a gap between the two slabs of stone. Jharrath can’t detect any magic surrounding them, and finally his fighter brother simply bangs on the doors. They hear a loud cracking and the massive stone doors slide to the side. Two huge hairy arms appear in the opening. The arms are attached to one of the giant kind. Two horns protrude from his skull and a blue aura surrounds him. The wizard realizes it’s an ogre mage. Behind the mage are two more ogres, dressed in a hide armor. They both have a wooden club in their hands.

Holding a magnificent greatsword, the mage ogre turns his white eyes towards the drow.

What do you want?

Ogre Mage

His long black teeth ground the words into a jumble of sentences. Lilith tries to talk her way in by claiming they want to do business, but the ogre growls that they are of the wrong house – threateningly he steps into the corridor. When he reaches for his greatsword, Jharrath starts casting. Grease covers the floor and the mage goes down with a heavy thump. He’s prone! The drow wizard releases a Kellgore’s firebolt at the creature and ignites the grease. Apparently burning up and attacking at the same time is not a good combination, because the ogre mage only manages to hit the door, which leaves his weapon stuck in deep. The air is permeated with the stench of burning hair and flesh. One of the ogres tries to pull the mage to safety, while the other starts sliding the stone door back.

The cleric walks towards the beast and attacks. They need the entrance open! She evades a counterattack and strikes the creature’s arm full force. Her flail draws blood, opening the limb to the bone. Her sister joins the fray and lashes out with her spiked chain. The ogre screams in pain. Then a javelin whizzes past, splintering against the far wall – Alvra looks chagrined. When the ogre mage tries to regain his feet, the drow sisters pull their attention back to this more formidable opponent and renew their attack, but can’t prevent the monster from getting back up. The ogre’s skin is healing rapidly, but he’s obviously still in pain. Before he can regenerate any further, Lilith ferociously attacks twice and finishes him off.

Jharrath summons an earth elemental, which goes for one of the remaining brutes. Phaedra nimbly climbs over the carcass of the mage and tumbles towards the wounded ogre. Her spiked chain yet again makes another victim. There’s only one opponent left, and Alvra claims that one as his. His two handed attack provokes a vicious reaction though and with bone crushing force the monster’s club hits the fighter. Twice! Heavily wounded  he stands back while the earth elemental goes for the kill, but it takes a couple of scorching rays from the wizard’s wand to scorch the beast to death. Three huge cadavers bear witness to the passing of the Xaniqos drow.

An oaken table and chairs, straw pallets, small sacks with personal belongings – Phaedra finishes her search rather quickly. The harvest: 435 gold pieces, 3 gems, a large steel shield and a healing potion. Meanwhile Lilith strides over to Alvra and assesses his condition. She calls on the Spider Queen, and Lolth grants her healing powers which she uses on her brother. After subsequently drinking a potion, he feels good enough to beat out the dents in his armor.

Lolth, Spider Queen

Lolth, Spider Queen

Good tidings

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Tired and weary as they are, it is slow-going for the Xaniqos. Long hours pass before they finally draw near to Erelhei-Cinlu. Wrapped tightly in their cloaks, they head towards the Great Gate, where an escort of of eight guards is waiting to take them safely home. The Matron Mother appears instantly and only says

Do you have it?

Yes.

Without further ado Lilith hands over the Cloak of the Consort to her mother. At her sign Taldinyon walks forward, awed by the fact that he is honored in this way. When he dons the cloak, the effect is stunning – simply amazing.

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Did you encounter any trouble?

Might we discuss this in private, Lady Thandysha?

the Cleric replies. Taldinyon and K’yorl accompany them towards the throne room. In stead of the usual two, four minotaurs guard the room after servants have placed pillows on the gr0und. When everyone is comfortable, Lilith continues,

House Shi’quos tried to ambush us and – well, let’s just say Matron Mother Ythesha’na lost her second son, Jhael’min. How did you know the cloak was ‘accessible’?

We received the information about the attack on the transport from House Vae; they are ever watching the trade routes.

And how about the cloak? Are you planning on letting Taldinyon wear it in public?

Phaedra inquires.

Oh yes! There are more cloaks like this and I presume there is no evidence our House took it?

She looks at her daughter, daring her to say otherwise. Lilith keeps quiet.

By the way, didn’t you leave on a lizard?

We had to choose between the lizard and the cloak, battling the aranea that waylaid the caravan. They were wearing Godeep House insignia.

That is valuable information. Don’t you worry about the Lizard, Lilith, you all did well. Bringing back the cloak proves that the investment in the war beasts was a good one. Perhaps our clerics can find ways to strengthen them. Now you and your sister and brothers take a well deserved rest.

The minotaurs open the doors and the siblings leave for the Armory. In the throne room a happy scene unfolds: the Wizard K’yorl is smiling, while the Matron Mother contently looks at her stunning consort.