Previously: Chapter 91: The Lion’s Den
Downtime
Before going to bed, Penny decides to test out the narcotics they found in Nezznar’s lair, finding them to enhance her speed, but at the cost of her charisma. Reluctantly she goes to sleep like the rest of her party, waking up with a headache, but is determined to learn more about her friend Gleamshroud’s history. Hearing that Relic is going to Elvenroth to research, she tags along with him to study in the library, while Kal remains behind to study more in her Tome of Understanding. Thistlethorn in the meantime uses a tree to travel to her tribe in the Grove of Eternal Whispers.
Penny and Relic are about to head to ElvenrothElvenroth when Relic is approached by Tome, who tells him that he feels rather unsatisfied at spending his time looking after their home when everyone has left. Relic tells Tome to join him as he needs to find information about Nezznar and his daughter. Tome is more than happy to oblige, so they work together to look for more information that might prove useful, but the next three days yields little of use, only some vague information about a female figure being close to Nezznar during his reign of terror, but nobody has been able to identify who it is.
Relic wants to find something to use against Nezznar in order to take him down, and at the same time maybe exalt the Arachnostaff fully, but Tome suggests that maybe he should contact the Spider Queen herself to find some other way. Relic is frustrated with the lack of knowledge about their enemy, and suggests that Tome should work to put together a compilation of facts about Nezznar, Malice and the drow. He gives Tome some gold for his studies, as the simulacrum goes to work.
Penny has put on the headband of intellect in order to study, wanting to find out more about Gleamshroud, finding him to be the last in a long line of dragons who was allied with the royals of the Ironwing Dominion, but he was last seen when Syele Bouchardwent on a conquest 850 years ago, forming the Empire of Moroxia after executing the King, his queen and their daughter.
During the days, Penny, while she is alone, decides to seek out Nezznar, sending him a sending, offering her sincere condolences for his daughter's passing, saying that the shrine proves that he truly loved her, and that no parent should lose a child. Nezznar, surprisingly, replies, in a sort of reserved way.
“I know not your reason for this, she was my light, the world is darker without her in it. Leave me to my mourning”
She does not send him more messages, but the day after, Kal approaches Penny, asking if she has any idea what they could say to Nezznar to anger him in such a way that he makes a mistake, drawing him out of hiding to them, where they can attack him. Penny tells her that they might try to turn him to their side instead, considering the letters they read from Malice, and his journal, but they both realize that he most likely would be too far gone for that. In either case, they can’t think of anything yet, but keeps it in the back of their mind.
Thistlethorn spends the next days in the Grove, first meeting her father who misses her dearly, and they have a nice heart to heart while he is out cutting firewood. She helps him bring it back to the camp, and he tells her how the situation in the grove is, with everyone dividing themselves into the groups they are most familiar with, but not in a hostile way. It’s clear the situation is in flux, but they don’t know how long they will stay. Thistlethorn hopes that they will soon finish their task, as she too misses staying with her tribe.
During the time she remains in the Grove, she goes to speak to Brónach, who is still recuperating in his little clearing. She sits down to join him in meditation, and when he comes to he asks how she is doing. Thistlethorn says she feels weird for being on what the outsiders call a “vacation”, with Brónach laughing, reminiscing on Lirael who looked at their quests as one long vacation, as if it was her vacation from the feywild. Thistlethorn asks Brónach about Nezznar and what he was like when they faced him. He tells her that he was not yet at drider when they fought him, so this is a punishment which must have come much later, seeing as it is a way for Lolth to punish her underlings. He never faced Malice, suspecting that she worked more in the shadows during that time. He also laments on the end of the betrayal, with what the drows went through, as the overworlders invaded the underdark and nearly exterminated them. They head back towards the grove to join the rest for supper, with Thistlethorn taking as much time as she can to relax.
During the days, Relic also approaches Thervan, after passing by Chester in the hallway who seems to be improving his dialect to be more modern, asking him about the Shards, specifically the Shard of the Seeker, wondering if it might prove useful in his quest. Thervan is more than willing to offer it to him, as it would probably be more safe in his hands than with Thervan, but warns that he will not be able to attune to the rest of his items, other than The Arachnostaff, at least not until the Shard fully embraces him. He is unsure exactly how it works, as he has been unable to work that out. He tells Relic to think about it for a few days at least, which he does.
On the last day, Kal casts a sending to Thistlethorn, asking her if she can try to scry on Nezznar, or maybe his daughter, using the lock of hair they found in the shrine dedicated to her. She agrees, sitting down as Valthrae brings her a cup of tea, taking out the lock of hair, focusing on the daughter, but getting no anchor. Either the daughter is truly dead, or in a different plane entirely, in either case, out of her reach. She tries next to scry on Nezznar, but realizes the lock of hair does nothing for this, so it probably belongs to the daughter.
She does however find Nezznar, sitting in a dark chamber, apparently a temple of sorts, sitting cross legged, alone, in front of a wooden statue of Vuthul. Just as she appears, he turns his head towards her, trying to hide his surprise. He knows he is being watched, but ignores it. He speaks to someone, telling whoever it is that they are continuing to search, and that they hope to find it soon, but it would be easier if he hadn’t been forced to “forget” where it is, by the command of whoever he is talking to. Nezznar seems to be sure that “they” do not know about it, so they need not worry.
He then rises, opening his eyes, walking over to the statue of Vuthul, caressing it’s cheek, and then emerges into the dark city outside, which appears to be waking up, with children running around with their parents, people opening shops, but everyone stopping to bow and stare at Nezznar in reverence. As Thistlethorn cast scrying at dusk, it’s clear the underdark works on an opposite cycle of how the overworld does. As Thistlethorn follows Nezznar through the streets, the scrying ends, and her consciousness returns to the Grove.
Penny and Relic both decide to seek out guidance from the temples of Lot and Adea respectively. Penny wants to understand her dreams, describing the ones where she got given the crown by the king and giving it back, and the one where she saw herself as a human walking through the city, being appreciated by everyone. The priestess, Andrea, tells her that it seems that she is waiting for something, something that she might not know herself, and Lot may be guiding her on her path to her destination, but he works in mysterious ways, so it is often impossible to realize the meaning of the dreams until after they know where they lead.
Relic asks the priestesses of Adea for guidance, being taken to a small chamber with an older balding man with a heavy build sitting behind a desk. He tells Relic that he can help, and after being paid, casts a commune to put Relic in contact with Adea herself. Relic wants to know if using the shard would be worthwhile for him, and he is told that yes, it would definitely improve his innate magical abilities, he should also attune to it now, in order to unlock it. He thanks the oracle, who was made to forget the commune by Adea, so he tells Relic that he must be on an important holy quest, and asks no questions about it.
Thistlethorn spends the last day in the forest heading to a place she knows deep within it, taking the time to wander through it along with Berry, Argus and Ira, getting in touch with nature. She is surrounded by the fauna and flora, who all seem to welcome her back, and she feels the presence of Faunus walking beside her. She gets the impression that the forest trusts her, and she does not want to disappoint it. As Faunus leaves her, she heads back to the Grove to say her goodbyes, and then heads back to the city.
When Thistlethorn returns to Ravenforge, Penny asks her to take the drugs away from her, realizing it’s not smart, asking if she might be able to help with the withdrawal symptoms she has been feeling. Thistlethorn lectures her, saying that she cannot help, but will go with her to Kal, who agrees to help her, as long as Penny promises not to do such a stupid thing again. Penny agrees, and genuinely means it. Kal uses a greater restoration, and afterwards Penny feels much better.
The morning after, the party all head to Thervan’s office to head to the underdark. Thervan stands with his hands behind his back, looking out the window towards the coast, and turns to the party as they enter. He can tell that Relic has decided to take the shard, opening up a box on his desk, revealing the blue crystal within. Relic picks it up, managing to resist its pull, allowing him to attune to it willingly. He places it near his head, seeing it hover around him, and then, focusing, makes it turn invisible.
They ask Thervan about the other shards, and how they unlock them. Thervan says he has a book he acquired from Malice herself, not willingly of course, and takes it out of his library. The front is decorated with six shards of various colors, and he skims through it, telling them that there are six shards in total, telling them they are the Shards of the Warrior, Seeker, Deceiver, Defender, Thief and Observant. The Deceiver and Observant shards’ locations are unknown to him, and he is unsure how to unlock their full potential, but suspects that it might have something to do with the name of it. The Defender has to defend something, the Seeker has to find something etc.
The Shards can all be combined into one, allowing the wielder to be granted a single wish, which will shatter the shards and spread them out into the world again. Thervna knows this has happened at least once before, but it was before the betrayal, and the Shards have been hidden since, only just recently beginning to appear again. Penny and Thistlethorn both wish to find the remaining shards for themselves, but realise that there is little they can do for now.
Thervan asks if the party is ready to head out, gathering the party around him, as Thistlethorn places Berry, Argus and Ira in the pocket balls. Thervan tells them that he will place them near an old abandoned drow city that fell long ago, some distance west of Xar'theris where Nezznar resides, hoping that they can find their way from there. They get the sensation of being suddenly dropped, and find themselves in a massive dark cavern on top of a hill.
The Underdark
As the party adjusts their eyes to the darkness, they see a vast landscape dominated by a large lake next to a road that seems to head from west to east. Across the road from the hill they are standing on, they see a large abandoned city, Myzzorath, just as Thervan said would be there. There is a weak bluish light emanating through it, and they see some movement from whatever has taken up residence there, but it is clearly abandoned, with collapsed buildings, and the streets are littered with skeletons.
There are a couple of strongholds to the east along the road to Xar’theris, which is clearly inhabited. The road seems to have a few groups of drow wandering on it, heading east along the lake. Thistlethorn sits down to do a commune with nature, finding the nearby fauna consisting mostly of spiders. As they left Thervan’s office in the morning, it appeared to be evening for the drows.
The party doesn't want to waste time, so they take out the wayfinder they found in the pyramid, and the soul stone they got from Moldark, combining them into one. The soul stone embeds itself fully to the wayfinder. Relic gives it to Thistlethorn, their designated pathfinder, who puts it on. She immediately feels the presence of a young woman in her own body, not invasive, but like a passenger who wants to help, and can feel and almost see the path ahead of her, leading down from the hill. Penny helpfully uses seeming to make the party look like drow, as Thistlethorn casts wind walk to fasten the travel time. The path is leading them due east, towards Xar’theris, so the party takes to the skies, heading that way.
The roof of the cave is littered with stalagmites, surrounded by what Relic recognizes as cloakers, nasty beasts who ambush their prey. They decide to steer clear of them, heading towards the crack in the wall of the cave a few miles in front of them, where the road leads to. Getting closer, they see that a fortification surrounds it, and as the crack is only a few meters tall, they will definitely be seen, so they decide to land nearby and talk their way through.
Relic and Thistlethorn are the only two who speak elvish, so they take charge. The guards stop them, asking where their destination is, and where they’re from, with Relic managing to convince them that they hail from the drow city of Narvethis to the west, wanting to move to Xar’theris. The guards seem to accept this, letting them pass.
Within the stronghold there are several cages, one occupied by an elf, who gives the party dirty looks as they pass. Penny casts detect thoughts, finding the elf to look forward to when “you’re all dead”. The party does not stop to help, continuing onwards, remembering the mission. As they enter the crack in the wall, two guards near it laughs, and tells the party good luck getting through. They realize that they have entered what appears to be a maze of sorts, with several paths splitting up, but thanks to the wayfinder they know which path to take. After walking for a few minutes, they return to cloud form, swooping through the labyrinth with ease, passing by a few drows that are heading west.
The Temple
Exiting the labyrinth reveals another, larger cavern, several miles across, and tens of miles in length. The lake appears to continue here, maybe connected underground somehow. The party can see a few creatures converging near the lakes edge, which Relic recognizes as flumphs. They seem to have noticed the party, waving eagerly at them, and Relic does his best to shape his cloud form into a humanoid shape waving back. This greatly pleases the flumphs, and they seem very disappointed when the party continues onwards.
The party continues onwards for a couple of hours, traveling many many miles, as these caverns are indeed quite massive, going back and fourth, and up and down, with the lake spanning the entire cavern itself. Suddenly, Relic feels the pull of something to the left side of the cavern. He quickly rushes up ahead of Thistlethorn, getting her attention in cloud form, gesturing for them to follow. He leads them to one of thousands of openings in the wall of the cavern, as he carefully makes his way through it, the party following behind.
The cave leads to a small cavern relative to the main one, maybe 100 meters in diameter, with an ancient abandoned pyramid in the middle. The pyramid is marked with a symbol, which Relic recognizes as that of Lolth, so he decides to emerge from cloud form, and ascend the stairs that lead to an opening near the top. The party follows him, asking him about the symbols as he clearly seems to know where he is going. He tells them who they belong to, as he continues up the stairs, entering the chamber within.
The chamber seems to be empty, other than a sarcophagus in the middle, with a well preserved body lying on top of it. The body is clearly that of a woman, wearing dark robes and an amulet of Lolth around her neck. Relic goes over to examine it, touching the skin to see if it is hard or soft, and accidentally transferring some energy to it. The body begins to animate, and rises, smiling to the party.
The figure asks if he knows who she is, but Penny bows to it before they have a chance to reply. Relic asks if it is Lolth, which is correct. Lolth refers to Relic as her chosen one, and has watched over him for some time, calling him a reasonable person, asking if he would be willing to set aside differences, for a common cause. Relic replies that he would agree to this, depending on the quest she asks of him. She tells him that although she has been overthrown by the Forgotten One, she still has followers who are loyal, but they are imprisoned, and if he would be willing to free them, or kill the one who killed her champion, Erevan, she would exalt the staff for him.
Thistlethorn, Penny and Kal all shoot in that they should ask for something in return, as they would be allowing the return of Lolth if they manage to take out the Forgotten One. Lolth waves them aside, but agrees, she does want peace, and so she and the party come to an agreement that Relic will be her champion, paving the way for her return, as long as she promises not to wage war against the overworld as retribution for crimes of the past. She agrees, as long as the underdark remains her domain. Thistlethorn wonders how they can believe her, but Lolth assures them that she would be very grateful if they allow her to take her rightful place. Relic shakes the hand of the corpse inhabited by Lolth, which crumbles in his hands.
Annoyed, Kal, takes the amulet of Lolth, does a divination to ask where her followers are, getting a cryptic reply back that they will find them soon, surely. Relic decides to take the amulet of Lolth with them, just in case, realizing that it is an amulet of the devout, for the clerics and paladins of Lolth. Not something he can use himself, but might come in handy. The party returns to cloud form and emerges from the cave, continuing towards the path Thistlethorn sees before her.
Xar’theris
Thistlethorn leads them onwards, and soon they can see what appears to be the city of Xar’theris ahead of them. The landscape is littered with what appears to be digsites, and the drow are having a large skirmish against a group of myconids, who appear to be losing. Several hundred drow are cutting down and destroying them, with catapults at the ready to be used. The party wishes they could help, but realizes that there is little they can do, so they continue onwards.
The party hopes that their location is further onwards, but unfortunately, the wayfinder draws Thistlethorn down towards the city. Realizing that their quarry is right in the heart of the city of the enemy, they descend in the outskirts, casting pass without trace, then taking to the skies to get a closer look. The city is protected by a river to the south, a massive wall with several large looking drows on the top of it to the east, and a cliff that leads to the lake to the west. The wall separates the city from a large marsh, and there appears to be refuse at the foot of the wall.
They get closer to the city, hiding among the smoke coming from the hundreds of chimneys that reveal how many people live here. They deduce that there must be at least 100,000 people in the city, comparable in size with Tempervale, but more compact. The wayfinder draws them towards a temple near what appears to be the castle, and Thistlethorn recognizes the temple as the same one she saw when she scried on Nezznar the other day. In front of the castle they can see a courtyard with six cages hanging from poles. The courtyard is closed and lightly guarded, but they suspect that during the daytime it would be open to the public, as it is a natural convergence for the surrounding streets. The cages are inhabited by 5 drow, one of them clearly being Zeerith, who looks beaten and tired.
Scouting out the temple to get more information about their destination, they observe from the nearby rooftop, seeing two drow trying to gain entrance, one being led away by the two guards standing outside, while the other is allowed in, being told that if they wish to see the Old Stone, they must speak with Eryndra. There are a few ways in, but as it is nighttime, and there appears to be at least three priests within, there is no way to enter without being detected.
The party decides to land in a nearby alleyway so that Relic can cast telepathic bond, allowing them to communicate. A few drunkards almost stumble upon them, but they aren’t discovered. Penny casts a sending to Zeerith in the cage, telling her that they’re here to help, but they need intel on Eryndra and to enter the temple. Zeerith, composed, replies that she is the keeper of the Old Stone, and to enter they must seek guidance from it.
Realizing that using sending will be too taxing on their resources, they decide to look for a better spot to communicate with message instead, seeing a tavern right next to the courtyard. Relic and Thistlethorn take charge again, asking for a room, with a massive drow innkeeper saying they have a double room, but they can put in a couple of cots for sleeping. The innkeeper’s assistant leads them up to their room, and they lock the door behind them as they sit down, finally feeling a little bit safer.
The party can see Zeerith in her cage, so they continue to talk to her about how to approach the situation. She apparently have been in the cage for the better part of a week, but hopes her “punishment” ends soon. She was imprisoned and beaten for helping the party, and is being punished in this cage for trying to escape, as she normally resides in a cell in the castle’s dungeons. The others with her were also punished for the same crime.
The party asks about Eryndra and the old stone, and learns that The Old Stone has been here for thousands of years, and if you get close to it it whispers to you. Many interpret this as guidance from the Forgotten One himself, so many wish to seek it out, but they have to go through a trial put forth by Eryndra first. Zeerith tried to do it once, but failed the trial, which consists of a test of endurance and blood sacrifice. One can only try the trial once, but you don’t have to speak the drow languages to try. If they wish to know more, they can seek out Daerindril Myrret, a scholar who is an expert on the history of the city, and the Old Stone.
There also are no “rebel” outposts nearby, since they would be discovered quickly by the Forgotten One’s forces. Other than Zeerith and the four others being imprisoned in the cages, there are three more within the prison who also still follow Lolth. The prison is not heavily guarded, as the cells are good enough, and the drow doesn’t fear an incursion in the city.
They ask if she has seen Nezznar, with her going quiet, before telling them that he mocks her sometimes, specifically about Zeerith’s wife, who was executed for her helping the party. They showed her the corpse, before they dumped it over the wall. The party now realize that the pile of refuse in the swamp probably was something else. They ask to describe her, in case they can bring her back, but don't tell Zeerith, as they don’t want to bring her hopes up.
As the party discuss among themselves how they should approach the situation, a nasty looking drow with a scar across his face comes walking out from the gates leading to the castle. Zeerith spits towards him, and he replies by hitting her cage forcefully, rattling her. She tells the party that it was Valmyr Velvryn, the captain of house Velvryn. A man to be avoided. He continues into the city, disappearing in the streets.
The party realizes that they have a sure way of at least saving the five trapped in the courtyard, using the hearthstone, as it can transport people up to 30 feet away, much further than any of their spells can. They also figure that they can do it quickly, if they sacrifice the stone, instead of waiting 1 minute which is normally required. They wonder how they will help those in the prison itself, but Relic points out that five rescued are better than none, and they are being kept alive, so if they manage to defeat the Forgotten One, they might still be alive then. The party also realizes this might be an excellent way of making Nezznar do something rash, if they leave behind the lock of hair from his daughter as they depart. In either case, they first have to get inside the temple, as they can’t do anything until they have secured the knife.