Celere's Journal

I Celere, Initiate Handmaiden of Loth have been ordered by Emerate Qushae to record the important events of the next several weeks for posterity.

Hammer 1

We have captured the foul wretch Riddick of House Tab'bar, and slew his companions. They have realized there is no power in Faerun that can against the Drow!

Hammer 2

Riddick has been magically bound and his abilities suppressed by the Queen herself. He is under a deep sleep, but the Queen inspects him nightly, making us leave the area. What she does to him is unknown to any but Lolth.

Hammer 3

We have found out through messages that Riddick's allies have been brought back to life and now hunt us. Until we meet up with the full army, the queen has ordered us to make all haste to the Temple of Helm where we are to loot some of the more powerful artifacts.

Hammer 4

I am on hand to assist the senior handmaidens while they cast rituals on themselves to prepare for Riddick's seed. Rodchewer has angered Loth by having her way with Riddick's unconscious body, Loth deems that Riddick must give us his gift of free will or the magic will not be as potent. Plus the fertility ritual has not been completed, so Riddick has been used for naught. For her insolence, Rodchewer is chosen by Lolth to lead the temple raiding party and not participate further. I am chosen as her replacement!

Hammer 6

We are speeding as fast as we can now, but with the full army here the going is too slow for my liking. Word has spread that several of the pathetic top side armies have invaded the Underdark in a vain hope of joining battle with us before we make it to Menzoberranzan, where we will complete the dark ritual and unleash destruction upon Elven kind. The fertility ritual is now complete and we must use the magic within 48 hours or it will fail. We are told that the gestation of the boy we are to each carry will be greatly sped up and that the child will mature quickly until he reaches adulthood. I am blessed to be one of the 6 to get this privilege!

Hammer 7

Riddick is now awake and we have been feeding him rich food and drink to arouse him as best as we can. He seems to ignore our caressing hands and we cannot inflame his manhood. He is like a stone statue! The Queen tells us to tempt his inner fire with slave dancing and other erotic sights. He refuses this as well, even the when the Queen has visited him and offered him less pain he has refused. How insolent!

Hammer 8

The day has come and I am to be part of Lolth's history. From my womb will arise a great leader and slave to Lolth, one that will curse the top lands for many years! We enter the room behind the Queen and she parlays with Riddick one last time. He still has the wherewithal to shun her advances, so she sighs and presses him with magic. He is now ready for copulation! The Queen performs upon him a magical dance of love! Riddick is frozen on his back and made to look straight up at the Queen while she works him. Afterwards, powerful wizards are bought in to siphon off some of Riddick's gift which is then implanted in us to complete the ritual! After that the Queen cuts Riddick with her ancient blade and puts part of him in a magical container where it appears to still be living! The blade that cut Riddick is said to be enchanted with the blood of Corellon Larethian, and that any wound caused by the blade will never fully heal and the victim will never be completely free of the pain of the wound. It seems the Queen will carry the leader of the 7, he will be a great and powerful Drow indeed.

Hammer 9

My sisters and I are on the move ahead of the Drow forces. The Queen wants us to arrive at Menzoberranzan as soon as we may to prepare the ritual. Riddick needs to be placed and bled out so that we can power the ritual to its completion. We hear more rumors of the top siders gaining on our forces, so this might be a strategic move on Loth's part to move us out of harms way. Riddick's seed inside me has taken as I now can feel the creature move.

Outwit and Outpace the Drow

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Hammer 8

Over the past several days the group has been harrying the Drow host by driving on ahead of it and trying to slow it down as best as they can. The party chose this path after discussing their options. Some forces such as Ellanzo and the Army of the Sword Coast wanted them to recon paths and clear obstacles to make their army move faster so they could get down in time to rendezvous with the other armies allied against the Drow. The army of Corymr lead by their King Azoun V, and the army of Myth Drannor led by the elven emissary of the Eladrin gods, Elladon asked that the group slow down the Drow forces so that they could catch up before the Drow were to make it to the location of Lolth's great ritual that would see the death of Riddick take place. This is the path they have taken over the last few days. There are many minor scrapes but their first real fight takes place under water (at least at the start), against a water drake and two water archons guarding a lesser known path that an army like the Drow would never think to use. Going this way saves them several leagues but it is fraught with dangers such as the water creatures. They get past them and then travel on for a while unhindered. At last coming up to a large cavern that the Drow would need to traverse, they surprise a group of Driders sent to guard the exit to the cavern. The guards put up a strong fight and wound Solomon several times. The battle wisdom of Hannibal is ever present and the holy warrior duo of Krux and Lucius press the enemy at both sides. Causing confusion amongst the enemy ranks Lief and his retinue of spirit companions. Jax proves invaluable once again controlling the fight by immobilizing the enemy at the right times.
Overcoming the Driders, the group aided by the Justicar and Landon set fire to the large mushrooms in the cavern, causing the entire area to be unusable for several days as the fires burn out. The group presses on, now days ahead of the Drow forces as they try and locate their friend Riddick and get to him before the Demon Queen of Spiders can.


Exp: 3685

The Final Test of Helm

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Hammer 5

The last test awaits the party, and as they move up the corridor, they see two doors that lead to the next room. The doors are side by side, one bathed in red light the other in blue. There are 10 people, 4 Drow and 6 members of the party. The doors would not allow an uneven amount of people to move through them so the party had the split up evenly: 5 went through the red door and 5 went through the blue. Inside the one large room they saw it was evenly split with a wall of force down the middle. One side was bathed in blue, the other red. What they found odd was that even though Brother Krux was on the red side of the room he was bathed in blue light, the opposite was true for Lucius he was on the blue side and was bathed in red. At the start of the combat two portals appeared in random spots along the force field, these were the only way to move from one side of the room to the other. In the middle of the room on top of a pillar was a large aspect of the Cleric of Helm. On the red side was a large aspect of the Warlord of Helm. The blue side was home to a large aspect of the Paladin of Helm! They engaged the party and combat was on! The party soon learned that the glowing people would take an ever increasing amount of damage if they did not switch rooms by the end of the round. The glow seemed to jump to different people at randomly. The portals also seemed to move randomly at times as well. Sensing that this might be their last opportunity to escape and take their booty, the Drow led by Rod Chewer bided their time until they were mostly together and one of the aspects as defeated. Eventually the Paladin of Helm fell in combat and the Drow sprang their trap! Landon was ordered to move over to the red side unbalancing it so that the Cleric of Helm entered combat and gave the party more to deal with. Not giving up, the Drow were chased from the room by a mad-as-hell Leif and an equally mad Solomon Kong! The Drow through up many dark clouds and escaped through the door that lead to the labyrinth locking it behind them. The party quickly dealt with Landon. Lucius sensing the good in him made diplomatic overtures to see if he would join them. Hannibal was doubtful, but Landon agreed and Lucius vouched for him. After a fast rest, the party, now armed with the map of the labyrinth chase after the Drow. Helm dictated that both map and key guaranteed passage without harm though the maze, but it was possible to leave it with just one or the other. It seems the labyrinth is filled with traps both foul and deadly. There are many wrong turns and pitfalls. Using the map they avoid these, but without a key they have many problems at the locked doors. It seems the Drow as well have problems without the map, they can bypass the doors, but have less luck against the traps. At the bottom of a pit they find Reethtar, and embedded on a wall of spikes they find Lionsroar. At the final door they see tracks that must be Rod Chewer, she must have escaped! Going out of the passage, they travel for 30 minutes or so getting to the regular Underdark. Up ahead they see a familiar outline, it is the Justicar! He was caught and restrained Rod Chewer to boot! The party allows Landon a choice to kill Rod Chewer which he does without hesitation. Lucius and Jax restrain him from desecrating the corpse as he really hated his former master. They take back the relics of Helm valued at near 240,000 gold. They hope to trade the relics to the church of Helm for magical healing of some sort.
The Justicar reports that the armies of the Sword Coast have entered the Underdark near Waterdeep. Their plan is to march down to Skullport and liberate it from Drow control and then move down to put pressure onEmerate Qushae's forces. While this is happening, the armies of the Dales and Cormyr are invading the Underdark to the East while Elladon (head of the Eladrin kind in Faerun) invade from Myth Drannor. The hope is to stop the Drow from completing the ritual, however they can't stop the Drow army from reaching the ancient site of power that they need to use before the armies can get there. That is up to the party. You discuss options with the Justicar before taking a well deserved rest.

Exp. Gained: 3850