Out of the Underdark!

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Hammer 10 to Hammer 13

Escaping with Riddick, the party stops for a few minutes for a short rest. They have been weaving in and out of hallways avoiding patrols. There is the odd fight once in a while, but they make short work of the Drow. Luckily, most of the armed guards and war priestesses are off in combat against the top-side forces. Ducking into a room to retrieve some of Riddick's possessions, Jax perceives that many of Riddick's vestments are enchanted with traces of conjuration and transmutation magic. The effect is while Riddick remains in the Underdark he is able to be sensed by Lolth's minions. The closer to Drow settlements he is the stronger the magic is. Not only are Riddick's possessions enchanted, but so is Riddick himself! To this the Justicar lays out a daring plan: They will split the party in two, with the Justicar leading a "dummy" force away from Riddick. To aid this, Landon will change clothes with Riddick. Since both are Drow and have a similar builds, he could pass for Riddick at a short distance. Going with the Justicar and Landon are Lucius (who has a very strong friendship wit Landon), and Lief, one of the groups two leaders/healers. This configuration gives both parties their best shots at getting out of the Underdark. The Justicar gives Hannibal an ancient map that leads to a portal not much more than a days long journey from here. This portal was enchanted by members of the Justicar's race long ago and is only know to a few. That you now are trusted by the Justicar to this degree makes you feel good indeed.
You bid each other farewell and the Justicar leads his group away. They are to travel by secret way to Skullport to meet up with Elladon's forces that are rumored to have mustered there after liberating it from the Drow. You head the opposite way down into the sewers. The sewers served you well getting into the temple, now you will try your luck with them leaving the city. Everyone jumps down into a large pipe that empties into the waste system just above the main sewer lines. In this area is a Drow patrol that was sent there to look for you! Neither group is surprised, and during the early part of the fight, Riddick fights as though he is killing Lolth herself! After killing several soldiers and a handmaiden of Lolth, Solomon pulls out a grate leading downward, and Riddick covers up the hole with some trickery, to buy some time.
You travel on for sometime, trying to lose the patrols that are certainly attacking you. Eventually you end up running into a patrol, and a combat ensues are you clear the area of them so you can continue onward. The flame that burned in Riddick's heart before has now gone cold. He is noticeably tired, but his hatred of the Drow compensates him greatly.
You are close to leaving the Drow areas, when you run into what must have been a large fight. There are many Elves and Knights of Corymr that have been slain along with many Drow. There are several Drow left, and they seem to have some prisoners in a deep pit below them. The prisoners look to be wounded and the Drow are enjoying themselves as they throw rocks down trying to injure their captives. As you burst onto the scene, the Drow pull back from the pit and ready their weapons. Some are armed with spears, the rest with short bows. The battle is not as swift as it should be as the Drow use the pit and the bridge it crosses to their advantage. Jax seems to run into problems as he becomes the target of the arches for several rounds. Solomon takes joy in pushing one of the bowmen into the pit, where the prisoners descend upon them. After the combat, you aid the men and surface elves. They tell you that the fight took place here as their team was a large reconnaissance force sent to gather intel and perhaps meet up with your group to aid you. They were stopped here by a drow regiment on its way to the main battle. You tell them your plan and invite them to join you on your escape from the Underdark. Among the survivors is a stout Dwarf who goes by the name of Azten Anlagg. Azten is a servant of Kelemvor, and was sent by the priests of that church to aid the armies against the drow. Azten is also an expert in the Underdark, rivaling even the knowledge of the Justicar.
After several hours, you come to a very isolated and creepy place, even for Underdark standards. The group moves cautiously to the back of the cave and come upon the inhabitants here, two Hookhorrors and a Beholder! They look to be playing with some drow corpses, when the Beholder espies you. He shouts: "Come join the fun! These Drow fools tried to take me on and lost, will your luck be better?" Hannibal expresses gave concern about the forces arrayed before his party. Solomon tells him to grow a pair as he leaps into combat! Krux also seems to be filled with a blood rage, and against all wisdom, he rushes past the hookhorrors and directly attacks the beholder! The rest of the party then mobilizes to support the front lines. The elven gods must have been gracing the party at this point as none of monsters could land a blow! Once they figured out how to combat the group it was too late! Thanks to Solomon and Krux, the monsters have been defeated.
Jax examines the portal and senses that it is safe to use. They travel through it and land close to Neverwinter! Out of the Underdark at last! Jax uses some of his contacts to get hold of a teleportation circle that takes you to the wizard's college in Waterdeep.
One thing you have noticed is that many able bodied men are missing, gone to fight the Drow with Ellanzo and the Army of the Sword Coast. Crime in around the large cities as well as the countryside has increased but order still prevails for now. Walton Barrue, Lord of the Mercchants Ward, is trying to make political hay over this to weaken Ellanzo politically.
Also of concern is that Hannibal's Rod of the Guardian went off while he was in the Underdark. The rod was given to you by the King of Cormyr as a gift when you departed his land several months ago. The rod has three parts. Any one part can be used to alert owners of the other two that something bad has befallen. Leif, Hannibal and Brolgar each carry one part. The part that went off was one possessed by Brolgar. He was traveling with Elladon's army. The message that came to Hannibal was: "Ambushed at Skullport, Drow army here, numbers are immense. We are trapped. We are trying to escape with Ellanzo while his army buys us some..."
After a few days, the elves and men of Cormyr leave for their homelands after thanking you for saving them. Azten sees that your numbers have been diminished by the group split in Menzoberranzan, and is willing to aid your efforts against the enemies of order until some of your members return. You welcome the aid.


Exp. Gained: 2755

Into Menzoberranzan

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Hammer 10

The Justicar leads you to the outskirts of Menzoberranzan where you need to decide where to go from here. Several opinions have been discussed such as climbing up the tall slopes outside the city to recon it or just walking right into the city dressed as merchants of some sort. Hannibal pointed out that they have no wagon and nothing to sell, so that idea was scrapped. At last it is decided to travel underneath the city by way of the sewers. Landon it turns out was sent down to the sewers many times as punishment, so he knows his way around a bit. Climbing up into a pipe filled with Drow sewage tests the will of the party, but everyone makes it. Some are feces drenched such as Lucius, other like Brother Krux manage to leap up and about so only small smudges can be seen on his royal githzerai robes.
Inside the pipes the party moves on for an hour or so and then come upon an isolated band of Duergar, or dark dwarves. They turned out to be slaves that were tasked with the maintenance of some of the sewer routes. Hostile at first, Lucius and Hannibal were able to come to terms, and even barter for some directions. The key was Lief, who bound and healed some of the wounded so they could escape and not slow down the Duergar as they fled. The leader of the band told Leif he was owed a blood debt by the Duergar clan.
Using the information from the dwarves, the party locates and breaks into the bowels of Lolth's temple. All is eerily quiet, it seems that most of the temple staff are either assigned to Drow war bands or preparing for the ritual that the group must save Riddick from being sacrificed. Sneaking up several levels they use an old artifact of the Justicars to walk around silently. They move about the temple for a good distance when the heroes encounter 4 Drow guards outside a room patrolling it along with a giant spider! A silent combat ensues with Hannibal giving hand signals to everyone during the fight. They win though the guards and open up the room finding what appears to be a wizened, and dead Riddick on the floor. Surrounding him are 4 Drow hand maidens of Lolth! Another silent battle erupts and the party spills the Drow blood freely on the floor. After the combat they examine Riddick to find that the Drow was actually Riddick's father, Malaggar! He is dead, but they shove him in a magical bag that is large enough to hold the body until they can get him to a healer.
The only direction left is up, so the group ascends some stairs and peek around a corner to see a long hallway. In this hallway are many slaves, heads dropped in servitude, as they stand next to the walls to do the bidding of the Drow clergy. Past the hallway is a balcony, where they can see Riddick suspended on some type of device! They form a plan: Jax is going to summon Phantom Steeds, and they will use the steeds to ride past the hallway, onto the balcony, free Riddick, and fly on to safety! Unfortunately, Jax mumbles the last few of the words of the ritual, and the Phantom Steeds are less then stellar. However, that does not stop the group, and they charge down the hallway! Taking extreme delight in the ride is Solomon, who sticks out his mightly blade as he rides, ending the lives of many miserable slaves to Lolth. Once out on the balcony, the party battles with two very tough priestesses above a large courtyard filled with frenzied Drow. During the fight the priestesses of Lolth call on her for aid, but she cannot deliver it, as she is in a dreadful combat with Corellon Larethian, the primary god of all good aligned elves. The heroes view the armies clashing though a portal the Lolth tried to use to come back and aid the priestesses. The deities were fighting above their respective armies, with some lesser Elven demi-gods fighting against large demons from Abyss. Surrounding them were Elves of all allegiances, and leading the elves of Myth Drannor was Elladon, his knights wearing the colors of silver and blue, his banner waving the breeze, and covered with the blood of many foes. The vision ended quickly and they were back to fighting the clerics of Lolth. Jax and Leif were called in to remove Riddick from the foul device he was attached to. After many rounds they were able to free Riddick, slay the clerics and make their way back through the temple in all of the mass confusion. It would only be a matter of time before order was restored and they were hunted. The party ran for several minutes, and then barred a door behind them. They were close to the sewers when Riddick was finally roused. He looked around and was astonished to find his friends there! He thinks he knows about where the party is inside the temple. He asks them to make a quick stop for his gear then then they can flee the temple area. The party will need to quickly decide if this delay will be worth it or not. As they quietly and quickly discuss it, horns are heard above them and below them.


Exp. Gained: 4028

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

Helm's Answer

PROLOGUE:

The room before you fills with a white light and your minds are taken to another place. You feel that you are looking back in history to an epic location now only known by those versed in history of a faraway plane of existence known as Greyhawk.
A you follow a group of adventurer's garbed in strange but somewhat familiar dress. You seemed to have remembered seeing them before perhaps in a painting or in a book. They trudge through a swamp and end up at a small hill with several entrances. After observing them for several of their days, you now know them by the sound of their voice, appearance and name. They are:

Sonny Dawnbreaker, the Paladin of a strange god called Heironious
Feanor, an Elven Wizard/Ranger/Druid
Rax Frost, the Wizard
Oakbranch, a somewhat crazed Druid
Mr. Pink, a Thief of great renown

Wither they are there for riches or fame you feel the party has journeyed together for many adventures and are true friends. From their conversations you hear that this is the rumored resting place of an ancient archwizard turned Lich named Acererak. He is described as a creature of surpassing evil. The group enters the tomb and encounters many obstacles, over coming all of them. You yourselves see traps and puzzles that appear so devious that passing through them seems all but impossible. But this group must be lucky, or destined for something greater and they manage to get though the tomb and head into the final room. As they close into the final room, Leif almost has a stroke as the pain in his head intensifies and he screams and drops to his knees. Jax seems to recognize some of the runes on the wall as the somewhat crazed runes from the Garden of Graves in the Faewild. A wild encounter in the last room is overcome, and the jeweled skull of Acererak is discovered! The 5 friends surround the skull and ponder their next move. Rashly, Oakenbranch touches Acererak's skull and it animates! The skull rises in the air and before anyone can act it smotes Feanor dead! The remaining players crush the skull and end the undead life of Acererak! They pile the loot in bags of holding (along with Feanor's body) and leave the tomb.
Time flies by quickly now, hours become days, days become months, until finally many years have passed. The tomb is now inhabited by small rodents and other mean creatures. A rat scurrying by is zapped by some magical energy and a shade arises out of the long dead ashes of the skull. The spirit of Acererak arises, held together by nothing more than its will during the many long years, until it finally gathered enough strength to form an essence once more. It summons its long dormant magic and calls on its infernal allies for strength it was promised. First things first the evil demi-lich thinks, as it sacrifices some animals and breaks long hidden magical gems as part of the ritual. A fiery demon is summoned from the Abyss. Acererak commands it: "You are to slay every son of Rax Frost's bloodline on the eve of their 30th birthday, and enslave their souls. I will feast on his descendants and torment their souls for eternity". Acererak continues, "Mr. Pink is of elven decent and may be among the living. You will find him, and lay this curse upon him. The curse will change his luck to be forever bad, and will eventually make him penniless and destitute. Feanor died in my halls, so I will not curse him, however I will make something especially nasty for the paladin of Heironious. I now call upon my god Vecna to curse the paladin's family! They will love and care about serving their god more than other duties even to family. They will die friendless and scorned by their children. Finally, for the Druid Oakbranch, his line is to be cursed by insanity that will lead to self-destruction. I will send part of my essence into his bloodline to be tainted by me forever! As long as the taint exists I cannot be wholly destroyed! Muh Hah hah!
Your vision fades out, the Drow that are with you look at you all oddly. Rodchewer speaks, "What an odd vision, did everyone else see it too?" The party members look at each other and without a word continue onward.

The tests of Helm

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Hammer 3

Several hours have passed as the group has moved from test to test. Sometimes a challenge of skill, intellect or intuition, the party has worked well with the Drow so far. Rodchewer and Hannibal have butted heads a few times, but she has held her troops together the same has Hannibal. The party is lead to a small dining area and are given their late day meal. They are told to rest and that the test would conclude the next day. Both Hannibal and Leif and approached by separate Drow to try some "exotic" love making, only Leif decides to take a chance with Lionsrage, a strikingly tall and muscular Drow. Hannibal rebuffs the advances of Rodchewer, to her dismay.
The next day they are led to a room with a floor that consists of almost nothing but very small cracks that lead across to the exit. Below the cracks are pools of what appears to be lava, which at times seems to burst upward! They notice ropes hanging from the ceiling about 50 feet up and some odd looking material laying by the entrance to the room. The group seems to work long and hard on this puzzle and come up with s solution! They use the materials to ride the wave of hot air from the lava blasts up to the ropes. Once hanging on ropes, a magical bridge appears over the lava and on to the exit. They find a chest with some gold and gems on the other side. Also inside is a magical artifact! It seems to take an interest in Leif and attaches itself to Leif's cloak as a pin or broach.
The next test finds the party in a large glade with a Sphinx in the middle. He says, "Creatures, I am the mouth of Helm. Defeat me in a timely manner and I will answer one question for the each of you, or grant you a boon. I have the knowledge of Helm and a portion of his power. If your combat runs long then you will lose 1 boon per turn for both your group and the Drow. Once you are out of rounds I will take one life per round!" Combat starts! The Sphinx is able to confuse several people a round at will with clever riddles while he fights them as well. The Sphinx is also able to animate statues with his spirit, leaving all damage behind. The party figures this out quickly and starts to break statues before the Sphinx can get to them. Eventually the party starts to run out of turns and almost everyone loses their question/boon except for Jax and Rodchewer. Jax ponders his question for a few minutes and decides to ask Helm why his family line is cursed and what does it have to do with him now? There is a shimmer in the air as he asks his question and then it leaves, the answer to be brought to him later when Helm returns it.
The party is told there is one more test before the final test of Helm. They are to go into the void to travel to the final test, but to traverse the void 16 tests of skill must be completed, covering all the skills that the party has developed over the time they have been together. They get through more or less intact, although Leif does seem to take quite a bit of random damage from failed skill checks during this puzzle. The group moves out of the void and into the final room!

Exp. gained: 3980