The Underdark

King Draco would like the party to investigate the origin of the enemy Orcs and having shown himself to be a generous employer the party readily agree. They take the underground route to Xul-Jarak (dodging the infernal machine) but find it under the control of King Draco’s troops, who themselves had found it deserted. Pursuing the retreating Demonspawn force, they decide to take the obvious path downwards which is broad and descends steeply with roughly a 1 in 6 slope. After 3 miles they come to a large area of tombs. The party put on their running spikes and a lot a personal bests and one or two Commonwealth records are set as they clear the area. The appearance of wraiths as they go through suggests they were wise and the fact that several of them are orc-shaped suggest that the army they are pursuing did not get through unscathed.

The baying of hell-hounds causes the party to take refuge in a side corridor and they have barely disposed of the hunting pack before they are attacked in the rear by four ettins who sadly neglect to cover their own rear (always a mistake with halflings around).

The party continue and find a collection of dead orc and drow. They find a drow survivor who says she led an attack on the orc stragglers which badly misfired as her spells failed to work. All her party was killed (as far as she can make out). She renounces Lolth and says she will take up the faith of one of the party members if they spare her life. She rejects Corellon Larethian and Pelor and chooses St Cuthbert as she appears to be keen on a bit of retribution. The party rest up for the night while Dindle and Midge accompany their new found friend to her old village to gather some equipment. Have the party gained a useful cleric or merely allowed a high level Drow assassin into their midst? Will they ever see Dindle and Midge again?

The visit to the village passes uneventfully. The Drow (Maelith), tells the villagers to evacuate. She also tells them that she will look for further survivors. An impressive array of equipment is retrieved from secret locations in her house. Returning the party march on down the broad road which according to the Drow is the Road to Hell.

The party’s first encounter is with two mercenary ogres and two captives who they ambush only to find out that their master, a black-robed magic user, was just behind them. Midge, however, dodges a rather nasty ‘fireball’ of greenish energy and attacks the MU. The black-robed figure shouts a command to the surviving ogre (which might have been ‘kill the prisoners’ in Giant) and disappears. The ogre hesitates and the prisoners are rescued. The ogre then gets a ‘trial by combat’ with Brand and loses because the party have unsportingly already stripped him of his armour.

The prisoners turn out to be a elvish Bard, Elentar, and human Monk, Castor. They were working for a certain Vaarth Shadowspawn. A week ago they were ambushed by a similar magic user and due to the difficulty of healing damage from the green energy the rest of their party are resting. They, however, volunteered to complete the mission which was to be their last for Vaarth (and nearly their last ever). They are very grateful to the party and offer them a +2 cold iron longsword and Gloves of Arrow Snaring. Furthermore to Brand’s delight Castor knows the secret location of Red Ox’s monastery in the mountains. The party offer them the chance to work for them as ‘castle caretakers’ under Ralph. This suits them very well as they are looking for a place to lie low for a while. The Bard confirms he can cast Clairaudience and Scry which will give him opportunities to keep in contact with the party. The Bard says he has some friends who are also looking to lie low and would the party mind if they take over the castle/act as co-caretakers. Bards are very persuasive and the party later reflect that they didn’t actually say no.

The party rest for the night and reflect that life is tough in the Underdark but resolve to make it easier with appropriate preparation and teamwork. In a replay with the demons (who were forced to field a much changed team because of injuries) the presence of blessed weapons in the parties hands makes for a more assured victory.

A second encounter that day proves more challenging: four Fomorian Giants appear and create havoc with their brutal strength. The parties healers go into overdrive but still Brand and Midge get uncomfortably close to being mashed by the misshapen Giants’ spiked clubs. On the plus side for once they find the creatures lair which yields 5000gp and 3750gps worth of gems. Oh, and a matching pair of +1 cold iron daggers with jewelled hilts (should guarantee the party never meets another Bodak).

The party now reflect that they are very deep underground with little hope of rescue if things go wrong. Elentar mentioned another party down here working for Vaarth. But what sort of people would choose to live down here for months on end? Roc for one is keen to go on. He has seen some dwarvish graffiti on the wall which indicated that the legendary city of Kheled-zerak might be beneath them. Elentar paid the inscriptions no heed but Roc is wondering if his uncle has been this way.

Elentar’s first communication comes as the party settle down for the night. He and Castor have reached King Draco’s court. Krug Bloodaxe plus some of his forces are there. His has heard a rumour that there are ‘magical anomalies’ associated with your castle which he will investigate. He has also been told that the Drow that you are with may not be trustworthy but he cannot reveal his source.

In the morning all the party apart from Maelith find a note from Kyren Darkmantle telling them they are about to be assassinated one by one over the next month.

The parties first encounter is with another group of adventurers. They register as evil but maybe they are just a mercenary group hired by Vaarth. They fail to stop when challenged and attack the party transforming into ghast-like demons. They are despatched but the party resolve to be more careful in future.

A little later a magical darkness descends and Rok disappears. Lura’s tracking seems to indicate he just walked up to (and through) the side of the tunnel. Has Kyren struck? Despite all the party can do they have no clues as to Rok’s fate. A little later, however, they meet two winged females (a Gloaming and a Gloura according to Dindle’s lore) who are part of the party Vaarth has working deep underground. They give the party a straw to clutch at. The only odd activity they have noticed in recent weeks (besides the orcs who passed through) is that demons have opened a long blocked passage a few miles along the tunnel. The passage runs back in the direction that Rok was abducted. The winged beings offer to augment the party with two of their colleagues, a tall thin wizard and a muscular half-orc.

The passage entrance is guarded by demons but the tactics and firepower of the augmented party take them out. A similar detail of guards are at the passage exit. The party view a large ruined city within a huge cavern beyond the exit. They slay the guards but a feathered demon flies off and raises the alarm. A loud klaxon-like sound is heard from the city. Many winged demons fly into the air. Will Kyren turn up in time to collect the party’s heads or will they be consumed by demons before that? Why did Rok wander off just when the party needed a fighter?

There is clearly pandemonium in the city as winged demons mill about in the air this way and that. After a while they stream towards the party who take cover in some boulders near the entrance to the cavern. The demons are, however, no longer interested in the party and fly out the entrance. Their ghast-like cohorts follow suit but one of their number is feeling peckish and has to be distracted by Dindle’s Summon Demon’s Dinner spell.

Now the city is eerily silent and the party trek towards its centre, hoping to find Rok (or at least his equipment). In the central palace in the throne room they find the corpse of a huge demon and the two winged females (Shae-na and Drek) who had infiltrated the city while the party were creating a diversion. They explain they had seen Rok grab a dwarven artefact and use it to slay the Demon but that he had then disappeared while jumping to the floor. A group of dwarves then appear who tell the party how they led Rok to the palace using their ability to move through solid rock. They give more background on the City (see Background section).

Rok then appears from thin air and tells the party he has had an audience with a God, called Roknar. The other dwarves make various warding signs and Midge detects that the axe Rok is now carrying is evil. Somewhat sheepishly Rok explains that Roknar is much misunderstood and that he handed over the original artefact, Demonslayer, to him. When it further emerges that Rok has agreed to become a follower of Roknar in return for unlimited wealth the dwarves tell him that his immortal soul is in danger and that the only way to save himself is to make his peace with Moradin immediately.

Before Rok goes to atone in the secluded temple of Moradin the party search the throne room using one of two mysterious shaped jewels that Rok acquired from Roknar. They find a cache of forty blue jewels similar one of those in Rok’s possession. In the central plaza the party find a series of circular mosaics with illustrations of what could be other legendary cities (elvish architecture prominent) or other planes. Two of these light up when approached by an individual holding the keys. One is a picture of a castle with a five-sided wall (which interests the party although this one has a central keep intact). The other has a picture of a small dwarven settlement in the foothills of the mountains.

Deducing (correctly) that these are ancient portals the party plump for the dwarven outpost (on the grounds that it is less likely to have sunk into the sea by now).

The party arrive at a portal guarded by curiously reptilian half-orcs who turn out to be minions of Vaarth. Vaarth, whose residence is in the secret enclave of Draco’s city, is very interested in the opening of the portal and the keys. He buys half of the keys for 10,000 gps. The party spend their cash and then further explore the portal system by heading through the castle portal. They arrive firstly at an underground cave with four further portals (which on reflection are probably all fairly local destinations) and then underneath (after removing an inconvenient wraith) they discover a major inter-planar portal terminus (sadly none of the planar destinations seem to be working). They also discover a machine which recharges their portal keys. The terminus itself would appear to be on its own demi-plane for some reason. Exploring the complex leads to the discovery that someone (possibly a party of dwarves) has dug their way out of the complex recently (although possibly the dwarves were just hired by someone else to get him/her/them to the surface). The digging was then filled in from the complex side.