Over the river and through the Underdark, to Rashemen we go.
parts 1-4

intro and characters
parts 5-9

part one | part two | part three | part four

Part 1. When Lolth comes calling.

guest NPCs:

Innkeeper Anne Roth Ancient, withered human woman. A crone. Sits behind desk at Dew Drop Inn. Abrupt, short-tempered. Owns inn with her son Andy. Husband Andrew is/was an adventurer who left them the bar when he wanderlusted off somewhere.

Barkeep Andy Roth Barkeep and eventual inheritor of the Dew Drop Inn. Hates the name and would love to change it. Is badgered incessently by his mother, and is a bit of a mama's boy, but all in all a good person, lawful, and curious about adventurers. Has heard rumors of some dark-skinned weirdos lurking around the edge of town. Warns young women to not travel alone.

Old Man in Bar Crazy coot who insists he can feel the thoughts of the Dark Elves from below them. Claims to see them everywhere.

shopkeeper (George)
Wizard shopkeeper (Tom)
old man wizard
old man wizard's wife

The party will need to recoup, rest, and shop. Whatever city we are in (Mediana) can be the scene of the first contact of this adventure. The Dew Drop inn will be their only choice, as the inn north of town is full with folks in town for the market festival. Ms. Roth will check them in and give them a free drink ticket, grousing about the bar that's opened up right next door. The can have the upstairs bunkhouse (suitable for travelling parties) or several of the smaller private rooms.

The night they arrive in town, they will have a chance to spot the forward scout from the Drow team. The Drow have been expecting the party to need resupply, and have split up, posting men in each of the towns in the vicinity the party was last seen that have trade of sufficient wealth. They may hear rumors of dark men skulking about at the edge of town, and may go to investigate. He is out and about, so a chance roll will determine if they meet him (Ess'ke) then. The Drow scout will not engage the party, but will contact the others and then wait, keeping distant watch. If the members of the party engage the bartender or one of the regulars in conversation, or listen in on the idle chatter of the drinkers, they will hear about a dark scary stranger seen lurking in dim corners and loitering around the edges of town.

If they engage this Drow, he will flee. If he is captured, he will say nothing. If he does not make contact with his party at regular intervals (i.e., he is dead), they will come to him. He does not possess any magical abilities but is very fast and a skilled fighter, easily able to hold off any member of the party for long enough to escape. He should also be able to pick locks and perform escape artist feats, so restraints will not hold him unless they are magical.

Regardless of the results of the first night's scout encounter, the party will face the Drow raiding party just after sundown the next day. During the day they may feel as though they are being watched, as though something is not quite right. Occasional listen and spot checks may tell them that there is someone watching them, that the person is far away, and that they have an evil intent.

Just after darkness falls, the party will encounter the Drow. Ideally, they will be returning from the markets, or from dinner. If they are not out in the street, the Drow will create a diversion--a fire, an explosion, some sort of magical effect--to draw them out. The archer will pin down the brutish members of our party. The wizard will cast web on Pele and--with great delight--on El. The tank will be charged with securing the web-wrapped monk and elf. As soon as he has them in hand, he will vanish from view (courtesy of the psion's greater invisibility spell). The remaining Drow fighters will retreat.

The drow assassians will have simply disappeared. Try as they might, unless someone in the party is unbelieveably lucky on their tracking rolls, they can find no trail. Let them sweat it a bit.

Once they have sufficiently exhausted all ideas and have given up or gone to bed in hopes of starting out fresh the next day, Roderick will find his way to Lee's window. The bird will flap around and refuse to be calmed until the party assembles and follows him. With his help, they will be able to track the Drow.

Game event summary:

They travel back to the half-elven city to see if any part of it is still standing, or if their horses are by chance nearby. They are not, so they set out towards Rond on foot. After 2 days travel (and one minor skirmish versus Ghasts & Ghouls), they come upon a medium-sized commerce-heavy city named Median (Med-e-en).

They come into the city from the south, and stop first at the bar on the edge of town. After they stash the red dragon head in a shed out back, they have a drink and ask the bartender about the place. After refreshment, party members explore a bit. Trover heads to a local school to sing with the kiddies, the others shop, and Lee visits both shops and the old wizard, where he picks up three new (but somewhat questionable) spells for his spellbook. Trover also manages to schedule a singing gig in the DD inn.

Venture procures some Dwarven Draught from the new bar's OCD tender. The members of the party -- with the exception of Abdul -- imbibe and immediately find themselves crazy drunk. Because of the inebriation, they do not spot or even suspect they are being followed. Instead, they flail about the DD Inn until they are helped to their rooms by Abdul and the inn's bartender. They all wake late the next day with scorching hangovers.

They finish their business in town with just enough time to come back to the inn for dinner and Trover's show. While they are listening to Trover sing, the Drow attack. A fireball on the OCD bar burns it to the ground and lures them all outside the inn and into the street. Trover, El, and Pele are immediately entangled in spiderwebs, and an unseen archer plunks arrows into [Corwin] as he tries to fight T in the street. After somewhat more battle than we expected, T subdues El and Pele and teleports off with them, and the remainder of the raiding party vanishes.

The party leaves to follow immediately, heading in the direction we last saw Drow -- the cave where El slaughtered some -- on horses they stole from the other inn in town. They travel some hours before Roderick flies in and makes enough ruckus that they follow him in the direction he leads.

Part 2. Follow that bird

Roderick leads our intrepid adventurers over the river and through the woods, on the path of the Drow assassians. Because he is a bird, and not accustomed to travelling along the ground, it is likely there will be ravines, rivers, or other geographical difficulties.

battle one: medium forest / Rampart's Bridge
It is early morning. The party will notice that a stream is flowing alongside the path they are following. As they continue along it, the noises of the stream get louder and the path slopes gently downward. The rush of water is very loud, and they can see an open body of water through the trees. A light mist rises off of it; it's truly a breathtaking sight.

A large, dark shape looms in front of them. They notice the air has grown humid, and as they move forward, the mist begins to envelop them, making it hard to see very far in the distance. It is cool here, a definite chill in the air, but it isn't entirely unpleasant. They can hear the rushing of water, still louder, and see that the path is rising again, and the object ahead of them is something built, almost building-like.

As they walk up on it, they realize it is an old covered bridge, made of logs lashed together with vines, some dead, some still growing. Some are blooming with beautiful tropical flowers. It connects the two banks of the river. On one side is a man-made pond, a place where the river was dammed to provide some kind of power (mill, magick -- probably magickal, if they check). There is a dilapidated building, mostly crumbled, below the bridge, and parts of a water wheel still sticking up from the water. It is not functional. The damn looks sturdy and kept-up, as does the bridge. The building appears uninhabitable.

They can see far enough to make out the buildings, but they mist is heavy under and around the bridge, so they can't really make out the bank below. A few trees, etc. A very high spot or listen might result in someone hearing some kind of sound coming from below the bridge, but the sounds of the water will cover most anything.

Once on the bridge, they find it sturdy and quite attractive. It's well-made, not ornate, but solid and graceful. The vines make regular patterns and the large logs are worn smooth and evenly colored. The mist is heavy inside, and the water sounds echo, making it hard to hold conversation. As they exit, they will encounter 3V. Once they are entangled (or once enough time has passed so they should be entangled), the 2D will emerge from beneath the bridge. And thus begins combat.

Game event summary:

The party does take the bait about the mill. They walk all around the building, and are intent on exploring inside until someone tries to ascend the stairs and falls through (it is, after all, comdemned).

Members of the party are immediately suspicious upon seeing the bridge. OOC comments are made about both trolls and gazebos. Not surprisingly, the battle that ensues is somewhat shorter than we might have imagined, except for the part where somebody almost dies from the poison in the vines. Eventually the vines and the little monsters are defeated and the party moves on.

Noone thinks to pick up the dead vines. (Which would have been stronger than just about any robe (save Elven) and probably possess some amount of magickal resistance. Also, causes hallucinations when made into tea.)

battle two: dense forest / lokaldar's gate
Hopefully they will continue on after their fight at Rampart's Bridge. It should be mid-morning once they have bandaged and healed sufficiently to continue.

The woods will gradually grow more dense, though not yet quiet. There is plenty of wildlife still -- birds, scurrying things. Gradually, those will quiet down and the trees will get so thick it's hard to keep track of Roderick.

It's about that time that the trees get thickest, so much that the party may start to wonder if the path isn't ending. A mile or so later, the path surprisingly begins to widen again, and they ascend a small hill. From the path, they can see several extremely large trees--among the largest they've seen... for the elves, in quite some time; for the others, ever. Just past the first of the giant trees, the path goes steadily uphill and then splits, going in narrow bands around each side of a really enormous tree. The biggest of the big trees has a trunk so wide that the entire party would have to join hands to span around it.

At the foot of the trees is a brilliant carpet of red flowers. Blood red. Beautiful. As they approach, the flowers begin to move.

As they come up on the big tree, the EBSes attack. And thus begins combat.

Game event summary:

This fight was much more difficult than expected. I mean, who really expects to get done in by a bunch of flowers? Well, apparently our party should have.

They quickly figured out they were in a wild magick zone, and all spellcasters ceased casting. [Joe] cast himself right into a pit at some point, and spent most of the combat lying at the bottom of it. It took some time to kill the flowers, and without healing magics, several PCs nearly bought the farm.

In the end, they managed to at least subdue the flowers (they're SO not dead!) and look around a little, before fleeing the charged space for safer ground where they could heal each other. They only found a few small things--coins, a pouch, bits of dead things--before moving on. If they return they could find more. (Hidden cellar beneath the tree roots anyone?)

encounter three: abandoned encampment
After the second battle, they may be forced to rest. Roderick will attempt to spur them on. After some travel, they come to a crossroads marked by signs of a struggle. If they search, someone can spot one (or several) of the grey-silver beads from El's braids. There is blood (the Drow's. One of the girls got free and landed a spell/punch/sharp or heavy object. Combat ensued.), and some tufts of spider web (Uh, they didn't win)caught in nearby branches. There is a large scuff mark that starts in a small clearing just up the path, and continues with the path for a bit, before veering off and up a hill behind a stand of trees.

If they follow the mark behind the trees, they will find the remains of a Drow encampment. (Figuring at this point any sane person would turn back, they don't worry as much about being invisible in 'home' territory, so there's evidence.) There is the ashes of a fire, several worn spots in the grass, and bits of webbing, blood, and skin stuck in a nearby tree. There is a second wallowed spot, nearer the fire, with bits of webbing and bloodstains.

A higher difficulty spot could reveal a triangular area of 'weird' magickal residue in a stand of trees between the camp and the road. Some sort of divination could reveal M's presence--he did whatever ritual Drow freaky priests would do.

The party may find out gradually more about our Drow kidnappers through whatever investigative methods they take. They may end up resting in the Drow camp.

Game event summary:

They did not have to be hustled to get them to continue. The flower attack totally freaked them out. They continued, and the heavy-handed DMs got them to stop at the crossroads as expected. They spotted El's beads, and found the campsite. They chose to remain there for the evening after [Joe] and Venture explored up the hill and found all the evidence of El and Pele's struggles. Noone has yet discovered the magickal spot, but they still have the morning to explore the area.

Notes:

There can be a random encounter or two along the way. Roderick will occasionally fly back and forth searching out his master's empathetic contact. At times he will seem distracted, disoriented--if El is unconscious, or drugged, or badly injured. If any of the characters thinks to do so, and can find a way to speak/understand animals, they can have more detailed conversations with Roderick about El and Pele's location, condition, and kidnappers.

More detailed descrip from Roderick:
There are four or five dark men. Sometimes it seems like four, sometimes five. Roderick doesn't understand this. The small one comes and goes. The others are always there. Mistress and the robed one are ok, not bloody all the time now. Moving. They stay wrapped up by the bug string. Unless they are shouting with the dark men, but still their hands and feet are wrapped and they cannot get them free. He tries to come and help her, but she tells him to stay away. To get the party. But to definately stay away. If asked about El, Roderick says she is ok, but it is different, louder. She is not the same as usual, but he doesn't understand that either. She tells him to keep the other elf (Lee) close by so he can help her. Roderick wants him to help her, he is almost panicked in his urgency, especially since he will be able to communicate it for the first time.

Part 3. Into the Long Descent

encounter one: the underbrush

The next day's travel is trecherous. They are beginning the slow descent from deep forest; the last few miles of woods are nigh upon inpenetrable. Venture's scythe is pretty much the only reason they can still make way, and it's even taken some damage (hope someone has repair!). It doesn't look like the Drow have come through here directly in front of them, but Roderick is clearly leading them in this particular direction. Perhaps it's a shortcut.

It is. The drow took the right fork a-ways, cut into the woods before the town. They had business to attend to there, and if the party doesn't get laid up for a few days by the rock golems, they may actually catch up with the Drow at the mouth of the Underdark.

This is where the party should start to get scared. They are going to a place they KNOW they should not go. The woods are getting creepier and creepier—noone rests easy any more. The animal sounds have stopped. The canopy is exceptionally, increasingly thick, and the underbrush is clotted with thorns and sharp edges. Any exposed skin (hands, face) is quickly criss-crossed with bleeding cuts from making their way through these woods. (Roll for the damage due to this--some plants are even poisoned and could cause party members to get sick.) It's cool, but very humid here, so they're all sweaty and clammy and uncomfortable. Things smell bad. They smell dead. The whole place stinks of death and decay, rot, mold, slime and fungus.

possible encounter one-point-five: the last of the forest

There is great opportunity here for a swamp or deep forest creature attack. Or a companion attack to the flowers -- fungus!

Game event summary:

The party has spent the night at the Drow encampment. They wake and, after searching the area again for anything they missed in the growing darkness, continue back on the path into the woods. They are unnerved by the thickening woods, and though they travel through them for several days, they do not sleep fully until they exit the place. Several party members took light damage from the brambles and branches, though noone is incapacitated by poison--it is merely a nuisance. venture makes all of his saving throws for his weapon, so the scythe takes no damage from its hard use.

In the woods, they are set upon by a Lizard war party. Two lieutenants and 6 Lizardmen slither up on the travellers as they are walking. They are quickly dispatched. It was no contest really: the cold-blooded attackers had no idea what sort of men they were dealing with, and they were far outgunned.

Since the party does not need to heal after this very minor skirmish, they continue on. They do not reach the end of the woods and must spend the night in the stinking dark forest a second time. It is at this point that Lee loads Speak to Animals in a spell-slot. He converses with Roderick, garnering information from the bird about the direction the Dark Elves took, how many there are, and El and Pele's general condition. (See note about this above.) Lee insists to the bird that the party should attack the Drow; the bird responds that El said the dark men were "going somewhere" and that the party should just "follow them."

Finally the air starts to dry out and the woods begin to thin. They start to see a rockier terrain creep in, and before another half-day's travel is out, they are striding beside large boulders, half-buried in the dirt. The woods are sparse but the ground has gotten sandy, with steep grade changes and frequent scrambling around very sharp vertical faces. They may find areas where they have to climb to continue on, or go around.

encounter two: the gauntlet

Eventually they come to a portion of the path that is very narrow, and cuts in between 2 stone walls. It looks well-travelled--in that "I might be a trap" sort of way. They're pretty well boxed in, and vulnerable. Get them far enough down the path, throw in some skittering strange creatures to catch their attention, then rain combat from above upon their little heads.

They may choose to fight; they may choose to run. Whatever happens, they will end up getting funnelled into the Underdark -- the ravine closes down on itself, into what they think might be a dead end. A good search (even one under duress) uncovers a steep, small hole hidden by underbrush. They can choose to belay one another through the hole (if they have time) or simply jump down into the darkness.

Game event summary:

From Roderick, they find out that they are nearing the end of the dark forest. The bird also tells them that the Elves went "between the two rocks." Once out of the forest, the party travels approximately 3 hours before giving in to exhaustion (two sleepless nights have taken their toll) and resting in this moderately rocky forest area. The night passes uneventfully.

The next day they continue in the direction Roderick indicates. Eventually they reach two stone walls and the path between them--the rocks Roderick indicated. They proceed carefully here, with Venture taking the high road up on the cliff top. A pair of Chimera appear. Venture leaps on the back of one. The other members of the party all successfully evade the pit the second Chimera is standing behind, proceeding to slay the beast almost immediately. When that Chimera falls, he sends Bashir tumbling backwards into the pit and into the clutches of the Ooze at the bottom. The other Chimera is polished off by Dyson, and the party rescues the fallen lizard companion. A construct summoned by Abdul kills the Ooze, and the party finds several items from the Ooze's other victims down below. An amulet that makes one invisible to zombies, some jewels, and coin go into various pockets. When one of the Chimera dissolve, the party finds a delicate gold bracelet.

They continue down the path, somewhat wounded, and find the small patch of dark forest and undergrowth at the terminal end of the ravine. They quickly discover the rabbit hole, and decide to make camp and sleep to recuperate HP.

If it is late, the path into the Underdark can be straight and direct; they land on soft peat, noone is injured, they travel a certain distance in the pitch black and then come to a portal. They need to be forced through the portal so a herd of spiders or some other kind of 'oh fuck, RUN!' creature could come crashing into the tunnels, preceded by Roderick, who can dive into the portal if they're seeming hesitant. If it is not late, and the party wishes to continue, throw some random Upperdark creatures at them and draw up a basic Upperdark dungeon map to traverse. Light on treasure, heavy on XP--lots of smallish creatures to slay (see list below). Either path should take them to the portal, and out onto a field of zombies.

Game event summary:

When they wake, it is evening. Roderick has indicated that the last time he saw El, she went down in that hole with the men. The party prepares a rope line and Venture attempts to climb down. He slips off the rope and plummets the 40ft, only to land in a soft pile of peat, perfectly safe. He tells the others this and they follow suit. Before moving on, Venture places his spear, point up, in the landing spot.

They have landed in the very outer edge of the Underdark -- a way station. They discover a small honeycomb of passages and rooms with dirt floors and walls. They explore them finding, in order, a small empty room; a large room with a pool, a pair of scrolls, 2 gems, an encrusted ceremonial dagger, and 8 giant spiders; another small room with some baubles; a medium-sized room with a portal; a small room with 2 wooden carved dolls, and 3 barrels of supplies (rations, weapons, 10K copper); and a long, thin live cave canal with several small treasures being guarded by a stalagmite with an attitude.

They take some damage from the big rock but eventually manage to defeat it. They have been battered enough to need rest before continuing, so they sleep in one of the small empty rooms, after setting spell alarms on the portal room. Once they are refreshed, they ponder for a moment before all stepping through the portal and into the Boneyards.

Part 4. Rabbit bones

The Boneyard they will cross is only an outer gate into the true Boneyard. It is a large, open space chosen because of its vast size and emptiness. Over the ages, it has been filled with undead creatures in alarming numbers, who cannot exit through the portals (their rotted flesh would not hold together for the trip, even if they could muster the interest in something that is not brains) but remain on the plain to consume whatever traveller wanders past. Over the years, the ground has been literally covered in the remains, huge piles and pyres of it. The place stinks of rotting flesh, and few who venture in make it out.

encounter one: Field of Zombies.

The key to the Drow's safe passage is the amulet the party found at the bottom of the Ooze pit in the ravine. Drow who must cross the Boneyard wear the amulet, and can stroll through unmolested. This is the way they protect the entrance to their city.

The party, if they are clever, could extend the power of the amulet. Its charm protects whomever the string it is attached to encircles. It could encircle, say, a finger and still protect the wearer from the undead. They could ostensibly wrap the amulet around their hands and all pass through unmolested. The spell could also be extended with a longer string.

The party can choose to dig in and fight (not advisable) or to simply charge forward at a dead run. Roderick will likely help in this aspect, as he can either take the initiative to fly straight across, or Lee can communicate with him to find the way out. (Let's hope Roderick doesn't point them to any of the other exits from the plain--like into the true Boneyard city ruled by nasty evil vampires or into the Upperdark proper, which are to the east and west, respectively.)

When/If they go straight across, they will come to another portal much like the one they came in from. Instead of a blue mist, the mist here is green. No reason, just so people can tell them apart.

The other directions lead to a Drow Middledark city and to the Underdark equivalent of a resort -- a volcanic lake, complete with active magma pits. Mmmm, molten rock.

Game event summary:

The party wades into the field of zombies, Abdul turning them as they go. They fight a large group, destroying them all, and are disheartened when they see scores more rushing in to take their place. They arrange themselves in a wedge shape, and the bard casts invisibility from a wand as they walk forward. Abdul continues to destroy the undead in their path. They fight and manage to dispatch a giant maggot-looking thing, but shy away from battling the house-sized head riding about on a ton of tentacles. They fight more zombies, skeletons, and the undead remainder of a band of raiders, and manage to get across the field. When they see Roderick fly through the green portal, they follow, coming out into a single chamber with a hole leading down in the center of the room. Venture levitates to the bottom, discovering the same peat-pile as the last catacomb, and the party follows.

encounter two: Drows playing poker.

The portal takes them to another honeycombed chamber. This one has more comfortable lodgings, pallets for sleeping, possibly some more minor treasure. And, oh yeah, some Drow. But not the Drow you're looking for.

Three young adult Drow are here, playing cards. They are oblivious to the arrival of the party, who can easily eavesdrop on the Elves. They are quite intoxicated on some unknown Drow drug. They are here waiting for some friends to arrive, as they plan on taking a tour of the Boneyard and, possibly, the upper world. They're the Drow equivilent of rebellious punk youth.

The party can choose to attack the Drow or approach them. The young Drow will fight if provoked, though they are not nearly the powerhouse party the kidnappers are. For one thing, they're outnumbered. If approached, their curiousity may get the better of them, but they won't think twice about welcoming the party, and then slaughtering them in their sleep for the copius magical items they possess.

If/when they kill the young men, they will find on them a map that could prove most useful. It will outline everything from the dark woods into the first catacomb, then through the Boneyard, this figure-eight cavern, and the tunnels behind it. But even knowing where things go, they still don't know which way to go, and Roderick is growing increasingly confused as El gets further away.

The map shows labelled tunnels leading from the upperchamber of the figure-eight catacomb:

  1. to one of the Lowerdark kingdoms
  2. to some of the wilds of middledark
  3. to another portal--the portal to They--some ways off in a small Upperdark... village. Populated by a cranky old Drow named Nicodaemus. And his constructs. Who is in the employ of Rafael (Slaver1). He guards the portal that leads from the Underdark into They. Specifically, into the dungeons of They and should be the party's last major battle before the real espionage begins.

Game event summary:

The party explores this catacomb carefully. They come upon the bunkhouse beds, and the meager stores of supplies. They do not venture into the narrowed, stalagtite-laden passage, and instead continue on into the larger live passage. The wide stream, clear water, and overhead waterfall present the opportunity to bathe, and they trade off keeping watch so everyone can cleanse themselves. Trover and Dyson hear voices, but the acoustics of the place are strange, so they sound as if they are coming from the direction of the water flow. Abdul, suspicious, creeps to the end of the large, unexplored tunnel (while invisible and carrying El's quarterstaff of silence) and finds the three Drow, lying in wait. They are snickering and brandishing weapons. He goes back to the party and alerts them to this threat. They cast invisibility on Dyson and Venture, and that pair sneaks into the Drow's quarters with the others following not far behind. They flank the three drunken youths and then attack. The Drow are taken completely by surprise, expecting to jump out and scare their pals, arriving early. They instead meet with the wrath of skilled fighters, and the first one (D) falls dead. The remaining Drow scream in anguish, and begin to plead with their attackers--a plea which falls on largely deaf ears, since only the bard (with his comprehend languages tongue stud) understands their cries. He says nothing, and a second Drow is killed. They subdue and question the remaining Drow, but get no useful information. He is from the Kingdom of Aeile, House of Aeile. His father is is a noble in the House, and the dead are his best friends. They were planning on having a little adventure before they go off to train as Drow warriors--it wasn't supposed to be deadly dangerous. He does not know the Drow that took Pele and El, he does not know of any spider-faced Drow, and he has no idea why these Sun-dwellers have slaughtered his friend and say they must now slaughter him. He tries to cajole them to spare him, promising safe passage per his father, or that he will go off and tell no one. When he feels he has made no headway, he promises that if they kill him, his father will seek revenge--and find it. When Trover is done with questioning, he calls Lee, who kills him quickly.

There is less division this time among the party members. Several are obviously uncomfortable with what they now know about the young Drow, but noone is as distraught as before. It was an unfortunate but inevitable incident. But noone likes killing the young. They quietly search through their belongings, finding the map of the area they're in (and some back and forward from there), as well as a considerable amount of gems, potions, and other items of value. From the map and their own observations, they find the passage up from the smaller cavern on this branch, and climb up.