Challengers of the Unspeakable

The Challengers of the Unpeakable is an adventuring company. The group was officially formed after the wizard Tephra opened a portal to the Far Realm, though with the exception of Kalth they had all previously adventured together.

=Members=

Current Members

 * Harthur Grai - Male half-orc ranger.
 * Kalth - Thri-kreen monk.
 * Elytra - Dragonborn battlemind werebear.
 * Chrip - Kercpa sorcerer.
 * Kayleth - Half-elf wizard.

Former Members

 * Tephra - Female human wizard. Opened a portal to the Far Realm. Now a servant of Allabar.
 * Gryff - Male human paladin of Nalindra. Was last seen being sucked into an imploding Far Realm portal.
 * Nuraya - Female shardmind artificer/shaman. Retired after failing to save Gryff.
 * Ro - Female revenant shifter druid. Last seen being kidnapped/teleported away by a mysterious human woman.
 * Sarahlia - Female warlord, claimed to be human. Trapped in the Abyss with Orcus.

=History=

Early Days
Stuff from when Tephra was still a member goes here. Fighting bullywugs and stealing their mud and discovering the weird portals and the place with the magic rooms.
 * Retrieved mud from ruins with bullywugs
 * Encountered crazy guy with an imprisoned fel taint
 * Delved into a cave to find the source of the Far Realm taint
 * Found a corrupted crystal; told to learn where it came from
 * Sent by Tol to locate a missing caravan. Find a cave with kobolds, ruined library, ancient wizard's sanctum
 * Sent to kill goblins; Ro dies, find ancient journal & letter of alliance from drow
 * Ro gets better, sorta, as Leardon makes her undead on accident
 * Accident-prone gnome sets his house on fire, animates his furniture and bathroom fixtures
 * Harthur arrested for starting a bar fight; go into dwarven mines to check out some ruins, find duergar worshiping a demon lord
 * Get Harthur back the next morning, kill duergar, take a portal, accidentally wind up in Estorium with Voran's crazy ghost

Far Realm Portal
While clearing out some ruins found in the dwarven mines, the players find another of the portals leading to Secret Mage Hideout of Voran. Sadly, the portal had been sabotaged long ago by Mind Flayers in order to capture Voran. Our Heroes found themselves instead at the chamber where Voran had died. Unfortunately, his ghost was still there, and still quite mad. After a long battle, Our Heroes managed to lay his spirit to rest, then exited the chamber to discover they were in Estorium.
 * Wander through Estorium, find a cabin in the fog with a wizard inside
 * Told of nearby Far Realm taint, asked to find source
 * Mutated goblins found in cave along with Far Realm-tainted pool; bizarre and disturbing dreams while sleeping
 * Wizard deduces that the taint is coming not from the cave, but from the temple of Boccob above it
 * Delve into the temple! Yaun-ti have moved into part of it. Also, undead. Also, a shadow dragon asked to guard a passageway. Also, a room with an anti-magic crystal. More dreams. Find mind flayer opening portal, glowing red scythe stuck in the wall. Kill mind flayer, Tephra opens the Far Realm portal instead of closing it, everyone runs.
 * Wizard gets pissed, turns into Boccob, teleports everyone to Brightstone and leaves to do what he can

Werewolves
On our way to that one place. There was a lake... and werewolves... and we beat them up!
 * Brighstone Heroes completely floored at how the mission went so disastrously wrong; sends the group to Silverstone to find more information, and to drop off a letter in Parrath
 * Group names themselves; Kalth joins
 * In the middle of the night near Parrath, werewolves! Save Regina, local ranger
 * Defend the town from werewolves at night
 * Visit nearby fey barrow; meet eladrin ghost who explains everything
 * Take fey crossing on the island, find good werewolf village; bad werewolves captured their leader, need to rescue him and stop crazy eladrin. Ro stays as hostage, has spiritual journey/quest/thingamajig
 * Werewolves die, good werewolf doesn't die, crazy eladrin beaten and "dealt with" by eladrin nation; return home with dire wolves

Duvik Pass
There were bandits in the mountains. Also Tephra was there, trying open the prison containing the primordial Hoshotath. She claimed to be serving a being known as Allabar, who had given her the ultimate power she had always dreamed of, and who would soon remake the world in his image. Hoshotath would destroy the world's defenders, paving the way for her master's arrival. She was defeated by Kalth, but her body erupted into a mass of writhing tentacles, and her telepathic voice told the Challengers that they would see her again.

Tomb of the Sleeper
The body of Sir Maligant was stolen by cultists so they could do nefarious Far Realm Things. The party chased them down, beat them all up, and Kalth got a magic skeleton horse.

Kalth nearly died in the final battle against the cultists, but was saved in a vision from the Raven Queen. Kalth would have begun worshipping the Raven Queen as a result of this, but sadly their philosophies were too different. However, this near-death experience has inspired Kalth to research the various deities and religions of the world.

Silverstone
The party finally reaches Silverstone! After attempting to arrange a meeting with high officials to warn them about the impending Far Realm threat, they discover that a member of the Brightstone Heroes actually lives in the city, teleported back here right after the meeting in Brightstone, and already warned everyone - meaning Our Heroes were sent on their urgent overland journey mostly to get them out of the way for a week.

After attempting to research the threat, Our Heroes were approached by a very definitely nefarious person named Theriana, who outlined a plan to close the Far Realm portal. She also asked that Our Heroes not inform Myra of this plan (Our Heroes promptly informed Myra of this plan).

To close the Far Realm portal, two articles of great power were needed. One empowered by the dead god Nerull - the skull of the demilich Acererak in the Tomb of Horrors, and the other full of Far Realm energy - an Estorian extradimensional prison that teleported around through the Far Realm, known as the Pyramid of Shadows. Theriana suggested that she can acquire one item if Our Heroes go retrieve the other.

Our Heroes chose to tackle the Tomb of Horrors, agreeing to return and meet with Theriana in two weeks time.

Tomb of Horrors
The challengers delved into the Tomb of Horrors, facing many deadly traps and powerful monsters, but eventually reached Acererak's crypt, finding the demilich to be nothing more than a floating skull with gemstone eyes and teeth. They battled the demlich, even as he teleported them throughout the tomb, until at last Kalth landed a mighty blow that shattered his skull into dust, the gemstones clattering to the floor. Picking them up to take back to Theriana, they prepared to leave the Tomb of Horrors and return to Silverstone.

As they traveled up the mountain pass, they encountered Tephra, who wanted Acererak's soul gems. When they refused, she fought them, before eventually summoning the aberrant monstrosity Shoth-Gorag to kill them. After Ro slew the beast, it melted, leaving only a large black stone - its heart. They took it back to Myra.

This meant that they did not need to meet with Theriana at all. After handing over the gemstones and the heart to Myra, she began researching how to utilize them to close the portal.

Arrival
After learning of multiple Far Realm attacks on nearby towns, Our Heroes volunteered to help the Silverstone guard defend these far-flung areas while waiting for Myra to do her thing. They were sent to the town of Wellspring on borrowed griffons (or hippogriffs). Shortly after Our Heroes arrived, it fell under attack by a Grell searching for The Tear of Boccob. After defeating the attackers, Our Heroes decided to find the Tear first.

Their investigation led them to a ruined tower in the nearby mountains, which they discovered was badly tainted by the Far Realm. After defeating the inhabitants, including a former mercenary party called the Stormcrows, they learned the following.

The Stormcrows had been hired by a mage named Cylus to find the Tear. They succeeded, but the Tear was corrupted with Far Realm energy, which drove all of the Stormcrows mad. Shortly after they found the Tear, it was stolen, prompting the Stormcrow leader to send the Grell to town to find it again.

The Tear being horribly Far Realm tainted has really concerning implications for the fate of Boccob.

Investigation
Returning to town, Our Heroes learned that recently inhabitants of the town had been mysteriously vanishing. Now citizens were being mysteriously murdered in broad daylight. An exhaustive investigation revealed the following:


 * Agents from the Shadowfell were responsible for the abductions. This started around the time Cylus hired the Stormcrows.
 * Monsters from the sewers were responsible for the murders. This started around the time the Tear was stolen from the Stormcrows.
 * The mage Cylus had been eaten by a Mindflayer. This happened around the time the Stormcrows found the Tear.
 * With help from a Speak with Dead spell, Cylus revealed that he wanted to find the Tear for Tephra. The mindflayer who killed him was named Shathrax.
 * After capturing and interrogating some Shadowfell agents, they revealed that they were working for the mindflayer Shathrax, and that Shathrax has the Tear.

It appears that Shathrax is kidnapping and mutating the citizens of Wellspring via the Tear, turning them into horrible abominations that are popping up from the sewers and murdering people. His ultimate goal is currently unknown, though undoubtedly it has something to do with Tephra. Our Heroes ventured into the sewers to put a stop to the mindflayer and recover the Tear (hopefully without going mad like the Stormcrows did).

Sewers and Such
After fighting their way through the sewers, they found Shathrax's lair. Unfortunately, the Tear had been magically stolen JUST BEFORE Our Heroes arrived. Shathrax naturally assumed that they were responsible, and attacked. After a brief but epic combat, Shathrax was slain. However, Our Heroes had to return to town empty handed.

Upon their return, they discovered the Temple of Ioun being attacked by Tephra's minions, driving them off, Our Heroes discovered that the temple's high priestess, with whom they had shared all progress of their investigation, had used magic to locate the Tear in the Sewers and transfer it to her location so that she could cleanse it. Unfortunately its taint had been too strong, and she had been warped into a twisted mockery of her former self. With her dying breaths she confessed what had happened and begged Our Heroes to find and destroy the Tear.

Kalth wishes she had mentioned her plan before the party had gone tromping down into the sewers. It would have saved a lot of time and effort for everyone.

By interrogating a captured minion, Our Heroes learned that the Tear had been transported into the Shadowfell by Tephra's minions, and being taken to her Fortress at World's End. They also received disturbing directions to said fortress. After stocking up, Our Heroes ventured into the Shadowfell to chase after the Tear.

Shadowfell
Our Heroes ventured into the Shadowfell, looking for the Gloaming Gate at the Shores of the Umbril Sea, where the portal to the Fortress at World's End was said to be. They didn't have to actually search because they were able to follow the tracks of the Tear-thieves, which lead them straight to their goal.

At the Gloaming Gate, the party attempted to talk their way through by convincing the guards that they had business with Tephra. This was technically accurate. At first, they appeared to be successful, with the guards standing aside. However, as soon as Harthur and Griff passed through the gate, the guards attacked the remaining party members.

Harthur and Griff were on the other side of a one-way portal, and in a fight with more guards on their side. Ro, Nuraya, and Kalth were on the original side, trying to get through. After a little while, Ro charged the guard blocking the gate, and was able to push him through. With the way cleared, she was able to pass through the portal with little difficulty. However, in the process she woke a Shadow Demon that had been residing in the gate. After a little more fighting, Nuraya and Kalth were able to reach and pass through the portal... but the Shadow Demon came with them.

Fortress at World's End
The Gloaming Gate lead to an unstable ice bridge at the foot of a huge glacier.
 * Finished beating up guards, alas the Shadow Demon got away
 * Rested, in the morning flew up to the top of the glacier and beat up more guards. Shadow Demon was there, got away again
 * Stormed the fortress. Found the fake orrery, pain and explosions were had by all
 * Located the trap door. Sadly had to leave our faithful griffons (or hippogriffs) behind. :(
 * Smashed through Fortress. Discovered Hall of Mirrors, Demon Summoning Room, Magic Ice Fountain, Tephra's Papers
 * From Tephra's Papers, learned the location of the treasure room and the most likely location for the Tear. Also learned that Tephra was using the Tear to open a new stable portal to the Far Realm. Learned that tossing the Tear into said portal would probably be extremely dangerous and Tephra was highly against such a thing ever happening. Learned other useful miscellaneous things as well. Very informative, those papers.
 * Looted treasure room. Kalth finally got to punch constructs.
 * Attempted to locate Tear. Heard Tephra at a door and immediately attempted to kick it down. Had to just open the door instead.
 * Tephra AND the Shadow Demon were in that room. Also the Orrery with the Tear and an open Far Realm portal. EPIC BATTLE COMMENCES.
 * During the battle, Kalth manages to get the Tear into the magic Far Realm surpressing box. While there was a bit of Far Realm supression happening, it was clear that it was not enough.
 * After a brief and extremely one-sided fight over the Tear, Tephra restores it to the Orrery. The Far Realm portal continues being open and spits out Far Realm monsters that throw around stun effects like candy.
 * Kalth manages to get back up by the Tear, snaps the magic Far Realm suppressing box closed around it again, and chucks the whole thing into the portal. (Kalth did not want to touch the Tear with bare hands, not a chance. It was bad enough just in the box.)
 * Tephra decides this is a good time to leave and teleports away.
 * The Far Realm portal begins imploding. All Far Realm creatures left in the room decide this is also a good time to leave and start running.
 * Gryff heroically intercepts a stun bolt headed for Kalth. Kalth heroically runs away, but thoughtfully picks a direction that ends up next Ro, so the squishy caster isn't alone against the Far Realm monster that has also run away in that direction.
 * The Far Realm portal implodes. Harthur and Gryff are the only ones still in the room. Harthur is able to drive his sword into the ice and hang on, but Gryff is still stunned and can do nothing. Nuraya attempts to use her magic to anchor him, but the implosion is too strong, and Gryff is sucked into the Far Realm.
 * The party mops up the remaining Far Realm monsters. Kalth checks on their griffons (or hippogriffs) and discovers that they have been eaten. :(. Not wanting to walk back from the fortress, Our Heroes use a portal scroll and coordinates for Silverstone found in Tephra's Papers to teleport back to Silverstone.

Tephra's Papers
Tephra's forces include: her 'Fists', Vrocks, the derro Her derro minions were stopped by "weavers", who according to Tephra should all be dead. She's torn on whether she should kill them all or interrogate them.

That room with the mirrors, Tephra was using it to contact Allabar. She may have also used it to talk to Orcus. She's totally making a deal with Orcus that involves her giving him the scythe of Nerull and possibly the souls of the dead. Fun fact - if you walk into the mirror room while it's being used, it will melt your brain.

The room with the mirrors was 'south of the prison', the 'eastern rooms' are for Tephra's research and the orrery. It's very possible that this orrery is the one we're looking for.

The real non-trap orrery is being used with the Tear to re-open the portal. She estimates it will take 24 hours for this to take place. She notes that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should the Tear touch the portal, catastrophic feedback loop and such. I think we should chuck it in the first chance we get. Also the orrery needs to be delicately tuned to work, so just pounding on it a bit might keep it from working. Or will cause the previously mentioned catastrophic feedback loop. The portal needs to be re-opened because Boccob used the Tear to seal it. It's likely he met a sticky end shortly after, 'cuz Tephra learned how to contact Orcus from him.

She is also building monoliths for some reason, which are combining arcane and abberant magics, and possibly infernal magic from Orcus. These monoliths may reanimate the dead. She's got a dozen lined up for Silverstone and is building more. Also the capstones on these monoliths are made from solid gold!

Finally there's a disturbing sketch of the Far Realm. It has what could be faint runes, but I can't make heads or tails of it.

Return to Silverstone
The dude who lent the party the griffons (or hippogriffs) was understanding about their demise, given how Our Heroes had also lost a member of their party.

Nuraya, shaken by the failure of her magic, decided to retire from adventuring. She petitioned Myra to allow her to join the Trine Academy and teach.

Battle of Silverstone
While Our Heroes were reporting in to Myna, the city of Silverstone came under attack by Far Realm monsters. Nuraya and Harthur stayed in the Academy to help defend it, while Kalth and Ro went to try and rescue as many citizens as possible. In the process of defending the city, they encountered Sarahlia, a healing ranger, and Elytra, a dragon-bear who hits things VERY hard.

With the immediate area clear of foulspawn, the party (minus Nuraya, plus Sarahla and Elytra) regroup with the local guards, and are immediately sent out on a scouting mission to the lower city, as there had been no contact with it (at least no friendly contact). Admidst the chaos-twisted ruins and former guards transformed into monsters, the party scaled the outer wall and discovered that the city was surrounded by the monoliths mentioned in Tephra's papers.

After reporting back to Thoras, it was decided that an attack would be launched on the monoliths. Our Heroes were tasked with taking out one of the monoliths. After a ferocious battle against the monolith (which fought back!) and the Far Realm forces surrounding it, it was eventually destroyed. However, the larger threat remained.

A wall of blue fire had been seen beyond the city, and it was felt that this was the source of the attack. In the morning, it was decided that the forces of Silverstone would engage the Far Realm army, while a small group attempted to pass through the blue fire and strike at the source of the invasion.

Unfortunately, when Our Heroes reached the wall of blue fire, they found no way to pass through it. However, they still carried Tephra's papers with them, and after checking them discovered a ritual to Orcus that should grant them safe passage. The only problem was the ritual involved pledging yourself to Orcus and his will. This pledge appeared to be non-binding, but still...

As Our Heroes were contemplating this, they were approached by Theriana, who was still upset over not getting Acererak's soul gems as promised. She offered to aid the group through the wall... in exchange for said soul gems.

After consideration, the party decided that a probably non-binding pledge to Orcus was better than almost certainly helping Theriana release the Drow from their prison. Theriana left, vowing that she would get those soul gems.

Our Heroes pledged themselves to Orcus and were able to safely pass through the wall of blue fire. On the other side, they found a landscape twisted and corrupted by the Far Realm. As they were cautiously advancing, the ground beneath them rose up, and they found themselves on top of a horrible Far Realm behemoth.

Harthur heard a faint voice, offering advice on how to kill the monstrosity. With its aid, Our Heros were able to destroy the creature's heart. Upon doing so, the behemoth imploded... leaving a badly injured Boccob in its place. He recounted to Ro what had transpired since he had attempted to first close the Far Realm portal, and requested Harthur slay him before he turned back into the behemoth.

From Boccob's information, Tephra was able to partially unseal the Far Realm portal. Currently it is only open a crack, but that crack is steadily widening...

After the Battle
Our Heroes returned to find the city in celebration. They warned Myra of Theriana's threat, and were invited to a celebratory feast that night. Kalth visited a number of temples to try and remove various Far Realm afflictions, and to find atonement for that whole Orcus thing. Ro visited the temple of Ioun to relate what had happened to Boccob.

That night, at the celebratory feast, Theriana, a number of drow, and their shadow dragon attacked. Theriana captured and escaped with Myra, promising her safe return in exchange for the soul gems. She left behind a ring as a clue to where she could be located.


 * Brightstone Heroes scried the ring, said Theriana could be in the mountains to the north
 * They also discovered a drow enclave somewhere underground - they had just enough information to teleport to it, not enough to say where it was
 * After much discussion of which location was more likely to be a horrible trap, Our Heroes decided to investigate the drow enclave
 * Before leaving, Our Heroes made a set of fake soul gems. We're not expecting them to fool Theriana for very long, but maybe it'll be for just long enough

Additionally, after consulting with priests of the Raven Queen, Kalth was set a quest to slay a powerful minion of Orcus as a sign of atonement.

Drow Enclave, Part 1
Our Heroes teleported right in the middle of a battle between undead Drow and live Drow.
 * Tried to just kill the undead Drow, but the live Drow attacked us, so we killed them all.
 * Fought past very large spiders on a very high bridge
 * Discovered the enclave was overrun by undead and other monsters after an assault by Orcus, presumably led by a drow named Zirithian who had turned to his worship
 * Encountered a Drow mage - Jhaelant - who had locked himself into his workshop/labratory
 * Convinced him not to attack us for defacing his statue. It's not that we were defacing his statue because it was of him... it was because it was a statue.
 * Agreed to assassinate the Matron of the city in exchange for information on Theriana. Jhaelant helpfully provided a map of the city, including the location of Theriana's house and the location of a priestess who had also begun to worship Orcus and had opened the portal through which they came

Our Heroes began by investigating Theriana's house for clues. All that were found were more undead and a terrified human woman hiding in the back room. She claimed that she had been captured shortly before the undead attacked and had spent all of her time hiding. With no other clues forthcoming, Our Heroes decided to bring her with them, as it was probably safer for her than leaving her in hiding.

On the way to the Orcus worshiper's house, the woman grabbed Ro, said "You never should have trusted me." and teleported away. With Ro. Who was the only person in the party who knew any magic and who had the only way out of the Enclave.

Pressing on, Our Heroes entered the house where the Orcus worshiper was known to be. Instead they found vampires, and a portal to an unknown place. Unfortunately, the Vampire Lord was able to escape through the portal.

Exhausted, Our Heroes found a secret room in the building and took a rest. While resting, they found themselves all transported (in a dream) to a strange location. There they were approached by -- (Kalth was completely uninterested in the deal... so I don't actually remember much about this, including who the guy was, what he offered, and wanted us to do - kill the Matron? Maybe?)

Once awake, Kalth successfully talked the group into the following plan - find and slay the Orcus worshiper, then go to the Drow temple and talk our way in by claiming (truthfully) to have helped them out and demanding a reward. Once inside and near the Matron, attack and take her out.

Thus convinced, Our Heroes entered the portal.

Entry

 * Platforms connected with spiderweb bridges
 * Our first encounter with bodaks! Fun and excitement!
 * PWNd the Vampire Lord. Kalth kept its head for the Plan.
 * Captured a Cambion who worked for Orcus. He offered to open a portal to deeper into the domain in exchange for not killing him.

Domain

 * Met a gatekeeper on the other side of the portal. He told us where we were, but I was distracted by the squirrel.
 * THERE WAS A SQUIRREL. IT TALKED AND WAS AMAZING. WE BROUGHT IT WITH US.
 * Gatekeeper offered to... do something unspecified... if we impressed him. Since he wasn't clear on what he would do for us, we declined.
 * Gatekeeper agreed not to warn Zirithian in exchange for us taking the squirrel away with us. He wanted us to leave the Cambion we had captured, but said demon put up an impassioned plea for mercy so we also brought him with us.
 * People have been saying Zirithian's name right and left in here.
 * Trudged for ten hours (I counted) across a horrible desert full of death flies and ambushes and the occasional gravestones with our names carved on them. Discovered Squirrel was pretty handy with ice magic.
 * Arrived at a ruined fortress. Attempted to talk our way inside by claiming (accurately) that we had business with Zirithian. Cambion ratted us out by shouting that we were here to kill the guy instead. He died first.
 * Full-scale battle ensued. Squirrel nearly died, but we prevailed.

Fortress

 * Wandered through the fortress, bluffing our way past everyone by claiming we were on official business. Sometimes they attacked us anyway. No one has any respect for people on official business in this place.
 * Asked directions from a helpful Hag, who was thrilled to learn that we were here from the drow city on official business. We promised to come back and trade with her once our business with Zirithian was done.
 * Entered the temple where Zirithian was said to be. To enter we had to convince the guardian that we were undead. Only Harthur failed to be convincing, and the guardian wrote his name down in his book.
 * Everyone heard Orcus whisper to them, offering to make them an exarch if they slew Zirithian in his name. Kalth and Elytra were wholly uninterested. Harthur, Sarahlia, and Chrip showed interest, and Orcus offered them exarchship plus something else (specific to each person) if after slaying Zirithian they gave him the sword he carried.

Battle

 * Gigantic fight against a pair of (... bone... thingies....), a fire skeleton demon thing, far too many abyssal ghouls, Zirithian, a Lich, and a constant stream of vampire spawn.
 * It was a long and painful battle. Kalth came two hitpoints away from hitting negative bloodied. As it was, by the end of the battle Kalth was standing with 7 hitpoints and no healing surges.
 * This was caused by Elytra attempting to knock out Zirithian with a powerful 'you fall unconscious' ability, and Zirithian's snazzy magic armor redirecting the strike to Kalth. Then everything attempting to murder Kalth while Kalth was unconscious - including a mind-controlled Elytra. Also Kalth was on fire at the time.
 * At the end of that battle, Kalth was hiding in the back with the mage, throwing rocks from a safe distance.

When the battle ended, Chrip grabbed Zirithian's sword and concealed it in his bag of holding. Orcus - or at least his image - appeared on a large stone dais and demanded the sword. Chrip bargained him into also freely allowing passage out of the temple/fortress for the party and removing Harthur's name from his book in exchange for the sword.

Orcus opened a portal back to the drow city as a show of good faith. By this time, Elytra and Kalth managed to get a partial story about what was going on with this sword and why anyone was thinking of giving Orcus something that he clearly wanted very badly (re: exarchship + something special).

Elytra decided she wanted nothing to do with any of this and left through the portal. Kalth stayed to try and talk sense into everyone. ("People! Do not make BARGAINS with ORCUS!")

It also became clear Orcus would only grant his blessing to the individual who gave him the sword, not to a group of people.

After some heated discussion about who should be the one gave the sword to Orcus (Sarahlia very much wanted to be the one to do this, while Harthur was willing to let Chrip have the honor, since Chrip had bargained Orcus into removing Harthur's name from his book already), and from Kalth arguments about why no one should do any such thing, Chrip pulled out the sword, about to toss it to Orcus. Both Sarahlia and Kalth attempted to grab it from him before he could do so. Kalth succeeded and immediately bolted for the portal. All three of the remaining party members attacked in an attempt to stop Kalth from escaping. While Sarahlia and Chrip missed, Harthur managed to bring down the thri-kreen with a thrown sword.

Chrip snatched up Zirithian's sword, which spoke, begging them not to give him to Orcus. After some further discussion (Powerful magic sword! Talking!) they decided that they should probably keep the sword instead.

However, when they revived Kalth, Sarahlia informed the thri-kreen that they had, in fact, given the sword to Orcus. (Her reasoning, later, was that clearly the bug wasn't being rational about this, and that if it discovered the sword was still around it might do something really crazy.)

Kalth immediately left through the portal, wanting nothing to do with a party that had clearly joined forces with evil, and relayed the situation to Elytra. Concerned about the fall of their former party members, they retreated to the roof of the portal building to rest and work out a plan of action. (Just two adventurers! In a city full of undead and drow! No real way to leave!)

While Kalth and Elytra conferred, Chrip, Sarahlia, and Harthur continued discussing things over with the sword and looting the rest of the temple. They decided that they were absolutely going to keep the sword, and went to leave through the portal. Orcus intervened with one last threat - hand over the sword or suffer his curse.

Sarahlia responded by desecrating a holy symbol of Orcus. Chrip and Harthur decided discretion was the better part of valor and left. A few minutes after they emerged from the portal back into the drow city, it snapped shut... without Sarahlia.

Drow Enclave, Part 2
Harthur had fortunately remembered to bring the body of Zirithian with him, as it had been an important part of their plans to enter the Drow temple. Heedless of the threat of undead hearing them, Harthur began calling out to Kalth and Elytra (who remained silent on the roof).

After noticing a bit of movement from the roof which he suspected to be his missing party members, Harthur revealed that they in fact hadn't given the magic sword to Orcus, and continued to try and convince Kalth and Elytra to come down.

Losing patience, Chrip climbed up the roof and spoke to Kalth directly. After learning that Chrip didn't actually know what an exarch was (or why it was a bad idea making bargins with chaotic evil demon princes), Kalth shared with him the numerous religious pamphlets that Kalth had collected.

Finally being convinced that their party members had not sided with evil, Kalth and Elytra came down. However, Kalth will continue to keep an close eye on Harthur and his magic sword.

After a long rest, Our Heroes tried to decide what to do. They could return to Jhaelant with the body of Zirithian, inform him that they'd taken out one of his rivals, and ask if he could teleport them out or at least lend them some kind of healer. They could also offer him the box of fake soul gems in exchange for being teleported out.
 * or

They could press on, bluff their way into the temple with Zirithian's body like they planned, and try very hard not to die.

After discussion, Our Heroes decided to press on.

Directly after climbing down from the roof, they ran into a crazy half-elf in patchwork robes, who seemed very concerned that they might be zombies. After convincing her of their alive-ness, the half-elf revealed that she had been part of a group of adventurers sent to investigate the Drow Enclave. Unfortunately, her party members had been taken captive - and then killed by undead. She had a magic candle that let her turn invisible, and that's how she escaped. She'd been wandering the enclave ever since, avoiding the undead.

She claimed to be a wizard and asked to join the group. Since her magic candle didn't look all that magical, and she seemed kinda crazy, and already proven to be not very useful in a fight, Our Heroes left without her. She followed them anyway. The party, mistrustful of strange and harmless seeming strangers in Drow cities after Ro's kidnapping, made her stay at a distance.

Approaching the temple, it became clear the the Drow had managed to deal with the undead still remaining in the city, especially as the portal to Orcus's Domain had closed.

Our Heroes talked their way into the Matron's throne room by claiming to be adventurers, who had just defeated the drow responsible for the undead invasion, and who wanted a reward. As this was 100% true, there was little difficulty getting inside. It turned out that the Vampire Lord was the priestess of Orcus we had heard about. The Matron was pretty pleased to see her and Zirithian dead.

The difficulty began when the Matron stubbornly failed to get within stabbing range, and asked what we wanted as a reward. Kalth asked for information about Theriana, and mentioned that the group was to trade Soul Gems in exchange for someone. The Matron instead offered to take the gems and make the trade for us. When she was refused, she offered to let us stay while she contacted Theriana and asked her to come.

Kalth thought that both of these ideas were terrible ones, but seemed to have been voted chief negotiator for the group. Finally, Kalth agreed to hand over the Soul Gems in the hopes that the Matron would come down off her very high pillar to get them. Alas, she had one of her guards bring them up instead.

Fortunately, Kalth, expecting a Drow double-cross at any moment, was unsurprised when the Matron's 'reward' turned out to be 'guards, kill them all'.


 * Battle began with Kalth halfway up the pillar, having teleported most of the way up and rapidly climbing the rest of the way
 * At the top of the pillar were the Drow Matron, one of her guards, and spiders that weakened people.
 * At the bottom of the pillar were the rest of Our Heroes + the crazy wizard, the remaining guard, and a horrible twisted monstrosity of a Drow.
 * The Drow Matron was promptly magicked off the edge of the pillar, plummeting 50 feet down and landing hard. The party gathered around her to finish her off, and Elytra used her Mindspike to knock her out. It went much better this time.
 * The decorative statue turned out to be not so decorative, and came to life, shooting poison at people. The crazy half-elf the party picked up turned out to be somewhat useful and vanished the statue.
 * Everyone and their brother came charging through the doors to rescue their Matron.
 * Kalth jumped down from the pillar as the battle had suddenly changed, but had been weakened by the spiders so was mostly ineffectual.

Things looked pretty bad, as there were lots of enemies everywhere pummeling everyone - especially the crazy wizard and the squirrel, who had tried to hang back and thus were right next to the doors when they opened. Our Heroes had taken out the Matron and were trying to focus on the Drow Abomination since it was pretty nasty, but there were just too many enemies, and they were spread thin. And the statue had managed to come back from whatever pocket dimension it had been banished to, and attacks just bounced off it.

But then, Kalth managed to shake off the poison. Most of the enemies had been ignoring the thri-kreen, as it was out of the way by the pillar and not doing a terribly good job of damaging anyone. All of that changed, as Kalth blasted through the room, claws and rocks flying, and slew half of the enemies remaining. The tide of the battle turned, and the rest of the foes fell swiftly.

Fun fact - if you walk through a Drow city carrying the head of their Matron onna stick, all the drow who see you will leave you alone.

Returning to Jhaelant, he informed Our Heroes that Theriana had gone to the Fire Giant King Snurre, and gave them directions to his halls. Our Heroes set off to find him and Theriana.

Halls of the Fire King
While traveling to the Fire Giant King, the party encountered a group of Svirfneblin merchants returning home. Our Heroes took this opportunity to buy equipment, restock supplies, and sell miscellaneous loot that they had picked up over the course of their adventure.

Moving on, they finally met the doors to the Fire Giant King's halls. They were firmly closed, guarded by a pair of stone pillars, and clearly a horrible trap.

Suspicious of the pillars, Our Heroes attempted to smash one into pieces. They were entirely unsurprised when it came to life and attempted to return the favor. After a brief battle, the pillar was destroyed. There was some discussion if the second pillar should be destroyed, but it was decided that probably each pillar was protecting one half of the double doors, so opening just one door should be safe. It wasn't.

The second pillar immediately came to life and attacked. Through the doors were a pair of animated Fire Giant skeletons, a mind-controlling Drow on a ledge, a river of lava, and fire naga with whips. Fortunately, in the following battle, almost no one was mind controlled and no one went into the lava (yay!).

Investigating the cavern further, Our Heroes encountered Theriana! (and some fire giants) at the top of a staircase. She expressed some surprise meeting Our Heroes in such a location. She also had Myra with her. Our Heroes immediately attempted to make the trade - the soul gems (fake) for Myra.

This was hampered slightly by neither side trusting the other in the slightest - Theriana didn't trust Our Heroes because they had already double-crossed her once, and Our Heroes didn't trust Theriana because she's Theriana.

During negotiations, in which Kalth somehow once again became the chief negotiatior, Our Heroes revealed how they had repelled an Orcus Invasion on the drow enclave. This surprised Theriana - either because she wasn't expecting an Orcus Invasion, she wasn't expecting Our Heroes to defend a drow enclave, or both. Our Heroes carefully did not reveal how they had also taken out the matron of the enclave.

After some discussion from the opposite ends of their staircase, it was agreed that the squirrel would carry the soul gems to the top of the stairs (with Kalth right behind him in case of treachery) to where Theriana and a Fire Giant holding Myra waited. There they would trade the soul gems for Myra, and bring her back down the stairs. Then Our Heroes intended to flee at top speed with Myra before Theriana realized the soul gems were fake.

At the top, Theriana examined the soul gems carefully. Fortunately, the disguise was strong enough to fool her. Unfortunately, she double-crossed Our Heroes anyway - immediately after confirming the gems, she informed the Fire Giants that Myra was 'no longer under her protection' and teleported away. The Fire Giants promptly sucked Myra into a giant fire crystal. At the very same time, the staircase burst into flame.

Our Heroes had noticed the giant fire crystal earlier, set back slightly from the top of the stairs, but paid it no mind as it did not appear to be an active menace. Unfortunately, it appeared to be extremely uncomfortable for anyone trapped inside, and Our Heroes weren't certain how the Fire Giants had managed to activate in the first place - nor what it would do if anyone else got too close.

However, battle ensued, hampered slightly by the fact that the majority of the party was at the bottom of an inferno-filled staircase. Braving the flames, the rest of the party charged to the top, while Kalth frantically tried to keep the Fire Giants away from the squirrel. The wizard, upon reaching the top, handily took care of a contingent of drow raining crossbow bolts down from above, while the dragon-bear and Harthur occupied the remaining Fire Giants.

Our Heroes had to swiftly switch their attention from beating back the Fire Giants to freeing Myra from the fire crystal when she collapsed. Working quickly, Chrip managed to trigger the crystal into ejecting her, and the wizard stabilized her with magic.

In one last effort before they were slain, the Fire Giants sucked Chrip into the fire crystal. Fortunately the squirrel managed to free himself before taking any injury, and the battle was won.

Our Heroes quickly retreated with Myra to a safe location, in case Theriana discovered the soul gems were fake and returned. There, they worked out a cunning if convoluted plan to return to Silverstone.

Kayleth had the Reverse Portal ritual, which opens a portal from There to Here (not useful if you are Here and want to go There). Myra didn't have her ritual book anymore, but she had her wedding ring which allowed her to teleport back to Trine Academy. Our Heroes decided that Myra would teleport back, and have 20 minutes to locate a wizard with the standard Linked Portal ritual. At the end of the 20 minutes, Kayleth would cast Reverse Portal, and the wizard with Linked Portal would step through, then cast Linked Portal, allowing the entire group to return to the Academy.

However, when the party cast Reverse Portal and caught a glimpse of the Academy, they saw bodies and signs of battle. Fortunately, Myra had located a mage (injured) who could cast Linked Portal, who was waiting. Once through, he relayed the story to Our Heroes.

It seemed that shortly before Myra returned, Theriana had teleported in, using Priam's ring! (Priam had been last seen heading to the mountains in the north with other members of the Brightstone Heroes, to try and find Theriana and Myra. Seems it was indeed a horrible trap.)

The wizard Myra sent through to the players was tasked with setting up a teleportation circle so a search party could come through and look for Priam. Our Heroes were offered the chance to stay and search, or go through and help Myra. As Our Heroes did not believe Priam to be anywhere near where they were, they elected to return to Trine Academy and help defend it from Theriana.

Defense of Trine Academy

 * Killed some dudes released from the Pyramid of Shadows to delay people trying to get to Theriana
 * Failed to stop Theriana, but the gems at the Academy were fakes planted by Leardon

The Ziggurat and the Dragon

 * Elytra invited to join Topaz Crusaders, party sent via Orantis to Estorium to deal with Far Realm stuffs
 * Far Realm stuffs dealt with, timey-wimey hourglass acquired
 * Orantis went crazy and killed the crusaders!
 * Went to Orantis's demi-plane lair, rescued Macaebus, learned that Orantis had been infected with an aberrant parasite that slowly drove him mad, killed him, stopped the plane from collapsing, and now it's Kayleth's plane.

To Estorium!

 * Escorting wizard and gems to Estorium to try and study them nearer to the portal, attacked by demons!
 * Brought wizard to Terastra, got attacked by Ebon Rider mercenaries. Fought off demonic assault by destroying an Aspect of Orcus.