Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Descent Into the Depths of the Earth”
Things are beginning to move. A lady showed up in ornate armor, and spoke with Raven and Ezekiel for a while (she paid the Captain to not listen in). Raven says she called the sphere over Istivin a “growth,” and she seemed to find it amusing? when Ez said he wouldn’t mind attacking Lolth. She finally told us to wait while they concocted a plan for us – to get us into the Thane of Lolth to disable the sphere, and restore Alserv’s fortunes (“they” being Eclavdra, who is apparently back and in charge of the house again, even though evidence suggested we killed her in the Fire Giant castle. I guess someone cared enough to spend a wish on her?). Aliana gave the lady quite a withering stare when she kissed Ezekiel, and she left with kind of a smirk.
After lunch, Ezekiel took everyone upstairs to talk strategy. Lydia said she thinks she could teleport a mile away if necessary – the barrier just dampens teleportation – so I gave her the Sword of Lyons. It’s less useful against elf-types, but if we get in a pinch, Lydia’s our best chance to pull off a do-over.
While we were all still talking, a messenger arrived for us from a new player – Oolachrithon the sage. He sent a tablet that basically said we had dealings with him, to allow us to visit his establishment for further details. His messenger (Ezekiel says she was half-drow) led us to his place on the border with the Ghetto of Scholars (I only know because he happened to have a map of Erelhei’Cinlu on his wall, and I did some rough estimating while Ez and Raven were talking with him).
As for the sage, he wasn’t what any of us expected, I think. The door was opened to us by an old man with absolutely nothing behind his eyes. Except that he was breathing, you could hardly tell he was alive. He let us into a study of sorts, with bookshelves lined with books, and sitting at the desk – one of the purple-skinned, tentacle-faced squid-men. I’m not sure, but the fact he shook hands with perfectly normal-shaped hands might make the overall effect worse.
However, he was very polite, and stuck strictly to business. He says he is a “specialist” in demi-human history, theology, and myth. At the moment, he’s very “curious” to learn details about a sacrifice to the Elder Elemental Deity (not just a ritual, but a sacrifice). He is prepared to pay handsomely for information in that regard, however we come upon it.
He even offered some useful information for free. It seems when Eclavdra wanted to be, not just Matriarch of the Alserv, but Queen of the Drow as a whole, the clergy of Lolth opposed her pretty strongly…hence the Alservs’ dalliance with another deity. However, Sage Oolachrithon suspects that a shrine to the EEG was already on the property of the Alserv, thus giving them something to investigate when they wanted a new patron. A lot of this is speculation, of course, but it seems to fit with the rest of our information.
I guess he noticed me examining his map, and seeing as we were newcomers to the city, he gave us a few more useful details. The Noble Houses live on estates on a plateau beyond the city, reached by crossing the “Flying Bridge” over the “Pitchy Flow”…and then the Fane of Lolth is even beyond that. In short, there’s no way outsiders like us are going to get in there without some kind of invitation, so I guess it’s good we got to work on that.
While we work to engraciate ourselves to House Alserv (much as I hate the expression), the sage gave us another lead to pursue. Apparently someone has a scroll reputed to be about the EEG, and would hopefully be willing to sell it. The “someone” is called Pembreg the Fence, a halfling who lives (or at least does business) in the Ghetto of Chattel. The sage gave Ezekiel a token to indicate he has legitimate business in the next ghetto, so we should be able to at least talk to this Pembreg. It would be interesting to see who else is interested in this scroll…I wonder if they also will be working through agents. That is why the sage involved us, after all – because he would have trouble conducting his business personally? And if anything goes wrong – he never met us… They say his kind are at war with the drow…even more than the elves are.
At least it’s good to have another direction to pursue. Ezekiel needed another chat with Raven and Aliana, but when he’s done, we’ll ask the Captain for a guide.
**
This place is practically boiling over with “excitement.” On our way to visit the halfling (with one of the drow kitchen boys leading us), we passed two demons in the street (I didn’t know them by sight, but Ez and Aliana explained afterwards).
One of them looked like a lady of ill repute, slapped on top of a snake body and embellished with extra arms (I think she had six, but I was trying not to look). She tyok one look at Ezekiel, grinned, and reached for some kind of sword at her “waist.”
She didn’t get that far, though, because her companion noticed. He was a man-shape, as tall as a modest hut, with huge bat-wings looming over him from his shoulders (so, different from the giant two-legged bat we saw earlier), and openly carrying a whip and a sword. As soon as the snake-woman made her move, he back-handed her so hard she left a crack in the plaster of the building across the street.
Ezekiel gave some kind of professional nod, and hustled us on, telling everyone to stay calm.
A little further on, the kitchen boy led us through a square of some kind, with a statue in the middle that Ezekiel says is Lolth – a giant spider with a female elf face. It seemed even more crowded than other places, maybe because on one corner, a male drow was standing on some crates and calling out to the crowd milling around.
At first he just said to beware the enemies of Lolth, so I was trying to look small and forgettable as we passed, but then he said something that made us qll turn and look. He mentioned keys – but not keys – jewels, but not jewels…air, earth, fire. Those we definitely knew about, especially after the message Ezekiel received recently. The preacher said something about trapping the “ancient enemy” – “one and three and eight and four” – and he got really upset and wailed about a danger to the “eight-legged mother.”
About that time, a patrol (of lady drow, naturally) made for him, but I guess he used a dimension door or invisibility or something, because he vanished, much to the irritation of the commander. Ezekiel asked some questions, and learned the preacher has been doing this for a few weeks. Gotta check my notes to see how the timeline matches up (if I decide it’s important enough). At the very least, it suggests something Big is going down.
Finally we reached our destination. I wouldn’t have suspected it if we hadn’t engaged a guide…the windows are all boarded up, and the door looks like it used to have one of those top-half windows, but it’s all boarded up now, too. It even seems to have more cobwebs than usual draped all over the building (normal-sized cobwebs, fortunately, but lots of them…I wonder what that suggests about the owner’s loyalties…).
Our guide let us right in, and the door chimed as he opened it, so before long the proprietor came to greet us. The room looks empty and abandoned, but the proprietor obviously keeps busy…his little suit is well-tailoredand embroidered, with decoration all over his jacket and pants. It seems in a place like this, someone called “the Fence” does well for himself.
Ezekiel took him aside and explained our interest in a particular scroll. Master Pembreg said it would be auctioned off in two days’ time, at the Corral Cafe, and we got the kitchen boy to show us where that is, so we can find it on our own when the time comes.
It’s good Ezekiel isn’t as cynical as I am. He asked Master Pembreg if anyone else was interested in the scroll, and when the halfling waited for a bribe before saying anything, and then said, with a sly gleam in his eye, that a group of surfacers was interested, I was feeling put out. But Ezekiel dragged out of him that it wasn’t us, but rather a trio of humans, led by a woman – maybe named Turisk? They have something to do with serving a demon named Grazt, but Ezekiel says much of that is unconfirmed.
When we were done with the boy’s services, he ran back to the inn, and we followed more slowly. I think we were all glad to be off the streets, and after lunch we did some more private comparing of notes. Clatriel says any city that lets filthy undead run around in packs is…well, I’m not sure what all of the words were.
Mikael says we definitely want to kinda if we can get the scroll kinda thing out of the hands of any like bad guy kinda people. That got us talking about what kind of people would want to learn about the EEG anyway, and that made us wonder why Master Oolachrithon wants the scroll. Is it scholarly interest? The Alserv would probably want it for more nefarious reasons.
The human trio with scythes were having dinner in the common room today. Ezekiel squinted at them, and said they didn’t look like demon worshippers. And you’d think in a city like this, they wouldn’t mind showing it.
****
Well…another Alserv lady visited today. You’d think for all her jewelry and the precious metal embroidered on her dress, she could afford more fabric.
Anyway, she took us into a private conference room and shared some information. In the first place, the sphere “growing” over Istivin is not them, but Lolth (which matches what we’ve learned elsewhere). She also said Lolth has done this before, other places…maybe even on other worlds. How did those people stop it? She didn’t get into that…
Her proposal was, in exchange for getting us into Lolth’s domain to “discuss” the sphere with Her, we would bring certain things to Alserv…specifically four gems that “represent” elemental power. Ezekiel immediately spilled almost all we knew about the gems for the nodes (which I guess might lower Alserv’s guard if we freely share information, but it seemed uncautious to me) and the lady said maybe we could ask Lolth where they are during our “conversation.”
Ezekiel seemed leery about bringing the gems, so the lady suggested an exchange that could be just as good, which is for us to kill all the priesthood of Lolth within the Great Thane (I guess it’s like a temple?). She said it was the priesthood that dissed Eclavdra (not necessarily Lolth herself), and by “all” she means hunting down every last one within the temple. That sounds more like how we’re used to operating, and we certainly hold no love for priests of Lolth, but I still don’t like it.
Finally, the lady said that to make the contract good, Ezekiel and Aliana must swear to their God. She understands that that would be a bond she could trust, and she implied her house is risking a lot by letting outsiders into the inner sanctum, as it were.
Ezekiel said we would need to discuss it among ourselves until the day after tomorrow (the day after the auction, so we can try for the scroll as well). He said he will consult his God. And I guess since she was adding elements to the contract, he felt like upping the ante, also…and asked about seeing a “place of power,” maybe, or learning about the rituals the Alserv practice as part of the deal. To which the lady said, if we bring her the gems, we can witness the ritual where they are used…which to me feels like being a sacrificial victim…
We will see. After the lady left, we went to our rooms for more discussion. I don’t like it. Lydia says I don’t like anything. Heiron says he hopes we’re home by winter.
Find the previous entry here.