Expedition to the Demonweb Pits

Drow Attack

The Party were enjoying lunch  in the Inn, when the owner and town mayor Maddie sat down with them. She told them that several outlying smallholding had been attacked. The Party readily agreed to investigate and after picking up some basic supplies, headed out. Near dusk, as they looked about for a suitable place to make camp, they found a building standing off by itself near the rough road they had been using. It looked maintained, but unoccupied. Lefrassa told them this must be one of the occasional hospice buildings erected and maintained by those who honour Fharlanghn, the deity of the roads.

They settled in for the night, but during Elred's watch in the small hours, he heard movement outside. He woke the others and stepped out to investigate only to see the hulking figure of an ogre zombie lurching down the road. Talonux took up position near one of the windows, while Elred unlimbered his bow. As Lefrassa headed into the stable compound, the zombie was joined by another. As battle was joined, a yeth hound, presumably summoned by an enemy spellcaster, appeared inside the way-station and attacked Truldan.

Lefrassa used turn undead on one of the zombies, a drow warrior leaped over the compound fence and attacked her. A second crashed through the window and moved to attack Elred. As Talonux and Lefrassa hit the zombies with spells, and Elred fought a rearguard action, Truldan fell victim to a confusion spell and a drow priestess air walked into view. It was a brutal combat, but eventually the Party prevailed.

While looting the bodies, Elred found an ominous letter on the priestesses body which spoke of the goddess being on the move and instructing her followers to kill her enemies "without pause or mercy". The letter also referred to a "great city" and a "portal" to which the key was a "bent piece of iron".

Next morning, after Truldan had buried the slain they set off following the drow's tracks, a relatively easy task because ogre zombies are not noted for their stealth, which led them to a tunnel entrance in a small hillock some miles away

The Great City

Moving down the passageway, it opened into a huge cavern guarded by two drow lizard riders. These were swiftly dealt with and the party moved on through to another cavern which contained a glowing grey archway in a recessed depression in the floor. As the Party regarded it, a vrock suddenly appeared in front of it. As the party moved forward to engage a second vrock, obviously under the effect under a mirror image spell,  swooped down from a ledge and attacked with a mighty screech.  As Truldan closed to attack, the first vrock emitted a cloud of spores at him and he was immediately infested by thorny growth. Lefrassa charged towards the second vrock but was unable to reach it as it was airborne, so cast a flame strike instead, The vrock flew over to attack Talonux and Elred. Talonux, spotted the danger and used dimension door to move himself and the rogue nearer the vrock guarding the portal. This proved an unfortunate decision as the vrock immediately cut him down. While Lefrassa cast revivify on the fallen sorcerer,  Elred moved to a flanking position with Truldan and managed somehow to strike a vital spot, slaying the demon. The Party then focused their attacks on the other vrock, who was finally dealt with by a dismissal from Lefrassa. After pausing briefly for healing and to search the area, recovering a pair of boots and a cloak of elvenkind. Elred tossed a grappling hook through the Portal, activating it, and they stepped through.

They appeared in a busy street, presumably the Great City referred to in the note. The first thing they noticed was that this city was like no other they had seen. The streets curved ‘up’ on either side and if they looked straight up, they could see the city curving round far above them. The architecture and style of the city was all over the place, houses and buildings were so tightly packed together that residents had been forced to build on top of one another. They also noticed that a huge variety of races walked the streets, including  Outsiders who did not seem to cause any particular alarm or distress. 

The Party  stood about looking confused for a while wondering what they should do now when a strange humanoid being approached them. It had white hair, goat-like horns and yellow-tan skin, it also seemed to be floating inches above the ground! As it hovered in front of them, strange symbols appeared in the air before it which Elred's helm of comprehend languages, translated as "Welcome to Sigil strangers, you appear to be lost. May I direct you?". After a brief exchange , Elred asked about the "Spider Queen", only to be informed that "Gods were not permitted here!"  The question seemed to offend the creature somehow, who floated off, seemingly in high dudgeon. Somewhat nonplussed by this, the Party decided to do the sensible thing and find a pub. 

The nearest was the Red Dragon Inn. After seating and drinking in the pub, which advertised a wide selection of cross-planar beverages, they took the advice of the barkeep and hires a local guide, or "tout", a strange owl-like creature called Grafton,  to take them to the Styx Oarsman, referred to in the note they had found, which was apparently in somewhere called the Lower Ward.

Next morning, although the term was fairly meaningless, they headed out led by Grafton through the twisting spiraling streets. While dodging down an alleyway to avoid some kind of bizarre religious procession, they all suddenly heard myriad voices in their minds, hundreds of tiny voices, like children, all speaking together. “You must listen to us. Listening? Yes? Scuttle very carefully through this sewer. Demons are triple liars, but angels are eager to make you martyrs. Go, and trust neither heaven nor hell. We mean victory for you and defeat for the Spider Queen.” The Party stood in shock and drew weapons, but the voices seem to be waiting for an answer. “Not listening? Don’t trust them. Don’t trust the angels. Tell us you don’t trust anyone, and we’ll let you go.” Eventually Elred replied that they wouldn't trust anyone and the voices ceased as abruptly as they had started.

Grafton led them out of the alleyway, and pointed to a curious looking building, the second floor of which appeared to be a boat. He pointed and said "The Styx Oarsman" .

Rule-of-Three

The Styx Oarsman was noisy, and as the Party approached they saw three squawking vrocks come stumbling out of the open archway that is the entranceway. Within the could see barbed devils playing at cards, a beautiful human woman confidently serving goblets of wine to monsters, and a motley collection of customers, not to mention the fact the bartender had six arms! It was not the type of inn they were used to. Truldan tried presenting the letter they  had retrieved to the barmaid, a marilith, but to no avail. Eventually unsure of what to do next they returned to the slightly more salubrious surroundings of the Red Dragon Inn in the Market Ward. Eventually after a meal and a few pints someone suggested they try and track down the mysterious "Rule of Three" mentioned in Lithara's journal. They asked Grafton where this person might be found only to be told "At The Styx Oarsman" Grafton also warned them that he would likely extract a threefold price for any aid he 
gave them. 

Next "morning" the tout led them back through the labyrinthine streets back to The Styx Oarsman. This time Lefrassa asked the barmaid about Rule- of-Three. The marilith told them to sit and wait and she'd let him know they were there. 

Rule-of Three turned out to be an aged githzerai, who seemed interested i n their story. He offered to help them if he could, warning them that the drow were stirred up everywhere, "across the Material Plane, here in Sigil, and in the Demonweb where Lolth spins her plots". He suggested their first step should be to "go to the Tower of the Prophet, to open the eye there and ask how to blind the spider queen."

They took their leave and Grafton led them across the city. The tower was made of yellow stone and shone with an inner light. Two sword archons guarded the entryway, their eyes watchful and their straight-backed posture perfect. Clerestory windows were set just below the eaves, with a single round stained-glass window over the entryway. The archons moved aside to let them pass, however they did frown and look a little closely at Truldan, who shrugged it off. Inside, the Tower of the Prophet made them all a little dizzy. The whitewashed walls seemed to rotate sharply in all directions at once around a single golden construct suspended in the air above the centre of the floor. This construct looked like a sphere forged in the anvils of Mechanus, but it shone brightly, and its whirring sound was barely noticeable above the noises made by its watchers and worshippers. Three bearlike wardens fully 7 feet tall stood in prayer beneath the gleaming sphere, their arms lifted and their lips moving.  One of the bearlike wardens approached them. “I am Humbart. How may I serve?” he asked.

Lefrassa responded that they had come to open the eye, at which point Humbart beckoned them forward. S they moved forward The brass segments of the Eye snapped back one by one, releasing a ray of light so bright it seemed like a solid pillar. It pointed up at the ceiling, reflecting down to the pillars and made the temple floor as bright as noon. As each segment snapped away from the Eye, the light shone directly at more and more of the temple interior; when the final segment dropped beneath the Eye, revealing it completely, the light touched each of the Party. They couldn't see anything around them except as flickering shadows; solid people and pillars looked transparent in this light. They felt it as a source of warmth and inquisitiveness, and in Truldan case vaguely nauseating —a living light that burrowed into their body to their soul. Voices echoed within the light. Somewhere nearby, they could distinctly hear the scratching of a quill on paper. Lefrassa suddenly spanned-to, finding a piece of aper in her hand, still glowing faintly. Written on it in celestial script were the words:

The bow of beasts dissolves the taint of the corrupted,
The bitter ice hides a giant’s sword to crack Abyssal armour.
Search The Lady’s wisdom and the book of flesh,
Bide your time, and flee when the goddess shakes her web.

A pair of keys: a blackened tongue, a golden word,
Pass through three gates: serpent, darkness, stone.
Kill the queen in her black pearl, and find
Near the throne a fourth gate - home.

Not really sure what had happened, they headed back to the Styx Oarsman.

Rule-of-Three examined the Prophecy and shook his head, telling them that he regretted to say that some Higher Power appeared to have taken an interest in them and judging by the final line of the Prophecy, none of them would be able to return home until the Prophecy was fulfilled. He suggested that the reference in the first line most l likely referred to the ancient demon-slaying bow Thaas, a creation of ancient and powerful elven magic. He want on to suggest that "this reference to beasts, animals, and creatures is surely a hint, a clue, an omen that you must go to the Beastlands to recover Thaas!”  He went on to tell them of the location of a portal to Yggdrasil he knew of from where they could get to the Beastlands. After leaving Rule-of-Three 

Lefrassa asked Grafton where they could find more information about their destinations. Grafton immediately took them to the Great Library, where she and Talonux found some useful information about Yggdrasil, The Beastlands and indeed Sigil itself. Next morning they set out to the portal Rule-of-Three told them about, however on they way were ambushed by a nycoloth and some mezzolths!

The World Ash

The battle against the yugoloths was not going well for the Party, while Lefrassa and Elred were making inroads into the mezzoloths, especially once Lefrassa cast align weapon, Talonux went down under a furious assault from the nycaloth, only being saved by a mass vigour spell  from Lefrassa. Truldan fell victim to a fear spell and fled the scene. Fortunately Talonux recovered enough to rejoin the fray casting a phantasmal killer that disposed of the nycoloth. Once the battle was over, the Party repaired to a nearby pub to rest and recover. Eventually the Party headed off to the tree in the Hive Ward and activated the portal to Yggdrasil.

They passed through the portal and found themselves on an enormous branch that swayed slightly and is covered in sun-dappled shadows. The branch had to be 50 feet in diameter, if not more. Leaves and branches blocked their vision in most directions, but they could look along the level surface of the branch they were on toward a grey-brown cliff a few miles away. Slowly it dawns on them that the cliff is the trunk of the tree; the tree must be literally miles tall and wide. Time seemed to move strangely on the giant tree, but as the sun set beyond a distant, fog-shrouded horizon, Birds and tree lizards grew silent as twilight deepened. An owl hooted. At some point, the stars came out, but they seem brighter, closer, richer than those they remembered from the Material Plane. A breeze rustled through the branches, and the stars swayed, as if moving with the tide. The stars hung from the branches by the thousands, seeming close enough to touch. The night was uneventful and as they neared the giant trunk, they spotted that someone had built a series of makeshift hand holds there. Rungs had been nailed to the trunk in places, but sections are missing. Climbing up or down could be complicated. Elred heard something scraping along the bark just around the trunk; a furry creature stuck its head up and watched you. It looked like a giant squirrel, and it carried in its mouth an enormous nut the size of a tankard. It was wearing a leather harness decorated with three long black feathers. Lefrassa recognised the creature as a Ratatosk

They quickly established a common language in celestial, the curious creature introducing himself as Kippenval and after they had shared food, offered to find a guide for them to help navigate the tree. Their guide was a young ratatosk called Almveig, who scampered off ahead of them as they more laboriously climbed down the trunk from branch to branch. Needless to say, Talonux was first to fall, crashing to one of the branches below. As his friends moved quickly to help him first Lefrassa and then Elred also tumbled off the precarious foothold, the elf disappearing out of sight. Dispatching Almveig to help Lefrassa, Truldan charged to help Talonux, finding him being circled by hungry looking giant ravens. The ravens were quickly dealt with by a combination of Truldan charging forwards, shouting scarily and waving his hands in the air, and by a hippogriff summoned by Talonux.

It only took a couple of hours for them to meet up with Almveig and Lefrassa, but it took nearly two days to locate and rescue Elred. Fortunately the elf was found not far from the portal to the Beastlands, and following instructions from Almveig they activated the portal and stepped through.

The Hunter and the Hunted

The Party stepped out from a tree hollow into a dense moonlit forest, a stream ran nearby and through the canopy above the moon could be seen glowing brightly. Lefrassa marked the spot where the portal was and they headed out, deciding to follow the path of the stream. After a few hours they decided to rest and wait for dawn when Lefrassa said she would cast a divination to help them find the way. Morning never actually came,the sky remaining dark and the moon remaining bright, but something within Lefrassa called her to prayer, after which she cast her spell.

Following the words of the divination they followed the stream till it cascaded downwards in a waterfall. As Lefrassa's divination had foretold, below they they could see what looked like a well-worn game path leading away from the pool at the base of the waterfall. In short order the members of the Party either climbed down or used feather fall to reach the path and began following it. They had been travelling for some hours when they were ambushed by displacer beasts led by a pack-lord.

No sooner had they dealt with the displacer beasts when a thundering of hooves announced the arrival of another challenge. Mounted on a megaloceros an angry Wild Hunter accused them of "spoiling his hunt". Furious, he swiped with a great axe at them before blowing  his horn and using his horn of the hunt ability to drive most of the Party away in fear. Only Talonux managed to withstand the effect and managed to distract the Wild Hunter with a summoned hippogriff before hiding in the bushes.

Eventually the other returned, Elred being particularly irate at the Wild Hunter, and ganging up on him killed him after a furious battle.

The Demon-Slaying Bow

Eventually the path led them toward a quite moonlit glade, but only after dealing with its guardian - a wizened elder watcher. A quiet reverence filled the area. As the Party entered what was clearly a sacred space. The moonlight shimmered on a pocket lake, about 100 feet across. At the centre of the lake sat a small island, only about 20 feet in diameter. A dimension door spell from Talonux soon brought them to the island safely where they found what appeared to be offerings of flowers, woven garlands of vines, nuts, and even a few metal trinkets which made a deep pile on what seemed to be an ancient burial site. At the centre of the island, an unusual longbow stood upright; a particularly brilliant beam of light illuminating it. The longbow appeared to have been hewn from the rack of a great stag. Elred claimed the bow and the others seemed reluctant and they spent a peaceful night in rest before heading back to the portal to Ygdrassil.

Returning to the World Ash they were met by one of the ratatosk but not Almveig who had guided them there. The ratatosk led them to the tribes current encampment where they met  heir old friend Kippenval. After breaking out the supplies to treat the tribe to a feast. Kippenval told them he may be able to point them in the right direction to where "The bitter ice hides a giant’s sword to crack Abyssal armour", believing it to be a sword mentioned to him once by a Party of Midguard dwarves he had guided some time ago, who believed it could be located in The Iron Wastes . When asked about Almveig,   Kippenval told them that she had been killed only the day before by the "evil branch". Lefrassa volunteered to cast raise dead on the young ratatosk but they were told the body had been lost, probably eaten. at this point the Party offered to deal with this threat to the tribe and recover their guide's body if possible. After resting overnight they ratatosk led them to the evil branch"

The tree’s branches here were silent. Nuts and leaves thickly carpeted the branch underfoot. All around was is moss, barren branches, and split wood containing black hollows. Some of the holes and splits in the bark seemed natural, while others looked freshly torn or even showed tooth marks that only an enormous animal could have made: The teeth must have been several inches wide. As Truldan moved forward cautiously, he heard a twig snap, and suddenly leaves were swirling all around him. The tree’s branches had come up through one of the black hollows and were grabbing for the barbarian. In short order the Party were in a battle for their lived against an enormous ironmaw lurking within a hollowed out portion of the tree. Eventually, all except Elred sorely wounded, the Party gained the upper hand and slew the fearsome monster. Truldan undertook the task of sawing through its exterior to recover Almveig's body, which, along with some treasure from previous victims, they recovered. Returning to the encampment to great rejoicing that the monster had been slain, Lefrassa cast raise dead and returned Almveig to her tribe.

Next morning Kippenval led them to one of the lower branches of the tree and told them in order to activate the portal they must step through bearing ice.  Lefrassa, after ensuring that Elred had secured a leaf from the tree that they might return,  cast an ice axe spell and grasping it firmly the Party stepped through, immediately finding themselves in a hellish frozen wasteland they rapidly decided they were ill-equipped for. Returning to Ygradssil, they decided to return to Sigil and equip properly for the hostile terrain.

Once back in the city and their shopping for supplies and cold weather gear was complete, they decided to go see Rule off Three, who was sitting in his usual seat in the Styx Oarsman. He was impressed at their swift recovery of Thass and advised them of the third task they must perform: "That they prepare an expedition to visit the Demonweb and gather a report from a fellow scholar. Though she is a drow, Lissondra has rejected Lolth’s embrace, and she serves me in exchange for information that furthers her own experiments.” He placed a large satchel filled with books on the table with a heavy thud. “Give her these in return for her report, and we’ll soon see Lolth’s plans unravel. Once you’ve done so, I think it will be safe for you to return to your home plane. I have uncovered a direct portal to your own kingdom and will give you the details when you return.”

The Party agreed to undertake this task once they had recovered the "giant's sword". Accepting this, Rule of Three volunteered the location of a portal to The Iron Wastes nearby, they key to which was to wear a winter-wolf pelt while stepping through.

The Demon Quelling Sword

The Party stepped out once more on the the frozen snow fields of the Iron Wastes using a Portal that Rule of Three had told them about. It was as bitterly cold as they remembered from their last visit, however the winter wolf pelts they had purchased in the Great Market gave them additional protection on top of the winter clothing, so it was just about bearable. A divination from Lefrassa led them three days later, via a cold and uncomfortable trek to a tower on the edge of a giant mountain range. Elred and Truldan made their way cautiously up a the twisting ice-covered path only to come under attack by boulders hurled by a Frost Giant on the roof of the tower.

As Truldan and Elred charged to the huge wooden doorway of the tower and began hacking at it, Lefrassa hit the frost giant with a flame strike. The  spell  killed the giant instantly instantly, only for him to be replaced by another.  Truldan and Elred broke though the door ant attacked the frost giant within, while the one on the roof began clambering down the iron ladder to aid his comrade. Seeing this Talonux used dimension door to take himself and Elred to the roof where they rained down arrows on the giant from above. The giant's defeated Truldan was bale to claim The Demon-Quelling Sword, a Large +3 mithral evil outsider bane frost mighty cleaving bastard sword.

Returning to Sigil, the Party began preparing for their trip to the Demonweb. After Lefrassa researched what she could in the Great Library, Grafton was engaged to take them to a portal. Suddenly the noise of Sigil was gone, and the Party was in a chamber seemingly made of webs. The air smelled slightly acidic, and the tunnel was about 50 feet wide. The only marker of the portal is the presence of bones, hundreds of them, all chewed at the ends with the marrow sucked out of every one. Tufts of hair lie everywhere among the bones. An iron pyramid, a bronze star, and a blue crystal cube were inscribed into the floor here, but the Party barely had time to take this  in when a drow patrol arrived. Ignoring Elred's attempt at a friendly greeting, the drow attacked - the last mistake the dark elves were ever to make!