I'm surprised we were able to get this done in one session, but we did it. I printed out large poster-sized maps of Lolth's ship and laid them on the table. I also decided that the PCs would have seen a map of the ship on one of the walls as they walked through, thus eliminating the need to do a classic room to room dungeon-crawl. This took away a lot of the Q1 module and gave the players a chance to go straight to their objectives, which was a little bit of cheating, but I think it worked out well in this case.
We started with the party having just been escorted to a large room with a multi-story opening in the middle, and Lolth on the far side talking down to them. Next to Loth was Eclavdra, bound and being tortured by sword spiders.
Sarril's familiar, Krek, was visible with the party, which was the first sign that something was wrong, as he is normally invisible. As Lolth was speaking to the party, they could hear chattering and clicking getting louder. Spiders - dozens of giant spiders to be exact, were climbing up the walls and about to surround the party. Varys immediately cast Strength of One, but her holy invocation was powerless. Sarril cast Haste, and found his spell also did nothing. Sarril then hastily ran to the right to get out of whatever anti-magic field was causing the problem. Krek followed, and was able to turn invisible again.
Once outside of the anti-magic field, Krek's Gem of True Seeing began to function again, and with it, he could see that there was a silver aura around Lolth's body. This was the same aura he saw around Lolth the first time they faced her in the Fane (drow temple) of Lolth. This was an important clue, the meaning of which would become apparent later.
Though Sarril escaped the anti-magic field, the rest of the party did not, and found themselves surrounded by giant spiders, a Marilith (Type V demon), and, coming up from the rear, two frost giants. Everyone who could, focused on the Marilith first, as it was a wicked damage dealer, and just struck multiple times at Sir Fenius. Without the benefit of magical armor, it hurt, a lot. Everyone else focused on fighting spiders and making saves vs. poison (many, many successful saves were made).
After summoning the spiders, Lolth's next move was to place a protection spell on herself (just to catch anything that might slip by her magic resistance), and then dropping a Flamestrike on Sarril and Krek, which they were able to avoid most of the effects of.
The rest of the party continued to melee fight against spiders and the Marilith (which they managed to kill), while Sarril cast a Cone of Cold in the party's direction. Knowing the party was protected in an anti-magic field, this allowed Sarril to kill many of the spiders as well as assess where the edge of the field was. It also meant freezing the unconscious Ava's body, killing her, but, to be fair, the spiders would have done that anyway. This at least gave her a chance to be raised from the dead. Varys, seeing that the way was now clear, ran toward Sarril and out of the anti-magic zone.
Lolth responded by gating in a demon, and got a Balor (Type VI demon - wow), and followed up by hurling a 16 dice fireball at Sarril and Varys (I don't cap the dice on fireballs at my table). Varys was able to dive back into the anti-magic shell and avoid all of the damage, while Sarril ducked behind a pillar for half. Ava's dead body took 100% of the fireball, burning to near complete ash.
The rest of the party finished off the frost giants and spiders, but could see more giants incoming, and were all pretty hurt at this point. Sarril, seeing where the edge of the anti-magic field was, yelled at everyone to move toward him, which they did. He then cast Wall of Force along the edge of the field, cutting off the path of the incoming giants. They would have to go left and take the long way around. Varys then cast Strength of One, giving everyone a 20 strength (equal to Tyril's strength).
Lolth decided to throw another fireball in response. Sarril was ready, having brought up Globe of Invulnerability from his staff, but everyone else had to take serious damage. Sir Fenius used Heal from his sword on Pontus, and some other party members drank potions they had on them. The more difficult fight was still to come, as the Balor gated in a Glabrezu (Type III demon), before teleporting behind Sarril and attempting to remove his head. It didn't take Sarril's head, but it did a lot of damage. Sarril responded by casting Mirror Image from his Ring of Spell Storing to make sure the demon didn't get a second chance, then cast Haste on everyone (a house rule I allow is to use innate magic abilities, or items with instant activation, as a free action, in addition to casting a spell or other move, so Sarril was utilizing this to the fullest - but so were Lolth and the demons).
The Glabrezu cast Haste on itself, and rushed in, destroying all of Sarril's mirror images in a single round. While that may have seemed scary in the moment, it didn't take more than two rounds for the rest of the party to bring down these two demons, since the party were all hasted with 20 strength and now had additional blessings bestowed by Kord, thanks to Varys. Lolth attempted to dispel Sarril's Globe of Invulnerability and failed, much to everyone's surprise. Sarril responded appropriately with two middle fingers.
It is worth noting here that many factors came into play to turn the tide of this battle. First, I rolled horrible initiatives for all of the monsters on the field, so they were going last (except Lolth, who always goes first). In every case where the players had to make saves, they made them, and many times when the monsters had to save, they failed. But the dismal roll I made on Lolth's dispel magic really made the most difference, as it meant that Lolth's spells of 4th level and below weren't going to be terribly effective as long as Sarril has the globe up, and her higher level spells were not as effective at range. Lolth did manage to get a Confusion spell cast that would have really turned the tide if Sarril didn't dispel it a few rounds later - also an amazing roll of the dice. The dice were in the player's favor this session for sure, and it made for some super-heroic storytelling.
The party killed the two demons and began to rush toward Lolth. Some hill giants and an ogre were coming the long way around the other side to meet them, and were moving quickly thanks to a Haste spell Lolth placed on them. Sarril was able to cast Boccob's Rolling Thunder right down the line of them, taking some out, stunning others, and killing the two sword spiders that were torturing Eclavdra. Eclavdra's magic resistance protected her from the spell, so she lived. Lolth responded with a Cone of Cold while the party fought the last giant. Most of the party again took significant damage, and Varys was struggling to keep up the healing. They would need to end this fight soon.
As the party advanced on Lolth, Sir Fenius' holy sword began to glow brightly, and Sir Fenius himself became wrapped in a holy aura that gave the appearance of angelic wings sprouting from his back. Quite a sight to behold. Just as the party was ready to advance on Lolth and engage her in melee, she teleported to the other side of the room and was preparing to hurl more spells at the party. Given that she could do this an unlimited number of times, it seemed hopeless to win. But the BAMF party wouldn't give up.
Varys began to chant about Kord the Mighty. Louder and louder she chanted, becoming apparently enraged as she did so. Tyril joined in. Pontus, though not a dwarf, recognized this for what it was - a barbaric battle cry for followers of Kord. Both dwarves and Pontus completely lost control of themselves and went into a berserker rage. Sarril cast Dimension Door, placing the portal right behind Lolth. The raging dwarves and barbarian jumped through and with enhanced strength, blessing bonuses, haste, and a berserk frenzy, eviscerated Lolth, nearly killing her in a single round. Sarril and Sir Fenius followed through, with his holy sword outstretched and in full angelic splendor, attacked the demon queen.
This would have been enough to kill any other demon twice over, but Lolth is a Demon Queen, and a lesser deity. She was alive, but barely. She cast Heal on herself, restoring all of her hit points, and then lashed out in anger. But Sarril was ready for this. He pulled out a scroll and read Otto's Irresistible Dance, just as he had once done to Iuz in the Temple of Elemental Evil. Lolth's magic resistance was greater than Iuz's, and the chances of success were slim, but once again, the dice favored the bold. Lolth began to dance uncontrollably with all eight of her spider legs, a sight to behold! The party saw their opportunity and brought down the full righteous might of St. Cuthbert, and the rage of Kord, ending the existence of Lolth. . . or so they thought.
Lolth didn't die in that moment. She simply snapped out of existence. That's when it became clear what was happening. This version of Lolth was yet another avatar. Lolth's true form was not in this room.
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The raging, berserk barbarian and dwarves went around the room, finishing off the previously stunned giants, while Sarril freed Eclavdra. Eclavdra thanked the party for freeing her, and informed them that Lolth's true form was elsewhere in the ship, and they needed to hurry before she regathered her strength. She also explained that Lolth will attempt to make a deal with the party, and that they should not trust her.
The party asked Eclavdra to follow, which she did. Using the map they already had, the party deduced where Lolth was most likely to be. Skipping all side rooms, they were able to avoid fights with drow, yochlol, dragons (yes, plural dragons) and other monsters, and get straight to Lolth's quarters - behind a curtain, on the upper deck of the ship.
Strength and Haste had worn off by now, though Varys had been able to mostly heal everyone, so they were feeling capable, despite beginning to run low on magical power. The party threw back the curtain to find a horrifying sight.
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| Something hideous |
At the back of the room was a gigantic, rotting, amorphous being. What might pass as flesh was gray, shriveled, and desiccated. But whatever this was, or is, seemed to still be living, if barely. It's gigantic body pulsed ever so slightly.
It was also covered in webs, mostly cocooned, and attached to the front of the cocoon was a massive, bloated, hideous spider. The spider's abdomen was so bloated that its legs could not reach the floor. It was apparently immobile. A proboscis from the spider's mouth was inserted through the cocoon, into the desiccated being, and the spider was sucking fluid that appeared to be glowing with energy. With each suck, the amorphous being appeared to lurch slightly.
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| Yochlol |
Eclavdra spoke up "She lies!"
Sarril didn't waste any time, he pulled out a Wand of Frost and hit the entire room with a Cone of Cold. The spell didn't have a significant effect, but it kicked off another fight. The eight drow priestesses immediately transformed into their own forms of amorphous blobs (Yochlol).
Tyril rushed into the room and began attacking, but his attacks had no affect on these creatures, which responded with tentacled attacks of their own - lot's of them. Eclavdra then said to Sarril "cast Gust of Wind," which Sarril did have available, and prepared to cast the next round.
While Tyril's attacks were unable to damage the yochlol, by engaging them, he did manage to create an opening, and Sir Fenius, looking righteous and angelic, took the opportunity to rush in and hit the spider directly. Fenius couldn't quite reach, as the yochol's amorphous bodies closed in to protect their
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| Shalandain, the Solar |
queen, but something amazing happened. The sword that Sir Fenius was carrying leapt from his hand, and all of the holy aura that was surrounding Sir Fenius was absorbed back into the sword as it transformed into a massive angelic being - itself carrying a holy sword.
This holy sword is known as Fate's Promise, and is the sword once carried by the Solar named Shalandain. Shalandain's primary goal was to slay Lolth (for reasons not yet known), but a celestial being cannot enter the Abyss unaided. The Solar sacrificed it's own essence into its sword in order that a mortal would carry it to the Abyss to fulfill its mission. The sword got close to achieving its goal multiple times, but inevitably, the champion wielding it failed. But the sword always found a way to get into the hands of a new champion. Recently, the sword was found in the wreckage of a Neogi ship by an Illithid merchant named Zynthar, and was able to exert its incredible will to compel Zynthar to find a champion on Oerth to sell it to.
The first opportunity to deliver the sword ended in disaster (https://oldschoolgreyhawk.blogspot.com/2017/05/a-sword-for-pontus.html). But the sword would not be denied. Zynthar travelled to the drow city of Erelhei-Cinlu, where he encountered the party and the trade was made, placing the sword into the hands of its final champion, Sir Fenius, paladin of St. Cuthbert.
Shalandain struck through the hideous being and Lolth all in in one fell swoop. The resulting attack unleashed an enormous blast of energy that completely destroyed the hideous being, Lolth's true form, all eight yochlol, as well as Shalandain and his sword - all in a powerful explosion of purple eldritch energy that knocked everyone backward. It was another "save or die" moment for everyone hit by the energy.
Once again, the dice were in the party's favor, and everyone survived. However, as the energy ripped through everyone's mind, they saw the vision below.
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| Vision |
Who knows how much time actually passed while focused on that vision, but when everyone came to, they saw Eclavdra, her body absorbing the purple eldritch energy, and transforming.
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| Eclavdra Transformed |
Eclavdra then spoke to the party "Thank you for your service, heroes. I had faith you would come through for me. You have earned the right to your lives. This ship is yours to do with as you wish." And with that, she disappeared.
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Lolth's private chamber had a door behind it that opened up into a treasure vault. More gold coins and other treasure than the party had ever seen before - and they had seen a dragon hoard or three. Coins stamped with alien markings from countless worlds Lolth had conquered. On the far side of the vault was another set of doors, and through these doors, a somewhat familiar site. Four pillars, atop each sat a black shard, recognizable to Sarril and Pontus as the same shards that had kicked off their adventures together. From these shard came a beam of black energy, all coalescing into the center of the room. This was the source of Lolth's black bubble.
Sarril cast Fly on each of the party members, then tossed a curtain over one of the shards, which broke the beam, disrupting the bubble. Immediately, the ship lurched forward, and began to fall. Using flight, the party was able to float safely within the ship as it crashed into the tower it was floating above, and then to the city below.
Searching the ship for a window to look outside, they came across a control room at the front of the ship. Mysterious dials and levers with alien markings were placed at various consoles. No longer moving, were multiple robed figures with smoked glass face shields covering their faces. One of the face shields was broken to reveal what looked like a corpse inside. These were the undead operators of Lolth's ship, now dead as a result of the crash. From the windows in this room, the party could see that they were in Istivin, and on the prime material plane, though the sky was obscured by dark clouds and had an amber hue to it. Perhaps bad weather, or perhaps something more ominous.
People from the city were starting to gather around the ship, but the party decided to stay inside for a while. They were able to easily go room to room and kill or capture the remaining monsters, by taking their time and resting between ventures. Due to Sarril's advanced intelligence, he was able to determine how to operate the ship, and understood that it is not only capable of travelling through Greyspace (if only Luapan were around to explain what that is about. . .) but also capable of planar travel as well. They decided to take the ship up and fly it to a remote area in the mountains and ponder their next move. The good news is that the landscape definitely looks like Oerth. The bad news is, things definitely don't look right.
What will the BAMF party do next? Who knows. We will be pausing the game for a time while we figure out what everyone wants to do next, but stay tuned, this isn't over yet. . .
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