4th day of Sunsebb, CY 580 (maybe) - An epic conclusion to a long and difficult chapter

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.

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.

Yochlol

In front of the spider, in a semi-circle, were eight drow priestesses. They all spoke in unison. "You have proven your power and the Mistress, Lolth, will allow you to bargain with her. The great and powerful Lolth makes the following offer. Leave now, with your lives, and the black bubble will be removed. Lolth will leave Oerth, never to return. You have earned this right."

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

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.

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.

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. . .

4th day of Sunsebb, CY 580 (not exactly) - A sword for the chance to kill a deity

 After a brief stand-off with the man (hero/quasi-deity, actually) known as Murlynd, calmer heads prevailed and the sword was returned to its case. But it wasn't until Sarril's familiar, Krek, showed up that Murlynd trusted the party enough to put away his guns.

Krek is an Orrek, which is a special supernatural familiar from the Plane of Concordant Opposition (Dragon Magazine #86) and one of the purposes of such a familiar to guide the soul of its master to the afterlife. The party had learned earlier that the outer planes were cut-off from the prime material plane, except through the use of powerful portals, like the black bubble Lolth had created over Istivin, or the one in her temple that brought the party to the Abyss. This meant that while Sarril was dead, his soul was stuck in the ethereal plane, unable to get home. Krek understood that the mirror in Murlynd's living room was one of Boccob's Mirrors (a Mirror of Mental Prowess), which happened to have once belonged to Zagyg (once a Magic User and Priest of Boccob). Krek intended to use the mirror to get Sarril's soul to Boccob's Great Library, but it looks like today was not the day for that.

Varys, still with True Seeing enabled, could see the invisible Krek leading the ethereal soul of Sarril toward the mirror. Murlynd, just by his nature as quasi-deity, was able to see the invisible Krek, and instantly seemed to recognize him. "Hello Krek, what are you doing here?" he asked.

Krek turned visible for all to see - a 3 ft. tall humanoid covered in green fur. "Hello Murlynd, it has been a long time. I am going to use this mirror to take my master's soul home."

"Who is your master?" Murlynd asked.

Krek pointed to Sarril's dead body, which was currently being carried by Pontus. This seemed to turn Murlynd immediately friendly toward the party. Whatever his past relationship with Krek, it was clear that a friend of Krek's is a friend of Murlynd's. With everyone calm and the sword returned, Murlynd invited the party to sit and meet in his parlor and discuss what was going on.

Murlynd was an excellent host and provided the party with food and beverage while they talked. Many questions were asked and answered on both sides. Some of the key information the party learned from Murlynd was:

• This demi-plane was created by Zagyg and, as he descended into madness, this plane reflected that. Hence visitors to this place will also slowly succumb to madness. Many of the residents were once servants and guards of Zagyg, while others were adventurers who stumbled upon the place.
• Murlynd's house offered protection from the madness, and the loss of Wisdom points would be restored over time once outside of the influence of maddening effects.
• Due to being cut-off from the outer planes, those who die here have their souls trapped. Sarril could use Boccob's mirror to join the afterlife, or attempt to have his soul placed back in his body through a Raise Dead spell, but if did neither of those things, he would risk becoming like the Witch-Ghost the party encountered in the attic. That being was once a servant of Murlynd's who ventured outside too often and then took her own life after succumbing to the madness.
• He explained that the sword the party was trying to take is called Gorgorin the Shatterer, and once belonged the death knight known as Saint Kargoth the Betrayer. Saint Kargoth has agents (mysterious members of an organization called the Sunsebb Sodality) scouring the planes in search of this sword and wants nothing more than to have it returned to him. The Company of the Seven (as Murlynd's adventuring party was once called) went on a quest to retrieve the sword after the Temple of St. Cuthbert in which it had been held fell to ruin. Murlynd's companion, Heward, constructed the grandfather clock with permanent non-detection magic to shield sword from scrying and other detections. Zagyg constructed this demi-plane to hold the clock, and Murlynd was assigned to be its protector.
• He also explained that one hour in the Abyss translates to one day on the Prime Material plane, and since the party had spent more than four days in the Abyss already, almost a year had passed on Oerth. It was now the 25th Day of Readying, CY 581.

That last bit of shocking news prompted the party to ask about current events on Oerth. Murlynd described a pretty bad scene, including:

• About the 8th Day of Ready'reat, CY 580, disaster struck in Chendl. Out of the depths of the city, an ancient and powerful evil was awakened. An entity now believed to be Ferrante, the first Paladin of Heironeous, who was struck down by the god himself after he became corrupted. Though Saint Kargoth is the first known death knight, he was built in the image of Ferrante, who was a proto-death knight of sorts.
• Ferrante's reign of destruction was swift and devastating. The Knights of the Hart fought back against Ferrante's forces of undead and eventually gained the upper hand, however, King Belvor himself, having just lost his son and feeling he had nothing left to lose, led the final charge. Ferrante was destroyed, but King Belvor was slain in the process.
• Furyondy is now in turmoil. The next in line for succession is Duke Tynneman, who is currently ruling as regent and struggling to keep a fractured Furyondy whole.
• The Red Death continues to spread, with the only apparent cure being offered by a Cult of Pholtus, which has grown quite large in the wake of all of the destruction.
• But most concerning is that after Castle Hart was virtually abandoned to fight Ferrante, and the forces of the Horned Society were weakened from massive counter-attacks from the Shield Lands, Iuz found an opportunity to grow his influence. His forces, virtually unchecked, invaded Molag and took over overnight. Within a few days, Iuz grew his small kingdom into an Empire. All of the remaining scattered forces of evil in the region came flocking to his banner. Without Furyondy to keep him in check, he spread his forces south beyond Whystil Lake and west into the Vesve Forest. Thanks only to a mysterious wizard named Philidor, he has been kept in check in the Vesve Forest.
• As for down south, Lolth's bubble expanded to cover all of Sterich, and her demonic forces have been breaking through the bubble with regularity. Without divine magic, the demons are nearly impossible to stop. King Scotti of Keoland is throwing all of his forces at trying to contain the threat, but it is a losing battle
• Murlynd stated  he and others, like members of the Circle of Eight, were currently focused on the trying to stop the mists that were cutting off the outer planes, and not able to do as much to help with the bubble. Even more importantly, King Scotti, as with most of the rulers of Keoland, have had strict laws regulating magic use outside of the royal court and the mysterious organization known as the Silent Ones, so helping directly is difficult.

The party explained about how they made a deal with a quasit to exchange the sword for passage into Lolth's ship. The only other way into the ship would require fighting their way through demon hordes - an impossible task for anyone. Murlynd gave this much consideration, then told the party they may rest overnight and he will return tomorrow.

And so they rested. The next morning, Varys took the opportunity to pray for a Raise Dead spell, which she successfully used on Sarril. When Murlynd returned, he informed the party that, after consulting with his peers, they have concluded that destroying Lolth is the more important than protecting the sword at this time, and stated he is willing to let them have it in order to fulfill their quest. He also confirmed that the holy avenger sword carried by Sir Fenius would be the key to destroying Lolth, though he warned that the sword may be destroyed in the process. He also told them that because they are cut off from the outer planes, the Mirror of Boccob would be the only way back to the Abyss, and gave Sarril the command phrase before leaving again.

Sarril placed the entire grandfather clock in the portable hole, but the party decided to stay one more day to fully heal and rest up. During this time, Varys communed with Kord and received more valuable information about their quest. Feeling fully ready to face what was coming, the party stepped through the mirror and back to the cliff where they had left the quasit.

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Sarril pulled out the sword to show the quasit that they had it. There was some, not unexpected, back and forth between the party and the quasit about who could trust who, but that was cut short as the powerful aura of the sword attracted the attention of several demons, who began heading toward the parties location. Sarril handed over the sword, which the quasit made disappear quickly, before  teleporting the party to a platform just outside the front doors of the ship. True to his word, the quasit handed over the keycard, then disappeared.

The doors were not like anything the party had seen before. Made of some strange metal, smooth, with no discernable handles or hinges. There was a slot next the door where Sarril was instructed to insert the card he was given. He did so, and this triggered the door to slide open rapidly, revealing a staircase leading up to a waiting room with a desk.

Behind the desk was a six-armed demon known who identified herself as the Matron of Lolth (a Marilith, or Type V demon for those really old-school players). She had her scimitars sheathed and strapped to her body, using her six arms and hands to sort through a mess of paperwork on the desk. As the party approached, the demon looked up and said "The mistress is expecting you. You will need to sign-in." The demon then proceeded to sort through the papers in frustration, looking for a visitor log that was nowhere to be found. Finally, she replied "Wait here, I will be right back" and then left the room through a door behind the desk.

The party discussed this strange development, trying to decide if the demon was sounding an alarm, or truly going to let them in if they wait. Ava was convinced she would be back soon with backup, and used her Ring of Invisibility and Inaudibility to hide. The rest of the party decided to wait and see what happens.

The Matron soon returned with the ledger and placed on the desk, just as Ava succeeded with a backstab against it. Ava did quite a bit of damage - more than 50% of the demon's hit points were removed in just one attack, which was quite impressive. The Matron, in response, activated an innate See Invisibility ability, spun around, drew her six scimitars and eviscerated Ava with much prejudice. While not completely dead, Ava was now below zero hit points and bleeding out on the floor. It was now the turn of the rest of the party, who all spoke up at once "She's not with us!" (well, okay, not the paladin, who really, really, really wanted to kill this demon, but managed to hold it together knowing that he needed to save his strength for the real fight that was coming). They all signed the ledger.

The Matron, seeing no more threats in the room, and seeing that the party was signing the ledger, managed to calm herself down. In the meantime, Pontus checked on Ava's wrecked body and began applying first aid to stop the bleeding. Varys put a minor healing spell to top it off. Not enough to make Ava fully functional again, but enough to ensure she stays breathing. Pontus then picked up Ava and the Matron led everyone through the spider ship on their way to see Lolth.

They passed through several rooms containing hill giants and frost giants, who left them alone while they were escorted by the Matron. They came through a set of doors and into a massive room that looked like it took up the bulk of the abdomen of the spider ship. Within this chamber there was an approximately 150 x150 foot opening, several stories deep. On the other side of this chasm stood Lolth, in her hybrid spider form. Around her were some grizzly sights, including that of a naked drow female, tied to the wall, as sword spiders cut and completely peeled her skin from her body as she screamed in pain. But once flayed, her skin magically healed and reformed, and the spiders started again. This was a preview of the type of eternal torture the party would likely endure at Lolth's hands if they should fail.

"Welcome to our home, little ones," Lolth spoke to them. "You have done very well, so far - but only against our puny minions. Nevertheless, you force us to dispose of you personally."

It is now the 25th Day of Readying, CY 581 in game. In real-life, we will conduct this battle on Sunday, August 29th. 

2nd Day of Sunsebb, CY 580 - Where to rest in the Abyss?

We had a very short online session on Sunday using Google Meet and Fantasy Grounds. It's been a while since the group has been together and we wanted to move things forward a little. Using technology is hard. There were a lot of sessions getting hung and people getting booted. I think that was because most of what we were doing was logistic - people updating character inventory, players creating new characters, etc., and all of the changes were stressing out Fantasy Grounds. I am definitely looking forward to post-COVID when we can get back together in-person and play with miniatures on a table.

As the party took time to loot the bodies of the dead drow, Sarril noticed that the silver egg in his bag of holding was vibrating again. He pulled it out and it seemed to be pulling toward an indentation on the floor. Placing the egg in the indentation caused a black portal to appear. The party stepped through.

On the other side of the portal was a long hallway that appears to go on forever. On either side of the hallway, equally spaced, were identical doors, as far as anyone could see. Sarril recognized this place from a dream he had some time back in which he was running from door to door while being chased by a large black spider. He knew that these doors opened up to various worlds - other prime material planes, mostly, which Lolth has either conquered or plans to. The party knew they had to rest, and that without a connection to their deities, could not recover clerical spells. Perhaps if they can find another prime material world to rest on, they can pray and recover spells before coming back to the abyss. The only question is, can they get back? They would need to perform some tests.

Going to the first door on the right, which opened into a blue sky over rolling green hills. They were looking down from about 40 ft. in the air. Cresting over one of the gree hills were a half dozen knights on horseback, who rode by without noticing the party. They then shut the door so they can check some others.

The door on the left opened to an ominous dark forest. Fen decided to attach a Rope of Climbing around his waist and step through. From the other side, he could not see the door, but the rope disappearing into nowhere. He was able to use the rope to pull himself back through. They decided to check even more doors.

Other doors opened into more alien environments, some looked habitable, some not. As they moved toward the end of the hallway they could see a pair of double-doors at the far end. As they got closer to the double-doors, they could see the worlds on either side of the hallways became war-torn wastelands. Sarril explained that these are worlds that Lolth has already conquered and that the party's own world of Oerth would be next. From the destruction that could be seen, it looks like nothing was left behind. The party was getting a glimpse into their own future if they do not stop Lolth.

They decided to go back to the first door to see if it would be a good place to rest. They decided that the party will go down on a Rope of Climbing, leaving one person on watch on the other side of the door. Tyril took first watch while Fen and Sarril and Pontus climbed down. Sarril felt a connection to Boccob, and realized he would be able to renew his spells from here. But soon a came running over a hill. The beast has the head and neck of a snake, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion, and the feet of a hart. It was soon followed by the six knights on horseback chasing it. One of the knights saw the party and signaled to some riders behind them to check it out. The party decided it was best not to stay, and climbed back up the rope. Just as the last party member made it back, a man in purple robes covered in stars, wearing a pointy hat, came up and studied the invisible door carefully and the rope was pulled back through.

They decided instead to select one of war-torn worlds. The good news is that there was nothing there to bother them. The only down-side is that everything was soot and ash. They made camp next to a burnt-out stone structure and rested, taking turns on watch on the other side of the dimensional door. This was effective at securing a much-needed rest, healing, and restoration of spells.

It was now the morning of what should be the 3rd Day of Sunsebb when the party went to the end of the hallway and opened the double doors. The scene before them was awesome in scope and intensity. They were standing on the edge of a rocky parapice overlooking a valley below. This was clearly still the abyss, as everything was dark and harsh. The rocky mountain on which they stood was all sharp, pointed rocks, lightning flashed all around from what seems like permanent black clouds covering every bit of sky. Below in the valley was a city that looked like it was cut out from a world that doesn't belong here. Surrounding that city was a transparent dome of what looked like smoky gray glass. Jutting up out of the middle of the city was a tall tower, and above that tower floated a structure in the sky shaped like a giant spider. A beam of dark energy flowed from the spider structure into the dome around the city.

Surrounding the city and covering much of the valley were what looked like hordes of demons. Tens of thousands of them swarming around. Amongst them were what must be gigantic war machines. Swarming over the dome were thousands of winged demons - Vrocks and other such things. It looked to the party like there would be no easy way to get to the city or the spider structure - which is presumably where Lolth is.

This is where we left off. Technical difficulties prevented us from doing too much in this session. Hopefully next session will be smoother. It is estimated to be the morning of the 3rd Day of Sunsebb, CY 580.

First Day of Sunsebb, CY 580

Things were not looking good for our heroes. With Sir Fenius unconscious from drow poison arrows, two party members unarmed, and a Blade Barrier blocking their escape, they needed to act quickly.

Dalron used the Lolth artifact to walk on webs and ran up to the nearest drider and started to attack. But being outside of the protection of Sarril's Minor Globe of Invulnerability meant he was susceptible to spellfire, and sure enough, another drider hit him with a Ray of Enfeeblement, sapping his strength make him much less effective in battle (but since he uses dagger anyway, he was still able to fight).

Sarril's first course of action was to cast Neutralize Poison on Fen to wake him up so he could then use his holy sword to dispel the Blade Barrier. This worked the next round Fen did just that, allowing the party to escape the onslaught. They closed the doors and ran north. Dammac attempted to listen at the next door, setting off a Glyph of Warding in the process and taking some damage. The party then ran through that door and the double doors that followed, which opened into a large room.

The room was 100 ft, square with 50 ft high ceilings. Across the far end of the room was a large pyramid and flanking the room were three smaller pyramids on each side. Also in the room were about 16 zombies and half as many skeletons shuffling around. The undead turned to the party and begin to advance.

But the party had a plan. They wedged one door shut and kept the other open, then stood in formation around the door. The intent was to let one undead through at a time and kill them. It looked like it was going to work, until one of the zombies coming toward them stopped to cast a spell. It was a Flame Strike, and it got most of the party, including Dammac, who failed his save. The damage from the Flame Strike, on top of the damage previously taken by the glyph, was too much and he went unconscious.

Just as this happened, the door behind them flew open. It was the four remaining driders from previous room, and they began shooting arrows and making melee attacks. Another party member dropped from poison this time (I think it was Sarril, but don't recall). The party realized they were not prepared for what was happening and shut the door to the undead room and wedged it shut, then went after the driders. It took a couple of rounds but they were able to bring them down easily when not separated by webs. They then picked up their unconscious comrades and fled.

While the Demonweb is long and twisted and confusing, it doesn't branch, so running in one direction eventually leads someplace. In this case, retracing their steps back to the sanctuary room where priests and priestesses of a peaceful deity offered them safe rest.

The party knew not to trust these people, but with the paladin unable to effectively Detect Evil, they really had no choice but to spring whatever trap was waiting for them. And a trap it was. These eight clerics were transformed Jackweres, waiting for the party to go to sleep before attacking. Jackalweres are not particularly tough and they don't have especially harmful attacks, but they can use a special gaze to put their victims into a magical sleep from which they can perform a Coup De Grace.

I know a lot of people don't like instant-kill options in AD&D, and many DMs won't use the optional Coup De Grace rules at-all. My house-rule on this is to split the difference. Allow automatic hits against unconscious foes for normal damage and after two consecutive, uninterrupted rounds, the victim is dead regardless of remaining hit points at the end of the second round. The victim has a chance to wake up after each hit, but it is not automatic. I think this is fair in that it gives allies a chance to wake the victim or intervene to save them, and even gives the victim a chance to wake up on their own, while still allowing creatures like Jackalweres their ability to be a little frightening.

The Jackalweres weren't able to do much against the conscious party members, but they attacked on second watch when only Pontus and Tyril were awake. Pontus fought and yelled while Tyril tried to physically wake up the others. Things got difficult as the jackalweres were putting party members to sleep almost as quickly as they were waking up, and Dammac went two rounds with a jackalwere at his unconscious throat. It was Dalron who came to his aid just before his demise, but it was close. The party managed to survive another encounter and now they had an actual peaceful room to rest in, so they did.

The next day, after studying for what spells could be gained in the abyss (clerical spells of 3rd level and above were out), the party decided to go back to the pyramid room and tackle the undead again. Being at full strength, they believed they could handle things better this time around. It didn't quite work out.

They started by charging into the room, hoping to identify the spellcasters quickly and take them out. The working theory is that some drow spellcasters were using illusions to disguise themselves as undead. It was a decent theory, but one they did not get to fully test, as one of the first things that happened was black fog-like tendrils flowed down from the far pyramid and began engulfing the room in darkness. It completely snuffed out all Continual Light coins and other light sources, allowing only those with infravision to see. But since undead don't emit heat, the party was effectively blind. Worse yet, none of the undead were standing out, so either the illusion was good enough to work against infravision (which is not difficult) or this was something else.

Dalron was pretty far into the room, as was Kohvo (the new half-orc that was rescued with Pontus). Both had to use their listening skills as best they could to find the enemy before they could even attack with a -4 penalty. This made things difficult, but not impossible for these high-level fighters. Then the rest of the party heard Dalron yell "I'm held!" (the results of a Hold Person spell) from somewhere in the darkness, a few moments later a wall of fire erupted from within the room, through the doorway, engulfing several party members. Though the wall emitted no light, those with infravision could see its heat, and everyone could feel it. Some small amount of damage was taken by most party members, but the screaming coming from within the room was unmistakable. Dalron was trapped within the wall itself, still unable to move. At maximum damage, it will only be a couple of rounds until he is burned to death.

And this is where we left off. It is the 2nd Day of Sunsebb, CY 580, and this may be the party's toughest challenge to date.

28th Day of Ready'reat ??, CY 580 - An Old Friend Returns

We left off the last session with the party still asking questions and drawing cards from the Deck of Many Things.

Dammac the dwarf decided to ask if his family was safe. He drew a card. Comet, just like Sarril had drawn earlier. He understood that the next encounter with a monster had to be single-handedly defeated by him and, if he did so, he would gain power. But Sarril had drawn the same card earlier, and they couldn't both single-handedly defeat the next monster the party would encounter. So this, of course, raised another question, one Tyril would be happy to ask on behalf of his dwarven brethren.

So Tyril asked how both Sarril and Dammac could benefit from the cards they drew, and then drew a card of his own. His card was one that raised his primary stat (Strength) by 2 points. So Tyril now has a 20 strength. Wow! The answer was simple. They had to split the party and go their separate ways, so that the next monster encountered by Sarril and the next one encountered by Dammac would be different.

This turned out to be simple. First, Sarril stepped out of the room with Dalron, and waited for a wandering monster. It took two hours, but eventually, two giant pedipalpi (whip scorpions) came along. Sarril easily killed them both with cones of cold. Sarril was then filled with power as he gained a level (past his racial maximum, which he felt extra good about). Next Dammac stepped out and he faced a single pedipalp. He had to work a little harder, but he managed to kill it, gaining a level for himself. The party then got back together and decided they did not want to risk drawing any more cards and left. When they opened the door again, the skeleton with the cards was gone, and a new room had replaced the old.

This new room as 50 x 70 ft and completely littered with bones. The occasional gold coin or gem could be seen, and Dalron even saw a scroll sticking out in one place. An obvious trap, the party concluded, though they were willing to spring the trap. Across the room was a set of large brass double-doors. The party entered the room and spread out to search the room while Dammac listened at the brass doors. Shortly thereafter, 15 ghouls and 5 ghasts erupted from the floor. It was a complicated battle, but nothing the party couldn't easily handle.

Once the ghouls were dead, Tyril tried to open the door. Though he wasn't successful, he did rip the large brass handles off (did I mention how strong he is now?). The rest of the party searched the room and found a potion, but decided they needed to leave come back after they have figured out the secret to opening the door.

And so off they went, spending another few hours in the Demonweb, eventually coming to a new door they haven't seen before. Inside were some people dressed in robes, who offered blessings of peace and tranquility. They offered food and drink and comfortable rest in safety. They mentioned that they are priests of a generous and peaceful god who are trapped here in the abyss, but their god has granted them sanctuary to share with those who come to fight Lolth. They said that others have come and gone over the years, but none have ever defeated her. The party was skeptical, but still tempted to stay, and they were long overdue for rest. But they eventually decided it just didn't feel right, and so they left, saying they would return later.

They eventually came to another door. This one opened into a short hallway and another door, which was trapped with a Glyph of Warding. Tyril set off the trap and took some lightning damage. Another short hallway then came to another door with another glyph. This time, Sarril cast Minor Globe of Invulnerability and opened the door, setting off the glyph which could not harm him. Another longer hallway had a door at one end, and a set of double doors to the left. They opened the double doors to reveal an immense space with no walls, ceiling or floor within sight. Only natural-looking vertical columns spaced 50 to 100 feet apart, with thousands of webs running between them as far as they could see.

Working these webs at various levels were driders, along with thousands of large and giant spiders of various types. Trapped within the webs were the bodies of people. Most dead, but some possibly still alive. At the nearest column was a half-orc whose head was still moving, and appeared to be talking to someone, and spoke the name "Pontus." Sarril and Dalron knew that name, and decided they needed to rescue this half-orc to see what was going on.

As they considered what to do, the driders began hurling fireballs at the party, but Sarril's Minor Globe was still up and the party was bunched together close enough that it protected most of them except Sir Fenius, whose Holy Sword granted him magic resistance. The driders then started shooting bows with poisoned arrows at the party as five sword spiders approached and attacked.

Dalron pulled out the Lolth Idol and used it to command all of the giant spiders to attack the sword spiders. Although the giant spiders were no match, it did keep them occupied long enough for Sarril to cast Wall of Force as a bridge to the column where the half-orc was tied up. When they arrived, they saw the other figure the half-orc was talking to. It was Pontus of the Cold Crow, the party's former companion. His body was physically present and he was very much sentient, but Sarril knew that he wasn't really alive. For some reason, when Pontus died, he was not reborn in the Hall of the Valiant in Ysgard, but here in Lolth's layer of the Abyss. That should not have happened according to Sarril's religious understanding, but however it happened, he was living his afterlife in the Abyss, and permanently if they can't find a way to get him out of here.

Prince Kohvo Koravel

And so the party cut both the half-orc, who introduced himself as Prince Kohvo Koravel (which must be a joke), and Pontus free. As they did so, the driders continued to shoot at them. One arrow managed to pierce Sir Fenius' armor and he succumbed to the poison, falling fast asleep. Tyril picked him up and the party ran back for the entrance, only to see that there was a blade barrier in the way.

Thus ended our session. It is biologically First Day of Sunsebb, CY 580, though, here in the Abyss, no one can be sure what calendar day it is.

28th Day of Ready'reat, CY 580 - Into the 66th Layer of the Abyss

This was a short session today as we had to end early for holiday festivities, and we were also testing out Fantasy Grounds (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/home/home.php) for the first time. We had a lot of technical hiccups, but overall, it was worth it, even for an in-person game. I highly recommend Fantasy Grounds as it makes administration for the players and DMs both easier and gameplay is smoother, once you get used to it.

We started with the party having just entered the Abyss, seemingly at Lolth's invitation. They found themselves among a maze of hallways, 20 feet wide. Fog formed the walls and ceilings and the floor was made of a smooth stone that appeared to have moving swirling patterns within. Closer examination revealed twisted bodies and tortured faces writhing around in anguish.

Walking along in one direction, the party came across what looked like an overpass. Shan-Ju pulled out a Rope of Climbing that he was able to use to climb up and the rest of the party followed suit. This brought them to another pattern of hallways which they followed for a while until they came to another overpass and repeated the same maneuver. Eventually, they came to an overpass 10 feet overhead and did it again, then eventually came to the same overpass. They realized they had been going in circles and, rather than go overhead again, they decided to go forward, following the hallways as it turned left and right. After about an hour, they came to a turn in the hallway where there was a door on their right and driders approaching from the other side.

The driders were dispatched quickly, and the party decided to enter the door. They found themselves in a very large, strange room. Everything seemed warped - curving up and away from them the further away it was. Above them on the ceiling was a table with a cloaked figure sitting on one end. The party could see that the room appears to a large sphere, and decided to walk forward, ultimately approaching the table, which felt right-side up.

The cloaked figure at the end of the table was a skeleton holding a deck of cards. Seven chairs appeared around the table, and the party members decided to have a seat, with Sebastion asking "Who are you?"

The skeleton answered "I can answer questions you have, Sebastian Silvertongue. For each question you wish answered, you must draw a card."

Sebastain was more than happy to participate. He asked "How do we find Lolth?" and then drew from the deck and went catatonic - his soul sucked away from his body (The Void).

The skeleton said "A question was asked and a card drawn. Lolth can be found in her Spider Ship, which is accessed from a door on the fourth level of the Demonweb. You are currently on the third level. To access the fourth level, you will need a key that you already have on you (it points to Sarril). To enter the ship, you will need a key that you still must obtain."

Shan-Ju then decided to ask a question. "Where is Slerotin's tunnel?" He then drew a card (Throne) and his Charisma was raised to 18 and he became aware of a new Monastery that belonged to him somewhere in the Flanaess.

The skeleton answered the question in great detail, explaining exactly how to find the tunnel, including looking for some ancient runes and how to activate those runes to reveal the tunnel.

Sarril decided to go next. "Why are some priests unable to commune with their gods? and he drew a card (Comet). He is now aware that if he single-handedly defeats the next monster encountered, he will be rewarded with power.

"There are two answers to your question, and I will provide you with both. The first answer is simply that many of the gods are now dead, though their worshippers do not know it, or refuse to believe it. The second answer is that a being of great power has discovered the secrets of the mists from the Domain of Dread, also known as Ravenloft. This being is using these mists to cut-off the connection between the Prime Material plane and the Outer Planes, thus limiting the connection between deities that exist in those planes, and their worshippers in the prime."

Seeing that things were going well, Dalron took a turn. "How do we defeat Lolth?" he asked, as he drew a card (Key). A treasure map then appeared in his backpack.

"You already have the tools you need to destroy Lolth. It won't be easy, but your best chance is for the paladin to use his holy sword against her directly. The rest of you should do everything you can to help make sure that happens."

Unfortunately, Dalron was disappointed in this answer as he had already planned on this strategy and was hoping there was some super-secret way to kill her that they were unaware of. But not this time. They would have to do things the old fashioned way.

At this point, the pressure was on. Everyone still had questions, but the risks were high. Everyone had seen their companion disappear and weren't sure what happened to him. Finally, Shan-Ju decided to ask the question on everyone's minds.

"How do we get Sebastian back?" he asked, then drew a card and disappeared (DonJon).

"To retrieve your friend, you must unmake the universe" came the answer.

And that ended the session. It is sometime, perhaps the 28th Day of Ready'reat, CY 580, somewhere in the 66th layer of the Abyss.