The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

The Player Characters can choose the order in which
they tackle these missions. They can also choose to
skip them if they wish, though they will miss out on
opportunities for experience and treasure. In game
terms, they all have encounters with ELs ranging from
14 to 16, so no single adventure should be too easy or
too hard.
Information: The Abyssal Altar
Before the Player Characters depart to continue their
quest, the Conclave advises them to be on the lookout
for any information they can acquire concerning the
Abyssal Altar. Archimandrus sums up this artefact as
follows:
None of us has seen it in person but we know it exists,
from visions and such reports as have reached us
from former agents in Bahl-I-Shabran, the city of the
drow. You may have seen it in visions yourselves. The
Starborn of former aeons occasionally glimpsed it in
their dreams. We do not know if the Host intended these
dreams as intimidation or the
Lady of the Stars sent them as
a warning.
The Abyssal Altar is a piece of
black stone, kept in continual
darkness. It is the focus of
worship for the Ennead, the
leaders of the nine houses
of the drow. They perform
rituals around it that we do
not recognise.
Although we do not know
exactly what the Altar is, we
know something of its history.
It dates from the very first
Equinox of the Heroes, 3,000
years ago, when the Dark
manifested itself in this world
in the form of a colossus. It
was called the Black Titan
and marched on the city of
Shallenoi, bringing with it ‘a
cloak of 100,000 darknesses’,
as the records recount; that
is, an enormous army of
drow warriors. The Titan
was destroyed and its body
broken but the champions of
the drow were able to remove
its heart and bear it away
underground. Although the
connection has never been proven, it seems that the
Titan’s black stone heart became the Abyssal Altar.
The Altar is not merely a religious object. It is somehow
important to the work of the Host on this world. We are
not sure how or why it is important but we do know that
high-ranking members of the Host carry shards broken
off the Altar, by means of which they are able to corrupt
the Nodes. From that, it seems obvious that the Altar
concentrates the force of the Dark in the same way that
the Nodes concentrate the force of the Stars. A member
of the Host, if slain, could be restored to life there.
Find out what you can about the Altar, especially from
any drow you meet. We believe that it is still kept under
guard at Bahl-I-Shabran, but if it does indeed act in a
similar way to the Nodes, then logic dictates that the
Host would move it to where it would be needed most.
They have attacked our places of power, so it would be
sweet revenge were we to destroy theirs.
Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8
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