The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

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The Letter
On the wooden writing desk inside the cottage is an
unfinished letter from Zerabin to Rannirak:
Honoured Archmage Rannirak,
My comrades and I have celebrated your victory in
Crom Calamar in fine style. Lusche became fallingdown
drunk and a little too intimate with one of our
host’s pet devils, which could potentially have led to an
incident but for the ready availability of ice-water, with
which she revived herself.
Our host assures us that tenebrium can still be found
in comparable quantities to those he provided before,
though we have naught but his word on this. I cannot
deny that the samples he has produced are of exceptional
purity, the best to date. Their size, though, is barely that
of a thumbnail, far too small for our purposes. I am
including them with this missive, so that you may see
for yourself.
Naturally, he remains secretive about the source, though
it is clearly one of the alternate planes to which this
citadel affords him access. Quan’la believes you could
craft one of those forked rods and bear us there directly
with magic, bypassing Bastirak entirely, if he could only
visit the place and study it. I have twice had to restrain
him from following our host secretly. Such a brave boy;
I am proud.
These delays unsettle me. The chippings he gives us
seem almost like a sly insult. Could Bastirak, perhaps,
be playing both sides against the middle? Has he
had some better offer than ours? If this were so, only
Kandang could have proffered it. We have promised
him gems and the rulership of an island. Kandang has
the power to recognise the royalty of his dragon blood.
They are proud, the half-bloods. Bastirak may crave
royal titles and archaic privileges more than he desires
the kind of power we can give.
If necessary, I am prepared to…
Beside the letter is a small cloth bag containing four
chips of a dark mineral. If brought out of the bag,
they radiate a sphere of faint, smoky darkness two
feet across, not dark enough to conceal anything but
definitely noticeable. These are the tenebrium samples
Bastirak has provided.
A Knowledge (arcana) check (DC 20) reveals that
these samples would probably not be adequate for the
Conclave to find out anything useful about the tenebrium
itself, though an expert on the planes might be able to
use them to engineer the material components for a
plane shift spell to reach their origin plane.
11. The Mirror Gallery
On the walls of this circular room hang six tall mirrors
in oval frames of riveted iron, each one reaching from
the floor to the ceiling. The mirrored surfaces ripple
slightly, as if they were made from mercury held
suspended in the air. Images play across them.
Bastirak uses these mirrors to scry; they were taken
from one of the planes he visited and radiate a moderate
Divination aura. The mirrors are indeed liquid,
magically suspended in frames. Dealing even a single
point of damage to one breaks the surface, ruining the
mirror and sending silver fluid splashing across the
floor.
Five of the mirrors are scrying surfaces, while the sixth
is a magical trap (see below). When the scrying spell
is cast in connection with one, the mirror continues to
relay images of the subject even after the spell expires.
The subject, however, is allowed a new saving throw
each morning to break the link. Currently the mirrors
are scrying on the following subjects, counting them
clockwise from the entrance:
Mirror 1: This mirror is trained upon Sibiliss, the hydra
who guards Azarak in his prison of ice; see Room 9.
Mirror 2: This mirror shows Quan’la, the drow rogue
from Room 10. Bastirak is quite aware that the rogue
intends to follow him and find out the source of the
tenebrium, so he wants to make sure he can see the
rogue at all times.
Mirror 3: This mirror looks onto a dark, rocky plain
where an immense worm-like creature is crawling.
This is a glimpse of the plane of Noctulos; Bastirak has
focused upon a nightcrawler.
Mirror 4: This mirror is blank. Bastirak was trying to
scry upon the Player Characters and failed.
Mirror 5: This mirror is focused upon Grommen, if he
is still alive.
Mirror 6: The sixth mirror is a magical trap. The
images that play across its surface are vague and
chaotic, showing nothing definite. The mirror is a hole
leading to a ten-foot-square extradimensional space
(similar to a portable hole) in which a mercurius lurks
(see below). If a creature approaches closer than ten
Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8