The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

156
‘The dark ones, little dark ones, thousands in number,
in thought most cruel, we counsel you this of them.
Every thousand years they think to rise and ravage,
even as dark meets light at dusk and dawn, but now,
now is different.
‘Machines it is they make. First they fashioned their
stabbing steeples that rise and rip the earth raw. Now
other constructs they create, taking the bright bones of
the earth, her metals and minerals, melting all down
with fierce fire for their forges. Ware the Ironclads! In
the mountains of the dwarves they make them! Engines
of war, bred from burning, burning our bark-bound
brothers. A mighty woe comes, a mighty metal moaning,
woe to the woods.’
If the Player Characters press the tree lords for more
information, they can only say that these engines of war
resemble ‘black beetles that stamp and tear what they
walk’. They are being built in ‘the lowlands of mineriddled
Svarth’. More precise information is impossible
to get. This section foreshadows Chapter 7, Traitor’s
Gambit.
18. The Bedchamber of Lady Barbelion
The gateway opens onto what can only be the
bedchamber of some being wholly devoted to evil. The
vast four-poster bed is decorated with scenes of torture
and the bedspread appears to have been made from
human hides sewn together. The walls have hanging
portraits of crimson-skinned fiends smiling indulgently.
A single lamp lights the scene; it is shaped like an iron
rose and hangs from barbed chains. Mutilated human
figures hang in the corners of the room, though it is
not clear whether they are there for decoration or as
prisoners. A single door of dark wood leads out of the
room.
From behind you, you hear a wild scream in which shock,
insane fury and recognition are curiously mingled.
Looking around, you see the faintly translucent form of a
drow female, manacled to the wall and bearing the signs
of recent ill treatment. There can be no mistaking those
eyes. You are looking at the tormented soul of Mezelline
vel’Arakh, who was once known as the Terror.
This is the private bedchamber of one of the queens of
Hell. It is also the place where Mezelline vel’Arakh’s
soul now lies in torment, chained to the wall as the
plaything of a fiend in punishment for her failure.
The Player Characters can talk to her. She berates them
for ‘mocking her in her damnation’, calling them more
cruel than the devil-queen who holds her prisoner. She
assumes that their only purpose here is to gloat.
Whether the Player Characters actually do any gloating
or not, Mezelline offers to help them against the
Ennead. She has nothing left to lose now. The Dark
has abandoned her and she is left desolate. The Player
Characters cannot do anything to help her, but if she
can help them destroy the servants of the force she once
served, who exiled her House so many years ago, then
her imprisonment in Hell will be a little sweeter.
Mezelline gives the Player Characters the following
information:
‘The black stone heart of the colossus sent to destroy
Shallenoi was recovered. My people called it the
Abyssal Altar. It is through this one Altar that all the
Dark’s power emanates. It is an avatar, yet an avatar
without life or motion. It is the closest thing that the
Dark has to a physical body on this plane. Heed me. If
the Altar is destroyed, the Dark’s foothold on this plane
will be gone. Do this thing, and your world is saved.’
If they ask where the Altar is, she answers:
‘The archmage Rannirak… he knows. He engineered
the machines that broke the cities of Jehannum. When
you return there, seek him. He will either try to flee to
the Altar, or he will have brought it with him, so that it
now lies beneath Crom Calamar itself.’
Of course, the Player Characters may not trust Mezelline
as far as they could throw her, but she is telling the
truth. If the Games Master plays this scene to its fullest,
the Player Characters will be left wondering whether
Mezelline is trying to get revenge on her former master
or upon them. Should they attempt to destroy the
Abyssal Altar or not?
If the Player Characters are silly enough to leave the
bedchamber and go exploring, they encounter as many
devils and fiendish creatures as the Games Master is
willing to throw at them. This is, after all, Hell.
19. The Wasteland of the Blue Sun
Beyond the gateway lies a place of intense blue light
and sudden, terrible cold even worse than the chill of
Bastirak’s citadel. The light is coming from the sun
overhead, which is the colour of a sapphire. It reflects
off the mounds of snow all around you. A light but biting
wind blows powdery snow across your field of vision.
Surrounding the gateway are eight ice sculptures,
around which the wind blows; they emit a strange and
mournful tune.
Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8