The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

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simply gave a name, a location, a portrait and a dab of
blood. Clearly, it was an invitation to scry the sender.
Cadrivaine was able to establish a scrying link and send
him a message to let him know when we’d be watching
next, following which he’s been writing down what he
wants to say at a prearranged time, so he wouldn’t have
to speak out loud and risk being overheard. It’s all very
convoluted.’
Doesn’t this whole set-up look like a trap?: ‘Yes, it
does. It stinks of treachery. Unfortunately, that’s a
risk you are going to have to take and I only hope what
Vellish can tell us is worth the risk. I’m sure you can
handle it if the mission doesn’t go entirely according to
plan, but if the situation becomes desperate, then get
out of there. Vellish’s information isn’t worth the loss
of your lives. As I said, we will give you the means to
travel back here instantaneously. Just make sure you
stay away from any magic that can lock down planar
travel; dimensional anchors, dimensional locks, that
kind of thing.’
Tying Into Former Discoveries: If the Player
Characters visited the Council of Trees in the Warriors
of Winter chapter, they may already know something
about the Ironclad Project. If they shared this information
with the Conclave, then Nimian Archimandrus theorises
that Drozen Vellish is highly likely to be involved in this
mysterious ‘machine’ project, and that this is what he
wants to talk about. Machines need metal and metal
comes from mines, so it makes sense for the drow to be
mining right now.
Event: Eddies in the Ether
Obviously, the adventure is not going to be as easy as
‘teleport in, teleport out’. When the Player Characters
are ready to teleport across, with Cadrivaine taking the
role of spellcaster as before (unless one of the Player
Characters wants to do this, in which case they need
greater teleport because of the range), the spell begins:
The Conclave have cast their scrying spells and
confirmed that Drozen Vellish is in his chambers,
waiting for you to come and collect him.
The spell takes hold and you feel the familiar sensation
of the world falling away from under you. The cosy
surroundings of the tavern room blur and fade. The
next moment you are somewhere else – but not the dark
cell you expected. You are falling through an endless
vortex, with amber and pearl colours racing past and a
roar like the sea in a hollow cave. The speed at which
you are moving is dizzyingly fast and yet everything
seems much slower than it should be. You realise that
this is the Ethereal Plane and that you are still in the
midst of teleportation. Has something gone wrong?
In answer to the unspoken question, darkness rises up
from beneath you, building in a pillar like a column of
water. It smokes and ripples, sending tendrils of shadow
through the ether. The sides of it spread out and up like
mounting waves, or arms lifted within a robe.
The immense shadow is directly in your path, lifting its
head, spreading its arms. It looms, impossibly huge,
unavoidable, and with a sudden freezing shock you
plunge into it. Everything around you shakes crazily;
there is a strangely mundane sound of tearing fabric
and abruptly you are flung tumbling over the floor of
an elegantly furnished room, with the blood pounding
in your ears.
The Dark, sensing that the Starborn are drawing close
once again, has attempted to stop the Player Characters
from reaching their destination. It cannot throw them
off course or harm them physically, so it has slowed
down time by a crucial few minutes while they pass
through its body.
In the time between the Player Characters’ departure
and their arrival at Vellish’s chambers, Vellish is called
to a disturbance in the mines and has to leave. The
Player Characters arrive in Vellish’s room to find him
gone…
Location: The Mencarth Mines
The dwarves abandoned this mine even though the
iron ore deposits were very rich, because toxic vapours
welling up from the lowest levels made the miners ill.
Rather than risk lives, they closed the mine down.
Now the drow send captured dwarves down into the
tunnels to dig the ore out. The drow do not care if a few
dwarves cough up blood and die, so long as plenty of
iron is mined for the new war machines.
1. Vellish’s Chambers
This room is nothing but a hollow dug out of the rock,
and the luxurious furnishings here cannot disguise that.
The thick carpets underfoot, covered with a pattern
showing stylised spiders with their legs intertwined, are
squishy with water. The hangings on the walls have
become mildewed and the bed smells musty and damp.
A dress uniform hangs on an iron stand, positioned
carefully away from the wall.
A writing desk of polished black wood stands beside the
bed, with a quill, inkstand and parchment upon it. A
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