12 - 07/19/23 : The Gates of Delirium

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  The Fairhill Four & Company made their way to the local temple of Kamien, where a kind aasimar cleric named Oromo took Wyncaryn under his care. After placing her in a healing pool and examining her condition, he determined Wyncaryn had been struck with the foul poison known as Moonbane; a combination curse and magical poison, each which served to renew the other when one was cured, and could resist attempts to dispel both by jumping to another target.   Oromo determined that he would be able to synthesize an antidote based on the poison if the party would be able to acquire an additional sample of the poison, undiluted and unused. The drow were likely to have another sample of the rare poison somewhere in their holdings in the Undermountain; giving Ozwik, Yzzan, and Edea another reason to venture below. Father Oromo assured them that he would be able to keep Wyncaryn alive for around a month, hopefully giving them time to find the cure.   The party spent the night at the temple and parted ways with Barik afterwards, who promised to have his people keep the peace above ground as best as they could while the party descended. To access the Undermountain via a safe route, the party made their way to Castle Revelmoore and met with High Dragon Solauvaire.   Solauvaire showed the party an extensively fortified teleporter in the heart of the castle, which led directly to Ramrider's Retreat on the third level of the Undermountain. He explained that the teleporter was guarded on penalty of death, and was used to maintain relative peace with the Xanathar Syndicate by offering an easy way to set up diplomatic meetings. Solauvaire then branded the party with magical symbols on the backs of their hands - including a nervous Yzzan - which would allow them to utilize the teleporter without immediately dropping dead. After bidding them good luck, Solauvaire departed, and the party teleported down.   The party found themselves in an abandoned tenement on in Ramrider's Retreat, the Xanathar Syndicate's seat of power. They exited this tenement and gazed out at the vast and dark River Sargauth, which the third level of the Undermountain - the Sargauth Level - was named after. They quickly identified the meeting place with Volaire Evermere, a tavern called the Pick & Lantern, and entered.   Sin greeted the tavern's owner, a halfling woman named Penelope, with familiarity, and asked if 'she' had been spotted around anywhere. Penelope reacted with nervousness and couldn't answer definitively. The party soon found Volaire, who invited them into an empty room to speak.   Within, the Masquerade agent gave the party a rundown of the situation on the Sargauth level as he had seen it during his scouting efforts. The half of the level not occupied by the Xanathar Syndicate was being warred over by two opposing factions; a newly arrived legion of hobgoblins led by a hobgoblin named 'Azrok the Great', and the forces of the drow house Arkhenneld. The Syndicate, Volaire reasoned, would stand to gain if the fighting did not spill over to the Retreat.   As the party spoke, however, the door was suddenly forced open by a burly half-orc woman, who was soon joined with another half-orc wielding a large compound bow and several heavily armored duergar soldiers. Following these individuals was none other than the Xanathar, Raeziel Ramrider herself. Yagra, the half-orc woman, held Volaire against the table as Raeziel greeted the party coldly.   Sinelthriandra greeted Raeziel like an old friend, to which Raeziel replied warmly but with a harsh edge. She expressed her dislike of what she saw as the Council of Lords' meddling in the affairs of the Xanathar Syndicate, but it was easily deduced that she held a special hatred of the Open Lord himself; Raeziel saw her sister Bonziel's induction into the Masquerade as Renaer leading her on an idealistic yet suicidal crusade, which she did not survive.   Raeziel gave a greater overview of the conflict between House Arkhenneld and Azrok's Legion, and said that the legion being wiped out would be a waste of potentially useful resources. She wished to enlist a weakened Azrok's Legion as her own ground forces instead of wiping them out, as they could help greatly expand her power on the Sargauth level and beyond. To assure the party's cooperation in her aspirations, she had Yagra take Volaire hostage and warned the party to heed her desires or else. She departed soon after, leaving Ozwik furious and Sin somewhat dejected.   Sin expressed that power and the loss of both of her sisters had changed Raeziel, but Ozwik was not convinced to have pity for the Xanathar. He branded her a tyrant, and agreed with Edea's less grandiose tile of 'bully'. However, with Volaire's life in the balance, the party had little choice but to follow along with the plan to aid and enlist Azrok's Legion.   The party made their way to the other half of the Sargauth level by navigating the river with a rowboat, and then passing through narrow cave passages. As they progressed, however, they soon found the cave walls were sprouting bloodshot eyes; the telltale sign of the mad mage Halaster's observation. Eventually they came across an open cavern, in which they were greeted by Halaster himself.   Halaster, however, was acting erratically, even for his typical brand of insanity. Far from his dangerously playful self, he continuously babbled about a mysterious feminine being that offered deadly temptations that was present in the Undermountain. He also became agitated upon laying eyes on Yzzan, muttering doom-sayings about 'the white wyrm in the sky' which had brought about untold destruction before his very eyes. Ozwik was able to get Halaster to focus briefly, but it was not enough to get a straight answer about the temptatious figure lurking below. Halaster firmly declared his Undermountain to be his perfect playground, and that none could take it from him, before disappearing.   The party, rattled by Halaster's ramblings, continued forward. The caverns eventually led to an abandoned swathe of houses built of stone, all of which seemed to have been recently abandoned. They also noted the presence of strange beams of luminous, iridescent light emanating from various points just out of reach. Soon, each member of the party was assaulted by visions of their greatest desires, accompanied with a soothing and calming voice.   Sin was shown visions of the entirety of Revelmoore looking on in adoration as she was given official commendations by her adoptive father; the voice offered her all this and more, but Sin remembered the ramblings of Halaster and resisted the voice's offer, knowing that such feats were better earned by her own hand.   The voice, frustrated, then jumped to Yzzan. This time, her efforts were far more successful; the voice showed Yzzan visions of returning to his true draconic form, lording over a vast treasure hoard, flying freely through the skies, and unleashing his devastating breath with impunity. The voice was finally given form as a winged succubus, her limbs ending in scaled talons, appeared and wrapped her arms and wings sensually around Yzzan. Ozwik called out to Yzzan to resist, but was unsuccessful; Yzzan agreed to the succubus' offer, and the two disappeared.   The succubus soon re-appeared, however, to gloat over her prize. She introduced herself as Aezora, daughter of Malcanthet, Demon Queen of the Succubi. This name struck a chord in the group, who remembered it to be the name shared by the Luck Blade that had served as the Open Lord's badge of office. Aezora coyly congratulated the party for connecting the dots; the blade Aezora had been her prison for some time, and the blade's power to grant wishes had in truth been her own. She expressed delight that the dark secret of the Council of Lords had been broken, and that she was free to tempt and collect souls of her own will once more.   Aezora vanished into the ethereal plane once more and targeted Ozwik and Edea next. Ozwik was shown a memory of his childhood, in which his human father and orcish mother helped him in his childhood to forge an ingot together. Aezora offered a wish to Ozwik, to bridge the gap between the human and orcish peoples without a struggle, but Ozwik refused. He wanted nothing more, but without struggle and effort, the endeavor would be pointless.   Edea was next, though she remained quiet about what she had seen. It was guessed by the party that she was shown visions of her family, complete as if her mother had never left. After Edea resisted, Aezora relented and departed in full, delighted that she had acquired her prize in Yzzan.   With yet another member missing, the party's morale was dropping as they continued forth. In another abandoned hovel, they discovered a strange mass of glowing ooze, which dripped from the floor and began to rise and take shape. The shape was that of a short elven girl, who introduced herself joyously as Hilda.   The party, confused, asked Hilda about who she was and where she had came from; Hilda could recall nothing except her own name, however. Ozwik called out to Halaster to explain what they were seeing, and the Mad Mage appeared. He admitted that he wasn't quite sure where Hilda had come from, as she had just mysteriously appeared. This frustrated Halaster, since he was supposed to have total knowledge of all the Undermountain's denizens, and yet both Hilda and Aezora had managed to elude him.   When the party told Halaster that they had met Aezora, he acknowledged that Yzzan had disappeared after being tempted. He laid out what he believed to be true about Aezora; that she could communicate telepathically with any creature that knew her name, and given that she was not using this to influence the powerful individuals above ground, she must've been trapped in the Undermountain even after being released from her blade. The party had all heard her name when the Council of Lords discussed the missing luck blade, thus exposing them to her wiles once they had entered the Undermountain.   Halaster also found it odd that he and others had not remembered that the Luck Blade of the Open Lord was in truth an imprisoned demon; almost as if someone had taken the very memory from them.   Left with no course but to continue pursuing the hobgoblin lead for Raeziel, the party accepted the mysterious Hilda as a companion, given that she had no memories and nowhere to go. She bonded quickly with Nella, who enjoyed her exuding warmth.   The party quickly encountered a hobgoblin patrol, who suspected Sin of being an agent of their enemies in House Arkhenneld. She and Ozwik were able to convince them to let them speak to their leader, Azrok, without having their weapons confiscated. They were taken to home of the Legion and were brought before Warlord Azrok, who sat atop a throne of bleached skulls and rested his feet atop an iron anvil.   Sin took the lead in speaking to Azrok, showing him the proper measure of respect that he expected from visitors. She made known her understanding of the Legion's fierce love of their own independence, and that bending knee to the Xanathar may seem like a surrender. However, she urged them to consider the inevitable loss that a conflict with the Syndicate, which handily outnumbered the Legion, could bring, and to also consider the opportunities working with the Syndicate that could be had.   Azrok remained somewhat unconvinced, and refused to capitulate any of his power to the Xanathar. However, he acknowledged that the party had come to help, and promised to consider their offers if they helped his legion with a problem. His conflict with the drow had reached a stalemate, as they had reinforced their position with a demon by the name of Zegrod. Zegrod was purported to wield both a wicked blade and a 'cannon in his hand', bore large wings and a lion-like face, and rode atop a massive scorpion. The demon had proved insurmountable to Azrok's troops and was delaying their advances; with the party's assistance in killing Zegrod, the battle against House Arkhenneld could be brought to a definitive end once and for all.   The party agreed and departed to begin their efforts, but were quietly greeted outside by Lurkana, wife of Azrok. She asked what the party thought of him, to which they responded mostly with respect for his determination. She revealed that although Azrok had been born with great gifts of physical might, magical aptitude, and innate leadership, he was cursed in kind at birth; he had been born completely blind. However, Azrok's mother, a powerful shaman of their shrine, forged for him a dagger of blindsight that allowed him to see, and with this gift he rose to become a great warlord.   However, the dagger had been stolen shortly after the conflict against the drow had begun, and Lurkana suspected the Xanathar Syndicate of this crime. She believed that by weakening Azrok, the legion would be weakened in turn and more likely to accept the patronage of the Syndicate. Lurkana believed this would bring about the death of all that made the Legion special and powerful, and asked the party to not bring this about.   Sin believed that the Syndicate was still the best option for the Legion's continued survival, while Ozwik lamented the loss of the Legion's freedom, even if they were a band of marauders. They did agree on keeping an eye out for Azrok's dagger, however.   With their mission laid out before them, the party made their way to the southern part of the level, heading straight into the viper's den that was the holdings of House Arkhenneld...