As quickly as they had arrived, the adventurers left the Outlands safe house. Edward led them to the hidden location of the door that would take them back to Sigil. From Sigil, they made preparations to return to Enterprise headquarters. It was time to report.
Before leaving the Sigil safe house, Edward’s curiosity was piqued. He opened the portable hole and removed the corpse of the Inscrutable Redactor, hoping to find magic items of incredible power on the fallen drow wizard.
The Redactor opened his eyes. On his finger was a ring. The drow quickly spoke. Firiona recognized the word: the activation word for a ring of three wishes! Before anyone could stop him, the Redactor vanished!
"What in the name of Hieroneous just happened?!" demanded Edward. "He was dead. I killed him!" Firiona scratched her head and thought for a moment. "He must have had some kind of contingent resurrection spell on him. It must have activated while he was in storage, probably just before you pulled him out. Obviously he had a plan for such an outcome. The fellow was no fool," she said. "The Enterprise will no doubt be interested to hear about his escape, as well as everything else that’s befallen."
And indeed they were. After a few days of rest, relaxation and analysis of various looted items, the adventurers were debriefed. So important did the Enterprise view the meeting that it was held on the Enterprise’s secret demi-plane for extra security. And the attendees at the debriefing were also indicative of its importance: Tisiphone, the Blue Dahlia, Andronikos, Matasuntha, and Vessa herself!
The four intrepid Enterprise agents described in detail their activities in the Vault. Edward concluded the account by relating how he left his own personal message in the Chamber of the Libram. Vessa smiled. "Nice touch," she said. "The Redactor may not be long for the world after this defeat. The priestesses will be looking for him, if not Lolth herself."
"I’d guess his contingency plan did not include returning to the Vault," Tisiphone opined. "Perhaps I should look into tracing him," said the Blue Dahlia. "He may prove useful to us at a later date. He can certainly be turned against his former colleagues in the Vault."
"Maybe," replied Vessa.
Tisiphone then told the party about the Spider Ship mission, and the fate of Arnold. "Well, he went out a hero, anyway," said Green Arrow. "Indeed he did," answered Tisiphone. "I think he more than made up for his bungling in the Vault. I’ll think well of him from now on."
"His mission was more important than he may have realized," said Vessa. "Second only to yours. Indeed, one of the most important in the entire campaign."
"Campaign?" Edward repeated. "You mean, there was more going on than Arnold’s mission, and ours?"
"There was," Vessa answered. "Do you recall the death slaad’s atlas, that you recovered from his lair in the tunnels beyond Darksea?" The adventurers nodded. "We made great use of the information therein," the Enterprise leader continued. "The fifty most important drow strongholds came under attack, virtually simultaneously. Some of the attacks were carried out by Enterprise agents. Others, we instigated the Ashen Compact to undertake. Lolth may be aware of events that affect the drow, but she can’t be everywhere at once. Your mission, and Arnold’s, were timed to begin after the other drow strongholds came under our attack. They were the most important of the lot. She is no doubt furious at the destruction of her ship, but even angrier at the loss of the Libram. And in fear, I would say, now that an unknown party has in its possession all the secret knowledge of the entire drow race!"
"And she won’t be able to find it, I take it?" asked Firiona. "It has been rendered undetectable, has it not?"
"Just so," said Tisiphone.
Firiona smiled, then continued. "But what about the floating dead baby? Or whatever it was. Where did it come from? It wasn’t a coincidence, was it?"
"Extra credit for you, Firiona!" exclaimed Vessa. "No, it was not a coincidence. In fact, Green Arrow and Miae helped to bring it to the Vault."
"We did? How?!" the two adventurers exclaimed.
Vessa grinned as she began explaining, clearly enjoying the story. "The information we had you deliver to the Church of Vecna was not actually intended for Vecna’s minions. One of our other agents in the Vault–a very, very deep agent!–informed Eclavdra, at our instruction, about the exchange that was due to take place between you and the Church. We knew that she would find the temptation to seize the information for herself irresistible. And so she did.
"The information she seized, however, was not in fact the location of the Sword of Kas. Instead, it was a scroll and map that we prepared, based on other information that you also found and delivered to us from the trove of the lich Issus."
"Issus!" cried Edward. "The one with the dagger!"
"He's the one," replied Vessa. "The lore he delivered to us in return for his dagger turned out to be of incredible value. The dagger itself, obviously, was of the greatest importance to him. I believe it was actually the key to his own personal demi-plane. At any rate, he was eager to make that bargain. He also seemed to have a healthy respect for me when we met. I think he knew I was more than I seemed," she said.
"But I digress. Issus’ lore included the location of a sealed crypt on the Astral Plane. He seems to have determined that the crypt guarded an entity of great power, so great that he refrained from further investigating and perhaps awakening it." Glancing at the Blue Dahlia, Vessa continued. "We were not so reluctant. Enterprise agents determined that the tomb imprisoned an extremely powerful monster. It was a a creature known as an abomination, but a particular kind of abomination. A still-born godling of tremendous evil: an atropal.
"We took thought as to how we might use this knowledge," said the Dahlia. "If properly used, it could deliver a devastating blow against the enemies of the Enterprise. Of course, a target immediately suggested itself: Eclavdra, and House Eilservs. We had only to arrange for Eclavdra to obtain the information–and to believe that she had seized it by her own treacherous means."
"That is where you came in, Green Arrow and Miae," continued Vessa. "As we mentioned, we manipulated Eclavdra, through our agent, into confiscating the package you were supposed to deliver to Vecna. Oh, and by the way," she added parenthetically, "did you ever wonder why Eclavdra let you keep your gear when she had you locked up in the Black Gate?"
The two adventurers looked at each other. "Now that you mention it," said Miae, "it did seem oddly negligent, to say the least."
"It was not negligence. I was there myself–completely undetectable, of course!–and helped Eclavdra "forget" to order your goods confiscated. It was that important that she seize the first package with the information we wanted her to have, that I myself supervised things to make sure they went as planned." She suppressed a laugh. "Sorry for the deception, Miae, Green Arrow, but I’m sure you see the need for it."
"Of course," Green Arrow answered.
Vessa continued. "Once Eclavdra had obtained and studied the package, she organized an exploratory mission to recover the artefact. I kept watch on the explorators myself," she boasted. "I followed them to the Astral plane and saw them reach the tomb where, they thought, they would find the Sword of Kas. I watched them take the silver hammer that hung from a hook next to a chime placed in front of the crypt, and strike the chime in the sequence the scroll instructed. And when they had struck the chime, the gates of the tomb opened, and out floated the abomination! And its life-draining power–which you witnessed yourselves–promptly slew the entire explorator team! Having done so, the atropal used its speak with dead power to extract information on their point of origin. The slain drow were turned into specters by the monster’s power to create greater undead. The atropal then proceeded to the Prime Material Plane via plane shift, taking the specters with it. I followed them to the Prime, where the monster and its enslaved minions found the most expeditious route to Erelhei-Cinlu.
"At this point I left the monsters to their rampage, returned to headquarters here, and had messages dispatched to your party, and Arnold’s. As you witnessed, the atropal quickly entered the Vault, killing everything in its path, creating and commanding undead, and heading toward the city and the noble estates beyond. Its target: the estate of House Eilservs.
"So," Vessa concluded, "not only did the atropal serve my intention to devastate Erelhei-Cinlu in general, and House Eilservs in particular–and in that it was spectacularly effective!–but it diverted almost all attention away from you and your activities in the Spire of the Encyclic. It slew most of those scholars who fled the Spire. A loss that the drow will have tremendous difficulty recovering from! And this allowed you to reach your target with much less difficulty than would otherwise have been the case. And by the way, it also improved the position of the Rakes within the Vault, which also serves our agenda. Your timely warning to the Rakes was of great benefit to our efforts."
The adventurers paused to digest this information. After a short time, Firiona spoke. "Won't Lolth just resurrect the dead scholars, and whoever else is needed to reconstruct the city?" she asked. "Maybe," replied Vessa. "Maybe she'll decide that any city that couldn't protect itself and its valuables deserves what it gets. Nobody knows. But we have certainly made life more difficult for the enemy. And now they have something to really be afraid of."
"Lolth's agents will very likely try to find you, Edward," added the Dahlia. "Magical means won't work, but old-fashioned intelligence-gathering may. You should be very careful in the future, Edward. We'll do what we can to neutralize any threats we learn about, but you'll need to take active measures yourself." Edward nodded. "Goes with the territory," he observed. "It was worth it to make sure they knew who did it!"
"What were those granite slabs we recovered?" Firiona continued. "They seemed to have extremely powerful spells engraved on them."
"They really are extremely powerful," answered Matasuntha. "One of them you’ve figured out to some extent already. It’s the one called peripety. The other one, the one you couldn’t figure out, is something we never expected. It’s a tremendously powerful spell created by the wizard known as Irulan, who lived a century or more ago. She disappeared decades ago, but prior to her disappearance she had gained a reputation as an evoker of truly astounding power. We know of a handful of spells attributed to her, but none of this level. And," she emphasized, "one of the books you recovered with the slab included a description of the location at which the slab was found, and told of an adamantine door that could not be opened. We’ll definitely want to follow up on this."
"I was just wondering," Edward interjected, "why I was gated into the final battle with the Redactor. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just send me along with the others into the Vault?"
"No, it wouldn’t have," Vessa answered. "It would have been too much of a burden on you, a paladin of Hieroneous, to have to witness such depravity and evil on a continual basis. The temptation to intervene on behalf of some poor slave or sacrificial victim would have been too great for you to withstand, and that would have compromised the entire mission. We were looking out for you, Edward."
The paladin nodded to Vessa. "Wise of you, if I may say so. You’re right, I almost certainly would have tried to save some drow victim or other. It’s what I do."
"Now," said Vessa, "you all have some well-earned time off. Go and pursue your own goals. Rest, relax, travel, tend to your estates, whatever you see fit. When the time comes, we will have another project for you–one even more important that the mission you have just completed."
The adventurers wondered what could possibly be more important that the mission they’d just completed.
"If you have any more questions, please ask, by all means," said the Blue Dahlia.
Edward thought for a second, then asked why the Enterprise was waging open warfare against the drow. Vessa reminded him of the nature and purpose of the Enterprise. "We felt that the time was right to take action, and that the information that had come into our possession had come for just that reason."
At that, Edward suddenly unsheathed his mercurial greatsword and threw it on the table. "We’ve raided the stronghold of the drow, seized the Libram Encyclic, slain many of their leaders, seized a hoard of their most valuable treasures. They will certainly retaliate! And when they do, this weapon, powerful as it is, won’t be good enough!" Green Arrow tossed his bow on the table as well, agreeing with Edward.
"I need a better weapon: a Hammer of Thunderbolts–or a path to it!" He winked at Miae. "And dinner, too."
Firiona added, "I would also request that the Enterprise restore my sister Lina, who fell in the Spire."
"This mission has had its enjoyable aspects," said Miae, winking back at Edward. "But now I’m ready to head back home and brew up some more beer. I would appreciate having those magic items that the Redactor disjoined restored or replaced, if you would."
"All quite reasonable requests," agreed Vessa, "and they shall be granted. One already has been." She gestured to a door at the far end of the meeting room. The door opened, and into the room walked a familiar figure.
"Lina!" exclaimed Firiona. She rushed to embrace her sister, thanking the Enterprise leaders profusely as she did so. The rest of the party did likewise. And with that, the meeting ended, and the party were led back to their quarters to enjoy their time together re-united with Lina.
A few days later, the adventurers were ready to head back to Greyhawk and/or Darksea. The Enterprise supplied them with many of their requested items. However, the Enterprise did not have exact knowledge of the location of any such artifact as Edward desired to obtain. The best the organization could do was to give Firiona a vision scroll, which she could use to try to location one.
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