Purple Egg Purloiners

Continuing from last time, we'd finally made it to the library. And since the matter of getting rid of the demons was rather pressing, I didn't get to indulge my obsessions and stay there a month like I would be tempted to. We met Vizeran (and his death slaad bodyguard), and he revealed to us that he had a plan. I said last time that I'd get into it this entry, and thus I do.
 
The demons were summoned into the Underdark thanks to a botched ritual conducted by the Archmage of Menzoberranzan (a useful political tidbit, given we'll be going there eventually). The summoning crushed a good portion of the City of Spiders, and the conjured demons eventually left to rampage elsewhere. Hunting down each and every demon would take far too much time, not to mention there are still several demon lords wandering about. Thus, Vizeran seeks to make use of a ritual to force all the demons together in one place, have them battle each other until only one remains, and then swoop in and finish off the weakened fiend. A simple yet elegant ritual, I must admit; while the demons will be sent back to the Abyss rather than killed, it still brings us back to status quo, which is certainly preferable to losing a chunk of the Material Plane to the Abyss.
 
To form an alliance, he offered us a few magical items and to tutor me in matters of the arcane; in exchange, we must collect the reagents needed for the ritual, which he will perform upon completing all preparations. His tower, Araj, will be a temporary base, and we can treat it as such provided that we keep it a secret amongst ourselves; apparently he was exiled from the City of Spiders long ago. Keep that in mind, I'll come back to it later. Anyway, we agreed, given that we wouldn't get very far without the alliance.
 
In order to concoct the ritual, we need seven reagents and details on the original ritual to find the optimal way to undo it. To save us time and attention, he decided to give us two objectives at a time, the first of which were:
 

The intact and unhatched egg of a purple worm; for channeling great physical power

The central eye of a beholder; to overcome magical forces and resistances

With a good idea where to find each, he sent us towards the area of the Underdark known as The Wormwrithings, where purple worms are known to make their nests. Along the way we encountered an umber hulk (which none of us remember much of, though I did manage to collect its eyes) and got chased by an adult purple worm (and avoided being eaten). On getting close, we heard a loud voice ring out, warning us to turn back and come no closer. Naturally, we disobeyed. The culprit turned out to be a young drow girl, Hanne Hallen, using minor illusion magic. She'd been separated from her mother's egg-hunting party, and was starving. We gave the poor girl some of our rations and water, and promised to help reunite her with her mother if possible. Grateful, she led us into the purple worm egg chamber.
 
That promise turned out to be rather easy, given that her mother and their party arrived from the other side of the chamber. Hanne called out to her mother, and ran over to her. Unfortunately this caught the attention of a purple worm, which burst from the chamber floor to rid the place of the threats to its eggs. Thus, both our groups fought the thing.
 
Despite the small hiccup of one of us being swallowed briefly (astounding as it sounds I don't remember who it was, but I'm somewhat sure it wasn't me), we emerged victorious. Though the drow were mistrustful, Hanne eagerly told her mother how we'd rescued her and shared our food. As a further peace offering, we helped them get their own purple worm egg before our own. Hanne's mother, Zhora, repaid this second point by showing us how to collect uncut gems from the worm's gullet (which our two groups split evenly). She told us that for saving her daughter, we could call upon her as an ally in Menzoberranzan and she would repay us however she could. Tanebi was delighted for the gratitude and to reunite mother and daughter; not to sound horrible, but I found having a drow of Menzoberranzan in our debt the greater prize.
 
Anyway, we've decided to bring our egg back to Araj rather than risk it while fighting against a beholder. Hopefully the return trip will be a good investment; I've been hoping that Vizeran can share the sigil sequence with the teleportation circle near Araj to expedite matters.
 
Before I go, though, I need to get this off my chest (and a good thing only I can decode these entries, because this might endanger our alliance). Vizeran is incredibly knowledgeable and powerful, and his experience is a boon beyond what we could've hoped for.
 
That said, I don't trust him.
 
Make no mistake, I'll learn everything I can from him. Every scrap of spell knowledge, every secret of arcane talent, I will listen to with my full attention. I will make that knowledge my own, and grow stronger from it. However, I'm beginning to prepare for his inevitable betrayal. I can tell that he intends to use this ritual to further his own goals, though what those might be I haven't a clue. He's good at hiding it; under normal circumstances I wouldn't have been able to pick up on it. But he's been twisted by the demonic madness too, much as he doesn't want to admit it. I've warned the others that we shouldn't trust him too much, though I suppose I'll need to get some kind of proof before I can make my case more earnestly.