Captured!

The Chase

The players are currently chasing a suspect Drow that they believe is responsible for organizing the orcs that have overtaken Dunboldir. The Drow that they located has tried to escape them by running into a crypt.

A stale, dank smell hangs in the warm air. Thick stone pillars stand throughout the chamber, and the walls are lined with stone coffins, each inscribed with a name. Cobwebs hang from the corners, and a solid layer of dust envelopes them—and just about everything else.

Once the players have entered the crypt run the following encounter: Drow Encounter. The intention is to first attempt to allow the players to come with the Drow willingly, if they do not then the shadowblades and assassins will use their readied actions to shoot the players with Drow poison, any players still standing after the poisoning will be fought until unconsciousness. Once the players have all been captured the Drow will move them to a jail to be interrogated.

Galurimm was left behind by the party and has snuck up to them in a state of distrust, he will witness them be captured and have to try to save them. If he tries to enter combat during the encounter he will need to make a charisma save against his sword to do so.

If the Drow notice Galurimm while he is hiding his sword will unlock a new power granting him total invisibility but he still isn't friendly enough with the sword to activate that power on his own. During the chase if Galurimm follows the party his sword will keep him hidden.

Related NPCs

Encounters

1. Drow Encounter

Special

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At some point the sword will offer to work with Galurimm if he promises to keep it fed with fresh Orc blood, this can be achieved by killing Orcs with it or by sacrificing a bit of his own blood daily.

The Interrogation

Each party member will be taken from their cell and interrogated individually with the following questions:

• What is your name?
• Why are you here?
• Who are you working for?
• I see you have a tattoo on your wrist that matches the rest of your entourage, what does it signify?

Following the interrogation the player will be returned to the cell. Once all interrogations are complete the party will be tasked with one of the jobs for slaves, in this instance their job will be feeding driders.

While the players are being interrogated have Galurimm steal their equipment back.

The Feeding

You are taken from your cells by a small detail of Drow soldiers, they bring you to one of the city gates. Once you arrive at these weathered looking gates the soldier captain turns to you and explains, "You are now required to work for your lives, food, water, and bedding. At the request of our Queen you must feed the deformed ones, whether that be the food you are about to carry in our yourselves is up to you." He then hands you a few sacks filled with various food scraps, partially eaten meat, bits of slimy mushroom, bones, and various other fauna.

During the feeding will be Galurimms opportunity to rescue the players.

You hear legs, too many legs, clicking against stone as the multi-jointed limbs carry the creature’s considerable mass forward. In the darkness, with sound reverberating off the stone, it’s difficult to pinpoint the thing’s exact location as it scurries after you. You see its shadow in your peripheral, massive and grotesque. And then it’s before you, inescapable. Its black carapace shines in the dim light as it looms over you—its lower half a massive arachnid, its top half a warped humanoid. The creature cries out—in hunger, in pain, you cannot tell which.

The Escape

Assuming that Galurimm has successfully hidden and tracked the party down he will be the key to their final escape. As Galurimm follows the Drow he observes the following as he passes deeper into the mountains.

The cavern descends into a deeper darkness, and you stop in your tracks. Something shifts, some barely perceptible difference in the temperature of the air or its pressure in your ears. You’re not sure. You can’t be certain. But it feels like you stand on the precipice of an abyss. You strain your eyes looking for some telltale difference in the stone, hoping to find some proof of your fears in the depths of the shadows. You stand silent, willing your ears to hear the threat you feel emanating from the tunnel before you. But there’s nothing. You heave a sigh of relief and will your shoulders to relax. It’s just a cave, like all the cave that came before it in your long subterranean trek. You step forward and a chill runs up your spine and spreads over your scalp, raising every hair on your body. Going deeper into the dark feels like a dire mistake.

After some more travelling further into the deep Galurimm finally finds where the Drow are taking the party.

The caverns seem to go on forever, leading deeper and deeper into the oppressive confines of the earth. As you pass into the endless abyss—the underworld where no light penetrates, where no plants grow, where dark and ancient and unknowable beings dwell—you find yourself in soaring caves with plains, forests, rivers, even skies of their own. Strange fungus lends an otherworldly light. Forests of towering mushrooms support subterranean wildlife. A frigid river flows, roaring, cascading deeper into the earth. And above, glittering crystals and gleaming veins of minerals shine like stars. In the distance, you spy what looks like the spires of a city.