Gnome's OOTA Story Thread [CLOSED]

As the others head upwards, Lulu takes a moment to use her innate and borrowed magic to enhance her senses. It's a much longer while before she reaches the right floor, though not by way of the levitation shaft. Having forgotten which words mean what and, after a lot of up, down, halt, down, down, up, her stomach turns and she eventually elects to simply take the stairs. 

White hair a bit frazzled as she joins the others, she finds a spot to settle in and observe, taking in any magical auras around them. 

((While going up and down through the shaft, can Lu get a look at any of the other floors? And using Firbolg Magic to cast Detect Magic does she pick up anything worthy of note (or potential danger) with magical auras? She'll also have See Invisibility on the go as well! Just to be on the safe side lol!))

“Indeed, I was sure of it” Khessa simply smiles, when her 'challenge' is not taken up due to the need to 'deal with more important matters first'. She doesn't insist, because, joking aside, she is still curious to hear Vizeran's idea. There will be time later to deal with arcane knowledge! And she has other cards to play, if by chance even later the 'challenge' does not arouse interest.

The blonde arcane warrior in the meantime furtively sends a knowing smile to Traydark for having at least attempted to guarantee her the inviting possibility of accessing the magical knowledge of the drow archmage.

The tall adventuress finally sits down near Vizeran, tasting the various speicid of dried mushrooms and indulging in goblets of spiced liquor - but no more, because she intends to carefully consider what the drow has thought.

The gnome eagerly tries the offered snacks, complementing the drow wizard on the smoked meat. He settles into a comfortable bag that is rather amorphous in shape but conforms to his shape. (It's a bean bag! =)

Lulu would notice invisible servants on each floor, seeming to tend to mundane duties, and a couple dozen suits of various armors spread across the floors, but nothing else obviously seen from the central chamber.

“The only one of my kind who could ever match me in the Art is Gromph Baenre. I think we knew from the moment we met that we were destined to be rivals. But where I sought only to master the Art, Gromph was also an astute political manipulator. No more devout than I in the service of the Spider Queen, he arranged for my disgrace and exile. Deprived of my considerable skills, my house fell to our rival, House Do’Urden. Gromph became the Archmage of Menzoberranzan under the auspices of his own house, the First House of the Ruling Council.

“Gromph and I only ever had two things in common: our passion for the Art, and our hatred of the manner in which our fellow mages suffer at the hands of the matron mothers and mistresses of the drow. Gromph has always hungered for power, and not even becoming Archmage of Menzoberranzan was enough to satisfy him.

“From this tower of exile, I kept watch on Gromph’s activities. This was no easy task given his suspicious and circumspect nature. Nonetheless, my observations revealed that he was crafting a unique ritual — one that somehow drew on the energy of faerzress to channel incalculable arcane power. When Gromph performed this ritual, the walls between the planes shuddered. Then, as you have by now realized, the demon lords were wrenched from their layers of the Abyss and cast about here in the Underdark. What we all witnessed in Gravenhollow confirms this.”

The noble Drow sits back in his comfortable chair and listens attentively to their host. He knew most about what Vizeran told them so far, everyone in Menzoberranzan did, even the intricate and delicate political manipulations that led to ascensions and downfalls of houses in time became official secrets in the city of spiders. While he could easily imagine harnessing and manipulating the power of the faerzress could support an immensely powerful ritual, he still had trouble accepting it was powerful enough to draw many of the greatest abyssal princes to the Underdark. He was certain the Queen of Spiders had  no small role in what had transpired. Traydark still awaited with anticipation the archmage's plan to save the Underdark from utter annihilation.

Katryl had taken just a few small bites of the snacks offered and listened as Vizeran tells about Gomph. She figures she should just stay quiet, and the drow will eventually get to his point, but she jumps in anyhow. "That's all great, as it explains everything we already knew. And of course, I now understand how crucial you were for your poor House that withered in your absence.  But could we now talk about what we can do now?  I presume all of this preamble is leading to what it is you expect us to do." 

“Demons are creatures ruled by madness and hatred, even the greatest and most powerful of them. They war ceaselessly upon each other in the Abyss, and have already begun to do so here. We can play them against each other, and then deal with the weakened victors.

“I believe I have the ability to devise and cast a ritual, similar to Gromph’s but nowhere near as dangerous or foolish, that will draw the most powerful demon lords together to the site of the original summoning. Once they are brought together, they will try to destroy each other. But though the demon lords might destroy each other’s physical manifestations here in our world, their essence cannot be extinguished. They will thus be cast back into the Abyss, as effectively as if they had been banished.

“The ritual needs certain components to produce the talisman that will draw the demons. Then a rite to empower and activate it. Then blood and battle such as this world has never seen. Any survivors among the demon lords will be sorely weakened, and should be far easier to destroy.

“All I need are the necessary ingredients,” Vizeran says, “and, ideally, a look at Gromph’s grimoires and notes from his sanctum.” Where the drow archmage watches you, a thin smile curls one corner of his mouth.

"Yes, studying the grimoires and notes of your greatest rival would be quite necessary I assume." The noble Drow comments with a sly smile. He didn't expect any less from his self-serving kin, even with the Underdark threatened with ruin and madness. The fact that old Gromph hardly would agree to this posed a more significant problem for them. "We will find the components you need Vizeran, if it is within our power to do so." Traydark declares with confident tone. "Perhaps explain just what these components are and where we can find them."

Khessa finds the plan simple but potentially effective... After all, she didn't have much of a different thing in mind regarding Juiblex and Zuggtmoy... Vizeran simply extends the same idea to all the Demon Lords, since he believes he can summon all of them together... hoping to unleash a sort of free-for-all battle between them. And, just like in Khessa's plan, the idea is that in the end only one of the Demon Lords should remain, ideally in bad health.

'What do you think, Dawn?' the blonde arcane warrior asks the sentient light blade 'Do you feel ready to face a weakened Demogorgon? Or do you think it's not very chivalrous?'

"Your plan convinces me, Vizeran... It seems cunning and well thought out..." the tall adventuress smiles "Can you explain just one last thing to me? You are a drow archmage... A spellcaster who has powers that we, at the moment, can only dream of... Why do you need us to recover these 'necessary ingredients'? With the vast powers you have, it must be a joke for you to divine where they are, teleport and recover them... What's the catch? Why do you need us to go look for them and recover them?"

"And please" Khessa's blue eyes fixate on the drow host's face "be honest in answering... In order to collaborate, we need to be able to trust each other... and it would be difficult for you to find other collaborators... So, tell us the truth. We will not be frightened by difficulties... but knowing them in advance will help us succeed".

Horkas grins at Khessa's interrogation of the arch-mage. She had the biggest... nerve ...of almost anyone he knew...and he was enjoying the show!

Lulu moves closer to better see Vizeran's expression as he speaks, sitting on a far too small section of Horkas' blob-seat and likely tilting the poor gnome completely off-kilter. There's the suggestion of a frown tugging at the corners of her lips as she listens to the archmage's plan. 

Katryl listens as Khessa seem to flatter the drow. At least, she presumes that's what she's doing. The woman's final words about trust ring oddly to her after Lulu's comments made previously. Although, she certainly doesn't disagree that they should give Vizeran a healthy dose of skepticism. "I agree with Traydark that we should be able to collect these items. But we'll obviously need a lot more information. Getting a grimoire from your drow rival, the Archmage of Menzoberranzan, seems rather difficult though." 

Vizeran gives a scoffing laugh. "Powerful as I may be, there are still a great many things I cannot accomplish on my own, or would tax me so greatly the efforts may prove fruitless in the end. I believe this to be the best, most efficient plan, but you are welcome to decline. I will find a way regardless. But if you will continue to assist me, these are the things I will need in order to create a special talisman, called "the dark heart":

• The intact and unhatched egg of a purple worm, for channeling great physical power.
• The central eye of a beholder, to break down magical resistance and overcome magical forces.
• Six feathers from six different angels — the authority of the celestial realms and a force to enrage fiendish creatures.
• The heart of a goristro, to reach and influence the hearts of other demons.
• Thirteen timmasks, also known as “devil’s mushrooms,” sprouted from the footprint of a marilith, a balor, or a goristro — a lure to draw demons in.
• A few drops of blood or ichor from a demon lord, to connect with the demons the ritual will call.
• Gromph Baenre’s grimoires and notes on his ritual, to assist in better understanding the power that summoned the demon lords.

"The purple worm egg and beholder eye can likely be found in the Wormwrithings. The angel feathers and demon heart I'm sure you can gather in the Labyrinth. The grimoire of course is in Menzoberranzan. The timmasks and demon blood though..." He chuckled darkly "...you seem like a resourceful group, I'm confident you'll be able to find those on your own."

(DM note: do not make a check about the dark heart, it is a special item Vizeran is planning to craft, there is no further lore about such a thing. :) Just putting it here before everyone gets excited and tries to check it :) )

“I consider you intelligent enough to understand arguments stated in simple terms” Khessa raises an eyebrow, in response to Vizeran's scoffing laugh and insinuation that the party might refuse to help “and attentive enough to remember what is and isn't said. But in the if this were not the case, I would like to point out that I did not speak of 'decline' - except in the case that you lack honesty towards us".

“That said, all fine. I now understand why you need us” the blonde arcane warrior recaps. “Convincing a beholder to part with its central eye can be problematic for a pure spellcaster... plus some components you still have no idea how they can be sourced. Well, we'll do our best to take care of those things”.

"One last point, however, is not clear to me - and mind you, if I tell you about it it is only because I want to be sure that we have thought of everything and that our plan is successful in the end" the tall adventuress reflects. "You seem convinced that it will be enough to bring together the Demon Lords - by summoning them all together - for them to start fighting each other to the death. It's something I hope for... But it comes to mind... Gromph doesn't had he already done the same exact thing with his ritual? Hadn't he summoned them all together in the same place? Yet, things went differently, we all know it... The Demon Lords didn't annihilate each other. So, why do you think things should be different this time?"

The artificer adds, "These are worthy quests for adventurers like us for sure. Perhaps the great wizard has some magical items to aid us in this search, since none of these will be easy or even safe..." Horkas looks around the tower hopefully...

Vizeran sneered at the mention of Gromph. "That fool wasn't trying to get them together to murder each other, he was trying to summon one. Which one we can only speculate on, but his inadequacy meant failing to understand every point and so, to borrow the phrase, all hell broke loose. And there's no need to lie about the plan, bringing you here to my sanctum just to lie to you about it in what, the hopes that you'll fail and be killed? Seems like an awful lot of work for very little payoff. So let's move on. If there is something else I can answer for you or assist you with to get going on this endeavor I will do my best to oblige you. Otherwise we should meet back in Menzoberranzan as soon as possible. It will take a fair bit of time to properly make the dark heart, so as we have stated multiple times, the sooner get this done, the better." His smile returns once more, a cold look though, but as though perhaps acknowledging the dangerous path ahead.

“Good,” Khessa concedes, partially reassured “so your ritual will be differently conceived… as well as,” she smiles “performed by a more competent archmage. In that case, yes, we can hope that the result will conform to expectations”.

"For the 'ichor from a demon lord', I have a pretty good idea of which Demon Lord really spreads a lot of it around..." the blonde arcane warrior reflects "And to think that we also met him, during our route to Gravenhollow! If only we had known that we had to keep some of his disgusting secretions... But never mind, we will find him again. He has a wedding to attend to, after all..."

“As far as the Purple Worms are concerned,” the tall adventurer asks “I don't know much... Is there any weakness they have that we can exploit? For example... do they rely primarily on tremorsense, to sense enemies? If so, perhaps we could steal an egg from them by flying... And to enter Menzoberranzan to meet you, do you have any advice to give us? After what happened, I don't know how willing the guards of that city will be to let strangers in... Have you a contact who can help us to get in? Or have you thought of some other way?”

As the blonde human keeps questioning their host, Traydark leans back into his comfortable chair, pondering the many components they were to find and deliver to create the dark heart.

Vizeran simply sits back and sips his goblet. "Terrifying creatures, but I do know they can sense you in any direction. I would think your best chance is to hope an egg has been left unguarded. As for the city, I have a way in, unless you wish to brave the main roads, I won't stop you. Otherwise you may return here as needed and when you are ready to journey to the city, let me know."

Khessa nods to the drow host in approval: "Very well, Vizeran. Before we start looking for components, I have just one last proposal for you... but said proposal, since it concerns the lure of knowledge that you and I share, does not affect the quest directly, so I prefer to wait for my companions to express eventual doubts or perplexities, if they have any" and she sits down, apparently at ease, letting her blue eyes run over the friends present there... If they have something to ask, this is probably the best moment.