Session C05 — Into the Other Dark

Summary

The sled journey that began at the end of C04 concludes with the party crossing the Icewind Dale tundra to the Underdark entrance — but not without incident. A blizzard forces an unplanned camp, during which Haldak drunkenly reveals he is from Netheril (a time-traveler from roughly 1,885 years ago), Jarlaxle is caught lip-reading a private conversation using Dancing Lights, and the party trades a Scroll of Raise Dead for Kelvin's old eavesdropping horn. The blizzard lifts to reveal the frozen lake containing Tharazgon the Mirror Maw, which the party crosses on foot. At the Underdark entrance, Jarlaxle delivers his final briefing — warning of Velkynvelve and giving Othorion three options for navigating it — then departs north as "Zordot Zod." Lireal, who Jarlaxle assumed would go to Bryn Shander, declares instead that she will accompany the party into the Underdark to see Menzoberranzan. At the cave mouth, the party finds a field of frozen drow exiles and two recently-dead drow locked in an embrace — holding a pendant bearing the entwined insignias of House Baenre and House Zolaran, which triggers an uncanny hollow ache in Othorion's chest. Kavu fires a Firebolt into the cave, flushing out a Kasmeh — a fiendish insect creature mutated by cold — which proboscises Othorion for 114 damage on the first round, dropping him instantly. Selene kills it with an arrow through the eye. The party carries Othorion into the Underdark for its first long rest, during which Lireal opens weapons training with a pointed ultimatum.

Key Events

Sled Travel — Drow Houses Briefing

On the sled, Lireal interrogated Othorion about Menzoberranzan's noble houses. Running through the major players (and working off a DC 10 History check):

Lireal pressed Othorion about his parents. He revealed that Jarlaxle never speaks of them and always avoids the question. Lireal made a dry observation that one of the orphans she rescued from Manan could theoretically be Kelvin's — given drow attitudes toward inbreeding, she said Othorion might want to make sure any girlfriend he had back home wasn't actually a relative.

Haldak's Netheril Reveal

Still drunk on Lolithar's Kiss from the previous night, Haldak let slip his origin. Asked where he was from, he said:

"The better question is not where, but when."

He is from Netheril — a civilization that fell roughly 1,700 years before the current campaign date. He was born approximately 1,885 years ago but has only been conscious for 44 years (teleported through time, not comatose — he simply did not exist in the intervening period). The table concluded he is technically 1,885 years old, making him the oldest member of the party by an enormous margin and significantly older than Jarlaxle himself (who has been alive since the 1300s DR).

Lireal reacted with visible alarm. A Netherese mage entering the Underdark is extremely dangerous: drow blood magic can extract information, and Netheril's arcane heritage is considered both valuable and threatening to parties that know what they're looking at.

Blizzard — Tent Camp

A blizzard hit mid-journey, dropping temperature to -39°F. The party halted at a boulder outcropping and made camp. Survival checks for tent setup:

• Othorion, Roland, Kefkas, and Haldak succeeded
• Kavu failed — got tangled; Lireal cast Calm Emotions on him and took him into her and Othorion's tent
• Jarlaxle shared a tent with Kavu, described as the party's best available heat source

Selene located a cache of charcoal fuel, but burning it would produce black smoke — visible for miles. The party voted to use it anyway. A d10 encounter roll came up clean — no encounter triggered.

Haldak stole more Lolithar's Kiss during the rest and attempted to burn rations in his intoxicated state. Selene caught and stopped him.

Jarlaxle's Dancing Lights Incident

Selene and Roland were having a private conversation in their tent. Jarlaxle, from his own tent, cast Dancing Lights and arranged them to illuminate Selene and Roland so he could lip-read their conversation through the tent fabric.

Selene confronted him directly about it when she noticed. Jarlaxle admitted it without particular embarrassment. She stormed off. He did not apologize.

The Raise Dead Trade

During the camp, Jarlaxle visited Kefkas's tent and negotiated a trade: his Scroll of Raise Dead in exchange for Kelvin's eavesdropping horn (the device Kelvin had used earlier in the campaign to monitor private conversations). The deal was sealed with a spit-handshake.

The Frozen Lake — Tharazgon the Mirror Maw

After the blizzard cleared (the party one hour behind schedule), they crested a ridge to find a mile-wide frozen lake stretched across their path.

Beneath the ice — preserved in perfect frozen stillness — was Tharazgon the Mirror Maw: a colossal alien creature, fish-like in form but not quite any known animal. Its vast glazed eye was still open. Needle-thin curved teeth filled a wide maw. The ice around it had preserved not just the creature but a frozen moment — also visible beneath the surface were a frozen griffin, two humanoids holding a broken wand, and a massive severed black tentacle.

Haldak's Arcana check confirmed the lake was a frozen moment in time — temporal or chronomancy-adjacent magic, no active spellwork on the surface. He also sensed a separate temporal magic source far to the south — as far away as the distance the party had traveled from Revel's End, and unrelated to the lake.

Roland's Religion check identified the creature: Tharazgon the Mirror Maw — an entity that devours reflected light and memory, worshipped by frost druids and mad star cultists.

The party considered going around (+2 hours detour) but chose to cross (1 hour). Kefkas threw a candlestick onto the lake surface to test it — crack sounds — then the party crossed successfully on foot.

Jarlaxle's Farewell and Final Briefing

At the Underdark entrance — just over the ridge — Jarlaxle halted the party for a final briefing. He confirmed he would:

• Travel north to Bryn Shander under the alias "Zordot Zod"
• Store the sleds at the city's largest sled stable
• Deliver Othorion's tattoo key
• File the mission with Force Grey as completed
• Inquire about "Gertie" for Kavu

Before departing, Jarlaxle delivered operational intelligence about the Underdark route:

"This entrance is known to the drow. In fact, it is a place that they use to bring prisoners, exiled members of their own society, to die of exposure to the cold."

On the route to the Dark Lake (the party's ultimate destination), they will pass by Velkynvelve — the notorious drow prison. It is unavoidable by any reasonable path; the alternate route would add roughly 100 miles. Jarlaxle outlined three options:

1. Skirt around it — drow have lookouts; almost certainly will fail
2. Storm it and cause chaos — possible but high risk
3. Present Othorion as the noble "Thorin Baenre of House Baenre" with his piwafwi documents and claim the rest of the party as slaves — the most viable approach

Jarlaxle also confirmed he does not know the exact route from Velkynvelve to the Dark Lake. The party will need to find a guide.

Kavu called Jarlaxle "Gramps" for the second time. Jarlaxle set him on fire with Fairy Fire — harmless, but he had warned Kavu and he keeps his word. The fire lasted until Kavu stopped laughing.

Jarlaxle then gathered Roland, Othorion, and Kavu and placed his hands on their shoulders. He had observed that all three had never been with a woman. He looked at Lireal and Selene and said:

"Do not allow these hussies to force you into anything that you are not ready for. Be strong. This is the only sincere advice I am ever going to give all of you."

Lireal: "Who you calling a hussy?" He walked away without answering.

Lireal Reveals Her Plan

As Jarlaxle prepared to leave, he approached Lireal to confirm she would come to Bryn Shander to check on her orchids. She replied:

"Now, I actually thought I might accompany your nephew. It's been some time since I have seen the City of Spiders, and I have a feeling that you have a chance."

She wants to see Menzoberranzan. She has been in prison for ten years, and told Jarlaxle that freedom is the only thing she fears losing — she is not going back to Bryn Shander. She will enter the Underdark with the party.

Nezznar's spider staff was briefly discussed: Jarlaxle assessed it as generically Lolth-enchanted (no specific house symbol), which makes it a potential bargaining chip or a source of questions from drow who covet it.

Underdark Clothing Distribution

Before leaving, Jarlaxle updated the party's character art in Foundry — distributing Underdark-appropriate dark garb to party members who needed it:

• Selene received new dark clothing
• Roland kept his black armor (already suitable)
• Othorion returned to his original drow garb with his new face
• Haldak and Kefkas received appropriate dark attire

Snow gear was retained as emergency equipment — the party will need it again when they surface, and Jarlaxle was not taking it. He noted that entering Underdark towns in snow gear would get the party murdered.

The Exile's Field

At the cave mouth, the DM described the scene:

"A faint warmth breathes from the darkness ahead, melting the snow at the entrance and revealing a swath of bare, muddy earth. Steam curls faintly along the edges, as if the Underdark itself exhales — the warmth, however, offers no comfort. Scattered across the ice-choked fields are the bodies of drow: curled, sprawled, and frozen mid-crawl. They are thin, brittle things now. Some still bound in rusted shackles. Others collapsed in a final desperate pose. No weapons. No signs of a fight."

Among the dead, clothing lay torn and discarded — the last cruel instinct of those freezing to death, the belief that they are burning up from within.

Kavu's Arcana/Religion check confirmed what he sensed: Lolth's divine magic marks these bodies — a lingering web of divine essence as a claim of ownership. Any beast or scavenger instinctively avoids the field. Even the wind passes around it. The bodies have been here undisturbed for decades; some are recent.

The Pendant — House Baenre and House Zolaran

By a jutting black rock, two drow lay frozen together in a final embrace — which Lireal immediately noted as strange:

"Drow are not known to embrace one another lovingly."

Medicine checks (Kavu and Roland): The drow died from exposure — frostbite, starvation, and poison. The two by the rock appeared relatively recent compared to others in the field.

Roland found an object clutched in the female corpse's hand: a pendant — crudely crafted, twisted metal and blackened shrapnel worked into a brooch-like form, deeply personal in its construction. Othorion extracted it carefully.

History check with advantage (Othorion, advantage from drow house knowledge): The pendant bore the entwined insignias of House Baenre and House Zolaran, hidden within the design — recognizable only to someone who knew what to look for.

Lireal spoke from behind:

"This was not meant for the world to see. It was meant for one person to see."

She knew the historical context: the only union between these two houses occurred in the mid-1480s DR — Tiago Baenre and Sarabel Zolaran, who had a union and in which Sarabel took the Baenre house name, a shocking deviation from drow matriarchal custom. These bodies are recent-ish; they could not be Tiago and Sarabel themselves.

As Othorion held the pendant:

"A faint pulse of warmth tingled in your palm, followed by a sharp, hollow ache in your chest. You don't remember what it is, but something old inside of you mourns."

Othorion took the pendant. He considered leaving something behind but ultimately pocketed it, touching the pendant he already wore.

The Kasmeh — First Blood in the Dark

Kavu heard low chittering from deep in the cave — growing louder and more agitated as the party approached. He signaled a halt.

"I hear something chittering."

Nobody had time to consult the Underdark Survival Guide. Roland's Religion check suggested something fiendish, demonic, insect-like — not uncommon in the Underdark. Kavu cast Firebolt into the cave mouth (blind, disadvantage on the attack roll). It hit.

From the cave mouth: Kasmeh. Mutated by long cold exposure — wings half-frozen, body speckled with frostbite and cracked ice, emitting a low droning sound that "threatened to drive even the sane to madness." No surprise (longbow of warning).

Round 1:

• Roland shot twice (25 damage; second arrow missed — creature evaded)
• Selene loosed two arrows (7 damage; second deflected); the DM compared her speed to Legolas
• Kefkas manifested his Echo 15 feet up, held action to attack if creature came within 5 feet
• Othorion bonus-action dashed 60 feet and fired his hand crossbow — bolt through a veiny, bulging wing ("we are canonizing the veiny, bulging wings")
• Kavu: Toll the Dead (save failed) + Slow (the creature rolled a natural 20 on its save — resisted) + Haldak activated Robe of Spectral Echoes

The Kasmeh's turn: It identified Othorion — a drow, exactly what it is used to feasting on — and buzzed over at lightning speed. Natural 20 attack. It proboscised him through the chest for 114 damage. Othorion was instantly unconscious, reduced to a deflated drow balloon leaking icy ichor.

"That was full death. We don't do that here."

Round 2:

• Lireal: Eldritch Spear + Eldritch Blast (12 + 6 damage) + Misty Step to close on Othorion; both ranged attacks missed (creature dodging)
• Roland moved to heal; Selene moved up
• Selene killed the Kasmeh: walked up behind Roland, drew her bow, looked the creature in the eye, and put an arrow through it. The creature slumped; its proboscis was still inside Othorion, tore free as it fell, oozing icy ichor.

Post-combat:

• Kefkas teleported to Othorion via Echo and force-fed him a magical healing draft (rum-based) while yelling "drink it, man, it's good for you!"
• The Path to your Grave curse (vulnerability to next damage source) was removed by having Kefkas hit Othorion once with an unarmed strike — dealing 2 damage, triggering and ending the effect
• Haldak confirmed the Kasmeh does not appear in the Underdark Survival Guide
• Selene requested the book for a book club with Haldak during future long rests

Othorion's first words upon reviving: he grabbed the bottle from Kefkas to finish it himself.

First Camp — Long Rest in the Dark

The party carried Othorion into the Underdark and established a first camp near the entrance. The DM activated the Underdark Camp scene.

Long rest taken. Downtime rolled:

• Othorion: Rolled 19 (DC threshold met) — progress on Drow Weapon Expertise training (started in C04). Selected Drow Devil's Sight as his next training goal (level 9 ability)
• Kavu: Rolled 14 on Wood Carver's Tools proficiency (DC 10 — success)
• Selene: Also rolling Wood Carver's Tools (Foundry VTT macro bug, progress adjusted manually)

Party noted: no access to external food sources in the Underdark — all downtime training will consume rations.

Lireal's Training Ultimatum

During the long rest, Lireal approached Othorion. She requested one of his swords, took it, and bounced it between her hands in a stance reminiscent of — but not quite identical to — Jarlaxle's.

"Based on your performance just now, I feel like we need to get you trained up as quickly as possible. I would like to see you live long enough to make a decision about what you and I are."

She required a yes or no answer. He nodded. She came at him:

"...with a ferocity that reminds you of Jarlaxle and Drizzt, though less force, more life — not quite as skilled, but skilled enough to keep you on your toes and give you the training that you need."

Kefkas threw a candlestick during training (his ongoing blind-fighting candlestick regimen). Lireal grabbed it out of the air without looking and threw it at Othorion from a different angle while continuing to spar.

NPCs Encountered

Loot / Discoveries

Threads Opened / Advanced

• Velkynvelve: The party must pass through or around the notorious drow prison on the way to the Dark Lake. Jarlaxle's three options: skirt (risky), storm, or present Othorion as "Thorin Baenre of House Baenre" with his piwafwi. They need a guide from Velkynvelve to the Dark Lake regardless of approach.
• The Pendant and Othorion's Parentage: A pendant bearing the entwined insignias of House Baenre and House Zolaran triggers an uncanny emotional response in Othorion — "something old inside mourns." The only known Baenre-Zolaran union was Tiago Baenre and Sarabel Zolaran (mid-1480s). Jarlaxle has always avoided the question of Othorion's parents.
• Lireal in the Underdark: Lireal declined to go to Bryn Shander. She is now a full party member entering Menzoberranzan. Her goals may align with the party's — or may not.
• Haldak's Netheril Origin — Security Risk: Lireal flagged this explicitly. Bringing a Netherese mage into the Underdark puts him at risk from any drow who knows what blood magic can extract. Haldak's temporal magic is also of unknown significance to the Underdark's power structures.
• Separate Temporal Source (South): Haldak sensed temporal magic unconnected to Tharazgon's lake, located as far south as the distance the party has already traveled. Unknown origin and significance.
• Lireal and Othorion — What They Are: Lireal has made her interest explicit. Othorion nodded. Neither has said more than that.
• Othorion: Drow Weapon Expertise + Devil's Sight: Training continues through downtime. Progress toward both in parallel.
• The Kasmeh — Not in the Book: The first creature encountered at the Underdark entrance is not catalogued in the Underdark Survival Guide. This may indicate the DM is using custom creatures or modified entries.
• Kavu and Gertie: Jarlaxle will inquire about "Gertie" in Bryn Shander on Kavu's behalf. Identity and significance of Gertie not established.