Invisible, we attempted to find a way out of the vampire's stronghold. It was probably going to be impossible to return the way I came in - the elemental I had used to create a distraction so I could sneak in had seen to that. Caine bore Joan's body and invisibly we continued deeper, hoping to find a way out.
We came across a library of sorts, where a drow and two spawn assistants appeared to be doing some kind of research. Though I ached to study the books myself, I sent Paazbul in to create a distraction so that we could sneak through. I was sure that we were noticed at one point, but if so, we weren't followed.
Further down we came to a huge cavern where slaves appeared to be quarrying stone. It appeared that many, though not all, of the slaves happened to be dead. Again, we were able to sneak through without being noticed. As we exited the quarry, Ilyich said that he saw something weird, though he couldn't be sure exactly what it was, so we ignored it and pressed on.
After a few more encounters with guards, easily avoided, we came to what appeared to be a cistern. There were several corridors leading away, but most important was a chimney. I could impart the ability to fly to my two other party members, but I would need to rest and reprepare the spell first.
Caine was on watch, and while I was preparing my spell he alerted me to the fact that there was a mind flayer in the corridor and he asked if I could speak with it.
Needless to say, this was quite startling to me, and of great concern. I immediately surmised that this was likely to be the same illithid that Joan had given the medallion to earlier. There was absolutely no way that I wanted to engage it in conversation, but I did so anyway. It spoke Abyssal, which I suppose was obvious in hindsight.
It turned out that the illithid considered itself to be in our debt after the return of the medallion. It gave us a small package that consisted of some keys, a mysterious gem, and Buff's headband. It said that Buff was still alive, and that it believed that the items in the package would help us to rescue him. The gem immediately got my attention, as it was obviously magical. I thanked it for the package and asked politely if it could please stop following us now. It returned to the shadows.
I tried gleaning some information about the gem in all ways I knew how, but it stubbornly resisted my every effort. Caine and Ilyich also were unable to unlock its secrets, so I stowed it for now. I assume that whatever function it has will become clearer when we try to rescue Buff. For now, our first priority was to escape, which fortunately was easy after resting.
Paazbul had scouted the chimney and found an exit to the mountainside, so as soon as we were ready we flew up and escaped the underground fortress, where we rested.
From the mountainside we could see a long way over the plains of the Shaar. In the distance we could see a town, but there was smoke rising from it and it looked as though it had just been attacked. Further north we could see two armies camped on the plains. This was probably part of the war that we had been hearing about.
Caine and Ilyich were keen to go back and rescue Buff, but I was still of the opinion that infiltrating a vampire's stronghold would be beyond our capabilities. After some discussion we decided to head for the town that we could see. We are worried about Buff, of course, but there isn't a lot we can do for him right now. We need an army.
It took us a few days, but we made it to the town. It seemed that most of the young men and women had been killed or captured, but we sat in on what appeared to be a meeting of the remaining town elders. Some wemic tribesmen were in attendance as well. While Caine went off to find a silversmith's shop, Ilyich and I discussed the situation with the elders.
They had been attacked by the vampire's army - it was clear from the black banners. They were unaware of what the allegiance of the second army that we saw on the plains was, but they agreed that if the second army was fighting against that of the vampire, it was a good idea for us to try and connect with them. They had not heard of Sharani.
The wemic offered to act as guides through the Shaar - an offer that we gratefully accepted, as bypassing the vampire army was going to be tricky.
Hopefully Buff will be able to hold out for a while. I shudder to think what might be happening to him as a captive of the vampire.
