Brick

Your name is B’Lockie Faen-Tlabbar, you are a drow elf and you grew up in the underground city of Menzoberranzan.  


Menzoberranzan is a nasty place, full of treachery and murder. Lolth, the Spider Queen, reigns supreme as the one and only god to the drow (for the most part).

Your station is life is everything, drow society is governed by a deeply entrenched hierarchy. Each of the Houses in Menzoberranzan is ruled by females, who are stronger, smarter, and more emotionally controlled than males – and above all – more devoted to Lolth. Your Matron Mother is Vadalma Faen-Tlabbar.

You belong to House Faen-Tlabbar, in a city of black-hearted betrayals, Faen-Tlabbar is the most devout and faithful clan of the lot. Your house is so extreme in your devotion to Lloth that other houses are uneasy by House Faen-Tlabbar’s wild orgies with demons and mass sacrifices in the name of the Spider Queen.

Recently a tiefling wizard and merchant of the Underdark named Karavakos, who has worked closely with the House for years, has gone missing. Your matron mother, Vadalma, is furious with this news and fears that Karavakos will turn on House Faen-Tlabbar as well as compromise all drow in Menzoberranzan. She has ordered you to find him and kill him.

The following day you have left the city of Menzoberranzan and are travel to underground town of Blingdenstone. Normally the trek would take a long time; Blingdenstone is not far, it lies “above” Menzoberranzan, but the natural caverns and tunnels do not accommodate a short and speedy journey. Fortunately, there are many portals in your city to various locations throughout the Underdark as well as a few on the surface. You take one of these magical teleportation doorways that cuts your travel time down to just two days.

Traveling with you is Briza, a lower tiered male of House Faen-Tlabbar. Briza was born weak, the smallest kid around. But with ties to House Faen-Tlabbar he was able to survive and saved being expunged. Growing up he has adapted and became a pretty good scribe and gatherer of information. While drow society with never look about the scrawny drow as having any worth, he has survived. He is kinda like Eddie Kessler, the german assistant to Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire.

“Shall I go over details again?”

You sit and fiddle with your bow, it glows with magic, and you still remember the day that your Matron Mother gave it to you, easily the best day of your life.

“Yes,” you reply.

Briza smiles to himself, he does this any time his services are required. This may be the best day of his life, on a real mission and outside of Menzoberranzan for the first time in his life. Briza fumbles through his stuff to pull out a stack of papers which he sorts through quickly.

“Karavakos is a tiefling (half demon, half human) wizard of immense power and has had many dealings with House Faen-Tlabbar. So much that Our Matron Mother bestowed upon him her most famous and trusted Battlemaster, Vyrellis, to attend to him.”

Briza shuffles through some more pages, “Something happened. Karavakos betrayed the agreement and possibly stole something of great value from our Matron Mother. A book? Perhaps?”

Briza continues to leaf through his papers and your mind starts to wander.

“Tell me more of Blingdenstone,” you ask of Briza. You already know all about it, but this gives him a sense of pride when you seek answers from him.

“Blingdenstone. Population approximately 5,000. Abandoned by its original deep gnome population, the former mining community is now a mecca of all sorts of creatures. Most Honored Burrow Warden Kargien Dissengulp presides over the rebuilding community for the last four decades.”

Briza’s voice trails off again as you think back to your travels there. All sorts of different races walking about; humans, svirfneblin, drow, elves, minotaurs, ogres, and even a mind flayer or two. All free. Free to do what they want, free to come and go, just free. You live in a very controlled environment with very little freedoms. The luck of what house you are born in to determines your fate for the rest of your life. Your own house, House Faen-Tlabbar, is noted as a very prominent house in Menzoberranzan, but these people might be freer that you.

“B’lockie? Lord B’Lockie?” asks Briza.

Turning your attention back to the conversation, you tell Briza to continue.

“Well, it seems that Karavakos, travelled to and entered The Pit of Blingdenstone. Where he entered and not returned from. Someone…” Briza pauses for a moment, contemplating if what he is reading is actually relevant. “Someone mentioned something of a ‘ripple’ as Karavakos entered The Pit.”

“How long ago was Karavakos in Blingdenstone?” you ask.

“About four weeks ago,” answers the dutiful Briza. You stare off into the distance for a moment before he asks another question.

“What do you plan to do when we reach Blingdenstone?”

You stand up and start gathering your gear, “Enter the Pit, find Karavakos, and kill him.”

It has been almost two weeks since you arrived in Blingdenstone and each and every day you spend sitting next to the huge hole in the middle of the tavern called Schnicktick’s Retreat.  

Once again you grab a table near the edge to The Pit and study it.  Briza sits by quietly going through his papers looking for any scrap of a clue.  He did find that Karavakos mentioned as a boast that someone would have better luck finding in him in the Dungeon of Shadows than somewhere else.  The sense was that this place was a fortress or maybe a prison.  Maybe the last hiding place of a desperate man?


You peer over the edge of railing next to The Pit and stare at it some more.  You have seen the “flicker” or “ripple” as Briza called it, only a few times.  And it is just for a second.  Could this be the entrance to the secret Dungeon of Shadows that Karavakos resides?  You think you can keep it open for a few seconds longer, but you will need to be at the right place and the right time to do it.

Twice people have decended into The Pit.  The first was a group of adventurers called “Dead and Buried”.  And they didn’t instil a lot of confidence from you.  They were a battle-worn lot, you have to give them that, but they were half-drunk as they descended into The Pit.

Briza nagged you, “Should I ask about you joining them?  Which one is the leader, you think?”

You knew this wasn’t the group to join.  They were up partying all night, singing songs until the wee hours until they finally passed out.  You will have to join a group, going this alone would be certain death, but not this group.

But you are very interested in how they actually descend into The Pit.  Typically Durnan the Sixth and as many others as needed, help lower adventurers on a ropes the 140-feet to the floor of the underground dungeon.  

Dead & Buried were no different.  The morning after their drinking binge they geared up and were lowered in.  Two of them got tangled up near the bottom and you heard one of them throw up as well.  Then, sounds of a fight broke out.  The clang of metal and the near silent recoil of bow strings followed by screams of pain and shouts of an attack.  All of the onlookers in the tavern race to the edge and look down, trying to discern what happened.

Those that lowered the ropes quickly pull them back up, all of them empty now.  The sounds of battle echo through the cylindrical shaft.  Durnan the Sixth pulls his rope up and hands it to you, “You gotta go down there, they’re dying!”

You take another look down the shaft and listen again for a few seconds before answering the owner of the tavern.  

“No.  Three of them are already dead and the other two are being dragged off.  And they will soon wish they were dead.”

Schnicktick’s Retreat settled down after that.  It’s not every day that a party of adventurers descends into The Pit, but outcomes like this are the norm.

The second person to descend was you.  It was very late last night and Briza lowered you in, but not very far.  

From up close you would be able to see the ripple or flicker much easier, and you think it will do so any minute now.  It is dead silent, all you can hear his Briza starting to struggle with the ropes some 30 feet above you.

Sure enough, just below you it ripples and for a second you think you can see a different room below you.  Much closer and smaller, with a large shadow looming over a pit below you.  Quickly you throw a pinch of dust from a gem you had in your hand and the ripple…settles for a moment, holding the image below you of what is sure to be the Dungeon of Shadows.  If you let go right now, you would land safely in a pit in the room below you that is filled with….it’s hard to make out, maybe trash and body parts.  But you would be one step closer to your target.

Now you just need help.

A nearly exhausted Briza helps you up and once he catches his breath, he asks.

“Did you see it?  The entrance?”

“I did,” you answer smugly, “Now I just need to wait for a suitable group.”

As you wait around for a suitable group to assist you in your most important mission, your mind starts to wander. It has been, actually, very nice to be on this mission. Away from the controlling priests and family of Menzoberranzan. You are out on your own, and acting on your own for one of the few times in your life. You think back to the other time you worked as a lone agent.

It was about six months ago when you matron mother, Vadalma Faen-Tlabbar ordered you on a mission to the surface. She sent you to recover two valuable books, one called the Septasigilurue and the other called Asterwun’kaseel. You had learned that a woman named Deylsina had information about it. When you went to go talk to her you saw her house on fire. You went into the burning home and dragged her out. Before dying she told you man named Kal Clewsoro had the book and that friends were on their way to Sundabar to help her. They are an adventuring group called “The Brigade” and she told you all of their names (Baern, Logan, Homba, Xune, and Ungoro). Through use of a magic item that your matron mother gave you, you were able to appear to look like this woman, Deylsina. You decided to pose as her, meet The Brigade, and get their help in stealing the books.

When you did meet them (this Brigade group is actually another adventuring party that the group has. Wil, Lou, Blaine, Mikey, and Jordan all play characters in both of these groups.) an attack broke out between you and The Brigade and group of thieves run by one named Xxorthas. They were defeated and The Brigade enlisted your help. You entered the city of Sundabar and began looking for Kal Clewsoro.

His home had been ransacked. The group of thieves led by Xxorthas had entered and captured Kal Clewsoro and are trying to get the books for themselves. A huge fight breaks out and Xxorthas is revealed to be a beholder (a type of fearsome monster). During the commotion, you sneak around and find the books while the Brigade and Xxorthas’s gang fought. You are able to duck out during the fight before the Brigade knews what happened.

As soon as you could you reverted back to your normal form and made the trek back to Menzoberranzan and with a sense of joy and pride, you gave your matron mother the books she has sought. She took back the magic item that let you disguise yourself and rewarded you with your magical bow.

(Ok, much of this will take place when we get together and play on Sunday, but just to give you an idea of what will happen…)

• The group will walk in to the tavern (Schnicktick’s Retreat) late one night when the place is only about a third full.
• Other patrons of the tavern will point and look at them, it is kind of an exciting time when an obvious adventuring group enters the tavern.
• This group consists of a dwarf spellcaster, a human female spellcaster, a halfling fighter, a female dragonborn, and a human male healer.
• The group is called “Six Fingers”. All of the characters in this group are friends or related to the group called “The Brigade” (all though, you wouldn’t really know this).
• At first glance this looks like the adventuring party you have been waiting for. Now if you can just join together.
• No doubt someone will ask about your last name or what house you belong to. They will shit their pants when they learn that it was you who stole the books back in Sundabar. They will ask you what you did with them and you can honestly tell them you gave them to your matron mother. You have no idea why she wanted them. You do know that the Asterwun’kaseel book is written in drow.
• The dwarf of the group makes a bee-line for the bar, then kinda flickers for a split-second. Now he is stopped dead in his tracks, with a look like he saw a ghost.
• Once you do join up with the group, you’ll all descend about 30 feet into the 140-foot pit and wait until you sense the flicker. When you do see it, you will pull a diamond out of your pocket and smash it against the wall. Then you will spread the diamond dust beneath you where it will hold the magical portal open for a moment. Then you and the others will just need to pass through it to arrive in the Dungeon of Shadows so you can track down Karavakos.