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Note: This adventure comes from “The Sinister Spire”, by Bruce R. Cordell and Ari Marmell, as published by Wizards of the Coast.

Rest at the Dripstone Inn in Pedestal.

Return to the Necromancer's Spike.

Area S24) Hall of Mirrors

As they puzzle the meaning of six, large mirrors that make up the far wall of this room, the glass in the mirrors grinds and flows to form a large humanoid and two glass spiders. The ensuing battle involves flying daggers of glass, glass tentacles reaching from the other mirrors, and dangerous glass shards littering the floor.

With no obvious exits, the party searches for (and finds) a secret door.

Area S28) Shrine of Orcus

This evil shrine has two undead fire elementals and an incorporeal undead air elemental. Once they are defeated, the party recovers two Elemental Gems – one for Air and one for Fire.

Area S29) Cursed Stairs

As he steps onto the spiral staircase going down, Ash triggers a magical “curse” trap that he barely avoids. For his first Wisdom demonstration, Líkami wonders aloud whether the magical trap was a one-time or a recurring event as he steps on the stairs to find out. Cursed with reduced Constitution, he finds his answer.

After Freyrik dispels the magical trap, the party proceeds down the stairs, only to find that the whole thing is unstable. Freyrik and Ash tumble to the bottom amidst a pile of twisted iron.

The remaining party hurriedly fixes a rope and descends to rejoin the two.

Area S31) Gallery Hall

A short hallway houses alcoves with statues of various creatures (mostly Drow). Each appears to have been turned to stone, but has one feature (eyes in one, hands in another) that remains flesh.

They are:

• A drow male crouching low as if he is a hound, his ears and nose still flesh.
• A male duergar smith with his hammer raised. His eyes are normal, and they squirm madly within the stony sockets.
• A female drow holding her hands out, palms upward as if in supplication. The hands are clearly flesh.
• A female drow standing balanced on one foot, her flesh mouth still keening.
• Two drow children pointing and gazing upward as if in awe. Their pointing fingers still wriggle.
• An angelic being struggling to launch itself into the air, its wings still soft with white feathers.

Area S35) Fadheela's Lair

In the last major room in the Spike, the party finally finds Fadheela (though they don't know it at the time). She turns out to be a hybrid Medusa/Yuan-Ti and presents a serious challenge. Through most of the fight, the party manages to avoid her petrifying gaze – but once her minions are destroyed, they must take more risks to take her down. In the end, Freyrik, Yosi, and Líkami are turned to stone!

Fadheela herself is kept from dying and a bag is placed over her head so that her gaze does not further trouble the party.

In a nearby storage room and a closet, the party finds the following items of interest:

• Elemental Gem (Air) (from S28)
• Elemental Gem (Fire) (from S28)
• Two pieces of Art (200 gp each) (sold)
• A crystal goblet (25 gp) (sold)
• A set of gem-inset flatware (500 gp) (sold)
• A gold comb (150 gp) (sold)
• A platinum circlet (450 gp) (sold)
• Documents – numerous papers written in Undercommon. These papers are apparently contracts put out on various figures in Pedestal. Almost all the contracts contain a scribble in Undercommon at the bottom that reads, “Complete.” (given to Es Sarch)
• Three rolled scrolls written in Yuan-Ti.
• Clothing: There are numerous outfits that appear to be traveling attire or black working suits designed for Fadheela's humanoid torso. However some of the outfits include pants or other leggings that clearly would not fit her.
• Stone Chest containing 412 pp.¹⁾
• Field Provisions Box – This stone box is carved with runes denoting abundance. When activated, a field provisions box produces a full day's sustenance for up to fifteen humans or five horses. It functions once per day. Price: 2,000 gp.²⁾
• Banrhialorg³⁾ – A finely tapered staff of ash wood shod with unblemished gold on its foot and a golden draconic head with sapphire eyes and a ruby tongue on its top. Close examination reveals that the faint lines and veins in the wood form a sequence of arcane runes that repeat down the staff's length. Masterwork quarterstaff that also functions as a lesser metamagic rod of “Extend Spell”.⁴⁾

On Fadheela herself, the party finds:

• Obsidian Ring – This ring has a skull glyph carved inside its loop. It allows the wearer to bypasses the trap in S2 and control the (now destroyed) bloodhulk fighter. (given to Es Sarch?)
• Snake Key – This small gold rod has a head showing an opened, fanged mouth about to close over a blue agate that resembles a globe. It activates a gate made of electricity (and is worth 200 gp).
• Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds
• +1 studded leather (sold)
• +1 buckler (sold)
• +1 shortbow (sold)
• 15 poisoned arrows
• Key to Storage Room

Additional treasure adjustments:

• Cost for eight Identify spells: 880 gp
• Cost for seven Break Enchantment spells: 3,150 gp (see below)
• Net: 535 gp for each of the seven characters

Finally, Fadheela's lair has a functional Gargoyle Sink. That, along with the Field Provisions Box and the nearby lavatory means that a large group could live here for an indefinite time.

Since Fadheela was not killed outright, the party opts to keep her alive (with a bag over her head) while they question her – as follows:

Why does Xeron want the bones?

Heh. Ask him yourself, if you wish. He's in my museum. You passed him on the way in.

His job was to find the bones and the weapons and deliver them to me. I was to then pass them on to the Vanguard. But the fool showed up without all the pieces, claiming he was being pursued.

I sent the bones and two of the items along, but kept one as protection against reprisal. I will NOT be punished for the incompetence of that fool!

What is your role in the House of the Circlet?

The House is for the purebloods. They like to think they serve a greater role, but in reality they only serve the Vanguard as liaison to the cattle.

What does the House want? What is their next move?

To build a new Serpent Kingdom, of course. Their next move is to await the dawn of Sertrous.

What do you know about Mosargrax?

Very little. She was dealt with decades ago.

What is the Vanguard of Sertrous?

Your future rulers.

Where are you from?

I am from the south - near what the cattle call "Arela". But my form made me an outcast, so I moved to the frontier to help with the migration.

Who is/was the winged creature in the entry? Who are the rest?

You like my trophies? They are all fools who tried to oppose me. You would be there, too, if circumstances were different.

Why does the vanguard want the bones?

To rule the world.

What items were sent to the vanguard, and which did you withhold? What pieces were missing?

That fool Xeron never found the sword. And I kept the staff for myself.

How can your victims be returned to flesh?

Why would you want to do that? Perhaps their natural state is stone?

Who, or what, exactly is Sertrous?

He is the Slumbering Serpent who feeds on the souls of the weak. He walks in nightmares and brings madness to the chosen. Soon, he will wake and lead my people to dominion over all the races of the world.

Or at least that's what they say. I, of course, won't be there to see it.

I think it is time you sent me home.

With that, the party determined they had retrieved all they could from Fadheela, so they executed her.

The four “survivors” then descended the spire and returned to the Dripstone Inn, leaving the three petrified characters behind. There, they discuss their adventure with Es Sarch and ask him to help fill in some of the gaps in their understanding.

Do you know of any other agents of Sertrous, or members of the Vanguard, in town right now?

Until you arrived, I had never heard of this group. Since then, I have tried to glean as much information as I can – but have found essentially nothing.

My suspicion is that Fadheela was a lone agent working for this “Vanguard” group. Whether she was sent here or whether they recruited her after she arrived in Pedestal is something we may never know.

I was able to learn, though, who “Sertrous” is. He is a demon lord revered by a small cult of snakemen. Unlike “normal” demon lords, though, Sertrous allegedly lives on the material plane - though he has been asleep for millennia.

Does you know who the Medusa's victims might be? The winged one, in particular?

Again, this is an area where you have more information than I. Despite all my contacts, I have *never* heard of a Celestial being in Pedestal. Perhaps it was a spellcaster caught in an alternate form?

Do you know of someone who can de-stone the winged one and our friends? (And we need it as cheaply as possible.)

The only spellcasters in Pedestal capable of performing this spell would be the drow clerics - and I strongly advise against approaching them.

First, they care nothing about you and would charge far too much. Second, they have a special hatred for surface elves, so could not be persuaded to help your friend, Yosi - at any cost. Third, they claim the Necromancer's Spire as their own. To learn than you had infiltrated the place (killing their guards in the process, I presume) would be a “deal-breaker”.

However, there is an alternative. If you can be patient, I can send word to a colleague who lives far to the north. While she is still a drow, she has turned from the way of Lolth and embraced the goddess Eilistraee. It seems that two years ago, her enclave suffered some sort of calamity. Most were asphyxiated - but she (and a few others) survived.

She has been most helpful to me in the past. I can get word to her in a day, but even if she agrees to help, it will take her at least a week to make the journey.

And so begins the long, uncomfortable wait in Pedestal…

While the party waits, they find a spellcaster willing to cast Comprehend Languages on the three Yuan-Ti scrolls found in Fadheela's quarters.

Finally, after nearly three weeks, Banaud'a, a drow cleric to Eilistraee arrives in Pedestal. She turns out to be quite unlike any drow the party has seen so far and is not only able to help, but is also willing to help.

Of course, she still expects to be paid for her services – and since the spell required⁵⁾ is a powerful spell, she can only cast three per day. On her first day, she successfully revives the “angelic being”, who turns out to be a male Drow Half-Celestial named “Sh'honale”. Despite her promises of further assistance, Banaud'a ignores the party for the remainder of the day to learn all she can from this strange creature.

Banaud'a uses all three of her spells to cure Freyrik.

Banaud'a cures Líkami and Yosi.

The party is (at last) whole and reunited!

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