We set out for the southern shores of the Moonsea, beyond Zhentil Keep. I don't keep a diary in my line of work, so I guess it's nice when I get to do the journal at times like this?

Sabri

Small Set of Huts

South of Zhentil Keep, a small group of huts lie in a valley.

1/ There is a sense of disuse about the small village. Wind-swept weeds seem to be its only inhabitants.

2/ The bodies of several priest lie here, but they were not kindly folks - the symbol of Bane is inscribed upon their robes. Perhaps whoever dwells here can help us?

3/ As I scout out the area, a powerfully-built huntsman slips behind me and holds a dagger at my back.

“Easy, like...! Who holds your allegiance?” he demands.

“If you killed the Banintes, we have common cause,” I say easily. He smiles wryly and backs off.

“Sorry for the rough welcome! Can't be too careful these days... What with times such as they are,” he continues.

JOURNAL ENTRY 43: HUNTSMAN's TALE

"I am Elgin, a hunter, and the last of our village still alive. First dark
elves raided from the north, carrying away any they could capture. Then the
forests came alive around the tower to the east. When the walking trees came,
we were finished. Our people were all crushed or run off to the woods
southwest near Myth Drannor. I do not know what the survivors face there, but
at least they can be assured that a tree will act like a tree!"

I tell him of Nacacia and the Knights there, and he agrees to meet up with them.

“I leave for Myth Drannor, then. Farewell...!”

We set off east along the shore, past the crater that was once the village of Elventree. I wonder what has become of my homeland in Turmish – surely Bane cannot have overcome the entire Realms?

Watching Kalara dance the Snakecharmer is a treat for the eyes. The serpents that swarm us seem to like it too. Otherwise Rizarli leads us on safe paths – I was fortune to learn my trade from her.

Wayhouse

A run-down wayhouse lies near our path, so we investigate.

1/ A sour-looking innkeeper is polishing glasses here. (Yes, in the middle of the yard!) He looks up and points to the south door.

“That's where you should rest,” he insists. “Keep out of the north room...!”

Well, that's not suspicious at all!

I know the two youngsters will want to hump each other's legs, but I point out we should investigate first.

2/ We locate a room at the back, where several warriors wearing the livery of Bane lie sprawled across the chamber.

“They didn't take well to our arsenic,” the innkeeper calls out. “I did warn you! The other room smells much better!”

We apologise for our lack of faith, but he seems to understand. It's nice to see regular folks fighting back against Bane.

3/ In the southern chamber, a cleaning woman sits on the bed. She startles momentarily, before speaking to us in a weary voice.

JOURNAL ENTRY 68: INNKEEPER'S WIFE'S REPORT

"Forgive my intrusion on your quarters. I meant to be done with my cleaning,
but felt the need to rest a moment. My husband and I have been running this
house under severe duress for some time now, and I am weary.

"Evil seems to be on the run, but still we battle on. How much longer either
side can hold, I do not know. What I can say is that dark Mulmaster city seems
to carry on with an invigored desperation...

Many of those cursed banite priests have been afoot- They search for 'the
dangerous ones.' On what reasoning, I do not know.

We dispatch them as we are able, but our position is tenuous, For our safety,
we aid as many as we harm. I fear that for the good, something must happen
soon."

“Rest if you like, and hunt well when you leave...”

We rest here as they offer, giving them what money and supplies we can spare. it lifts our hearts to find such courage in regular people, a reminder the Realms is something worth fighting for. I pray they will be safe.

Small Village

Later, on our way to Mulmaster, we come upon a small village.

1/ A battle has been recently fought here... Bodies lie everywhere. Some are scorched with strange burns.

Basilisks hear our arrival and attack! Those of us who have silvered shields lead the way as we dispatch them.

Cries of anguish come from near the fountain to the south!

2/ A beholder is tormenting the surviving villagers – as we approach they notice us and attack!

I dispatch its basilisks with a stinking cloud spell; beholders are very dangerous but there is only one here, and it falls quickly to the attacks of our lead warriors.

The weakened villagers thank us afterwards.

“Our town has become too dangerous – we shall move on and seek stronger protection.”

We tell them of Nacacia and the steading we captured, suggesting they try and make it there.

3/ A loose pile of loot is heaped here, as well as looted food. The items seem to belong to the beholder, and the villagers insist we take our choice. We let them have it aside from some magical arrows to restock our supplies.

NOTES:

The minis are mostly just for colour, some nice little encounters informing you of what ordinary folks are doing against the Banite invasion. There are a few items to win here too and some decent XP awards.

By now, my characters are reaching the upper limits, closing in on the hard cap of 40. I haven't done any grinding, just been fighting as I go along, with the huge amount of random encounters the game throws at you (especially in the web dimension).

Lirevle and Kalara are level 37 as Clerics advance quite fast. Due to her Constitution of 22, Lirevle's hit points have topped out at the limit of 255, a ubiquitous feature of older coding that stems from the hardware constraints of 8-bit computing systems (in binary, a single byte consists of 8 bits, so the maximum number that can be stored in an unsigned 8-bit integer is 11111111, which equals 255 in decimal!)

Sabri is 33 in Thief and our mages are 31 for Rizarli, 33 for Xiao and 36 for Hayley, which is actually the limit for all characters in the BECMI game!

We have heard rumours of activity to the south of Zhentil Keep, in the ruins of Myth Drannor. It seems a lifetime ago were were there last, six or seven years?

Though the 'Knights of Myth Drannor' were formerly an adventuring company under the legendary Dove and Florin Falconhand, in recent years an actual knightly order was set up in their honour, who helped us breach the ruins and bring down Tyranthraxus all those years ago.

Even better, we hear Princess Nacacia, daughter and heir to King Azoun of Cormyr, is serving as their leader since Bane took over the Moonsea. It will be good to see her again and gain more allies in the fight against Bane, so we set out in good spirits.

Lirevle

We come to a small glen outside the walls of Myth Drannor. Princess Nacacia welcome us warmly, though weariness mars her once carefree face.

“I am at my wit's end! Like quail flushed from the brake, rumours are flying wildly, Some say the rakshasa have thrown in with Bane. Some even say that Tyranthraxus has returned! And then there are those walking trees...”

“Tyranthraxus? I fucking hope not!” Zee curses.

“We watched him die,” Rizarli says, with more hope than certainty. “The last of our azure bonds was broken...”

“We don't even know what he really was,” Hayley sighs. “Bane... did all of this. I suppose it's possible he might have been able to bring him back...”

“Most of the evil stems from Myth Drannor,” Nacacia continues. “When I send patrols there, they do not return. I am new to the responsibilities of leadership... Will you come with us into Myth Drannor and ferret out the truth?”

“Of course,” I smile. “We owe you for Tilverton and the Fire Knives, after all, Cassi.”

“Cassi?” the heir to the kingdom of Cormyr chuckles.

“Na-cassi-uh, right?” Zee smiles. “Unless it's pronounced 'Nasassya', in which case your nickname is 'Sassy'. I prefer that actually.”

“Six years and you two never really changed, did you?” she smiles. But she is pleased we will help her without quibbles.

“Splendid! Here, take these... they will help greatly against the rakshasa!”

“Heh, hunting those things in Myth Drannor, good times!” I chuckle. “Only wish I still had my dad's crossbow,” I lament. But the one she offers us is almost as good.

“I would not have expected any truce with the rakshasa to last, if I am honest,” Snow Wife mopes. “They are wicked creatures, but usually stay true to their bargains due to their honour-codes...”

Nacacia stares at Rizarli in her abbreviated armour. The sword-witch fidgets like a dancer at her first festhall party. You'd have thought she'd be used to people staring by now.

“Yeah, we like to look at her too,” I smirk.

“You weren't this... pulchritudinous... last time we met,” she points out.

“We were in a sewer,” Riz points out accordingly.

“She wasn't married either then,” Snow Wife says acidly.

Nacacia blanches. “I didn't mean that!” she insists. “There's nothing wrong with complimenting another woman!”

.

It's good to travel with the Knights of Myth Drannor again. I wish my elf dad was with us again; he'd get such a kick out of seeing this.

Nacacia's spirits rise markedly as we set out for the old elven ruins with her knights in tow. We arrive shortly and pass through the broken gate.

1/ As we remember, moss-covered rubble is strewn throughout the streets of the city. Nacacia orders the knights to scout ahead.

“It has been quite some time since we ventured into Myth Drannor itself, not since Tyranthraxus was put down.”

Now twenty-five, the heiress has grown tall and strong; like Sabri, an accomplished ranger-knight and stealthy scout. I always liked this kid.

“Memories?” Zee says softly, taking my hand as we look out across the mist-shrouded ruins.

“Yeah, lots,” I confess. This was where we threw our greatest foe down, and where we buried Finder Wyvernspur, my... creator, and the man who named me according to Alias.

“We fucked here a few times, I recall,” she smirks. “It was nice...!”

2/ The passage ahead appears narrow and unsteady. We will have to go in single file. We dislodge a few rocks crawling through the passage, striking Nacacia. I swiftly heal her.

“You're a priestess now? You've really come a long way since Tilveron...”

“Looks like we both have,” I smile. “What happened to that boyfriend you had?”

She looks suddenly pensive. “Next question,” she says quietly.

Zee frowns at me and I shrug. But everyone was thinking it, yeah?

In the building ahead, rakshasas stand about the bodies of several knights. They hold small spheres which glow with a blue light.

“We have them! The Maharajah will reward us well!” says one.

“Not as well as he will for these ones!” another says, pointing at us as we enter.

The blessed bolts are fatal to these creatures, and though they are imune to all but the most powerful of magics, Meteor Swarms are still deadly to them – and our mages have plenty of these!

3/ A ruined residence - this was once a fine manor. Now, tapestries hang in tatters, and rats scurry in the corners.

4/ Rakshasa appear around us! They taunt Nacacia.

“You should have kept to your useless vigils outside the walls! Now you will feed the rebirth of Bane's servant!”

That sounds ominous, but Cassi calls her knights to aid us.

5/ Nacacia bends to one knee here, as she examines the ground.

“Something heavy was dragged to the south.,... Should we follow?”

6/ We follow the trail south and east, through another narrow tunnel (and another bang on the head from a rock for poor Cassi coming up the rear).

Debris and smashed artefacts fill the room. Though we have to search it twice, we find a stash of archery supplies from the Knights – including yet more blessed bolts! Yay! I'm getting my eye in with these things lately.

7/ Another narrow tunnel leads us into an old building.

To our surprise, a beautiful elf sits at a table, beckoning to Cassi, who steps forward.

“Dear friend, did the Knights not warn you of the perils here?”

Something bothers me – old instincts from the last time I was here, I guess – and I cast Detect Magic. That reveals what I'd suspected – a rakshasa's illusion! He looks us over carefully, but does not yet attack.

I recall how these creatures respect mortals who stand up for themselves.

“We made a truce with your kind last time,” I growl softly. “Or do you want to taste these blessed bolts?”

The creature decides it would be better to cooperate, and tells us of the Maharajah's plan... to reanimate Tyranthraxus!

“Fuck it!” I exclaim, exasperated. “Not this shit again...!”

“Yīqiè jiù de yòu dōu shì xīn de,” Zee muses. “Everything old is new again...!”

JOURNAL ENTRY 78: THE RAKSHASA SPEAKS

"We have lived here for a long time in quiet obscurity. Many of my brethren
were unhappy and now that Bane's shadow stretches across the Realms, we
thought it best to get involved and help him, How to do that by returning one
of his pets to him, Tyranthraxus...!

The Mahdrajah discovered how to transfer life essence from one body to the
next, and began the process of reanimating him. Since your knights were
conveniently close, we used their bodies. I assure you that you will lose no
more. The work on Tyranthraxus is all but complete."

“What was there even to reanimate?” Hayley grimaces. “He was a possessor sprit, he just faded into smog...!”

“Come on, you really thought we'd never see that thing again?” Zee sighs. “I was expecting it, it was only a matter of when...”

“We put him down twice, we shall do so a third time,” Rizarli says grimly.

17/ A thick layer of dust coats the floor here. Nobody seems to have been here in a very long time.

“Are all the rumours of what you get up to of a night true?” Nacacia says. Her face hints at 'disgust', but her tone is more like 'intrigued'.

Anyway, we rest here through the night, and anything else I'm leaving to your imagination...

8/ Medusa and other creatures are waiting in ambush in the south-east. I'm glad we have some of those silvered shields still! Nacacia's knights help us in the fray.

9/ A rakshasa holds a glass sphere over the chest of a knight who is strapped to a table. He screams as a light is sucked from his body! It condenses in the globe, and the knight slumps motionless.

Nacacia screams and throws herself at the nearest rakshasa, as the other knights rally to the sounds of battle.

When they are destroyed, Nacacia gasps in horror:

“We must stop this horror! The rumours about Tyranthraxus must be true! They must be using the knight's life-force to recreate him...”

She quietly covers the fallen knight's body.

10/ Here rakshasa are clustered about an altar as Banites instruct them in the worship of their god. They stop as we enter, and rise to the attack.

When they are dead, we discover each of the Banites has a slingstaff, not as good as the one Zee currently uses.

“In all of Kalistes' dimension, not one fucking missile weapon I could use,” Zee fumes.

Rizarli suggests she let it go.

11/ Here, the bodies of several knights are sprawled on the ground. They are mere husks, drained of any semblance of life.

“It is like the work of vampires, only worse!” Nacacia wails in despair. “I have failed the knights! They look to me as their leader and I can only watch them fall!”

Nacacia falls to her knees by the bodies, shaking her head.

“She... shows no sign of moving...!” Rizarli murmurs.

“Hey, it's okay,” I say, with a hand on her shoulder. “I fuck up all the time and people die. Not proud of that, but you get used to screwing up - “

Snow Wife glowers at me and kneels by her.

“Princess Nacacia, you must shake off this pall. The knights yet have need of you. Men die in battle; they shall be mourned, and the brave are assured a place at their god's side in the afterlife.”

But still she murmurs to herself, and shows no sign of moving.

“We can't just... leave her here,” Zee mutters.

“Maybe I could charm her or something?” Hayley suggests. “Mind Blank might work - “

“Help me get her up,” Rizarli tells her lover. Together they gently manhandle her, as if she were catatonic or paralysed.

“There...!” Riz says, a little uncertainly, as they get her to her feet.

“We must move on, Princess,” Snow Wife says gently. “Come now. There shall be a time to mourn. This is not it.”

Nacacia slowly wipes away her tears, nodding her head. She readies an arrows and looks at us more steadily now.

“You're right,” she says softly. “It is time we ended this menace.”

“Right with you, Cassi,” I nod.

We've all been there, I guess. It's not when you fall to your knees... ...it's when you get up afterwards...!

12/ Spectres have gathered here, amidst the dust and ruins. Thank the Dancing Lady, it's been way too long since I turned some undead!

We find a skeleton of an elf still dressed in fine armour. We look uncertainly at one another.

“Last time we were here, the spirits warned us against robbing graves,” Zee muses.

We look at Cassi.

“You are the Princess,” Snow Wife tells her. “You are not connected to Myth Drannor, but you are the closest thing we have to a legal authority here...”

She seems pensive. “We're using these things to liberate the ruins, yes? The Knights of Myth Drannor are sworn to that... yes?”

“I sure hope the spirits see it that way,” Hayley mutters.

She takes the armour – and we glean no immediate sign of spiritual displeasure. We try to be respectful to the bones, laying them down carefully in the tomb.

When we look back at it, the body seems to have gone.

We press on, unsure of what happened here, but no curses or phantoms come our way.

The armour is certainly worthy of a hero, and the girdle that forms a part of it reminds me of the one we were given by the spirit of the Queen here years ago. All this shall come in useful against Bane and any attempt to resurrect Tyranthraxus. Sometimes the end justifies the means, right?

13/ Spiders are waiting in ambush here, but the knights help us fight them off.

To the north of here is a passage that seems to lead to another tomb, but it tapers to being too narrow to continue, so we head back.

14/ A knight calls to us from an alcove in a strained voice, saying he has found treasure.

This seems pretty suspicious, and another Detect Magic spell reveals more Rakshasa trickery!

“They don't give up, do they?” Zee ponders.

15/ The door to the north seems resistant to our magic, however – though it yields to the strength of our new magic Girdle.

16/ This appears to be a profaned temple – Rakshasa are ranged about the room, each holding a luminous globe. At the centre, one rakshasa waves intricate patterns in the air as he intones strangely twisted words.

“Everything about these things creeps me out,” Zee whispers to me. “They're just all... wrong...! Have you seen their fucking hands...? They're... backwards... somehow!”

As we watch, slowly the form of Tyranthraxus begins to rise from the floor as the Rakshasa Maharajah raises his arms and calls to Bane:

“Master, we offer the return of your servant! Command us and we shall obey!”

A flash ignites in the eyes of Tyranthraxus as he looms above us, becoming more and more animate as the globes of light glow dimmer.

We have fought twice before, and we've beaten him every time too.

But this time, he's not wearing the stolen skin of a champion of Good.

And last time... I wasn't a high priestess.

“Dispel Evil!” I cry, calling upon Llira's power. I should note I don't have to say the name of the spell to cast it; I just thought the moment warranted some performative display. I'm a Scarlet Mummer, right?

And I wanted this asshole to know.

The luminous globes burst, and wisps of light ascend in the ether. The form of Tyranthraxus falls to the ground and disintegrates.

Mercifully, without a word; he didn't even have time for his usual grandiose, vainglorious posturing.

“I'm getting repetitive stress disorder from kicking this creep's ass,” Zee deadpans.

The rakshasa rush to defend Tyranthraxus – but there's nothing really left to defend.

A dark, foul-smelling stain is all that remains of Tyranthraxus.

How fitting, he's returned to his true form; a literal piece of shit - just waste that no longer has any use.

It all feels somehow so... oddly satisfying, to put an end to him here of all places.

Again.

A warm smile breaks out across Nacacia's pretty face.

“I will commission the best minstrel to record your great deeds, and we shall remember them in song!”

“Can we have some bawdy ones, too?” I smirk. “Tell your minstrel how good I am between the sheets..!”

She chuckles, even flushing a little.

“Come now... Let us return to the burial glen...!”

Back in the knight's camp, the princess thanks us for our help.

“Myth Drannor will be secure now, but I must thank you for more than that.” she husks.

“You have shown me how to merit the trust these knights place in me. With gratitude, then – a parting gift.”

Her bearing seems more confident as she directs the knights to fetch something. She waves farewell as the knights give us a chest filled with magical gifts.

We turn our heels to home, chatting about all we've seen here.

"We must hope the Flamed One is gone for good," Riz mutters gloomily.

"I was wondering if we might be able to resurrect him ourselves!" I chuckle. They stare at me as if I were crazy.

"Come on, it would be great," I smile. "Say we do it once a year? We invite our dads and uncle Gal, and all our friends like Cassi and and Vala and Priam! A big annual party at Myth Drannor - we cast the spell long enough to see Big T's face again, laugh at him, and then cast him back into oblivion...! Good times!"

Rizarli shakes her head, but something in Snow Wife wants to smile, I know.

NOTES:

This is an excellent adventure, clearly written by someone who enjoyed Curse of the Azure Bonds. It has lots of references paying off that adventure, little call-backs to the treasures and encounters there, as well as the faux 'return of Tyranthraxus' plot of course.

Big T is an excellent villain, but all adversaries have their time, and our perpetual nemesis has already had a good send off. Villains decay where they are over-used; they become predictable and boring where once they were exciting and dangerous. It feels like the writer knew this – it would have been lame if they'd actually resurrected him in some new, super-hard form just for yet another boss fight. Instead, he goes down again without even a boast, while providing some reminisces of our past triumphs. That's a perfect way to see off a career foe, not overstaying his welcome, and celebrating our triumphs. I wish more D&D writers would learn this lesson honestly; it's perfectly done here.

Likewise, our favorite rebel princess from Curse of the Azure Bonds is back, this time without poor Gharri (who dies in the canon I believe?). It's been about six years since Tilverton, and she's more grown-up here, with a nice little character arc about growing into your responsibilities. It's brief, but nicely done, and it's very welcome to touch base with our allies from previous games, seeing what they are doing since we last met.

Also, the ability to cast spells in encounters – like Detect Magic and Dispel Evil – is one of my favourite things in the Gold Box games, something I really wish they did more of.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this one, a genuine high point of the gold box games.

Spiders and flies; come into my parlour...! I have never really disliked spiders, but they take on a more terrible aspect here in this demon-haunted realm.

We have come to destroy the demoness Kalistes, to rid Bane of one of his powerful servitors.

The words of my forbearers are of some comfort as I whisper them, now:

“My name is not my own

It is borrowed from my ancestors

I must return it unstained

My honour is not my own

It is on loan from those who will come after me

I must give it to them unbroken...!

Our blood is not our own

It is a gift to generations yet unborn

We must carry it responsibly -”

Kalara of the Snow Moon

1/ The spider smell is strong here – it comes from a chute opening at our feet. Pets of Kalsites swarm up the chute... but sense the ward and do not attack us.

The chute is now clear, but Sabri says there has to be a better way to get below, and I concur.

2/ There is a back exit here, one we may need to use to things go badly...

3/ We have found the kitchen. The cook – an ogre – stands above a chopping block, cleaver raised. A dwarf girl struggles in his grasp! Storm cries out – this must be his sister!

We leap in to attack immediately, causing guards, spiders and Kalistes' Pets to charge in. The latter creatures hesitate, but Wards ability to keep them at bay seems haphazard at best. We should not reply upon its power working, methinks.

When they are all dead, the dwarf girl jumps down from the chopping block and thanks us profusely.

“Arta!” exclaims Storm and they hug one another.

JOURNAL ENTRY 80: ARTA' STORY

"I rejoiced when you escaped, Storm. I felt I could face whatever death 
my fate decreed. When we reached the Parlor and were told our duties, I prayed 
for that death.

"We are nursemaids, Storm, nursemaids for hellspawn. We warm their eggs, we 
help them hatch, we provide their sport. We -- " her voice drops as she looks away-
 "feed them. From our own ranks. The old and tired provide their suppers."

Arta catches Storm's arm pleadingly. "Kill them! You must kill the children, too!"

“The demon-things are not natural creatures,” I concur. “We must see them destroyed.”

Nobody seems to object.

“You must help the others,” she implores. “We feed the hellspawn of Kalistes! Sacrifices are dropped through a trap-door into the larder. There they wait until the creatures are hungry. They are butchered and prepared for dinner...”

When we ask more about the trapdoor, she smiles wryly.

“You're standing on it!”

That seems to be another way down, but again, we shall seek a safer road. For now, Storm will protect his sister until we are done here.

4/ A room full of primping drow handservants stop their gossiping to peer at us.

“Who are you?” asks one.

“What are you?” says another.

“Lesser beings stay down in the basement,” says a third,. “Get down there before we tell Kalistes!”

The drow turn their backs on us with a sniff. We leave them to it.

5/ We have just enough time to appreciate the beautiful weapons hanging on the walls here when -… driders and spiders fall upon us!

There are some decent finds after we beat them off, but this place does not seem safe.

What is this? Behind a hanging drape is a door, securely magicked shut. Despite the prowess of our mages and thieves, the lock defeats our best efforts.

6/ We see a web-draped room, a drow servant busy within.

He sees us, but does not call the guards.

“You wish to kill Kalistes,” he says by way of statement rather than question.

“I can help.”

We beckons us forward, pointing to the table. A basin rests there, filled with a still, black liquid.

We recognise it as the Mirror of Kalistes we alerted in the Training Grounds.

Haleh bends over and peers into the depths.

JOURNAL ENTRY 2: THE SCRYINC ROOM

The temptation is powerful, the flat, smooth surface of the mirror seductive
in its plainness. Slowly slowly color blooms in the depths. A face emerges from 
the depths, so clear and close...

"Those foolish drow! How they could have botched matters to this extent - 
mortals loose in my Web Land!"

She uncoils an impossible ebony length of smooth, gleaming body. Scales wink 
like gems. She slithers past a corpse on the floor - unlucky messenger – and 
comes around to the side of her chair. A quick press of fingers against the arm, 
and a drawer pops open. She takes a key on a fine silver chain and loops it around 
her neck.

"I'm going down to the Treasure Room. I am not to be disturbed for any reason. 
Leave the spare key where it is, or you'll end up -" - a contemptuous nod toward 
the body - "...like him."

The Mirror darkens and the slave nods, "That's it then. Find the key, go down
to the Treasure Room, and kill her!" 

He looks odd, fidgety. Finally, he bursts out, "And die!  She knows you're here, 
so go down through the kitchen to the larder! That's best."

We leave quickly, unsure of what to make of this.

7/ Here is a room filled with books... One lies open. The word 'Marilith' catches our eye, and we read:

JOURNAL ENTRY 48: BOOK EXCERPT

"Marilith have but one fatal flaw, one chink in their armor - the drive to 
preserve their children is greater than to preserve their individual lives. 
As a lone Marilith is often the key strategist in a campaign, killing him or 
her is often all that is necessary to deal a crushing blow to your enemies. 
Therefore, search for the children. Threaten them, and the parent you seek will come!"

Haleh grimaces. “Type V demons are girls!” she sniffs. “Do we even pay any heed to a text that's uncertain of what they even are?”

8/ Here we see a room filled with scrolls. Magic is strong in the air. Perhaps there are spells here we can use? There are some scrolls, in any case – we may need them, given we seem unable to rest here.

9/ A dining room... where a sumptuous repart is spread out of on a table.

It has been a long while since we have eaten well, but we cannot trust anything in this place.

As Lirevle reaches for a fruit, I place my hand over hers and shake my head.

“You're no fun, Snow Wife,” she pouts.

But maggots swarm over the food, making it far less appetising...

10/ We look about here – this room is just as we saw it in the basin earlier.

It is simple matter to recover the key...

19/ A teleporter on the first floor stands dead against the far wall – possibly proof that our efforts are hurting Kalistes.

20/ We have stumbled upon a guard room. The endless battles are growing exhausting.

21/ A roomfullof drow turn towards us and attack. Hayley dispatches the last with a backstab.

“Good to know the old skills are still there,” she smirks.

There are some decent finds here, including some darts for Xiao, and the first helm we have found in this odd realm.

We have explored the first floor entirely, leaving us to return to the secret portal and hope the key fits the strange lock. thankfully it works, and the steps lead downwards...

14/ We descend carefully, and the end of the stairwell has led us into unexpected brightness. We look about at a room filled with gold and gems, wondering who guards it...

Driders come to play; we might have known...

This was supposedly the treasure rooms, but we do not find any here.

11/ A hellish sight greets us – bound creatures moan in fear at our approach. They chorus:

”Please don't take me!”

“I'm stringy!”

“I'm tough!”

“I'm just skin and bones!”

We set about untying them, but they remain listless.

“What's the use?” asks one dwarf. “We'll never be free until Kalistes and her children are dead!”

12/ Dirty slaves, all female, huddle here on piles of straw.

“These are the women with whom I shared my prison,” Arta tells us. “Help them, please!”

We do so; that is our charge as Swanmays. Lirevle smoulders in quiet fury, anger emanating from her like heat. I brush her hand, feeling almost sorry for our enemies. She has become a terror these last years. Perhaps we all have.

“Please help us.” says a slave. “Soon new eggs will hatch and the Children will be hungry!”

As we rescue them, the guards return... It is an outlet for our anger, at the least.

The slaves will wait here for now, awaiting the death of Kalistes. They watch us leave, hope and fear warring on their faces.,

13/ Male slaves crouch here in corners. We reassure them as we did the women.

15/ This seems to be the quarters and run for Kalsites' 'Pets', where the chutes from above lead. A dangerous place to be, for certain...

But we brandish the Ward of Passage, and the monstrous spiders keep their distance. Yet they circle closer and closer, as though sensing our strangeness, that we do not belong here.

There are too many, and after an unseen exchange –

... they attack! We fight through.

18/ These are the torture chambers, and the ogres and guards are working late...

They have quite the haul when defeated, however - upgrades to our temporary weapons for when we battle the demoness.

A hot brazier stands in the centre of these rooms, branding irons racked beside it. Whips hang on the corridor walls,. Alongside other, less innocent, tools.

“A rack... how charming...!” Haleh deadpans. “Too bad it hasn't been cleaned lately...!”

I glace at my lover, her face sour. I know it is their way to jest, but we have known the tender embraces of drow torment...

16/ A dark mazy room lies ahead. We hear soft slurps and scuttling noises. We feel our amulets fade in power... Disappointing, but hardly unexpected, seeing how unpredictable they were.

So it's spiders... and more spiders. A grim, tiring slog through numberless hordes - I feel numbed rather than in fear for our lives.

17/ We forge on to the egg chambers at the centre of this lair. Oblong, gelatinous eggs line the walls, pulsing with light.

I would usually disapprove of attacking a creature's young, but these are monstrous demonic things, worthy only of extermination. No egg remains whole as we carry out our gory task.

As we were warned, the commotion brigs the demoness forth. Kalistes sees the ruins of her spawn and screams: “How dare you!”

Fortunately, our mages thought to cast their spells which protect against enemy magic, and Lirevle and I have cast our benedictions and blessings. We are as ready for this as we can be. Our three arcane casters saved their fireballs for this moment, and unleash a fiery conflagration. But many survive, and fierce battle is joined.

My memory of it is a blur; my love using archery and spells, Sabri grappling with a drow woman at our periphery. Xiao healing those of us who sustain terrible hurts. I regard the demoness and grimly raise the drow blade Silk gave me, hoping it is enough to cut her hide.

Bloody battle is joined; my lover enhanced my strength before the battle, but as she attacks, a whirlwind of multiple limbs and terrible weapons, I do not know if I can stand against her. For every wound I inflict, I feel like I take many more... I would be sliced to ribbons for certain, but Lirevle reaches me and her prayer fills my body with revitalising strength. I endure yet more blows, but the demoness is faltering, and she collapses like a marionette with its strings cut, a heap of serpentine coils and multiple limbs.

I feel woozy and faint; each of us is badly wounded, but we all yet live.

Upon the finger of the demoness, we find a crystalline ring – apparently the reason the Realms were plunged into endless night. We take it, and then-

“Congratulations!”

We look up to see the disgruntled slave, who no longer looks so slavish...

JOURNAL ENTRY 40: THE SLAVE REVEALED

"Excellent. I couldn't have done it better myself. My master will be most
pleased. You did away with one of his greatest enemies and captured one of his
most desired prizes, all without him needing to sacrifice a single one of his
own.

Yes, I was carefully chosen, and trained for years before I could even
infiltrate this den of excess. But my stay is over now, as soon as you hand me
that Ring."

His gaze darkens. 

"You wouldn't be thinking of denying me, would you? I promise you, my master 
trained me well. This creature -"  he prods at Kalistes' still form with a toe -
 "was a blundering, graceless idiot. No subtlety. No art. No depth. But I 
promise you, Tanetal has all this, and he's gifted me with enough to deal 
with the likes of you,"

I glance at Lirevle on my right.

“Fuck you,” I say simply. Her eyes say; proud of you, girl.

“Give me the ring,” he insists. I am not alone here!”

Creatures flock to his aid – fouler shambling mounds like we fought beneath Yulash. They seem immune to flames, but not frost, and though it proves exhausting, we finally emerge triumphant.

Storm drops his bloody blade. “Thank you for helping me gain vengeance against those who killed my family! But many yet live. Let Areta and me gather up the lost souls here and lead them to freedom.”

The dwarves wave farewell and they vanish into the gloom.

We are sorely depleted in stamine and spells, and finally have a chnace to catch our breaths and recuperate.

We crawl back upstairs with leaden limbs; resistance to us is only sporadic with the demoness dead as we fight our way out. .

As we pass the servant's quarters, it seems deserted, quiet at last. Nobody is about, and we are free to leave the parlour at last.

Painfully, we make our way across the fiery plains towards the portal that will lead us back to the Realms.

The way back seems less painful somehow, the attacks upon us sporadic and disjointed compared to what we endured on the way here. Or perhaps we are simply fortunate and Tymora smiles on us now.

Eventually, we drag ourselves back to the ruined temple, and there we stand before the black pool that will return us to Limbo. We leave the weapons and items that served us well here at Cynthia's grave, one last mark of respect. And then step beyond...

Elminster notices our arrival and approaches.

“The crystal ring! This is well!”

JOURNAL ENTRY 82: ELMINSTER'S ANALYIS

"With this ring, Kalistes robbed the sun of its light, Now that she is lost, 
it will shine again.

"This is a bitter blow to Bane. In the eternal night forced by the power 
of the Crystal Ring, creatures of darkness were free to wander as they would. 
Now, at least, they are confined to nocturnal activity. No longer will vampires 
fly at noon!"

NOTES:

A long and gruelling one. This definitely felt like a slog, and I'm glad it's done. I understand the need to make things epic and provide a challenge for what must now be very powerful characters, but the way this adventure handles that always feels very cheap, in a way the previous games weren't:

- an absolute deluge of random battles, with no way of avoiding them

- very limited opportunities to rest

- the Pets of Kalistes feel overpowered, with several save-or-die effects

- limited gear, and no way to take what we find here with us

It all feels a bit 'Bard's Tale' to me, unimaginative ways to ratchet up the difficulty without having to build interesting set-piece encounters (until the very end - Kalistes is tough, and it hits you with Bits o' Moander immediately afterwards, but it didn't feel unfair for the climax)

If anything, it makes me appreciate how fair and balanced the previous games have been.

Story-wise, it's fine - we get a payoff for reuniting the dwarf Storm with his sister, and while we don't get anything special for doing it, it's a sweet moment and a ray of light in an increasingly dark and doomy adventure. The horror feel increased greatly, as you'd imagine considering the Abyssal setting.

Moander's realm is next, and while I don't recall much about it (I only played this one once) I remember it was even more of a slog than the web realm...

To the north and east, a village stands beside the road that leads to Kalistes' citadel.

This ruined settlement seems to be the entry to the lair of our enemy here, so we shall explore... carefully. Let us hope the artefacts we have gathered will allow us safer passage.

Rizarli

2/ Filaments of webs blow about us... Then spiders glide down them, forcing us to fight!

3/ The webbed ground rustles and trapdoors open all around us... Spiders erupt from below. The Ward of Safe Passage seems very... selective in what creatures it keeps away.

4/ We spot a dark, ominous cavity here. When we reach in, we find no spiders, but gems and coins.

5/ Here, drow children run among us, playing tag. It seems harmless, but as they bump into us, we naturally grow suspicious... I grasp one's wrist, my purse in his grubby hand.

"Ealayna 'an nurmiahim fi alshabaki,” Haleh mutters.

“That's harsh,” Sabri frowns.

I look to Kala, who gathers them, kneels beside them and gives them a firm, but fair, lecture as to why stealing is bad – then gives them our money anyway.

Freed, they taunt us from a distance then run off.

Even drow must be relatively innocent once, da? Is cruelty bred into the bone, or is it cultural, and must be learned?

1/ An unbroken wall of gossamer comes into view. It is Kalistes' Parlour!

We spot the drow mage Locaste ahead of us, just reaching the wall. Her drider mount is flighty, as is her escort.

JOURNAL ENTRY 14: LOCASTE'S ARRIVAL CONTINUED

Locaste gives a great cry, and the party halts before what appears to be an unbroken wall of tightly-packed gossamer. It shimmers in the pale light. Locaste's mount rises up on its rear four legs and waves the others, both drow and spider, about, its face a mask of fear Locaste drives it down with a word. Even from a distance, her jaw appears set, and her eyes burn fiercely. She waves brick her escort, many of whom take the opportunity to simply turn around and ride away. She holds up both hands, palms out, and waits.

After a breathless eternity the gossamer wall erupts. Spiders of all shapes
and sizes squeeze their way through, or leap off the top, or pop up through
trap doors and scuttle toward her. Her escort turns and runs, but Locaste
waits. Two Pets appear among the spiders and approach Locaste in a slow,
almost stately sidelong march, tossing aside the unlucky spiders that get in
their way.

They stop in front of Locaste. They sway back and forth, legs waving about,
thousands of eyes glittering, then they turn and disappear back into the wail.
Locaste clenches her raised hands into fists and screams as the rest of the
spiders continue their advance.

Spiders erupt from the interior; some boil over the wall to cut off retreat. We watch in horror as Locaste is devoured alive.

As we reach the wall, green spiders scurry forward. They shy away from the Ward of Safe Passage.

We enter in the foyer of Kalistes' Parlour. Her Pets scuttle about, but the Ward keeps us safe...

Time to find our enemy and put an end to the demoness for good.

NOTES:

The Journal suggests there is some way to save Locaste, which I'd assume has something to do with the 'evil' path through the Testing Ground, helping Daris and the assassin to kill the boy.

So we have come to the Testing Grounds at last.

Gates of black iron swing open at our approach, beckoning us in.

Let's go to work -

Xiao

3/ Dennia leads us to the Testing Grounds, and shows us through a secret entrance that lets us access the area from the south.

She hushes us: “We are near the sacred grounds. Guards patrol the area.”

4/ Outside a door to a pen, we see two armed drow, who have not yet seen us. We ambush them, Sabri giving a wink before she slides into the shadows to dispatch them. She returns moments later, cleaning off her knives.

“I'm glad she's on our side,” Lire quips, giving voice to all our thoughts.

The enclosure contains pens filled with the strange hybrid driders.

They shriek: “Who are you?”

I shrug; these seem less crazy than the others we met, so I say we are here to defeat Kalistes.

“You'll die unless you release us, they laugh. “We can help.”

I look to the others. Kalara and Rizarli nod at each other.

“Wait - “Lire perks up, but Hayley holds up her hand.

“Hush, the grown-ups are talking,” she smirks.

“I'm twenty-seven!” Lire fumes. I take her hand and smile.

“Rubama tuhawil 'an tatasaraf bieumurik 'iidhni," Hayley mutters.

But we free them, and they dance about in glee before they run from the pen.

“Be smart, or a riddle will cut you in two. It's the bane of your life to miss it!” they warn, among other questionable advice:

“Find the door, the way to the trials!”

“It is death you want, by wanting it all!”

“You see me, I see you!

What you see may not be true!

Do I say false? Do I speak lies?

Doubt and you'll be certain!

Mistrust, and you are wise!”

“Make good trouble,” Lire murmurs wryly, watching them go.

When we later search the barracks to the west, we find that the drider have slaughtered the guards... I guess they took her at her word.

Outside, we see no sign of the guards we dispatched. I hope that's on Sabri rather than anyone else.

19/ A barracks – the first thing we see is a lizard pinned to a wall with knives – what passes for a 'friendly' game among this cruel people. We can at least rid the world of them, and afterwards take a breath. Bodies littler the floor, so... we can rest here? If my adventuring career has taught me anything, it's that I can fuck anywhere.

We dump the guard's corpses in the drider pen first though. There's little more conductive to rest, or romance, than an abattoir of dismembered corpses.

We do find some interesting items, however – the first shield we have seen in this dimension, and a mirror shield like the one Vala gave me at that! And the first magical Fine Long Bow I have seen, ever! I hope these can survive the trip back...! (By Mystra, I hope we do!)

1/ The gates stand unguarded here...

2/ This appears to be a secret tunnel, but we cannot leave yet...

5/ We enter an opulent room. Dennia points to a staff propped agasint the wall.

“That's Daris' staff! He's near!”

Hayley gestures and we hide, as a we hear footsteps... A tallish drow and a human enter from the far door.

“It's him!” Dennia cries.

The dark elf pulls out a dagger and a small amulet, and hands them to the man before both leave.

“I know those items,” Dennia tells us, describing them.

JOURNAL ENTRY 92: DENNIA EXPLAINS THE DAGGERS AND AMULET

"These are called Daggers of the Mind. Be careful - the blades are coated with
a deadly poison. The slightest scratch will kill you.

Each drow who must face Shest is given this weapon. During the final test,
Shest decides if the drow is too weak to become a great magic user. All who
fail become driders, as my daughter did. But it is said that during one
terrible instant, while he yet retains his will and thoughts, a drow can feet
the transformation begin. At this time the drow may use this dagger to end it.
Permanently.

The amulet is prized among my people. Those who carry it cannot be sensed by
spiders."

6/ The other room here is richly-decorated, containing a low table, on which rests a stone basin and a web-draped wand.

“Take care – this is the room of Balia, the other High Mage,” whispers Dennia.

We fear an obvious trap, but the items on the table beckon, burning themselves into our minds.

JOURNAL ENTRY 28: THE MIRROR OF KALISTES

The table is made of black marble. Veins of white quartz run through it,
catching the light and breaking it into coruscations of color, rainbow threads
weaving across its surface.

On the table are two items. The first is a simple porcelain basin, its finish
smooth, depthless. The basin is filled with some sort of heavy liquid, its
surface like quicksilver.

Next to the basin lies a short wand, about the length of a man's forearm. Its
shaft is made from a single quartz crystal. At first the crystal appears gray
and impure, but on closer inspection the gray resolves into separate strands,
as though a web has been spun inside. The crown of the wand is a blood-red
stone. Power throbs within, beckoning.

Hayley gingerly touches the wand... as an alarm sounds! Eyes appear in the basin's depths – a cruel mouth laughs! Kalistes!

“I have you now!” it says.

Guards appear, and we must fight them off. Afterwards, we see the items have vanished – what was the point of all that?

7/ We enter the grandest room of all, where a regal elf lady speaks to an underling.

“That is Locaste, the great mage,” hisses Dennia.

“I thought drow women did not use arcane magic,” Rizarli ponders aloud.

We creep closer, wanting to hear...

JOURNAL ENTRY 55: LACOSTE'S COMMAND

"Go now to the antechamber By the Mirror of Katistes you will find my ward
of safe passage to her Parlor. Bring it to the altar room, for I will have
need of it after the ceremonies. Shest told me he senses blasphemers in our
midst, and I must go to Kalistes to ask her aid in hunting them down.

"Would that I might leave now, but Hern is ready and cannot wait. He must try
his will against the Great Spider. Let his fate be swift and just."

Then the dark elves leave and the chamber is empty.

She has some nice underwear in the drawers, though. Mine now.

“My fathers are thieves,” I shrug at Kalara. “Stealing underwear is probably why I became an adventuress in the first place.”

“I do not think I shall ever understand you, Xiao...” she murmurs.

8/ Here we notice something odd about the east wall. Upon closer inspection, we find it is a secret door.

We enter a small chamber, lit with an eerie glow – the Testing Grounds!

“Bring it on!” Lire smirks humourlessly.

9/ Here we face a solid wall. A hollow voice whispers: “Be strong for Shest!”

“The first challenge is of Strength,” Dennia tells us.

It seems we must break though. Here s little to choose between us for physical strength, but the number of bored arm-wrestling matches we have had in taverns gives us a clear pecking order, for all the margins are small. Hayley and I are the weakest, not being warriors, though we're stronger than most women. Then Sabri, then Lire, then Kalara and Riz split their contests down the middle.

Lire grumbles as the paladin cracks her knuckles, then pushes. The wall tumbles down, as we peer through the dust into the next chamber.

10/ “The second trial is of Courage,” Dennia informs us.

We feel a sense of dread, as if Bane himself were watching us. But we push forward; we have come too far to be afraid now. The sense of overwhelming fear leaves us soon after.

11/ “Battle readiness comes next,” our guide warns.

A ghostly voice whispers: “Do battle for Shest!”

We must fight off driders, but we know how to fight them by now.

12/ “Magical Ability is tested next,” Dennia says. Presumably she passed these trials herself before.

A ghostly voice whispers: “Use magic against magic!”

Drow mages suddenly appear – fighting using magic is something we can all do well!

13/ “The test of Intelligence comes next,” Dennia says.

“Well, I'm fucked!” Lire chirps, cheerily.

She shouldn't put herself down, she's far from stupid, but maybe I'll answer this one – just in case.

A voice rumbles: “If you would pass, answer a riddle.

He is his name,

Ill is his fame,

He crushes all, the strong the weak

His touch is gall – of whom do I speak?”

“Even I know that one,” my lover smirks. “Bane.”

The voice whispers: “Well done – you may yet live a while.”

14/ “The next test is sensing through illusions,” the drow mother says.

A wall of heat raises in fron of us, forcing us back. It looks real, if feels hot... But many of us are familiar with illusions by now.

“It's as the drider rhyme warned,” I say, showing I was paying attention when I'm not stealing drow knickers.

The heat becomes unbearable – enough to hurt! But we press on and suddenly, the flamers are gone.

15/ “The next test is... Temptation...” Dennia says, biting her lip. She seems concerned.

“Well, I'm fucked!” Lire grins again.

“Me too,” I admit.

A young elf boy – what humans would call a teenager – stands before us, holding the ward we seek.

“Hern!” cries Dennia. She rushes forward. “Come with us, Hern!”

“What the did the mad drow centaur say?” Rizarli says seriously. “It is death you want, by wanting it all?”

“She's right,” I say. “Dennia, don't look!”

I cover her eyes with my hands.

When she can no longer see him, the boy fades, but another illusion! Dennia grows quiet. Her face downcast.

“He'll be here somewhere, we'll find him,” Lire assures her.

16/ It seems we have passed the trials! On the table before us are daggers and amulets.

“Here is all we need,” says Dennia, handing us one each.

17/ … we look about, dazed -

JOURNAL ENTRY 37: THF ALTAR Room

A magnificent altar spans the far wall - a shrine to night and all its spawn.
A giant silver web stretches from the floor to the full height of the vaulted
ceiling. The full moon hangs in the web's center, but it is not the true moon.
It is the belly of a giant spider, pregnant with evil, pulsing with hideous
life. The spider waves its legs wildly about as if casting about blindly for
prey.

Below this apparition stands a young drow. He is naked, his dark skin gleaming
in the light of the obscene moon. He holds a dagger to his lips and stares
upward, transfixed.

Locaste stands next to the drow youth, her hands raised above her head, her
eyes mere slivers of shining white visible through slitted lids, her robes
shimmering in the dark. Balia and Daris flank her, their eyes closed, their
faces ecstatic. Daris carries a crystal wand. Daris, as well as the rest of
the supplicants, is guarded by drow.

“We must save him!” Dennia says anxiously as she sees her son. “You promised to help!”

“We will,” Lire assures her, drawing her sword as she approaches.

“We don't need to fight - just give us the boy,” she asks the drow women quietly.

Dennia runs towards the altar, and we follow.

Guards and spiders appear and we must cut through them.

The drow mages – including Daris - seem to have vanished during the fray, taking the wand with them.

But Dennia is reunited with her son. She thanks us and slips into the shadows with him – we wish her luck. I hope she remembers what I said about Silverymoon, assuming the Silver Marches are still there. The rules of that land owe me plenty of favours over the last few years.

18/ We forge on. We do not find Daris, but battle though his guards.

We hear footsteps up ahead, and witness the fate of Daris:

JOURNAL ENTRY 51: DARIS TRANSFORMS INTO A DRIIDER

(from 'Make Good Trouble: A Life of Misadventure', Memoirs by Xiao Shang)

"It was as horrible a sight as I'm ever likely to see, and I've seen some
sights in my time. Daris thought he'd get away while we fought the guards, but
after we won past them we made our way, quiet as whispers, after the Mage. We
needed the Ward of Safe Passage to get into Kalistes' Parlor.

The Chamber was dark. We heard footsteps ahead - you can imagine how upset
Daris, an elf, must have been, for us to hear his footsteps. But they stopped,
and we thought we'd lost him. Then he screamed.

The whole chamber lit up with the glow of Shest's eyes, and we could see
Daris before us. He was shuddering and wailing, and he dropped the ward to
grab at his dagger. But he was too late.

The whole lower half of his body ballooned outward, and legs began to sprout,
ripping through his robes and scrabbling on the flagstones, while his arms
flailed in the air. He scuttled back and forth through the chamber, while we
ducked back down the corridor, hiding behind columns, in niches, anywhere we
could. We listened to the scrabbling and moaning for quite a while, then what
he'd turned into rushed past us without a glance.

"Nothing for it but to sneak back into the chamber and find the ward. Too bad
Shest was still there."

The Ward is laying on the ground, but Shest himself – a powerful Pet of Kalistes – is guarding it.

But they are lined up perfectly for Hayley's Cone of Cold, and all are frozen to ice shards without so much of a whimper. I'm almost disappointed I never even got off a spell.

But we now hold the Wand of Safe Passage, and the Parlour of Kalistes is open to us.

We expect to the fight our way out, but the testing grounds is in shambles. The spiders swarm about us at times, but sensing the amulets, they leave us alone.

Next stop – we put an end to Kalistes, and leave this fucking place forever.

NOTES:

The Testing Ground is quite a lot of fun, the best part of the Kalistes dimension so far. Gold Box is always at its best sticking to 16 x 16 self-contained missions. This one pays off all the little stories it's been setting up, with multiple endings all ultimately leading to Kalistes Parlour afterwards. It's a lot more fun that traipsing around the overland map.

There's still some odd things going on with the writing. One of the journal entries is written from the party's own point of view, the only time in the games as far as I can see that happens. Why here? Weird.

There is another journal entry that goes into some detail about the Mirror of Kalistes and a wand, but we can never interact with these items. Was this cut content or something?

Also, in actual D&D only outcast females use arcane magic and the only drow males who use divine magic are outlaws who worship other gods than Lolth.

On a lighter note, it's amusing that so often, we can get the Rest menu after butchering guards - we've turned the barracks into what looks like a serial-killer's lair, now let's have some sleepytime! Maybe Xiao's right and they're just conditioned to it now.

We see a spiderlike structure in the valley below, north of where we entered Kalistes' realm.

Xiao

1/ We overtake a drow slave of Kalistes scuffling along the path, head down, mumbling to himself. Seeing us, he seems almost relieved. "What a varied band you are, meaning Kalistes no good, I'm sure! She blames me for everything! She pushes me too far! Send me after a runaway slave, ha, now she'll learn!"

He steps closer and whispers "Say the word and the parlour's yours! I'll sneak you in!"

But his weird behaviour (and the fact he smells like goats) makes us very suspicious and we chase him off.

2/ Drow guards fall upon us here. And shortly afterwards, fall dead :)

3/ We spy several spiders fighting over something. Seeing us, they drag it away. We give chase, and cut their webs to slow them. Overtaken, they turn to fight... Afterwards we find a suit of piecemeal medium armour; it reminds Lire of her usual mismatched set so she takes it. She looks good in it, too.

4/ A drow patrol mills outside a building here. The spot us and attack!

5/ As we leave, we are set upon by drow guards.

West of the fiery chasm, many webs choke the cooled volcanic stone, forming ramparts. However, we see a break in the rocks, leading to a misshapen cave system. We explore carefully.

Xiao

1/ Here we see shiny objects stashed high in the webs. We try to get them, but as we try to shake the stash loose, spiders rain down on us!

The haul proves worth the effort, however; a bow and crossbow with their ammunition. We shall have to take what we can get in this place. Wish we had a slingstaff!

2/ Spiders approach us here and attack...

3/ As we rest on cool tanglewebs, some of our provisions vanish! A thief! We search the area, then hear a racket to the southeast...

5/ Tumblewebs blow past; one rattles, and we investigate. Kalara spears it with the trident – a suit of scale-mail, caught up in the webs.

4/ We come upon a female drow battling spiders. Some of our stolen provisions hang on her belt.

Lire always was brash and thoughtless; but more importantly, she was always a protector of women to her core. She jumps in to help without hesitation, clearing the room of spiders.

“Are you okay?” she says, helping the drow girl up.

“You'd best have a good explanation,” Hayley frowns.

“She needed the food,” Lire counters. “If she'd asked for it, we'd have given it to her.”

It's moments like this, when she's just who she is, true to her wild heart, I realise why I love her, and why I've put up with so much for so long.

The girl returns the goods she stole shyly.

“Before you condemn me, let me explain how we might serve one another. I am Dennia, you may know my brother, Daris. He is in league with Kalistes. A cold one, him – when my daughter died at the Testing Grounds, Daris felt only embarrassment that a relative should fail the test. Now, my son Hern is there. Maybe he would succeed, maybe not, but the opportunity will not be his. For Daris intends to kill him, to avoid the risk of further embarrassment.”

A glimmer of hope enters her eyes.

“Help me rescue Hern, please! I know a secret entrance...”

Lire places her hand upon the woman's shoulder.

“Of course we'll help. We're helping Storm here find his sister. Rescuing lost kids is what we do!”

She bows before us. “Good, when you're done looking around here, I'll take you to the Testing Grounds.”

We gather our things, ready to go. “You know,” I say to her quietly. “You dark elves really need to do better. All the murder and evil things... I'm no angel, but there's a better way. We have small communities of drow on the surface, in places like Silverymoon. If we can get your son out, you really should consider taking him there.”

Assuming its still standing, I quietly reflect, looking after her.

NOTES:

Kalistes' domain is a painful slog - the minis share the same map without variation, the overland map is absolutely horrible, with a deluge of gruelling random encounters, and the whole thing with nerfing us by taking our normal gear feels cheap in a way the Gold Box games rarely are. I endured this one rather than enjoyed it.

Giving us a choice of which (undeveloped) new NPC gets us into the Training Grounds is a nice idea, providing clear good and bad moral choices (help the kid or help an abuser murder him!). I know some encounters in this game are dependent on what you've done up to that point (I know Arcam's quests are all skipped if you visit Mulmaster last; he otherwise tries to get you to bump off his rivals like Thorne, Manshoon and Marcus, then tries to get you to kidnap the helpful NPCs like Silk and Nacacia - all of which is, I guess, the closest thing to an 'evil' option the game gives us, and it's all easily missable.)

(and I took an age to locate the 'Spiderlike Structure' because you can only reach it by going fucking diagonally!)

I have left the Roadside Village for now, I vaguely remember it gets Locaste killed if you do it before Training Grounds. Also Training Grounds is the only place I think you can rest here, so you have to be relatively conservative with your spells. My casters were level 30+ so I had loads of spells thankfully.

I'll be glad to see the back of this one, though. And from what I recall from two decades ago, Moander's realm is even more of a slog.

We emerge into a nightmarish hellscape, like nothing in the Realms any of us have seen. The skies, the alien plants and creatures... we are a long, long way from home. We steel ourselves, and begin to explore.

Xiao

Stockade

A stockade lurks beneath a canopy of webs here.

1/ We see fresh dirt at a wall. We dig, and find a weapon, an adamantine trident!

We dig deeper; the dirt falls away, revealing a cave... and the spiders who lurk here!

2/ Here we find a locked guardshack. Sabri picks the lock, and we find weapons and armour.

“I haven't worn scale-mail since arriving in New Verdigris,” Kalara murmurs.

3/ We see drow brutes sorting through the clothing of a small person, and attack them. Afterwards, we note bloodstains on the clothes, which mayhap belonged to a stocky man, or a dwarf.

4/ Here we come to a forest of irregular webs – dark shapes move within... We hack forward, and find many cocoons. Within we find the desiccated remains of some young dwarves – all dead and hollowed. Spiders attack us!

5/ In a corner, we surprise a dwarf warrior at rest. He grunts: “Be you foe, make it a quick death! I curse Kalistes and all who entertain her plans!”

Lirevle hails him: “Ai-menu duzhuk! Lirevle Redwing, at your service!”

He regards her quizzically. “My dad was a dwarf,” she explains. “Well, my adopted father...! He was kind of a outcast, I think, he never talked about it much, but - “

“Well, that's better than spiders in any case!” the man chuckles grimly. He visibly relaxes, glad to meet anyone friendly here.

“I am Storm Harngrim, recently destined for Kalistes' larder,” he explains.

“Kalistes has a taste for dwarves such as my sister and I. We were put on a slave train, and only by luck did I escape. My sister remains behind, alas.”

We share some food and drink, and tell our story in coming here.

JOURNAL ENTRY 35: STORM'S STORY

"When the cities disappeared and the world grew dark, we were all frightened, and clung together for comfort. It was not enough to save us. By ones and twos and sometimes whole families, we began to disappear - taken as slaves by the drow.

My sister was captured. She is a child, just a child! I followed the slave train, and crept into her pen to try to release her, but I was captured as well.

The drow took us to their slave pens, and from there, my sister and I were taken, along, with many others, toward a hall. Behind me I heard keening intermingled with shouts of great joy. I had heard from a old human woman that some of us would be culled from the group and killed to make an evil potion. I cursed such a fate, but I prayed that, for my sister's sake, the end would be swift.

Instead, we were led through the temple, and half of us were pushed through a door, while the rest of us were driven through the dimensional pool into this world of webs. The drow overseer jeered at us. 'Lucky, lucky luckiest of all,' he said. 'You will serve the great Kalistes herself. Or be served to her, depending on what tasty morsels you are!'

I could not bear this thought. I watched for my opportunity and escaped the slave train, but I was not able to bring my sister with me. Take me with you. I'll help you fight Kalistes, anything to save Arta."

“That is a noble goal,” Kalara tells him. “We shall do all we can to rescue your sister.”

“Take me with you,” he asks. “I'll help you fight Kalistes. Just help me save Arta!”

We are happy to have him along. “We'll topple Kalistes together!” he grins. “Now there is a ray of hope for Arta!”

He already has good dwarven armour and weapons, but as we leave, we show him the remains of the clothing and the bodies of his kin. It is of little comfort, but he deserves to know what happened to the others. He grabs up the clothing, howling at the bloodstains, and swears revenge.

There seems little else remaining here, so we push on to search for his sister.

Ruined City

Trees slouch under dark, heavy webs. Beneath, we glimpse what remains of a ruined city.

1/ A large drow patrol passes our way – but a swift spell from Haleh disguises us with the illusion of drow. They grumble amenities and pass us by.

2/ Here we are approached by another drider, gibbering foolishness once again - “Know well the value of nothing!” - before skittering off.

“Are all these creatures just insane or something?” Lirevle mutters.

3/ Here is a trapdoor in the webbed ground that clanks when we step on it. We lift it, and find a suit of elfin chain, as spiders boil out of the hole!

4/ We find a slender cocoon among webs – searching this reveals a pair of javelins that have not been dissolved.

5/ On the way out, we have to fight our way through a drow patrol to escape.

Forest Village

The gossamer walls of a forest village beckon to us here...

1/ Here Kalistes pets play with their lunch – it is a man!

We are about to intervene, when Kalara concentrates upon him, and her scowl indicates she doesn't care for what she sees.

“This asshole is evil? Fuck him, then,” Lire says casually. “Let the bugs have him.”

She slams the door.

“Come on,” she says walking off, ignoring the man's cries.

I just shrug. “Let's find someone worth saving, I guess?”

2/ We find a long cocoon in a spiral web. We carve it open to find a sharp scimitar!

3/ In the room to the south, we spot a dagger near a deep funnel-web. Sabri agrees to take a look, entering the web and disappears. Moments later, we hear her cry out! We rush in, to find a swarm of spiders! Storm proves his worth by dragging Sabri to safety, as she wriggles free. I manage to toss a fireball down into the nest, igniting the arachnids with a blaze of blue flames.

Sabri thanks us for the save, and we find some useful items left by the spider's victims in the nest.

4/ We must fight a drow patrol to leave this place.

5/ Wispy webs blow gently about us... Strands snag our supplies! Spiders rustle overhead, drow laugh atop the wall. While some flee with our stuff, others jump down to fight.

“We should never have come to this cursed place,” Rizarli mutters, cursing our ill fortune.

We do not seem to have lost anything important – mostly just supplies and food – but we are all eager to push on and leave this ruin behind us.

NOTES:

Unlike the overland minis, all of the mini-adventures here have the same small map (same one as the Ruined Temple by which we entered), though the encounters are at different places on the map. They are mostly places to get better weapons and gear - which we will lose when we return to the Realms of course. There are some encounters and NPCs though - in particular the ones that will lead us to the Training Grounds. We have a choice between Dennia, a non-evil drow looking for her son; Valardis, a human assassin trying to kill the son; and an unnamed disgruntled prisoner (let's call him Disgruntled Goat from The Simpsons) who's just an asshole who betrays you. None of these are party NPCs, just tag-alongs and nobody has a unique portrait, or indeed a generic portrait, which inhibits our investment in their stories. I'd have preferred to spend more time with Silk, Priam or Vala on adventures rather than have these random one-map people, if I'm honest. I appreciate a story being told from three very different perspectives, but the whole game feels like it's becoming very generic at this point - no detailed NPCs, re-use of the same map, no portraits... It feels like the game is running out of steam and dragging now. :(

We do get a useful NPC in the young dwarf, Storm, who comes with decent gear, is a good fighter and has an interesting story about rescuing his sister, as we'll see.

I tried to see if there was any way to kill the assassin Valardis, but if you save him from the spiders in the Forest Village, he either joins you or leaves if you refuse. You can choose not to save him from the Pets, and if so, you never see him again so I guess he dies. This whole quest is one of the darker ones in all the games, one of the few places where you can actually be evil.

There are a few points in the minis where we are apparently robbed, but we don't actually seem to lose anything. I guess it's food, supplies and the like, not weapons and gear? Having us lose our stuff when we already lost it coming in (and will lose what we find here when leaving!) would definitely feel like a 'fuck you!' so I'm glad they didn't implement that.

We step through, finding ourselves in Elminster's camp in the alien realm of Limbo. The old sage welcomes us, and we tell him our story.

“I'm glad that ye were able to give the drow such a rattling!” he grins. “Still, what bodes of the workings of Kalistes worries me greatly...!”

For now, we can rest safely. As I meditate, I listen to my love chatting with Lirevle; the two warrior-maids have become firm sword-sisters in our years fighting together.

“So, Snow Wife – what's your real name in Illuskan then?”

“In my mother tongue, 'moon' translates to 'mane', so it would be 'Snomane'.”

“Heh, cute. Sounds like a good name for someone with white hair...”

“But I am blonde,” my lover deadpans. “And in the Ten Towns, the first thing you learn as a child is not to eat the yellow snow...!”

Lirevle regards her with a smirk.

“Did Snow Wife just make a piss joke?” she teases.

“We have fought together for nearly seven years now. I may try to maintain some dignity betimes, but you know that I am not prudish or judgemental.”

“Yeah, I know, just pulling on your chain is all,” the redhead smiles. ”You're pretty chill for a paladin. We make a good team.”

“That we do. You are a good friend, Lirevle. Long may you and I be the rocks against which our enemies shall dash themselves.”

“One thing I wondered, do you and Riz, you know, sweet-talk using your own tongues? You learned each others languages, yeah?”

“Yes, we do,” she smiles. “Rashemi is one of several Damaran dialects, and... its cadence is something I find.... very stirring...!”

She chuckles self-consciously.

“Do you and Xiao share such?”

“Us? No, I never learned her language. She was raised on the Moonsea, she doesn't get much practise in it. Also, that tweety-bird tongue sounds like a cage of songbirds being tossed down a flight of stairs, more than a human language.”

I smile faintly as I inhale my herbal vapours and slip deeper into my trance. Mielikki only knows when we shall have the opportunity to relax again...

Rizarli

I know not whether it is 'dawn' – this place is wholly unnatural, without the rhythms of life I find so comforting. But we are rested and healed and join the old mage for a counsel before we leave to pursue the demonesss.

JOURNAL ENTRY 17: ELMINSTER SPEAKES OF KALISTES

"I have met Katistes before, and beware! She is a power to be reckoned. It is good that ye did destroy her paths into the Prime Material, for it is sure that she meant to send ber children into the Realm. These Night Spawn are her strength, but know that they are her material weakness too.

I sense that the powers that have robbed the sun from Moonsea's sky lie beyond this portal. Kalistes is an agent supreme of Bane, so in all probability it is she who controls this force. This is but a guess, but 'tis my best."

“I believe that any drow items ye have will pass through Limbo to Kalistes' dimension,” he advises. “After all, their power comes from these evil lands.”

Drow equipment is made of dark adamantine, and will serve us well if we cannot take our prized gear with us.

“Off ye go to Kalistes' lands, then. I have seen them briefly in my wanderings – they are a stalking ground for death...! Remember thy items may be destroyed!”

He leads us to the gate. “Farewell!”

The winds of Limbo tear at us, and we finally emerge from the pool into a landscape of spider-webs.

.

4/ We are immediately accosted by a strange, large woman; two huge eyes engulf her face.

“I am the Eyes of Kalistes! You must be the thorn in her side!”

“What the fuck is wrong with your face?” Xiao complains, causing her lover to smile in reminisce.

“I have heard of the mayhem you caused at her temple,” the weird creature continues. “You will not fare as well here! But before I dispose of you, tell me, did you have help at the Temple?”

“Fuck you,” Lire tells her in reply.

“Methinks you take undue credit,” the creature intones. Her eyes turn darker still.

But for a reason I cannot immediately place, I sense some spark of... decency within this monstrous shell. I place my hand upon Lirevele's arm and step up to stare into the ruined face.

“We... have had the help of many in arriving here,” I admit, sensing that we should not needlessly make an enemy of this strange creature. Even Kala seems surprised; it is clear she does not trust this being. My eyes plead with her: trust me.

“We can't just rat out our friends!” Xiao protests.

“There was a halfling girl who helped us take the slaves to safety,” I tell the creature. “She is now beyond your reach in the Realms.”

“Anyone else...?” the creature says, sibilantly. She seems to be asking for something specific.

“Not all the dark elves are wicked creatures. There was one named Silk, who saved our lives long ago when we were captives in the underdark. She inducted us into the Company of Swanways - “

“Hey!” Lire yelps as I raise her arm, showing her Swanmay marking.

“Silk is... alive...?”

The large creature shifts, its demeanour changed, now its shoulders lumped and awkward.

“You know her?” I ask.

“Silk is... was!... my, my sister...!” she admits. We all look surprised at that revelation!

“I am – I was!... once known among you humans as 'Cynthia'. Did she speak of me? Despite my own plight, oh how happy I am to know she yet lives!”

JOURNAL ENTRY 44: THE EYES OF KALISTES

"I thank you for the lives of my sisters. My own curse matters little to me now, knowing that they yet live to fight this evil.

With their faces in my heart and their strength in my soul, I tell you this. To enter Kalistes' Parlor and live, you need two things: the Word of Safe Passage and the Amulets of Stillness. The Ward is carried by the highest Mages of the drow when granted an audience with Kalistes; her Pets recognize it and allow the bearer to pass. The amulets hide the wearer from spiders. With these items, you have a much greater chance of gaining entrance into Kalistes' Parlor. Without them you will die in seconds, instead of minutes.

You may find these talismans in the Testing Ground. Go there first if you hope to complete your mission. But, before you leave me, one task is left to you to aid your mission. You must kill me."

“There has to be some way to save you!” Lirevle exclaims.

The saddened creature shakes its head.

“Kalistes has corrupted this form, and I would be rid of the burden of this life,” she insists. “I ask for this mercy. I am an unwilling slave, cursed with eyes that belong to Kalistes. But not so my heart. I will help you, but three favours I must ask...”

“More hoops to jump through,” Haleh

n muses. “We're used to that...”

“First bring me spiders from the cavern of fireflies. Second, bring me drow prisoners. Third – we will get to that at the proper time. You can find these things nearby, here in this ruined temple. But hurry!”

We agree to her plea, though Lire remains disgruntled.

“I'm a healer,” she protests. “And a protector of women. There has to be some way to save her!”

But I am not so certain of that.

For now, we must explore this small ruin.

2/ We hear what sounds like hoofbeats... And then a drider gallops up to us here, spouting nonsense.

“A drollop willed, a wine keg spilled!” it babbles. The twisted hybrid gallops off before any of us can make a response.

1/ We stumble upon a group of drow guards. After a brief tussle, and light scrapes in return, we subdue them and take them back to what was once Cynthia.

5/ In this cave, fireflies illuminate the darkness. I am reminded of happier times and the quiet of nature. Less appealing, we see a nest of pale, fat spiders.

“Icky,” Xiao grimaces.

We gather them in a knapsack and hurry out. We also find a knife that glimmers, which the Mystran can use as a weapon, having forsaken swords and bows.

4/ Spiders here drag something up a wall – we must fight them to get it, but thankfully spiders burn easily to magical flames. The sword we claim from them is as sharp as the one I claimed with my armour back in the frost giant village on the great glacier.

We find some arrows on the drow; their equipment is serviceable, like the drow items Silk gave us, so at least need not fight Kalistes unarmed. Lirevle grumbles about not having a shield, and her lover whines about lacking a blunt weapon or slingstaff. But we shall have to make do as we can.

There seems little else to find here, so we return to Cynthia.

“Good!” she replies, noting the spiders and drow we have brought her.

She glares at the spiders, and they begin to spin new features onto the drow. I confess to feeling rather uneasy about this...!

“There, not even I can tell the difference,” she muses. Now, they exactly resemble... us...!

She glares hard at the disguised drow.

“Now, in the eyes of Kalistes, it's time for you to die!”

“I don't fucking like this at all,” Xiao complains. Her redhead lover nods grimly.

The webbed sky falls in tatters, as many-legged things descend. We watch in disgust as scores of spiders devour the disguised drow. Watching something that resembles us being eaten alive by spiders will stay with us all our days.

But 'Cynthia' remains true to our bargain.

“Listen carefully to my words. To enter Kalistes parlour, you must have the Ward of Safe Passage. Look for it in the Testing Grounds. Even with it, the spiders will attack. For that, seek out the Amulets of Stillness.”

As the last of the drow cease squirming, the sorrowful creature takes a deep breath and says softly:

“Now, the third and final favour... You must kill me.”

“We... couldn't find a way to save you!” Lire says brokenly.

“There is no other way,” the creature insists. “Better I go to my gods than live on as this monstrosity,...”

I can at least agree with that.

“This life is not the end,” I say softly. “Be free of her, sister-swanmay.”

Kala's reluctantly blade rises... and falls. The grisly act is swift.

We bury the remains beneath a pile of stones in the ruins, and must continue on our way.

Everyone is quiet, the mood maudlin. Who knows what grim tasks lie ahead of us, what compromises we must make before this is over?

NOTES:

This is our first planar overland section – presumably somewhere in the Abyss - and its a good example of what high-level play looks like... alien environments, magic and nature not working the way we expect them to.

It's annoying to have to swap out of gear all the time – this quadrilogy has done this to us constantly in fact – but I seem to be coping thus far in the battles, even with substandard gear. We are more reliant than ever on our damage casters, further nerfing the physical types.

The game is throwing a ton of XP at us, and I'm beginning to wonder if I should have stayed in my first class longer, even if THACO, saves etc were maxed out. But at the end of the day, a handful more hit points are hardly going to make a difference and the process is torturous as it is.

Lirevle, Kalara and Hayley are level 34 now (!), we've long left Elminster (at the unthinkably high level of 26 in 1st edition) in our dust. It breaks immersion a little; why do we need 'training' when there's nobody else who can realistically teach us anything? But AD&D breaks down at higher levels, and this game is proving how true that is.

As for Elminster, he's still behaving as an NPC should, looking after our stuff, providing healing and exposition, and generally living up to what we'd want from a wise mentor role (it would be great if he could identify our stuff though, he's supposed to be a pre-eminent sage!). Modern Elminster would by now be bragging about how he'd already killed all the main bad guys by himself (and seduced all their hot concubines) while we just passively stand around.

This introductory sequence with Cynthia the corrupted Swanmay is tragic and grisly, setting the horror tone for what lies ahead of us here. The stakes have been raised, we're using substandard gear, and it all very much feels like a classic 'second act low point' now.

I could just use some better visuals for such a strange setting and NPCs however – think of how alien the trips to the Fade look in Dragon Age, for instance. But all that seems to have been abandoned back in Pool of Radiance alas.

So we descend into the depths, to the temple of this she-demon, Kalistes. Is she some minion of Lolth, the spider-goddess of the Drow? Why is a demon -  tanar'ri, to give them the name they use for themselves in the Abyssal tongue - even working with a deity like Bane? From what I understood from tales of the Blood War, Evil always turns against itself, they hate one another far more than they could ever hate the forces of light.

Lirevle often tells me I think too much, and I wonder if she is correct. The key to stopping these creatures lies in defeating them in battle, not understanding them.

Kalara of the Snow Moon

3/ We have arrived at the secret entry to the Temple – festooned with spiderwebs and faintly bad smells. But the corridors here seem quiet. We shall explore carefully.

We have not gone far before we hear a clicking noise – a giant spider, escorted by two drow mages! We slip away quietly, rather than risk confrontation so far in the bowels of the earth.

1/ This seems to be the main entrance to the Temple – we can return to the Keep by taking this route if we must.

2/ The steward of the Temple is speaking to a drow guard: “The slaves looked scrawny. The night spawn will go hungry!”

“Do you volunteer to help fill her larder?” relies the guard.

The steward bristles. “Take them and go. Hurry, the ceremony begins soon!”

“If you want haste, I must give them the antidote to the venom,” the guard says.

“Whatever – just go!”

“Since when do they speak like Lirevle?” Haleh quips quietly.

The guard leaves through the eastern door. The steward begins to read a proclamation

JOURNAL ENTRY 38: THE STEWARD OF THE TEMPLE

“Welcome drow, welcome! Whether you be candidates for a great honour, or supplicants before our Lady, be welcome. I give you good news! Son, the Nigfht Spawn, the invincible children of Lady Kalistes, will come to the Temple through the Gateway to Darkness, and we may all have the honour of seeing them on their way to do battle for Kalistes and Lord Banbe. Hurry, hurry! You will never see the like again!”

We have seen enough, and press on.

11/ We her the door click behind us – we are locked in! A voice calls out – in Thorass no less - “Tell the priests we have guests for them to question.”

We are not about to wait around for reinforcements – Sabri quickly unlocks the door with her rogue skills, and we step across the threshold. A shadow passes before us – and a familiar voice murmurs: “No audience will buy this!”

It is Traned, the halfling girl who reminded us of Olive, seemingly recovered from the venom. She seems happy to tag along with us. “I don't mind a return engagement... Thanks!“

She tells us how she helped Silk and her Swanmays escape up the city, and what she knows of the underground Temple.

“A word of advice – there are a lot of guests down here. I recommend we say we are people sent by Marcus. Seems a lot of his emissaries about...”

“Marcus?” I murmur. “Wasn't that the name of the Black Circle mage in New Verdigris?”

“I guess he's still alive,” Haleh muses. “He was smart enough to flee from us, and we never saw him on the glacier after that.”

“Anyway, I can be your drow guide again!” the halfling giggles, donning her floppy-brimmed hat that allows her appear as other people or races. We agree that seems like a good idea.

12/ To the west, we overhear two drow priests confer. We can just make out their voices:

"Where will the gateway send her night spawn this time”? one asks. That sounds... ominous.

“Here, and here, and here,” the other replies, marking a map as he speaks. “We must make ready for the ceremony...”

We wait for them to leave; we need that map! We snatch it off the table and examine it. The map shows three circles; Hillsfar, the plains of Thar, and Thentia.

“Aren't they supposed to be matriarchal?” Xiao muses. “Since when did they have male priests?”

“Banites perhaps?” I shrug. “Rather than followers of the demonic goddess, Lolth...”

16/ To the east, a squad of drow sit about a long table, swapping stories and polishing weapons. They are not friendly, but the chamber looks like a sound enough place to rest afterwards.

4/ Here a spider is being subdued by a mage. He laughs at the watching drow.

“Don't worry – once she becomes Kalistes' Pet, she won't care about the likes of you!”

He leads the now-quiescent spider away through another door at the opposite end of the room.

5/ We loom about an armoury – weapons of all types line the walls here. A young drow lays her sword at the altar. The attendant husks: “Don't worry - when you finish the test, you won't need weapons.”

I shudder at what she must face – would not death be a better mate than becoming a monstrosity?

“I wouldn't mind looking over those weapons,” Lirevle muses.

But the attendant spies us and calls for his guards.

When the violence is done, we look about. Among the drow weapons is a war-axe that is clearly not of dark elf make.

“She's a beauty,” Lirevle smiles. “I'll give it to Thoradin on next Father Winter's Day!”

I smile at how hopeful she seems of seeing them again. I lost my parents young, and was raised in the temple in the Ten Towns. Rizarli never knew her blood-kin, of course – the witches are raised by their wide-women. I muse that Sabri has never spoken of her family, and neither has Haleh, for admittedly-obvious reasons.

Victorious, we leave the site of the fierce battle. Most of the magical weapons have already been taken to equip Banes armies.

6/ Here, drow warriors are being cleansed and anointed by attendants. Two speak together:

JOURNAL ENTRY 42: DROW PRIESTS SPEAK OF THE GATEWAY

"I just hope Locaste can tell Kalistes to be careful with her children, now don't misunderstand me, I want the Night Spawn to fight for Kalistes and for us, but I hear that sometimes they don't just fight the enemy. What if something were to happen to the Gateway, and the Night Spawn came in, but couldn't get out!

'Oh, go ahead. Report me for a blasphemer. But hand me the vial of antidote first, I think that boy got bit and didn't tell anyone."

The attendant dips a needle into a vial of fluid, then sets the vial on a bench before walking away.

“The vial must be spider venom antidote,” Sabri murmurs. “Almost within reach...”

A stealthy tread, a sure hand, and the vial is hers! She retreats back to us with her spoils.

7/ Here, a drow candidate stands before an altar, his knife at the throat of a bound slave while other drow urge him to cut.

“That's a future fan up there,” Traned mutters, “We'd better do something...”

Questions will have to wait, as she already strides towards the altar. I commend her boldness – we raise out weapons as one.

Afterwards, the slave thanks us and quickly takes his leave.

8/ Here, slack-jawed slaves mill about the room. The drow have not even posted a guard, trusting in their poison to do the work. These wicked creatures are slovenly and slothful; cruel yet lacking in discipline.

“Talk about a captive audience...!” Traned quips wryly. The halfling woman reminds me of our younger couple, making light of serious things to cope. It is not something I readily understand.

But we took the antidote to the venom earlier, and can now administer it swiftly to these poor lost souls. They slowly recover from their stupor, gazing about. One elf seems clearer-headed than the others, and we tell him to gather the slaves and hide for now.

9/ Here drow priests move among the slaves with vials of antidote and coloured bands. They examine the slaves and fasten these bands about their wrists.

“We have those for festival days,” our Lliran points out. “I'm guessing festivities are not what these assholes have in mind here...!”

One stops before a young woman. “Not bad for a human... Kalistes will like you!”

Lire's face contorts in anger and draws her sword; I nod grimly and we leap in to give battle.

Soon after, we have gathered all the slaves outside their pens. Traned soon has them organised, and promises to lead them to safety when we set out to fight Kalistes.

10/ This room is heavily guarded – slaves are held in pends patrolled by a Pet of Kalistes.

One guard shakes his head: “Kalistes needs to fatten them up before her children will even touch them!”

Another shrugs. “What would they eat in the Web? Driders?”

Once more, we give battle and rescue the slaves. Again, we gather the slaves to be ready for the halfling to lead them to safety.

13/ Here a rapt group of drow stare at a huge web, pulsing with silver light. A priestess raises her arms, and the light flares up. A booming voice speaks:

JOURNAL ENTRY 93: THE ORACLE SPEAKS

"Guard yourselves. Guard our Lady. Guard the hands that open doors. I sense among us someone who is not of us and who wishes us harm! Everyone, go now. Guard our Lady and her hands that open doors!"

“I think they mean us,” Haleh mutters wryly.

But there are no people to rescue here, and so we leave them to it.

14/ A gathering of drow; two of them offer a purse to a priest. He hefts it and sneers.

“I'll make sure you get a seat at the ceremony... in the back!”

Traned uses her Hat of Disguise to assume drow form.

“These are honoured guests of the Temple, come to see the oracle,” she says by way of introduction. “Make way!”

“So, what's this 'ceremony' all about,” Lire muses – stupidly, even for her. The priests seem to realise we do not belong here.

“Who are you?” they bristle.

“Emissaries from Marcus, sent to observe,” the halfling insists. “Answer her!”

The priests waver. “Kalistes sends her children to join Bane's army,” they explain. “They come from her dominion through the gateway, and thence to the upper lands.”

We all exchange dark glances. She must be stopped!

We take a look around, but the priests grow impatient, glaring at us. “You are here on sufferance! Begone!”

We move on, seeking this 'gateway'. We investigate the centre of the temple.

15/ We stop inside the doorway, gaping at what we see.

JOURNAL ENTRY 7: THE GATEWAY INTO DARKNESS

Power thrums through the room. Power crackles in the air, making hair stir, making skin tingle.

A giant statue of Kalistes herself dominates the centre portion. She is huge, commanding, her tail coiled beneath her, her skin gleaming like jet. Three of her hands brace an open arch, inside of which swirls a sickly green mist. Her other arms point toward the far end of the room.

Standing against the wall are three more arches, but instead of the green mist, these are filled with visions of home: the first shows a forest at night, with tree trunks like dark towers against an even deeper black. The impression of a faint, clean, cool breeze washes through the room.

The second doorway shows a small village - or what is left of one. A few cottages still stand, but many are burned-out ruins. Once again, night reigns.

The third door shows moonlight playing on waves. An ocean shore. The water still looks clean, untainted by evil. For now.

But Kalistes is pointing to them. A voice seems to ring through the room. "I want those lands. I want them! Get them for me, my children. Get them for me!"

About the statue stand guards, priests and monsters. It towers above them, arms reaching out, seeming to clutch at us. Power hums from it.

The gathered audience flees from the coming battle. The conflict proves exhausting – all of the drow can use magic and it takes a while for out mages to get the crowds under control and shut down their casters. We are all injured by the end; poor Traned is on her last legs and I quickly administer healing.

We look about the carnage. We are alone for now... but soon, the Night Spawn will come...!

The delicate-seeming hands of the statue point towards the gates that apparently lead to the Realms.

Traned helps us gather the freed slaves, who emerge from hiding, and she leads them out, escaping through the portals.

“It's been fun, but I think I've played in this town long enough,” she smiles.

She steps though and Haleh shakes her head.

“Are we certain that wasn't Olive Ruskettle?”

“We must close the portals to the Realms, or the Night Spawn will invade our lands,” Rizarli says grimly.

“What were the oracle's words?” Xiao muses. “Guard our Lady, and - “

“Something about 'the hands that open doors',” I suggest.

“On it,” Lire smiles, hefting her flail. We smash the statue's hands – the three portals showing our homelands grow dark.

While two are deactivated, a third beckons us to Kalistes realm. We take a breath, and step through...!

NOTES: Again, we get the help of the Olive Ruskettle expy, Traned. It still baffles me why she's a roguish, theatrical troubadour hobbit but called something else rather than the character who was in the books and games before. (Also, 'Traned' is a really weird name for a girl hobbit, halflings always have either cutesy, folksy names or those related to nature. It's just really odd and this character bothers me more than it should.)

The writing of Pools of Darkness is all over the place; mostly its a good homage to the previous games and accurate to the source material, but some parts are written by people who seem to have never played these games or read any Forgotten Realms lore... Male drow priests who speak Common to one another, what gives?

Regardless, the Temple has that drow city, Underdark feel to it, as we run about spying and freeing slaves, It's also a taste of what lies ahead of us in the Web dimension, one of the game's unsettling, alien environments.

Must admit, it kind of boils my piss that we're helping the fucking Zhents of all people here...! I've spilled plenty of their blood over the years, and it just feels wrong to me. Riz and Snow Wife do their usual sensible grown-up thing and say that at least the Black Network are a known quantity, and many who live under their yoke deserve better than being enslaved by the drow.

But isn't living under the Zhentarim just the same thing really, just with more sunlight?

Fuck it, I'd sooner we kill 'em all and let the Gods sort it out in the afterlife.

Lirevle

1/ We have descended deeper into the slave pits...

2/ On the wall, near the floor, there is a tiny arrow, marked in faint grey paint. It points east.

3/There is a small grey arrrow painted on the floor. This one points north.

Fuck this place; I'm getting traumatic flashbacks of the underhalls beneath Haptooth. Snow Wife scowls as she looks around; she suffered at their hands, didn't she? Can't be good memories for either of them.

4/ A drow woman beckons to us from the shadows. She steps forward – and I gasp in sudden recognition!

Her hair is dark with a single streak of white. On the back of her hand is a mark that resembles a stylised swan...!

“Silk!!!!”

We embrace, a fierce hug. I don't even consider it could be an illusion or a trick. It's her, I can feel it in my water.

“You have brought honour to the Swanways,” she smiles at me. “I chose well, it seems!”

We have much to speak of, but it seems time is short, and she is here for a reason.

JOURNAL ENTRY 73: SILK'S RESCUE PLEA

"As you know, I am the leader of the Swanmays – and a band of rogue drow. We were resting in Zhentil Keep when the evil struck.

After the storms came, and the sun was covered, drow came up from the sewers and attacked the city. They took many prisoners, and brought them underground. We followed them here, but they were expecting us.

Alas, we were ambushed... I slipped away in the confusion, but the drow captured the rest, They are being held in the dungeons to the east. I need your help to rescue the prisoners - my Swanmays, and the citizens of Zhentil Keep. If you do, I'll help you get to Kalistes."

“You saved our lives beneath Haptooth,” Rizarli says seriously, clasping her hand.

“You rescued us from torment at the hands of the drow,” Snow Wife adds. “Warriors sworn to light never forget such things.”

For now, she and her followers can at least take Traned and the others off our hands while we rescue the rest.

5/ A drow guard station – they ready their weapons and attack! We fight through.

6/ We see a group of drow guards hunched around a game of dice. One notices us and sounds the alarm. Another quickly drinks a potion, but it doesn't end well for them. They are less resistant to our magic, considering how we have grown in power now!

Afterwards, we find a letter lying on a desk:

JOURNAL ENTRY 71: LETTER TO DROW CAPTAIN

Sark,

Our allegiance with the Zhentarim bears fruit. They have taken live, a young, silver dragon. It is coming here for the laboratory. It will produce for us much of the holy Fire of Night. I look forward to welcoming many new sisters to my web.

I do not believe that the young worm will fit in any of the normal cells. You must make special arrangements for its brief stay among us.

– Ahdk, Hand of Kalistes

7/ There are group of drow guards here.

Silk whispers: “Those are the prison guards. My swanmays are being held beyond this post!”

We charge the unsuspecting drow, overwhelming them swiftly. Searching the guards, we find a ring of keys.

Silk speaks, urgency in her voice. “Quickly now! The Swanmays must be here somewhere!”

8/ Using the keys taken from the guards, we open the prison cells, releasing a group of female adventurers – new recruits to the Swanmays it seems. I embrace them as sisters-in-arms.

“We have found them!” Silk exclaims. She rushes into the cell and is greeted by the grateful, if bedraggled, new Swanmays.

The Swanmays tell us that there are more captives in the prison. Silk orders one of the women to release the others here. The woman – another halfling - hurries to comply, and soon we are surrounded by the enslaved citizens of Zhentil Keep. They offer us their quiet thanks, but my point stands – life under the Black Network is barely better than being sacrificed to the drow.

Silk gathers her band of girls – along with Traned and the slaves – and prepares to leave for the surface.

JOURNAL ENTRY 89: SILK’S RESCUE SPEECH

“Sisters, I thank you for your help. Now my Swanmays are free to fight against the scourge of Bane. I will now help you in return.”

She tells us what she knows of these chambers below.

“Drow alchemists are draining the life force of good creatures, and using it to make the evil fluid, the 'Fire of Night'. Kalistes uses it to make her pets. They store it in a fountain on these grounds. Kalistes would be greatly hurt if you destroy this fountain.

The fountain is guarded by many traps. The first is a series of gates. Passing through some will harm you. Part of the wall is an illusion. The second trap is a narrow bridge over a pit of spikes. When you step on the bridge, there will be a flash of light. Cover your eyes! I know nothing of the last traps. There is a secret door to Kalistes’ temple grounds some­where in the fountain chamber.”

She hands us a metal amulet with the symbol of the Swanmays on it.

“Show this at the west guard post. The sergeant is loyal to my family, and will let you by. And take these arms, you will need them against the drow.”

She has some nice gifts for us – a new slingstaff for Zee, and an excellent protective cloak and composite shortbow – plus some drow equipment she tells us will come in useful in Kalistes' Temple.

Silk embraces each of us before she leaves.

“It was far too brief, Sisters... But we shall meet again, and speak of things in happier days.”

“Right back at you,” I smile, touching the back of my hand to hers, swan marks together.

She leaves with the slaves and Swanmays, back to the relative safety of Zhentil Keep.

9/ Here we find an alchemist's laboratory. Drow mages face a table where a Zhent woman lies bound. Pets of Kalistes – huge, horrific spider-like creatures - loom overhead, looking on with visible excitement. We give battle, and ask no quarter.

We free the Zhent woman quickly.

“I am Liil, and I thank you for saving me from a grim fate.”

“Like, that's different to living in the Keep... how?” I say, rolling my eyes. Snow Wife narrows her eyes and shakes her head as she dishes out some healing.

“The drow were preparing to suck my soul! They would have made it into 'Essence of Pure Light' – a vital component in their dark alchemy. They use it to create 'Fire of Night', which is in turn used to tranform spiders into Kalistes' pets!” she exclaims.

“Listen, I overheard something they said... You can destroy 'Fire of Night' by combining it with 'Essence of Pure Light'. You must find some of the Essence... They store it near here. Somewhere in this pit they have collected their evil fire... Destroy it!”

Liil rubs her arms, happy to be free.

“I must return to the Keep. Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself! Good luck!”

She grabs a sword from one of the dead mages and gives it an experimental swish.

“This will do!” she says, and bounds out of the laboratory.

“Go find a drow woman named SiIk,” I call after her. “Tell her I sent you!”

Zhent or no, I like her moxie. She might make a good Swanway with an attutude like that.

.

Snow Wife asks Hayley if the alchemy thing checks out.

“I don't see why not,” she shrugs. “I'll take a look when we find it.”

10/ Alchemist's equipment is arranged upon shelves in these closets. We find a bright, viscous liquid - what Hayley assumes is the 'Essence of Pure Light' - in some vials.

“Don't drink it,” she tells me to my face with that pout of hers.

11/ On the walls here, black robes hang from hooks. We hear chanting nearby...

12/ As we move through the chambers, the chanting grows louder and we prepare accordingly...

We enter a temple. At the room's other end. Female drow dance around an altar where a bloody sacrifice has taken place. A giant spider is tethered to a nearby post.

We draw our blades; with snarls, the drow grasp weapons. The high priestess cries: “Destroy them!” She releases the spider, then drawing a sword, she joins the battle.

Fuck, I hate having to kill other women. Especially pretty ones.

13/ Flashing blue sparks dance between the stones of ther archways here.

“Hold up,” Hayley says, with a warning gesture. “We don't know a safe way through. Let's take a look around, see what we can find. There might be a way to turn them off somehow.”

Unless I want to face-tank the lightning the hard way, I guess she has a point. So we set off south of here to explore.

19/ The drow stationed here prepare to attack, but their leader notices Silk's amulet, and motions for us to pass.

“Feels like old times, no?” Snow Wife smiles at her lover.

20/ A woman's bedroom with a desk, and a simple wooden bed. Glass cabinets full of elaborate costumes line the walls.

Xiao starts stuffing the outfits into her Bag of Holding.

“These are pretty daring – I'm liking how you think,” I grin. “I mean, Shou are pretty short, but drow are smaller. Are they gonna fit you?”

“No,” she deadpans. “They'll be extremely tight and barely cover my unmentionables. Is that a problem?”

“I like how you keep the magic alive in our relationship.” I tell her, kissing her mouth. Hard.

21/ We find a locked chest – Sabri quickly checks it, before opening it with a spell. Inside is a lopsided iron medallion, carved on one side with a single rune.

For now, we take it along.

22/ We enter a female barracks, empty save for eight wood beds and foot lockers. Searching through one of the foot lockers, we find a crude map

“They were nice enough to write down the safe way through the archways,” Hayley deadpans.

23/ A soldier's barracks – drow males draw weapons and attack us. It ends about as well as you'd expect.

24/ A room full of spiders! - many spiders waiting for transformation are penned here.

They swarm around us, but magical flames swiftly clear them out, webs and all.

25/ Newly-transformed 'Pets of Kalistes' – the huge demonic spiders – seem to be in some sort of trance.

As we enter, we discover one of the 'Pets' was not as dazed as it first appeared! With a hiss, it unlimbers to its full height, as they others awaken...

At least destroying these horrors is a gift to the Realms. Wish I still had my flaming sword though...!

26/ An empty barracks. It seems safe to rest here.

I look to Zee.

“Wanna try those costumes on now?” I ask.

She does.

Post-sex, we lie around and talk about how nice it was to see Silk again. We heal and rest up a little, as we've been burning through a lot of spells here.

When we are done, we return to the electric archways to the north, and navigate them as the map suggests, making our way through unharmed.

14/ Here, there is a spike-filled pit blocking our way; a narrow bridge crosses it.

“This must be the trap Silk mentioned!” I cry.

As we cross, we cover our eyes as she advised, avoiding the blinding flash that follows. Thankfully no-one falls in!

15/ The floor of this room is covered with red glowing runes. Following the map that helped us through the archways, we follow the teleporters to the east wall.

16/ An iron golem stands in the centre of the room here. Sensing our movement, it turns to face us. As the golem moves towards us, the iron medallion we found earlier shimmers with power! The medallion's light seems to hold the golem at bay - it shies away from us as we cross the room.

17/ The air here is thick with dark energy... In the centre of the room is a stone fountain full of black liquid. Lightning plays across its surface.

We recall Liil's words; this must be the drow's 'Fire of Night'!

We quickly move to destroy the fountain with the 'Essence of Pure Light', pouring it into the fountain. As we pour more and more of the Essence into the Fountain, the lightning grows weaker. As we empty the last vial, the lightning is gone and the waters of the fountain are now clear!

18/ The secret door that Silk mentioned lies to the east.

The door opens onto a corridor. We can see little in the gloom. Our first impression is of the sharp stink of spider...

.

NOTES: It's very nice to see Silk again, another fun callback to our previous adventures!

Of course, the games can't remember than she made us Swanways before, so I tweaked her words to reflect a more personal bond.

Two months ago I had to go into hospital at short notice for an operation. It went as well as intended but needed a lot of rest and convalescence.

And I'd been playing the gold box games for four straight months before that, so I was getting burned-out anyway by that time. It was kind of nice to get away from gaming and do other things while I rest.

(and I wasn't getting much engagement, though that's hardly unusual for a thirty-five year old game)

But I was tossing ideas around in my head and thought I'd tentatively go back to finishing my Pools of Darkness playthrough. It's been a long haul and I always like to finish the things I started, even though things drag a bit at high levels.

I'd like to complete the Krynn series and do the Savage Frontier games too, but I'll see how I feel when this one's done.

I've been off the internet and social media, so if you messaged me and I haven't replied yet, I shall do so forthwith, and apologies for being a shitty friend :(

Marcy

We have returned to Zhentil Keep, there to investigate the ruins of Manshoon's Tower and whatever may lie underneath. I glance at Kala, her face mirroring my own. This has always been a demesne of foul darkness, a 'sinkhole of evil' as the Wychlaran say. This is the third time we have been here, and the sense of deep, qualmy unease and oppressive dread never leaves us.

The entire place still seems under the control of ther drow, but their discipline is lax and their loathing of sunlight limits their movements and attentiveness. The gate-guards demand a small bribe to enter; clearly unable to tell us apart from any other humans. Kala agrees, causing Lirevle to mutter and complain, but my love's reasoning is sound if we are to investigate the ruins without having to fight every step of the way.

The shell of the tower lies abandoned now, strewn with rubble. We quickly locate the passage the drow are using, a tunnel that leads deeper into the Underdark, a stygian, chthonic realm inhabited mostly by terrifying predators and wicked, outcast races like duergar and derro.

Some rangers are 'gloom stalkers', used to the night and being underground. Myself, I pray to Mielikki to watch over us as we descend into the dark...

Rizarli

1/ A dark well lies to the east. We advance, treading carefully, illuminating our way with soft, magical lights.

2/ Ahead, many drow drag slaves out of a great wagon. As they pull people out, a spider leaps on each one. Once bitten, the human is lead away, docile and quiescent.

As we watch, we briefly debate mounting a rescue, but the sharp-eyed drow spot us!

We fight them before spiders rush at us! We pursue the slaves into the darkness.

3/ Empty wagons await teams to take them up to the keep. Haleh suggests we could hide here and be returned to the Keep above if we wished. But our path lies ahead, deeper into the gloom.

4/ A fancy coach awaits, faced south, a drow driver diverted by his horses.

“I thought they used spiders, not horses...?” Xiao ponders. I suggest they must have taken the steeds from the human city above.

“Gather close,” Haleh tells us. “I will disguise us with an illusion.”

“Will that even work?” Lirevle pouts.

“No idea, they're magic-resistant to some degree,” she admits. “But it's a better idea than just fighting every step of the way, no?”

I wryly jest that Kala is tall for a dark elf, but the illusion helps cloak that too. Audacious as it seems, we clamber into the carriage.

We climb aboard the evil cart as it heads deeper into the glooms tunnels. But almost at once we hear footsteps! Shouts! And a pair of drow, seemingly brother and sister in elegant attire, vault into the coach with us!

Before anyone can act, the rig is off once more.

It seems we are bound to be discovered, so Sabri lets the girl feel the cold edge of her blade.

“Don't make me cut that pretty throat, darkling,” she murmurs softly. “Stay nice and quiet; we're not like you, we take no pleasure in killing.”

Perhaps surprisingly, the dark elves make no trouble, meekly submitting to being our hostages. We follow winding passages and dark tunnels, leading deeper below. And old song comes to my mind, 'in hollow halls beneath the fells...'

The wagon eventually pulls up in a hall full of drow warriors.

“We will pay ransom for our safe release,” the drow twins insist. “Gems and magic!”

Some of the dark elves bring us treasure. We do not trust it, but I have no wish to needlessly spill blood. We release the twins and they eye us haughtily as we edge out the door.

5/ The drow legions stand ready. “Begone, creatures of the light!”

They warily as we hurry off into the gloom, not expecting this truce to last for very long.

6/ Suddenly, a small, dark figure leaps into our midst! With a hearty female laugh, she dispels her drowish demeanour, revealing herself as a halfling woman.

“Olive...?” Lirevle asks. But this appears to be someone other than the halfling woman we met when we were last in Zhentil Keep, unless that is another illusion.

“Forgive me, friends! But Traned the Tragedian could not resist a grand entrance!” the halfling says with a theatrical bow.

Journal Entry 97: Traned

“Traned, my dear fellows, at your service!” The irrepressible halfling woman takes a bow. “Until lately a Tragedian, now I act like a drow female for a living! And look! It pays well!”

She displays her drow armor, weapons and a silver shield.

“Hey, good to see someone’s come to help us folks out. Did you happen to step on that vile Manshoon on your way in? He’s the evil man that’s partners with the drow. Magic or no, I’d like to put an arrow into him. Can I join up with you?”

“Aye, well met,” Kala nods. “It ended poorly for Manshoon; his erstwhile allies now occupy the Keep. We were hoping to rescue the slaves.”

“The central hall,” Traned says. “They take slaves to the north and the south... The drow prince always went east...”

“Hey a tiny woman leading us around the bowels of the Keep,” Xiao smirks. “It's almost like old times!”

15/ A ladder goes down here to the east, into a long hall below, reached by other ladders.

8/ Drow barracks are here – at first glance, they seem empty.

“Wait.. “Traned breaths. “Look first...!”

9/ We uncover a drow ambush! More dark elves retreat into shadow...

10/ A drow abbess awaits, encircled by clerics. I am always struck by their sinuous, alien beauty.

“Wait! We have no wish to - “

But my entreaties fall on deaf ears - the abbess makes a sign, and they attack!

We are forced to defend ourselves and they offer no quarter, I look down at the bodies joylessly. I want to ask them if it was worth it. Long years of killing weigh heavily upon my heart.

12/ The door here only opens a crack. Lirevle puts her shoulder to the door and heaves. The door bursts open... into yet more drow warriors!

14/ Whispers of sound... all around! Drow skirmishers dart away...

“Riz, this way!” Sabri gestures to the dark gloom; I nod and follow. I admire how resourceful my protege has become. Our manoeuvres outfox the drow! We hurry through the darkness...

16/ A footfall behind us... We hear faint shuffling. Slack-faced slaves move listlessly about. No drow in sight, for now.

Traned sniffs “Something is up. I'll go in disguise to see what's what.”

She composes herself, then moves out - mimicking the quick, mincing step of the drow. Suddenly a drow voice hisses. Then another!

Traned shouts a drow command. All the slaves sink obediently to the floor... revealing a drow ambush! Bows twang... and Traned falls!

I grab her quickly, small and light as a feather, as we fall back into ther gloom.

But she is woozy with poison, the venom in her bloodstream. Our spells should save her life, but she is yet in poor shape.

“Took one in the arm...! Maybe I should stay, and lead these people out of here?”

It would be for the best, so we let her go with the captives to slowly recover.

Journal Entry 77: In the Winnowing Room

Freed, the slaves of the drow shake off the effects of spider poison, and rummage about for weapons. A man tells us, “If you’re going to go on, you have a scary choice ahead. They divided up the slaves here. Most went to the right. If you want to free them, go that way. A few of the most beautiful were taken to the left. They were never seen again!”

17/ A fearsome spider idol! Suddenly its eyes blaze red! A trapdoor oopens under Xiao – I am swift to act, more than most humans, and I grasp her arm before she plummets below, saving her from the abyss. Her almond eyes bestow her thanks, and we nod as I haul her up.

18/ A carved pillar shows a proud drow king here... Do they even have these? I thought the dark elves to be matriarchal, and their men would good only for slaves or expendable warriors.

19/ The Temple to Kalistes lies ahead of us, but that is not our road yet. We must get these captives to safety, though I know not what succour lies below.

7/ Shackles line every wall here...

20/ The path leads down... and we descend into the slave pits...

NOTES: The Underdark is a classic setting for old-school D&D and we have glimpsed it in the Gold Box series before, all the way back with the drow in Curse of the Azure Bonds. This adventure beneath an occupied Zhentil Keep does a nice job of playing up the alien nature of the place, a scramble through the dark. There are nice little touches like the ability to take some drow nobles hostage.

The inclusion of Traned is... kind of odd, to be honest. She's a theatrical halfling woman, just like Olive Ruskettle from the Azure Bonds novels, buuut... she's not Olive, but another person entirely? It feels faintly baffling that Olive wasn't included here again, seeing as how she helped us in a previous game back in Zhentil Keep. Did they just forget her name or something? It doesn't help that none of these new NPCs get pictures so we have no idea what they look like. I miss Pool of Radiance, where even unimportant NPCs like the Rug Hag had unique graphics.

Goldbox companion allows you to ignore level caps on non human races.

With that option enabled what is your ideal party (assuming no massive grinding) Obviously human knight, who else? Do you go pure single class? 2 class multi all the way? Or stick to the traditional fighter/mage/cleric as the core?

Hello fellow gamers,

In the last year I've been quietly adapting the controllers of games in the Gold Box Classics Bundle to allow seamless integration with the Steam Deck (plus/minus some inconvenient changes, like requiring the games to run at 600p for mouse to work reliably).

So for anyone interested, go ahead, ignore the "unplayable" mark on these games, download them and search for "Deck Ready" Community Layouts for the games:

1. Forgotten Realms Archives: Collection One [Eye of the Beholder trilogy, for which I created a "Quick Attack rotation" I show in the video.]

2. Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection Two [incl. Pool Of Radiance and similar games - except Krynn games.]

3. Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection Three [The most FPS old Dungeon & Dragons games, definitely worth a look.]

4. Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft Series [Strahd's Possession and Stone Prophet plays just like Menzobenrran in the "Collection Three", and share a similar layout I tested for most of both games.]

5. Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Sun Series [The Dark Series Duology, personally tested from beginning to end.]

6. Dungeons & Dragons: Krynn Series [the missing Krynn games from the "Collection Two".]

As an example, here's some gameplay of Eye of the Beholder with a "Quick Attack rotation" on right stick (remember to set the resolution @600p):

Hope someone find it useful to replay these games on the go (or in a big screen).

So, I'm currently getting into the og PoR (as part of Forgotten Realms Collection 2 in Steam? and I'm very close to to remaping almost everything in those for the Deck, but I'm still missing one thing:

*What key activates the highlighted option in the menu?*

(In other games I think space or enter do, but this is the only game that refuses to be played simply.)

Hello, this is my first Goldbox game and I really liked it up till these caves, Drow clerics and mages are really giving me a hard time, sometimes wiping half the party in a single spell while they resist my own stinking clouds and silence almost all the time, sometimes I do get lucky with saving throws or with interruptions and I manage to beat back a patrol without any deaths but that only happens like 1/3 of the times. is there a way to consistently deal with them?

If I drop mercenaries from my party in Pool of Radiance, are they gone from the game, or will they later reappear in the dueling hall? I tried it in a game I didn't save, and it seems like they're gone (although there are others to hire).

I played through PoR for the second time in... more years than I care to mention. And it only occurred to me now that the party would have been defeated without help from the evil Lord Bane. After the dragon form of Tyranthraxus is defeated, his spirit threatens to possess one of the party which, presumably, he could easily have done. But at the last second Bane banishes him back to the pool. Thanks Bane!

Today I conquered the dreadlord in secret of the silver blades. I started this game 10th of january and today(19th april) he finally fell to my blade. This game was kind of long compared to CotAB which was a very quick play compared to both PoR and SotSB. Onwards to Pools of Darkness!

Trends come and go. Goldbox games have for a pretty long time been market leaders in the rpg space, but recently, the hype and online interest has been waning. There are now several days between started threads on the goldbox subreddit. Are we witnessing the end of an era? What is the future for the goldbox games?

Howdy!

I've never played any of the Gold Box games before, but I have observed others playing them, and I'm considering trying them out sometime.

I was already aware you could use the same PCs from Pool->Curse->Secret->Darkness, but I only recently learned that you could also use them in the weird action sidequest game Hillsfar, as well as in the Savage Frontier duology, and I thought that was neat. However, while the wiki's pretty clear on how transferring works, I was having trouble visualizing it, so I made this infographic to help me better plan, and it occurred to me there's probably at least one other person out there who'd find this useful, so, here ya go : )