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Introduction:
The purpose of this document is to set forth, in one place, the inner workings of the over-arching campaign plot for the Riverine Campaign. It provides DMs with a roadmap to run a similar campaign and provides a background context for many of the scenarios presented for Therra.
What Has Happened:
To put it quite plainly, House Mercur in the Far Coast has been taken over by the drow. Specifically, it has been taken over by the drow House Vrielsevri.
Part One - The Seeds of the Drow Design:
Of the 24 main drow Houses, two of them are the top merchant Houses in the Drow Empire. House Vrielsevri, and House Quinilver. These merchant houses have long been at odds with the Lolth priesthood in drow society, for a variety of reasons.
First, the priesthood has always been limited to females, while the merchant houses, though run by matrons, have been traditionally far more lenient of males, partially because of the low value placed on merchanting by the core of drow society, and partially because merchanting is a pragmatic business and success and wealth trumps gender biases.
Second, while the Lolth priesthood is insular and quite xenophobic, given what Lolth felt was her betrayal at the hands of the other minions and races of the Deceiver, the merchant houses are, by definition, more open to treating with other races and making peace.
Third, the Lolth priesthood considers itself the main and rightfully sole locus of power in drow society, and therefore any power accumulated and wielded by any group not of the priesthood is instantly suspect and disdained.
During the War of the Gem, the Lolth Priesthood, at the behest of Lolth herself, seeking to finally gain the favour of the Deceiver in what was believed to be his final victory over the Free Folk of Jerranq, invested heavily in prosecuting the War. A great many of them led drow troops to the surface and fought many battles against their assembled foes.
Though the priesthood was not foolish enough to entirely disband its power in the Drow Empire, it was certainly and unavoidably at an ebb. Indeed, Lolth herself had gone to fight in the battles, and so the time was ripe for drow rivals to the priesthood to maneuver and plot and perhaps take advantage of the situation.
House Quinilver decided to ally with a rival deity, in this case Ghanadaur, also known as the Maug Juiblex, Lord of Slimes. They hoped that, in the Deceiver's victory, Juiblex would be exalted above Lolth, for most of the other Maugs feared the Spider Queen and regarded the Slime Lord as a useful ally.
House Vrielsevri, though, had other plans. Led by their matron N'araktheel, they simply hoped that Lolth would be slain in the battles of the War or in the aftermath by jealous Maugs, and that the priesthood would be so decimated that Vrielsevri could strike. But this was less an actual stratagem than a vague hope.
When the Heroes of the Gem arrived, N'araktheel was intrigued, for she began to see that there might be some unfathomable way to actually defeat the Deceiver, and in so defeating him, Lolth and the priesthood would surely fall. And in the aftermath, House Vrielsevri could rise up, unite the disaffected drow, and rule the Empire. Beyond that, as a drow merchant house, Vrielsevri was somewhat familiar with the surface world, and N'araktheel's plans then revolved around beginning a campaign to dominate the surface, once she had consolidated power in the Drow Empire. She figured, rightly so, that even in victory, the Free Folk would be so decimated by the War that they would be easy pickings for a united drow invasion.
So it was that N'araktheel set out to capture the Heroes; and upon doing so, learned that they bore a Gem of Power. Suddenly, beyond her wildest hopes, the defeat of the Deceiver was at hand! She aided the Heroes after setting them free, and then prepared her stroke when the time should come.
That time did indeed come, for the Heroes set free the Slumbering Gods, and the Deceiver and many Maugs were captured and hauled in chains into Slumber. But unbeknownst to even her own clergy, Lolth, adept at hiding and staying out of sight and mind even beyond the capabilities of the gods, had escaped imprisonment. Like the few Maugs who so did, she had to cast off much of her divine power to escape notice, but she retained enough power to potentially rule the Drow Empire once again.
House Vrielsevri, thinking Lolth was gone and her priesthood was cut off from divine magic, attacked, calling in favours and allies to try to take over leadership of the Empire in a coup. The coup was well planned, and well executed, but when Lolth learned of it, and certain the gods had gone back into Slumber, she arose and gathered her priesthood and renewed their divine connection. The suddenly reinvigorated priesthood rallied and fought down the coup. Then it took its vengeance upon House Vrielsevri, intent upon slaying every member of that house and wipe its name from drow existence.
But N'araktheel was not a fool. She had prepared for the chance of failure, and with the core of her household intact, she fled the Drow Empire and went into hiding for well over a decade.
Part Two - Setting the Wheels in Motion:
After a decade, N'araktheel decided that there was no chance at a future in the Underdark. As long as she and her people maintained a very low profile, they could probably survive and scratch out a living there, but the drow have many enemies in the Underdark, and being weak for a drow will usually result in other races venting their hatred upon them. In addition, N'araktheel, typically for a drow, was ambitious, and did not want to spend her centuries of remaining life scrabbling around the Underdark like a wandering beggar.
So, she realized that since she couldn't build any sort of power base down below, there was only one way to go…up. She planned to enact the second part of her original plan first, and build a new Drow Empire on the surface. Then, when she was strong enough, she could send her armies down below and conquer the Drow Empire and become, perhaps, ruler of Jerranq!
But first, she needed to establish a foothold on the surface, and being the matron of a drow merchant house, it was only natural for her to target the area of expertise she knew best, trading and mercantilism. Thus, she set her sights on taking over a Merchant House on the surface.
Being no fool, and being quite long lived, N'araktheel realized that she had to play it slow. She couldn't make a grab for a Merchant House in the Imperial Heartland of Antoria. She had to think smaller, and establish a firm foundation and slowly spread…like a cancer.
So she chose to focus on the Far Coast, out of the way enough to build her network clandestinely, but still within the sphere of the Merchant Houses and the trade networks so that she could prosper.
At first, N'araktheel wanted to infiltrate the leading House in the Far Coast, House Riverine. But she soon learned that Trade Lord Barnabus was too strong willed to co-opt easily, and so she settled for House Mercur, the second most powerful House in the region, for the head of Mercur was an evil man, and his mind could be swayed and he could be tempted more readily.
To aid her in her works, N'araktheel called upon the succubus Galanaraxxusthimsul. Galanaraxxusthimsul is an ancient and evil temptress who came into the Ironaxe dwarf mines during the Refounding disguised as a dwarven female and managed to drain away two dwarven males before the ruling dwarven priest of the Refounding tricked her and entrapped her in the mines within a magic circle. Eventually, the dwarves intended to slay or banish the tanar'ri, but lacking a weapon capable of harming her, and not knowing the spells to banish her, this was the best they could do.
When the drow came, they decided not to free her, which enraged her to no end. Occasionally, they came and taunted her, or offered her a soul in exchange for information, but mostly they enjoyed gloating at her imprisoned state. This made the demoness very very angry at the drow, and she waited to wreak her revenge.
Eventually, the Heroes of the Gem came upon her, and she attempted to trick the paladin Cromwell into freeing her, but the Heroes saw through her deceptions and refused to free her, despite her promises to aid them against the drow.
When the drow matron N'araktheel of House Vrielsevri attempted her coup against the Lolth priesthood, she bargained with the succubus, who relished the chance to strike against the priestesses who had tormented her. When N'araktheel's coup failed, Galanaraxxusthimsul fled with the matron and decided to remain in her service with promises that the remnants of House Vrielsevri would strike at the dwarves and indirectly at the Heroes of the Gem, thus satisfying the succubus' lust for revenge.
The succubus infiltrated House Mercur in Dwillingir and dominated its master, who was already a corrupt man. Once the Trade Lord's loyalty was secure, the drow began to enact their schemes.
Shortly thereafter, the succubus took on a new assignment, to seduce and then wed the head of House Riverine, Trade Lord Barnabus. In her new position, her job was to spy on Riverine, give Mercur an eventual trade advantage that would raise them to prominence, and to one day either dominate or slay Barnabus and bring House Riverine fully into the drow fold.
Part Three - Current Situation:
House Mercur:
House Mercur is completely infiltrated by the drow. However, this does not mean that drow run the halls of the House. N'araktheel is very clever and very careful and very patient, and she knows what is likely to happen to her and her plans should drow involvement be discovered. As such, though she does truly run House Mercur in the Far Coast, almost every member of House Mercur is entirely unaware of the involvement of drow with their House. Most Mercur members simply believe they serve a normal Imperial Merchant House and that they take their orders from the Trade Lord Arghanisin Feristus, who happens to be very clever and sometimes extraordinarily devious.
Arghanisin is the only member of House Mercur who knows of the drow. He is the only one who meets with N'araktheel. He has kept his will, and is by all accounts a loyal vassal of the drow matron, for she has promised him great status and power once she ascends to rule the surface world, and has threatened him with dire punishments should he betray her. That is not to say the Trade Lord has not been softened up by magicks of charm and suggestion and domination. But on the whole, he serves the drow as a willing minion.
House Riverine:
Galanaraxxusthimsul poses as Lady Abrinda, wife of Trade Lord Barnabus. She recently murdered the Indolle Priest Renderuth, who had begun to suspect her of being more than a simple human woman. She also arranged for the PCs to come to Riverine and used them to rid the House of a doppelganger that had replaced her husband and was threatening to ruin her and House Mercur's plans in the region (see also "Renderuth and the Trickster" and "The Chosen" and "Nemis" below).
The Orc Uprising:
The orc uprising was orchestrated by N'araktheel, in an attempt to give House Mercur an advantage on iron ore and gem trade in the Far Coast. Since the drow had access to underground mines and resources, they could have House Mercur continue to supply iron and gems despite the orcish blockade of Nirzumbil and Hegzeril. N'araktheel wanted the orcs to rise up and blockade the dwarves long enough for Mercur to secure long-term exclusive contracts to supply ore and gems to craftsmen. Then, when the orc uprising collapsed, House Mercur would have cornered the iron and gem markets in the Province.
The scheme almost worked. Unfortunately for Mercur, the orc warlord who was holding the orc tribes together (by way of power and insight granted to him by the drow) was slain by the very recruits the succubus had pulled into House Riverine. The orc alliance collapsed and the blockade was lifted before enough time had passed to force most or all of the craftsmen to sign exclusive contracts with Mercur.
Lake Cald:
Simultaneously with the orc uprising, the drow wanted another base of operations on the surface. They chose the Lake Cald region, as the longstanding dispute there could give them the excuse to have Mercur throw its influence into the region and then allow the drow to infiltrate the area directly.
Lake Cald contains three unique varieties of fish. These fish are delicacies in and of themselves and highly prized as food within and beyond the Province. In addition, their caviar is also regarded as a highly valuable luxury item.
Two villages sprang up on the lake, Northbank to the north and Southbank to the south. Northbank eventually specialized in the harvesting of caviar. Southbank eventually specialized in harvesting the fish themselves. Both commodities became so lucrative that the Northbankers over harvested caviar and the Southbankers over harvested the fish, each causing a shortage of the other.
Thus was the feud born, for the Northbankers demanded that Southbank curtail or halt its fishing so that caviar could be harvested, and the Southbankers demanded the converse. The feud has often become violent, and at times Imperial troops had to be dispatched to restore order to the region.
In N.S. 21 and N.S. 22, House Mercur began to make overtures to both Northbank and Southbank. These were very subtle and very light-handed, but at times were strategically backed by drow magic. Eventually several members of House Mercur became trusted enough by both sides of the feud to be able to attempt a mediation of the dispute. Mercur hoped that by successfully mediating the dispute, they would earn the goodwill of both parties and be able to request, as a reward, the exclusive right to trade in both the Cald fish and caviar. Such a monopoly would allow Mercur to drive up the price considerably and extend its influence into the central region of the Far Coast.
To this end, Mercur built what was at first a small camp on the western shore of Lake Cald exactly halfway between Northbank and Southbank. Initially, this small camp was designed to accommodate the Mercur negotiator and his retinue in a neutral area, so that it would not be thought that he favoured one side or another by residing within that village's precincts. As negotiations progressed, more Mercur members arrived, and the small camp grew, and then acquired a wooden palisade, and later was replaced with a stone structure.
In N.S. 24, the Lake Cald feud was formally brought to an end. As a reward, both villages granted House Mercur a deed to the lands upon which their encampment had been built. Using magicks, Mercur suddenly raised a great fortress overlooking the Lake.
The place is now a fortified keep, called a trade enclave, and is used by Mercur for its activities in the region. The keep has underground components that includes a magical gate that leads to and from the secret underground regions of House Vrielsevri.
It is eventually the drow plan to take over Northbank and Southbank, and to this end they are replacing its residents with demonic shapechangers and other unsavory minions.
Renderuth and the Trickster:
Renderuth was the Riverine House Priest prior to Kelliene's tenure. Most everyone at House Riverine believes that Renderuth was called away by the Indolle clergy to serve in a temple far to the west. This is common, for the temples use the position of House Priest as a sort of on-the-job training program for young priests, who are then promoted to other positions.
However, Renderuth did not transfer west. He was slain by Abrinda and her minions. Renderuth had begun to suspect Abrinda was not all that she seemed. Although he did not have enough suspicions to voice them or act upon them, they became concrete enough that eventually Abrinda read Renderuth's mind and determined that he was a danger to her and might expose her. So she faked a transfer order from his temple and then had him slain shortly thereafter.
That would have been the end of Renderuth and his suspicions, were it not for a Trickster Priest.
The ranking priest of Flupnir in the Far Coast was Gerishoild of the Woild, a 13th level cleric of the Trickster God. Serving as an active agent of Flupnir during his youth for the duration of the War of the Gen, Gerishoild kept a low profile for most of his years after the War. His master was assassinated by minions of the Deceiver in NS 14, and Gerishoild took over the hidden temple at that time as its ranking (and only) priest. Somewhat chastened by his master's demise, Gerishoild was singularly inactive in matters of jokes and pranks. Instead, he used his temple as a way station for the faithful (an oxymoron if there ever was one), but kept it well hidden to thwart further assassins. He also served on more serious matters that were of interest to him and his god, though often these took place in foreign lands. As such, the priest gained power and status in the eyes of his god, but was virtually unknown outside of Flupnirian circles.
Alas, even the insular Gerishoild found his nose stuck where it didn't belong. At a bookseller in Dwillingir he came upon a rather mundane tract of Indolle hymns that contained some rather interesting notations in its margins. To the priest, the notations appeared to be a code of some sort, and as a rule some priests of Flupnir specialize in intricate and clever codes and cryptographs.
The priest pored over the notations on and off for several years, and believed he was on the verge of cracking it, though he felt the key to finishing the deciphering was to consult the Temple of Indolle, as perhaps they had insight into such codes, likely used to protect the confidentiality of trade documents.
So he took the tome to Markuth, the head of the Indolle Temple in Dwillingir. Markuth examined the tome and advised the priest (who was in disguise) that the code looked like the work of Renderuth, the previous House Priest of House Riverine.
Gerishoild then took the tome to House Riverine, where he met with Lady Abrinda. The Lady informed Gerishoild that Renderuth had left the service of the House a few years ago for service in distant lands to the west. When Gerishoild asked the Lady where the priest went, so that he might contact him regarding the notations, she informed him that she would gather that information and present it to him within a month's time.
Alas, Gerishoild was doomed from that moment, for when Renderuth's possessions were sold off, Abrinda was completely unaware of the existence of the coded notations. Having now become aware of such a code, Abrinda became worried that the code could contain some of the dead priest's suspicions about her.
She had Gerishoild tracked and trailed, by means mundane and magical, to his lair, where she sent drow assassins to slay the priest. The codebook was destroyed and she considered the matter settled. No one would miss a Flupnir priest, especially one who was quite secretive and unknown to begin with.
Even when the bacchae came to wreak some measure of revenge against Dwillingir for the murder of their priest, Abrinda was not concerned. The bacchae soon departed, driven off by mercenaries of her own House, and the Lady Abrinda turned her thoughts to more important matters.
Even should the PCs restore the destroyed tome, they need the key to decipher the code. Such a key was hidden by Renderuth behind a brick in his bedroom in House Riverine (Search DC 30). The scrap of paper behind the brick mentions a "book of hymns" and then provides a series of letters and numbers that can be used to crack his code.
The Chosen:
Indolle is a pragmatic god, and his religion is not a dogmatic one at all. As Indolle stands for competition and free trade and the accumulation of wealth, the religion does not tend to over-direct its members. In addition, the religion is far more concerned with ethics than with morals.
As such, there are few messianic or prophetic figures in the religion. After all, prophecy could be used for unfair trade advantages, something anathema to the religion. But, on rare occasions, the dreams of Indolle are so portentous that certain of his worshippers, those almost completely in tune with the slumbering god's dreams, can essentially eavesdrop on these dreams, in the form of prophetic visions.
The only time this happens is when some event is about to take place that threatens the entire structure of trade and commerce. Such an event is quite rare, and when it does happen, no more than two or three persons alive are in tune enough with Indolle to receive his prophetic visions.
Those who do are called the Chosen of Indolle.
With the coming of the drow, seeking to conquer the surface world via trade (initially) and military conquest (eventually), Indolle's dreams once again became exceedingly troubled. And there was one, a priestess named Imana, who became a Chosen of Indolle, for she received increasingly vivid and horrific dreams that lead her to believe something very wrong was going to happen.
Eventually Imana confided her dreams to her superiors in the church in Alabbir. The church there was quite small, catering to the wealthy elite who often winter there, and so a messenger was sent to the church in Far Dereth to hear of her dreams and interpret what they meant. Imana herself was not sent, for she was greatly afraid to leave Alabbir and was quite unsettled by the portents of death and destruction in her visions.
The messenger returned, and informed the clergy at Alabbir that they would come to see her after the winter season and they would then interview her and determine whether she was indeed a Chosen.
Alas, N'araktheel had a spy in Far Dereth, and this spy learned of Imana and reported to his masters, who eventually reported the incident to N'araktheel. Worried that Imana was imparting some godly warning of her plans, she instructed her agents in Far Dereth to magically convince a member of the Indolle clergy there to delay any further action until spring. The drow matron then sent agents to Alabbir to learn what she could about Imana.
However, Imana's increasingly strident visions began to make her paranoid and jumpy, and in this stead such a posture was justified. She became increasingly aware of some sort of scrutiny of her in Alabbir and she began to feel unsafe even in her home.
About this time, her dreams devolved into horrific scenes of warfare and mass carnage, with shadowy troops marching in formation, slaying all within their grasp. At last, Imana could stand it no longer. She informed her superiors that she had to leave at once to go to the Aghorrit Temple in Valorilong to find out what these images of warfare meant and to warn them, perhaps, of an impending conflict. Imana also mentioned that she believed she was being watched and perhaps her life was in danger. The Alabbir priesthood decided to choose two other women, and to send them to Valorilong by different routes, in the hope that this might confound any pursuers.
In N.S. 17, Imana and the two decoy Chosen left Alabbir. Imana landed in Far Dereth with her protégé Croix and an escort of guards. Three days out of Valorilong, her caravan was ambushed by a mercenary band called the Splintered Arrows, under the leadership of a powerful warrior named Ragyfir. The Splintered Arrows were used by House Mercur as bully boys, but N'araktheel was so impressed with Ragyfir that she eventually revealed herself to him. Ragyfir was now one of N'araktheel's primary agents on the surface.
In the attack, Imana was slain, but Croix managed to survive. The two decoy Chosen were also slain. None made it to meet with the Aghorriti of Valorilong.
Nemis:
Imana was not the only victim of Ragyfir. In fact, in N.S. 16 Ragyfir, at the request of N'araktheel, traveled far to the south, to the Isle of Onlor.
He was tasked with stealing from a powerful mage named Nemis an artifact called the Crystal of the Ebon Flame. The mage had been given this artifact by a silver dragon who had gone off to fight against the Deceiver. The wizard was tasked with guarding it and keeping it safe, for the artifact was very powerful and very dangerous and could be put to great evil.
In addition, Ragyfir was given a strange gem that had been prepared in the netherplanes by powerful demons. N'araktheel gave this gem to Ragyfir in order to sunder Nemis and to divide his mind, body, and soul into three parts. His soul was pledged to the demon who had located the artifact and passed on its location to N'araktheel. His mind was pledged to Ragyfir, who would then be able to locate the artifact and bypass its wards and guards by plundering Nemis' mind. In addition, he would have a captive wizard's spells at his beck and call. Nemis' body was pledged to N'araktheel, to toy with as she pleased.
N'araktheel had already gained possession of Johydee's Mask, and with it she could use its powers to safely wield the Crystal of the Ebon Flame. And using the Crystal, she could extend her influence and power considerably.
Ragyfir and his band arrived at Onlor and the town of Leaventide, where resided the Guild of Blood and Thought, an arcane order of which Nemis was a high ranking member. Ragyfir stormed the place and came upon Nemis by surprise. There, he managed to incapacitate the mage and, using the gem, drove the point through Nemis' brain. The magic of the gem was released, and Nemis' body and mind and soul were trapped within the gem.
Later, the demon F'harikk'il who provided the gem performed a ritual, splintering the stone into three pieces. The demon took Nemis' soul splinter, and used it to bind Nemis' mind to Ragyfir's soul, giving the Splintered Arrow leader access to the wizard's mind and powers. The fiend also gave Ragyfir Nemis' body splinter, to give to N'araktheel.
Razkurig'il:
The demon F'harikk'il was not powerful enough to retain Nemis' soul splinter. Instead, he gave it over to a glabezru named Razkurig'il who was his overlord.
The PCs have met Razkurig'il during their foray into the Tower of Tharikthiril. He did not know at the time that the PCs were in the service of Galanaraxxusthimsul and found it an amusing coincidence that the PCs were the unwitting dupes of the succubus who was allied to the very drow matron whom his servant had assisted in capturing Nemis. The demon has been watching the PCs for some time now, by means of magic and spies, and is actually relishing testing his mettle against them should they make their way to try to reclaim Nemis' soul.
Part Four - The Future Plans of Mercur:
As the PCs begin to unravel Galanaraxxusthimsul's plans, she will become more and more worried, for it will begin to seem that she chose too well the dupes she recruited to rid Riverine of the doppelganger. Now those same useful tools are becoming too powerful and for too inquisitive.
Should the PCs eventually investigate the Lake Cald situation and attack the Splintered Arrows, they may gain access to Ragyfir's journal and documents. This will eventually lead them to attempting to free Nemis' soul and thereby deny Ragyfir the use of Nemis' powers. In addition, there are indications in Ragyfir's documents of the situation with Renderuth and the Trickster priest Gerishoild. These are slim references, but if the PCs are inquisitive enough, they could lead to information that Renderuth was murdered and did not relocate west.
In any event, the PCs will eventually piece together that Mercur is making some sort of power grab in the Far Coast.
Abrinda will have to take some action, but she will not risk everything yet on a single toss of the dice. Instead, she will attempt to convince Barnabus to send the PCs on dangerous and time-consuming missions far from Dwillingir in the hope that they perish along the way or at least allow her and her mistress time to reconsolidate their plans.
Meanwhile, Mercur will still have a power base in the Cald region, and will continue to tighten its influence there and extend the power of House Mercur as well.