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The major Drow may be protected from divination but their lieutenants are not. And two liches escaped the recent battles. One whose phylactery we hold is far away. The other is at Ostegar. So we travel south in pursuit.
En-route we (Lythari actually) spot an army of orcs on the march, in deep forest but also but deep within the Kingdom borders. To find out what they are doing Lythari takes on a tree form ahead of them with myself concealed in the branches and as the leaders move past I subject them to the spell of Detect Thoughts. They are bound for the centre of the kingdom, there to take command of other humanoid armies. This has been set up by the Goblins and from the emissaries travelling with the orcs I discern that all the leaders think they are to be supreme commander.
This is a problem we do not need to deal with - it is well within the capability of regular forces who may well need the experience for the coming war. The biggest concern is that this might ultimately be a drow ploy to get a population in what seemed to be a very odd place to release a wraith. We can simply report what is going on the the King's spymaster.
Rather than go directly to Ostegar we stop in at Crossroads performing an impromptu check of their alertness by changing back from cloud form in the center of town. There is an alarm sounded and guards surround us quickly, backed up by a number of spellcasters. We are quickly recognised and the new garrison commander introduces himself to us. The drow are occasionally trying to send spies into town but the attempts seem to have no real plan behind them.
A substantial number of clergy from the Church of the Lady are now based in crossroads as cleaning up after the Arcanists devastation continues with all the side effects we were afraid of from a negative energy release on that scale. (One survivor has been found - the unusual little cat named "Ghost".) Branson and I settle down for a night in civilisation but Lythari goes out sniffing for Drow - and actually finds one, tracking and capturing him outside the walls. He takes on an earth elemental form to do so - in the process causing another alarm.
The Drow is happy enough to talk about relatively inconsequential matters - which is goood because he is somehow simply immune to detection magics (a natural talent apparently). This is "the Shadow" - a master spy and escape artist, and he has up to this point been enjoying this mission as something of a holiday as usually the Master keeps him busy watching other drow. We learn that there is also a "Assassin" and a "Herder" (the latter we are unlikely to encounter - it is an essential but not a prestigious - or military/political role).
~~~
Before setting out for Ostegar we a have another shared dream or vision. Around Ostegar undead train and drill a far as the eye can see and from on top of the tower a skeletal dragon rises up and roars at us.
Approaching Ostegar the vision seems to have been pretty accurate. The area is filled with coherent units of zombies being commanded by vampire captains - in broad daylight! The dragon rests atop the main tower. We choose to go in through the goblin tunnel we were previously shown, but this is cunningly guarded by a vampire in mist form which we cannot avoid touching, this dispelling the Hide from Undead we are obscured by. This vampire immediately flees to raise the alarm but his attempt is doomed to failure as I Silence the area around the alarm bell.
This is the room with the balcony, and we look everywhere else in the tower first. There are several lesser liches downstairs and any number of other undead around - no goblins. Finally we check the balcony - and there id the Lich, back to the door observing the courtyard. We retreat out the other side of the silence to prepare and then rush the attack - Lythari tears him apart before he has a chance to do anything. Almost anticlimatic.
As his body disintegrates (this is only a defeat as we don't know where his phylactery is but there is a good chance the master has it in his possession) a heavy, apparently metal amulet the shape and size of an elf-skull remains. Out on the field the zombies lose cohesion - and the vampires lose their protection from the sun. Seconds later the army is effectively disbanded but we are dealing with the dragon - and three more liches which have teleported in and opened with a large-area anti-magic field.
Forced back to his elven form Lythari is in no condition to engage in combat and the best I can do is attempt to turn the undead. Branson is still nigh-invulnerable inside his armour but his damage-dealing is severely curtailed. Lythari and I retreat off the balcony to seek ways of dealing indirect damage - as we fall out of the area of anti-magic our enchantments kick back in as hoped. Foolishly perhaps two of the liches follow us becoming once again easy to deal with - Branson forces the other back inside.
~~~
Laden once again with phylacteries, Drow-forged magic items, and this time also with a powerful undead-controlling artifact we return to the Mage Tower where we still trust these things will be disposed of properly.
