TEXT: ADVENTURE PATH
  Second Darkness
   Endless Night
  By F. Wesley Schneider
  
  Caldrana
  Misraria
  Azrinae
  Rasivrein
  Vexidyre
  Parastric
  Tracinoa
  dolour
  Vonnarc
  Udrinor
  Sardavic
  Moivas
  Drow Runes
  
  ADVENTURE PATH      PART 4 of 6
  Endless Night
  Second Darkness
  
  TM
  “Endless Night” is a Pathfinder Adventure Path scenario designed for four 9th-level characters. By the end of this adventure, characters should reach 11th level. This adventure is compliant with the Open Game License 
  (OGL) and is suitable for use with the 3.5 edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game. The OGL can be found on page 92 of this product.
  Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper 
  names (characters, deities, artifacts, places, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, language, incidents, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress.
  Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the contents of this Paizo Publishing game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a 
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  System License, please visit wizards.com/d20.
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  Credits
  Editor-in-Chief • James Jacobs
  Art Director • Sarah E. Robinson
  Managing Editor • F. Wesley Schneider
  Editor • James L. Sutter
  Copy Editor • Christopher Carey 
  Editorial Assistance • Jason Bulmahn, Alison McKenzie, 
  Sean K Reynolds, and Vic Wertz
  Graphic Design Assistance • Drew Pocza
  Managing Art Director • James Davis
  Publisher • Erik Mona
  Cover Artist
  Steve Prescott
  Cartographer
  Rob Lazzaretti
  Contributing Artists
  Concept Art House, Julie Dillion, Andrew Hou,  
  Warren Mahy, Ben Wootten, Kevin Yan
  Contributing Authors
  Darrin Drader, Jonathan Drain, F. Wesley Schneider, Jay Thompson, J. D. Wiker
  Paizo CEO • Lisa Stevens
  Vice President of Operations • Jeff Alvarez
  Events Manager • Joshua J. Frost
  Corporate Accountant • Dave Erickson
  Sales Manager • Christopher Self
  Technical Director • Vic Wertz
  Online Retail Coordinator • Jacob Burgess
  Special Thanks
  The Paizo Customer Service and Warehouse Teams
  
  Foreword	
  4
  Endless	Night	
  6
  by F. Wesley Schneider
  Zirnakaynin	
  48
  by F. Wesley Schneider
  Abominations	of	the	Drow	
  58
  by J. D. Wiker and Darrin Drader
  The	Blood	Below	
  64
  by F. Wesley Schneider
  Pathfinder’s	Journal	
  72
  by Jay Thompson
  Bestiary	
  78 
  by Jonathan Drain and F. Wesley Schneider
  Pregenerated	Characters 
  90
  Preview	
  92	
   
  Table of Contents
  
  4
  Second Darkness
  To Serve the Matron
  W
  e’ve pulled some strange stunts in Pathfinder 
  over the past year. Between the haunts of 
  Foxglove Manor, the rampant sinning in 
  Runeforge, a rooftop chase across Korvosa’s Shingles, 
  and several “cinematic” encounters involving execution 
  attempts, reborn dragons, and tsunamis, we’ve put 
  encounter design through the wringer. But in this 
  volume’s adventure, “Endless Night,” we’re doing 
  something really crazy. We’re turning all your PCs into 
  drow. Yup. Spell resistance and all.
  We wanted to give players a chance to play as drow 
  at some point during the Second Darkness Adventure 
  Path—in fact, ever since playing through Baldur’s Gate 2 
  (which had a similar scenario going on), I’d been hoping 
  someone would produce an adventure where the PCs sneak 
  into a drow city and get to experience the decadence and 
  cruelty not as outsiders but as citizens. So Wes Schneider 
  came up with a pretty crazy new spell to disguise the PCs. 
  It’s a relatively powerful and unusual spell, sort of a cross 
  between simulacrum and polymorph. It’s one best used to 
  fuel adventures, in my opinion, since it’s a type of magic 
  that can really change things around into a game that 
  you as GM might not be prepared to run. In the context 
  of “Endless Night,” its effects set up the conceit of an 
  undercover investigation within a society that has little 
  problem seeing through most magical disguises, and 
  since the spell affects all the PCs at once, balance between 
  the characters themselves is preserved.
  Of course, pretending to be part of an evil society can 
  cause some problems at the table. For some PCs, this’ll 
  be a therapeutic chance to embrace the dark side and 
  really cut loose with the villainy. For others, it’ll be a test 
  of their willpower—particularly for paladins and good 
  clerics, who’ll have to swallow their pride and play along 
  with the chaos and evil of the drow for the greater good. 
  As the GM of this adventure, you’ll probably need to ease 
  
  5
  Foreword
  James Jacobs
  Editor-in-Chief
  james.jacobs@paizo.com
  up on the alignment watch; keep in mind that what faces 
  the world is a pretty catastrophic event if the PCs don’t 
  learn what Allevrah Azrinae is up to or where she and her 
  minions have relocated to. A paladin might not approve of 
  working for someone who performs living sacrifices and 
  worships demons, but in order to stop an even greater 
  evil, a paladin sometimes has to bide his time. Don’t 
  punish a heroic player by forcing him to do something 
  that would turn him evil, and in the end, don’t forget 
  that atonement is a pretty handy spell for cleansing the 
  soul. The elves sent the PCs into the Darklands; the least 
  they’ll be able to do in the next adventure is provide a few 
  free castings if necessary.
  And then there’s the other concern—game balance. 
  Drow characters have a higher baseline than other 
  characters; while drow racial ability score modifiers are 
  pretty good, they’re the only things your PCs won’t be 
  seeing when they don their unusual disguises. Excellent 
  darkvision, spell-like abilities, free weapon proficiencies, 
  and above all else spell resistance lie in the near future 
  for your players’ characters. Just remember that the effects 
  aren’t actual changes to the characters and the adventure 
  itself expects and understands what the PCs will be able to 
  do—in the end, it doesn’t really unbalance this adventure 
  at all to let the PCs be drow. And if the PCs think they’re 
  getting away with something, let them!
  All Aboard!
  The first section of “Endless Night” might feel a bit “rail-
  roady.” That’s probably because it is. As the GM, your 
  primary task for the first part of the adventure is to get 
  the party through the elf gate and into the drow city of 
  Zirnakaynin—fast! The adventure is all on the other side 
  of the portal and the campaign expects the PCs to leave 
  the Mierani Forest, so it’s time to pull out all the stops. Of 
  course, part of any good GM’s job is to get the characters 
  to do exactly what you want them to do by making them 
  think its what they want to do. 
  While you can cut the PCs a little bit of slack and allow 
  time to heal up and catch their breath, the beginning of 
  the adventure is meant to feel rushed as the elves realize 
  that they, for the first time, have the drop on the drow. 
  If the PCs feel slightly overwhelmed or unprepared to 
  go through the gate, that’s fine. You can use Eviana and 
  Kaerishiel to play good cop/bad cop, with the former 
  appealing to the PCs’ emotional side, while the latter calls 
  the PCs to act honorably and bravely. Offer the PCs any 
  reward—you probably won’t have to actually pay it since 
  the PCs are unlikely to revisit the Mierani Forest—play the 
  emotional card, tempt them with ideas of treasure below, 
  just get them moving! 
  Of course, once the PCs get into Zirnakaynin, things 
  go from rail-roady right into the sandbox. While the PCs 
  need to retain their cover stories, what they do in this 
  adventure to learn about Allevrah and her plans is up 
  to them. There’s very little dungeon crawl or organized 
  series of events in “Endless Night.” Use the adventure, the 
  gazetteer of Zirnakaynin, and the random encounters at 
  the start of the Bestiary as tools to handle whatever the 
  PCs come up with and let them have fun exploring their 
  dark sides!
  Behind Enemy Lines
  Let’s hope your group has a fast talker among its ranks, 
  because things might get difficult if they don’t. Sure, the 
  PCs look like drow, talk like drow, and can even pull of a 
  few tricks just like drow. But what are their names? And 
  where do they live? What were their roles in drow society 
  before they were sent to Celwynvian? Do they have any 
  “references” among the city’s citizens?
  As the GM, strike a position between cutting your 
  party some slack and putting them on the spot with their 
  disguises. While a group that forgets to come up with 
  fake names should probably have an awkward encounter 
  the first time they try to introduce themselves, you don’t 
  want to discourage them. Every drow in Zirnakaynin 
  won’t turn and attack if they come up with a “un-drow” 
  sounding names. Encourage the PCs to learn more about 
  Zirnakaynin and the dark elves so they can come up with 
  convincing covers.
  Half the reason the NPC Gadak exists in the adventure 
  is to aid the PCs in developing their covers and to answer 
  any questions the party has about drow. He should spur 
  the characters to talk a bit more about who they are in 
  drow terms and give them the opportunity to test out their 
  covers in a situation with relatively low consequences. 
  Remember not to overwhelm the PCs with impossible-to-
  answer questions or make them think they’ll never be able 
  to pass in the Darklands. It’s okay if a fumbled conversation 
  with a guard patrol results in a fight—in Zirnakaynin, 
  fights happen all the time and no one bats an eye unless 
  someone really important is inconvenienced by the scuffle. 
  At the same time, if the PCs get into a situation where only 
  a quick lie, a wild distraction, or all-out flight can prevent 
  them from blowing their cover, feel free to run with it. 
  After all, keeping track of a complex web of lies should just 
  make the PCs feel more like real drow.
  
  There are places not for those of the world of light. The infinite darkness 
  seething in Golarion’s depths hides terrors untold, abominations that 
  stalk the realm of legend and depraved races praising foulnesses best 
  left unnamed. Never does the searing sun turn its scouring eye upon the 
  monstrosities of this tenebrous abyss, and for millennia untold horrors 
  too foul to face the day have gathered and flourished below. This place 
  is not for those of the world above, but peril and desperation sometimes 
  force tragic souls to face the bleakness below. Those who pass into the 
  dark rarely return, while those few who do are forever changed, their souls 
  seared by the shadow of an endless night.
  Endless Night
  Second Darkness
  Chapter      Four
  
  7
  Adventure BAckground
  Few in Zirnakaynin know how Ilaxdria Azrinae perished. 
  Each of the city’s sinister leaders would have benefited in 
  some measure from the 412-year-old matriarch’s murder, 
  yet none of them claimed responsibility for her death. With 
  the iniquitous laws of the drow city promising a tortured 
  end to any commoner who strikes out against his betters, 
  no servant, slave, nor ambitious socialite dared to mock or 
  falsely boast of the matron’s murder. Even among her own 
  family, no scheming Azrinae scion laid immediate claim to 
  Ilaxdria’s blood-soaked throne. And so a silent war began.
  For the next four years, ambitious power mongers 
  both within and outside powerful House Azrinae vied 
  for control of the splintered house. While Simovara 
  Azrinae ascended to house matron by her right as heir, 
  her violent, impatient ways alienated many of her mother’s 
  former backers among the city’s other great houses. Her 
  siblings viewed her as undignified and short-sighted, 
  and in the same breaths that they paid her obeisance they 
  whispered orders to assassins and Abyss-bent mages. Only 
  two factors maintained Simovara’s rule: devotion to her 
  house’s demonic patron—bat-fanged and serpent-limbed 
  Abraxas—and the whim of a deadly mage.
  For all the zealous matron’s enemies, she retained one 
  of her mother’s oldest collaborators, Alicavniss Vonnarc, 
  first daughter of House Vonnarc and among Zirnakaynin’s 
  most feared wizards. House Azrinae and House Vonnarc 
  had long enjoyed fair dealings, the immoral scholars of 
  Azrinae often trading findings with the dark-robed mages 
  of Vonnarc. Simovara coveted the potent ally she found in 
  the notorious mage, and for her part, Alicavniss betrayed 
  no desire to usurp the Azrinae throne nor manipulate 
  Simovara’s power. Her dealings with the new Azrinae 
  matron remained the same as those she had shared with 
  the matron’s predecessor—her wisdom, counsel, and 
  varied prowess in exchange for access to the Azrinaes’ 
  vast libraries, records, and vaults (among the most 
  complete collections of ancient lore and artifacts in all 
  Zirnakaynin). As the new Azrinae leader relied on fear of 
  Alicavniss’s divisiveness to maintain her rule, she denied 
  the archmage little. Where her mother had guarded the 
  family’s most potent and aged treasures, Simovara granted 
  the elder drow access to the house’s deepest vaults and the 
  nameless artifacts and forgotten mysteries within. 
  Within the shadowed vaults of House Azrinae, 
  Alicavniss silently gloated, for it was through her secretive 
  dark magic that she had slain Ilaxdria Azrinae from afar. 
  Alicavniss’s murderous intrigue had won her much, and 
  her studies among the Azrinaes’ secret hoards advanced her 
  understanding of varied magics not seen upon Golarion 
  for untold centuries.
  Yet, while Alicavniss pored through the drow scholars’ 
  greatest finds, an unexpected treasure appeared in 
  Zirnakaynin: a mysterious, powerful, and hate-filled 
  woman named Allevrah. A potent cleric of Abraxas and 
  well-versed in the ways of the drow’s hated elven kin, this 
  mystifying firebrand sought out House Azrinae and was 
  welcomed by its matron. The stranger imparted great 
  secrets of lost elven magic to her new allies, weathering 
  hours of interviews by Simovara, Alicavniss, and the 
  house’s most noteworthy scholars. Most significantly, 
  though, she had much to teach the drow of the habits and 
  desires of the surface elves. Although many remained 
  suspicious of her motives and past, Allevrah’s tales fanned 
  the long smoldering embers of drow hatred and rumors 
  spread that the time for revenge grew near.
  Allevrah spent years in Zirnakaynin, where she became 
  known as a seer of the world above and a driving force 
  behind the most radical cries for warlike revenge. With 
  the spells of drow mages confirming her every insight, the 
  impressed Matron Simovara granted Allevrah her family’s 
  name, adopting the outsider into the ancient noble house. 
  Yet, as Allevrah cemented her place as Matron Azrinae’s 
  favored, she displaced another—Simovara’s interests in 
  Alicavniss’s studies waned. In quiet fury the archmage 
  withdrew from House Azrinae, preparing plans to 
  painfully oust her new rival.
  Alicavniss’s subtle plots would never come to fruition, 
  though. Through her years among the drow of House 
  Azrinae, Allevrah developed a near fanatical following 
  both within and outside the noble house. On the day of 
  a grand sacrifice and feast in honor of Abraxas, Allevrah 
  addressed her assembled sycophants and publicly declared 
  war upon the elves above. Claiming to possess the key to 
  an ancient magic capable of wiping out the hated elves, 
  Allevrah rallied her followers about her. With a small 
  army in tow, she marched upon House Azrinae and was 
  welcomed into its halls. In the house’s audience chamber 
  she embraced Simovara as matron and mother one final 
  time, then impaled her mistress upon her surface-forged 
  blade. As her onetime matron gasped at her feet, Allevrah 
  declared herself heir and matron of House Azrinae. Several 
  Azrinae scions fled Zirnakaynin, but most welcomed the 
  coup and the leadership of the fiery, popular leader.
  Thus, Allevrah Azrinae’s plot to draw a knife from the 
  stars and thrust it into the heart of the elven nation entered 
  its final stages. Soon her machinations led her and much of 
  her new family from Zirnakaynin in preparation for their 
  genocidal plot. Yet, behind them, in the Last Home of the 
  Elves, Allevrah left several enemies: petty nobles jealous 
  of her swift ascent; malicious matrons disgusted that an 
  outsider would taint the throne of a great drow house; 
  and one of the drow’s most nefarious wizards, Alicavniss 
  Vonnarc, whose ambitions hold no place for the meddling 
  of an inelegant upstart. All that these varied rivals need now 
  to find vengeance against Allevrah are the proper pawns. 
  
  8
  Second Darkness
  Adventure Summary
  After aiding the elves in scouring the ruins of Celwynvian 
  of drow, the PCs stand in high regard. Desiring to know 
  more of their foul brethrens’ plans, yet fearful of further 
  exposing their own members to drow influences, the elves 
  entreat the PCs to use the drow-corrupted elf gate and 
  discover the specifics of their plots in the realms beyond. 
  The mission is daring, but utilizing experimental magics, 
  the elves magically transform the PCs into drow. With 
  these supposedly fool-proof disguises, the party passes 
  through the corrupted elf gate to find themselves in the 
  drow city of Zirnakaynin.
  Once in the deadly and decadent Last Home of the Elves, 
  the PCs infiltrate one of the great drow noble families, 
  House Vonnarc. One of the house’s leaders, the feared 
  archmage Alicavniss, holds a personal grudge against 
  the new Azrinae matron, Allevrah, but few of non-noble 
  blood ever see the reclusive mage. Being drawn into the 
  intrigues and deceits of the foul nobles, the PCs must 
  maintain their disguises to rise among the ranks of the 
  house’s servants, becoming ever more embroiled in the 
  cruelty and mercilessness of drow society. As they gain in 
  status, the house’s nobles take note and the party’s tasks 
  turn from daily drudgery to missions in service to House 
  Vonnarc’s glory.
  Eventually, First Daughter Alicavniss herself seeks out 
  the PCs. Long aware of the characters’ true identities, 
  the archmage offers to reveal all she knows of Allevrah’s 
  plot if the PCs perform a dangerous mission for her first. 
  Upon completing this task, Alicavniss tells the PCs much 
  of Allevrah’s plots, but she also destroys the characters’ 
  disguises, forcing them to swiftly flee the city of the drow 
  with their new information safe at hand.
  PArt one:  
  the FAce oF the enemy
  At the end of the previous adventure, the PCs have aided 
  the elves of the Mierani Forest in a tremendous task—the 
  scouring of drow from the ruined elven city of Celwynvian. 
  Their allies among the elves of the town of Crying Leaf 
  and the mercenary company of Shin’Rakorath spend the 
  next several days or even weeks patrolling the ruins and 
  the forest, subduing the final pockets of drow resistance 
  in the city while the PCs are celebrated and rewarded for 
  their recent victories. Yet these celebrations are fated to be 
  short-lived, for the elven leaders still have much they wish 
  to discuss.
  Both Eviana (the leader of Crying Leaf) and Kaerishiel 
  (leader of the local band of Shin’Rakorath) prove keenly 
  interested in hearing what the party discovered in their 
  fight against the drow, both having varied questions 
  regarding the dark elves’ numbers, activities, reasons for 
  being in the city, and methods. Their greatest interests, 
  though, fall upon what the drow were doing inside the 
  Armageddon Echo—they encourage the party to tell them 
  all they know of what was going on inside the demiplane. 
  At the same time, elven researchers have determined that 
  the elf gate the PCs discovered in the Academy of Arts 
  has been corrupted by the drow. Divination magic has 
  confirmed their suspicion—this elf gate now leads to the 
  heart of the drow empire, deep in the Darklands. It leads 
  to the drow city of Zirnakaynin itself.
  For long years the Shin’Rakorath have battled the drow 
  whenever their taint was discovered—and to this day, their 
  efforts have been successful. Most think of the drow as 
  nothing but a myth or a children’s fairy tale. Yet what the 
  PCs have uncovered worries both the Shin’Rakorath and 
  the elves of Crying Leaf—the drow are up to something 
  big, and if indeed they have discovered a method to recreate 
  Earthfall, they can no longer be ignored. Thus, Eviana and 
  Kaerishiel face two options: destroy the elf gate—a rare 
  treasure of their people—and hope that confounds the 
  drow’s plots, or pass through the gate and seek to discover 
  more of the drow’s intentions beyond. The choice is an 
  obvious one, but one filled with danger. 
  When this adventure begins, Eviana and Kaerishiel 
  request the PCs to attend breakfast with them. Eviana sits 
  quietly while she lets Kaerishiel, not one for delicacy, lay 
  things out as the meal comes to a close. They explain that 
  even though Celwynvian has been reclaimed, they now 
  have a unique opportunity to send spies into the heart of 
  drow territory via the corrupted elf gate, which should be 
  ready to open quite soon. But such a task would require not 
  only unorthodox disguises, but also brave heroes—heroes 
  like the PCs. Eviana and Kaerishiel ask the PCs to do this, 
  and are willing to answer any questions they may have. 
  Likely questions (and the elves’ answers) are listed here.
  How do you know the elf gate connects to a drow city? 
  “We’ve used divination magic, including a commune spell, 
  to investigate what lies on the other side of the portal, and 
  have confirmed this research with information gathered 
  from battlefield discoveries of notes. The portal once led 
  to Kyonin, but the drow have somehow rerouted it to one of 
  their cities in the Darklands. A place called Zirnakaynin, 
  to be precise.”
  What do you know about Zirnakaynin? “Alas, very little. 
  We can guess at the type of civilization it might be by 
  observing the dark elf mentality and behavior we’ve seen 
  over the past several days, but as for exact details on what to 
  expect in Zirnakaynin—we simply don’t know. Gathering 
  intelligence about the city should be a primary goal of 
  whoever goes through the portal, I suspect.”
  We’re not drow, how can we disguise ourselves? 
  “Magically. We have no estimate of how long your efforts 
  beyond the gate might take, and the drow themselves 
  are no strangers to deceptions. Mere illusions or simple 
  
  9
  Endless Night
  transmutations won’t stand up to scrutiny, so our plans 
  call for something with greater longevity and subtlety 
  than most magics. Something more unorthodox. We’ve 
  called in an expert to handle this.”
  What about our gear? What about animal companions? 
  “Most of your equipment should be okay; as drow, you’ve 
  been stationed here on the surface for a while, so it’s not 
  unusual that you might have looted some of your victims 
  up here. You might want to think about cashing in coins 
  for gems, since gems don’t have minter’s marks on them. 
  And if you’ve got anything that’s obviously sacred or holy, 
  you should keep it hidden. At the very least, be ready with 
  a story about it being a trophy or something. As for animal 
  companions… again, you’ve been stationed here for some 
  time. If you don’t want to leave your animals here, or 
  don’t want to secure a more regional Darklands minion, I 
  suggest you prepare a story about how you find the exotic 
  creature amusing or something like that.”
  Who’s this expert? “A Mordant Spire wizard of some 
  repute, and unfortunately, some infamy. A necromancer 
  named Giseil Voslil. He is a friend of the Shin’Rakorath 
  and has proved most useful in the past.”
  How can we get back through once the gate closes? 
  “Another concern. Certainly, the portal won’t be functional 
  for quite some time after you use it, and we hope to remove 
  the link to Zirnakaynin before then, in any event. I shall 
  see to it that an elven priest contacts one of you via sending 
  for regular updates—if you have similar capabilities, you 
  can use them to keep either of us apprised of your needs. 
  But make no mistake—you may need to improvise a 
  method to escape should things turn sour.”
  Can’t we call on help from the elven homeland? “Alas… 
  things move slowly at the government level. The leaders of 
  Kyonin have been informed of the situation, but it could 
  be some time before they settle on an official plan. It pains 
  me to admit, but sometimes the elven ways are not best. 
  There is no time for long deliberations—we need to act 
  now. We’ve secured the aid of Giseil Voslil, and that, for 
  now, is all we can expect.”
  Why can’t you or other elves accompany us, or why can’t 
  you handle this job on your own? “Many of my best soldiers 
  are wounded and won’t be in top shape when the portal 
  activates. More to the point, you are much more experienced 
  than all of my men… I suspect even I wouldn’t last long 
  against you if we came to blows. If this is to be done, we need 
  to send our best. And right now, you are our best.”
  Will we be rewarded for this? “Would you have me set 
  a merchant’s price upon my people’s survival? The sum 
  would be great. Beyond platinum and emeralds, I’ll assure 
  you. While Eviana and all the people of Crying Leaf would 
  surely turn out their last coppers to you, I’m sure Queen 
  Telandia herself would reward you for your efforts in a way 
  few elves and even fewer non-elves have ever seen.”
  If, after answering all of their questions, the PCs are 
  still unwilling to accept the dangerous mission, Eviana 
  makes a more emotional plea for the PCs’ aid, honestly 
  believing that they are Crying Leaf’s best hope of avoiding 
  more deaths combating the drow. To encourage them, 
  she offers the party 2,000 gp each, plus another 6,000 gp 
  each from her own estate, and whatever other donations 
  she can gather from the residents of Crying Leaf upon 
  their return. If the PCs still refuse, she turns cold and 
  disappointed before informing the PCs that they are no 
  longer welcome in the Mierani Forest, and that they must 
  leave the woodland’s borders by sunset.
  Skin of Evil
  Giseil Voslil (CN male gray elf necromancer 13) is a decent 
  soul but has a bad attitude, especially when it comes to non-
  elves. Something of a pariah among his people, the elven 
  necromancer has served as an emissary between Crying Leaf 
  and the mysterious Mordant Spire for centuries. Kaerishiel 
  introduces the PCs to Giseil as a friend of the Shin’Rakorath 
  and the most skilled necromancer in the Mierani Forest. 
  The wizard manages to nod in acknowledgment, but 
  soon after departs without explanation, going to the tent 
  housing the drow bodies chosen for his spell. Kaerishiel 
  sighs in exasperation, then tells the PCs that one of Giseil’s 
  areas of mastery concerns the “recycling” of spent flesh, 
  of finding new ways to utilize the bodies of the dead in 
  methods not involving undeath. One such experimental 
  spell Giseil developed is recorporeal incarnation, a spell that 
  disguises living creatures with the flesh of the recently 
  dead. Kaerishiel doesn’t know much more about the spell, 
  indicating that the PCs should speak to Giseil if they have 
  further questions.
  What does your recorporeal incarnation spell do? 
  “Imbricates mortal physicality with a cadaveric corporeity.” 
  What does that mean? “The spell disguises your mortal 
  form, overlaying it with that of a corpse. Do pay attention.”
  What happens to my body? “Nothing permanent. Your 
  flesh and features are overborne by those of a cadaver. You 
  are still you, but rather than animating your flesh, your 
  bones, muscles, tissues, and mind now support a different, 
  though recently deceased, form.”
  How long does it last? “The magic possesses limited 
  permanency. It’s tied to a focus item that, if compromised, 
  releases the binding incantations, dispelling the effect. 
  Should the focus persevere, it retains the spell’s power for 
  approximately thirteen weeks.”
  Can the drow detect the spell? “Of course. But not by 
  traditional methods. The spell’s effects on a subject are 
  momentary and the magic swiftly fades. Instead, the 
  ongoing incarnations linger in the focus item. While 
  these necromantic effects might be detected by any novice, 
  Kaerishiel informs me that the trinkets he’s providing as 
  
  10
  Second Darkness
  focus items hold their own magic, which the drow will 
  most likely overlook.”
  Most likely overlook? “Squeamish already? Had 
  Kaerishiel none better suited to this task?”
  What methods can detect it? “Although nourished and 
  motivated by your body, your flesh is technically a corpse. 
  Spells distinguishing the walking dead will detect you, 
  though all physical examinations will reveal your mortality. 
  It’s a flaw of the arcana that I’m still perfecting.”
  What happens when the spell ends? “The spell ends. 
  The corpse flesh loses pliancy and ages rapidly, shedding 
  from your frame as your natural form resolidifies. It’s a 
  quick and painless transition, though somewhat messy. 
  You’ll probably need to bathe once it’s done.”
  The corpses Giseil plans to utilize in his recorporeal 
  incarnation spell lie in state in a small tent on the  
  edge of the Celwynvian camp. These drow were all 
  stragglers slain by Kaerishiel’s men while the party was on 
  the Plane of Shadow. None of them 
  were particularly important 
  drow—disguising a PC as 
  Nolveniss would cause 
  more problems than 
  solve them, after all! If more than 24 hours have passed 
  since this time, the bodies have been preserved for Giseil’s 
  magic with gentle repose.
  Two hours before the elf gate recharges, Giseil orders the 
  PCs to follow him into the corpse tent. Within the tent are 
  several cots arranged in pairs, one for every character who 
  plans to pass through the elf gate and one for the characters’ 
  new drow body. After the PCs have a moment to examine 
  the dead drow—all chosen for their attractiveness and 
  relatively whole condition—Kaerishiel joins them bearing 
  a simple wooden box. Opening the box, he reveals a number 
  of simple silver amulets, each set with a pale crystal in the 
  center. These bloodlinks, he explains, serve a twofold purpose. 
  First, they grant the wearer abilities similar to those many 
  drow possess. Second, the crystals at the amulets’ centers 
  serve as the focus item of Giseil’s recorporeal incarnation spell. 
  Kaerishiel gives a bloodlink to each PC and bids they don 
  them so Giseil might perform his magic.
  Over the next hour, Giseil casts multiple 
  recorporeal incarnation spells from several 
  scrolls, one for each PC. The spell is 
  painless, but the sensation of crawling 
  skin as the flesh of a deceased drow 
  subsumes each PC’s appearance 
  is unusual to say the least. Once 
  every party member is transformed 
  into a drow, Giseil again reviews the 
  importance of the bloodlink, its role as the 
  focus for his magic, and how destroying the 
  items will dispel the connected disguise. 
  He curtly wishes the PCs luck then departs, 
  leaving Captain Kaerishiel to explain the next 
  step of their dangerous deception.
  Recorporeal Incarnation
  School necromancy; Level sorcerer/wizard 7
  CaStIng
  Casting time 10 minutes
  Components V, S, F (a gem or crystal worth at least 250 gp), 
  XP 500
  EffECt
  Range touch
  target one living creature and one corpse
  Duration instantaneous (but see text)
  Saving throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance Yes 
  (harmless)
  DESCRIptIon
  Recorporeal incarnation replaces the target’s body with that 
  of a recently deceased corpse. The target corpse must be 
  fresh—either dead for no more than 24 hours or preserved by 
  an effect like gentle repose. As the spell is cast, the dead body’s 
  flesh unravels like ribbons to sheath the living target, who 
  must be of a similar shape to the corpse and be within one size 
  Giseil Voslil
  
  11
  Endless Night
  category of the corpse’s size. While casting the spell you must 
  remain in contact with the corpse while holding the focus item 
  to the living target. At the spell’s completion, the living target 
  gains the appearance and any size bonuses or penalties of the 
  new form, along with any of the dead creature’s extraordinary 
  abilities or natural abilities (such as natural attacks or senses), 
  but not the creature’s racial bonuses or any spell-like or 
  supernatural abilities. The effects of this spell grant a +20 
  circumstance bonus on attempts to see through the disguise 
  with Spot checks.
  The disguise created by recorporeal incarnation lasts for a week per 
  caster level (91 days in this case), or until the focus item is destroyed 
  or moves more than 90 feet away from the target. When this 
  time ends, the target returns to his or her normal form, 
  sloughing off the corpse’s flesh in a hideous display over the 
  course of 1 round.
  The greatest strength of recorporeal incarnation is 
  its difficulty to detect as a disguise. The effects are 
  instantaneous, so no magic lingers on the victim. 
  If subjected to detect magic, the target sheds no 
  magical aura, though the focus item gives off an 
  aura of strong necromantic magic. True seeing 
  does not reveal the target’s true form, since 
  the disguise itself, while magically achieved, is 
  a mundane (but masterful) disguise. The spell 
  detect undead, however, does note the target as 
  an undead creature with the same number of 
  Hit Dice. The target is not truly undead, though, 
  and is not affected by any other effect that targets 
  undead creatures. Recorporeal incarnation does nothing 
  to disguise the target’s alignment.
  If the target of recorporeal incarnation dies while the spell is in 
  effect, the spell continues. Any resurrection or similar spell cast 
  upon the target resurrects the target, not the corpse flesh. Since 
  recorporeal incarnation destroys the majority of the body’s physical 
  remains, the dead body cannot be restored to life via raise dead—
  only resurrection, true resurrection, miracle, or wish can restore such 
  a creature to life.
  Bloodlink
  aura faint divination and transmutation; CL 3rd
  Slot neck; price 4,800; Weight —
  DESCRIptIon
  This amulet allows you to utilize the same spells many drow 
  can cast innately. You may cast each of the following spells 
  once per day as spell-like abilities: dancing lights, darkness, 
  and faerie fire. In addition, while wearing this item, the 
  wearer is also granted the ability to speak and understand 
  Undercommon and proficiency with the hand crossbow, the 
  rapier, and the short sword. While worn, the target’s alignment 
  registers as chaotic evil for the purposes of spells like detect 
  chaos and detect evil. A bloodlink can serve as the focus for a 
  recorporeal incarnation spell.
  ConStRuCtIon
  Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, detect magic, 
  feather fall, levitate; Cost 2,400 gp, 192 XP
  Wolves In Wolves’ Clothing
  Once the PCs have been disguised as drow, there’s little 
  time left before the Academy of Arts’ elf gate opens. 
  Kaerishiel explains the next stage of the plan as he leads 
  the disguised PCs to the Academy of Arts. With Celwynvian 
  retaken, the elves have no ability or intention of hiding 
  the drow’s defeat in the city—there’s simply no way to 
  know all the methods the dark elves might have used to 
  communicate with their brethren. He offers the PCs the 
  following cover story to explain their sudden “return” to 
  Zirnakaynin should they encounter trouble soon after 
  moving through the portal.
  “You are now drow. You were part of the battle here in 
  Celwynvian, but when we elves got the upper hand, you went 
  into hiding to wait for the elf gate to recharge. You watched 
  from afar as we tried, and failed, to cleanse the portal, and 
  when it recharged you stormed our camp, slaughtered the 
  elves you found there, and swiftly moved through the portal 
  to the other side.
   “As soon as you’re through, a half regiment of my best men 
  will follow in pursuit to further confuse the matter. If there’s 
  Drow Disguises
  The PCs utilize a recorporeal incarnation spell to achieve 
  their drow disguises for this adventure. Summarized 
  below are all of the abilities gained by the PCs from this 
  spell—these effects persist until the spell effect ends near 
  the climax of this adventure.
  •	
  Medium Size: If the character was Small size, 
  recalculate AC, attack rolls, and other size-
  based modifiers as appropriate. Base land speed 
  becomes 30 feet.
  •	
  Darkvision: The character gains darkvision out to 
  120 feet.
  •	
  Immunity: The character gains 
  immunity to sleep effects.
  •	 Weapon proficiency: The character 
  becomes proficient with the hand 
  crossbow, the rapier, and the 
  short sword.
  •	
  Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to 
  bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight 
  spell) blinds the character for 1 round. On 
  subsequent rounds, they are dazzled as 
  long as they remain in the affected area.
  •	
  Spell Resistance: The character gains 
  spell resistance equal to 11 + class levels.
  
  12
  Second Darkness
  any drow on the other side, they’ll likely be more concerned 
  with our ‘invasion’ than a few bloodied stragglers. This should 
  buy you the time you need to lose yourselves amid the chaos, 
  and we should be able to prevent any drow from taking 
  advantage of the portal to return here. Once you’re through, 
  my men will return and close the portal. From there, you’re 
  on your own—hopefully, you’ll be able to assimilate yourselves 
  into drow society soon enough, but if they question you about 
  what happened here, do your best to keep your story simple. 
  Might I suggest telling the truth, but simply leaving out the 
  part where the ‘heroes’ who helped defeat the drow are now 
  infiltrating their… your city?
  “We only get one shot at this, so, no matter what confronts 
  you through that gate, remember that we’re the enemy and 
  there’s no going back.”
  Once the PCs are prepared, they are led into the Academy 
  of Arts building in central Celwynvian, along with a group 
  of several elven scouts and soldiers. As they approach, the 
  elf gate shimmers with energy—it’s keyed to the shadow 
  key that Nolveniss carried, and as the carrier of the key 
  approaches the portal, the stone arch suddenly glows and 
  shimmers. (If no PC possesses the shadow key, Kaerishiel 
  is now in possession of it—or if the key has been destroyed 
  or lost, an elven bard makes use of Use Magic Device to 
  activate the portal blindly.) The stone inside the arch 
  grows smoky, then translucent, revealing a cloudy view of a 
  shadowy cavern beyond. An elven voice shouts “Run dogs!” 
  in Undercommon as the scouts ready their weapons for the 
  PCs’ flight through the portal.
  PArt two: the LAst home 
  oF the eLves
  For untold centuries, an elf gate connected Celwynvian’s 
  Academy of Arts with a grove near Greengold in the 
  elven nation of Kyonin. That was before the drow of 
  House Vonnarc tampered with the ancient elven portals. 
  Intervening upon the mysterious ley lines connecting 
  the two gates, the drow discovered a way to redirect the 
  ancient arcane bond between them. Now, the Celwynvian 
  portal connects to a cavern deep below the Fangwood, a 
  cave situated directly under the path of magical ley lines 
  that once connected two magical archways.
  The drow maintain a small camp and watch post 
  near their gate to Celwynvian. Manned by a dozen drow 
  warriors and three enslaved driders, the camp has served 
  as little more than a staging ground for supplies headed to 
  Nolveniss’s followers through the portal for the past several 
  years. Unwilling to admit defeat, his pride preventing him 
  from calling for help from his family, Nolveniss Azrinae 
  waited too long to alert Zirnakaynin of the assault on 
  Celwynvian. Word and rumor of the drow rout is trickling 
  through the city now, but has yet to be treated with any 
  real serious concern—certainly, these drow, isolated as 
  they are from the city, have heard nothing. As a result, 
  when the elf gate opens this day, spilling battered drow 
  and seemingly vengeful elves into the darkened cavern, 
  the drow are caught completely off guard.
  Once the PCs pass through the elf gate, a battle between 
  the drow and the elves ensues. For the next 5 rounds, 
  Kaerishiel’s soldiers fire upon the drow—keen to avoid the 
  PCs and clear a way for their flight. What the elves weren’t 
  expecting, though, were driders. As soon as it seems that 
  an elven invasion is forcing its way through the gate, 
  three driders rush into battle. Although the spider-legged 
  abominations quickly bear down on the PCs, the sadistic 
  monstrosities fall completely for the disguise and pass 
  them by, rushing to tear into the elves. If the shocked PCs 
  attack the driders, the monsters initially ignore them, their 
  bloodlust bent fully toward the elves. It should be apparent 
  after the first round that the driders don’t care about the 
  drow-disguised PCs. Should the PCs persist in attacking 
  the driders, though, the driders stop distinguishing 
  between elf and dark elf and defend themselves. This 
  quickly rouses the suspicion of the entire camp, and the 
  PCs will either have to do some fast talking or fight off the 
  entire drow encampments—a daunting prospect as an EL 
  13 encounter, even with the aid of a dozen elven soldiers.
  If you want to run this battle in a traditional manner, 
  you certainly can do so, though. There are 12 4th-level drow 
  fighters and three driders defending, and a dozen 3rd-level 
  elf fighters on the offensive. Any large cavern map will do 
  for the battle—if you have the Darklands Flip-Mat, the elf 
  gate is in the wall on the side opposite the pool, atop the 
  ledge. Time the length of the combat so that there’s time for 
  a few drow and elves to die before having the portal sealed.
  The surviving drow are furious and confused, and fall 
  to bickering over who should take command. Some shout 
  commands to clear the dead, some move back from the elf 
  gate to keep alert for another assault. In his ire, one bellowing 
  drow stomps upon the throat of a wounded companion 
  lying nearby—killing him instantly. Preparations then 
  turn toward sending a runner back to Zirnakaynin to alert 
  the guards’ leaders at House Vonnarc of the attack. In the 
  chaos, the PCs go unnoticed by all but one.
  An Unlikely Ally
  A cunning sort, Gadak Simiryin knows all the games his 
  people compete in to survive, and he plays them well. A 
  lowborn drow—little better then a slave in the eyes of 
  most—Gadak has weaseled his way up the social ladder, 
  lying, cheating, stealing, and worse to finally become a 
  footman in the service of House Vonnarc. A much more 
  comfortable and survivable existence than he would face 
  in the slums of Zirnakaynin, Gadak enjoys his life, but his 
  ambitions drive him to greater things. Currently, he seeks 
  
  13
  Endless Night
  a way to come to the attentions of the nobles he serves, 
  hoping to garner their favor and their rewards. And, in the 
  PCs, he has the notion he might have found just that.
  Gadak finds himself at the elf gate today delivering 
  a heavy cart of alchemical reagents requested by 
  Nolveniss weeks ago. One of the studier looking pieces 
  of equipment in the small drow camp, Gadak’s iron 
  cart makes a favorable place to hide from the attacking 
  elves—a fact Gadak demonstrates himself when the PCs 
  arrive. Keen-eyed and alert for opportunities, Gadak 
  took note of the drow to come through the gate in front 
  of the elves. He certainly noticed how the elves seemed 
  to prefer targeting the drow in the cave and not these 
  fleeing few. The sly dark elf doesn’t 
  currently have any reason to believe 
  these drow are anything besides lucky, 
  but he remembers their fortune in the 
  days and weeks to come. For now, though, 
  the PCs are the only ones who know what 
  happened on the other side of the elf gate 
  and likely possess details his lieges at 
  House Vonnarc would be keen to possess. 
  Thus, amid the chaos of the drow camp, 
  Gadak decides to make friends.
  As the soldiers drag off their dead and eye 
  the elf gate in preparation for another attack, 
  Gadak introduces himself to the PCs. Cutting 
  a cowardly figure hiding beneath his cart, 
  he presents himself as an unassuming, even 
  amusing figure, as he stands and dusts himself 
  off with a half-smile. He’s showy and charming, 
  but only as a cover, his experiences having proven 
  that people readily trust a fool. Proudly introducing 
  himself as a servant of the illustrious House Vonnarc, 
  he notes that the PCs don’t seem to be guardsmen and 
  have obviously been through quite an ordeal. If they don’t 
  wish to be conscripted right back into the ranks of the 
  suicidal drow waiting at the gate for “the next volley of 
  traitor-elf arrows,” he’s headed back to “the city,” as his 
  attempts to make his delivery were foiled. He has plenty 
  of room in his lizard-drawn wagon in exchange for the 
  PCs’ story of what happened beyond the portal.
  Should the party agree, Gadak shouts out to the 
  improvising commander of the drow soldiers that he’ll 
  rush back to the city for reinforcements—a claim that 
  sounds totally unbelievable from Gadak’s lips, but that no 
  one questions amid the chaos. That a handful of tattered 
  drow survivors leave with him raises a few eyebrows, but as 
  Gadak is known to be the servant of one of Zirnakaynin’s 
  greater drow noble families, and as the solders have their 
  own concerns, no one questions it. With that, Gadak whips 
  his hissing cave lizards into motion and the 4-hour trek to 
  Zirnakaynin begins.
  If the PCs refuse to accompany Gadak, he shrugs and 
  makes a show of caring little. Regardless, he’s headed 
  back to the city—gesturing to the only tunnel leading 
  out of the cavern. In this case, the drow either precedes or 
  follows the PCs on the easy and relatively direct journey to 
  Zirnakaynin, Last Home of the Elves.
  gadak Simiryin 
  CR 8
  Male drow rogue 7
  CE Medium humanoid (elf)
  Init +4; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Listen +6, Spot +7
  DEfEnSE
  aC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 14
  (+4 armor, +4 Dex)
  hp 20 (7d6–7)
  fort +1, Ref +9, Will +3 (+2 against 
  enchantment, spells, and spell-like 
  abilities)
  Defensive abilities evasion, trap sense 
  +2, uncanny dodge; Immune sleep; SR 18
  Weakness light blindness
  offEnSE
  Spd 30 ft.
  Melee mwk dagger +10 (1d4–1/19–20)
  Ranged +1 hand crossbow +10 (1d4+1/19–20 
  plus poison)
  Special attacks sneak attack +4d6
  Spell-Like abilities (CL 7th)
  1/day—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire
  StatIStICS
  Str 8, Dex 18, Con 8, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 16
  Base atk +5; grp +4
  feats Persuasive, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Finesse
  Skills Balance +9, Bluff +15, Diplomacy +17, Disguise +3 
  (+5 acting), Forgery +5, Gather Information +15, Handle 
  Animal +5, Hide +13, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (local) +8, 
  Knowledge (nobility) +3, Listen +6, Move Silently +10, Open 
  Lock +14, Sense Motive +11, Sleight of Hand +14, Spot +7
  Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Elven, 
  Undercommon
  SQ trapfinding
  Combat gear potion of invisibility, drow sleep poison (6); 
  gear +2 studded leather armor, masterwork dagger, +1 hand 
  crossbow  with 10 bolts, 23 gp
  City of the Drow
  The journey to Zirnakaynin proves relatively short, 
  winding though a maze of winding tunnels and caverns. 
  Take this opportunity to describe the alien nature of the 
  Darklands: caverns capable of fitting whole castles, forests 
  of colorful fungi, eyeless cave beasts, insects of terrible 
  sizes, crevices without bottoms, and other wondrous and 
  deadly sights. GMs who seek more information on the 
  Gadak
  Simiryin
  Gadak
  Simiryin
  
  14
  Second Darkness
  realms beneath the surface of Golarion should see the 
  related supplement, Into the Darklands. 
  As the PCs travel, they’ll likely have further 
  interactions with Gadak whether or not they decided to 
  join the drow for the journey. A random encounter with 
  some Darklands horror—particularly a violet fungus, 
  darkmantle, or other beast that might have been avoided 
  by one more familiar with the deadly environment—
  might encourage the party to take up with the “helpful” 
  drow. Should the group be traveling with Gadak already, 
  the hours pass uneventfully with the drow spending 
  the time in “friendly” interrogation of the PCs, seeking 
  to learn what happened in Celwynvian and, gradually, 
  more about them. At the same time, he gladly fields 
  any questions they might have about Zirnakaynin. He 
  notes their accents seem a bit strange and asks if they’re 
  perhaps from one of the more far-flung drow holdings 
  like Gizratayn or Umberweb. Although Gadak tries not 
  to let on his suspicions and remains friendly, by the end 
  of their discussions it’s likely that he believes there’s 
  something strange about the PCs. As they draw near the 
  city, he asks if they have any arrangements in the city 
  already and, if not, says he can probably pull a few strings 
  to have them taken in among the servants of House 
  Vonnarc—the slavemother and blademaster having a 
  need for competent sorts. Gadak, of course, hopes that by 
  introducing some competent new servants into the house 
  his own reputation and standing will increase. Being 
  offered a place among the ranks of a drow household 
  should fit in well with the PCs’ mission, but even if they 
  refuse, Gadak takes the rejection in stride.
  The Walls of Zirnakaynin
  Eventually, the PCs reach Zirnakaynin, the city of the drow, 
  Last Home of the Elves. Their first glimpse of the city is a 
  daunting one, as they emerge into a cavern of incredible 
  size and flickering with the red and violet glow of arcane 
  fires. A 30-foot wall of barbed stone and bladed iron stands 
  before them, a closed gate of spiked black iron etched with 
  images of howling demons barring all passage. This is the 
  northern gate of Zirnakaynin, through which only those 
  with business in the cavern of Cocyrdavarin may pass. 
  The PCs, having no knowledge of the city or its ways, 
  might find it difficult to get into the city on their own. 
  Approaching the gate, they are stopped by four heavily 
  armored drow guardsmen. Those who make a DC 20 Spot 
  check note triple this number watching from the shadows 
  of the battlements above, their crossbows leveled. They’ll 
  need to bribe or fast-talk their way into the city. Should 
  the party be traveling with Gadak from the beginning, 
  they face no opposition at the gate. Gadak merely flashes 
  the house brooch he wears and the guards allow his 
  wagon to pass.
  Drow Soldiers (16) 
   
  CR 5
  Male drow fighter 4
  CE Medium humanoid (elf)
  Init +3; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Listen +2, Spot +2
  DEfEnSE
  aC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 15
  (+4 armor, +3 Dex, +1 shield)
  hp 34 (4d10+8)
  fort +6, Ref +4, Will +1 (+2 against spells and spell-like 
  abilities); +2 against enchantment
  Immune sleep; SR 15
  Weakness light blindness
  offEnSE
  Spd 30 ft.
  Melee mwk rapier +9 (1d6+3/18–20) or
  mwk lance +6 (1d8+1/×3)
  Ranged mwk hand crossbow +8 (1d4+1 plus poison /19–20)
  Spell-Like abilities (CL 4th)
  1/day—dancing lights, darkness, detect magic, faerie fire, 
  feather fall, levitate
  StatIStICS
  Str 13, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 10
  Base atk +4; grp +5
  feats Dark Adept, Mounted Combat, Weapon Finesse, 
  Weapon Focus (rapier), Weapon Specialization (rapier)
  Skills Climb +8, Handle Animal +7, Intimidate +7, Ride +12
  Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Undercommon
  Combat gear potion of cure moderate wounds, drow poison (2); 
  other gear mithral shirt, masterwork buckler, masterwork 
  hand crossbow with 10 +1 bolts, masterwork rapier, 
  masterwork lance (if mounted on cave gecko)
  Zirnakaynin
  Stretching into the darkened distance, a fearsome city of 
  sculpted stone and bladed iron fills this impossibly sized cavern. 
  Eerie eldritch flames—burning with the colors of dying suns and 
  lightning-furious thunderheads—ripple over spires carved from 
  ancient stalagmites, adoring them with the blaze of ominous, 
  spidery runes. Two steep cliffs jut from the cavern floor, one 
  stacked upon another, creating massive steps over which the 
  city spills like a benighted waterfall. Flickering in the distance 
  rises a single topless tower, a column connecting the cavern 
  floor with the ceiling, its height crawling with runes. Elsewhere 
  grows a tangle of fungal blooms alongside pools of oily cave 
  water. Above, carved into the dome-like ceiling, flickering feyfire 
  illuminates twelve caves, their mouths carved into unsettling 
  and demonic images. And everywhere amid the severe, black 
  city—as menacing as shadows—glide the graceful, deadly 
  forms of drow.
  Within the three caverns that make up the city of 
  Zirnakaynin live tens of thousands of drow, any of whom 
  
  15
  Endless Night
  would murder the PCs were their true identities known. 
  Gadak’s current errand takes him to the city’s upper cavern 
  of Eirdrisseir, home to the majority of the city’s noble 
  families. While many drow travel between the two caverns 
  via a breach in the stone ceiling over the city—making the 
  ascent using magic or sticky-footed cave lizards—Gadak’s 
  cart of supplies forces him to take the long way. This 
  means he must travel all the way through the city and then 
  into the tunnels winding up into Eirdrisseir to the south, 
  and in so doing, providing the PCs with an impromptu 
  tour of the city. Gadak loves to talk and eagerly goes on 
  about each district and landmark at length, relating well-
  known facts, tall tales, and personal reminisces. In short, 
  during the several hours it takes to navigate the city, Gadak 
  can provide the PCs with almost all of the information 
  provided in the “Zirnakaynin” article on page 48.
  Infiltrating House Vonnarc
  For more than 8 centuries, the drow of the Vonnarc noble 
  family have dominated Zirnakaynin’s arcane markets and 
  options for education in the wizardly arts. Misleadingly 
  known as a family of mages, House Vonnarc supports some 
  of the most infamous drow wizards of the modern era—
  particularly the family’s notorious first son, the archmage 
  Alicavniss. Yet not all members of the family have chosen 
  to walk the paths of the arcane, and foul priestesses, dark-
  souled thaumaturges, and deadly warriors pervade the 
  house’s ranks. Overseen by the seemingly ever-present 
  eye of Matron Pravora—a skilled diviner and adherent of 
  the house’s demonic patron, Areshkagal—the scions of 
  House Vonnarc revel in intrigue and sybaritism just as the 
  progeny of any other drow noble family. Within this den 
  of decadence and dark magic the PCs might find a place to 
  carry out their dangerous mission, for nowhere else in the 
  city does loathing for House Azrinae roil more blatantly 
  than within the curving halls and shadowed salons of 
  House Vonnarc.
  Following the lead of the scheming house servant 
  Gadak, the PCs eventually reach the corner of the darkened 
  “countryside” known as Eirdrisseir held by the Vonnarc 
  noble family. A palace of warped stone, spidery iron, and 
  towers alight with magical flame, House Vonnarc makes 
  its owners’ decadence and arcane prowess obvious in every 
  inch of its hellfire-lit obsidian.
  Seemingly grown from the dark stone of this nighted abyss, 
  a sinister palace of unnatural beauty and deadly grace looms. 
  Spires of web-like metal slice through the darkness, their heights 
  illuminated by arcane flame, while the elegant curves of the 
  structure’s walls seem to flicker and shift in the dancing shadows. 
  Around the compound, the barely perceptible silhouettes of 
  dark armored shapes glide in soundless patrol upon an arcing 
  barricade of bladed steel. Suddenly, from somewhere within, 
  rises an otherworldly shriek, a cry half scream, half bestial howl 
  that slowly resonates and dies amid the gloom. A moment later 
  comes the terrible noise’s answer, a fluttering peal of mirthless, 
  mocking laughter.
  Bearing the name of the family it shelters, House Vonnarc 
  holds three distinct areas: the palace itself, Areshkagal’s 
  Staff, and the house’s walls and various support buildings. 
  Within the palace the scions of House Vonnarc hold 
  dominion, attended by an army of courtiers, sycophants, 
  servants, and slaves. Just outside rises Areshkagal’s Staff, 
  home to the house’s wizards and apprentices, the family’s 
  arcane laboratories, and the domain of the notorious 
  conjurer, Alicavniss. Beyond both delicate structures stand 
  the walls, barracks, main stables, storage, and workshops 
  of the house’s servants and guards.
  Should the PCs still be in Gadak’s company, gaining 
  entrance to the noble house proves simple—a quick flash 
  of his ring and the wall guards open the gate. Within, 
  House Vonnarc teems with drow soldiers, though as 
  long as the party remains in Gadak’s company, or with 
  another drow bearing a Vonnarc signet ring, the guards 
  pay them little mind. Drawing the wagon up to a large 
  barn-like structure, Gadak unbridles and stables his cave 
  lizard then asks the PCs to stay here while he seeks an 
  audience with the house’s slavemother. Undamesta is the 
  house’s oldest and most devoted servant, who manages all 
  of House Vonnarc’s non-military servitors with an iron 
  fist. Only with her consent might the PCs be accepted 
  Fast talking the Drow
  At many times during this adventure, the PCs will need to 
  fast-talk to keep their cover up. There are three routes a PC 
  can take to keep his cover; in the case of multiple PCs in 
  a group, each PC gets a chance to fast-talk once. If all the 
  PCs in a group fail to fast-talk, they’ll either need to pay a 
  bribe of 1d20×10 gp to the drow or they’ll need to fight or 
  flee from the situation.
  Note that male drow are more likely to be swayed by a 
  female (a female PC gains a +2 circumstance bonus on her 
  skill check in this case), while female drow are less likely to 
  be swayed by males (male PCs gain a –2 penalty on their 
  skill checks in this case).
  Bluff: The PC makes a Bluff check, opposed by the 
  target’s Sense Motive.
  Diplomacy: The PC makes a Diplomacy check; generally 
  this is a DC 15 check, with the NPC usually being indifferent 
  and needing to become friendly to be fast-talked.
  Intimidate: The PC makes an Intimidate check. Drow 
  are used to this method of negotiation, and generally do 
  not shift their attitude to unfriendly after the Intimidate 
  effect wears off.
  
  16
  Second Darkness
  into House Vonnarc’s service. If the party doesn’t wish 
  to join the house’s ranks, Gadak seems disappointed but 
  sees them out. He does ask them, however, where they 
  plan to stay, alluding that he might have future endeavors 
  they might prove helpful with. Otherwise, Gadak departs 
  to find Undamesta.
  Audience with the Slavemother
  Although a few troglodyte slaves busy themselves in the 
  stable performing menial tasks, the PCs have about 10 
  minutes to speak freely before Gadak returns. If they’ve yet 
  to concoct cover stories, now would be a good time to do so 
  as Slavemother Undamesta (CE female drow expert 8/rogue 
  4; Sense Motive +10, Spot +12) will likely have numerous 
  questions for them. If the PCs use this privacy to discuss 
  their covers, grant them no more than 10 minutes of real 
  time to do so, after which Gadak reappears to show them 
  to the slavemother.
  The PCs’ march to meet with Undamesta grants them 
  their first glimpse of House Vonnarc’s interior, a dark 
  place almost devoid of straight angles. The building is a 
  bustling, living place filled with drow, not a dungeon to 
  explore. Gadak leads them to the rear of the house, taking 
  them to the interrogation chamber (area A22) via the 
  servants’ entrance in the noble’s stable. During the walk, 
  Gadak answers any questions the PCs might have about 
  the rooms they pass through or how to behave before the 
  slavemother—with self-demeaning respect and silence.
  Eventually, the PCs arrive at the interrogation chamber. 
  A dim violet light emanates from some vague point above, 
  while upon the walls hang diaphanous tapestries, delicately 
  embroidered with the Vonnarc symbol and elaborate 
  designs. Flanked by stone statues of fierce drow warriors, 
  a long table of dark stone dominates one end of the room. 
  Three chairs line the table’s far side, the centermost 
  occupied by a severe looking drow woman, her hair pulled 
  back tightly, her fingers and sharp nails steepled before 
  her, her gaze impatient.
  Gadak gestures to move to the center of the room before 
  stepping forward and bowing low. “Revered Slavemother 
  Undamesta, these are the travelers from beyond the portal 
  of whom I spoke. House Rasivreign’s operations at the gate 
  
  17
  Endless Night
  were confused and disordered and none stood to meet their 
  arrival. With their own masters having forsaken them, I 
  most meekly ask that their obvious skills and experience 
  be considered for inclusion among the ranks of those who 
  dutifully serve the envied house of Vonnarc.”
  The slavemother seems unimpressed by Gadak’s 
  words, lifting a suspicious eyebrow. “Obvious skills and 
  experience, indeed? Is this not for me to judge?” the 
  matronly drow retorts with a voice like a dagger upon slate. 
  Gadak merely bows low and steps aside.
  What follows is an inquisition and a test to see 
  how well the PCs will fit in amid drow noble 
  society. Slavemother Undamesta asks the PCs 
  a number of questions, seeking to test their 
  experience, cunning, usefulness, and potential 
  loyalty. At the same time, her questions 
  will challenge the party’s covers. Below are 
  the questions Undamesta poses to the PCs, 
  demanding answers from each character 
  present before moving on to the next question. 
  Undamesta taunts the characters with these 
  questions and in response to their answers, 
  attempting to raise their ire. Getting angry 
  or hostile with the drow slavemother is a dire 
  mistake, though. As the PCs answer these questions, 
  they’ll need to take an action, make a skill check, or 
  simply mention (or not mention) a particular topic. 
  Each PC that passes a question’s “test” is awarded an 
  interrogation point. At the end of the interrogation, 
  these points will determine if the PCs are accepted 
  as servants of House Vonnarc. 
  Where do you come from? Undamesta accepts any 
  answer as long as it is given without much hesitation. If 
  the PCs claim to be from Zirnakaynin, Undamesta asks 
  them from what part of the city. If the PCs claim to be 
  from another drow city, she nods and moves on. If a PC 
  claims to be from a location Undamesta hasn’t heard of 
  (or if the PC makes up a name for a fictional homeland), 
  she demands a short description of the place, forcing the 
  PC to make a Bluff check to remain convincing. Overall, 
  Undamesta cares little about their answers—drow have 
  many reasons to lie about their past, and she’s really just 
  using this opportunity to slight whatever place each PC 
  claims to be his home.
  What house do you now serve? The safest answer to this 
  question is “none.” Naming “Azrinae” prompts Undamesta 
  to observe that drow house has all but abandoned 
  Zirnakaynin, giving the PC a chance to amend his claim. 
  Answering “Vonnarc” gets a wry smile from the drow 
  slaver, and a response of, “Not yet, you don’t.” Naming 
  another drow house (fictional or real) leads Undamesta to 
  demand why that house seeks the PC’s intrusion into her 
  family’s home, and unless the PC manages to backpedal 
  with a Diplomacy check to say that they’re no longer 
  with that house, she dismisses all of the PCs as unfit for 
  Vonnarc duty.
  Why did you return to Zirnakaynin? Here Undamesta 
  seeks to imply the PCs are cowards and not fit to serve her 
  house. As long as the PCs don’t give answers that imply 
  they were cowards, and that they left many elves dead in 
  their wake, she is satisfied.
  Why do you seek to serve House Vonnarc? A legitimate 
  question, Undamesta desires to know the PCs’ ambitions 
  and gauge if they might one 
  day become threats to her 
  position. Whatever the PC 
  replies, they’ll need to make a 
  Diplomacy check to impress her.
  Why do you believe you are 
  worthy of serving House Vonnarc? 
  Here Undamesta attempts to test 
  the PCs’ humility. Depending on the 
  response she might scold a PC for undue 
  arrogance or threaten him with a whipping 
  for insulting the Vonnarc name. As long as 
  the PC’s answer is humble, he passes the 
  question.
  What could you possibly have to offer 
  the illustrious house of Vonnarc? A sincere 
  question veiled as an insult. As long as the 
  PCs describe their abilities and look like they 
  can deliver on what they claim, she accepts their answers. 
  Claims of powers that the PCs don’t seem to posses require 
  a Bluff check.
  What is your relationship to each other? Rarely do 
  groups of drow come seeking service. Suspecting a 
  conspiracy, Undamesta seeks to gauge the PCs’ intentions 
  and loyalty to one another. As long as the PCs don’t seem to 
  indicate they’ve got plans for their own rise to power, she 
  accepts most answers they give. A party that presents itself 
  as subservient to a single female PC, or a party that bickers 
  and argues automatically passes this question.
  What is your relationship to Gadak? Undamesta has 
  little trust in Gadak, especially with his obvious ambitions 
  to curry favor among the house scions. She has little 
  interest in letting a gang in service to Gadak first and 
  foremost invade her home. Should the PCs insult Gadak, 
  they garner a sly smile and gain a measure of approval.
  Would you kill Gadak if I asked you to? Gadak blanches 
  at this question, his eyes widening as he stands motionless. 
  The correct answer here is “yes,” but Undamesta won’t ask 
  the PCs to prove it at this time. If they answer “no” she points 
  out that Gadak would certainly kill them if the situation 
  were reversed. A character that lunges at Gadak and attacks 
  him instigates a fight (and a possible alignment shift) that 
  Undamesta watches amusedly as long as she isn’t harmed.
  Slavemother
  Undamesta
  Slavemother
  Undamesta
  
  18
  Second Darkness
  Regardless of Undamesta’s impressions of the characters 
  after her interview, she curtly dismisses them, ordering 
  Gadak to take them to the servants’ quarters (area A24) 
  while she considers the PCs’ request. This room will 
  likely serve as the PCs’ “base” for much of the rest of the 
  adventure. Leading them from the interview chamber to 
  their bunks, Gadak congratulates the PCs and welcomes 
  them to House Vonnarc—whatever the outcome of the 
  interview, he seems convinced that the PCs passed the 
  interrogation. Leaving the PCs to get settled, he returns 
  a few moments later with several signet rings similar to 
  his own, each bearing the symbol of House Vonnarc. If the 
  party wishes, he offers to give them a tour of the servant-
  run parts of the palace—the servants’ chambers, 
  kitchens, and other areas largely kept from 
  the sight of the house’s nobles. After this, he 
  suggests the PCs rest and prepare for the trial 
  of their first day of work as servants.
  In fact, the PCs do automatically pass the 
  interview, as long as they didn’t attack 
  Undamesta or otherwise do something 
  to irrevocably sabotage their own efforts. 
  They receive word that they are now 
  officially servants of House Vonnarc a few 
  hours later.
  Ad Hoc Experience Bonus: Once the 
  interview is over, add up all the 
  interrogation points the PCs 
  received and divide the total 
  by the number of PCs. Drop 
  any fractions. Give the PCs an 
  XP award equal to a CR of this 
  number for navigating the 
  interrogation.
  PArt three: 
  house 
  vonnArc
  Although a place of princely 
  decadence and faux civility, 
  one need not search far to 
  find the cruel, violent, deadly 
  underbelly 
  of 
  the 
  Vonnarc 
  palace. From the performance 
  torture chamber to the Hall of 
  Ancestors, House Vonnarc is a 
  den of evil and monsters every bit 
  as deadly as any haunted castle or 
  dragon’s lair.
  Vonnarc Residents
  More than just a structure, 
  House Vonnarc also denotes 
  the nefarious family that dwells there. Although dozens of 
  drow in Zirnakaynin bear the Vonnarc name, only those 
  of the purest blood and direct descent from the ruling 
  matron call themselves nobles. Over the course of the PCs’ 
  mission they risk meeting several of House Vonnarc’s most 
  powerful and notorious members, the most prominent of 
  which are detailed here.
  Matron Pravora Vonnarc (CE female drow cleric 13/
  demonic initiate 5): The eldest member of the Vonnarc clan 
  and both a powerful diviner and priestess of Areshkagal, 
  Matron Vonnarc rules her scions from the shadows. 
  Mysterious and rarely seen, the aged matron possesses 
  one of the most devious minds in all Zirnakaynin, 
  manipulating events throughout the city and 
  beyond from the safety of her hidden laboratories. 
  Fortunately for the PCs, Pravora spends much of 
  her time in a secret extraplanar laboratory and 
  relatively little time within Palace Vonnarc—she 
  leaves much of the day-to-day detail of running 
  her house to her first and second daughters.
  First Daughter Alicavniss Vonnarc (CE 
  female drow wizard 18): Archmage of 
  Zirnakaynin and the city’s most feared 
  wizard, 
  Alicavniss 
  manipulates 
  a vast game of rival families, 
  supposed allies, and extraplanar 
  agents, cultivating one of the most 
  expansive information networks in 
  the Darklands. From Tower Solacas, 
  the Vonnarcs’ exclusive school of 
  the arcane arts, the first 
  daughter watches over 
  the city below, greedy 
  for the arcane secrets of 
  far-flung lands and the ancient 
  past. The PCs meet Alicavniss 
  in Part Five.
  Second 
  Daughter 
  Faidaeva 
  Vonnarc 
  (CE 
  female drow cleric 5/demonic 
  initiate 4): A tyrant within 
  her own home, overbearing 
  Faidaeva wields the name 
  of Areshkagal, Demon Lord 
  of Riddles and Portals, like 
  a mace. A fanatic as it serves 
  her lusts for control, suffering, 
  and fear, the second daughter 
  maintains the house’s shrine 
  to their demonic patron and 
  commands widespread respect and 
  dread among the fiend’s worshipers 
  throughout the city. Faidaeva loathes 
  Faidaeva Vonnarc
  
  19
  Endless Night
  the lowborn, particularly commoners, her family’s servants, 
  and her male siblings, lording her superior station over 
  them and taking every opportunity to inflict her wrath 
  upon them.
  First Son Erdrinneir Vonnarc (CE male drow wizard 10): 
  Although a skilled wizard in his own right, Erdrinneir 
  lives in the shadow of Alicavniss’s power and fearsome 
  reputation. Although subordinate to his sister among the 
  mages of Tower Solacas, Erdrinneir commands greater fear 
  from his house’s fledgling mages, abusing his station and 
  power among his lessers while playing the sycophant to 
  Alicavniss’s whims.
  Second Son Tiryin Vonnarc (CE male drow fighter 
  4/rogue 4/duelist 3): Tiryin Vonnarc is the youngest 
  acknowledged child of Matron Pravora Vonnarc. He shows 
  little aptitude or interest in arcane studies, instead taking 
  to training in more warlike arts. Having just survived 
  his hundredth year, Tiryin holds little influence among 
  his noble brethren, especially due to his martial prowess 
  that his family finds embarrassingly common. Among 
  the house’s guards, though, he is rightly feared, less for 
  his considerable skill and more for his endless, deadly 
  desire to battle. Matron Pravora remains conflicted on 
  how to handle her youngest son; his martial skills are 
  meaningless to her, yet his honed physique could make 
  him a useful commodity in sealing future alliances with 
  the libidinous matriarchy of other noble families. For now 
  she keeps her son close, though her patience wanes in light 
  of rumors of his more scandalous appetites.
  Other Residents
  Aside from the elder drow nobles, a number of other dark 
  elves make their home within House Vonnarc. As both a 
  reference and an aid, the following list presents a number 
  of House Vonnarc residents you can use when the PCs 
  interact with them.
  Lesser nobles
  axsima Vonnarc (CE male drow fighter 5/pain taster 2): 
  Raving-mad sadist and lover of performance torture. His 
  hair is shaven half off, and he wears several painful-looking 
  ear piercings. 
  Eskervalla Vonnarc (CE female drow bard 5): Supposed 13th-
  daughter in line to the Vonnarc throne, she is a decadent 
  drunkard with a love for amethyst jewelry.
  neskeir Vonnarc (CE male drow wizard 3): Wizard of little skill 
  in training at Tower Solacas, he loves dissecting small animals 
  and desperately wants to practice this art on a deep gnome.
  undamesta Vonnarc (CE female drow expert 8/rogue 4): 
  Undamesta is detailed on page 16.
  Xemandrios Vonnarc (CE female drow cleric 4): A pious but 
  timid follower of Areshkagal, frail of frame and possessing 
  a whiny voice.
  guards
  paingiver Drovoanis (CE male drow fighter 11): Head of the 
  Vonnarc Guard, Drovoanis is a stern man with a thunderous 
  voice, an acid-scarred jaw, and little patience.
  Covakis (CE male drow fighter 4): A skilled archer and 
  braggart, and (rumor holds) the father of at least one of 
  Second Daughter Faidaeva’s lesser-liked sons.
  Disakav (nE female drow fighter 4): A beautiful woman with 
  no tongue, Disakav is a master at riding the line between 
  servitude and insubordination.
  Imannis (CE male drow fighter 4): A well-muscled career 
  soldier who is obedient and deadly.
  Shoyle (CE female drow rogue 4): A stealthy warrior  
  who would rather stab an opponent in the back than 
  actually fight. 
  Servants
  Eronas (CE female drow rogue 3): A cruel woman with 
  delusions of nobility who delights in bossing around and 
  torturing non-drow slaves.
  Harado (CE male drow expert 4): An elderly male servant 
  with one sightless eye whose not-so-secret desires for 
  Slavemother Undamesta have earned him the nickname 
  “mother’s lad.”
  Mellios (CE female drow expert 4): A gossipmonger whose 
  skill in the kitchen keeps her from being punished for the 
  wild tales she invents about other servitors to disguise her 
  own thefts from the pantries.
  oparik (CE male drow ranger 4): Stable keeper who adores the 
  house’s cave lizards, and who sometimes shares their meals 
  of bloody cave rat flesh.
  Shiovom (CE male drow expert 3/sorcerer 4): A quiet and 
  skilled tinkerer who claims to be able to repair anything for 
  the right price but hides his sorcerous power from everyone.
  House Vonnarc Features
  As much a fortress as a pleasure palace, House Vonnarc 
  is well defended against most forms of attack. Unless 
  otherwise noted, the walls and doors of the drow palace 
  have the following traits.
  Walls: The walls of the estate are of magically treated 
  hewn stone (hardness 16, 1,080 hp, Break DC 70).
  Iron Doors: The basic entrances and exits of House 
  Vonnarc, these black iron doors are fitted with permanent 
  arcane locks (CL 20th) that can only be bypassed by someone 
  wearing a Vonnarc signet ring (hardness 10, 90 hp, Break 
  DC 28). 
  Noble Doors: Magically strengthened doors, these 
  barriers bar the way to those areas frequented by the noble 
  members of House Vonnarc. These doors are sealed with 
  permanent arcane locks that can be opened by the bearer of 
  a Vonnarc amulet, and even then an additional key might 
  be required (hardness 15, 180 hp, Break DC 34).
  
  20
  Second Darkness
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  21
  Endless Night
  House Keys
  Rightfully paranoid, the drow of House Vonnarc take their 
  home’s security very seriously. Every door in the palace is 
  under the effect of a permanent arcane lock spell, and only 
  open to those bearing the official symbol of House Vonnarc. 
  These “keys” are worn by all members of the Vonnarc family 
  and their servants and, as such, most of the house’s residents 
  tend to forget the doors are even ensorceled. 
  Vonnarc Signet: These simple bands of black steel bear 
  the symbol of House Vonnarc and are given to every slave 
  and servitor with duties inside the palace. All of the iron 
  doors in the house open to those bearing one of these 
  rings. Each Vonnarc signet is slightly different and unique, 
  inscribed with the wearer’s name so that if it is lost, it can 
  be recovered more easily via divination magic. A Vonnarc 
  signet is worth 5 gp.
  Vonnarc Amulet: Dark metal medallions bearing a gem-
  encrusted Vonnarc symbol, worn only by nobles of Vonnarc 
  blood and high-ranking servants. All iron doors and noble 
  doors open to the bearers of these amulets. A Vonnarc 
  amulet is worth 500 gp for its material alone, but is worth 
  10,000 gp to those who might wish to invade the palace.
  Matron Ring: An amethyst band etched with the Vonnarc 
  rune, this ring opens all doors in House Vonnarc, even 
  those with additional mechanical or magical locks. It also 
  bypasses all magical traps linked to doors in the palace. A 
  Matron ring is worth 5,000 gp for its material alone, but is 
  priceless to those who might wish to invade the palace.
  House Vonnarc Locations
  While the PCs won’t likely have a chance to systematically 
  explore House Vonnarc, they will be spending a lot of time 
  here. This isn’t a dungeon to bash, but a home to live in 
  while they undertake their covert mission. The chambers 
  in House Vonnarc are detailed only briefly as a result, with 
  each location getting a sentence or two of information. This 
  should be enough for you to describe things as the PCs move 
  about in the manor. Note that many locations are off-limits 
  to the PCs, and while notes on their contents, guardians, 
  and treasures are given, you should certainly expand upon 
  them if the PCs take the unexpected route of searching 
  House Vonnarc from top to bottom—and if they do, keep 
  in mind that this is one of the surest ways to mobilize the 
  entire house against them. In this case, you may need to skip 
  ahead to Part Seven and start the escape from Zirnakaynin 
  section of the adventure early.
  Common decor within House Vonnarc includes the 
  ubiquitous black iron doors, House Symbols and the sigil 
  of Areshkagal emblazoned on walls or tapestries in purple 
  (often lit by faint violet continual flames), complex mosaics 
  of stone, detailed portraits of current drow nobles, small 
  statuettes or images of the demon lord Areshkagal (a 
  faceless female sphinx with strange, shifting rune tattoos, 
  huge talons, and black fur), crimson banners trimmed in 
  gold, paintings and carvings of tortured elves, and periodic 
  lanterns lit by faintly glowing, preserved fire beetle glands.
  A1. Entry: Ten house guards are posted here at all times, 
  along with a single stone golem carved in the image of 
  Areshkagal. The golem obeys the command of anyone 
  who openly wears a Vonnarc amulet, but otherwise 
  attacks only those the house guards attack.
  A2. Reception Hall: Visitors to the house wait here to 
  meet with Vonnarcs.
  A3. House Barracks: The rank-and-file Vonnarc guards 
  sleep here. The majority of these guards are 4th-level 
  fighters (see page 14); at any one time, there are 20 
  Vonnarc guards stationed in the manor, with many 
  more dwelling in outlying barracks.
  A4. Dining Hall: Lesser members of nobility take their 
  meals here, although it’s unusual for more than a 
  couple of drow to feast here at once except during the 
  rare family feast.
  A5. Library: The books kept here cover a wide range of 
  topics—any Knowledge check made using these 
  books as references gains a +4 bonus on the roll.
  Drow Punishment
  As Vonnarc servants, the PCs will likely be targeted for 
  punishment at times, sometimes unfairly. There are three 
  levels of punishment in House Vonnarc, each of which is 
  detailed below.
  flogging: For minor crimes or the entertainment 
  of the nobles, servants are flogged. A flogging involves 
  having the servant strip naked and kneel on the ground. 
  A noble then administers a number of lashes with a whip 
  against the servant; typically, 10 lashes are administered, 
  with increases by 5 for repeated infractions. Lashes from 
  pain tasters (a prestige class detailed in Pathfinder #15) are 
  particularly dangerous, since they can chose to inflict lethal 
  damage with a whip.
  Execution: Execution is generally reserved for servants 
  who have proven more trouble than they’re worth. The 
  standard method of execution in House Vonnarc is by 
  becoming a ritual sacrifice to Abraxas, but often the 
  executioner is too impatient and merely performs the 
  deed by hand with whatever weapon is available.
  transformation: The greatest punishment is saved 
  for the greatest crimes—assault on a Vonnarc noble, 
  treachery, trespassing upon forbidden Vonnarc rooms, 
  and the like. Transformation sees the servant brought 
  to House Parastric to be changed into a drider—a 
  grueling experience that shatters the mind and body. See 
  page 58 for more details on drider transformation and 
  what happens if a non-drow (such as a disguised PC) is 
  subjected to the treatment.
  
  22
  Second Darkness
  22
  A20. Slave Quarters: These chambers are inhabited by 14 
  enslaved troglodytes. One particularly intelligent 
  troglodyte is a scarred patriarch named Verez (CN 
  male troglodyte rogue 4). The de facto leader of the 
  troglodytes, he’s the longest lived of the troglodytes 
  and knows quite a bit about various goings on in 
  House Vonnarc. His long stay in the house has left him 
  relatively used to drow, and of the group, only Verez 
  talks with the other drow servants. His unusually 
  friendly attitude might make him a great contact for 
  the PCs; certainly, Verez makes it his business 
  to get to know the strange new servants, and 
  through him the PCs can find an unlikely 
  but almost honestly friendly creature to 
  let them know about the layout of the 
  manor and the special needs of its 
  various residents.
  A21. Kennels: This kennel houses 
  a dozen run-of-the-mill riding 
  lizards (see page 30).
  A22. Noble Stables: The six 
  cave gecko riding lizards kept 
  here are the personal mounts 
  of the more important nobles 
  in the family.
  A23. Torture Chamber: This is a 
  functional torture chamber used to 
  punish slaves or extract information from 
  prisoners.
  A24. Performance Torture Chamber: Unlike area A23, 
  the torture devices kept here are as much works of 
  art as working devices. This is where the drow hold 
  performance tortures, where new techniques are 
  displayed on servants for the entertainment and 
  education of visitors.
  A25. Cells: Servants being punished, prisoners being held 
  for ransom, or sacrifices waiting for their big day are 
  kept here.
  A26. Entry Balcony: This large balcony is typically guarded 
  by two relatively well-behaved driders.
  A27. Guest Suites: These rooms are reserved for the most 
  important guests of the Vonnarc house.
  A28. Office: A small office staffed by a drow clerk, this 
  office is where the various businesses run by the 
  Vonnarcs are tracked.
  A29. Mezzanine: The walls of this area are decorated with 
  long violet and silver banners depicting various 
  prayers to Areshkagal.
  A30. Shrine Balcony: This small shrine is, in theory, 
  for all family members to worship, but Second 
  Daughter Faidaeva has forbidden others from using 
  it, claiming it as her own personal shrine to the 
  demon lord Areshkagal.
  A6. House Records: This room contains extensive family 
  trees and other similar documents.
  A7. Anteroom: A small waiting room decorated with 
  hanging tapestries depicting Areshkagal.
  A8. Audience Hall: This hall serves as Matron Pravora’s 
  audience hall. Although she rarely holds court, the 
  room remains well tended, ready for the matriarch’s 
  every need—two driders are always on guard here.
  A9. Kitchen & Pantries: Food is stored and prepared 
  here. At any one time, 1d8–3 drow servants (1st 
  level warriors) work here.
  A10. Salon: A comfortable study for 
  entertaining guests. 
  A11. Shrine to Areshkagal: This 
  shrine fills to capacity thrice 
  a week during ceremonies to 
  the demon lord Areshkagal—it 
  is during these ceremonies 
  that sacrifices (usually slaves 
  bought in the market or servants 
  scheduled for execution) are 
  offered. Services are led by 
  Second 
  Daughter 
  Faidaeva 
  Vonnarc. 
  The 
  shrine 
  is 
  guarded by four babau demons 
  snared via a binding spell.
  A12. Priestesses’ Study: A small personal 
  shrine, well stocked with unholy water, 
  incense, and divine spell components.
  A13. Art Galleries: Sculptures and paintings, 
  their subjects ranging from the grisly to the erotic, 
  decorate this area.
  A14. Hall of the Ancestors: This grotesque hall serves as a 
  gathering and display chamber for sizable family events. 
  The Vonnarcs also keep six pieces of living “artwork” 
  here, twin rows of fleshwarped elves—creatures known 
  as irnakurse. Six in all dwell here, and they are swift to 
  lash out at anyone that comes within reach.
  A15. Parlor: A cozy room to receive guests, particularly 
  those arriving to attend events in the ballroom.
  A16. Ballroom: A large chamber that is often used for 
  parties, large family gatherings, or orgies.
  A17. Interrogation Chamber: Slavemother Undamesta’s 
  chamber for organizing the servants and punishing 
  them when necessary.
  A18. Slavemother’s Quarters: This is where Slavemother 
  Undamesta sleeps.
  A19. Servant’s Quarters: This is where the PCs likely spend 
  most of their off-duty time. The PCs are provided with 
  a single room exclusive to their group. Furnishings are 
  barely comfortable and there is no real privacy. The 
  PCs share this area with 15 drow warrior 1 servants, all 
  of whom treat the PCs with increasing jealousy.
  Verez
  
  23
  Endless Night
  A31. Family Lobby: This small lounge is for family 
  members only.
  A32. Vestibule: A small room with a single chair and desk 
  containing numerous small containers of  alcohol.
  A33. Matron Pravora’s Chambers: These austere chambers 
  appear to have never been slept in. In fact, Matron 
  Pravora visits here only once or twice a year, preferring 
  more secure hidaways than her own home for resting.
  A34. Scions’ Quarters: These chambers are the private 
  rooms for Matron Pravora’s children, save for 
  Alicavniss, who sleeps in her den in Tower Solacas.
  A35. Private Gallery: The contents of this gallery mirror 
  the subjects in area A13, but are universally more 
  expensive. In all, 25,000 gp in art is displayed here.
  A36. Portico: This area affords an excellent view of the 
  Vonnarc grounds.
  PArt Four: to serve eviL
  Although there are many ways the PCs can go about 
  learning what the drow are up to, those secrets are 
  carefully guarded. The easiest method for them is to join 
  one of the great noble houses and work their way into a 
  relatively trusted position where they’ll be able to access 
  privileged information. If the PCs don’t want to follow 
  this route and decide to seek some other route through 
  the politics and dangers of Zirnakaynin, you can use the 
  information in this adventure and the accompanying 
  article on the drow city to create a sandbox for the PCs 
  to explore, but as they do, they should often be met with 
  opportunities to join the Vonnarc servitors. Archmage 
  Alicavniss does want them close at hand, after all, and 
  she might manipulate things here and there to subtly 
  influence the PCs into seeking out employ at House 
  Vonnarc, perhaps by using servants like Gadak to extend 
  additional invitations every once in a while.
  Even once accepted into the ranks of House Vonnarc’s 
  servants, the PCs’ can’t hope to have the information they 
  seek about the drow and House Azrinae’s plots merely fall 
  into their hands. Only with patience, watchfulness, and 
  arduous service can they hope to rise through the ranks of 
  Vonnarc’s servitors and gain access to the documents and 
  gossip they require. While at first their days are filled with 
  drudgery, as they rise in station their tasks become more 
  interesting, and deadlier.
  Daily Duties
  The PCs are put to work within hours of Undamesta’s 
  decision to accept them as servants. She visits the PCs in 
  the servant quarters and, with little ceremony, gives each of 
  them a Vonnarc signet ring, explaining that they must wear 
  them at all times. The signet rings mark them as servants 
  of the house, allow them to come and go as their duties 
  demand, and show other drow their allegiance. A servant 
  caught not wearing a signet once is taken to be flogged; a 
  servant caught twice without a signet is executed. A servant 
  who sells his signet or loans it to anyone else is executed, 
  as is the person to whom the signet was loaned. Altering 
  or changing the inscription on the signet brings a sentence 
  of execution as well. Slavemother Undamesta explains 
  that every morning and at periodic times throughout the 
  day, the PCs are expected to display their signets to their 
  superiors, and in a sweet voice recommends that they never 
  take the rings off.
  For the foreseeable future, toil fills the characters’ days. 
  During their interview, the slavemother pigeonholes each PC 
  into one of two types: “guard servitor” or “house servitor” (see 
  below for details). The GM should ask the PCs which duty they 
  think they’re better suited to, though they should not know 
  the details of what these duties entail. Whatever category a PC 
  chooses corresponds with Undamesta’s choice and the duties 
  he is subsequently assigned.
  high-level servants?
  Most drow in the servitude of House Vonnarc are low 
  level; the PCs are exceptions to the rule, but not unusual 
  exceptions. Servitude has more to do with birth rank 
  and the intricacies of drow society than personal power; 
  it’s not that unusual to see 10th-level servants in a drow 
  noble house. Typically, higher-level servants like these 
  swiftly rise to the upper echelons among the servants. 
  Servants with spellcasting power or other high-level 
  abilities don’t draw undue attention, as long as they use 
  these abilities to fulfill their duties and not to nurture 
  rebellion or insubordination.
  Divine casters merit special mention, though. In drow 
  society, clerics are never servants, so a cleric PC should adopt 
  a policy of hiding her spellcasting from her drow masters. 
  This goes for holy symbols as well; drow servants are not 
  generally searched for hidden objects unless they are being 
  brought into the presence of high-ranking nobles, so hiding 
  a small holy symbol on one’s person is usually a simple task. 
  Being caught with a non-demonic holy symbol is grounds 
  for a flogging (the symbol is destroyed). Being caught as 
  a cleric of a non-demonic deity (typically by casting spells 
  in a public place with a visible holy symbol) is grounds for 
  execution. As a result, clerics and paladins are faced with an 
  additional level of complexity during this adventure. As a 
  general rule, you should cut such players some slack as long 
  as they aren’t openly crusading or flashing their symbols, 
  but you should remind them the first time they try to cast 
  spells in a public place that, unless they plan on leaving no 
  witnesses, discretion is the better part of valor.
  These restrictions are less onerous for druids and 
  rangers, since such classes aren’t completely unheard of 
  in drow servitude.
  
  24
  Second Darkness
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  Servitor Tiers
  Presented below are several tables you can use to generate 
  what each PC’s daily tasks are. At the start of a new 
  day, a PC rolls 1d10 and consults the appropriate chart 
  to see what his task is, then spends 8 hours of the day 
  performing the resulting task. Each task has an ability 
  check, skill check, saving throw, or other challenge 
  associated with it. The PC should make this check or 
  undertake this task to see how successful he was at his 
  day’s efforts. If the character succeeds at the check, he 
  gains the number of Servitor Points (SP) listed for the 
  duty. If he succeeds by more than double the check’s 
  DC, he gains 1 additional SP as a bonus. A failed check 
  results in no SP for the day. If, over the course of 3 days, 
  a character fails three subsequent challenges in a row, 
  he is flogged. A character unable to perform his daily 
  duties (including those who were flogged to the point 
  of unconsciousness the previous day and who remain 
  unconscious the next day) is flogged as well. A character 
  who is flogged 5 days in a row is executed—PCs would 
  do well to look out for each other to ensure that none of 
  them meet such an ignoble fate!
  A handy way to track PC servitor point gains is to track 
  them on a blank calendar. Also on this calendar, mark 
  when the PCs’ recorporeal incarnation spells come to an end. 
  Not only does this organize each PC’s reputation among 
  the house’s servants, it puts a deadline on the adventure 
  and lends a sense of urgency to these everyday tasks. 
  When a PC achieves 25 SP, he is considered trustworthy or 
  competent enough to perform more complicated tasks. At 
  this point, the PC may choose either to continue carrying 
  out services from his current servitor category, or take 
  on Tier 2 tasks. If the PC chooses to take on new tasks, 
  he may choose from any of the Tier 2 servitor categories 
  (attendant, clerk, or warrior). At 75+ SP, the PC may take 
  on a Tier 3 task (noble servitor), becoming a direct servant 
  of a drow noble.
  You can create additional, more intricate events  
  for the PCs to experience during their time as servants.  
  A sample event for each tier is detailed after the following 
  tables. 
  Sp Required 
  tier
  0–24 
  Tier 1: Guard or House Servitor
  25–74 
  Tier 2: Attendant, Clerk, or Warrior Servitor
  75+ 
  Tier 3: Noble Servitor 
  tier 1: guard Servitor
  1d10 
  Duties
  1–3 
  patrol: The PC takes part in patrols across the Vonnarc   
   
  estate. No check required, +1 SP.
  
  25
  Endless Night
  4–5 
  Lookout: The PC keeps watch upon the palace walls.   
   
  DC 12 Spot check, +1 SP.
  6–7 
  guardsman: The PC keeps watch at a specific post in   
   
  the Vonnarc palace. DC 12 Listen check, +1 SP.
  8–9 
  Drill: The PC takes part in physical conditioning. DC 13  
   
  Constitution check, +2 SP.
  10 
  Duel: As part of a day’s drill a PC must provide a 
   
  Vonnarc guard with a living target to practice his  
   
   
  moves  on. DC 15 Bluff or Tumble check, +3 SP.
  tier 1: House Servitor
  1d10 
  Duties
  1–2 
  Maid: The PC cleans common areas of Vonnarc Palace. 
  No check required, +1 SP.
  3–4 
  Washer: The PC cleans clothing with other gossipy 
  servants. DC 12 Bluff or Diplomacy check, +1 SP. 
  5–6 
  assistant: The PC runs errands for the other house 
  servitors. DC 12 Craft or Profession check (any), +1 SP.
  7–8 
  Stablekeeper: The PC attends to the stables and riding 
  lizards. DC 12 Handle Animal or wild empathy check, +2 SP.
  9—10 Cook: The PC prepares meals for the Vonnarc nobles. 
  DC 15 Profession (cook) or Wisdom check, +3 SP.
  tier 2: attendant Servitor
  1d10 
  Duties
  1–3 
  Driver: The PC carries or drives a noble on an outing 
  into Zirnakaynin. DC 15 Handle Animal or Ride check, 
  +2 SP.
  4–5 
  Handmaid: The PC attends to a noble’s quarters. DC 15 
  Spot or Search check, +2 SP.
  6–7 
  porter: The PC runs errands and makes purchases for 
  a noble. DC 15 Appraise or Gather Information check, 
  +3 SP.
  8–9 
  Waiter: The PC attends nobles during their meals. DC 17 
  Diplomacy or Knowledge (nobility and royalty) check, +4 SP.
  10 
  Entertainer: The PC must entertain a noble. DC 20 
  Perform (any) check; +5 SP.
  tier 2: Clerk Servitor
  1d10 
  Duties
  1–3 
  forger: The PC helps create expansive false documents. 
  DC 15 Forgery check, +2 SP.
  4–5 
  Librarian: The PC organizes and searches out 
  documents in the Vonnarc libraries. DC 15 Search 
  check; +2 SP.
  6–7 
  acolyte: The PC aids in preparing a drow religious 
  service. DC 15 Knowledge (religion) or Sense Motive 
  check; SP +3.
  8–9 
  notary: The PC aids in the destruction of house documents. 
  DC 17 Appraise or Decipher Script check; +4 SP.
  10 
  Messenger: The PC delivers a verbal message for a noble 
  to another house noble in the city. DC 20 Diplomacy, 
  Intimidate, or Knowledge (local) check; +5 SP.
  tier 2: Warrior Servitor
  1d10 
  Duties
  1–3 
  noble guard: The PC keeps watch over the Vonnarc 
  noble quarters. DC 15 Listen check, +2 SP.
  4–5 
  tortured Slave: The PC endures torture at the hands of 
  a noble. DC 15 Fortitude save, +2 SP.
  6–7 
  treasure Bearer: The PC protects a treasure or payment 
  to its destination. DC 15 Spot or Hide check, +3 SP.
  8–9 
  Dress guard: The PC attends a prestigious event as a 
  bodyguard. DC 17 Knowledge (nobility and royalty) or 
  Sense Motive check, +4 SP.
  10 
  Extortionist: The PC collects a debt from a merchant in 
  the city. DC 20 Bluff or Intimidate, +5 SP.
  tier 3: noble Servitor
  1d10 
  Duties
  1–3 
   Bodyguard: The PC protects a noble throughout her 
  daily routine. DC 18 Sense Motive or Spot check; +4 SP.
  4–5 
  attendant: The PC attends family and social events at a 
  noble’s side. DC 20 Concentration or Listen check, +5 SP.
  6–7 
  private Entertainer: The PC entertains a noble. DC 22 
  Perform (any), Sleight of Hand, or Tumble check; +6 SP.
  8–9 
  Emissary: The PC delivers a spoken message for a 
  noble. DC 24 Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Knowledge 
  (nobility and royalty) check, +7 SP.
  10 
  Spy: The PC observes another drow for a noble. DC 26 
  Listen, Sense Motive, or Spot check; +8 SP.
  Ad Hoc Experience Award: When a PC achieves Tier 2, 
  award the group XP as if they had defeated a CR 8 creature. 
  If a PC achieves Tier 3, award the group XP as if they had 
  defeated a CR 11 creature.
  Gathering Information
  Although the challenges and duties associated with each 
  of the PCs’ days as servants forego the need for GMs to 
  roleplay hours of simple chores and debasement, every 
  moment need not be skimmed over. GMs are encouraged 
  to invent and play out situations that fall outside of 
  everyday occurrences or that might prove useful to the 
  PCs, particularly on their first day as servants or the first 
  time a new task is undertaken. This is a great time for 
  PCs to learn about locations in Zirnakaynin or the other 
  houses; learning basic information about either is a DC 15 
  Gather Information Check.
  Drow Purpose in Celwynvian (1 DC 24 Check): Beyond 
  what the PCs can learn via rumors, the only bit of information 
  the PCs can extract about the drow purpose on the surface 
  is that the drow who were stationed in Celwynvian were 
  primarily Azrinae drow, with a small number of allied 
  house members here and there. A DC 25 check made in the 
  pursuit of this specific information reveals that many of 
  the Azrinaes left Zirnakaynin not only for Celwynvian, but 
  
  26
  Second Darkness
  Eventually, either because of something incriminating 
  Gadak discovers or simply as a result of the scrutiny he’s 
  giving the PCs, he grows suspicious of them. He finally 
  decides to slip a note into a shipment to First Daughter 
  Alicavniss Vonnarc herself, suggesting that the house’s 
  newest servitors are not what they appear to be. He 
  does not report this to Undamesta, knowing the greedy 
  slavemother would claim the discovery as her own. 
  Although Gadak never hears back from the first daughter, 
  she does investigate and through several divinations 
  discovers the PCs’ true races. For the time being, though, 
  she simply decides to watch and wait. Alicavniss’s response 
  to the PCs comes in Part Five.
  How the PCs respond to the theft or Gadak’s obsession 
  with them is up to them. They might conduct their own 
  investigations into who stole from them, seek to prove 
  Gadak’s guilt, or attempt to slay Gadak themselves. Overall, 
  short of finding their possessions in Gadak’s room, there is 
  little evidence to actually prove that Gadak stole from them. 
  If the PCs continually pester Slavemother Undamesta about 
  the topic, she quickly loses her temper and has them flogged. 
  If they take matters into their own hands, they can beat a 
  confession out of Gadak—the thief sings like a songbird after 
  taking 10 points of damage. Killing Gadak outright might 
  prove satisfying but provokes a search for the murderer. 
  Should a PC be accused, probably without evidence, he 
  receives a lashing and spends a week in a Vonnarc cell—since 
  no one steps forward to demand further punishment, after 
  this time the PC is allowed to rejoin the servant staff as if 
  nothing had ever happened.
  Event 2: Drider Hunt (EL 10)
  Upon attaining the second tier of servitor categories 
  Undamesta and several lesser Vonnarc nobles come to 
  trust the PCs’ competency. Not long thereafter, the PCs are 
  called upon to undertake a special task.
  House Vonnarc keeps a legion of two dozen driders 
  sequestered in shallow caverns in the cliffs near their 
  palace. Several days ago, three Vonnarc driders went 
  missing. Hunters tracked these craven abominations to 
  a cavern complex several miles outside the city. Paingiver 
  Drovoanis has no time to track the driders on his own, 
  and doesn’t want to waste too many guards on the duty, 
  so he asks Undamesta if she thinks the new servants 
  could handle the task. Curious herself, she agrees and 
  places the PCs under the command of two drow guards 
  for the day. The group has orders to pursue the driders 
  at once.
  The driders themselves have fled to a small cavern about 
  an hour’s journey north of Zirnakaynin. The drow guards 
  know the swiftest route to the cave, but if you wish, you can 
  have the PCs encounter a Darklands wandering monster 
  or two (such as a black pudding or a few cloakers) along the 
  also for another unknown location—the strongest rumors 
  here are that the majority of the Azrinaes have relocated 
  to another site deeper in the Darklands, but no one seems 
  to know exactly where they’ve gone. Word about their rout 
  from Celwynvian has certainly spread. This check also 
  confirms that there are no major follow up drow assaults on 
  Celwynvian in the planning—that the war on Celwynvian 
  was mostly an Azrinae plot, and the Azrinaes certainy don’t 
  seem interested in pursuing it further.
  Corrupted Elf Gates (1 DC 26 Check): The drow know 
  about the network of elf gates on the surface, just as they 
  know that at least a few of these gates exist in the Darklands. 
  So far, Zirnakaynin’s wizards have managed to redirect 
  only one gate, the nearby one leading to Zirnakaynin, by 
  “bending” the magical ley lines. Rumor holds that there 
  are plans to do a similar redirection to other gates in the 
  region surrounding the city.
  Ad Hoc Experience Award: If the PCs learn about both 
  the drow purpose in Celwynvian or the corrupted elf 
  gates early (and not from sources later in the adventure), 
  award them XP as if they had defeated a CR 9 creature 
  in combat.
  Event 1: Who Watches the Watchers?
  A few days after the PCs begin their service to House 
  Vonnarc, Gadak comes to call. This meeting sparks the 
  beginning of a series of encounters that occur after the 
  characters’ workdays end and drives home the scheming, 
  backbiting, unjust nature of the world they’ve become 
  embroiled in. These events are presented as a loose outline, 
  allowing GMs to run them as the PCs have the time and 
  interest in conducting an after-hours investigation. The 
  first event should occur once the PCs have gotten the hang 
  of their daily routines. 
  As the PCs work, give them periodic Spot checks opposed 
  by Gadak’s Hide check. If they spot him, they notice the 
  familiar drow seems to be watching them; if they confront 
  him, he laughs it off, claiming that he was merely passing 
  by and was wondering how the PC was finding servitude 
  to the Vonnarcs.
  At some later date, Gadak tries to sneak into the room 
  to search the PCs’ belongings. If he finds anything that 
  seems to indicate a PC isn’t really a drow, he takes it. If 
  they complain about the theft to Undamesta, she has little 
  interest and warns the PCs not to bother her with such 
  trivial events in the future. If the PCs catch Gadak in the act, 
  he tries to convince the characters that he thought he saw a 
  troglodyte coming out of their room earlier and wanted to 
  check to make sure everything was okay—obviously a weak 
  story. If reported to Undamesta, the slavemother doesn’t 
  care to hear the whole story and punishes Gadak with a 
  week of latrine duty. After this week, he tries to break into 
  the PCs’ room again.
  
  27
  Endless Night
  way. The driders’ cave itself is roughly circular, 60 feet in 
  diameter and with a single entrance. 
  Although the driders attack upon spotting the PCs—
  correctly believing them to be drow hunters—they are 
  sentient creatures. Characters who attempt to talk to the 
  driders discover that they are merely trying to escape from 
  their one-time brethren’s constant abuses. This could put 
  the PCs in an uncomfortable spot, especially considering 
  they likely have two completely merciless drow soldiers 
  with them. If the PCs attempt to let the driders escape, the 
  baffled drow soldiers attack the fleshwarped drow and any 
  PC who aids them. 
  Driders (3) 
  CR 7
  hp 45 each (MM 89) 
  Ad Hoc Experience Award: If the PCs slay the driders 
  outright and bring back the heads of the three Vonnarc 
  abandoners, the group receives experience for defeating 
  the abominations, a platinum piece for each head they 
  return, and +10 SP. If the PCs let the driders escape, grant 
  them experience for a CR 11 creature, but they receive no 
  SP and are all flogged for letting the driders escape. The 
  PCs also receive –2 SP apiece for each drow soldier in the 
  party who does not return with them.
  Event 3: Dark Pleasures (EL 11)
  Upon reaching the status of noble servitors, the PCs come 
  to the notice of several lesser nobles among House Vonnarc. 
  Where before the characters might have been tasked with 
  simple errands, by this point the nobles have greater uses 
  for such effectual tools. When the latest scandal involving 
  Vonnarc’s second son threatens to rear its ugly head and 
  cause the house reputation to suffer, the PCs are in a 
  unique position to help.
  Second Son Tiryin Vonnarc has violent tastes, tastes he 
  has found shared by one of Zirnakaynin’s more successful 
  cave gecko breeders, a lowborn but successful merchant 
  named Safan Domvesia. The two of them have met several 
  times in secret already, but as Safan is not of noble blood, 
  
  28
  Second Darkness
  Tiryin has taken pains to hide their trysts—even though 
  Safan has assured him she has no intention of using him to 
  bear a scion to House Vonnarc, he knows that his brothers 
  and sisters (and most importantly, his mother) wouldn’t 
  approve. Of course, Safan’s goal in their trysts is precisely 
  that, although she has yet to conceive a child with Tiryin, 
  and she hopes to soon use it as blackmail to secure a place 
  among the Vonnarcs.
  Several hours before this event begins, Safan delivers 
  a new batch of riding lizards to House Vonnarc. It’s not 
  unusual for favored merchants to stay a night in a noble 
  house after making a delivery, so she and Tiryin took 
  advantage of the opportunity. To celebrate, Tiryin bought 
  three discreet pleasure slaves from the Poison Key (see page 
  55) to aid them in the night’s secret debauch, but he and 
  Safan got a little carried away and now all three prostitutes 
  lie dead. Tiryin has found himself in situations like this 
  before, and he calls upon his old friend Undamesta to get 
  him out of the situation
  Undamesta, though, had grown tired of being the one 
  to bail out Tiryin, and hoping to teach him a lesson she 
  decides to involve her new favorite servants. She enters the 
  PCs’ room unannounced (give the PCs a DC 5 Listen check 
  to hear her coming 1d3 rounds before she arrives if they’re 
  involved in something that might give up their cover), 
  hissing at them to gear up swiftly and follow her. She leads 
  them to the noble’s terrace on the second floor of Vonnarc 
  Palace (area A47). There, in the dim light, stand Second 
  Son Tiryin Vonnarc and a female hooded figure wearing 
  bloodstained robes. In the pool float the corpses of three 
  naked drow men. As the PCs arrive, Tiryin hisses angrily to 
  Undamesta in Undercommon, “Why did you bring them?” 
  as he nods his head violently toward the PCs.
  Undamesta ignores him, quickly takes in the scene, 
  then orders Tiryin to drag the bodies out of the pool so 
  that she can dispose of them and clean the mess. The 
  second son nods once, then spares the PCs a brief scowl 
  before getting to work. Undamesta then turns to Safan, 
  whispering fiercely, “I trust these servants. They will 
  escort you home, but don’t let me catch you here again.” 
  She turns to the PCs and adds a bit more, “Be swift, and 
  let no one see you, especially the house mistresses or other 
  nobles. Your lives depend on this. If you are caught, I’ll 
  order your executions. Go!”
  
  29
  Endless Night
  As the PCs leave the room, Safan quietly tells them 
  that they’d best be out of here as quickly as possible. Her 
  riding lizard and several other lizards she wasn’t able to 
  sell to the Vonnarcs wait in the kennel; she orders the 
  PCs to take her there and ride with her to her home in 
  Arshyvhar. Although Safan isn’t noble-born, she is still a 
  female drow and is used to servants taking her orders—if 
  the PCs balk, her voice rises and she threatens to wake 
  everyone in the house.
  In the kennel, Safan’s riding lizard and 
  the others wait patiently. She saddles the 
  lizards, large cave geckos the size of a 
  small horses, with tack and harness, 
  helping the PCs if they’re not used to 
  the gear. In a few minutes, she mounts 
  up and orders the PCs to do the same. 
  She intends on riding out of the house 
  and up along the walls and ceiling of 
  the cavern of Cocyrdavarin, thereby 
  bypassing much of the traffic of 
  the city and avoiding unwanted 
  delays. The PCs may balk at this, 
  especially if none of them have 
  much skill at Ride, but unless 
  they convince her that a more 
  traditional route makes more sense with a DC 
  30 Diplomacy check or a successful Intimidate 
  check, she quickly grows frustrated with them 
  and orders them to dismount; she’ll make her 
  own way back home with her lizards in tow.
  In any event, once the PCs are underway or just 
  before a frustrated Safan abandons them, things 
  suddenly get more complicated. Unless the PCs and Safan 
  have taken measures to be stealthy, a group of seven drow 
  guards ride up on lizardback themselves to confront them. 
  These are Vonnarc Guards ordered by Tiryin to sneak out 
  and kill the PCs. He doesn’t want to risk them knowing about 
  this recent event. Much to Safan’s shock, the guards attack 
  her as well—Tiryin has grown tired of her, and this is his 
  way of breaking off their relationship. The Vonnarc guards 
  have left their signet rings behind so that any who fall in 
  this battle can’t be officially linked to House Vonnarc, but a 
  PC can recognize some of them with a DC 15 Spot check.
  This fight can quickly turn into a mounted brawl, with 
  the PCs and the drow clashing up the walls or even along 
  the ceiling of the cave. This may shock the PCs, but among 
  the drow riding cave geckos along walls or ceilings is 
  nothing new—the cave geckos are excellent climbers, and 
  the harnesses and saddles they are outfitted with strap 
  tight to the rider to prevent him from falling. Nevertheless, 
  it’s a DC 14 Ride check to be able to do anything but hang 
  on for dear life while a cave gecko mount is moving along 
  a vertical wall or a ceiling.
  Safan Domvesia 
  CR 10
  Female drow fighter 9
  CE Medium humanoid (elf)
  Init +7; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Listen +1, Spot +1
  DEfEnSE
  aC 25, touch 18, flat-footed 17
  (+7 armor, +5 dodge, +3 Dex)
  hp 49 (9d8+9)
  fort +7, Ref +8, Will +4 (+2 against enchantment, spells, and 
  spell-like abilities)
  Immune sleep; SR 20
  Weakness light blindness
  offEnSE
  Spd 30 ft.
  Melee +1 rapier +14/+9  
  (1d6+6/15–20)
  Spell-Like abilities (CL 10th)
  1/day—dancing lights, darkness,  
  faerie fire
  taCtICS
  During Combat Safan reacts swiftly 
  to the betrayal, her jaw setting as she 
  throws back her cloak and draws her 
  rapier to aid the PCs in the fight. She 
  fights silently but with tremendous 
  grace, using Combat Expertise to full 
  extent to augment her armor class.
  Morale If brought below 15 hit points, Safan 
  abandons the fight and flees on her own back to 
  House Dolour.
  StatIStICS
  Str 16, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 10
  Base atk +9; grp +12
  feats Combat Expertise, Improved Critical (rapier), Improved 
  Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Lightning 
  Reflexes, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (rapier), Weapon 
  Specialization (rapier)
  Skills Handle Animal +12, Intimidate +12, Ride +17
  Languages Common, Swarven, Elven, Undercommon
  gear +2 mithral chainmail, +1 rapier, 6 mithral and 
  bloodstained flensing knives worth 50 gp each, 25 pp
  Vonnarc guards (7) 
  CR 5
  hp 34 each (see page 14)
  taCtICS
  During Combat The guards remain mounted, using this 
  advantage against the PCs if they can. They make sure 
  to use Mounted Combat to negate attacks against their 
  mounts, and when they can’t make melee attacks use 
  their hand crossbows against PC mounts, hoping to force 
  the geckos to drop unconscious and perhaps fall.
  Morale The guards fight to the death, since if they fail in this 
  mission, their master will surely execute them.
  Safan
  Domvesia
  Safan
  Domvesia
  
  Second Darkness
  30
  Cave geckos (8+) 
  CR 4
  Advanced giant gecko (Advanced Bestiary 36, Pathfinder #1 89)
  N Large animal
  Init +8; Senses blindsight 60 ft., darkvision 120 ft., low-light 
  vision, scent; Listen +2, Spot +2
  DEfEnSE
  aC 14, touch 9, flat-footed 13
  (+5 natural, –1 size)
  hp 68 (8d8+32)
  fort +10, Ref +6, Will +4
  Weakness light blindness
  offEnSE
  Spd 40 ft.; climb 40 ft.
  Melee bite +11 (2d6+6)
  StatIStICS
  Str 23, Dex 11, Con 18, Int 1, Wis 14, Cha 6
  Base atk +6; grp +2
  feats Endurance, Improved Initiative, Run
  Skills Balance +13, Climb +28, Hide +4 (+8 and stony areas)
  SpECIaL aBILItIES
  Expert Climber (Ex) The unique physiology of gecko feet 
  allows geckos to climb any surface, no matter how slick or 
  sheer. In effect, cave geckos are treated as constantly being 
  under a natural version of the spell spider climb. This ability 
  also provides them with an additional +8 bonus on Climb 
  checks, which stacks with their racial bonus.
  Skills Cave geckos have a +8 racial bonus on Balance and 
  Climb checks. They receive a +4 circumstance bonus to 
  Hide in areas of natural stone. They can always choose to 
  take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.
  Ad Hoc Experience Award: Should the PCs successfully 
  escort Safan home alive, they gain +15 SP and experience 
  equivalent to a CR 9 monster. Safan says little, but is impressed 
  with the PCs, especially if they helped fend off the guards 
  sent to kill her. Two days later, a +3 dagger with a hilt carved 
  to resemble a gecko and a pouch with 10 doses of the vayav 
  (see page 40) also appear in the PCs’ chamber—gifts from 
  Safan, though she’d never admit it. If Safan is slain within 
  sight of House Vonnarc and her body is found later, or if the 
  PCs aren’t swift and stealthy and are seen by other members 
  of the house, they lose 10 SP and are flogged. In typical drow 
  fashion, though, nothing much is said about the whole affair 
  the next day—if the PCs persist in talking about it (especially 
  if they persist in saying that the drow that attacked them were 
  Vonnarc guards), Undamesta has them flogged.
  Tiryin remains silent about the whole thing, but the 
  grudge he now bears against the PCs if they helped Safan 
  escape will have repercussions later in the adventure. 
  PArt Five: tower soLAcAs
  A few days after at least one of the PCs reaches the status of 
  revered servitor, they come to First Daughter Alicavniss’s 
  attention. By this point, the Vonnarc archmage has 
  followed up on either Gadak’s suspicions or her own 
  paranoia—she’s relatively certain that whatever House 
  Azrinae’s been up to in Celwynvian has been a tremendous 
  failure, and that the PCs are covering it up as best they 
  can. The rest of Zirnakaynin seems content not to pry 
  deeper, but Alicavniss spends time researching what 
  happened. Between divination spells and reports from 
  her own minions, she is now convinced that Undamesta’s 
  new favorite servants are more than they appear, and she 
  intends to figure them out. Her current theory is that 
  they are somehow spies from the surface, either drow who 
  have been magically dominated or surface dwellers in 
  very clever disguises. Such a development fascinates and 
  delights the archmage, for after centuries of drow politics 
  and familial backbiting, here is something new. Rather 
  than reveal the spies in her family’s midst and leave her 
  cousins to mete out a long and torturous end, Alicavniss 
  seeks to learn more about these possible surface worlders 
  and turn them toward a useful end.
  A few days after Event 4, the PCs are summoned to 
  the interrogation chamber by Undamesta. Obviously 
  irritated, the slavemother informs the characters that 
  First Daughter Alicavniss has personally demanded their 
  presence in Tower Solacas. In all of Undamesta’s years, 
  she has never set foot within the first daughter’s tower, 
  nor can she recall any slave who has—other than those 
  dragged there in chains to endure the wizards’ terrible 
  experiments. She views the summons as a personal 
  insult, and as she can’t take out her ire on her mistresses, 
  she directs it toward the PCs. Thus, she doesn’t bother to 
  offer them any advice on how to present themselves tot 
  he tower’s fickle occupants. With a scowl and a hiss, the 
  slavemother hurries the PCs on their way.
  Within the Tower
  Raised by the first archmage of the Vonnarc House, Tower 
  Solacas is a fearful structure of spell-shaped stone and 
  glistening crystal that rises taller than the Vonnarc palace. 
  Within, the nobles’ most promising scions train in the 
  wizardly arts at the feet of established mages, most notably 
  the reigning Vonnarc archmage, Alicavniss.
  Numerous permanent wards protect Tower Solacas, 
  most notably several permanent dimensional lock spells 
  that ward the entire structure except for areas B9, B12, 
  and B14 and a private sanctum ward. Both effects function 
  at CL 20th. A shrine to dark magic, Tower Solacas houses 
  some of the greatest and most perverse arcane minds in 
  Zirnakaynin. Strange crystals and magical fires dimly light 
  every chamber in the tower with shadowy illumination, 
  allowing mages to study and conduct their experiments. 
  Although many of the doors are trapped, they have the 
  same basic statistics as those in the Vonnarc palace.
  
  31
  Endless Night
  Upon first arriving at the tower, the PCs are left alone 
  in area B1 for several minutes, until eventually their 
  guide storms into the hall—none other than Second 
  Son Erdrinneir Vonnarc. A petty mage obsessed with 
  someday deposing his centuries-older sister, Erdrinneir 
  plays the eager servant to the tower’s mistress, toadying 
  to her every whim. To the rest of the tower’s mages, 
  though, he is master, and lords over his lesser cousins 
  with unreasonable decrees and scathing mockery. 
  Alicavniss is aware of her brother’s scheming, two-faced 
  nature, but the dissension he sows among her conniving 
  underlings serves her purposes for the time being. 
  Although he accepted her command to escort the PCs 
  to her chamber with an oily grace, Erdrinneir loathes 
  being treated as his sister’s errand boy. Snapping at the 
  PCs, he orders that they follow him close and keep their 
  eyes to the ground. “The great works of this lordly place 
  are not for worms such as you to see.” With a swirl of 
  his robe, he turns and strides back the way he came, 
  leading them to the portal in area B13. Erdrinneir’s 
  patience is slim; if the PCs tarry or talk back, he 
  snaps and throws an enervation at the offending PC. 
  If this starts a fight, Erdrinneir dimension doors to his 
  sister’s side with stories of insane servants in the tower, 
  forcing the archmage to seek the PCs out personally to 
  attempt to smooth things over.
  Erdrinneir Vonnarc 
   
  CR 11
  Male drow wizard 10
  CE Medium humanoid (elf)
  Init +5; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Listen +7, Spot +5
  DEfEnSE
  aC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 15
  (+4 armor, +1 defection, +1 Dex)
  hp 49 (9d8+9)
  fort +4, Ref +4, Will +8 (+2 against enchantment, spells, and 
  spell-like abilities)
  Immune sleep; SR 21
  Weakness light blindness
  offEnSE
  Spd 30 ft.
  Melee +1 spell-storing quarterstaff +6 
  (1d6 –1)
  Spell-Like abilities (CL 10th)
  1/day—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire
  Spells prepared (CL 10th)
  5th—cloudkill (DC 19), silent dimension door, 
  shadow evocation (DC 19)
  4th—dimension door, enervation (DC 18), stoneskin 
  3rd—dispel magic, hold person (DC 17), lightning bolt (DC 17), 
  summon monster III
  2nd—invisibility, scorching ray (2), silent magic missile, web 
  (DC 16)
  1st—alter self, feather fall, mage armor, magic missile, shield
  0—dancing lights, detect magic, detect poison, read magic
  StatIStICS
  Str 8, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 12, Cha 15
  Base atk +5; grp +4
  feats Alertness (when Diavaul is within arm’s reach), Craft 
  Construct, Craft Wand, Greater Spell Penetration, Improved 
  Initiative, Scribe Scroll, Silent Spell, Spell Penetration
  Skills Bluff +4, Concentration +14, Diplomacy +3, Hide 
  +5, Knowledge (arcana) +17, Knowledge (nobility) +10, 
  Knowledge (the planes) +15, Listen +7, Sense Motive +3, 
  Spellcraft +19, Spot +5
  Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, 
  Undercommon
  Erdrinneir
  Vonnarc
  
  32
  Second Darkness
  SQ summon familiar (snake named Diavaul)
  Combat gear potion of aid, potion of cure moderate wounds, 
  scroll of fly, wand of magic missile (CL 3rd; 19 charges); gear 
  +1 spell-storing quarterstaff (holds a blindness spell), shield 
  guardian amulet, ring of feather fall, ring of protection +1
  B1. Entry Hall (EL 11)
  Flickering spell-light and glass globes crackling with imprisoned 
  lightning pattern the dark stone walls of this grand, tear-shaped 
  entry chamber. At the room’s center, a pool of bubbling water 
  and arcane flame sends bursts of deadly beauty leaping high 
  into the air. Curling around the fountain’s dazzling display rises 
  a flight of railingless steps, while two pairs of intimidating, iron 
  double doors bar the way to the east.
  This grandiose entry hall serves as the first 
  opportunity for House Vonnarc’s mages to impress those 
  who have business with them. The lights studding the 
  walls are overlapping permanent continual flame, faerie 
  fire, and various illusory effects. The darkly beautiful 
  fountain at the room’s center, however, is more than 
  mere decoration.
  Creature: The fountain here is no mere decoration, 
  but rather one of Alicavniss’s more deceptively obvious 
  guardians, a failed attempt at a dual-summoning that 
  yielded fortuitous results. The fountain is in fact a balor 
  named Jivakhnaka that Alicavniss fused and entrapped 
  in the body of a greater water elemental. Now enslaved to 
  the drow archmage’s will, the endlessly flailing creature—
  which merely looks like strangely beautiful jets of glowing 
  water to most—lingers in the pool here, watchful for 
  intruders. He does not lash out at anyone escorted by a 
  drow he recognizes as someone who’s supposed to be in 
  the tower.
  Jivakhnaka 
   
  CR 11
  Balor-possessed greater water elemental (MM 98, Advanced 
  Bestiary 51)
  CE Huge elemental (chaotic, evil, extraplanar, water)
  Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see invisibility; Listen +31, 
  Spot +31
  DEfEnSE
  aC 22, touch 13, flat-footed 17
  (+5 Dex, +9 natural, –2 size)
  hp 241 (21d8+147)
  fort +19, Ref +14, Will +12
  Defensive abilities elemental traits; DR 10/—; Resist 
  electricity/20; SR 31
  Weaknesses spell vulnerability
  offEnSE
  Spd 30 ft.; swim 120 ft.
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  33
  Endless Night
  Melee 2 slams +24 (2d10+11)
  Special attacks demonic attack, drench, profane, vortex, 
  water mastery
  taCtICS
  During Combat Jivakhnaka makes deadly use of its quench 
  ability and high grapple score in tandem with its demonic 
  attack. Once it sees intruders, it can move from its pool and 
  pursue them anywhere in this chamber or onto the palace’s 
  grounds, though it has orders not to enter area B2 or the 
  palace itself.
  Morale Jivakhnaka loathes its enslavement and—although it 
  upholds its agreement to slay intruders—eagerly fights to 
  the death.
  StatIStICS
  Str 32, Dex 20, Con 25, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 13
  Base atk +15; grp +34
  feats Alertness, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, 
  Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack
  Skills Bluff +5, Hide +29, Listen +31, Search +26, Spot +31
  Languages Abyssal, Aquan 
  SQ possessed
  SpECIaL aBILItIES
  Demonic attack (Su) When Jivakhnaka is involved in a grapple, 
  flames spring to life all over its body. Any creature grappling 
  with it takes 2d6 points of fire damage per round that the 
  grapple continues. 
  profane (Su) All of Jivakhnaka’s melee attacks deal +1d6 points 
  of extra damage to creatures of good alignment. Its attacks 
  are treated as magical and evil-aligned for the purposes of 
  overcoming damage reduction.
  possessed (Su) The balor possessing Jivakhnaka is trapped 
  within a water elemental. Unlike many demon-possessed 
  creatures, the demon cannot leave the water elemental. If 
  Jivakhnaka is slain, the balor returns to the Abyss.
  Spell Vulnerability (Ex) If affected by banishment, dispel evil, 
  or dispel chaos, Jivakhnaka is immediately banished to the 
  Abyss. As the water elemental and balor are fused into one 
  being, antimagic field and similar effects do not remove the 
  demon-possessed template.
  See Invisibility (Su) Jivakhnaka continuously sees invisible 
  creatures and objects as per the spell see invisibility (CL 20th).
  B2. Mage’s Office (EL 8)
  Towering cases of black stone, slouching under the burden of 
  countless thick tomes and meticulously organized scrolls line the 
  walls of this room. A large desk, bare except for a lantern of glowing 
  orange crystal, hunches against the far wall, surrounded by posh, 
  high-backed chairs. Iron double doors lead to the north and west.
  Here visitors bargain with Vonnarc mages for arcane 
  services. The office belongs to no one in particular, the 
  imposingly crafted furniture and library of thick tomes 
  largely present to intimidate business partners. Aside from 
  a sheaf of fine parchment, several bone quills, eight vials 
  of expensive ink (worth 10 gp a piece), and a pair of spare 
  Vonnarc signet rings, the desk contains little of interest. As 
  for the books, most are verbose treatises on arcane theory 
  and the Outer Planes of little actual worth.
  Trap: The door to the south leads to the private laboratories 
  and libraries of House Vonnarc’s infamous mages. Anyone who 
  touches the door without first speaking the word “virashic”—
  Elven for “one who seeks wisdom”—triggers its trap.
  Idiot’s Infliction 
  CR 8
  type magic (evocation and necromancy)
  Search DC 32; Disable Device DC 32
  EffECtS
  trigger touch (touching door to area B3); Reset automatic 
  (after 3 minutes)
  Effect spell effects (chain lighting, CL 11, 11d6 electricity to 
  target nearest center of trigger area plus 5d6 electricity to 
  each of up to eleven secondary targets, DC 19 Reflex save 
  half damage; feeblemind, CL 11, target touching the door, 
  DC 17 Will save resists)
  B3. Apprentices’ Library
  The dusty, sour smell of parchment and old ink pervades this 
  curving library hall. At the center of the room stands a long table 
  strewn with unfurled parchments, open books, and crystalline 
  lanterns shedding dim, eerie light like oversized glowworms. A 
  steep staircase ascends to the floor above.
  This library holds basic arcane knowledge and reference 
  cantrips. Any creature who spends a half hour here 
  consulting the tomes—written largely in Draconic and 
  Elven—can employ them to make a Knowledge (arcane) 
  check with a +5 bonus. 
  Creatures: At any time there is a 40% chance that a 
  Vonnarc mage is studying in here.
  B4. Study Hall (EL 6)
  Carvings of a faceless sphinx-like demon, some bearing scrolls 
  and others writing with bladed quills on elven flesh, cover the 
  walls of this fang-shaped chamber. Numerous uncomfortable 
  looking writing desks, set with writing implements and 
  parchment, circle the room. A treacherous stairway curves 
  downward, while a prominent door lead to the north.
  Vonnarc apprentices suffer through decades of study and 
  depreciating errands before finally being admitted into the 
  ranks of the house’s elite mages. A DC 25 Knowledge (the 
  planes) check allows a character to recognize the demons 
  upon the walls as various representations of Areshkagal.
  
  Second Darkness
  34
  Creatures: At any given time there is a 60% chance 
  that 1d4 Vonnarc mages are studying here. These mages 
  are an ambitious lot. In trade for any scrap of magical 
  treasure, particularly scrolls, they can be bribed to give 
  away the passwords to the trapped doors in this room and 
  in area B2.
  Trap: Beyond the door here are the workrooms of House 
  Vonnarc’s most skilled wizards. Apprentices and visitors 
  are not allowed into the areas unless supervised or after 
  they have completed a rigorous series of arcane tests. Those 
  that attempt to pass without first stating the supposedly 
  secret password “masava,” activate the door’s trap. If the 
  trap is sprung, in addition to its acid arrow effect, the alarm 
  facet alerts all creatures in area B8 that the door has been 
  opened.
  ambition’s Error 
  CR 6
  type magic (transmutation and necromancy)
  Search DC 27; Disable Device DC 27
  EffECtS
  trigger touch (touching door to area B5); Reset automatic 
  (after 3 minutes)
  Effect atk +9 ranged touch; spell effect (acid arrow, CL 18, 2d4 
  acid damage for 7 rounds; and alarm)
  B5. Stairwell
  This dimly lit stairwell leads to area B7 above.
  B6. Guest Lounge
  Lavish couches and other delicately crafted furniture fill this 
  elegant balcony overlooking the entry hall below. A tray of 
  strangely colored fungi sits upon a table at the room’s center.
  Those with business in the tower wait here to be received 
  by House Vonnarc’s elite spellcasters. Any drow or other 
  creature who makes a DC 12 Knowledge (dungeoneering) 
  check realizes the fungi upon the table are decorative 
  poison mushrooms related to id moss and dangerous if 
  consumed (Ingested; Fort DC 16; 1d4 Int initial damage, 
  2d6 Int secondary damage).
  B7. Hall of Mages (EL 1)
  Spaced between nodules of dimly glowing crystal, shallow 
  alcoves line the wall of this shadowy hall. Within each depression 
  sits a sculpted gemstone bust of a different grim-faced drow. 
  Along the north wall, a flight of stairs slopes away to the floor 
  below, while on to the south stands a large iron door covered in 
  images of skulls and flames.
  This hall serves as an antechamber to the laboratories 
  beyond. The busts here each depict a past mistress—or  
  more rarely, master—of the tower. Each bears a tiny 
  engraved name in Elven, the oldest being “Damyran 
  Vonnarc,” with the most recent being “Alicavniss Vonnarc.” 
  To the right of Alicavniss’s bust is that of a crazed-looking 
  male noted as “Fanderic Vonnarc.” Alicavniss uses this 
  sculpture as a personal warning trap.
  Trap: The bust of Fanderic Vonnarc serves as an alarm 
  for the archmage of the tower herself. 
  alicavniss’s Eye 
   
  CR 1
  type magic (divination)
  Search DC 27; Disable Device DC 27
  EffECtS
  trigger proximity (30 feet); Reset automatic (after 1 minute)
  Effect spell effect (detect good, detect law, detect undead 
  emanating from the bust of Fanderic Vonnarc. Should any 
  of the spells detect anything, an arcane eye activates, as if 
  cast by Alicavniss Vonnarc. Alicavniss can control the arcane 
  eye as she pleases.)
  B8. Central Laboratory (EL 12)
  The stinging scent of chemicals, acrid incenses, and fouler 
  things pervades this hall with a sickly mist. Surrounded by 
  ghostly auras in the choking haze, pulsing crystalline lanterns 
  stud the walls and dangle over long tables crammed full of 
  massive tomes, smoldering braziers, spiraling glassware, beastly 
  dissections, cloudy specimen flasks, and other oddities. Along 
  the southern wall, a severe stairwell curves up to the floor above. 
  To the west stands a thick metal door, braced shut with two 
  heavy beams of dark iron.
  This is the communal laboratory and workshop of House 
  Vonnarc’s mages. Here, dark wizards undertake all manner 
  of profane work for the greater glory of the Vonnarc name. 
  With the expansive collection of alchemical and arcane 
  agents available here, any attempt to perform a magical or 
  alchemical task—from a simple Knowledge (arcana) check 
  to the creation of any alchemical item, potion, construct, 
  or magic item—that employs this laboratory is made with 
  a +2 bonus.
  Among the most noteworthy of the projects currently 
  underway about the room is a half finished rod of withering, 
  a dissected but still animate svirfneblin zombie, and what 
  appears to be an incomplete iron golem.
  Although barred, the door leading to area B9 can be 
  opened with a DC 14 Strength check.
  Creatures: At any time, there are three Vonnarc mages at 
  work here. In addition, when not escorting the PCs, Second 
  Son Erdrinneir Vonnarc spends most of his time here. 
  Known only to Alicavniss, the “incomplete iron golem” 
  lying in Erdrinneir’s workspace at the laboratory’s rear is 
  in fact a fully functional shield guardian. The construct 
  
  Endless Night
  35
  lies in wait for its master’s commands. Erdrinneir eagerly 
  awaits the day when one of his underlings snaps and 
  confronts him, finally giving him a chance to reveal his 
  brutal servant.
  Erdrinneir Vonnarc 
   
  CR 11
  hp 49 (see page 31)
  Sheild guardian 
   
  CR 8
  hp 112 (MM 223)
  Vonnarc Mage 
   
  CR 7
  Male drow wizard 6
  CE Medium humanoid (elf)
  Init +7; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Listen +3, Spot +3
  DEfEnSE
  aC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 15
  (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +3 Dex)
  hp 49 (9d8+9)
  fort +3, Ref +6, Will +9 (+2 against enchantment, spells, and 
  spell-like abilities)
  Immune sleep; SR 17
  Weakness light blindness
  offEnSE
  Spd 30 ft.
  Melee mwk dagger +1 (1d4–1/19–20)
  Spell-Like abilities (CL 6th)
  1/day—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire
  Spells prepared (CL 6th)
  3rd—dispel magic, lightning bolt (DC 17), ray of exhaustion (DC 17)
  2nd—detect thoughts, minor image, scorching ray, web (DC 16)
  1st—burning hands (DC 15), feather fall, mage armor, magic missile
  0— ghost sound, detect magic, detect poison, prestidigitation
  StatIStICS
  Str 8, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 13, Cha 12
  Base atk +3; grp +2
  feats Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Scribe Scroll, Silent Spell, 
  Spell Penetration
  Skills Concentration +13, Diplomacy +3, Knowledge (arcana) 
  +11, Knowledge (local) +11, Knowledge (nobility) +6, 
  Knowledge (the planes) +11, Spellcraft +15
  Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, 
  Undercommon
  Combat gear potion of invisibility, wand of magic missiles (3rd; 
  14 charges); gear masterwork dagger, cloak of resistance +1, 
  ring of protection +1, 50 gp
  Treasure: A DC 18 Search check in tandem with a DC 15 
  Knowledge (arcana) check reveals a wand of dispel magic with 
  12 charges, a flask of sovereign glue with 4 ounces remaining, 
  6 doses of salve of slipperiness, a container with 3 dozes of 
  universal solvent, and 4,200 gp worth of valuable arcane and 
  alchemical materials like diamond dust and onyx gems. 
  A DC 24 Spellcraft check also allows a character to 
  identify the half finished rod of withering here. If taken, the 
  rod of withering can be created by a character with Craft Rod 
  in half the time and at half the cost.
  B9. Summoning Chamber
  Flickering black candles hang from the walls here, perched upon 
  outthrust sconces shaped like demonic claws. Upon the floor at 
  the chamber’s center is a complex circular diagram, a symbol 
  of obviously profane meaning scribed in silvery powders, wax, 
  and glistening blood.
  The circle here is a magic circle against evil used most often 
  to summon and speak with demons. Aside from the circle, 
  a rack filled with rare alchemical powders, vials of blood, 
  and other arcane components useful in summoning spells 
  stands at the far corner.
  Treasure: A DC 14 Search check uncovers 600 gp worth 
  of valuable powdered metals.
  B10. Master’s Library (EL 10)
  Shelves enclosed in crimson-tinted glass fill this room, each 
  rack holding countless tomes given a sanguine tinge within their 
  fragile prisons. Between them, the skins of fiery-scaled lizards 
  cover the dark stone floor. At least fifteen feet above gapes a 
  circular opening in the ceiling, and to the north stands a broad 
  iron double door.
  This library holds a wealth of arcane wisdom and secrets 
  of the planes. Anyone who can read Elven and who spends 
  half an hour in study here can make a Knowledge (arcana) 
  or Knowledge (the planes) check with a +10 bonus.
  Creatures: At any given time there is a 40% chance that 
  1d4 Vonnarc mages are reading through the tomes here.
  Trap: The circular opening in the ceiling is not as empty 
  as it appears. Anything that comes within 1 foot of the 
  passage—including inanimate objects—without speaking 
  the word “gitavwyn,” the Elven word for “supreme awe,” 
  triggers a trap that opens a gate to the Negative Energy 
  Plane. Any creature that enters the Negative Energy Plane 
  begins slowly falling “up” and away from the portal at a rate 
  of 10 feet per round. Unless the creature can fly or otherwise 
  non-physically direct his motion, he is helpless to change 
  the speed or direction of his movement. In addition, living 
  creatures on the Negative Energy Plane must make a DC 
  25 Fortitude save every round or gain a negative level. A 
  creature whose negative levels equal its current levels or 
  Hit Dice is slain, becoming a wraith. The death ward spell 
  protects a traveler from this energy drain. Once open, the 
  gate remains open for 1 minute, after which the gate closes 
  and requires 1 round to reenergize before the trap resets. 
  
  36
  Second Darkness
  passage to the Void 
  CR 10
  type magic (conjuration)
  Search DC 34; Disable Device DC 34
  EffECtS
  trigger proximity (1 foot); Reset automatic (after 1 round)
  Effect spell effect (10-foot-diameter gate to the Negative 
  Energy Plane lasting 1 minute.)
  Treasure: A DC 25 Search check made during a 
  10-minute search of the shelves reveals one of many arcane 
  scrolls stored here. The scrolls are not stored in anything 
  resembling an order, and each ten-minute search uncovers 
  1d3 random scrolls. The scrolls kept here include the 
  following spells: animate rope, bear’s endurance, dispel magic, 
  false life, fireball, fog cloud, hold portal, lesser geas, major image, 
  obscure object, phantasmal killer, reduce person, suggestion, 
  summon monster IV, wall of fire, and unseen servant.
  B11. Master’s Lounge
  Masterful paintings of grim scenes, demonic figures, and 
  terrifying hellscapes adorn the walls of this chamber. Between 
  overstuffed chairs and divans, sturdy iron doors lead to the east 
  and south.
  Weary Vonnarc mages relax and collect themselves 
  between projects here. A DC 20 Knowledge (the Planes) 
  check identifies a number of the creatures and locations 
  depicted in the art here: a hezrou demon, Pharasma’s 
  Boneyard where the dead are judged, the City of Brass on 
  the Elemental Plane of Fire, a layer of the Abyss known as 
  the Enigma of Areshkagal, and a devourer looming huge 
  and hungry over the bed of a sleeping gnome.
  B12. Terrace
  A sweltering wind whips across the glistening black stones 
  of this lofty, open-air terrace. Beyond shimmers the dark 
  stone and flickering mage fire of the Vonnarc palace and the 
  seemingly endless dark of Zirnakaynin’s cavern vaults.
  The Vonnarc mages use this terrace both for its 
  incredible view and as a landing spot for winged mounts.
  B13. Vonnarc Collection (EL 11)
  Racks, shelves, cabinets, scroll cases, and diverse other iron 
  stands, each morbidly sculpted into sepulchral shapes, fill this 
  tear-shaped hall. Upon each rest countless tomes, skulls, scrolls, 
  chests, jars, and other less identifiable curios, though, around 
  many, the air seems to shimmer with barely restrained 
  power. Standing upon a short dais at one end of the 
  hall yawns an archway in the shape of a howling 
  mouth. With the arch roils a sinister crimson mist.
  Although the greatest treasures of House 
  Vonnarc hide in secret stores accessible only to Matron 
  Pravora and First Daughter Alicavniss, a not insignificant 
  trove of arcana also rests here. Barred to all but Alicavniss 
  and her few chosen lieutenants, numerous spellbooks, 
  magical devices, and fragments of potent lore wait here for 
  their Vonnarc masters’ needs.
  The arch here is less sinister than it appears. It is 
  a permanent entryway to a magnificent mansion-like 
  demiplane crafted by Alicavniss herself. Anyone who 
  passes through the arch enters area B14.
  The westernmost end of this room is disguised by a 
  permanent illusory wall, behind which hides Alicavniss’s 
  loyal guardian.
  Creature: Posted here by the mistress of the tower, a 
  devourer guards the Vonnarc collection. The fearsome 
  
  37
  Endless Night
  undead watches all who enter the room, but only attacks 
  obvious intruders and those who attempt to disturb the 
  shelves—Alicavniss tells the creature when to expect 
  visitors and what they’re allowed to take. 
  Devourer 
   
  CR 11
  hp 78 (MM 46)
  Special attacks trap essence (12 levels)
  taCtICS
  Before Combat As soon as unexpected creatures enter 
  the chamber, the devourer uses its spectral hand ability, 
  followed by ghoul touch. 
  During Combat Should visitors take anything from the shelves 
  without permission, the devourer casts confusion and 
  suggestion to sow discord among the intruders, trying to 
  force a few back through the pit to area B10. At the same 
  time, it sends its spectral hand forth from the wall, first 
  attempting to use its ghoul touch spell, then employing its 
  energy drain ability. Only if its hiding place is discovered 
  does it wade into melee. 
  Morale The devourer fights until destroyed.
  Treasure: The magical trove here is vast. Dozens of 
  spellbooks line the walls here, containing all of the standard 
  wizard spells from the PH—feel free to seed a few new 
  or obscure spells in here if you wish. In addition, a DC 25 
  Search check of the shelves reveals a scroll of binding, a golem 
  manual (stone), an empty blessed book, and 1,600 gp worth 
  of rare ink. A search of the various curios here notes that 
  most are simple depictions of fiends and rare creatures, but 
  a DC 25 check discovers a candle of invocation, a stone horse 
  (destrier), and a cursed crystal hypnosis ball, while the other 
  sculptures here are worth a total of 2,200 gp.
  B14. Alicavniss’s Refuge (EL 20)
  A pleasant perfume wafts through the cool air of this wholly 
  unnatural cavern. Gone is the dark, worked stone and strange crystal 
  of Tower Solacas, replaced by sleek seemingly organic walls—as 
  though the chamber were inside a gigantic, glistening black beetle. 
  Nearby stands a fanged portal, sanguine smoke billowing within. 
  Alcoves divide the chamber, one filled with comfortable pillows 
  and a low table set with familiar looking fruits and water; another 
  dominated by a huge, ornate bed flanked by scandalously sculpted 
  statues; and the largest filled with the sinister tools and devices of 
  an arcane laboratory. At the rear of the hall’s heart stands a massive, 
  ornate desk constructed of bone fused with crystal and littered with 
  tomes and curios of obvious antiquity and dark power. Behind the 
  desk presides an imposing throne of black metal and stuffed silks, 
  sculpted to look like several contorted drow slaves.
  Archmage Alicavniss Vonnarc crafted this demiplane to 
  serve as her personal refuge and laboratory. The fanged 
  portal serves as the only entrance or exit, one she alone can 
  open or close at a whim. When it is closed, only effects like 
  plane shift or gate allow escape back to the Material Plane. 
  For her current devices, she leaves the portal open.
  If the PCs have reached this room, the drow archmage 
  wishes to meet with them. By this point she suspects they 
  are not drow, having had plenty of time to investigate them 
  and cast various divination spells. 
  As for the wizard’s personal laboratory, the equipment 
  is of the finest make, with many pieces being of the 
  archmage’s own creation. There lingers no hint as to her 
  current experiments, though.
  Creatures: Alicavniss Vonnarc awaits the PCs here, 
  immersed in the study of a massive tome or distracted by 
  what appears to be an overly complex animated chess-like 
  diversion or game. 
  There are two meetings the PCs likely have here. In the 
  first, Alicavniss reveals that she knows the party members 
  are not dark elves, yet rather than exposing them, she’d 
  prefer they help her settle a grudge with a local crime 
  lord, Orvignato. On the PCs’ second visit, the archmage 
  provides them with the information they seek on House 
  Azrinae and how to return to the surface. She then dispels 
  their disguises, brutally encouraging them to flee her 
  tower and the city. See Parts Five and Six for details on 
  Alicavniss’s manipulations.
  Although she is more than a match for the PCs should 
  they attempt to attack her, Alicavniss would much prefer 
  to use them to strike at Allevrah Azrinae. In combat, 
  she favors crippling spells to overtly deadly ones. Three 
  obedient devourers also stand silent guard near the 
  chamber’s walls—they move to defend Alicavniss  should 
  the archmage require aid. If the PCs require a display of 
  the archmage’s power, she can command the devourers to 
  menace a character with a mere nod. Although there are 
  plenty of expensive looking items here, the PCs should 
  have no chance to loot the place. Alicavniss’s treasure is 
  mostly represented by her gear and the holdings of Tower 
  Solacas, in any event.
  alicavniss Vonnarc 
   
  CR 20
  Male drow wizard (conjurer) 18
  CE Medium humanoid (elf)
  Init +4; Senses arcane sight, darkvision 120 ft., see invisibility; 
  Listen +5, Spot +11
  DEfEnSE
  aC 27, touch 17, flat-footed 24
  (+5 armor, +4 deflection, +3 Dex, +5 natural)
  hp 97 (18d4+51)
  fort +12, Ref +13, Will +16 (+2 against enchantment, spells, and 
  spell-like abilities)
  Immune sleep; SR 28
  Weakness light blindness
  
  38
  Second Darkness
  offEnSE
  Spd 30 ft., fly 40 ft. (average)
  Melee Maiden’s Caress +12/+7 (1d4+3/19–20)
  Spell-Like abilities (CL 18th)
  1/day—clairaudience/clairvoyance, dancing lights, darkness, 
  detect magic, discern lie, dispel magic, faerie fire, feather 
  fall, levitate, suggestion (DC 16)
  Spells prepared (CL 18; CL 19 with conjuration; +12 ranged touch)
  9th—gate, time stop, summon monster IX, wish
  8th—quickened haste, horrid wilting (DC 30), maze, quickened 
  stoneskin, telekinetic sphere, temporal stasis (DC 29)
  7th—banishment (DC 28), ethereal jaunt, forcecage, greater 
  teleport, plane shift (DC 30), reverse gravity
  6th—chain lightning (DC 27), disintegrate (DC 27), greater 
  dispel magic, planar binding, summon monster VI, true 
  seeing, wall of iron
  5th—cloudkill (DC 28), cone of cold (DC 26), silent dimension 
  door, overland flight, summon monster V, telekinesis (DC 
  26), wall of force
  4th—arcane eye, bestow curse (DC 26), black tentacles, 
  dimension door, enervation, fire shield, greater invisibility (2)
  3rd—clairaudience/clairvoyance, dispel magic, halt undead 
  (DC 25), lightning bolt (DC 24), phantom steed, ray of 
  exhaustion (DC 25), slow (DC 24), vampiric touch
  2nd—blur, detect thoughts (DC 23), false life, glitterdust (DC 
  25), gust of wind (DC 23), minor image (DC 23), scorching 
  ray, web (DC 25)
  1st—feather fall, floating disk, grease, identify, mage armor, 
  magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, unseen servant
  0—detect magic, detect poison, mage hand, prestidigitation (2)
  prohibited Schools abjuration, enchantment
  taCtICS
  Before Combat Alicavniss casts false life, mage armor, overland 
  flight, and unseen servant every day. If she’s aware that 
  visitors are coming (particularly the PCs), she also casts fire 
  shield (cold flames) and true seeing.
  During Combat Alicavniss’s first act in combat is always to 
  cast time stop. She uses her time stop rounds to call in 
  extraplanar aid—gate (to call a marilith that owes her a 
  few favors), summon monster IX, summon monster VI, and 
  summon monster V. She also throws in a couple quickened 
  spells; stoneskin and haste. Once battle begins, she lets her 
  summoned minions and devourers engage foes while she 
  hangs back and uses magic as necessary and appropriate 
  (maze against large armored fighters, temporal stasis against 
  the first foe to approach in melee, reverse gravity against 
  foes who can’t fly, etc.).
  Morale Alicavniss is quick to flee battle by plane shifting to the 
  Abyss if the battle turns against her (such as if she’s reduced 
  to less than 30 hit points).
  StatIStICS
  Str 11, Dex 17, Con 15, Int 33, Wis 13, Cha 17
  Base atk +9; grp +8
  feats Alertness (when Vhage is in arm’s reach), Craft 
  Wondrous Item, Dark Adept, Greater Spell Focus 
  (conjuration), Improved Initiative, Quicken Spell, Scribe 
  Scroll, Spell Focus (conjuration), Spell Focus (necromancy), 
  Spell Penetration, Silent Spell, Umbral Scion
  Skills Concentration +23, Decipher Script  +14, Diplomacy +5, 
  Gather Information +5, Knowledge (arcana) +32, Knowledge 
  (dungeoneering) +32, Knowledge (local) +32, Knowledge 
  (nobility) +32, Knowledge (the planes) +32, Listen +5, Sense 
  Motive +7, Spellcraft +34 (+36 deciphering scrolls), Spot +11
  Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, 
  Ignan, Terran, Undercommon
  SQ exceptional stats, inherent bonuses, permanent spells, 
  summon familiar (bat named Vhage)
  Combat gear potion of cure serious wounds, wand of lightning 
  bolt (10th; 28 charges); gear robe of the archmagi (black), 
  Maiden’s Caress (+3 keen spell storing adamantine spiked 
  gantlet, also functions as a glove of storing), staff of conjuration 
  (41 charges), amulet of natural armor +5, ring of protection +4, 
  boots of teleportation, headband of intellect +6, bag of holding 
  IV, Vonnarc amulet, platinum ring worth 2,500 gp, star 
  sapphire earrings worth 2,000 gp, diamond dust worth 750 
  gp, gemstone dust for temporal stasis worth 5,000 gp, ruby 
  dust worth 1,500 gp, true seeing ointment worth 500 gp
  SpECIaL aBILItIES
  Contingency If Alicavniss is reduced to 32 or fewer hit points, 
  a mislead spell affects her.
  Exceptional Stats (Ex) Alicavniss is an extraordinary character. 
  Her ability scores were generated using 30 points, rather 
  than the standard 25-point elite array. Additionally, her gear 
  was determined as if she were a PC rather than an NPC to 
  account for her vast and varied resources. These advantages 
  increase her total CR by 1.
  Inherent Bonuses Alicavniss has used magic to gain a +3 
  inherent bonus to all six of her ability scores.
  permanent Spells Alicavniss has made the following spells 
  permanent on herself: arcane sight, read magic, see 
  invisibility, and tongues.
  Devourers (3) 
   
  CR 11
  hp 78 each (MM 58)
  PArt six: hAnd oF the drow
  This part of the adventure begins upon first meeting the 
  Vonnarc archmage Alicavniss. Upon reaching her refuge 
  through Tower Solacas, the PCs’ charade as dark elves 
  comes to an end. The archmage suspects what they are 
  and, with a word, could turn an entire city of murderous 
  drow upon them.
  The Archmage’s Revelation
  Across the perfumed chamber from the PCs when they 
  first visit area B14 stands a dark elven woman like no 
  
  39
  Endless Night
  other—a nightmare in a dream. Her cheeks high and 
  imperious, her eyes blank and soulless, she strikes the 
  very vision of dark elven beauty, familiar, yet alien and 
  cold. Without a word she examines the PCs, looking 
  them over as she takes a seat in the throne-like chair 
  behind her desk. With a graceful wave of her steel 
  hand she bids the characters be seated across from her. 
  Spread out on a low table before the chairs she indicates 
  is a light repast of obviously surface 
  world fruits and cheeses—Alicavniss 
  hopes that the sight of familiar food 
  might evoke reactions from the PCs that 
  could trick them into betraying their 
  nature. If none of the players catches 
  the significance, a DC 20 Sense Motive 
  check should clue the PCs in to why 
  such a meal seems out of place.
  Alicavniss waits to see how the PCs 
  react to the food, then decides to act on her 
  hunch. Like a thunderhead roiling across an 
  empty summer sky, her expression darkens. 
  “You are not what you say you are,” she 
  accuses. “You reek of sunlight, rain, 
  and the lies of things that dare to 
  call themselves elves. You mock 
  your betters with your parodies 
  of our ways and high art. Your 
  mere presence is a slight to all 
  my people have suffered. Worse, 
  you have chosen to inflict your taint upon the most noble 
  and revered family Vonnarc. You are invaders, intruders, 
  parasites, spies, and worse, and all Zirnakaynin would 
  echo with my praises were I to roll your heads upon her 
  most hollowed stones.”
  She pauses for a moment as she gives the PCs a chance 
  to react. Every PC must make a Disguise check at this 
  point (remember the +20 bonus their disguises grant 
  them, though), and every PC who speaks must also 
  make a Bluff check. If they succeed on all these checks, 
  Alicavniss remains unconvinced of their drow nature, 
  but the successful checks combined with the fact that 
  her true seeing doesn’t reveal their true forms causes her 
  to hesitate. If the PCs maintain their believability, she 
  shrugs and says “For now, whether you are disguised or 
  not doesn’t really matter to me. You have your uses to me, 
  drow or not. I shall keep my suspicions to myself, but 
  if you aren’t really drow, you know better than me how 
  dangerous your situation is. I can help you achieve your 
  goals here if you help me—in fact, I suspect our goals 
  might be the same.” Slowly, her sly smile returns. “So my 
  little drow, what tiresome paths bring you to my simple 
  home, and how might the kind people of Zirnakaynin 
  welcome you?”
  The wizard takes a quid pro quo approach to this 
  interview, offering information the PCs seek in return 
  for answers to her own questions. Alicavniss willingly 
  relates any information in the adventure background, 
  except for details on where Allevrah and the Azrinaes 
  went after they set things up in Celwynvian and that 
  they intend on destroying Kyonin (she’s holding this 
  information to herself for now), but can confirm that the 
  Azrinaes seem to have recovered 
  ancient aboleth magic that 
  allows them to pull down stars 
  from the sky—as she admits 
  this, she asks with a smile, “Is your 
  surface world really so fragile?” She 
  doesn’t immediately confront the 
  PCs with her suspicions about their 
  actual races, focusing her interview 
  upon the following topics (skip those 
  that directly concern their disguises if 
  the PCs manage to maintain the charade 
  this long with successful Disguise and 
  Bluff checks).
  •	 What	are	the	PCs’	names,	races,	
  and homelands?
  •	
  Why	are	they	in	
  Zirnakaynin?
  •	
  Who	sent	them,	and	why	
  now?
  •	 How are they disguised as drow?
  •	Can	these	disguises	be	undone?
  •	What	further	plans	do	their	masters	have	for	
  this disguise magic?
  •	 Do	they	have	allies	in	the	city?	How	many?
  •	 Why	did	they	come	to	House	Vonnarc?
  •	 What	have	they	learned?	How	long	do	they	intend	to	stay?
  Alicavniss’s questioning can go on for as long as the GM 
  and PCs enjoy the exchange. In the end, though, the wizard 
  determines that their interests in Allevrah Azrinae are 
  particularly intriguing. Before the conversation ends, she 
  has already decided to aid them. But even though her goals 
  parallel the PCs’, nothing comes for free from a drow. The 
  archmage admits that she’s intrigued by the characters’ 
  predicament and confesses she has no love for the current 
  Azrinae matron, an upstart by the name of Allevrah. 
  In fact, Alicavniss knows full well that the Azrinaes are 
  preparing their star-snaring magics far to the east, deep 
  below the Elven country of Kyonin in an ancient vault 
  known as the Land of Black Blood. She delays revealing 
  this to the PCs because she has another delicate political 
  matter she wishes them to handle for her, as finding 
  skilled but wholly expendable agents with no attachments 
  to other drow noble houses makes for a rare commodity. 
  She presents her offer to the PCs as follows:
  Alicavniss
  Vonnarc
  
  40
  Second Darkness
  Alicavniss slowly strokes the fingertips of her dark steel gauntlet 
  as she speaks. “I believe there’s much we can do for one another. 
  You seek the Azrinae secrets, and in Zirnakaynin, secrets hide 
  better than anywhere in your surface world. What you want to 
  know of the Azrinae plot against your world will surely take time 
  to uncover, but I am confident that I have agents capable of 
  revealing what you seek. 
  “While we wait, I know of a diversion you’d be particularly 
  well suited to. In the city, on the plateau of Arshyrvhar near 
  the Pale Market, lies an unseemly den of debauchees known 
  as ‘Venom Kiss.’ The place is a charnel house for souls, and I 
  regret to admit that even my students are from time to time 
  not immune to its temptations. One of my most promising 
  apprentices has proven himself quite susceptible.
  “Go there. Seek out the owner, a petty mercenary who 
  calls himself Orvignato, and see that his corruptions never 
  foul another noble soul. Do this for me, and I assure you that 
  by the time you return I’ll possess the information you seek. 
  The place has a passphrase for entry—my sources tell me the 
  current one is ‘Sh’blu sent me. The phrase changes often—
  you might wish to make haste to Venom Kiss as soon as we 
  are done here as a result.
  “Oh… and bring me back any maps you should find. Such 
  a spider as Orvignato surely has a vast web, and I’d personally 
  ensure that no others become ensnared.”
  Alicavniss tells half of the truth here. One of her 
  apprentices was a frequent patron of Venom Kiss, lured 
  there by Orvignato’s men and piled with narcotics to 
  reveal information about the archmage and Tower 
  Solacas. The apprentice knew little of importance and 
  Alicavniss has long since flensed the drugs from his 
  body, but she has not forgotten the slight. Even more 
  importantly, Orvignato is no petty criminal, but rather 
  an esteemed mercenary lord who commands a band 
  called the Razor Crown and uses Venom Kiss as his base. 
  Currently, a sizable retinue of his men holds a cavern far 
  to the south, near the drow trading post at Blackstrand, 
  guarding the interests of the Vexidyre family. Vexidyre 
  agents recently discovered an elf gate there similar to 
  the one the PCs used to reach Zirnakaynin, but have 
  denied all but their own mages’ access to the site. 
  Alicavniss wishes to investigate the portal herself, but 
  even she dares not risk damaging the relic or sparking 
  hostilities in Zirnakaynin in a brazen attack. Rather, 
  she seeks to undermine Orvignato’s mercenaries, and as 
  they abandon their posts, hopes to move her own spies 
  and loyal agents into place. She doesn’t care to share all 
  of this information with the PCs, though. Her only real 
  interests are in seeing Orvignato dead and obtaining 
  any maps of the Blackstrand site he might possess.
  After ordering the PCs to kill Orvignato, Alicavniss 
  has little further she wishes to discuss. If the party has 
  any other questions for her she tolerates two or three, 
  becoming increasingly impatient, before dismissing 
  them outright. There will be plenty of time for banter 
  when the PCs return from the wizard’s request. One of 
  the archmage’s apprentices waits for the PCs on the other 
  side of the fanged portal and escorts them back to area B1. 
  From there, it is up to them to decide how to prepare and 
  travel to Venom Kiss.
  Venom Kiss
  Situated on the western edge of Ovessia, Zirnakaynin’s 
  lavish Pale Market, Venom Kiss caters to every vice. A 
  tavern, drug den, brothel, torture hall, and worse, in 
  Venom Kiss a patron can buy any debauchery he wishes if 
  he has the coin.
  Arching blades form a crown around the crimson domed heights 
  of this gaudy, glistening festhall. Arcane flames flare to life and 
  dim to embers across its stone surfaces, runes and sinister 
  symbols flashing with profane intent. Bordered by reliefs of 
  unclad drow dancers, a single simple door with two narrow 
  sliding windows serves as the only obvious entryway.
  vayav
  Created from dried mushrooms harvested from the 
  lower slopes of the Midnight Mountains of Orv, deep 
  under Sekamina, vayav is traditionally cut with a 
  number of drow poisons to make a pulpy violet clump 
  that is smoked. The overall effect gives the imbiber a 
  sense of warmth and invincibility, while heightening 
  both painful and pleasurable sensations. One who 
  smokes vayav must make a DC 14 Fortitude save or take 
  1d4 points of Wisdom damage. A minute later he must 
  make a second save or take 1d4 points of Wisdom and 
  1d4 points of Constitution damage. Each additional 
  dose of vayav taken within a 24 hour period increases 
  the DC to resist its effects by +1.
  Vayav also affects those merely in close proximity to a 
  smoker. Anyone who inhales vayav smoke for more than 
  a minute must make a DC 12 Fortitude save or take a –2 
  penalty on all Wisdom-based checks for as long as he 
  remains in the secondhand smoke plus an additional hour.
  Both forms of exposure to vayav are highly addictive. 
  The morning after failing a save against the effects, one 
  must make a DC 12 Fortitude save to resist addiction. An 
  addicted character must make a DC 16 Fortitude save every 
  week he doesn’t use vayav to avoid taking 1d10 points of 
  Wisdom and Constitution damage. A character who makes 
  two of these saves in a row recovers from his addiction—
  remove disease or similar effects can also end addiction.
  A dose of vayav costs 10 gp in the Darklands, but costs 
  200 gp per dose on the surface.
  
  Endless Night
  41
  Venom Kiss holds itself to a loose membership policy: 
  anyone who knows the password can get in, as can anyone 
  who flashes a platinum piece. This serves to keep out most 
  of the riff-raff and foreigners. Outside the door stand two 
  drow bouncers—mercenaries in Orvignato’s employ—
  while a third inside keeps the door barred. PCs who make 
  a DC 15 Gather Information check can learn a bit about 
  Venom Kiss, largely that it’s a drug den and brothel with 
  a particularly dangerous reputation, while a result of 
  DC 22 or higher reveals the password, “Sh’blu sent me,” 
  must be spoken in Undercommon. Those who approach 
  the door get stared down by the bouncers, two Razor 
  Crown mercenaries, but are allowed to knock. If they look 
  like trouble, don’t know the password, or fail to flash a 
  platinum piece—even after some not-so-subtle urging—
  the bouncers attempt to forcibly remove them. The door 
  (hardness 8, 30 hp, Break DC 26) has two windows in it, one 
  at eye height, and one at waist level, allowing the bouncer 
  within to fire his crossbow into the bellies of those directly 
  in front of the door. If a fight starts here and the PCs force 
  their way in, every combatant in areas C1 and C2 is alerted 
  and moves to attack. If the PCs get in without a fight, 
  though, they can explore and indulge as they please.
  Razor Crown Mercenaries (2)  
  CR 5
  hp 34 each (see page 14—drow soldiers)
  C1. Showroom (EL 10 or 11)
  A choking, acrid haze pervades this noisy taproom, forming 
  dreamy auras around its strangely colored lantern. In alcoved 
  booths, pillow strewn corners, and along a polished iron 
  bar, drow of all social walks and in all states of undress avail 
  themselves decadences too numerous and perverse to list. From 
  a second floor balcony—accessible by a flight of sparkling metal 
  stairs—comes a chorus of pleasure and pain filled shrieks.
  The haze in the air is more than mere smoke—it’s a 
  potent stimulant the drow call vayav, or “demon gasp.” 
  Aside from being for sale from a number of dealers here, 
  the smoke itself encourages patrons to partake. Those who 
  spend more than a minute in this area must make a DC 12 
  Fortitude save against the drug’s smoke (see sidebar).
  Creatures: More than 40 drow currently cram this 
  busy den. Of them, only half are actual patrons, with 
  the rest being servers, dancers, prostitutes, dealers, and 
  mercenaries of the Razor Crown. If the PCs enter the den 
  peacefully, they are accosted at every turn by aggressive 
  servers, rowdy patrons, recreational druggists, and dancers 
  eager for tips and more.
  While the bouncer by the door seems to be the only 
  guard, five other sellswords loyal to Orvignato relax 
  throughout the room. If combat breaks out—as it often 
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  Second Darkness
  42
  C2. Balcony (EL 7)
  Moans and sobs echo through the noxious haze, emanating from a 
  half-dozen closed doors that surround a circular balcony overlooking 
  the main room below. A seventh, ironclad door stands away from 
  the others, as does an alcove strewn with oversized pillows.
  Vayav smoke pervades this entire balcony just as it does 
  in area C1.
  Creatures: Two Razor Crown guards armed with hand 
  crossbows guard the entrance to Orvignato’s personal 
  chamber, keeping intoxicated and amorous patrons from 
  disturbing their boss.
  Razor Crown Mercenaries (2)  
  CR 5
  hp 34 each (see page 14—drow soldiers)
  C3. Pleasure Dens
  Venom Kiss rents six pleasure dens at a rate of 30 gp per hour, 
  plus an additional 30 gp to hire each male drow companion 
  or 200 additional gp for each female drow companion. 
  There is a 100 gp deposit for companionship, just in case the 
  slave doesn’t survive the encounter. The doors to each of the 
  occupied rooms (C, D, and F) are locked, requiring either 
  the keys from behind the bar or a DC 22 Open Locks check 
  to open. Inside each of these languish 1d4 drow customers 
  in a semi-conscious drug-induced haze.
  C4. Orvignato’s Apartment (EL 13)
  Relatively clean air fills this handsomely appointed apartment. 
  The smell of oiled leather pervades the room, and adorns 
  several large chairs surrounding an imposing desk and a cruelly 
  decorated bed. Several bookcases and cabinets of dark stone line 
  the walls, their shelves lined with grim trophies—drow hands, 
  dwarf skulls, fleshwarped limbs, and less identifiable 
  appendages. Overlooking the bed, oily 
  black eyes stare from the mounted head 
  of a gigantic centipede, its oversized visage 
  easily the size of an ox’s skull.
  These are the personal quarters 
  of mercenary captain Orvignato. 
  Enjoying his twilight years, the 
  paunchy drow spends most of his time 
  enjoying the fruits of a life of murder 
  and betrayal while remaining watchful 
  for those who might seek to end his 
  retirement early. Evidence of a brutal 
  life in the Darklands adorns the room, 
  each of the mercenary captain’s trophies 
  holding some bloody story. Behind 
  his desk, Orvignato keeps a heavy 
  does at the Venom Kiss—the mercenaries move to dispose 
  of the troublemakers, while the patrons do their best to 
  stay out of the way. If fighting persists for more than 3 
  rounds, the guards in area C2 take note and fire upon the 
  PCs from above.
  Razor Crown Mercenaries (6)  
  CR 5
  hp 34 each (see page 14—drow soldiers)
  Treasure: Behind the counter are keys to each of the 
  pleasure dens as well as a coffer filled with the day’s take 
  of 533 gp.
  Orvignato
  
  43
  Endless Night
  iron safe. The safe can only be opened with the key he 
  holds or a DC 40 Open Locks check.
  On the eastern wall, next to the leather-covered bed, is a 
  secret door that drops onto the street out in front of Venom 
  Kiss. Anyone who makes a DC 22 Search check notices the 
  stone colored trapdoor.
  Creatures: Orvignato currently lounges here with 
  his pet, Faithless (a Tiny monstrous spider). Two of his 
  mercenaries stand silent guard by the door, and a drider 
  looms in the southeast corner of the room, a gift from a 
  noble from House Parastric who was quite satisfied with 
  Orvignato’s wares.
  orvignato 
   
  CR 12
  Male drow fighter 4/rogue 7
  CE Medium humanoid (elf)
  Init +8; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Listen +9, Spot +10
  DEfEnSE
  aC 30, touch 16, flat-footed 26
  (+6 armor, +2 deflection, +4 Dex, +5 natural, +3 shield)
  hp 95 (11 HD; 4d10+7d6+44)
  fort +10, Ref +10, Will +3 (+2 against enchantment, spells, and 
  spell-like abilities)
  Defensive abilities evasion, trap sense +2, uncanny dodge; 
  Immune sleep; SR 22
  Weakness light blindness
  offEnSE
  Spd 30 ft.
  Melee +1 flail +13/+8 (1d8+3/19–20)
  Ranged +1 hand crossbow +14 (1d4 plus poison)
  Special attacks sneak attack +4d6
  Spell-Like abilities (CL 11th)
  1/day—dancing lights, darkness, detect magic, faerie fire, 
  feather fall, levitate
  taCtICS
  Before Combat If the sound of combat in the showroom has 
  been ongoing for more than a minute, or it sounds like 
  the guards outside the door have gotten into trouble, the 
  mercenaries have their weapons drawn and Orvignato has 
  imbibed a potion of barkskin +5 and his potion of invisibility. 
  Otherwise, the three dark elves surround the desk, drinking 
  drow bloodshot—a potent liquor made from an underground-
  growing water berry crushed along with a living slave.
  During Combat If battle breaks out, Orvignato lets his men 
  and drider engage the PCs while he stays back, firing 
  poisoned bolts from his hand crossbow. On the first round 
  of combat, though, he throws Faithless at the nearest PC 
  (this effectively gives the bloated spider a charge attack).
  Morale If one of his men falls, or he takes even a point of 
  damage, Orvignato breaks for the secret door in an attempt 
  to flee the battle. Once on the street, he throws down his 
  elemental gem, releasing a Large fire elemental to distract 
  his pursuers while he makes his escape. If cornered, he 
  fights until reduced to 10 hit points, then attempts to 
  bargain for his life
  StatIStICS
  Str 14, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 10
  Base atk +9; grp +11
  feats Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Dark Adept, 
  Improved Critical, Improved Initiative, Improved Disarm, 
  Weapon Focus (flail)
  Skills Climb +9, Diplomacy +10, Intimidate +14, Knowledge 
  (local) +17, Knowledge (nobility) +5, Listen +9, Move Silently 
  +12, Open Lock +12, Ride +11, Sense Motive +9, Spot +10
  Languages Common, Elven, Undercommon
  SQ trapfinding
  Combat gear drow poison (4 doses), potion of barkskin +5 
  (2), potion of cure moderate wounds, potion of invisibility, 
  screaming bolts (6); gear +2 chain shirt, +2 buckler, +1 flail, 
  +1 hand crossbow, hat of disguise, amulet of health +6, ring of 
  protection +2, 4 pp
  Razor Crown Mercenaries (2)  
  CR 5
  hp 34 each (see page 14—drow soldiers)
  faithless 
   
  CR 1/4
  Tiny monstrous spider
  hp 2 (MM 288)
  Drider 
   
  CR 7
  hp 45 (MM 89) 
  Treasure: Orvignato keeps a wide variety of files, 
  contact sheets, and treasures here, the most important 
  of which are held in his safe. Within the safe are an open 
  lockbox containing 38 pp, 1,700 gp, and 8 rubies worth 80 
  gp a piece, a House Moivas signet ring, 15 doses of vayav, a 
  sizable emerald worth 6,000 gp that has been used as the 
  material component for a trap the soul spell (the soul of one 
  of Orvignato’s unfaithful lovers has resided within for 24 
  years), and, most importantly, several ledgers detailing the 
  complete dealings of the Razor Crown mercenary company 
  (a treasure for which any drow noble family would pay up 
  to 8,000 gp). Within these ledgers are the maps and details 
  Alicavniss desires.
  Bittersweet Betrayal
  Upon returning to House Vonnarc, one of Alicavniss’s 
  lesser apprentices meets the PCs to escort them back 
  through Tower Solacas to the archmage’s refuge. Passing 
  through the mages’ redoubt is uneventful and the 
  characters soon find themselves in the presence of First 
  Daughter Alicavniss again.
  When the party enters, Alicavniss is seated at her desk, 
  holding a sheet of parchment before her as she reads. She 
  lets the PCs wait nearly a minute before looking up at them, 
  
  44
  Second Darkness
  ignoring all but the rudest interruptions. When final she 
  does choose to address the PCs, she cuts to the chase, coldly 
  asking for Orvignato’s notes. Until the characters hand 
  them over, she refuses to have any further dealings with 
  them, nodding for her devourers to make their presences 
  known if the PCs require encouragement. Once she has 
  the mercenary captain’s ledgers, she pages through them 
  briefly before depositing them in a desk drawer—those 
  machinations are for another time. She then bids the PCs 
  make themselves comfortable.
  A look of disinterest settles over Alicavniss Vonnarc’s nighted 
  features, her gaze elsewhere and unconcerned. “The Azrinaes 
  departed our fair home for a realm far to the east, even deeper 
  below your surface home in the deepest reaches underground 
  known as Orv. There, they conspire in a somewhat legendary 
  cavern known as the Land of Black Blood. The Azrinaes were 
  led there by their new matron, that mad snake Allevrah. It 
  is she who seeks to call down the very heavens, to scour the 
  lands of light of our frail kindred with the ancient aboleth glyph 
  magic. Our legends of that time, of Earthfall, are quite vivid, 
  and judging from what you have experienced this is a very real 
  threat. Yet you do not know Allevrah’s target. I do, and it is that 
  target I share with you now.
  “She’s ambitiously chosen to stab at our foe’s very heart. The 
  Land of Black Blood lies beneath the hateful surface elf realm 
  Kyonin, you see. Unlike in the days before Earthfall, millennia 
  ago, this time there will be no sages spouting prophecies, no 
  mages offering warnings. There will be no time for cowardice, 
  abandonment, and retreat. The elves will not escape this 
  second darkness when it comes down upon them. That is, 
  unless someone were to warn them.
  “I bear no love for House Azrinae and their fanatic mistress. 
  Where dear Allevrah sees vengeance and glory, I see calamity and 
  the impulses of the lowborn. A strike powerful enough to destroy 
  Kyonin would certainly cause upheavel down below as well, and 
  I am too comfortable with my current situation to let a lowborn 
  trollop like Allevrah ruin that. And so I’ve told you what I know, and 
  where these vipers nest. Even further, I know of a gap back to the 
  world of light, a still functioning elf gate two days journey from 
  here, that provides a connection to Kyonin—a connection, I might 
  add, that my kin have known about for some time but are hesitant 
  to use for various reasons all amounting, I suspect, to cowardice.” 
  She produces a pale scroll from her desk. “This map follows a plain 
  route, which will lead you swiftly from our realm.” 
  Knitting her long, thin fingers—both of flesh and of iron—
  the dark elf’s voice takes on a dread seriousness. “Our bargain 
  is completed, yes, and I have granted you the further boon of 
  your return path home. Should you manage to ever see your 
  noxious sun again, in your short remaining years when you 
  speak of your time here in the soothing dark, let your people 
  know the might and splendor of the drow, and that first among 
  them, Alicavniss Vonnarc, is generous.”
  Alicavniss has revealed to the PCs all they were sent 
  to seek, and as a bonus has given them a route to escape 
  from the Darklands. Those who examine the scroll find it 
  to be a quite detailed map of the caverns and passageways 
  surrounding Zirnakaynin, over which a delicate line of 
  bloodred ink traces a path to a small cavern some 28 miles 
  to the southeast.
  Should the party have any additional questions, 
  Alicavniss humors two or three inquires before growing 
  impatient. When either she or the characters decide it 
  is time to depart, the archmage pauses and offers them 
  one more thing to hasten them along their way and 
  begins casting a spell—wish. Unless the PCs attempt to 
  stop her, the resulting wish removes every trace of the 
  disguises granted by recorporeal incarnation, revealing 
  the PCs in their true forms. This abrupt betrayal is a 
  calculated choice on the archmage’s behalf. Should the 
  PCs be discovered as they leave Zirnakaynin, or if the 
  Azrinaes are already watching them, Alicavniss has no 
  wish to appear linked to agents of the surface world—
  even the accusation could shatter her influence among 
  her people. Better to make it look like she discovered 
  the intruders and unmasked them, and only through 
  their own canniness did they manage to escape. The 
  archmage realizes this potentially fatal gambit gambles 
  her chance at using the PCs to strike at Allevrah, as well 
  as risking casualties among her family as they flee. Yet, 
  both dangers are chances she willingly makes— pawns 
  and apprentices can be replaced, and Alicavniss can only 
  gain from either outcome.
  Alicavniss has no wish to further parlay with the 
  characters after revealing them, and nods toward the portal 
  leading back to Tower Solacas with an icy, challenging 
  glare and a single sentence to explain her actions: “To 
  speed you along, my puppets.” If this doesn’t get the PCs 
  moving, then her spells and devourers should. Now more 
  than any other time the PCs might be tempted to attack 
  Alicavniss, but the wizard’s undead allies and summoned 
  monsters should send them packing.
  Ad Hoc Experience Award: For learning about Allevrah’s 
  goals and her current location, award the PCs experience 
  as if they had defeated a CR 12 creature in combat.
  PArt seven:  
  FLight From dArkness
  Once the PCs escape from Alicavniss, they still have 
  all of Tower Solacas to navigate, and likely the rest of 
  House Vonnarc and Zirnakaynin itself. This final 
  section of the adventure is a two day chase through 
  enemy territory. The sudden change to their situation 
  might have caught the PCs at a tough time, limiting 
  their resources. As the GM, try to take this into account 
  and adjust any encounters that feel overwhelming. At 
  
  45
  Endless Night
  the same time, reward ingenuity and don’t be afraid to 
  thrash characters expecting the drow to be pushovers. 
  Parties that make clever use of magic to flee might skip 
  the sections detailing the escape from House Vonnarc 
  and Zirnakaynin almost entirely—teleport, word of recall, 
  and plane shift all work wonderfully in effecting a swift 
  and (relatively) safe escape from the Darklands (although 
  remember that Tower Solacas itself is under the effects 
  of a permanent dimensional lock).
  Assuming the PCs lack teleportation magic or other 
  methods of directly fleeing to the surface world above, this 
  part provides many details on how to handle their escape.
  Escaping House Vonnarc
  Fleeing Tower Solacas casts the PCs out of the frying pan 
  and into the fire. Although the spells guarding the mages’ 
  tower have thus far prevented the alarm from being raised 
  on the estate grounds, the characters must work hard to keep 
  themselves from being noticed. Unless disguised, magically 
  or otherwise, there is a 20% chance every round the PCs are 
  in the open on the Vonnarc grounds that a passing sentinel, 
  wall guard, or passerby notices the intruders and rushes 
  away shouting warnings. Once this happens, the party has 
  only 2d4 rounds before the house guards go on full alert 
  and begin hunting them down. If the PCs act foolhardily 
  and expose their locations, three Vonnarc guard patrols (see 
  below) set on them almost immediately.
  As described earlier in the adventure, aside from Vonnarc 
  Palace and Tower Solacas, there are a number of other lesser 
  structures on the estate’s grounds. Some of these stables, 
  barracks, dorms, and, especially, the front gate, might play 
  a role in the party’s escape. It’s also possible that the PCs 
  might wish to reenter House Vonnarc itself—possibly to get 
  misplaced gear, steal a mount, free a friend, or get revenge. In 
  either case, feel free to use the encounters presented in Part 
  Two and adjust those presented here to suit the PCs’ escape.
  Once the Vonnarc guards are aware of intruders on the 
  premises, patrols of six drow soldiers mounted on cave 
  geckos begin hustling about the estate and through the 
  palace. Checking in shadows and throwing open closets, 
  the guards remain on alert for 1 hour after intruders are 
  first spotted. 
  Escaping Zirnakaynin
  The second stage of the escape is from the city of Zirnakaynin 
  itself. Should the PCs stick to the cavern of Eirdrisseir, a 
  swift and obvious rush across the cavernous countryside to 
  the eastern caverns meets with the least resistance. Parties 
  that for any reason decide to head into the city proper, 
  however, likely won’t survive without excellent disguises—
  surface folk are rare in the city, and surfacefolk not escorted 
  by drow or not in slave’s chains are cause for riots. GMs faced 
  with such brash parties can extrapolate any encounters they 
  wish using the stats presented herein and information on 
  the city presented on page 58.
  Meanwhile, back at House Vonnarc, an enraged 
  Alicavniss gathers her family to tell them what has 
  happened. To show her displeasure, she executes half of 
  the house’s servants and slaves, starting with Undamesta. 
  When Second Son Tiryin Vonnarc asks Alicavniss what 
  she plans to do to track down and slay the fleeing PCs, she 
  coldly replies, “I am doing nothing. You, on the other hand, 
  sweet brother, had best make sure they are dead before 
  Matron Pravora next returns.” Alicavniss expects that 
  even if Tiryin does catch up to the PCs, they’ll be able to 
  handle him easily, which removes one of her least favorite 
  brothers from the family. At the same time, entrusting the 
  task to Tiryin allows Alicavniss to save face and retain her 
  position of power.
  Escaping the Darklands
  The PCs’ flight through the Darklands should be the most 
  harrowing part of their escape. As the labyrinth of caverns 
  and deadly underground hazards around Zirnakaynin 
  proves far too expansive for a single adventure to detail, 
  GMs could prepare a number of deadly caverns and drow-
  haunted passages for their PCs to navigate if they wish 
  to extend this section of the adventure significantly. 
  Underground the terrain often proves as deadly as the 
  beasts that live there, and cliffs, crevasses, and dangerous 
  slopes regularly appear to slow the PCs and aid their 
  attackers. GMs who wish to expand upon this section’s 
  encounters might utilize this volume’s Set Piece adventure 
  or the Pathfinder Chronicles supplement on all things 
  subterranean, Into the Darklands.
  The Deep Gate (EL 14)
  Following’s Alicavniss’s map, it should take the PCs about 
  16 hours of exhausting travel to reach the cavern holding 
  the elf gate to Kyonin. The ancient gate stands as it did 
  millennia ago, upon a platform of elf-crafted marble and 
  lit by eternal flames to keep the darkness at bay.
  Flickering light and a hot wind fill this sizable cavern with dancing 
  shadows and eerie moans. Opposite the tight gap leading back 
  toward Zirnakaynin rises an ancient, temple-like series of stepped 
  platforms and wide, pale marble steps. Upon the cracked rocky 
  ground and atop each of the worked tiers stand a pair of huge 
  braziers, crackling with tall, wind-swept flames. Crowning the 
  platform rises a familiar looking archway—an elf gate.
  Complicating the path to the elf gate, a vast crevasse shears 
  this chamber in twain, its inky depths splitting both the walls 
  and ground with a fissure that falls away into eternity. Yet a 
  single path remains, a treacherous-looking land bridge of 
  wind-whipped stone, a tenacious arch stretching between 
  shattered cliffs in defiance of the unfathomable abyss below. 
  
  46
  Second Darkness
  Despite its untrustworthy appearance, the land bridge 
  here is quite strong and is at no risk of collapse from wind 
  or weight—although a well-placed stone shape or rock to mud 
  spell could easily change that. Below, the jagged-walled 
  fissure falls away more than 900 feet to a rubble-strewn 
  field infested with several ravenous centipede swarms.
  Alicavniss has spent some time studying the gate and 
  has even managed to activate it, but has yet to send any 
  minions through to investigate the other side—she doesn’t 
  want to overplay her hand against the elves surely waiting 
  on the other side quite yet. She left a retriever at the portal 
  site to guard the place and ensure that none come or go 
  without a fight. The portal itself is difficult for the drow to 
  activate, but it is senitive to the presence of elven magic and 
  begins glowing if any PC brings a bloodlink within 30 feet; 
  the bloodlink itself glows with the same yellow radiance as 
  well. Touching a bloodlink to the elf gate causes it to glow 
  brighter, and after a minute of buildup, the portal itself 
  opens to reveal a wooded glen beyond. Alternatively, a DC 
  25 Use Magic Device check can activate the elf gate.
  Creatures: Although the PCs may move quickly, Tiryin 
  Vonnarc and his allies move even more so. Alicavniss 
  teleports him and several guards to set up an ambush 
  here. These guards join the retriever she’s already left to 
  defend the site. The archmage orders Tiryin to return 
  to House Vonnarc only once he’s collected the PCs’ 
  heads before she teleports back, leaving him to make 
  his plans.
  When the PCs enter the chamber, Tiryin and his men wait 
  upon the cliff opposite the passage back to Zirnakaynin. 
  While the Vonnarc guards fire upon the characters with 
  their crossbows as soon as they are sighted, the second son 
  waits on the western side of the bridge, ready to rush into 
  melee once it begins. The retriever currently lurks amid 
  the shadows around the corner from the gate. It has orders 
  from Alicavniss to wait until the PCs come within 10 feet 
  of the gate or it is spotted before attacking.
  tiryin Vonnarc 
   
  CR 12
  Male drow fighter 4/rogue 4/duelist 3 
  CE Medium humanoid (elf)
  Init +9; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Listen +7, Spot +8
  DEfEnSE
  aC 25, touch 24, flat-footed 14
  (+2 armor, +1 deflection, +1 dodge, +7 Dex, +1 haste, +3 Int)
  hp 63 (11 HD; 7d10+4d6+11)
  fort +7, Ref +15, Will +3 (+2 against enchantment, spells, and 
  spell-like abilities)
  Defensive abilities canny defense, enhanced mobility, 
  evasion, trap sense +1, uncanny dodge
  Immune sleep; SR 22
  Weakness light blindness
  offEnSE
  Spd 60 ft.
  Melee +1 keen double shortsword +17/+17/+12 (1d6+1 plus 
  poison/17–20)
  Ranged mwk throwing wedge +17 (1d4/×3)
  Special attacks sneak attack +2d6
  Spell-Like abilities (CL 11th)
  1/day—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire
  taCtICS
  Before Combat Tiryin always downs a potion of haste and 
  potion of cat’s grace when expecting combat.
  During Combat Tiryin frequently makes full use of his Combat 
  Expertise feat to the full +5 extent.
  Morale Tiryin fights to the death.
  StatIStICS
  Str 11, Dex 25, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 10
  Base atk +10; grp +11
  feats Combat Expertise, Dodge, Exotic Weapon 
  Proficiency (double short sword), Mobility, 
  Spring Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting, 
  Weapon Finesse
  Tiryin Vonnarc
  
  47
  Endless Night
  Skills Balance +16, Climb +7, Escape Artist +9, Handle 
  Animal +7, Hide +7, Intimidate +7, Jump +28, Knowledge 
  (nobility) +4, Listen +9, Move Silently +12, Perform 
  (dance) +3, Ride +18, Search +5, Sleight of Hand +15, Spot 
  +8, Tumble +21
  Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, 
  Undercommon
  SQ improved reaction, trapfinding
  Combat gear potion of cat’s grace, potion of cure moderate 
  wounds, potion of haste, potion of invisibility, drow poison 
  (4); gear +1 keen double shortsword*, masterwork throwing 
  wedge (treat as a starknife), bracers of armor +2, ring of 
  protection +1, gloves of Dexterity +2, 232 gp
  *A double shortsword is a weapon from Plot & Poison. The 
  weapon is an exotic two-handed weapon. A proficient user 
  can attack with it as a double weapon, and may use Weapon 
  Finesse with the weapon even though it’s not a light weapon.
  Retriver  
   
  CR 11
  hp 135 each (MM 46)  
  Vonnarc guards (6) 
   
  CR 5
  hp 34 each (see page 14)
  concLuding the Adventure
  More so than any other adventure in the Second 
  Darkness Adventure Path, “Endless Night” ends on a 
  complete cliff-hanger. The adventure concludes as soon 
  as the PCs pass through the elf gate that supposedly 
  leads to Kyonin. Of course, the elves of Kyonin have long 
  known that the supposedly non-functioning elf gate 
  leads to the Darklands, and they might not react kindly 
  to things that stagger out of the long dormant (but still 
  well-guarded) portal.
  Of course, if the PCs effect another escape from the 
  Darklands, where they end up is largely up to them. They 
  could teleport to Crying Leaf, Riddleport, or anywhere 
  else—but soon thereafter logic dictates that they should 
  take what they’ve learned about Allevrah and the drow to 
  the elves, for if anyone can provide aid in facing Allevrah 
  in the Land of Black Blood, certainly the ages-old enemies 
  of the drow in Kyonin can help.
  Unfortunately, as the characters will soon learn, 
  treachery and conspiracy are not traits limited to the 
  elves who dwell below—for the true genesis of the second 
  darkness lies with the surface elves themselves.
  
  48
  Second Darkness
  Zirnakaynin
  W
  hen the shadow of the Starstone loomed in 
  the sky and the seers of every race foresaw a 
  calamity that would change the shape of the 
  world, the elves proved that they held no love for Golarion, 
  and along the mystical paths of their elf gates retreated 
  back to their fabled homeland of Sovyrian. Yet not all 
  elves turned traitor to the lands that had sheltered them, 
  nurtured them, and granted them lordship over races 
  far less civil then they. Out of respect for that world, out 
  of allegiance and due honor, and out of a need to make 
  things right and assure that all their people had wrought 
  would survive even an age of annihilation, a faction of 
  dutiful elves remained. And in the wake of catastrophe, 
  when what seemed the very wrath of the gods rained 
  down, these elves took shelter within Golarion, among 
  her endless veins and unshakable bones. Wandering the 
  endless night, with no friends among the fear-crazed 
  natives nor their cowardly brethren, these elves who 
  stayed behind suffered unspeakable hardships and for 
  an unknown score died and lived as vagabonds and the 
  prey of terrible things. Yet, after traveling ever deeper 
  into the pulsing earth, they finally discovered the womb 
  of the world, a shelter where they could rest and multiply 
  and recover. There they raised a great city, a testament 
  to the tenacity of their spirits, the nobility of their 
  suffering, and the memory of their one-time brethren’s 
  desertion. Bitter and graceful, beautiful and deadly, 
  for countless years these elves, these outcasts, these 
  drow, have struggled, spread, and grown fierce in the 
  darkness. Their city reflects their centuries of suffering, 
  all they have accomplished, and all they will be avenged 
  for. Iits very name testifies to their tragic past even as it 
  swears oath to the coming age: Zirnakaynin,  Last Home 
  of the Elves.
  
  49
  Look well upon her, slaves! Engrave her piercing towers and shadowed heights upon your memory. Scorch 
  her every ghost-lit emblem and winding passage upon your soul. Gaze upon the topless tower of Ileccinoc, 
  her heart and beacon to your steps. Fear the pits of Rygirnan and the eyes of Eirdrisseir, the dominions 
  of your masters below and mistresses above. Look to her bladed walls, patrolled by an army the very 
  darkness has tried and failed to slay a thousand thousand times, and know there is no escape.
  This is Zirnakaynin, slaves—your home, your mistress, your grave. Once you might have been mothers, 
  warrioresses, queens, but now, you belong to her.  
  —Embralya Rasivrein, First Daughter of House Rasivrein
  Zirnakaynin
  Size metropolis (conventional); AL CE
  GP Limit 100,000 gp; Assets 276,700,000 gp
  DemoGrAPhicS
  Population 55,340
  Type mixed (77% drow, 6% duergar, 5% troglodyte, 3% dark 
  folk, 3% ghoul, 2% tiefling, 2% derro, 2% other races)
  AuThoriTy FiGureS
  matrons Azrinae, Dolour, rasivrein, Tracinoa, Vexidyre, and 
  Vonnarc, CE female drow of various levels and classes (Rulers 
  of the Six Great Houses of Zirnakaynin); Alicavniss Vonnarc, 
  NE female drow conjurer 18 (archmage of Zirnakaynin); Patron 
  Zov caldrana, CE male drow fighter 17 (leader of House 
  Caldrana); Breathless, CE female flesh-warped drow bard 8/
  rogue 4 (artist of webs); Varmirhias, CE female marilith fighter 
  2 (daughter of Shax); Xomos Fain, NE male dark stalker rogue 
  9 (Boss of the Gray Market); Letiandeil Dirvond, CE female 
  tiefling bard 14 (cognoscenti of Ovessia).
  Zirnakaynin at a Glance
  Deep beneath the Fangwood of Nirmathas, buried by 
  a maze of tunnels and miles of impenetrable rock, lies 
  Zirnakaynin. A marvel of construction and tenacity, the 
  city proper occupies three massive caverns layered one over 
  another, but its holdings include countless grottos, lightless 
  tunnels, and black-bladed fortresses throughout the nearby 
  Darklands. Within the city’s three central caverns—
  Cocyrdavarin, Eirdrisseir, and Rygirnan—live the city’s 
  drow population, nobles and commoners alike, all vying for 
  power and influence in a city built on treachery and pain.
  the twelve houses
  On the streets of the Last Home, in the chambers of Ileccinoc, 
  and across the vault of Eirdrisseir, the 12 most powerful 
  families of Zirnakaynin wage a silent war. Each offering 
  sacrifices to their own demonic patrons, these conniving 
  noble houses hold unrivaled control over the city, checked 
  only by the endless workings of their own cruel ambitions 
  and the watchful threat of retaliation from their equally 
  scheming peers. Every house provides some vital service 
  to the city, whether it be providing water, facilitating trade, 
  capturing and selling slaves, or numerous other specialties. 
  Thus, all 12 houses have a unique ability to strike against 
  their enemies or severely worsen the state of the entire 
  city should they be directly offended, locking the fractious 
  nobles into a frustrating but lasting stalemate.
  Of the 12 ruling families, six claim the most widespread 
  influence, the members of these greater houses merely 
  the latest entrenched generation of dynasties stretching 
  back untold centuries. Lower than these greater families 
  socially but no less scheming and no less influential are 
  the lesser families, clans whose ascendancy to power can 
  be counted in decades. These lesser families claim nobility 
  not by blood but by gold, by blade, and by virtue of the 
  secrets they alone possess. 
  Greater Houses
  All six greater houses make their homes in Eirdrisseir, 
  manipulating the city and their slaves from above.
  Azrinae: Although the majority of the Azrinaes recently 
  left Zirnakaynin to pursue the whims of their mysterious 
  new matron Allevrah Azrinae, this ancient house of collectors 
  and dark scholars retains its holdings in the city. From 
  their Eirdrisseir palace, First Son Kardinnyr and an army 
  of his most devoted servants defends the family’s concerns 
  against the covetous schemes of the city’s remaining nobles. 
  To aid in their son’s defense, the Azrinaes have opened their 
  fearfully rumored vaults, releasing ancient and powerful 
  treasures and secrets long gleaned from the demon lord 
  Abraxas, all but assuring their holdings’ survival until their 
  matron’s triumphant return.
  Dolour: No house better understands the savagery that 
  lurks beyond the caverns of Cocyrdavarin than the shadowy 
  hunters of House Dolour. From the cramped maze of 
  Nirzevren, their trap riddled palace home, and an unknown 
  number of hidden redoubts throughout the Darklands, the 
  scions of House Dolour hone their skills as trackers, hunters, 
  man-catchers, explorers, and guides. Flaying sacrifices in 
  the name of the demon lord Andirifku, the house knows 
  many secrets and has carved great wealth from the endless 
  darkness. The majority of the house’s deals are conducted 
  by Matron Eirenion, a patient leader who endlessly quivers 
  with the effects of a rare spider venom, a debilitation that 
  causes many to foolishly underestimate her.
  Rasivrein: House Rasivrein directs the commerce 
  and industry of Zirnakaynin through fear and control. 
  
  50
  Second Darkness
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  51
  Zirnakaynin
  Miles of chains bind the slaves of Rasivrein as they toil 
  over the forges of Rygirnan, populate the work houses 
  of Ghenavoc, and mine the depth surrounding the city. 
  Ironclad Rasivrein warriors regularly strike at non-drow 
  communities, dragging slaves by the hundreds back to feed 
  the city’s ravenous hunger, and to serve as sacrifices for 
  their bloody patron, Zura. The daughters of impatient and 
  wrathful Matron Vulissakra, Embralya and Xirrathiem, 
  oversee the prison of Vostrac, keeping the feared house’s 
  sentient livestock culled, complacent, and ready for sale.
  Tracinoa: Subtle and guarded, the lightly spoken 
  intimates of House Tracinoa have supplied Zirnakaynin 
  with water for centuries. Coaxing vital fluids from the 
  rocks themselves and controlling the flow of the Endless 
  Tear, Tracinoa provides the whole city with limited liquid 
  rations. Those who seek to cheat the water bringers or steal 
  the house’s precious commodity often find themselves dead 
  with their next drink, killed either by the family’s master 
  poisoners or by assassins in the service of their faceless 
  demonic patron, Jubilex. Matron Valisava has a reputation 
  for being one of the most mercenary leaders of the city, 
  willing to sell her family’s services as water bringers and 
  poisoners to any who can pay her exorbitant prices.
  Vexidyre: It’s said that gold-palmed House Vexidyre has 
  a hand in every pocket of Zirnakaynin. Master traders and 
  silken-tongued orators, the house of beauteous Matron 
  Ulavakasa excels at half-truths, falsehoods, and honing 
  lying into an art form. Agents of Vexidyre regulate the trade 
  of Ovessia, damning those merchants who don’t have prior 
  arrangements with the family or pay their hefty bribes to the 
  trash market of Drashes. Worshipers of the bloody demon 
  lord Shax, the tenacious house wages business and politics 
  like war, and their skirmishes upon the council floors of 
  Ileccinoc prove no less deadly than actual battlefield combat.
  Vonnarc: The black-cloaked mages of House Vonnarc 
  are a mystery even unto themselves. The house’s mages 
  ambitiously seek ever greater and more depraved mystical 
  secrets, often keeping their discoveries from their own 
  family. With the aid of house Azrinae and Vonnarc’s patron 
  demon Areshkagal, House Vonnarc has recently discovered 
  how to open and pervert the magic of their ancestor’s 
  mysterious elf gates, bending these fantastic portals to 
  their will. Ancient Matron Pravora, renowned as a master 
  of divination, has long obsessed with her research and the 
  manipulation of her children, yet is rarely seen outside her 
  demon-guarded laboratories. In her obsessed absence, the 
  house’s eldest scion, First Daughter Alicavniss, orchestrates 
  most of Vonnarc’s dealings within the city and beyond.
  Lesser Houses
  The lesser houses hold bastions throughout the city, in 
  Eirdrisseir, on the streets of Cocyrdavarin, and even in the 
  pit of Rygirnan.
  Caldrana: From their iron fortress amid the fires of 
  Rygirnan, House Caldrana stokes the forge flames of 
  Zirnakaynin, supplying the city with an endless supply of 
  worked goods and masterfully crafted weapons. Occupying 
  a position of dubious honor as the city’s only male leader, 
  Patron Zov is a monster of an elf, a powerfully muscled 
  master smith who many say is possessed by Caldrana’s 
  demonic master, Flauros himself. Zov wields a gigantic 
  greataxe called Char, an atrocity of black steel and fiery 
  crystal that few other drow could even hope to heft.
  Misraria: Few know the streets and shadows of 
  Zirnakaynin better than House Misraria, the worshipers 
  of Nocticula, Demon Queen of Darkness. Fleet-footed 
  messengers, keepers of confidences, and silencers of 
  loose tongues, the house of spies and assassins has eyes 
  everywhere and barters secrets like gemstones. Matron 
  Zoveinia furiously seeks to give birth to a female heir, yet 
  her past seven pregnancies yielded males. Supposedly, 
  none of these children—nor their sires—have survived.
  Moivas: These verminlords control the beasts of 
  Zirnakaynin, the creatures of the fields, the steeds of the 
  elite, and the monstrosities that lurk in the surrounding 
  wilds. Matron Paphagehia receives widespread mockery for 
  doting on her deformed, blind daughter, Yagonol, keeping 
  the malformed youth close like a favored pet. Paphagehia 
  murderously rebukes such attacks, though, claiming the 
  girl possess strange insights into the will of the house’s 
  disgusting patron demon lord, Mazmezz.
  Parastric: The only noble house not to keep a palace within 
  Zirnakaynin, House Parastric is quietly reviled by the other 
  nobles, yet far too useful and deadly to be shunned. From the 
  Moaning Vault, south of Cocyrdavarin, insane alchemists 
  of Parastric hone the perverse art of fleshwarping. In their 
  profane laboratories they merge mad alchemy and the 
  abyssal energies of their patron demon lord, Haagenti, to 
  sculpt and transform living beings. From their terrifying 
  halls skitter driders and other horrific fleshwarps. Yet the 
  house’s unhinged geniuses don’t restrict their experiments 
  to outsiders alone; nearly every scion of House Parastric bears 
  the mark of fleshwarping, either from a single augmented 
  limb to an entirely, monstrously reshaped body. The 
  unnaturally beautiful Matron Astranovidova leads Parastric 
  and is often seen within Zirnakaynin attended by her drider 
  daughter Mardeis, promoting their house’s obscene powers 
  with offers both repellent and perversely tempting.
  Sardavic: The Cyclic Sublime serves as both Zirnakaynin’s 
  center of artistic debauchery and the palace of House 
  Sardavic, the city’s foremost patrons and critics of art and 
  the avant-garde. Matron Sarlottia—a prima donna in her 
  own right—and her retinue of currently favored offspring 
  organize daily spectacles upon the opera house’s public 
  stages, dedicating each display to the boundless vice and 
  imagination of their demonic patron Socothbenoth. 
  
  52
  Second Darkness
  Udrinor: More than simple farmers, the drow of House 
  Udrinor control the spread of edible fungi in Zirnakaynin 
  and the numerous surrounding caverns. In addition to 
  filling the city’s storehouses and dominating the efforts 
  of independent harvesters, Udrinor disposes of bodies for 
  the city, composting most to feed their treasured crops and 
  sacrificing others to the verminous brood of their patron 
  demon Cyth-V’sug. Matron Holtavoma frequently tours 
  her family’s holdings outside the city, and it’s said that she 
  and her daughters cultivate a strange control over their 
  moldering forests.
  cocyrdavarin
  The largest of the three caverns bearing Zirnakaynin’s 
  weight, Cocyrdavarin holds the city proper. From this 
  vast central chamber thousands of drow live and die amid 
  the magically lit streets of the bladed city. Cascading 
  across the shadowed plateaus from Illeccinoc at its heart, 
  three districts comprise Zirnakaynin: The Last City, the 
  oldest and most extravagant ward at the cavern’s height; 
  Arshyvhar, the middle market district; and Ghenavoc upon 
  the cavern floor, where the city’s poorest toil to survive. 
  Within these districts and beyond lie hundreds of locales, 
  a few of the most noteworthy being summarized here.
  1. The Broken Chain: A curious sort of drow, Pharnis Xharn 
  (LE male drow ranger 7) touts his out-of-the-way inn as a 
  welcoming resting place for non-drow visitors to Zirnakaynin. 
  Xharn also runs a side business selling information about 
  his guests to Garrien Eztereim in Rygirnan. 
  2. Vostrac: Occupying a cavernous corner of Cocyrdavarin, 
  the slum of Vostrac serves as prison and showroom for 
  Zirnakaynin’s slave population. Overseen by the scions 
  and merciless guards of House Rasivrein, hundreds of 
  slaves march from the fortress daily, directed to fill the 
  workhouses, toil in the fungal fields, mine unyielding 
  metals, and perform dozens of other unforgiving tasks 
  in and around the city. Emissaries of the city’s rich and 
  noble families also frequently visit Vostrac, touring the 
  slums looking for the most comely, fit, or skilled to serve 
  as servants—a fate far more desirably than one endlessly 
  under the lash of Vostrac’s sadistic guards.
  3. Citadel Toraiyor: Guarding the passage to Zirnakaynin’s 
  outlying settlements and farmlands, Zirnakaynin’s largest 
  population of enslaved driders reside here and within caves 
  in the surrounding walls. Gharhaz (CE male drider fighter 
  9) currently reigns as the most skilled veteran among the 
  fleshwarps’ ranks.
  4. Flauros’s Eyes: Several deep crags perforate the 
  northeastern reach of Cocyrdaynin, steep pits that fall all 
  the way into the lava-filled cavern of Rygirnan below. While 
  some flying travelers use the gaps as passages between the 
  two layers, the constant seep of noxious steam deters most 
  airborne or wall-walking traffic.
  5. Reek: A warehouse converted into a flophouse, the 
  Reek gains its name from its most common patrons: 
  troglodyte travelers. Slumlord “Face Eater” Ragot (CE 
  troglodyte barbarian 4/fighter 4) sells hammocks or 
  flea-ridden pallets for a mere silver piece, but few non-
  troglodytes can stand the place’s pervasive stench or 
  deadly nightly brawls for food and space. Regardless of the 
  stinking, dangerous occupants that crowd the warehouse 
  nightly, it is widely known that few drow would ever 
  set foot in the filthy slum, making it a last resort for all 
  manner of wanted refugees.
  6. Drashes: Amid the tenements and workhouses of 
  Ghenavoc sprawl the filthy paths and dangerous alleys 
  of Drashes, the Gray Market. Where perfumed officials 
  strictly regulate the commerce of Ovessia, in Drashes 
  anyone or anything can sell anyone or anything. Thugs 
  for hire, second-hand slaves, questionable alchemy, drugs, 
  poisons, dark magic, and untold other wares that even the 
  unscrupulous merchants of Ovessia would balk at selling 
  are found in ready supply. Unsurprisingly, crime runs 
  rampant here, with theft, arson, murder, and all manner of 
  double-dealing taking place in the perpetual twilight. City 
  guardsmen rarely bother to enter the market, preferring 
  to let the foreigners, the poor, and the desperate sort out 
  their own squabbles. In light of an absent government, the 
  dark stalker Xomos Fain (NE male dark stalker rogue 9) 
  and his gang of drow and dark folk assassins command the 
  market’s only protection racket. 
  7. The Scree: Within this abandoned and half-collapsed 
  workhouse toils Vi’Ing (CE female derro fighter 6) and her 
  band of derro slavers. The maniacal flesh peddlers run 
  a risky game, capturing the poor and sick of Ghenavoc 
  and selling them to derro outside the city for all manner 
  of perverse experiments. Although widely hidden from 
  public view, many of the city’s matriarchs and information 
  mongers know of the insane conspirators, yet let them run 
  their deadly game, sometimes secretly utilizing the derro to 
  disappear their own enemies.
  8. Plazas of Travail: In numerous places throughout the 
  city, winding streets end in broad circular plazas, places of 
  dark beauty decorated with linthcrafted rock gardens or 
  mosaics of heatless mage fire. These Plazas of Travail seek 
  to remind the drow of the Abandonment—the dark days 
  after Earthfall—and the descent into the Darklands that 
  almost eradicated the catastrophe’s survivors. 
  9. The Garden of Chayt: Supposedly the last daughter 
  of some unnamed, extinct noble family, the so-called 
  Matron Chayt (LE female drow aristocrat 4/rogue 6) touts 
  herself as a beneficiary of the common drow. From her 
  estate amid linthcrafted obsidian gardens, the decadent 
  moneylender provides capital for any venture, employing 
  a gang of loan sharks and thugs to terrorize debtors 
  wherever they might flee. 
  
  53
  Zirnakaynin
  10. Cythvahei: Fed by a trickling supply of runoff from 
  the stone above, the fungus-lined lake of Cythvahei is widely 
  held as being unhealthy to drink from. Possessed of an oily 
  sheen, the lake’s waters encourage the growth of fungus and 
  seem to attract numerous breeds of fat cave beetles. Rumors 
  regularly tell of poor or foolish drinkers being yanked below 
  the waters by insectile pinchers, causing most of the city’s 
  residents to avoid the waters. Two fungus-covered islands 
  float near the lake’s center, the larger serving as the refuge 
  of the vindictive druid Bhorvora (CE female drow druid 11).
  11. Yagasfanas: Within a massive hollow along 
  Cocyrdavarin’s northwestern edges a forest of gigantic fungi 
  sprouts from beds of rampant mold. A strangely beautiful 
  garden in the midst of a city of blades and stone, the forest 
  provides a variety of rare ingredients for local mages and 
  alchemists. Numerous outcasts seek sanctuary in 
  the rotting cavern, living as unsuccessful beggars 
  and pickpockets preying off the lowest rung of 
  drow society. 
  12. The Blind Eye: Run by the serious 
  duergar Ranbhor Gost (LE male 
  duergar fighter 5) and Vorjans Gost 
  (LE female duergar rogue 7), the 
  Blind Eye serves a variety of 
  bland dwarven fare and well-
  mixed drinks for high prices. 
  The tavern makes most of its 
  money off of the Gosts’ promise of 
  privacy and their hatred of snitches. Vorjans 
  keeps a mason jar of eyes behind the 
  bar and carries a long poker with her, 
  with which she’s become quite skilled 
  at thrusting into the eyes of suspected 
  spies and busybodies.
  13. The Diamond Coffer: Offering 
  questionable sanctuary to all with 
  the coin to afford it, Carvein Loaxorin 
  (NE male drow vampire rogue 8) 
  operates a number of safe houses in and 
  around Zirnakaynin. He assures the safety and 
  survival of any who hire him and his associates, 
  offering 
  concealment 
  and 
  escape 
  rather 
  than bodyguarding services. His prices vary 
  depending on the customer’s desperation, from 
  several platinum coins to several pints of blood.
  14. The Blind Serpent: Hidden beneath a shroud 
  of illusions and delicate veils, the beauteous, boil-
  covered Mistress of Venoms, Siyis (LE female 
  drow sorcerer 14), maintains a vast collection of 
  poisons and toxins for sale. Aside from actual 
  poisons, numerous venomous animals fill her 
  collections, some having undergone 
  fleshwarping 
  to 
  make 
  their 
  natural weapons more toxic. Siyis keeps her past well 
  hidden, but it’s rumored that she collects and sells her 
  poisons in preparation for some elaborate vengeance.
  15. Mysia Falls: Running untold miles through the black 
  depths, the natural spring known as the Endless Tear 
  provides Zirnakaynin with the vast majority of its potable 
  water, crashing from the stone in a series of falls feeding 
  Lake Tymisgana below. These numerous cascades of dark 
  water together form Mysia Falls. Tended and protected by 
  House Tracinoa, their daily drownings in sacrifice to Jubilex 
  assure the city’s lifeblood continues to flow. It’s rumored that 
  within and behind the falls’ waters lurk horrors of animate 
  water and deadly poison. 
  16. Sinocoscreil: The largest side cavern of Cocyrdavarin 
  and a distinct district of Zirnakaynin, the 
  cavern of Sinocoscreil hosts numerous 
  schools dedicated to dark arts and 
  communities of mad scholars. 
  Here the drow rich and elite train 
  to serve their city and the noble 
  houses as warriors, mages, assassins, 
  poisoners, or in countless other 
  deadly or debased ways. The 
  most noteworthy halls of 
  learning are the Vonnarc-
  controlled mage school known 
  as the Spire of Avnac; the White 
  Kiss, a decadent palace where the lines 
  between courtesan and assassin blur; and 
  Vharmagos, where masters of bow, blade, 
  chain, and pain forge students into deadly, 
  brainwashed fanatics.
  17. Ileccinoc: The topless tower of 
  Cocyrdavarin, Ileccinoc serves as the heart 
  of government, bastion of the city guard, 
  and throne of Zirnakaynin’s once and future 
  tyrants. Visible from nearly any location in 
  the city’s central cavern, the tower sparks with 
  crystalline towers and stands as a symbol of the 
  drow’s tenacity and domination of the dark.
  Within Illeccinoc, near the tower’s heart, lies the Council 
  of Widows. The law of Zirnakaynin states that the matrons 
  of the city’s most prestigious houses must meet here daily 
  to guide the course of their people. In practice, poison-
  tongued proxies and scheming agents of the 12 noble 
  families gather to argue trivialities. Only in the direst 
  times do the actual city matrons meet to shriek and 
  curse over the fate of their homeland.
  At the center of the Council of Widows 
  stands the Soulwrought 
  Throne, 
  the 
  ultimate seat of 
  rulership over 
  Sarlottia
  Sardavic
  
  54
  Second Darkness
  Zirnakaynin. Crafted of black diamond and said to 
  contain the tortured spirits of a thousand betrayers, 
  the vaunted throne stands in reserve for the Tyrant of 
  Zirnakaynin. At any time, the Council of Widows may, 
  through unanimous vote, elect an individual to lead the 
  city, a ruler whose word all drow must obey. Due to the 
  council’s fractious nature, though, only in times of the 
  direst need—thrice in all recorded drow history—have 
  the matriarchs managed to agree upon a tyrant. Even 
  should a tyrant be chosen, though, her rule is limited 
  to a single year of omnipotence. Believing that even a 
  deposed tyrant would be a danger to the city’s stability, 
  drow law states at after the tyrant’s year ends she must 
  abdicate the throne and meet execution by the Council of 
  Widows. Thus, like much in drow life, the Soulwrought 
  Throne promises incredible power, but ultimate death.
  18. The Sire: Zirnakaynin’s only gentlemen’s club, the 
  Sire provides an escape for subjugated male members of 
  the drow elite, granting respite, diversion, and a place 
  for men to meet away from their mothers’ and sisters’ 
  matriarchal scrutiny. For centuries the posh estate has 
  served as a hotbed of social unrest and faces constant threat 
  of matronly retribution, but owner Master Jhondron Hois 
  (CN male drow bard 4/fighter 6) retains the support of 
  numerous wealthy noble sons and maintains a legion of 
  all-male guards who deter regular attacks. 
  19. The Cyclic Sublime: One of the largest structures 
  in Zirnakaynin, this dual opera house and arena hosts 
  nightly performances ranging from the avant-garde 
  to the obscene. Boasting a massive dome of patterned 
  crimson glass and the names of the city’s currently favored 
  performers, gladiators, and torturers blazing in illusory 
  flames, the Cyclic Sublime regularly draws massive crowds, 
  with many of the city’s most potent personalities attending 
  regularly. Currently, crowds flock to the Cyclic Sublime 
  to witness a number of popular performances including: 
  weekly Bloodbouts, gladiatorial events typically featuring 
  uneven matches between slaves and various captured or 
  summoned beasts; the music of the twin castratos Rovomos 
  and Somovor; and the gallery showings of the fleshwarped 
  artist of webs known as Breathless (CE female fleshwarped 
  drow bard 8/rogue4).
  20. House Rasivrein: The imperious Rasivrein family 
  distains the soft decadences of Eirdrisseir, choosing long ago 
  to live among the city’s people in the heart of Zirnakaynin. 
  From their walled palace, the city’s flesh-mongers keep a 
  close eye on their ventures in Ileccinoc and across the plateaus 
  behind the iron fortification of their slave city Vostrac.
  21. Ovessia: Locally known as the Pale Market, Ovessia 
  draws ambitious and audacious traders from throughout 
  the Darklands. Those who would do businessthere must 
  first apply for permission and have their wares inspected 
  for quality and suitability at the Commission, a massive 
  silver-domed warehouse at the market’s northwestern edge. 
  Here, Cognoscenti Letiandeil Dirvond (CE female tiefling bard 
  14)—a greedy drow-tiefling in service to House Vexidyre—
  and her legion of exacting inspectors oversee the market’s 
  smooth and profitable operation. Those who they reject are 
  denied space in the market, while those accepted must pay 
  a variety of ludicrous daily fees. Shoppers in Ovessia find 
  crowded booths, tents, carts, and stalls of sizes and varieties, 
  manned by haggling traders of dozens of races—primarily 
  drow, but duergar, derro, dark folk, and even merchants from 
  other planes find their way to the city. A determined buyer 
  can find nearly anything he desires here, from magic, to 
  drugs, to any other treasure or vice imaginable. 
  22. Lake Tymisgana: Two bodies connected by a sizable 
  river, Cocydavarin’s northern waters are together known as 
  Lake Tymisgana. Groves of gigantic mushrooms line the 
  darkened waters’ shores, favorite spots for varied clandestine 
  meetings. Numerous rumors hold that deep within the lake 
  hide trenches with no bottoms, stories reinforced by records 
  of strange creatures emerging to wreak havoc upon the city.
  23. Venom Kiss: A pleasure den catering to lesser drown 
  nobles and rich merchants, Venom Kiss offers a wide menu 
  of depraved diversions, from music and alcohol to drugs and 
  pleasure slaves. Venom Kiss is fully detailed on page 40.
  24. Enigma: An odd sort of boutique, the heavily cloaked 
  trader Iyrnadine (NE male urdefhan sorcerer 8) deals in 
  curios from throughout the Darklands and mysteries 
  forgotten to both the world above and below. Although his 
  crowded showroom holds vast and varied oddities—some 
  quite dangerous—the one objet d’art he refuses to part 
  with for any price is some manner of sarcophagus shaped 
  like a golem bound in iron bands.
  25. Vivirnis, The Chapel of Sovereigns (above  area 
  6): High above the floor of Ghenavoc the ancient stone of 
  Cocyrdavarin’s ceiling bubbles into a gigantic dome. Into the 
  walls of this dome the drow have constructed 12 cavernous 
  shines, dedicating one to each of the city’s demonic patrons. 
  Each chapel supports a cult of fanatics who make daily 
  sacrifices to their respective demon lords and ever seek to 
  divine their dark wills. Currently, the most potent cults 
  are those dedicated to Andirifku and Nocticula, led by the 
  masochistic priest Kaivhoniel Roggas (CE male drow cleric 
  8/rogue 4) and the darkly beautiful Iyron Vashan (CE female 
  drow cleric 10/demonic initiate 5), respectively.
  eirdrisseir
  Those who pass through Nirvestas’s Crucible, the great 
  gaps in the ceiling of Cocyrdavarin, or ascend through 
  the winding tunnels south of the city eventually reach 
  Eirdrisseir, the realm of Zirnakaynin’s noble families. A 
  vast, cavern dotted by groves of eerie fungus and broken 
  by rugged cliffs, here the palatial homes of the majority 
  of Zirnakaynin’s noble families and most influential 
  
  55
  Zirnakaynin
  socialites loom over the largely barren landscape. 
  Dominating the western cavern, the stalagmite-tower 
  of Ileccinoc’s protrudes from the caverns below, while 
  elsewhere lie the scattered boutiques of the city’s most 
  stylish merchants and the holds of rich mercenaries, spies, 
  and other nefarious sorts.
  26. House Dolour: The death-trap citadel of Nirzevren 
  houses the sly stalkers of House Dolour. Half decadent 
  palace and half labyrinthine training ground, House 
  Dolour always appears deserted from a distance, though in 
  truth hidden assassins and invisible monstrosities guard 
  the house well. Aside from the occasional healer, alchemist, 
  or herbalist, few are ever seen visiting Nirzevren and even 
  fewer are witnessed leaving.
  27. House Vexidyre: Veins of silver, jade, malachite, 
  mithral, and more exotic materials trace the spires of many-
  towered House Vexidyre. Easily the most extravagant palace 
  of the drow nobles, the house employs no soldiers, trusting 
  to various constructs hidden within the lavish architecture 
  to defend the family should need arise.
  28. House Azrinae: A legion of demons and drow 
  warriors heavily armed with ancient drow magic guard the 
  largely deserted Azrinae compound. First Son Kardinnyr 
  guards his familial home tenaciously, keeping his men on 
  constant alert and having emptied the house’s vaults of 
  arcane weaponry—several pieces of which he doesn’t fully 
  understand how to control.
  29. The Irresistible: A boutique and meeting ground 
  for wealthy drow, the vast halls of this pleasure palace are 
  available to arrange a variety of grandiose events, from 
  finely catered galas, presentations by skilled and exotic 
  merchants, and elaborate funerals. In addition to a network 
  of professional servants, House Master Ghandirrik Fesh (NE 
  male drow bard 9) employs his own troupe of skilled actors 
  and assassins, The Double Dagger Players. Daring nobles 
  delight in the Double Dagger’s performances, as every 
  performance holds the risk of a climatic assassination.
  30. House Moivas: The citadel of Zirnakaynin’s vermin 
  keepers crawls the walls of Eirdrisseir like the towers of 
  giant exotic ants. In addition to the house’s carapace-
  armored guardsmen, a number of Colossal centipedes 
  enthralled by the family’s worshipers of Mazmezz aid in 
  protecting the palace.
  31. Ileccinoc: Linthicrafted from a single gigantic 
  stalagmite, this grandiose tower connects with the tower 
  of Ileccinoc situated in Cocyrdavrin directly below. Within 
  this expanse lie the offices and salons of emissaries from 
  outlying drow communities, as well as redoubt of the city’s 
  scouts and spies under the command of Second Daughter 
  Tiris Dolour (CE female drow rogue 11/assassin 4).
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  56
  Second Darkness
  32. The Shimmerdeeps: A myriad of multicolored algae 
  and floating fungi cover the pools of tainted water at 
  Eirdrisseir’s heart. Regardless of their noxious quality, the 
  swirls of toxic runoffs and waving fungi give the shadowed 
  pools an ominous, otherworldly beauty.
  33. The Poison Key: Situated at the center of a land 
  bridge between the Shimmerdeeps, this lavish festhall 
  caters to wealthy drow women. The house employs a 
  retinue of blind drider slaves, allowing Madam Eimirrine 
  Tirdranoir (LE female drow bard 8/rogue 6) to maintain 
  her establishment’s promise of absolute confidence.
  34. Nirvestas’s Crucible: These deep pits connect 
  Eirdrisseir and Cocyrdavarin. Drow with the ability to fly 
  or levitate as well as caravans of wall-crawling creatures 
  often forgo the typical tunnels connecting 
  the two great caverns in favor of these 
  vertical shortcuts.
  35. House Vonnarc: The grounds of House Vonnarc hold 
  both the Vonnarc palace and the arcane Tower Solacas. Both 
  are detailed in this month’s adventure, “Endless Night.”
  36. The Darkling Eye: This is the showroom of 
  prestigious jeweler Vheinso Unisva (CE male drow bard 
  5), a vindictive perfectionist and favorite customer of 
  Matron Sarlottia Sardavic. He constantly competes with 
  the silverwork of rival Garrien Eztereim.
  37. House Misraria: The cavernous ceiling of Eirdrisseir 
  hangs close over the obsidian minarets of House Misraria. 
  Rumors hold that the house guards ancient and forgotten 
  passages into the Darklands and Cocyrdavrin below, long 
  used by stealthy Misraria spies.
  38. House Udrinor: Cultivating the spread of fungal 
  growth around their home, the Pallid Palace, numerous 
  breeds of moldering monstrosities lurk near the bastion of 
  the Udrinor nobles. Named for a rare spore known only to 
  grow upon their fortress’s walls, Udrinor palace tends to 
  sicken visitors who remain within for too long.
  39. House Tracinoa: The unwalled palace of House 
  Tracinoa welcomes all who would call, offering crystalline 
  water and exotic refreshments. Those who visit often face a 
  deadly paradox: deny the hospitality of one of Zirnakynin’s 
  most powerful families, or drink from the cup of some of 
  the most skilled poisoners in the Darklands.
  ryGirnan
  Bubbling beneath the deepest pits of Cocyrdavrin lies the 
  vast lava lake of Rygirnan, the forge of Zirnakaynin and 
  the foundry where the deadly craft of drow smiths and 
  artisans take shape. Drawing upon the molten lifeblood 
  of the earth, hundreds of workshops endlessly churn 
  out weapons of peerless lethality and masterful 
  construction, paying for such wonders with the mineral 
  treasures of the surrounding mines and the blood of 
  countless slaves. Forgoing the deadly company of their 
  peers, the drow of House Caldrana make their home 
  upon the lake of fire, overseeing the control and smooth 
  running of the city’s forges from their iron palace. 
  Although a lesser family, in Rygirnan, the merciless 
  commands of House Caldrana are law.
  40. House Caldrana: The fortress-like palace of the 
  Caldrana noble family rises above the lake of molten rock, 
  proclaiming the family’s dominance over Rygirnan.
  41. The Hell Locks: A series of locks that maintain 
  the constant temperature and motion of magma flowing 
  into the heart of Rygirnan. Several members of the 
  Caldrana family and the brood of Virnixsheir (NE male 
  noble salamander sorcerer 4) keep the gigantic and vital 
  mechanisms in working order.
  42. The Black House: Caked in centuries of soot, 
  Barsonil Soamir (CE male drow fighter 3/expert 5) runs this 
  collective of free smiths, working in an ongoing contract 
  Kardinnyr
  Azrinrae
  
  57
  Zirnakaynin
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  with House Razivrein to supply all manner of bindings and 
  restraints. Soamir has long made his furnaces available to 
  nobles seeking to disappear political foes for a price.
  43. The Ashen Bath: These three interlocked pools of 
  magma fuel the diverse workings of Rygirnan’s central 
  forges. A brood of dominated thoqquas aid in keeping the 
  fiery rock molten and moving.
  44. Citadel Solsear: A fortress and massive factory, 
  here the House Caldrana works hundreds of slaves to 
  exhaustion, forging weapons, armor, and other special 
  projects for the soldiers of Zirnakaynin. The mad drow 
  and adopted Caldrana, Third Son Luaxsis Caldrana (CE 
  male drow expert 14/rogue 4) maintains a workshop here, 
  indulging his gift for creating brilliant war machines and 
  elegant torture devices.
  45. Blisterfont: The largest of several waterfonts 
  maintained by House Tracinoa, Ioam Tracinoa (CE 
  female drow cleric 7) and her demonic guardians assure 
  that the smiths of Rigirnan pay high prices for the cool 
  liquids they require.
  46. The Flamefall: A massive rent in the earth, through 
  which the Lake of Fire empties into untold burning 
  depths deep within the earth below. A gang of rowdy fire 
  mephits often loiter about the falls, while somewhere 
  below lies the lair of the balor Arn the Embersoul, an ally 
  of the first Tyrant of Zirnakaynin.
  47. The Silver Tongue: Here the silversmith Garrien 
  Eztereim (NE female drow rogue 6) creates some of the 
  finest jewelry in Zirnakaynin and manipulates a vast web 
  of informants. She constantly wars with Vheinso Unisva, 
  both publicly and between their oft-shared sheets.
  48. The Scraphouse: The hulking former Black House 
  smith Diarnis Vhis (CE female tiefling ranger 8) pays 
  well for scrap metal. Already unnerving her neighbors by 
  keeping her rust monster pet, Ironhide, her seemingly 
  canny mind and lust for such worthless trash has baffled 
  locals for years.
  49. Drin’s: A simple, low class tool shop run by the dark 
  creeper Drin (CN male dark creeper rogue 4). The paranoid 
  dark creeper seeks to find his sister, a slave of House 
  Caldrana, and keeps a hidden basement under his shop.
  50. Voltharm: This is House Razivrein’s largest slave 
  camp in Rygirnan, where slaves too untrustworthy or 
  monstrous are housed between exhausting bouts in the 
  nearby mines or local forges. 
  51. Citadel Cionis: A barrier between Rygirnan’s forges 
  and tunnels that stretch deep into the Darklands, several 
  legions of veteran drow warriors under the command of 
  Miakarva Udrinor (NE female drow fighter 8/cleric 3) guard 
  the city from the horrors of Sekamina and Orv below. (See 
  Into the Darklands for further details on these subterranean 
  realms and beyond.)
  
  58
  Second Darkness
  Abominations of the Drow
  D
  uring the Time of Darkness, after the aboleths 
  called down devastation upon Azlant, the 
  surface elves who did not flee to Sovyrian 
  took shelter in the depths of the earth. With the myriad 
  challenges of life in the Darklands, those that would come 
  to be known as drow were forced to seek succor from any 
  divinities who would listen. As long as they could, they held 
  fast to their faiths from the surface world, but as starvation 
  and madness took its toll, the forsaken children of light 
  answered the call of entities offering them salvation: the 
  demon lords of the Abyss.
  Formerly a bright and peace-loving race, the elves’ 
  corruption hastened under their new masters. Among 
  the fiendish lords, one—Haagenti—schemed to use these 
  elves as his playthings and lead them to ruin, but over time 
  they grew stronger, crueler, and utterly unconcerned with 
  the sanctity of life. As they became more like demonkind, 
  the Lord of Alchemy and Change began to value the drow 
  for their utility. One of the most horrific secrets Haagenti 
  gifted to his new servants was the secret of fleshwarping, 
  the disturbing practice of permanently twisting an 
  individual’s bodily form, often merging it with parts of 
  other creatures. 
  Fleshwarping is used as a general term to refer to two 
  separate practices. The first, true fleshwarping, is a violent 
  and painful practice wherein an entire body is transformed 
  into a new form. The second type is fleshcrafting. This is 
  the art of making permanent physical modifications by 
  mutating or replacing body parts with features inspired 
  by vermin. The use of a magically enhanced poison is 
  required to complete the process of fleshcrafting, which 
  always brings with it the risk of death. It’s possible to ingest 
  this poison without making the physical modifications 
  permanent, causing the body part to temporarily transform 
  into the desired form, but it still carries with it the often 
  long-term affects associated with drinking poison.
  
  59
  Fleshwarping subjects
  Fleshwarping subjects come primarily from drow stock. 
  While the drow often capture members of other races and 
  choose fleshwarping as a means of eliminating the threat 
  they pose without actually killing them, they find far more 
  candidates for these alterations among their own kind. 
  A drow who instigates a rebellion against an established 
  matron is sure to become a drider. Other candidates 
  include any drow who are born with birth defects or 
  mental deficiencies, caught after committing a vicious 
  crime against another drow who is politically in favor at 
  the time, or who simply find themselves on the outskirts of 
  drow society and run afoul of the wrong house.
  The candidates for fleshcrafting are slightly different. 
  While this is still largely reserved for the undesirables 
  in drow society, a fair number are simply warriors who 
  find themselves disfigured through combat. A drow who 
  loses an arm in battle might have that arm replaced with 
  a burrowing claw, or a drow who was born without a 
  hand might be willing to submit to having an arachnid 
  as a substitute. Drow who willingly agree to these partial 
  metamorphoses are still considered freaks of society, but 
  they are also accorded grudging respect and encouraged to 
  fight alongside ordinary drow warriors.
  true Fleshwarping
  True fleshwarping is the practice of completely altering a 
  creature’s physical and mental form by submerging them 
  in strange reagents. The formula for the mixture was one 
  of the first things imparted to the drow when they agreed to 
  receive aid from Haagenti, the better to survive and adapt 
  to their harsh environment. It was preserved in their holy 
  texts so that it would be distributed to all drow, regardless 
  of which region of Golarion they ultimately migrated to. 
  The process for fleshwarping is part magical and 
  part alchemical. It is performed by a team including an 
  alchemist, a devotee of Haagenti, and occasionally a 
  torturer. While incantations are offered to Haagenti, a 
  fleshwarper makes incisions in the restrained subject’s 
  flesh into which he inserts tubes; the other ends of all 
  but one of these tubes are connected to pots of bubbling 
  alchemical substances. These substances act to break down 
  the subject’s corporeal form and make it more malleable.
  Assuming the subject survives the alchemical infusion, 
  fleshwarpers monitor the subject’s condition while 
  forcing a breathing tube into the subject’s throat. Unable 
  to speak, the subject is at best able to make strangled 
  screams as assistants lower the center portion of the 
  table, revealing a tub filled with searing alchemical goo 
  into which the subject is lowered. A fleshwarper then 
  introduces a sizeable quantity of live insects or other 
  vermin as well, the better to devour dying tissue and 
  make way for the new flesh that springs forth. Subjects 
  are generally kept awake during these procedures so as 
  to experience the full horror and pain of their warping. 
  Once immersed in the compound, the subject’s body goes 
  through a rapid series of transformations. During the 
  entire process, the subject is wracked with the agony of 
  the change, suffering 2d6 points of Constitution damage 
  (DC 15 Fortitude save for half).
  Once the transformation concludes, the subject is 
  expected to climb out of the alchemical bath under his 
  own power. If he does not emerge within 3 rounds, the 
  fleshcrafter immerses the breathing tube in the alchemical 
  bath, and the subject begins to drown.
  The alchemical solution is expensive, difficult to 
  create, and expended after a single use. The actual 
  ingredients of the alchemical solution include a number 
  of rare components combining various types of fungus, 
  several fully pulverized and destroyed oozes, the poison 
  from various breeds of giant spider. Overall, such true 
  fleshwarping brews cost upward of 10,000 gp. Rarely can 
  all the necessary components be found in one market, 
  often requiring fleshwarpers to make special reagent 
  gathering excursions.
  Fleshwarpers
  “Fleshwarper” is a term that refers to the alchemist-butchers 
  and Haagenti worshipers who perform fleshwarping rituals. 
  Haagenti’s fascination with magical concoctions and 
  unnatural experimentation upon living creatures is 
  legendary, and he imparted his knowledge to the drow so 
  In those first darkened days, there was a choice of fates: starvation, plague, enslavement, madness. The weakest 
  among them proved burdensome on the strong, the hungry starved the hearty, the feeble sickened the healthy. They 
  were on the verge of extinction.
  Then they heard the calls of the shadows, the whispers in the dark. The demons, terrible and mighty, spoke to them, 
  saying “Venerate us, and you shall have all you need to survive. Praise us, and you shall have all you need to conquer.” 
  And they listened, and built their first temple to the powers of the Abyss.
  They sacrificed their starved. They offered up their sick. They laid their slaves upon the altar for the demons to place 
  their immortal touch. And when they pulled their slaves down from the altars, they were as abominations.
  —The Lightless Scrolls, Volume I: The Scroll of Screaming
  
  60
  Second Darkness
  lower body undergoes a radical alteration, taking on the 
  shape of an enormous spider. The lower torso extends, and 
  the drow’s legs merge and bloat into an engorged thorax 
  which tapers to web-producing spinnerets. Eight spindly 
  legs sprout from the body and grow until proportional 
  with the new form. 
  An oddity among fleshwarped creatures, drow males 
  and females yield different drider forms. While females 
  emerge as centaur-like drow-spider hybrids, retaining 
  much of their minds and their darkly beautiful elven 
  forms, male driders become more spider-like, their faces 
  taking on an insectile quality with fanged mandibles and 
  multiple spidery eyes in addition to their arachnid lower 
  bodies. Male driders also tend toward savagery and the 
  patient, bloody hunting tactics of staking spiders, though 
  their reason is otherwise little impacted. Regardless, both 
  drider genders are outcasts, unfit for drow society. 
  The vast majority of driders are male. As females hold 
  an elevated position in drow culture, few submit to such a 
  horrifying process as fleshwarping. Those women who do 
  become driders typically either do so for their own insane 
  purposes, or as punishment for some terrible crime 
  against their people.
  Despite the rarity of drider females, the fleshwarps 
  also possess a potentially unique quality that still 
  baffles fleshwarpers: Driders breed true, and are capable 
  of producing offspring with either other driders or 
  drow males. In all other frequently fleshwarped races, 
  the trauma of fleshwarping leaves the victim unable to 
  spawn. Though not common, 1 in 3 drider pregnancies 
  result in an actual, healthy drider child. This has lead to 
  the appearance of several small communities of life-long 
  driders either dwelling on the fringes of drow civilization 
  or purposefully broken from their elven ancestors to 
  pursue lives of their own. 
  Dwarves: For millennia drow have attempted and 
  failed to fleshwarp dwarves. The results, despite endless 
  permutations of varied fleshwarping formulae, always 
  produces a useless, quivering, deformed flesh mass that 
  never survives more than a few moments. While a mad 
  fleshwarper of Far Parathra, Giobsod of the Fumes, claims 
  to have created a many-legged burrowing beast from 
  dwarven stock, the outcast’s reports are widely dismissed.
  Ghonhatine (troglodytes): Ghonhatines result when a 
  troglodyte is subject to the fleshwarping procedure. The 
  basic form of the troglodyte changes very little during 
  the fleshwarping procedure, but the size of the creature 
  increases dramatically. Troglodytes begin the process as 
  man-sized reptilian humanoids; by the time it’s done, 
  they’re twice as big, slightly slouched, and extremely 
  vicious. See page 84 for more details on ghonhatines.
  Gomnits (gnomes): Gnomes subjected to the process are 
  reduced to a mockery of their former state. Arms and legs 
  they can both aid in his research and reap the benefits of his 
  work. Fleshwarpers have very little regard for life outside of 
  their twisted curiosity and perverse need to experiment.
  Fleshwarping laboratories are filled with all manner of 
  surgical devices, some of which bear more resemblance to 
  torture implements. Scalpels, forceps, spreaders, and other, 
  more specialized equipment can be found throughout a 
  typical laboratory. All are meticulously sterilized before 
  slicing, poking, or otherwise exploring the skin of a 
  subject—though they care little for their patients, they’d 
  hardly want infection to set in after they were done and 
  destroy their work. 
  Fleshwarpers are craftsmen at heart. They see themselves 
  as drow who specialize in taking inferior individuals 
  and modifying them until they become useful again. In 
  cases where the modified creatures fulfill no purpose 
  when they are done, such as the gomnits, they view these 
  transformations as holy artwork devoted to Haagenti—or, 
  for the more pragmatic fleshwarpers, simply the disposal 
  of an enemy in a way that brings amusement to all.
  In Zirnakaynin, the Haagenti worshiping drow of House 
  Parastric perform the majority of the city’s fleshwarping 
  and fleshcrafting. While members of their own house 
  often take on fleshwarped augmentations, they also offer 
  these services to all with the wealth to pay. As such, an 
  untold number of slaves, soldiers, and horrific guardians 
  throughout the city bear the shocking results of House 
  Parastric’s perverse alterations.
  DriDers anD Other 
  hOrrOrs
  The alchemical process that creates driders has always 
  fascinated fleshwarpers and matrons alike, as the same 
  process achieves wildly different results when applied to other 
  races. This discovery led to a great deal of experimentation, 
  some of which produced results so dangerous and 
  uncontrollable that the drow were forced to destroy them. 
  One law seems to apply to fleshwarping different creatures, 
  however: those creatures who are inherently evil tend to 
  transform into forms that are changed, yet useful to the 
  drow, while primarily good creatures tend to transform 
  into useless, tormented things that spend the rest of their 
  natural existence in a state of tortured helplessness. Half-
  breeds, such as half-orcs or half-elves, usually transform 
  into creatures that reflect their non-human side.
  For all of these transformed creatures, there exist only two 
  ways to escape: magic as powerful as a wish or miracle spell can 
  undo the physical transformation, or the release of death—
  and most fleshwarpers are careful to ensure that release 
  does not come soon. Several of the abominations created by 
  subjecting different races to this procedure follow.
  Driders (drow): With these creatures, the upper body 
  remains much the same as its original drow form, but the 
  
  61
  Abominations of the Drow
  disappear into bodies, heads flatten downwards, and faces 
  are reduced to featureless holes. The end result resembles a 
  strange fleshy mushroom. Gomnits suffer a terrible curse as 
  their newly fleshy, porous, and constantly moist and warm 
  bodies make their forms ideal breeding grounds for all 
  manner of dangerous slimes and funguses. Yellow mold in 
  particular flourishes upon the fleshwarps’ bodies. Although 
  gomnits prove immune to the disgusting parasites, those 
  who take pity on the pathetic beings often come to regret 
  their charity.
  Grothlut (humans): Humans are more fortunate than 
  most in that most of their self-awareness is lost in their 
  transformation. Once submerged, a human’s body changes 
  into a white, formless mass. Legs disappear completely, 
  and though arms still exist, they become rubbery and lack 
  strength. Facial features smooth out—the nose sinks in, 
  the cheeks widen and flatten, and the eyes become pale 
  and seem to meld in with the surrounding skin. All body 
  hair melts away, and what is left is a pale, sexless creature 
  that resembles a slug in many ways, except that the new 
  creature still retains some remnant of its head and arms.
  Halsora 
  (vegepygmies): 
  Halsora 
  result 
  when 
  a 
  vegepygmy is subject to the fleshwarping procedure. The 
  creatures’ physical forms are changed very little, the major 
  exception being that the area where their eyes once were is 
  transformed to a continually flowing water duct, earning 
  them the moniker “the weeping beasts.”
  Irnakurse (elves): When elves are subjected to the 
  transformation, arms and legs disappear into the core 
  of their being and the elf elongates to nearly 8 feet tall. 
  The base of these creatures is stump-like, capped with 
  numerous branch-like protrusions that inhale and 
  exhale, constantly emitting a ghostly, reedy howl which 
  pervades any area where they have been placed. Their 
  former faces are stretched along the upper portion of  
  the pillar, distorted into a permanently preserved 
  scream. The drow enjoy seeing this fate befall their 
  hated enemies, so they often place these creatures on 
  display in places of prestige. See page 86 for more details 
  on irnakurse.
  Jashoi (halfling): Transformed into unsettling 
  quadrupedal beasts by the fleshwarping process, 
  halflings become insane, scampering jashoi. With 
  faces given constant, cannibal grins and their 
  spines protruding through tight skin in a arched 
  arch, jashoi screech and scream, bite and curse in 
  uncontrollable mania. Finding the beastly things 
  annoying and unmanageable, only good for the 
  cruelest entertainments, dark elves rarely fleshwarp 
  halflings. Those that do exist are usually kept as pets 
  or loosed like stray dogs on the streets. Most unsettling, 
  jashoi are usually recognizable for the halflings they once 
  were, and though their minds are reduced to ape-like 
  intelligence, they often retain a few words, meaningless 
  sounds that they parrot in jumbled sentences. 
  Oronci (orcs): Orcs put through the fleshwarping 
  procedure result in oronci. Upon submersion in the 
  alchemical ichor, the subject’s legs merge and the lower 
  body turns black and elongates to a length of approximately 
  15 feet, slimming to the width of the creature’s head and 
  becoming round. Once it has reached its full length, it 
  segments into smaller portions, each of which sprouts a 
  pair of short, thin legs. When the process is complete, the 
  creature has the upper body of an orc and the lower body of 
  a centipede, complete with poisonous spittle.
  FleshcraFting
  While the average drow is too vain to submit 
  to permanent body modification, their 
  inclusion of Haagenti in their pantheon 
  means that some are willing, 
  under the right circumstances, 
  to make a few adjustments. 
  The claw of a scorpion, the 
  fangs of a spider, the chitinous 
  shell of a centipede—all 
  come in useful, from 
  time to time.
  
  62
  Second Darkness
  For most drow, temporary physical alterations via a 
  fleshcrafting poison provide enough of an advantage for 
  most short-term goals. More permanent alterations involve 
  the terror of fleshwarping and offer larger benefits, but 
  come with numerous drawbacks. All permanent alterations 
  run the risk that the procedure will result in death.
  Whether a transformation is permanent or only 
  temporary, the “malformed” are not well treated in drow 
  society. Any character who is currently under the effects of a 
  fleshcrafting poison suffers a –5 penalty on Charisma-based 
  checks to influence drow. Those who undergo a permanent 
  alteration must face extreme pain in addition to the social 
  stigma. This pain lingers long after the procedure has been 
  completed, and often leaves its recipient mentally scarred. 
  Some (those who miss their Fortitude save by 10 or more 
  at the time of the procedure) suffer from chronic pain for 
  the rest of their lives, which translates to a –3 penalty on all 
  Fortitude saves.
  Each body slot can have one 
  modification via fleshcrafting; 
  any additional fleshcrafting 
  that affects the same 
  body slot replaces the previous modification. Fleshcrafting 
  transformations do not prevent the character from using 
  magic items that occupy the same body slot, unless the 
  modification alters the body slot in such a way as to 
  prevent the item from being worn or manipulated. 
  Using Fleshcrafting Poisons
  For those not interested in undergoing the full  
  transformation offered by fleshcrafting surgery, merely 
  drinking the prepared poisons can provoke the desired 
  changes for a limited amount of time. Imbibing a 
  fleshcrafting poison is like activating any other magic 
  potion, except that the changes require a full round to take 
  effect. However, in addition to the awful taste and disturbing 
  texture of these alchemical brews, the changes they cause 
  are painful and can even be fatal.
  Whenever a character uses a fleshcrafting poison to 
  make a temporary change, he must make a Fortitude save. 
  The DC for this save varies based on the poison imbibed. If 
  the save succeeds, the poison has its listed effect, including 
  penalties, for the duration of the fleshcrafting. If the save 
  fails, the penalty listed with each fleshcrafting lasts twice 
  the duration of the fleshcrafting. On any result of a natural 
  1 on this Fortitude save, the fleshcrafting poison fails to 
  properly react with the creature’s body, and the acquired 
  characteristic is cosmetic only, rendering full penalties 
  but no benefits for the duration of the poison. In addition, 
  the imbiber is immediately reduced to 0 hit points.
  Fleshcrafting Descriptions
  In addition to its name, body slot, and effect, each 
  fleshcraft is presented in a standard format, which 
  presents information for both the potion version and the 
  full procedure. Each category of information is explained 
  and defined below: 
  Temporary Duration: This is the length of time that 
  the fleshcraft lasts if the recipient is merely imbibing 
  the fleshcrafting poison for its limited effects. This does 
  not apply to a permanent fleshcraft. If the permanent 
  fleshcraft has a limited number of uses per day, the 
  drinker of the poison may use the ability that many times 
  during the duration of the poison.
  Saving Throw: This is the Fortitude save the creature 
  must succeed at to avoid prolonging the penalty from using 
  the fleshcrafting poison. Failure results in the penalty 
  lasting for twice the fleshcrafting’s duration. 
  Penalty: This defines the penalty a creature suffers 
  while reaping the benefits of the fleshcrafting.
  Effect: The actual benefit of the fleshcrafting effect.
  Fleshcrafting Cost: This is the cost of the permanent 
  fleshcrafting procedure.
  Poison Cost: This is the cost of making a poison which 
  will mimic the fleshcrafting procedure for a limited time.
  
  63
  Abominations of the Drow
  Antennae (Head)
  Temporary Duration 5 minutes
  Saving Throw DC 15; Penalty –2 hp per Hit Dice
  EffEcT
  You sprout antennae from your eye sockets, gaining blindsight 
  out to a range of 30 ft. and normal (human-level) vision.
  coST
  fleshcrafting cost 20,000 gp, 800 XP; Poison cost 750 gp, 30 XP
  Blinding Spittle (Head)
  Temporary Duration 10 minutes
  Saving Throw DC 15; Penalty –4 to Charisma
  EffEcT
  You produce viscous black spittle that can temporarily block vision. 
  To use it, you make a ranged touch attack at a –5 penalty, since this 
  is always a secondary attack. If you hit, the target is blinded for 1d6 
  rounds. You can use this ability 3 times per day.
  coST
  fleshcrafting cost: 6,480 gp, 259 XP; Poison cost: 900 gp, 36 XP
  Burrowing claws (Hands)
  Temporary Duration 10 minutes
  Saving Throw DC 15; Penalty –4 to Dexterity
  EffEcT
  Your hands are replaced with small hooked claws that are 
  secondary natural weapons that deal 1d6 points of slashing 
  damage. You can still wield weapons with them. These claws also 
  allow you to burrow through loose earth or sand at a speed of 5 ft.
  coST
  fleshcrafting cost 20,000 gp, 800 XP (affects both hands); 
  Poison cost 1,000 gp, 40 XP
  chitinous Skin (Torso)
  Temporary Duration 30 minutes
  Saving Throw DC 20; Penalty  –10 ft. movement
  EffEcT
  A chitinous shell grants you gain a +3 natural armor bonus.
  coST
  fleshcrafting cost  36,000 gp, 1,440 XP; Poison cost  1,200 gp, 
  48 XP
  Poison fangs (Head)
  Temporary Duration 10 minutes
  Saving Throw DC 20; Penalty –2 to Constitution
  EffEcT
  You may make a bite attack that deals 1d3 hit points of piercing 
  damage plus poison (Fortitude DC 15 + your Con modifier, 1d6 
  Str/1d6 Str). This bite attack is a secondary natural weapon. You 
  may use the poisonous bite up to three times per day; you decide 
  when you bite whether or not to inject poison, and there is no limit 
  to how many nonpoisonous bites you can make per day.
  coST
  fleshcrafting cost 18,000 gp, 720 XP; Poison cost 2,250 gp, 90 XP
  Retractable Spines (Arms)
  Temporary Duration 1 minutes
  Saving Throw DC 15; Penalty –2 to Constitution
  EffEcT
  Serrated reptilian spines grow along portions of your arms. As a 
  standard action, you can extend or retract a spine in one or both 
  of your forearms. You can use these spines as two secondary 
  natural weapons that deal 1d6 hit points of piercing damage 
  each. You gains a +4 bonus on all grapple checks when the spines 
  are extended.
  coST
  fleshcrafting cost 15,000 gp, 600 XP; Poison cost 600 gp, 24 XP
  Stinging Tail (Waist)
  Temporary Duration 10 min.
  Saving Throw DC 25; Penalty –2 to Dexterity
  EffEcT
  A scorpion-like tail sprouts from your lower back. You may make 
  a secondary natural attack that deals 1d6 points of piercing 
  damage plus poison. Your poison has a Fortitude save DC of 15 + 
  your Constitution modifier, and does 1d6 points of Constitution 
  damage as primary and secondary damage. This tail sting attack 
  is a natural weapon. You may use the poisonous sting up to three 
  times per day; you decide when you sting whether or not to inject 
  poison, and there is no limit to how many nonpoisonous stings 
  you can make per day.
  coST
  fleshcrafting cost 25,000 gp, 1,000 XP; Poison cost 3,500 gp, 140 XP
  BREW FLESHCRAFTING POISON [ITEM CREATION]
  In addition to the several fleshcrafting procedures listed, it’s 
  encouraged in drow society for characters experienced with 
  fleshcrafting to constantly experiment and invent new ways 
  of twisting flesh. The following feat is required to successfully 
  brew a fleshcrafting potion.
  Prerequisite: Caster level 10th, 8 or more ranks in Craft 
  (alchemy).
  Benefit: You can create a fleshcrafting poison capable 
  of mimicking one monster ability. Brewing a poison takes 
  1 day. When you create a fleshcrafting poison, you set the 
  caster level, which can be no higher than your own level. The 
  base price of a temporary fleshcrafting poison is its caster 
  level × the CR of the creature used in the fleshcrafting × 50 
  gp. To brew a poison, you must spend 1/25 of this base price 
  in XP and use up raw materials costing 1/2 this base price.
  The base price of a permanent fleshcrafting poison is its caster 
  level × the CR of the creature used in the fleshcrafting × 1000 
  gp. To brew a poison, you must spend 1/25 of this base price in 
  XP and use up raw materials costing 1/2 this base price.
  Note: If the fleshcrafting is an original creation, use the 
  nearest equivalent monster that possesses a similar body part 
  or ability.
  
  64
  Second Darkness
  T
  hrough the Darklands layer of Sekamina 
  writhes an expansive series of tunnels 
  known as the Worming Way. Facilitating 
  trade between numerous subterranean communities, the 
  several-hundred-miles-long route can hardly be called 
  safe, but it is one of the better-traveled paths through 
  the darkness. Near the drow capital of Zirnakaynin, the 
  Worming Way passes through the Blood Pools, a series of 
  leaking caverns spotted with pools of unnerving crimson 
  liquid. Recently, something has taken up residence among 
  the Blood Pools, something with a taste for flesh.
  “The Blood Below” is a subterranean wilderness adventure 
  for four 9th-level characters. In addition to working as a 
  stand-alone adventure, this Set Piece can supplement this 
  month’s Adventure Path installment, “Endless Night,” or 
  any other campaign headed underground.
  Adventure Hooks
  GMs who plan to send their PCs to or through the Blood 
  Pools might wish to employ any of the following plot 
  hooks. Adventure hooks marked with asterisks might be 
  especially useful to GMs running “Endless Night.”
  Blind Pursuit*: At any point the PCs travel through 
  the Darklands, especially as part of their flight from 
  Zirnakaynin, they might pass through the Blood Pools 
  and find themselves set upon by the resident morlocks.
  Lost in the Darkness: Two weeks ago, noted adventure 
  seeker, explorer, author, and Pathfinder Kean Vesandil 
  delved into a local cavern system, intent on finding evidence 
  of the mythic singing crystals spoken of in Volume 44 of the 
  Pathfinder Chronicles. Three days ago, one of his assistants was 
  found near the entrance to the caves, blathering about the 
  hungry darkness before finally succumbing to his wounds. 
  Numerous parties now seek to discover what happened to 
  Vesandil’s expedition, some willing to pay up to 4,500 gp for 
  information on his whereabouts.
  Taint in the Blood*: The mages of the drow noble house 
  Vonnarc have long relied on rare components shipped 
  to them from throughout the Darklands. Over the past 
  months, though, four of their caravans have been savagely 
  set PIeCe
  The Blood Below
  
  65
  raided passing through an area of the Worming Way 
  known simply as the Blood Pools. The Vonnarcs send the 
  PCs to discover what lurks in the Blood Pools and assure 
  that it never troubles them again.
  Unholy Portents: Sieera Windervim, a priestess of Desna 
  known for her uncanny sensitivity and strange visions, 
  has been visited by dark dreams over the past weeks. In 
  her dreams, she sees monsters deep in the nearby caves, 
  a presence of evil born of the most unholy magic, and a 
  scarred beast in stone. Although vague, local Desnans 
  trust Sieera’s portents and have pooled their gold (4,500 gp 
  worth) to finance an exploration of caverns and root out 
  what profane taint now lurks there.
  tHe Blood Pools
  Although known locally as the Blood Pools (or the sikharakai 
  among the drow), how the crimson-tinged waters of this 
  stretch of the Worming Way gained their morbid color varies 
  from tale to tale. Although stories of spilled god’s blood and 
  unholy curses swirl around the place, in truth the fetid pools 
  bear no ominous history or insidious arcane taint. Rather, the 
  sanguine fluids gain their coloring from an overabundance 
  of rare bacteria that flourish in the stagnant pond, nourished 
  by rare minerals in the rocks and rivulets of seepage through 
  the layers of porous stone 15 feet above. This taint manifests 
  as a concentrated form of the disease blinding sickness. 
  Any creature that comes into contact with the waters of the 
  diseased pools by entering any square of red liquid on the 
  map (for the most part restricted to areas 2, 4, 5, and 6) must 
  make a DC 16 Fortitude save or risk contracting blinding 
  sickness (incubation 1d3 days, damage 1d3 Str), just as if they 
  had drank from the water. An additional save is required 
  after every minute the character spends in the water, or after 
  leaving and reentering. A DC 20 Knowledge (dungeoneering) 
  or Knowledge (nature) check allows a character to note that—
  more than it merely being inadvisable to drink—these waters 
  might be dangerous even to touch.
  1. The Span (EL 8)
  A breath of warm air and the echoing trickle of slow  
  moving liquid resounds through this humid chasm—a moist, 
  uncomfortable ulcer that feels less like a cave and more like 
  the bowels of some impossibly sized beast. Between steep, 
  mold-covered cliffs hangs a natural bridge of slick stone, 
  while at least twenty feet below ripples what appears to be 
  an underground pond filled with countless gallons of thick, 
  semi-coagulated blood.
  The bridge hangs over a shallow pool of tainted water 
  20 feet below. Any creature that falls from the span takes 
  2d6 points of damage, as the 1-foot-deep pool beneath 
  does little to soften any impact. Although it looks slick, 
  the bridge itself is only slightly damp and has a few 
  patches of mold, which don’t significantly hinder those 
  moving across.
  To the west, the cliff there gradually curves and slopes 
  down to a shore in area 2 below.
  Creatures: The morlocks that inhabit these caves use 
  this stone bridge as an ambush site. Currently, there are 
  eight morlocks hiding beneath the span, four at either 
  end. As soon as a creature ventures onto the bridge, the 
  monsters skitter from below and attack. 
  I’ve seen it the world over. Every holy day, some starry-eyed evangelist steps up to his podium, raises 
  his arms, and starts belting out promises about the next world, who’s headed there, and who’s not. I’ve 
  talked to wizards, Pathfinders, pesh addicts, and other unsavory sorts who all swear they’ve seen Heaven. 
  That’s nothing I know about. But I have seen another world, one that hides in the dark right below our 
  feet. There’s amazing treasures, jaw-dropping sights, and wonders aplenty in that other world to be sure, 
  but everyday I envy those holy day preachers, because the world I’m going to tell you about is about as far 
  from Heaven as anyone can imagine.
  —Kean Vesandil, opening lines to his Darklands journal, Beneath Hell
  When to CheCk?
  Disease runs rampant in the Blood Pools, so much so that any 
  character who even sets foot in the unwholesome red muck 
  risks contracting blinding sickness. In situations like this, when 
  performing an action comes with a hidden peril, GMs might 
  want to hold off calling for saving throws so not to taint the 
  decisions of the entire party. I guarantee that in nine out of ten 
  groups, if PC 1 steps into the water and the GM pounces with 
  “Roll a Fort save!” that PC 2 probably isn’t going to plunge in right 
  after. In general, when it comes to things like disease—just as in 
  real life—a person or PC likely doesn’t know when he’s picked 
  something up. While it varies from game to game whether or 
  not it’s cheating for a player to act on knowledge his character 
  shouldn’t possess, its best to avoid giving PCs the temptation to 
  do so. In the same way, it’s not cheating for a GM to wait until 
  all the characters have made their choices before springing the 
  ramifications on them later.
  —Wes Schneider
  
  66
  Second Darkness
  Morlocks (8) 
   
  CR 2
  CE Medium monstrous humanoid (Into the Darklands 54)
  Init +8; Senses darkvision 120 ft., scent; Listen +8, Spot +2
  DEFENSE
  AC 15, touch 11, flat-footed 14
  (+4 Dex, +1 natural)
  hp 19 (3d8+6)
  Fort +3, Ref +9, Will +5
  Immune disease, poison
  Weakness light blindness
  OFFENSE
  Spd 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
  Melee club +5 (1d6+2) and
  bite +0 (1d4+1)
  Special Attacks leap attack, sneak attack +1d6, swarming
  TACTICS
  Before Combat The morlocks wait beneath the bridge, hiding 
  until they hear prey crossing above.
  During Combat Four morlocks attack anyone currently on the 
  bridge, while the other four attempt to keep any of their prey’s 
  allies at bay. Utilizing their climb speeds and swarming abilities 
  on the tight bridge, the monsters attempt to overwhelm a lone 
  opponent. Crazed as they are, a morlock might even attempt 
  to grapple an opponent and fling both itself and its opponent 
  from the span into the waters below.
  Morale The morlocks fight until there is only one left. The 
  final morlock retreats to area 4 if reduced to fewer than 5 hit 
  points, shrieking all the while.
  STATISTICS
  Str 14, Dex 19, Con 15, Int 5, Wis 14, Cha 6
  Base Atk +3; Grp +5
  Feats Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes
  Skills Climb +18, Hide +8 (+12 in caverns), Listen +8, Move Silently +8 
  Languages Undercommon
  SQ expert climber
  Gear club
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  Expert Climber (Ex) A morlock can cling to cave walls and even 
  ceilings as long as the surface has hand and footholds. In effect, a 
  morlock is treated as constantly being under a nonmagical version 
  of the spell spider climb, save that they cannot cling to smooth 
  surfaces. This ability doubles the normal +8 racial bonus to Climb 
  checks normally afforded creatures with a climb speed to a +16 
  racial bonus.
  Light Blindness (Ex) When exposed to sudden bright light, a morlock 
  is blinded for 1 round. When operating in an area of continual 
  bright light, the morlock takes a –1 circumstance penalty on attack 
  rolls, all saving throws, and all ability and skill checks.
  Leap Attack (Ex) As a standard action, a morlock may make a 
  single attack during a leap. It can make this attack at any point 
  along the course of the leap, either at the start, the end, or 
  while in mid-air. While jumping, a morlock does not provoke 
  attacks of opportunity when it leaves a threatened square.
  Sneak Attack (Ex) A morlock can make a sneak attack like a rogue, 
  dealing an extra 1d6 points of damage whenever a foe is denied 
  a Dexterity bonus, or when the morlock is flanking. 
  Swarming (Ex) Morlocks dwell and fight in cramped quarters 
  every day of their lives, and as such are quite adept at swarming 
  foes. Up to two morlocks can share the same space at the same 
  time. If two morlocks in the same square attack the same foe, 
  they are considered to be flanking that foe as if they were in 
  two opposite squares.
  Skills A morlock gains a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Move 
  Silently checks. In caverns, its racial bonus on Hide checks 
  increases to +8. It also has a +16 racial bonus on Climb and 
  Jump checks. A morlock can always choose to take 10 on Climb 
  checks even if rushed or threatened.
  2. Blood Pool 
  Black and crimson molds grow along the walls of this disgusting 
  oubliette, forming what look like crusty scabs at the edges of 
  an expansive pool of hemorrhaging earth-blood. Stalagmite 
  spears jut from the thick fluid—tiny mountains upon which 
  vampiric insects fat themselves on a sea of gore.
  Dominated by a pool of rusty, diseased-tainted water, 
  this wretched pit runs beneath the whole of area 1. 
  Although only about a foot deep, the murky liquid still 
  hinders movement as per a shallow bog (see page 71). 
  To the south, a tall fissure in the stone leads to area 4, 
  but requires a DC 15 Spot check to even notice (those on 
  the northern shore take a –5 penalty to this check due 
  to the distance). This crack hides a narrow passage that 
  Medium creatures must squeeze to get through and that 
  Large beings cannot pass.
  Numerous varieties of disgusting, blind cave insects 
  skitter upon the shores and walls of the pool here. They 
  are harmless, but unnerving. 
  Creatures: If the PCs were particularly stealthy 
  crossing the bridge and the morlocks remain unaware of 
  their presence, the eight degenerates noted in area 1 are 
  hiding here, clinging to the underside of the span. Any 
  PC who makes a DC 22 Spot check notices the creatures 
  crouched amid the overhanging stone. If the morlocks 
  are still here, they make use of their leap attack upon 
  noticing the PCs.
  3. Hunting Caves (EL 4)
  Tumorous protuberances of flesh-colored rock protrude from the 
  walls of this ovular cavern, while numerous knobby stalagmites 
  futilely reach for an inverse maze of stalactites above. Rivulets of 
  filthy fluid give the walls an organic sheen, like the half-formed 
  flesh of something unnaturally born, and dribble steady drips 
  that echo like the footfalls of unseen lurkers.
  
  67
  The Blood Below
  This chamber has long served as the hunting ground 
  of several generations of darkmantles. Any PC who makes 
  a DC 20 Spot check notices the bony remains of several 
  recent darkmantle meals—the skeletons of oversized cave 
  lizards—scattered about the room.
  A sizable crack splits the chamber’s southern floor, an 
  area where the earth collapsed into area 6 20 feet below. 
  The dotted line on the map shows the extent of the area’s 
  overlap above the Morlock Warrens below.
  Creatures: Currently, four hungry darkmantles lurk 
  amid the stalactites 15 feet above. Anyone who makes a DC 
  20 Spot checks notices the deceptive creatures shifting 
  amid the shadows.
  Darkmantles (4) 
  CR 1
  hp 6 each (MM 38)
  TACTICS
  Before Combat The darkmantles lurk in this chamber, waiting for 
  any creature of Small size or larger to pass through.
  During Combat Upon noticing prey or one of their brethren 
  attacking, the darkmantles use their darkness ability, then 
  flutter down from the ceiling to attack.
  Morale Any darkmantle who takes damage attempts to flee, either 
  back into the ceiling or down the crevice into area 6.
  Alternate Encounter: The Hunting Caves make an 
  optimal location for GMs to ambush their players with 
  pretty much any Darklands horror they’ve been itching to 
  use. GMs with access to the Tome of Horrors Revised might 
  want to add a few piercers into the existing encounter 
  to give it a more classic feel. Four darkmantles and five 
  piercers make for a CR 5 encounter. Alternatively, Into 
  the Darklands discusses host of new monsters aside from 
  morlock, and this area might make a perfect place to 
  use the Sekamina portion of the Darklands Wandering 
  Monsters chart found within.
  4. Bone Collection (EL 5)
  A stagnant river of blood worms its way through this 
  claustrophobic, low-ceilinged passage. To the south, upon 
  a gore-soaked shore, lies heaped a pile of cracked bones and 
  shattered skulls, the remains of countless deformed beasts 
  and murdered wanderers. With bone splinters and empty 
  eye sockets piled high enough to stare a man in the face, 
  the charnel mound shudders with the movements of carrion 
  insects and hungry cave lizards—vermin slinking their way 
  among a morbid feast.
  The morlocks discard the leftovers of their meals here, 
  piling marrowless bones and cleanly licked skulls in an 
  unceremonious mass. The tainted water here deepens to 
  about 4 feet, and the ceiling rises a mere 2 and a half feet 
  above that, potentially forcing short characters to Swim 
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  68
  Second Darkness
  through the calm water (DC 10) and taller creatures to stoop, 
  which alone doesn’t impact Medium creature’s movement. 
  This area is also treated as a deep bog, with every square 
  costing walking creatures 4 squares of movement and 
  providing a variety of cover effects (see page 71).
  Those who investigate the bones might discover two 
  details: a DC 15 Spot check noting that all the bones bear 
  the scratches of powerful 
  teeth; and a DC 22 Search 
  turning up a few discarded 
  valuables 
  (see 
  below). 
  A 
  DC 
  20 
  Knowledge 
  (dungeoneering) 
  check 
  also 
  reveals 
  that 
  the 
  majority of the remains 
  are skeletal drow, derro, 
  and morlock. The bugs 
  and lizards that lurk in 
  the pile are gross, but 
  harmless.
  Opposite 
  the 
  bone 
  pile, a depression in the 
  northern wall hides a 
  small gap leading to area 
  5. It requires a DC 22 Spot 
  check to even note that 
  the low vertical crack in 
  the wall hides a tunnel, 
  though the room beyond is not visible. Any character 
  who wishes to move through the passage must submerge 
  and pull himself through, a simple process, but one that 
  forces the character to make an additional save verses 
  blinding sickness. Only one character can navigate the 
  submerged tunnel at a time and moving through the 
  5-foot-long passage costs 4 squares of movement.
  Creatures: Four hungry morlocks linger in this room, 
  gnawing on the pile of remains. Although they are 
  supposed to be guarding the semi-secret entrance to area 
  5 (and listening for the cries of the creature within) they 
  are less then attentive. As soon as the PCs enter, the beasts 
  climb along the ceiling to attack.
  Morlocks (4) 
   
  CR 2
  hp 19 each (see page 66)
  TACTICS
  Morale Morlocks always fight to the death in groups, but if 
  reduced to 5 or fewer hit points, the final survivor attempts 
  to flee.
  Treasure: Those who successfully root through the pile 
  of bones discover two mithral shirts of drow design and 
  a steel box that has spilled 13 platinum pieces and 7 gold 
  pieces throughout the pile.
  5. Mother’s Altar (EL 1)
  The choking reek of burnt flesh, filth, and exotic herbs 
  overwhelms every gasp in this chamber. Along the far wall 
  stands a savage altar on which embers from a dented brazier 
  casting weak, flickering shadows over a crude yet obscene idol 
  of an impossibly pregnant humanoid with a vaguely dog-like 
  head. Before the figure lie many 
  grotesque offerings: bits of fetid 
  meat, bones, piles of mold, and 
  something more that squirms in 
  the shadows.
  Following 
  in 
  the 
  savage 
  traditions of her ancestors, the 
  morlock mother, Magnamaga, 
  keeps a shrine here to the half-
  remembered deity of their people. 
  Praising the scarred fertility 
  idol with regular sacrifices of 
  meat, blood, and less speakable 
  offerings, 
  all 
  the 
  morlocks 
  go through the superstitious 
  motions of an actual religion, but 
  only Magnamaga holds actual 
  belief in the profane power of 
  their goddess.
  Any PC who enters this dimly 
  lit room can make a DC 16 Knowledge (religion) check to 
  recognize the idol here as a very crude statue of Lamashtu, 
  the Mother of Monsters (see Pathfinder #5). They’ll also likely 
  investigate the horrifying miracle mewling in the shadows.
  Creatures: After years of unanswered prayers and perverse 
  sacrifices, Magnamaga and her brood finally attracted 
  the notice of Lamashtu or one of her despicable servants. 
  In profane whimsy, the evil deity granted her servants a 
  sign of her pleasure at their murderousness and bloody 
  offerings. Collecting together the heaps of rotting meat, 
  spilt fluids, underdeveloped flesh, and worse, the fiend 
  granted Magnamaga’s sacrifices life, spontaneously creating 
  a mewling, homunculus-like child. Delighted, Magnamaga 
  protects and nurtures the unholy child-thing here, though 
  she is a poor mother and the thing spends most of its time 
  gibbering and shrieking. The morlock leader cares little, 
  though, hearing in each scream praises to her foul goddess.
  Should the PCs approach the Importune, the horrible 
  babe starts shrieking and bites at them if it can. Aside from 
  its poison, it’s largely harmless, but its screams might bring 
  down the wrath of the entire morlock tribe lairing in the 
  nearby chambers. If the homunculus’s screams persist for 
  more then 3 rounds, Magnamaga finally takes notice and—
  shrieking—leads her entire tribe to discover what’s wrong 
  with her miraculous baby.
  
  69
  The Blood Below
  The Importune 
   
  CR 1
  Same stats as a homunculus (with the following changes; MM 154)
  hp 11
  Speed 10 ft.; fly 0
  TACTICS
  During Combat: The Importune shrieks and writhes as soon 
  as any non-morlock comes in sight. If something gets close 
  enough, it tries to bites it.
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  Posion (Ex) Rather than a normal homunculus’s poison, the 
  Importune’s bite is laced with a toxin similar to greenblood 
  oil. Injury; Fortitude DC 13; initial damage 1 Con, secondary 
  damage 1d2 Con.
  Treasure: A DC 16 Search of the altar reveals several of the 
  morlock tribe’s most valuable heirlooms: a masterwork kukri 
  with a blade shaped like a demon skull, three vials containing 
  a dose of drow poison, and six candles made out of morlock 
  fat. Anyone who makes a DC 20 Search check also notices that 
  one of the remaining grisly sacrifices has a thong of leather 
  threaded through it: a hand of the mage. In addition, the 
  Importune rests upon a bed of rocks and rags, cradled 
  within a dwarven-made, +3 mithral heavy shield.
  6. Morlock Warrens (EL 9)
  Shallow caves, dark crevices, and shadowed cavities pock the 
  walls of this naturally formed cavern. A gore-colored stew 
  laps against two stony shores, while pillars of eroded stone 
  summarize millennia of dripping fluid filth. Upon the rocky 
  beaches jut evidence of foul life: skulls impaled upon sharpened 
  stalagmites, crude hand axes, and the litter of a thousand 
  cannibalistic meals. 
  Within the shallow caves and upon the dry shores of this 
  cavern, the Blood Pools’ morlock tribe makes its home. 
  The waters here are only 1 foot deep, having the traits of 
  a shallow bog (see page 71). The savage stone tools and 
  debris on the shores are largely useless, being improvised 
  weapons at best.
  Approximately 20 feet above, a large crevasse in the 
  ceiling leads to area 3, which overlaps the warrens. The 
  dotted line on the map marks the boundaries of the 
  cavern above.
  In addition, several of the depressions in the warren 
  walls lead into other chambers. Anyone who makes a DC 
  20 Spot check can pick out a few tight tunnels through 
  the rock, leading into areas 7, 8, and 9. Tight fits, Medium 
  creatures must squeeze to enter these areas. In several 
  cases characters might also have to scale the stone walls to 
  reach the entrances.
  Creatures: A dozen morlocks linger in this room, 
  most sleeping or sluggishly relaxing after a recent meal. 
  Preferring to keep to the walls, all of the morlocks are 
  considered to be hiding, requiring a DC 22 Spot check to 
  notice among the shadows and similarly colored stone. 
  As soon as any one of the morlocks notices the PCs, it 
  shrieks and leaps to attack, alerting all of its brethren in 
  the chamber to do the same. If a battle here persists for 
  6 or more rounds, the morlocks in the dens and in area 
  9—including Magnamaga—come to investigate.
  Treasure: A DC 25 Search check of the waters of this 
  chamber reveals a number of morlock bones, several 
  discarded stone tools, a bronze amulet bearing the symbol 
  of Desna worth 50 gp, and a masterwork spiked gauntlet.
  
  70
  Second Darkness
  Morlocks (12) 
   
  CR 1
  hp 19 each (see page 66)
  TACTICS
  During Combat The morlocks make use of their leap attack and 
  swarming special abilities to attack those who invade their 
  home, positioning themselves to also make sneak attacks.
  Morale The morlocks never flee this room as long as Magnamaga 
  survives, fighting to the death to defend her. If the morlock 
  mother is obviously slain, though, the last three surviving 
  monsters attempt to flee the area into the Darklands. 
  7. Dens (EL Varies)
  Several crevices in the walls of area 6 are deeper than mere 
  indentations, leading into their own side caves. 
  7a: The entrance to this den is 10 feet from the floor of 
  area 6. Within four morlocks slurp out the insides of fat 
  cave beetles. They attack any non-morlock that enters (EL 
  6). A DC 18 Search check uncovers a crude stone knife with 
  an opal still embedded in the hilt. Although the knife is 
  dull and chipped, the opal is worth 300 gp.
  7b: The passage leading into this filthy chamber is 4 feet off 
  the ground. Within lie piles of soiled rags and skins, around 
  which creep five anemic morlock children. Treat these as 
  morlocks with 1 hit point and with a bite that deals only 1 
  point of damage. The children do not immediately attack, 
  looking at any PCs who enter with almost comically oversized 
  eyes, their jaws working as if trying to speak intelligibly. As 
  soon as anyone nears, though, the little savages attack like a 
  swarm of piranha and fight to the death.
  7c: The way into this den lies right off the shore in area 
  6. Within sleep five morlocks. Two more of the monsters 
  lie on the ground, dead, their bellies half eaten away by 
  their ravenous kin. The morlocks attack if roused (EL 6).
  8. Live Food Storage
  A barrier of sharpened bones blocks the passage to this 
  cramped cave, just off the shore in area 6. Anyone who 
  makes a DC 16 Strength check can move the barrier, 
  but doing so causes the splintered bones to scrape upon 
  the walls and floor with a noise like nails on slate. An 
  additional DC 16 Dexterity check is required to prevent the 
  barrier from scraping.
  Scattered skeletons and soiled debris pile along the edges and 
  against the stone central pillar of this cramped cave. Irregular 
  scratches cover the floor and walls in numerous places.
  On rare occasions when the morlocks feed well they 
  capture intruders rather than murdering them outright. 
  They bring such prisoners here, condemning them to a 
  horrifying wait until the tribe grows hungry again.
  Scratched into the walls linger the filth-stained last words of 
  numerous past prisoners. Along with the broken fingernails 
  of more than one writer, the most legible scrawls read as 
  follows: “Clavonna Misraria Ended Here” (in Elven); “The 
  snakes in the pit. They must be warned!” (in Undercommon); 
  and “Glycon preserve us! ” in Common.
  If the PCs have come to this place searching for Kean 
  Vesandil, they find him here—unconscious and with a 
  broken leg.
  Treasure: A DC 18 Search of the debris throughout the 
  room uncovers a filthy silver bracelet worth 250 gold, a 
  masterwork stone flute, and, hidden beneath a tattered 
  cloak, the hilt of a +2 cold iron shortsword. The sword bears 
  the emblem of a stylized warrior on its pommel and is 
  thrust a foot into the rocky floor, where it is stuck fast. It 
  requires a DC 20 Strength check to yank the weapon free.
  9. Magnamaga’s Den (EL 10)
  The entrance to Magnamaga’s Den lies 10 feet off the floor 
  of area 6.
  The smell of sweat pervades this nauseating stone chamber. 
  In a palette of bodily grotesqueness, crude and unnerving 
  paintings of violent morlock hunts, fat Darklands animals, and 
  obscene caricatures cover nearly every surface. Near the back 
  of the den lies a heap of piled lizards skins and tattered clothes, 
  among which numerous bones and the half-eaten remnants of 
  forgotten meals attempt to hide.
  This is the chamber of Magnamaga, the eldest female 
  of the Blood Pools morlock tribe and mother to more than 
  half of its members. 
  Creatures: Magnamaga spends most of her time here, 
  sleeping, howling for food, abusing her children, and 
  rutting with the tribe’s eldest males. She’s performing 
  some combination of those activities when the PCs enter. As 
  soon as a non-morlock invades her chamber, Magnamaga 
  and her four attendants attack. A wrathful mother, the 
  elder morlock begins to rage as soon as she or any of her 
  paramours take damage.
  Magnamaga 
   
  CR 9
  Female morlock barbarian 7 (Into the Darklands 54)
  CE Medium monstrous humanoid
  Init +9; Senses darkvision 120 ft., scent; Listen +15, Spot +1
  DEFENSE
  AC 17, touch 16, flat-footed 12
  (+1 deflection, +5 Dex, +1 natural)
  hp 109 (10 HD; 3d8+7d12+50)
  Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +5
  Defensive Abilities uncanny dodge, trap sense +2; DR 1/—; 
  Immune disease, poison
  Weakness light blindness
  OFFENSE
  Spd 50 ft., climb 40 ft.
  
  71
  The Blood Below
  Melee +1 vicious greataxe +15/+10 (3d6+6 plus 1d6 to self) and
  bite +9 (1d4+2)
  Special Attacks leap attack, rage 2/day, sneak attack +1d6, swarming
  TACTICS
  During Combat Magnamaga fights like a rabid dog; she chooses 
  a target and wails away on it until she dies. She takes no note 
  of damage she takes—either from enemies or her own vicious 
  weapon—relying on her rage and Diehard feat to keep her 
  fighting long after she should be dead.
  Morale Truly insane, Magnamaga fights to the death.
  Base Statistics AC 17, touch 16, flat-footed 12; hp 81; Fort +8, Will +3; 
  Melee +1 vicious greataxe +12/+7 (3d6+3 plus 1d6 to self) and bite +7 
  (1d4+1); Str 16, Con 16; Grp +12; Skills Climb +19, Jump +15
  STATISTICS
  Str 20, Dex 20, Con 20, Int 4, Wis 12, Cha 6
  Base Atk +9; Grp +14
  Feats Diehard, Endurance, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes
  Skills Climb +29, Hide +13 (+17 in caverns), Jump +17, Listen +4, 
  Move Silently +12
  Languages Undercommon
  SQ expert climber, fast movement, illiteracy
  Combat Gear potion of cure serious wounds (2); Gear +1 vicious 
  greataxe, ring of protection +1
  SPECIAL ABILITIES
  Expert Climber (Ex) Magnamaga can cling to cave walls and even 
  ceilings as long as the surface has hand and footholds. In effect, she 
  is treated as constantly being under a nonmagical version of the 
  spell spider climb, save that she cannot cling to smooth surfaces. This 
  ability doubles the normal +8 racial bonus to Climb checks normally 
  afforded creatures with a climb speed to a +16 racial bonus.
  Light Blindness (Ex) When exposed to sudden bright light, 
  Magnamaga is blinded for 1 round. When operating in an area 
  of continual bright light, she takes a –1 circumstance penalty on 
  attack rolls, all saving throws, and all ability and skill checks.
  Leap Attack (Ex) As a standard action, Magnamaga may make a 
  single attack during a leap. She can make this attack at any point 
  along the course of the leap, either at the start, the end, or while 
  in mid-air. While jumping, Magnamaga does not provoke attacks 
  of opportunity when she leaves a threatened square.
  Sneak Attack (Ex) Magnamaga can make a sneak attack like a rogue, 
  dealing an extra 1d6 points of damage whenever a foe is denied 
  his or her Dexterity bonus, or when the morlock is flanking. 
  Swarming (Ex) Morlocks dwell and fight in cramped quarters 
  every day of their lives, and as such are quite adept at swarming 
  foes. Up to two morlocks can share the same space at the same 
  time. If two morlocks in the same square attack the same foe, 
  they are considered to be flanking that foe as if they were in 
  two opposite squares.
  Skills Magnamaga gains a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Move 
  Silently checks. In caverns, her racial bonus on Hide checks 
  increases to +8. She also has a +16 racial bonus on Climb and 
  Jump checks. Magnamaga can always choose to take 10 on 
  Climb checks even if rushed or threatened.
  Morlocks (4) 
   
  CR 2
  hp 19 each (see page 66)
  Treasure: An investigation of Magnamaga’s chambers 
  reveals a number of disturbing treasures, most too 
  disgusting to note. Among the more useful and valuable, 
  though, are: a small morlock fertility idol—a miniature 
  replica of the statue in area 5, which serves as an unholy 
  symbol of Lamashtu and is worth up to 50 gp to any 
  worshiper or dark arcanist; “personal effects” in the form 
  of a necklace of shiny beetle carcasses, a collection of rare 
  skulls from various Darklands beasts, glistening pebbles, 
  and five pieces of onyx, all together worth 250 gp; and a 
  bone-shaped wand of invisibility with 41 charges left.
  ConCludIng tHe Adventure
  All things considered, the adventure ends when 
  Magnamaga is slain and her children are run off. The 
  PCs’ additional recovery of Kean Vesandil or destruction 
  of Lamashtu’s spawn in the area—the Importune—
  should wrap up any other loose ends the PCs might have 
  been sent into the Blood Pools to deal with. Even with 
  the larger tribe’s extermination, though, it’s possible 
  that any surviving morlocks that fled into the Darklands 
  did so not out of fear, but rather to seek reinforcements, 
  and perhaps Magnamaga was merely the daughter of an 
  older and even more wretchedly fertile morlock matron. 
  Regardless of such dark possibilities, for now the Blood 
  Pools have been cleared and secured for travelers—but in 
  the Darklands, no place ever remains safe for long.
  of Blood and Bogs
  The partially submerged areas of the Blood Pools have 
  environmental traits similar to shallow and deep bogs. The 
  rules for these terrains are summarized here from page 88 of 
  the DMG for ease of reference.
  Shallow Bogs: These squares have standing water of about 
  1 foot in depth. It costs 2 squares of movement to move into 
  a square with a shallow bog, and the DC of Move Silently and 
  Tumble checks in such a square increases by 2.
  Deep Bog:  These squares have roughly 4 feet of standing 
  water. It costs Medium or larger creatures 4 squares of 
  movement to move into a square with a deep bog, or characters 
  can swim if they wish. Small or smaller creatures must swim 
  to move through a deep bog. Tumbling is impossible in a deep 
  bog and the DC of Move Silently checks increases by +2.
  The water in a deep bog provides cover for Medium or 
  larger creatures. Smaller creatures gain improved cover (+8 
  bonus to AC, +4 bonus on Reflex saves). Medium or larger 
  creatures can crouch as a move action to gain this improved 
  cover. Creatures with this improved cover take a –10 penalty 
  on attacks against creatures that aren’t underwater.
  
  72
  Second Darkness
  06 Neth, 4707 ar
  I’ve snuffed Belzig’s lantern, and paused for a moment 
  with my back to a cave wall to write by candlelight. Forgive 
  the rough scrawl and drops of wax: my palm and shoulder 
  still burn from that miserable sycophant’s wounds. His 
  lantern’s fuel was nearly spent anyway. I only have my three 
  sunrods left—eighteen hours’ illumination. Who knows 
  how long I’ve been under Urgir and in the Darklands by 
  now, or how much longer I’ll remain beneath the earth? A 
  candle does the trick for now anyway: the stone all around 
  me holds a faint fluctuating glow, and I’m not eager for a 
  too-bright light to summon unanticipated company when 
  my eyes are on the page. 
  “Learn quickly, or your school will be your tomb.” 
  Venture-Captain Shevala told me that years ago, when I was 
  new to the Pathfinders, and I’d like to think that it’d make 
  her proud to see me now. On this journey, I’ve learned—
  quickly—that the enemy of my enemy isn’t my friend.
  Belzig, to have tracked me all this way, must have 
  outwitted every sort of foe I’ve faced. But before I fed 
  him to the snake-mouth trap, he was inches away from 
  cutting me down. And as for other potential allies… Well, 
  I’ll bet the degenerate dwarves I slipped past welcome 
  any orc in the Darklands with an axe in the belly. Fair 
  enough. But if I hadn’t called up that immense worm 
  outside their city, they’d have done the same for me, 
  or for any other Pathfinder that crossed their path. So 
  much for dwarven hospitality. 
  And the enemy of those dwarves? 
  In the massive limestone-dusted bas-relief I’m sitting 
  in front of, men with serpentine heads and tails sit atop 
  ziggurat-shaped thrones, lines of men and dwarves 
  kneeling and cowering before them. Atop ceremonial 
  altars, men are flayed alive beneath twisting, slithering 
  runes, or driven in like cattle past mountains of skulls 
  by more snakemen bearing strangely shaped pikes which 
  they use to punish the downtrodden figures drawing their 
  chariots. Countless frescoes and mosaics, and all variations 
  on the same themes: Dominance. Fear. Control.
  City of Serpents
  
  73
  One thing’s for sure: whoever inhabited this immaculate 
  ruin of a city was nobody’s friend. 
  From the overlook where I first emerged, I saw that 
  the city sprawled out without a readily apparent design. 
  Conical 
  buildings 
  encircled 
  snake-headed 
  central 
  chimneys, spiked ziggurats and arches twisted toward 
  the ceiling, and every surface—street, wall, roof—was 
  covered in swirling designs and serpentine pictograms. 
  The streets wound forward in ramps, smooth with the 
  polish of once-regular use. In the furtive illumination 
  of my sunrod, the white dust and the gleaming stone 
  beneath it glowed as if from some pale internal flame. In 
  a ring in the city’s center, barely visible in my light, I saw 
  identical necropoli—or temples?—built in long, wicked 
  spikes, like a compass rose or a mace.
  Feeling tiny, I whistled once sharply and waited for 
  movement.  
  Nothing. Even the air felt deserted, as it muffled my 
  sound into silence. 
  In my first adventure-thirsty years, before I sought 
  treasure and served the Will of the Ten, I’d made spare cash 
  as a guide for Taldan big-game hunters. I hadn’t been much 
  of a tracker, but considering most of my employers were 
  the type who hunted from sedan chairs, it didn’t matter 
  much. Still, I don’t have to look too close now at these silent 
  boulevards to see no foot—or tail—has ventured through 
  here in hundreds of years. Or is it thousands?  
  My wayfinder points me dead ahead. 
  Here where I pause at the city’s entrance, I feel how, 
  after days underground, time begins to fold and melt 
  in on itself. After waking from sleep into the pitch-
  blackness of a cold camp, after turning a corner and 
  finding chambers you’d seemingly just left, even the 
  stone-soberest Pathfinder might wonder—Is this the 
  cavern I just crossed? Where does this corridor end? Haven’t I 
  been in here before?  
  My wayfinder has been an easy guide, from the dwarven 
  gates of the Darklands down to the first gruesome 
  bas-relief at the entrance to this city. It’s my mind and 
  instincts whose guidance I’ve begun to doubt. My skin 
  is crawling, and I believe I can almost feel on my body 
  the sheer weight of stone overhead, of time and menace 
  around me. Every alien detail of this city is immaculate—
  there are no flaws on the bizarre statues of armor-clad 
  snakemen in every plaza, only dust; the barred domes of 
  oubliettes are unbent; even the glass of the houses’ round 
  windows is unbroken. 
  And perhaps some sort of treasure is hidden in chests in 
  every building. But until I see where my wayfinder leads, 
  I’m not about to poke around. Call it an uncharacteristic 
  lack of curiosity if you must, but experience teaches 
  Pathfinders that good and bad fortune are like two folded 
  hands, and pressing your luck is the surest way to see it 
  turn on you. I’ll have plenty of time to explore on my way 
  out. If the city of these snakemen is the end of the line for 
  my wayfinder, I’m not about to let it be the end of the line 
  for me as well. 
  08 Neth, 4707 ar 
  Looming before me, the gate of the necropolis yawned like 
  an unhinged jaw. The whole structure throbbed with the 
  same unsteady light that illuminated the city, but it seemed 
  brighter to me somehow. The alkaline smell of the cavern’s 
  omnipresent white dust, too, seemed more potent and harsh. 
  Did the magic that imbued the stones weave a stronger spell 
  here? Or perhaps the necropolis seemed brighter only in 
  my mind: this was the building my wayfinder drew me 
  toward—my goal, perhaps the culmination of my quest. 
  In the mouth of the building, there was the same 
  white dust, blown by who knows what wind into perfect 
  miniature drifts and dunes. The air now was perfectly 
  still. Along the building’s floor were forking designs in 
  dense red tile mosaic, engulfed just inside by deep black 
  shadow. The gate I approached, set in the half-morning-
  star shape of the necropolis, was ringed with fangs.
  I walked twenty paces into the bare entryway, my feet 
  grating over the dust of the floor. Suddenly my wayfinder 
  trembled, then began to spin wildly, swinging from one 
  side to another. Something was confusing its orientation. 
  Or, not confusing—redirecting.  
  Along each wall stood imposing oval portals, easily as 
  wide as three men. I took a step toward the nearest and my 
  wayfinder swung toward it. I took two steps to the left and 
  the needle twirled, settling on the second portal I was now 
  approaching. No single artifact, but something in each of 
  these chambers, was attracting the wayfinder’s ioun stone. 
  This, I hadn’t counted on.
  I stepped through this second portal and tossed in 
  my sunrod. The room flooded with light, and my heart 
  skipped a beat. 
  The circular ceiling was plated with gold, with an 
  embossed onyx inset spanning the forty feet of the room 
  in a long tapering slit. Set in the ceiling’s gold I could 
  see smatterings of green and red, roughened patches of 
  color and fainter iris-colored glows made by hundreds of 
  painstakingly placed green and red tiles. I was standing, a 
  single baffled human, beneath the image of an unblinking 
  serpent’s eye.
  And ringing the room, what I’d been pursuing for 
  thousands of miles, what my ioun stone must have been 
  created for, what had cost me all my sacrifices and brought 
  me all my adventures: dozens of identical stone cylinders, 
  each carved to be scaly-smooth like a reptile’s belly and set 
  upright into the stone of the floor.
  I was here. And something—I felt the intuition in me 
  like a sliver—something wasn’t quite right.  
  
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  Second Darkness
  staff toward me and I lifted one arm to block a blow, then 
  realized that it wasn’t my body the creature was reaching 
  for. The staff struck my knife-arm and my vision flooded 
  with cancerous green light as the snakeman reached into 
  my mind. 
  !Man man shoeshod kneel man servant of the truepeople kneel 
  you kneel before. 
  I swung my knife at him and even as I leapt I felt my arm 
  losing its strength, my knife slipping in nerveless fingers, 
  legs growing heavy. His staff pressed into my arm as if 
  sealed in place. 
  He stepped toward me. My feet carried me back. His tail 
  scraped over the floor; it coiled and he rose over me. 
  !Thousand thousand upon years waiting long years we dreamt 
  we dreamt for you shoeshod man all men grow strong ready serve 
  men serve you kneel you KNEEL you kneel. 
  His voice was a whisper in both of my ears. My knees 
  buckled, then righted themselves. I pressed one palm to 
  my forehead—his staff remained tight against me—and 
  screamed, the loudest sound my lungs could make. 
  !Big breath shoeshod big breath. Our stone led you dullblade 
  under the thousand-years-we-waited earth our stone led you our 
  stone found YOU. Found you in the sunworld. Kind apart. One 
  of many one of many one welcome we welcome we awaken. Our 
  stone our stone. 
  My wayfinder. My mind fogged then cleared. I hung 
  against the wall like a marionette. My ioun stone glowed in 
  the floor. My weakness was infinite. The stone was theirs; 
  its purpose had been to draw me here. I could feel the 
  snakeman as surely as if he had pinned me down. 
  !Sleepers ready and strong here are many sleepers many of us 
  sleepstrong and ready. We are a kind apart. So close we were, 
  not long it would be in the old days been—sunworld OURS the 
  truepeople’s ours ours ours.  
  I listened. I couldn’t have moved if I’d tried. 
  !The sunworld so nearly the sunworld so nearly ours. But 
  came darkness then with the fall of the fall of the star then night 
  and more than night an age. Withdrew ourselves withdrew drew 
  ourselves apart and we waited.  
  !Strong are we strong were we and so remain we numerous. 
  I nodded, my head nodded. The stone—it was all I could 
  think of.
  !One enough deepdown one enough to awaken us all us 
  all us all in the deepdown deepdown I am HE he who will 
  awaken others. 
  !Long down many the downdeep you have followed your stone 
  down dim and hollow. 
  I nodded. Of course. Somewhere, some part of me 
  reached out a hand to strike at the creature. Somewhere 
  else, another part of me—the stone—lay glowing in the 
  tiles of the floor. The snakeman slid toward me. 
  !Shoeshod mildtongue dullblade dimlight man you lay you lay 
  your weapons down your dear devices down. 
  Other than the obelisks, the room was bare. So why was 
  every muscle in my body going tense? I had lost my dagger, 
  but I still had a long vicious-looking knife I’d bought from 
  the Steel Eaters in Urgir. My heart in my mouth, I clenched 
  the knife hilt with one hand, and with the other, rapped the 
  first sarcophagus lightly. Dum dum dum: a muffled sound.  
  So the casket wasn’t empty. But I heard no response or 
  answering noise—from within, or from anywhere.
  If I was a little cautious, blame it on my mental image of 
  the cylinder springing open and a crumbling mummified 
  snakeman tumbling out onto the floor: a cosmic gotcha by 
  the ioun stone. 
  I ran my hand over the cylinder’s surface. My damp 
  palms came away faintly dusty. The stone was cut into 
  scales, but felt perfectly unyielding.  
  It was then that something caught my eye. The 
  necropolis’s zigzagging floor mosaic branched, in another 
  radial design, to the foot (or tail?) of each sarcophagus, 
  including this one. But, with my sunrod glowing on the 
  floor, I could see that at each radial arm’s tip was a familiar 
  shape made of tiny green stones, with a curious fingernail-
  sized gap in its exact center. 
  Heavy with foreboding, I set down my pack and crouched, 
  studying my wayfinder. As I suspected, the gap matched the 
  device’s ioun stone perfectly. I pulled the stone loose from 
  its setting and pressed it into place in the floor.
  For a long second, there was nothing. 
  Then, with a whisper, as if only curtains were parting, 
  the cylinder’s front surface split. I found myself face-to-
  face with a stone-dead but perfectly preserved snakeman 
  clutching a staff, sitting on a bundle of scrolls and a heap 
  of loose gems and gold three feet high. His features were 
  those of a snake, his torso was a man’s, and beneath his 
  waist was a tail whose coils he rested upon. No weapons: 
  only a staff, and a rich and unbelievably new-seeming red 
  robe that hung to his feet. With the front of the cylinder 
  gone, the gems he stood on sagged an inch and a few gold 
  coins bounced out onto the tile floor. 
  I stepped back. Was this an ordinary soldier, or royalty—
  perhaps even a priest? Did every tomb in every spire like 
  this have a snakeman in it? Was each as full of treasure? 
  What was written on those scrolls? Was there a single gem, 
  or a single scroll, my ioun stone was guiding me to? And 
  how heavy would a snakeman corpse be to move anyway? 
  Then, in a moment, such questions became entirely 
  academic. 
  The snakeman’s tail began to curl. 
  It might have been the wind, except there wasn’t a breath 
  of wind. There was only my breath. And this tail curling. 
  Then before I was fully aware of what I was doing, 
  I leapt back, knife at the ready. With one thrash the 
  snakeman leapt to life, its two wiry man-arms heaving it 
  bodily up from the sepulcher. I stumbled as it raised its 
  
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  Pathfinder’s Journal
  The words wrapped around me. Where I needed breath, 
  there were the snakeman’s words. Some part of me 
  struggled. My reply felt pushed out far away by tremendous 
  pressure—like a grinding millwheel.  
  “Get. Out. Of my mind. You—are not—my master.”  
  !Stonemaster the stone is your masterstone you are the stone. 
  Many the stones of ours there are but the first the first to come was 
  YOU. Shoeshod mildtongue man it led you it led it brought you. 
  The stone your master we the stone’s master we ARE we ARE. 
  My body stood weakly. Yes: I was led. The snakeman was 
  absolutely right. Some part of me struggled to say a word. 
  My feet stepped once, twice, to the next shut sepulcher. 
  Somewhere, I glowed in the tiles of the floor. The snakeman 
  watched my body. I watched my body. 
  !But but but you have come you are here the chambers open you 
  are ours you HAVE come you have COME you are the stone. You 
  shoeshod must the gap touch of the second tomb. Must touch! And 
  the next. And tomb shall open. And the next. OPEN.
  I watched some strange hand—my hand—reaching 
  across the floor. I was the stone. All I had to do was touch 
  where a second ioun stone would fit. The staff led the arm. 
  The room was lit the color of the stone. The snakemen 
  would be freed from their sleep. And some part of me, 
  with a last bit of strength, sought a word. 
  “Desna!” 
  Startled, the snakeman stepped back. 
  There was a blue light in the tomb. 
  The snakeman’s whisper broke its rhythm, the 
  staff broke its contact, only for a moment. Like a 
  man cut down, I felt my muscles give way and I crumpled 
  to the floor. 
  Moths, luminescent and blue, were suddenly swarming 
  around the snakeman, the babble and susurrus of their 
  voices overpowering his. My hand swept over the floor, 
  closed on the handle of my knife. More moths poured in 
  through the doorway, the same creatures that had found 
  me clinging for dear life days ago in the caverns above. The 
  snakeman, his mind pulled away from mine with a yank, 
  struck out again and again with his staff.  
  In another moment, I would have been completely in 
  his sway. Now each moth he struck flared into a crimson 
  cinder, but it didn’t matter: he was surrounded, he was 
  swarmed. Some new strength, airy and unforeseen, filled 
  my limbs, and I stood. Could these be Desna’s messengers? 
  My mind full of the din of the creatures, I lurched forward. 
  My eyes saw—I saw—the snakeman’s silhouette thrashing 
  in the moths’ throng. I lifted the knife and watched its 
  blade waver. For every moth the snakeman burnt, five 
  more seemed to come. I moved my arm up and down once, 
  staring at it. Then I drove the knife forward, straight into 
  the snakeman’s throat. 
  He died with a shriek and a gargle, his tumble 
  wrenching the knife out of my hands as his body collapsed 
  onto the tomb floor. As if the sun were coming out, I felt 
  the snakeman’s spell fully cast out of my mind. The moths 
  rose as he fell, withdrawing as they had come, flapping out 
  the mouth of the tomb.  
   
   
  I sat against the wall, counted fifty breaths, and at each 
  gave thanks to Desna. A year of burnt offerings every day. A 
  thousand candles lit. Forty nights fasting under the north star. 
  The moths were gone now, but I counted fifty breaths 
  more, shut my eyes, opened them. My sunrod still lit the 
  room weakly where it had fallen.  
  Why is it that everyone I meet 
  down here wants to kill me?
  
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  Second Darkness
  Possession is mercifully rare: wizards strong enough 
  to master a mind are not my usual line of work. Double 
  possession—and how else but by a second intervention 
  could I have broken the snakeman’s spell?—is about as 
  common as a goblin at a wine-tasting. Of all the Pathfinders 
  whose exploits were ever chronicled, only Durvin Gest had 
  the misfortune to find his mind such a battleground. 
  I sat back up, crawled carefully over the bloodstained 
  robes and corpse of the snakeman, and looked into his 
  strange sepulcher.  
  I hadn’t been imagining. Good and bad fortune are like 
  two folded hands: in the base of the open cylinder of the 
  sepulcher were heaps of gems and gold. Uncut diamonds, 
  gold rings, platinum, topaz, jade-carved snakes, and more 
  complex scenes—grim reliefs like those cut into the city 
  walls, but here etched in silver and rubies. Looking back 
  at the corpse of my would-be assassin, I saw his long tail 
  was ringed in silver circlets, his wiry fingers adorned with 
  crystal rings. 
  I stirred the heap and collected a few choice gems, 
  emeralds and rubies, stuffing them into my pockets and the 
  hidden compartment of my poor beaten-up pack. Nothing’s 
  as strong as habit, I guess. After all, if I ever made it back to 
  the surface (and here I said another quick prayer), I knew I’d 
  have expenses to pay and bribes to hand out. 
  And I’d do it without a guide. Tentatively, I removed 
  the ioun stone from its niche in the floor, and instead of 
  socketing it into its usual setting, thrust both stone and 
  wayfinder into my pocket. All this time, the symbol of my 
  calling has been leading me (and others? had it hinted that I 
  was only the first?) to this mummified city, a sleeping giant 
  prepared to emerge and reclaim its throne once humanity 
  had advanced far enough to come looking for them, proving 
  with our tenacity that we were competent to serve. From here 
  on out, the thing wasn’t going to be of much use, but I wasn’t 
  about to leave the key resting in the lock of a slumbering 
  serpent army for the next explorer to come along.
  The next explorer. 
  The certainty came on like a spear to the chest. Counter 
  to all my Pathfinder duties—to report, to cooperate, to 
  explore—I knew no news of this place could be allowed to 
  reach the treasure-hunters of the surface.
  The Decemvirate had sealed certain secrets before. 
  The site of the treasures of Ammelon VI, the contents of 
  the recalled Fifth Pathfinder Chronicle: both of these the 
  Decemvirate had deemed better kept secret. Surely, if the 
  way to this dark city were made known, the cost to all the 
  peoples of Golarion would be vastly too great. I would 
  return to Absalom immediately (it meant only a jog across 
  orc battlefields and a few chartered boats—child’s play, 
  considering what I’d been through) and I would make my 
  case to Shevala, then to the Decemvirate itself if need be. 
  The city must remain hidden.
  I turned to leave the chamber—
  —and stepped straight into a familiar figure. 
  Belzig. Alive. My rival shoved me hard and I fell to the 
  floor, still weak. There was blood caked onto his ear, but 
  otherwise he looked the same as when I’d seen him just 
  days before. He stood with his feet apart, ready to leap 
  at me, but smirked like a schoolboy. He held a starknife 
  lightly in one hand, ready to stab or throw.
  “Belzig,” I gasped. “You’re alive.”
  “Very astute, Kline.”
  I started to rise, but his foot lashed out and caught me 
  in the chin, sending a spray of blood across the stone floor. 
  The starknife flashed through the air and caught my arm 
  as I fell. I screamed. He was kneeling on my chest. 
  My mind raced. How had he escaped? 
  “You’re—a better Pathfinder—than I—thought, Belzig.” 
  I could scarcely breathe with his weight on my ribs and the 
  blood and broken teeth filling my mouth. 
  “And you, Kline, are a disappointment.” 
  “We have to get out of this city.” 
  He smiled. “But you worked so hard to get us here.” 
  “Didn’t you see the carvings? The snakemen are waiting for 
  someone to open their tomb!” 
  “Just one?” 
  “Just—one.” He pulled out his starknife, and I stifled a 
  cry. My arm was bleeding into my tunic. 
  “You think I’m afraid of wormfolk?” 
  “These aren’t wormfolk.” 
  He scratched my chin with his blade. “That dead one 
  looks like wormfolk enough to me.” 
  “They’re telepaths. They control others.” 
  “And you’re weak-minded.” 
  He stretched out one leg and kicked the corpse with 
  his boot. 
  “Belzig, we can’t touch anything in here.”  
  “Of all the sentences I thought I’d never hear a 
  Pathfinder say.” 
  “Anything.” 
  “Except the jewels in that open sepulcher, I suppose.” 
  I glared. “Anything else.” 
  He smiled sweetly. “You left me pinned and bleeding in 
  that trap to die.” 
  “You’re a stooge.” 
  He cut a gash into my cheek with a swift gesture, and 
  I cried out in pain. “No,” he said, leaning over me, “I’m 
  about to be famous. You’re a Pathfinder who walks away 
  from knowledge.”  
  He set down his starknife, reached behind him into his 
  pack, and pulled out a length of climbing rope. 
  “You’re a Pathfinder who serves an orc,” I spat. 
  “I think we can safely say that phase of my career has 
  come to a close. Once the Grand Lodge publishes my 
  findings, I think I’ll spend a few decades enjoying my fame 
  
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  Pathfinder’s Journal
  in Absalom. Maybe get asked to join the Decemvirate. You 
  never know. ”  
  “Belzig, listen to me. Looters and Pathfinders are exactly 
  what the snakemen want.” 
  “Well, that’s something they and I have in common.” He 
  tied my hands behind me.  
  “Listen. It was only by sheer luck that I survived. A 
  human who opens another sepulcher, any other sepulcher 
  here, will unleash a horror no one can contain.” 
  “Which will explain your disappearance.”
  “The next treasure seeker who disturbs a tomb in this 
  city won’t be able to stop these things from awakening! I’m 
  sure of it!” 
  “That falls under the category of not—my—problem.” 
  He tugged hard on the ropes. My arms were bound behind 
  me; I kicked up hard but he grabbed my ankle, threw his 
  weight down, and tied one length of rope around my calves. 
  He shoved my pack across the floor of the tomb. He didn’t 
  even seem to break a sweat.
  “Besides, Kline.” He smirked. “You’re losing your nerve.” 
  He counted off on his fingers with a grin: “Pathfinders 
  report, explore, and cooperate. We share information.”  
  He caught my head between his hands, tore a strip 
  of fabric off my tunic, and gagged me with it. Then he 
  stood up.  
  “Which one of us is keeping the faith,” he said, “and 
  which one of us is keeping secrets?”  
  He walked over to the open sarcophagus, dug through 
  it, and drew out a jade-carved snake, a sapphire, and a 
  diamond the size of a robin’s egg.  
  “I’m afraid I’ll miss you, Kline. Kline the not-so-
  curious.” He picked me up and dragged me, and I flopped 
  like a caught fish, scrabbling and dragging my feet 
  over the floor. It was no contest: he tossed me into the 
  sepulcher on top of the snakeman’s jewels. “Kline the 
  faint-hearted.” He held up his diamond. “Certainly 
  not Kline the Pathfinder. I’ll tell them to leave that 
  off your epitaph.” 
  He turned and sauntered up the ramp and out 
  of the chamber. I panted for breath to plead, call 
  out, curse. No breath came—nothing but the taste 
  of the gag cinched between my lips. He turned 
  around from the antechamber to yell, “This really 
  is a magnificent tomb, Kline!” Then he was gone.  
  Here’s another choice bit of Pathfinder wisdom: 
  when someone’s got you in a tight spot, just keep 
  them talking. 
  The whole time he was hauling me across the 
  floor and telling me I wasn’t keeping the faith, Belzig 
  hadn’t bothered to watch where he was walking. Why 
  should he? He’d arrived after I’d dropped my knife, and 
  the light was poor. As he left, maybe he had surveyed the 
  floor of the tomb once more and, not seeing anything of 
  his, had walked away. 
  But he had let me drag my feet as he carried me. And 
  after I fought, he’d let me land in the sepulcher with my 
  legs under me. 
  A little divine intervention had saved me before. A little 
  of my own good sense would save me now. 
  I squirmed onto my back, and felt the blade of the knife 
  clenched between my worn-out boot heels. A little flexing 
  of the muscles and the blade began to dig into my rope 
  wrappings. There was a pop, and my legs were free. I 
  arched my back, picked the blade up between the free tips 
  of my fingers, and went to work. Another rope cut—then 
  another—and another. I stretched my legs and my arms 
  and stood. I grabbed another good-sized ruby for luck. 
  I had a new mission: word of this city must never be 
  allowed out.  
  I would have to track Belzig more slyly than he had 
  tracked me. I’d have to be quicker and smarter than he 
  was. I’d probably have to put him out of commission more 
  definitively than he had with me. And I didn’t have a 
  moment to spare. 
  But when had I lost to a coward before? 
  When, cast aside, had I ever stayed down? 
  And when do I ever have a moment to spare? 
  I snatched up my pack and bolted out the temple door. 
  Call me crazy, but I 
  don’t think we want 
  these things waking up.
  
  78
  Second Darkness
  H
  orrors to fill night’s gloom and the Darklands’ 
  endless shadows lurk within this month’s 
  Pathfinder Bestiary. Haunting an unknowable 
  subterranean nightmare, dark drow magic and the 
  remnants of epochs too ancient to fathom take shape in the 
  forms of terrifying fleshwarped abominations and lurid 
  amalgams. All the while, in the world above, dusk opens 
  the door to nighted mysteries, and on tenebrous wings the 
  secrets of unknowable things take terrifying shape. While 
  wise explorers have always known not to tarry long amid 
  the shadows, here lies even more proof that monsters do 
  indeed prowl the dark.
  Random EncountERs
  The drow city of Zirnakaynin confronts travelers with many 
  strange sights, weird creatures, and atrocities to haunt the 
  soul. On numerous occasions throughout “Endless Night” 
  the PCs have opportunities to explore the nefarious city. 
  Any time the PCs must venture into the city, the GM might 
  roll on the following table to determine what wonders and 
  horrors pass their way. Although many of these sights are 
  commonplace for drow, some might prove particularly 
  difficult for characters—particularly good-aligned ones—
  to ignore.
  Abused Slave: Amid the passing traffic, a wealthy drow 
  violently beats her slave for some petty or imaginary slight. 
  The drow mistress has the same stats as the standard drow 
  on page 103 of the MM, and can be deterred from her wrath 
  with a DC 18 Diplomacy or Intimidate check. Attacking 
  her swiftly attracts a guard patrol (see next page). Should 
  the PCs manage to end the beating peaceably, award them 
  experience for a EL 8 encounter.
  Darklands Trader: A drow, derro, ghoul, or extraplanar 
  trader hocks his exotic wares at the PCs. The merchant 
  might be pushy or clandestine about his merchandise, be 
  it roast cave lizard skewers, phony mold-based “heal” salve, 
  slaves, or nearly any other good imaginable.
  Demon: Citizens grant a demon a wide berth as it passes 
  through the city. While high-CR fiends are uncommon, 
  demons like dretches, quasits, babaus, succubi, and even 
  Bestiary
  
  79
  the rare vrock or glabrezu might stalk the streets on some 
  nefarious mission.
  Exotic Encounter: The PCs encounter some unusual 
  being from the depths of the Darklands. Perhaps a seugathi 
  slithers past, a flight of hungry mobats clash overhead, or 
  a purple worm explodes from the earth. Roll 1d100 on the 
  Sekamina section of the Darklands Wandering Monsters 
  table in Into the Darklands to find out. If you don’t have Into 
  the Darklands, roll again on this chart.
  Fleshwarp: A drow with blatantly fleshwarped features, 
  a drider, or a ghonhatine takes insult from one of the PCs 
  as it passes by. See the article “Abominations of the Drow” 
  for more details on fleshwarped creatures.
  Giant Vermin: One of the city’s notoriously bold gigantic 
  pests—typically centipedes, spiders, or cave beetles—
  skitters by. The vermin are strangely socialized, much 
  like pigeons in surface world cities, and typically avoid 
  humanoids, though the shocked PCs might not know that. 
  See Chapter 3 of the MM for these insects’ stats. 
  Greater Drow Noble: An important drow figure passes 
  by, carried on an elaborate litter, attended by an entourage 
  of lesser family members, slaves, and exotic beasts. See 
  “Zirnakaynin” for suggestions on who this personage 
  might be. There’s a 30% chance that, as the noble passes 
  by, she takes note of a PC. Perhaps she’s attracted to him, 
  maybe she wants something he possesses, or maybe he’s 
  just in the way.
  Lesser Drow Noble: A member of a lesser drow noble 
  family passes by with a retinue of bodyguards. This 
  noble (same stats as Gadak on page 13) travels with 4 drow 
  soldiers (see page 14), making a EL 10 encounter. There’s 
  a 40% chance that the lesser noble takes some sort of 
  perceived offence from a PC or, alternatively, notes him as 
  being particularly useful in some scheme as she passes. 
  Murder: A drow or member of another underground-
  dwelling race is tortured and brutally murdered in public 
  view by a band of 1d4+1 drow thugs (same stats a drow 
  soldiers, see page 14). The average EL of this encounter is 
  8, put increase the experience award by one encounter level 
  if the party manages to save the would-be murder victim.
  Patrol: A patrol of black-armored drow guards stalk 
  the streets, harassing citizens, bullying traders, and 
  On a chilly, autumn night in 4584, two young couples wandered into the downs area east of Bronze Bridge 
  when they realized they were not alone. What they saw that night has evolved into one of the greatest 
  mysteries in all Taldor. Though D. and L. Arberry and S. Macheet would never be seen again, the tale 
  of Merise Fost’s phantom-haunted flight and the unexplainable events visited upon the town in the days 
  before the Bronze Bridge’s tragic collapse haunt these lands still. Even a century later questions remain: 
  What happened upon that starless night? What did those lost children see? And what is the secret of 
  Bronze Bridge’s mysterious Mothman?
  —Pathfinder Reeve Vaterhal, “In Search of Prophecy”
  Random EncountERs in ZiRnakaynin
  d% 
  Encounter 
  Avg. EL
  1–12 
  Darklands Trader 
  —
  13–20 
  Performance Art 
  —
  21–30 
  Thieves 
  7
  31–38 
  Abused Slave 
  8
  39–44 
  Murder  
  8
  45–52 
  Street Sacrifice 
  9
  53–57 
  Lesser Drow Noble 
  10
  58–65 
  Patrol 
  10
  66–71 
  Giant Vermin 
  Varies
  72–79 
  Fleshwarp 
  Varies
  80–85 
  Demon 
  Varies
  86–90 
  Greater Drow Noble  
  Varies
  91–100 
  Exotic Encounter 
  Varies
  beating whatever non-drow they meet. A typical drow 
  patrol consists of 2d4 drow soldiers (see page 14 and has an 
  average EL of 10.
  Performance Art: A drow performs some feat of self-
  mutilation, vermin handling, or performance torture 
  upon a slave as a perverse form of advertising for a local 
  fleshpit or the city’s grand theater: the Cyclic Sublime. The 
  display should shock or unnerve the PCs, but those who 
  muster the gall to inquire about the drow’s performance 
  can learn much about one of the entertainment-related 
  locations detailed in the “Zirnakaynin” article.
  Street Sacrifice: A demon cultist performs an elaborate, 
  disgusting sacrifice in public view. The victim is willing 
  and the cultist (drow cleric 7) shouts praises to her demonic 
  patron, begging for his wrath upon her enemies. Should 
  the PCs manage to disrupt the sacrifice, grant them 
  experience for an EL 9 encounter.
  Thieves: A pair of drow thieves (drow rogue 5, Bluff 
  +8, Sleight of Hand +9) attempt to run a con game on the 
  PCs. While one thief poses as a diseased beggar, the other 
  “rescues” the targeted PC, yanking him away from the 
  tramp’s supposedly diseased touch—and thus taking the 
  chance to pick the PC’s pocket. The two thieves are an EL 
  7 encounter.
  
  80
  Second Darkness
  dEEp cRow
  Stone shrieks and shears to ribbons beneath the razor-taloned 
  step of a cyclopean shadow come to terrifying life. From the 
  darkness looms a breath-stealing horror, a creature combining 
  the most frightening aspects of night-stalking panther, carrion-
  gorged crow, and massive demon-eyed arachnid. Skulking with 
  the terrible grace of some caliginous dragon, oily feathers rise into 
  wings evocative of an abyssal nightscape devoid of all stars or 
  familiar spheres. From a quadripartite maw—combining insectial 
  mandibles and a slashing beak—the abomination unleashes a 
  shrill, chittering screech, the forsaken scream of a creature born of 
  nightmare and truly ancient madness.
  Deep Crow 
   
  CR 14
  Always N Huge magical beast
  Init +9; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision; Listen +11, 
  Spot +17
  DEfEnSE
  AC 32, touch 13, flat-footed 27
   
  ( +5 Dex, +19 natural, –2 size)
  hp 200 (16d10+112)
  fort +17, Ref +15, Will +8
  Immune disease, poison
  Weaknesses fear of magic, light blindness
  OffEnSE
  Spd 40 ft.; fly 150 ft. (average)
  Melee bite +23 (2d6+9) and
   2 claws +21 (2d8+4) and
  2 wings +21 (1d8+4) 
  Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
  Special Attacks ancient caw, rake (2d8+2)
  TACTICS
  Before Combat A deep crow typically uses 
  its shadow blend ability to watch its prey from 
  the shadows for several rounds before attacking, 
  keenly gauging prowess and danger. Most 
  avoid enemies that obviously use magic.
  During Combat Whenever possible a 
  deep crow attacks from the air, unleashing 
  its fear-inspiring ancient caw as it flies 
  overhead. On its return pass, it attempts 
  to snatch the weakest or lightest looking opponent and fly 
  away before its foes recover from their panic. While flying 
  it continues to use its bite to grapple and damage its prey. 
  Should it be harmed while flying, though, a deep crow typically 
  drops whatever it’s holding.
  Morale Deep crows are arrogant combatants and resist leaving 
  a battle without a meal, fighting until reduced to one-tenth of 
  their hit points or less. Opponents that repeatedly use magic 
  might also spook one into fleeing. 
  STATISTICS
  Str 29, Dex 20, Con 24, Int 2, Wis 17, Cha 18
  Base Atk +16; Grp +33
  feats Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Flyby Attack, Multiattack, 
  Improved Initiative, Wingover
  Skills Hide –3 (+5 underground), Listen +11, Move Silently +12 (+20 
  underground), Spot +17
  SQ shadow blend
  ECOLOGy
  Environment underground
  Organization solitary
  Treasure double standard
  Advancement 17–32 HD (Huge), 33–48 HD (Gargantuan)
  Level Adjustment —
  SpECIAL ABILITIES
  Ancient Caw (Su) A deep crow can unleash a high-pitched squawk, 
  a predatory shriek that plays upon primal fears deeply rooted in 
  all creatures’ subconscious minds. All except deep crows within 
  120 feet must succeed on a DC 22 Will save or be frightened for 
  2d6 rounds. Those within 30 feet who fail their saves instead 
  become panicked for 2d6 rounds. A deep crow can unleash an 
  ancient caw once every 1d4 rounds. This is a mind-affecting 
  fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
  fear of Magic (Ex) Deep crows are highly unnerved by magic (or 
  seemingly magical) effects. Should a spell or spell-like ability 
  with a visible, obviously magical effect be cast within 10 feet of 
  a deep crow, it must make a Will save or be shaken for 1 round. 
  The DC of this Will save equals 10 + the spell level. Not all 
  spells force a deep crow to make a save, with the GM ultimately 
  deciding what effects trigger a deep crow’s fear. In addition 
  
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  Bestiary
  to magic, well-performed feats of legerdemain—tricks that 
  exceed a DC 15 Sleight of Hand check—force a deep crow to 
  make a DC 11 Will save to avoid being shaken for 1 round.
  Improved Grab (Ex) To use this ability, a deep crow must hit 
  with either its bite or both claw attacks. It can then attempt 
  to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an 
  attack of opportunity. If it establishes a hold it can make two 
  rake attacks. It can also take flight while grappling with any 
  creature two or more sizes smaller than itself. 
  Light Blindness (Ex) Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as 
  sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds a deep crow for 1 round. On 
  subsequent rounds, they are dazzled as long as they remain in 
  the affected area.
  Rake (Ex) Attack bonus +23, damage 2d8+2.
  Shadow Blend (Su) In any condition of illumination other than 
  full daylight, a deep crow can disappear into the shadows as 
  a standard action, giving it total concealment until it takes 
  another standard action. Artificial illumination, even a light or 
  continual flame spell, does not negate this ability. A daylight 
  spell, however, will.
  Skills Deep crows have a +6 racial bonus on Spot checks. They 
  have a +8 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks 
  when underground.
  Few explorers survive their first encounter with a deep crow. 
  Where mundane crows content themselves on scraps and 
  carrion, these fearsome giants of the subterranean realms 
  hunt larger, living, and often sentient prey. Combining 
  the most terrifying traits of crow, feline, and spider, deep 
  crows reign over vast underground territories, nocturnal 
  hunters in an endless night.
  An adult deep crow towers nearly 20 feet tall, with a body 
  of sleek black fur and night-black feathers carried aloft by 
  a wingspan often exceeding 30 feet. Powerfully muscled 
  but light of bone, most deep crows weigh approximately 
  7,000 pounds.
  Ecology
  Deep crows begin life by hatching from massive black eggs 
  laid by great elders of their kind. Within carefully placed 
  nests perched high atop rocky outcroppings, ancient 
  pillars, or great stalactites in vast underground caverns 
  or deep subterranean vaults, mother deep crows guard 
  broods of two to five hatchlings. Solitary parents, these 
  mothers hunt for their offspring even before they hatch, 
  returning a steady supply of captive prey both for food 
  and to familiarize their young with how to kill prey. Once 
  hatched, deep crow chicks typically stay with their parent 
  for just over a year before striking out into the lightless 
  depths on their own.
  Like dragons, deep crows grow larger and more voracious 
  with age. Where a hatchling might hunt men as a cat hunts 
  mice, the most powerful of the subterranean avians can 
  consume an army in a week. The need for ever more food 
  sometimes drives deep crows upward, where they eventually 
  creep into deep mines, ancient dungeons, and other reaches 
  just below the world of light.
  Habitat & Society
  Deep crow nests always rest in high and hard-to-reach 
  places, lest an intruder catch them asleep. A loose kind of 
  pecking order is established between deep crows, where 
  the most powerful crows claim the rights to the best 
  nesting spots and hunting grounds. The most ancient 
  of the species lurk in unknown caverns deep beneath 
  the civilizations of men, feasting on purple worms and 
  heating their nests atop volcanic spires.
  Although fearsome in appearance, deep crows are in 
  many ways similar to the beasts of the world above and 
  prove surprisingly social. Thus, a brave and particularly 
  skilled explorer might interact with the terrifying beasts 
  similarly to how they would with any other animal. 
  Characters with wild empathy can communicate with a 
  deep crow just as any other magical beast—often finding 
  them to possess surprisingly imperious personalities. 
  Regardless of how friendly a deep crow ever becomes, 
  though, they are proud creatures and never submit to 
  learning tricks or being treated like common beasts, 
  only allowing the most respected beings to take flight 
  with them.
  REtuRn to thE FangspiRE!
  Chances are you recognize the deep crow. That’s because this 
  beastie hails from the virtual pages of gamer-go-to webcomic 
  Penny Arcade. First referenced in the October 2007 strip 
  entitled “As Seen In Modern Lair,” Gabe is warned away from 
  purchasing an abandoned missile silo because a “truly ancient 
  Deep Crow” has taken up residence within. The deep crow 
  actually appeared in March 2008 with “The Crevice,” where a 
  rat exterminator stumbles upon the creature in Gabe’s garage. 
  Both exterminator and deep crow returned in May’s three-
  part series “The Fangspire,” wherein the secret to defeating 
  the terrible monster is revealed.
  The webcomics reveal numerous details on these night-
  winged terrors that struck us as reminiscent of some of 
  the greatest creatures in RPG lore, and the guys at Penny 
  Arcade were cool enough to let us present their deep-
  dwelling nightmare in all its d20 deadliness. Special thanks 
  to Jonathan Drain for being the first to write up deep crow 
  stats, and Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik, Mike Fehlauer, 
  and everyone else at Penny Arcade for letting us put this 
  together. Be sure to check out all of Penny Arcade’s gamer-
  related goings-on at penny-arcade.com, pennyarcadeexpo.
  com, and childsplaycharity.org!
  —Wes Schneider
  
  82
  Second Darkness
  dEmon, omox
  Endlessly crashing and undulating over itself, a wave of roiling 
  ooze heaves forward. Amid a spray of liquid filth, the crest of 
  the nauseating surge solidifies into thick, heavy arms while a 
  terrible visage like a fleshless, demonic skull emerges amid a 
  spray of sickening slime.
  Demon, Omox 
   
  CR 12
  Always CE Medium outsider (aquatic, chaotic, demon, 
  extraplanar, evil)
  Init +11; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Listen +27, Spot +27
  DEfEnSE
  AC 28, touch 17, flat-footed 21
  (+7 Dex, +11 natural)
  hp 138 (12d8+84)
  fort +16, Ref +15, Will +12
  DR 10/good; Immune critical hits, disease, electricity, paralysis, 
  poison, polymorph, sleep effects, stunning; Resist acid 10, cold 
  10, fire 10; SR 22
  OffEnSE
  Spd 40 ft., climb 20 ft., swim 80 ft. 
  Melee 2 slams +18 (1d6+6) 
  Ranged slime +19 (1d6+6 plus slime)
  Special Attacks invasive grapple, summon demon
  Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th)
  At will—create water, greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of 
  objects only)
  3/day—gaseous form, control water, poison (DC 18), stinking 
  cloud (DC 16)
  STATISTICS
  Str 22, Dex 25, Con 24, Int 15, Wis 18, Cha 18
  Base Atk +12; Grp +18
  feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Mobility, 
  Spring Attack
  Skills Bluff +19, Climb +14, Hide +22 (+32 submerged), Knowledge 
  (dungeoneering) +17, Knowledge (the planes) +17, Listen +27, 
  Move Silently +22, Search +17, Sense Motive +19, Spot +27, 
  Swim +14, Tumble +22
  Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic; telepathy 100 ft. 
  SQ amphibious, fluid form, liquid leap
  ECOLOGy
  Environment any
  Organization solitary 
  Treasure standard coins; double goods; standard items
  Advancement 13–18 HD (Medium), 19–26 HD (Large)
  Level Adjustment —
  SpECIAL ABILITIES
  Amphibious (Ex) Omoxes can breathe both air and water and 
  travel widely amid both mediums.
  fluid form (Ex) Omoxes are comprised of living ooze and can 
  contract their disgusting mass as they please. As such, they 
  never need to squeeze to fit into an area and can pass through 
  any space as if they were Tiny creatures. Omoxes cannot pass 
  through any area a Tiny creature could not pass and never 
  gain the benefits or penalties of smaller sizes.
  Invasive Grapple (Ex) Any creature an omox successfully 
  grapples begins to suffocate as the demon smothers it. Every 
  round the omox maintains its grapple a creature must make 
  a DC 10 Constitution check to avoid suffocating, with the DC 
  increasing by +1 for each previous check. If the victim fails 
  this check it falls unconscious (0 hit points). In the following 
  round, if the omox is still grappling him, the victim drops to 
  –1 hit points and is dying. If the demon continues to grapple 
  the victim for an additional round he suffocates and dies.
  Liquid Leap (Su) An omox can instantly travel between bodies of 
  water similarly to the spell dimension door. It can only use this 
  ability while in contact with 10 or more gallons of any fluid 
  and must end its magical transport elsewhere in the same 
  liquid or in another area comprised of 10 or more gallons of 
  fluid. An omox can use this ability to travel no more than 200 
  feet at a time, and is aware of all available exit points within 
  range, thus requiring no prior knowledge of where it wishes 
  
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  Bestiary
  to reappear. Omoxes can use this ability at will, but no more 
  than once per minute. 
  Slime (Su) Omoxes can throw compacted balls of ooze. These 
  blasts of slime have a range increment of 20 feet and deal 
  1d6+6 points of damage. In addition, any creature struck 
  by an omox’s slime must make a DC 23 Reflex save or be 
  entangled, effectively adhered to the ground by the demon’s 
  ooze. Entangled creatures take a –2 penalty on attack rolls 
  and a –4 penalty to Dexterity and are unable to move. A 
  creature entangled by an omox’s slime can break free by 
  making a DC 17 Strength check or by attacking the goo, 
  just as if escaping from a tanglefoot bag. The save DC and 
  Strength check are both Constitution-based (omoxes do not 
  add their HD to determine the Strength check DC).
  Summon Demon (Sp) Once per day an omox can attempt to 
  summon 1d4 babaus with a 60% chance of success or another 
  omox with a 40% chance of success. This ability is the 
  equivalent of a 4th-level spell.
  Skills Omoxes have a +8 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks, 
  and on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid 
  a hazard. They can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, 
  even if distracted or endangered. They have an additional +8 
  racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 
  10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened. They can 
  use the run action while swimming, provided they swim in a 
  straight line. An omoxe can also change its color to match that 
  of any liquid it is in contact with, granting it a +10 bonus on 
  Hide checks when submerged.
  Formed from the half-congealed slime shed by the 
  demon lord Jubilex, omoxes serve the every mad wish of 
  the Demon Prince of Ooze. Amorphous beings of living 
  slime, these repulsive demons lurk in fetid pools and 
  lakes of filth, eager to drown the unwary who venture by 
  and drag such suffocated souls gasping to their Abyssal 
  lord. Either unleashed upon the Material Plane by their 
  formless master or summoned by his mad servants, 
  omoxes typically guard places of sacred filth or waters 
  watched over by their master’s cults.
  A typical omox stands 7 feet tall, though being 
  creatures 
  of 
  living, 
  ever-changing 
  liquid 
  such 
  measurements prove deceptive. Rather, omoxes typically 
  appear to be comprised of 200 gallons of fluid and weigh 
  approximately 1,200 pounds.
  Ecology
  As part of their unholy physiologies, omoxes bear a minuscule 
  but mobile portal to Jubilex’s realm deep in the Abyss. 
  Although unable to pass themselves or any possessions 
  through this planar scratch, a small but constant leak of 
  foulness perpetually seeps from their bodies. Any areas 
  inhabited by omoxes swiftly become disgusting, tainted 
  places, encrusted with filth and slick with ooze.
  Although not restricted to the water, omoxes are aquatic 
  creatures and prefer to lurk amid polluted depths. While 
  they suffer no ill effects from being out of water for long 
  periods of times, the already foul-tempered demons grow 
  even more irritable and vindictive in dry areas. When not 
  directly compelled to obey, many omoxes demand special 
  offerings to even leave their repulsive pools.
  Habitat & Society
  Born amid the reeking bowels of the Abyss, omoxes 
  prefer to lair in the most disgusting waters and polluted 
  channels they can find. Knowing most sane beings cringe 
  at the very thought of entering the sewers, oubliettes, 
  and cesspools they favor, the wretched demons delight 
  in forcing their enemies to follow them into such places. 
  Given the opportunity, omoxes take sadistic pleasure in 
  dragging prey back to their revolting lairs and letting 
  them steep in their own nausea and fear before exacting 
  some horrifying, suffocating end.
  Omoxes in Golarion
  As crazed Jubilex cares little for the doings of mortals, 
  omoxes rarely appear on Golarion except at the summons 
  of cultists in service to the Faceless Lord.
  Ilvek: Called the King in the Pit by the gnolls of the 
  Stained Claw—a ferocious tribe of raiders in eastern 
  Qadira—this cunning omox has long manipulated the 
  bestial humanoids, driving them to battle endlessly 
  while its “priests” shower it with treasures and sacrifices. 
  All the gnolls know to fear the Hellhole, where the voice 
  of their cruel lord, and his occasionally expelled reeking 
  wrath, emanates from.
  Jobox: Known as the Corruption Contained, this 
  demon haunts the legends and war stories of the Shining 
  Crusade. In the early years of the thirty-ninth century a 
  powerful and vindictive omox in league with servants 
  of the Whispering Tyrant confounded ships of virtuous 
  warriors sailing Lake Encarthan, sinking numerous 
  vessels and sending dozens of heroes to ignominious, 
  drowning deaths. After numerous failed attempts, the 
  priest Niedevis managed to draw the demon ashore and 
  trap it in an ensorcelled bier of glass and red iron. The 
  horror remains encaged today, secreted away within the 
  vaults of Pharasma’s Chapel of Voices in Caliphas.
  Zocal: The Demon Draught lurks deep within the 
  trenches of Zirnakaynin’s Lake Tymisgana and serves 
  the whims of the foul, Jubilex-worshiping drow nobles of 
  House Tracinoa. Contradictory to his nature, he protects 
  the clean water of the cavernous lake, though on numerous 
  occasions his masters have called him to assassinate 
  enemies or taint the drow’s drinking supply to show their 
  wrath. Few outside the drow house know of Zocal, but all 
  within the city fear Tracinoa’s mysterious killer.
  
  84
  Second Darkness
  GhonhatinE
  Even hunched and creeping upon all fours, this reptilian 
  behemoth towers over ten feet tall. Thick scales straining over 
  overdeveloped muscles, the thing looks like a remnant from a 
  primeval epoch, its jaw underslung and filled with protruding 
  teeth while a spiked crest runs from its low forehead down its 
  bent back and out to the tip of its powerful tail. Raising its heavy 
  head, the brute’s nostrils flare wide and—blank white eyes 
  narrowing—it shudders with a deep, reptilian sound, a noise 
  somewhere between a growl and a hiss.
  Ghonhatine 
   
  CR 10
  Always CE Large aberration
  Init –2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., scent; Listen +2, Spot +2
  DEfEnSE
  AC 24, touch 7, flat-footed 24
  (–2 Dex, +17 natural, –1 size)
  hp 150 (12d8+96)
  fort +12, Ref +2, Will +6
  Immune critical hits, disease, poison
  OffEnSE
  Spd 40 ft.
  Melee 2 claws +16 (1d6+8) and
  bite +14 (2d6+4) and
  tail slam +14 (1d8+4)
  Ranged regurgitate +6 (2d6 plus disease)
  Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with tail)
  Special Attacks feed, disease, powerful stench
  TACTICS
  Before Combat Although not terribly alert, ghonhatines are 
  skilled trackers and often scent potential meals long before 
  spotting them. The mere anticipation of a meal triggers most 
  ghonhatines’ powerful stench.
  During Combat Ghonhatines enter combat using their powerful 
  stench and regurgitate abilities to weaken and nauseate 
  foes from a range. They then bull rush into battle, making 
  frequent use of Power Attack to smash their enemies. Once 
  a ghonhatine slays a creature, it stops to feed, usually 
  regardless of any dangers nearby.
  Morale Simple and brutal beasts, a ghonhatine never 
  flees combat due to its own wounds. Blinding or 
  otherwise crippling one, however, typically causes it 
  to flee. 
  STATISTICS
  Str 27, Dex 7, Con 26, Int 4, Wis 7, Cha 8
  Base Atk +9; Grp +21
  feats Awesome Blow, Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, 
  Multiattack, Power Attack, TrackB
  Skills Climb +12, Hide +0 (+4 underground), Listen +2, Spot +2, 
  Survival +6 (+10 using scent)
  Languages Draconic
  ECOLOGy
  Environment underground
  Organization solitary or squad (2–8)
  Treasure none
  Advancement 13–18 HD (Large), 19–26 HD (Huge)
  Level Adjustment +6
  SpECIAL ABILITIES
  Disease filth fever—regurgitate, Fortitude DC 24, incubation 
  period 1d3 days, damage 1d3 Dex and 1d3 Con. The save DC is 
  Constitution-based. 
  feed (Su) Insatiable predators, ghonhatines are invigorated 
  immediately after feeding. By spending a round devouring 
  the body of a dead or unconscious creature, a ghonhatine 
  gains 1d8+8 temporary hit points and a +2 bonus on attack 
  and damage rolls for 8 rounds. The bonus to hit points and 
  duration of this effect are Constitution-based.
  powerful Stench (Ex) When a ghonhatine is enraged, it secretes 
  a tarry, musk-like chemical similar to that of troglodytes, 
  but much more offensive. Any living creature (except other 
  ghonhatines) within 10 feet must succeed on a DC 24 Fortitude 
  save or be nauseated for as long as it remains within the 
  affected area and for 1d4 rounds afterward. Creatures that 
  successfully save are sickened for as long as they remain in 
  the area. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected 
  again by the same ghonhatine’s stench for 24 hours. A delay 
  
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  Bestiary
  poison or neutralize poison spell removes either condition 
  from one creature. Creatures that have immunity to poison 
  are unaffected, and creatures resistant to poison receive 
  their normal bonus on their saving throws. The save DC is 
  Constitution-based.
  Regurgitate (Ex) A ghonhatine can expel the reeking, tightly 
  compacted contents of its stomach with great force. This 
  powerful vomit is treated as a ranged attack with a splash 
  weapon, has a range increment of 20 feet, and deals 2d6 
  points of damage to the target and splashes all adjacent 
  creatures. In addition to taking damage, targets directly hit by 
  a ghonhatine’s regurgitation must make two DC 24 Fortitude 
  saves, the first to resist contracting filth fever, the second to 
  avoid being nauseated for 10 rounds. A nauseated creature 
  can end its nausea early by dousing itself in at least a gallon 
  of water. All creatures adjacent to the target must also make 
  DC 24 Fortitude saves to avoid being sickened for 10 rounds. 
  Once a ghonhatine uses this ability it cannot use it again until 
  it feeds. The save DCs are Constitution-based.
  Skills The skin of a ghonhatine changes color somewhat, 
  allowing it to blend in with its surroundings like a chameleon 
  and providing a +6 racial bonus on Hide checks. In rocky 
  or underground settings, this bonus improves to +10. 
  Ghonhatines also receive a +4 racial bonus on Climb checks 
  and on Survival checks when tracking by scent.
  The barbaric result of troglodytes forced to undergo the 
  torture of drow fleshwarping, ghonhatines rank among 
  the most useful and feared slaves of the dark elven 
  legions. Like throwbacks to what troglodytes might have 
  been in some savage prehistory, the towering brutes 
  possess overdeveloped musculature and armor, making 
  them both useful laborers and terrors of the battlefield. 
  The already primitive troglodyte intelligence suffers in 
  the fleshwarping process, though, making the beasts 
  exceedingly simple-minded. What they lack in intelligence, 
  though, they make up for with ravenous hunger, which the 
  drow readily channel toward their enemies.
  Ghonhatines stand between 10 and 12 feet tall, though 
  their hunched posture makes most appear closer to 
  8 feet. Possessing dense, muscular frames beneath 
  thick reptilian armor, even the most malnourished 
  ghonhatine weighs upward of 5,000 pounds. Their 
  partially prehensile tails are also thick with muscle and 
  stretch as long as 14 feet.
  Ecology
  Ghonatines appear to be a fleshwarping success on par 
  with driders, the troglodyte form altered into a beast with 
  far greater utility and use to drow society. Such is not the 
  case, however. Although exemplars of terrifying strength 
  and ability, the fleshwarps’ internal workings cannot long 
  support their aberrant physicality. As such, all ghonatines 
  are dying. Upon emerging from the fleshwarping 
  process, a ghonatine typically lasts no more than two 
  years. During that time the creature becomes steadily 
  more voracious, with the eldest fleshwarps requiring 
  nearly half their weight in meat on a daily basis merely 
  to sustain their great strength. Typically, after a year, 
  the drow find ghonhatines too costly to feed and either 
  exterminate them or send the aging beasts on suicidal 
  attacks against their enemies. In some rare cases, though, 
  ghonhatines cast into the wilds and capable of sustaining 
  their consuming hunger with truly vast quantities of 
  food might live longer, growing to tremendous size and 
  strength in the process. As a benefit of the fleshwarps’ 
  altered physiology, though, their vital organs shift and 
  become encased in thick, tumorous sheathes, allowing 
  them to survive wounds that would slay any equal sized 
  creature outright.
  Habitat & Society
  What passes for ghonatine society is merely a series of 
  fierce battles over food, territory, and mating rights. Even 
  compared to the brutish troglodytes they once were, the 
  fleshwarps possess only the most primitive culture, their 
  interactions more closely resembling those of crocodiles 
  or monitor lizards than any sentient race. Ghonatines 
  rarely have reason or freedom to interact with one another, 
  however, as their closest associations are more likely to be 
  with drow slavers and beast masters than with others of 
  their kind. Created by dark elves to serve as laborers, beasts 
  of burden, and living war machines, the hulking reptilians 
  face harsh conditions and endless toil from the day of their 
  creation to the hour of their physical forms’ inevitable 
  collapse. Drow favor transforming troglodytes with a 
  predisposition for stupidity and docility into ghonatines, 
  hoping that such manageability might make the even 
  more simplistic fleshwarps incapable of even conceiving 
  notions like freedom or vengeance for their mistreatment. 
  Occasionally, a fleshwarp manages to retain a semblance of 
  memory and becomes difficult for its keepers to manage and 
  must be destroyed. Though rare, the dangers of rebellious 
  ghonatines are widely feared, and drow slave masters remain 
  vigilant for even the slightest evidence of defiance.
  Although obviously skilled in battle, ghonatines see 
  more regular use in drow society as laborers, miners, and 
  guardians. As the troglodyte fleshwarps lack much of the 
  stealth drow favor when traveling through the Darklands, 
  the dark elves tend to keep them in reserve, ready to unleash 
  should foes attack or need to be hunted down. Numerous 
  drow noble families and dark elven bastions throughout 
  the Darklands keep ghonatines, either shackled outside 
  their gates or wandering free in the surround lands, 
  letting the beasts serve as guard dogs and defenses against 
  intruders without the canniness to avoid them.
  
  86
  Second Darkness
  iRnakuRsE
  Half crawling, half assaulting the earth, a mad-eyed amalgamation 
  of deformed limbs, misplaced features, and jutting bone shards 
  pulls itself forward amid a nauseating cacophony of slapping 
  flesh and overworked digestive organs. All the characteristics of a 
  humanoid project from the thing’s quivering trunk, but each feature 
  is malformed, worked into a shape of absolute grotesqueness, and 
  set above a wave of muscular tendrils. Its smashed, stretched visage 
  rising to ponder something only it can see, a crazed glimmer lights in 
  its uneven eyes and, letting the fanged gash that serves as its mouth 
  fall open, the abomination looses a terrible gurgling scream.
  Irnakurse 
   
  CR 9
  Usually CE Large aberration
  Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +9, Spot +8
  DEfEnSE
  AC 23, touch 12, flat-footed 20
  (+3 Dex, +11 natural, –1 size)
  hp 105 (10d8+60)
  fort +9, Ref +8, Will +9
  OffEnSE
  Spd 10 ft.
  Melee 4 tentacles +13 (1d6+7 plus mind lash) and
  bite +8 (1d8+3)
  Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with tentacles)
  Special Attacks rend, soul scream
  TACTICS
  During Combat An irnakurse begins screaming as soon as it 
  engages opponents, flailing at as many targets as it can in blind 
  rage. Utterly insane, the aberration attacks with a mind to make 
  use of its rend ability when only a single opponent is in range.
  Morale Hate-filled and fearless, irnakurse fight until they 
  are no longer able.
  STATISTICS
  Str 24, Dex 17, Con 22 Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 18
  Base Atk +7; Grp +18
  feats Combat Reflexes, Deflect ArrowsB, Improved 
  Initiative, Lightning Reflexes
  Skills Listen +9, Spot +8 
  Languages Elven (cannot speak)
  ECOLOGy
  Environment underground
  Organization solitary 
  Treasure none
  Advancement 11–18 HD (Large), 19–26 HD (Huge)
  Level Adjustment —
  SpECIAL ABILITIES
  Mind Lash (Su) Those struck by an irnakurse are 
  overwhelmed with corrupted images of a ruined life and 
  dark emotions. Any non-evil creature hit by an irnakurse’s 
  tentacle must make a DC 19 Will save or be stunned for 1 
  round. Creatures that successfully save cannot be affected by 
  the same irnakurse’s mind lash for 24 hours. The save DC is 
  Charisma-based.
  Rend (Ex) If an irnakurse hits with two or more tentacle attacks, 
  it latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh. The 
  damage this rend deals increases depending on the number 
  of tentacles attacks that hit a single opponent. Two tentacles 
  automatically deal an additional 2d6+10 points of damage, 
  while three deal 3d6+10 points of damage, and four deal 
  4d6+10 points of damage.
  Soul Scream (Su) Capable of channeling all of its rage and terror 
  into a single unnatural noise, an irnakurse can unleash a sound of 
  alien horror. Any non-evil creature within 30 feet of a screaming 
  irnakurse must make a DC 19 Will save or take 1d4 points of 
  Wisdom drain. Once it begins screaming, an irnakurse can 
  continue for 6 rounds but cannot scream again for 5 minutes 
  afterward. The save DC is Charisma-based.
  Irnakurse, meaning “perfect ones” in the Elven language, 
  represent the sum outpouring of drow hatred for their 
  surface world brethren. Not just mockeries of the dark elves’ 
  one-time kin, these brainwashed, rage-filled abominations 
  
  87
  Bestiary
  are the result of elves subjected to fleshwarping—and were 
  the drow to have their way, embodiments of the elven 
  race’s future. More than just perverted and transformed, 
  each irnakurse suffers long under the knife of the dark 
  elves’ most practiced pain givers, until both body and 
  mind lie in complete ruin. When the weeks-long torture 
  and transformation process completes, what was once elf 
  emerges as a shrieking mockery of its lost grace, a horror 
  of reworked flesh and broken bones, a “perfect” elf to the 
  drow but a sin against life to all others.
  Although no two irnakurse appear exactly the same—
  drow torturers taking profane pride in sculpting their 
  elven victims into unique masterpieces of agony—most 
  share similar features. The overall effect is something like 
  a ravenously hungry tumor or a flesh golem created by a 
  bind madman. Yet, as perverse as the creatures appear, only 
  the cruelest souls can’t pity them, for within their crazed 
  eyes hides a glimmer of confusion and pain, and in their 
  constant screams rings the sound of absolute horror.
  Irnakurse usually stand between 8 and 9 feet tall and 
  weigh upward of 300 pounds. Through the process of 
  fleshwarping, the elven victim’s body undergoes explosive 
  swelling and cancerous growth, easily doubling their 
  previous mass. The drow delight in this growth, as the 
  new flesh proves soft and sensitive—easily reshaped, and 
  more to hurt.
  Ecology
  Unnatural creations, irnakurse have no place in nature 
  and likely wouldn’t survive long in a natural setting. As 
  deadly works of art and guardians, however, they excel. 
  Through the blasphemous tortures that create them, 
  irnakurse are magically and mentally coerced, the 
  most significant effects of which are complete madness 
  and—more usefully—an inability to directly harm 
  drow. All non-drow, however, they view as outlets for 
  their terror and rage, seeking to rend them asunder and 
  inflict a portion of the atrocities inflicted upon them on 
  another. Elves especially provoke irnakurses’ ire. Thus, 
  through the exaction of their foulest magics and cruelest 
  torments, the drow remake their most hated enemies as 
  some of their most fanatical guardians.
  Like all fleshwarps, the proper application of powerful 
  magic might remake even an irnakurse’s shattered body. 
  However, even spells as powerful as miracle or wish cannot 
  wholly restore a fleshwarped elf. Even with its body 
  repaired, a second casting of such a potent spell must be 
  used to restore the traumatized elf’s mind.
  Habitat & Society
  Mad captives imprisoned within their own bodies, 
  irnakurse loathe themselves and all like them. Although 
  far too wrath-filled to even consider harming themselves, 
  a measure of their madness and ingrained fanaticism 
  drives them to seek violent ends. 
  Although mad with confusion, rage, and horror and 
  potentially dangerous to even be near, irnakurses rank 
  among the highest status symbols a drow can possess. 
  The dual feats of finding and subduing a surface elf make 
  even the opportunity to create one of the terrible things 
  incredibly rare, and even then the process of fleshwarping 
  is not cheap. Should drow even go through the cost and 
  trouble of such a terrible torture—an end usually only 
  meted out by the most decadent of noble drow families—
  many of the fleshwarps don’t survive long, either slowly 
  dying from the poisonous creation process or simply 
  withering physically or mentally from the shock of the 
  change. Those irnakurse that survive, however, often 
  receive honored places among the galleries, torture 
  chambers, and entry halls of dissolute dark elven families, 
  where they serve as both guardians and expressions of 
  wealth, power, and cruelty. 
  Irnakurse in Zirnakaynin
  While exceedingly rare, the largest population of 
  irnakurse lies in the city of their creation, the drow refuge 
  of Zirnakaynin.
  Sovoneil Rirnovies: Captured near the ruins of 
  Celwynvian soon after the dark elves appeared there, 
  Sovoneil was among the first elves to lay eyes upon a 
  drow. The fledgling fleshwarpers of House Parastric 
  experimented long on the unsuspecting elven traveler, 
  killing him numerous times and restoring him through 
  alchemy and dark magic again and again. Sovoneil 
  gradually became the first irnakurse, but also an anomaly, 
  as he retained his mind and sanity. Trapped within 
  House Parastric even to this day, Sovoneil knows he can 
  never return home and seeks revenge against those who 
  ruined him.
  Cossiel and Giries Sheynil: Sibling explorers captured 
  by the duergar of Hagegraf in the Five Kings Mountains, 
  these elves had the poor fortune of being sold to drow 
  slavers. Facing terrible tortures and endless interrogations 
  about their people’s ways, life, and defenses, they were 
  finally purchased by House Vonnarc. Fleshwarped, the 
  symmetrically sculpted irnakurse are the perpetually 
  displayed prides of Vonnarc Palace’s Hall of Ancestors.
  Tyislyveen Fainomier: Believed dead, the longtime 
  companion of the leader of Celwynvian’s defenders, 
  Kaerishiel Neirenar, was captured nearly 3 years ago. For 
  long years the brave ranger has suffered as a prisoner of 
  House Dolour, yet has refused to break or tell the drow of 
  the Mierani Forest’s defenses. Although not an irnakurse 
  yet, she has suffered much of the prerequisite tortures, and 
  ito only a matter of time before her captors finally run out 
  of patience.
  
  88
  Second Darkness
  mothman
  Shaped like a man, but bigger, the form of this ominous being 
  hints at both humanoid and insectile heritages. Wavering 
  wings of every color and none protrude from its lean, almost 
  frail form. Spindly limbs end in long-clawed digits and from an 
  indistinct visage twitch foot-long antennae. Yet most shocking 
  are the thing’s eyes, hell-red orbs that blaze with fiery light and 
  alien knowledge.
  Mothman 
   
  CR 6
  Usually CN Medium monstrous humanoid
  Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +16, Spot +16
  DEfEnSE
  AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 16
  (+4 Dex, +6 natural)
  hp 59 (9d8+19)
  fort +5, Ref +10, Will +10
  Defensive Abilities blurred; SR 18
  OffEnSE
  Spd 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)
  Melee 2 claws +13 (1d6+1)
  Special Attacks mind-warping gaze
  Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th)
  At will—detect thoughts (DC 16), ghost sound (DC 
  14), misdirection (DC 16), scare (DC 16)
  3/day—greater invisibility, major image (DC 17), 
  moment of prescience, nightmare (DC 16), phantasmal 
  killer (DC 15), project image (DC 18), shadow walk (DC 
  17), suggestion (DC 14), vision
  1/day—false vision, mind fog (DC 16), mislead (DC 17)
  STATISTICS
  Str 12, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 19, Cha 18
  Base Atk +9; Grp +10
  feats Blind-Fight, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse
  Skills Hide +16, Knowledge (any two) +9, Listen +16, Sense 
  Motive +16, Spot +16
  Languages understands Common, Sylvan, Undercommon; 
  telepathy 100 ft.
  SQ agent of fate, seer speak
  ECOLOGy
  Environment any
  Organization solitary 
  Treasure none
  Advancement by character class; favored Class sorcerer
  Level Adjustment —
  SpECIAL ABILITIES
  Agent of fate (Sp) A mothman may recreate the effects of any 
  spell of 5th-level or lower once per day, but only if doing so 
  steers the flow of fate in its proper course. What the proper flow 
  of fate entails is determined by the GM. Mothmen typically use 
  this ability to provoke an important event circumvented by some 
  extraordinary intrusion. Mothmen cannot use this ability in their 
  own defense or to directly harm another creature. Typical uses 
  of this ability include casting major image to coax someone to a 
  portentous location, casting raise dead to return someone with an 
  important fate to life, or using rusting grasp to weaken a structure 
  and cause some necessary calamity. Save DCs for spells recreated 
  in this manner are Charisma-based.  
  Blurred (Su) Although they often don’t appear indistinct, mothmen 
  are constantly affected as per the spell blur, granting them constant 
  concealment and a 20% chance that any attack misses.
  Mind-Warping Gaze (Su) A mothman’s gaze facinates all creatures 
  within 30 feet (Will DC 18 negates). The save DC is Charisma-
  based. By using its gaze as an attack action, a mothman can lock 
  minds with a creature already fascinated by its gaze (the creature 
  receives no additional save). A mothman can only lock minds with 
  one creature per round. Every round the mothman maintains its 
  gaze it can affect a target as per the spell modify memory. Unlike 
  a normal modify memory spell, a mothman can change 5 minutes 
  of memories each round, potentially altering a significant amount 
  of time in moments. Before releasing a victim from its gaze, a 
  mothman typically alters its target’s memory of the past several 
  moments, preventing it from remembering that it was ever there.
  Seer Speak (Su) Mothmen are either unwilling or incapable of 
  communicating verbally. Even when one uses its telepathy, 
  
  89
  Bestiary
  the messages conveyed are not perceived as speech, but 
  rather as cryptic images. A mothman cannot use the sights it 
  communicates with as an attack, and whomever a mothman 
  communicates with can choose to ignore the images. These 
  images can be sent to sleeping creatures, who typically perceive 
  them as strange dreams. When a mothman seeks more direct 
  or urgent communication it uses its mind-warping gaze. 
  Creatures known to tragic legends and darkest folklore, 
  where mothmen appear mystery and calamity follow. Scant 
  information exists regarding these shadow-winged creatures, 
  so little that scholars still widely debate whether the name 
  applies to an entire race or but a single being. Regardless, 
  witnesses of the sinisterly-shaped night-stalkers share tales 
  of midnight chases, terrible flaming eyes, and inexplicable 
  visions of terrible events. Decades have passed with no reports 
  of mothmen, but always, whenever the ominous beings do 
  inexplicably reappear, some unexplainable miracle or soul-
  wrenching catastrophe inevitably follows. 
  Accounts describe mothmen as shadowy, 6-to-7-foot-tall 
  humanoids with slight frames, likely weighing little more 
  than 100 pounds. Their wings, which perpetually change 
  shape and color, typically measure from 10 to 12 feet across.
  Ecology
  Due to the varied and contradictory reports of mothmen 
  and no evidence of even a deceased member of the race, little 
  can be said about their bodily workings or baser tendencies. 
  Their skill at avoiding hunters, though—even in light of 
  divination magics—seems to speak toward some race-wide 
  need for isolation. In rare and impossible to substantiate 
  reports where a mothman is slain, witnesses often claim the 
  creature dissipates into shadow and smoke, leaving behind 
  nothing of its terrestrial form.
  Habitat & Society
  Although mothmen primarily appear in temperate, rural 
  areas this might speak more to the high populations of such 
  regions—and thus potential for more witness—than any 
  sort of favoritism. Keeping to the fringes of civilization when 
  they do appear, mothmen haunt dense forested areas, cavern 
  complexes, and abandoned structures. No credible tales about 
  the creatures ever suggests the appearance of more than one 
  mothman, suggesting a race of largely solitary individuals 
  and raising the theory that only one of these beings exists.
  A typically recounted encounter with a mothman goes as 
  such: A solitary traveler or small group passing through a 
  darkened area spots a pair of strange lights ahead of them. 
  Investigating, the wanderers find the lights to be the fearsome 
  glowing eyes of a tall, shadowy, perhaps winged beast. The 
  travelers flee and the creature takes to the air in pursuit. 
  Only through luck or guile do the travelers escape, shaken 
  but unharmed. Variations of this account infuse the folklore 
  of small communities from Qadira to Ustalav, though the 
  original tale seems to have appeared in the Taldan town of 
  Bronze Bridge, southeast of Yanmass, nearly 130 years ago.
  Perhaps the must unnerving aspect of mothman sight-
  ings are the strange events that follow in their wake. Often 
  the creatures’ appearance presage some significant tragedy, 
  though other wondrous events, such as spontaneous resur-
  rections, diverted forest fires, and impossible births, have 
  been noted. Locals in close proximity to such events—both 
  mothman witnesses and others—sometimes claim inexpli-
  cable prior knowledge of the event, asserting they witnessed 
  some related detail in a dream or vision. In the case of Bronze 
  Bridge, two visitors to the town claimed to have had dreams 
  of the bridge’s collapse several days before the community’s 
  namesake span crashed into the swift-moving water during 
  the height of a local holiday, killing several dozen people.
  “Facts” about mothmEn
  Contradictory tales of mothmen and the dire implications of 
  their appearances have filled the folklore of rural communities 
  for decades. Here are but a few of the most commonly held 
  and widely spread details.
  Before the fall: People often claim to see mothmen before 
  great calamities. Such tales lead many to debate the creatures’ 
  roles in such catastrophes, questioning whether they merely 
  presage the events, actually cause them, or gain some sort of 
  psychic sustenance from the tragic results.
  The Chase: Upon being spotted, a mothman typically flies 
  after those who happened upon it. Despite claims of their 
  great speed, though, few tales tell of the monsters actually 
  catching their quarry.
  Impossible Motion: Mothmen fly at incredible speeds, 
  easily outpacing the fastest hawks or dragons, yet their wings 
  never appear to move.
  Song of Sorrows: Those who repeatedly see mothmen often 
  tell of their terrible voices or songs, like a woman screaming, 
  a high-pitched screech, or a raptor-like cry.
  Transfixing Eyes: Nearly all accounts of mothmen speak 
  of their terrible burning eyes, fiery orbs that seem to shed 
  hellish light. In some accounts, a witness happens upon 
  someone gazing directly into the eyes of a nearby mothman, 
  yet afterward the transfixed victim has no memory of even 
  seeing the creature.
  Unwanted Visitor: Mothmen often revisit those who see 
  them, appearing near witnesses’ homes and being seen by family 
  members. This leads to speculation regarding the creatures’ 
  intentions: Are sightings chance happenings? Or do mothmen 
  choose their observers for some mysterious purpose?
  Unseen Hands: Some who sight mothmen later report un-
  explained, poltergeist-like phenomenon and strange noises—
  shattering windows, banging doors, toppling furniture, and 
  similar occurrences.
  
  90
  Second Darkness
  Sajan
  Lini
  Male HuMan Monk 10
  FeMale GnoMe DruiD 10
  str
  str
  defense
  HP 78
  AC 24
  touch 20, flat-footed 21
  Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +8 
  (+2 against enchantment)
  Special Defenses 
  improved evasion, slow 
  fall 50 ft., still mind; 
  Immune nonmagical 
  disease
  defense
  HP 78
  AC 18
  touch 14, flat-footed 17 (+4 
  bonus against giants)
  Fort +11, Ref +5, Will +12 
  (+2 against illusions)
  Special Qualities immune 
  to poison, low-light 
  vision, nature sense, 
  woodland stride
  offense
  Melee unarmed strike +10/+5 
  (2d6+2) or
  flurry of blows +10/+10/+5 
  (2d6+1) or
  +1 temple sword +10 (1d8+3/19–20)
  Base Atk +7; Grp +9
  Special Attacks ki strike (lawful and 
  magic), stunning fist 11/day (DC 
  16), wholeness of body (20 hp/day)
  offense
  Melee sickle +6 (1d4–2)
  Ranged +1 sling +10 (1d3–2)
  Base Atk +7; Grp +1
  Special Attacks +1 vs goblins 
  and kobolds, gnome spell-like 
  abilities, wild shape (Large) 4/day
  Spells Prepared (CL 7th; +9 ranged)
  5th—death ward, wall of thorns
  4th—air walk, dispel magic, flame 
  strike (DC 18), freedom of 
  movement
  3rd—call lightning (DC 17), neutralize 
  poison (DC 17), remove disease, 
  quench (DC 17)
  2nd—barkskin (2), cat’s grace, lesser 
  restoration, resist energy
  1st—entangle (2, DC 15), longstrider, 
  produce flame (2)
  0—cure minor wounds (3), guidance, 
  light, mending
  skills
  Climb 
  +15
  Escape Artist 
  +16
  Jump 
  +29
  Sense Motive 
  +14
  Tumble 
  +18
  feats
  Deflect Arrows, Dodge, 
  Exotic Weapon Proficiency 
  (temple sword), Improved 
  Trip, Mobility, Spring 
  Attack, Stunning Fist, 
  Weapon Finesse
  skills
  Concentration 
  +16 
  Craft (alchemy) 
  +2
  Handle Animal 
  +14
  Knowledge (nature) 
  +15
  Listen 
  +6
  Ride 
  +14
  Survival 
  +6
  Wild Empathy 
  +11
  feats
  Augment Summoning, 
  Mounted Combat, 
  Natural Spell, Spell Focus 
  (conjuration)
  animal ComPanion
  Droogami (snow leopard; 
  MM 274)
  Combat Gear potion of fly (2); Other Gear +1 temple sword, amulet of health +2, bracers of 
  armor +4, dusty rose ioun stone (+1 insight bonus to AC), ring of protection +2, monk’s belt, 
  wooden holy symbol, belt pouch
  Combat Gear wand of flame blade (50 charges), wand of cure moderate wounds (50 charges); Other 
  Gear +2 wild leather armor, sickle, +1 sling with 10 bullets, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +2, 
  periapt of Wisdom +2, belt pouch, mistletoe, spell component pouch, rations (2 days), collection of 
  special de-barked sticks, 5 gp
  align LN 
  init +3 
  sPeed 60 ft.
  align N 
  init +1 
  sPeed 20 ft.
  dex
  dex
  con
  con
  int
  int
  wis
  wis
  cha
  cha
  14
  6
  16
  12
  16
  16
  10
  10
  12
  19
  8
  13
  abilities
  abilities
  Lini always seemed to possess a certain affinity with various creatures of the woodlands near where 
  she grew up—particularly with larger predators like bears and snow leopards. In the years since her 
  departure from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, Lini has collected more than a dozen sticks—one 
  from each forest or wood she visits.
  Sajan Gadadvara and his twin sister Sajni were separated when the lord they served was shamed 
  and forced to cede half his army to the victor—among them Sajan’s sister. Sajni was taken away 
  from Vudra by her new master, and Sajan abandoned his own responsibilities to follow. He spent 
  years trying in vain to find her, but has not yet given up. Sajan knows he cannot return to Vudra, 
  for the padapranja there would execute him as a deserter. He cares not for his home country, 
  however, and continues to seek out any clue that might point him toward his sister.
  deity: Irori   
  Homeland: Vudra
  deity: Green Faith 
  Homeland: Land of the Linnorm Kings
  
  91
  Characters
  SeLtyieL
  amiri
  Male HalF-elF  
  FiGHter 1/evoker 5/elDritcH kniGHt 4
  FeMale HuMan BarBarian 10
  str
  str
  defense
  HP 66
  AC 20
  touch 16, flat-footed 17
  Fort +10, Ref +5, Will +4; 
  +2 against enchantment; 
  immune to sleep effects
  Special Qualities low-
  light vision
  defense
  HP 110
  AC 17
  touch 12, flat-footed 16
  Fort +11, Ref +4, Will +4
  Special Defenses trap 
  sense +3, improved 
  uncanny dodge; DR 2/—
  offense
  Melee +2 spell storing longsword 
  +11/+6 (1d8+3/19–20)
  Ranged +1 comp. longbow +11/+6 
  (1d8+2/×3)
  Base Atk +7; Grp +8
  Spells Prepared (CL 8th, +10 
  ranged touch, 10% spell failure)
  4th—dimension door, fire shield, 
  still lightning bolt (DC 17)
  3rd—dispel magic, fireball (DC 17), 
  fly, still scorching ray
  2nd—bull’s strength, glitterdust (DC 
  14), still magic missile (2), mirror image
  1st—enlarge person, burning hands 
  (DC 15), magic missile (3), shield
  0—flare (DC 14), light, mage hand, 
  ray of frost, prestidigitation
  Prohibited Schools enchant., necro.
  offense
  Melee Large +2 bastard sword 
  +16/+11 (2d8+9/17–20)
  Ranged +1 comp. longbow +12/+7 
  (1d8+6/×3)
  Base Atk +10; Grp +15
  Special Attacks rage 3/day
  Special Qualities fast movement, 
  illiteracy
  barbarian rage
  HP 130
  AC 15, touch 10, flat-footed 14
  Fort +13, Ref +4, Will +6
  Melee Large +2 bastard sword 
  +18/+13 (2d8+12/17–20)
  Str 25, Con 22
  raging Power attaCk
  Melee Large +2 bastard sword 
  +8/+3 (2d8+32/17–20)
  skills
  Concentration 
  +13
  Craft (alchemy) 
  +13
  Diplomacy 
  +2
  Gather Information 
  +2
  Intimidate 
  +4
  Knowledge (arcana) 
  +13
  Listen 
  +0
  Search 
  +3
  Spellcraft 
  +13
  Spot 
  +0
  feats
  Combat Expertise, Dodge, 
  Greater Spell Focus (evocation), 
  Mobility, Scribe Scroll, Spell 
  Focus (evocation), Still Spell, 
  Weapon Focus (longsword)
  familiar
  Dargenti (bat)
  skills
  Climb 
  +16
  Intimidate 
  +12
  Jump 
  +16
  Listen 
  +14
  Spot 
  +3
  Survival 
  +14
  feats
  Exotic Weapon Proficiency 
  (bastard sword), Improved 
  Bull Rush, Improved Critical 
  (bastard sword), Power 
  Attack, Weapon Focus 
  (bastard sword)
  Combat Gear potion of barksin +4 (2); Other Gear +3 leather armor, +2 spell storing longsword 
  (contains vampiric touch), dagger, +1 composite longbow (+1 Str) with 20 arrows and 1 human 
  slaying arrow, amulet of health +2, gloves of Dexterity +2, ring of protection +2, flask of fine absinthe 
  worth 50 gp, gold holy symbol worth 75 gp, spellbook, 8 gp
  Combat Gear potion of barkskin +3 (2), potion of fly; Gear +2 hide armor, Large +2 bastard sword, +1 
  composite longbow (+5 Str), javelins (2), throwing axe, belt of giant strength +4, amulet of health +4, 
  ring of protection +1, 20 gp 
  align LE 
  init +3 
  sPeed 30 ft.
  align CN 
  init +1 
  sPeed 30 ft.
  dex
  dex
  con
  con
  int
  int
  wis
  wis
  cha
  cha
  12
  21
  17
  13
  16
  18
  15
  10
  8
  12
  10
  8
  abilities
  abilities
  Amiri never quite fit in to the expected gender roles of her tribe, and when the tribe attempted to send 
  her on a suicide mission, she returned with an enormous trophy—a frost giant’s sword. She has since 
  abandoned her people, and has come to value her oversized sword (even though she can only truly wield 
  it properly when her blood rage takes her). She never speaks of the circumstances that forced her to flee 
  her homeland. Some things are better left unsaid.
  Born from a dead mother amid screams and disgrace, Seltyiel grew up surrounded by shame and abuse. 
  Before he came of age, his stepfather attempted to murder him, but after Seltyiel turned the tables, he fled 
  into the wild. Since then, his life has been a cruel series of betrayals and pain. His brief reunion with his 
  true father (a notorious bandit) ended with the half-elf being betrayed and imprisoned. Recently released, 
  Seltyiel longs for revenge against both his fathers for his stolen childhood.
  deity: Asmodeus  
  Homeland: Cheliax
  deity: Gorum  
  Homeland: Realm of the Mammoth Lords
  
  Next Month in
  TM
  92
  Second Darkness
  Calistria
  by Sean K Reynolds
  Indulge in the fickle delights of Calistria, tempestuous 
  goddess of lust, revenge, and trickery. Revel in her divine 
  embrace, witness the mercilessness of her avengers, and 
  know the bittersweet sting of her divine deceptions.
  and More!
  Under the cover of darkness demon worshipers seek to 
  unleash the fury of the Abyss in a new Set Piece adventure. 
  Eando Kline races to rebury knowledge of his latest and 
  most incredible discovery in his penultimate adventure 
  in the Pathfinder’s Journal. And discover beasts of the 
  darkest wilderness and harbingers of the Lower Planes in 
  the Pathfinder Bestiary!
  subsCribe to Pathfinder!
  Don’t miss out on a single encounter! Venture to paizo.
  com/pathfinder and subscribe today! Have each Pathfinder 
  Adventure Path, Pathfinder Chronicles, Pathfinder 
  Companion, and GameMastery product delivered to your 
  door! Get every Second Darkness adventure or pick up 
  volumes of past Adventure Paths online!
  a MeMory of darkness
  by J. D. Wiker
  A deadly threat to the world of light lies bared! Yet 
  convincing the elves of Kyonin that they and the entire 
  world face a mortal danger might prove more difficult 
  than expected. Opposed by a shadowy group of elven 
  conspirators known as the Winter Council, the PCs must 
  seek out a secret fortress in the notorious, demon-haunted 
  wood known as Tanglebriar. But when a startling secret 
  about the elves’ ancient past is revealed, the PCs must 
  choose whether to expose the Winter Council or take part 
  in their centuries-old deception.
  kyonin
  by James L. Sutter
  For the first time, the gates to the Kingdom of the Elves 
  stand open! Discover a strange new realm within, one 
  that threatens to captivate and enthrall all who enter.
  Explore the forested reaches and haunting natural beauty 
  of Kyonin, the homeland of Golarion’s elves. From the 
  splendorous elven capital of Iadara to the savage hollows 
  of the fiend-tainted Tanglebriar, brave a land of adventure 
  and mystery few humans will ever dare!
  Game Content you Distribute.
  7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, 
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  15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
  System Reference Document. Copyright 2000. Wizards of the Coast, Inc; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip 
  Williams, based on material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
  Pathfinder 16: Endless Night. Copyright 2008, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: F. Wesley Schneider.
  The Advanced Bestiary. Copyright 2004, Green Ronin Publishing; Author: Matthew Sernett.
  Plot & Poison: A Guidebook to Drow. Copyright 2002, Green Ronin Publishing; Author: Matthew Sernett.
  Tome of Horrors. Copyright 2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; Authors: Scott Greene, with Clark Peterson, Erica Balsley, 
  Kevin Baase, Casey Christofferson, Lance Hawvermale, Travis Hawvermale, Patrick Lawinger, and Bill Webb; Based on original 
  content from TSR.
  OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
  The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc 
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  93
  From the crumbling spires of the ancient runelords in distant Varisia to the bustling merchant 
  kingdoms of the Inner Sea, the Pathﬁnder Chronicles campaign setting forms the panoramic 
  backdrop for Paizo Publishing’s innovative Pathﬁnder fantasy roleplaying supplements, modules, 
  and Adventure Paths. The world’s most popular roleplaying game is always changing, but the 
  Pathﬁnder Chronicles campaign setting is designed to be great right from the start. Your next 
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  Pathﬁnder Chronicles Supplements � $17.99
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  Every Hero  
  Needs a Companion
  paizo.com/pathfinder
  All trademarks are property of Paizo Publishing®,
   LLC. ©2008 Paizo. All Rights Reserved
  I
  mmerse your character in the world of the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign 
  setting like never before! Each 32-page bimonthly Pathfinder Companion 
  explores a major theme in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign 
  setting, with expanded regional gazetteers, new player character options, 
  and organizational overviews to help players flesh out their character 
  backgrounds and to provide players and Game Masters alike with new 
  sources for campaign intrigue. Every Pathfinder needs a friend – get by with 
  a little help from ours.
  Pathfinder Companion: Second Darkness • Available Now!
  Pathfinder Companion: Elves of Golarion • Available Now!
  Pathfinder Companion: Osirion, Land of Pharaohs • December 2008
  Pathfinder Companion • $9.99  Available anywhere games are sold.
  
  Pathﬁnder is your monthly Pathﬁnder Chronicles campaign setting Adventure Path source. Each volume explores new locations, unveils new monsters 
  unique to Golarion, and gives Game Masters another entry in a complete campaign. Adventures, wealth, and fame wait within!
  Pathﬁnder #7 Curse of the Crimson Throne: “Edge of Anarchy” 
  $19.99 
    
   
   
   
   
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  $19.99 
    
   
   
   
   
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  $19.99 
    
   
   
   
   
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  $19.99 
    
   
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  one—it’s your world now.
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  character options, and organizational overviews to help players ﬂesh out their character backgrounds and to provide players and Game Masters 
  with new sources for campaign intrigue.
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  Permission granted to photocopy this page.
  ™ 
  
  The exciting world of the Pathfinder™ Adventure Paths and Pathfinder Modules comes alive in 
  this massive 256-page full-color hardcover tome primed and ready to go for your new campaign! 
  Detailed sections on more than 40 nations provide a full picture of the world of the Pathfinder 
  Chronicles™ campaign setting, with new rules, new magic and spells, detailed descriptions of 
  more than twenty gods, and a gorgeous poster map detailing the entire campaign setting.
  Written by  
  Keith Baker, Wolfgang Baur, Jason Bulmahn, Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb, James Jacobs, Mike McArtor,  
  Erik Mona, F. Wesley Schneider, and more than twenty additional authors,  
  including mini-essays on world creation by R.A. Salvatore and Robert J. Kuntz.
  Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting:
     
  Available Now  ◆  $49.99
  Golarion Needs Heroes
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  All trademarks are property of Paizo Publishing®,
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  Flauros
  Nocticula
  Abraxas
  Zura
  Shax
  Haagenti
  Jubilex
  Andirifhhu
  Areshkagal
  Cyth-V’sug
  Socothbenoth
  Mazmezz
  Demon Lord Runes
  
  paizo.com/pathfinder
  Printed in China. PZO9016
  F
  ar below the world of light, a cavity of unspeakable evil spreads an ancient hatred 
  through the darkness. From their city of Zirnakaynin the dark elves rule an empire 
  of lies and dark magic. Already their foul ambitions grasp for the world above, 
  threatening a cataclysm beyond reckoning and the advent of a second Age of 
  Darkness. Only by taking on the disguises of dark elves themselves and invading 
  the capital of the drow can the PCs discover their enemies’ true faces and put 
  an end to their world-shattering plot. But what hope for survival can natives 
  of the surface have in a merciless realm of endless night?
  This volume of Pathfinder includes: 
  ◆  “Endless Night,” an adventure for 9th-level characters,  
  by F. Wesley Schneider.
  ◆  An exploration of Zirnakaynin, the sunless city of the drow, 
  with revelations on its cruel residents and ruthless rulers, 
  by F. Wesley Schneider.
  ◆  Secrets of the perverse drow art of fleshwarping 
  and the terrifying abominations born of this mad 
  science, by J. D. Wiker and Darrin Drader.
  ◆  Eando Kline reawakens an evil that could 
  jeopardize all of Golarion in the Pathfinder’s 
  Journal, by Jay Thompson.
  ◆  Five new monsters by Jonathan Drain and F. Wesley Schneider.
  The Underworld Awaits!
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Pathfinder/1st Edition/Adventure Paths/PF013-018 - Second Darkness/Second Darkness - 04 - Endless Night.pdf