Session 12b -- A Link Between Worlds

Ceangal (pronounced KANE-gull) is a Drow from the Drow capital, Karanji Astinda. Like the other Drow, he grew up worshiping Lolth, the spider-goddess.  About a year ago, as he was praying to Lolth, she came to him in a vision. She said that she was trapped by a powerful, evil force (powerful enough to trap a goddess), and that an avatar was needed to free her. She asked if he would become that avatar, and he agreed. In that moment, his nature was bifurcated, with all his goodness remaining in his corporeal body and all his darkness and evil being stripped off on its own.

This evil entity now goes by the name Scath and appears to be a Drow made entirely of smoke and shadow.  Scath has taken on a leadership role in the Drow community since then.

Some time later, Ceangal received another vision, this time from an angelic being whose name he did not know.  This being told him of the scheme to kidnap the human children from the material plane for Malak, the dark entity that has trapped Lolth and threatens to destroy her if the Drow don't cooperate.  Scath is leading the Drow as they travel from the Shadowfell to the Feywild to retrieve the kidnapped children from King Shroudbane and the faeries of the Gloomspring Court and bring them back to the Shadowfell to be handed over to Malak. Precisely how that handoff works, Ceangal was not told.

The angelic being told Ceangal that he has a special, redemptive role to play for the Drow and bestowed upon him a special sword. Whereas Malak is a channel of death, the angel is a channel of life. Therefore, this special weapon is tied to the wielder's life force. As long as the wielder has all his hit points, the sword can shoot lightning up to 30 feet. Ceangal's destiny is to use this sword to stop Scath and Malak.

Ceangal followed Scath and the Drow kidnap party to the Feywild to retrieve the children, but he lost their trail.

He knew that Scath and the kidnap party would use the Temple of Gloom to make the transit between the Shadowfell and the Feywild, but he couldn't travel that way himself undetected, so he crossed between the realms using the Cave at the World's End. Inside that cave, he found his way through a disorienting, twisting maze constantly swept clean by gelatinous cubes. More than once, he found himself surprised by them.

Once he emerged in the Feywild, he made his way northward along the Heel of the World, crossed the Serpent River, and continued heading north until he reached the Gloomspring Court. There, he found that he missed the kidnap party by some time. Knowing that he would need to track the Drow south again to the Temple of Gloom, and he intended to brave using it this time, he made his way toward the Angry Mountains where he heard that fire giants crafted magical armor. He would need extra protection if he was going to confront an entire party of Drow and force his way through the Temple of Gloom.

The halflings that told him of the giants warned him as well of a fierce dragon that also inhabited the area, so he warily picked his way through the rocky terrain as he made the ascent toward the giants and their forges at Mt. Raiva. He managed to avoid crossing paths with the dragon, but now, just outside the fire giants' settlements, he sees ahead of him a party of Outlanders: a dwarf and four humans...