An escort from Sschindylryn - mid 1373 D.R.
The City of Portals, as Sschindylryn is known, lies miles beneath the King's Forest in Cormyr. It has become a major trading centre of Har'oloth, and the drow who live here are skilled in the arts of divination and magical travel. Thousands of portals are said to connect the city to the world above and below Faerûn, as well as to other planes of existence. Noble houses, guilds as well as individuals watch over the majority of the portals, demanding fees or services in exchange for their use. Only a few of the portals can be accessed by anyone and without charge - which is not to say that they are unguarded. More often than not, those portals only lead to barren wastelands or remote parts of the Underdark though. Some others were created simply to dispose the waste of the city, so anyone stumbling into such a teleportation device might find himself dangling above a lava pit or a mile-deep cavern. The majority of the free portals are of the one-way category.
The city as such has no direct connections to the Underdark itself. Build on the ruins of an old kuo-toa city, Sschindylryn supports itself with a few fungi farms and rothe kennels, as well as an extensive trade with any race willing to trade with the drow.
Some of you have come her along with the yathrin Kethryllia, who ventured from Skullport to Maerimydra on behalf of a servant of Lolth. The group recovered some artifacts from the ruined temple of Lolth and brought them to Sschindylryn, where they were handed over to members of a crusader order of Lolth, the Dalharilen d'lil Yochlol. The news of the fall of Maerimydra to hordes of demon-spawned monsters and undead alerted the crusaders and they immediately set off to the City of the Spider Queen. Kethryllia and the refugee Malifice joined them, while other members of the group, namely Narzen, Nata'al, and Talice bid their farewells and departed back to Skullport or other places. The leading Dalharil offered a job to those staying behind ... and this is where this campaign will start off with.
The characters who remained assembled at the temple of Lolth and waited for the Dalharil to appear.