18 Marpenoth, 1371

Dear Master Zorthaster,

We have had yet another fierce battle with undead here in the Drow stronghold. This time I believe we faced one of the leaders of the drow problem. We have defeated her, but not yet ended the threat.

As I wrote in my last letter, Oskar had fallen in battle and Primula came to his aid almost immediately. She raised the fallen hero and we retreated for a moment into the small antechamber where we encountered the twin priestesses. A quick search revealed two recently used bedrooms and one, larger unused room. While the others were searching the bedrooms and dragging bodies behind closed doors, the celestial bear and I stood watch in the hall.

In the antechamber my companions discovered another prisoner, a barbarian berserker named Mark the Red. He was released and agreed to join in our fight for a while.

Kerith told us a story of one of Lord Morn's Freedom riders who had been with a party that captured a large drow warrior who carried a dire flail. He had also had a fiendish beast companion. The drow managed to escape and it is suspected that he had returned to kill each of the Freedom Riders and their families. That drow's name was thought to be Zedar T'Sarran. Kerith believes that the evil warrior that we had just killed was that drow.

Our search of these rooms turned up little useful information so we continued on. We came next to a large room where our battle began. As Shane opened the doors leading from this room, the party was hit by pillars of flame. There followed a chaotic battle with an ancient female drow vampire. She appeared to be a noble had had obviously been prepared for us. She was hidden by illusion and invisibility. She also had a swarm of dire rats at her command. Shortly after the battle commenced, she conjured a blade barrier that succeeded in dividing our party. My firebrand cleared the room of rats, but the vampire was difficult to locate and even harder to injure. Both disintegrate spells I had prepared today were unable to hit her or penetrate her spell resistance.

Eventually, we were able to do enough damage to cause her to assume a gaseous form and retreat to her coffin. She passed through a series of small holes in the nearby wall and disappeared. We found a secret door that lead to a hidden chamber where her coffin lay. It remains before us now, locked shut with bands of copper. It is also warded with a glyph. We are taking a moment to study it and decide how best to deal with the trap without and the vampire within. Most of the spells I had prepared for today are either gone or useless in this situation. I must sign off for now to focus my thoughts on this challenge. Wish us well.

Your faithful student,

Cedar