5 Alturiak, 1371

Dear Master Zorthaster,

We have discovered a dark tower inside a hollow stalactite wherein we hope to destroy Irae T'sarran . We have begun our assault with an attempt at breaking a link with the Negative Energy Plane that is manifested itself here as a huge globe of blackness intersecting the upper part of the tower.

After the shade Wyrruth left we prepared ourselves to meet the T'sarran and her forces. We did not expect to find a tower filled with secret rooms and traps. That is, however, what we encountered. The tower looks like a spiraling thorn thrusting up from the floor on the inside of a huge, hollow stalactite in the center of the drow city. Stuck to the side of the upper part of the tower is a seething globe of darkness, 30 feet across. Black mists and green, crackling energies moved across and about the globe. The tower and the globe appear to have arrived here somehow, crowding themselves into the interior of this place. The do not appear to have been built here.

Shane found a hidden doorway as he set of a trap that drained some of his vital energy. Primula restored him a short time later, but the nature of the trap was frightening. Immediately, a swirling blade barrier appeared in the air outside the door. Rushing in to avoid the magical blades, we confronted a ghost champion riding a Nightmare as well as several other drow. It was a confusing battle, made more so by the appearance of an ethereal medusa spellcaster who favored force based spells that could strike at us as she stayed hidden on the ethereal plane. When I was finally able to catch up to her and strike at her with a thunderlance, she retreated into the walls and waited for us to give her another opening.

The battle with her carried us up the tower, and we discovered that the place was lousy with concealed doors and traps. Additionally, I believe that the tower it self has a kind of sentience and is actively fighting us. Primula and Oskar tried to deal with the orb of negative energy directly by hitting it with the raw positive energy they channel when they turn undead. I think they might have a slim chance if they can push the upper limits of their abilities and Primula calls upon the power of the prayer beads she carries.

Meanwhile, shadows are spilling off the orb and attacking them. Getting close to the orb, or at least approaching the upper part of the tower causes one to suffer from the negative energy. The ethereal wizard harries the rear of our party and something nearly killed Ciercie in an attack out of thin air. I am increasingly frustrated in the fact that I seem to be terribly ineffective against the enemies we now face, and seem incapable of protecting Ciercie from harm.

Sincerely,

Cedar