Before you read any further, you should read the full description of the Hellblades.

It was rumored many a year ago that during the great wars when the Elves united to battle the Dark Elves and to cause them to flee to the vast underground, Gulgaraith, a well experienced fighter/mage Dark Elf, forged numerous swords of great power to help in those wars. This is how The Hellblades came to surface on the mortal world of man. Nobody knows how many blades were actually forged and enchanted and how many still exist after so many centuries. All that is know is that they are weapons of quite evil power.

About twenty years ago, an evil drow priest by the name of Dhamon, during a particularly hard campaign against the other elves, apparently located the long lost resting place of the legendary weapons, and set off to find them, hoping to gain the favor of his mistress. Unfortunately for him, the elves were aware that the priest was searching for something, and sent a small detachment of forces, commanded by captain Rialas Thornwood, to hunt him down.

During Rialas' mission, Dhamon actually found the weapons but was unable to use them as the elven forces stormed down on the dark elves, dealing them a crushing defeat through sheer numbers. During the battle, the subterranean passage on which the weapons were collapsed, burying them. Captain Rialas considered that the Hellblades' location was better hidden from ambitious eyes, and so omitted anything remotely connected to the weapons in his report, claiming that Dhamon was trying to summon a powerful extraplanar monster to attack elven outposts.

Dhamon survived the battle, and was led in chains to a stone keep that served as prison, to be tortured for information and then left to await death in a cell.

Rialas was a hero, and as the years passed, he was named Grand Duke of an important city in one of the elven nation's colonies overseas.

However, two years ago, Dhamon was rescued from the prison by former associates, normally, a drow would rather face death than admit failure to his matriarch, but Dhamon had kept himself alive all those years waiting for a chance to recover the weapons he had sought for so many years, and a chance for revenge against Rialas.

Once freed, Dhamon dared to go see his mistress, and faced near death before convincing her of giving him another opportunity, lulled by Dhamon's promises of power and success, she agreed. She gave him one last chance...

The enemy elven nation had a colony overseas, where the drows were very few and easily controlled by the elven armies, as it were, large drow forces were massing northwest of the colonies capital city, hoping to raze the city while most of the elven forces fought against the goblin hordes' uprising in the southern border. This has been planned for several months and is about to become a reality. But there is one problem.

One of the elven generals is aware of this unprotected front, and suggested to the colony's ruling council to place an outpost to cover it, which would certainly ruin the drow's attack. The council is currently considering the proposal, and the final voting and decision will take place in three weeks.

The drow's strategy is already in progress, and should the council decide to send forces there, this would mean a mayor setback for the dark elves' plans. And so, Dhamon's mission is to delay that decision long enough for the drow forces to mount their attack unhindered at any cost, but without rising any suspicions towards the drows.

To this effect, he was given a small force to accomplish his task, and he has finally recovered the Hellblades (without his mistress' knowledge), in hopes that their power will allow him to succeed (and save him from his matriarch's wrath).

As an added "prize", the capital city's political leader is someone Dhamon knows very well, none other than Grand Duke Rialas Thornwood.

For the purposes of this adventure, I made certain modifications to the hellblades, which are as follows:

First off, the Hellblades lose all magical abilities if the owner uses them to attack a Drow.

Second, Dhamon has used his clerical powers to cast a particularly powerful quest spell on the Hellblades, binding any wielder (except another drow) to his service, the missions that these persons must accomplish are detailed below.

Dhamon has managed to dominate the Hellblade he wields (Lifelicker), because he is a drow and because of his high ego, and this sword is not subject to the penalty of trying the owner of any other sword that comes near him. Nor is any sword subject to that penalty if the sword that comes close is Lifelicker.

His plan is quite simple, to use the Hellblades to create assasins from persons that are close to their intended victims, or that simply would never arise any suspicion from anyone. The process is simple: control them by making them wield a hellblade and then send them to kill a certain council member.

The murders are confusing and enigmatic, since Dhamon goes to great efforts to fill the crime scene with contradictions and false clues, just to confuse any person who investigates it.

Note that the targeted council members are actually those who oppose the establishment of the outpost, and this fact not only draws suspicions away from drow interference, but also draws suspicions towards Rialas and others who support the proposal.

Dhamon believes that this situation may cause the council to delay or temporarily suspend the voting for security reasons, giving the dark elves enough time to attack.

And, of course, he has something special planned for his old acquiantance, Rialas Thornwood.

• The obvious and logical adventure hook would be that the PCs are hired by Rialas to protect council members or to independently investigate the murders (fearing treason in his ranks), if a Hellblade is recovered, Rialas will recognize them for what they are, but will not say anything at first, feeling guilty for having covered the whole thing before.
• They might be hired by any other council member to protect him, and, if you are feeling sadistic, the council member could be killed and the PCs blamed for it, forced to find the real culprit to prove their innocence.

The following Hellblade wielders are the ones I used, you may modify them, increase their numbers or alter the order to fit your campaign.

First assasin: Trina, a human female fighter level 8, she carries Hellbearer. She is not exactly an assasin, she escaped Dhamon's control and is now ravaging the countryside with an improvised band of "mercenaries" (scum and bullies is more like it), she went insane, used to be Lawful good but is now Chaotic evil, she likes to pillage small villages and kill men (she developed a serious hatrd for men). The encounter with Trina works best if played a few adventures before this one as a side trek adventure.

Second assasin: Cheiron, a male elf druid level 7, he carries Soulskinner. The druid of the nearby forest. The night the PCs arrive to the city, Cheiron kills a council member, and the players can do nothing but examine the crime scene; the guards are dead in gruesome ways, and strange prints of several animals (don't tell them right away about the animal prints, sword spider's prints can be confused for something else) covering the house and garden, some rooms are torn apart and others are untouched, the killers apparently enterd through the door, but left the perimeter wall and its gate untouched. Smart players who check the perimeter around the house may find that the otherwise perfectly cut grass is overgrown in a path from the wall to the house (used by the druid to cover its tracks). He resides in the forest, where the PCs may go if they identify the animal footprints as such.

If he lives, he will tell the party that he saw someone wandering the woods (Dhamon), and that a strange new raven has been flying about (Dhamon's pet, Bane)

Third assasin: Lindsay, a female half elf bard level 6, she carries Justicebane. A famous bard and singer, currently performing at the city's threatre She kills after Cheiron, probably while the PCs are busy finding and defeating him, she kills council members with whom she gets involved with first (as a lover), they die stabbed in the back and put in their bed, with makeup applied to make them look nice. This and the fact that the deceased is one of four council members who regularly attend cultural events may make them go to tonight's performance to safeguard the other council members.

If so, they may come across Rhegan (Dhamon's lieutenant) and a few drow warriors who have prepared an ambush for them.

If left alive, Lindsay will say that she went to the woods for inspiration and something happened to her, she can't remember what.

Fourth assasin: A male dwarf warrior level 9, he carries Soulsucker. he is always with 4 gnomes (actually mercenary spriggans) If the PCs stop Lindsay, this hellblade wielder will kill a council member who was on his way home, marks of axes and swords are evident. At this point, the PCs should be aware that the true culprit lies somewhere in the woods, and if they try to recruit help, they might want to hire Whitelaw and his companions (although the very presence of a dwarf on an elven city is strange, they might just overlook this fact), in which they will attack them when they are weak.

If they go to the woods, they may follow Bane (Dhamon's raven) to a cave, the entrance to an intrincate underground maze of caves, filled with hook horrors, they may even encounter Rhegan and a drow warband

At this point, Rialas has been captured and replaced by a doppleganger, who will dismiss the house's guard when the PCs come in, letting the droves enter to capture the adventurers and recover any hellblades they might have, if captured, the PCs will be taken to their abandoned tower hideaway beyond the caverns in the woods to be turned into hellblade carriers. If they are many, some may be sold to a small community of mind flayers that reside deep within the earth.

From there on, it's a matter of escaping and fighting, Dhamon has already prepared to leave by wyvern with the hellblades since the council has already delayed the voting. Rialas is alive, being tortured in the tower.

Before you use any of these NPCs, you should carefully read the monstrous manual's entry for the drow, and keep in mind their poisons, magic resistance, innate abilities, and that their magic equipment is rendered useless by sunlight.

Dhamon , the main baddie, is a male drow (a male drow priest is rare but possible) warrior /priest level 10/9, he uses a plate mail +3 and carries the hellblade Lifelicker (read its powers and you'll know why, as a matter of fact, considering this, he's very likely to escape alive), and other assorted treasure.

Rhegan, a level 8 elite male drow warrior, he uses a chain mail +3 and carries the hellblade Soulzapper, he also has a potion of healing.

Maddeb, a female drow fighter/wizard level 6/6, uses a chain mail +2 and a short sword +2.

Felshal a female drow warrior level 6, she has a chain mail +2, short sword +2, dagger + 2 and a potion of invisibility.

20 drow warriors, level 3, using bow +1, poisoned arrows (of course), short sword +1, chain mail +1

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