Chapter 51 - Embassy of Ghouls (Kingdom of the Ghouls - Part 2)

The choked bustle, questionable odors, and noisy din of the lesser wards of Sigil give way to the relative calm and grace of The Lady's Ward. Here, the streets are well paved, and buildings are constructed of all sorts of fantastic materials andstrange designs. It is clear that The Lady's Ward is the domain of the wealthy. Apparently, it is also home to most of the city's temples, including the one known as Passion's Rendezvous, a temple devoted to Sehanine and the supposed hiding place of the Embassy of Ghouls.
Unlike many of the structures nearby, Passion's Rendezvous is built of wood-in fact, it seems more like a gigantic, intricately carved tree base than an actual building. Four spires rise up from the corners of the temple, and the exterior walls are bowed outward to give it a rounded appearance. Windows sit high above the ground floor, and an impressive set of double doors provides entrance from this side of the street

PASSION'S RENDEZVOUS

What looks like moonlight shines down through the open roof, bathing the interior of Passion's Rendezvous in a silvery glow. A middle-aged human male in copper-colored robes stands before a raised altar at the far end of the temple, chanting a litany to Sehanine. Devout worshipers sit on plush benches, listening and calling out prayerful responses.
The temple, is adorned with the iconography of Sehanine. Moon symbols dot the walls, and a giant, pearlescent crescent moon, undoubtedly made of silver, hangs behind the altar.
The heroes quickly see through the facade of the High Priest, who is in fact a Raavasta Liar, and a servant of Orcus. After facing him and his undead minions, they discover a portal that brings them into the Embassy of Ghouls.

TEMPLE PORTAL ENTRANCE

In the center of this stone chamber's floor is a large portal circle lined with green runes that glow brightly enough to light the whole room. A stone chair at the eastern end is delicately carved and scribed with symbols. An ornate square pillar sits in each corner of the room. Near each pillar is a pile of rubble, the shattered remains of some sort of statuary. A faint humming fills the air.
The column are magic traps that throw the heroes all around the room, while dominating some of them into attacking their companions. Daedrie sits on the stone chair and sees a smoky form beginning to coalesce before her. After a few moments, the shape takes the guise of a spectral reaper clutching a scythe. Its eyes burn with a red, unholy light, and its skeletal body is mostly concealed by a tattered, hooded robe. In a dusty voice, the reaper whispers, "Show your worth to death's true master, and pass."
After convincing the Reaper that the party is worthy of passage, the traps de-activate, and our heroes proceed further.

STOREROOM

An enormous blue rug with silver accents lies on the floor in the center of this chamber. Two walls, each bearing arcane runes, divide the space. Boxes, crates, and other large containers are stacked haphazardly throughout the room. The runes on the dividing walls suggest that binding magic is active here. Behind the containers in the southwest corner is a stone trapdoor with no obvious handle. The trapdoor is almost flush with the floor. When the adventurers move adjacent to the crates in the second half of the room and attempt to open one, a forsaken hierophant elder emerges from its resting place under the trapdoor and combat begins. To bolster him, several mummified corpses arise from the crate, but our heroes easily overcome these creatures.

FEASTHALL

Well-crafted wooden tables and chairs are arranged throughout this room. Humanoids sit around several of the tables, engaging in a variety of activities. At one table, a pair of humanoids appear to be locked in an intense game of chance. At another, humanoids feast on a platter piled high with meat and bones. None of them seem to immediately notice our heroes' arrival. The gamblers use various bones as pieces in their game. The bones are stark white, as if recently carved and cleaned from carcasses. A few of the humanoids are eating meals that appear to include the body parts of various creatures-including other humanoids. One diner uses a halved severed skull as a bowl. As our hereos approach, the cannibal humanoids attack them, but are defeated.

PRIEST'S QUARTERS

A large stone bowl in the center of the room contains a pool of dark water. The smashed remains of statues litter the ground around it. In the southeast corner, an altar to Sehanine has been partially destroyed. Three well-kept beds with deep blue blankets line one side of the room. A small nook lies at the foot of each bed, and between the beds are two sets of desks and chairs. Two pale figures wearing torn servant clothes stand around the bowl, their faces and clothes stained with blood. As one of the fleshglutton corpse eaters is hit, it shouts, "From the depths of the Abyss, come forth and begin the reaping!" The pool of water shudders, and out of its dark, swirling shadow emerges an abhorrent reaper terror! The reaper looks like the vision the adventurers saw when they sat in the Thorne earlier on. Once these guardian are defeated, our heroes discover a ledger with hundreds of entries, all realted to the delivery of black stone and slaves to several individuals, including the Forge Master.

BATHHOUSE

This chamber looks like a bathhouse. Two dark blue rugs with silver accents lie along the western wall. Four wooden benches in the center of the room are strewn with large white cloths, and smaller blue rugs cover the floor in front of each bench. Rectangular pools to the north and south are flush with the floor and contain a milky liquid that has a slight silvery sheen. Numerous gaunt, pale-skinned humanoids in the room begin to move toward the heroes as they notice their arrival.
"Look," one of the creatures sneers, "someone has sent us a snack to go along with our bath." The other humanoids laugh; it's a rasping, evil sound.From the southern pool, a six-armed terror far taller than a human rises out of the milky liquid. Her lower torso is serpentine, and her eyes burn with the fire of the Abyss. Drawing a scimitar in each hand, she screams words in a fierce, disturbing language. Only after taking care of the marilith and more fleshglutton can our heroes face their final challenge.

PORTAL TO THE WHITE KINGDOM

Stairs lead down into a dimly lit chamber. Two pale, gaunt humanoids block the bottom of the stairs, and two more stand elsewhere, deeper in the room. A purple-black portal swirls in the southeast corner of the room, a shadowy maw occasionally forming and collapsing in the chaotic energy of the vortex.
In the northeast corner, a bloody image of a skull with sharp teeth is slathered on the floor. The southwest corner of the room rises to form a platform 15 feet off the floor. A basin sits on the platform, next to a gong. A humanoid wearing a black hooded robe with white trim stands atop the platform. This is Xamshil, one of the Favoured Fleshgluttons of Orcus. Once wounded, he hits the gong. At that point, a deva fallen star servitor appears in a bloody burst on the skull image, ready to serve Xamshil. After a bloody fight, our heroes decide to rest before crossing the portal, and entering into the White Kingdom.