Kapel Kaput (Igrainne) 2/7

Report by Springwarden Igrainne Blackriver for the Emerald Enclave

Outside of the city walls of Daring Heights is a thirty foot-deep chasm leading into the Underdark. It was appropriately dubbed the Chasm of Daring Heights by the locals. A human farmer by the name of Kapel Verhof had made a business out of transporting tourists and daredevils in and out of the Chasm, much like what the Yawning Portal tavern does with the Undermountain in Waterdeep. A few days ago, Kapel was reported missing by his husband, Cede Verhof. The City Watch closed off the Chasm to visitors but did not send a search party. For this reason, Cede turned to hiring adventurers to find his spouse. Sponsoring this search was Lasira Gemfinder, representing a Daring Heights-based trading firm, the Olem-Murnelvar Trading Company (OMTC), whose employees were recently involved in an incident with a drider near the Chasm itself. The OMTC is known to have discovered a source of darkwood within the Kantasian Underdark and are making plans to harvest and export them to Amn.

Six adventurers volunteered for this mission, including the author of this report. One of them looked to be a male drow but claimed to be a high elf hailing from Neverwinter. He wore a peculiar hairstyle that is not known to be associated with any of the twenty noble houses of Menzoberranzan.

A drow child named Lido had come forward as a witness to what appeared to be a kidnapping, reporting seeing goblins taking a human man into a network of caverns. She explained that these goblins were servants or slaves of House Gorr, the most powerful family in the drow city of Aeschira, headed by a Matron Mother Kaleo. Based on my the author of this report’s interactions with Lido, it seems that the drow community in Kantas has little-to-no connection to Menzoberranzan or Ched Nasad, though this would need further verification.

Lido's behaviour was unusual for her kind. She willingly climbed up to the surface to speak with the authorities, was friendly towards surface-dwellers, and even volunteered to lead the adventurers to the caverns. She claimed to be a member of a secretive Sisterhood, led by a figure named Liya and based in a village called Xarribia, with a stated mission of dismantling “the system” in Aeschira. It remains unclear whether this meant House Gorr’s rule or the drow matriarchy in general. According to her, Xarribia is not too far from the Chasm whilst Aeschira is much farther and located by a sea.

With Lido's guidance, the adventurers managed to find Kapel Verhof alive and defeat the goblins and a cloaker that guarded him. The creatures bore a house sigil and wielded weapons that the girl identified as belonging to the Gorr family. When questioned, Kapel revealed that he was tortured and interrogated for information regarding the Sisterhood. 

Kapel was safely returned to his home and Lasira Gemfinder of the OMTC was advised to stay away from what apparently is conflict within the drow.

The author of this report plans to pay the Verhofs a visit once Kapel has sufficiently recuperated to question him further about the Sisterhood, their relationship with surface-dwellers—or at least why House Gorr thinks they have one—and about the Kantasian Underdark in general.

End of report.