Old Heroes, New Villians

Revan, Joseph Prex, Flegol, Taito and the NPCs began this session at a turning point requiring discussion. What use is it to have the Fountain of Youth if death, slavery and world destruction of Aarde are soon to follow? Read the previous entry for the current situation. Collectively the party now had a lot of important information to consider, much of which is known to no one else. Here are some of the things that were discussed:
* Elven transmuters and the large quantity of enchantment school wands in use by the Purple Order elves, the drow and their followers are being used together in the following way: a skilled elf polymorphs into the form of say, an ogre to gain easy access to an area, and then uses charm monster on tribal leaders to persuade as many ogres as possible to join the Purple Order, or at least cooperate with it. This process is known by the party to have been used on lizard men as well as thri-kreen and many individuals of various races. It is possible this method was originally used by the drow on the elves of Sonaeed (even Leofeldt himself?) to create the Purple Order. By now, many people from every major city of Aarde and every evil or neutral-aligned race in the outlying areas could be working for the Purple Order in one way or another, as even one elf, drow or converted agent of any race can persuade more than 100 people in a month or less. And there are a lot of agents. Evil divided can be kept in check. Evil united is worrysome. Now even many well-meaning people are unwittingly (sometimes through magic) working for the elves.
* Humans and their good-aligned allies of Aarde currently have no collective strategy, and have not worked together in 500 years.
* Potential allies the party could begin recruiting include the goblin sorcerers of Pqukquilibo (if they can be separated from their fire giant protectors), the gnome illusionists of Ponoblish Bimpitigora (who are thought to control or possibly create dragons), the halflings of the Warmsea and Iceberg Ocean islands (most of whom are proven seamen, many of whom are psionic), and the retired heros of Lhevix and those who have settled there.
* From what the characters knew, Lhevix was initially considered a gamble (especially by the NPCs) because the ruler there, Khadgar, is not only an elf, but lawful neutral in alignment--so his loyalties might be questionable. And of the other Heroes of the Tenneous War, Cedric (also an elf) had disappeared into hermetic obscurity, Killian had made himself indispensible entertaining and motivating the citizenry of Pavalos, and Pel had become insane from secret interplanar knowledge from his travels that had twisted him toward evil and a strange solitude. But all the Old Heroes were historical figures, well-known for their great deeds. Many were thought dead. Khadgar was considered a god by some. Donavan was said to be training dwarven fighters, undefeated in single combat spars by all comers to her village at Donavan's Reef for 500 years.
-----So after the discussion, a decision was made and the party went to Lhevix. Taito met with some lizardmen to attempt to persuade them over some bloodfire wine as stories were exchanged around the campfire of the Blue Feather tribe. One lizardman disagreed with Taito, and said the lizardmen should join the elves. The two battled and the dissenter's attempt to charm monster on Taito failed, as did his attempt to baleful polymorph him into a frog; Taito, a drunken master, beat the "lizardman" into submission. Flegol, uninterested in the city, stumbled into a cave in some nearby cliffs and ended up meeting Cedric. Before long, a construct/probe of Pel's arrived to gather information. Joseph and Revan, in combination with the other characters, were able eventually to get all the heroes, Old and New, together at one of Khadgar's huge ornate palaces. The Old Heroes agreed to help.

...What follows is a summary of the events that followed:
The Old Heroes teleported to the frozen surface of Phobos, entered a crater and infiltrated the drow tunnels to the core, where Pel used his planeshifting magic to trade places between this area and its leaders and an equal area from the elemental plane of hot liquid magma. These type of attacks continued until enough drow were able to connect their lightning bolts with them to force them to leave. Next, Killian located Silvereyes, one of the elven heroes of Sonaeed who defeated Signatious over 1,000 years ago. Silvereyes, now the owner of the Vulgar Paladin Inn, knew Lord Leofeldt personally (he had long ago convinced him he was a friend), and was able to arrange a projected image discussion with "Leo." and make introductions. Disagreements quickly broke into open magical warfare, with Pel's horrible spells destroying the Sonaeed cities of Lynchtooth, Lomee, Grand Turim, and Aggaquon. In retalliation, Leofeldt unleashed similar magic, wiping out the Aarde cities of Hootineye, Lhevix, Upslone, and New Durnick. Shortly afterward, both Pel and Leofeldt successfully wished away these events, so it was as if they never happened. Leofeldt then made a verbal attempt to persuade Khadgar to join his cause, showering him with compliments and offering him troops, money and power. At one point, Leofeldt magically caused a hurricane on his own world to prove a point. But Khadgar wouldn't be persuaded. Ultimately, negotiations began. In return for human non-use of the Fountain(s) of Youth, Leofeldt would order his elves to return to Sonaeed, and Aarde elves to return to pre-invasion borders. In addition, Leofeldt would break the elven alliance with the drow, which he personally had made and kept together. Both parties agreed to work together against their new mutual enemy: the drow. Soon afterward, drow were being attacked on Phobos, Sonaeed and Aarde; each with its own Underdark dominated by drow.
* * *
Revan, Taito, Joseph and Flegol and the NPCs entered a cave opening in the Gottsland Island mountains, not far from Lhevix. In a matter of about a week, they had decended through the caverns and found their way to a medium-sized drow family stronghold, with living, working and fighting areas carved into the stalagtites and stalagmites. The battle has begun, and will continue for some time now.
Experience for the Old Heroes was simply a reminder that 20th+ level versions of these characters might make occasional appearances (Pel, for example, is 28th level). Regular party experience was 1,500. Treasure is as follows: each Old Hero may give one gift of no greater than 10,000 gp value to one Young Hero of his or her choice (DM's approval required). Next session: Sat., Oct. 29th.