Editing Challengers of the Unspeakable (section)

===Deadhold===
[[Image:Keeper of Deadhold.jpg|left|thumb|The Keeper of Deadhold]]
The Challengers settled on a plan: follow Lareen through the portal and kill her, then go to the Temple of Lolth and demand a reward for saving the drow from the invasion. Once in Matron Urlvrain's presence, they would kill her and ask Jhaelant how to get back to the surface. Thus convinced, the heroes entered the portal. On the other side they found a series of platforms connected by spiderwebs floating in a dark void. Lareen was waiting to ambush them, but as planned they killed and beheaded her. They also captured a cambion named Starvaal, who revealed that he served Orcus and offered to open a portal deeper into his master's domain in exchange for his freedom.

[[Image:Deadhold.jpg|right|thumb|Trekking through Deadhold]]
Passing through Starvaal's portal, they found themselves in the Abyssal realm of Deadhold, a vast desert of gray sand and ash. There they met a hunched figured known as the Keeper, who was arguing with an angry [[kercpa]]. The kercpa's name was [[Chrip]], and he had been exiled to the Abyss after angering the [[Prince of Frost]]. Ignoring him in favor of the heroes, the Keeper eventually agreed to allow them into Deadhold. He also agreed not to warn Zirithian of their coming so long as they took Chrip with them. He further requested that Starvaal remain with him, but the cambion put up such an impassioned plea for mercy that they took him with them as they set out across the desert. After several hours of death flies, ambushes, and gravestones bearing their own names, they arrived at a ruined fortress. They initially tried to bluff their way in by claiming business with Zirithian, until Starvaal shouted that they sought to kill Zirithian and the guards attacked. The Challengers defeated the guards, making sure to kill Starvaal first. Though Chrip nearly died in the ensuing battle, he managed to show off his mastery of ice magic.

[[Image:Hordethrone.jpg|left|thumb|The walls of Hordethrone]]
The band continued through the fortress, maintaining their ruse that they had official business with Zirithian. When they arrived at the Midnight Ziggurat, where they had been told they would find Zirithian, they were stopped by a skeletal guardian who demanded they prove to him that they were not living beings, but lost souls. Harthur alone failed to convince the guardian, who allowed him to pass but inscribed his name upon a ledger containing a list of those who had angered Orcus. As they passed into the temple, each beheld a vision of Orcus upon his throne, offering to raise them as his exarchs if they slew Zirithian in his name. Though Kalth and Elytra steadfastly refused, Harthur, Sarahlia, and Chrip showed some interest. Orcus then further offered to fulfill their deepest wishes if they also delivered Zirithian's sword to him.

The heroes suddenly found themselves within the center of the ziggurat, facing Zirithian himself. Declaring them to be worthy sacrifices to Orcus, the vampire immediately attacked them alongside dozens of his undead minions. The battle was long and bloody. At one point Elytra attempted to put Zirithian to sleep, but his magical armor redirected the effects to Kalth. Zirithian them dominated Elytra's mind and ordered her to attack her companion, nearly killing the thri-kreen. In the end, though, Zirithian and his minions were destroyed and Chrip claimed the sword. At that moment, an image of Orcus appeared before them and demanded they fulfill their bargain by giving him the blade. Chrip bargained for free passage back to the Material Plane and Harthur's name being stricken from the ledger, with the portal in advance. Orcus agreed and opened it. Elytra, wanting nothing to do with Orcus, immediately left. Kalth stayed to try and talk the others out of making bargains with a demon lord.

It soon became clear, however, that Orcus only considered his bargain good for the individual who gave him the sword, and not the entire party. Sarahlia was eager to have the honor, while Harthur deferred to Chrip for having gotten his name removed. When Chrip prepared to throw the sword to Orcus, both Sarahlia and Kalth moved to stop him; Kalth wrested the sword away and bolted towards the portal, but Harthur threw his sword and struck down the badly wounded monk. When Chrip picked up the sword once more, it suddenly spoke and begged them not to give it to Orcus. Huddling in discussion, they decided to keep it for themselves instead. Sarahlia revived Kalth but lied, saying that they had already given the sword to Orcus, feeling that the monk was liable to do something irrational otherwise. Kalth, no longer wanting anything to do with companions who had clearly joined the forces of evil, departed through the portal.

Orcus, meanwhile, made a final demand: turn over the sword immediately or suffer his curse. Sarahlia delivered her response by holding up a holy symbol of Orcus she had taken off of one of his slain followers, and desecrating it. Orcus blasted her with dark energy, and while she survived it Chrip and Harthur decided that their best option was to immediately leave. Shortly after passing through the portal and emerging back into Phaervorul, the portal snapped shut, trapping Sarahlia on the other side. They soon rejoined Elytra and Kalth, who had retreated to the roof of a nearby building to plan how the two of them would survive by themselves. They revealed that they had not given the sword to Orcus, instead keeping it for themselves. Chrip further revealed, in the course of their discussion, that he actually had little concept of who Orcus was or what being his exarch would have meant. Begrudgingly, Kalth and Elytra joined them once more.