Velkenvelve

A drow prison outpost in the upper Underdark, commanded by Ilvara (house unconfirmed) with a predominantly House Vandree staff. The party's first major Underdark encounter — they were held as prisoners here, escaped, and were subsequently pursued. A series of webbed cave systems converted into a holding facility.

Layout

The outpost hangs from the ceiling of a massive cavern on webbing and stone columns. Cells are suspended webs accessible only by rope or flight. The drow overseers patrol from above while prisoners scramble below on a ledge over a deep pool far below.

The architecture is deliberately vertical — drow move freely through the web-scaffolding, while grounded prisoners have nowhere to run. The only exit is down, through the pool, or through the drow.

Command Structure

Velkenvelve is a House Vandree outpost, staffed and commanded by Vandree clergy and soldiers. During the party's passage in Arc C, command was held by two sisters:

Ilvara is the commanding priestess — not House Vandree herself, but from a separate house (unconfirmed in vault; see her file). Shoor Vandree, Asha Vandree, and Xynia Vandree are all House Vandree. House Vandree's presence at this critical chokepoint gives them intelligence on all movement between surface and Underdark.

Arc C Events

Session C02 — The Approach

Before entering Velkenvelve proper, the party discovered frozen bodies of prisoners left in the outer reaches — marked with Lolth's sigil. Among the dead: a couple found in embrace, an unusual tableau by any standard and impossible by drow standards (drow do not show such vulnerability, especially in death).

The couple carried a twisted metal pendant bearing both Baenre and Zalaran house symbols — a token of union between houses. Othorion felt a deep emotional resonance upon finding it and took the pendant. A contact confirmed that only one recorded union between those houses existed: Tiago Baenre and Sarabell Zalaran in the 1480s.

Session C03 — Escape and Pursuit

The party escaped from Velkenvelve. Shortly after, a drow scout confirmed the party's association with Othorion by name — demonstrating that the Velkenvelve command had pre-existing intelligence on the party, and that information continued flowing to Menzoberranzan after the escape.

The party, realising they were being tracked, fled rather than engaging.

Significance to Othorion

Velkenvelve is where Othorion's Underdark heritage stopped being abstract. The pendant found outside — two house symbols frozen onto a couple in impossible drow intimacy — made his ancestry suddenly, physically real.

What he believes: that the pendant confirms his parents were Tiago Baenre and a woman of House Zalaran. What is actually true: his mother is Saribel Xorlarrin, not Zalaran at all. He has the pendant. He has drawn the wrong conclusion from it. And everything he now believes about his parentage is built on a misread piece of evidence — whether that misread was accidental or engineered.

The fact that House Vandree controls this point of entry, and that his connection to Jezerra (Valaera Vandree) is personal, makes the politics layered: a woman he cares about is from the same house that may have been involved in his parents' deaths, or at least the disposal of their bodies.

Threads

• Asha and Xynia's fate — did they survive the party's passage? Have they reported to Menzoberranzan?
• The frozen couple — were they Othorion's biological parents? Who killed them and left them here?
• The Baenre/Zalaran pendant — Othorion has it. He believes it confirms his parentage. The identification is wrong — his true mother is Saribel Xorlarrin (House Xorlarrin), not Zalaran. Whether the misidentification was accidental or deliberate is unresolved.
• House Vandree's intelligence — they knew about the party before they arrived. How? Through Jezerra? Through Menzoberranzan political channels?
• The drow scout — whose order? Asha's, Xynia's, or someone higher in Menzoberranzan's structure?