Prisons have an annoying tendency to become fortresses when left untended. Any modern prison would make a pretty good firebase. In Lord of the Rings, the fortifications around Mordor were intended for the men of Gondor to use to keep watch over Sauron's old home, not to protect it. And don't forget the EO's "prison" last game and how IT wound up being used. The upside is that that it's probable that Rashid can find out where Manethander was locked up, so we'll have a probable location for him. (Without question, Rashid will get brought into this. Doing otherwise would be borderline insane.)
We've got a couple things that need doing -
1) We need to find out where Manethander is located, and who is serving him.
2) We need to find out anything we can on vampires in general and anything we can on Manethander and his capabilities when he was around originally.
3) We need to see if we can find out if he's truly awake, stirring, or still largely asleep (with others trying to awaken him).
4) Assuming he's in the Shadow World, we need to find a way to GET there that we can control and protect. Our means of entry will be the main limiting factor on how much Might we can bring to bear.
5) We need to take a look at everything that was done during the theft of the Book - that could give us some ideas of his and his minions' capabilities.
6) We need to find out who the Shadow World folks that assisted in the last Vampire adventure were and if they're interested in cooperation. I'm not sold on the idea that the mystery figure was the IR, but I'll admit the possibility. Otherwise, we may need a SW adventure just to find these people.
7) We need to see if we can find out what his purpose for the book is and (particularly) if he needs OTHER things for whatever he's doing. Collecting items of power is a major trope for a reason - it makes a good story. This could be happening here.
We need the full story, with all the details attached (and preferably a ritual we can follow!) of what was done to confine Manethander in the first place.
9) Come to think of it, we should confirm that he's really the one behind this. So far, that's only a guess from an NPC, though probably a good one.
10) We need about a dozen more Sun Swords.
11) We need to find out if he's infiltrated or mindcontrolled more people in Elinie, in the OIT, and anywhere else he's done major work.
Other suggestions of things that need doing, or ways to accomplish any of these goals?