The Stepchildren of Fate (Updated 6/3)

[htetickrt]

Bebilicious
​

Trella snarls, “Fine, then,” in response to Kai, and raises her staff. Andy, scared by this example of self-assured womanhood, backs away from what he hopes is immediate danger and launches a pair of sling bullets at the nearest bebilith. One projectile misses wildly, while the second bounces harmlessly off of the demon’s chitinous carapace. Gulping, the monk moves further out of the way.
Cerridwin’s elegant voice sings for haste, and it is granted to Quid as the latter moves toward the webs. Rhien streaks past them both, launching himself into the heart of the melee. As he strikes, Quid strides through the webbing, unhindered through Waukeen’s grace, and reaches Danek’s side. A pair of prayers transports them to the rear of the battle and lifts the weakness and paralysis gripping the barbarian. Barely able to process all that has happened to her today, Danek cries in Quid’s arms. Rage, helplessness, relief, and sheer terror all vie to escape her newly healed body in a torrent of tears.

Kai and Kyree stand side by side, launching lightning and arrows into the massed tanar’ri. The elf fells one, but the sorceress injures all, and it is not obvious who is the most efficacious. Kyree smiles at his companion amidst the tumult; Kai, not sharing his fervor, does not reciprocate.

Coordinating in a manner that bespeaks some form of telepathic communication, the bebiliths retaliate. One entangles a third of the group with its tough webbing, while the other six rend armor and flesh with legs that shred and chelicerae that poison. Few escape unscathed, and newly-purchased armor now lines the cavern floor, broken and useless.

Dobi lifts flagging spirits as he shouts, “Have at thee, scurrilous rapscallions,” while drawing and firing missiles from a thin wand. As four tiny explosions blossom across the body of a demon, Khail finally engages. His holy blade slices Abyssal flesh with relative ease.

From within her entrapment, Trella loudly curses the bebiliths present, as well as all of their ancestors. She summons a wall of flame to hedge them from her more vulnerable charges. Most of the latter concentrate on getting free, but Cerridwin releases a cacophonous burst that damages her foes.

Sorely injured, Kai releases more lightning, then speaks a word to transport herself away from the thick of the battle. She does not get to see another tanar’ri fall. Kyree watches her go, holding off on his own shot for fear of an immediate retaliation.

Quid frees the archer of any such worry. Priming her body to be an instrument of good, she lays hands upon the closest bebilith and abjures him from this plane. Howling, the arachnid demon is sent swiftly back to the Abyss in a flash of white light. Kyree thanks her by dropping another of their number with four sure shots.

The remaining tanar’ri respond no less furiously for their diminishment, ensnaring Danek and trading blows with Rhien and Khail. The latter has the last word, tossing aside the remnants of his shield in order to slay those one who destroyed it with three powerful strokes. Dobi mocks them all with a tale about a great Demon Lord named Bob who was so dumb he always spelled his name backwards.

Trella curses, “What in the Nine Hells are eight bebiliths doing in a freaking tunnel?” Spying Rhien’s position through the flames, the druid and drops an ice storm where he is not.

The monk notices something near the flickering fire and speeds back through it, ignoring the injuries he sustains as a result. Crashing into Trella with substantial momentum by virtue of supernatural speed, the monk manages to free the druid from the webbing. As the two tumble to the ground, Rhien says, “There’s another invisible door on the other edge of the cavern. I believe these are the guards for something else, possibly worse. And I’m sure whatever that something is knows we’re here.”

Cerridwin’s eyes widen, fear gripping her tightly at this unwelcome news. Swallowing rising bile, she readies an attack for the inevitable breaking of the bebiliths through the wall. Kai gifts herself with flight, taking to the air to wait for an opportunity. All is still for a moment on one side of the wall, then chaos erupts.

Three bebiliths burst through, scorch marks erupting across their carapaces as they do so. Cerridwin’s discordant note adds to their pain, and the bard is triumphant as two pause in their charges, stunned by the effect. Quid takes the opportunity to hack both Danek and Buttercup free with her scimitar as she moves unhindered through the webs.

Kai does not give them pause to react, launching a lightning bolt at the three. Before the electricity has even dissipated, Kyree is firing arrows, scoring three hits on the one still in full possession of its faculties. The tanar’ri falls to the ground, unable to respond as Khail hacks at its stunned companions. Three strikes end the life of each.

Before the party can celebrate, or even catch its collective breath, the meaning of Danek’s placement in the bebilith’s cavern becomes clear. Smartly watching the invisible wall leading into the cavern, Snicker telepathically projects the following into each person’s mind: “The ghoul-like thing is back, and it has friends!”

 

[htetickrt]

Maurezhi
​

Rhien advances just as four hideous ghoul-like creatures materialize in front of Danek and Andy, claws and teeth flying. Both feel poison enter from the wounds, threatening paralysis, but a burst of positive energy restores them before they even start to seize up. Rhien, from whom the burst originated, looks happy for the first time in many days.*

Behind him, Trella calls down divine fire to burn her foes. Though the elemental part of the fiery column that explodes upon the demons seems to cause little harm, they cannot resist the holy energy that shares the flames’ trajectory.

Restored, Danek roars her displeasure, seemingly growing in stature as she rips through her enemy’s flesh twice. Even her clouded mind is taken aback when both wounds close as soon as they are made. Andy fares similarly, his nunchaku having no more lasting effect on his own foe. Rhien, remembering a lesson from Mount Celestia**, whispers, “Maurezhi. They’re tanar’ri.”

Kyree’s eyes grow cold. “Then they die,” he whispers, backing up his words with a volley of arrows.

The elf’s attack proves the only true success in the party’s opening move, as weapons, spells, and even invoked positive energy all wash over the demons without effect. Their front rank’s attempted retaliation is equally ineffectual, but those in the back have more luck. Radiating cones of mind-numbing terror from their horrific forms, they force Kai, Dobi, and Lenara to flee at full speed. The former two manage to place a fair distance between themselves and the tanar’ri in short order, but Lenara is trapped by webbing near the illusory door. Her piteous screams of fear are distressing to those still in the battle.

Rhien in particular takes offense, and responds with a brutal series of blows that instantly slay a maurezhi. The remaining three find further attempts at spellcasting prevented by the swarm of bats that emerge from nowhere to harry them on Trella’s command.

Quid’s gembomb explodes in a rainbow of force a moment later, causing the one struck to slip in earlier-created grease. Pleased at her contribution, Cerridwin launches into a spirited ballad at the supremacy of archery as a martial practice. Kyree blushes from the back, hiding his embarrassment with additional arrows. Rhien finishes the archer’s target with a spinning kick, ignoring the sudden pain of torn flesh.

The remaining two tanar’ri flee from the grease and the bats, radiating naked terror as they go. The feeling is contagious, and Kyree decides to join Dobi in the corner, trusting in the light of the wall of fire to save them both.

With the aid of Trella and Quid, Khail finally reaches the demons, who turn invisible at his approach. Rhien closes his eyes and extends his senses, and then drops a third with a sequence of punishing blows. Trella redirects her bats, allowing Khail to approximate the location of the final tanar’ri and connect thrice.

Desperate, the maurezhi summons a pair of ghouls. Rhien ignores them and ends the existence of the final tanar’ri with a pair of kicks. As the last of the webbing in the cavern is cleared by the efforts of the group, Danek pours positive energy into a roar of rage, turning both ghouls instantly to dust.

Before the party can be jumped by more villains, Khail calls for the fearful foursome to be gathered close while he activates his holy blade. It takes numerous such attempts, but eventually the quite embarrassed quartet is freed.

Rhien, Andy, Danek, and Cerridwin, having backtracked to make sure nothing else was around to spring a trap, return soon after with a report. Andy puffs out his chest and says, “We engaged in some reconnaissance along the perimeter. We found several gems underneath the dead ropers. A passage sloping sharply downward led south, and we did not explore this at all. Mister Rhien thinks this leads into the underdark, and we didn’t want to explore alone. In a cavern off of the main path was the nest of these mauricey things, and quite a bit of treasure. Mister Rhien thinks that each of the piles was for someone that was eaten, which is gross, but not as gross as this guy I knew in the army who used to eat roaches with peanut butter. Cerridwin sang to detect magic, and the materiel glowed a great deal. We brought it back in a sack to examine.” The monk chuckles at humor only he finds funny.

Once the goods are distributed, Rhien reminds the party of the other illusory wall on the opposite side of the bebilith cave. “I think it’s worth exploring now, given our relative health and the likelihood that the tanar’ri were in place as guards for something that could quite possibly have sent the raids. They are surely alerted to our presence already; if we leave now we might catch them by surprise later, but at the risk of their leaving entirely to carry on the raids from elsewhere.”

Trella shrugs. “I’m game for at least checking out the next room. Killing drow is good work if you can get it.” The wildly beautiful druid smirks and strides confidently over to the wall and then through it.

On the other side, a white-haired, dark-skinned woman sits crumpled against the north wall, sobbing quietly. Graves line the cavern walls all around.

Trella advances on the crying drow. “Crying because we smoked your demons, b*tch?” she mocks while cautiously approaching with the party in tow.

As soon as the last member of the band files through the cavern’s entrance, the drow stands and snarls in elvish, “No, I’m crying because you’re fouling this place with your presence, surface scum.” She tries and fails to charm Kai with a spell; from behind the group, a large spider fires a web at Khail, enveloping him in its sticky strands.

However, for all their venom, the two aranea are hopelessly outmatched in this battle. Kyree takes aim at the spider on the ceiling, slaying it with four arrows, while Trella bashes the latter’s head into a pulpy mess with four strikes of her staff. Rhien indicates another illusory wall to the east, so Kai burns down the webbing leading to it with a spell for good measure.

Kyree approaches the illusion and listens closely, his attempt hindered only by the sounds of Khail’s struggle to escape his entanglement. After a sufficient time, the elf shares his findings.

“Several people,” he says, “some moving, some speaking. Can’t understand their language. I think they know we’re here. Wait…another voice, speaking common. Sounds pissed. Something about killing the rest of her group, and having nothing to do with us. I think they have a prisoner.”

Recovering some of his flair, Dobi says jauntily, “Well I suppose we ought to rescue him, right?”

Kyree responds, “I think it’s a her. And her accent is similar to yours. Hold on.” The elf fades into the shadows and moves through the wall. He comes back quickly and reports. “There are several drow in there, at least by the sound. There wasn’t much more than a candle lit in there, so I couldn’t see well, but I think I made out at least eight humanoid shapes. One was much smaller and non-moving, so she might be the prisoner. They clearly know we’re here, and are waiting for us to enter.”

* Near the end of their last campaign, the Stepchildren were individually given choices of life paths to follow (with an eye to a 3E conversion in the future). Rhien was a 2E monk, meaning he was an amalgamation of weird clerical spells and unarmed combat ability. His choice was between the martial route and what appeared to be a path more closely devoted to healing. Because of the suffering he had seen recently, and his fear that he and he friends would fall (and have their souls eternally snuffed out), he chose the former. At this point in the story, he mourns the passing of his ability to ameliorate harm greatly. However, his gloves allow for limited usage potent healing, which provides some consolation to the monk.

** The Stepchildren’s very first campaign was a plane-hopping one in true Planescape spirit, and at one point they were attempting to climb Mount Celestia via a series of tests. Their reward for passing a particularly grueling one was innate knowledge of many planar details, which helped them to deal with subsequent planar encounters. Upon conversion to 3E, this became a +5 perfection bonus to knowledge: the planes, with the latter becoming a class skill for all as well.

 

[htetickrt]

Tierak Morcane​

Trella has one idea. "Anybody got a torch or other source of light we can throw onto the floor when we go in there? I want to blind those Underdark cockroach rat bastards as we enter. They're expecting us, so we need to get back some element of surprise. We'll need the light regardless since not all of us are blessed with the ability to see in darkness. Hey, where are my bats?" Realizing that they are long since gone due to her lack of continued concentration, the skilled druid summons a new bat with a spell. Expending a charge from her staff, she instructs it to explore the next room with its echolocation.

The bat leaves forthwith on its mission, returning a minute later with news. Before it vanishes to reappear in its native land, it imparts to Trella the lay of the cavern. She relays the following: “Battie says there is a short passageway, about thirty feet long, that leads into an irregularly shaped cavern. The cavern is sixty feet long at its longest, and forty feet long at its widest, and seems to have no other exits. Battie didn’t get a good look at the drow, but from his description of their camp it sounds like they’ve been there for a while. The female halfling is near the far end of the cavern, tied to a post.”

Dobi attempts to maintain a bit of his dignity after his decidedly ungentlemanlike showing in the face of the maurezhi. "A Cormyrian damsel in distress; we must rescue her at once.” Drawing a pair of daggers and rendering himself invisible, the halfling moves stealthily into the room, looking for a promising target. Clearly the combination of the damsel and his recent indignities has changed his opinion regarding a diplomatic solution.

Quid hurriedly blesses the party before Dobi leaves. Acknowledging Trella’s suggestion—and compliment—she then casts ‘daylight’ on a nearby stone, placing it in a pocket until the right time presents itself. Finally, she casts ‘comprehend languages,’ deciding that she might have an opportunity to gain some potentially useful information if a hostage could be taken, and so should therefore be ready for this. At least this is what she tells herself after she realizes that the magic requires her to touch the spell’s subject. Danek, who was preparing similar magic, snorts and falls silent.

Quid glances at her, adjusts her holy symbol and pronounces, “Strike while the Iron is Hot (Ventures 23:7).”

Kai, who has been looking sheepish since her fear was dispelled, brightens at the news of humanoids in the next room. "If they speak elvish, I can use enchantment spells on them," she enthuses. "Oh, this could be good! Does anyone want to be invisible?"

"ME! ME! ME!" Andy exclaims with hand raised.

"Well, all right," Kai replies, giving him the spell. "But don't do anything rash. Those drow could be really tough. Remember you're visible once you attack." She tries not to make it sound like a hint.

Andy puts on his serious face. “I just want to get close to them to launch a stunning attack. Did you know I was stunning?” The monk chuckles at his own pun.

Danek makes a sour face, and after a long while offers, "I could stay here and watch our backs or something. I'm not afraid," she growls, glowering around at the group's members in turn, "I just.... I mean—well, I don't want to get in the way," she finishes, turning her back immediately and stalking to the wall of the room, where she kicks a rock for good measure.

Rhien, growing ever more concerned for Dobi’s welfare, pats Danek on the back. “That’s good thinking,” he says, before moving into the passage, pausing briefly to heal his remaining wounds through deep concentration. Quid calls upon Waukeen’s favor to strengthen her attacks before joining him. Cupping the daylight-infused rock in her hand, she worries that Dobi has not properly read Acquisitions 12:15: "Appearances are not always as they seem. Thus thou shall require cash up front."

Kai moves into position, turning Lenara invisible when she sees the wizard entering as well. The sound of casting spurs the rest of the group onward, and Kyree’s arm and Quid’s hand are in motion even before the illusory wall is breached.

Unfortunately, they are too late for Dobi, who was apparently seen quite easily by the twin drow mages. Lightning bolts fly from their quickened hands, flying without fail toward the halfling. Only raw instinct saves him, as he dodges both bolts. Rhien follows his lead, reacting instantly to the attack. The monk watches from a safe distance as lighting slams into the stone wall to his right, scarring it with the violence of the twinned spell.

The lightning only illuminates the cavern for an instant, and Kyree has to wait for Quid to throw her stone to fire. This happens a moment later, accompanied by the frantic casting of both mages. Nanoseconds before all drow present are blinded by the light, the two wizards summon chaos into being. First, webs completely block the passage leading into the cavern, capturing Kai, Andy, Lenara, and Buttercup in their sticky strands. Second, two larger bolts of lightning arc toward the partially-stuck party. One heads straight at Kyree, the other at Quid, and neither is able to avoid the subsequent shock. More horrifyingly, each bolt splits into eleven smaller ones, arcing toward each party member and frying all save Dobi and Rhien in turn.

Infuriated, Kyree nails one of the blinded, well-lit mages with four arrows. Despite the mage's stonelike skin, the potent archer draws drow blood. Running alongside the arrows with superhuman speed, Rhien easily avoids the blinded drow fighters, reaching an uninjured mage in time to pummel him viciously. Three blows later the drow’s face is barely recognizable as his body crumples to the ground, dead. The drow’s shocked twin snarls at Rhien and takes flight, easily reaching the top of the cavern.

Kai speeds up her own motions before smoothly ‘suggesting’ to one of the fighters in Elvish, “Don't you think we can all just sit down and work this out like civilized people?”

The majority of the drow ignore her, but two of the blinded warriors, apparently willing to discuss things rationally, sit down on the rough cavern floor and wait patiently to speak to Kai.

Worried suddenly for her life, the sole female drow in the room activates a hidden item and levitates to the ceiling, out of reach of all melee attacks. The three fighters still willing to fight quaff two potions in rapid succession, joining their leader in their air after the draughts take effect.

Deciding discretion is the better part of valor, Cerridwin makes use of her freedom from the webbing to join Danek outside of the cavern, singing a healing ditty as she goes. Khail covers his movement in the opposite direction with a bolt of holy energy that scorches the mage’s chest, causing him to sputter in anger.

Dobi takes a quick glance around, notes no one on the ground to attack him, and charges over to the prisoner. He as about to introduce himself when he realizes that he is invisible, and so settles for starting work on her ropes with his dagger. Lenara gives up her futile struggling and fires off two missiles at the mage. Both dissipate harmlessly before reaching him.

Andy flexes his muscles and, to his great surprise, breaks free of the webbing entangling him. The monk mends some of his own wounds before advancing. Trella takes flight with the aid of her staff, reaching the airborne drow for some ‘aggressive negotiations.’ Buttercup tries and fails to dispel the webs holding him in place.

Quid calls upon Waukeen to mend her numerous electrical burns. Next to her, Kyree curses at his inability to target the mage through the total cover afforded by the webbing. Instead the archer takes aim at the sole female, burying four arrows into her ebony skin. Blood flows freely from her numerous wounds as she turns a baleful eye to her hated surface-elf kin.

Kai and her drow counterpart trade castings. Numerous webs vanish at her command, while lightning again blasts the party at his, felling Lenara. A second spell of the drow becomes clear as Rhien rebounds from an invisible wall of force that repels the monk’s leaping attack.

Finally accustomed to the bright light flooding the cavern, three drow warriors descend to display expert skill with their rapiers, scoring deep wounds in the flesh of Kai and Kyree. The sorceress grimaces, but focuses on the obvious priestess of Lolth floating above her, and her inevitable response to the party’s assault. When the drow merely withdraws a wand and blasts Kyree with a ray of searing light—causing the elf to exclaim, “Hey, what did I do?”—she contemplates the meaning of this action.

While Khail attempts to dispel the webbing with his blade, and Andy tries unsuccessfully to scale a wall, Dobi finishes cutting the prisoner’s bindings, freeing her to take actions of her own. She immediately runs to the pile of her equipment and begins rearming, deciding to save thanks and introductions for later.

Twenty feet above them, Trella pummels her hapless foe, forcing the dazed priestess to back off to take stock of the situation.

Buttercup lumbers to Lenara, noting with relief that the wizard has managed to stabilize on her own. Picking her up in his meaty hands, the half-orc spirits her away from the combat to join the other two outside.

Inside the spherical wall of force, the drow mage quaffs a potion, healing a great number of his wounds. Satisfied with his level of health, the mage immolates himself in blue flames designed to injure any who dare touch him.

Kyree ignores him, slaying the supposed priestess with a pair of arrows, and injuring a warrior with two more. Kai grants Khail flight, then concentrates on the mind of the uninjured flying warrior. Despite his heritage, the drow is unable to cope with the full force of Kai’s personality, and the sorceress dominates his will completely.

Seeing the situation in hand, Quid burns another spell to heal herself. Rhien begins scaling the wall behind the wizard, waiting for his opportunity to strike.

On command, the dominated warrior flies gently to the ground to join his compatriots. The remaining two contemplate surrender, but upon seeing the feral mask that is Trella’s face, they reconsider, opening deep punctures in the flesh of Trella and Kai with their aerial assault. These latest wounds overcome the sorceress’ considerable endurance, and she crumples to the earth, bleeding heavily.

Able now to fly, Khail takes to the air after Kai’s nemesis. Easily reaching him, the paladin severs muscle from bone with one mighty swipe. Andy returns to the wall, this time climbing it with ease. Dobi watches Calla carefully, looking for a plot twist that would result in his being stabbed in the back by an attractive halfling he just met, but he only observes her donning her bracers and cloak.

Trella shrugs off her injuries, returning them in kind. Two more bashes to the head leave the warrior on the brink of unconsciousness. For good measure, Trella spits at the dark elf, exclaiming, “How do you like them apples, b*tch?” He has no response.

Danek rushes in then, desiring to aid the group in some way. Seeing Kai down, the barbarian is overcome with unexpected emotion and goes to kneel at her side. Words spill from her mouth before she knows what she is doing, and healing magic is extended to the sorceress, returning her to consciousness. The smile she gives Danek nearly melts the barbarian’s teenaged brain.

The remaining drow mage spies Rhien on the wall, and realizes that his time is about done. Figuring at least to take some people with him, he dismisses the wall of force, flies away from Rhien’s reach, and casts two spells in rapid succession. The first summons a griffon of fiendish descent between Trella and Khail, while the second creates a storm of hailstones around Kai and Kyree. The hail is brutal, taking out Kai and Kyree, while injuring Danek, Andy, and Quid. The griffon proves less efficacious, exhibiting an utter inability to strike the paladin.

Barely cognizant of his surroundings by virtue of copious injuries, Kyree calls upon his newfound faith to mend a minor wound. He rises slowly to his feet as Quid, noting that Kai is down and bleeding heavily, chooses to heal the sorceress with potent magic. For the second time in ten seconds, Kai returns to consciousness. Rhien notes this with relief, leaping from the wall and racing along the ground to keep up with the mage.

Despite being near death, the drow warriors fight bravely on, or at least those who still desire to fight do. Trella is pierced only once by a rapier, but Khail’s foe proves more adept, landing three blows against the powerful paladin [42 hp].

Khail responds, slaying him with two strokes of his blade. Andy continues his climb, readying himself for a leap off. Trella caves her foe’s skull in with one swing before flying over to deal with the mage.

As Danek heals Kyree further, Calla finishes gathering her things and begins looking around for her savior. Dobi remains silent, watching her carefully.

Meanwhile, the drow mage continues to make life difficult, first enveloping the four women present in a cone of frigid air that leaves Quid at death’s door, and then zapping Trella and Khail with a bolt of lightning from a different angle. Khail shrugs it off, and sends the fiendish griffon back to its own plane with two swipes of his holy blade.

Andy, bereft of a nearby target, calls to the paladin, “Hey, Khail! How about letting me ride piggyback? I was, uh, trained in that in the army and stuff.”

Khail shows hints of his former stoic personality as he shrugs and answers, “Sure.”

Excited, Andy leaps from his perch, barely catching onto Khail’s legs. The paladin sighs as the young monk scrambles up his back.

Deciding that the new halfling is at least not evil, Dobi drops his cloak of invisibility and approaches her with palms raised. She seems suspicious of his sudden appearance, but allows him to sing a few words of magic to heal her sole wounds.

Quite out of patience, Trella ignores injuries that would have felled the rhino whose skin she wears, and instead takes her frustration out on the mage. She smashes the butt of her staff into the wizard’s chest, receiving from his fire shield almost the same damage as she deals. The realization that her next strike could kill her penetrates her anger-clouded brain, and the druid backs off slightly.

On the ground, Danek runs to Quid, and just barely manages to revive her. The priestess groans and lifts herself to a sitting position. “Sweet Lady Waukeen that hurt,” she exclaims.

Cackling evilly, the mage focuses on Khail, sorely injuring him with both a lightning bolt and a barrage of magic missiles. Though the doughty paladin survives, his passenger fares far worse. The lightning fries Andy’s already addled brain, and sends his shattered body tumbling to the ground, his arms still grasping Khail’s shoulders in a macabre display of resoluteness.

Trella feels a surprising sense of loss as she watches his descent, but is quite surprised to see the body turn to dust, leaving only a smattering of items to fall to the ground. Catching an ethereal wind, the dust swirls, gathering into a vaguely humanoid form before, with a flash, reforming into an entirely new shape. The new Andy is a female halfling of Dobi’s stature. Though most of his skills have made the transformation, the change is still substantial, and New Andy can only gape at himself in astonishment. The “civilized” drow on the ground regard her with mild polite interest.

Unwilling to let the mage live another second, Kyree fires off four arrows through the deep cover of the webbing. All strike their marks, leaving the drow on the brink of death. Quid takes him over the edge as her flaming sling bullet snuffs out his life, leaving the group to assess the damages and deal with the fallout.

On cue, one of the seated drow asks in elvish, “Are you perchance ready to speak now?”

 

[htetickrt]

A few crunchy bits on the changes as of the conclusion of the Tierak Morcane battle:

Andy was the first PC to die during this adventure. Being five levels lower than the stepchildren, I knew that the "weird hangers-on," as I called them earlier in the thread, would be delicate, and I settled on an instant reincarnation rule for them if they died. In character, it fit with their odd dynamic, and out of character it allowed me to keep the multiple PC experiment going for a while longer. I was hoping for something weird to pop up, like a wolverine (this was 3.0E), but the best I got was a satyr. I'll let you guess who became that later. Andy's player, greywalker, had a lot of fun with the change, as you'll see in future installments.

The new PC, Calla, is actually run by a different player, and goes along with the higher-level characters. She's a female halfling rogue13, pretty well-balanced in terms of trap detection/removal, sneaking, and scouting. Definitely an asset to the previously rogue-free group. Luckily he chose this rather than the evil sorceress he originally wanted.

More to come soon.

 

[htetickrt]

Interrogation I​

Dobi scuffs his boots on the ground, silently cursing himself for not playing a larger role in the earlier combat. Resigning himself to greater levels of risk in the future, and seeing the situation well in hand, the halfling decides to introduce himself to Calla, much to the groans of Quid and others who have seen this display too many times. Doffing his feathered broad-brimmed hat with a circular flourish, he exclaims, "Sir Dobius of Elderberry, Knight-errant of Cormyr and Senior Interlocuter for His Majesty's and Her Regency's Foreign Service, pleased to be at your service. I do hope you are quite alright." Dobi attempts to kiss Calla's hand as he kneels to the ground, doing his best to ignore Andy and her naked form that lies suggestively on the ground, threatening to give his brain fits. "Though if you'd please, we'd like to know how you came to be in these circumstances," he concludes.

Quid, being a bit more practical, cuts in with, "I'd suggest continuing this interrogation in a safer locale, and unless Rhien can bust out another one of those mass heal dealies, perhaps we should head back to town for the night? I can teleport about half of us back. The lighter half, anyway."

Rhien answers slowly, "I could once more, but that would nearly exhaust the power of my gloves for many days. If that is the desire of the party I will do this, but I personally would advise retreating elsewhere to heal, and make a fresh start of things tomorrow. I'd be happy to keep a watch on the crypt entrance to help ensure no more raids occur while we are away.”

Seeing that Calla is too stunned by the recent events to give a response to his greeting, Dobi requests and is granted an enchanted mithril shirt. This leads him to launch into a yarn that was oft repeated when he was young, about a reckless halfling who got hold of a ring of invisibility and went off to make lots of mischief. In any case, that halfling had an elven mithril shirt, or a meeth-ril shirt as they called it. He ends his story abruptly when threatened with copyright infringement by the ever-lawful Khail.

While this is taking place, Trella curtly addresses the waiting drow, responding to their earlier question. In crisp Elven, Trella replies, "No, but my staff is." She flashes her bloody teeth and leaves talking with the drow to someone who can resist the urge to beat them into chunky salsa.

The druid begins counting her injuries, stopping after six wounds. Before backing off to perform some healing on herself, she points at the newly reincarnated Andy and says, "Put some clothes on her. Or something." Her voice is equal parts suppressed pain and composed leadership.

Andy inspects her new body in a state of disbelief and shock. Finally, she
manages, "Whoa, I'm a chick? Whoa." She does not move or say much else for several moments, but she does ask if anyone has a mirror so she can "check out the new booty." No one offers one, as most are too busy studiously ignoring her antics. On orders from Trella, Rhien moves to destroy certain offensive items carried by the vanquished drow. The fervor with which he does so increases markedly as he watches his friends freely dispense healing.

Satisfied, Trella approaches Calla, and offers a curt introduction of her own after Dobi is done with his. "Hi. I'm Trella. You're welcome." She adds a knowing smile to the third sentence that connotes a softening of her otherwise tough tone. Calla, however, remains silent, nervously watching her odd saviors.

Recalling his own time in a body that was not his own, Kyree regards Andy empathically. When Andy sees the archer looking her way, she asks plainly, "Whaddaya think of the body?" It is difficult to tell if she's serious or if this is some bizarre defense mechanism brought on by shock, but she apparently expects an answer from Kyree, repeating the question when he does not immediately answer, and raising her chest for his benefit as emphasis of her need of an evaluation. Nearby, Trella contemplates beating Andy into paste.

Kyree, understanding Andy's confusion, merely says, "Very nice."

Andy runs over and hugs Kyree, new tears glistening in her brown eyes. "It is nice, isn't it? I always wanted to have a nice body to play with."

Trella is nearly apoplectic, her flushed face adding a demonic cast to the bloody half-elf. For his part, Kyree merely looks uncomfortable.

Danek watches the whole display in shock, clearly distressed by Andy's situation on multiple levels. When Andy hefts her assets, the barbarian's mouth pops open. Then she looks away and gets back to the business of healing people without a word. Cerridwin joins her, closing some of Lenara’s wounds with a song; Andy whispers, “Sweet.”

Trella mutters, "Just when I thought he hit rock bottom, he starts digging…." Andy ignores her, instead starting to hum something about her being “still Andy from the block,” as she digs into the drow’s clothing, displaying in her choices what is in her mind a keen fashion sense. When she has finished dressing in a manner that manages only to cover select portions of her anatomy, she struts around the room, asking to be called "A-Lo" as a way of differentiating her old and new selves. During her circuit she runs into Quid.

The Waukeenar takes Andy aside and offers him/her/it her counseling services. “At times of traumatic change like these, people often find it helps to have someone to talk to. Waukeen can help. And since you are such a friend, I'll only charge you 50 gold an hour.”

Andy seems disinterested during the talk. At the end of it, Andy asks Quid, "Hey, uh, I've got a question. What do you girls do when you get that, uh, not so fresh feeling? The answer isn't gonna cost me fifty gold 'cause I'll just ask somebody else if that's the case. I mean, I feel fresh now, but what about when I don't?" Her question sounds earnest, and her eyes are full of concern.

Quid nearly gives in to a fit of giggles, but manages barely to maintain her professional composure. "Well Andy, I could explain, but its only possible to do so in soft lighting while walking on a beach. I'm sorry. Was there anything else you'd like to ask me?"

Andy is disappointed but does not press the point. "Nah, you're off the hook for now. Until we find a beach, at least." The monk decides she is not yet satisfied with her new look, and retreats to “perfect” it.

Quid moves off to catalogue the treasure, after discussing with Kai and Trella the possibility of a brief shopping trip. The sorceress opts to deal with the captured drow first.

Sitting down a safe distance from them, Kai says to the drow, "You are gracious to agree to negotiations. I apologize for the delay. Let us begin. What are the aims you hoped to achieve by ambush?"

The drow look confused. "The aims should be clear. You were coming to kill us, so we tried to kill you first."

Kai frowns. "Our first objective was to free your prisoner. As you cannot hope to kill us now, what are your current aims?"

The drow look even more confused. One chuckles. "Not dying would be a good start."

Kai smiles. "Excellent! That gives us a place to begin. For our part, we would like information about the recent drow raids on the town of Daggerdale."

The drow respond, "We have nothing to do with any raids."

Kai inclines her head with the faintest suggestion of sarcasm. "But do you know anything of them?"

The dark elves chuckle. "I know you're probably unhappy about them."

Kai purses her lips. "You say you would like not to die?" she inquires slowly.

If the drow are affected by this threat, they make no indication. "Yes."

"Then we require more information. If you know such raids occurred, you know who carried them out."

A drow smirks. "I didn't say I knew anything about them. I just figured you wouldn't like them. You know, being all noble and all."

Kai thinks about this for a while, meanwhile checking the veracity of this story with the drow she has dominated. Finding that they have lied about nothing so far, she probes further to find if they did know about the raids. Discovering that they did not know about the raids, but had known that drow had been passing by in the caverns near them, she decides that any other useful information is likelier to be had from the dominated dark elf, despite her slight distaste for the mental coercion involved. Accordingly, she changes the subject. "Where did you acquire your prisoner?"

The drow looks around. "About five feet from you."

Kai asks, "What did you do to her companions?"

The drow smirks again, placing a delicate hand on his chest. "Me? Nothing."

At this point, Calla spits at the ground. "Drow scum. Their damned demon lackeys did the deed." Hearing this, Kai raises her eyebrows at the drow. "Which demon lackeys were those?"

He smirks again. "Who can keep track?"

"Surely you can name any others currently in your service."

He snorts. "What does it matter? Judging from the sound outside, you killed them all anyway."

"Including the ones responsible for the deaths of this halfling's companions?"

"Are there any alive in the outer two caverns?"

Kai considers all this. "What's your purpose in having all these caverns staffed in such a welcoming manner?"

The drow look at Kai like she's stupid. "Um... Not dying?" Kai returns the look. "Who are you expecting?" He responds, "Information for information, dearie. What are you doing here?"

Kai returns coolly, "We also are attempting not to die. On this point, perhaps we are at an impasse. What lies further down these caverns?"

He responds, "More caverns. What are you planning to do to the ones who carried out the raids, should you find them?"

Kai replies carefully, "We have not discussed the issue amongst ourselves yet. We have not yet enough information about the raids' purpose." Upon a pause on his part, she adds, "Why do you want to know?"

He responds quickly, "Because our interests might be aligned in this regard."

As he does not continue, she nods and asks, "How so?" He replies, "That depends. What are you planning to do with the raiders?"

"I have told you that we don't have enough information. Clearly we want to stop the raids."

He thinks for a long moment, and then says, "If this can only be accomplished through the deaths of everyone involved, are you willing to do that?"

Kai thinks this over in turn. "If that is indeed the only way, then truly we would be willing. We are aware, however, that it might be beyond our means, and would seek another solution. For instance, the chain of command that led to the raids would be one place to start, rather than mass slaughter."

He nods. "Good enough. Killing the chain of command would suit us just fine."

Trella listens, with various degrees of interest, to the series of peculiar and truly bizarre exchanges. Pulling Kai aside out of earshot of the drow, but not too far, she says, "No alliances with drow ever benefit anyone but the drow. They're telling the truth, fine, I believe them. It sounds to me like we've stumbled into some underdark power struggle. I doubt our boys in Daggerdale will be real happy if we tell them we left any drow down here, and I don't think that's a great idea anyway given the way these jerks have a tendency to ambush the surface when it suits them. If you want to release these guys as killing them presents a moral dilemma, okay, but I think we should find our own answers elsewhere." After some thought, she says, "See if this is some kind of house against house turf war." Pausing, Trella gets a sour look on her face. "On second thought, I don't really care one way or another, but they might so ask anyway."

Kyree offers, "We can always tie them to a tree...."*

Kai listens to Trella, stifles a chuckle at Kyree's remark, and returns to her questioning. The drow smirks at her. "Have a nice discussion?" one asks snidely.

Kai's fake smile belongs on a game show. "Surely. But I'd rather talk about you. Why do you want the raiders dead?"

The drow's face hardens. "Why does it matter? We're evil, right?"

Kai presses, "Is it some inter-house turf war?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"And what manner would that be?"

"A loose one."

"Care to enlighten us?"

"Not particularly."

"What if we said it was necessary for our cooperation?"

"I'd say you were lying. I'd say you would fight the raiders regardless of what I say." One drow turns to the other, their fingers moving rapidly in a silent speech. The other says, "But there's no harm in telling you, is there? After all, you can always pull out the information from our weak-willed companion, can't you?"

Kai says nothing, drumming her fingers lightly against the ground. After a sufficiently long pause, one of the drow speaks again. "Very well, maintain your facade. We are drow of Lolth, loyal to her always. We have little need to raid your pathetic surface dwellings; they are simply beneath us. The raiders follow the White Banshee, Kiaransalee. They were...lucky...and managed to take control of our ancestral home, Szith Morcane. We are House Morcane, and we will take it back."

Kai nods. "We must verify that your enemies are indeed the raiders. Why does the Banshee order the raids?"

The drow scowl. "How should we know? As we said, we're not involved."

Dobi is still in some sort of denial, and is willfully ignoring the new Andy. Fortunately, the interchange between Kai and the drow reminds him that he does indeed speak elvish.

Before addressing the drow, Dobi says to the huddle, "I feel 'tis best to pursue this while limiting bloodshed to the drow to only when necessary. I have known drow that can be quite honorable. Perhaps, if we could get to the root cause of this internecine dispute, we may be able to resolve the raids without having to personally cleanse the underdark of all its denizens, and instead root out the perpetrators.

"In any case, we still need information out of them. I want to play good cop if someone wants to help me out…."

*Tying to a tree was the proposed solution of a priest of Lathander that Khail's player earlier ran. When it was pointed out to him that this was more inhumane than simply killing the bad guy, he offerred to put food next to him. We still find this funny years later.
To be continued shortly....

 

[htetickrt]

Interrogation II
​

Trella pumps her fist when it is revealed to be a drow vs. drow issue. The druid whispers, "Okay, so here's my idea. I don't think these guys would agree to any sort of offer of assistance or quid pro quo thing. Frankly, I don't trust them to honor an agreement anyway. But, I have an idea. Let's tell them the truth: we're returning to these caverns within the day and killing whatever stands opposed to us. Their goals and our goal can be met with or without their active assistance or opposition. It would make a lot of sense for them to just stand back and let us kill all the Banshee b*tches for them. They're too macho to accept our help so we won't insult them by offering it to them. However, it is worth noting that all these gray skinned bastards look alike in the dark to us, so we're not going to pause and ask to see whether a drow we meet is a card carrying Banshee or Lolth follower. We don't care. If they want to take their chances with us on a drow killing rampage, then we won't shed a tear. They can see we're capable of kicking their ass, and when we return we'll actually be ready to kick their asses. I want them to know that we weren't prepared this time and look what we did. If they want to avoid being caught up in our extremely prejudiced running riot, then they can make themselves scarce while we take it to the Banshees, or they can have a representative from their local spider lodge waiting for us here when we return in a day to coordinate their efforts with ours. I mean, surely they're planning to retake their ancestral home. They want to return to their home; we respect that. However, I want these guys to take this message back to their leadership. It would be a real shame if Sith Morgan or whatever the hell their little rat hole house is called gets totally trashed because of their unwillingness to send a guide to tell us where the good china is kept or whatever. They're right, we're going to do whatever we want, but what we want and what they want overlap in this one instance."

Trella’s speech stirs Calla enough for the halfling to consider the group that saved her. She nods in agreement and in understanding at Trella's assessment of the situation.

Dobi makes a show of checking to see if any of the fallen drow are still alive, though he knows none are. Addressing the captives, he says in crisp and diplomatic elvish, "So sirs, you are very clever; I give you credit for your demonstrated wit. I am sure we can work out something to our mutual benefit. But, if we are to work together on this, you must give us some information. Why were you holding hostages? And what do you know of the motives behind the raids? And what else should we expect in these caverns?"

One drow responds, "Five minutes in a huddle and you come up with this? We weren't holding hostages, we were questioning someone who entered our temporary home uninvited." Calla makes gagging noises. The drow ignore her.

"As I just said, I don't know of the motives behinds the raids. The White Banshee's followers crave murder. Maybe they just felt like it. It's not my concern.

"The caverns I'm not going to tell you about, since then you'd have no reason to keep us around. So, here's the deal I offer. We go with you and point out potential ambushes, secret doors, old traps, and enemy weaknesses. In return you let us have our home back and leave us any goods pillaged from our people. You're free to take whatever else you find. You may also have free passage through Szith Morcane for the next three months. Deal?"

Trella again takes the group aside. “I’m impressed,” she states, “as this was more than I expected from the drow. Avoiding traps and navigating to Morcane is worth the risk, but I refuse to rearm the drow until they arrive at their destination. If they put up a fuss, I’d be okay with Kai’s promising that they will be protected in the event of an ambush. Andy will be assigned to their handling, and Kai will obviously need to keep an eye on them lest they start using their dark Art to bad ends. I don't want any pillaged drow crap anyway. I still want to meet with their leadership to discuss a formal arrangement for an assault on Morcane if these drow are willing.”

Kai conveys Trella’s stated feelings to the drow, leaving out the part about disarming, as she knows from the dominated drow that this would be a deal-breaker.

The drow's response to the mention of leadership is: "We are the leadership. You talk to us." Upon further probing of the dominated one by Kai, it is revealed that the party killed the last priest of Lolth in Szith Morcane during the earlier encounter.

Trella offers peace-binding of weapons as an alternative, worried that the drow will go nuts when Kai’s spell expires, but they utterly refuse. "You want us not only to trust that you won't kill us, but also that you can protect us from anything or anyone we might meet? No dice."

Trella stops short of pointing out that if the party had wanted them dead, they would not have stopped to chat with them. Instead, she says, "Fine. Keep your unbound weapons. But you're on point. You don't like that, tough. Either way you're in the lead, whether you are walking ahead of us to point out stuff like a good ally, or running away from us because you're showing your true colors, I couldn't care less." She mutters some choice invectives to herself in Druidic before settling down. The drow accept Trella's stipulation without further comment.

Dobi is not entirely happy with this arrangement, and is uneasy with the drow’s being armed. His training insists that agreements between antagonistic parties can only be expected to happen if the terms are incentive compatible for all parties. However, thinking about it, Dobi concludes that perhaps these drow need the group more than it needs them.

"How many more of you are there in Szith Morcane? And how well trained?" Dobi asks.

The drow look vaguely insulted having to answer to Dobi. "I don't know how many, but we're all surely trained better than you," one says, sneering.

Kai silently requests this information from the dominated drow, planning to share the answer later if it proves enlightening. Meanwhile, she asks, "So, who is this Kiaransalee? A drow leader? A goddess? Do her followers all come from certain houses? Any information about the enemy will increase our odds against them."

The drow's eyes go hard. All they will say is: "She's a demipower with scattered followers."

The dominated drow conveys the massacre experienced by the followers of Lolth in Szith Morcane and the likelihood that few if any survived. The dead drow in the front of the crypt were of this group.

Soon after the conversation grinds to a halt, Quid offers to visit Amn to buy and sell goods with a noticeable gleam in her eye. Purchase orders are given once the decision for her to go is made. Trella offers to share a fraction of her gold with Calla if she needs or wants something, both to be neighborly and out of sympathy because Trella knows what it is like to be captured by extra-planar beings and nearly eaten by them.

Calla acknowledges the act of kindness with a hug, but declines. "I will earn my keep, but I thank you for your generosity." The druid is taken aback by the gesture, and quickly reevaluates her impression of the newcomer. Taking Kai and Khail with her, the Waukeenar vanishes from view soon after this.

As soon as they leave, Andy corners Dobi, ignoring the halfling’s obvious discomfort. "You seem like a male halfling with good taste in these sorts of things," she begins. "So, tell me, and be honest here, am I hot? I'm not really sure what passes for this among halflings." When Dobi does not answer unconditionally affirmatively within seconds, Andy becomes obviously agitated and turns on the waterworks. "I knew it, I'm hideous. I'll never know what halfling relations feel like. Why does this stuff always happen to me? Why?"

Andy’s response triggers some autonomic response in the other halfling, who reflexively bows deep with a sweep of his cape, and gently takes Andy's diminutive hands in his own. Staring deeply into her eyes (pleased that he doesn't have to crane his neck upward for a change), he says, "My darling belle, but of course you are beautiful, you are the very image of angelic perfection, your eyes are moon puddles and your smile radiates with Tymora's joy." Dobi slowly, almost imperceptibly, lifts Andy's right hand. "If necessary, I would fight Kelemvor himself, if only to see once more that smile." Dobi ends with a gentle kiss, cringing only a little bit.

After Dobi's speech, Andy scratches her head and notices her longer curly hair for the first time. Regarding the hand Dobi kissed, Andy says, "Uh, okay, so I _am_ hot?" She sounds a bit confused by his rosy language. Pressing on, she assumes it was an affirmative and thanks him for whatever it was he said. Wandering off, she shakes her right hand, muttering, "I think I still prefer chicks. This is so messed up. I need a drink."

At the same time, in Amn, Quid hustles around the marketplace like a chef in her kitchen. Goods and gold trade hands in a dizzying array of deals, pausing only while Quid tithes to both her church and her father. After completing the party’s business she moves to reaffirm contacts within the city, but her companions grow restless. Cutting short her efforts with a loud sigh, she accepts transportation back to the crypts.

After the new goods and gold are distributed, Kyree asks, “Hey, guys—did we want to try to turn Earl back from stone?”

Trella answers, “Yes, but not until the current situation is handled.” Dark thoughts swirl around her head, all centered on the prospect of traipsing through a drow city during a turf war. In the end, she adds only, “We need rest.”

Dobi nods from the corner of the cavern, where he has been ensconced for the last few hours composing a song about the party’s exploits against the demon-kin, carefully editing out any hint of cowardice. In truth he is more than a bit distressed by Calla’s impassiveness to his own charms, and wonders if he is losing his touch.

Dobi is snapped back to reality when Calla exits her own long reverie. "Pardon me for not speaking sooner,” she apologizes, addressing all assembled. “I was a bit overwhelmed with my capture, and even more overwhelmed by a group of such colorful and powerful adventurers. If I had my manners, I would have immediately announced my name as Calla Crabtree. In all honesty, I can't tell you exactly how I came upon this place, or of my capture. All that I can tell you is that I am overjoyed that you have released me and feel indebted to you all. If I may be of service to your noble party, so be it. My skills in adventuring are polished, but I always long for more."

With that, Calla bows low to the party, although her stature slightly weakens the effect.

Dobi is there in a flash, catching Calla's hand as she rises from her bow. Doffing his feathered hat in a well practiced flourish, he graces said hand with a carefully honed and gentle kiss, happy that the fetching newcomer has waken from her catatonia. He is especially pleased that she offers a more pleasant distraction than the oddity of Andy.

"Well said, dear one. I only regret that we had not arrived sooner to rescue you from your torment. You are welcome to come with us, though it would not be seemly to have one so fair as yourself to be traipsing about the underdark. It would not be proper."

Calla grabs Dobi's hand in a masculine shake, "You are quite charming, Dobi, and undoubtedly kind. That is why I won’t mistake your words for a slight on my abilities. I was bested by the drow because they outnumbered me. If I am able to join your noble party, I shall not let that happen again. My stature, my gender, and my fairness should not be mistaken by my friends as weakness, only misjudged by my enemies to their undoing.

"Would you be so kind as to tell me a bit about your current adventure? What about these raids?"

Trella tells Calla the short version of the story, ending with, “You've overheard our recent revelations so no need to repeat them.”

"Quite the spunky one, I see," says a surprised Dobi with a wicked smile, "and quite the little fox." Dobi tenses briefly to duck any incoming slap, but Calla is too busy listening to Trella’s tale to respond.

"Well, if there is anything you need milady, Sir Dobius is at your service," finishes Dobi with a deep bow.

Trella ends any further games by changing her shape into that of a bat, and leading the large group back upward through the crypts to the surface. Once there, healing is dispensed, leaving the party restored under the clear night sky.

 

[htetickrt]

Upper Outpost
​

As the party unpacks bedrolls and prepares its camp, Quid sidles up to Calla. Her mild suspicions drive her to activate her domain power, and she begins trying to detect the rogue’s surface thoughts as she talks with her. Questions about whence she came, how she came to be captured by the drow, and what she's doing in Daggerdale elicit minor bits of information—Calla’s from all over, her party was overwhelmed by the bebiliths and maurezhi in the crypts and all but her killed, her previous party was in Daggerdale looking into rumors of drow—but Calla’s mind proves too strong for the magic, and her speech is too smooth to reveal much more than she wants. Quid leaves her feeling neither better nor worse about the situation.

Watches are set and the party settles into sleep, getting ready for the long day ahead. Luckily, nothing intrudes upon anyone’s slumber during the night, and the day dawns clear and clean and luminous. Only the drow do not have their spirits buoyed by this; they cringe at the brightness and wait impatiently as their reluctant partners partake of a meal and replenish their assorted magics. When all are ready—Trella makes a great show of leisurely repacking her bag after stretching languorously—the drow lead the party back into the crypts.

Though all are watchful for the slightest threat, none emerges as the group backtracks to the bebilith nest. Calla noticeably cringes as she stares in at the tattered webbing in the cavern. Trella, noting this, urges the drow scouts onward, toward the lair of the maurezhi. Reaching this they slow, and call for a halt.

Trella growls, “Why are you stopping? Got cold feet?”

One of the drow whispers back, “Quiet you fool. The racket you made in combat echoed throughout the caverns. The servants of the White Banshee are undoubtedly ready, and hungering for your death. They can see in the dark further than your lantern-light reaches, and they can hear your sharp tongue, half-breed. I’d wager much there is a trap ahead.”

Calla says coldly, “They will neither see nor hear me,” and fades into the darkness without a sound before anyone can stop her. One drow mutters something about the “slave races,” but is silenced by Trella’s glare. Fifteen minutes later, Calla returns, none the worse for wear. She is all business as she makes her report, golden curls tucked behind a dark hood.

“The drow scum was right; it is a trap. Remnants of masonry rim the passage ahead, but whatever wall was there appears to have been broken through. Beyond it the tunnel passes over some rubble before widening into a large natural cavern. The only exit from this is a hole in the floor that travels down a narrow tunnel into another cavern.

“There are five drow sentries there, all armed with some sort of distance weapon. All poisoned, no doubt. They didn’t see me, but a hideous undead spider crawled up from the hole soon after I arrived and let them know someone was around. I know it’s a trap because no one came looking for me; they just kept guarding the hole. I couldn’t see what was down there before I left, other than a glimpse of something even more disgusting than the spider, all guts and blood.”

Trella cracks her knuckles loudly. “I’m thinking shock and awe. Anyone with me?” Andy nervously gulps a potion of heroism in response.

Dobi puts up his hands. “I believe we can find a peaceable solution.” Quid seems amenable, imbuing a stone with daylight as insurance in case the discussion goes awry.

Trella’s eyebrows arch. "Your desire for peace is, uh," she struggles to find a diplomatic word to express her thoughts, "interesting, but from what we've seen and learned from our dark skinned 'friends' here, these drow we face worship chaos. Brokering a deal with them is probably not going to end well."

The drow are less polite. "You are all fools if you think they will even allow you to parley. Their poisoned bolts and arrows will be flying the moment they see you, and all your 'clever' plan will get you is a quick death."

Trella introduces the drow to ‘the bird.’ “I’ve had enough of these guys; let’s make all further plans out of earshot,” she grumbles. Further planning occurs in this manner, ending in numerous preparations for a surprise charge. Trella, in the form of a frog resting in Rhien’s pockets, croaks the signal when all are ready.

Mere moments later Rhien bursts into the cavern, holding Quid’s glowing stone aloft. The sentries reflexively raise their hands to shield delicate eyes from the sudden brightness, and thus miss Trella’s leap out of Rhien’s pocket, reforming into a black puma before she hits the ground. The big cat lands next to the undead spider, growling deep in her throat; nearby Rhien assails a stunned sentry, and Steve’s heavy footsteps announce the coming of Khail to foes near and far.

The drow are not cowed by the display and retaliate, but the impact of their efforts is minimal. Of more concern is the rhythmic chanting audible from the bottom of the gap in the floor. Kai sends a mass of acrid gas in after the sound. Trella conveys her approval by brutally savaging the undead spider; Kyree adds his via a barrage of deadly arrows.

As the rest of the party finally engages, four more undead spiders pass unharmed through the poison cloud and assail the group. Two continue on to Trella, biting at her puma form with darkly glowing chelicerae. The power of these natural weapons becomes apparent as the minimal damage one inflicts is accompanied not by the expected poison, but by a surge of negative energy that saps the druid’s strength.

Though the undead spiders are odious, behind them lies a much more fearsome sight. Pushing ten common drow warriors to their deaths in the poison cloud, ten revolting creatures begin marching up the passage. Lacking skin and fat, the drow-shaped undead continually ooze caustic blood from their exposed musculature. Rather than close to melee, the two leading undead choose instead to stand behind the spiders and spit acidic blood at Quid and Khail. Both globs strike only stone, but the splashes nevertheless injure both Khail and Quid.

Seeing undead, Danek charges forward and shouts, “Go away!” Much to her surprise, one of the arachnids does back away from Rhien. Buttercup mimics the actions, leaving only one wraith spider in active combat.

Lenara targets this undead spider with two magic missiles as she advances further. The wizard then gasps awestruck as Khail charges the flayed drow, calling upon Torm’s power to turn them away while his celestial warhorse beats at the closest one with his mighty hooves. Acid sizzles against the horse’s flesh, but his celestial nature makes him resistant to such concerns. The now injured undead finds the combination too potent for it, and makes its way urgently away from the battle, taking the last of the wraith spiders with it.

The drow sentries look to their rear, hoping perhaps to retreat from their own near-certain demise, but seeing the horrifying remains of their kin approach they turn and face their doom. For all they manage in the way of retaliation, though, they may as well have left. Their lot worsens further as Calla, silent as a ghost, takes the head of one of their number with a flick of her wrist.

From beyond the ranks of the undead, a green beam flies to impact Khail without fail. Powerful death magic threatens to fell him, but the doughty paladin overcomes the worst of it. However, new wounds opened on his skin bespeak the magnitude of the assault from below. Kai answers with a pair of fireballs that end the sentries’ resistance and blacken the flesh of the marching undead.

Not wanting to stain her fur with acid, Trella leaves the flayed drow to her companions, instead rending an arachnid with tooth and claw. Arrows from the bows of Kyree and Dobi fly past her feline form as they plunk into the flayed drow.

If the undead feel pain, they make no signal of this as they advance despite their numerous burns, spitting blood as they come. Khail is made the target for most of this on some silent signal, and he is coated in frothy acid by the barrage. The paladin clears the viscous substance off his face with the back of his hand, enabling him to see Rhien’s charge past the undead and down the hole. Though he spies only one foe, the monk’s sharp senses pick up three more invisible ones, all waiting for their opportunity to strike. Ignoring them, he assails the round-faced visible priest with a jump kick, but cannot penetrate her layers of steel and magic. She cackles at him after recovering from her shock, motioning for her invisible escorts to join in the fun.

Back above, Quid wades into the mass of undead, laying about herself with scimitar and nunchaku. She drops one to the stone floor; Andy’s crossbow bolt finishes off a second. Danek and Buttercup mimic this pairing, though with less success.

Khail does not have the attention to spare on this, needing to focus entirely on the undead surrounding him. Giving free rein to Steve, the paladin leaps off his steed and swings his holy weapon in wide arcs, cutting deep into exposed muscle with every blow. Two of the injured creatures fall to his blade, and a third is injured by Steve’s hooves.

Below them, the drow priestess reaches into her robes and gulps down the potion she finds there. With the extra speed this grants her, she wreathes herself in cold flames, upping the ante for any who would strike her.

Her invisible minions take a more direct approach. Two reveal themselves just outside the main fray, illuminated in the sudden light of a pair of lightning bolts that scorch those nearest them. Barrages of missiles targeting Khail and Rhien follow soon after.

Unlike her injured comrades, Calla smiles at the appearance of the flying drow, as she was beginning to despair of finding an adequate home for her dagger. One toss later and an acid-filled wound appears in a drow’s shoulder.

Stung by the lightning, Kai retaliates with magic of her own. Her first spell brings one drow caster firmly under her control; her next injures the other one. Trella smiles toothily before destroying yet another arachnid with extreme prejudice. Kyree continues firing at the undead drow, eliminating one with four arrows to the chest. Dobi adds his darts to a flying drow’s rear.

Below, Rhien ignores the flaming shield, focusing on what he believes is the greatest threat. Eschewing damage entirely, the monk summons his ki in an attempt to freeze the priest’s very lifeblood. As the flesh on Rhien’s hand burns, the cleric’s body freezes in paralysis.

Quid, Andy, Danek, Lenara, Buttercup, Khail, and Steve gang up on the undead, leaving naught that has not been turned away standing. Calla’s dagger cleanly enters the chest of a flying drow, exiting with his heart attached. The wizard dies instantly, and the heart is dissolved by the blade’s acid before returning to the rogue’s outstretched hand. Dobi, who was about to throw his own darts, barely stifles a groan at Calla’s style.

In a display of apparent loyalty quite odd for the normally opportunistic drow, the flying wizard below ignores the monk, choosing instead to snatch up the priestess despite the intense burns he suffers in doing so. Rhien contemplates following them, but thinks better of this when they quickly pass out of his visual range.

Seeing the fight above over for the time being, Kai directs the dominated drow to eliminate the cowering undead. Between them and Kyree, those remaining are felled in only a few seconds.

Rhien returns to his companions, his swift movement surprising all but the most watchful. “There was a priestess of the White Banshee below. High ranking, I believe. She got away with the third of her guards. He’s flying and they know the region, so we have little chance of catching them. Everyone okay up here?” Typically, the monk ignores the third degree burns on his hand and forearm.

Khail brushes off his question, the acid burns on his skin proving unable to dampen his good mood after riding his mighty steed into combat. “We’re all fine, or close enough so.”

Kai advances with a smile of her own. “And we have a new friend to question.” She points to the flying drow, calmly waiting for instructions from his new master. “This time I’m not wasting my time with pointless banter.” The last is directed toward the drow with whom she made the earlier deal, who sat out the fight entirely when no one directly ordered them to engage.

The sorceress calls down the guard, and spends the next five minutes probing his mind telepathically as the rest of the party waits for her report. When she finally gives it, her face is grim. “His name is Raphael F’eran, and he is, or was, an arcane guard in the service of one Velina T’sarran, whom I take to be the priestess Rhien fought. She, in turn, is a foul-tempered niece—one of a pair of twins, actually, though they hate each other—of someone known as Irae T’sarran. He knows virtually nothing about her, other than he’d rather die horribly than cross her. That puts some limit on his usefulness, as he could try to break free of the domination if he thinks I’m trying to make him do that.”

Kai runs her hands through her shoulder-length brown hair. “I tried to work around this, and discovered a few things. Those disgusting undead things are known as quth-maren. They’re created by priests of Kiaransalee from the corpses of drow clerics that have been flayed to death. Besides dripping and spitting acid, their gaze can cause fear, they are difficult to turn, they heal fast, and they can command other undead. There is no telling how many of them are in the Underdark, but I get the feeling the number is not insubstantial.

“The sentries and the spiders are always here, guarding the passage to Szith Morcane. The guards, Velina, and the quth-maren, along with those drow commoners, were a raiding party gathered to slay the ‘surface scum’ that had poked their noses where they didn’t belong. When the powers that be here discover that the raiding party failed, they’ll most likely wait until we are weakened or sleeping and then send in what they call a hunter-killer team. I get the feeling this won’t be pleasant.

“By this point I could sense significant mental resistance, so I didn’t push too hard. I did find out that there are definite protocols to follow in the event that the city’s security has been breached. Raphael wouldn’t go into details, however. I also discovered that the stone wall into which this hallway apparently dead-ends is a recent addition, and that behind it lies a few huge spiders and driders. They’re enemies of the drow, and were sealed off to prevent any disruptions. A hole on our side of the wall leads to the drow city, which will know we’re coming.”

 

[htetickrt]

Entry Post​

Ignoring the discussion, Dobi, Kyree, Cerridwin, and Andy rummage through the loot taken from the fallen. For her part, Trella seems disgusted by the drow stuff as she pads by it. Reverting to her normal form, she is heard to mutter, "Like the puma shape."

Quid ignores the item grabbing as well, and suggests the group move forward immediately, before the drow can prepare for its arrival. While she speaks, her hands bring healing to those who most require it. "Do we want to release the spiders and driders? I can probably make a hole in that wall of theirs; well, more likely damage it structurally so that it falls. Trella, you think you can convince the spiders to help us out?"

Kai replies before the druid can respond, "I bet that with some tulle and ribbon, we could make the entrance to the Underdark look really sweet, without using too much lace which would make it frilly. And we should make some calls to our relatives. Some of them must have a little boy or girl who would look just darling carrying in our weapons. Or even...." her eyes wander over to Andy, Calla, and Dobi, speculatively weighing how each one would look in a little pink dress or tiny tuxedo, respectively.

Snapping out of her reverie after being nudged by Trella, she continues with a blush, "Oh, um...I meant, maybe our friends here can tell us whether the driders would be more or less on our side." She looks over expectantly to the two undominated drow, questioning the dominated servant of Lolth silently in the meantime.

The undominated drow say nothing, though their eye rolling seems to indicate their opinion of the driders' usefulness. The servant of Lolth telepathically indicates that the driders are half-mad with pain and hunger, and would be expected to attack anyone who comes within range.

Trella wipes an "are you kidding me?" look off her face. “So, you guys and gals want the Underdark Traveling Circus to come to town, or not? I’m leaning towards not.” Turning to Kai, she says, “We should weigh the danger of bloodthirsty driders and creepy crawlers coming out and hurting us against gaining an even larger and more bizarre menagerie.”

Andy abstains with the comment, "icky spiders."

Quid proclaims, “‘Acquisitions 5 Why fight a war when you can get someone else to do it for you?’ Let’s cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war. Most can wait somewhere else in safety, while a few of us stick around to tear the wall down. Then, having left the appropriate bread crumbs to make sure the driders know where to find their arch-nemeses, we teleport the heck out of there. Then we come back and pick up the pieces.”

Dobi looks up from a fine cloak and wrinkles his nose. “Seems vaguely ignoble, but I’m in.”

Kai thinks it over. "I think the driders at least are going to be enough of a problem that bread crumbs may not work, even if we could figure out what would serve. Walls might do the trick, but even then I'd want to make sure the monsters keep going forward rather than eventually turning back to attack us. What if we wait here for the hunter-killer team, and prepare an ambush? That way we'd be bringing the fodder here rather than trying to drive ravening monsters a long way toward them."

No one responds to Kai for a long while, prompting Rhien to speak up. “If we’re not certain that this is a wise move, perhaps we should put off the decision. As Quid pointed out, we don’t want to give the drow time to prepare their defenses against us, and setting it up so that the driders will attack the drow will take time. If we decide to break through the wall and use them later, we can always come back and do that.”

A group shrug follows, which Trella takes to mean assent. Accordingly, she gathers the party together and begins leading it down the tunnel vacated by the drow. The path is steep, requiring full attention to be paid to movement, but no harm comes to anyone while traversing it. The tunnel ends abruptly in a wall of hewn granite that looks rather out of place among these natural tunnels. A hole gapes in the tunnel floor in front of the wall, and a large iron ring is set securely into the floor a couple of feet from the lip of the hole.

Trella examines the wall critically. “Yep, wall of stone alright. We could probably break down a big enough section to get a drider through in under a minute. If we wanted to, that is.” She looks down at the hole. “Think there are some more drow down there?”

Khail, who is the closest to her, answers, “I think that’s likely.”

The drow accompanying the party answer more explicitly, “There’s an entry post there, usually guarded by a few sentries and a wraith spider to sense when people are above. They already know we’re here, and I don’t know what’s there now.”

Trella nods, satisfied. “Good. Someone tie a rope to the iron hook. When that’s done, Quid, drop your rock in the hole and let’s go have some fun.”

Quid nods her agreement and readies both rock and scimitar. A brief discussion reveals that Lenara is the only one to have any skill in rope tying, so the job falls to her. Luckily the task is not difficult, as her skill is not great. Once the rope is in place, Quid tosses the stone, Rhien leaps into the hole after it, and the rest of the group begins sliding down the rope, fighter-types first.

Rhien rolls to his feet as the rock hits the floor, swiftly taking in his surroundings by its bright light. A ten-foot drop through stone opens into a ten-foot high cavern, comfortably appointed with four padded chairs placed around a square wooden table.

The furniture pales in interest to the massed enemies, however. The types of foes are familiar, though their numbers are different. Six of the hideous quth-maren stand in a circle around the rope. Two wraith spiders, slightly smaller than the previous ones, rest just outside this perimeter.

Around the edges of the room are the greater threats: drow warriors and mages, all shielding their eyes in a pre-arranged strategy clearly designed to combat the party’s chosen tactic. Fifteen sentries like those above ring the eastern walls of the cavern, shielding five wizards standing behind them. As Khail reaches the ground, one of the warrior’s hands opens and darkness immediately cancels out the daylight. The only light is now the dim flicker of the lantern above, and in this illumination the advancing drow look deadly indeed.

 

[htetickrt]

Battle for the Entry Post​

Calla’s eyes narrow at the thought of another drow trap. Without hesitation the nimble rogue begins climbing the side of the hole, tossing her heavily enchanted dagger when she can spare the hand. The corrosive blade bites into the hide of one of the wraith spiders with a dry shearing sound that grates on the ears.

Kai remains topside, speaking the familiar words of a spell. With the increased speed this magic brings, the sorceress gifts Kyree with flight.

Rhien charges the advancing warriors as if to engage them, but at the last moment dives into a roll that carries him through their line, right into the face of a surprised wizard. Plunging his feet through the wizard’s fire shield without harmful effect, the monk cracks ribs with a body blow.

Danek scans the battlefield from on high, waiting to see if her help is needed. From her vantage point she cannot see the spellguards take flight and begin casting. In perfect unison, all five fire sickly green rays at Rhien, Quid, Trella, and Khail, with two at the latter. Only Khail and Quid are struck, and each easily avoids the strength-sapping spell. Undeterred, the five fire off volleys of three missiles each against the same targets. These have a greater effect, though the mystical projectiles dissipate before striking Rhien.

Cerridwin revels in her embeddedness, hoping one day to sit at the anchor desk. She delivers a brilliant sung synopsis of the battle thus far that has the added effect of rendering Kyree much more difficult to hit. The bard stumbles over her lines when the archer smiles at her in thanks, however, and she wonders why all this is happening to her.

The archer pays none of this any mind as he flies down through the hole and prepares to unleash a shock and awe campaign, not even pausing when Trella rolls her eyes over his copying of her earlier topical reference. A single arrow plunks into the injured mage, letting him know the archer is around, before Kyree begins concentrating on having his bow produce a different effect.

Andy peers into the hole and lays down covering fire with her light crossbow. Her bolt nicks undead flesh, and she pumps her tiny fist as she reloads it. Trella drops to the ground with her quarterstaff already twirling, and she batters the undead marked by the bolt with extreme prejudice, connecting with its exposed musculature four times.

Dobi briefly contemplates wantonly jumping into the pit and tumbling to soften his fall, but instead decides to activate his boots, climb down the side of the wall, and get ready to disrupt the wizards’ spells. Buttercup moves to stand with Danek, mirroring the half-elf’s watchful actions.

Quid sighs. "This could have been the driders in this trap and not us," she mutters to herself, slightly peeved as, after years of working within the church, she is not used to dealing with those of a less mercantile nature than she. "Negotiations (Aggressive) 22 never bargain on your opponents’ terms," she is heard to mutter.

Putting those thoughts aside, Quid cries, "It’s a trap, gosh darn it, we're like goldfish in a fishbowl—grab hold," and then defensively envelops herself, Khail, and Trella in a luminescent doorway that slams shut on them, transporting the trio to a location behind three of the spellcasters.

Lenara cheers the escape of her new obsession, firing off two missiles at the injured undead to show her appreciation. The object of this attention, Khail, recovers swiftly from his sudden translocation and chooses a different target. This happens to be a rather hapless evoker, whose body—hovering too close to the ground—is sliced into four roughly equal pieces without even the dignity of having his fire shield be efficacious.

Having let the party make its presence known, the remainder of the enemy retaliates. Two wraith spiders have no target, but the quth-maren do not let the sentries’ bodies stop them. In a coordinated assault, all six spit acidic blood at Khail, who suddenly feels very put upon as he is splattered with the corrosive goop. Neither Trella nor Quid are amused as they are hit as well.

As acid etches the stone floor of the cavern, the sentries move in for the attack. Four swarm Rhien, managing to stab the monk with their rapiers once in eight tries. Constrained somewhat by their positioning, two assault Quid, while three move off to engage both Trella and Khail. Perhaps startled by their foes’ tactics, their aim is poor and they collectively manage only one hit. The remaining three take aim with their hand crossbows at Calla and Kyree. Only the archer is struck, and his elven blood renders the drow poison ineffectual.

Calla climbs down a little further, and is now able to see the mages. Taking aim at the most injured one, she launches her newly-returned dagger at his face. The blade tears a good chunk of his nose off, but the wizard doesn’t pause in his ascent, except to glare at the impudent rogue.

Kai takes flight after some words of magic and wings down to join Kyree. Assessing the situation, she wills the healthy mage flying over to Rhien to turn into a chick. Unfortunately, his enhanced constitution proves just enough to turn away his body’s sudden desire to grow yellow feathers and look cute, and the drow remains what he is.

Rhien’s target now out of reach, the monk turns and confronts the sentries ringing him, smashing one in the gut twice with his fist. Seeing a clear shot at an undead spider, Danek plunks two arrows into its damaged exoskeleton, dropping it to the stony ground. The barbarian nods to herself, clearly pleased at the outcome.

Dobi watches as the four evokers fly towards him, then up the shaft of the pit toward the rest of the party. Climbing upwards, the wily rogue waits for his chance, ready to interrupt whatever magic they have planned. Seeing the four start casting in unison, he attempts to activate his wand. His attempt is successful, sending four blue-green bolts flying at the injured spellguard as his hands trace patterns in the air. Dobi only hopes that the damage will be sufficient to distract him, and so is quite satisfied as the magic missiles kill him instead before he can cast. This feeling rapidly fades as he realizes what is about to happen.

The three remaining casters finish their spells then, summoning huge hailstones to rain down upon the half of the party still topside. Defenseless, the less-experienced group can only scream in horror and pain as they are alternatingly pummeled and frozen by the hail. The damage is immense, instantly slaying both Cerridwin and Lenara, badly injuring Danek, Andy, and Buttercup, and damaging Steve and two of the “friendly” drow as well. Dobi and Calla, shielded from half the impact (though not the cold) by virtue of their positions, suffer somewhat mitigated wounds. Calla is barely able to hold on to her perch, but Dobi, fading rapidly into unconsciousness, is not. The halfling falls rapidly to the earth, and ends up sprawled on the cold stone below, clinging to life by the barest of margins. It is of no consequence to him that the body of the spider onto which he fell no longer holds to unlife.

Glorying in the success of their cruel plan, the spellguards reveal its second step, blanketing dispelling fields over the party’s drow companions. This time their luck fails by a hair, and the two drow remain firmly under Kai’s control. Their anger over this turns to shock as the battered and frozen bodies of Lenara and Cerridwin melt into a pool of multihued color, swirling in tightening circles before reforming. Cerridwin’s body becomes that of a satyr—a red-haired horned man with the legs of a goat. Lenara, meanwhile, does not change race, but her long blond tresses now look substantially different on the body of a human male. Confused by the sudden alterations, the two wander away from the fray.

The screams above barely registering with him, so intent is he on his task, Kyree summons a powerful arrow of dispelling and sends it at the sentry holding the rock of darkness. Kyree’s aim is true and the arrow strikes the rock soundly, beginning a soundless battle to stifle its effect. In the end, the elf’s magic proves the stronger, and the rock loses all enchantment, immediately bathing the area in bright light. Those non-drow below are momentarily stunned as their eyes adjust to the sudden daylight, but not nearly so much so as the fifteen sentries, who find themselves quite unable to act.

Andy sees the glow from the other side of the hole, but takes little comfort in its presence. Barely holding to consciousness, the monk backs away, calling for aid while she concentrates on healing some of the numerous bruises blanketing her body.

Having seen Dobi fall, Buttercup makes the split-second decision that he can be of more good below than above, and dives for the rope. Reaching the ground quickly, the cleric prays for healing magic on the fly, and brings the halfling back from the brink.

The battle splits into halves. Below, Trella calls holy fire down on all she can reach with it. The grouped quth-maren are caught in its area and burned to varying degrees, as are five of the nearest sentries. Quid matches her, and this time three foes fall; nearby Khail slays an injured sentry with two hits, cutting the number to twelve.

Calla drops from her perch on the stone wall, sliding down the rope and coming to rest in front of a blinded sentry. Her teeth bared in hatred, she swiftly stabs her dagger into his back, opening a gaping wound that leaks both blood and acid.

Above, Kai acts to eliminate her wizardly competitors. Her dominated drow provide a physical threat, launching projectiles and swinging a spiked chain at their flying foes, while she offers a mental one. Moving two fingers of her right hand from left to right, she helpfully suggests, “You want to sit down and rethink your life. Take your time.” Two suddenly get very pensive looks on their faces and fly off to take a seat outside of combat, going over all aspects of their lives up to now. Given the longevity of their race, this promises to take a while.

The third mage remains defiant, and this feeling only deepens as Kai’s second attempt to turn him into something else—a fish, this time—fails again. Below, Rhien punches a blinded drow in the face in sympathy.

Danek withdraws from combat, healing Andy with a touch. Confused, the monk asks, “Are you coming on to me?” Danek shivers and moves away.

Stunned by how close he came to death, Dobi is momentarily speechless. Mumbling thanks to Buttercup, the bard crawls off toward the side of the cavern, leaving a trail of blood as he tells himself a healing tale.

The remaining wizard is ticked off, to put his expression mildly. His first action replicates the previous one, dropping a hailstorm of ice on Kai and the drow. The sorceress buffets in the storm, which continues downward to strike Buttercup as well. The brave half-orc crumbles to the ground, nearly as badly off as Dobi was seconds earlier. His second action summons a forked bolt of lightning with the same target as before. Kai dodges the worst of it and the drow are unaffected, but the bolt continues on to strike Andy, Danek, and the newly reformed Lenara and Cerridwin as well. The monk barely leaps out of the way, avoiding all injury, but Danek takes the bolt full in the chest, leaving her stunned and gasping. Lenara just catches sight of the bolt as she wanders away, twisting to avoid some of the jolt, while Cerridwin feels his life threatened again as he is hit full on. The two pick up speed in their retreat from combat.

Freed from concentration on his bow, Kyree’s sharp senses quickly discern the relevant details of the combat. Making a split second decision, the elf decides that Kai and the others can handle the remaining mage and instead trains his fire on the quth-maren. Four arrows later, one falls.

Trella takes out her aggression on one of the sentries surrounding her, sending him crashing to the ground with three brutal smashes of her quarterstaff. The druid spits on his body as she twirls the staff behind her, striking a second one offhandedly. Quid and Khail converge on these as well, laying about themselves with scimitar and longsword.

A dominated drow joins them moments later, tasked with the protection of Buttercup. The sheer number of combatants now in the enclosed space turns the battle below into a free-for-all, with fists and weapons flying in every direction. Dobi bravely tumbles through it all to reach Buttercup, returning him to consciousness with a song. The pair retreats further into a corner, leaving the scrum to those better suited to handling it.

While copious blood is shed in the pursuit of this goal, Kai faces off against the remaining mage above. Ten missiles of hers are answered by a lightning bolt of his, but the sorcerer comes out ahead in the end as she wills her foe to change form. This time the force of her personality crushes his body’s resistance, and the drow is abruptly a fish, flopping in the air as he desperately seeks needed oxygen.

Satisfied, Kai flies off after the retreating quartet of Danek, Andy, Cerridwin, and Lenara. She overtakes them as her comrades below finish their grisly task, returning the last of the quth-maren below to death.

Trella steps forward once they are gone, marveling at the carnage. All business, she takes in the group’s status and the tactical situation, noting the way the entry room opens into a chasm before saying, “I’d bet my boots that we’re not going to have much peace here, so we’d better figure out fast what we’re going to do now.”

 

[htetickrt]

The Chasm, Part I​

Danek says nothing other than to murmur the words of a healing spell, leaning heavily against a wall of the cavern as she repairs some of the damage to her body. She surveys the changes to Lenara and Cerridwin uneasily out of the corners of her eyes as she does so. For her part, Kai sails down out of the air to land on one of the chairs, pulling her feet under her and leaning wearily back into the cushions. "Well," she asks the drow, "What can we expect further on? Is this as defensible a place as we can expect to find for the time being? We'll eventually need to find places to rest if we don't decide to stop here."

Trella takes up the two potions of cure serious wounds and hands them to Cerridwin and Dobi with the order to "Drink up." Inspecting the party, she says, "Time for some choices, I suppose. I am forging ahead 'cause Drow piss me off. Anyone who wants to leave now should say so now; no one will think less of you. No one should linger in these caverns, though; it's too risky."

Andy looks very uncomfortable as if she wants to go, but does not want to be the first person to do so. She idly picks through the loot while glancing around for someone to say something first.

Kai is joined by a non-dominated drow, who answers eagerly as soon as his feet touch the ground. "Finally, a way in which I *want* to help you," he exclaims. "Through the exit from this post lies a huge web, patrolled and maintained by a gargantuan fiendish spider. The web connects all of Szith Morcane, but you have to know which strands are not sticky to avoid being captured on your way anywhere. I can help with that," he says, a bit smugly.

"There are six major areas off of the web, and you're going to have to go through all of them to make sure you've gotten rid of all the invaders. The closest is the barracks level, which I'd advise cleaning out first. They watch over the rest of the city, and leaving them there will just make your job more difficult later. Of course they're on to you, so you'll have to have a plan of some sort to avoid this sort of near-slaughter." The drow gestures around himself vaguely.

"The second area is the bazaar level, which is pretty much what you'd expect it to be. It used to be a bustling marketplace back when we still ran the show in what you surface types call Shadowdale, but it's since become more limited in scope. There are still ways to get things you might need, though I'm sure anyone presently there will want to kill you for the color of your skin. Tough, that. There were also rumors about some sort of cult presence here, plus a watchpost for the city's militia.

"The third is the commoner's level. There shouldn't be too much to do here, as no self-respecting drow would bother with those weaklings and slaves. I expect that you won't be bothering much either, given our deal....

"The fourth gets far more dangerous. That one is known as the inverted tower, and is populated by a bunch of insular wizards. That might have changed since the invasion, but I'd bet that it hasn't much. There's a lot of power in that place, and I have no idea whose side it's on. I'd tread carefully there. Having never entered, I can't provide any help.

"The fifth level housed my house, House Morcane." The drow noticeably puffs up at this announcement. "For many centuries we held those halls, only to be driven out by a band of savages. They slaughtered our priests, converting them into those horrid quth-maren, and transformed many of us noble guards into vampires or worse. This level will be teeming with undead and their leaders and they will be ready for you.

"The sixth and final level is the fane of Lolth. It is a deeply holy place, and I doubt that even the enemy has done much with it. There are rumors of traps to repel the nonbelievers, and I have no doubt that you would be annihilated soon upon entering.

"I have knowledge of the barracks, bazaar, House Morcane, and commoner levels, and can lead you through them, bypassing traps placed there by my people, as long as you maintain our agreement. The web leading to all these places will have a patrol roughly equivalent to that you just fought, though with a greater emphasis on magic and ranged attacks. The commoner level houses the exit from the city into the Underdark. If you desire to enter the city, I would go now, leaving behind any too weak to survive. If you choose to return tomorrow, you will find your way nearly impassable. The force at the entry post was all that could be rounded up in the few minutes you gave them. A day will enable a much more deadly response. More than this I will tell you when necessary."

Kai cannot restrain an eyeroll at this proclamation, and moves quickly to interrogate telepathically the dominated House Morcane drow. What she learns echoes that heard aloud, and she is suitably convinced that the other noble guard told the truth. A brief foray into Raphael's mind indicates a strong belief that to go on would mean a horrible, violent death, and Kai is sure that any more probing risks a new chance for the arcane guard to free himself.

Dobi strokes his chin thoughtfully as the drow speaks, pocketing the potion given to him by Trella while instead curing himself with a spell. Reluctant to leave a group so apt to provide him with new experiences—and relishing the opportunity to bond further with the enigmatic Calla, he admits to himself—the halfling moves out of the way to wait for his companions’ actions.

Quid, on the other hand, is more forceful. "I still say we should go back and free the driders. I can probably stone shape open a hole with no problem. They should confuse those damn drow enough until we can regroup. We can rig up some stone walls and alarms and blade barriers and traps to keep them from getting out, and instead let them wreak some havoc. Likely they'll be dispatched in short order, but not before making our lives somewhat easier. Maybe we can send in Dobster to smooth things over with the driders, or maybe not. In any case, Mr. Drow-Person, anywhere down here we can hide while the driders do their thing? So that we don't risk getting stuck on the wrong side of the breach? That there is one breach that I'd only like to go unto once."

The free drow looks at Quid like she's crazy. "Do you have any familiarity with driders at all? There were three of them holed up above a week ago with a few spiders and no other food. They're not going to be talking to you. Given that they were walled in by a small handful of drow, they're also not going to be the massive distraction you desire. I would advise for your own safety that you abandon grandiose notions of cavalry coming to your aid. I am a member of the noble house of Szith Morcane, and I have seen what these invaders can do. They will not be cowed by your half-starved drider force.

"If you are not strong enough to take the city, there are places to hide within it, as long as you are watchful. You can also simply teleport away and then back. Each moment you rest, however, risks defensive measures being added to prevent your entrance—or your exit."

Quid retorts, "Look Mr. Drow, if the driders can be overcome by just a few of the many drow you expect us to take out, then they should certainly be no problem for us to handle. I still think it would be nice to have someone else setting off ambushes, so that even if the driders don't manage to kill any of them, we can follow them in to clean up, giving us the advantage, or at least evening things up. Normally, I'd say we should hire some townsfolk for that job to send off as cannon fodder (hey, fair economic trade), but since none are available, the driders seem like a decent option."

Kai interjects, "Well, there are those two drow up there rethinking their lives. It won't take them forever, or their thoughtful mood may wear off. If you want to sic some driders on those two, Quid, I don't really have an objection, though I still can't think of a way to drive the driders forward once we've made an exit for them. If anybody can, then let's go ahead and do it. Anyway, we have to take care of them no matter what we decide to do next. In any case, I think softening up the ambushes would be less of a priority if we take more care to scout out the enemy before each encounter. If we can prepare spells to account for their number and positions before we close for combat, I think we'll do much better."

Cerridwin looks around silently, trying to determine the mood of the crowd. Suddenly, he says, with the strength, confidence, and more than a little creepiness, "I'm leaving. I've died once, changed sex twice, changed race once, I'm randy as hell but can't even keep track of which sex I'm supposed to be attracted to, and I don't even know what's going on. Is anyone else coming?"

Andy reluctantly puts down the weaponry she was handling. "Yeah, I'm pretty certain this place will be the death of me." Turning back to the party she looks defeated. "Sorry" is all she can offer. Trella maintains a neutral expression.

Lenara gives one longing glance at Khail before shaking his head sadly and moving to stand with Cerridwin.

Buttercup's eyes stare wildly at his surroundings. He says, "I don't know what to do. Part of me wants to fight, but the other part wants to see flowers again. My brain hurts!"

Rhien approaches the burly half-orc and pats him on the shoulder. "The two do not have to be mutually exclusive, Buttercup." At Buttercup's look of incomprehension, the monk amends, "I mean, you can have both at the same time. If we fail, or even if we succeed but cannot stop all the drow, someone will need to guard against additional drow raids on the surface. Any of you who want to perform that quite important task can camp near the entrance to the crypts, keeping a watchful eye out for drow. Of course, none of you should feel required to do this."

Buttercup, however, seems quite pleased with the proposal, jumping up and down to show his enthusiasm. "I'll do it!" he exclaims, meaning to go as soon as he expends some healing for the group.

Danek, about to heal herself again but equivocating about which of her spells to use in the process, looks up and scowls. "I'm not going anywhere," she announces belligerently. "If I start using magic before combat then I can maybe do all right. I'm not set up to do it today but I can get different spells tomorrow. If I die and become a mermaid then I'll go defend the entrance," she finishes, while avoiding eye contact with a vengeance.

After a pause following Danek's announcement, Kai carefully ventures to change the subject. "Well, no matter who comes with us, it sounds like we should either disable the webbing leading to this entry post now so that we can rest, leaving us with the problem of reconnecting it when we're ready to move on and of dealing with it both times under fire from this fiendish spider, or take out the spider now and rest somewhere further on.
Personally, I'd like to know more about this thing before we deal with it. It's time we stopped walking into combat unprepared." She directs these last two comments coldly toward the drow.

Trella and Quid move to begin healing, stopping when Buttercup puts up his hands. "We will heal you. You should save yours." Trella nods and, never being one for prolonged goodbyes, wildshapes into a bat in order to scout ahead. As Dobi moves to stand by Danek, making his decision known, Trella flies off into the darkness beyond Quid's daylight spell.

Buttercup hands his healing wand to Quid as soon as the druid leaves. Taking one last look around with a slightly sad look in his eyes, the half-orc says, "Good luck," and begins the march back to the surface alongside Andy, Lenara, and Cerridwin.

Quid begins to plan as the party’s sundering is complete, calling the utility of the drow’s information again into question.

The drow responds swiftly, raising both hands, palms out. "Easy; I didn't ask you to jump into the guard post, now did I? As for the next area, normally the spider would be there by itself, keeping the web in good shape and such. It's also usually sufficient to eliminate most small threats, what with its nasty poison and web throwing and such. Plus it’s of fiendish ancestry, which gives it a leg up, so to speak. Since you've raised the alarm, I'm sure it will be supported by what we used to call a web team. Protocol used to have an officer supported by a spellguard and eight sentries. Then again, there were about seven times more sentries and five times more spellguards than I expected here in the entry post, so it's clear the usurpers don't want to take any chances. On the plus side, this means battles outside of guard posts should be minimized, as no one will be left off-duty."

Quid queries, "If we do destroy the webbing, how hard would it be to reconstruct?"

The drow replies, "Are you hiding huge spinnerets under your robes, priest? The spider's webbing is far sterner stuff than you could hope to produce."

"Ah, but is it flammable?"

"Yes, but it is somewhat fire resistant, so the flames would not spread."

"Could the ensuing chasm be crossed with perhaps wall of stone spells or fly or dimension door?"

"Flying would take you anywhere you wanted, assuming it was not dispelled in transit. Point-to-point transportation magic is certainly an option, but it would require many spells to transport you around. Walls of stone might bridge a single gap, but would surely be destroyed by the time you returned from a given layer, resulting in the same problems."

Trella returns five minutes after the four party members left, quickly changing back to her own form in order to relay her new information.

Looking at Kai, she reports, "Your drow buddy got the layout right, and you'd have to be one of them to know where you can step without getting stuck. There's webbing everywhere, and the spider climbing around it is humongous. The big webs run vertically alongside the near wall of a deep but narrow chasm, connecting this entrance with the six layers he mentioned. They're anchored pretty well to the wall in most places, so they aren't coming loose. The wall behind them seemed pretty craggy, so it might be climbable too. Smaller webs connect the two walls of the chasm, which also makes flying difficult. There're also the web-heads or whatever waiting for us, but they look tougher than drow-boy said. About eight sentries are climbing along the spine of the web, so that's likely not sticky. I think it looks sort of ladder-like, so it should be easier to climb. Ten more, led by what I'm guessing is the commander, wait with ranged weapons inside the closest tunnel entrance. Five of those damned mages are flying behind the climbing ones, taking care not to move around too much so they don't get caught in the smaller webs.

"Besides the tunnels off the web that drow-boy told us about, I also found a small cavern on the opposite wall of the chasm. It would require climbing or flying to get to, but I for one don't want to go back. All that's in there is this freaky deformed drow who was talking to herself the entire time I was there."

The drow interjects, "If she wasn't a drider, then she's probably a fang of Lolth. They're quite devoted to the Spider Queen, even taking on some of her physical characteristics over time."

Trella snaps back, "That's a great story, ass-face. Even more reason not to go down there again."

Kai, Quid, and Dobi briefly discuss strategy, coming up with a basic plan after a couple of minutes. Deciding to give the specifics more thought, Kai turns to the drow and asks as an aside, "While we're thinking, would you mind going up and taking care of those two up top? I'm sure you'll enjoy the vengeance. You can keep any items of theirs you'll actually use to help us take your house back for you. As for the rest I'm sure you understand that our use of those items benefits you." She sends their dominated buddy with them to keep an eye on things.

Turning back to the party: "One thing that might be really useful is just to send Kyree in there. You're already flying, Kyree, and you won't get stuck in the existing webs, so you can fly around attacking them from a distance. I can add an improved invisibility to your protections, which'll help if they're not expecting it. Then the only thing you'd have to worry about would be new flying webs and poison."

Danek smacks her forehead. "Buttercup had a wand of neutralize poison!" She sprints after her erstwhile companions to ask to borrow the wand.

The barbarian passes the three drow warriors, who have drawn their rapiers in preparation for an attack. Pouncing on the unaware drow, the three are able to score enough holes in his flesh with their rapiers to send the mage spiraling towards death. The second one, deciding he’s done rethinking his life after the sudden assault, whirls and begins to trigger his wand while taking off. The four drow come together in a blur of arms and electricity; when they part again, the mage is dead from eight new puncture wounds, but two of the drow have suffered moderate electrical burns across their bodies. The two non-dominated drow take and quaff two potions of healing, while the dominated one secures two wands of lightning and four scrolls for party use, along with some diamond dust. They return to Kai shortly afterward, smug in their report of success.

Kai acknowledges them with a weak smile. When Danek returns with the wand of neutralize poison, the group decides to put Quid’s plan regarding the driders into action, and ascends the pit. The Waukeenar’s magic easily creates a large hole in the stone wall sealing the drider’s living tomb, and the party makes its way cautiously into the revealed tunnel. Taking the rear, Trella invokes a new stone wall, this time positioning it so as to block most of the passage back to the surface, leaving just enough room for a medium-sized creature to slip through.

The passage quickly splits off into two, and the group pauses to assess the situation. Before Kyree can even set himself to listen, however, two ravenously hungry spiders come crawling out of the upper passage, intent on making the party their dinner.

Putting aside impulses to fight, the group retreats behind the wall before the spiders can reach them. Pausing only slightly at the loss of their meal, the two arachnids climb down the passage to engage the drow on the web. Wanting to maximize the effect of the attack, Quid quickly leaves the safety of the wall to approach the southern passage. She is slightly concerned that the driders have not exited on their own, but puts aside that thought until Calla brusquely pushes past her.

“If they’re not exiting, there’s likely a trap. Wait for me to find it.” The halfling creeps toward the entrance to a cavern, nodding her head slightly as she scans the floors and walls. She stops before entering and says, “Like I thought. The floor over here is an illusion, and there’s probably a pit beneath it. Let’s see if I can make that more obvious.” Calla pokes around on the floor for a short time, causing the illusory wall covering the pit to vanish. “There you go. Now let me see what’s inside.”

Relying on her skills and her ring to protect her from detection, Calla creeps into the cavern. It takes all her self-control to avoid gagging as an acrid, sulfurous odor, likely arising from a pile of filth in the corner of the room, overwhelms her senses. Two large forms shaped like bloated spiders creep slowly along the walls and ceiling. Seeing the driders, Calla returns and whispers her findings. The sound of lightning ripping through the air echoes through the cavern below.

Quid huffs quietly, distressed that the driders haven’t yet come out. After some thought, Kai directs Rafael to enter the cavern and lead the driders out, while she and her friends hide behind the stone wall. Unable to fight Kai’s will, Rafael complies.

Upon seeing the drow, both driders immediately cast protective magic on themselves and crawl to higher ground. Rafael bolts from the room, running down the passage until he reaches the stone wall. There he stops, waiting for Kai’s instructions after noting that the driders aren’t following him.

Kai sighs and sends him in again, this time with the directive to shoot bolts until they follow. The drow dutifully obeys, entering the odiferous cavern with his hand crossbow raised. Before he can fire, however, two lightning bolts fly from the darkness at him. Only one penetrates his innate resistance, and his retaliatory quarrel scores a minor wound in one of their hides. Rafael yells, “Dirty abominations!” while exiting the cavern after this.

This time the driders follow, climbing along the walls behind him. Exiting into the passage, they blast him again with two forked bolts of lightning, though this time neither has an effect. Rafael leaps down the hole as directed, but this time the driders do not follow.

Seeing this, Kai groans. “This is getting pointless. Maybe we should just kill them.”

Quid responds, “I still think they could be useful. We should try parleying with them.”

Dobi offers, “I can do it, with some support.” Quid volunteers for that job, and the two approach the cavern again.

As they do so, Dobi speaks loudly, “We have common enemies in the drow. Surely we can work together, much like Chief Tripod worked with—”

A drider snarls, “Enough! Your foolish plan is transparent to us. We will not be used as fodder in an assault on the accursed city. Anyone who enters our cavern will be slain.”

Dobi turns to Quid and shrugs apologetically. Before they can do more, the two driders burst out of the cavern with murder on their minds. One looks at Dobi and ‘suggests,’ “The one next to you is a drow spy. You should attack her!” The other blasts the pair with a bolt of lightning.

Dobi fights off the magical compulsion and avoids all damage from the lightning; Quid is almost as lucky, suffering only a glancing blow [7 hp]. The noise draws the rest of the group, who file in as Quid and Dobi counterattack. Quid slices and pounds the uninjured drow with scimitar and nunchaku. Dobi finishes it off with two flanking attacks.

The remaining drider attempts to drop a shroud of darkness upon the combat as it retreats along the ceiling. The magic is overwhelmed by the bright light from Quid’s rock, and a volley of arrows from Kyree sends the hapless aberration flying into the opposite wall, quite dead.

A quick glance around reveals shiny materials in the dung heap. Khail takes one for the team, banking on his immunity to disease to protect him from whatever pathogens reside in the filth. A little digging and a bit of scrubbing produces a nice heap of gold and minor magic to add to the party loot.

Not wanting to waste any more time outside of the city, Trella leads the party quickly back through the tunnels and into the entry post. No sign of the spiders or of combat is present there, indicating at least that the former made it to the chasm. Recognizing that a large battle is imminent, the party sets about casting its preparatory magic. As an air elemental appears to do Quid’s bidding, the group prepares to engage.

To be continued…