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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Uller" data-source="post: 6834630" data-attributes="member: 413">Chapter 2: Slouching Toward Sloobludop“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.It lies behind stars and under hills,And empty holes it fills.It comes first and follows after,Ends life, kills laughter.”-J.R.R. TolkienAfter you stumbled into the hidden hole you collapsed.  Exhaustion took you.  This is the safest you’ve felt in...you have no idea how long.  It seems to you that your entire existence has become, up to this point, one of fear, pain, loathing.  The oppressive darkness has been pushing down on you, crushing your soul.  Everything that came before your capture seems nothing more than a distant dream.  A dying light being consumed by a voracious darkness...You wake refreshed and feeling stronger and strangely more hopeful than you’ve felt in a long time.  You survived, you escaped, you have gear and supplies.  But as your mind goes over all the possibilities you realize that hope and fear are two sides of the same coin.  When you awake, you start coming to your senses and realize the danger of your situation.  You are surrounded by creatures alien to you.  Many seem to be misfits and outcasts of dubious reputation even in their own communities.  You are deep in the underdark with no knowledge of how to escape and between you and freedom is endless miles of caves and tunnels inhabited by creatures you know little about, most of them hostile..Others are also awakening.  None of you have a clue how long you were out.  Maybe something beyond your senses let you know this place was guarded.  A sanctuary.  But now, at the back of your mind you know that veil of protection is gone.Everyone seems to sense this also.  You gather your gear, don your armor, inventory the food and water you have and discuss your plans.  You will make for Sloobludop with Shuushar, the koatoa hermit, as your guide.  What you will do when you get there is up for discussion.   The koatoa are amphibious “fish people” with an ill reputation as slavers and worshippers of cruel demonic gods just as much as the drow.  Shuushar abandoned his people to live his life as a hermit in the Darklake.  He tells you that the koatoa of Sloobludop make their livings serving as guides and transporting trade goods (including slaves) for other races.  They have no love for drow.  The fact that you are runaway slaves may be enough for them to want to help you, enslave you themselves,, or hand you right back over to the drow out of fear of retribution...you have no idea.  They have boats (which you will need) and they know the confusing waterways of the Darklake better than anyone.  Eldeth and Jimjar took it upon themselves to take up a watch while everyone else gets ready to move.  They return to the cave, grim expressions on their face and motioning for any lights to be doused.  “We saw something,” Eldeth whispers.  “A shadow, maybe two.  I don’t think it saw us but it stopped on the path right where we left it, paused then turned back the way we came from.”“I got 5 coppers that says it’s Ilvara’s goons,” Jimjar chimes in.  “Obviously,” Sarith hisses.  “They know we’re here.  Those were scouts. She will have sent out teams of 2 or 3 of her soldiers to find our path and now they’ve found it.  They will be upon us in a matter of hours.  We need to move.  Now.”You don’t trust the drow.  Their reputation and what you witnessed in Velkenvelve informs you that they are creatures that feed on betrayal and wanton cruelty the way others subsist on good food and drink.  Always they seek opportunity to gain reputation and improve their station.  But for now, at least, he seems to have thrown his lot in with you. Sarith’s crime was not murder.  In drow society, that is hardly a crime.  His crime was being caught. Topsy and Turvy have been keeping to themselves.  Ever since your escape they seem more distant.  Like they are ashamed or afraid of something.   Derendil is probably the most cheerful of everyone.  He keeps talking to any who will listen (and often to himself) of the timeless beauty of his homeland (which none of you have heard of) and his birthright to be it’s prince and how he looks forward to taking revenge on that evil wizard and his brother.  But when he needs to recall details he has difficulty.  “I am losing who I was,” he says and then will fall into brooding melancholy only to have his spirits soar again a few moments later.  With the news that drow scouts have been spotted he drops to a new low...[ooc]Finalize your plans for the first day of your journey.  If itcomeswithamap’s last post is good then we’ll go with that.[/ooc]</blockquote>

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