ADVENTURE 14: ASCENT OF THE MORTAL QUEEN
PC Roster:
Game Session Date: 25 March 2020
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The slave-light torches illuminated all at once, bringing the sleeping figures into sudden wakefulness. As one, the five slaves crawled out of their pallets and put on their garments and armor, gathering up their weapons and gear. There was no telling what kind of assignments they'd be given today but experience had shown it was always best to be prepared - their drow masters tolerated no delays in having their orders obeyed.
Almost immediately, a deep, booming voice began blaring some unknown message through the air - unknown only because none of the slaves understood the drow language; they could all by this point determine it was in fact Drow being spoken. "Wonder what that's all about?" groused Utred.
"You know, I think I'll find out!" announced Marlo, unrolling a scroll and reading off the words to a comprehend languages spell. She then listened intently, staring up at the ceiling as she concentrated on what was being said. None of the others bothered her, realizing she'd translate for them after the message had ended. Cramer did notice, however, that the message was repeated a second time all the way through, or at least he thought he heard the same words being repeated; this must be a rather important message, if one intended only for the drow of the city and not the slaves.
"Well?" he asked after the booming voice finally stopped speaking.
"I'll have to paraphrase. The Matron Mother of House Bel'vior - the senior Noble House of Overreach - has died and her firstborn daughter has proclaimed herself not only the new Matron Mother of her House but also the 'Mortal Queen' of the entire drow race, Lolth being the 'Immortal Queen.' She claims Overreach has been infiltrated by heretics of Eilistraee and says they can be identified by their abnormal hair color. She orders they are to be put to death wherever they are found and that any House found harboring them will be purged by Lolth's divine power. Finally, all Houses are to prepare their armies, for in three months they will march upon the source of the Eilistraeean heretics, the surface city of Greenvale."
"That's not good!" Khari said. "Do you think they know about our ties with Greenvale?"
"I doubt it," reasoned Marlo. "They could have scried upon us entering the surface city, but the modifications made to our slave tattoos should have blocked them from seeing any of our dealings with the sunborn drow."
"'Should have,'" repeated Cramer, clearing his mind to prepare his spells for the day - a process he'd best get going now, while he had the time. But his attempts failed miserably; every time he tried clearing his mind to receive the wisdom and grace of Fharlanghn, he got the distinct feeling that invisible spiders were crawling over his body. Finally, instinctively brushing down his arms to rid himself of skittering arachnids that weren't really there, he admitted to the others, "Something's blocking my connection to my god - I can't prepare any new spells!"
"That's not good!" repeated Khari. But before anyone could ponder what this might mean or the overall implications of the new Mortal Queen of Overreach, Eri'dia burst into the room. "Block the door!" she said in a tone that was half command and half pleading. She slumped over into the corner of the room, by Marlo's sleeping pallet, sobbing. Jhasspok, the closest to the door and the bulkiest of the five slaves, stood immediately in front of it, blocking it with his body.
"What's wrong?" Marlo asked, belatedly adding, "...Mistress?"
"I fear my mother, the matriarch of House Jalamir, will kill me," the drow princess replied. Khari's bushy eyebrows rose in surprise at this announcement; he'd never made the connection that Eri'dia was the daughter of the House's leader. That meant Calish was the Matron's son, if he was Eri'dia's sister; he'd never made that connection before, either. "I didn't know where else to go," Eri'dia admitted. "Despite only having really formally met you yesterday, you're the closest thing I have to...friends in the city." She looked up at them, fear in her eyes. "You have to protect me!"
"What makes you think your mother wants to kill you?" asked Cramer, playing dumb about having already heard the announcement broadcast earlier in a language he didn't understand. Eri'dia gave a brief synopsis of the edicts of the new Matron Mother of Bel'vior while Marlo cast an invisibility spell upon the cowering princess. And not a moment too soon, either, for almost immediately the door crashed into Jhasspok as someone tried barging into the room. "Let me in!" demanded a stern voice the lizardfolk recognized immediately. He knew better than to disobey; stepping aside, the door swung open and Calish Jalamir strode into the slaves' room, a pair of drow bodyguards flanking him.
"Where is she?" he demanded.
Jhasspok pointed at the human sorceress, wearing a confused expression on his face. "Marlo is right there, Master," he replied.
"Not her--my sister, Eri'dia!"
"As you can see, Master, she isn't here," Cramer replied, his face a mask of puzzled concern.
"She entered this room recently," Calish countered, turning to face Jhasspok. "Why were you blocking the door?" he demanded.
"I was just standing there, Master," Jhasspok replied. "I didn't know you were coming."
Calish glared at the lizardfolk, who looked down at him with a look of confused innocence on his reptilian face. "Did Eri'dia come into this room?" the slavemaster asked again.
"Yes, Master," Jhasspok replied at once. Unseen, Khari winced; he was under the impression they were trying to help Eri'dia. It sure didn't take the lizard long to fold under the slavemaster's fierce gaze!
"When?" Calish demanded.
"Yesterday, Master," Jhasspok said - quite truthfully. "She needed Cramer to heal her wrist, and then she said we were to go with her to a duergar tomb--"
"I'm talking about today! This morning!" Calish exploded. "She entered this room just minutes ago!"
"She did?" Utred said, looking around the room in confusion, scratching his head. "I don't see her anywhere, Master."
"This is the only way in or out," pointed out one of the drow bodyguards, standing before the door to the room, which he'd closed behind him upon their entry into the slave quarters. "If she's in here, there's no other way out." Over in the corner, the invisible Eri'dia did everything she could to remain absolutely silent, holding in her labored breathing as she watched the slaves do their best to keep her from being found.
"But she's a spellcaster," argued Cramer. "If she came in here without our knowing it, she could just as easily have teleported away or something." He knew this was absolute nonsense - Eri'dia was nowhere near powerful enough to cast such high-level magic - but he figured he might as well stir up some doubts; after all, how likely was it Calish would pay attention to the relative spellcasting power of his little sister, who had not yet attained adulthood in the eyes of drow society?
"If you are hiding her," Calish snarled, "I will feed every last one of you to N'zorthal when he returns!" He turned to one of his bodyguards. "That one," he said, pointing to Cramer. With a wicked smile, the guard unsheathed his rapier and advanced upon the gnome. Cramer knew better than to try to resist; he stood there stoically while the drow fighter stabbed him with the point of his weapon. A zap of electricity struck the gnome at the touch and he winced in pain. "Where is Eri'dia?" Calish asked again.
"I do not know, Master," Cramer replied, thinking to himself, That's technically true: I know where she was when Marlo cast the spell on her, but for all I know she might have moved position since. This was the kind of thinking he'd have to get ready for, because the gnome anticipated interrogation under a zone of truth spell in his immediate future...or at least he hoped so. He was reasonably sure he could beat a zone of truth spell with evasive and technically-true answers, but if they just went straight to torture...well, that was an entirely different matter altogether.
Calish was getting visibly frustrated; he knew full well his sister had opened the door to the slave quarters for the alarm spell had informed him of the fact. However, it was entirely possible the slaves were as clueless about Eri'dia's presence as they claimed.... Finally, he came to a decision. "Everyone into the corner," he demanded. By chance, he chose the corner where Eri'dia was still cowering, invisibly. The slaves, in a show of immediate submission to their slavemaster, did as they were told. Marlo pressed up against Eri'dia, trying to shield her with her own body. Then the three male drow, standing in the middle of the room, blanketed the room in faerie fire spells, outlining each slave in a glow of colored light - and an additional, cowering figure in the corner of the room behind them. "Aha!" the slavemaster cried in triumph. "Got you!"
The jig obviously up, the five slaves made a big production of "noticing" the invisible-but-outlined-in-the-glow-of-faerie-fire shape of Eri'dia behind them and stepped quickly away. They'd done their best to shield her from her brother but now that she was caught there was little more they could do for her; time to look after their own safety! Of course, Cramer mused, they could have attacked the three drow but then they'd have to try to make it out of the city alive and Cramer wasn't about to leave Overreach until he had found and rescued his friend, Honeycomb Buzzwort.
The drow guards stepped up and grabbed Eri'dia by the arms. She gave no resistance and no indication the slaves had tried to aid her. "Take her to the Matron Mother," Calish ordered and the two drow fighters departed the room with their prisoner. Then, alone with five well-armed and armored slaves - and not at all concerned about the situation - he turned to Cramer and demanded, "Prepare any spells you have to discern the truth. I will return for you when you are needed." And with that, he spun on his heels and stormed out of the room, giving Jhasspok a stern look as he left. Surprisingly, although the door to their quarters had no lock upon it, it was immediately covered in a greenish glow and when Jhasspok tried opening it, it wouldn't budge.
"Magically locked," Cramer explained. "We can't get out."
"Well, I can," Khari pointed out, hefting his new warhammer. It allowed him to pass through dirt and stone as if they weren't even there; getting through the stone wall of their slave quarters would be child's play to the dwarven fighter.
"To what end?" Cramer asked, settling himself back down onto his pallet. He tried clearing his mind to focus on his spells again and was pleased to find the sensation of spiders crawling all over him was not repeated. The prayers came easily to him as they always had in the past.
"No breakfast again," muttered Utred to himself. He lay back down upon his pallet. If they were stuck in lock-down, he'd try to go back to sleep.
Three hours passed before Calish returned, the greenish glow disappearing a moment before he stepped into the room. The five slaves, wanting to give the appearance of their complete and total submission, snapped to attention at his approach. "Some ground rules," he said without preamble. "Do not speak in the Matron Mother's presence unless prompted to do so. If you must look her way, be sure you focus your gaze toward her ankles. If you do anything to upset her, she will strike you. The first time will be with the back of her hand, the second time with her scourge, and the third time she won't stop until you've ceased moving altogether, at which time the rest of you will be ordered to toss the corpse off a balcony. Questions?"
Cramer had several but he allowed himself to reply, "No, Master" with the rest of the group.
"Good. Then follow." And he strode back out the door, leading the five slaves down a corridor, along several side branches, and eventually to the House Jalamir shrine to Lolth. In the chamber just outside the shrine stood a human in red robes, bending over a table upon which lay several body parts, their dark coloration showing them to have been severed from a drow - or, more likely, from several drow, given their number. The man was rummaging among the parts and finding the pieces he sought, then stitching them back together. There was another table behind him, upon which lay five bodies, each already stitched back up. As the group got closer, Marlo felt her gorge rising as she realized all of the bodies looked like Eri'dia. She first wondered if the drow princess had been born with identical siblings, until a more logical - and horrific - explanation entered her thoughts. She recalled when Cramer had had his brain devoured by the illithid Administer of Discipline, he'd been forced to wear a ring of regeneration so the process could be repeated multiple times. Marlo imagined poor Eri'dia had been likewise forced to wear such a ring as her body was hacked into pieces, over and over again. And upon orders given by her own mother!
Wordlessly, Calish stepped past the tables with their grisly contents and opened the double door to the shrine in the back. He then, with a gesture, ushered the slaves inside. After they passed silently into the room, he closed the doors behind them, remaining outside the shrine with the red-robed human slave.
At the back of the shrine, Eri'dia dangled by chains at her wrists above a raised altar, naked and head hanging limply. Her left leg had been severed just below the knee, but as the slaves watched it was slowly growing back, powered by the glowing ring on Eri'dia's left hand. Also of note was the fact her entire head of hair was pure red, although whether because it was her natural sunborn coloration or due to the bloodstains was open to debate. Matron Jalamir stood before her daughter, her back to the slaves; on the altar were various tools of the torturer's trade.
With a snap of her fingers the doors to the shrine glowed with a greenish cast, sealing everyone inside. Then she spun around, facing the slaves. They were quick to lower their gaze to her ankles, as they'd been instructed. "Do not resist," she commanded imperiously, then began casting a discern lies spell. None of the slaves dared try to prevent the spell from taking effect. Upon its completion, she stepped down from the altar and stood in the back, by the doors. "There is a list of instructions on the altar, gnome," she said. "Go forth and do as they say."
The other slaves stood transfixed in a row as Cramer silently approached the altar. Sure enough, there was a parchment scroll there. Unrolling it and reading its contents, he did the first thing on the list: cast a zone of truth spell around the altar. He'd had a feeling there would be such a spell in his immediate future - he just hadn't counted on him being the one to cast it.
The rest of the scroll was a list of questions. He read each of them in turn, as Matron Jalamir watched impassively from the back of the room.
"Are you a servant of Eilistraee?"
Eri'dia didn't have the strength to lift her head, but she managed to whisper a response. "...No." In the silence of the shrine, her answer was perfectly audible to all within the room.
Cramer continued, "Have you ever been a servant of Eilistraee?"
"No."
"Have you ever been in contact with a servant of Eilistraee?"
"Not...that I...know of."
"Have you ever been to Greenvale?"
"No."
"Have you ever been in contact with Greenvale?"
"No."
"Why is your hair red?"
"I...don't know."
That was the last of the questions written on the sheet of parchment, but Matron Jalamir had another one: "Gnome, do you know why Eri'dia's hair is red?"
Cramer had known this was going to happen - but he was prepared. Despite being within the area of effect of the zone of truth spell, his answer, "I do not," was accepted because there was some wiggle room as to if it was the blood or Eri'dia's status as a sunborn drow that was currently responsible for the color of the drow's hair.
Apparently content with the answers she had received, Matron Jalamir approached her daughter. As Cramer stepped aside, his head hanging low and his gaze directed downwards so as not to offend the ruler of the Noble House, the drow priestess picked up a metal rod from the altar. She grabbed her daughter by the hair, raised her head, and slammed the rod against Eri'dia's neck. Upon impact, the metal writhed and reshaped, curving around the contour of the sunborn drow's neck and reforming into a slave collar. The Matron then undid the chains from the shackles around her daughter's wrists, leaving the shackles in place. Eri'dia stumbled, barely keeping on her feet - especially given that one of them had only just recently grown back.
Pulling the ring of regeneration from Eri'dia's hand, Matron Jalamir turned and said dismissively, "Take care of your new pet until I decide what to do with her in the long run."
"Yes, Matron Mother," Cramer answered for the group as Jhasspok stepped forward to catch Eri'dia as she fell forward. He lifted her effortlessly in his arms. The sealed double doors opened at Matron Jalamir's touch and the slaves - six of them now - followed in her wake, although their paths soon diverged, the slaves heading back to their own quarters.
"What was the deal with those stitched up bodies on the table?" Marlo asked as they walked.
"Flesh golems," Cramer reasoned. "Waste not, want not - they had the pieces, after chopping her to bits, over and over."
"That's horrible!"
"I dunno if you've noticed," Utred commented in a low voice, "but these are not nice people."
They approached the door to their quarters. "Put her on my pallet for now," Marlo offered and the lizardfolk complied. Marlo pulled a blanket over the sunborn drow, who fell quickly into an exhausted sleep. Marlo pulled a spare garment out of her pack and left it folded at the foot of the sleeping pallet for Eri'dia when she awoke. The door to the slave quarters was not locked but none of the slaves dared exit until being told to - these were dangerous times. Nobody came by to check on Eri'dia nor, to Utred's consternation, did anybody come by to see that the slaves were fed; they had to make do with dried provisions from their travel packs. Eventually, at evening, the slave-lights extinguished and there was nothing else to do but go to sleep; Jhasspok offered Marlo his pallet and blanket; as a lizardfolk, he was content to crouch in place in a corner and sleep squatting down, propped with his tail.
Night passed somewhat uneasily. Eri'dia made whimpering noises sporadically throughout the night but never fully woke until the next morning, when the reactivation of the slave-light torches announced that the drow city's official daytime had begun. Calish strode boldly into the room shortly thereafter. "You have a new assignment," he announced, looking around the room but studiously ignoring the cringing form of his little sister hunched in Marlo's bunk area. Jhasspok waited expectantly, hoping against hope it might involve catching fish in the bioluminescent Underdark sea.
"You will escort the Matron Mother and myself to an undisclosed location," he said, dashing Jhasspok's hopes - but they had been a long shot, the lizardfolk realized. "Once there, you will guard the entrance of the building with your lives while we're inside. You are to proclaim yourselves as Matron Jalamir's personal guard; that should ward off any interruptions, for an attack upon the Matron's guard is the same as an attack upon her person, and an attack upon her is an attack upon the entire House. If that doesn't dissuade them, you are authorized to use deadly force to ensure we are not disturbed."
"Even if they're drow, Master?" Cramer asked. He well knew their slave tattoos had been altered to allow them to attack drow without repercussions, but the gnome also knew Calish was unaware of the alterations that had been made. By asking the question, he was making sure the slavemaster's permission would give them a plausible reason not to have to fake being harmed for the effrontery of attacking a drow.
"Even if they're drow," Calish replied. Cramer bit down on the wide grin that threatened to spread across his face. "Now come. We will leave your new pet behind." Marlo looked worriedly at the still form of Eri'dia, but then followed the others out of the room and up a flight of stairs, leading to the top level of the column which House Jalamir occupied. They went through the gravity-switch and ended up walking upside-down upon the ceiling of the Great Cavern, into the chaos of the out-buildings surrounding the vast pillar. Walking through the narrow alleys, Cramer realized they were heading somewhere they'd been before, very recently: the building in which they'd met with Niradi Ky'hulcressen when she gave them their assignment to rescue the House Dureem pleasure slaves. He stiffened, worried they were being led here to be accused of having dealings with sunborn drow but forced himself to remain calm and give no obvious indication of nervousness. No sense in giving himself away - this might well be nothing more than a coincidence.
"Remain here," commanded Calish as he and the Matron Mother stepped inside the building. He closed the door behind him. Dutifully, the slaves took up positions in the narrow alley. This was the only way into the building, and the two directions of the street posed the only way to approach the door, for climbing over the buildings would put one outside the effect of the reverse gravity field, ending in a half-mile plummet to the bioluminescent Underdark sea below - or seemingly directly above them, given their current perspective.
After about an hour of pointless (and boring) guarding the door, a group of heavily armed drow entered the alley from the eastern side. Their forces consisted of four armored males led (from the back) by an armored drow woman. Jhasspok, standing in a choke-point in the narrow alley, warned them off. "We are the personal guards of Matron Jalamir," he announced. "Nobody is allowed past us."
"Stand aside, slave, or be purged with all who stand in the way of the Mortal Queen's inquisitors!"
Jhasspok thought this over for a moment. As a lifelong slave, he'd been conditioned to obeying the orders of the drow - any drow. House Jalamir, he knew, was ranked third among the Eight Ruling Houses; House Bel'vior, which the "Mortal Queen" ruled, was the First House - this would logically mean the orders of the Matron Mother of House Bel'vior superseded the orders of any other drow in the city. But Jhasspok was already a "secret double slave," working for House Ky'hulcressen on the sly despite being part of House Jalamir, and Ky'hulcressen was but the Eighth of the Eight Noble Houses, the lowest-ranking of them all. Ah, all this intrigue stuff hurt the lizardfolk's brain! But still, he rolled the new orders around in his mind and came up with an answer.
"No," he said, readying his battleaxe for combat. His tail helped distribute his weight evenly as he crouched low, ready to spring into action. "And," he added as an afterthought, "you're supposed to be looking at my ankles." Khari stepped up beside him, his earth glide warhammer likewise readied for action. Marlo placed a hand upon the lizardfolk's shoulder and cast a mage armor spell on him; Jhasspok made a mental note to give the sorceress a slave token as payment for the spell.
The two drow fighters first in line (for the narrow alleyway made it impossible for more than two to walk side by side) stepped up to attack Jhasspok and Khari, their longswords flashing in the illumination of the slave-light cloaks the arena slaves wore. Jhasspok dodged the incoming strike but then missed with his own counterstrike - but his powerful jaws clamped down upon the drow's shoulder, dealing damage where his battleaxe had failed to do so. Khari and his own foe each managed to connect with glancing blows, neither dropping their enemy. In the meantime, at a signal from their female leader, the other two fighters dashed off to the side, making their way behind the building to their left to come up to the meeting hall from the opposite direction.
Melidar, a holy fighter in the service of Lolth, cast a bane spell upon the group of five slaves impeding her progress. Oddly enough Khari and Jhasspok, the closest to her, were the only two unaffected by her spell. Utred looked longingly at the battle raging before him but forced himself to remain in position directly in front of the door he was guarding. Cramer, by his side, handily undid the effects of the bane spell with a bless spell of his own, aiding Jhasspok and Khari in their own strikes against their common enemies. The effects were instantly discernible as the lizardfolk's variable aim battleaxe came crashing down upon the shoulder of the drow fighter he faced and Khari sent his warhammer swinging into the side of his own foe.
Marlo, back out of range of the swinging blades of the drow, cast a magic missile spell at the fighter attacking Jhasspok but the spell, which struck unerringly in all cases, merely fizzled away into nothingness as it hit its target; belatedly Marlo recalled the drow's inherent ability to frequently shrug off the effects of spells cast at them. Behind her drow minions, Melidar cast a spell that caused her eyes to glimmer black like shiny obsidian as she focused her magical eyesight to pierce the auras of those arrayed before her. It was with disappointment she saw that only the warhammer-wielding dwarf had an aura of goodness about him; he, then, would serve as her primary target.
Utred hit the switch that sent the hand crossbow strapped to his beefy forearm into its ready-to-fire configuration and sighted down its length at Jhasspok's current enemy. He fired off his shot, the bolt flying past Marlo's head and into the drow's upper arm. Well, Utred had been trying for a head shot but he'd take what he could get. At his side, Cramer cast a sound burst spell carefully targeted to encapsulate only the three drow he could see, but of the three only Jhasspok's foe failed to shrug off the spell's effects. As a result, that particular drow stopped fighting, temporarily stunned, and both Jhasspok and Khari took advantage of his momentary helplessness to get in a couple of good blows with their weapons. Marlo tried again - and failed again - with another magic missile spell. She swore to herself, angered at the drow's inherent resistance to spells.
Melidar tried to pull the stunned fighter standing in front of her out of the way, but before she could pull him to safety the lizardfolk had ripped the drow's throat out with his teeth. The corpse went flying to the side behind her, but she stepped into his place and used a smite good attack channeled through her weapon, striking Khari to deadly effect. The Hammerslammer dwarf nearly buckled, staying on his feet by pure force of will.
That was the breaking point for Utred. He abandoned his post - after first seeing nobody was approaching from the other way yet - and pulled Khari back out of harm's way. "Get t' Cramer fer healing!" he advised, bringing his Elderwood flaming longsword crashing into the drow fighter's side. Cramer met the staggering dwarf halfway, casting a cure serious wounds spell on him; it was enough to undo most of the damage caused by the Spider-Bitch's unholy power being channeled through her mortal servant's blade.
Jhasspok hit the drow fighter with his battleaxe, hoping to take him out quickly so he and Utred could gang up on the female, who of the two seemed by far the tougher. Khari, by this time ready to get back into the fight, saw there was no room for him to get back in and dejectedly took up Utred's former position guarding the door to the meeting hall. He could hear the heavy footsteps of the drow inquisitors rounding the opposite building, ready to turn the corner and approach from the other direction.
Marlo decided to stop with the magic missiles for a bit and cast a more powerful spell, scorching ray, at Melidar. This time she met with much more success, as evidenced by the look of pain crossing the drow holy fighter's face as the blast of flame scorched her badly. The fighter by her side made a final attack upon Utred before being taken down by the barbarian's green-flamed longsword.
Melidar responded immediately with an inflicting touch, whereupon she sent negative energy coursing through her fingertips to disrupt the dwarf's very life energy. Seeing this - and hearing Utred's involuntary cry of pain - Cramer stepped forward and cast another cure serious wounds spell. Jhasspok swung his blade at the female drow, hitting her armored form; it was difficult for the lizardfolk to tell whether he'd done much damage to her at all. She then cast a contagion spell at Jhasspok and was similarly unsure if it had had any effect; the lizardfolk wasn't even sure what she'd tried to do, but whatever it was it didn't seem to have any ill effect on him so he ignored it.
By now, the other two drow fighters were advancing upon the door; Khari took a step forward and anticipated their approach, his warhammer at the ready. Seeing this, Marlo spun about and sent another scorching ray spell at one of the fighters, hitting him straight on. He took the pain stoically, not letting it interfere with his attack upon Khari, whose hammer was busy striking the other drow in the side of the head.
With a sudden cry of rage, Utred exploded into Melidar, his longsword clanging against the metal of her armor, even as Cramer pumped another healing spell into him to keep him in the fight. Jhasspok did likewise, letting the fires of rage burn through him and power his own attacks in the way he'd seen Utred do. The woman no longer seemed at her top form, an encouraging sight to see.
Khari took out his drow target with another blow of his warhammer, caving in the side of the fighter's skull. He dropped lifelessly to the street as another scorching ray spell slammed into his partner. As Khari was the only combatant within reach, the drow swung his own blade at the dwarven fighter, scoring a hit.
By then, Melidar realized she'd have to take out that pesky gnome if she was going to have any chance at slaying the others - he was healing them as fast as they were wounded! Stepping contemptuously past Jhasspok (and receiving a powerful blow from his battleaxe in the process), she was likewise hit by Utred's own blade before she could bring hers to bear on Cramer. But she did get in her hit, eventually, forcing Cramer to back away and cast a healing spell upon himself for once. That only made Melidar angrier; she stepped forward to cut down the cleric of Fharlanghn but was herself cut down, Jhasspok's variable aim battleaxe sticking out of her back as she pitched forward, dead, onto the street.
There was now only one enemy still in combat and Utred wasted no time reaching Khari's side so the two dwarves could bring him down together. Then, after determining there were no other enemies approaching from either direction, the group grabbed what they could from the bodies of their slain foes. Utred took Melidar's black shield - Marlo said it had a magical enhancement - and Khari likewise stripped one from the drow fighter he'd slain. Nobody wanted any of the longswords they'd wielded, not trusting that they - like many drow weapons - wouldn't become all but useless under the rays of the sun.
Shortly thereafter, the door opened and a drow woman bearing an unlikely resemblance to Niradi (not surprising, as it was her mother, Matron Ky'hulcressen herself) stepped out. She looked disparagingly at the dead bodies strewn on the street before them, then looked overhead to the Underdark sea above. "Throw them into the sea," she commanded and Jhasspok and the dwarves found this to be a rather fun game, swinging a drow corpse back and forth a few times to gain momentum and then flinging it upwards - at which point, having reached the edge of the reverse gravity effect, normal gravity took over and it plunged down (seemingly up) into the sea. Marlo and Cramer did likewise with the unwanted weapons and shields.
That task completed, Matron Ky'hulcressen beckoned the slaves to enter the building. They couldn't help but notice she didn't have any silly "lower your gaze to my ankles" rule like Matron Jalamir imposed upon her own House slaves. Once inside, she explained that despite their differences, Houses Jalamir and Ky'hulcressen stood opposed to the newly proclaimed Mortal Queen. In fact, her very claim to the throne broke an ancient pact between the Eight Ruling Houses, her declaration of war against Greenvale - viewed by House Jalamir as a Ky'hulcressen outpost - an act of aggression against the Eighth House. "And now, having sent an assault team of Bel'vior inquisitors to this location, this is an outright declaration of war upon House Jalamir," the Matron Mother concluded.
"You have already assisted my House on the surface by reopening trade with the kingdom of Kravyrn. It has been decided House Jalamir will loan you out to House Ky'hulcressen in an attempt to recruit more allies on the surface. We have also agreed to provide asylum to Eri'dia. She will be smuggled to Greenvale along with your group when you return to the surface."
"Matron Jalamir agreed to all of this?" Marlo asked incredulously in a low tone, looking hesitantly at the closed door leading into the meeting room where, presumably, Calish and his mother waited inside - hopefully, well out of earshot. "But she tortured her own daughter!"
"She had no choice: it was the will of Lolth," Matron Ky'hulcressen explained. "Had she done otherwise she would have been stripped of her clerical power and likely slain for disobedience. At least in this way, Eri'dia can live - at least in exile. We will see she is taken good care of. And," she added, "we have hopes she can be swayed away from Lolth's embrace and come into the folds of Eilistraee."
"This is a dangerous game you're playing," commented Cramer, realizing this drow woman was actively working against the will of her own people - and her own people's crazed demon-goddess. As much as he hated to admit it, he was beginning to feel a bit of respect for at least one member of the hated drow race.
"It is a game you play as well," Matron Ky'hulcressen replied. "Now come: I will take you to your own Matron and her son, that you may escort them back to their own rooms in their own pillar. Afterwards, return here and we will prepare for your next mission: a return to the surface."
The wide grin that had threatened to spread across Cramer's features found its way to the gnome's face at long last.
- - -
This adventure was a worrisome one, in that early on we weren't sure whether we should make a break for it and attack Calish, hoping for the best, or continue to play dumb. (Fortunately, Jhasspok has "maxed out" the art of playing dumb despite only having one skill point to spend each level - it's kind of his specialty.) We also noted we'd played for about a full hour without once rolling for initiative. It was almost a relief when we were attacked by the House Bel'vior inquisitors - at least we knew exactly where we stood against them!
We all leveled up to 6th level at the end of the session. Jhasspok took his second level of barbarian and I actually managed to roll decently for his hit points this time.
PC Roster:
Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 5
Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 1/fighter 1
Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 5
Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 5
Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 5
Game Session Date: 25 March 2020
- - -
The slave-light torches illuminated all at once, bringing the sleeping figures into sudden wakefulness. As one, the five slaves crawled out of their pallets and put on their garments and armor, gathering up their weapons and gear. There was no telling what kind of assignments they'd be given today but experience had shown it was always best to be prepared - their drow masters tolerated no delays in having their orders obeyed.
Almost immediately, a deep, booming voice began blaring some unknown message through the air - unknown only because none of the slaves understood the drow language; they could all by this point determine it was in fact Drow being spoken. "Wonder what that's all about?" groused Utred.
"You know, I think I'll find out!" announced Marlo, unrolling a scroll and reading off the words to a comprehend languages spell. She then listened intently, staring up at the ceiling as she concentrated on what was being said. None of the others bothered her, realizing she'd translate for them after the message had ended. Cramer did notice, however, that the message was repeated a second time all the way through, or at least he thought he heard the same words being repeated; this must be a rather important message, if one intended only for the drow of the city and not the slaves.
"Well?" he asked after the booming voice finally stopped speaking.
"I'll have to paraphrase. The Matron Mother of House Bel'vior - the senior Noble House of Overreach - has died and her firstborn daughter has proclaimed herself not only the new Matron Mother of her House but also the 'Mortal Queen' of the entire drow race, Lolth being the 'Immortal Queen.' She claims Overreach has been infiltrated by heretics of Eilistraee and says they can be identified by their abnormal hair color. She orders they are to be put to death wherever they are found and that any House found harboring them will be purged by Lolth's divine power. Finally, all Houses are to prepare their armies, for in three months they will march upon the source of the Eilistraeean heretics, the surface city of Greenvale."
"That's not good!" Khari said. "Do you think they know about our ties with Greenvale?"
"I doubt it," reasoned Marlo. "They could have scried upon us entering the surface city, but the modifications made to our slave tattoos should have blocked them from seeing any of our dealings with the sunborn drow."
"'Should have,'" repeated Cramer, clearing his mind to prepare his spells for the day - a process he'd best get going now, while he had the time. But his attempts failed miserably; every time he tried clearing his mind to receive the wisdom and grace of Fharlanghn, he got the distinct feeling that invisible spiders were crawling over his body. Finally, instinctively brushing down his arms to rid himself of skittering arachnids that weren't really there, he admitted to the others, "Something's blocking my connection to my god - I can't prepare any new spells!"
"That's not good!" repeated Khari. But before anyone could ponder what this might mean or the overall implications of the new Mortal Queen of Overreach, Eri'dia burst into the room. "Block the door!" she said in a tone that was half command and half pleading. She slumped over into the corner of the room, by Marlo's sleeping pallet, sobbing. Jhasspok, the closest to the door and the bulkiest of the five slaves, stood immediately in front of it, blocking it with his body.
"What's wrong?" Marlo asked, belatedly adding, "...Mistress?"
"I fear my mother, the matriarch of House Jalamir, will kill me," the drow princess replied. Khari's bushy eyebrows rose in surprise at this announcement; he'd never made the connection that Eri'dia was the daughter of the House's leader. That meant Calish was the Matron's son, if he was Eri'dia's sister; he'd never made that connection before, either. "I didn't know where else to go," Eri'dia admitted. "Despite only having really formally met you yesterday, you're the closest thing I have to...friends in the city." She looked up at them, fear in her eyes. "You have to protect me!"
"What makes you think your mother wants to kill you?" asked Cramer, playing dumb about having already heard the announcement broadcast earlier in a language he didn't understand. Eri'dia gave a brief synopsis of the edicts of the new Matron Mother of Bel'vior while Marlo cast an invisibility spell upon the cowering princess. And not a moment too soon, either, for almost immediately the door crashed into Jhasspok as someone tried barging into the room. "Let me in!" demanded a stern voice the lizardfolk recognized immediately. He knew better than to disobey; stepping aside, the door swung open and Calish Jalamir strode into the slaves' room, a pair of drow bodyguards flanking him.
"Where is she?" he demanded.
Jhasspok pointed at the human sorceress, wearing a confused expression on his face. "Marlo is right there, Master," he replied.
"Not her--my sister, Eri'dia!"
"As you can see, Master, she isn't here," Cramer replied, his face a mask of puzzled concern.
"She entered this room recently," Calish countered, turning to face Jhasspok. "Why were you blocking the door?" he demanded.
"I was just standing there, Master," Jhasspok replied. "I didn't know you were coming."
Calish glared at the lizardfolk, who looked down at him with a look of confused innocence on his reptilian face. "Did Eri'dia come into this room?" the slavemaster asked again.
"Yes, Master," Jhasspok replied at once. Unseen, Khari winced; he was under the impression they were trying to help Eri'dia. It sure didn't take the lizard long to fold under the slavemaster's fierce gaze!
"When?" Calish demanded.
"Yesterday, Master," Jhasspok said - quite truthfully. "She needed Cramer to heal her wrist, and then she said we were to go with her to a duergar tomb--"
"I'm talking about today! This morning!" Calish exploded. "She entered this room just minutes ago!"
"She did?" Utred said, looking around the room in confusion, scratching his head. "I don't see her anywhere, Master."
"This is the only way in or out," pointed out one of the drow bodyguards, standing before the door to the room, which he'd closed behind him upon their entry into the slave quarters. "If she's in here, there's no other way out." Over in the corner, the invisible Eri'dia did everything she could to remain absolutely silent, holding in her labored breathing as she watched the slaves do their best to keep her from being found.
"But she's a spellcaster," argued Cramer. "If she came in here without our knowing it, she could just as easily have teleported away or something." He knew this was absolute nonsense - Eri'dia was nowhere near powerful enough to cast such high-level magic - but he figured he might as well stir up some doubts; after all, how likely was it Calish would pay attention to the relative spellcasting power of his little sister, who had not yet attained adulthood in the eyes of drow society?
"If you are hiding her," Calish snarled, "I will feed every last one of you to N'zorthal when he returns!" He turned to one of his bodyguards. "That one," he said, pointing to Cramer. With a wicked smile, the guard unsheathed his rapier and advanced upon the gnome. Cramer knew better than to try to resist; he stood there stoically while the drow fighter stabbed him with the point of his weapon. A zap of electricity struck the gnome at the touch and he winced in pain. "Where is Eri'dia?" Calish asked again.
"I do not know, Master," Cramer replied, thinking to himself, That's technically true: I know where she was when Marlo cast the spell on her, but for all I know she might have moved position since. This was the kind of thinking he'd have to get ready for, because the gnome anticipated interrogation under a zone of truth spell in his immediate future...or at least he hoped so. He was reasonably sure he could beat a zone of truth spell with evasive and technically-true answers, but if they just went straight to torture...well, that was an entirely different matter altogether.
Calish was getting visibly frustrated; he knew full well his sister had opened the door to the slave quarters for the alarm spell had informed him of the fact. However, it was entirely possible the slaves were as clueless about Eri'dia's presence as they claimed.... Finally, he came to a decision. "Everyone into the corner," he demanded. By chance, he chose the corner where Eri'dia was still cowering, invisibly. The slaves, in a show of immediate submission to their slavemaster, did as they were told. Marlo pressed up against Eri'dia, trying to shield her with her own body. Then the three male drow, standing in the middle of the room, blanketed the room in faerie fire spells, outlining each slave in a glow of colored light - and an additional, cowering figure in the corner of the room behind them. "Aha!" the slavemaster cried in triumph. "Got you!"
The jig obviously up, the five slaves made a big production of "noticing" the invisible-but-outlined-in-the-glow-of-faerie-fire shape of Eri'dia behind them and stepped quickly away. They'd done their best to shield her from her brother but now that she was caught there was little more they could do for her; time to look after their own safety! Of course, Cramer mused, they could have attacked the three drow but then they'd have to try to make it out of the city alive and Cramer wasn't about to leave Overreach until he had found and rescued his friend, Honeycomb Buzzwort.
The drow guards stepped up and grabbed Eri'dia by the arms. She gave no resistance and no indication the slaves had tried to aid her. "Take her to the Matron Mother," Calish ordered and the two drow fighters departed the room with their prisoner. Then, alone with five well-armed and armored slaves - and not at all concerned about the situation - he turned to Cramer and demanded, "Prepare any spells you have to discern the truth. I will return for you when you are needed." And with that, he spun on his heels and stormed out of the room, giving Jhasspok a stern look as he left. Surprisingly, although the door to their quarters had no lock upon it, it was immediately covered in a greenish glow and when Jhasspok tried opening it, it wouldn't budge.
"Magically locked," Cramer explained. "We can't get out."
"Well, I can," Khari pointed out, hefting his new warhammer. It allowed him to pass through dirt and stone as if they weren't even there; getting through the stone wall of their slave quarters would be child's play to the dwarven fighter.
"To what end?" Cramer asked, settling himself back down onto his pallet. He tried clearing his mind to focus on his spells again and was pleased to find the sensation of spiders crawling all over him was not repeated. The prayers came easily to him as they always had in the past.
"No breakfast again," muttered Utred to himself. He lay back down upon his pallet. If they were stuck in lock-down, he'd try to go back to sleep.
Three hours passed before Calish returned, the greenish glow disappearing a moment before he stepped into the room. The five slaves, wanting to give the appearance of their complete and total submission, snapped to attention at his approach. "Some ground rules," he said without preamble. "Do not speak in the Matron Mother's presence unless prompted to do so. If you must look her way, be sure you focus your gaze toward her ankles. If you do anything to upset her, she will strike you. The first time will be with the back of her hand, the second time with her scourge, and the third time she won't stop until you've ceased moving altogether, at which time the rest of you will be ordered to toss the corpse off a balcony. Questions?"
Cramer had several but he allowed himself to reply, "No, Master" with the rest of the group.
"Good. Then follow." And he strode back out the door, leading the five slaves down a corridor, along several side branches, and eventually to the House Jalamir shrine to Lolth. In the chamber just outside the shrine stood a human in red robes, bending over a table upon which lay several body parts, their dark coloration showing them to have been severed from a drow - or, more likely, from several drow, given their number. The man was rummaging among the parts and finding the pieces he sought, then stitching them back together. There was another table behind him, upon which lay five bodies, each already stitched back up. As the group got closer, Marlo felt her gorge rising as she realized all of the bodies looked like Eri'dia. She first wondered if the drow princess had been born with identical siblings, until a more logical - and horrific - explanation entered her thoughts. She recalled when Cramer had had his brain devoured by the illithid Administer of Discipline, he'd been forced to wear a ring of regeneration so the process could be repeated multiple times. Marlo imagined poor Eri'dia had been likewise forced to wear such a ring as her body was hacked into pieces, over and over again. And upon orders given by her own mother!
Wordlessly, Calish stepped past the tables with their grisly contents and opened the double door to the shrine in the back. He then, with a gesture, ushered the slaves inside. After they passed silently into the room, he closed the doors behind them, remaining outside the shrine with the red-robed human slave.
At the back of the shrine, Eri'dia dangled by chains at her wrists above a raised altar, naked and head hanging limply. Her left leg had been severed just below the knee, but as the slaves watched it was slowly growing back, powered by the glowing ring on Eri'dia's left hand. Also of note was the fact her entire head of hair was pure red, although whether because it was her natural sunborn coloration or due to the bloodstains was open to debate. Matron Jalamir stood before her daughter, her back to the slaves; on the altar were various tools of the torturer's trade.
With a snap of her fingers the doors to the shrine glowed with a greenish cast, sealing everyone inside. Then she spun around, facing the slaves. They were quick to lower their gaze to her ankles, as they'd been instructed. "Do not resist," she commanded imperiously, then began casting a discern lies spell. None of the slaves dared try to prevent the spell from taking effect. Upon its completion, she stepped down from the altar and stood in the back, by the doors. "There is a list of instructions on the altar, gnome," she said. "Go forth and do as they say."
The other slaves stood transfixed in a row as Cramer silently approached the altar. Sure enough, there was a parchment scroll there. Unrolling it and reading its contents, he did the first thing on the list: cast a zone of truth spell around the altar. He'd had a feeling there would be such a spell in his immediate future - he just hadn't counted on him being the one to cast it.
The rest of the scroll was a list of questions. He read each of them in turn, as Matron Jalamir watched impassively from the back of the room.
"Are you a servant of Eilistraee?"
Eri'dia didn't have the strength to lift her head, but she managed to whisper a response. "...No." In the silence of the shrine, her answer was perfectly audible to all within the room.
Cramer continued, "Have you ever been a servant of Eilistraee?"
"No."
"Have you ever been in contact with a servant of Eilistraee?"
"Not...that I...know of."
"Have you ever been to Greenvale?"
"No."
"Have you ever been in contact with Greenvale?"
"No."
"Why is your hair red?"
"I...don't know."
That was the last of the questions written on the sheet of parchment, but Matron Jalamir had another one: "Gnome, do you know why Eri'dia's hair is red?"
Cramer had known this was going to happen - but he was prepared. Despite being within the area of effect of the zone of truth spell, his answer, "I do not," was accepted because there was some wiggle room as to if it was the blood or Eri'dia's status as a sunborn drow that was currently responsible for the color of the drow's hair.
Apparently content with the answers she had received, Matron Jalamir approached her daughter. As Cramer stepped aside, his head hanging low and his gaze directed downwards so as not to offend the ruler of the Noble House, the drow priestess picked up a metal rod from the altar. She grabbed her daughter by the hair, raised her head, and slammed the rod against Eri'dia's neck. Upon impact, the metal writhed and reshaped, curving around the contour of the sunborn drow's neck and reforming into a slave collar. The Matron then undid the chains from the shackles around her daughter's wrists, leaving the shackles in place. Eri'dia stumbled, barely keeping on her feet - especially given that one of them had only just recently grown back.
Pulling the ring of regeneration from Eri'dia's hand, Matron Jalamir turned and said dismissively, "Take care of your new pet until I decide what to do with her in the long run."
"Yes, Matron Mother," Cramer answered for the group as Jhasspok stepped forward to catch Eri'dia as she fell forward. He lifted her effortlessly in his arms. The sealed double doors opened at Matron Jalamir's touch and the slaves - six of them now - followed in her wake, although their paths soon diverged, the slaves heading back to their own quarters.
"What was the deal with those stitched up bodies on the table?" Marlo asked as they walked.
"Flesh golems," Cramer reasoned. "Waste not, want not - they had the pieces, after chopping her to bits, over and over."
"That's horrible!"
"I dunno if you've noticed," Utred commented in a low voice, "but these are not nice people."
They approached the door to their quarters. "Put her on my pallet for now," Marlo offered and the lizardfolk complied. Marlo pulled a blanket over the sunborn drow, who fell quickly into an exhausted sleep. Marlo pulled a spare garment out of her pack and left it folded at the foot of the sleeping pallet for Eri'dia when she awoke. The door to the slave quarters was not locked but none of the slaves dared exit until being told to - these were dangerous times. Nobody came by to check on Eri'dia nor, to Utred's consternation, did anybody come by to see that the slaves were fed; they had to make do with dried provisions from their travel packs. Eventually, at evening, the slave-lights extinguished and there was nothing else to do but go to sleep; Jhasspok offered Marlo his pallet and blanket; as a lizardfolk, he was content to crouch in place in a corner and sleep squatting down, propped with his tail.
Night passed somewhat uneasily. Eri'dia made whimpering noises sporadically throughout the night but never fully woke until the next morning, when the reactivation of the slave-light torches announced that the drow city's official daytime had begun. Calish strode boldly into the room shortly thereafter. "You have a new assignment," he announced, looking around the room but studiously ignoring the cringing form of his little sister hunched in Marlo's bunk area. Jhasspok waited expectantly, hoping against hope it might involve catching fish in the bioluminescent Underdark sea.
"You will escort the Matron Mother and myself to an undisclosed location," he said, dashing Jhasspok's hopes - but they had been a long shot, the lizardfolk realized. "Once there, you will guard the entrance of the building with your lives while we're inside. You are to proclaim yourselves as Matron Jalamir's personal guard; that should ward off any interruptions, for an attack upon the Matron's guard is the same as an attack upon her person, and an attack upon her is an attack upon the entire House. If that doesn't dissuade them, you are authorized to use deadly force to ensure we are not disturbed."
"Even if they're drow, Master?" Cramer asked. He well knew their slave tattoos had been altered to allow them to attack drow without repercussions, but the gnome also knew Calish was unaware of the alterations that had been made. By asking the question, he was making sure the slavemaster's permission would give them a plausible reason not to have to fake being harmed for the effrontery of attacking a drow.
"Even if they're drow," Calish replied. Cramer bit down on the wide grin that threatened to spread across his face. "Now come. We will leave your new pet behind." Marlo looked worriedly at the still form of Eri'dia, but then followed the others out of the room and up a flight of stairs, leading to the top level of the column which House Jalamir occupied. They went through the gravity-switch and ended up walking upside-down upon the ceiling of the Great Cavern, into the chaos of the out-buildings surrounding the vast pillar. Walking through the narrow alleys, Cramer realized they were heading somewhere they'd been before, very recently: the building in which they'd met with Niradi Ky'hulcressen when she gave them their assignment to rescue the House Dureem pleasure slaves. He stiffened, worried they were being led here to be accused of having dealings with sunborn drow but forced himself to remain calm and give no obvious indication of nervousness. No sense in giving himself away - this might well be nothing more than a coincidence.
"Remain here," commanded Calish as he and the Matron Mother stepped inside the building. He closed the door behind him. Dutifully, the slaves took up positions in the narrow alley. This was the only way into the building, and the two directions of the street posed the only way to approach the door, for climbing over the buildings would put one outside the effect of the reverse gravity field, ending in a half-mile plummet to the bioluminescent Underdark sea below - or seemingly directly above them, given their current perspective.
After about an hour of pointless (and boring) guarding the door, a group of heavily armed drow entered the alley from the eastern side. Their forces consisted of four armored males led (from the back) by an armored drow woman. Jhasspok, standing in a choke-point in the narrow alley, warned them off. "We are the personal guards of Matron Jalamir," he announced. "Nobody is allowed past us."
"Stand aside, slave, or be purged with all who stand in the way of the Mortal Queen's inquisitors!"
Jhasspok thought this over for a moment. As a lifelong slave, he'd been conditioned to obeying the orders of the drow - any drow. House Jalamir, he knew, was ranked third among the Eight Ruling Houses; House Bel'vior, which the "Mortal Queen" ruled, was the First House - this would logically mean the orders of the Matron Mother of House Bel'vior superseded the orders of any other drow in the city. But Jhasspok was already a "secret double slave," working for House Ky'hulcressen on the sly despite being part of House Jalamir, and Ky'hulcressen was but the Eighth of the Eight Noble Houses, the lowest-ranking of them all. Ah, all this intrigue stuff hurt the lizardfolk's brain! But still, he rolled the new orders around in his mind and came up with an answer.
"No," he said, readying his battleaxe for combat. His tail helped distribute his weight evenly as he crouched low, ready to spring into action. "And," he added as an afterthought, "you're supposed to be looking at my ankles." Khari stepped up beside him, his earth glide warhammer likewise readied for action. Marlo placed a hand upon the lizardfolk's shoulder and cast a mage armor spell on him; Jhasspok made a mental note to give the sorceress a slave token as payment for the spell.
The two drow fighters first in line (for the narrow alleyway made it impossible for more than two to walk side by side) stepped up to attack Jhasspok and Khari, their longswords flashing in the illumination of the slave-light cloaks the arena slaves wore. Jhasspok dodged the incoming strike but then missed with his own counterstrike - but his powerful jaws clamped down upon the drow's shoulder, dealing damage where his battleaxe had failed to do so. Khari and his own foe each managed to connect with glancing blows, neither dropping their enemy. In the meantime, at a signal from their female leader, the other two fighters dashed off to the side, making their way behind the building to their left to come up to the meeting hall from the opposite direction.
Melidar, a holy fighter in the service of Lolth, cast a bane spell upon the group of five slaves impeding her progress. Oddly enough Khari and Jhasspok, the closest to her, were the only two unaffected by her spell. Utred looked longingly at the battle raging before him but forced himself to remain in position directly in front of the door he was guarding. Cramer, by his side, handily undid the effects of the bane spell with a bless spell of his own, aiding Jhasspok and Khari in their own strikes against their common enemies. The effects were instantly discernible as the lizardfolk's variable aim battleaxe came crashing down upon the shoulder of the drow fighter he faced and Khari sent his warhammer swinging into the side of his own foe.
Marlo, back out of range of the swinging blades of the drow, cast a magic missile spell at the fighter attacking Jhasspok but the spell, which struck unerringly in all cases, merely fizzled away into nothingness as it hit its target; belatedly Marlo recalled the drow's inherent ability to frequently shrug off the effects of spells cast at them. Behind her drow minions, Melidar cast a spell that caused her eyes to glimmer black like shiny obsidian as she focused her magical eyesight to pierce the auras of those arrayed before her. It was with disappointment she saw that only the warhammer-wielding dwarf had an aura of goodness about him; he, then, would serve as her primary target.
Utred hit the switch that sent the hand crossbow strapped to his beefy forearm into its ready-to-fire configuration and sighted down its length at Jhasspok's current enemy. He fired off his shot, the bolt flying past Marlo's head and into the drow's upper arm. Well, Utred had been trying for a head shot but he'd take what he could get. At his side, Cramer cast a sound burst spell carefully targeted to encapsulate only the three drow he could see, but of the three only Jhasspok's foe failed to shrug off the spell's effects. As a result, that particular drow stopped fighting, temporarily stunned, and both Jhasspok and Khari took advantage of his momentary helplessness to get in a couple of good blows with their weapons. Marlo tried again - and failed again - with another magic missile spell. She swore to herself, angered at the drow's inherent resistance to spells.
Melidar tried to pull the stunned fighter standing in front of her out of the way, but before she could pull him to safety the lizardfolk had ripped the drow's throat out with his teeth. The corpse went flying to the side behind her, but she stepped into his place and used a smite good attack channeled through her weapon, striking Khari to deadly effect. The Hammerslammer dwarf nearly buckled, staying on his feet by pure force of will.
That was the breaking point for Utred. He abandoned his post - after first seeing nobody was approaching from the other way yet - and pulled Khari back out of harm's way. "Get t' Cramer fer healing!" he advised, bringing his Elderwood flaming longsword crashing into the drow fighter's side. Cramer met the staggering dwarf halfway, casting a cure serious wounds spell on him; it was enough to undo most of the damage caused by the Spider-Bitch's unholy power being channeled through her mortal servant's blade.
Jhasspok hit the drow fighter with his battleaxe, hoping to take him out quickly so he and Utred could gang up on the female, who of the two seemed by far the tougher. Khari, by this time ready to get back into the fight, saw there was no room for him to get back in and dejectedly took up Utred's former position guarding the door to the meeting hall. He could hear the heavy footsteps of the drow inquisitors rounding the opposite building, ready to turn the corner and approach from the other direction.
Marlo decided to stop with the magic missiles for a bit and cast a more powerful spell, scorching ray, at Melidar. This time she met with much more success, as evidenced by the look of pain crossing the drow holy fighter's face as the blast of flame scorched her badly. The fighter by her side made a final attack upon Utred before being taken down by the barbarian's green-flamed longsword.
Melidar responded immediately with an inflicting touch, whereupon she sent negative energy coursing through her fingertips to disrupt the dwarf's very life energy. Seeing this - and hearing Utred's involuntary cry of pain - Cramer stepped forward and cast another cure serious wounds spell. Jhasspok swung his blade at the female drow, hitting her armored form; it was difficult for the lizardfolk to tell whether he'd done much damage to her at all. She then cast a contagion spell at Jhasspok and was similarly unsure if it had had any effect; the lizardfolk wasn't even sure what she'd tried to do, but whatever it was it didn't seem to have any ill effect on him so he ignored it.
By now, the other two drow fighters were advancing upon the door; Khari took a step forward and anticipated their approach, his warhammer at the ready. Seeing this, Marlo spun about and sent another scorching ray spell at one of the fighters, hitting him straight on. He took the pain stoically, not letting it interfere with his attack upon Khari, whose hammer was busy striking the other drow in the side of the head.
With a sudden cry of rage, Utred exploded into Melidar, his longsword clanging against the metal of her armor, even as Cramer pumped another healing spell into him to keep him in the fight. Jhasspok did likewise, letting the fires of rage burn through him and power his own attacks in the way he'd seen Utred do. The woman no longer seemed at her top form, an encouraging sight to see.
Khari took out his drow target with another blow of his warhammer, caving in the side of the fighter's skull. He dropped lifelessly to the street as another scorching ray spell slammed into his partner. As Khari was the only combatant within reach, the drow swung his own blade at the dwarven fighter, scoring a hit.
By then, Melidar realized she'd have to take out that pesky gnome if she was going to have any chance at slaying the others - he was healing them as fast as they were wounded! Stepping contemptuously past Jhasspok (and receiving a powerful blow from his battleaxe in the process), she was likewise hit by Utred's own blade before she could bring hers to bear on Cramer. But she did get in her hit, eventually, forcing Cramer to back away and cast a healing spell upon himself for once. That only made Melidar angrier; she stepped forward to cut down the cleric of Fharlanghn but was herself cut down, Jhasspok's variable aim battleaxe sticking out of her back as she pitched forward, dead, onto the street.
There was now only one enemy still in combat and Utred wasted no time reaching Khari's side so the two dwarves could bring him down together. Then, after determining there were no other enemies approaching from either direction, the group grabbed what they could from the bodies of their slain foes. Utred took Melidar's black shield - Marlo said it had a magical enhancement - and Khari likewise stripped one from the drow fighter he'd slain. Nobody wanted any of the longswords they'd wielded, not trusting that they - like many drow weapons - wouldn't become all but useless under the rays of the sun.
Shortly thereafter, the door opened and a drow woman bearing an unlikely resemblance to Niradi (not surprising, as it was her mother, Matron Ky'hulcressen herself) stepped out. She looked disparagingly at the dead bodies strewn on the street before them, then looked overhead to the Underdark sea above. "Throw them into the sea," she commanded and Jhasspok and the dwarves found this to be a rather fun game, swinging a drow corpse back and forth a few times to gain momentum and then flinging it upwards - at which point, having reached the edge of the reverse gravity effect, normal gravity took over and it plunged down (seemingly up) into the sea. Marlo and Cramer did likewise with the unwanted weapons and shields.
That task completed, Matron Ky'hulcressen beckoned the slaves to enter the building. They couldn't help but notice she didn't have any silly "lower your gaze to my ankles" rule like Matron Jalamir imposed upon her own House slaves. Once inside, she explained that despite their differences, Houses Jalamir and Ky'hulcressen stood opposed to the newly proclaimed Mortal Queen. In fact, her very claim to the throne broke an ancient pact between the Eight Ruling Houses, her declaration of war against Greenvale - viewed by House Jalamir as a Ky'hulcressen outpost - an act of aggression against the Eighth House. "And now, having sent an assault team of Bel'vior inquisitors to this location, this is an outright declaration of war upon House Jalamir," the Matron Mother concluded.
"You have already assisted my House on the surface by reopening trade with the kingdom of Kravyrn. It has been decided House Jalamir will loan you out to House Ky'hulcressen in an attempt to recruit more allies on the surface. We have also agreed to provide asylum to Eri'dia. She will be smuggled to Greenvale along with your group when you return to the surface."
"Matron Jalamir agreed to all of this?" Marlo asked incredulously in a low tone, looking hesitantly at the closed door leading into the meeting room where, presumably, Calish and his mother waited inside - hopefully, well out of earshot. "But she tortured her own daughter!"
"She had no choice: it was the will of Lolth," Matron Ky'hulcressen explained. "Had she done otherwise she would have been stripped of her clerical power and likely slain for disobedience. At least in this way, Eri'dia can live - at least in exile. We will see she is taken good care of. And," she added, "we have hopes she can be swayed away from Lolth's embrace and come into the folds of Eilistraee."
"This is a dangerous game you're playing," commented Cramer, realizing this drow woman was actively working against the will of her own people - and her own people's crazed demon-goddess. As much as he hated to admit it, he was beginning to feel a bit of respect for at least one member of the hated drow race.
"It is a game you play as well," Matron Ky'hulcressen replied. "Now come: I will take you to your own Matron and her son, that you may escort them back to their own rooms in their own pillar. Afterwards, return here and we will prepare for your next mission: a return to the surface."
The wide grin that had threatened to spread across Cramer's features found its way to the gnome's face at long last.
- - -
This adventure was a worrisome one, in that early on we weren't sure whether we should make a break for it and attack Calish, hoping for the best, or continue to play dumb. (Fortunately, Jhasspok has "maxed out" the art of playing dumb despite only having one skill point to spend each level - it's kind of his specialty.) We also noted we'd played for about a full hour without once rolling for initiative. It was almost a relief when we were attacked by the House Bel'vior inquisitors - at least we knew exactly where we stood against them!
We all leveled up to 6th level at the end of the session. Jhasspok took his second level of barbarian and I actually managed to roll decently for his hit points this time.
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