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Message: <blockquote data-quote="htetickrt" data-source="post: 1477881" data-attributes="member: 16534">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.</blockquote>

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