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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 242926" data-attributes="member: 143">Sunday's NWN game was a lot of fun; we had a full complement of players and took out both the orcs under the ruin and the custom undead (I created baneguards and banedead using the toolset) in the deeper crypts.  My next adventure, "The Dreadmoors," is ready for playtest; I'll be running it tonight online at 7 p.m. Pacific time.  It's for a slightly higher level group (2-4th level), so I'll be allowing local server characters this time.  Drop on by the Software forum for more information. Anyway, here's the story update!  I admit that my writing has slowed to a crawl since NWN came out, but perhaps I'll be able to get some chapters done today during slow stretches at work.* * * * * Book V, Part 10The dark elf just stood there as he regarded them, not overtly threatening but somehow managing to seem dangerous even in inaction.  His cloak kept his outline vague, hiding the details of his form, but none of the companions doubted that there were weapons, spell components, or other dangerous things concealed within.  “What do you want, drow?” Cal finally asked, after the silent confrontation had drawn on for too many moments. “Jannek, if you please,” the dark elf said.  “I find racial descriptors to be inadequate substitutes for names, don’t you?  Such things easily get in the way of polite conversation.”If Cal was nonplussed by the dark elf’s attitude, he didn’t let it show.  Instead, he gestured subtly for his companions to be on the lookout, then stepped closer to the elf to identify himself as spokesman.  “And it is rude for companions to remain hiding in the shadows during a dialogue,” he returned.  “Unless you are alone?”  His expression indicated that he considered such a possibility to be extremely unlikely.  “Perhaps, perhaps not,” the dark elf said with a shrug.  “But it’s clear that you are, alone and far away from places one would normally expect to find a group such as yours.”“Have you been spying on us?” Dana said, at the same time that Benzan replied, “Who are you to say where we’re ‘expected?’”Jannek smiled and bowed slightly, although he didn’t respond to either comment.“Well, Jannek?” Cal prodded.  “I repeat my original question—what do you want with us?”“Your wariness is commendable, especially in a place like this.  But you needn’t concern yourself with the likes of me.  I merely seek to assuage my curiosity—I have been watching you for a stretch, and would know what brings you to this place.”“And what concern of it is yours, what our business is?” Benzan asked him.“None, of course,” the elf replied.  “My people live far, far from here,” he said, with a vague wave of his hand in a random direction, “which is good for you.  For if you had wandered into the realms of the drow, you can believe that your presence here would have become our business, quite quickly.”  His voice didn’t change overtly while he spoke, but that last statement had an edge to it, and the drow’s eyes fixed on Benzan like a knife, bespeaking the dark promise in those words.  Then he shrugged again, and the aura of menace lightened.  “You are free to associate with anyone you wish, of course.  But as I have watched your progress, it occurs to me that you may not be fully cognizant of what lies ahead on your chosen course.  Perhaps we could trade information—some hints of what you might find down here, in exchange for a revelation or two about you and your purpose?”“The drow are not particularly renown for their honesty,” Cal said bluntly.  “I would be wounded by your comment, were it not so true,” Jannek replied.  “Perhaps then, we can offer our words plainly, and let the other divine which they wish to take to heart, and which they choose to discard?”“As you have been polite thus far, please allow me a moment to speak with my companions in private,” Cal said.“As you wish.  I am no particular hurry, at the moment.”The dark elf retreated to the edge of the chamber as the companions huddled nearby, keeping him in sight.  His dark cloak seemed to blend with the shadows, making him hard to see when he wasn’t moving, and he clearly had some magical means of remaining undetected as well.  “Well, what do you think?” Cal asked. “I don’t trust him,” Benzan said.  “And I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a dozen friends waiting in the shadows.”“Agreed,” Cal said, “but if he wanted to attack, he could have done that from surprise.  Whatever magic he’s got, none of us detected it until he greeted us.”“Yeah, but he also could have warned us before we walked into the lair of that flying-ball-with-bitey-tentacles thing,” Benzan replied.  “But if he does have information about this place, it might help us avoid future encounters like this one,” Dana pointed out.  “Lok?” Cal asked.The genasi shrugged.  “He is here, we may as well speak with him.”They returned to where Jannek waited.  The drow was leaning against a rock, but he rose smoothly as they approached and met them in the middle of the corridor.  “Ah, so what have you decided?”“We have elected to take you up on your offer,” Cal said, “although we cannot promise that we will be able, or willing, to answer all of your questions.”“Fair enough.  Question for question, then?  I will even let you go first.”“What lies along our current path?” “Ah, a question of great scope, and one which I believe you already know the answer.  But I will reply, as a sign of good faith to open our dialogue.  Along these tunnels, several long days of difficult traveling distant, lies a stronghold of the deep dwarves, the duergar.”“And are these deep dwarves allies of the drow?” “That is another question, and you already tread upon the rules of our exchange.  My first question is simple: what are your names?”The companions exchanged a quick look, but the question was so simple, so basic, that Cal answered him, introducing each of them in turn.  The drow nodded as each was presented, his expression pensive as he filed away every detail about them in his mind. “Ah, now that we have all been introduced, I will answer your question.  No, these deep dwarves are not allies with the drow, at least not those of my community.  While my kind have had dealings with the duergar—it is hard not to, in the Underdark—the ones you are approaching are isolationist, xenophobic almost to an extreme.  They are not partial to visits by strangers.”“Now for my next question: what is your business with the duergar?”“That is a question I am not comfortable answering,” Cal replied immediately.  “Suffice it to say, we have no interest in the drow, of your community or any others, unless they are connected with the duergar.”“Fair enough—as I said, your business is your own.  But perhaps I may make a few guesses.  You come from the abandoned urdunnir city, and you’re clearly determined, to make it through the undead that wander those cursed halls.  You bear a considerable arsenal, including potent magical weapons and powerful spells.  You are accompanied by a fighting man who looks almost like one of the duergar, to casual glance, but who on second look is not fully a dwarf at all.  You are not from around here—in fact, this entire place is strange to you—but you move as though you know your destination.  All correct, thus far?  Then I would say that your quarrel with the duergar is personal, and is somehow linked to the fate of said urdunnir.”“Your powers of observation are keen,” Cal said.  “A natural result of spending time here, as you will see, should your visit keep you here for any extended length of time.”“Do you know anything more about the duergar stronghold?”“Out of turn, technically, but I will answer.  I know little of what you would wish to know, but I have heard that the duergar are engaged in some large-scale mining project.  They have been working diligently for some time, and those who live around them walk the tunnels carefully, for whatever they are doing, they are eager for slaves to see it done.”“What is your interest in this?” Benzan asked.  “Ah, Benzan, you too walk outside the rules of our little game.”“Fine then, what’s your question?”“I have no more questions,” the dark elf said.  “You have told me quite enough, I think.”“But we haven’t told you anything,” Dana said. “Come, Dana, surely you know that messages are not always found in the spoken word.  In any case, I have enjoyed speaking with you, but pressing errands compel me to be on my way once again.”“Thank you then, for what little you’ve been able to share with us,” Cal said.  “I trust that your errands do not lead you in the same direction as us?”  There was an undercurrent to that last statement, an edge that hung in the air between them.“Ah, no.  Indeed, I find myself quite content to travel in the opposite direction, for now.”“Good.”“Indeed.  My curiosity has not been fully whetted, but perhaps our paths may cross again someday.  Until then, I wish you good luck in your… endeavor.”He smiled his sly smile once more, and then, in an eyeblink, suddenly vanished.  “Gone?” Dana finally asked, after a few moments.  “I don’t know,” Cal said.  “But I wouldn’t go so far as to assume that he is.”“Do you think he was telling the truth?  About the duergar, I mean.”“We’ll find out soon enough.  Lok, if you would?”The genasi took the lead as they continued on, leaving the underground lake and the corpse of the dead creature behind them, each turning the details of the strange encounter with the drow over and over in their thoughts.   And so another “day” passed in the Underdark.</blockquote>

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