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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 401406" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks for the kudos; I really do appreciate it.  * * * * * Book VI, Part 14Moving with a caution born of hard experience, the three companions—four, counting the great wolf Fenrus—headed into Undermountain.The floor of the pit was almost a hundred and fifty feet below the well in The Yawning Portal, and by the time they reached the sandy-surfaced floor of the cavern below the light from above was just a diffuse glow far above them, too little for even the sharp-eyed gnomes to see very much.  As they gathered at the bottom of the shaft, and Pel unhooked Fenrus from the winch harness, Cal cast a light spell that drove back the shadows, leaving them in the center of a bubble of light.  They were in a large chamber, its floor covered in at least several inches of rough sand.  Large shields were hung at irregular intervals along the wall, clearly pitted and useless now as armor.  A large archway to the west was the only exit, where they could see a dark corridor leading deeper into the dungeon.  “I could’ve saved you that spell, if you’d asked,” Pel was saying, as he and Fenrus joined Cal and Benzan before the arch.  The gnome reached into a pouch at his belt and withdrew a plain iron ring—plain, that is, if one didn’t count the flames that blazed from the ring as the gnome unrapped it from a square of canvas.  The companions, already familiar with continual flame from Dana, did not comment as the gnome put the ring on his left hand.  It was a strange effect, giving his fist the appearance of a torch, the flames forming a nimbus around his hand but not doing any damage to his flesh.  “Let’s just take this slow and careful,” Cal said.  “We haven’t had time to get familiar with what we all can do, so you’re right, we should be open with our communications until we can develop some team tactics.”“Yeah, assuming we live that long,” Benzan said.  The four headed down the corridor, with Benzan slightly ahead, scouring the darkness for any sign of danger.  After a short distance Fenrus moved up beside him, and after a brief look between the tiefling and the wolf the two continued onward, with the gnomes trailing behind. “Look, I hope you didn’t mind that ‘doggy’ crack,” Benzan said.  “How about you just watch my back, and I’ll watch yours, eh?”The wolf looked at him, but did not otherwise reply.  “Hey, Pelanther, is this wolf intelligent?”“He’s smarter than most of the city blokes I’ve met,” the gnome replied.Their banter ended abruptly as the passage turned and they emerged on the edge of a vaulted chamber.  Thick stone pillars rose from the floor to the ceiling high above them, and they could make out several exits, passages that led to the left, right, and straight ahead.  They couldn’t see anything more before their light sources suddenly flared and died.“What happened?” Pel asked, as the four suddenly found themselves in complete and utter blackness.“There’s nothing here,” Benzan said, his vision perfectly fine in the dark.  “No dangers that I can see, anyway.”“I’ve heard about this,” Cal said, already digging in his pouch for a more conventional light source.  “Antimagic areas; they’re scattered all over Undermountain.”“Well, isn’t that just great,” Benzan commented. “Hold on a second,” Cal said.  By touch he took out his tinderbox and with flint and steel got a small flame going, which he touched to the tip of a slender wax taper.  The wick caught and started burning, casting a faint light around them.  “That’s not going to be much help in a battle,” Pel commented.  “These areas are usually limited in size,” Cal said.  “If we get into trouble, we’ll retreat back into the corridor.  Benzan can help; he sees just fine in the dark.”Pel grunted, but joined them as they moved into the room.  There wasn’t much to see; the place was barren save for some scattered debris in the corners.  All three passages looked more or less identical, although as Benzan moved to the one on the opposite wall, he noticed something.“Hey, come look at this.  Looks like mirrors, mounted on the walls of this passage.  Goes down quite a way.”“Hold it!” Cal warned, his voice sounding too-loud in the cavernous darkness around them.  “Don’t go down there!”Benzan had backed up quickly at the first warning, and now looked at the passage curiously.  “Why, what’s down there?”“When I was young, I heard a lot of tales about Undermountain.  Some were fantastical, some tragic, some heroic, but they all had a few elements in common.  Several agreed on this point: the Hall of Mirrors is dangerous, and looking at those mirrors can get you into trouble.”“What kind of trouble?” Benzan asked.  “I’m not exactly sure.  Big trouble, I would expect.”“Ah yes.  The only kind that we know.”They finished checking the room, but it bore out their initial perceptions; the place was empty.  There were some signs that creatures had come through here, but nothing clear enough for them to read clearly.  “So where do we go now?” Benzan asked.  “Do you want to call upon that magic dog of Alera’s?”“Alera gave you Valor?” Pel asked, surprised.  “She loaned him to me,” Cal clarified.  “And I doubt I could summon him in this magic-dead area anyway.  I’m not sure if he would remain with us, if I summoned him outside and brought him through here; I’d rather not risk it if we can avoid it.”“Fenrus can track by scent,” Pel said.  “I’ll be right back.”  He took the wolf and retreated to the corridor by which they’d entered.“Where’s he going?” Benzan asked.  “I’d guess that he’s leaving the antimagic area, so that he can speak with animals.”“I have to admit, I haven’t known many druids,” Benzan said.  “Never could quite grasp that whole ‘nature’ thing.”“Don’t let Dana hear you say that,” Cal said.  He regretted the comment a moment later, as Benzan’s reaction was clearly written on his face.  Benzan saw that Cal saw it, and he shrugged his shoulders. “What can I say?  I miss her.”“We’ll see her again—after this is over, I’ll help you track her down.”“Thanks.”They turned as Pelanther reentered the room.  Fenrus moved with a purpose, checking each of the exits in turn before coming to face the one Benzan had investigated earlier. The one leading into the Hall of Mirrors.“Of course,” Benzan said grumpily.</blockquote>

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