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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 437065" data-attributes="member: 143">Only two guesses thus far?  Oh well.  (p.s. both were half right)  Okay, here's a clue, a little cryptic, for Question #2.  It won't give you the answer, but it will narrow your search:B4P6, B4P25, B5P9, B6P18.And today's update.* * * * * Book VI, Part 26Wary of another ambush, the companions moved deeper into Undermountain.  While cautious, they moved with purpose and determination, covering ground quickly, not stopping to investigate side chambers or shadowed corners.  Valor detected no further signs of Nelan’s trail, but it was easy enough to follow the frequent signs of passage through this region, signs clear enough so that even the rest of them could mark that this area was frequently traveled.  They had chosen a direct approach, eschewing subtlety for speed and daring.  The passage behind the fortifications of the watchstation led deeper into a complex of rooms and passages, similar to those they had been traveling since entering Undermountain but clearly kept up by the strange community whose members they had just battled.  They had fortified their defenses as best they could, expecting that another confrontation with the Undermountain community would follow sooner rather than later.  Cal still had his stoneskin up, and he’d cast cat’s grace on Benzan to enhance his agility.  Pelanther’s barkskin spells had already expired, but he cast protective wards on himself and Fenrus to give them some temporary resistance to fire attacks.  He also placed a powerful enchantment upon the wolf that would give a potent magical boost to his natural attacks, turning his fangs into magical weapons for the duration of the spell.  Thus enhanced, the five of them pressed on. Their course took them down long corridors and through assorted chambers of varying sizes, all empty of any living thing.  They did encounter signs of recent occupancy, scattered bedrolls, some old animal bones and other remains of meals, and some tattered remains of discarded clothing.  In one chamber they passed through they found a battered old stewpot hanging over the ruins of a campfire, directly under a long crack in the sloping ceiling above.  Scattered around the pot were a half-dozen bed piles, stinking collections of dirty straw, ratty furs, and scraps of old cloth that could no longer function as clothing.  “Still warm,” Benzan reported, checking it out.  “Whoever dwelled here, they weren’t very sanitary creatures,” Pel said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “Looks like everyone here left in a real hurry,” Cal noted.“Yeah, I’m sure they’re all preparing something real special for us,” Benzan said, as they left the makeshift camp behind them and pressed on.  An hour passed with them exploring, and frequently backtracking, through the complex.  They passed through at least a score of rooms with little left to indicate what function they might have originally served.  The architecture was impressive, with massive stone risers along the walls supporting vaulted ceilings high above, in some cases forming domes thirty or more paces across.  The stone was cracked in places, crumbling in others, but the place still held an impressive sense of immensity that made them feel small and insignificant in comparison.  Most of the rooms were completely vacant, spaces larger than many homes in the crowded city above cavernous and empty, with only dust and the occasional distant echo to accompany their coming and going.  “I’m starting to see what you meant, earlier,” Benzan said at one point, his voice carefully pitched so that it wouldn’t carry beyond them.  They had all taken to talking in hushed whispers, as the acoustics of this place tended to pick up louder sounds and carry them deceptively far.  “This place seems to go on forever.”“My stoneskin spell has expired,” Cal said wearily, pausing to lean against a nearby stone wall.  “Are you all right?  Do you need to rest?” Benzan asked.  Pelanther, who’d been ranging ahead more often beside Fenrus, noticed that they’d stopped and turned around, an impatient look on his face. “No, I’m all right,” Cal insisted.  “Remember, though, we started the day in Silverymoon, this morning...  a lot of ground to cover in one day.”“We should stop, eat something,” the tiefling suggested.  “We’ve been down here for hours, now.”“No, we should continue.  I’m all right, really.”So they pressed on, continuing their exploration of the massive underground complex.  As they entered the next area, another long, vaulted hallway with numerous side passages exiting off its length, Valor suddenly grew animated, probing along the stone floor with his magically superior nose.  “Smell something?” Cal asked the onyx dog.“Nelan’s scent,” the dog reported.  “He has come this way, fairly recently.”“How recently?” Benzan asked.“Tough to say.  Hours, I would guess.”“All right, let’s go then!” Pel said, too loudly as his words seemed to echo off the high ceiling above.  With the magical dog in the lead they pressed onward, fatigue gone now in the excitement of impending action.  They passed down the length of the hallway, and Valor led them past several side passages to a short corridor leading to a single heavy stone door.  After a brief examination of the portal, Benzan looked back at the others.  “Ready?”The gnomes nodded, and Benzan opened the door.  Beyond lay another passage just like the dozens they had already traveled, meandering for about thirty paces before ending in yet another door.  Again Benzan made his check, and again they passed through.  Into yet another empty chamber.  This one was large enough so that their light barely outlined the far walls even for the low-light vision of the gnomes, perhaps forty feet distant.  Thick stone pillars ran around the edges of the place, supporting a network of heavy stone bolsters that reinforced the ceiling above.  A faint but cloying scent hung in the air, an admixture of something sweet with a slight undercurrent of decay. “What’s that smell?” Pel asked. “I don’t know,” Cal admitted.  “Do you have the trace, Valor?”The dog was already searching out the scent, and it led them into the room toward several exits they could just make out along the far wall.  The floor here was inset with faded tiles, some of which were broken and crunched under their feet as they moved.  The tiles might have once made up a mosaic, but whatever pattern had once been here had been worn away through the passage of time.  Abruptly, Valor halted, lifting its head and looking around.  Fenrus growled.  “What is it?”“Invisible enemies ahead!” the dog reported.  He did not have time to elaborate, as several things happened in that next moment.First, a loud snap sounded directly above them.  The companions barely had time to look up before a huge weighted net fell from the ceiling above, smothering them in its thick folds.  They were all caught, although Benzan had dove to the side at the last instant, and was within a few paces of the edge as the net settled onto them.  The strands of the net were thickly braided cords, and the whole was coated with a layer of sticky goop, the source of the smell they’d detected earlier.  Second, a secret door in the south wall, to their right, opened up, and a number of black-cloaked figures emerged into the room, carrying heavy leather slings and stout wooden cudgels at the ready.  And finally, Valor’s warning was born out as directly ahead, from the dark corridor in the far wall, several forms emerged out of thin air.  Their numbers included a drow elf, an armored dwarf wielding a huge battleaxe, and a half-dozen humans, half in the remnants of Watch uniforms, and half clad in rogues’ garb that would have been fashionable in the seediest depths of the Docks Ward.  As the companions struggled within the grasp of the net, one final figure appeared, suddenly becoming visible as he cast a magical spell upon the companions.  Those with magical protections suddenly felt those defenses ebb, as the effects of a dispel magic settled in upon them.  This final arrival was a middle-aged man, dressed in old robes that had seen better days, and as his forces gathered at the ready, he shouted out a command.  “Slay the beasts, but take the others alive!”At that order, his forces leapt to the attack.</blockquote>

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