"Poor Viconia, reduced to the status of a lowly male," Arowan beamed. Tears of mirth pricked in the corners of her eyes. "Only you'll need another name. Let's see… now that we are all fluent in drow… how do you like Veldrin?"

"Curse you rivvil!" Viconia screeched.

"Silence male!" Jaheira thundered. "Do not presume to address your betters without permission!"

"Now, now Jaheira. Let's not be dicks to her about it," said the ranger, for whom no pun was too obvious. "Poor Viconia. Never mind. I'm sure you'll learn to man-age your condition. Just try not to draw attention to yourself. You make a good looking male and I hear female drow can be a boy-sterous lot."

Viconia shot the Ilmatari a look that could have flattened giants.

"I don't know what you're laughing at Yoshimo, you're married to this," she said. "Let us retrieve the blasted eggs from Urst Natha and be done with this."

"What do you suppose they want with silver dragon eggs?" asked Anomen.

"Perhaps Lolth fancied an omelette?" Arowan suggested glibly.

"I expect that they just want to get the dragon out of the way so that the drow can storm the surface," Rasaad said. "But it seems to me that our more immediate problem will be locating Urst Natha."

There was a stunned silence. Nobody had thought to ask. A drop of blood fell from above and splashed on Dorn's hand. He looked puzzled, as a second dripped onto his boot. He looked up. Then down at the ground and pointed.

"It's that way."

"Did your demonic patron tell you that?" asked Arowan warily.

"No, Little Lamb," Dorn replied as patiently as he could manage. "But there is a deceased drow dangling above our heads. It is reasonable to assume that he came from the city, and his footprints lead over there."

They craned their heads up. There in the shadows, almost entirely bound in silk, was the drow Sarevok had fought. His silver hair cascaded out of the cocoon the giant spider was weaving about him and the tips of his ears poked out.

"Oh hells no!" yelped Arowan, notching an arrow. "That needs to be killed. With fire. Dammit where's Edwin when we need him?"

"Suit yourself," grunted Dorn. He hurled his sword upward like a caber tosser, impaling the spider and bringing it crashing to the ground in a writhing mass of green slime and legs.

"That was unnecessary," chided Jaheira. "It would have left us alone if we had left it alone."

"And no drow would slaughter a spider like that," Viconia reminded them. "They are revered creatures in our culture. Pull a stunt like that within the confines of the city and you will be publicly eviscerated.

Avoiding being killed in Urst Natha would be a challenge. That much was obvious from the moment they arrived at the gate. The first sentence out of the doorman's mouth was a violent death threat.

"Stand down, male worm!" Viconia thundered. "I am Veldrin from the city of Ched Nasad. Let me pass!"

"You're a male too…" Rasaad reminded her quietly out of the corner of his mouth. The guard looked puzzled.

"I speak for my mistresses!" Viconia recovered quickly. "They will not lower themselves to talk to one such as you."

The guard cast a doubtful gaze over Arowan who responded with her best sneer, and then Jaheira whose resting face was contemptuous anyway. With a swift apology he opened the gates to a bustling marketplace packed with drow, duergar, slaves in cages and species that the party did not even recognize.

"We were expecting your group from Ched Nasad," the doorman told them. "Your late arrival has delayed Solaufein's plans. You will find him in the nursery, in the Western quarter next door to the slave pits."

"The nursery?" Viconia echoed incredulously.

The doorman looked about him nervously, as though afraid of being overheard.

"Solaufein has been tasked with teaching our young females basic sword skills. It is intended by Phaere as a humiliating punishment for speaking out of turn… but make no mistake. He is the most powerful male warrior in the city and under the protection of one of our leading houses. Cross him at your peril."

He leaned back and waited expectantly. The others were unsure of what he wanted, but Viconia knew the drill. He had provided them with advice, and no drow ever did another a service without expecting something in return. She tipped the drow fifty gold pieces and they made their way into the market.

"Teaching little girls is considered a harsh punishment?" Arowan taunted Viconia. "I think you've been misleading us, Mr Veldrin, the drow are a softer lot than you've been letting on."

"You have never encountered drow children," Viconia chuckled, fondly remembering her own childhood with her brother and the torments they had inflicted upon their own mentors. "So I will let that ignorant remark pass."

The drow, it transpired, were not soft. If anything Viconia had been understating the cruelty and random violence of her homeland. They saw their first deaths within seconds of entering. A duergar slave was killed by his master, who was in turn slaughtered by a woman professing to be his own mother, for the crime of damaging her property. None of the locals so much as blinked.

"What's your problem?" the homicidal matriarch snapped at Arowan, who was staring.

"I was just… erm… impressed!" Arowan babbled as four ill-looking humans in filthy rags scampered out of the crowd, lifted the corpses and carried them away. "With the speed of the clean-up."

"You don't have slaves to gather the corpses in Ched Nasaad?" the woman asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"Oh yes… erm… of course… but our slaves are not nearly so quick as yours," the ranger complimented her hastily. "You must take very good care of them."

The drow woman frowned for a moment, but Yoshimo had the presence of mind to laugh at his wife's comment. Thinking that the newcomers were making a rather clever joke, the drow laughed too, their squeaking ringing throughout the cavern like a burrow of giant guinea-pigs.

"There are slaves!" Arowan whispered urgently as the party hurried on. "We have to help them!"

"If you have any desire to live do-gooder, any at all, you'll leave well enough alone," Viconia hissed. "We must find this Solaufein, collect the eggs and leave. Unless you want your precious male to die from his geas of course."

The ranger stopped arguing and followed, though she did so with increasing unease. Hostile, suspicious eyes glared at the newcomers from all sides. Giant spiders scuttled through the streets as common as horses in Baldur's Gate. Only nobody was making these monsters pull any wagons. She did not like to contemplate what it was they ate.

Not far from the slave pits, they found the nursery. A small drow girl was kicking her father in the shins and threatening to have his heart cut out if he wouldn't buy her a baby to play with. Arowan assumed that she meant a doll, but this misunderstanding was soon clarified.

"Human babies are far too much work," he tried to pacify her. "We'd have to buy the mother as well, and humans are not cute when they get big. That's why our sewers are infested with abandoned rivvil."

"I want a baby NOW!" screeched the girl, drawing a dagger. Arowan watched in horror as her defeated father hastened to comply.

Nobody impeded their progress into the school, and it quickly became apparent just how early in life Viconia's disdain for men had been drilled in. Given her upbringing she was, Rasaad discovered to his amazement, probably something of a meninist. Far from scorning him, in her eyes she probably treated him with utmost respect, compared to what she was used to.

They stopped by the first classroom door they came to, where a male drow wearing a tweed blazer and glasses smiled at them nervously. He was a commoner, Viconia informed them quietly. She had never had much cause to deal with drow commoners herself, for her people did not have many. Most of the menial tasks were performed by slaves but there were a few jobs, like teaching the young to read, which were too important to be delegated to lesser species.

"…so that is why you should never underestimate the dangers of a d- dirty bathroom," the teacher told his class of sneering young ladies.

He pointed to a large picture on his flipchart showing a bathroom infested by myconids. Lying in the tub (rather graphically considering the age of the children) was a drow who had been paralysed by the spores and drowned in her own bath water. "Now mistresses: can anyone tell me why we should always wash our hands after petting the spiders?"

A little drow girl with elaborate silver braids and adorable strawberry eyes raised her hand.

"Yes Pafogen?" the teacher said.

"My mummy says you're a pen-pushing dweeb who should be mushed up for spider food!" she told him, beaming proudly.

"My mummy said an illithid ate his brain!" cried a little girl with pigtails. She waved her fingers like tentacles to illustrate her point. The teacher sighed and grimaced. Jaheira's watching party got the impression that all his lessons eventually ended this way.

"Well my mummy says he's really important," a third child defended him, unexpectedly.

The teacher smiled at her, looking both surprised and gratified. Pafogen made a scoffing noise and rolled her eyes.

"Impotent, Vacilla. Your mother said he was impotent."

"Excuse us," interrupted Jaheira.

At the sight of two adult females all of the young drow, who had been napping, talking or reclining back with their feet on the table suddenly snapped to attention and pretended to be model students.

"How may I serve you?" the teacher asked nervously. Arowan had a powerful sense of deja-vu, as though she had seen the man somewhere before.

"We're looking for Commander Solaufein," Jaheira said. "I'm going to take a wild guess that you're not him?"

"No… I… Put your hand down please Acoli, I'll be with you in a moment…" he floundered, adjusting his glasses. Arowan felt painfully sorry for him. "My name is Ferape. You must be the recruits from Ched Nasad. Solaufein is teaching swordplay in the courtyard but I should warn you, he's not in a very good m- mood."

"What do I care for the moods of males?" thundered Jaheira, getting into character.

"Male or not this Solaufein is still our superior," Viconia murmured. "Have a care."

"With respect, your male is correct," Ferape said with a worried little bow. "Solaufein answers to nobody save the matron mothers and the handmaidens themselves."

"And to Phaere!" piped up the pigtailed girl. She scooted around in her seat and told them eagerly, "Phaere is my sister, and she bought me a huge spider and it has poisonous fangs and everything, so I called him Fang. I asked if I could feed Ferape to him and Solaufein said 'no,' so Phaere made him be a teacher here as punishment for answering back to me."

"I… see," Arowan replied.

Suddenly she caught herself reflecting that a future in which these children were orphaned and starved to death might not be so dreadful after all. She pinched her own wrist hard as punishment for having such a thought.

"Phaere also told you not to feed me to your spider, Phrepto," Ferape reminded her hastily. The child poked her tongue out at him sulkily, then turned back to Jaheira.

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a warrior priestess just like Phaere," Phrepto boasted. She cocked her head to one side and added thoughtfully, "And then I'll kill her and take her place."

Ferape said nothing but pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Pafojen, please could you escort our visitors to Solaufein?" he sighed.

"Do it yourself male!" snapped the young drow.

"I'll take them," smiled another of his charges who had been keeping quiet up until that point.

"Thank you Visteria," Ferape replied.

"I'm not doing it for you," the little adder hissed. "I'd just prefer to be in his lesson instead of yours. I like Commander Solaufein." Visteria smiled and slunk past them fluttering her eyelashes as she led the way. In the school corridor she informed them: "Mummy likes him too. Phaere wants to murder him but my family won't let her until we get bored of him. I don't think that'll be for a while. Mummy says he's as big as a mace handle. Which is odd, because mace handles aren't all that big."

"Best not to overthink it," replied Arowan with a strained smile.

They found Solaufein outside, duelling with an increasingly irate child. She looked to be about twelve in human years, although what the equivalent age would be in drow, Arowan couldn't say. The little girl was attempting to thwack the impudent male about the shins with much cursing and name calling. She could not understand why he wasn't letting her win. When he saw them, he tripped her intentionally and sent her sprawling onto the ground, a silvery bundle of red-eyed fury. Across the courtyard four more young drow were tormenting a captured genie, pausing every so often to heal it so that they could start their assault afresh.

Solaufein was tall by drow standards, self-assured and handsome. He watched them approach with a bored, defiant expression and it was clear from the outset that he did not mean to grovel to them as Ferape had done.

"Ah, you are the newcomers that have been sent my way," he drawled. "As if I do not have enough to accomplish in a day without suffering for the welfare of the weak."

"Sounds like you already are," replied Yoshimo mildly. "Were you not sent here as punishment for defending Ferape, my friend?"

"'My friend?' Are all Ched Nassans this sarcastic?" sneered Solaufein. "Phrepto is an insufferable brat, and her sister in miniature. I struggle to compose a greater insult. Do not mistake my act for mercy, you will find none here. I sought merely to provoke them, not to defend Ferape. As for you two; just because you are female do not think to challenge me. You are foreigners here and no better than slaves until the matron mothers deem otherwise."

"Perhaps when they do, I should make you my slave?" Viconia suggested. Solaufein looked rather taken aback, and once more the Sharran was reminded that she was a male in their eyes.

The next few days were spent running errands for Solaufein and getting acquainted with the drow way of life. He spoke bitterly and often of this 'Phaere' but never imparted any specifics. Mostly his quests involved monster baiting and bullying the local svifneblin; tasks that the party set about as kindly as they could without blowing their cover.

Part of their disguise involved the two females of the group constantly putting down and berating their males. A task which, when it came to 'Veldrin,' Arowan was enjoying immensely. Yet there were other aspects of this which were proving difficult. Ignoring the plight of the slaves was a daily heart wrenching struggle, and there were fighting pits. Of course, there were fighting pits.

Anomen was holding his own well enough in these. Dorn was an unstoppable slaying machine, but his lack of personal hygiene meant that he was never in very high demand. At first the spectators were excited as to who would slay this beast from Ched Nasad, but once he had killed too many of the good-looking favourites the ring masters stopped inviting him to compete. Whereas Rasaad was fast becoming something of a celebrity.

Veldrin's enthusiastic cheering of him from the side lines and Rasaad's obvious protectiveness of him did not go unnoticed.

"Your young man does have a certain effeminate beauty about him," one of Lolth's handmaidens commented on her way into the ring. "After I've won my match the two of you will retire to the lust chambers with me. I've a desire to watch you together."

Rasaad was not sorry that she did not win her fight. Though he was worried about how much he was enjoying himself. His own father had died in a fighting pit in Calimport, and the surges of adrenaline and victory he felt in the ring made him feel dirty. Yet in sparring he always had to hold back to some extent to avoid injuring his opponent. Here it was no holds barred fighting to the death or until one fighter was too incapacitated to continue. Part of him was repulsed, but another part of him loved it.

Arowan and Yoshimo avoided the fights, both watching and participating. At first she had had to forbid her husband to risk his life amongst the sparring drow, but as soon as he learned that there was no prize money involved he lost enthusiasm by himself. There was some glimmer of fun to be had in Urst Natha, however. Riding the spiders was quite an experience once you got used to all the legs. They were like horses which could scale walls, go upside-down and use their silk to turn themselves into giant swings.

The food and drink weren't bad either, and then of course there were the bedrooms. It wasn't just that even the cheapest rooms were nicer than the one Arowan had used in the Ducal Palace. She and her new husband both had new appearances, and they were making the most of this while they had the opportunity.

"Fighting all day and feasting in the evening," reflected Dorn with satisfaction, polishing his sword. He cast an envious eye at the pits, but Solaufein's quests involved enough violence to appease even the half-orc. "These drow know how to live. Shame really."

Arowan did not pretend not to know what he was talking about. If Ur-Gothoz's plan ever came to fruition, this entire city would be gutted and set alight.

"Your master's plan has failed Dorn. The Servant of all Faiths is here and she will stop it!" she bit back. "This city has its issues but we won't let you burn it to the ground!"

Dorn merely chuckled.

"Whatever you say, Little Lamb. Whatever you say."