This chapter might be a bit boring. I tried to think of something exciting...but then settled on, "Lets just use it to advance the story quickly." Probably the wrong decision...but there is still a lot of Underdark for them the get through.
Aleina hugged the cliff wall as she sidestepped along the ledge. She glanced ahead at Stool, worried, but as usual the little sprout seemed to handle the varied terrain of the Underdark with little trouble. And why not? He'd been born to this environment. It occurred to her, not for the first time, that while she liked to play at taking care of the sprout, he'd probably survive alone in the Underdark longer. Without the group she'd have died in some dark corner of it long ago or been caught and sacrificed on the altars of the Spider-Queen. But would any of the others from the surface fare better? She didn't think so. They had made it this far through codependency and that was unlikely to change.
Her foot snagged on a jutting stone and she stumbled. A moment of panic gripped her, and she felt the gravity of the chasm behind her pull on her backpack like it was a physical thing, dragging her towards the edge. Then she found her footing and steadied herself. She hadn't come close to falling, not really. The ledge was wide enough to catch yourself from little slips like that. And yet there was something about the presence of the nearby yawning void which made the ledge seem narrower than it really was. She took a moment for some calming breaths.
"You all right?" Jhelnae asked from behind her.
"Just a little slip," the aasimar said. She started forward again with her side shuffle.
"Better you than any of the rest of us," the half-drow said. "You can fly after all."
The realization almost made Aleina stop moving again.
"Believe it or not I didn't think of that. If I'd have fallen and not remembered it would be a really stupid way to die."
Jhelnae laughed. It ended quickly. Like the aasimar her breath was labored. Side stepping along a cliff face used unfamiliar muscles. They'd be sore and weary by the time the group rested later.
"It looks to be a long drop," the half-drow said. "You'd have had time to remember."
A thought occurred to Aleina.
"I've never manifested my wings while wearing a backpack. I don't know if I could fly with it on."
"Then if you do fall just slip out of it. If it's too much weight let it go."
"And lose my bedroll? Go back to sleeping on the ground? I think I prefer falling to my death."
Jhelnae laughed again. "It wouldn't be so bad. You'd just go back to using Kuhl for a pillow. Or Sky and I could each share part of ours. The three of us could squeeze on two bedrolls."
Aleina smiled, though with her face turned towards the way ahead, Jhelnae wouldn't be able to see it. When she'd woken a captive of the drow, strangers surrounded her. Now these friends would share all they had to help her.
They were six days out from Gracklstugh. Though it felt strange to use the term 'days' in the Underdark, their new darkling guide, Diarnghan, had explained why using days without the cycle of daylight still fit.
"The sun feeds the surface of Toril with its light and energy," the darkling had explained as they rested. "It is, therefore, probable the energy from the sun seeps into the Underdark and influences the faerzress. If this is true, the cycles of the Underdark are linked to the cycle of day and night above."
"But are they linked?" Jhelnae had asked. "Have you seen anything that shows the faerzress has a relationship with the sun?"
Diarnghan gave a shake of his head from deep within his cowl.
"Nothing that clearly links the two. Yet despite the passing of millennia in the Underdark the drow and duergar still have a similar time cycle as the surface. Why is that? Scholars say this is from passed down tradition, but I think a more logical reason is the Underdark is still somehow linked to the sun above."
"Not that it matters one way or the other," Rhianne said, the laughter in her tone in contrast to her dark attire and deep hood. "But we darklings have our fantasies. The sun might be our bane, but the fey side of us would like to believe we are still tied to it."
"I don't think it is a fantasy," Aleina had said. "It makes sense to me."
The aasimar felt wistful at the memory of the conversation. When they first left Gracklstugh the travel was easier, and they seemed to have the time and energy to converse while they rested. True to Blackskull's promise, Diarnghan knew the Underdark well. The darkling ranger led them unerringly through twisting tunnels towards the Neverlight Grove. He'd foraged fungi to provide food and drink and sometimes led them to a hidden nook where a campfire of zurkhwood could be safely lit without bringing unwanted visitors.
But his knowledge of the Underdark also meant he had not spoken wrongly in the Shattered Spire tavern when telling them travel had become wild and dangerous. Not three days into their journey they'd crossed paths with a hunting pack of gnolls. Escaping the creatures took them far from their planned route and they now found themselves skirting along a ledge between a cliff face and a chasm, trying to get to the Neverlight Grove through another path.
Cursing came from ahead. It sounded like Diarnghan, but Aleina didn't speak the language. She recognized a word or a similar sounding word from Elvish: sunlight. The tone of the speaker conveyed the extreme displeasure.
"Can we cut our way through?" Kuhl asked.
"While trying to balance on the ledge?" the darkling ranger said. "It would be faster to go back and find another way. Also cutting into it is sure to bring whatever spun it."
"Anything but that!" Ront said. "I haven't hugged this cliff face all the way here just to hug it more going back the other way."
"I hate to agree with Ront," Sky said. "But I don't want to backtrack either. Maybe Aleina can burn a way through?"
Aleina rounded a curve in the cliff wall and what the others discussed came into view. Spider webs filled the chasm, blocking the way ahead. The giant strands stretched as far as she could see above and below. In front of her Diarnghan, Kuhl, Ront, Sky, and Stool crowded together on the ledge, craning their neck up and down to take in the sight of the webs.
"We take precautions to make sure a campfire doesn't attract unwanted attention and you want to light that on fire?" The darkling ranger waved towards the mass of webs.
"Not a good idea?" Sky said.
Diarnghan's cowled head shook side to side.
"How did this happen?" Ront asked. "You told us you knew the way."
"The spiders must have spun their webs after the map Blackskull showed me was made," the darkling ranger said.
"By all that dances," Jhelnae said from behind. "We have the worst luck. Tell the others not to rush. We might be turning back."
The last part was said to Eldeth who followed Jhelnae along the ledge. The dwarf only groaned in reply but passed on the message.
"Might be turning back?" Aleina asked. "You have an idea to get us through those webs?"
"I could try charming the webs into not being sticky," the half-drow said.
"Really?"
"No," Jhelnae said.
"Don't jest right now," the aasimar said. "I'm so tired I'll believe anything."
Jhelnae gave a sigh. "Trust me. I understand."
"How about we find the spiders who spun the web and you charm them to let us ride on their backs?" Aleina said with a weary smile.
The half-drow responded to her plan with a short laugh.
"Now who is jesting? Looks like the others are starting back. At least we'll now be leading with the other foot for a while."
Aleina turned and found it was true. The others were side-stepping back towards them and most looked as tired and defeated as she felt. Even Sky's shoulders slumped, and her tail drooped. Ront, however, seemed more frustrated than demoralized. Anger flared in Aleina when she saw him almost bump into Stool when the little myconid didn't match the orc's pace. She took a breath to yell, but another voice from above surprised her into silence.
"You want to cross the Silken Paths?" the voice asked. "Yuk Yuk and Spiderbait can take you."
The aasimar had to twist her back and neck to the point of discomfort to look towards the voice's origin. What she first mistook for patches of dense web moved. Her darkvision allowed her to just make out a pair of heads with pointed ears peering down at them. One had a set of ears pointing up while the other's ears pointed downward. Goblins.
Aleina pulled her moonstone orb from the belt pouch and saw Jhelnae doing the same with her rod. Not that either of them would be able to hit anything while hugging a cliff face and having to contort themselves just to catch a glimpse of their targets. If it came to a fight Aleina planned on finding out if she could fly with her backpack afterall.
"Who are Yuk Yuk and Spiderbait?" Kuhl asked.
"They are me," said the same voice.
"No," another voice from above said. This one is deeper with a slower cadence. "You are only Yuk Yuk. I am Spiderbait."
"They are we," corrected the first voice.
"And you can get us through the webs?" Kuhl asked. "The...Silken Paths?"
"Of course we can," the one called Yuk Yuk said. "We're the Web Runners. You will pay us to guide you, yes?"
"More like pay you to lead us into the stomach of the spiders who spun these webs." Ront shook his head. "They probably made a deal to not get eaten as long as they lead others to get eaten."
"The Web Runners make no deal with spiders," the other goblin, Spiderbait said. "Don't need to. They never catch us. We faster."
"You can move through a web faster than a spider?" Sky asked.
She also had to twist her body and crane her next to see the goblins above, but the swish of her tail showed her curiosity.
"Of course."
In demonstration the larger gobin, Spiderbait, took a few jogging steps then slid several feet down one of the strands using his hands on other strands for balance and guidance.
"How do you keep from sticking to the web?" Sky asked.
"You hire us as guides, then we tell you," Yuk Yuk said.
"Grease," Spiderbait said at the same time.
Yuk Yuk glared at his companion. "Don't tell them that! We want them to hire us as guides!"
"You're hired," Sky said. "I want to try sliding on a web like that."
"We need to find out what they want to charge us and whether we can trust them before we hire them, Sky," Jhelnae said.
"A drow female." Spiderbait shook his head. "You promised Yuk Yuk that we guide no more drow females. They are quick with the whip and never pay."
"They do have a bad reputation," Sky said. "We can blindfold and gag Jhelnae if you want."
"Sky!" Jhelnae said.
"That would work," Yuk Yuk said.
"No, it won't!" the half-drow said.
Aleina laughed. It earned her a glare from the Jhelnae, which only made the aasimar laugh again. Aleina put her moonstone orb back in her belt pouch, suspecting she wouldn't need it. Scowling, Jhelnae followed her lead and tucked her rod back into her belt
"She doesn't have a scourge or whip," Kuhl said. He either couldn't keep the amusement from his voice or wasn't trying. "You won't need to blindfold or gag her. And it would make your job as guides more difficult. You want to lead someone blindfolded through the webs?"
"That is true," Yuk Yuk said. "Leading a blind drow on the webs would be no fun. And if she fell the rest of you might say you don't pay."
"Or we might pay more," Ront said.
Jhelnae opened her mouth to respond, but Diarnghan spoke first.
"So you guide groups through the webs for a fee? What is the fee."
"For a group your size," Yuk Yuk said. "With a drow female, two gold a day."
"For goblin guides?" Ront asked. "You two are a couple of robbers. I will give you the same deal I give any goblin. You prove useful and I don't bash in your skull."
"I think guiding orcs is as bad as drow females," Spiderbait said.
"Quiet! Let me do talking," Yuk Yuk said, then spoke again to the group. "We like gold better than that deal."
"No surprise there," Sky said with an irritated look over at Ront.
"And you know a safe way through the webs?" Diarnghan asked.
"Yes, yes," Yuk Yuk said. "Most we guide survive."
"Most?" Kuhl asked.
"Some clumsy or slow," Yuk Yuk said. "Fall to death or become spider's dinner. But we give deal. You don't survive you don't pay fee for next day. And all survivors very satisfied with service."
"What about the drow females with whips?" Sky asked.
"All satisfied except them," Yuk Yuk amended.
Spiderbait said something Aleina couldn't hear. She could, however, hear Yuk Yuk's response.
"Quiet. I do talking. They don't need to know of that group."
"Hire them," Sky said. "I don't want to go back the way we came, and I want to slide on webs like they do."
"Not much of a barterer, is she?" Aleina said, voice low so only Jhelnae would hear.
"No, she is not." Jhelnae said with a sigh. "If Sky wants something, she pretty much pays whatever the merchant wants. Only to toss it aside when something else catches her eye."
After brief negotiations this proved true now. Yuk Yuk climbed down to snatch two gold coins from Kuhl's outstretched hand.
The goblin climbed back out of reach, then bit each coin, which seemed to satisfy him.
"Good," the goblin said. "We guide you. First, we teach. Not all web strands the same. Old web is weak and will not hold weight."
Yuk Yuk examined the strands surrounding him and kicked out at one. It broke, falling to dangle from its anchor point far above.
"You see?" the guide said. "Old web has no more shininess. Do not use them. Step where we step."
"Those of us back here can't really see or hear what is happening," Eldeth said from behind them. "What should I tell the others?"
"The way is blocked by a mass of giant web strands," Jhenae said. "Most likely spun by a horde of giant spiders. Kuhl and Sky have arranged for a pair of goblins to guide us through them."
The red-haired dwarf regarded the half-drow with a steely gaze for a moment before speaking.
"I've been hugging a cliff wall and working my way down a ledge for hours," Eldeth said. "It's not the time to try my patience with a jest."
"She isn't," Aleina said. "That is really what is happening."
The aasimar could hear Yuk Yuk continuing his instruction.
"New web is shiny and strong. Safe to step on, but very sticky. The grease will keep it from sticking to your hands and feet. But if your clothes or backpack touches it you have to tug hard to get free. Tugging brings spiders. We don't want spiders so only grease covered hands and feet on shiny new webs."
"What am I supposed to pass on to the others?" Eldeth asked with a heavy sigh. "That's we're entering a spider-infested web with a pair of goblins as guides?"
"Could you try and phrase it so it sounds better?" Aleina asked.
"No. I can't," Eldeth said, with a shake of her head.
She turned and spoke to Rhianne behind her. With her face hidden deep within her cowl, Aleina could not see the reaction of the darkling bard.
Jhelnae motioned with her chin back towards the web. Their line was moving. Diarnghan, Sky, and Ront already walked on the web following Spiderbait. Kuhl secured Stool with a harness on his backpack, then also followed.
When it was Aleina's turn the goblin, Yuk Yuk motioned for her to extend her hands palm up, then slathered her hands with some sort of grease from a jar in a pouch on his belt. He repeated the process on the underside of each of her boots.
"Step where your friend steps," the goblin said. "Hold where your friend holds. Let the grease markings be your guide."
Yuk Yuk scowled as he looked up towards the others approaching.
"More hiding around corner?" the goblin guide asked. "One a big quaggoth. Tomorrow I charge more! Three gold."
Aleina put one foot on a low strand of web, placing her boot to align with a smudge of grease. She found hand holds above them, gripping tightly and holding her breath, she let the webs hold her weight. The strand beneath her shifted slightly, but she kept her balance. The sticky coating of the web kept her foot from sliding out from under her despite the grease. She took a few shuffle steps forward, not unlike the side stepping they'd been doing for hours, and she fell into a rhythm and soon caught up with Kuhl who also carried Stool. A breeze blew through the center of the chasm, cooling Aleina and helping to dry accumulated sweat. When had she started to sweat so profusely?
Just when she thought traversing a web would be easy, she came to a point where they needed to shift strands. Kuhl negotiated it with white fisted grips while Stool put out a cloud of empathy spores to encourage him.
The gap between the two strands was not wide, just over a foot. Yet it was the longest step Aleina had made on the web so far. Making sure of her hand holds and reminding herself she could fly she stepped across. She stood for a moment on two strands, one slightly higher than the other, then pulled her trailing foot on the new strand. It hadn't been too bad, yet Aleina felt glad to resume her shuffle-step.
Other obstacles came as they continued on. Soon Aleina transferred between web strands as a matter of course. Sometimes she had to step over a crossing strand and other times duck under. Once Kuhl did not duck low enough and Stool got caught on a web strand. Aleina used a mixture of soothing words and quick pulls that left some fungal skin behind to free the little myconid.
Hand hold, hand hold, shuffle step, hand hold, hand hold, shuffle step. It took focus to find the grease spots left by the others, which kept Aleina from dwelling on the insanity of what they were doing. Periodically Yuk Yuk or Spiderbait came by to slather a new layer of grease onto their hands and boots. The two goblins ran along the webs as if they were on the ground, ducking, weaving, and hopping between strands.
After completing one of his trips to resupply their grease, Spiderbait lingered next to Jhelnae.
"They are right. You not like most drow,"
"Why do you say that?" The half-drow asked.
"Drow are usually good on web. You are not."
"Thank you for letting me know that," Jhelnae said.
The half-drow's voice lacked its usual edge when being sarcastic. She sounded distracted. like she didn't like taking any focus off web walking to speak. Aleina could relate.
"The cat lady is good on web," Spiderbait said. "She learning quickly."
"Well good for her," Jhelnae said.
Spiderbait followed alongside the half-drow for a time, watching her progress critically.
"Were you not raised among spiders? the goblin asked. "Like most drow?"
"No. I wasn't. I was raised on the surface."
"Spiderbait and Yuk Yuk are from the surface. Many goblins there. But few drow. How are you from surface?"
"I'd rather not talk about it right now," the half-drow said.
"Why?"
"I'm trying to concentrate on not falling."
"But you are moving so slow," Spiderbait said. "Shouldn't need to concentrate."
"You know, I don't have a whip," Jhelnae said. "But you see this rod tucked in my belt? With my magic it has a longer reach and sharper sting than any whip."
"I told Yuk Yuk we should guide no more drow females," Spiderbait muttered as he scampered away through the webs. "But all he wants is gold, gold, gold."
When they next needed a refresh of grease it was the tabaxi herself who delivered it. She wove her way back through the webs almost as nimbly as the goblins.
"Sky!" Aleina said. "What are you doing back here?"
"I told Yuk Yuk I could help," the tabaxi said. "He gave me a pouch of grease. You two are too tense. Kuhl I can understand, he is carrying Stool which must be difficult. But you don't even have tails. This should be easy for you."
"What does a tail have to do with anything?" Jhelnae said. "And of course we're tense. We're hanging off spider webs in the middle of a chasm!"
"I kept snagging my tail in the webs at first," Sky said. "Finally slathered it in grease so I didn't leave any more fur behind tugging it loose. The rest of web walking came pretty easy."
"Well good for you."
As before, when the half-drow said similar to Spiderbait, her inflection made it clear she meant the opposite.
"Ah, so Spiderbait was right," Sky said. "Jhelnae is grouchy. That is probably why they asked me to deliver more grease."
"Of course I'm grouchy," Jhelnae said. "You offered to have me blindfolded and gagged."
"Oh that," the tabaxi said. She waved her hand in dismissal. Aleina, who always kept three points of contact as she web walked, was amazed by the nonchalance of the gesture. "They said they didn't want to guide a drow female. Whenever they have that problem in chapbooks they always compromise by having the person blindfolded and gagged. I was just offering a solution to the problem."
"A solution? Jhelnae asked. "Can you imagine me doing this blindfolded?"
"Well I didn't know you'd be so bad at it, did I?
"I'm not bad at it," the half-drow said. "No one, other than you in our group is moving any faster than I am."
"Then I didn't know you'd all be so bad at it, did I?" the tabaxi amended. "Better?"
"No," Jhelnae said. "Not really."
"Then what?"
"You can start with not being so infuriatingly good at this," the half-drow said.
The tabaxi's movements changed. Soon she mimicked Jhelnae's, and in honesty Aleina's own, grasping, shuffle step, progress through the web. Sky even had the expression right, face tight with concentration.
After a few steps Jhelnae laughed, "Oh stop it! Just give me my grease and let me web walk my own way. And shouldn't you be getting some of the gold we're paying for guides since you are helping them?"
Sky smiled and resumed her previous easy movement through the web. She rolled her eyes. "Gold. Who needs it? I'd have paid a lot more to learn this."
"We need it," Aleina said. "We'll need it to buy food, shelter, and supplies in Blingdenstone, and hopefully a way to the surface. And we'll still need it after we get to the surface. So, we don't want to waste any of it."
Sky nodded, then supplied them with grease. After she'd left, Jhelnae spoke.
"She can't really waste any of our gold because we don't have her carrying any of it. It means so little to her she can never keep track of it."
"I know." Aleina sighed. "I envy her. When you come from a family like mine, money will always have meaning."
"That destitute?" Jhelnae asked.
"Great manor house crumbling down around us," Aleina said. "Have you ever been to Baldur's Gate?"
The half-drow shook her head.
"It was once just a village, Gray Harbor. But then an adventurer, Balduran, gave away so much of the treasure he'd accumulated to his friends and relatives a city just grew up."
"And now you are an adventurer," Jhelnae said, seeing where the aasimar led.
"And now I am an adventurer," Aleina said. "It's a childish fantasy, but one that has been in my heart, especially when I fled home."
Jhelnae shook her head. "You wanting to take care of your family is noble, but you can't put that kind of burden on yourself. Just because you didn't want to get married doesn't mean you owe your family the potential wealth your marriage would have brought. It's too much."
"As I said, it's a childish fantasy. But if I could have even some of the success as an adventurer as Balduran I could finally stop feeling guilty for abandoning my family," Aleina sighed. "And can I confess something even more childish? It would feel so good to see my Uncle Norold and say, 'Now are you sorry you tried to force me to marry against my will?'"
"Now that I understand." Jhelnae said. "You're talking to a girl who has wanted to prove her mother wrong for as long as I can remember. Just once. Maybe someday."
"Maybe someday for both of us," Aleina said, with a half-smile. "I have no idea why I told you all of that. I was just trying to explain why I'll never have Sky's attitude on money."
"Thank Dark Maiden for that," Jhelnae said with a laugh. "Sky is my best friend, but two of her would make me want to murder myself."
They lapsed into companionable silence. Aleina fell into the rhythm of movement through the web. She became so lost in her own thoughts she almost bumped into Kuhl and Stool, not realizing they had stopped.
"What is happening?" she asked.
"I think they found something up ahead," Kuhl said.
"We did," Sky said, climbing her way back towards them. Spiderbait was with her. "Yuk Yuk wants us to help you all spread out so you can see."
With the help of the guides the group encircled a cocoon suspended in the web. It was body shaped, but small, around the size of a deep gnome.
"This is what happens to those that do not hire the Web Runners as guides," Yuk Yuk said, once his audience had gathered. "You pay us gold; we keep you from becoming spider food. Good deal for you."
"Weaving spiders, come not here," Derendil said in Elvish. Yuk Yuk glanced at the quaggoth, but not understanding, just shrugged. Rhianne rewarded Derendil with a cowled nod of appreciation.
"I still think the deal where I don't cave in your skulls is more fair," Ront said.
"Spider hunting going well," the goblin guide said, ignoring the orc. "They save food for later. Must have killed lots recently."
"Do you think they are still alive?" Kuhl asked.
"Probably not alive." Yuk Yuk shook his head. "But might have treasure. Spiders don't care about treasure. Treasure goes to guides."
"Why is that?" Ront asked.
"Because treasure found on the Silken Paths is the reward for Web Runners," Yuk Yuk said. "Your reward is not becoming like this. Spider food."
"Why don't you see if they have anything before arguing about it," Kuhl said, holding up a hand to stop Ront's protest. "And see if they are alive."
Yuk Yuk nodded and started cutting away webbing with a small sharp knife. Soon the form and features of a male halfling was revealed. His eyes were closed, and his skin had a bluish pallor. Aleina could see no sign of breath. He wore leather armor and a blade was sheathed at his side. Yuk Yuk rummaged among his belongings and produced a small vial and some coins. These he dropped into his own pouch.
"You know, we never agreed you'd get to keep all we found," Ront said.
Diarnghan let out a sigh from deep with his cowl. "Let's not waste time arguing the point. We need them to help us cross the Silken Paths."
"That is right," Yuk Yuk said. "You need us. Without us you become spider food like this."
He poked the halfling, then scurried away as the body twitched. Everyone watched in silence as spasms shook the still partially cocooned form. Finally, the halfling took a deep rattling breath and his eyes shot open.
"Oh, thank you," his voice was a hoarse whisper. "Thank you,"
He shifted trying to free himself from the remaining webs, but obviously still weak from the spider venom, remained trapped.
"Help me," he croaked. "Help me and I can lead you to a tomb we found. It's sure to hold lost treasure."