"That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
― Friedrich Nietzsche
I want to find an escape. I want to run. But I can't. I am stuck with Ralis, and the longer I stay with him, the harder it becomes for me to find the desire to look for an exit. I remind myself every day that I do not desire to leave because I hate him. I want to leave because I am a danger to him and myself. The Spider Queen is unrelenting and unforgiving, and he does not understand that. I must admit, I never expected to find a male that I would genuinely love, but I do not want that Spider Queen bunjiro (a$$hole) to kill him to get under my skin! I will NOT ALLOW THAT! She already took Valas away from me, she will NOT take away another male I care about! Xsa'ol! (Dammit!) Is this the price I must pay for choosing to be a free-thinking drow?! The consequences are dire, but I do not regret my actions. The Way of Lolth is a prison- almost everything we do is for the appeasement of Lolth. My people are like cattle complacent in the chaotic pastures of the Spider Queen, making sacrifice after sacrifice to feed her swelling ego. One of the few things my people fear is the loss of Lolth's favor, they feel that without Lolth's "blessings", they become weak, crippled like a wounded animal. But ever since I refused to sacrifice that child, I came to the realization that fear can not only be our greatest weapon, it can also be our greatest enemy. That was why I refused to recant for my actions even though my mother begged me to. I believed that a drow House could survive without the blessings of Lolth, but apparently it would take great strength to survive. I don't know how long my home and what was left of my family survived since my exile, but I know that they no longer exist now. I am the only drow from House DeVir alive on the face of Toril now be it underground or the surface. I am the last dark elf of the DeVir bloodline alive.
I have survived more than 100 years, and I am going to keep on living and surviving as long as I possibly can. I would not be a cleric of Shar the Nightsinger if I decided to just lay down and die. I have lost my home and my family... but I never expected to gain something good from it all. My ssinssrigg Ralis has provided me things that I never expected to find on the surface: Warmth... comfort... and most of all... safety. On that night he refused my offer of performing my skills in the special erotic arts (even though I'm sure he was curious), I felt safe in his arms, even when I fell into my meditative trance. That has never happened to me in my entire life before. Before I took him as my lover, I've had to look over my shoulders for danger and betrayal, even when in my meditative trance for countless days and nights. But he allowed me to experience peace and comfort for the first time in my life. I am grateful to him for that. I believe that is why Lolth has decided to come after me now. She does not want me to experience the pleasures a lover that I can trust can offer. Xsa dos ulu l'charnagurl kuerren d'l'Rendan, orbb elg'caress! (Damn you to the deepest layers of the Abyss, spider bitch!) I don't care if she hears my thoughts or not, my displeasure towards her increases tenfold every day! And that wench Phaere has a special place in my desire for revenge! But alas, I cannot fight a spider demon, and I cannot kill a certain brat of House Despana... yet. *sigh, I have many dilemmas mounted on my shoulders. It irritates me that I have so many obstacles standing in my way. And these hunger pains that torment me so frequently are also irritating. If I hadn't been so careless, I wouldn't have been impregnated as a result of my couplings with Ralis. I doubt my yet-to-be-born child will survive this ordeal. If it dies, I won't grieve over the loss, it will be for the best. I cannot look after a child while I must look after myself. Even if I wanted a half-drow child (which I don't), I would need to live a quiet, stable life, free from the hectic life of second guessing the motives of everyone I meet and being alert for danger constantly, and that is the crux of my problem. Peace is no friend of the drow at all. I have tried many times in the past to find peace and stability in my life, but each of my efforts have ended in failure. It is almost as if the surfacer gods are punishing me for simply being born as a drow. I would have continued to believe that a long time ago if I hadn't met Ralis. Maybe I am not as cursed as I think. Otherwise I never would have known what peace and safety felt like. That brief moment of relaxation without being alert for signs of danger. It felt good. More than good, it felt so... comforting. I want to experience that feeling again, and deep down, I desire to feel his we'ha inside me again, but I can't. Not without endangering his life. And so that is why I must find an opportunity to leave his side. It pains me greatly to do such a thing, especially when I am carrying his starving child in my body, but it must be done. I must be strong and follow through on what must be done, because Shar does not coddle the weak-willed. I am a creature that experiences loss every day without relent, and that will never change, no matter how much I wish otherwise.
- Viconia DeVir
The jailer finally arrived several minutes later. The jingle of his keys alerted Ralis, Valygar, Neera and Haxxat to his presence outside, but Viconia was barely paying attention, sitting at the far corner, her arms wrapped over abdomen as if she were feeling cold, wincing in discomfort over feeling the hunger pains wrack her body. The ogre jailer opened the door and took a few steps into the prison cell while the other jailer, a duergar, opened the prison cell door keeping Simyaz and his githyanki brethren. Ralis, Valygar, Rasaad, Neera and Hexxat looked up at the ogre jailer, seeing his lips spread into a curving smile.
"Now you fight again. Keep up good work I cheer for you guys, I think. Those githyanki is awful sour in the face," the ogre said.
Ralis rubbed his right hand in his long unkempt white hair. "Who are we fighting this time?" He asked.
"You fight them githyanki this time," the ogre replied.
Ralis and Rasaad felt a surge of hope run through their bodies. This is it. All they can do now is hope the psionic powers of Simyaz and his charges are enough to catch the mind flayers off guard.
"Hope you didn't talk too much with them. That makes the killing harder, I know," the ogre jailer said while preparing the chained handcuffs.
Ralis, Rasaad, Viconia, Neera, Hexxat and Valygar let the ogre jailer clamp the cold wrist cuffs on their wrists, then he led them out of the prison cell. Once they came out, Ralis looked to his left to see if Simyaz and his charges have been taken out of their prison cell, and they already have. The door is left wide open. Whoever let them out did so maybe a couple minutes ago. The ogre jailer led them through the same route to the fighting arena, passing through the same rooms and hallways as he had done before.
"Are there any other surprises your brain eating masters have in store for us?" Neera suddenly asked the ogre jailer without warning as he led them down what might be the last hallway.
The ogre jailer looked over his left shoulder and said:
"I dunno. I suggest you stay alert for surprises," he replied then refocused his head on what is ahead of him: the door leading into the fighting arena.
When he opened the door, he stepped into the arena and stepped aside, allowing Ralis and his party to see who awaits them in the arena. The githyanki are there, but there is something else. The mind flayers on the balconies used their psionic powers to hold a group of kuo-toa in paralysis, six of them. It seems they want a free-for-all match this time, and they don't want the kuo-toa to attack the githyanki or anyone else until the ogre jailer brings the last six fighters in, who happen to be Ralis and his party.
Rasaad's white eyebrows frowned in confusion.
"I don't understand, I thought you said we were fighting the githyanki," he told the ogre jailer, pointing over at the paralyzed kuo-toa.
The ogre jailer was about to free Ralis from his handcuffs first until Rasaad spoke, then he glanced over at the kuo-toa for a second, then turned his eyes on Rasaad.
"I did say you fight githyanki next, but I also tell you to stay alert for surprises. Those men-fish are the surprise, heh-heh-heh-heh-heh," the ogre chuckled, then he freed Ralis, then Rasaad, Viconia, Neera, Hexxat and Valygar from their chained handcuffs, then he walked out the door he came in, closing it shut, and though Ralis and his party couldn't see it happening, the mind flayers used their psychic power to lock the doors shut.
Then the mind flayers released their psychic paralysis hold on the kuo-toa warriors, freeing them, and then they turned their attention on Ralis and his party, yelling in Kuo-toan and readying their spears. Two of them have shields which are smeared with adhesive oil. Rasaad, fortunately, was perceptive enough to notice the adhesive oil on their shields and realized that adhesive oil works like glue.
"Be careful, my friends. Whatever you do, don't strike their shields," he warned his allies.
"Why?" Ralis asked the moment the kuo-toa warriors started to run at them, while Simyaz and his githyanki stood back and watched.
"Just trust me!" Rasaad exclaimed, knowing he doesn't have time to explain the trap in their opponent's defenses.
The kuo-toa lunged at them with their spears and Ralis and his party dodged the attacks, and they all heeded Rasaad's warnings about the kuo-toa that have shields. Fortunately there is only two of them with shields, and Rasaad and Valygar are dealing with them. Viconia was the first person to bring down one of the kuo-toa mere 18 seconds after the fight commenced. She got nicked in the left side of her waist by the kuo-toa's spear as it danced around her on its nimble feet, but Viconia managed to catch it off guard by using her drow ability to summon up a globe of darkness round her and her foe. She made the globe of darkness small to cover herself and the kuo-toa she is engaging, leaving her allies and the kuo-toa they are fighting out of the globe. When the kuo-toa found itself in pitch blackness, Viconia who memorized where the creature stood before she summoned the globe moved behind the creature and brought her Skullcrusher +3 mace down on its head, ending its life with the sickening crunch of its damaged skull.
Simyaz's charges already got to work meditating, using their own psionic power to counteract the psionic power of the mind flayers. Simyaz did not join the meditation yet, he wanted to tell Ralis the plan before joining the meditation even though he is busy fighting a kuo-toa. When Viconia joined Ralis in fighting his opponent, jumping out of the globe of darkness to join him, Simyaz finally spoke to Ralis now that he can divide half of his attention on what Simyaz has to say to him.
"We begin the meditation. Slay the kuo-toa and find our escape from this place. We will deal with the hated ghaik," Simyaz informed Ralis, then he joined his githyanki brethren in their mediation, focusing their psionic power to disrupt the mind flayers on the balconies.
Part of Ralis wanted to look up at the balconies and see what is happening, but he knew he needed to focus on the kuo-toa that he and Viconia are fighting. It tried to stay on the move, side stepping this way and that way, left right, front and back, trying not to be a stationary target and at the same time trying to find an opportunity to stab the human and drow, but Ralis and Viconia stayed on the move too, working together to try to catch the kuo-toa off guard or tire it out. Hexxat killed the kuo-toa she is fighting and came to Neera's defense, fighting one of the kuo-toa with a shield. Neera parried the sharp end of the spear with her staff numerous times up until Hexxat came to her rescue, then things got difficult for that kuo-toa, it had to alternate its attention from Neera to Hexxat to defend itself. Neera and Hexxat tried their best not to attack the shield carrying kuto-toa head on, knowing that it will bring up its shield and their weapons will get stuck on the shield thanks to the adhesive oil smeared all over the shield. But they came up with a brilliant plan. Neera feinted with her staff to make the kuo-toa hold up its shield, while Hexxat danced behind it, and by the time it realized Neera's attack was real, it was too late to protect itself from Hexxat's attack- Hexxat's short sword fatally slashed through the kuo-toa's body as if it were butter, ending its life as blood and intestines gushed from its wound. Ralis and Viconia outsmarted and killed the kuo-toa they were fighting, and while Viconia assisted Valygar and Rasaad with Neera and Hexxat, Ralis looked up at the balconies to see the eight mind flayers above writhing in pain, completely caught off guard by the psionic attacks of the githyanki.
In less than 21 seconds, the final three kuo-toa were slain, their dead bodies littered the arena floor and pools of blood grew around them.
"Go for the door we came in!" Ralis exclaimed.
They ran for the door the ogre jailer brought them from, and when Rasaad and Valygar pushed open the door together, the door swung open! Relief and hope washed over everyone.
"We did it!" Neera pumped her right arm victoriously.
"We're not out of the woods yet! Let's go!" Ralis exclaimed, and he and his companions immediately burst through the door, leaving the githyanki alone in the fighting arena to continue their psionic onslaught on the eight mind flayers on the balcony above.
Ralis and his party quickly retraced their steps back to the prison room, hoping to find their tools and equipment there. As they ran through hallway after hallway, room after room back to the prison area, Ralis hoped that they don't run into any mind flayers along the way yet. Or if they do, he hopes that they get the element of surprise so that whatever mind flayer they come across won't have the time to use their psionic abilities. Fortunately they did not run into any mind flayers yet, and when they arrived in the prison area, they found their ogre jailer "friend" in the prison area checking the inventory treasure chest full of confiscated tools and items belonging to prisoners that were also unlucky to be captured by the mind flayers. The ogre jailer had his back turned towards the hallway where Ralis and his party have come from, so he hasn't noticed them yet, and Hexxat saw an opportunity there. Signaling her companions to stay quiet, she crouched slightly and stealthily moved towards the ogre jailer who while checking the large treasure chest was mumbling words to himself like:
"Hmm... that not it... nope... nope... where did I put it...? I know I left it in here!"
Hexxat had to cross 26 feet to get close to the ogre jailer with her short sword drawn, and when she got close enough, she jumped up on the ogre's back and started stabbing his neck and back, causing the ogre to shriek in surprise, stand up on his legs and try to reach for Hexxat clinging on his back. Ralis and Valygar immediately charged forward with their melee weapons drawn and started slashing at the ogre jailer while he flailed about trying to reach for Hexxat. As every second passed, more and more wounds were inflicted on his body, but he refused to go down, even as Hexxat kept stabbing his back, staining his studded leather armor with his blood. The ogre tried in desperation to hit Ralis and Valygar with his fists since he couldn't reach his sword, but his movements are sluggish, a clear sign that soon he will succumb to his injuries, and after one final slash across the back of his neck from Hexxat, he had been finally done in, collapsing on his knees and faceplanting on the floor.
Sighing in relief, Ralis shook the blood off of Albruin's blade, but he didn't need to worry about the Blade of Searing, its burning blades never stains.
"About time we took care of him," Valygar told Ralis after shaking the blood off his blade and sheathing it.
Ralis looked at Valygar and nodded in agreement. Hexxat jumped off the ogre jailer's back, her boots landing on the pool of blood, then she brought her bloodstained blade up to her lips and licked the side of the blade, tasting what little blood she could while avoiding cutting her own tongue. After tasting the ogre blood on her sword, she frowned in dissatisfaction.
"I cannot say I like ogre blood, but that was somewhat refreshing," she commented.
While Viconia, Neera and Rasaad moved further into the prison room, Ralis turned his attention over to the large treasure chest the ogre jailer was inspecting, near the prison cell door in the 4:00 position of the room.
"That ogre must be keeping our tools and items in there. Let's go see," he informed his party, and they all gathered around the treasure chest, taking turns to take what belongs to them out of it.
Rasaad never bothered to look into the treasure chest, he has always been traveling light. Ralis was the first to peer inside the treasure chest and found his inventory bag, potion bag and small ice box containing Yoshimo's heart, and his quiver containing plenty of arrows, sixteen +2 arrows, ten arrows of biting and five arrows of piercing. They could have been someone else's but Ralis didn't care whose quiver it really is. He also found weapons and items he did not recognize, and he assumed they must be the weapons and items of other adventurers the mind flayers have captured and likely disposed of recently. Ralis continued searching the chest, trying to find his Dead Shot longbow, but he couldn't find it. However, he did find a better replacement. A special longbow that is yellow as the skin of a githyanki called Strong Arm +2, so he took the bow as his own and stepped back, allowing Valygar to take what is his out of the chest. After he stepped back, Hexxat stepped forward, peered into the chest and found her bag containing her lockpicking tools.
"Lucky us. We might need these," Hexxat smirked while holding her back of thievery tools in her right hand, then stepped back to allow Viconia to find whatever she may need in the treasure chest as she fastened her thief bag around her belt.
Viconia didn't find anything she deemed worth taking as her own out of the treasure chest, so she just stuck with her Skullcrusher 3 mace and bracer attached to her left arm wrist. Neera looked inside the treasure chest next and found her last Hearthfire talisman, the coin shaped piece of gold with the magical ability to send whoever squeezes it to the Wild Mage Refugee Camp. Or what's left of it, anyway.
"What the...?! What is this doing here?! Those mind flayers had been digging in my pockets?!" Neera exclaimed in shock and outrage while looking at the talisman in her right hand.
While Hexxat, Viconia and Neera were looking inside the treasure chest, Ralis took stock of his surroundings with Rasaad, noticing there are multiple doors all around them. The ones that might be other prison cells happen to have closed slot holes that the jailer can open and peer into to see the prisoners without opening the door to check on their condition. The door in the 12:00 position, the other door in the 3:00 position and the door they came in from when they escaped the arena at the 7:00 position are the only doors that do not have slot holes. Valygar scratched his hair in concern.
"I think there are only two ways out of this room. What do you think, Ralis?" Valygar asked him.
Ralis looked at the prison cell doors, and an idea came to him. Like in Spellhold, they could use the prisoners here to their advantage and distract the mind flayers.
"Ralis!" Rasaad exclaimed, startling Ralis, making his heart jump in surprise.
"What?!" He looked at Rasaad in alarm.
"We are on limited time. We need to leave before the mind flayers catch us again," Rasaad said.
Ralis nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know, but I was just thinking maybe we could buy ourselves some time..."
While Neera was exclaiming her surprise on the mind flayers digging their filthy hands into the pockets of her pants to confiscate her last Hearthfire Talisman, Ralis turned to Viconia and called her over.
"Viconia, over here."
"Vel'bol?" Viconia replied when she approached Ralis.
"How many times do you have the Haste spell memorized for use?" He asked her.
"Two times, abbil," Viconia replied.
Ralis nodded in approval. "Then that'll be enough. Cast Haste on Hexxat, then we'll make a break for that door over there..." Ralis pointed at the door in the 3:00 position which is to his left. "... and Hexxat will stay behind for a few seconds to unlock the prison cells here. We'll use the prisoners here to distract the mind flayers from hunting us."
Viconia nodded, smiling. "An effective strategy, abbil. I didn't know you had it in you, to sacrifice others for your survival."
Ralis shook his head. "It's them or us. I certainly don't want us to go out as slaves to these hideous creatures," he said.
While Viconia explained to Hexxat Ralis' plan, Ralis, Rasaad, Neera and Valygar headed for the 3:00 door. Neera cast the Knock spell on it first to make sure it isn't booby-trapped. There were no traps laced around the door, fortunately, and Ralis opened the door and found a long hallway on the other side of the open door, leading to another door about 32 feet away.
"Okay, let's go, but tread carefully, everyone," Ralis advised his party while pulling the Strong Arm 2 longbow out for use and reached behind his back and pulled one arrow of piercing, placing it on the longbow and pulling back on the bowstring while Viconia cast the Haste spell on Hexxat.
Valygar took the lead alongside Ralis to his right as they moved down the hallway while Rasaad, Neera and Viconia followed close behind them. Hexxat, hastened by the spell stayed behind in the prison room to unlock all of the prison cells so that the prisoners of the mind flayers can be released and escape, drawing attention away from them. The first door Hexxat lockpicked open was a prison cell holding four kuo-toa prisoners, then she quickly moved over to the next door, picking the lock open with her tools and releasing three troglodyte warriors, but moving out of the way quickly so they won't attempt to attack her. The third door she opened is empty, the 5th door, in the 8:00 position, turned out to be empty. By the time Hexxat was picking the 6th door at the 9:00 position, near the prison cell they were once inside, the freed kuo-toa and troglodytes were already digging through the treasure chest, taking weapons, shields and body armor, Once she unlocked the 6th door, she quickly ran for the exit door Ralis and the rest of his party entered, allowing five duergar to stumble outside in confusion.
By the time Ralis and his party reached the other door at the end of the hallway, Hexxat caught up with them, and Valygar opened the door for Ralis since both of his hands are holding the longbow and the tail end of the arrow held by the bowstring. In the next room ahead, they saw a mind flayer checking one of the large vats. When the door creaked open, the mind flayer almost immediately turned around. Ralis reacted quickly, aiming his longbow at the mind flayer and fired without hesitating for a second. The arrow of piercing flew 43 feet across the room and pierced the mind flayer's head before it could raise its arm up to cast whatever spell it was trying to cast. Silvery-white colored blood exploded out of its head when the arrow of piercing punched through its head, and it sagged to the floor like a rag doll.
"One down," Valygar said in mild satisfaction while walking into the room.
"On the ground," Ralis nodded in agreement while lowering his new longbow.
Then they ventured further into the room, taking stock of their new surroundings. The room is less dark than the hallway they came from, lit by a few light orbs embedded into the walls, and the stone floor has an elaborate circular pattern carved into it. Hexxat had to watch how fast she is moving and not bump into her allies because she is still hasted for now. They looked around and saw that the room is full of large vats, six of them, and they are all filled with a strange red liquid that Hexxat knows instinctively is not blood.
"What... what is all of this?" Rasaad asked, looking around in confusion, then he looked at Hexxat for answers.
She frowned at him in confusion.
"If you think what is in these vats is blood, you are wrong."
Rasaad frowned in confusion. "How do you know?"
"Blood has a certain odor to it. I am a vampire, trust me, I know blood when I see it and smell it," Hexxat replied, then cast her gaze towards the vat in the southwestern corner of the room, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Ralis noticed that in between the two vats on the east end of the room is a large bookshelf full of empty laboratory titration flasks, all of them have corks already plugged into the flasks for keeping liquid from spilling out. Frowning in curiosity, Ralis approached the bookshelf while his companions examined the vats from a safe distance. As he approached the bookshelf, moving past the dead body of the mind flayer he shot, he assumed that whatever that red liquid is that is in these six vats, it must be useful to the mind flayers for something, and maybe he can use it. Once he got close enough to the bookshelf, he took three flasks, carefully holding two in his right hand by their narrow necks and the third one in his left hand alone.
"I don't see another way out of here. We may need to go back," Viconia said, speaking to Hexxat.
She nodded in agreement.
"Yes, you are correct." Hexxat turned her attention to Ralis and saw him walking towards the flask filled bookshelf. "Ralis? What are you doing?"
"We might be able to use this liquid, whatever it is," Ralis replied as he took three of the flasks into his hands, then he turned around, deciding to take liquid out from the second vat after the first one to his right, and he walked towards it, walking between the first vat and the dead mind flayer again, his left boot stepped into the small puddle of its silvery-white blood.
"Be careful, friend. I fear that liquid might be acidic," Rasaad warned Ralis.
"Noted," Ralis replied after stepping close to the vat he wanted to draw the liquid from.
He placed the two flasks his right hand is holding down on the ground gently, then he popped the cork off the flask in his left hand, then he carefully reached in and cautiously scooped up the liquid in the vat. Once the flask's head touched the red liquid and Ralis began to move the flask to scoop up the liquid, a rank, sulfurous smell came off the liquid and jumped into Ralis' nostrils, causing him to groan in disgust and turn his head to the left.
His companions took a step forward out of concern, but did not move any closer.
"Ralis? Are you all right?" Neera called.
"I'm fine," Ralis said while trying not to breathe through his nostrils, instead, inhaling air from his mouth. "This liquid smells too terrible to be wine, that's for sure," he added a couple seconds afterwards.
Then he removed the flask from the pool of red liquid and checked the liquid in the flask, discovering that he managed to scoop up 450 milliliters of the red liquid. Then out of curiosity he held his left hand out, tipped the dead of the flask towards his hand gently, and allowed three drops of red liquid to fall into the palm of his hand. The liquid felt cold, like water, but it did not behave like water once it hit the palm of his hand. The liquid quickly rolled into a small red bead, which confused Ralis. He closed his hand around the bead, expecting to break it back down into liquid form, but it didn't. The bead felt hard as metal, surprising Ralis.
Impossible. Metallic liquid? How does such a thing exist...? Ralis quietly wondered.
"What happened? Did you discover something?" Valygar called.
Valygar's voice sounded somehow a little louder than normal, almost as if he was raising his voice.
"Keep your voice down, Valygar. Your yelling may attract unwanted attention to us," Ralis warned him without looking back at him.
Valygar frowned in confusion, then looked at Rasaad, Neera and Viconia in confusion.
"What are you talking about? I did not raise my voice," Valygar protested to Ralis.
Ralis frowned in confusion. Is it possible that this red liquid somehow heightened his hearing? Instead of replying, Ralis dropped the red bead into the flask for it to merge back into the liquid then he put the cork back on it. Next, he put the full flask down on the ground, picked up one of the two empty ones, pulled the cork off, took a deep breath and scooped up more red liquid, obtaining 400 ml in the second flask. Ralis filled up the last flask, obtaining another 450 ml in it. Ralis picked up the full flasks and walked over to Rasaad.
"Hold these for me, please," Ralis instructed.
Rasaad flinched and blinked twice in confusion. "Wh... why me?" He asked.
Ralis tilted his head slightly to the right. "Because you have quicker hands than me. If you drop one, I'm sure you have the dexterity to grab it before it hits the floor. Can I count on you?"
"As you wish," Rasaad nodded, though he said the words almost hesitantly, and Ralis could tell that he looked apprehensive to hold three flasks that smell like rotten eggs.
But he took the flasks into his hands and placed the flasks inside the potion bag after Ralis gave the potion bag to him.
"Let's go," Ralis ordered, pulling another +2 arrow out of his quiver to be loaded into his new longbow as he started toward the door, with Valygar already ahead of him to open the door.
Ralis held the longbow ready to fire at whatever enemy awaited them in the hallway when Valygar opened the door, but when the door opened, no one is waiting in the hallway for them. Proceeding cautiously, they headed back into the prison room. By the time they returned to the prison room, the prisoners Hexxat freed have already departed, and the Haste spell on Hexxat finally wore off, causing her to feel her arms, legs and lungs burning hot with fatigue.
Ralis and Rasaad noticed that the exit door at the 12:00 position is the only door left open, likely due to the prisoners that escaped. And there is another door that they hadn't noticed yet until now, a door in the 6:00 position that has not been opened by anyone yet.
"I guess we go that way," Ralis suggested to Rasaad, nodding his head to the direction of the door. They headed towards the southern door while Hexxat lagged behind a bit, feeling the effects of her body exhausted from moving so fast.
They found themselves venturing down a hallway that curved in the shape of an "S" for 48 feet until they found themselves in a circular room where there are fifteen brown glass spheres partially embedded into the floor, one embedded in the center of the room, and the other fourteen patterned around it in a circle. There are also two mind flayers waited to ambush them. One tried to cast the Charm spell on Hexxat but the spell failed because she is a vampire, and vampires are undead creatures, being immune to all mind-affecting effects, and the other tried to hit Ralis with a psionic blast before he could fire his arrow. Ralis managed to fire his arrow seconds before the psionic blast hit him, knocking him off his feet and landed on his back, his head landed close between Viconia's boots, and Hexxat threw a throwing knife at the mind flayer who tried to use the Charm spell, and the blade lodged itself into the mind flayer's chest, not quite killing it, but wounding it, giving Valygar enough time to cross the distance between him and the mind flayer and slash at its abdomen with his katana, causing silvery blood and guts to spill out from the opening of the mind flayer's robes, killing it on the spot.
Rasaad came up to Ralis and offered a hand to help him stand up.
"Are you all right?" Rasaad asked Ralis while staring down at him with his right hand stretched toward him in gesture to help him up.
"I'm a little dizzy, but I'm fine," Ralis replied as he took Rasaad's hand and allowed himself to be pulled back on his feet.
After being assisted by Rasaad, Ralis noticed that some of his arrows fell out of his quiver when he got knocked down, so he picked up the arrows off the floor and put them back in his quiver and continued leading the group towards the next passageway out of this room, which is directly ahead of them slightly to their left. Rasaad opened the door for Ralis, and the entire party saw that the other side of the door revealed a relatively short hallway with another door about 14 feet ahead of them. When they reached that door and opened it, they discovered that the next room had something they never expected to find.
Another wide, circular room containing nine unconscious people, all humans, six men, three women laying on rectangular tables wearing only their undergarments. Four were laying on the tables to the left, and five were laying on tables lined up to the right, and directly in front of Ralis and his party, on the opposite end of the room stood a large machine that is humming from the energy coursing through its mechanical insides.
"What the hell...?" Valygar whispered in bewilderment as he cautiously stepped further into the room, with Rasaad following him.
Ralis followed behind them, his eyes focusing on the unconscious men and woman laying on the tables to his left, seemingly asleep peacefully, but he doubted that they are having a peaceful sleep, especially with the thin, clear, rubber looking tubes connected to the veins of their wrist to the other machine that stood next to the bigger machine. Whatever that small machine is doing, it is pumping some kind of liquid into the veins of these poor men and women. Ralis turned his head to the right and saw Viconia, Hexxat and Neera examining the unconscious prisoners on the other side of the room, Hexxat examined the tube connected to the veins of a red haired woman.
"Gods... This place reminds me of Irenicus' old stronghold back in Waukeen's Promenade two years ago," Ralis said aloud, making his uneasiness heard, drawing the attention of his entire party, who all looked at him.
Ralis realized that none of them were with him and Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, Khalid and Jaheira when they were held by Irenicus two years ago. But when Ralis saw the sad, understanding look on Neera's face, he knew that she is the only one who understood his predicament.
"Two years ago, Jon Irenicus held me, Imoen, Minsc and Jaheira captive in his old stronghold under Waukeen's Promenade. I had two more allies that met a terrible end there. Khalid and Dynaheir..." Ralis explained.
Rasaad nodded solemnly. "I am sorry to hear about Khalid. I was so focused on my troubles in hunting down Alorgoth that I had forgotten that he died..." He said.
Before Valygar could say anything, Viconia butted into the sad moment of reflection.
"Should I remind you all that we are in illithid territory? We can reminisce on sad moments later," she said, doing her best to hide how tormented she is from feeling her hunger pains.
Valygar had half a mind to berate Viconia for being callous, but he had to admit that she is correct. "She's right," he admitted. "We need to find the exit, we are wasting time here. There is nothing we can do for these people," he said.
Ralis nodded, and before he and his party made a move towards the door they come from, Neera, who had been busy looking at the liquid being pumped into their veins with Hexxat stopped them by exclaiming:
"NOT SO FAST!"
Everyone stopped and looked at Neera in confusion.
"Neera, what the hells are you up to?" Ralis asked her in mild annoyance.
Neera rested her staff against her right shoulder, inhaled, then exhaled, and rubbed her hands together, then grabbed her staff once more with her right hand.
"Okay... Call me crazy if you want, but... I think we can save these people," she said.
Rasaad and Valygar were the only ones who seemed mildly amused at Neera's claim. Ralis, Hexxat and Viconia only looked at her with indifference.
"How?" Valygar asked her.
Neera held her hands out at Valygar in supplication. "Okay, just... bear with me for a moment here. See all these tubes?" Neera pointed at the tubes which are all connected to the veins of the men and women here. "These tubes are pumping something in their blood. Maybe it is something that is keeping them asleep. Now..." Neera let her voice trail off so she could walk over to the small machine in between the two tables to the left that are closest to the large humming machine. "... This machine is the source of all the liquid being pumped into their veins," she pointed out proudly.
Ralis crossed his arms. "Okay, and your point is...?"
Neera shook her head. "Jeez, Ralis, what do you expect me to do, draw you a picture?" She asked in exasperation. Instead of waiting for him to reply to her question, she continued on. "I think we could pour a liquid inside this machine that can counteract the effects of the liquid being pumped into their bloodstream," she said.
"Like what?" Hexxat asked.
Neera opened her mouth to reply, but at the last minute, she shook her head and pointed at Rasaad's waist. Everyone looked down at Rasaad and noticed the potion bag that Ralis let him hold on his person.
"What? The rotten egg smelling red liquid I got from the other room? What if it kills them?" Ralis pressed Neera.
"What if it doesn't?" She countered.
Sighing in resignation and frustration, Ralis decided to test Neera's theory. Without awaiting permission from Rasaad, he walked over to him, opened the potion bag while it is still attached to his belt, took out one of the flasks containing the red metallic liquid, then walked over to the machine. He examined it carefully, trying to find where to pour the the liquid into. He noticed a closed lid just six inches above the glass window that shows the color of the liquid being pumped into the prisoners. The liquid is green, and the amount of liquid inside the machine is just below 240 ml, so the machine is almost due for a refill. Ralis opened the lid, popped the cork off the flask and poured the metallic red liquid into the hole. The red liquid fell into the container with the green liquid, slowly turning the liquid inside the machine from green to yellow, and the yellow liquid in turn got pumped into the veins of all nine of the prisoners. It took almost a minute for the changes to happen. The prisoners started moving. At first their arms and legs began to twitch as if life is starting to come back to them, then they slowly rose up out of the tables they were laying on. Rasaad, Valygar, Hexxat and Viconia couldn't believe that Neera's far-fetched theory turned out to be right after all.
"I'll be damned. It actually worked," Ralis said in mild awe.
"See? Never doubt the words of a mage that commands the unpredictable," Neera said proudly.
While some of the men and women tried to climb down off their tables, Ralis looked at Neera with a skeptical frown. Neera rolled her eyes after understanding the silent treatment Ralis gave to her.
"All right, already, jeez! Give a girl a break, will ya?" She conceded.
Ralis gave her a warm smile to let her know there is no hard feelings. Then he sensed a presence behind him, and he turned around to see a middle aged human man with tan skin, short black hair and a long black beard standing near him, wearing only his underwear like his masculine compatriots, save for the women who wore not only underwear but brassieres as well.
"You... you are the one who freed us, stranger?" He asked.
Ralis slowly nodded, and the man smiled happily, raising his arms up towards the ceiling briefly.
"Thank Ilmater! You cannot imagine what a horror it was, nightmare after nightmare without the ability to awaken!" The man immediately grabbed Ralis' right arm and shook it fervently while smiling in a way that reveals his teeth. "Thank you, dear man, thank you!"
Ralis understood that the man is happy to be free at last, especially his friends, but still his enthusiasm scared him a little. As for Viconia, she was partly confused at why the man is thanking a group of "drow" when he should be repulsed whether Ralis and his party are disguised or not, but at least she doesn't need to pull her hood over her head.
"Who are you...?" Ralis asked him.
The man released his grip on Ralis' right arm finally.
"My... my name is Camaris Highcastle of... of Myratma," he replied while placing his right hand on his partially hairy chest.
Ralis did not find the name of Camaris' home city familiar, but Myratma is one of the most important cities in Tethyr, known around Faerûn for the quality of its textiles, owing to the output from the Tethyr Mills outside its walls. Myratma is located in County Elemetar in the Purple Marches at the intersection of the Red River and the River Ith. The city is ancient and after thousands of years still bore signs of Calishite and even Dwarven architecture. Myratma has three barbican gates to defend entry into the city: Westgate, Southgate (or "Trader's Gate"), and Eastgate. Each gate contained a contingent of 20 guards. Bridges crossed the rivers to reach Southgate and Westgate. Three years ago, "Prince" Yusuf Jhannivvar claimed rulership over the city and refused to submit to the new queen of Tethyr, Zaranda Star. For a month, the Reclamation Army laid siege to the city, but by the last day of Eleint that year, they were defeated, and Zaranda Star and several other leaders of the Loyalist movement were taken prisoner and tortured. The Second Siege began on the Feast of the Moon, when Prince Haedrak Rhindaun III arrived and gathered the army together again. The Second Siege lasted three months, during which time a successful rescue attempt by Haedrak and his centaur ally Timoth Eyesbright was made to recover the queen. While the rescue was under way, Vajra Valmeyjar, a human woman who is almost as tall as Minsc and was a powerful former slave-gladiator that survived in Calimshan's infamous Arena of Blood when she was younger, Perendra Raslemtar, the daughter of one of the five barons who survived the Ten Black Days of Eleint in 1347 DR, and the hardy dwarf Onyx the Invincible who is a close friend of Vajra and Timoth, sabotaged the city, clogging the wells and weakening its walls.
The siege finally ended in a battle known as the Storm Siege on the last day of Ches, 1369 DR, when Loyalist druids and clerics bombarded Myratma with lightning and blew open its gates. The army stormed in, and the city was taken when Haedrak and Zaranda killed Yusuf on the west wall. Reconstruction of the city's Eastgate and walls were completed sometime last year.
"If only there were some way to properly repay you!" Camaris said happily while Ralis struggled to remember whether or not he knows anything about Myratma, but after Camaris spoke, Ralis decided to give up on searching his memories.
"For starters, tell me how you ended up here," he replied to the man's question.
Camaris frowned while rubbing his forehead with his right hand. Ralis could clearly see that either the memory is so traumatizing that the man's mind repressed the memory, or the mind flayers have somehow taken some of his memories.
"I am unsure," Camaris said, then glanced around at his fellow captives casually surrounding Ralis and his party with expectant looks on their faces. "We were part of an expedition to find adventure in the Underdark. Hah! This was... hardly what we were expecting, you can be certain," he told Ralis with a nervous chuckle while brushing his right hand through his hair sheepishly.
Ralis smirked and nodded to let Camaris know that he knows exactly what he is talking about.
"We set out from Myratma and had been in the Underdark for a week, maybe more. I heard a noise, and then everything went gray and blurry. The mind flayers must have surprised us. Next thing I remember, we were hooked to these machines. It was strange... you could see everything and... be aware... but not quite. They somehow used our minds to power those machines over there," Camaris pointed over at the largest machine in the room. "It makes necklaces... circlets rather... which the mind flayers use to control their slaves. If you and your expedition were captured too, I... I can only imagine the next batch of circlets would have been meant for you. Good thing you escaped when you did."
Ralis nodded in agreement with Camaris, but then, suddenly, an idea hit him. A very good idea.
"Do you think these circlets would work on the illithids? Do you know how to work the machine?" Ralis asked him, his eyes wide with hope and mild enthusiasm.
Camaris frowned. "I... I suppose they might," he said slowly, choosing his words carefully.
While frowning in deep thought, Camaris stroked his chin and approached the large machine, examining it carefully with Ralis standing beside him to his right, and Camaris' party and Ralis' party standing behind them, watching.
"It could work. There's no reason they wouldn't." Camaris looked at Ralis now. "As for the machine, it's fairly simple, but I don't think its fully charged. you could only make a few."
Ralis turned his attention to the machine now, and he noticed that while the machine looks large and complex, there is a panel board directly in front of him with three buttons. The one on the far right is red, the one on the far left is blue, and the one in the middle is green. There are no instructions on how to use the machine though. Even if there were, it would be written in the language of the mind flayers. If they have a written language, that is.
"I suppose I must ask you, stranger..." Camaris said, gently breaking Ralis away from his train of thought over how to work the machine, and he slowly turned to face Camaris again. "... do you plan on escaping? Have you a means of leaving this city?"
"Not yet, but I intend to escape here, yes," Ralis replied.
Camaris nodded and started rubbing his right shoulder with his left hand. "Well, if you find a way out or stop the mind flayers somehow, we can leave the city on our own. There is a cache of equipment I know of if we locate our old path," he said.
Ralis raised his right eyebrow in concern. "Are you sure you and your people will be safe leaving this room with no weapons and armor?" He asked.
"I can lead my people to the surface again, but you would have to find us a way out. No offense, friend, but I don't think we could face those mind flayers ourselves," Camaris replied, breaking eye contact with Ralis and shifting his eyes down towards the floor as if he is ashamed of how useless he and his party are currently are for a brief moment, but he didn't keep his depressed expression forever, he lifted his head back up and repaired eye contact with Ralis, looking a bit more confident than he originally did. "We will wait here until we can leave. We will pray for you, friend... I only hope that our ordeal is finally over."
Ralis nodded at Camaris in agreement, then turned his attention back to the machine. Not having the slightest idea what to do, Ralis pressed the red button out of a hunch that it may make the machine do something, and after pressing the button, it hummed a bit louder for a brief moment, causing everyone except Ralis to take a few steps back away from the machine as if they were afraid that the machine may explode, but instead, a golden circlet materialized in Ralis' right hand which was partially curved into a fist after pressing the red button. Ralis, noticing that something is in his right hand and looked down to see the gold circlet.
"What the...?! How...?!" Ralis was almost speechless at what just happened.
Camaris, Valygar and Rasaad inched closer to Ralis while everyone else stood back a few feet.
"What happened?" Rasaad asked.
Ralis turned around and revealed to everyone the golden circlet in his hand
"This just magically appeared in my hands," he announced.
Viconia stepped forward now, her red eyes drawn to the circlet in his hands.
"That is the circlet that will allow us to control mind flayers?" She asked Ralis.
"In theory, yes," he replied, then turned around to face the machine and pressed the red button again.
Once again the machine hummed loudly briefly and another circlet materialized, this time in Ralis' left hand. Camaris and his people started murmuring among themselves in awe.
"Will the circlets work?" One of the men asked.
"Hey, buddy, this is like trusting wild magic to do its thing. It might work, it might not," Neera replied to the man who spoke up.
Ralis handed the circlet in his left hand to Rasaad, then he pressed the red button again, and another circlet materialized in his left hand.
"I don't want to push my luck. We'll leave with just three of these," Ralis announced as he turned his back on the machine, then as he walked away form it, he handed the first circlet he received to Viconia, heading for the door.
"Let's go. Time's wasting," Ralis announced to his party, and they started to follow him to the door.
Neera, walking alongside Viconia was looking at the circlet in her hands that Ralis gave to her.
"Oooh, shiny! Hey Vicky, can I see it?" Neera asked her.
"No," Viconia replied curtly.
Right when Ralis opened the door, Camaris said his good luck to him.
"My Tymora's luck shine on you, my dark elf friend," Camaris said.
Ralis looked back at him and nodded before going out the door with Valygar at his side, and everyone else followed, leaving Camaris and his people alone in the room. As soon as the door shut, silence fell in the room except for the low humming from the large machine.
"Camaris, it is foolish to trust those people to succeed. We may be awake, but our fates are set in stone," a woman with long black hair chastised Camaris, who stood confident staring at the door.
He smiled. "We'll see, Camille. We'll see. I got a good feeling about those strangers," he said.
Ralis and his party backtracked to the prison room. Fortunately they encountered no mind flayers along the way. It is likely most of the mind flayers in this city are dealing with the githyanki and the kuo-toa and troglodyte prisoners Hexxat broke free. Once they reached the the prison room, they immediately headed north towards the open door that is at the 12:00 position of the room, which is likely where the escaped prisoners fled once they were freed by Hexxat. As the moved through the hallway lit by light orbs partially embedded into the walls, Ralis held his longbow at the ready with a +2 arrow already prepared, and the golden circlet he once held in his hands now resting on his head, and he hoped that he doesn't need to get close to a mind flayer to gain control over its mind.
The door up ahead is unlocked and open, and they could partially see what is in the next room. When they got closer to the door's opening, they saw the dead bodies of three mind flayers and four kuo-toa and one troglodyte, and their blood stained the floor. There must have been a battle here not long ago, no doubt, and Ralis and his party could see that there are two ways out of the room: A door at the left corner of the room which is already open, and another door to the northeastern corner of the room, which is also open.
"Which way?" Hexat wondered aloud.
Before Ralis could reply, Viconia spoke up.
"Wait! Let me use this spell once more," she said, reaching into her inventory bag and pulling out the crystal ball that Tasha gave her back when they were wandering through the Underdark, her symbol as a cleric of Shar, then she used the Clairvoyance spell.
"I forgot all about that spell!" Neera exclaimed in surprise after staying quiet watching Viconia perform the verbal and somatic components to activate the spell.
"Quiet! I need to focus," Viconia snapped at Neera while keeping her eyes focused on the crystal ball.
The foggy image in the crystal ball slowly dissipated to reveal what Viconia is looking at without using the crystal ball right now, her point of view standing between Hexxat and Ralis. Using her cleric symbol of Shar, she moved the crystal ball's visual towards the open northeastern door, journeying through the twisting hallway until it branched at a "T" junction. She decided to go left. Up ahead about several yards there is an open door. In the next room ahead, Viconia saw two mind flayers overpowering a small group of kuo-toa. she saw one of the mind flayers use Mage Hand to choke a kuo-toa to death, while the other one used telekinesis, lifting two kuo-toa off the ground and hurling them around, smashing them against the walls or into their allies.
"There are two illithids in the next room over there fighting some kuo-toa. If we hurry, we can surprise them and put those gold circlets to good use!" Viconia informed her allies.
Ralis nodded approvingly at the urgent news. "All right, let's go!"
They rushed towards the northeastern door. Seven seconds after they left the room, three mind flayers walked into the room from the door to the west, and when they saw the bodies of the two mind flayers that died fighting the kuo-toa and troglodytes, they made subtle body languages that signified some form of pity or regret. When Ralis and his party reached the "T" junction of the hallway, Ralis looked to Viconia after they stopped at the branching path.
"Viconia, which way?" Ralis asked her.
"Left!" She quickly replied.
They immediately ran down the left side, and after rounding a curve, they saw the open door a few yards ahead, and right when Ralis and Valygar came into the room, they discovered that they are too late. The mind flayers that Viconia witnessed using the Clairvoyance spell had already dispatched the kuo-toa they were fighting, and now they have turned their attention to the newcomers that have just entered the room.
Valygar uttered some profanity and Ralis instinctively raised hos longbow and fired at one of the mind flayers. The arrow missed, breezing past the right shoulder of the mind flayer he was aiming at, and the other mind flayer used its mind blast psionic ability. In seconds, Ralis and his party felt a strong wave of psychic energy rock their bodies and minds, as if some invisible force is about to blow them back against the wall like a very strong gust of wind from the flapping wings of a dragon, and they collapsed to the ground, stunned by the blast. Ralis fell on his back, unable to move his body. Just when he thought that his journey will end being recaptured or his brain eaten, he remembered that he is wearing one of the three golden circlets he made on his head. In a desperate attempt to use it, he made his mind focus on the thought of dominating the mind of the first mind flayer that came into his eyes view. It took a few seconds for that to happen since Ralis could not even move his head, but right when the mind flayer was about to kneel down to grab him by the shoulder and probably lift him up, the creature recoiled in surprise. Ralis was unsure if the circlet actually worked, but to test out whether it did, he mentally ordered the mind flayer to attack the other mind flayer. The command worked, and the mind flayer obeyed, using Mage Hand to punch the mind flayer's head, dropping Rasaad from its grasp before it could bring his head up to its mouth shaped hole hidden behind its tentacles, stunning it, then the dominated mind flayer levitated towards the stunned mind flayer, wrapped its hands around its neck and choked it hard until its neck bones snapped, then the mind flayer collapsed to the floor. About 32 seconds later, Ralis and his party finally were able to move again, standing up on their feet and finding relief that the mind flayer Ralis dominated has saved their skins.
"Thank Tymora! It worked!" Ralis sighed in relief.
The dominated mind flayer looked at Ralis blankly, but did nothing else.
Neera cautiously walked over to the mind flayer from behind, and when she got close to it, she poked its left arm once.
"So... you really have control over it now?" She asked Ralis.
"Yeah. Watch," Ralis said aloud, then he mentally commanded the mind flayer to wave hello at Neera.
The mind flayer turned to face Neera, causing her to gasp and back into Hexxat.
"Careful," Hexxat warned her after she bumped into her.
The mind flayer raised its right hand and waved hello. Seeing this caused Neera to look up at Hexxat, and Hexxat to look down at Neera, and their eyes met.
"Oookay, that was... really freaky to see," she said.
"Tell me about it," Hexxat said in agreement.
Valygar checked Rasaad as he touched all sides of his head.
"Are you all right, Rasaad?" Valygar asked him.
After feeling his head for eight seconds, Rasaad closed his eyes and shuddered.
"I... I'm fine, Valygar... That is an experience I dearly wish to forget," Rasaad replied.
Then Ralis commanded the mind flayer to take the lead into the next room. After the mind flayer levitated past him, Ralis said aloud to his party: "Come on, we need to go."
The mind flayer levitated over the dead bodies of the kuo-toa, its feet barely six inches above the ground, and approached the door, using its psychic ability to open the door without touching the doorknob, and once the door opened, the mind flayer levitated through the open passageway, and Ralis and his party carefully followed their dire charmed ally.
As they wandered down the twisting and branching hallways to who knows where, the sounds of battle slowly became closer and louder to the ears of Ralis and his group. also, they had to fight their way past a few intellect devourers, strange creatures that look like brains with monstrous bestial legs. Though Neera dispatched some with her magic missiles and Ralis shot a couple with his arrows, the dire charmed mind flayer used telekinesis to attack the creatures, slamming them against the wall or against each other, causing blood and brain matter to be smeared all over the walls and floor. They eventually found themselves in an open space room with tables. In this room, five mind flayers are effortlessly fighting three troglodytes and one kuo-toa, who are at the mercy of the mind flayers' telekinetic powers, being levitated six feet into the air and thrown around like rag dolls. Since the troglodytes were in clear distress, the stench of their body odor permeated the room, causing Ralis and his party to gag as soon as their nostrils caught a whiff of the foul air. Ralis had to pinch his nostrils shut and let his dire charmed mind flayer enter the room first, then he mentally commanded the mind flayer to surprise its former allies with its best offensive magic spell.
The dominated mind flayer raised its arms up and cast the spell known as Mass Hold Monster, freezing the five mind flayers who have just killed the troglodytes by smashing their heads into each other, but the kuo-toa was held suspended in the air because its attackers have been frozen by an unexpected attack. Then Ralis and his party charged into the room, trying not to puke from smelling the foul odor of the dead troglodytes nearby and charge at the frozen mind flayers with their melee weapons drawn. Ralis, Valygar and Viconia charged past their dominated mind flayer and Valygar stabbed one mind flayer, Viconia smashed the skull of another, Ralis cut down the thirs, but Valygar, holding a gold circlet himself, decided to dominate the fourth mind flayer, putting it on his head and thinking of controlling the mind flayer in front of him. Rasaad considered doing the same, but he relented, as it is not his nature to dominate another living creature no matter how evil it is.
"Why do you hesitate, monk?" Viconia asked him.
Rasaad looked over at Viconia, then down at the golden circlet in his hand. "I... I... It is not the way of the Sun Soul to control the mind of another living creature," he said.
Viconia rolled her eyes and approached Rasaad.
"Stupid Sun Soul rhetoric. Give me that," She snatched the golden circlet out of Rasaad's hands rudely, then placed the circled on her head, then dominated the last living mind flayer.
Neera pumped her hands in victory. "All right! Now we got three mind flayers on our side! Now let's get out of this room, the air stinks!"
She got no objections from anyone. They immediately left what Rasaad assumes may be the dining room of the mind flayer city, considering how many tables there are, possibly for mind flayers to eat harvested brains that have been pried from the dead bodies of prisoners.
What followed for the next 13 minutes later was a grueling fight through the mind flayer city. Some doors were shut by powerful psychic energy, making them impossible to open, even Hexxat couldn't pick the locks, but with the help of their dominated mind flayers, Ralis and his group got through the doors that were psionically sealed and wandered almost aimlessly through the corridors and rooms of the illithid city, fighting their way past any mind flayer and thrall that got in their way. If they did not have three dominated mind flayers fighting on their side, fighting their way through the mind flayer city would be very difficult and end in their recapture or their brains being devoured. They soon began to notice signs that the prisoners Hexxat released before they met Camaris Highcastle and his people were not able to get this far, fighting their way to freedom. Ralis and his party are lucky, finding the circlets and dire charming three mind flayers to fight for them, as their psionic powers and powerful magic spells like Sanctuary, Fear, Crown of Madness, Phantasmal Force, and Confusion. Viconia took delight in commanding her dire charmed mind flayer to cast Crown of Madness on mind flayer thralls, summoning a jagged crown on the target's head, which in turn drives them to madness and insanity, attacking each other or their mind flayer masters or banging their head against the wall. Neera was careful with her magic, casting only Magic Missiles and Fire Arrow when she could, and when her spells were used up for the day, she resorted to using her sling and sling bullets to attack enemies from a safe distance.
Eventually they managed to catch up with Simyaz and his githyanki charges a couple rooms later after 13 minutes of wandering almost aimlessly through the illithid city had passed. Ralis and his party found themselves standing 38 feet behind Simyaz and his brethren fighting against ten mind flayers with psionic powers of their own. The mind flayers tried mind blasting the githyanki, but the githyanki protected themselves by erecting a psionic barrier, and attacking back when the opportunity presented itself. Two githyanki, a woman and man, used Misty Step, a conjuration spell that provides the ability to perform short range teleportation to perform a surprise attack on the mind flayers. A silvery mist surrounded the two githyanki that cast the spell, concealing their entire bodies in seconds then the mist dissipated to reveal that they are gone. And 29 feet ahead of Simyaz and his brethren, the two githyanki reappeared one foot behind the gathered forces of the mind flayers. When Simyaz turned around and noticed the six surfacers disguised as drow behind him while his brethren erected a psionic barrier to protect them from the mind blasts of the mind flayers seconds before the two githyanki behind them started to attack them with their silver swords, he was apparently surprised to see Ralis and his party had survived in the mind flayer city this long, and his surprise grew even more when he saw that the six surfacers disguised as drow had three mind flayers fighting alongside them. Ralis, Valygar and Viconia mentally commanded the dominated mind flayers to aid the githyanki, and they did, though Ralis felt sure that the conscious minds of the mind flayers felt repulsed at being forced to aid their mortal enemies against their brethren. With the help of the three dominated mind flayers, the ten mind flayers fighting Simyaz and his githyanki charges were almost easily dispatched, especially when the two githyanki that used the Misty Step spell ambushed them. After the battle, three of Simyaz's brethren motioned to attack the dire charmed mind flayers until Ralis told them that they found way to dominate and control the mind flayers using the circlets that they created in a room where ten humans were being experimented on. Simyaz was clearly amused.
"Impressive. Your resourcefulness must be commended," Simyaz said while sheathing his silver sword into its scabbard.
Ralis nodded in approval, and Viconia stepped forward to speak to the githyanki leader.
"Have you found a way out of this place?" She asked him.
Simyaz nodded. "These ghaik were guarding the final path out of this city. And I must admit, I did not think we would encounter you again."
"Feeling is mutual," Ralis responded, crossing his arms.
Simyaz nodded in agreement, smirking. "You have done well, and the githyanki are now free of the ghaik web of minds. Our own power is free once more, and we may leave this place on wings of will."
Viconia had a feeling that the githyanki had no intention of aiding them further. she knew little about these people, but she could tell that they think similarly to the drow, in that they think highly of themselves, seeing themselves as superior and have no respect or love towards people who are not githyanki.
"And this is where we learn that you do not intend to take us with you, isn't it? I trust no one well enough to think that they would," she said, making no effort to conceal her suspicions to herself.
Simyaz neither nodded or shook his head, he just stated the truth as the two githyanki that ambushed the mind flayers using Misty Step chopped off the heads of one mind flayer to take back to their home as trophies to Vlaakith.
"You will remain here, I fear, for we cannot carry you and and still remain free ourselves," he replied, then looked over his right shoulder at his brethren and gave them the hand signal that informed them that it is time to escape using the Dimensional Door spell.
"Hey, wait!" Ralis called, causing Simyaz and his brethren to stop what they were doing and look at him with inquisitive eyes. "What about the elder brain? Won't you assist us in destroying it?"
"Not today," Simyaz shook his head. "In the near future, we will return and kill all the filth that their tentacles have touched."
Ralis bared his teeth. This is not what Simyaz had promised, but arguing with a group of xenophobic people will get them nowhere.
"Then go, but when next we meet, we will be at each other's throats," Ralis warned, pointing an accusing finger at Simyaz as the two githyanki both carrying one severed mind flayer head in their hands took their place beside their brethren.
The githyanki leader smiled, though Ralis was unsure why, but Viconia and Hexxat understood.
"That is acceptable," Simyaz said with a nod and still smiling expectantly. "We wait to see if you can muster the strength to free yourself from this place. If you can conquer this place, if you can kill the elder brain, all the doors shall swing wide and you may walk free."
After hearing Simyaz speak those words, Ralis realized that maybe it is the psionic power of the elder brain that is locking some of the doors in the mind flayer city in ways that cannot be conventionally opened, further proof that they would not have gotten this far without the three dominated mind flayers aiding them.
"If not, we will return at a later time with a greater force. This den of filth will be wiped from existence. I hope you succeed and and the elder brain falls beneath your feet, but I hope the arm that wields our silver sword is lost to you." Simyaz now turned his back on Ralis and his party and dominated mind flayers the moment his brethren opened up dimensional door portals, then he took several steps towards them, and when they all disappeared, he opened up a dimensional portal of his own and stepped inside.
"I do not have your sacred sword, dammit!" Ralis angrily called after Simyaz before he stepped into the portal and the arcane energies that make up the rim of the portal dissipated, causing the portal to disappear into thin air.
The room fell silent now, now that the githyanki are gone.
"They're gone. Good riddance. Blowhards..." Neera muttered while crossing her arms, but still holding her staff in her right hand.
Ralis and Valygar noticed that besides the door directly ahead of them past the dead bodies of the mind flayers, there is another door to their left. Believing that door leads to where the elder brain is, Ralis and Valygar decided to go to that direction.
"Let's go find that elder brain so we can get a piece of its brain and make our escape easier," Ralis announced as he took charge and moved towards the northern door.
Valygar, Rasaad, Hexxat, Viconia, Neera and the three dire charmed mind flayers followed him. Ralis checked the door and discovered that it is not locked or psionically sealed, it opened easily. Pulling his sword out for possible impending combat, he ventured into the passageway and commanded his dire charmed mind flayer to accompany him in case they come across an enemy that catches them by surprise.
The passageway they followed curved left then went forward 16 feet, then curved right, going directly north towards another door. In the next room they found nothing, no mind flayers, just a room full of empty pods. Ralis and his party had no idea what the pods are for, but before moving on, Ralis had an idea. He decided to order his dire charmed mind flayer to tell him what the pods are for. The dire charmed mind flayer replied not using words, but using mental pictures.
From what Ralis has seen in his mind projected by his dire charmed mind flayer, in the next room not far northeast, there is a room where illithid birthing pods are kept. In the birthing pods is water-like liquid that holds hundreds of mind flayer tadpoles. The pods in this room are meant to hold humans or other humanoid creatures captive for a special purpose until one mind flayer comes from the birthing pod room with a bottle containing the brine potion and a few mind flayer tadpoles. The mind flayer reaches into the bottle to pick up one tadpole between its fingers and hold it up to the captured humanoid's face. The tadpole latches on to the creature's eye, holding the upper eyelid open with its small tentacles and crawls into the creature's skull by crawling over its eye. Seeing this image play out in his mind made Ralis cringe in obvious disgust and he felt the need to vomit. The dominated mind flayer telepathically explained to Ralis that the process is known as "ceremorphosis", it is how mind flayers reproduce. It is a bodily change that occurs when an illithid tadpole reaches maturity and is inserted into the brain of another humanoid being, usually a human. The tadpole eats the victim's brain matter and essentially replaces the brain, erasing all of the subject's personality and memory, but leaving the physical body alive and under the tadpole's control. After this, morphological transformations occurred and after a week a new illithid is created.
"Ugh... I regret asking him what these pods are for..." Ralis explained to his party members while doubling over, holding his stomach with both hands, knowing that they were wondering why he was acting like something he had ate made him sick.
"What are they for?" Neera asked.
Ralis swallowed some bile back down his throat, making him gag from tasting the sour taste and looked at Neera with pleading eyes.
"There are some things that are better left unknown, Neera," he simply told her.
Neera said nothing, understanding full well that it is something horrific. No further conversation was made as Ralis led his party and dominated mind flayers to the northwest passage out of the room, intent on seeing the birthing pod room with his own two eyes. When they got there, they discovered a room with eight birthing pods shaped like giant cauldrons made of stone. One is in the center of the room and the other seven are placed around the corners of the room. Ralis cautiously walked over to the birthing pod in the center of the room and peered into it while Valygar, Rasaad, Hexxat, Viconia and Neera checked the others. Inside, he saw what looks like water, and inside are maybe a hundred mind flayer tadpoles swimming around. Ralis mentally ordered his dominated mind flayer to tell him whether the liquid the mind flayer tadpoles are swimming in is water or not. The dominated mind flayer responded by telepathically telling him that it is water. Water that is heavily saturated with salt. When Ralis asked him mentally if the water is safe to drink, the mind flayer agreed, telling him that when ingested, the brine will temporarily give him immunity to mind flayer psionics for two minutes. Being told this obviously pleased Ralis. This brine could be the edge they need to have to defeat the elder brain.
"Ralis, what are you doing? Don't tell me you plan on drinking that disgusting stuff..." Neera told Ralis after examining the other birthing pods while the mind flayer was telling Ralis about the brine.
Ralis smiled wryly at her.
"Actually, that is exactly what I am going to do," he said.
Everyone froze and looked at him in confusion.
"I'm sorry, come again?" Neera shook her head and looked at him in confused disgust.
Instead of replying, Ralis turned his head to look at the bottle sitting on a small table next to the birthing pod, then he grabbed it and dipped the bottle into the brine, picking up the liquid without scooping up any of the mind flayer tadpoles. He held the full bottle up in clear view and put a cork on it so the liquid won't spill out.
"You cannot be THAT thirsty!" Neera exclaimed in denial, then looked over at Rasaad.
"You're crazy! Rasaad, tell him this is crazy!" She begged him.
Before Rasaad could utter a word, Ralis quickly spoke up.
"My dire charmed mind flayer told me that this stuff is safe to drink. It's just water with a lot of salt. Besides, he also told me this stuff will protect us from the psionic powers of the mind flayers for two minutes."
Silence fell around them for a few seconds.
"Two minutes? That's it? Just two minutes?" Viconia asked skeptically.
"It's better than 30 seconds," Ralis replied to his former lover with a shrug.
Neera and Ralis looked at Valygar, Valygar looked at Hexxat, Hexxat looked at Rasaad, and Rasaad looked back at Hexxat.
"If what this potion does is true, I suggest we take some," Rasaad said.
Everyone spread out to pick up a bottle near other birthing pods and prepared to scoop up their own brine potion while Neera reluctantly left Ralis' side.
"I hope you're right about this. I don't want to poison myself with mind flayer goop," she said before leaving his side.
After creating their own brine potions, the entire party retraced their steps back to the ceremorphosis pod room, and found a southwestern passageway that took them twisting and turning to the west.
They continued journeying west for the next 8 minutes, fighting past a dozen mind flayers along the way with their dominated mind flayers aiding them in battle and opening psionically locked doors. Instead of wandering aimlessly like before, Ralis had the foresight to ask his mind flayer are they going the right direction to the elder brain's chamber, and the mind flayer confirmed that they are, they are just a few rooms away from it, as they are getting close to the center of the mind flayer city. Some doors were naturally locked, meaning Hexxat had to put her lockpicking skills to good use sometimes. Eventually they came across the door that will lead them to the elder brain's chamber after taking down four mind flayers and one "ulitharid", which are what mind flayers that possess extraordinary strength, intellect or both are called. The door is locked, but not in a way that only the dominated mind flayers could open it, fortunately. Ralis called Hexxat forward to pick the lock, and when her work was done, she stepped back. Out of caution, Ralis mentally asked his mind flayer is the elder brain's chamber behind this door, and the mind flayer nodded. Readying his brine potion in one hand and his longbow in the other, Ralis kicked the door open and rushed inside...
...for his nostrils to be overwhelmed by the reek of chemicals and fermented brain matter. In the middle of the large room is a pod far bigger than the ones that hold the mind flayer tadpoles, and in the pod partially submerged under the brine is the biggest brain Ralis has ever seen in his lifetime. The brain looks to be 10 feet long in diameter and weighs 600 pounds. Ralis wasted no time in being awestruck, he popped the cork off the bottle and drank the brine without hesitation. He noted that the water really is salty, just moments before the brain lashed out at him with a psionic whip of one of its tendrils attached to it. The tendril didn't touch Ralis, but the psionic blast that came from it felt like a gust of wind against Ralis' body, and it did not paralyze him at all.
"It worked! Drink the potion now!" Ralis exclaimed as he prepared an arrow to fire at one of the mind flayers acting as bodyguards for the elder brain.
Viconia, Neera, Hexxat, Rasaad and Valygar drank their potions, and though it felt strange to them to drink such heavily salted water, they quickly joined the fight, including their dominated mind flayers.
The elder brain had eight mind flayers acting as its bodyguards, and Ralis already shot down one of them, so now it has seven left, and they cannot use their psionic powers to subdue or overwhelm Ralis and his party, so they had to resort to arcane magic. The help these intruders got from the dominated mind flayers was something the elder brain did not expect, but it had a way to break them free from their control. After four of its bodyguards were slain by Ralis and his party, the elder brain exerted its psionic power on the three dominated mind flayers, usind Domination to wrest them from Ralis, Valygar and Viconia's control. The golden circlets on Ralis, Valygar and Viconia's head couldn't compete against the immense psionic power of the elder brain, so they broke in two pieces. Ralis was about to fire an arrow at the mind flayer when he noticed that his circlet snapped in two and fell to the floor.
"Wha...?" His mouth dropped open in disbelief seconds before a tendril whipped him in the chest, sending him flying back and hitting the wall, knocking the air out of his lungs.
Viconia and Valygar were also confused at their circlets breaking. One mind flayer managed to cast Charm Person on Neera, successfully charming her and it commanded her to attack Rasaad. Some of the other mind flayers tried to use psionic blasts, not knowing that Viconia, Valygar, Rasaad, Neera, Hexxat and Ralis are now immune to their psionic attacks, at least for the next minute and 22 seconds.
Though Ralis is in pain, he managed to stand up and pick up an arrow with his longbow and fire at the mind flayer that he used to control, killing it with one shot to its chest.
Rasaad was forced to defend himself from Neera, dodging her strikes from her staff while Valygar, Hexxat and Viconia attacked the remaining mind flayers with their melee weapons, leaving Ralis the only one who can attack the elder brain. Ralis readied an arrow of piercing, took aim at the elder brain and fired. He saw the arrow pierce the deep into the lubricated tissue of the elder brain's frontal lobe, and he saw the elder brain squirm in pain. He quickly pulled out another arrow of piercing, pulled back on the bowstring and fired. This arrow hit what might be the tissue in between the frontal and parietal lobe, causing the elder brain to squirm in pain again. Now likely in sheer desperation, especially since its mind flayer bodyguards are almost all dead, the elder brain magically summoned two brain golems to defend it, and they both came running towards Ralis. A brain golem is an 8ft tall humanoid-shaped construct made entirely of brain tissue with a bud of an elder brain for a head. Nearly panicked at the sight of two odd looking golems running towards him while trying to mind blast him to submission, not knowing he drank mind flayer tadpole brine to be immune temporarily. Ralis dropped his longbow and pulled Albruin and the Blade of Searing out of their scabbards.
"Uh, help! A little help here!" He called to his companions then dodged the left leg of the first brain golem that reached him first before the other one and tried to kick him, then he met the other brain golem and dodged a sweeping uppercut that would have sent him flying up 20 feet in the air with broken ribs, then he swung with both swords at the side of the brain golem's abdomen, tearing through brain tissue and the Blade of Searing burning it.
"Here we come, Ralis!" Hexxat called with Viconia by her side as they rushed to assist Ralis while Valygar and Rasaad dealt with the last three mind flayers, one of them stood back controlling dire charmed Neera, commanding her to kill Rasaad, and the other mind flayer tried to help Neera in attacking Rasaad, so Rasaad had to stay on his feet, staying away from Neera's staff strikes and the mind flayer trying to grab him to strangle him or worse.
While Viconia and Hexxat aided Ralis in dealing with the two golems, he noticed he had gotten a little too close to the elder brain's pod and had get out of range of the elder brain's tendrils otherwise it will whip him. He got out of there just in time and aided Viconia in fighting the brain golem that tried to kick him. She destroyed its right leg using her Skullcrusher +3 mace, and when it fell to the ground, Ralis finished off the golem by stabbing its head with the Blade of Searing +3, cooking the brain tissue inside and out.
While Viconia rushed to Hexxat to assist her in distracting the other golem, Ralis ran back to the spot where he dropped his longbow, sheathed his swords into their scabbards and picked his longbow up off the floor, then he turned around and faced the elder brain. While reaching for an arrow, he noticed that Valygar has killed the mind flayer he was fighting and is now attacking the mind flayer controlling Neera. Ralis pulled a +2 arrow out, pulled it on the bowstring while aiming at the elder brain and fired. The arrow flew through the air for 48 feet and pierced a different section of the elder brain's frontal lobe, though not as deep as the arrow of piercing, Ralis could see the +2 arrow clearly stuck on the tissue's surface as the elder brain writhed in pain. Neera stood back, allowing Rasaad to deal with the mind flayer on command of the mind flayer being attacked by Valygar, and the mind flayer, while dodging and moving away from Valygar, commanded Neera to use her magic to destroy Rasaad. Bad idea. The mind flayer doesn't know that Neera is a wild mage. Neera dropped her staff and prepared to cast Fireball on Rasaad, not caring that the blast would catch her and the mind flayer distracting Rasaad in the blast. Fortunately for them, a wild surge happened, and suddenly, in the blink of an eye, everyone in the elder brain's chambers were teleported at random. Valygar and the mind flayer controlling Neera were teleported to the far right side of the room 19 feet apart from each other, the last living brain golem was teleported to a spot behind the elder brain's pod, Viconia was teleported near the door out of the elder brain's chamber, Rasaad was teleported to the spot where Ralis was, Hexxat was teleported near the pod, Neera stood where she always stood, and Ralis... he got teleported into the pod with the elder brain, floating underwater just 5 feet close to the right side of the elder brain's cerebellum.
Ralis was caught completely off guard by what happened. One second he was preparing to fire another arrow at the elder brain, the next minute he is underwater right next to it! And to make matters worse, he didn't have time to hold his breath, and his lungs are already screaming for air. Fortunately he was exhaling air out of his nose a second before ending up in the brine with the elder brain otherwise his nostrils would have suddenly taken in brine instead of air, but Ralis did not want to give his position away to the elder brain to get a quick breath of oxygen. Ignoring his aching lungs, he reached for his two swords, pulled them out and stabbed both blades into the cerebellum of the elder brain while baring his teeth, pushing both blades in deep, letting the fiery blade burn deep into the elder brain's tissue before pulling them both out then stabbing both swords up at the elder brain's occipital lobe. And that did it. The elder brain couldn't take anymore punishment after taking several arrows. Ralis felt a psychic backlash, a sharp pain that jabbed into his brain like a knife. Ralis tried to resist, tried to swim up to the surface for air, but the backlash was so overwhelming, his vision turned white, and he thought that this is his final moment before drowning. However, in a matter of seconds, his vision returned to normal, and he still felt his lungs aching like crazy. After unintentionally gulping some of the brine, Ralis swam for the surface while gulping more brine in desperation for air, leaving his two swords and longbow behind underwater then he broke the surface, gasping loudly and coughing.
When he looked around, he saw that all the mind flayers and brain golems are dead. He and his party have emerged victorious. Neera and Valygar were the first to notice Ralis in the pod with the dead elder brain.
"Ralis! What the hells are you doing in there?!" Neera exclaimed.
"You... shut the hells up, Neera," Ralis retorted in exhaustion then rested his head against the cool stone floor, panting in relief and fatigue.
A minute later, Ralis retrieved his swords and longbow from the brine in the pod and using the bottle that once held the brine from the mind flayer tadpole pod, Ralis cut a fresh wound from the elder brain and filled the bottle with its blood. Now that they got what they needed, Ralis and his party departed the elder brain's chambers and headed back to the room where they reunited with Simyaz and his githyanki before they left. From there, they took the long walk back to the room where they left Camaris and his people.
When they returned, Camaris and his people were confused upon seeing Ralis all wet, but nonetheless were happy to see him and his companions return.
"Did you do it? Are we safe?" Camaris asked Ralis.
He nodded. "It is done. We not only secured a way out of the city, but we also defeated the elder brain," Ralis said with a smile because he is imagining the shocked look on Simyaz's face when he comes back here with an army of githyanki only to see that the elder brain and half of the city's population is dead.
The men and women behind Camaris whooped and cheered happily upon hearing the good news, even Camaris himself smiled in relief. Ralis and his party escorted them to the prison cell room where Camaris and his party picked up body armor to wear and weapons to use, then they escorted them to the room where Simyaz and his githyanki departed. Along the way, Ralis explained to Camaris and his party that he and most of his companions except one are not really drow, they they come from the surface and is currently on a mission, though he didn't explain everything. They journeyed through the door past the ten dead mind flayers and found themselves in the exact same room where Ralis and his party were ambushed after accidentally stumbling on the mind flayer city.
"This is it. This is the place where they caught us," Valygar said with a relieved smile upon seeing a familiar room.
"Thank you, friend, I think we can find our way to the surface now." Camaris reached out and shook Ralis' hand. "If... if we encounter each other on the surface... I owe you more than I can ever repay."
"Don't think about the debt, Camaris. Think about how lucky we all are to escape this gods forsaken place with our minds and bodies intact," Ralis said.
"Indeed," Camaris nodded in agreement. "Good luck in the Underdark if you intend to remain. I will pray for your success and safety."
Ralis, Valygar, Rasaad, Hexxat and Neera nodded at Camaris, and he turned to face his people with a hopeful smile.
"Come, my friends... let us leave this hellish place once and for all..." He told them.
Ralis and his party let Camaris and his party leave the mind flayer city first, then they followed. Technically Camaris and his party are still in a hellish place, but the tunnels of the Underdark are a welcome sight for all of them to see after witnessing the horrors of a mind flayer city.
It took Ralis and his party almost ten days, almost an entire week to return to Ust Natha because they had to avoid or fight through some hostile Underdark dwelling creatures along the way, but nothing they couldn't handle. And when they stood in front of the gates of the drow city and informed the guard on the other side that they have returned with a gift for Matron Ardulace, they were welcomed back into the city without hesitation. When they got to the city, they headed straight for the temple of Lolth, believing that Phaere must have been visiting the temple daily for the last few days anticipating their return. Sure enough, they found her in the temple's center, speaking to her mother about something. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, Ralis heard some of what they were talking about. Something about House Despana becoming the most favored House in Ust Natha after the ritual is completed. Ralis didn't hear enough of it because Phaere noticed him and his party approaching seconds before Ardulace did. Ralis held the bottle of the elder brain's blood out as he approached Phaere with a confident smile.
"You have the blood! You have done it! Outstanding, Veldrin!" Phaere's smile grew so wide as she took the bottle of blood into her hands, it looked strange to Ralis' eyes.
Phaere passed the bottle over to her mother who examined it in admiration.
"Ahhh... the Spider Queen smiles upon us. Our gamble does not go unwasted, daughter. Your champion has brought us the blood that we need!" Ardulace examined the bottle with a growing smile, then turned her smile on Phaere, a rare sight she doesn't see often.
Phaere felt so overjoyed that he had to restrain herself from dancing.
"Praise Lolth! The ritual may finally be begun! Despana will rule Ust Natha without question as the preeminent House!"
Ardulace's happiness seemed more subdued than Phaere's and there is a reason why, Ralis found out soon enough.
"Indeed. But we must be cautious, daughter, ever cautious. The ritual may be disturbed before it is completed. The silver one may get desperate."
Ralis wondered who is the silver one Ardulace referred to, but he realized that she could be talking about none other than Adalon.
"You are going to seal the city, Matron?" Phaere asked, the smile on her lips withering to a curious frown.
"Yes," Ardulace nodded with a serious scowl. "We cannot be disturbed from the outside. I shall go now and begin the proper preparations." Ardulace placed the bottle containing the elder brain's blood in one of the pockets of her robes and began to walk for the temple's exit, and as she did, she smiled in excitement at Phaere and rubbed her dark hands together. "This shall be a glorious day indeed!" She exclaimed before walking away from Phaere.
After walking past Ralis and his party, she turned around with her eyes focused on Ralis.
"Veldrin. You have done House Despana the greatest of services. You will be a male without equal... riches and slaves shall be yours. I shall see to it as soon as the ritual has been completed. Now it is time for you to rest, strong one... there is nothing more for you to prove to me." Ardulace turned her back on everyone and departed the temple.
Phaere came to Ralis' side and watched her mother leave. She didn't say a word until her mother was out of earshot.
"Well, I'm not done with him just yet," Phaere said, speaking to her mother who is already too far away to hear her, and Ralis caught the defiant sarcastic tone in Phaere's voice that hinted that she may be up to some mischief that her mother likely would not approve of. Then Ralis saw Phaere turn her head and look at him. "Veldrin... come to my personal apartments. I expect you to meet me there within the hour... this is not a request."
"Unlike that other male, you will hear no objections from me," Ralis promised, and that made Phaere smile at him before she walked away.
When Phaere was out of earshot, Valygar asked Ralis:
"What do you think she wants?"
"I don't know..." Ralis replied, slowly shaking his head. "But I got a feeling that whatever it is, it clashes against the interests of Matron Ardulace..."
Ralis left his companions at the tavern/inn they have been resting at ever since the first day of their visit in Ust Natha and he alone ventured to the Female Fighters' Society tower. When he knocked on the door and a drow woman opened the door, he wasn't greeted with suspicion and restrained hostility, the woman told him Phaere told her to expect his arrival. Ralis ventured up to Phaere's private chambers and knocked on her door three times.
"Veldrin?" She called from the other side of the closed door before opening it.
"It is me," Ralis replied.
Phaere opened the door almost immediately and invited Ralis in.
"You arrived right on time. Good," Phaere said with a pleased smirk as she opened the door and stood aside to let Ralis in.
Then after closing the door and locking it she signaled Ralis to follow her away from the door to stand near the entrance to her bedroom, which is a good distance away from the door so that eavesdroppers cannot hear them.
"Do you have some kind of plan about the ritual?" Ralis asked her.
"Yes, Veldrin, I do," Phaere said with a mischievous smirk. "I have a plan... a plan that will place me as the head of House Despana even as we take our place as the rightful ruling House of Ust Natha."
Ralis smirked in admiration.
"That is a bold yet very ambitious plan, Phaere," he said, playing the part of a drow male happy to play a role in an ambitious female's schemes.
"My plan also includes you, Veldrin..." Phaere said, softly jabbing the index finger of her right hand to Ralis' chest and circling her finger on the breastplate of his drowcrafted body armor. "... without your timely arrival here, none of this would have been possible. Do as I say, and your rewards will be unimaginable. Refuse, and..." Phaere let her voice trail off and she shrugged while smiling in relieved disbelief with the knowledge that no sane male would ever refuse such a rewarding outcome. "... well, why would you refuse? You have everything to gain, Veldrin. Everything."
Now Phaere walked over to the storage box where she keeps her drinks and she pulled out two cups of Kulg, one for her to drink, and another for Ralis to drink. She gave Ralis the cup of Kulg in her right hand.
"In order for this plan to be successful, however, you must betray the matron mother. Are you willing to do this? Think carefully on your answer."
Ralis glanced down at the liquid in his cup for a second then looked into Phaere's eyes and smiled.
"I have no qualms about betraying the matron mother," he said.
"Good," Phaere smiled approvingly than drank some of her Kulg. "Then you may aid me in my plan and be rewarded accordingly once I am the new matron mother," she said while watching Ralis drink some of his Kulg.
After he downed some of his drink and rested his arm holding the cup at his chest level, Phaere's excited smile turned into a serious frown.
"You heard Matron speak of the ritual?" She asked him.
"I know of the ritual, but I don't know what the purpose of the ritual is about," Ralis said.
Phaere slowly approached Ralis with her eyes somewhat wider than usual.
"The ritual involves summoning a powerful denizen of the Abyss to assist House Despana. Matron will summon a demon of terrible power, Veldrin... one to aid the drow in our attack upon the surface elves." Phaere stopped 4 inches in front of Ralis now, looking up at him with wide eyes. "The elder brain blood is a component in this ritual, used to draw the demon's attention and bring him before us. But, most gloriously, House Despana has acquired the eggs of a silver dragon. The one guarding the route to the surface that we drow descended from so long ago."
Here we go... The moment I've been preparing for... Ralis thought to himself while listening to Phaere. Aloud, he said:
"Why hold dragon eggs? What is the point?"
"Holding these eggs hostage keeps the silver dragon from interfering," Phaere replied while taking a couple steps back from Ralis. "Even better, Matron plans to use them as an offering to the demon to enlist its aid."
Ralis stroked his chin thoughtfully, pretending to be thinking of the benefits of this ritual, but in reality he is analyzing how dire the situation has become. This mission to rescue Adalon's dragon eggs has become a race against time. How can he save the eggs without exposing himself? When Phaere noticed that no questions will be coming from Veldrin, she decided to continue speaking with a proud, malicious smile.
"Indeed, what demon could refuse? House Despana will have opened a way for the war and summoned its most powerful warrior. We shall become preeminent. But there is no rule that states Ardulace must still be matron mother of such a powerful House."
"What must I do, Phaere?" Ralis asked with an expectant smirk, pretending to be mildly ecstatic about the idea of serving House Despana with Phaere who will be matron mother as her favorite male warrior.
Phaere signaled Ralis to follow her into her bedroom, and when they entered the bedroom, Phaere walked over to a wardrobe adorned with webbing motifs on it, then she opened the door and bent over to pick up whatever is laying on the bottom of the inside of the wardrobe under her assortment of clothing, giving Ralis a clear view of her posterior under the soft fabric of her robes. Ralis turned his head away, feeling a pang of guilt over being unable to find a way to save himself from sleeping with Phaere several days ago. Phaere straightened her upper body and returned to Ralis with a box in her hands. The box is 9 inches in length, 4 inches in width and 6 inches in height.
"Go to the treasury, Veldrin... steal the dragon's eggs and replace them with the convincing fakes that I have had made. You will then bring the real eggs to me. Matron will offer the fake eggs to the demon and be killed. Then I shall offer him the real eggs. The ritual will be completed, and I shall be matron mother."
With her left hand, she reached into the pocket of her robes and pulled out a silver key while her right hand balanced the box alone, and she handed the key to Ralis. After she handed him the key, she handed him the box as well. As she handed him these items, she said:
"Here... here is the key to the treasury room and the fake eggs. Take them. Return with the real eggs before the ritual is ready to begin."
Ralis nodded.
"It shall be done... future Matron Mother Phaere," he said, and Phaere returned the remark with a flattered smile that did not look innocent, more like the smile of a woman who likes to have her ego stroked.
Ralis started to head out of the bedroom until Phaere stopped him.
"Wait, Veldrin. I give you one warning... the guards will try to stop you in the treasury, if they see you. Kill them only if you must. Use stealth, Veldrin... now go."
Ralis nodded and continued to head for the door out of Phaere's private chambers. He opened the door, though it was difficult for him to do so while holding the box containing the fake dragon eggs, but he managed to do it and step outside and Phaere closed the door behind him. He left the Female Fighters' Society tower, venturing into the streets of Ust Natha, being careful not to bump into any of the drow civilians milling about.
The walk back to the tavern where his party await his return felt long because of carrying a box containing false dragon eggs, but Ralis had memorized the route between the tavern and the Female Fighters' Society tower, and when he passed by a shop that sells the finest drowcrafted clothes in Ust Natha, that was when he realized that he is a bit less than halfway there to the tavern. Just then, he thought he heard someone call his name nearby.
"Veldrin! Veldrin, over here!"
Ralis looked around in confusion until he saw a familiar face standing near the entrance of a narrow alley between two buildings close by to Ralis to his left, his head and body nearly cloaked by the shadows and darkness of the alleyway. It is none other than Solaufein! Ralis carefully ran over to the buildings on the opposite side from where he was and met up with Solaufein as they ventured into the alleyway away from potentially curious eyes.
"Solaufein! Thank Tymora you are still alive!" Ralis said in Common as they ventured deeper into the darkness of the alley.
Solaufein let out a relieved chuckle and tapped Ralis' right shoulder in a friendly way, and when they stopped walking, Ralis placed the box down on the ground.
"It is good to see you as well Ralis, my surfacer friend," he said in Common.
"It's been..." Ralis paused and shrugged while smiling at Solaufein. "I don't know how many days since I last saw you. How have you been?" Ralis asked.
"I've been hiding in the shadows of the city for some time now, and I believe I may be able to repay you for your mercy," he replied.
Ralis shook his head while holding his left hand up at chest level as if to stop Solaufein form doing something. "No, repayment is not necessary. Besides, you aren't the only one who has been heartbroken by a drow woman."
Solaufein opened his mouth to protest, but he paused, and his facial expression turned from enthusiastic to confused.
"What? You, a human, were in love with a drow? Interesting..." Solaufein raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"Still am, but Viconia and I can't be together anymore. Let's just say we are no longer lovers because of that damn Spider Queen hunting for her head," Ralis said.
Solaufein shook his head to refocus his mind back on serious matters. "Anyway, you told me that you and your allies are on a mission to save the eggs belonging to the silver dragon, am I right?"
"Yeah...? And...?" Ralis nodded slowly.
Solaufein looked left and right to make sure no one is trying to listen to them, then he inched forward and leaned towards Ralis' face.
"I followed Phaere and saw she had copies of the dragon's eggs created," he informed Ralis, whispering. "I have surmised her plan... and, no doubt, it involves using you as well. I believe I have a way to fool her, if that is what you wish."
Ralis' eyes widened. This is the golden moment he has been searching for!
"What's your plan, Solaufein?" He asked.
In the near darkness, he saw Solaufein turn his back on him and walk away a few feet, then he heard him pick something up off the ground and he returned back to Ralis and placed what is most definitely a box of similar size in front of the box Ralis is carrying. Solaufein knelt down and opened the box. Though still in darkness, Ralis could see that Solaufein has his own set of fake dragon eggs!
"I had an additional copy of the eggs made. Phaere magically marked hers so she could recognize them... these are not. She will be fooled if you give them to her," Solaufein explained as he stood up straight.
Ralis tilted his head in curiosity now.
"Your timing is amazing, Solaufein. I was hoping for an opportunity to get away with the real eggs without arousing suspicion, and you have provided it. I am doubly glad I decided not to kill you when Phaere ordered me to. But why are you helping me, other than the fact that you want to repay me?
"Because I want to see Phaere and her House fall. The drow war on the surface elves is beyond my concern, and I spit on Phaere and her House. So what will it be, Ralis? Will you switch Phaere's fake eggs for my fake eggs to facilitate the complete downfall of House Despana?"
Instead of replying using words, Ralis smiled at him, then slowly got down on his knees and opened his box. Solaufein smiled in return and got to work in adding Solaufein's eggs with Phaere's eggs. Ralis made sure to divide Phaere's fake eggs from Solaufein's fake eggs, placing Phare's five eggs on the left side of the box, and Solaufein placed his five fake eggs into the box on the right side, and Ralis placed his dirk, Avenger, in between the two sets of eggs as a divider to keep in mind whose eggs are whose, as he had to be careful not to give Phaere back her own eggs and place Solaufein's eggs in the treasury room by mistake. After the switch was done, Solaufein and Ralis shook hands in the near pitch blackness.
"Excellent. I wish I could be there to see the look on her face... and tell her it was I who fooled her. But it is well enough that I am not."
Ralis nodded then picked up his box.
"Fare you well, Solaufein. May Tymora shine more luck down on you so that you live to find other drow who worship Eilistraee."
"Fare you well, surfacer Ralis. I shall praise your name when I hear of Despana's wretched fall," Solaufein replied.
With that, Ralis walked out of the alleyway and continued along the route back to the tavern.
When Ralis reunited with his party in his hotel room, he brought them up to speed, telling them about Phaere's plan and the ritual. Everybody was not surprised that Phaere plans on betraying her mother, but Viconia had more on her mind than the obvious.
"Open war with the surface elves? A bold move, bolstered by a greater demon's summoning. Why would Irenicus involve himself, however? He holds the drow no great love, I am sure," she said after listening to what Ralis had to tell them.
"Uhm... maybe the drow had something that he wanted," Neera guessed, then looked over at Viconia for her opinion, but she said nothing.
"That could be plausible. But there is a discrepancy in your theory Neera," Hexxat said.
Neera looked over at Hexxat and said "What?"
Hexxat stood up out of her chair.
"For starters, Irenicus has no way of knowing what the drow have of value for him unless someone from this city told him already," Hexxat explained.
Silence fell in the room, and Valygar scratched the back of his neck while everyone remained silent for a few seconds, thinking over what Hexxat said.
Ralis shook his head. "Whatever the case may be, Irenicus stole Adalon's eggs and gave them to Matron Ardulace for a reason, and I seriously doubt that he did it because he loves or respects the drow." He let his voice trail off as he walked over to the box containing Solaufein's fake dragon eggs sitting on the table. "What matters right now is Solaufein has given us an opportunity to get out of the city with Adalon's eggs. But we'll need to be quick, however. I don't know how much time we will have to leave the city before every drow in the city catches on to what will happen and raise the alarm. So let's go. Viconia, Hexxat, both of you come with me. The rest of you await our return at the bazaar near the city gates. We need to get to the Despana treasury in the temple of Lolth and retrieve the real eggs."
Everyone stood up and prepared to leave. Ralis grabbed the box and departed the room with his party. When they got outside the tavern, Rasaad, Neera and Valygar headed for the bazaar while Ralis, Viconia and Hexxat went with him to the temple of Lolth. They ascended the nearest stairways up to the upper levels of the city and crossed suspension bridge after suspension bridge until they came to the temple of Lolth.
As usual, armed female guards patrolled the inside of the temple and priestesses of Lolth milled about, talking about various things among each other like what to do with their favored most incompetent slave, Ralis paid no attention to their conversations, and neither did Viconia and Hexxat. His arms ached from holding the box for so long, but he didn't feel the need to put it down yet, he is more concerned about finding out whose treasury room belongs to House Despana. He and Viconia and Hexxat found the section of the temple where the the treasuries of each noble House in Ust Natha is located. There are only five noble Houses in Ust Natha, and one of them is House Despana. There are five passageways in this room, each one leads to the treasury of one certain house. Ralis and his party had to make sure they journey to the right one. There are five bright red glyphs etched into the dark wall above each passageway, and the problem is, Ralis, Viconia and Hexxat do not know the symbol of House Despana.
Just when Ralis was about to decide to choose a passage at random, a patrolling handmaiden walked by, and Ralis got the idea of asking her which passageway leads to House Despana's treasury.
"Excuse me, Handmaiden," Ralis called to the long-haired, dark blue skinned drow woman dressed in lightweight revealing armor, and she fixed her glaring red eyes on him. "I am Veldrin, Phaere and Ardulace Despana's favored male from Ched Nasad. I have been tasked to pieck up a component for the Matron Ardulace. Which way is House Despana's treasury?"
The Handmaiden pointed up at the glyph shaped almost like the female gender symbol, with a hexagonal shape as the head instead of a circle with four large and six small tendrils protruding from the hexagon head, and the tail looked like the shaft and head of an arrow above the passageway to the far right corner of the room.
"That is the way to House Despana's treasury, male. Do not disturb me again," she warned Ralis and continued her patrol.
Without hesitation, Ralis, Viconia and Phaere ventured to the far right passageway, passing under the ceiling marked with House Despana's glyph, they descended down a flight of stairs going straight down 28 feet, then they saw that the passageway curved to the right about 17 feet ahead. Ralis put down the box containing Phaere and Solaufein's fake eggs and leaned towards Hexxat's left ear and told her to use her stealth abilities to surprise the guards that await them around the curve.
Hexxat nodded. "I have your back," she promised Ralis and easily turned invisible for stealth since she is already shrouded in the shadows of the hallway.
She moved ahead of Ralis and Viconia as they waited, rounding the curve to see that up ahead, four drow guards, all males, are guarding the door to the treasury about 51 feet ahead of where Hexxat stood. She saw the drow guards, but the drow guards could not see her even with their darkvision ability. She snuck her way between the first two guards and they did not notice a thing. She made her way towards the final two guards standing in front of the door, and she realized there is no way she and Ralis and Viconia will be able to get into the treasury room without alerting the guards. They must be killed. Hexxat moved past the last two guards and put herself between them and the door. Then she chose to ambush the drow to her right. Slowly pulling Arbane's Sword +2 out of its scabbard slowly, and when the opportunity presented itself, she drove her sword into the back of the drow with her right hand and used her left hand to cover his mouth. She felt her hand vibrate as it muffled the scream of the dying drow, and his partner next to him heard the noise and saw a drow woman with semi-short white har stabbing his fellow guard in the back, covering his mouth.
"Vel'bol l'uoi'notan?! (What the hells?!)" The drow exclaimed in surprise, catching the attention of the other two drow ahead and he drew his sword out for combat.
"Elgg ilta nin! (Kill her now!)" One of the two drow further back exclaimed, readying his shortbow and preparing to use it.
By the time Hexxat kicked the drow she stabbed aside to deal with the drow closest to her, Ralis and Viconia came around the curve with their ranged weapons ready. Ralis fired an arrow at the drow directly in front of him, and the +2 arrow punched right through his neck, the shaft getting stuck in the middle of the drow's neck, spraying blood on the wall and floor. The drow choked and gagged and immediately fell to the floor dead, breaking the arrowhead and upper shaft of the arrow when he hit the floor.
The other drow flinched in surprise, seeing his dead partner laying facedown in a pool of blood with the rear end of an arrow sticking out form the back of his neck, then he looked over at his last living comrade fighting the intruder that caught them by surprise for a second, and when he heard footsteps behind him, he turned around to see Viconia running at him with her teeth clenched, preparing to swing her mace at his face. With a furious yell, she swung her mace at his face and then darkness. The drow's head exploded like a grape, crushed between the wall and Viconia's strong weapon. And Hexxat finished off the last drow guard by catching him off guard, leaping at him, forcing him to catch her in his arms and she began to bite down into his neck, sucking his blood. The guard tried to scream for help, but all that came out is a dry whimper as he felt tired and weak from blood loss, and Hexxat began to feel more and more heavy in his arms. Soon Hexxat had to stand on her legs as she continued drinking blood from the drow's neck, and he expired in a minute and 20 seconds.
Ralis went back to get the box and he rejoined Viconia and headed down the tunnel to meet up with Hexxat, who wiped blood from the corners of her lips content.
"Drow blood tastes no different from the blood I've tasted in the past. It is sad to realize there is no variety of flavor in blood no matter what you drink it from," Hexxat informed Ralis and Viconia.
Not even bothering to reply to Hexxat's remark, Ralis walked up the small flight of stairs. He reached the door and slowly peeked inside. What he saw in the treasury room is not what he expected to see. The room is heavily guarded by five stone golems! Ralis cursed and quietly closed the door.
"What?" Viconia asked in curiosity.
"Stone golems, everywhere!" Ralis urgently whispered to his former lover.
Then on instinct or hunch, he checked his potion bottle, hoping that he has at least one Potion of Invisibility. After careful digging through the bag, he found one.
Ah, thank Tymora! Ralis smiled in relief. After popping the cork off, he drank the liquid, which had a minty flavor, then he turned invisible to Viconia and Hexxat's eyes. Ralis picked up the box, which gave the illusion of it suddenly levitating on its own.
"Hexxat, open the door for me," Ralis said.
"Got it," Hexxat replied while opening the door wide enough for Ralis to enter the treasury while carrying the box.
Hexxat closed the door behind him, and Ralis eyeballed the five golems looking in his direction. Or more specifically, looking at the box floating in the air mysteriously. He began to sweat, fearing the stone golems might see him somehow and attack him at any moment. He walked to the middle of the room and placed the box down. Then he quietly moved away and felt relieved that the stone golems are still looking at the box and not in his relative position. But he needs to get Phaere's eggs out of the box and put the real eggs into the box. But first, he had to locate where the real eggs are. Ralis pulled one gold coin our of his pocket and threw it towards the southwestern corner of the room. The golems heard the sharp *Ding!* noise of the coin landing on the light brown stone floor and they all walked to that direction to investigate. Ralis sighed in relief and returned to the middle of the room to pick up the box now that all five stone golems have gathered in the southwestern corner of the treasury room. Ralis noticed a large box in the northern section of the room, slightly bigger than the other containers in the room, and he assumed that the eggs must be inside there.
Ralis carefully walked towards the box and quietly set his box beside it. Then he opened the larger box and discovered five eggs inside.
Yes! These muse be Adalon's eggs! Ralis smiled in relief. Leaving the box open, he opened his own box and slowly pulled out Phaere's five fake eggs which were divided to the left away from Solaufain's eggs, setting them softly down on the floor one at at time. Then he stood up and reached for the real eggs in the chest, grabbing them one at a time and placing them in the spot in the box where Phaere's fake eggs once were. Then he picked up Phaere's fake eggs one at a time. When he placed the third of Phaere's fake eggs into the large treasury box, he had a fearful hunch that one of the golems might lose interest in the gold coin and look towards his direction and catch him in the act. When he looked towards the golems, he found them still looking down at the gold coin beneath their feet, but one of the golems, the one with its back directly turned on Ralis began to lose interest and motioned to turn around. Fighting the urge not to panic, Ralis pulled out another gold coin from his money bag and threw ie as hard as he could to the southeastern section. The stone golems heard the loud *Ding!* noise and immediately rushed over to the southeastern section of the treasury room to investigate the source of the sound.
Ralis exhaled in relief and resumed picking up the fourth of Phaere's fake eggs, placed it in the treasury box, then did the same to the 5th fake egg. Now all of Phaere's fake eggs are inside the treasury box, and now Ralis has possession of the real eggs and Solaufein's fake eggs. After closing up his box, Ralis picked it up and carefully moved back towards the door, being careful not to disturb the stone golems nearby. When he got to the door, he opened it and stepped outside. Hexxat and Viconia awaited his return and were relieved to see him in one piece.
"You made it. I knew you would, abbil," Viconia smiled.
"Now let's get back to Phaere," Ralis said.
However, before leaving, Ralis opened the box and placed the real eggs in the bag with the small pocket plane where Dragomir's Respite is. When he gives Phaere Solaufein's eggs, he doesn't want her to see that he has two sets of eggs, that will arouse suspicion form Phaere.
Ralis went into the Female Fighters' Society tower alone once more, carrying the box up to Phaere's private quarters. Along the way, the females milling about doing their own business cast icy glares of hate and disapproval at him, but never accosted and bothered him, for they knew Veldrin is the favored male of Phaere Despana. When he arrived, Phaere opened the door and her eyes widened to see Ralis carrying the box.
"Ahhhh, you are a marvel, my brilliant male. You are indeed. You have done as I asked and returned to me with the eggs," she said as she allowed Ralis to come into her chambers.
After she closed the door, Ralis set the box down on the floor and opened it, revealing Solaufein's fake eggs inside.
"Here they are, Phaere. The silver dragon's real eggs," Ralis said triumphantly.
Phaere gasped softly and approached the box. She knelt down and picked up one of the eggs, examining it.
"So these are the silver dragon's eggs?" After a moment of checking them she saw none of her subtle markings. "They must be," she said then turned her eyes on Ralis, smiling in approval. "Thank you, Veldrin... you have performed well."
She placed the egg back in the box and closed it, then picked it up into her arms.
"I will go to the temple for the ritual... I expect you to be present for my victory," Phaere instructed.
Ralis hoped that she would not say that. Leaving the city would be much easier if she hadn't asked him to come witness the ritual.
"What? But, future Matron Phaere, I must-" Ralis began to protest, but Phaere cut him off.
"Go to the temple of Lolth and do not delay, or I shall be most angry." She turned her back on him and headed out the door.
As soon as she left, Ralis clenched his fists and grunted in frustration.
"Dammit! She just had to make this difficult!" Ralis cursed to himself.
Before Ralis could take a step towards the door, a dimensional portal opened up before his eyes. Ralis froze, watching the arcane energies form a circle counter-clockwise, and when the circle completed, the arcane energies created a portal, and an imp jumped out. Ralis remembered seeing some imps, during his visit to Avernus two years ago when fighting Caelar Argent's crusaders. Ralis was about to pull Albruin out for combat but the imp while flapping its wings 6 feet above the air, held its little arms out in supplication.
"Wait! I am not here to fight! I am no harm to you!" The imp exclaimed.
Ralis hesitated for a moment then sheathed Albruin finally. The imp sighed in relief.
"Ahh, that is most better. Wondering you who I am must you be, yes?" He waited for an answer and Ralis nodded. "I am servant to loyal to the silver one forever! Yes, the great silver one I serve!"
"Silver one?" Ralis asked in confusion. "You mean you serve Adalon? Adalon sent you?" Ralis asked for clarification.
The imp nodded its diminutive head. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes! The silver one serve you, or her bidding do you, matters it does not. Watching you, have I been. Most interesting a time, watching you. Tricky, tricky, tricky!" The imp grinned.
Ralis crossed his arms and huffed.
"Deceit upon deceit, the silver one's eggs safe from immediate harm they be," the imp said.
"It wasn't easy, but I've done it," Ralis said, patting the seemingly empty bag tied by a string around his belt.
"But get them out of the city you must! Closed, magically sealed, the city is. Dead the Matron Mother Ardulace's first must be, if leave you wish to."
"So in order to leave the city, Ardulace Despana must die?" Ralis asked.
"Yes! Tricky surfacer smart!" The imp bounced in midair gleefully for a brief moment. "Once dead the matron mother be, fleeing with eggs you should. Much anger from priestesses there will come... minutes you have, maybe, before revealed your disguise is. Quickly leaving you must be. Failing the silver one if you do... coming to you, she will. Liking that, you will not. Saving eggs you must. To the matron mother's daughter, go you must... waiting in the temple for you she is. Of the essence, time is very! Wishing you luck am I, manling..." The imp opened up a dimensional portal and escaped into it.
Ralis sighed and headed for the door, leaving Phaere's private quarters.
Damn. The last thing I need is more pressure on my shoulders, Ralis grumbled as he walked sullenly down the hallway.
When Ralis left the tower and regrouped with Viconia and Hexxat, he told them that they have no choice but to go see the ritual, and that after Phaere left, an imp told them that for now the gates of Ust Natha are magically sealed on orders of Matron Mother Ardulace, and that the only way to escape is to witness her death first, then escape the city with minutes to spare before the priestesses of the temple of Lolth find out what happened.
"... And to make matters worse," Ralis continued as he walked with Viconia and Hexxat across a suspension bridge. "... if we fail to protect the real eggs for any reason, Adalon will find us and kill us all."
Viconia shook her head. "That imp did not need to tell us all this," she said.
When they reached the entrance to the temple of Lolth, they found Phaere waiting for them. She immediately saw them approaching after four priestesses walked by her and them.
"You have come! The ritual is about to begin... and my ascension shall be sweet indeed. Let us attend, Veldrin, you and your fellow travelers," she said, then all four of them walked into the temple.
Phaere led Ralis, Viconia and Hexxat to a secluded room further in the back of the temple of Lolth where ritual are performed.
In the middle of the room is a dark blue cauldron spewing flames, and Ardulace stood near it. Coming into this room made Ralis' skin crawl nervously.
"Very well. All preparations have been made... It is time for the ritual to begin," Ardulace declared as Phaere, Ralis, Viconia and Hexxat moved past Ardulace and moved further back behind her about 8 feet back. "In moments the drow will stand supreme with House Despana first among them." She revealed the bottle of elder brain blood in her hands, then she looked over her shoulder at Ralis, Viconia, Hexxat and Phaere. "Ensure nothing disturbs my casting. When the demon appears, do not interfere. Mistakes from any of you will earn you a quick death and eternal torment." Ardulace stopped speaking for a moment and popped the cork off the bottle. "Now... I shall begin."
She approached the boiling cauldron carefully with the bottle in her left hand, then she carefully poured the elder brain blood into the flames, causing the flames to turn form bright orange to bright red, then Ardulace began to move her arms slowly and methodically while chanting slowly, droning on and on while moving her arms slowly as if she had been hit with the Slow spell. Ralis crossed his arms and looked around, wondering where, when and how the demon will appear. Viconia, Hexxat and Phaere just watched casually. After 3 minutes of chanting in front of the bright red flames from the cauldron, sending smoke up to the ceiling, a portal opened up next to the cauldron. The edges of the cauldron are lined with flames and bones, and in a matter of seconds, a lesser demon lord emerged from the portal, surprising Ralis, Phaere, Viconia and Hexxat with his muscular build and large wingspan.
"I HAVE COME... YOU HAVE WRESTED ME FROM MY PLANE, DARKLING... HAVE GOOD REASON, OR I SHALL TAKE MY PRICE IN DARKLING BLOOD." The lesser demon's deep voice boomed.
Matron Mother Ardulace bravely stepped forward and said: "I have good reason, lord of the nether pits! I beseech you to aid the drow cause in the war against our hates surface cousins, to carve their pale flesh!"
The lesser demon lord crossed his muscular arms, looking at Ardulace with his fiery eyes.
"AND WHAT MANNER OF TITHE WOULD YOU OFFER ME FOR SUCH A DEED, DARKLING? WHAT MANNER OF PAYMENT WARRANTS MY AID?"
"I offer you *these, lord of fiends..."
Without missing a beat, Ardulace opened the bag near her feet, exposing Phaere's fake eggs to the lesser demon lord.
"Eggs of a silver dragon, a self-righteous creature of light. Yours to do with as you please, in return for your aid."
The lesser demon approached the eggs resting on the open bag, reached in and picked up one egg between his finger and thumb. Ralis glanced over at Phaere and noticed her smirking. The demon examined the egg for a few seconds then glared down at Ardulace.
"FOOLISH DARKLING. DO YOU THINK I WOULD BE TAKEN IN BY SUCH A SIMPLISTIC DECEPTION?"
Ardulace blinked in confusion, and Ralis, Hexxat, Viconia and Phare could clearly see her arms and legs begin to tremble in fear.
"Wh-what do you mean, O dark lord?" She reached down and picked up one egg. "These... these are-" she began to say, the egg shaking in her hands because her arms are still trembling, but the lesser demon lord cut her protest off.
"THESE ARE FALSE, DARKLING. I WOULD TAKE SUCH A TITHE, WERE IT REAL, BUT NOW YOU HAVE OFFENDED ME. PERISH, LITTLE DARKLING WOMAN."
Ardulace's nerves are clearly shot now. She turned and tried to run for the door.
"NO! NO! LOLTH PROTECT YOUR FAITHF-"
Ardulace tried to cry out as she tried to run away but suddenly she got stricken by divine fire. A vertical column of fire crashed down on her, immediately setting her on fire. She screamed in pain for a few seconds then fell silent, her body quickly and thoroughly cooked by the column of flame. Ralis looked over at Phaere again and saw her grinning.
"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME FORTH! HOW DARE YOU TEMPT ME WITH WITH EGGS OF HATED SILVER, BUT THEN DECEIVE ME! I AM TEMPED TO RAZE THIS CITY TO ASHES!" The lesser demon lord angrily shouted at Ardulace's overcooked corpse.
Then Phare stepped forward.
"Hold, demon! I am the daughter of the one who summoned you... and I have the eggs that you seek. I offer them to you as the tithe!" Phaere exclaimed, opening the box near her feet and revealing Solaufein's fake eggs.
The demon didn't dare come over to Phaere's eggs. He could tell from where he is standing that they are not real either. The demon simply laughed at her, confusing her.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! A GREAT JOKE HAS BEEN PLAYED ON YOU, DAUGHTER-DARKLING. THE EGGS YOU HOLD ARE ALSO FALSE."
Phaere's eyes immediately widened in shock and confusion.
"What?! No, it's..." Phaere slowly turned her gaze on Ralis. "Veldrin?" Ralis couldn't help but smile at her. It is what a drow would do anyway. "VELDRIN?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" She screamed in confused outrage.
"What I've done to you is the same thing you did to Solaufein. He was a good male, but your ambition killed him. And now your ambition will kill you too, Phaere. It is the drow way after all," Ralis chastised her with a remorseless smile.
The demon looked over at Ralis and saw him for who he really is, and who he descends from.
"THE BHAAL CHILD HAS MURDERED YOU, DARKLING DAUGHTER. MOST AMUSING, IT IS. HAHAHAHAHA! COME, NOW, AND BE MURDERED."
"NO!" Phaere shouted then turned her enraged glare on Ralis. "I WILL DESTROY YOU, VELDRIN!" She exclaimed as she began to stomp towards him with her fingers clenching like claws eager to tear into flesh. Viconia and Hexxat stood back as Ralis tried to back away from her. "I WILL FIND YOU AND EAT YOUR BEATING HEART! I WILL-"
Phaere never got the chance to finish her threats because a column of fire rained down on her and burned her to death like what happened to her mother a minute ago. Ralis shielded his eyes with his right forearm as the light from the fire was a little too bright since he is 7 feet close to it.
"Burst into flames? Amusing," Ralis said smugly as he lowered his forearm from his eyes, pretending to guess what her final words would have been.
Viconia watched the column of flame cook Phaere's body with satisfaction.
"You are weak and you shall pay the ultimate penalty amongst the drow... an ignoble death. Ralis, a human, has beaten you all." After the column of fire disappeared, Viconia spat at the charred corpse that was once Phaere Despana. Ralis lowered his arms from over his eyes and turned his attention to the lesser demon lord.
"NOW... IT SEEMS THERE ARE NO *ACTUAL* DRAGON EGGS TO BE HAD. A PITY. UNLESS THERE IS A BETTER OFFER, I SHALL DEPART." He said.
"Your summoners are dead. You may depart," Ralis informed the demon.
"SO BE IT. MORTALS ARE EVER FOOLS." The lesser demon lord said before walking towards his portal and walking through it. Then the portal evaporated into thin air.
After the demon left, Ralis, Viconia and Hexxat were already on the move.
"Let's go!" Ralis said. "We only got maybe ten minutes or less before the priestesses find out what happened to Ardulace and Phaere!" Ralis instructed Viconia and Hexxat.
They ran out of the room, but when they reached the more populated portions of the temple, they tried to act casual and walk casual up until they left the temple. Once they got outside, they started to walk fast, but not when they crossed suspension bridges though, and descended down a stairway to the city's ground level. It took them seven minutes to get to the tavern where they used to rest at, which means they are not too far from the bazaar now.
"They probably caught on by now, they just haven't sounded the alarm yet," Ralis muttered under his breath, his heart hammering his chest.
"That means we maybe have three minutes or less left," Hexxat guessed.
"We need to move faster," Ralis said.
They jogged through the ground level streets of Ust Natha, trying not to bump into any drow civilians or arouse suspicion. But knowing that they are racing against the clock made them a little anxious. They eventually got to Ust Natha's bazaar and climbed up the long flight of stairs. Inside the bazaar they regrouped with Valygar, Rasaad and Neera who were near the drow salesman selling potions.
"Did you do it?" Rasaad asked.
"Yes, let's go, we probably only have a few seconds left to spare!" Ralis quickly said. The party tried to casually but quickly walk towards the city exit gates.
Ralis nodded at the guard who allowed them to go through. The gates opened and they immediately walked through. Now that they are out of the city, Ralis and his party ran as fast as they could away from Ust Natha's vicinity, hurrying west as fast as they could.
Almost six days later, Ralis, Viconia, Hexxat, Rasaad, Valygar and Neera made it to the stairs that lead up to Adalon's lair. After a very long walk upwards, they found themselves back in Adalon's lair, where Abdel, Althir, Nalia, Tashia, Korgan, Mazzy, Dorn, Anomen, Aere, Jaheira, Cernd, Edwin, Imoen, Jan, Minsc and Adalon awaited their return for nearly 30 days.
"Hey! They're back!" Imoen exclaimed.
Almost everyone welcomed back Ralis, and his chosen party.
"It feels so good to see all of you again," Ralis said, walking over to Imoen and embraced her in a warm, loving hug.
"If I were to say I missed a longlimb such as yerself, lad, I'd be lyin' to meself," Korgan said.
"You've been gone for so long, we were starting to believe that you were dead," Anomen said.
"No. Worse," Neera shook her head. "We were kidnapped by mind flayers and brought to their city, but we escaped," she explained.
Everyone gasped and started exclaiming indistinctly in surprise.
"Mind flayers?! You six are lucky to be alive!" Mazzy said.
Adalon stepped forward and smiled in relief to see her six chosen infiltrators have returned.
"You return! You have returned victorious! I sense my beautiful eggs on your person. I shall take them and give you the reward I promised.
Ralis opened the bag and reached into the pocket plane and pulled out all five of Adalon's eggs and handed them to her. In return, Adalon gave Ralis a money bag containing 3000 gold pieces.
"May it serve you well in the times ahead. Ahh, but I also promised a safe escape, did I not? One that will lead you nearer to Bodhi and Irenicus? I shall transport all of you there and see you safely away. Truth be known, you might have gone there yourself, but it would have been all the bloodier."
"It was an honor to serve. May I assume that you will be punishing the drow now?" Ralis guessed.
"No," Adalon shook her head. "they will receive what they deserve from the elves they face. I have seen too much of this evil to continue guarding a a peace that does not exist. My last act here will be a few selective deaths, perhaps, a lesson for those responsible for my strife, at least. They will know not to cross my path again."
Ralis understood how Adalon felt. What the drow have done with Irenicus' help is too much.
"But that is for later," Adalon said, wrapping her eggs in a large blanket and moving them away from Ralis and his entire party. "I shall help you as I promised and then see to my own concerns. Before I take you to the way to the surface, I must transform myself into a more suitable form."
Adalon then used some kind of magic spell that allowed arcane energies to cover her entire body. When the energies disappeared, Ralis and his party saw that she has transformed herself to an elf woman. As an elf woman, Adalon had long silvery hair, gray eyes, fair skin, standing the same height as Viconia, and wore robes made of soft fabric. Then she used her magic once again to remove the drow disguises off of Ralis, Valygar, Hexxat, Rasaad and Neera.
"I shall bring us to the surface... to the ruins I guard," Adalon said, and so using her magic, she teleported her eggs to a safe place and teleported Ralis and his entire party to closer to the surface.
In what is the edges of the Upperdark, only a mile close to the surface, Ralis and his entire party were forced to fight their way past dozens of drow warriors, fighting their way through the cavern passages that lead up to the surface. As much as they have traveled, the last few feet to the surface felt like the hardest journey by far. They soon found themselves in a desecrated temple of some kind, fighting more drow, who attacked not only them, but the remaining elven soldiers that are still in the fight. After taking care of the drow warriors, Ralis and his party stepped outside the ruined temple to get their first glimpse of sunlight in months. The noon sky is bright, and the temple is located in a small open field where in the middle of it there are patterns and lines on the soil surrounded by pieces of broken stone statues. Only two staties remain standing yet partially covered in moss, one is a man armed with a spear, and the other is a short well endowed woman armed with two short swords. Understandably, Ralis and most of his companions were very relieved to see sunlight after spending what felt like 3 months or less wandering the Underdark. Hexxat, however, had to put on Dragomir's Cloak to protect herself from getting fried under the sunlight. Seeing the light blue afternoon sky is palpable, but even though he isn't really feeling the Underdark, the truth is that it is constant treachery that came from it that was the real danger. Even though the setting has changed, their immediate future is apparently far from peaceful. And judging by the faces of the beleaguered elven soldiers approaching them, Ralis had a hunch that though they have finally escaped the dangers and treacheries of the Underdark, there is still more challenges to face, despite his exhaustion and the exhaustion of his companions.
