Aleina loosened the drawstrings of the bag she held, then pulled it closed. The quartz stones inside gave a satisfying click as the cord tightened. She repeated the process, fingers moving of their own volition, loosen, open, close and start anew. This had become her ritual as she waited in the dark cavern for some sign of Sky. It started as practice. When the time came to empty the bag of the quartz she'd be blindfolded and would have to do it by feel. Better to be familiar with the process than risk fumbling and dropping the bag. But she'd long ago moved from practice to nervous habit. Her mind drifted as her fingers worked.
Miles of twisting tunnels lay between the cavern where the crystal quartz pieces had been gathered and where she stood now. And over two days had passed since their fight with the shadow demon. Which meant the same amount of time had passed for the others in Blingdenstone. She could only hope the Pudding King still gathered his forces and had not attacked. When she was moving, she could keep this worry at bay, but while waiting, standing alone in a dark cavern, this fear came to the forefront of her mind. Of course she wasn't really alone. Diarnghan and the others watched from a distance and Sky should be here soon. Should already be here.
Where was that crazy tabaxi?
A new worry grew inside the aasimar. Had something gone wrong? She had a vision of Sky, limping along, barely able to hobble forward due to a twisted ankle as death came in the form of a pair of pursuing basilisks. Or worse yet was she already a stone statue like poor Jhelnae? The rhythm of the aasimar's nervous habit increased in tempo. Loosen, open, tighten close, loosen, open, tighten close. Suddenly she was sure. Something had gone wrong. Sky needed her. She started to move forward.
But before she could take even a step, she heard footfalls, faint at first, but getting louder as someone approached. Aleina went still, even her fingers stopped moving. She waited and watched. Then the tabaxi came into view at the limits of her dark vision, emerging from a tunnel on the far cavern wall. The aasimar was so relieved to see her she almost forgot the plan. Almost forgot the blindfold. Belatedly, she reached up to where it rested on her forehead and pulled it into place.
Now she could no longer see Sky's progress and had to mark it through sound alone. The echo of the cavern, however, made things difficult and at times it seemed the tabaxi was already behind her. Aleina mentally readied herself to call forth her wings. The timing had to be just right. She could not fly long.
The aasimar waited, holding herself in readiness. And waited. And waited some more. She started to feel a stir of irritation. How long was Sky going to keep her in this state of anticipation?
"Hi Aleina."
The tabaxi's voice was distant, yet somehow still casual. As if they stood face to face during a chance meeting on the surface rather than just before a potentially deadly encounter in the Underdark. And she hadn't given the signal for the aasimar to start her flight, only greeted her. Aleina was confused.
"Now?" the aasimar asked, pointing upward.
A deep sigh.
"No. Not yet. They are coming, but they are slow. No wonder they need to turn their prey into stone. They'd never catch anything otherwise. Do you know how hard it was to stay far enough away to be safe from their gaze, but close enough not to lose them and keep them following?"
Sky's voice came progressively closer as she talked.
"Difficult?" Aleina asked.
"Very," Sky said, still closer. "And boring too. You can probably start now."
The aasimar had been ready to take flight, but then Sky had started prattling. Now she found herself having to get herself in the right frame of mind again. She took a deep breath, held it, and searched for the radiance of her inner core and let it suffuse her. Every time she summoned her wings it got a little easier, more familiar. She felt them grow and spread, and though they were made of light they felt a part of her. She willed them to carry her upward and rose into the air, one hand raised towards the cavern ceiling while the other hand clutched the bag with her precious cargo. In her mind's eye she played out the scene. She was flying upward. Sky would pass below, leading the basilisks onward. Aleina thought she heard them now, scrabbling over the rocky ground in slow pursuit, but it could be her imagination. Higher and higher she rose, questing hand reaching until it came into contact with the cold stone above. Then she hovered and used two hands to open the bag.
Strangely, now that it came to it, her fingers felt thick and clumsy. What had been rote just a short time ago suddenly felt difficult. She tried to relax, reminding herself if she dropped the bag all was not lost. She would instead have to use one of the beads from Brysis's necklace of fireballs. Cooked basilisk gizzard, however, might not yield the enzymes needed to save Jhelnae. Accordingly, Aleina carefully and methodically pulled open the drawstring, then flipped the bag upside down and let the crystal quartz pieces inside fall free.
For a moment she waited, hovering in place along the cavern ceiling. Then the crash and tinkle of breaking crystals reached her ears. She could imagine the scene: dozens of quartz pieces shattering in explosions of light. With luck, it would be the last thing the basilisks ever saw.
In the distance, Diarnghan's bow sang. An arrow whirred through the air. Then came the sound of the missile finding flesh. Hissing howls of pain followed. It sounded accusatory and Aleina felt a pang of guilt as another arrow found its mark. These creatures had done nothing to them. Only lived and hunted in a territory they marked as their own. But for Jhelnae to live, they had to die.
More arrows followed the first set, and more cries of pain came from below. Aleina again waited. The others would be watching the targets for telltale signs that would let her know if it was safe to remove the blindfold.
"They are blind!" the darkling bard yelled. "Finish them before they recover."
Derendil roared as he started his charge, and she heard the footfalls of the others as they crossed the distance to their quarry. Aleina reached up and ripped the blindfold from her eyes. Below the scene was playing out much as she envisioned. A pair of blue scaled, eight legged monstrosities with red spikes ridged along their back whirled and thrashed about, jaws snapping. Arrows sunk to their fletching sprouted from each. Despite their frenzy, and obvious pain, they were ponderous creatures and did not move quickly. But it would help her companions if they were slower still. Aleina pulled out her moonstone orb and sent a ray of blue coldness into the larger of the pair. It stiffened, tensing every muscle from her attack, then continued to writhe, but more sluggish than before.
The aasimar spent her remaining time in the air flying well out of range of the creatures. Slow as they were, they possessed jaws that crushed and pulverized stone. Each of their eight limbs held sharp claws that could rake her to ribbons. It would not be wise to touch down in their midst and give them a target on which to vent their blind rage. Before she landed the aasimar sent another freezing ray into the other basilisk, slowing it as well.
What followed was slaughter. Diarnghan sent more arrows into the creatures as he advanced, eliciting hisses of pain, agony and confusion each time. The basilisks whirled this way and that, trying to find their unseen assailants. Derendil and Eldeth slowed as they came close and waited for opportunities before they rained down blows of their own, then danced back and out of range. A couple times the snapping jaws came close, but loosed crossbow bolts from Sky and Glim were able to distract the creatures away from the dwarf and quaggoth. Soon blood loss took its toll and the basilisks' strength spent.
Even as their death throes came, however, Diarnghan sent an arrow into the skull of one while Glim placed a crossbow bolt into the head of the other. With a final twitch, both monsters fell still. It was cold, brutal, and murderous. But Aleina approved. From what she'd been told the medusa had needed only one glance before dying to turn Jhelnae into a statue. Better to be sure this time and not give these creatures the same opportunity.
Now that it was over, however, the aasimar felt ill. The air stank with the tang of blood and entrails. Derendil seemed similarly sickened. He sighed heavily and stared down at the bodies.
"Woe, destruction, ruin and decay," the quaggoth said in Elvish. "The worst is death, and death will have his day."
"How long will it take to harvest the gizzards?" Aleina asked, looking towards the darkling ranger.
Diarnghan shook his cowled head. "I am not sure. I've never done this before. I'm glad there are two of them since the alchemist told me to be careful not to puncture the gland sac he needs. If I mess up with the first, at least we have another."
The aasimar gave him a look of concern.
"But I will be careful with both," the darkling said, before she could speak. "Derendil, could you flip the smaller one onto its back?"
The ranger drew his dagger and crouched down over the one the quaggoth heaved over.
Glim said something, but Aleina did not speak the language the old gnome spoke and couldn't understand. She moved to hover over Diarnghan when the darkling examined the underside of the basilisk, preparing to make the first cut.
"He says he'd like to explore further down the tunnel," Eldeth translated. "Maybe find their lair. He is curious about the waymaker we found earlier. It is something from the old Blingdenstone. From before the drow invasion."
The gnome spoke of a small pyramid of carefully stacked stones next to the tunnel entrance they had found in this cavern while searching the area for the basilisks. Glim had been fascinated by it. Standing over it and babbling to Eldeth and Diarnghan. But there hadn't been time then to study it further. Then their goal had been to find where the basilisks were so Sky could lead them back to this cavern, it having a ceiling height high enough for their plan. And now still wasn't the time.
"We don't have time for that," Aleina said. "We need to get back to Blingdenstone as soon as possible."
Glim nodded after Eldeth translated, seemingly easily convinced to give up on his curiosity about this clue left by his ancestors. Not surprising. The glands inside these fallen creatures, after all, held the key to freeing his son from petrification. But Diarnghan disagreed.
"Actually," he said. "You do have time. Since I need to be careful to not pierce the gizzard, I plan to cut a little away at a time. So, it might take a while. And I might be less nervous without you all watching my every move."
Though his words were for everyone, his cowled gaze seemed to single out the aasimar when he turned. She realized she had been crowding him. Trying, as he said, to watch his every move. She took a step back.
"Sorry," Aleina said. "I'll be good."
The darkling ranger shook his head. "I only need Derendil for his strength. The rest of you can help satisfy Glim's curiosity. Who knows, maybe there is something from before the drow invasion. Maybe it can help the city now."
"He does have a point," Sky said, tail lashing.
The aasimar recognized the gleam in the tabaxi's golden eyes. Now that she had been reminded of the gnome waymarker she also was curious. And once Sky's curiosity was roused, it was like a force of nature. Aleina sighed, slumped her shoulders, and relented to the flow of events. She knew herself well enough to know it was in her nature to fret and worry over things. This was naturally accentuated when that thing might potentially save the life of her friend. Despite her best intentions she would probably alternatively hover, sigh, and pace while the darkling ranger worked. That would not be helpful. Might, in fact, be harmful to his concentration. A distraction while they waited could be just what they all needed.
She nodded. "Let's go take a look."
"Let's," Sky said.
She did not even wait to see if anyone else agreed but started across the cavern. The others, save Diarnghan and Derendil, followed. Soon they had all gathered around the little pyramid of stacked stone.
"I never would have even noticed it if he hadn't pointed it out" the tabaxi said, crouched on her haunches before it. "What does it mean?"
Glim and Eldeth talked for a few moments.
"He says," the dwarf said. "He is not surprised you didn't see it before. The stacked stone contains a bit of gnomish ritual to it. It blends into the surrounding stone to non-svirfneblin. Similar to their own rock blending powers. But, as you can see, now that he has shown it to us, we should always be able to pick out this one. Also a part of the magic. It allows them to leave a trail to those proven trustworthy friends."
"So this is like a magical trail of breadcrumbs?" Sky asked. "Like those in the faerie stories?"
"Sort of," Eldeth said. "But, as I recall, don't those always get eaten by birds and carried away by insects in those stories? This is a little more permanent. As I said before, Glim thinks this one was stacked sometime even before the drow invasion."
"Fine," the tabaxi said, giving a dismissive wave. "It's better than breadcrumbs. But it's still a trail. To what?"
Dwarf and gnome had another brief discussion, then Eldeth shrugged.
"He doesn't know. The settlers stopped scouting in this area once they ran into the basilisks. They never came as far as this waymarker and left warning signs for others to stay away. There was so much to reclaim already. The city, gem mines, mithral mines, adamantine mines, and salt mines. No reason to tangle with a couple of basilisks over territory."
"Until now," Aleina said, again feeling a little guilty.
"Until now," Eldeth agreed.
"But this means this tunnel probably leads to something that was important to the svirneblin?" Sky asked.
"Probably," the dwarf said. "But something a lot of time has passed since the drow invasion. Whatever it was could have been carried off long ago."
"If they could carry it," the tabaxi said. "They would have just carried it and not left markers to lead to it. We went part way down this tunnel, found the basilisks, and then you all came back to set up the trap while I waited for a time before luring them into it. But we never went all the way down it."
She stood and motioned the others to follow.
"We need to find out what is down here."
Aleina glanced back and found Diarnghan already engrossed in his work on the first basilisk. Derendil used his claws to help pry apart flesh to give the darkling ranger better access. As the darkling ranger said, they had time. Why not. She motioned for Sky to lead and they started down the tunnel.
For a time, they just walked, the tabaxi in front, the old gnome just behind her, with Eldeth coming after. Aleina trailed in the rear. As Sky had said, they had been down the tunnel before while hunting for the basilisks. They probably wouldn't make it much further than their previous foray before it was time to turn around and start back to rejoin the others and head back to Blingdenstone. As always, however, she had difficulty telling how far they had actually gone in the Underdark and how much time had actually passed. Were they still retreading old ground? Would Diarnghan have finished extracting the first of the basilisk gizzards? Perhaps they should turn back, just to be safe.
Before she could speak, however, Sky knelt down and picked something up. She held it up to Glim, who nodded and spoke in a language neither the tabaxi nor the aasimar spoke.
That didn't deter Sky. "I know, right? More and more of this stuff is scattered all over the place. We're getting close to their lair."
Aleina had moved close enough to finally see what the tabaxi held. At first it looked like just an oddly shaped rock, then she realized it was part of a petrified cave beetle. The leavings of one of the basilisks' meals.
'Sky," the aasimar started. "Maybe it's time we…"
But the tabaxi cast aside the bit of debris and started again down the tunnel. Aleina debated trying to stop her, but if they really were close it might be faster to just find the lair, search it, and then turn around rather than trying to convince her. Besides, if they did turn around and Diarnghan still wasn't done extracting the basilisk gizzards she'd never hear the end of it.
They walked on, Sky leading them at a faster pace. Now that she knew what to look for, the aasimar spied more of the petrified vermin bits on the ground. When they came to a bend in the tunnel the tabaxi proceeded onward, but Glim slowed, then came to a stop. Eldeth and Aleina came to a stop alongside him as he studied the tunnel wall in front of him. Within a few steps, Sky realized something was up and came back to join them.
"What is it?" she asked.
As had become habit, dwarf and gnome conferred. Eldeth looked up at the tunnel wall for a moment, then shook her head and talked some more with the Glim. The old gnome pointed at one point in the wall, then moved his finger towards another point. The dwarf looked again. A look of surprise crossed her face and then she smiled. The old gnome gave a broad smile as well, the craggy lines and crinkles of his face growing even deeper than normal.
"I see them," Eldeth said, pointing. "The faces of a male and female svirfneblin. Do the rest of you see them?"
Aleina looked directly at the two spots the dwarf indicated and saw nothing but the tunnel wall. Indistinguishable from the miles that came before it or the miles that would come after it as far as the aasimar could tell. Then Sky called out in surprise and delight.
"I see them! That is so clever. How did they do that? They hid them right in the rock."
The aasimar furrowed her brow and concentrated again on the two spots. Still nothing.
"You don't see them?" Sky asked. "Once you see them it is easy to pick them out again."
To emphasize her point the tabaxi turned her head away, then looked at the tunnel wall again.
"Still see them. There and there."
She pointed at the same two places Aleina had been staring at.
"Its two faces," Eldeth said. She spoke slowly as if speaking to a simpleton. "A patten in the rock that is not obvious at first."
"Yeah," the aasimar said, trying to keep frustration out of her voice. "You said that already. Just let me look for a moment."
"Try looking without looking," Sky said. "That should help."
"That should help?" Aleina asked, sending a glare at the tabaxi. "How could that help. That doesn't even make sense. Now let me concentrate."
"That is the problem," the tabaxi said. "You are concentrating too hard."
The aasimar had only just glanced back at the wall when Sky's latest advice came. She was just about to respond when the pattern of two carved faces seemed to suddenly appear. Like the others said they were depictions of a male a female svirfneblin, but abstract representations that used the natural rock formations to great effect.
"She sees them now," Eldeth said. "I can see it in her face."
"Finally," Sky said.
Aleina was still too fascinated with the rock faces to banter back with the tabaxi. She looked back at the others to see Glim navigating a rough patch of terrain on the rocky floor. A place a traveler would avoid stepping as they traverse the tunnel. Then suddenly, the gnome seemed to disappear. As if he slipped into an invisible doorway into the wall. For a moment the rest of them just stared, then the gnome's head appeared again, and he motioned for them to follow.
They did. Sky first, then Eldeth. Each disappeared in the same manner as the gnome. When it was Aleina's turn she understood. Another clever svirfeblin trick of stone mastery. What appeared from the main part of the tunnel as a solid rock wall, wasn't. Once you got well into the rocky patch a side tunnel behind a rock formation was revealed. It was not large. Perhaps two svirfneblin could walk it abreast and Kuhl or Derendil would have to duck to enter.
After around a dozen steps, however, this narrow passageway opened to a large cave lined with stalagmites and stalactites. The aasimar gave these surroundings only a cursory glance as her eyes were drawn to a flat area at the center of the cave where a circle was inscribed. Underneath a layer of dust and grit were other etched other carved symbols and lines. Aleina knew nothing of summoning magic, or what the symbols meant, but her arcane senses tingled with the presence of magic. Energy suffused the entire cave.
"What is this place?" she asked, whispering for some reason.
Dwarf and gnome conferred, also using hushed tones. Something about the place demanded it.
"Glim doesn't know for sure," Eldeth said. "But there are stories about a place like this. These stories say that, in ancient times, the deep places of Toril and the Elemental Plane of Earth overlapped. That, in those days, it was hard to tell where one began and the other ended. In those times the god Sergojan Earthcaller enjoyed a friendship with Entémoch, Prince of the Earth Elementals. For they both appreciated the beauty of the deep earth. From the tranquility of a dark cavern to the brightness of a glowing gemstone. Frequently they met, in a place known to both. The stories say if you call Entémoch from that place, he will sometimes answer, hoping to once again to see his old friend. But normally it is his subjects who answer the call. Even they are mighty. Stronger than most earth elementals and able to stay longer before returning to their home plane."
"A place for summoning Earth Elementals?" Aleina asked.
The dwarf again spoke with the deep gnome, who nodded, and smiled up at the aasimar, craggy face again crinkling with deep furrows.
"He says you have done a great service for the svirfneblin," Eldeth said. "You have found Entémoch's Boon."
"Actually," Aleina said. "I didn't find anything. I'd never have found this place. I was the last to see the faces carved in the rock, remember?"
"I remember," the dwarf said. "And I'm never going to let you forget that either. But he meant we. He said we. Sometimes things don't directly translate to Common."
"Over here," Sky called out. "Look what I found."
They moved towards where the tabaxi was near one of the stalagmites. At first Glim moved slowly, seemingly reluctant to leave to leave off examining the summoning circle. But he grew more excited when he saw what the tabaxi crouched over.
It was some sort of nest. But bigger than any Aleina had ever seen before and made of pulverized stone rather than straw, twigs, and mud. Inside lay three spheres, each around a hand span in width and pebble gray.
"Are those what I think they are?" the aasimar asked.
"Eggs," the dwarf said.
"Basilisk eggs?" Aleina asked.
"What else would they be?" Eldeth said.
"Right," the aasimar said. "Of course."
Her earlier guilt returned. The parents had to die to cure Jhenae and Glim's son. Would they have to smash these as well? Or were they already as good as dead? Was it like baby birds on the surface who couldn't survive without their mother? She put these questions to voice.
"Will they hatch on their own?" And if they will, will Glim insist we smash them to keep them from inhabiting this place?
"Smash them?" the dwarf looked horrified. "Basilisk eggs are very valuable. They'll hatch and the little ones will imprint on the first creature they see. They can be trained. I think Blingdenstone just gained three new defenders today."
Aleina felt relief. She wouldn't be the cause of death of three more innocent beasts today. But Eldeth mentioning the beleaguered svirfneblin city reminded her time was a luxury they did not possess. Diarnghan was probably long done with his work and wondering where they were.
"I hope you are right," the aasimar said. "But for that to happen there needs to be a Blingdenstone for them to hatch in. That won't be the case if the Pudding King destroys it. Let's gather the eggs and get back to the others."
Well, we've had some ice storms. I didn't lose power like many of the others, but I did lose internet. And my office did lose power. So no accessing the server for files. The result...lots of time typing on my phone. Hopefully this works okay. I don't feel like rereading it again. Let me know if it has to be reworked.
-Thanks for the typo correction Daxxers!