Jhelnae used a piece of bread to scrape out the last of the gravy from her zurkhwood bowl. She washed it down with a drink of beer. It was bitter to the taste, but milder than Darklake stout, and cool down her throat. A nice contrast to the dryness of the spore bread and saltiness of the rothe gravy.
"Well," said Fargas from one end of the table. "How does it taste?"
Tappy had just delivered the first batch of brewed beer she had made with the help of the halfling.
"It's good Fargas," Kuhl said, taking another drink.
The halfling waved a dismissive hand. "Of course you are going to be nice. I want to know what the rest think."
"It's beer," Ront said. "All the swill tastes the same. What I really know is, will I get drunk drinking it? Will it help me forget I am stuck with all of you?"
"Oh, you'll get drunk," Fargas said. "Don't worry about that. It's plenty strong. I see Aleina is still making a face after every sip."
"And it still doesn't mean I don't like it," the aasimar said. "It is a little less bitter than Darklake stout, but less creamy. I like it."
"It isn't supposed to be creamy," the halfling said. "But it should be less bitter. Look, it's the first batch and I have never brewed with fungus before. And I could have let it ferment longer. But we're leaving soon."
"What part of 'she likes it' do you not understand?" Jhelnae said, taking another drink. It really wasn't bad for a first attempt. "It's good."
"You aren't just saying that?" Fargas asked.
"It's Jhelnae," Sky said. "She isn't going to spare your feelings. If she says she likes it, she likes it."
"What is that supposed to mean?" the half drow asked.
"Hmmm...how to put it," the tabaxi said, tail lashing as she took a drink of her own beer. "You can be blunt."
"I can be blunt?" Jhelnae said, "I can be blunt? This coming from you?"
"Both of you are blunt," Fargas said. "In different ways. But we're getting off track of the subject, which is the beer."
"You are really needy Fargas," Aleina said. "We all said we liked it. You want Rhianne to compose a poem about it or something?"
"It would be a start," the halfling said.
"I shall have to think on it," the darkling bard said from the depths of her cowl. She took a contemplative sip. "For now, be satisfied with a compliment. It is good."
"Very, very passable," Eldeth said.
"Passable?" Fargas said. "Passable? As in if you were offered a mug of it for free you would pass on it?"
"As in, if I drank it in a dwarven ale house I would pass on demanding my coins back," Eldeth said.
Fargas looked crestfallen.
"That is actually praise," the dwarf said.
"Could have fooled me," the halfling said.
"Like I said," Aleina said. "Needy."
"And like I said," Fargas said. "Blunt."
"You actually said that about Jhelnae and Sky," the aasimar said.
"Well, it applies to others as well," the halfling said.
The table fell silent as they all took another drink.
"You know," Diarnghan said. "It is good. And some of us aren't leaving soon. You said this would benefit from fermenting longer. Did you have another batch we can try after you leave?"
"There might be," the halfling said with a smile. "Tappy and I are experimenting."
"Looking forward to testing the results," the darkling ranger said.
"If Tappy is going to sell this," Rhianne said. "It will need a name. Any thoughts on that yet?"
"We were thinking of Princely Porter," Fargas said, his smile fading. "In honor of Derendil."
All eyes drifted to an empty spot at the table they sat at. During their stay in the Foaming Mug this table had informally become their table, one of the few that would fit all of them, and Derendil had always sat in that spot. Jhelnae's eyes brimmed with tears, but she pursed her lips and looked elsewhere before they could fall. She studied a fire beetle wandering in his lantern cage across the room for several heartbeats before she'd composed herself.
The others had been similarly affected. Kuhl was still visibly trying to control himself as he raised his tankard.
"He would like that I think," the half-elf said. "To Derendil."
They all repeated and drank. There had been several such toasts in the week following the battle with the Pudding King. It was getting easier for Jhelnae to keep from crying when she thought of the quaggoth. Easier, but not easy. She made the mistake of meeting tear rimmed gazes with Aleina as they clinked tankards together in honor of Derendil's memory. The shared grief in that look made them both nearly break down crying. Jhelnae spent several more moments staring at the tabletop to get control of her emotions again.
"I know you want to honor his last request," Rhianne said, looking to Kuhl. "And you should. But there is no rush. Derendil always said he was from the High Forest. And the portal the svirfneblin mapped for you goes to ruins in the High Forest. It seems convenient. But you have no idea where this city of Darmaerth he spoke about is. You'll be stumbling around in the forest with no direction. Wouldn't it be better to go with us to Gauntlgrym? Then you could do a little research and at least know where you are going."
This had been an ongoing discussion since the Diggermattocks had explained about the portal to the surface. Old Elvish magic linked the Underdark to ruins in the High Forest, perhaps for transportation between the city and its mines back in its heyday. But that heyday had long since passed. It was a wonder the portal still worked. The svirfneblin themselves didn't use it. No civilization to trade with was near the ruined city and the surrounding forest was dangerous. Eldeth and the darklings planned to take the longer, but surer, route as part of a Blingdenstone caravan to Gauntlgrym.
"My grandmother lives in the High Forest," Kuhl said. "In Reitheillaethor. I have cousins who live there as well. Maybe one of them can show me the way to the ruins of Darmaerth."
"Do you know how to get to Reitheillaethor from the ruins?" Rhianne asked. "Have you ever even visited your grandmother in the High Forest before?"
Kuhl shook his head.
"Are you even sure this city of Darmaerth was even in the High Forest?" Eldeth said. "When Derendil talked of being from the High Forest he was talking of Nelrindenvane, an imaginary place he and his sister made up when they were children. Isn't it possible they set their imaginary kingdom far away from where they actually lived?"
"It is possible," Kuhl admitted.
"This is why we keep trying to convince you to come with us to Gauntlgrym," Diarnghan said. "There are too many unknowns. And maybe we also want to delay saying goodbye. The caravan won't be the same without you."
"We hear what you are saying," Aleina said. "And everything you said is true. It makes sense for us to join the caravan to Gauntlgrym."
"But…" the darkling bard prompted.
"But some of us can't stand being in the Underdark any longer," the aasimar said. "If there is a way to get to the surface sooner, we're going to try it."
"Even if it means likely being lost in a dangerous forest?" Rhianne asked.
"Even if," Aleina said, nodding.
"Hardly wise," the darkling bard said.
The aasimar seemed at a loss for words. She only shrugged.
"The darkling is making some sense," Ront said. "It almost makes me think going to a city full of orc hating dwarves is the better choice over the portal. Almost. I need another drink."
The orc raised his tankard and signaled to the innkeeper who was busy serving other patrons. Jhelnae took another pull from her own drink. Might as well be ready for another when Tappy had time for it.
"Besides," Jhelnae said. "From the sounds of it, we still have a really spiteful drow priestess hunting us. A magic portal seems to be just the thing to throw that bitch off our trail once and for all."
"Also," Sky said brightly. "Maybe the ruins on the other side of the portal and the place where we are going to spread Derendil's ashes are the same place. That would make it easy."
"Perhaps," Rhianne said. "And perhaps you will find a crumbling sign that will say welcome to the city of Darmaerth so you will know you are in the right place. But I doubt it."
Sky shrugged. "We have to try. For Derendil."
Eldeth cast a guilty look around the table at that.
"I'd go with you to the High Forest, in honor of Derendil," the dwarf said. "But I need to report to King Bruenor of what we've seen down here. That has to come before anything else. Demon lords in the Underdark are a threat to Gauntlgrym."
"And she has promised to introduce us to the king," Rhianne said. "We are hoping Gauntlgrym might serve as a home for a settlement of darklings."
"You don't need to explain yourselves," Jhelnae said. "We understand why you can't come with us. Derendil would understand as well."
"Just like we should understand why you want to take this portal and should stop badgering you about it?" Rhianne asked.
"I didn't say that," the half drow said. "But now that you mention it…"
"Very well," the darkling bard said with a sigh. "If Derendil was from the High Forest and his city was sacked by the Dlardrageth, then he has been reincarnated many many times in his search for his sister's soul. The events can only refer to the Seven Citadels' War. That was almost six thousand years ago."
"I must have brewed this stronger than I thought," Fargas said, eyeing his mug of beer speculatively. "For a moment I thought you said six thousand years ago."
"She did say six thousand you little halfling runt," Ront said. "Elves always talk about things that happened a long time ago. They just want to remind everyone how long they live."
"We aren't elves," Diarnghan said.
"Do you live a long time?" the orc asked.
"We can," the darkling ranger said.
"Have pointy ears? Ront asked.
"Well...," Diarnghan said.
Tappy chose that moment to arrive with a tray of tankards, saving the darkling ranger from answering the question. The gnome innkeeper only had enough drinks for a few of them. She replaced tankards and whisked away the empty ones with a promise to be back with more. Jhelnae wasn't one of the lucky few with a refill.
But Ront was. He took a long drink, draining half the contents.
"It's my curse to be surrounded by elves," the orc said, voice slurred. "Elf, elf, elf, and elf.
He pointed around the table at Jhelnae, Kuhl, Rhianne, and Diarnghan, chuckling to himself as he did so.
"I told you it was plenty strong," Fargas said.
He too had received another drink, but he sipped at it. For the first time Jhelnae noticed a comfortable numbness had settled over her as well.
"Six thousand years," Eldeth prompted.
"Six thousand years." Rhianne repeated, then shrugged cloaked shoulders. "I wasn't really going to say any more than that. The events Derendil referred to happened a long time ago."
"I thought it was story time," Sky said, sounding disappointed.
"I'm not an elf," the darkling bard said, casting a cowled look at Ront. The orc was too busy with his drink to notice. "And not an elven historian. Bards, as tellers of tales, however, have a broad knowledge of the history of the Realms. We need to know the context of our stories and ballads after all. But I don't have any deep knowledge of the Seven Citadels' War."
"I don't either," Kuhl said. "But I know about the Dlardrageth. They were a gold elf family who bred with demons hoping to strengthen their line, they are called daemonfey, or fey'ri. An army of them attacked Evereska around a hundred years ago."
Jhelnae stiffened when the half-elf said 'bred with demons'. The tone of his voice had implied that one thing cast them as anametha, no longer elves but something lesser and terrible. She had never told the others her father was the son of an alu-fiend. Unlike her father, she had no obvious traits inherited from her fiendish ancestry. But it was there. The succubus in Gracklstugh had immediately known. Any feelings of shame for having a demonic heritage, like these fey'ri, burned away with an angry thought. She had not been bred to strengthen a family line or any such nonsense. Her mother and father had fallen in love and she was the result. She could give a damn what anyone thought about that.
Then why haven't you told any of them about it?
The thought came unbidden to her mind. She'd shared so much with them. Even telling them about her encounter and link with the avatar of Lolth. Why not that one basic truth about herself? But that wasn't fair, was it? She wasn't ashamed of her father. If it had come up, been relevant, she would have told them. She didn't know everything about the parents of the others. Why should she feel like she needed to share that information like it was some secret shame she needed to confess and get off her chest?
"At least we are talking about a hundred years rather than thousands of years," Fargas said, "Still a long time ago."
The conversation had continued during Jhelnae's lapse into her own thoughts. She listened intently to get caught up.
"You forget the long lives of elves," Kuhl said. "Many of my combat instructors and the officers who I served under had fought against the fey'ri. Soldiers throughout Toril are probably the same, the veterans telling the raw recruits how they are soft and never would survive an encounter with some enemy they had fought before."
The half-elf smiled, probably remembering a similar insult from some grizzled commander from his past, then sobered.
"All wars are horrible, of course, but the fight with the fey'ri was particularly horrible," Kuhl said. "In the previous war the elves had used magic to imprison the fey'ri for thousands of years. They wanted revenge for that, of course, and to rebuild their numbers. Gold elf females would rather die than be captured by them."
"Why is that?" Aleina asked, then her expression shifted to horror as she realized the answer. "Oh. No…"
The half-elf nodded. "Breeding stock."
Silence descended on the table as they all absorbed this.
"Are we likely to encounter any of these fey'ri in the High Forest?" Fargas asked.
Kuhl shook his head. "Their armies were destroyed in the forest of Cormanthor during the reclamation of Myth Drannor.
"And none of us or Gold Elf females who needed to be warned," the halfling said. "So I don't see why you thought we needed that tidbit of horrible knowledge."
"Yeah," Sky said with a roll of her eyes. "Thanks for sharing that."
The half-elf looked appropriately chastised. "Sorry. I don't know why I told you all that. The mention of the Dlardrageth got me remembering stories I was told."
"No need to to be sorry," Ront said, voice a little slurred and holding up his tankard to signal for a refill. "I stopped listen a while ago."
"What you told us might apply to the mystery of Derendil's sister," Rhianne said.
She said nothing else for a time, cowled head cocked to the side in obvious thought.
"Do you know if Derendil was a gold elf in his previous life?" she finally asked.
"I think so," Eldeth said. "But I am not sure. To me an elf is an elf.
"I believe so as well," Kuhl said. "He never said so, but his manner of speaking reminded me of some I knew in Evereska."
"Then his sister would have been one as well," the darkling bard said. "Her city was sacked, and she would have likely been killed in the fighting...or captured."
"Either is a terrible fate," Aleina said with a shudder. "But that would have been thousands of years ago. Even if she escaped and lived to the full extent of an elven lifespan, she would have joined Derendil in Arvandor wouldn't she?"
"She would have," Kuhl said. "Unless she lost faith or something else happened to her soul."
"You are being asked to solve a mystery across the span of millennia," Rhianne said. "An impossible task."
"You are thinking like a bard again, my dear," Diarnghan said. "You are always hunting the story. Curious to know what really happened, even from thousands of years ago. But Derendil didn't ask them to find out what happened to his sister. He just asked to be laid to rest in a place of his choosing. No more than that."
Another bout of silence descended on the group. The tankards were sipped as they digested the darkling ranger's words.
"No more than finding a ruined city somewhere in one of the largest and forbidding forests in all of Faerun," Fargas said with a sigh and a shake of his head. "Easy."
"We need to try," Jhelnae found herself echoing Sky's earlier words. "For Derendil."
"Sounds fun," Sky said, eyes bright. "And we're going there anyway."
"When will you leave?" Diarnghan asked.
"Tomorrow, I think," Kuhl said.
He glanced around the table for confirmation. When he looked Jhelnae's way, she nodded.
"I would not be so sure," Rhianne said, voice light. "Ront is on his third tankard. You might have trouble getting him up in the morning."
"I'll be up," the orc said. "I want out of the Underdark as badly as the aasimar. And unlike the rest of you, I can hold my drink."
"That," Sky said. "Sounds like a challenge."
She drained the dregs of her tankard and slammed the tankard onto the table.
"Oh, it is," Ront said. "And I am already two ahead of most of you."
"Only because the place is busy and most of us are not as aggressive in flagging Tappy down," Fargas said. "I'll go grab us another round."
The halfling jumped off his chair and scurried off.
"Now this isn't a good idea," Aleina said. "I don't want to be marching through the Underdark with a hangover, much less be dealing with Ront with a hangover while I have a hangover."
Her words fell on deaf ears. All around the table drinks were finished. Jhelnae had already finished hers, so she got to just sit and watch as the aasimar sighed and downed her own tankard in a series of swallows."
"You really do make a face after every drink," the half drow said, laughing,
"Oh, shut up, Jhelnae," Aleina said. "I'm going to at least out last you in this stupid little contest."
"Bold words," Jhelnae said with a smile, lifting her empty tankard in salute.
The aasimar shrugged and returned her smile. "What can I say. I'm a brazen drunk. Have I told you I am so glad you are no longer a statue?"
"Many many times," the half drow said. "And I am still very thankful not to be one."
They clinked tankards together and laughed. One more night in the relative safety of Blingdenstone among friends. Some of whom they might not see again for a long time, if ever. Might as well make the best of it.
I hope this works. I had to wrap up Blingdenstone, plus set up some stuff and I, once again, chose to use sitting at the Inn sharing a drink to do it. Totally unoriginal, I know, but it seemed the most efficient way to do it. Let me know if it feels too much like a data dump. BTW if you are sitting there thinking, "All this stuff with Derendil's backstory SUCKS!" That is not the fault of the lovely people at Wizards of the Coast. I expanded on his backstory and have a side quest of my own creation in mind when they reach the surface. The fey'ri, however, are not my creation. They are actually Forgotten Realms lore. Richard Baker had an excellent series with them as the villains (the Last Mythal). Yes, I stole Richard Baker's necromatic ogre boat earlier and now I'm using stuff from his Last Mythal stuff. What can I say, I'm a fan...