The group trudged on from the cave for several uneventful hours until
finally the came to a rail-way with a rail-cart filled to the top with an
ore of some kind. They followed this for some ways until they came to a
crossroads, one path leading straight to the right, one to the left and
the other continuing on forward.
At this point Keadrea stopped and said, " I have decided that my time in the Underdark has drawn to an end." She paused a moment, looked around herself and continued with, " Shizar, you may, if you wish, make the journey to the surface with me, but your service to me has ended."
" Then, Keadrea, I decided to follow you to the surface, but not for your pleasure only, I grow weary of this place."
To this Fitzen replied, " My companions and I have been conversing and we respect your decision to go to the surface, but we would like you to stay with us in our fair city for at least a fortnight." He paused and then said, " you will need supplies for the journey and a rest will do you well for it is a rather long one at any rate."
" Fitzen, my friend, it's not that I wouldn't stay for a score of fortnights, but it is too dangerous for me to stay any where for long, especially with people I care for, my mother will send the whole of house Rizal after me." " As for this we care not." Replied Fitzen, " Not if half of Menzoberranzan, which I doubt resides in all of House Rizal, was sent could the drow find, much less enter into Blingdenstone."
"Allright, we will stay with you in your city, but not for long."
After they had decided on going to Blingdenstone, the group turned to the right path. They walked a little while longer until finally they entered a large chamber. At the opposite end of the chamber from them there was what appeared to be a large arched rock wall. It was wholly unmistakable from a normal rock wall, except to infravision, for straight down the middle of the wall there was a narrow slit where slightly cooler air could be seen escaping from the subterranean city just behind. Fitzen said something in the svirfneblin tongue and the doors started to slide into the walls that they were a part of. As they came to a stop the party entered into the city. Immediately Shizar was taken aback. For his whole life he had lived in Menzoberranzan, had been used to the beautiful drow architecture, but this was a different beauty all together. The main road down the center of the city was paved in gold and set in gemstones, the towers and homes built of the stone where more earthy and rock shaped than the huge hallowed out stalagmite houses of the drow, yet somehow they where even more beautiful in his eyes.
And the lights! In Menzoberranzan the only lights outside of house walls were the dim faere fires, but here there where torches everywhere. The Svirfnebli didn't need them, they had infravision just as any other creature of the underdark, they where more for the effect they had on the metals and gemstones than any real visual assistance they provided. They where very painful to the sensitive drow eyes, made them sting as if sweat had fallen into them, but much sharper and more persistent.
They where led up a path through the town, passing more than a few of the homes in this tight knit community, up to the castle estate where the reigning king resided.
" The king has decided that he will see the drow." a gnome that ran down the path from the castle to greet them stated.
" Wonderful!" Fitzen replied as he clapped his hands together, as it was fairly uncommon for the king to see outsiders, seeing as it was less common for there to be outsiders there in the first place.
" Is that a good thing?" Shizar asked, and Fitzen and Keadrea mearly shrugged to him, neither knowing the answer for sure.
At this point Keadrea stopped and said, " I have decided that my time in the Underdark has drawn to an end." She paused a moment, looked around herself and continued with, " Shizar, you may, if you wish, make the journey to the surface with me, but your service to me has ended."
" Then, Keadrea, I decided to follow you to the surface, but not for your pleasure only, I grow weary of this place."
To this Fitzen replied, " My companions and I have been conversing and we respect your decision to go to the surface, but we would like you to stay with us in our fair city for at least a fortnight." He paused and then said, " you will need supplies for the journey and a rest will do you well for it is a rather long one at any rate."
" Fitzen, my friend, it's not that I wouldn't stay for a score of fortnights, but it is too dangerous for me to stay any where for long, especially with people I care for, my mother will send the whole of house Rizal after me." " As for this we care not." Replied Fitzen, " Not if half of Menzoberranzan, which I doubt resides in all of House Rizal, was sent could the drow find, much less enter into Blingdenstone."
"Allright, we will stay with you in your city, but not for long."
After they had decided on going to Blingdenstone, the group turned to the right path. They walked a little while longer until finally they entered a large chamber. At the opposite end of the chamber from them there was what appeared to be a large arched rock wall. It was wholly unmistakable from a normal rock wall, except to infravision, for straight down the middle of the wall there was a narrow slit where slightly cooler air could be seen escaping from the subterranean city just behind. Fitzen said something in the svirfneblin tongue and the doors started to slide into the walls that they were a part of. As they came to a stop the party entered into the city. Immediately Shizar was taken aback. For his whole life he had lived in Menzoberranzan, had been used to the beautiful drow architecture, but this was a different beauty all together. The main road down the center of the city was paved in gold and set in gemstones, the towers and homes built of the stone where more earthy and rock shaped than the huge hallowed out stalagmite houses of the drow, yet somehow they where even more beautiful in his eyes.
And the lights! In Menzoberranzan the only lights outside of house walls were the dim faere fires, but here there where torches everywhere. The Svirfnebli didn't need them, they had infravision just as any other creature of the underdark, they where more for the effect they had on the metals and gemstones than any real visual assistance they provided. They where very painful to the sensitive drow eyes, made them sting as if sweat had fallen into them, but much sharper and more persistent.
They where led up a path through the town, passing more than a few of the homes in this tight knit community, up to the castle estate where the reigning king resided.
" The king has decided that he will see the drow." a gnome that ran down the path from the castle to greet them stated.
" Wonderful!" Fitzen replied as he clapped his hands together, as it was fairly uncommon for the king to see outsiders, seeing as it was less common for there to be outsiders there in the first place.
" Is that a good thing?" Shizar asked, and Fitzen and Keadrea mearly shrugged to him, neither knowing the answer for sure.