Chapter 114: To Overreach
"Now, whatever happens, we must make sure that Phaere does not give the real eggs to the demon lord – we have to stop her – or else this game is completely over," Harrian hissed to the party as they proceeded down the streets of Ust Natha, heading for the temple of Lolth. Irritatingly, they had to take the long way around, as the shortest route would have included going through the spider pit… and having the party leader run screaming and shivering might not have gone too well in their favour, especially when he wasn't allowed to then kill the spiders.
"Yes, Harrian. We know. You did tell us several dozen times," Jaheira sighed, shaking her head as she strode ahead, leading the party as the swashbuckler became too fidgety to actually make much progress. Edwin was quite sure he wasn't the only one to notice the long, considerate and thoughtful look he gave the druid as she went past.
The great doors to the temple were already open as they stepped up, Phaere pacing impatiently just at the entrance. As the party approached, her head snapped up and she gave Harrian a long and distinctly venomous glare which nobody missed, though a frown and something almost approaching a pout made the venom lower a little, replaced more with bitterness.
"Ah, Veldrin, you have arrived at last," she declared, the slight purr of her voice completely gone and replaced with more of an aggressive tone. This time, the thoughtful expression was on Jaheira's face, mixed with a little smugness after a second and then instantly hidden. "Come! The ceremony is to begin now." Without further ado, the daughter of the Matron Mother whirled on her heel and strode further into the temple, the party close behind.
The large hall of a room which had been chosen for the ceremony was quite dark, and could easily hold a hundred drow. It was almost certainly the main chapel, for prayer and… sacrifices, and whatever other religious activities the drow enjoyed in such places. Harrian had to surreptitiously swat Anomen on the arm as the cleric shivered lightly.
Ardulace was already standing in the centre of the room, arms folded over her chest imperiously, fixing them with a glance as they approached. "Veldrin… you have been allowed to witness, as a seat of honour, but do not overstep your bounds," she declared as the doors were slammed shut behind them all. "You are here to watch; nothing more."
Harrian gave a short, respectful bow as they formed an unconscious and uneven circle in the room. "I understand, Matron Mother. It shall be as if… I am not even here," he replied, in a distinctly lackey-ish voice.
Ardulace nodded curtly. "Very well. All preparations have been made… it is time for the ritual to begin. In moments the drow will stand supreme with House Despana first among them." A slight smirk crossed her face, which faded as she glared at them all, including 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. Now… I shall begin."
The casting of a spell such as this, to summon a demon lord, was a difficult endeavour, and Edwin knew it. You had to ensure that you were getting the right demon, that it wouldn't savage you as soon as look at you, and then you needed to make sure you didn't aggravate it once it was here, preferably by having something actually worthwhile to discuss. As the lights seemed to dim and the room grew darker, Ardulace's hands weaved through complex patterns, arcane mutterings emanating from her mouth, probably only whispers but seeming to echo and grow louder, almost to deafening levels. The ground shook a little, a lantern to their left exploded, and then everything went black… only for light to return a few seconds later. The room hadn't changed at all.
What had changed was the presence of a giant demon standing in the centre of the room. Red-skinned, winged, with horns and eyes that seemed as if they were made of fire, it was enough to make some members of the party – Haer'Dalis, most notably – back away a little, discreetly, in fear. Some, like Edwin, held fast, though whether it was through courage, stupidity, or an intellectual interest was up for debate.
"I have come," the demon lord stated ominously, looking around at them all. "You have wrested me from my plane, darkling. Have good reason, or I shall take my price in darkling blood," it warned.
"I have good reason, lord of the nether pits!" Ardulace shrieked, sounding almost crazed in her declaration. "I beseech you to aid the drow cause in the war against our hated surface cousins, to carve their pale flesh!"
"And what manner of tithe would you offer me for such a deed, darkling? What manner of payment warrants my aid?" the demon asked, sounding actually a little bored as it looked down at them.
Ardulace shuffled about in her robes, hurriedly coming up with the two false dragon eggs and holding them aloft. "I offer you these, lord of fiends… eggs of a silver dragon," she continued, still sounding quite crazy, and missing the confident smirk of Phaere. The party were all too tense to smirk, Edwin clutching the true eggs under his robe.
There was a long, painful silence, when it seemed that all that could be heard was the beating of each individual's heart. Eventually, the demon lord drew back slowly, tilting its head slightly to one side. "Foolish darkling. Do you think I would be taken in by such a simple deception?" it asked.
Ardulace's eyes bulged. "W-what do you mean? These… these… these are –"
"False, darkling. I would normally accept such a tithe, were it real, but you have offended me, little darkling woman," the demon continued, in a slightly peeved voice which still held a note of boredom as it stretched out a clawed hand.
The matron mother backed away. "No! No!" she shrieked as a yellow ball of pure energy began to glow in the palm of the demon's hand. "Lolth! Protect your faith –"
The sentence was left unfinished as the yellow ball began to grow, then sprouted outwards in a crackling bolt which was blinding to behold and shot forwards, hitting Ardulace in the chest and incinerating her flesh, leaving only the bones and armour she wore behind.
The demon turned to the others, looking more than a little irritated and not in the least bit bored now. "How dare you call me here! How dare you tempt me with eggs of hated silver, but then deceive me! I am tempted to raze this city to ashes!" it bellowed in a deafening, ear-splitting voice.
Phaere stepped forwards, pulling Solaufein's false eggs from out of her clothes and holding them aloft, greed and delight in her eyes. "Hold, demon! I am the daughter of the one who has summoned you… and I have the eggs that you seek. I offer them to you as the tithe!" she shouted in a voice full of anticipation.
Harrian bounded forwards at last, pulling his sword out and pointing it at Phaere's neck, unwavering. "Hold, Phaere! Give up those eggs or you will die by my hand, right here, right now," he growled threateningly.
Even as Phaere looked shocked, before she could retaliate the demon lord raised his hand again, though this time the ball of arcane energy was purple, and as it hit the party they were left immobile rather than incinerated… which was useful.
"I will deal with you later, godchild," the demon lord muttered, shaking its horned head as it turned back to Phaere, and there was another stunned silence as the party could only stare whilst the demon examined the eggs. Then it threw back its head and laughed loudly.
Being stunned or clutching a pair of supposedly valuable eggs made it impossible for anyone to clamp their hands over their ears as the demon lord chuckled mightily. "A great joke has been played on you, daughter-darkling. The eggs you hold… are also false."
There was another long, stunned silence as a shocked Phaere turned to look at an equally shocked party, which was slowly starting to regain a little feeling from the temporary hold spell. "No… no? Veldrin?" Her shock turned to anger slowly. "Veldrin! What have you done to me?"
The demon lord looked amused as it stepped forwards. "The Bhaal-child has murdered you, daughter-darkling. Most amusing, it is! Ha! Come, now, and be murdered!" it declared ominously, raising its hand, which had started to glow slightly yellow.
When the smoke cleared, the demon lord made a noise which sounded like a long-suffering sigh and turned to the rest of the party, waving a hand to fully dispel the Hold that was upon them. "Now… I rather assume that there are no real eggs to be found. Unless a better offer is available, I shall depart."
Harrian stared at the demon lord, utterly stunned, as he gaped in shock. Edwin reached into his robes, clutching at the real eggs discreetly, before starting to shuffle sideways, further away from the main party. Unfortunately, this left him a little closer to Minsc, standing on the perimeter, than he would have liked, but he was sure he could move away enough.
"But where… where are the actual eggs? I thought she had them," Harrian murmured numbly, staring at Phaere's remains, looking as if he'd been clobbered over the head with the full implications of losing Adalon's eggs. Edwin shuffled sideways, a little noisily, but nobody looked around.
"I don't know," Jaheira murmured, frowning. "Without the eggs, we have… we have no way of getting out of the Underdark… we have no way of…"
Edwin stepped forwards triumphantly at last, pulling the real eggs from out of his robe and lifting them up high, eyes flashing in the face of victory. "I have the eggs!" he declared with much aplomb, already envisioning the powers he would receive, the wealth from the demon lord before he was transported to the surface… abandoning these poor fools, true, but they never acknowledged his great power anyway. "And I will –"
He was cut off as a pair of large and exceedingly strong hands wrapped themselves around his chest and swung him round, knocking all the air out of his lungs and making him feel dizzy, almost to the point of dropping the eggs. Almost. It's that insane Rashemani ranger… he's got a hold of me! He'll kill me for sure, crush all the life out of me…!
"The Red Wizard has found the cute little eggs, and has saved them from the evil dark elves!" the unmistakable voice of Minsc echoed in his ear, half-deafening him. "Oh, we thought he was a bad, bad man, but he has saved the day, kept them safe!"
The large demon lord seemed to blink at the exceedingly strange spectacle, then shook its head, seeming to sigh again. "So be it. Mortals are forever fools," it mumbled, then the room darkened again. When light returned, there was no demon.
"Let me down you great overgrown ape, before I shoot a magic missile at your posterior! (yes, and roast your hamster too, see how he likes that)," Edwin snapped irritably, finding it hard to speak without any air in his lungs, absolutely livid at how quickly and easily his plans had been foiled.
"So… you made a copy of the eggs and gave them to me to give to Phaere, did you?" Harrian asked dubiously, stepping over as he gestured to Minsc to let go of the Red Wizard. "It's a good idea, but why didn't you tell me?"
Edwin brushed himself down, unable to complain as Imoen practically snatched the eggs from his grip. "Well… I didn't make them. Solaufein came back, gave me these eggs… oh, and some battle plans of the drow for the attack on Suldanessellar (my plans, undone, in moments! The agony!)" he mumbled, unhappily passing over the scroll of the battle plans, realising the game was up and he'd do best to play along to stay alive.
"Really," Harrian drawled, giving the Thayvian a long, considerate look. "Solaufein, hmm?" There was a long silence as their eyes met, Edwin defiant, Harrian suspicious, but Jaheira giving him a solid elbowing in the ribs jerked the swashbuckler out of the staring competition, and he looked around quickly. "Ah… yes. Loot the bodies, and run, I think, before we bring down the entire city upon our heels!"