As usual: Don't bother me it wasn't my idea. and I hate disclaimers.
**********
The trio cautiously left their hiding place and kept to the rooftops as they made their way to the walls of the main cavern of Menzoberranzan. Tarlshi led the way. Their destination turned out to be located in one of the dingiest parts of the Braeryn.
Buildings leaned drunkenly or were in the process of crumbling into dust. Mushrooms were starting to sprout over parts of the collapsed stone buildings and some of those fungi looked like they were being encouraged to grow there. Ryld's eyes kept straying to the empty windows, unable to shake the feeling of being watched. Tarlshi started to keep one eye on the cave walls and the other on the ruins. Even the usually happy go lucky Crinita was beginning to feel uneasy. "How much farther?" she whispered.
"Not far now," Tarlshi whispered back, "There it is!"
Two collapsed buildings formed an alley, of sorts, that ended at the cavern wall. It looked uninhabited. Ryld dropped a ball of darkness over the head of the rundown alley and they all snuck inside. In a very dark corner of the dead end, there was a small opening, mostly hidden by rubble. "You're sure we can fit?" Ryld eyed the small passage skeptically.
"I think so," answered the bigger githerzai, "It looks like it opens up farther in."
Crinita leaned against a ruined wall and huffed, "Are we going in or are we going to stand around out here talking about it?"
Irritated the dark elf spun towards her and snapped, "If you're so eager, why don't you go in first?"
"Fine! I will!" She shifted some rubble to the point where she could wriggle into the opening and started through.
Tarlshi turned to Ryld, "Should we go in after her?"
"Well, if there's anything in there it'll go after her first..."
"True, but she also gets the first pick of anything in there as well."
"Better go in after her then. Me first and then you?"
"You are better in a fight... agreed."
The passage was extremely dusty and Ryld could feel the stuff, soft and fine, work its way into his already grimy shirt and trousers. He could hear Crinita ahead of him, scuffling around what sounded like a room. Curious, he inspected some of the dust. Wait a minute, he thought, this looks more like ashes. He crawled faster to get to where the tiefling was currently exploring.
He emerged into what looked a little like living quarters. On his left, nestled in a corner, a little cooking area peeked out along with a very narrow shaft leading out. there were a few wooden chests sitting against the wall. Crinita, a true kleptomaniac, was in the process of rummaging through one of them in hopes of finding something interesting. On his right, Ryld saw what might have once been a comfortable common area. If it were not for the scorch marks, the overturned and broken furniture and the few charred, open chests around he would never have thought otherwise. There were doorways leading to two other chambers leading out of this area. Tarlshi interrupted Ryld's musing, "Could you move? You're blocking the way and I need to sneeze!" Ryld obligingly moved aside for Tarlshi.
Crinita came over to the passage entrance, 'Looks like a serious fight went through here doesn't it?"
"Sure does," agreed Tarlshi, "It looks like Arx's place after a brawl."
Ryld bent to examine the pieces of a broken mushroom wood chair. Not only was there the fire damage but also deep gouges and scratches, like... "Blade marks," he muttered. He looked a bit more closely around the room and realized that most of the run down furnishings had weapon marks on them.
"What do you think?" crowed Tarlshi as he turned to Ryld, "I really found Mithias' Hideaway, didn't I?"
Still examining the objects in the room, Ryld nodded. Crinita looked up from her rummaging and asked, "Mithias?"
"All your life you've lived here and you've never heard a Mithias story?" Tarlshi chuckled as he looked towards the tiefling. She shook her head. "Mithias was supposed to be a resident of the Braeryn a few centuries back. Stories vary as to what race this person was, but most of the stories have Mithias as a pretty drow female. Anyway, Mithias had a network of informers and spies. Worked as an information broker. Anyway, his or her network didn't charge for information regarding raids that the noble houses occasionally do and would tell anyone and everyone they could find about those raids. You might have heard someone say that they 'gave a mithie'? Meaning they gave something useful without asking for anything in return? Same principle. Anyway whoever they were, they say he or she disappeared without a trace a few centuries back and the spy network supposedly fell apart shortly thereafter."
"Maybe she just got tired of her game," Crinita commented as she turned back to the chest she had been ransacking. "She might have gone to the surface, started a noble house, set up a perfume shop or even... what's this?"
She lifted a large flat panel out of the chest and lifted a few more items out of the chest. These she placed in a separate pile from the stuff she had already found. A pair of child sized practice swords, a silver medallion and a few sheets of ink-stained vellum were gently set on the dusty floor. Ryld and Tarlshi came over to investigate the new finds. Crinita picked up the tarnished medallion and examined it. Tarlshi toyed with the swords and Ryld, the only one who could read, squinted at the delicate vellum sheets.
Tarlshi swung the practice swords about. They were finely balanced, even to his untrained hands and were scored with the nicks, scratches and dings of long use. The swords' cross pieces were turned up and carved in an overlapping, repeating pattern.
Ryld could not make out the language on the fading vellum sheets, aside from recognizing the language as elven, but so archaic he could not make sense of it. It looked metered though and was written evenly across the page. Like a song, he thought. "You, I think you might have hit the mark when you said 'Mithias's hideaway,'" Ryld called to the other two.
Crinita turned over the medallion and said, "I think I know why this Mithias was so good at not getting caught." She tossed the emblem to Ryld, "That's no symbol of the Spider Queen," she said.
Ryld caught the medallion and turned it over. Through the tarnish made the metal darker than it should have been, he could still make out the shape of a twirling female elven dancer against a crescent.
*******
**********
The trio cautiously left their hiding place and kept to the rooftops as they made their way to the walls of the main cavern of Menzoberranzan. Tarlshi led the way. Their destination turned out to be located in one of the dingiest parts of the Braeryn.
Buildings leaned drunkenly or were in the process of crumbling into dust. Mushrooms were starting to sprout over parts of the collapsed stone buildings and some of those fungi looked like they were being encouraged to grow there. Ryld's eyes kept straying to the empty windows, unable to shake the feeling of being watched. Tarlshi started to keep one eye on the cave walls and the other on the ruins. Even the usually happy go lucky Crinita was beginning to feel uneasy. "How much farther?" she whispered.
"Not far now," Tarlshi whispered back, "There it is!"
Two collapsed buildings formed an alley, of sorts, that ended at the cavern wall. It looked uninhabited. Ryld dropped a ball of darkness over the head of the rundown alley and they all snuck inside. In a very dark corner of the dead end, there was a small opening, mostly hidden by rubble. "You're sure we can fit?" Ryld eyed the small passage skeptically.
"I think so," answered the bigger githerzai, "It looks like it opens up farther in."
Crinita leaned against a ruined wall and huffed, "Are we going in or are we going to stand around out here talking about it?"
Irritated the dark elf spun towards her and snapped, "If you're so eager, why don't you go in first?"
"Fine! I will!" She shifted some rubble to the point where she could wriggle into the opening and started through.
Tarlshi turned to Ryld, "Should we go in after her?"
"Well, if there's anything in there it'll go after her first..."
"True, but she also gets the first pick of anything in there as well."
"Better go in after her then. Me first and then you?"
"You are better in a fight... agreed."
The passage was extremely dusty and Ryld could feel the stuff, soft and fine, work its way into his already grimy shirt and trousers. He could hear Crinita ahead of him, scuffling around what sounded like a room. Curious, he inspected some of the dust. Wait a minute, he thought, this looks more like ashes. He crawled faster to get to where the tiefling was currently exploring.
He emerged into what looked a little like living quarters. On his left, nestled in a corner, a little cooking area peeked out along with a very narrow shaft leading out. there were a few wooden chests sitting against the wall. Crinita, a true kleptomaniac, was in the process of rummaging through one of them in hopes of finding something interesting. On his right, Ryld saw what might have once been a comfortable common area. If it were not for the scorch marks, the overturned and broken furniture and the few charred, open chests around he would never have thought otherwise. There were doorways leading to two other chambers leading out of this area. Tarlshi interrupted Ryld's musing, "Could you move? You're blocking the way and I need to sneeze!" Ryld obligingly moved aside for Tarlshi.
Crinita came over to the passage entrance, 'Looks like a serious fight went through here doesn't it?"
"Sure does," agreed Tarlshi, "It looks like Arx's place after a brawl."
Ryld bent to examine the pieces of a broken mushroom wood chair. Not only was there the fire damage but also deep gouges and scratches, like... "Blade marks," he muttered. He looked a bit more closely around the room and realized that most of the run down furnishings had weapon marks on them.
"What do you think?" crowed Tarlshi as he turned to Ryld, "I really found Mithias' Hideaway, didn't I?"
Still examining the objects in the room, Ryld nodded. Crinita looked up from her rummaging and asked, "Mithias?"
"All your life you've lived here and you've never heard a Mithias story?" Tarlshi chuckled as he looked towards the tiefling. She shook her head. "Mithias was supposed to be a resident of the Braeryn a few centuries back. Stories vary as to what race this person was, but most of the stories have Mithias as a pretty drow female. Anyway, Mithias had a network of informers and spies. Worked as an information broker. Anyway, his or her network didn't charge for information regarding raids that the noble houses occasionally do and would tell anyone and everyone they could find about those raids. You might have heard someone say that they 'gave a mithie'? Meaning they gave something useful without asking for anything in return? Same principle. Anyway whoever they were, they say he or she disappeared without a trace a few centuries back and the spy network supposedly fell apart shortly thereafter."
"Maybe she just got tired of her game," Crinita commented as she turned back to the chest she had been ransacking. "She might have gone to the surface, started a noble house, set up a perfume shop or even... what's this?"
She lifted a large flat panel out of the chest and lifted a few more items out of the chest. These she placed in a separate pile from the stuff she had already found. A pair of child sized practice swords, a silver medallion and a few sheets of ink-stained vellum were gently set on the dusty floor. Ryld and Tarlshi came over to investigate the new finds. Crinita picked up the tarnished medallion and examined it. Tarlshi toyed with the swords and Ryld, the only one who could read, squinted at the delicate vellum sheets.
Tarlshi swung the practice swords about. They were finely balanced, even to his untrained hands and were scored with the nicks, scratches and dings of long use. The swords' cross pieces were turned up and carved in an overlapping, repeating pattern.
Ryld could not make out the language on the fading vellum sheets, aside from recognizing the language as elven, but so archaic he could not make sense of it. It looked metered though and was written evenly across the page. Like a song, he thought. "You, I think you might have hit the mark when you said 'Mithias's hideaway,'" Ryld called to the other two.
Crinita turned over the medallion and said, "I think I know why this Mithias was so good at not getting caught." She tossed the emblem to Ryld, "That's no symbol of the Spider Queen," she said.
Ryld caught the medallion and turned it over. Through the tarnish made the metal darker than it should have been, he could still make out the shape of a twirling female elven dancer against a crescent.
*******