Blasphemy, Sacrilege, and Heresy…
"Blasphemy!" Raelyn hissed in a half-whisper, staring with wide red-pupiled eyes at the gunslinger, Fel'rekt. "Sacrilege and heresy! What have you done? You'll bring the wrath of the Dark Mother down upon our House!"
"Perhaps," the other drow said with a mirthless chuckle. "But if so, our goddess takes her sweet time about it. I've been a male for decades."
The dark elves had switched to their native tongue for this unraveling bit of family drama, which afforded them no privacy from Jhelnae's prying ears. That would not be true for everyone, but a glance around the table showed the tense body language and tone between the two drow held the rapt attention of those who, judging by their questioning expressions, did not understand Elvish, which included Sky, the Waterdhavian youths, Esvele, and Captain Staget. Those who did speak Elvish - Kuhl, Aleina, the genasi half-siblings, the goblin in iridescent green dragon scaled armor, the antlered boy, and their venerable dragonborn host - were entranced by the unfolding spectacle as well.
Mirt was the sole exception. He did listen, but his primary focus was in slathering a seed cake with butter before jamming an enormous bite into his mouth. How could he still be hungry when he'd been stuffing himself since well before Jhelnae had come down from her bath?
"Why?" The tone of Raelyn's voice was more accusation than question.
"Why?" Fel'rekt repeated, shaking his head. "Why choose to be a lowly male over the privilege of being daughter of a noble house? Is that what you mean?"
Scorn laced the words the gunslinger emphasized.
"Millenia of abuse from the matriarchy against males may lay behind the reason," he continued, shrugging, "Or may not. I do not know for certain. I only know I desired it."
"You understand if mother," Raelyn said. "Or any other priestess learns of this, it will be the altar and the knife for you."
"By all that dances!" Jhelnae cut in. "You'd think your Dark Mother would want a little bit of creativity. Is sacrifice all her priestesses can think of? Hey, we've captured a paladin of Sehanine Moonbow, let's sacrifice him. What about an aasimar? Sacrifice her. How about a…"
She trailed off as the aasimar in question poked her with a sharp elbow and gave her a pointed look. Realization dawned to the half-drow of just what she'd revealed in her outburst. She clamped her mouth shut.
The two drow looked at Jhelnae, then around the rest of the room, as if somehow surprised to find an audience to their private discussion.
"I did not tell mother," Fel'rekt sighed after a pause, changing to Common. "Nor a priestess. I told you."
"And all these others," his sister said, matching her brother's shift in language as her gaze traveled the table once more.
"That was unintentional," the gunslinger said with a shrug. "I got caught up in the moment, as the surfacers say."
"Caught up in the moment?" Raelyn scoffed. "A century and maleness, apparently, has made you a fool. You just revealed a secret that can be used against you. A deadly one."
"This isn't about any of them," Fel'rekt said, with a dismissive wave. "This is about you and me and we are twins…"
"Not so much twins anymore," the dark-elf female countered.
"Just because I am male now does not make us any less twins," her brother countered back. "I knew I could trust you."
Now that Jhelnae looked for it, she found these two shared the traits of siblings. Their resemblance was actually quite strong except for one being male and the other female.
"You speak of being twins like a surfacer," Raelyn said. "We are drow. We've been rivals since the day we were born. You knew you could trust me? You couldn't trust me when you were part of the family and certainly can't after more than a century away from it."
"You could betray me to the priestesses for my so-called blasphemy," the gunslinger agreed. "But you could have also helped House Auvryndar curry favor with the more powerful House Mizzrym by capturing an aasimar, a tabaxi, a paladin of Sehanine Moonbow, and a drow with dark hair and the green eyes of the surface."
She emphasized these statements by pointing a finger at each individual who matched this description. All flinched as attention was directed their way except for Sky, who gave a languid yawn and an unconcerned flick of her tail.
"Yet did you encourage them to escort you back to the holdings of our House where they could be ambushed and taken?" Fel'rekt pressed on. "No. You did not. Instead you focused on assisting your former cellmate on her mission into the Dungeon of the Mad Mage. And it was then, dear sister, that I knew I could trust you."
Raelyn's lips pursed and the barest hint of guilt entered her features.
"By accompanying adventurers," his sister said. "We can come at Halaster from another angle. Possibly learn secrets and weaknesses we would not learn otherwise. I decided that would be the best course of action."
"If that is what you need to tell yourself," the gunslinger said. "I won't call it out as a lie."
Which, it occurred to Jhelnae, was actually calling it out as a lie. Raelyn said nothing, but the hint of guilt in her expression grew.
"Since I am freely sharing secrets," Fel'rekt said. "Here is another one. One that won't potentially kill me. Those rare times mother didn't set us against each other and actually had us working together on some task or mission are among the few good memories I have from my life before."
"They were not… unbearable," his sister cautiously admitted.
"Just so you know," Sophiya put in from where she sat beside Raelyn. "That is her way of saying she enjoyed those times as well."
"She was my sister long before she was your 'companion of inconvenience'," Fel'rekt said, a smile touching his lips. "So, I knew that."
"Right, of course you did," the genasi said with a slight wince. "I'll go back to being quiet now."
"What I'm trying to point out is we worked well together before," the gunslinger said, again focusing on his sister. "Let's work well together again. Let me come with you and these others into Undermountain."
"You stupid, reckless, trusting fool," Raelyn said, the hint of guilt in her demeanor evaporating to be replaced with exasperation. "Go deeper into Undermountain? Deeper into the holdings of House Auvryndar where you might be recognized? Why not just lay out on an altar while sharpening a sacrificial knife? Where have you been in the last century that made you lose all common sense?"
"Before my time with Bregan D'arthe," Fel'rekt said. "I lived on the surface. In a city called Raven's Bluff. With my husband. Laelar."
"Laelar?" the female dark-elf's eyes narrowed slightly. "Our tiefling battle-captive? The wizard?"
"Don't call him that," the gunslinger said, tone bearing the hint of a warning. "A battle-captive I mean. He was a tiefling and a wizard of course. And, at one point… a battle-captive too I suppose.."
His voice and gaze grew distant, into the past, Jhelnae guessed.
"There was one rule with him, remember?" Fel'rekt said. "Carefully limit his access to his spellbook. But the destruction of Ched Nasad was terrible. My troops were dead or scattered, the House wizard sent with us crushed, my sword arm shattered by falling stone, and so, in desperation, I broke that one rule. From then on, I was at his mercy."
"You became the battle-captive instead," Raelyn said, nodding.
The gunslinger shook his head.
"He helped me get to a place of relative safety, then fled to escape to the surface," the drow said. "Once my arm was healed, I pursued, fully intending to bring him back. It was ridiculously easy to catch up with him. Surfacers."
The siblings shared the huff of a laugh and a roll of their eyes.
"But when I had caught up with him, I found something strange," Fel'rekt said. "My arm was healed, but I could not bring myself to raise my blade against him and he would not use his magic on me. But neither could I let him go. At some point during the time I'd relied on him for protection he'd woven a spell on me of a different sort. I knew at that moment I could not bear life without him. So, the surface and Raven's Bluff. When old age took him I learned I actually could bear life without him, but only just barely and that realization took time. That is when the idea of a new life, a new identity, a new form, and even a new gender took hold."
He made a gesture to indicate himself. No one spoke for a time, for the half-drow's part the gunslinger's story brought a melancholy thought. In a few words he'd summarized found love, a shared life, followed by heart-rending grief for the survivor. With Jhelnae's heritage of elven and fiendish blood, she could potentially long outlive a tabaxi, aasimar, or a half-elf. Among her friends, she would be that lonely survivor.
"You fell in love with a surfacer?" Raelyn finally said with the snort and the shake of her head. "And lost a spell-casting asset? That isn't the sister I knew."
"Did anyone even mourn me when you thought I died in Ched Nasad?" Fel'rekt snapped. "By which I mean beyond the loss of a daughter-asset?"
"The fall of Ched Nasad was the loss of the second greatest drow city in the Underdark," the dark-elf female snapped back. "There was plenty of mourning to go around. But in answer to the other… yes. For mother, I am not sure, but for me - well beyond the loss of a 'sister-asset'."
The siblings shared a stare that the others around the table watched silently, except for Mirt. He was still eating, having moved on to fried quippers whose spiciness had his forehead sweating.
The gunslinger broke eye-contact with his sister with a nod.
"I always sensed that was the way it was between us," he said. "Despite our forced rivalry. Which is why, when I saw that posting of Blood and Fortune with the drawing of you, I had to try and rescue you."
"That Hundar sauce had just the right amount of zest," Mirt said, breaking into the conversation and finally pushing back his plate. "My compliments to your cook."
He immediately followed this pronouncement with a long pull at his tankard.
"As I've explained to you before, Mirt," their dragonborn host, Felrax, said dryly. "It's magically conjured food. Your expectations feed into how it tastes."
"Well then," the fat man said with a broad smile. "That would make me the cook. So compliments to myself."
He raised his tankard high in toast and drank again.
"Never gets old, that joke," he said after he lowered his drink, smacking his lips.
"Never," Felrax deadpanned with a rasping sigh.
"This family reunion has made for very engaging dinner entertainment," Mirt said, wiping down his mustache with a napkin. "To be sure. But it occurs to me, lad, there is a question you didn't answer. Which is not surprising, since no one asked it of you yet."
"Did you just call me 'lad'?" Fel'rekt asked. "I'm over two hundred years old, human."
"Doesn't that make you rather young by elf ways of thinking?" the fat man asked, raising a bushy, quizzical eyebrow.
"Well… yes," the gunslinger said.
"Lad then," Mirt said. "And what I'd like to know is why do you want to go into Undermountain? As your sister points out, it represents considerable risk to you, and you've been a hundred years and more away from your family. So, why now?"
It was a good question, and it occurred to Jhelnae that once again she'd been tricked into underestimating this man because of his gluttonous behavior and slovenly appearance. He'd seemed distracted by food and drink, but that didn't mean he hadn't been keenly listening.
"Demon lords are running rampant in the Underdark," the gunslinger said. "These two here confirmed it in an interview."
He gestured to Aleina and Jhelnae. They both looked at each other in surprise, then slowly nodded. Jarlaxle had not had time to tell Fel'rekt or his partner Krebbyg of what they discussed in the captain's quarters on the Eye Catcher since the gunslingers had immediately accompanied the aasimar and half-drow off the ship. The pair of drow must have somehow communicated magically with their commander before they teleported into the lair of the Xanathar to begin the Mind Flayer hunt.
"Did they tell you about Demogoron rising out of the Dark Lake?" Sky asked. "Zuggtmoy in the Neverlight Grove? The Pudding King in Blingdenstone?"
"I actually wasn't part of their interview," Fel'rekt said. "Only heard a quick summary. But between rumors and these stories, something major is going on in the Underdark. I was there at the fall of Ched Nasad. That was caused by duergar with firebombs. What would a demon lord do to a city?"
"There is something going on in the Underdark," Raelyn confirmed. "We've been having issues with supply lines and reinforcements and have heard the same rumors as to the cause. But that is the Underdark, not Undermountain, which is what the surfacers call it, but we name it Kyorlamshin. We've seen no signs of a demonic incursion in these parts, at least there were no signs of any before my captivity."
"Who drove us from Kyorlamshin?" Fel'rekt asked. "Who contests our return? Who has the arcane knowledge and power to summon demon lords? And who benefits from your supply lines and links to reinforcements being interrupted?"
"Halaster Blackcloak," Raelyn breathed. "It makes a mad sort of sense, appropriate for the Mad Mage. What evidence do you have of this?"
"None," her brother said, shrugging. "I only thought of the possibility just before I revealed myself to you. But can we agree it's worth looking into? Whatever the source, it must be found and stopped."
Her sibling thought for a time, then responded with a nod.
"But, we'll need to work on your appearance," she said. "Hair color, posture, clothes, give you a made up scar or the like. Anything to make you less recognizable."
"This could go beyond the petty interests of House Auvryndar, sister," the gunslinger said. "An abyssal incursion into the Underdark affects all drow, all races who make their home there."
"I care nothing for other races, or even other drow beyond House Auvryndar," Raelyn said. "They wouldn't lift a finger to protect us. But we must protect ourselves, if they benefit, so be it."
"If that is what you need to tell yourself," Fel'rekt said. "I won't call it out as a lie."
The dark-elf female's expression hardened slightly at her twin using the same phrase to again insinuate she was lying to herself, but she didn't voice a denial.
"Is it my imagination," Vorskar, the half-giant brother said. "Or did we go from planning to leave Undermountain, to being convinced by our sister's cellmate to assist Sophiya on a quest founded on very doubtful information, to now being an adventurer group front for these drow twins on their quest?"
"It isn't your imagination," Embrie, the half-dragon brother hissed.
"It's what happened," Jassin, the part sun-elf, agreed with a sigh.
"I like to think of it as working together for mutual benefit," Sophiya said. "Which is what friends do for each other on the surface, but if others want to describe instead as a relationship of mutual inconvenience, I won't call it out as a lie."
"I really hate you genasi," Raelyn growled. "You know that, right?"
"I think Sophiya described the situation rather well," Fel'rekt said.
"Ah, drow can learn names," the genasi said. "Good to know."
She and the gunslinger shared a chuckle while his sister shook her head and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
"Well then, we should get in some studying and a good night's sleep,," Vorskar said. " I think we'll need all the spells we can memorize. Who knows when we'll have a safe place to hole up again."
"We can show you the way to the Wyllowwood," the antlered boy, Ash, said brightly. "It is safe to rest there."
"Safe unless a carrion crawler tries to eat you," the goblin, Mite, agreed, but added an exception. "Or an ettercap."
"Also giant spiders," Ash said. "You need to watch out for those."
"And owlbears," Mite put in. "They are always hungry."
"Sounds charming," the half-giant brother said. "Koger, I want Ancilla in guardian mode right over me when we sleep there. By that I mean standing with one foot on either side straddling me."
"Oh, but this is perfect!" Sky said, tail up and lashing behind her. "I have these new magic vambraces that I can test out as we go deeper into Undermountain and my magic boots back as well!."
She brandished the green and gold magic Vambraces of Whinonas she wore around her forearms. Since Sky and Kuhl were the ones who actually fought the Oni, Jhelnae and Aleina had passed on the sword and vambraces it had wielded.
"No, Sky," Aleina said. "Fargas, Ront, and Surash will be worried about us. We have to get back to them and let them know we are fine. They don't even know we rescued both of you."
"Again," the tabaxi said, tail lashing. "Didn't rescue us. We were already escaping and they'll know we're fine when we see them again."
"No, Sky," Jhelnae said, adding some force to her tone. "We're not doing that to them. Which is, by the way, what you and Kuhl could have done to us."
"It is said the Dungeon of the Mad Mage is constantly restocked and changed by Halaster," Kuhl said. "So, you will probably get to test those vambraces on the way out. And it could be interesting to see what changed, right? Also, who knows what clients have stopped by the detective agency while we've been down here."
"Actually, that's true," Sky said. "We have been away from the detective agency too long and we have solved the case of the missing sister."
"Encouraging this sort of attitude is what got you down here in the first place," the aasimar said to the half-elf. "Which, by the way, you're still in trouble for."
"I for one am grateful you solved the case of the missing sister," Sophiya put in. "It is safe to say that the next time I am involved in a beholder's death game, I hope the two of you are there on my team again."
"I hope so too!" the tabaxi said brightly.
"You know I was joking, right?" the genasi said. "That I don't ever want to be in a beholder death game again. Ever."
"She knows," Kuhl said, answering for Sky. "Actually, I've got a sword you might want. Might really need since you are going into deeper
into Undermountain."
"You're giving me Dawnbringer," Sophiya said, eyes widening. "That is… very generous of you."
"What, no!" the half-elf said, voice horrified. "But the one my friends brought down is a great sword, like the one you lost to the half-ogre. It's forged of cold iron and black lighting dances along its blade."
"Black lightning?" Sophiya asked. "Sounds dangerous, nefarious, and wonderfully wicked! Thank you, Kuhl!"
"More data is needed," Koger said in his metallic voice. "But based on the limited input received on this weapon I will devote some study this evening to a curse removal spell."
"I think that would be wise," Embrie agreed.
"The sword is in the portable hole," the half-drow muttered. "Which reminds me. Mirt, can you give the mind flayer head to Laeral since you are teleporting out of here tomorrow?"
"'Twould be my grisly honor, lass," the fat man said, saluting with his tankard.
"By my count," Esvele said. "Some of us are teleporting out back to Waterdeep directly and more are going deeper into Undermountain. This leaves only you four trying to make your way back out through the well at the Yawning Portal and the Xanathar Guild will be trying to stop anyone from leaving that way. Are you all sure you can handle that? I can change and fight my way out with your group if needed."
She looked to Kuhl, Sky, Aleina, and Jhelnae while she spoke. Glances and nods were exchanged among the companions. As they'd already been outed, there was no reason to hide their experience or be humble.
"Escaping from deep dark places while being hunted is what we do best," Jhelnae said with a smirk and a wink. "Just ask Ilvara of House Mizzrym."
I know I have tried your patience with all the extra party members and such. It got confusing even for me. But I used the extra members to have some fun action in killing the mind flayer and the Blood and Fortune game and it required a chapter or two to reset! I am cleaning it up! Thanks for bearing with me!