A Voice in the Dark…
Though the tunnel was tall and wide, its curvature only allowed them to travel single file to walk on level ground. Diarnghan led the way, with Raelyn following, and then came Kuhl himself. The floor was smooth, making the footing easy, and their footsteps echoed in a steady rhythm — the steps of the constructs, Koger, Ancilla and the little modron QX-63, distinct with their faint metallic clink. It would announce their approach to anyone ahead — which might have been a greater concern — if not for the more worrisome threat of one of the gigantic, chitinous worms who carved the tunnel bursting through a wall or the ceiling at any moment.
Presently, Diarnghan came to a halt and tilted his cowled head, listening. The half-elf heard it a moment later — telltale tremors vibrating through the stone to their right and above them. Dust trickled down from the ceiling and a faint, shifting groan sounded from within the rock.
A worm was close.
They waited, still and motionless, as the vibrations gradually receded. Only when all signs of the worm's movement were gone did Kuhl release the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"So," he whispered to Raelyn once Diarnghan resumed leading them again, "You and your brother did this for fun?"
He'd meant it as a passing jest to ease the tension, but she actually answered.
"Not for fun," she said quietly, glancing back over one bare, ebony shoulder. "We gathered eggs for status and influence. And he was my sister then. I would not have needed to compete for such things against a mere male."
Her brother, the drow gunslinger Fel'rekt, was at the back of their group, in the role of rear guard.
"Of course," Kuhl whispered, rolling his eyes. "Wouldn't want to compete with mere males."
"Do not take offense," the drow chided offhandedly. "You males have your uses."
"Like as shields against a dragonborn's lightning breath," Kuhl observed, recalling their time in the Blood and Fortune arena in Skullport.
Raelyn glanced back at him again, a faint smile on her lips.
"That…" she said, arching an eyebrow. "And other things."
Her tone and expression made Kuhl falter a step and his gaze involuntarily traveled the length of her lithe frame.
"Keep your eyes on where you're going," Lenora hissed from behind, nearly jostling into him. "Rather than on the dark-elf's backside."
"I was watching where I was going," Kuhl muttered back, recovering his pace.
"Sure you were," the Chessentan said, then spoke to Raelyn. "That air genasi — was she being a friend or an enemy when she gave you that outfit? It reveals more skin than it protects."
The drow merely shrugged, her scant crystalline dragon scale armor shifting with the motion.
"It's meant to distract," she said.
"Well it certainly does that," Lenora whispered. "Some people can't even walk straight."
"Distract opponents," Raelyn clarified. "And I possess other protections as well."
That was true. Kuhl had seen her magical wards activate when they fought troglodytes on their journey from Vizeran's tower. One of the two enchanted swords crossed on her back was a trophy from that battle — its stylized spider crossguard bore faceted gem eyes that seemed to stare back at him.
"Well, it distracts others as well," the Chessentan said with a quiet laugh.
"I can actually walk straight," Kuhl said — and winced the moment the words left his mouth.
"I can actually walk straight," Dawnbringer mimicked in his mind. "That is your response? Small wonder no potential sentient sword bearing heirs have been sired yet."
The half-elf gave a quiet sigh and slight shake of his head. He was apparently doomed to catch it from all sides at the moment.
"How much further till the nursery?" Lenora whispered, thankfully changing the course of the conversation. "It feels like we've followed this tunnel for miles."
"We likely have," Raelyn said. "As I said before, worms can burrow for miles before intersecting with another tunnel. But they always return to the nursery. Eventually."
"So, we follow this tunnel until we get to the nursery," Lenora muttered to herself. "Or until we're eaten by a giant worm. This is crazy. Why am I not with Saliyra heading to the surface?"
No one answered. All in their group knew why the Chessentan remained instead of making her way to the surface — because of her unrequited love of Aligor. Oddly, the two had been avoiding each other since Vizeran's tower. The former knight walked near the rear between Lhytris and Fel'rekt.
Diarnghan signaled for another halt with a raised hand. Several heartbeats passed as he peered down the worm-tunnel before he straightened.
"There is a cavern ahead," he said quietly from the depths of his cowl.
Kuhl couldn't see it, but the cloaked ranger's darkvision was superior to his own. And his spirit lifted at the prospect of a cavern. While the worm-tunnel's ceiling cleared his head by a good four feet and there was ample space on either side, something about walking single file — under the constant threat of a giant purple worm burrowing back up the passage — felt claustrophobic.
Kuhl drew Dawnbringer from her sheath and followed the darkling ranger and drow. Within a dozen steps, he now could see the passage widening ahead. A heap of rubble lay near the entrance, likely from when the worm had burst into the cavern. Glowing insects scuttled along the walls, their pale light casting eerie shadows.
"Is that the nursery?" Lenora asked, after passing a whispered message of a cavern ahead back along the line of companions.
"It has been over a century since I last gathered worm eggs," Raelyn said. "But from what I remember, that cavern is too small, though it might be a connected chamber. Be careful. The last time I was here, nesting giant spiders had formed a symbiotic relationship with the worms. They guard the eggs."
The drow then shook her head when Diarnghan fitted an arrow to his bowstring and Kuhl unslung his shield.
"We must move as silently and carefully as possible," she said. "Try and avoid attracting their attention. Spiders are the sacred creatures of the Dark Mother."
"If the choice is between a spider's life and my own," Lenora said. "I know which I'm choosing. Sacred creature or not."
"Of course," Raelyn said. "I said try to avoid attention. I have done this before. It is possible."
"Over a hundred years ago," the Chessentan muttered under her breath before raising her voice. "Perhaps you should lead us."
"Very well," the drow said. "I shall."
She slipped past Diarnghan as they continued to stalk down the tunnel. As they neared the cavern entrance, however, a voice boomed down the tunnel, deep and resonant, its echoes rolling toward them.
"Turn back," it intoned, ominous and commanding in Undercommon. "Or suffer a death so horrible you cannot imagine! You have been warned!"
They all stopped, midstep. Diarnghan lifted his bow and Kuhl raised his shield.
"That doesn't sound like a giant spider," Dawnbringer observed telepathically.
With a rasping of steel, Raelyn drew her longsword with the spider crossguard from its back sheath.
"A drow goes where she wills," she shouted back in the same language. "Whether in the depths of the Underdark or on the sun-blighted surface. Show yourself!"
Silence answered her. No one emerged.
In a fluid motion, Raelyn drew her short sword. Armed with both of her blades, she strode forward.
"I'll be loosing over your right shoulder," Lenora hissed to Kuhl as they advanced.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the tip of her leveled crossbow. But they had barely taken a few steps when the unknown speaker halted them again, voice louder this time.
"Fools! Flee now! This is your final warning!"
Tense moments passed as they peered ahead. Then Diarnghan spoke.
"I see someone," he whispered. "Hiding amidst the rubble. A drow. She looks… young. Afraid."
Kuhl narrowed his eyes, searching. At first, he saw nothing. Then, a small figure peeked out from hiding — a drow youth with tangled white hair, a dust-smeared face, and wide, frightened amber eyes.
"Mother of Chaos," Raelyn cursed, lowering her swords. "Come out of there, child."
"I am not alone, and I possess powerful magic," the voice boomed down the tunnel.
Yet the presumed speaker — the drow youth — remained hidden.
"I think you are alone," Raelyn countered. "And if you possess powerful magic, unleash it. For I tire of this."
"By all the Watching Gods," Lenora murmured. "She's probably right, but just in case…"
Kuhl heard the Chessentan shuffle back, putting some distance between herself and the likely target of any powerful magic.
"Both statements cannot be true," Koger said in his flat, metallic voice from behind Lenora. "If she were not alone, she would claim we possessed powerful magic. Therefore, both are likely false."
"It's the likely part I'm worried about," Lenora muttered.
When no magical attack came, Raelyn called out again.
"Come, child," she said. "The Weaver of Destinies weaves as she will. Depending on how our houses align, you are either rescued or my battle captive."
"Her diplomacy skills are lacking," Dawnbringer observed in Kuhl's mind.
He agreed and moved up beside the drow swordswoman.
"Come out," he said gently. "No harm will come to you. I promise."
"You travel with surfacers?" the girl asked, her voice wary, her amber eyes narrowed, and her tone now devoid of magical enhancement. "Does this rivvil not know better than to interrupt when jalilen speak?"
"He does not," Raelyn said, casting a reproving sidelong glance at the half-elf.
"Will you punish him for it?" the girl asked, cocking her head in inquiry.
A hint of cruel anticipation sharpened her dust-smudged features.
"He is an ally, not a slave," Raelyn said with a slight shake of her head, sounding almost apologetic at the admission. "It is… a long story. But come now, out with it — name and house. And how you came to be here."
"I am Hanne," the young drow said, standing from behind the rubble. Her clothes and gear bore the same gray dusting as her face and hair, but she lifted her chin and stood as proudly as her youth, slight frame, and bedraggled state allowed. "Daughter of House Hallen. A purple worm burst through the tunnel we traveled. The cave-in separated me from my mother and the others."
"Raelyn, daughter of House Auvryndar," the drow swordswoman said. "Our houses are not enemies…"
She let the statement settle as she moved into the cavern, stopping only when the pile of rubble separated her from Hanne. The others followed her lead and the young drow eyed the group nervously. She must only now be seeing all of them. What would she make of the constructs, Koger, Ancilla, and the little modron QX-63? The cloaked and fully shrouded Diarnghan? Even the goggled visages of Lenora, Aligor, and Lhytris must have looked strange, and the latter's pallid features were more than a little unsettling.
"But neither are we allies," Raelyn said, finishing her statement. "And in the Underdark, nothing is free."
Kuhl had heard those words before.
Ilvara had said the same after he woke in Velkynvelve. In his mind's eye, he saw her again — scrutinizing her crop of newly arrived prisoners as she tapped her scourge rhythmically against her thigh.
"So, what shall be the price for your safe return to House Hallen?" Raelyn asked. "A future favor? One I can call upon when the time is right?"
Hanne pursed her lips uncertainly.
"Or," the drow swordswoman said. "You can be a battle-captive and return to your house in shame once ransom is paid."
The young drow grimaced but gave a reluctant nod.
"Then a future favor it is," Raelyn said, the rasp of her swords sliding into their sheaths punctuating her words.
Kuhl returned Dawnbringer to his belt and slung his shield onto his back. Throughout the group, crossbows were lowered, knives sheathed, and wands returned to their holders.
"Rise high in the ranks of your house, child," the drow swordswoman continued. "So my favor will be a worthy one. In the meantime, you'll serve as my handmaiden. What skills do you possess? How did you create the booming voice?"
"It was an illusion cantrip," Hanne said.
"A cantrip?" Raelyn mused. "You are a mageling?"
"An initiate in the art," the young drow amended.
The drow swordswoman waved a dismissive hand showing her thoughts on the difference between a mageling and an initiate.
"What else can you cast?" she asked.
"A frosting ray," Hanne answered. "And protective wards on myself."
"So, you possess no powerful magic," Raelyn stated, her tone faintly taunting as she reminded Hanne of her earlier dire warning.
The young drow winced and shook her head.
"Come now, child," Fel'rekt said. "You must be thirsty. Hungry. Drink, eat, and tell us what happened to the others traveling with you."
The drow gunslinger held up his canteen. Hanne wasted no time scrambling over the rubble, a slight wince betraying discomfort as she crawled. When she straightened to snatch the offered canteen, she shifted her weight carefully to favor one foot. She drank deeply.
Now that she was closer, Kuhl noticed a hungry spareness to her features beneath the layer of gray dust — one that went beyond mere adolescent leanness.
"Not too much at once," Fel'rekt advised. "Take sips. Drink too much after being thirsty and you'll retch it back up."
"I know that," the young drow said, holding out the canteen. "I am not inexperienced in surviving in the wilds of the Underdark."
"As you say," the drow gunslinger replied.
His tone suggested he thought otherwise. Kuhl suspected he was right.
"Let's have a look at that foot," he said, kneeling in front of her.
"My foot is fine," Hanne said, drawing back.
Her hiss of pain as she stepped away said otherwise.
"Let him heal you," Raelyn commanded. "I won't have you limping through the Underdark, slowing us down."
"I hurt it during the rockfall," the young drow admitted.
Kuhl took that as permission and approached again, kneeling. Touching her left ankle, he mouthed a silent prayer. She sighed above him as healing magic flowed, then tested her weight on her previously injured foot when he was done. After a few steps she gave a satisfied nod.
"Among surfacers," Fel'rekt said. "It is customary to thank the one who healed you."
Hanne's amber eyes narrowed.
"Among our people," she countered. "It is not customary for jaluk to advise jalil — in how much she drinks, or in whom she thanks."
"She is not wrong," Raelyn said.
Fel'rekt and his sister shared a look and the drow gunslinger's lips twisted into a mocking smile.
"Well," he said. "We wouldn't want to overthrow drow custom, would we?"
"No," the drow swordswoman said. "We wouldn't."
Kuhl, and likely any who knew the secret the two were former twin sisters, recognized the exchange between the drow carried meaning beyond the words spoken. But the soft clink of small metallic feet cut through the tension, interrupting their conversation.
QX-63 approached Hanne and held up a few strips of dried rothe meat, retrieved from the backpack the companions let it carry. The drow girl's gaze flicked between the little modron and its outstretched offering, her brow creased in surprise. When she didn't take the food, QX-63 whirred and clicked expectantly.
"QX-63 has detected signs of metabolic depletion," Koger translated. "It recommends immediate resource consumption."
"You journey with strange companions," Hanne said, slowly accepting the meat.
Her gaze traveled across the group as she chewed but kept darting back to the modron and the constructs.
"I think introductions are in order," Kuhl said. "I am Kuhl. This is Fel'rekt. You've met QX-63. The golden construct is Koger, his silver shieldmaiden is Ancilla, the one with the crossbow is Lenora, the one in red armor is Aligor, and that is Lhytris."
Each of the companions, except for QX-63 and Ancilla, nodded when named.
"I think you were going to tell us what happened to the others traveling with you," Aligor said, his voice gently prompting.
"There isn't much more to tell," the drow girl replied, shrugging. "A worm came, and the tunnel collapsed. Afterward, I was alone and had no choice but to go back the way we came."
Her voice trembled despite her effort to compose herself, and unshed tears glimmered in her amber eyes.
"Well, you aren't alone anymore," Kuhl reassured her.
"Did you just say you came back the way you were going?" Raelyn said at the same time, eyes narrowing.
"I… I was at the rear of my group," Hanne said, casting a nervous glance at the drow swordswoman. "The way ahead was blocked, so I had no choice but to turn back."
"Lady of Chaos curse it," Raelyn swore, stamping a foot.
"Is something wrong?" Kuhl asked.
The drow woman huffed in frustration, shaking her head. It was Fel'rekt who answered.
"If Hanne's only choice was to turn back," he sighed. It means the way ahead is blocked, and we'll have to find another way into the nursery."
"That would be miles of retracing our steps," Lenora groaned, her shoulders slumping. "Followed by miles down another tunnel."
"With no way of knowing if the next we followed would take us all the way to the nursery," Raelyn muttered. "This tunnel seemed fairly intact. I had hoped..."
"Maybe we can dig past the cave-in," Kuhl suggested.
The drow woman shook her head.
"As much as I might enjoy watching you use that strength of yours dig, half-elf," she said. "We have no digging tools. And these things must be done with care, or—"
"We risk another collapse," Diarnghan finished for her from the depths of his cowl.
Raelyn pointed at the darkling ranger in acknowledgment.
"She would enjoy watching you use that strength of yours?" Dawnbringer questioned in Kuhl's mind. "Is that from a cruel inclination for watching others labor or... something else?"
There was a note of hope in the sentient sword's last remark that Kuhl chose to ignore.
"Query," Koger said in his flat, metallic voice. "When you collected eggs in your youth, how many worm tunnels did you typically traverse before reaching the nursery?"
"There was no way to tell," Raelyn said, shaking her head again. "Sometimes the first one you tried brought you there, other times the third."
"Or more," Fel'rekt added.
"Then data suggests a high probability of success for the next worm tunnel we find," the golden construct said. "However, sample size is unknown, and data range remains imprecise."
"What does any of that even mean?" Lenora said, throwing up the free hand not cradling her crossbow.
"It means that while this setback might be frustrating," Aligor said, his voice calm. "The next tunnel we try is likely to get us to the nursery — or the one after that."
"Unless we get eaten by a giant worm," Lenora muttered, rolling her eyes.
"I had not factored that outcome," Koger said, tilting his head in consideration. "The probability remains unknown, as both subjects in our sample set remain alive and uneaten."
"I do not mind walking these tunnels," Lhytris rasped, breaking into the conversation. "Their winding path is like the winding of meandering memory. I find it soothing."
"By all the watching gods," Lenora swore. "Ancilla, sometimes I feel you and I are the only ones in this group with any sense."
"My shield guardian does not possess the capability to speak," Koger explained in his flat, emotionless tone.
"Which is what makes her such a good listener," the Chessentan snapped.
As always, the silver-and-lacquered wood construct stood by impassively, blue runes and sigils softly glowing.
The group had unconsciously continued speaking in Undercommon for Hanne's benefit. As she watched the exchanges, the young drow alternated between chewing on dried rothe strips and sipping from the canteen QX-63 had provided, her gaze darting between speakers.
Just then, Diarnghan held up a gloved hand in warning.
An instant later, they all heard and felt it — a tremor in the stone beneath them. It quickly swelled into a rumbling quake, building until the cavern floor ahead of them erupted in a shower of stone and dust. A massive purple worm burst through.
Kuhl caught a glimpse of a monstrous, circular maw bristling with serrated teeth, gaping wide as it quested before surging upward. He watched in horrified amazement as rows of chitinous, armored plates emerged from the hole the creature had carved. A gust of displaced air stirred his hair, thick with a pungent, metallic scent.
It crashed headlong into the ceiling, its enormous length spanning the twenty-foot distance with ease. Kuhl raised an arm protectively and instinctively turned his face away from the shower of stone, though none of it fell near him. As the worm burrowed away, the ceiling trembled, and glowing insects frantically scuttled in all directions. Some tumbled toward the ground, only to reveal their ability to fly back up on whirring wings and cling once more to the ceiling. Rock and debris clattered in the aftermath, rattling down as the insects skittered in haste, their pale light a frenzied maelstrom of chaos as the tremors subsided.
For a moment, silence hung in the cavern, broken only by the clack and skitter of errant falling rocks.
Kuhl exhaled and lowered his arm, his gaze shifting upward to stare through the haze of dust to the gaping hole in the ceiling.
Then came the collapse.
A deep, splintering crack ran through the cavern floor. Tremors buckled the stone beneath them. Hanne's amber eyes widened in panic as the ground below her gave way.
Kuhl lunged forward — caught her flailing arms — and pulled her toward him.
Only to realize he was also falling.
I know I sound like a broken record here... but this was hard for me. I have no idea why, it is a simple set up and simple scene. Party runs into a lost girl and helps her. Yet time would slip by and I'd get in one sentence after a whole bunch of tries. It was really hard to resist going to Captain Ecchi's version of this part of the adventure and liberally 'borrowing' from what she wrote. Now that it is done, however, I might go take a look and see if I find inspiration to make this better (inspiration is not stealing, right? ;) ).
Any suggestions appreciated. I feel like this chapter is missing some punch or humor or something to give it that push into reading enjoyment.
Edit 3-26-2025 - I read Ecchi's version of the meeting with Hanne Hallen and in her version she had an injured foot. I had been looking for a way to try to get in some dialogue involving Fel'rekt, Hanne, and Raelyn after a healing spell. I had the dialogue in a previous draft, but cut it because it didn't fit with an offering of water. A healing spell, however, fit better.