Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Descent Into the Depths of the Earth”
I’m not sure how but I convinced Clatrial to a tactical adjustment. We are heading into places that make all my demon and undead memories resurface, and under those circumstances it can be very helpful to have a paladin nearby…say within ten feet or so. But Aliana is an elf and therefore intimidating (and besides she and Ezekiel like to stay together), so I suggested to Clatrial that we could use her help to bodyguard the rear. She make some remarks about that squid man taking me out like a punk, and agreed that if Aliana agreed, it did seem like we needed her…and I was just glad I didn’t have to bring up the lurker that just about ate her whole, as that might not be the most diplomatic thing to discuss.
I also made sure Heiron and I have our cotton wads ready…in case we run into harpies (or harpy-clones). We might be beyond places where such protections help, though.
We started cautiously following the tunnel (fortunately there was only one at this point) until we approached a darkness that was not driven back by the light of our shields.
Before we had too long to consider this, a creature pounced at Aliana, and battle was joined. I feel we must have fought something like it before (we’ve fought so many things) but we’ve never had quite the reaction we got from our elves before. The creature (and the handful of others like it) was most like a big cat, except it had six legs, plus four tentacles coming out of its shoulders, which it used to lash at things. They are not demonic or fiendish…Aliana said later that they’re fae creatures from elvish stories, and Oaklock certainly didn’t like them, but as long as you could hit them they went down like punks.
They weren’t alone, though, as a detachment of drow slunk in the darkness, slinging lightning bolts and poisoned darts at us. Agnar and Raven ran off by themselves to fight things, while the rest of us mostly fought the not-panthers, since they kept coming to us.
About the time a couple lightning bolts had flashed across us, I noticed the others were moving in slow motion…which according to one story of Uncle Bern, means they were doing something very epic. But I’m not sure what it was.
I skirted them to try to back up the front line, where Agnar was making slow swings at some drow and yelling stretched-out curses. One of the last drow ladies flew up to the ceiling and turned grey and flat. I tried to stay on her with my bow, but she flitted about like a grey bat and slipped away in the confusion…part of that confusion being another bolt of lightning (they were on a roll, I guess).
Chasing the last of the drow finally led me to catch up with Raven – who was not slow, but was tangled up in a rope underneath a wall of fire. Aliana and Mikael’s elemental arrived and helped us finish off the last of the drow we could find. Fortunately the wall of fire belonged to Raven, so he could dispell it once he was no longer pinned.
We patched up our wounds and got our bearings. There’s a little honeycomb of caves at this point, but only one passage seems to continue on. The drow had a camp here, with bedrolls and provisions (mostly fungus, I think). Some glowing crystals stick out of the ground, helping the darkness not be quite so complete whenever we turn our backs, but it still feels oppressive…and there’s still a patch of magical darkness in one corner that nothing can pierce except directly dispelling it.
The drow mostly had small weapons – short swords, their one-handed crossbows, a short staff that acted like a sling – and a ridiculous number of ropes of entanglement. Ezekiel was having trouble getting one of them to work, though, so maybe they function differently than we’re used to.
As for house symbols, that was a little stranger. A couple drow had medallions with a spider on them – Ezekiel thinks they’re religious items, and they’re not magical – but only one drow had what might be a symbol of affiliation (and it was tucked inside his clothes, not displayed on them): a broach with a brass wand (which is not one I remember from previously) plus some writing on it which we can’t read (though Aliana says it reminds her of elvish script). Lydia could read it, but she would have to be prepared.
According to Ezekiel’s information from Master Algorthas, weapons are typically used as the symbols for noble houses…so this is yet another faction we’ve ticked off. That’s a good reminder, though, that we’d better hurry up and kill whatever is causing the bubble that swallowed Istivin…and hopefully get the city back while we’re at it.
Moving on now. Still just one passage to follow.
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