Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Descent Into the Depths of the Earth”
We reached the Vault of the Drow about midday today (I would guess). I wonder if Tomlin would consider it a sight worth seeing. The entance starts by raising the ceiling, until you feel as though you’re walking through a ravine in some windless, midnight mountains. Then the walls fall away to either hand, and the whole expanse of the plain rolls away into the distance.
Rather than absolutely dark, there are points of light in the ceiling high above us. I suppose they must be crystals like we’ve seen before, but what powerful ones! In the center of the dome lies a purple orb, something like a weak moon, so that we can at least see to walk around, although not much more than that.
Ezekiel put the strange red cups or glasses over his eyes, and they stuck to his face. He says he can see just as far as he could outside, and pointed out a tower like a pillar, directly ahead, even before Aliana did.
I wish I could properly describe the look of this place. There’s lots more important stuff to write about today, but I can’t get over the colors, the feel. It’s like walking on an alien world. Ez passed the glasses around, so we could each take a look. (Heiron remembered I was somewhere, and let me have a turn.) The glasses really do transform the landscape. The colors…the fungi and lichen growing by the road seem to glow, while veins of crystals that weren’t powerful enough to show up in thr dark suddenly gleam with all kinds of colors. No…not all kinds…mostly cool, fungus colors: blue, mauve, purple, sickly green or brown. Some red and gold, but not like a flower-red…like a mold-red.
I can’t quite explain. Maybe it’s because there’s hardly a sound, except the echo of our footfalls. No bugs, no birds, not even the wind stirring leaves. It makes me think of the lady in that play I got to see one festival, the lady who prodded her husband into killing the king. She was so pretty…but after that scene, you couldn’t get out of your mind what she had done, the blood on her hands. (Clarence had nightmares after that play.)
Anyway, it’s quite the sight to see. Any other place, I’d say it was worth the trip.
The clear road led straight for the tower, which sat on a plateau above the landscape. We assumed that’s where we had to get more of the cloaks (with the glasses on, the green really glows, almost like a light), so we headed there first.
It’s an impressive installation, with glassy smooth sides of stone, and a long gateway (to give you plenty of time to consider all the murder holes above your head). The guards let us through a side door bound with black metal, where we met the High Bailiff (sitting at a desk and sorting papers). He was also wearing the individual eyeglasses, so they must do something for drow eyes, too.
He spoke our common well enough, and after Ezekiel explained our business, he fetched some papers (and warned us not to go dusting other peoples’ undead without cause. That’s going to be rough for some of us).
About the invisibility. I’d been thinking it might be more trouble than it’s worth these days, since after all, elves (like orcs) can sense body heat or something (like the ring of infravision), and if we’re pretending to play nice, they might not appreciate us trying to have an edge on them. But I forgot to grab Ezekiel’s sleeve before the fact, and of course he doesn’t notice polite throat-clearing.
The drow solved the whole thing by noticing me anyway, and asking if our “invisible friend” wanted to be visible. A bit embarassing, but as I say, it was probably about time to mix up my tactics a little. Tressarian of course says I don’t need any sword but him (I hope the sword of Lyons isn’t offended; if it is, it can’t speak anyway).
The drow relaxed a little when I put the sword and its belt away, and I hope my own party notices me more easily now, too.
When Ezekiel asked to buy more green cloaks, the Bailiff said the price was 900 gold…but his voice changed, so I poked Ezekiel in the back (like he asked me to). Turns out the cloaks are free, one per person. The penalty for not wearing/having one is slavery…which means the cloak is how they tell slaves and visitors apart. The eye glasses were for sale, however, and Ez bought a few more pairs.
After that, the Bailiff seemed quite done talking to us, but Mikael got directions from a guard about finding the merchants we met earlier – House Gem.
We followed the road he indicated, and when it felt time, we camped beside the path. The lights overhead don’t seem to shift, so it gives the feeling of an endless twilight. Giant mushrooms grow here and there on the cave floor, and were it not for the lack of wind, it really would feel like exploring the surface of a strange, different world.
Ezekiel opened the portable hole with the ingots in it, to double-check what we have available for purchases. Clatriel and Master Oaklock spent time sharing reservations about the adventure, but of course Clatriel is not leaving Aliana, and I guess Oaklock is too gutsy to quit. Also the way back is no place for lone persons.
****
This cavern is beyond vast. We walked for hours and still haven’t arrived at the estate of the merchant group. We did pass a fortress filling a pass between two spurs of cliff, and from our intel and the symbology, we think it’s the/a Female Fighter Society. Mikael doesn’t need his heart broken again, so we moved on.
**
We ran into a growth of giant mushrooms so vast it really feels like a forest, cutting across our line of travel. There didn’t seem to be any kind of path through, not that I could spot, so we followed a trail around it.
That seems to have been the right call, because not too long after that, we spotted a walled compound with several buildings inside, marked with the symbology of House Gem.
Bugbears guarded the gate, but I controlled myself and they let us into the courtyard. A male drow came out of the main house, and he, Ezekiel, and Raven went off toward what looked like a barracks. This morning, Ezekiel shifted the silver ingots from the portable hole to a bag of holding, so that’s what he’s using to redeem the Good-alligned slaves…when they came back, he said he found thirteen. He paid half down, and the rest will be due when we pick them up…after our business in the city. Always assuming we’re around to collect, of course.
Ez looks rather grim, so I’m glad we’ve kept our dealings civil so far. Just before he and Raven rejoined us, a huge bat-like creature – much taller than Mikael, and walking on two legs like a humanoid – came out of the main house, seemed to exchange pleasantries with a drow, and flew off into the twilight sky.
I think we can reach the city tomorrow, according to the directions we’ve gathered (and the flight path of the bat thing), so long as we don’t lollygag. It may be very educational to visit here, but no one (not even Agnar) wants to stay longer than necessary.
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