Ez thinks he found the amulet…actually we found four, so he’s just clutching all of them. It sounds like a high-level gambit, so best to take no (unnecessary) chances.

Raven and I figured out how to exit the treasure room, so now all we have to do is find the portal to the Alserv estate (that they say only the Queen can close) and perform our ritual.

Ehlonna, St. Cuthbert, Pelor, Obed-Hai, Beori…and even their King have mercy on us.

****

When we stepped through the portal, we found ourselves in a cave dug by the elements, but sealed by hands with double brass doors. As Heiron, Agnar, Clatrial, and I guarded the door, Ezekiel went over the plan once more.

Someone had traced a circle on the floor of the cave, with four indentations evenly spaced. In the middle sat a pure white stone, I suppose about the size of a fist – when Ez picked it up it turned translucent…almost like quartz, or slime.
He placed the stone dedicated to Beori in the center of the circle, with such words as seemed fitting, and moved back to where Raven stood with Lydia and Aliana, holding the stones.

The Spider Queen warned us there would be “opposition.” As Raven set the first stone in place, a creature appeared in the center of the circle…something I doubt I could have imagined even in the depths of feverish nightmare. All teeth and tentacles and shreds of darkness, I’m just glad it was vulnerable to Aliana and Raven’s weapons…and when it died, it melted like smoke before a breeze, leaving only a feeling of uneasiness.

So it went with each of the next two gems, until finally the hard part came. We tried our best to pay attention to the outer door, to keep any drow from interfering, but I think it’s just as well no one came…we couldn’t stop stealing glances at the drama behind us…Heiron worried for Lydia, Clatrial for Aliana, me for everything everywhere.

Raven held the last stone, and Ezekiel pulled out a scroll. He read terrible, commanding words – and a portal opened. Two snake-lady-demons slithered through, demanding what he wanted with their queen – but he shook the amulets and ordered her to appear. The demons snarled and made to draw swords, but two huge, winged warriors that appeared out of no where held out empty hands and told them to sit back and watch.

Finally, a female drow came out of the portal. I suppose it was a form of hers…she obeyed the amulet, and berated us for our treachery. But she obeyed…snarling and grimacing, she obeyed…she took the stone from Raven, and set it in the niche on the floor.
There was a snap like thunder – like the lid of a chest falling closed – like lye dripped in water – and in the space of a blink, the figure of Lolth, the Spider Queen, was gone.

The demons returned through the portal without so much as glancing at any of us, and the winged men vanished as abruptly as they had appeared.

The four stones were also gone, and the whole cave was filled with a reek…worse than ogre latrines, worse than hill giants. As soon as Ez gave us an indication, we pulled open the brass doors and ventured into the tunnel on the other side.

We made our way down the rocky tunnel as quickly as caution allowed. As we went, a scream tore through the air…I’m not even sure where it came from. Maybe the tunnel was underneath the Alserv house.

The opening of the tunnel let out into a courtyard, with a huge, ornate house on one side, and a guarded gate on the other. The guards didn’t seem to notice us, though – they were busy staring back at the house, where many shrill voices were screaming as though they would wake the dead with it.

We only paused long enough for Mikael to summon his earth elemental from the stone of control, and then the elemental smashed open the gate for us. I think one of the guards did get off a crossbow bolt, so points for that…but only once we were already out of range. Who would expect anyone to smash out of your fortified estate?

We returned to the temple in the Fane without running across any patrols, and found the big barbarian man hanging out with the drow from the cage. They say the drow suffers from an unfortunate tendency to “goodness,” so of course Ez welcomed him with open arms. We had a bit of trouble figuring out how to get all of us back across the bridge, but Agnar volunteered to give his green cloak to Dame DonDragon, and hide in the portable hole with my necklace of adaptation. The drow said if the barbarian posed as our slave, we should have no trouble…and so far that seems to be the case. None of the guards took alarm from “surfacers” trying to leave their sacred ground, and we crossed the bridge and the Pitchy Flow without so much as being questioned.

Once in the city, we split into two groups: Ezekiel went to collect the hermit priest (but not the half-drow-half-elf thief, to his disappointment), while Raven paid in advance for some more nights at the Crowned Button. We don’t know if anyone will pursue us, but there’s no harm in muddying the water in our wake.

Now all that remains is to collect those Good-aligned slaves we paid half-down for, and we can leave this place forever. Travel is going pretty well, with Mikael’s magic statue that turns into an elephant. It can’t be too soon for my tastes.

**

I think Ez is also anxious. We pushed on for nearly an entire day of traveling (day and night both being the same here), taking no real rests before we reached the estate of House Gem. Ez says we’ll be moving on again as soon as he and Raven finish with the transaction, though hard to say how fast he’ll be able to push the prisoners.

We did check on Agnar in the hole, but Lydia is afraid they may count us at the black tower on our way out, so we gave him some rations and told him to stay put. He only complained perfunctorily…Ez gave him a book with pictures, and he says he had no idea they wrote books about ninjas fighting pirates.

**

Taking turns on the elephant, we made it to the entrance of the cavern. Lydia especially looks the worse for twenty-odd hours on her feet, but the rest of us are also feeling it.

Ez was asking his new drow (his name is Nilonim) if we had to sign out at the tower or anything like that, when a sound came echoing across the Vault…a wailing, or a shrieking, fit to raise the hair of the coldest stoic. From the faces of Nilonim and Father Telec, such a sound is not normal, even from the city of the drow. At that, we all agreed that if no one bothered us, we wouldn’t bother them – and kept straight on for the exit.
Stopped now to pass around food and water, and let Agnar out of the hole (Ez handed Aliana the amulets while he multiplied the food, but other than that he’s clutching them like death). Our bodies will need sleep soon, but I don’t know if our minds can.

**

Finally came to a point where Lydia thought she could blip through time and space. She cast teleport, and after a few uneasy minutes, she opened the mirror portal and ushered us all through. So everyone is finally safe.

The half-drow slipped through just as the last of us were coming through. Ez happy.

More to write when I have time.