[And now back into the Underdark with Fenrir and Reinward who have entered the Lair of Queen Arachnia.]
DAY 506(21th Flamerule)(july)
Having just seen Lord Bloodwurst angrily flap off into the gloom, Fenrir returned to where Reinward was hiding and together they decided what to do next.
They knew that they had to take a look around at least. They were here to fulfill a prophecy, how exactly they were not sure, their only clue being this line:
''
The ten-eyed crown found in a cavern lair,
Follow the flame to a light-shunned lake,
''
Doubting they would find any 'light-shunned lake' straight away they took to the air anyway, Fenrir carrying Reinward on his back. Fenrir could be invisible if he wished, but Reinward could not, although he was undetectable to eyes that saw in the dark.
They flew slowly over the underground city. It was dark, but not totally. Here and there small fires were burning or lanterns were lit, no more than specks of light in the pitch-black dark.
Large dark things seemed to flap above some parts of the city. Although it was difficult to tell exactly, some appeared to be bigger than others.
Fenrir paused for a moment, landing on the steep side of a stone pillar. One of the dark shapes flew towards them. It looked like and undead wyvern.
Another, much bigger shape, flew north, and Reinward was shaken by its looming size. Not liking the look of any of this, Fenrir landed on the closest roof.
From the darkness above, a line of acid burned its way through the tiles next to them.
Fenrir shot back blindly and another line of acid blasted more tiles from the roof. They jumped through the hole the monster above had made into the house below. There were zombies here, but they were no great threat.
They cleared the ground floor and sheltered in one of the ruined rooms. Zombies started to gather at the front door of the house though, so they flew to another house and hid there. The zombies soon gathered again, they were just not quick enough to throw them off the scent.
Reinward caught a glimpse of a small figure flitting from building to building ahead of them, seemingly doing a better job of them avoiding the horde. They could not take to the air, the monster was still up there, sending up dust clouds with its wings.
Fenrir remember he had a statue that could be turned into a quazit, so he dug it out his pack and summoned it.
'Hello boss!' it squeaked with a snappy salute.
'Cause a distraction down the street, please,' said Fenrir.
The quazit gulped, but did as it was told, flapping off and yelling at the zombies to follow it.
Meanwhile Fenrir and Reinward flew to the next house, mostly invisible and surrounded by a dark aura.
As they entered the building, the small figure they had seen before went up the stairs to the first floor. Dead zombies littered the hallway.
Fenrir dragged some ancient stone furniture in front of the door to block the horde behind them, and then began to barricade the windows.
Meanwhile, Reinward headed upstairs and saw the short figure, hooded and pointing a crossbow at him from a doorway.
He had magic on him that made him harder to see in the dark (to those that can see in the dark) and as the figure stepped back into the room he followed and crept into a corner.
'Put the crossbow down, friend,' he said.
The figure pointed the weapon in his direction and demanded,
'Who the bloody hell are you?'
'Ben is my name!' he improvised. 'You currently can't see me, by design, we are hiding from the zombies, same as you.'
'Fenrir!' he then called downstairs, having remember to give himself a false name, but forgetting to do the same for his companion.
'If your pal comes up stairs I'll put a bolt in you,' said the figure.
'Oh all right!' groaned Reinward. 'I'm the silent partner though. Fenrir does the talking.'
'Don't talk then, just show yourself to me!'
Reinward could not bring himself to do so though.
The figure began to ease themselves out of the window.
Fenrir was making his way upstairs, invisible, and Reinward moved forward to try and attack the figure, but then thought twice;
'If I reveal myself you'd better not shoot me!'
'OK,' came the reply.
'One second,' he bluffed. 'I can't seem to find the off switch on this magic item...'
The figure saw through this ruse though, and realising Reinward was just trying to stall them, they jumped out of the window and fled to another house nearby.
They followed the figure from house to house until.
'I can pay you gold!' hissed Fenrir, as they struggled to keep up.
'Stop running away because it will just end badly for you!' said Reinward rather unnecessarily.
Eventually though the figure stopped at the top of another set of stairs and said;
'If you want to talk, then show yourselves!'
Fenrir became visible.
The figure looked him up and down, then after some consideration said;
'Is that... Fenrir Thunderstaff?'
Fenrir didn't know quite what to say.
'I think I recognise you from the chap books. I'm from Waterdeep too.'
'You heard the ballad?' asked Fenrir, suddenly rather pleased with himself.
'Oh sure,' came the reply. 'What are you doing down here?'
'I'm hear to .. ah .. advocate for the advantage of everybody...'
'Spare me!' they interrupted.
'Well, anyway, can we co-operate?'
The figure pulled back their hood to reveal a masked face. She was a female kobold called Ishi Snaggletooth.
'Well, I'll enquire no further as to what you are up to,' she said. 'But I'm trying to contact a local tribe of kobolds. Follow me if you want. I've learned some of the secret ways of this place, that avoid the undead.'
She led them to a small gave where some sort of magical device was cleaning the air for a few dozen feet around it. It was as tall of a man, made of copper and cylindrical in shape.
Every so often some fresh air would puff out of vents in its upper portions, which was breathable. They all thankfully took their masks off for a while.
After a short while a some kobolds approached them. They were scouts from the Hider Tribe, a small tribe of kobolds that had made their home, against all odds, in the Lair of Queen Arachnia.
Fenrir offered them food from his magical provision box, and this pleased them greatly. They were taken to another cave where some more senior members of the tribe met them and over more shared food, a parley was had.
They talked to Ishi, but Fenrir could understand them too, and translated for Reinward.
They learned the following interesting facts;
- The Hider Tribe numbered 5000. They mainly kept to the magical air vents and tried to stay out of they way of the undead as much as possible.
- There were also 200 living dark elves hiding in the city, known as 'The Descendents of Addar'. They occasionally traded with the kobolds. They lived in their own part of the city near another area of functioning vents.
- There were 40 or so functioning vents around the city, that the kobolds knew of.
Later, Fenrir explained his mission to Ishi, giving her the broad strokes of what was going on in Westgate, with the vampires, the prophecy et al.
When this was passed on to the other kobolds they said that for that sort of thing the best people to talk to would be the 'The Descendents of Addar'. The Hider could set them up with a meeting in return for more of that delicious food.
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