Alturiak 1, 1489
Dre'zel my love,
Just as the two drow warriors disappeared around a bend in the large cavern, five giant spiders appeared, scrambling down from the walls.
Duke Ulder blasted one down with his eldritch wand, and JoJo hit another with a javelin.
As Talyth cast Protection from Poison on me and floated into the air, a female drow stepped out from behind the bend. Adorned in arcane robes bearing the emblem of House Vronus, she pointed her slender finger toward us and conjured a toxic yellow-green fog that surrounded JoJo, Duke, Talyth, and me, obscuring our vision.
From beyond the cloud, I heard the Shield Guardian stomping closer. Taimen cast Shatter, and the giant spiders squealed, one plopping to the ground. From behind her, Rowan cast Gust of Wind, blowing the poisonous cloud back toward its creator, who immediately dispersed it before it reached her. I barely managed to hang on to the wall, as even the Shield Guardian was propelled forward, along with Talyth and Duke Ulder.
The familiar voice of Yilsebek cackled in Undercommon, “I can’t believe I found both Ythryn and the largest bounty in Menzoberranzan! I shall not claim you today…” the voice, coming from one of the giant spiders, continued to Talyth. “Perhaps I will take you alive if that is how this battle unfolds, but I must say, I respect someone of your station rising to give House Zapophis such a black eye. They might have turned from Lolth, but you’ll see the strength of those who cling to the drow faith!”
Talyth gestured at the giant spider form of Yilsebek. Climbing onto the Shield Guardian and casting Magic Weapon, I targeted the mage, but she cast Shield to deflect my arrow. Aiming at the giant spider that Talyth had singled out, I hit it with two shots that should have killed a normal giant spider.
From behind, I heard a hacking cough that sounded like it was coming from Vellynne.
The two drow warriors reappeared from around the bend, hitting JoJo and Duke Ulder with poison darts from their hand crossbows. Duke Ulder fell unconscious. Seizing the opportunity, the giant spider climbed over him—along the wall to avoid the piercers—and sank its teeth into him, draining his life.
JoJo grabbed the giant spider and swung it under the piercers, which crashed down upon it. Stomping forward with me on its back, the Shield Guardian slammed the giant spider. After casting Spiritual Weapon, Talyth flew to Duke Ulder and dragged him back around the corner. Even unconscious, Duke Ulder’s cloak still billowed.
The mage withdrew around a bend, chanting arcane words as she went. Then, a shadow demon appeared in front of JoJo, tearing into the barbarian. Taimen, sending the demonic presence, charged the shadowy form atop Princess Skullcrusher. A wave of blue radiance flowed from the dragonborn down her trident as she impaled with a mortal smite.
Rowan flung a shard of ice at the giant spider, which exploded on impact, spraying ice on JoJo, the Shield Guardian, and the other giant spiders. From over the Shield Guardian’s shoulder, I sank an arrow into the giant spider.
“I thought I smelled you”, the arachnomancer in giant spider form chittered in Undercommon, looking up at me. “It was you who opened the way. We saw the opening you made in the glacier. We crawled up, sniffing out ancient secrets of the Netherese empire. We’ll attend the Dale soon. What a fool you were, Frizzt. You have left a path straight to where you reside…”
One of the other giant spiders shot Taimen with a web, knocking her off Princess Skullcrusher and restraining her in the sticky mesh.
The arachnomancer glanced up with its many eyes, and Magical Darkness enveloped me. JoJo grunted in pain, and I heard his bulky form hit the ground. Then I heard the distinct sound of spider legs as they crawled up the Shield Guardian, and I was bitten.
In the distance, I heard Talyth chanting, followed by Duke Ulder calling out in surprise, his Athkatlan accent briefly gone.
The Shield Guardian thrashed around, slamming and disrupting the arachnomancer. The other giant spiders disappeared, as well as their webbing.
A Lightning Bolt crackled, and I heard Taimen and Talyth among the shrieks. Seconds after, I heard JoJo gasp.
The Darkness around me disappeared as Rowan cast Dispel Magic. JoJo was on the ground. Taimen and Talyth were nearby. All of them were smoking slightly.
Maneuvering around the Shield Guardian’s head, the arachnomancer taunted me in Undercommon, “Your father died slowly, and I relished the pain and suffering I caused him as I punished him for failing House Vronus.” Suppressing the rage inside me, I lined up the arachnomancer and cast the Lightning Bolt from Hathowyn’s charm, blasting the giant spider, the mage, and a warrior. The arachnomancer fell from the Shield Guardian onto its back before transforming into Yilsebek.
Unable to contain myself any longer, I leaped down from the Shield Guardian and stomped on the arachnomancer’s face, pulverizing his skull as I screamed in Common, “Yilsebek, your reign here is over, spider-boy!” Pointing toward Talyth, I added, “Your crown is not worth her coppers!”
Meanwhile, Vellynne, having begun to transform into a Nothic, used her Rotting Gaze, and the mage’s skin began to melt and rot until she fell, a spoiled husk of stinking flesh and bone. The nothics ushered Vellynne back into the corridor.
The two drow warriors turned and retreated further into the cavern.
Rising, JoJo leaped over the wall and gave chase. The Shield Guardian grabbed Talyth and lumbered after them. As Talyth turned the corner, she shot a Guiding Bolt around the bend.
As I dashed around the corner, the nearest warrior had dropped its weapons and fallen to a knee, pleading in Underdcommon, “I have information about Xadriia!”
Taimen charged past me on Princess Skullcrusher, with Rowan following in pursuit. I dashed around the walls and sank an arrow into the farther, still-fleeing warrior. The warrior turned and stabbed at Taimen, but she cast Shield, deflecting the blow.
The surrendered warrior continued its bargain with Talyth, revealing in Undercommon, “Your friend will be tried in a tenday. They probed her mind. I heard that House Zapophis has determined that she was the sole cause of the black eye. She alone published the rumors that brought down their standing, and she alone will pay for it…” the warrior sneered. “A pity you will not be there to testify in her defense. Let me go, and perhaps I will delay the proceedings. I’ve heard tales that you’ve dispatched the assassins sent after you up here, but perhaps your true calling lies below. What will you do, jalil? I do not oversee the House Zapophis legal proceedings, but House Vronus has been quite pleased by the rumors you’ve spread. We are true followers of Lolth. You’ve seen our power. I’ve heard you’ve had a dalliance with the surface goddess. I will not judge you for that, but perhaps you must choose. Who do you really care for, ilythiiri?”
Talyth quickly concluded that this prisoner was of no use. Sensing his peril, the warrior enshrouded himself in Darkness, unaware of Talyth’s Devil’s Sight. Smiling malevolently, Talyth blasted the kneeling warrior with another Guiding Bolt. As the warrior fell, he gasped in Undercommon, “I may die today, but Xadriia shall die in a tenday.” The Darkness around him disappeared as he died.
As Duke Ulder dashed around the bend, the remaining warrior seemed enthralled by him until JoJo hit him with a javelin. Taimen struck the warrior with the pommel of her trident, and he went down.
With no enemies around, I stripped the warriors of their weapons and spider silk armor, taking one suit for myself and giving the other to Duke Ulder.
Waking the last warrior, I asked him how they got here, but he refused to talk. Holding forth his staff, Duke Ulder charmed the warrior, who revealed the location of their path from the Underdark, which took weeks, that there were no more drow here, and that they hadn’t sent word to the Underdark since they arrived. As Duke Ulder walked off, I slipped my sword into the warrior’s side.
Searching the rest of the cavern, we found a remorhaz tunnel completely blocked by webbing. The center of the structure was extremely warm, where bedrolls and mundane effects were strewn across a makeshift camp. Rowan discovered that the heat was coming from a three-inch cube of solid brimstone. She took the thermal cube along with a spellbook, two transparent crystal bottles—one half empty—of Elverquisst, and a spider-shaped obsidian brooch, engraved with the symbol of House Vronus.
Duke Ulder picked up Professor Skant from the tunnel floor, where Vellynne dropped him. Professor Skant expatiated on Vellynne’s transformation, but I was busy searching the remains of the encampment, and JoJo was urging Talyth to accompany him to investigate the giant, glowing spear.
Casting Detect Magic, Rowan sensed transmutation magic on the spear. JoJo yanked on the giant spear but was unable to pull it from the stone floor. The spear’s glow condensed and popped into JoJo’s chest.
Soon, JoJo grabbed at his chest as his body was racked with pain. He said he felt like his body was stretching. I urged him to make his way to the bridge, and we all followed.
As JoJo slowly grew larger, we returned to Hathowyn’s grove, where the dryad thanked us for killing the drow and shared that five nothics crossed the bridge. She offered us more pears, and I ate one, receiving a charm of Sending. As we rested, Talyth cast Aura of Vitality on all of us.
Once we had rested, we departed the grove from the southeast tunnel, toward the bridge. After about a mile, the winding tunnel opened into a vast cavern enclosed by gleaming ice. In the center was a massive city of spires and towers of black stone illuminated by green and purple lights.
An icy causeway stretched toward the city like a dead, frozen tongue. As we crossed the massive arcing ice bridge, half a mile long, we passed the corpse of a tomb tapper lying on the bridge, a giant faceless creature with smooth, blue-gray skin, and a great-toothed maw in its torso, holding a massive maul.
A massive spire dominated the city’s center, with wizard’s spires encircling the perimeter. The tower of abjuration was the nearest. There was no movement from within the city.
The city was tilted at a slight angle, but its gravity righted us as we stepped off the bridge.
Tracking the nothics, I found signs of their battle with the drow, and nothic tracks leading further into the city before scattering in different directions. Rowan transformed into a polar bear and, sniffing around, smelled unnatural rotting.
Suddenly, three large, hovering hands of shimmering, translucent force approached us menacingly from various directions.
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