Post by Micteu on Nov 23, 2008 17:06:34 GMT -5
((Uju is writing his journal for parts of it to be published in the future, if they are found interesting, so he often leaves out personal information and feelings.))
...Voni and I had just disembarked from the caravan in Redmist and were walking to the inn when we came across a huge pile of dead rats accompanied by Snipe, Radu, Vicente, and a pair of Redmist guards. Not a citizen was in sight, and I do not blame them. Apparently the rats had spilled from a hole in the middle of the courtyard, nearly turning the stones into a field of matted fur in the middle of the night. The men had killed them and piled the bodies near a torch; it seemed no plans had been made yet for what to do with all the carcasses. The guards were setting up barricades around the hole, however, which happened to be just large enough for a person to fit into. All of us--minus the guards--decided to see where the tunnel led. This is why caution is a very good trait.
We all dropped down into a cavern, and before my eyes (as bad as they are) could adjust, I heard a rustling of cloth from somewhere other than the group. There was a male voice uttering arcane words. The bright flash of the spell lit up the cavern, showing to dead eyes what was hidden before by darkness: an underground city. There were drow walking the streets below the ledge we were on, and adamantine architecture twined around the edges of buildings. Then we were dead; our souls cut cleanly from our bodies by the spell, like a ripe apple from a branch.
I only have a dim memory of what was beyond. Something was preparing us for judgment, but before it could be done we were all given a choice to return. We all decided to.
I woke to pain running from my fingertips to my neck and nearly passed out again. I was face-down in the dirt and I heard the murmuring of divine words and a gasp of the first breath of life in each person as a priestess went to each. I managed to turn and look at Vicente, who was sitting near with his hands bound and his hammer missing. He looked at me and grimaced.
We were ordered to stand, and I think we walked, but I am uncertain; the pain in my arms was occupying most of my attention. I found myself lying down in a cell with Vicente and Radu. A grate underneath gave a rotting odor of old flesh, but the dim light from the barred door did not show what was beneath.
“Uju, this is going to hurt,” I heard Vicente say, and with a pop my arms suddenly felt whole again, but the pain in my shoulders caused me to black out.
We slowly healed as we looked out the door, waiting in the dark as time came and went. A mind flayer and a stealthy drow were stationed outside the door, and after hearing the screams of other prisoners, a dirty, half-starved child was put in our cell with us. He was from the Dalelands, and his family was all here. We got little other information from him, but after perhaps a few hours he was taken from the cell, and as I looked out the door I saw him, another child, and Voni being herded down the corridor. I knew at that moment that she was gone forever, and I gave up, staring into the wall.
Vicente paced a bit, and Radu talked a bit. The hours went by, perhaps days, but I did not notice; I only stared at the wall.
Snipe came into the cell and mentioned something about a deal with the drow and illithids. I did not pay much attention until someone said Voni had been given freedom. She was not dead; there was hope.
We began to plan on an escape. I had potions of Change Self, and Snipe had invisibility potions. That, along with a few shuriken and darts, seemed to be all we had. The drow know how to make cages; it was taking us a long time to develop any plan based on the few weaknesses we saw.
In the mean time, I began reciting history as dryly as I could to the guard. When one is that desperate, it is a bad sign.
Our scheming was cut short, as bars on the door pulled apart. We were brought out of the cell and into a glowing, opaque portal, leading to an arena with a more organic look in its structure than the drow designs. The stone floor had uncountable layers of blood stains where it was not scraped clean by recent struggles. Tentacled faces lined windows above us, but even though their small, undeveloped eyes rarely looked at us, I had the feeling they were all watching. Small stones set in the ceiling lit the alien room in a glowing yellow light that did not help put us at ease.
After we appeared, so did our weapons, in the center of the arena. I picked up Voni’s bow and strapped it to my backpack. Vicente picked up his hammer and kissed it, murmuring a prayer. Snipe took his crossbow in loving hands.
There was a bright flash and a beholder appeared. I am fairly certain it was a beholder; few other things can look like it, and it was too large to be a gas spore. Several of its eyes glowed, and beams of intense light shot from them, narrowly missing Vicente. This was a fight for survival; I fought to kill--something I had not done in a very long time. We managed to defeat it and were just catching our breath when there was another flash.
Apparently the illithids’ surface slaver contacts had found a nest of red dragons, and we were surrounded by six-foot-tall wyrmlings. I drank a potion and concentrated on the shape of a troll, which is what I became. The fight was hard and we nearly fell several times. When most of the wyrmlings were dead, a flash brought tiny, white wyrmlings which were easier to deal with.
We were given a moment of rest this time, and my trollish wounds sealed and healed themselves. The next flash brought what looked to be a million emeralds strung together into the shape of a squat, ten-foot-tall man. It looked impossible to defeat, but it shattered easily.
Snipe attempted to pump the crowd, but there are few cheers when dealing with mind flayers, so they merely set the next horrors upon us. Waves of monsters would wash over us. We never fully died, but we came quite close a few times (brought back by an enthralled minotaur), close enough that things burned out in my mind. A demon made of ice gave me an annoyed, back-handed swat, showing that I was merely an inconvenience, and I blacked out.
When I regained awareness, I saw another illithid, different in clothing and markings from the others we had seen, “speaking” to Snipe. Their eyes met and they communicated, it seems, but likely it was all psionic. It offered us a deal; we could kill the priestess who took us captive, or we could stay as an amusement to the mind flayers forever. It was not a hard choice for us.
We were brought to an almost homely room with a warm floor, where we were given food and a chance to sleep. During this quiet moment we discussed what was probably happening. I assumed if Voni really had gotten out, the only way she would abandon us is if her memory was tampered with. At the moment she would likely be starting a rescue party, but the underdark is huge, and we did not know if they were going to the drow or the illithid settlements. After a few hours, our illithid patron teleported in and teleported us all to the drow city.
The mind flayers had already begun attacking, both with mental attacks on the population and by direct attacks with slaves, when we were deployed as an “elite” strike at the high priestess’s tower. The drow were weaker now, each one looking distracted by an invisible attack on their minds. Finally we broke through their defenses and entered the tower. We broke down doors and killed a few enslaved umber hulks with the drow and driders. At last we came to the high priestess’s chamber and killed her, too. Snipe expressed disappointment that he could not have had a relationship with her when she was alive. At this point everything had drained me too much, and I could not return a comment to him.
Our patron mind flayer teleported into the room and opened a portal for us to what he said was the upper underdark. We went through and trudged along, exhausted, thirsty, and missing the sun.
We kept going upward as much as the twisting tunnels would allow us, for perhaps a day, when finally the tunnel seemed to brighten. Muffled sounds of a small battle echoed through, and large feet were heard pounding the ground.
We turned one last corner and looked out. The light hurt, but by the time our eyes adjusted, the battle was over. Several normal forms stood around the bodies of giants. They all still looked like fuzzy shadows, but I heard one yell something. They all turned and looked towards us; it was too late to duck back down and run back, and I do not think I had the strength to.
Then I heard Voni’s voice, “Uju! Vicente! Snipe!” The other two glanced at Radu, whose name Voni did not know. And then she was in my arms. Everything blurred together from here, but I recognized Celithiril, Nolendil, Isendir, Darina Kross, and Zoriya with them, along with an elven woman I knew only as “Sunshine,” a man I had only glimpsed a few times before, and a dwarven woman I had never seen.
...Voni and I had just disembarked from the caravan in Redmist and were walking to the inn when we came across a huge pile of dead rats accompanied by Snipe, Radu, Vicente, and a pair of Redmist guards. Not a citizen was in sight, and I do not blame them. Apparently the rats had spilled from a hole in the middle of the courtyard, nearly turning the stones into a field of matted fur in the middle of the night. The men had killed them and piled the bodies near a torch; it seemed no plans had been made yet for what to do with all the carcasses. The guards were setting up barricades around the hole, however, which happened to be just large enough for a person to fit into. All of us--minus the guards--decided to see where the tunnel led. This is why caution is a very good trait.
We all dropped down into a cavern, and before my eyes (as bad as they are) could adjust, I heard a rustling of cloth from somewhere other than the group. There was a male voice uttering arcane words. The bright flash of the spell lit up the cavern, showing to dead eyes what was hidden before by darkness: an underground city. There were drow walking the streets below the ledge we were on, and adamantine architecture twined around the edges of buildings. Then we were dead; our souls cut cleanly from our bodies by the spell, like a ripe apple from a branch.
I only have a dim memory of what was beyond. Something was preparing us for judgment, but before it could be done we were all given a choice to return. We all decided to.
I woke to pain running from my fingertips to my neck and nearly passed out again. I was face-down in the dirt and I heard the murmuring of divine words and a gasp of the first breath of life in each person as a priestess went to each. I managed to turn and look at Vicente, who was sitting near with his hands bound and his hammer missing. He looked at me and grimaced.
We were ordered to stand, and I think we walked, but I am uncertain; the pain in my arms was occupying most of my attention. I found myself lying down in a cell with Vicente and Radu. A grate underneath gave a rotting odor of old flesh, but the dim light from the barred door did not show what was beneath.
“Uju, this is going to hurt,” I heard Vicente say, and with a pop my arms suddenly felt whole again, but the pain in my shoulders caused me to black out.
We slowly healed as we looked out the door, waiting in the dark as time came and went. A mind flayer and a stealthy drow were stationed outside the door, and after hearing the screams of other prisoners, a dirty, half-starved child was put in our cell with us. He was from the Dalelands, and his family was all here. We got little other information from him, but after perhaps a few hours he was taken from the cell, and as I looked out the door I saw him, another child, and Voni being herded down the corridor. I knew at that moment that she was gone forever, and I gave up, staring into the wall.
Vicente paced a bit, and Radu talked a bit. The hours went by, perhaps days, but I did not notice; I only stared at the wall.
Snipe came into the cell and mentioned something about a deal with the drow and illithids. I did not pay much attention until someone said Voni had been given freedom. She was not dead; there was hope.
We began to plan on an escape. I had potions of Change Self, and Snipe had invisibility potions. That, along with a few shuriken and darts, seemed to be all we had. The drow know how to make cages; it was taking us a long time to develop any plan based on the few weaknesses we saw.
In the mean time, I began reciting history as dryly as I could to the guard. When one is that desperate, it is a bad sign.
Our scheming was cut short, as bars on the door pulled apart. We were brought out of the cell and into a glowing, opaque portal, leading to an arena with a more organic look in its structure than the drow designs. The stone floor had uncountable layers of blood stains where it was not scraped clean by recent struggles. Tentacled faces lined windows above us, but even though their small, undeveloped eyes rarely looked at us, I had the feeling they were all watching. Small stones set in the ceiling lit the alien room in a glowing yellow light that did not help put us at ease.
After we appeared, so did our weapons, in the center of the arena. I picked up Voni’s bow and strapped it to my backpack. Vicente picked up his hammer and kissed it, murmuring a prayer. Snipe took his crossbow in loving hands.
There was a bright flash and a beholder appeared. I am fairly certain it was a beholder; few other things can look like it, and it was too large to be a gas spore. Several of its eyes glowed, and beams of intense light shot from them, narrowly missing Vicente. This was a fight for survival; I fought to kill--something I had not done in a very long time. We managed to defeat it and were just catching our breath when there was another flash.
Apparently the illithids’ surface slaver contacts had found a nest of red dragons, and we were surrounded by six-foot-tall wyrmlings. I drank a potion and concentrated on the shape of a troll, which is what I became. The fight was hard and we nearly fell several times. When most of the wyrmlings were dead, a flash brought tiny, white wyrmlings which were easier to deal with.
We were given a moment of rest this time, and my trollish wounds sealed and healed themselves. The next flash brought what looked to be a million emeralds strung together into the shape of a squat, ten-foot-tall man. It looked impossible to defeat, but it shattered easily.
Snipe attempted to pump the crowd, but there are few cheers when dealing with mind flayers, so they merely set the next horrors upon us. Waves of monsters would wash over us. We never fully died, but we came quite close a few times (brought back by an enthralled minotaur), close enough that things burned out in my mind. A demon made of ice gave me an annoyed, back-handed swat, showing that I was merely an inconvenience, and I blacked out.
When I regained awareness, I saw another illithid, different in clothing and markings from the others we had seen, “speaking” to Snipe. Their eyes met and they communicated, it seems, but likely it was all psionic. It offered us a deal; we could kill the priestess who took us captive, or we could stay as an amusement to the mind flayers forever. It was not a hard choice for us.
We were brought to an almost homely room with a warm floor, where we were given food and a chance to sleep. During this quiet moment we discussed what was probably happening. I assumed if Voni really had gotten out, the only way she would abandon us is if her memory was tampered with. At the moment she would likely be starting a rescue party, but the underdark is huge, and we did not know if they were going to the drow or the illithid settlements. After a few hours, our illithid patron teleported in and teleported us all to the drow city.
The mind flayers had already begun attacking, both with mental attacks on the population and by direct attacks with slaves, when we were deployed as an “elite” strike at the high priestess’s tower. The drow were weaker now, each one looking distracted by an invisible attack on their minds. Finally we broke through their defenses and entered the tower. We broke down doors and killed a few enslaved umber hulks with the drow and driders. At last we came to the high priestess’s chamber and killed her, too. Snipe expressed disappointment that he could not have had a relationship with her when she was alive. At this point everything had drained me too much, and I could not return a comment to him.
Our patron mind flayer teleported into the room and opened a portal for us to what he said was the upper underdark. We went through and trudged along, exhausted, thirsty, and missing the sun.
We kept going upward as much as the twisting tunnels would allow us, for perhaps a day, when finally the tunnel seemed to brighten. Muffled sounds of a small battle echoed through, and large feet were heard pounding the ground.
We turned one last corner and looked out. The light hurt, but by the time our eyes adjusted, the battle was over. Several normal forms stood around the bodies of giants. They all still looked like fuzzy shadows, but I heard one yell something. They all turned and looked towards us; it was too late to duck back down and run back, and I do not think I had the strength to.
Then I heard Voni’s voice, “Uju! Vicente! Snipe!” The other two glanced at Radu, whose name Voni did not know. And then she was in my arms. Everything blurred together from here, but I recognized Celithiril, Nolendil, Isendir, Darina Kross, and Zoriya with them, along with an elven woman I knew only as “Sunshine,” a man I had only glimpsed a few times before, and a dwarven woman I had never seen.