XL. Vermin, Vermin Everywhere

After about two more miles, the adventurers came to a fork in the main tunnel. The right fork was semi-obstructed by rock falls. It smelled funny, and didn’t appear to have been traveled recently. The left fork was clear. 

Firiona shapechanged to pit fiend form and tried to clear the rocks from the right fork. She quickly cleared a path. So, the party decided to follow the right fork. Half a mile later, they reached another fork. Here they spotted what appeared to be battle damage. The left fork led to a deep pit. "Looks like somebody set off a pit trap," said Miae. She peered over the edge of the pit. "Let me look into this," said Arimir, who flew down into the pit to investigate. About forty feet down, at the bottom of the pit, the airy adventurer found several bodies, and recovered two rings that had magical auras. He flew back up with the treasure. "Their bad luck, our good luck," he said, showing what he’d found.Meanwhile, Elana thought she heard the sound of trickling water coming from the left fork. The party quickly agreed to head down the left fork.

A short distance ahead, the party began to notice a dim glow. The trickling sound became louder. Soon they spotted a stream flowing along the narrow tunnel. Small fish and insects were swimming and splashing about in the stream. They kept following the stream, and eventually it entered a larger passage. It was the fork in the main passage that they had previously not taken! "Should have gone this way in the first place," muttered Green Arrow.

The glow ahead continued and increased as the party proceeded along the passage. After another mile, they came to another large chamber, the source of the glow. Firiona and Arimir took flight and began to scout the chamber. Arimir noticed a small monstrous spider at the back of the chamber, hanging over a tunnel entrance.

The stream entered the chamber from the southeast, and after thirty feet spread out into a wide shallow pool about twenty-five feet wide and twenty or so feet long. From the northwest end of the pool, the stream meandered roughly in an S-shape to the north end of the chamber, before entering a large crack in the wall and continuing on its way. An exit left the chamber to the right of the stream, in the northeast of the chamber. Another left at the far southwest, while a fourth, in the northwest, was blocked by a large rockfall. On the west side of the chamber a rickety shack stood against the wall, with a southeast-facing entry.

The party prepared for possible hostilities. Green Arrow cast shield, then flew upward to join Firiona. Elana flew with Arimir, while Lina carried Miae with her. They all flew toward the far end of the chamber.

Green Arrow spotted a second, large, monstrous spider near the first spider, and promptly loosed a volley of arrows, killing the second spider. Firiona flew down to the ground next to the other spider, shapechanged to marilith form, and drew her weapons. Arimir set Elana down, then directed a lightning bolt at the gargantuan spider, wounding it.

A rustling, chittering noise drew the party’s attention, just in time to witness the disturbing sight of a swarm of hundreds of monstrous spiders. Even more disturbing was the prismatic spray that suddenly emerged from the swarm and struck Arimir and Elana! Arimir managed not to take any poison damage from the ray that struck him, while Elana suffered only partial acid damage. Elana returned fire at the swarm with a greater shout with sonic might. "That ought to wipe them out," she thought to herself. She quickly saw how wrong she was, as only three of the swarm of arachnids were destroyed! Then she thought, "A swarm of spiders that casts spells?!"

Lina flew across the stream, let Miae down, then shapechanged to pit fiend form and took a defensive stand to protect the half-elven rogue.

A mysterious cloaked figure emerged from a crude dwelling set up in the chamber. He extended an arm and pointed a finger toward Arimir and Elana. As he did so, Firiona could see that the figure’s arm was covered with spiders, beetles, flies, centipedes and other vermin.

"How I hate bugs!" Firiona exclaimed. The figure paid her no mind, but pronounced words of evil power. A prismatic spray emerged from the being’s finger and raced toward Arimir and Elana. Arimir felt some force trying to rip him from reality and hurl him away, but resisted it. Elana felt something tearing at her mind and tried to resist.

"Are you alright?" asked Arimir.

"D-d-d-duh! Er-r-r-r-r-aaahh-ha-ha!" babbled Elana. She had been driven insane!

Miae, witnessing and hearing what had happened, readied a greater restoration spell, then advanced toward the stricken Elana. On the other side of the chamber, the second large monstrous spider, ran at great speed up the chamber wall, taking minor damage in passing the party.

Words of power suddenly came from above and behind the party. Firiona spun around, trying to locate its source, but saw nothing. She did see yet another spider entering the chamber, and this one was of gargantuan size.

Green Arrow saw it too, and wasted no time in slaying the monstrous vermin with another flight of arrows. As he did, Firiona shapeshifted to a huge gold dragon, then breathed fire at a massive spiderweb, clearing it away.

The advancing swarm of spiders found itself blocked by a wall of force cast by Arimir. It backed away from the wall and regrouped.

Elana continued babbling, until Lina brought Miae to her. The roguish cleric then cast greater restoration, bringing her back to reality.

Suddenly, the huge gold dragon disappeared and Firiona was standing in its place. The vermin-infested being had eliminated her shapechange with a greater dispel magic.

Just then, the party saw rising from the floor of the chamber a massive figure. An elder earth elemental appeared. "That explains those magic words," thought Firiona, just as she heard still more magic words! But almost as soon as it appeared, the elder elemental found itself targeted with four arrows, courtesy of Green Arrow. A fifth arrow from the elven archer struck and killed the remaining large monstrous spider.

Defensively, Firiona cast dimension door to the other side of Arimir’s wall of force. She looked at the rude dwelling, searching for its occupant, but could see none. Arimir, meanwhile, listened for more hidden spellcasters, but heard none. He then sent an empowered orb of electricity at the elder earth elemental, then flew towards the wall of force.

A sudden rush of air around the elder elemental shocked the party. A wind wall had formed, and apparently it had originated from the spider swarm!

Flying directly toward the elder elemental, Elana cast shout at the rocky creature, doing minor damage. Lina, following Firiona, dimension door’d into the hut. Like Firiona, she found nothing inside.

A wall of stone suddenly appeared, blocking the northeast tunnel out of the chamber. The party turned their attention to the vermin-infested being. "He doesnt’ want us to leave, eh?" thought Edward. "Well, we’ll see how he likes our company!"

Miae took up a full defensive position in anticipation of the onset of the two elemental creatures. But once again, magic syllables sounded, apparently from a ledge high up in the chamber. "Oh, no," said Firiona. "Somebody’s opening a gate!"

She was right. A gate opened in the air above the far end of the chamber. Out of the gate emerged a gargantuan winged form, metallic with a greenish tinge. "What is that?" exclaimed Green Arrow. Firiona tried to remember her dragon-lore, but was unfamiliar with the beast that now charged the party.

The two summoned elementals headed toward Elana, but Green Arrow ignored them. Elana could take care of herself. He loosed a flight of arrows at the dragon, striking with four, one of which did critical damage. But the approach of the dragon left the doughty archer, and even Lina, shaken at its frightful presence!

Shapechanging into balor form, Firiona prepared to face the dragon’s onslaught. Arimir dealt with the elementals, blasting them with a cone of lightning. The spider swarm turned its attention to Green Arrow. Elana withdraw toward the swarm, but took opportunistic damage as she did so.

Having spotted the hidden ledge, Lina dimension door’d up to the high shelf. There, she spotted a hideous spider-like being, the source of the summon and gate spells.

A drider! And judging from its attire and holy symbol, one with clerical powers as well!

Lina didn’t have much time to think, for as she appeared at the ledge, the drider cast greater dispel magic at her. Fortunately for her, she was able to resist the creature’s spell.

Not so fortunate was Green Arrow. The rust dragon bit the elven archer, critically wounding him! He was able to flee from the dragon, not without a severe wound from the creature’s claws as he fled, then turned and fired at the creature. Two arrows struck home, heavily wounding the beast.

Back on the chamber floor, Firiona detected magic in the rude shack, but only found minor magical auras. Arimir had more success. After dismissing the wall of force, he blasted the greater earth elemental and the dragon with a cone of lightning. The elemental fell dead. Not so the dragon, to nobody’s surprise.

But suddenly, Green Arrow, Arimir and Elana felt a terrible dryness assail them. "Horrid wilting? From spiders?!" shouted Elana. Each of the adventurers suffered heavy damage as their precious bodily fluids were drained from them.

Fortunately, Elana was still able to cast spells, and she made the most of it. Otto’s Irresistible Dance leaped from her outstretched hand to compel the dragon to hop about!

On the high ledge, Lina attempted to cast feeblemind on the drider, but failed. In response, the drider cast implosion at Lina, but also failed.

Seeker and phase arrows flew from Green Arrow’s bow toward the elder earth elemental, both striking for serious damage. The elemental reacted by escaping into the nearest wall. Miae quickly reached him, and a quick heal returned him to full capability.

"More than one way to get rid of a dragon," thought Firiona. She spoke the words of banishment, hoping to drive the creature back whence it came. It didn’t work–the dragon, although still hopping around, wasn’t going anywhere.

The spider swarm found itself confined by another wall of force from Arimir. It paused. Was it readying another spell? Meanwhile, Elana’s mass cure light wounds aided Arimir, and herself as well.

The drider suddenly began dancing. Lina’s spell had struck home.

The hooded vermin-host could see which way the battle was going: not in his favor. Suddenly, Firiona heard the mystic syllables of the word of recall spell. The strange being vanished! "Coward," thought Firiona, "abandoning his allies. Well, there’s no honor among vermin."

Arrows of death, one particularly deadly, sped toward the dragon, striking the monster but, incredibly, failing to destroy it. "I’ll get it!" cried Firiona, as she charged the dragon, striking it with her sword. She did only minor damage to the dragon, but fatal damage to her sword, which crumbled to dust on contact! "Oh, great," she wailed, "a rust dragon! I thought it looked familiar somehow." She advised Green Arrow to attack it only with arrows.

Arimir needed no advice, relying on a ball of lightning. The dragon, however, was unaffected by his spell, leaving the airy adventurer shaking his head. His head soon cleared, as Elana cast another mass cure light wounds on the party.

Back on the ledge, Lina attacked the drider with fury, landing blow after blow on the dancing creature. But as she attacked, she felt a vibration coming from the floor of the ledge. "Oh-oh," she thought.

A full attack by Green Arrow, and another ball lightning blast from Arimir, left the great wyrm battered and bleeding. "You handle this one," Firiona told him. "I’m heading up to the ledge. Time to end this." And fly to the ledge she did, landing just past the dancing drider and assuming ghaele eladrin form.

Seeing itself outnumbered, and being unable to defend itself, the drider offered to yield. "Hah!" shouted Lina. "There’s only one way this is going to end," she cried, and attacked the creature, severely wounding it. But suddenly, from the floor of the ledge, the elder earth elemental emerged! It slammed at Lina, but missed.

Taking advantage of the dragon’s defenseless state, Green Arrow loosed another barrage of arrows, which finally brought the flying monster down. It crashed to ruin in the pool. Lina and Firiona likewise dealt with the drider and the elemental, cutting them down with no further difficulty.

Turning their attention back to the floor of the chamber, Green Arrow and Arimir watched in amazement as the swarm of spiders suddenly dispersed, the hundreds of monstrous arachnids scattering to holes, crevices and cracks in the floor and walls of the chamber.

"What on earth–or under it!–did we just fight here?" wondered Green Arrow, as Firiona flew down to join him and Arimir and tell him of the battle on the ledge. "Well, for one thing, I think we drove off a vermin lord," replied Firiona. "I remember reading a reference to such beings. They allow themselves to become hosts to all sorts of creepy crawly things. It yields certain benefits, none of which any normal being would desire," she continued. "Apparently one of them is the ability to form a hive mind. I think that’s what we were facing in that swarm of spiders. Nasty."

Green Arrow nodded. "Well, it’s gone now, who knows where. Let’s see what we can salvage from that dragon." The party examined the corpse of the dead dragon, potentially the source of useful materials. "Why don’t we skin this beast? We could use it for trading with the drow in the Vault." The party proceeded to skin the corpse, collecting enough for a suit of masterwork full plate armor and a shield for a humanoid-sized creature.

Meanwhile, Lina had called on Miae for assistance in identifying a strange object she had found on the drider’s body. The object that proved to be a holy symbol. Miae thought she’d heard of something like it. "This looks like a holy symbol of . . . Kiaransalee," she said. "Who?" said Green Arrow. "One of the gods of the drow. A rival of Lolth. Don’t know much more about her, but it’s not surprising a being rejected by Lolth should turn to her."A tunnel to the southwest appeared to be the best way out of the chamber, so the party proceeded in that direction. After about two miles, they came to another huge chamber.

The cavern was about one hundred and thirty feet long, slightly less than that wide, and at least one hundred fifty feet high along the apex of its central dome. Buttresses and flying arches carved from the rock of the cavern supported its high roof. The side walls of the cavern were polished smooth to a height of about thirty-five feet. There were minerals and vegetation in the cavern that gave off a faint blue light.

The northeastern quadrant of the chamber was guarded by a crenellated stone wall at least thirty feet high, wide enough for guards to walk along. Two massive gates of beaten brass in the center of the wall bristled with long, outward-pointing spikes.

As the party approached the gate, a voice called out (in undercommon): "Identify yourselves and state your business!" The party looked up and spotted a dark elf, who appeared to be a commander or warden of some rank.

"We wish to visit the city, we have goods for trade and we seek knowledge!" Lina called out in response to the warden’s challenge. Apparently her answer satisfied the warden, for shortly thereafter the gates opened and the party were admitted. Once through the gates, the party observed two additional buildings on either side of the passage. Both buildings were fully manned with drow guards. The party also spotted what appeared to be a male drow wizard. Speaking to the wizard was another cloaked figure.

"That’s the one that fled from the drider’s cavern!" whispered Lina to Firiona. She listened carefully, as did her sister. "They’re talking about us," said Lina. "The wizard called the other one "Krixitix". Must be his name. He told the wizard that we’re the ones he warned them about!"

"Probably realize we’re a lot tougher than we look," said Miae. 

The party left the guarded chamber and proceeded back into the main tunnel. After about seven more miles, they finally reached their destination: the Vault of the Drow. A mile beyond the entrance to the Vault, the adventurers reached the Black Tower.

A guard at the custom house in the Black Tower asked the party to state their business. Lina gave the party’s answer. Miae added, "And we’re here for . . . pleasures!" This apparently satisfied the customs agent, for he issued to the party special cloaks and medallions.

"All aliens must wear these cloaks and medallions at all times. Failure to do so will be punished . . . severely," the agent said, with a malicious grin.

From the Black Tower, the party took a well-traveled road that led directly to the dreaded city of Erelhei-Cinlu. They noted the type and volume of traffic along the way. They could see small estates in the distance.

At last, the party arrived at the main gate of Erelhei-Cinlu. Guards asked if the party were bringing anything into the city. "We’ve got trade goods, and also dragon hide," answered Green Arrow. "Anything else?" demanded the guards. "Well, trade goods," Green Arrow repeated. "You’d better be more specific if you hope to enter the city," said one of the guards, glaring hostilely at the elven archer. "We have some liquids, some gems, a bit of cash."

"Gems, eh?" exclaimed the apparent leader of the guards. "City excise tax is ten percent of the assessed value of your goods! Let’s see these goods, and be quick!" The party were quick to bring out the goods they took from their recent encounters, as well as the other goods they’d brought with them from the Enterprise.

"Where’d you get goods like this?" demanded the guard leader. "Well, we’re . . . traders," replied Green Arrow. They hoped the party would find this explanation convincing, and to their relief, the guards seemed to buy it. "Very well. Excise tax is twenty thousand gold pieces."

"Shouldn’t you be doing this on the way out?" Green Arrow asked, trying to hide his annoyance. "What makes you think we don’t?" the guard boss shot back. "And if you ask any more questions, we may have to reassess these goods!" The party quickly paid the tax demanded by the guards, turning over five diamonds and seven emeralds. The guards then waved them through the city gates. They were into the evil city!

Immediately, the party noticed spiders everywhere, and of every possible size. And far worse sights soon assailed them.

As they sought the city’s Ghetto of Foreigners, where outsiders, especially from the upper world, were required to reside, they saw a female drow, surrounded by other drow of the city, suddenly transform into a hideous half-spider monster. A drider! The hapless creature quickly fled, before the bystanders could react and attempt to destroy it. Firiona whispered, "That’s how driders are created. That drow must have been judged unworthy somehow, failed some test or other."

At last, the party reached the Ghetto of Foreigners. They decided to seek out the The Far Night Inn, which they knew to be safe for travelers such as themselves. Miae spotted a human visitor, and asked him for directions. Her seductive charm promptly obtained the desired information from the man.

They entered the The Far Night. The inn was operated by humans, who were known to have good relations with the drow authorities (and others), and whose establishment was generally allowed to operate without undue interference. Firiona, with Lina accompanying her, both in human form, dealt with the innkeepers. They were given a suite of two rooms, plus a common room, for the bargain rate of ten gold pieces per day for each guest.

They had completed the first part of their mission. Over the next several days, they took the opportunity to rest, as well as to improve themselves after their adventures on the way.