A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 32: Fels of Slumber

"You think I should scout ahead? If Bard stays with you two, I'll be able to find him and therefore the road if I get lost." Ashyr asked as her eyes studied the trees around them. She couldn't see the snake guy and the human (or anything else), but it didn't mean that they weren't there. "If there's some inherent sleep spell or enchantment to this forest, I'll of course be immune or able to resist pretty well."

"I am not aware of any inherent enchantments on the forest." Caleldir responded. "But there is no need to scout. I know exactly where we are going. This is my home country we are entering now, after all. This road goes straight on for quite some time, meandering through a few ruins of villages and cities. There are a few spots where the road is completely overgrown, but I still know all the various turns that we have to take to take the safest way there. The only thing we need to scout for would be food, or to guard against attack. Because this forest is cursed and we will be attacked. A lot."

As if in response to Caleldir's words, not one thousand feet into the woods, a dozen creatures made out of rotten mud and tree branches shaped vaguely like wolves leaped out and tried to maul them. Caleldir smote the nearest one with a summoned blade, and destroyed three more with magic missiles and and ice strike. In contrast to his usual worried manner in a fight, he was completely nonchalant here, destroying the creatures efficiently and without a trace of emotion. Ashyr whacked at any weird mud dogs that got near her, but didn't seem too interested in the fight. Selene took a similar approach. Bard was a little more enthusiastic. He managed to take down one of the beasts by himself, and was all muddy for it. They didn't seem all that strong, and if they were already getting attacked so soon into their journey through the forest, there was no need to get worked up. There would be more battles to be had, and more excitement to chip away at their energy. Stamina would be a precious thing until they were used to their nocturnal existence.

When the last of the creatures collapsed into a pile of mud and twigs, Caleldir unsummoned his blade and turned to the two drow. "Corrupted elementals of all shapes and sizes, hostile fey, evil shadows, undead beyond count (both from the cursed inhabitants of the land and unlucky travelers) and some of the... devices that my people created, all of these things will be trying to kill us all night and all day. So, I think it better that we stick together."

"I understand the danger, but I still don't see why I shouldn't go out to make sure there's no ambush or at least see if I can find food. Our rations won't last forever. Or will we all hunt for food when the time comes? Or maybe we can keep walking and you make sure there's no ambush?" Ashyr asked Caleldir. If he knew so much about the forest, it seemed like a good option. Oh, and he couldn't die. That was something he had going for him that Ashyr did not.

"No way I'm hunting for food." Selene said in her usual grumpy manner for the morning. Perhaps she would be a bit more friendly if she wasn't so damned tired. All this day and night nonsense must have been getting to her. "If those ugly mongrels are what's on the road, I'd rather not find out what's off it." Not that she wasn't sure that she could handle herself. It would just be so much effort.

Caleldir thought about Ashyr's words. Then, he shrugged. "I do not know this forest. I know the roads from a thousand years ago, and know that they are unchanged in location. So I need to stay on the road. But, you have a point about our supplies. A very good point. Yes, if you leave Bard with us so that you will be able to find your way back, foraging is an excellent idea. If Althaia was awake, we would have more than ample food, but she is still unconscious, so we should start building up a supply as soon as we can. Especially because, as we go deeper into the forest, foraging may become impossible."

A smile flowed across his face. "The only real negative of you running off foraging, Ashyr, is that that leaves Selene and me alone together, and that rarely ends well." A joke, but with some slight seriousness.

"You'll be fine." Ashyr said with a smirk. "Bard will keep the peace, won't you boy?" She bent over to scratch at his ears with loving roughness. The wolf seemed to be ecstatic about the whole situation, as he was about most things in life. "Just keep her distracted with talk of magic and you'll probably not even need our little peacekeeper."

"Eh, you are right; we will probably just discuss spellcraft. Which reminds me: I need to confer with you, Selene, on the topic of some empowering rituals I know but cannot cast. The Teleportation when Injured tattoos from yesterday reminded me of them."

"You can probably figure out how to get Bard to summon me if you need me. And Bard will know if I get into any trouble." Ashyr told them. Then she pressed her mouth against Selene's in a quick but heated kiss, then pulled Caleldir's face down to give him the same treatment. After that, she was gone.

"Who needs Althaia when you've got her?" Selene wondered aloud when Ashyr was no longer in sight. As she didn't care too much about the nymph woman, she was being mostly serious. "But yes, we do need to talk about all the rituals I'm meant to do." That, at least, Selene seemed to be a little more excited about.

"Actually, we still do have Althaia. You are toting her around on a levitating disk, after all." Caleldir observed. "But we do still need her to wake up so that we can access all of our stuff." He shrugged, watching Ashyr disappear into the forest. He sent a quick prayer up to the Eternal One for her safe return. They were in the former domain of His people now, after all, even though His worshippers were now all nothing but ghosts. And wights and whatnot. Except him. Which brought his thoughts back to Ashyr, and how she might fare if she ran into one of the cursed villages, no doubt filled with ghouls or something...

He shook that thought away. Ashyr would come back; she was a native of the Underdark, after all, and that place was hardly safer. Ah, the Underdark. That was the topic on which he needed to speak with Selene on. "The first ritual which I need you to do is one to keep us alive when normally we would be dead. Basically, the effect of it is that the next time the subject of the ritual takes normally lethal damage, they retain their consciousness and go ethereal, which allows them to escape by phasing through walls or otherwise flying away. Unless fighting someone aware of ethereal creatures and is ready to take them on, it is a pretty foolproof way of cheating death. The subject remains ethereal until no longer in danger of dying. If they have no magical means of healing themselves, then they may be stuck that way half between dead and alive a long time indeed. Which is why another ritual I need to you to cast is one that provides a temporary rune of power invisibly engraved on the subject's skin that allows them to cast Heal on themselves, that is able to perfectly effect ethereal creatures. Now, the items needed for both rituals are not too hard to find, and I already have many of them, but they are rather time consuming and technical. I will have to write down the words and gestures for you, but you also need to understand the theories behind them. So, let me explain how..."

Selene listened intently to Caleldir's words, and asked questions and for clarification when she needed it. She grew more animated as the day went on and she was able to walk some of the sleepiness out of her body. The bits of rations she ate seemed to help as well. Talking about magic and things, she almost felt like she was at home chatting with other mages. Except there was an almost impossibly dangerous forest surrounding her this time, and there was no time to sit and rest her feet. Even still, she began to feel a relaxing sort a familiarity with Caleldir.

There were a couple times when Bard lifted his head for seeming no reason whatsoever. He would look around with a slight curl to his lip to bear his teeth at an unknown enemy. Each time he was only on alert for a short while before he relaxed again and continued walking as if nothing at all had happened.

And so it went on for much of the day, as the morning turned to afternoon. A few times minor annoyances attacked - decayed elementals or hostile shadows, mostly - but nothing that was all that threatening. When it got later on into the afternoon, his tail began to wag furiously. He took leaping bounds down the pathway just as Ashyr melded out of the forest with a grin on her face and food in her hands.

"D'ya miss me, boy?" She asked the adolescent animal who seemed to be trying his hardest to be literally beside himself with joy. "There were a couple things that looked inclined toward ambushing - that I saw, anyway. But it seems the way forward is mostly clear. It's harder to hunt here than what I'm used to. Nothing I couldn't handle. Decided it would be a bad idea to be alone at night, though." She fell into step beside Caleldir. "Did I miss anything interesting?"

"You missed a couple things." Selene said with a haughty tone and a slight frown. "I almost broke a sweat once." The frown twitched upward into almost a smile.

Although Caleldir did not jump himself into pieces like Bard did when Ashyr returned, he could definitely sympathize with the enthusiastic wolf-puppy. He smiled. "Welcome back Ashyr. You seem to have done a good job avoiding the nastier surprises my homeland offers. But yeah, nighttime is bound to be way worse. That is when the ghosts are out and about. And believe me, I know all about ghosts. Ah! Speaking of which..." Caleldir gestured forward.

The had party crossed an overgrown old bridge, and arrived in the ruins of what had once been a village. An extraordinarily wealthy one, by the size of the buildings. Everything was made of heavy stone, and far larger than it needed to be. Although nothing about the elegant, half-destroyed edifices were overtly militaristic, a keen eye would have quickly noticed that everything was carefully crafted to be a fortress in of itself. Even the church, whose high-stained glass windows, though dirty, were completely preserved. "That glass could withstand a battering ram." Caleldir observed, pointing out the images of heroes and angels dimly seen through the shadows. "But stay away from that building." One of the shadows behind the glass moved, and one of the angels smiled an unfriendly smile. "Yeah, really do not go in there." He reiterated. "There is treasure, I am sure, but nothing the equal of what we will find in the Monastery." But his companions, while attentive, didn't look tempted by the church. What would they do with the treasure, anyway, with Althaia's ring out of commission?

As they continued on through the haunted village, Caleldir seemed rather nostalgic. "One of the building philosophies of my people was that, like trees, buildings should have roots that were equal to or bigger to what was visible on the outside. As drow, I am sure that you can sympathize with that. All of these building have basements, cellars, catacombs, and whatnot that usually are themselves twice as large as what you see on the surface." And so he chattered on, as they continued on out of the ruins.

The drow looked at the buildings with wary fascination. It was a place worth exploration if it had been their final destination. The architecture on the surface always seemed to be so varying. Bard stayed very close to the party as they traveled through - though it was unclear whether it was by Ashyr's orders or his own sense that this place had many dangers for a young wolf such as himself. Ashyr in particular was interested in Caleldir's nostalgic musings. She wanted to see where he came from, to hear his memories of things, though both were ghosts of what they once were.

Suddenly, Caleldir stopped in his tracks. He sniffed. "Does anyone else smell oily steel?" He asked. "If so, that is not a good sign."

"Oily steel?" Selene asked as she sniffed the air. "I'm not sure I would know what that smells like." Of course, swords and close-combat were not things that she was interested in. Blowing things up was much safer and much more satisfying.

"Should we be stopping if that's a bad sign? Or should we be hurrying forward?" Ashyr asked. Either could have been the wise option, but she really had no idea. Her gaze whipped around the area, her hand resting lightly on her twin blades. She appeared to be taking Caleldir's observation very seriously. Bard sniffed the air as well, copying his mistress and her cousin. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to be sniffing. This whole place smelled like danger and certain death.

"Depends whether the smell is ahead or behind us." Caleldir responded. "But my people were rather good engineers, and..." He paused, and cocked his head to the side. "Shh! Listen." He whispered. There was a ticking noise like a very loud and fast clock. Something like panic crossed Caleldir's face. "We need to..."

He was interrupted by a tree falling across the road, swiftly followed by a bear-sized clockwork scorpion that fired lightning from its tail and fire from its ruby eyes. It mechanical legs skittered around, gripping the ground and foliage around it. The creature swiveled towards them with a disturbingly mechanical warning in a long dead language. Thus begun their first real introduction into the technology of Caleldir's people.