A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 48: Librarian

The trio exited the passage back into the factory. "That way." He inclined his head. "There is a service passage to the main dining hall, and from there we can find our way to the Tower fairly easily. Should not be too many ghosts in our way." Caleldir found it much easier than the two drow to run and talk. Probably because he was not running at all, but instead floating almost lazily, reclined in the air, despite the fact that he could move fully double as fast as Ashyr. So, he would dart ahead, check on a passage, and dart back. "Anyway, you mentioned a fetch that looks like me? Well, I have been called a fetch before, since my mother was the ghost of an Archfey, but I do not know of any other fetches... wait. I did know this one girl: a shy, sweet little Light Elf staying in Deusterra to study. A powerful psion even as a prepubescent, as I recall. One of my students when I was alive, though she and my other apprentice, the young Blackdawn heir, were off visiting the Blackdawn's underground home when the Curse took place. But she would have been dead... actually, no, she could very well still be alive. She was a member of an unusually long-lived elven group, and as a fetch her lifespan was quadrupled." He thought on this for a bit, and shrugged. "Eh... I highly doubt Faraia is my doppelganger. That seems improbable in the extreme."

The drow glared up at Caleldir as he spoke so easily to the two of them while they just had to concentrate on breathing properly. Selene was more annoyed than Ashyr was; more than anything, Ashyr was glad to have Caleldir back. "R.I.S.A. said ...she knew you... from before..." Selene said between breaths. "Goelon... twisted her... beyond... recognition." Literally.

"R.I.S.A. said that?" Caleldir almost halted. "Then, she almost certainly is my old student. She and Nirz were there for the activation of Storehouse One, so R.I.S.A. would know her. And then... Goelon twisted her into a mirror of me? But... why?" He clutched his head. "I... I really do not want to think about all of the awful, awful things my alter-ego has done in the last twelve hundred years. But, I will probably have to face up to them eventually..." He sighed, and remained quiet as the trio hurried through the halls. A few ghost monks attacked them, but Caleldir banished each of them with little more than a strong glare, so they were not noticeably slowed. Although the drow darted right through a few traps, poisoned arrows, a pitfall, one that released several angry ghosts, they easily dodged past them without slowing down. "It seems that luck is on our side again!" Caleldir said cheerfully.

"Are we almost there?" Ashyr panted with growing irritation. She did not enjoy the subject of Goelon and Caleldra. She also only enjoyed running like this when it was through a great big forest when Bard was beside her. This run was too filled with narrowly avoided traps. Being able to see and sort of talk to him was better than nothing, but she wanted to just curl up with him in a corner somewhere away from danger.

"I need... food soon." Selene mentioned on the subject of being wherever 'there' was soon. They hadn't eaten a good meal in quite some time, and the pregnant drow was starting to feel it. "Is it... safe enough for R.I.S.A?" Now that would be nice... except for the part where someone 'safe' in her dimension just got presumably kidnapped.

This place sucked.

The party reached the main dining hall, which was as over-sized as anything else in this jumbled, nonsensical, pointlessly huge cursed compound, being large enough to host a gathering of dragons. A thousand giants could have dined, and the room would still have seemed empty. The vaulted windows along the North side were probably a hundred feet tall at least, taking up a little more than two-thirds of the height of the wall. "This is the second largest chamber in the Monastery." Caleldir whispered. "And getting bigger, I see. The curse is still twisting this place. With every passing century, this whole place gets larger and more complex. Tread silently and cautiously here, if we stray from this wall, we are sure to bring half the cursed population down on us, and likely the Abbot and his Guard as well. I do not fancy our chances against them." Staying in the shadow of the arches that lined the South side, he crept along for a few hundred feet.

Both drow were quite adept at padding in relative silence through the absurdly large dining hall. The only noise that did come from them was their breath as they recovered from the swift pace. One didn't grow up in the Underdark without learning how to move quietly. They still held hands, though Ashyr didn't need to drag her cousin along to keep up the slightly slowed pace. Neither likely even noticed their entwined fingers. Two sets of crimson eyes marveled at the enormity of the place. If it wasn't for the whole cursed thing, this place would have vast potential. *The orgies this place could host...* the older signed to the younger with a wicked grin. Selene smirked back before her eyes flicked over to Caleldir. That was quite the scandalous notion; she wondered how the innocent male would respond to that. The cousins seemed to have shared that thought, for now they were grinning and quite clearly holding in laughter. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on perspective) they were pretty sure he hadn't learned drow sign language.

Caleldir's eyes darted from Ashyr to Selene and back again. They were signing at each other again. Which was troublesome, as his magical ability to rapidly learn languages only applied to spoken or written ones. So, he was forever lost in a quagmire of ignorance whenever it came to drow sign language. "I see that you are sharing some joke that I am not a part of." Caleldir grumbled. "Probably something scandalous." He decided to ignore whatever it was.

Caleldir suddenly turned and opened a door. Beyond was a carpeted staircase. "This leads to Birchborn's tower." He confirmed. "We may be able to access R.I.S.A. once we are just inside, but the location needs to be exact: not too far in, or Birchborn will notice, and not too far out, or The Incomplete will notice."

"Just tell me where you think it best to deploy her. We need to get in there and see if we can find out what happened." Ashyr responded in a very soft, but very clear voice. That was another thing being a drow made one very good at; speaking quietly.

"And she made the most amazing food last time we were there..." Selene murmured to herself with a half-sigh.

"It seems that everything has at least doubled in size since the curse fell." Caleldir grumbled. "These stairs are much longer than I remember them." He sniffed, and smiled. "Heh. You can still smell the wine..." Indeed, there was a subtle but pungent and aromatic scent of excellent wine lingering in the stone. "I miss the vintage of this place. I wonder if Birchborn has any bottles stashed up above: now that would be a treasure worth taking."

After a few hundred steps, Caleldir halted. "I can sense that the door to the First Floor of Birchborn's quarters is around the next spiral. This landing here is probably the best place to activate R.I.S.A. Ashyr, will you do the honors?"

Moments later, the three were secure inside R.I.S.A.'s pocket dimension, which once again had increased in size and luxury. Now the bedroom and the dining room were separate rooms! Caleldir looked around. "This is much improved from what I remember it..." He mused. "At any rate, I should be able to retrieve Althaia here. And, if Selene is willing to help me, recast the enchantment, so that we can keep her from dying again."

"I will help you. Let me know when you're ready." Selene agreed. Althaia had proven time and time again that she was an asset to the party (even if she had the frustratingly stupid notion that Selene was in the process of 'redeeming' herself.) It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't keep getting that smug feeling from the artifact nestled in her platinum hair whenever she thought about it.

Caleldir nodded thankfully. Then, sitting down on one of the beds, he took a meditative pose and closed his eyes. "This should take me about half an hour. I'll come get you after" He stated.