Maddy kept her senses focused on their surroundings while she listened to what Buppido shared. She thought she must have heard wrong and so had to mentally ask for clarification, ::Are you saying that one of the twins did that to Alora? I find that hard to believe after all this time together:: After a moment to process what she was hearing, she asked, ::Is anything missing other than the twins?::
She also took note of his other comment about them being easy to track. Once this threat had passed, she'd have to make a better effort to try to obscure their path.
Kalanzar reflects on Buppido's words...
Maddy looks around, but doesn't find any of their meagre possessions missing. Unless you count a small badger.
For a moment, everybody starts talking at once. Ksenia, who had watch before the twins, affirms that Buppido wasn't there when she woke the twins up for their watch. "In fact," she mused, thinking, "I'm not sure they were even asleep. I think they might have been faking."
Kalanzar, watching Buppido closely, asks Stool not to transmit the following to the derro. ::I'm not sure Buppido is telling the truth. He's watching us too carefully, looking for a reaction.::
Alex shook her head, and replied, "He just got hit in the head. I think he's still reeling. Who knows what he went through to catch up with us?::
I am not neccessarily the best judge of character Alexandra informs the collective minus Buppido
My patron tried to train me in it, I could catch her in a lie even once, although well, she is incredibly good at lying. She adds.
The chronology is, Ksenia shifts with already awake twins, goes to sleep, twins go missing, Buppido comes, my alarm spear jolts me awake. what we do not know is when Alora died.
Hmm, if we assume that one of us murdered Alora, technically our suspects are the twins, Buppido or...
She pauses
Me She shivers as she thinks this.
Thinking from the outside, I am a somewhat unlikely suspect in terms of conciously murdering her on account of having risked my life to save her, and I dont think I would unconciously murder while sleepwalking. My Patron would perhaps intervene, and I dont think I would be very silent either. Does Alora have anything indicating that she fought back before dying? Fresh abrasions on her fists perhaps?
Kalanzar looks again at the halfling's wounds. "Made by a dagger or other similar sized blade. It looks like she was asleep when she was killed. No signs of a struggle."
I also could be the killer! Ksenia chirps into the collective brightly. After all, I use a bladed weapon, and you only have my word that the twins were there and Alora was alive on my shift.
There is a long pause. That was meant to make you feel better Alexandra. NOT to confess to murder. Because I didn't.
Friends, could you show me your dagger? To close the subject with suspicion... And hands too.
Jimjar pulls out a dagger, then adds two small stilettos to the pile. All are blood-free. Shuushar spreads his arms wide, he has no blood on his hands, and no weapons to produce. Buppido has blood splatters everywhere, almost literally everywhere. Blood, ichor, pieces of spider carapace, most of it dried. Some of the blood on his hands is still sticky. ::I don't have my knife - I lost it fighting the spiders.::
Ksenia is in the midst of laying out her bloodless dagger, short sword, and cooking knife when she takes in Buppido for the first time as he speaks and holds his hands out. Her hand slides back down to rest on the hilt of the short sword, frozen.
"Buppido," she says gently aloud, but enunciating every syllable. "Did you come upon any other beasts after escaping the spiders? It must have been a long and dark trek by yourself in these tunnels."
I shouldn't judge him badly just because he's a derro. I am a drow myself. I have no right... I have no right! But still... I think he's the killer. Or not, and these are my prejudices? The derro are madmen, everyone knows that. Well, yes, and all drow are villains. Damn, damn, damn!
Kalanzar thinks feverishly trying to understand both the situation and his own feelings.
Buppido, I can see that you're hiding something. Tell us the truth. The whole truth.
Maddy's weapon was already drawn as she had done so when awoken in alarm. She held it out for inspection.
She had a faint nagging feeling in her gut since she knew she had a tendency to black out resulting in deathly carnage. However, she was also fairly confident that if she was responsible for this that there would have been more death and it would have been much messier.
Maddy continued to move protectively about their camp as those more qualified continued to question Buppido. She sought to protect them like she'd protect her sheep since they still didn't know the source of the threat.
Buppido shook his head when Ksenia spoke her question. ::No, nothing else. Only those spiders. Though a few of them followed me a fair ways. The scorpion attacked the big one - wish I had dared to stay and watch that! Ha! What a battle!::
::As for darkness, no more than usual. I like it better in the dark, all my kind do. Even the weak lights you carry bother my eyes after a while.::
When encouraged by Kalanzar to speak truthfully, Buppido looked down, then glanced up again. ::Nothing you'll want to hear. It's just those siblings, Topsy and Turvy. I've heard them a few times, muttering to themselves. I never trusted them, and I know you've taken a shine to them,:: he glanced at Alexandra for a long moment, ::and nobody trusts us derro, even down here. But I think they've been planning some sort of treachery. And everybody knows how much svirfneblin hate halflings. Right Jimjar?:: He looked to the other svirfneblin for affirmation.
Jimjar looked deeply uncomfortable. Averting his eyes from the corpse, he said, ::There are a lot of prejudices amongst my people, and all peoples, I'm sure...::
Alexandra would like to roll some insight on that as well.
Yeah, prejudices are common. I dont get as many because of my looks.
Maddy looked confused as she listened. ::We're all trying to survive and get home. I don't understand how someone would let their prejudices take priority over survival...maybe Stool should remove the twins from the Collective until we know more::
The young woman appeared sad and a little defeated due to what had transpired. They had risked much to get this far and now those she had thought were allies, weren't. ::Is it possible that they'll return to our former captives and tell them our plans?::
Stool sadly lets you know that the twins were out of range now anyway. Jimjar looks up at Maddy's words and says, ::No. No matter what the truth is, they won't go back to the drow.::
At Jimjar's response, Maddy's shoulders relaxed a bit but she still looked sad. ::That's what I was hoping for and it's good to have someone else voice it:: But she still felt uncertain about their present circumstances.
She couldn't help but feel that Buppido wasn't telling the truth and was having a hard time understanding why. Was he lying because he did something bad or because the twins did? Either way, Maddy knew that their ragtag group would be fractured because of it. Seeds of mistrust had been planted regardless of the truth.
:: Watch him VERY carefully :: - Kalanzar asks Stool to pass this telepathic phrase to everyone except Buppido. Then the drow, with the most relaxed look, takes a few steps to the side, putting his hand to his chin and as if thinking about something... and then, with one leap, he finds himself near a stone in the corner, casts a quick glance at it and if he doesn't see anything right away, then slightly pushes it with his foot to see what is under it.
Kalanzar, with a display of extreme cunning, leaps about, poking into the area that Buppido had been staring. He finds himself staring at a bloody dagger, which had clearly been tossed here, hoping to be unnoticed.
Buppido doesn't seem to notice Kalanzar's strange behaviour. Jimjar startles as the drow hops around the room. "What are you doing?!"
Alexandra is focused on Buppido.
Between the still wet blood she noticed on Buppido's hands, and the eruption of commotion, Ksenia is done with subtlety. She whips her sword up in front of her, ready for combat, staring unblinking at Buppido.
At Kalanzar's command, Maddy immediately took up a guarding position. Her eyes flicked between Buppido, Kalanzar, and then Jimjar when he raised a concern. She may not want to act against any of the group but she was ready to should she have to.
Delving more deeply into his mind, Ziyad saw madness. Bloodlust, and joy, and a deep belief in his own divine mandate of murder. Buppido had killed Alara, and would kill them all if given the opportunity.
Kalanzar turns to Buppido with pain in his eyes. This is your dagger, right? Hid it? The voice sounds quiet and slightly hoarse. After a second, the drow turns his gaze to the halfling's body and the expression in his eyes changes to a more fierce one...
...And at that moment, Ziyad utters his words and creates a spell, followed literally a second later by magic from Kalanzar, who screams with rage and heartache. It seems that the tattoo stars on his black body flashed with white light so that it is visible even through his clothes. And all this silvery-white starlight gathers into one beam, guided by the druid's hands and shoots at the derro...
He wont. By the hallowed name of midnight, I will not be murdered, and he will not murder more.
If it is possible to redeem Demons, should the same not be possible with a Derro? But has he shown any signs of willing to change?
Who am I to even judge this. Crap. I actually think I am killing him because he killed Alora, whom I risked my life to save. Is it not mere vengeance on my part? Perhaps pettyness? Perhaps possessiveness? Alexandra the Great and wholesome, abducted into the underdark only to return from there with a merry band of misfits whose lives she changed for the better, a bit like a cheap 2 copper heroic story out of that city that came up with cheap printing presses.
Well, one I saved is dead, 2 are missing, but probably not in immidiate danger, and lets see if I can at least keep Shushaar alive.
I cannot be naive, but I shall not lose hope.
It is not for me to judge you in this Alexandra Edgaria
Her Patron spoke
Focus on the battle, your foe is cornered, and he will lash out to take one last kill if you let him. I know this primal desire, "you may kill me but one of you dies as well"
At Ziyad's words, Ksenia's eyes widen, and she snatches her dagger from the cavern floor and flings it end over end with a flick of her wrist at Buppido's eye.
She blinks at the after images of fire bolts, eldritch blasts, and guiding bolts. "Am I only the one who can't shoot fire out of my finger tips?"
A cold knot formed in Maddy's stomach as Ziyad spoke of Buppido's thoughts and motivations. How had none of them seen this side of him before?
Then everyone acted at once and a barrage of attacks were sent towards the derro. Maybe it was because her twin wielded magic that Maddy was inclined to believe Ziyad was able to indeed hear Buppido's thoughts. That along with Kalanzar finding the weapon, caused Maddy to act. What kind of protector would she be if she let a murderer continue to exist amongst them?
Maddy moved behind Buppido to cut off any escape and had decided to add her blade to the others' attacks but her heart obviously wasn't in it and the blade slipped out of her hand and clattered to the ground.
"Am I only the one who can't shoot fire out of my finger tips?"
"My brother got that gift in our family, not me. So you're not alone. We will continue to rely on our blades. If I can keep mine in my hand, that is."
It was over before it really had a chance to begin. While Buppido was opening his mouth to deny the claim, magic came blasting at him from three sources. The force of it all threw him against the cavern wall. He was dead before magics released him and he slid to the floor.
Jimjar stared, aghast, at the attackers. "What have you done?! Why?!"
It was a somber group that finally packed themselves up and moved on. Shuushar promised to get them to the Dark Lake, but said the would be leaving them there. Jimjar barely spoke at all, and was certainly not his usual jovial self. Then there were the four absent companions - two dead, two missing. Would they see the twins again? Were they still alive? Would they ever know what had happened between them and Buppido?
We did what we needed to do, Jimjar. We are very sorry. I'm sorry, believe me... Then Kalanzar reacts to gith's words. I'd like to, Ziyad. Very much. The dark elf seems to regret what happened. Not about killing the mad derro, but about the fact that he was mad and killed another creature, and they allowed it. And yet he is tormented by doubts, and the experiment would help him regain confidence in himself and his companions.
Ksenia leaves the explanations to others and gingerly approaches Alara's corpse. She closes her eyes, weighting them with pebbles, and crosses her hands across her chest. Into her palms she tucks a slender piece of rock that reminds her of the handle of a tool.
"I don't know the burial customs of your people, but dwarves are always laid to rest with a tool in hand. And we can't afford to leave you what tools we have, so take the closest rock I can find to one."
She looks around, frowning at the cavern. "We should bury you in rock, but there's none loose and no time to carve any free in our flight, so this cavern will have to do as a cairn. The whole underdark is your tomb, lass, and I'm sorry we couldn't have done you better."
Ksenia closes her eyes and sings quietly in Dwarven:
Världen är grå, bergen gamla
Smedjans eld är askkall
Ingen harpa är fel, ingen hammare faller
Gör ditt hem nu i gravade salar
The world is grey, the mountains old
The forge's fire is ashen-cold
No harp is wrong, no hammer falls
Sleep easy now in the grave's halls
The gourd only can make one potion per day.
Kalanzar looks at Ksenia's actions. That's right, she's right. After she finishes her prayer, Kalanzar comes over and reads his. Something about the embrace of mother night and the eternal dance among the stars...
The druid nods respectfully to gith. Thank you. Then we'll do it tomorrow... Although if we need another potion, then maybe it should be postponed. I appreciate your openness.
As the party considers departing, Ksenia assesses their diminished numbers. "We are four less than before, but all four marched in the middle of our line, so I see no reason to change that today." She hesitates before going on, "But as exhausting as the prospect may be, I may argue in favor of pushing on as fast as we can manage this day. Who knows if Buppido has friends somewhere in the darkness, or left some surprises that would make us easier to track."
Maddy was still reeling from everything that had happened. She understood why the others had acted so decisively but she also understood Jimjar's concerns. It was hard to process without actually hearing from Buppido what he had been thinking. If someone listened into some of the thoughts she had at times that she would never act upon would probably garner the same response from the others and that worried her.
"I think everyone wants to get to the Dark Lake as soon as possible but we still need to be mindful of those that are probably pursuing us. If we go too fast we may not be able to hide our trail well." Maddy waited to see what the others had to say before adding, "But maybe the fact that our numbers have changed may also help throw them off our trail."
Agreed, we better hurry. Alexandra speaks.
Kalanzar nods. Bad thoughts about pursuing relatives do not leave him.
It is a somber party of refugees who make their way through the pressing darkness, hoping for the relative freedom of the Dark Lake. The party is smaller, and sad, and distracted. Shuushar has trouble finding his way forward - several times he loses the "scent" of home, or hits a dead end, and you all need to backtrack. Maddy brings up the rear, doing her best to erase the signs of your passing, but it's difficult in the dark to know how well she's doing.
The food and water you foraged yesterday is gone, and moving at a quicker pace, you don't have time to search for more. Stool sits glumly on Ziyad's shoulders, shedding spoors of sadness, and sometimes needs to be asked two or three times to pass on messages to or from Shuushar (who is the only one left who doesn't speak common).
After hours of travel, mostly through tight and twisted passages, you enter an enormous cavern. The ceiling is out of sight even for those with excellent darkvision. Even Alexandra's devil's sight, which allows her to see in the darkness as if it were bright daylight, can't pierce the upper reaches of the cavern.
Shuushar perks up - the smell of the lake is strong here. At first, the floor is carpeted with soft, phosphorescent algae. This quickly becomes wet and squishy algae, and soon you're walking through patches of ankle-deep water. The blueish glow of the algae takes on the purple glow of the faerzress, which swirls around at mid-calf height (knee height for Ksenia and Jimjar), making it difficult to see the floor.
For more than ten minutes, you splash through the wet cavern, your feet making sucking sounds, as if the thick algae is reluctant to let go of your feet. Suddenly Shuushar yelps as he takes a step and finds that the ground is no longer beneath him. He falls armpit deep in the water, but easily swims across the deep part. It is no more than two feet wide. He climbs out and says, ::Careful, deep here! I'll help you all across.::
Ksenia, Alexandra and Jimjar make it across without incident. Just as Ziyad and Stool are about to make the long step across, Kalanzar notices something behind them. A splash, then movement. A form that could be his relative.
Drow scouts! Three warriors, making their way towards you, just at the edge of darkvision. They clearly have heard you, but for the next few moments, Kalanzar has seen them and they haven't noticed you.
:: HIDE! :: The mental message is probably so strong that Stool will fulfill it the first time. Kalanzar dives behind any stone. :: Quickly hide! Turn off the lights! They found us. Drow scouts, three. Alexandra, create the illusion of us retreating... The rest - we hide and ambush together. They heard us but didn't see us. Let them not tell anyone about it... Maddy, it's temporary, don't worry. You won't be left alone in the dark. :: The allied drow quietly takes out the scimitar.
Alexandra hides, likely seeing the drow scouts with her devils sight.
I can only maintain my illusion with 30 feet of me, cavern is too vast for a blocking illusion, I need to think of something else. What would I be afraid off? What am I afraid of in this water? Oh right, tentacles. Kalanzar, from your experience, how far ahead of a main force to drow scouts range? Can we take them out and take their gear?
Ksenia immediately drops flat into the water, only her head poking out, trying to angle that behind some floating mushrooms that look oddly like a dwarf's head.
What if one of us on this side of the drop gets their attention and draws them after us? They fall into the hidden hole like Shuushar did and then the rest of us jump on them. She sends to the group.