Wait, did the effing drow b!!&&es maybe took blood samples and use these to scry on us? While thats what Yzalina would absolutely do to her captives, the drow seemed a bit too arrogant for that.
Alex swears whisperingly a bit as she ponders this
She would also treat captives completely different. Like, unless you are an absolute hardass, you wouldnt want to escape her. There is a cultist of this *Malcantit* or something, who is regarded as the chief Demonlord Succubus on this plane, who tried to assassinate Yza in order to reduce competition but failed, and Yza like, keeps her around and slowly converts her to her point of view. She thinks in reminiscense
Or maybe something in our blood could be toxic to them? That does mean they are unlikely to eat us too, which is a plus.
She continues half whispering
In a louder voice
You can sense those who pursue us? Interesting, at what distance are they?
We likely outnumber you, as such you seek security in stealth, which is reasonable, and what empathy would have me do were our roles reversed. How can we show to you that our souls, our thoughts guide us, and guide us towards friendship, and that we are guided not our blood or our innate nature towards emnity?
While I cannot truely be disarmed She continues
Please consider this a token of non aggression
With a flourish, she disappears her pact weapon, which sprinkles into purplish motes of light.
In a louder voiceYou can sense those who pursue us? Interesting, at what distance are they?
We likely outnumber you, as such you seek security in stealth, which is reasonable, and what empathy would have me do were our roles reversed. How can we show to you that our souls, our thoughts guide us, and guide us towards friendship, and that we are guided not our blood or our innate nature towards emnity?[dice=persuasion]d20+7
While I cannot truely be disarmed She continues
Please consider this a token of non aggression
With a flourish, she disappears her pact weapon, which sprinkles into purplish motes of light.
Kalanzar sighs. He stands and listens in silence, waiting for a reaction to Alexandra's words. Hmmm... I wonder, really, how do those drow find us every time? I took it for granted, but... Druid frowns thoughtfully.
::’bout that... why are the drow comin’ fer you... fer us?:: Precious asked, correcting himself as he doubted any drow determined enough to hunt for a group of escaped slaves would decline snapping up a couple new faces along with the old. :: I don’t think ye ever elaborated on the matter. Be they this... spirited huntin’ fer every stray, or did ye do somethin’ special when ye left? ::
:: Precious, that's a good question. Perhaps it will be useful for Huet to learn more about this too... I think the reason is the status. Our prison was run by Ilvara Mizzrym, one of the daughters in line to the matron's throne, judging by her last name... And she may very much regret her mistake... Ritual sacrifice, transformation into a drider, and so on... But even if it's not so harsh, this oversight will throw her down the social ladder... The matron mother of the house Mizzrym will punish her, and the eldest daughters will try to add fuel to the fire to get rid of the knife in the back... And the younger daughters will not leave behind too, this is also a minus one higher competitor for them... So now she has only one way, to rush her warriors and desperately look for us. I see it like this. ::
Every time Kalanzar has to talk about the habits of those drow who have not abandoned evil, he clearly feels discomfort and this can be seen even by clenched hands and tense neck.
:: Oh, I'm sorry, my friends. Maybe I didn't say the main thing. We were all held captive in a kind of prison, a sort of transshipment point where slaves are brought from different places before they are sent in the right numbers to the slave markets of Menzoberranzan. And we were able to escape, making Ilvara Mizzrym look like an idiot who couldn't even handle it. ::
Here he smiles a little. The smile turns out to be sad because less than half of those who started the escape then have lived to this day... But still, it was a feat, the victory of good over evil in incredible and unbearable conditions, and even those who died made the right choice fighting for their freedom.
The high-pitched voice counters, "A nothing-gesture, a nothing-promise. Your soul is not your own, you cannot speak for it anymore. Would you forswear your patron's power for a promise? What a party! One with the poison blood of deep elves. One with a poison soul. Delicious! What of the others! Come, speak with us!"
The high-pitched voice counters, "A nothing-gesture, a nothing-promise. Your soul is not your own, you cannot speak for it anymore. Would you forswear your patron's power for a promise? What a party! One with the poison blood of deep elves. One with a poison soul. Delicious! What of the others! Come, speak with us!"
Precious frowned. The dialogue was rubbing him the wrong way, but he had to admit talking did beat fighting – if nothing else, it had novelty value. ”Well, it sure be nice to meet someone willin’ to flap their lips rather than take up arms,” the dwarf spoke up on cue. ”We be sorry if we be intruidin’ in your domain. We ain’t here to trespass, but do need to pass – we be takin’ our li’le friend here home, an’ this seems the only way we know of to git there. An’, down here darkness under, one can’t really go ‘round somethin’ if there ain’t other tunnels goin’ your way, aye?”
Hue stepped forward and reached to take of his hat out of simple courtesy but it wasn't there when he reached for it. At a loss and out of momentum from the gesture, he sort of mimed it. What Hue said aloud he also thought to Stool, but he spoke in common.
"sure do miss tha' ha'. Excusing me, Mister or Miss (or both or neither) Forest, but we don' wan' any enmity either, to back up wha' my friend here is saying. 'One with the poison blood of deep elves'? Do you only mean Kal here? Tha' doesn' seem very kind of you to say. He's been so good with us, for as long as I traveled with them.
"Anyway. Passing really is our goal here. You'd see the back of us as well as we could manage."
He rang his invisible hat in front of his heart as he awaited ... judgement?
A similar voice comes from behind you. "We've been here a long time, and were other places even longer. And never have we seen one such as you! A trade was made, antlers for a name, the fey in your brain. And others say we look odd! If you care for the fungus baby, you'll keep it away from home, so you will!"
A third voice chimes in from the right of the first one. This one is a nasally whistle, quite painful on the ears. "Oh, what does the little one say? We don't understand its words."
Yeah, now he knew why he didn’t like these voices. The first two ones might have been decent guesses and deductions, but the fae in your head part? Preternatural knowledge. Reminded Precious all too well about the knife-eared vixen who had his ear. ”Aye, one o’ a kind, that’s me all right,” he grumbled.
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Hue looked around wildly. "How many of them are there???" When Stool translated he started to panick, "I jus' go' my hearing back. Have I lost my voice now?"
He looked to his friends, scared.
If you care for the fungus baby, you'll keep it away from home, so you will!"
Maddy's hand grips Dawn's hilt when they suddenly seem surrounded by creepy voices. They seem content enough to just talk for now but the fact that they are casually flanking them suggests otherwise.
When she hears them warn against Stool's home, she can't stay silent any longer. She blurts in Common, "What's wrong with Neverlight Grove? Why shouldn't we take him home?"
Can anybody hear me???
Maddy could see the genuine panic on Hue's face and immediately responded, "I can hear you, Hue. I just think they speak a different language and don't understand your words."
"I can hear you, Hue. I just think they speak a different language and don't understand your words."
"Oh", a little embarrassed, Hue went quiet.
Precious translates first for Hue, and then for Maddy. The first voice, still high pitched and with weirdly no echo, says, "Yes, drow poison, spider poison, deep within. Corrupts them, body and soul and blood and flesh. Can anybody built with spiders be truly good? Does it even matter?"
To Maddy's words, the third voice says, [b]"Corruption, desecration. It fills this place. The fish folk felt it, fed it. The dark dwarves know it in their city of forge and fire. The drow on their thrones of web are not immune. The deep gnomes and their pudding people dissolve in the chaos. And the mushroom men are deep in the throws of madness. For do they not dance now? Better to leave the child here, in the fungus forest, with us as friends, than bring it there."
Hue thought hard about the stonespeaker's warning and tried to remember. He looked at Precious but spoke to them, "Do you know anything about a cave with two faces?"
He turned to the others, "Didn' the warning say something abou' ... a madness creeps from the blackes' depths ... A cave with two faces ... the land overgrown. Sounds like these voices are confirming the stonespeaker's words."
There's a bit of a pause, then one of the voice says, "There are many faces in this cave."
Corruption, desecration. It fills this place. The fish folk felt it, fed it. The dark dwarves know it in their city of forge and fire. The drow on their thrones of web are not immune. The deep gnomes and their pudding people dissolve in the chaos. And the mushroom men are deep in the throws of madness. For do they not dance now? Better to leave the child here, in the fungus forest, with us as friends, than bring it there."
Maddy looked at Stool, very concerned. ::Madness and dancing? Maybe those we met before were affected. Do you still want to go home Stool?::
To the voices Maddy asked, trusting in Precious to translate, "Is there a way to heal the corruption and desecration?"
"Heal it? Why would you heal it? Corruption is evolution! Desecration is excitement! We have been corrupted, we are desecrated. Would we be healed? Would we? No! Before, it was rules and lies and order and more rules. But we broke the rules, looked into the dark mirror, answered the silent whispers, and now the truths spill open before us like blood from a vein."
The other voices added to the eerie chorus, echoing "blood from a vein". "You can't put the cat in the bag, or the worms in the jar, or the secrets in the abyss. It's out now, and spreading, and it's beautiful! Well, it's beautiful if you don't mind your brain breaking. Hee hee!"
The softest of the voices murmurs, "But talk is boring. You're boring. You were more fun on the surface, when your kin was taken by the chaos, when blood spilled in the meadow. Oh! She's still with you! Your mind is already fractured. Stay and see the beauty. She will love it."
Maddy was less and less sure that this conversation wasn't going to end in violence. The voices seemed to like everything that she viewed as bad.
But talk is boring. You're boring. You were more fun on the surface, when your kin was taken by the chaos, when blood spilled in the meadow. Oh! She's still with you! Your mind is already fractured. Stay and see the beauty. She will love it.
Maddy's stomach clenched and her hand readjusted on Dawn's hilt. "What do you know of my kin?", she demanded.
"Oh, not enough, not enough. I know little Maggie's bones are probably being chewed on by wolves. I know Matty is probably crazy with worry for his sisters. Probably doing something really stupid, probably going to get himself killed. Three dead siblings, so sad, so sad! Well, four if you count the other one inside you. Hee hee!"