Maddy actually felt refreshed when she woke. She almost felt like her old self before she had been kidnapped into this hell hole...almost.
She stretched muscles that were no longer weary and she gratefully accepted Precious' goodberry for breakfast. It may not be much and it may not be as satisfying as eggs or freshly baked bread, but it was filling and nutritious.
She watched Precious and Hue work in tandem to try to get their bearings."Do you guys need any help or have you figured out which way we need to go?" She points, "If I was Jimjar, I'd bet it's that way."
The cavern's false starry sky shines dimly down as you make your way along the shore of the underground lake. Precious and Hue work together as you stick close to the cavern's edge, examining various tunnels and openings as you pass them, trying to determine their direction.
After you've been travelling for a few hours, Maddy begins to feel a strange rumbling in her pocket. Suddenly remembering Kip, she pulls him out just in time - he suddenly swells and grows, returning to his original size. You hear an enormous gurgling sound as his tummy rumbles.
Eventually, you come to a small waterway that is flowing into the lake. There is a well-worn path alongside it, and its tunnel is fairly spacious. It seems to be going in the right direction (roughly northeast, though how anybody can keep a sense of direction in this place seems like magic of the highest order).
The pathway is dark, but Dawnbringer is happy to brighten the way. The walls of this tunnel are well-worn and smooth, hinting that at some time in the past, the water was higher and running faster. There are few stalactites here, and the ground is relatively flat and easy to walk. Precious even finds some pale, blind eels in the water. They look terrible, but make good eating. Along with the ripplebark, and even some sporebread made from ground bluecap, you have enough food to fill your bellies, instead of only relying on Precious's magical nuts.
Maddy was surprisingly happy to see Kip returned to his usual self. She buried her face in what she figures is his neck and gives him a hug. The rumbling in his stomach concerns her and she wonders what kind of meal she can provide for him.
Spotting the well-worn path, she gave Hue and Precious a clap on the shoulder. ”Nicely done you two. This path looks promising.”
Spotting the well-worn path, she gave Hue and Precious a clap on the shoulder. ”Nicely done you two. This path looks promising.”
”Aye. ‘least it be a path often trod, an’ we should be getting’ closer to Blindgenstone,” the dwarf grunted, stumping on his own hopeful feelings that safety might be close ahead to avoid disappointments. ”If we be lucky, this be a trade route tae the gnomish city. If we ain’t, an’ recent developments seem tae point in that direction… I dunno. This mighta be a path raidin’ parties o’ local nasties use, an’ there’s one such comin’ back in our direction.”
The tracks are old; scuffed up places in the algae and lichen, or just clear places where the ground cover hasn't had a chance to build up. There is no evidence that the trail has been used recently, but it would take somebody extremely skilled to be certain of that either way.
Kip does his carrion crawler thing, and finds carrion to dine on. Some of his finds are truly old and horrific, and his breath is terrible, but he seems content enough. He'll also eat a nut when necessary to assuage his hunger.
The next seven wake/sleep cycles pass uneventfully. This section of the Underdark seems to be completely devoid of any life bigger than a fish or a centipede. The trail continues on along the river, which gets slowly smaller as you travel towards its source. Occasionally you have to scramble up a steep slope as it cascades to your left, but the trail never becomes overly difficult or treacherous. Sometimes you pass through larger caverns, sometimes through narrow corridors, but the way is always passable with relative ease. After a few days, it even becomes boring.
A few hours after the 8th "morning" since the oozing temple, Precious hears the sound of many footsteps coming from ahead. Perhaps dozens of footsteps, strangely clanking in the echoing passageway.
”Sounds ’head,” Precious grunted. ”Lotsa folk, dozens, heavily armed an’ armored, or ‘haps carryin’ lotsa metal goods?” He glanced around the tunnel, wondering if there was any chance of hiding to let the approaching group pass, if it just happened they were the likes of whom they’d best avoid, rather than a potentially friendly deep-gnome caravan heading out of Blindgenstone.
With Maddy feeling more rested along the journey, her mind felt more aware of her skin and what may be lurking within. Every so often she would fidget and brush her arms before flexing her fingers.
With Precious sounding a warning, Maddy is instantly on alert. There was as great of a chance that they were friendly as there was that they were hostile. "Kip and I can meet them and get eyes on them if the rest of you want to hide. He's kind of hard to hide and they may not give a carrion crawler much thought down here."
I should see them before they see me Alex opines helpfully
Hue mused, "I really need to ge' myself something to see with." as he moved to the nearest cover.
Maddy moved to hide and motioned at Kip to crawl onto the ceiling. If the ceiling was higher, she would have gone with him in her saddle but she figured she would draw the attention of whoever was coming if she was hanging from the roof.
"Could be they be friendlies, but considerin' our luck o' late..." Precious murmured, looking around for places for them to hide. On one hand, if they hid and were discovered, their efforts could be taken as preparation for a surprise assault. But if this was some Drow raiding party on the way back home... any effort to avoid detection might mean the difference between survival and death... or worse.
Alex rather significantly fails at her stealth attempts, so significantly she herself is aware that only someone completely blind would not notice her. As such she boldly strides into the middle of the pathway and uses her once a day silent image to conjure a purple glowing rune reading the word "truce" in undercommon.
Which could be a good idea, as that focues attention on her, while her party is stealthy.
Precious, Hue and Maddy scrabble to find cover among the broken rock and small stalagmites between the path and the cavern wall. Kip climbs easily up to the ceiling and hides as best he can. Maddy douses Dawnbringer, and the cavern becomes entirely black.
Alex, her glowing sign alone in the dark, is the first to see the cause of the noise. A host of almost two dozen....somethings...are marching towards her. They're metallic looking creatures; most of them are round bodied, with thin arms and legs. The leader is diamond-shaped, with too many legs, and three, spear-wielding arms. Bringing up the rear is a large, hulking shape that looks somewhat like a walking, metal seastar.
They don't seem to notice Alex's rune. The leader makes a sweeping motion with one of its spears, clearly indicating that she should move aside for them.
Hue racked his brain to figure out what these creatures were.
Alex has no idea what these things are, but moving aside is reasonable enough.
Maddy watched in fascination as the creatures moved past. For not the first time, she wished that Matty was with her. He’d definitely know what they were and would probably want to interact with them.
She searched her memories to see if she had ever heard her brother drone on about such creatures.
The march of the mechanical creatures moved past Alexandra, who moved up against the wall out of the way. When most of the creatures had gone past, one of the almost-identical round creatures stopped, turned to face her, and moved a small dial on it front. A cog began to whir. Then it spoke a few sentences in a strange language, its voice full of clicks, whirs, and other machine sounds.
I do not understand you Alexandra replies in common, before repeating this in Abyssal, Elfen and undercommon.
Do you understand any of the languages I speak?
She asks, in the same languages.
Struck with inspiration, she alters her silent image to show mathematic equations, like 2+2=4, before having the "2" appear above her, and then saying "2" in her various different languages. While this is not likely to be immidiately effective, it should come across as a desire to communicate.
How do i express desire to communicate in math?
Like, Yza had this suitor once, some scientist? He had a love poem for her in the language of higher mathematics, apparently that was a bet between them or something, although it was full of probably names of scientists from other planes? Or maybe one other plane.
Come, let us hasten to a higher plane,
Where dyads tread the fairy fields of Venn,
Their indices bedecked from one to n,
Commingled in an endless Markov chain!
Come, every frustum longs to be a cone,
And every vector dreams of matrices.
Hark to the gentle gradient of the breeze:
It whispers of a more ergodic zone.
She intones, only remembering a few stanzas.
Matty's voice came clearly into Maddy's mind, excitedly speaking about extra-planar beings he had been reading about. He was fascinated by the existence of mechanical beings from the plane of Mechanus. Mondoons?...modods?...no, modrons. He had called them modrons.
She hissed at Alex from where she hid, "They're from another plane. They don't speak any of our languages and we don't have Stool. They like law and order and probably don't like being interrupted."
The bigger question was why were they down here? What business could they possibly have in the Underdark? But without a way to communicate, there was no reason to stop them. The best they could do was to figure out where they had come from.
From his hidden spot, whether skillful or inept, Hue thought to himself, 'We should have more meetings like this.'
He thought a moment. Grabbed his second to last potion out and harshly ..."PSST!" and tossed it to Alex from behind his spot (not really considering he'd entirely revealed himself.
”Modrons?” Precious muttered, perplexed. Maybe he had heard the name before, but if so, any useful details eluded him. But fact was they had spotted Alex, so there was little sense for the rest of them to hide... unless they wanted to leave the human to her fate, or ambush the mechanical extraplanars. Not a good idea either, considering how much they outnumbered the party, and as they had little idea of their capabilities.
So Precious stepped out of his hiding place, hands held out in clear view to show he was not holding any weapons. Nor did he move to try and bar their way, if they simply decided to keep marching on past him, ignoring the party.
Alex had already tried out most of the languages he knew and others besides, but Precious added his bit in Dwarvish. ”Do ye perhaps understand this language instead?”
He had to admit, to a professional smith, the creatures were... fascinating. A mechanism that was alive? He’d surely love to spend a few years or decades simply studying one, trying to understand that, literally, made it tick.
The creature listened intently to Alexandra's words, and when she stopped reciting, it waited a moment, then repeated them back to her, exactly. It was eerie - the same words, but recited in a flat, mechanical voice. It was clear that this was mimicry without understanding.
When Precious appeared, the mechanical creature repeated its incomprehensible jargon at the dwarf, and then repeated the dwarf's dwarven greeting back at him, in that same flat voice. Then it held up one arm, and a red light shone from its metal palm. It moved its hand, clearly intending to aim the light at Alexendra.
If that thing fries me I am going to eldritch blast it into a different plane of existence
Alexandra thinks as she steadies her breathing.
But it may be trying to create a telepathic connection?
Alex focuses her thoughts, having had acquired some experience with telepathy during her travels, on thoughts of hostility to drow slavers, demon invaders, and a desire to return to her proper place of residence.
The modron holds up its palm and a wide beam of light falls over Alexandra's head. It seems to have no effect. The modron tilts its hand, and the beam slowly moves from head to toe. Then it does it again, this time moving slowly from left to right. Then it turns to do the same to Precious.
Alex slowly drinks huets potion, wondering what it is.
Maddy carefully stepped out of where she had been watching the march of modrons figuring that they would appreciate them being forth-coming with their presence.
It was fascinating to see it mimic both Alex and Precious' speech. However, she stiffened when the one that had stopped pointed its hand at Alex. Maddy's hand moved to Dawn's hilt, ready to move but relaxed somewhat when the light seemed to scan her friends rather than hurt them.
The modron flashed the red light over Precious, and then again over Maddy when she appeared. It kept up a monotone drone of whatever language it spoke, though it didn't appear to expect an answer. When it was done scanning Maddy, the red light went out, it put its hand down, and turned as if to catch up to its companions, who had marched on without it.
I understand you now
Alexandra says in common and then tries to repeat it in Modron (which I am not sure she can).
Useing her still active silent image, she alters it to the shape of the modron trying to communicate with her, adding 1X and 19 dots above it, to symbolize the "1 ESK 19" designation.
Do you speak languages other then Modron or true speech? I could offer samples of regional dialect, surface dialect or Abyssal dialect, in exchange for carthographic information of the environs
She tries in Modron
They are Modrons, the once scanning me is called 1 Esk 19, and they do not have current hostile intentions. Their leader is something called a Tridron. She announces in common to the party, useing direct modron names.
She then tries something else in Abyssal, which she expects some Modrons to understand due to "know your enemy" considerations, at the same time altering the silent image to various adversaries encountered, while pointing at the direction the Modrons are marching to. They are clearly searching for information.
Я говорю на языке некоторых из моих противников из Бездны. Ваша ведущая единица тоже обладает этой способностью? Механус и Бездна находятся в состоянии крайней вражды, поэтому я ожидаю, что вы будете владеть языком на уровне, достаточном для расшифровки информации о враге
To make clear she is not in leauge with these enemies, she fires an eldritch blast at some of the illusions she is useing.
I speek the language of some of my Abyssal adversaries. Does your lead unit have that capabilty too? Mechanus and the Abyss are highly hostile, and I thus expect a level of language proficiency to decode enemy information.
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I'll find them sooner or later. I can smell them. Ohh... I can see that there are fewer of them... Ohhh… Jimjar… I bet you're playing dice with your gods right now and laughing at all of us... I bet…
All these days, Kalanzar spent as much time as he could in the form of a lizard. This made it easier to follow the tracks, evade possible ambushes, and avoid difficult areas by moving along the ceiling and walls. And it sharpened his nose, made him feel the scent of his comrades. Still, he wasn't a powerful enough druid to spend an entire day in this form. The hours he had to walk in the form of a dark elf were filled with a special loneliness.
Everything will end where it started. My mother ran away from here, and I'm going to die here alone in the dark...
He tried to banish such thoughts from himself, however. As long as the Goddesses of the Dark Night and Bright Stars guide him, all is not lost.
Kalanzar smiled, remembering the madness that had gripped him when he'd started thinking of Maddy as his mother in another guise.
…Maddy… buddy, is she really mad here and not you?
And yet, he continued to persevere. Mostly for their sake, not for his own.
Suddenly, the dark elf began to hear something ahead, something new. Some kind of military unit.
Duergars? It's probably them. Bad…
Concern for his comrades gripped the drow, because the last time he was a lizard, their scent had become much closer.
The monodron designated 1 Esk 19 turned back to Alexandra as she started vocalizing again. She attempts a series of whirrs, whistles and clicks, hoping she's speaking its language, but in its soft monotone it replies,
It glances occasionally at her magical images, but it seems more interested in watching what she's doing than the substance of the images. When she fires her eldritch blast it visibly startles, and the hand comes up again, this time with a grey light. It doesn't attack, however, and after a moment it says,
It then turns and hurries after its companions.
The mechanical person hurried away after its companions, and you're left alone in the passageway again.
Maddy watched the modrons disappear from view and called Kip off of the ceiling. "Why in the world would extra-planar beings be down here in the Underdark? It makes no sense at all."
There had been so many of them, were they going to war? "Are they down here to fight? Are they working for someone?"
They are Modrons, the once scanning me is called 1 Esk 19, and they do not have current hostile intentions. Their leader is something called a Tridron. She announces in common to the party, using direct modron names.
”Modron, huh? Never hear o’ ‘em,” Precious grunted in a thoughtful manner, watching the procession of mechanical creatures head on their merry way. ”’least they didn’t have any beef with us – a very pleasant change tae things.”
The next few days pass quietly. Kip sticks to the roof, and clears out a few darkmantles lurking overhead, his stomach gurgling with happiness after the feast. The corridor gains more side tunnels, and the river begins to narrow as you travel upstream, as various feeder creeks join it. You pass an area where the eerily glowing purple faerzress swirls thickly around you, and everybody has bad dreams. You pass a restful copse of fungal forest, and are able to hunt and catch a large lizard. You roast it in relative safety, and sleep with fully bellies that night.
Finally you leave the river behind - it has separated into smaller streams that vanish into passageways too small to follow. However, the main passageway continues, and you start to see signs that the stone has been worked. Stalactites have been knocked down and stacked tidily, and the floor is very even.
As you feel you must be getting close to Blindingstone, Precious begins to notice faint vibrations in the stone beneath your feet, as if something heavy is approaching. You are in a larger, twisting cavern, with several passageways of various sizes leading away. Stumbling into view is a very strange sight. A large, stony biped, clumping heavily along. On its shoulders is a smaller creature, dark skinned with wings, and a swirl of dust whirling around it. The "mount" stops as you come into view, holding up a hand over its eyes in Dawn's light.
Kalanzar spends some time avoiding strange metal creatures, the likes of which he has never seen.
Eventually, few days later, he catches up with his comrades at one of the halts near the mushroom forest. He watches for a couple of minutes as his companions feast on a large lizard, standing in the dark and slightly hiding. He feels his heart constrict and tears come to his eyes. Drow ponders what he will say to his friends when they see him, how he will ask what happened to them and tell them about his lonely journey, and so on and so on. Eventually, he sighs and goes out to them. Hi! That's all he can say, because his throat is choking. A "cold drow" mask instantly falls over his face (Kalanzar still has time to think that this is probably something in the blood of the dark elves, even though he considers himself the complete opposite of his underground brothers). With an indifferent look, he sits down next to you. How are you? the druid asks, as if he had been gone for five minutes.
Greetings! We don't want anything bad. We come in peace!, says Kalanzar in Primordial and Undercommon. He raises his hands slightly in a gesture that in any culture means that there are no weapons in my hands right now.
---------------Before the event--------------
Kal?
Alexandra turns at the returnee
Wait, could be a shapeshifter She thinks
Can we verify a few things? Like, what sort of animal was I able to temporary tame, and what was the species of the 2 most annoying fellow prisoners with whom we tried to escape?
Alexandra managed to temporary tame a dire beaver by making an illusion of a female, and very attractive dire beaver.
As for the second question, the Orc was a brutish bully and the Derro Bupido turned out to be a psychopathic serial killer.
Hi! ... How are you? the druid asks, as if he had been gone for five minutes.
Hue had been carefully examining the silt collected on his shoes when Kal gently appeared.
Kal? Alexandra turns at the returnee.
Hue looked dreamily up to see who Alex was talking to, "hhhhh!"
Wait, could be a shapeshifter She thinks
Can we verify a few things? Like, what sort of animal was I able to temporary tame, and what was the species of the 2 most annoying fellow prisoners with whom we tried to escape?
The rusty halfling 'shroomer didn't wait for answers. He rushed at Kal much like he did after the spider incident and grappled him. He stayed locked in an awkward, short-standing/tall-sitting, one-sided hug. His face was buried in the drow's shoulder. His cheeks starting to get wet as he babbled, "sostupidgettingallworkedupa'youwhenwecanallbesnuffedou'duringthenex' momen'inthismaddnessandyourwaymoreimportan'thanspiderstosuddenlygomissingwi thou'awordandjimjarisgoneandnomorestoolandkenzieandallneverthough'toseeyou"
He didn't resist the slightest prying away from his grip.
When all settled down he spent some time collecting materials for poultices to avoid anymore awkwardness, but (despite the dark evil shadows that loomed everywhere and said cruel things in unknown languages) he did it with a little song in his head for his returned friend.
Hue quietly tightened his shield strap. Under his shield he loosened the scimitar in its' scabbard. He moved as if to get a better look but really it was to be within distance to come to Kal's aid if needed.
He watched the mounted creature for hostile moves.
Maddy was instantly on her feet at the sound of another voice but since there was something familiar about it, she never raised Dawn to attack.
"Kal! You're alive!" She was only a step behind Hue as they rushed over to Kal. However, it wasn't enough for Maddy to lay eyes on the druid so she threw her arms around him as well as Hue.
Stepping back she asked, "How'd you find us?"
Seeing the stone creature shield its eyes because of Dawn's light, Maddy silently asks the sword to dampen her glow until they knew whether these creatures were friend or foe. She then waited to see how they would respond to Kal's greeting
Greetings! We don't want anything bad. We come in peace!, says Kalanzar in Primordial and Undercommon. He raises his hands slightly in a gesture that in any culture means that there are no weapons in my hands right now.
As Dawn's light dims, the two creatures blink a bit then look again at your group. The winged one looks baffled at the primordial words, but its eyes widen a bit when Kal switches to undercommon. It pats its mount on the head and says something , then says, "People hi! Where stone piles see? Big piles?" The stony mount holds its hand about four feet off the ground.
That's pretty smart, Alexandra. Animal was beaver. And prisoners... Bupido is unequivocal. The drow's face darkens as he remembers exactly how and why they killed the derro. I don't even know... the second one... That orc?
He finishes saying these words in Hue's arms. He looks thoughtfully at the halfling for a few seconds, then hugs the little ranger with a huge heart, and softly says, I'm glad to see you too, buddy!
Then he hugs Maddy. I just followed the tracks, but I couldn't catch up with you for a long time. It was a pretty boring trip, to be honest. I think all the dangers were running away from your squad like from fire. Drow smiles a kind smile, and then remembers the question he has to ask and the smile disappears from his face.
Kalanzar looks around at everyone with a sad look. Jimjar? I haven't seen any trace of him for a long time. He couldn't? He doesn't finish the sentence.
Kalanzar quickly translates the question to his friends, hoping that they understand what this creature is talking about.
Friend, I probably don't understand what you're talking about. There's a stone all around... We're underground. But I'll be happy to help...
”Never thought the day would dawn I’d welcome the sight o’ a knife-ears,” Precious grunted as everyone rushed to welcome the comrade thought lost like so many others.
The dwarf stared at the strange duo curiously. At least they were willing to talk, even if what they said so far sounded like nonsense. But just what were they, and what were they doing so close to what Precious hoped to be their latest destination?
He scratched one of bony knobs on the side of his head reflexively – the damnably inconvenient antlers he had shed in the narrow tunnel escape were growing back, and the process made the pedicles itch furiously at times.
Could you make a picture of the stone piles you seek? Alex asks
Jimjar? I haven't seen any trace of him for a long time. He couldn't?
Maddy seems to visibly deflate at Kal's question. She places her hand on his shoulder somewhat comfortingly but couldn't meet the drow's eyes. "We were all in danger of drowning. During our desperate escape, he fell behind and I didn't notice. He didn't make it out. I'm sorry."
Not knowing Undercommon and no longer having Stool among them, Maddy watched the interactions carefully for any signs on aggression.