Even I had standards, and I had spent a few days wearing greaves that an adventurer had died in, and then spent the next few years walking around and rotting through.
I checked out the quest I’d gotten for the Drow and nodded in satisfaction as I saw the progress.
You have received a Quest from your Goddess: ‘Keep your Word’
You have given your word to an ancient Cave Spider Queen, kill her enemies, grant her and her brood safety and food, and she will consider her Broken Oath to be renewed, binding her and all her brood to your orders and laws. You must kill thirty-five (35) Drow and their leader…
Drow Killed: 13/35
Locations Cleared: 0/3
Drow Leader Killed: 0/1
Reward: Oracle’s Freedom, Sworn Allegiance from One (1) Greater Cave Spider and her Brood, access to Cave Spider Silk, Cave Spider Nest Treasury and 50,000xp
We’d managed to take a third of them down so far, and once we’d checked the kobolds over, we set them free, giving them strict orders to go the other way down the tunnel, to find somewhere they could live comfortably and to enjoy their lives. They didn’t exactly object, glancing at each other, then vanished in a blur of dusty scales, skittering claws, and bad smells.
They’d been farting nervously the entire time we’d been there, and the subject of what they ate that could make such foul smells kept the group quietly entertained for the next half an hour.
The smells in the caves changed gradually as we moved along. At first, there’d been little besides a dusty, moldy smell, interspersed with the scent of copper heavy in the air in some of the sections with more water, now, though, the air changed noticeably.
The further we walked, the stronger the strange smell permeating the air became. it was heavy and sweet, cloyingly so. We slowed further and further, until we were creeping along, when Bane returned from one of his forays ahead of us. He gestured and we all gathered round.
“It’s a garden,” he muttered, as quietly as he could. “A garden made up of some flowers I’ve never seen before, but they give off a strange shimmer to my Worldsense, so be very careful. There are six Drow in the gardens, two to the left as we walk in, crouching and working amongst the flowers. Three more are in the middle of the cavern, making potions, and they appear oblivious to anything else. Lastly, there’s a guard sitting at the far side of the cavern, close to the tunnel that leads out.”
“Well spread out,” I muttered pensively, and Bane nodded.
“They are; I could scout no further, so I don’t know how far away the main camp is. It could be in the next cave, or miles from here; either way, we have to keep the noise down and kill as many by stealth as we can.”
“It’s the guard that worries me,” said Lydia. “How far away is he?” she asked Bane, and he shook his head.
“Too far for a guaranteed kill from the bows; there are too many stalactites and stalagmites between there and here.”
“Shit.”
“Quite,” He quipped, a slight subsonic giving the impression of a chuckle.
“Okay, so the three in the middle of the room; could we sneak someone past them?”
“Unlikely. Perhaps if…”
“I can go,” came a small voice, and we all turned to look at Horkesh. We’d practically forgotten about her, as her only real use that we’d considered was to pass messages to the spider drones, but now…
“Could you kill him?” Bane asked, even as I spoke up as well.
“Are you sure? I thought you were supposed to just watch over us, then return to the queen, not help us?” I asked. I’d been deliberately not asking her about anything until now, knowing she was supposed to have guided us to the Drow and watched only.
“I will be queen one day; I have to learn about the world,” she said steadily, but the nervous clacking of her mandibles showed her real emotions.
“Okay, could you kill the guard?” I asked her, and she bobbed excitedly.
“My venom is like my mother’s!” she said, clacking her fangs together in enthusiasm. “I can change it or alter its strength. If I use my most potent, the guard will be dead within five steps, or paralyzed, if I use a weak form of it.”
Bane and I exchanged a long look and nodded at each other.
“Paralyze him,” We said in concert, and she bobbed excitedly again, turning, and darting away.
“Hsst!” I hissed at her, but Horkesh wasn’t listening, and her dozen spider drones went with her.
“Fuck!” I swore, turning quickly to the others, “Stephanos, Miren, Jian, Barrett, and Lydia, concentrate on the group of three with me. Bane, Arrin and Cam, get the two off to the left. We attack as soon as Horkesh does.”
We hurried along the tunnel, surprised at how quick the spiders were as they vanished around the corner, climbing onto the walls and ceiling.
When we reached the entrance to the cavern, we took turns moving close to the entrance and looking around, making sure we knew what was where, then falling back to discuss it. I asked the others, but none of them saw Horkesh or her spiders once they’d entered the room, so we relaxed slightly.
I’d had visions of them being spotted as soon as they entered the room, so every second we got to prepare was valuable.
Bane waited until the Drow were all out of sight before slipping into the cavern, vanishing amongst the vibrant blue and green flowers that filled it. I was watching the three in the middle as they moved around, clearly working on alchemy. I was curious both as to what they were making, and to the quality of their gear, when I heard Miren gag next to me.
I frowned, looking over at her, and caught her staring at the soil a dozen feet into the cavern, where a root was
