Excerpt 1 from the journal of T'kal Zahara...
(Several mechanical locks that sever fingers, explode hands, and prick poison needles into arteries lie between the durable pages of this rothé-vellum journal, and several arcane symbols promise death, blindness, or transmutation into something wretched)



The crystal maze held the key, and I took it. Lolth is bloated, glutted with Her supremacy. She has ruled unchallenged for too long. The time is now. I go to House Xuxim soon. The weakling Daughter, She has chosen a few mortals weak-minded enough to respond to Her divine ministrations. That fool gloaming is with them. I will recruit them to my cause, one way or another. Shields of blood are far more effective than those of mithral, after all.

At this opulent and sex-maddened festhall, Merethond, there lies a well of ancient limestone, but it holds far more than water. With the proper key, it holds VICTORY. I am still debating how best to enter the festhall. 100 guards and two magelings are constantly on duty, so that rules out force, unless I have a wyrm on my side, unbeknownst to me. Many spellwards, but not all, have been shut down, making stealth possible, though tricky. There is another possibility, however. Either I can find one of their couriers and kill him, which might raise further inquiries, or I might locate a few jaded nobles that I know of, who care not for inebriation and orgies, and take their invitations. There is a young, minor noble bitch that might do the trick.

(Below is scrawled a rough set of notes over the festhall's defenses)

100 guards
2 mages
Spellwards, some off, some on
One front door
2 unguarded back gates
14 seths left!

................


It appears my companions do not posses the expedient quality of -haste-. Alas. Ah, nor the quality of survival, which may prove quite advantageous in the Demonweb Pits. Why, the three pathetic tunnel wyrms tore right through them, slaying two. No tactics, no strategy, not even the sense to flee. I begin to wonder if I can even use them effectively in the Abyss! They might just fling themselves off the Great Spiderweb, babbling "We hate brains!". Oh well. And of course I can use them. It is what I do, after all.
- posted by heavyweather @ 1:02 PM (6) comments