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She leaped out of the way of the trap with a little less grace than she was known for. Because the cavern she was walking in took a sharp right about a couple of yards ahead of her, the wall going forward ended. Because of her elegant dive forwards, Aqua'chan was met with the hard wall head-on.

A yelp of surprise escaped her lips as her forhead made painful contact with the wall. At the same time, the noise of the two walls of the trap smashing together echoed through the tunnels behind her. Aqua-chan looked back over her shoulder in time to see the walls slowly pulling apart and away, and the disturbed dust that flew everywhere was beginning to settle.

The woman sighed in relief, then brought her long fingers up to her forehead to see what damage had been done. Sure enough, blood smeared over her palm and glinted in the low light.

"Why me?" she asked, but was unsure who exactly she was asking, "Every single time... It's a given!" She stood up, balancing herself on the rocks, still muttering whatever words would come to her head. Soon, she was wandering back down the hall and to the right, holding her bleeding head, still shaking from the trap she had just escaped. "This darn unlucky life of mine. I'm cursed. I just know it..."

Aegis began to circle towards the left, training his good eye on the vampire. Sunfang glinted in the dull cavern light as he held it firmly in front of him. The vampiress across from him begin to cross her legs, circling in the same fashion as the ranger. The two did this for what seemed like hours. In reality, it was only a few seconds before the night stalker lunged at the elf, hissing loudly. Aegis sprang backwards, raising Sunfang to keep the vampire from reaching his body. He struck out with the flat of his sword, connecting solidly with the womans face.The vampire screamed in frustration as he body spun in the air, and hit the ground with a thud. Aegis took a step forward, and spun his sword in his hand, pointing the tip towards the creatures chest. With a swft movement, he struck down. Before the sword pierced the skin, though, Aegis felt his arm jerk back as something grabbed hold of it. The grip was ice cold, and as strong as the steel used to make Sunfang.

The second vampire gripped Aegis' wrist tightly, forcing him to drop Sunfang. The weapon hit the ground with a resounding clang. His other arm was then grabbed, and both were twisted behind the small elf's body, and locked tightly. The vampire then jerked the elf's body back, whipping his head backwards. The female vampire had made it to her feet, and was now walking up to the ranger. From what Aegis could tell, she had once been a drow. Her dark skin, and striking white hair was a dead give away. She walked seductivly next to Aegis, running her hand up the side of his chest, and across his neck.

"Why is it the Master's mortal wanted him first?" she hissed quietly to her companion. Aegis heard nothing but a gruff grunt from behind him. "No matter I suppose. We will have the rest of the Dark Flames soon enough, and the Master will be able to focus on his plans."

Te woman's head then turned around, and looked down the tunnel as the soft sound of a pair of leather boots came walking down through the darkness. Aegis looked up towards the tunnel to what was coming. The ranger grimaced as the the tall human slowly walked towards the three of them. Seir was accompanied by another figure, more than likely another vampire.

"We meet again, Aegis." He grinned, and chuckled to himself, taking a few steps closer to the captive ranger.

Aegis could only hope that Bloodstalker and Nippy hadn't gone too far from where they left him...

Gwalchmai’s confusion knew no bounds. To him, the dark underground tunnels suddenly became the deep forest, lit with dappled light. The evil throne became the oaken alter upon which tokens and offerings to the Beauty of Nature were to be placed. The vile symbol of Moander appeared to his eyes as the waterfall and peaceful pool of Eldath. His friends in the Dark Flames were the serene druids of his youth, quietly teaching him the ways of healing, balance, and Nature’s Peace. Suddenly, he saw the Ettins violating the forest with their axes, just as they had before! And, as before, he was powerless to stop them, every edict of his faith instructed him to favor diplomacy. But these were not the same Ettins he had met before! Billy-Bob and Cindy-Jo had worn the turkey feather pendant of their tribe, but these Ettins wore a different symbol. They were more numerous and more coordinated than was possible in any Ettin society he knew of. How can this be? The druids fell as the trees fell, and some unnatural force affronted Nature. What choice did he have?

“Eldath forgive me,” he muttered. He began a prayer to Silvanus that would grant him an offensive spell. Anything to stop the scourge of the Ettins! As he chanted, he envisioned a tangled mass of briars growing up around the Ettins, with thorns that shot out and pierced the skin of the forest’s enemies. In the cavern, the same briars grew up around the Gibbering Mouthers, and thorny missiles shot out to embed themselves in the amorphous gray flesh. The Mouthers were not greatly harmed, but the briars slowed their progress.

A sense of overwhelming evil came over Nippy. He felt the darkness brush him and he knew that undead had risen from the ground. The evil was pervading and palpable, these were truly powerful undead.

"Quickly my friend, Aegis is in great danger, undead are arisen, and they are close to Aegis..."

Bloodstalker looked at Nippy and merely titled his head. Their pace increased rapidly and they were soon upon Aegis and the undead.

"Back foul beast! You will not draw blood this day!" Nippy's hands felt empty without the familiar presence of a sword but he clenched his knuckles tightly and returned to his training of long ago.

He moved rapidly forward and one of the vampires let go of Aegis leaving the Elf swaying for a short while. The vampire advanced on Nippy and reached out a clawed hand, attempting to grab the human's throat. Nippy flexed his back and dropped down out of reach of the razor sharp claws. He dropped to the floor and span his leg out, catching the vampire in the back of the knees. The vampire was felled but it hissed in anger and quickly stood up, leaping at Nippy.

The vampire landed on top of the Monk and they were in a battle of survival. Nippy's hands locked around the wrists of the vampires, attempting to stop the voracious claws from gouging his face, but the vampires hideous jaws snapped at him, attempting to grasp the nectar pulsing in Nippy's jugular.

Nippy rolled onto his back and butted the vampire in the nose, blood erupted from the wound and coursed down the vampires face but it was unfased, it merely smiled and licked the unearthly blood from his face.

Nippy shrank back in horror and stood up, facing his opponent.

This time the vampire was slow to rise and stared at the human, hissing softly.

Nippy quietly uttered a prayer to Torm and began to channel positive energy into his fist. Now was the time to smite this evil...

Dragon Wench shuddered at the sight of the large, fleshy beasts before them. Huge, slobbering creatures....lacking any will other than the desire to consume potential foes for a shadowy master. Wailing shrieks emanated from their enemies, and she felt herself beginning to succumb to confusion. Hastily, she cast Clarity upon herself and her friends, followed closely by Magic Circle Against Alignment. Dragon Wench had often found the latter spell especially effective against evil foes, and she also enjoyed the additional armour protection it granted the caster and any nearby allies. Careful to avoid the snaking tentacles projecting from the Mouthers she motioned with her hands and quietly murmured the incantation to Chain Lightening.

Axis Libra, reluctantly realising that his participation in the battle would help ensure his continued survival, began directing hissing jets of flame at the Mouthers.


Bright sparks and shooting bursts of flame illuminated the cavern, and Dragon Wench saw the faces of her companions....drawn, tense, and determined...each visage reflecting horror and disgust....in part at the evil confronting them all...in part at some private Hell.

Trusting in the wisdom of Thantor and T'lainya, Yshania also cast chaotic commands upon herself. But before she could react further a fleshy tentacle whipped out causing her to yelp as the teeth sunk into her thigh. Now she considered she might have been better following Gwalchmai's lead, iron skins would have been useful here, as a second tentacle snapped out and took hold of her forearm. She knew better than to try and drag herself away, fearing her flesh would tear, yet she felt herself being drawn towards the mouther. She observed the tentacles undulate as they drew her blood then, sickened, her first reaction was to sever the heads from their body. Grabbing a firm hold of the slimy tentacle close to her leg, she drew her blade and in an upward motion sliced the head free. The tentacle snaked back towards the mouther, but the teeth remained locked onto her. How foolish she now felt, watching as her blood pumped from the severed head. A heal spell would be useless here, a vein was opened and her lifeforce was draining from a wound that was not her own. She reached down and gripped tightly to the severed tentacle, trying to stem the blood flow and buy herself a moment of time whilst the second tentacle also continued to draw blood.

Closing her eyes she turned inwards. The sounds of battle around her began to waver as she concentrated on the only close combat source of cauterisation she could think of. Drawing on her love of nature, she appealed to the sun father and her blood began to boil, to run molten hot, her flesh became more fluid as it flickered and wavered angrily. The transformation complete, she let out a roar of anger and pain. The two embedded heads were now crisped by her elemental form, the one previously still attached tendril was retreating painfully to it's owner, flickering and burning...

"Nicely done," thought Thantor as he witnessed Yshania's transformation into her elemental form. As he rapidly assessed the situation, two main concerns presented themselves. The first was obvious -- these beasties had a lot of mouths to feed. The second was more subtle and more critical. Gibbering mouthers were solitary hunters and never willingly came into the physical proximity of another of their kind. This suggested that these creatures had only recently been one large creature who had split apart by asexual fission. It would be a simple matter for them to recombine, resulting in a creature with twice the size, tenacity, and number of attacks. They would be easier to defeat if they were kept separate. He quickly cast Animate Dead, exponentially increasing their number with warriors that were immune to the confusing effects of the gibbering. Directing the clattering assembly of bones into an effective wedge between the two mouthers, Thantor paused for a moment, gathering all of his energy inward. Then he leap forward with a great cry, aiming directly at one of the mouther's vulnerable midsection. Thantor's attack caught the eyes (actually, twenty-two eyes to be exact) of the monster and it shifted quickly to the right. Absorbing the jarring vibration with a grunt as his mace rebounded off the cave wall, he simply flowed with the rebounding action of his mace and in one fluid movement pivoting completely around, catching the mouther high but solidly inside one of its many mouths. An explosion of light bleached the stone walls white as the Harm spell discharged and the mouther shrieked in pain, his life force rapidly ebbing away.

Confused, Mysteria looked at her hands again, had she already looked? And what had she just said? Had she said someting?Bark ...? B ...? She stretched her branches out, unfolding the leaves at their tips, rotating them around while she marvelled about their slenderness, their beautifull green colour. Ah cry shook her out of her thoughts, not far from her, she saw the forest burn, it's tender twigs falling to ashes under the firestorms onslaught.

With a roar, she stormed forwards, flailing at the fire with her twigs, trying to put it out while she ignored the burns she inflicted herself by hitting it. At least, the forest started to pull her in it's reassuring embrace, the twigs merging with her own bark, sending roots into them.

While Mysteria hit fire-giant-Yshania with her bare hands, unaware that the gibbering mouther had sunk its tentacles in her, luckily bark-covered, skin, Fang ran around and around like mad some distance away. It looked like he was desperately trying to catch his own tail, snapping at it but always missing it by an inch as it swung just as much backwards as he hurled himself forward.

LMAO!

Yshania, her true consciousness momentarily clouded by her new form, acknowledged Thantor's attack. Intuitively sensing he was an ally, she took a moment to ground herself...trying to gain some kind of perspective. Auras slowly began to appear around the occupants of the cave and tunnel, green auras and blue auras posed her no threat, and then there were red auras. Two big angry seething red auras. These were bad, she felt this...then she felt something else...a scratching, irritating sensation. Turning, she found a treecreature waving branches at her. Her molten blood bubbled threatening retaliation, but the treewoman's aura was not red...it was a kind of purply colour...then blue...then pinky mauve. Yshania was confused, the treewoman was not bad, but she was trying to hurt her!! Her plea to the treewoman's conscience came out as a roar, like an all consuming forest fire. If she could have cursed she would have, but the resulting onslaught was too time consuming to allow such indulgences. The treewoman's aura turned pinker as she thrashed at Yshania with new fury, her branches crisping un-noticed. Yshania ran, not wanting to hurt this woman, as none of the others had reacted offensively. Her circle took her around the two red bad things, she chanced a swipe here and there, satisfied as the putrid flesh collapsed and burned in places of contact...circling madly, she ran from the treewoman leaving a comet like trail behind her...

Suddenly, Dragon Wench noticed that Axis was no longer hurling jets of flame at the mouthers. Instead he was circling around Yshania and Mysteria, and it became apparent that the familiar was trying to decide which he should attack.

Axis had concluded that fireballs would have little affect on a fire elemental, and thus he directed his attention towards the animated tree. Just as her familiar was about to drench Mysteria in a smoldering globe of flame, Dragon Wench reached the scene....

Hastily she explained that neither party member was to be attacked. While Dragon Wench was thus engaged, Yshania speedily retreated from the marauding tree and hid behind Thantor.....

Axis, at that moment, spied the nasty ranger/cleric who had lunged at him earlier.... "Well, how about that one over there....Pleeaasse...."

Dragon Wench briefly considered the spectacle of her dragon attempting to singe off Thantor's eyebrows, and realising he might not react favourably, she reached out and seized the beast by the wings, instructing him not to move or attack anything until she had given him explicit permission to do so. Axis bristled, and a petulant expression crossed his face......

BS paused at the edge of the scene for a moment, trying to get some sort of handle on the fight that had erupted. Nippy was locked in combat with one vampire, and Aegis seemed momentarily off balance after being released. Spying a vampire coming up on the side of the ranger, BS closed the short distance quickly, launching himself into the body of his enemy, bringing both of them to the ground. He instinctively rolled as he hit the ground, coming to a rest a few feet from impact, and found himself looking up into the eyes of a rather large man who seemed to be annoyed. Seir brought his heavey axe down, and BS barely was able to roll out of the way. Hooking one foot behind the knee of Seir, he kicked out at the ankle with his other, forceing the man to stumble off balance.

As BS came up, the Vampire grabbed him by the shoulder, spinning him around the way he had just come, barely missing Aegis as he slammed against the stone wall of the tunnels. The vampire started to close as BS came away from the wall, striker forcing the undead thing to keep it's distance for the moment. Circleing just beyond the flashing blade, the vampire stalked him, looking for any opening to press an attack.

Aegis seemed to have recovered his balance, and moved up to BS's side.

"well, which one do you want?" BS asked, indicating the vampire and the larger man who was approaching.

The echoes of a battle suddenly sounded up to Aqua-chan, who, was still making her way down the tunnel and lookin gfor traps, although a bit more carefully after her last encounter with the Crusher trap.

But the noise was coming from behind her, rather than ahead. She wasn't all too sure what it was about at first, but then a sudden thought came to mind: the Dark Flames were already begginning to move down the tunnel, and probably were not far behind her.

"Pray to the goddess of cats," she muttered under her breath in disbelief. The last time she saw the Dark Flames, about half of them were sleeping and the rest were stunned fascinated over a small dragon. But it appeared that the novelty had worn off, and now the team was moving forward and pressing on.

The hybrid knew that her time was running short. She had to move it now, and if she didn't, all of her plans would be shattered. She growled to herself for being so stupid by not moving ahead sooner, but there was nothing that could be done about it now.

With a quick turn around, the woman was running back down the tunnel, obviously moving to fast to look for traps. To fast to even care, for that matter. Her heart raced in her chest: if she didn't succeed, then there would be no hope for her if she would be traced by Great Shadow Faldorn and her minions.

What were those things, and why were half her companions running around in circles??

Viv decided hanging back slightly would be the best choice, especially as there were no guinea pigs…er ‘fighter types’ around her. Feeling the warmth of her new rabbit through her pack, she was reminded that there was life to preserve. She hoped those ugly creatures weren’t scaring the poor thing too much.

She instinctively cast ‘True Sight’ and scanned the room again. Yshania, or what might be Yshania at least (all this shape changing was confusing) was hiding behind Thantor because of a stalking tree person.

As fang was near the tree, it might be Mysteria. These people! Weren’t there better times for playing dress up? ( )

She quickly cast ‘invisibility’ on Yshania, hoping that would help the situation a bit. At least she could keep an eye on her fiery friend and the tree couldn’t.

Now time for ‘finger of death’ to meet 'ugly mouth creature'.

Aegis motioned with the tip of his sword towards Seir. He had freed the big man earlier, and felt betrayed by him. BS nodded, and went to engage the vampire. Aegis charged forward, his sword lowered, it's tip piercing the air, speeding towards the bare chest of the human. Seir's lip curled up in a smirk, and hefted his axe, and grabbed hold of it with both hands. The crude orc axe that Seir had picked up now glowed dully with the feint magic of an enchantment, probably a gift from his new master. As Aegis came within striking distance, he kicked his foot forward, slowing himself, and swirling his blade in an elaborate arc across his body, then slashed it out to strike at Seir's chest. Seir flicked his wrist up, bringing the shaft of the axe into the path of Sunfang. The two weapons collided, and large spark of light burst into the cave. Aegis, taken off gaurd by the light, staggered back, jerking his weapon away, and letting one hand go of the hilt to sheild his eye. Seir merely grinned some more, and advanced slowly towards the blinded ranger. Aegis blinked the spots away, and looked back, only to see the fine edge of the once crude wepaon bearing down on him. Instinctivly, the elf leapt to the side, just barely managing to roll out of it's deadly arc. As he came to a stop, he spun himself to confront the warrior again. Whatever the Shadowmaster had done to the weapon, it made Seir an even more formidable foe.

Seir chuckled to himself, and let go to his primal urges. He charged forth, letting a mighty bellow out, his axe raised high. His body seemed to speed up incredably, and his muscles bulged with power. Aegis waited a second before jmping to the side again. Again he felt the blade just barely miss him. The lilth ranger then made a quick sprint forward, circling around to Seir's back. He poised his blade to strike again. He thursted the blade forward, but Seir was just a little quicker. The big man ****ed his body to the side, and Sunfang only grazed the ribcage of the human. The Warrior then spun completly, the flat of his axe spinning at a tremendous speed. Aegis tried to duck out of the way, but the hard metal collided with his face, bruising it badly, and sending him spinning to the ground. Aegis hit the ground with a hard thud, forcing him to gasp for breath. the attack had knocked the wind out of him, and he was struggling to push himself up. He managed to roll himself onto his back, and push his head up. He saw the menacing figure of Seir march towards him, axe ready to strike the small elf.

Aegis grasped Sunfang as tight as he could, forcing himself to breath normally again, forcing his muscles to calm themselves enough to defend himself. Seir stepped over the prone body of the elf, and smiled. He then hoisted his axe up, ready for the killing blow. With a last desperate attempt, Aegis thrusted the blade upwards, and into the thigh of the human. For a moment, Seir grimaced, his face contorting from the joy of battle to the pain rushing through his body, His arms quivered for a moment, and body seemed as if it was going to collapse. The moment lasted only briefly, but it was enough for the ranger. Aegis was up from the ground, his sword aimed directly for Seir's chest. Before Seir could even comprehend what had just happened, Sunfang was forced through the skin and bone of the human, and came out the other side, washing Aegis in the blood of the dying warrior...

Suddenly, the fire vanished under Mysteria's attack. Satisfied, she looked up and down the tree that was standing in front of her now. Somehow, his branches had grown awfully thick bulbs at the end, surely they must hurt. Grabbing one of Thantor's maces, she tried to determine what was wrong with her fellow tree, then suddenly the branch snapped off as Thantor had chosen to let go of his weapon rather than to hang onto it. Shocked, she let the bulbous branch drop to the floor, surely, this tree was in very bad shape, if it's branches were so brittle. Taking hold of the stumb of the branch, she pulled him towards the forest, convinced that once joined with it his terrible disease would be cured. Vaguely, she was also aware of the fact that her own leaves hurt and that hoped that forest would heal them just as it would heal the tiny wounds left be the roots she had been forced to tear away when she followed the raging flames. Dragging hard, she tried to get Thantor moving, but he pulled back just as hard, not wanting for both of them to end up in the embrace of a gibbering mouther.

Meanwhile, Fang had put his paws over both ears and didn't move an at all, even if feet stomped on the ground less than an inch away.

The vampire bared it's fangs and hissed at Nippy. Saliva flared off of the wickedly sharp teeth and spattered on the floor, bubbling. Nippy looked at the vampire and saw the evil being as a silhouette. His hand had begun to glow as positive energy collated in his palm. He breathed deeply and chanelled more energy into his arm. His ki coalecessed into a tangible force and a shimmering encompassed his hand.

The vampire hissed again and suddenly took on an unnatural speed. It ran at Nippy and swiped his claws at Nippy's chest. He rolled with the blow and span around. He turned and threw a punch at the vampire's chest.

A blinding light erupted from Nippy's fist. His hand crashed through the ribcage of the beast and the positive energy rushed outwards driving out the evil, negative energy of the undead.

The vampire released a low, keening moan. It wailed as searing heat burned it's skin and pure pain erupted from every part of it's body. It's veins throbbed and it's eyes bulged as it was consumed from the inside out. A mixture of holy energy and purity from a living being corrupted it's vile and twisted evil heart.

It fell to it's knees and crumbled to a pile of dust, the bright light fading from the cavern and a slight pant from an out of breath Paladin...

BS squared off against the vampire, which continued to work for an opening in his defenses. Twice the thing advanced, only to be driven back by the whirling blade.

Slowly, BS felt a growing sense of famliarity, as if he had been in this situation before. a deep ache began to resound through his body as the feeling took hold, something on the edge of his memory that he couldn't quite grasp. His thoughts swirled as the vampire began to shift into a different form, and BS though he could see a face there. A face he should have recognized.

The moment was intturupted as the vampire, taking advantage of it's opponents momentary loss of concentration, sprang forward to attack. His body reacting to the move before his minf could fully comprehend it, BS shifted slightly forward and to the side, allowing the vampire to pass within inches of where he had been standing. As the vampire came to a stop, BS was already shifting behind the creature, angling Striker to strike at the back of the neck, taking the head clean from the shoulders.

As the headless body dropped, he stood for a moment, his senses returning to him slowly, but the eerie feeling of deja vu lingered as he stared at the bdy. he tried to recall what had been there a moment before, but it was lost to him.

Turning, he made his way to check on Nippy and Aegis, confusion still haunting him.

Nippy and BS met up with each other. Though the tunnel was small, they couldn't see the ranger anywhere. Just as the two were about to go off in search of Aegis, they heard a distinct hissing noise coming from behind. The two cautiously turned their bodies around. Behind them, the drow vampire was crouching, ready to spring. BS raised his blade, ready to strike, and Nippy began to gather Ki energy to make another deadly attack on the night stalker. The creature lunged at the two, but before either it, or the Dark Flames could make an attack, the sharp snap of a bow string shot through the air, followed by a dull thud. the vampire's body jolted in mid air, and hit the ground soon after. As it tried to crawl back to it's feet, three more arrows came whizzing through the air, and embedded themselves into the vampires torso, sending it to the ground again.

From behind the two men, Aegis came walking out of the darkness, his long bow hanging loosly in his hands. He walked up to the two other Dark Flames, and regarded the corpse cooly. The limbs twictched somewhat, and Aegis loosed another arrow into it's skull. The body seemed to spasm tightly, then turn limp.

"Alright." said Aegis quietly. "Let's go back to the others..." The elf seemed more sombre then before, as he turned back to rejoin the Dark Flames. Nippy and Bloodstalker exchanged glances before following him back.

The woman was still having difficulties getting on with her trail. From the wound that Yshania and Vivien helped heal earlier before, Aqua-chan was lacking in blood, and the bleeding cut in her head was not helping. She muttered a few arcane words and a low, blue light emitted from her hand and filled the wound, healing it slightly, but only enough to close it.

She never had a whole lot of healing spells with her. She prefered to use offencive magic in the midst of battle, not afterwards. Earthen and fire magics were her specialty, and rarely did she use her few healing spells when she could just crawl under a few rock formations and rest there.

She looked to her weapon-equipped hand and saw her trusty scimitar gleaming proudly, some stains dulling the light of the reflection. The cave uphead was completely straight-forward. Any Drow or other foes that would attack would have to run a long distance to get to her, and time would be an advanatage. Deciding that she would use the tunnel formation to fit her liking, she sheathed Tiger's Fang and pulled a short bow from her pack. Most Druids wouldn't use such weapons, but because she was part Thief as well, she had mastered the bow at a semi-young age.

Along with the bow, Panther's Leer, she also readied a magically enhanced arrow to the string and rested the tip against the wood of the bow. Finally, she contintued down the rocky corridor and towards the dim light at the end.

But up ahead was a room full of Drow and some Orcs. Though they were not suspecting any trouble, they were still well-equipped and ready for combat. However, because they had not been warned of any threat in the area as of yet, they were resting comfortably and drinking and celebrating the upcoming event: the on-coming Abomination that would soon rise because of thier efforts.

One such Drow cleric had decided that he was going to move from the room, for whatever reason a drunken Drow would. He stumbled about, his comrades pushing him away when he ran into them and scoffing when he walked into inanimate objects. But he finally did make it to the passageway, and slurring out speech that made no sence at all to surfacer or cave-dweller alike, he saw see the crouched tiger-woman aiming her bow down the tunnels...and now at him.

He surprised her just as much as she surprised him, and for a split second, she wasn't sure as to what she should do. Her mind when blank, but it didn't last.

He began to scream out words in the Underdark toung to his colleagues, and something in AC's head finally clicked. Quickly, she drew back the arrow's tail against the string and released it, almost forgetting to aim. It was only by pure luck did she actually hit the Cleric, and in the neck for that matter.

His scream turned to a gargle from deep in his throat, and blood surged up his trachea and into his mouth, flooding until the point where it was pouring from his lips while he suffered his last moments.

But the other Drow had been warned, and each stood from thier places at thier tables, bottles of wine and ale crashing to the floor. They sprung into the hallway, one by one, ready to go into battle.

"Damn it to the Abyss," Aqua-chan hissed to herself. This was not becomming a good day.

T’lainya smiled. Even confused and miss-directed, two mere Gibbering Mouthers would never be a match for her powerful friends. Knowing that the battle would soon be over, T’lainya thought to use this distraction to conduct a little surreptitious reconnaissance. As she moved past the throne toward one of the passages on either side of it, she happened to glance up at the large symbol of Moander on the wall. As she watched, the light from one of her companion’s spells flickered across the wall, casting odd shadows across the painted hand-and-fanged-maw symbol. The light and shadows played across a hidden bas-relief concealed under the paint. The shadows formed a great eight-legged spider, but with the dark head of a beautiful elven woman. As quickly as the light revealed the hidden image, it was gone. But Lolth’s emblem had been clear. T’lainya shuddered. Lolth is anathema to everything that Corellon Larethian stands for, and a hated enemy of surface elves and half-elves alike. She pulled her blue cloak closer, fingered her crescent moon amulet for comfort, and swiftly moved into the passage.

The passage sloped downward slightly, and quickly became dark. She allowed her vision to see into the spectrum of the unseen light. The passage was not long, but the temperature was significantly higher by the time she came to the exit. The cavern before her was vast, and as her eyes adjusted she could make out other passages rimming the walls. She was assailed by a great squelching noise that seemed to be made up of the subliminal screaming of a thousand tortured souls. The center of the cavern was dominated by a huge heap of matter that radiated festering warmth in her eyes. She knew that she stood before the Abomination, and she shrunk back against the wall trying to choke down the fear that rose in her throat.

The Abomination writhed with dozens of tentacled arms, moving, seeking, with an urgency that spoke of its hunger. Each tentacle ended in a mouth that seemed to be whispering something indistinct. T’lainya craned her neck to try and listen, but couldn’t make out the word. Suddenly, a voice sounded clearly, coming from a figure standing near the great hulk of the Abomination. This figure seemed small by comparison, and radiated almost no heat. He wore a breastplate of green metal, with a tattered gray cloak covering. He spoke with a hissing, cracked voice.

“Yes! Remember who you are!” the man croaked, gesturing wildly, “You are the Darkbringer! You killed Tyche and rotted her soul! Your passage scars the earth for centuries! You are the Rotting God! The Dread Lord! You are Moander!”

As if in answer to the man’s ranting, the whispering mouths of the Abomination began chanting a single word, over and over again. “Moander Moander Moander Moander Moander Moander Moander Moander Moander Moander.” The cacophony seemed to please the man, who sighed, “Yes, I can feel you again, my former master. You are drawn back to this plane, Existence has always been your temptation. Soon, I shall have that spark again….”

“Stupid Cleric.” Another voice called out from a side entrance off to the right. “You should have been dead a long time ago!” A tall human woman had suddenly appeared and stood defiantly. T’lainya didn’t recognize her, but her clipped tones seemed somehow familiar.

“You are the stupid one, my Dear. My power grows as Moander’s essence fills His Abomination! We fought to a stand-still before, but now I shall destroy you!”

“Perhaps I held back before, ‘Shadow Master’!” With that exclamation, Der-Draigon loosed a beam of pure ruby energy at the Cleric. The beam came from a jewel she wore at her breast, and struck her opponent full in the chest. He staggered back and nearly fell, but redoubled his efforts and took a step toward her as the energy beam continued its onslaught. As T’lainya watched the red beam wavered a moment, then began turning a dark green color. The Shadow Master concentrated, and the green color crept back up the line of energy, until it struck Der-Draigon, who was thrown back in an explosion of reeking green light. “How is this possible?” she stammered in pain.

“This place!” the Shadow Master boasted proudly, “I have linked this cavern to my own power, and constructed the Abomination to draw the essence of Moander back from the Astral Plane! Thusly, I restore a god whilst garnering some of his power for my own!”

“I suspect your minions have other ideas about which deity you are attracting,” Der-Draigon whispered; as her perceptions were expanded by the jewel she wore.

“Yes,” he said, “I was sure that they were true converts, but I will deal with them shortly. Drow meat makes excellent fodder for a growing Abomination!” His laughter came out in wheezing huffs.

“I think you may have other problems,” Der-Draigon said, looking directly at T’lainya, who gasped and shrunk back into the shadows. But before the Shadow Master could turn, a rumble above his head distracted him. He looked up in time to dodge a fragment of the falling ceiling. Der-Draigon laughed. “What happens to your power if the Abomination leaves your cavern?”

“No!” he cried then he turned on Der-Draigon savagely, “I’ve had enough of your distractions!” In his hand was a small object that suddenly split open upon his word. A black, viscous ball encompassed his hand. With a gesture, a tar-like vine shot out and enveloped the woman completely in the black, flowing material. The Shadow Master didn’t even wait to watch before running back to the Abomination. Der-Draigon struggled against the black tar, appearing like a silhouette of a woman. But, ultimately, the blackness constricted and collapsed, shrinking down to the size of the small object the Shadow Master had originally held.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Master pleaded with the Abomination, begging it to stave off its hunger just a little while longer. “Please! Many powerful Drow priestesses await just a room away! They will surely satiate you!” With that, the man stormed off toward another passage off to the left side.

All quiet again except for the whisperings of the Abomination and its scratching and clawing at the ceiling of the cavern, T’lainya crept around the edge of the cavern to the right. Keeping out of reach of the flailing tentacles, she came upon a crystalline walnut lying in the place where the strange woman had just struggled. T’lainya examined the small object, and thought she could see a flicker of ruby light within. She pocketed the nut, and ran back to join her friends.

The Abomination was at its weakest, and they must attack now. May Corellon Larethian guide them.