[Forum Game] Werewolf XVI: The Shadows of the Underdark

[Ketchum]

Wounding system by Fury? I like that

[D'Espana]

First rule changes made, pending the wounding system. I'll take care of it once I return home.

[D'Espana]

Preliminary Events

A new day begins in Menzoberranzan. Narbondel, the pillar that marks the passing of time in the drow city, has just received its daily spell, and its renewed heat shines remarkably in the infravision used by most drows in their daily lives. The first signs of widespread activity appear little by little, and drows and slaves alike start travelling the passages of the concurred city. But today is not a normal day. Today, and after ten years of reclusion, a drow raid will start its journey towards the Upper World, unleashing the rage of this fearsome race in their most hated enemies: the Wood Elves.

Very soon, the main street is crowded with drows of all social levels, gathered to witness a not so frequent and most joyous occasion: the departure of the chosen ones. During the past ten years, a particular group of rangers, sorcerers and paladins have been recognized as the most effective and dreadful patrol of Menzoberranzan, thus earning the unmatched honor of fulfilling directly the vengeance wishes of Lolth on the Wood Elves.

After a few minutes, the group finally appears. Leaded by a Drow High Priestess, the best fighters of their kind receive all sorts of blessings and congratulations from the witnessing public, making their way towards the gates of the city under a torrent of noise and twisted happiness quite difficult to watch in the usually silent Underdark.

But soon enough, the clamor declines and everything returns to its regular course. After crossing the gates, the silence becomes the reigning sound for the raid party, and the many dangers of the Underdark make them to raise their alert to a considerable paranoia level. Tuned for decades, their senses and experience take the reins of the warriors, and they follow the Drow High Priestess through the retorted maze that their underground kingdom is. Though all the other creatures know better than to attack a drow raiding party, and nothing disturbs the group for the first weeks of travel… until the Drow High Priestess barks the order to stop.

Fearing an imminent threat, they all take positions around her, preparing for the deadly attack of an enemy powerful enough to take a chance against a fully equipped drow group. An ambush from one of the other drow cities? A herd of one of the many hostile creatures populating the Underdark? Something worse, like an Aboleth or perhaps even a Dragon?

The disdaining laugh of the Drow High Priestess soon makes them all to relax, watching as she motions towards the entrance of a nearby tunnel. Crossing the last few meters of it, soon an immense cavern opens in front of the surprised eyes of the drows, who are barely able to hear the words of the Drow High Priestess.

- Welcome to the second phase of our journey for the glory of our most holy Goddess. Welcome… to Araumycos.

[D'Espana]

(OOC: Yeah I know, I'm a lousy bastard that has delayed this for weeks, but heh, life's life. The preliminary events will give you proof that I'm serious now and time to prepare and notice that this is running again. For those interested, info on Araumycos here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underdark#Araumycos. I look forward to continue the game with you guys!)

[Stabbity]

By Lolth, I hope we run into a bunch of random adventurers so we can !@#$ their day up and steal all of their hard earned equipment.

[D'Espana]

Night 0

The raiding group stares in awe at the titanic size of the cavern opened in front of their eyes. The ceiling is high enough to be invisible to their infravision, and soon enough an excited voice breaches the silence.

- I can see in the standard light spectrum! Come on, try it!

A rumor of several different conversations fills the air while some follow the advice and some others disregard it, though in the end they all are forced to admit that the natural spectacle is magnificent. Once again, the laughter of disdain from the Drow High Priestess makes all the eyes to converge in her.

- Of course you can see in the standard light spectrum. This is Araumycos, fool male! In this place lives the biggest entity of the Underdark: a fungus. It spreads for miles and miles, filling this cavern and many others passages and tunnels all over the place. And when there are no more corridors to occupy, it simply breaks through the rock. Isn’t it magnificent? Many parts of it produce light naturally, that is why infravision is not needed here. Still, you would do well in not shifting your vision, as there are many creatures inhabiting this cave that can hide very well in this permanently changing environment.

She smiles teasingly to the group of males, running her hand over her remarkable curves and moving her priestly robes so that her chest and legs stand out even from the outstanding scenery that surrounds them. Her obsidian skin gleams from the sweat of the journey, and when she shakes her white hair and starts walking towards a pond many find it hard to take off their eyes from her sinuous movements. Then, she turns her head to look back, catching several while they lower their heads in shame and fear of a possible reprisal. Though in her red, lustful eyes it is clear that reprisal is not exactly what she has in her mind…

- We have gone far enough for today. I am tired, and I would find very welcome some rest and… a little massage.

She smirks, conscious of the devastating effect of her words in a group of healthy males deprived of all luxuries for several weeks. She then points to two of them, making them an inviting gesture.

- You two, come with me. You will escort me while I take a bath and later on will give me a massage in my tired legs. The rest of you, patrol the area and make sure everything is in order. Tomorrow we will continue our way. Shall we go?

The two males join her at once, following her to the pond while the rest take positions and scan the surroundings. Once the area is confirmed secure, some lay down to rest while others scatter around to watch. Some faraway screams and moans confirm them what is going on in the pond, but not one of them moves a muscle towards it. Female drows have the final words in all matters, no matter what, and even more so in the case of a High Priestess.

Still, that did not make any easy the task of withstanding them. They were all beautiful and perfectly toned and shaped, for sure, but their wicked minds were way more corrupted than the male ones. Right now, she was no doubt pleasing herself using the bodies of the two fortunate/unfortunate males and half torturing them, as pain and pleasure usually go together in the drow vocabulary.

After some hours, Vierna D’Espana and her two companions return to the improvised camp, where the two chosen ones fall to the floor in ecstasy and become asleep just right where they touched the ground. She goes also straight for her bedding, leaving just a remark to the awoken males before sliding her body inside.

- We are close. In less than two weeks, we will reach our target and fulfill the wishes of Lolth. Behave yourselves, and I will see that each of you receive your reward. Fail me, and I will see that you are tortured everyday for the rest of your lives. Lolth does not accept weakness, and the same goes for me. Rest now, for soon we will depart.

Little by little, the rest of the group obey her command and enter the meditation state in which the drows rest their minds and bodies from the daily events. Only a couple remain awake, looking over the sleepers to safeguard them. The thing is that the safety of their peers is not exactly their main concern. Once they are sure that everyone else is in trance, a shadow recites a litany, conjuring a magic darkness with narcotic effects to prevent anyone from waking up on a whim. Another shadow nods, and a metallic sparkle shines in its hand as it approaches the figure of Vierna D’Espana.

Several hours later, the group awakes and prepares their equipment for the march. Jokes, generally xenophobic and violent, accompany their breakfast, such as Stabbity’s.

- By Lolth, I hope we run into a bunch of random adventurers so we can !@#$ their day up and steal all of their hard earned equipment.

A chorus of nods and chuckles receives his words, with the obvious teasing to the two that Vierna had taken with her yesterday for a bath. It is only when the name of the High Priestess is mentioned that they notice that she is not there.

- Hey now, I know that she’s the leader and all that, but shouldn’t she be here by now? She said we were leaving early.

- Yeah, it’s quite strange. Perhaps she’s taking another bath?

More laughter welcomes the cheap prank, though when after yet another two hours she is nowhere to be seen a real worry becomes the reigning feeling in the camp.

- For Lolth’s sake, we can’t go on or return without her. If we go back to Menzoberranzan and she’s not with us they’ll take that we’ve killed her… and I don’t like even to think about what they’d do to us.

- You have it right. She’s a High Priestess from the tenth House, a noblewoman in every sense of the word. They’d throw us in a dungeon and torture us for eternity. We should look for her.

- Are you dumb? What if she’s really just having a bath and we appear out of the blue?

- Then she’ll punish us, but she'll be by far more lenient to accept our apologies than the Council in Menzoberranzan if something has happened to her. It’s our better chance.

- He’s right. I say we do it.

- So do I.

- And me too!

The eight members of the raiding party approach the pond, totally aware that should Vierna be there alive they would receive the hell of a punishment. However, they were used to the priestly whips already, and the alternative was just assuming they’d lost her somewhere in the Underdark. Not a real option, so to speak.

Finally breaking through the last few meters of fungal growth, they reach their destination… and what they see makes them to shiver in anticipation for the terrible reprisal they would receive when they returned to the city to report it.

Vierna was hanging from a giant mushroom, her nude body pending over the pond by a white rope tied in her neck. However, that was not the most disturbing sight: her arms and legs had been longitudinally cut in half, thus resembling that she had four arms and four legs. With a gasp, they all simultaneously understood what it meant.

A Spider. The High Priestess of Lolth, pending from her white silk in total resemblance to a spider. A delicious irony that was also an outright heresy, something that no drow in his right mind would have ever thought about. Watching in horror the red pond stained with blood over where the nude Vierna hung, they agreed that someone must had brought her to the pond and tied her to the mushroom, cutting her limbs and then letting her go to die of both drowning and blood loss. They could simply not return to Menzoberranzan like that, but neither could they stay away forever. No one could live on his own in the Underdark for long.

After a long and heated discussion, they reached an agreement. They would try to uncover the bastard that had committed this most heinous crime and present his dead body to the Ruling Council of Matriarchs, in the hope that would lessen their punishment and turn the anger of the Council in gratefulness for avenging her death. It was, after all, their only chance of being spared.

The eight drows recovered Vierna’s corpse and took it to the camp, where they wrapped it with her bedding to hide the impious sight. Several spells were casted on it to avoid putrefaction or any creature to touch the package, and then sat down on the floor, eyeing each other in open distrust. Perhaps it was related to yesterday’s scene, and the two drows that were with her had taken their revenge for something? Or was there something that they were unaware of, something more sinister that they had not yet discovered?

Lost in their thoughts, no one could see the brief smile shared between two male drows, nor the accomplice glance between another couple, let alone the amused face of a lone companion. They needed answers, and they needed them now.

Vierna D’Espana (NPC) the leading Drow High Priestess has died in her forced transformation to a spider.

You may now send your orders to the GM, as well as start voting to eradicate the rogue elements from within the raiding party. You can return to Menzoberranzan, but only if you carry the heads of the heretics with yourselves. The time is also against you, as it is likely that they will strike again and again until the whole group has been destroyed. What happens onwards, depends on your actions…

[D'Espana]

Change in deadline: from now on, it ends at 12 am (00:00), BM time. I think it's a better idea because there's no way in hell I can do the update at BM Sunset Time. With this change, you have more time to send stuff (a real 24 hour period), though it may be a little confusing. Remember, all good until 23:59:59 of BM time. Thus, next update will happen in Tuesday 28th, at 00:00 (in BM time)

[Fury]

By Lolth! Who was on guard last night?
A dereliction of drow duty!

[Ketchum]

Off we go on the journey. Ew, there goes our High Priestess. Now who will guide us? 

By Lolth will, we will find and discover who done such thing to her.

[Stabbity]

Don't look at me, I was in no condition to guard after the High Priestess was finished with me.

[Sonya]

OCC:

Ohh wait i entirely forgot about all this, will spent a whole day re-reading everything.


...This game took two months to start....sighs

[D'Espana]

Ah, the sweet smell of not abiding by your own laws. Report (and answer to orders) will come when GM wakes up from a very long night, and next report will be delayed as well (RL issues) Hopefully from Wednesday onwards I'll be able to stick to the deadline. Once more, my apologies.

OCC:

Ohh wait i entirely forgot about all this, will spent a whole day re-reading everything.


...This game took two months to start....sighs

You have every right to blame me for it

[Cren]

Oh hell no, the High Priestess is dead! I liked how she did things to me last night and now all thats history. Lets find out who did this to her and bring their heads to the council.

[D'Espana]

Day/Night 1

NO LYNCH VOTES

The impious assassination of Vierna D’Espana was received with anger and horror from most of the members of the raiding group. Soon enough, Fury and Ketchum started trying to learn who was in charge of the last watch, though it seemed as if no one wanted to accept having played that responsibility and failure in the death of the High Priestess.

Stabbity and Cren, for their part, denied all implication they could have had, supporting it with the evidence that they were too exhausted after sharing some quality time with Vierna for hours to do anything at all. No doubt that would earn them the envy and resentment of their drow companions, who have not had the chance to relieve themselves for several weeks, but at least it was a solid excuse… or was it?

Aside from some discussions and future planning, as well as a lot of hypothesizing, the sunless day and moonless night of the Underdark went on lazily, almost too peacefully to be true. Turns continued to be made to watch over the camp, but a growing sense of paranoia was growing within the raiding group. Who was the assassin? And who would be the next to die?

Strangely enough, no more attacks were attempted or reported. Whoever the assassin was, patience seemed to be amongst his qualities. Or perhaps…

[Fury]

Job accomplished.
No point hiding it now.
Work with me, Drows.
(hint hint)