Ch. 2, pt. 1: Blackcloak

PT 1: BINNE

 I was wrong. It was all very bad.

 It started off quite nice - we encountered a drow patrol that had just finished off a group of frenzied harpies and they were looking a little worse for wear. Easy pickings for us. Fighting had never felt so natural with another before, so fluid. It felt easy, and right. Solaufein explained that they were likely all that was left of an encampment of drow and had anticipated less resistance than they found in Undermountain. He had stripped the adamantine chain off of one of their dead and donned it and was looking very much like one of the dapper locals. He instructed Deekin spell himself and I under an invisibility spell, which was mortifying when Deekin brought out his cymbals in his pack and clanged them together loudly to complete the spell. Bards, ugh. 

 Then, Solaufein had donned the piwafwi, pulled his silken hood up over his head and ears, and walked off toward the patrol with nary a word. I wasn't even sure what the signal of his was for attack, but kept my energy coiled tightly in my gut for a quick entropic burst, just in case. My ears picked up on the whispered conversation from the next room as Deekin and I hid in the corridor. I was afraid to speak and ask him if he could make out what was being said, since I didn't want to be the one to burst Solaufein's cover.

 Then, I heard the distinct sound of a few swords being drawn, and thought, 'fuck it.' I poked my head around the doorway and saw Solaufein standing there looking like he owned the ground he walked upon facing two drow males in blackened leather armor. They were all sneering at each other, the three of them. The two men had drawn their swords but were not pointing them at our dear leader. They all spoke in low voices, but even if I had heard them I was sure that I would not understand a lick of it. If only I'd thought to acquire a translation amulet at some point in my life. O'course, the ogres would've simply stolen it.

 I tried to get a better look but made a slight scuffle. It was no louder than a rat and I thought I drew no attention, but I felt Deekin poke me in the side. Somehow his poke felt reproachful. I winced and continued watching, waiting, fuming at the inaction I was suffering. Neither male looked toward me and the scene hadn't changed, but I admitted Solaufein had a point about me not knowing a lick about stealthy-ness. Clearly, that was more his forte.

 Quite suddenly behind Solaufein, a wizard popped into visibility - I only pegged him as a wizard by the robe and staff alone, which even amongst drow seemed stereotypical. I wasn't sure what Solaufein's signal was, but I wasn't about to stand and watch while he got ambushed to death. "Behind you!" I shouted and unleashed the coiled spring in my gut up through my chest and out of my palm, sending a beam of entropic light right at the wizard's unguarded back.

 Fuck the plan. It was a bad plan. The entropic energy lashed out like a whip and sprang around the wizard's throat like an angry python before he could activate a contingency. The mage screamed for a moment before he was choked and being dragged back toward my position by the energy recoiling back into my hand. I reached out a dagger and ended his life before even thinking about what I'd just done - and behind me, the corridor exploded into action.

 Deekin started clanging his cymbals together back in the hall we were spying in, scratching out something in his voice that I couldn't understand. Solaufein had drawn his sword with his left hand and threw the dirk from his hip right into the chest of the drow male on his right, just in time for Solaufein to block a blow and backpedal as the enemy on the left swung his sword hard with an enraged battle-cry. I couldn't be sure that the one he'd shot his weapon at was really dead and threw the first spell that came into my head at the fallen one - a fiery blast of angry hellfire that knocked him down, hopefully for good. I trusted Solaufein to handle the other - and sure enough, after a few seconds, my drow managed to cut the warrior down and proved himself the superior swordsman.

 I caught up to Solaufein and he turned to look at me just as the entire room of drow became aware of us. Two of them had walked to the edge of their camp to speak with Solaufein, and now a whole seven other out of the ten-person hunting party were aiming crossbows and chanting spells at us. "Get the diviner," he told me just as a globe of impenetrable darkness fell over my head. 

 I hadn't been in such bracing battle in a long time. It was briefly thrilling. I had a spell that would have assuredly helped Solaufein, but he was out of reach and thus on his own. I ran for cover from the volley of crossbow bolts out of the darkness so I could see and aimed a spell of fear at the distant archers, hoping it would at least keep a few distracted. It affected at least two of them who went to run in panic while the other one just seemed confused and annoyed and aimed a bolt at my head. I ducked in time and looked for the 'diviner,' probably the cleric of the group. I spotted her just as she entered invisibility, one of three females in the group, the other two who were a swordswoman and a wizard focusing on Solaufein.

 The spell I'd saved for Solaufein I used on myself, gaining the aspects of a spider with the ability to walk upon walls. It'd taken me an exhausting eight months at Blackstaff's school of studying spiders in their webs in dusty alcoves and examining their little toes with a scope before I could figure out how to shape my energy into the right form for the spell. My patience paid off. They definitely weren't expecting when I ran to the wall for me to run UP it and on the ceiling. I shot forward along the stone ceiling and jumped down in front of the place I knew the cleric was and used my nose to locate her as best as I could. I aimed for where I thought her face would be with a wide blow and found my hand connecting with plate armor. It hurt, but I had her. Feeling myself growl, I reached my hands forth and summed that innate fire I'd felt I lost not long ago, that churned and stirred in my blood. She was an invisible not fireproof and became engulfed in my flames. After that it was a simple matter of knocking her down and finding the next enemy.

 But, the next one found me. A warrior had been guarding her that I'd kind of forgotten about, and in my haze of idiocy he reached forth and stabbed at me. His blow glanced my chainmail but left a bruise I'd surely feel later, and I stumbled back. He advanced on me just as the cleric managed to put herself out by rolling, but she was still panicked and a mess. I yet had time. I jumped back on the wall and used it to leap around him - but rather than attack from behind like he was expecting, I ran toward the priestess and slit her throat before she could push me off of her in one swift cut. One-on-one I was no match for him - I knew that, and besides, she was the greater threat. In response he snarled something decidedly nasty-sounding at my retreating form.

 I ran for the other wall, clutching my stomach, and crawled up to the ceiling again for safety. One of the archers had recovered from the fear spell and was trying to hit me, only to be suddenly bowled over by a large bear that I assumed came from Deekin. That, or Halaster had a better sense of humor than I thought. The bear sat on the drow, completely rendering it immobile and swatted at anyone that tried to push him off with a swipe of his paw. Crossbow bolts probably tipped with all manner of horrible poisons were stopped by his thick hide, and he swatted them away from his furry body like little gnats.

 From my place on the ceiling, I shot out a few more eldritch blasts, glancing off of armor or sometimes causing them to stumble or fall down. Most of them appeared to have enchanted armor and some innate magic resistance, but I distracted them enough or caused enough damage that it was fairly easily for Solaufein to pick them off. Deekin's bear and I kept the archers occupied, and finally ran back down the ceiling and walls when the last one had snapped out of his terror to reorient himself. I saw him aiming a blow at Solaufein's unprotected back just as he stabbed one of the wizards right through, and he never saw me coming. I had just my dagger and a kukri we'd found strapped to my lower back, and drew both - one to back-stab, and one for the throat. He fell with a gurgle, dead at my feet in a growing warm pool. I stepped out of it, conscious of my borrowed and not exactly stain-proof boots.

 The battle had been over much faster than I anticipated. The drow had likely not expected or been prepared for much resistance. They'd been battling ogres and harpies and who knew what for months, probably while I'd been held captive. Despite that, we had fairly short work of them which was a feat for three individuals. The bear kept the last one who was alive immobilized and muffled. I patted it on the shoulder while Deekin clanged his way back into visibility. He was uninjured, Solaufein was winded and appeared to have been nicked by one of the bolts but did not look much worse for wear.

 I was about to congratulate him when he fell on his knees, wincing. I ran forward, feeling worried. "What is it?"

 "It is poison," he huffed. "Deekin!"

 "On it, Boss!" The kobold chirped and ransacked his bag of holding. He came out victoriously with a potion bottle, which the drow snatched from his hands. After Solaufein drank it, he breathed in and accepted my offered hand to assist in standing up. 

 "Their crossbows are always poisoned," he informed me. "Were you struck?"

 I didn't think I was. "I don't feel funny. Probably not, or I'd feel funny. The bear is sitting on a live one," I gestured over to the giant brown bear on top of a wheezing drow, who could probably only breathe due to his armor plating. 

 Solaufein harrumphed. "I suppose we will have to interrogate him as you suggested. Thank you," he said suddenly, stopping me short. "I had heard the wizard behind me but would not have had time to react. I may have needed Deekin's rod if you had not reacted so quickly."

 I beamed. "My timing's alright. I'm not so good with stealthy, though."

 He nodded and stepped forward toward the bear. Then, he paused and turned back to me. "Were you walking on the walls?" He asked with an amused expression.

 "I was going to cast it on you, but you ran off too quickly," I admitted with a grin. "Pretty fun, yeah?"

 "Interesting," he mused and moved to the downed drow archer.

 The drow would have refused to speak with any of us, but clearly held no love for Solaufein. I watched the interrogation eagerly all the same since I'd never seen Solaufein next to another drow. There was really no comparison, though. Solaufein was taller than the other man, better looking, and a little harder in the eyes. I doubted they'd been eating very well, living in Undermountain as they had been. It seemed clear from their appearance, up-close, that they'd been trapped here as much as I was. The archer's eyes were full of spite and he stank of fear; I doubted anything he told Solaufein would be the complete truth, but it was all probably as much as he expected. 

 After a heated interaction, the only word I could distinctly hear was 'dough-bluff' and the bear was banished as Solaufein cut down at our prisoner with his sword in a two-handed stroke that cleanly beheaded the enemy. The gesture startled me a bit because it was so sudden; also because I hadn't been sure of what to do with our prisoner now that we held him at our mercy. It seemed the most efficient route; Solaufein performed the kill expertly and expressionlessly. 

 "They serve a powerful female calling herself 'Valsharess,'" he reported in an even voice as he flicked and cleaned the blood off of his blade with our former prisoner's cloak. "She has done this because the Spider Queen has gone missing."

 That was hard to believe. "Ha! First Halaster now Lolth?" I scoffed. "Is whatever kidnapped Waukeen holding them all?"

 Solaufein shrugged and stood up to sheath his weapon. His expression was cold, and serious. "No female could espouse herself as quar'valsharess with she-whom-I-will-not-name missing. Valsharess means 'queen' and 'goddess' in my language. It is a title reserved for Her exclusively, and she is a . . . very jealous deity, to put it mildly. This female has dismantled their houses, their cities, and united them under a common banner to invade the surface and take over the city of Waterdeep. They have been trying to do this through Undermountain and are somehow holding Halaster hostage so that they might do so unmolested. It appears to have backfired, as many of them are now trapped in Undermountain and cannot return."

 I processed this. Somehow a drow priestess, or woman or mage of some kind (I was supposing she was a very clever mage) had kidnapped the Blackcloak. And Lolth was missing. A funny chill started at the base of my spine and spread up to my head. It made my tail twitch in anticipation. "Well, then it wasn't a waste. Surely this Valsharoon lady could not have done this alone," I wondered. 

 The drow squinted at me. "Velsharoon is the patron of necromancy, Binne," he gently corrected.

 I pretended I hadn't heard him because I hadn't known that. "Halaster is no mere wizard. He writes his own spells, he's thousands of years old, and madder than a hatter. I doubt any drow priestess of any strength could capture him, even if she was the god of necromancy."

 "I know little of Halaster," the drow admitted, "but I know my people's politics, and considering how massive an alliance this one styling herself as the new Valsharess seems to have, it would have taken a considerable amount of betrayal and planning. He said she overthrew the Great Houses of Menzoberranzan and he did not lie, which is a feat I would have thought impossible. Trust me, politics is one of my specialties."

 I smiled. "I thought your specialty was swords."

 "I have many specialties," he said wryly and returned my smile, but then it fell as his expression became thoughtful. "He confirmed that Halaster is being held on one of the lowest levels of Undermountain which does lead to the Underdark. Excursions have been unable to return there to resupply as Halaster was able to separate their group from their main forces. Either they were abandoned to their fate, or none could open the door from the other side. Now creatures have been fleeing Undermountain as a result, up toward the surface and wreaking havoc." His lips down-turned. "They all expected to die but did not expect us."

 Deekin chimed in, "well, they not be very smart then. We be heroes!"

 "Right you are, master bard," I agreed. "Now, let us loot their corpses for valuables!"

 "You have to share any shinies you find," Deekin warned. "We be splitting loot three ways."

 "I care not about the loot," Solaufein objected. After a pause, he added, "but if you see any swords, let me know. The weight of mine is . . . All wrong."

 I wasn't privy to the problems of swording, having always preferred big things with which to hit. I'd grown up around axes, scythes, and whips used to tend to the wood, hay, and horses, but in the war I'd stuck with a poleaxe and a scythe. I was a little out of my element down there, but I'd never felt more in tune with my innate power in my life. I picked up an adamantine chain tunic from one of the males, who were the only ones even close to my height. It was tight, but it was better than my current armor, and felt a little lighter. The diviner's cloak had been valuable before I set it aflame, but the wizard held some goodies that Deekin carefully split. I kept one of their staves as my share and strapped it to my back as a last-resort measure (it was loaded with a few contingency spells Deekin had been able to identify, and it looked shiny), and a dagger with poison enchanted into it, and felt a little better about my odds in the next battle. Solaufein, per his declaration, did not care and let Deekin hold onto his share. He kept his current gear, though we did find a pair of boots with a permanent haste spell upon them that I suggested he keep. His eyes gleamed when he took them, and while anyone would have liked them, it was the only thing he wanted.

 I'd completely blown the plan up, but it had worked out alright in the end. Solaufein didn't lecture me at all about it, which was nice of him - he struck me as a pragmatic fellow. We'd gotten the information, and that was all that mattered. For a while it was a question of whether or not we'd head back up and get a message to Durnan, but Solaufein decided against it and determined that he wasn't going to return until Halaster was freed. I was dearly hoping the bastard was dead, personally. Good riddance to bad rubbish, as my mother says.

 The south part of the dungeon was fairly clear, except for the sleeping blue dragon. That part had been a bit of a cinch in the plan, but thankfully its snores were so loud that it didn't hear any of us creeping by. Deekin had wanted to loot it but couldn't convince Solaufein to go and check the chamber out for any gear; he was deadly, not suicidal. Then, the kobold took it upon himself to investigate and came back with a rather nice looking set of blue armor that none of us had any use for, other than to sell. We all shrugged and went back about our business. 

 Unofficially, I had been in charge of directions. The problem was that I was struggling to remember exactly where I'd started the portal-jumping. We had to return to the entrance to the well-room before I could orient myself and lead us toward the right one. 

 I hoped I sounded authoritative in a way I didn't feel. "Ahem. There's a specific order to these that we have to go in, and some of them will be easy and some of them will be dangerous. Some of them might also be very random. I can't predict what we're going to see or run into since these sometimes fire us off into random places, but from what I could figure out—"

 "Just do it already," Solaufein demanded, and I shut up.

 We ran through the first portal and it was a little disorienting. The yellow light flashed until it faded, depositing us down a blank hallway that I didn't recognize. The others seemed unaffected by wear, so I looked around for the next portal which was down a fair ways. Instincts alerted me to the presence of danger just as Deekin shouted about a trap, and I jumped back in time to avoid getting a dart to my sides and neck. We waited for the volley to stop before running ahead and jumping through the next one.

 This one led us to a chamber situated between two hot pools of magma that nearly choked the air. I felt a little bit toasty, but I worried about the others who seemed a little worse for wear. I hurried us to the end of the chamber and stepped into the next yellow spinning light, this one situated right into the wall rather than the ground.

 The next one I actually recognized, having stumbled into it before by accident when we were running from some harpies - that is, the party I'd been adventuring with before. So long I'd been down there that I'd forgotten their faces and names. One of them had died of poison in this room from a trap. "Hang on," I said to my new companions and looked about - and sure enough, there was the body of a halfling in plate armor. "Huh. Guess nothing must come down here." I bent down and he still seemed intact - so I stripped him of his potion belt, since I was sure he wouldn't mind. "I came down here with this fella. Can't remember him for the life of me. Might be some loot about, maybe we should pause a bit?"

 Solaufein looked queasy. "Very well," he assented, and leaned on a wall.

 I was concerned. "You all right? You seem a little ruffly."

 His brows pinched. "I do not know that word."

 "Worse for wear, I mean," I clarified. He had started to teach me the odd drow word in exchange for my teaching him insults and colloquialisms.

 He took a deep, calming breath. "Ah. No. I hate portals."

 "They not be Boss' stomach's favorite!" Deekin called over, apparently having overheard. "Hey, guys! Deekin finds something. Come look!"

 We meandered over in the dim light toward the sound of Deekin's voice. The light got brighter as we noticed a few lit torches, illuminating a larger chamber lined with thrones. Large and ornate, made of stone and ivory and mithral - there seemed to be about nine of them in total. Upon each throne was a skeleton, seated - some with weapons in their hands, some with crowns. It was all very odd and seemed perfectly within Halaster's idiom.

 "This be the hall of Sleeping Kings," Deekin informed us in a hushed voice. "Deekin not sure if they be sleeping or dead, but probably both. Why Halaster keep a bunch of dead, sleepy kings in his death-dungeon? Oh, wait, Deekin answered his own question."

 "Who knows why he does anything he does," I muttered, eying the skeletons. "Let's not wake them up."

 I expected our drow leader to chime in at some point, but his corner was silent. I turned to look where I last saw him, only to double-take when I noticed his shadowed form approaching one of the thrones of the king's. Wary, I followed while Deekin started looking at a staff clutched by one of the skeletons up close. 

 Solaufein was staring at a particular skeleton, seated, and resting forever in his throne/prison. Clutched in its hand and resting across its thigh bones was an ornate black longsword made of some kind of glass or stone, I couldn't tell - it was no recognizable metal to my eyes. "This is a tomb," the drow commented as he heard my approach by his shoulder. 

 "Right, well, the portal's just outside the door here, if I re—"

 "You there!" A foreign voice suddenly barked, snapping the tense air. "Mortal! Person! Thing! With the moving fleshy parts! Yes, I'm talking to you, sir in the shiny armor with the - er - couple of slaves? Is it? I'm not judging! Just trying to get your attention. Look over here, yes, I'm the extra-shiny sword, if you'll just turn your attention my way please."

 Solaufein and I looked at each other, startled. He looked back at the skeleton. "Are you speaking to me?" He wondered.

 Suddenly, the sword in the skeleton's lap began to emit a deep red glow, almost the color of blood. The light within fluctuated with each word that was spoken by the sword, as if it was speaking through the sword. "Yes, you! Look down! No, not at the floor, at the glittering sword! Yes, thank you. That's it. Hello!"

 All three of us stared at the sword, and then shared a look between each other that spoke volumes as to what we each of us thought of Halaster's ridiculous death puzzle. "You are a sword," Solaufein stated in a perfectly dour tone that could've been an imitation of Hembercane for how dry it was.

 "A master of the obvious you are," the sword snarked before I could, letting out smatterings of red lights like a glittery glow beneath the black metal's surface. "Yes, 'tis I, Enserric the Gray. I am, quite obviously, a sword. And a rather nice one, as you can see. Not only am I shiny, but I'm also supremely sharp."

 "I can see that," he observed. His eyes appeared to have lit up a bit at the sight of a shiny sword in the way mine would on an unbreakable nail file.

 "Are you part of Halaster's decor?" I asked. "I have a few suggestions for him, if so."

 The sword flashed bright red. "Nothing so fancy, I assure you," Enserric the longsword chimed. "No. I am, or was, an adventurer. That rather unfortunate looking pile of bones off to your left? That was me so long ago." I turned down to my feet and let my eyes crawl up a disheveled stack of bones near the base of the throne, with scraps of ancient fabric. I toed it with my boot, feeling a little sad for him. "This sword has a rather intense vampiric enchantment placed upon it that I was hit with shortly before my death, and my consciousness was transferred inside. It was some fifty years ago. I've been here ever since, sitting in the lap of a skeleton."

 Deekin had approached us slowly after overhearing the conversation. "That sound very boring," he decided. "Deekin feel sorry for you, and also wonders how you be counting the years trapped inside of a piece of metal. And hows you be talking right now, and also hows you not be insane from being alone so long in creepy death dungeon with creepy skeletons everywhere."

 "And now I have the pity of a kobold," Enserric spat. "Wonderful. My eternal ennui is complete. Who's to say I'm not mad? I could very well be, for all I know."

 "At least he's honest," I assessed. I turned to Solaufein. He had a peculiar gleam in his eye as he looked at the sword. "What are you thinking, Solly?"

 He barely glanced at me. "First, never call me that again. Second, I am thinking that if we take this sword, this chamber will no longer contain sleeping kings."

 Enserric paused before replying. "Well, er, yes. That is part of the problem. Chief Skele-dome here might not like it if you take his longsword. On the other hand, I'll be free and you can kill him! You seem like capable young adventurers. What do you say?"

 "Hah!" I chuckled. "Chief Skele-dome. I like 'im. Let's take him. We can take the bonesacks."

 Solaufein smirked. "I think a talking longsword would be a liability. My mission requires stealth. We should be on our way." He turned away, and then Enserric started begging.

 "Oh, please don't leave me here!" The sword's cries were strident. "I-I can be stealthy! Quiet as a mouse."

 "Tell me about your enchantment, first," the drow commanded. "Does it work both ways?"

 Enserric went quiet and still for a second. "Somewhat. It transfers the enemy's life energy to your own, a sort of vampiric regeneration. I think my body has a few other perks to it, but you'd need a wizard to tell you more. I used to be one, but no longer have access to my stores of magic. That seems to require a physical body, in the same way that a lich with no animus would only lay dormant in a phylactery."

 "Deekin can probably figure it out," the kobold offered. Solaufein motioned him forward and the little bard bent down in front of the skeleton to examine Enserric more closely. "Hmm. Sword be right, there be a few enchantments. One to steal life, and one to keep it sharp, Deekin think, and one maybe to change its size. Could be shorter or longer if you wants. Maybes more, but Deekin would need time to study for longer."

 That gleam appeared in Solaufein's eyes again that I was starting to realize was a kind of gleeful anticipation. "Very well. Prepare a spell of invisibility. I am going to take Enserric, and then we will run for the next portal."

 I headed right for the door that led to the next portal, hoping I could keep it open just in case it was spelled to close in the event of the kings' waking up. Deekin sang a little scratchy song, thankfully not using his cymbals which would wake up Pandemonium with its racket (along with the entire hall of skeletons prematurely), and before he was finished, Solaufein's nimble fingers pulled Enserric the longsword from the skeleton king's grasp.

 Just as he did so, the sword's length shifted as it seemed to slide up into the hilt, becoming a regular longsword. Then the skeleton king's eye sockets began to glow, and it stood in its chair. I heard in my periphery the sounds of other bones clacking and weapons being drawn. Deekin's spell finished and the two of them disappeared into thin air. The skeleton seemed almost confused; I didn't need to know where they were since they knew to follow me and trusted that they were close behind when I booked it to the next portal outside the next hall. 

 Before we knew it, we were free, and without getting a single hair damaged. I wasted no time in leading us to the next portal, which was barely five feet away from our own, and thankfully that one led us back to the main entrance.

 This frustrated Solaufein, however. "You have led us in a circle!" He growled at me.

 I frowned. "We'll circle back a few times, but we'll get there. Come on, the next one's barely up this way. I promise I've done this before. Try to trust me on this." He looked very frustrated with me and if I didn't know better, I'd say he pouted.

 "Ah, what is the demon attempting? To cheat her way through Undermountain?" Enserric the Gray scoffed in Solaufein's hands. "That's not what those portals are for."

 "You've been down here decades, stuck in the body of a sword! What do you know?" I snapped. "The method works, trust me."

 "Trust a scheming cambion? My times have changed," he scoffed. "Then again, it is a drow who has rescued me, so perhaps I should be more blithe."

 "Yes, you should," Solaufein nodded, "and you can repay me by keeping quiet for now, unless you have something constructive to add. No? Then let us hurry."

 I hesitated only because he'd felt so queasy earlier but figured he would tell me if something was wrong. It appeared he decided to take me at my word, which was a new one for me. With a spring in my step, I led us on to the next, and the next, and the next.

 We flashed by dragons, by ogres, by fairies, and at one point startled a faun who was bathing by appearing in her room and abruptly running out. Deekin shouted an apology after us.

 I don't know how many we went through, exactly. A few place I recognized, and some I did not. I was sure it would work, however, and I don't know exactly why I was sure. It was something that I couldn't explain, though I was certain our lack of progress was frustrating Solaufein. A few times we seemed to double back, and then skip forward. Once, we had to stop to regain our bearings as he began to feel nauseous again. There was something oddly endearing about the fact that his stomach couldn't handle extensive portal travel. He was a force of nature in battle but show him another portal and he'd dry heave.

 We did eventually make it into Halaster's lab. It was more a matter of the number of portals you used - from what little I understood, most were random, but some were specific. It was only a matter of time before you'd cross the right one. When we got there, I didn't know it was his lab at first - it was by complete accident I'd gotten there the first time, and the second time was only slightly more intentional. I didn't recognize the dark room we'd emerged in, but my nose picked up on the scent of rotting flesh approaching that alerted me to the presence of undead. 

 "Watch out!" I cried and moved instinctively to the side only to find myself flush up against a stone wall. As an instinctive flare of wild energy balled up in my gut, a globe of darkness fell over all of our heads - I'd seen other drow cast the ability before and assumed it had been Solaufein. Everything became near-pitch and I had trouble making out even the slightest detail. I heard a warbled growl and cry, followed by him shouting - or swearing - in drow. The sound of a sword cutting through flesh and Enserric's crow of victory informed me the battle was over long before the darkness was dispelled by Deekin. Not that the faint light was much better than the dark . . .

 That was when I realized that I'd forgotten all about Berger. 

 When the darkness faded, I was stunned by how quickly everything had just happened. First, we'd actually gotten to the lab; only about half of my ideas ever work, and usually not the way I intend them when they do. This had not been my intent, because second, Berger had locked himself inside the lab and had tried to protect it from us, the intruders, and attacked on instinct. Solaufein had assumed we were being attacked when I alerted him - I'd followed my nose before my brain, as usual, and hadn't even recognized the golem before the darkness globe had been cast. He'd been attacked by the flesh golem, who was probably defending itself from the invaders, or defending Halaster's goods.

 I stepped up to examine the damage. Solaufein's adamantine chain hadn't been scratched, but his face had three rather large new wounds across it that he was nursing, in addition to the portal-induced headache when earned a few groans from him. Deekin was already fetching a potion. It looked like the golem had gotten in a lucky shot - why Solaufein never seemed to put on a helmet was beyond me, maybe it interfered with his eyesight or they didn't make them in drow sizes . . . Either way he was probably fine, but Berger's twitching body was emitting some kind of foul-smelling black blood and lay still at the drow's feet. When the golem's arm twitched out to violently grasp at air, Solaufein calmly cut its head off.

 "This is a bloody disaster!" I announced, dodging the rolling head.

 Once Solaufein was healed, he stood up full and stretched. "A warning would have been nice," he said snippily, after leveling me with a glare. He winced and sat back down, groaning, and clutching his head.

 I shook my head. "No," you don't understand, I wanted to say, you don't know what you've done. How to put this? "This is beyond a disaster. This is catastrophe. I'm so sorry, Solaufein, I should have reminded you or - I - this is bad. That was Berger you just killed, Halaster's son!"

 The drow blinked. "That was a flesh golem," he said slowly. 

 I shook my head again, a few more times. Maybe I was in disbelief? Hoo boy. "Halaster's going to be furious. If he's alive. If we free him. If . . . If is good. Or maybe if he's still captured, we could kill him before he kills you . . ."

 Solaufein seemed genuinely confused. "It attacked me, so I killed it."

 I slapped myself on the horns in exasperation. "Don't you remember? The ogre talked about him! And I did. A little. Berger isn't the mad wizard's literal son, he's a golem that Halaster created to be his son. He was kind of stupid, honestly. Annoying, but mostly harmless. So, maybe it's not the worst thing for him that he's dead, who knows what Halaster's going to do when we find him now! Best not mention this," I warned. "And that's only if he's alive when we find him."

 Solaufein reconsidered the flesh golem's corpse and toed it with his boot. "It is a flesh golem," he repeated slowly.

 "What Blackcloak do if he find out Boss killed his, um, flesh golem son?" Deekin wondered.

 I shuddered to think. "What you're failing to really understand about this place is that Halaster is Undermountain. It's not just his laboratory, or his pet project . . . How long do you remember being down here?" Solaufein thought about this and seemed consternated when he couldn't answer immediately. "I guarantee it's only been an hour or two on the surface. I was gone but a month or two, and it felt as if years passed. Everything is different down here, something about the wild magic in it. I don't know, but Halaster probably already knows what happened. He might be dead or imprisoned, but the fact that the drow couldn't get back to this level means he must be alive enough to maintain some kind of control. He sees everything that happens inside. If he's alive, he probably already knows what happened in here. This place is nothing more than a dark reflection of his own crazed imagination."

 "I defended myself," Solaufein insisted firmly. "It attacked me! What was I supposed to do?"

 "Halaster won't see it that way," I warned. "Just . . . Don't mention it if we find him. And if he brings it up, stick to that. Maybe he'll be lenient. Don't count on it. You might end up spending the rest of your days as a rat, or a pile of soot."

 Enserric glowed from the black sword's depths. "Ah, in that case, would one of you be kind enough to take me out of this wretched dungeon in my wielder's place? I should hate to be in the possession of some soot. To be rescued only to get stuck back with those sacks of bones again by the mad wizard would be tortuous, although it would be a slice of thematic irony."

 "I'll think about it," I promised.

 Solaufein stared at the flesh golem's body for a little while before moving to search for a way out with the rest of us. He pointed out a way down for us and Deekin was able to de-trap and pick the lock on the door. "I still can't believe you killed Berger," I was repeating in disbelief as we descended into the third level. The drow didn't even bother to glare at me, he just kept walking straight ahead. I couldn't deny a thrill at the idea of getting farther into the dungeon. It felt as though we were really making progress . . . Something that I was sure, in my bones, would be halted by something terrible. 

 I was sure of it. There would be umber hulks around the corner any minute. The further down you went, the worse it got. Durnan had warned me of such the first time I attempted the descent. I didn't know if we'd encounter the rakshasa, but it was possible that we'd circumvented them. I hoped so.