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Chapter 10 - The Plays the Thing Jhelnae glanced around the abandoned guardhouse taking a break from staring out the window. Her companions sat around the circular room, their numbers making the space feel cramped. When the guardhouse had been in use it probably only held a few duergar soldiers at a time. Judging by the ruined state the place hadn’t been used for a long time. A section of the wall was missing, but no pile of rubble lay on the ground at the fallen section. The stones had likely been hauled away and repurposed by the derro of nearby West Cleft. The guardhouse had been more watchtower than fortress, set to observe the neighboring derro ghetto. She and her companions used it for the same purpose now. Jhelnae looked back out the window towards the ghetto. It lay at the bottom of Laduguer’s Furrow, a great rift created by a long-ago earthquake which had cut Gracklstugh into two halves. To the duergar, the rift bottom was an unwanted area. They’d built gates, Eastgate and

Chapter 9 - A Deal with the Stone Guards Kuhl sat on his hard zurhkwood cot, legs crossed and back against one of the solid stone walls of their cell. Between answering the questions of the duergar and translating Derendil’s dreams for the others his throat was tired and sore. Sarith, sitting on his own cot across the cell, rubbed at his temples, eyes closed. “Hearing about your dreams, Derendil,” the drow said in Common for the benefit of Ront, “makes my headache worse. Any drow can understand feuding houses, but no highborn daughter of a drow house is going to fake her death to try and run away with an exiled lover, nor kill herself after finding him dead.” As always Derendil’s curse allowed him to understand any language spoken, even if he could only reply in Elvish. Too large, and likely too heavy, for one of the cots, he sat in a corner of their cell. The quaggoth ran clawed fingertips through the tuft of fur on top of his head, grooming it back to the style he preferred. He

Chapter 8 - Guests of the Stone Guard and a Meeting with a Succubus Jhelnae trailed along behind Sky as their duergar escort led them once more through the gate to the Darklake District. They were back in the plaza outside their inn. No two-headed giant lay in the center. The other giant, Dorhun, was gone as well. The merchant stalls of the Blade Bazaar had reopened and duergar and non-duergar went about their business as if no giant had rampaged through a short time before. If only the same were true for them. Jhelnae looked longingly at their inn. They’d only stayed at it a few hours, not even slept a night there, and already the hollowed-out stalagmite seemed like home. The door under the sign with a sleeping bulette beckoned. But they were marched past their inn and toward another massive stalagmite. It stood sentinel on the shore of the Darklake guarding against waterborne invaders. Smoking forge chimneys and ledges holding catapults bristled along its exterior. The Overlake

Chapter 7 - Meeting with the Stonespeaker Kuhl found himself battered, bruised and laying among a press of bodies atop a two headed stone giant. Beneath him the giant’s shoulder and arm twisted and bucked, trying to squirm from their collective grasp. It was a matter of leverage. If they let the giant’s elbow bend, let it bring its great strength to bear, they’d be tossed off. Madness seemed to give the giant relentless strength and Kuhl could feel his grip slipping. “We’re losing him. Keep his arm pinned.” Kuhl spoke in Undercommon, a language the duergar around him would understand. Grunts of effort came back in response. His muscles burned, then cramped from exertion and he took a brief respite to adjust his grip. Sweat dripped into his eyes and the smog filled air of Gracklstugh made him want to cough. Next to him a duergar suddenly shrunk, his power to enlarge himself exhausted. Almost immediately the giant’s arm started to bend, gaining in strength as it did. Kuhl put

Chapter 6 - Gracklstugh Jhelnae let her head sink back against the stone behind her. When she’d first touched the water, she’d thought it too hot, scalding even. She, Sky, Aleina, and Eldeth had only been willing to sit on the stone ledge of the hollowed-out pool to scrub, lather, and rinse the clothes they’d worn since escaping Velkynvelve. Then they’d ventured to dip their toes, watching the clouded water become clear again as the grime from their travels in Underdark drained away while fresh hot water flowed in. Little by little, inch by inch, however, they had lowered themselves into the steaming water. It smelled of sulfur, it’s source from some deep spring, but that actually smelled better than the smoke fouled air pervading all of Gracklstugh. Now Jhelnae had submerged herself to her neck and had even dipped under a time or two to scrub at her hair with the coarse soap they’d been provided. She stared at the ceiling, trying to recall her dream from her last sleep cycle on the

Chapter 5 – Back out on the Darklake Aleina found herself in light. At first, she thought it so bright it blinded, but then she realized there was nothing to see, just whiteness in all directions. Voices came next, seeming to come from a distance. She could not make out the words. The light began to fade, slowly at first then more quickly. Soon all light had fled, and she was in darkness. She tried to open her eyes, realized they were already open, and she couldn’t see. She panicked and cried out. The faraway voices again, but were they closer now? Her head lay on something warm and soft, but the rest of her felt cold. The realization sent an involuntary shiver through her. The voices came again and were closer still. Now she could make out the words. “She’s cold. Pass me one of those blankets.” A pause, then the same feminine voice. She recognized it. Jhelnae. “I don’t care what’s inside it. Empty it, pass it here, or I’ll drape your corpse over her instead.” “Please

Chapter 4 - Sloobludop Sarith had explained Darklake was not a single large body of water, like a surface lake, but innumerable water-filled caverns connected by subterranean canals and rivers. Yet all Kuhl had seen of it so far had been part of one giant cave with an unseen ceiling of rock above and an unknown depth below. Kuhl slipped his paddle into the water and pulled. He felt Sky’s answering stroke from the other side of their makeshift boat, guiding the zurkhwood cap after Shuushar and Stool’s ahead of them. He yawned, then shook his head to try to keep himself alert and focused. When they’d tired of paddling, after their escape from the drow, Shuushar had guided them to a small island full of barrelstalk: large, cask-shaped edible fungi which also held drinkable water. But he’d slept only fitfully during their rest on the island. To sleep in the Underdark, it seemed, was to dream and he wondered if all dreams in the Underdark were nightmares. In his dream he’d been in a

Chapter 3 - Out on to the Darklake Jhelnae stood, put her hands on her back and stretched. She moved her head from side to side to loosen her neck. Sheathing her dagger, she shook out her hand and wrist, trying to clear the ache from her fingers and forearm. She’d alternatively hacked, carved, stabbed, and pried pieces of wood from the upside down giant zurkhwood mushroom cap in front of her for hours and she needed a break. “When we are on the water, Jhelnae,” said Sky. “You stay on the side you worked, and I’ll stay on my side. Your side is lumpy.” Jhelnae smiled to herself. Sky should be too tired for banter. They’d been traveling for eight day equivalents in the Underdark. Eight days with little rest, less sleep, and only what fungi they could scavenge along the way to eat. But the tabaxi was a wellspring of energy. “I’m still working on it. And my side would be smoother too if I had claws.” Between the two of them they’d nearly finished hollowing out their makeshift boat.

Chapter 2 - Escape! Aleina could not get comfortable. Despite body heat from Kuhl, laying beside her, the cold air and even colder stone beneath, made it impossible to get warm. The crooked arm she used to cushion her head had gone numb, and she brought it out to try to rub some feeling back into it. “Can’t sleep?” She turned over, surprised to find Kuhl awake. He’d returned exhausted from filling barrels from the waterfall for the drow earlier in the ‘day’, cycle, or whatever you called it down here. He should be asleep to recover his strength. “My arm fell asleep.” She continued to massage her arm with the other hand. Kuhl nodded, then patted his shoulder nearest to her. Aleina hesitated. They’d been part of the same caravan only a few days on the surface. He was essentially a stranger. But she was cold and didn’t want to put her arm back asleep by using it to cushion her head again. She scooted closer and lay her head on his shoulder. “Better?” It was, but she felt tense. It

Chapter 1 - Prisoners of Velkynvelve Kuhl came to consciousness in steps. First the underlying smell of earth and water, dank and deep, then the more pervasive reek of unwashed bodies. He lay on cold hard stone. He inhaled deeply at the sweeter fragrance of a flowery perfume and became aware of a light touch of a hand on his chest. A cold sensation accompanied it. “I’ve neutralized the poison. He wakes even now.” A woman’s voice. Nearby, another woman whimpered. More distant the sound of a waterfall. Kuhl opened his eyes and tried to sit up. He felt weight on his wrists and tugging at his waist and neck. A glance down revealed he wore manacles linked by a chain to an iron belt and collar around his neck. For some reason he wore only his underclothes - a linen tunic and linen short trousers. The cool, damp air raised goosebumps on his skin. It took more effort without the use of his hands, but this time he sat up. He was in a large cave lit by lanterns containing phosphorescent