Dark Alliance: A Kirin's Tale

by Blackdrag-rose

Sunset Mountains: Into the Mines

Torrgeir, while happy to see that the signal fire was lit and that Easting would likely see it in no time, wasn't too happy to hear that Kolgrim's group had been taken out by the dangers of the peak, which had outnumbered them before killing most of them. He was surprised by the fact that Ciraxis, who hadn't been seen for some time, also attacked some of the dwarves and froze them before they could light the signal fire, since he expected the beast to be out hunting or sleeping in another part of the Sunset Mountains, not near their mining camp. Once again Torrgeir tried to talk them out of going into the mine and facing the drow, because despite the fact that Kromlech was of their clan, and his friends were willing, he didn't want to risk their lives by allowing them to access the mines. In the end, however, he saw the determination they had and decided to stand in their way no longer, allowing them to head over to the mine entrance and use the Key to unlock the seal, though as they did so some of the guards gathered nearby, just in case some drow tried to flee during their quest.

Rain watched with some interest as the flat stone surface reacted to the Key and changed before their eyes, where she and the others found that the outline of a mine door appeared in a matter of seconds, as if it had always been there, made of wood and metal, and hadn't been stone for some time.

With the door revealed the group headed inside the mine without delay, where they found that some of the torches were, despite no dwarves having entered this place for some time, still lit and made Rain wonder if they were enchanted or if the drow were keeping them lit for some odd reason. She found that the floor was smooth in places and rocky in others, no doubt something that the miners of the camp were used to, along with the fact that there were rats waiting for them not a few steps from the entrance, likely pets of the drow. Both Rain and Adrianna had an idea on how to deal with some of the rats without getting close to them, by utilizing the Ball of Lightning spell that shocked them and ignited a few barrels of explosives, blasting the rats before they had a chance to react. Kromlech wasn't too surprised to find that there were all sorts of paths leading out from the main entrance, since it was a mine, though he kept his weapon at the ready as Vahn kept an eye out for the drow, since none of them wanted the dark elves to sneak up on them.

Sure enough it wasn't long before they found the drow, as the dark skinned elves were hanging out in the tunnels, likely keeping the area clear for their forces before another assault was launched on the rest of the dwarves, where it looked like most of them were carrying maces as their main weapons.

As they carefully explored the mine, and discovering that some drow had bows and a few used magic to deal with their foes, Rain discovered that there were multiple dead ends, a common trait of mines when she asked Kromlech about it, as she was trying to take his mind off of whatever they were seeing. There were dead bodies all over the place, dwarves who had been either running from the drow or had stayed to fight them so the others could flee, and she could tell that such a sight sickened her friend, seeing so many of his clan having their lives snuffed out in such a way. She discovered one other disturbing and annoying thing, save for the drow who died at the hands of her and her friends there didn't seem to be any from the dwarves, meaning they had sacrificed themselves for nothing, given that there were only like ten dwarves left in the camp. It pissed her off, that these dark elves just decided to show up one day and came to the conclusion that they could exterminate an entire settlement of dwarves like it was a perfectly acceptable thing to do, like Kromlech's clan were simply insects to crush and that they could get away without having to face the consequences for their foul actions, which just annoyed her the more she thought about it.

Her growing rage towards these drow made her more reckless than before, as she lashed out at the dark elves as soon as she found them, hacking and slashing at each foe while her friends followed in her wake, even to the point where she just stabbed one in the chest, tore her blade out, and then removed the dark elf's head.

"Rain, you need to calm down and be more focused... these are foes that'll take you down if you give them an opening to do so." Vahn stated, all while at the same time loosing an arrow into a drow's chest and taking her down before she could do anything to him or his friends, a hard thing to accomplish since Rain seemed to be dead set on murdering everything that was around her, or the drow at the very least.

"Not until all of these foul drow are dead! I... I can't stand the amount of death we've seen." Rain replied, where she took a moment to glance back at the others, who paused for a moment as they found that while she was enraged over all of the death they had seen, due to all of Kromlech's fallen clan, she was also filled with great sorrow, almost as if she was on the verge of crying, before she continued on her way.

"I think we just witnessed something new... the deaths of your brethren has awakened a memory of pain, Kromlech, and it's driving her forward." Adrianna said, though at the same time it made her wonder if she was even right about what they were seeing, as Rain was a total mystery to them and there was no telling where she hailed from or what had happened to her before she arrived in Baldur's Gate, not until they found a way to restore her memories.

Kromlech said nothing as he watched Rain go to town on the drow, summoning vines to trip up some of them when she noticed that her friends were hanging back, talking about her, allowing her to even the odds while she was on her own, before rushing into battle as he smashed a drow's head with his battleaxe. Vahn and Adrianna joined them without delay and continued to tear down the various dark elves that were hanging out in the mine, though they all had to admit that it was strange to see so many in one place, like they were getting ready to invade either the surface or somewhere else. As more and more drow fell before their might and strategy, however, they came to realize that it was a good thing they were doing this, as there was no way Easting's reinforcements would win such a battle, not unless an entire army came to deal with the dark elves. The only good thing that came out of all of this was the fact that Rain's anger seemed to stabilize her own magical powers, or at least Adrianna was sure of that when they took a short break to recover some of their energy, though she made sure to point her friend's anger in the right direction.

Rain also discovered something odd, the lifts that took them between the levels were broken, meaning they had to track down the gears that would allow them to repair them, though the reason she thought it was odd was due to the fact that the dwarves couldn't have ruined any of them during their attempts to flee. At the same time the drow were planning on either invading the surface or securing the mine itself, so it stood to reason that they would keep the lifts in tact as well, so she was confused as to why the dark elves would wreck the lifts when they needed them. Kromlech opened his mouth to say something, before he and their friends realized that she was right, it made no sense for the drow to wreck the lifts like this, and even the idea of slowing down anyone who tried to retake the mine didn't make any sense. All four of them came to the agreement that there had to be a reason behind the strange events happening in this place, though the only way to figure out what was going on was to find a drow that was willing to talk, at least before trying to gut them for killing most of the intruders that were in this place.

During their trek the group also found a few more enemies to deal with, as in spiders who had to be the drow's true pets, at least based on who their goddess was, and drow that were riding large green lizards as mounts, before reaching the third level, more like a cave than anything, that had large purple hulking monsters that walked on four legs and had pincers as their mouths.

"An Umberhulk... that's not good." Kromlech commented, though he was thankful for Rain's vine power, tripping up the foul beast and opening holes in it's defenses so they could bring it down, though it took a while since the beast had thick scales protecting it from harm.

"No, we must have passed into the drow's domain." Adrianna said, which wasn't a good thing if it was true, since there was no telling how many monsters and creatures could be down here in the dark caves, hence why she and the others kept their guards up in case there were more enemies like this one to deal with.

Of course there were more Umberhulks to deal with, at least three by Adrianna's count as they counting through the rest of the underground cave, before they stopped at what appeared to be an open clearing with a drow sorceress, likely the leader of the entire group, standing near some banners in her oddly revealing clothing.

"So, you are the ones who have been killing my forces... you shall pay for your transgressions." the sorceress, or priestess as Adrianna thought about it, stated, showing that someone must have reported their attack to her and made her aware of all the lives that had been lost since they entered the mine.

"It is you who will pay for the lives that have been lost, drow." Rain replied, though at the same time she stepped forward, a fact that allowed her friends to make sure they were alone, since there had to be more drow resting in the darkness, just waiting for a fight to begin so they could rush in and kill them, "Your attack on the Sunset Mountains, and the dwarves who call it home, ends here."

"You assume much, my dear. We care not for the surface, as it has been promised to others, rather the mines were to be ours once the plan was complete." the priestess said, though that was when the group noticed something odd, the way she moved made her body jiggle, like she was trying to hypnotize them, or maybe her mind was partly gone and she was just aroused by having new 'toys' to play with, "You, however, were promised to someone special... a shame, I was excited to have my way with you once I heard of you and your incredible form. Oh well, I suppose I can break your friends in your place and still have fun, just like when my soldiers gutted some of the dwarves earlier."

Rain, having heard enough from the priestess, came to a stop in front of her and stabbed her right in the chest with her bare hand like it was nothing, surprising the drow in the process, before she tore her hand out and revealed that she had ripped out her heart as well. Everyone stood there for a moment as they processed that information, giving her time to crush the still beating heart like it was just a soft rock, where the priestess collapsed in front of her and her body went still, a sure sign that she was dead, causing Rain to huff for a moment. In the next instant she spotted an ornate horn that had to be important, especially since there was a key attached to it, where she held it out for the others to take and Vahn did so without wasting time, taking the horn while handing the key over to Kromlech. While they explored the rest of the area, to see if they could find the cells that the key went to, Rain knelt for a few seconds and collected the priestess' staff, both as a reward and as proof of her death, before she and Adrianna followed their friends.

It was in that moment that they discovered a single prisoner, the very agent that Jherek had sent them to find, where Vahn had them return to the camp first, to check him for wounds and report their success to Torrgeir, before worrying about what they should do next.

Comments

[Night_Moon60606]

seeing as the Drow have a matriarchal society and Lolth is a total pain slut and sadist to boot...that Priestess probably felt like she won the lottery before she died...

[badninja]

Well that goddess likes pain and suffering so I could see her priestesses doing that for funzies.

[Blackdrag-rose]

11527094 I thought Lolth was weird... she and the drow just got weirder with that information.

[Night_Moon60606]

11527130
Lolth's whole thing is pain and torment, its what she encourages her priestesses to engage in while they rule over all of Drow society she encourages all the Drow Great Houses to literally stab each other, and even their own members, in the back to get ahead...she IS a demon after all...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11527211 My knowledge of this world is limited, and I did know that the drow backstab each other due to reading the books about Drizzt's story.

[Night_Moon60606]

11527234
oh trust me...Drizzits family drama? thats a calm tuesday compared to some of what happens down in the Dark Elf cities...assuming they arnt trying something with the other denizens of the Underdark...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11527241 Again, I'll take your word for it. All I have on this topic is the drow hero's tale.