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Nothing more troubled theed frohtwalker&039;s attack, returning to the e The walls were es from previous travelers who had stopped there It was obviously a commonly used camp-site near the trade cavern The co up fro, they left the gorge and found their way out into a long, sh the dark, broken by occasional open caverns along the way
Valas led the company, as he was familiar with their arrival point and the route they found the skies of the daylit surface and the loom ofthe Plane of Shadow, the routine perils of the Underdark felt like old friends This was their world, the place where they belonged, even those of their number who had rarely jour-neyed outside their home cities
After a march of about two miles, Valas called a brief halt and knelt down to sketch a crude e floor
"Mantol-Derith lies not more than half a mile ahead Remember, this is a place of trade and association with other races We do not rule Mantol-Derith - no one does - and so it would be prudent to avoid giving offense to anyone you encounter there, unless you&039;re looking for a fight that may waste our ti how best to find our way fros of House Jaelre in the Labyrinth Froh, city of the gray dwarves"
"Under no circuh," Quenthel said at once "The gray dwarves destroyed Ched Nasad I see no reason to present hter"
"We have few other options, Mistress," Valas said "We are northeast of the duergar realm, and the Labyrinth lies several days southwest of the city We cannot skirt the city to the south because the Darklake is in the way, and the duergar patrol its waters Skirting the city to the north would take us at least two tendays of difficult travel through tunnels I do not knoell at all"
"Why did we bother to coht as well have returned to Menzoberranzan"
"Well, for one thing, Gracklstugh still lies between us and House Jaelre, whether we&039;re in Mantol-Derith or Menzoberranzan," Pharaun replied He tapped three points on Valas&039;s crudely sketched ray dwarves must be addressed in either scenario The question is sih, or not"
"Could you shadoalk us past the city?" Danifae asked
Pharaun grimaced and said, "I have never traveled past Mantol-Derith in this direction, and shadoalking is best employed to reach a familiar destination At any rate, it wouldn&039;t surprise ainst the passage of travelers on nearby planes"
"Are we certain that the gray dwarves would object to our presence?" Ryld asked "Merchants froray dwarftheir wares to Menzober-ranzan&039;s bazaar It&039;s possible that Gracklstugh had nothing to do with the duergarthat suggests to h," Quenthel said Shethe debate "I prefer not to garay dwarves, not after the fall of Ched Nasad We will go around the city to the north, and trust that Master Hune can find us a way through"
Halisstra glanced at Ryld and Valas The scout chewed on his lip, worrying at the problenation
"We are only a mile or two from this cavern known as Mantol-Derith?" Halisstra asked, pointing at the sketch
"Yes, ardless of which course we choose, we an D&039;aerthe scout siain
"Then perhaps we should see e can learn in the trade cavern before we make our decision," Halisstra offered She could feel Quenthel&039;s eyes on her, but she did not look at the Baenre "There ht on the question for us If not, well, we&039;ll have to provision ourselves there anyway before striking out into the wilds of the Underdark"
"A reasonable suggestion," Pharaun remarked "There are a dozen mercenary companies based in the City of Blades Is it not likely that theduergar we fought in Ched Nasad were hired by a drow House, and had no special allegiance to Gracklstugh?"
"They did Gracklstugh&039;s hen they destroyed the city," Quenthel said darkly She stood and set her hands on her hips, still staring at the sketch on the floor She thought for a rily swept it out with her foot "We will see e learn in Mantol-Derith, then I suspect that time is of the essence, and if we can avoid a detour of twenty or thirty days to skirt the city, we should do so, but if we hear anything to indicate that Grackl-stugh may be closed to our kind, we strike out into the barrens"
Valas Hune nodded and said, "Very well, Mistress I suspect ill be able to arrange passage unless the duergarare openly at ith Men-zoberranzan I&039;ve dealt with the gray dwarves before, and there is nothing they would not sell for the right price I will seek out a duergar guide in Mantol-Derith and see what I can learn"
"Good enough," said Quenthel "Take us to the duergar, and ill - "
"No, Mistress, not &039;we&039;," the scout said He stood and brushed off his hands "Most duergar have little liking for drow under any circumstances, less so for noble-born drow, and even less for priestesses of the Spider Queen Your presence would only cootiationsclose behind her, ru to keep an eye on hiht and said, "If a priestess of Lolth ray dwarf nervous, what do you think he&039;d loth bridled, but Quenthel shook her head
"No," she said, "he&039;s right We will find a place to wait, and perhaps see what news there is to be had, while Valas takes care of the details"
They resumed their march, and soon came to Mantol-Derith The place was much smaller than Halisstra expected, a cavern not ht and perhaps twice that in width, though it twisted and snaked for many hundreds of yards She was used to the ireat canyon, and the stories she&039;d heard of other places of civilization underground usually involved tremendous cavernsmore than a side cavern in a drow city
It was also much less crowded than she would have expected The marketplaces in her hoed by coed in their various errands The y, and activity, even if those qualities were peculiarly distorted to match the aesthetic tastes of drow society Mantol-Derith was cohout the caverns winding length, sroups of merchants sat or squatted, their wares secured in coffers and casks behind theled, or laughed What business transpired there seemed best conducted in whis-pers and shadows
Creatures froathered at Mantol-Derith More than a fe merchants held various corners of the cavern, most frooods correctly Mind flayers glided s da beneath their cephalopod faces A handful of sullen svirfneblin huddled together in one spot, eyeing the droith unalloyed resentar were present in nuray dwarves gath-ered together in secretive cabals, conversing with each softly in their gut-tural tongue
Halisstra trailed close behind Pharaun, studying each group as they passed She noticed that the wizard was trading discreet signs with Valas as they wound deeper into the marketplace
Not many merchants here today, the wizard observed Where are they all?
Valas glanced over his shoulder to , and answered, Chaos in Menzoberranzan means few buyers Few buyers means few sellers Anarchy seems to be bad for business
The scout turned to eye a band of duergar nearby, and said over his shoulder to the rest of the company, "Go on ahead You&039;ll find an inn of sorts a little farther on I will ray dwarves,with his hands folded before hiar mer-chants in whispered conversation The rest of the party moved on
They found the "inn" to which the scout referred in a dank warren of caves near the southern end of Mantol-Derith There, a surly duergar wo them mercilessly from one task to another Several s iron pots of thick stew tended by the harried cooks Other slaves scraers, serving silent custo on flat boulders arranged like chairs Sturdy doors of petrified mush-room fiber or rusted iron plate sealed off crevices in the walls nearby Halisstra presuray dwarf&039;s inn The cha doors, but she couldn&039;t iine that they were at all comfortable
"Howrustic," Halisstra said
She wondered for one terrible moment if it would be her fate to live out the rest of her expatriate existence crouched in so than the last time I was here," Pharaun said with a forced smile "The dwarf there is Dinnka You&039;ll find that this nas available in Mantol-Derith You&039;ll get food, fire, and shelter - three things that are hard to come by in the wilds of the Underdark - and pay a s in a monster-haunted surface ruin, I suppose," Quenthel said
She led the way as the party approached one of the cookfires A trio of bugbears occupied the seats there, apparentlyby the quality of the ar leather jacks of nawed at haunches of rothewarriors looked up as the five drow and Jeggred approached Quenthel folded her arms and looked at the crea-tures with conte down ale and reat fists dropped down to rest on axe-hafts thrust through their belts The bears with any lick of sense would have vacated their places iht not have been drow slaves - clearly they weren&039;t, if they were in Mantol-Derith - but she&039;d ventured out into sih tibears learned quickly to give way to the truly dangerous denizens of the Lands Below, such as noble dark elves
"Well, what?" snarled the largest of the three "It&039;ll take ive up our seats"
"Think y&039;can just push us aroun&039;?" the second bugbear added "You elfies ain&039;t as scary as y&039;was, y&039;know Maybe yous&039;ll have t&039;start showin&039; off e&039;s oughtta do what y&039;says"
Quenthel waited for a loth bounded forward and seized the first bugbear With his two sbear&039;s hands, preventing hi any of the weapons at his side He locked one fighting talon around the creature&039;s head, holding hied his powerful talons into the bugbear&039;s face The gled against the draegloth Jeggred grinned, knotted his claws deep in the shriekingoff the front of the bugbear&039;s skull Blood and brain bears co swords and axes
Jeggred lowered the twitching body a bit and looked over it at the other two
"Next?" he purred
The tworegred shook his white-furred head and tossed the corpse aside, taking a seat at the fire He helped hi-bear, and raised one of their jacks in another hand
"Bugbears" he ar innkeeper - Dinnka - scuttled forward, anger plain on her face
"Those three hadn&039;t settled their tab yet," she coet bear&039;s belt pouch He tossed it to Dinnka
"Settle up with this," the weapons master said, "and start our tab hat&039;s left We&039;ll want good wine, and ht the purse, but she did notcusto the at ho orders at the goblin slaves underfoot
Halisstra watched her go, then she looked back to the others and flashed,That was odd Did you hear what the bugbear said?
"What hesaidabout the drow not being as scary as they used to be?" Ryld said, then he switched to sign Has word of Ched Nasad&039;s fall reached this place so quickly? It was only a couple of days ago, and Mantol-Derith isWebs
It&039;s possible that ht have spread the word already, Halisstra said Orperhaps heof our unusual difficulties is known here
That, thought Halisstra, was a very disturbing scenario Gray dwarves and mind flayers were competent foes, creatures who knew many secrets of sorcery If they had discerned the drow&039;s weakness, it would not be unduly surprising, but if cobear mercenaries were aware of matters in Ched Nasad or Menzoberranzan, it must be widely known indeed
Goblin slaves returned to their fire, laden with soons of cool wine froathered up the hulking body of the fallen bugbear and dragged it off into the darkness The dark elves paid them scant attention Goblin slaves were so far beneath their notice that they ht as well have not existed The party ate and drank in silence, occu-pied with their own thoughts
After a tiray dwarf This one was a le hair on his head above his eyebrows The duergar wore a shirt of chain e was reat furrowed scars that had taken off one ear and twisted the right side of his face into a nightht have been a merchant, a mercenary, or a miner - his dour attire offered few hints as to his trade
"This is Ghevel Coalhewer," the scout said "He owns a boat h toray darned "And I&039;ll have ye know I&039;ve a contract o&039; redress with uild back home If ye think to slit me throat and dump me over the side out on the lake, ye&039;ll be hunted down for it"
"A trusting soul," Pharaun said with a s you, Master Coalhewer"
"I&039;ll take ar looked at Valas and asked, "Ye knohere the boat is Pay me now, and ye can meet me there tomorrow early"
"Hoe know you won&039;t rob us, dwarf?" rured
"It&039;s usually bad business to rob drow, not unless ye be sure to get aith it," the dwarf replied " &039;Course, that , but no&039; so fast that I&039;ll chance it today"
Valas jingled a pouch in front of the duergar and dropped it into his hand The dwarf i, weath-ered pal them back into the pouch
"Ye ht&039;ve struck a better bar-gain Ah, well, ye drow don&039;t appreciate a good gemstone, anyway"
He turned and stumped away into the darkness
"That&039;s the last you&039;ll see of hired said "You should have waited to pay hi about wanting to make sure we didn&039;t kill hiar, and shrugged "I don&039;t think he would cheat us If he was that kind of duergar, well, he wouldn&039;t last long in Mantol-Derith People here don&039;t take kindly to being cheated"
"He can securesafe passage through Gracklstugh?" Ryld asked