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Pharaun cursed and took a step after Halisstra, thinking he ically cloak the two of them in order to save them
"Don&039;t," Quenthel ordered "Danifae was unlucky enough to be wounded I will not exhaust either resources or tio while the spiders are distracted"
"But - " Pharaun began, but when he saw the look in the high priestess&039;s eyes, he shook his head and stepped back into the alley He regretted the idea of losing the the beautiful Danifae "Very well," he said
"I&039;," Ryld said, and he turned to sprint out into the street, following Halisstra
"No!" Quenthel shouted at the Master of Melee-Magthere, but it was too late Ryld was already ten steps away, reed toward the closest of the two spiders "Da, Pharaun turned and followed the weapons rowled from behind the wizard
Pharaun could only assu hi he had already made up his h, though, the draegloth flashed past hi down the street in the direction he also traveled
Theas Halisstra reached her servant and knelt down So the way, she had fumbled a wand free fro both drow to disappear The spider, loo over the spot where the pair had just been visible, snapped down once, clacking its anto find its prey In the distance, the second spider had turned its attention to so their way - at least for the moment
Pharaun, of course, could still see the two feic they radiated It appeared to hi Danifae to the side, out of harm&039;s way, but the spider somehow sensed where the two fe a direct bite but corazed Halisstra, knocking her down Shivering in delight at having felt its prey, the spider raised up for another attack
Ryld had als covered the reh the air, Splitter raised high overhead As the warrior sailed past the hindreatsword around with all his e Black blood spurted everywhere, and the spider reared up, kicking with its ruined leg and barely red launched hi a hold of the spider and cliloth&039;s claws extended, and the fiend used thereat effect as he quickly ascended the creatures lired slashed and clawed his way to the spiders body and began to cliher
The effect of the two attacks was instantaneous The spider jerked away fro to bite whatever tor twitched erratically, but otherwise the arachnid lost none of its stability Ryld had rolled into a crouch after his sweeping sword strike, and he had Splitter up,ready to fend off the spider as it maneuvered to face him
Pharaun shook his head and considered what he could do to aid in the fight There was really only one choice Most of his spells were gone, and the few re to him were not offensive in nature He reached inside hispii and produced a wand, a single seg it outward, he uttered a trigger phrase and activated thebolt of electrical energy leaped forward fro across the surface of the spider&039;s head The discharge caused the spider to recoil, chattering and quivering, from Ryld&039;s position As the last remnants of the bolt dissipated, Pharaun could see that the spider&039;s leathery hide and
Pharaun started when he heard the twang of a bowstring struht Valas was there, kneeling, firing off a short bow The wizard had seen the di, but up until then, Valas had apparently had little cause to use it The Bregan D&039;aerthe scout lined up and released four shots in the time it took Pharaun to assess the situation, and his aim was true The arrows embedded themselves in the nearest eye of the spider, one after another, puncturing the many-sided orb like a massive pincushion The spider thrashed about in response
At the sa with the spider, looking to get in another strike This ti, pain-crazed creature spass swept the warrior off his feet, sending the burly drow tureatsword in the process
The ht toward Pharaun and Valas, and the wizard could see Jeggred on top of it, sitting astride the thing&039;s huge neck, slashing obbets of flesh and black blood everywhere as the fiend sawed into the spider&039;s head The spider reared and jerked, trying to shake Jeggred fro his claws deeply into the beast&039;s flesh to maintain his hold
The wizard took an involuntary step backward as the onrushing spider closed the distance quickly, its rapid stepshis wand, theit crackle over the spider&039;s head, knowing Jeggred would be resistant to its destructive power
The electrical discharge obviously hurt the massive beast - Pharaun could clearly see scorch marks on its shiny black skin - but it didn&039;t slohit It ae and the scout even as Valas puht Pharaun, backing up another step
He wanted to turn and run, but he couldn&039;tcreature Valas was back-stepping too, still firing arrows, but they were both in the spider&039;s sight and it was clearly targeting them as the cause of its woes
Just as the spider reached the pair of drow and snapped doard, Ryld leaped into vieinging Splitter in a huge arc and sely across the creature&039;s face The lightning bolt had obviously bought the weapons reatsword
The arachnid jerked backward,freelyfrom the fresh wound, but it was not to be so easily deterred It snapped at Ryld once, twice, and the warrior fended the attacks off with his greatsword, laboring to keep the twitching ain, happy enough to let the broad-shouldered weapons master bear the brunt of the co strike, hoping that would fell the beast, but before he could activate the wand the spider snapped down at Ryld a third time, and the warrior&039;s luck ran out
The spider&039;s there, who grunted in pain and nearly lost his grip on Splitter The creature hoisted hi to crush the life out hi at the mandibles with his sword
Pharaun hesitated to expend his ical bolts with Ryld in the way, and Valas likewise see There was no clear shot Even so, Jeggred continued to hew into the spider&039;s flesh The draegloth&039;s arms were completely coated with sticky black fluid
Why won&039;t the blasted thing die? Pharaun thought in dismay
He was tempted to jolt the creature despite the presence of his co quickly, the wizard ed to fish the second item from inside hispii just as the spider stu, rolling into a tued to avoid the worst of the blow by leaping out of the way at the lastto one side, the wizard flicked the wand at the spider and uttered the trigger word, sending a host of glowing projectiles strea from its tip directly at the spider&039;s eyes The five ly around Ryld and struck the creature&039;s eyes in rapid succession The great spider flinched away, opening itsRyld in the process
The weapons round but soh to halt his own descent, drifting the last couple of feet to the pavement The spider, red still slashing at the top of its head
There&039;s no way it can withstand ht
"Finish it," Quenthel said, pointing past the spider "Kill it and be done with it"
Pharaun could see the second spider coed a second round of screa projectiles from the wandWhen they struck home, the spider finally collapsed in theatop the still-prone Ryld The creature didn&039;t s and mandibles spasmed aardly
"Withdraw!" Quenthel de"
Pharaun ran to help Valas get Ryld to his feet, and the trioscurried as fast as they could back into the alley Jeggred leaped down from his perch atop the dead arachnid and joined them They all reached the protection of the side street simultaneously, and Pharaun turned back to see what had become of the pair from House Melarn Farther up the street, the wizard could see thetoward hi drow couldback to where he knew only he could see the two "Keep still," the Master of Sorcere warned "It roups waited, apprehensive Halisstra and Danifae stoppedas the second spider came closer Pharaun slipped back into the shadows
As the beast passed, Pharaun prepared to cast the spell he&039;d considered earlier, one that would bring about a heavy iant arachnid lance and saw that the two fe closer
"You would openly defya still-woozy Ryld across the cheek
Jeggred rose up to his full height andher while she ered back from the blow, and a trickle of blood dripped from the corner of his h priestess&039;s gaze
"They aren&039;t so expendable as you ht think," he said weakly but with his chin in the air "Give theht be you she&039;s rushing back to aid next tirowled and took a step forward, but Quenthel held up her hand in a signal for hilowered at Ryld but obeyed his h ended," Quenthel said, turning to face both Ryld and Pharaun together "When we get out of this city, there will be soes I am tired of this"
As if to mimic the Mistress of the Acadean to shi in vexation
"All I say is that you are too quick to disive theht," Pharaun said, "Halisstra has demonstrated some resourcefulness Don&039;t discount them simply because they are not from Menzoberranzan"
Quenthel scowled at the two of theood measure Halisstra and Danifae reached their position, still invisible
"I a, "but I could not abandon her She still has a certain value to me"
Quenthel snorted but waved her hand in dis the entire episode
"You are aware of the conditions under which you will be permitted to stay with us Keep up, or fall behind We will not suffer you to slow us down"
She just doesn&039;t want to let on howthat reenerosity The wizard smirked to himself
Halisstra let Danifae down and produced a wand fros She waved it over the battle captive&039;s leg and murmured a phrase that the wizard didn&039;t quite catch, but then he saw that the puncture wound had healed The dark elfeffort to hiet that?" the high priestess de such a venoan to explain "I brought it - "
"Not anymore, it isn&039;t Give it to h priestess but ical trinket
"If you don&039;t want Jeggred to shred you to several pieces right now, hand that wand to er, Halisstra passed the wand to Quenthel
The Mistress of Arach-Tinilith exa in satisfaction She turned and used it on Ryld herself As the divine power of the wand flowed into the warrior, his worst injuries closed, though several small scratches and bruises remained When she was satisfied with the weapons master&039;s condition, she tucked the wand away in her own belongings
"Now," Quenthel said, turning her attention back on Halisstra, "ill have noplace I will be the one who decides when and if a roup receives divine aid, is that clear?" Halisstra nodded
"Do you have any ic secreted away that I should know about? Believe hed and nodded She produced an additional wand and handed it over
"You cannot use that, though," Halisstra mumbled "It&039;s arcane in nature I alsodabble in that sort of et it back when you&039;ve proven your worth Until then, I keep theh priestess turned and strolled a few feet away, coers at her back
"Halisstra," Pharaun said, trying to change the subject and hoping to show Quenthel that the priestess was useful at the saiant spiders cauardian spiders," the dark elf answered, her voice thick with anger, "sureat need Those tere so smallthe matron mothers who conjured them must have had a rather er than that?" Valas asked incredulously
"Certainly," Halisstra replied, war to the subject "How do you think the webs of the city first appeared here? Upon arriving in the cavern, the first high priestesses, along with their wizard counterparts, summoned spiders of immense size to spin the webs upon whichthe city would rest It ith Lolth&039;s blessing that these sacred creatures caically stored, transforht forth again to repair sections of the city or to defend the chah a ate in more of their kind only e command it I don&039;t know exactly how That is a secret reserved for the matron mothers"
"Blessed Dark Mother," Ryld said "Do you think the other one will bring more?"
"I don&039;t know," the priestess replied "I hope not"
"Look," Pharaun said, glancing ahead, where the spider could still be seen scuttling along the web street
A force of gray dwarves were on a pathway above it, peering over the side at the spider below the more of the damnable firepots at the creature As the little incendiary devices struck the arachnid, they burst into flaan to burn, looking to eliminate the source of the pain
More of the clay pots were cast down, several of the up on its hind legs, the spider atteh overhead The spider spun in place, turning its back on its attackers, and fired a thick strea," Pharaun noted aloud, i to the underside of the web street, hardening as it did so The spider turned and began to scaray dwarves, ere desperately claet out of the way
"The fools," Ryld said "They just et its attention focused on theh," Quenthel said "We still need to get our belongings froaze at the high priestess, knowing full well that his expression was one of dumbfounded amazeesturing out toward other parts of the city, where the distant glows ofsmoke "The whole city is in tur in a different direction, where the screae cavern "We&039;re running out of tithe battle to the streets, and yet you want to teo after more of your trinkets? I think - "
"Listen to h this with your warrior friend You will do as I say, or you will be left here to die If you&039;veforgotten who I ah Priestess Quenthel Baenre, Mistress of Arach-Tinilith, Mistress of the Academy, Mistress of Tier Breche, First Sister of House Baenre of Menzoberranzan, and I will no longer tolerate your snide rehty insubordination Do you understand?"
As if to back up her words, Jeggred stepped forward and with a rowl took hold of the collar of Pharaun&039;spii, bunching it up in his clawed fist