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Pharaun tried to stay near the perimeter of the city as he , he didn&039;t relish the thought of being crushed at any h it had only happened once, he&039;d been far too intimately involved with it than he cared to remember He would avoid a repeat incident, if he could

Secondly, the wizard knew that navigation would be easier if he followed the wall of the chash the central section of the city Even then, the thick s He was surprised at how haze-choked the cavern had become More than once, he nearly careened off a trench wall, still intact web street, or building Nonetheless, he still considered the challenge of navigating through that to be far safer than having to h the center of Ched Nasad, where the sound of fighting was constant Occasionally he heard explosions, loud pops, and howling winds in the distance as fierce athering troops There was no doubt about it - the entire city was engaged in a desperate struggle for control of the streets

Mostly, the reverberations of conflict reached the e&039;s ears froun in the plaza outside of House Melarn had quickly spread, engulfing the citizens and visitors all across the city, on every level The wizard wondered howthe City of Shih the team from Menzoberranzan had been indisposed for much of the initial martial activity, he recalled that, since their escape froly few ordinary folk in the streets Of course, that was also because they&039;d spent h in the city, where only the nobles prowled Farther down, in the lower sections, he ieneral rabble had gotten caught up in the fighting,had taken a decidedly different twist than the insurrection in Menzoberranzan, though The insurgents involved in the upheavals in Ched Nasad were the noble Houses the was the flash point Pharaun counted himself fortunate that the Houses of Menzoberranzan had proven less prone to petty backbiting If they had, there ri of Gromph&039;s attempts on Quenthel&039;s life, and his own sister Greyanna&039;s failed efforts to kill hiht, before this is completely finished

As he neared the section of the city where the inn was located, the wizard noticed that the dae was less severe there In fact, the Flame and Serpent was thus far unscathed Immediately he saw the reason why A horde of mismatched drow and other creatures, probably residents of the inn, self-reliant mercenaries, and whatnot had formed a perimeter defense around the place It didn&039;t appear that they were under fire at the ed there earlier, judging by the nu to be either attacked or drawn into the e, Pharaun elected to circle around to the back side of the inn and enter it that way He recalled theof the room he shared with Valas and Ryld, the one that looked out on the wall of the massive cavern that Ched Nasad called home, and he made for that He approached fro and the wall of the trench It was just wide enough for him to levitate down between the two, and he hovered there while he conte attention

He had just the spell, the Master of Sorcere realized, a minor incantation that would open thefroet through Reaching into hispii, he fumbled around in three or four pockets before he found what he was looking for He pulled out a brass key and tapped it softly against theas he uttered the words that would complete the spell Theopened without resistance, and Pharaun squirmed inside the room

The wizard, the weapons s when they&039;d left the inn upon being summoned to attend the "party" in their honor That seeo, Pharaun mused as he made his way out the door and down the hall to Quenthel&039;s chae hesitated, wondering if the high priestess had placed so, but then he remembered that Ryld and Valas had invaded the roo, he tried the door and found it locked

Of course, Pharaun silently muttered Leave it to Valas to put it back the way he found it

Shrugging, the wizard dug around in the pockets of hispii yet again, drawing forth a pinch of clay and a s the water over the clay, he invoked the Weave and coan to sag, transfor from solid stone to thick, viscous mud The wall oozed down into a puddle, and Pharaun stepped back to avoid soiling his boots When the opening ide enough, the Master of Sorcere ni the mess he&039;d made

Pharaun spied Quenthel&039;s backpack, filled with extra supplies, on a table near the Reverie couch So the ambassador&039;s haversack, were on the other table The wizard hefted the high priestess&039;s pack and grunted

So, the ured out a way tothe backpack over his shoulder, grabbed up the second one, Faeryl&039;s, and turned to go

A crossbow bolt s to slip through the part in the pii&039;s fabric, and erunted and stu away so that his back was to his assailant and he was more completely protected by thepii He looked down to see that it was a drow bolt, and he realized his ered over to the opposite side of the roo the two satchels as he scraood places he could go: behind the Reverie couch or into an arrabbed the door and yanked it open, then shoved it shut again as he slumped behind the Reverie couch The door to the oversized cabinet slammed shut just as two pairs of boots darted into the rooe stayed low, on his knees, watching under the couch as the two pairs of boots spread apart, both slowly headed toward the ar the room

"He went into the cabinet," one of the creatures said in the language of the drow

The crossbow bolt set his shoulder throbbing, but Pharaun quietly watched for his assailants to appear He blinked, unable to focus clearly, and he suddenly began to feel lightheaded He kept thinking that if he could just cast a spell, this would all be over, but a decision about which one or how to go about doing it eluded hiun to burn, and Pharaun realized that he was groeak The bolt had been coated with poison He would have to hurry to get back to the others before it overwhel the toxin

As his foes both came into Pharaun&039;s line of view, crossbows held up and ready, he could see why they&039;d attacked hiht They were both dark elves, and they wore the livery of House Zauvirr Mentally kicking hiht send someone to their inn on the expectation that he or others in the group ht return, Pharaun tried to phrase the arcane words of a spell, but they wouldn&039;t cohted down their crossbows at hi if it would hurt much to die, and pondered whether or not he could work his rapier free, when he heard a noise The expected twang of crossbows being fired it was not Instead, he heard a wo a quick phrase The wizard squinted, his vision blurry, as a spray of intertwined, ht cascaded over his two foes

Both drow reeled backward fro up their hands to cover their eyes The first one spasmed as crackles of electricity raked over his body froulfed in fla into contact with the red bearound Whether either or both of them were dead or not, he didn&039;t know, nor did he care He was growing intolerably weak from the effects of the poison

"Hello, Pharaun," the voice purred

With an effort, Pharaun opened his eyes again and looked up, realizing who it was

"Aliisza," he slurred, relaxing as the alu came around the couch toward him "How did you find - "

The fiend&039;s slap across Pharaun&039;s face stung i

"What the - " the wizard grunted, rubbing his cheek as Aliisza squatted down beside him, her hand upraised "What&039;s the ain wondered if he could produce the rapier

"How dare you!" the alu growled, one eyebrow arched, but without the acco smile "How could you be interested in that trollop after sharinghly confused Trollop?

"Who in the blazes are you talking about?" he de slap

"Don&039;t you play dumb with me, you wretched excuse for a dark elf You know the one Ihouse I should have gouged her eyes out!"

"Oh, by the Dark Mother," Pharaunat last "It&039;s not what you think"

"Ooh! You ender, it never is I don&039;t want to hear it"

Aliisza reached down, grabbed the wizard by both lapels of hispii, and drew hih kiss, biting his lip so hard he was sure she drew blood In fact, he decided, it felt not soher territory

"That&039;s so you won&039;t forget me so easily If you stray, I&039;ll know it I&039;ll sh with you yet, wizard," Aliisza warned, looking him in the eyes

She blinked, and that sardonic set you to so him over her shoulder, careful of his chest,where the crossbow bolt still protruded

The wizard felt the utter fool, being toted like a sack of mushrooms, but he could hardly protest His entire body feltwell, "fuzzy" was the best word he could think of to describe it

"The satchels," he et the satchels"

Scooping up both Quenthel&039;s and Faeryl&039;s bags, Aliisza carried Pharaun across the room, out the hole he&039;d made in the wall, down the hallway, and back into his own roo the satchels, she ainst the rock wall of the chasm Pharaun watched helplessly as she tossed the packs onto the roof

The alu returned and scooped the wizard up onceand the wall, shoving hiainst the side of the inn, but the pain was strangely dirunt

"By the Abyss, can&039;t you help at all?" she puffed, working the oing nu on the roof of a building that bordered the alley, with his legs dangling over the side, his crossbow in his hands, watching parts of Ched Nasad burn Finally having a chance to really study the layout of the city, hecould see as happening with greater clarity The fighting had dih he could still hear the sounds of combat from a couple of streets over It was mostly the lower sections of the city that see the worst of it, those areas where the lesser races were most numerous He supposed that the violence down there took the for, just a byproduct of the tensions of the city coupled with the her up Of course, he supposed, having a large chunk of the city fall fros

Halisstra sat down beside the weapons master and stared forlornly out at her ho out through any of the city gates," she told Ryld "I told hiht be able to depart unseen, and he&039;s going to see if they&039;re secure"

Ryld only nodded If anyone could sneak through the city unchallenged, itwas the Bregan D&039;aerthe scout He doubted seriously if any exits had been left unguarded, though

"How could this have happened?" Halisstra rown cothere answered "The drow race has been squabbling in a controlled aestured doard, in the direction of the slums - "just feed off of it, now"

"But the fire How is it possible to burn down a cityin Menzoberranzan It&039;shere, because your whole city is suspended on stone webbing They were very clever to bring the firepots here"

"Of course," the drowattached to thelanced over at the dark elf beside hilistened with uncharacteristic tears It was not often that he saw a drow cry It was considered a sign of weakness He found it refreshingly honest in the priestess

"I am sorry for your loss Perhaps ill learn froht Ryld&039;s eye, and he had his crossbow up and was sighting down the shaft in an instant A winged figure, bobbing and weaving haphazardly, e for their position It was a drow, possibly, though it had wings, and it bore a rather large bundle The warrior could tell so Suddenly, he recognized it - the deer, ready to fire a bolt through her heart, before he realized she was carrying Pharaun

As the de, she seemed to lose her balance, and Ryld literally had to reach out and grab her as she went by All three of thered&039;s feet The draegloth stepped between the beautiful creature and the rest of the teae raised, ready to strike "What are you doing here?"

The fiend, whom Pharaun referred to as Aliisza, Ryld reh priestess warily as she panted where she&039;d fallen Sheyour precious wizard back to you, drow," she muttered "I kno fond you are of hie over

Everyone but Jeggred gathered around as the weaponsto find the puncture wound in the wizard&039;s shoulder, a portion of a crossbow bolt still lodged in it Most of the shaft had snapped off during his crash landing

"The bolt is poisoned," Quenthel said, standing over Pharaun&039;s prone body "Healing hiet the poison out of his blood first If we don&039;t, he&039;ll die"

"I could have told you that," Aliisza said, sitting up, though she was still breathing heavily fro these"

She tossed two backpacks at Quenthel&039;s feet

"So, hoe re up fro to the Master of Sorcere "Do any of you have the oth can sense it in his body," she said, patting the whip that was once again hanging from her hip, "but my spells are, of course, lost"

Ryld looked at both Halisstra and Danifae

"How about either of you?"

Both feic," Halisstra confessed, "but I ared continued his vigil over Aliisza but said, "Perhaps our good friend the aed the satchel at his feet

"You&039;d better hope she did," Ryldthe pack over toward Quenthel "There&039;s nothing else we can do for you,profusely Ryld knew the wizard le best chance to escape the city If they lost hiht very well be trapped, unless Valas could find a way out

Quenthel began ru and personal ite her way toward the botto disparaging about the a a waste of space then her face brightened as she pulled a thick tube free

"Ahha!"she said triumphantly "Let&039;s hope these are spells"

She opened the tube, slid out a handful of parch their contents quickly

"Oh, how delightful," she said "Faeryl, you clever girl, where in the Underdark did you steal these from?"

Both Halisstra and Danifae crowded around the Mistress of Arach-Tinilith, each of thees The weapons master could see looks of elation on their faces

"Is there anything helpful?" Ryld de to neutralize the poison?"

"I don&039;t know, yet," Quenthel snapped "Givethrough them rapidly

"Several of these could prove quite helpful," she said, "but I don&039;t see - oh, wait Yes! Pharaun Mizzry for Ryld tooff to the side as Quenthel knelt beside the wizard Laying one hand atop the wound, the high priestess began chanting, reading through the words on the scroll in her hand There was a tiny flash of light as the handwritten text vanished froh Pharaun&039;s body, e from the point where Quenthel&039;s hand touched him