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"I have tricked tanar’ri to go to your city, Menzoberranzan, and soon I reat Errtu roared "And I cannot even go to this place and join in their havoc, or even to retrieve the device that showed hies only, as this e tih, and now thea clear scene of House Oblodra, wedged between the fingers of the Clawrift Fiends great andstrong fists against the stone, hurling threats and htly, for even with their psionic powers, and the fact that the fiends’ ic fared no better than anyone else’s, the otherworldly beasts were si, their minds too warped by evil to be es
And they were backed by a united ar in wait behind the fiendish lines Hundreds of crossbows and javelins were pointed House Oblodra’s way Scores of drow riding sticky-footed subterranean lizards stalked the walls and ceiling near the doomed house Any Oblodran that showed her face would be hit by a barrage fro the third house fro the Spider Queen whose arhtly so!"
The beautiful drow, back in the Abyss once e and nine parts bluster No tanar’ri ever had to be "tricked" into going to the Material Plane, where it ht wreak havoc That was their very nature, the most profound joy in their miserable existence
"You ask ive much in return," Lloth reminded hilowing eyes narrowed at the tanar’ri’s continuing sarcasift that could potentially free the fiend fro
"The four glabrezu will be difficult to retrieve," Errtu went on, feigning exasperation, playing this out to the extreme "They are always difficult!"
"No more so than a balor," Lloth said in blunt response Errtu turned on her, his face a mask of hatred
"The Time of Troubles nears its end," Lloth said cale
"It has been too long!" Errtu roared
Lloth ignored the tone of the coed and overburdened to prevent her fro er to my eyes than to your own, fiend," the Spider Queen retorted
Errtu muttered a curse under his smelly breath
"But it nears its end," Lloth went on, quietly, cal surface just as a great winged tanar’ri soared up out of the Clawrift, clutching a sreat fists The pitiful catch could not have been more than three feet tall and seemed less than that in the ed vest that did not hide its rust-colored scales, a vestof the tanar’ri’s clawed grasp
"A kobold," Errtu remarked
"Known allies of House Oblodra," Lloth explained "Thousands of the wretches run the tunnels along the chasrasped the kobold with its other clawed hand as well, and ripped the squealing thing in half
"One less ally of House Oblodra," Errtu whispered, and from the pleased look on the balor’s face, Lloth understood Errtu’s true feelings about this whole event The great tanar’ri was living vicariously through hisoff the scene
It crossed Lloth’s ift Why should she repay the fiend for doing so it so obviously wanted to do?
The Spider Queen, never a fool, shook the thoughts fro Errtu what she had promised Her eyes were set on the conquest of Mithril Hall, on forcing Matron Baenre to extend her grasp so that the city of droould be less secure, and more chaotic, ade Do’Urden was nothing to her, though she surely wanted him dead
Who better to do that than Errtu? Lloth wondered Even if the renegade survived the co war-and Lloth did not believe he would-Errtu could use her gift to force Drizzt to call him from his banishment, to allow hihty balor’s first goal would undoubtedly be to exact vengeance on the renegade Drizzt had beaten Errtu once, but no one ever defeated a balor the second tih to understand that Drizzt Do’Urden would be far luckier indeed if he died swiftly in the co war
She said nothat in giving it to Errtu, she was, in effect, giving herself a present "When the Time of Troubles has passed,the tanar’ri back to the Abyss," Lloth said
Errtu did not hide his surprise well He knew that Lloth had been planning son, and he assu beside the drow arh, the fiend recognized her reasoning If a horde of tanar’ri ainst thereat power from the upper planes
Also, both Lloth and Errtu kneell that the drow priestesses, powerful as they were, would not be able to control such a horde once the raun
"All but one," Errtu corrected
Lloth eyed hio to Drizzt Do’Urden," the fiend explained "To tell the fool what I have, and what I require in exchange for it"
Lloth considered the words for a moment She had to play this out carefully She had to hold Errtu back, she knew, or risk cohtforward conquest of the dwarven halls, but she could not let the fiend know her arht Lloth’s reat fiend’s only chance at getting back to the Material Plane anytime soon, in jeopardy, he would covertly oppose her
"Not yet," the Spider Queen said "Drizzt Do’Urden is out of the way, and there he shall stay until my city is back in order"
"Menzoberranzan is never in order," Errtu replied slyly
"In relative order," Lloth corrected "You will have your gift when I give it, and only then will you send your erowled threateningly
"The Tily face "My powers return in full Beware your threats, balor, else you shall find yourself in a more wretched place than this!"