Immoln

The cavern was dark and cold. Boris was getting tired from the long hike Tulan kept his stern mood alive and pushed deep into the twisting network of caves. Boris finally gave up. He moaned out in his high-pitched voice: "Tulan can we please rest for a few minutes, my feet are killing me!" Tulan grumbled under his breath and said: "Fine!" They rested in a large cavern with many openings. The light here was slightly better due to some strange lichen that was growing on the ceiling of the large cave. Boris quickly found a seat on a large rock and took off his soft leather boots and began to rub his sore feet. Tulan found a large flat stone and spread out an old yellowed map, he was holding in a large belt pouch he wore around his waist. Boris said in his meek voice: "Tulan I got a bad feeling about this place, lets just head back to town, we already took some silver off that band of orcs we fought near this cave entrance." Tulan grumbled and cast Boris a cold glare as he said: "Listen that silver is nothing, when we find this treasure you can triple the size of that fat gut of yours." Tulan then slightly lightened his mood and said: "Listen Boris, We are real close, REAL close, soon both of us will have more money that we know what to do with!" Boris calmed down at the thought and even smiled a little bit. He continued to rub his feet and began to check his gear. Boris was not what you would expect of a typical adventurer. He stood about 5 and a half feet tall and had a nice sized belly. His hair was a dark brown mop that went in every direction. His gear was very simple. He wore long brown robes that were typical of a priest. Hanging proudly on his chest was the silver coin, the symbol of his deity Tymora. A simple chain mail shirt that still had its same shine from the store self covered his under developed chest. Around his waist he had a few pouches and a medium holster, which held a small flail. The flail was obviously just for show and probably saw very little use. On the other hand, Tulan is every way was an adventurer. He stood over 6 feet tall and had short black hair that was combed back to keep his alert green eyes free of any obstruction. His body was covered with a suit of field plate armor that had many dings and dents from his countless battles. He wore many pouches around his waist, and a small backpack on his back. Two sheaths could be seen strapped to either side of his body. One larger one with obviously held a well-used sword hung from a loop on his waist while the other was strapped to his thigh and held a small knife or dagger. A dark blue cloak that gave him an even more intimidating appearance shadowed his large frame. Although the two seemed to be such opposites they were extremely close friends. Both had shared many adventures together and traveled a good part of the realms together. Tulan went about his business studying the map they bought from the old man they met in the town of Daggerdale, while Boris began to eat some of his rations. Tulan looked up and saw a piece of Boris's meal fall from his lips and land a deep stain on his robes. He could not help but smirk. He took the backpack off his back and pulled some food out of it for himself. He walked to section of the cavern and leaned back against a part of the wall. Boris looked up at his friend and smiled. 'Boris asked in his meek voice: "So what are you going to do when you have enough to live like a king?" 'Tulan smiled and looked up at his friend: "I am going to retire in a nice small town and hire 10 servants to tend to my needs and have 7 wenches to pleasure, one for every day of the week!" 'Boris chuckled softly and said: "I am going to build a temple in dedication to Tymora and" Boris looked up in horror as he saw to small red pinpricks appear along the dark wall right next to Tulan. Before he could shout out a warning to his friend, a flash of steel and electricity streaked across Tulans face. Boris stood up and stared at his friend who was standing very still. Tulan stared back at Boris with a blank stare then his face paled. He fell to the ground and lay dead in a growing pool of his own blood pouring from a gash in his throat. Boris screamed out in fear and anger. Then his face went pale. The two small pinpricks began to take shape. The were eyes. Eyes that belonged to a drow. The drow began to advance on Boris with slow, calm, confident steps. Boris almost shit his pants,, but then saw the dead body of his best friend and grew enraged. He clutched the symbol of Tymora in his hands and muttered a low prayer to his goddess. A beam of silver light grew around the symbol then began to grow around Boris. The drow slowed his advance and shielded his eyes. The silver light grew and was finally released. It sailed straight from Boris toward the drow and struck the darkelf fully in the chest. Boris turned his eyes away for a moment as a bright flash erupted from where the drow was standing. Boris looked back up and saw nothing of the drow. He was a bit worried but had confidence that Tymora's magic took care of the foul beast. He quickly ran toward the body of his dead friend and began to utter a long prayer to his goddess for healing. As he began his prayer, he jolted forward hard and slammed into the wall as 10 magic missile sailed from across the cave and into his back. Boris used his hands to feel the wall and help him stand again. His vision was blurred, his back was on fire with pain, and his nose was gushing blood from being broken as he slammed face first into the wall. He turned around to see the drow advancing on him once again this time a dagger in one hand and long sword in the other hand. Boris wiped the blood and tears from his eyes and held up his symbol one more time. This time he had no prayer he could use, just yelled out with whatever strength he had left. Boris screamed out in pain and rage: "Back you foul beast, in the name of Tymora I banish you to the Abyss!" The drow looked at Boris and up at the ceiling for a moment then sprinted back the way he came to the far end of the cavern. Boris saw the drow run away and disappear and fell to his knees. He whispers a thousand thanks to his Lady Luck for her help. He then threw his back and was about to yell another cry of prayer to his goddess when a lump the size of a goblin's head formed in his throat. He stared at the ceiling in horror as he saw the most hideous creature he had ever seen in his life. Hanging from the ceiling was a beast that was half-drow and half-spider. It looked at Boris with its arachnid eyes and fell from the ceiling. Boris tried to dive out of the way but he was too slow. The beast, which was a drider a foul creature of the spider bitch lashed out with a nasty looking whip at the legs of Boris, and lashed out Boris torso with another nasty whip. Both whips scored perfect hits wrapping their painful strand of barbed wires around the body of the human that lay defenseless on the ground. Boris screamed out in pain as the strands of the whips sank into his soft flesh. The drider began to gently pull the whips in opposite directions and Boris's pathetic body was lifted off the ground. He continued his screaming but it fell on non-hearing ears. The drider relaxed his pulling and Boris's body began to fall slowly back to the ground, then the drider jerked his arms and pulled the whips in opposite direction with all its strength. Boris's stopped his screaming as his body was torn into two jagged pieces. The drider flicked his wrists and two heaps of bloody flesh that were once human, fell to the ground with a pair of slurping resounding thumps. The drider surveyed the area for any other intruders but saw none. It looked over the second body and saw that it was already dead. The drider turned quickly and raised both of its nasty whips high into the air, and it heard something from behind him. The drider saw a drow approaching it very slowly and quietly. The drider lashed out warning strikes to the ground with its whips telling the drow to stay back. The drow stopped in his tracks. The drow stared hard and long at the giant spider beast. He finally raised his arm up aimed a crossbow at the head of the Drider. The drider flicked his wrists and lashed its whips out toward the drow. The drow was well out of reach of the whips and calmly let his bolt fly loose. The drider ducked under the bolt easily and was getting ready to pounce on the drow for its insolence. When all of a sudden it heard a rumbling from behind it. The drider turned to see a set of large stones propped up near the cavern being set loose as the bolt struck a small support rod. The rocks and stones tumbled quickly and crushed the drider's large body under their massive weight. The drow just stood by for a few minutes and then allowed himself a grin of pure triumph. He walked over toward the trapped cave in and tried to rummage through the debris for the bodies of the humans. He could not locate the heaps of the body that drider killed but did manage to find the body of the large human that he slit the throat of. He searched the body and found some small coin and not much else of use. He finally pulled out the human's weapons and inspected them carefully. The dagger was crap, and not worth much at all. But the sword was quite a prize. It was a long sword well-balanced sword with gems encrusted into its hilt, the blade was razor sharp and covered with many runes. The drow sheathed the sword and strapped it to his back. He buried the rest of the body and items under the rubble and disappeared into the shadows out of one of the openings of the cave. The drow was near the entrance to his city, Levixalt. It was a small drow city that was ruled by 8 noble houses. The nobles would change on yearly basis as new upstart houses would wage wars on the upper houses to gain control. Most of them would fail but then a powerful house would move in and finish off what the lower house could not finish then appoint a supporting house to a position of power. The cycle continued like this for thousands of years and was the sole reason that stopped the drow from fully expanding and conquering all of underdark. The drow rounded the streets of the city with ease and maneuvered the dark allies as if they were the back of his ebony hand. He approached the side gate of his house, House Mlezziir, and was getting ready to make his way back to his barracks. The drow was named Immoln and held no significant position within his house. He was one of many male drow that were there to patrol the perimeter or go on invasions against other houses or out into unchartered Underdark on raiding parties. Basically Immoln was expendable, and he knew it. As Immoln crossed through side gate he gritted his teeth. He saw two foul female drow priestesses of the Spider Bitch standing near the gate. The priestesses never pass up an opportunity to prove their control over the males of the house. As the pair saw Immoln approach they grinned evilly. Immoln tried to move on his way without making eye contact or saying a word. 'One of the priestess yelled out: "You there Male! Come over here now!" Immoln cursed under his breath and turned and walked slowly back to the female drow. 'Immoln said in a low tone: "How may I be of service?" 'The other priestess said in haughty voice: "A pathetic male like yourself, you probably could be of no service whatsoever! Both the females shared a wicked laugh at the expense of Immoln. He stood there silently and stared at the ground so they would not see him grinding his teeth. He moved his hand to the hilt of his dagger and gripped it firmly, wishing for nothing more than to lash out with it and slice the bitch's throat. Of course, Immoln knew this would mean suicide on his part. The priestesses spat out a few more insults about Immoln then dismissed him with a wave of her hand. Immoln bowed slightly and turned to walk back toward his barracks. As he turned to move away the priestess raised her eyebrow. 'She said in commanding tone: "Wait" Immoln grit his teeth again and turned to face them one more time. 'The female drow said: " Let me see that" as she pointed to the long sword sheathed on his back. Immoln silently cursed his luck and he unstrapped his sword and handed it over hilt first to the female drow. The priestess unsheathed the sword and studied it carefully 'She said: "Where did such a lowly drow find such a weapon?" 'Immoln said through clenched teeth: "I bought it" 'The Female asked in a harsh tone: "From whom!?" 'Immoln answered: "I don't know the merchants name, he met me in a dark ally a few nights ago" The female drow looked over the blade and at one another then whispered a few times to each other. 'The female said in harsh tone: "Ok drow you may go on your way, the blade we will keep think of the favor Lloth will give you when she knows you gave this fine blade for her service." The female cackled demonically and turned their back on Immoln. He clenched his fists till his knuckles turned white and turned away and stormed back to his room. He approached his quarters, which were very small, all it contained was a small bed and a single self. He threw his items onto the self and pulled out a loose board from under his bed and deposited his coins he took from the corpse from the human. Immoln then sat on his bed and grew more enraged at the way he was treated by the female drow. But he did not have time to dwell on the situation just as yet. He gathered a book from the floorboard and small leather bag and made his way through the corridors of the soldier's wing to outside of the house. This time he stayed cleared all gates and moved toward the 10-foot stonewall that surrounded the Mlezziir compound. He ascended over the wall as if it were nothing. From atop the wall he crouched low and studied the nearby area. He waited for the house patrols to leave and then leaped from the wall and moved from shadow to shadow through the city. He passed many drow along the way, and many drow would be missing their purses. As he rounded the bend in a section of the city he saw an interesting site ahead of him. It was a female drow from another house, not a noble house a house that was on the same standing as Mlezziir. She was being accompanied through they city by a pair of two male drow warriors. Although Immoln knew how to fight he was not as capable a warrior as the soldiers that accompanied the female. Immoln always preferred tact and unseen advantages when in combat situations. He stood silent and unseen in the shadows until the perfect opportunity was presented to him. The males walked right past Immoln without noticing him and the female was within arm's length of him. As she passed by he lashed with amazing speed and cut a pouch clean off her belt. She had no idea what just happened. Immoln stood quietly for a few more minutes and let the party move out of view before he moved. He snuck from shadow to shadow to his destination, and abandoned old guard tower on the outskirts of they city. Immoln moved around the back of the tower and pushed a loose stone, a grinding noise was heard and a section of the back to tower moved revealing a stairway leading down. Immoln quickly descended the steps and grinned as the stones moved back into the position behind him. Immoln silently moved along a thin corridor and made his way toward a door at the end of the hallway. Immoln carefully runs his finger along a stone near the edge of the door and finds a button. He pushes the button and loud click can be heard, and he opens the door. Immoln enters a small dark room that contains a pair of black chair and a large wooden table. Immoln grins and he meets the gaze of an old male drow sitting quietly in one of the chairs reading a large leather bound book. The old drow looks up from his book and nods and continues with his reading. Immoln resets the trap in the door and strides toward the other chair and takes a seat. He pulls out the various pouches and purses he has stolen from tonight and the past few nights. The old male drow closes his book and looks up at Immoln then at the bounty lining the wooden table. 'The old drow says in a calm tone: "It has been a few days, I figured you were caught and had your hands cuts off and fed to some flayers somewhere I was getting ready to find myself a new apprentice." 'Immoln said in a fake haughty tone: "Bah, I won't get caught, and pretty soon I will have to kill you and find myself an apprentice." Both the male drow shared a grin at the comment but kept their thoughts quiet. The old drow was quite frail and seemed to be quite weak. But his appearance was very deceiving. His long white hair had some silver streaks in it revealing his ancient age. Large dark bags had formed under his gray eyes. He dressed very simple, he wore long jet-black robes and flowed around his body as if they moved on their own. Immoln looked at his mentor and thought back to when they first met. The old drow whose name was Elvazzarn was an ancient male drow that used to be a lead mage in one of the noble houses of Levixalt. But Elvazzarn lost his position, Immoln never learned why, probably because he didn't care. Immoln was picking pockets as usual on the dark street cities of city one day. When Elvazzarn, spotted him. He watched Immoln for days watching him steal pouches right off drow that didn't have a clue they were just robbed, one day Immoln was caught. The male drow was a large one and warrior at that, he would have killed Immoln in a matter of seconds in a straight battle. Immoln quickly ran into a dark ally but was pursued by the large male drow. He rounded ally after ally trying to lose the warrior but could not, finally he was trapped when he ran into a dead end ally. Immoln tried to think of a way to get away but could not find any. He finally just drew his dagger and turned to face his assailant. The large drow drew his long sword and dagger and advanced on Immoln getting ready to kill him. When all of a sudden a streak of lighting flashed from one of the building tops and struck the warrior dead. Immoln looked up to see an older male drow standing on top of the building and staring down at him. Immoln quickly considered his options, he didn't know if the older drow saved his life, or just missed with the lightning bolt and hit the wrong drow. He bet the right answer was the second choice. He quickly looked toward the end of the ally and bolted as fast as he could in an attempt to find some shadows and get away. He ran a three strides when he suddenly felt no friction or surface under his feet. Immoln looked down in astonishment to find himself floating a clear 5 feet off the ground he was even more shocked to find that he was ascending at an even faster pace. Immoln tried to twist and reach out with his arms in an attempt to grab the sides of building, but it was to no avail. Finally Immoln's accent halted. He found himself face to face with an old male drow wearing long black robes that seemed to move on their own accord. The old drow had long white hair and dark gray eyes, with signs of dark bag forming under them. He grinned slightly and he looked over Immoln who was still struggling while floating in midair. 'The old drow said in a quiet whisper: "If you really want I can release the spell and let you fall back to the ground." Immoln looked back at the 40-foot drop to the ground, and thought for a moment if he could survive the fall. He quickly dismissed the thought knowing that even if he did survive he would have broken bones, and being disabled is worse than being dead in the drow society. 'Immoln asked in his calm tone: "Who are you old man?" The old drow chuckled at the weak insult and his grin grew a bit more wide. 'He said in his quiet whisper: "I am your savior, oh yes, do not think for a moment that my bolt of lightning was misguided." With the ending of his statement the old drow waved his hands and mutter two words. Immoln floated forward near the edge of the building and was suddenly released from his floating. He fell quickly and almost missed the roof of the building. Immoln felt himself falling and quickly reached out with both arms. He grabbed the ledge of the roof and pulled himself up was within three feet of the old drow in a low crouch within a blink of an eye. Immoln stared hard at the old drow while scanning the rooftop for ways to escape and get back to the streets below. The old drow just continued to grin. 'The old drow said: "Please, if I wanted you dead, you would be standing here as a zombie by now" 'Immoln said: "So what is you want Old Man?" 'The old drow spoke in a slow whisper: "First off I guess I should tell you my name, since I don't like being called old man, I am known as Elvazzarn of no house." Immoln pondered a thought as he tried to remember the name. He had heard of this Elvazzarn before but just not sure where or when. The it hit him. 'Immoln bowed slightly and said: "I am known as Immoln of house Mlezziir" 'Elvazzarn grinned and said: "So I take it you have heard my name before. Let me ask you a question now, do you feel you are a true member of your house?" Immoln thought for a moment but remained silent. He knew this might be a trap set up by the priestesses of Lloth. Elvazzarn simply grinned. 'Elvazzarn said: "Ok you are free to go now, just remember I have seen you before and I will be watching you again." Immoln did not waste anytime in leaping over the ledge and descending the wall back to the street level within moments he was just a shadow on another street. Immoln shook the nostalgia from his mind and paid attention to the task at hand. He looked at Elvazzarn who had already began to go thru the pouches that Immoln had picked. Immoln began to open and empty the contents of the remaining pouches as well. Elvazzarn hmmed. He picked up a ring that had a symbol of a black spider on it and looked at Immoln with a stern look. 'Elvazzarn stated: "Did I not tell you to stay away from the purses of the bitch of Lloth? They can track these rings and they are worthless to me, since I can not get rid of them." Immoln sat quietly and watched as Elvazzarn muttered arcane phrases and threw the ring into the air. He pointed his long finger at the ring and a green bolt flew from his hand and into the ring shattering it into shards. Many of the shard flew and hit Immoln square in the chest. It was obviously intended. Immoln growled, then grumbled and went back to sorting through the remaining goods. 'Elvazzarn said after some time: " Not a bad pull, except for the ring, this is the last time I will tell you, don't steal from the drow priestesses!" 'Immoln nodded and said: "Shall we move to the next room for tonight's lesson?" Elvazzarn nodded and muttered two words and suddenly vanished. Immoln grinned since his practice in underdark taught him to conduct that same spell. Immoln now uttered the same phrases and vanished. Immoln blinked back into exisistence in a large cavern with a single door and various targets and objects scattered throughout the room. Many of the walls in this caves were charred black, others were covered with stale bloodstains. Broken chairs and tables lay strewn about in some corners even the walls and floor of some parts of the cave were ripped apart creating small chasms. He looked up and saw Elvazzarn seated in his chair near the end of the cavern. 'Elvazzarn said in a quiet tone: "I see you have been practicing the Art. I hope it has not been within city limits?" 'Immoln quickly said: "Of course not, I was patrolling the outer areas for iblith and practiced the spells." Elvazzarn nodded and muttered a few phrases and threw sulfur into the air, and quickly pointed his fist at Immoln. Immoln began to counter chant and soon as he heard Elvazzarn begin his chant. A huge ball of flame erupted and flew with massive speed toward Immoln. Immoln threw some granite onto the ground and pointed a section of the floor and as he continued his chanting the cavern filled with a rumble as a stonewall began to rise straight from the ground between Elvazzarn and Immoln. However the wall only rose to a height of five feet then stopped. The fireball struck the wall and was mostly stopped but the upper portion of the flames sailed past the stone defense and right at Immoln. Immoln quickly looked up and snapped his fingers, within a second of being burned to death he blinked directly ten feet to his left. He looked and saw the ball of flame harmlessly strike the far back wall. He looked back at Elvazzarn and saw that the old drow was already chanting again. Immoln quickly rolled forward to close the gap between himself and his teacher and drew some rose petals from his leather bag. He uttered two words and threw the petals at Elvazzarn. The old drow held up his hand and finished his chanting and blew into his palm. A strong gust of wind carried the petals away from Elvazzarn and right back at Immoln. Immoln snapped his fingers again and found himself 10 feet to the right of where he was. He began to chant a spell when he was struck in the chest by 15 magic missiles. The blow from the missiles threw him back 10 feet where he landed with a resounding thump and elongated groan on the floor. 'Elvazzarn chuckled and said: " Not bad you lasted a whole 3 minutes this time." The old drow continued to chuckle as he walked over to the drow writhing in pain on the ground. 'Elvazzarn said: "Here you know what to do with this" Immoln looked at the blue vial, which he had seen a thousand times before and nodded with extreme pain. He quickly opened the vial and drank the entire contents. Within a few minutes he was fine and back up and walking toward Elvazzarn's chair. Come let us continue with the lesson. This lesson was harder to learn but easier on Immoln's body. Elvazzarn opened a large book and sat down with Immoln and tried to explain some of the runes to him. The studying went on for hours. Immoln bowed to his mentor and made his way back into the other room and through the door to the stairs at the end of the tower. He strode from shadow to shadow back to his barracks and quickly made his way into his room. Inside his room he quickly hid his book and bag in the loose floorboard and collapsed on his bed exhausted from the day. Immoln awoke the next day to sound of an alarm ringing in his barracks. He heard his captain shouting that the house was under attack. Immoln took his time getting his gear together and left into the hallway. His captain cast him a stern look of hate at his tardiness and ordered him into the lower cellar to fight the kobolds and goblins that were trying to invade the house. Immoln made his way toward the entrance to the cellar. He was sure to check to make sure there were no sounds of battle before he entered. As soon as he descended to the lower levels he blended into the shadows and followed the sounds of battle. He came upon a pathetic scene. A score of drow were fighting back about 230 kobolds. There were no goblins amongst the fodder. The battle would be over very quickly with very little loss to the drow maybe one or two drow warriors would fall.(War or invasion is the best time to get rid of in house enemies, the dead drow will find that they did not fall to wounds caused by kobolds) Immoln sat silently hidden in the shadows and watched the battle unfold. It was almost over with most of the kobolds dead and a few trying to escape. Immoln watched and remained hidden, no need for him to catch a dagger in his back by one of his "friends." He was about to turn to leave when he smelt something. He was not sure what it was but he knew it was familiar and it meant trouble. He then realized what it was, sulfur. There was a mage somewhere nearby hidden in the shadows. Immoln quickly dipped back around the bend out of view and pulled some talc from his leather bag and chanted a quick spell. He closed his eyes in pain then silently moved back into position on the corner. He looked at the scenes this time with a different pair of eyes. He saw not only a drow mage cloaked in magic in the corner, but he saw about a score of warriors also cloaked in magic surrounding the cavern. All the warriors had crossbows loaded and ready to fire. The crossbows were very deadly weapons when used by the drow. They coat each of their bolts with a very nasty and ' effective sleeping powder. Immoln saw what was going to happen and knew his house was going to fall. The last of the kobold was killed and the of warriors 19 still stood. The drow knocked the signal back on the cellar door telling them to open the door. As soon as the door opened the mage rushed forward and unleashed his massive fireball. The drow 19 drow in the cellar were toast but the ball of flame was so huge and destructive the heat sailed into the lower levels of the house killing countless more above. Immoln dove back around the bend to avoid the blaze, he was far enough away to not be burned to death but knew he might catch a few burns he really didn't want. The invading drow warriors sprang into action very soon thereafter, the ascended the open door still under the cover of the magic and ran to position probably already determined by some master tactician in their house. Immoln knew his house was gone, and did wish to risk his neck to warn his 'superiors' about the invisible drow already in the house. He made his way back to the entrance he used to gain access to the cellar. He ascended the stairs and found that the door was locked. the cellar. He ascended the stairs and found that the door was locked. Immoln considered his options, then began to chant. He snapped his fingers and found himself on the other side of the door. He heard the commotion and sounds of battle ensuing from the nearby rooms. He did not care, he hoped that the damn house fell, he hoped the damn city fell. He took to the shadows and made his way back to his barracks. He found his captain in battle with two invading drow warriors. His captain fought hard to keep them back, in fact he was gaining ground. The captain had already scored nasty hits on one of the drow with his pair of long swords. One of the long swords the captain was using looked very familiar to Immoln. It was the one he had taken from the dead human, and later lost to the slaves of the Spider Bitch. Immoln waited in the shadows for his opportunity. His captain landed a deathblow with a double thrust to the injured drow, now it was one on one. The invading drow knew he would lose this battle so he tried to run. He ran right past the spot where Immoln was hiding. The captain pursued and ran the same path. However, when he passed Immoln he was not so lucky. A dagger flashed like lighting from the shadows and struck the captain clean in the throat. The captain fell to the ground dead instantly, but only one long sword hit the ground after the he died. Immoln looked at his blade once again and grinned evilly. The invading drow turned to see Immoln and began to cackle. Nice work, how goes the rest of the invasion? Immoln simply shrugged and put his dagger into the drow's neck as well. He quickly looted the corpses of any coins or valuables, and followed the shadows back to his room. He entered his room and gathered all his items of interest and fled the scene. House Mlezziir was soon to fall, the invading house was one of the noble houses and far more powerful than Mlezziir. Immoln didn't care he was on his way out. He quickly moved toward the wall surrounding the compound and ascended it like he had done so many times before. He leapt from the building and made his way through the streets back to Elvazzarn's tower. Immoln rounded the last bend and came upon a horrific site. The guard tower that he practiced below was on fire. It had been attacked and was completely destroyed. Immoln looked carefully and saw a group of 3 female drow and a score of male drow warriors surrounding the area. He then saw another site that had him worried. He saw Elvazzarn battered and worn in a stockade being led by 3 male drow warriors. Immoln listened intently to the conversation of the females. He heard them talk about the old male having an accomplice, one female said yes that was the one that stole my pouch with the ring in it. Immoln looked back at his mentor and knew what he had to do. He chanted softly and snapped his fingers. He blinked right in front of the drow leading the stockade. Before the warrior could respond Immoln plunged his dagger into the drow's kidney and twisted it. Immoln threw the dead body aside and cleared the hair from his mentor's face. Elvazzarn looked up at Immoln and showed no emotion. Immoln cut his teacher's throat and snapped his fingers. He blinked back to the spot where he was but he knew he was not in the clear. He looked and saw that Elvazzarn's body had fell to the ground dead, he also saw the warriors charging after him. The females were barking orders and pointing at Immoln. One of the females began a long and low chant. Immoln didn't wait around to find out what the spell was. He ran like a bat outta hell. Winding through city streets and sneaking through back allies. Immoln finally realized he had no place to go within the city. He spent the next three days on the roof of an old building near the outskirts of the city. Immoln knew he was out of comps and would no longer be able to hide himself from magical detection within the city. He knew he had one option leave the city. A drow alone in underdark, doesn't stand a chance, but Immoln knew he stood no chance within the city. He left that moment. He wandered along the caverns and avoided conflicts with duergar and other underdark inhabitants. One day while wandering he had a close encounter with an Umber Hulk. Nasty creatures indeed with claws that go right through stone walls. Immoln avoided a battle that night since he was under nourished and out of magical comps. Immoln wandered and wandered till he saw an opening in one of the caves. He didn't care much where he went so he left through the opening. Immoln found himself in the largest cavern he had ever seen. The area was huge and the ceiling seems to cavern he had ever seen. The area was huge and the ceiling seems to dotted with very tiny lights. When Immoln looked at them for too long his eyes would burn. Immoln found some shelter within this large cave and took some rest. While Immoln was resting he was assaulted by the most horrendous thing he could think of. First the ceiling of the cave began to turn red then it began to glow even brighter. All around him Immoln saw the world begin to become covered in light. He screamed out in pain as his skin began to burn and his eyes swelled up with water. It was so bright that Immoln could not see, he finally passed out blind from the pain. The ordeal came and went for three full days. Finally on the fourth day Immoln began to adjust somewhat. All of his drow gear and weapons were long gone, destroyed by the hellfire that blazed in the sky. The only thing he had were his coins book and the sword he had taken from the human. Immoln then realized where he was, he was on the dreaded surface, home of the iblith. Immoln sought shelter when he knew the hellfire would be at full terror and moved about the area during the night when it was nice and dark. He hunted for food and found water in a nearby pond. He even found a few components for some simple spells that he used. Immoln realized that he was going to have to make his mark on this accursed place, he knew from stories from Elvazzarn and drow raiding parties here that this place was full of treasure and ruled by simple- minded, weak, foolish iblith. The hellfire was a torture but Immoln knew the rewards would be fitting.