The Drowville Caper: Part II

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After the fishy assassination mission and the rescue of Faire, the party was given a day off to relax, before reporting back to Solo for a new mission. A bit of wandering around town revealed some insights into the oddity that was Drow society. One fighter who killed a slave was in turn killed by his matron, who complained that a good slave was more valuable than a worthless male. A group of slaves were offered for sale but we were told that we couldn't purchase any since we were strangers and had no local House affiliation. You would think a slaver would sell to whomever had the cash, but apparently the Houses wanted to be the exclusive buyers. Street merchants offered items for sale, but nothing really caught the eye.

OK, there was a +4 shield that was attractive, but it was a bit pricey, so we passed on that one. Lastly, one fellow was selling things like Umber Hulks and Spirit trolls who were charmed to temporarily serve their purchasers. The key word here being "temporarily". We decided we could do without dropping a G note for the privilege of dragging around an umber hulk that would probably turn against us in combat. Other odd encounters included several drow tormenting a captive Efreet. We spoke to them but they merely told us to shove off; nor did the efreet have anything constructive to say. Several Yankee Gits were their usual obnoxious selves; MC was rapidly coming to the conclusion that these guys were no better than the various walking fish folks. They mumbled something about a ship, but none was in evidence. Luckily, they didn't sense the presence of their Holy Butter Knife.

The group wandered into a nearby tavern, which was apparently the local equivalent of the Copper Coronet. Here one could relax, have a meal and rent a room for the evening. Here was where we discovered that local inflation had run rampant; the only rooms available cost as much as the Royal Suite at the Coronet ... and they still had rats! There were a few fighters sitting around reminiscing, and we actually chatted a couple of them up for a bit. One gal named Merind started actually telling humorous stories ... she was promptly called out by another, and they dueled.

MC was tempted to join in and help the first Drow he had seen with a sense of humor that didn't consist of inflicting pain on someone, but decided against it. This proved just as well; it seems the whole thing was a religious quarrel. While the majority of the Drow here paid homage to LoL, some apparently had other deities, and Merind apparently was one of them. Prime rule when traveling abroad: never get involved in a local religious dispute; you can't win. Merind ended up the loser. Apparently most Drow, despite worshipping a goddess named LoL, have little sense of humor.

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MC then discovered that one of the prime entertainments here were staged fights in the arena pits, in which he could partake. Now, nothing says "fun, fun, fun" to a half-orc berserker like the prospect of going 2 rounds out of 3 with an umber hulk, so MC signed up, and was an immediate smash hit ... literally. A half dozen fights later, he had exhausted their assortment of beasties, and was offered the option of fighting actual Drow. No problem! Again, the contests were short and one-sided. MC ended up winning a flaming sword in one fight, but he wasn't particularly impressed. HIS sword could talk!

Eventually there were no challengers left for MC to trash. At which point we were asked if we wanted to try some mage combats. Oddly enough, timid little Imoen piped up and volunteered. Most uncharacteristic. Now, she had noted that most drow mage combats consisted of wizards standing off at a distance and tossing spells at one another. This would be inferior tactics for her because the drow had magic resistance, which she lacked. But she had a secret plan. Using her thief training and a +3 short sword, belt of frost giant strength and an improved haste, she would hit them with a breach spell and then beat them into submission physically. Smart girl! This worked for a while, but the opposition kept getting tougher. Her last fight was won by running around the ring slugging down cure potions, casting spider spawn spells, and sniping with her Tuigan bow. There was yet another combatant waiting in the wings, but we knew when to quit. We took our winnings and retired for the night.

When Drow give you a time frame in which to do something, they mean it. We went to meet Solo early the next morning, and he was already grumbling about our tardiness. His next assignment came from up high; the bosses were unhappy with the amount of bowing and scraping the Smurfs were giving them, and we were ordered to whack a Smurf patrol in order to put the fear of LoL into them. Keldorn was appalled at this, and, truth to tell, MC was none too happy either. ("Al" would cheerfully have slaughtered the entire village, but that persona was being suppressed totally at this point. The medication seemed to be working; his therapist was quite hopeful.)

(Another decision choice here so you get another of those silly spoiler thingies.)

As it happened, we noticed that Solo was also dissatisfied; not from any moral considerations, but because he felt the assignment was beneath his station. We eventually persuaded him that we could handle the affair ourselves, and he headed back to Drowville. When a Smurf patrol came by, we warned them about the situation, and grabbed a helmet from the patrol leader, so we could give it to Solo as proof of our obedience. The fact that we could manipulate Solo by using his resentful state of mind was not lost on the observant group.

A triumphant return got us even more props with Solo and Faire.

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Note: I never was able to make anything out of the tortured Efreet or the Githyanki crewmen encounters. Do they actually have any significance, or are they just there to add local ambiance? Exploring the upper levels later on, I did find something called a "Spelljammer" but there appeared to be no way to access this either, nor have I any way of knowing whether this was the "ship" the Githyanki were talking about.