Hated Enemies

Claudia and I followed Lily and Willow underground. The dark halls rang with the sound of a fight, but neither of us could see anything. Claudia cast a light spell, which revealed the continuation of the wires from the dragon’s cage. Neither of our friends were in sight. Claudia used a location spell, which showed that the girls had separated upon arrival. As much as I wanted to follow the wires to find out where they led, Claudia was concerned about Lily. The dark elves used magic and silver weapons capable of hurting Lily badly. We agreed to help the werewolf.
 
It turned out to be a good call. We found Lily bleeding and struggling to gain an advantage against a dark elf male. Claudia’s light spell blinded the elf as we came around the corner, giving Claudia the chance to use lightning against him. He was almost able to dodge, but the spell knocked him to the ground, allowing me to get to Lily. The elf tried to run, but in his blindness, ran straight into Claudia. He tried to cast Shocking Grasp. She was able to turn his own spell against him.
 
Willow found us as the dark elf dropped. She told us there were miners in the tunnels, and at least some of them were unarmed dark elves. As much as she hated to kill an unarmed creature, the one she had seen tried to run off to inform his superiors. She had no choice but to take him out.
 
Honestly, that is no great loss. The dark elves had proved time and time again that the only culture they care about is their own and anyone else is considered an enemy or a slave. Usually a slave. May the Morrigan take his soul to the deepest Hells.
 
We followed the wires through the tunnels to a large room filled with strange machine. There, we found two slaves tending the machines with a dark elf overseer keeping watch. Each of the slaves had a control collar around their necks that could be used to punish, or even kill, them. I quietly spoke to the slave nearest us, a human male. He told us they were draining the dragon’s power, but didn’t know why. He also said that the overseer’s sister was going to enjoy a group entirely composed of women, especially a priestess.
 
Before we could find out anything more, the overseer saw us. She taunted us, pointing out what lovely slaves we would make. She also showed off the whip at her side, stating that she looked forward to using it against us as it was a special whip that could hit the target three times for every attack. Claudia was instantly determined to make the whip her own. During the exchange, I convinced the slave to get around the corner and out of harm’s way. The overseer summoned a displacer beast to keep the rest of us back as she and Claudia prepared to fight. Valkyng’s rage tore through me at the presence of such an unholy beast and a called upon his will to banish the thing. The overseer’s distraction at her pet being so easily dispatched gave Claudia the opportunity to summon the whip out of the dark elf’s hand. As the mage fell into a battle of wills with the enchanted weapon, Lily attacked the overseer. The threw her easily across the room. But that gave the overseer the chance to order her other slave to stand between her and the angry fighter. Lily hestitated. At the overseer’s command, the slave prepared to attack. We could see the fear in her eyes.
 
Before the slave could try anything, another voice called out from outside the room, teasingly telling the overseer not to get the pretty slave killed. The overseer’s sister came in, her eyes lighting up at our all-female party. She was particularly intrigued with Claudia and me. But for the fight, she fixated on Lily, sensing something strange about her. She challenged the werewolf to a one-on-one duel, completely unaware of what she was getting herself into. Concerned that the overseer would try something while the duel was going on, I cast Prayer of Protection on myself and everyone near me, including the male slave. Since Lily was outside my reach, the spell did not violate the terms of the duel. The sister cast a spell to reveal Lily’s true nature. Realizing she was about to fight one of Valkyng’s chosen warriors, she regretted the challenge, but could not back out without losing face. The battle was short and brutal, with Lily gaining the upper hand quickly. But she also lost control and nearly killed the sister. We still needed to learn what the dark elves were doing with the dragon and the strange machine. I called on Valkyng’s help and used my Divine Voice to calm Lily. She backed away to let the rest of deal with the elves.
 
The overseer knew when she was beat. After losing to surface dwellers like this, she could not return to her own people. While she refused to tell us anything about the elves’ plans, she did agree to free all her slaves in exchange for the opportunity to escape into exile. The sister, on the other hand, was more than willing to give up everything, provided members of our party were willing to have sex with her. Claudia and Lily agreed. The sister told us that the elves had been gathering the dragon’s essence and distilling it into a highly addictive and dangerous powder that they planned to sell to drug dealers on the surface. We all decided quickly that this was far beyond something we could handle. Brie went back up to the surface to send for the Queen’s Daggers to come take control of the situation. While we waited for their arrival, we freed the slaves and the evidence.
 
This was certainly not what we expected when we headed up that mountain, but it was quite the spectacular way to end the problem of the bronze dragon.