The Age of Worms / Hall of Harsh Reflections pt. 10 / Eire the 4th, 3592 CE / 8-18-19

Overcome with jealousy at the sight of Corvina Deshokar's new deep gnome slave, Rikit Bhang mercilessly strikes the helpless creature down with a swing of Sliver, his scimitar, before quaffing another invisibility potion to escape unseen from the enclave of Corvina and her fellow drow thralls, and return to his companions, who, thanks to the shouts of a drow guard on the other side of the stuck gate, he knows are fighting off drow themselves. Indeed, Lulu and Los are in the fight of their lives, while Graft, Rikit's tumor familiar, lies sleeping from the effects of drow poison. As the other drow returns from warning her fellows, Los fells one drow through deft swordplay, while Lulu uses her supernatural abilities to feed upon the creature's soul. Rikit arrives just in time to help Los slay the second drow guard, though not without angering the snake creature who resides within the pool outside the gate to the drow enclave, the one who demanded that Rikit "tell [her] a story." As Rikit, Los, and Lulu reconvene and rally their forces, they decide to forge ahead once more into the caverns, Rikit acting under the impression that the snake creature may herself be the mysterious "Zyrxog," and that killing her may free his beloved Corvina from her compulsion. When they confront the snake creature in her lair, Lulu attempts diplomacy, even offering up a story, but the aggression of her companions puts the creature off, and is returned in kind, at which point there seems to be no route to a peaceful resolution. At that moment, the combined might of Corvina and her guards finally breaks through the barrier that Rikit had previously locked in place. As drow pour into the pool room and begin firing on the party, the snake creature laments the interruption of the story and flees into the water. Los once more uses her deeper darkness to attempt to even the odds, while Rikit flees at the prospect of being forced to harm his beloved Corvina. When Lulu is felled by the negative energy of Corvina's evil prayers, Los counters with prayers of her own, saving the oracle's life. At that moment, the snake creature slips through the darkness to carry Lulu to a hidden chamber, for the purpose of hearing the conclusion of her story. Corvina rushes in the direction Rikit fled, hoping to cut off the party's escape, and Los risks further harm by dropping her darkness spell long enough to search for Lulu. As bolts rain down upon her, Los hears the sound of a distant conversation on the other side of the chamber wall, and realizes Lulu must have been taken into the water. And so, covering herself once more in impenetrable darkness, Los descends into the pool. As she hopes her breath will hold out, Los discovers the hole through which the snake must have taken her companion.