Makara IC

Ketha gives a polite nod. "I am Drachedandion Ketha of Thaloom. We thank you for your invitation."

History check result for Adelinde:
The drow aka dark elves are elves that at some point long long ago split off from the other elves due to their worship of the dark goddess Lolth who wished for all fey creatures to worship her as their queen mother/official deity above all others. They were driven away from the other elves and went to live in the Underdark. They are said to raid the surface and take slaves and many other nasty things like being avid poisoners and constantly feuding between themselves for power and status (but as DB pointed out OOC, plenty of nasty things are said about tieflings true and not all of them are true or at least true for all tieflings more than any blanket statement is true about humans). It is known they raise and train giant spiders as mounts and pets. It's also known they are a matriarchal society, usually lead by the priestesses of Lolth.
In modern times.... well as far as Adelinde knows sightings of them in Makara even during the time of Kelfas were exceedingly rare and only in small groups. If there was any large battle involving drow and Kelfas, she's not come across any reference to such (which doesn't mean it couldn't have happened, there are plenty of gaps in Adelinde's historical knowledge). They haven't popped up after the fall of Kelfas either as far as she knows (then again she comes from an isolated island). This is the first time in her life she's even seen one and she hasn't ever even heard of even a second hand account of anyone seeing one. (Then again, island.)

"Adelinde" She says as she considers the situation with a slight wince before making an effort to move her hand away from her sword and get into a more relaxed posture. "No one here's looking to start a fight so how about we all stop pointing weapons at each other and speak in less... tense conditions?"

stuff:

Zarethria nods in understanding to Adelinde and looks back to the other drown and gives them a "lower your weapons" sort of gesture. At which point they archers lower their bows and put their arrows back in their quivers and the swordsmen take their hands away from their swords.

She turns back for a moment to make sure your group hasn't decided to suddenly attack or something and then starts to walk away and then a moment later looks back and realizes that at least Adelinde isn't moving yet. She turns all the way back around to face the group and gives Adelinde a look that says "Ok, I guess we're not done here yet. Go ahead and say whatever you have to say."

Steam still blind, continues to stand still. She seems somewhat distressed, fidgeting a little as Parveth skirts over to her. The two whisper.
"Steam, drink your potion. You must see, and your light is not tenable in this situation."
"I'd really rather not, I can just...I'll make it dim!"
"Do not. Your light is too bright. They will not take you being on fire as acceptable. Just drink your potion. It will be like the cavern is lit."
"No it'll just...just a little flame..." Steam is almost drooling in desperation and seriously considering magically igniting her hand.

Adelinde steps forward from her group and clears her throat slightly as she thinks of how to word her questions. Calling upon her etiquette lessons in her youth she gives the drow councilor a polite bow, imitating a curtsy by pulling up the ends of her robes slightly. "Thank you for your time Councilor I'd just hope that you could clear up some questions we have about your people. We have very little information about your kind on the surface and what little we do is not exactly...conducive to being proper guests of your people. As such..." She rises from her bow as she says this pausing for a moment to let what she's said sink in and take a breath to disguise her looking for any reaction at her assumption they're to be guests. "What can we expect in visiting your city? Are we to meet someone in particular or are we to be escorted to the limits and then left largely to our own devices as travelers? Are we to be escorted at all times in either case? Are there any particular cultural rules or taboos we should know about to avoid an incident? Such as anything we should be certain to do or avoid doing so as not to seem rude? Or any laws we as outsiders must be careful not to break that we might not be aware of? or anything else you can think of we might need to know to avoid causing trouble? Would we be welcome as outsiders by your people in general or should we be sure to stay close to guards or officials?" She finishes and takes another breath, watching the councilor and the other drow for their reactions.

stuff:

Zarethria considers Adelinde's questions for a few moments before responding, "It would be best going forwards if you addressed me either as Zarethria or as Lesser Councilor, we would not wish for the other Councilors to come to the conclusion I mislead you about my station. Most likely you will be accompanied by myself or at least one of my guards at all times as we have in the past had outsiders who caused trouble. I cannot say for sure exactly as it will likely depend on how you behave and what information you are willing to give us and how the other Councilors feel this information should be responded to. As long as you do not take things that do not belong to you or harm others or a variety of other actions I am sure are still criminal activities on the Surface, you should be fine. I would suggest not interfering in the personal business of others, partially because you might offend but also because you might become tangled up into matters you'd rather not become a part of. As outsiders you won't be expected to know our culture so I wouldn't worry much about that, though if you have any negative predispositions towards the worship of Lolth you may wish to restrain yourselves. Keeping an open mind would be even better, but I'm not a priestess so it's not my job to speak on matters of faith. I would suggest not leaving the city unaccompanied even if you are left to your own devices, for your own safety. The Underdark is a dangerous place and our neighboring city of Malnibonae does practice slavery of non-elf kind so I would not advise visiting unless you were accompanied by myself or someone of similar standing."

At the end she gestures off to her right (your left) to indicate where the city of Malnibonae is, but your eyes haven't adjusted well enough to see it quite yet.

"If you are willing, we would like to escort you into the city and ask you some questions in the company of scribes while we provide you with a meal and perhaps entertainment afterwards if that would be to your liking."

((Adelinde is pretty sure Zarethria is telling the truth, though Adelinde also picks up on that Zarethria wants to ensure you are in the city as soon as possible, probably to avoid you running off or something before you could answer her questions or provide information.

Adelinde also gets that Zarethria wants you to not call her "Councilor" to avoid causing any pretense to cause her political/scheming type troubles. And that she was warning you against getting too involved with random drow because you're likely to get caught up into someone's schemes. Overall from her words it seems like the city would be safe for you, but you could easily get caught up into trouble if you weren't careful... which might be hard to do if you were by yourselves since you don't know about the culture and the history and the people of the city.

While she doesn't show any particular signs of prejudice against any of you, she seems more pleased about Parveth existing than the rest of you.))

Seeing as Adelinde has the diplomacy situation under control, Ketha moves in front on Steam and lowers herself to be closer to the genasi's height, whispering "Steam, do not start a fire. I can not make you take the potion, but do not create any light. If it eases you, I can escort you until you are ready to drink."

Steam is fairly distressed, restraining a frown as her eyes start to water, but she nods and gently reaches out towards where she thinks Ketha is.

Parveth gives Ketha a small nod, a certain implication of 'you brave soul' behind it.

And with their initial greeting and questions finished and agreeing to follow Zarethria to the drow city of Lo'Toth, the group heads out. Though the pace is notably slowed by Steam tripping over something every few feet, as while the ground is roughly even it is still a natural cave floor and not perfectly flat and smooth.

Those who drank the potion can see as they pass by a watchtower that overlooks the rather steep cliff. As their vision improves that can see ahead to the other watchtowers set at a steady interval and in the distance ahead they can see a portcullis across from a ramp with a gap that is long enough that it could only be crossed by a lowered bridge. It would seem this is the gateway between the two cities.

As their vision improves further they slowly can see more and more of the city of Malnibonae on the other side of the cliff. At first the previously barely perceptible lights seem to become brighter. Then they can see the mass of buildings that seem to cover almost all of the massive cavern's floor. Then they can make out the giant spider webs along the walls and hanging in the air below the cavern's ceiling and often across the rooftops of the larger buildings. Then in the distance they see a massive temple in the heart of the city that stretches more than halfway up to the roof of the cavern and is connected to it by massive webs. Beyond that in the far walls they think they can spot large tunnel entrances, but it's just too far away to really tell. They can also now see signs of quite a bit of movement, but that's not particularly shocking of itself. Overall while the city isn't anywhere near as big as Kelfas or Lf'ern and it's probably smaller even than Anvil, it's still a fairly sizable city. Certainly larger than Adelinde's home city. An interesting thing of note is that one can see lights coming from stalagmites and stalactites.

As they continue forwards, eventually they come to a large opening in the right wall of the massive cavern. They enter into a very large tunnel that is completely blocked by a stone gateway halfway through, though it opens as they approach and the drow stationed there bow their heads to Zarethria as the group passes by. On the other end, the tunnel opens into another large cavern, though not nearly the size of the previous one. The first thing one would notice is that there are dimly lit lamp posts lit by pale blue or purple magical flames and that there are luminescent mosses and fungi growing on the stone walls. One can immediately see businesses (both stores and simple street stalls) and buildings and there's a fair amount of traffic. Almost everyone the group sees is a drow, though they also spot a few strange looking gnomes* and kobolds. They also see a good many giant spiders and giant lizards and a decent number of creatures that resemble muskoxen**. The buildings themselves have the delicately crafted and artistic style of elven architecture, though they are all made of stone. Something that's probably a bit jarring for Parveth and Steam. As they travel farther in people keep bowing their heads to Zarethria and they notice that past alleyways, sometimes wide and sometime narrow, there are often tunnels leading to other places. Which makes sense, given that this cavern alone while large surely isn't enough to be a "city" and they see very few buildings that they would assume are residences.

Finally they are lead to a rather impressive looking building. The guards bow their heads as Zarethria approaches and one opens the door for the group to enter. The interior is finely furnished and has several paintings or other artworks, although it does not give the impression of being a residence. Zarethria leads the group down the main hallway and into a large room with a long table. Besides the way the group entered, there is a door on the other side as well. This room is lit by a chandelier with dim blue flames and has a few works of art on the walls. The four drow accompanying Zarethria take positions in the four corners of the room, leaning against the walls. They clearly don't expect any of the group to try anything and are at least partially relaxed, though they still are keeping their focus on the group. Zarethria motions for you to take seats and goes to take a seat at the head of the table herself. Only a moment or two later a male drow, some sort of servant probably, comes in from the other door and places down a bottle of dark liquid (perhaps wine of some sort?) and five wine glasses of a style somewhat similar, but also somewhat different to the style that would be used in Lf'ern. Then they uncork the bottle and pour it into the glasses and place one in front of Zarethria and then each of the members of the group (or just on the table if they haven't taken seats yet). They then leave and soon come back with two more trays. From one they place upon the table a pitcher of water and seven glasses and the other they simple set on the table as it hold a sort of two tiered platter of small stuffed mushroom caps. They then quickly fill the glasses of water, which half empties the large pitched. Then they look to Zarethria, who nods at them, and they leave the room again. Zarethria watches as they leave and then looks to the group before raising the glass of wine(?) to her lips, taking it's scent, nodding approvingly and taking a sip.

((*History or Arcana check if you want to know more.
**Nature check if you want to know more.))

Knowin' Stuffs:

Parveth keeps watch on the drow as they travel. Zanthaelis operates under the Boar's watch, so he's at least vaguely trustworthy. But drow within their own civilizations in the Underdark...it would be unwise to trust them blindly.

Steam staggers along behind Ketha, whimpering quietly as they trudge through the darkness. Vague apologies and thank yous can be heard by Ketha, mixed in with sniffles and restrained sobs. She relaxes a bit as the city's flames come into view, fixing her gaze on them as they pass by. That said, she's fairly scuffed up and still wet with stifled tears as they pass through the city.

---

Parveth glances at the offered food and drink, but is not interested by it. "You had questions for us, lesser councilor Zarethria?"
Steam fidgets slightly in her chair, wiping with a napkin in an attempt to clean up her face. Once adequately presentable, she happily partakes in the food and wine, taking small sips and bites as seem situationally appropriate.

Info:

"Yes. The scribes will be here in a few minutes, I'm sure cousin."* Zarethria replies to Parveth.

The stuffed mushrooms seem to Steam to be stuffed with maybe some kind of mixture of creamy cheese and flour of some kind. It's both a bit crunchy while also being soft and creamy. The mushrooms themselves have a very light flavor and aren't very filling.
The wine is certainly not made from grapes as far as Steam can tell. It's very heavy and has a strong earthy flavor, but is also quite sweet. It also has more alcohol than regular wine (though it's still not as strong as other kinds of spirits like vodka or rum or such). It's not unpleasant, but it would take some time to get used to. Steam would guess that the wine is made from mushrooms of some kind. Possibly some kind of truffle. Which would make this probably an expensive wine. Unless truffles (or something very much like them) are much more common in the Underdark than they are on the surface.

((*Cousin in this case is being used much like one might say "brother" or "sister" to someone of the same race as the speaker. Cousin comes about as a result of the sub-races. So Wood Elves would refer to each other as "brother" or "sister" and other kinds of elves as "cousin". While Parveth is familiar with the words being used this way, it isn't actually a very common experience for her since in Lf'ern the chance that any given elf (of the same sub-race or not) is actually a relative is high enough that this would actually have the potential to cause confusion.))

Ketha travels through silently, focusing on leading Steam. She sits statically, watching Steam, a tinge of annoyance hidden in her as, despite her previous efforts, Steam managed to get her hands on some alcohol...

(Arcana Check: 2 (Roll) + 4 (Skill) = 6)
(Nature Check: 14 (Roll) + 3 (Skill) = 17)

Steam notices Ketha vaguely frowning at her tasting the wine. After setting the drink down she leans over to the dragonborn, quietly saying, "Have some; this is pretty quality. I don't know that I'd pair a strong wine like that with a light meal like this, but it'd be a shame to waste good food." She punctuates with a bite into a mushroom cap.

Parveth cocks her head in surprise when the drow woman addresses her so genially, but sort of catches herself and recomposes. "Mhmm. And what would come after the questions, once the scribes are in attendance?"

"After we are finished, I will attend a meeting with Council and you would wait here for.... perhaps an hour? Depending on how long the discussions take place. After that... well I suppose that would really depend on what information you have to share with us and how the Council feels about it." Zarethria replies.

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