After Jorlan gave the orders for the five prisoners to follow the guards, he held up a hand to pause them.<strong>"The goliath stays. You,"</strong>he motioned to a pair of quaggoths that stood nearby.<strong>"<em>Check his weights, make sure he's secure. We don't want this one breaking loose on us</em>."</strong>His words were spoken in Undercommon, guarded against the ears of the many surface dwellers, including the goliath himself.<strong>"You four. Come along then. Time to work, you filthy beasts."</strong>Guards, drow and quaggoth, moved to flank Diero, Leyana, Brihe and Eidoma, to ensure that there would be no trouble as they were lead to their assignments.<br/><br/>The four of them were walked out of the slave pens<sup>11</sup>; Across from the gate hung a massive stalactite that the drow had hollowed out and fitted within it a guard tower<sup>10</sup>. The tower and the stone walkway outside of the slave pen were separated by a rope bridge; To the dexterous drow, crossing the spider silk ropes was of no difficulty, but for those unaccustomed, they proved difficult to cross*. The drow guided their prisoners across in single file. They then crossed through the guard tower; Inside, a handful of drow warriors sat on chairs around a round, wooden table, each of them pausing from their social activities to stare insidiously at the passing slaves. On the other side of the tower was another, longer rope bridge. After crossing that bridge, they passed by the priestesses' tower<sup>6-8</sup>. Its door was closed, but those with sharp ears** would hear whispered prayers in Undercommon just beyond the wooden portal. Ahead of them, the stone walkway widened into a larger platform, flanked by guard barracks<sup>2, 4</sup>and the main hall<sup>3</sup>, where the drow that didn't have their own private quarters shared meals.<br/><br/>When they reached the platform, Jorlyn began to divide the four into their separate tasks. To Eidoma, he motioned towards the main hall.<strong>"Off with you. Serve my men and clean the area. Don't try anything foolish."</strong>One drow guard grabbed her by the wrist, and lead her away. To Leyana, Jorlan appeared particularly gleeful as he also motioned to the main hall.<strong>"Fetch a bucket. You'll be emptying the barrack latrines***."</strong>It was a familiar job to the elf by now, as her drow cousins seemed to find her most suitable for mucking shit with a bucket and tossing it into the waterfall<sup>9</sup>.<strong>"You, boy,"</strong>he thumped Diero across the shoulder with the back of his hand.<strong>"Down the lift. Gather all the bluecaps**** you can find in the field and bring them up. And don't think of running, you'll have a handler."</strong>A quaggoth roughly shoved Diero towards the lift<sup>5</sup>, which was constantly manned by a pair of quaggoth who turned a crank to raise and lower the lift from the platform down to the cavern below.<br/><br/>That left Brihe alone, just how Jorlan wanted her. He circled her like carrion, inspecting her for weakness, or perhaps simply... Inspecting her.<strong>"You've got an improper tongue. I like my females... Improper. And normally, I like them mean, but we can't be having that from a surface mongrel like you. Come here."</strong>Jorlan drew a ring of keys from his pocket, and beckoned Brihe forward so that he could undo her manacles.<strong>"You're a tough bitch. If you can break one of my quaggoth, perhaps I'll let you sleep at the foot of my bed."</strong>The pair of guards that still lingered with Jorlan laughed, as the guard captain's quaggoth champion approached her. The beast lumbered on all fours, using its long arms not unlike a gorilla as it approached her. Unlike a gorilla, the quaggoth had wicked looking claws and fangs, and seemed eager to show Brihe just how sharp they were. Jorlan took a few steps away from them, and waited for the two fighters to engage*****.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>OOC: Here's the map of Velkynvelve (https://i.imgur.com/DaWfw41.jpg), each point on the map that your characters enter are denoted in my post.<br/><br/>*Crossing rope bridges is difficult terrain. Every foot of movement in difficult terrain costs 1 extra foot. E.g. to cross 10 feet of difficult terrain would be the equivalent of moving 20 feet on normal terrain.<br/>**Perception check of 15 or higher.<br/>***Areas 2 and 4 on the map.<br/>****Dubbed the "grain of the Underdark", a bluecap is an inedible fungi, but its spores can be ground to make a nutritious, bland flour. Bread made from bluecap flour is known as sporebread or bluebread.<br/>*****Brihe, roll initiative!