<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=241231.msg11919067#msg11919067">Quote from: Autocad on 21-12-2015, 18:22:07</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote"><br/>As the two drow bickered back and forth over the bat, Zelara found herself wondering whether it was in fact a pet bat or merely a summoned creature. Of course, in the chaos caused by the insect swarm, she didn't have the time to get a good look then. Still, if what the nobledrow said was true, it sounded as though the bat was worth 2000 gold pieces - quite a sum for a mere bat. Actually, the noble's facial features were familiar - then it clicked, House Modler. No wonder she was raising hell over what was in the long run of things a trivial amount of gold - if the rumors were true, her family needed every last piece of gold they could scrounge up.<br/><br/>"Since when did House Modler need to shake down commoners for gold?" Zelara called out. "If you need a loan, I'm sure House Dreth would be more than happy to oblige."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>"And then she won't learn her lesson and I can't have that!  Bah, I'm getting nowhere; I'll deal with you later!"<br/><br/>"Thank you for the save," the fire-wielding drow said.  "Seromus, no House.  I've interacted with House Driggli, Modler, and the others, but I never met one from House Dreth.  Apologies that you had to get dragged in to<em>that."</em><br/><br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: andale mono;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">Physical Enhancement</span></span></div><br/>Time in the Underdark was calculated by the drippings of a water clock, with 24 marked notches along the sides of a tank.  They are a common sight in Undrek'Thoz, and Zelara was fortunate that her own room had one; most common drow made do with a communal one in a public space.  So it was easy to tell when her first class came, and more importantly, where to find it.<br/><br/>The session took place in a plain square room behind a sturdy set of adamantine doors.  Almost every square space of the walls were holding up some manner of weapon or implement, from daggers and whips to more exotic items such as a sword with a glass overlay containing some liquid substance and a long narrow tube with a trigger pulley on the underside.  Among the nine other classmates were Lenora and Seromus.<br/><br/>The instructor was a tall woman with close-cropped hair and a whip by her side.  She was unclad save for but a form-fitting thong, a pair of sleek dark gloves, and a pair of stockings; Zelara noticed that in spite of being different articles, the garments as a whole were enchanted with an aura.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Garments</div><div class="spoiler_body">Garments of Wisdom +2</div></div><br/>(http://i.imgur.com/sNHwM7W.png?1)<br/><br/>"Evening, worms!  I am Professor Tibil, but as long as you're in my dojo you call me 'Professor.'  Don't think that because you're here that you're anything special; some of you have the Gift, others rose far in whatever lofty tower or squalid shack you call home, slaves and lesser drow groveling at your perceived greatness.  You might have even learned to cast a spell, slain a scheming sibling with poison, or even beat down some upstart goblin who dared to defy you.  But when you're out in the real world, there's always someone smarter and meaner than you, and if you can't even defend yourself hand-to-hand you<em>will</em>die."<br/><br/>The Professor gestured to the arsenal and training dummies lining the dojo.  "It may not be a subtle art, but we all find ourselves in such a situation, when spells and silver tongues are not enough.  For our first lesson we will learn the art of hand-to-hand combat, using nothing but the bodies Lolth blessed us with to fight."<br/><br/>More than a few drow frowned at not being allowed full access to the deadly armaments surrounding them, but Tibil was quick to point out that it's easier to disarm a sword from one's hand than to cut off a foe's hand itself.  She called for them in pairs to duel, and even without a rapier Zelara displayed some fine form in practice against her sparring partner.<em>+2 BAB; 14 STR and DEX make her slightly above the other students.</em><br/><br/>(http://i.imgur.com/kvZWuuj.jpg?1)<br/><br/>"Yaaa!  Argh!  Ugh!"<br/><br/>What Lenora and Seromus could be described was less akin to 'fighting' and more 'flailing,' desperately grabbing at loose garments, hair, and limbs, making a mess in the process.<br/><br/>"Too aggressive," Tibil called out, sounding more embarrassed than angry.  "You're leaving yourselves wide open!"<br/><br/>Neither were victors and the pair returned past the floor's dividing line, sullen as several students laughed at the sight.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: andale mono;">Inquiries Into the Unenlightened</span></span></div><br/>After working up a good sweat in Physical Enhancement, Zelara's second class was a more typical study area, accessed via a doorway...hmm, this other space seemed odd.  Then it dawned upon her, this doorway was a portal, much like the ones linking the ten cities of Undrek'Thoz!  She must be in one of the other towers now.<br/><br/>The class contained neat rows of desks containing webbing parchment, ink, and bone-needle quill for writing.  Professor Moconnu walked, not teleported, into the room to take a seat in front of the dozen drow.  Alfarna and Rizzid were among the assembly, as was Sinley, who pretended to ignore Zelara and Rizzid.<br/><br/>"It is inevitable that us drow will achieve world domination," the Professor began.  "It is not just due to our natural abilities and ingenuity that the other races lack, but our continued guidance by the Spider Queen that we do not fall into barbarism.  We should not take this objectivity as an excuse to not give it our all in planar hegemony.  Even the lowly goblinoids and brutish giants can display a cunning resourcefulness and will to survive, and even the accursed heretics of Corellon can be skilled in thwarting in our advances.  It is here we shall learn of the unenlightened so as to better defeat them."<br/><br/>"Mulhorand, Imasker, Thay, Netheril..." one of the students said as she thumbed through the sample tomes.  "These are are human books!  Why are we not focusing on our sworn enemies most of all?"<br/><br/>"The surface world is plagued with the spawn of humanity," Moconnu answered.  "They breed like gibberlings and infested virtually every nation not elfclaimed or submerged.  Beyond that, they display proficiency in almost all magical traditions and can absorb training and lore in mere years which takes other races decades to understand.  As such, they represent one of our greatest threats in the sun-kissed realm, and any infiltration above requires understanding their customs.  Now, can anyone tell me which human realm lairs above our city?"<br/><br/>Alfarna raised her hand.  "Netheril?"<br/><br/>"No, they are thousands of miles to the west and are long gone," the Professor answered.  "Anyone else?"<br/><br/><em>Roll a Knowledge Arcana check, DC 13</em><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Success</div><div class="spoiler_body">The answer is Thay.  Professor Moconnu smiles at Zelara's answer.  "Being miles above make them a distant memory to most of this city, but the power they wield, even in the Underdark, is all too real.  It is good to see those aware of our lands beyond the world of stone."<br/><br/>Gain 100 experience points.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Failure</div><div class="spoiler_body">Sinley raised her hand.  "Mulhorand," she answered with certainty.<br/><br/>Moconnu sighed.  "No.  The nation of Thay lairs above us."</div></div><br/>Moconnu goes over the basics of Thay and humanity.  One, it's a magocracy where arcane spellcasters hold the political power under an alliance of eight Red Wizards.  Secondly, humans are blind in areas without the light of fire, and there is a giant burning ball called the Sun which revolves around the world which grants warmth and life to all.  Thirdly, the Thayans share many drow practices such as the elimination of rivals who show weakness, enslaving and dominating those they conquer, but they have some peculiar cultural beliefs:<br/><br/>the highest positions of power are open to men as well as women (provided they are arcanists), and there's the expectation that rebelling against one's betters is unthinkable.  They understand that those who rule are there by strength, but the idea of peasant revolts or that inferiors would claim these positions for themselves is regarded as an aberration, something which<em>should not</em>happen even if it does.  And strangest of all, they do not much care for the gods or religion; the concept of a racial creator is absent among humanity, and they don't have a common bond to share, instead stratifying themselves into separate geographic origins and forming an identity that way.<br/><br/>Alfarna and several of the girls gagged when Professor Moconnu got to the Thayan tradition of spellcasters shaving off all body hair, including the plucking out of one's own eyelashes.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: andale mono;">Dinner</span></span></div><br/>Zelara's second class ended, and it wasn't long before the exiting students' stomachs rumbled.<br/><br/>"Hmmm, is it dinner time already?" Rizzid asked.  "Does anyone see a water clock nearby?"<br/><br/>"Did you even look at the guide book?" another drow asked.  "Classes are scheduled at the same time every day.  We have a dinner break after the second one."<br/><br/>"Sounds good to me!" Rizzid said with a smile.  "Do you also know where to get some food around here?"<br/><br/>"Ummm, I think it's at the ground floor...?"<br/><br/>...<br/><br/>And indeed there was food at the bottom of the tower!  Six long tables capable of seating a small army were lain out with all manner of foodstuffs, from greasy rothe ribs to redshroom pie.  Zelara saw several open spaces: Lenora and Rizzid were sitting together, and Seromus was breaking off bread bits to feed to tiny spiders under the table.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Gossip and Hearsay</span></span></strong></div><br/><em>Drow are sociable creatures and love to use meal time to talk about all manner of things.  Here Zelara can roll an appropriate social skill check to gain some new knowledge via a mixture of gossip, rumormongering, and idle chat.  Roll a DC 10 Diplomacy check to learn the info in one of these spoiler boxes, plus an additional box per 5 points above 10.</em><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Alfarna</div><div class="spoiler_body">"Oh, you mean the druid?  She's a rather strange woman; liked to work a living as a scout for caravans and travelers ever since she was a girl.  I heard that last year she was ambushed by dwarves and captured.  I heard that they took advantage of her, and bears one of their tattoos which is concealed by magic."</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Lenora</div><div class="spoiler_body">"The Drigglis have more holdings than they let on.  Since metal goods cannot pass through Undrek'Thoz's portal network, they utilize safehouses accessible via underwater tunnels and air pockets all throughout the Earthroot.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Moconnu</div><div class="spoiler_body">She's been to the surface world many times before, although she rarely speaks of her missions.  One time she took a Red Wizard prisoner to demonstrate his magical talents for House Sircem.  Or at least a human claiming to be one.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Rizzid</div><div class="spoiler_body">Although a commoner, Rizzid is a frequent sight at House Driggli.  That's where she and Lenora know each other.  I hear she has a contract to reverse-engineer gnomish technology captured by House Modler from a far-away land.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Seromus</div><div class="spoiler_body">I hear this commoner girl isn't even from Undrek'Thoz, or the Earthroot proper.  One of the Modler girls told me that they found her one day fending off a gang of <em>charmed</em>quaggoth slaves, and she beat them all down with fiery hands!  Her House then tried to find out everything they could about her, but all leads came up blank.  This means one of several things: she's a spy, an exile, or her very identity was scrubbed clean by the Spider Queen Herself."</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Sinley</div><div class="spoiler_body">The Sircem are joyous and delight in life's pleasures, but Sinley is always in a bad mood.  I don't know if it's an act or she's really that miserable in life.  Being the youngest daughter of a House will do that to you, I suppose.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Tibil</div><div class="spoiler_body">Her brother's joined the Order of the Blackened Fist, so she's more physically adept than most drow.  She's taught at the Eightfold Academy for over fifty years, and it's been twenty years since a student even managed to land a solid blow on her.  Heh, poor Sesslie, she regretted that move, impressive as it was..."</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">EXP Awards</div><div class="spoiler_body">100 for answering Professor Moconnu's Thayan question.<br/><br/>200 if you get 20 or higher on the Gossip check.</div></div>