The misstress gazed impassively at Rambulge as he howled his mournful howl of man-rage. Once he was done, her face returned to it's former cheerfulness. She beamed at the party with her perfect mouth, but her terrible eyes were not smiling. Strong snakeman hands gripped Robin and Seu tightly from behind as they stared into the depths of the pit where their friends had disappeared. How could this have happened?
"Now then," the misstress said brightly, "what were we talking about again, before we were so rudely interrupted?"
Seeing the filthy looks the remaining members of the party were giving her, she switched to a more conciliatory tone. "Oh, don't worry about your two friends, the pit is deep and full of spikes, they won't suffer long. Except of course for the rare occasion when their bodies become impaled in a certain way and they don't die for a while. If you listen really carefully you can hear them moaning for a day or two, it's delightful! The little man we threw down there earlier died immediately, i'm pretty sure, at least, we haven't heard from him yet." She beamed again.
"Monster!" spat Yngwie, his heart full of sorrow.
"Now now then, such name calling is an unnecessary unpleasantness we can all do without. Tell me, how did you all come to be in my temple?"
"We'll tell you nothing!" cried Yngwie.
At that moment, the double doors behind them sprang open unexpectedly, and a scuffle ensued. A Yuan-Ti bearing the symbol of the snakemother strode through with an armed and armoured posse. He looked pissed off.
"Misstress!" the new arrival spat in angry tones, "I demand audience!"
The misstress regarded the intruder with a look that was unreadable. "I have guests, Ssiron."
"These guessts of yours killed the ssnakemother, and Ssartan, my general and ssire. I demand you hand them over to me!"
"So many demands Ssiron. How boring you are. Do you think the demands of a lowly lieutenant are of any interest to me?"
"I am now general of the mother'ss forcess! I have 5000 Yuan-Ti at my back, ready to sstorm thiss temple and take my rightful place as leader! Your dominion iss at an end!"
"Silly little snake. I tire of your bluster. Go away."
"How dare you sspeak to me thiss way!"
"Get rid of him, Kuanos," the misstress said dismissively, frowning and turning her head back to the party.
Something dark and terrible dropped from the roof and draped around Ssiron's shoulders and torso, coiling about him with liquid speed and pinning his arms to his sides. Two shadowy arms raised high, holding daggers of smoky metal, which were plunged into the neck of the would-be leader of the Yuan-Ti. His blood welled and gushed, and with a gurgling sound, Ssiron sank down and toppled, dying where he lay. The shifting black mass of Kuanos detached and stood perfectly still in the midst of the posse, surrounded by hostile Yuan-Ti. None dared attack.
The white snake upon the dais looked on with his glittering black eyes, leaning on his staff, and said nothing.
"Leave us!" the misstress addressed the posse, "and tell the rest of your pathetic band that there is only one leader of the Yuan-Ti now, and it is me! Now get out!"
A small army of halberd blades were leveled at the failed conquerors. Kuanos, his form shimmering and inconstant, stood in a pose that could only be described as 'relaxed'.
With an embarrassed shuffle, the Yuan-Ti looked at each other, then filed back out again. The doors slammed shut behind them, stifling their hissed words of dissent.
The misstress had lost her bright and springy attitude. She almost looked tired. "Hirrastus, take that one (pointing at Duke again) away and torture him until he tells you how to open the portal they used to get here. Throw the rest in the pit. I tire of their presence, they please me no longer." Hirrastus, her right-hand snake, moved to do her bidding.
"Wait!" cried Yngwie. He looked pale and terrified. "Duke doesn't know how to open the portal, torturing him will achieve nothing!"
The misstress looked at him with her terrible eyes. "And I suppose you do...?" Yngwie looked down at his feet, defeated.
"Very well," said the misstress, "Take the elf to the chamber, and throw the hobo in the pit. And the others too." Yngwie was grabbed and wrestled to the floor.
"Misstress..." It was Hisston who spoke this time. "I beg thee for one boon, from your most unworthy subject."
"What is it, Hisston my darling?" cooed the misstress.
"Allow me to keep the paladin. I have always wanted to experiment on ssuch a one as he. His powerss are an untapped mysstery that may benefit uss all with... sstudy."
"Anything for you Hisston my pet. Take the paladin to Hisston's laboratory and bind him tightly. Do not underestimate that warrior, he has vanquished greater foes than all of you single handedly. Most... admirable."
The misstress smiled benignly as the infant was torn from Seu's grasp and many hands held him down to bind his body tight. "What of the child, misstress?" Hisston asked with gleaming eyes.
"That wretched spawn of the mother? She is no use to us. I wouldn't feed her to the spawnlings even had any survived. We will start anew my love, once our precious new breeders have come of age. Come sweet children, come forward and show them all how beautiful you are!"
With a creeping horror, the adventurers watched as two long, sinuous snakes appeared from the covers of the divan and slid gracefully across the dais. They were utterly flawless, not a single trace of mutation.
"Aren't they perfect?" the misstress crooned. "With such as these we can create the strongest strain of Yuan-Ti yet - and the Crystal City will fall to our might!"
The gathered snakemen hissed in unison, a horrible warcry that hurt the ears to hear. "Take the elf and the paladin away.
Throw the rest in the pit - and the pathetic child with them!"The baby girl was turfed into the abyss. Yngwie howled with anguish and struggled feebly against his captors. With an uncharacteristic swiftness, Duke hurled himself after the baby, though what he hoped to achieve was unknowable. Rambulge gasped as he saw Seu and Yngwie dragged away, then a strong hand pushed him over the brink too. Robin had to be handled by three snakemen in order to get him over, but he too eventually fell. As he tumbled down into the all-encompassing darkness he thought he caught a brief glimpse of the smoky-black figure of Kuanos watching him over the edge of the pit, but the circle of light above rapidly shrank as the blackness claimed him.
THIS CONCLUDES CHAPTER TWO OF THE CHASE TO THE CRYSTAL CITYEXP GAINED!!
SIR SEU ANTHEUSPERSONAL EXP: 1900
COMBAT EXP: 10997
QUEST EXP: 2000
TOTAL EXP: 14897
CURRENT EXP AT LEVEL 5: 39502/36000 LEVEL GAINED!!BUFO the BLACK HOODPERSONAL EXP: 200
COMBAT EXP: 0
QUEST EXP: 2000
TOTAL EXP: 2200
CURRENT EXP AT LEVEL 4: 10355/10000 LEVEL GAINED!!ROBIN the RANGERPERSONAL EXP: 1900
COMBAT EXP: 4997
QUEST EXP: 2000
TOTAL EXP: 8897
CURRENT EXP AT LEVEL 5: 32902/36000RAMBULGE the SPELLSWORDPERSONAL EXP: 2900
COMBAT EXP: 4997
QUEST EXP: 2000
TOTAL EXP: 9897 (TO BE ASSIGNED)
CURRENT EXP AT LEVEL 2/3
FIGHTER: 2000/4000
SORCERER: 8955/10000 BARI the WHITEPERSONAL EXP: 3000
COMBAT EXP: 4997
QUEST EXP: 2000
TOTAL EXP: 9997
CURRENT EXP AT LEVEL 5: 30332/27500 LEVEL GAINED!!EGGBERT the ILLUSIONISTPERSONAL EXP: 2450
COMBAT EXP: 4997
QUEST EXP: 2000
TOTAL EXP: 9447
CURRENT EXP AT LEVEL 6: 51947/60000YNGWIE the BARDPERSONAL EXP: 1800
COMBAT EXP: 4997
QUEST EXP: 2000
TOTAL EXP: 8797
CURRENT EXP AT LEVEL 6: 31047/40000PARTY WEALTH:
PLATINUM: 52
GOLD: 1126
SILVER: 275
COPPER: 35
1 x RUBY
1 x SAPPHIRE
1 x DIAMOND
- Spoiler: DM's NOTES
I am genuinely surprised and impressed by how some of the events unfolded in this chapter. As a DM i like to think i'm prepared for every happenstance, however unlikely, and so far that has been the case, but not for want of trying to be foiled by the likes of Seu and his bizarre good fortune in the face of overwhelming odds. When i sent that Snakelord in there i knew he would fight it, despite how silly that plan was, and i expected him to bounce off him and get beaten to a pulp - but the paladin would NOT die. He took on a 10 hit dice monster with 8 HP and somehow managed to win almost singlehandedly, which is why he got a big chunk of combat EXP in addition to what the others got - I think we all agree he deserved it!
Now you may notice that a few characters have leveled up - i'll be in touch soon to discuss what this implicated for the party before the next chapter commences. CvB, once again you need to determine what class you will allocate your points too.
See you in the pit real soon!
Fri Oct 03, 2014 7:33 am 
