>>5433336>>5433129>>5433061>>5432911>>5432780>>5432669>>5432594>>5432546“You ar eatatched to this… Creature,” you whisper to Hamaraska.
“We were together from when we were both young,” the Lancer reiterates.
“And yet it was captured,” you note. “Youe scaped. How?”
Hamaraska narrows their eyes in a glare, but you are untroubled.
“Now?” they demand. “Youw ant me to tell this tale… NOW?”
“The ghouls do not seem to have noticed our presence, or your absence,” you reply.
The soft-spoken dark-elf sighs again, and nods.
“I ride back from Honemdyn’s head, by necessity,” they explain, with a touch of condescension. “Honemdyn enters spaces, and exits tunnels, before I do. As we pursued the fleeing ghouls, on your instruction… There was a trap. Two ghouls dropped down with a sort of… String. A Net. They entangled Honemdyn and dragged him them down to the floor below, where they and the Ghoul Supreme emerged and pinned Honemdyn in place.”
“And you allowed this?” you ask pointedly.
“I could not prevent it,” the lancer says through gritted teeth, squinting now in tearful shame.
You suppose that makes sense. ‘Honemdyn’ is a heavy thing, even without an endoskeleton, and Drow are small, even thick-thighed warrior-Drow.
“You have remained undetected,” you note. “The ghouls did not come looking for you?”
“A few,” the Lancer allows. “I evaded them. They quickly stopped their search for me, and returned to…”
Hamaraska trails off, and both of you look back to the harrying of the massive centipede below. Honemdyn is tiring, and translucent, faintly-bluish blood is seeping out from the spear-inflicted wounds in its carapace.
“I followed them back, to attack when the opportunity is right,” Hamaraska says, crestfallen.
The Drow clearly feels very attached to the bug, but a heart that grows TOO soft is quickly ripped out and consumed by the cruel vagaries of the underdark. You know this well enough, even from your position of sheltered privilege. Still, the truth remains: you need to intervene, if you wish to save your ally’s pet… And damnit, you DO wish to save the stupid bug for the dumb elf. Curse your bloody and bleeding heart!
How will you do it?
[The vote remains open. Backlink your posts, as the tie-breaking method leans towards diving in with shoggoth-sword at the ready. If you haven’t cast your vote yet, do so!]
