by Paul Kidd
With the armies of Lolth at its back, the spider-centaur was now far beyond fear. It wanted prey. The monster sensed something in the air-something elusive, something invisible. The creature cocked its crossbow and stalked sideways off the road. Sly and sinister, it slid to a stand of bushes to lie in wait.
The invisible something hovered, hesitated, and then suddenly backed away. The drider blundered out of the bushes in pursuit, taking aim with its crossbow.
An instant later, a section of the grass burst upward and a shining white blade smacked into the monster from behind. Headless, the creature staggered forward. Streaming soil and grass, the Justicar rose up out of the mold and hacked off the creature's arm. The crossbow fell to the ground and fired uselessly into the dirt. Jus let the headless body stagger through the bushes and die. No other monsters were close enough to care. He stripped the corpse of its case of crossbow bolts and threw them to Henry, who rose from hiding in the grass. In the air between, there was a pop as Escalla became visible again.
"That eight-legged bastard could see me!" The faerie was indignant. Invisibility was a faerie's pride and joy. "How'd the creep manage that?"
"Spiders sense vibration." Jus inspected a pot of viscous green liquid he'd found on the drider's belt and threw it to Henry. "Arrow poison. Here!"
Still in a huff, Escalla fluttered with her arms folded tight. "Oh, great. How am I supposed to infiltrate and spy?"
Emerging from the portable hole, Polk and Enid crept out to stare at the ruined town in the far distance. Giant spiders crawled all over the landscape, like a scene ripped out of a nightmare. Over the town, the grotesque shapes of flying tanar'ri spread an aura of dread. Enid blinked, her face beneath her freckles turning pale.
"Oh, dear. All those poor people."
The Justicar rose, Cinders's teeth streaming sulfurous smoke and flames. "The best we can offer them is to obliterate Lolth."
The hellish legions on the mudflats below were gathering into mobs and columns. Lolth's generals were about to march, spreading the massacre and terror out into all the Flanaess. The adventurers fell flat amongst the bushes as abyssal bats swept overhead, their hunting cries chilling the very air.
There were tanar'ri in their hundreds-some thirty feet tall and wreathed in flames, others human sized and hopping like mad insects, the grass beneath them dying where they walked. The fields boiled and surged with giant spiders and scorpions. Titanic black widows and tarantulas the size of elephants thudded along beside the animated corpses of giants and writhing carpets of carnivorous worms. Somewhere in the middle of all these beings was Lolth, the mistress of the drow.
Polk wrinkled his snout in thought. "Son? Have you ever considered the advantages of issuing a heroic challenge? A duel in the sun! Man to goddess! Your blade, flesh, and bone against her mighty spells?"
Escalla kept her eyes on the shrieking, wheeling, battling mobs of monsters on the plains as she replied, "Polk, we were thinking more along the lines of stabbing her in the bladder in her sleep."
"Oh."
The spider goddess's armies were being reinforced. The magic circle made from butchered corpses acted as a planar gate, and a multitude of screeching, filthy beings were shambling out of the circle and forming into ranks. The Justicar watched from cover, lying with Escalla at his side.
"A gate to the Abyss?"
"Yeah. Those critters there are called manes." Escalla was the resident expert. Her people had lived amongst the outer planes. "Must have come straight from the Abyss. Slow and stupid. So that's our way in."
In the heart of the crushed, smoking ruins of Keggle Bend, Lolth's spider palace loomed like a behemoth. The metal of its structure looked like brass, yet it shimmered with fleeting images as though it were somehow alive. The palace crouched above shattered temples and roofs, towering a hundred feet high. The jaws formed a ramp guarded by demons-a gateway into Lolth's private home.
Escalla leaned on her frost wand and stared at the mobile palace. "Wow! Look at that place! Hoopy! Why leave the comforts of home when you can take them on campaign?"
Henry stared at the spider palace in awe. "That's where she lives?"
"Looks like it. Part palace, and part war machine."
"Yes." Lying beneath Cinders's black pelt, the Justicar stared in calculation at his prey. "That's where we have to be. We have to get into that palace, then find a way to ambush Lolth when she returns to the Abyss."
Henry gnawed a thumb nail as he spoke. "Will she return there? Why?"
"She has to. It's the source of her power," Escalla replied. "If she wants to recharge her magic, she has to go back home and suck up the ambiance."
The Justicar kept his eyes upon the city ruins, thinking and planning. Escalla used him as a chair.
"All right, that metal spider is as big as a castle. If we get in, we should be able to hide out."
Lolth's armies swarmed all over the roads and paths. The ruins moved subtly with hints of lurking shapes. Enid looked over the view and bit the end of one huge claw.
"So… how do we get in?"
"No problem!" Escalla gave a confident little pose. "I change myself into a quasit or a little tanar'ri-thing. Everyone else gets in the portable hole, and I just fly straight through Lolth's front door! She'll be dead by lunchtime; we'll be home in time for tea!"
Enid gave a frown that wrinkled up her nose. "Can we do that? Don't these creatures have the ability to detect good?"
"Why's that a problem?" asked Polk. "It's Escalla."
"I'm good, thank you very much!" She shot a glance at the Justicar. "Damned good!"
Enid blinked. "So that means we can't just sneak in?"
Goodness no. Benelux sounded stuffy and impatient. They will sense me. My energy signature is unique. And you certainly cannot kill a goddess with any weapon other than me!
Ignoring the conversation, the Justicar had Henry beside him. The two men were carefully studying the lay of the land-the flooded fields and the fallen walls. Henry pointed out a feature to the Justicar, and the big man nodded as he agreed. Enid, Polk, and Escalla eventually became interested, and all came over to watch the fun and inquire.
Escalla lounged silkily against the Justicar and raised one brow. "Having fun?"
"There's a way in." The Justicar traced a path with his finger that wended beneath fallen roofs and fields drowned neck deep in slime. "We go through the fields by swimming-then cross the river where it laps the city wall. Through the breach and into the city. Then we can try to find a way aboard the palace."
Enid lashed her tail in thought. "What if there are monsters in the river?"
"Lolth's creatures are mostly spiders and fire creatures. Watch them. They try to avoid the water-all except the trolls."
"Ah. Trolls."
"We can take trolls." The Justicar had no fear of mere claws, scales, and bone. "Easiest if only one person makes the swim. I'll carry you in the portable hole until we get into the city. After that, we'll need the whole team."
Sitting beside the furry bulk of Enid, Henry looked a little pale. "Then after that-the Abyss?"
"The Abyss."
The party froze, letting the fear of that dark place settle in their minds. Unperturbed, Escalla whirred up into the air and clapped her hands.
"Abyss? What's in a name? Any of you guys ever been to the Inn of No Return in Greyhawk?" The faerie whipped up enthusiasm. "Ever had a bottomless cup of brew? Did the cup have a bottom? I hope to kiss a duck it did!" Escalla dismissed all their worries with a little wave of her hand. "It's just hype! The kind of stuff Polk writes!"
The badger gave an indignant squawk. "Hey!"
"Sorry, man. Motivational speech." Strutting like a coach with a reluctant team, Escalla pounded Enid on one wing. "Now the Abyss is just a place! Things live there-thousands of things. All right, most of those things are tanar'ri, and they like to eat people, but they live, they goof off, and snooze between meals. The Abyss is a world like any other-big ecology, wide open sp
aces, with cities and towns! We keep away from the towns, stick to the empty bits… it'll be a doddle!" The girl saw doubtful looks on Henry and Enid's faces. "Hey, trust me! I'm a faerie! Cinders! Back me up here. You're a hell hound. What have you heard about the Abyss?"
Fun! The hell hound's big fangs gleamed. Nice hot lava, sulfur jets, hot fires! Dead things everywhere!
"And… and then there were all those other bits that were not life-threatening to the non-fireproof in any way at all!" Escalla hit Henry on the shoulder. "So come on! We're the team! We're adventurers with heroism written in our eyes! The world is our oyster, and we like it raw!" Turning to face the ruins, Escalla posed in magnificent defiance. She stood with fists on her little hips, and murmured to the Justicar. "Did they buy it?"
"No."
"Sod it! Let's go."
Escalla chased Polk, Henry, and Enid down into the portable hole. "We should put a couch in here-maybe a real bed or two." Polk she helped down with a boot in his tail. "Come on! Time's wasting!"
Alone at last, Escalla put her arms about Jus's neck and buried her face against his cheek. He held her, eyes closed, loving the deceitful little creature heart and soul.
"It'll be all right. We can do it."
"Sure we can." Escalla held him tight. "I love you."
"I love you."
Cinders love you, too! The dog grinned away, his tail wagging. Fun!
Hush, Cinders. Benelux sniffed importantly. This is a private moment. Be a good dog and be still.
With a dire glare for the interlopers, Escalla tugged her little chain-mail skirt straight.
"True love might be easier without the chorus of eavesdroppers!"
Eavesdropping? I never! Benelux bridled in indignation. That is an uncouth suggestion. Young lady, the only words I overheard were your continuous agreement. The sword sniffed. Very vigorous agreement!
"You know, one day you are going to get a crush on a big handsome broadsword, and then I am gonna go to town on you!" Escalla flicked the sword hilt with the tip of her finger. "Now look after my betrothed, or I'll store something rancid at the bottom of your sheath."
Jus kissed Escalla tenderly, and the little faerie did a swan dive down into the portable hole. The ranger folded up the hole and made it safe.
"Cinders?"
Faerie agrees! Funny!
"Very funny." The Justicar lay flat, waited for a swarm of bat-winged severed heads to fly over the river, then slithered belly first into the mud of a flooded field. "Eyes open. Let's go."
From inside the portable hole, voices drifted up-Escalla scolding Polk for the twentieth time that day.
"Polk! What are you doing?"
"Updating the chronicles." The badger sounded positively overjoyed. "We're going to the Abyss! The pit of evil itself! Best place a hero could ever hope to carry the blade of the just and true! It's time to put in some illustrations!"
"You're a very sick person, Polk. You know that, don't you?"
Cinders wagged his tail. Jus shook his head and began the careful business of penetrating the defenses of hell.
"Out! Quiet and quick. Hide over to the left."
Wet and lying flat in the wreck of a house, Jus carefully helped his friends out of the portable hole. They were inside the ruins of Keggle Bend where giant spiders had strung webs hung with corpses. A gargoyle lay dead on the ground-characteristically sliced from head to groin with a single blow of Jus's sword. Enid flowed out of the portable hole like a gigantic panther and hid herself, brown fur and freckles invisible in the gloom. Henry took one brief look from the edge of the hole, then slid into position with his crossbow covering the ruins. Polk and Escalla emerged, and Jus folded up the hole and put it in his pouch-shutting out the stench of dried fish from within.
Polk trundled over to the lip of the ruined house, his cap set at a jaunty angle above his eye. "Son! Where are we? Where's the demons?"
"They're leaving. There's no garrison." The Justicar motioned toward the bloodstained towers of the citadel. The back of Lolth's spider palace loomed above the battlements. "They're using the populace for food and moving on. The front door to the spider palace is guarded, but there are portholes in some of the sides. If we can get on top, we can find a way in."
Henry kept careful watch over the ruins. "Won't they see us from the air?"
"Might. But their fliers have all gone. They're abandoning this site and marching north."
With a shrug, Escalla pulled off her gloves. "Well, let's take a peek. Me first. You guys keep hidden."
Skirt, leggings and halter followed, Escalla kicking her clothes into Jus's hands. Henry blushed as he stared rigidly off at the ruins, and Escalla kissed him on the ear.
"Wish me luck, Hen." Escalla cracked her knuckles and prepared to change shape. "Were the tanar'ri imps or quasits? I forget. Wait! Wait! It's quasits! Right! Got it!"
There was a brief pop, and Escalla disappeared. In her place stood a hideous little demon-horned, clawed, with a sting on its tail and a cookie-cutter mouth filled with teeth. Escalla's distorted voice came from the beast as it skittered off into the rubble.
"Back in ten!"
Enid watched her best friend go, and arched her brow. "Eerie."
Escalla the quasit kept a hard grip on her frost wand. It was too late now to ask her to leave it behind. The hideous little demon shape hopped up onto the rocks, then disappeared.
Long, anxious minutes passed. Beyond the lingering sound of screams, a strange rustling sound could be heard. It was the sound of a vast multitude of creatures on the march-an army moving slowly away. The wind blew through the ruined city, making the rubble shift and hiss. Jus kept Benelux in his hand, and Cinders's red eyes scanned the ruins. Henry kept watch. All seemed quiet.
A giant spider came out of the ruins, dragging a corpse wrapped in silk behind it. It moved awkwardly, finding the burden heavy. As it worked, a quasit came bounding out of a window. The little demon ran fearlessly beneath the spider's legs. Annoyed, the huge black widow hissed but left the quasit alone. The spider disappeared around a corner as the quasit slipped into the shadows and sat happily beside the Justicar.
There was a pop, and the quasit now wore Escalla's face.
"Right! They're loading that spider palace up with loot. Gold and stuff. They're getting ready to move out." Escalla lashed her little demon tail. "I think the west tower of the citadel might give us a way up onto the spider palace roof. From there we can slip across without being seen." The girl stood, took a peek out of cover, then waved the others on. "Coast is clear! Let's go!"
She changed her head back into quasit shape. The Justicar moved like a vast, silent bear as he followed her. Next came Enid, with Polk running at her heel. Henry spied a coal lump in the ruins, pocketed it for Cinders, then scuttled awkwardly backward, covering the rear with his crossbow.
The entire town lay empty. The gates were smashed in, and the few small towers crumbled from blows made with demonic force. Bloodstains splashed the walls in dry brown crusts, and the courtyards reeked of death. But there were no bodies-no slaughtered guards, no dead ladies-in-waiting. Lolth's minions had scoured the city clean, taking every corpse for the value of its meat. Escalla the quasit waited in the shattered gateway as her comrades caught up. She peeked about a corner, scampered across a dangerous patch of open ground, and waved her friends to follow. Jus crossed at a dead run, disappearing into darkness as he dived behind a door. With a nervous glance at the walls, the others followed swiftly and slipped into the empty castle halls.
They descended into a kitchen that had been thrown all awry. Pots and pans were crushed and buckled. A charred, twisted human skeleton lay over the cooking range where it had burned. Enid leaped over the party and landed at the opposite door, where she stood peering and thrashing her tail.
"I hear singing!"
A strange music drifted through the air-joyous, carefree, the sound of a girl without a care in the world. The music was unearthly, and strangely unsettling.
Her fur standing on end, Enid nosed open a door and peered into a long, dark corridor.
The singing was louder. Enid edged forward, her nose sniffing. Hurrying across the kitchen, the Justicar caught up with the sphinx. "Enid, careful!" he whispered.
There was a hissing squeal as a giant black widow spider launched itself out of the corridor straight at Enid's face. Jus lunged, but Enid merely stamped her foot. Her big paw smashed the spider to the pavement, swiftly followed by another spider clinging to the wall. She trod the monsters as she walked into the corridor.
"It's only spiders. Come on!"
Jus looked down at the squashed spiders, met Escalla's gaze, and shrugged. He followed behind Enid as the big sphinx padded down the hall toward a glimmer of light.
The singing grew louder, more gay, and beautiful. Enid settled down on her haunches beside a shattered wall, peering curiously out into the light.
"Oh! Look here!"
Escalla avoided squished spider, scampered over to Enid's side, and joined in the view.
A courtyard spread itself under the sky. The walls were lined with flayed human corpses that had been nailed to the stones so that the impaled bodies formed a grisly colonnade. Once-graceful flowering trees now had skulls hanging from their branches like fruit. A portable stove seemed to be cooking toasted cheese, and the broad fountain, beautiful with mosaics, now brimmed with milk and almond oil. Sitting happily in the bath was a drow woman of stunning beauty. In the pool her silver hair floated all about her sheer black skin. Her eyes were quicksilver fire, and an aura of darkness shimmered from her skin. The drow beauty sang as she lolled in perfect happiness. She sang like a choir of angels. Behind her, shambling, imbecilic slaves milked a cage of butterflies to help top up the woman's bath.
Standing at the edge of the bath and looking extremely annoyed was a strange tanar'ri female. A thin, sharp featured woman with bobbed black hair with a tart expression on her face, she was consulting a notebook and shooting meaningful glances at a big hourglass propped beside the bath.