War Of The Spider Queen Omnibus by Richard Lee Byers & Thomas M. Reid & Richard Baker & Lisa Smedman & Philip Athans & Paul S. Kemp

Author:Richard Lee Byers & Thomas M. Reid & Richard Baker & Lisa Smedman & Philip Athans & Paul S. Kemp
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi

Chapter

EIGHTEEN

Four hours later, the company stood again beneath the bronze mask of Vhaeraun in the chapel of Minauthkeep. Battered, filthy mail had been laboriously cleaned, broken links mended, arming coats laundered. Those who had lost their packs, bedrolls, or other gear carried replacements purchased from Jaelre merchants. For the first time since leaving Gracklstugh Halisstra felt clean, rested, and reasonably well prepared for the next step in her journey. She sorely missed the mail she'd worn as First Daughter of House Melarn, and the thundering mace her mother had given her a century past, but she still had her lyre, and Seyll Auzkovyn's mail and sword were not entirely useless substitutes.

The sword in particular seemed a fine piece of work. It carried a potent virtue of holiness that made it tingle unpleasantly in the dark elf's grip, but Halisstra suspected its blade would be unbearable to any fell creature who felt its bite. Considering the fact that she intended to descend into the Abyss itself, where such creatures would likely set upon the company in numbers, she was willing to endure the sword's distasteful enchantment for a time.

Tzirik had donned a suit of black mithral plate armor decorated with grotesque demonic figures and chased with gold filigree. A wickedly spiked mace hung at his belt, and he wore a great masked helm in the shape of a demon's skull. He radiated confidence and energy, as if he'd waited a long time for the opportunity to serve his god with worthwhile stakes at hand.

"As you know," said the priest, "there is more than one way to leave this plane of existence and venture into the dimensions beyond. I have examined the issue at length, and I have decided that we shall travel in astral form. Now, if—"

"That would require us to leave our bodies comatose while our spirits journeyed to the Abyss," Quenthel interrupted. "Why would you even hope I might consent to that?"

"Betrayal," Jeggred rumbled. "He intends to have his comrades slit our throats while our bodies lie uninhabited."

The draegloth took a step forward, baring his fangs at the Vhaeraunite priest.

"I choose to travel in astral form for two reasons, Mistress Baenre," Tzirik replied, ignoring Jeggred. "First, it is marginally safer, in that if someone's roving spirit happened to be killed while visiting the Demonweb Pits, that person would not truly be dead—he would awaken here, unharmed. A spirit is a difficult thing to destroy, after all. Second, as far as I can tell, we have no real alternative. I have already attempted to plane shift bodily to the Demonweb Pits, and the spell failed outright. I believe the barrier or seal of which the Masked Lord spoke prevented the direct transference of a physical body into Lolth's demesnes."

"Yet you believe you'll be able to carry our astral forms there, when the realm is still sealed?" Halisstra asked.

"I know of only two ways to take you to the Demonweb Pits, and if one doesn't work, the other must," Tzirik said with a shrug.

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