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Galadria · 10-26-2002, 06:18 PM

All right, but this is all for today.

Chorania, for it was she, shouted, "Who are you, mageling, and why are you spying on us?" Bandicut felt himself held rigidly facing the crystal. Chorania smiled a knowing smile. "So, a mage of Halruua, is it? Why do you little pests meddle with my Mistress? Lucky you are that she is not at home, or she would fry you with a thought. That is how you were able to get as far as you did. Too bad that I cannot hold you until she gets back, or you would be dead, even so. Go, and hope that I don't find you." The contact broke, and Bandicut slumped back in the chair, sweating. Who were these people? For the first time in years, the wizard felt a prickling of fear. A drow priestess! Galadria must be mighty, indeed, to tame one of those. As he hurriedly packed for a quick change in residence, he realised that a change in tactics might be in order.

Chorania turned aside from the scrying bowl that she had been using to overlook her friends. Galadria would have to be told that the opposition was already mobilising. Why it was that the Mages of Halruaa were interested in Noemi, she did not know, but she had at once been aware of him when his spell triggered her Mistress' anti-magic ward that she had constantly maintained over her sister since the tidings had been announced. She began searching for the wizard on her own account. A face that ugly should be easy, she thought. Pity she had no more clue than that.
When Galadria got home, she was jolted by the drow's report that one of the Mages of Halruaa was spying on them and had tried to pierce the magical veil that she had placed over Noemi. "But, the spell worked?" she asked Chorania anxiously, "You saw him?"
"Indeed, abbil," Chorania answered readily, "and it was a face that one is unlikely to forget. Hideously birthmarked, with a trio of warts on the left cheek, just to be sure he could be as ugly as he could manage, I suppose. Among the drow, such a one would have been sacrificed to Lolth at birth."
"Well," the dark mage replied with fierce determination., "if I catch him, he will have cause to wish that he had been. I shall roast him over a slow fire."
"Easy, abbil," Chorania soothed her. "Do not waste your energies. We do not know why he is spying on us, though I feel as you, that it is for some ill purpose and that it involves Noemi. Let us do a little spying on our own account. Sefa!"
The girl, who had been an entranced eavesdropper, started guiltily. "What, Lady Chorania?" she said, and blushed.
"Sefa," Chorania complained, "I have told you to call me Cho, as everyone does. You still retain some contacts among the street children, do you not?"
"Yes, Cho."
"Then," the drow instructed her, "go out among them. See if this extraordinary individual has been seen around here. Find out what you can; his name, if possible."

Sefa, excited to have such an imporant mission, started getting ready immediately, with all the energy of youth. Noemi, seeing her scramble about to change her clothes after such a long and, to her, tiring shopping trip grumbled about how old she was getting and how Sefa would be better put to use rubbing her, Noemi's, swollen feet. Chorania and Cythera laid her onto a couch in Galadria's study, and Chorania insisted on massaging the put upon feet with an ointment that she said was drow in origin. As she had expected, this artful addition had the little redhead chattering happily about the Underdark and their adventures there, her feet and Sefa forgotten for the moment. Chorania, though she seemed to be bantering with Noemi, was really remembering the time, not long hence, when Noemi had sat upon this very couch and cleansed her blistered and battered feet when she had first returned to the House of the Dome. She smiled to herself as she rubbed the soothing ointment into the fair skin, slipping her anointed fingers in and out of the pink toes.
As soon as it was nightfall, Sefa slipped out of the side entrance and slid through the shadowy streets. She ended up in the slums, teeming with life and danger. Watching the predatory figures all around, Sefa put her hand for an instant on the protective amulet that, if grasped a certain way, would bring her help. She headed for her old home, and in a short time, was within the dank house whose basement housed many slum children. At once, she began inquiries with her former acquaintances until, on the fourth or fifth try, she struck gold.

10-26-2002, 06:18 PM	#39
Galadria 20th Level Warrior Join Date: November 3, 2001 Location: Texas Age: 54 Posts: 2,830	All right, but this is all for today. Chorania, for it was she, shouted, "Who are you, mageling, and why are you spying on us?" Bandicut felt himself held rigidly facing the crystal. Chorania smiled a knowing smile. "So, a mage of Halruua, is it? Why do you little pests meddle with my Mistress? Lucky you are that she is not at home, or she would fry you with a thought. That is how you were able to get as far as you did. Too bad that I cannot hold you until she gets back, or you would be dead, even so. Go, and hope that I don't find you." The contact broke, and Bandicut slumped back in the chair, sweating. Who were these people? For the first time in years, the wizard felt a prickling of fear. A drow priestess! Galadria must be mighty, indeed, to tame one of those. As he hurriedly packed for a quick change in residence, he realised that a change in tactics might be in order. Chorania turned aside from the scrying bowl that she had been using to overlook her friends. Galadria would have to be told that the opposition was already mobilising. Why it was that the Mages of Halruaa were interested in Noemi, she did not know, but she had at once been aware of him when his spell triggered her Mistress' anti-magic ward that she had constantly maintained over her sister since the tidings had been announced. She began searching for the wizard on her own account. A face that ugly should be easy, she thought. Pity she had no more clue than that. When Galadria got home, she was jolted by the drow's report that one of the Mages of Halruaa was spying on them and had tried to pierce the magical veil that she had placed over Noemi. "But, the spell worked?" she asked Chorania anxiously, "You saw him?" "Indeed, abbil," Chorania answered readily, "and it was a face that one is unlikely to forget. Hideously birthmarked, with a trio of warts on the left cheek, just to be sure he could be as ugly as he could manage, I suppose. Among the drow, such a one would have been sacrificed to Lolth at birth." "Well," the dark mage replied with fierce determination., "if I catch him, he will have cause to wish that he had been. I shall roast him over a slow fire." "Easy, abbil," Chorania soothed her. "Do not waste your energies. We do not know why he is spying on us, though I feel as you, that it is for some ill purpose and that it involves Noemi. Let us do a little spying on our own account. Sefa!" The girl, who had been an entranced eavesdropper, started guiltily. "What, Lady Chorania?" she said, and blushed. "Sefa," Chorania complained, "I have told you to call me Cho, as everyone does. You still retain some contacts among the street children, do you not?" "Yes, Cho." "Then," the drow instructed her, "go out among them. See if this extraordinary individual has been seen around here. Find out what you can; his name, if possible." Sefa, excited to have such an imporant mission, started getting ready immediately, with all the energy of youth. Noemi, seeing her scramble about to change her clothes after such a long and, to her, tiring shopping trip grumbled about how old she was getting and how Sefa would be better put to use rubbing her, Noemi's, swollen feet. Chorania and Cythera laid her onto a couch in Galadria's study, and Chorania insisted on massaging the put upon feet with an ointment that she said was drow in origin. As she had expected, this artful addition had the little redhead chattering happily about the Underdark and their adventures there, her feet and Sefa forgotten for the moment. Chorania, though she seemed to be bantering with Noemi, was really remembering the time, not long hence, when Noemi had sat upon this very couch and cleansed her blistered and battered feet when she had first returned to the House of the Dome. She smiled to herself as she rubbed the soothing ointment into the fair skin, slipping her anointed fingers in and out of the pink toes. As soon as it was nightfall, Sefa slipped out of the side entrance and slid through the shadowy streets. She ended up in the slums, teeming with life and danger. Watching the predatory figures all around, Sefa put her hand for an instant on the protective amulet that, if grasped a certain way, would bring her help. She headed for her old home, and in a short time, was within the dank house whose basement housed many slum children. At once, she began inquiries with her former acquaintances until, on the fourth or fifth try, she struck gold.