Holy Opposites 33

	All four party members possessed darkvision, so seeing their way wasn’t difficult.  When the passageway opened up into a cavern through a false wall, both Paladins craned their heads back.  “This is a sight to remember,” Axio said quietly.

	The cavern hosted an entire fortified temple.  “So this is the Promenade of the Dark Maiden,” Cavria said in awe.

	“What’s left,” Doshellas muttered.  It did seem to be under repairs, but the nearest structure was completed.  “We focused on the defenses.”

	“You sure did,” Cavria said.  The nearest structure was a guardhouse, and it ran from floor to ceiling in the huge cavern.  They had passed abandoned, broken piles of rubble on their way in, but this was an active defense.  The guardhouse had thick slabs of stone on its walls, metal spikes in the shape of crescent moons sticking from the corners, and thin, well-reinforced slots on the windows from which arrows could be fired.  The structure’s top, where it stuck against the ceiling, had larger arrow slots, suitable for crossbows.  Beyond was a stone bridge that arced over the ground by fifteen feet, with high stone fences on the sides, and which ended up in a far wall, where a door into the stone was visible.

	Luanea walked up until she was a few dozen feet from the archway and took a knee.  She removed her helm and looked up at the bridge in silence.

	A head poked over and immediately vanished.  A minute of uncomfortable silence passed before a drow came running from behind the tower.  “Luanea!” the drow said cheerfully.  “So good to see you!”

	Luanea beamed and swept the drow into a hug.  “Hello, Benra!” she said delightedly.  “You’re alright!”

	The drow man broke out of the hug and slammed his fist into his armored breastplate.  “Better than ever.  Some ugly demon can’t stop me.”  He looked over the group.  “Doshellas, brother, welcome back!”  His gaze traveled to the Paladins, and his smile vanished.  “Outsiders, now?”

	“Yes, my friend, outsiders,” Luanea said.  “Briefly.  Just long enough to rest our feet and stock up on holy water.  We’re making for Undermountain.”

	“Hmm.”  After a moment, Benra nodded to her and bowed quickly to the Paladins.  “Welcome to the Promenade Rebuilt,” he said.  “If Luanea gives you the vouch, then so be it.  I caution you that the back caverns are heavily damaged, and not to be traversed.”

	“Thank you,” Axio said for them both.

	The duo followed Luanea and their guide into the main structure behind the guardhouse, which turned out to be a walled-in temple.  Several dozen drow men and women in the formal garb – what little that was – of Eilistraeean clergy were there, sitting or standing around a large, open room.  Decorated pillars rose at random from the floor to the ceiling high above, but the more interesting feature was the floor.  It wasn’t entirely flat.  The smooth, polished stone sloped and rose in places, creating an effect like the surface of a lake.  Cushions and chairs were everywhere, and more than a few small tables or altars.

	“Beautiful place,” Cavria said.  “It’s hard to believe that this was a ruin just twelve years ago.”

	“I know,” Luanea said wistfully.  “There’s still so much work to do.”  She moved over to Benra’s side.  “I don’t suppose Verashon is here?”

	“Sadly not,” Benra said.  Cavria cocked her head, but neither said anything else.  The three drow led the others into another chamber, this one containing what was unmistakably a healing temple.  Partitions divided the large room into smaller ones.  A cleric or two tended to wounded people here, but most of the building was vacant.

	Benra indicated two empty rooms.  “If you wish, you may remain here until you are ready to go,” he said.  “Feel free to visit the main building, but please do not enter the portal room or the back caverns.  They are not stable.”

	“Thank you, Benra,” Luanea said for the group.  As soon as he bowed out, she left as well, heading for the main cavern.

	Axio sprawled out over a bed and started removing his armor.  “I think I’m going catch some shut-eye,” he said.  “Didn’t sleep much last night.  It stings to need to rest while the children are still held hostage, but we’re no good exhausted.”

	Doshellas leaned back against the headboard of his own bed and shut his eyes.  “Might trance a bit myself.”

	Cavria looked at her own bed, but decided against it.  She followed Luanea into the main temple and looked around.  The majority of the clergy were working on things.  Several were crafting items on tables in one corner, while several others were watching what looked like an incredibly complex ritual dance in the middle of the room, performed by two blindfolded drow men in loincloths, carrying swords in one hand and flowers in the others.  Cavria took a moment to appreciate the artistry needed to perform such a dance while blind, as well as the mouth-watering physique of the men involved, before wandering off, wondering where Luanea had gone.

	She found Luanea in one corner, riffling through a small wooden box on a table.  As she approached, Luanea withdrew a small metal ring, inspected it, and set it aside.  She waved Cavria over when she spotted her new friend.  “Ah, Cavria.  Come here, I want to show you something.”

	Cavria did so, looking down at the box.  It appeared to contain a large variety of cheap jewelry and accessories, some of them magical.  “What’s this?”

	“A collection of items the small excursion teams we send into Undermountain have retrieved,” Luanea said.  “The items are stored communally, in case we need to send people out into the tunnels we haven’t secured.”

	“Hmm.  Think we’re going to need some?” Cavria asked.

	Luanea sighed.  “Undermountain is a mad, mad place,” she said.  “There’s no such thing as being too well-protected.”  She lifted a large metal coil, which she folded around her arm.  It snapped tight against her skin, and Cavria flinched in surprise, but Luanea shook her head.  “It’s depleted,” she said, and the coil sprang loose and back into the box.  “Hmm.  Maybe… ah, here we go,” she said.  She pulled another ring out, this one stainless steel with no markings.  “This feels like protection from darkness,” she said.  “I think I’ll bring this.  If we run into Baneites, and they have a wizard, we’ll need to ensure they don’t blind us.”

	“Good thinking.”  Cavria looked over her shoulder at the religious ceremony the two men were apparently performing.  “That is… an interesting display,” she remarked.

	Luanea nodded with a smile.  “Eilistraee does love dance.  You should see the larger version we perform at weddings.”

	“I’m sure female attendance is higher than heaven,” Cavria quipped.

	Luanea laughed.  “You know, when you’ve seen it a hundred times, the sexual edge sort of wears away.  Yes, though, it is great fun to watch.  Most of the formal dances have only female participants, though.”

	“Increasing male attendance in turn?”

	The priestess gave Cavria a look of exasperation.  “Don’t tease.”

	“I’m not teasing, I’m envious,” Cavria admitted.  “I have… very strong reservations about sex and beauty.”

	“Oh.”  Luanea looked awkward, hastening Cavria to explain.

	“My family is unbelievably fucked up,” she said quickly.  “I’m not judging.  I just wish I could be more comfortable with… things.”

	Luanea seemed to want to say something, but nodded instead.  She turned back to the box and resumed her riffling.  “Of course.  I apologize.  I thought you were being coy.”

	“No, no.”  Cavria flushed under her magic disguise.  Why did she even say all that?  It wasn’t Luanea’s fault that she couldn’t enjoy intimacy.

	The two women looked through the box in silence before Cavria spoke up.  “Sorry.  I didn’t mean to burden you with that.”

	Luanea rested a hand on Cavria’s armored shoulder.  “It’s no trouble.  If it’s any help, you would be far from the first woman I had helped through some past trauma, if ever you wanted to ask me how to leave your discomfort behind.”

	“Really?”

	“I’ve been counseling drow sex slaves who escaped their mistresses for generations,” Luanea said sadly.  “Yes, Cavria, I would be more than happy to help you.”

	“I… huh.  Well, I think I may take you up on that,” Cavria admitted.  Maybe it would be easier to talk it over with a woman than with a man.  Who knew?  It couldn’t hurt.

	A commotion by the front entrance broke the moment.  Both looked up to see a trio of drow men in stealth armor walking in, carrying a wounded human between them.  They skirted the pair of dancers.  Two of the clerics peeled off to follow.  Luanea sighed.  “So many adventurers are hurt in the sewers and tunnels these days.  We help whom we can, but there are just too many.”

	Cavria nodded in sympathy.  “Well, the sooner we stop this cult, the sooner we can make things safer.”

	“Yes.”  Luanea extracted a small ring from the box.  “Ah, here we go.  Try this.”

	Cavria slid the ring on.  “Hmm.  I feel the same.”

	“That is a ring of feather fall,” Luanea explained.  “In case we have to cross a chasm, it may be helpful.”

	“Good.”  Cavria dropped it in a pocket.  “Let’s not take more than our fair share, though, right?”

	“Yes, and if we find more things in the dungeons, we can leave them here,” Luanea said.  “All right.  Let’s get some rest.  We’ll head out after a meal.”