Page 103 - D&D - Player's Handbook

MENZOBERRANZAN BLINGDENSTONE
I eventually got away from the place, but not before I My initial joy at reaching Blingdenstone was quickly tem-
had learned more about Menzoberranzan than any pered. The deep gnomes don't seem to like visitors they
sane person would care to know. Although the life of can't recognize or identify, and being a half-ore didn't help
a slave can be brutally short in the City of Spiders, the matters in the least for me. After dodging arrows loosed
draw aren't so extravagant that they do away with every from the high walls of the city, I gave up on going through
captive they take. At the same time, they are masters the gate and snuck in through a small cart tunnel, empty-
of punishment- it is fear of pain, not fear of death, that ing out part of a load of ore to make room for myself.
motivates the slaves of draw. If you're lucky, you'll only I managed to avoid conflict with the guards that dis-
feel normal shackles and the occasional whip or light covered me in the cart. When they ordered me to stand,
spell-blast. A bit less luck or more malice, and the ser- I did so with my weapon held at my side, and I turned to
pent-headed whips of the priestesses come out. display my back to them. When they saw that it was cov-
If you aren't a draw in the City of Spiders, you aren't ered in lashes and the scars of the priestesses' fanged
worth a name. All manner of surface-dwellers-ores and whips, and they realized that my blade was of draw man-
elves, humans and halflings- are brought here to serve ufacture (though I clearly was not), they were willing to
as slaves to the draw in their refuge. The constant fear believe my story.
of punishment, from one's mistress or another, more Though the gnomes kept me under watch, I was allowed
powerful draw, keeps most slaves obedient, even when to regain my strength for a few days, and I saw a bit of
they aren't directly supervised. their community in the meantime. Once I was inside the
The great cavern of the city is filled with tall spires, city, I could tell that it's not much of a city at all. The svir-
and homes both great and small are carved into the sta- fneblin all live in close contact with one another, and this
lagmites and stalactites that pierce the darkness. Gentle togetherness can be disconcerting, especially for someone
illumination from magic or glowing fungus decorates accustomed to small luxuries like shutters on windows
some homes and businesses, as well as the mansions of and doors on privies. The homes are all smoothed-over
the high houses of the city, eight of which have positioned natural stone, with little evidence of hard corners.
themselves above all others. While the lesser houses Each industry has a portion of the city to itself: trad-
dance and fight and scheme for advantages over each ing, smithing, mining, and the growing of a special
other, they all live under the heel of House Baenre and fungus crop. Still many of the old tunnels and caverns
the Matron Mother, who rules the city in Lolth's name. remain unclaimed and sealed off, whether to guard
On a large plateau high above the cavern floor is Tier against invasion or perhaps because of what now dwells
Breche, also called the Academy, where the city trains there, I don't know.
its priestesses, mages, and noble warriors. The city's If you're welcomed long enough to the city, you can
market is centrally located, and rothe are raised on an trade for fine goods and armor here; the gnomes'
isle toward the eastern edge of the city. chain mail and mining picks seem most worth acquir-
If you are ever so unfortunate as to be enslaved by the ing. Before sending me on my way, the gnomes were
draw of Menzoberranzan, my advice to you is simple kind enough to give me a pick, a dagger, and some of
and stern: do as you are commanded, avoid insulting their trillimac, an odd fungus that can be made into
their goddess (which means don't even brush off a something like bread. It's a bit spongy, but it doesn't
spider crawling on you), and attempt escape only if you spoil quickly, and it got me to the surface before I
are desperate or sure of your survival. If you are given starved to death.
the proper opportunity, as I was, you might discover that
the neck of a draw snaps with surprising ease.
THE CAVERN OF MENZOBERRANZAN
Menzoberranzan fills a large vault that was formerly a
ESCAPE lair of giant spiders and beholders. The vault is known by
One day, well after I had lost count of how many days its dwarven name, Araurilcaurak ("Great Pillar Cavern"),
I'd been a captive, I was in a small outlying cavern with because of Narbondel, the giant rock pillar at the vault's
center that joins floor and ceiling. The cavern is roughly
a few other slaves harvesting a mushroom patch. I was
shaped like an arrowhead, with the pool of Donigarten at
given leave to answer nature's call away from the mush-
its tip, and stretching two miles across at its widest point.
rooms, and I lingered long enough in a side tunnel to The ceiling rises a thousand feet high, and the floor is
force my watcher to come and find me. I took the first studded with stalagmites.
lash he offered me with his whip, then grabbed the Two areas rise above the rest of the city: Tier Breche, the
weapon and pulled the skinny fool toward me before he side cavern occupied by the Academy where most drow cit·
could sound an alarm or get his blade out. It took me izens are trained for adulthood; and the larger Qu'ellarz'orl
but a second to get both hands around his throat. When (or House-Loft) , a plateau that is home to many of the
he lay dead at my feet, I took his sword and ran as fast city's mightiest noble houses, separated from the lower
city by a forest of giant mushrooms. From either of these
and far as I could. I knew the gnomish city of Blingden-
heights, a surveyor can view the city. The view shows rows
stone was nearby, and I came upon it eventually, but the
of spired stone castles, their sculpted highlights lit by the
journey took days as I wound through convoluted pas-
soft, tinted flows of permanent faerie fire lights.
sageways and tried to avoid notice.