The market

"Let's head into the market, Li. Someone here must have seen the caravan."

"I dunno about this, Tey." Aliara sounded nervous. "Shouldn't we head for the Stone Egg first? Meet our contact? I don't like wandering blindly around this city."

"Come on! The merchants aren't going to stay here forever. What if someone here has a lead for us, but they leave while we're finding some inn? We'll head over at dinnertime."

With a sigh Aliara allowed herself to be pulled along. "Fine. But watch your bag. You thought cutpurses were bad on the surface..."

A few more steps, and the market engulfed them. Teysa spun around slowly and took it all in. She had seen large bazaars on the surface, but this dwarfed anything she had ever imagined. Stalls stretched as far as they eye could see. They were pitched in a random, haphazard fashion, with a labyrinth of narrow alleys connecting them in a vast web. Some of the smaller stalls near the edges were no more than blankets tossed across the cobblestones, usually lined with battered-looking weapons and armor or cheap knickknacks. Others were carts or carriages, some with oxen still in the tracers. A few merchants hawked their wares from pavilion tents of particolored silk-- strange fragrances and butts of glittering smoke emerged from a few of these, beckoning in passersby. The majority of the stalls were metal frameworks draped with swatches of silk and canvas. Merchants of every race, size and description shouted in a thousand languages.

"Vases! Ceramic, clay, gombroon! A vase for every household!"
"Gems! I buy and sell, madam, buy and sell! Cut and raw!"
"Vesh pay? Adonn torida, dumathon bar ezkyell!"

"Rat! Cave rat, here, onna stick! Getchore rat here!"

Teysa and Aliara passed an open-air forge where a band of grey-skinned dwarves lounged around the bellows, eyeballing passersby. A smith, short and stocky even for a dwarf, was beating dents out of a shield on the anvil. The pounding of metal on metal was hypnotically familiar; entranced, Teysa watched until Aliara pulled her away.

"Stop it! Tey, you can't attract attention down here. We're already in- shit!"

She pulled Teysa aside and spun her around, looking up at her face. The paladin looked down in confusion. "What? Li, what's-"

Aliara shushed her with one finger. She stared over Teysa's shoulder for awhile, then looked back at her.
"Turn to your left, slowly. Don't stare!"

To their left, a pair of drow in baroque armor was receding into the crowd. From the looks of it they had passed within a few feet of the women. Teysa turned back.

"Li, who is that?"

"Fangs," the half-elf whispered. "Like city guard. But meaner. We should make ourselves scarce."

"But we didn't do anything!"

"Like that matters to them. They'll shake us down for a bribe, or just because they're bored. Come on, this was your idea. Who do we talk to?"
Teysa thought for a moment. "Well, what do the driders sell? Silk, probably, right? We talk to silk merchants."

They made their way through the press of the crowd, both scanning the tents for someone selling silk. Before long Aliara whistled. "Aha! Here!" She pointed at a tent over which hung an embroidered strip of silk. Terrak and Son, Fine Cloth Dealers, it read. "Let's check it out!"

Inside, the tent was pleasantly cool, and the heavy fabric dulled the roar of the market. Half of the tent was taken up by a gigantic loom. Along the walls hung swatches of different fabrics, and a row of wooden heads modeled various fashionable-looking caps.

"Yes? Can I help you women?" The speaker was a gnome. He was as short and fastidious-looking as all of his people, with a dye-stained apron and prim little spectacles perched on the tip of his aquiline nose. His light brown hair was combed over to hide a bald spot and his outfit beneath the apron was shiny brown leather, right down to the spit-shined silver buckles on his shoes. "Did you place an order? I'm afraid we're not taking new commissions."
"Oh, no, no," said Teysa. "I'm sorry, but we just wanted to ask a few questions. Do you have a moment?"
The gnome looked annoyed. "Very well, but only a moment. What do you need?"

Aliara spoke up. "A friend of ours was traveling with a caravan in the city. We were supposed to meet her here, but we can't find her anywhere. We know she was carrying silk. Do you think you might have seen her?"
The gnome polished his glasses. "I'm not sure-- I buy from a lot of wholesalers. What did your friend look like?"
Teysa chimed in. "Oh, she was a drider. You know, grey skin, spider legs-"

The gnome's eyes grew large. "No!" he said, a bit too loudly to be polite, "I haven't done any business with anyone like that. If that's all, I am very busy ladies! Good day to you!" He turned his back and began to walk away. Teysa reached out to him. "But sir, surely you've-"
"No!" The gnome's agitation was evident. "Ladies, I told you I cannot help you. I'm going to have to ask you to leave my tent at once! I am expecting a customer to arrive any minute!"

"But-"

Aliara pulled Teysa away. "Thank you for your time, sir!" she called back as she hustled her friend out of the tent. Once outside, Teysa looked at her in bewilderment. "Li, what was that about?"

Aliara rolled her eyes. "I dunno, but badgering the guy's not going to do anything but put us on the radar. Something's going on here, Tey. Something weird." She pointed over the paladin's shoulder. "Look."

Behind Teysa, a crowd had gathered around a cleared space. It was mostly made up of drow, but a few humans and dwarves were mixed in. Someone had dragged a heavy crate into the middle of the clearing, and a female drow in elaborate silver-filigreed robes stood across it. She was evidently preaching or speaking, and the audience hung raptly on her every word. Teysa and Aliara moved closer to listen.

"-a threat! As I said, our Empress's mercy is infinite, but these provocations continue daily! These creatures-- these monsters-- that wear the sacred form of Our Goddess do so in ugly parody of all we hold dear! My friends, the drider menace can no longer be ignored!"
"Yeah!" "That's right!" A few drow in the audience murmured their assent. The speaker waited for them to calm down before continuing.
"Yes, my friends, these creatures lurk in their lairs, plotting against our City! Our Empress has a soft and gentle heart, and we love her for it, but those of us with more steel in our bellies must be ready! We must not show these beasts any mercy, as they would show us none! When the time comes, who among you will stand up for our rights-- our rights as drow! The Underneath is ours!"
The dwarves in the crowd looked a little uneasy, but the drow cheered as one. The speaker nodded and smiled as she stepped off the crate. The crowd, sensing the show was over, began to disperse. Teysa and Aliara looked at each other in horor.

"Well, that explains that." Aliara was uncharacteristically subdued. "Tey, what do you think the odds are that has nothing to do with our friend, or that gnome's negative reaction?"
Teysa bit her lip. "We need more information. Now."