An armory

Teysa and Aliara crept cautiously through the corridors of the Basilica's sub-basement. Fresh from her ordeal in the tunnels, Teysa found herself jumping at shadows, her heart racing every time she heard the scrape of stone or drip of water. This portion of the great building appeared to be abandoned, or at least woefully neglected; every third brazier was dark and cold, and even the lit ones burned low and fitfully, as though nobody had replaced their coals in a long time. Teysa was keenly aware of how tiny the dagger in her hand felt. Mish'li was right-- this wasn't any kind of weapon.

Aliara stopped short and held up a hand. Teysa was about to ask her what had stopped her, but the half-elf held a finger to her mouth for quiet and pulled Teysa into an alcove. Leaning forward, she whispered into Teysa's ear:
"Be quiet. The corridor is sloping up here, at least ten degrees. I think we're getting into a more frequently-used part of the Basilica. There are going to be people around. We need to stay out of sight."
Teysa whispered back, "I don't think we can hide forever, Li. We need a better disguise than this. We'll need to get past people at some point."

Aliara took a deep breath. "Tey, what are we even looking for? We've gotten a long way, a very long way, and it's very dangerous here. I want to find Siri'ka as much as you do, but we don't even know where to start looking! We can't just ask someone for directions! I think we're in over our heads."

Teysa paused before answering. She knew she would have to be very careful here. "Li... I know this is hard for you. I'm sorry. I should have..." she bit her lip. Here goes. "I should have been more understanding." Reaching out, she held Aliara's hand between her own, and looked her in the eye. "You know me. I have always had faith. I put that faith in Agamor on the surface, and even down here, where His light does not reach, I feel His warmth. Agamor's light reveals all mysteries, all secrets. Nothing can hide from Him. I know that if I keep my faith, even down here in the darkness, He will lead us to the answers we seek."

For a long moment, Aliara said nothing. I shouldn't have said that. She's not a believer. She's going to say something rash, and this is going to turn into a fight.

Then the half-elf smiled. "Tey, this is why I love you. I don't have the same faith you do, but I have faith in you. I'll follow you anywhere."

Relief washed through Teysa and she leaned in to plant a quick kiss on Aliara's cheek. She was surprised when the other woman moved her head slightly, enough to catch Teysa's lips with hers. She pulled Teysa close and kissed her passionately, a kiss that seemed to go on and on and on. Teysa lingered, unwilling to break the embrace, until finally Aliara pulled her head back and gave a smile that was almost shy. "In case I don't get the chance later. Now let's go."

The corridor they were on continued to go straight for a few minutes more, and even Teysa began to notice its steady incline. The bare rock of the floor gave way to fitted stones. It was still a dank basement, but now at least it was a dank basement that was clearly inhabited. Up ahead, Teysa could see, the corridor terminated at a thick iron door with a broad iron ring for a handle.

Teysa and Aliara flattened themselves against the wall and crept forward, careful to stay out of line of sight of the door's narrow grill. Their progress seemed to take ages, but Teysa trusted Aliara's skill at stealth, and stepped only where she did. Little by little they approached the door, finally crouching down outside it. Aliara carefully pressed one ear to the door, paused a moment, then looked at Teysa and nodded. The paladin grabbed the iron ring and pushed gently, and the heavy door swung open with a screech of tortured metal.

Both women flinched, but no angry cries or thundering footsteps greeted them. They stepped gingerly around the door and froze when they saw the contents of the room. "Jackpot!" Aliara breathed, surveying the walls.

They found themselves in an armory, filled with sets of the baroque black iron plate favored by the Fangs. Rows of halberds lined the walls, and a bench to one side contained a small anvil, a grindstone, tongs, and other tools of maintenance and repair. Buckets of sand for polishing armor stood in the corners and a wall rack contained all manner of specialist weapons, some Teysa recognized and some whose evil barbs and twisted blades made her shudder. The room had one other entrance, another metal door with a grill set at eye height. An inset metal plate could be slid closed to seal the grill, which Aliara did now. She turned to Teysa with an excited grin.

"A better disguise! That's what you were saying, right? Here we are! You were right! Quick, let's get into this armor. Look, full-face visors! And they all patrol in pairs, right? That's what we saw outside? I can't believe our luck!"

Teysa couldn't help but smile at Aliara's enthusiasm. "Li, you've never actually worn plate before, have you?"
The half elf shrugged with an embarrassed grin. "Well, it's just metal. How hard can it be?"

It turned out to be very hard indeed. Teysa had no trouble suiting up, though the armor's edges were a bit sharper than she was used to and she cut herself more than once. Getting Aliara into a suit proved to be a challenge and a half.

"Teysa, it pinches! Is it supposed to pinch?" The half elf swiveled back and forth, arms at her sides, trying to look over her shoulder to see what Teysa was doing. Angrily, the paladin thumped her on the side with one steel-gloved hand. "Hold still! It pinches because you're moving while I'm trying to tighten these straps! They have to be tight or you're going to walk right out of your tassets. Do you want that?"

"I don't even know what that is! How can I know if I want it?" Aliara's voice was muffled by her visor, but Teysa could hear the smile in it. She sighed and rolled her eyes, not for the first time. "Look, Li, I appreciate that this is a new experience for you, but we don't have forever. We need to be out of here before someone comes to drop off their armor or sharpen their halberd." With a grunt she pulled the last strap tight, eliciting another squeal of protest.

Eventually Aliara was as armored up as she was likely to get. Teysa stepped back to survey her work. The armor looked fine, but Aliara was holding her arms out at forty-five degree angles from her waist like a store mannequin. "Li, you have to loosen up a little. It's just like walking without armor. Don't act like you don't have joints anymore."

Aliara staggered across the room with plodding steps. "Easy for you to say! You walk in this stuff every day! It feels like there's an angry dwarf sitting on my shoulders and his kids are grabbing my legs!"

Teysa sighed again. They did not have time for this. "Li, just take smaller steps. It's supposed to be heavy. It keeps you safe. Grab a halberd and let's go, we've wasted enough time here already." She shouldered her own halberd and pulled the door open, looking both ways. Luck was still on their side: the corridor was bare in both directions. This part of the Basilica was definitely more inhabited; fresh braziers burned at regular intervals and the corridor was lined with more of the metal doors that had become such a familiar sight in the drow chapel. Behind her, Aliara had managed to grab a halberd, and was making her way across the floor. She looked up at Teysa and gave a mock salute with her halberd. "Ready for action, captain!"

Teysa shook her head. "Let's go, soldier."

Marching as a pair they set off down the corridor. Their first meeting with another person came minute after leaving the armor. Teysa held her breath as the figured approached, but as they passed each other she breathed a sigh of relief. It was a drow priestess, a mid-level functionary by the look of her robes, hurrying by with an armful of scrolls. She did not spare the women a second glance but headed off down the corridor at speed. After that, encounters became more frequent, but none of them spared the ersatz guards any attention. Even other patrols simply nodded in acknowledgment as they passed. Teysa kept up a steady patrolling pace but she soon became aware that Aliara was flagging. The two of them paused at a junction so the half-elf could catch her breath.

They had been standing there for less than a minute when someone called out to them. Teysa looked up frantically and saw, a few feet away, four drow guards in incredibly ornate armor standing in a square formation. Each of them wore a maroon half-cloak over their oily black steel and carried a massive halberd with a spiderweb pattern etched into the blade. At the center of their formation was a cluster of finely dressed drow: courtiers, sycophants, priestesses, all dripping with jewelry and the obvious trappings of wealth and power. And in the middle of them...

A single drow, a woman younger than Teysa, wearing an elaborate black and silver gown. Open panels in the gown provocatively showed her navel, which was bedecked with a massive emerald, and the swell of her bosom. Her pure-white hair was done up in elaborate braids that were piled atop her head and surrounded by a confection of silver: a crown bearing a spiderweb motif, studded with rubies and diamonds. In one hand she held a short silver rod topped with a cabochon spider, which she used now to gesture at Teysa and Aliara. She was rouged and powdered with silvery specks and her eyes were kohled, but beneath the makeup, her face twisted in a frightening grimace.

"Will you not kneel? Do you not know who I am?" she screeched, her voice sounding even younger than she looked. Teysa remembered Don's warning: "New Empress. She's got a real mean streak."

Oh, shit.

Without waiting for the two women to respond, the Empress howled with rage. "Guards! Take them!" The two foremost guards bulled their way forward towards Teysa and Aliara, halberds held high.