Yes

Wind roared in Teysa's ears. She immediately regretted her leap. The ledge seemed almost ridiculously tiny. How did Aliara do this? I can't possibly-

Too soon, it was on her. Her feet slammed into the stone ledge, sending tremors up her legs. She felt her center of balance sliding backward, and her arms pinwheeled. For one heart-stopping moment she teetered over the gap, then she felt Aliara's hands on her waist. The half elf was braced in a crouch inside the window, grinning broadly. She pulled Teysa forward. "Tey! Tey, it's ok. I've got you. I've got you." She held on a moment longer, then let Teysa go and clapped softly. "Good job! I knew you could do it. See? Piece of cake." She hopped down into the room.

Teysa took a couple of deep breaths to try to bring down her heart rate. She didn't trust herself to say anything yet. While she calmed down she surveyed the room. It appeared to be someone's quarters; a simple mattress lay on the floor in one corner, with a steel chest at one end. Stone shelves were built into the walls three deep, and each was lined with books. Teysa couldn't read any of the writing on the spines, and something told her that might be for the best; they seemed to be mostly written in unpleasant, curling runes that looped and whorled nauseously before her eyes. With difficulty, she tore her gaze away.

One corner of the floor was marred with old stains. A waxy residue coated the stones, and an unidentifiable dark patch spread like a shadow. Teysa tried to ignore the fact that it looked vaguely humanoid.

"Well! Isn't this nice!" Aliara sounded chipper, her hands on her hips. "Lucky for us we came by when the owner wasn't home, huh? Come on, let's get out of here." She pointed ahead, to where a heavy beaded curtain hung over a doorway. Teysa slid down into the room and, careful to give the stained floor section a wide berth, followed Aliara.

They emerged into a narrow corridor. Three other doors with identical beaded curtains greeted them, two across the hall and one next door. The hallway itself curved away, deeper into the building. Teysa figured that they were in a dormitory of sorts. She gestured down the corridor. Aliara nodded and padded forward.

The corridor opened out into a small stone cell. A single stool stood in the corner and the walls were built into more shelves, these lined with folded clothing. To their left stood a heavy steel door. Ahead of them, a staircase curved away into the upper reaches of the building. Aliara gestured upward, then at the door, and shrugged. Teysa thought for a moment, then pointed at the staircase. It stood to reason that the steel door might connect the dormitories to other parts of the temple-- they had a better shot at finding Mish'li if they stayed in the living spaces.

The staircase was narrow and curved away to the right as it rose. Teysa followed behind a few paces, just enough to keep Aliara in sight. She tried to move as quietly as possible, but each scuff of her feet against the stone steps seemed to fill the silence. The half-elf, by contrast, crept as silently as a cat. The staircase was lit by braziers set into the wall at intervals; they were filled not with flame but with chunks of some material that glowed incandescently, like banked coals. The light flickered slightly, causing Teysa's shadow to jump around on the inner wall of the staircase.

As they rose, the spiral of the staircase grew tighter. The stairs were irregular in height and length-- after stubbing her toes a few times, Teysa had to look down constantly. The effect was rather disorienting. Once, she paused to get her bearings, and Aliara disappeared around the turn. Teysa hurried to catch up, but when she passed the bend she could see no sign of her friend. She looked around in disbelief and vaulted forward, taking the steps two or three at a time, but the staircase was empty aside from her and the dim braziers. Her panic mounting, she sagged against the wall, head spinning. Did I pass her? She felt disoriented and a sick sense of vertigo gripped her. She gripped her head and stumbled forward, lurching up the stairs-- and nearly crashed head-first into Aliara, who had paused on a landing. The half-elf looked up. "Tey, are you ok? You look awful."

Teysa blinked in surprise. Aliara had seemed to come from nowhere. She hadn't seen her before almost walking into her. She shook her head to clear it. "No... no, I'm fine. A little winded. Why'd you stop?"

Aliara pointed. The stairs continued upward, but the landing they were on featured a square doorway cut in the wall that led into a narrow corridor. Teysa nodded and gestured forward. They skulked into the corridor in single file. Aliara led the way and peered cautiously around the corner before gesturing for Teysa to follow her.

The corridor turned out to be a narrow passage lined with curtained doorways. Each was hung with beads, feathers, strings of precious metals and pearls, or other decorations, and bore glyphs sewn into the fabric of the curtain or daubed on in paint. No two were identical, and Teysa regarded the runes uneasily.

"Can you read these?" she whispered. Aliara shook her head. "No. I don't even recognize the language. It doesn't look like Drow at all."

The corridor went on for fifty feet before terminating at a heavy metal door. Where is Mish'li? They crept along the corridor, one step after another.

Aliara stopped short. She raised her left arm, a short, sharp gesture of warning. Teysa pulled up short as well and tensed. Aliara patted her on the shoulder and pointed. Up ahead one of the doors was clear-- the curtain had been drawn aside and pinned up somewhere in the room. As Aliara took a single step towards it, a drow stepped out and stood in the corridor before them, arms crossed.

She was young-looking, with high-boned cheeks and an aristocratic cast to her features. Her cheeks were powdered and her eyes lined with kohl, with long and expressive lashes. She wore a long black gown of modest cut, threaded with silver, and had long white hair that cascaded down her back in looping braids. She crossed her arms in front of her and spoke.

"I am Mish'li. One of you is Teysa? There is little time."

Teysa was nonplussed. Aliara's hand went to her dagger, but something in the drow's manner stopped her. Teysa spoke. "Yes, that is me. How did you-?"

"Time for that later. Hurry up and come in." Mish'li waved a beckoning hand as she stepped into the room. With a wary glance at Teysa, Aliara followed her, one hand still resting on her dagger belt.

Inside, the room was a spartan cell, furnished with a small bed in one corner and a simple stone desk. The walls were bare stone, windowless, and the only light came from one of the glowing braziers. One corner of the room was given over to a small shrine, where Lolth's holy symbol sat surrounded by a ring of black candles. They burned fitfully, the flames shuddering as though in a breeze. Teysa looked away.

Mish'li waited until they were inside, then dropped the curtain over her door. Teysa felt a slight breeze and a subtle change to the texture of the air in the room. The drow smiled and bowed to them. "Greetings, ladies. You can speak freely in here. The curtain wards us; you will not be heard." She crossed the room to her shrine and bent over her candles, doing something to them that Teysa couldn't see.

Aliara was the first to break the silence. "Ok, Mish'li. You obviously know all about us. How? What do you know about Siri'ka? How can we trust you?"

Mish'li sighed. "Some of your questions are easy to answer. Others, less so. Whether you believe me or not, I am a servant of Lolth-- a loyal servant, unlike some in this temple. I am a friend to all of her children, whether they walk on two legs or eight. She told me you would come, and why. I know I am supposed to help you in your quest, suicidal though it may be. I am supposed to help you get inside the Basilica."

Aliara snorted. "Sure. I believe that. You just had a change of heart, and you want to help the driders. What did you do to Siri'ka? I know she met with you. You were probably the last person to see her alive. What did you do to her? Did you help her too?"

To her credit, Mish'li remained composed. "I tried, Aliara. I am risking a great deal to help you as well. I wish I had been able to warn her off her course-- the same as yours. If you are committed to this-- if you really want to get into the Basilica-- I can do it. I ask you one last time to reconsider. Tell the Matron that no good will come of poking around here. I don't know exactly what happened to Siri'ka, but this is no longer a safe place for her kind."

"Why do the drow hate the driders so much?" Teysa asked. "It doesn't make any sense. You worship the same Goddess!"

Mish'li sighed. "We are sisters, I know, but some rifts go deep. It is our oldest creation myth. The High Priestess loves to tell it. You will have to understand it, to understand the drow. We are taught that Mother Lolth created the world from the primordial chaos, spinning it into the shape it has today. She was helped by her loyal servants, the spiders, and so we revere them. Mother Lolth loved the world, but found it lonely, and wanted to create a daughter to share her beautiful world. So she laid an egg, and from it hatched the first drow. The spiders grew jealous of Lolth's favor toward the drow, and conspired to steal her essence, so that they could share in the world that they had helped to create. For their betrayal, Lolth cursed them, twisting their bodies into the form that they have today, and cast them out." She bowed her head. "So we are taught from the holy texts. Some of us..." she bit her lip. "Some of us believe there is more to learn. But we cannot question the orthodoxy. The drow hate the driders, and the driders hate the drow. That is how it has always been."

Teysa nodded. "We appreciate your concern," she said, "but we have to see this through. She laid a duty on us and we will see it carried out. Siri'ka deserves that much at least."

Mish'li raised her eyebrows. "Your dedication is admirable. If you're sure, then yes, I can get you in." She crossed the room to the bed and reached underneath, pulling out an iron chest. "I have some acolytes' robes for you. You won't manage to fool anyone who talks to you, but the guards might not look twice. There are plenty of non-drow acolytes so you shouldn't attract too much notice unless you go looking for trouble."

Aliara snorted. "So what, we just walk in the front door? That's your plan? We just hope nobody asks us the time, or for directions, or anything?"

"What you asked for is difficult," Mish'li responded in the same placid tone. "It is not a simple matter to enter the Basilica unnoticed. This is the best of several bad options."

"I'd like to hear the second best." Aliara's voice dripped with sarcasm. Teysa squeezed her arm gently, and the half-elf hung her head. "I'm sorry. That was rude. You are doing us a favor. But I would like to hear an alternative, if you have one."

Mish'li sighed. "I suppose you could go in through the tunnels. There are miles of them, and they connect underground to the Basilica's cellars. Nobody knows how old they are-- they probably predate the temples. There's a reason nobody uses them, though. There are things down there in the darkness that make the Fangs look like picnicking children. They're best avoided. You can't even bring light down there. It just attracts them. My way really is safer."

Aliara turned to Teysa. "So, Tey, what'll it be? Do we bluff our way in or try the tunnels?"