"Let's try to bluff it."

"Those tunnels sound like a bad idea unarmed. I say we just try the front. We just need to get inside. The disguises don't have to hold for too long."

Aliara made a face. "I don't like this, Tey. You really think we'll get in without being challenged? They'll just let a human and a half-elf walk into the Basilica if we're dressed right?"

Mish'li spoke up. "There are many surface-dwellers among the acolytes. Mother Lolth has room for all in her vast web." She paused. "Riv'een has been proselytizing heavily on the surface. She has plans. I don't know what, exactly, she wants them for, but she's been ramping up recruitment efforts. That is part of what Siri'ka was looking into."

"Well, it's our best shot," Teysa said. "Li, are you in? I won't make you come."

Aliara sighed. "I'm not letting you go in there alone, Tey. You have all the finesse of a charging bear. If I'm not there I'm sure you'll blunder into the high priestess's chambers to ask for directions." She turned to Mish'li. "What do you have for us?"

The drow opened the chest and drew out two bundles of black silk, handing one to each woman. "These are cut for me, but nobody will expect a pair of acolytes to have mastered the subtle intricacies of wearing the meretheen robe yet. Try to look young and eager. Wide-eyed novices are a more common sight than ever around here."

Teysa pulled the robe on and shifted back and forth to let it settle. It was definitely a bit tall for her, but it was voluminous enough that she could move around well. Mish'li's arms were longer than hers, but she pulled up the sleeves a little and shook out her wrists. Aliara's robe trailed even more, but she somehow managed to avoid stepping on the trailing end at all. Teysa had to **** herself to take tiny steps just to keep from tripping.

"So? How do we look?" she asked, turning around and around. Mish'li remained impassive, but Teysa thought she saw a hint of a smile. "You are not the worst I've seen. Exit through the kitchens-- downstairs, then left and through. Nobody should be there at this time. From there, don't dally. The longer you spend in the precinct, the greater the chance someone speaks to you. I can't give you a full primer on proper modes of address, but don't meet the gaze of any ranking priestess, and if you must, make the sign of the web instead of speaking." She held up her hands to demonstrate, her fingers interlaced. Teysa tried to mimic the sign but found herself hopelessly tangled. Aliara, on the other hand, copied it effortlessly. Mish'li smiled. "You should let the half-elf do it. Just make that sign and act like you're so nervous and tongue-tied you can't get the words out. Maybe they'll let you go."

Teysa took a deep breath. "So, Li, are you ready?"
"No," Aliara laughed, "but I'm not going to be, so let's go."

Teysa turned to Mish'li. "Thank you. I don't know if we'll see you again, but thank you. We won't forget this."

The drow gave her a solemn nod. "I do this for Lolth. For all of my sisters, with two legs or eight." She made the web with her fingers again. "Luck, if I have any to give."

Teysa and Aliara did not see another living soul as they passed out of the chapel. Teysa had worried that they would not be able to find the basilica again, but it loomed over them like a tombstone, visible even through the thicket of buildings. She kept her head down and watched the cobbles closely to stop herself from tripping. Aliara led the way. She affected a timid scurry that Teysa tried to match. She had to admit, Aliara was good. She looked the part: a scared novice, unsure if she was going to be getting in trouble. Well, that's not much of a stretch.

Before Teysa knew it, they were in the great plaza again, just two more pilgrims in a great sea of them. They fell in behind a group of identically attired novices who muttered under their breath as they crossed the plaza and peeled off as they approached the great portico. Fangs stationed at three-meter intervals did not give them a second look as they passed into the basilica's shadow. This close, Teysa could smell an odd odor, something like burning wormwood. An incense, she hoped. The great doors of the basilica stood open, but Aliara steered them away, towards a simpler side door. A guard stood by the door and Teysa held her breath, but this one gave them no more of a look than the guards in the plaza. She expected to feel something as they passed under the lintel, to hear a shout of alarm or see a flash of warding magic, but there was nothing. They were in.

Inside, the door opened into an antechamber, from which a half-dozen passages stretched away deeper into the building. Aliara picked one seemingly at random and marched confidently inward, Teysa scurrying along behind her with her robe held up in one hand. They passed a number of steel doors, some open to reveal small altars or storage rooms, others locked and marked with eye-watering runes. Wall sconces glowed at intervals, giving off a warm light but no smoke. Teysa was so intent on her surroundings that she only noticed Aliara had stopped when they almost collided. She looked up to see what had stopped her friend.

A drow priestess wearing a silver circlet and ruby-red robes towered over them, her hands on her hips. She was the tallest drow Teysa had ever seen-- she was not a small woman, and she had to crane her neck to see the drow's face. Just in time she remembered to avert her gaze. She concentrated on looking small and lost.

"You!" the priestess spoke, mercifully, in Undercommon. "Novices! What are you doing? Who sent you here?"

Aliara mewled something incomprehensible and shrank away from the priestess, holding her hands up to form the sign of the web. Teysa tried her best to imitate it, racking her brain to remember how Mish'li had held her hands.