They go looking for the drow city

Teysa was the first to come back to consciousness. Aliara slept soundly with her head half-sunken into Teysa's gooey breasts. The goo-girl gently pulled herself away. The goo stretched like taffy to connect the two, but eventually with a wet pop Aliara's head was free. Fortunately the stuff didn't stick that well to hair.

Aliara's eyes twitched behind their lids as her head hit the floor. She grunted softly and began to stir. Teysa waited patiently until her friend was awake.

"Tey..." Aliara sounded groggy. "Tey, 'zat you? Wha' happen?" She smacked her lips and rubbed her eyes with her fists. "It wasn't a dream, was it? You've been... changed, or something."

Teysa suddenly found her lip quivering. Aliara was her oldest friend and hearing the confusion in her voice hurt more than it had any right to. "Yes, Li. I don't know what to call it. A curse, maybe. But with your help I can go back to normal! I really think I can. Remember when we had to decurse that governor? I mean, he was a frog. I still sort of look almost human, right?" She was aware of the note of desperation in her voice. Aliara looked at her with a pitying expression. Abruptly she wrapped her arms around Teysa's shoulders.

"Oh, Tey, I'm so sorry! I thought you were dead!" She pulled back, and her eyes glistened. "I'm just so glad you're alive. We can fix this. I promise."

Teysa was buoyed by her friend's optimism. "We have to get out of here, though. I think we should..." she took a deep breath. Aliara wasn't going to like this idea. "I think we should head for the drow city. I know!" she continued as Aliara sharply drew in breath. "I know! But the thing that did this to me lives in these caves. They might have some knowledge of it. Their magic is unlike anything we have on the surface, I've heard. Plus... don't you want some ****?"
Aliara considered. "Tey... going back there is going to be really hard for me. I'm going to have to relive a lot of stuff. And, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm naked and don't have any weapons.

Teysa grinned. "At least that's a solvable problem. First drow we see, you'll have clothes and weapons again."

Aliara nodded after a long pause. "Ok. I'm in. But we have to be careful, Tey. Those stories you hear? About their cruelty, their power? They're all understatements. I won't let them take me again. I won't." Teysa noted the hard edge in her friend's voice. "I understand. If it comes to that, I won't stop you."

Aliara set her face grimly. "Let's go."

The two trekked into the darkness, Aliara in the lead. Teysa had never asked how her friend could navigate so surely, but her skills were undeniable. They passed through lightless caverns where they had to pick their way through by feel and corridors lit by the pulsing glow of patches of fungi on the walls. They traversed claustrophobic passages filled with spiderwebs and wide-open grottoes where lightless lakes murmured in the distance.

Eventually Aliara stopped. "We're entering their outer precincts. There will be pickets. How do you want to run this?" She was all business, her compact frame coiled into a combat stance. Teysa considered. "Hang back. I'll see if I can grab a captive. We can get some information-- and some clothes for you, too." She paused. "No ****, ok? I don't care how evil they are. We're not like them. We have restraint." Aliara nodded, muscles tightening behind her jaw.

Teysa slithered off into the darkness. Sure enough, she could see movement up ahead. A single figure, tall and slender, cloaked in the hooded robes favored by the drow. Teysa flattened herself to the ground and crept closer. The drow was patrolling with an even, steady gait. There as some rounded shape, possibly a horn, hanging from the drow's belt. Teysa would have to be quick.

Teysa tensed and felt, again, just how muscular her body had become. She flexed and whipped a bundle of tentacles across the cave at the drow. The dark elf's reactions were lightning-quick-- it was almost fast enough. As the short sword whistled through the air Teysa's tentacles caught the elf's arm around the wrist. The elf screamed, and Teysa noted it was female. She began to pull her tentacles back in, a slow but inexorable pressure. Simultaneously, she pulled her body upright, facing the drow. The time for stealth was passed. She curled a tentacle around the drow's mouth to cut off that screaming. With luck, reinforcements wouldn't come right away. The drow tried to bite through Teysa's tentacle, but the rubbery flesh didn't part. Teysa wrapped another around her captive's throat and squeezed-- not hard enough to break her neck, but hopefully enough to subdue her. The drow was going for something at her belt, but Teysa didn't wait to see what it was. She had plenty of tentacles to spare.

Slowly, the drow's struggles ceased. Teysa bundled up her prize and retracted her tentacles. She almost stuffed the drow inside her body for safekeeping, but remembered the acid. Getting clothes and equipment for Aliara was part of the point of this exercise. The cloak was already beginning to smolder. Teysa hurried off into the darkness.

They weren't sure how to bind their captive. Aliara rummaged through the scout's meager pack. There was a waterskin filled with an unpleasantly sweet wine, a dagger, a flint and steel, and some odds and ends. Aliara set to the task of stripping the elf. First her cloak came off. It was hanging in tatters with large gaps where Teysa had dragged the elf off. Beneath she wore leather armor in a strange, baroque style, with web patterns across the breasts, pauldrons, greaves and vambraces. Aliara carefully undid the straps. Beneath that was quilted trousers and a shirt, both of the same material. It was smoother than linen, but thicker than silk.

Naked, the elf looked a bit less intimidating. Her hair was short and pure-white, her features still smooth and youthful. Her breasts were smallish and tipped with narrow nipples that looked turquoise in the half-light. Her sex was bare except for a narrow strip of white hair, her nether lips the same ebony as the rest of her skin. Her limbs were muscular and her fingernails long and sharpened into points.

While Aliara changed into the drow's clothes, Teysa pulled their captive to her feet. She propped the dark elf against the wall and spread-eagled her limbs, with one tentacle from each bundle securing them. Aliara came over to join her. "Ready?" she asked.

Teysa nodded. Aliara strode over to the drow and slapped her across the face, twice. The drow's eyes snapped open. They narrowed at the sight of Aliara, but opened wide as the drow noticed Teysa. She struggled in the tentacles' grip. "Shey vess! Ta nurithe, halika! Vey andromak shey vess, horithan tuu!" Aliara slapped the woman again, then drew the drow's dagger. It was a short and plain weapon but the blade looked razor keen. She held it to the drow's throat. "Vis lorashet, drouuni. Na shedy levu ver'in vedershet shey ve'eth."
The drow grimaced. "Yes, surface vermin. I speak. Your friend not speak ver'en? Eh? How you speak, then?" She grinned maliciously. The drow's voice was silky but the menace there was unmistakable. "You are ketel, no? ****. You speak like ****."
Teysa saw what Aliara was about to do just in time. "Li, no!" The dagger whistled through the air, but stopped an inch from the drow's eye. Aliara was breathing heavily. "Just her eye. She doesn't need it. It'll make her talk."

"No, said Teysa. "We don't do that." The drow giggled. "Yes, Li. Do as mistress say. You are **** still, eh?"

Li took a deep breath. "You are filth. But I don't have to be. Now, you will tell us-- in common-- what you know. What did you call my friend? Halika?"

The drow nodded. "Halika. Children of Hali. You fell into lake, didn't you, halika? Met its guardian? Drank from the well of hali. I have seen your kind before."

Teysa couldn't help herself. "Is there a cure?"
"Cure? Hah! You want cure? You not feel the Call? Hali claims your soul, outsider."

Teysa drew herself up as straight as she could. "My soul belongs to Agamor. Your foul spirits have no hold on me."

The drow's only response was a smirk. Aliara sheathed her dagger angrily. Grabbing the drow's nipple in one hand, she pinched and twisted. The dark elf hissed and the smile disappeared from her face. "What's wrong?" mocked the half-elf. "I thought you degenerates all liked this." She reached down and gripped the drow's cunny, her hand cupped against the other woman's pelvis. Aliara's hand flexed and the drow grunted in pain. "Do you like that? How'd you like my friend here to do it? See those tentacles? Want to see them up close?"
Teysa felt a little apprehensive. "Li-" Aliara shot her a look. "Talk, you scum, or I'll give you to my friend here. Once she's had her way with you we'll carve what's left of you up and leave it for your spiders. Do you want her to turn you inside out? Tey, what do you think? Do you want to fuck this slut?"
Teysa swallowed. She supposed that Agamor would understand if she postured a little. "Yes," she said, trying to sound as predatory as her friend. "Give her to me and I'll make her squeal. She'll be begging to talk by the time I'm done with her."

For the first time real fear showed in the drow's eyes. "Halika," she spat. "Defiled one. Monster. You wouldn't, ketel."
Aliara grinned triumphantly. "I don't think I can stop her."

In the end, the drow told them what they wanted to know. To her relief, Teysa didn't have to do anything more than threaten. According to the drow, the Lake of Hali and the monsters that lived within it were a cursed place. Occasionally, as punishment, a priestess of the Spider-Goddess who had failed in her duty would be cast into the lake. Most never returned. Some came back transformed, the halika, like Teysa. These were put to work in the temples as a form of expiation. When they had atoned they would drink the Nectar of the Goddess from the Font of Shadows in the main basilica and be restored. The drow also gave them directions to the city, but these came with a warning. "You go to your deaths, surface-dwellers. You will die before you even see the Great Basilica." Aliara slapped their captive again. "You've been very helpful, you vile bitch. We'll spare you. This time." She bashed the drow over the head with her dagger pommel. The dark elf went out like a light and Teysa let her drop.

"Should we leave her here? She's defenseless."
Aliara spit on their prone captive. "Leave her. We have a lot of ground to cover. She'll make it back, unfortunately. You really should let me open her throat."
"No, Li. She's a prisoner. If we see her again, kill her. But we don't kill prisoners."

The two of them set off towards the city. The odds were against them, sure. But they had a goal. And a million to one chance is still a chance.

TO BE CONTINUED (in another story)