...they meet their contact.

Inside, the room was warm and surprisingly clear. A hearth at the center of the room cast a flickering glow across the stone tables. Teysa was unsurprised to note that the fire bore obvious signs of enchantment-- it burned coal, but gave off only a slight misting of smoke. No wood here, either. Must be hard to get.

The common room was dotted with large oval tables, carved of the same black basalt, with a U-shaped granite bar at one end. Currently an assortment of humanoids sat at the various tables. Dwarves were heavily represented, as were gnomes, but a couple of humans in battered plate lounged next to the fire, and something that looked like a bipedal lizard was asleep at a corner table.

Behind the bar a male drow in a filthy apron scrubbed a glass. The rag was so dirty that the amount of progress he made was questionable, but he kept at it, whistling idly. Teysa and Aliara sidled up to the bar and took a couple of stools. Without raising his head, the drow called out to them.
"What'll it be, ladies?"
Teysa cleared her throat. "Actually, we don't-"

Aliara kicked her under the stool. "What my friend means to see is we're looking for the owner."
The drow momentarily paused in his task, then resumed rubbing without looking up. "You're lookin' at him. Now, are you buying or not?"
Aliara looked at Teysa, pinched her fingers across her mouth, then spoke. "We have a mutual friend. She told us you might be able to help us."

There was a long pause. The drow continued spreading the dirt around on the glass, but ambled across the floor until he stood just across the bar from them. When he spoke next, his voice was low. "You can tell our mutual friend her timing could be better. I assume you heard those idiots outside."
"Yes, we did," said Teysa. "What was that about?"
The drow looked up. His face was weathered but cheerful, with a receding hairline. When he smiled his teeth were as black and crooked as any Teysa had ever seen. "That, my surface-dweller friend, is Iz'kiel. Or one of her priestess sisters, at any rate. They've been down here four times in the last week stirring that shit up. It's our new Empress, may she live forever. She's decided that the state of things between us and the driders needs to be kicked up a little."
Aliara gave Teysa a meaningful glare. "I'm Aliara. This is my friend Teysa. Might we know your name?"
"Dom'rek," grinned the drow. "But you can call me Dom. Now that we all know each other, I expect you'll want a room. On the house, as it were?"
Aliara nodded. "I'm sorry. I can pay you later."

Dom'rek waved her off. "Nah, nah. I'm always happy to help our mutual friend. You better watch out, though. Whole City's on edge lately. The priestesses are happy that someone's finally listening to them about the driders. People are talking about war."

"War? With the driders?" Teysa goggled. "Why?"
"Not so loud!" hissed the bartender. His friendly smile returned. "I understand you're new in town, but you might want to be a bit more discreet. Fact is, we've officially hated them since just about the dawn of time. It's a religious thing for some, good old fashioned prejudice for others. It's always been seen as too much effort to actually try to wipe them out-- until recently."

"What changed?" asked Teysa.

"New Empress, like I said. Very unexpected. We expected her mother to live another couple hundred years at least. Rumors say the new one helped her along, but don't let anyone catch you saying that in public. Anyways, she's got a real mean streak. Stay away from the Basilica. You saw it on the way in? Big temple building. Well, it contains the Imperial Manse as well. We're lucky to be this far. Out of sight, out of mind."

Aliara nodded. "Thanks for your help. We're going to need some clothes... and some money." Dom'rek grimaced. "Fine. I'll have it sent up to your room. I expect you're hungry as well? Well, my business will survive." He finally put down the glass, which seemed no cleaner now than it had five minutes before. Grabbing a couple of fresher looking ones he poured a couple of ales from a stone tankard and set them before the women. "Drink up. Dinner's sausage. Don't ask what kind and I won't tell you. Nothing that talks, don't worry about that. Tomorrow you can tell me what brings you here."

The unidentifiable sausage was surprisingly good, served with baked stuffed mushroom and mugs of ale. When Teysa and Aliara retired to their room for the night they found two neatly stacked outfits: cotton undergarments, leather pants and vests, and hooded silk cloaks. A lockbox at the foot of their bed held an assortment of iron coins in two pouches. Aliara flopped down on the mattress and rolled around a little. "Ahhh! Comfy. No straw for us tonight. C'mere, Tey. We have a big day tomorrow."
Teysa sat down, her head spinning. "Li, do you think they'll really do it? Would they go to war against the warren?"
Aliara sat up and shrugged. "Who knows? Drow are all crazy. Priestesses are the craziest bitches of the lot." Seeing her friend's expression, she softened. "Don't worry. We'll find out what happened to that caravan. There's no way all this is a coincidence. At the very least we can warn the warren. I'm sure the Matron knows about this."

Teysa nodded, though she still felt uneasy. "G'night, Li." She stacked her armor in the corner as neatly as she could and drew the silk sheet over herself. "I hope you're right."

"I'm always right, love. G'night."