The stale air of the vast, dark cavern stung Sawyn's nostrils as she stared from the safety of her rock ledge. Her legs dangled over the abyss, the flickering light of the torch behind her allowing her to see her feet as she swung them forward, then disappear as she lowered them. Her blue eyes scanned the darkness, occasionally making out the shapes of buildings and other crumbled ruins left behind by the Elves that used to live here. She wondered how many of them were still down there. Bodies and family left behind.
She heard some struggling behind her as the large wooden door was slowly pushed open. Zephyrial cursed and yelped softly as a splinter from the door got driven into her finger. She was wearing her ceremonial purple robes and had her hood up. Sawyn glanced at her, thinking that her eyes looked like those of a cat caught in lamplight. She looked back at her feet as she moved them in and out of the darkness. Zephyrial walked over to Sawyn as she pulled out the splinter and threw it into the abyss.
"Apparently a group of adventurers have entered the tower and are making their way down," Zephyrial said with urgency, as she stared at the blood that was beading on her fingertip. She sucked on her finger, checking for more blood. "I think the time has come to start the ritual, m'lady. They might cause a problem if they make it to the bottom before we've started."
Sawyn kept her head facing forward, and let out a low sound of acknowledgement.
"Do you know what happened to Czen'hana, Zeph?" Sawyn asked, ignoring the recent news. She looked up to Zephyrial who shook her head. Sawyn looked back into the darkness, then continued. "The Shadow Lord told me about it. Said he visited it once as a child."
The sorceress crossed her arms and looked back at the door before letting out a small exasperated sigh. She stood next to her leader and looked out to try and follow Sawyn's eye line.
"I only know what I've found written in old books left behind in the tower, which were all before the fall," Zephyrial said, trying to recall. "There were some guard journals from after, but from what I can gather there was some kind of sickness and it was quarantined, but never lifted."
"That's not quite the whole story. At least not what was told to me," Sawyn said, leaning forward and looking down at the deep pit beneath her, wondering how far down it goes. "They were trying to develop stronger magics that didn't need patrons or deities or books. Essentially trying to make a kind of... artificial sorcerer. To give somebody that innate magical ability from within themselves instead of needing to look elsewhere."
"Typical," Zephyrial scoffed and shook her head, kicking a small stone off the ledge.
Both waited, and after a moment, heard its distant impact. Its sound echoed throughout the chamber, until it was coming from everywhere. Then it gently faded away.
"What they ended up with were creatures, with incredible magics at their disposal. But it affected the brain. They were violent, grotesque, nightmarish things. Now, it's not documented anywhere whether or not this evolution was intended, but they didn't resemble what they once were," Sawyn said, her voice trailing off at the end. After a few seconds, she shook herself back to the present and finished her thought. "At first it was just a few, then it spread to more and more people fairly quickly. It was some kind of sickness."
"A blight," Zephyrial said. Sawyn glanced over at her and nodded.
"Yes, a blight. And the guards on the surface were left with a choice. They could spend the time holding them back and risk exposure to places outside. Or they could get as many in the tunnels as they could before collapsing them: killing the infected and trapping others in the city, sacrificing people they loved for the greater good," Sawyn said thoughtfully, pushing herself up onto her feet. "At the time, I told the Shadow Lord that they should have waited. That if they loved those people they would have found a way to save them before condemning them."
"You were younger and more naive then," Zephyrial said, her voice becoming more exasperated as she looked back at the door, thinking of the incoming invaders. "Now you know better."
"Do I?" Sawyn asked, as she let her foot hover over the darkness. "Maybe I'm just telling myself that I'm wiser to make myself feel better."
"These people are criminals, m'lady," Zephyrial said with a hiss. She got next to Sawyn and tried to position herself in front of her as much as she could. "Valqen was a deserter during the Plane Wars. Faenri is heir to the Sunfall and the child of a traitor. And your mother... she let her husband attempt to sacrifice you. Are these the kind of people we're worried about sacrificing for the safety of your followers? Your new family? Shall we let the Shadow Lord hang us for treason because you feel bad about it?"
Sawyn's hand shot forward and grabbed Zephyrial by the throat; Sawyn's breath quickened and pupils shrank. Zephyrial coughed and grabbed Sawyn's arm to make sure she didn't fall back into the pit. Sawyn's fingers dug into the Yuan-ti's scaly skin as a smile crept across Zephyrial's face. Sawyn locked eyes with her as her breathing began to regulate and her fingers loosened.
"I'm sorry, m'lady. I spoke out of turn," Zephyrial said as Sawyn let go of her after making sure she was back on solid ground. "I will do whatever you order of me."
"Prepare the ceremony. Call Skarr back from Last Stop, and tell him to use the Ring of Returning. Hasqen should be down here too," Sawyn said definitively. Zephyrial looked concerned upon hearing the last order. "Eventually he's going to learn about Valqen. He won't trust me anymore if I wait until after."
Zephyrial bowed and walked back to the door. Sawyn watched her leave, and as she turned to follow suit, she heard a cry from down in the darkness like a high-pitched screech. She froze, waiting to see if she had imagined it. After a brief pause, she exhaled and exited through the door. She closed it behind her and left everything in the dark once more.