WARNING : Beyond this point you'll encounter some disturbing scenes, horrific imagery, violence and assorted scary stuff. For those who don't like horror, there'll be a summary at the start of part 149. In the meantime, you have been warned!

"It seems so quiet," Imoen said as she hugged herself while the small group walked through the mainstreet of the outpost. It was a small outpost, considerably smaller and less luxurious than Ust Natha. As it was an outpost meant to protect the borders of Ust Natha from Mindflayer and Beholder attacks, its layout was strictly military-style, putting defense above comfort. It had several thick walls and closed mithril gates protecting the only access to the mantle-caves of Ust Natha from the depths below. At least, that was the case before the town was cursed and Drow shock-troops managed to destroy the tunnels before they themselves were lost to the curse.

Though it was smaller than Ust Natha, Vilaya was not to be considered a tiny place. Many high and low buildings hugged wide streets and avenues. Still, the city was cold, much colder than Ust Natha, and it had a distinct lack of life and vibrancy. The thick walls of the buildings lacked color of any kind, not even sporting a remnant of the paint it seemed to have once had.

The cavern was high and open, yet cold and oppressive. Vilaya lacked any signs of habitation, but even though the outpost had been deserted for more nearly 200 years, it only seemed that people had been living there very recently. Carts were scattered around the streets, ready for use. Feeding troughs were filled with water or gruel, ready to be eaten by the riding lizards. Stands with merchandise were ready to be manned and serve the buying public.

"Deserted for 200 years?" Laska muttered. "It looks like everybody just stepped out for lunch five minutes ago."

"Ardulace did say that everybody living here simply... disappeared," Viconia said.

"Then Boo wants to know where everybody went?" Minsc said. "Sometimes coins fell out of Minsc's pockets, but they're always between the couch's pillows. Maybe the people here are stuck in the couch too?"

"I doubt it," Imoen shivered. "Man, why is it so cold here? It gives me the creeps."

"This truly is a ghost-town," Viconia said. "It's like everything is in perfect order, exactly as it's supposed to be, but... there's nothing alive here. Not even a single bat."

"HELLLOOOO!" Laska called out. The echoes of her call resounded through the cavern for several moments until her cry died out.

Viconia then not-so-gently pushed Laska into the wall. "That was really bloody stupid!" Viconia hissed. "You don't know what's out there, what's lurking in the dark! But you just did a very good job at announcing us!"

"I think that where's out here knew that we were here before we actually got here," Imoen said. "Curses work like that."

"Will all of you stop whispering?" Laska said. "The silence is terrible here, make some sound please."

"Is that why you were acting so freaked when we first got here?" Imoen asked. "It's too quiet? We've been in quiet dungeons before."

"Yeah, but there was always something to hear," Laska said. "A drip, a mouse, a loose board. I mean, we elves pick up the slightest sounds, even when humans can't hear a thing, but this place... I mean, there's just nothing to hear but ourselves. It's maddening!"

"Deafening silence," Viconia nodded. "Not pleasant at all."

"I'd make some sounds," Imoen whispered. "But I'm too afraid to talk about loud."

"AHAH!" Minsc announced. "MINSC IS MORE THAN WILLING TO OBLIGE. NO LONGER SHALL SILENCE TROUBLE MINSC'S FRIEND, AHEY! COME, BOO! JOIN IN OUR BATTLE TO DEFEAT SILENCE WITHOUT MERCY!"

"Quite," Viconia sighed. "Let's just look for the mage library, get the book and get out as quickly as well can. I get the feeling we shouldn't hang around, and I certainly don't intend to stand here waiting to be killed."

Together, the four friends arrived at a small square in the very middle of the outpost. There was a small statue in the middle, depicting the victory of Lolth over the demon-lord Ansitiff. A large garrison was built on one side of the square while an ominous monastery faced it from the other side. It was large and hewn out of obsidian, towering all over the other buildings dotting the square.

"There's a tavern!" Laska smiled. "Let's go see if..."

"Ermm, Laska?" Imoen asked. "I don't think it's wise to eat or drink something inside a cursed town. Especially if it's 200 years old."

"Oh, you're right," Laska sighed. "The wine probably turned into vinegar by now anyway. Pity."

They turned around to see Viconia staring intently at a symbol on either side of the entrance to the monastery. It was a top-view of a spider, surrounded by three red circles in circles.

"What is it, Vic?" Imoen asked.

"This symbol," Viconia said. "This is a monastery of the Order of the Blood-Sisters."

"Who are they?" Laska asked while she looked over her shoulder. From the corners of her eyes, she thought she saw shadows moving, but as soon as she turned to look, the movements were gone.

"Scum," Viconia replied.

"I thought all priestesses of Lolth were," Imoen replied.

"These were worse. The fanatics among the fanatics," Viconia said. "The Blood-sisters believed that the only sacrifice worthy of Lolth's power were those of non-corrupted innocence. You see, they only wanted to give to Lolth the most unspoiled 'fruits' for her to devour."

"What does that mean?"

"Children," Viconia said. "They only sacrificed children... in numerous unspeakable ways. And because the Blood-sisters were big on racial purity, they only sacrificed Drow children. During my days at Arach-Tilith, me and my fellow students used to make fun of them all the time."

"Geez, how's something like that funny?" Imoen blinked.

"Many of the Blood-sisters sacrificed their own children, but ever so often they'd roam the streets at night, break into commoner's houses and steal their children for sacrifice. You see, it was funny to us at the time because they needed to steal helpless targets to tithe to Lolth. It's very undrowlike."

"Nice people," Laska snorted. "Reminds me of bullies I knew that pulled wings off flies to make themselves feel big."

"IF MINSC EVER SEES A BLOOD-SISTER, I'LL STUFF HER HEAD UP HER BUM!! THAT'LL MAKE IT REALLY HARD FOR HER TO STEAL CHILDREN BECAUSE SHE WON'T BE ABLE TO SEE IN THE DARK! AHEY!" Minsc roared.

"There never were many sisterhoods of the Order. Children are a precious resource in our society, even though we do not treat them as well as we perhaps should. They are universally reviled by all Drow, but the Blood-sisters simply see this as another burden for them to bear. I think they actually like it," Viconia said as her eyes darted from corner to corner, keep an eye on the strange shadowplay coming from several alleys.

"So why didn't the matrons do something about it?" Laska asked. "Send in the clerics to deal with them."

"Because usually they were in Lolth's favor. They were fanatics, after all, the best kind of worshippers for any god. But sometimes the Blood-sisters got overconfident and crossed boundaries they shouldn't have crossed. The order in Menzoberranzan was destroyed long before I was born. The Blood-sisters made the mistake of capturing and sacrificing the promising youngest daughter of the then First Matron."

"Lovely bunch of nutters," Laska muttered. "What were they doing here, then?"

"This outpost must have seen a lot of fighting in its heyday," Viconia said. "And the sisters of the Blood-Order fight like demon-possessed fanatics. No doubt they stayed here to sate their bloodlust and secretly steal children from Ust Natha to sacrifice here."

A sudden gust of wind blew through the outpost, whipping their hair in their faces as they were suddenly almost blown off their feet.

"Wind?" Minsc said. "Boo says it's very strange to have wind underground."

Stranger still were the thin wisps of fog suddenly emerging, bathing the obsidian-stone streets in a sheet of white.

"Hey, look at that," Laska said, pointing at the double-doors of the monastery, which seemed to open a crack. "Looks like an invitation to me."

"Is nobody considering that it's horribly stupid to actually answer that invitation?" Viconia replied while tapping her foot. "And this is NOT the mage library, Laska! Get your act together!"

"Hey," Laska said. "I'm eager to kill something, and something is probably in there."

Knowing that Laska had made up her mind, and knowing that she wouldn't want to be alone in this place, Viconia admitted defeat. Together, the four of them entered the monastery, immediately coming upon a common area containing several pews situated in a semicircle around a high dais. The room was high, richly adorned with depictions of violence and devotion in the name of Lolth : Slaves being spiked, males being dismembered, living creatures being slowly ground into paste...

"Guys?" Imoen asked and suppressed a shudder as the shattered glass from some of the windows caused some horrifying shadowplay on the walls. For a moment, it seemed like the shadows were alive, mocking them for their dire fate yet to come. "Is it just me or am I the only one who's suddenly very, very scared in this horrible room?"

"It's not just you," Laska admitted while holding her blades and carefully looking at her surroundings. "What is that?" Laska said as she pointed to a statue of a huge spider with a beautiful head of a Drow female, which was suspended over the dais and positioned to watch over the pews.

"The watchful eye of Lolth," Viconia said, seemingly very uncomfortable. "Scrutinizing her followers."

"Not exactly my idea of a hot date," Laska replied.

"OH!!! RAAARRRGHHH, Minsc cannot bear to look at this!!" sounded, and then the three women saw it too. On top of the dais was a sacrificial slab, caked with old, blackened blood from many years of use. But on top of the alter was the small skeleton of what obviously had been a young child in the past. Unlike the rest of the outpost, this skeleton was brittle, and looked very old.

"Hey," Laska said as she noticed parts of the arms and legs were gone. "Some bones are missing."

"Yes," Viconia took on a hard look as she examined the bones, cleanly sliced through below the elbows and knees. "They sliced off the limbs before offering the heart for sacrifice... probably to keep the child from struggling."

"Assholes," Laska said, visibly shaken by the state of the child's remains. Reverently, Laska picked up a piece of shattered cloth and gently laid it over the child.

"It's a relief to see that some things do still disturb you," Viconia replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Laska snapped.

"Leave it alone, guys," Imoen said while keeping an eye on the distraught Minsc. A shadow appeared outside of the monastery, passing across one of the windows. Soft, yet heavy footsteps could be heard... slowly... one after another, as if the person was lumbering, sometimes shuffling.

"Who's there?" Imoen called out. The shuffling stopped momentarily, then increased in pace. The shadows moved until one of the double doors was softly opened. Imoen's breath caught in her throat when she saw a dreadfully deformed humanoid creature. Although it was blinded by a cloth bag pulled over its head and torso, it walked as if it could see the four stricken friends and headed towards them with a steady pace. It made no sounds, other than the footsteps, and the horrible scraping of its hands clawing at the cloth bag as it struggled inside of it. Inside of the bag, the thing's 'head', if it could be called that, started to flail around far too wildly for any living creature to mimic.

"Finally!" Laska snarled. "Something to kill!"

"Where?! WHERE?!" Minsc replied. "Minsc does not see any enemies."

"Are you blind, fool?" Viconia shouted. "There's one right in front of you."

"Minsc cannot see!" Minsc wailed again. "Isn't this frustrating, Boo? How can I kick butts I cannot see?!"

Laska grinned as she drew her swords and charged the creatures. That was a mistake. As if hit by a magical shield, Laska yelped as she was thrown into the obsidian walls just before she came within striking range of the creature.

"Laska!" Imoen cried, and did not hesitate. Magical fire shot from her finger, only to hit the creature square chest. The creature proved surprisingly fragile and let out a tortured groan as it sank to its knees, blood and black gore sliding out of its putrid stomach and landing on the ground with a sickening gurgle.

"I'm okay," Laska grunted as she got to her feet.

"What is it?" Imoen said. "Shall we pull off the sack?"

"Let's not," Viconia wisely decided.

"But where is it! Minsc is getting frustrated."

"Its guts are all over the floor, Minsc," Laska said. "What do you mean, 'you can't see it'?"

"Minsc cannot have gone blind, because Minsc can still see other stuff," Minsc said. "Boo, do you see something?"

"Smells terrible," Imoen said. "Let's go outside."

"Like I told you to begin with, but did we listen to Viconia? No, we didn't," Viconia sighed. "You go on ahead. I'll make sure our friend is really dead."

"Are you sure?" Imoen asked with concern.

"Just make sure you're never more than 10 steps away from me," Viconia replied, just in case.

As Laska, Imoen and Minsc stepped outside, they noticed the fog was getting ever more thick than it already was. It was now only possible to see a few meters ahead, but from the depths of the fog, in the distance, moans and whispers could be heard. As much as they tried to listen closely, they could never make out a single meaningful word. As the whole outpost was bathed in mist, the party was startled when a bright red ball suddenly came rolling out of the fog. It skipped over a loose stone and halted against one of the steps at the monastery.

As if on cue, a little Drow girl came skipping into view, cheerfully humming as she headed towards her ball. The girl was dressed in a red playsuit and wore her white hair long and tied back. There was, however, definitely something strange about her.

After picking up the ball, the girl locked eyes with the stunned partymembers. "Hey, you're not Drow," the girl spoke, seeing through Adalon's magical disguise. "That's okay. Wanna play with me anyway? Mommy usually doesn't let me play with strangers, but she won't mind if I have fun..."

The girl spoke in a pleasant and cheerful voice, as if oblivious to the fact that her city had been abandoned for so long.

"Um, sure," Imoen said, while squatting onto one knee. "So, where are you from?"

"And how long have you been here?" Laska added.

"Ah, Boo will protect you from more invisible monsters!" Minsc asked.

"Invisible monsters?!" the girl spoke, looking genuinely surprised. "Silly, there's no monsters here."

The door creaked as Viconia stepped through them and closed them behind her. The Drow turned around and found herself eye to eye with the strange child. Frozen by fear, the child quivered, the sobbed, then started to wail... The cry of terror was unlike any of them had ever heard. It pierced the outpost, reaching every rock, every surface and every single inch of the cavern. It almost literally tore through the four partymembers. To them, the cry was so overwhelming that they lost every sense of their surroundings. It might have lasted a second, or it might have lasted an hour : they simply did not know. But when they had awoken, they found the outpost completely changed.

The fog was gone, as was the child. But the outpost had gotten far more ominous than it had been. The buildings had obtained a very malevolent quality, as if they were alive and very much scrutinizing. They had become deformed and quite a bit larger. It seemed that they were bent towards the party, towering over them, hunching towards them as if planning to strike and devour them whole.

What was worse was the smell and feel of decay. The clean walls of the Vilaya's houses were blackened with grime, and formerly crisp metal bars were now falling apart with rust. Broad streets now felt incredibly oppressive and unrelentingly malevolent. The stench, however, was the most horrible to bare. A disgusting mix of rust, mildew and copper hung in the air.

"I... I really want outta here," Imoen whispered.

"No problem," Laska said while holding her nose and turned to the path from where they had come. "Hey, where's the road gone?"

"Great," Viconia said. "Trapped in a cursed city..."

"Hey, why are you blaming me for this?!" Laska retorted.

"I wasn't," Viconia replied. "I blame myself for listening to you."

"Now this Minsc sees," Minsc replied. "Though I wish I wouldn't. Boo, do not tremble so... We must be strong if we be heroes, Boo."

"What's that?" Imoen said as she pointed to the center of the square, which now contained what seemed to be a large playground. There were metal climbing-set ups, several slides, a merry-go-round and some swings. The metal of the playground, in contrast to the metal in the outpost, was in fine condition. "That wasn't there before."

"It is now," Viconia said matter-of-factly.

"Do Drow children have playgrounds like this?" Laska asked.

"Not in a small outpost like this one," Viconia said. "It's simply not a priority."

Then, a flash, and suddenly the playground was covered with blood. Fresh blood dripped from the slides as if it had just been spilled. The blood-covered merry-go-round started to move on its own, at a steady pace. The swings started swinging as well, the chains squeaking ominously.

"If this keeps up, I'll need new underwear," Imoen announced.

"Minsc agrees," Minsc said and hugged Boo close. "Boo is so frightened," he said as the hulking man shivered.

"I think we need to get inside," Laska said as she frantically surveyed an environment that had stopped making sense to her.

"I'm not going back into that monastery!" Imoen replied sharply.

"Let's try the garrison across the street," Viconia said. "Easily defensible if more of those creatures turn up..."

Suddenly, the playground was gone, and the four friends carefully tried to reach the garrison. Passing along a shop, they noticed two mannequins in the store window. They were warped and twisted. Two females, mother and child, once bore spidersilk clothes, but now only gathered mold. Suddenly, a scream... and the child-mannequin's head dropped off, a pool of blood forming at the severed neck on the floor.

By that time, the party had decided to run towards the garrison. They came upon a obsidian-stone building with a single entrance, and closed the door behind them.

"Guys," Imoen gulped as they noticed what was inside the garrison. "Can we go outside again?"

Rusted and broken weapons were strewn across the floor, as if a massive battle had taken place. The garrison was ruined and battle scarred, and fresh pools of blood lay on the floor, seemingly much younger than the many broken weapons. But the most frightening part was a steep, gaping hole in the floor, leading into a dark cavern below. Bloody dragmarks, seemingly very fresh, led towards the hole and disappeared into the depths.

"Wow," Laska said as she stood on the edge of the hole and looked down. She spat a loogie down into the hole and counted the seconds till she heard a splat. "I can see the bottom," Laska said. "It's about 10 meters deep and there's a bit of a slide, but I'm pretty sure I can make the jump."

"You do realize that's a horribly stupid thing to do, don't you?" Viconia muttered.

"Yes!" Imoen added. "You have no idea what's down there!"

"Or up here," Viconia muttered as she heard shuffling footsteps coming from a room next to the garrison's main room. A shadow cast into the room as the unseen creature slowly, but surely shuffled into the main room. What was revealed was what seemed to be a decaying drow priestess. Though her skin was still pulled around her body, it seemed colorless and old. Her white hair was matted and clung to her skull, while her robes were torn and tattered... but the most frightening features was her lack of features. She had no eyes, no nose, no mouth... just a face without features with mold-covered skin. In one hand, she held an oversized dagger, while holding a whip in her other hand, and despite her lack of eyes, ears and nose, the priestess staggered towards the party with grim determination.

"Okay, someone is in need of a major killing," Laska grinned and stormed towards the priestess, not remembering what had happened earlier. As soon as she came within striking range, the priestess perfectly anticipated her move and slammed a rotting fist into Laska's jaw, with enough force to send the elf to the ground.

Sliding in the slippery blood, the dazed Laska did not notice she was sliding towards the hole until she suddenly slid over the edge and disappeared into the depths below.

"LASKA!" Imoen shouted. "We have to get her out of there!"

"A bit busy at the moment," Viconia said as she found that her magic to battle the undead did not have any effect.

"WHERE?! WHERE?!" Minsc said, waving his sword around in frustration. "Where are these foul creatures that cannot be seen! I want to kick butts!"

"Over there, by the wall!" Imoen shouted, causing Minsc to get even more frustrated. His sword nicked an old weapon's rack, which teetered and fell... right on top of the moaning priestess. While she lay moaning and clawing at the floor to get out from under the rubble, Imoen turned towards the hole in the ground.

"Guys?" Imoen asked with a slight panic. "Where's the hole?"

Turning around, Viconia and Minsc now saw as well that where the dark pit had been, there was now a solid-granite floor, seemingly undisturbed for hundreds of years.

"Let's leave," Viconia said as she noticed the priestess was slowly but surely getting free. "Coming here was a mistake. My mistake," Viconia closed her eyes fro a moment.

"But Laska..."

"Can take care of herself," Viconia finished. "We can't help her if we're dead!"

Reluctantly, Imoen followed the others, including a very confused Minsc.