Deep Water in Waterdeep

Ara and the Augury, Part I

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Ara stumbled when the heel of his boot slipped off the edge of a stone step. The noose around his neck tightened, and the hood which had been pulled over his head shrank against his skull. He reached out into the darkness with his bound wrists, grasping for something on which to catch himself. His hands found the taught rope bound to his neck, and it was enough to stop him from falling down the stairs.

"Careful, Ara," Scratch badgered. "I'd hate for you to survive Undermountain and the Sword Mountains only to break your neck on a flight of Waterdeep stairs."

"I have a hood over my head, my wrists are bound, and I'm being led into a pit like a dog on a leash. My life is literally in your hands, old friend," Ara said.

"Don't kid yourself, Ara. We were never friends."

"That's reassuring, thank you. So glad I agreed to this."

Moments later, after descending the stairs blindly, Ara finally found himself on level ground. His boots clopped against a cobblestone surface, and his footsteps echoed loudly in the darkness enveloping his senses. He saw nothing through the hood, and Scratch pulled him along with the rope through another two hundred feet of straightaways, bends, and corners.

"Stop," Scratch suddenly ordered.

Ara halted and stood silent and still. The scream of hinges followed the clank of metal. Scratch's hands pulled at the noose around Ara's neck. First the noose slipped off. The hood followed. Ara needed no time for his eyes to adjust, for the place he stood was not much brighter than the darkness of the hood itself.

While Scratch untied his wrists, Ara examined the undistinguished, torch-lit stone tunnel around him.

"Know where you are?" Scratch asked, pulling the rope off Ara's wrists.

"No idea."

"Good. That was the point." Scratch backed away from the iron door standing open before Ara. "Through here and follow the hall. I'll be waiting to take you back."

Ara nodded and walked through the dark doorway, rubbing a rope burn on his wrist. He walked through a windowless brick tunnel lined every thirty feet with torches. He followed the tunnel as it turned to his left and opened into a small room. In the center of the room sat a workbench, and behind the bench sat a diminutive gnome wearing a worn top hat and a monocle.

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Photo: https://www.deviantart.com/art/Tunnel-rat-505336099