With the focus on the southern gate, there were less and less guards stationed on the other areas. After our raid to cripple their marketplace, they had some guards on the western wall. We went to the northern wall. There is a gate there, but we were not focused there. The raid this time was to poison their water source. I used my skills to brew up a poison draft using berries and plants. The driders all donated some of their venom as well. I could tell that it would kill most humans. Each of us had a vial of the brew. We scaled the wall and used our weapons to get down into the city and found the water source. There were three wells in the city. The last raid had some harsh casualties. Seven of the driders were killed. Drows shunned driders and we were all expendable to them. I was an angel planted into their ranks to save them. I was always expendable as long as I expanded elvish territory in a big way. We fought our way to two of the wells. The humans knew just as much as we did about the importance of the wells. It was a desperate fight.
Even still, eight vials went in the first one and five went into the second. It was more than enough to ensure anyone who drank from those sources would die horrible deaths. The causalties were getting high so I called for the retreat. We scattered and made our way to the walls. I got up and over it as fast as I could. When we regrouped at the rendezvous, there were only seven of the platoon left. Even the ones that came back to us were heavily wounded. I had a med kit with me at the camp and I fixed them all up. Luckily, we did not have to go out on another mission. The assault was just a week later. The remaining ten of us had to join the front and help drag over the battering ram. We were all shot at by their arrows. Our spider abdomens were thick enough to bounce off any glancing shots that were not directly straight for us. It stung like hell though. Our upper bodies were not so lucky and a couple of the platoon were killed by well placed head shots. Other low ranking Drow took their place and allowed us to get there. We started the ramming as soon as we got there.
As the gate broke open, I called for the driders to pull back. It was a narrow cramped space that led to an inner door. The remaining eight took our bows and started to fire back to the guards on the walls. We provided cover to rush into the corridor. The humans had a trap laid. Several boulders fell on the Drow that were trying to open the inner door. It was not enough to block the passage, but those that went in would need to climb over rocks and bodies to get to the wall. It essentially made it harder to go that route. Other Drow were setting up ladders to climb the walls that way. I moved the driders to the side where two ladders were being set up. We provided some cover as they set them up. When they got to the top, they were in for the fight of their lives. We continued providing cover until they had gained the foothold on the wall that we needed. There was a big sigh of relief, and then a sense of accomplishment that welled up in me. The city fell by morning. The driders were not allowed to enter the city after they took it. That was the last slap I was willing to take.
I gathered my children and left. The other driders from the platoon came with us. There were even some female followers. Imolo, Romni, our children and I totaled 16. With the five veteran male driders and the seven females, the total rose to 28. That was still a small band of people. Using the map, we made our way back towards Dagrechad and Ohtatimeáro. We made it to a new orc camp. Taking them on was child's play. We took it down in a few hours. The rest of the night was spent killing all the non elves. By my calculations, we were a week's walk south from Dagrechad. We cleaned and clear it out. One of the elves recognized me. "L'chaim!? What happened to you! We were caught in a raid on Dagrechad while we were hunting." I explained the situation to them and they looked at me with regret. "We are going to take the loot to Dagrechad and bring some more elves here." I said to them. They nodded and that was what we did. I was welcomed into Dagrechad as a returning hero. I spent a whole week telling them my story. We then moved to the new settlement.
To honor me once again, the camp was called Liante, their word for spider. The driders and our children were allowed to settle as full residents. We were still expected to be the first line of defense though. That was more than okay with the driders that were used to being shunned and mistreated. I began to include them into the settlement culture. Dagrechad was now mostly Wood elves, but they still retained the culture. Ohtatimeáro was the real melting pot. I decided that it was time to evangelize the camp. I had been using soft suggestions on how to live, but I had not been explicit with the worship of the Cardinal Virtues. Survival was much more important. Now was the time to capitalize on my status as war hero. What I needed to do was see what they thought about them. They were mostly ambivalent towards them. The driders had never even heard of them. That was good. As long as it was not negative, I could work with it. All I needed were a few miracles and a shrine or two for their worship, and I had more than enough clout to do that.
