While catching his breath, his eyes dance around the completely unfamiliar area. Row after row of Duergar miners can be seen. Some are mindlessly pounding the walls of the mine with their hammers, while others are sorting the debris. Several more are lying motionless. Suddenly, his eyes find the gaze of an illithid. He instinctively ducts behind a nearby boulder and takes a deep breath hoping he was not seen. A voice, heard not with his ears, tells him to get back to work. He peaks over the boulder to confirm the mind flayer did in fact see him and is coming toward him at a casual pace.
Without looking, he grabs his helmet and places it on his head. The liquid contents, once only in his upside helmet, now cover his face. After wiping away the liquid from his eyes, he looks down at his blood covered hands. The voice, heard only in his head, speaks again with a more commanding tone than before, “Get back to work!” He looks up to see the mind flayer is still moving toward him and has picked up its pace. His eyes dart to his left to see a tunnel and he begins running as fast as his weakened Duergar legs can take him. One stumble, but not two; he reaches the tunnel. Never looking back, he racing through even more unfamiliar territory until, finally, he sees the familiarly attired Sshamath guards. He enters the passage between the two.
While descending from Varalla’s Passage, he gazes down on the trade city for the first time in many, many cycles. As he begins to slow his pace, he takes off his helmet and vigorously shakes it until nearly all the blood is gone. He then grabs for his trusty axe and finds it in remarkably good shape. It then hits him, “My Gold!,” he says out loud. He frantically pats his waste until he finds a light bag of gold coins and sighs in relief. “Ale” he says to himself.
He enters Gloura’s Wings tavern and slowly takes a seat at an unoccupied table in a corner. One pint is ordered, then two, followed by a third, a fourth, and a fifth. After drinking alone for an hour, he begins to survey himself and his gear. He realizes he is not quite what he once was, but cannot pinpoint how. While rummaging through his pack, he finds a scrap of paper tightly rolled around a heavy vial full of thick red liquid. It appears to be the same liquid that was in his helmet. The scrap of paper has the following written in Dwarven:
He throws his hands up in the air and asks “Who is me?” After tightly rewrapping the vial with the scrap paper, he motions to the waitress and yells “Three more pints!”“Grebegk Blockaxe, Fill this vial with Devil Blood and return back to me.”
OOC: I've been gone for about a year. The expanded Underdark is new to me. I came up with a story to get me restarted. The Dwarven mines inspired me. Grebegk really does have a vial of Devil Blood. I don’t remember why, or how, he acquired the item. I just thought that such a weird item might be the re-beginning (or fresh start) of some roleplay.