It's presently the afternoon before the big night.  Now that I know the mission
has been planned by people who know what they're doing, I'm a bit more confident about
our chances.  Just a bit, of course.

	Earlier today, Shyloff returned the borrowed rings to Atari and myself.  Showing
a bit of caution beforehand, I inadvertantly gave the gnome an idea that, knowing his
sense of humor, he'll surely implement someday.  As to the idea's nature...  Well, if I
ever slip on my ring and find, to my surprise, that my new form possesses a pair of
full, supple breasts, I will first make sure that I can return to normal, and then I
will kill the little bastard.  However, this time -- at least -- Atari and I assumed our
expected forms.  So satisfied, we returned to the sleep from which Shyloff had roused
us.  I'm not quite sure why the gnome chose that particular moment to return them...  I
could barely get into the right frame of mind for spell-casting and the meeting we had a
few hours ago would have done just as well...

	Speaking of that meeting, we learned that Xavier did a bit of reconnaissance on
the drow embassy last night.  He made sure to drive home the fact that reports of [i
his[/i] exploits would not be showing up in today's papers.  Opting against the route of
occupational suicide, I held my tongue at this.  In any case, once he'd gotten in his
daily recommended value of snideness, he, Shyloff, and Blue went over the plan.

	Atari and I will arrive at the embassy fashionably late by carriage, and then
attempt to find out the plan and identity of the drow's new leader.  The story we have
agreed upon if asked about last night is that an ogre was, indeed, found at the hotel. 
She received a blow to the head before I was able to slip the pair of us away to an
establishment of lower-profile.  We will be attending to "demonstrate to our attackers
that the drow are not so easily frightened."  However, my "sister" will not be fully
recovered from the injury, while I will still be somewhat perturbed by the incident. 
For these reasons, any strange behaviors should be ignored.

	As the two of us rub elbows with the drow elite, Gohr, garbed in servant's
clothes, will be working the tables.  Though the dwarf will have no way of understanding
a single word, he will attempt to slip a little something into the drow leader's drink. 
There was some debate about what that would be; a fast-acting poison would raise too
much suspicion, while a slow-acting poison would leave those toxin-masters ample time to
create an antidote.  So, it was finally decided to slip him a sleeping potion.  My only
concern is that Gohr will be in the kitchen for some time, surrounded by an assortment
of wines.  If he can't resist his love of all things ale-like, I hope he understands
that I'm not going to be saving him.

	Meanwhile, outside of the building, Barada and Xavier will be sneaking into one
of the towers alongside the main building.  Blue seemed rather proud of a device he
handed them; a crossbow with a unique variation of Stone-to-Flesh.  I didn't care enough
to ask about the details, but the upshot of the enchantment is that an arrow fired from
it with a rope attached can become part of a stone wall, creating the perfect hold for
the rope.  Once the leader has consumed the sleeping potion, they will find his room,
use the device to enter, and then kill him as he lies defenseless.

	As all this is going on, Tim will be in the carriage, keeping everybody informed
and coordinated.  To avoid suspicion, Shyloff has enchanted his ring with the shape of a
carriage driver.  Again, we have Blue to thank for this part of the plan.  Everyone
involved will be wearing pendants prepared by the bashful little guy.  With a mirror,
Tim should be able to see everything in our immediate areas and communicate with us.  By
whispering into our pendants, we'll keep him up to date with the specifics of what's
going on.

	Once the mysterious leader's good for little more than worm food, everybody will
vacate the premises and, presumably, crack open a bottle of champagne back at the inn. 
I've never heard a plot to assassinate an important figure in a high-security compound
sound so easy.  That Xavier will be involved also gives me a good feeling about this.

	Atari and I ordered the carriage earlier, posing as the servants of the two
drow.  As I mentioned from last night, I'm convinced Barada swiped my share of the
royals' loot.  As she and Atari are twins...  Well, I feel that insisting she pay for
the most expensive carriage available feels vaguely like karmic retribution.  It's the
next best thing to actually acquiring some material wealth.

	Nevertheless, it's almost time.  I'll include a full report once we're back.

      -    -    --   --   --   --    ---  ----  ---    --   --   --   --    -    -      

	Looking at the entry I made before I left, it's almost laughable how optimistic
I was.  Too many unexpected things came up, and too few of us reacted optimally to the
new developments to salvage the mission.  Perhaps if I'd done a few things
differently...  No.  What went wrong was out of my hands.  Out of any of our hands,
really.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

	We reached the embassy several minutes after the party began and marvelled at
the building.  Say what one will about the drow, but they know how to make an incredibly
impressive display; all the spires around the building appeared as though they were
simultaneously being struck by lightning from the dark clouds above.  The effect was
awe-inspiring.

	Once we got over its splendor, things seemed to go well; Xavier and Barada had
no trouble climbing a tower undetected, Atari and I respectively produced the
invitations of Sa'rei and Sa'rel without a fuss, Gohr raised no suspicions, and Tim was
ready to keep us abreast of any developments.  However, Barada later told us that Xavier
seemed incredibly nervous before the operations began.  He gave her a small vial and
told her to drink its contents if we required help.  The aid would, in his words, "not
be the most subtle" of help, so he'd prefer it if we handled things on our own.

	My partner and I split up in the ballroom and tried to pick up what we could. 
We stuck to our alibis, but didn't want to seem [i]too[/i] out of the loop, so we
refrained from asking the obvious questions, such as "Who is the leader?" or "What is
his plan?"  Consequently, we gleaned nothing of value.  Soon enough, however, the man
finally made his appearance and all attending were called to their seats.  It was
frustrating to note that he was garbed in a cloak that completely concealed his face.

	His speech didn't tell us much: he was planning to rally all his people against
their foes.  An interesting thing I noted about that, of course, was that his hands
didn't quite resemble a drow's; from my seat, they looked like human hands.  Once he
finished, dinner was served.  It was quite tasty, exactly what I'd expect from such an
occasion.  It therefore meshed oddly with the impromptu entertainment.

	The fact that Gohr was not the only servant attempting to "have the honor" of
bringing the leader his food combined with the fact that the bloody dwarf had, as I'd
feared, grabbed a drink for himself from the kitchen guaranteed that things would not be
at their easiest.  So, rather than bury my face in my hands as was my natural
inclination, I was forced to put on a big show of being shocked when he "accidentally"
slammed one of the other waiters to the ground before practically forcing the tainted
food and drink on the cloaked leader.  Naturally, the slip provoked a great deal of
shouts and complaints from the guests who, of course, weren't about to get up and fix
things themselves.  I blended in by grumbling a "Servants these days," to my neighbor.

	Thankfully, the leader didn't seem to smell the rat as it lay on his dinner
plate and calmly tucked in with everyone else.  After the dining came the dancing. 
Atari wasted no time pairing off with one of her many suitors and attempting to lead
their movements near the dance floor's center, where the leader was discussing something
with a few others.  I had no fewer admirers, but I knew that Atari's skill at the art of
dance was greater than my own, so, rather than give myself away, I opted to disappoint
them and remain a wall flower.  She picked up from his words something about how the
Bakers and... some other group I'm too sleepy to recall would be defenseless unless they
joined forces.  Soon after, he began to nod off and departed for his room.

	Nobody would mind a servant disappearing, so Gohr quietly slipped to the
perimeter of the room and put on his cloak, following the leader upstairsto his room. 
With Atari still busy dancing, I decided to head up after them, in case any magic or
additional fire was required.  Apparently, everybody minded a prince disappearing about
as much as they did a servant.  As I left, I overheard Atari telling her dance partner
that she had a headache and a pain in her back, and that she wished to sit down.  Tim
told everybody that she would be keeping an eye on things down there.

	Moments later, the leader entered his room and Gohr, judging from the layouts of
the other domiciles, reported to Tim.  Tim, in turn, enlightened Xavier and Barada. 
This proved to me just how effective Xavier's scouting had been; from the tower nearest
the guest rooms, catching the leader unawares would be child's play.  After tying the
rope to the floor, Barada imbedded an arrow near the correct window.  Blue's enchantment
worked like a charm, and created a perfect, subtle passage for the two sneaky
individuals.  They donned their cloaks and began shimmying down the rope toward certain
success.  I'm confident someone said as much around then, because that's when things
began to go awry.

	By then, I had reached the corridor outside the leader's room.  Gohr and I began
to hear footsteps.  Soon enough, we saw several uniformed drow approaching, tossing a
strange dust before them.  We didn't have to think about what was happening; we each
ducked into separate rooms, wondering how we'd been found out.  Tim then informed us
that the doors in the ballroom had been sealed off.  [i]When it rains, it pours,[/i] I
recall thinking.

	Outside, things weren't going much better.  Xavier entered the room, but before
Atari had a chance, a drow peaked out of a nearby window, frowned at the rope and began
to sever it.  Before she could head back to the window of origin, she became the bob of
half a pendulum.  Fortunately, she dropped off and landed in the courtyard below.  Tim
had his hands full, as well.  I don't recall precisely what happened, but someone
attempted to board the carriage.  The gnome was able to keep them at bay, but they
distracted him from his job.

	Meanwhile, I found that closing the door was not enough to keep the uniformed
drow from entering my chosen room; I was clearly not dealing with the town guard.  In
retrospect, my next move was inventive, but probably not my best: I slipped off my ring
and cloak, hastily casting a Disguise Self spell on myself.  When they entered, they
found what appeared to be a dottering, old drow, fidgeting and mumbling in a way
modelled on Blue's behavior.  Getting away with such behavior was the reason I had
selected this shape; I was able to slip a Charm Person into my erratic mumblings and
gesturings, forcing the apparent leader to accept everything I said, within reason, at
face value.  By this means, I was able to convince him I had brought my invitation with
me, but that it had been dropped or stolen.  So, instead of arresting me on the spot, he
instead ordered one of his men to escort me back to the ballroom.  As I passed, I saw
several guards standing around a body, wrapped in a sheet.  A body, I now believe, that
belonged to Xavier.

	A few rooms down from my bit of mystical quick thinking, Gohr was finding his
personal space similarly violated.  He knew the dust would expose him and didn't want
his cloak to be damaged.  So, dramatically, he unfurled the cloak, leapt out at his
aggressors with his astonishingly clever battle cry of "GHOOOORR!" and took a mighty
swing with Ruby, or whatever he calls his battleaxe, while, while greatly disrupting the
air in front of the guards, failed to do much in the way of damage.  In payment for this
anticlimactic display, the guards stabbed him a few times.  Suffering from serious
injuries after managing to take at least one of them down, he did the only thing he
could and leapt out of the window.  He landed well, donned his hood, and began running.
Running, specifically, from all the courtyard guards Barada had attracted.  After the
young woman had landed, she had apparentally stirred up a great deal of dust.  One guard
decided to fire an arrow into the cloud, lightly puncturing her neck and, more
seriously, ripping her cloak.  This prompted every guard in the area to begin chasing
and opening fire upon her.  The two grounded inviduals made for the carriage at top
speed.

	As Gohr and I had been dealing with our guards, Atari found herself, along with
everybody in the ballroom, being inspected for magical items on a certain list.
Fortunately, she was quick on her feet, and explained the cloak and ring away as
providing comfort for her back; with her headache, she insisted she would be unable to
stand the pain.  Though they couldn't simply let this go unreported, they agreed to
leave them with her until later.  I, however, was not so lucky.

	Recently brought down by a guard, I soon faced questioning, trembling as I
imagined Blue would.  When asked about my cloak, I informed them that it was a family
heirloom and handed it to a guard.  For my detected spell, I regrettably thought back to
Atari's earlier comments to her dance partner when forming my explanation.  They raised
an eyebrow when I delivered a statement identical to that of "the young lady a moment
ago."  Before I could fumble out a reasonable explanation, the inspector began chanting
Dispel Magic.  In an attempt to interrupt it, I pulled a Gohr and pretended to trip into
him.  Alas, this proved insufficient and my human form was exposed for all the hall to
see.

	I thought about accusing the man of turning me into a human until it occurred to
me that, as I had by this point [i]drawn the attention of everybody in the room[/i], I
was probably beyond lying.  Particularly since the guard didn't seem interested in
giving me a chance; the brute punched me in the face!  Luckily, the blow hadn't been
particularly strong, so my nose remained unbroken.  I then took action, casting Daze on
the guard, taking back my cloak and then running away from him.  Of course, I didn't
have many places to run to; when you've attracted so much attention, that's just an
inevitability.  So, I donned my cloak and began rushing randomly about the room.

	I noticed that all the guests had formed a ring in the center of the room, so,
to create a little confusion, I slammed into them, hopefully creating the illusion that
I had entered the circle.  While they dealed with that, I made a run for the window.
Until I noticed that they'd apparently thought of that and scattered more of that
strange dust near every window in the room.  So, I went back to the ring and decided to
sow a little more chaos before leaving; using another minor Prestidigation trick, I
created a small, crude cube in the middle of the ring.  As everybody gawked at it, I
made a run for the window nearest the entrance.

	Before I could leave, however, the drow leader seemed intent on giving me one
more reason to hate him.  In a way, I could respect his murdering Xavier; the man had
broken into his room with the intent to kill him, after all.  Because Xavier's been my
benefactor for so long, I feel I owe the man vengeance.  It would have been almost
businesslike.  But no; that bastard had to shout from the top of the stairs that I
getting away and make it personal.  Because of that, I didn't have the luxury of
unlocking it and had to throw myself through it, getting a few cuts in the process.
A few moments later, Atari threw on her cloak and used the opening I'd made.

	So, the four of us ran toward the entrance at top speed.  I saw Barada some ways
ahead of me as she leaped into the carriage.  I ignored this and headed for the main
gate, hoping that I'd be able to scramble over without drawing much attention.  I
suppose I still could have, but what happened before I got there made it unnecessary.  I
heard a belch of titanic proportions.  Soon enough, the burp began to sound less like a
fairly standard bodily function and more like a lion's roar.  Apparently, Barada had
downed the potion Xavier had given her.  Once it ceased, it was answered by another
lion's roar from some ways off, followed by a cry of, "To battle!"  I believe I knew
everything would be alright when the gates were smashed open.

	As the lone, wild-haired, heavily-armored man entered the courtyard, all the
guards decided none of us posed nearly as significant threat as he did.  From a distance
near the fallen gate, I watched as he ferociously and efficiently shouted, "To battle!"
and began tearing the guards to pieces with his lance.  I couldn't tell for sure from my
hiding spot, but something seemed odd about his main arm.  When his lance broke, I saw
that I was absolutely right.  Shouting in frustration, he ripped off his gauntlet,
revealing, strange as it sounds, that his arm was actually that of a lion.  As I and the
others gawked at this, the stranger put his unique appendage to work, slashing the
remaining guards with his claws.

	At that point, I decided to take advantage of the distraction and resume making
for the exit.  My comrades, all aboard the carriage, apparently had the same idea.  Once
I was outside the gates, I planned to hop aboard the carriage.  Unfortunately, Tim,
while doing a good job at covering the getaway, made this rather difficult for me by
creating a Silent Image, which split from the real carriage at the intersection.  When I
asked him which was the correct carriage, he answered with something like, "Left.  No,
right.  No, wait, left.  No...  Uhh..." and forced me to make a lucky guess.

	While I was hopping on, our peculiar savior called an enormous fiery burst into
being at the ruined gate, and then took a running jump at the carriage.  After landing,
he pried open one of the doors, presumably invalidating the warranty and insuring that
Atari would never see her deposit again.

	The carriage rode on throughout the city as the six of us had a little chat.
The strange man, named Darias, was shocked to learn that Xavier had been lost and that
so much of our operation had been foreseen.  He then set his hands on all of us with
injuries, instantly healing them all.  Darias told us that the drow leader went by
Mandabi, which makes me wonder.  We had never been told that name before, but Darias
seemed to know it fairly well, leading me to believe that we didn't go into this mission
knowing all we could.  Maybe things wouldn't have gone any differently, but I'd still
like to have a talk with a few Armani Spectres the next time we see them.  He told us he
wasn't a member of the Spectres, so he had other things to worry about.  Darias advised
us to lay low, then leaped from the carriage.

	We presumed the tavern may have been compromised, so we went to the only other
sleeping quarters we knew about: the hotel we had recently left without a concierge.
When we arrived, we found the manager waiting at the desk.  After a bit of discussion,
he agreed to give us a room and a few gold pieces a week if we would take over.  The
wheeler and dealer in me regretted that I couldn't snag a more favorable bargain, but it
will do.

	I'm not entirely sure of our next move.  At the moment, I'm too tired to care,
quite frankly.  With luck, my next entry will end in higher spirits.