Inpired by Mikayla's stories, I've decided to try and put Arithel's tale down in text, especially as they coincide with one another at points.
Just the prolouge to begin with. For those who know her, this skips a lot to jump to the recent past, sorry for missing out a lot of major players in her tale.
And thanks to all the players and DM's who make stories like this pssible in ALFA
Sanctuary: Prologue (1)
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Sandermann
- Rust Monster
- Posts: 1228
- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2004 3:01 pm
- Location: Richmond, North Yorkshire
Sanctuary: Prologue (1)
Last edited by Sandermann on Thu May 12, 2005 3:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.
PC: Liasola Dark Arrow
Ex PC: Arzit'el Tlabbar
Blindhamsterman : "I think Sand may have just won the internet"
Ex PC: Arzit'el Tlabbar
Blindhamsterman : "I think Sand may have just won the internet"
-
Sandermann
- Rust Monster
- Posts: 1228
- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2004 3:01 pm
- Location: Richmond, North Yorkshire
Prolouge:
*******
Arzit'el, third daughter of house Cys'Varillo of Menzoberranzan, walked purposefully through the Bazaar. The 58 year old looked up to Narbondel rising through the centre of the city. Perhaps two, three hours until the wizard fire marked the end of this cycle and the begining of the next?...she would be back at Quellar Varillo before that. She glanced back carefully, her shadow was good, but nnot good enough. She gauged his movements...Shaelyn? yes it must be her brother Shaelyn. If she had seen him then he wanted to be seen, Arzit'el knew what this meant. She was being watched, if she set a foot wrong, showed any weakness on the part of her house she would die before she returned.
She turned to look at a merchants stall, the merchant was a rivvil male, obviously terrfied. His kind where not uncommon, they brougth surface trinkets and foods into the underdark in the hope of quick, easy gold. No doubt most of the things he sold were common enough on the surface, but could fetch a good price here. The rivvil was twitching, rubbing his hands as Arzit'el looked over his stall, all rubbish. Strange fruits, cloths, small mechanical devices...but..Arzit'el looked at a creature in a small wicker basket. Lithe, black, its eyes bright. It sat caged so far from its world and calmly, delicately licked its fur, cleaned its ears as if all it surveyed belonged to it.
"er...s'called a cat..er...Mistress..." The Merchant drawled in his stuttering, crude language
Arzit'el hissed, how dare he adress her without being spoken to..still she reasoned, he would be dead in hours. Victim of some petty murder for pleasure or profit..so she let it pass with only a hard slap. Stinging his cheek and drawing blood with her nails.
"Cat" she said in the common tongue, before adressing the merchant "I shall call it "Jess", fang" she handed the man a coin and took the cage. Turning to go back to the House, she gave Shaelyn a brief nod and he nodded back, before moving off down the crowded, noisy street
********
Tel sat on the soft, damp grass outside the hamlet called Beregost. She sat and thought of her next move, two years on the surface and so little achieved, so many enemies still free to work against her. Kross? Fled, but still he lived. Romanoffe? Goodman? they had dissapeared, but she was certain the rivvil pair still hid in waterdeep somewhere, serving their dark gods in some way. Vanzar? she did not know. Ymrik would, soon, the ugly monk would no doubt uncover the truth somehow, and then Tel would kill again.
And Jain'n? Was he friend or enemy? She had given him her word by her goddess, but EIlistraee had spoken to her and released her from her word under certain....conditions. Inthara, and Sheyreiza who was so recently Yathrin? Surely -they- were allies, Tel remembered the fight against the frost-beast, where only the spider tattooed priestess had stood her ground while all the other's fled...but they were Ilythiiri, and as surley as Tel schemed they had their own ends. Still...she had her oath to them, to the dark maiden, her life before theirs, her pain before theirs, and the lives of their unborn children..a sword maidens oath...
....and Aszune? Tel smiled, more than an ally..but she knew something of Jain'n she would not tell, and called him Kinslayer.
The waterfalls running down the hill spoke softly of the nights she had spent here with her love, the one she had so recently kissed goodbye .Still she could not bring herself to leave this place where she had found herself finally complete. No longer when she closed her eyes did she see the faces of dying children, or images hate and fear. Only her face...her face...
Tel frowned, berrating her self. Of course since she found this new, exciting emotion, she could not concentrate either. Cold, hard plans flitted from her mind in an instant, replaced by warmth and joy. Plans were what was needed now, some plan at least, but which way to turn, who could she trust..
"Those who watch their backs, die from blows to the front" she muttered to herself in her native Ilythiiri, the sibilant sounds these surfacers found so disconcerting somehow comforting, reminding her of what she was. What she always would be, no matter which Goddess loved her. There was work to do, the Maidens work. Tel rose, gathering her wargear, securing straps and belts. Picking up her shield, she began the walk to the city of Baldur's gate, she could take ship there.
******
Arzit'el sat before the large fire, Jess at her feet. The creature was a vicious, unmerciful killer. She dropped another young rat to the ground in front of it and watched as Jess stalked the young vermin before pouncing. It did not kill immediately, but crippled the rat, toying with it before purposefully crushing its skull between her jaws. The Weaponmaster had asked where she had got the creature, so she had lied and said it was within the walls of the compound and she had picked it up out of curiosity. Of course he knew this for a lie, Shaelyn had seen her buy it, but Arzit'el knew he would not dare call her liar to her face.
She glanced across at her sister, In training to become a priestess she sat weaning a child, absorbed in some wrinkled scroll. The child cried, Jess started at the wailing, forgetting her game with the rats and Arzit'el scowled. Her sister touched the childs head, still reading. "Be still.." she stroked his head, gently, soothing him. Arzit'el started in alarm...that was not right...her sister noticed and quickly pressed the child to her breast, glowering at Arzit'el.
"I am reading, he distracted me..that is all"
Arzit'el nodded slowly...turning back to her pet. She did not hear the footsteps behind her.
A hard boot struck Jess in the side, sending her spinning across the tiled floor to strike the wall hard.
"You spend too much time with that creature, you should be learning, you are no good to the house idle" The weapon masters hard voice spoke.
Arzit'ell looked up to him, biting back her rage at his manner...she stood and moved over to Jess, turned her head to give the weaponmater a hard, repremanding look. She drew a small knife from her sash and knelt by the cat. Pressing the blade against the head of the still stunned creature she looked into its bright eyes, still proud, unaware of its doom. At that moment, when her eyes met those of this...this toy...she hesitated.....then, angry with herself she struck the kinfes pommel with her palm, driving the blade through the creatures...through Jess's skull into its...into -her- brain.
She stood and walked back to the weapon mater, who stood nodding in satisfaction. She stood there before the male for a very short while, the knife in her hand. With a wide, unpractised swing she drobe the knife into the side of his leg, deep into muscle till it struck the bone. He flinched, but barely, still standing.
Arzit'el turned, showing her back to him in contempt, stating as clearly as if she had said the words that she did not consider him a threat because he was inferior.
"You will never adress me in that tone again....Father"
*******
The deck of the large merchantman swayed gently under Tel's feet, not as swift as the cutters and sloops she could see in the distance, racing past the hulking vessel she had chosen, but this one did not tilt so alarmingly in the swell. Tel did not enjoy sea journies.
She danced, ignoring the stares of the half naked crew, sweating at their tasks. Sidestepping, moving into parries, always gaining more knowledge of this new blade and what it could do, how she could direct it to best effect. The blue gem in its blade gleamed in the sun, highlighting the icon set within it. A naked drowess, dancing against the full moon, with a blade in her hand. The symbol of Eilistraee. She moved with first a stately pace, quickening to spin the blade with her wrist, using its weight to maitain a steady rhythym that could be easily redirected past her enemies weapons or shields, to cut into fragile flesh.
Tel paused and looked out at the shore, cliff's and rocky beaches marched past in a stately procession. Occasionaly a fishing vessel closer in shore or one of the more nimbler trading vessels scudding up or down the sword coast. She squinted against the light, which still caused her pain, and looked down into the depths, shuddering at the immensity of the sea and the sky. The sheer openness terrified her. She closed her eyes to escape the scene before her, and immediately she saw the face of her love. smiling..she hummed a soft, slow mournful tune..remembering...
The screeching sound of Gulls snapped her from her reverie. "Light" she cursed, without thinking uttering a word that here on the surface was a blessing. Again...how much time had she lost to idle dreaming...The lights of Waterdeep could already be seen, they were nearing the first fort that guarded they wide bay that made the city such a draw to merchants, adventurers and wanderers of all lands, and with them came the cults, the plots, the evil. Tel passed below deck to ready her belonging's, stowing her wargear and dressing in a simple black and grey robe, checking that her knives were where they should be, in easy reach. She made a concession to Waterdeep's dangerous dock district by belting her scabbarded blade over the dress, the look incongruous, but only a fool walked waterdeep unarmed at night.
*******
Arzit'el looked across the open ground between her and the low wall of the human village. This night she would face the blooding, she would kill an armed opponent in combat or die in the attempt. She grinned, baring her white teeth to the night. This was the running, the one night a year the drow came to the surface to kill and destroy, to hunt other beings and to revel in their pain and fear.
The scout returned. Shadows resolving into a stooped form, a bloody knife in has hand. His fingers and his moved in the silent language used at these times
"Guard is dead. There will be no alarm"
The young drow rose from the ground, creeping towards the lights of the small hamlet, slipping like ghosts throught the pathetic gate these people had built, presumably more to keep livestock in than enemies out. They spread through the village, towards the glowing light coming from building in the centre, there was a lot of noise inside. Laughing, the sounds of someone singing, some kind of musical instrument playing.
The door opened, a bearded human nearly fell out, the rapid light spreading across the open area in front of the building was enough to slow the warrior in the lead for a fraction of a second, long enough for the innebriated man to see him....
"DRO....." The mans cry ended in a gurgling scream as a bolt took him through the throat
Men came out, in confusion, some armed, some not .Still carrying tankards, not knowing what they were seeing, their light blinded eyes not seeing the drow in the darkness.
"Lolth Mal'rak!" The drow surged forward, Arzit'el with them, before a human dropped his tankard and reached for a dagger at his waist. She slowed long enough for him to draw his weapon, then danced forward. Turning the crude blade easily to one side she stepped in close to the man, smelling his soulf, acrid stench of ale and sweat, she drove her blade upwards, under his ribs, twisting it to find his heart.
Her eyes met his.....she saw the last light of life ebb from them...she watched him die.......
*******
Smoke from the fire in the attic of the dripping dagger inn escaped the cracked chimney breast, Tel watched it curl up the wall to leave sooty, flowing marks across the bricks. She sipped fine wine from an ornate but chipped porcelain cup, her last, the other five of the set smashed, crushed or lost. She tried not to look directly at the fire, it looked so like the campfire she had made with Aszune to keep them warm that first night. Tel grinned, the fire that had brought almost every traveller on the road onto the hill to investigate and given that night such an exciting lure of being discovered....
...a knock on the door...
Instantly Tel responded, her natural ambidexterity and training in wieldign two weapons at once allowing her delicately place the fragile cup on the side table while at the same time whipping the heavy blade from where it hung on the back of her chair. She moved to the door. Unlocking it, she let it swing open, stepping back and readying for an attack, it would be a foolish assasin who had announced his presence by knocking, But Tel had killed foolish assasins before.
Aszune smiled back at Tel's stance. Outlined behind her, Ymrik, the white robe he still wore despite everyone else in Sanctuary long ago giving them up was slightly frayed and grubby from the streets. Lantarh, the moon elf she had nearly killed when they first met, frowning back at her. Marcellus, nervously edging back. And a Paladin in the garb of the third circle, Hialmar? yes Hialmar.
Tel relaxed, drinking in Aszune's gaze. "Blessings all", she turned to the fire again, returning her blade to its place in the sheath.
After the greetings, and the introductions, the others quickly hinted they should go elsewhere, that they were being scryed.
"So. That is how Vanzar has always been a step in front of us" she thought.
"Mhair is in her lab, she will allow us to use her tower for our meetings" Aszune said as she led them out. Tel paused to strap on her armour, finishing her wine she retrieved her weapons and set out after them.
*******
Killing joy had taken hold of Arzit'el now...she ran through the village, looking for another to kill...she did not know why...
The houses were burning now, screams rent the air....the livestock had been killed...some of the males had gone into the building in the centre...screams could be heard from inside..Arzit'el smiled coldly...this was a good night to be drow...to prove yourself....
....she ran...she looked for something to kill so she could forget the look of the man...forget the look of Jess....
*******
The meeting was long. Tel sat patiently on the table next to Aszune, listening to Lantarh, Aszune and Ynrik debate various schemes and plans. She knew what had to be done, she had said her piece a month ago, but the others resented her giving commands. Foolishness, she no longer felt herself superior to this group, but she also knew that action was what was needed now, not recylcling old arguments. So she had placed the seed of her plan in the minds of the others and would wait for them to reach her conclusions, allow them to think they had come up with the idea. If it mean solving this then it did not matter how it was achieved.
The group took two views....to move north into the sword mountains and find the one who could give them the information they needed, or to stay in the city and use magics and research to find out more.
"We should plan some more. Acting without a plan is suicide....." Tel stopped listening to Ymrik, he had said the same thing over and over again and it was becoming tiresome.
"Ymrik, Quiet....scrying is very good, but I trust the eyes of a good scout over magics. We need to see the orc town for ourselves, If they really do have Tanar'ri among them then you can not use invisbility because they will see through it and you will die in a way more horrible than you can imagine"
As usual she was ignored, and the others turned back to their "discussions". Even Aszune grew vexed at theri bickering, Tel had to convince first the nervous human, Marcellus, and then Ymrik that they should stay. Holding their hands and looking directly at them, she used the guile with words she had been forced to learn to survive in the dark to convince them they were needed here.
A plot emerged slowly, a family with ties to each other so convoluted she could not follow them, Marcellus, under the influence of a potion fed to him by Aszune spoke at length of the marriages, step children, uncles....it seemed both their allies and their enemies stood within the same noble house. Something all to familiar to Tel but seemingly confusing to some in this group...she resigned herself to sitting, listening, sooner or later the time to dance would come. They would listen to her then.
*******
Arzit'el came to a door, she threw it open..inside a woman stood, clutching a new weaned child tightly to her.
Arzit'el grinned coldly, closing the door behind her she approached the woman and child, her blade raised to strike
*******
Tel sat once more on the prow of a ship, its bow turned north and running before a strong breeze. On the horizon she could see a forest of sails jutting from a low walled harbour...the last port before ships had to navigate the ice, Luskan, the city of sails. She turned, packing her things, changing into her armour, picking up her weapons...the north was worse than waterdeep...far worse. Agents of Talona spread a foul plague, towns were under siege by bands of Gnolls, Orcs roamed free...
*******
The woman clung desperately to her child, Arzit'el reached out, gripping the childs hair and pulling it away from her, she struck the woman with her fist until she released the child, screaming in terror, beating her fists against Arzit'els armour..
*******
She approached the brittle blade gap cautiously, she knew there were Orcs here...there..on the ridge...
She drew her bow, knocking an arrow...she walked forward openly until the beasts saw her. With a harsh cry they charged, she killed the one with a bow rapidly, putting her own arrow through its chest before it could fire. She dropped her bow, sliding her Moonsword from its sheath she met the charge of the lead orc.....
*******
Arzit'el winced at the mother's screams..she kicked her hard in the stomach, so she fell to the ground...raising the child up by its hair she placed her balde against its belly and pressed it down...letting go she allowed the childs own weight to slide it slowly down the razor edge....its screams ringing in her ears....
*******
....the last orc turned to flee, dropping its simple blade and fleeing in panic...Tel calmly slid her Moonsword into its scabbard and retrieved her bow...selecting a magical sonic arrow for effect she sighted along the shaft and released...the arrow screamed towards the orc, taking it in the back of its shoulders, doubling it over, it fell tumbling to the ground, rolling to lie against a rock, its last breaths shallow and frightened....
*******
.......Arzit'el swung her blade, propelling the bloody rag of the child against the wall where it slid down to leave a dark, bloody smear across the rough hewn wooded slats, she glanced once at the woman and met her eyes...something was wrong...what was she doing here?....what was this?......Arzit'el hastily turned, leaving the woman screaming and sobbing into the torn carcass of her child she stpped towards the door.....
*******
.....Nylo stepped from the snows, his cloak swining back to reveal his presence...
"Lady Tel..I am glad you are here"
"Hmm..Why is that Nylo" Tel was not surprised he was here..Nylo appeared and disappeared seemingly at will...she wiped her balde on the Orcs rags and slid it away
"Milord, he has decided we hunt the Wyrm tonight"
*******
Arzit'el stepped forward..a look of horror on her face...what had she done, why?...
she stepped forward into the light of the new rising sun....
*******
Tel stepped forward into the light of the new rising sun...a smile on her lips..."Udos Lil'alure" she said in the language of the drow..."We dance"
*******
*******
Arzit'el, third daughter of house Cys'Varillo of Menzoberranzan, walked purposefully through the Bazaar. The 58 year old looked up to Narbondel rising through the centre of the city. Perhaps two, three hours until the wizard fire marked the end of this cycle and the begining of the next?...she would be back at Quellar Varillo before that. She glanced back carefully, her shadow was good, but nnot good enough. She gauged his movements...Shaelyn? yes it must be her brother Shaelyn. If she had seen him then he wanted to be seen, Arzit'el knew what this meant. She was being watched, if she set a foot wrong, showed any weakness on the part of her house she would die before she returned.
She turned to look at a merchants stall, the merchant was a rivvil male, obviously terrfied. His kind where not uncommon, they brougth surface trinkets and foods into the underdark in the hope of quick, easy gold. No doubt most of the things he sold were common enough on the surface, but could fetch a good price here. The rivvil was twitching, rubbing his hands as Arzit'el looked over his stall, all rubbish. Strange fruits, cloths, small mechanical devices...but..Arzit'el looked at a creature in a small wicker basket. Lithe, black, its eyes bright. It sat caged so far from its world and calmly, delicately licked its fur, cleaned its ears as if all it surveyed belonged to it.
"er...s'called a cat..er...Mistress..." The Merchant drawled in his stuttering, crude language
Arzit'el hissed, how dare he adress her without being spoken to..still she reasoned, he would be dead in hours. Victim of some petty murder for pleasure or profit..so she let it pass with only a hard slap. Stinging his cheek and drawing blood with her nails.
"Cat" she said in the common tongue, before adressing the merchant "I shall call it "Jess", fang" she handed the man a coin and took the cage. Turning to go back to the House, she gave Shaelyn a brief nod and he nodded back, before moving off down the crowded, noisy street
********
Tel sat on the soft, damp grass outside the hamlet called Beregost. She sat and thought of her next move, two years on the surface and so little achieved, so many enemies still free to work against her. Kross? Fled, but still he lived. Romanoffe? Goodman? they had dissapeared, but she was certain the rivvil pair still hid in waterdeep somewhere, serving their dark gods in some way. Vanzar? she did not know. Ymrik would, soon, the ugly monk would no doubt uncover the truth somehow, and then Tel would kill again.
And Jain'n? Was he friend or enemy? She had given him her word by her goddess, but EIlistraee had spoken to her and released her from her word under certain....conditions. Inthara, and Sheyreiza who was so recently Yathrin? Surely -they- were allies, Tel remembered the fight against the frost-beast, where only the spider tattooed priestess had stood her ground while all the other's fled...but they were Ilythiiri, and as surley as Tel schemed they had their own ends. Still...she had her oath to them, to the dark maiden, her life before theirs, her pain before theirs, and the lives of their unborn children..a sword maidens oath...
....and Aszune? Tel smiled, more than an ally..but she knew something of Jain'n she would not tell, and called him Kinslayer.
The waterfalls running down the hill spoke softly of the nights she had spent here with her love, the one she had so recently kissed goodbye .Still she could not bring herself to leave this place where she had found herself finally complete. No longer when she closed her eyes did she see the faces of dying children, or images hate and fear. Only her face...her face...
Tel frowned, berrating her self. Of course since she found this new, exciting emotion, she could not concentrate either. Cold, hard plans flitted from her mind in an instant, replaced by warmth and joy. Plans were what was needed now, some plan at least, but which way to turn, who could she trust..
"Those who watch their backs, die from blows to the front" she muttered to herself in her native Ilythiiri, the sibilant sounds these surfacers found so disconcerting somehow comforting, reminding her of what she was. What she always would be, no matter which Goddess loved her. There was work to do, the Maidens work. Tel rose, gathering her wargear, securing straps and belts. Picking up her shield, she began the walk to the city of Baldur's gate, she could take ship there.
******
Arzit'el sat before the large fire, Jess at her feet. The creature was a vicious, unmerciful killer. She dropped another young rat to the ground in front of it and watched as Jess stalked the young vermin before pouncing. It did not kill immediately, but crippled the rat, toying with it before purposefully crushing its skull between her jaws. The Weaponmaster had asked where she had got the creature, so she had lied and said it was within the walls of the compound and she had picked it up out of curiosity. Of course he knew this for a lie, Shaelyn had seen her buy it, but Arzit'el knew he would not dare call her liar to her face.
She glanced across at her sister, In training to become a priestess she sat weaning a child, absorbed in some wrinkled scroll. The child cried, Jess started at the wailing, forgetting her game with the rats and Arzit'el scowled. Her sister touched the childs head, still reading. "Be still.." she stroked his head, gently, soothing him. Arzit'el started in alarm...that was not right...her sister noticed and quickly pressed the child to her breast, glowering at Arzit'el.
"I am reading, he distracted me..that is all"
Arzit'el nodded slowly...turning back to her pet. She did not hear the footsteps behind her.
A hard boot struck Jess in the side, sending her spinning across the tiled floor to strike the wall hard.
"You spend too much time with that creature, you should be learning, you are no good to the house idle" The weapon masters hard voice spoke.
Arzit'ell looked up to him, biting back her rage at his manner...she stood and moved over to Jess, turned her head to give the weaponmater a hard, repremanding look. She drew a small knife from her sash and knelt by the cat. Pressing the blade against the head of the still stunned creature she looked into its bright eyes, still proud, unaware of its doom. At that moment, when her eyes met those of this...this toy...she hesitated.....then, angry with herself she struck the kinfes pommel with her palm, driving the blade through the creatures...through Jess's skull into its...into -her- brain.
She stood and walked back to the weapon mater, who stood nodding in satisfaction. She stood there before the male for a very short while, the knife in her hand. With a wide, unpractised swing she drobe the knife into the side of his leg, deep into muscle till it struck the bone. He flinched, but barely, still standing.
Arzit'el turned, showing her back to him in contempt, stating as clearly as if she had said the words that she did not consider him a threat because he was inferior.
"You will never adress me in that tone again....Father"
*******
The deck of the large merchantman swayed gently under Tel's feet, not as swift as the cutters and sloops she could see in the distance, racing past the hulking vessel she had chosen, but this one did not tilt so alarmingly in the swell. Tel did not enjoy sea journies.
She danced, ignoring the stares of the half naked crew, sweating at their tasks. Sidestepping, moving into parries, always gaining more knowledge of this new blade and what it could do, how she could direct it to best effect. The blue gem in its blade gleamed in the sun, highlighting the icon set within it. A naked drowess, dancing against the full moon, with a blade in her hand. The symbol of Eilistraee. She moved with first a stately pace, quickening to spin the blade with her wrist, using its weight to maitain a steady rhythym that could be easily redirected past her enemies weapons or shields, to cut into fragile flesh.
Tel paused and looked out at the shore, cliff's and rocky beaches marched past in a stately procession. Occasionaly a fishing vessel closer in shore or one of the more nimbler trading vessels scudding up or down the sword coast. She squinted against the light, which still caused her pain, and looked down into the depths, shuddering at the immensity of the sea and the sky. The sheer openness terrified her. She closed her eyes to escape the scene before her, and immediately she saw the face of her love. smiling..she hummed a soft, slow mournful tune..remembering...
The screeching sound of Gulls snapped her from her reverie. "Light" she cursed, without thinking uttering a word that here on the surface was a blessing. Again...how much time had she lost to idle dreaming...The lights of Waterdeep could already be seen, they were nearing the first fort that guarded they wide bay that made the city such a draw to merchants, adventurers and wanderers of all lands, and with them came the cults, the plots, the evil. Tel passed below deck to ready her belonging's, stowing her wargear and dressing in a simple black and grey robe, checking that her knives were where they should be, in easy reach. She made a concession to Waterdeep's dangerous dock district by belting her scabbarded blade over the dress, the look incongruous, but only a fool walked waterdeep unarmed at night.
*******
Arzit'el looked across the open ground between her and the low wall of the human village. This night she would face the blooding, she would kill an armed opponent in combat or die in the attempt. She grinned, baring her white teeth to the night. This was the running, the one night a year the drow came to the surface to kill and destroy, to hunt other beings and to revel in their pain and fear.
The scout returned. Shadows resolving into a stooped form, a bloody knife in has hand. His fingers and his moved in the silent language used at these times
"Guard is dead. There will be no alarm"
The young drow rose from the ground, creeping towards the lights of the small hamlet, slipping like ghosts throught the pathetic gate these people had built, presumably more to keep livestock in than enemies out. They spread through the village, towards the glowing light coming from building in the centre, there was a lot of noise inside. Laughing, the sounds of someone singing, some kind of musical instrument playing.
The door opened, a bearded human nearly fell out, the rapid light spreading across the open area in front of the building was enough to slow the warrior in the lead for a fraction of a second, long enough for the innebriated man to see him....
"DRO....." The mans cry ended in a gurgling scream as a bolt took him through the throat
Men came out, in confusion, some armed, some not .Still carrying tankards, not knowing what they were seeing, their light blinded eyes not seeing the drow in the darkness.
"Lolth Mal'rak!" The drow surged forward, Arzit'el with them, before a human dropped his tankard and reached for a dagger at his waist. She slowed long enough for him to draw his weapon, then danced forward. Turning the crude blade easily to one side she stepped in close to the man, smelling his soulf, acrid stench of ale and sweat, she drove her blade upwards, under his ribs, twisting it to find his heart.
Her eyes met his.....she saw the last light of life ebb from them...she watched him die.......
*******
Smoke from the fire in the attic of the dripping dagger inn escaped the cracked chimney breast, Tel watched it curl up the wall to leave sooty, flowing marks across the bricks. She sipped fine wine from an ornate but chipped porcelain cup, her last, the other five of the set smashed, crushed or lost. She tried not to look directly at the fire, it looked so like the campfire she had made with Aszune to keep them warm that first night. Tel grinned, the fire that had brought almost every traveller on the road onto the hill to investigate and given that night such an exciting lure of being discovered....
...a knock on the door...
Instantly Tel responded, her natural ambidexterity and training in wieldign two weapons at once allowing her delicately place the fragile cup on the side table while at the same time whipping the heavy blade from where it hung on the back of her chair. She moved to the door. Unlocking it, she let it swing open, stepping back and readying for an attack, it would be a foolish assasin who had announced his presence by knocking, But Tel had killed foolish assasins before.
Aszune smiled back at Tel's stance. Outlined behind her, Ymrik, the white robe he still wore despite everyone else in Sanctuary long ago giving them up was slightly frayed and grubby from the streets. Lantarh, the moon elf she had nearly killed when they first met, frowning back at her. Marcellus, nervously edging back. And a Paladin in the garb of the third circle, Hialmar? yes Hialmar.
Tel relaxed, drinking in Aszune's gaze. "Blessings all", she turned to the fire again, returning her blade to its place in the sheath.
After the greetings, and the introductions, the others quickly hinted they should go elsewhere, that they were being scryed.
"So. That is how Vanzar has always been a step in front of us" she thought.
"Mhair is in her lab, she will allow us to use her tower for our meetings" Aszune said as she led them out. Tel paused to strap on her armour, finishing her wine she retrieved her weapons and set out after them.
*******
Killing joy had taken hold of Arzit'el now...she ran through the village, looking for another to kill...she did not know why...
The houses were burning now, screams rent the air....the livestock had been killed...some of the males had gone into the building in the centre...screams could be heard from inside..Arzit'el smiled coldly...this was a good night to be drow...to prove yourself....
....she ran...she looked for something to kill so she could forget the look of the man...forget the look of Jess....
*******
The meeting was long. Tel sat patiently on the table next to Aszune, listening to Lantarh, Aszune and Ynrik debate various schemes and plans. She knew what had to be done, she had said her piece a month ago, but the others resented her giving commands. Foolishness, she no longer felt herself superior to this group, but she also knew that action was what was needed now, not recylcling old arguments. So she had placed the seed of her plan in the minds of the others and would wait for them to reach her conclusions, allow them to think they had come up with the idea. If it mean solving this then it did not matter how it was achieved.
The group took two views....to move north into the sword mountains and find the one who could give them the information they needed, or to stay in the city and use magics and research to find out more.
"We should plan some more. Acting without a plan is suicide....." Tel stopped listening to Ymrik, he had said the same thing over and over again and it was becoming tiresome.
"Ymrik, Quiet....scrying is very good, but I trust the eyes of a good scout over magics. We need to see the orc town for ourselves, If they really do have Tanar'ri among them then you can not use invisbility because they will see through it and you will die in a way more horrible than you can imagine"
As usual she was ignored, and the others turned back to their "discussions". Even Aszune grew vexed at theri bickering, Tel had to convince first the nervous human, Marcellus, and then Ymrik that they should stay. Holding their hands and looking directly at them, she used the guile with words she had been forced to learn to survive in the dark to convince them they were needed here.
A plot emerged slowly, a family with ties to each other so convoluted she could not follow them, Marcellus, under the influence of a potion fed to him by Aszune spoke at length of the marriages, step children, uncles....it seemed both their allies and their enemies stood within the same noble house. Something all to familiar to Tel but seemingly confusing to some in this group...she resigned herself to sitting, listening, sooner or later the time to dance would come. They would listen to her then.
*******
Arzit'el came to a door, she threw it open..inside a woman stood, clutching a new weaned child tightly to her.
Arzit'el grinned coldly, closing the door behind her she approached the woman and child, her blade raised to strike
*******
Tel sat once more on the prow of a ship, its bow turned north and running before a strong breeze. On the horizon she could see a forest of sails jutting from a low walled harbour...the last port before ships had to navigate the ice, Luskan, the city of sails. She turned, packing her things, changing into her armour, picking up her weapons...the north was worse than waterdeep...far worse. Agents of Talona spread a foul plague, towns were under siege by bands of Gnolls, Orcs roamed free...
*******
The woman clung desperately to her child, Arzit'el reached out, gripping the childs hair and pulling it away from her, she struck the woman with her fist until she released the child, screaming in terror, beating her fists against Arzit'els armour..
*******
She approached the brittle blade gap cautiously, she knew there were Orcs here...there..on the ridge...
She drew her bow, knocking an arrow...she walked forward openly until the beasts saw her. With a harsh cry they charged, she killed the one with a bow rapidly, putting her own arrow through its chest before it could fire. She dropped her bow, sliding her Moonsword from its sheath she met the charge of the lead orc.....
*******
Arzit'el winced at the mother's screams..she kicked her hard in the stomach, so she fell to the ground...raising the child up by its hair she placed her balde against its belly and pressed it down...letting go she allowed the childs own weight to slide it slowly down the razor edge....its screams ringing in her ears....
*******
....the last orc turned to flee, dropping its simple blade and fleeing in panic...Tel calmly slid her Moonsword into its scabbard and retrieved her bow...selecting a magical sonic arrow for effect she sighted along the shaft and released...the arrow screamed towards the orc, taking it in the back of its shoulders, doubling it over, it fell tumbling to the ground, rolling to lie against a rock, its last breaths shallow and frightened....
*******
.......Arzit'el swung her blade, propelling the bloody rag of the child against the wall where it slid down to leave a dark, bloody smear across the rough hewn wooded slats, she glanced once at the woman and met her eyes...something was wrong...what was she doing here?....what was this?......Arzit'el hastily turned, leaving the woman screaming and sobbing into the torn carcass of her child she stpped towards the door.....
*******
.....Nylo stepped from the snows, his cloak swining back to reveal his presence...
"Lady Tel..I am glad you are here"
"Hmm..Why is that Nylo" Tel was not surprised he was here..Nylo appeared and disappeared seemingly at will...she wiped her balde on the Orcs rags and slid it away
"Milord, he has decided we hunt the Wyrm tonight"
*******
Arzit'el stepped forward..a look of horror on her face...what had she done, why?...
she stepped forward into the light of the new rising sun....
*******
Tel stepped forward into the light of the new rising sun...a smile on her lips..."Udos Lil'alure" she said in the language of the drow..."We dance"
*******
Last edited by Sandermann on Tue Nov 02, 2004 6:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
PC: Liasola Dark Arrow
Ex PC: Arzit'el Tlabbar
Blindhamsterman : "I think Sand may have just won the internet"
Ex PC: Arzit'el Tlabbar
Blindhamsterman : "I think Sand may have just won the internet"
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Sandermann
- Rust Monster
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- Location: Richmond, North Yorkshire
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Sandermann
- Rust Monster
- Posts: 1228
- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2004 3:01 pm
- Location: Richmond, North Yorkshire
-
Sandermann
- Rust Monster
- Posts: 1228
- Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2004 3:01 pm
- Location: Richmond, North Yorkshire