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 Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:48 pm
Mikaril couldn't supress a shudder as he walked along the broken, trash-littered streets of Llurth Dreir. Everywhere he went the sounds of suffering and death rang out; sometimes far away, sometimes so close that he found himself either running of crouching down and blending in until the ruckus had gone its own way. This was no place for a thief; an entire city gone to squalor, with what little treasure there was locked away in dark towers and guarded by the paranoid and accursed.
Yet here he was, as a result of what might have been his biggest blunder yet. His successful attempt at robbing the private area of an Undrek'Thoz bath house had resulted in the drowning of one of his victims, who had happened to be a noble of the second house who had been meeting there with an associate and calling absolutely no attention to themselves. Mikaril's custom-ordered sleeping tablet that worked through steam had apparently done its job too well, and while he had tried to avoid any casualties as he did his best to play a frightened customer who was barely fighting off the effects, he had apparently let one float facedown for too long.
When word got around the city, Matron Dilayne had suspected him immediately and had accosted him the instant he had ran through the gates of House Torlyl. She was angry, but as it had been happening more and more often with him and his mother, she saw the potential benefit and instead of turning him over to his sister for punishment (he had fancied he could hear her yell of anger at having been denied her treat all the way outside), she had suggested in a way that brooked no arguement that it would be in the best interest of the house if he vanished immediately. And not to wherever he usually went; anyone with enough ambition to find out what had really happened to that male noble would have a very long and well-educated arm.
So he had hastily gathered his things and headed South, through a smaller branch of the Glimmersea and deep into the Darklands, finally coming to rest (figuratively) in this accursed city overrun by vermin who stole and killed each other on a whim and where the drow locked themselves away like rats in their holes and watched the entire thing from the relative safety of their fortresses. From what he gathered, there weren't many drow on the outside of these dwellings. That left slim pickings and little rest. Just the type of place his mother would send him.
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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:20 pm
Rusayla was heartily tired of plotting. Her eldest sister was certainly up to something and although her twin appeared to have at least a notion of what it was, she was quite reluctant to share her findings. Not that there were really all that many choices; like as not, Burryna was planning to overthrow their mother as Matron.
She sighed, shifting her satchel to a more comfortable carrying position. She really couldn't care less if her sister succeeded in becoming Matron; her mother had mostly ignored her in between pesterings to join the priestess ranks. Burryna had raised her, if reluctantly, and Rusayla may admire and even respect her, but certainly didn't like her, much less trust her. The only thing that would change if her sister became Matron would be . . . Well, she might take up the temple's offer of lodging instead of continuing to stay at home, but more than the privledges of power kept her there.
She was on her way to the temple now, in fact; she was of a mind to search out her old instructor and ask him a few pointed questions. She had learned a great deal since he had given her the harp, but she was no closer to her ultimate goal. Egomaniacal, superior . . . Argh! Bedamned custom . . .
Keeping up an internal littany against the superiority complex most drow shared, Rusayla continued on her way to the temple without really keeping an eye on her surroundings. Most in the city knew her by sight, as well as her mother's unpredictable temper. Severae's example had been more than thirty years ago, but some things, even among the drow, were not so easily forgotten.
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Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 4:41 pm
Mikaril heard a general scattering of almost-silent feet and made an educated guess that either they had spotted a victim or they were running away from a bigger one of them. Either way, he wanted no part of it, so he dashed into the dilapidated shell of a cart and peered through a hole that looked big enough to have been made from a primevil cannon.
His eyes widened when he saw what the others were hiding from; not another starving desperate shadow, but a drow, a female no less, and looking pissed enough to pull the tail off of an Earth Glider. He blinked and brought his hood down further to shield the red glow of his eyes, in case this female was looking for someone to take her frustration out on.
When he heard her footsteps fading, he emerged from the wreckage of the cart, extremely curious. He hadn't seen another drow since he had entered the city a day or so ago, and he wondered if there might be more to this city, so unknown to him, than gutters full of trash and packs of hulking shadows that hid all except starved eyes and poking ribs. Speaking of which.....he heard the whispers of the shadows reappearing, and he decided that he had better get moving unless he wanted to fall victim to any of them.
He slipped from shadow to shadow until he once again saw the stiff and commanding form moving swiftly ahead, and in a definite direction. He matched his pace with hers and kept to the shadows as he became the female's shadow. Who knows; maybe if he kept up well enough, he would pick up a shred of that frightened respect that she seemed to be causing as she parted the vermin like a fish's fin through the Glimmersea.
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 8:06 pm
Rusayla was accustomed to the less reputable types scattering in her wake, but her preoccupation with her thoughts kept her from immediately noticing her follower. Mikaril had started out on her right, out of her effective vision range, and, through luck, had managed to stay within her blind spot. At least until she took a sharp right and caught sight of Mikaril's glowing armor in the shadows.
Now that she was paying attention, it was apparent that the owner of the armor was following her and probably had for some time, though she couldn't be sure how long. As she saw it, she had three options. One, ignore him and hope nothing happened. She internally rolled her eyes at the thought; it was by far the dumbest of the choices.
Two, lure him out and take care of him. If she was her twin, or even her eldest sister, this would be the most appealing option. Unfortunately, her track record of fights was abysmal, and the only thing that would result would be injuries, most likely all hers. That left the third option: flat out asking him what he thought he was doing.
She didn't really like the thought of doing so any more than the other options, but it was the most feasible for her. So, after discreetly checking to be sure there were no other beings about, she stopped and lowered her satchel to the ground, putting her hands on her hips near her dagger and faced away from where she thought her follower was. "I know you're there, so you might as well come out."
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 5:46 pm
Mikaril had halted and found the inkiest shadow he could to hide in as soon as he saw the female stop. He had been certain that he wasn't spotted, but he could have been mistaken; with all the other distractions in that city, it was not only possible but probable that he had revealed himself at a point when he had been more preoccupied with avoiding the creepy beings in the shadows than following the drow.
But now she had stood there, facing away and addressing him, wanting him to come forward. There could be no doubt it was for him; the way the other creatures had scattered as she had walked along the streets led him to the conclusion that there weren't many brave or stupid enough to shadow her. He wondered what was so special about this particular drow that others fled before her. She was female, yeah, but even females could get ambushed by crafty or stupid foes if they went out alone.
He took a few seconds to revisit his previous observation that he had only seen one drow in the city since he had been there. Was he just in the wrong area of the city, in a segregated area reserved just for the city's dregs, and she had some secret dealings with a contact here? Or were the drow hiding in plain sight, from a foe larger than the half-starved cretins that crept from gutter to gutter? It seemed like he wouldn't get any answers unless he took a chance and stepped forward. Besides, it wasn't as though he was completely helpless; he had other reasons for hiding from the world in general.
He took a deep nerve-steadying breath and stepped out of the shadows until he was in plain sight, but still a reasonable distance away. Certain that the female was doing the same, he reached down and felt the comforting hilt of his dagger, ready to be drawn at a moments notice. He knew she had heard him emerge, so he didn't bother to say anything. He just stood there with his eyes fixed on her, waiting to see if she would attack or interact, and ready for either.
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