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Darkness but in the cage he stood in, a single light illuminating the entire area within, but none of it without. He bent over and wiped the blood staining his shortsword off onto the pantlegs of the body that lay at his feet, unable to use the body's shirt due to a piece of armor over its chest.

The lights went on throughout the building and the doors of the cage opened. The audience erupted, some cheering, others scowling. Not very often does a commoner defeat a skilled warrior from a noble house. But Beldaeyn was different. Commoner he may be, but he was a part of House Ennuntar, not a legitimate house by the blood which flowed in each member's veins, but by the blood that each member has spilled together. A mercenary house, he himself a member of a force which raided above ground, and here he was, hired to fight for one of the houses in one of many feuds between the nobles.

"Ji bwael tlu rath." Beldaeyn exclaimed in his native tongue as he strode out of the gates of the cage. Having recently come back from the world above ground from his duties, only having returned to the Underdark several hours ago, there was a job to settle an arguement between two noble houses, requireing some duel. Well, even though he was off of duty, money was always good, so of course, naturally, he took the job.

It was common for duels like this to take place in public areas, so that victories and defeats were not only decided, but for a greater impact between the houses in the struggle for power between the drow families.

He took a swig of the ale at the bar, a sort of alcohol made by fermented fungi found in the region, as he looked around and watched a woman with the same insignia of the fighter he had defeated leave the building, casting him a scathing glance. Perhaps next time, she'd hire someone from the same mercenary company he was in instead of relying on one of her own if they were that weak, or maybe she'd come after him in revenge; maybe an assassination sometime, maybe by poison, or maybe just a dagger in the back.

Oh well, it mattered little to him as he shook his wandering thoughts aside and gulped down the rest of the drink as he turned around, looking into the caged pit he was in a moment ago, the body being dragged out by some servants. With his job done, he didnt have much else to do, so he'd probably end up going back to the guild house within the city and do nothing until the unit he was in went off back into the overworld.

Well, it was probably better than going around the city anyways, where like all drow culture, the dominant sex was female and he'd probably be scolded, yelled at, and even attacked everywhere he went for speaking without respect to lady this-and-that or priestess something-or-other. Better to just lay low until he was back with the rest of the mercenaries. He put some more money on the counter for another drink as he turned around, deciding to have one more before departing the building as everyone went back to their business of drinking, gambling, or even fighting in the pits, now that one of those family duels were finished, everyone was interested in the victor, and especially the loser as chance to pounce on the house to strengthen their own while it was weak.

Ah yes, the wonderful streets of Nezlidrichynn, illuminated by the magical glow of several thousand continuous faerie fire spells, the strong smell of incents wafting through the area that eliminated the dull and damp smell of the underdark and only served to dull the olafactory sense of drow which grow up in the underground, and the occasional screams that broke out of the buildings and carried down the city block before another one replaced it. It only served to remind him what his homeland was like, much different from the alien world above ground where most of his duties took place.

It was kind of pleasant in a sort of cultural way, to be back home, but not entirely from a personal standpoint. He himself lived a similar life as what was called a 'ranger' above grounds, only what he did was much different. Stealth and the wilderness was what he was usually surrounded by, as drow are usually not on friendly terms with anyone above ground and he didnt really se much of the cities. Besides, his job was exploration of the surface world anyways, which meant he didnt stay in one place long, so naturally that eliminated most encounters with the towns and cities scattered beneath the sun.

Now, back from his sudden musings, he remembered where he was off to, the guildhouse, which oddly enough, was situated right by the El'lar d'Ssinssrigg, or the House of Pleasure when translated to common. It was probably because of some reward or something for the dangers the mercenary house faced by doing their tasks on the surface, they could enjoy the services of the House of Pleasure easily without having to travel too far.

He was pretty sure most of his fellows that was off duty and on leave would be there, enjoying life while the can before they'd be called back. Well, it only made sense didnt it? His thoughts came to an end while dodging the traffic of the area, since it seemed there were many people coming and going from the large estate, it only added to the traffic he'd have to go through to get into the guildhouse closeby.

"Vel'bolil?" he exclaimed as he picked up a piece of paper and took a look over it. It was written in common, which was pretty meaningless here in the underdark, where the language was different, but it spoke of some tournament and some stadium. Well, perhaps he'd go there when he was called back to duty, do some scouting around and see how people fought on the surface. For now, he'd just continue down the streets towards the mercenary guildhouse and the El'lar d'Ssinssrigg beside it.

The drow were masters of magic, far surpassing those being above ground, save for the most ancient of species, so that could only be expected. But not only that, for what more could be possibly thought when every member of the drow populace recieved magical training at the age of 6, and given centuries to build upon the foundations of magic, ever improving?

Now, such a city, built upon ancient magics would only provide trouble. For at any moment, when the woman would move closer into the grounds and population, where quite simply, all the other drow would be located, alarms would instantly start blaring through the city, and the three gates, the only entry points in and out of the city would be sealed. This of course, meant an intruder was in, for no human was ever considered a guest.

The woman's employers and suppliers of information would be very wrong in this aspect, as she was literally walking into her death. Joy to false information.

Anyways, somewhere close to the heart of the city...

Beldaeyn stepped into the guildhouse, where he crossed through the main hall with little greetings from others as he moved around the flow of slaves which moved throughout the building. And then down he went, into the chambers below ground as he stepped into what the drow considered a kitchen and began to fix something to eat. He never really trusted food from other places, as it could always be poisoned, and so, he grabbed something here from the kitchen and began to eat it, all at the same time right in front of the cook as the cook was screaming at him to get out.

Such was the crude way of the mercenaries, who pay little heed to the laws, even in drow society.

The problem with such assumptions that the drow sleep during the night and are active during the day is that they are wrong, for in the city, it is constantly bathes in the light of continueous faerie fire spells, literally making night and day non-existant. The alignment of the lights upon the cavern ceiling was only to tell the time. Also...


Too bad the guild house was right next to the House of Pleasures, which consequently, meant that next to the marketplace, traffic was the heaviest here. All it took was a simple...

Bump. And then the drow nearby looked up at the interloper who was not looking at where they were going, or rather, looking around to avoid the noble when they came around and stood in the way, and there it was, a simple call of alert which spread like wildfire through the streets with each and every frow attempting to kill the intruder as the city filled with a blaring of magical horns that echoed throughout the cavern, the three adamantine gates sealing at the far west end of the city.

The first attack would come from the noble-woman who had walked right into the human, expecting the cloaked figure, who she at first believed to be a peasant with the dirty clothes, to move out of the way, only to find out it was a human, but not a slave, as evident with the features and garb. It was relatively simple, but her left arm came up, brandishing one of the multi-headed whips which fed off the blood of those struck by it, as it arched through the air vertically down at the human. Such a weapon was generally used by priestesses, and it was only safe to assume that this was one of them.

Not only that, but in the span of a second, every other drow in the area would be attacking, either with weapons or spells. Now the real problem was; where could one go in a sea of hostility that closed in from all sides?

She wouldnt have a chance to, for as soon as her cloak came off, the drow right behind her grabbed her by the shoulders to keep her grounded and kicked at the back of her knees to knock them out from underneath her.

A split second later, three of the closer drow would be upon her, daggers flashing in the dim purplish light as they came down towards her body, two from her left and one from her right, plus the added one which would strike her from behind, now down overtop of her as he'd throw a punch towards her head. Meanwhile, with the priestesses weapon broken, she was raving mad, which only meant one thing was about to come as those further away from the crowd began to leave, while the rest that were nearby took a few quick paces back to make room, some preparing spells of their own, others drawing weapons.

Meanwhile, within 10 seconds of the initial outbreak of violence, the city's army had begun to march out from the Headquarters in the city's center, just a regiment, but it would be more than enough to restore order, or at least what little order there normally was. Also, along with the large unit were several hig sorcerers from the Tower of Sorcery and just to top the rest of it off, there were three priestesses from the Temple of Lloth which went with them.

During such a time, Beldaeyn would move out of the kitchen and up the stairs into the first floor of the guildhouse, peering out a window to see what all the commotion outside was, which of course, he'd see as an angry mob with some chaotic movements in the center not far from the building.

((Note: The marketplace is on the other side of the city, somewhere around 1km away to the west. Here at the guild houses, the buildings are each at least three stories high.))

((I'm lazy.))

So anyways, after the intruder ran away, the regiment which had ben sent out from the Center of the city arrived on the scene, mercilessly restoring order with even more violence. And hence, order was restored and everyone went back to their usual twisted lives the drow lived.