Thank you for posting Lady G! *bows* stupid drow. he deserves to get his ribbs broken... they DO kill him right? I mean, wasting healing magic on him? heh, I dont think so, however "surfacers are soft" right? ;) heh. anyway, I'm off to bed now, goodnight Lady G and Att, and thanks for posting again. *grin* "Mother" ;) lol, well I wont ask you to kiss me and tuck me into bed *opps, I really shouldnt be cheeky... sowwy :( [img]tongue.gif[/img] * cya tommorw, keep posting ;) .

*edit* cant be bothered to write a new post so I'll add one on here. [img]tongue.gif[/img] its morning now ;) and saturday. erm Lady G, would you mind if I copied and pasted the "What really happened to Imoen" novel into a word doc? so I can print it out and read it in my own time? (hey, when I find a good story, I like to keep it ;) dont worry, I'll put your name at the top or something ;) ) oh and I was brosing tho it again and came across this [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[img]tongue.gif[/img] :D lol, this WOULDNT happen to be THIS story would it? *innocent look* ah well, I dont wanna spoil it. (too late perhaps..) heh. ;) post some more, please? thanks.

[ 10-19-2002, 07:14 AM: Message edited by: Calaethis Dragonsbane ]

;) Yes, Caelethis, this is the one. Go ahead and print out The Pit Lord, but put my name on it, please. Some more:

Chorania kicked him again, inadvertantly puncturing a lung. The drow's breathing grew more labored. His ebon complexion paled, and his lips turned blue. "Are you going to kill me now? Why, because of what I did to that brat? It was amusing to have a female weaker than me, to do what I wanted for a change. Ah, well, it is all up. At least I have been killed by the ones that Lolth hates the most. That should grant me favor in the Abyss." His eyes rolled up and he fell, sprawling. He was dead. The little drow girl ground her foot on his face.
Odo checked him. "Dead," he grunted, "Cho, you must work on your rage. I know you think that he deserved to die, but these emotions are very bad for your soul. We have talked."
Her anger gone, Chorania buried her face in her hands. " I did not mean to do it, Odo, I swear. Will Helm withdraw His protection, now?" She grasped the amulet as though it might be forcibly taken from her.
Odo clapped her on the shoulder. "Not for this. He understands that all, even His chosen, can sin. I have told you that sometimes you must kill. I am glad that you repent, though. That drow, there, never would have. It shows that the good at war with evil in your soul, triumphed. But, it was not a good thing, either. Let us not repeat it." He turned to the little drow girl. "Cho, why don't you ask her if she knows anything about the Outsiders."
After rooting in her pack for some food, Chorania approached the child, stilll gleefully abusing the D'Ospann mage's body. "Sorsha, I have something for you," she said softly. She offered her bread and cheese, which she took gratefully. As the child tore into the food, the drow woman asked, "Where are you from?"
"Hol' Korda," she said between bites. "My mother is a servant of House DoJama. I don't know about my father. Where do you live?"
"I live on the Surface," she replied, "with my Mistress, here. Does that surprise you?"
The girl replied by looking at her with astonishment. "The Surface? I thought it was full of monster elves that hate drow. I heard you say to that b'jinn," she spat at the dead mage, "that your Mistress hates the drow. Why are you with her? Are you a traitor that he called you?" She resumed eating. First things first
"My Mistress does not hate the drow, witness me, whom she cares for like a member of her own House. She hates Lolth. I am no traitor but a rebel, Sorsha. Do you understand the difference?"
"I understand," she replied warmly, "that those drow of the First Houses that treat me so badly, like that one there, are horrible. I understand that they meant for me to die, for some reason to do with you. And, I understand that you and your Mistress are treating me better than those in Hol'Korda. If not for my mother, I would go with you."
"Well, Sorsha, I am afraid that you will have to travel with us for a while. We cannot go to Hol'Korda,, and you are too young to find your way back, alone and unarmed. We will not force you, and you can leave if you want, but, I do not advise this. As you eat, can you tell me of any drow that live in this area? Those not under Lolth's control?"
The waif thought. "We hear," she said carefully, "that there are indeed drow like you say, not subject to Lolth. They fight with the patrols, and the rumor is that their number is growing. A patrol disappeared last month, no one returned. The Priestesses accompanied them for awhile, but we never heard anything. Are you and your Mistress the reason for that?" She indicated the twenty or so scattered bodies. "You surely destroyed this one." She resumed eating.

aww, how cute *evil grin* a playmate for Sefa [img]tongue.gif[/img] lol, please keep posting. btw, lady G, I put your name on it anyway. I found something odd tho, as I was copying and pasting it, and I DIDNT miss any posts, the chapter numbers were odd, number IV and V seemed non existant, the numbering I mean, it jumps from III to VII in Pit Lord. just to point this out...

*edit* what font would you recormend printing it out in Lady G? (after all it IS your story, and asking IS only poliet...arnt I a good boy? (A) [img]tongue.gif[/img] )

[ 10-19-2002, 12:11 PM: Message edited by: Calaethis Dragonsbane ]

Sorry, CD, the chapters are all off on The Pit Lord. Piestrider complained about it too. Some more:

Attalus and Odo stacked the bodies. Cythera and Noemi had searched them without much result, except that, on the dead mage, they found a small scroll. It contained, in drow code, a description of several Outsiders. Chorania was very excited, for her brother's name was on the list. The very first item was: "Calith LeMeaux, two spans high, last seen wearing a black leather tunic, grey pilliwifi cloak, heading for the Fracterous Cavern. Brother of the notorious Chorania LeMeaux. Reward high."
Attalus, seeing the murmuring group around the drow, came over to see what all the fuss was about. "So," he murmured after a while, "I am groupmates with the Notorious Chorania LeMeaux. What does that mean, I wonder? I thought, Cho, that all the drow of Hol'Korda thought that you had simply disappeared?"
"Well," she slowly replied after the excitement of seeing her brother's name wore off, "we know that Lolth was under no such misapprehension. She has many ways of communicating with the priestesses. The Handmaidens, for instance. It could have beeen just that simple. I would make more of it if some of these had been of my House, but it seems that Lolth is spreading the alarm more generally. Pity. I would enjoy combat with some of my sisters."
They swung in column and marched along. Attalus examined the drow child, now marching along with Chorania. He saw no such soul as his friend. It seemed a small and squirming thing. He kept it in mind, overhearing the child eagerly talking to her race mate in Drow.
The girl Sorsha was saying, "So, tell me why you went to the surface? I would be afraid to."
Chorania replied, "I had no choice. I was pursued, or so I thought. I knew that they would not follow me, there. Though, eventually, they did"
"But you survived. Tell me, how did you enter into the service of such a mighty mage, and you a drow fugitive?"
Chorania smiled to herself, recalling Galadria's early efforts in magic. She had not been a very powerful wizard when first they met. But, how she had grown! Cythera, at first, was her equal in every way, but now, her aristocratic friend was merely her assistant, deferring to her. She merely replied, "My Mistress is an extremely good judge of character, which means that we shall put you off as soon as we are certain of your safety. I have thought on your story. Why did you go to that male's rooms at night? To lie with him, for money? That is not like I should like a drow female, especially one as young as you, to behave."
Sorsha glowered at her. "Easy enough for a high -born bitch to say. I needed money and I need power. He seemed to have both. Why not use my body to advance myself.? How else? I don't think any Surface magicians are going to pick me to be their drow pet. Tell me, Lady-know-it-all, how did she destroy B'ren Naylor, leaving not a babe alive? Plenty have wondered at that. It was, they say, the worst defeat that the drow have ever had."

ooooh, thats really gonna irrate Cho.. lol, does she slap the child? she should... post more, please?

Okay:

Chorania knew the answer. She had been there. They had been sneaking through the city when the alarm had been given. Hordes of drow had descended upon them, including, eventually, the matron mothers. She recalled fighting on interminably, slowly tiring, wounded, her shield arm broken. Attalus and Odo were wounded and faltering, too, Cythera at the end of her strength. She had looked up at Galadria, standing like a standard in their midst, paralysed with indecision. "Galadria," she had shouted in the hellish din, "Use the spell."
They had come across a dying gnome mage who had been tortured by some drow. Efforts at reviving him had seemed in vain, when he had roused. Looking about wildly, he had said, "You will be my revenge! To slay the drow in that city, use my spell." He had removed the scroll from a pocket that hadn't been there, before, and given it to them. It contained a spell to bring down the rocky ceiling of B'ren Naylor. Galadria had said she would not do such a thing, but now the need was on them.
Chorania had wanted it all to end under crushing rock, them, their enemies and all. Galadria was still hesitating, when a Priestss in black had struck Noemi with her mace. Down she went. Galadria screamed, "Noemi!" and came to a instant decison. She cast a spell, and, suddenly, their party was encased in a transparent, impenetrable bubble. Their foes raged in vain outside, and the dark mage drew forth the spell scroll. She read it, and everything had turned black with falling rocks and loud with rumbles and shrieks.
Thinking that she was dead, Chorania had been surprised to be still breathing. She looked around, and all of her friends were alive,too. Galadria and Odo were tending Noemi, and a light appeared from above. It was the surface. The drow city had been built beneath a very thin layer of rock, and the spell had found some flaw. Every drow in the place had perished, but they had not, preserved by the spell. They scrambled out into the sunlight of an early morning, leaving chaos behind. It had been a grief to Galadria, she knew, but to her mind, it had been herself, her friends and her sister against their evil foes.
After their narrow escape, they had gone to the estate of Cythera, not yet married to Odo, to lick their wounds. She had come across the dark mage sitting alone on the terrace at sunset, and sat down next to her. "What are you thinking, abbil? About our glorious victory and miraculous survival? Knowing you, I would wager not. Tell Chorania. What is troubling you?"
She had smiled at her, then, the glorious Galadria smile that so heartened her followers, but sad, this time. "If you must know, Cho, and knowing you, you must, I am thinking of the innocent people in that drow city that I, personally, killed. It is a heavy burden." She sighed. "But, there was no other way! We were all going to be killed. I had a responsibilty. How could I watch them kill you, Noemi, Attalus, Cyth, and Odo? If it had just been me, I think I would have gone under and left my corpse there. Sometimes, I think the world would be a better place without me. I have caused so much death."
"I knew that you would feel sorrow, abbil," she replied, "and I cannot say in a flippant way, that there are no innocents in a drow city. Witness myself and my brother. We could well have died, if we had been in that city when you had to destroy it. But, for you it was not an option. You must not feel that the realms are suffering because of your presence. I, for one, would not be alive if not for you. Or Noemi. Cythera would be married to that b'jinn and perhaps murdered. Odo could never have rescued her alone. Be comforted. Think of all of the evil that we have dispatched. Remember their victims, like that insane child that troubled you so much. There would have been more, if not for you. Do not punish yourself, so.".
Galadria had given her an odd look, then. "You would not be alive if not for me? What if you had met Attalus alone? You know that he would have saved you from those men. You might be married to him now instead of me. Ever think of that?"
Ruthlessly suppressing the idea of herself with the blonde knight, she had replied, firmly, "I am never going to marry anyone, abbil. Besides, I doubt that even your dear Attalus could have stood beween me and a cruel world so well as you have. Open your eyes. Many, like me, are better off because of you. You just cannot see them standing before you as do the dead of B'ren Naylor. Let us stand in your mind for them, for your desire to do good and fight evil. Courage! The road will end, some day." Galadria had hugged her, then, and they had gone inside.

post more! :D lol, great work. ;)

All right, [img]smile.gif[/img] . Must be slow, today.

So she thought, but did not tell Sorsha. The drow girl was eventually going back to Hol'Korda. Let her bear a tale of the mighty Galadria, so that they might be afraid. She doubted that even Lolth knew of how her Mistress had destroyed B'ren Naylor. The more powerful that they thought her, the more they would leave them alone. Weakness invited attack. Certainly, Lolth's hand was stayed by the possibility that the dark mage had the power to destroy a drow city, greatly diminishing her divine power. She also must know that Galadria had turned down godhood. She would be wary of that one.
"Sorsha," she finally replied, "my Mistress is a very powerful sorceress. She does not grant me, her servant, the secrets of her great Art, but I will tell you that we were attacked, without provocation, by the drow of the city. Offended by their temerity, she decided to punish them by bringing down the roof of the cavern where B'ren Naylor lay. As you know, as the result of her wrath, the city is no more."
The waif seemed to consider. "Powerful indeed. I saw how you handled the patrol. Why did she just not smite them dead?"
Chorania sensed danger. It seemed to her that this was no ordinary street waif. The patrol that they had destroyed had been very weak. Was this child a bait to be place as a spy among the Outsiders? Was that why she was trying to join them? One thing was sure. She had to be watched carefully. Aloud, she answered, "I do not know all of her reasons. Ask her yourself, if you dare. But I would speculate that she wanted that mage to question. That is all I can tell you."
That night, they slept in an alcove. Odo, who had the watch, was sitting at the opening, scanning the shadows. They slept without a fire, which could attract undesirible attention. While Chorania pretended to sleep, she watched the little drow girl closely. Sure enough, she got stealthily up and went over to Galadria's bedroll. This lay between Attalus and Noemi, both of which lay close to her, making it difficult to get to her. She was reaching for her Mistress' knapsack when Chorania gave the alarm.
"Awake!" she bawled. "Treason!" She lit a magic flare, and bounded toward the girl, fully armored, weapon ready. The 'girl' morphed into a Sochol, a Handmaiden of Lolth, like a tentacled giant that had melted and run. She bore a huge club, which she aimed murderously at Galadria.
Who, suddenly, just wasn't there. The club impacted against the cavern floor with a ringing sound. Attalus and Noemi were up in a trice, stabbing the creature with Corhydras and Questioner. Galadria reappeared about ten feet away, casting a protection removal spell, and Cythera smote the monster with a lightning bolt. Chorania herself hit the thing's arm at the elbow, breaking it and making her drop the club. Attalus stepped on the club, swinging Corhydras at her midsection, gashing the Handmaiden terrificly, Odo was there, then, and smashed its skull with Starshine, and his wife contributed an ice spear, which plunged into her vitals. Galadria finished her off with boiling acid, and she collapsed on the floor, a stinking pool.
As Attalus sheathed his sword, he remarked, "Here are deep waters. What do you think, Gal? Was that meant for you, personally, or was that just a garden-variety trap? How could the Handmaidens have known that we were coming this way?"
Galadria considered and replied, "I guess that we are entering territory known to contain Outsiders. The Handmaiden was supposed to join them, and then betray their location to Lolth. We must be nearing your brother, Cho."

yes, it is slow tonight imho, VERY slow... [img]tongue.gif[/img] post some more? please?

LOL, hi. <font color=lavender>Galadria</font> is off running, and she asked me to post some more if anyone had responded, so I do:

"I feel that you are right, abbil," she replied. "So much trouble on the part of some Matron Mother argues the need for some revenge or for a victim to sacrifice to Lolth. We must be on the right track. But, now we must move, for our location should surely be known to the Handmaidens, and if we stay here we shall invite further attack." They hurriedly decamped, and moved to an alcove miles away in the twisting tunnels.

The next day, Noemi, scouting ahead as usual, slipped on some loose gravel and plunged into a deep hole. They quickly rescued her, but she complained that her ankle was hurting, and Chorania quickly determined that it was sprained or broken. She and Odo joined in a healing spell, but she would have to rest for a day. Galadria turned to Cythera and Sefa. "I need you two to scout instead of Noemi. Cyth, teach Sefa how to do it, for I really shouldn't be sending Noemi out scouting any more than I do you. Sefa, this will be a good opportunity for you to learn. You keep complaining that you feel like a tag-along."
So, Sefa joined the aristocratic blonde slinking around the winding tunnels. Cythera was pleased at how fast she picked up the techniques of sliding herself along, nearly invisible to prying eyes. After a while, ruefully she realized that Sefa was better at it than she, herself. She reported the fact to Galadria, who smiled at her protege and ruffled her curly hair. "Sefa, I knew that you would prove yourself useful," she said proudly. "Now is the time for you to start scouting on your own. Report back to me at intervals." She fished out a gem from her capacious pockets. "Here, take this. If you need us, drop it on the ground, and I shall be there like lightning."
Sefa, her face tingling with pleasure at her Mistress' praise and at the new responsibility, started off again. She caught Noemi's eye as she lay on her bedroll, her injured leg propped up on Galadria's pack. The little redhead flashed her a thumbs-up sign, and she moved on even more proudly, carefully so as not to let them down.
After she had cautiously made her way down a particularly dark tunnel, she found herself by an underground river, which she followed for a while. Suddenly, she heard the sounds of a struggle a little further along the bank. She peered around a stalagmite, to see a solitary drow male contending with a strange beast. Knowing that this could be important, she dropped the gem, and Galadria was beside her, just like that.
"What is it, Sefa?" she whispered, then looked as the drow found himself being borne back into the river with another of the things waiting for him. "Kuo-tai," she noted. "The drow must be injured or caught by surprise, for ususally they are no match. Well, as Drizzt suggested, let us rescue him. "
Sefa watched in awe as her Mistress shot energy bolts at the two fishlike beings. As they fell, the drow looked around at his rescuers and started in surprise to see the tall, slender form of the mage with the slight, hooded figure at her side. He started to back away carefully, calling aloud in drow. Galadria simply paralysed him and made him unconscious with a spell, and they carried him back to camp.
When he awoke, he was bound and surrounded by surfacers, with one large drow female speaking to him. Like the mage, he automatically looked for House insignia and found none. "Tell me, male," Chorania asked him in drow, "Who are you, and of what House?"
After an unsuccessful struggle with his bonds, he spat, "Who are you, yourself? Why are you with these surfacers? Where is your House badge?"
She slapped him. "As for questions, you will answer mine, first. You are bound and at my mercy. Or, rather, my Mistress' But, I shall answer when I am through. We mean you no harm, only, we seek information. Tell me, who are you?"
He seemed to relax slightly at that. "I am called H'rad. I have no House. I fled the city when my mother murdered my love, just because she had not approved it. I am alone, now, and my weapons inadequate. I do not think that I shall live long."
"So I once thought, too," Chorania answered more kindlily. She turned his scimitar over in her hands, noting the broken tip, leaving it useless for stabbing. "We can, in exchange for information, provide you with swords, and some armor." She threw the broken weapon contempuously aside, and drew forth an adamantine breastplate, then, after putting it down, a pair of fine scimitars, all looted from a dead noble in the doomed war patrol.
The drow male looked at the weapons and armor hungrily. They could spell survival in as savage a place as the Underdark. "What do you need to know?" he asked curiously.
"I am Chorania LeMeaux," she replied simply., noting with satisfaction his widened eyes. "I seek another Outsider, my brother, Calith. If you can give us information about him, so that I might find him and speak with him, you shall have these weapons and more besides. My Mistress is a generous one, and pays her adherants well. I'm sure that I need not tell you that she returns treachery with vengeance."
The drow man met her eyes. "Calith LeMeaux. Yes, I have heard of him. I have met other Outsiders that say that he leads a band. I would like to join it, myself, but have never found it."
Chorania smiled an evil smile, and examined one of the magnificent scimitars again. "Too bad," she answered simply. "We shall have to find another to give these fine weapons to." She pretended to bark at Odo. "You, there. Take him back to that river where we found him." She turned back to the bound drow. "You shall take a little nap, now, and will wake up where you were, little worse off, save for a few bruises." She began a spell, but he interrupted her.
"Wait!" he cried. "Perhaps I do know him. But he'll be shy of meeting anyone. His,and I suppose, your, mother seeks him for Lolth." He struggled to a sitting position. "If you give me the weapons and armor, I shall be your ambassador. But, I cannot promise anything."
"If you had promised," Chorania purred, "I should have been more suspicious." She untied him, and gave him the scimitars and armor. "My Mistress shall return you magically to whence you came. Take this crystal, and, when you wish to talk to me, crush it. You shall be instructed at that time. Do not waste it, for your reward for arranging a meeting with my brother shall be great. May any god that you reverence aid you." Noemi then cast Dimension Door on the drow, returning him to the riverbank.