[b:3kv9iqcj][i:3kv9iqcj]Kitrye-Ilythiiri[/i:3kv9iqcj][/b:3kv9iqcj] [b:3kv9iqcj][i:3kv9iqcj](Half-Drow)[/i:3kv9iqcj][/b:3kv9iqcj]
[b:3kv9iqcj]5th Street Pub, 5th and Kansas, Topeka, Kansas evening of July 26, 2008[/b:3kv9iqcj]
Qulié Vrinn sat in the far corner of the human tavern located in the basement of a white brick building on the corner of 5th Street and Kansas Avenue in Topeka, Kansas. Even though the lighting was a little dim by human standards for Qulié it was a bit bright. She was seated at a small round table near the door. Qulié thought that her looks would have made her stand out in this human city. But the reason for her being in this tavern on this night was sitting with companions just four tables away. The woman she was paying attention to stood about five feet, five inches tall, a little above average for the Drow, but about average for a Half-Drow.
It had been a long time since Qulié last saw her cousin Silke Rahn. The last time she laid her eyes on Silke they were both on another world under a different sun and moon. In fact they were both trying to kill each other. Well Qulié was trying to kill Silke for sure. Now that Qulié thought about it Silke was just playing for time. Silke was buying time for her mother Nedylene Vrinn to ask Eilistraee to intervene in favor of the people of Morn’s Forge and the surface House of Vrinn. Qulié’s House of Vrinn ruled a region in the Underdark, the vast complex of tunnels, caves, caverns, underground rivers and lakes that spread across the breadth of the continent of Faerûn on the planet Toril and she was the spare heir.
Qulié’s home city was the seat of her mother, Akordia’s power. In Drow it was called l'Che'el pholor l'Qu'mados d'Killianen or in English the City on the Sea of Swords. Long ago before Qulié was born the city was ruled by the House of Vrinn. In that time there were two factions. One followed the demands of the goddess Lolth the Queen of the Drow and of spiders. The other followed the path set out by Lolth’s daughter Eilistraee, the Dark Maiden, and Lady of the Dance. Now Lolth covets power and champions any means to achieve it. Eilistraee on the other hand is a protector of Light in the Darkness of Lolth’s realm the Underdark. Eilistraee is everything her mother is not. She is beautiful, cheerful, and above all else a good free spirit. Her followers to one degree or another are likewise. They also are great champions of the Light over the Darkness. The schism in the House of Vrinn starts with this difference in dogma. In the time before Qulié’s Great-Great-Grandmother the house fell into a religious civil war between the followers of the Spider Queen and those of the Dark Maiden.
After a long struggle that ended with Qulié’s Great-Great Grandmother rising to the seat of the Matron Mother of the House of Vrinn the Eilistraee followers were either killed or driven from l'Che'el pholor l'Qu'mados d'Killianen never to return. It was after this war ended that the House set out on its campaign to unite the western Drow communities under western Faerûn into one dominion. By the time of her Grandmother the dominion of the House of Vrinn controlled all the communities of the Underdark from the Spine of the World to the Sea of Swords and from Luskan to just above Waterdeep. Only Skullport under Waterdeep and a few scattered towns and other settlements were not either directly controlled by the Matron of the House of Vrinn or by an ally or vassal. Akordia was about to take it further when she attacked all the region of Waterdeep. Skullport, Undermountain, and even the surface city of Waterdeep felt the venomous bite of Akordia’s power that year. That is until the Half-Drow Silke Rahn eldest daughter to Nedylene Vrinn current Matron Mother of the surface dwelling branch of the house intervened. It was then that Akordia learned the fate of the other House of Vrinn.
After Silke Rahn led an expedition to thwart Akordia’s scheming Qulié was sent forth with an army to punish the Eilistraee followers of Silke Rahn’s house. That ended with the destruction by flame Morn’s Forge in the Silver Marches north of the High Forest and the death of most of its 3000 inhabitants. Qulié personally sent many a surface dwelling Drow, High Elf, Wood Elf, Human, and Dwarf to their deaths that night.
“We thought we cleansed your people’s taint from the Universe that night Silke,” whispered Qulié after she sipped her beer. “But you prove our beliefs to be wrong.”
Silke Rahn on Toril had been a ranger, a rogue and a Shadow Dancer. She was the eldest of Nedylene Vrinn triplet girls. Tonight Silke wore dark blue denim boot-cut jeans, a white camisole top under a light brown ladies sports jacket and black leather boots. She was at a table next to the north wall of the 5th Street Pub. She and her companions were listening to a friend perform for the patrons of the Pub. Everyone at the table and the bard performing were immigrants to Earth from Toril. Silke’s consort Beth Telmar the Half-Wood Elf former ranger and former Paladin of Tyr, Sinead Morn a surviving member of Morn’s Forge’s founding family, Sabine Rahn a Paladin of Eilistraee and Harper and Ursula Rahn a cleric of Eilistraee, a ranger, and a Harper were also at the table. Sabine and Ursula were younger two of Nedylene Vrinn’s triplet daughters. Bianca Evenwood a Bard and Harper the eldest daughter to Dorn Evenwood the late inn keeper of the Red Lion Morn’s Forge’s tavern and Sinead Morn’s consort, sat on a chair playing her lute and singing folksongs from the Silver Marches for the people in the audience at the Pub that night. Qulié knew each woman by sight. The sextet was the very party of adventurers that thwarted her mother’s plans so long ago.
The sextet of Torilians sat at their usual table in the 5th Street Pub. They all had the habit of patronizing this establishment twice a week. It surprised Qulié that they did not cause a stir among the bar’s human patrons. The reason for this was that they were now welcome members of Topeka’s general community and respected members of its gay and lesbian community.
Silke was a Sociology and Anthropology professor at Washburn University. Sinead was a Detective Sergeant with the Topeka Police Department. Sabine was a civil rights lawyer in the Kansas Attorney General’s Office. Ursula was a case worker for the Kansas Department of Human Resources Social and Rehabilitative Services-Vocational Rehabilitation and one of the local priestesses of the Church of Eilistraee. As for Bianca she taught music and drama in the Topeka public school system while still practicing her career as a bard part-time in local inns, at local festivals and county fairs. Qulié had investigated the fates of her quarry.
Silke noticed the familiar looking Drow woman seated at the table near the door watching them while she was readying her custom pool cue for a game against her sister Sabine. The woman looked like she was related somehow. She resembled a younger version of Silke’s mother. “So whom might you be Ms. Drow?” mused Silke to herself.
Then the door opened. In stepped two more Drow females. They were wearing black leather pants, matching leather vest, leather Australian style duster coats and mid-calf high black leather boots. Their whitish blond hair was cut in one of the latest spiky hair styles. Their eyes were covered with mirrored, black framed wrap around sun glasses. These two women looked like they were on a mission.
Qulié looked on with fascination and glee. Her base instinct to join in with what was about to happen was checked by her need to ensure that it all went as planned. The two Drow women were part of her mother’s special secret police and band of assassins the Dark Sisterhood.
These two Dark Sisters were experienced in cross planar missions and had a vast knowledge of other cultures. Tonight they were assigned to help Qulié rectify an old mistake.
Vlondril Pharn the alpha female of the pair looked out over the small crowded common room through her mirrored shades. She looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator sizing up the people in the bar. The dim light had an added haze caused by faint layers of cigarette smoke coming from some of the tables and some patrons at the short bar that paralleled the east wall of the 5th Street Pub. Vlondril looked over the patrons of the bar. She saw mostly humans matched up in same sex pairings or groupings. It was the table with the human, the Half-Wood Elf, and the three Half-Drow sisters that drew her attention the most.
Behind the bar the barkeep noticed the impending trouble. He picked up his cell phone and started dialing 9-1-1 as the two Dark Sisters acted as if all of Hell was coming to visit in a moment.
Silke’s sense of danger honed by many years as an adventurer on Toril and as a soldier on Earth started to tell her something was not right about these two Drow women. It was the stylized silver silhouette of a Drider, a Centaur like creature with the upper body and arms of a Drow and the lower body and legs of a spider, on each of the right sleeves of their Drover Coats that drew Silke’s attention the most. She knew that symbol well. Silke turned to face her sisters, her friends and her lover.
“Beth, look out Dark Sisters!” shouted Silke. She took another step forward and simply disappeared from view. At last glance Silke had one half of her custom pool cue in each hand.
At Silke’s call Sabine stopped her attempt to assemble her custom cue took hold each half in one of her hands. Ursula on hearing Silke’s warring stepped back to the bar and began to mutter a prayer to Eilistraee. Sinead being an off-duty police detective put her right hand into the secret compartment of her handbag as she dialed 9-1-1 on her cell phone with her left. Her right hand wrapped around the grip of a four inch barreled .40 Smith and Wesson calibered Springfield Armory XD980 compact pistol. Beth Telmar, Silke’s longtime friend and lover threw their table up to act as a barrier and shield before taking up a house pool cue to use as a staff. Bianca set her old faithful lute down and pulled her short sword from her duffle.
The sudden disappearance of Silke Rahn drew the attention of the second Dark Sister, Vlondril’s beta female, Sinafay Xiltyn. “Vel'klar xunus il alu (Where did she go?)” asked Sinafay excitedly.
Vlondril looked about and noticed that there was one fewer Half-Drow in the room than just a second ago and shouted, “Kyone Silke Rahn zhah natha Barra An'ar (Careful Silke Rahn is a Shadow Dancer!)”
Almost as soon as Vlondril shouted her warning Sinafay gave out a choked off hiss of escaping air from her lungs as the sounds of two solid thwacks came from the areas of Sinafay’s midriff and her throat. The younger Dark Sister bent forward both at the waist and at the neck with the two simultaneous blows from nowhere. At the same time the blows struck Silke briefly came into view of the entire room. Before Vlondril or even Qulié could draw a weapon Silke stepped out of plain view again stepping as if in a ballet of violent beauty. Sinafay just dropped to the floor writhing in agony with the air knocked out of her lungs and gasping like a fish out of water to refill them.
As the fight started the other patrons of the 5th Street Pub ducked for cover. Several of them dialed 9-1-1 on their cell phones as they sought some place to hide.
At the Law Enforcement Center the influx 9-1-1 calls almost startled the on duty operators as dozens of calls came in reporting the same fight. The operators did as they were trained calming their callers and taking the emergency information as it was relayed to them. Almost instantly calls went out over the TPD’s radio net to the nearest patrol cars to the area of 5th Street and Kansas Avenue.
Vlondril had drawn a dagger and a short sword as Sinafay went down. Immediately she scanned the room, her blades held in guard position anticipating Silke’s next attack.
Qulié jumped up from her table a collapsible baton in each hand. Like Vlondril she scanned the room for any sign of Silke. Silke’s attacks like this during the battle of Morn’s Forge sent many Drow fighters to the Lolth’s lair in the Abyss. Silke would dance in and out of view striking deadly blows to her opponents faster than anyone could respond.
Silke waited near Bianca her improvised weapons at the ready for her next opportunity to strike. She now recognized Qulié for whom she was the second daughter of Akordia, Matron Mother of the House of Vrinn. Quietly and quickly she danced up next to Qulié.
Standing just fractions of an inch from Qulié, coming briefly out of hiding Silke whispered into her ear, “Kaoveh dos inbal doer natha verve i'dol fridj ulu el (Cousin you have come a long way just to die.)” Then Silke just jumped nearly vertically into the air while spinning in a pirouette. As she did so she struck each side of Qulié’s head with one of her improvised clubs. Qulié feel to her knees her batons dropping from her hands to the floor. Before Vlondril turned to respond to Silke’s latest attack; Silke stepped to one side turning in an almost waltz like maneuver and disappeared again.
Sabine had used her sister’s distractions and stepped up behind Vlondril about this time with her own improvised weapons at the ready. As Sabine attacked she spoke, “Olath Dalninil, dos ph'lorith l'xusst i'dol (Dark Sister, you are looking the wrong way!)”
Vlondril spun around to respond to the new threat. Sabine jabbed with one half of her pool cue into Vlondril’s abdomen and turned away a thrust from Vlondril’s sword with the other. The blow to her abdomen only stunned Vlondril, but it was enough of a diversion for Silke to strike. Vlondril felt two bone jarring blows to her back one just above her hips and the other just below her neck. The Dark Sister fell prone on to the one inch white hexagonal tiles of the 5th Street Pub’s tap room floor. Some blood trickled out of her mouth coming from cuts caused by her teeth breaking the lining of the inside the lips as she went face first into the tiles.
Qulié recovered enough from Silke’s attack to get into a runner’s starting stance. Her hands held her batons and she was about to leap to her feet and attack Sabine, but something cold and metallic was resting on her neck at the base of her skull preventing her from completing that action.
Sinead Morn had come up behind Qulié during the commotion of the rather one-sided fight. “Qulié, it has been a long time me girl,” said Sinead. “What dirty business brings you to Earth? Still pursuing the Vrinn family for that cold scheming witch you call a mother? All this hatred over a minor difference in religious belief, it boggles one’s mind. Drop the batons girlie!”
Then Sinead said, “Ok girlie lean forward onto your chin for me like a good little Drow.” Qulié complied.
Then Sinead took Qulié’s right arm by its wrist and brought it up and behind her back. In nearly the same motion that used to put her pistol into her belt she took a set of handcuffs from her left hip pocket. The next thing anyone heard was the familiar clicking sound the cuffs’ locking mechanism. Holding Qulié’s right arm up tight behind her back Sinead took her left arm by its wrist and bought it into position next to the right one. As soon as it was where Sinead wanted it she cuffed it in the twin bracelet of the handcuffs. Using her cuff key she set the locks so that they would not release, but yet would not cut off the circulation of Qulié’s blood to her hands.
“Now Qulié me girl just sit right here while we wait for my bothers and sisters in blue to show up,” said Sinead. “Oh by the way, you have the right to…”
As Sinead was reading Qulié her Miranda Rights as used by the Topeka Police Department, a young African American female officer came into the Pub her service automatic at the ready through the main entrance. Another officer, a white male, came up from the hall way that led to the restrooms and the alley entrance.
Saniqua Foster, the female officer spoke to Sinead, “Detective Morn, what happened in here?”
About that time two more of Topeka’s finest dressed in their nearly black midnight blue service uniforms came in through the main door right behind Officer Foster. On their heels came the first of three EMT crews from American Medical Response into the scene of the minor battle.
Sinead looked at Officer Foster and then at the two unconscious Drow women on the floor before speaking, “Well those two on the floor there, I suspect were here to carry out a contract killing on the Rahn sisters over there. This one, (looking down at Qulié Vrinn) was likely here to point out the targets to the killers.”
Sinead then looked closer at Qulié’s mode of dress and noticed a small medallion on a delicate chain around her neck. It looked like a stylized silver female Drider grasping a great sword as if to strike. The two obsidian chips that were its eyes seemed to see all that happened around it.
Sinead grabbed it with her right hand to get a closer look at it. Its arms came alive and completed the strike with its tiny little great sword. “Ouch,” said Sinead as she yanked its chain hard enough to rip the medallion from Qulié’s neck and dropped it to the floor.
In the light of one of the other officer’s flash light the little medallion transformed into a miniature Drider about the size of a large Black Widow spider with its leg span about the size of a half-dollar. “That little beastie cut me with its tiny little sword…” Then Sinead suddenly collapsed to her knees. She stared at the cut on the palm of her right hand. It ran from the base of her thumb to the middle lines of her palm. Then she rocked back on to her haunches and fell into a sitting position on the floor.
Qulié’s eyes came to life with glee as she watched her little pet’s poison go to work on Sinead. “Al Sinead, ussta zhuanth rivvil mua, dosst dro zhah bauth ulu xuz. Maristo's chaon zhahus naut natha juba loss (Well Sinead, my old human foe, your life is about to end. Tonight's business was not a total loss,)” said Qulié. A cold smile of victory covered her lips and spread to her eyes.
Officer Foster keyed the external mike to her handy-talkie and yelled, “Officer Down send an ambulance!”
One of the American Medical Response crews already on scene rushed forward with a crash kit and a collapsible stretcher. The crew began to work on the fallen detective as Officer Foster picked up the tiny Drider warrior and placed the shrunken creature in a cup offered by the bartender.
“I think the M.E. and the hospital’s lab may want this to see what type of poison was used on that tiny sword,” said Foster.
The AMR EMT crew worked on Sinead, but she was already going into shock and her heart was beginning to give it up.
“She’s going into defib!” shouted the senior EMT as he began CPR compressions to restart Sinead’s heart. The junior EMT of the crew began to ready the portable defibrillation unit. Officer Foster knelt down beside Sinead with a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation tube and began to give her breaths as the Senior EMT pumped Sinead’s chest.
Ursula Rahn saw this and began to pray and make ritual gestures. As the police officer and the two EMTs worked on Sinead a warm yellowish glow engulfed her while Ursula continued praying. Ursula then walked up and knelt beside Officer Foster placed her left hand on Sinead’s left cheek. The warm yellowish glow flowed from Ursula to Sinead. Sinead began to sweat out a liquid the same amber color as the substance on the tiny sword held by the miniature Drider.
(OOC: second chapter will be posted when I finish it.)
Kitrye-Ilythiiri
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Kitrye-Ilythiiri
Drow on the Surface face as many dangers as those in the Underdark. Just because the Rivvil is friendly does not mean he wishes to help you, he may just want to get you off guard before knifing you.