A Return to Faerun from Elben Aator

silke_rahn · Post by **silke_rahn** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:34 pm

Delia looked first to Zazzt then to Kaeli and finally to the unconscious Tanek. Then she looked up to the strange Drow that relaxed her bow string. Delia looked back down at the subdued Tanek.

"Zazzt, dalninuk, I suggest we bind this fallen priest's hands and gag him. Then we take him back to the village."

Next she looked up at Calia.

"Thanks dalninil, that was needed. Who are you by the way?"

NathreeDe'Shezbron · Post by **NathreeDe'Shezbron** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:54 am

The elf flipped the unconciouss Tanek over, and with some cord from his belt, tied the man's hand's together, behind his back. Zazzt waved his hand, and his carpet flew over, and the ranger dumped the unconsious man on it, and hopped on with the man. The both flew off in the direction of town.

BaravarImrathiln · Post by **BaravarImrathiln** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:32 am

Baravar had slipped back into the forest after the priest, knowing that while the others would have little trouble with this incident, in the end, it might not be a bad idea to stick around, even if he was out of sight. Let the townsfolk think him a phantom. Let the other Drow think him a phantom. It mattered little in the end, what they thought him. He would stick around, and keep with them. They might have need of him again.

This time, his role was done. The fallen priest wouldn't escape. The trail was pretty blatant, stumbling and dragging its way through the brush. Indeed, the ranger hears faintly the cry of the Drow for the priest's surrender.

The Ranger had lingered close to the village, careful to keep an eye on the civilians. It would not do to see them riot and chase after the overwhelmed Drow. The younger priest, though, was doing an admirable job of rallying his people toward the new reality that faced them. The young man had passion, and better still, a quick mind. He had been able to reframe the events of the night through the dogma of Tyr, winning over the stunned villagers. Though some few still grumbled in the small hamlet about the "damned drow", most were beginning to relax, admitting that things did not argue for Tanek's interpretation.

silke_rahn · Post by **silke_rahn** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:09 am

Calia looked at the youger Drow blooded half-human. "I am Calia Tyne, a Ranger if you will from a long way away from here. These are my soldiers." She indicated the Drow and Half-Drow with her. It was a mix of males and females all looked to be veterans of much battle.

"Vendui' Dalninil Calia, I am Delia Rahn a Ranger of House Rahn and of Eilistraee's"

Delia eyed the squad of Drow and Half-Drow as they made their presence known. They all wore the same armor that Calia wore. There brigandine vest worn over their chain shirts bore the same stylized eagle over the left breast that Calia's did. It was in light gray with a gray and black striped shield over the eagle's breasts that had black stars in a gray field. A banner was held by the eagle's beak and its talons clutched a bundle of arrows in the left and an olive branch cluster in the right. [i:2hnryqiv]What principality do you serve Calia? I don't recognize the crest of any known prince, king, city-state, or noble with that livery[/i:2hnryqiv] thought Delia.

"Thanks for the assistance this priest that our friend Zazzt is taking care of is behind the attack on the near by shrine and sanctuary of Eilistraee."

Delia noticed Calia's eye register with recognition at the mention of Eilistraee again.

"Did I here you mention the Dancing Woman's true name Dalninil Delia? Do you truly worship her?"

"Yes I worship the Lady of the Dance. I am not a cleric of hers, but I worship her along with Selune the Rivvin goddess of the Moon."

"Ah the one the moon of Abeir-Toril is named for. May I ask, do you know of the one they call the Argent Maid?"

Arya Baenre · Post by **Arya Baenre** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:08 am

She nodded at Zazzt, slipping her blade back in its sheath and moving back towards the path, stopping as the horses they had come with trotted over. She gently ran her hands through her horse's mane, listening in on Calia's introduction. She looks at Zazzt's unconscious brother, wondering what had happened to the priest back at the village.

Adian Novar · Post by **Adian Novar** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:11 am

Adian had remained in the village, adding his voice to that of the young priest, trying to explain the true nature of the Dark Maiden and the world of difference between her and the Spider Queen. While Adian;s delivery was not as elquent as he could have been, his conviction added weight to his words. His efforts, along with those of the young priest of Tyr, had turned the villagers somewhat from anger and fear to gradually developing shock and even signs of contrition.

"You have no fear of vengance from us," Adian was saying. "Now that the truth has come out. We only wished to contact you peacefully, and that desire remains. Our hand remains extended to you...if you will accept it."

"We have done your people a great wrong," Garath answered. "Tyr would command us to make amends as best we could, I am certain. It will take us time to work our way back into his good graces, I think. I just wish we had known the truth earlier."

"You know it now," Adian said. ""I am sure the Sisters of the shrine will be happy to make arrangements for peaceful contact. And the hope that it will grow into acceptance."

Maybe that was going a bit far, to judge from some of the expressions in the crowd. But it was a start.

NathreeDe'Shezbron · Post by **NathreeDe'Shezbron** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 7:01 am

While Adian told the villagers about the wonders of Lady of the Dance, Zazzt was hovering over the village on his carpet, eyes closed, running his hands over the stone that held his sister's soul. Once again, his mind wandered down the paths of his memory of the attack, how he killed her. Occasionally, he would look around, checking the surrounding woods for major disturbances. The elven assassin was also around, patroling the area, communicating with him trhough a ring on Zazzt's finger. Zazzt, deciding to have some fun in this mostly boring day, flew down to ground level, and went to check in on their prisoner. He walked over to the town's small prison. He went in to find Tanek in the only cell, sitting on the cot, thumbs tied to his index fingers. "Perhaps you would tell me what is it you planned to do by destroying this small outpost of Eilistraee's domain?" He looked the human in the eye, "Drow are revered as the greatest fighters on Toril, it isn't a title that just falls onto a race. It is earned, through consistency." He smiled wickedly, "Would you like me to prove that reputation is well deserved?"

Adian Novar · Post by **Adian Novar** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 9:13 am

(Warning: Fanatical rant and moderately foul language ahead)

Tanek spat close to Zazzt's boot. The hatred on his face was undisguised as he glared at the warrior.

"Tell all the lies you want," he snarled. "I know the truth. Your 'Dark Maiden' is a sham...a lie to help you drag the rest of the world on to your sacrificial altars. You can play at virtue all you wish, but I know your kind! Treachery is your life blood, and filth is your heart! No matter what you do to me, Tyr's justice [i:dv0url54]will [/i:dv0url54]fall upon you like it did those sluts in their precious grove!

"And your taunts only prove me right!" he thundered, meeting Zazzt's gaze without flinching. The ugly rage of the fanatical flared in his eyes. "Your friends will speak pretty words and charm the foolish, but [i:dv0url54]yours[/i:dv0url54] is the [i:dv0url54]real[/i:dv0url54] face of the drow! Lifeless, souless, mad with jealousy of our place in the eyes of the gods!

"You had best hope your dupes kill me, filth, because if they do not I will continue to burn your kind out wherever I find them! No matter what pretty words spill from your lips!

"And even if you kill me," he added, trying to stand as he glared at Zazzt. "I will die as a martyr to Tyr...and he glories martyrs above all others! Whatever happens, [i:dv0url54]justice will be done[/i:dv0url54]!"

(OCC: Whew. I think I need to take a shower now. Playing this guy makes me feel...ugly.)[/size:dv0url54]

silke_rahn · Post by **silke_rahn** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:23 pm

Fed up with the local Tyrian priest's mad rantings Calia did not wait for the local priestess of the Dancing Woman to come to the aid of the young Drow Paladin. She stepped forward and looked the deranged priest in the eyes.

"In my homeland we have many just as crazy with fanaticism as you Tanek. They lead their flocks into the abyss with their lies. One even drug his whole nation into a dark and bloody war," Calia was seething with disrespect for this cleric. "We have a saying from one of our philosophers, 'Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. His name was Friedrich Nietzsche."

"My race are not monsters, we are a people that have been betrayed by monsters. We know all too well the meaning of that quote." She then looked at the local Drow to see if they understood her meaning. "I am descended from Ssi'Tel'Quessir that found themselves on an entirely different world from the one of our ancestors. When the Illythiiri tricked the Miyeritari into joining with them and the Dark Seldarine in combating the Seldarine and the rest of the Tel'Quessir. Our ancestors only followed our Illythiiri cousins because the Ary'Tel'Quessir of Aryvandaar attacked and conquered our ancestral homeland during the first of the Crown Wars and tried to commit what is called in my homeland genocide to kill us all off. The Moon Elves of Illefarn gave us refuge and the Illythiiri gave us assistance though at the time we did not understand that we were being tricked into their unholy war against the rest of the Tel'Quessir and the Seldarine."

Calia took a breath and continued.

"When the punishment was metted out the Dancing Woman tried to save those of us that followed her from the fate of the rest of the Ssi'Tel'Quessir. My direct ancestors were among those she begged Corellon to spare. We were changed as the rest of the Ssi'Tel'Quessir, but when the others were driven from the sun of this world my people were sent to another. A world that was then and it today dominated by the Rivvin or humans."

"We came across the veil to see just how many of our brethern still follow the Dancing Woman on this side and to make contact with them. Thanks to your attack on the Shrine to the Dancing Woman you let us see that indeed the Dark Maiden is still followed here."

Nedylene watched the young Jalil as she spoke. She noticed that she seemed familiar. She resembled her love of her youth. Her name was Calia Tyne and she had come to Abeir-Toril and the isle of Elben Aator due to an accident caused by one of her Rivvin friends. [i:3f48whr7]One needs to be careful when reading scrolls, you never know what the spell is or where it will take you,[/i:3f48whr7] thought Nedy as she looked at Calia more.

Adian Novar · Post by **Adian Novar** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:21 am

Tanek spat at Calia, only barely missing her.

"Oh, poor persecuted Drow," he said mockingly. "So misunderstood and put upon. As if their goddess weren't some abomination from the Abyss. As though they had never harmed anyone in all their centuries. I suppose all the slavery, murders, demon worship, and atrocities were staged to make you look bad?

"Tell your tales of woe to someone more gullible, harlot," he sneered. "I see with Tyr's eyes, and I already know the truth about your kind!"

He settled back down with the air of a man of dignity forced to sit among beggars.

NathreeDe'Shezbron · Post by **NathreeDe'Shezbron** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:22 pm

Zazzt sighed, turned around, and with a twitch of his finger sent 5 magic missles into the wood around the man, "While I would agree that not all drow deserve naive pity, remember, you are speaking to a high priestess, and it is you [i:ps4ydm3v]duty[/i:ps4ydm3v] to treat her with respect, [i:ps4ydm3v]human[/i:ps4ydm3v]." obvious derision in the last word.

Adian Novar · Post by **Adian Novar** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:38 pm

"I am not bound to respect a priestess of a harlot demon," Tanek snarled. "Go ahead. Blast me into the arms of Tyr. I welcome it! Do it!"

It was fortunate that Adian was still speaking with Garath some distance away. It was possible that his reaction might have been similar to Zazzt's if he had heard Tanek's ranting.

silke_rahn · Post by **silke_rahn** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 3:41 am

Calia again looked at Tenak.

"Look, I may not be able to manipulate the weave like some of my fellow Ssi'Tel'Quessir on this world, but I am one of the best marksmen, well if you want to be technical markswomen of my world in my nations Army." She glared at him. "If you want to keep trying my patiences I may remember the words of the English King Henry the Second when a certain Archbishop Thomas Beckett got to be too much of a headache. 'Would someone rid me of this troublesome priest.' So some of his barons took him to be litteral in his demand and assassinated Archbishop Beckett in his cathedral as a Rivvil male of the Saxon tribe and an English Drow that converted to the faith of Beckett tried to defend him."

Calia wait for the meaning of her words to sink in the thick headed Tyrian priest's skull. "What that Drow priest of the humans' god of my home world did was to marter himself in defense of his faith and a holyman. So we too are capible of great acts of heroism and courage as well as good. Evil is not the only path our people follow, just the one most people know of when they think of the Ssi'Tel'Quessir."

"When it comes to my faith we of my world do follow Eilistraee, but in her form as the Dancing Woman of the Native American Church. I grew up in a culture that champions nature and the natural way of things. We lived as one with our world from the time my earliest ancestors first found the primitive Rivvin that became the Kaw or Kansa Nation. Our ancestors became the first clan of the Black Kansa, yes the light skinned Rivvin of my world did treat us as savages if even tame ones, but savages none the less. When we found a way to travel across the veil between various planes or universes we discovered many where my people lived but they were all enslaved by the Spider Woman or Lloth. This world is the only one where we have found people of the Ssi'Tel'Quessir that refuse to bow to her and the rest of the Dark Seldarine. Now before you open your mouth and say something everyone here will regret apollogize to this high priestess of the Dancing Woman. Otherwise I may forget that I am supposed to be a civilized Drow and take a priest's scalp."

Adian Novar · Post by **Adian Novar** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 5:26 pm

[i:2k5wy6ci]"Apoligize?"[/i:2k5wy6ci] Tanek said incredulously. "For calling a lie a lie? Never!"

NathreeDe'Shezbron · Post by **NathreeDe'Shezbron** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:29 pm

Zazzt sighed,"Call lies lies if you will, I do not begrudge you that, indeed I have a few... questions of Dancing Lady, if she will hear me, but I am simply reminding you that accuse all you wish, just be civilized, after all, Tyr may not accept you with open arms, Tanek."