Dendory's story in 15 parts (mature)

[Dendory]

NOTE: This story contains mature content. I'd appreciate any feedback as this is my first roleplay story. <img src="http://elfguy.googlepages.com/dendstory.jpg" border="0"> The Betrayal Good. That word bothered me more than anything else. Is caring for a deer good? What makes a person good, and why is it how it should be. By calling it good, that means whatever is opposite is not only bad, but evil, not to be trusted, indeed something to destroy. In fact Qeynos and Freeport are two opposites, two cities at war. Only random chance dictated that I be brought to Qeynos at 13. When the merchant ship rescued me from the sea, I was but a little girl and the Consortium Mages that took me under their wings thought they could shape my mind into that set of values. Good. Loyalty. Arrogance is what I call it. I'm not completely ungrateful to the mages. They saw in me a bright potential in magic as I was brought to them and they decided to teach me the arts of the Conjurer. For years they took time from their days to help me understand the arcane arts and allow me to become more powerful. But every time I went out of the great tower into the city of Qeynos, I felt uneasy. Everything looked so clean, so bright, so.. good. But I knew it was all a facade. One day, at 16, I was swiming in the water in the harbour and one of the high mages caught me. I had removed my vest and the two guys standing on the deck were staring at me, like I knew they would. But that was not acceptable behaviour from a lady, at least, not in public. I knew full well that this particular mage visited a few rooms at the Deepmug Tavern, where some girls even younger than me resided. Another forbidden endavour was experimenting with the dark arts. I think the most exciting time I had was when I succeeded in summoning a skeleton servant for the first time, in secret, in my room. I used a scroll I stole from an ancient crypt, with some powder from a traveling merchant, and summoned an undead skeleton of a sewer rat. I managed to control it for several minutes until it turned on me. It bit me more than a dozen times before I managed to summon an earth elemental to destroy it, and it hurt so much that I had all the trouble in the world to not scream. Would any of the mages have caught me, it would have been a couple of weeks of hard labor for sure. But it was a fascinating experiment and every day I tried to think of ways I could have stayed in control of the rat longer. So one day, at 19, when I overheard a plot to sabotage Qeynos, I knew my time had come. I took the opportunity and went to strike at the Consortium. That mage, from the harbour, he was the first to die. After a few precise killings, I fled into the night, in search of somewhere I could identify with. It didn't take long for the agents of Freeport to give me tasks to do, hoping to use me in their endless quest to bring Qeynos down. I didn't mind, I got great pleasure in defacing the city that stands for good in the name of power and truth, and at the same time gain the trust of Freeport. When it was time to make my way to the city of the Overlord, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes it was dirty and some unknown eyes looked at me from dark alleys as I passed, but I didn't mind. I felt powerful here. As I came to a side alley in South Freeport, a beggar steped in front of me. He came out from nowhere and stood less than an inch in front of my face. Beggars abound in Qeynos too, but they always stand a respectful yard away from you. This one had his right hand out in front of him so close it was touching the front of my vest. I felt his terrible smell right away and felt the front of his fingers near my breasts. He asked for a copper, a sentence he no doubt repeated thousands of times, then bowed his head down and to the side, apparently awaiting a slap of some type. I stood there and didn't move for a moment, curious to see what the beggar would do. He raised his head some, with his hand still on my chest, and looked at my face. Seeing I wasn't doing anything, he looked at his hand, and most likely only then realized where his hand was. He then slowly started opening the front of my vest until my breasts were fully showing then hesitantly started rubbing them. It was the first time I had someone touch me there, and judging from the look and smell of that beggar, it was probably the first time for him too. I brought my head forward and gave the beggar a long kiss on the mouth, a sort of kiss of death. At that point he had managed to get my vest completely opened and let it slide down to the ground, off of me. I raised my arm and took his hand firmly, then brought it away from me. Then I put my hand around his neck and started squeezing. Panicked, he put both hands on my arm in a vain attempt to remove my hand from his neck. After uttering a single command, his soul was extracted from his living skull, and his lifeless body came crashing down to the ground. I stood in the middle of the alley, topless, with a dead body at my feet. I closed my eyes for a moment and felt ecstatic. After this unusual encounter, I looked around and saw that two other people, probably beggars too, witnessed the whole scene and didn't do anything. I picked up my vest, then walked in their direction without puting it back on, at which point they looked at each others then started running away. That right there is when I first knew Freeport was my city. A place where power is rewarded, weakness gets nothing, other than death. Oh how I wish I could have done that to all of the beggars of Qeynos right at that moment. After meeting with the city officials, I was now on the path to necromancy, and as a 20 years old girl in Freeport, starring at the 10 feet tall statue of the Overlord, I felt nothing but power and grandeur all around me. All praise Freeport! All praise the Overlord!

[Dendory]

The Graveyard I didn't bring much from Qeynos. I rode my trusty Maj'Dul carpet, brought pets and some clothes. I had a robe. Good looking, clean, very classy, I hated it. It reminded me too much of Qeynos. I much prefered my vest and pants, dirty and showing more skin. Ellynottin, the Necromancer master, advised me against wearing it, since it would make me a more attractive target to brigands and other less than desirable people of town. But I dismissed his worries. Even at 20 years old, I was experienced. I traveled the world, and was now even starting to explore the skies. I could take care of myself. Let them come in fact, it would be a real pleasure to play with them and then kill them in the most cruel way I could find. Even if most of my life was spent learning the elemental arts, necromancy felt natural to me. I always felt like the elementals I summoned were content to be there. They obeyed my every command silently, yet acted more like house pets. When I now summoned my skeletal guardian, I felt a maleficiant resistance. The troubled souls I brought up to serve me didn't want to be there. It felt like if I brought my concentration down for only a few moments the skeletal pet would revolt and attack me, and this excited me. The next step a proper citizen had to do, at least according to the overweight sergeant that initiated me to the city, was find a house. According to him, many new citizens find a good deal for an inn room with a shady merchant in a back alley in Stonestair Byway. As I walked over to the location he told me, I came across the Graveyard. A new city can be confusing at first. As I was about to turn around since it was obvious this wasn't the right way, I saw a young man fighting a skeleton. The man was wounded and clearly in trouble, and I knew the skeleton would not be any trouble for me. I stood there for a moment wondering if I should help this person or not. Strangely enough, the thought was not so much on whether this person was worthy of my help but if I should kill the skeleton, which was clearly summoned by someone and should be allowed to complete its mission. So I stood there and watched the man fight. At that point he turned around and noticed me. He extended an arm in a plee for help, and I did nothing. The skeleton gave the poor soul one last blow and the man fell down to the ground, dead. After the battle was over, I walked closer to the fallen man. The skeleton was still there, and as soon as he saw me, he rushed at me and attacked. I didn't block the first attack since I knew I would barely feel such a weak blow. However the skeleton had the end of a rapier in his hand and barely missed my arm. Cursing, I took a step back and punched the skeleton in the face in frustration and the bones came crashing to the ground in a pile of dust. As I looked back at the corpse of the dead man on the ground, his eyes were still looking in my direction, looking almost alive. I decided to do the ultimate sacrilege to this person, and summoned the corpse of the dead man to become my undead servant. As I uttered the magical words, I looked at the corpse start standing up, and take an ugly, malformed zombie appearance. I walked around it twice, looking at the zombie from all sides, while it stood still. I then came right behind him, and put my back to its back, my head against its head. I closed my eyes and listened to its very quiet whispers. It was nonsense, and seemed more like mumbling than anything else. Then after about 20 seconds of listening, I felt it turn around in a swift motion and its hand very quickly came up and took hold of my pony tail. I screamed in surprise, and thought about dismissing the servant, but then as I thought about how weak this undead creature was, I started laughing while allowing it to keep a hold of my hair. The zombie pulled my head down by the hair, and started to kneel down, until my head and the zombie's hand were both only a few inches above the ground. And that's when I heard it in my mind, clear as day: "You killed me." The zombie let go of my hair at the same moment this thought invaded my mind, and I fell back on the ground. As I was laying down on the ground, face up, I was frozen with surprise at the clear thought that this weak zombie managed to put into my mind. He then slowly came up and stood upright, looking in front of him with empty eyes. That's when I knew my suspicions were right, undead creatures retain some part of their previous living soul. At this point a lowly guard came into the Graveyard, the same way I had entered, then froze when he saw us. I was still on the ground, face up, with the malformed zombie standing next to me. The guard mumbled something and then said: "This is the Graveyard of the overlord, and you two need to find another place to do whatever you're doing". At first, I blushed, then I quickly got angry. I stood up fast, startling the guard, then said in a firm voice: "I am Dendory, and I will go where I please in this city as I serve the Overlord. Don't you dare talk to me like that!" The guard quickly looked down at the ground, turned around, and started walking back the way he came. I looked down at myself, saw I was full of dust from the ground, cursed under my breath, and tried to clean up as best I could. I gave one last look at the zombie, then dismissed it from my control, at which point it slowly came back down to the ground, into a pile of dead flesh. I still had a merchant to find.

[Dendory]

Ambush The housing merchant didn't try to attack me, rob me, or take advantage of me. I was genuinely surprised. He had an inn room in East Freeport for rent at a decent price, near the dock and the broker. I decided to take him up on his bargain and then headed to my new room. When I got there, I realized why the price seemed fairly cheap. The room was tiny, with broken walls, and no windows. Still, I wasn't too concerned, as I much preferred being out in the wild to practice my new arts on unsuspecting creatures. That's when I decided it was time to get back to my learnings. I left my belongings in the room, hopped on my carpet, with my freshly summoned skeletal servant to my side, and made my way out to the Commonlands. I wore my dirty vest again, and looked more like a random Freeport citizen than a powerful mage. Anyone coming up to me was more likely to speak their mind rather than try and put up a show to gain the trust of some potentially rich visiting lady. I preferred it that way. The trip to the city gates was uneventful and I didn't encounter any beggar. I surprised myself being disappointed by it. I had intended to go explore the skies above Norrath. Surely these mysterious places would hold some magical trinkets I could use to increase my power. As I exited Freeport, the rebuilt spires were easy to see in the distance and I started going in that direction. I was only halfway there when I noticed a suspicious sight on the road a few yards ahead of me. Several trees had apparently been cut and laid down on the side of the road, and I could hear faint mumbling coming from behind the trunks. It was obviously some type of poorly conceived ambush. I commanded my skeletal fighter to stay behind, out of sight, then quietly walked toward the ambush. As I got closer, I saw the top of the heads from two dark elves, a male and a female. They were apparently busy arguing with each other in an unknown language and didn't see me get near them. They were both dressed in black chainmail and both looked fairly muscular. They appeared fairly easy targets, and I decided a precise spell would take them both out in a single shot. As I started to speak out the incantation to bring these fools to a quick death, I felt a presence behind me followed by a quick blow to the head. The blow wasn't very strong, but it made me trip a few feet forward and lose concentration. As I regained my footing and cursed at being so easily taken by surprise, the two dark elves came out from behind their trunk and pointed their swords at me, while the troll that had struck me from behind started laughing very loudly. The female told me: "We're taking your coin purse or your life, decide!". The elves then talked to each other in a language I couldn't understand, with a big smile on their faces, apparently proud of their little trick. While the duo was busy congratulating themselves, and the troll was still laughing like a mad man, I quietly commanded my servant to come forth and strike the troll from behind. The skeleton came quickly and impaled its sword directly in the back of the troll. The laughter stopped in an instant, and the troll fell dead in less than a second. The two elves gasped as they saw what happened, and then looked at each other nervously. The male elf raised his sword and charged head first into my skeletal fighter. The skeleton engaged him, and they fought for just a few seconds. My servant easily vanquished the elf, and left the battle barely wounded, while the elf was now a second corpse on the ground. I looked at the female elf, and she was staring at me and my skeleton, with fear on her face. Her hand started to visibly shake. She let her sword drop to the ground and brought both hands together in a plea for her life. She slowly dropped to her knees and kept her hands in a pleading gesture. I approached her, took her hands with my hands, and gestured for her to get back up. I then walked behind her, looking her up and down. She was about my age, but she obviously had a much more difficult life. She was slightly more muscular than me, with several visible scars on her face and hands, and her chain armor was patched up with poor quality leather at several places. I told her, with a smirk on my face: "You said something about my coin purse?". She looked down on the ground, and quietly said: "I... I'm sorry, I need food to eat, I'm poor". I told her in a firm voice: "Stealing from citizens of Freeport is a crime punishable by death. You defy the Overlord by stealing on his lands!". She said, even more quietly: "I know.... I know...." I walked back in front of her and noticed tears on her face. I gently cleared the tears away from her face with my hand, at which point she looked at me and gave me a shy smile. I realized at that moment she must have been a good looking dark elf before life took its toll on her. The scars on her face probably made her an unattractive target for any potential lover, and working the streets of Neriak would probably not bring her much money. Being a street robber was probably the only way she could feed herself. I looked down from her face to the rest of her body as my hand was still on her cheek, and she started to feel uneasy: "How can you stand to look at my face, to look at me, when even the elves of Neriak won't dare look in my direction?" I said nothing, looked back up at her face and noticed a few more tears. I cleaned those out with my hand by rubbing them away while looking her straight in the eyes. She relaxed and brought the shy smile back. At that point I let go of her face, then got a knife out from my pocket, and gave it to her. She looked at the knife in her hand, and her face turned serious. I said: "You know the punishment for your crime." At that moment I had a brief thought cross my mind. With a knife in her hand, and nothing in mine, she could decide to strike against me and possibly hurt or kill me before my skeleton servant would be able to stop her. She looked me in the eyes, and I think she got the same thought. She played with the hilt of the knife with her fingers for a few moments, as if uncertain as to what to do next, then nodded slightly. She looked back down at the knife in her hand, then said in a very emotionless voice: "May the Overlord forgive me." She impaled herself in the chest with the knife, let out a barely audible sound, and slowly dropped to the ground, while blood started pouring from her wound. She looked at me one last time, and then died in a pool of blood. I started back on my way, the spires were waiting.

[Dendory]

The journey The typical hum echoed in my mind as soon as I approached the spires. These magical structures weren't as big as the original Luclin spires, and I wasn't sure exactly who rebuilt them, but it served their purpose well. Every few minutes, it allowed us to access the islands in the sky, and that's all I cared about. As I got near, I noticed five individuals standing near the magical portal. They were talking to each others, and then turned toward me as soon as they saw me. The first was a human male druid, slightly taller than me and probably older. He wore a full set of leather armor and had a sword on his belt. Behind him were a brigand and an inquisitor. Both were dark elf males, of similar sizes and facial features, possibly brothers, wearing dark armor, and they barely looked at me before going back to their chatting. On the left of them were a male barbarian berserker and a female half elf wizard. They made a very odd couple, as the barbarian was very tall, much taller than any of his companions, and very muscular, in an assortment of chain and plate armor pieces, holding a big mace. The elf was small, young and looked frail. She wore a full robe which looked too large for her small size, and was holding a finely crafted wooden stick. She looked out of place not only in size, but also in the fact that while the others could probably be seen as typical Freeport citizens, she looked straight out of a Qeynos mage school. She didn't look at me once and kept looking at the barbarian's face, blushing, while he openly flirted with her. The druid took a few steps toward me and said: "Greetings! I've been tasked by a Gnomeland Security gnome to investigate the mines in Steamfont to find out what Meldrath has been up to, and stop his plans from succeeding. I've gathered some companions to help me in this quest and we could use another. Would you join us for this quick journey?" I looked at him, then looked at his companions, and finally to the girl. The druid then said: "I know we're not much to look at, but I assure you we're well traveled. I'm sure there will be great treasures for all in those mines." This peeked my interest, and I looked back at the druid then said: "Alright, I'll join you." A big smile appeared on his face and he replied: "Excellent!" I wasn't sure who this Meldrath character was, but I heard a few stories in my youth. Apparently he was an evil gnome sorcerer who was banished from the gnome community after he tried to create monstrous clockwork devices. I didn't know much else about him, and I really didn't care to work for Gnomeland Security, since I never liked their obsession with creating mechanical devices of all sorts. But this Meldrath was obviously a powerful sorcerer, and the prospect of finding some magical artifact while on this quest was worth the discomfort. "Oh I'm so glad to go on my first adventure!" said the wizard, all giggly. It's the first time she turned away from her barbarian lover and looked at the rest of us. She still had that silly smile on her face, and everything about her was starting to irritate me. The brigand replied, without turning to look at her: "Yes... It's a wonder you managed to find your way to the Commonlands." The elf didn't seem to understand the insult, and turned to look at the barbarian. The barbarian turned his head around in the direction of the brigand and gave him a cold glaring look. The brigand guessed his reaction, and without turning to look at either of them, said: "Calm down big guy." The druid was visibly uneasy and then tried to change the topic: "Well then! Shall we be on our way?" The druid started to speak out a long incantation, and a mystical portal opened next to him. I could see the mountains of Steamfont through the round portal as if a tunnel had opened up through space. All six of us walked through it, then found ourselves on the other side of the world, in Steamfont. The mines weren't far and the trip there was uneventful. The majority of beasts we encounter on the way were wolves, stray clockworks and kobolds. The kobolds all turned away and hurried behind a rock, in a hole or otherwise out of our way as we passed by. Not one creature dared attack us. When we entered the mines, we lit up some torches and saw a figure waiting for us at the entrance. It was Meldrath himself, and he spoke in a strange, ghostly voice: "Welcome! Welcome to my refuge!" The druid looked at him puzzled then said: "You know of us?" Meldrath replied: "I have spies everywhere! Yes, everywhere! Even with those pesky gnomes in the city! I know they sent you to kill me, but to try, you will first have to catch me!" He then turned around, and ran into the tunnel, deeper in the mines. The barbarian shouted: "Hey! Get back here!" then started to run after him. The rest of us looked at each others, then started running too.

[niko_teen]

<p>Interesting... Being foldeled by bums and sucidal Teir'Dal. Not your average run of the mill story.</p>

[Dendory]

Surprise attack The tunnels in the mines were not very long, and every time a tunnel would end, we would find ourselves standing in a small room, with some stray clockworks, and sometimes a beast or other mechanical creature would be there and would attack us as soon as they spotted us. Each time, the barbarian rushed into combat, taking the blows from the beasts with relative ease, while the rest of us made quick work of each encounter. The brigand would use his daggers to cut deep holes in beasts bodies or cut wires from the clockworks, while the inquisitor casted powerful spells to protect us from the blows of our enemies. The druid brought down the fury of nature upon each battle. Each time I sent my summoned undead servant to fight for me while I slowly drained the soul and life essence of each creature. After every room, another tunnel was waiting for us. Several times I noticed that the elf wizard was doing nothing at all. She would stand back, open her spellbook, take a look at the fight in progress, then spend most of the battle looking at the barbarian fighting, lost in his eyes. This annoyed me, and I noticed that others in the group saw her, but no one said a word. After almost an hour of hopping from room to room, we finally reached a larger room, where we caught up to Meldrath. He was standing in the middle of the room, on top of a large wooden platform with stairs on the side, and next to him, on the ground in the middle of the room, was a huge mechanical beast. The beast looked like a giant kobold, only constructed of iron. The druid shouted to Meldrath: "Come back down and fight us! We defeated all of your precious creations and now it's time for you to die!" Meldrath started laughing and replied: "Defeated?! Haha, those were old and barely worthy of being called my creations! They were nothing, but this is truly the greatest invention ever conceived! Behold my mechanical kobold!" Meldrath jumped on top of the giant beast, then it started walking forward toward us. The barbarian charged them and attacked with his mace. The fight lasted several minutes, and the creature put up much resistance. Several times during the fight, Meldrath would shout out from the top of the beast: "Haha! I sense you become weaker, you will fall soon!" We all fought bravely, and after a few close calls, we managed to damage the beast enough for him to tip over and fall on his back. Meldrath was projected to the ground and the beast fell on top of him. The room grew silent. After defeating the creature, we looked around the room, and the inquisitor found a page with some notes on it. He read them then said: "I think I understand what his plan was. He was planning to destroy Gnomeland Security with this mechanical kobold and his army of clockworks. I'm sure they'll be pleased to hear of our success." The druid said: "Excellent! Let's head out of here, I thank you all for your precious help!" He then opened a portal back to the Commonlands. Before stepping through, I noticed a staff laying on the ground near where Meldrath had fallen, and I quickly picked it up. It looked like a powerful trinket through which I could channel my magical powers, and I knew I would make good use of it. As we arrived back to the spires, the group dispersed. The druid left toward Freeport, while the brigand and inquisitor walked away. The barbarian and elf wizard stayed nearby and started flirting again. They were completely lost in each other's eyes and I could hear them clearly: "Did you see me use all my magical power against those evil clockworks?!" said the elf. The barbarian nodded and kept trying to please her with kind words, while displaying a big smile. I slowly walked away from them then hid behind a tree, a few yards away. I couldn't hear what they were saying anymore but just looking at the small elf make grandiose gestures with her hands I knew she was telling of brave stories of things that never happened. At that point I started to wish she would die right there, and then impulsively decided to act on it. I made sure my skeletal fighter was standing near me, and that no one else was around, then I started to speak out a spell. Untold horrors invaded the barbarian's mind as I was reciting the incantation, and he lost control of his mind. He started running around in various directions screaming in terror while the elf stood in place, frozen by surprise. I then walked toward the young elf, she noticed me and looked at me. I could see fear and confusion on her face: "What's happening? What's going on?" she said, while the barbarian was still screaming in fear. I told her: "I summoned the horrors of this world to invade his mind, he will not be able to help you." She took a step back away from me and said: "Help me? But... why. Why did you do that?" I took her arm firmly in a quick motion and said: "Pitiful half elves like you are a waste of resources. In the name of the Overlord, I shall now execute you!" She looked terrified, and then tried to speak out an incantation at me, but stopped mid sentence, too scared to remember the words. "Please..." she said quietly as tears started running on her cheek. At that moment I commanded my skeleton to attack. While my servant drew its sword and attacked the elf, she fell back on the ground and tried in vain to hurt him with one more spell. While my skeletal fighter was hitting the elf, blood started to pour from multiple wounds. She had dropped her stick and her robe was becoming tainted with blood. She was laying on the ground and trying to protect her face with her arms while crying in pain, and kicking the skeleton with her feet. I decided to end her life with one quick spell. As her soul left her body, ripped away by my powerful incantation, her body slowly stopped moving, her arms fell to her side, and she became motionless. Her lifeless corpse stayed on the ground in a pool of blood, while her robe was barely recognizable. I smiled. That's when I heard the barbarian shout out in anger: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

[Dendory]

Troubled times <div align="left"> </div>I could see every vein on the neck of the barbarian stand out as his face was filled with anger. He walked toward me and raised his huge mace. I decided to try and quickly cast another spell of terror on him in order to give me time to put some distance between us, and as I started to utter the words, he said: "NO!" and slapped me with the mace on the side of my body. I fell to the ground, and felt the worse pain I had ever felt. I looked up at the barbarian while trying not to scream in pain. He was standing right next to me, looking down at me in anger, and said nothing. After a few seconds, I decided to try a diversion so I could attempt to get away, and I commanded my pet to attack. The skeleton raised its sword, and charged the barbarian. He saw the attack come, and riposted my servant with his mace. After only a short fight, to my horror, my skeleton fell to the ground in a pile of dust. Still laying on the ground in pain, I started to speak out my incantation again hoping to be able to get the spell off, but the barbarian looked down at me and gave me a swift kick to the head. Losing my concentration, I cursed at myself for not being able to keep his mind feared for longer. The barbarian put down his mace, then picked me up with his big hands, holding me by the shoulders. Pain became unbearable as he picked me up and I screamed once. His face turned from anger to a smile as he heard me scream, and as he was holding me upright with one arm, he slapped me across the face with the other. I was desperately trying to find a way out of this situation, when I remembered the dagger I carried in my pocket. I quickly picked it up, and trust it in the direction of the barbarian's face. Unfortunately for me, the barbarian saw the attack come, and deflected it with his hand. The dagger came down on the ground, several yards behind him. In an angry motion, he threw me back and I came crashing down on the ground hard, and once more pain invaded my body, at which point I screamed again. The barbarian picked up his mace and slowly walked toward me. He raised his mace in the air, and started to bring it down on me. I closed my eyes and put my hand in front of my face, in a vain attempt to protect myself against the huge blow. I waited several seconds, but the blow didn't come. I opened my eyes again and saw that the barbarian had turned around away from me. A small dagger was halfway through his back and blood was pouring out. I then saw he was facing the dark elf brigand that was in our group earlier. The brigand had come out of the shadows to attack from the back. The barbarian gave a big punch to the face of the brigand, which sent him flying several yards away from us, but he managed to land back on his feet in an agile motion. He turned to me and shouted: "Hey Dendory! Hope I'm not bothering!" I gave him a smile, at least as much as I could under the pain. He turned back toward the barbarian, and rushed at him with daggers in his hands. After a few precise strikes, the barbarian screamed out in pain and fell to the ground. The brigand then did one more strike, straight to the heart. The corpse stayed motionless. I slowly got back up on my feet, and checked that I wasn't missing any body part. I was intact and the pain was slowly going away. The brigand came over to me, and put his right hand on my shoulder. He said: "Are you ok?" to which I replied: "Yes, thank you." He then said: "There are other ways to thank me." Unsure what he meant, I gave him a confused look, to which he replied with a smile. Then he brought his hand down from my shoulder to my arm, and put his left hand on my other arm, and gently caressed them. I understood what he wanted, and a million thoughts crossed my mind. This dark elf saved my life, and even thought I only met him a few hours ago, I owed him a debt of gratitude. Still, if this was Qeynos, even suggesting such an act would bring the wrath of the guard upon him. But this was Freeport territory, where the militia will turn a blind eye to anything that doesn't concern them. I could try to resist, although it's unsure how well I would fare against him in my current state. Curiosity won in the end, and I decided not to resist. As he brought his hands to my vest, he started undressing me. I closed my eyes as I felt his mouth touching my lips. I felt everything, yet saw nothing.

[Rabid-Othmir]

Always refreshing to hear a tale about someone liberating themselves from the restrictions of Qeynos!

[Dendory]

Kitho The Overrealm is an interesting place. Islands floating in the sky, magical teleporters created in ages past to travel from one island to the next, and strange creatures having made their nests and homes on those pieces of land. There's a lot of stories about the plane of sky, and no one knows for sure which ones are true and which are fabrications. It is said that the gods shaped each island and put their mark on them. While we can't know for sure, what attracted me to the sky was not so much the history, but the potential for glory and power. I was standing on Gazer Island, looking at birds fly all around me. I was on the edge of the island, surrounded by trees, plants and small animals, and looking out at the sky, I could see some of the other islands in the distance. I looked down, and as usual there too was nothing but sky. I couldn't see the ground of Norrath, but I assumed it was down there somewhere. I wondered what would happen if someone were to jump down. I pondered the question for a few minutes while scrutinizing the horizon. I looked to my skeletal servant standing to my side and smiled. I commanded the pet to move forward and jump. The skeleton obeyed, took a step forward, and dropped down from the island. I watched it fall for several seconds before it was too far below to see. I was disappointed. I waited a few moments, still looking down into the sky below the island, then summoned another undead servant. I gave it the same command, and it also took a step forward and jumped down. With increased knowledge of the dark arts, my summoned pets obeyed me more precisely and I rarely sensed much defiance from them anymore. Regardless how many servants I would summon, I knew they would just obey me and jump down, with no emotion, no scream, no fear of dieing, as they were already dead. As I was about to summon yet another pet, I heard a sound come from the nearby teleporter. I turned around and looked in the direction of the sound. That's when I saw a familiar presence step through the portal and onto the island. "Kitho?" I said. The young elf turned his head in my direction and replied: "Dendory? Is it you?" Kitho was a young wood elf I met in Qeynos several years ago. He was 10 back then and brought by a merchant ship in a similar way that I had been. The ship captain brought him still unconscious to the docks, and laid him down on the deck, before walking away. With the large amount of refugees and orphans that were found all around the world and brought to the capital cities, this was a common way kids saw their first glimpse of civilization. I had walked over to him, and as he had opened his eyes, I'm the first person he saw. Ever since then, he grew attached to me, and on several occasions I caught him staring at me from behind a bush or a street corner. Of course he always denied it, but I think he had a crush on me. Now of course was a different story. He was 14, had been brought up by the Silent Fist into the monk disciplines, and had embraced the Qeynos ideals for loyalty and good, something I could never do. I hadn't seen him since my betrayal, and I didn't know if he would accept me as an old friend, or attack me, as any Qeynos guard would do to traitors. While he was younger than me, he was strong and extremely agile. He was dressed in the typical clothes of the Silent Fist monks: a leather vest, pants and arms protectors, with leather sandals. He was well versed in the arts of hand to hand combat and could easily repeal attacks from gnolls, orcs or any creature found near the city. If we had to fight, I knew I would most likely have the upper hand. He was still a novice, and even without a skeletal servant to help me I could win a battle against him. But in my heart I didn't want to fight him. I had grown attached to him during the years we spent studying in the city, and even if I now found myself on the opposite allegiance of him, I considered him as the younger brother I never had. To my relief, a smile appeared on his face: "By Quellious! It is you! It's been so long!" He came over and stood in front of me and did a full curtsey, bowing to his knees, before looking at me with his big smile. I replied with a smile, and before I could talk he said: "Dendory I wish things could have been different! I wish you didn't have to leave us". I replied: "I wish things could have worked out too, but sometimes one must follow their heart and do what they believe is their destiny in life." His face turned sad, he looked down at the ground and said "I know. They hate you over there now. Master Shoda talked to his whole class about you, he called you a traitor and told us you were evil and would try to kill any of us if you ever met us. But I know it's not true. I know you like me. You always took care of me." He then looked at me with a renewed smile, and gave me a big hug. His complete trust in me surprised me greatly. I pated him on the head and said: "Things are sometimes... complicated." Kitho said: "I know I'm too young to understand certain realities, master Shoda tells me the same thing all the time. I knew you were going to leave us, you looked unhappy in Qeynos every time I watched you. But I don't care! I know you would never hurt me!" Feeling humbled by this young boy's devotion to me, I replied jokingly: "So you really were spying on me all those times?" Kitho blushed: "Awww Dendory..." Trying to get out of this awkward moment, I turned more serious and said: "You know your Qeynos teachers would not want you to talk to me.  Perhaps it would be best for you to avoid me." His face turned serious too and he said: "I don't care what they say. I'll prove to them that you're right and they're wrong. They didn't want me to come up here either but I came anyways. I'll show you I can hold my own!" He then quickly turned around and walked past a few trees, looking around him. I was wondering what he was doing, and as I was about to ask, he explained: "There!" At that point I saw him give a big kick to a flying cloudeye gazer that was sleeping near a bush. As the creature awoke, it rose up to the air and attacked Kitho with its magical eye and 8 tentacles. My heart missed a beat, I started to run in his direction and I shouted: "No Kitho!" As the eye struck, Kitho fell to the ground. The cloudeye raised its tentacles into the air, and brought them down on Kitho in one swift motion. As I feared the worse, I saw Kitho roll on the ground barely out of the way as the tentacles struck. He jumped to his feet, then started to punch the creature, at which point the cloudeye sent magical energies from its eye into Kitho. The young elf fell back to the ground and screamed in pain. I came up to the creature, and just as it was about to strike again with its eye, I invoked a powerful spell to blind it. The cloudeye yelled something in an unknown language and turned its attention to me. I quickly summoned a skeletal fighter and sent it against the beast. As the pet was slashing away, I sent powerful magic against it to drain its energy. Soon after, the creature fell to the ground, dead. I went to Kitho and picked him up from the ground: "Are you ok?" He stood up, still dizzy from his encounter, and replied: "Yes.. I am, thanks for saving me." I said in an angry voice: "Why did you do that? You know you aren't ready yet to handle those creatures!" He looked down at the ground and said: "I'm sorry. I won't do it again. I wanted to show you how brave I was." I started to relax and took a gentler tone: "I know. I can't stay mad at you. You always had a stubborn mind." He looked at me and smiled: "I knew you'd save me!" He gave me a big hug, I closed my eyes, hugged him back, and thought about the past.

[Amethest]

I am lurking here..just so ya know...anyone have a problem with that? anyone? btw I read the whole thing...

[Dendory]

Tense situations <div align="left"> </div>My skeletal fighter had no trouble going from one cloudeye to the next, slashing away while I assaulted their minds with powerful spells to kill them. They were perfect monsters to experiment new killing methods. Against my better judgment, Kitho was sitting on a rock behind me and watched me fight with intense interest. I objected when he said he wanted to watch me play, but he insisted in his usual way, with a lot of pleading and a puppy face no one could refuse anything to. Every time a creature would fall dead he would cheer at me. This made me uneasy, as several times while experimenting with a new killing method, I would take real pleasure in torturing the creatures, and hearing that cheer made me feel guilty of my own emotions. Once, when I experimented with a technique that involved me going up to the creature, taking the retina out of its overgrown eye with my bare hand, inserting my whole arm inside its eye socket and squeezing the ocular nerve until it died, I really felt ecstatic. The beast let out maddening screams of pain, and moved around so much that blood and other liquids splatted all over my clothes. As it fell to the ground, dead from the loss of blood, I closed my eyes and kept squeezing as hard as I could, with my arm becoming numb from the pain of squeezing so hard. That's when I heard a quiet: "Dendory..." I stopped squeezing, let go of the creature, and opened my eyes. Kitho was standing next to me: "I think it's dead now." I felt silly, smiled at him and he smiled back. I said: "Why don't we take a break". As we turned around, he exclaimed: "Whoa! You have their blood all over you! That's so ewwwww!" He put his hand on my arm in a spot of blood. I quickly took his hand away from me: "Don't touch that! It's probably poisonous or diseased. I'm going to go clean up, wait here." He nodded, then I went a few yards away to a pool of water. As I looked at the state of my clothes, I noticed that no piece was spared. I removed all my clothes and started washing them in the pool of water. The blood was still fresh and easily cleared up. As I was washing, I noticed the blood spots on my arms. I paused for a moment and wondered if the blood was really poisonous or diseased. Curious, in an impulsive move, I started licking the blood. The initial sensation was very pleasant. The blood went on my tongue and came into my mouth easily, and I swallowed it. But then as it was going down my throat, I felt an intense burning sensation. I quickly drank some water from the pool and the burning stopped. I felt scared for a brief moment, but nothing else seemed to happen. I went back to washing my clothes when I felt a presence behind me, looking at me, from the bushes. I said: "Kitho...." and heard a quiet gasp and foot steps running away. I smiled and finished washing the clothes, then got dressed. As I got back to our previous hunting spot, I felt something was wrong. The birds weren't singing anymore, and I didn't see Kitho anywhere. The area was strangely quiet. I looked around and called out his name: "Kitho?" No reply came. Then I heard some muffled sounds coming from the teleporter area. I quickly rushed over there then came to a stop when I saw an unknown figure standing there. Next to the portal was a tall kerra male. Kerran were a very impressive feline race, with their skin covered with fur, and great patterns showing their lineage. Taller than humans, and usually very proud of their heritage, they were rather rare but always noticeable. This particular kerra was several feet taller than me, with white fur and a chain armor set. He also had a large musical instrument, what looked like a lute, strapped to his back. As I started to come closer, I gasped at what I saw. The feline was holding Kitho with one arm, and had a long carved dagger in the other, holding it at Kitho's throat. I heard the boy scream: "Let me go!" I came up to the scene and said in a menacing tone: "You heard him!" The kerra turned his head toward me, while still holding the dagger to the elf's throat, and gave me a confused look: "What?" I repeated the command: "Let him go!" He looked down at the boy, then looked at me again and said: "Why do you care? He's just a filthy wood elf. He serves our enemies and I decided to kill him. Don't interfere." I came up closer and pointed a fist to the feline: "He's with me, and doesn't deserve to die." The kerra gave me an intrigued look for several seconds. He then spoke again: "He's your friend? What would the Overlord say if he saw you fraternize with the enemies of Freeport? He'd have you executed in the public arena. Still, I can see you care about this boy and I will grant you this wish." He then let go of the elf who quickly hurried toward me and hid behind me. To both my and Kitho's amazement, the kerra's expression drastically changed to a smile and he bowed down in front of us.

[Amethest]

doh writers and leaving ya hanging lol

[Dendory]

Crazy old man The dirge's name was Abara. At least that's what the kerra said to call him. I was sitting on a rock, not far from the portal area, with Kitho sitting right next to me. On another rock facing me was siting Abara. For the past half hour he was telling us stories of his past. How he grew up in a large village of kerran before The Shattering, and then had to flee when it was destroyed, and eventually settled in West Freeport, in search of peace and tranquility. He spent most of his time in taverns, telling stories to travelers and playing some music, but occasionally roamed the planes in search of more adventures to add to his stories. During the whole time, Kitho held my arm with both hands, still fearful of this big feline. I said: "I didn't know there were large communities of kerran, I rarely see any." Abara stayed silent for a moment then said: "There aren't anymore. Most of the people I knew didn't survive the great disaster, and many of the survivors decided to hide in forests or mountains, away from civilization. That's why we're so few in cities." I nodded. He stood up, then took a few steps toward me and Kitho and stood in front of us. I felt the grip on my arm become stronger, as the elf tensed up. Abara spoke to him: "I'm sorry, boy. I didn't mean to scare you. I shouldn't judge people based on their allegiances, it's not the way of my people. I usually try to judge people on what they do." Kitho relaxed and let go of my arm, he nodded to Abara who then turned to me: "My dear, I came up here with a specific purpose. There's a temple not far from here that I want to explore. Legends say that a strange race of bird people live in it and keep mystical artifacts in the center room of that temple. I want to go meet this race and see what stories I can get out of it." I replied: "The aviak? Yes those birds came up to the Overrealm from Norrath ages ago." He nodded: "I know, but those are not typical aviak. These are strange birds indeed, and no one has seen or heard of them in years. Would you and your young friend want to come with me to this great adventure?" Kitho jumped down from the rock to his feet and said: "Oh yes I want to see the bird people! Let's go!" This annoyed me, as I didn't want anything bad to happen to him, but then again I also didn't feel like babysitting a young elf while exploring a dungeon. But as always, Kitho's words touched me like no one else ever could. As he took my hand and pleaded for me to let him come along, I nodded. Abara said: "Ah good! Onward then, let's see what great adventures await us!" On that note, we started going toward the location the kerra said the temple was. We encountered little resistance along the way, and at us 3, plus my skeletal pet, we easily defeated the few cloudeyes, birds and other small creatures who dared attack us. Soon the temple was visible. At that point we stopped, and Abara said: "Give me a moment, I need to refresh and fill up on water, I will be right back." As he headed toward a nearby pool, I scrutinized the front of the temple. The structure was mostly made of stones and looked very old. Vegetation had appeared on both the walls and the front steps. A big wooden door was closed at the top of the stairs. Then I noticed an odd sight. In front of the door, sitting on a stone, was what appeared to be a very old man. I said to Kitho: "Stay here." He reluctantly agreed, and I started walking forward and went up the stairs toward the old man. He looked very old and frail. I asked him: "Who are you and what are you doing here alone?" He looked up at me with a serious expression and hesitated. He looked away as if trying to avoid the question. I put my hand on his left arm and asked again: "Did you hear me?" He looked down to the ground and didn't answer. I was starting to get annoyed. I looked back down toward Kitho and made sure he was still standing where I had left him. Then I turned back toward to man, tightened my grip on his arm, and said: "Will you answer me or do I need to make you talk?" He then looked up at me, and with his right hand he slapped me in the face. I gasped with surprise. The slap was very weak and didn't hurt me at all. This man was obviously incapable of much arm, and it was a wonder how he even got to the temple without being killed by some random monster. I looked at him with a smile and said: "Do you really wish to challenge me?" Apparently that was enough to make him talk: "Bahhh! Look at you, insolent youth! At your age you should be serving some master as his personal slave, not bothering old men at the steps of forgotten temples!" He looked me up and down: "What kind of clothes is that for a girl. You should be pleasing men and serving drinks, not asking questions!" While still amazed at the behavior of this person, I wasn't exactly interested in hearing more about how he thought I should act, so I gently removed my hand from his arm, and patted him on the head. Instead of relaxing him, this made him angry, and he slapped me in the face again. While I was still amazed at this crazy old man who seemed to have no problem slapping me, oblivious to the fact that I could easily incinerate him, I was becoming impatient with him and I slapped him in the face to teach him a lesson. The man fell down from his seat to the ground from the strength of my strike, and then said: "You should be thrown to the dogs, you good for nothing brat." Now I was really angry, and I decided to end this old man's misery. I started casting a powerful spell to kill him. That's when I heard a voice behind me: "Dendory? Is everything alright?"

[Dendory]

Birds Abara was standing on the last step of the stairs. He looked at me and then at the old man on the ground. He put both hands on my shoulders and started massaging me: "Dendory calm down. Killing this old man will accomplish nothing." Feeling more relaxed, I replied: "He insulted me." Abara nodded: "Killing him is your right and I will do nothing to stop it, but if you do it in a fit of rage, how do you know it's really what you wanted to do?" I looked at him, then looked down at the old man. I wasn't sure if Abara was right, if it was really an impulsive move. I really felt this man was serving no purpose, and should be thought a lesson for insulting me. But a killing was perhaps too strong for the situation. I turned back to Abara and said: "What do you suggest as a proper lesson for teaching this man not to insult young girls?" Abara pondered the question while continuing to massage me. He looked at the old man and asked him: "So, why did you insult my new friend here, and why aren't you showing us more respect?" The man finally got back up, then slowly sat back down where he used to be, always keeping the same serious facial expression, then replied: "You should tell her to start pleasuring you, instead of massaging her shoulders like a servant!" We looked at each other, amazed at this response, then both started laughing. I looked down the steps toward Kitho, who was visibly starting to get impatient and was running circles. I shouted: "Come Kitho!" He quickly came up the steps and joined us. He saw Abara's hands on my shoulders, and gave him a nudge on the side: "Lucky cat!" Abara stopped cold and blushed: "Oh no, it's not what you think. I would never presume... I mean... It's just..." I laughed at his obvious discomfort and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I then turned around and said: "Let's leave this old man to his misery and get on with our adventure." The inside of the temple was very creepy. It had several hallways and rooms, all made of stones, with what appeared to be old drawings on the walls. There was no aviak or other bird people in sight, but the hallways were crawling with monstrous lizard like creatures. I told Kitho: "Be careful and stay behind me." As we advanced in the various hallways, we battled and vanquished each monster one after the other. I sent my ever obedient undead pet to slash at the creature, while casting deadly spells. Abara was singing songs of courage while striking at the encounter with his curved dagger, and Kitho gave powerful punches and kicks whenever he felt the monster was occupied with one of us and wouldn't turn on him for doing so. After going through several hallways and rooms, killing over a dozen lizards and other strange lizard like creatures, we came to a large room. The room was completely empty except for one creature in the middle of it, standing in front of a large orb. Abara said: "Look! That's what I told you!" The creature looked like an aviak, a large bird standing on its two back paws and able of some intelligence, but it also wore leather pieces of armor, and its front paws looked more like arms than bird paws. The bird was facing away from us but was apparently in deep meditation. The orb in front of it was red and emitted a light reddish aura. It was on a small stone pillar and didn't appear to have any immediate purpose. We walked forward and came closer to the creature, unsure how it would react. As we got a few feet behind it, the bird apparently noticed us and turned around. It then let out an extremely loud cry: "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!" We all got startled by it, and froze in place. We then noticed two doors on the sides of the room had opened up, and 4 more bird creatures came in the room. The birds then attacked us. We defended ourselves and started battling the creatures. The fight was hard and I was worried we may be in trouble against so many creatures. They didn't use weapons but had powerful beaks that could probably open severe wounds. As I feared the worse, I noticed the two doors led to smaller rooms, and in one of the rooms was a cage, with what appeared to be a prisoner inside it. The prisoner looked at us and shouted: "Hey you! Come get me out of here and I'll help you kill those birds!" I quickly told Abara to keep the birds busy for a moment and headed to the cage. I opened the cage and let the prisoner out. It was a dark elf male, slightly older than me and in full plate armor. He thanked me and in a quick motion picked up a small mace that was on the ground. We headed back into the fight as Abara was starting to get wounded by the endless attacks. As I feared for him and for Kitho, Abara looked at me, distress in his eyes.

[niko_teen]

<cite>Dendory wrote:</cite><blockquote>always keeping the same serious facial expression, then replied: "You should tell her to start pleasuring you, instead of massaging her shoulders like a servant!" </blockquote><p>FTR - That is not me hanging out at the temple steps. </p><p>/ponders a moment</p><p>well not that I can recall lately.</p>

[Dendory]

The orb <div align="left"> </div>As I went back into the battle, I saw the dark elf start casting powerful healing spells to close our wounds and allow us to keep fighting. I gave a sigh of relief and with renew vigor, we vanquished the birds and killed all 5 creatures. I thanked the dark elf: "Thanks for your assistance, I don't know if we would have been able to handle this without you." He nodded: "It's my pleasure, I'm grateful you freed me from that cage. You see I was part of a group of adventurers who came here several weeks ago, but I got lost in the temple and the birds captured me. They held me in that cage for days. My name is Maitan, and I'm an inquisitor. I help my fellow comrades in battle by providing heals and cures." I said: "Nice to meet you, I'm Dendory, and these are Abara and Kitho." He bowed and said: "Dendory, what a nice name for a lady. I'm glad to meet you all." As he was saying that, I noticed that Kitho went near the red orb, and was putting his hand on it, probably curious as to what this strange artifact was. I started to object: "Kitho don't do that.." but as soon as he had touched the orb, a strange voice came from within the center of the orb: "Xeberosil, where were you? I've been waiting for you!" Kitho took several steps back, startled by the sudden voice. The orb continued to speak: "Is it you? Who is there?" I stepped closer to the orb, and noticed the face of a dark elf male had appeared in the center of it. The voice was apparently coming from that person, communicating through the orb. Abara and Maitan came closer and looked at the face. Maitan said: "I know who this is. He's a thug named Koruval from Neriak. He abduct people and sells them as slaves in the Neriak black market. He's a dangerous man, I don't know why he would be communicating with these bird people." The face slowly vanished from within the orb, and it became silent again. I put my hand on it, hoping the face would reappear, but nothing happened. Abara said: "Well this will surely give me new stories to tell travelers in taverns." Maitan looked worried, so I asked him: "What's wrong?" He replied: "I'm not sure. It troubles me that someone like Koruval would be talking to such powerful beings as these bird people. I fear something bad is going to happen. You see, I used to be a thug too. I worked with Koruval on several less than glamorous businesses in Neriak, until I was found out and thrown out of the city. Koruval blamed me for everything and went free. I always wanted my revenge but I can't go back in the city or the guards will kill me. Yet this deserve a further investigation. I still have people I care about in Neriak and I don't want such a character to get any more power than he should. We need to go to him and steal whatever device allows him to communicate with these orbs." Me and Abara looked at each other, then I said: "Alright, let's go investigate this matter in Neriak. I'm sure we could ask this thug a few questions." We turned around and headed out of the temple. As we came out, I noticed the old man was still sitting on his stone. I stopped and looked at him for a moment. I then told my companions: "Go ahead to the portal, I'll catch up to you." Abara gave me a worried look, then nodded. They went on ahead, while I stood alone near the old man, thinking about what happened earlier. I tried to think of a way to make him pay for his insolence, and pondered once again killing him, which I felt more free to do since none of my friends were watching. I watched him for several minutes, while he remained sitting there, looking at the ground in front of him, doing nothing. I then decided it wasn't worth it, and started to walk away. As I walked past the old man, I heard him speak: "Well well the brat is back." I turned around and gave him a cold look: "Look grandpa, I don't know who you are, and you clearly don't know who I am, but you're acting as if you wanted to die. Do you want me to kill you, because I'll be glad to do so." This didn't seem to phase him and he kept his serious look, as if I hadn't said anything. I continued: "Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm not going to serve you or pleasure you and there's nothing you can do to force me." He looked at me for several seconds, then looked back to the ground and said: "Shame." I thought about how this made me feel, that I should probably feel pity for this lonely man, but I didn't. In fact I didn't feel anything, other than perhaps curiosity toward this crazy old man. I wasn't really angry at him either, but I had a strong conviction that he needed to die. I bent down and picked him up from his seat by the shoulders, as he gave me a confused look and started protesting "Hey... What do you think you're.." At that point I brought him toward the side of the stairs, and left him standing near a drop of several feet, dangling dangerously close to falling. For the first time since I've first seen him, his face turned to another expression: fear. I stood in front of him and looked at him for several seconds, while he was doing his best not to fall over the side. He reached a hand forward, pleading for me to help him. I approached him, stood only a few inches in front of his raised hand, and put my hand in his, as if to help him. As his face started to look more relaxed, I let go and gave him a small push, which sent him falling down the side. He landed on the rocky ground and I heard the sound of bones snapping and saw blood start coming out from the now motionless corpse. I went down the stairs, gave him a last look, then walked toward the teleporter.

[Dendory]

Neriak <div align="left"> </div>As we ported down to the Commonlands, everyone was silent. We started walking north toward Neriak, Kitho looked at me and asked: "Did you kill him? Did the old man die?" I looked down on the ground, trying to avoid his look, and unsure how to answer. Abara saw my discomfort and tried to comfort the boy: "Someday you'll understand that things don't always go the way you might want them to, Kitho." He gave him a disappointed look, and we kept going. We got to the Darklight Woods, in front of Neriak, the city of the dark elves. I looked at Kitho and said: "You can't go in, they would kill you on sight. You'll have to wait for us here." Maitan then said: "I can't go in either, I was banished from the city and I'm sure they wouldn't be pleased to see me again." I said: "Alright you two stay here and I'll go with Abara then." At which point Abara looked embarrassed and said: "Well uhm actually, there was this one time when I was in a Neriak tavern and uhm, things got out of hand. You see, there was this lady.. but I didn't know she was the wife of the chief of the guard, otherwise you can be sure I would never have.. uhm.. you know.." I snapped: "Fine! You three stay here, and I'll go by myself, and meet the thug." Abara said: "Yes, yes, I think that would be the wisest choice. Now be careful in there my dear." As I started walking toward the gate, I felt a firm grip on my arm. I looked down and saw that Kitho was holding on to me, with a worried expression on his face: "You'll come back right?" I nodded. He continued: "Promise?" I turned to face him, smiled and patted him on the head: "I promise I will never leave you." A smile appeared and he let go. I started walking to the gate again. As soon as I stepped inside Neriak, a booming voice came from the side of the gate: "Halt! Identify yourself!" I looked toward the voice, and saw two guards. They were both tall dark elf males, in full ceremonial plate armor, holding a big two handed sword. They were both standing on Worg mounts, scary looking beasts with red eyes and drips of saliva all around their mouths. These were obviously formidable fighters. I replied: "I am Dendory, in the service of the Overlord of Freeport, on official business." The guard who had spoken said: "You may pass." Then they both looked away from me, straight ahead of them. I asked: "Do you know where I could find someone named Koruval?" None of the guards looked back at me, nor did they answer me, but both of the Worgs did as if they understood my question. They both looked in my direction and started growling in a menacing manner. I stepped back, and started walking in the city. I gave the guards one last look, and saw that the Worgs were back to their calm state, looking ahead of them, in the same direction as the guards. I arrived at the New Third Gate district, and the first building I saw was a tavern. As I was about to open the door to enter, I heard loud talking inside. I opened the door and stepped in. The tavern was nearly empty. Inside I could see the bartender, a male sitting at the bar with several empty bottles in front of him, one sitting on a chair in the back of the room, and then two males standing up near the door arguing. All were dark elves. One of the elves was loudly shouting at the other: "Listen when I talk to you! Will you listen?!" The other one was trying to calm him down: "Shut up! You're drunk! Go sit and stop making so much noise." However there was no calming this elf: "I told you to listen! Don't tell me to shut up, I need people to listen to me!" At this point the loud dark elf picked up a chair and threw it to the other, who tried to get out of the way but still got hit on the side with the chair. He fell to the ground and the loud elf picked up another chair and started to walk toward him. I walked over and put myself between the two and said to the loud elf: "Is there a problem here?" He came to a stop, surprised to see me, put the chair down and said: "What? Who are you? Get out of my way!" As he saw that I wasn't moving, he said: "You think I'm scared of a little girl? I said get out of the way!" I replied: "Don't make me hurt you." The man looked me up and down, and in a slightly calmer tone said: "But I'm twice as big as you. Look at those muscles!" As he flexed his muscles in front of me, I crossed my arms over my chest and stood there with a menacing look. He took a step back and said in a quiet voice: "Bah, I need another drink." He went to the back of the room and sat down next to the one that was already sitting and watching the whole event unfold. The guy that was on the ground stood up and briefly thanked me, then exited the tavern. I went to the bartender who told me: "Bold. I rarely see girls of your strength of character stand up to these brutes. Especially an outsider." I replied: "Outsider?" He said: "I mean no disrespect, we just don't see that many humans in Neriak, at least not outside the Foreign District. Can I serve you a drink?" I replied: "Just some information. Do you know someone named Koruval?" He looked around nervously and said: "Everyone knows him. Everyone also knows not to cross his path. He is a nasty thug, and he has a large following now in Neriak. A lot of people aren't happy with the way Queen Cristanos made a deal with the Overlord. Freeport is great and all, but it isn't Neriak. We're dark elves here, and no one wants to be the puppet of the Overlord. The Queen sold us all to remain in power, and many people don't like it." I looked back at the two men sitting and noticed they were both looking at me, with anger on their faces. I turned my attention back to the bartender: "I'm not interested in politics. Do you know where I can find him?" The bartender hesitated, then said: "I can tell you where he is but you have to promise me not to speak of it. If he learns that I told on him, he will surely kill me." I nodded. Just as he was about to continue, a voice came from the direction of the door: "Kill you? That's quite right."

[Dendory]

Capture I looked at the door and saw a tall dark elf stand in the door frame. He was wearing very luxurious clothes with several golden necklaces. He stepped inside the room and I saw four more elves come in after him. These were all big, very muscular and with menacing looks on their faces. The luxurious elf spoke: "I'm Koruval, I'm glad to tell you that you have found me." The bartender started shaking, while the one at the bar went back to his bottles, trying not to draw too much attention. The man I had confronted earlier stood up from his chair and shouted: "Koruval, this girl challenged me earlier!" Koruval looked at him and said: "Is that so? Then surely you will want to do battle with her. Don't let us interrupt you, we'll watch." The loud elf sat back down, embarrassed: "Well you see.. I thought maybe you guys could.. you know.." Koruval started laughing: "Hahaha you coward. Very well I shall handle this. So what is it you want my dear?" I looked at him and his thugs, and said: "I saw your face in an orb, and it looked just as ugly as it looks in person, Koruval." I was starting to get worried, as I wasn't sure I could handle him plus his thugs by myself. I tried to think of a way to get out of here, but there was only one door and they were standing in front of it. He took an angry expression and said: "Watch your tongue, little one. Take her!" As the four thugs came toward me, I commanded my skeletal fighter to charge one, while I started casting spells on the other three. I managed to overpower one of the thug with carefully used spells, but the other three started to hurt me with their fists, and tried to grab me while I jumped from one table to the next, trying to escape. My skeleton fell into a pile of dust, and the situation looked desperate. As one of the thugs gave me a painful hit to the chest, Koruval shouted: "I want her alive!" That's when one of the thug picked up a big wooden plank and hit me on the head with it. I fell to the ground, unconscious. When I woke up, I was locked in a cage, in an unknown room. My head was hurting, but otherwise I was fine. I noticed that someone had removed all my clothes. That's when the door of the room opened up, and two thugs came in. One of them was holding some clothes, threw them in my direction, and said: "Dress up. You're one of Koruval's slaves now. You'll be serving drinks to his patrons." I spit in his direction as he left and closed the door. I looked at the clothes he had thrown me. They were nothing more than leather underwear, very revealing from all sides. I put them on reluctantly, as it was better than nothing at all, and I stood up in the cage, trying to think of a way out of there. Shortly after, the two thugs came back, opened the cage, and grabbed my arms. They brought me to an adjacent room. The room was very big, with lots of round tables, chairs, and more than a dozen people sitting, drinking, eating and chatting. A big troll came over and handed me a plate with several drinks on it. He pushed me toward the room and said: "You work now." I felt humiliated. Everywhere I went inside that room, I saw eyes looking at my body, and felt hands grabbing and pinching my legs and arms. After a few hours of this, one of the patrons who had grabbed my legs more times than most gave me a slap on the leg and made my plate fall to the ground, spilling the drinks all over the place. As it fell down, several customers started laughing and applauding the offending brute. At that point I decided to strike back, and I started launching spells at the brute. He screamed in pain as I sent dark energies to his brain, and everyone else gasped in surprise. As I ripped his soul from his skull with one powerful incantation, the whole room erupted in a panic and all the elves started running for the exit. At that moment, well over ten thugs came running from various doors and then ran toward me to try and stop me, but I quickly took the opportunity to slip away in the middle of the crazed crowd. As I exited the building, I spotted a house on the other side of the street whose door was half open. I ran to it, entered the house and closed the door. As I hid behind the door and looked out through a hole, I could see the various thugs out in the street, confused as to where I had escaped, and looking for me. That's when I heard a voice behind me: "Who are you?"

[Amethest]

you keep posting and I will definately keep reading <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Dendory]

Escape As I turned around, I saw an old dark elf male standing in the room, looking at me, first with an expression of anger, and then as he saw how I was dressed, a smile appeared on his face. Unsure if I would have to defend myself, I raised my arms in a menacing fashion. He replied: "Don't worry, I'm just an old farmer, I don't wish to fight, although I would be interested in hearing how you stumbled upon my house in such an attire." I dropped my guard and said: "I'm sorry for coming here, but I was captured by a gang of thugs and had to escape." He nodded, and said: "Come, I know the tunnels of Neriak well, I can help you escape." I told him: "It's very generous of you, although first I need to locate the secret hideout of Koruval to take care of some business." He nodded again, then led me through a secret door in the basement, then through a series of mazes. Neriak, being an underground city, had its share of tunnels. Any time a group of people wanted to go somewhere discretely, either for political, criminal or other reasons, a secret tunnel was built. The old farmer apparently knew the tunnels well, and brought me up to a back alley just across a small wooden house where he indicated Koruval kept his relics and conducted his secret meetings. He wished me good luck then went back to his house. As I was standing in this back alley, I saw the place looked creepy. The houses were all made of poor quality wood, and there were rats roaming the street. As I started to approach the hideout, I heard a voice to my left: "Hey! Are you working too? This is my street! Get away from here!" I turned toward the voice, and saw a female dark elf standing in a street corner. She was older than me, fat and very ugly. She wore a revealing outfit. I walked over to her and said: "You were saying?" She repeated: "This is my street!" She looked me up and down. I was still wearing nothing but the leather underwear: "I thought all humans worked in the Foreign District. Get your own street if you want to get money." She gave me a menacing look. I decided to take my revenge on this elf, and started speaking the words of a spell. Dark rays came from my hands and landed on her head, draining her soul with the powerful incantation. As she felt her life draining away, she gasped for air and said, panicked: "What's happening to me? What are you doing?!" I replied: "There's nothing but rats here. You should thank me for saving you from them." As the last breath of air left her body, she fell to the ground, motionless. I turned around, and went to the hideout. I looked through the window, and the small house seemed to be empty. I did however notice a large chest in the corner, with clothes on it. I went in, and was relieved to find they were my items. I quickly dressed up, then started trying to open the chest. Unfortunately the chest was locked. That's when I heard the sound of a horse outside. I quickly went back outside, and hid behind a barrel. I saw it was Koruval, still dressed with his luxurious items, but this time he was alone. He went inside the hideout, looked around to make sure no one followed him, then opened the chest and put an item in it. Just as he was about to close it, I summoned my undead servant, went back inside the room and stood in the door frame. As he saw me, his face took an angry expression: "You! Do you know how much trouble you caused me just now? What did you do with your new attire?" I replied sarcastically: "It wasn't my size." He became even more angry, then took a small dagger from his pocket and threw it at me. I dodged out of the way as the dagger came splatting against the door frame. I said: "Now that your thugs aren't here to protect you, let's see how well you fight." He charged at me, with 2 daggers in his hands. I quickly commanded my skeletal fighter to attack, and Koruval had to back away to avoid being hit by its sword. He cursed at me, then started fighting the skeleton. As he fought, I launched several spells against him to drain him of life. Every time a spell landed, he winced, and that gave me intense pleasure. As he sensed the fight was turning against him, Koruval decided to try and escape. He gave a swift kick to the skeleton, then jumped through a window. I yelled at him: "Get back here, I'm not done with you!" then started running after him. He ran across the alley, turned his head toward me and smiled in my direction, thinking he was going to get away. That's when he came to the exact spot the dead elf was, and tripped on her body. As he fell to the ground, I caught up to him and started assaulted him with spells again. As he turned to face me, still on the ground, his face was twisted from the number of draining spells I had used against him, but was still showing an expression of fear. He pleaded: "Please.. I'll give you coins! I'll make you rich if you spare me!" I spit on him, then launched a last incantation, my most cruel spell. As the mystical energies hit his body, his heart started burning within his body. He grabbed onto his chest and gasped for air. The effect ended, and no air entered his mouth anymore. Life was gone from his eyes, and his head slowly came down on the ground. The last push of blood reached his head, and his eyes turned toward me one last time. As his body became motionless, I went to pick up the leather clothes he had forced me to wear, then threw them on his corpse. I went back to the opened chest, and looked inside. I found various artifacts of dubious quality, but I did find an orb identical to the one I had seen in the temple. I picked it up, and threw it on the ground. The glass orb broke in a dozen pieces. Before closing the chest, I noticed a decent amount of gold coins, which I picked up. Walking out of Neriak, I vowed never to return to this corrupted city.

[Dendory]

Sunset <div align="left"> "Dendory!!!" shouted Kitho as he saw me approaching their camp. Abara said: "My dear, we were starting to get worried, you've been gone almost 2 days now." I smiled. As I came up to them, Maitan bowed down, while Kitho rushed to me and gave me a hug. I reported: "That thug won't bother us anymore." Maitan asked: "You killed him?" I nodded. Kitho said: "Wow! You're so cool!" I looked at him and started laughing. As the sun set over the horizon, we sat down around a camp fire and listened to Abara tell stories of the past. He told of times long gone, before The Shattering, when the gods had a direct influence on the fate of Norrath. He told us legends of heroes long dead, and lost treasures. Some of these stories had only been told a handful of times, by some traveling troubadours, and depicted dragons, giants and other mystical creatures. I looked at the sky and watched the stars, as bright as ever. There were no lights nearby, except for the camp fire, and the whole sky was visible. As we grew tired, we went to sleep in the grass. I stayed sitting and watched the others fall asleep one by one. I stood up and walked over to each of them one by one, standing next to them as they slept, and watched for several minutes. I could hear their breathing. We were a strange group, brought together by luck and fate. I didn't know how long I would travel with them, probably as long as it would be advantageous to each of us. Groups of adventurers never stayed together very long, especially in Freeport. Greed was a constant. I came up to Kitho last. I sat next to him and watched him sleep. He still had a smile on his mouth as he was sleeping, and that made me smile. I thought about our chance encounter a few days back, and how he had grown since I helped him up from the deck, back in Qeynos. Since then he was looking up to me as an older sister, he revered me. I felt I wasn't worthy of his friendship. I had done lots of terrible things that I wished he would never find out about. Part of me wished I could just leave, and spare him any possible pain from being near me. But I promised him. I told him I would not leave him. And for the first time in my life, I was completely sure of one thing. I would never break that promise. The end. </div>

[Amethest]

woot grats on completing your story..i read the whole thing <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />