Post by Taika of Narfell on Sept 30, 2003 12:18:22 GMT 1
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the recognisable characters and places, they belong to Wizards of the Coast and the authors writing for them. I'm not making any money either - so don't sue.
Prologue: How it all began
The drow city of Ust Natha was silent as always. The tall, magnificent structures were looming next to each other like vultures staring down their prey. The darkness was impenetrable to anyone, who was not born to live in this place. In the city streets no one was seen, but someone was there. A group of drow was tiptoeing through the silent passages of the city. They were returning from a mission - a surface raid, and a successful one at that. Prisoners, new slaves, were being brought to the city's slave pound, from where they would be sold to their new owners.
To talk about morning and day in this world of unending night would seem pointless, as light was nonexistent here. The static darkness enveloped the city, but still one could always tell whether it was night or day. Deals being made were a good indicator as to what time it was. Assassinations were always an issue no matter the time of the day, but merchants were only out in the daytime, and by then the streets were slightly more crowded than at night. Not that one could ever call the streets of a drow city crowded even if they were they would not appear to be. But drow are stealthy creatures, who prefer not to be seen unless there is a point with it.
This morning however, only few merchants opened their shops. The slave auctions would always take place in the mornings. And this particular morning they drew a rather large crowd. Everybody had heard of the surface raiders successfully returning with a group of slaves, some of which were highly interesting indeed. The word was out that the human slaves were black like the drow themselves. It was whispered in the streets that not only did they have black skin, also their hair and eyes were black. Truly it was quite a novelty if the rumours were true. They would be rare and valuable indeed, thus they would bring in high prices and more importantly, the more people that wanted them, the bigger the chance to see a few assassinations take place. Oh yes, this would be an entertaining morning indeed.
On the slaver stockade three different moods were represented. First and foremost was the eager anticipation and excitement of the slavers. They knew they would benefit greatly from this day's auction, and though drow rarely showed any emotion at all the anticipation was so evident it was almost solid, and here and there even a smug grin could be seen. The other moods represented there were of a quite different nature. Repressed anger and hate glowed from the eyes of the majority of the slaves. These were chained securely to prevent them from acting on their aggressive feelings, and as the vengeful slaves made up the larger of the groups, their emotions were not to be underestimated. Should they manage to work each other up to riot, it could prove fatal to the auction arrangement.
The rest of the slaves were calm. They sat quietly and awaited their fate. The rebellious ones had quickly pronounced that these quiet individuals simply had submitted to apathy. That would seem like a plausible explanation, but if examined a little closer, their eyes did not show the emptiness of apathy, but the calm melancholy and acceptance of a fight that could not be won, and the silent contemplation of a future that did not seem too bright at the moment.
One of the calm slaves was a woman in her late twenties. She was very pretty, with the long curly hair reaching to her waist, which was slim. Of stature she was small and seemed fragile, and spite the fact that she was human, she was not bigger than the average drow. Her eyes, however, were melancholic, as they had been since she woke up and found herself bound on hands and feet. Now she sat naked among the rest of the slaves. She seemed to be in denial and truing to forget her surroundings. When ordered, she got up and followed the slaver guard onto the auction platform.
Humans were generally taller and broader than elves, but the female currently on bidding was exceptionally small and therefore attractive to the brothel owners. It was evident in the bidding going on now. The price rose higher and higher but came to an abrupt stop when two of the bidders suddenly disappeared from view. Where they once stood the crowd now parted to reveal the two collapsed bodies with daggers protruding from between their shoulder blades. After having acknowledged the unwilling 'retreat' of the two bidders and the willing retreat of another two, the auctioneer declared the 'black human female sold to the last bidder present'.
The change of ownership took place behind the platform. Where the woman stood passively and waited for whatever was going to happen next. The brothel owner, a tall, brutal looking male, with a nasty scar running down his left cheek walked over to her, handed her a simple piece of clothing, and told her to put it on. So she did and he bid her follow him. They walked off the slaver stockade grounds to meet with some guards.
The procession made its way through the city slowly - for the woman could not see well in the unwavering darkness and thus she kept stumbling on the broken ground. When they finally reached the building that was to be her new home, the guards took up posts around the building, while the owner led his newly acquired slave inside.
The woman lived and served in the brothel for the remainder of her days, and the story could have ended here, had it not been for the fact that she conceived and became with child. She gave birth to a healthy girl child with black skin and black hair, but white eyebrows and pointy ears. The father had apparently been a drow.
This child - born as a half-breed, drow and human, grew up in Ust Natha, the oldest drow city of the Underdark - this is her story...
*****************************************
Please review and tell me if I should continue this and write the story of the child, or if I should scrap it and salvage the usable bits.
Prologue: How it all began
The drow city of Ust Natha was silent as always. The tall, magnificent structures were looming next to each other like vultures staring down their prey. The darkness was impenetrable to anyone, who was not born to live in this place. In the city streets no one was seen, but someone was there. A group of drow was tiptoeing through the silent passages of the city. They were returning from a mission - a surface raid, and a successful one at that. Prisoners, new slaves, were being brought to the city's slave pound, from where they would be sold to their new owners.
To talk about morning and day in this world of unending night would seem pointless, as light was nonexistent here. The static darkness enveloped the city, but still one could always tell whether it was night or day. Deals being made were a good indicator as to what time it was. Assassinations were always an issue no matter the time of the day, but merchants were only out in the daytime, and by then the streets were slightly more crowded than at night. Not that one could ever call the streets of a drow city crowded even if they were they would not appear to be. But drow are stealthy creatures, who prefer not to be seen unless there is a point with it.
This morning however, only few merchants opened their shops. The slave auctions would always take place in the mornings. And this particular morning they drew a rather large crowd. Everybody had heard of the surface raiders successfully returning with a group of slaves, some of which were highly interesting indeed. The word was out that the human slaves were black like the drow themselves. It was whispered in the streets that not only did they have black skin, also their hair and eyes were black. Truly it was quite a novelty if the rumours were true. They would be rare and valuable indeed, thus they would bring in high prices and more importantly, the more people that wanted them, the bigger the chance to see a few assassinations take place. Oh yes, this would be an entertaining morning indeed.
On the slaver stockade three different moods were represented. First and foremost was the eager anticipation and excitement of the slavers. They knew they would benefit greatly from this day's auction, and though drow rarely showed any emotion at all the anticipation was so evident it was almost solid, and here and there even a smug grin could be seen. The other moods represented there were of a quite different nature. Repressed anger and hate glowed from the eyes of the majority of the slaves. These were chained securely to prevent them from acting on their aggressive feelings, and as the vengeful slaves made up the larger of the groups, their emotions were not to be underestimated. Should they manage to work each other up to riot, it could prove fatal to the auction arrangement.
The rest of the slaves were calm. They sat quietly and awaited their fate. The rebellious ones had quickly pronounced that these quiet individuals simply had submitted to apathy. That would seem like a plausible explanation, but if examined a little closer, their eyes did not show the emptiness of apathy, but the calm melancholy and acceptance of a fight that could not be won, and the silent contemplation of a future that did not seem too bright at the moment.
One of the calm slaves was a woman in her late twenties. She was very pretty, with the long curly hair reaching to her waist, which was slim. Of stature she was small and seemed fragile, and spite the fact that she was human, she was not bigger than the average drow. Her eyes, however, were melancholic, as they had been since she woke up and found herself bound on hands and feet. Now she sat naked among the rest of the slaves. She seemed to be in denial and truing to forget her surroundings. When ordered, she got up and followed the slaver guard onto the auction platform.
Humans were generally taller and broader than elves, but the female currently on bidding was exceptionally small and therefore attractive to the brothel owners. It was evident in the bidding going on now. The price rose higher and higher but came to an abrupt stop when two of the bidders suddenly disappeared from view. Where they once stood the crowd now parted to reveal the two collapsed bodies with daggers protruding from between their shoulder blades. After having acknowledged the unwilling 'retreat' of the two bidders and the willing retreat of another two, the auctioneer declared the 'black human female sold to the last bidder present'.
The change of ownership took place behind the platform. Where the woman stood passively and waited for whatever was going to happen next. The brothel owner, a tall, brutal looking male, with a nasty scar running down his left cheek walked over to her, handed her a simple piece of clothing, and told her to put it on. So she did and he bid her follow him. They walked off the slaver stockade grounds to meet with some guards.
The procession made its way through the city slowly - for the woman could not see well in the unwavering darkness and thus she kept stumbling on the broken ground. When they finally reached the building that was to be her new home, the guards took up posts around the building, while the owner led his newly acquired slave inside.
The woman lived and served in the brothel for the remainder of her days, and the story could have ended here, had it not been for the fact that she conceived and became with child. She gave birth to a healthy girl child with black skin and black hair, but white eyebrows and pointy ears. The father had apparently been a drow.
This child - born as a half-breed, drow and human, grew up in Ust Natha, the oldest drow city of the Underdark - this is her story...
*****************************************
Please review and tell me if I should continue this and write the story of the child, or if I should scrap it and salvage the usable bits.
