Scales & Spells

Marcus sat against the wall of the cage wagon, his arms chained above his head. Even in the dead of night, what little light there was reflected off his silvery scales and the only sound in the cage was the rustle as he moved his large, leathery wings in a vain attempt at getting comfortable.

Unlike the normal image one gets at the mention of a half-dragon, Marcus was mostly humanoid, the only differences being his wings, tail, scales, claws, teeth, eyes (which were slit-pupiled and pale silver) and lack of ears (which were merely small holes on the sides of his head). Strangely - for a scaled creature at least - he had hair; long and white, reaching down to his waist. When he'd been captured by the drow, his gear had been confiscated - possibly to be sold to merchants in the Underdark or recycled by duergar smiths - though they'd been 'gracious' enough to leave him with a pair of rough pants that would've itched like crazy if he'd had skin rather than scales (though he'd had to tear the tail-hole himself).

He'd been after the bounty on the drow woman leading the raid; a woman he now knew to be a rather powerful cleric of Lolth. It was actually because of her that he was now stuck in an adamantine cage; she'd used her magic to weaken him enough for her men to subdue him. He hadn't given up on the bounty though, not by a long shot. Since half-dragons aren't as reliant on sleep as most other beings, Marcus was making the most of the time by going over what he knew about his captors.

Two guys out the front of cage, one of them has the key. There's four drow around that fireplace and another eight patrolling the perimeter in pairs. Now what about the cage? Can't force the door open; nothing short of a golem can break adamantine with their bare hands. These shackles are adamantine too, but are the chains? Nope; regular iron there. Guess even the Underdark's got its share of cheapskate smiths. They put my gear in the Raid Matron's wagon, probably because she's the only one who can examine the enchantments and get a proper idea of their value. Why I haven't sold all that stuff and retired, I don't know. Wait, yes I do; I'm only twenty and I've got another several centuries of life to do something with. Talk about schizo aging; I grew up at the same rate as a human til a couple of years ago and now I've slowed down so much I might outlive most elves. It was at this point that he realised his train of thought was derailing (despite the fact that trains didn't exist in Faerûn). Gotta focus. How am I going to get out of this one?

Verrith

I crouched in the shadows, hidden from sight by my most prized possession- a ring of greater invisibility. It would only work for two hours total a day, but that was enough for my current needs. Spying on accursed drow raiders.

A wave of fury and disgust ran down my back, silently shifting the feathers of my wings. It took a great deal of will power not to drop a swarm of Doom Scarabs on top of the patrol pair nearest me and initiate mayhem. I forced the urge down, biding my time, following the patrol unit back toward their main camp, booted feet silent on the rocky ground.

As we came around a corner, I caught a glimpse of what I'd feared I would see. Trapped and chained, bound by magic and obviously adamantine cuffs, stood my target, the half dragon. I had heard of one in the area and was curious enough to want to test my strength against it. It wasn't everyday a gal got to spar with a legend.

But before I had found him, these drow had. I seethed inside, enraged over their presence, the very fact that they were breathing. Though my outward features may lie, I was, at heart, an elf like my mother and the drow were an enemy of my race and all other races. I smiled wickedly as I found an off-path spot about forty feet from the encampment.

I knew well the arcane and divine abilities granted to the Spider Queen's children. I was an orphan because of it. All that I had left of my mother was my ring and the blood in my veins.

Studying the drow encampment I pondered over how to spring the half dragon and maybe (hopefully) kill a few (all) of the drow in the process.

Why are the patrols carrying lanterns? Aren't drow supposed to be able to see in the dark? Unless they're not using them for the light, but for something else. But what else could a lantern... Of course! They're those invisibility-negating ones; lanterns of... something-or-other. Smart idea; the light won't cut into their night vision and if an invisible assailant gets near a patrol, they'll be exposed. I may hate these hole-dwelling psychopaths, but I admire intelligence when I see it.

Not that any of that helps me getting out of here.

"Well this is annoying." he said aloud.

"What'd you say, prisoner?" one of his guards replied.

"Nothing of importance; wouldn't matter to you even if you heard it in context."

"How do I know that wasn't supposed to be a trigger phrase for a spell or something?"

"Since when have you heard a spell trigger in Common? If I'd said that in Draconic, then your paranoia would be well founded, but since I said it in Common; you're just making yourself look like an idiot."

Grimacing, the drow warrior pulled a wand out of his belt (further proving Marcus' theory that this raid was very well funded) and pressed the end of it against the bars of the cage, triggering it and sending a jolt of electricity through the bars and shackles. Fortunately, it was a very weak spell and the half-breed didn't find it all that painful, he simply shuddered as though he'd enjoyed it (a deception he'd found to be very effective at freaking people out).

"Thanks for the wake-up, felt like I was going to go to sleep for a minute there." His comment was just met with another burst from the wand. "How many charges are in that thing, by the way? I just want to get an idea of how long I have to sit through your vain attempts at stress-relief." The drow simply turned away from the cage. "What, ignoring me now? Too scared to come in here and zap me directly?"

"That would dis-obey the Raid Matron; and what she will do to me if that happens will be far worse than anything you can inflict on me."

"'Abyss hath no fury like a woman scorned' and all that, huh?" If I can taunt this guy into opening the cage; it'll be my ticket out of here.

Verrith

I watched the patrols sweep in and around, carrying, of all things inane, lanterns. Something tickled at the back of my mind but I pushed it away.

The half dragon (I wonder what the other half is) was tormenting the guards now, encouraging them to hit the cage with some kind of electrical attack. Shaking my head, I silently cast spider climb onto myself and crawled up the cavern wall, ducking into a crevice before turning off my ring. Between my black armor and the heavy stone, I was relatively invisible.

Looking straight down I could see the Raid Matron's tent (though why she'd need it underground was beyond me) and the cage next to it. Things were going somewhat according to plan, if one discounted the drow, I mused before things went to the Infernal realms in a hand basket.

My aunt's voice rang out through the cavern, clear as a bell. "Verrith, child, what are you doing in that dark little nook?"

Stifling a groan, I had just enough time to cast Deflect on myself before they found my hidey-hole. I knew they'd found it by the rain of poisoned bolts that flew inside, some barely glancing off of my armor.

Swearing fluently in drow, elf, Infernal and common, I flung myself from the hollow, blades flashing in my hands as I dove for my nearest opponent, the one wielding the little lightning stick.

"Verrith, you seem busy, I'll message back," aunt Torthis chirped at me before her voice disappeared from the cavern. She's always been like that, worst possible timing.... ever.

Seeing the young woman charging towards his cage, Marcus took advantage of the guards' surprise and leapt up as quickly as he could, snapping the iron chains with almost no effort. He grabbed the wand-user's partner through the bars, pulling him against the cage and used his claws to tear the dark elf's throat out.

As his body fell, Marcus fumbled to grab the keys from the guard's belt. Looking up for an instant, he saw the wand-using guard draw his sword while still brandishing the wand (Marcus recognised the spell now that he thought about it as Shocking Grasp) in the other.

It took only an instant for the half-breed to unlock the cage and saw more of his captors approaching, he used the cage as cover from their crossbows and when they were inside thirty-feet, he took a deep breath and cut loose with the signature ability of his draconic side; the breath weapon. Ice-cold gasses assaulted the drow, causing many of them to fall to the ground as their bodies went numb. The few who were still able to walk stumbled towards him, but fell quickly to Marcus' claws.

Verrith

I spared a glance to see that the half dragon, now to be dubbed Silver until I heard a better name, was free of his cage. Yeah. That made two against a few dozen, totally evening out the odds.

I parried a drow scimitar with one blade, striking his partner's neck with the other, whirling through combat. A hiss of pain as another scimitar found my back, bruising through the mithral mail. I rolled backward, coming to my feet closer to Silver and let one of my scimitars dangle from the chain that bound it to my wrist. A flick of my hand and the doom scarabs of lore erupted from the earth before me, black shells glinting in the non-light of the lanterns. Every drow within 20 yards of me let out a yelp as my summoned pets tore into their flesh.

The pain in my back eased as energy from the creepy crawlies flowed back to me before dissipating entirely. I love that spell, I had time to think before the tent opened.

The Raid Matron stepped out of her tent, a two-bladed sword in hand. She wore a light suit of mithral chainmail, some of which fell around her legs like a skirt and her holy symbol of Lolth dangling around her neck. It was clear that she'd used a number of protective spells on herself before entering the fray.

She shouted a command to her troops in undercommon and many of them swarmed Marcus, who'd recovered a sword of one of the drow he killed, while a few more went at the young woman to keep her busy.

You shouldn't've surrounded me. Marcus though triumphantly as he felt his perception of time change. Everything seemed to slow down, apart from himself and he lashed out with his sword, claws, tail and even teeth at the warriors around him, becoming little more than a blur of steel and scales. He finished by stabbing the last drow through the stomach without even looking, before wrenching the blade out of it's victim and twirling it back into a normal grip.

Whoever designed the Diamond Mind style was a genius.

"Ready to dance, Raid Matron?"

OOC: If you're wondering what he did; it's a martial manoeuvre from the Tome of Battle called 'Time Stands Still'. Lets the user make two full-attacks in one round.

Verrith

I managed to spare looks over to Silver as I dealt my own special brand of magical pointy death to the drow I so loathed.

"Ready to dance, Raid Matron," Silver asked in a voice that caught my ears, though the rest of me was concentrating on the remaining drow sent to keep me busy. As if.

Dispatching the last one, I handed a true shot spell to Silver as I darted behind him, casting on the fly before literally taking to the air, the voluminous cavern providing enough room for me to get a good twenty feet off the ground before reversing direction to slam my swords into the body of the remaining drow male, a caster of some flavor. Probably a wizard. Over educated mooks.

The maneuver cost me time as I untangled myself from the caster, gore dripping from my blades and hands but the caster wouldn't be recovering from that any time soon... a flick of my wrist made sure he wouldn't be casting again on this side of the Divine Realms ever again.

I stood, blades at the ready, ebony eyes filled with the stars of my magic as I searched for a new target.





OOC: Ooohh I have got to get me that move.

It was clear that the Raid Matron was one of those clerics who favoured hand-to-hand combat when she charged at Marcus and swung her blade in an arc that almost disembowelled him. It was all Marcus could do to avoid the blade as he was at a severe disadvantage, lacking any armour beyond his scales (which were only comparable to an ordinary shirt of chainmail).

He lunged with his sword when an opening presented itself, only for the Matron to leap straight up and fly into the air above him. Before he could take off, though, he found himself covered in a sticky spider-web. The half-dragon fought to free himself, but the Matron swooped down and slashed at him; severing his left wing.

He couldn't help but cry out in pain at that, but he couldn't stop the fight now. "Cut off my wing?" he said, focussing his pain, rage and sheer will to fight. "Just who the hell DO YOU THINK I AM?!" As he screamed out, the web's binding him dissolved and he hurled his stolen blade at the Matron.

"Keep her busy for a minute!" he called out to the winged girl before darting towards one of the drow wagons, bashing straight through the door without slowing.

OOC: I can PM you a link to a torrent that'll have a PDF of the Tome of Battle if you want.

Verrith

Sick horror tugged at my stomach as I saw Silver's wing fall to the stone floor of the cavern, the Raid Matron laughing.

Laugh it up, spider bitch, I mused darkly before sending an orb of lightning chasing after her. I gave a barking laugh at the look on her face when it hit her chain and arced over it, illuminating the drow priestess.

"She glows, she flies, and she dies," I mocked, charging at the Raid Matron, my twin swords flowing in a deadly arc of offense. I landed a slice along her right arm, shredding it from wrist to elbow, blood cascading, glowing a brilliant crimson in my dark vision.

"Xsa darthirii ssindossa! xal Lolth plynn dosst solen!" Her voice was rough but her blade sharp as it sliced through the joint of mithral on my left shoulder, a lucky strike. I knew enough Undercommon to understand damn, whore, and eyes but that was about all I could make out around her accent.

"Dos lu' l' orbb dos z'har pholor," I hissed back at her. You and the spider you ride in on.

I could feel the difference in my left arm and knew that as long as she was attacking me, I couldn't cast any spells. And I was determined to make sure she couldn't cast any either. Switching to the scarce Draconian I knew, I yelled to Silver, "If you doing something, now is good!"

Marcus was quick to find his gear, namely the haversack that stored his more essential equipment. He quickly reached in and pulled out a small medallion of silver. He'd found it several months ago after being kicked into the Astral Plane and as long as one part of it (a small stud) was attached to an extradimensional storage device (ie; a handy haversack or bag of holding), he could summon equipment straight out of the bag and onto his body.

Focussing, he felt his mithral chain materialise around him as well as a pair of bracers that would increase his agility and a belt that would boost his (already ridiculous) strength even further. He grabbed a wand out of the bag and quickly dashed outside again, firing it at the Matron.

While paralysis spells don't work on him, Marcus was all too aware of the vulnerability most other humanoids had to Hold Person. The matron was instantly paralysed; her blade stopping just a few inches away from cleaving the young woman's head in two.

"Sorry I took so long," he replied in Common. "We can save the small talk for later, but I need to get her disarmed and restrained in the cage I was in. I won't get the bounty on her if she's dead. Care to give me a hand?"

Verrith

"Sure, but two questions first," I replied, studying my new ally. "First- can I kill her after you get the bounty? And second, do I get half the bounty?"

Waiting for his answer, I pulled a pair of thick hide gloves out of a sack of holding and started frisking the Matron Mother, tossing things like poisoned hair sticks and darts into one pile, magical trinkets into another and a final pile of who knew what it was.

"I could probably fit her in my bag of holding, but that might kill her, which would be less fun then beheading her," I mused aloud. "Or we could tie her up, gag her, keep her unconscious, paralyzed with her own damn darts and put her in the wagon."

"Well we'll need to tie her up and gag her to keep her from casting spells. As for letting you kill her; that'll be up the Waterdeep Guard, they're the ones paying the bounty," Marcus downed a healing potion before continuing, letting the stump of his wing seal up. He'd have to get a cleric in the city to regenerate it.

"And I suppose I do owe you half the bounty for the help, but I still owe you for helping me get out of there so if there's anything else I can do to pay you back, let me know. In the meantime," Marcus picked up the still-paralysed Matron (who was now doing her best to death glare the two of them whenever her head was facing the right way). "Let's show our friend here to her accommodations." With that, he carried her over to the cage he'd been trapped in and clamped some of the unbroken shackles inside around her wrists.

"Can't gag her til the spell wears off; I'd break her jaw if I tried to force her mouth open. And I've got a reputation of mostly-considerate prisoner transport to maintain." Closing and locking the door, he walked back over to the woman who'd helped him.

"'fraid I didn't catch your name; I'm Marcus Blakwell." he said, offering his hand.

Verrith

Marcus Blakwell, I mused, a better name then Silver but not by much.

"Verrithanis Mijai," I said, taking his offered hand with a smile. "Most of my friends call me Verrith and any enemy of the drow is a friend of mine. Sorry about the wing, I understand the feeling."

My own ebony wings shuddered in remembrance. I had them only by the grace of Corellon Larethian, god of the elves. They'd both been torn off by the same drow that had killed my parents and restored by the elfin cleric who'd rescued me. Maybe I'd repaid some of my debt today by helping another being held captive by the foul drow elves.

I knew my wings looked both oddly out of place and exactly perfect for my elfin form. My mother was an orphan taken in by my father's family in Silverymoon when she was only twenty or so. She'd had no memories of her childhood and no idea who her people were. So my aunt had raised her and no one had been surprised when she and my father had hooked up. Lustra, my mother, had hair like spun gold and eyes like a cat, but looked elfin enough otherwise. She'd said I was a throwback to her family but nothing more on what I was. I had my father's ebony hair, jade eyes and my mother's delicate features. Father's natural ability with magic and mother's skills with a blade. I couldn't learn many new spells but the ones I did know came easily to me.

"How'd they catch you anyway, Marcus," I asked, cleaning blood from my scimitars before resheathing them. I carried a spare longsword in my pouch but the scimitars were my favorite weapons. Elegant and delicate, razor sharp and blood thirsty. After listening to his answer I told him, "I'm only here because I found the trail they laid with that wagon and their footprints. I figured wagon, going into a cave system I know heads into the Underdark and elf sized foot prints, had to be drow. I've a bit of a vendetta against them, you see, so I followed to rain havoc on their little parade. Freeing you turned out to be a nice bonus."

"Verrith, huh. Thank Tymora you came along. And don't feel bad about the wing; I've been through worse. Like hiking from Luskan to Port Llast with only one leg. Granted; I flew most of the distance, but you get my point." When she asked how he was captured, he looked a little sheepish to admit it. "The Matron set up a Symbol of Pain on the side of that wagon that's inactive most of the time. It's gone now, but I was stupid enough to look at it and, while I was wondering just how something could be so painful and not lethal, her goons grabbed me and knocked me unconscious. Took 'em a bit of work, but my foster mother always said I was thick-skulled." He chuckled. "Incidentally, what were you doing down here? Those wings don't exactly seem suited to a subterranean lifestyle."

He listened to her explanation, and his eyes kept darting to her wings. He'd heard old legends of a winged elven subspecies that supposedly still existed gods-knew-where. "Well that explains why you want to kill the Matron so badly. I won't pry into the details if you don't want to share 'em, but if you can keep those feelings from ending my next paycheck, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm, uh... I'm... flat-broke at the moment so I just about need every copper I can get. I'll still pay you your half of the bounty, though, you earned it after all."

Verrith

I would have rescued him for the simple pleasure of killing drow but I had no intention of turning down half of a bounty for a Raid Matron in Waterdeep. I'd only been to the town once before but I knew they disliked the drow as well, to say the least.

"I can understand needing coin," I said, glancing at my sliced mithral. I pulled a healing potion out of my pack and downed it, then replaced the bottle inside and pulled out two elfin rations. Offering one to Marcus, I started in on the other. "I don't imagine they feed you much, so here. Its an elfin ration. Enough packed energy to keep one going for a day, though I imagine you'd need two or three. But start with that one. They're not half bad once you get used to them."

Continuing to munch on mine, I started loading things into the three pouches at my waist, Magical artifacts into the red one, nonmagical but valuable stuff into the green and coins/jewelry into the black one. "I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible, just in case we missed anyone. Loud noises down here bring investigators. We can divvy up everything in Waterdeep.
"I'm not quite sure how far we are from Waterdeep but once we're out of the caves I can get us some fresher food."

Marcus took the offered ration with a quick nod of thanks and started on it. It tasted about the same as any other ration (ie: bland as all hell), but he pushed on, glad to actually have something in his stomach.

"Good idea about getting out of here; I'm just glad the horses for the wagon's didn't run off during the fight, it'll make getting back to civilisation a lot easier." As he continued munching on the ration, Marcus went into the Matron's tent to see if any of his stuff was in there. "Aha!" he cried as he jutted one arm out of the tent's entrance while holding a bag of holding. "Found my other bag!"

Once he'd cleared out the tent of anything of value, he checked that the cage-wagon was attached to the main one (which still held a lot of his gear) and climbed up into the main wagon's driver's seat.

"Ready to go?" he asked Verrith.

Verrith

"Sure, one last thing," I said, taking a deep breath. As I exhaled, my hands moved in a subtle dance, flames shooting out from them to envelope the tent and the bodies of the drow. White hot fire turned to even bones to ash in a moment.

Wiping a hand across my forehead I grinned up at Marcus. "I hate making resurrections easy."

I pulled myself into empty seat beside the half dragon, nose wrinkled at the smell of burnt humanoid flesh. "Long as you don't start singing, we can get going. Too many bards in my last party, way too many bards."

Marcus' eyebrows raised at her spell. Guess she really hates drow!

He laughed at her remark about bards as he got the horses moving. "Don't worry; I couldn't sing to save my life."

It only took them a few minutes to leave the cavern. Even under just the moonlight, the surface seemed a lot brighter than Marcus remembered. "Pretty sure we're only a day or so from Waterdeep. This wagon doubled as the matron's sleeping quarters for when they were on the move so feel free to get some sleep if you need it."

Verrith

"I'm too wound up to trance, just yet," I said, fluffing my wings out in a stretch as I cleared the cave. Taking a deep breath I looked up at the sky. "I'm going to scout around for a little bit. There's a clearing about an hour's walk for the horses to the north of here that will work well for a camp site. I'll meet you there. I'll make sure to announce myself before I land."

I activated my ring, instantly blinking away from sight, both magical and mundane. A leap and I was in the air, wings spread wide. I truly disliked being underground, hated not being able to fly. It was worth it to kill drow but still, didn't mean I had to like it.

Catching a lazy current, I circled above the wagon, watching Marcus drive the thing. I was grateful he seemed to know how- horses bewildered me and I'd never taken the time to learn about them. I could fly further then a horse could run in a day, so it hadn't seemed necessary in the past.

Air, cool and clear, rushed past me, as cleansing as water, especially the few clouds I dove through.

Getting back down to business, I dropped altitude, skimming above the trees, eyes and ears alert for any dangers lurking. Avoiding a roper tree that I'd seen on my way to the cave, I scouted for a while before winging toward the campsite to make my landing.

"Okay, I should have a fire going by the time you're done." After she took off, Marcus continued to lead the wagon into the clearing. It took him little time to get a fire going but before he could go through the wagon and his own gear for food, he heard a rather long and heated string of undercommon come from the cage.

"Glad to see you're back to normal, Matron," he said after walking over to her cage. "Now be a dear and open your mouth." When she immediately shut up at that, Marcus reached through the bars and hit her forehead with the back of his fist hard enough to knock her unconscious. He could've tried to force her mouth open for the gag, but he didn't want to risk clawing her face up too badly; his reputation relied on it.

After getting the gag in place, he was able to get a fire going as Verrith landed.

Verrith

I took in the camp site, fire going and matron unconscious in her cage as I shimmered back into view. "Hello again, did you have any trouble finding the camp site?"

Listening to his answer, I started pulling things from my bags, including two skins of water and a small dutch oven, suspension poles for the kettle, a bag of dried rice and vegetables, a couple of bowls and spoons. With efficiency gleaned from repetition, I swiftly had the dutch oven hanging over the fire, rice and water inside, cooking away.

Settling down on a log next to the fire, I looked at my traveling companion. "So, what's your story? How'd they catch you?"

"No, wasn't that hard; the drow passed through here yesterday." he replied as he went through the bags he'd pulled out of the wagon as he'd reached the clearing. They were just mundane bags that held everything that wasn't in his bags of holding. He mumbled that he was glad to have what looked like a piece of folded black cloth back before slipping it into his pocket.
"I take it you've camped outdoors a lot then?" he asked as he watched her set up the camp oven.

When she asked about how he was caught, he replied bluntly. "Like I said before; went in to attack them, got subdued by a symbol of pain and then beaten up, stripped, thrown in the cage and shackled. There's not much else to the fight beyond that; worst I did in the fight was lop off one bastard's ear."

Verrith

"I've camped a lot," I agreed with a smile. "I'm one of those wayward children always off on some quest or another, driving my family to distraction with worry sometimes."

Pushing a lock of raven hair behind a pointed ear I watched Marcus speak, wincing in sympathy when he spoke of the symbol of pain. "I ran afoul of one of those before. Typical wizard's dungeon crypt, full of creepy crawlies and spells. I wouldn't recommend the experience."

As he finished I nodded. "Sometimes its not winning, but making the loss cost as much as possible."

I stood, taking the now cooked food off the fire and split it between the two bowls, handing the larger portion to Marcus. He was twice my weight, taller and injured and needed the larger majority of the food. I was eating primarily to make up for the energy I lost fighting. And to avoid eating the second half of my ration. I'd never learned to like them.

"So who's paying the bounty and why do they want Lady Spiederdito over there?"

"I'm kind of the same way with wandering; probably driving my foster mother nuts and making her wish she'd learned some scrying spells."

Marcus accepted the food. "Sure you've got enough? I feel bad getting this much more than you."

After she answered, Marcus tried some of the food, making an appreciative 'Mmm' as he found it tasted surprisingly good.

"The bounty's just on behalf of the Waterdeep City Watch; seems our friend over there does this every year and the bounty's renewed each year around the same time. They didn't specifically name her; they just want stop the raids and the best way to do that is to remove a Raid Matron."