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Bhaal's Youngest: Chapter 66


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#1 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 16 October 2007 - 04:30 AM

Disclaimer: Graphic. Dark.


The wind didn't whistle through the sewers, it bled in through the occasional crack or sewer grate. Silas walked along the relatively untouched stone, occasionally jumping across a spill or a puddle out of place. Had this been a dark elven city, these streams would be washing to vast holding areas, and feeding specially planted mushroom beds, which in turn would be used to raise healthy rothe. Yet, the humans just seemed to be allowing the waste to run off, and anything that spilled grew a variety of obviously unplanned fungi or oozes.

Arkion had told him to come down to the sewers to find him a fresh body. He had supposed that a wizard had seen a commoner approach him and decided to put him to use, instead of sizing him up as a threat. He would continue to support that image. Silas couldn't really hope to attack a wizard up front- his taste of Rebos' power had been enough for him. He didn't want to end up in that position again. In addition, this provided him with a valuable piece of information; what humans did to hide their dead. He might have so far gotten away with killing three commoners but killing two wizards would be a different matter. He did not expect that the priest would protect him. If he wasn't clever enough to keep himself from being discovered, then he deserved the punishment for his crimes.

Despite the lack of the weight of ten thousand tons of stone over him, the setting almost felt like the wilds of the underdark- where a mixture of fungi could grow in turbid rivers and anything could be crawling, floating or laying in wait for a traveler. So, when he rounded a bend, and saw a still quivering body laying on the ground, next to a few dry flaky husks, he drew Desreta's dagger and stood perfectly still and ready, taut like a trip wire.

When the eight foot long spider appeared over him, he rolled under it, slashing up into its body on the way past, but only scratching its thick white and blue exoskeleton. The creature bit the stone. He rolled to his feet and leapt at it, dagger held to stab rather than slash. The creature sprang again, but instead of ending up higher in the air, as he expected, it simply disappeared. He couldn't feel it, smell it, hear it- one moment, it had been there, and the next it wasn't. He landed on his feet, then rolled back again, as the spider dived at him from thin air.

He came out of his roll, scrambled onto the spider's back, and stabbed down hard. It jumped again. He fell to his feet, still holding his goo covered dagger. Silas quickly cartwheeled away as the spider came down again, right where he'd been.

Spiders were sacred to Lloth. They were a symbol of what she wanted, what she treasured in her favored children, and last but not least, a symbol of Lloth herself. Escaping from the spider was not enough; he was going to kill it.

He waited and aimed. When it jumped, he too jumped; twenty feet into the air. It appeared again, over his prior location. He landed on its body, behind its head. With one long slash, Silas carved through four of its silvery white eyes. It reared up to throw him off. He shifted and balanced on the tops of the spider's legs to attempt another stab. The spider jumped. He fell to his feet, then sprang ten feet into the air. The spider reappeared below him, biting the floor. Silas landed on the spider. He lunged forward and slashed into its other set of four silver white eyes. In the last one, he stabbed down with his dagger, burying his arm to the elbow. He pulled his arm out and retreated. The spider collapsed. Green goo bled from both from its eyes and from the stab wound in it's back. Its legs twitched.

He stood, waiting and ready. When it didn't move any more, he approached the body of the latest victim, then went through the man's belongings. He found a rag and a water skin that allowed him to clean off the goo from his arm and off his dagger. He found a number of crude knives and daggers, and transfered those to various folds and pockets in his clothing. He found gold and a small collection of highly flawed gemstones, so this was obviously not a slave or commoner thrown to the spider for a sacrifice, but a commoner who happened to be walking through this sewer. More importantly, it was a very fresh corpse, and Arkion had been specific about that. Drow were immune to spider poisons; clearly humans were not.

#2 Guest_Cel_*

Posted 18 October 2007 - 07:26 PM

Again, I really like Silas's mentality and the way it's so permanently stained by Drow culture, whether he follows its norms automatically, as he does in almost everything he does, or whether he rejects it, like he did with that spider :shock:

#3 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 19 October 2007 - 02:59 AM

Thank you! :) I'm glad he's coming across as consistent. :shock:

#4 Guest_Ananke_*

Posted 19 October 2007 - 06:16 PM

Err. Yes... How to say this?

(1) As always, I appreciated the insight into Silas' drow mentality.

(2) How can he jump twenty feet into the air? That's like... six metres, isn't it? Pole jumpers jump six meters, but they have their poles... Is it some special fey blood superpower? :)

It made me think of fleas, and how they can jump twenty times their height in the air - or something like this... So, I had this image of two fleas jumping at each other. :?

(3) However, while I liked the idea behind the chapter, it felt... Well. Unfinished. For one thing, there are several spelling mistakes: "taught like a trip wire." (which should be 'taut'), "it's body on the way past, but not doing more than scratching it's" (its... its), "it's silvery white eyes" (its)... "the body of the newest victim" should be "the latest victim", I think-- 'm sorry for being so anal-retentive, but the chapter felt... Well. Not only because of the spelling... It made a general impression of not being rounded up and packed nicely with a ribbon, that's all I'm saying. Not thematically: all the impression was there, contained. Just formally. A better word would be called for here, a better fitting expression there... that kind of thing. :)

#5 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 20 October 2007 - 05:21 AM

Err. Yes... How to say this?


Anyway you say it is fine. At least your saying it. :)

(1) As always, I appreciated the insight into Silas' drow mentality.


Thank you.

(2) How can he jump twenty feet into the air? That's like... six metres, isn't it? Pole jumpers jump six meters, but they have their poles... Is it some special fey blood superpower?



Yes, six meters is just a smidgen less than twenty feet. It's not a fey blood super power. He's extremely light weight for his size (I've given a few clues before this: Rebos thought he was carrying a starved elf child, not a healthy boy who would be fifteen by human standards, and the commoner jerked him off his feet effortlessly by grabbing him up by the cloak), very acrobatic (almost killed Rebos with a flying leap with a scalpel, was caught midair, got up on the roofs easily enough, got down into the window no problem), and he's a high level rogue (not a lot of clues yet on that other than the dark elf's comments that Rebos ignored).

I did specify the height on purpose. I'm glad that you've noted his ability there is exceptional.

It made me think of fleas, and how they can jump twenty times their height in the air - or something like this... So, I had this image of two fleas jumping at each other.


:) Fair enough, but imagine instead, you had a flea fighting a jumping spider that could phase in and out of reality, and the flea timed it right to win. I personally was thinking of it as a game of leap frog between the phase spider and him, but I think I like the flea analogy more. :D

(3) However, while I liked the idea behind the chapter, it felt... Well. Unfinished. For one thing, there are several spelling mistakes: "taught like a trip wire." (which should be 'taut'), "it's body on the way past, but not doing more than scratching it's" (its... its), "it's silvery white eyes" (its)... "the body of the newest victim" should be "the latest victim", I think-- 'm sorry for being so anal-retentive, but the chapter felt... Well. Not only because of the spelling... It made a general impression of not being rounded up and packed nicely with a ribbon, that's all I'm saying. Not thematically: all the impression was there, contained. Just formally. A better word would be called for here, a better fitting expression there... that kind of thing.



Well, you have me there. :? Spelling usually gets me, and I have to concentrate very hard on not writing it's instead of its. Literally, anytime I write it. Don't apologize, you're doing me a favor, I should go back through it, and make corrections. Thank you for telling me. This is one of the reasons I post here, I have things to work on, and I don't catch everything and I hope that if I screw up, someone will let me know so I can do better. :D




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