Houseless Scamps

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Lost Valkyrie
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 3:32 pm
Location: The Underdark

Houseless Scamps

Post by Lost Valkyrie » Thu Feb 09, 2017 6:32 pm

The plain looking Drowess sat curled up in her large comfy chair watching her friend Ja'hai sleep on her couch, with an almost fond expression. They were friends in the traditional Drow sense in that they would sell each other out only if the rewards were so great they could not refuse. It is difficult to place a value on people you can fall asleep around and be certain you'll wake up. Along with Alyrja the three had formed the core of a pack of Houseless females who had hit the town by storm. Slaving, Drinking, Tormenting males and more.

It quickly became clear in the early cycles that strength in numbers was their key to survival. They knew most problems Ja'hai and herself could usually find the best course when they put their heads together, and Aly could usually be counted on to throw some chaos into the equation and threaten their plans. Still they had survived some tough strains as the three found their ways in life and pursued their respective careers. All three were also strikingly different, which is perhaps why it worked so well.

Alyjra: The Tart. She was the pretty one, the trampy one. Impulsive, cruel, funny, violent, pious but also loyal. Aly was in many ways the shining star among them,she was touched by Lolth but she lacked focus and was lazy, seldom accomplishing anything. She also held unhealthy grudges and said dangerous things. Sheen knew Aly would either be great or have a big dramatic ending, there would be no mediocrity for her. For whatever reason they both adored her and gave her allowances they would not tolerate of any other female, probably not even each other. She was their little sister.

Ja'hai: The Cook, book smart, cautious, feisty, vindictive, petty and one of the best damn cooks in the Underdark. Also pretty she was more statue like than Aly, a cold beauty. Sheen had always spoiled Ja'hai at every opportunity, not just because of the slavish devotion to her cooking, but also so that she would never have to worry about being discarded lightly. They coddled her some because compared to them she was fragile, but she was also magically powerful which made them wary, especially when her temper flared.

Her devotion to Kiaransalee made it necessary to double think things for possible offenses. Ja'hai usually said the right thing and made the right choice. Sheen knew one cycle Ja'hai would be the most powerful of the three in a physical power sense, but she was also the one least likely to take that big gamble that really paid off. She was safe, practical. She was their rock.

Sheen: The Merchant, cheerful, friendly, resourceful and ambitious. Sheen was one of the busiest people in the city, between her shop, her job at the temple, making Matrons happy, and dozens of deals either in the works or getting done, but she always made time for her friends. She saw people as investments, quality people were good investments if they were going to be around awhile. Trouble people were a waste of time and resources.

She had come to the city wide eyed and almost penniless. Now she had money, contacts, allies and purpose. Her first enemy was now gone and she had supplanted him. He had chosen her, she did not want enemies, they made her market smaller, but she was also not prepared to live under the thumb of some male. Now he was gone and she owned his shop, though the power struggle for the other assets was not quite yet settled. Sheen was the one who knew what was what.

Now though the three were not the nobodies they had once been. People knew them and they were being forced to make choices, difficult choices that sometimes clashed. Things could not always remains as they were now, but presently the threat of Rauvlin would unite them. After that, only the gods know.....

She rose and pulled the blanket up over her friend and made her way to bed. They would all need their rest in the cycles to come.

Nemain
Posts: 111
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2016 9:40 pm

Re: Houseless Scamps

Post by Nemain » Fri Feb 10, 2017 9:56 am

Flamerule 28th, year 126:

It was with weary bones and and a heavy mind that Ja'hai returned home this cycle. Merely a cycle after Alyjra's return to the group, the sorceress had already experienced a wide range of emotions on the matter- from thrill and joy that one of her favorite Drowesses- and lover, had deemed her revenge on Ja'hai over, to caution and dread how huge a chink in her mental armor Aly had proven to be.

She passed by the sweet scent of the imported surface flowers, the soft rythmical tick-tock of the tall Chronometer, carved with symbols of her Faith and Kiaransalee's connection and service to Lolth- an ingenious device turned into a beautiful piece of art and symbolism, that she'd adored so much on first sight it just -had- to be in her waiting room. Pulling past the curtains, she entered in her house's main room- exhausted in bones and mind both. It almost irremediably happened this way: whenever she evoked ice, she had to force emotion away from her mind, freeze her heart first, so that she could then freeze her target. It left her emotionally cold from the inside out. Calculative, practical, unfeeling.... But no matter how long she maintained this, the cold would always end up thawing out. And then, the emotions would all flood in... With a vengeance.

Ever since Alyjra's return the previous cycle, she'd been adamant in trying to rekindle Ja'hai's old flame, just as the sorceress herself had been contemplating means to gain everlasting coldness- to numb herself to that which had proven a weakness, cut it out and be done with it... Ja'hai paused next to the heavy tomes open in the large table at the center of the room: extracts on intelligent undead, essays on the creation of a phylactery and the different shapes it could take, the different means to hide and protect it. She removed one of her silken gloves, and gently caressed the text that'd one cycle lead her to fulfilling Kiaransalee's demands.... When she was powerful and old enough the balance of what is gained and what is lost would be almost completely stacked on the "gained" side.

Alyjra had been outraged to learn that she was contemplating advancing her schedule on this. Just as Sheen had voiced her support, only so far as the Sorceress manage to turn herself into a powerful kind of undead. It made sense, really: Ja'hai wasn't stupid, much as she'd oftentimes make herself look like, showing moments of weakness, purposedly not attempting to arm herself with defensive means. She knew, she'd costed Sheen already a fortune in raising scrolls... And provably, she'd cost her yet another if they continued their friendship- all that Ja'hai was, all that Kiaransalee granted the power, unlimited amounts of it at that, to do, was... To burn, freeze, explode, forcefully and gleefully remove anything in their path- provided someone was watching out she wouldn't be removed in the process, herself. What element she'd use to do so, depended more in the mood of the moment, than conscious thought and preparation.
"Come back with fire: rageful, passionate, and I'll return this a /thousandfold/."
And, as the chronometer rang the end of Flamerule 28th and start of the 29th, all that Ja'hai could think of, all that she could feel, was the fatigue of having been exposed to fire like no other before while under the First Matron's command that cycle.... And then made to evoke ice, enough ice to bury a Giant in it. Enough ice that it'd stay buried for hours, inside a volcano. She was, only now, beginning to thaw inside, and as her crimson eyes wandered over to the bed, and the sleeping beauty within, Ja'hai's mind wandered to her promise:
"One cycle. Give me that long, and I'll give you your answer."
Soft fingers, lacking the blisters she'd inflicted upon herself to stretch out the pityfully small revenge Aly had instilled upon her, closed the books on the table, almost reverently, before she made her way to bed. Kiaransalee's final demands could wait while she kindled up her own personal power... And though she aknowledge it to be an easily exploitable weakness, Ja'hai was too tired to care right now: she'd promised an answer, and the time was up. This very moment, this exact second, she felt like falling asleep in her lover's arms.

She felt like riding out the thaw in her dreams... And then, maybe, let the fire back in, with a passion and vengeance that was already making her skin tingle with anticipation.

Lost Valkyrie
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 3:32 pm
Location: The Underdark

Re: Houseless Scamps

Post by Lost Valkyrie » Sun Feb 19, 2017 9:15 pm

The Drowess sat at her cluttered desk looking at the piles of paper, resource reports, shop reports, intelligence reports, reports, reports, reports!

"How quickly things can change" she thought. It was not long ago all she worried about was her business and other ventures that would increase her profit and influence. Since joining Xal'rae her life had completely changed. Now she was part of the government. She had expected the life of a noble to be easier, not harder, but she had made her bed.

So much had changed. Aly was almost completely estranged from them now that she and Ja'hai had chosen a House. Aly hated their choice and their House. Their last meeting had been ugly, a shouting match and her finally throwing Aly out of her house. Amazingly she had contained her murderous urges, almost anyone else would be dead right now, or she would be plotting their destruction by a thousand cuts, but if she did that she would have to admit she had been wrong about Aly, that she had made a bad investment. She was not used to being wrong.

Reality was she did not have time to worry about Aly, she had far bigger concerns and people she hated far more, people like Rauvlin. She had been so close to finally having her within her power, only to have her snatched at the last moment by the Cordor Guard Captain? He had paid for his interference but it still did not take the sting away, Rauvlin had to be contained for her own sake as well as for the district. Sheen knew deep down it was now personal, she hated being stolen from. She had already set aside a week for torturing Rauvlin, but that would have to wait.

It had been the strangest thing, an attack on their gates and Rauvlin fighting to defend a city she was an Outcast in. Sheen did not see the other enemies, all she saw was a red hazy version of Rauvlin that had to be put down. Though he would never get credit for it, because of course she took it all, the fact was Valdrin had saved her from a near defeat turning it into a win. She would have to think of a reward for him.

Luck or fate had saved Rauvlin this time, but Sheen had only just begun. How could someone who did not know Lolth possibly understand the extensive web they were stumbling around in like a wounded fly? They could not, they only understood they were in danger. Was Rauvlin as smart as a fly? It would not matter, her wings would be clipped soon enough.

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