A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 79: Setting Out

"You can absolutely not marry the entire nymph race!" Selene burst out angrily. But Ashyr hushed her cousin so that Caleldir could finish. Selene complied but didn't look too happy about it.

Caleldir's manner shifted back to a more businesslike one after that little flight of overly ambitious fancy. "But that does not seem feasible. Anyway, she left me alone with my thoughts after that. I did not have a good night."

Ashyr didn't look much calmer than Selene was. "I agree with you and Selene, Cal. We will not let Althaia pressure you into marrying every nymph in existence."

"I do not think it is her we need to worry about," he said sadly. "More... Aelsuna herself." Caleldir was annoyed with Althaia, but not so much that he wanted Selene to be mad at her too.

"Your contact with her sisters, that dryad, and the rusalka was an unfortunate necessity. Our lives and mission were threatened," Selene ranted, heedless of Caleldir's words. "But this is just some project. I do agree that it is quite a fascinating endeavor, and it's something that I would enjoy being a part of in the future. But we will find another male to use. If it has to be from your genetics, then I or Althaia can attempt to bear a son caught from you. But you? You are mi- Duskhaven's." Selene explained with a finality in her tone.

"I'm not sure if I'm glad or annoyed that she brought this up just as we're about to leave." Ashyr said. "I feel like I should be focused on our mission, but now that's going to be on my mind a lot. Then again, lots of time to think about it before we make stupid decisions." Ashyr sighed.

Caleldir sighed with internal relief; it seemed that Selene was settling down. He really did not want the prickly mage to be at the Paladin's throat. Not that Althaia would ever fight Selene, but at very least he was pretty sure he knew who would win that fight if it happened (probably the nymph/paladin nearly immune to magic). "I think that Althaia wanted to get this out in the open before we parted from her at least in part because otherwise she would be fretting over it for the next few months alone," Caleldir posited.

"Althaia did tell you about out plan to make her a Duskhaven? She has a drow spell and everything. I am willing to call her sister, even after all that planning Aelsuna did through her."

"She did not mention her proposal to join House Duskhaven. Well, I would have to say that I am all for that idea." Since then he would be, in effect, married to Althaia as well. Which would be nice.

"I do not know for sure how possible it will be," Selene responded, still not completely convinced that she liked that particular idea. "So do not expect an adoption ceremony quite yet. It does assuage my... hesitancy to even let her breed with Caleldir. At least this way, half of her offspring will be for the good of Duskhaven."

He shrugged. "At very least we should liberate Duskhaven first and see what happens. Who knows? One of your other kinswomen could be secretly hiding out in the city, waiting for Ashyr to reappear to assert herself. If I were writing this story, that is exactly the sort of plot twist that I would put in the tale. Of course, I would also put some sort of dragon princess in it who flies in to save the day, so perhaps my sense of the dramatic is one best ignored." He grinned. "So, lovely ladies of Duskhaven, shall we be on our way to the Underdark?"

"I can't help but notice that your version of the story ends up with another female you can have guilt-free sex with." Ashyr said with a knowing smile. She squeezed his hand momentarily before she let go of him altogether and ran off to find Tsabdrin and his companions. Bard must have been running with them; he wasn't around and Ashyr seemed to lock on to the exact direction that her male cousin went.

"That is not what I..." Caleldir said in frustration. But Ashyr was gone. He sighed and rolled his eyes, muttering to himself. "That is not what I meant."

Selene watched Ashyr leave with a shake of her head. But it was actually kind of nice walking alongside the river with Caleldir. So she threaded her fingers with his, perfectly happy to remain silent. Not the awkward silence of one who knew not what to say, but the contented silence of one who needed nothing to say.

About an hour later, both drow rangers returned with a brace of rabbits tied on one of the allosaur's neck. It didn't look entirely happy at this turn of events. Why carry food around one's neck instead of inside one's stomach? But the oversized lizard was allowing it. For now.

"It's still far too thick to drive the spider-tank to the entrance." Ashyr informed Selene and Caleldir. "At least that's what we assume; it's gradually getting thicker the farther we go. Even the road that was beaten out by the mercenaries is getting choked up ahead. I think that some of the druids may have encouraged the spell to last a little longer, somehow." The female ranger shrugged. There wasn't any fighting between the surface factions anymore, so she was confused why they would keep it this way. It was aggressively natural unnaturalness that couldn't be good for the local Fauna.

"Maybe they're afraid of our people," Tsabdrin said softly.

"Perhaps. But I assume we can still use our mounts? Are we about done with this little nature walk?" Selene asked. Her delicate noblewoman's feet were starting to get tired of walking over the uneven terrain. After she said this, she turned to her own (comparatively) miniature spider mount and got on it.

"Yeah, let's get going. If we hurry, we can get most of the way there by nightfall." Ashyr said with a sigh of resignation.

"We could just use the spider-tank to clear out the undergrowth," Caleldir mused. "Then again, that might take longer than just riding there. So, mounts." He did wonder about the timeline that Tsabdrin had given them. Most of the way there by nightfall? So, the entrance they were taking to the Underdark was about two days journey or so away. And that meant that the other several weeks would be in the Underdark. Ugh. A long dark journey. He looked around at the beauty of the forest, even when said forest was overgrown with druidic magic, and felt a pang of sympathy for Ashyr's reluctance to go underground.

For the rest of the day the party was either silent or simply spoke on conversational rather than crucial matters. The notable exception was Selene's questioning of her brother about where the entrance had been moved to. It had not been moved, it turned out, but it altered drastically after a couple hundred meters of travel downwards. He spoke briefly of magma as well, but said that it would be better if they just saw it. After that, Selene initiated a conversation about her most recent ideas about the differences between divine and arcane magic. It was a topic more easily discussed with her brother present, because he had both and was more analytical than Ashyr was by far. Caleldir also got into the topic about Arcane vs. Divine with relish, for though he was not the best caster in either category, he was an incredibly knowledgeable theorist.

The drow rangers' assessment ended up being correct; the farther they went down the road, the more choked the foliage became. All the mounts save for Selene's spider were beginning to have troubles going at a decent speed. But Selene's spider had also been out for a little bit longer. Ashyr suggested - well, ordered, really, since she was trying to get used to taking the leader's position - that they go on for as long as Selene's spider would let them. Then they would camp a little earlier than usual that night and resume before the sun rose. The youngest drow didn't protest, but accused Ashyr of wanting to enjoy the forest while the sun didn't burn uncomfortably in the sky. Ashyr did not try to refute this accusation.

Eventually they arrived at the point where they would have to break away from the river and travel deeper into the forest. It was very near the place where Caleldir was when Bard had retrieved him to try to save Ashyr from Selene. By that point, however, the terrain had changed so much that it was barely recognizable. Selene's mount was beginning to show signs of power failure. Even if it was several hours before nightfall, Ashyr called everyone to a halt.

"Let's rest here. Tsabdrin, can you set up a fire for the rabbits? I feel like doing things the old-fashioned way..." She looked towards Caleldir almost apologetically. Her cousins were following her without question and seemed fine with how things were going, but she wanted to make sure everyone had a voice. "Unless you have a better plan, my love?"

Caleldir had smiled very notably when he was in the area that he felt was about where Bard had found him to lead him to Selene. He wondered if that tree where Ashyr had been tied naked to was still there... He made his mind go elsewhere. He was getting rather horny just thinking about the event. The trauma and rage were long gone, of course. The more fond he had become of Selene, the more fondly he remembered that day. And he was very fond of Selene.

But it seemed that the day's travels were pretty much at an end. Caleldir followed along with Ashyr's orders uncomplainingly until she apologetically asked him what he thought. He just shrugged. "I suppose that we can cook, eat, and sleep underneath the stars tonight." He said. "R.I.S.A. wanted to show everyone what she has been building these last few weeks, but I suppose that can wait until we are underground. Enjoy the sky while we can."

A rare genuinely innocent smile spread across Ashyr's face. Even since they had changed so drastically, Ashyr always felt that these woods were more her homeland than even where she was born. Now that she had a couple of lovers who would stay by her side, the place was absolutely perfect. She found herself imagining a world where home was where she stood among the trees and by the river side. Only a half-year ago, that had been true. Amazing how things could change so drastically.

Caleldir looked off towards the forest. "I wonder if we could find that clearing again where I 'rescued' you from Selene." He mused. "It would be interesting to see how things have changed there."

"I could probably find the clearing again," Selene said absently. She had, after all, specifically chosen the place. The tree had been exceptionally good for tying people up. "That is, if I knew where the old drow camp had been. And as long as it's not too overgrown."

"The clearing?" Ashyr repeated. Her usual smirk was back on her face. "With the overgrowth and all, it would probably take us the rest of the day to walk there. Or we can use our mounts and Selene can ride with one of us. Then it would only take, what, an hour?"

Tsabdrin shrugged. "No idea where your 'clearing' was, but the old drow camp is a little over an hour's ride from here. If you really want to, we can find the camp and go from there."

"Wait, why didn't you stay at the forward camp inside the caves?" Ashyr asked with furrowed brow.

Tsabdrin shrugged. "Irahc-vic wanted us to stay away. Said he had a 'project.' We stay away from him when he has 'projects.' Since it ended with the entire path to the Underdark getting demolished and repositioned, it was likely for the best. So we found the next best spot near a large outcropping."

"The more I hear about this Irahc-vic the more of a charmer he seems to be," Caleldir said dryly.

"You would have found it, too, had I not stopped you," Selene added. "And the forward camp was still being used... for... When I was made to conceive. But I assume they wanted you to have no knowledge of that, since you are my full brother. I can only assume the changes happened before that, or had not affected that part yet."

All three drow looked extremely uncomfortable when they were reminded of what happened to Selene. "Lets just see if we can find that clearing." Ashyr said.

Caleldir did not want to inquire more on the matter, especially when the topic of Selene's rape came up. That made things just a bit more awkward. And awful. But he did take note that Irahc-vic seemed to be the one responsible for the entrance to the Underdark being the mess it was. He either had access to some very powerful magic, or some incredible technology. Or bits of both. If his project was only a normal explosion, that would be one thing, but knowing what he knew, Caleldir figured that there was probably something pretty awful about the process. Like he sacrificed some poor slave to the dark powers to create said explosion. Or something of that nature. Then again, perhaps he was just being judgmental. "I agree, let us just find that clearing."

After only a couple hours of searching, Selene found what she swore was the correct tree she tied Ashyr to. The 'clearing' was quite overgrown, but with a bit of magic and manual labor, the party was able to return it to how it had once been. It would make a fine campsite for the evening.

Once it was cleared out, Caleldir definitely remembered the location. "This place brings back memories," Caleldir reminisced. "It was the first time I saw you naked, Ashyr. And all tied up at that. That was back when I refused to do anything sexual. Put me in quite a predicament in trying to untie you without ogling you, before Selene put an end to that." He was feeling a bit nostalgic about things. A wry thought entered his head. He wondered what Selene's cousins would have done if they knew that she had gone and got herself impregnated by someone else while they were trying to do things to get her pregnant by them. And dang this family was screwed up.

"...Yeah" Ashyr said with her usual smirk. "I wonder what would happen if you found me tied to a tree now?" That grin turned positively wicked.

"You know, I would have preferred to not be so upset during all that, looking back. I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have." Selene said, her own growing wicked grin turned to her cousin.

"I'm... going to go hunting for a while," Tsabdrin said suddenly. Then he and the animal companions ran off into the forest.

"I would still untie you if I found you tied naked to a tree with some enemy possibly coming up upon us," Caleldir replied, watching the male drow leave. "But I would tease you about it and cop a feel. Lick something, most likely."

Ashyr bit her lip. That was definitely a thought that she liked.

"The question is, what if I were tied to a tree?" Caleldir continued.

"Of course you would rather be tied," Ashyr teased.

"I admit to being a bit curious about both, actually," Caleldir admitted. He did wonder about how much fun it would be to tease a bound Ashyr. Curious enough to give it a try. He had spent a lot of time being tied up by rusalka recently, and was slightly drained of that urge. Slightly and temporarily and subject to sudden change depending on how the drow played it. Caleldir looked from the tree to the drow women. "Perhaps we should set up camp?" he suggested. His tone indicated that camp was not foremost on his mind.

"Oh yes. Let's set up camp," Selene agreed. Her expression had gone neutral - except for her eyes, which couldn't quite hide her amusement. "Shall I get the rope?"

"I suppose that a bit of rope would be useful," Caleldir admitted.

"Yes. Rope always seems useful in camping situations. So I'll do that... Caleldir, dearest, would you go get some firewood?" Selene asked sweetly, which was a bit of an odd tone for the otherwise regal drow.

Ashyr didn't respond, but she was starting to look excited.

"I can get some firewood." Caleldir said in a puzzled tone. He strode away into the woods a bit, looking for a dead tree. Once he found one, he conjured an ax to chop it apart. As it turned out, a Titan soul axe was pretty dang good at cutting wood. No muscle needed at all. The problem would be trying to carry the wood back. Not that that was the point. In all likelihood, the two drow were just cooking up something for him. His imagination spun until he got it under control and just cut wood.