Drow's Dilemma Ep. 104: Moving

Author's Note:

A Drow's Dilemma began as a one-on-one roleplaying project and has been converted into a chapter-by-chapter format for weekly posting with the permission and assistance from my partner. It will contain a considerable amount of sexual themes such as femdom, lesbian, straight, 'reverse' rape, BDSM, group sex, romance, and other themes. The main goal of the story, however, is to tell an epic tale of adventures, gods and goddesses, fae, and nymphomaniacs. This episode and every episode to come will be available for free on Literotica for the foreseeable future. All characters that engage in sexual or suggestive situations are mentally and sexually mature: the human equivalent of 18 for their race.

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Episode 104: Moving

The light surrounding the pale drow winked out moments after the surviving population of Duskhaven reached the surface. The worshippers of Eilistraee collapsed into complete exhaustion. It was just the light from the actual moon illuminating them now. An exhausted, distant voice gently pressed words into the several thousand people's minds.

[You are where you belong.]

The goddess's mission had been a monumental one. But there was time to say a few words as she traveled through the in-between space back to her own realm.

[Greetings, Althaia of Sune. Caleldir. My dear Abanonda Blackdawn, come from so far away. All those who love me. Work with the family of Duskhaven. Help their people find a new home under the moon and stars. But for now, care for my blessed oracle, for I have taxed her body to its limit.]

Phanuel had already anticipated that last order. As soon as he saw the pale drow collapse, he pulled her back from the circle of exhausted followers of Elistraee and cradled her in his comparatively massive arms (beating Caleldir and Althaia by a half-second). But he didn't know where to go from there. He wasn't about to bring all those people to his city; they wouldn't fit in more ways than just physically. Neither could he leave these people leaderless on the doorstep to Port Afron, lest they filter in on their own.

Abanonda bowed her head as Ellistraee departed, then turned towards Caleldir. She smiled, exhaustion on her face. "Good to see you, 'Caleldir Hissael-Blackdawn'. I have been looking for you for a while."

Caleldir started a bit, searching the strange, exceptionally tall Dark-Elf's features. "House Blackdawn? Descendent of Nirza or her sisters?"

The Dark Elf nodded. "Indeed. Matriarch Nirza would be happy to know you are out of the monastery. She died before I was born, but everyone in my House knows of you. What about Faraia the Psion or Archmage Birchborn?"

"I still need to return and break the curse to save them," Caleldir said sadly, though his tone was tinged with wonder and curiosity. She really did look like his old apprentice: but much taller and infused with Nymph (or Succubus? He could not tell...) essence.

"We need a Duskhaven," the aasimar said in a low tone to Caleldir, ignoring the oddness between Caleldir and the woman who fought the dragon. "Someone who these people will listen to."

'Those people' were forming smaller groups and spreading across the forest so that they each had a place to rest and process what had just happened to them. They didn't know what else to do. There were thousands of them now without a home in a place that was too bright, too green, too strange.

"I have to manage this. But I have to talk to you in length as soon as possible," Caleldir said to Abanonda. He turned to Phanuel. "We do not have any handy," he muttered in reply. "They are all in various stages of unconsciousness in Risa's domain."

"Sornamal has the totem," Althaia interjected. "I will go get whichever of the Duskhavens are best able to stand."

Caleldir nodded. Then, inspiration hit him. "Jhul'une," he murmured. "Jhul'une is here. And all the mages of the school, except her mother." Not that anyone seemed torn up about that.

"I still have the totem," Sornamal confirmed as he stepped out from behind the tree he found himself hidden by when the journey up was completed. He gladly opened the portal and let Caleldir in to retrieve someone who could take control of this mess. The old mage knew that he could have been a candidate for such control, but he was enormously glad that it didn't have to be him. His days of control were over. He was tired. Not physically so much, but mentally and emotionally.

Althaia and Caleldir both entered the portal: Caleldir to find Jhul'une, Althaia to update and take stock of the Duskhavens present. Abanonda watched the two of them enter the portal with glittering eyes. They would be back momentarily. That much she knew.

Jhul was still with her favorite ex-consort, Solerin, when Caleldir found her. They were in the forest enjoying their freedom (and getting away from the sounds of that new infant of Ashyr's). They were sitting on a stump next to each other, both in various stages of shock and despair. Both knew in real-time what had been happening on the outside, courtesy R.I.S.A.

Caleldir quickly found Jhul'une, giving her an awkward smile. "We need to get this group under control," he said. "We cannot find your mother anywhere, so, for now, you are acting Matron of House Dinoryn, and Headmistress of the Academy. Will you and the mages of your school help me? Maybe give me an enchantment to my voice so I can speak with everyone at once?"

She blinked up at Caleldir. "You want me to lead? But I..." Her mind flashed back to the humiliation of the Dinoryn 'Incident'. But she last left the mages in a rage of destruction and obvious show of immense power. That likely overshadowed any embarrassment and undermining of her authority that occurred previously. Also, if her mother was really gone, she would not be very sad. "With your help, I think we can rally them together. Get enough of them, and everyone will listen to us. But what's the plan? What are we going to do with all those people?" If they were still in the Underdark, then she would know exactly what to do. But here? She couldn't even begin to guess at how to survive.

"What is the plan?" Caleldir considered. "Hmm... for the moment, simply getting everyone in order and setting up camps. Building shelters, organizing, taking stock of who escaped, that sort of thing. Then forming a council to discuss further actions."

[You can do all that better in my dimension.] R.I.S.A. said, her avatar appearing next to the three of them. [As long as they can provide their own food and can stand the crowding, I can take the entire population of Duskhaven into my climate-controlled forests for up to one week. At that point, the strain would be too much to bear, but that gives you time to have all sorts of discussions and to travel practically anywhere and drop down the entire population of Duskhaven right there.]

"That... that solves a lot of problems, actually," Caleldir realized. "Then that is how we will proceed. Jhul'une, we need the mages of your school. They should hopefully be afraid enough of me to accept my leadership now that I am not sealed, and we can use them to get everyone else in line."

[I will set to moving power to the portal to make it as large as possible,] R.I.S.A. added.

Jhul'une nodded in agreement and stood. "You probably want to get back to the garden, Solerin. There are about to be a lot of people here."

Meanwhile, Phanuel had followed the other two into the dimension with the slight oracle still in his arms. It was obvious that Sidhriia needed some time to sleep away from the crowd of people. She had had a long, exhausting day and was unused to such days. The pale drow got placed in her own special, smaller room for the present. Soon, introductions would need to be made. Everyone needed to recuperate first, though.

Althaia found that the various Duskhavens around the dimension were doing well, all things considered. They had been moved to the master bedroom since Ashyr was done with the afterbirth and everything had been magically cleaned and healed. She was lying on the bed with a couple of pillows to prop her up. The female ranger was dozing with the infant in her arms, suckling at her breast. Selene was curled up next to the two of them in the deep sleep of the truly exhausted.

Tsabdrin did not presume to enter the bed with them. Instead, he was sprawled across a big cushioned chair moved next to the bed. He was sleepily watching Ashyr with her child until he sensed another person in the room. "Hey," he greeted Althaia, then continued to report on their status. "Everyone's doing fine, I think. Ashyr hasn't rejected the child as I feared she might. Not yet anyway. I think it helps that he looks pretty much... normal at this stage."

Althaia looked over the infant. He did seem pretty normal. Still gave off a slightly evil aura, as Caleldir and Risa had not yet purified him, but Dahlia gave off a stronger evil aura and the succubus was at this point pretty much harmless. "It is good that everyone is fine, but we are going to need the Duskhavens to recover soon. We have..."

R.I.S.A. popped up. [Just so you all know, I am bringing the entire population of Duskhaven into my dimension here. Easier to protect and organize them in the unending moon and starlight than under the sun.] She vanished again.

"Yeah... that," Althaia concluded. "We have the entire population of Duskhaven about to enter this dimension, and they need some Duskhavens to take charge sometime in the near future. So, whoever recovers first, keep that in mind. In the meantime, Caleldir and I will take control."

"Selene will likely recover in a bit," Tsabdrin said tiredly. He was actually the least tired out of anyone; all he did was assist with the birth. By itself, it was a monumental task, but the others had done far more taxing things. The male ranger didn't consider himself an eligible Duskhaven. There were some very prominent families that resented him for his apparent inability to father daughters. Besides, he was male. "If you summon our father, he'll have an epic level rest spell to cast on her... er, assuming he isn't also tired to the point of collapse." Tsabdrin let out a heavy, somewhat defeated sigh.

While this was happening, Caleldir and Jhul exited the portal in a facsimile of how they appeared when they left the Academy. That got the mages in line quite effectively. Wielding that power, they herded and cajoled the several thousand refugees out of the forests near Port Afron and into R.I.S.A's dimension. There wasn't much difficulty; not only did they clearly have power, but they also had at least one goddess on their side. Even the stubborn among them were not stupid enough to balk on principal. Perhaps they would have had they been in familiar territory, but they were about as far from that as they could be.

Abanonda Blackdawn approached Althaia, Jhul'une and Caleldir once everything had quieted down a little. Selene and Sornamal just joined them, her latter having had just enough energy to help with his daughter's recovery. Both looked tired but determined to see this through until everyone could have a good rest.

Selene watched the strange woman approach them, a look of slight confusion in her purple-red eyes.

"So. To recap, the King of Ghosts has regained his sanity and fled the cursed realm," Abanonda began. "And taken my family's name as well."

"I... I am sorry," Caleldir said. "I did not know the Blackdawns had survived. Though I am glad of it. It was too much to hope that Nirza herself would still be alive after all this time, though."

"No apology needed." Abanonda shrugged. "My great-great-great-grandmother Nirza gave you an honorary House adoption. So you can use the name. I want to be annoyed that that was the name you were going by when the... breeding event happened, but frankly, your offspring will be enough to offset that. We can use a few dozen new god-blooded nymphkind drow. And mostly females at that. I was still angry at the way you had been treated, but Ellistraee will have great use for your daughters. And sons, for that matter. I was mostly upset to hear about it because of the trauma of it for an honorary House Member that the Great Matriarch held in such high esteem, but you seem to be holding up well. I guess your Nymph blood shields you from sexual trauma."

"Wait... what was that?" Althaia asked, turning to Caleldir. She looked annoyed.

"I will explain later," Caleldir said guiltily. The event that Abanonda was referring to was very similar to one that Althaia had really been angling to have happen, except with nymphs. He was rather afraid that when she found out what it had happened, she would be much more stubborn in pushing for her goal.

"Blackdawn. You have come just in time to see the mess that was made of Duskhaven," Selene said with a hint of chagrin in her tone. "I am Selene Duskhaven, currently the second living daughter of the House and temporary leader of the city."

Abanonda Blackdawn nodded. "I have seen you before, Selene of Duskhaven. I had heard that this Caleldir 'Blackdawn' was an associate of yours." Her eyes glanced down at Selene's stomach. "More than that, it seems."

"He is to be the Duskhaven Consort," Selene responded with clear pride. Her arm, which had since vacated her father's, linked with Caleldir in a possessive fashion. Just in case this Blackdawn got any idea about adding him to the family in more than just name. That seemed to be every female's goal as soon as they saw her Caleldir.

Selene's possessiveness amused Caleldir, but he considered the idea that the Blackdawn woman would make a move on him to be laughable. As far as Abanonda was concerned, he was once a potential lover for her great-great-odd-grandmother. That had to make the idea of taking him herself to be very strange. That and she knew that he had been with far too many women already.

Abanonda did not dispel either Caleldir nor Selene's notions with her next statement, though. "I am aware," she said simply. "But I think that we have two goddesses with other goals for him in addition to that."

"Mostly for my knowledge of genetic engineering," Caleldir added.

"Right. That. Of course," Abanonda replied, with mild amusement.

Abanonda's silver eyes glanced back at all the refugees. A great many were not even drow, but rather the slaves and serfs of that city. "The refugees will need a new place to live," she said bluntly. "They cannot stay here in this dimension created by your artificial goddess. Ellistraee will not allow it."

"This is a good place for transport, but I don't want the refugees living here permanently either," Selene said. "Places to live can be discussed after everyone has had a good rest, however. Jhul'une, get your mages together to assist R.I.S.A. in providing food, beds, and whatever comforts can be afforded the nobles." She sighed. "R.I.S.A, I'm going to need a platform to address the rest of the people. I suppose they need to be reassured and told to wait a cycle - day - whatever. Maybe we can get them to arrange an orgy to help with power. I'm sure a distraction will be welcome."

R.I.S.A. appeared next to them. The A.I. seemed rather tired. [I can do only a little until Risa wakes up from her exhaustion. And I am afraid that an orgy will not really help, here. I feed on sex, of course, but it is more complicated than that. If too many have sex all at the same time, I will be unable to use it. A few smaller scenes are all I can siphon off of. That said, I can at least provide a platform for you. Once Risa wakes up, I will build a temporary city, but I will need a full list of individuals, families, and nobles first.] The A.I. raised up the platform, then went with Jhul'une.

"I have an idea where we should go," Abanonda interjected. "But I need to talk to the Oracle first. Let me know when she is awake."

"And I need to report this to Sune," Althaia added. "I will be unavailable for a few hours."

That established, it was time for Selene to address the crowd. Selene did so with short, forgettable words that nonetheless seemed to calm the refugees a bit. Everything was going to be settled by Duskhaven and their allies. The people were safe here; there was no sun, no predators, no chance of ambush beyond what they were normally used to. Everyone needed to rest. In a cycle, discussions would be had with the goddess' representatives, remaining prominent households, and other city officials about their next steps. Food and beds would be provided for the near future and in a while, a temporary city would be erected. Until then, they were to rest and enjoy the nighttime forest, where they were confined (no entering the house). Killing, maiming, and otherwise maliciously injuring other people (yes, even slaves) was strictly prohibited; the resident goddess could see and hear all that occurred. Offenders would be harshly punished. Selene implied that this was a simple temporary, pragmatic order that might change once things had settled, though she knew it would likely be made Law soon. She knew her people. That communicated, Selene dismounted the platform and waited for an appropriate time for her to retire.

Between Jhul'une and Risa, a tally of the people was made. Five of the six remaining prominent houses of Duskhaven remained with people who could take leadership of said houses, the slavers being those only people whose entire membership was missing. Each of those five houses had already taken control of a good chunk of people, and the rest were temporarily placed under the most appropriate house's protection. Thus the 5,527 refugees were seen to and could survive another day without complete meltdown. Or, at least, a meltdown that the completely drained main party didn't have to deal with.

Once that report was made, Selene heaved a heavy sigh. "Come, Caleldir. Let's go see how Ashyr is doing." Selene said tiredly. She began to walk with him back to the bedroom

Caleldir thought that he saw Varas the mercenary on his way back with Selene, but it was for only a moment. He mentally communicated this with R.I.S.A., who promised to stay on the lookout for the shifty fellow, but more than that he was too tired to do. Just let Selene pull him along.

In the bedroom, Ashyr still reclined much as she was before. Tsabdrin was still there, but as soon as he saw Caleldir and Selene, he excused himself to go check on the other children. Ashyr looked up at Caleldir and Selene to silently watch them enter. The infant was still cradled in her arms, apparently peacefully asleep. Her torso was naked outside the covers, and it was very likely that her lower half was in a similar state under the covers. There was an awkwardness to her, an unwillingness to look at either of her partners in the eye. Especially Caleldir. She barely even looked at him once he got closer.

Selene sat down next to her cousin, switching her gazes between Ashyr's face and her baby. After a moment of indecision, she reached out her hands in a silent request to hold the small half-drow. Ashyr was equally hesitant, unwilling to part with a child even if it was forced upon her to begin with. She relinquished the infant but didn't keep her eyes off of him.

On some level, Caleldir knew some of what Ashyr was going through, in the whole 'forced to bring into existence a baby that you did not want to bring into existence', thing, but on another it was different. He had not had to bear any of his children, and those children were not cursed scions of evil gods. He could deal with the science and spellwork of curing and developing the baby, but not so much the emotional fallout. This would take time.

"Has he a name yet?" Selene asked gently. She watched as Ashyr merely shook her head in the negative.

Caleldir thought for a bit. Hmmm... actually, and strangely for him, he could not think of a good name. Such was his powerless frustration. It was not the baby's fault, but it was sometimes hard to not think in such a way.