No Longer a Game Ch. 26

Lolth laughed, "Yes they deserved it. It was well played on your part and I congratulate you. Then there was the pretty human girl who was so dedicated to her God, you destroyed her life and it gave you such pleasure in doing so. How many others, Natalie? How many other people's lives did you set out to ruin with your chaotic desire to destroy anyone who got close to you? Anyone who dared to love you? Eventually even your parents who you hold in such high esteem would suffer from your actions. They would begin to believe what people say about you, girl; that you are a whore who lies and manipulates and uses her body to ruin people."

"I...I love my mom and dad!" Natalie protested. "I...I would never hurt them."

Lolth chucked, "Not intentionally but you will. If you go back to your world they would see what you are. You are more akin to my followers than you know, child. I delight in their chaos and like me you also delight in your chaotic actions. You and your friends will never get home, girl. I offer you so much for just so little in return."

Lolth sat on the bed and ran her hands seductively through the girl's hair as Natalie remained silent and Lolth smiled knowing the girl was considering her offer. She knew she had used the right words, shown her the right images of her past and the sexual pleasure she had given the foolish human whore was just icing on the cake to manipulate her into serving her. Suddenly the human girl moved away from her a little.

"You can't." Natalie said aloud. It was like in the cartoons she used to watch when she was little; a light bulb going off above her head as it came to her. "You can't can you? You can't send us...my friends home. You don't have the power to do so." Natalie even gave a short humorous laugh. "Oh how stupid I was!

Natalie moved as far away from the goddess as she could and shook her head rapidly. "I...I won't! I won't kill my friends! I won't serve you. I won't become this chosen for you!" Natalie said with conviction.

Lolth stood up from the bed and her body seemed to grow larger as she glared down at the small girl and her red eyes blazed with anger. "You dare to reject my offer! Do you know who I am you foolish child!" Lolth screamed at her. "So be it! You have made your choice and now you will suffer for it!"

Frightened, Natalie tried to get out of the bed and run but she once again found herself held prisoner in the large sticky webs of Lolth. She looked up and saw the drow goddess approaching her once again in her half drow half spider form. Natalie screamed as the Spider Queen crawled along her webs and came closer. Lolth extended one of her spider legs and thrust it forward.

Natalie screamed again, this time in pain as the leg pierced her shoulder like a spear and screamed once more as another leg pierced her other shoulder.

"Stupid bitch!" Lolth hissed at her. Gone was her lovely musical voice; replaced by a hideous sound. "I offered you power and you dare to reject me! I will have your soul, girl! I will send you back and my priestess will torture you and then peel the skin from your body like an onion. After she will sacrifice your body to me; then I will collect your soul from the Fugue Plane myself! You have no god to claim your soul so I will. I will give you to demons who will take out their lusts on your body nightly, my children will eat at your flesh every day, and I will torture you in ways you cannot fathom! You will be mine for all eternity!"

Natalie heard Lolth's maniacal laughter and was once again taken back to the Underdark and in her elf form and bound by the ropes. What was over a year to her in the Demon Web Pits of Lolth's plane of rule was less than an hour on the Material Plane. She raised her head and saw Talshal and the other drow once again bowing to a Hand Maiden of the Spider Queen.

"This one had refused Lolth." The yochlol told Talshal. "She is once again yours to do with as you wish, but she is still to be sacrificed to our Mistress." The demon then vanished.

Talshal stood up and smiled as she approached the elf girl. "Nice to have you back, my sweet. Shall we continue our play?"

Natalie screamed out as the drow priestess shoved two of her fingers in the wound made by Lolth on Natalie's right shoulder.

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Natalie's friends heard her scream again and in an odd way they were relieved for it meant the elf girl was alive. After her second scream their relief was turned once again to their pity and hopelessness of hearing the girl being tortured once again.

Christie once more struggled in vain against her bonds, Rain and Jason wept openly once more at the sound of torture, Lou again tried to shut out the horrible screams, and Ahira yelled in rage and frustration at his helplessness.

The dwarf screamed as he tried to break the chains but to no avail. He felt impotent and frustration at his inability to help Natalie. His helplessness reminded him of his other side self, being bond to his wheelchair. The thought made Ahira even angrier; having to live his life a prisoner forever useless and bound to his chair. The dwarf's vision seemed to blur as he thought of that chair he would be confined to for the rest of his life. In his mind he was no longer Ahira, the powerful dwarf warrior, but Michael once again; Michael the cripple. Rage built up inside him as he was reminded of that weak crippled boy who depended on others to just do something as simple as use the bathroom. Anger coursed through his body as he was reminded of the life he would have as Michael; a life where he would have to live off the pity and charity of others.

"NO! NOT ANYMORE! NEVER AGAIN!" Ahira screamed aloud. "NEVER WILL I BE MICHAEL AGAIN!"

The dwarf heard voices asking if he was okay but he ignored them as he pulled on the chains that held him confined just like the disease that crippled his muscles. The dwarf felt the chains pull on the wall of the wagon and a creaking sound. He pulled harder and he heard the wood start to crack.

"NEVER AGAIN!" Ahira screamed out once more and pulled on his chains.

The wood cracked and then splintered and his right arm was suddenly free. The dwarf then pulled on his left arm and it broke free as well. He screamed in his rage as he stood up and looked about his prison cell. He heard people shouting at him but in his rage he could not understand what they were saying. He saw people chained to the wall as he was and could not understand why they did not just break free as he had done. They are weak, he thought. He looked over at them with desire to kill, to take revenge against the ones who chained him, but these were not the ones responsible for his weakness. He ignored the weaklings chained to the wall when he heard the door of his prison and saw a dark elf enter with a sword drawn. Him, thought the dwarf, he is one of those who chained me and made me weak. Ahira screamed in rage as the drow looked at him as if stunned.

The dwarf swung his right arm and the chain that was still attached to his wrist flew out like a whip and caught the drow around his neck. Ahira pulled his arm to him and the drow was jerked into the air by the great strength of the enraged dwarf and flew within the grasp of Ahira. The dwarf wrapped one large hand around over the drow's head and squeezed. The incredible strength of the berserk dwarf easily crushed the drow's skull. Ahira slung the body against the wagon wall and looked at the open door. He knew there were more of them outside; more of the fools who thought they could chain up a powerful dwarf like himself. Ahira screamed in rage and ran out of the wagon looking for more of the dark elves to crush and kill.

When the dwarf freed himself and broke the wood of the wagon wall it splintered far enough to free the chains on Jason's right hand and the body of the dead drow was within his reach and the dead drow had the keys to his and his friend's shackles. Jason reached out and twisted his body so he was able to pull the body to him and get the keys. Jason unlocked his shackles, then Rains, and then quickly crawled to Christie's and unlocked hers.

"Natalie!" Christie shouted a she crawled to the door of the wagon but Jason grabbed her.

"Christie wait!" He shouted at her as he slid the keys on the floor to Rain so she could free Lou.

"Let me go!" Christie struggled. "She needs me!"

Jason held her tight by her arms. "Stop it! Listen to me, Christie, we are going to need you out there, do you understand what I am telling you? No matter what you see we need you to focus."

Christie shook herself loose. "Ok, ok...I fucking understand; just let me go."

Rain unlocked Lou and Jason handed her the long dagger the drow carried and then he handed the drow's long sword to Christie and then picked up a long, thick piece of the shattered wood to use as a club. Rain looked at Lou who had yet to move and sat there rubbing his wrists. The party could hear yells and screams outside the wagon as the berserk dwarf battled to drow.

"Get up, Lou!" She shouted.

Lou looked up, "Why? I can't use my spells with this collar around my neck so I am useless in a fight."

"Fuck!" Rain screamed at the wizard in frustration and handed him the hand held crossbow the dead drow had and the quiver of bolts. "Just take this and point and pull the fucking trigger! Now get off your ass and come on!"

The four stepped out of the wagon and saw another dead drow outside the door and Jason dropped his club, picked up the drow's long sword, handed a short sword the drow carried on his belt to Rain, and the group looked around at the scene. The enraged dwarf has already killed several of the dark elves but now they had cornered him with his back to a stone wall of the cavern. Ahira was bleeding from many serious wounds that would have incapacitated the dwarf if not for his berserk state. With adrenaline pumping through his body in his maddened condition, the dwarf did not feel pain and wounds that would have weakened him or even killed him did nothing to slow him down; however the friends knew was his berserk state was dangerous when it wore off. The dwarf would soon start to feel all the effects of the many cuts and stabs on his body.

One of the drow warriors got to close to the chains attached to Ahira's wrists and the iron links wrapped around the dark elf's arm and with a hard jerk the dwarf pulled the drow off his feet; screaming from the pain of a dislocated shoulder, the drow was tossed next to the tethered giant lizards and they snapped and hissed at one another as they fought over the meal and the drow screamed again as the largest lizard bit down on his body. The other drow took a step back away from the insane dwarf, but Ahira was spent. His enraged state was wearing off and he fell to the ground and started to feel the effects of his wounds and Talshal closed in with her snake whip raised to finish him off.

Christie glanced around and saw Natalie hanging by her hands, unconscious with blood running down her sides from her shoulder wounds. She screamed at anger toward the drow priestess and charged with her sword raised. Rain looked at Jason and shrugged and the two followed their friend into the fray. Lou raised the crossbow, fired, and sent the bolt way above the head of the drow priestess. Cursing his aim he fumbled to load the crossbow again and sent the bolts in the quiver scattering over the stone floor.

After the dwarf's murderous rampage there were only seven drow left alive including the priestess of Lolth and her brother.

"Leave the dwarf for now and kill the rest but leave the traitor bitch alive!" Talshal shouted to her soldiers.

Natalie, barely conscious, lifted her head when she heard the shots of the drow and of her friends. She even managed a smile at the thought of them rescuing her but her smile turned into a scream when she saw the hand maiden of Lolth appear before her again. Natalie screamed out Christie's name in a warning and also to maybe help her but the yochlol gave a grotesque laugh.

"They cannot see or hear me, girl. I come from my mistress. Lolth wants you and will not allow you to escape in case you friends succeed in freeing you. She still wants you alive."

The demon extended one of its tentacles and it caressed Natalie's face and then she felt the demon's mind connect with hers as the Spider Queen had done when she was Lolth's lover. Natalie screamed again once more as she felt tugging at her body as if the demon was trying to pull her very soul from her body. She tried to resist but the pull was too strong and then everything went black.

Christie heard Natalie scream again as the drow formed and charged to meet the party of friends and she hesitated. Something was wrong, she thought as she felt her skin tingle and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up...something else had entered the area. Being a Darksong Knight, an elite order dedicated to Eilistraee trained to combat the demonic servants of Lolth, the good drow goddess of the Dark Seldarine; Christie was blessed with certain abilities and skills in combating demons and able to detect the presence of such even when the demon was invisible. Christie tried to sing a prayer of True Sight to Eilistraee but her words came out confused; she had forgotten about the collar on her neck that prevented her from casting her clerical spells. The sensation of the presence of a creature from the Abyss faded and she saw that Talshal raised her hands and started to speak a prayer to Lolth to cast a spell. Christie got to her before she could finish casting and swung her sword at the priestess's head; Talshal easily avoided the clumsy attack but it did interrupt her casting. She stepped back and drew her whip and a mace from her belt.

The priestess of Lolth smiled at Christie as the sounds of combat could be heard around them, "You are useless here, traitor. You can't summon a prayer to your whore goddess and this is the Underdark where Lolth rules."

"I am going to kill you for what you did to Natalie, you bitch!" Christie shouted back.

Talshal laughed and the two joined in combat. This world's Christie was highly skilled in melee combat but Talshal was a priestess of Lolth and spent many years training under the supervision of the Weapon Master of her house and Christie was weak and dehydrated from lack of food and water. Christie narrowly avoided one of the snakes of the whip and twisted her body and stumbled and almost fell to the ground but she recovered quick enough to parry a blow from the other drow's mace. They battled and Christie slashed her sword at Talshal's mid-section only to have it parried by the mace and Christie ducked quickly to avoid the whip. They fought for several more seconds and Christie was soon backed into the wall as she was put on the defensive parrying the attacks of the mace and dodging the snake heads that snapped and hissed at her. Christie gave a loud grunting sound as the mace slammed into her side and she heard and felt her ribs crack. She fell to the floor and then rolled away from the heads of the whip. She looked up at Talshal as she tried to get to her feet but stumbled once more.

Talshal grinned down at the other drow female and raised her whip, "Now my pets will taste your flesh, traitor."

Christie closed her eyes and whispered a prayer to Eilistraee as she waited the blow and then suddenly opened her eyes when she heard Talshal cry out in pain. The priestess of the Spider Queen dropped her whip and her left hand hung limp to her side. She turned to see Lou standing a few feet behind her loading the small crossbow after he shot her in the shoulder. Christie grabbed her sword and slashed at the priestess's leg and it bit deep into Talshal's thigh. The drow screamed more in rage than pain as she stumbled to the ground and tried desperately to reach her Fangs of Lolth, the snakes lifeless without the physical contact from their mistress.

Christie got to her feet and raised her sword and with a singles slash downward revered the priestess of Lolth's head from her body. Lou quickly dropped to the lifeless body and started searching for the key that would unlock the collars around his and Christie's neck. He found the small, enchanted key and removed his collar and then Christie's.

"Thanks, Lou." The drow told the wizard as he unlocked her collar.

Lou smiled, "Guess I was not as useless as I thought." The two turned to see how their companions faired.

While Christie was battling Talshal, Rain and Jason were engaged with the other drow. These were no orc bandits who would flee when the battle was turned against them; these were drow warriors who spent years honing their skill with their weapons, drow who lived in the Underdark where the weak did not survive long. Jason had placed his back to a wall as he did his best to fight three of the drow, one already at his feet trying to hold in his intestines as they spilled over the ground. Jason was bleeding from cuts and slashes as he did his best to defend himself against the skilled warriors. The paladin had picked up a shield sometime during the fight and warded off the attacks of the drow with both sword and shield.

Rain was also hard pressed as she fought two drow, one using her own vampire blades against her. She was on the defensive as well as she took steps backwards as she parried blows from the knives and the other drow's sword. She wielded her dagger and leaf shaped short sword with great skill but she knew she was outmatched against two skilled fighters and she knew soon one of their blades would slip past her defense and deal her a killing blow. She was already bleeding from several cuts and stab wounds that had slipped past her defensives.

Both Jason and Rain felt they would soon become food for the carrion that inhabited the Underdark, but the battle quickly turned to the favor of the four friends when Lou and Christie were able to use their spells once more. One of the drow pressing his attack on Jason screamed out as his chest suddenly exploded, spraying blood and gore over Jason, when Lou's arcane bolts hit his back. One of the other drow facing Jason dropped his guard for a moment and it was just the amount of time Jason needed to give a back hand slash with his long sword and the drow fell back screeching in pain with his arm severed. The other drow saw his opening when Jason slashed at his companion and thrust his curved blade into the paladin's side. Jason grunted on pain and instead of trying to avoid the blade from going into him deeper he actually pressed his body forward, dropped his sword and shield, and reached out and grabbed the stunned drow by the throat, lifting him off the ground, and using his great strength strangled the life from the dark elf. When the drow was dead, Jason picked up his sword and killed the one armed drow.

Rain kept backing up as she was pressed hard and Nathry saw the fear in the half elf's eyes and grinned. "She's mine." He told the other drow.

The other warrior backed off a little as the two kept forcing Rain to step back and her foot hit a stone on the ground and she tripped and fell. The force of the fall knocked her short sword out of her hand and she looked up at Nathry holding her dagger in front of her. She knew it would be of no use against the two blades and the skill of the drow.

"Now you will feel how your blades drain the life from their victims." The drow taunted.

"What, you are going to let my slip take your glory?" Rain taunted back, saying anything that may save her life. "Let me up and fight me fair."

Nathry laughed, "Fair? I am drow, bitch, we don't fight fair."

Suddenly Nathry and the drow soldier could not move and their eyes darted back and forth. Rain looked past the two drow and saw Christie looking at them; the priestess cast a hold spell on the two male drow. Rain grinned as she stood up, thrust her sword into the chest of the warrior and then looked at the paralyzed Nathry.