A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 25: Traveling

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 25: Traveling

When Ashyr opened her eyes again, the already scant light that filtered into their sleeping space in that cave behind the waterfall was much darker than before. Apparently she had managed to find sleep, though she didn't realize it. Her back was conspicuously cold. Ashyr threw her gaze behind her to see that Selene wasn't there. The ranger blinked into the waxing darkness. Then she heard subtle splashing. Ah. Her younger cousin must have decided to take a swim without the 'help' of the nymph. That seemed reasonable. Ashyr sat up and stretched her back with a contented, sleepy sound. "You people awake?" She asked.

Ashyr's voice woke Caleldir up from a dream where he was back in the Nymph's grotto, only this time, it was Althaia that was tenderly making love to him. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he sat up. That was... disturbing. He frequently had sexually-charged dreams nowadays, but that one was way more realistic than any he had had before. Well, it was just a dream. He turned towards Ashyr, smiling. "I am now." Standing up, his usual suit of comfortably padded leather armor appeared around him as he stretched. "I cannot wait to enter the hills!"

Althaia flowed into an upright position as well. Her expression was almost beatific, with her eyes having returned to their blue shade. Even more shockingly, she was dressed in something decent: a set of (still flattering) monk-like robes. "Good Evening!" She sang out. She was clearly in a fantastic mood. "I am glad everyone had a good afternoon of sleep, and am also ready to brave the dangers of the wild hills at night." She flowed out of the little cave she had built. As she passed by Ashyr, she gave the Drow a conspiratorial grin. "It was such a productive nap for some of us." With that, she was gone, and missed the growing suspicion in Ashyr's gaze.

Caleldir watched the Nymph leave with an equally suspicious frown. "I am not sure what she is up to." He said. "But something about her mood worries me." He sighed. "I am grateful that she helped us to escape, and it is nice to have a paladin along, but she is a huge headache sometimes. Most of the time." He rubbed his thigh. He felt a little sore.

"Caleldir?" Ashyr asked when she was reasonably sure that Althaia was out of earshot. "Did you... did you have sex with Althaia while Selene and I slept?" She asked with confused curiosity. "She seems... suspiciously sated. She was still pretty horny when we decided to take a nap." As she spoke, she donned her full set of armor and envied the nymphs' ability to simply will it onto her.

Caleldir spluttered a bit. "What? No! Of course not!" Then, he looked a little bit guilty. "Err... I did have a dream where I..." he was beet red. Which was ridiculous. His face slipped back into something relatively neutral. "I had a dream where I had sex with her. But she is not a succubus who can enter dreams, so I have no idea how she became sated on that... then again, dream-walking might be some obscure druid spell, or she simply molested me while I slept. Frankly, I would rather not think about it." Shaking his head, he walked out of the cave.

Selene was sitting by the poolside as Althaia exited the cave. She was still naked, but when she saw the nymph, she quickly got up and threw back on her robe. The younger drow did not particularly feel like tempting that woman. The subtle, sour look Selene always had on her face was more muted now that she'd had a relaxing swim and the sun was no longer bearing down on her sensitive eyes. But Althaia did not seem to be tempted. In fact, the nymph just skipped past the slightly baffled drow with a grin on her pale face. Then she was out of sight.

Caleldir was still trying to figure out what had happened to him as he slept, when he heard a high-pitched scream. He looked as Ashyr in shock. "Did that sound like Althaia to you?" Without waiting for confirmation, he dashed out with Ashyr close on his heels. Possibly a dream and/or sleep rapist or no, he still did not want her to die. He came to a stop when he saw his father kneeling over the nymph's prone body. "She should be less of a headache now." The old Titan said, standing back up. "I am fond of my wife's peoples, but they can be somewhat overly amorous." With that, he was gone.

"I guess we should have seen this coming." Ashyr said, only slightly winded from that mad dash. "The guy seemed to take a strange interest in your traveling companions." Ashyr knelt beside the nymph's form and brushed away some blonde hair to see her face. "Althaia?"

Staring at the spot where his father had just teleported from, Caleldir sighed. "To be honest, I think that he took way more interest in her than in you two simply because she is a nymph. My father has always had a thing for nymphs. He once recommended that I marry one. Specifically, a half-nymph (well, half-dryad, similar enough) half-halfling archmage with green hair. But she became sort of... cursed, so that never happened. Plus, she was creepy." Caleldir did not seem at all worried about Althaia now that he knew what had caused her scream; he knew his father at least well enough to know that he was not in the habit of killing nymphs. Plus, she did not have any obvious wounds.

After a few seconds of Ashyr kneeling over Althaia, the nymph's eyes glittered open. They were an almost metallic silver, and looked just a little unnatural. "Oh... I feel woozy..." she breathed. She sat up, rubbing her head. "I feel as if there was a great hole where my libido was." She muttered. Suddenly, she grinned. "And that is amazing! I think that Titan somehow sealed most of my lust! I no longer have sex on the mind!" She paused. "Well, actually I still do, but it is not such an overwhelming, pressing, all-concealing need any longer." The nymph leapt up and began dancing around. "I now possess a rune that allows me to stifle my sex drive! I can now really be a hero!" Then, her eyes suddenly shifted purple, and she grabbed Ashyr and then Caleldir and kissed both of them in turn. "But I certainly have not forgotten about you, dear drow, or you, my cousin." She purred. Her eyes shifted back to silver. "But enough of that. I am going scouting." She disappeared off into the rocky brush.

Caleldir scratched his head. "Okay. I admit it. I did not see that coming." He finally said.

"Um." A baffled Ashyr began as she stared in the direction that Althaia disappeared to. "Alright then."

Back at the cave, Selene grumbled to herself about people running towards every screaming person they heard so that they didn't have to be stuck with packing up. Well, SHE was responsible. She began to put away all the bedding, packing more of it into Ashyr's bag than usual. That would teach her not to go running off into the forest when there was work to be done. After she had packed everything up and prepared for travel, Selene followed the sound of a jubilant nymph to the rest of the party. She didn't reach them in time to really understand what was going on, but by the confused looks on Ashyr and Caleldir's faces, something interesting occured. An annoyed look on her face, Selene threw Ashyr conspicuously heavier pack at her cousin's feet.

"... what's going on?" Selene asked. Her expression was still mostly annoyed, but there was a glimmer of curiosity in her crimson eyes.

"Seems that his father wanted to curtail our associate's libido." Ashyr explained, not looking at her cousin and not noticing the heaviness of her traveling bags.

"Fabulous." Selene responded. Her voice was more relieved than sarcastic. "Are we going to get moving? Darkness is wasting."

"Of course we are going to get moving." Caleldir replied. "We have a lot of ground to cover before daybreak. And, since we are going west, some after that as well. We won't be heading into the sun, see, and the morning is usually cool enough." With that, Caleldir hefted his pack, such as it was, and began the journey.

The night was cool, a little breezy, and cloudless, with a full sky of brilliantly twinkling stars above them. Not that anyone in the group (well, except Althaia) actually needed the light, but it was nice to have anyway. Caleldir led the group at a pretty harsh clip, hustling over the increasingly broken terrain. They completely left the forest behind within an hour of starting, and the terrain was now steep hills, rocks, scrub brush, and occasional pine trees. The drow seemed much happier traveling in the night than in the day. Selene was noticeably less abrasive with everyone. She contributed to the conversations on a regular bases, and even laughed a couple of times at her cousin's dark humor (which, for a dark elf, would be regular humor.) Unlike the days that they traveled through the forest, Ashyr stuck with Caleldir and Selene. The older drow studied the terrain with fascination. She'd never been out this far even after staying so long on the surface. The varying terrain of the surface always amazed her. Selene didn't seem to care where she was or what the scenery looked like. The younger drow would have rather read her newly borrowed book.

A little after the middle of the night. Althaia appeared again. "Kobold camp ahead." She warned. "The little dragon-kin like traps a lot, so watch your step."

A glint of excitement crossed Ashyr's eyes. She was tempted to go out to try to find that Kobold camp then and there. She'd dealt with their kind a little, and knew some of how to avoid their particular traps. Selene wasn't too bad at that, either. Both were sufficiently suspicious of anything out of the ordinary around them. If they hadn't been, the dangers of the Underdark would have taken them long ago. "Got it." Ashyr confirmed. "Maybe we'll get a chance to test your skills on some Kobolds. You can probably handle a couple without getting killed." She said as she turned to Caleldir. The older drow seemed a little... eager to see that happen. She'd always loved a good battle.

"If we are attacked, I will defend myself." Caleldir said stoically. "But I see no reason to seek out a fight with them. It is the height of ill-manners to invade somebody's home, kill them, and loot their stuff, simply because they are short and have scaly skin."

Althaia looked at him with mischief in her eyes. "What if I told you that they were carrying the spoils of a plundered village, and had several humans as prisoners, including at least one comely wench?"

Immediately the two swords appeared in Caleldir's hands. "I would say that it is time to bring brutal justice to some kobolds!" There was bloodthirst in his tone and eyes alike.

Both drow's eyes glinted with their own personal display of lust when Caleldir summoned his blades and spoke with such aggression. Ashyr seemed to enjoy it the most, however. There were some things about her that were still quite drowlike despite how much she differed from the rest of her kin. Lust and bloodlust were concepts that resided very close in a drow's heart. To some, they were one in the same.

The nymph giggled. "Too bad it is just an ordinary mining group. They are simply testing the ground for minerals. I think that they found a copper deposit."

Caleldir sighed His blades vanished. "Then let us not seek trouble, and simply continue on our way."

"You're right. We need to focus on travel, not on battle." Ashyr agreed with no small amount of regret. Unconsciously, her hand reached over to gently caress Caleldir's back until she reached his ass. Only then did she realize what she was doing. She turned back to where they were headed with a slight smirk on her face. Ashyr did not seem to regret her actions at all.

Caleldir enjoyed Ashyr's touch, as always, but he did not show a reaction to it. Althaia, however, did, wagging her eyebrows suggestively. As her eyes where still silver though, indicating that her rune was active, it was more just her being mischievous.

"They don't sound much worth our time anyway." Selene said. The younger drow harbored hope that they would one night find Kobolds that Althaia described - the rich ones with loot to gather and slaves to commandeer rescue.

"Still have to be careful about traps and patrols. We might get a good battle out of the night after all." Ashyr said.

"These particular kobolds seem to mostly wish to be left alone to mine. That is why they live this far from human lands." She stated. "If we do not antagonize them, or ambush a patrol, we will not have to fight them. No, if you are looking for a fight, I have heard that there are several clans of goblins and kobolds closer to human civilization that are known raiders. I would love to put the fear of the Good Gods into their little heads."

"I can put the fear of something else into their little heads as well." Selene said in a tone that could only be described as ominous. "You know, I would like to visit some of these creatures. There are some spells I've been itching to try out on something I'm actually allowed to hurt." She looked at Caleldir out of the corner of her eye. Ashyr had made it clear that she wasn't allowed to get that violent with her mate. Sometimes that woman was just no fun.

"I wouldn't mind, either. My brothers can wait a little while longer, I think." Ashyr agreed with her sadistic cousin. "There aren't really people left to save from them, and they can't drive our house into the ground too quickly."

"Yes. They were trying to keep this coup away from the rest of the Underdark until they can gain some strength. They didn't want to destroy Duskhaven - though that will be inevitable under their rule. As long as we don't wait more than a couple of your surface months..."

"There's all sorts of fun we can get into." Ashyr finished for her cousin in an only recently rare display of the two of them thinking on the same wavelength. Both had a very similar wicked grin spread across their features.

It was actually sort of distressing to see the drow cousins so easily and thoroughly agree on a topic. Caleldir was too used to seeing the two of them arguing. Well, their agreement did come with some interesting new information about what was happening with House Duskhaven. "We should not take two months." Caleldir explained. "Fifteen days to the monastery, three or so days to loot it, one day back from there to wherever we need to be. Because, of course, we will be exiting by using the teleportation circle in the Archmage's tower. Provided it is not too well defended" He did agree with them in that he was itching for a fight. Time to try out his new weapons. But not tonight.

The nymph was right: the group did not run into any hostile kobold scouts. They were spotted by one small scouting party, but since the group was heading away from their mines, the kobolds simply watched them from a distance, and hurried back to their camp to make their report. Caleldir did run into a trap, ending up hanging upside down and poisoned with something that made him stumble around really drunkenly, until Althaia cured it. The drow cousins managed not to find themselves on the wrong end of a trap. Well, Selene did step wrong once and got cut by something that was likely meant to poison her. It did not succeed. A drow's constitution was made of far stronger stuff than Caleldir's. Mostly this was from all the times she was poisoned by her own kind, and the times her mother was poisoned, and her mother's mother as well.

Althaia spent the rest of the night's (and morning's) journey hanging with the group. She was noticeably more subdued tonight than she had been. Not quite to the level of a stereotypical stoic paladin - she was still a giggly nymph whose armour inexplicably and inefficiently included cleavage and a bared midriff - but she was substantially less annoying now. At least, Caleldir believed so, even if she had probably had sex with him while he slept last afternoon.

The day dawned cold, spilling red light over the stony hills, which the morning light revealed to be composed of some sort of dull gray-green rock. Without any clouds, the day threatened to be very hot soon enough. Althaia stopped the group. "If we are to camp where the kobolds will not kill us in our sleep, I need to begin carving out a cave for us now. If the rest of you can prepare dinner, I would be pleased. No land meat for me though. I prefer fish." With that, the nymph leapt over a hill, presumably to find a place to start digging.

Both drow set themselves to the task suggested by the nymph quickly and efficiently. They did seem to be getting along much better. Ashyr must have accidentally forgiven her cousin somewhere between the nymph's grove and where they were currently stopped. There were plenty of supplies from the combined efforts of the nymph's foraging and the ranger's hunting. They didn't quite prepare a feast - Ashyr wasn't sure how much more hunting she would be able to do in this terrain - but they did make plenty of food.

"I think that sex drive of hers was also the thing making her so... hyperactive." Selene observed with a quick gesture towards where Althaia had disappeared. "I, for one, am relieved. I don't think you understand how damn annoying she was, Ashyr." The dawning sun seemed to be having a negative effect on Selene. She was complaining and being insulting again.

Ashyr gave her cousin a noncommittal half-shrug. She settled down next to the small fire they'd built with her back to the sun. It wasn't so bad yet, but Ashyr felt thoroughly glad that they'd decided to change their traveling schedule. She let out an enthusiastic yawn. It would still take a bit to get used to, though. Both drow looked quite tired.

"I agree absolutely. On Ashyr the borderline nymphomania is endearing; on Althaia the actual nymphomania is just exhausting. Plus, she is less likely to have sex with me in my sleep now." The idea that the nymph had 'slept' with him while he was asleep was still one that Caleldir found distressing. If she had forced him while he was awake, at least he would have known what had happened.

"Oh? So you did not like the dreams that I gave you?" Althaia said with a pouty face as she returned to the fire. She sat across from the drow, with the early morning light softly illuminating her face making her look even more radiant than usual, if such a thing were possible. She began eating some of the fish that the three had prepared, ignoring the confused and suspicious looks the drow were giving her. "I set up a nice, snug little cave behind some bushes. We should be completely safe for the day in there. I am afraid that we will all have to get very close indeed for it to work, though."

"Oh no." said the oldest drow. The obvious sarcasm in her voice and wide grin on her face was evidence enough that Ashyr was joking. She edged closer to Caleldir, and leaned lightly against his shoulder as she rubbed his back with one hand. It was more of an affectionate, comforting gesture than sexual.

Caleldir looked at the nymph with some suspicion, and scooted a little closer to Ashyr as well. The nymph watched him with amusement, then turned her silver eyes towards the sky. "At least, you three will." Althaia continued. "I will see you again once night falls. I have some business to attend to elsewhere."