A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 61: a Way In

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 61: A Way In

Just as Zarag mentioned the paladin over the breakfast table, Althaia returned behind Ashyr. Riding in on her pegasus, the nymph dismounted to join the group breakfasting. "Forgive my late arrival." She said cheerfully. "I needed to take my companion here to stretch her wings. And look over the city out of range of their mages." She gave the pegasus a bow, and the mare vanished back to the celestial plains. The paladin sat down next to Selene. She did not give the departing necromancer so much as a look. It was clear that the half-orc annoyed her by merely being there, but the nymph was too polite to say anything. "So... what did I miss?"

Zarag watched his sister as she left. He frowned too, but it was a frown of a long-held worry. "Only one thing gets Ungrai angry like that. She told you of our mother. She is ashamed of the elf, and embraces the orc. But in body she is most like our dam. It has been always been a struggle."

"What, you guys are elves?" Ashyr said after finally joining the conversation - she had been momentarily distracted at the door by Urag, and had a quick conversation with him. She stood directly behind Caleldir, resting her arms on his shoulders. "I thought you and Ungrai were strangely pretty. But you're still awfully hairy."

"Yes. I took after my father." Zarag informed her.

Caleldir watched Ungrai depart impassively. He turned back to his meal, shaking his head. "Well, that is rather rough for her, I will admit. Frankly, I do not understand her emotions in this, but she should at least know that a couple of elves are not going to look down on her for being part elf." He put one hand on Ashyr's, who had her hands on his shoulder. He gave the drow a smile.

"As an elf, you would not understand." Zarag told them. "But enough about that. Now that you are all here, I can show you something." He dug into his belt pouch and pulled out a folded piece of yellowed paper. "You are lucky, Paladin Althaia, that you were not shot down by the city. They have war machines on the walls with deadly range, that I am sure you saw. I have seen those take down dragons. It is why those of us who can change shape have not yet gotten inside."

"I was really, really far off." Althaia noted. "And am also really close to being immune to magic. All the same, I knew that those mages were in the habits of shooting at fliers. So I stayed out of range of their magic. As to war machines, they are really slow. I can dodge them easily when I am a full mile away."

The half orc still didn't look pleased about Althaia's flight. But he let it pass. He took an arm and swept aside the food directly in front of him. Then he unfolded the paper and revealed it for what it was: a very crude map of the area surrounding the city.

"This was sent to us by Demetus Verdoon." Zarag explained. He jabbed a big finger at a place where the river met the side of the city on the opposite side of where Ashyr, Pieter, Celeste, and Fucking escaped the city. There was a big circle drawn there. "There is a grate here, under the water, that leads to the sewer under the city. The human made water breathing potions, and they swam without surfacing. This is the only way into the city without mages knowing."

"That seems like quite the oversight." Selene observed.

"We thought so, too." Zarag agreed. He pulled out another piece of paper and set it on the table for everyone to see.

'Made hole in grate. Fishmen almost killed us. Got in. Will update.'

Caleldir recognized the location indicated on the map. "I seem to recall escaping through there. One would think that they would remember that route..."

"Nah, we escaped though here." Ashyr said, poking at the map nearer the fortress. "We had to jump, remember? They probably only casually watch that spot, since you'd have to climb to get back up to it. This sounds like we can just swim through the water and into the sewers."

Caleldir blinked at the map. "Oh. I was confused at to the exact location. That makes more sense..." He shrugged sheepishly. For someone who supposedly had an eidetic memory, he had a tendency to forget things. Not books or spells, though.

"They covered that other hole." Zarag corrected. "The note seems to say that the sewers are not safe, but at least fighting is possible. Not so with mages and war machines."

Althaia got a goofy grin on her face. "Oh? We are to swim in? Well, in that case, I am definitely the woman for the job! I can swim better than any fish."

Caleldir sighed. "So can I." Neither of them were concerned about air, since both of them were partly aquatic creatures, they could naturally breath underwater. Selene and Ashyr... not so much. Unless... "There is probably some features on your artifacts that would allow you to cast water-breathing on yourselves." Caleldir observed to the two drow in Undercommon. "I seem to remember those artifacts having a lot of features along those lines. But if they do not, I can cast water-breathing on you all the same."

"Why haven't the druids just gone through that way? Surely some of them can turn aquatic." Selene asked. "If your alchemist had stayed behind, she could have just given everyone water breathing potions. You'd have an entire army in the sewers with just a little bit of work."

The half-orc looked uncomfortable. His hand rose to scratch at his stubbly jaw. The sound made Selene wrinkle her nose as if it was unpleasant to her. "That could have worked. But it would have taken too much time and too many herbs. Weeks would be spent on this. Both peoples were too hasty. Now we are hasty again, and cannot wait to rescue those we sent out too quickly in the first place. At least your party seems more... strong. Do not tell the Verdoon brothers I said that." He began to grin, but then tusked mouth fell into a frown, and he stared hard at the two pieces of paper on the table. "If they still live."

"A missed opportunity, perhaps, but the four of us do present a much better one. And once the Verdoon brothers see me in action, they will not need to be told of our strength. For I am confident that within these walls, there are none that can truly stand before me!" She did not acknowledge the idea that they might be dead.

"We need to get through the river and sewers first." Selene said with a roll of her eyes. "As for breathing spells, well, I never really learned any." Selene admitted, switching to undercommon. "There usually isn't much opportunity for swimming in the Underdark - not where I was from, anyway. I'm sure that I can be taught, however. I don't know if our rings would work."

"We can go out and jump in the water to find out." Ashyr suggested. She couldn't help the small grin on her face; whenever water and the party mixed, sexy things usually happened. That probably had something to do with having nymphs in the party.

"I would not be quite so confident." Caleldir said dryly. He turned back to Selene, switching his language to Undercommon. Althaia often seemed to pout when the other three spoke in that language, although recently her expression had remained neutral. It was possible that she was beginning to pick up some vague gist of the tongue. "I am not referring to our rings, but your weapons. The Yin-Yang blades, and your Staff, Selene. They have large numbers of eclectic abilities. It is possible that water-breathing may be among them. If not, yes, I have the spell memorized, but, once again, I cannot properly cast it myself. I would have to inscribe a scroll to use it. So, it may be better to teach Selene how to use that magic."

"We need to teach your cousin Undercommon sometime soon, love." Ashyr murmured in Caleldir's ear. Then she leaned forward enough to embrace him from behind. She seemed to be content with just standing there with her arms encircling Caleldir's upper chest. Perhaps it was to make up for the fact that she failed to sleep with him the night before, whether it was for his sake or hers.

Sighing, Caleldir leaned back into Ashyr's embrace. "We probably should. It would be more useful than teaching the two of you Sylvan, at least." He had a slight niggling feeling that Ashyr had something on her mind and was therefore being slightly more affectionate than usual, but he could not put a finger on what, exactly. Probably better to pay it no heed.

"If you are done with your private discussion." Althaia said in a neutral tone. "I think that we are ready to prepare for entry. We need to rally up the team we are Pocket-Dimensioning pretty soon here."

"Yes, it will be noon shortly." Zarag agreed. "We told everyone to come back then. It was hard to choose the hundred, but I feel we did a good job. There is a mix of both peoples."

"Oh!" Ashyr interjected. "First, I should tell you about the interesting encounter I had with a paladin. Apparently, there's a celestial-blood elf paladin merchant down the river, which I thought you would find interesting, Althaia. The merchants of that settlement are potential allies. If we weren't in such a hurry, Gailwen (the paladin) could have probably arranged extra equipment for the raid. As it is... well, I'm sure they'll be helpful after everything is done."

"An elven aasimar paladin?" Althaia perked up. "That is interesting. I would like to talk to her. The merchants did already show up to negotiate some supplies, but no mention of a paladin at their settlement. But talking to her will have to wait. We have a mission to go on."

With that, Zarag stood up. "Come. I will show you where our small force was told to gather." Then he began to walk out of the building and towards the river.

Ashyr regretfully parted with Caleldir, grabbed some bread, meat, and cheese, and followed after the half-orc. Selene stood and likewise followed. Both drow walked together, hand-in-hand. Bard soon trotted into view and began to walk happily beside his mistress.

As Selene and Ashyr joined hands, Althaia gave Caleldir a grin. "So... should we-"

"No." Caleldir said grouchily.

"Do not be such a spoil-sport." Althaia pouted. She grabbed his hand anyway, following after Ashyr and Selene. Caleldir, being a frail half-ghost, could not really pull his hand out of the Nymph's super-strength grip, and so followed along behind her somewhat grouchily. Not because he disliked holding hands, but because he felt rather self-conscious doing so.

Ashyr, after glancing back a moment, laughed at the two nymphs. Caleldir always had the best expressions when Althaia pestered him as she was doing now. Zarag noted the gesture, glanced over at the drow, and finally looked away with a thoughtful expression. Ashyr could almost see his brain trying to work out what the relationships were like between the four of them. If anything, it made the oldest drow even more amused. She glanced over to Selene to see if her cousin shared in the amusement. Ashyr didn't know what she expected, but she probably should have predicted that the mage didn't seem to care in the slightest.

Another glance at Caleldir too closely, and Ashyr saw something in his expression that made it obvious he not-so-secretly enjoyed the nymph's attentions, even as he was mortified by being pulled around by the hand like a child.

Althaia certainly knew this. Having had a, for her, strangely intimate moment with Tsabdrin last night, Althaia was determined to remind herself of why she was following Caleldir around in the first place: after all, he could give her fully nymph children (and, quite possibly, paragon ones at that), unlike anyone else she knew, or knew of.

Urag, who was still at the entrance when the party passed by it, stood to his full height and followed them. "I will go with you."

Zarag nodded in confirmation. "My brother and Dria are part of the hundred. We hope that they can keep the peace. It will be easier after your speech, Paladin Althaia. I thank you again for your words." He turned to her briefly to show the sincerity in his expression. "I do not know how would would have won them over without you."

Althaia kept her soft, inexorable grip on Caleldir's hand even as Zarag and Urag spoke. "I do what I can." She said simply. "I am young and inexperienced as of yet, so I ask that you continue to be patient with me."

"She is modest too." Caleldir said dryly.

At the pace they took, the river wasn't all that far away. They could hear the murmur of a hundred voices before they even saw a break in the trees. The voices almost drowned out the sound of water flowing - almost, but not quite. Shortly after that, the thick vegetation ended abruptly to reveal the large cluster of people on the bank. One person saw the group emerge from the forest and elbowed his buddy. Soon everyone turned to look at them expectantly. Zarag nodded to Dria, who stood partially off to the side. She nodded back and stepped forward to greet them.

"We are ready to get going whenever you are." The druid leader informed the party. "I take it Zarag informed you of how to get in? So how is this going to work?"

"I open the portal and you lot file in." Ashyr said with a shrug. Then she walked over to a flat place that would make the dimension easy to enter. "I'll open the portal now." She said, just to make sure that R.I.S.A. was ready for it without being able to actually say her name.

As soon as this was done, people began to file in at Dria's direction. Mercenaries and druids alike laughed and joked with each other, though not as rambunctiously as they had the night before. The general mood was excited and fairly relaxed, considering the circumstances. Everyone seemed absolutely confident that the plan was going to work this time. Finally, Dria was left just outside the passage.

"You probably should wait until the right moment to unleash us." She suggested. "I don't know how well Faust's mages are going to sense the magical energy it takes. Not to mention those able to sense all the people suddenly in their area."

"Alright." Ashyr agreed. "Anything anybody want to say before I close it up?"

The two nymphs were silent. Althaia was satisfied with how things were shaping up, winking at several of the better-looking druids and mercenaries (of either gender) as they walked in, while Caleldir mostly remained quiet as he felt awkward saying anything with Althaia holding his hand.

"Looks like we're all good then. Don't know how long it'll take us. Don't go too crazy trapped in there with all those people." Ashyr told Dria and Urag, the only two left outside the portal who were actually going. Neither looked too worried about it, though.

"Good fighting, brother." Zarag told the massive orc. Then both druid leader and Urag walked into the portal and disappeared as it was shut. "I will leave you four, then." He said with a nod to all of them. But before he could turn around to leave, Ashyr grabbed him by the hand.

"Kiss for good luck?" She asked the orc-elf with mischief written all over her features.

"Really, Ashyr? You always do this, and they always say no." Selene told her cousin in an exasperated tone. By that time, the drow had unlinked their hands and Selene strayed over to stand by Caleldir. Ashyr had been far too near the huge group of unknown people for Selene's tastes.

The half-orc turned slightly red at the older drow's request. But when he looked between the mirth in Ashyr's eyes and the grumpy set to Selene's mouth, he made a decision. From the short time that he had Selene prisoner, he had gotten damn tired of that noble drow's noble complaints. Suddenly, he grabbed the drow ranger by the waist and lifted her as if she weighed next to nothing. Then he pressed her against the tree, stood between her legs which had reflexively wrapped around him, and kissed her thoroughly for a few long seconds.

Now that Caleldir knew his ancestry, it was rather obvious that Zarag was both elven and orcish, as opposed to the standard orc-hybrid of being half-human. For one thing, he was quite a bit better looking the ordinary half-orc (sorry, Gurzan. Your wife might consider you 'ruggedly manly' but she had odd tastes, being... well, being what she was). Caleldir considered it somewhat ironic that the combination of elf and orc resulted in creatures more closely resembling humans in build than did mixtures of human and orc. Probably because humans were, on average, roughly halfway between orcs and elves in terms of bulk.

Why was all that going through his head now? Probably because Zarag was in a slightly intense make-out session with Ashyr. Which slightly annoyed him, although he knew the feeling to be irrational. After all, Ashyr had no problem with him having straight-out sex with... well, everybody, so him getting jealous of her was rather hypocritical. That did not mean that he had to take voyeuristic joy in watching her put the moves on Zarag, though.

Selene had been very nearly about to cast a fireball at Zarag when he suddenly and unexpectedly lifted Ashyr and pressed her against the tree. But she would probably hit her cousin as well. Not only that, but Ashyr seemed to be enjoying herself. With an orc. It wasn't so much Ashyr actions that annoyed Selene; it was more about what she was willing to do them with. While Selene couldn't quite say that this half-orc was a new low, it did remind her of all the difficulties they had in the past with Ashyr's... indiscretions. The mage made a scoffing noise before she turned her back on the scene entirely and towards Caleldir. A slight hint of irritation colored her voice, "let's work on that spell."

After that, just as abruptly, Zarag was striding back through the forest. "Good luck!" He called over his shoulder.

Ashyr fell to the ground with a thump and a dazed expression. Then a goofy grin spread across her face.

"So, Caleldir, how about we-" Althaia began to ask.

"Not right now." Caleldir said in a firm tone. He kept the annoyance out of his voice, but it was clear that this protest was not a staged one, like most of his protests were. Althaia readily noticed the difference in attitude, and did not press further. Caleldir slid a bit closer to Selene. After all, the two of them needed to cast water-breathing as she had just ordered. "I agree. Now, first we will need the gill from a fish..."

Althaia strode on over to Ashyr. She reached out her hand to the drow. "Since Caleldir is not willing to help me in this, I am afraid that I need you to share some of that good luck." The way her eyes glinted purple pretty clearly suggested what she meant by that.

It took Ashyr a moment to register that Althaia was standing before her. That moment with Zarag was so utterly unanticipated that the world was sort of hazy. She almost wondered if she was having a strange dream. Finally, she blinked up at the paladin's hand, took it, and by their combined efforts, Ashyr was hauled up to her feet. "I suppose it would be selfish of me to keep all the luck to myself."

"Don't get too carried away." Selene grumbled at nymph and nymphomaniac, pausing her spell preparation. "I thought you two wanted to take the city."

Ashyr grinned at her cousin. "Well, you're not going to be able to learn the spell right away, are you?" Then she turned back to Althaia, hooked a dark hand through her golden hair, and pulled the nymph's face down to hers. Ashyr intended to kiss Althaia just as thoroughly as Zarag had kissed her. After all, that was the only real way to share the luck, wasn't it?