RP:An Unlikely Alliance

Part of the Surface Tension Arc

Synopsis: Looking for wood elves, Nymh finds Skylei. He attempts to barter for an alliance with the wood elves, claiming that he only wants vengeance on the drow. Skylei is unsure of his motive, but offers him a massive that will allow him somewhat safe passage in the elven camp of Frostmaw, with the promise that, should he betray her trust, he'll wish he was still a drow slave.

Kelay Way

Nymh had come looking for the wood elves. He knew they'd been pushed back from Sage, for the most part, where drow patrols roamed freely. He had to dodge them here in Kelay, too, but this wasn't far from where he'd met the first non slave wood elf he'd ever known, and it was more or less familiar territory. It was here that he looked, watching the roads of Kelay for a few days, trying to see if the wood elves might come here, in spite of the drow being so very close, and even here at times.

Sage is the last place in Hollow one should look for wood elves, but why would a former drow slave know that? He likely knew little of the world of the surface and thus his naivety is understandable. The wood elves were torn, spread across the land with portions in Frostmaw, Cenril and outside of Gualon. It is between the portions in Cenril and Frostmaw that Skylei Lucindio is travelling today. She’s not surrounded by her usual patrol of rangers; indeed she’s not on official elven reconnaissance business. Today Skylei is merely a letter carrier, delivering missives from one portion of the exiled community to the other. She would be forever grateful if the elves would buck up and reunite under the flag of Frostmaw, thus alleviating the need for her to constantly travel, but alas, it seems highly unlikely. Wrapped in a dapple green cloak and the ranger’s leathers her people are oft famed to wear, Skylei looks almost every part the elf.

Nymh finally found what he was looking for, when Skylei came through Kelay. He didn't truly know where the wood elves were, but he was also wary of heading too far after his run in with the elder vampire. She'd put a new sort of fear in him, and his curse had bound him to her will. It was hardly a turn for the best. "Excuse me." He'd call out to her, cowled and cloaked. He was hiding from the drow as well, after all. He'd show her his face, looking all types of lost. "I... recognize you. I escaped my slavery. I wanted to contact the wood elves, once of Sage. I don't know how to do so." Where to go, who to talk to. He just knew he HAD to avoid the drow.

Skylei stops in her step at the sound of a voice beckoning her. Eyes span the path and then fall upon the figure of the one who wished to speak with her. Oh glorious. A drow. It’s almost a reflex, but Skylei’s hand dips within her cloak and grips the hilt of her dagger. He may recognise her, but in Skylei’s eyes all drow look exactly the same (there is one exception to this rule, and that is Gevurah D’Artes. There is special little piece of hatred carved out of Skylei’s heart for that drow bitch). She pauses and squints at his face, “Oh you recognise me? Why? You tried to kill me before or something?” She says nothing of wood elves, where they are located or what one might have to do to get in contact with them. She wouldn’t put it past the drow to attempt to play the pity card and get a spy in their camp after all.

Nymh understood well that caution, respected it. It would keep her and hers alive. "Yes. I am the half drow, you met around here before. Nymh, is my name. I was sold at an auction, shortly after that. Well... the auction was canceled, as it was Gevurah D'artes who bought me. For far less than the house wanted at that..." He shook his head. "I understand well your hatred of drow. I have spent my whole life slave to them... I have as much hate for them as you, though I look far more drow than wood elf. Wood elf blood runs in my veins, too. I was hoping..." He shook his head. "I have things to offer. Information, that could be beneficial." It was stupid to hope for pity or mercy. He had to approach it as business.

Skylei’s hand remains hidden deep within the fold of her cloak. Nymh had yet to attack her and thus, she would attempt not to start the bloodshed. After all, her death would be highly inconvenient. His story however, is met with a look of distaste and disbelief, in spite of its truth, “Come now, they could not even come up with a better backstory for you than that? I was inclined to believe that they killed any and all half-breeds they could get their hands on. I fail to see how one would still be living, never mind free to roam after spending their life in that wretched place.” Tilting her weight onto her hip, Skylei releases her grip on her dagger and folds her arms across her chest, “And you claim to have attracted the attention of Gevurah D’Artes” Perhaps her distaste for this particular woman is obvious in the slight curl of her lips and the way she sneers. Then again, Skylei sneers at all drow. “Why would the First Daughter be interested in a little half-breed?”

Nymh knew her words to be true. Gray's didn't oft last long. "It is hard to believe. I can tell you the full of my tale, but not here, and now, I think." They didn't have that long. "But I can prove my difference, here and now. The arts of the Bae'qeshel have been long since dead to the drow." He drew forth his ebony ocarina. "Musical magic is unknown among the drow. They are incapable of it. My half breed blood allowed me to learn an art not shared by any other drow alive. I can play for you, and prove it."

Skylei doesn’t trust this not to be some trick played upon her. She knows what the call of bardic music can do to a person, how it can make them feel, act and think differently to how they had intended to be. She has no desire to find herself trapped under bardic charm. Sky gestures for him to lower the ocarina should it have reached anywhere near his lips. “That will not be necessary, thank you.” She falls silent, weighing up the options. Did she dare let what might be valuable information slip through her hands? Or was the risk too great to take? Stepping towards the wall of one of the buildings, Skylei would pull pen and parchment from her bag and write a short note to an unknown party and signing it with her full signature, instead of her usual penned initials. This is a formal letter. “If you travel up to Frostmaw, you may be able to meet with some of the elven kin in town. They will likely try to end you. Give them this and your chance of safe passage will be increased.” She would hold the parchment, carefully folded out to the half-blood. “Abuse my trust and I will ensure the rest of your life is far worse than that of any drow slave. You will long for the days where you were in House D’Artes. Knowing that, do you still want this?”

Nymh did not put the ocarina near his lips, knowing full well she'd know it for a possible weapon. He looked at that piece of paper she offered, and nodded. "I have no intention of abusing your trust. If I have a chance to strike back at the drow, that is enough." That was untrue. What he truly wanted was acceptance... but it was also something he'd never have. Something that had long been beaten, and tortured out of him... and only reinforced by his experiences on the surface. They were as horrible, all of them, as the Drow, save for one, as far as he was concerned. Hatred, violence, prejudice, ignorance... they all thrived on it. His kin on both sides had proven not to be so very different at all. Still. His hatred for the Drow was something to hold on to, something to move him forward. Something. He'd accept that piece of paper, and place it in a pocket, as he put his ocarina back in his sash.

“Ask to speak with a human named Zendor, if that is truly your intention. He has been granted refuge in our camp and claims the same hatred of drow kin. If you assist him, you may yet win my allegiance. Have it known that I have eyes everywhere.” That is all Skylei says before turning on her heel and proceeding on her journey to Cenril. As for that desire for acceptance, yes, Skylei knew that feeling well. It’s almost comical. Skylei and Nymh have exactly the same claim, a half claim, to the elven people. And yet, look at the difference. At least she had the skin of a wood elf and the name of one too. Should Nymh care to open the piece of paper, all it would say is ‘By order of the Herald of the Elven Council, this man shall be granted safe passage amongst the wood elven kin of Frostmaw – Skylei H. Lucindio.’ Nothing more, nothing less.

Nymh blinked. "Zendor? He is one who came to try and rescue me at the auction. He will speak for me." That was good. He didn't bother looking at the letter. He'd be glad to see Zendor's face again. He'd helped save Tylania, and the feline woman.

Skylei is already on her way by this time and doesn’t stop to respond. Still, that information is useful to know in her attempts to paint character portraits of her new ‘allies’…