A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 59: Summit

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 59: Summit

Outside, a bell sounded out through the early night. A thrumming murmur from the Main Hall filled the silence between the ringing bell, evidence of a nearly full house. The last light of the sun had very recently left the forest. That was not to say that the place was not lit up; hundreds of torchbugs flitted about the area, and each cast light that was far brighter than any insect of that variety had a right to make. It was enough for even those without low-light vision to make their way through the forest without tripping - but it wasn't so bright that the drow were uncomfortable. Aside from the motion of the insects wandering throughout the air, shadows made by the friendly orange glow of the longhouse cast the party in darkness at random intervals as the last of the people filed into the building.

Both drow inhaled deeply through their noses to take in the inviting smells of cooked bread and meat that promised a feast fit for nobles. Then, by unspoken agreement, they altered their outfits to be just a bit more grand than they usually wore them. "Let's go." Ashyr said with her usual mischievous smirk.

Caleldir took a deep breath, then smiled. "Smells amazing. That goblin really knows how to cook."

"Apparently so." Althaia said quietly. The nymph was still acting quite subdued. She had changed out her armor for one of her simple, relatively modest white dresses. The effect was about as stunning as it usually was. "I am certainly ready for the meal." The bonus side to Althaia's suddenly understated persona was that she now seemed even more elegant and refined before. Her unearthly grace always made her seem graceful, even when she was being rather crude, but now that her manners were quiet, her movements slight, and her manner gentle, she was quite overwhelming, even as she put those around her at ease.

Looking around at what the others were wearing, Caleldir shrugged and adjusted his clothing. Like Althaia, he went for a relatively simple, tasteful outfit that threw his unearthly good looks into sharp focus. Most of the time, he choose to dress and act in such a way that few people noticed his nymphen heritage, but now he seemed to be flaunting it. Despite the differences in hair color, he and Althaia very much looked like family now: every bit as much as Selene and Ashyr, at least.

A smile appeared on Althaia's face. "All three of you look amazing." She said sincerely. "I am right behind you, Ashyr." And so she was.

"Good, you're all here." Artur said when the party stepped out of the forest and into the light of the Main Hall. The whole place seemed to be lit by magical means. Balls of warm-colored but heatless bright orbs floated where one might put torches. One orb was much larger than the others, and hung above the huge table. That one was a little uncomfortable to look at directly, at least for the drow. "Come. Your seats are over here." And then the leader of the theatrical troupe led them over to where the rest of the leaders sat at the middle of the table in no particular order.

Shortly after the party was seated, the rest of the chairs around the table were filled. Urag rose to his full height - almost two and a half meters - and rumbled out an order for the meeting to begin. The sounds of people taking food from the middle of the table proceeded. The party followed suit. Caleldir used telekinesis to take food as subtly as possible, Selene likewise used magic to serve herself (since no one was willing to wait on her), but she practically flaunted her magical dexterity. Ashyr and Althaia filled their plates the mundane way.

After taking a moment for everyone to get settled with the food they wanted, Dria took advantage of the silence to take her turn to stand and address the room. "Some of you are already familiar with two of our new guests this evening, Ms Duskhaven and Mr Hissael. We are also joined by Paladin Althaia and Ms Selene Duskhaven. All four of them have joined us as allies to help us with the capture of Port Afron." Despite the length of the table, the amount of people there, and Dria's only slightly louder than normal tone, the druid leader's words seemed to be understood by everyone present. By magical means, her words reached the person right next to her as easily as they did the people farthest away from her. Caleldir smiled a bit at her flawless use of auditory magic. The mark of a great orator, right there. Also one of the random, usually useless pieces of ritual magic he knew. Taking out a piece of paper, he began rapidly sketching a spell matrix. Then the woman sat back down, and looked toward the people she'd introduced as if questioning whether they wanted to add anything.

Ashyr nodded her head to everyone near her, but didn't stop eating nor try to add anything to Dria's introduction. No one seemed to find this offensive. Selene went a little still when attention was suddenly on her. Her expression fell into a mask of haughty pride as she finished her spell of poison detection of the food on her place. It must have been satisfactory, since she then began eating.

Standing up, Caleldir bowed slightly to the audience. "Many of you know me already, of course, so let me preface this by saying that I am not telling one of my tall tales this time. With your help, and the artifacts we have gathered on our travels, Port Afron will be ours by the end of tomorrow night. The details I give to the Paladin when it is hers to give." His voice echoed around the room the same way as Dria's had. He slid the paper with his freshly drawn sketch to Althaia, nodding. The nymph nodded back, and pocketed the napkin. She was silent, for now.

The druid leader smiled and nodded at Caleldir before she stood back up and addressed the crowd again. They were silent and curious about what the pale half-elf had said - and even more curious to hear what the beautifully refined nymph could tell them. "When were were all last gathered here, we had information from the party that we sent past the walls of Port Afron two days ago. Most of you know by now that their second letter which was expected to arrive by this morning has not yet come." The low thrum of discontented grumbles filled the hall; no one was happy with this information for obvious reasons. "We have no choice but to assume they were captured. But worry not! As Caleldir has hinted at, he and his party have joined us as our allies. They know the dangers, but have offered to go in after them. Carlotta, The Verdoon Brothers, and Thynelius Barut will be recovered!"

"That is our solution? We throw four or five more people into danger each time until all our forces are captured by Faust?" Questioned an old woman from the clump of druids that seemed most likely to dissent. This one question seemed to incite an eruption of disagreement between everyone at the table.

Ashyr finished chewing the food in her mouth, put down her fork, and stood (much to Selene's apparent surprise and distress.) "Everyone can hear me?" No one seemed to respond, but the noise from the lively 'discussion' was the likely cause.

"Let Lady Duskhaven explain." Orag said in a booming voice. That seemed to get their attention.

"We will not fail. We've got something the other guys didn't." Ashyr claimed with a confident grin. This time, her voice managed to carry throughout the hall. Whoever cast the spell that allowed the drow ranger to project her voice was unclear. "We have something that can carry a hundred of you fuckers right into the walls and spit you all out directly on Faust's lap. Althaia?" Ashyr was aware that she may have ruined some of the paladin's proverbial thunder. She really couldn't help herself, though.

Selene put a hand over her eyes and heaved a great sigh. No one seemed to be too offended by the drow's language, however. Thankfully, the group of people she spoke to were far more forgiving of such language than noble drow in the Underdark were. Most of them even had the sudden light of excitement in their eyes - especially the young warriors from both factions.

Caleldir also sighed. It was a bit annoying that Ashyr spoiled Althaia's reveal. Mostly because Caleldir had wanted to boast about that particular bit of information, but had deferred it to Althaia on purpose to give her words further weight. Eh, in the end it did not matter all that much. He found it impossible to even be annoyed by Ashyr for long at this point.

Althaia stood up. Many of those present would, no doubt, have been aware of nymph's reputations as complete sluts (which was not entirely deserved, as nymphs were actually rather choosy about their partners, though once they choose partners they seldom cared whether or not the victim lucky individual really wanted to have sex with a pile of horny nymphs for several days straight) but in her current clothing and demeanor, she seemed far more like a queen than a courtesan. Or, at least, a courtesan turned Empress, like one of the greatest Byzromine rulers. Taking a deep breath, she launched into a fantastic piece of rhetorical genius explaining their plan to take the city. She did not mention R.I.S.A. by name, of course, in accordance with the plan, but she did make several sweeping references to the Monastery where they found the 'artifact'. After she went over the pan, she began to exhort the group to put aside their differences to cooperate and take the city.

The druids seemed to enjoy Althaia's speech immensely. They sat with rapt attention - most even forgetting the food that cooled in front of them. Even the knot of people who had been so determined to disagree with everything the orcs wanted seemed to unwind and finally accept the concept of working with a bunch of 'murderers' and 'forest burners.' The orcs took it a little less well - especially among the... less intelligent of the members. It might have been a problem if Althaia wasn't so naturally enchanting. Quite a few beady eyes glazed over as they stared in her general direction. They had no idea what she was saying, but it all sounded good.

"That's all well and good." An old orc said with begrudging acceptance. He seemed to be the only one who wasn't eagerly agreeing with the Paladin by the end of her speech. "But what about after? What about our pay for all the pain Port Afron gave us?"

Some of the people around the disagreeing orc looked at him with annoyance - even fellow mercenaries. But it was Zarag who stood up to address the issue. He stared down at the old orc with a serious glare. "Lord Faust and his generals are very rich. It has been decided that those who want it may split those riches. We need to be not be hated by the city. Where else can we spend our gold?"

This was met by agreement from the mercenaries - eventually. Some of the very orcish people sat slack-jawed and thought really, really hard about his question before realizing that there was nowhere quite as convenient as Port Afron. The next nearest city-state was days away down the river, and they were even less accepting of their kind.

"So we are all happy?" Zarag asked the building.

His question was met by variations of agreement.

"And there is nothing else to say?"

Zarag gave the hall a relieved crooked grin when no one spoke up after his second question. "Then feast!" Finally, he sat down and could give his full attention to the food that lie untouched on his plate.

There had been enough wine previously that normally came with a meal. But as soon as Zarag gave the word, a couple druids came out carting barrels of various alcohols and tapped them all. "Oh, fuck yes." Ashyr said, and she wasn't the only one who reacted with such joy, not by far. Mercenaries and Druids alike seemed to enjoy a good party now and then.

And so, the party began. Althaia spoke with everyone who addressed her, keeping her queenly, polite manner. One could easily forget that she was a nymph at all, if not for her grace.

For his part, Caleldir found some of his old friends from the caravan and began regaling them with fictionalized versions of his adventures. This time, they were not actually exaggerations, merely modifications that made everything seem slightly less believable and sillier.

Dria, Zarag, Artur, and Urag all congratulated Althaia at some point during the feast on being able to accomplish what they had not. There was no resentment, only relief and gratitude. Then they mingled with the other people whether they were druid or mercenary. The leader's jobs weren't done quite yet, unfortunately. They still had to decide who got the privilege of being part of of ambush. For the time, they looked determined to enjoy themselves while casually gauging everyone's feelings on the matter.

Ashyr and Selene initially went with Caleldir when he found his old friends from the caravan. Selene sat in silent dignity as she sipped sparingly from a chalice of watered down wine and ate less sparingly from her plate. Ashyr, however, did her best to assist in his stories. By that point, she was well versed in Caleldir's affinity with throwing in just enough of the ridiculous and unbelievable to make things amusing. Her additions were a little more... naughty, but not outrageously so. While Ashyr's naughty additions to his tales put Caleldir slightly off his game, he was glad that, at very least, it was nothing quite so scandalous as what had actually happened. Seriously, looking back over the last few weeks, sex had been everywhere. All the sex. It made for some highly embarrassing (and arousing...) recollections. Once, he got lost with the memories while Ashyr was interjecting, and was awkwardly quiet for a moment before he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. Eventually Ashyr, too, got distracted. Not by her own musings, but by an orc boasting of a certain barrel being the strongest alcoholic drink fit for consumption by mere mortals.

Selene got bored and a little overwhelmed by all the strangers and joined Althaia, who people were now only admiring from afar. The mage didn't try to strike up a conversation, either, but she did sit just a little closer to the nymph than was necessary. Althaia was glad to have Selene next to her. The paladin relaxed a little as the drow sat down next to her, giving the woman a grateful smile. She remained silent, though, merely eating. As was her costume, she ate elegantly, with impeccable table manners, but seemed to eat way more than her flat stomach had any right to hold.

Bard the wolf was there, too. In fact, there were quite a few animal companions in one section of the hall. Whether they be bird, mammal, or reptile they all seemed to be interacting amiably. The animals looked to be enjoying themselves immensely as various creatures played together. They had all picked up on the festive spirit of the building and their masters.

When the party was in full swing, Gurzan strode into the hall. Caleldir finished up talking to his current audience, excused himself, and then slipped into a corner with the half-orc to mutter about something.

By that time, Ashyr had a tankard of whatever had come from that legendary barrel and was obviously flirting Zarag - much to his embarrassment, and to everyone else's amusement. Selene watched that transpire with a look of muted dread on her face. But nothing negative seemed to come from it beyond a flustered half-orc and a laughing mixture of mercenaries and druids. If anything, it was bringing everyone together in mutual merriment. The drow mage apparently chose not to give herself a heart attack about it after a while and focused on her food instead.

Caleldir stopped his conversation with Gurzan for a moment to cast an amused eye over Ashyr's antics. Shaking his head, Caleldir turned back to his powwow with Gurzan, all the while continuing to consume vast quantities of food. Not as much as his 'cousin', though. Once he was finished, Caleldir walked on over to Ashyr and put his hand on her shoulder. "What hour should we retire for the night?" He asked seriously.

Ashyr turned and looked up at Caleldir with a bright grin. Her face was as flushed as it could be for skin so dark. The tankard in her hand was nearly empty - which was a good thing, since she wasn't holding it upright very well. The drow ranger was very clearly enjoying herself. Probably a little too much, in fact. Everyone in her corner seemed similarly falling into drunkenness.

It seemed to take the drow a second to both register and think about Caleldir's question. She glanced over to Althaia and Selene's corner. The two of them looked a little... sad sitting at the table all alone and silent. Ashyr pursed her lips and sighed. "Soon, probably." The inebriated drow admitted with disappointment. Then her voice dropped so that it was unlikely that any of the people around her except Caleldir could hear. "Before the pregnant lady and the stress-eater eat all the food in the hall."

"Thank the ancestors. Get her out of here!" Zarag exclaimed. Despite his words, his expression was as good-natured as a half-orc's could be. The rest of the people around him laughed - including Ashyr. He gave the drow a hearty pat on the back to show that he harbored no hard feelings. In her drunken state, it nearly made Ashyr fall over. She had to hold on the him to keep herself from toppling over. The fact that she grabbed his ass to do so was not at all purely coincidental. The half-orc coughed, but otherwise ignored being groped. "We - ah - we meet at noon tomorrow." Zarag informed them. "Good night."

"Night, handsome." Ashyr told him.

"I will do my best to redirect her enthusiasms, Zarag." Caleldir told the mercenary leader solemnly. "Noon it is, then. Then we prepare the infiltration group."

A burst of laughter escaped Ashyr's mouth. Caleldir seemed to be acting as casual as possible, but Ashyr didn't care who knew what the party got up to when they were alone. She gave the half-orc a broad grin and expressive wink - to which he responded by going a little red in the face and taking a large quaff from his tankard. As usual, Caleldir found Ashyr's obvious, shameless enthusiasm both embarrassing and arousing. He gave Zarag a sheepish, slightly apologetic look. It would probably have been better not to acknowledge the exchange at all, but eh, whatever. What was done was done. At least some part of him found the mercenary leader's embarrassment at least a touch amusing. Then Ashyr took Caleldir by the hand and made her way over to the other two women in their party. "Ready for the after party, you two?" The oldest drow asked when she got close enough for them to hear her.

"Yes." Selene said. She looked relieved.

Althaia was as happy to leave as Selene. The nymph let out a broad, genuine grin. "Yes! Let us head back." She stood up and stretched.

Caleldir had become quite the libertine these last few weeks. At this very moment he was trying (against his inclinations, but not entirely) to get three women back to his quarters for an orgy. As he considered this, his heart sunk (and something else rose...). He really was sinking morally. But, it was too late to turn back now. Still, even with his newfound hedonism, he did not understand the appeal of getting drunk. He liked the taste of really good alcohol, but found himself wondering why anyone enjoyed drinking so much that they became clumsy or foolish. Oddly, Althaia had been drinking too, and at an even more rapid pace than Ashyr, but the nymph seemed to be as immune to booze as everything else.