[Ech'Estar]

Keeping with my bad habit of starting stories without finishing old ones, I present to you the first bit of my forgotten realms story. By the way, I'm pretty intent on finishing this one, lol. I posted the story in a reply.

Drow are fun to write about becase their so chaotic that you can fit practically anything you want in. It also lets me play around with evil characters, and dark plots, that still make you want to cheer the main character on. A little difficult, but it can create an interesting effect. Writing about the dark elves also lets me play around with demons and assassins. *evil grin*

[Ech'Estar]

I. A Spider in the Shadows

The inky blackness of the looming abyss was crossed in glimmering strands of spider web. Small figures moved across these strands like so many small spiders, always watchful, preying upon one another in hopes of an opportunistic opening. On the rim of this treacherous pit were jagged rocks and precariously placed boulders, clinging to the sides and supporting the magnificent complex of glistening white webs.

From his vantage point on a rocky outcropping above, the assassin Rinin Arkhenneld thought that the thriving metropolis of Ched Nasad looked deceivingly like one of the countless spider webs in the underdark. This beautiful city was much more however, being a major trade route in the deep caverns under Faerun. Though most of the city’s inhabitants were drow, or dark elves, other creatures such as duergar and ilithids were swirled in with the crowds that massed Ched Nasad’s busy streets. Rinin also knew that below him was the heavily protected mansion of Taebleth Melarn, a wealthy Drow merchant and overall powerful individual. Too powerful, Rinin thought, remembering the mutterings of his employer.

Suddenly snapping himself out of his observations, Rinin took a deep breath and pressed his black palms against the rock. He then reached over the small protrusion of rock on which he knelt, and grasped a pair of handholds with his hands. Methodically, he began crawling off of the rock onto the rocky cavern walls. Through his usual outward calm, Rinin felt a stirring sense of uneasiness. According to his employer, the scroll of Spider Climb that he had given Rinin would not last very long once cast upon someone. The sight of the inky pits that housed Ched Nasad did nothing to quell the unnerving thought of what might occur should the spell run out as he was climbing.