Kha'nel

The Drow Bard

[cinnamondrow]

6045.02.25

I decided I wanted to talk to Ghend before going to sleep, but I couldn’t find her in her room. I asked Thwack who said Ghend mentioned having plans with Auve for the evening. I had no idea where I might find them other than Zildata’s and...well...I wasn’t too keen on going there alone, so I decided to find Immith first.

Immith wasn’t hard to convince even though she had her hands inside a very attractive woman’s dress.

We found both Ghend in Auve’s room at Zildata’s, but Auve was badly hurt, like she had been in a fight. And she had. With me. Everyone in the room looked at me the way most surface people do the first time they see me, like I’m some kind of monster that will attack them. I told them that Zildata did something to me and that I didn’t remember anything, and Auve confirmed that Zildata ordered me. Immith told me to go get Raiva, which I did (even though I suspected he was on Zildata’s side).

I was wrong.

Raiva transformed his bracelets into some kind of communication device and called for backup while sealing the door shut. 

He filled us in, telling us the real reason he moved to this town was to investigate several disappearances, but he hadn’t gotten many leads until now. He started questioning Auve about what happened.

Auve had interrupted whatever it was Zildata was doing to me while I was charmed, and Zildata had ordered me to make Auve leave after she refused to follow Zildata’s orders to do so. Somehow, Auve managed to trick me into thinking Zildata told me to go back to The Bed, so I left. Auve managed to burn Zildata, but Zildata got away through some kind of hole in the wall.

After she was done talking Raiva’s backup arrived. It was Zora! She took charge and got us out of Zildata’s and told us to go gather our things and that she’d take us to a safe location for the night. I asked her something in undercommon and she replied, which confirmed to me that she was the one who left the mysterious note for me.

We all gathered our things. Raiva refused to leave without Boda and Ghend wanted to bring Thwack. Zora was unhappy about bringing more civilians, but she let them join. She took us to some kind of hidden safe-room, where we spent the night. She informed us that we’d go out to find and defeat Zildata the following morning.

[cinnamondrow]

6045.02.24

Today I woke up with Immith naked in my room.

I tried to punch her and demanded to know why she was there, to which she replied she was looking for Ghend. That worried me, so I got dressed and hurried over to ask Thwack...who was talking to Ghend. I’m still not sure if Immith missed Ghend or if she was just looking for a reason to invade my private space again.

Thwack beat the crap outta me in training. My mind kept wandering, which of course made it hard to focus on fighting. I wish I could say I was just thinking about the weird shit going on in this town, but I kept going back to thoughts of Ghend and our talk, and to Liv, thanks to Zora’s little chat.

After training I decided to head over to Raiva’s so check on Boda. She’s not a morning-person, but she seemed to be doing fine.

Since Raiva’s place is right behind Zildata’s I decided to drop by, hoping to find Auve. Unfortunately she was busy and I ended up in conversation with Zildata. I looked into her eyes for the first time and noticed her nether elf eyes. I asked her if she’s a nether elf, and she suggested we should talk in private. I was a fool and agreed to come with her to her office. I tried asking her about the note she gave me and Ghend, but she denied that it happened. I tried asking her about her being drow, about her parents, and about how she’s got two bodies, but I got no answers. During the conversation one of her touched me and I almost lost all focus, but I pulled myself out of it. After that, the other one of her sat down next to me too and touched me. 

The next thing I remember was being back at The Bed. I had an idea about what happened, so I went to take a bath and wash myself. My body was covered in smears of body paint, the same kind Zildata is covered in. There was no paint around my crotch, so at least I can hope she didn’t go that far, but I don’t know for sure. I don’t know anything that happened other than what the smears of paint suggested.

All I wanted was to talk to Ghend, but she wouldn’t be back for several hours, so I ended up chatting with Zora again. She handed me a letter that had been stuck to my door:

This town is fishy, you’re probably in danger. If you’ve the chance pay real close attention to the twins overnight.  signed: someone who’s not entirely sure if they can trust you.

Zora then left and I was fed up with the day, so I got drunk. By the time Ghend found me I was making little to no sense at all, and she left. Zora woke me up in time to get ready for the performance. As I was getting dressed I noticed that I looked less like myself and slightly more like Zildata.

The performance went well and afterwards I sat down to talk to Boda at the bar. Of course I forgot asking her about the contract before I went back up to my room.

Now I wondering if I should go talk to Ghend or find some way to spy on Zildata overnight. I honestly don’t want to ever go near her again, but I assume that’s what whoever wrote the note wants me to do.

[cinnamondrow]

6045.02.23

A few things happened today, but we’ll get to that later. First I have to write down a few things about Auve’s boss, Zildata.      Ghend and I first met her when we were visiting Auve’s workplace, but I didn’t know she was Zildata at the time. See, Zildata is actually two people who look the same and finish each other’s sentences. It’s very weird. I thought they were twins at first and that maybe they were linked telepathically to be able the speak like that, but people refer to her as one person.      It got even weirder when we went to the race and bumped into Zildata there. She gave me and Ghend a note each saying ‘Help. I’m not we.’, and she also gave Ghend a big bloodied coin featuring an elf with an evil smile on both sides. It was super creepy. The coin looked really old, but the elves on it looks a lot like Zildata, but it also looks like a nether elf. Ghend and I have no idea what the coin or note meant, but we figured we should wait until after the race before asking Zildata about it. We still haven’t talked to her, and I didn’t get anything useful from Auve or Raiva (the bartender at Zildata’s establishment).

Today was an interesting day too though. It started off with Ghend showing off her...uniform...that she has to wear while Immith is teaching her to fight. Considering Immith stripped down and sat naked in my room the first time we met I should not have been surprised by the uniform.      Anyway, Ghend went off to practice and I went to the bar to ask Boda when I had to be on stage. Boda was drinking heavily while a young tiefling girl worked behind the bar. Boda had a magic nail of some sort pierced through her hand the day before, so she has to take some time off, but she doesn’t seem to like that a pretty young tiefling is doing her job. The tiefling (Zora Skyfire) and I carried Boda to Raiva’s place. Apparently he’s her boyfriend.       On our way there Zora and I chatted for a bit. She’s in town looking for her friend, named Kevais, who’s got dark skin, darker than Boda's, really shiny brown hair and likes to wear a yellow ribbon in her hair. I need to keep that in mind in case I see her around.       Raiva invited us in for coffee and I got to ask him a few questions about the ghost in my room. He thinks it’s made up, but the real problem is that I can’t end the contract I have with the pint other than by dying. I think that’s ridiculous and asked why they haven’t changed the contract, but apparently that has to be approved by the town's Decency Council, and they aren’t too fond of non-humans. Zora said they gave her a whole lecture on how to act while in town since she’s a non-human guest. I guess I should ask her about that, so that I don’t accidentally break any rules. Raiva also told me the glass statue is of Caytec, the first warrior blessed by Xezzasix when this town's ancestors were still a tribe of people looking for a home.      When I got back to The Bed Twack took me to this secret place under The Bed that he just casually mined in his spare time, then he slammed my legs with a hammer. Turns out I can train down there! So Thwack is going to train me. Ghend told him how disappointed I was that I couldn’t train with her and Immith because of the magic that protects me from being hurt by anyone in or from this town.      When I got back from training I took a long bath and then Ghend came in and invited me to a graduation ceremony at the fighting school. We went out to get some food and drinks before going to the ceremony and I found out that Ghend is really into me, and I tried to tell her that I wasn’t into her and...it was a mess. I really like her, but she shouldn’t get too close to me. I’ll just end up leaving her like I left Liv. But anyway, we hugged and it had some water and went to Immith’s thing.      And Immith’s thing was super weird. she brought us to a judge’s table and suddenly we were ‘life and death experts’? Apparently the graduation ceremony involves dying, and we had to go up and make sure the students were actually killed in the fighting ring before they brought out the next graduating student. I think all but two died, then at the end they came back. Only the ones who had been killed graduated, and the graduating guys looked excited, while the girls didn’t. I asked Immith about it, but she didn’t give me an answer. I also asked why we were brought up to the table to help judge the deaths, and she said the daughter of the couple who owns the school told her to bring us there. I asked her about the names of that couple, but she completely blanked on me. I asked her again and as she tried to remember it seemed she was hurt and got a headache, a lot like when I use my vicious mockery.

After that, Ghend and I went back to the The Bed, and I decided to go check on Zora. She seemed stressed, but we had a little chat before I went to my room.

[cha-c-san]

My drow bard Kha’nel <3

[cha-c-san]

Another doodle of my drow bard, Kha’nel, because I’m weak.

[cha-c-san]

I never posted this??? I drew it……in the spring, I think??

Kha’nel, my drow bard/paladin (of Eilistraee of course), who’s currently stuck in Barovia.

[cha-c-san]

Here’s a sad drow.

(Honestly, they brought it upon themself and probably deserves to catch a cold too)

[cha-c-san]

Some of my bard’s things because I only draw people and not enough ~stuff~.

[cha-c-san]

My sis is going to DM a campaign for me and a group of friends/friends of friends! I’m gonna play Kha’nel, a drow bard. :D

[cha-c-san]

My drow bard, Kha’nel, who I’ve had for almost a year now! <3 <3 <3

[cinnamondrow]

6045.02.22-2

I suppose I should explain what I meant when I said this town is weird. Firstly there's the huge glass statue in town. At first glance it looks like a human woman in armor, holding a sword and a shield. On the shield is an image of a sun above some weird fish with a flower growing out of its back. I went back today to have a closer look at it without the direct sunlight nearly blinding me. This time I noticed she doesn't seem to have eyelids, her teeth are abnormally big and she only has four fingers on each hand, and her thumbs seem to have an extra joint. The weird sun and fish symbol is repeated seven times on different parts of the statue. The strangest thing, though, is probably the dark (almost black) piece of glass inside her torso. From what Immith told me, I'm guessing it's a tribute to the "goddess" the war-crazed founders of the town worshipped (mostly by sacrifice). Speaking of this town's obsession with violence, most of my audience are always women, because the men are out watching fights. The main entertainment in town seems to be the race. A race where poor and desperate people ride zinyir (scary creatures that look a little bit like wolves, but they use magic to trick and kill people) and the last survivor wins. They are riding young zinyir and their mothers are chasing them and killing the riders. Apparently that's an honorable death, and if you win you're basically royal. If you lose your family gets some money. I went to see the race before I knew what it was, but I left with Ghend since the zinyir really seemed to scare her. But I did seen the race being announced by something I first guessed was some kind of illusion, but I'm sure it wasn't. It looked a bit...ghost-like? Oh, and it looked exactly like the glass statue. And apparently there's a ghost haunting (and killing) entertainers who work for The Pint and lives in my room. So...a ghost might be after me. More about that later.

[cinnamondrow]

6045.02.22

I was finally able to get a new book to write my story in, after I carelessly left my last one with Liv when I left her. I don’t have it in me to write the detailed story of how I got from the world below to up above, but I guess I can write a little summary.

The world below sucks. Nether elves suck. My family sucks. My life down there sucked. Then I met a human prisoner named Liv, and much to my surprise she didn’t suck! So we escaped to the surface together. One day I might write that adventure out in detail, because escaping from a nether city to the surface is not easy and there were many heroic moments (mostly for Liv).

When we reached the surface it didn’t take me long to realize that life up above is not going to be easy. Surface dwellers are not big fans of people from the nether, so my life continued to be in danger, maybe even more so than before.

Luckily we found a troupe of performers who were happy to let us travel with them (mostly because they already knew Liv and trusted her), and life was pretty good for a long time! That’s the time Liv taught me to play music and how to use sound to channel magic.

We were stopping by a town called Starfell when someone tried to kill me and Liv with poison. That’s when I realized it’s not safe for surface people to be to close to me, and I decided to leave her. After she fell asleep I packed my things and left the city.

I travelled alone through the desert jungle for two weeks before I met Ghend and Auve. It turns out surviving alone in the wilderness is hard, so I decided to team up with them for a little bit. We tried traveling with another group for a while too, but they realized what a danger I was to them and kicked me out. Ghend and Auve were already too fond of me to leave me behind, so they stuck with me.

Right before we reached the town of Edgedale we were ambushed by a group of surface people who wanted me, but we managed to take care of them, as a group! Ghend is really good at healing, which is always good in a fight, and Auve does crazy cool fire magic!

It only took me a few hours in the town before I got a job offer. I’m the main entertainer in The Pint, which earns me some coin and gives me an amazing room at The Bed. Auve also got herself a job very quickly. She’s…doing something similar to entertaining, but more…intimate?

She’s a prostitute.

And Ghend has found someone to teach her how to fight! So things are pretty good, except there’s some weird stuff going on in this town, but I’ll get back to that later.