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Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn × Lady Arachnia)

Elaebryn

Planetoid
Joined
Dec 6, 2017
Two drow noble houses had been in a quiet war for a long while, but the conflict was for whatever reason close to a diplomatic end for the first time in decades. Perhaps the two old women at the top had grown tired of it, or perhaps more profitable ventures had presented themselves — whatever. In any event, there was an especially important and smart person in one house who realized the conditions had become ripe for peace, and knew exactly how to resolve the conflict quickly and amicably for both houses; but, he — being male — did not have sufficient status to broach the subject and see it actually happen. Knowing this and being crafty, this man named Nuarzim plotted and schemed, and eventually won his way into the position of favored lover to a princess in that house. Over months and year he had wormed his tongue into her ears as well as other places with such skill that he had finally convinced her to take action. Though he would never be given credit for it in any form, Nuarzim was nonetheless the architect of a plan which brought the two houses to the cusp of peace.

That plan came immediately at odds when the princess was captured in an ambush, while she and her retinue were out doing whatever drow princesses do when they're not busy praying or fucking. Patrolling the tunnels? Meeting with contacts from the surface? Whatever. These little skirmishes happen all the time, and usually no one cares because prisoner exchanges are a common affair — but she was important enough that her capture would be an embarrassment to the house, and so not only did the matron mother immediately hear of it but also she mandated her rescue. Yasma, the decorated veteran who had earned a reputation as a skilled commander and ruthless hunter on the battlefield, was dispatched along with an elite guard unit to retrieve the princess before she could be secured within the city proper and made into a spectacle.

Yasma was sure of the task ahead, especially once she caught word that the ambush team had been lead by Elaebryn — a pampered trollop of a woman with no stomach for warfare and no glory to her name but that her house gave her. The elite group had easily overtaken the ambush party, and would easily have prevailed in a one-sided victory had not two of Yasma's best men betrayed her at the onset of battle. Even so, Yasma's great reputation for battle prowess was shown to have been well earned as she cut down the soldiers between her and the woman who had thought to catch her unready. With horrifying ease her blood-soaked blade ran through the last of Elaebryn's personal guard and into the heart of the panic-frozen bitch herself.

And then the illusion dissipated. What had appeared to be an ineffective leader frozen by indecision and fear of her own impending death was revealed to be the bound and trussed princess Yasma had been sent to save. She stared, horrified at the realization of what she had done — extinguished in one easy stroke of her blade the last, best hope for peace. Worse, still, she knew that with the princess dead there would be outrage among the noble houses and vengeance against Elaebryn's house. "Thank you for that," called the voice of a hidden figure whose identity Yasma nonetheless knew to belong to her hated foe.

Had she not been stunned by that realization of what she had done, how she had just been outmaneuvered so utterly, and the consequences of her failure, Yasma might have fought her way out of the situation and warned her comrades in time to die gloriously fighting against the inevitable. But Yasma knew the only hope for Elaebryn's house now lay in an all-out assault against her own, in hopes of destroying it utterly before word got out of the death of such an important person. She knew that for this ambush, betrayal, and trap to have even been contemplated, much less executed, that the plan for such an assault must right now be in motion. And so the final realization set in for Yasma: that this entire situation had been contrived not to capture the princess, but to draw away the house's most elite guard in the very moment where they would be needed most.

In that moment of weakness, Yasma was easily subdued and by her lessers. Barely aware of herself, she was bound and stripped and bound some more, and has been their prisoner ever since. Yasma was first given to the surviving men of Elaebryn's guard, then to the camp slaves, and eventually the dogs, before finally being thrown into a prison cell without food or water for days. There in the dark and chained to a wall she could see everything clearly, but there was naught to see but the skeletal remains of another prisoner on the wall opposite who had presumably been abandoned in exactly the same manner.

But Yasma would not be so lucky as to be left alone to die of thirst. For on the fourth day, she was roused from delirium by the heavy clank and clatter of the cell door opening. "Thank you ever so much for forcing our hand," called the silvery-sweet voice of the pampered bitch Elaebryn, concluding the conversation that had begun four days ago.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Yasma had no doubt in her own skill, she'd trained for several hundred years and fought for several hundred after that. The house she served had risen from nothing and been the downfall of many on their rise to power. Lolth truly seemed to favour the warrior and all of her house. She gave tribute and gave every kill in their demon queen's name. Yasma had also taken part in several surface raids and in doing so killed a fair number of their hated surface dwelling cousins which only added to her favour. Her body had a number of scars from where people tried to take her life and only came so far. While she'd not won every fight she'd been in she'd always returned to avenge the losses she had. Despite her common birth, despite her lack of family title she still had a steady and comfortable position in her house training the warriors and fighting for domination.

It was her history of success and her experience that lead her forward on this endeavour. The mission seemed simple enough and it was as though their rivals had made a simple error. All Yasma had to do was kill one bitch and it would throw every thing in to array for them and almost certainly assure victory for her house. Yasma was outthought and outplayed by some one who's intellect far outstripped her own. Not only had she failed in her mission but she personally had been the death to one with whome she held favour, she was the reason her house fell. That was how Yasma saw it at least, she wasn't truthfully sure why she had fallen out of Lolth's favour or knew if it had been some one else in the house that had cursed them. Either way it didn't matter, she'd lost and she'd been captured.

If Yasma had hoped to simply be merged in to this new house, a warrior at their disposal she'd been sadly mistaken. First she'd been raped by simple lowly men not worth her attention. They'd fucked her raw and left her worn down and exhausted. Despite that though they were only the first step, her dignity and pride were further ravaged by simple slaves, not even drow. By the time they'd finished with her she'd passed out from sheer fatigue and was leaking cum from every orafice. When she came too she was in the same state that she was in now. Chained to the wall by mannacles that left little room to move, her her matted with seed, her scraps of armour and clothing ragged and barely coveredhim her skin at all and more of that disgusting cum dried to her body. She could see the other prisoner in there with her, one who looked like they'd occupied the cell for many years. Yasma shouted and demanded an audiance each and every day though the final day it was barely a hoarse whisper. She was light headed, delusional and her throat was dry and raw. Her tongue had swollen some what and dried out while her usually perfect lips had begun to crack. Her eyes were now sunken as she'd spent the past four days unfomcortable and drifting in and out of consiousness. What was true agony for her though was her stomach and the cramps occurign their from a lack of food. it groaned and begged for sustenance but the cries came unanswered.

Yasma knew then that she was to die here with only a corpse for company. She wasn't going to be granted an execution or any kind of respectable death. The mass rape had wounded her pride and robbed her of her dignity yet they still refused to at least give her a death deserving of one of her prowess. When the door finally opened and the other woman entered Yasma stared at her disbelievingly not really convinced that she actually existed. "Elae...bryn" she managed to choke out in a painfully harsh whisper of a voice.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

The woman named Elaebryn did not fit the conventional standards of drow beauty and decorum, having neither the chiseled features, the wiry muscles, nor the radiant silver hair of those favoured by the spider queen. She was shorter than the average for her sex, her features soft and plain, and her hair an unremarkable shade of white with only the slightest hint of platinum shine when the light hit it just so. And though she at least had a woman's generous endowments, what pleasures her body might have in store were demurely hidden away behind comfortable silks and velvet that covered her body nearly from neck to toe. She was not at all intimidating to look at, nor particularly worthy of notice at all, and she had an unbecoming pleasantness to her demeanour and posture that so matched her tone that she may've well been a surfacer in disguise.

"Yes, that's me," says the robed woman as she quietly pushes the door shut behind her. Her tone is sickeningly cheerful.

"I brought you something," she says as she turns now to face the captive woman. She is holding a tray upon which is a small plate of food and a small cup of liquid. "They told me you'd been busy with ... extracurricular pursuits," she says with a pause and then a dip in her tone that implies awkwardness or embarrassment. "But no matter how insatiable your sexual appetite, you really should eat as well!" Immediately her face brightens as she turns the subject away from sex, and she even smiles as she makes a gesture of lifting the tray.

She approaches near enough that the captive could probably reach her with a foot if she cared to kick the woman who apparently is about to feed her.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Yasma watched the woman and tried to assess her, it sounded almost as though she were being nice though the veteran wasn't foolish enough to ever think one of her kind would posess that particular virtue. She tried to see through what was going on but just thinking right now amplified her headache. She knew there was some ulterior motive at play here other wise she'd simply have come four days prior. As she prattled on and hinted at what had happened to Yasma after her capture she scowled. With the state she was currently in what had happened was evident to this bitch though Yasma wasn't convinced she hadn't noticed.

Yasma couldn't peel her eyes off of the tray as the other female came closer and her stomach gave another of it's angry desperate growls that caused the female warrior to double forward from the pain of the cramping that accompanied it. She snapped her head back up to glare at the much smaller female as she made it sounds as though her rape had been some sexual adventure that Yasma had embarked on. Images of throwttling this woman or sinking a sword in to her throat swam in to the warrior woman's mind though she knew it was just a fantasy with things as they presently were. She was weak, exhausted and utterly without energy, she knew that she needed food or at the very least water if she were to survive or have any strength about her. It was for these reasons that she held herself in check and decided not to try and attack the woman, right now it would be an idiotic choice to make. Yasma did however remain silent, she had no words for her captor.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Beside this muscular warrior, the robed priestess seemed almost another species entirety: her full cheeks contrasting the harsh lines of the other's face, the eyes soft and bright contrasting those filled with agony and anger, the mild scent of an expensive perfume contrasting the stench of sex, sweat, and waste that hangs in the air around the captive woman. She also was very clearly neither starving nor tired, and though she probably was not thirsty she nonetheless took a slow and measured sip from the cup on the tray before offering a contented sigh.

"You could at least find time to clean yourself," she says as she bends to place the tray on the floor. "It's no wonder they made you sleep with the dogs, smelling like that!" The small woman does not even keep her eyes on the captive while bending over, and seems to be entirely unaware of the danger she's placing herself in. Surely a well-aimed kick or stomp could at least smash her face enough to erase that stupid, undeserved smile? Alternately, Yasma could kneel in front of the food tray and strain in her bindings to almost but not quite reach it.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Yasma felt a hot burning rage running through her and a hatred of the woman before her. The fact she was acting so calm, so casual and so polite sent stabs of annoyance in to her. Yasma was a proud warrior who had fought for centuries, she was skilled and deserved respect, this she knew despite her common heritage. Being spoken to as though she was some uneducated fool by the pompous harlot wasn't what she deserved. She could have accepted losing if it had, at least, given her a new position. She bore no last name and didn't need to sink with the house she'd alligned herself with. It seemed though that those thoughts were not a reality or an option that was goign to present itself to her. It was this that infuriated her so much, being treated with a lack of respect and not given the options her skills demanded.

Her thoughts of being cool and collected to try and gain her strength went up in a whisp of smoke. Despite her weakened state this frail wench would be nothing in comparrison to her. Yasmas lashed out by trying to swing her leg as hard as she possibly could so that she could slam the flat of her shit straight in to the nose of the pampered sow. The thought alone of that crunching sound she'd hoped to hear if she made contact was more nourishment than the food and drink could provide.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

The impact of boot against face is likely far less visceral than imagined, the warrior woman's strength having been slowly drained by immobilization and starvation; still, the smaller woman's head jolts abruptly to the side, apparently taken off-guard and knocked off of her balance. The tray skitters across the floor and she falls to the floor, her face contorted in ... laughter? There, finally, is the glee and hatred in her eyes which she had hitherto hidden so well. Sharp hissing and an acrid scent draws attention to the spilled cup, whose contents are now melting tiny pockmarks in the stonework.

"I suppose it's just as well," says the drow-woman as she lifts herself to her feet. "I didn't want to give you a quick death anyway." With that she clearly begins to cast a spell, standing just outside the range of a frantic kick. After a few seconds of ritualistic gestures and sounds, she merely points at Yasma's chest and water fills her lungs. "Much better to quench your thirst this way," she says with a satisfied grin. Elaebryn is a patient woman, waiting for her captive to cough it all up, choke down what she can, and catch her breath again doing casting the spell again in exactly the same manner. For about an hour, the priestess toys with filling her captive's lungs with water and magically bringing her back from unconsciousness — and even from the brink of death — should the need arise.

By the time she is done, the acid that was spilled has become inert. There is a shallow depression where most of it pooled, and a scattered pattern like rain in snow where errant droplets fell. At some point during this hour or so of drowning torture, Elaebryn had found time to clean her dress and mend whatever physical damage had been done to her face. She looked to be in perfect health, groomed and quite content when at last Yasma was able to open her eyes for a few seconds without immediately being drowned again.

"Are you hungry?" Elaebryn smiles sweetly.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Yasma felt a moment of satisfaction as her leg made contact with the bitch and she saw her stumble but Yasma knew it was no where near as hard as it should have been. Had the warrior been at her full strength she had no doubt in her mind that the woman would have been unconcious on the floor. The veteran warrior's eyes quickly darted towards the hissing sound of the acid on the ground and they then narrowed. Was she genuinely planning on just finishing her off then? It would have been a cruel and painful death Yasma knew but she did wonder if that death would have been better than whatever might have been in store for her. Still, a death now would deny her a chance of any revenge in the future, something she longed for.

Yasma was still thinking about the situation rather than paying attention to what the arrogant sadist had to say to her though her thoughts were very abruptly cut short. Out of no where Yasma's breath was stolen from her and as she sucked in no air filled her lungs. She began coughing and spluttering immediately bringing up a considerable sum of water from her lungs. At first, despite the discomfort and desperation she felt Yasma was at least relieved of the moisture coating her dry throat and mouth. She tried to swallow some of it but before she gfot to savour the water she found her oxygen restriected again. This time was harder and she had to wretch to bring up the contents of her lungs once again. Yasma assumed that it would be enough but each time she cleared her lungs she simply found them full again. Each cycle became harder and harder and soon her lungs burned. She was getting just enough oxygen to stay concious but it was sheer agony. Coughing soon wasn' enough to bring the water up and Yasma found herself vomiting up copious amoutns of water. Her shoulders burned from the constant wretching and she could feel the burning in her abs. It wasn't long before even this wasn't enough to keep her concious. Yasma's vision swam and she passed out. Unfortunately for Yasma even this was no escape from the suffering Elaebryn was causing. It soon became a rotation of Yasma vomiting up water, groaning in agony and passing out again only to repeat the cycle.

By the time Alaebryn had finally let up Yasma hung limp against her chains. Tears streamed down her face from where she'd strainged and choked, signs of her asphyxiation. Her face was speckled with burst blood vessels. Despite having finally cleared the water Yasma still coughed up what little she could. Her body was utterly soaked now and she found herself exhausted once again. Her breaths came in desperate shallow breaths, making the most of every bitk of oxygen she could suck down. As the woman spoke again Yasma simply raised her head and glared as best she could while refusing to speak.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Each time she raised her head during that fit of coughing and vomiting, Yasma had found Elaebryn patiently waiting with that contented smile frozen on her face. Quiet, serene, and content, the priestess held herself with the excellent posture and unflinching composure more befitting one of her station as her captive suffered in front of her.

Silence is allowed to linger for only a short while before Elaebryn speaks in a flat tone to break it. "Very well then," she says, then walks over to the discarded tray and plate of spilled food. She bends at the knees, picks it up, and turns to leave. "Perhaps you'll find your appetite after you've been put through your paces at the training grounds." The cell door groans as it opens before her, and Elaebryn steps out into the hallway beyond without further word.

Hours pass in darkness and silence, with only her hunger and the skeleton on the wall opposite her to keep Yasma company. Eventually the door opens again, this time to a pair of drow-men in the armor and colors of Elaebryn's house guard. Behind them in the hallway, a woman in similar garb stands — a lowborn soldier like Yasma, though not one famous enough to recognize.

Neither the drow-men nor the drow-woman speaks to their captive as a hobble is fit to her ankles and a new set of manacles is fit to her wrists before she is pulled down from those set into the dungeon wall. These new bindings force Yasma's legs apart to about shoulder width, and make it impossible to properly run; at most, she would be able to shuffle away at about twice her normal walking speed, but only with difficulty and practice. But for a couple of minutes, her arms are free enough that she could conceivably fight these drow-men; though bound in manacles, they are held together only by a length of chain and the strength of those handling her. As each drow-man keeps hold of her with only one hand, while keeping the other on the hilt of a blade on the side of his waist opposite her, it is conceivably possible that she might wrench herself free of their grip and — then what?

Unless she does act, Yasma will be led past the drow-woman in the hallway who will then fall into step behind the two soldiers and their captive as they walk through a maze of tunnels that leads eventually to an open training ground.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

While Yasma's stomach yearned for sustenance her pride was stronger and she just couldn't bring herself to call out and ask for the food, instead she'd rather spend another night in agony with her stomach twisting and turning upon itself. When the door shut behind the woman Yasma let her head slump forward, no longer needing to keep a glare of defiance in her eyes. She hung limp in her bindings and before long passed out entirely without much time to think.

Eventually Yasma awoke though without view of the Narbondel she had no idea how long she'd been asleep for. If how she felt was anythign to go by then she'd assume around half a day but that was purely guess work. She had another hour or two in silence and monotony before the door opened again and she found herself with yet more visitors. Her iron gaze rose to meet them and she shot icy daggers at them. Yasma saw the futility in fighting right now as they attatched the hobble to her feet and knew that while she may cause some damage ultimately it would end worse for her and in humiliation. Yasma would bide her time and wait for a more opportune moment. Despite her rational thoughts it was still difficult for her to allow men to lead her through the complex like some kind of animal. Yasma was keeping track though and making sure she memorized every twist and turn they took incase it came in useful down the line for her, one could never be too prepared. Walking was difficult even without the restraints making her movement slow and awkward. The lack of food had her feeling incredibly weak, she had no callories in her to burn and she could feel her thin her stomach was compared to usual. While she still had her muscles her skin was tighter against her bones. She knew that without food and especially without excercise she would eventually lose her muscle mass, something she dreaded. She was a warrior and was proud of her form.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Yasma is led through what looks like a crude sitting room or cafeteria in what is very clearly a soldier's barracks. At first it may seem like she is to be given to the soldiers again, but she is paraded past the hungry eyes of onlookers and out into a large chamber with a high ceiling where drow men and women are going through martial drills in various states of armor and dress. Torches line the oblong chamber at irregular points, giving multiple chaotic shadows to each of the various combatants and trainees. It is the first light Yasma has seen in four days, and it is distracting enough that she might have been forgiven in other circumstances for having failed to notice the woman before her. A swift blow to the side of her head would surely remedy that.

"You will look at me when presented," says the drill mistress as Yasma's vision reels from the blow. This was an archetypal drow-woman: tall, fit, and wiry with harsh features, cruel eyes, and a voice and demeanour more culturally familiar than whatever Elaebryn was playing at in Yasma's prison cell. And rather than hiding her body beneath robes, she proudly displayed her muscled body through gaps in her armor. "You will answer to 'slave'. And you will call me 'mistress'. Do you understand, slave?"

At some point during the visual distraction and the blow to the head, Yasma had lost track of the drow men escorting her. They had left, presumably dismissed by some gesture she did not hear or see. She stands alone before this other warrior-woman, hobbled but with nothing else to prevent her from acting however she may choose.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Yasma recognized the style of building she was going to, this was the kinds of quarters she'd spent most of her life in and had ran while serving her house. When they went through the baracks Yasma first thought that she was going to be offered up to a number of soldiers like before and was ready to fight as much as she could to prevent it happening again. It seemed though that this wasn't true and thankfully she was marched straight through there. Yasma kept her gaze forward and paid no heed of the gawping troops, she met none of their eyes and acted as though they were nothing more than insects.

When she was taking in to the large training hall the sound of men and woman at their work could be heard all around her and the sound made her feel at home. Her eyes scanned the room then though and she wondered if perhaps they were going to use her as a fighter afterall. That was something that maybe she might just be able to accept and get around, to continue her life as a fighter. Yasma's eyes were still adjusting to the light and she had indeed missed the woman entirely until she felt a whap up the side of her head. Her eyes settled on her then and she quickly took her on. It seemed as though this woman was the equivellant of what she was at her own house. She knew that like Yasma this one was a skilled warrior but she was also confident that she outshone her... or would do at least if she wasn't hobbled and weak from her hunger. She found it easier to just look the woman in the eyes rather than answer her with words and so she stood as silent as ever.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Cold malice, without anger or passion, shone in the drow-woman's eyes as she took a graceful step back and in the same motion loosed the whip that had been coiled at her hip. Its oiled length was snapped taut with a counter-motion just in time to prevent the tip from taking Yasma's right eye; instead, it flicked upward as it was hauled downward, and so bit into cheek and nose before being withdrawn.

"You will answer to 'slave'," says the drill mistress again as she withdraws the whip and begins coiling it back up, "And you will call me 'mistress'." Her voice is unchanged, but for the fact that she has added a short pause between each sentence. She seems neither angry, nor exerted, nor irritated; rather, she seems as though she is patiently instructing a dim-witted pupil.

The coiled whip is back at her waist now, and blood is flowing freely down Yasma's face from the painful strike that would surely leave a scar. "Do you understand, slave?"
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Yasma watched as the whip was uncoiled and knew what to expect next, she'd used a whip herself many times before and she'd felt their bite on more than one occasion. As it uncoiled through the air towards her Yasma stood still and let the oiled instrument slice in to her face. This garned a hiss of pain though the veteran didn't move from the strike, she simply remained upright and looking towards the woman. The woman before her droned on repetetively and Yasma decided to speak as much to shut her up as anythign else. She'd played the game before and words meant nothing, they were just breaths of air that faded away the moment they were said. "Ofcourse, mistress."

To be honest, it was a good thing that this one had given her a name to call her by as unlike Yasma this woman wasn't well known at all and Yasma didn't have a clue what her actual name was, nor did she care, she was just another face.Yasma kept her arms at her side and stared on, waiting for the game to reveal itself and for her to know what was going on
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

The sting of another lash is thus avoided, but the first cut continues to bleed and burn as Yasma stands before the battle mistress.

In the training chamber beyond, drow men and women practiced combat drill alone and in small groups, fought in pairs with training weapons, or in some cases merely exercised or rested on their own. Some wore a ragged claptrap of ripped clothes or damaged armor like Yasma, while others were naked save for simple linens over their loins. Still others wore bits of functional armor which they incorporated into their combat drill and exercise. This training ground either favours a far more chaotic and disorganized regimen than Yasma's, or it served some other purpose than merely 'training' its participants. Perhaps it served to filter out the weak? Many of the fighters here bore scars, but all were otherwise healthy and well-fed.

Yasma has only a few moments to truly take in the sights before the burning in her facial wound becomes suddenly more intense. As though acid or flame were engulfing that portion of her face, the flesh immediately surrounding the laceration erupts in a terrible, stinging heat that demands her attention. Active effort is required to avoid revealing the extent of the agony she is experiencing from the secondary effect of whatever oil or toxin was left behind by the whip's kiss.

While Yasma is once again lost in thought, the battle mistress gestures with her right hand to summon someone to remove her bindings. A nondescript drow-man dressed like those who escorted Yasma to the training ground emerges from somewhere behind her and removed first the hobble at Yasma's ankles then the manacles from her wrists. The guard seems utterly unconcerned about the now-unchained prisoner, and patiently stands in place awaiting further instruction. The battle mistress waits until Yasma has been entirely freed of her bindings to dismiss the drow-man with another gesture, then once more meets Yasma's gaze. Only once the guard is gone does she speak again.

"You think yourself too good for my fighting school," she says — not asks. "I can see it in your eyes," the battle mistress says with palpable contempt. "Pride." The drow-woman sneers.

"What is your name, slave?"
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

After several seconds of standing there Yasma began to feel an incredible burning where the whip had landed and it immediately made her bring a hand up to clutch at her face. She scowled and did her best to keep her expression neutral though it was a difficult endeavour. Her pain would be obvious with the grunts and rubbing of her wounded face. Once she'd gotten a taste for it though and the pain became familiar Yasma forced her hand back to her side and looked at the woman once again. The veteran hadn't really noticed the other slaves so much up until now as her focus had been wholly directed towards the loathsome drow infront of her. Yasma couldn't really blame the battle mistress as in her own fighting chapel she'd been exactly the same with her own students.

The removal of her bindings was satisfying and it gave her that feeling of freedom, like she could do something. It was only seconds after the hobble was removed though that her stomach gave another pang of hunger which caused her to lean slightly forward from the pain. She straightened back up as quickly as she could however and considered the woman. Of course she saw herself as better than this school, she knew that she was. It wasn't so much pride as common sense, she'd cut through warriors from this house like ribbons, why wouldn't she feel superior? "Yasma" she replied and held off giving a list of her former titles, something she was accustomed to.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

The unnamed battle mistress raises her hand to gesture, and within a few seconds the torches are extinguished. Either she had done it more quickly and silently than Yasma has ever seen a spell cast, or the gesture was merely a signal for someone else to cut the lights. Probably the latter, but one can never be sure among the drow. And if it is the former, what might that imply about the battle mistress? There is little time to consider the implications as the lights wink out and activity in the training ground comes to a halt. Without words or further hand signs the men and women who had been at drill, exercise, or rest assemble in a single row in the middle of the open area. The battle mistress turns her back then to Yasma, directing her attention to her assembled charges.

Her voice is loud enough to easily carry and echo through the chamber. She speaks as she walks, moving away from Yasma and to one side so that all present can see the new girl as the focus of attention. "The bitch Yasma," she says, and lists off the various titles withheld prior, "thinks herself too good for this fighting school." The assembled combatants remain silent, waiting. The battle mistress gestures, and speaks, to one of the men wearing ragged clothes: "Nalfein, fetch swords." The indicated man jogs off to the side and returns with a pair of training weapons. A nod from the battle mistress directs him to offer one to Yasma.

"Well, then?" All eyes are on Yasma as she is offered a dulled blade which nonetheless could do serious harm with enough force behind it, and is surely a better fighting implement than bare hands. She is offered no direction with what to do with it, or against or with whom. But there it is, offered up at arm's length for her to take.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

It seemed that every one in the training ground had an interest in Yasma and she wasn't surprised, they should do, she stood above any of them in deed. Her eyes flicked to the lights as they went out before back to the battle mistress infront of her. The woman realed off exactly how Yasma felt as she introduced her and all the former warrior could do was snarl in contempt as every one looked her way. She knew that on a good day and especially with her own equipment she could but on a display like most of these here had more than likely never seen but she had a feeling that the whole purpose of today wasn't for her to have a chance to prove her martial prowess, she believed it was for something far more sinister.

Her eyes fell on the man as he quickly trotted away to go and retieve some training swords. Once one was offered towards yasma she reached out to take a hold of the crude weapon. She could tell it was dull and no more than a toy for practice the moment she grasped the hilt. It was no surprise that she'd be brought here while light headed, weak from hunger and at her most vulnerable rather than at her full strength. To do otherwise would just be fair, a concept alien to the drow, something that she wouldn't expect. She hissed for a moment at the thought and decided that despite her condition she would do every thing she could.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

The question hangs in the air: "Well then?"

Yasma is presented with a drow-man in clothes as ragged as her own, though he does not seem the least bit tired. Behind him is the assembled group of those who had been training and now watch Yasma's every move. Off to the side side is the battle mistress, whose eyes are also trained on the new addition to her fighting school. Though the former remain still and quiet, the latter eventually becomes impatient with the inaction and speaks again.

"Are you just going to stand there, or will you show us that you are worth that list of now-defunct titles?" The question drips with contempt.

The drow-man armed with a similar training sword has by now taken a defensive posture with the sword held forward and his body turned to the side, his non-dominant arm trailing his body for balance. It is a clear mockery of surface humans' "fencing" style. The impatient battle mistress meanwhile has decided to draw nearer again, perhaps intending to spur on the combat with another strike of her whip.

Yasma has yet a few seconds to decide what she will do. And the constant protest of her empty stomach allows her to savour each moment.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Yasma, while confident, wasn't stupid. She knew that in her current state and with a training sword even this excuse for a battle mistress would defeat her, she wouldn't have been in the position if she didn't have some skill. It was for that reason that she took the wisest of options, she may have had some pride but self preservation far outweighed an emotion as stupid as pride. Part of her though yearned to fight the battle mistress, to test her skill against Yasma's own and she vowed to one day have that chance.

She turned the sword slightly to test the weight before turnign towards the man to make her attack. She was weak, tired and in pain but even so she moved blurringly fast. She could tell how much slower she went but to many this would still be some what impressive. She looked over the man's posture and snarled at it. She was on him within a seccond with a flurry of strikes aimed both high and low. Her aim was for a few feints to draw out her attack and lead him off balance so that she could hopefully deliver a hard and ideally fight ending strike to the man's head.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

The drow-man is easily overcome, his physical strength as typical for his sex well below that of an accomplished fighting woman such as Yasma. He maintains a decent form, but he is with each motion just a bit too slow and he lacks the sturdiness and power necessary to follow through with motions of deflection and counter. As expected, each strike puts him further and further from his initial state of being balanced and on guard. This imbalance is immediately obvious to a skilled warrior, as is what finally comes a few seconds later: in a moment of reprieve in Yasma's aassault, rather than first collecting himself and responding appropriately the frustrated swordsman lunges forward at his first visible opportunity at agency. Yasma easily avoids the wild strike by stepping inside her opponent's reach, leading with non-dominant shoulder, and harmlessly shoving aside the man's sword-arm. Thus made vulnerable, a single single mighty blow with the dull edge of a practice sword audibly and visibly cracks the man's skull.

He falls to the ground instantly, body crumbled and limp as a rag-doll. His head collides with the ground with a wet crack, and blood pools around him. It is very possible the man is dead. His weapon clatters to the floor from his slacked grip, and as it comes to rest at Yasma's feet its edge catches on her left boot and bites softly into its sole. Had he been armed with a real weapon this whole time? That edge must be sharp, to have bitten into her leather boot. If concerned, about either the fate of the drow-man or the prospect of Yasma gaining a real weapon, the battle mistress does not show it; instead, she gestures with a nod toward one of the women dressed merely in a swatch of linen over her crotch.

The topless drow-woman has thick, powerful limbs and rippling muscle in excess of drow standards of feminine beauty. Scars from arrows, bites, and blades crisscross her chest and stomach. She breaks from the row of assembled fighters in a sprint, running all-out toward Yasma. As she draws near, the brawny woman allows one arm to fall slack and trail behind her while bringing the other hand forward in some kind of either magical or martial gesture. Yasma has seconds to consider her options and decide whether to pick up the real weapon or not, and how best to meet the next charging combatant.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

Yasma watched as the man hit the ground with contempt and she immediately went down to retrieve his sword. Before she'd even laid a dinger on the new weapon she could tell that unlike her own this had an edge, this was sharp, this could kill. Her eyes flicked towards the blood pooling out of the man and she sneered at his body holding no pity for the weakling. Afterall, why would she feel anything for the man? He was nothing in his own home and he was nothing to Yasma in both skill or accomplishment. Yasma turned from her fallen and potentially deceased foe and surveyed the rest of the room and the current situation.

Part of the drow woman expected a flood of oncomers then or a flick of the whip to come her way in response to her dominant performance but she was mistaken. Instead there was a woman wearing no more clothing than Yasma and with scars to show either signs of battle or torture, Yasma couldn't care which. She glared at the oncomer and tried to push any feelings of hunger or lightheadedness out of her mind and met the next attacker. Her blades would flash out as she tried once again to lure the woman in to another deadly strike aimed at her midriff.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

The powerful drow woman suddenly halts her charge just outside of Yasma's reach. Dominant foot is planted firmly in place, defensive hand gesture is raised to follow the motions of Yasma's sword, and momentum swings trailing arm and non-dominant leg around and forward in some kind of double-strike with fist and foot that's too far away to strike anything but air. The hand gesture changes, as foot and fist extend to their natural reach, and instantly an invisible force batters Yasma as though she had been struck in the chest and neck. She is nearly knocked off her feet by the abrupt impact. The drow-woman's non-dominant foot stomps down hard after that kinetic blast is loosed, the previously-trailing hand contorts into a gesture similar to the one that preceded the blast, and like an uncoiling spring the brawny woman lunges forward.

During all this rush and movement, Yasma had not noticed that the scarred woman's dominant hand had formed a fist which now visibly shimmers. Her attacker follows through with a languid fluidity, surging forward like an uncoiled spring to direct a single, powerful blow of her dominant fist into Yasma's midriff. The punch lands exactly where in her mind's eye Yasma had imagined slicing into her unnamed foe's stomach, and lands with such force as to eject the air from her lungs, physically lift her an inch off the ground, and knock her backward a couple of feet. It also hurts quite a lot, and there will be excessive bruising and possibly internal tissue damage — but those are worries for another time. Just now, Yasma is aware that she is only being caught by these attacks because she is faint from exhaustion and hunger. It is a plainly unfair setup, as she noted prior, but even so the burly drow-woman is less of a threat than the hollow agony in her belly. She must eat soon.

At least she kept hold of the sword.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

This was definitely not the first woman she'd fought that used unconventional arts nor was she close to being the most skilled at it. The first strike caught her by surprise and made her stagger backwards a moment. The next attack apprently also caught the veteran though she had time to brace herself for the impact so that it wasn't quite as devestating as it could have been. Yasma took a deep breath and snarled. This bitch was hardly as impressive as she no doubt thought that she was and Yasma knew that had she been fed and at her best then this would hardly have been a competition. While she knew that she could fight on Yasma wasn't sure of the outcome, she'd used what little energy she had and she could feel her muscles screaming at her. She simply threw her swords on the ground and frowned. "This is a waste of time, do what ever you will, I'll not participate in your farce." The woman was just another future corpse to add to Yasma's list of kills.
 
RE: Prison of Drowess War (Elaebryn x Lady Arachnia)

For a moment it seems as though Yasma may actually have won this contest, having thrown down her swords and claimed the moral high ground before an audience that watches silently and does nothing. Even her erstwhile opponent just remains in place after recovering her posture. She adopts a guarded stance, and her eyes dart between Yasma and the battle mistress. After a moment of hesitation, she throws another round of punches and kicks at her designated opponent but Yasma endures them as easily as she did those prior — the only change is in the number of bruises, and the level of pain from her gnawing hunger. The burly woman even tries just throwing Yasma to the ground, but stringent refusal to fight yields only a throw and recovery — not an amusing display of combat.

Eventually the battle mistress intervenes.

"You will fight," she shouts as oiled whip bites into the flesh of Yasma's chest near the shoulder. "You will fight," she shouts again as a second lash crosses the first and splatters blood. "Or I will strip your skin from your bones!" The battle mistress has finally found emotion to her voice, and the third whip-strike in less than six seconds cuts deep from collar to shoulder tearing off a sizable chunk of flesh where it crosses the first stroke a second time. Cruelty and fury are evident in her tone and in her bearing as she advances, and she seems intent on continuing the assault unless or until Yasma moves of her own volition.

The brawny drow woman meanwhile has taken this moment to slowly back away from the situation to avoid being within range of an errant lash.
 
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