Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 21:10:21	If your interested, go to see this thread about evil characters with a tale aboutDrinnik's Past on it. And maybe I'll get this bloody essay finished by Friday. Bloody Dickens and his Great bloody Expectations. Bloody Collins and his Bloody Moonstone. If you like the tale, I'll add more, getting to when Drinnik ended up in the Malodorous Goat, before Trebor saw the bundle of rags and Evee said the immortal words, "It's a baby."
#2 tryst_91 Nov 19, 2003 21:50:50	definately need to write some more! Good stuff. i like the build up and i didn't realize that you were from dragonlance.. (i probably did but i forgot actually, i always thought you were one of the more knowledgable in the Goat.) Interesting idea with the portal too. need to probably flesh out the sister thing but of course that would take more writting! tryst
#3 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 21:55:15	Should I just move the tale here?
#4 tryst_91 Nov 19, 2003 21:59:20	yeah i think it would help. maybe we can start a fanfic thread specifically for ravenloft tryst
#5 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 22:02:20	The small figure pressed himself against the wall of the alley. He tensed his fingers now and again, breathing slowly and deliberatly. Anger filled his every being, from the beat of his heart to the scream of his mind. Vengence was all he wanted, his sisters all he needed to find. He looked out of the alleyway at the burning building down the street. It was his doing, the lying bastard of a landlord had denied seeing his sister Liseme even though Drinnik had it on strong authority that she had disappeared there. It was his curse, he presumed, not to be taken seriously. It was not the first time, the gnomes of Mount Nevermind had not taken him seriously either. At least not until he had smashed the head of one in with his own hammer. They had lied too. Niesme had been in Nevermind. She had travelled with a merchant caravan and they had told him. The fire was almost out now. Drinnik smiled, the landlord was dead and the minotaur that had mocked him was lying dead in its bed. The upside to no one taking him seriously was that he could get away with murder, literally. The kender sauntered out of the alleyway, stroking the pommel of the dagger he had taken from the minotaur. He smiled, but stopped dead in his tracks when a voice behind him shouted, "There he is! The little bastard who burnt down my tavern!" Drinnik turned. The landlord was not dead, merely singed. He pounded down the street after Drinnik. The kender panicked, turned and fled towards the woods that where near the city of Haven. The landlord now had members of the militia with him. Drinnik ran faster, faster than he had ran in his life. He reached the woods and soon lost the men following him. Four large men in a confining space and one lithe kender did not allow for a long chase, Drinnik mused. He carried on through the woods, hunting small animals and drinking from the scant fresh water he found. He never left the woods, keeping at least a mile from the nearest roads. After a few days travel the ground became marshy and he kept loosing his footing. Drinnik snarled at the world in general, keeping to the dry patches as best he could. He stumbled into a clearing. The ground had a thick layer of mist, which seemed to be pouring from a large, black oval hanging in the air. Despite himself, Drinnik found he had a queer feeling in his stomach, but he passed this off as hunger. He stood looking at the portal, not quite sure what to do. Drinnik, a voice called. Drinnik spun around. "Who's there?" he shouted. It's me, Liseme... the voice sobbed. "Li?" Drinnik's voice cracked. It's cold, Drin. Niesme is crying, the voice cried. "Where?" Drinnik asked. Through here, the voice called from the portal. Drinnik crept up to the portal and pushed his hand through it. A cold dread filled his being. He tried to pull his hand free, but could not. He pulled and pulled, but to no avail. He thought he could feel cold, bony fingers close around his wrist. "No!" He shouted. The skeletal hand pulled. "NO!" He shrieked, his voice cracking. The hand pulled and Drinnik was dragged into the portal.
#6 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 22:54:46	Blinding white mist obscured Drinnik's vision, he cursed, ranted and raved over the fate he had just been given. He swore vengence on whatever had pulled him through the portal. His rudimentary knowledge of the planes, told to him by his family's old friend Trebor Minntt, allowed him to guess that he was not on Krynn. However, he had no idea where he was. He walked blindly through the Mists, turning at every sound. Each noise unnerved Drinnik more and more. First he thought he could her Liseme comforting the crying Niesme, but as he got closer he could her that she was actually encouraging her and that Niesme wasn't crying, but laughing. The laughter reached a cresendo and the Mists abruptly parted. Drinnik looked at his new surroundings. He was standing on the edge of a road, with a small town off in the distance. The dark blanket of the night smothered the light from the stars, leaving Drinnik in near total blackness. He sneered at the city, it certainly did not look like Haven. Drinnik headed down the road, sighing to himself. Absent-mindedly he started humming a song his father used to sing when he was a child. A carridge hurtled passed him. Drinnik leaped out of the way to avoid being hit. The carridge stopped abruptly and a woman stepped out. She walked with a grace carried only by the elves, but Drinnik noticed something was wrong. She was an elf, to be sure, but she seemed ugly in the kender's eyes. She did not have the grace of the Qualinesti or the smooth, perfectly symmetrical face of the Silvanesti. Her clothes where strange also. Elegent, yes, definately elven, but there was something not right about them, a touch to exotic to what Drinnik expected. She asked Drinnik a question in a language he did not understand. Drinnik looked at her quizzically. "What?" he asked impatiently. She asked the question again, in a different language. Drinnik frowned. "What do you want?" he asked. The woman smiled politely, then asked, in what Drinnik recognised as a broken form of Silvanesti, "Are you alright, halfling?" "I'm fine," Drinnik hissed, "But I am no halfling!" The elf woman looked confused at this, "But you are, little one. You have the bearing and stature of one of the wee folk." Anger bubbled in Drinnik's blood, "Look, wench, where am I? What is that city?" The woman frowned at the insult, "You are in Darkon, the city is Karg." Drinnik looked at the town, then at the woman, then at the carridge. He adopted his best cheerful kender look, "Can you give me a lift?" The woman smiled at his sudden change, she had met a few mist-led people before and dismissed this poor, lost creature's abruptness with the fear of emerging from a mistbank. "Of course. I'm Viena Aspentree of Neblus." "Drinnik Shoehorn, of Kendermore," Drinnik said caustically. The woman missed the sarcasm and led Drinnik to her carridge. Drinnik raised an eyebrow, "No driver?" The woman looked ashen and she looked as though she would collapse, "No. Wol-wolves attacked us further down the road. I couldn't save him, I left him and headed towards Karg on my own." "Are wolf attacks common, then?" "Not really, though more recently they seem to be. That's why I stopped for you. If I heard that you had died and I could have helped, I could no longer show my face in polite society." Drinnik nodded, "Lady." Viena looked at Drinnik, "Yes?" Drinnik looked darkly at the elf woman, "I have no money, I have no where to stay." "Oh, of course," Viena reached for a small key she kept around her neck and started to kneel to a chest strapped to the bottom of the carridge. Drinnik caught her wrist, "What's in the chest?" "Nothing," Viena said, somewhat startled. Drinnik tightened his grip, "How much?" "About a hundred!" Viena said, "Please, let go! You're hurting me!" "Steel?" Drinnik asked, crushing the woman's wrist. "No! Gold! Gold coins!" Viena tried to twist out of Drinnik's grip. "A hundred gold?" Drinnik locked his gaze on the elf woman, "What will that get me in town?" "Board, clean clothes!" She sobbed, "Most things!" "Good!" Drinnik sneered. His other hand shot from his belt. His dagger was at the woman's throat. "Now, Lady, are you going to talk?" "No!" Viena cried. "Good." Drinnik loosened his grip. "Now, do you know how I could find my sisters?" "Sisters?" the elf asked. "I have two sisters, Liseme and Niesme Shoehorn, they've gone missing, I need to find them. How can I find them?" Drinnik asked calmly, almost pleadingly. "I don't know!" Viena answered. Drinnik tightened his grip, "Then how do I get home?" Viena began to shake, "You, you can't. Outlanders don't go home. Stay here, you, you might find some roots here. Lots of people find relatives in Darkon they knew nothing about!" "I don't want new relatives! I want my sisters!" Drinnik shouted. Viena pulled on her wrist. The sweat from her fear made her slippery and Drinnik lost his grip. Viena turned and ran. "Maybe your sisters do not want you to find them! You monster! Why would they? No one would want a brother like you!" Drinnik froze. He watched Viena run. Something snapped inside him. He charged after the elf, "MY SISTERS LOVE ME!" he screamed. The long, elegent dress the elf woman was wearing wrapped around her legs, and she fell. Like a rat on a dying man, Drinnik leapt on her. He wildly started to stab her, "My sisters love me!" he shouted with every stab. "They love me!" He stopped and looked at the unrecognisable lump of flesh and blood and bone wrapped in the remains of a beautiful dress. "They love me," he whispered. He grabbed the key from her neck and ran to the chest. He scrabbled to get the key in the lock. He opened the chest and rummaged through the corpse's belongings. Eventually he found the bag of coins. He went back to the body. Panting, he wrapped the chain with the key on around the woman's hand. Then he fled.
#7 zombiegleemax Nov 21, 2003 11:40:56	Simply an amazing story. Suppose I'll have to read the whole thing to understand it, but I still like what's here. Maybe this is also partly because I like kender a lot, on top of, of course, liking Ravenloft.
#8 zombiegleemax Nov 23, 2003 14:31:32	Drinnik kept to the slums of Karg for a couple of weeks. He soon lost the money he stole from the elfmaid, but his anger did not diminish. He refused to accept the fact that he was not on Krynn, that his sisters where near. Finding them would ease the pain, would amend the evil he had committed in finding them. He looked at the wooden roof of the shack he was in. The old woman who owned it had been easily tricked into leaving. Drinnik did not know nor care were the woman was now, only that he must be close to finding his sisters. He also was harbouring thoughts of death towards the man who had tricked him the day before. One Samhot Werst, a thug by claim, but Drinnik could see the suppresed nobility in him, had offered Drinnik information on his family if Drinnik did a job for him. Drinnik had readily accepted, and committed the act. Another death was on his hands, Werst's life would be one more. But one he could justify. Drinnik continued to stare at the celing of the shack. He knew Werst was coming soon, he had told Drinnik that he would come with another job and give him some more information. Drinnik knew Werst was lying. He lied so much himself he knew how to spot it in others. There was a knocking at the door. Drinnik did not take his eyes from the ceiling, "Come," he called. Samhot Werst entered the room. He was not dressed in the rags of a common thug. His clothes where immaculate, the fine garb of nobility. His hair was slicked back into a fine plait that ran the length of his back. A rapier hung at his waist in an enammeled scabbard. The man radiated power. Drinnik looked at him and shrank back. Werst's eyes glowed a deep, rich red, like that of an open vein. Two long, fine fangs pertruded slightly over his bottom lip. He smiled like a cat, and laughed. "Little kender," he purred, "I have been watching you since your arrival in these lands." Drinnik stared at the man, "What... what are you?" "I am not a 'what', little kender, I am a 'who'." Werst smiled again, "I am Lord Samhot Werst, in service to his esteemed majesty, Azalin Rex. I came to offer you information, little kender, and now I give it. But first a question, you are in the prime of your youth, but eventually your skin will sag, your strength diminish, your eyes dim. Your search will end fruitless and you will die, never to see your sisters again. I ask you this question, if I offered a way to live forever, to search and find everything you want, would you take it?" Drinnik felt his mouth go dry, live forever? Be able to search until he finds his sisters? It was a dream come true! There was no draw backs. Drinnik nodded, "I would. To find my sisters I would face Takhisis herself." Werst narrowed his eyes, studying the kender, "So be it." Quicker than Drinnik could see, Werst was on him. He felt the sting of the creature's fangs pierce his neck, he felt as the monster drained the lifeblood from his veins. The creature stopped as Drinnik realised he had no more blood to give. He slumped to the floor, his vision dimming, "What have you done to me?" he wheezed. "Given you what you wanted," Werst replied, dabbing his mouth with a handkerchief. "And forget about your sisters, I am your family now." Drinnik looked at the gloating figure, his breathing became harder and harder, his vision faded. Then Drinnik Shoehorn died. [Scholars of the Galen Saga may notice a difference between this and the tale Drinnik told Jeris. Mainly because the tale Drinnik told Jeris was a lie; he never wants to admit he became a vampire willingly.]
#9 zombiegleemax Nov 26, 2003 12:51:53	Drinnik awoke with a start. HIs eyes adjusted to the gloom, and he noticed an exotic looking woman sitting at a desk reading some parchments. Drinnik blinked a couple of times and rubbed his face. He felt cold. Colder than he had ever felt in his life. He looked at his hands and saw that they were caked with a fine dust. He wiped his hands on his green leggings and swung his legs of the low pallet he was lying on. He looked at the woman and coughed. She put the parchment back on the desk and looked at Drinnik. "You've awoke, then?" She noted, "Good, the transition from life to unlife is difficult, or so I'm told. Are you alright? No problems?" Drinnik drew breath, then realised that it was the first time he had inhaled since he had woken up, "Problems? Unlife? What are you talking about?" "Werst made you a vampire. He wants to initiate you." The woman stood, she was wearing a green sari embroidered with snakes and birds, flowers and vines. Her black hair was wound around her head in a tight braid and her green eyes contrasted sharply with her dark tan skin. "Vampire? Initiate? What are you talking about?" Drinnik demanded. "What in the name of Takhisis is a vampire?" The woman looked shocked, but recovered immediately, "He made you a vampire. He drank your blood and you died. Dark energies from the negative energy plane filled your body and animated you again. He made you a creature of darkness, a creature who feeds on the blood of the living to quench its dead thirst," the woman seemed to be enjoying telling Drinnik his fate. Drinnik, for his part, felt cold and empty. "Werst will tell you the specifics, train and groom you to be the model Kargat agent. He must have been impressed by you, he usually trains them before he kills them." "He said he'd show me my family." Drinnik whispered. The exotic woman shrugged, "He has, the Kargat is your family now." The door to the chamber opened. The figure of Samhot Werst filled the doorway, "Ah, little kender, you are awake. I take it Astranni has told you of our operation?" "Not quite sir," the woman named Astranni answered, "He only awoke a short time ago. Sir, he did not know what a vampire was, is it wise to train him?" Werst shot Astranni a menacing glance, "Are you questioning my orders?" "No, sir," Astranni backed away in fear. It looked as though she had tasted Werst's anger before. "Well, little kender, we shall begin your training and I will inform you of our organisation," Werst said. "My name is Drinnik Shoehorn," Drinnik muttered. Werst frowned, "You will get your name when I say, until then you are nothing but my little kender." Drinnik nodded, it felt like the safest thing to do. [Query: What do the remaining Taverners think of the tale of Drinnik's past? Do you think you are understanding Drinnik any better, or is it not giving any effect or insight to his character? Does anybody who doesn't know who Drinnik is like my story? Should I stop or do people like it?]
#10 tryst_91 Nov 26, 2003 18:44:26	I am definately enjoying it. i say keep it coming. It is a shame that more people don't share their work... of course alot probably aren't as well written as this though. keep up the good work. tryst
#11 zombiegleemax Dec 18, 2003 10:31:27	Great story, I definitely would like to hear more of it.