The Last Outpost (Whitebrand and Vairocana)

[Vairocana]

Vylistrae notes the vehicle and her eyes widen. The goddess must be smiling on her. Or atleast she hopes. Let it not be a trap. Behind her she hears the shout and she whimpers a moment.

"Lira," Vylistrae pants as she heads for the dysthal, "I hope we can use this to get as far away from it as we can. Hopefully it can get us to the Temple." Not waiting for her love and handmaiden, Vylistrae pushes herself. She runs as fast as she can towards the vehicle, she must reach it. She and Lira will escape. She refuses to let this thing have them. Once she is safe and the dragon creature is gone, she will pay the Noble for his vehicle for now escape is all she wants and she will take this thing to do so!

[Whitebrand]

Vylistrae scrambled aboard the dysthal. Instantly it hummed to life, waiting for her command. Behind her, Lira turned and faced the dragon bearing down on her. Though the beast was far stronger and more powerful than she, Lira planted herself between it and her mistress. Unarmed, she raised her arms wide as though to embrace the creature. Powerless though she was, the dragon would have to face her before getting to Vylistrae.

[Vairocana]

Vylistrae sends it the commands, speed, to the temple, she grabs the controls and prepares for it to go. Then she notes something amiss. As her eyes look to the dragon-thing her eyes go wide and her heart skips a beat. "Lira!" Fear, fear for Lira colors her voice. "LIRA!" Vylistrae attempts to turn the vehicle as it begins to go. She fights it, she won't leave without Lira! She won't abandon her!

[Whitebrand]

The dragon stopped, towering over the helpless Lira. It stared down at the unflinching handmaiden for a long moment, ignoring the frantic noble fit the moment. It reached down and plucked the doe eyed maid as though she were a doll. Lira was obviously terrified, but she wasn't going to give the beast the satisfaction of a scream no matter how much she wanted to...

...until the dragon opened him mouth wide and lifted the helpless Lira upward towards it. Then she screamed in mortal terror.

[Vairocana]

Vylistrae stares in horror as the dragon goes to eat her love, her friend. Not again! With tears in her eyes, with her body trembling, she cries out one last time. "LIRA!" The vehicle turns and Vylistrae weakly slams on the controls. "Stop. Please stop." It hums loudly and with growing pitch. "It's going to eat her." The vehicle begins to pick up speed. "Am I to be left alone again?" It races away and it races away on a very unsteady path. And Vylistrae's despairing cry rises through the night.

[Whitebrand]

Vylistrae raced through the streets towards the Temple district. Lira had been left behind to be devoured. The pangs of conscience were merciless. And short lived.

The dragon suddenly landed in the back of the dysthal. The vehicle suddenly dipped and the rear half of the levitating device scraped the ground loudly. Controlling the thing became far more difficult as the monster fought to retain its balance while reaching for the driver. It grabbed and flailed but it couldn't get a grip on the drow elf. The dysthal was weaving too erratically, nearly grinding itself against the walls of the buildings it passed.

Suddenly the closed doors of the Tenple district loomed in front of the vehicle. The dragons eyes widened a split second before the dysthal slammed head on into them. There was a terrible crunching sound and Vylistrae was hurled through the shattered doors and into the courtyard beyond. The monster was tangled in the ruin of the dysthal and the doors, groaning in evident pain. That wouldn't last long.

The temple itself sat just ahead of her, a spider web decorated monstrosity of purple and black stone. Except that the webs looked thin and somewhat ragged looking. The doors were closed but the windows were at least partly lit.

[Vairocana]

Uncaring at this point. She isn't even sure why she should continue. Laying on the ground, crying, she turns to the tangled dragon. Slowly she climbs to her feet and bites at her lower lip. Grasping the knife that Lira had given her she shoots the creature a despairing yet angry look. She turns her long hair flowing behind her and she strides towards the temple. Her only hope, a faint and dying flame that it is, is the Priestesses. She'll throw herself at their mercy and they can tend to the dragon thing or her. At this point, the resolution doesn't matter as long as it's not in that dragon's tummy.

She moves not as quickly as before. Her body aches. More than that her heart does. "Why do I even bother?" Revenge? Dragons take everyone from her. It hasn't changed. And she is a coward. She comes to the doors and attempts to push them open.

[Whitebrand]

Uncharacteristically the doors opened easily. Inside she saw the usual decor that came with temples to the Spider Queen. Tapestries of spiders and drow attacking or sacrificing surface creatures woven of spider silk. Spider web patterns in the rugs and carved into columns. Stone spiders everywhere. Finally the altar itself, decorated with the face of an unnaturally beautiful drow woman with a cruel smile on her face.

But there was no one here. No sign of a single priestess or acolyte. Dust sat on the altar, and there were no candles at all. Just glowing stones providing the little light there was.

"Courtesy of Overseer Eclavdra," a deep voice behind her rumbled. "When the church began to realize they were losing their grip on the people they began to make themselves...obnoxious. Eclavdra took steps. Very nasty, definitive steps."

She heard the heavy footsteps behind her, a slight limp to them.

"And now there are only a few ties to the Underdark to sever."

[Vairocana]

Vylistrae falls to her knees as she stares at the obviously abandoned place. No hope. It had been a lie. Her efforts were for naught. Lloth truely did not care for her. No goddess here, no servants of a goddess here. Just her... and the dragon. Of course, the voice is not what she expected. And the story it relates finds the weapon in her hands trembling.

No wonder the people seem okay with the lack of Lloth's cruel servants. They just were never here. Gone. Taken care of. Yet what did Eclavdra use to get rid of them? Being a drow perhaps not much. Knives and poison. These things always come for the drow in power.

In a strange twist of fate, she would not have blamed Eclavdra for any of it. Were it not for Lloth or the Priestesses...

"Are you claiming House Noquar the last link to the Underdark? That my demise would finally set this place free? I suppose it might." She wipes at her tears. "Mother might not have actually cared if my efforts here were successful or not. Yet if she does... then Eclavdra will have to be quick to malign some other group to keep the home city from mobilizing." Vylistrae sighs a shuddering sigh and she eyes the blade. "I suppose I asked some stupid questions that turned her against me. I was never too bright." She turns to look at the figure approaching and the blade she holds has one intended target.

[Whitebrand]

The dragon man smirked as he looked at the knife. He was holding his right hand on his left arm and limped slightly, but he was still twice as big as Vylistrae and far, far stronger.

"Oh she was actually hoping for Noquar to revitalize the city," the dragon said as he came closer. "I'm just ensuring that doesn't happen. To survive the city will have to assimilate more and more with the surface works...until they lose all ties to the Underdark and turn away from the darkness entirely. The drow empire loses a city, the good guys win, and I...we'll suffice to say that I have my own gains."

His eyes travelled up and down the young drow noble and he grinned. He had a lot of teeth.

[Vairocana]

"Not here because of Eclavdra?" It's a little surprising. Still, the dragon-man's designs are less feral than she had thought. Or at least she thinks. Seeing his teeth and that grin makes her shiver. She can't hurt him, his size is too much for someone like her. But that is not what drow knives are for. She closes her eyes a moment and turns the blade on herself, its tip trembles at she places it over her heart, her hand trembles. Better to die alone by her own blade than eaten alive. Lira...

"A sm-small snack is not a decent gain," she stammers as she glares fearfully at him.

[Whitebrand]

The dragon man froze, eyeing the knife. She could almost see him thinking furiously. Odd. If he were just after a meal he could just let her kill herself. It wouldn't matter. But he was hesitating...perhaps there was an advantage here she could seize on...

"You were never meant for the life of a drow noble were you?" He said unexpectedly. "More comfortable in a bath than a ball. Hating the way of the hidden knife and poison and lies, but forever trapped by it. You want a different life. Free. With your handmaiden at your side, am I right?"

[Vairocana]

The knife trembles a little less and remains where it is and she glares at him, her lips turn into a cruel twist. "Mother would have rather had my sister. Pruned, trained. She alone would have brought mother her praise and smile. I long abandoned that want. The oil baths. The wines. Silks. Then she was taken. Right before my eyes. And that changed everything. Mother needed her manipulated prize, but try as she might it was not I that could be that." She hisses. "No. Terrified of that life brought me to a stark realization. I'm to die anyway. That every day I should spend it for my own joys not for my fears. Coming to this place was the worse and best thing. Exiled nearly by intent alone I gained a level of freedom that I had not believed possible. No. I hate that life. I never really wanted it! But you!! Lira is gone! I will never see her again! So that life you describe, free of pain and free of fear, with her at my side can never be! And it's because of you!" The knife's blade gleams in the abandoned light of a discarded temple, all she has to do is drive it in. Yet he has started to talk much more carefully and he has halted his advance. What is that look in those draconic eyes? What does he really want?

What gain?

[Whitebrand]

"So sure of that, are you?" The dragon said as he shifted his stance slightly. "What if I told you that you can have the life you've dreamed of? No more responsibilities. No more politics. Just a place to be taken care of the way you've always wanted.

"But if you kill yourself," he said more firmly. "It really will be gone. Forever. Your soul will be claimed by the Spider Queen and gods know what will happen after that. "

His eyes narrowed, focused on the knife.

"You don't want to die...and I won't let you."

[Vairocana]

Vylistrae's blade trembles anew. Why? Why would he say that? Of course, death is the last thing she has ever wanted. It's inevitable crawl across the webs of her life in the Underdark always reminded her of the things she can never keep. The vain struggle that all drow have, she simply wanted it to come that much faster while at the same time lying to herself. She never wanted to die. If she had she wouldn't have run this far. She wouldn't have...

More than that. And a bitter turn of lips shows he has made progress. Lloth. No. The damnable goddess that set her upon this path. She can't have her now that she has fully abandoned her. She had a chance and she failed. Not that goddess. She'd give herself to a myriad of others than to Lloth!

WIthout Lira...

"I would call you out for what you are. Liar. I cannot have that life. There is no place that I can go that this life won't hunt me down for. An ephemeral promise such as that can't exist. Death is the only release I can and have counted on. Inevitable death. The promise of Knives and Poison!" Still, the blade shakes and her arms tremble. She never imagined it would try to negotiate with her. "Why!" She shouts suddenly. "If I am not to be your midnight snack then what am I to you! What despair will you have if this knife claims my heart?"

[Whitebrand]

"Everything!"

The dragon suddenly pivoted and his tail lashed out, striking her wrists from the side and sending the knife flying. The weapon landed with a metallic clatter as it skidded away far out of reach. The dragon was on her in an instant, snatching her up easily and lifting her high.

"But now you're mine," he said. "And out of the Spider bitch's grip forever."

He lifted his talons hand and there was a flashy blur. Her dress was ripped from her body as easily as tissue. In less than a second the busty drow noble was as bare as the day she had been born. The dragon man salivated eagerly, his coveted prize at last in his grip.

"They will never find you," he told her. "If they think you are already dead!"

He opened his mouth and her vision was filled with the widened jaws and red mouth, the serpentine tongue covered with saliva and reaching eagerly for her...

[Vairocana]

Vylistrae cries out in pain one hand hold the other wrist. With a bitter look of defeat on her face, she glares at him just as he grabs her and lifts her up. Her clothes gone a moment later and her eyes widen. She screams and squirms until she notes the look on his face. His words are inconsequential her already traumatized memories recall her sister being devoured by a dragon. She thrashes and kicks. She efforts slow for a moment until his tongue heads for her.

"Oh, gods... NO!" She renews her efforts, growing tired with every passing moment. All the running. All the fear. All the emotion. And the crushing realization that it was all for naught. Regardless she was to be a midnight snack, and somehow he claims she will be snatched from the Spider Queen? Crying her screams broken by terror her movements begin to slow.

[Whitebrand]

Vylistrae's squirming and wriggling body was pushed into the dragons waiting mouth. She could feel every square inch of the monsters warm, slick flesh afainst her bare skin as the tongue glided over her and her head and shoulders slid between its toothy jaws. It did not bite down and end her terror either, but instead took pains to push the helpless drow into his mouth whole, alive, and unharmed.

The dark tunnel of his throat loomed before her as she was lifted high, letting gravity do some of the dragons work. Her hair was pasted to her scalp and back as the dragon salivated hungrily. Her shoulders were pushed together as she was jammed into the back of his mouth, her arms pinned uselessly at her sides. Her great breasts were pressed against her chest as she entered the narrow confines of the dragons gullet.

Despite her frantic squirming the dragons throat widened enough for first her head then her shoulders. Her kicking legs became more and more constricted as they were drawn steadily into the dragons mouth. A moment later the undulating muscles of the dragons gullet had her, dragging her down into pitch blackness. She was compressed into the dragons tight throat, sliding slickly downward into the beast's chest and towards its belly. She could only hear her own screams and the steady beat of the dragons heart.

[Vairocana]

Vylistrae screams once more before her cries become muffled in the wet slimy fleshy place. Coated in his warm and wet saliva she struggles, her arms pinned, her large breasts pressed tightly against her. She feels her hair wet against her skin and the gravity as he swallows her. Her cries become sobs and her legs soon are pressed too tightly for her to thrash about with. Engulfed by his throat, soaked by his saliva, she slides easily down towards his stomach.

Her sobs become whimpers and weak cries, the feels of his gullet, the press of his fleshy interior. She squirms desperately and weakly. So this is what Lira and her older sister must have felt. The oppressive warm wetness, the pressure of flesh and muscle and juices. She wonders if it will be painful. So far she is only scared, the darkness, the wetness, but his teeth had done no damage to her. Either way, a stomach has only one purpose. To digest and convert, in this darkness, is this how she will end. Bitterly she wishes she had the strength to kill herself instead of letting him have her.

Males.

Somehow the beat of his heart, intended or not, begins to sooth her tired form.

[Whitebrand]

In what seemed to be several infinitely long moments, Vylistrae was pushed down the throat of the dragon and into a slightly more open area. She was shoved into a sac that barely seemed to have any room for her at all...because there was another occupant.

"My Lady?" Lira's terrified voice managed to say as the dark elf noble was squeezed up against the equally naked body of her maidservant. Instantly slick arms were around her, embracing her tightly in the wet confines of the dragon's belly. How was this even remotely possible? Not only was she undigested, she was conscious and aware. "Oh no...oh no, he got you...I'm sorry...I'm sorry I failed you..."

Vylistrae could feel it as the dragon straightened and rubbed a hand over his belly. There began a steady lurching that hinted that the dragon was walking somewhere. All the while Lira clung to her, burying her face in Vylistrae's shoulder.