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Kyriakos | Memory 32
32. The first battle with the Drow ★ (Neutral Negative)
It's a few months into the war at this point; their group had been going around the villages and towns on the way north, recruiting the best they could find that hadn't already run off to join the knights. So they're little group has doubled, at nearly 40 able-bodied men and women.
And finally, they've passed into Drow territory - and after a few hours of travel, they come across the beginnings of a village. The group decides that they'll spend the night there, but Tempest's uncle argues against it - he says that it's a better idea to camp out and have them take shifts to make sure they aren't attack, and Tempest is in agreement with him if only due to her own paranoia. But they're both outvoted and the group enters the village.
. . . to a complete massacre. People who were caught in the streets were killed where they stood, and only a few were lucky enough to remain in one piece. Families were slaughtered as they ate dinner or played, bodies torn apart as whatever overtook them seemed to give in to a terrible blood lust. There wasn't a single survivor in the village.
Of course for Tempest, it hits her a bit personally. She breaks away from the group to look into one of the smaller homes, looking for any sign of what may have done this. As she crouches down to close the eyes of a child . . . the body is still warm. Meaning that whatever did this was still nearby -
And that's when the fighting starts. Tempest had learned of the Drow in her youth, mostly in her books and from a few stories told in her village, but it's still shocking to see them up close - elves, with dark gray, almost black skin and dark red eyes, white hair that matched the snowy north they'd been banished to. They outnumber their group two to one.
They're ruthless fighters, and in the midst of battle Tempest watches those she was working with fall one by one. For every five Drow they kill, another one of their own is killed. Tempest has a few close calls herself, but she holds an advantage with her magic, at least.
The battle rages almost until dawn; by the time it finishes the Drow are the ones retreating, but the damage has already been done. Only fifteen of their group remain able and alive, with the rest dead or injured far beyond Tempest's healing. Even with the help of her uncle and cousin, there's only so much they can do without either sending them home or ending their pain.
The memory ends with Tempest's uncle telling the group that next time, perhaps they should listen to his suggestion, lest they suffer more losses.
What she learned:
- It took them a couple of months to recruit - what, twenty men?
- And to get far enough north to be in Drow territory
- Her uncle isn't a demanding man, but he's adamant about not staying in the village
- VILLAGE FEELINGS VILLAGE FEELINGS
- This is her very first encounter with the Drow
- Where some of her lighter scars come from
- While the Drow did retreat, they're really the ones who lost, both in the battle itself and in numbers
- Killing someone without the intent of killing them is harder than she thought it would be
- And it also sucks
- This whole memory sucks FUCK DROW
- This memory is also a slight turning point for her, in that she trusts her uncle's opinion after this far more than she did before
It's a few months into the war at this point; their group had been going around the villages and towns on the way north, recruiting the best they could find that hadn't already run off to join the knights. So they're little group has doubled, at nearly 40 able-bodied men and women.
And finally, they've passed into Drow territory - and after a few hours of travel, they come across the beginnings of a village. The group decides that they'll spend the night there, but Tempest's uncle argues against it - he says that it's a better idea to camp out and have them take shifts to make sure they aren't attack, and Tempest is in agreement with him if only due to her own paranoia. But they're both outvoted and the group enters the village.
. . . to a complete massacre. People who were caught in the streets were killed where they stood, and only a few were lucky enough to remain in one piece. Families were slaughtered as they ate dinner or played, bodies torn apart as whatever overtook them seemed to give in to a terrible blood lust. There wasn't a single survivor in the village.
Of course for Tempest, it hits her a bit personally. She breaks away from the group to look into one of the smaller homes, looking for any sign of what may have done this. As she crouches down to close the eyes of a child . . . the body is still warm. Meaning that whatever did this was still nearby -
And that's when the fighting starts. Tempest had learned of the Drow in her youth, mostly in her books and from a few stories told in her village, but it's still shocking to see them up close - elves, with dark gray, almost black skin and dark red eyes, white hair that matched the snowy north they'd been banished to. They outnumber their group two to one.
They're ruthless fighters, and in the midst of battle Tempest watches those she was working with fall one by one. For every five Drow they kill, another one of their own is killed. Tempest has a few close calls herself, but she holds an advantage with her magic, at least.
The battle rages almost until dawn; by the time it finishes the Drow are the ones retreating, but the damage has already been done. Only fifteen of their group remain able and alive, with the rest dead or injured far beyond Tempest's healing. Even with the help of her uncle and cousin, there's only so much they can do without either sending them home or ending their pain.
The memory ends with Tempest's uncle telling the group that next time, perhaps they should listen to his suggestion, lest they suffer more losses.
What she learned:
- It took them a couple of months to recruit - what, twenty men?
- And to get far enough north to be in Drow territory
- Her uncle isn't a demanding man, but he's adamant about not staying in the village
- VILLAGE FEELINGS VILLAGE FEELINGS
- This is her very first encounter with the Drow
- Where some of her lighter scars come from
- While the Drow did retreat, they're really the ones who lost, both in the battle itself and in numbers
- Killing someone without the intent of killing them is harder than she thought it would be
- And it also sucks
- This whole memory sucks FUCK DROW
- This memory is also a slight turning point for her, in that she trusts her uncle's opinion after this far more than she did before