Hello all! I recently began writing a small story about the latest DnD campaign I'm in, and when my DM found out he asked me if I would share it on here. The story takes place in the forgotten realms setting. In the region of Faerun, in the country of Damara. It is narrated by an npc. A few warnings I would like to get out of the way before I post the first chapter are as followed: there will be character death, cussing, violence, drug use, adult themes, and very bad spelling. Thank you Tim and Leah for helping with the edits! Please feel free to leave any feed back at all good or bad.

Chapter 1

The orc pulled his bloodied fist away from my brother's rib cage, smiling at his handy work. Kydrin, my brother, took in a sharp breath as he was assaulted, now he was coughing on that air. He returned the orc's sheepish smile, before he spit out blood on the wood floors.

"You ready to tell us what you scum are doing here, and why you're after these maps?" The halfling that sat across the room, at a table, looked up lazily as he smoothed one of the maps onto the table.

"We came looking for your mom. We heard she had a nice set of tits." Kydrin, my brother, spit blood onto the orc's leather boots to finish his comment that I knew was coming. He always seemed to have a clever antic about someone's mother.

The halfling interrogator took in a deep breath as he sat back down in his rickety wood chair. Slowly he reached into the folds of his shirt and pulled out a dagger. Rubbing the tip between to gloved fingers as he spoke, "I don't have time to interrogate you *** holes any more. Bloodgrin," he gestured to the orc, "have some fun with them." The halfling reached again into his shirt, this time he produced a small dirty handkerchief that he began to polish his dagger with.

"Thanks boss." Bloodgrin's smile split his ugly face into two even halves divided by pointed rigid teeth. He balled up his massive hand again and smashed into the other side of Kydrin's ribcage. I could hear the cracking of his bones. A groan of pain escaped Kydrin's lips, and he quickly tried to cover it with a giggle. This giggle further enraged Bloodgrin who let out a growl before landing another punch to Kydrin's temple.

I took in a deep breath and looked away from my brother's beating. I concentrated on the sound of my heart pounding in my ears, but I couldn't manage to block out the sounds of fists hitting flesh a few feet from me. It seemed to me that Kydrin always managed to get us stuck in some inn, in some backwoods town, run by some kind of thieves' guild, and then run his mouth off to them. The current situation was along the same lines: The two of us were tied to chairs in the private back room of the Windy Pass, where half of the local thieves' guild, seven guys, were watching an orc pound my brother's face in for some smart comment. Unfortunately this situation was a bit more drastic than any prior. Seven members of the local thieves guild known as Tight Purse, were seated around the room where heavily armed, and didn't look like they where going to leave without answers. When we get out of this mess, like we always somehow managed to do, I would be lecturing Kydrin on his sharp tongue and how to keep it quiet.

"Why don't you see if you can suck your bosses ****. I'm sure you will get more noise out of him." My brother raised his voice quite a bit; grabbing my attention. Judging by his current state, I must have been lost in thought for a while. He looked terrible by now; one eye swollen shut, his nose so misshapen and swollen that blood stopped pouring from it, a deep purple spot forming on his cheek that mixed in with his black eye. He held his head a little to the left and blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. He took in sharp shallow breaths as he sat slumping in his chair.

Something was different about this group of Tight Purcs. Their attitudes from when they first caught us was different then a normal Tight Purse thieves guild. Even now they knew they would not get any large amounts of information out of us, we where only lackeys, but they tortured us anyway. Thieves guilds rarely ever spilled blood, that was the jobs of the assassins, the Night Masks.

The orc had momentarily stopped beating Kydrin and was refreshing himself with a pint of stout, as he talked to his boss in hushed tones. Kydrin glanced over to me, flashing a brief bloody smile. He always thought working his way out of these situations was the best part of being a Night Mask. I glared back at him, giving him the "I is not funny" look. The orc smashed his empty cup on the table and whipped his mouth clean of the beer foam. The orc and the halfling hunched over the rickety wood table and inspected the maps we had stolen while in town. I couldn't make out a single word they where saying, but the Halfling was pointing out different places on the map with his dagger. "See if you get anything out of the other one" the halfling instructed the orc as they turned to face us.
Bloodgrin cracked his green knuckles as he approached me; pleased at the thought of having a fresh canvas to work with no doubt. I could smell his foul breath as laughed at me when I cringed away from him.

"What's wrong you ****? You done with me so fast! Didn't hurt your hand did you?" This was another of my brother's clever tactics. Yell loud enough and you won't hear your little brother's face getting pounded in. As Bloodgrin began to turn back to my screaming brother the large wooden door of the room was flung open.

The seven other thieves seemed to be caught off guard by the commotion. Some stood up and grabbed their weapons, others stayed seated and simply turned in their chairs to see the intruders.

A shorter slick female, donned as an assassin of some sort, slipped into the doorway wirily. Daggers lined her slim frame like some kind of strange armor. They contrasted sharply with her black clothes. She quietly surveyed the room from the door post, and seemed to disappear into the woodwork. "What is this nonsense!" The halfling in charge of our interrogation and Bloodgrin's boss was glaring at my brother as he yelled. I glanced at Kydrin, I had no idea who this person was, and she didn't seem like a Night Mask.

As I looked over at my brother I realized the interrogator was not speaking to Kydrin, but a dwarf. The dwarf, holding himself as high as he could like all dwarfs do, was glaring, toe to toe, at the orc. Bloodgrin was returning the intimidating look with ease. The dwarf's armor glinted in the light cast from the lanterns and candles that were gathered around the room. An axe and hammer crossed over his back, each of them well used. The beard on the dwarf was almost as long as he was tall, braided in some places and loose in most. He had an intimidating air to him, but it was lost against the orc covered in blood before him.

"I thought I smelled the ass end of a goat, and I was right." The dwarf reached up for his axe, as he belted his anger. More commotion interrupted the dwarf's anger, as the door, still wide open, produced two more people from the shadows behind it.

The first was a young human male. His finely crafted robes swooshing as he timidly entered the room. All the thieves were watching the door as he walked in and he gave them a nervous glance. In one hand he clutched a staff so hard his knuckles where white. With his other hand he nervously swept his dirty blonde bangs from his face. He looked as if he were about to speak but was shoved from the door way before he could find his words. The woman who shoved him was of human descent as well. Her dress red was odd, almost like it was made for someone else, and if her hips where any wider she would not be able to fit it over her frame. She carried no weapons with her, but her presence in the room lacked no intimidation. Her hair was unkempt and seemed to have collected a few leaves and twigs.

The unkempt woman surveyed the room for a split second, before her eyes reached one of the thieves seated at a table in a corner of the room. "Oh my. Wormtail, what is happening in here?" The woman's voice sounded forced, and her smile showed the same fake sincerity. Wormtail looked as unpleased with the turn of events as a halfling could. He shook his head, slowly covered his face with his hands, and took a sharp inhale before speaking.

"What are you doing here Twigs?" Wormtail shot a nasty look in Twigs' direction.

"Are these men Night Masks?" Twigs completely ignored Wormtail's question, and was now staring at me. I fidgeted in my seat, something about her, and they her eyes burned into me made me nervous.

"We are not sure about that yet." The interrogator replied.

Twigs turned to him and gave a small node and curtsy. He didn't return the gesture. The dwarf standing before my brother, and the orc, brought his attention to us. "Have you checked their backs? Every Night Mask has a tattoo on their back." The interrogator's chair made a scrapping noise as he pushed it out from the table. He toyed with his dagger menacingly as he made his way to my brother. Kydrin had passed out and was slouching in his chair. The interrogator cut open my brother's blood stained shirt and bonds in one swift movement. Kydrin's limp body fell from the chair when his shirt was let go. He smacked the wood floor without flinching. The tattoo of the Night Shades clearly visible on his back.

I watched Kydrin's limp body, horrified, for any signs of breath. The people in the room continued to converse with each other, but I blocked them out as I watched the limp body before me. I was about to scream. To shout for him to run now that his bonds were cut, and to breathe. Damn it breathe!

Then there was a slow shallow intake of air, not much, but still he was alive. I felt like heart was in my throat and it was hard to breath pasted the lump. The dwarf cut my shirt next. All my fight had been taken from me, I just wanted my brother and I to leave together. Like we always somehow managed.

"Tell us what you were doing with the maps." Twigs stood before me now. Her voice was calm and she spoke as if speaking to a child.

When I didn't answer the assassin women stepped forward, clutching a dagger in her hand. "Like the last one?" The assassin asked smiling.

"No, Zavra. Wormtail, do you have a cleric here?" Twig's voice was an uncanny calm, it unsettled me to my core.

"Yes…" The halfling gave a puzzled look at Twigs and then in my direction.

"Kill him. Maybe he will be more willing to cooperate after he finds out that I have no boundaries." My breath caught, and I almost choked. Panicked and wide eyed I looked around the room. Zavra stepped back from Twigs. Wormtail nervously fidgeted in his chair. My eyes dropped to Kydrin's unconscious body. Kill my brother? No, there was some amount of honor among thieves, they wouldn't kill a man who was unconscious... but it wasn't my brother they were talking about killing.

The assassin made her way to me slowly, and gave her dagger a good long look. "You sure you don't want to say anything?" It was then I realized they where going to take my life. My throat constricted as my heart skip a beat. What was that in her voice? Remorse? Pleading? I kept quiet, composed myself, and looked her straight in the eye as she brought the dagger to my neck. I wasn't going to die a coward pleading for my life.