Heart of Darkness

The creator of this fanfic owns nothing

Multi-crossover starting with Forgotten Realms & Familiar of Zero

Written by Cyricist001 (my apology for the grammar in advance)

Chapter 1. Shadow of the Void

Netheril Empire, City of Moonreef– Viceroys Palace

Valiar watched the city from the balcony of his room. He could hardly believe that a city this prosperous was governed by a servant of the Mad God. Not four decades have passed since Aeron Blackheart took control of Port Last - or what was left of it- turning it into a city that surpassed even Waterdeep.

Moonreef, the crown of the North.

He personally was not that familiar with the Viceroy of Moonreef, most of the information he gained were rumors or tidbits acquired by questioning the older residents of the city. But he did know that Aeron was...strange even by the standards of his insane kin.

The only written text he found on the city and its ruler was the property of the dwarven loremaster that wasn't willing to part with the book, but allowed him to read through the tome and memorize the important events.

Apparently the whole region surrounding the city was once infested with undead that plagued these parts for centuries after the fall of the King of Shadows, it was unlikely that there would be a lot of people who would decide to settle in this inhospitable land. But that made no difference to Aeron. The necromancer raised an army of undead to take this land by force, anyone or anything living here had a choice submit or die...or suffer a permanent death when his opponents were undead. The war lasted for two years before the last of the hostiles fell to the unrelenting march of his armies. With the end of the conflict Aeron turned to strengthening the claimed territories. The skeletons worked day and night in the new stone quarries that were established to provide construction materials for the numerous projects that the new ruler planed. First on the schedule was the construction of a large harbor that would allow trade to start again, a wise move considering how many of the former trade city's alongside the Sword Coast were erased from the world or were only shadows of their former glory. After that he had his undead minions clear out the ruins of the old settlement so new buildings could be constructed later.

Normally projects of such magnitude were costly endeavors even for large cities, but the problem of craftsmen, or lack of them, was more urgent than financial needs. The dead were a good enough work force but only for basic jobs.

All the skilled labor was hired by Aeron personally, he even bought slaves with desired skills giving them the opportunity to pay for their new freedom by working it off.

A good part of the freed slaves were dwarves, and by luck or by dwarven intuition one of them stumbled on a entrance to the Underdark. After exploring the underground caverns and tunnels for a week it was confirmed that they were rich in iron and dark iron ore. Aeron proposed a deal, the dwarves would form a new clan and build a underground forge city and the surface city would use its ships to sell its products not only on the Sword Coast, but also in the Netherese Empire. They would form a single army only dedicated to the protection of the home territory and a council that would help in governing the city.

The dwarves were skeptical at first, but considering that they would keep all the profit from the trade not including the shipping fees they accepted.

It didn't take long for the necromancers undead horde to purge the corridors of any life, increasing their numbers as they massacred entire kobold lairs and adding their corpses to the ever expanding army of the dead. That allowed the dwarves to place heavy adamantium gates on key points in the conquered caverns unmolested, naturally the surrounding rocks also had to be strengthened with magic or else anyone could bypass the gates and go through the stone.

With the Iron Halls established the next step was to construct furnaces, Aeron suggested instead of building furnaces and smelters to simply create a permanent portal over a river of magma in the elemental plane of fire – naturally warded against its denizens. That not only cut back cost for wood and coal, but made it easier to create a central heating system for both districts.

One of the greatest boons for the city was the arrival of the dwarven Artificer Oglen Silverbeard, who was elected by the dwarves to be the king of the new clan.

With the dwarves starting to shape their new home and attract additional kin from around the north, Aeron focused on finding some skilled shipwrights and sailors. That proved a far more difficult task since both Luskan and Neverwinter were only shadows of their former glory and good sailors left ages ago.

Though in the end luck was on the necromancers side. Visiting Luskan Aeron encountered pirates from Ruathym, and a deal was made that bound the northerners dragonships to Moonreef's cause. The rowdy sailors were enlisted into his service mostly through promises of wealth, but simple intimidation was also a part of the negotiations. Soon new ships were put into production and in 3 months the first caravels and a few carracks were seaworthy.

The city grew fast, at least in the underground and at the docks, but most of the houses and shops that were constructed remained empty. The promise of a better future and security in these dark times lured steadily people into the city seeking shelter, unfortunately only a few of them had any needed skills.

The undead were used as patrols to ensure safety but mostly they only frightened away refuges and possible visitors. Without the needed population Moonreef had to relay mostly on them for patrolling its borders. That changed when Aeron made a pact with some groups of returning Moon and Wood elves who agreed to live in or near the new city. The Wood elves settled in the surrounding Neverwinter woods after Aeron launched a large undead offensive to push the Thayan remnants out. After that it didn't take long for the elves to replace the undead with their own soldiers tasked with patrolling their new home. Elven rangers and druids were charged with defending and expanding the woodland border that now protected the city.

The Moon elves on the other hand were tasked with forming a mage guild for strengthening the cities arcane power. Aeron together with the help of elven high mages and human wizards was able to create a large quantity of proteum that was turned into crystals. Those crystals were then used to power a flying city district - Caelumurbis – that held the magic academy, the residential mage area, parks, stockpiles of crafting components and the skydocks for the cities skyships that were used for inland trade.

To strengthen the sea side of the growing city Aeron offered the Merfolk, Sirens and Tritons to settle near the city to provide mutual protection from the Sahuagin and help with trade, in particular with the mining of Aarbintite from the seafloor as well as fishing. In exchange they would gain magic items and other luxury items they desired.

That was sixteen years ago thought Valiar the merfolk were the last group that were invited to live in Moonreef, after that only people with needed skill were allowed to settle here.

He could understand that the local population wanted to stop the cities expansion but to refuse to shelter the poor souls that suffered in the harsh world outside the Neverwinter woods was unforgivable. And the world truly was a frightening place these days...Thay was steadily expanding on the nations surrounding it, the worship of Asmodeus is growing like a plague across the land and the Empire of Netheril was stretching its claws over Faerun among many other thing.

He sighed at his dark thoughts.

A skyship cast its shadow as it passed over him. It was a beautiful vessel, powered by arcane magic known only to the wizards of Netheril and Halruaa. The ship carried resources from either the mining outpost in the Spine of the World mountains or from the Shade Enclave. Its beak was adorned with a golden eagle, its wings spread wide.

The ships shadow passed leaving a strong scent of cinnamon in the air, it was quickly replaced with the usual smell of sea. Unlike the skyship that passed overhead the sea faring ships were lazily approaching the harbor. Coin...the people living here loved to accumulate wealth but most of the time they invested it into something else as soon as they got their hands on some gold pieces. It was like a big game that people played for fun, and it attracted many from all over the Sword Coast and beyond.

Moonreef was a alluring blend of white marble, fountains, canals and green trees that are planted on every unclaimed patch of land. It is a picture of idyllic bliss with people taking their time as they walked down the streets, with the market being the sole exception. That apparently changed once a year when the carnival was held. For a few days people pushed aside their easy going demeanor and enjoyed the life to the fullest, culminating with a grand masquerade ball in the city's main square.

Perhaps when my business is done I will be able to explore the city more mused the man.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when a heavy fist knocked on his door twice.

Valiar turned around "Enter"

A dwarven guard entered his room "The council is ready to see ya"

Valiar nodded "Thank you" he then followed the dwarf out of the room and the diplomats quarters in the cities palace to the atrium with a impluvium in the center.

It was all made of white marble, with reliefs of nature and real flora covering some of the columns around them. In the center of the impluvium stood a small tree, it emitted a nice fragrance, somehow he felt refreshed and his thoughts more focused, clearer. Probably a magic tree.

"Pardon me, but I never met the Viceroy, what kind of person is he?"

The dwarf snorted "Hell if I know, if I would have to describe him – strange would be the word, and that's a understatement. I respect him for what he accomplished, but he still has some loose rocks up there."

"So...how do you prepare to meet a mentally unstable ruler?" inquired the human.

"Have no idea, never met one beside Aeron, but if you want me advice then act natural" the dwarf replied "Names Dagran by the way."

"Valiar Silvermane...so how about the other councilors?"

"Lets see, Archmage and Sky district leader Erelan Moonsong is wise, calm and careful. High assassin and spy mistress Eris Entreri is a professional of her trade, she's calm, observant and lethal if ye get on her bad side. General Lagmar Ironbeard is on the other hand more the acting sort, the general is a genius fighter and strategist, he's more punch ye in the face and ask questions later sort of dwarf. Sea District leader Adriana Elamar is a half-merfolk, she's a kind, caring person...when she's not with Aeron making pranks on people. I still don't know how they replaced all of me clans ale with fruit juice. They are bloody demons when together I tell ya, demons! Now where was I, oh yes. Forge district leader Artificier Oglen is serious, calm and careful, best person to ask for help in my opinion. Asylum district leader Tyghga..."

"Pardon, did you say Asylum?"

"Aye I have, its the nickname for the human residential part. Aeron was the first who named it since there were always some problems over there, and the name stuck. Its the same for the other districts Sea, Sky, Forge, Asylum, Forest only the Docks and the Palace have no nicknames. Now where was I?"

"The Asylum district leader"

"Oh yea, that would be Tyghgari Snowhair, she's a friendly lass...then again as a half-lunar I don't know if I should be calling her a lass. Then there is the Docks district leader and High merchant Tadeos Undertree, the halfling is a good sort but sometime he's too greedy for his own good, and I'm not talking about money. Erelan had to make a special potion to hasten metabolism so he could get through his front door. Forest district leader and Great druidess Sylvana Greenleaf, she is wise and calm but likes to nag a lot about our wastefulness and that we eat to many animals. I mean if the Gods didn't want us to eat them, then why would they make them so tasty?! Don't you think so?"

Valiar wasn't really fine with the way the dwarf voiced it, but he agreed with the basic idea, food is a necessity, and meat is a important part of human (and dwarf) diet as much as any carrot or onion so he gave a nod.

"Of course you agree, any normal person would agree with me. Only the tree-huggers don't." The dwarf ranted.

"But back to the councilors. The last councilor is the Palace district leader and High cleric of Gond, Happy69...don't look at me like that, Aeron gave him the name. Nice lad but has a habit of annoying people, he got that from Aeron also. He and Adriana are mostly together when she comes on land. He is a deceiver, his kin live with us in the mines, hard working bunch I must say, if they could drink beer they would be good dwarves. And that's that, so ye shouldn't worry about them, they are all decent people."

"Strange, you mean there are more sentient deceivers in the city?"

"Ye bet, Aeron made them specifically to be sentient. They mostly live with us or the pointy ears since the Viceroy don't want them falling under bad influence, meaning human."

"I thought Aeron is human? How come he has such a negative view about his own race?"

"Don't take it personal, but I agree with him. Yer kind is easily corruptible, he knows that so he put a law that only a dwarf can be the general, and only an elf the Archmage. Keeps yer over ambitious kin at arms length."

"So what else can you tell me about Aeron?"

"Ufff...the viceroy is...well how to put it. He once summoned a balor to warm a cup of tea on his fires, pushed a guard out of the palace window for fun - he payed for his resurrection and a big bonus on his pay though. Painted a smiley face on the sails of a pirate ship, voted for the legalization of blue mushrooms..."

"Blue mushrooms?"

"Nobody knows, but when somebody mention's them he always talks about how if we keeeep really still he can see our skeletons."

"...he is indeed mad" the man murmured

"He never denied it, hell if he did nobody would believe him. He rules the bloody city, pulls gold bars out of his arse and ye know what he does? He works as a cook in a inn on the main fountain square."

"...you jest."

"No, I'm telling ye, the man's bloody nuts. But he's not all bad, he comes often down to the local orphanage to visit the kids, he brings them a lot of sweets and toys. Even worse he encourages them to play pranks on people. He took a poor lass to work in his Inn, and after a month she was proclaimed the partial owner, in fact most people are only waiting for him to get bored with the place and leave it to her completely."

Valiar narrowed his eyes "He didn't take advantage of her or?"

Shaking his head "Nay, as I understand it when people asked him he shrugged and commented that he felt like it, the same bloody answer when people asked him why he pushed the guard down."

"Wait, if he is down at his inn, why wait to be summoned by the council when you can see the viceroy there?"

"If yer only want to see him there's no problem, if yer wanting to discuss business then he will not hear a word if not from the menu. And he basically comes and goes as he pleases so it depends if you are even lucky enough to see him. Ye know, my brother sometimes gets the guard duty there, its something of a prize."

Valiar raised an eyebrow "The Inn's popular?"

"Hahaha, ye can bet your arse it is, how many places do ye know where rulers make their subordinates food. But the point is Aeron is an amazing cook, he even taught Aria how to prepare his dishes since he's only there from 8 a.m to 13 p.m then he goes to the Palace and Aria takes over the place, or at least he once used to...hard to tell nowadays. My brother loves it there, food is great, and he gets free ale for keeping it safe. As long as he ain't drunk, he can have all the liquid gold he wants, its heaven I tell ya. It has even tables out in the open if ye can believe it, ye can drink or eat and watch the life in the main square. The enchanted fountain, the sentient marble statues of the three Siren sisters. Their songs make even the most tense person relax, and at night it's the most visited romantic spot of the city."

"Then I will have to visit, what is the name of the Inn?"

"Tavineva, or Wintersnow"

"Anything else about him?"

The dwarf looked around, obviously feeling a bit nervous "Its rumored that he be part of some organization named Legion, nobody knows much about them only that they hire mercenaries that are never seen again. No location, no names, no nothing" he whispered.

"Why would he be connected?"

"I told ya its only a rumor, mostly because he's a necromancer, they are always suspect."

Valiar was amazed that there were dwarf's this talkative, he always perceived them as gruff and of few words. On the other hand Dagran didn't know when to shut up. He talked about the city until they came before the door of the throne room/council chamber. On both sides was a dwarven elite guard, one of sixty expertly trained dwarven soldiers, equipped with the best magic arms, armor and items that the world can produce.

"Well lad, this is it. In ya go."

The guards opened the doors to let Valiar in.

"Thank you Dagran" said the man before the doors closed, leaving him standing in a large bright room. The walls were covered with ivy growth, and small streams of water were flowing from unseen cracks in the ceiling and vanishing into some none existing holes in the ground. The scent that dominated the air was a flowery sweet one, giving the impression that you were outdoors on a sunny summer day.

He instantly spotted the councilors seated around a large wooden table, they were still debating something so he decided to wait until they finish.

XXXX

"Lagmar be reasonable, just because the elves produced a large surplus of honey does not mean it will be used to produce more mead" the young woman with white hair and a red sorcerer's robes commented calmly

"What else would ye do with it?" scoffed the balding dwarf in the heavy armor.

"We could always make almond pastries in honey syrup, or cinnamon honey glazed sticky buns or even one of Aria's baklava" the halfling was almost drooling on the table, ignoring the looks he received from the others.

"Actually, Lagmars suggestion was not bad. Me-" a graying dwarf was about to elaborate but was rudely interrupted.

"HA! You hear that Moonshine, I was right!"

"Peace Lagmar, as I was saying a larger part of the honey can be made into mead. Even if we don't find buyers now it can safely stay in storage. Sooner or later either we, the dwarves of Mithrall Hall, Citadel Adbar or Sundabar will buy it off our hands. And as for the suggestion of councilor Tadeos, the remaining honey should be offered to the local traders, they will not only cover our markets demands but the bakeries will be able to gain more profit by reducing the material cost for their products, or they may drop prices for more purchases."

"That seems like a good course of action, now we only have to determine the price. What say you Sylvana?" asked an elf with long silver hair and purple wizard robes.

"The Teu-tel-quessir will give a pound of honey for 30 coppers or 3 silver, totaling in 432.000 gold for 1 440.000 pounds of honey" a female elf announced, her long black hair tied into a long ponytail hanging down her back. She was equipped with armor made from tree bark and leaves, though anyone with half a brain could bet it was not made from ordinary materials and probably had more than its fair share of enchantments.

The halfling looked thoughtful for a second, before a grin appeared on his face "We would be able to have a profit of 3.4 to 7.2%"

"That is acceptable. The council has decided to buy 1 400.000 pounds of honey for 432.000 GP from the wood elves. The transaction will be finalized in one week. Now that that's over with„ the white haired woman turned to face Valiar "greetings, I apologies for the delay and I thank you for your patience, please take a seat."

"Thank you" he approached the table and took one of the three empty chairs.

"My name is councilor Tyghgari Snowhair" she said bowing her head slightly in greeting, the white haired half-lunar was around Valiar's height, dressed in a red sorcerer's robes. She possessed a petite figure so it was difficult to guess if it was a he or a she, something that bothered many people that had to interact with that strange race.

"Sylvana Greenleaf" spoke the female elf in the bark armor.

"Tadeos Undertree" the halfling looked a bit overweight, dressed in silken, nobles garments. He wore a silver medallion with four different arcane symbols on it, though what they could do was beyond his ability to ascertain.

"Archmage Erelan Moonsong" the silver-haired elf announced.

"General Lagmar Ironbeard" harrumphed the bald dwarf .

"Oglen Silverbeard" the old dwarf greeted.

"Adriana Elamara" spoke a pale half-merfolk woman with long blue hair and blue eyes that possessed more than a glint of mischief. Though what bothered him the most was the way she was dressed...or lack of it. Her clothes were basically a crystal amulet around her neck.

"Happy69" the deceiver had the appearance of a young brown haired man with plain clerics robes.

Everyone looked at the dark haired woman in black glassteel armor, after a minute of mute staring, she sighted.

"Eris" the female assassin was obviously itching to get away from the boring paperwork.

"Greetings my name is Valiar Silvermane, I was tasked to ask of the council to gain permission for establishing a branch of the Order of the Golden Lion as well as the Eternal Order inside the cities borders."

Sylvana scowled "Paladins" venom evident in her voice.

Valiar was not surprised that he would be despised in the city ruled by a cyricist, what surprised him was that only the druidess was apparently antagonistic to him.

"That is correct, our orders desire to strengthen this fair city from any that would wish it harm, and to uphold the Penance of Duty and Debt of Dereliction."

He stood proud in his chainmail, his blue eyes betraying his absolute devotion to his faith. He had short sandy hair and a handsome face. Regrettably his words weren't as pleasing as his looks.

It was obvious to all present that the man was a zealot, typical for young paladins.

"Lad, ye know that the Dept of Duty demands the elimination of Cyric's faithful, and we have a bloody big cathedral on one floating island?"

Valiar's expression changed from prideful to sad "Indeed I know, Lord Lagmar. And that also brings me to my second mission."

He inhaled "I wish to challenge Viceroy Aeron Blackheart, servant to the Netherese Empire, follower of the Mad God, user of necromantic magic to a duel to the death."

A stunned silence fell on the council chambers.

"...and they call Aeron mad" murmured Lagmar.

"I know this seems strange, but please don't interfere, justice must be appeased, and judgment will be swift and final."

Eris looked at him with disgust in her eyes, she could only describe him as a moron. What she learned from her human father and elven mother was never to trust people who kissed a god's ass, especially goodly priests and paladins.

"You dare to speak of justice!" Sylvana's outburst caught everybody off guard, they never saw her this angry before.

"I don't understand your hostility towards me lady Sylvana but I assure you my intentions are purely for the good of all."

"Does the name of the tanar'ri Vladjick remind you of something?" she snarled.

"Yes, the tale is known to me"

The knights of the Order of Samular had marched against the fiend. The battle had been long and fierce, and the tanar'ri had fled into the forest north of Sembia. An elven community lay between the paladins and their foe. The elves refused to let them pass so they forced their way by steel. The Samular paladins were wrong in their course of action, but it would have been far worse if the demon remained free.

"They did what was required of them, I mourn for the loss of life on both sides but the demon could not be allowed to escape."

"I had relatives there! But that's not even the end of the tragedy, one of them survived. I learned it later from a dear friend that one of my cousins survived the massacre. He was hired by a priest of Cyric to safeguard his daughter, so she could live a normal, happy life without his taint. And she did, until a paladin killed her guardians, my cousin and his wife simply because they followed the 'wrong' god, the wrong employer. Cara Caradoon has found it in her heart to forgive him, but I certainly have not. I will curse the name of Algorind and all you fools as long as I live!". She turned around and stormed to the nearest ivory growth before simply melting into it and tree-walking out of the palace.

Erelan shook his head "It looks like we won't do a lot of work today" he turned to Valiar "I'm sorry but we can't give you permission without the consent of the entire council. Please understand that your presence would be indeed welcomed if you could show tolerance to other paths. Moonreef has a large number of temples dedicated to the gods both good and evil and we fear you would bring disorder to the balance that we maintain."

"I will not allow this city to remain a cyricist stronghold, if we must we will gather our brothers to bring it to the light."

His words pushed the councilors over the edge. Even Tyghgari was angry with the attempt to intimidate them.

"Thank you for your visit Lord Silvermane, but it's time you leave. And for your information Moonreef's main church is not that of Cyric but that of Gond".

"I still demand a duel with the viceroy."

"You would be welcomed to try if we knew where he was. Aeron has a tendency to leave without a word, he does that often. I'm guessing that's why he bothered with creating this council in the first place."

"So he is not in the city?" Valiar more stated to himself than asked, somewhat disappointed with the turn of events.

"That I don't know. Aeron can shapeshift easily so honestly he could be even you pulling our leg once again."

"And for how long does he usually disappear?" inquired the paladin.

"Days, months, years. In all honesty we govern this city more than he does."

"The son of a orc once impersonated me wife" Lagran grumbled.

A round of snickering followed that revelation.

"Really? How did you identify him?" asked Valiar hoping to find a clue how to catch the necromancer.

"For starters she was half way to Mithrall Hall to buy crafting materials. Second he served me a salad with a smiley face made from tomatoes. You don't have to be a archmage to connect the dots at that point."

"I still remember when he painted your armor pink, with pictures of flowers over the front. It was so pretty." Adriana's giggles were contagious, and soon everybody imagined a bald dwarf in a pink, flowery armor.

"And I remember that being you lass, and don't think for a second I forgave you, one of those days payback will be given."

Valiar sighed at another dead end "So how does Aeron normally look like?"

"Handsome, around two meters tall, short white hair, black spiky armor with Cyric's symbol on the front. Carries a large one-sided axe on the back. But since he loves to change his appearance you would find him easier by personality" Eris commented. She was hoping the paladin would find him, she had no doubt that Aeron would make a nice ghoul from the fool's corpse.

XXXX

Walking down to the docks Valiar was thinking about the information he received.

The goodly people of Moonreef were all deceived by a cyricist and would not help his cause. Assaulting the city was not advisable, not only was it part of the Netherese Empire, it had an enormous number of Guardian Crystals defenses and able people to protect it.

Valiar rubbed his head Bringing Aeron to justice will be very difficult, perhaps the Gold dragons can be persuaded to help.

"You! Stop right there!"

He stopped immediately and noticed the beautiful young elven girl dressed in black leather armor and wielding a bladed chain. Her long blond hair was moving with the wind as she stared at him with her green eyes.

"Can I help you my lady?"

"You're that Valiar person am I correct'?"

"Indeed you ar-" he was cut short when he had to dodge a punch only to receive a jump kick in the face instead, knocking him on the ground.

Nursing his split lip he looked at her "May I know why you attack me unprovoked?"

"You threatened to kill my foster father, for that I will kick your rear to Gehenna and back, now stand up!"

"I believe there is a misunderstanding, I'm a paladin of Torm and would never thre-"

"Threaten Aeron Blackheart?"

Valiars eyes widened, to learn that Aeron had a child was certainly a surprise "Aeron...he's your father?"

"Foster father" she corrected.

Surprise was instantly exchanged for sadness, as he looked at her with pity in his eyes "Another soul lost to his schemes, liste-"

"Oh shut up, and defend yourself!" and with that shout she charged him.

He had barely enough time to roll to the side as her chain struck the ground. He pulled his sword and parried a blow to his head. Getting to his feet he saw that the fight attracted some observers that wisely kept back. They started to circle around each other looking for openings, they were both skilled fighters and nobody had any illusions that any opening will be exploited. The elf made the first move attempting to trip him with the chain, but he parried it again, causing her weapon to wrap itself around the sword's blade. She pulled to disarm him, but was not strong enough, that allowed him to rush her and deliver a punch to her abdomen with his gauntlet. The impact sends her stumbling back and gasping for air. She snarled at him holding her injured stomach, but didn't try to charge him again.

"Do you yield?"

"Go to hell!"

Valiar shook his head and decided that it would be for the best if he disarmed the poor girl. He pulled his sword, tearing away the chain from her hands, and with one swift motion the chain was tossed aside so she won't be able to reach it without him reacting first.

He was about to repeat his demand for her to yield when a small pouch hit him in the face.

"Swallow Choking powder you bastard!"

As the paladin was having a coughing fit she dashed and circle kicked him in the groin.

Valiar's legs gave way and he collapsed on his knees. The pain made him want to vomit, his head was spinning and the last thing he saw was the flat side of his greatsword coming down on his face.

Frost dropped the paladins sword next to his unconscious form and holding her stomach went to pick up her chain. She could have used magic, but paladins are notoriously adept in evading it, luckily they are almost useless against none evil opponents.

"Serves you right, now where is that scatterbrain of a father?"

Underdark, City of Menzoberranzan

Hiding in the darkness of the Shadowfell he stealthily approached his prey. Wizards were always too arrogant for their own good, drow wizards even more so than human ones. The soon to be dead elf was oblivious to his presence as he was concentrating on his research, not that he would be better of if he wasn't, either way he was going to be a corpse.

Aeron grimaced at the security of the place, it was laughable, the only reason he accepted the mission was because he was bored. No enemy was so terrifying like boredom, no ally so great as change. He could never understand people who were against change, the morons who liked traditions and rules. And that included drow, for all their ′chaotic′ nature they were as predictable as orcs.

He took note of his surroundings, the wizards home was chiseled out of a cavern wall and had a wonderful view on Menzoberranzan. You could see the light of Narbondel indicating the time, by human standards it would be around midnight, but in the deep caverns of the Underdark that meant little.

The drow were creatures of darkness, and it was not surprising that Menzoberranzans streets were tangling with activity. Towering beside the drow were shapes of orcs and other slaves that possessed the ability to see in the dark, but none of the hulking brutes would dare to rebel against their diminutive masters, the fear of torture by one of Lolths priestesses was engraved to deeply in their minds.

Aeron had no love for either slave or slaver, forcing others to do your work only weakens oneself by losing experience, and bending over for anybody was pitiful.

The city itself was a marvel of architectural beauty, unlike his birthplace the city of Thultanthar. Like all flying cities of the Netherese Empire the City of Shade had to use space rationally and was mostly utilitarian. On the other hand the city of the dark elves was simply breath taking to behold. The drow houses were illuminated by fairy fire, the bazaar full of merchants selling their exotic wares and so much more. Drow, ilithid, beholder, human, duergard, demon and many other creatures moved around the streets like it was the most natural thing in the world. Such tolerance was remarkable for species who mostly considered others nothing more than filth. It was ironic that it was the goodly races who radiated xenophobia the most.

It was all about fear, those of evil minds don't judge individuals by reputation, they only view them as tool they can use for their own gain. Being evil they don't fear others or condemn them for it, unlike the 'goodly' races, no individual would be forbidden to enter Menzoberranzan irrelevant of what race or alignment they are. Even in Waterdeep a half-orc would be hard pressed to get entry into the city. Its astonishing that people who fear all that is different would be able to even form a unified society.

On the other hand somehow its only logical that individuals form groups, they use one another since no single person can accomplish everything. That is one of the reasons that powerful spellcasters are often solitary creatures, the more power you have the less you need others.

But however impressive the scenery was he ignored it, he was here with a purpose far more urgent. A month ago a certain drow wizard acquired a lost Netheres artifact and Aeron was offered the task to retrieve the item. Normally it would be beneath his pay grade but anything is better then dying out of boredom.

The task was simple for a assassin wizard of his skill, so he accepted it for a custom low level spell scroll that Brennus Thantul possessed.

Aeron welcomed the opportunity to get some workout, it would be a shame if his more direct skill became rusty. The skills he acquired as a assassin were perfect for a single adventurer like himself and his mastery of the ninth circle of spells was even more lethal by using shadow magic. He was as powerful as the princes of Shade, but he was not fool enough to antagonize them, Telamont Thanthul was too powerful a foe to have as a enemy. Anybody who can crush a Dracolich with his willpower alone was not to be trifled with.

Finding the artifact in question was almost impossible if done the normal way, so he searched and hired a mage proficient in divination to pinpoint its location. The wizard revealed the item to be in the possession of House Ulutar that resided at the West Wall district of Menzoberranzan.

If his target was one of the greater houses he would have had serious problems with accomplishing his task, but House Ulutar was a none noble house and had few protections as is the norm of the drow inhabiting that part.

It was a simple matter of infiltration from that point forward.

It amused the Shadovar to no end how the dark elves thought they were safe from the Empire simply because they lived in the dark underground, that Lolth actually has the ability to protect them from Shar the ruler of all caverns and darkness - and her Shades.

Gelroose Ulutar was focused performing some alchemical tests so he was not really paying that much attention to his surroundings. But with drow you can never be too careful so he crept through the darkness shrouded in magic silence. The Netherese artifact was placed on the desk on the wizards right side, it would be so easy to simply wait and take it when the wizard left the room, but by Cyric that would be no fun. He slowly emerged from the wizards shadow rising as if it was simply a hole in the ground. In his left hand was a longsword he crafted from shadowstuff, a dark glass blade that could slice steel like it was butter, in his right hand was a alchemical silver dagger that had a vampiric enchantment and was now covered in paralytic poison.

It was hard to fight a spellcaster one on one, but not even a wizard could be alert all the time and assassins were best to exploit such weaknesses. The dagger plunged deep in the back of the fool drow while the longsword easily went through the neck, separating the head cleanly from the body. He caught the falling corpse and pulled it into the Shadowfell where it would probably be consumed by its denizens.

Aeron moved to the table and quickly retrieved the artifact, it was a Ring of Wishes, that had its two original charges unused, at least that was what Brennus told him. Certainly a powerful artifact but with the items Shadovar crafted it was nothing more than a trinket.

Returning his focus back to the table he looted a plain adamantium dagger, two healing potions, the wizards spell-book and a potion of restoration. Lazily he also took the small bag of gold from the table, probably no more than a few hundred gold and silver pieces altogether. Compared to the fortune he pillaged on his adventures that now rested in his bag of holding it was nothing.

With his objective achieved he turned around and dashed for the exit...or that was the plan, but instead he rushed headlong into a portal that was not there a moment ago.

A/N:

I incorporated some lyrics into the old version of the story, after double checking I wasn't so sure anymore that they were open sourced so I deleted them.

When a name of a song is mentioned it would be good to look up the lyrics on the net, since it wasn't placed there out of simple fancy - its basically foreshadowing and characterization through music.