Promptober 2020 - Qu'ellar Arrd'uis

by NPC Stories

This is a collection of short stories that I'm writing day by day following a list of prompts for October 2020, courtesy of the facebook page Qu'ellar Arrd'uis. Those prompts are mostly drow-based but I can't promise all my stories will be about drows (although I love them). Note: you'll probably see my chapter as posted 1 day in advance, but that's because of the time zone.

10. 9 - Pride

9. Pride

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1372 DR, Undermountain

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"Where are we going, dro?"

The dark elf stopped his steps, took a deep breath and slowly counted to ten.

"Will you stop it, stupid darthiiri, to call me dro? If you really don't want to use my name, the correct pronunciation for my kin name is draw. At most drow. Only an ignorant pig like you could call us dro, for all Dark Seldarines, it sounds like the name of a village. "

The wood elf tilted his head to the side and started to scratch it, but he ended up scratching the metal helmet instead.

Not that Gym Naral, the mighty warrior of the Great Forest, was stupid. He just didn't care about memorizing such details.

"Stop making a fuss, Darén," intervened the half-elf of the group, a young girl who used to be shy, but who knew how to muster a certain self-confidence when it came to making fun of their drow guide.

"My name is Dàren" the dungeon explorer treaded the accent on the right vowel. "The correct pronunciation ... oh, just go fuck yourselves, everyone," he surrendered, noticing the amused look on the half-elf's face while she kept getting his name wrong on purpose.

With that group, apparently, it was like this. The elf, the half-elf, the human woman, and to a lesser extent their companions, seemed to be having too much fun in that potentially lethal dungeon.

Maybe the truth behind façade was that they joked with each other (and made fun of him) just to relieve the tension, but the dark elf was not very convinced. According to him, they were simply insane and they were underestimated the danger.

For example, what would have happened to those fools if he had simply gone away, terminating their contract as a guide and leaving them to fend for themselves in the labyrinthine dungeon of Undermountain?

He had been tempted, oh, so many times.

He sighed again, repeating to himself that he couldn't just abandon them for no reason, his professional pride was at stake.

"Okay, but where are we going, dro?" The wood elf repeated.

"To fuck your mother!" Daren blurted out, in the height of patience.

Professional pride, yes. But that didn't mean he was going to behave professionally. It only meant that he would fulfilled their contract.

And after that, they could go where he had already sent them.