ohmyarceus | January - February Test drive

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test drive

January - February Test drive

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Yes, there was a flicker of recognition and even concern. Ilphyl is used to going through a world where any sort of elf will have an opinion on dark elves, and there's a non-trivial chance that any dark elf would be a devotee of the Spider Queen (Ilphyl won't even think Her name; it is entirely reasonable to be terrified of a goddess that actually does exist and may actually think She has a claim to his soul).

Not that they wouldn't have approached Jarlaxle anyway, but they might have taken a different tack. Basically, they haven't spent that much time with their people since they left the Underdark, and never outside the context of knowing the politics of the group before going in.

Jarlaxle would notice Ilphyl's body language has closed off a bit more, though they are looking a bit more neutral after the recognition. "Is that what you named your new pet? No one is ever allowed to give me shit about my names."

"It seemed apropos," the mercenary says with a shrug. "But I take it from your criticism that you at least speak the same birth tongue as I—and by your now-guarded demeanor, you've certainly realized that as well. But come now—I am the same fellow I was a minute ago, as are you. Does knowing we are both drow really change things so much?"

Edited 2022-02-27 16:39 (UTC)

"More that it narrows down your history. Which may or may not be relevant to 'something is transporting people to another plane where magic doesn't work and everyone is human'. Of course, assuming you're even from the same plane as me."

On the other hand, one of their most recent long-term problems were rakshasa infiltrating the upper echelons of Waterdavian society. Humanoid-eating fiends were generally speaking a worse problem than whatever a lone dark elf could bring.

But it did suggest that Ilphyl probably needs to work on this, and hadn't, given the main time they were interacting with a diverse group of people was in Waterdeep, where there was some element of anonymity of a large city.

"I think that can be solved fairly easily," the mercenary says. "The matter of if we are of the same plane, at least, for I doubt geography would be consistent between planes. Does the name of Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, seem at all familiar to you? For it was where I was born, though I have primarily dwelt among surface folk this past century or so."

This does get a brief teenager look of 'do you think I'm an idiot' out of reflex before Ilphyl remembers that, no, extradimensional travel means that a valid question. "Yes. I've never been, but I've certainly heard of it. I'd give you my own birthplace, but it's unlikely you've heard of it. I'm mostly based out of Waterdeep right now. I've been on the surface for a few decades."

Ilphyl is not yet an adult, but they do look old enough that they would have been the equivalent of a young- to mid-teen when they made it to the surface. Since they didn't gain any height or bulk on becoming human (and were on the short side even as an elf), they may look younger as a human than they might otherwise.

[OOC: Also the mun needs to come up with a name for some middle of nowhere settlement in the Underdark.]

That gets a bark of laughter from the older drow—well, drow turned human. "How very curious—I too was in Waterdeep before being drawn here. I'd only just arrived, in fact—how very curious!"

In that moment, Jarlaxle makes a decision and commits wholly to it.

"But it occurs to me that I've been remiss in introducing myself. I am Jarlaxle. Perhaps you may have heard of me?"

(He omits the surname that he has only just begun to use among his men, for his house has never officially claimed him and he dared not use it publicly for many centuries, for fear of inciting civil war. But Menzoberranzan is on the brink of civil war in any case and there was the appeal of declaring just who he was... but not with this skittish and defensive youth. The Baenre name would only spook them.)

Probably for the best; any of Menzoberranzan's Great Houses were so far above Ilphyl's pay grade even if they hadn't completely rejected their own birth family (which, hopefully, still assumed Ilphyl was dead).

"In passing." Ilphyl was a lot more comfortable eavesdropping around Waterdeep, where 'unusual person' was a high bar. Especially given Skullport beneath the city meant that there was access to the Underdark. Ilphyl was more likely to be backup when someone else was gathering information.

"I'm Ilphyl." They could probably claim the druid circle that had finished their training, but they hadn't been back there in a while.

Jarlaxle notes the singular nature of young Ilphyl's name and wonders if the lack of surname is due to the youth's caution or to lacking a house altogether.

"Well! I hope what you have heard is favorable, then! I must confess I had yet to hear of you—but I really had just arrived in Waterdeep." And not under his own name, either.

"Well, any bounties on my head are out of date," Ilphyl said. They were smiling when they said it. That didn't mean they were joking, mind.

"I try not to give my real name to surface folk when I can," Jarlaxle says with a smile of his own. "It tends to help with the bounties."

"Useful life lesson," Ilphyl nodded. "Sadly, they also had a good description and a picture."

"Alas, that is a complication. Easily solved with a hat of disguise, of course, but the upfront cost..."

Not to mention the fact that his seemed to have broken upon reaching this plane.

Edited 2022-02-28 02:22 (UTC)

"And when it's the entire group, and you want to avoid people asking questions like 'why is there an aura of illusion magic around all of you?'" Ilphyl shrugged. "Not that anyone would recognize me here."

Yes, sure, Jarlaxle had identified him as 'potentially dark elf', but the human facial structure might confuse the issue as to who.

"Hats for all?" Jarlaxle suggests wryly. "Ah, perhaps not. But you make a good point—this is not our own plane and we shouldn't expect recognition."

"Except two people from the same city on the same world happened to arrive here nearly at the same time." Ilphyl sighed, grabbing their braid and examining it. "I wonder if I should just dye my hair again." Dark-skinned humans tended to have dark hair if they weren't old enough to have their hair whiten with age.

Ilphyl doesn't really really want to. They don't actually have an issue with being a dark elf, just the dominant culture of dark elves in Faerun and the idea that even in rebellion, they still are affected by stereotypes about them. Humans didn't have to deal with this shit, even in planes where non-humans existed.

Plus, they like their natural hair color.

"I'd say this is why I shave mine," Jarlaxle says, lazily stretching, "but that wouldn't be quite true."

"Otherwise, you wouldn't have forgotten about your eyebrows." Ilphyl taps their own brow for emphasis.

Jarlaxle chuckles. "Observant. Yes, well, when I was hardly much older than you, my hair ended up on fire--" Three times in less than a year. "--and there really wasn't much that could be done to salvage things, so I shaved it all off. And then I decided I quite liked the look and kept it that way."

He shrugs. "I suppose it's a rebellion in a way. We males are always pressured to look appealing to the women of our race and the hair is part of that. So why not remove it?"

Ilphyl wasn't going to explain some of the thoughts they had on their own gender to a dark elf they just met; regardless of how Ilphyl felt, they knew they were a male drow to the society that raised them. "Because it's our hair. Keep it or shave it all off, that's our decision."

They were surprised that they had said that with far more a bite than they normally did when speaking of their life before they came to the surface. Ilphyl was so used to passing off their various issues with drow society as far more light-hearted than they were, because it was easier than dealing with humans' reactions when Ilphyl was serious about it. Which meant they immediately paused to gauge Jarlaxle's reaction. (Sorry, Jarlaxle, you are still Not Entirely Safe to actually be honest towards; Ilphyl just met you.)

Jarlaxle, meanwhile, is smiling at Ilphyl. "Exactly," he says. "That's exactly the point. While I'm no worshipper of Vhaeraun—" Indeed, the mercenary had little inclination to worship any god. "—I do think his followers have a point in their talk of sex equality. Another reason I choose to remain up here."

"That's not a name I heard often growing up," Ilphyl said cautiously. Mostly because while Vhaeraun was probably the least objectionable of Lolth's children to Her priestesses and Lolth-as-mother couldn't be left out to a society that was literal 'rule by the mothers', Ilphyl's mother had Thoughts on giving her sons ideas above their station.

(Meanwhile, the mun is laughing at the mental image of Ilphyl acting like they are one step from being sacrificed as a heretic after the first more than passing encounter they've had with their people in some time, while Jarlaxle is coming off like he's entirely relaxed and having a grand old time corrupting the youth.)

"Nor I," Jarlaxle says, blithely. "But some of my men are adherents. I thought it prudent to learn something of the faith."

(Jarlaxle is old and has been through an awful lot—not to mention that he's earned the friendship of one of Menzoberranzan's greatest heretics. Nothing Ilphyl can say can disconcert him very badly.)

Edited (Icon) 2022-03-02 00:11 (UTC)

"Your men... right, you're a mercenary captain or something?" Ilphyl had to dig up the memory of where they'd heard the name before.

"Mmhm," Jarlaxle says. "Of Bregan D'aerthe."

(The name in the Drow tongue means something along the lines of 'assassins for hire.')

"We've got some bases established on the surface, actually," he adds. "Underground, of course." In both senses of the word.

Edited 2022-03-02 03:59 (UTC)

Ilphyl is getting a sense of how Jarlaxle names things and feeling better about their habit of 'Common words for plants' as names. "Of course. Freelance assassins are generally not something most leaders of cities want in the open." Because they are more than likely to be targeted or be the ones hiring. Granted, assassins working for leaders are often a different matter.

This is why Ilphyl considers the decision of 'I'm just going to live in the wilderness and take my chances with hungry beasts' a surprisingly sensible option that too few people consider.

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January - February Test drive

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