A Long Way From Home: A Drizzt Do'Urden Fan Fiction

Chapter 6

Raen Riversong stood with her Drow companion on a rise overlooking the sprawling metropolis of Waterdeep. Drizzt placed a hand on the elvin woman’s shoulder, “Raen, you realize they will not grant me admittance. It would be best if you perused your knowledge singularly.”

The swordmage tossed her head back, as proudly as any young stallion would. “Nonsense, I would never dare to traverse that city without my partner by my side. Besides, I think I may have a disguise suitable for you…”

~~~

A quarter of an hour later, the ever resourceful Raen had gathered the necessary materials for her trickery. Drizzt eyed the white paste fabricated from the sap of crushed flora and the dark pigment derived from a burnt tree stump skeptically. “Raen, you are a dear friend, but a disguise made with those would not be able to fool a blind deep gnome.”

Slightly offended, Raen pouted peevishly, “Sometimes I am lead to believe you do not trust me.” The surface elf dipped her slender hands into the home-made cosmetics and slathered them across Drizzt’s visage. With a quick enchantment, the charm was complete. Raen procured a small circle of silvered glass from her pouch. “Take a look.”

Drizzt’s lavender eyes flew wide when he caught a glance at his reflection. Instead of his usually dark complexion, pale ivory skin covered the dark elf’s strong features; dark charcoal black hair had replaced his snowy white mane. Raen smirked triumphantly from above. “It will only last until high moon, don’t spend too long admiring yourself in the looking glass.”

~~~

The two elves wandered through the gilded streets of Waterdeep, in search of a little used commodity: the library. Drizzt eyed a passing group of giggling young women warily. “Raen, why are all these people gawking at me? It is very unsettling…”

Raen attempted to hide a chuckle inside the folds of her sleeve. “Have you noticed a pattern within these people; perhaps that they are all young human females?” The blank expression the hidden Drow turned to Raen was priceless. “They think you are handsome Drizzt.”

~~~

Stacks upon stacks of heavy tomes hid Raen Riversong from sight as she poured through the ancient texts. Drizzt set another stack of books on the sagging table the surface elf was working on. “Have you uncovered anything of interest yet?”

Raen shook her head, not particularly enthusiastic about being torn away from her reading. “Only what we knew before; that dracolich’s retain the powers they had in life and they have use of powerful magic abilities. That and the fact that dracolich’s store their life essence in some sort of object. I assume we need to destroy this object to destroy Darkscale.” The elf swordfighter sighed in despair. “More work for us then…”

Drizzt nodded his head appreciatively; this adventure was turning out to be a grand scale quest. “I found two texts you may be interested in.” The disguised dark elf first tossed a slim spell book to Raen then slid a large tome across the table.

The inquisitive elf glanced at the spell book’s cover. “A Swordmage’s Essential Companion. Drizzt are you trying to insult me?” The Drow in question grinned cheekily from his perch upon a stack of books. Raen browsed through the second book, this one much more substantial than a small pocket spell book. “Do’ Urden, I think you have found something very useful.” The tome that the dark elf had provided Raen was an old Cult of the Dragon text, complete with information on a few infamous dracoliches. Low and behold, Darkscale was one of the more prominent entries. “It says here that Darkscale was a lich of some renown among the Cult, but connections turned sour when he became obsessed over a particular elven relic.” Raen clutched at the amulet hanging securely from her neck. “Darkscale broke away from the Cult of the Dragon to search for the relic himself. It is claimed that Darkscale wants to twist the relic’s power to take over the Cult of the Dragon and have his revenge for their scorn. Darkscale’s last known den was in the southernmost reaches Marsh of Chelimber.”

Drizzt furrowed his brows. “That doesn’t seem overly promising.” The Drow rifled through a few sheathes of rolled parchment. “Ah! Apparently the Marsh of Chelimber is south of the Forgotten Forest and the Graypeak Mountains. Perchance do you know how far Waterdeep is from say, Evereska? Far away, quite far away; to add on to that, the fastest route is an overland route.”

Raen’s thin lips twisted into a scowl. “I do not appreciate your humor at this moment… Be grateful Evereska is on the same side of the Anauroch Desert.” The swordmage flicked through a few more pages containing trivia on the ancient dracolich. “It says here that Darkscale’s relic is an obsidian sphere forged from draconic darkness hidden deep within his hideaway. Only a relic of light is able to destroy its dark power.” A loud thump echoed through the library as Raen dropped her head onto the hard surface of the desk. “Why must this be so difficult?”

~~~

As it was past sunset when the pair of elves exited the library, Raen and Drizzt dragged themselves to the nearest and most affordable tavern. In their weary and depressed state, not even the ever alert Drow noticed the figure swathed in rags following a way behind.