Re:The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven - 07/02/2007Many moons have passed, and now this story is moving forward, or maybe more like sideways again.
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Robert the Bard
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Re:The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven - 08/24/2006Yeah, no pressure...
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antryg
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Re:The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven - 08/24/2006OK Robert. We've got the advertising finished. Hurry up with that script.
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FalconDance
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Re:The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven - 08/24/2006Reading through that, antryg, I could picture the vid.
Actually, it can all be done with the toolset if one were adept at movie-making..................
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antryg
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Re:The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven - 08/23/2006I just want to do the trailer.
*ominous violins in background* scenes of fighting
*announcer voice*
"It was a time of fighting and pain. No place was safe." [woman being drug off by Drow warrior] "HER parents were taken into darkness." [huddled prisoners being taken underground] "SHE was born a slave. [closeup of newborn baby] "Nobody could be trusted." [Mebrinde being turned in by other slave] "THEY tried to warp her body and mind" [torture scene] "THEY tried to kill her soul." [sacrifice parents] "But VENGEANCE leads to REDEMPTION in..." [Mebrinde looks back over shoulder before entering a dark tunnel] "THE TALE OF MEBRINDE KELVEN"
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Robert the Bard
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Re:The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven - 08/23/2006Mmmm, movie trailer...what a thought, but I'd sure hate to write the screenplay...
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antryg
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Re:The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven - 08/22/2006I think everything is present here to put together a jacket sleeve synopsis. Heck, there is even enough to make a good movie trailer.
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Robert the Bard
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Re:The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven - 08/22/2006If I put all that in the prologue, I won't have any flashback sequences...or nightmares, etc. She has been a max level char in NWN's in more than one server, and I have a lot of stories to add, once she gets out of the Underdark. However, for the sake of moving the story along, and not spending 3 months reading the prologue, I decided to do flashbacks/nightmares to some of the events that led her to the escape. You could, after all, have an entire novel dedicated to 50 years of service, or torture. All in all, not what I had in mind for the book, although some of it will be needed to explain my catch phrase description of the character, "reluctantly evil". Thanks for the comments, 'preciate them. A question, if this were a hardbound book, and this was on the sleeve, would it pique your curiousity to buy the book?
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antryg
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Re:The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven - 08/22/2006Sorry about the move Robert but there was some clarification/ resorting done and all original works of fiction are now here.
Robert, I really liked the story. My disappointment came in how much got left out. What you have here is the outline for a book all on it's own. I know that this is only the setup for the adventures to follow but I wanted things fleshed out more. What kinds of things led to her becoming so warped that she could kill her parents without a qualm? Was there indeed no problem killing her parents or was there an internal struggle which I don't know about? Those are just a couple of examples that come to mind.
It's a great start. You left me wanting more and that's always a good thing for a writer to hear.
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FalconDance
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Re:The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven - 08/19/2006I like.
(just needs a few edits here and there )
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Robert the Bard
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The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven - 08/18/2006This is a story I'm working on, based on a role playing character I made in Neverwinter Nights:
The Tale of Mebrinde Kelven As told to Robert the Bard
The raiding party was thorough, as is the norm for Drow raiding parties. No guard survived to give any warning to the small caravan they guarded, and the prisoners were soon rounded up, and prepared for their journey into Hell.
Although Hell was not their true destination, it was the equivalent. For they were bound for the one place in the Realms that no one wanted to see, under these conditions, for they were bound for the Underdark, home of the Drow, and other, more terrifying, to behold, at any rate, creatures.
It was home to all the mythical beasts of nightmares. Creatures that you told yourself could not exist, and yet do, in abundance. The list includes such things as Beholders, the Illithid, or mind flayers, and of course, the Drow. Also known as Dark Elves, the Drow follow the Spider Queen, Lloth. They are a matriarchal community, and are ruthless in battle. They didn’t often raid the surface world, as the vigilance of the Elves prevented it, but when they did, the raiders did not dare to return empty handed.
So it was that Mebina, and Keven were taken, whilst on their marriage journey, and enslaved. They had the sense to hide their relationship from the Drow, knowing their nature, and so, had themselves for comfort in the ‘Dark. Though small comfort that was, and their future held nothing but darkness, and labor, with little or none of the common comforts of home. Their love was strong, and it enabled them to survive the darkness they were doomed to live in.
So it was that our heroine was born, deep within the slave pits, of the Drow, far from the light of day, and the hope of the world above. If she were to come out with some of their evil nature, then who could blame her? Dark places breed dark things, no matter the intent of the bearer.
The child remained secret for 50 years, finding solace, and a small amount of power from her music. Her parents strove to keep her bardic magic a secret, but it was to prove an impossible task. Not all of the evil in the pits was brought on by the Drow, and there are those that think only of themselves, even amongst one’s friends.
One day, while she was working, she began to sing. One of the slaves nearby noticed her power, and, seeking to perhaps gain favor with his masters, he reported her to the guards. They wasted no time in removing her, to a place that was more suited to holding her, right into the home of the Matron Mother.
Soon after, Mebrinde found herself performing for the Matron Mother, who found her singing delightful, if a little dark, for Surfacers, as the Drow refer to those that live upon the surface of the world. The Matron took no chances, however, and kept the girl enclosed in a magical sphere, to keep the evident power of her songs from swaying her followers. There were, however, exceptions. Sometimes, her power was used to sway the guests of the Matron around to her opinion, and such was the power of Mebrinde’s songs, that the house of the Matron began to rise in power in the ranks of their city.
Mebrinde was well rewarded for this, and by the time she was 75 years old, she had come to enjoy serving the Matron Mother. In turn she found herself with some small freedoms, and she was allowed to wander the House confines unattended, but always on call. During her time with the Matron, she also displayed great talent for the bow, and on a hunt, she made a kill, with a single shot, on an elder orb Beholder. The Matron soon found other uses for her talents.
The Matron began to teach Mebrinde the ways of Lloth, but not as a priestess. Her talents as a bard and as a spy/assassin had become too valuable to the Matron. Her skill with the bow was unmatched, and some of the shots she made were nothing less than legendary. But still she was a slave, and the Matron went to great lengths to impress this upon her, when she would forget her place. There was nothing kind about her treatment then.
In order to show Mebrinde the power she possessed over her, the Matron arranged for a ceremony/ritual to indoctrinate her into the fold of Lloth, the ceremony called for a ritual sacrifice, by the one to be indoctrinated, and the Matron arranged the sacrifice to be Mebrinde’s parents.
On her 100th birthday, Mebrinde was brought to the House Temple, and the ritual began, the sacrifice was explained to her, that it showed loyalty to both the House, and to Lloth, and she was given the sacrificial dagger, and sent in. She didn’t even blink when she saw who she was to kill. She said the prayer, as it had been taught to her, and performed the sacrifices, with a blood lust that even Lloth felt.
After the ceremony, while she was strolling through the House gardens, she was attacked by another slave. She killed the attacker, but was punished anyway, again, to remind her that she was a slave, and that while she was to kill for the benefit of the House, it was not something that she would get away with, if not ordered to do so. The punishment left her near death, and while she recovered, she began to resent the power of the Matron Mother, and to lust after it.
She dared not act on the plans she formulated, but she made them anyway, coming up with many ways to kill her, where she might not be blamed. But it was to be a moot point, for the fates had other plans for her, and the Gods were taking notice, or one was at any rate, and made plans to convert her to her control.
With this in mind, Shar sent a messenger to Mebrinde, with the message that she could be free, completely, from the control of the Matron, if she but went with the messenger. She calmly listened to what he had to say, and when the male, for she had come to think like the Drow, finished his speech, she killed him. There was to be no mercy this time, for the male was a favored male, of a more powerful House, and the rival Matron demanded custody of Mebrinde, to compensate for the loss of her favored male.
So it was that her life of relative luxury was ended, and she wound up worse than she had started. She was tortured daily, at the behest of the Matron’s eldest daughter, who had had designs on that particular male, and they attended the sessions daily, to see that it was done correctly. The Matron went as far as to perform the acts of atrocity to her herself, if she was not satisfied with the screams. The Matron often entered the girl’s cell, and taunted her about the things that would happen next, and for 50 years, she lived in a total Hell of pain and torment.
The Matron’s gloating proved to be her undoing; however, as Mebrinde, desperate to end the tortures, found a small sliver of bone on the torture rack, and secreted it away. The next morning, when the Matron arrived for the usual taunting session, Mebrinde acted cowed, and when the Matron approached, she slit her throat, took her clothes and dagger, took to the shadows, and fled into the endless night of the Underdark. And so her tale begins.
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