Illarion.org

((OOC note - As of right now please dont post on this board, unless its has nothing to do with the character I am about to introduce, this character has been accepted but not yet activated, dont expect the end of this story soon))

Steam billowed about the dimly lit cavern, the only light from forges off in the distance. Several figures could be seen slowly moving about, some sleeping (rarely), working (almost always), or being beaten by the whips of their captors (never ending).

This was slave quaters, stolen from their homes, and some maybe many could them consider them the more fortunate born into slavery. Haflings all, the downtrodden race of this corner of hell.

Their masters? All races but in this cavern dwarves were the kings, some halflings were bought at markets, others were captured through raids

"CRACK!!!" Being the last in line had its disadvantages, the guards seemed to notice you more, being noticed was not a good thing, Lives were lost because of attention caught.

The red stream running down the back of the last halfling was proof of how one shouldnt be noticed. Scars covered his back and his shoulders, but most would thing this a horrible thing, in hell, scars were armor, they lessened the sting of so many whips

"Pull faster you lazy DOGS!!" shouted a dwarf, he or she no halfling was able to tell the diffrence towered over the halflings or so it seemed, the diffrence might not had been so large but the halflings backs were bent, muscles didnt bulge, they were to underfed to bulge but the strain could be seen on all the halflings faces as they pulled harder on the heavy cart of ore

"Crack, Crack, CRACK"the dwarf struck again and again, only one of those blows did not hit the halfling in the back of the line

Many people wonder why the back of the line was paid closer attention to than the front, the answer is of course simple, people in the back of the line will try to rest more than those in the front

The heat of the forges was immense as the halfling drawn cart drew near, the halflings dropped the ropes they were handling, but none tried to rest, they knew better.

They ran, or shuffled quickly out of the cavern, trying to get as far away from the forges as possible.

One of the females looked sadly at the halfling that had recieved two fresh stripes. She knew him well, and in the past fifteen years everyday she cursed herself for bearing this child into hell

"My son, I have born you into a place were all you can do is work then die" she thought to herself, she had thought this many times over, and a look at the fresh droplets of blood down her sons back made her hate herself even more

Captured, this is a word she did not like to think about, it was on a rainy day the fiends came and raided her village, the village elders were slain ruthlessly, and thirty halflings were forced to leave their homes and enter the mouth of hell, how many had escaped she thought to herself "None I am sure" she mumbled, nobody could escape this place, this prison, this hell

"Escape" Terook thought to himself "Me and my mother must escape"

Terook was sitting in a shallow depression in the floor, as far out of view from the "masters" as possible.

"Escape is the only way we will survive" Came the next thought to Terook mind but along with that thought came doubts, deep rooted fear of the dwarves, fear that they will kill him, kill his mother.

It was always like this, everyday Terook convinced himself that escape was the only way, and everyday his fear of the dwarves kept him back. Terook knew all to well that everyday you may put on a stern face always strong, never backing down, but deep down fear plagued him, one could show a brave face, but one did not have to feel brave deep inside

Sleep came easily when you were exshausted from a hard days labor, but sleep was dangerous, maybe even more so than when you were awake. For then the scavengers came, not some dark beast out of the depths, but halflings, those that preyed upon others to survive

Terook slept his back against a wall "Nobody sneaking up from that side" Terook had thought to himself as he choose this spot to sleep, always a diffrent spot if people, eyes were always watching, and when asleep it was best to avoid those eyes, that was one of the rules of hell.

Terooks mother slept not far away, never together, but always within sight. Although others such as him blamed their parents for their treatment, Terook knew his mother had no choice, he did not fault her at all for what he was born into, but that made him care, and to care in here was a weakness, the weak didnt last long.

Preying upon the weak was common practice, everybody did it, those that didnt were preyed upon as well, Terook and his mother had done it, still do it, for only if you steal were you able to get enough "Well not enough" Terook thought, but more than you would normally get.

Loyalty and honesty, were unknown in the depths of hell, friends turned on one another, families destroyed themselves. Terook only had loyalty to his mother, he would and had fiercly protected her. "Honesty?" Terook thought "She knows I lie to her, but she knows I lie to protect" Many other slaves might have taken that loyalness as a weakness, some had tried, they didnt last to long, you didnt survive hell by worrying about inflicting pain.

But Terook was still afraid, many doubts plagued his mind, sleeping was the worst, dreams assaulted him, dreams of his death, of his mothers, dreams of some of the "special" squads of dwarves coming to gather up haflings, those halflings that got in the way were taken, they were never seen again. But that didnt mean anything, new slaves came, people died, everybody moved around, but there were rumors

People were running, everywhere, franticly.

Terook woke with a start, the noise wasnt normal, well all was quite in hell noise ment danger, and it only took a few moments to spot the danger.

Ten white robed dwarfs came marching into the cavern, they were members of the "special" squad, behind them were twenty armed dwarves and inbetween them were already five halfling slaves quivering in fear. In no time at all a spell was let loose from one of the robed figures paralyzing another halfling who was quickly collected by the armed guards.

Terook looked franticly for his mother, and their eyes met quickly she was only about twenty paces away, not a large distance at all, he nodded to her and she to him. Then they ran, not together but on parrallel courses.

Rule 1 - When in danger run

Every halfling when life threatened could run, no matter how little food they have had, or how little rest, or how weak they are, they may not be able to go as fast or as far, but they can suprise many people, and that is what Terook and his mother did they ran, ran for their lives.

The rumers were they dwarves worshipped a god that demanded live sacrifices, seeing the abundance of halfling slaves the dwarves began using them, all else was history


((OOC - Edited for spelling))

Chaos, that is a word with one meaning but many manifestations.

When the dwarves came looking to gather up slaves for sacrifices if the rumors were to be believed or some other hideous act, Chaos ruled.

Halflings ran everywhere, those that didnt were taken, or already dead and at peace.

In the chaos Terook and his mother got seperated, to many that might have been a good thing, as two halflings running together might be a little odd, in a place where strong prey upon weak, and nobody trusts another one.

But to Terook it was not, he quickly began to search for his mother while staying out of the way of the dwarves, not an easy task.

"Where is she?!" Terook thought franticly "THERE!!" His mind shouted as he saw his mother, but the place she was, only a little ways away but it might have been across an ocean.

Stunned and in the clutches of the armed guards following the dwarves in the robes, Terook found his mother, she was already being chained to the other halfling captives

"NO" Came the shout through Terooks mind, his mother would not be taken by the dwarves no matter what "I will save her" He thought to himself, the how he would accomplish such a task did not even occur to him, But the troupe of dwarves had already gathered enough slaves, and they began to march out. Terook quickly made up his mind to follow them

The dwarves passed through a huge cavern mouth, most of the halflings knew this passage, having passed through it just once, and only the ones that were alive and unlucky passed through it twice.

Terook never had before set foot in this tunnel, but he crept along with the dwarven troupe ahead of him, and as dwarves normally do, they made more than enough noise to cover up the sounds of a mere halfling, even one that had tears of fear and terror falling freely about his face clouding his vision

Terook followed the dwarven and halfling troupe for what seemed like days, but was really only a few hours, into the upper levels of the dwarven kingdom, a place where haflings have gone and not returned. With each step there was more danger as each step brought thousands of dwarves closer to hand

"What is that?" Terook thought, as chanting began to reach his ears, the all of the suddent the dwarven troupe called a stop, for a moment, while two priest began looking at the wall to their left, then to Terook suprise the wall slid open revealing another passage way. This passage way the dwarves now took dragging their halfling prisoners along with them, this hall was well lit by many candles, but their were still shadows along the walls, and you didnt grow up in hell without learning how to walk in shadows.

So Terook slunk along behind the dwarven troupe around one final bend....

Terook ran, where to he did not know, but the horrors he just had seen spurred new strength into the halfling's body, so he ran, and every now and again blood curtling screams would reach his ears. He ran till his legs burned, but he could not stop, he ran from what he had seen but he also began to run from himself, for the cowardice he had shown, he did not even save his own mother from the horrible fate that awaited her.

"Thud" A sharp stop, Terook looked up his head spinning from the blow it just withstanded "A Cart" Terook thought "A place to hide" So Terook climbed up the cart, every movement made his body ache, but he finally reached the top, although it wasnt that high of a climb, and he squeezed under some bags of coins and metal work

The ship rocked back and forth, goods sliding back and forth within the hold, one had to strain their eyes to see the figure deep in the shadows, surrounded by dwarven made objects.


Terook set there in the bowels of some unknown ship, headed for the unknown, he sat there thinking about his life and the more recent events that lead up to where he was now

"I should have saved her" Terook thought to himself "I didnt do all that I could to rescue her"

Anybody who happened upon him would have seen a creature, starved, bones sticking out in places where they shouldnt have shown, and just a few rags for clothes

"LAND HO" Shouted a sailor on the decks, above, Terook hadnt even seen those, he was hiding in a sack when brought aboard the ship, from a market place across the ocean, and to that sack he returned

"Hurry Up you lazy Dogs" Shouted a human, to the crew, as they began to unload object after object, onto the docks, among those was a sack, no diffrent than the hundreds of others, except for its cargo. The Cargo was then transported to a town, but the occupent of the sack only heard the noises, the creak of the wagon, then the sounds of others. To the occupant of the sack, those sounds ment danger

((OOC - Post as you will, anything is welcome, I would appreciate any postings, oh just one note, Ill let the halfling out of the sack, so until then have fun))

((OOC - Oh well no responses, meet you all ingame then))

Terook slips his way out of the bag, and finds himself in a large market place