Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
He is skilled, he handles his weapon well, that I must admit, but disciplined he is not. Only a fool would try to push is foe into a rage with his words. I try to ignore his raging mouth full of venom and spite as we circle each other looking for a weakness in each others defenses. Try as I might I soon fail, I am not a traitor to my people. I am not a failure to my house, and I will not lay down and die. He pushes me too far. Rage floods me. I seem to drop into some black place, only he and I exist. In this darkness I find that perfect nothing the masters spoke of so often, our blades begin a dance of death as not seen here before on this night.
The black void seems to guide my sword arm, I am no longer thinking in forms and counter forms. I strike out as my will guides me, his blows are soon all defensive. He is no longer the aggressor with the upper hand, facing a defeated foe. I slice my way into his defenses, I send his blade into positions that leave him open for longer periods. He is no longer raging at me...
There! Now It comes. That one opening I had maneuvered him into. I strike out with all my rage, my rage adding strength to the blow. The air is perfumed with the smell of warm blood...
He seems stunned for but a moment, then collapses at my feet. The rage fades from me, with this goes that void of nothing. All around me I notice for the first time this night the sounds of the night. The low singing of some night insects or maybe other creatures of this upper world. I feel for the first time in my life totally alone. I sink to my knees, all my energy spent. Alone here in a new world, but alive. I do not know how long I stayed down on my knees, it seemed to last forever to me in my despair.
The singing of what must be some sun heralding bird brought me to myself. I drag his body over to lay beside his companions. My people named me traitor, they call me enemy. And now I find myself reduced not only in their eyes but in my own as I am reduced to robbing from the dead to better my chances of survival in this upper land. This new world I will now be forced to make my way in.
I vow to myself that those who have brought me to this level of existence will pay by my hand one day. They had better live up to there vow to destroy me because I will never stop trying to go back and destroy them.
Daylight comes - I draw a long deep breath from the new world .
or what you come up with :-)
Epic Jaderail !
Wendy is getting all excited and sweaty now
And there we are Folks. That was the End of Chapter one. Much of that part REALLY needs re-rendered. I will do that as time goes. But it did allow me to get a start and a start was needed. From here I can move forward and I plan on doing just that. There is much more to the story yet to tell but from this point on I plan to take a bit more pride in my work and to fully get that Graphic novel thing going. Much more words to image ratio and much better quality renders to go with the words. Thank you to all for following this little Prolog/Intro test. From this point on expect better, or I hope you can expect better. I'll not make grand promises that I might not live up to.
But the story will go on as I'm busy at it right now. Thank you all again.
The Exile: Chapter One
They walk the Night.
"Any mans heart can be turned to stone. It takes a strong soul to shield the heart from this world." - Gledon the Scribe 1024 Pre Dragon War
I'm not a animal though my people treated me as one. I spent the greater part of the day digging a grave for the dead. It ruined one of the boot knives I took from the smaller of my kinsmen, even this soft loamy soil was hard on its edge. I draped their bodies the best I could with the cloak from the younger priest to never be, a death shroud if you will. I respect the dead enough to not wish them to sleep eternal with raw earth upon their faces. I still burn with shame from being reduced to robbing from the dead. Their days are done, they have much less need of these few things they had than I do in the days yet ahead of me. But the shame I will carry until my last day.
Those young priest did not carry much, I'm sure they were expecting pay on their return to our homeland, and only brought what they thought they might need on our long journey. A sword each between them and only one good dagger. Two boot knives, one of which I sacrificed to inter them, one small pack of hard rations, the small ones always seem to have food on them, and just twelve coppers. Drowish coppers at that, I'm not even sure they will honor those here in the surface realms. And the clothing I now wear, I left them as much of there's as I could, I see no reason to take it all from them, I'll use my prisoners grab for bedding and blankets. I have already slept in it for thirty days, at least it will provide me with a bit of warmth at night, more so now than before.
I'm at a disadvantage here in the sunlight, our eyes are not made for the light of day, we Drow have been in the Underdark far to long. The sun was high above before I finished my task, even here in the shadows of the deep forest beneath a large oak the light was too much for me to see clearly. I try to rest beneath the tree until the sun sets, I may have even dozed from time to time, if I did it was briefly for the day seemed to last much longer than I expected. Nothing came to molest me or try to make a meal of me in all those hours so I did relax some as the day came to its end. But I could not set here, they would be back to hunt me. In a month if not sooner, of that I was sure. And I would need food more than a small ration and it soon as well. I decided to follow the stream on down its course. People need water and prefer to live near it. It was also the only idea I could think of, where does one go when they have no idea where they are or where they are headed?
I followed the stream for the full night, it was joined my others from time to time forcing me to cross them often. The stream grew into a creek or maybe a small river by the time the sun had started to lighten the sky again. Shallow but to wide to leap across. I was looking for a soft place under another large tree to shade the day when I saw the fence. It as a mostly broken down wood pole thing, but someone had built it there in that opening next to the brook. And I think I smell smoke, so I follow the fence and my nose. The sun rises but I do not care, I must know if I might find shelter, even a broken down shack would ease my mind. Before long the forest opened up and I saw the farmstead for the very first time.
yea we have daylight ;-)
...and a farm maybe the people will help him....
And not one person pointed out the two GLARING typos. I guess I should thank you all for that so...
THANK YOU folks.
do you mean knives?? I was reading so fast to see what was happening my mind just converted them....automatic
I'm a Artist not a Editor. But I will run this past proof readers before I go public, as in OFF DAZ with this. LOL.
Humans. I freeze, then move back into the woods again. I was not expecting humans this close to a exit from the Underdark. Following the fence back the way I had came, I try to stay well hidden as I seek the cover of the deep woods again. I move along the edges of the forest and look for a safe place to watch this farm. My sight is bad in this full light but I can see the shape of the man moving around his land. I'm deep in shadow now and I rest myself against a weathered stump of some long dead tree. Before long I think I have counted at least two others off around the farm doing whatever chores they are set upon.
I start awake to the touch of cold steel to my neck. "Make a move for a weapon and I'll slice your neck." the shadowy shape before me says. I did not understand the language this was spoken in but the meaning seemed clear from the tone. The words seemed a odd mixture of low elvish some dwarven with another added in, all spoken in a odd accent. I must have dozed to have allowed this man to get this close to me. The last two days had pushed me to exhaustion. I slowly raise my hands and try pure elvish. "I meant no harm, can you understand me? Please sir I can't understand you," I say. In a very good elvish he replies with the blade still to my neck, "Yes I can, now look to your right before you decide this old man is no match for you. That young lad with the arrow pointed your way is my son. I can assure you he will kill you long before you harm me if you try." I simply nod. From the left the largest person I had ever seen steps into my view, this giant gathers my swords and then relieves me of my other weapons as well.
I find myself marched back out of the woods and directed to the large house. The older man settles behind a large table that looks to be used as his office. I'm seated next to the door but the brute is right there welding a wicked knife so I stay seated. The boy stands next to the older one out of my reach, even if I was stupid enough to take a chance. I knew better than to try anything. The man speaks loudly in that odd language again and I soon see a elderly woman enter the main room carrying a laden tray. Food is placed before me and then she scurries off to the rear of the house again.
"I'm Thaddus Corban. And this is my freestand you happen to be on," he says to me in his wonderful elvish. "And before the sun finishes setting you and I are going to have a very good talk," Master Corban says. And thus began my first night in the realms of man.
now we are cooking :-)
I'm hooked to this story and render series, keep it up mate, just keeps getting better and better :)
will we see Jaderail milk a cow? chop wood, plow field?
They gave him food ...are they good people or bad people??? ......LOL....chores...you just did that to see if I would catch it....
maybe he meant choirs? they must sing a lot on that farm
country and western no doubt, sheer torture to death metal Drowish ears!
Wendy: country and western....LOL....,well one thing is for sure it is not Aerosmith
oohh I like reading about Jade and love that render :) well done !
Due to Alabama being stuck in somebody's DEEP FREEZER for the last few days (or maybe just my house needs work) I have not been able to progress on this project very much. It is still in progress but in weather such as we are in now my health will not allow me to function at the PC long enough to get very much done. For those that do not know I'm a disabled person and suffer from Arthritis and End Stage Renal Disease. I'm very healthy for a person with my problems and will be around for a very long time, but the doing of things gets very hard when the weather affects my body as this super cold snap has done. My medication is just dealing with the pain the weather has caused, sitting here at my PC longer than a few hours at a time is just not possible at this time. I normally work at my PC for 12 to 16 hour stretches to do my Admin, help and render projects. Until this weather that I'm not built to deal with has passed I will only get done what gets done. I hope it passes soon and I can get back to everything full time again very soon.
Dawwwwww, got my cougar hat out so I could give the man a warm hug
we hope you are feeling better !
can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve :roll:
Master Corban and I did not finish our conversation before the night had fell. It was well into the dark hours before he decided we were done. It was more of a interrogation than a conversation in the beginning. Him firing question after question at me as fast as I could answer the first one. Where did I come from so suddenly? Why was I alone? How could he believe anything I said when I was so obviously not prepared for a long stay in these lands? All questions I myself might have asked if in his position. It took me hours to explain my sorry state of affairs to his liking, and even then I could tell he did not really believe me. I had to agree to show him and his men the grave of those I had killed to prove my words to him. Then he accused me of wishing to lead them all into an ambush. I pointed out that he was in control and I was quite sure if anyone was going to be in danger it was I. He had to admit I had a point, and then agreed to me showing them the place as soon as we had daylight again. He then surprised me. To test my words and honor I was told I would not be watched during the night. I would not be given my weapons but I would be free to leave if I choose to do so. If I was still here at sunrise he would count that as a sign I might be speaking the truth. I tried to explain that he and his people were in grave danger because my people would be coming to hunt for me very soon. He told me to hold my tongue until he decided he could trust me or not, then we would discuss things further if I proved true.
At that I was turned over to Dunber, the huge one, who would show me a place I could bed down for the night, if I stayed. He lead me out past what I later learned was the bunkhouse to a open hay barn. Using the lantern he carried with us he lit one kept in the barn for me to use that night. I was more than happy to bed down in a large pile of hay once he had made his way back toward the great house. I was not about to leave, I had spoken only the truth to Master Corban and I has defenseless without my swords, besides I had not slept as much as I had thought because I needed sleep very much it seemed. It did not escape my notice that the barn I was now in held many items that could serve as weapons if someone wished. That told me that somebody would miss a nights sleep to be sure I did not try anything later in the night. Master Corban was much craftier than I had first given him credit for, I was sure this was another test of my honor and not a simple mistake on his part. He did not strike me as one to make many simple mistakes such as turning a possible enemy lose without planning ahead. I trimmed the lanterns wick to a low glow, settled into my soft bed of hay and promptly fell fast asleep.
I had not been awake very long the following morning before Dunber returned. He seemed only a little surprised to find me still were he had left me just hours before. I showed that I had not armed myself in any way, both hands empty of any weapon of any kind. He just gestured for me to follow him once more.
Glad to see you are back.....another good story part....Trish