Originally posted by Naris

One Hundred Eyes

“Listen Beatrice, tell that aristocrat cunt, that he shall accept the price we agreed upon last week!” Naris shouted

“Calm down my lord, perhaps he is just being difficult because you refuse to meet with him and he is insulted that he must transact with a human woman.” Beatrice calmly responded.

“Very well, in turn you should let him know that on your behalf, Snot will be opening his throat with his dagger and pulling his tongue through his neck if he doesn’t agree to the original terms!”  Naris yelled, this time staring at the Drow businessman across the vacant Inn.

“Master, just say the word and Snot make that drow go to sleep for good.” Snot responded

“Bea take this bag of gold and give it to the suit, then retrieve the deed from him and send him packing. Snot while Beatrice is concluding this business, remove your whetstone from your pack. Start sharpening your blade. Let him know that he is not getting out of here alive with that deed, so he might as well get paid for it.  Naris responded in a more calculated manner.

“What of his guards my lord?” Beatrice questioned

“Your daughter is already in position behind them to assist. They are as good as dead if they move a muscle.  Now go conclude your business, you’re the one who wanted to open an Inn again.” Naris said sarcastically

Naris lit a pipe as Beatrice & Snot walked towards the well-dressed drow & his 2 personal bodyguards.

“Vandree” Naris hears his last name called out from behind him.  He slips his hands under his cloak. One on his hand crossbow the other on his shardblade. Naris slowly rotates his body to look who was calling him, while still being in position to keep an eye on the transaction.

Naris smiles when he sees his old friend Amryyr Yauntyrr

“Amryyr, good to see you brother, your timing is perfect.” Naris greeted.

“So Vandree it is true; you’re getting back into the inn & brothel game. The masters will be most pleased to resume our business dealings.”  Amryyr responded

“We shall see; the deal has appeared to hit a bit of a snag.  It may require some strong arming or may just turn into a bloodbath.  I’m trying to let my underlings work this out, as they will be overseeing operations.” Naris snickered

“I’m sure it will be fine; I hear that Madame B is quite cunning & her daughter is some sight.” Amryyr replied

“Indeed and very expensive”

“Such are the rumors, you are getting a reputation for having heart, it’s a bit unbecoming.  Anyway, when you’re done with your business here. Meet me at the bar called Bottles & Blades, I have some information in regard to your last request.  I have located a Sword Sage trainer for you. They are expecting your arrival immediately. However, there is a catch.”

Naris puffs his pipe, “Isn’t there always?  I shall be over shortly,  I just want to make sure none of my children end up dying here. I’ll catch up with you in a bit.” As Naris noticed Bea & Snot returning.

Bea walks back holding the deed in her hand, “well played Bea” Naris responds as he snatches the paperwork from Beatrice’s hand.  “Mistress Freth will be sending her decorators here in the morning, there is sufficient gold in our offices at Bottles & Blades to cover all renovations.  I am going to be leaving town for some time, when I return I expect our base of operations to be set up here.”

“What are you planning on calling the Inn my lord?” Bea asked

“Whatever you want Madame B” inside these walls you are the Matron Mother; you have my full support.  However, we are in Rilauvin now. The stakes are high; we are no longer in some shitty fringe surface town. You shall have the eyes of the city on you. If word has already reached Skullport of my acquisition, surely there will be others who are interested in hearing what you shall build.  I have recruited a tiefling to oversee security, as well as some soldiers who have recently come into our family’s service.” Naris informed before he walks out.

Naris leaves the main road where his new Inn is located and takes a short stroll to the Speakeasy known as Bottles & Blades which is located in a dark back alley.   He notices Amryyr sitting at the bar.

“My friend I hope you haven’t made too much of a dent into that bottle of whiskey without me.” Naris sounded quite jovial

“The beauty of this place is there is always plenty of whiskey.” Amryyr offered.

“Amryyr tell me about this Sword Sage master and what’s the catch?” Naris asked

“The sword sage master is called Hundred Eyes. He is under the service of a Mistress named Camille Belcourt.  She is a cunning businesswoman that has a compound on the surface in a settlement called Sanguinar.  This Mistress Belcourt has a business proposal for you.  Here is a map to the compound and specific instructions you must follow. Drow are not welcome there and her business is illegal by their laws. The laws of Sanguinar are harsh.You do not want to suffer beneath them.It is better than a week’s journey, I’m sure quicker for you. She will be expecting you.’

“Hundred Eye’s eh?”  Is he a Beholder Sword Sage, that sounds powerful, but what kind of great Sword Sage master is working for some human women businesswomen?”  

“Naris, you will have to go to find out. I haven’t been told anything about this Camille Belcourt or Hundred Eyes only to be sure this information reaches your ears as ordered by the Dark Dagger Hierarchy in Skullport.”

“Amryyr thank you as always, you are a true friend. One more drink together before I take my leave.”

Amryyr & Naris emptied glasses and exchanged small talk about the Dark Daggers and such, before long Naris excused himself, then headed back to his room and packed his things for his journey.  Naris opened the window to his room, shape changed into a bat and took flight towards the compound.

The city was dark as a grave, No street lights were lit, there was no illumination at all. Naris was careful to follow the instructions for entry. As he passed over a low stone wall he could see his destination not so far off in the distance. Mistress Belcourt’s compound was unmistakable, she had 2 guard posts near the road leading up to her compound. Naris counted dozens of armed sentries making patrols on her grounds.  Naris transformed back into his normal form a couple hundred yards from the first guard post and kept to the shadows moving silent as instructed. He stepped from the shadows and approached the guard post.  

“You there, state your name & business.” one of the guards shouted

I am Lord Naris Vandree, I am here to meet with Mistress Belcourt. I believe she is expecting me.”

“Hold there for a moment Mr. Vandree”

Naris quickly grew impatient after waiting for some time. “I was told she was expecting me; the hospitality is quite cold in this region.”

After being ignored for a while longer a young beautiful female human, dressed in a black cloak with a bladed chain at her side approached the checkpoint.

“Lord Naris please forgive the delay; I was dealing with an issue which is why I was held up from receiving you. Please allow me to introduce myself.  I am Camille’s personal guard Jade.”

“Well met” Naris Responded with a bow of his head.  “You sure have a lot of security here” as they begin walking to the compound.

“Indeed my mistress is very excited to hear of your arrival. Would you like me to show you to your chambers to freshen up before you meet with Camille?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I am eager to meet with your mistress if she is prepared to receive me?”

“I see; I believe she is in her meeting chambers. I shall escort you there immediately.”

Naris, allowing Jade to enter the large room first, noticed a large Onyx table took up most of the space.  Sitting at the end is a stunning human female in her mid 30s, long wavy brown hair, warm tan skin and piercing green eyes.

“Mistress Belcourt may I present Lord Naris of House Vandree.” Jade announced.  She pulled out a chair at the other head of the table and ushered Naris to sit across from her mistress.  Jade quickly retrieved a glass and poured Naris some wine.

“Mistress Belcourt thank you for receiving me on such short notice. I am very curious to hear about your business.” Naris said politely

“Naris it is a pleasure to welcome you in my compound. I have been trying to make contact with someone in Rilauvin for some time. I deal in the supplemental business and I think a relationship could be fortuitous for both of us.”

“So much for foreplay?  You get right down to what’s on your mind eh?’ Naris joked

Camille grab her glass of wine and walked towards Naris. “I have the ability to produce vast quantities of Yin Fen. Are you familiar with the product?”

“I am quite familiar with Yin Fen, although I have never needed to use it.  I am rarely injured in battle, nor do I have stamina issues.” Naris stated as he smirks at Mistress Belcourt.

Camille returns the smirk, walks behind Naris, places her wine glass next to his.  I am going to transport it to you at your inn in Rilauvin and you are going to sell it for me for a share the profits and access to my minister of martial arts.”

“With all due respect my lady, I don’t see there being much of a market for Yin Fen in my Inn.”

Camille begins to rub Naris’ shoulders, moves in a whispers in his ears. “It’s clear that you have never experienced the euphoria of Yin Fen during the escalated moments of passion. Perhaps we should retire to my bedchambers and allow you to get the full experience.”

Naris choked on his glass of wine.

“Please tell me you aren’t beholden to your beautiful young little girlfriend I have heard all about.” Camille said dryly. “I think this supplement will be very useful for your tired and injured working girls & customers looking for an elevated experience.

“Not at all my lady, I wouldn’t want you to wear me out before I meet the trainer. I will only agree to your request if should he agree to teach me the old arts of the swordsage.

“How boring, very well you may have access to my minister of martial arts.  He is terribly uninspired teaching my men basic techniques. None of them are able to grasp his combat styles, though he seemed quite uplifted when I told him about you.” Camille pauses for a moment. “Jade, this doesn’t not sound like the Naris Vandree we have heard about.  The brash, arrogant, angry Drow with the caustic tongue. Perhaps we have an imposter before us.”

Jade gives a sigh of indifference, clearly not as playful as her mistress.

Naris quickly responds with a grin, perhaps you should send a messenger to House Melarn in Menzoberranzan for a character reference.”

Camille lets off a quick laughter exposing her long sharp canines. “Leave me Naris, go see about your training. I shall meet with you again before you depart.”

“Jade please escort him to Hundred Eyes.”

Jade leads Naris to a series of tunnels, they end up in a large room that appears to be one of the compounds barracks. Naris looks around and counts roughly 40 armed guards.

“Jade I think you will need at least another 20 men if you are looking to take me down.” Naris announced sarcastically

I hope you are enjoying your last moments of humor here Mr. Vandree. Hundred Eyes is very complex; He has been known to drop an entire platoon of my best soldiers when he gets upset.  I am not exactly sure, where his current mood sits.

Jade and Naris take another underground passage another couple of hundred yards that continue descending into the Earth. Naris can feel the anxious tension amongst the guards, Jade continues alongside him with her quiet confidence. Finally, they come to a stout door.  The platoon leader removes a key and unlocks the door.  The human looks at Naris.

“Through this door my lord.” Naris approaches the door, opens it. The human platoon leader gives him a fast shove forcing him through the portal.  Naris stutter steps past the entry and just as quickly the door is shut and locked again.

Naris quickly looks around; he finds himself in a large cavern.  There appear to be multiple smaller caverns within the large cavern. The stone rubble floors are very damp, almost reminding Naris of the underdark. Multiple torches lit the caverns, and Naris could see the glow of a larger light source around one of the corners of the smaller caverns.  As Naris moved to investigate he noticed a slender human male, he wore a tattered tan cloak and sat on a mat in front of the fire stirring something in a small cauldron.

“Hello Elf the man called out.” Naris noticed the man looked up in his general direction. The light reflected on his face this time. He noticed the human had long Jet black hair tied in a topknot, a mustache and beard. He also had two noticeable scars on his eyes. The human seemed unable to make eye contact with Naris. He quickly determined that the man was clearly blind.

“Well met slave. I am here to train with Hundred Eyes.” Naris responded

“So I have been told, he is expecting you. Please sit, come enjoy a meal. You must be hungry after your journey and listening to Mistress Belcourt’s  scheming. My name is Li Jinbao.” As he stirred a congee of rice, mushroom & pork.

“Listen slave, I am not here to exchange pleasantries with the likes of you or endure the smell of whatever it is you have in that pot. I am here to meet with Hundred Eyes.  Please make him aware of my arrival immediately.“ Naris demanded.

“Very well, so we will not be having civilized conversations or enjoying a meal together.  Draw your weapon of choice. I shall determine if you are worthy to receive audience with the master.” The human aggressively responded.

“I was told I would receive training from Hundred Eyes from Mistress Belcourt. I do not spar for sport. When I draw my swords, my only intention is murder, you shall prove no challenge for me slave. I fear I will only anger the master.”

The human laughed in Naris’ face, “Camille has no authority down here in the Temple of the Phoenix. Save your pity for your own kind elf.”  Li Jinbao stands up and grabs a quarterstaff that he uses as a walking stick towards Naris. Naris responds by drawing his 2 long knives.

“Your move slave, I will not strike first as I will need to explain to the master that your death was a result of self-defense.”

“Ha!  Make no mistake elf, Li Jinbao has a couple more victories left in him.” The blind human thrusts forward with two wild strikes that Naris quickly evades.   Naris immediately goes to his signature move and teleports right behind the human. Naris whispers from behind the slave as he sets his sneak attack in motion.
“Goodbye slave.”

However neither of Naris’s attacks hit their mark, The first swing hits nothing but air. While his second attack is parried by the human’s staff which splits in half.

The Human now wielding two dime staves, begins to whip them around in incredibly dexterous unison attempting to strike Naris twice, however both attacks are parried by his Long Knives, completely splintering the wooden weapons after the attacks. Naris notices that the human appears to be gaining speed in his movements.  Naris moves in for a backstab tumble, however Li Jinbao counters with a tumble of his own putting the two face to face once again. The human responds with a pair quick claw strikes from his hands that Naris quickly dodges, however it is a leg kick that hits Naris right below the knee almost sending him to the floor.

Naris quickly gains his footing, gives a quick spin move and fires a Shadow Garrote technique at the human followed by a quick weapon switch and a shot from his hand crossbow. The shadow garrote misses, however the bolt found its mark sticking into the arm of the human.
“goodnight” slave. Naris states arrogantly.

The human removes the bolt from his arm and laughs “Look at the little elf using his cowardly weapon. He wants to be a swordsage, yet he relies on a child’s toy.”  The human slave takes a step back and summons two flaming wudang swords with glistening phoenix feathers at the end. The swords quickly trans morph into two wooden sparring swords. Naris puts his hand crossbow away and redraws his second long knife.

“Now the dance shall begin, try and counterstrike this!” Li shouts

The human moves in at blinding speed, the first attack disarmed Naris of his shardblade. The second attack featured a full spread of tentacles that grabbed Naris and drastically reduced his movement speed.  The human showing exceptional speed and technique followed this up with 4 more attacks with his wooden swords.  Striking Naris in the face, nose, shoulder and chest.

Naris took a step back as a large knot grew in his stomach as he realized he was grossly overmatched, he switched the Long Knife into his dominant left hand, swung wildly at the human and followed it up with a mountain strike technique from his bare right hand. Both strikes wildly missed their mark.  The human continued the attack, first disarming the long knife from his hand and following it up with another nine consecutive attacks. Naris felt multiple blows to his head, body & legs.  Naris immediately dropped to floor, able to ramble off but a few words before falling unconscious. “A blind human goes by the name Hundred Eyes…. How ironic.”  as he passes out.

Naris wakes the next morning on a cot in another cavern to the sound of familiar voices talking.

“Monk you practically killed this drow, why is it so hard for you to follow directions. He is a valuable asset; I am looking forward to this new business opportunity.” As she looks at the blood on the cavern floor.

“My lady you confuse me with someone who cares about your worldly ambitions. While in my temple I shall conduct training how I wish. “

“Yes, but he may leave and not accept our deal. Do you even remember how to train someone?”

The Monk smiled, “I still have Jade here regularly for training sessions. Her technique is still very crisp and she has not faltered.  Or has she not mentioned this to you?”

“What am I to do with you?” Camille snapped angrily. “Nothing satisfies you, you place no value on your life.  Have no interests in any sort of gifts.  Yet for some reason I sense that you are excited about taking on this new pupil. Normally I wouldn’t care who you train but if something should happen to Naris or he doesn’t accept my proposal….. I would have to reconsider how all that you hold dear is protected.”

“This elf has an incredibly enlarged ego, he just received his first training session.  Now if you’ll excuse me my lady I believe our guest has woken up.”

Camille shakes her head and exits the cavern.

Naris walks into the cavern where he heard the talking with a terrible headache.

“Good morning elf… have some coffee” the monk offered

Naris nodded

“You shall not speak unless spoken to or asked a question.  You shall do as you’re told.  I was impressed with your creative combat tactics; however, your technique is terrible. There is no place for crossbows in my temple. Forget all the you have learned. Embrace the way of the blade to become the sage.”

Naris nodded while rubbing his aching head.  The monk leaned over and poured some brandy into his and Naris’ coffee.  

“Your training begins now!”

Over the course of the next two months Naris learned how to move like the desert wind. While sparring with hundred eyes he used his hands like claw attacks from beasts.  He turned his mind into a resilient shell similar to a diamond.  He gained the virtue of a stone dragon. He could tell Hundred Eyes was partial to wielding the fire of the Setting Sun. However, he always felt closest to the death he could deal from the shadows.

The door to the cavern opened and Jade appeared standing silent as Hundred Eyes spoke.

“Naris I am quite pleased with your progress. You have learned all that I have to teach for now. Please feel free to come back and continue your training when you have gained more experience.”  I believe Lady Belcourt would like to see you before you go.” Hundred Eyes praised.  Naris nodded his head in agreement.

Jade and the monk exchanged a bow of respect and she gave Naris a smile, light glinting off her sharp silver grin,  as he passed by her out of the cavern.

“Camille is in her meeting room waiting for you.” Naris was very curious of what Jade’s abilities might be and admired her strength and confidence for a human who was only little over 20.  Naris nodded and smiled at Jade

As Naris entered the meeting room, Camille was looking over a ledger while drinking wine.  “Lord Naris nice to see you again.  I trust training went as well as expected and our accord is in place.”

“Yes Mistress Belcourt we indeed have an agreement.”

“Excellent, well I assume you will want to get back to Rilauvin as your Inn is now open and quite the talk of the town.  I shall have the product delivered after your departure.”

Naris had been so enthralled with training that he had completely forgotten about the Inn.  “Indeed, I look forward to receiving the delivery. Perhaps you can send Jade to oversee the delivery personally. It would be a shame if the delivery were attacked along the way.  The trip to Rilauvin can be quite dangerous.”   

Camille smiled generously at Jade, her fangs betraying her malevolent nature.

“We shall discuss the best method of delivery. I assure you will receive everything intact and perhaps it will be with Jade.”

Naris walked out of the compound and offered both women a warm smile. He followed the route Camille had set for him and once out of sight, he transforms into a bat and heads back to Rilauvin.  The trip is uneventful.   He returned to town at night.

As he approached the Inn. He finds it’s quite bustling and there is even a line to get in.  

“What are they doing giving the pussy and booze away for free?” Naris thinks to himself. As he gets closer there are 2 guards controlling whom is allowed to enter.  Just behind one of them he sees the Sign that Reads “Qu’ellar Ssinssrigg”. Naris noticed an illuminated Sigil with 2 glowing sets of lips. Naris chuckles to himself, quite pleased with what they decided to name the Inn.
Naris walked up to the guards, whom bear the insignia of House Vandree.  “Welcome back my lord.”

“Thank you” Naris Responded.  “Madame Bea is inside I trust running the inn?   Has there been any security issues?”

“Yes my lord, she is inside. Nothing outside the ordinary. Drunks and some guys getting a little too grabby with the girls.” The guard replied

Naris walked past the guards, through a series of Silk curtains. Upon entering he was quite impressed with the selected décor. Wall to wall midnight satins, with patches of exposed brick. Magenta leather banquettes lined the perimeters.  A stage was on the opposite side of the bar where a group of female bards played their instruments wearing nearly no clothing.  The bar was packed with wall to wall people. Beatrice was managing the floor, Naris threw a quick wink her way and was about to make his way towards her. When he noticed Ziya keeping watch on the fourth floor Balcony.  Naris climbed each set of stairs, the guards on each level stepping aside as he eventually reached the top level.  

Once Naris reached the top floor where his office & quarters were.   He moved towards Ziya, gave her a warm embrace.   “Come my dear, I want to hear all about the Inn.  Go draw us a bath.”

Hundred Eyes Origin Video

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3joz29

It’s about 28 minutes. Very good watch.