An alternate story to be told.

Flight of the Dwarf: Part 1

Captured!

Dark, cold, and very painful. Being a drow prisoner is far, far down, if it's even on it, Barrent's list of things to do in his lifetime. Blindfolded, bound, and gagged so that he can't possibly cast any spell what so ever. Barrent is a sorcerer. And a dwarven sorcerer at that. Very rare is the dwarf that can master and control the arcane magics that both sorcerers and wizards can manipulate. Barrent's days and nights as of late haven't been so pleasant. Occasionally stabbed, kicked, or even both, is almost a daily routine for him. Little did they know that his dragon heritage, the bloodline in him that grants the ability to cast spells at will, was stronger and more potent than most others. It is rumored that to be a sorcerer, you must have had a dragon mate with a family member at some point in their lineage. Dragons have been known to take on the forms of humans and elves to interact and shape society in ways they wish to see things unfold. For Barrent, this is far more than just rumor.

There are too many enemies around him to attempt an escape so soon after being captured. His elf companion, the "animal lover", had tried to escape too soon. The drow poisoned him with a dreadful new poison of theirs. Paralysis sets in and you remain fully awake. Then they slowly start cutting you into pieces until you die from blood loss. You can't scream in pain or cry for mercy. At best you can try to give up the will to live and hopefully your heart shuts down on its own.

Barrent decides that this not going to be his ending. Too much left to do and complain about in this world. After what he guesses to be about 2 weeks, he notices less noise around himself, and surmises that it's most likely daytime. The air is a little warmer and he can hear birds singing in the distance. Carefully and slowly, he makes his way around aimlessly, trying to find *something* to touch. Finally he finds something that he can rub his head against, and it doesn't appear to be moving. Carefully and methodically, rubbing his head back and forth slowly, he manages to get his blindfold pulled off of his head. The light is dim, but even at this level it's still blinding him for the moment. Once his eyes finally adjust, he can see that the only guard is a lone drow. He has yet to notice that Barrent has managed to move across the ground and pulled the blindfold off of his head at the base of a small tree.

"First things first." he thinks to himself. "This gag has to be removed. All they did was shove a rag into my mouth, so this shouldn't be too difficult." Around this time the guard notices that Barrent has moved quite a bit away, and comes over to investigate. The drow starts yelling at Barrent as he unsheathes his weapon and approaches him. "Closer, just a few steps closer and..." Barrent thinks to himself. The timing has to be just right! Barrent's eyes, for just a brief moment if you looked hard enough, had a small twinkle of green light. Arcane energy that has been flowing through his body now coalesces deep in his throat. The shocked look on that drow's face as an icy like object as hard as stone, shoots from Barrent’s mouth and smashes into the drow’s forehead violently, while frost sprays the drow and painfully freezes his skin and belongings. The drow drops his dagger not far from Barrent, and falls to the ground fighting to remain conscious. Quickly Barrent crawls over to the dagger and manages to pick it up, flip it over, and starts cutting his bonds.

After he frees himself, Barrent gives the drow another cold blast of his draconic breath to finish him off. Barrent quickly scrounges around the camp to pick up what he can for survival, and heads North-West, the original direction he came from before he was captured. Knowing he needs food and water as they provided very little water, and no food during his capture. Any water he received had to be sucked through his gag. A short while after escaping, Barrent goes through the items he ransacked from the drow camp. There was some old, stale rations, but for someone who hasn't eaten for a week, those were the best damn things he has tasted in a long time. It won't be long until the rest of the drow return to camp. They're bound to start tracking him. Barrent picks up the pace and knows that he has to get to Ashbenford, and get there NOW!....