The world I grew up in, it was dark and full of misery. I am stuck not knowing my father, and as I hit the age beginning adulthood, my mother, a halfling, committed suicide. It has been 4 years since that day, after going shopping with what little copper I could muster for bread. I came home to find my mother, her throat slit, and a note left behind, apologizing for the poor life she had brought me in. As a thief of decent skill, I was able to live a bit longer… until I made the mistake of trying to pick the pocket of a local nobleman.

My name is Zaft, a halfling, and rogue by trade. It was originally a dare by my colleges, after I boasted about my skills. Big Mistake. I was apprehended almost immediately after grabbing a nobleman’s coin purse, and now, I am on my way to the local jail. Ropes right now bind my hands, and they’re not tied overly tight, seems like I could easily slip out of them. However, what I really fear is the size of the Human escorting me. ‘Cause I might just end up hurt, so I’ll play along for now.

“Stupid thief, tryin’ tah steal from ‘is Excellency”, mumbled the giant of a man, “If it were up tah me, I would’ve jus’ hung yeh.”

“Well, apparently I have more luck than you have brains, and I’m thankful for that.” I retorted, trying to provoke the giant into doing something he would regret.

“Shaddap, yah stupid ‘alflin, if it werrn’t fer that Govn’er, yeh would’ve just been hung.”

“Well, give your “Govn’er” my thanks.”

The talking ended there, and we soon reached the jailhouse in the middle of the city. It was a huge gray building that I knew all too well; since this was not the first time I’d have to spend some time in a cell. The building itself was very dull; it had the lounge for the guards so they could keep an eye on prisoners. There was also a storeroom in the back, where they held all of the confiscated materials that belonged to different prisoners. I didn’t recognize any faces that night, and it seemed that some newer watchmen were stationed at the jailhouse tonight.

“Just my luck, fresh meat. I guess I’ll stay here for the night then, don’t want their first night to haunt them.”

The giant man then picked me up after seeing the guards, asked for an open cell. He was directed around the corner, and on the left. I was then thrown into a vacant cell. I landed on my shoulders, with my feet resting on the wall. Let’s just say it wasn’t the most comfortable position to be tossed in.

“Ow! Hey! Couldn’tcha be a bit more gentle?”

“Heh, sorreh, din’t mean to hurt’cha ‘dere, but yeh should be enjoyin’ time in yer cell with yer cell mates fer tah night.” He chuckled to himself and walked back to talk with the nobleman that I tried to pickpocket earlier. Stuck up bastard.

Looking around, I noticed there were two other cells occupied, and surprisingly enough, both by women. One looked like a battered churchwoman, with curly frazzled hair and insane look about her. Her hair was a brown colour, and instead of wearing the white gown that was issued by the church, hers was black, almost like a reaper’s cloak. The other was an elf, with no visible armour, and it looked as if she was meditating in her cell, preparing to escape, but not by stealth, like I would, but through brute force. I also noticed a tattoo on her arm, in the shape of a dragon. She also had no hair, except for the black ponytail that left her head. Just as I was about to strike up conversation, to try and help the night go by faster. I heard footsteps. These footsteps were that of a man with power, it wasn’t the clanking of chain mail, nor the slippers of a thief, but that of leather boots, and the familiar sounding of a gold purse on someone’s hips.

“Ahh, good evening there, my prisoners.” It was that damned nobleman I tried to pick pocket, as well as the giant who had taken me to prison in the first place! “Usually I do not implore the needs of criminals, but the situation I am in needs some loose ends… tied up. Geoff, please, make sure that I cannot be overheard by the prison guards.”

The giant of a man, now with the name Geoff, walked out and closed the door behind him. I could hear some orders being backed by Geoff, but couldn’t make them out.

“I bet you are wondering what loose ends I may be talking about.”

“No, I’m more wondering who you are, and what the hell you want.” The priestess snapped.

“I am merely a businessman, seeking to profit off of a venture of mine, but to profit, I need a war to start. One of the lords of the lands has sent his daughter off for a diplomatic peace mission, to prevent such war from breaking out. I need her eliminated before that time comes to pass. I will, of course, make it worth your while.”

“So in simple common, you want us to whack the princess to keep her from preventing this, “War”, that you want”, I clarify

“To be put bluntly, yes. Now, I’m going to have Geoff unlock your cells after I leave, and however you escape is up to you, just remember, I also have agents watching over your every move, so do not try to double-cross me, because it will end in your deaths.”

“And payment?” Piped up the woman with a black ponytail.

“My first part of payment will be your freedom, and to help yourself to the store room in this prison, since it seems to be filling quite easily nowadays. The second part of your payment will be a wipe of your records and some coin”

“How much coin are we talking about?” I inquired, since I do have somewhat of a weakness to coin.

“Enough for you to live decently”, said the nobleman, “Now I’m sorry to cut this short, but I can’t be talking too long to known and unknown criminals, it makes me seem suspicious.”

They were simple enough conditions, and I noticed the monk and priestess both agreeing, and to hell if I’m going to stay in a cell alone for the night, so we all agreed on helping out the Governor with the murder of a lord’s daughter. I knew I would probably feel guilty later, but at that point and time, I realized I had nothing to lose, since I don’t have a home, or a family to take care of, and my comrades left me high and dry that night, so screw them. The Governor walked out as he came in, and was gone back to his comfortable home, after revealing a few more details of where the princess is scheduled to be traveling over the next few months. Geoff came back, and unlocked the cells for us.

“Yer weapons and gear are stored up in tah back room, along with other people’s things that the guards ‘ave collected over tah years, Tah Govn’er says to ‘elp yerselves tah watcha need.” And with that, he left.

“Excellent…”, came from the priestess, as a whisp of white surrounded her body, and she began clawing her way up the wall, and onto the roof with ease. “I’ll grab some of our stuff, you just take care of those guards.”

She left the room, creeping up the side of the wall, in the motion of that of a spider, and onto the ceiling. She continued on down the hallway to the lounge room, and crept to the storeroom. Realizing the guards would be back soon, I started making a ruckus, and quite annoying one at that, smashing the grate that kept me in my cell over and over, trying to draw attention to the cell room. It wasn’t long until three of the guards came in to check up on the racket. As they did, the girl with the ponytail kept her cell door open, as I closed mine. As soon as one of the guards was in sight, the girl with the black ponytail unleashed her inner fury, with several flurry of blows, one to the guard’s chest, and a few to his head. I stayed in the safety of my cell, not wanting any attention, and not wanting to get my ass kicked by someone in what seemed a fit of rage.

In the other room, the priestess was able to creep into the storage room successfully, and found an old friend of cold, steel. She quickly snatched her Scythe up from the floor, and noticed one of the guards making a round to the storage room. She relocated to above the doorframe, waiting on her prey. As soon as the guard was in range, she lowered her old friend underneath the throat of the guard, and lifted up. At first, the guard’s throat was slit, as he gagged on the metal under his throat, and with another tug, the priestess was able to lop off the unsuspecting guard’s head. Blood spewed from the guard, like an endless fountain of life-juice, coating the priestess in a layer of crimson.

“Heheheh…. Hahahah! AHAHAHA!” Maniacal laughter filled the hallways of the Jailhouse.

Back in the cell room, 2 of the guards had been beaten to death, and the third was on his final few breaths. The monk was still calm, but ruthless, letting her moves direct her, like a stone skipping across the water, bound. Bound, and bound, and she was there, crushing her opponent with her might. As the last guard fell slowly to his death, his heart stopped by the pounding, I quickly went to doing what I do best, and that was ransacking the place as quickly as I could, before more guards could be alarmed.

I ran towards the storage room, and thankfully for my height, the priestess was unable to take off my head, but took off some of my hair.

“Oh, sorry, I guess I let my bloodlust get the best of me.” She basked on the roof, glorifying over her kill.

“Well, watch that shit, I kinda need my head for livin’”,

After that, I went to collecting all I could, backpacks, weapons, and whatever I could find. I made sure to pick up a bedroll, some rations, and my tools that had been confiscated about a week ago, when I tried to break into someone’s house. It took about 5 minutes for me to grab everything for everyone, and I tossed the priestess a backpack, as with the monk,

“We need to get the hell outah here now!”

The bloodlusting priestess was stricken with disappointment, although her face showed the realization of the importance of escape, and the monk wasn’t going to stay there either. Before I left though, I saw a stack of papers on one of the tables, along with a few of the guard’s dinners. I snatched up some of the papers, and then headed out of the Jailhouse, following the crimson priestess and the heartless monk.

“Now what’s the quickest way out of this forsaken place?” the priestess inquired, “It’s been a damper since I ever started my… experiments.”

“If we want speed, we’ll need mounts, and I know just the place, C’mon.” I beckoned them over to a local stable, and sneaked them in. I knew the owner pretty well; he was an elder person, focus more on making a profit, instead of raising proper mounts for lords and such, which made them easy pickings. It was also a right of passage, with my old gang, where we would steal something from the old codger. However, if someone was caught stealing from his home, he would do sadistic things to the thief, just to discourage the action of thievery. I was never caught, but I have heard of the few who were caught. It was none to pretty. We did pretty good getting in undetected, but with the priestess carrying her scythe around, it startled the horses a bit.

“Put that damn thing away, you’re gonna wake the damn owner of the stable up, and I know already too well what he does to thieves.”

“Oh? I just know he’d make a decent addition to my ever-growing corpse pile.” She sneered, and I just huffed back at her.

“It shouldn’t take me too long to get these locks open, just keep an eye out for the ‘ol codger,”

I whipped out my thieves’ tools that I had taken back from the storage room. I started picking the lock that tied the first horse down, which was a steed with a coat that was as black coat that shimmered when the moonlight would hit it. I went next for the closest thing to the horse, which was a brown hose, with white patches spaced out on its pelt. It wasn’t nearly as majestic as the black steed, but it did look well groomed. Now I had to find myself a riding dog, since a horse would be a tad… Big for me. During my time in the town, and in the local tavern, it was rumored; the owner was very prized over his riding dogs, only because he had several halfling merchants that traveled through these parts. A quick glance around the room, I saw a smaller door, and walked in cautiously, careful not to wake the dogs. I went for the first cage that had a riding dog available, and went right to picking the lock. It was a bit more difficult than the first few with the horses. I ended up breaking my first lockpick, which startled some of the dogs, to wake.

“What the hell are you doing in there midget?” the priestess scolded as quietly as she could, “Just get yourself a damn dog, and lets get out of here!”

“What do you think I’m trying to do?” being distracted, I broke another lockpick, which got the dogs barking at me, “Shit, Keep an eye out for that old codger, he’s probably awake now.”

“Only because you startled his dogs, you useless midget!”

After my third attempt, I was able to get a dog unlocked, and quickly mounted it. “Alright, let’s get the hell outah here!” and I rode out of that damn stable. The priestess and monk were shortly behind me, but not before the old man got a look at their faces.

“Damned thieves! If I get my bloody hands on you, ohh, There will be HELL to pay!” the old codger stood there, waving his fist, and yelling for guards.

It was thick brush as soon as we hit the forest, outside of town, as we stuck to the road, trying to get away. It seemed as if we were riding blindly into the forest, having only the beaten path to guide us. After about a half-hour of riding, we came to a fork in the road, and just decided to go down one. We continued down, still worried about following guards, and still riding blindly down the beaten path. After another half-hour, we figured we were far enough away that there was no way we could get caught. We slowed our mounts to a trot and walking pace. It was almost the dead of night, and it seemed that we were all somewhat exhausted, well, I was at least. However, stopping at the side of the road would have been a bad idea.

“I think I see a clearing.” The monk just said out loud.

“Alright, it looks like we’re going to camp there for the night then.” I said, taking a leadership role, right from the beginning.

It was another five minutes before we reached the clearing. We approached it very cautiously, not wanting to gain any unwanted attention. Lucky for us, there was no one in the clearing at the time.

“It looks like we’ll rest here for the night” I yawned.

The priestess seemed to be a bit iffy about staying out in the open, but the monk was perfectly happy with it.

“By the way, I don’t think I know any of your names. I’m Zaft, and no, I’m not a midget, I’m a halfling.”

“You’re still a midget in my eyes.” The priestess snapped, clearly displeased, “Well, if we’re getting to know each other, I’m Vadianna.” After her introduction, Vadianna went off into the bush. Before she disappeared from site, though, I noticed that the crimson had dried on her robes, and needed cleaning, in my opinion though.

“Silaque” the monk simply stated

“Silaque, that’s an odd name. Hey, mind if I ask why you were in the jailhouse?”

“Simple, I was in a fight, some drunk was picking a fight with a woman. I stepped in and made sure the drunk wasn’t going to harass anyone ever again.” I stood in shock, which she seemed emotionless, “Now it’s my turn to ask a question, What’s a halfling”

“Ugh, do you not pay attention to the world around you? Well, whatever, as you can see, I’m like a shorter human. That’s why Vad over there seems to like to call me midget. From what I gathered from others like me, is we’re somewhat of a curious race of beings. Mind another question from me?”

“Shoot”

“You seem pretty damn strong, how’d ya get that way?”

“It comes from training at the monastery where I was raised. They were bright times, full of prospect, until I was banished from the monastery.” Silaque stopped there, and it was silent.

“So wha-“

“I don’t want to talk about it”

“Right, I guess I need to learn when to hold my tongue. Well, I’m gonna get some rest”

Silaque nodded at me, and climbed up a tree for meditative sleep. I still don’t know where Vadianna disappeared to, but she seems to be able to take care of herself. I personally was just barely able to hold my eyes open. I pulled out my bedroll, and found a nice resting-place, soften by some grass at the base of the tree where the monk was meditating. It wasn’t a moment later, when I drifted off to a deep sleep.

I awoke on a grey, sand dune, full of nothing. Staring off into the distance, I was able to make out a few figures, one was dark, shroud of a person, and the other was that of a demon, slowly walking to me. Fear soon overwhelmed all of my senses, and I began a mad dash across the barren wasteland of nothing. All I could feel is was my heart, pounding, as it raced with my pace. Looking over my shoulder, I could see the shrouded figure creeping faster and faster on me, and saw the demon release it’s bat-like wings, and started soaring above me. Still running, I had to focus, I had to keep going, moving faster and farther, don’t let the darkness consume me. Not far, I could see a hut.

“I have to make it, I have to make it, I have to make it!”

The shadows crept even faster now. It’s on my heels, and the demon was now gliding, watching, with Hawkeye’s. I kept charging the hut, getting closer and closer. I felt despair and hope battling. The ground underneath me began to shift. The fine grains of sand started to change into something. They were spiders. I kept up a mad dash for the hut, trying to avoid the darkness, while crushing eight legged freaks under my feet with each step. I was almost to the little sanctuary, when I felt my feet taken out from underneath me. I could feel the darkness, taking me in, as I began to fall. I could feel all my hopes, dreams, and any other positive feelings leave my soul. I was left with despair, and kept falling deeper into it. Spiraling down, a glimmer of silver threads was able to catch me.

“Wait, what is this? I’ve stopped falling, but I can’t move.”

Trying to lift my arm, I found the silver threads that had saved me, were now imprisoning me. The same was true for the rest of me. And that’s when I saw it creep from the shadows. Six red orbs, looking deep into my soul. The little light of hope I still had remaining illuminated the creatures, revealing eight massive legs, the color of crimson dripped from the limbs, which were a deep blue. The crude marking of a spider lay on its forehead. Underneath its massive body, was a bloody cocoon.

“Ahh, what do I have here”, the creature said, drawing out it’s speech

“Holy shit! It can talk”

“Indeed I can, and I would advise you to watch your, tongue. It seems like it’ll cause you more trouble than what it’s worth”

“Where am I, what’s going on, what the hell are you?!”

“Relax, you have been chosen, by fate. You will not meet the same fate as this, poor soul.” As spiders started crawling out of the corpse, “No, your fate is different, much dif’rent. You shall end up serving, my master, as I do.”

The spiders from the corpse started crawling closer. I struggled to get free. There was no hope left, I was left in complete darkness. I could feel the spiders crawling up my legs, thousands of needles not quite piercing my skin. I screamed, screamed for help, screamed for this to end, screamed for sanctuary, all returned with nothing. Suddenly, I could feel the spiders totally still on my body and then, a piercing pain.

I shot awake from the tree I was sleeping on. Wondering what I had just experienced. I was still short of breath, and my body was numb. As I calmed down, I started to realize that it was all a dream and didn’t mean anything, or I hoped it didn’t mean anything.