<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/ljYAgW2.jpg)</div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">You're really not making this easy lol.  That's a good thing, don't get me wrong, but I had to think about this for a while.  Good job on that one.  Also, after watching a bunch of Undertale, I can't look at 'determination' or some variation thereof without immediately thinking of Frisk and the Pacifist Run lol.  Now all we need is Goat Mom Toriel.  Just kidding on that lol.</div></div><br/>Zerxel had to sigh and hang her head as Tahkina made her counterargument against not dealing with the spiderlings.  She couldn't refute her logic for the simple fact that she was right, and in refusing her proposition, the rogue was essentially dooming her to a fate possibly worse than simply death if not outright corruption.  Running a hand down her face, Zerxel blew out a frustrated groan of a breath before nodding her head.<strong>"Alright, we'll do it your way, but let me go on record and say I do not approve in the slightest.  I'd rather we find someone else on the way if at all possible though, because I have a strong suspicion either Shugar has Tsara's soul fruit, or we do, since we found three of them around the golem, one of which was yours and since you said she was with you if I remember correctly chances are good that we have her, and I'd rather not sacrifice her at all if we can avoid it.  The same goes for...what you said earlier."</strong>She stated vaguely, referring to the other method of getting around the resting room restrictions that up until a few moments ago, she had believed were inviolable.<br/><br/>Whatever her thoughts on the matter, Zerxel would turn to Bo and sigh before looking at the tavern doors.<strong>"We are, except for one last bit of business, Bo.  I have no idea if we'll see this place again, and after what...what I said and did in there, I'd rather try and talk to Lisa before we leave.  I might believe no place is truly safe in the Dungeon, but it's her choice about what she does from here, and I had no right to say otherwise as I did.  Besides, after what you said to me, I'm figuring out I've been a bit....obsessive, and...well, look I want you both to hear what I say to her, especially since I was contacted by someone I honestly wanted nothing to do with.  Call it family history, but... it's why I've been so determined from day one."</strong>Whatever<em>it</em>was that she wasn't saying must have been pretty if she wasn't outright talking about it then and there.  That alone likely warranted a great deal of curiosity in and out of the Dungeon, needless to say, but by revealing what she had kept to herself for so long, she'd essentially be telling Matron Baenre to shove her offer of help and advice where the sun didn't shine.  It would ensure the major drow houses would be against them, but for the sake of her soul and her conscience, she needed to do this.<br/><br/>As such, she asked Bo to grab Lisa and bring her outside while she mentally prepared herself for the task at hand.  While it took some doing, Bo soon returned with the human girl in tow, although she understandably wasn't happy about it as she jerked her arm free of the dwarf's grasp.  Holding up a hand just as Lisa started to open her mouth, Zerxel sighed and looked to the dirt pathway that led away from the tavern's front patio as she leaned on the wooden railing, her back to the human.<strong>"I didn't want to leave until I had had a chance to apologize, Lisa.  I know there's likely not a lot I can say to make up for what happened, for what I did in there, but I had hoped to get a chance to explain myself while I had a chance now that....well, doesn't matter.  What matters though is that as this is likely the last time we'll see each other, so you can think what you like afterwards about me, just give me a chance to do this."</strong>When Lisa made no further move to interrupt her, Zerxel turned and put her back to the railing before folding her arms under her barely covered chest.<strong>"To put a very long story short, I'm sure you know what people say about mine.  That we're murderers, demon worshiping bastards of the worst kind.  Most people wouldn't be wrong because we have a long history of betraying each other, of killing our own kind let alone anyone that is unfortunate enough to make our acquaintance.  As for our 'allies', drow have an old saying about them."</strong>It was here that Zerxel quoted the saying Matron Baanre had sent to her in 'advising' her on how to deal with Bo and Tahkina in turn once she had 'outlived her usefulness,' something she wasn't about to do anytime soon of course.<br/><br/><strong>"That's the world I came from.  The strong survive, the weak end up as slaves or dead, some sacrificed to our old goddess, Lolth, the Spider Queen.  But my family was different, compared to most of the drow noble Houses that rule our underground home.  We have a few old stories, legends now even among our own kind, from centuries before even Pandora arrived to this world.  All of them tell of a pair of drow, a father and son, Zaknefein and Drizzt, the former which I take my last name from.  They were different from most drow in their own way, they wanted more than what their dark brethren would ever achieve, bound to Lolth and her chaotic ways as they are even now.  One of them was too old and beaten by the evil he had helped perpetuate by simply surviving another day, but his son would escape the Underdark, he would forge a new life on the surface, making friends and enemies alike in the years that followed, but he became a hero unlike any other during his relative youth, but all of our stories say the same thing even if most of the other details have been either lost or confused with the ages.  His father gave his life for his son, not once but twice, so that he might live in peace, away from the drow that would have otherwise hunted him down and done more than simply kill him.  I grew up on those stories, of my family's namesake sacrificing his life so that others might live, so when I understood what the Dungeon was and what it meant for this world, for <em>this </em>place, I didn't know it at the time, but I was willing to go that far so that others might go free from this cursed contest.  I still am....but I've been recently forced to realize that there's such a thing as going too far to achieve one's goals."</strong><br/><br/>Pushing away from the railing, Zerxel sighed and looked away from Lisa's face, unable to meet her gaze or anyone else's for that matter as even her red eyes fell away from Tahkina and Bo's respective faces.<strong>"Somewhere along the way, the simple desire and willingness to do all I could to protect everyone turned into a total obsession.  I still have a ways to go before I could honestly answer a question that was posed to me,"</strong>she said as she glanced at Bo for emphasis,<strong>"but I acknowledge the fact I've been too....harsh when dealing with certain situations and people, yourself included.  I had no right to say and do what I did to you, Lisa.  I might believe this place is akin to the Nine Hells themselves, that they aren't safe in the slightest, even here, but if you wish to stay then that's your choice, not mine.  Besides, the fact you even made it this far is testament enough of your strength and ability as a person, let alone a contestant to this depraved Dungeon.  You deserve the respite this tavern offers, especially if you truly believe yourself incapable of going further than this.  But our path is still ahead of us."</strong>