You evade capture

You relished the sensation of the warmth of the bath. Opportunities to get genuinely clean in the matchsticks are rare. Last time, you simply stood naked outside in a downpour of a storm, forgoing decency and privacy just to rid yourself of all of the dirt and grime. This was a more patient affair, and with the benefit of four walls to surround you, no leering eyes from lonely and desperate men. Getting the stench and degradations of those two specific men made this all the more necessary. The sooner their vile remnants were removed from your body, the sooner you could forget having done such a regrettable act. You did what you needed to keep a roof over your head, such as it was, but that was utterly repulsive. Is this really what life had come to, you wondered, where you let yourself be sexually assaulted, just to have a place to sleep? You did what you could to push that out of your mind so you could simply enjoy the present moment. The high of cleanliness wouldn't last long, not in your environment, but you savored it as best you could with the time and company you had. Jiaghan, your teen High Elf friend, was even more elated. With her having gotten cleaned up, her golden hair and smile made her look as innocent and carefree as any Child of the Six Sisters should. The dinner that followed sent her over the moon.

"Seriously Liz, this is the best day ever!" She extolled as she gobbled up her dinner; a pasta dish with bits of bacon and a sauce made from the drippings, eggs, and some butter. It was a conceptually simple dish, but the comfort of such a fatty and comforting meal felt outright decadent by comparison. You smiled outwardly at her behavior, but inwardly felt the weight of the Matchsticks upon your soul. Even the positive moments, felt like cruel reminders of how difficult and painful the mundane moments of every day life was. That a clean body and a full belly could be such a high point for her typified the miserable experience that you both shared, and it inherently drew you closer to her. This kid, on paper, should be your enemy, Drow having warred against Elves and the rest of the surface world since the First Age, to say nothing of the Triumvirate War. Even for you and her, such events become ancient history, and old grudges quickly fall away when you can help each other survive.

"Pace yourself" You said warningly "we gotta pace ourselves if we want this coin to last."

"Okay fine, mom." She replied sarcastically. The remark caused a quiet giggle out of you, which returned a giggle from her. The outburst attracted a few eyes, but nothing terrible. If that's all you receive as a Drow, that's an improvement. "What are we doing next?" Jiaghan asked between bites of food

"Well, I would suggest we end things on a high note. We share the rest of the winnings, go our separate ways, and call it a night."

"Ya, okay..." She said morosely, the high mood having fallen out of her like a stone. She looked at you a longing, pleading look that you wouldn’t have anticipated a moment ago "Can I stay with you, Liz, at least for tonight?"

"Sure, if you need to. What happened to that Dwarven fellow? The Blacksmith? He seemed like he was ready to take you in as his apprentice or something."

"Ya, he was. I don't know what happened. Nobody's seen him in over a week..." A painful silence hung over the two of you. An unexplained absence for that long usually only meant one thing, and it was never good news. You nod quietly.

"Stay with me however long you need Jiaghan. You know my door's always open to you"

"You don't even have a door" she said teasingly. The two of you quietly finished your meal, enjoying the peace and the comfort of the moment. You both dragged on the last few bites of your food. Neither of you were used to eating so much food, and the sooner you had finished, the sooner you had to leave and return to the dreariness of the real world.

Having stalled long enough, you eventually departed, walking back through the heavy streets of the Matchsticks. You’d made it a decent way down the street, a good mile down the street, before you heard a loud shout, and saw the two men you and Jiaghan swindled earlier from their money, standing at a corner, a few dozen feet between you and them. Clearly seen the two of you, they no doubt figured out they've been had by the fury in their eyes and the fury of their voices as they shouted their slurs of choice. On sight, they start charging for you both like attack dogs. You have just enough time before panic starts to set in to give Jiaghan warning, who had not immediately caught notice.

"Come on kid, let's go!" You shouted as the two of you made a run for it. They goons were surprisingly fast, hate being a useful fuel for the body, but nimbleness common in both your kind helped you and Jiaghan keep a distance from them. Without a plan, the two of you simply made choices of what road to turn through or run down on a whim of the immediate second. You would normally hope to simply outlast them, but their fury was a strong motivator. Having been outwitted by you both, they weren’t going to be spurned again by being outlasted if they could help it.

The two of you caught a fortunate break, inadvertently on a course leaving the Matchsticks altogether and into the more respectable and safe parts of Ten Forces. Finding a second wind you sprinted across the stone arch bridge across Lura Creek, acting as the informal barrier into the more modern and less impoverished part of the city. Pausing for a second on the opposite end, you looked behind you to measure progress and saw that Jiaghan was falling behind. Matters worse, the two human men now had a clear shot to sprint towards you, just as you had sprinted away from them across the bridge. You martialed a deep breath, running towards Jiaghan to grab her by the wrist and pull her along, trying to give her the extra nudge to pick up her speed. It was dangerous, you realized, slowing you down considerably. It was a risk you had to take, there was no way you were going to let this poor thing fend for herself against these ruffians, if it came to that.

"Come on! Don't quit on me now!" You shouted out as you tried to get her moving. Through labored breaths and a trembling body, she picked up the pace with you, making a last effort to evade a fate worse than death.

Running through unfamiliar territory, you took a tight turn around a corner shop, hoping in desperation to outlast them. In just an instant, you saw a heavily armored human in the doorway making their way out. You thought nothing of it, running past them just as you had everyone else, until you heard a heavy clang behind you. Turning around, you saw the armored human, a man with sword and shield drawn; one of the goons on his back, not moving, and the other guarded but standing behind him. You quickly shout to Jiaghan, who had kept running "Stop!". Unsure of who this was or what was going on, you felt compelled to see what would happen next. If nothing else, it was a pause enough for you to catch your breath.

"Get your friend, and get back. It's over" Though he spoke only slightly louder than normal conversation, the armored man's threat was convincing, the second thug began to laboriously drag his fallen and still immobilized comrade street back to the Matchsticks. As he turned around, he flashed a smile that was as large as it was disconcerting.

"Evening ladies. Sorry those bruisers ruined such a beautiful night. Hopefully they won't be bothering you anymore. Are you two hurt in any way?"

"We’re fine” Your flat cynicism took him by surprise "They’ll leave us alone for the moment, but now they have all the more reason to be vengeful and vindictive. Thanks to you, now they’ll never stop coming after us." You looked at your elven friend, and made a nudging motion with your head to move on.

"Woah, hang on now." He replied, talking loudly in the street "I clearly don’t have the full story, and I’m sorry if I made it worse for either of you somehow. If what you’re saying is true, than you’re clearly in some trouble, and I'd like to help out.” He looked back at the establishment behind, than looked at you again, this thumb pointing back to the establishment “The innkeeper's a friend, let me talk him, let you two stay the night here where you're safe."