[Game Thread] Chapter 6h: Of Bards and Brothers

[Makenshi]

Xufaer thinks for a moment before shaking her head. "I'll do it myself. I'm going to need to earn my own trust if I'm to remain here, or find somewhere else more tolerant of my presence." She gives him a suspicious look at his mention of the spell before responding, dryly. "Hmmm. You don't say? I wonder where it is that you got that idea from. Or should I say from whom?"

~MTWC

[Acathala]

"A good idea is a good idea, no matter the source. Besides, you can never have too many attack spells that do other things as well as damage. You have inspired a lot of my spells too, Xufaer."
On her doing things herself, he nods. "As you wish. In the event you change your mind, I will be in the palace somewhere. Do you have any intentions regarding Triss? Or Xul'olin should she appear?"

[Makenshi]

"Unless they become obstacles or nuisances to me, I don't really consider either of them to be my concern. If Xul'olin and her brutish son do re-emerge, I expect they would be a nuisance to someone. As for Trisss..." After pausing to think Xufaer shrugs. "Honestly? I'd advise these Halvans to kill her. She's of no political value and can't be trusted. She's also at her weakest until she converts to another..." She trails off, lost in thought for a moment. "Hmmm. It's only just occurred to me what a substantial shift in power Deimos has wrought. With Lolth's death there is no natural second choice for her former worshippers, not with Ciin and her progeny having been the ones to orchestrate their downfall. An interesting dilemma. I almost wish I was still below so I could see how it unfolds."

~MTWC

[Acathala]

"I wonder... Deimos gave his Tiefling daughter Dea Lolth's power. If she's smart, and from what I have seen, she is, Dea could build up a power base."

[Makenshi]

Xufaer pauses for a moment in thought before breaking out into the barest ghost of a smile, the very same one she tended to have once she'd solved a problem or had an idea. "Hmmm. Indeed. Even with her it wouldn't be quite the same but I could see it happening, especially if she can put aside any personal feelings and work with the Exchange. Interesting."

~MTWC

[Acathala]

"Well she cannot be worst than that man-hating demon bitch." Nallaul said bluntly. It's the first time he had spoken of Lolth in those terms to a female, even Xufaer. It felt oddly freeing to do so.
"Unless you have need of me, I should probably go. I have an interrogation to look forward to."

[Makenshi]

Later that day Nallaul finds himself in one of the many meeting rooms inside the palace, not to speak to the King, but to the Archmage, Morgan Wainraith. Given the nature of the conversation to come it would have been difficult enough talking to him alone, let alone talking to the tall human while the even taller Minloth Zilira loomed over the back of Morgan's chair. Her arms were draped lazily over the other wizard's shoulders, but from the moment that Nallaul entered the room her grey eyes seemed to bore into Nallaul's.

The room itself was similar in appearance and tone to Xufaer's - expensive but not overly extravagant - however this only had one large table in the middle of the room with a few smaller tables spread around the outside wall, and most of those merely held decorative pieces. As for Morgan himself, he wasn't exactly dressed as Nallaul might have expected a man of his station would. He looked somewhere between scruffy and presentable, especially when it came to his shaggy hair. He even managed to look a little put out by Zilira's antics, although he didn't say anything out loud to dissuade her as Nallaul entered.

Zilira herself was just as he would expect from all he knew of her, with thick, black silk wrapped around her body as armour and even though she was leaning over, he could clearly see that standing at her full height, she would tower over both of the mages.

"Take a seat." Morgan gestured to the high-backed wooden chair next to him. Although he was sitting at the table, he'd turned both his seat and the one he pointed out towards each other, rather than towards the centre of the table. Once Nallaul has taken the seat (or chosen the stand, if he desires), he gets straight to the point. "Out with it then."

~MTWC

[Acathala]

This was not a conversation Nallaul was looking forward to, or wanted. Unfortunately Hywel had left him little choice. Damn the Elerian and his games. He sits down, with little idea how to begin. Silence prevails for a few moments. Finally he speaks. "Few things unite the Drow great Houses. One is heresy against Lolth. We hunted down heretics. Eventually I faced off against a rival Arachnomancer. A closely fought battle until I changed the rules, leading to a great victory for me." He looks haunted now. " Unfortunately the Matron Mother thought the same, and I was assigned an "honour" of Lolth." He stares off into space. "A fancy way of saying I had to sacrifice someone to Lolth."

[Makenshi]

Zilira continues to stare at Nallaul as he talks, while Morgan at least looks a little uncomfortable about the subject at hand. "Killing children is common to the Drow then, is it?"

Whether he was asking her or not, Zilira beats Nallaul to the answer. "Blood is power, you should know that Morgan. I lost it should be reiterated that Zilira is Lolth's daughter, born before Lolth became a Goddess, so by what Zilira is saying, she was doing it even as a mortal and even to her own childrena few siblings to Lolth's knife, so I don't find it difficult to believe she'd make others do it after finally becoming a Goddess herself."

Morgan gives Zilira a sympathetic look, but doesn't comment on the revelation about her own past experiences before turning back to Nallaul. "Go on, Nallaul. What happened exactly?"

~MTWC

[Acathala]

"Not quite as common as it used to be, but it does still happen. It used to be the practice to sacrifice the third male child as soon as he was born. Thankfully the dwindling numbers of "noble" Drow forced an end to that. Amongst the poor, children that are sickly or disabled are often left to die. That was very nearly my fate."
On Morgan asking what happened next he sighed. "Later Fairy came to me with a message to get my best robes on as the "family" was going to the great temple, and I was to be honoured. Like a fool I didn't realise what was going to happen until I saw the baby on the altar. After all the chanting. Myr'delith handed the sacrificial knife, and....I....I ended a life."

[Makenshi]

Morgan tapped his fingers against the table in thought, not really looking at Nallaul, while Zilira clasped her hands in front of him, effectively hugging the human now from behind. Eventually, the mage speaks up again. "And if you hadn't?"

~MTWC

[Acathala]

"We would have died." Nallaul said bluntly. "Even if I somehow managed to escape, I would not have survived the hunt. I would have been dragged back to the temple and tortured to death. Lady Zilira can confirm that."

[Makenshi]

Morgan looks over his shoulder at Zilira questioningly, with the Goddess in question shrugging slightly. "It sounds like something she'd do, but the specifics are she was defeated/bound/had her death faked shortly after the end of the Demongate Wars, so she wouldn't be very familiar with any of the more 'modern' Drow practicesafter my time."

Morgan looks from Nallaul back to Zilira. "And him?"

"I believe him. Still, best to delve in and make sure he's not hiding anything, but at the moment I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt." She disentangles herself from the human wizard before standing at her full height behind him, arms crossed over her chest.

Morgan taps his fingers again in thought, seemingly staring at nothing in particular, before speaking up again. "Well, before we go that far, first I need to know what your intentions are. All I know is that you're trying to help your brother and his daughters, which seems strange from everything I've heard about Drow families. So, lets assume that Tel'shar will be fine, what would you do then?"

~MTWC

[Acathala]

"Tel'shar...I have known him since I was a child. We have always looked out for each other. We have something very rare to Drow. A genuine friendship. I don't know how it survived the Underdark, but it did." He smiled briefly. "We truly are family."
He thinks on the question. "To be honest, I haven't thought that far ahead. Events have proceeded rapidly. Probably help the girls and Xufaer adapt to the surface if they will let me. Ultimately I would like to pursue my art. Magic is my passion." He looked at the pair. "I should also say Lady and I have been flirting, and kissed. This was before I knew she was a goddess."

[Makenshi]

As Morgan is about to reply Zilira bursts into laughter. "What's so funny about that?"

Zilira manages to respond between laughs. "I did say he reminded me of you a little."

Morgan sighs, rolling his eyes as he ignores the Goddess' rather un-God-like antics. Nallaul had certainly never heard of Lolth acting anything like this, or any of the surface Gods from what little information he had been able to learn about them. "While I appreciate the honesty, I'm not really sure that's much of our business. That does actually lead me to something I've been meaning to ask you though." He leans forward, pulling out a quill and small book from a pocket. Presumably he intended to take notes.

"You said you interacted a little with her, her brother and a third of these 'Unknown Gods' in the Underdark, right? Well, now that we're not under imminent threat of a Fiendish invasion I'd like to hear what you observed and know. Anything you can remember, so matter how minor it might seem. Even the more helpful and talkative of them have explicitly said that they won't always be honest with us, so finding out anything about them is mostly a matter of piecing every little piece of information together and seeing what fits."

By now, Zilira was other her laughing fit, but she had seemingly given up staring Nallaul down and instead plopped down onto another nearby seat, behind Morgan, and started playing with shadows, seemingly not really paying attention to the two of them any more.

~MTWC