House Taral had gone completely silent for a day. No slaves worked, no one left or entered the House, and no training occurred. The Matron had been giving birth and had deemed it a Holy Ritual to the whole House. The birthing took place in the Antechamber of the Matron. She had all of her priestesses at hand assisting her and praying to Lolth. Sitting in a corner of the room was a yellow, waxy demon… A Yochlol, otherwise known as a Hand Maiden of Lolth, the demon was there to oversee the birth of the Matron’s first born. Zhaan’Thall held the edges of her birthing chair tightly and screamed loudly as she pushed out the infant. The matron muttered prayers to her Goddess repeatedly in between pushes and her efforts finally paid off upon hearing the cry of an infant. Zhaan had given birth to her first born, a son.
The Handmaiden approached the exhausted matron as the priestesses handled the baby and silenced his cried. They brought him back to the Matron, and a dagger. “This child’s name… Is Lolindir.” Zhaan stated as she readied her knife in one hand and cradled the baby boy in her arm. She put the tip of the dagger to his chest, ready to sacrifice her son before the handmaiden of Lolth.
“Stay your blade, Zhaan’Thaal!” The demon ordered and lashed Zhaan across the face with a waxy tentacle.“Lolth does not want him yet!”
Zhaan’Thall took the hit with no complaint, but she was confused. “But… I am to sacrifice him to our Queen. That is what she commanded of me.”
The Yochlol stared at Zhaan with it’s singular eye and growled with a seething rage. “You fool. She does command that he be sacrificed… But when he’s matured and strong enough for her needs. Lolth requires him to be devout, strong, wise and fearless before she takes him for herself. You will raise him as any other First Boy is raised, and he is not to know of his destiny until it is time! There are others out there born for this reason. Lolindir will have to prove himself better than the others… Either way, he belongs to the lady.” The Yochlol wrapped it’s tentacle around Lolindir’s eyes and after a quick chant it let go. “Remember, train him well.” The Yochlol said as it faded.
Zhaan looked down at Lolindir, and his eyes opened and he looked at her bright red eyes with small, dark green orbs. She thought hard about how to best go about having Lolindir raised and she said to one of her Priestesses. “Bring his father, Nathalak in. I need to talk to him.”
Lolindir carefully walked through the Dragon Wastes outside of the walls of Chrenzhinzhador. The name came from the long dead dragons that were chained down in this deep Underdark, and left to the devices of the monsters of the Underdark. They were a massive, open space with massive stalagmites dotting the landscape. Savage creatures lurked around every curve, behind every massive bone of a long dead white wyrms whose deaths were responsible for the brutal cold that affected the area and gave the city it’s nickname of ‘The Frozen City’. The Arch-Mage had tasked his son with killing a monster unique to the outskirts of Chrenhzhinzhador… A Deep Remorhaz. Forty feet in length, as dark as the floor they crawl upon and one of the deadliest creatures around.
Outfitted with only a long bow with a quiver of poisoned arrows, a long sword, a dagger and a set of armor Lolindir was on the hunt for the beast. Darkvision alone would not aid the young drow in spotting the remorhaz, he would have to lure it out of hiding and take it out before it finds him. He had been out for hours now, the intense cold would eventually get to him and he had to find his target quickly.
The Dragon Wastes were silent, and if there was any sound that meant only one thing. Someone found their death. Lolindir wasn’t aiming to be the mind of fool who would walk right into a spider’s nest or step on a remorhaz head. The young drow reached down and picked up a rock and felt it’s texture. Part of the stone crumbled in his hand and he found it to be layered. Shale. He reeled back and threw the stone far from him.
The stone hit the floor and he caught the movement of a small remorhaz run at the rock. He avoided staying in the open with his prey in sight, and he followed it as it retreated from it’s location. Upon discovering there was no food for it, the small remorhaz retreated for fear of it’s own life. He followed the beast across the fields, until it found shelter within a cave. Lolindir carefully came around the mouth of the cave and looked, only to find his target being devoured by a larger, angrier remorhaz. It swallowed the small beast and then saw Lolindir as it finished. The spines along it’s back lit up violently with heat as it quickly became enraged.
The monster let out a loud scream and backed up before charging for the entrance. Lolindir cursed under his breath and jerked himself away from the mouth of the cave. Nearly forty-three feet of remorhaz charged out and it circled back around and stared the dark elf down, judging the best way to catch him. Without much thought it lunged forward like a cobra and nearly crushed Lolindir against the wall, but the agile drow rolled out of the way and quickly jumped upon the head of the creature.
Lolindir quickly pulled out his long sword and slammed it into a gap of the monster’s chitinous plating, into a gap where the body segments met. The beast roared out in pain and flung itself backwards, trying to throw him off.
But it's thrashing was in vain, Lolindir had a secure hold and was not going to let go. The violent heat along it's back didn't reach Lolindir, but it did keep him warm enough to maintain some strength that the cold would otherwise sap away. The remorhaz began running aimlessly, and Lolindir began jerking the blade around, attempting to decapitate it. It felt Lolindir moving and bucked unexpectedly, tossing the young drow and the sword off. It curled around and looked down at the prone elf. Lolindir looked up and quickly rolled out of the way as it slammed it’s head into the ground where he was.
The drow quickly got back to his feet and pulled out his long bow and strung it with a single arrow dripping with a black poison and aimed it at the remorhaz. He knew it’s chitin was too hard for the arrow to pierce, and shooting into the gaps would require a miracle... So he decided to shoot it into the belly of the beast.
It was a risky move if not suicidal, but Lolindir decided that this was going to happen. The remorhaz pulled itself free from the ground and stared at Lolindir, it’s spines were bright like torches. It’s mouth opened as it roared at him once more, but when it did, Lolindir released the arrow and it darted right into the mouth of the beast. It coughed and choked a little as it’s spines cooled. It spit out the arrow after a moment of struggle, but it’s blood coated the arrow now.
The creature looked at Lolindir who began running, and it began chasing him. Lolindir didn’t care about making noise now, he was being chased by the deadliest predator he could possibly encounter outside the city. Any creature knew not to reveal itself when a deep remorhaz was after it’s prey and Lolindir knew it. He looked back to see how far it was and nearly tripped when the rampaging monster was all he could see. He looked back ahead and ran for the nearest large stalagmite. The remorhaz saw what he was doing though and ran around him and rammed into the large rock, toppling it before turning back to him before.
The remorhaz ran right at him, mouth wide open and it’s legs stabbing into the stone ground. Lolindir jumped atop the remorhaz and grabbed onto the op of it’s plating. Without his sword he could not stab it and hold on, but he still had some arrows. He reached into the quiver with his free hand, pulling out a handful of arrows, and then stabbed them into the soft tissue within the gap. The remorhaz let out a weak cry and it’s running slowed down as the poison worked through it’s system.
After struggling with the poison, the remorhaz fell, and Lolindir crawled off of it. The drow grabbed it’s head and slowly pulled it off, taking a small dagger from the inside of his boot and cut most of the flesh away. He carried the head away and carefully walked back to Chrenzhinzhador to turn in the head to his father and complete his test.
Lolindir dropped the large head of the monster at his father’s feet once he reached the gate, and the Arch-Mage looked down at in and nodded. “I could see the whole thing from here. I’m surprised you managed to take it down the way you did. If it weren’t for the poisoned arrows though, you would have failed.” He turned away and began walking through the gate as it opened. “Upstairs.”
He followed his father upstairs and they got up to a guard’s balcony, overlooking the Dragon Wastes. Nathalak spotted a scavenger leaving the gate to go out into the wastes. He turned to Lolindir and looked around before motioning him to come over.
“That scavenger noticed your bout with the remorhaz and if off to pilfer whatever they can from the beast. Better some other beast gets it than some coward who wants to profit from it’s bones. Kill him.”
Lolindir looked out and could see that it was no man at all, but a woman, ignoble but still a woman. “It’s a woman...”
“Oh... I see...” Nathalak grabbed Lolindir and pointed out there “Kill HER. Were I the matron I would have expected it done by now. And when she tells you to kill someone, your next movements should be towards killing whoever she says, and your next words must be ‘Yes, Matron’. You will not question why, you will not ask when. You will do it. So... Pretend I’m the Matron. Kill her.”
Lolindir drew his bow and strung an arrow, aiming it at the scavenger outside of the wall. He drew the bow back and let the arrow fly. The next thing he saw was the woman stopping, and then falling to the ground.
Nathalak watched and nodded approvingly. “Good shot. She must have been seventy five meters away... Lolindir, your whole life is going to be full of killing, no matter where you are. One day, you won’t even think about it.” He watched his son begin walking away, and then Nathalak said something the would surprise any dark elf in the city. “Killing should never be fun. Remember that.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Lolindir said, before leaving his father alone on that balcony.
Pulling out a moon shaped pendant, Nathalak whispered, “Keep that in mind every day of your life, Lolindir. Some day you may not even be trapped down here.”
