Of Families and Scales... (Ze'Marri)

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Of Families and Scales... (Ze'Marri)

Post by ebonith » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:14 pm

BLACK SCALES COMPANY TEMPORARY HQ - TREADSTONE TENAMENT - PRESENT DAY
It was a necessary annoyance. To Agitha Ze’Marri, the flickering flame was a nuisance to her red eyes. However, she suffered through its brightness nightly. It was a “necessary evil” to have her eyes grow accustomed to using candlelight in order to read words on parchment. As the “leader” of the Black Scales Company, the merchant clan could not run by itself. It required work. On this night, it required paperwork. She knew Daralith, her brother, was much more adept with the accounting piece of the business. But on this night, Agitha sent him on an errand elsewhere, thus it was left to her to balance out the ledgers. Placing her quill down on the desk, the priestess stretched her lithe arms and stood from the stone chair. Glancing over, she peered into the full length mirror. Her green robes clung to her shapely body as she reached toward the ceiling above her head. She had changed dramatically over the last couple of years. Not just physically, but mentally, socially…and spiritually. This thought brought her back to a time of danger and suffering last year--when her world was very, very different…

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MIDDLE UNDERDARK – SHARNLANDS (far beneath Trollbark Forest)
1371

How did it come to this?

Agitha’s weary, sleep-deprived red eyes glanced around as they stopped within a vast cavern to rest. With the Matron and the oldest daughter dead, Agitha was left as the “Matron” of what was left of her noble house, Qu’ellar Ze’Marri. It was a caravan of almost 50 drow, henchmen and slaves that had been whittled down from over one hundred souls that escaped Ched Nasad...

Qu’ellar Ze’Marri had been on the rise as a noble house in Ched Nasad. Perhaps they had risen too quickly or perhaps their arrogance became too much for those ranked above them. What was certain was that just a few weeks ago, the attack came with deadly swiftness. It was the forces of a much higher-ranking house, accompanied by hundreds of slaves and mercenaries. Qu’ellar Ze’Marri never stood a chance...

Perhaps the only thing that allowed those few nobles and allies to escape was a miscue be a mercenary company covering the rear flank. No one knows for sure why the lack of action happened, but it did. The lack of a flanking action by the mercenary unit allowed a small patch of land within a mushroom grove for those located in the rear of the house to escape. Those that managed to escape were simply those at the right place, at the right time..and who were plain lucky. Over two hundred beings sprinted for their lives out of the Ze’Marri house as an opening materialized. Half of them that attempted to escape were cut down by a hail of crossbow bolts or destructive magics exploding in the area from both sides of them. When they finally stopped running, nearly an hour later, there were less than 100 people breathing in the group. Drow, duergar mercenaries and slaves, were among the Ched Nasad refugees--and now they truly were alone. They all knew they could never return to Ched Nasad…ever.

Months passed, surviving any way they could. But with limited water, limited rations and little other supplies, the Underdark claimed its share victims, as it always had. Pitfalls, hook horrors, starvation, etc. all took a merciless toll on the survivors. Many who were injured or sick were simply left behind, left for the Underdark to claim them…

At present, they numbered less than 30 beings. A handful of noble drow, another handful of commoner drow, a few duergar mercenaries and the rest were a mixed bag of slaves. Most were half dead due to the lack of water, which went first to the mercenaries and the noble drow…

Agithia licked her chapped lips, trying to conjure moisture where there was none. Shifting her weight, she unslung her shoulder bag and she collapsed in a pile, sitting against the cavern wall. To Agitha, the feeling of just being off her feet was near ecstasy these days. It was fortunate that the refugee band discovered this cave off to the side. It was a roomy cavern that was a great deal warmer than the frigid tunnels they had been traversing. The band began to settle in and take the time to get some much needed sleep—they had been marching for two days straight trying to escape the patrols of Eryndlyn, a nearby drow city. She looked over to Furgar, one of the mercenaries she was still able to pay with what gold she had left to her name, and ordered in Undercommon, “Furgar…I am in need of rest.”

Not needing any other prompting, the stout duergar nodded stoically and began peering around. Just as Agitha was about to doze off, she felt something that was a discomfort under her leg. Reaching over, she pulled out a weathered humanoid arm bone. Suddenly alert, she scanned the large cavern a bit more carefully—there were humanoid bones littering the entire cavern. Quickly springing to her feet, she commanded loudly, “Pack your things! We are leaving this cavern now!”

The entire band did not question the orders of the Lolth priestess and oldest surviving female of Qu’ellar Ze’Marri. But everyone froze when a ghostly, yet deep rumbling laugh echoed against the cavern walls…

“HAHAHA”

There was a dangerous silence as the group darted their eyes around in fear, trying to discern where the laugh was coming from.

With supernatural clarity, a voice filled with ghostly grace echoed dangerously throughout the cavern, “UNFORTUNATELY FOR ALL OF YOU, I AM AFRAID THAT WILL BE AN IMPOSSIBILITY. IT SEEMS THAT ALL OF YOU WILL NOW BE MY GUESTS…PERMANENTLY.”

As if to emphasize the direness of the refugees’ predicament, a humongous shadow detached itself from the high, darkened depths of the cavern above and situated its dark, shadowy dragon form in front of the entrance, rattling the rock walls with its gigantic frame as it landed…
Last edited by ebonith on Wed May 02, 2018 3:12 pm, edited 9 times in total.
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Re: Of Families and Scales...

Post by ebonith » Tue Apr 24, 2018 8:31 pm

MIDDLE UNDERDARK – SHARNLANDS – LAIR OF BASTRIXUS
1371


It felt like she had been sitting down for an eternity. All of the band was lined up, side by side, with the largest creature that Agitha had ever seen standing in front of them. For hours, the shadow dragon, who introduced himself as Bastrixus, had been torturing, killing…and eating the members of the band one by one. Agitha was quite sure the elder dragon was getting immense enjoyment out of mocking the group—especially the drow nobles.

What began as thirty souls was now down to twenty. Creatures of shadow surrounded the prisoners, ensuring that none of them tried to run. One slave did run and the humanoid being of shadow eviscerated the goblin where everyone had a clear line of sight. So far, ten prisoners had been slowly eaten by the dragon, dismembered by the dragon with his claws and others turned into foul, nearly insubstantial creatures of shadow from the dragon’s dark breath attack—those victims now stood as mindless servants of the shadow dragon. But the dragon had not killed any nobles…that was about to change.

Its voice did not resonate now that it was close to its prey. The booming voice teased, ”I wonder…” It peered over at Agitha and then back to one of her younger sisters. His taloned finger pointed to her and dared, ”I want you to pray to your Queen of Spiders, pray to your goddess…I want to see how powerful she is in this realm…”

The sister, known as Carveila, was frozen in sheer terror. Agitha tried not to look over, but she could not help herself. She wanted to see what was going to happen. The dragon was relentless, ”Well Priestess? Go on…

Agitha knew that her family had been wavering with their faith in Lolth. After all, was Qu’ellar Ze’Marri out of favor with her? How else would the family be destroyed? It wasn’t just the rest of her family…it was her too.

Finally, the younger sister clasped her hands together and prayed the most fervent words she could muster with the dragon uncoiling slightly as her voice rose deep in a prayer to the Queen of Spiders. Bastrixus smiled broadly revealing rows of serrated teeth as long as shortswords. He whispered like a mother to a child, ”Yes, young one…reach out to your Dark Mother. Beseech her, surely she will come comfort one of her dark children…”

Carveila still had her eyes closed and managed a smile and started, ”Yes…I am starting to feel—“

With sudden violence, the dragon’s maw opened wide and swallowed the poor priestess whole in a flash of movement. Bastrixus leaned back and emphasized a swallowing action, causing his throat to shift, almost making out the poor soul traveling down the esophagus.

Many of the drow commoners and slaves began weeping, some soiling themselves. Most just watched in horror. The shadow dragon let out a breath of relief and shared with his prisoners, ”I think she was starting to feel…hungry—like me. Weren’t we all tired of hearing all that Lolth babble? I sure was…”
Last edited by ebonith on Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Of Families and Scales...

Post by ebonith » Wed Apr 25, 2018 3:09 pm

MIDDLE UNDERDARK – SHARNLANDS – LAIR OF BASTRIXUS
1371

Agitha knew that if something wasn’t done, her entire family would die here. The end of the Ze’Marri family, never to rise again. She wasn’t sure if it was this thought or the fact she just watched one of her sisters get swallowed alive, but she was starting to feel both faint and nauseous. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her youngest sister next to her moving her fingers subtly in drow sign. Xendra had not even started her training as a priestess—looked like she never would. Her message was short, but too the point:

I don’t want to be lunch!

Even though the situation was dire indeed and life threatening in every way, Agitha almost chuckled at the signed words. However, when she looked over into her younger sister’s eyes, there was no humor—only abject fear. With only twenty of her band left alive sitting in a row, ready to be executed, Agitha stood up boldly and eyed the dragon. Bastrixus’ head turned towards her with his orbs of glimmering obsidian regarding her with a slight smirk. Her voice cracked out of fear to start, hardly believing the words that came tumbling out of her mouth, ”Lord Bastrixus…I wish to parlay with the hope that we can come to an accord for the welfare of my family and my entourage as the ‘Matron’ of Qu’ellar Ze’Marri...”

Agitha opened her eyes that she suddenly realized were closed. The ancient Shadow Dragon cocked his large head to the side slightly and rumbled, ”Go on…’Matron’…”

Her next words were catching in her throat, but she managed to get them out, We publicly and sincerely…renounce our faith and dedication to Lolth. We also pledge our loyalty to you and will serve you in whatever capacity you deem worthy.”

Silence. It was as if the drow prisoners were waiting for a hulking spider to material from thin air and devour them…but nothing happened.

A resounding chuckle sounded as the dragon found amusement in this turn of events. After finishing his laughter, he replied, ”Well played, Matron of Qu’ellar Ze’Marri. But I already have humanoids to serve at my whim. Your meager band is no use to me…”

Suddenly, a clamor of noise erupted from everywhere at once. It sounded like almost a hundred little hisses from all around the cavern. As the survivors of House Ze’Marri glanced around, they noticed for the first time dozens and dozens of armed kobolds emerging from little nooks and crannies blanketed in shadow. Their curious beady eyes were glued to the prisoners, almost daring them to try and escape.

Have they been there the whole time?

The tension as thick. The ancient shadow dragon made it clear he had no use for them. Agitha simply closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable…

But it did not come.

She slowly opened her eyes to find Bastrixus with his head right in front of her, gazing at her with intrigue. She felt her body trembling, but managed to keep upright and simply returned the stare, resolving herself to not be a coward in her last seconds…and resigning herself to Kelemvor’s wall when she passed—now that she had renounced The Spider Queen.

The dragon had other designs though, ”However…you have shown courage, drow. Since you are willing to determine the fate of the remainder of your family by your words, I will resume our parlay. I have other terms that I wish for you to consider…”

Agitha could tell instantly from his tone, there would be no ‘considering’ at all…she would take whatever offer he gave or she and her family would die.

Backing his scaled head away from the drow priestess, he revealed, ”One I depend on to ensure my orders are followed is called Ssasscur. The kobolds have deemed him an anointed one, a Chief among their tribe…”

Looking over into the gloom, he commanded loudly, ”Ssasscur! Come hither!”

As if on cue, all of the kobolds in the cavern began hooting, whistling, hissing and screaming—a virtual cacophony of war cries. Emerging from the shadows as an average looking kobold, practically indistinguishable from all the others, except for an amulet he wore with an intricate silver bejeweled locket that came in the form of a five-headed dragon. It strode up next to Bastrixus without fear, glaring at Agitha.

The dragon continued, ”I put the fate of your family in the hands of my loyal servant, Ssasscur. I will be most curious to see how this plays out..”

As if settling in to watch a live performance by a renowned bard, the dragon sat back, folded its arms and watched, content to let the events unfold however they may.

Agitha looked over at the kobold chief. His beady red eyes were marked with anger and disgust as he looked over the gathered prisoners. At this point, two dozen kobolds with spears had formed a protective semi-circle to his back. Ssasscur spoke in a squeaky, broken Undercommon voice, ”Ssasscur no like drow. Drow think they better than kobold. You no better than kobold now, are you drow? Not so mighty on knees.”

The Agitha from a month ago would have stood up, backhanded the insolent kobold and dared the rest of them to attack her, proclaiming their inferiority before Lolth and her chosen priestesses…but that was a month ago. The Agitha of today simply stared at the kobold with no malice or judgement. She did not reply to the kobold.

Ssasscur seemed to regard her in a different light as his eyes bored into her. He continued so all the kobolds gathered could hear his words, ”Kobold have altar. Altar to Tiamat, strong Queen of Darkness—not weak bug goddess...

The kobold chief seemed to be expecting the drow priestess to contradict him. When she did not, he continued, ”You and sisters pray at Tiamat altar. Tiamat accept your family, we talk of life. Tiamat reject your family, we talk of death…”
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Re: Of Families and Scales...

Post by ebonith » Thu Apr 26, 2018 1:29 pm

MIDDLE UNDERDARK – SHARNLANDS – LAIR OF BASTRIXUS
1371


Ssasscur and his small army herded the prisoners to an alcove attached to the main cavern. It was a large cavern as well, but nothing compared to the size of the main chamber. At the back of this chamber was an amazingly intricate altar, adorned with gems and gold. Agitha could not imagine that kobolds would have kept such an edifice clean, much less without a gem or two missing from it—but there it was, pristine and unblemished. Towering over the altar were five leering dragon heads, each with different hued gems inset as eyes. Agitha had to admit—it was beautiful.

The kobold chief went on to explain, ”Master Bastrixus have altar here—not want The Dark Lady to see his hoard.”

Roughly prodding the prisoners forward with a spear at their backs, they were stopped short of the altar. Ssasscur looked at the female drow of the group and commanded, ”Not know who priestess and who not. All drow female kneel at altar and all pray.”

To Agitha, it seemed to her that this kobold was not going to like what he saw, regardless of what happened here. It seemed folly to even attempt a prayer to Tiamat. They were dead anyway…

Despite the reservations, it kept them all alive for just a bit longer, so she would do as she was told. None of the other females moved forward until Agitha made her way to the base of the altar. Resistance was not an option at this point—they were already completely stripped of armor, weapons and all belongings when Bastrixus first trapped them. Some of the slaves didn’t even have clothes at this point.

Walking over, she kneeled before the beautiful altar. The three drow females left alive besides her all followed her lead and knelt down beside her. Xendra sidled up next to her and looked as fearful as she did. Subtly, Agitha signed to Xendra with the kobolds to their backs…

No choice. Must pray faithfully to Tiamat.

Xendra replied in sign…

Happy prayers!

This too almost brought a chuckle to Agitha despite their predicament. At least Xendra was now to a point of coherence. The young female had been forced to grow up very fast in the last month. Along the way, she had picked up skills from her older brother, Vrask. She was to a point where she was as good a hunter as he was. Brushing those thoughts away, she knew she had to focus on the task at hand. The only chance her family had was for Tiamat to answer their prayers…

Not wanting any more delays, the kobold chief commanded in his broken undercommon, ”Beg for mercy from The Queen of Dragons!”

Agitha cleared her mind. She knew that if she survived this experience, it would change their family even further. They were already displaced, they were already outcasts, and to her knowledge, Lolth had already abandoned them. The Ze’Marri family and their few allies were truly on their own. It was now up to the four drow females, with her being the only priestess, to appeal to this goddess.

Does Tiamat even exist? Is she even a goddess? Bastrixus and these kobolds seem to think so. Our family worshipping a goddess that is a goddess to dragons. Would that put our family as allies to dragons? Perhaps. This could actually be an avenue to power. A drow priestess worshipping the goddess of dragons? There are worse gods that I could be forced to venerate, for sure. So be it…

Tiamat, the true Dark Queen hear my earnest prayer…


Agitha and the three other females began and for many minutes they prayed. The drow priestess did not feel anything and was not sure it that was the case for the others. Her fears began to be realized when she heard Ssasscur’s voice scream at the top of his lungs, ”Stop!”

One of the young female commoner females began to sob uncontrollably, she began to yell hysterically, ”Lolth forgive me! I repent of—“

A trio of spears were thrust deep into her exposed back. With her scream cut short, the hysterical female drow slumped over into a dead heap. Blood flowed up against the altar and saturated the knees of the remaining females. Agitha, Xendra, and the other female all had the presence of mind to not move. Ssasscur was screaming in rage. The females could feel the tension. Agitha quickly prayed one final time to Tiamat, begging for mercy.

Chief Ssasscur finally stopped screaming. The kobold’s breathing was labored. It seemed to Agitha, the kobold hated every word that came out of his mouth, ”Let them go! All of them!”

The kobolds behind the chief looked aghast. They could not comprehend this outcome. Truth is, Agitha couldn’t either. Slowly, she, Xendra and the remaining female stood and turned around.

It seemed that everyone in the chamber wanted to hear what the chief had to say next as all eyes were glued to him. All was quiet in the chamber. With his face a mask of rage, he reluctantly elaborated, ”The Undying Queen accepts drow and allies. Let them go.”

It was music to her ears. Hope came flooding back to Agitha. She nodded respectfully before the chief. The kobolds still had their spears poised, but did not prevent their movement back to the main chamber. Bastrixus was there to greet them. His deep rumbling laugh greeted them in amusement as the Ze’Marri entourage and their former captors spilled out of the side chamber.

Bastrixus clapped his hands together in mock celebration and boomed, ”Congratulations ‘Matron’ Ze’Marri. Your family will live on. Your band may collect their belongings. As a gesture of hospitality, you may also take food and water from my stores for your group’s journey…but I have a price for this generosity.”

There is always a price…

Agitha bowed low in respect and responded, ”Of course, Lord Bastrixus. You need but ask.”

The ancient dragon settled in and seemed to be grinning as he spoke, ”Your family has been given a gift by The Queen of Chaos. Do not take this gift lightly. Nothing is given freely. Allow me to direct your efforts...”

Nodding in compliance, Agitha settled in to listen. Glancing over at Daralith, she signed…

Pay attention. Do not miss a single detail

The wizard responded with a slight bow and eyed the dragon as it continued to speak.

”You are now part of the Cult of the Dragon. We are spread throughout Toril. You are the humanoid arm of our Queen. When she comes to rule this world, we the dragons will be her generals and you will be the rulers of our vassals…such is the promise we are given. But some members of the Cult of the Dragon have lost sight of such an existence. Your family is in a unique position, Matron Ze’Marri. Perhaps one day your family will rise to prominence again—but you cannot do it alone. I know of no other drow family that venerates our newly risen Queen. Build our Dark Queen's power, root out those of the Cult of the Dragon that tarnish our efforts. Your family needs to the silent knife of Tiamat.”

His last words confirmed something Agitha had been suspecting about Tiamat—she was a newly elevated goddess in Faerun. It explained her lack of influence in the Underdark. But it also explained the confidence that she had seen with the kobolds in Ched Nasad in the last year—their patron goddess had risen to full strength…

Bastrixus continued, ”Go. Establish your family in an Underdark city for the taking. Become a bastion in the Underdark for Tiamat. I will be watching. My spies are far and wide. I will know if you are acting in the interests of our goddess.”

Agitha nodded. She never considered what would come next now that they might actually survive. But Bastrixus was right. They would have to reestablish themselves far from Ched Nasad. She knew that they could not establish themselves as a noble house either…that would have to come in time. Fortunately, her house was heavily involved in trading with the surface and worked closely with many merchant clans in Ched Nasad. She was intimately familiar with how they operated. Agitha decided then and there that she would rebuild her house and family, but as a merchant clan. There would be a time when her noble house would rise to prominence, but it would have to be under the banner of Tiamat. Such a coupe in an Underdark city would take some amount of effort on their part—but it was possible.

As if reading her mind, Bastrixus continued, ”Establishing yourself will not be easy alone.”

Sweeping his hands out over the hundred kobolds around them, he stated, “Many kobolds call Tiamat their Queen, such as this tribe. Do not dismiss them as your people usually do, they are cunning, loyal and in numbers, deadly.”

Agitha knew the shadow dragon was right—drow generally dismissed kobolds as vermin and filth, with very little use as a slave. She knew that she certainly did. But now, there she looked on them in a new light. While she could not help but feel they were inferior, she began to see hundreds of uses for them as allies for the future.

She bowed before Bastrixus and stated, ”Wise words, Lord Bastrixus. In fact…”

Her head turned to Chief Ssasscur. Agitha stared at him and said loudly, ”…if there are kobolds here that wish to join us as allies to the Ze’Marri family, you may join us now.”

It was at once a gambit and a slap in the face to the chief, but she knew these kobolds were Tiamat worshippers. There was a certain amount of trust that could be taken from that fact. It also replenished their numbers to help them survive their trip through the Underdark—more mouths to feed, but they were small mouths.

For many moments, no kobolds moved. The Chief smiled broadly and was about to speak, but then one of their lot made his way through the throngs of kobolds in front of them. All the gathered kobolds looked stunned. Then another one began moving, and another…

Out of the hundred, twenty of them walked over to Agitha and the Ze’Marri entourage. She didn’t know if her family would approve of this move, but she had plans for these kobolds. Her mind was already plotting years ahead…

The dragon laughed and slow clapped, ”Well played, Priestess of Tiamat. Now…leave. Do my bidding.”

All of the Ze’Marri entourage bowed before the ancient shadow dragon and filed out of the cavern…
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Re: Of Families and Scales... (Ze'Marri)

Post by ebonith » Tue May 22, 2018 3:08 pm

BLACK SCALES COMPANY – TREADSTONE HEADQUARTERS
PRESENT DAY

With precision, the priestess dipped the quill in the inkwell and hovered over the thick tome. Her mind pondered as to how to begin her journal entries now that her family and employees were in Andunor. Her dark eyes rested on the black scales resting against a sage green background in the form of a banner on the wall. She decided that was the best place to begin…how the Black Scales Company came to be. The quill no longer hovered over the parchment. Her deft hand began to put ink to paper regaling the tale…

JOURNAL ENTRY 354
We were stunned by the turn of events. As our band left the lair of Bastrixus, no words were spoken for nearly an hour. Whether this silence was a result of the horror witnessed at the hands of the ancient dragon, the surprise that we were all still breathing, or the realization that the drow in the band had publicly, and with finality, renounced the Spider Queen—perhaps it was a bit of everything...

I simply clamped my hand around the newly acquired five-headed symbol around my neck and prayed to Tiamat. It was strange after all these decades to say a prayer to a goddess other than Lolth. But, I must admit, it felt “right”. Ever since I was a little girl, I never fully felt “close” to Lolth as one of her chosen priestesses. However, when I prayed for my family and those with me to the Queen of Dragons, I could almost feel her dark talons embracing me as one of her own. Make no mistake, I am well aware that Tiamat is not a “loving” goddess. However, I think that she knows my family can help her cause. Time will tell.

As dangerous as the Underdark is, I knew it would be an even greater risk to travel overland across Toril. So we made the decision to continue along the main tunnels of the Middle Dark and Upper Dark, making our way to a drow city far to the south called Sschindylryn. It was the first city we thought of following our encounter with Bastrixus. It would be a treacherous trek south, but with the hope of survival and the blessings of Tiamat with us, we felt we could make it.

The weeks following Bastrixus were brutal. Several more commoners and mercenaries succumbed to the dangers of the Underdark, but we finally made it. It took several more weeks to regain our health, our rest and earn enough coin to be “stable”. Once we had our “feet beneath us”, we formed a drow merchant clan called the Black Scales Company. But this was no small task due to the way we wanted it formed...

You see, we were now refugees from a fallen, noble house in Ched Nasad. We wished to keep our name, but make it appear as if there was no relation to the distant destroyed house in the City of Shimmering Webs. Keeping our name was not a big deal--drow house and clan names are found all over the Underdark in different cities, much like surnames on the surface. However, this required subtlety on a level we were accustomed, but it was a daunting task nonetheless…

We began working our tradeskill as mercenaries to begin with--this was the easiest transition for us until we could find our “niche” in Sschindylryn. Our story was that we had been working in Sschindylryn for decades and that we were simply too small to be noticed. We bribed a few less known caravan drivers to say that he had hired us for “surface runs” for many years. In return, we also helped those caravan drivers by escorting them through trade routes to truly trade with surface merchants. The lies were weaved into truth until there was no reason to question the lie.

In addition, we snuck into the archives building on the ziggurat, adding our existence in decades ago, officially recording the existence of the Black Scales Company hailing from many years past. Again, we weaved the lies into truth so effectively that there were merchants who “remembered” us from years ago--and they were not even in on the scheme. Such was the strength of the fabrication...

Perhaps this is where we had the most success--building lies into truth. Where the challenge really remained was living in a Lolth-run city. My family was in constant danger of being discovered as “heretics”. As such, we immersed the Black Scales Company into the “fraternity” of merchant clans and stayed far away from noble house politics. Even though I was a female, the male merchant clan leaders of Sschindylryn accepted my family and I--they saw that we were a bit “different” than a typical female-run merchant clan. In a city like Sschindylryn, this played to our advantage.

For two years, we lived this ruse and became one of the most profitable companies in the city. But the noble houses were suffering from the sustained cooperation between merchant houses--Lolth was not pleased at the “peace” that had settled over the city. They began to fall on each other like vipers. As one of the only female-led merchant clans, the Black Scales Company gained the attention of bitter priestesses, focusing their frustration on something other than themselves. I knew it was because they could not stand to see me so content with my position within the city, so their discontent became their fuel for aggression.

Not wishing to have our family attacked again by the might of another noble house, we opted for a most unexpected change of direction: we packed up and left Sschindylryn.

Where to go was the next question...until my younger sister told us of a city off the coast of the Spine of the World. It was an underdark city called Andunor. Xendra has always had a knack for finding things, even when she shouldn’t. Although she would have made an excellent priestess, she is an even better explorer and scout.

We did not know what to expect, moving into the city blind. Although we had scouts get a “lay of the land”, we simply could not turn around and go back--we were here to stay, for better or worse. And it was worse--a city run by two districts: a human district venerating Cyric and a drow district venerating Lolth. Two deities aimed at unrest and strife...terrific. Alas, we had been in this situation before, so with a practiced hand, the Black Scales Company settled into Andunor. More to come on this in my next entry...
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