Faerunian 29 days writing challenge, Day 1: What was Tav doing before they were abducted? (outdated lore)
What was Raox doing before he was betrayed?
A short-story about the events leading up to Orin's Betrayal, set around Moonrise Towers, with a short Drow Kar'niss vs Slayer fight.
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RaoxΕ‘na had been sent to correspond with Ketheric in placating the Elder Brain and training the would be cultists in preparation for the Absolute. It was made known to him by Gortash that they would be taking drow into their service, and that given Raox's history with elven martial arts he would be best suited to the task of training them. Although Raox knew there could be a little racial abrasion, he was enthusiastic to try. It was decided it would be best for Orin to accompany him as an almost equal combative, someone to plunge a knife into their backs if they dared to utter an insult. Although the temple had just overcome an attack at the hands of the Harpers, Raox was confident that the mess could be left in Sceleritas's care.
Kept between himself and Gortash, Raox's enthusiasm for the idea to train the drow was due to it's poetic nature. If Drow had not destroyed an Eladrin city and forced his surrogate family to seek refuge, eventually leading them Baldur's Gate, his existence would have likely taken another form all together; and there were few things which didn't involve viscera and butchery that Raox adored more than the form of his own body.
So what better way to thank them for such a form than to have them serve him in the final days? What better way to punish them for the decrepit beginnings of his life, than to have them sacrifice themselves in the name of a false god, to have them invite Lolth's fury upon themselves for his entertainment.
Once within the compounds of Moonrise Towers, he wrote up explicit details of how he would bend their minds and break their bodies, for he was particularly interested on how he might provoke Lolth into making one to take the form of a drider. This was the better way for him to show them his gratitude, in thanks for his form he would gift them a new one. In part, it was also due to his fantasies of how a drider might fair in a fight against his Slayer, the sound it's legs might make as they snapped, the life of eight eyes passing into oblivion instead of two. He kicked his feet in a giddy cackle just thinking about it.
After taking a moment to compose himself, he made for the tower's library to learn more of the process, and the people he would be taking charge of. After all, with the form of a surface-elf they would likely be less than co-operative, so perhaps the form of the Slayer would be better suited after all. Stuck in how he might approach the drow, Sceleritas's words came to mind, reminding him to delegate. He had brought Orin all this way after all. At Raox's behest one of Ketheric's servants sent for her and it did not take her long to arrive. She sat across from him while he explained his intentions for the drow and her part to play in it. The two had nothing to hide from one another, for those who killed together and embraced Bhaal's essence believed to be their truest selves when blessed with violent ecstasy. And they had shared those experiences for many years now.
At his instruction, of their drow guests Orin was tasked to identify their most dedicated follower. In the meantime RaoxΕ‘na requested that Ketheric allow the use of the tower's rooftop, claiming that they would not so easily be turned from Lolth without an adequate display of power. If such a thing still did not gain their fealty, he would throw them from the tower, one by one, and in mentioning Balthazar's use for corspes, highlighted that they will serve either by choice, or in death. A sentiment Ketheric had long come to understand, and so he allowed it.
Once Orin had distinguished the target, Raox confided the rest the night's plans. Together they laughed hoping the drow would resist, granting them the satisfaction of watching their bodies fall from the heights of the tower, as there were no buildings as tall as this one back in Baldur's Gate. It was the only thing he felt he could look forward to, after the dissapointment that came in learning that the creation of a drider's form was more complex than he anticipated, and certainly not something he had the time to orchestrate. However there was a tinge of hope. Amongst the drow, one was not who they seemed, for there lay a mind that the Elder Brain could not reach, or so it had informed him. As such Raox requested that Orin keep a hidden, careful eye on their guests while he prepares himself for the display, passing her a potion of mind-reading as he expressed that the guest she is looking for will have an impenetrable mind.
Following a meal with Ketheric; during which the general discussed strategies and alliances, the drow guests were escorted upstairs for the night's entertainment and told to take their standing around the center of the decorative flooring. Raox waited beside the spire's altar adorned in absolutist clothing, keeping his face masked. He thought it would better to be cautious with the Absolute plot being so close to fruition and an unknown infiltrator being amongst them. As all of the guests settled and the mumbling came to an awkward silence, Raox slowly walked down the adjacent stairs. As he did so, he made several derogatory comments of Lolth in comparison to the Absolute hoping to provoke their anger, reigniting the mumbling as he made his way to the center of the room.
He called out to the crowd, for the drow Orin made known to him, the one known as Kar'niss, challenging him and his goddess to a combative test of faith. The mumbling of the crowd grew into a snicker, and it seemed that that they approved of the entertainment to be provided. Likely because despite his devotion, Kar'niss was a male drow and thus subsequently looked down on. But in their indulgence to mock and discriminate, they failed to notice the doors to the stairwell being locked behind them.
From the crowd and under a disguise, Orin came forth to whisper into Raox's ear. He nodded as a long grin painted his face. At the same time a drow priestess approached Kar'niss, they spoke in drowic; which was foreign to him, but Raox understood the serious tone that carried her words.
Raox had to try to contain his tremoring excitement. Orin had just informed him that a fellow shapeshifter was present amongst the guests, a yochlol, disguised as a priestess. It was what he had hoped for when conferring with the Elder Brain. In his study he had read that yochlol serve a purpose not too dissimilar to Bhaal's doppelgangers, in that they infiltrate society and spread her will, but more importantly to Raox, they create driders.
And it would seem that the yochlol had just given Kar'niss Lolth's blessing to fight, however the transformation upon his loss, is still not assured. Usually the combatants in Lolth's tests had to be close or at least a follower of Lolth herself and Raox is neither, but the mystery of the outcome only added to the allure of the fight.
As the Kar'niss approached, he proclaimed his acceptance to duel in Lolth's name and unsheathe his rapier. Raox could only encourage Kar'niss in his excitement to fight but couldn't shake his enthusiastic laughter, which expressed how unserious Raox felt about his opponent. Disturbingly contrasted, Raox's face stilled to a deadened expression as he mentally made a prayer to Bhaal. As he did a red and black aura enveloped his body shifting his form into the Slayer. The crowd jeered at the change, accusing the duel as a farce, the Absolute as a cheat. While some unnerved by the form attempted to leave to no avail, panic begins to quietly murmur throughout the crowd, while Kar'niss makes a glance to the priestess, who silently nods, which initiated the start of the duel.
The Slayer lunges its upper arms forward while pulling back its lower. Coming from the underdark; which is filled with all manners of creatures, played into Kar'niss's experience. He was evasive to the swings of the Slayer's claws but due to a misstep on the marbled floor failed to evade the cleave of its tail, throwing him back into a stone pillar. The impact fractured his ribs, causing him to grunt in pain. Trying to take advantage of his blunder the Slayer swung his claws again to rake against his flesh, only for the drow to roll himself under the attack. Instead of flesh the claws drag across the pillar, cutting the stone behind them. As dust and debris fill the air, Kar'niss takes advantage of the limited visibility and ripostes with his blade, but by instinctually contorting its slender form the Slayer avoided the lunge.
The Slayer had been anticipating the moment he would close the distance, hoping to bait such an attack by keeping his body an open target, his lower arms pulled back in invitation. Now that the drow had taken it, his open arms quickly closed to grapple the drow, the Slayer echoing a blood curdling screech, one that could be heard even within the bellows of Moonrise's prison cells.
Blood dripped out of the ears of the drow, his head ringing with a high pitched bleep. The other drow around him began to run to the stairwell door in fear, all but one. The priestess, who stood in silence still watching the duel. With the door locked, the people's panic exploded from a frantic whisper to a loud frenzy. A delight to some, as Orin clapped her hands in maniacal laughter. Unable to do anything, Kar'niss could only watch in despair as the Slayer howled once more, the fear completely disorientating his mind, only echoing the screams of those around him. Time seemed to slow as a creeping shadow enveloped the borders of his vision, a red mist spreading as the Slayer raised its claw, its pitch black eyes reflecting fear the in his own face. The last thing he saw before it all turned dark.
Raox was able to restrain the Slayer's impulse to kill, just enough to keep Kar'niss within an inch of his life. However bloodlust still called the Slayer to its purpose, it emitting a slow crackling grow that passed the priestess and sought the blood of the crowd. Orin cheered with glee, finally able to let loose. As they humoured themselves in the bloody debauchery, the doors were swung open and Ketheric stepped forth with his soldiers, interrupting the massacre and harbouring the remaining drow as their saviour. He bellowed in his low 'general' voice, scolding the Bhaalspawn before returning down the stairwell. Between Raox and Ketheric they named this tactic the 'Enver Method'.
With the bloodlust contented, the Slayer returned to his humanoid form. The priestess still remained, standing unfazed, softly speaking drowic words while channelling it's power into the defeated drow, reminding Raox of the intentions he had lost to the Slayer's bloodlust. Although the Slayer was enjoyable it was entirely indulgent, and if not for it's sharpened instincts to haunt its prey, it would be likely be too reckless to fight effectively.
Raox approached the man as his body began to deform and break, the pain both visible and audible as Kar'niss's mind contorted with his body. The drider had been born, and was truly a most monstrous beauty. The yochlol said nothing, expressed nothing and simply dispersed into a gaseous form before either Raox or Orin could pose a threat. The drider lay unconscious on the bloodied floor. Raox's boots softly stepped and stood by its face, leaning his head down to the absolute's newest pet with a smile hanging from ear to ear,
"Thank you" he whispered.
Raox then made his way down the stairwell with Orin following behind, making a remark about how Raox should start a menagerie of all the monsters he'd been making, referring to the gnolls he treated like pups. He laughed at the idea, it was a tempting thought. Perhaps he would after Myrkul and Bane were out of the picture. Pondering on if he would make their chosen dogs of his own, before deciding that it would be against Bhaal's teachings to do so, and Gortash at the very least was deserving of a divine death. Considering this very opportunity was his gift, in thought many of Gortash's schemes resulted in similar gratification, and for a moment he felt gratitude in being able to serve such a man.
Realizing himself, a bitter fear followed. In panic he wrote a prayer begging for forgiveness from his divine father, before setting out to find something or someone to kill in his name. Having changed out of the dreaded absolutist robes for something that wouldn't betray his allegiances, Raox travelled into the shadow-cursed lands with a moonlantern in tow.
Across the waters that surrounded Reithwin stood an abandoned inn, which was under some sort of protection spell. Although usually it was his pleasure to snuff out light wherever he found it, the cause of this light is what bound Ketheric's allegiance to The Dead Three. So instead Raox watched as travellers desperate to escape the darkness, were drawn to light's protection. Which inspired him to allure his prey in a similar fashion, using his lantern much like anglerfish within an abyss.
Skulking the darkness he chanced upon a couple of Harper scouts. That they had come this far from the city caused Raox concern, as Harpers had historically been a constant thorn in his father's side. Raox thought he had dealt with them in the city, leaving the pests to a horde of mindflayers. He planned to punish Sceleritas for in failing to report their escape. Regardless, Raox believed that these Harpers would make a perfect repentance for his momentary lapse in faith.
He called out to them, offering them safety and guidance from the darkness, claiming he had been traveling and guiding strangers in these lands since before the curse struck. His elven appearance often allowed him to be flexible in portraying his age and experience. His demeanour was always incredibly friendly and gentle when masking his violent urges. Living with them all his life, the duplicity had become second nature for him.
In misguiding the scouts; which allowed more time for conversation, he had learned that they had been sent to investigate Moonrise in search for illithids. So, of course Raox kindly and graciously escorted them straight into the hands of Moonrise's guards, and into the prison cells. From there Raox personally walked them to the pit, a chasm within the prison to whom all that fell, piled on the fleshy floors of the mindflayer colony. Raox congratulated the scouts on finding what they had been looking for.
Besides the pit stood a killing altar, something he had fashioned in service to Bhaal, ensuring that every prisoner meet His gaze before being pushed to their deaths. Only he noticed a scroll upon it, it was the prayer he had written. Convenient but suspicious, he grabbed the scroll and unfurled it, reading the prayer aloud. The expression upon the Harper's faces as they heard the words made Raox confident that it had been scarred upon their souls. They were scouts, recalling vital information should be their expertise.
Gifting a singular knife between them, he forced the two to kill each other by promising the victor safety under the Absolute. Of course, only the soul of a murderer would reach his father, so in order to pass on his prayer, neither could survive. Watching them fight was a bore, his hands twitching in frustration at how incapable and inefficient they fought, but held himself back from finishing them. Eventually one was left standing and Raox exhaled in the greatest relief, placing his hands on the Harper's shoulders, feigning congratulations before taking out his frustrations by the way of gutting him, grabbing his intestine and kicking him into the pit. Watching his insides unwind lightened his spirit, into a soft chuckle, kicking the other Harper's body into the pit as he laughed.
Afterwards, he sat by the altar in a trance. Revisiting his memories of his own murders and assassinations, as a child he could visit the very memories of Bhaal himself but that time had long since past. He focused his trance on mistakes; and although these days he made few, but his victims made many, and he studied them that he might learn to exploit them better. Before he could, he was interrupted by a deep sharpened pain to his side. Opening his eyes, it was no longer only Harper blood that warmed the floor, but his own. The dagger to pierce him was his own, Bloodthirst. The hands that held it were pale, and when the dagger pulled out, an a overwhelming flow of blood began to flood through his clothes. It was almost as if he was being deflated. Suddenly he felt a strike to his head, toppling him over to see the pale feet stepping through his blood. There was no doubt in his mind who it was, Orin.
He hoped that she feared a betrayal to Bhaal, instead of being envious for his favouritism, because he remembered what it felt like, the inferiority. As his he felt himself drift, he questioned if his decision to offer her a place by his side all those years ago was a mistake, lamenting his pity for monsters before realizing that perhaps it was not a monster he saw in her, but himself.
His consciousness began to fade as he felt her presence lean over.
"Thank you" She whispered.
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