A Return to Faerun from Elben Aator - Part 2

[NathreeDe'Shezbron]

Zazzt woke from his Reverie early next morning. He waved his hand over the wards he placed over the door, disspelling them, and walked out of his room, pulling his swordbelt around his waist, and buckling it tightly. Even in the Promenade, he was cautious. He looked around him, at the other rooms, wondering which held Adian, and simply shrugging, started walking down a random passage out of the room, opposite he direction they had arrived from, figuring that he would run into someone who knew their way around the massive temple.

[Adian Novar]

Zazzt came across one of the young drow who had welcomed Adian so enthisiastically before. He was younger than the palidin, though probably only slightly, and had an air of mischief about him despite his scholar's robes. His face was one that was made for sly grins, and his eyes seemed to have a dancing light in them.

At the moment he was chatting up one of the female members of Nedylene's entourage and it was impossible to tell which of them looked more amused.

"...and that is how [i:1k29oxr2]Mithrandir[/i:1k29oxr2] came to have its modern meaning," he was explaining. "'Wanderer Grey' has become 'vision of wonder'. Which, I may add, describes my present company just as well."

[NathreeDe'Shezbron]

Zazzt walked up to the young male, "Mithrandir? Not a word I am familiar with... The etimology must be fascinating. I realize the danger of coming between a young man and his newly impressed female friends, but I must inquire something of you." Zazzt clapped him on the shoulder, "You know, I was wondering if you would happen to know the proper way to take to reach Lady Quilue's room, I think there is something she and I need to speak of."

[Adian Novar]

The female smiled slightly.

"I will leave you to your duties," she said politely to the young man. "Thank you for the lesson. Linguisitcs seems to be a more interesting subject than I had thought. Thank you."

She walked away...with a sligthly teasing weave of the hips as she went. The would-be paramour sighed and looked at Zazzt.

"Oh, yes," he said with a slight bow. "Adian's mad friend. I am G'eldfryn. He had mentioned that your quest of of great import. I shall take you to Lady Veladorn directly. Please follow me."

He led Zazzt down the residential hall and through a short, likely dwarf-carved, tunnel to another large cavern. This one was only marginally a single area, since it had many side alcoves and tunnels that curved back into it.

"The Hall of Song," G'eldfryn explained. "The evening choirs take place here. You may have heard them last night. The Lady's meeting chambers are over here."

He led Zazzt down a side passage that led into a modest room with a single table and several comfortable chairs. A bottle of wine sat at the table with several cups clustered around it.

"I will tell her you are here," he said. "She's probably spoiling brother dear about now." He laughed and walked back out.

[NathreeDe'Shezbron]

Zazzt smiled, and shook his head. How Adian became 'brother dear' he could not fathom, I was not a title he would want, at any rate. Before Lady Quilue entered he thought I would be a good idea to appear as un threatening as possible, so he took off his belt, and tried to make it obvious he had no hidden wepons on him. That done, he went to a chair closest to the bottle of wine, and sat down, waiting for Lady Quilue.

[Adian Novar]

Zazzt had only to wait a few minutes before the door to the room opened again.

Qilue Veladorn was easily as tall as Nedylene herself, and almost as beautiful. She wore a sheer robe that was customary for the priestesses of the Dark Maiden and moved with the easy grace of older elves. She was a striking woman, fully developed into a mature beauty that few surface elves could match. Only the faintest of lines could be seen near her eyes, and even then only when one looked very carefully. Her eyes were a bright and clear amber that were both wise and kind.

"Peace and good hunting to you," she said as she approached the table. "Adian has told me a great deal about you. How may I be of service?"

[Nedylene Rahn]

Nedylene was escorted by one of the Darksong Knights of the Promenade. She now wore a House Rahn chain shirt with a green version of their usual medium blue leather surcoat over it. Once a Cleric-Figther-Divine Champion, Nedylene had been retrained by her former husband Arolan Mistrunner the former Primus of the Elves of Elben Aator and a Wood Elven Ranger. She was now a Cleric-Ranger and Shadow Dancer and she walked so quietly behind the Darksong Knight that those they passed barely noticed she was behind her escort.

When they reached Qilue Valedorn's chambers Nedylene waited outside and silently waited for the Promenade's High Priestess' conference with Zazzt to end. She could not help but over here their dicussion, but she decided to keep what she learned to herself.

[NathreeDe'Shezbron]

"Well the nature of my visit may seem slightly pathetic." Zazzt said, "The short version is that I would ask of you to teach me some magic. I have had a but of a running in with my master, our moral views are not the same. Magically I cannot compete with him, very few arcane casters can, fir he has, shall we say, stretched the limits of normal evil. Nathree De'Shezhron is his name, he is a demilich of great power, I have seen him planeshift an entire village, buildings and all, to one of the Nine Hells. He has been around since the fall of Netheril, and has been a demilich for as long as my memory serves. Do you understand my predicament?" Zazzt stood up and knelt at Quliue's feet, "As a Chosen of Mystra and Eilistraee, would you please help me?"

[Adian Novar]

She was silent for a moment, her eyes seeming to look right through him and into his heart. She took hold of his arms and gently pulled him to his feet.

"You have told your companions a somewhat different story," she said. "Though I would not call it 'pathetic.' If what you claim is true then this Nathree De'Shezhron is a dire threat indeed. There are some with whom I will have to speak with to consider action against this one.

"In the meantime I believe I can indeed help you. I offer you the protection of these halls and what forms of learning we have here.

"Look at me, Zazzt De'Shezhron, and tell me everything you can about this creature...and your connection to it."

It was impossible to meet that gaze and lie.

[NathreeDe'Shezbron]

Zazzt paled under that gaze. She brushed away his wards as if they were nothing, and nodded, "Well, the story is lengthy, and I would not wish to disrupt you from other appointments, but the shortened version is thus. I was a young fighter in House De'Virdeen, and my father was the weapons master of that House. He taught me how to handle a blade, and as a sort of final test, gave me a small army to lead in an assault against a House, disguised as members of a rogue subset of another house." He poured himself some wine, and offered the bottle to Qilue, "We almost won the battle, however, our target seemed to have ties with House Baenrae, because I ran into their weaponsmaster, killing a group of my men. We fought. I was defeated." He clentched his left hand, thinking of the scar that ran along the majority of that arm, the trophy of that battle, "I realized that no matter how hard I practiced with my swords, there would always be someone more powerful than I. So I turned to magic. And there it was that I met Nathree De'Virdeen, our house mage, later to be known as Nathree De'Shezbron. For over two centuries, I practiced magic and martial arts, eventually realizing how to merge the two, and became know as the Shadowknight." He smiled at that private achievement, "But then, my master sent me to destroy a cadre of liches, the leaders of an organization that was known as Velkyn Wlalth, before he took its reigns and renamed it Obokfaer. By then, I knew he was a lich, and I decided to get him to teach me even greater spells than the one I knew then."

Zazzt was looking at his feet, he couldn't bare seeing the powerful woman's gaze on him much longer, "And so, I told him what I had discovered, and he merely laughed at me. A skull that he kept on his desk, a fairly expensive gem encrusted thing, floated up to the lich, and blasted him with a spell I didn't even know of. Then the skull, the true Nathree De'Shezbron took me as his apprentice, and I have trained under him another hundred years. During that time, I can't say I learned a lot of spells. I did, however, learn a spell that requires a part of the caster to stabilize the energies." He closed his right hand, hiding the scar that covered his palm, "But after he sent a town to the Hells, simply because they refused their payments, I decided I would have to seperate myself from him."

He smiled, "But I knew that any battles I could wage against him now would be massacres at best, and eternity in spell thrall at worst. I decided to seek out a Chosen of Mystra, since she is the goddess of magic to assist me." He took a deep breath, "So would you?"

[Adian Novar]

"And the story you told Adian about your sister's soul was a cover to keep from frightening him," she guessed, generously giving him the benefit of the doubt. "Or his refusing to bring you to me. Very well, Zazzt. You shall have my aid and my counsel. There are ways to defend against such beings...weaknesses that they hide through a veneer of omnipotence. You will be learning those during your time here."

She poured herself a glass of wine as well and lifted her glass to him with a nod of her head.

"In the meantime there are others who will have an interest in the doings of this creature. They will wish to speak to you in times ahead. Please be as direct with them as you have with me."

She touched his forehead and hummed a soft tune. A great deal of the tension, the controlled fear unknotted itself somewhat.

"The blessings of the Dark Maiden and Mystra be upon you, Zazzt De'Shezbron. In this place you shall be protected by the hands of the Dark Maiden and the Lady of Mysteries. Please do us the honor of resting your heart and mind here. Your lessons will begin when you wish them. I look forward to teaching such an obviously capable student."

[NathreeDe'Shezbron]

Zazzt knelt at her feet again, "Thank you Lady Qilue. I am in your debt. But my sister was killed, so that much was true. And I did try to revive her. However I succeeded, or partly. She isn't trapped in the gem," He scratched his chin, "Rather, she is trapped part way between the worlds, not on the Astral Plane, with Lolth. Honestly, the best guess I can hazard is she is trapped on another plane, but the intricacies are beyond me. I do not yet understand them."

[Adian Novar]

"I see," she said. "Perhaps something to be addressed at another time. There are experts on the subject who might be able to help in that regard"

A smile appeared on her ageless face.

"Please stand, Zazzt," she said. "I am not a queen or Matron. I am a protector of this shrine and a teacher, nothing more. The titles others have given me are heavy, hollow things. You are a student, not slave, servant, or oathbound warrior. Enjoy your wine with me. We shall begin your lessons tomorrow."

[Nedylene Rahn]

Nedylene politely knocks on the door sill to get their attention. "May I enter?"

She politely stands there in a blue leather and chainmail outfit that exposes the length of her legs and mid-riff. Black boots of Elvenkind adorn her feet. She stands as tall as a Drow female could be with an athletic-muscular build, pale golden-straw-blond hair, and icy light blue eyes. Her eyes are almost the color of blue diamonds.

[Adian Novar]

Qilue Veladorn looked up and her eyes widened in slight surprise. She stood and waved to a seat across from her at the table.

"I am honored to share my table with you, Lady Rahn," she said, looking a little flustered. Famed and powerful though she was, it was not every day that one met the child of a beloved deity...let alone a child of Corellon Larathian. Strictly speaking, she was addressing the half-sister of the goddess she served.