Confessions of a Spider Priestess
A moment taken after defeating the
dragons
Vrishka
slipped off her giant molten spider mount and called her companions together.
“Ultrix
speaks the truth, I am indeed Drow” She reached into her robes and takes out a
Drow Scimitar, it seemingly non magical. She places the weapon on the ground in
front of her and looks at the people assembled before her.
She let her
eyes rest on Ultrix the Grey Elf’s honey coloured eyes alert as always with a
great intelligence and now undisguised hatred.
“I will not
apologise for my blood” Vrishka’s normally quiet voice had a touch of steel to
it; she paused as the lava around them boiled and bubbled.
“Ultrix was
right, should you ever meet one of my kin you would do well to kill them on sight.
After all, that is the way of things is it not?” She reached up to his hood and
pulled it down, the volcanic light showing her violet eyes and pure white hair.
“I am no
match for you all, you could slay me where I stand and suffer little.” She
rested against the molten spiders forelegs. “But I ask you hear me out before
meeting out your justice.”
“What do you
all know of Lolth and her ways?” She kept her eyes on Ultrix, knowing speaking
the Spider Queens name alone was risky.
“I don’t
worship Lolth and it’s important you know why.” She slipped her fingers into
her pocket and took out her pipe, lighting the end. The purple hued smoke had a
slightly spicey edge to it, taking a draw she went on.
“I was but a
Zwy’’il and at that time I had a lot to prove. You have to understand, Drow
life is hard and bitter. You rise to the surface on the backs of the weak or
you become one of the many slaves that hold those high Drow aloft. I was born
to a modest house; my mother perished during my birth and was the first life I
ever took. This is the only reason I am not a slave, in Lolth’s eyes I took her
life so I could claim mine”
Vrishka
smoked the strange mix of mushrooms and herbs, she told her tale and awaited
her fate.
The day of Vrishka’s Chwineka was upon
her, she could feel it in her bones. The Chwineka was the first of Lolth’s
“Chwi” or punishments, as a Goddess Lolth enjoys seeing her children fall to
chaos and ruin as much as see them rise to power and glory.
She was living in a temple to Lolth
with the other sisters; she rose as always early and with caution. It was not
uncommon for the sisters to kill each other, though there should be method or
merit to the act.
She dressed and proceeded into the
main training hall, this was a place of not only worship but combat and magical
prowess. A Priestess of Lolth was expected to be the better of a male in all
aspects of her life. To neglect the martial or magical aspects left one open to
destruction.
Vrishka felt eyes on her, she turned
around and peered into the practise hall. There was one fellow sister Zwy’il
intently meditating, the novice was sat cross legged in a state of silence.
“Lurking again halfie?” A hand
clapped down on her shoulder, she recognised the finely painted nails of
Dominix. Halfie was her insulting nickname, she was known as the half breed
amoung her peers. Her skin was too light to be a pure blooded Drow.
“What is it sister Dominix? No weak
males to torment today?” Vrishka turned and looked into the eyes of this
arrogant elf.
“I have my share of males and then
some Halfie, shame your sickly pallor wipes the fair looks from your face”
Dominix smiled an overly sinister tooth filled grin.
“At least you seem to be intact, no
deformities of form, I suppose a low born male might risk the shame of bedding
you” Her tone was goading, Vrishka was within her rights to confront and
possibly kill Dominix for that statement. Were Vrishka a full blooded Drow she
would have duelled the arrogant girl, be it with magic or steel. But to do so
as a half breed would be ill advised, besides Dominix’s skill with a blade it
was doubtful an Elder of the Temple would cast in Vrishka’s favour.
Vrishak turned away and looked down
the practise hall, a sign she was backing down much to the delight of Dominix.
“So weak, oh well” The stronger girl
mocked. “Sometimes I doubt you are Drow at all, I bet you have never even taken
a life”.
Vrishka felt the eyes upon her again,
a terrible mocking stare. Her blood surged with the unmistakable knowledge that
Lolth was watching, her Chewinka has begun.
She felt her heart start to pound as
the adrenaline surged through her veins, her pupils dilated fully and she felt
her hands starting to shake. A Euphoric surge of pure majesty blasted through
her consciousness, she was akin to a Goddess. A True daughter of Lolth and
could strike down her enemies with ease and cunning, while bedding their
husbands.
Vrishka’s eyes fell on the meditating
girl, she was still not moving. Vrishka knew without a doubt what Lolth has
decided, the sacrifice of her mother was not enough. She would have to give
another soul to her terrible Goddess.
Vrishka took
a deep last draw of her pipe and paused a moment, her mount shuffled slightly
feeling her unease. The tale continued in a puff of purple smoke from between
her lips.
It was now; the half breed would
dominate this Drow girl and deliver her life to Lolth. The others would respect
her and realise she was not their equal but their better!
Vrishka stalked forward her skin
heated and tingling, she closed on the meditating Elf girl. From behind her
Dominix clapped her hands in exictment. She saw the Chewinka gripping Vrishka,
there could only be two possible outcomes and both would be equally amusing.
The clap snapped the girl out of her
trance and she looked up at Vrishka, the girls eyes widened as she saw the
predatory intent, hands raised defensivly. Vrishka fell on the girl all nails
and hate, landing blow after blow on the girls face and arms.
Vrishka exalted in the savagery her
blood calling out for more violence, she still felt Lolth’s gaze upon her and
shrieked in delight. Leaping on the girl fully she lost herself to a haze of
red, resorting to primal instinct. Vrishka grabbed the terrified girl’s arms
and hissed like a giant spider before plunging her teeth into the side of the girl’s
neck. The girl screamed in shock as she was bitten, Vrishka could taste the
blood of this Drow as it surged over her teeth and filled her mouth. She knew
that one hard snap of her jaw and the girls throat would be torn asunder.
Vrishka
tapped the pipe against her knee letting it empty of ash and paused a moment,
she looked up at the no doubt shocked looks from her companions. She did not
look at Ultrix, if the Grey Elf was going to slay her, it would be now. She
continued her recount.
With a great heave she pulled her
head back tearing the girl’s throat open, the blood spray covered her face and
eyes. The girl made no sound as she died, Vrishka’s bite had been mercifully
deep, and she bled out in seconds.
Shaking her head Vrishka felt a rush
of guilt and horror at her own actions.
“By the dark gods!” Dominix cried out
as she back away from the slaying. “What are you?”
Vrishka blinked and swallowed,
instantly she tasted the wrongness of what had happened and started to gag.
Bent over the still warm corpse she brought up the girls blood and coughed. The
sight of the beaten and savagely killed girl filled her vision, the girl’s eyes
open and vacant. Vrishka screamed, a scream of pity and remorse.
A pain started in her heart, akin to
a heart attack. The pain started to radiate out from her chest to her limbs.
She slumped over the dead girl and started to convulse her eyes turning black
as midnight.
“She failed the Chewinka! She turns!”
Dominix cried fleeing the scene. Vrishka could feel the disgust of Lolth
filling her form. To feel any remorse or uncertainty during one’s Chewinka was
a fate worse than death, to be cursed by Lolth herself.
Vrishka changed, she mutated on the
spot. Her nerves screaming as muscles and bones were torn asunder to be reformed
into something else. Six eyes erupted from her cheeks and she felt jaw bone break
as long teeth grew from between her lips into fangs. Her own eyes grew twice their
natural size the sockets breaking and reforming around them, she tried to speak
but an unintelligible noise erupted from her mouth. Two of her ribs detonated
inside her chest, splintering the reforming, moving to jut out of her sides.
From them grew two extra spider like legs. The curse of Lolth was complete, she
had been turned into a Aracholoth.
“Neither
Spider nor Drow, it is a mockery of Lolth. Those that suffer this fate are
persecuted and enslaved” Vrishka stated “I had displeased Lolth in feeling
guilt, I have no doubt my half human blood contributed as well.
Vrishka looked at Jacob her violet eyes fearful but true.
“You asked
if my intent was evil. I am half Drow, Hated by my own kin and other Elves
alike. Yes part of me is evil and yet I devote myself to healing others.”
She looked
back at the assembled group, “I attempt to atone for the evil my race does do,
and found Arachne the enemy of Lolth. She brought me to the light. I leave my
judgement in your hands. Do as you will”
Vrishka sat
down on the warm stone, she thought of the girl she murdered and wondered if
she would share her fate.
