The Underdark had no room for idlers, so his leisurely life of study at the family compound did not last long.
In six months, the Goddess's holy day would arrive, as it did once every eight years.
It was the most important festival in Samoriel City, bar none. On that day, the Ruling Council would hold a citywide sacrificial ceremony, while the great noble families would present offerings in their own chapels and pray for the Goddess's blessings.
According to legend, this was the day Lolth had bound Selvetarm-Lolth's Champion Warrior and the patron god of drow warriors-and plotted the destruction of the Demon Lord Zanassu, who had contested her dominion over spiders.
The chief deity of the drow had eliminated her enemy effortlessly, through intrigue alone. Thus, on this day, Lolth was often especially generous, almost never withholding blessings and rewards from priests who presented sacrifices.
Selvetarm. Renato silently recalled the name. Within Lolth's church, he was depicted as an eight-armed drow with supreme martial skill, each hand holding a different weapon.
He was Vhaeraun's son and Lolth's grandson. In any other pantheon, a deity of such lineage and standing would usually be revered alongside the chief god, with temples everywhere.
But in Sammoril, every noble and every capable person with ambitions of advancement disregarded this god of drow warriors. In this drow city, he did not even have a single shrine, nor were any sacrifices offered to him.
The reason was simple. Selvetarm had not become the god of drow warriors willingly. According to the young cleric, he had once committed a terrible act of defiance by attempting to leave the Dark Seldarine, only to be deceived by Lolth's words. After destroying the Demon Lord Zanassu for Lolth, he had been bound in her web, reduced to a