The Underdark, outside Samoriel City.
After nearly twelve hours of marching out of the city, over two hundred fully armed drow warriors had made camp in a spacious natural cavern for their first rest.
Moss on the cavern walls glowed a ghostly green beneath the faint light of fluorescent fungi. Soldiers took turns standing watch at the entrance and several branching passages, while a heavy, murderous silence hung over the camp.
Inside the command tent, which bore the Nightwind Family's crest, Quelyn knelt before a spider statue half a person's height. Dismembered male drow lay scattered around her, their severed limbs and heads arranged in specific positions. Blood flowed through grooves carved into the ground, gathering into a web-shaped pattern.
She clasped her hands before her chest and prayed softly. Violet light slowly spilled from the statue's eight compound eyes, enveloping her.
Quelyn hoped to receive guidance from the Goddess, however slight the oracle or hint.
During the Holy Day Festival over a month ago, the Goddess's sudden oracle and the apostle of Lolth who had torn through the void had stirred every family in the city into an unprecedented frenzy.
Lolth's attention, boundless power, a position above all others...
The Web Herald, Handmaiden of Lolth, legendary yochlol Sinnaphyx had promised the drow everything.
Fanatical faith and an obsession with power had swept through all of Sammoril. Even the matron mothers of ancient powers such as the third and fourth ruling families had succumbed completely to religious fervor. They had personally led their armies into the thick white mist, never to be seen again.
Yet Quelyn, who had only recently become a Ruling Matron Mother and whose family had suffered grievous losses in the preceding ascension war, had remained surprisingly calm.
An unknown demiplane that allowed entry but no exit,