I have no words for the atrocities committed to my blood. A curse laid to insure that any child that came from our blademaster, her son, my brother, would not be fit for Lolth's service. A curse that I never looked for because I did not believe she would weaken our house or our line. 

I was wrong, though only this serves as proof for that. He has the right to be angry, she violated him in ways that even we do not. It is not illegal, but she stripped him of his will, took his mind, body and seed without his concent. If he were anything less than he is, it might have gone unnoticed, I might have never thought to look. The problem is, I am cautious and we take him to our bed habitually, he sired the child I bare, did she think I would never have thought it possible? Does she even care? No, that is a clear answer. 

The betrayal of rewarding our adopted sister with a whip that outranked ours, her whip for that matter… that was repaid by Lolth herself; whips with nine heads each were given despite that we tired separately. Dyan'ette has been blessed with the touch of Lolth, and with that he is near untouchable. Not free as he'd like, he's tasted the surface and I believe we have lost part of him to it, though it would be that lack of the conditioning of our matron. There are grave concerns now however, so rather than dwell I will put it all to use. That being said, should one of the houses he will likely entertain feel obliged to claim him, my sister and I will take him as consort, to keep him here, and there would be no end to the fury that would be wrought should our Matron try to take him before we are done… nor the end of Lolth's, because she has chosen him. I had never considered the likelihood that I would share with our goddess,  though the idea is not unpleasant.

Right now we have a dragon to reckon with, something that will take the might of all Menzoberranzan to face it. It was freeing, I will admit, not being trapped in the confines of the city, though I get the feeling that Dyan'ette was horrified that we would risk so much, or maybe just annoyed that he had to do his job. 

Then this is over, however, I have plans. Our matron refused to train a priest that had the ability to serve Lolth, because then he would have rights to refuse her I imagine. I have the power to preform all of those rites, and to teach him everything he needs to know, and there is little she could do without risking the wrath of the self-same goddess that has singled out Dyan'ette.

Then, and only then can we begin moving against her. I will have my family, my people, and my sister and I will have a house with contacts in plenty. It pays to be a friend of House Baenre, and I think with our last visit we more than entertained them. 

Though, I confessed to Valan'rae that I have been marked, she has removed the wound and healed it clean to remove the ability to set us apart. Some will likely still know, but if my mother had to mark me to prove that I was myself she knows nothing of me. I would like it to stay that way at least while we wait. I know that we will not always rule together, it is always fleeting, partnership. Though, for now it suits us both and we've found nothing to argue over, and I pray it stays that way until it must change.

There is more but I do not trust myself to say it here, perhaps I will be willing to write it, but to put a thing to ink has a way of making it real, so for now it remains unsaid. 

Nearly two thousand years ago she destroyed Chulssin.  Now she is nesting less than ten miles from another great city, and the houses are up in arms and determined to drive her out.  But can the City of Spiders come together to defeat so dangerous a foe when they have their own intentions?

Three hours to die.

That's how long the sacrifice was kept, while Dyan'ette recovered from his wounds.  The destroyed husk of the traitor who betrayed him lay flayed open for the spiders before a burning cauldron.

And Dyan'ette left, not quite a free man, but a live drow.

The massive spire atop the Isle of Rothe has been developed and hollowed over several hundred years to create a massive citadel, surrounded by multiple high walls, themselves surrounded by the massive Lake Donigarten and further protected by the dense mushroom fields and rothe herds that no drow may risk harming.

Tower Freth easily could accommodate far more than the 400 bodies that routinely inhabit it.  Presently, every drow has a room of their own, even the lowest guard and servile.   The tower also houses two dark secrets—a catacomb leading to a necropolis, and a secret passage leading out of the city, both things forbidden by city law.

One level of the tower leads out onto an immense balcony, which provides a beautiful overlook of the entire city.  The Spire and Tower Xorlarrin are easily visible from the heights of Isle Rothe.

The Isle of Rothe is the formal home to House Sel'rue.  Formerly Freth and Hunszrin before them, the Sel'rue dominate city politics by controlling the food supply of mushroom fields and rothe herds.  There are over one thousand rothe and 70 acres of mushroom fields covering a full quarter of the city, but those fields exist only around the one natural water source, Lake Donigarten.

Rothe are the primary livestock of Menzoberranzan, and the blind musk oxen of the deep provide fur, meat, milk, and cheese, as well as occasionally beasts of burden.  There are surface variants that exist in the World Above, and there are ghost rothe, strange creatures from the Lowerdark that appear to have retained their sight, and developed a language of flashing lights to communicate.  Rothe bred with their Lowerdark cousins sometimes gain the ability to cast Silence spells, and transport themselves across short distances, making them unexpected escape artists—better, if they can be trained to use their power with a rider.

Lake Donigarten is home to the twentieth house, Sel'rue, who controls the massive fields of mushrooms and rothe herds that feed the majority of the massive City of Spiders, Menzoberranzan.

Their matron claimed the house in a controversial move after Freth narrowly failed to destroy them two years earlier in an all-out war.  Previous, Sel'rue occupied a far smaller house in the commons near the West Wall, but a house in the Upper Third should suffer no such disgrace—as either a poor house or a target.

There are 278 drow and 166 slaves attached to Sel'rue working the Donigarten on a daily basis.  Roughly 330 of them have formal combat training and can readily rise to protect the city or their house on a regular basis.

After rocketing to the top third over a botched takeover attempt and a series of disbanded houses whose ranks were never released, House Sel'rue and their Matron seem uncontested, and safely nested within the midranks of the Upper Third.

House Sel'rue controls the entirety of Lake Donigarten and an additional 70 acres of mushroom fields used for their massive rothe herds.  Their house encompasses 240 drow soldiers and servants, 38 nobles, and 166 slaves to tend the massive herds of rothe and their mushrooms.

The specific talents of just certain members is listed below…

Bakers
6
Buckle Makers
4
Doctors
1
Inns
1
Painters
4
Scabbardmakers
3
Weavers
6
Barbers
7
Butchers
5
Fishmongers
2
Jewelers
1
Pastrycooks
2
Sculptors
2
Vintners
5
Bathers
2
Carpenters
3
Furriers
9
Locksmiths
1
Plasterers
3
Shoemakers
2
Woodcarvers
1
Beer-sellers
1
Chandlers
5
Glovemakers
2
Magic Shops
1
Pursemakers
3
Spice Merchants
4
Woodsellers
2
Blacksmiths
4
Butchers
3
Harness-makers
3
Maidservants
11
Roofers
3
Tailors
13
Bleachers
2
Coopers
5
Hatmakers
7
Masons
11
Ropemakers
1
Tanners
2
Bookbinders
1
Copyists
2
Hay Merchants
2
Mercers
5
Rugmakers
2
Taverns
1
Booksellers
1
Cutlers
1
Illuminators
1
Old Clothes
2
Saddlers
1
Watercarriers
4
 

The prodigal son returns, and the house is complete once again.

While the matron is less than pleased, there is plenty of disturbing evidence that there are dangers great enough to warrant his existence.  Rumors of a power from the Lowerdark abound, and there are rumors that something is driving them upward toward the city.

Is it just that he was too clueless to know that the wards would be destroyed in his actions, or was it that he played dumb when we brought it to his attention? To think that he would let Dyan'ette be blamed for this when it was Elgin, is almost interesting enough to set them against one another. An amusing prospect when he returns. 

Having laid eyes on him, I can more convincingly reassure any that ask that he is still alive. That may make things more deadly for him however, so I will keep my recurrences to a minimum, just incase someone is listening. I will admit that I am vexed that he did not just come with us when I approached him, but I suppose I can understand his hesitation, he would assume I was there to kill him, especially given that I came with numbers. Really though, if I wanted him dead I wouldn't have bothered to go myself. 

Valen'rae is suspicious, and perhaps she has right to be, but I will not let it divide us, not yet, not until I'm ready to do what needs to be done. Right now I need to convince her that this is for the best of the family, which she believes, and that this is about us, and not about me. Making moves for myself will make me a target. 

I have plans to travel with Minivrae, we have needs that only the surface can provide and she is still willing to accompany us, so we should ingratiate ourselves. We have time to kill before Dyan'ette returns, and might as well make use of it to establish ourselves in the meantime. Mother has her dealings to handle, which means her eyes will be off of us.

Two-tendays he said, that could turn out to be months given what he may need to go around. It would behoove us to keep an eye on the symbol and track it as he goes, perhaps send raids to clear ahead of his progress. That would be easy enough to do without drawing much attention. 

To pose this to others in a way that doesn't immediately call attention to my drive to see him returned will be a test, but one that I am prepared for. The only question is, will our matron comply with our schemes, or will we take her place? I am sure that is something that will become evident rather immediately. I will turn the whole of our guard on her if necessary. Though, it occurs to me that I should find the blade that way used on her in the attack, it may provide insight on what to use to kill her. Mother is careful, which means there are few things that will readily work. Spells are near useless, but some poisons may be effective, and there is always brute force. 

Perhaps I can dupe Elgin into doing it for us, then we can hand him to our blade-master for justice… hm, that does sound like a lovely idea. Our hands would be relatively speaking, clean, and we would be short a man that has betrayed us for his own gain before. A win, win.

The house wizard learns that the eldest son was innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted.  His absence protects the house even now, as word of his presence would cause death on a wide scale.

The death of the second brother destroyed the wards protecting the house, but the house survived the attack and moved forward into House Freth.  The new house on the Isle of Rothe has many secrets, some of which the daughters plan to take advantage of.

The sojourns with the youngest daughter of House Baenre have bolstered their spirits and gathered them new knowledge, but are they prepared for the real secrets hiding in the Underdark?