"What of your brothers?" asked Malice. "How did House Do’Urden fare in this encounter?"
"As with the surface elves, Dinin’s hand slew five." replied Briza. "They say that he led the main assault fearlessly, and he killed the most gnomes."
Matron Malice beamed with the news, though she suspected that Briza, standing patiently behind a smug smile, was holding something dramatic back from her. "What of Drizzt?" the matron demanded, having no patience for her daughter’s games. "How many svirfnebli fell at his feet?"
"None.", Briza replied, but still the smile remained. "Still the day belonged to Drizzt," she added quickly, seeing an angry scowl spreading across her volatile mother’s face. Malice did not seem amused.
"Drizzt defeated an earth elemental." Briza cried, "all alone, almost, with only minor help from a wizard! The high priestess of the patrol named the kill his!" Matron Malice gasped and turned away. Drizzt had ever been an enigma to her, as fine with the blade as any but lacking the proper attitude and the proper respect. Now this, an earth elemental! Malice herself had seen such a monster ravage an entire drow raiding party, killing a dozen seasoned warriors before wandering off on its way. Yet her son, her confusing son, had defeated one single-handedly!
"Lolth will favor us this day." Briza commented, not quite understanding her mother’s reaction.
Briza’s words struck an idea in Malice. "Gather your sisters." she commanded. "We shall meet in the chapel. If House Do’Urden so fully won the day out in the tunnels, perhaps the Spider Queen will grace us with some information."
"Vierna and Maya await the forthcoming news in the city plaza." Briza explained, mistakenly believing her mother to be referring to information about the battle. "Surely we will know the entire story within an hour."
"I care nothing for a battle against gnomes!" Malice scolded. "You have told everything that is important to our family, the rest does not matter. We must parlay your brothers’ heroics into gain."
"To learn of our enemies!" Briza blurted as she realized what her mother had in mind.
"Exactly." replied Malice. "To learn which house it is that threatens House Do’Urden. If the Spider Queen truly finds favor with us this day, she may grace us with the knowledge we need to defeat our enemies!"
A short while later, the four high priestesses of House Do’Urden gathered around the spider idol in the chapel anteroom. Before them, in a bowl of the deepest onyx, burned the sacred incense―sweet, deathlike, and favored by the yochlol, the handmaidens of Lolth.
The flame moved through a variety of colors, from orange to green to brilliant red. It then took shape, heard the beckons of the four priestesses and the urgency in the voice of Matron Malice. The top of the fire, no longer dancing, smoothed and rounded, assumed the form of a hairless head, then stretched upward, growing. The flame disappeared, consumed by the yochlol’s image, a half melted pile of wax with grotesquely elongated eyes and a drooping mouth.
"Who has summoned me?" the small figure demanded telepathically. The yochlol’s thoughts, too powerful for its diminutive stature, boomed within the heads of the gathered drow.
"I have, handmaiden." Malice replied aloud, wanting her daughters to hear. The matron bowed her head. "I am Malice, loyal servant of the Spider Queen."
In a puff of smoke, the yochlol disappeared, leaving only glowing incense embers in the onyx bowl. A moment later, the handmaiden reappeared, full size, standing behind Matron Malice. Briza, Vierna, and Maya held their breath as the being laid two sickly tentacles on their mother’s shoulders.
Matron Malice accepted the tentacles without reply, confident in her cause for summoning the yochlol.
"Explain to me why you dare to disturb me." came the yochlol’s insidious thoughts.
"To ask a simple question." Malice replied silently, for no words were necessary to communicate with a handmaiden. "One whose answer you know."
"Does this question interest you so greatly?" the yochlol asked. "You risk such dire consequences."
"It is imperative that I learn the answer." replied Matron Malice. Her three daughters watched curiously, hearing the yochlol’s thoughts but only guessing at their mother’s unspoken replies.
"If the answer is so important, and it is known to the handmaidens, and thus to the Spider Queen, do you not believe that Lolth would have given it to you if she so chose?"
"Perhaps, before this day, the Spider Queen did not deem me worthy to know." Malice responded. "Things have changed."
The handmaiden paused and rolled its elongated eyes back into its head as if communicating with some distant plane.
"Greetings, Matron Malice Do’Urden." the yochlol said aloud after a few tense moments. The creature’s spoken voice was calm and overly smooth for the thing’s grotesque appearance.
"My greetings to you, and to your mistress, Queen of Spiders." replied Malice. She shot a wry smile at her daughters and still didn’t turn to face the creature behind her. Apparently Malice’s guess of Lolth’s favor had been correct.
"Daermon N’a’shezbaernon has pleased Lolth." the handmaiden said. "The males of your house have won the day, even above the females that journeyed with them. I must accept Matron Malice Do’Urden’s summons." The tentacles slid off Malice’s shoulders, and the yochlol stood rigid behind her, awaiting her commands.
"Glad I am to please the Spider Queen." Malice began. She sought the proper way to phrase her question. "For the summons, as I have said, I beg only the answer to a simple question."
"Ask it." prompted the yochlol, and the mocking tone told Malice and her daughters that the monster already knew the question.
"My house is threatened, say the rumors." said Malice.
"Rumors?" The yochlol laughed an evil, grating sound.
"I trust in my sources." Malice replied defensively. "I would not have called upon you if I did not believe the threat."
"Continue." said the yochlol, amused by the whole affair."They are more than rumors, Matron Malice Do’Urden. Another house plans war upon you."
Maya’s immature gasp brought scornful eyes upon her from her mother and her sisters.
"Name this house to me." Malice pleaded. "If Daermon N’a’shezbaernon truly has pleased the Spider Queen this day, then I bid Lolth to reveal our enemies, that we might destroy them!"
"And if this other house also has pleased the Spider Queen?" the handmaiden mused. "Would Lolth then betray it to you?"
"Our enemies hold every advantage." Malice protested. "They know of House Do’Urden. No doubt they watch us every day, laying their plans. We ask Lolth only to give us knowledge equal to that of our enemies. Reveal them and let us prove which house is more worthy of victory."
"What if your enemies are greater than you?" asked the handmaiden. "Would Matron Malice Do’Urden then call upon Lolth to intervene and save her pitiful house?"
"No!" cried Malice. "We would call upon those powers that Lolth has given us to fight our foes. Even if our enemies are the more powerful, let Lolth be assured that they will suffer great pain for their attack on House Do’Urden!"
Again the handmaiden sank back within itself, finding the link to its home plane, a place darker than Menzoberranzan. Malice clenched tightly to Briza’s hand, to her right, and Vierna’s, to her left. They in turn passed along the confirmation of their bond to Maya, at the foot of the circle.
"The Spider Queen is pleased, Matron Malice Do’Urden." the handmaiden said at length. "Trust that she will favor House Do’Urden more than your enemies when battle rings out, perhaps…" Malice flinched at the ambiguity of that final word, grudgingly accepting that Lolth never made any promises, at any time.