No spiders can be seen in the temple anymore. All have settled inside the city.

Stones have dropped to the floor of the temple. Cracks can be seen in the roof. The priestesses send out messages to the matrons, that their spells aren't enough to repair the damage.

//Please take note of this when doing RP in the temple.

Following the birth of her daughter and its disposal in the harsh nursery of her family home, Veh'dra was pleased to be rid of the physical and metaphorical weight of her breeding burdens. Her various spies had been keeping her informed of the latest gossip in what came as close to a home city as any, and it was with a certain comfortable feeling of familiarity that she set foot through the gates of Ultrinnan.

After the dull necessities of homecoming had been served, the distasteful task of arranging her possessions in the second room completed, her duty and her ambition led her to the temple.

"Jaluken! Come before me!" She barked to the temple guards. "What are you stood here doing nauthing for? I want you to organise the slaves with mops, buckets, shovels, wheelbarrows, whatever! And do it NOW! The second a speck of dust, a pebble, falls from this building, I want it cleaned up and the damage repaired. And keep the cleaning materials out of sight! If this place is naut immaculate the next time I come by, then Lolth shall be paid in blood for your negligence."

'If the fools cannaut get to the cause of this decay, at least we can maintain appearances,' she mused to herself. 'How can the yath expect to inspire awe when our temple falls to ruins around us? This place looks uncared for, and unkept. Bitter Mother, I shall naut allow this to continue.'

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May'vrae gets the letter and begins sending out her males along with some slaves to help begin the reconstruction of the temple

//some posts to follow later.

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Arissa Nightblade's Wiki

// Please do your stories here on the forums, how your house contributes to building the new temple.

"Get back to work!" Raele yelled out to all the commoners of Vandree who were dispatched to the temple, flaming rapier swinging in an arc over head for intimidation.

"Work quickly! And by quick, I mean ****'ing quick!" She snarled in the up most hostile manner, obviously very upset about the second time the temple faced repairations.

"For every five hours, the one who works the slowest shall die! If you talk, you will die! If you take a break, you will die!" she yelled for motivation (and it also did entertain her), and the Vandree commoners worked at an insane pace while the Vandree nobles 'supervised' and cut down anyone that dared to think of revolt. There was no eating or rest for the poor common Drow. Many of them would die from exaustion. Those that were still alive were so frantic to build that they cut time to find materials first for the light weight cement for stability in the external structure that the corpses were too used in the re-construction process. The temple would be completed one way or another by those living and dead.

Having read the note from Paz'kole... ilharess Azaera muses softly and nods to herself. Within hours, she has summoned the best artisans and craftspeople in the city she can find that are not already engrossed in city resorations, as well as many slaves from her house Qos'Yutsu. A number of Paz'koles guards are borrowed as she graciously offered them.

"Restorations on the temple are not going to work... let the others continue their fruitless efforts; it will keep the old building up long enough for the new to be finished. A new temple shall be built to Lolth's glory. New structures for new times... Lolth tlu malla!" She taps eight times upon her chest in the symbol of the sacred spider and oversees the laying of the foundations in the Academy district. The work begins briskly, overshadowing the feeble efforts made upon the Melee Magthere across the cavern.

Adding a number of mages to the workers from her house and the Sorcere, shaping the very rock with magic begins as well, working in concert with the menial labour of the slaves in accordance with the drafts presented, some of these drafts bearing ideas from the ilharess herself.

"May the Dark Mother be pleased with our work." She nods once after watching the working labourers for a while and then strides off with her bootheels clicking upon the stone to continue with her many other duties.

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Sharuma:
Azaera Noqu'ana - yathtallar
Xüllae Ouss'ana - bard
Mhekaru - naive half-drow sorceress

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Arissa Nightblade's Wiki

At first the ominous sound of chanting could naut be heard over the hammering, sawing, hacking and grinding of a thousand stones being lifted by a hundred pulleys into their allotted position in the new temple. The sight of the yath marching four abreast in their webbed ceremonial robes, moving in unison, drew a pause to the proceedings. Even the whips halted their hiss as the sound of dark, dischordant voices drew closer. They seemed to be labouring slightly, as between every four priestesses was supported a wooden crate, from which a low moaning sound was emitting, the wails entwining in dark melody with the chants of the clergy.

“Dal l' oloth chu ml'aen, dal l' p'leik chu z'ress.”
“From the darkness comes sight, from the suffering comes strength.”

Over and over, half spoken, half sung, spun the dark refrain, its rhythm counterpointed by the solemn march of iron heels on cold stone. As they approached the building site, the column of priestesses split into two, each half circling around the site of the new temple. They surrounded the works, the lines splitting off into eight groups of eight yathrin.

Veh’dra walked round, checking the distance of the groups from any wooden building paraphernalia, until finally she nodded. Her voice, when she spoke from the centre of the now silent building site rang clear and cold, long trained in the service of her dark queen.

“Nindolen vesdrac udos belbau unto Lolth ulu morfeth orthae nindol eairthin.”
“Unto Lolth we give these souls to sanctify this ground.”

“Sut l' olath chathen.”
“Release the dark flames.”

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// I just realised I have mixed up the residential and academy areas in the new city, and it is not possible to swap their places anymore, without redoing it all. Let's pretend the residential is in the north and the academies in the east, and not vice versa, like it now is...


Paz'kole, pleased by the cooperation of the city, marched around the construction site, barking orders about details in decoration, her snake-headed whip lashing out to the random worker that didn't seem to be giving his all. She glanced once more at the glorious new temple building, and nodded in greeting to the matrons and nobles collected inside a tent at the construction's edge to discuss the plans, as she entered.

She shooed an older wizard away from a chair he had been mercifully granted to sit on, and sat down, laying a huge pile of scrolls on the table. The present drow curiously (but discreetly) tried to peek at the scrolls, while waiting for Paz'kole to begin. She snapped her fingers, and the wizard ran off, returning soon with a flask of the best spidervenom wine, and goblets for those females who didn't yet hold one in their hands. She begun carefully spreading some scrolls, as the mage poured and offered the wine.

Once contently holding a goblet, she pointed to the map of the city, now laid out on the table, with her finger, drawing a circle on it with her fingernail, as she spoke...

"As you all know... my men have been repairing the buildings that suffered from the floods. It has been a success so far, excluding the temple, of course."

Her face grew rather sour, as she stated the obvious and well-known failure of the city.

"I have given the order to move on to the Academies, once the temple is done. With this amount of resources, we should be able to reconstruct plenty more of the city, for the glory of the Queen, nau?"

She smirked slyly at the matrons, arching an elegant eyebrow, as her gaze passed each matron at time. She took a sip of her wine (a Purple Dragon ring flashing on her finger, as she lifted her hand) before continuing, letting her proposal hang in the air for a moment. She put her goblet down on the table, and pulled another scroll on top of the pile, pointing a location with her finger.

"Here... is the Melee-Magthere. Currently, it is naut in a suitable position, should the city fall under attack. We need some routes for the guard to quickly reach the gates, when needed. There is a river just beyond the cave walls in south. We can punch a hole into the wall, and let the river flow through our city, allowing quick travel by small vessels."

Without looking at the others, she pulled out yet another map. This map was clearly recogniseable to be of the main city area. She ran her fingernail from the eastern border, making an arch through the city, before stopping at the north-west corner.

"This is where the stream should go... the river in north takes us to larger waters, and finally to the surface. We can send out larger raid patrols by vessels, if we have larger docks than the current pathetic one..."

She shook her head before raising her head to finally look at the matrons and yath around the table again. She gave them all a smile, and motioned around to the southern part of the map as she spoke.

// Not too much spoilers for outsiders...

"Our gates... are naut so well protected. I wish to construct walls here... and here, and an easy access from the Melee-Magthere here. The archers will have easy targeting from the walls, while the mages prepare their next spells."

She paused, and watched some heads nod in agreement, cleared her throat with another sip of wine, and presented the plan of the temple for the audience.

"The new temple is coming along beautifully. Lloth tlu malla! Those of you who have visited inside have noticed there is plenty of room for educational purposes, as well. Whoever shall be our new Malla Ulathallar should find it suitable for raising good priestesses for the city. We need more of those, as you all know! The old temple school has been getting dusty with the lack use... I saw more bugs than spiders there last time I visited! What a disgrace! We must make sure such isn't repeated anymore."

She pushed the maps to the center of the table for everyone to read, as she finished her speech.

"Please, do get yourselves familiar with these plans... Ultrinnan could sure use some extra favour from our Queen by making Her glory visible to everyone. When you have decided how much help you can offer, my men await at the Melee-Magthere, ready to work. Aluve' for now, malla Ilharessen and Yathrinnen."

Paz'kole drank the rest of her wine, and raised from her chair, putting the goblet on the table before walking out of the tent. On the table, there were reconstruction plans for the Melee-Magthere and other academies, Ultrinnan vessel system and docks, security plans for the residential district, and beautification proposal of the city heart.




// The ball is yours. Build me a city! You don't of course know what it'll look like, but I'm sure you can come up with something to tell how the city gets a revamp...

// alright, so we're just making some suggestions to it? or do we actally explain how we want to revamp the city? just need to know before I make my semi-long post ;P

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Arissa Nightblade's Wiki

// Just post what your house is doing. Make it rather general, as not everything you say will be in the city, but some good ideas might also be present...

// Some things added to the city, and therefore included in the plans Paz left: a bazaar, slavemarket, café, training areas, better security and defenses, vessels transporting people to the surface to a few locations, mushroom and rothe farms, military docks, city decoration.

" Punch a hole into the wall " those where Paz'koles own words as Nadorhaun pitches in having several large incendiary barrels packed in to the wall. A child like grin smeared across his face as he steped back from the explosive packed barrier.

"This is what makes my job worth while" He hands a tourch to dim witted goblin slave "Go light the fuse, you earned it" he says with a smug tone. The goblin bounces on the spot excitedly, happy in knowledge he has pleased his master. It wasnt until the stupid beast lit the fuse that he figured out was set to ignite the instant is was lit.

A thunderous rumble shakes the very cavern of the city. Huge rocks hurtle flying through the air, some landing on top of the slave driven workers. The water of the underground lake bursts through the weakens wall, gushing down the pre-dug wide trenching gutter. Nadorhauns Child like grin now a full blown laugh.

As the dust settles and the stream calms, nadorhaun hear a slight thud behind him. He turns and looks toward the the area of the noise, laying there is the scorched remains on the goblins little hand and wrist. "Good work Slave"

Faer'lin Vandree stood watch over the assembly of males working on the temple, her eyes training each detail carefully, ordering small adjustments as the building progressed, especially where the education and training facilities were concerned. Each detail had to be perfect, flawless; Faer'lin would allow no less and the Queen of Spiders could not be worshiped in a flawed design. Such dishonor could not be allowed, under any conditions.

Faer'lin awoke from her thoughts at a large crashing sound, causing her to turn immediately, her eyes narrowing on the commoner who had dropped one of the tiles to the floor and shattered it. Faer'lin marched forward, ignoring the commoner as she knelt besides the tile, muttering words under her breath and watching the tile reform beneath her fingers slowly, the pieces clasping back together to form the same perfect spider they had before the tile had been dropped. The commoner scrambled forward, reaching for the tile.

"My apolog-" the sentence was cut short as the back of Faer'lin's hand struck the side of his face, bringing him to the floor across from the tile.

"Be more careful, jaluk, or next time I will use your blood to consecrate the Dark Lady's new temple. Each piece must perfect; it must be! Do you understand?" Faer'lin did not wait for an answer, turning on her heel and walking away, muttering curses under her breath. Did these fools not understand? If the temple was not perfect... It did not matter. It would be perfect, because it had to be. The Dark Lady would accept it no other way, and so the future Ul'ath'tallar could accept it no other way. Faer'lin could accept it no other way.

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Account recently changed to "Celtic Wren" courtesy of Nekh.
Amia Wiki Admin: Amia Wiki

Upon viewing the plans Raele turned to look at the nearest slave:
Poor Venoch Vandree was the lucky winner. The other Nobles of Vandree were dismissed to continue projects elsewhere.

He was nabbed and strung up to a post by his ankles as the commoners were then ordered to move on to the city's defenses: the walls, the guard posts, reinforcing structure against blasts. Raele still kept to her word about the demise of the slowest worker. Every hour Lurormand was allowed to beat Venoch. The screams of agony became the constant reminder to the commoners of their doom.

"Deco...dec..decorations are needed for the city, Ilharess Vandree" A commoner approached, head bowed. She was attempting to take a small group to design the decorations.
"The city will be decorated with your blood, waelen! Suffer!" Psychotic Ilharess Vandree shouted and cut down the female commoner. The group with her rushed back to join with the others who were working on the walls.

"You are all insects!"

Eventually food was delivered...and the commoners abruptly paused their working to stare at the food--they had been laboring for a long time now with no rest or nourishment. Raele sampled the food, with a purple dragon ring on he finger...and turned to glare at the commoners who were feasting with their eyes.

"Your faith will enough sustinance, elg'caressen!" and with that, she pointed at the carts of food, and flames immediately burst from over head down on the meals.

"But...Mal.." A commoner male started to snivvil, and he too was thrown into the flames.

Again the commoners returned to their assignment, they knew what was good for them.

The work....would be done quickly, but the more the commoners worked in terror, the more it became evident they were being worked to death because they could be. Venoch's screams wracked their nerves and burned into their memories. So they continued on like shell shocked soldiers, surely traumatized for the rest of their short lives.

*Bree'nye makes her way through the city, watching all the activity closely. As she makes her way past the beginnings of the new temple, she hears a loud explosion (Nadorhuan's tunnels) and pauses to look over her shoulder where the explosion originated. As she continues her trek throughout the city she notices that many of the other qu'ellaren have the designated tasks under control. Bree'nye slowly makes her way to the tent where Paz'kole left several scrolls. As she approaches the tent, she can hear the screams of Venoch as Lurormand flails him. A small smile crosses her lips at his futile attempts to beg his way out of his situation. As she enters the tent, she promptly takes the seat that Paz'kole previously sat in. She slowly spreads the scrolls left behind out, one at a time. Bree'nye examines each scroll carefully, looking for a task that would prove to be of use to Lolth and the city. The last scroll she picks up and unrolls is the one describing plans to re-enforce the walls and gates of the city. As Bree'nye glances over the plans she thinks to herself:

"Ah... here we are. Making the walls around Ultrinnan stronger should keep any enemies we ever have more hesitant to even think about trying to gain entry. This should prove worthwhile..."

With that thought completed, Bree'nye stands with the scroll firmly in hand to go and gather the rothe of Tinnerai to begin construction on the new walls and other various forms of added security for Ultrinnan. Very shortly after her exit from the tent, the sounds of construction on the outer walls can be heard.*

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Arissa Nightblade's Wiki

Kir'nack walked back through the gates. He had been to the upper Underdark with a dozen of sargtlinen and a m'elzar. It had not taken long to surround the kobol tribe and herd them deeper into the depths. Now, as they reached Ultrinnan, a handful of guards rushed to take care of the "guests", shackling them. A few of the boldest tried to bite back and run through the gates, but a quick lash of the blade silenced the worst opposition. The reptilian rats had lost their will to fight when they saw their leader burst in flames thanks to the m'elzar.

((Bah, gotta go, I'll edit later))

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((For whatever reason, I was unable to edit))

Kir'nack walked back through the gates. He had been to the upper Underdark with a dozen of sargtlinen and a faern. It had not taken long to surround the kobold tribe and herd them deeper into the depths. Especially since a simple illusion had made the drow's numbers seem three times larger.
Now, as they reached Ultrinnan, a handful of guards rushed to take care of the "guests", shackling them. A few of the boldest tried to bite back and run through the gates, but a quick lash of the blade silenced the worst opposition. The reptilian rats had lost their will to fight when they saw their leader burst in flames, thanks to the faern.

Kir'nack looked around the city turned to construction site, assessing the situation. The new employers behind him yipped, squeaked and growled nervously, as a few guards gathered them all together, binding them to eachother. His gaze shifted from the rubble next to the new river towards the lakeside.


Take them to the docks. They will clear out the rubble by the lake, and then start building a better military harbour. They'd better hope they can swim, since some of the groundwork needs to be laid underwater. I want the docks ready when the walls are. Move it!

Kir'nack spoke his orders with a calm yet authorative voice. He raised it only when telling them to move.
Three warriors left to escort the band of some 65 kobolds to the docks, and Kir'nack waved for the others to return to their duties.

The rest of you lot, go work on the walls. It won't do us much good if we finish decorating the city just to have it attacked in the middle of celebration. It's up to you to make sure the walls are the first thing to be completed.

The rest of the group - excluding the wizard - wandered to Tinnerai's slaves and started doing their own duties. Kir'nack nodded to himself, relieved with the knowledge that security would be handled.

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After the Ul'saruk had dismissed the patrol, Nilbrix of Sorcere leaned against his staff, watching the city from beneath his helmet. It had been redicilously easy to capture the kobolds, and he was irritated that he was asked to deal with such small matters. Then ag
ain, one couldn't expect those steel-swingers with their poiny objects to do anything right. He sighed.

A wizard's work is never done. Especially when one is as talented as me.

But there was no time to be standing around, he remembered. He had been assigned to do his share about the city's decorations, and it was best to get it done swiftly. That way, he could get back to his studies as fast as possible, and no one would have reason to complain. He wandered into Sorcere, the place which was much more his home than Arabett.


After some hours, Nilbrix walked out again, his staff clanging against the ground. He glances at the workers in irritation.

Can't they possibly work any -quieter-? he pondered. He knocked his helmet with his staff, creating an umbrella of force to shield him from falling rocks, and waltzed towards the heart of the city.

For hours the illusionist worked, going from a renovated or reconstructed building to the next, illuminating them with Faerie Fire. Purple, green, red, even blue and yellow, in all possible lively shapes floated above the doorways and towers of public buildings, giving the finished parts of the city a haunting glow.


After finishing with the public buildings, he headed towards the Academy District again, where Melee-Magthere was being worked on. There was one more thing to do, a personal favour to the Ul'saruk. He did not specifically know the Ul'saruk in person, but they had lived in the same city and even served the same house for years, so he did not wish to decline such a prestigeous person's request.

Nilbrix entered Melee-Magthere, trying to avoid the sweaty hobgoblins, bugbears, kobolds and the occasional ogre working amidst the low-ranking drow of the city. He stepped into the Main Hall. There it was, the result of a more challenging expedition. On either sides of the door, hanging on the walls there were two huge dragon skulls. The other was from a green and the other from a blue one. These majestetic trophies kept watch of the doorway.

Nilbrix begun his complicated spell. It was a relatively simple illusion, but to make it last was always tricky. Twenty minutes passed with incantations, and then it finally was done. The dragon skull on right side glowed with blue Faerie Fire, and flames were burning in its eyes. The magical illusion made the skull seem alive, the eyes turning to watch everyone moving in the hall. Inside the left skull, there was a green Faerie Fire burning, light glowing out of the eyesockets. It, too, seemed to be forever watchful.

These two guardians of Melee-Magthere now completed, Nilbrix let out a sigh of relief. All his illusions had worked adequately, and he could finally get back to his work. He'd let others illuminate the rest of the buildings, such as the Temple when finished. He wasn't the only wizard in the city, after all. Even if, he thought, he was undeniably the best.

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Chatting over a glass of blood wine with the lead architect, Veh'dra slipped her 100,000 gold, if it is possible to truly slip a bag of that size.

"I always rather liked the lake in old Udos... see if you can't get us a nice water feature, whilst you're diverting all those rivers, won't you? And do try to make sure that the Commander is well out of earshot of the central gathering space. She may think her words witty and awe inspiring, and perhaps they were the first ten thousand times, but I would rather naut hear them another ten thousand."

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*For some reason the builders show great interest in water works for the next few days*

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Say 'no' to JSBF!

(I'm sorry can you rephrase? I don't understand?)

//wait nvm.

//He simply meant that the builders were "inspired" by Veh'dra's "contribution" to their well being.

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According to Dictionary.com:
Liberal: Relating to or having social and political views that favor progress and reform
Conservative: Favoring the preservation of established customs, values, etc, and opposing innovation.
'Nuff said.

The ghostly form of Arkohn Sem'Hyelos sat up in the upper Areas of the Rocky Wall surrounding the Residential Area, watching the slaves and Jaluken work and the Females that watched over them. He paid the closest attention to the members of his brother Deltar's previous House, Tinnerai, and noticed how excellent their work ethic appeared to be. Ark had always took shots at Delt for his willingness to trust them, but he was beginning to be impressed by them. It was a shame he wasn't alive otherwise he'd join them...

Meanwhile, down in the Construction site, Artemis Vandree was moving rocks with Magic, moving faster than any of the Rothe's could hope to. He looked around for his Il'haress, and when he could not spot her, he turned back to his task and continued...

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Phoenix Writer's Guild


Qas'Terea Tinnerai - drow cleric of Lolth
Shinobi Tenzen - human fighter with a heart of gold
Venrith - drow fighter eager to prove himself