A recurring character from the Ring of Steel, a Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms campaign set in and around Harrowdale. “The orcs drug Sabrea towards the altar, eyeing her naked form with beastly lust. Bond, hand and foot, they literally carried her between them, straining her shoulders painfully. But that not stop her from struggling in their grasp. They quickly retied her on the hard stone surface; her arms stretched above her head, her legs bent down and spread wide with her hips positioned at the edge… She knew what was to come. She had seen what orcs did with females in Maerimydra, and knew the tales told of their endowments and brutality were all too true. “Go!” Sabrea was surprised by the command, turning her head to see the drow priestess approaching. Reluctantly the orcs obeyed, mumbling amongst themselves about the loss of the pleasures due them as they withdrew. “Foolish girl,” Xune stood over her, eyeing her naked form with no less lust then the orcs had. “Why do you deny she who governs your fate?” “Lolth is dead!” Sabrea spat back. Xune struck her across her face with the back of her hand, her eyes now burning with rage rather then lust. “She tests us with her silence… But when she returns, she will reward her faithful, and punish those who abandoned her!” “She let Maerimydra burn! She let Kiaransalee damn her faithful! All as a test?” Sabrea retorted, delighting in taunting her capture. “What happens when your orcs learn that she has abandoned you, and you have no power over them? You’ll be the one tied to this altar. With no one to deny them what they would have done to me.” Xune smiled cruelly. She knew Sabrea was trying to enrage her. Trying to either rush her through her suffering, or taunt her into making a mistake that could give her a chance to escape. “They would never dare turn on me,” she replied coldly. “They have seen what I do to those who defy me… and I am not as powerless as you hope.” Xune drew a ceremonial dagger from her robes and held it before Sabrea’s eyes. Then she laid it on the altar beside her. Slowly undoing the tie at her robes throat, she flung her arms wide in a dramatic motion, casting it off. Standing naked above Sabrea, she took up the dagger and raised it into the cold night air. “Blessed Lolth, queen of the holy demonweb pits, accept the suffering of this unfaithful daughter as my gift to you and know that I, Xune of the house T’orgh, remain steadfast in my faith!” Sabrea squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the blade to plunge into her heart and take her life as the final act of cruelty Lolth’s servants could inflict on her…” The daughter of a minor noble house in Maerimydra, Xune’s rapid rise to power within the priesthood of Lolth came to an abrupt end when the city fell. Driven into the Deep Wastes, she gathered a small group of faithful, determined to prove their loyalty to the Queen of Spiders, despite her continued silence. Ambitious, cruel and determined, she is not satisfied with mere survival, she schemes to place herself in position to greet Lolth’s return with sufficient power to claim the title of first matron when Maerimydra rises from its own ashes. Xune and her followers have secured a foothold in Myth Drannor, despite opposition from the forest's inhabitants, the drow who infest the Cormanthor, and the multitude of others who would reap the ruin’s lost treasures. She hates the surface world and all those who dwell there, seeking only to plunder every bit of wealth and magical power she can. Thanks for looking... Hope you enjoy! Comments and suggestions always welcome and appreciated.