-------------- The Clones – Surut’zarreth

The elf watched carefully. As a Guild registered scout, it was his job to lead these parties into places that they would be better off not going. As a Sylvisan, he was driven to protect the forests and keep nature from harm. But as a thief, he needed a paycheck, and this one promised to top them all. The legends of the ruins of the ancient Atheaen temple atop Mount Avamyr went back for centuries, but few ever managed to make it this far. Now that the world was growing smaller, less wild all the time, perhaps those legends would at last unfold to him and give up their ancient treasures. Too bad that he’d never collect his share. Too bad that the arcanologist and his band of university students would never be heard from again. None of them would have expected what dropped down out of the skies upon them, not even a wilderness trained Guild registered Sylvisan Elven scout.

Mother had needed surface agents, those who could travel in the blazing sunlight and the high thin air. One of her first ideas was a cloned half breed who could do just that. But Mother never stopped there. She enhanced the creature’s flying ability, her vocal cords and genetically trained her with Bardic talents. When she was grown, Surut’zarreth had to be quickly brought out of the UnderDark, for as hateful as the bright sunlight is to the Drow, the deep, enclosed places were to the Half-Harpy.

Her magic was not strong, but her voice could knock down a full grown ironwood tree, shatter stone and kill lesser creatures with ease. Her wings were black and purple and filled with the light of the UnderDark, glowing lines like lava running just beneath the surface, a coloration repeated in her flaming red hair. She could fly higher and faster than the largest dragons. And her ability to charm and seduce was unmatched in all the bizarre creatures of the world, save her own sister, the Half-Dryad. She was given the mountain ranges as her domain, to serve Mother in the high places where Drow dare not go, but she was more often to be found in the company of Lorra’sessryn and Drejandra, her most trusted sisters.

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