Taenya stalked through the darkened forest, the dappled moonlight that glistened off her bare, obsidian skin and shimmered along the silvery blade of her extremely long sword her only guide to track her prey. She had followed the massive wolf since moon-rise, trying to catch it away from its pack, but hadn’t caught sight of the beast yet, tracking it only by its trail. Then she heard a rumbling growl from the thick brush in front of her… far closer than expected. Suddenly the beast crashed forward, but it wasn’t the dire wolf that caught her by surprise, it was drow rider who sat astride it that she hadn’t expected… or been prepared for! Diving to the side to avoid being trampled by the charging monster, she left herself expose to its rider’s hand crossbow, taking a hit to her naked rump; instantly feeling the knockout poison seeping into her blood as the world around her faded to blackness. “You priestesses of Eilistraee are just too obliging,” the male drow sneered as he slid from the back of his massive canine mount. “All I had to do is wait for a full moon and troll the forest, and you come to me… naked and ready to be treated as the playthings you were born to be.” But a surprised yelp from the dire wolf, drew his attention away from his helpless pray; puzzled by the beast’s sudden silence, he realized too late that it was actually frozen as a he felt a stinging impact against his back, but his natural magic resistance overcame the embedded hold spell. Turning to face the treat, the drow leveled his hand crossbow, but in his delight at the capture of the priestess he had neglected to reload it. When his radiant holding shuriken fail to affect the drow, Coran charged as he aimed his crossbow, hoping to close the distance before he could fire, but saw that it wasn’t loaded and caught him with a driving punch to the jaw, empowered by his magical bracer’s aura of force… sending the drow flying backward. The staggered drow fumbled for the short sword sheathed at his hip but was slammed in the abdomen by another crushing blow, spitting up blood as he stumbled into the side of the frozen dire wolf. Stunned, with the breath driven out of him, he was unprepared for the devastating impact that slammed into his jaw, sending his head twisting unnaturally and snapping his neck… his lifeless body crumpling to the ground. Then Coran turned his attention to the massive, frozen wolf; knowing that the hold spell wouldn’t last much longer, but not wanted to kill the helpless creature, he quickly bound its muzzle closed and tied it to its front pawls, effectively rendering it harmless… at least for some time. Scooping up the unconscious female drow and her sword, he headed off into the forest, attempting to put enough distance between them that by the time it freed itself the wolf wouldn’t bother to track them, he couldn’t help but wonder how she had gotten so deep into the woods… naked… with nothing but a sword nearly as tall as she is. He had heard her attacker call her a priestess of Eilistraee, as well as recognized the symbol on her necklace, and knew from past experiences that, despite being drow, they served the greater good. Coran had woken in his rented room at the Dancing Dryad in Tangled Trees a few days ago to find a note on the pillow beside him that read; “We knew this day would come. Last night Selune called me back to my duty in the forest. Don’t scorn her for ending our time together so soon, thank her for allowing us the time we had. Kara” He knew it was pointless to try and pursue her; she had sworn her life to the service of the Moonmaiden, and he had to respect her commitment to those vows. So, he bid farewell to Siril and Ryllae, warned Malark to stay out of trouble, and headed out into the vast Cormanthor himself to see what the whims of fate, destiny… or the Moonmaiden had in store for him next. However, he hadn’t expected those whims to literally place a truly breath-takingly beautiful, naked drow in his arms… but stranger things have happened to him.