Quenthel Baenre

Quenthel Baenre was a drow priestess and the third daughter of Yvonnel Baenre of House Baenre of Menzoberranzan. She was the Mistress of Arach-Tinilith, the clerical school of the city and later Matron Mother of House Baenre.

Description
Quenthel was described as strong and beautiful. She was also noted for maintaining a regal and noble bearing even in the heat of battle as well as being somewhat larger than other drow.

Personality
Quenthel was the epitome of a noble drow female: she was cold, ruthless, selfish, cunning, ambitious, and arrogant. As a ruler, she did not allow insubordination or disrespect, usually countering such behavior with physical harm or death. Despite this, she endured several taunts and jibes from Pharaun Mizzrym, owing to him being her only source of magic during the Silence of Lolth.

Raised as a noble in Menzoberranzan, she was used to getting her way and having her commands followed without question. Her accelerated rise through the Academy left her with little field experience outside the city and she had a tendency to make tactical errors, though she refused to admit or even acknowledge her mistakes at such times. She was stubborn to a fault and tended to lash out unexpectedly.

In typical drow behavior, she was wholeheartedly self-serving. She would rather stay behind Jeggred or Pharaun rather than do battle herself, though she was a fierce fighter when pressed.

She also had a short fuse and scowled often.

During the Silence of Lolth, Quenthel was scared of Lolth abandoning her. She felt that the fate of all drow cities was upon her shoulders but believed that she would be the savior of Menzoberranzan.

Early Life
Quenthel Baenre was born to Yvonnel Baenre and an unknown drow male. She was the fourth child and third daughter of House Baenre. Little else is known about Quenthel's early years, but it can be assumed that she had entered the clerical school of Arach-Tinilith, part of the Tier Breche Academy, at the age of 25 like most drow females. At the Academy, she excelled in almost all her studies, and was an obvious favorite of the Spider Queen. Due to this, she graduated the Academy in fewer years than any other female before her.

Quenthel was present with other members of House Baenre when Drizzt Do'Urden was captured. The renegade noted her as being a younger, more beautiful version of her mother. She was also presumably present during the failed high ritual, presided over by her mother and witnessed the gigantic stalactite crashing through the roof of the chapel.

Time of Troubles
She later participated in the meeting of House Baenre during the Time of Troubles of 1358 DR. She had an antagonistic relationships with her siblings, Triel and Gromph. Quenthel suggested sacrificing her mother to appease Lolth, citing the disastrous high ritual and the escape of the renegade, but was quickly shut down by her elder siblings.

During House Baenre's invasion of Mithral Hall in 1358 DR, Quenthel became part of her mother's personal guard, along with her sister Bladen'Kerst Baenre, the illithid Methil El-Viddenvelp, and Matron Mothers Auro'pol Dyrr and Zeerith Q'Xorlarrin, as well as a glabrezu Baenre had summoned. She acted as a link between her brother, Berg'inyon, who was fighting on the front lines, and the matron mothers. She silently disagreed when Yvonnel killed other drow priestesses to further her own power, as she believed this was not sanctioned by Lolth. Her doubts were heard by the illithid who for his own reasons did not betray her true feelings to her mother.

The battle was going well for the Menzoberranyr, despite the loss of several thousand slave soldiers, and Matron Baenre was certain that the drow would prevail. But disaster struck when the sunrise blinded the drow fighters in Keeper's Dale, though Baenre stubbornly held onto the prospect of victory, even as doubts began festering in her own retinue. Not long after, the drow were attacked by Drizzt Do'Urden, Bruenor Battlehammer, Catti-brie, Regis, and the magical panther, Guenhwyvar. The drow soon gained the upper hand, with Drizzt and Guenhwyvar hard-pressed to hold the glabrezu at bay, while Bruenor was held fast in a glob of magical glue and Catti-brie subdued by Methil's mental assault. Unknown to Baenre, the glabrezu held a stone of antimagic, which turned the tables on the priestesses. Bruenor broke free of his bonds and, with his long-lost ancestor Gandalug Battlehammer, defeated and killed both Bladen'Kerst and Yvonnel. Catti-brie struck Methil a mortal blow with her sword, Khazid'hea, and Drizzt was able to defeat the glabrezu. Quenthel attempted to escape through a dimensional door, but the renegade followed and killed her despite her cries of sacrilege.

The Abyss
After four years (though she claimed it was a decade to her ) in the Abyss serving Lolth, in 1361 DR, Quenthel was resurrected by decree of Lolth. Shakti Hunzrin returned her to life by entrapping the yochlol that was apparently Quenthel in a soul bubble and then releasing her. To avoid embarrassment, House Baenre had attempted to cover up her absence by claiming she had been away, and kept the secret of her death from being public knowledge. For some time, the only male to know about the incident was Gromph Baenre, who admitted to his sister Triel that he had found out. Quenthel did not have full memories of her time in the Abyss, but she had vague recollections of it.

Mistress of Arach-Tinilith
After her resurrection, Quenthel ascended to the position of Mistress of Arach-Tinilith, inheriting it from her sister Triel, where she served as of the early 1370s DR. She intended to prove her greatness at Arach-Tinilith in order to prove her ability to rule the city. She served as one of Triel's two primary advisers alongside Archmage Gromph. While her tension with her sister had somewhat abated, her relationship with Gromph had only gotten worse, mainly due to the clashes they had on nearly every issue they were presented with.

In the, during a time known as the Silence of Lolth—when Lolth suddenly stopped answering the prayers of her priestesses—Gromph decided to have Quenthel assassinated. Quenthel was reprimanding a number of novice priestesses, including Drisinil Armgo, for sneaking off to their Houses during the night. As she was administering judgement, the temple was attacked by the first of Gromph's minions, a demon that took the form of a spider. Confronted by one of her goddess's holy symbols, Quenthel declared the monster a perversion before she attacked. Though bereft of her clerical magic, Quenthel singlehandedly dispatched it before she returned to punish her students.

After she bolstered the temple's defenses, Quenthel was on high alert, suspecting that an enemy was taking advantage of Lolth's silence to attack her. The next night, Gromph sent a demon embodying the darkness against her. Once again, Quenthel proved equal to the challenge and overcame the demon, but other students and teachers had begun to suspect that Quenthel had personally offended the Spider Queen, as both of the demons were aspects of the goddess and had targeted Quenthel directly. A group of them, led by Drisinil Armgo, attempted to organize a coup against her. Thus when the next demon attacked, this one embodying the aspect of chaos, Quenthel was also attacked by her own students as she battled it.

After she figured out that Drisinil Armgo was at least partially responsible for the attempt on her life, Quenthel tricked the younger priestess into organizing a meeting of the conspirators. Once there, she addressed the concerns of the other priestesses and challenged them to a contest of faith. During the meditation, numerous spiders attacked and killed the treasonous priestesses, sparing those faithful to Quenthel. Drisinil later accused Quenthel of bewitching the spiders in advance, a claim Quenthel did not dispute. She explained that it was the sort of trickery and cunning that Lolth appreciated. Knowing that she might require help, Quenthel was forced to approach Zeerith Q'Xorlarrin, the matron mother of Menzoberran's sixth house, in order to dispatch another of Gromph's demons. Not long afterward, Quenthel was informed by Pharaun Mizzrym of a slave revolt. Quenthel swiftly mustered the Academy's forces and personally led the assault on the rebels, emerging victorious.

The War of the Spider Queen
Sometime afterward, in late 1372 DR, Quenthel was assigned by Matron Mother Triel Baenre to lead a band of drow—Pharaun Mizzrym, Ryld Argith, Triel's draegloth son Jeggred, Valas Hune, and Faeryl Zauvirr—to Ched Nasad to determine if the Silence of Lolth was affecting the priestesses there as well. She was also commanded to seize several magical talismans and scrolls in possession of the Black Claw Mercantile Company, a joint venture between House Baenre and House Zauvirr and House Melarn of Ched Nasad. Along the way, Quenthel clashed frequently with Pharaun because of the latter's insults and barbs aimed towards her. Frustrated because she longed to kill him but his magic got them out of countless difficulties, including a near-disastrous clash with Kaanyr Vhok, Quenthel settled for hollow threats. They traveled to Ched Nasad to determine the city's status and see if the Silence of Lolth was also affecting priestesses there. They found chaos and were quickly embroiled in a Jaezred Chaulssin plot to lay low the city. While checking up on House Baenre's interests in the Black Claw Mercantile Company, Quenthel and Jeggred were captured by Matron Ssipriina Zauvirr, who had hired the duergar mercenary band Clan Xornbane to destroy House Melarn. However, the drow who had advised House Zauvirr was secretly a prince of the Jaezred Chaulssin and had arranged for the duergar to be part of an attack on the city itself. Quenthel and Jeggred were eventually rescued by their companions, who had teamed up with Halisstra Melarn and her servant Danifae Yauntyrr, in order to escape the city. Fleeing duergar, huge guardian spiders, and stonefire flasks that burned the stone city to the ground, the group was able to escape through a portal in the Dangling Tower that led to the ruins of Hlaungadath in the desert of Anauroch.

The group decided to consult with Tzirik Jaelre, a Vhaeraunite priest and acquaintance of Valas last seen in the Labyrinth. After they spent some time in the ruins, the party was attacked by a group of lamia. They escaped the creatures, and decided to travel to the Labyrinth through the Shadow Plane. They arrived in the traders' city of Mantol-Derith, where they attempted to book passage across the Darklake to reach the Labyrinth. While they waited for a pass to cross the lake, Quenthel was seduced by Danifae Yauntyrr and the two became occasional lovers. After some incidents, they traveled across the lake and navigated their way to the holdings of House Jaelre. When they arrived there, they found that House Jaelre had apparently left for the surface. They took a portal from House Jaelre's abandoned holdings in the Labyrinth to the surface forest of Cormanthor and determined where House Jaelre was located. On the way, they were ambushed by a group of surface elves, and in the ensuing battle, the company became separated from Halisstra. Despite Ryld's protests, Quenthel refused to go back for her and insisted they press on. Upon their arrival, Tzirik offered his assistance only if they aided him in retrieving a magical tome from a beholder lair. Despite Quenthel being taken out early in the battle with the monster, Ryld and Valas managed to strike the beholder down and the party retrieved the book. Tzirik revealed that Lolth was still alive but that she was locked away in the Demonweb Pits. The group and Tzirik traveled via astral projection to the Abyss. Traveling through the Pits, they arrived at the temple of Lolth, but found the entrance barred by an unresponsive statue in the Spider Queen's likeness. Tzirik betrayed them and gated in Vhaeraun, who tried to destroy Lolth, triggering the arrival of Selvetarm. Quenthel was forced to watch as the two deities battled and fell into the void. Valas attacked Tzirik in an attempt to return the group to the Material Plane, but was unsuccessful. In the end, Pharaun was able to have Jeggred, who had stayed behind, kill Tzirik's mortal body to return them to Cormanthor.

After the group escaped House Jaelre and regrouped with Halisstra, Quenthel sought information on how to return to aid her goddess. She ordered Pharaun to summon the glabrezu Belshazu, Jeggred's father, using the draegloth's blood as a catalyst. From Belshazu they learned there was a crashed ship of chaos located somewhere near Lake Thoroot. Quenthel was careful to remain in Belshazu's good graces as he was a potential mate, and could possibly sire a draegloth son of her own. Quenthel ordered Halisstra to return to Menzoberranzan while the rest pressed on. Quenthel showed little interest when Ryld defected to join Halisstra, who had begun to be converted to the faith of Eilistraee. They reached Lake Thoroot and sent Valas down to investigate. Valas returned with news of a colony of aboleth. Pharaun decided to negotiate with the aboleth matriarch Oothoon, and reluctantly took Danifae with him. Pharaun plotted to have Quenthel destroyed by the aboleth, but Danifae betrayed his intentions to Quenthel. Shocked by the male's brazen attempt on her life, Quenthel conspired with Oothoon to have Pharaun killed instead, admitting Lolth no longer spoke to her and that Pharaun was a far better meal for the aboleth matriarch, going as far as to trick Jeggred into thinking she had been devoured by Oothoon. However, neither Pharaun nor Quenthel were successful in their plots, though their mutual disdain and hatred had reached its pinnacle. They continued on to the Lake of Shadows, the true location of the ship of chaos.

Although they successfully found the ship of chaos, Quenthel had begun to doubt herself. Disturbed by Lolth's continued silence, as well as confused over the goddess's intentions in resurrecting her, Quenthel questioned her faith. This, combined with her feeling as though the fate of the entire drow race rested on her shoulders, led to of an emotional breakdown of sorts, which distanced her further from her companions as she wallowed in a disheartened, isolated silence. Her self-doubt and supposed weakness led Jeggred to lose confidence in and respect for his aunt. Valas and Danifae left to resupply (though the latter secretly left to break her binding from Halisstra) and the ship's uridezu captain gated in members of its own kind. Quenthel was then embroiled in a battle with the uridezu. Due to her emotional turmoil, she fought more brutally than before, even punching an uridezu in the face with enough force to explode its head. Pharaun was eventually able to master the ship with the help of the alu-fiend Aliisza, and they disposed of the captain. Quenthel also uncharacteristically revealed that she had been to Lolth's realm before, following her first death, though she did not divulge the exact circumstances of her death, nor the identity of her killer.

Jeggred had enough of Quenthel's self pity and switched his loyalty to Danifae. He traveled with her on her personal mission to destroy Ryld and Halisstra. Despite the draegloth's waning loyalties, Quenthel still refused to leave for the Abyss without him. While he was away, Quenthel got into the first of several heated arguments with Danifae, who insulted her by saying her weakness and self-doubt was the reason Jeggred abandoned her. They returned to the Abyss and found the entrance to the temple had been destroyed in a battle that had apparently taken place millennia before. Both Quenthel and Danifae were unable to sense Lolth's presence in the domain and it became apparent that Lolth had removed the Demonweb Pits from the Abyss to its own planar space. Not long after this realization, the priestesses were overwhelmed by Lolth's reawakening and their clerical powers returned in full. Ecstatic, Quenthel healed her own injuries, as well as the rest of the party's. Reinvigorated by Lolth's return, Quenthel began to show her customary arrogance and confidence once more.

But their elation was cut short when Belshazu returned, having sawed off his legs to free himself from the trap Pharaun had left him in. Belshazu made it clear he only wanted to kill Pharaun, so Quenthel left the wizard to deal with the demon by himself, despite the uneasy truce that had formed between the two nobles. Pharaun prevailed and the remaining five entered a portal to the new Demonweb Pits.

Valas left the expedition soon after entering the new Demonweb Pits and the priestesses heard Lolth's voice on the wind, calling for her Yor'thae. Quenthel believed herself to be the Chosen of Lolth, owing to her status as a high-ranking priestess and member of House Baenre. Pharaun, who shared similar sentiments, subtly offered Quenthel an alliance against Danifae and Jeggred, which she accepted. At the same time, Vhaeraun hired the ultroloth Inthracis to kill the three candidates for Yor'thae: Halisstra Melarn, Danifae Yauntyrr, and Quenthel Baenre.

While traveling through Lolth's realm, Quenthel and Pharaun regularly traded insults with Danifae and Jeggred, with Jeggred barely being restrained from physically attacking them by Danifae, though she and Pharaun continued to mercilessly taunt him. In order to avoid the Teeming, the group was forced to retreat underground, where another confrontation between Pharaun and Jeggred took place. Barely able to mediate the situation, Pharaun asked Quenthel if they should seal the other two underground as they continued to Lolth. Quenthel declined, preferring to openly display her superiority over Danifae.

Back on the surface, Quenthel declared their pace too slow and challenged Danifae to summon aid to reach the Pass of the Soul Reaver. While Quenthel demonstrated her raw power by summoning a powerful nalfeshnee and cowed the demon into accepting a pittance for carrying her to the pass, Danifae summoned a large chasme and tempted her demon with her beauty into bearing both Jeggred and herself, while Pharaun was left to use his ring to fly. As the group flew, Halisstra (who had now become a fully fledged priestess of Eilistraee) also heard the call for the Yor'thae. She deduced Lolth's Chosen to be Quenthel and conspired with her sister priestesses to kill Quenthel and weaken Lolth. Upon arriving at the Pass, Quenthel absently dismissed her demon with the promise of payment, while Danifae simply ordered Jeggred to kill her chasme to avoid payment. The tension in the group rose once again when Jeggred attacked Quenthel, with Danifae only halfheartedly calling him to stop. Quenthel was eager to be rid of her nephew and the pair fought evenly until they were interrupted by the arrival of the Eilistraeens.

Despite their mutual hatred, the Lolthites banded together and slaughtered Halisstra's companions, with Quenthel personally defeating Uyulara, the highest-ranking priestess of Eilistraee, and subsequently sacrificed her in Lolth's name. Thereafter, both she and Pharaun continued to the Pass of the Soul Reaver. Quenthel assured Pharaun that the Reaver would test her and only her. She then fearlessly leapt in the maw of the Reaver. For her test, Quenthel was shown a possible future where Danifae had been selected as the Yor'thae and had stripped Quenthel of her position at Arach-Tinilith. Enraged at being overlooked and upstaged by Danifae, Quenthel eventually set fire to a cobweb, an act of sacrilege against the Spider Queen.

Despite this, Quenthel emerged unscathed from the pass, and was joined shortly by Pharaun, Danifae, and Jeggred. Though eager for another chance to kill Jeggred, Quenthel was unable to, owing to the arrival of Inthracis and his army. Quenthel once more demonstrated her preference for pure power by summoning a klurichir, one of the most powerful demons of the Abyss, and convinced it to fight the yugoloths. After Danifae summoned a horde of spiders, the drow entered the fray themselves. Quenthel quickly dispatched a number of yugoloths, before she was struck from behind by Danifae. After some customary goading, the two priestesses began to fight, ignoring all the yugoloths around them. The fight was evenly matched, until an invisible Halisstra, who had regained Lolth's favour, arrived and impaled Danifae from behind with her songsword. A dying Danifae manipulated Halisstra into an embrace, wounding them both mortally. Quenthel watched the scene unfolding with some amusement before the doors of Lolth's abode opened.

A wave of divine energy flew across the plane, killing or dismissing all of the fiends, including Quenthel's klurichir, while simultaneously healing the three priestesses of their injuries. Pharaun, who had been hit with an immobilization spell by Inthracis, appealed to Quenthel to free him. Quenthel instead dispelled all of Pharaun's enchantments, and bade Jeggred to move him to where the spiders were Teeming once again, finally exacting her revenge for months of insubordination and disrespect.

As one, the three priestesses left to speak with Lolth. Upon their arrival, Lolth informed them that only one of the three would leave the Demonweb Pits alive. Subsequently, Lolth fell upon Danifae and brutally devoured her. Quenthel was unable to contain her smirk at the sight, though her triumph quickly turned to rage when Lolth revealed she'd chosen Danifae as the Yor'thae. In devouring her, Lolth had assimilated Danifae into herself, making Danifae the eighth and final aspect of Lolth, completing her metamorphosis. An angered Quenthel blasphemously demanded to know why Danifae was chosen over her. Surprisingly, Lolth deigned to explain that Quenthel's inability to understand that chaos needs no purpose nor direction had always been her failing. Lolth then bade Quenthel to return to Menzoberranzan and retake her position as Mistress of Arach-Tinilith.

On her way out, Quenthel happened upon Jeggred, who taunted her about the events in the temple. Needing to lash out at something, and annoyed by her nephew, Quenthel murdered Jeggred and offered him as the first sacrifice in the name of the reborn Spider Queen. Quenthel then returned to Menzoberranzan.

Aftermath
Quenthel was hailed as a dark heroine upon her return to Menzoberranzan, and she quickly turned her popularity among her fanatical people to her advantage. In only a decade, she gathered enough power to challenge her sister Triel for the title of matron mother of House Baenre, a challenge Triel couldn't hope to win. Quenthel reigned as matron mother thereafter while maintaining her title as Mistress of Arach-Tinilith, a move first attempted by Triel during Quenthel's years in the Demonweb Pits.

Post-SpellPlague
After the Spellplague of 1385 DR, Quenthel remained the matron mother of Menzoberranzan, though the lower houses of the city considered her weak and stupid, leading to many plots trying to bring her down. This changed when Gromph Baenre, following the orders of Lolth, brought her to the illithid Methil El-Viddenvelp, who infused her with the wisdom and experience of her mother Yvonnel Baenre. Through this change, she became much more intelligent and manipulative, as well as having a much greater understanding of the wishes of Lolth. Quenthel then took a more powerful position and controlled the founding of the new drow settlement of Q'Xorlarrin and began the preparation of a war in the Silver Marches.

By the 1480s DR, Quenthel was finally the Chosen of Lolth herself. She might have met with a group of adventurers looking to enter Sorcere and take Gromph Baenre's tome so it could be used in a ritual to call all the demons (including the demon lords) that Gromph had accidentally summoned to the Underdark, bring them together at a single spot, and make them to fight each other. She might've agreed to let the adventurers into the tower, not caring whether they called the demons into Menzoberranzan or not.

Equipment
Quenthel possessed a whip of vipers, as many priestesses did, but hers was unique, consisting of five red-banded, venomous vipers attached to an adamantine handle, with the essences of five imps also bound to the whip, one for each snake. These fiends kept watch for her and offered her advice on problems, each with its own personality. Each imp, and thus each snake head, had a name: Hsiv was the first imp bound into the whip; Yngoth was the wisest; K'Sothra was the least intelligent; Qorra was the third viper and had the most potent poison but almost never spoke; and Zinda was the largest but least venomous.

In addition, Quenthel possessed a magic hammer that smote at a distance. She carried a sacrificial dagger at all times. She also wore a necklace of large, black beads that could be used as weapons: when a bead was slipped off the chain and thrown at a target, it exploded in a brilliant flash of light, blinding anyone nearby and potentially stunning them.

Quenthel wore a ring that prevented mind-reading. She wore a belt that increased her strength. She possessed a wand of healing, which was her only source of healing magic during the Silence of Lolth. She also had a rod of viscid globs; the goo could be dissolved in alcohol. In Ched Nasad, she confiscated Halisstra's wands of healing and invisibility.

Quenthel's holy symbol of Lolth had amethysts arranged in the form of a spider.

Relationships
As First Sister of House Baenre, Quenthel served as Triel's primary adviser, as did her brother Gromph. Gromph, however, was not fond of the competition and thus attempted to have her assassinated several times in 1372 DR.

Myrineyl Baenre was Quenthel's oldest daughter. In 1484 DR, Myrineyl and Quenthel's sister Sos'Umptu competing for the title of First Priestess of House Baenre. In 1480 DR, Quenthel's son Aumon Baenre served as Elderboy.

Background
She first appeared as a minor, supporting character in the final three books in the Legacy of the Drow series before rising to prominence in the War of the Spider Queen series, which further expanded on her character.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Starless Night (minor)
 * Siege of Darkness
 * Windwalker
 * War of the Spider Queen series:
 * Dissolution
 * Condemnation
 * Insurrection
 * Extinction
 * Annihilation
 * Resurrection
 * Neverwinter Saga:
 * Charon's Claw (mentioned)
 * The Last Threshold (mentioned)
 * Companions Codex
 * Night of the Hunter
 * Rise of the King
 * Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf
 * Homecoming series:
 * Archmage (novel)