Qilué Veladorn

Qilué Veladorn was the youngest of the Seven Sisters, the Chosen family of Mystra, goddess of magic, and was a drow cleric of Eilistraee as of 1372 DR. .

Description
Qilué was a strikingly beautiful, 6 feet tall drow female, characterized by her wild, dazzling beauty (as opposed to the sleek, well-groomed appearance of most drow priestesses) and her silver hair, a rarity amongst drow, that flowed down wildly to her ankles. She also had silver eyes, like her goddess, that were larger than those of most drow. Her appearance was so awe-inspiring, imperious at times, to Liriel Baenre that she believed her to be Eilistraee herself.

Personality
Most mysterious among the Seven Sisters, the seventh or Dark Sister, Qilué was the focus of many fell rumors (even if, since she was a drow, that was not really surprising). More than any of the other Sisters, Qilué, balanced between two free-spirited goddesses (Eilistraee and Mystra (Midnight), The Two Who Watch as she called the goddesses when weary of their directives) was always conscious of her power and using it properly. As a Chosen of both goddesses Qilué Veladorn was the high priestess of the Promenade of the Dark Maiden, a temple to Eilistraee that she founded near Skullport, in the vast subterranean dungeon beneath the city of Waterdeep that was known as Undermountain. She was sometimes addressed by other drow of the temple as the Chosen of the Chosen (by which they mean foremost of themselves, the Chosen of Eilistraee, not the Chosen of Mystra). She was the leader and the inspiration of the other drow that reside there in the name of Eilistraee: the embodiment of all that a mortal in the service of Eilistraee could hope to become. . Even if Eilistraee's clergy didn't have a hierarchy, most priestesses, even outside of the Promenade, recognized Qilué as a guiding figure.

Qilué had a firm and commanding manner when needed, but she was usually a kind and warm person. She was also impish and rather irreverent, and this was often betrayed by an uplifted eyebrow. Qilué disliked violence and preferred to avoid combat through the use of diplomacy, even if she didn't hesitate to attack and could be as cold and merciless as any drow when it came to protect herself and her people. Her supporters would often speak of forming fast and intense personal friendships with the high priestess, of her relaxed and understanding nature, of her ability to accept other folk for who they are despite being able to easily see the secrets in their souls, and of the trustworthiness of her word. They would also direct adventurers who were lost or simply directionless in life to see Qilué, who (in the words of the sage Albither of Athkatla)

sees the ways of things in Faerûn clearly, and can reveal how anyone may forge a life of importance in steering the way of the world into peace and prosperity for all races.

The Dark Sister was angered by tyrants and slavers or by anything that would oppress intelligent creatures, and she acted to contrast such forces (which often led her and her fellow drow to battle bands of followers of Vhaeraun and Lolth, slavers and organizations like the Zhentarim or the Cult of the Dragon. She also despised all drow who acted with arrogance and cruelty and all those people whose prejudice led them to draw their weapon against drow, expecting them to be enemies even before a single word was spoken. She had many opportunities to humble all those who underestimated her and the drow of the Promenade as haughty, evil, darkskinned elves who could not be trusted, but who could be slain by someone who knew about drow, teaching them a lesson that they would hardly forget.

Qilué loved to dance and enjoyed hearing good singing. She never danced for Eilistraee when clothed, as the Dark Maiden was venerated by dancing unclad. Many people in Skullport had remained astonished at least once, by the sight of a nude drow lady dancing alone in a far-off cavern lit only by dim fungal radiances. Qilué sometimes deliberately showed herself in this way to lure drow of other faiths or of uncertain persuasion, or beings of other races whom she wished to talk to, to the temple.

The Dark Sister had a talent in playing pranks and mischiefs and she --covered in illusions-- would often visit the city of Waterdeep, joining parties of the Waterdhavian nobility or learning about the human society. She particularly enjoyed taking Laeral's appearence and her wild, prankful ways and dalliances with human men gained her sister quite a reputation among the nobility. The Dark Sister could be totally unhibited at parties, regarding such occasions as her chance to unwind, often letting all control escape her, dancing and frolicking with wild abandon.

In contrast to most clergy of Eilistraee, the priestesses of the Promenade visited the moonlit surface world only seldom, concentrating their worship underground. Because of this, Qilués reputation on the surface Realms was made up of whispers and voices, but nothing more. Eventually, the happening in Waterdeep came to concern Qilué, particularly those that occured among the unsavory backstreet skulkers and the wealthiest, most decadent nobles who often employed them. Qilué worked tirelessly to foil the rise of slaving and the making of potions and poisons used to kidnap folk for sale into slavery in Calimshan or for work in Calishite-owned mines in Chult (the two problems were linked). She would often travel to Skullport, or Waterdeep attending significant meetings hidden by her magic, learning useful information for her goals, and she had many agents on the surface world. Her other major concern was to convert or destroy the increasing numbers of drow who come to the temple complex with hostile intent, as the Promenade was seen as an abomination to be destroyed by most followers of Lolth, Ghaunadaur and even Vhaeraun.

Possessions
Qilué possessed a unique Singing Sword that could be stored in an extradimensional space for her retrival. Others who used magical means to try to trace where the sword comes from or enter the extradimensional space, would find it closed by a manifestation sent by Eilistraee, equal in effect to an Evards black tentacles spell that materialized right in front of them, accompanied by the discharge of a lightning bolt

Whenever Qilué was anywhere outside the temple, such as in Waterdeep or leading a dance on the surface at the sacred site of the Dancing Dell, she wore a single bracer on her right forearm that was a sheath for a magical, silver-plated dagger and also functioned as a ring of spell storing, except that it could hold six spells of any circle. Crafted by three of her Sisters as a present long ago, the bracer was one of Qilué's most treasured possessions, because it reminded her of the love of her Sisters whenever she looked at it. She kept it loaded with the spells find traps, locate object, remove curse, fire storm, regeneration, and sunray. She didn't wear the bracer when dancing to Eilistraee.

When not dancing to the goddess, Qilué customarily wore a robe that flickered with a shifting, silvery glow. It had the power to protect her from spells up to 3rd circle and the automatic power to reflect back at the source the first spell (not of Qilué's casting) of 7th circle or greater that struck the robe every 12 hours. The robe was linked to Qilués life force, and it instantly lost all its powers when not touching her. She could make the robe become invisible (revealing anything beneath it), glow with a faint faerie fire- like radiance (hue of her choice), or even emit faint mists that served to cloak her identity or allowed her to hide in shadows whenever she was standing motionless in a dark area.

Qilué also often carried a blast scepter) and a special wand of magic missiles that could unleash 6 missiles per round and was rumored to regenerate one of its 88 charges every hour. Both were looted from the riven tomb of an archmage of lost Netheril. The blast scepter was an artifact capable of absorbing heat and electricity and reflecting the blast force of all explosions away from the bearer. The scepter could be used to stun a creature by touch, generate a conic sound shockwave, capable of knocking away and paralizing those hit, and powerstriking a target (targets made up of material that was had never beel alive, were disintegrated by it, as per spell effect).

Powers
Mystra gifted Qilué the power to disrupt the functioning of any magical items within 90 feet of her body. By silent will she could choose to entirely block particular items and leave others unaffected. Within this range, she could also use the charges or power of one item to augment the effects of another, the precise limits of this power were not known. Like all of the Chosen, Qilué was also immune to one wizard spell of each level. This immunity included magical item effects that duplicated such spells, but not all spells of the same school or type of effect. When these spells were used against her, they simply did not affect her in any way. Qilué was immune to magic missile, web, lightning bolt, Evards black tentacles, cone of cold, chain lightning, power word stun, sink, and imprisonment. By agreement between Mystra and Eilistraee, Qilué also had bonus spells that she didn't need to study or pray for. If cast, they returned to her mind by Eilistraee's grace 24 hours later. The Chosen of the Chosen did not need material components to cast these. They were cure light wounds, charm person or mammal, dispel magic, neutralize poison, raise dead, blade barrier, and resurrection. Qilué was careful to pray for spells often, so she almost always had a full load of spells. The Promenade stood at the heart of danger, and its survival may depend on her strength at any time. As all priestesses of Eilistraee, Qilué could manifest her Moonfire. Other powers remained mysterious.

Family
Qilué had a particular bond with Laeral Silverhand. As a childhood habit (that carried on to her adulthood), she used to take Laeral's appearence to wander the surface world This damaged their relation, even if with time Laeral came to ultimately accept her sister's ways and even be amused by those (at times she would eveb ask Qilué to impersonate her) and the two became very close. They kept in touch with each other and Qilué gave Laeral an ear cuff that allowed her to transport directly to the Promenade of the Dark Maiden. She could work with the Laeral's harpers, but at times their directives could come into contrast. The Seven Sisters had personal names only known to each other, Khelben, Elminster, Lhaeo, and certain trusted Harpers. These truenames were used in messages and communication and guardian magics, so that the Sisters could recognize each other without breaking any disguises. Qilué's truename was Ilindyl.

Qilué had a daughter named Ysolde Veladorn, who was also priestess of Eilistraee until her death in 1361 DR.

Others
Elkantar, a drow former noble who had been sold into slavery by his matron mother because of his rebellious tendencies, was her consort until his death at the hands of Gorlist in 1361 DR.

With time, Qilué gained the reputation of protectress of adventurers, because she was known to often rescue adventurers from certain death within the Undermountain. Most of those who received her help seemed to almost revere her, to the point that some suspected the use of charm magic, but their support was sincere. In exchange of her aids and curse, Qilué usually asked for their help in a single, simple mission or favor and those who managed to win her liking were offered the chance to enter in her service (rewards consisted mostly of riches in form of gems or magic items; rewards for mages were known to include gifts of spell scrolls and even tutelage in magics useful in the Underdark). When pleased by the work of the adventurers in her service, she could well give them some magical means of communicating with her, which could be used to call upon her help when they got in troubles. Of course, each time she had to come to the rescue would carry a price in the form of a further task and some adventurers would find themselves involved ever deeper into the plots of the Dark Lady and the intrigues of both Skullport and Undermountain.

Background
Though born to a human couple, she was full-blooded drow, due to the bizarre events surrounding her birth. Her father killed her mother when he found out that she had been possessed by Mystra, the goddess of magic. Mystra, seeking to keep the child alive, came upon a pregnant drow priestess of Eilistraee whose child had died in her womb, and made a pact with Eilistraee that served both their intentions.

As a child, Qilué dwelt in Buiyrandyn, a tiny drow settlement in the Underdark beneath the northern Sword Mountains that had spurned Lolth and the other drow gods.

When Qilué was but a child,Eilistraee (in the form of a 9-foot-tall, stunningly beautiful drow maiden) appeared to her, asking her to lead her playmates to aid nearby drow in need and gifting all of the drow children with singing swords (precious blades that sang when unsheathed, capable of protecting the wielder against fear, despair and magical-induced fascination/domination effects) to assist and protect them in their. Later, a greater mission was awaiting them, as the Dark Maiden manifested again, asking them to destroy the Pit of Ghaunadaur, a mile-deep shaft whose upper terminus opened into the third level of Halaster's Halls, from where the slime god could have creeped to the surface world. Surrounded by the glowing aura of Eilistraee's favor, Qilué led her friends from their tiny drow settlement of Buiyrandyn in this quest, fighting their way --with the protection of the Dark Maiden-- to the Pit, where Qilué faced an avatar of Ghaunadaur itself. Eilistraees power, bolstered by Mystra, flared forth from the childs body as ravening fire that burned away at the elemental god, until it fled for its life, much reduced in strength. The remaining servants of the god fled with their master, and the fire pouring from Qilués body melted all the downward fissures and tunnels in the temple that they had used in their escapes, sealing them. Then the child collapsed, and her playmates heard the voice of Eilistraee warning that Ghaunadaur had only been defeated and would take revenge if they allowed it to return to this place of its power. The voice said:

''You must make a stand here close to the surface world, and you must be ever vigilant against the return of Ghaunadar. For a mighty city of humans shall rise above this place, and if you are to make peace with humankind and your elven kin of the surface world, this place is best suited for you.''

The Pit was filled with rubble and the caverns around its opening collapsed. (The rubble-filled Pit of Ghaunadaur is located in the area north of Skull-port and west of Eilistraee's Promenade. The only remaining access to it was via a long, twisting staircase capped by Eilistraee's Mound.) Qilue and the rest of the Chosen of Eilistraee (the title that the drow gave themselves) then took up responsibility for patrolling the region (which often led other inhabitants of the area to mockingly refer those patrols as promenades, even though the Chosen proudly used the term as a name for the temple that they would have later built).

Death
In Flamerule 1379 DR, she was killed while the goddess Eilistraee possessed her body. Qilué/Eilistraee was beheaded by Halisstra Melarn when she was tricked by the balor Wendonai as she was on the verge of redemption. Despite Qilué's sister, Laeral, thinking, the Blade couldn't destroy souls anymore after it was reforged, as proved by Cavatina Xarann's soul surviving after her body was killed by the weapon. .

After the events of the Sundering, Eilistraee managed to make a comeback, but whether Qilué's soul currently was in her divine realm remained unknown (speculations were that she had become a Voice in the Weave ).