Ana Brabener was a peasant girl of Eveningstar, Cormyr, in the late 15th century DR who was unknowingly the Thread of the Weave, a living repository of Mystra's divinity.[1][note 1]
History[]
Yet why Ana gained this power is not important now. What's important is that so long as she has the power Lolthh will seek to use it for her own twisted ends.
Ana was a weave anchor, unknowingly imbued with the power of Mystra, Goddess of Magic. However, the origin of her arcane powers was unknown. One of the prevailing theories amongst Elminster and the Wizards of War after it became known that she was the Thread of the Weave was that when the Spellplague struck and the Weave was destroyed, a fragment of the Weave was unstuck in time and space and attached itself to Ana.[1]
During the Sschindylryn invasion of Eveningstar in the mid-1480s DR, Ana was captured by the drow along with several other villagers of Eveningstar during their hunt for the Thread of the Weave and held in the Eveningstar Cavern. As the captives were about to be dragged into the Underdark, adventurers from Eberron emerged into the cavern from the portal to the Underdark and slew Ydrae Avithoul and the rest of Ana's drow captors, freeing her and the other villagers.[1]
Although Ana and her friend Cormul Haythorne had initially decreed it to be too dangerous, they and their friend Torin Betrich made plans to find the Thread on their own and sought out an old Temple of Mystra deep in the King's Forest. However, the three were ambushed by the drow when they neared the temple. At that moment, Ana manifested the power of the Weave, resulting in an explosion that killed several of the drow and knocked out Cormul and Torin. Due to her strange display of magic, she was captured by Odezzt Avithoul and taken deep into the temple, where the taskmaster sought to discover how it was that she had cast that spell. After they recovered, Cormul returned to Eveningstar to find help while Torin remained in the woods to search for Ana.[1]
At Corin's behest, adventurers delved into the Temple of Mystra in search of Ana, where they found her and several other villagers enslaved and collared by the drow. Ana was forced to fight her saviors, though Odezzt's death broke his control over her and she was then freed from her collar. With her newfound powers, she destroyed the magical barriers erected by the drow to prevent their escape. Upon returning to Eveningstar, she was taken in by Elminster as his student so that she could better use her magical talents, if only to protect the village.[1]
During the Battle for Eveningstar, Ana held the gates of the town while Elminster drew the drow forces away as a distraction and adventurers pressed into the drow lines to destroy their field headquarters. With the drow in full retreat, adventurers pursued them into Sschindylryn, striking at the three main noble houses and the Sschindylryn Ziggurat to stop the High Priestess of Lolth, Hekta Szind, from scrying the location of the Thread of the Weave. When the time came to attack the Temple of Lolth, Ana and Elminster joined the adventurers, with Ana confronting the High Priestess along with them while Elminster maintained the portal between the Temple and the Ziggurat. However, they were too late to stop the divination ritual, and the drow discovered that the Thread of the Weave was in fact Ana. She was then mind controlled into walking through a portal to the Demonweb Pits, giving the prize to Lolth.[1]
Ana and Elminster preparing to depart from Eveningstar.
Ana was taken to Lolth, who held her captive to draw on the Thread of the Weave's vast arcane power as part of her bid to become the next Goddess of Magic. Ana's power was bound into several orbs of Lolth that Lolth dispersed around the Demonweb. Elminster's allies performed one final attack to sabotage Lolth's plans and rescue Ana. With three of the orbs removed, the bindings placed on her were weakened, allowing Ana to regain enough of her power that rescuing her became a possibility. Breaking in without stealth or guile, the heroes fended off the armies of minions and Lolth herself as they freed Ana and helped her drain more orbs of Lolth, which strengthened her further while Lolth raged. Finally, the rescue party found a functioning portal out of the Demonweb Pits and escaped with Ana, emerging in the Underdark of Faerûn. Lolth appeared one final time in material reality to smite Ana as a lesson in power—only to find that she could not, and Ana blasted the Demon Queen back into her domain.[1]
Knowing that Lolth would continue to pursue the Thread of the Weave and place Eveningstar in more danger, Ana and Elminster departed together in order to hide her from Lolth's gaze, and so that Elminster could continue teaching her so that she could master her newfound power.[1]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Menace of the Underdark (including Web of Chaos) is dated to the period of 1484–1485 DR, as it references the ongoing Darkening. Shadowfell Conspiracy (including Disciples of Shadow, Shadow Under Thunderholme, The Druid's Deep, and The High Road of Shadows) are dated to the same period, as they are stated to take place at roughly the same time as Menace of the Underdark.