Matron Azurna, was the High Priestess of Lolth who sought to acquire the legendary Flame Sword of Lolth for her goddess and bring ruin to Waterdeep in the mid-14th century DR.[1]
Personality[]
Matron Azurna was cruel. She thought drow to be supreme to all other races and her god to be above all other deities. She held her zealous devotion in selfish and insecure monopoly among other worshipers of Lolth. She was not afraid to murder her opponents to ensure the Spider Queen's favor.[1]
Secretly, she desired the power of the Spider Queen and shared the dark goddess' petty jealousy. She hated being called lesser to anyone, even to Lolth herself, and she despised being called the Lesser Queen, the Queen of the Warrens.[1]
Azurna was interested in dwarves sexually, often preferring the stout bearded humanoid concubine slaves to her fellow drow males.[1]
Relationships[]
Azurna made no friends among other priestesses of Lolth. She treated most as enemies, jealous of anyone else's communion with her dark deity. One such cleric was Lezhra, Azurna's bitter rival whom Matron often threatened with Lolth's divine retribution.[1]
Azurna's ally, demon-blooded gray orc Horazak, was held in high regard. She considered him to be almost drow-like in his dealings. That was the highest compliment she could give to a non-drow.[1]
A drow wizard Hektrage was Azurna's lover once, but eventually, he was driven insane by her and was put in charge of keeping and breeding giant spiders for her forces.[1]
Rukhosh was one of her closest advisors.[1]
Even though Halaster Blackcloak soon returned to Undermountain, the drow presence did not bother him much. He told Ibbalar Thrul, his apprentice, to let Azurna's forces be as they would be soon exterminated by someone sent by the Blackstaff anyway.[1]
History[]
Azurna's forces arrived in Undermountain shortly after the Mad Mage Halaster Blackcloak disappeared during Halaster's Higharvestide in 1369 DR. The drow took that as an opportunity to fulfill their god's demands. The High Priestess of the Spider Queen, Azurna, was attempting to recover the Flame Sword of Lolth. The magic weapon was the long lost artifact from the War of the Seldarine, hidden in Undermountain. To unlock the fabled blade, the Matron needed to reassembled a magical spider statue shattered and its pieces hidden throughout the mega-dungeon.[1]
By 1370 DR, Azurna's drow established several strongholds within Undermountain, including reclaimed ancient Garden of the Drow, a drow monastic retreat, and acquired agents, connections, and allies. One of these allies was Horazak, the leader of marauding orcs, goblins, trolls, and ogres. Under Azurna's wing, he established a lair in an ancient dwarven prison and used it as his slave pens. In exchange for the drow alliance, Horazak was to mine the tunnels under the prison complex to gain access to one of the ancient dwarven temples where one of the spider pieces was hidden. In the search for another lost artifact piece, she allied with a Lolth-worshiping undead Ghoulmaster who was sending his skeletons to harass the noble families of Waterdeep. Ghoulmaster's lair was established in old crypts of Undermountain, where another piece was hidden. Azurna's drow forced a kobold tribe under king Grotchek's rule to relocate into the sewers of Undermountain to keep watch of the entrance to the dungeon. And she aided the Shadow Thieves' Guild reestablishing their presence in Waterdeep in exchange for them to supply the drow with intel on the city's guard routs, garrison, and schedules of influential citizens. Lastly, she allied with a hive of mind flayers who sent her several illithid advisors and a lich Morik Stormhand for yet another spider piece.[1]
The presence of kobolds so close to the surface and their constant raids on Waterdeep eventually caught the attention of dwarves of Clangeddin's Hearth as well as the Lords of Waterdeep. The Clangeddinites attempted to flush the pests out of the sewers to Azurna's fury. She sent her assassin squads to massacre every dwarf of Clangeddin's Hearth. To add insult to injury, Azurna gave their base and bodies to her lich ally. This eventually led to Khelben Arunsun sending a mercenary agent into Undermountain. The Khelbenite methodically disturbed the drow plots and killed allies one by one under Blackstaff's orders. Eventually, the agent was able to collect all the spider pieces but one and decided to confront the Matron Mother. Arriving at the hidden vault where the Flame Sword of Lolth was hidden, the adventurer followed the echoing taunts of Azurna and deposited all the parts of the spider statue unlocking the sword's power. This was precisely what Azurna and Lolth herself wanted. The assembled statue allowed the Spider Goddess to appear in her giant drider avatar form to claim the sword and squash the Khelbenite. In the fierce battle, the avatar was defeated. In the ensuing explosion of magic, the Flame Sword disappeared, destroying Azurna's plot of conquering Waterdeep.[1]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
- Video Games
- Descent to Undermountain