The Entwinned Coils: Notes from the Duzktlar Master Duelists

The Entwinned Coils: Notes from the Duzktlar Master Duelists is a tome sourced from the Usum Conservatory in Khonoldhur.

## Description

Following Anivia's travels to Khonoldhur in efforts to learn more about the drow rapier in her possession - Threnody - she found a great deal of information to aid her in the form of the duergar smith Galdren Vicehorn, guiding her next steps in the quest to restore its enchantment. In anticipation of such, she sought out a tome of drow duelling styles, a copy of this particular tome created by the scribes at the Conservatory for this purpose.

## Reading

### Completed by Anivia Reman

While perhaps not acclaimed to the residents of the Realms of Ahlus, or the World Above as those detailed in the texts below refer to those that dwell on the surface, the house captains, inquisitors, consorts, assassins, shadowblades and elsewise of the drow are all acclaimed for their individual martial prowess, an intoxicating, terrifying and formidable blend of swordsmanship, arcane prowess and fear-inducing methodology. While champion-worthy individuals can be found throughout the Underdark - from its surface-reaching tunnels to the wretched depths of the Lowerdark, it is the folk of Goxxurtulur, the City of Stars that are undoubtedly the most lionised and reviled by their kin, neighbours and foes alike. Those of, and those that serve as vassals of the Duzktlar Den are famous for their use of coiling, spinning and otherwise somehow mobile weaponry, including a particular fascination with multi-bladed metal whips featuring a slender knucklebow featuring sharpened edges that can stretch as far as ten feet to lacerate their foes. Nonetheless, many others still wield more conventional weaponry, and it is the techniques pioneered by these that will be discussed further in this tome.

#### *Alure d'Sludabaur* (Dance of the Shackled Gait)

The creatures of the Underdark - sentient, monstrous or those claiming to be both or falling somewhere between - are frequently stronger, bulkier or otherwise larger than the typically slight form of the drow, and thus finishing strikes to vital bodily organs, whether within the chest cavity or head(s), can prove of significant difficulty. Popularised by Zekroosa Duzktlar, the Balewarper herself, the Alure d'Sludabaur, translated roughly into Common as the Dance of the Shackled Gait involves a series of precise lunges in quick succession that pierce through the tendons and ligaments holding together the supporting limbs of a creature with the express intent to fell them heavily and awkwardly to the ground for the coup de grâce. Each individual strike deals little damage, distinguishing it from more heavy-handed techniques such as those afforded to wielders of slashing weapons that simply hack at flesh, fascia and bone to achieve the same result, the Dance leaves a series of pinpoint wounds that weep at the strength of a foe, threatening to cause it to teeter before the sting of each strike even registers.

#### *Renorbashuk* (Black Honour)

Bearing a name often met with a dark chuckle, Elvri T'ykur's signature Renorbashuk, or Black Honour, is anything but honourable and instead associated with guile and malignant grace. Ultimately a variation on a feinting attack, there are countless variations of the Black Honour, but near all entail quickly contorting the body into an improbable position - as exemplified by the acrobat Elvri's acclaimed flexibility before turning her skills to more macabre purposes - the resulting tension used to spring around a foe, catching them from an unexpected angle, such as slashing at the back of the thighs, running a narrow blade through the downward facing folds of scale or plate armour, or simply opening their belly with a hitherto unseen dagger in the offhand. It is said the fighting style, which naturally excels when used against an unsuspecting opponent, gained its name during a duel between Elvri with a champion of Ishtar the Enrapt, Ivory Emperor of the Empire of Raq, during which the acrobat-come-assassin had the surface-dweller bleeding heavily from a dozen wounds before finally filleting his gullet with her paired shortswords.

#### *Treemma Elgg'rilkh* (The Executed's Fear)

The only word in Undercommon readily spoken in more than a whisper is that of an exclamation for help. The Treemma Elgg'rilkh was designed to ensure that all it was used against would be heard by any allies they had waiting in the dark, knowing that in time the same terror heard would come looming with haste from the gloom for them likewise. By breaking the spirit of a foe, the battle is all but won, the elite soldiers of Ra'tonzhas preached, and so the name - the Executed's Fear - came to be, alluding to the imminent demise of those broken by it. Users of the Treemma Elgg'rilkh fight in a highly aggressive and mobile duelling style, looking to assail their foes from every conceivable angle, and many others besides. Masters of this technique are reported to fight with the battlefield presence of a half-dozen soldiers, delivering countless stinging wounds where best to inflict maximum pain, and thus dread, but also rely on tactics intended to wage psychological warfare, such as taunts intended to expose doubts and weaknesses and with it disrupt concentration and focus.

#### *Tril'arint* (Biter of Hands)

Compared to Treemma Elgg'rilkh, Tril'arint is a measured and purpose cut, intended to disarm and disable those it is used against, and thus intended not to maim or kill, but subdue. It is therefore, unsurprisingly, favoured by drow intending to capture high value or particularly useful individuals for slave labour, but is not lacking in bloodshed or violence. Instead, the Biter of Hands technique favours strikes and slashes superficially to surprise and stun, making those with weapons in hand to be forced to cast them aside, or find themselves more pliable to the application of shackles, chains or other forms of restraint. Numerous duelmasters are known to utilise Tril'arint in the training yards and barracks against their apprentices, teaching them the consequences of their lack of competence with scars aplenty from slashes delivered along the arms and shoulders.