Ma`kali, The Medicine Woman

This time without her normal face-wrap,  the party sees that the medicine woman is unmistakably of Drow descent, squinting in the broad daylight sun, she has trouble seeing and will ask one or more of the party to walk with her.   Whomever approaches will see through her thin and simple homemade dress the unmistakeable scars of what appear to be a pair of amputated arms just below her shoulder blades of her normal set of arms.  Upon noticing her scars she will say…. That she too, in her youth, was one of the high priestesses brought to the pilgrimage site with the black shadow ceiling within the mountain.   The Drow consider those with extra appendages to be a blessing from the Drow Spider Goddess, Lolth.  They are taken from their families at birth and placed in the care of the priestesses, where they are revered by the public, yet a prisoner to the rituals, training, monotony and abuse by the elder priestesses; all in the name of service to Lolth.  They are taught the dark arts and can channel Lolth`s will, but have not a moment of life for themselves.   All young drow priestesses wish for exile or death more than once.  This life continues until they are so hardened and bitter that they  become a miserable, and yet true servant of Lolth filled with pain, desire and hatred.

In Ma`kali`s own words........I was the 4th Priestess, Ka`mali, by my count they are on the 19th.   When I was brought to the temple to receive the pilgrims,  a rogue band of Hobgoblins from whereabouts unknown had gained access to our temple and were attempting to resurrect the former dead king a fierce battle ensued  and I was taken hostage and holed up in the priestess private chambers with 13 them for 3 days while my people tried to gain access to the room by every means available, when the other priestesses started bringing forth things from the black cloud on the ceiling to break into the room the, hobgoblins in fear and panic hastily began digging the tunnel out the rear of the chamber.  On the 8th day they broke through to the outside and fled down into to the desert.  I was left behind and for the first time I saw the above ground world and the sky.  It was my first time alone and free…. I decided at that moment, I would not go back.   I hid above the exit point not knowing where to go, or what was out in this world.  I saw my people look for me following the hobgoblin tracks. I know the priestesses would have asked Lolth for help locating me, but they never even came close to finding me. For days they looked and while another group constructed a dark elvish door with a dark elvish priestess standard lock, which all priestesses can open in case I ever found my way back ....for they could not fathom the idea that I would not willingly come back.  The door was ultimately closed and locked, I have not seen my people since. Ive come to believe that whatever the black cloud is, Lolth is blind to things in its vicinity. So I made my home above it on the outside of the mountain.  After about 4 months, my husband found me, but instead of being repulsed by a dirty scared drow priestess with 4 arms, he seemed intrigued, and more focused and pre-occupied on finding dragons. We slowly came to love each other and after some time I asked him to cut my second set ofarms from me, so that I could never be returned as a drow priestess. I swore off dark magic and  took a great interest in all the living plants and animals of this new world. About 55 years after living with just my husband, the first enclavers arrived.