The Sparking of Cinder (A Baldur's Gate III Tav Backstory)

Cinder

*story spoilers for beginning of act 3* *songs throughout by Mitski*

     Originally from the Eastmyr district in Menzoberranzan, she was orphaned as a child and raised in the children's house run by the church of Lolth. Cinder had a harsh upbringing, not helped by the fact that she did not appear as a full blood drow, with her fiery hair and pale gray skin. Her heritage was a mystery to her, and a danger; she was lucky to still be alive. She had clawed her way out of childhood tooth and nail, and earned her place as an assassin within the Spider Queen's societal web. The Underdark is a savage and perilous place, but exploring the wilderness outside of the city was preferable to staying under the watchful eyes of the Lolthite priestesses.

     It was in the winding caverns of the Northdark where she practiced with weapons and learned how to make simple toxins and healing salves. She had very little in her possession and kept it in a secret cache: vials of potions and bundles of herbs, semi-precious stones that could be used as currency, and a silver sword necklace that felt... significant, somehow. She found it stuck in a grate by one of the busy Eastmyr roads and never dared wear it on her person.

     Citizens of drow society are locked in a constant battle for power, kill or be killed, abuse or be abused. She witnessed atrocities committed in the name of Lolth, and she bore the scars from her past transgressions, questioning the so-called wisdom of the priestesses. She had blood on her hands, her own as well as others'. She was the property of their goddess and her only purpose was to express devotion through acts of cruelty. Fail to do so and she would be destined for an even more torturous fate.

     "Elliya Lolthu." "Test me, Lolth." The words were ever on her tongue, but her mind wanted to bite them back. She sharpened the sword of her body, but to what end? To appease the whims of an unloving goddess? To become the heel under which everyone else is to be crushed?

     She saw her peers nearly destroy themselves for any ounce of power over others, and how it ultimately changed so little. The gilded gates of the drow nobility would never open to them, not to anyone from Eastmyr. It wasn't worth it, all of the misery, the stalking and predation under the cover of darkness, the sacrifice of innocents. Aiming her crossbow at political enemies or followers of Vaeraun was one thing, but being forced to personally hand over infants to be consumed in one dark ritual broke her. She was nothing but an instrument of violence, to be discarded when she was no longer of use. The cruelty, the unfairness, everything she had experienced was all too much. Cinder had nothing to gain by staying in the Underdark, so she planned her escape, and her retribution. Her mouth would keep speaking "Elliya Lolthu," but in her head she cursed her goddess.

"To hell with your tests."

Song - The Deal

     She began picking off members of the Spider Queen's clergy, just enough to stir the pot without drawing too much attention to herself. A bit of poison in a goblet here, an ambush laid out in a dark alley there, she targeted the ones that inflicted the most pain, including the priestess that had given her the scar across her nose with a piece of jagged glass. It was thrilling, getting her revenge, but not satisfying and definitely not safe. Soon the eyes of Lolth would be upon her, she would either escape the Underdark alone in the vast cave networks or die trying.

⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚

     Cinder had some connections in a small Menzoberranzan thieves guild, she had sold them poisons and did some pickpocketing for them over the years. They were the ones who taught her how to pick locks and showed her some discrete exits outside of the city walls. On rare occasions, the guild would meet with a drow spellcaster, Iivxena, who lived on the surface and would make the dangerous trek to the Underdark to trade. Finally, Cinder had earned enough respect from key guild members to attend their more clandestine meetings, this was her first opportunity to meet her and very well could be her last.