## Name: Xalyth Drezz’Vhun **Title:** The Serpent Queen of [[Zirith’Morra]] **Race:** Drow **Class:** Archshadow (Custom blend of Warlock and Rogue) **Gender:** Female **Alignment:** Lawful Evil **Affiliation:** House Drezz’Vhun, Ruler of [[Zirith’Morra]] **Deity/Patron:** [[Vhun’Ziriss]], the Dead Coil (Primordial Serpent God) --- ## Appearance Matron Xalyth is elegance wrapped in lethality. Her obsidian skin is flawless, adorned with silver ritual markings and serpent-scale tattoos that shimmer when viewed from the corner of one’s eye. Her silver-white hair is bound in braided coils, echoing the serpent deity she serves. She carries a **staff shaped like a serpent**, which whispers dead truths and emanates an aura of unsettling calm. Her crimson eyes gleam with prophecy and cold amusement. Her presence bends silence, and her robes seem to ripple like scales in torchlight, constantly shifting in subtle illusory patterns. --- ## Personality - **Calculating and Calm:** Rarely raises her voice, yet commands absolute obedience. - **Devout to [[Vhun’Ziriss]]:** Her faith grants her visions that shape her political strategies. - **Rejects the [[Spider Queen]]'s Doctrine:** Views traditional Drow religious zealotry as regressive and obstructive. - **Master of Secrets:** Sees through deception and plants layers of contingency in all her dealings.** Sees through deception and plants layers of contingency in all her dealings. --- ## Background Xalyth ruled [[Zirith’Morra]] for over **300 years**, preserving power through strategic assassination, prophecy, and shadowed diplomacy. She was **known throughout the Underdark** as _“She Who Sees Through Webs and Lies.”_ She was one of the only Drow Matrons to **reject the [[Spider Queen]]** entirely, instead communing with **[[Vhun’Ziriss]]**, an ancient god-serpent believed to predate the First Age. Upon learning of **[[Anam]]’s return**, she orchestrated the **seizure of a Shield fragment** from the Storm Giants—not to hoard power, but to **protect the divine weave** and preserve the **Tree of Life ([[Sylrathis]])**. She sent **twenty elite assassins** to secure and escort the fragment to safety. The party found them dead, killed during the conflict with the Cloud Giants. Their failure is a wound she hid behind strategic calm. Xalyth herself was **killed by the Greatwyrm black dragon [[Pot'Rot]]**, who had led the adventuring party to [[Zirith’Morra]] so they could speak with her and rescue their captured companion. Initially, Pot’Rot remained passive, observing their negotiations. However, when talks between Xalyth and the party began to fracture, he perceived failure and threat. Xalyth, sensing the danger he posed to her tower and people, tried to stop him from unleashing destruction within her domain. This act of defiance triggered Pot’Rot’s paranoia, and he turned on her with catastrophic force—annihilating her and much of her sanctum in a storm of acid, madness, and betrayal. --- ## Traits and Reputation - **She Who Sees Through Webs and Lies** – a title feared among even rival Matrons. - **Underdark’s Quiet Queen** – maintains a city of **veils, silence, illusions, and shifting architecture** - Feared by **[[Spider Queen]]-worshipping cities**, especially those who suspect her pact with [[Vhun’Ziriss]]. - Her staff **compels loyalty** and **reveals truths whispered by the dead**. --- ## Role in the Campaign - True ruler of **[[Zirith’Morra]]**, now in turmoil after the Shield mission failed. - May become a **reluctant ally** to the party—especially if their goals align with preserving [[Sylrathis]] or defeating [[Anam]]. - Could possess a **second Shield fragment**, unknown even to [[Anam]]. - May be in contact with one of **Serina Warefox’s Brides**, feeding her prophecy or acting as a secret messenger. --- ## Plot Hooks - A secret chamber beneath the Abyssal Chapel may hold her **visions and maps of future apocalypses**. - She may challenge or test the party with **trials of deception, truth, and loyalty**. - Her fate may be pivotal in the balance between the **Old Gods, [[Anam]], and [[Sylrathis]].**