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The Story: DANCINGWINDE was very shy, reclusive, and hated both to be in crowds, or singled out and spoken to by one person. She kept to the dark parts of the forest in hopes that no one would find her there. Her only wish was to be left alone. She loved the animals of the forest, and the constant presence of her goddess Tunare, and only returned to Kelethin to train or do quick business with the merchants. Her most-valued skill was Hide.
One night when she was fast asleep tucked into a bed of leaves, a Dark Elf Enchantress approached Dancingwinde. Nodding to herself, the Enchantress worked her magic on Dancingwinde and then disappeared back where she came from. Dancingwinde's dreams suddenly changed, and the rest of the night her head was filled with visions of an elven Wizard with dark skin, white hair, and red eyes holding her, kissing her, having a passionate affair with her, and she knew his name was MINDIUS X'PHIR. By the time she woke up, she was madly in love with him. She didn't know a thing about him-- the only other races she'd ever encountered were High Elves, Dwarves, and occasional Gnomes. In the days that followed, she was very distracted and confused. She never thought she would fall in love, nor desired it. This disturbed and frustrated her, but no matter what she tried, she couldn't keep Mindius out of her thoughts.
A world away, Mindius returned to his hiding place after meeting with the woman he was in love with-- a Human Necromancer named LAURELIE. His master Varcane had died, leaving a considerable fortune behind. Varcane's dying wish had been that Mindius find someone to be his inheritor...someone evil, yet worthy. His other student, a Shadow Knight named MYSTERA SILVERMANE, had been a thorn in his side. She did things that made no sense to anyone but Mystera. She would slash a Treant, and then throw her weapon down and allow the Treant to rip her to pieces while she cackled in ecstasy. She would kill-steal a camp just to make people hate her. She would feign love for a poor man just to bleed him dry of all his money and possessions as he felt helpless but to give all he had to her to win her love. But her latest thrill was to go upstairs and kill the ogre merchants who ran a shop there. Because of this, the rest of the merchants in Neriak refused to sell to her, and the guards glowered at her dubiously. Due to her actions and instability, Varcane had disinherited her, and declared Mindius to be his only successor, thus the charge fell to find an inheritor who Mindius could train in his master's name.
Mystera was furious. She had been left penniless and homeless, and decided that her condition must have been Mindius' fault, as the Master would never have left her destitute this way! She heard about Mindius' charge to find an inheritor, and sat quietly brooding and planning. Mindius started his journey in Paineel to find the inheritor. He happened across an Erudite Shadow Knight named NAMASTE. After interviewing her extensively, he declared her to be the inheritor. Together they began the long journey back to Neriak. They had to take refuge in the sewers of Qeynos for the night, and it was while exploring the maze-like corridors that Mindius met Laurelie.
He fell in love with Laurelie at first sight, and made excuses to Namaste as to why they would have to remain in Qeynos for a week. During this week, Mindius tried to win Laurelie's love, and finally succeeded. They became lovers, and Mindius didn't want to leave. He told Namaste and Laurelie that he had decided to split the inheritance with both women, and would take them both back to Neriak with him. Laurelie loved her home in the dark underground of Qeynos and was reluctant to leave, so Mindius left with Namaste, and promised to come back for Laurelie next.
When Mindius and Namaste arrived in Neriak, Mindius declared Namaste and Laurelie as his Master's inheritors. Namaste took up her new residence as mistress of Vacane Manor, and Mindius left for Qeynos again. During Mindius' absence, Mystera made her move. She sensed that Namaste preferred to be with women, so she used her well-honed skills to seduce the Erudite and move into the manor. Now the only people who would have to be dealt with were Mindius and Laurelie.
Mystera conspired with her powerful Enchantress-friend to bring ruin upon Mindius. The Enchantress sent him a dream that enchanted him into believing that Laurelie was unfaithful to him, and had only given into him in order to inherit his Master's fortune. The dream was so powerful and real that Mindius was helpless but to believe in it completely. After arriving in Qeynos, he found Laurelie and pretended nothing was wrong. He cast invisibility on her so she could accompany him safely past the guards. As they neared the narrow passage leading out of Qeynos Hills, Mindius told Laurelie to wait behind the guardtower while he made sure it was safe to proceed. As soon as he was out of sight of the guardtower, he reversed Laurelie's invisibility spell and shouted to the guards that there was a Necromancer hiding behind the tower. As the guards charged at Laurelie to kill her, Mindius sent out a final thought to Laurelie: "a traitor repayed by teason." She died innocent of any crime, horrified and confused.
Mindius returned to Neriak to find that the manor had been effectively taken over by Mystera. He realized that Namaste was completely under her control, and therefore a ruined and useless inheritor. He ported into the manor and quickly killed Namaste, leaving her body where Mystera could find it. When Mystera found it, such a shriek rang out that the windows in the room shook. Mindius stepped out from the closet where he'd been waiting, seized Mystera by the hair, and ran out of the manor with her. He shouted at her that if anyone caught her in the same zone as the manor, she was to be killed on sight, and had her escorted roughly out of the zone. Mystera ran dementedly throught the forest of Nektulos, slaying Halflings and anything else that came across her path. When the sunlight woke her the next morning, she was filthy and her clothes torn.
She returned to Neriak to find her Enchantress-friend. When she revealed her new plan to the Enchantress, the Enchantress was reluctant to try it, because if she were found out, she would be slaughtered. The first dream had been easy enough to enchant, but this newly-requested dream would be extremely difficult. In the end, Mystera's charms won out, and the Enchantress agreed to try it. She made two stops that night: the first one to the forest of Greater Faydark, and the second one to Varcane Manor. She enchanted the dreams of a Wood Elf Ranger she'd happened across, and of Mindius as he slept unsuspecting. Then she left-- her mission accomplished.
Mindius dreamed all night of the most beautiful Wood Elf he'd ever seen. She was the opposite of him in every way-- her hair and eyes dark, her skin light, her religion to worship a good goddess-- but he felt helpless to do anything but hold her and kiss her and ravish her, and she seemed to feel the same about him. When he awoke, he dressed and left the manor quickly, on his way to Greater Faydark. He took with him his Master's fortune, for he knew that a Wood Elf would never survive a moment near Neriak, so she would never be able to run Varcane Manor. He wondered if he was crazy, but this Wood Elf's essence filled and permiated his being. He reminded the guards of their strict orders regarding Mystera, and left.
Creeping from tree to tree invisible, Mindius searched Kelethin for the beautiful vision he still dreamed of every night. Days went by and he couldn't find her. Then something flashed past the corner of his eye. He was able to see invisible creatures, and he saw HER then...the woman he couldn't get out of his mind. He called to her from behind the tree, and when she turned, he saw recognition in her eyes. She APPROACHED him slowly, and he quickly made the both of them invisible. They spent a long time GAZING at each other, and then fell into each others' arms. After kissing passionately for an unknown period of time, they began to walk through the woods, talking to each other of their dreams and their love.
Days later, the two returned to a hilltop near Kelethin. Mindius handed Dancingwinde his Master's fortune with instructions on how much to ask for each item when selling them. He told her he would always remain near Kelethin, and if she had need of anything, how to communicate to him immediately. He told her that his new home was wherever she was, but that he would give her the privacy she so desperately needed while trying to sort this new situation out. She thanked him, and assured him that she loved him just as intensely in return, and that she would call to him every night. The two parted quickly so Mindius could seek safer hiding in the Crushbone Castle with his friend and fellow Dark Elf, Ambassador D'vinn, and Dancingwinde quickly took the precious packs to Kelethin's bank to await buyers.
Dancingwinde tried auctioning the items of the pack for weeks, but no one in Faydark seemed interested in the evil items she carried. She had to journey to Freeport and back to sell, and when she returned she informed Mindius that she now had more money than she knew what to do with. In her absense, Mindius had been exploring Faydwer and had happened across Ak'Anon, city of the Gnomes. He learned that Gnome Necromancers and Rogues were equally welcome across the city with the other classes-- much like in his home of Neriak-- and was impressed by this. When Dancingwinde told him about how successful she had been with selling the items, he asked her if she wouldn't mind if he brought a Gnome Rogue into their group to study and play benefactor to, and Dancingwinde didn't mind at all. She was uncomfortable being the center of anyone's attentions, and this little Gnome would draw some of that pressure off of her. She and Mindius had also discovered that whatever enchantment they had been placed under to fall in love was dissipating. But they had gotten to know and like one another, so while the romance was fading, the friendship was going strong.
Mindius chose a pretty little Gnome named ZOLASTRASOLLUNA to be benefactor for. Dancingwinde couldn't help liking the Gnome, and was just as fascinated as Mindius was with how tiny and quick and entertaining she was, and how well she fought-- for such a delicate-looking creature. The two became fast friends-- both not finding much use in idle chatter and preferring to keep to the shady parts of the forest-- and Mindius found his new life in Faydwer quite satisfying.
Mystera had not been forgotten. When Mindius found a moment of leisure, he sent word back to Varcane Manor that Mystera was to be captured. Once she was in the custody of the manor, Mindius instructed that Mystera was to be used as a mule to explore the parts of Norrath unknown to him. She was to be compelled through enchantment to run naked into such places while the enchanter controlling her drew maps of everything Mystera saw. Of course, Mystera put up a bloody and shrieking fight, but in the end couldn't resist the mind-control that was placed on her. The first place she was sent was the vampiric Castle Mistmoore, where she found that the Dark Elves who inhabited the place hated her with a vengeance. The second was the haunted lands of Unrest. By the time she made it back to Neriak-- shaking and bloody-- she was a shell of who she used to be. But Mindius has more places for her to explore...
The weeks went by and Dancingwinde and Zolastrasolluna were constant hunting partners. Dancingwinde heard about a small Wood Elf camp deep in the forests of Lesser Faydark that she wanted to find. Zolastrasolluna eagerly agreed to accompany her, and the two entered the woods. They found the encampment easily enough, and spent an hour looking at everything that was sold there. Then they began their journey back to Greater Faydark. There had been no sign of danger, so the girls kept a leisure pace and enjoyed the silence. Suddenly Dancingwinde felt the prickle and breathlessness that always comes before a caster's blast, and a split-second later she was blown forward onto her hands and knees with a startled cry. Looking behind her she saw two tiny Brownies who had come out from their hiding places and were grinning at her with malicious intent. "Zola-- RUN!" she screamed in a panic just as the Brownies blew her friend apart. The last image that stuck in her mind was Zolastrasolluna looking at her with her eyes and mouth open wide in shock. A moment later, Dancingwinde's short and reclusive life was ended.
Mindius was kept busy by his correspondences with the manor, but when he was finally spared a moment, he went in search of his protegees. They had a set place where they would leave messages for one another, but when Mindius looked in the hollow tree, there was nothing there. He suddenly felt that something was wrong, and keeping invisible he wandered the grounds beneath Kelethin. After many hours, his panic had grown unbearable and he actually snuck into the city, itself.
Mindius made his way to the area where the dead are brought for their families to claim with a heart growing heavier and heavier with every step. When he entered the room, he saw her immediately and let out an agonized howl that startled the living. Running from the room, from the city, from what he'd seen laying on the floor, Mindius wept for Dancingwinde until his heart was empty. He wandered the forest for days until he was a ragged mess, and then finally dragged himself back to Crushbone where Dvinn ordered that he was to be left alone. He didn't emerge until weeks later when he decided he would be turning his back on this land of Fay forever that had stolen his heart and broken it irrepairably. He needed to take one last look at the city that had produced Dancingwinde, and lurked through the trees silently.
He walked the grounds with a face like stone-- taking everything in one last time-- with packs slung over his shoulders. Unbeknownst to him, Dvinn had sent his orcs into Kelethin while the city slept to take back all that Mindius had given to the girls. When presented with so many momentos, Mindius had planned to throw it all into one of the fire pits, but had lacked the energy. He had finally decided to stuff the items into the hollow tree, and stood there now staring at it blankly until the sound of female voices nearby snapped him out of his reverie. Hiding by instinct, he peered out at the women whose voices he'd heard, and his heart almost stopped. Was it...? He blinked several times and looked again. No, it wasn't the girls come back to life, but another Wood Elf female who resembled Dancingwinde in many ways, and a sturdy little female dwarf with the biggest, greenest eyes on the face of Norrath. Seeing them brought his vision of the girls right back to him, and before he could change his mind, he slunk over, layed the packs down behind them, went back to his tree, and threw a rock in their direction. When they turned, they discovered the packs, and became the last of Master Varcane's failed inheritors.
Mindius followed the girls around while invisible and learned all he could. The Wood Elf was also a ranger, so Dancingwinde's equipment was received with great joy. Her name was Diannon, and she, too, had incredible eyes, but hers were gold. The Dwarf was a paladin named EZMIRELLE, and she fit into the fallen Gnome's armor perfectly-- especially taking to the Dwarven Ringmail Tunic. She sold Zolastrasolluna's Dagger of Dropping and throwing daggers in exchange for a longbow and quiver of arrows. Once he was satisfied that the inheritance was in good hands, he returned to Neriak to take command of Varcane Manor, and to order Mystera to explore more dangerous and unknown zones.
Diannon progressed quickly and reached her 10th season before long. She was the opposite of Dancingwinde in almost every way-- spirited and friendly with a sharp wit and sense of humor. Mindius had expected to leave his new inheritors and never return, but he found himself wanting to check on Diannon's progress whenever he was allowed a moment to think. After researching some of his master's books, he found the incantation to create a mind-link to Diannon. He was worried that she would be angry when he first intruded into her mind, but she was delighted...and delightful! He soon found that whenever he needed someone to lighten his load by cheering him up that she could always be counted on to do the job. Diannon found him intriguing, and loved his frequent mind-links.
One day, Mindius sent her a message to take the boat across to Freeport. He said that he had spoken with Ezmirelle and told her he no longer wanted to keep her as an inheritor. By this time Ezmirelle had been taught to hate Dark Elves by the Paladins of Kaladim, and so she gladly handed back all the gifts her had bestowed on her. It was no skin off Diannon's back-- she and Ezmirelle had never been friends, but had only been giving each other directions in the woods when Mindius found them and had never met up since that day. Mindius also told Diannon that he had decided to retire and finally choose someone to take his place. Diannon listened with sadness as he told her about an apprentice wizard named XAPHIRA, and that he would be ending his life once she was ready to take control of Varcane Manor. His last wish was that Diannon and Xaphira would continue the communication between the manor and Faydark, and so he was arranging for them to meet in East Commons.
Diannon took the boat to Freeport and travelled to the designated MEETING PLACE. Her first instincts about Xaphira were that she had a lot of greed and ambition that she was trying to hide. She also looked an awful lot like Mystera, and their names were similar. But Diannon kept the meeting cordial, and then returned to East Freeport to await the boat. Mindius surprised her by appearing there, and then took her into a shady-looking tavern. He wanted to know all about how the meeting had gone. Diannon was very honest with him about her first impressions. Without giving Mindius a chance to respond, she continued on into a lengthy yet humorous and motivating speech as to why Mindius should forget his plans and keep his place as master of the manor. Without giving a reaction-- other than a rare wry smile-- he invited her to stay in East Freeport for the rest of the week so he could give more thought to his plans. She agreed, and by the end of the week she had convinced Mindius to keep his calling and take over as his master's inheritor. When Mindius let Xaphira know of his change of plans, he couldn't read her reaction clearly so he knew she must be seething, but she accepted his decision. When asked if she was any relation to Mystera, she said she didn't know who Mystera was...but Diannon was right. The resemblance in face and name was uncanny.
Diannon grinned to herself after Mindius left to deliver his news to Xaphira. She had developed quite the crush on Mindius and was starting to feel twitterpated! She had no idea how Mindius felt, so she decided to keep her feelings to herself for the time being. When Mindius returned, he had more news. He had sent scouts out long ago to help him find an inheritor, and 1 had never returned. Well, the missing scout was back now, and spoke of the delightful time he had spent with a cute and funny Ogre named HWOMP. She was too poor to buy armor and weapons to adventure far into the Feerrott, but had no lack for friends because of how amusing she was. Yet despite her sweet appearance, the scout had seen that deep inside she was a fierce warrior, and had heard tales of her strength. The scout was back to beg Mindius to take Hwomp under his wing. Mindius asked Diannon how she felt about selling off Ezmirelle's small armor to help buy Hwomp some good armor, and Diannon was all for it. She was excited to have the Ogre join the little "family," and hoped to get to meet her someday. That was all Mindius needed to hear. He had the scout return to Oggok with the news immediately.
Once Hwomp was outfitted and off fighting happily in the Feerrott, Mindius was summoned to the Magician guild of Neriak. A Dark Elf Mage who was a worshipper of Karana asked Mindius for a special request. A young High Elf Mage named ELOWYNDRIELLE-- almost fanatically devoted to Karana-- had asked to be teleported from this realm of Bertoxxulous to the realm of Tallon Zek in order to assist the Elven team. She and her sister NUMINI were successfully tranferred over, but found-- to their dismay-- that the Elven team was full of idiotic, back-stabbing kill-stealers. After 5 seasons of trying to tollerate their teammates, Elowyndrielle and Numini began assisting a group of Dark Elves known as Tallon's Claws. Unable to switch teams, the High Elves secretly worked with Tallon's Claws to subvert the Elven team.
After a time, Elowyndrielle and Numini realized that 2 traitorous High Elves really had no future on Tallon Zek, and asked Tallon's Claws to send a message to Bertoxxulous that they would like to be teleported back to Bertoxxulous. The message was received by the Dark Elf Mage Guild, who studied their case until they reached the decision to pull the sisters back to Bertoxxulous. The Dark Elf Mage asked Mindius if he would add Elowyndrielle to his little group, and in return he would provide Mindius with a Dark Elf Enchanter-drone who would continuously quest for Steins of Moggok to sell in order to replenish Mindius' dwindling funds. After consulting with Diannon, Mindius notified the Mage that he would take Elowyndrielle on, but that she would be the very last of his charges. The deal signed and sealed, Elowyndrielle joined the group of Inheritors, and Mindius sent the Enchanter-drone-- who he sarcastically named Xophira-- off to quest for the Stein.
5 days later, Mindius and Elowyndrielle had exchanged 2 Steins for 2 FLOWING BLACK ROBES, kept the 3rd and 4th Steins for themselves, and sold the 5th Stein. The plan was to raise enough money to outfit Diannon with Ivy-Etched armor. After selling off the 5th Stein, Mindius was informed that Mystera Silvermane had escaped Varcane Manor's spies, and-- unable to handle her new life of torment-- had run to Lake Rathe where she'd swum to the bottom of the lake and stayed there until she drowned. Mindius' face remained stoney and impassive in disbelief and shock, but those feeling soon passed as he experienced a rush of relief. No longer would Mindius have to watch his back and rely on his spies to keep him informed-- his greatest rival and thorn in his side was dead.
A few months later it was announced all across Norrath that a porthole had been opened to the moon, Luclin! Mindius-- ever the entrepreneur-- immediately read everything in Neriak's library about Luclin, and it was there that he found out about the race of cat-people called the Vah'Shir who had been driven to build a new city on the moon by the magic-users of Paineel. Mindius joined a group of fellow travelers waiting by a Nexus who would send them through the porthole, and together they made their first journey to Luclin. And to make a long story short, Mindius was able to make two Vah'Shir contacts who would supply him with maps of their city Shar'Vahl and the surrounding area. They were Beast Lords named BASTAHEMET and NEFER.
During this time of great excitement, Hwomp had started wasting away, looking depressed, and keeping to herself. Mindius made the journey to Oggok to see what the trouble was. When he arrived, he was shocked at her drastic and sickly appearance. Hwomp informed him that her mate Gorefang had died a while ago, and with his death came the death of her own spirit and will to live. She gave all her possessions back to Mindius, and he reluctantly accepted them once he realized that Hwomp wasn't going to recover. He stayed with her until she breathed her last shakey breath-- surprised at how quickly death took her once her personal affects had been taken care of. He sold what things he and the ladies didn't have a use for, and then bought a few packs full of supplies and armor for Bastahemet and made the long journey to Shar'Val where they were gratefully accepted.
Mindius decided to remain on the moon and study the land, and he stayed there for months. Then he received a summons from Neriak telling him to return because he was about to take on 3 new charges. He quickly made his way back to Neriak where things were explained to him. Another porthole had been opened in order to bring three Dark Elves from the realm Tallon Zek through. Tallon Zek is a bloody place, but what made the Dark Elves desire to come through was the deterioration of their realm. Where once Dark Elves, Ogres, and Trolls had stood side by side to keep out the Lighties, Dark Elves were now being spotted fighting against the Darks-- even hampering them so Lighties could invade their cities. The three Dark Elves wanted nothing to do with this reality any longer, and wanted to go to a realm where they would be free to roam the lands as the Lighties were. Their petition was granted, and they had just been brought through.
The Dark Elves were given amor, weapons, packs, supplies and allowed to rest. They were all siblings-- twin sisters and a brother. The sisters requested to have their names altered to start their new lives in this new realm, but the brother chose to keep his name the same. They are: NACHTURNA the Shadow Knight, once known as Nachte, LANOIRE the Rogue, once known as Nuite, and DAHARANN the Wizard. They revealed that their oldest brother Gerhann D'veronn had chosen to stay behind with his lover Nettle because he still had faith in their people. The siblings had lost their parents and another set of twin siblings-- Veil and Noth-- to the war, so they were familiar with loss.
Nachturna, Lanoire, and Daharann were veterans of fighting, but in coming through the porthole they had lost all the knowledge and skills gained in Tallon Zek, so Mindius had been assigned to watch over their progress until they were back to the seasons they had been when they left their realm. It was while he spent so much time with them that he learned more details about the days preceding their arrival. Apparently LaNoire had only come with her siblings because her lover Taneuevan had suddenly and conveniently died while she was torn trying to decide who to go with. LaNoire confided to Mindius that she-- and everyone else-- secretly suspected Nachturna and Daharann to be behind his death.
The weeks went by, and while Nachturna and Daharann quickly advanced in levels, LaNoire had ceased to care about anything she once loved. When prompted to go and fight, she would drudge slowly and carelessly through the forest, allowing the ferocious animals to attack her without resistance. Sinking into the quagmire that had claimed the life of her brother Noth, she didn't see the connection and continued her path of destruction.
At last she approached Mindius wearing only her undergarments, and handed him her packs containing all her earthly possessions. He accepted them wordlessly, and watched as she walked slowly into the inky river until at last her head disappeared below the water. He knew the resident pirhanas would make short work of her, and turned sadly to take the packs back to his manor.
Nachturna stayed with Deharann for a time until her sorrow over LaNoire's death turned into hate and resentment towards Daharann for everything that had happened-- all the sibling and ally-deaths, and departing their home-realm for this one-- and she fought long and hard until she was finally able to be sent back to Gerhann and their home. She told Gerhann that she was through with Daharann, and ready to dedicate herself to their realm. She saw how Nettle had turned herself into Gerhann's personal slave, and was disgusted. She kicked Nettle out of the family home, took up residence there, and began whipping Gerhann into shape! Daharann, meanwhile, slipped off into Norrath never to be seen again.
Ellowyndrielle and Numini had found that the Elves of this realm were mostly very honorable and hard-working, and so slowly they began to acclimate themselves to life in Felwithe once more. They returned all that Mindius had given them as a way of making a clean start, and Mindius wished them well.
It was at this point that Mindius again, ironically, found himself with only a Wood Elf Inheritor: Diannon. Bastahemet continued to explore her lunar lands and report back to Mindius, but was making her own money and taking care of herself without Mindius' support. Mindius finally decided that he was done with searching for Inheritors and being so fickle about giving and then taking away. Diannon had stuck by his side, supported him, loved him, and most-importantly had prevented him from turning over his fortune to a selfish creature and then committing suicide. He knew he was a fool for not seeing this so clearly before. He went to Diannon and told her that once she reached her 20th season, the two would join together, fight and explore the land together, and perhaps love together.
When Diannon finally reached her 20th season and chose the surname Sylvanbow, she returned to Greater Faydark and found Mindius. She looked so beautiful and radiant in her excitement at finally reaching Mindius' season...Mindius found her so beautiful at that moment that he took her shoulders in his hands and pulled her to him, kissing her deeply. Diannon was taken by surprise, but kissed him back with a long-restrained hunger. Mindius made the two of them invisible, and they spent the night celebrating Diannon's victory in each others' arms.
Diannon practices the skill she knows best
BRYNHILDE the Beast Lord Mindius has been interviewing for information
Learn more about the infamous D'Veronn Family
