Realms Personalities : Quenthel Baenre
by Richard Baker (Dragon #302)
Mistress of Arach-Tinilith and second only to her sister Triele in mighty House Baenre, Quenthel is the epitome of the noble drow priestess. She is arrogant, confident, and fearless. She was born to rule among her kind, and from her earliest years she has devoted herself to the worship of the Spider Queen, the advancement of her House, and the acquisition of personal power and influence. No dark elf other than a Matron of the Ruling Council, or perhaps her brother Gromph, would dare gainsay her least command. Physically, Quenthel is a tall, athletic, and graceful dark elf of great beauty.
Quenthel is one of the younger daughters of the old Matron Baenre who sat at the center of Menzoberranzan's webs for so long. Her mother was one of the most powerful and successful Matrons ever to rise to the leadership of the city, and consequently she was a harsh taskmaster with her own children. Of all her sisters, Quenthel comes closest to matching her mother's capabilities and talents, although she lacks the gifts of patience and subtlety that marked Matron Baenre's long rule. Quenthel rose quickly past several of her older sisters in her mother's eyes, and when Matron Baenre died, she stood behind only one - Triele, the eldest of them all.
When Triele ascended to become Matron Mother of House Baenre and leader of Menzoberranzan's Ruling Council, Quenthel took her sister's place as Mistress of Arach-Tinilith, the temple-school in which highborn drow females are instructed in the worship of the Spider Queen. She has governed Arach-Tinilith for almost ten years now, and during that time she has become a daunting Mistress indeed. She is almost unique among the drow of Menzoberranzan in that she has been slain once (by none other than Drizzt Do'Urden, in fact) and returned from the Demonweb Pits to continue her service to the Spider Queen. The circumstances of Quenthel's resurrection are shrouded in mystery, and the Mistress of Arach-Tinilith does not speak of who returned her to life or why.
Quenthel Baenre: Female drow Clr15/Dis4 of Lolth: CR 20; Medium-size humanoid (5 ft. 5 in. tall); HD 15d8+45 plus 4d8+12; hp 156; Init +4 (Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 38, touch 19, flat-footed 34; Atk +24/+24/+19/+14 melee (1d8+10/19-20, Quenthel's scourge); SA imbue with spell ability, rebuke undead, rebuke spiders, spell-like abilities; SQ divine emissary, drow traits, evasion, sacred defense +2; SR 30; AL CE; SV Fort +21, Ref +15, Will +26; Str 20, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 26, Cha 19.
Skills: Bluff +9, Concentration +20, Diplomacy +14, Heal +14, Hide +14, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (religion) +16, Listen +14, Spellcraft +13, Search +5, Sense Motive +13, Spot +15, Tumble +4; Feats: Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (scourge), Leadership, Scribe Scroll, Spellcasting Prodigy, Spell Penetration, Weapon Focus (scourge).
Spell-like Abilities: 1/day - dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire. Quenthel uses these spell-like abilities as a 19th-level sorcerer.
Languages Known: Abyssal, Common, Draw Sign Language, Elven, Undercommon.
SA - Imbue With Spell Ability (Sp): As a standard action, Quenthel can freely transfer currently prepared spells of 1st or 2nd level to a willing recipient. This does not require a 4th-level spell slot but otherwise works like the imbue with spell ability spell.
SQ - Divine Emissary: Quenthel can telepathically communicate with any outsider within 60 feet, provided the outsider is chaotic evil or serves Lolth.
SQ - Sacred Defense +2: Quenthel has a +2 bonus to saving throws against divine spells and the spell-like or supernatural abilities of outsiders.
Spells Prepared (6/9/8/8/8/8/6/6/5/5; base save DC = 19 + spell level): During the events described in the War of the Spider Queen series, Quenthel does not receive spells from Lolth and cannot prepare any of her spells. Domains: Darkness (gain the Blind-Fight feat for free), Evil (+1 caster level with Evil spells), Spider (rebuke or command spiders as an evil cleric rebukes or commands undead; can use this ability a total number of times per day equal to 3 + Charisma modifier).
Possessions: Quenthel's scourge (intelligent +5 extending scourge of speed), +5 moderate fortification elven chain, +4 buckler, belt of giant strength +6, gloves of dexterity +4, Arach-Tinilith ring, amulet of natural armor +4, headband of Wisdom +6, ring of protection +5, piwafwi of resistance +5, rod of viscid globs, boots of speed, wand of chaos hammer (8th- level caster), wand of cure serious wounds, bag of holding 3, 4 beads of force, drow house insignia, backpack, bedroll, and routine supplies.
Quenthel's Unique items
As a high priestess from an old and powerful house, Quenthel can arm herself with the very finest magic items. Her signature weapon, however, is her magic scourge, a unique item that she crafted herself under the guidance of the Spider Queen. The scourge is a snake-headed whip with five heads, each possessed of a wicked intelligence and capable of speech. The five personas bound to Quenthel's scourge are Yngoth (the wisest), K'Sothra (the most bloodthirsty), Hsiv (an advisor, the first imp bound into the whip), Zinda (the boldest), and Qorra (the most venomous). Quenthel hooks the whip to her belt with a wyvern hide loop at the end of the handle.
Quenthel's Scourge: This weapon is a +5 extending scourge of speed. It is an intelligent item (Int 15, Wis 19, and Cha 12), its sentience consisting of five distinct demonic personalities imprisoned within its snake-like heads. It can communicate by speech and telepathy, and has the following abilities:
- Free use of Combat Reflexes
- Detect poison at will
- Free use of uncanny dodge (as 5th-level barbarian)
- Free use of evasion
- True seeing at will
- Haste 1/day, 10-round duration
Quenthel's scourge has the special purpose of defending the servants and interests of a specific deity - in this case, Lolth. As Quenthel is a relatively good judge of the Spider Queen's will, she can usually call upon the weapon's special purpose power without much justification, but another wielder would be unable to make use of this power unless the scourge itself determined that the mission at hand was of direct and immediate importance to Lolth's faith in Faerûn. When using the scourge to defend the interests of Lolth and after making a successful melee attack, the scourge's viper heads inject caustic venom into the target. The venom is similar to that created by the poison spell (Fortitude save, DC 19; initial damage 1d10 Constitution, secondary damage 1d10 Constitution). Quenthel's scourge has an ego of 30 and is chaotic evil.
Caster Level: 17th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, haste, miracle, poison, true seeing, creator must be a cleric of Lolth; Market Price: 335,000 gp; Weight: 2 lbs.
Arach-Tinilith Ring: Created only for the highest-ranking priestesses of the order of Arach-Tinilith, this potent ring imbues its wearer with a +6 enhancement bonus to Constitution and a +2 enhancement bonus to Charisma. It also renders the wearer immune to detect thoughts, discern lies, and any attempt to magically discern the wearer's alignment.
Caster Level: 10th; Prerequisites: Forge Ring, eagle's splendor, endurance; Market Price: 60,000 gp; Cost to Create: 30,000 gp + 2,400 XP; Weight: -.
Piwafwi of Resistance +5: This black cloak adds a +5 resistance bonus to the wearer's saving throws and a +10 circumstance bonus to the wearer's Hide checks.
Caster Level: 15th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, invisibility, resistance; Market Price: 29,000 gp: Cost to Create: 14,500 gp + 1,160 XP; Weight: 1 lb.