Author's notes: The main person that inspired me to make The Call of Quinnthulhu (coming soon) also inspired this fic. When the topic of Dungeons & Dragons came up, he said that he saw Daria as a drow and Jane as an alu-fiend (the daughter of a succubus and mortal). That's not how I saw it (I saw Daria as a benign if creepy necromancer and Jane as a half elven magical artisan), but the sheer oddness of the thought teased my mind until I made the fic before you.

If you're unfamiliar with D&D, then I hope I've made this understandable enough for you. But if you find anything confusing, you should be able to find out more about the setting by googling it. There's more than one site for Planescape (the campaign setting for most of this fic, after Daria--as Dariaza the drow--leaves the drow city of Menzoberranzan behind), and even wikipedia sums up the basics of it (and of Menzoberranzan) if you wish to learn more. There are also many novels featuring Menzoberranzan and its drow (I especially recommend Daughter of the Drow if you like Dariaza as a drow wizard, though you'll find the female drow wizard in that book to be closer to Jana in temperament), as well as for Planescape (though I prefer the Forgotten Realm novels that enter Planescape territory, such as Finder's Bane and Tymora's Luck).

For those more familiar with D&D, I use 3.5 as much as I can, but I don't have many of the materials for that. I adapted a mini-adventure from the 2nd edition Planes of Chaos box set for Dariaza when she's lost, alone, and fighting madness in Pandemonium. (I also used the 2.0 PoC box set for the madness Dariaza endures while there.) If you ever had that you'll probably find what I did with it interesting. It also takes place after the Faction War, but I presume that "bleakniks" can still be found in their old haunts, even in Sigil.

If you somehow come across this because you're a D&D fan but aren't familiar with Daria...well about all I can say is if something comes up about a character that you're having a hard time following, it's probably something that only a Daria fan could understand (eg, Jana--ie, Jane Lane as an alu-fiend--visiting her family in Azzagrat of the Abyss uses characters and dialog based on the Daria ep "The Teachings of Don Jake").

Finally, I got the adjuration from the Crimson Liturgy for Lolth that precedes the actual story from an article on drow society found in Dragon magazine, issue 298, August 2002. For those interested, the many trials and tests that Dariaza describes growing up with are described in detail in that article, too.

There are more Author's Notes at the end.

DARIA OF THE DROW

O Flesh Carver, who wove the world;
Who made us from the darkest clay,
Spinning in it a red web of vein and artery,
We feel thy hunger.

O Lolth, humbly today we feed thee.
We feed you this flesh, this quivering meat.
With a blade like your jaws,
We divide muscle from bone.
Eat of this, the meal we consecrate to thee,
And do not this day devour us.

--adjuration from the Crimson Liturgy of Lolth

I.

Quinthel and Sandisma looked greedily at the seasonal fungi now before them in an open cloth sack. Moments before, it had been black lotus extract, but was now a harmless seasoning. The spell Dariaza had just cast would keep it that way for the next several minutes. Until it transformed back, no spell or test would reveal any poison. There was a slight aura of transmutation about it, if one examined it magically, but that was easily explained as a cantrip used to add flavoring.

When the spell wore off, it would be the deadly substance it normally was. Woe unto the one who had ingested it, or even just touched it! Quinthel and Sandisma looked to each other with fierce grins, and then back to Dariaza, who gazed at them with emotionless eyes. She guarded her secret well, for she knew if another discovered it, she'd be murdered. Then the killer would be the only one who knew the secret and would thus gain an advantage over others. It's what always happened.

Sandisma dropped the diamond down on Dariaza's table while Quinnthel wrapped the bag with the transmuted poison up. Dariaza left it there for now, untrusting, and disturbed by a rare smile both drow priestesses sent her way.

"Could the wise one examine a powder I acquired from Sorcere?" asked Sandisma, an edge of sarcasm to her voice, as Quinthel put the poison away in a hidden pocket.

Dariaza's brows rose. Sandisma had killed someone for it, in all likelihood. Power was not lightly handed out, certainly not in Sorcere, the mage school, and especially not to a priestess. Besides, Sandisma either didn't know what it was or planned some treachery with it. She held up a wand and said, "I haven't rested well lately, so forgive me if I'm easily tired right now. What powder would that be?"

Sandisma backed away a few steps and said, "I'm not going to attack you with it." She grinned a wicked grin. "Do you think I'd dispose of someone as valuable as you?"

Why not?, thought Dariaza, Sandisma had disposed of her favored phase spider pet, Truffey, once jealous Lolth demanded its heart on Her altar.. That hurt. Dariaza had killed her own bat familiar, Blood Maw, for the same reason. To do otherwise would've been to doom herself AND Blood Maw. Lolth often turned Her own children against each other just to see who would prevail. So she kept the wand pointed at Sandisma.

Sandisma pulled out some powder and said, "This has a most unusual effect. Observe." Dariaza watched Sandisma and Quinthel instead. Sandisma blew on the powder and it began to spin in a circle. Then several spiders about three feet in diameter began pouring out of a portal. Sandisma and Quinthel both hid themselves under their piwafwis, becoming invisible, as Dariaza spoke a few terse words. As she spoke, 6 furry monstermen came out. Quaggoths, immune to poison and used to train spiders. About a dozen undead bugbear zombies appeared, too, looking like rotting giant goblins, as Dariaza finished her incantation.

The wand did nothing but hide her true spell. She had used what was known as a Stilled version (ie, without the motion normally needed) of Rock to Mud. The floor turned into mud that bogged down many of the spiders and beast men and zombie bugbears, and some invisible foes, too. Dariaza pulled out her special goggles crafted for her by her alu-fiend friend and put them on. She was careful to keep this advantage secret from other drow that would covet it. Now she could see the invisible drow and noted there were 8 of them. They looked like common soldiers, but 8 such drow combined with Quinnthel and Sandisma, both recently made into high priestesses of Lolth, wasn't something she wanted to face. Especially as all drow were equipped with some powerful magical items and protective spells.

Sighing, she levitated herself to the roof and cast another spell, one of her own devising. This one created a substance like mud, but it was actually more of a flammable pitch. As she cast, Sandisma got a spell off and five horrid winged heads appeared and moved to attack Dariaza, who showed no sign of seeing the disgusting and dangerous varguouilles. And Quinneth pointed a rod with waving tentacles on the end of it at Sandisma and uttered a word. Suddenly several tentacles erupted from the ceiling and wrapped around Sandisma.

"Quinthel!" shouted Sandisma, "What are you doing! This will make war between our houses! Your survival demands you let me go!"

But Quinthel was already gone, somehow teleporting herself out.

The horrid winged heads attacked Dariaza... but found nothing of substance. And Dariaza finished her spell. The rocky ceiling transformed into a muddy pitch rained down upon the invaders, effectively countering their invisibility and hampering their movements. It got Sandisma struggling with the tentacles, the levitating drow who were using magics to push themselves toward her, and the quaggoths, bugbear zombies, and spiders struggling in the mud below. Of course that was just an inconvenience for what came next. But first, to deal with the horrid heads. Some intense words and a gesture by Dariaza saw the heads dispelled, returning from whence they came.

"A projected image," said Sandisma. When Daria pointed her wand, she quickly added, "I want to kill Quenthel! Please, let's work together! She's your enemy as much as mine!"

A drow soldier threw a ball that hit Dariaza and her image vanished. "Inflammaro," they heard Dariaza's sibilant whisper. A fireball lashed out at Sandisma. The drow present shielded their eyes, not accustomed to the light that stung their eyes, and Sandisma panicked. Her spell resistance managed to prevent the fireball from affecting her. However, the pitch on her burst into flames and she shrieked as her skin began to melt. Several below her also burst into flames and the room filled with the stench of flaming pitch, flesh, and fur.

The drow soldiers converged on where the fireball had come from, desperate to keep her from loosening another fireball. But this time Dariaza just put her hands together, muttering a word, and several flames lashed out, each getting a soldier. The drow began dying horribly.

Dariaza didn't so much as blink at the harsh glare. Unlike most drow, she was able to handle light. The near century of having to deal with a lit candle to memorize spells and her forays in blooding rituals of striking at those on the surface world under the burning sun had acclimated her eyes. But even this was a bit much. Luckily, the magical goggles protected her sensitive eyes. She pulled her hand crossbow out and loaded it with bolts poisoned with eviscrator poison.

She went around dispatching the drow first. Then she pulled a wand of lightning bolts out and went down to dispatch any surviving monsters in the muck. There weren't any. She sighed and put her wand away. But the bugbear zombies were enhanced with some magic and continued to struggle, so she pulled a scroll and read a spell that would dispatch the undead.

Now all her enemies still in the room were destroyed, but the room she used to do business in was a mess Pulling another wand out, she dispelled all remaining magics, and the floor took it's hardened shape again, no longer flammable. She'd send in slaves later to clean up further. Right now she had to get to Matron Helensha. She had a feeling the one enemy that survived, her sister Quinnthel, was already there trying to convince her to protect her from Dariaza's wrath.