A/N: This story is an adaptation of a tale from Ancient Egypt, 'The Book of Thoth,' given the usual drowification. A tale, perhaps, for slightly older readers among the young drow, but a lesson I'm sure they'd all want to learn well...

The Book of Lloth

There was once a young priestess, Kazanef, who was the eldest daughter of the Matron Mother of a mighty House. She had a young daughter of her own, Meraza, a child of great promise, and a powerful wizard for her consort, Xahuran. This priestess Kazanef had a clever and able mind, yet her ambitions were deemed lacking, for she cared only for ancient lore, and the tales of priestesses who had done great things in times long gone.

In one fateful hour, she went to the greatest temple of the city, to witness the rites there, but was distracted by carvings upon the walls, depicting scenes of ancient power, and it was all she could do to pay enough attention that she would not be seen as lacking piety. When the ritual ended, she lingered, puzzling out the story told by the carvings.

An older priestess, seeing her there, laughed at her.

"Why do you laugh?" Kazanef asked.

"Because you look so closely upon a tale of so little consequence. If you truly wish to read something of importance, only the ancient and hidden texts will be suitable."

"What texts are these?"

The older priestess told her, "There is the ancient Book of Lloth, a tome written by the very hands of the Spider Goddess herself. It was hidden long ago, that others should not know its power. It is said that she who reads even the first shall command spiderkind utterly, and they shall do her bidding in her holy devotions; and to read more pages will give the reader gifts of great dominion over those who walk the caverns, those who come from the Abyss, and even the very shadows themselves."

"I must read this," Kazanef vowed, heart aflame with the longing for that power. "Do you know where it can be found?"

"I do," the older priestess said. "And I will tell you... for a price."

"Name your price, and I will pay it," Kazanef promised.

"Two hundred slaves do I require, to give to the Goddess, to show the devotion of my House," came the reply, and Kazanef agreed.

She went out to the servants of her House, and had them purchase the slaves that were to be the other priestess's sacrifice, and gave them over to her. Then, at last, the priestess agreed to tell her where the Book might be found.

"It waits in a cavern five cycles' time of travel from the city, to the south. A great stone staircase leads down to a shrine. In the shrine, there is an iron box.

In the iron box, there is a copper box.

In the copper box, there is a silver box.

In the silver box, there is an adamantine box.

In the adamantine box, there is a gold box.

In the gold box, there is a mithral box.

And in that mithral box is the book you seek. About it, there wait many venomous creatures, and a great spider who cannot be killed; she is the guardian of the Book."

Kazanef rejoiced to hear this, and rushed from the temple to prepare for her journey. She told her consort Xahuran of the prize that seemed so close now, but he was troubled to hear it.

"Great Lady," he said humbly, "I will follow you wherever you command, but is it truly right to disturb the book, if the Dark Mother set it there to keep it from the hands of her children?"

"We shall see," was all Kazanef said, and Xahuran fell silent, though he was sure that trouble would come of it.

Kazanef went, then, to her Matron Mother, and sought supplies for the journey, promising to return with power that would make the city tremble before them. With the supplies granted, she feasted and celebrated until it was time to depart, and all who had known her wondered at the change that had come over her, for she had never been one to indulge in the luxuries that were her birthright.

When the time came, she set out, taking Xahuran with her, and his spells eased their way as they travelled. Yet when they reached the cavern, he halted at the staircase, sure that it was not his place to enter into a shrine of the Spider Goddess, for he was but a male, and thus no priestess.

Going on alone, Kazanef descended to the shrine, and found the many creatures there, but she used her power as a priestess to forbid them to move; and so they were still, and she felt triumph.

The great spider came forth, and spoke in a terrible voice, warning her to leave or be accursed and devoured. Kazanef ignored this, and readied herself for battle.

The struggle was terrible; many times the spider came close to slaying her, and many times she struck it with deadly blows, only to discover that all pieces of the great spider rejoined with its body when torn away, so that it could not die.

She turned the very stone beneath it to mud, then, and hewed it while it struggled there; and then Kazanef cast mud between the pieces, so that they were unable to rejoin.

It was helpless, then, and promised her one last time that she would become accursed for her blasphemy, before it fell still and silent.

Kazanef proceeded onward, and came to the centre of the shrine, where the iron box lay. From the iron box, she took the box of copper; from the copper box, she took the box of silver; from the silver box, she took the box of adamantine; from the adamantine box, she took the box of gold; from the gold box, she took the box of mithral; and from the mithral box, she brought forth the Book of Lloth.

Triumphant, she opened its pages then and there, and began to read, and the secrets within filled her with great power. She lifted the book and took it away, back up the staircase.

There, waiting for her, was Xahuran, and he saw the power in her eyes and was afraid. He did not speak, but only followed her out of the cavern, back toward the city.

Now the Spider Goddess knew the moment her Book had been touched, and her sight was drawn to that place; she saw what had been done there, and her fury was awakened. She vowed that she would take revenge upon her over-prideful priestess, and that Kazanef would truly know the curse of her displeasure.

But she was patient, as the spiders that are her symbol are patient; she waited until Kazanef had borne the Book back to her House, before sending her power forth.

It was Meraza, Kazanef's daughter, who knew it first; amid the triumph of the House at the power of the Book, she woke screaming from her rest time and time again, crying that a terrible ghostly spider hunted her through her dreams. At last, it caught her, and she never woke again.

Kazanef sought to speak with her daughter's spirit, and from that spirit she heard the truth; she heard that the Spider Goddess was angry at the theft, and was taking her vengeance. Bitterly Kazanef cursed the ill-fate that had stolen away the daughter who would in time have been her heir.

The next to die were the servants, who lay down to rest one night and never rose again to serve the House, and all who yet lived trembled. The soldiers were taken the next night, depriving the House of its warriors, and Kazanef's kin cursed her arrogance, that had brought this doom upon them.

They imprisoned her, vowing to sacrifice her, hoping to avert the wrath of the goddess with the death of the one who had committed this blasphemy. Yet this sacrifice never came about, for the ghostly spider stalked them through their dreams, and slew them all.

Kazanef knew nothing of it until Xahuran came to free her, and said bitterly to her, "Hail, Matron Mother, you have come into your inheritance at last."

And Kazanef raged, and sobbed aloud, for the power she had stolen had turned the power of her birthright to bitter ashes; she was the Matron now, of a House whose last noble was herself, and there were only the dead for her to command, save only Xahuran. She longed to strike him for his insolence, but he was her last remaining ally, and she dared not.

Instead, she turned a beguiling look upon her consort, and said, "We may yet beget a new line of mighty drow nobles together."

Yet as they lay side by side, the ghostly spider stalked through Xahuran's mind; it did not kill him, but spoke instead at length, giving him many commands. He rose alone, and walked from that place, and sealed up every entrance to the fortress of the House with a power he had never before possessed.

He walked then through the city, crying aloud his tale, so that all would know what had come to pass; back and forth he walked, telling the tale again and again. At last, he spoke the tale before the doors of the great temple itself, and fell dead there, before the eyes of the listening priestesses.

They knew, then, that the vengeance of Lloth had come to pass, and the House that had stood so mighty was no more; but the Book remained with Kazanef, sealed with its thief for all the time to come, and her spirit was its guardian eternal.

A/N: Such a cheery little tale. But when the Goddess says don't touch, you're probably better off listening.