amma backstory reveal heehee
never knew her father. was abandoned by her mother at the earliest opportunity. taken in by a lolthite cult in the underdark and given the name theodosia. eventually sold to viconia devir along with a dozen or so other children.
viconia "raises" her and the others, trains them to be sneaky, ruthless, all the good traits you want in a killing machine. once of age, they are all "gifted" arcane tattoos that allow them to summon shadow blades and bolstering arcane prowess as well as giving viconia a direct scrying/message line to them wherever they are.
soon they are given their purpose: to be sent off to high elven cities as peace offerings. some are positioned as entertainers, some are advisors, others are arranged marriages. theodosia is given to a counsellor in myth drannor named bonnevance. initially, she is simply one of several mistresses, but after saving him from another assassin, bonnevance becomes quite taken with her and they start a genuine courtship.
within six months they are married. it's a huge scandal. people call her the grey lady behind her back. but, she is truly happy for the first time in her life. she loves her husband and is loved in return. she is eager to learn the art of politics and help negotiate peace between high elves and drow. also, bonnevance happens to have no shortage of enemies, and her favorite pastime is picking them off slowly one by one. he'll make a very fine archduke once they are all dead.
then one night viconia's whispers return:
kill him, she orders. plunge the city into chaos.
theodosia will do no such thing. she confesses her former allegiance to bonnevance, and instead of being horrified, he sees an opportunity: she turns her blades on viconia, he removes the last few folks standing in his way, and they spin the whole thing as their own heroic rescue of the city after a failed coup by lolthites.
so she goes. she digs up viconia's hidey hole, gathers her "family" for dinner, and poisons every cup. then she walks every hall and slashes every throat. she burns everything that will take to flame. with one vial, one knife, and no small amount of smokepowder, viconia's cruel machinations are no more!
she returns to bonnevance, triumphant, ecstatic, hopeful. they'll commission a statue first, she thinks; something big and ostentatious and covered in gold filigree. then a new grand portrait for the foyer. hm, will they keep that foyer? perhaps they'll move into a new palace. someplace high up in the hills, with a huge grand balcony to watch the sunrise every day.
instead, from the gate, she watches every counsellor of myth drannor leave her home. upright. walking. alive. un-poisoned. un-murdered. bonnevance is with them at the door. smiling. laughing.
what the fuck have you done? she says once they are gone.
i couldn't do it, he weeps. i couldn't kill them. they are my friends. i thought you would understand. there has to be another way.
and it is here that she learns the first real lesson of survival-- one surpassing anything she picked up on the street, anything the cruel priestesses beat into her, anything viconia lectured on. it's simple. instinctive, even.
i trusted you, she says.
viconia's cult is dead. many counsellors of myth drannor are dead. those remaining will have questions-- accusations. and theodosia will have blood on her hands. there is no lie bonnevance could weave to cover this one ugly truth.
i'm sorry, he tells her. you never should have.
it is not difficult to draw her blade and run it through his heart. he does not try to stop her. perhaps he understands what she knows now-- that they've orchestrated their own doom, sprung their own trap, and only one of them can make it out alive. there is nothing left for her to do except run, but she can't bring herself to let go of the knife in his chest. they fall to the floor, bloody, weeping, betrayed. she watches for what feels like eternity as his lovely sunlight eyes go dim.
i loved you, are the last words she says to him.
i love you still, are the last words he says to anyone.
she burns the manor down. she destroys the beautiful portrait of them in the foyer. she pawns her wedding jewels to the first knave who'll buy them.
she makes a good life thieving, for a while. she flees all across the sword coast, picks up odd jobs-- larceny, reconnaissance, security-- anything that will put gold in the bartender's pocket. she changes her name. amma theylin is nobody, comes from no house, has had no past, and if she's lucky, no future either.
it's almost a relief when a devir cavalier recognizes her and takes her back to the underdark. she's sent to prison in ched nasad-- a formidable structure of calcified webs suspended over what feels like leagues of nothingness. no escaping there, unless you'd prefer falling to your death to whatever execution was lined up for you.
amma hopes the end comes soon. in one final act of defiance, she convinces another prisoner to carve out viconia's mark, leaving her entire back a raw, skinned, open wound. the wardens stop trying to keep it clean after the fourth time she removes the dressings and tries to garrotte someone with it.
alas, those in power are always bound to fuck everything up for everybody else, and when the stonefire hit, anyone still capable of running was doing that.
amma made her way to the surface again. this time-- this time, she would be free, really, truly free. no spider's eyes in the dark, no whispers in her mind. no one to rely on but herself. she does not regret killing her beloved golden bonnevance. she regrets thinking that she wouldn't have to.
now, all she wants is to do is make enough gold that she can drink herself to death. unfortunately, even that eludes her.
4 notes
·
View notes