The Dark Minstrel

[Tekill]

Name: Malodia of House Sshamath (previously House Zau'afin)
Race: Drow
Age: 133
Gender: Female
Build: Slim but muscular
Eye color: Red
Hair color: Blonde
Gear and Clothing: Sword, Buckler, Mithril Breastplate, Silk Robes and one very flamboyant and impractical wide brim hat

Distinguishing marks: Her face is covered in very intricate and detailed designs that have been carved, branded and tattooed, into her skin. This makes her appearance quite sinister. Perhaps the reason she often keeps her face covered.
Distinguishing behavior: She was born a houseless commoner, and raised in servitude. To a discerning eye, this fact is evident in her behavior, mannerisms and in the way she speaks. For example, her use of undercommon is almost completely absent of any drommon. It indicates she used this language just as often or more so, than her own native tongue. Likely from regular association with the lessor races.

Place of birth: Ched Nasad, City of Shimmering Webs (Merchant Layer)
Current place of residence: Sshamath, City of Dark Weavings

Occupation: Bardic College- Dark Minstrel. Bae'qeshel Telphraezzar, The Whisperers of The Dark Queen

History: She spent her childhood on the mean streets of the middle layers of Ched Nasad. Her father was a master artisan crafter of musical instruments. He enjoyed some renown from his work and his craft earned him a decent living for awhile. That is, until he was murdered by his apprentice, Malodia's mother, who then took over the family business.
Unfortunately her mother was not half the crafter, her father was, causing the family business to suffer. Malodia at the time was too young to be much help in the business. Besides, she was more skilled at playing the instruments than she was crafting them. So much so, in fact, that even still a child, her performances drew attention from a certain noble house.
Said noble house murdered her mother and collected the families debts, which forced the surviving Malodia into servitude.
Malodia became the slave to a Bae'qeshel, a bard who sings about the terrific glory of The Spider Queen. This Dark Minstrel had coveted the young musicians talents, and decided to exploit them. Her new purpose in life, was to now help train chosen nobles in the dark musical arts.
Although, most of her work involved menial tasks, Malodia got to spend decades learning to embrace this eerily, powerful magical music. That was until one of the less talented noble students murdered their Master, framing Malodia for the crime.
She escaped punishment by faking her own death long enough to join the first caravan out of the city.
As fate would have it this caravan eventually lead her to the gates of Sshamath.
As free will and a dash of cunning would have it, before fleeing her home, she was able to steal the sheet music of her dead master; the ancient songs of the Bae'qeshel.

[Tekill]

As mentioned, Malodia was a Bae'Qeshel or otherwise referred to as a Dark Minstrel.

The Bae'Qeshel are to bards, what drow are to elves. A dark mirror to a Bardic College, this semi secret order, amplifies drow ambition, lust, and hatred through the form of art, lore and song. Unlike a stereotypical bard, who seeks prominence, prestige and fame, a Dark Minstrel prefers secrecy, subtlety and the glory of Lolth.
The whisperers of the Dark Queen; singing songs of fear, and inspiring chaos.

Have you ever been to a religious ritual sacrifice, and somehow watching the poor wretch, strapped to the alter getting his or her heart cut out somehow filled you with indescribable feelings of fury and then inevitably, extreme satisfaction?
You may have seen many sacrifices before, yet this particular one was extremely intense. Well, was there any singers performing at this particular sacrifice?

At that last orgy you attended, did you find yourself utterly losing yourself in an intoxicating lust fueled frenzy?
Not very like you to lose control in such a fashion, you say?
Was there musicians playing at said gathering?

You entered battle outnumbered two to one. The last thing you remember was hearing an enchanting keening war-chant. The next thing you know you are covered in blood and gore, surrounded in the slaughtered corpses of your enemies.
Victory is yours!
It was your skill and ferocity that won the day!
That and the guidance of Malla Lolth.

Now please, lower your voices and listen closely. For if you listen carefully you can hear the very essence of our Dark Mother in the melody of this next song.
Please proceed Malodia....

[Tekill]

The Dark Goblin-Catcher:

Malodia was in a tight spot when she first arrived at the gates of Sshamath. She only had what gear she could steal from her dead master and any coin she had, was used up, helping her flee Ched Nasad. Being without wealth and connections, made her more more of a refugee of the City of Dark Weaving's, then it did a Guest. Without coin to buy status and privilege, she would be no better off then a slave, forced into The Darkwoods, and made a target for predators and opportunists.

As an apprentice bard, she could likely make decent coin becoming a street busker in the market. But she was also a fugitive, and so needed to lay low, to stay unnoticed. Besides, in her possession, was the complete ancient songbook of The Bae'qeshel. There was no way she would allow herself to be a mere wretched street performer when she was so close to the true power, and status, that mastery of this music would bring.

She needed a place to practice her Art in secrecy and at the same time make enough coin to pay for the lifestyle of a Guest of Sshamath.
She became a Goblin-Catcher!
The tunnels outside of Sshamath were just filthy with the viscious little green beasties. Malodia could practice her songs, learning her art, while wandering the goblin filled tunnels. And the best part was, she had an audience just dying to hear her perform.
The pay was slightly substandard, but the more she practiced the more she got paid.

It should be pointed out that the melding of dark music with even darker magic by no means is an easy feat. Also important to note, is that everyone hates a critic, especially Malodia. Sadly, the goblins made up a little army of these angry violent critics.
One ungrateful little green guy went so far as to stab out his eardrums in an attempt to block her music. Very rude!
Although, if she had understood what the the little bugger was saying as she watched him repeatedly drive a dagger into the sides of his own head, she would likely have been actually flattered.
He was asking her how she could sound both so terrific and terrible at the same time.

Malodia did not understand goblin, but she got the hint. After she stabbed the thing through the heart with her rapier, she attempted the same verse again, but this time in a different key.

[Tekill]

It is hard to capture in words, the sound of any sort of music. And to try to describe the exotic music of a Drow Dark Minstrel, is going to be next to impossible. It is really a grave injustice to to even try. But, in order to understand Malodia, one would need to grasp even a faintest echo of her music.

At the root is the drow language, itself. Similar to elven in that it is a very rhythmic and melodic language. Both languages being ideal to use in the complex task of tapping into The Weave, via music. One defining difference, between the two languages, is that there is a selfish tone to the Drow tongue that is not present in Elvish tongue. There is a certain sharp edge of covetousness in the language of the drow. Where the elven languages is meant to express and give, drow is designed to take. This carries over in into drow music as well.

There a wide range in the style of music, amoung the ancient songs of the Bae'qeshel, depending on how she wants to take from those captivated by her sound. Tapping into The Weave allows her to alter the sound of the music with various sound effects, often giving the music a supernatural feel or impression on its listeners

To instill rage and fury a Bae'qeshel's song will be powerful, bold, and intense building in tempo until it reaches a war-cry. It might include elements of the abyssal language in order to invoke madness and terror. Guttural barks and roars to accompany the war cry.

Enchanting desire, or envy will entail a haunting, melodic keening songs of great sadness and bitterness. The Bae'qeshel will break the listeners heart first, then they use that pain to lash out at the lust, pride and arrogance festering within.

Malodia has decades and centuries of intense training ahead of her. But dedication to her performance and to The Weave, will still not be enough to make her a master. She will also need to better understand her audience.

Malodia- are you playing for, or against your audience?

[Tekill]

The following is a verse from a very popular bae'qeshel song. Keep in mind that it has been translated from drow to common.

By screaming for blood,
they get what they wish for.
The pain and suffering justified,
by killing a part of themselves.
The dead part creates a whole,
they have to fill it,
by screaming for blood.

Something is lost in the translation....
Sung in the drow tongue this verse reminds its listeners to give no quarter, show no mercy and be unrelenting. Destroying all your enemies will take sacrifice, but not only will you shed your weaknesses, you will become fulfilled and you will be provided all that you deserve.

Malodia understands both translations and would sooner face unspeakable harm then sing it any language other than drow.

Sing it again Malodia!

[Tekill]

Freedom.

Our Dark Minstrel of Lolth, Malodia, is only a young drow, with about a total of five decades of training in her Art. For a drow, five decades is a short period of time. But those particular five decades, consisted of Malodia being an indentured servant to a Master Bae'qeshel and were spent at the mercy of this fanatical psychotic Lolthite. Those five decades became an eternity, where training and torture were used interchangeably and nothing less than perfection was acceptable in the pursuit of bardic mastery.

She was literally a slave to the music. But ironically, Malodia has always felt free when playing her music. A world made up almost entirely of hatred had taught her the most beautiful and elegant art of the Bae'qeshel bardic college.

Drow can experience a sense of euphoric sadistic joy when they use whatever power they can leverage, to hurt and harm another being. But for a Dark Minstrel the feeling of joy is primarily rooted to actual artistic creative expression. True mastery comes when one can utterly free themselves in the moment of sincere creative expression. This is the true source of any bards power.

In the society of the drow that sort of joy is potentially blasphemous. Especially if it sets one on a path away from our Dark Mother.

The very thing that kept Malodia in bondage for fifty years was also the thing she loved. If you can believe a spider-kissing drow, is capable of such a thing.

It is fortunate then, that in Malodia's case, this love of creative expression is dedicated to the will of The Spider Queen.

Using the thing she loves, to serve hatred, Malodia earns Lolth's favor and at the same time is liberated from all that would try to oppress her.

Watch now as Malodia frees herself by weaponizing love!
She has turned weakness into strength -Lolth be praised!

Bravo! Encore!
What will you play for us next?

[Tekill]

Malodia had a dream.
She was in the middle of the Sshamaths main market, casually strumming her lyre, the melody of a new song slowly starting to form in her mind. Suddenly a strange, tiny, ink-black speck appeared between the feet of the merchant just across from where she was playing.
This speck was so unnaturally dark, that it appeared to absorb light around it.
She kept strumming, while watching this speck, as it now started to grow, quickly absorbing everything it came into contact with. Lost in her song, Malodia watched the entire City of Dark Weavings disappear into this void.
She too was consumed, in the end. Only her song remained.

She came out of her reverie, with that song stuck in her head. It was still only a rough draft, but the song was about the destruction of Sshamath.

Inspiration - The song grows inside of her now.

Sshamath - An oligarchy of pampered mages, merchants and heretics, whose only goals in life, being greed and self preservation, providing no purpose or value to the drow.

As far as Malodia is concerned, Sshamath might as well be a steaming pile of rothe dung, if it does nothing try to perfect, or at least, advance the drow way of life.

The old song was called, Stagnation. It is time for the new song.

[Tekill]

Total Annihilation of Sshamath

Sshamath was the only place to ever provide Malodia a safe refuge, opportunities to prosper and even the tiniest amount of respect.
Naturally this grave insult can only be repaid with the cities absolute destruction.

Malodia's reasons for seeing Sshamath utterly destroyed:
1) A dream told her so.
2) Spite. This is many drow's motivation for doing most things.
3) Jealousy. Also a great source of inspiration.
4) Weakness- The City of Dark Weaving's values wealth over strength. It's blasphemous so called liberation from The Dark Mother, is proof that the city is not strong enough to stay true to the way of the Drow. Also this city had seen Malodia at her weakest and most vulnerable. Unforgivable.

The ancient songs in the book of the Bae'qeshel, tell the story of a Drow destiny as masters of all the other races, and as well, Lolth in her rightful place as master of all the Gods. Many of these songs point out that achieving this near impossible goal will require the drow people to evolve into absolute perfection, as a race of mortals.

There are also songs that describe the fate of a fair number of cities that have fallen to Lolths Wrath. These cities were tested, found lacking, and so their taint of weakness was erased from existence.

So then, why has Sshamath not yet shared the same fate?!

Sshamath does not strive to follow the will of Lolth. It panders to the whims of wealthy lessor races instead of ruling over them. Aside from wizardry it does not strive to seek perfection from its citizens. Worst of all, it allows the weak to live and even occasionally thrive, only guiding the Drow further away from their true destiny.

Malodia will see Sshamath tested.
She will prove herself worthy....

[Tekill]

Malodia joined House Zau'afin.

It seems her hunts in the goblin tunnels had drawn the attention of the Lolthite House, who's domain the goblin tunnels were a part of. The priestesses of House Zau'afin were already quite familiar with the secretive Bae'qeshel Bardic College and unbeknownst to Malodia, were quite thrilled to find one of the Dark Minstrels, performing pretty much at their front door.

She was brought before Matron Mother Maim Zau'afin. The only thing Malodia knew of this Matron, was a rumor that Matron Main had recently sacrificed some of her own children in order to remain in Lolth favor.
All rumors of fanaticism aside, during this meeting, Malodia was actually afforded respect, something that was very unnatural to her. Fear turned to greed as she began to sense opportunity. As one of the last surviving Lolthite Houses of Sshamath, the skills of a Whisperer of Lolth would be most invaluable to the ambitions of this House.

But, her first impression of the House and its Matron Mother gave her cause for a bit of concern. Matron Mother Maim did not exhibit the usual behavior of the typical drow priestesses of Lolth. Malodia's past experience with such priestesses, consisted of extreme arrogance, and the expectation of total subservience by showing fealty to Malla Lolth and by extension, to them.
Matron Main, on the other hand, not only did not exhibit arrogance, nor demanded obedience, but instead actually exposed a different side, showing both compassion and empathy....Empathy?!

Matron Mother Maim, sympathized with Malodia's somewhat truthful story of her struggle to survive on the mean streets of Sshamath and how she came to be Goblin Catcher. Matron Maim, confirmed House Zau'afin's interest in the skills of the Bae'qeshel and stated that upon successful tests of loyalty to Lolth, Malodia will be invited to join the House.

Malodia's first impression was that either it was a trap and she was being toyed with, or that Matron Maim was weak and their house would be certain to be doomed, due to its weakness.

The next thing that happened was very unusual.
While resting in the guest quarters of House Zau'afin, she was absent mindlessly flipping through her ancient song book of the Bae'qeshel.
This was the same songbook she took from her old master upon fleeing Ched Nasad. A very large tomb containing an extensive collections of both the most ancient songs of Lolth and also songs, lyrics, poems, and prose from across the realms- some of which were quite blasphemous.
Lost in thought, trying to decipher and unpack that first meeting, a small scrap of parchment slipped out, onto her lap. On the scrap of parchment, was the following verse:

A priestess too consumed with hate
Will not see until its too late
Poisoned, her senses ebb
Recklessly walking webs
The Spider Queen sealed her fate

Malodia may very well be a mere plaything for the Priestesses, but she suspected the unusual behavior may have more to do with an insight that your usual every day fanatic is incapable of having.

Uncertain what would happen if she turned down the invitation, by accepting it, she would on the other hand, be instantly raised from a nameless commoner into basically a noble with access to real power.

She will definitely have to follow Matron Maims lead by not letting this new found power, blind her.

Malodia, you no longer have to hunt goblins, ever again!
Oh, you still want to....

[Tekill]

Malodia is sitting comfortably in a chair, in one of the bathing rooms of House Zau'fin. She is observing a human woman be prepared for sacrifice. Two Drow servants are there as well, busy bathing and clothing the sacrifice for the big moment.
Malodia and the human sacrifice are staring at each other. The human staring at the drow with defiance. The drow staring back at the human, mildly curious.

Most humans Malodia had ever come across before coming to Sshamath had been filthy dead eyed slaves. They reminded her of nothing more than weaker, pinker, versions of orcs. Pathetic creatures that were known to breed like kobolds, yet only lived a few paltry years.
Since moving to Sshamath, Malodia had seen human wizards and even human nobility. All of them strutting around the market district, like they owned the place, completely oblivious to their own wretchedness. A simple reminder that even though one can sprinkle a pile of rothe dung with diamond dust, it will still only be a pile of rothe dung. A pampered and preened human is still just a human.

But this human is different. That look in her eyes shows bravery. Is she simply clueless to the terrible fate that awaits her?
No, the look in her eyes is not the look of a fool. It is a look of someone that intends to die with honor and without fear. This is the first time Malodia is exposed to honor, and as mentioned, it is a curious thing.
Soon to be a gift to the Spiderqueen, this woman has made her peace.

Not acceptable.
Malodia snaps her fingers and the two servants grab the woman firmly by her arms.
Malodia begins playing her lyre. A haunting, suspenseful melody infused with her dark magic.
The humans suddenly tenses and that stoic sense of honor along with any remaining willpower, shatters like glass. The defiance in her eyes washes away in an instant. They widen with blind terror and the woman begins struggling then starts shrieking uncontrollably.

The sacrifice is now ready, the ritual may proceed. They lead her towards the chapel.

It seems the destruction of Sshamath might have to be put on hold for about a century or so. These humans might just be a more suitable audience.

Play her out, would you please Malodia?

[Tekill]

Requiem for a Sacrificed Soul - Live Undead

Cascaded darkness
Walls close in on me.
Nailed shut but my eyes still see.
Severe anguish as my body evolves.
The pain of life after death it resolves.

Emptiness in twilight's rebirth,
The faint sounds of shoveled earth.
Madness growing as your mind dissolves.
Merely secret in my dreams.

Eternal night near,
On the edge of madness the wounds are sheared.
Forms of hanging, flesh shredded carcass
No spared breath.

Imprisoned in a shell, ready to explode.
Dead soul,
Stone cold,
Out into the abyss.

Voices inside my head
Hold me under.
Voices oppress.
Like roaring thunder.

An echo bouncing inside my brain.
How much can I take of the pain,
The pain!

A war raging deep inside my head,
A split decision that will end with me dead.

You see the agony in my eyes,
Protruding aimless,
I think it's time to die.

A cannibal's desire feeds the fire
That burns in your head.

Intense pain eats away at your brain,
Negative plane pumping through your veins.

Death walks inside you,
Smell death around you,
Lolth's evil spell takes a soul,
Hear the sound of the bell
Counting off death tolls.

Laughing as you eternally rot,
Searching for human flesh
And life's blood.

Live Undead.

/Slayer (altered by Malodia of House Zau'afin)

[Tekill]

Malodia had that dream again.
The one where she is playing a song on her lyre, while the entire city of Sshamath around her is absorbed into a black abyss. In that dream a black speck appears at the start of her playing and begins growing quickly absorbing the entire city.
This time, instead of growing outwards, the blackness appears by surrounding the city first and then begins absorbs everything from the outside moving inwards.

Malodia upon seeing the approaching abyss, from her vantage point atop of the roof of the temple of Lolth, begins playing the same song as from her first dream.
The darkness sweeps through the city and surrounds the temple, where it begins slowing down and then suddenly stops. Standing on a tiny island of reality, surrounded by pure nothingness, Malodia playing her heart out, assumes the supreme unholy power of Malla Lolth stored in the temple is what is keeping this engulfing blackness, at bay.
That is when Malodia's song comes to its natural conclusion and in the very next moment, blackness sweeps over her.

Malodia wakes up.

She looks around seeing the world is restored and she finds herself in her private quarters at the House Zau'afin compound. The next thing she notices is her new undead minion, guarding the entrance to her private chambers. The undead skeletal remains of a human sacrifice was both a reward and a sign of her favor with Lolth. It stands there now, regarding her with vacant empty eye sockets, mindlessly waiting for eternity, to serve its master.

Staring back at her minion, she tries and fails to remember the song from her dream. Instead, she recalled a lesson her master had once taught her:
"Real power is achieved through your audience. Knowing your audience is knowing when and where your music is to be used to either create or prevent oblivion. To control this power you need to first know true freedom. If you are not free you will never learn control, you will never win your audience and hence never will know the power of true mastery. You Malodia, will never be a Master."

Troubled by both the dream and this memory, Malodia thought for a moment that her skeletal minion was giving her that same look of fearless defiance it had given her when it was still a living being.

Malodia, have you lost it?!
Do you expect the dead to tell you what song will win your audience?

[Tekill]

Nothing but the music.

Malodia's reverie was now getting interrupted every cycle by some variation of the dream. The dream where the world gets absorbed into oblivion while she plays a particular song. Even stranger, the dream would now interrupt her reverie only after the same particular memory was manifested. The memory was the one of her old master taunting her that she would never master her music because she would never know true freedom. Each cycle, she would enter her reverie which brought this same memory of her masters taunt, and ending with his evil laughter. Then the reverie itself would end with the laughter slowly being drowned out by the song and the start of the dream.
The world then fades to blackness waking Malodia up, who desperately tries to grasp the fading essence of the song.

This went on cycle after cycle.
Malodia now utterly obsessed with the song spends most of her waking hours in a daze trying to remember and piece it together. In fact, the only thing that saved her from total insanity was that every cycle, after the dream ended, she would wake knowing and understanding the song a tiny bit more than she did the previous cycle. Eventually, the time came when she woke up remembering enough of the song from her dream, to be able to search for it in her ancient songbook of the Bae'qeshel.

The songbook opened up to the correct song, immediately. It was actually a song she had recalled looking upon over a couple fortnights previous. It was an ancient song, that only the most advanced and accomplished Dark Minstrels have ever learned. At that time she had decided the song had been too advanced for her and so she decided to not attempt to learn it.

The song now seemed known to her.
And, without a moments contemplation of the circumstance regarding how this complex song was suddenly familiar to her, she began to practice it. The experience was satisfying beyond words could describe.

The intrusive dream of oblivion has stopped with the song now being known.
But that memory of her master keeps on resurfacing during her reverie, reminding her, she is no master...but also:

The audience is power and to control this power you need to be free.

You are free, aren't you Malodia?
That is, you could choose not to learn the next song, right?

[Tekill]

The Bae'qeshel on the run.

Hard work, tenacity, ambition and cunning has allowed Malodia to:
Escape a life of indebted servitude.
Find refuge in a new city.
Prosper both in wealth and power.
Find a position of prominence in a noble house.
Come into possession of a songbook with unique properties.
Earn favor with The Dark Mother.

Hark work.
Blood, sweat and tears.
Begging, borrowing, lying, stealing, cheating, killing.
But there was also something else.
A certain something that aids Malodia in beating the odds. An unknown factor or force lifting her up when so many others, sank like stones. But what was it?
Luck, Destiny, Lolths will...Free will?

There it is again – Free will, or more specifically, Freedom.

Well whatever it is, it is sad to say, it has recently led Malodia down a dark turn.

It all started not long ago when Malodia, decided to exercise a bit of this oh so important freedom.

She was at a public meeting in Sshamath. And at this meeting she misbehaved by speaking out of turn- a single heckle, about a need to raid the surface more often. This little outburst caused her to be summarily ejected from the meeting. Malodia thought it all a fun little jest in defiance of the bureaucratic nincompoops in charge of the city.

Unfortunately the priestesses of her house were not as amused.
Suddenly vanished was the sisterly/motherly empathy previously demonstrated. Upon returning to the Zau'afin compound, with a simple wave of her hand, the Matron of House Zau'afin ordered Malodia to be whipped on the spot. Adding insult to injury the priestesses then ordered a commoner do it – a male house guard.
A male commoner was ordered to whip Malodia....
....as though she were a common slave.

The guard was then ordered to whip Malodia out of the sights of the priestesses. So, the moment they were alone Malodia sang a song to the guard.....

She then quickly packed some belongings and made herself scarce. She has not since returned to House Zau'afin but has been spotted in and around Sshamath. She was last overheard negotiating with merchants near Gloura's for supplies for a trip to the potentially dangerous war-zone of old Rockrun.

Oh, poor poor Malodia. Such a shame that after all your hard work and efforts, it seems your new masters are looking a lot like your old masters.

[Tekill]

Malodia is camped at the outpost of Undrek Naudel, while on mission to monitor the war in Rockrun. Malodia sits in a most undignified manner, in the middle of the outpost, her back against a cavern wall, legs crossed. Her eyes are closed and both hands clutch her songbook, located in her lap.

Malodia is lost.

Normally she would seek direction by praying to The Dark Mother. But this time the shame of her failures has kept her from turning to her deity, for fear her show of weakness would bring disfavor. Instead, she has turned to the ancient tome held firmly in her grasp. This time, she exposes the soft underbelly of her weaknesses by asking the Ancient Songbook of the Bae'queshel, why after all her hard work, does she still squirm under the thumbs of others.

She then opens the book to a random spot and begins reading:

Once upon a time in the Abyss there was a Mane.
This Mane, like all Manes, are the result of the Abyss's taint and corruption upon the souls of particularly nasty mortals. This Mane, was a three foot tall, lumpy, rancid, bloated thing covered in oozing maggot infested sores.
The Mane was aimlessly shambling around in circles, madly hissing, growling and snapping at the air around it.
Around this time, a mighty Balor, circling high in the air above, spotted the Mane and decided the Mane would make a tasty morsel. The Balor landed in front of the Mane, picked it up and was just about to devour it when, the Mane spoke:
“Why?”
The Balor sneered. But there was a glint of curiosity, mixed in with its hateful glare.
The Balor dropped the Mane and motioned to it to follow. The balor then climbed to the top of a nearby ridge, the Mane in tow.
The other side of the ridge overlooked a steep incline, at the bottom of which, was the scene of a great and legendary battle between the Baatezu and Tanar'ri. From this vantage point the Balor and the Mane watched a vast ocean of demons and devils slaughtering each other as the devils tried to get a foothold in The Abyss, against its demon defenders. Wave after wave of demons crashed against the tight ranks of the invading devils, neither pushing them back nor allowing them to advance.

“Find your answer on the other side of that battlefield”, the Balor stated flatly before knocking the Mane over the ridge and down the incline, into the battle below.

The Mane rolled down the cliff side, landing at the very back of the defending demon army. Without hesitation it picked itself up of the ground an charged into the melee, where it was promptly trampled to death, by its fellow demons.
The next day, finding itself alive again after having reformed, the Mane immediately charged into the battle. Instead of getting trampled, it tripped up a demon behind him. That demon, without a second thought, lopped off the Manes head.
Each day the Mane reformed and entered the battle eager for carnage. And each day it died before it could even make it to the front lines. Days turned into weeks, weeks into years as the Mane inched its way through the ranks of its deadly fellow demons. Eventually the day came when the mane finally made it to the front lines, where upon, it found itself impaled on the spears of a wall of Bearded Devils.

The next day when it reformed, it was no longer a Mane, but a powerful Hezrou.

The Hezrou, had grown familiar with the randomness of the attack patterns of the demon hoard and so started taking control of squads of lesser demons. These squads threw themselves at the much more organized devil forces, only to be totally slaughtered in the process.
Day after day, week after week, year after year, the Hezrou formed a squad, attacked and then was again defeated, only to start over again. The Hezrou had learned by this time to avoid being destroyed through many, many years of trial an error. The Hezrou would sacrifice his minion, but would itself, survive to fight the next day. Slowly, over time, the Hezrou made some gains by trying a new and different attack each day. The day finally came where the Hezrou found a flaw in the Devils defense and was able to drive a wedge in the Devil's front lines. The Demon horde took advantage of the wedge dividing the attacking army into two. The Hezrou at the tip of the spear, was able to fight its way through the enemy lines while the Devils were distracted trying to regroup.

Now safely on the other side of the battle, wiping gore off of itself and checking for injury, the Hezrou realized that during that last battle, it had changed its entire form once again, this time mutating into a Marilith.
The Marilith, in a state of shock at finding herself in her new body, was still able to notice at the last second, a flicker of shadow, quickly approaching. On pure instict, and quick reflexes, she dove out of the way avoiding a mortal blow from the Balor.

The Balor landed, turned to the Marilith with murder in its eyes, and spoke three words: “Hate and Chaos.”

Wait wait wait....
Before you turn the page, it should be mentioned that since you already live and breath the moral of this story, how can it be the answer you seek?
Malodia, you ask a question for an answer you already know.