K’yorl Arlathil

K’yorl Arlathil is the father of Leh'ct Arlathil and in-all-but-name husband of Sabrae Vaerixas, as well as the senior surviving member of House Arlathil. His house is known for their natural affinity for druidic magic and worship of Eilistraee, the Dark Dancer, over the more traditional drow choice of Lolth, the Spider Queen. This makes him and his relatives equal parts famous among Eilistraee's worshippers and infamous among Lolth's.
Table of Contents

Early History

Flight from Vlyn'darastyl

House Arlathil was long allied with House Vaerixas, the pair being the only two houses in the drow city of Vlyn'darastyl to worship Eilistraee, the Dark Dancer. This, unfortunately, meant that when the actions of matron mother Ysri Vaerixas united the Lolth-loyal houses against House Vaerixas, so to did they turn against House Arlathil.
K’yorl and his relatives fought their way out of the against an enemy that outnumbered them greatly. It came at a bloody cost with more than half their number killed, and likely would have been the end of them all had Sabrae Vaerixas not been there to lead the evacuation. Though they escaped Vlyn'darastyl, they did so apart from House Vaerixas and had no idea what fate had befallen their allies. With no other choice, the surviving Arlathils and what few Sword Dancers accompanied them pushed on until they lost their pursuers and found a new, (relatively) safe place where they could rebuild.

New Home, New Family

K’yorl and his surviving relatives used their druidic magic to shape the stone around them, constructing buildings that would form a new village that they and the members of House Vaerixas with them could call home. It was a quiet, peaceful life in the decades that followed, the drow laying low to avoid the ever searching eyes of Lolth's minions. It was in this time that romance began to bloom alongside the plants K’yorl cared for as he fell in love with Sabrae Vaerixas, and she with him.
It was not long before the two were married in all but name, lacking a priestess of Eilistraee among their number to perform a ceremony. They became the de facto leaders of their village, many others looking to them for guidance. And to each other, they were something much more dear. Dear enough that one day, Sabrae found herself with child. The first child to be born since their group had fled Vlyn'darastyl, who K'yorl and Sabrae christened Leh'ct.

Broken Peace

But this peace was not to last. Mere days after Leh'ct's birth, the village was found by a raiding party led Kalisna Cull'thaine. The villagers were outnumbered by Lolth-worshipping drow and demons alike and soon slaughtered despite the valiant effort they put up in the city's defense. K'yorl fought valiantly, calling upon the full force of his druidic magic to protect his friends, family, and home. But against such odds, even his greatest efforts were not enough and he was captured. Though he expected to be dragged back to Vlyn'darastyl and thrown upon an altar to Lolth, Kalisna was far too impatient for that and unwilling to risk any prisoners escaping on the journey back.
Though spared a guaranteed ticket to the Demonweb Pits, the fate Kalisna prepared for K'yorl and Sabrae was just as cruel. She stabbed each of them with a dagger covered in a painful, slow acting poison that would kill them over the course of a full day. Kalisna told them that they would not only die in physical pain, but in mental anguish knowing that their child would soon follow as it either starved to death or was set upon by a hungry predator that heard its infant cries. With the last of his strength, K'yorl leapt back up to try and strike at the wicked priestess. In his weakened state, her guards easily intercepted him and knocked the druid unconscious.

Hope Lives On

But hope was not yet lost. In the years the village had been here, they occasionally had a visitor. A wandering woman, a good-hearted medusa named Karai. Though many villagers had been skeptical of Karai at first, it was Sabrae who had seen the good in her and allowed her to earn a place of trust and friendship within the community. Nearly a full day after the village fell, Karai arrived to find the wounded K'yorl and Sabrae alongside the crying Leh'ct. The dying drow told Karai what had happened and Sabrae mustered enough strength to grab hold of her friend, forcing Karai to swear she would care for baby Leh'ct.
Karai agreed to this, and also stated she would do what she could to save K'yorl and Sabrae as well. With no way to find and administer an antidote now, Karai removed the blindfold she always wore and looked her friends in the eyes. They thanked her as the petrification slowly took them, locking K'yorl and his lover into a stasis of stone until such time an antidote for the poison in their veins could be recovered from the priestesses of Lolth. After taking Leh'ct to Haven City and leaving him safely at an orphanarium, Karai returned to the ruined village and moved her petrified friends to her home for better safekeeping.