Yorlorn Vaerixas

Yorlorn is a recently inducted member of the Arcane Knights, the male drow fighting force at the Deep Spire. As is the case with all males of House Vaerixas, he is a natural born sorcerer and works the magic of his heritage into his fighting style. His training also shores up his skill in martial combat, allowing him to fight fairly effectively even without the use of magic.
Yorlorn met some members of the Thaig Expedition when he was ordered to duel Leh'ct Arlathil by Matron Mother Ysri Vaerixas. Though Yorlorn lost this battle, it was a close fight that was fought honorably and resulted in friendship between himself and Leh'ct.
Table of Contents

Journey Into the Underdark Arc

Duel Against Leh'ct

Yorlorn's first impression of Leh'ct was not a positive one. He believed Leh'ct to be untrained, pointing to his scrawny limbs as proof. Yorlorn openly asked Matron Mother Ysri if he'd done something to upset her to be given the task of this duel that he viewed as trivial. She, in turn, asked if he questioned her judgment and Yorlorn could only reply that he did not. His objections brushed aside, he went outside with everyone else in the room and took his place as the battle commenced.
Yorlorn made the first move, casting illusionary magic to create copies of himself while simultaneously striking Leh'ct with a bolt of fire. Leh'ct countered by putting the number of combatants in his favor as he used his magic to summon a small troop of apes. Despite their strength, the apes struggled to do Yorlorn any harm as he protected himself with a magical shield. Even when they managed to breech this defense, they found themselves striking Yorlorn's illusions as much as the mage himself. One ape did manage to seize Yorlorn and hold him out over the edge of the Deep Spire, though Leh'ct had no intention of dropping & killing his opponent. Yorlorn escaped the ape's grasp by turning himself into mist before striking Leh'ct with yet another bolt of fire.
Seeking to keep his injuries tame, Leh'ct next turned himself into an ape and joined the ones he'd summoned. But still Yorlorn's defenses held, and he unleashed one of his most powerful spells, a blast of lightning that forced Leh'ct back to his normal form. Yorlorn's next strike disrupted Leh'ct's focus on his animal summoning spell, causing the apes to vanish. Growing more desperate, Leh'ct conjured a thundercloud that struck Yorlorn with a lightning blast of his own. Yorlorn counterattacked, once again breaking Leh'ct's concentration and causing his thundercloud to dissipate. Still seeing the thundercloud as his best option, Leh'ct moved to summon another one. And it was then that the deciding factor of the duel took place.
As Leh'ct conjured yet another cloud, his spell resonated with the faerzress filling the area and caused his magic to go wild. Along with his new thundercloud appearing, he was also surrounded by a protective aura of energy that enveloped him in a rainbow of light. It was this aura that protected Leh'ct from a near-fatal blow when Yorlorn once again let loose his lightning spell. His concentration was broken yet again, his 2nd thundercloud evaporating into nothing, and his magic all but spent, Leh'ct drew his daggers, challenging his opponent that they would "finish this like drow".
While Leh'ct had no particular meaning in mind behind that statement and was just trying to sound cool, Yorlorn took his words as meaning to finish the fight without magic. In the moment Yorlorn stopped his spellcasting and started to draw his saber, Leh'ct rushed forward and used his venom-coated daggers to fell Yorlorn with a powerful paralytic. Yorlorn awoke some time later in the male barracks with a priestess of Eilistraee treating the worst of his wounds and informing him the rest would be left to heal naturally as his penance for losing the duel.

A Friendly Visitor

The next day, Leh'ct came to the male barracks hoping to speak with Yorlorn and found him alone. The two spoke to each other in Elven, the only shared language between the pair of them. Leh'ct introduced himself while offering his hand to Yorlorn, which Yorlorn shook, before offering to use healing potions to help Yorlorn recover. Yorlorn was surprised at this generosity but informed Leh'ct he must allow his wounds to heal naturally as a result of his losing their duel. Yet Yorlorn bore no grudge for this, a fact that did not escape Leh'ct's attention.
At Leh'ct's inquiry, Yorlorn gave a vague description of his magical capabilities and the fact that all men of House Vaerixas possessed such magic. He also acknowledged that Leh'ct was an honorable warrior. Yorlorn was fully aware that Leh'ct could have commanded the apes he summoned to simply throw him off the Deep Spire early into their duel but chose not to. While Leh'ct said that the duel hadn't been described to him as a duel to the death, Yorlorn pointed out that killing had not been labeled as off-limits either. He told Leh'ct that his character had been in judgment during the duel just as much as his skill, and that he seemed to pass both these judgments with flying colors.
Leh'ct asked if Yorlorn was interested in accompanying him around the Deep Spire, though Yorlorn informed Leh'ct he had been ordered to remain on bedrest for the time being. When Leh'ct mentioned his intention to speak to Lord Varl, Yorlorn hinted he was aware of the orog leader's large ego and subtly warned Leh'ct about it. Leh'ct also offered to visit again later but Yorlorn advised against it; the headmaster in charge of training House Vaerixas' men was apparently sour over Yorlorn's loss. Yorlorn was not concerned about retribution, however, knowing that the headmaster wouldn't go against a decision made by Matron Mother Ysri.
Leh'ct was also curious about the weapons and poisons used by drow in the Underdark. Yorlorn informed him that the men of House Vaerixas fought with spiked chains rather than blades and that he only wore a sword because he was still an apprentice and had not earned his chain yet. He also told Leh'ct that they do not employ poisons the way drow who worship the Bitch Queen do. Leh'ct pointed out that paralytic poisons could be useful for defeating enemies without killing them, only for Yorlorn to retort that evil drow use such poisons to keep victims alive long enough to throw them onto altars and sacrifice them to Lolth. At this point, Leh'ct could see that Yorlorn was growing weary and decided to take his leave to let his new friend get some rest.

Graduation

After recovering from his injuries, Yorlorn was given his final academy exam. In the heat of battle, he proved himself by casting a spell of the 4th level and thus earned the right to carry the spiked chain and fully enter the Arcane Knights. Just as he was award this honor, Leh'ct happened to arrive and congratulated his friend on the achievement. Leh'ct also had many questions, chiefly concerning the Arcane Knights that Yorlorn had just been inducted into. Yorlorn explained that the Arcane Knights were the male military force of House Vaerixas, as well as the ones that covered most missions outside the Deep Spire since much of the settlement's defenses stood upon the Sword Dancers reputation.
While Yorlorn didn't know what his first assignment would be yet, he told Leh’ct that is was customary for new inductees to receive them one week after their graduation from the academy. Wanting to make the most of time with his friend before he was potentially shipped off somewhere, Leh’ct asked Yorlorn did for fun in his free time. Yorlorn mentioned several hobbies but seemed most interested in a game called latchkum. Though Leh’ct had never hard of it before, Yorlorn claimed it was a popular game among drow and immediately got Leh’ct's interest.
Yorlorn led Leh’ct to the barracks and introduced him to several other boys as they formed a circle to play latchkum. Leh’ct earned three stab wounds over the course of the game before Yorlorn was dealt five wounds and declared the winner, which his comrades considered a good sign of things to come for him. Once the game was over, Leh’ct used his magic to create goodberries that would heal the wounds on the players hands and was given him own latchkum ball, Yorlorn and the other drow encouraging him to play the game with his adventuring companions.