"I know what you're worried about," Tyche continued to persuade, "but you must make a decision quickly now! You still need time to reorganize the church and preserve as much strength as possible."
Waukeen also knew the dreadful consequences of hesitating at this moment. Without much thought, she severed some of her faith connections.
Seeing the relieved expression on Waukeen's face, Tyche smiled, "Your decisiveness has won you an opportunity, and you will make use of it."
On the palm of her outstretched hand, a golden glow caught Waukeen's full attention. The portfolio of commerce stirred, yearning for this thread of divinity.
"How can commerce gain trust without the power of contracts? If you obtain the divinity of contracts, no one will be able to challenge your dominant position in the field of commerce," Tyche said, her words highly tempting to Waukeen. Waukeen was well aware that after fusing with the divinity of contracts, she would have the potential to advance further! However, with astonishing willpower, she suppressed her desire for the divinity of contracts. After the ancient sun god Amaunator's fall, the domain of law was completely lost.
That Tyche could present the divinity of contracts, which belonged to the domain of law, was enough to make Waukeen wary.
"So, what do you expect me to pay for this?" Waukeen's eyes showed that reason was once again in the driver's seat, "I am eager to obtain it, but I will not take unnecessary risks for it."
"It's simple," Tyche extended the divinity of contracts, "As long as you can swear an oath by the River Styx and form a solid alliance with us, that will be enough."
The Goddess of Magic, Mystryl, appeared quietly, "If it involves a war at the level of deities of moderate power, you can even stand aside."
"Isn't our offer very favorable?" Tyche and Mystryl stood side by side, waiting for Waukeen to make her choice.
And Waukeen did not disappoint the two goddesses. The fleeting waves of the River Styx witnessed the oath, and the alliance of the three goddesses was thus established.
The title of the Goddess of Magic, Mystryl, was still very useful. Waukeen, in a difficult situation, needed an influential ally to protect herself in the upcoming turmoil; for now, Mystryl was the best choice, at least stronger than the Goddess of Love, Sune!
With the oath of the River Styx as a constraint, the churches of the three goddesses could cooperate more closely.
The key figures of the various churches that received the divine edicts gathered together. Mystryl could be said to have used all her strength. The appearance of the Archmage Elminster and the Seven Sisters of the Silver Hand immediately stabilized the situation! Coupled with the wealth of Waukeen's church and the good reputation of the Church of Mercy, this force was enough to make any power take notice.
The elects who were granted divinity began to plan their next actions. One of the Seven Sisters of the Silver Hand, the drow mage Lu Kun, took the initiative to approach the Pope of the Church of Mercy. Lu Kun came seeking cooperation. Tyche had held the portfolio of the Underdark for quite some time, and although this portfolio was not highly valued by Tyche, the good drows represented by Lu Kun would not miss any chance to gain an ally.
As a joint elect of Mystryl and Eilistraee, Lu Kun was undoubtedly the best candidate to act as a bridge between the Underdark and the faction of good!
Eilistraee, a weak deity of chaotic good, was a drow goddess of moonlight, dance, beauty, swordsmanship, hunting, and singing. She was the daughter of Corellon Larethian, the elven chief god, and Eilistraee's fate goddess, Aerdrie Faenya, and also the sister of Vhaeraun.
Because she had inadvertently participated in Aerdrie Faenya's rebellion against the elven gods, she was exiled along with her mother and brother. Although her father, Corellon, pardoned her unintentional mistake, Eilistraee insisted on being exiled herself—because she foresaw that these dark elves needed a lighthouse to guide them back to goodness.
Aerdrie Faenya was now the chief drow goddess, Lolth, and together with Vhaeraun, who had become the god of thievery among the drows, and their grandson, the god of drow warriors, Selvetarm, they formed the original drow pantheon.
How the gentle and elegant elven goddess had become the terrifying figure she was now, Tyche did not know, but according to Shar, Lolth was the scapegoat thrown out by Corellon Larethian.
The new elven goddess, Angharradh, was created by the elven moon goddess, Sehanine Moonbow, the winged elf goddess, Aerdrielle, and the elven goddess of love, Sasharel, each contributing a part of their divinity. She governed the portfolios of spring, fertility, planting, birth, defense, and wisdom, and like Corellon, she was also a deity of great power.
"Lady Tyche, thank you for being willing to tolerate my followers," Eilistraee said with great seriousness, "I would like to invite you to join me in opposing the Spider Queen, Lolth, and become the second goddess to guide the drows towards the light."
The reputation of the drows was extremely bad, even worse than that of orcs and gray dwarves. It was almost impossible to find any force on the Material Plane willing to take them in.
Under the rule of the Spider Queen, Lolth, the drows fell into an era of internal strife, stabbing each other in the back. To vie for power and the Spider Queen's favor, daughters killed mothers, and sisters betrayed sisters; such scenes were constantly played out, and Lolth even encouraged her followers to do so, rewarding those who sacrificed their kin as offerings.
In drow families, females held the dominant position, and males were mere appendages. The leaders of the family—the matron mother and the priestess, who had the second-highest authority—were all female drows, while male drows could only become warriors and thieves; furthermore, certain roles were exclusively for females, and even resisting was a sin for males.
"Striking down the Spider Queen is my duty. You don't need to bind me with faith. I am sincerely helping you."
The reputation of the drow was already beyond redemption. Eilistraee's proposal, besides thanking Tyche for her help, also aimed to use the influence of the Goddess of Mercy to whitewash the drow.
Tyche merely wanted to drag the elven pantheon into the fray. The elven chief god, Corellon, was one of the first outsiders to arrive in the Faerûn world after Iou. Being able to preserve himself under Iou's rule, Tyche did not dare to underestimate him.
"Regardless of whether Lolth sees me as an enemy, I will support your actions."
Having said this, Eilistraee no longer insisted and hurriedly mobilized her followers to leave the Underdark.
Deepwater City and Neverwinter were not too far from the Underdark, but the nearby Luskan was a bit troublesome. The Red Wizards entrenched in Luskan and Ximbra of the Seven Sisters of the Silver Hand were mortal enemies. Countless Red Wizards had fallen at Ximbra's hands, earning her the title of the Storm Queen.
The Pope of the Church of Mercy, the legendary priestess Gwendolyn, personally took charge, standing with Ximbra to block the Red Wizards.
This nearly ninety-year-old female pope was the girl who had taken Tyche to the Ilmater temple back then. The kind-hearted Gwendolyn joined the Church of Mercy as soon as the orphanage was established. With Tyche's special care, Gwendolyn quickly embarked on the path of priesthood.
The belief in protecting the weak led Gwendolyn all the way to the pinnacle and made her an elect, which pleased Tyche greatly. The idea that the good should be rewarded was what Tyche hoped to see.
"Meg, you lead the priests to set up the altar and remember to open a passage to the elemental plane of water! Helena, tally the supplies sent by the followers of the Goddess Waukeen. Keep enough for three thousand people for ten days and do not open the rest. Let the followers of the Goddess Eilistraee take them away!"
Gwendolyn assigned tasks to the bishops in an orderly manner, "Arika, how long until the Knights of the Merciful Hand are fully assembled?"
"Captain Anton sent word not long ago that they have set out from Deepwater City and are expected to join us in two days," the female bishop immediately replied.
"Frick, you and Meg will allocate some of the priests from the priestly order who specialize in the field of health. The knights will arrive in two days, and I need you to be ready with the medical work before they arrive!"
"Tucker, prepare the prayer ceremony. As soon as Meg's altar is completed, we will start praying. With the power of the altar, we can activate the protective domain and rest assured. Otherwise, you will have to keep watch!"
The camp, bustling with activity, was lit up with light. Gwendolyn led a small team to patrol. The dark-skinned drows emerged from the cave entrance as the sun set. Their long underground life made their eyes unable to directly face too bright a light source; the sun's brilliance would burn their eyes.
"Followers of the Goddess Eilistraee?" Gwendolyn called out to the hesitant drows, "Sacred ones with the rank of priest can use the detect magic spell on us. We are servants of the Goddess of Mercy."
The blue magical glow reassured both sides. Seeing the exhausted drows, Gwendolyn said to the leading female priest, "All these unopened boxes are for you. To save space, the bread has been flattened. Additionally, you can go to the altar to get water. The goddess has decreed that you can place Eilistraee's holy symbol on the altar."
The female priest, holding her still-bleeding wound, thanked softly and called her companions in the drow language to open the boxes and share the food.
The drows discussed for a moment and only opened one box to start their meal. Dried meat and bread were distributed to every drow. The young male drows used broken Common to borrow containers from the priests guarding the altar, filled them with water, drank it all at once, and then passed the container to their companions before returning to the opened box to take their share of the food.
"Are you full? You still have a long way to go," Gwendolyn asked the female priest softly, "No need to save. Tomorrow, a caravan will deliver a batch of supplies, and there will be more than enough food."
The female priest thought for a moment and turned to call her companions to open another box.
There were less than three hundred drows who escaped the Underdark, over half of whom were minors. Although elves lived much longer than humans, the childlike stature of these children and teenagers still evoked sympathy from the Mercy priests.
On the altar, the holy symbol engraved with lilies glowed faintly, and a hemispherical protective barrier unfolded, allowing both humans and drows to sleep soundly.
The next morning, the caravan arrived at its destination under the protection of the priests. After unloading the goods, the drows left with the caravan. The injured had received effective treatment and were sound asleep in the carriages, while the remaining drows took over the priests' work to protect the caravan's safe departure.
The Red Wizards also launched a probing attack, which Gwendolyn easily repelled.
When Lu Kun teleported to the camp, Gwendolyn had already dealt with the bodies of the Red Wizards; the ignited flames purified everything. To prevent the Red Wizards from using corpse explosion and necromancy, cremation was the most effortless method.
Gwendolyn asked, "How is it? What's the situation in Deepwater City?"
"I joined forces with Ximbra to take down a legendary mage, but I suspect he transferred his soul to a backup body before dying."
Legendary mages had countless life-saving tricks. Besides the relatively common cloning technique to replicate their bodies, copying memories was also easy for them. After a brief period of weakness, the reborn legendary mage would regain his strength before long.
However, Lu Kun's face did not show the relief one might expect. She said solemnly, "The Red Wizards won't cause any trouble in the short term; their resistance can be ignored. But the bad news is that the Spider Queen, Lolth, is about to ascend to a deity of great power. Lady Eilistraee really doesn't have much time left."
As she spoke, sweat appeared on the forehead of this double elect, "We need to speed up! The Spider Queen's priests are rampantly hunting down the goddess's followers, preparing to use their blood as a sacrifice in a bloody festival to please the Spider Queen."
Gwendolyn was also shocked by this news for a moment, then she began to consider whether to retreat to Deepwater City and abandon this operation. Going up against a deity of great power required careful consideration of the consequences. With Lolth's twisted and vengeful nature, after dealing with Eilistraee, it would be Tyche's turn.
The holy symbol of lilies on the altar shone brightly, dispelling the hesitation in Gwendolyn's heart.
Tyche had no intention of retreating. If Lolth wanted to make an example of her, she had chosen the wrong person. She just didn't want to waste time on the Spider Queen. But if the Spider Queen came looking for trouble herself, Tyche wouldn't mind clipping her claws and giving her an unforgettable lesson.