Bone Claw

"In the black caverns, even the dark hearted drow have their horror stories. Some who know little of their culture joke about flowers and puppies being the subject of their nightmares. Others muse that it must be the endless open air of the surface and bright sun that haunt them.

For some of the drow, this is indeed truth. But for ALL of the drow, there lives in the shadowy recesses of their minds the most nightmarish of nightmares, the blackest of souls and most foul of practioners.

To the young drow who would think to wander from their beds at night or even leave their window open when the sun stone set, this shadow presence was known as Bone Claw. A high priestess gone rogue who would snatch children from their homes and use them in her many worshiping spells and incantations. She would rip out their innards while they watched and feed them back to them with a pinch of sugar and a dash of dead man's dust. She would wring them by their toes from high ceilings and let spiders and magots take their turn dining on their flesh. She would munch on their fingers and toes with a warm cup of fresh squeezed blood from their exposed hearts. And no matter the fact that their brain was slowly pulled out their nostrils, they were still alive and conscious to feel the soul shattering pain. For the Bone Claw was a necromancer, and played with the dead as a cat plays with a mouse.

To those higher in the society, those of the first and second house, and the highest teres of Breagan D'aerthe, Bone Claw was no myth made to scare children. She was a living and breathing drowess, though one so dark and unpredictable that many wondered if she had come from their ancestors at all. Her name was Nileethrae Arkenrret; Corpse Poison. None could say how old she was, or where she came from. But all feared her, for she aligned with no house or drow. She played her games only for Lolth, the soothsayer of chaos. One might manage to persuade her to play on their team for a while, but it was always at a high cost and a great risk.

Even Jarlaxle, leader of the renegades, was extremely wary if not haunted by Nileethrae. He had dabbled in her fancies for a while, and she was the only female that had nearly caused him to give up his promiscuous life in favor of solitary hiding. He knew a little more than most, enough to stay in her graces. But he also knew that could change very easily, with nothing he could do about it.

Nileethrae is strongly rumored to be unsound of mind, though one would be wary to say so above a whisper. If her shaved head, behavior and outrageously revealing outfits weren't enough to keep her image fixed in your nightmares, the lady also proudly boasts a fleshless left hand. It is said she traded her skin on that hand to better practice her art of necromancy; and she will always use this hand to gesture and greet those with enough balls to stand in her presence. It is the thing that gave her the nickname Bone Claw. Though certifiably insane and incredibly dangerous, Nileethrae is also the most powerful drow and arguably the most powerful creature on the planet. Now if only she could be convinced to use those powers . . . . "

Its been a long time since I posted and was skimming through deviantart looking at drow pictures. Inspired me to draw Nileethrae again, since I love her evil and dark ways in that weird twisted sense that I do. I did a few really bad doodles of drow children before I started a very anatomically correct bone hand. Built her around it. About an hour start to finish. Maybe a bit more. Eventually I want to add some color, make the magic green, her eyes red, and maybe the bg black. But for now, here's my update to keep my profile happy. . . .

& have permission to post this picture in their galleries.