It was a crowded day at the Beheaded Fiend Inn, as usual. The place was always busy, but it never seemed filled to capacity. If someone arrived, there always was a free table in the common room and a bed for them to rest. No-one really knew how the proprietor, Tandra Fiendslayer, managed this, but even in the common room it was obvious that the complex had to be larger than the front it presented to the street. Today was one of the few days, when the inn was filled to the limit of its capacity.
The door opened again. The silhouette of a woman was visible in the contrast of light from within and dark outside. Then the door closed behind her and she calmly moved through the inn with secure sinuous steps. The only visible weapon she carried was a staff. She wore a cunningly cut dress that hid and hinted at everything. Tandra had never seen any other adventurer actually wearing a skirt. She regarded the stranger intently. The woman made every effort to appear like a harm- and clueless prime, but there was something about her movement, as though she was rooted in the ground and at the same time had the grace of a dancer. The stranger had to be a warrior. She did not spent spent any second glance on the alien creatures either, the way a prime would.
There was not a millimetre of flesh too much visible on the female. Every inch of her appearance was calculate to make her appear harmless, too harmless to make any sense, especially walking alone. Tandra was not the only one, who noticed the steel beneath the obvious. A small group of baatezu tried to sink even deeper into their dark corner of the inn to escape the notice of the newcomer. Fear was written into the expressions. The mortal guests where wise enough to keep their fingers where they belonged.
Most of them at least. One hand hit her staff instead of her flesh, but another made it right to her dress. She turned around and her eyes should have made a fiend shiver, but this man just looked at her. "Why don't you just say that you want a duel?", she asked. He nodded and the female looked into the room. Tandra pointed at the circle in the centre of the common room and both nodded. The female looked over the inn and asked: "I had to leave my last sword in the heart of a fiend, can anyone lend me a blade?" A few people chuckled and a few shook their head. Tandra reached for her own sword and handed it to the stranger, handle first.
"You cannot use that killer blade, it is unfair." Tandra shook her head and said: "It is only like that in my hand and only when I sing. In her hand its just another somewhat magical sword." There was a moment of puzzlement on the stranger's face that no-one except Tandra seemed to notice. The female let the sword swing lazily and nodded in appreciation. "Perfect balance", she said. "Exactly what I need." The man was at the other end of the circle and asked: "May I ask for your name? I want to know, whom I humiliate before doing so." The stranger just smiled and stepped into the circle without saying a word.
The man walked into the circle too. He attacked his opponent without thinking and met cold steel. Before he had time to recover from his surprise he felt himself being pushed back. The rosy blade seemed to come alive in the stranger's hand. It moved like a hissing serpent of steel, seemingly bending and twisting to reach its target and the man found himself surrounded by a greedy tongue of steel that could sink into his flesh any moment. He could feel its thirst for blood, for his blood.
Everyone stared at the stranger. Even Tandra had raised an eyebrow as she saw the female fight. She knew that the stranger would match her strike for strike if they fought. Never had she seen anyone fight like that in all her live. The man thought that his opponent had made a mistake, but he only met empty air, while something solid hit his belly and left a deep, painful and bloody cut. He looked at her in amazement and shocked surprise. The sword hovered in front of his throat, calmly held in check by a female who had not even begun to sweat. Damn, this was almost as unfair as fighting Tandra Fiendslayer herself.
He collapsed to the floor and stared at her. Like a rosy lightening bolt the sword struck the ground right beside his throat. "I did not come here to spill blood, so you may live." There was the strength of a command in her voice. Energy surged through the man's body and he convulsed violently once. When he lay still, the wound was gone. He crept out of the circle, feeling too weak to do anything else. The female spun the sword around in that lazy way, that was at the same time provoking. "Anyone else looking for trouble?", she asked. The rest of the guests where wise enough to be silent.
"If anyone still cares, my name is Gillian el'Irand", she said. A wave of murmur went through the crowd. A smile as wide as anyone had ever seen almost split Tandra's face into half. Gillian walked over to the bar and carefully put the blade there. "Your Jivatma is quite bloodthirsty", she said. "Feels like the spirit of a tanar'ri." Tandra nodded and looked at her in puzzlement. Gillian said: "There is an An'Kaidin mark at the crosspiece here. Seems those fools at Kai'Ti Bluth still have a problem accepting woman." The female smiled at Tandra. "Pleased to meet you", the fiendslayer said. "I always wanted to see you in person and I see that the legends are not exaggerated."
Tandra pointed at an empty table nearby and said: "I will join you in a minute, I have a few things to do." Gillian nodded and said: "Do not forget to bring your companions along." Tandra nodded and disappeared into the kitchen to clear several things with the personnel of the Fiendinn. She reappeared and waved her companions to follow her. Elandra settled down, followed by Tandra and the unusually sober dwarf. Last the minotaur settled cross-legged on the floor and nodded in Gillian's direction, a smile playing on her lips. After a few heartbeats she exclaimed: "Mireluki" A moment later the two where lying in each others arms.
"Don't crush me", Gillian said. The minotaur loosened his hug and finally let her go. "It is good to see you again, sister", Mir'Djanas said. "Wait", Tandra said. "She is your sister?" The giant nodded and looked at his friend. "I thought I told you so sometime. I think before we met the others." Slowly the fiendslayer nodded and looked at Gillian again. "You aren't as crazy as he is?", Tandra asked. The minotaur said: "She is even crazier than me, but in another way." Gillian chuckled and said: "I still do silly things all the time and get involved in weird adventures even though I should know better by now."
"We will talk in private", she told the minotaur. Mir'Djanas nodded and said: "Yes, my princess." Elandra stared at him, then turned to Gillian, who just smiled. "The kingdom is dust for centuries and buried beneath the waves of the sea before I turned seven. Theoretically he is the first knight of the kingdom, being the second child of the last king, but the point is moot, because it is long gone." The minotaur looked at his companions and said: "I was even born another world, because our father had to flee. He had sworn to leave woman alone, but then he was seduced by one silver-haired bitch." Gillian chuckled amused and said: "I wonder if Alustriel still remembers what she did almost six centuries ago."
As chance wanted it Alustriel had just finsihed some business in Sigil and walked into the Beheaded Fiend Inn, her favourite hangout in the cage. Like all of the seven sisters she had the ability to know what was going on near someone who called her name, so she overheard the last part of the conversation. She walked over to the companions and said: "I will never forget the day when I gave birth to that child and realised that it was not human. Without that warning I might never have been able to defeat the spirit of a certain fiend. Of course at that time I only thought about the pain and I never believed I would survive. Thanks Mystra I did." Alustriel looked at them and smiled. At a first glance her robe seemed seemed similar to Gillian's dress, but a moment later it became obvious that it was far more revealing. Elandra said: "The Silver Raven." Tandra only nodded and motioned for her to take a seat.
Gillian looked at Tandra. "I know what you have in mind", she said. "I just wonder if you know what you are getting yourself into and if you are strong enough to survive it all. Believe me, I know what I am talking about. I fight the forces of the lower planes for most of my live." Since her first day she could never drive the image of her mother brutally raped and killed by fiends from her mind. She had sworn to do everything she could to fight fiends and their minions and she did. Especially in the beginning she had suffered defeat and learned harsh lessons, but she never made the same mistake twice and now she was one of the most powerful enemies of the lower planes, even respected by the celestials.
"Someone has to do it", Tandra said calmly. "I am quite aware of the risks. This is one reason why I do not do it alone." Gillian nodded and looked at the minotaur: "Watch out for her, will you?" Mireluki nodded and said: "Of course I do. I would be a fool not to watch out for the few friends I have." Gillian nodded and smiled at him. She looked over the common room, that was not as crowded as it initially appeared, but it was filled well and there where a good number of lonely men. She smiled and said: "I will look for someone to share my bed tonight" Gillian stood up and walked to the bar and ordered a drink.
"Do you know those book covers, where scantily clad chicks cling to muscle packed heroes?", the minotaur asked. Tandra nodded amused. The girls in those stories always did silly things that would never have occurred to her, but then again she was a half-tanar'ri. "She makes men drop to their knees like that. She does not even have to do anything about it." Tandra nodded and regarded the female. Gillian was undoubtedly the most beautiful woman the fiendslayer had ever seen. She had an incredible radiation that drew people to her and currently she was surrounded by several men, with whom she chatted.
"You call me a bitch?", Alustriel asked. The minotaur said: "Sure. She is an adventurer, you are a leader. This is a quite obvious difference. She could raise the kingdom from the sea easily, but she does not, because she knows she does not have the responsibility to be a queen." The Silver Raven said: "At that time I was just and adventurer myself. We razed Nirozanzan several decades later, just before the founding stone of modern Silverymoon was laid. At that time I thought that is what adventurers do. Your sister might have had something to do with it." She shrugged and stood up. "I have to go. Sometimes being a leader has its disadvantages." Elandra, who had been unusually silent all the time nodded and said: "All types of annoying responsibilities and sometimes numerous idiots who want to stab your back, even when you are doing a good job. Jealousy is as old as mankind."
When the Silver Raven was gone, the dark angel said: "I needed most of the time to even find her mind. I first thought she was only a projection or a spell image." Tandra shrugged and said: "I think she defeated the fiend's spirit, but she kept its powers, at least most of them." The minotaur said: "Considering the fact that we are talking about Azmodan here, possibly the most fearsome mindbender in the known multiverse, you can guess yourself, that she is powerful beyond imagination." Elandra looked at Gillian and said: "This woman makes me nervous." The dwarf looked at her and said: "Sure, she is immortal." The battlerager had developed an art of staying unnoticed and making pointed observations about things most others seemed to miss. It was an odd ability, especially for a berserk, who did not notice anything, when he was frenzied.
Tandra looked at her friend thoughtfully. Since they had come to know each other, the winged female had given up several of her ways connected to Death, but some still remained. Her uneasiness around other immortals than her companions was one of the strange things that did not make any sense. Elandra should do something about it, but she had to do it herself. Tandra said: "I do not think that she has as much to do with you as you think. In your place I would ask her about it sometime." Elandra regarded the fiendslayer for a time. Then she left, casually brushing a hand over Tandra's shoulder unconsciously. The warrior doubted her friend knew what she was doing.
Gillian el'Irand (pr/f human/Sorcerer 20th, Psion 20th, High Mage 10th, Ascari 10th/Guardian/ng)
Giving game statistics for Gillian el'Irand is essentially pointless, because no-one seems to know, what she is capable of doing. She is believed to be immortal and has been known to use abilities of both a fighter and a mage, but this are only the tales that are told. There are vast gaps in the tales and reports about her actions. The only thing that is as good as sure about her is that she is neutral good in alignment and has that she has never joined any of the factions, but quite possible the guardians' sect.