It wasn't long before the elves were escorted inside, though the main body of the elf lord's security had to remain in the courtyard. Apparently his daughter was selected to bear a half human child that was to be part of the ruling class of this city, the only legal condition in which a half-elf could be born. An arranged union between her and the son from a noble clan of humans soon resulted in her bearing a child of mixed blood. Half elves were only allowed to be born to noble families, and whenever they were sanctioned they were groomed into a ruling position from birth.

But there were always complications. Especially when the mother was elven, as the human blood would often quicken the child a little too fast for the elven frame to cope with. And this is where we come in. Clerics can heal, cure diseases, even bless others with the divine gifts given to them by the mortal gods. But the gods did not give them knowledge. Faith did not enlighten. So when the elven and human priests fail to fix a problem by throwing enough healing magic at someone to reconstruct an elephant, they come to us.

She was brought to our infirmary, stained glass threw colorful light across adobe walls, lined with shelf upon shelf of ingredients, spell components, scrolls, charts, and arcane object of unknown use. The floor was covered in mosaic tiles, depicting serpents and arcane runes. Cots were evenly spaced along the length of the room, and the girl was set upon one. The elf lord's name was Revan and this girl was his daughter Jezera. He was powerful, the strongest elf lord in the nearby city, said to be one of the wealthiest and best connected. Gaining his debt would be a great boon to the monastery, and we all knew it.

I rushed to gather the necessary items to assist in the complicated birth. Spell components, metal implements, various potions, all in preparation for what promised to be an arduous labor. We had faced such complications before and we were well prepared, with some of our most senior warlocks overseeing preparations. But for so high stakes a prize, to have the elf lord bound to our favor, this procedure was to be a special event.

One of our most esteemed and enlightened scholars, a favored warlock with more mystical knowledge that all of the other warlocks at the monastery was to halt his studies to preform himself. Lord Revan held his daughters hand as the Malisons readied everything, but all went silent save for the poor girl's labored breathing when the favored one entered the room.

Some humans derisively called the favored ones "abominations" due to them shedding most of their human features in favor of becoming closer to father Yig. He was a massive serpent, fully twenty five feet in length. His scales were dusky grey, scintillating and iridescent blue when the light struck them. The only humanoid trait left was two powerful arms and a torso sitting just under his neck. He was a sight to behold, rearing up fully eight feet, he dwarfed the malisons in the room as they scrambled to make way for him.

This was to be a operation to remember.