Act I: Veils and Shadows, pt. 1

As the river faded from azure fire back into ordinary water, and the landscape on either side assumed its new aspect, it became immediately apparent to the Legend Breakers that they were not where they had been only moments before. While the general contours of the land were the same, everything around them was dead. The grasses were brown and dried, the trees withered and leafless. More disturbing, the Temple City of Hennes, which had been visible only a few miles away, was no longer there. The heroes did not resist when the boat began drifting, apparently of its own accord, into shore. Stepping off onto a road seemingly placed there for their convenience, the Legend Breakers started walking.

Almost immediately, they realized that their arrival, if not anticipated, had certainly been monitored by whomever - or whatever - ruled this bleak and forbidding place. Approaching a large tree full of eerily still ravens, Marris appealed silently to his goddess, the Raven Queen, for a sign. He received a distinct impression that they were to follow the road to its end. The journey proved an unnerving one, for the adventurers passed many servants of the Raven Queen, each stranger than the last. By now it was obvious that the Legend Breakers had landed in the Shadowfell, the private domain of the Raven Queen. Death knights, shadar-kai, tengu, even vaguely spiderlike creatures which had served Lolth before Her destruction observed the Legend Breakers' progress to be sure they did not deviate from the path laid out for them. At one point, a shadar-kai woman, approached by Marris, instructed him, "Do not dawdle. Our Mistress awaits you at your destination." Suffused with joy at the prospect of meeting the Veiled Lady in person, Marris hurried onward with his companions in tow.

At the end of the road the heroes found themselves before the gates of Mortuus, the colossal black stone fortress-palace of the Raven Queen. Hosts of angels circled overhead, the beat of their vast wings providing the only sound. The gates were guarded by a pair of tall angels, each robed and hooded in absolute black, each with glowing green eyes as their only discernible feature, each bearing a great sword of black metal. They regarded the heroes as dispassionately as a harvester regards his fields, then turned aside to admit them into the divine Presence. Here the Judge of the Dead presided over a court thronged with the empty-eyed souls of the dead, come to be judged for their deeds in life. The grim crowd parted for the four living adventurers to pass through the vast, colonnaded hall toward the Seat of Judgment.

As the Legend Breakers had passed across the threshold into the Raven Queen's hall, a deep fear had taken root in each of their hearts, and it grew steadily more intense with each pace toward the death god's throne. Somewhere around the middle of the hall, their courage failed them, and they tried with all their might to turn and flee toward the fortress gates, hoping the angels would let them out... but they could not stop themselves from continuing to advance. The Raven Queen's divine will dragged them forward, step by horrifying step. Their hearts were pounding, cold sweat ran from every pore, their guts churned like nests of serpents, but still they were compelled to approach the being sitting on the throne. At last they stood before Her, every fiber of their being screaming to flee somewhere, anywhere, away from the living embodiment of death, their hearts threatening to burst with sheer terror... and then the fear vanished, instantly, as if someone had flipped a switch in the heroes' heads.

The throne was of black iron. Against its right arm leaned the sword Nightbringer, the instrument of Lolth's annihilation, its blade of roiling darkness seeming to promise the same fate to all who looked upon it. Seated upon the throne was a woman of superhuman beauty, Her features at once delicate and patrician, Her skin nearly paper-white with only the faintest blush of color at her cheeks, Her hair as black as a raven's wing, Her eyes... Her eyes were the same luminous green as Anriel's. She was clad in a black dress with a strangely protean pattern; in one moment, it seemed to be made of ravens' feathers, and in the next to be woven of spiderwebs. Upon Her brow sat a circlet of silver, set with a single enormous jewel which burned with a violet flame. As the Legend Breakers gazed upon Her, each of them knew in the pit of his soul that She was the Raven Queen, god of death and fate. Marris fell to the floor in reverence, crying, "My Queen!"

The dark goddess smiled very slightly at this display of devotion. "Rise, my servant. Know that I am well pleased with thee." As Marris scrambled to his feet, faith and adoration shining in his face, She raised Her hand, and Marris felt a searing pain in the center of his chest, as if he were being branded. The Raven Queen had blessed him with resilience against necromancy and stiffened his spine against even supernatural terrors. "I know that thou seekest the creature Kharebutu. I know the reason for thy quest. I know Kharebutu's nature and goals, which thou dost not. For this knowledge, I require a service of thee." Marris stepped forward eagerly, "Anything, my Queen. Command me." Clangden, Heinrich and Dunstad were less certain, but nodded assent. Clangden made the point, "I can offer my service, but not my allegiance." The Raven Queen nodded, saying, "Thou art the servant of My cousin, Viridex. I know how jealously He doth guard His minions. Fear not, warfather, for thy soul is safe in His hands."

Addressing the entire party, She continued, "There is a place, not far from here as gods reckon distance, in which the natural order, the delicate balance of life and death, hath been undone. The reasons for this, and the methods by which it was accomplished, are hidden from Me. Yet I am constrained from sending My angels, or any other servant who openly bears My faith. I require thou to go to this place, to learn what has happened and why, and to put it right, if thou can. Do these things, and I shall impart to thee all the knowledge that is needful for thou to prevail against the creature Kharebutu. Is it a bargain?" Again, Marris agreed avidly, the three dwarves less so.

"In the place where I shall send thee, living beings attract... undue attention. Thus it is necessary for thou to feel death's embrace - at least for a time." So saying, the Raven Queen exerted Her divine power and transformed all four heroes into undying death knights. The transition from life to undeath was unsettling, but the Legend Breakers proved their long experience with strange occurrences and adapted quickly to their new state. The Mistress of Bones also caused several new runes to appear on the Sextant of the Planes, saying, "This device will now carry thee where thou need to go. Tarry not, for the balance cries out to be set aright."

Having received their mandate directly from the lips of a god, the Legend Breakers wasted no time returning along the road to their boat. They sailed out into the center of the river and activated the Sextant. Again, the river became as blue fire; again, the landscape phased into a new form; and again, they were in a new world.

Experience rewards:
Meeting with the Raven Queen and receiving Her instructions: 2,000xp
Total: 2,000xp
Per character: 500xp
Current status: 28,850 + 500 = 29,350xp
To next level: 32,000 - 29,350 = 2,650xp

Treasure rewards:
None this session.

Next time, in Sailing the River of Worlds:
What is the nature of this new plane? What did the Raven Queen's cryptic references to the "balance between life and death" actually mean? How will the Legend Breakers' new status as death knights affect them, and what foes will they meet to test them?