Domain of the Month
Darkon
Adventure Hooks
More information can be found on Azalin and Darkon in the core rule books books Realm of Terror, Domains of Dread, and the Ravenloft Campaign Setting, the 3rd edition books Ravenloft 3rd Edition, Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide, Ravenloft Players Handbook, Ravenloft Gazetteer II and Secrets of the Dread Realms.
hida_jiremi
One of Azalin's barons was less than perfectly honest in his bookkeeping practices during his liege's lengthy absence. He managed to keep his position after Azalin's return through quick thinking and the presentation of fake ledgers, but it's only a matter of time until Azalin perceives the deception - after all, once he becomes curious about it, he can simply read the man's mind. The baron seeks to repair his territory's fortunes through a fast infusion of cash, by using adventurers to hunt down one of the many bandit groups infesting southern Darkon and steal for himself what the bandits have stolen from others. Of course, once the adventurers are done, they'll have to be... silenced.
As an additional complication, the bandit leader might be the reason why the baron's fortunes are in such dire straits. Perhaps they were once partners in crime, the bandit lord stealing from other baron's and his patron laundering money through government accounts.
Shadowking
While travelling the treacherous Mistlands the ground collapses beneath the PCs feet and they fall down. They awaken to find themselves within a deep, dark catacomb where countless victims of an ancient Crimson Death epidemic are buried. Other parts of the structure are even older and possibly not made by the hands of Men. The entire place is also a Sinkhole of Silence, so they cannot interact with each other vocally and none can hear them scream... They must find a way out back to the surface before the thing stalking them in the dark corridors catches up with them- or is it simply a hallucination of their fevered imaginations, amplified by the darkness, mist and unnatural silence, and their worst enemy is their own terror?
Strange lights are seen in the swamps around Viaki at nights. The ground is trembling, pulsating and gorging forth its slimy denizens. Something is awakening- something ancient and terrible... A cult is rising in the shadier parts of town, worshipping said thing as a herald of freedom from Azalin Rex's tyranny. By order of the King, the PCs are sent to investigate this mysterious group of anarchists and find out who (or what?) their dark "god" is. Here are a couple of possible options:
- A bog Ancient Dead of at least 3rd rank
- A Hezrou Demon
- An Aboleth, preferably a spellcaster
- The omens are but a fraud created by the Baron of Viaki with the aid of a Wizard to start a rebellion against Azalin.
A wealthy patron (actually a Kargat agent working on Azalin's behalf) asks the PCs to retrieve an ancient Shadow Fey artefact from the underground caverns under Arak. The truth is that the artefact is a seal, holding a Nightcrawler in check. Once the artefact is removed the creature will be unleashed and will wreak terrible havoc on the area. Through use of another artefact and the souls of the Nightcrawler's victims Azalin hopes to fuel another of his dread schemes. Will he succeed this time?
A vicious storm is brewing, and the PCs are forced to take shelter in an abandoned Baron's keep deep in the wilds. The truth is that the place is located just above a warren of especially cunning Ghouls (ruled by a truly psychotic Ghoul Lord), who lock all exits the moment the PCs come in. The only way out is DOWN- will the PCs survive with their flesh intact?
Jester
A large and wealthy family suffers a loss and has no direct heir to much of the family’s fortunes and no will was left. While the relatives fight one day a newcomer enters into the mix claiming to have been raised in Lamordia despite being born in Darkon and that he was the abducted son of the deceased long presumed dead. But is his claim true or is he just “discovering his roots” as the Darkonians might say? Either party might hire adventurers to prove or disprove the claim. There is also the possibility it is an elaborate con-job.
During Azalin’s disappearance his consciousness was spread across the minds of every sentient being in Darkon, essentially everyone had a piece of the Lord in them. This has had a negative effect on many including a very devout priest of the Eternal Order than became convinced his god was speaking to him (because he essentially was). Over the past several years since this the Priest has descended farther and farther into madness and righteous fury over the order’s loss of prestige and power and it is only a matter if time before takes some action against the heretics and abandoners. After all, it is the will of his ‘god’.
Igor the Henchman
Something strange is happening in Maykle’s Clangor Asylum. Not only all the inmates have suddenly become aggressive and murderous, they also seem to be controlled by some exterior force. In truth, it is the work of a ghost of a scheming doctor who used to work there. The ghost has the power to possess the people inside the clinic, getting from one host to another. The ghost believes its efforts will cure the patients, but in truth, all it does is making them more demented.
Inside a large library of Martira Bay, a wizard unwarily opens a mystic portal, leading to an eerie, surreal domain ruled by evil mind flayers. After slaying the poor spellcaster, the illithids find themselves trapped in the world of men. Acting quickly, they make the library their lair, slowly taking control of the city’s populace. The flayers’ goal is to find means to return to their home realm. But how many innocents will have to be sacrificed for them to achieve it?
gonzoron
I'm itching to try this when my campaign hits Darkon. I think someone on one of the boards gave me the idea, but I'm not sure, I may have thought it up myself...
After the PC's enter Darkon and explore a bit, they find that whatever they came to Darkon for somehow involves the Kargat. They get a tip on the whereabouts of a Kargat stronghold, and head towards it to (find the artefact/save the princess/stop the ritual/whatever they came to Darkon for)
Now, stop the game, say you want to try something new: an interactive cut scene. Give the players each a pre-gen character, weak ones with maybe only NPC classes. Start them as heads on shelves, as in From the Shadows, with some bare bones info about their background.
When they escape and have to find their way out of the castle, they stumble on the library, where they see the quill writing out the stories of their lives. But if they flip back a few pages, they see that the stories have started very recently, and on the page before that is the story of their real PC's, which ends with an ambush by the Kargat who locked them in a cell until they "found their roots" and then delivered them to Azalin. With a shock, they realize they are not ordinary farmers, merchants, and whatever, but adventurers who have had their memories drained. And that this is not a cut-scene, but that you merely jumped ahead a couple months. Once they cross out their names from the Book of Names, the memories come rushing back, provoking madness checks, of course.
To minimize the chance of them guessing the twist, make sure to swap the characters around. Player A's burly fighter becomes Player B's burly longshoreman, Player B's beautiful bard becomes player C's farmer's daughter, etc. And of course, try not to mention any distinguishing features. They are only pre-gen's after all, right?
Jester adds: Oh that's evil, very very evil. But just make sure at the end of it all to return all valued items and not inflict any permanent changes on the characters. It's one thing to screw with the players, its another thing entirely to screw with their characters. Major item loss and change is vital to RPGs but should not be forced just to further a plot or idea, even if it is a cool one. Having the characters investigating missing people and then having them play a group of 'abductees' might be a good way to throw off suspicion.
gonzoron adds: Oh, yeah, I totally agree. Sorry I didn't make it clear, but their items would naturally be somewhere in the Castle. Finding the items first might actually be an interesting role-playing challenge. The Players would know something horrible had happened to their characters, but the temporary Characters should know nothing. Cool, free stuff! But chances are they would figure most of it out once they start matching up weapons to characters. So it's probably best that they find the library first.
Jester
A low ranking noble has recently attended one of Azalin's social gatherings and was particularly subjected to the drugs therin. Now the devout husband and father is wracked with unbearable guilt from his actions and is seeking to hire someone to escort him to a monastary away from the city. He knows a man of his position traveling with a small enterage may provoke kidnapping attempts for purposes of randsom or assasination attempts from less honest rivals. But at the same time unleashing thirty plus years of pent up urges and desires has had a prowfounly liberating effect and the noble is finding it harder and harder to resist further temptation much to the chagrin of any female party members of attractive maidens encountered on the journey.
gonzoron
Rotting in a cell in Avernus is a man branded with the Falkovnian mark. He was a high-ranking Falkovnian general once, who fought in the Dead Man's Campaign. But after a particularly bloody defeat, he saw which way the wind was blowing and tried to defect. He thought his knowledge of Drakov's strategies would be valuable to the tyrant's sworn enemy. He thought wrong.
When he presented himself to Azalin, the lich merely laughed. "Do you think the mercenary poses any threat to me at all? He is an annoyance, nothing more. He cannot conquer my land any more than I can conquer his. His only strategy is to throw more men at me. And with each attack, I am strengthened and he is weakened. My troops are far easier to recruit." But Azalin foresaw that the defector could be useful in another way, and did not kill him. He has been languishing for years, driven half-mad by the solitude and memory of his own folly. And still Azalin keeps him alive. But for what purpose?
brothersale
A powerful crime syndicate, The Black Dragons reemerged in the wake of Azalin's disappearance taking over much of the crime organisations in eastern Darkon. Now with Azalin's return and the reestablishment of his rule and Law he wants them gone, but they won't go easily.
Wiccy of the Fraternity
In the far north lies a small village that spends much of the year lost in the mists, but for nearly a month each autumn, the mists receed and deposit this small settlement back on the map. Over the years, many of the people there have grown weary, xenophobic and extremely paranoid of everything about them. They may have good reason to do so. Each time the mists receed and the village appears, the ages of all the inhabitants alter, some are younger, other older, some are not present while others are, but appear once more whe nthe village returns once more. Many small folk tales mention the village under a curse after slighting a trade with a vistani caravan.
For nearly two centuries the former land of Arak has been desolate after having been laid waste by terrible storms, but it is not all abandoned and have become partially resettled in the long years since. A medium of some renown takes refuge in the area, her skill is said to be unrivalled throughout the core, but her talent is not all that much of a blessing. Each time she becomes host to a spirit, that spirit dominates her for a time, sometimes for only a few hours, at others time up to a month passes before she casts the spirit out. What makes it worse is that not all of these spirits are friendly.
alhoon
A hook with a fantasy streak:
- A guild of assassins opperates in Darkon. It is composed of soulknives trained by an enigmatic leader known only with the name "Starblade". The guild is tolerated by the Kargat. The soulknives kill and get paid without questions, while the don't interfere much with the politics or the intrigue.
Still the assassins aren't connected with the Kargat, so their hands remain (mostly) clean. Every now and then, a Kargat agent tells a Kargatane to contact the guild and a victim is killed a few days later. Just that.
The guild consists of Starblade, a trio of lieutenants (6-8th lvl soulknives), 6-7 veteran members (3rd - 4th lvl) and 2 - 3 green recruits (1st - 2nd lvl). That is 12 - 14 members. After all, it is an assassin guild not an army.
There are endless ways where the PCs could get involved.
- The PCs are to protect an important man, who knows a secret that the Kargat thinks dangerous.
- The PCs interfere with the workings of a Kargat agent in a town and he, not wanting to lead them to himself or endanger himself with a difficult job contacts the guild.
- The Soulknives aren't human. They are human looking calibans created by a dark experiment. "Starblade" is a wizard/soulknife. Use the QtR 8 for extra rules on calibans.
DM's Thoughts about Darkon:
Darkon has a RMR 4 to 5. That is too much for such a large domain IMO. People believe in magic, but still, this is Ravenloft. I would rule that most of the domain is RMR 3, while there are areas with RMR 4 or even 5.
80% of Darkon RMR 3, 15% RMR 4, 5% RMR 5
A 9th lvl wizard wants to secure a desolate area that has RMR 5 for his tower and laboratory. In the area (2 x 3 miles) there is only a small village with 250 people. The village has a wizard, but he is just 3rd lvl and a trio of clerics but they are 1st - 4th lvl only.
The wizard is (justly) curious as WHY such a magic-rich piece of land doesn't has a powerful temple or a guild of wizards. He approaches the adventurers and asks them to look in this matter for him.
Possible answers are:
-Anyone casting a spell (arcane or divine) has a chance (splvl -2)% to attract the attention of vengeful spirits killed by magic long ago. That means that a 4th lvl spell has a 2% to attract attention while a 6th lvl spell has a 4% to attract attention. Each time a character draws attention, 1d3 spirits appear the next round.
The spirits are 8 HD incorporeal undead, with SR 21, touch attack doing 1d8+5 damage (like an inflict light wounds spell) +1d3 damage (not drain!) on the prime ability score of a spellcaster they touch. The prime ability score is intelligence for wizards, wisdom for clerics, etc.
To lift this curse, the PCs will have to search the area's past and put the spirits of the dead to rest, by performing a certain ritualistic ceremony at the solstice.
Yaoi Huntress Earth
With sorcerer class added, Azalin might become interested in how these people don't have to learn magic in order to use it. Believing it to be a key to cheating his curse, he has his Kargat start kidnapping sorcerers.
Gemathustra
Somewhere, deep within the catacombs of Tempe Falls, is the lair of a hideous spirit known as the "Eater of the Light." This being claims to be from the Gray Realm, and it steals eyes in order to fuel the warped plans of its master, an even more terrible spirit known by some as "The True King Of the Darkness."
Recently, more and more citizens of Tempe Falls are going blind, suggesting that the Eater of the Light has become active once more. Baron Gunderin personally hires the PCs to exterminate this eye-eating menace, once and for all.
HuManBing
One aspect of the original Black Box setting (which has endured through today) is the memory loss that affects all newcomers. Not even Azalin himself was immune to this - he had to locate the Book of Names before he realized what was going on.
His own experience is interesting too. While searching for a way out of the realm, he challenged and fought a creature in Castle Avernus. This was an essential step towards regaining his memory, but all he learned was that he could have escaped if he had not defeated the creature!
I recently watched the movie Memento and although the plot left me unsatisfied, I thought it could be a compelling way to start off a campaign. With new PCs, your players would be unassuming bakers, millers, and maybe reeves in the Darkonian countryside, with troubling dreams and signs of a previous life turning up.
Then people start trying to kill them. They now have to piece together who they were, and what they did, to explain why they're targeted men and women. As they make each connection, the DM can gift them Skills and Feats they had forgotten. Even Spells and ability scores could change as a part of this.
The discoveries could be quite disturbing. Several possibilities:
They are political refugees from Dementlieu, or reformed members of The Brain's underground network from Lamordia. Maybe they survived an assassination attempt in Borca. Either way, they came to Darkon to regroup and return, but then while they were laying the plans for their return, their memories vanished and they took up simple jobs.
They're members of the Talons who deserted, earning the lasting emnity and hatred of the Kingsfuhrer and Darkonian citizen alike. They may even have joined the Darkonian army. Something will have to be done about those brands on their foreheads...
Something happened within the Kargatane or Kargat. Perhaps they had been working outside of Darkon for a while, maybe operating a small inobtrusive book store in Viaki, and then been summoned back to the nation. After reporting to their cell leader, they were told to "take some rest and recreation time" and simply were never called upon again - providing a convenient way of covering all evidence of their past misdeeds as their memories faded.
Something happened outside of the Kargatane or Kargat. It's not hard to imagine that somebody with a grudge may have sent counter agents to infiltrate the Darkonian secret service. Ulrich von Kharkov would certainly have reason (although perhaps not the means) to want to put a thumb in Azalin's metaphorical eyes and ears. What happens when the spy loses their memory and makes a blunder? Would both sides want to silence them?
Nothing political. Maybe an group of entrepreneurs went against the will of their aristocratic Lamordian families and decided to do business in the "stinking backwaters of darkest Darkon". Now they're doing very well, but are neglecting to send back money for their spouses and children for some strange reason. Their spouses want to know why, their children want them back, and envious suitors want them dead. Child support never looked so unappealing as when trained bailiffs are coming after you.
Currently, I'm thinking of a spy scenario where they learn about their past involvement with the Kargatane. Who knows? They may even have had a hand in the crafting of the Doomsday Device, and may hold some information about how to permanently contract (i.e., destroy) the troublesome blot called Necropolis...
Another thing I thought of. The function of the Book of Names in Avernus doesn't stop just because you may rediscover your past life. Eventually, the quill will go back to your name and start re-writing over the previous entries, causing you to lose your memories all over again until you leave Darkon! Perhaps if the characters are enterprising enough, the final mission in their hurried campaign of rediscovering themselves would be to infiltrate Avernus and take the appropriate measure with the Book to prevent them from ever losing their memories again.
Of course, if Azalin himself is around, especially if the PCs have repeatedly been foiling his Kargat's plans, they may have more than they bargained for once they get into his castle...
AdamGarou: I greatly enjoyed the movie Memento and the short story it was based on ("Memento Mori"), and I definitely think it has some great inspirational ideas for use with Darkon's memory-drain.
If you've got the kinds of players who can handle it, I think the idea of having the PCs start out as bakers, millers, carpenters, etc. and then "rediscovering" their true identities as fighters, mages, thieves, etc. has a LOT of potential. My only caution would be, make sure your players ARE up for it. Depending on the type of campaign they're used to, you may have to put up with a lot of complaining eventually.
As another thought, the PCs could also be former members of Malken's criminal network, who fled Nova Vaasa because they failed their "boss" in some serious way. This has some other interesting possibilities, because presumably as criminals/spies/assassins/etc. they were "evil"; but suppose that with the Darkonian memory drain they actually became fairly decent people?
Not only would you have the suspense of finding out who you really are while people are trying to kill you (a la The Bourne Identity), but you have to deal with finding out that you really weren't a good person in this life you're just starting to remember. You killed/maimed/tortured your way through a dozen people because the "Boss" instructed you to. You have murderous family and friends of those you killed out for revenge, claiming you've done things so horrible that your mind can barely conceive of it.
There was an old TV series on a few years ago called "Viper" that has a similar scenario. This guy named Michael was an excellent driver, but he was also a violent criminal, a street thug who thought nothing of killing someone if they were in his way. However, he crashed his car at the end of a police chase and suffered a head injury wherein he lost his memory.
When he awoke, members of a government project (devoted to building a "supercar" for use in combating crime) had used plastic surgery to give him a new face and changed the color of his eyes with biochemical dyes. They then concocted this phoney background of him as Detective Joe Astor--and he believed them, becoming a cop and a force for good.
Basically, he woke up in the hospital, and asked what had happened. A nurse attached to the project told him that he'd been in a car accident and suffered a head injury. He immediately asked if anyone else was hurt.
"No," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Do you care?"
He stared back, nonplussed. "Of course I care."
Basically, he'd forgotten whatever traumatic event occurred in his past that made him become a "bad guy"... and all that was left was the decent human being. The rest of the fairly short series was devoted to him discovering more and more terrible things about himself, and showing how it tore him up emotionally.
I think a scenario like this has a lot of potential for what you're talking about--again, if your players can handle it, it sounds like a LOT of fun.
gonzoron: Why limit yourself to just one of those great ideas? Maybe the baker is the Lamordian deadbeat dad, and the miller is an ex kargatane, and the weaver is on the run from the Brain, etc... ?
(I think this would be a really fun campaign with the right group, but I would let the players have some say in some of the Feats and skills they reacquire. At least a general guidelines as to what class they would've played if it were a normal campaign, or something. I don't know if they would really like to play completely DM-generated characters.)
Rucht Lilavivat: Actually, this is the exact premise that my current campaign is running on...the idea that you wake up one day and find out that you are someone else.
I basically told the players to come up with their own backgrounds for characters in Darkon, but explained to them that at some point and time, their "true" history would be revealed.
The reason it was important for me to tell them about the "surprise" ahead of time was because I didn't want to get my players angry at me by telling them: "Yeah, that history you spent 5 hours writing is all fake. Here's your real background." So far, it's worked out great. There's still going to very much be a surprise element, because no one knows what their "real" history is going to be yet.
HuMan Bing, my suggestion is that you have the players come up with their "false" histories first before you craft the real backgrounds. The reason is that you'll find that the false histories give you a lot to work with.
For example, one of the PCs in the campaign is pregnant but doesn't know how. Another PCs has a necrotic cyst inside of their body, but doesn't know how. These are all things the players came up with themselves - so they've set up their characters to be messed up from the start. Trying letting the players get involved. See what happens.
Rotipher: Some other possibilities:
The PC was once involved in a disastrous adventure which left him or her as a "lost one", due to failed Madness checks. Lacking other options to cure the character, another survivor of that debacle brought the PC into Darkon and left them there, hoping that as the memory of the traumatic adventure faded, so would their insanity. (This option was actually used at the end of one of the Ravenloft novels.) The kicker for this one is that, while recovering the PC's memory might reveal vital information about this past adventure, it might also re-ignite the character's madness to be forced to recollect such horror again.
The PC was once the witness to a terrible crime, committed by someone who cared too much for the character to silence them by murder. Rather than killing the witness, the culprit lured the PC to Darkon and paid some thugs to hold him or her prisoner there for months, until the PC's memory of their crime (and everything else) was extinguished. Unbeknownst to the PC, the culprit is still out there, and working to keep the PC in Darkon so his or her memory won't return; they still value the character's life, so won't try to have the PC killed, but anyone who might help or encourage him/her to leave is fair game.
The entire PC party doesn't know it, but they are the latest of a whole series of non-Darkonian adventurers which a local Darkonian nobleman has been "collecting" from other domains, in hopes of gathering enough powerful adventurers to his landholdings to engineer some terrible plot (like draining high-level souls to extend his own life). Rather than keep his "acquisitions" imprisoned permanently, he has them held captive and drugged just long enough so their memories will be lost, then releases them to find work in the village near his manor house, knowing that they won't remember their confinement and will believe the village to be their hometown, even defending it against monsters and other threats. A PC party might well operate out of this village for several experience-levels of adventures in Darkon, treating it as their home base and as a refuge between expeditions, before they even begin to suspect it's not just your basic "Your PCs all grew up in this town and knew each other since you were kids..." clichéd campaign backstory.
Vincent Deluna
Dragonlance – Ravenloft crossover
With reading all the memory Ctrl-alt-dlting talk I couldn’t help but form a great and wonderful campaign. Mainly used for characters who love an outside world i.e. Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Darksun. This adventure idea is also great for people who would like a great explosive ending. Right now I’m running the beginning of this campaign with pc's from Dragonlance. A wizard unknowing he's an aspect of Raistlin the magegod when he destroyed krynn, a fighter unknowing he’s an aspect of Chemosh, a cleric unknowing she's an aspect of Paladine, a bard unknowing he’s an aspect of Gilean, and a thief unknowing she’s an aspect of Takhisis.
The basis I have is that there is that permanent portal on Krynn to Ravenloft thus Raistlin in a vain attempt to circumvent eternal torment in void he takes the portal. Upon entering in the land of mists the most power entities he consumed were expelled (Chemosh was one of them due to sapping Raistlin’s power as he was helping him murder the other gods) As they all are expelled and free on Darkon , the dark powers seize the wonderful moment and re write their memories with the book of names in their extremely weakened and vulnerable state placing them in the hands of Azalin's domain. The dark powers of course have also robbed them of their levels and divinity by destroying their memories. Also unless they know they are aspects of divinity they have to access to those powers and luxuries (if anyone has read Amber and Iron you know what I mean thank you MINA)
With the book 'o names kept in mind. The characters begin in some very arbitrary place with a DM's crafted memory of their back ground. They are set about in one of Darkon’s organizations. The organization which ever it may be would be the pc's wards and send them about on missions. After a few missions or so the pc's come across an outlander from Krynn...maybe a red robe...who has yet to succumb fully to the memory mumbo jumbo due to adventuring himself across the core. This NPC will recognize the pc's as something great and marvellous or terrible even from their world but no longer remembers their names or who/what they were. Thus begins the true campaign of discovering who they are/were. Ending of course in Avernus with the book of names and a fight with a very infuriated Azalin, jealousy envy makes for a horrible want to kill. One the memories return the pcs are
- Expelled from Ravenloft to god knows where
- Are made mortal due to their actions as pcs through out the realm be it a boon or a curse.
- A couple of them get darklordom (Vecna is a prime example of a god stuck in Ravenloft) while the others are placed in the domain as thorns in their side.
Either way all the gods in question deserve the fate of Ravenloft for allowing Krynn to be destroyed. Raistlin is a no brainer, Tahkisis for her hand in Fistandantalus and for being duped into getting killed. Paladine for being so patient and not acting like a leader when he should have (getting all he gods of light to squish the mage god) Chemosh for helping Raistlin and sapping his power. And Gilean for doing nothing and writing in a book the entire time...jerk.... However I need to know does the book cross over into other domain? And any criticism or ideas as to what one can do with it?
Gonzoron
Marie Pioche
Came across this NPC in the Il Aluk "Important Characters" section of Gaz II. She's a female human shadow Ftr7/Ksh1. And apparently a glassmaker. Is that all we've got on her? She doesn't show up in the catalogue. Anyone use her? Presumably she became a shadow during the Requiem. Cute irony, but it probably makes her pretty unpopular at the yearly meeting in the Shadowlands.
DeepShadow: I dug up some of my old notes on Marie Pioche from the Awakenings game:
Marie Pioche
The protégé and dear friend of Helna Vladinova, Gondegal's trainer and lover, Marie was to be her replacement in Western Darkon, a role she prepared to assume on top of being one of Darkon's finest glassmakers. Marie had just been knighted and was returning home to Nartok when Darkest Night forced her to take shelter in Il Aluk. By the time that darkest of all nights had fled, Marie Pioche had become a Knight of the Shadows in the most literal sense.
Marie's transition into undeath left her burned into a wall for several years, lost in her own bitter memories and forgotten by her allies, until another change met her, nearly as drastic and perhaps even more upsetting than the first: when Necropolis became a domain, Marie realized she was not Darkonese. She came to Darkon originally as an apprentice and caravan guard to a Dementlieuese glassmaker, but when her master offended the authorities in Darkon, he arranged to leave her behind, "to settle his accounts with the constabulary." By the time she had "paid for his offences," her memories had been claimed by Darkon, and she began setting up a shop of her own. With the skills of her forgotten homeland, she soon excelled in the art of glassmaking, and the source of this knowledge was a vague memory that seemed to belong to another life.
The shock of regained memories and the sting of forgotten injustice forced Marie to accept her undeath and move on. Exploring the changed world around her, she re-contacted Helna, Gondegal, and even her business partners in Nartok. Without her masterful skills, business was suffering, and her partners were eager for her assistance, even as an undead advisor. As their business improved, Marie put them in touch with the Knights and a few other allies to work on a lucrative new project: Shroudglass. Glass touched by the Shroud when it first struck Il Aluk has manifested remarkable new properties, many of which have yet to be discovered. Mirrors have proven especially potent in trapping the powerful energies that tore across the city. Marie has managed to work out a black market in such glass through Marasyk Huzak, and the Knights of the Shadows have been the first to benefit from magic items constructed from it.
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