NPC Spotlight

Saga of the Queens: The Queen of Mirrors

There was once a beautiful princess. Her beauty knew no equal and many suitors wanted her hand. But the princess was plagued with terror at the knowledge that she would one day grow old and ugly. She wanted her beauty to last forever and to be loved forever. Using her considerable fortune, she searched for a solution, spurning all suitors until she was sure her youth and beauty would last.

With no other recourse left, she turned to the old gods. She implored them for their help in securing her youth and beauty. She wanted to be loved by everyone always. The gods gleefully granted her wish. She would never change, never grow older, never be seen again. She became a living mirror. Her own visage was hidden by her new nature but it allowed her to become a very convincing copy of any other person she chose. It was so good that it was almost completely indiscernible from the real one. Even anti-illusion magic could not break the vision. That was how she came to be in a position to take over the life of the current Blackstaff of Waterdeep. She had been sent there by her sister the Queen of Ash to destabilize the city before she unleashed her attack.

When the Hand of Destiny came to the city she became their ally and boss. As the head of Force Grey, she gave them jobs and directed their moves across the city. When they warned her about the impending attack by the old gods, she acted concerned and promised resources to fight the scourge. The party became suspicious when she kept diverting their investigations from certain problems in the city, opting to send out less qualified agents to avoid them poking around in her business. They uncovered her plot when Milo found a large shipment of concentrated Curse of Ash in liquid form inside the tower after being told there was only one crate that had been destroyed.

The fight between The Hand of Destiny and The Queen of Mirrors was epic. She enveloped herself in a cloak of mirror shards that attacked when someone came near. Her knight was also a powerful foe, providing a brick wall for the party to flounder against while she cut them to ribbons. Good for them that they had a paladin among them for protection. The Queen of Ash even had a flesh golem. It was special because it was made of the skin of slain gods. All of them were minor gods that had once been human. The group eventually beat the stronger flesh golem. Still, Hepolita died and was only narrowly saved by Aleera with a quick revivify spell.

In the aftermath of the fight, the party realized that The Queen of Mirrors had fallen for her own illusion. She had grown to love the city and by the end of it had wanted to simply stay and be the beloved leader of the city. She had planned on abandoning her sister’s plan and living out a peaceful life on the shore. Perhaps if the party had known that, things might have gone differently. It was an amazing battle and one of the most difficult we had had to date.