Queen Mozana

Queen Mozana, circa the War of Shadows.

*"Sssss... You are taking too long, my love... The final battle is upon us, and your device must be ready to use then." - Mozana to Count Vladoc, on Count Vladoc's progress with the Star of Elderain's machine.*

Queen Mozana was a major antagonist in the Shadows Over Elderain campaign. She was the Drider Queen of the Drow, and was working closely with Count Vladoc to take over Elderain for her people. She was killed during the War of Shadows by Janta Queensbane (from which he earned this title).

Mozana was shown to be a conniving bitch who possessed every quality that the Drow valued (uncompromising will, unbelievable cruelty, and an utter sense of superiority over everything and everyone else).

## Background

Mozana was born into Drow royalty some 500 years before the height of the War of Shadows, and due to her position in Drow society the goddess Lolth had taken a keen interest in her since birth. Her path as a devout cleric of Lolth was essentially cemented for her early in her life; Lolth threw test after test at Mozana, and she passed each of them with relative ease. At some point long ago, Lolth even turned her into a Drider as a reward for her tenacity - it is believed that only the most powerful among the Drow are rewarded by being transformed in Lolth's own likeness.

Following on from this, Mozana's eventual planned takeover of Elderain was merely another test of Lolth; Lolth requires her most powerful disciples to undertake a test of domination, by which the disciple leads the Drow to take over a substantial group (say, a kingdom) of non-Drow. Mozana was given this test some 300 years prior to the start of the Shadows Over Elderain campaign.

## The War of Shadows

Soon after she was given this test, she met Count James Vladoc; she seduced him, and manipulated him into helping her lead the Drow into war. She had him turn his castle in Ashbury into a crypt for the royalty of Elderain as they passed on, to be later raised as undead to fight alongside the Drow. She also formed an alliance with Duke Attoir, the leader of the Forsaken Legion, in order to further build up her army of the Undead; and, closer to the beginning of the War of Shadows, she ordered Count Vladoc to form an alliance with Atramedes, the Archmage of the Tower of the Moon at the time. Despite clearly putting much effort into making allies within Elderain, however, she spent most of her time leading up to the War in the Underdark, preparing her people for war - she had no significant face-to-face interactions with any player characters at any point in the Shadows Over Elderain campaign.

The one time she was seen by a player character was two nights before the final battle at Ashbury, when she appeared to Niriley in a prophetic dream (courtesy of the spirits of the land that had been captured by Count Vladoc). She was seen there to be discussing all the preparations that were to be made before the final battle: she chastised Count Vladoc for his slow work on his machine, which re-purposed the Star of Elderain's tower to spread darkness; she discussed with Duke Attoir his steadily progressing plans to attack the King's Army from the south; she heard Azdiim's concerns about the player characters being stronger than they were being given credit for, and dismissed and belittled him; and, she looked on as it was revealed that Glitterfang had been raised from the dead, specifically to fight the player characters in Count Vladoc's castle. However, she was seemingly unaware that all of this was being watched by Niriley, and never attempted to contact the player characters thereafter.

During the final battle at Ashbury, Mozana did not appear herself until she was satisfied that her armies had killed a significant number of Prince Vilgon's forces. When she did make an appearance, she was swiftly met by Prince Vilgon Denas and Janta One-Hand (at the time) - and so three leaders faced off in a fierce battle which witnesses claimed truly had the intensity begotten by being an event to decide the fate of Elderain. This battle ended with Mozana stabbing Janta in the neck at a critical moment when he looked away, and then with Janta retaliating with a blow furious enough to kill her outright (which was, indeed, the moment he earned the title Queensbane). Though the war raged on after Mozana's death, until the player characters had finally fixed the Star of Elderain's tower to spread light across the land, it is said that the killing of their queen drastically impacted the morale of the Drow and gave the Prince's armies an upper hand until the end.

Few know what truly happens to a disciple of Lolth when she fails a test in such a manner. Those more learned clerics among the Drow, though, say that their souls are slowly and agonisingly consumed by Lolth, until there is no hope that she can ever exist again in any form.