Queen of Thieves

The **Queen of Thieves** is the enigmatic leader of Queen's Men, the organization of thieves, assassins, and other scoundrels that plague Drakkenheim. She appears as a major antagonist of Season 1 as well as the quest giver of Rooked! from Untold Tales of Drakkenheim.

## Description

The Queen of Thieves is a cruel and cunning foe who constantly uses illusion magic to change her appearance. Her most common appearance is as a woman in a red coat with a wide brimmed hat, although according to the narration of Rooked! she never uses the same face twice. She is first seen in this disguise under the name "Cora" in Episode 4: Counting Crowes.

She is a master manipulator, capable of throwing her enemies into chaos with nothing more than well-placed information and threats. She is also an extremely talented spellcaster, using illusion and domination spells to infiltrate and extract information necessary to run her operations.

When Sebastian glances at her with his goggles of true sight, he sees a multitude of layered illusions and other spells. Her true form is described as being pale-skinned with white-streaked auburn hair wearing dark leather armor.

### Backstory

Prior to the events of the first campaign, **Katarina von Kessel** was born a princess of Drakkenheim. She and her sister Eliza inherited the dragonblood magic common to the von Kessel line and as such were sent to train at the Amethyst Academy. There they befriended a young Sebastian Crowe. The young Sebastian was unaware that his friends "Kat" and "Mouse" were in fact royalty until years later.

During their time at the academy Sebastian accidentally caused an incident in which Mouse was dragged to Hell. This incident caused Sebastian to be expelled from the academy. Katarina constantly leverages Sebastian's guilt over the incident to her own ends in the latter episodes of Season 1.

### The Queen of Thieves

The members of Drakkenforce first meet the Queen of Thieves in the present day as "Cora," an alleged barmaid in Emberwood Village. However, after a brief altercation with some of the other Queen's Men, she flees the scene. She does say though, in Episode 23, that she "hadn't yet had the pleasure of meeting them." Even though, she could have been lying.

Later, the team is sent to infiltrate the Queen's Men and disrupt their operations. However, they fail and are captured. The Queen of Thieves formally introduces herself in Episode 23, flaunting her ability to instantly switch her appearance between individuals known to the heroes. In Episode 24 they further fail to fight their way out of the Queen's Men's hideout. They are released, although the Queen keeps the Delerium bomb and the badge of Veo's father.

The Queen later appears in the guise of Elena Krieger, one of the Hooded Lanterns. She makes herself known to the team, making them uncomfortable and unsure of whom to trust. As one of the few female Hooded Lanterns, "Elena" is often assigned of the guard to Queen Lenore, which proves to be another point of tension in her presence. The team initially assumes this to be another illusion, however it is revealed in Episode 36 that this is a domination spell. When she returns in Episode 37, she returns their bag with a note with a smily face and a pressed flower. Later, in Cat's Out of the Bag, she reveals that she is, indeed, Katarina von Kessel. She speaks with Sebastian privately in her chamber, in episode Episode 46. She tells him that she wants the throne and he says no. She tells him that, using the throne, she could get Mouse back. He says that, even though that he also wants Mouse back, he couldn't give her the throne. She then brings him into a room with all the badges, the box (but they never mention the key) and tells him to take them. He does, and later learns that she has cast the spell Leomunds Instant Summons on each and every one of the badges, and the bomb.