My name is Mara Shadowmoon. I grew up in the small village of Len’ore where everyone knew each other. My parents were Regulus and Pomona Shadowmoon. We didn’t have much, but we didn’t need much. We had each other. My best friend lived right down the road, and we went on all kinds of adventures together. Everything was good.
Until the day that it wasn’t.
My friends and I were on one of our many adventures. We’d heard rumors about a mysterious cave, so of course we had to see it for ourselves. It was a wonderful trip. We were all cracking jokes and telling stories without a care in the world. We finally found this mysterious cave once we were pretty deep into the jungle. We went inside, but my memories of what happened are foggy and I don’t remember most of it. I remember being scared like I’d never been before. There are flashes of us running for our lives, trying to get out of the cave. I managed to get out, but I just kept running and running and running, never looking back. I must’ve passed out at some point, because when I woke up it was the middle of the night. I was alone in the jungle, no sign of my friends anywhere. I thought they’d been right behind me. I waited until morning, but they never showed up. I knew I couldn’t go back to that cave myself, so I went home. I could tell them what happened and someone else would go find them. The journey was awful. I was weak and scared. My body felt like it was frozen, but somehow I managed to keep moving, one foot in front of another, until my home was finally in sight.
But even from a distance, I could tell something wasn’t right. As weak as I felt, I ran as fast as I could towards home. When I got close enough, I could see that everything was destroyed and there was not a soul in sight. I went straight to my house, but there was no sign of my parents. What I did see were large pools of blood. No one could survive that much blood loss. I screamed for them. I went to every single house looking for my parents, my friends, anyone. But inside every house was the same. Everything was destroyed and the only thing left behind was blood. I walked back to my house and laid in my parents’ blood, letting my body crumble in exhaustion.
A couple days went by like this, but on the second day a raven came and woke me up. It pecked and squawked at me. It seemed like it wanted me to follow it. I believed this may be a sign of the Raven Queen or one of her followers, so I got up, put some rations in my backpack, and followed the raven. This raven led me to a nearby town and then disappeared. The people there were horrified at the sight of my bloodstained clothes and dark appearance, but once I told them where I'd come from they understood. Apparently word had spread quickly of what happened to my home and a few other villages as well. While some kind people cleaned me up and fed me, I learned more details. There was a powerful necromancer who has been slowly building an army for some time now. He went into several villages, killed everyone, and then raised them from the dead to fight for him. I was filled with seething anger and hatred. It was already too awful that my parents were killed before their time, but for their corpses to be used for such an heinous purpose? It was absolutely unbearable.
I managed to find a friendly face in this village: Kalma Starym. She was my mom’s best friend and I’d known her my whole life. Literally, I was born in her house. She said she was in the city when the attack happened, but came here as soon as she heard. She was hoping to find her husband Noir, but she’d been here for days and so far there was no sign of him. She asked about Penelope and Pax, her twins who'd been at the cave with me. I shakily told her what happened, pausing every couple minutes to breathe. She embraced me and stroked my hair as we both mourned. She said that I could stay with her. We weren’t alone; we could take care of each other. So I stayed. For a while at least. The survivors began to rebuild a new home. We called it Nethermourn. For some people, building this new home brought them peace. For me, it wasn’t enough. There was only one thing I wanted and I couldn’t accomplish that here. Kalma didn’t want me to go, but I couldn’t stay here and do nothing while the necromancer who killed my parents still lived and grew more powerful every day.
I had to do something, so I joined the army that was fighting this necromancer. I had never been much of a soldier-- I usually fight my battles with words-- but I had to try. I wasn’t very strong, but I got to be a pretty good shot with a crossbow and I was alright with my daggers and my sickle. I hadn’t really thought about what it would be like to actually fight, but when our army finally went against them I felt like I couldn’t breathe. There were so many innocents turned into these monsters, forced to fight against their will. They didn’t deserve to die like this. As I was taking in the necromancer’s army, I saw them. My parents. They were decomposing skeletons covered in the torn clothes they used to wear. Their bodies were here, but the parents I knew and loved were clearly long gone. I ran towards them, and once I got close enough I put them out of their misery. I dragged them away from the ongoing battle, so I could give them a proper burial. Once I had dragged them into the woods, I collapsed in anguish. I prayed for a miracle, but it didn’t come. So instead I prayed to the Raven Queen to take care of their souls. It took me hours, but I was able to dig a grave for both of them. I found a large stone and carved their names into it. And then I carved two ravens underneath. As I laid there in mourning, a familiar raven landed on my shoulder. I felt a strange comfort. But after that, I ran from the battle and never looked back.
I went from town to town, never staying in one place very long. I would use a new identity for each town, never really getting too close to anyone. Eventually, I joined a ship crew. I wasn’t much of a sailor, but I convinced them that my skills as a charlatan would be invaluable to them. Given the chance to prove myself, I helped them sell their goods for much more than they were worth and helped them get into places they shouldn’t have been able to get into. I’ve gone on many adventures with my crew and acquired gold and other trinkets along the way. I’m not very close with many people, but I do have my husband Atlas. I was pretty much just existing when I met him, but he made me feel like I was living again. He’s the only person who knows about my past and the only one I can truly be myself with. Him and his family lived in a village that was attacked by the necromancer as well, but he wasn’t there when it happened. He doesn’t like to talk about it; he blames himself for not being there and the Raven Queen for not protecting her people. I still have faith in her though.
Recently, The Raven Queen came to me in a dream. She knew about my parents, my old home, everything. In the dream, she offered me power in exchange for my service. She promised me that I would eventually have my revenge if I served her, so I made a pact with her. A month passed as I got acquainted with my new powers. Finally, the Raven Queen told me to go to the city of Salt Marsh. I said goodbye to my crew, but only Atlas knows the true reason I left. He understands why I have to do this. Once I got to Salt Marsh, I asked the Raven Queen for direction and she told me that I’m looking for a group of adventurers who are returning from a local haunted house. This group managed to take down a necromancer before he got too powerful to do much damage. She says that they are important and that I need to make sure they continue on the path they are on. The path that leads me to my revenge starts here. It’s been a hundred years since my parents were taken from me, and I'm more than ready to take my revenge.
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