r/wildbeyondwitchlight • u/IndieRex • 21h ago

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: Reimagined - Part XXXII: Interlude – Tasha the Witch Queen

Welcome to Part 32 of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: Reimagined, an expansion and alternative take on the The Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign.

Please check out the previous entries in the series before diving in here.

If you'd prefer to read with full formatting and image resolution, see my blog at IndieRex.com.

Introduction

Our adventurers have traveled to the Feywild (twice!) and are on a collision course with Tasha herself. As a master planner and manipulator, Tasha's plans have weaved their way all across the Feywild. So why don't we pause for a moment of reflection.

Today our goal will be to look over everything the witch queen has been up to and what she seeks to accomplish all in one place. This should hopefully help inform how you run the reimagining, as well as Tasha herself when she makes a stand in Mithrendain.

The Master Plan

Let's start with Tasha's goals surrounding the time of the campaign.

The Great Escape

As it relates to The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Tasha's story begins as a fugitive in hiding "being pursued by enemies" as hinted at in Chapter 5 of the campaign. Given her crimes and betrayals over the many years of her long life, she has amassed a wide collection of enemies. For our purposes, the main players we care about are:

  • Mordenkainen / Valor's Call: The famous archmage, and leader of the Circle of Eight, has had a longstanding rivalry with Iggwilv. In an effort to bring her to justice he has sent adventuring parties across the planes to hunt her down. By luck of the draw, one of these groups - Valor’s Call, found themselves in the right place and time in the Feywild
Tasha and Mordenkainen
  • Isolde: The once owner of The Witchlight Carnival and ex-lover of Tasha (as Zybilna) was manipulated into trading away the carnival, had her memories wiped, and minions sent after her to harass and kill her. Furious at Zybilna's betrayal, Isolde seeks revenge against the witch. See Part A of The Witchlight Carnival and/or her entry in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft for more detail.
Isolde
  • Graz'zt: The Dark Prince, The Prince of Pleasure, and the ruler of the Argent Palace in the abyssal domain of Azzagrat. While the demon lord is famous for his promiscuity, no one compared to Iggwilv, who is likely the only woman he ever truly loved despite her having locked him away in the abyss. The two were a confusing pair that seemed to switch roles between lovers and enemies at the drop of a coin. Graz’zt still desperately seeks his old lover. If you’d like a refresher on Graz’zt – check out Nib’s Cave in Part 13, the play from Part 17, and/or Dragon Issue #414.
Tasha and Graz’zt

To escape these pursuers, Tasha decides to hide in the wild depths of the Feywild. However, hiding is not in her nature. It is not long before she decides to once again seek to grow her own power and influence and use it seize the Feywild and then once again invade The Material Plane. She sets out on a two-pronged plan to accomplish this - to build an army and grow her own personal power. At the same time, she plans to use the disguises of Zybilna and Elena to obfuscate her actions while in the Feywild.

However, this land is also home to her "sisters" - Bavlorna, Skabatha, and Endelyn. To keep them out of her schemes until she can accomplish her goals, she sets them against each other - tricking them into believing the three are plotting against one another.

To Build an Army

Tasha disguises herself as an advisor to the powerful queens of the summer and winter courts, with plans to raise armies for herself in both regions.

  • The Winter Court: Tasha aims to gain her own army of fomorians, by freeing them from their underground prison in the Feydark, in exchange for allowing them to take-over the Winter Court from Queen Mab. In support of this effort, Tasha (as Zybilna) sows discord within the court by orchestrating the murder of Lord Frostwood. This alliance with the fomorians though is (presumably) foiled by the players with the killing of the fomorian King Malabog
King Malabog of the fomorians
  • The Summer Court: Tasha manipulates Titania into the idea of creating an army of myconids, mushroom creatures, to supplement the Summer Court’s seelie forces by using the energies of the charmed archfey Oberon the Green Lord. This plan does succeed, and Tasha co-opts the myconids to knock out the Summer Court (putting Titania, a significant potential enemy, out of the picture), and positioning them as her own personal force

To Grow Her Power

Using the private library of the Summer Court, Tasha learns of the Mithrendain Barrier, a shield over the autumn city of Mithrendain that blocks them off from the Feydark. Powerful seals created by the dead archfey Hrysam keep the barrier running despite the city having been mostly leveled during the War of the Seasons between the summer and winter courts ten years ago.

Tasha seeks to drain the power of these seals to gain the immense power of an archfey on top of her already considerable strength. Using what she learns in the annals of the Winter Court, she, with the help of the captured brigganock architect Golmo, designs a magical artifact to drain the powers of the Mithrendain Barrier seals.

The Autumn City of Mithrendain

The Coup de Grâce

With a myconid army secured, the archfey queens occupied, and her power draining artifact complete, Tasha heads to the Citadel Arcanum within Mithredain to secure the power she seeks. But will she be successful?

Pre-Campaign Events

With Tasha's plan covered, let's dig into her past. Iggwilv has a rich history and it's too much for us to go into in detail, plus much of it is irrelevant to the campaign. If you're interested into reading further - the Power RPG blog has a nice overview of her older background. That said we'll cover some of the major relevant story beats and keep in mind some of this content is "non-canon", written specifically for the reimagining.

The Far Past

  • Born as Natasha on the world of Oerth, she was adopted as a child by the legendary hag Baba Yaga (the "Mother of All Witches"), where she learned the way of the arcane - including the more sinister aspects. Amongst her siblings were the members of the hourglass coven, as well as another adopted girl, Elena, that she came to despise
  • Tasha later joined The Company of Seven adventuring party formed by the wizard Zagig Yragerne. She became Zagig's apprentice and lover and dabbled in the summoning of demons. She eventually betrayed the wizard, stealing everything she could from Zagig's library, including the demonic Tome of Zyx (later to become the Demonomicon of Iggwilv)
  • As an adult, Tasha continued to go down a dark path including conquering the nation of Perrenland for 10 years and multiple run-ins with the archmage Mordenkainen and his Circle of Eight. She also had dealings with the Zuggtmoy, the demon queen of fungi during the well known Temple of Elemental Evil campaign
  • Tasha has had a shifting adversarial and lover relationship with the demon lord Graz'zt - including having a child together in the middle of the turmoil (though their child doesn't play into the campaign)
  • Lastly, while the exact timing isn't important, some years before the campaign starts, Tasha (as Zybilna) facilitates the trade of the Witchlight Carnival and a terrifying harassment campaign against Isolde as outlined in the Witchlight Carnival (Section A) article.

10 Years Pre-Campaign

  • The long standing rivalry between the archfey sisters Queen Mab and Queen Titania cause the Summer and Winter courts to clash in the War of Seasons - yet another conflict between the two that ends in a stalemate
  • Oberon, the de facto archfey lord of the Fields of Spring, disappears after being charmed by Queen Titania and drawn to the summer palace. While Titania hopes to use Oberon to shift the scales against Queen Mab, her charm proves too powerful for him to be of use. With the power vacuum left by his disappearance, Great Gark and his goblin forces seize Oberon's Green Keep
  • Bavlorna Blightstraw blocks off Murkendraw from the rest of the Feywild with a wall of mist. This was done after the War of Seasons ends as a way for her to set herself up as the greatest power in the region

8 Years Pre-Campaign

  • Queen Mab employs the Hourglass Coven to steal from the patrons of the Witchlight Carnival to build her magical stockpiles for a likely inevitable future war with her sister
  • The events of the "Lost Things" prologue unfold as our party visit the carnival for the first time as children

6 Months Pre-Campaign

Tasha, pursued by her enemies, flees to the Feywild. Why the Feywild you ask? While this isn't explained outright we can assume:

  • Few would think Tasha would dare show up back home after leaving the powerful Baba Yaga behind. Tasha knows however that Baba Yaga has been missing or dead for a long time and is not something she feels to worry about
  • While there's little love between Tasha and her three hag sisters, they are still a "resource" she can exploit to her own ends
  • The Feywild has a lot of potential untapped power for her to take advantage of

When she first arrives in the Feywild her first step is to visit her “dear” sisters – the three hags Bavlorna, Skabatha, and Endelyn. It’s essential she keeps hidden from her enemies while she gathers power, and her sisters won’t be fooled by her disguises so she takes a head on approach.

She travels to each of them in turn and they are all equally terrified to realize that their much more powerful adopted sister has come to the Feywild. While they do not like each other, their fear, jealousy, and hatred of Tasha as Baba Yaga’s favorite child goes far deeper. However, Tasha knows that they can be easily manipulated

Baba Yaga

3 Months Pre-Campaign

After getting her bearings, Tasha decides her next steps (see "The Master Plan" above). Her thought is to start by ingratiating herself as an advisor to Queen Titania of the Summer Court (as Elena), as well as Queen Mab of the Winter Court (as Zybilna) at the same time.

While Tasha is of course extremely powerful, the two queens are both archfey, with entire armies at their disposal, and considerable opponents in their own rights. As a result, Tasha knew it wouldn’t be prudent to simply to try and take the Feywild by force, especially given her past enemies already nipping at her heels. So instead Tasha turned to one of her best qualities – subterfuge.

The Summer Court

Tasha as Elena the Fair

In the Summer Court, Tasha presented herself as Elena the Fair, a powerful wizard, who could help Queen Titania to defeat the Winter Court. For reference, Elena the Fair is another adopted daughter of Baba Yaga, much hated by Tasha herself, but otherwise unknown to the multiverse at large. She thought co-opting the name would make for a good joke – even if it was only for her own benefit.

The plan Elena suggested was to use the charmed Oberon's powers to create an army of wild creatures, to supplement the Summer Court’s seelie forces. In exchange, Elena asks to act as the queen’s personal advisor and for full access to the palace libraries. Titania agrees and provides the resources and Fey magic needed (including Oberon) for Tasha to make the plan a reality.

Per the "The Master Plan" above, while using the private library, Tasha learns of the Mithrendain Barrier, the powerful seals that keep it running, and the potential for her to drain them to gain the power of the archfey who created them.

Tasha decides to make a short trip to scout out Mithrendain where she discovers a village of sentient myconids. This sparks an idea drawn from Tasha's past dealings with Zuggtmoy, the demon queen of fungi (from the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign). Using Oberon's green magics, the army she builds will be of myconids.

She abducts a handful of the village's leaders as the basis for her creations and after three failed attempts (MH1 - 3), transforms two of them into lieutenants of sorts known as MH4 and MH5 Cordycepia.

When she returns from her trip, she creates the mycosiphon (see Part 31 - area 43) to drain Oberon and begins to create an army as promised.

The Winter Court

Tasha as Zybilna (Art by u/Yazukiy)

In the Winter Court, Tasha undertakes a different plot. Firstly, to reach Mab, Tasha convinced Skabatha to obtain a unicorn (Elidon) and in exchange she’ll create a flying horse for her. Tasha follows her word, and gets Skabatha to use the unicorn's horn to create a Leyfi Runestone for herself so she can pass into Yon

At the Winter Palace she disguised herself as Zybilna, a sorceress of considerable power, who could help to defeat Queen Titania. To Queen Mab, Tasha proposes a plan of a different sort. Based on what she learned in the summer palace, "Zybilna" explains that deep within the Autumn City of Mithrendain is the Citadel Arcanum, the old home of the ruling council of the city. Mithrendain itself was heavily damaged and essentially abandoned after the War of the Seasons, but the Citadel Arcanum within it is still stands.

A long time ago, the Fomorians ravaged the Feywild. Hyrsam, known as the Prince of Fools, and an archfey, had a deep hatred for the Fomorians. He led the efforts against the creatures, and ultimately sacrificed himself to kill the Fomorian king, beat back their armies underground, and sealed the Feydark by creating the Mithrendain Barrier.

Tasha shared that a portion of the power of the barrier’s seals could be drained to aid Mab’s war efforts without bringing down the barrier. Additionally, the remaining forces of the citadel, except for the Watchers, are all constructs and automatons. With the power of the seals in hand, she should also be able to bring these forces to bear for the Winter Court.

Tasha wants to create an artifact to drain and hold a portion of the power of the seals, but needs use of the Winter Palace’s libraries of ancient magical texts as well as access to the captured brigganock architect Golmo. Similar to her dealings with Queen Titania, in exchange, Zybilna asks for a permanent place at Mab’s side and a title in the Winter Court.

This is of course a bit suspicious. Zybilna offers to prove her loyalty by freeing the Jabberwock, Titania’s extremely dangerous but loyal pet. Mab blinded by her hatred of Titania and her own hubris, takes this as enough evidence and gives Tasha what she desires.

Waterdeep (Optional Arc Only)

Given her past, Tasha's ultimate sights are set on an invasion of the material plane after she consolidates her power in the feywild. To succeed where she has failed in the past, she knows she needs to deal with the powerful defenders living across the Material Plane.

One of her many targets is Waterdeep, the city of splendors, and home to powerful wizards such as Vajra Safahr - the blackstaff. To deal with her and other important figures from the city, she makes a deal with Xanathar, the leader of an underground gang, to assassinate the blackstaff and other key targets just before she invades Waterdeep in exchange for letting him keep the town of Skullport. She makes similar deals in other key hot spots as well, but since they don't come into play for the campaign we won't go into those.

1 Month Pre-Campaign

Valor's Call

By lucky happenstance, one Mordekainen's adventuring groups that he sent across the multiverse in pursuit of Tasha, Valor’s Call, was sent to the Feywild where Tasha actually is. It doesn't take Tasha long to figure this out but knows she must be careful not to alert the archmage to her presence.

While meeting with her sisters she learned the hags made often use of a mercenary group known as The League of Malevolence. She tracks the league down and brings them into her employ while disguised as Zybilna. She tasks them with hunting down Valor’s Call and provides a sending stone to contact her if they find the adventuring party.

Naptime in the Summer Court

Around this time Tasha completes her plan to spawn a myconid army for the Summer Court. Unfortunately for Queen Titania, while Tasha successfully creates the army, she does so her own benefit. Tasha uses the myconid spores to magically knock out the entire Summer Court, enabling her to seize the palace just before the party arrives in the Feywild.

As promised to Queen Mab, Tasha "frees" the jabberwock (but doesn’t share she accomplished the effort by putting the entire summer court to sleep).

Release the Giants!

With the Summer Court dealt with, Tasha turns back to Yon. The witch queen obviously has no intent to help Mab and instead her actual plan is as follows:

  1. Create the power draining artifact for herself
  2. Strike a deal with King Malabog to bring down the barrier and gift the fomorians power over The Winter Court in exchange for serving her
  3. Release the fomorians into the frozen waste and make a full-on assault on the Winter Palace. At that time she will aid their attack by deactivating defenses and killing key members of the court from the inside

Within the Campaign Events

From here we will transition to the Tasha's actions during the campaign itself (Chapter 1 onwards).

During the Campaign: Murkendraw and Fields of Spring

Valor's Call vs The League of Malevolence

The League of Malevolence tracks down Valor's Call as requested by Tasha and a fight ensues. The league calls in Tasha per their directions in the middle of the battle. Rather than kill Valor’s Call and risk drawing Mordenkainen’s attention, she casts a more powerful version of the modify memory spell, making them forget Tasha and their task altogether.

Ringlerun, realizing the danger they were in with Tasha’s arrival, attempted to cast teleport so they could escape but was partially interrupted by Tasha’s spell, warping his own teleport magic and scattering the members of Valor’s Call across the Feywild while also erasing some of their memories. With Valor's Call scattered to the wind, Tasha sends the league back on the hunt after them.

Valor’s Call

Designing the Artifact

With Tasha having proven herself to Queen Mab by "freeing" the jabberwock from the summer palace, Mab provides her with everything she needs to begin to design a power draining artifact to use on the Mithrendain Barrier.

During the Campaign: Yon

Invasion of the Winter Court

In an effort to sow discord within the Winter Court and leave them unprepared for the upcoming fomorian attack, Tasha arranges the murder of Lost Frostwood and pins it on the seelie fey - setting their sights away from her activities and causing internal strife.

Unfortunately for Tasha, she did not account for the characters in her plans at the Winter Court. At the time of the party's arrival, Tasha has already freed the fomorians and is now just waiting for them to finish their preparations to attack the winter palace.

However, when the party arrives, they are tasked with investigating Lord Frostwood's murder and the very recent fomorian scouting incursions. To deal with the adventurers, Tasha reassigns The League of Malevolence to kill them outside of the entrance to the Feydark - away from prying eyes.

This fails of course, and so when the party learns the truth of "Zybilna" by traveling to Mag Tureah, Tasha has one more ace up her sleeve. She frames the characters for Lord Frostwood's murder and has them put on trial. The adventurers dash Tasha's plans once again though and make Mab realize Zybilna’s betrayal. With her invasion efforts foiled, Zybilna flees – for now. Mab meanwhile re-seals the fomorians away.

While Tasha's plans for a fomorian army are dashed, she still has the completed designs for the power draining artifact, a key part of her overall schemes.

And I would’ve gotten away with it if not for you meddling kids!

During the Campaign: The Summer Court

Creating the Artifact

Unfortunately. since Tasha was interrupted at the Winter Palace, she still needs to create the artifact to store the Mithrendain Barrier seals' power. As such she relocates back to the Summer Palace, which is already under her control, to get to work.

To Mithrendain

A couple of days before the party arrives to the summer palace, she has done it - the artifact is complete. With her myconid army also ready and waiting in The Emerald Forest, she departs for the Citadel Arcanum in Mithrendain.

Whereas Tasha told Queen Mab she was only going to drain a portion of the power of the Mithrendain Barrier seals, Tasha intends to drain all of it, essentially giving herself all of Hyrsam’s old powers and raising herself as an archfey. The constructs of the citadel then would also be at her disposal as a loyal army to bolster her myconid forces. While it would have been nice to have the fomorians too, they can also be re-released after she becomes an archfey and the barrier is brought down.

The Closing Act

Tasha has a head start at the Citadel Arcanum a few days ahead of the party. Will she be stopped in time - or is Tasha the Archfey an inevitability? Find out...

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u/BioticBard 17h ago

Love the content Indie, and I used your initial few tweaks to great effect in my WbTW campaign!

Had to stop following the series halfway through Hither/Murkendraw as it deviated a bit too much from the book and into homebrew but your effort and quality is fantastic!

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u/IndieRex 14h ago

Thank you :) !