That's So Raven

Type: NPC — Sharran High Priestess; presiding cleric of the Temple of Shar beneath the Dread Ring Role: Antagonist (deferred) / Hostile neutral Race: Unknown (face veiled; human-presentation) Status (latest): Active. Oversaw the party's stay in the Priory; arranged for the Shadovar to enter the Church of Sorrow ahead of the party. Last seen in the Temple of Shar's inner sanctum as the party stepped through the portal. Session 036. First Appearance: Session 036

Description

The Dark Mother is not a name — it is a title. The presiding cleric of this particular Sharran sanctum holds it. She wears a black veil over her face at all times, in keeping with the Sharran doctrine of concealment, and moves with the unhurried composure of someone who has decided, a long time ago, that she will not be surprised by anything. Two plate-armored guards accompany her everywhere — always, always, she says, and she says it the way people say things that are not rules but simply facts.

She received the party's arrival with neither hostility nor warmth — with the calm of a toll-keeper who has seen many different kinds of pilgrims come through and is content to let them pass.

What the Party Knows

• Her name is not available. Sharran clergy at this temple surrender their names upon entering service. Whether she still knows it privately is unclear.
• She runs the temple — its staffing, its visitor protocols, its gates. She is the authority here.
• She arranged the betrayal. The "other visitor groups" the Nightbringer initiate let slip were the Shadovar mages pursuing the party. The Dark Mother let the Shadovar through the portal to the Church of Sorrow first, delayed the party with the long rest, then walked them into the ambush. Her composure throughout — the apology for the delay, the word that the Nightbringer had been "disciplined accordingly," the slight smile at the threshold — is consistent with managed deception.
• Her motives are unknown. She may have been paid by the Shadovar. She may have been coerced. She may have a standing arrangement. She may hold a political position that makes the party's delivery a doctrinal duty.
• She is not to be underestimated. She holds and operates a three-way planar intersection in the Neverwinter Wood. Whatever access she has to that kind of power is not small.