Ebonbane

Ebonbane, by "Skavenloft"

First introduced in the Darklords sourcebook, Ebonbane is a villainous nonplayer character strongly associated with the mythos surrounding the Shadowborn Family and the Shadowlands cluster. In universe, Ebonbane is a source of horrific evil that has been opposed by Lady Kateri Shadowborn and her kin for almost two centuries, going back to the Heretical Wars on the Prime Material Plane. Once a powerful fiend known as Lussimar, Ebonbane was conjured and trapped inside a sword by mortal spellcasters. Ebonbane struck back at its summoners and enslaved them. After Ebonbane killed Kateri Shadowborn, it became Darklord of Shadowborn Manor, the former residence of its nemesis.

Publication History

Ebonbane was first mentioned along with Lady Kateri in the 2nd Edition accessory Darklords (Sourcebook) (release date: 1991). In that source, Ebonbane's basic history and abilities in sword form were established, though no details were specified of what the fiend was like outside of the blade. Darklords also marks the first mention of the Four Elemental Keys and the Temple of Shadowborn Manor, the former the tools needed to destroy the fiend and the latter the only place in the Manor where Ebonbane has no sway. Lady Kateri also remains within the domain, cursed to forever war with Ebonbane.

The module, Bane of the Shadowborn, appeared in Dungeon Magazine #31 (September 1991). To date, this is the only adventure module that directly involved Ebonbane. In it, player characters are brought by the Mists to Shadowborn Manor. There, they must collect the four Elemental Keys and destroy Ebonbane. In this module, Ebonbane was also given game statistics outside of its sword for the first time. As presented, once the sword holding Ebonbane is destroyed, Ebonbane emerges as a spirit, but is still unable to return to the material world without a proper body. Destruction of Ebonbane's spirit form is not strictly necessary to escape, but destruction of its sword form (thus releasing Kateri from the curse that binds her to the domain) is.

The Ravenloft product line novel Shadowborn (release date: 1998) featured Ebonbane as its primary antagonist. In this book, the conflict between Ebonbane and Lady Kateria Shadowborn were expanded into a series of military conflicts between the Great Kingdom of Avonleigh and the Southern Empire, these conflicts collectively named the Heretical Wars. Ebonbane's summoners are also named and described for the first time, the Dark Triad, whom Ebonbane not only enslaves but also kills and reanimates as ghouls. The main action of Shadowborn is the struggle of the book's primary protagonist, Alexi Shadowborn, a paladin and the son of Kateri Shadowborn conceived during the Heretical Wars, against Ebonbane's forces and his own inner darkness. This inner darkness originates from Ebonbane, as it is Alexi's father through rape of Kateri using the possessed Lysander Greylocks as an agent. Over the course of Shadowborn, Alexi destroys Ebonbane's servants, the Ahltrian, enters Shadowborn Manor, and sunders the sword prison that binds the fiend. Unlike in Bane of the Shadowborn, the fiendish form of Ebonbane is solid and resembles that of a nalfeshnee (though it is never called out as such.) By the end of the book, Alexi, as a Lodestone Paladin, absorbs the evil of Ebonbane into himself, serving as the fiend's new prison. In effect, Shadowborn is a novelization of Bane of the Shadowborn, rendering that module and much of Ebonbane's Darklords entry obsolete if the novel is considered in game canon.

3rd Edition sources have been vague on how much of the novel was included in the game line. Writing a player-facing product, the authors of Ravenloft Third Edition included only what is known or speculated about Shadowborn Manor, with no mention of Ebonbane. A writeup of Ebonbane with an update to its profile was first going to be included in Secrets of the Dread Realms, but this information was cut. (The cut material can be viewed below.) On the other hand, the Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide seems to indicate no change to Ebonbane's state from the original Darklords book, with Ebonbane still similarly trapped and constantly obsessed with how to wipe out Kateri.

Writeup by John W. Mangrum, cut from Secrets of the Dread Realms

Statistics

Unique Outsider, Chaotic Evil, CR 17

or

Small Construct, Chaotic Evil, CR 12

Here are, again, almost entirely entirely unedited 3.0 stats. I'm going to include the fluff text since Ebonbane's details have changed considerably since the last time he saw print.

As a point of trivia, were I to write up Ebonbane today, I would make it a powerful loumara (Fiendish Codex I); a lord of their kind.

Ebonbane, Darklord of Shadowborn Manor Unique Outsider: CR 17; Large outsider (chaotic, evil, incorporeal); HD 11d8+55; hp 110; Init +4; Spd. Fly 20 ft. (perfect); AC 16 (touch 14, flat-footed 12); Atk +11/+6/+1 touch (1d8 + energy drain, slam); SA blade dominion, create spawn, energy drain, frightful presence, malevolence, reality dominion, spell-like abilities; SQ darkvision 120 ft., the four keys, immunities, incorporeal, telepathy; Face/Reach 5 ft.; AL CE; SV Fort +12, Ref +11, Will +12; Str —, Dex 18 (+4), Con 21 (+5), Int 23 (+6), Wis 17 (+3), Cha 15 (+2). Height 10 ft. 7 in.

Skills and Feats: Bluff +12, Diplomacy +12, Knowledge (arcana) +20, Knowledge (the planes) +20, Knowledge (the Shadowborns) +22, Intimidate +16, Spellcraft +18; Iron Will, Skill Focus (the Shadowborns).

Languages: Ebonbane can communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 feet that has a language.

Ebonbane’s Sword: CR 12; Small construct; HD 1d10; hp 10; Init +4; Spd. Fly 30 ft. (perfect); AC 17 (touch 15, flat-footed 13); Atk +11/+6/+1 touch (1d8 + 1d6 fire/x2 + vorpal, flaming vorpal blade); SA energy drain, flaming, symbols, vorpal; SQ hardness 20, the four keys; AL CE; SV Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +7; Str 10, Dex 18 (+4), Con —, Int —, Wis —, Cha —.

In its true form, Ebonbane appears only as the silhouette of a massive, spiky creature equally comfortable on two legs or four. This living shadow would appear entirely two-dimensional if not for the fiend’s eyes, which burn a fiery crimson. With luck, however, no one will ever see Ebonbane’s true form again.

Ebonbane was sealed in a powerfully enchanted sword when it first entered Ravenloft. Indeed, some scholars identified Ebonbane as an intelligent artifact, unaware of the true source of its evil. Although Ebonbane was later freed from the sword, it can still animate its former prison, and uses the sword as its proxy when dealing with intruders. Ebonbane’s sword has a long, slender blade forged from a strange black metal that was conjured from another dimension. The blade is set with numerous runes, each crackling with an unholy black aura. The sword’s hilt is cast in pristine silver, taking the form of a howling figure dressed in a monk’s cassock.

Ebonbane is now trapped within the body of Alexi Shadowborn. The body lies in stasis inside a rectangular casket carved from a single, seamless piece of crystal. The casket is ornately carved with designs that pulse with mystical power.

Background

Ebonbane is a unique force for evil, less than a god but more than a fiend. It is likely that it was a ruler in whatever abyss spawned it. The fiend’s true name is Lussimar, but Ebonbane zealously guards this information. After untold eons in the lower planes, Lussimar turned its attention toward corrupting the mortal realm. As a shadowy, incorporeal fiend, Lussimar could not remain on the Material Plane without a physical body. Lussimar entered a material world in a land called the Southern Empire, and as a host took the body of its just and noble ruler, the Grand Caliph Muhdar ab Sang. Having dominated ab Sang, Lussimar turned the ancient empire to evil and demon-worship. It took control of the Grand Caliph’s elite cadre of servants, the Ahltrian, and turned them into an army of assassins. With the Southern Empire befouled, Lussimar turned its dire attention toward its northern neighbor, the matriarchal Great Kingdom.

The Great Kingdom was protected by the Knights of the Circle, an order of paladins representing each of the kingdom’s thirteen provinces. These holy warriors led the Great Kingdom’s armies against the invading Ahltrian in a bloody conflict known as the Heretical Wars. After one early victory, Lussimar captured a Knight of the Circle, a young paladin named Kateri Shadowborn, defender of the Province of Avonleigh. Lussimar subjected the woman to unspeakable and sadistic torments, but shockingly, it found it could not break her will. Even worse, during her internment Lady Kateri learned of Lussimar’s true nature. After Lady Kateri led a daring escape from the Ahltrian’s clutches, she dedicated herself to ridding her world of Lussimar’s evil.

Lady Kateri’s forces gradually drove back the Ahltrian, breaking their defenses. With each defeat Lussimar suffered, its obsession with the young paladin grew. After four years of war, Lady Kateri faced the Grand Caliph himself and expelled Lussimar from her world. Muhdar ab Sang was restored to his true self, but he could not bear the weight of the atrocities committed through him and soon took his own life. Both the Great Kingdom and the Southern Empire started to rebuild, and Lady Kateri put down her sword.

A year later, the last three remaining Ahltrian met in secret to summon Lussimar back into their world so that it could seek its vengeance. They created a magic blade — the Ebonbane — to house the fiend’s abyssal spirit, and it is that name which the fiend now uses. Once Ebonbane’s monstrous spirit was sealed in the blade, its first act was to suck the very life-force from its servants. Then, wielded by a dominated monk close to Kateri, Ebonbane sought out its nemesis at her home.

Kateri greeted her friend at the door, but immediately sensed the truth. Kateri and the dominated monk fought a long and exhausting duel, but eventually Ebonbane shattered the blade of Kateri’s holy avenger. Ebonbane struck down the paladin, and as it gloated over its ultimate victory, it failed to notice as the Mists of Ravenloft rose to sweep Shadowborn Manor away from the world.

Current Sketch

Ebonbane is blinded by hatred for Lady Kateri Shadowborn and has dedicated itself to destroying all that she ever held dear. Lady Kateri’s weary ghost still haunts Shadowborn Manor, and Ebonbane’s inability to destroy her utterly drives it to distraction. For all its power, Ebonbane has a weak grasp of the forces trapping it in Shadowborn Manor, and believes that Kateri’s spirit is somehow responsible for its imprisonment. Each time Ebonbane ruins something dear to Lady Kateri, her spirit grows that much weaker, and Ebonbane believes that if he can just destroy her, he will be freed to return to the Great Kingdom and destroy it utterly.

For 25 years Ebonbane existed as an enchanted sword. Then, in the year 626 BC, a young knight named Alexi Shadowborn, the son of Lady Kateri, entered the Phantasmal Forest to avenge his mother. Ebonbane immediately recognized its own essence in the man — it had sired the child during one of the many torments it had inflicted on the paladin during her captivity.

Alexi sought out Ebonbane and battled it just as it had battled his mother. Alexi shattered the sword, freeing the fiend’s spirit — but then Alexi immediately drew the incorporeal fiend into his own body. Ebonbane had traded a prison of metal for a prison of flesh.

Alexi Shadowborn remained in Shadowborn Manor for the rest of his life, founding a society of knights modeled after the Circle of his homeland. The Knights of the Shadows exist to this day, defending the weak and ensuring that Ebonbane is never freed.

After five decades of leadership, Alexi’s strength was waning. He knew that on the moment of his death, Ebonbane would escape its prison. Alexi sent his knights to bargain with Morgoroth, the darklord of Avonleigh. Morgoroth’s downfall had stemmed from his love for Aurora Shadowborn, Alexi’s cousin, and the knights convinced the mage that were Ebonbane freed, Aurora would become its first victim. To protect her, Morgoroth created a crystal sarcophagus that would keep Alexi in ageless sleep forever. The crystal prison is powered by four magic keys (see below) that must be renewed each year. The Knights of the Shadows return each year to keep Ebonbane contained. Casualties are common, but the knights have not yet failed in their mission.

Combat

While Ebonbane remains trapped in the crystal prison, its attacks are limited to blade dominion, create spawn and reality dominion. It has reconstructed the sword that once held it, and now animates the sword as its most lethal weapon. The Ebonbane sword is a +1 flaming vorpal longsword with the energy drain and symbols special attacks. Ebonbane ruthlessly hunts down any intruders in its realm, offering up each slaughtered victim as another torment to parade before Lady Kateri’s spirit. Ebonbane is wholly evil and delights in inflicting pain and torment.

If freed from its crystal prison, Ebonbane is free to travel wherever it wishes. Its first task will be to destroy the fools who freed it. That done, it will travel to the domain of Avonleigh to slaughter Aurora Shadowborn, then rampage through Nidala, and lastly it will return to the Great Kingdom to plunge it into darkness.

Saving throws against Ebonbane’s supernatural abilities are DC 20. Unless freed from the crystal prison, Ebonbane’s attacks are limited to blade dominion (including control of the Ebonbane sword), create spawn, and reality dominion.

Blade Dominion (Su): Ebonbane can animate any sword or dagger within its domain, as if casting animate objects, even if the blade is carried or worn by another creature. Ebonbane can animate and control every such blade in its domain at once. Such daggers and swords fly through the air and attack as animated objects (see the Monster Manual).

Create Spawn (Su): Any humanoid slain in Ebonbane’s domain or the Phantasmal Forest and left in contact with the ground sinks into the earth after 1d4 minutes. 1d4 days later, the corpse reemerges in the muck surrounding Forenoon Abbey (see sidebar) as a ghoul. The ghoul retains the Intelligence score it had in life, but does not retain any other abilities. These ghouls, which Nidalans call the Ahltrian, remain enslaved to Ebonbane until their destruction.

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by Ebonbane’s slam attack receive one negative level. A living creature that grips the hilt of Ebonbane’s sword suffers one negative level per round. The Fortitude save to remove a negative level is DC 20.

Malevolence (Su): Ebonbane can possess the body of a living creature, as the ghost ability (see Monster Manual).

Reality Dominion (Su): Ebonbane has a chilling degree of control over its tiny domain. It can summon lightning storms from clear skies, spin the sun and moon through their cycles, or even destroy and restore the entire manor. None of Ebonbane’s powers can affect its crystal prison, however.

Spell-like Abilities: At will — burning hands, chill touch, shocking grasp. 3/day — blindness/deafness, darkness, spectral hand, shatter. 1/day — deeper darkness, enervation, flame strike, slow, solid fog, vampiric touch. These abilities are as the spells cast by an 11th-level sorcerer (save DC 15 + spell level).

Symbols (Sp): The blade of Ebonbane’s sword is engraved with numerous, palpably evil symbols. Ebonbane can use these to evoke any version of the symbol spell at will, as cast by an 11th-level sorcerer (save DC 23).

The Four Keys (Su): Ebonbane’s crystal prison is sealed by four “keys,” each a magical representation of one of the four elements binding the abyssal spirit to the material realm. These keys take esoteric forms, though each can be found somewhere within the domain. Ebonbane’s power continually seeps out of this prison, but for four days after the keys are renewed, Ebonbane is so weakened that it cannot use any of its abilities or close the borders of its domain. This is often the only way to escape Shadowborn Manor.

Immunities (Ex): Immune to all mind-affecting spells and effects.

Incorporeal: Can only be harmed by other incorporeal creatures, magic weapons, or magic, with a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source. Can pass through solid objects at will, and own attacks pass through armor. Always moves silently. Due to Ebonbane’s unusual fiendish nature, if Ebonbane is freed from its material host it can pass through closed domain borders or even escape Ravenloft entirely.

Telepathy (Su): Ebonbane can communicate telepathically with any creature in line of sight that has a language. It can communicate with its ghouls so long as they are anywhere within Shadowborn Manor or the Phantasmal Forest. Targets of Ebonbane’s telepathy do not need to make Madness saves.

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Darklords Dungeon #31: Bane of the ShadowBorn
		Darklords - p29 Dungeon #31: Bane of the ShadowBorn
		Darklords - pp32-33 Dungeon #31: Bane of the ShadowBorn ,dl>
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - p7 Darklords - pp28-31 Dungeon #31: Bane of the ShadowBorn