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But, heed my words, child. Every cure comes with a price

Old Sandman, The Seven Ravens

The Seven Ravens is the bonus gameplay included in the Collector's Edition of Queen of Sands. In it, we play as young Mab, before she was the Queen of Sands, as she works to save her seven brothers from a terrible curse that has turned them into ravens.

This bonus game is based on the German fairy tale The Seven Ravens and the European mythical figure of the Sandman.

Prologue[]

When I was just a babe, my father sent me to live with my uncle in the city. I often asked my uncle why father sent me away, but he would just shake his head, tears gleaming in his eyes. Though I couldn't remember my former family, my uncle was a good man, and treated me like his own child. But one day, the dark dreams began; dreams of crow feathers and evil laughter. When I told my uncle about my nightmares, he gave me a crumpled letter. As I read it, my mind unlocked, memories pouring out. I packed what little belongings I had and set off. My uncle begged me to stay, but my family was in danger. I had to go.

That is when my story truly began...

Note: The punctuation and spelling of this text have been corrected to make it more sensible.

Plot[]

WARNING: This section contains massive spoilers!

The game begins in the front yard of a nice house in the country. We read over the letter left for Mab by her father, then embark on our quest. Gaining entrance to the cottage is easy, but only more mysteries await us inside. We uncover a secret room, then a doorway to the backyard.

We have been followed closely by a raven who seems to be watching our every move. Suddenly, he speaks to us. He reveals himself to be none other than our eldest brother, Corbin. He tells us our father went into the woods to seek help from the fairies there, but hasn't returned. We promise to find him and set off into the woods, ourselves.

Before long, we run into a beautiful fairy. She says she remembers seeing our father and will tell us which way he went, if we can return her lucky coin in exchange for the information. We do so, and she points us in the right direction and gives us some pixie dust to help us on our way.

The fairy's directions bring us to the deep forest, where we find our father's remains. If only we'd gotten there sooner! Well, much sooner it would've had to have been as he's been reduced to bones. We open his satchel to find clues to what happened to him, but we're interrupted by the cackling of a witch, who happens to be none other than the Evil Witch.

She crows about how easily she's deceived us with her ruse of being a fairy, then afflicts us with the same curse she placed on our brothers! It's now a race against time to find a cure for this curse before we're turned into a raven, as well. Thankfully, our father's notes seem to hold a clue that might help us: Sandmen are said to be able to remove this curse, if we can only summon one to uss with the proper ritual.

Our father's notes prove accurate. We perform the ritual and summon our very own Sandman! He says he is able to cure the Ravensbane Curse we're under, but we must go with him to the Sandmen Village. Once there, he tells us to gather our brothers, and to help prepare for the ritual he needs to perform.

We successfully complete the ritual, freeing our brothers and returning them to their human forms. However, the Sandman informs us that we cannot be saved from the curse. Instead, he has asked the Moon Goddess to intercede and bless us, making us a Keeper of Dreams, and thus setting Mab on her path to one day be the Queen of Sands.

Epilogue[]

As the Keeper chanted, my brothers shook off their beastly forms; wings becoming arms, beaks becoming mouths, sharp talons giving way to soft toes. My brothers were freed from their curse! As for me... I became a Keeper of Dreams. As the Moon Goddess blessed me, all my sorrows, my nightmares, my fears - they melted away in her gentle embrace. My eyes truly opened for the first time, my soul burning with purpose and passion! I vowed that no soul would endure the sleepless nights I had suffered as a child.


Parables[]

The Last Fairies

Once upon a time, the entire world was a forest. The fairies lived in the very center, and befriended the Moon Goddess. She often descended from her kingdom to walk among them, listening to their songs. For centuries, all was well, until an evil witch captured the Moon Goddess, and brought darkness to the land. The witch declared herself Empress of the Forest, and ruled everyone with cruelty and fear. The witch loathed the joyful fairies, so she hunted them down ruthlessly, burning their homes. She took great pleasure feeding the surviving fairies to her monstrous spider. The few remaining fairies hid deep underground, protected by the most powerful enchantments they could summon. The fairies mourned their kin and the Moon Goddess' imprisonment. Though they despised the witch, they feared her power. Centuries passed, and soon the fairies faded into legend. One day, a young boy named Hansel defeated the witch, freeing the Moon Goddess from her prison. When the Goddess saw the fate of her fairy friends, she wept, vowing to protect them from any more hardship.

The Raven Boys

Once upon a time, there was a woodsman named Ronan. He lived with his seven sons in a cottage outside an ancient forest. They were good people who lived simply on the bounty the forest provided. Ronan honored tradition, leaving food for the fairies in his back yard. The fairies feasted often on his generous offerings. But Ronan had no idea his kindness would endanger his family. One day, an evil witch was hunting fairies with her giant spider. She followed their trail to Ronan's cottage. The witch was disappointed there were no fairies, but there was something even better. "These tender boys will make a delicious stew!" she exclaimed, sending her spider after them. Ronan heard their screams and came running. He fought the spider, scaring it away, but he succumbed to its poisonous bite and died. Outraged at her spider's defeat, she cursed Ronan's sons. They began to caw, sprouting wings and feathers as they flew away. They lived as ravens forevermore, forgetting that they were once human.

Connections[]

  • We play the game as young Mab, the main antagonist of Queen of Sands. However, we are presented with some different information about her history that is at odds with the history presented about her in the main game.
  • We learn that Mab's brothers are under a terrible curse and that her father was seeking out the Sandmen to cure them of it. Later, we summon a Sandman and visit the Sandmen Village.
  • The Evil Witch rears her ugly head once again in this game. We learn more about her imprisonment of the Moon Goddess, then discover she is the very witch that cursed Mab's brothers. She even puts in a personal appearance - first disguised as a beautiful fairy, then appearing again as herself. So this might be before Hansel and Gretal.
  • The Evil Witch's Giant Spider familiar is spoken about in this bonus game, playing a role in both parables. We don't encounter the spider itself, but we do see its webbing.
  • Hansel is mentioned in one of the parables, where his heroic deed of freeing the Moon Goddess is acknowledged.
  • The Moon Goddess herself is mentioned throughout the bonus game, and also seen in imagery and statues throughout the area. At the end of the game, she blesses Mab, freeing her from her troubles and making her a Keeper of Dreams.

Gallery[]

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