The Tales of Exandria: The Bright Queen 3

Critical Role: The Tales of Exandria: The Bright Queen #3 is the third issue of the comic miniseries The Tales of Exandria: The Bright Queen, written by Darcy Van Poelgeest with art by CoupleOfKooks and cover art by Yoshi Yoshitani. The comic was published by Dark Horse Comics on January 12, 2022. The story is set around 19 years after the end of Campaign 2, circa 855 PD.

A variant cover featuring art by David Mack was available from Things From Another World by pre-order.

Plot summary
In the Abyss, Lolth mocks Leylas Kryn as a false queen as Leylas magically fades away. She awakens in the Lucid Bastion to Quana Kryn at her side and surrounded by the Luxon beacons. Quana says she was not sure Leylas would wake. As Leylas remembers being killed, she reassures Quana. They have sex. Abrianna Mirimm's narration explains that the Umavi cast a powerful Manifest Echo spell to create a "near-living incarnation" of Leylas, and this echo of her was the one that had gone into the Dreadnest and been killed.

With the six beacons gathered, Leylas' prophecy unfolds. Word spreads that Quana is pregnant with a child conceived by the Luxon, and people see signs among the stars and in their dreams. People throughout Xhorhas, Blightshore, and the Marrow Valley request consecution, including Leylas' former enemies.

Weeks before the child is due, Leylas prepares to leave Rosohna. Quana wishes Leylas would wait until the birth. Leylas insists she cannot delay further. Leylas wants to act before the Dwendalian Empire and expand the Luxon's influence while she still can. Quana says that she knows their time in the Abyss haunts Leylas and has Leylas promise she is not running from the child.

Leylas visits the Koshtask clan at the invitation of its leader Arakki, who accepts consecution. Leylas learns that the child was born and, pushing through a vision of Lolth, announces she will continue forward. As the child grows into a toddler, Leylas consecutes thousands. She intends to expand the Luxon's reach across all of Wildemount, then eventually all of Exandria. Abrianna narrates that every time the campaign seemed at an end, Leylas continued onward.

In Xarzith Kitril, the Lightbroker, an Umavi accompanying Leylas, observes that the city's council, the Scars of Scale and Tooth, did not request a meeting and advises low expectations. Leylas hopes for a powerful alliance remain high. A councilor accuses her of using dunamancy to create the child for propagandist purposes and denounces Leylas as a false queen seeking dominance over Wildemount. Pressured by visions of Lolth, she kills the councilor. The Lightbroker forces Leylas to leave. In Rosohna, Leylas admits to her visions of Lolth. Although she never physically went to the Dreadnest, she feels part of her never left it.

Aurora Watch soldiers fetch Abrianna and the drow adolescent at Leylas's request. Abrianna sends them away, saying it is too soon. Anxious, the adolescent asks if Leylas wishes to see them specifically. Abrianna confirms, but she says they cannot rush.

After Xarzith Kitril, Leylas becomes withdrawn and refuses to see the child, Caelestis. The child should have strengthened Quana and Leylas' relationship, but their relationship is instead strained. While Caelestis plays, a black portal opens and Caelestis is drawn to walk through it. They appear in the room where the beacons are held. As they touch a glowing beacon, two soldiers discover them. Leylas orders Quana be fetched and enters the room alone. As Abrianna narrates Leylas' vision included a presence Leylas could not explain, Leylas finds Caelestis shifting out of a monstrous spider-like form next to the bodies of the two soldiers.

Returning

 * Leylas Kryn
 * Lolth
 * Quana Kryn
 * Abrianna Mirimm
 * Lightbroker

New

 * Arakki
 * Caelestis

Development
The comic was originally scheduled for publication by Dark Horse Comics on December 22, 2021. Due to the 2021–2022 global supply chain crisis and unidentified circumstances with creative teams, all Critical Role titles were delayed, some multiple times. The issue was delayed to January 12, 2022.

Trivia

 * Described as a spell in this comic, Manifest Echo is a feature for the Echo knight subclass in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount.