Okay, so, to my knowledge, it's not too uncommon to recruit Sarith or Eldeth to the party. I've seen maybe two people on the internet ever say a word about Asha and I am here to proselytize her cause. She has two paragraphs in the text that establish her as scheming, vindictive, and possible to turn against Ilvara, and I read them, blacked out, and emerged with an entire blorbo. I am dying to tell everyone about her.
The cover art (and most art) in this post is by my good friend @dnainers with some pieces by my girlfriend @demynom!
Age: 86
Race: Drow
Class: Cleric (npc priest block from the module but leveling up with the party)
Background: Noble
Voice: Gag me with a spoon, grody to the max, '80s California valley girl. Has said verbatim, "Without my help, you guys are like, uber-mega-maxi-fucked for literally everrrrrrrrrr." When her facade falls, she speaks with a more low-key, less performative version of said accent.
Basic Premise: Woman promised the whole world from birth is biting and maiming about the fact that she's only going to get almost everything instead.
Playlist of Toxic Girlboss Bops
Backstory: The oldest of five siblings and the heir to one of Menzoberranzen's great houses, Asha Vandree grew up knowing she would have great power and influence over the world, and that she would use it to keep those she loved in comfort forever, until the day disaster struck. Her father was the head of her grandmother's honor guard, and when a demonic assassin broke into the council chamber, he leapt to protect Asha instead of her grandmother, who died in the attack. Asha's mother, now head of House Vandree, found herself forced to behead her husband for his failings. Doing so broke her spirit, and she retreated to her bed, neglecting her duties and her children (Asha loved her father deeply. Asha's on-the-record opinion on his death is "Mom shouldn't have been such a pussy about it"). Asha's aunt Fiirnel'ther seized control of House Vandree, relegating her immediate family to a smaller manorhouse and a life of (by Asha's standards) obscurity. Stymied in all attempts at advancement in the capital, Asha took a position at Velkynvelve outpost, as the junior priestess to the notoriously cruel and capricious Ilvara Mizzrym, whose last four acolytes, all immensely clever and qualified, died mysteriously. Hiding her wits behind a bubbly exterior and soothing Ilvara's ego, Asha has bided her time, waiting for a chance to depose Ilvara and take her post. When a group of prisoners escapes, and Ilvara sets out to pursue them, she spies an opportunity...
Party Niche (Mechanical): Throwing Guiding Bolts that miss.
Party Niche (Narrative): You know that one Parks & Rec bit where Ron asks everyone who broke the coffee machine to get them at each other's throats? Asha Vandree is my broken coffee machine. After she joined the party before Neverlight Grove, having gained their trust by putting her life on the line to help break Dewd and Sarith free after their recapture in Gracklstugh, she worked to isolate Zaen from the rest of the party so that she could capture the exiled queen of the Eternal Kingdom and cash in on the resulting social capital. And she succeeded resoundingly, fully pitting Zaen and Alderick against each other and gaining Dewd's friendship. I planned for her schemes to crumble as the gang escaped the Underdark at the end of Act One, with her trying to capture Zaen after Ilvara's death, and being caught as a traitor by both the drow and the party, because I love a hubris-induced tragedy. But Asha's plans, and my own, were both dashed by one thing: the players loved her as much as I did. Alderick trusted her so deeply that she broke down and told him her plan. When he broke down in turn and ratted her out to Zaen, Zaen sympathized with Asha's fear for her family and worked with her to come up with a better plan. I planned for Ilvara to find Asha out as a traitor in the final battle and Send to Menzoberranzen to have her family killed. Alderick ripped Ilvara's throat out before she even knew Asha had betrayed her. I planned for Zaen's sister Saria to similarly crush Asha's plans. Dewd cast Hold Person on her and a stray arrow knocked her unconscious. And Asha, fully unintentionally on both my part and hers, escaped the Underdark with what remained of Ilvara's warriors. She's now the Zaen's chief advisor and public image specialist, Dewd's bestie he confides his worries about Sarith to, and Alderick's purpose and closest companion (he's hers, too, not that she'll say anything about it).
Act Two Goals: Asha now owes her life to Alderick's protection and friendship and to Zaen's mercy. They have earned her loyalty, and she has hitched her own political star to Zaen's attempt to take the throne of the Eternal Kingdom. Asha is bloody-mindedly committed to the party's success, prepared to get her hands dirty and make the calls that they are too kind to make if that's what it takes to keep them safe.
Why I Am Deranged About Her: I've not done this section for any of the other NPCs because they're comparatively popular among folks who play this module, but I must spread the gospel of the valley girl. She's my exploration of privilege and entitlement and ambition, and whether those can ever be bent to noble ends. She's a well of bitterness and grief that she will never be willing to express as anything other than rage. Against my will and her own, she is becoming a better person. She only joined the party for personal gain. She wants to change the world for the better. She is certain the only way to change the world for the better is to rule it. She wants to help the party. She does not know any way to help that does not entail taking a person as her pawn and moving them to the place on the board she thinks is best for them. She is aromantic and a femme fatale. She and our ranger have cultivated the most toxic codependent QPR in documented history. She is calculating and insightful. She is the most out-of-touch How Much Could a Banana Cost? Ten Dollars? bitch you have ever met. She is a doting older sister who knows her quest for power will always isolate her from her siblings. She is willingly complicit in untold suffering. But! Most importantly ☝️She IS Miss Sugar Pink Liquor Liquor Lips.
She will be your Bubblegum Bitch. That is a threat and a promise 💖✨
it's been so long! :D I haven't posted here since I finished DM'ing Curse of Strahd earlier this year, but since I'm starting out of the abyss this saturday, have the portraits I'm making for the NPCs:D
first one is Asha and the second is Ilvara, I kind of messed up the after effects but it hopefully still looks good D:!!!
Crying screaming and throwing up, scromiting if you will. ASHA MY BABY GIRL OUGHHHH @asamis-jodhpurs has deal such immense psychic damage last session of out of the abyss (party crashers edition) that I fear I shall never recover 😔 🥰
