The Succubus

Start-class article · First seen: s09 · Last seen: s09
The Succubus
the crystal-chamber succubus · the s9 succubus
Portrait of The Succubus.
Character
StatusDead
First seens09
Last seens09
FactionFiends

The s9 Succubus is the fiend who waited at a cracked red crystal deep in the Black Vein Quarry, first seen as a man who looked like a minor foreman kneeling before it [8]. She pulled each party member into a vision of their worst failure, then dominated Hugo twice, once to down Vasquez and once to kill Harvo with a natural-20 axe blow [37][39][11]. Hugo broke free and took her head on his own turn, and the crystal cracked apart [5].

Overview

The s9 Succubus is the fiend behind the missing miners of the Black Vein Quarry. She waited in a chamber behind an illusory wall in the mine’s top-right corner, before a ruby-coloured crystal cracked with black that hung in the air and gave off enchantment magic [6][7][8][9]. Afterwards the DM suggested that she had siphoned the stone to corrupt the miners into the ghost-like beings the party met earlier in the mine [10]. In the fight she killed one player character by proxy: Harvo, beheaded by the dominated Hugo [11].

She is the second succubus the party met. The forest-clearing succubus of session 8 was killed there, so this is a different creature.

Appearance and demeanour

First a man kneeling on one leg before the crystal, who “looks like a minor foreman or something”, and who turned with a sly smile as the party called out a soft hello [12][13]. In the fight she was a winged woman: she flew between targets, and Vasquez clipped a piece of her wing as she passed [14]. She is mocking and intimate, speaking to each victim in a vision as if she knew their worst failure.

Abilities as played

  • Visions: at a word she pulled all five into a scene of each character’s greatest failure and spoke into it; each made a Wisdom save. Vasquez, Harvo and Hugo broke free; Terry and Caelumn failed and came out frightened [15].
  • Dominate Person: she touched Hugo (“Fight for me, my champion”), and he failed his save [16]; Caelumn’s Fire Bolts, after a quickened Magic Missile, broke her concentration twice; she dominated Hugo again in between, and Terry later [17][18][19].
  • Commands: her orders came as a telepathic “kill that one” and a pointing hand [20][21].
  • Fiendish touch and flight: she attacked Caelumn and Harvo by touch [20][22].
  • Resistance: fire and lightning hurt her little [23][24].

Relationships

  • Hugo: her puppet for two rounds, and her killer [14][25][26].
  • Harvo: killed by Hugo under her control [11].
  • Vasquez: her vision spoke to the demon he carries and offered to take it from him; she had Hugo down him [27][20][28].
  • Terry and Caelumn: frightened by their visions [29][30]; she dominated Terry and set him on Caelumn [31].
  • The cracked red crystal: her tool, and the thing that cracked when she died [32][10].

Disposition towards the party

Predatory and contemptuous. She worked on each person’s guilt, and left Hugo with a warning that echoed in his head: that what happened to his old team would happen to this one, and that he would be the death of these people [33].

Notable quotes

“Ah, what a nice gesture. if only you could have been the dwarf your father wanted you to be but now you carry something much worse inside of you something that would make him recoil” — The Succubus, to Vasquez in his vision, [34]

“Beautiful tune. Too bad it’s the wrong one. And she had such faith in you.” — The Succubus, to Terry in his vision, [35]

“Not even your allies are safe.” — The Succubus, to Hugo in his vision, [36]

“Fight for me, my champion.” — The Succubus, dominating Hugo, [14]

“kill that one” — The Succubus, to dominated Hugo, pointing at Vasquez, [20]

History in the campaign

Session 9: The Death of Harvo

Main article: Session 9

In a chamber at the back of the quarry a man who looked like a minor foreman knelt before a cracked red crystal, and turned with a sly smile to pull all five into visions of their worst failures [8][37]. Terry and Caelumn failed their saves; the others broke free, and she appeared as a succubus [38]. She dominated Hugo with “kill that one”, pointing at Vasquez, and he downed him [39]. After Caelumn broke her hold she took Hugo again, and his natural-20 axe blow killed Harvo, whose maximum hit points were down to 10 [40]. She then dominated Terry [31]. Free once more, Hugo threw an axe that took her head, and the crystal cracked [5].

Status

As of session 23. Dead, killed by Hugo in session 9 [26]. The crystal was destroyed in the same moment, and Hugo gathered its shards [32][41]. No one had a spell slot left to bind her soul [42].

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 9, line 1065-1089: A man who looks like a minor foreman kneels before a cracked red crystal and pulls the party into visions.
  2. ^ Session 9, line 1100-1196: Mind-pull visions of each member's greatest failure; Terry and Caelumn fail their saves.
  3. ^ Session 9, line 1196-1318: Combat; Hugo dominated and sent against Vasquez, then Harvo.
  4. ^ Session 9, line 1316-1318: Harvo decapitated by dominated Hugo.
  5. ^ Session 9, line 1417-1423: Hugo, free of the domination, beheads her; the crystal cracks.
  6. ^ Session 9, line 863: Inline citation.
  7. ^ Session 9, line 1011-1013: Inline citation.
  8. ^ Session 9, line 1065: Inline citation.
  9. ^ Session 9, line 1077-1080: Inline citation.
  10. ^ Session 9, line 1562: Inline citation.
  11. ^ Session 9, line 1306-1318: Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 9, line 1065-1069: Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 9, line 1088-1089: Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 9, line 1211: Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 9, line 1092-1196: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 9, line 1211-1213: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 9, line 1265-1283: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 9, line 1345-1349: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 9, line 1356-1371: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 9, line 1213: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 9, line 1371: Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 9, line 1283: Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 9, line 1207-1209: Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 9, line 1346: Inline citation.
  25. ^ Session 9, line 1279-1282: Inline citation.
  26. ^ Session 9, line 1422: Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 9, line 1105-1106: Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 9, line 1235: Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 9, line 1176: Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 9, line 1195-1196: Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 9, line 1358-1371: Inline citation.
  32. ^ Session 9, line 1423: Inline citation.
  33. ^ Session 9, line 1482-1483: Inline citation.
  34. ^ Session 9, line 1105: Inline citation.
  35. ^ Session 9, line 1135: Inline citation.
  36. ^ Session 9, line 1181: Inline citation.
  37. ^ Session 9, line 1089-1092: Inline citation.
  38. ^ Session 9, line 1110-1196: Inline citation.
  39. ^ Session 9, line 1211-1235: Inline citation.
  40. ^ Session 9, line 1279-1318: Inline citation.
  41. ^ Session 9, line 1510: Inline citation.
  42. ^ Session 9, line 1514-1515: Inline citation.