The Succubus
| The Succubus | |||||||||
| the crystal-chamber succubus · the s9 succubus | |||||||||
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The s9 Succubus is the fiend who held court at the cracked red crystal in the upper Black Vein Quarry and used the crystal’s enchantment radiation to turn miners into ghosts. She first appeared in session 9 disguised as an old man kneeling at the crystal, then as a fully-manifested succubus when each party member’s mind-pull failure-vision ended. She dominated Hugo and pointed him at Harvo, whose reduced max-HP from earlier spectres’ necrotic drain meant Harvo could not survive Hugo’s natural-twenty critical for 23 damage [3]. Harvo’s last words: “Well, fuck.” The Succubus was killed shortly after by Hugo on a re-roll.
Overview
The s9 Succubus is the fiend who used the cracked red crystal radiating enchantment in the upper Black Vein Quarry to turn the missing miners into ghosts. She first appeared as an old man kneeling at the crystal; when the party entered the chamber, she pulled each character into a personal mind-vision of their greatest failure (the visions named Bison, called out Caelumn’s Platinum Order insufficiency, mocked Terry’s failed Rite of Returning for his sister, called Hugo “the perfect little monster they made”), then revealed herself as a fully-manifested succubus.
The s9 succubus seemed to recognize or sense something about Hugo, but the exact reason is not public knowledge. The party have speculated at the table about a connection to other Project Veilbreak survivors (notably Bella) but no in-fiction connection has been confirmed.
She used Dominate Person twice: on Hugo (failed save), pointing him at Vasquez then at Harvo; and on Terry (failed save). Caelumn’s quickened Magic Missile broke her concentration on Hugo’s first domination, but she re-cast on the next round and pointed Hugo at Harvo. Hugo’s first axe hit, the second was a natural 20 critical for 23 damage. Harvo’s reduced max HP — the spectres earlier in the session had drained him — meant he could not survive the crit. He fell.
“Well, fuck.” — Harvo, last words, [3]
The Succubus was killed shortly after by Hugo’s own next turn (29 damage, two axes, “tomahawk to the neck”). Caelumn attempted to bind her soul into the Soulbinder’s Packed Ring at second level slot — outside CR range — and failed.
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.” — to Vasquez in his vision
“Beautiful tune. Too bad it’s the wrong one. And she had such faith in you.” — to Terry in his vision
“My, you are quite the perfect little monster they made, aren’t you? Not even your allies are safe.” — to Hugo in his vision
“Kill that one.” — Whispered telepathy after dominating Hugo, pointing first at Vasquez, then at Harvo
Distinct from the s8 Succubus
This is the second succubus the party encountered. The s8 forest-clearing Succubus was a separate entity. Both were succubi; both used Dominate Person; only this one killed a player character.
Status as of session 16
Dead. The cracked red crystal she had been using was destroyed in the same combat; Hugo picked up the shards.