Hotis

Hotis  is a rakshasa initially found pretending to be a dwarf named Hosim, the manager of the Velvet Cabaret in Vasselheim. Half of Vox Machina, as well as Thorbir Falbek and Kashaw Vesh, were contracted to hunt him in. He was slain, with Vax'ildan's killing blow accompanied by a taunt. Hotis eventually revived and later tracked down Vax in Whitestone. As an NPC, Hotis is played by Matthew Mercer.

Appearance
In Vasselheim, Hotis had finely-groomed brown hair that fell to his back in two braided ponytails. His beard was very long and capped with a gold ring that caused the end to poof out. He wore heavy makeup; his cheeks were rosy and his eyes were adorned with eyeliner.

Chapter 2
Toward the end of, the Slayer's Take trialists chased Hotis down into the catacombs through a tunnel in his room. After losing track of the rakshasa, they fell into the sewers and faced their first obstacle:  an otyugh. Although it was a tough opponent, the trialists prevailed, with Keyleth's Blight spell finishing off the creature. Continuing their chase after Hotis, they came upon two undead creatures that possessed Vax and Keyleth, who then turned against the rest of the party until Kashaw drove the spirits out of his allies' bodies. The trialists rested at an acid lake and immediately felt better after eating a Heroes' Feast. When they had crossed partway over the lake on the Carpet of Flying, antimagic glyphs along the walls activated; the carpet and its passengers fell from the air. Several of the party members took significant acid damage and the carpet lost its enchantment before all of the trialists finally reached the other side. As they entered the final room, they heard a soft, silky voice—Hotis.

Boss Fight
Hotis's disembodied voice, true to the rakshasa's devilish origins, began tempting the trialists away from their mission. On an uncharacteristic natural 20 Insight (Wisdom) check, Thorbir realized they were being tricked and gave the command to attack. With a higher initiative, Hotis started by charming Tiberius, but failed utterly when his magic was countered. Vax flung three daggers at him, the first two missing but the third hitting him in the shoulder for moderate damage.

A shield guardian appeared, and Kashaw cast Sacred Flame at it, but the guardian remained unaffected. The guardian then shot a Fireball that engulfed Kash and Thorbir (who rolled a natural 1) for heavy damage, also dealing splash damage to Tiberius and Keyleth. Vax, however, dodged the spell. Keyleth cast Faerie Fire, which failed against Hotis, so she transformed into her saber-toothed tiger form, Minxie. Tiberius used magic to slow the guardian, but Hotis was once again unaffected. Thorbir attacked the guardian with a series of attacks, damaging it with three successful strikes. Hotis turned to Vax and cast a spell, telepathically controlling the rogue, who then eviscerated Kash before regaining control of himself.

The shield guardian struck back against Thorbir, dealing low damage to him. Meanwhile, Keyleth (as Minxie) mauled the rakshasha for minor damage, and Thorbir slammed the shield guardian several more times. Keyleth repeated her first attack, but Hotis seemed to make the shield guardian take damage instead of himself, and then he began flying. Vax snuck up on the rakshasa and pierced him with a dagger. Although the hit was significant, it was lessened by the shield guardian once again taking damage. Kash manifested a mace out of magical energy and struck Hotis, while Vax was punched by the shield guardian. Keyleth attacked the shield guardian, hitting on two of her attacks and knocking it prone. Tiberius erected an obelisk of stone, crushing the shield guardian, but the agile rakshasa once again dodged out of the way. Hotis taunted them all, promising to hurt their loved ones, while beginning to manifest a portal for his escape. Tiberius instantly used his magic to prevent the rakshasa's escape. Vax finished off Hotis with a well-aimed dagger.

Chapter 5
By impersonating Gilmore, Hotis gifted Vax with a cursed Robe of Flaying in order to trick him into removing his protective gear and weapons, and invited him to take a walk to an isolated balcony of Castle Whitestone, where Hotis stabbed a surprised Vax. After a battle in which Vax fell unconscious but was healed by Scanlan, Vox Machina managed to kill Hotis again, with Pike dealing the killing blow with a powerful Flame Strike. Hotis's body violently and painfully exploded into pieces as he swore to return.

Discussing Hotis with Allura Vysoren and Shaun Gilmore, the party decided that Hotis's return for vengeance on Vax and Pike is a looming threat that must be proactively addressed. Allura revealed that slaying rakshasas on their home plane will permanently destroy them, so Pike remained in Whitestone to locate Hotis's essence and plan his demise while the rest of Vox Machina pursued more Vestiges of the Divergence.

Reference
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