Ira Wendagoth

Ira Wendagoth, also called the Nightmare King, is a fey creature who operated in a secret basement of the Moon Tower in the Mirror Towers of the Core Spire of Jrusar. He has been working alongside Birdie and Oleander Calloway for close to 6 years. As an NPC, Ira is played by Matthew Mercer.

Appearance
Ira's skin is a mix of pale gray and jaundiced yellow, and he is around ten feet tall and very thin. He has neither nose nor eyebrows and his lipless, jagged mouth resembles that of a jack-o-lantern in a smile that travels to his ears. His ears rise much higher than any known elf's and point backward. Both his eyes show a dark, solid color between green and black. His movements are described as spider-like.

Personality
Ira is an arrogant person. He is scathingly critical of Vali Dertrana's "dullard mind", and casual about using both "riffraff from the Steps" and Mahaan children for his experimentation. He hummed happily while he worked in an attempt to harness Gurge Kisgregg's lycanthropic abilities. However, while he appears to have few moral scruples, he is curious and mostly uninterested in pointless cruelty, and tells Bells Hells "If you destroy everything, how am I to play with it?"

Background
Ira was outcast from both the Seelie and Unseelie courts for being a "mad scientist". At some point he appeared in the Material Plane and was involved in the Apex War, work for both sides for a time, before he aligned more permanently with the Stratos Throne for the remainder of the conflict. Since the end of the war, Ira has been somewhat aimless since and worked odd jobs across the continent of Marquet to garner funding for his project with the Calloways.

Around 837 PD, he was approached by Birdie and Oleander Calloway, who acquired his assistance in building a device to ascertain the purpose of the Moontide Crown and the true nature of Ruidus, impressing upon him the severity of their circumstances.

According to Armand Treshi, shortly before 843 PD, he was pressed by deadlines of Otohan Thull and had to reluctantly hire Ira to expedite the "forging of chaos" in Jrusar and "unleash" the Shade Mother, deeply regretting it in retrospective. This was designed to push Chandei Quorum, desperate to bring back the peace on the street, to seek help of the Paragon's Call.

Ira is the creator of hand mirrors that contain corrupted versions of Unseelie Court assassins and are used by other assassins against their targets.

When Chetney Pock O'Pea searched Vali Dertrana's office in the Moon Tower, he found a hidden stairway leading to a cellar. From the top of the stairs, Chetney overheard Vali urging Ira to complete his plot quickly. Ira responded that Vali "failed to grasp the beautiful pattern [he] had already constructed across the city", and asked him to bring him some "riffraff from The Steps", and a Mahaan child "just to spice things up".

Upon returning to the office in the Moon Tower, Chetney snuck to the bottom of the hidden stairway to discover Ira working on a blue gem, utilizing electrical bolts and a large mechanical construct. Chetney recognized a figure in a holding cell nearby to be Gurge Kisgregg, and telepathically signaled Imogen to tell the party to quietly join him in hiding at the base of the stairs. However, as they approached, Ira faced them with a sinister greeting.

Ira initially made conversation with the party, asking them what they were doing. He confirmed that he was holding Gurge as part of a project that required volunteers, and that he had been hired by a man named Armand to do so, with Vali Dertrana as his supervisor. He also confirmed that he was, indeed, the Nightmare King. However, when the party asked that he free Gurge immediately, he told them that he was unimpressed with their manners, and dropped a glowing blue stone that animated the furniture in the room, and the tables and chairs attacked the party. Combat ensued. During the fight, Ira recognized Fearne as a Calloway by scent, and after the furniture had been destroyed and he was beginning to become more seriously wounded, he teleported from the room. Shortly after he did so, the Moon Tower exploded.

Bells Hells met with Birdie Calloway. A Detect Thoughts from Imogen revealed that she was working with Ira. Upon being questioned further by the party, Birdie told them that she had been working with Ira for the last 6 years, although she did not know the exact nature of the other jobs he had been undertaking in that time.

The party met Ira, along with Ollie, upon reaching the Calloway's hideout outside Bassuras. Ira apologized to them as he worked on the device he was building, known as the Veilscatter Scope. He told them that he was mostly motivated to work with the Calloways due to his own curiosity. While the party spoke with Ollie, Ira completed the Veilscatter Scope using the Weave Lens Fearne had brought. He also evaded several questions about the device and about Fearne, notably whether he had helped the Unseelie Court with their device, and whether he was complicit in Morri keeping Fearne with her for so long.

Ira asked Imogen what she'd seen in the Veilscatter Scope, to which she replied that she'd seen the prison-like lattice, but did not mention the city. Fresh Cut Grass attempted to Detect Thoughts on Ira, but, while they could discern his surface-level excitement, when they tried to probe detail, they were met with darkness and took psychic damage before being ejected from Ira's thoughts. Ira then thanked the party and the Calloways for helping him and cast Wall of Force to prevent anyone else from looking through the telescope, turning it towards an unknown target and looking through it. After seeing whatever he was looking for, he said "I must watch their faces as they fail." Upon some questioning from the party, he revealed that the people he is working against include Otohan Thull and Ludinus Da'leth. He then pulled out the Moontide Crown from the telescope, put it on his head, and teleported away. It was shortly after discovered by Imogen and FCG that Ira had likely been modifying the memories of the Calloways in order to keep them on the project.

Notable items

 * Animating stone: Magic item that animates objects.

Abilities

 * Damage resistance: Psychic
 * Magic resistance
 * Psychic backlash: Attempting to discern Ira's deeper thoughts via Detect Thoughts causes the reader to take psychic damage.
 * Multiattack: Two claw attacks.
 * Fey Step: Teleport as a bonus action.
 * Use bonus action to magically frighten creatures within 60 feet. Targets repeat the save at the end of their turn to end the effect.
 * Legendary Actions (at least 2 per round)
 * Cast a cantrip
 * Make a claw attack

Spellcasting
In addition to the spells below, Ira also cast a spell that allowed him to teleport away, though it is unknown which spell he used to do so.

Appearances

 * Campaign 3

Mentions

 * Campaign 3

Quotations

 * Ira: (to Gurge) Oh, do not worry, friend. You've a gift, a gift that you hoard so selfishly. I want to see it shared with the people. After all, why not share your gifts with the world?
 * Ira: Historically, Ruidus, it's been thought to change things, believed to bring dark tidings, corrupted fates. I took it as mere superstition, but when they all became so invested in it, when it peeked through, when all these patterns, as Hondir said. Well, how could I not want to pull on the thread myself? After all, what am I if not a lifelong master of things that evolve into something greater?