Raishan

Raishan, the Diseased Deceiver, is an ancient green dragon and a member of the Chroma Conclave. As an NPC in Critical Role, Raishan is portrayed by Matthew Mercer, also appearing in The Legend of Vox Machina, where she voiced by Cree Summer.

Appearance
Raishan, as an ancient green dragon, is able to morph her form: for several years prior to the Chroma Conclave attack, she lived amongst the Fire Ashari in the form of a human teenage girl; she later took on the form of Seeker Assum and a dwarf named Larkin.

Her natural form is that of a green dragon with piercing green eyes that can move independent of each other, gnarled green scales and hide, and arrays of brilliantly white teeth. She is, however, much smaller than the other ancient members of the Chroma Conclave, due to the strange disease countered upon her by a druid half a century ago. Because of this ailment, her body is covered with festering pustule sores and gashes. However, this does not hinder her fighting ability.

Personality
Until the rise of Vecna, Raishan was considered the greatest nemesis that Vox Machina had fought. Despite her illness making her physically weaker and smaller, her mind was perhaps the sharpest of the Chroma Conclave. She managed to deceive Vox Machina for some time as Seeker Assum, and concealed her underlying motives even after her identity was revealed. She was innately clever and charismatic, and managed to evade Vox Machina twice.

Raishan is a long-term planner. It was Raishan that brokered the idea that if all five chromatic dragons worked together, they could wipe out most of the controlling Kingdom of Tal'Dorei on the continent. The five together would also be powerful enough to wipe out the most immediate threat to the Conclave: Draconia. The result would be the Conclave members put in a position of power with no serious opposition.

Raishan shares the general contempt of her chromatic brethren for "insignificant creatures", dissmissing all the importance of lives and saying to Keyleth that she acts "as though the laws of the anthill affect the foot that crushes it". She displayed lack of regret for her part in the genocide against the Fire Ashari, seeing them as little more than an annoying but minor obstacle in her mission to find a cure for her affliction.

Curse
Half a century ago before 811 PD, Raishan had toppled a building temple of Melora and slaughered all the followers, but, as she was breaking her last victim, the high druid "gave her dying breath to spite Raishan", cursing her with sickness. At first symtoms did not appear to be severe, however, it spread and worsened over the years. Raishan left her "base interests" and became obsessed with finding a cure but everything she tried failed. Thordak seemed to recognize the disease and offered to rid her of the illness in return for her servitude. They made an agreement to discuss the terms after Thordak returned from marking his domain. But he did not return.

Thordak escape
Raishan found out, after years of seeking, that Thordak had been bound by a soul anchor to the Elemental Plane of Fire. When she met him there he spoke of plans for vengeance and dominance. He refused to reveal the cure for Raishan's disease until after she found a way to release him. Raishan proposed the Chroma Conclave and prepared everything for Thordak's escape.

About four years before the Chroma Conclave attacked Emon, Raishan came to Pyrah, disguised as a fifteen-year-old human girl. She joined the Fire Ashari who guard the rift to the Elemental Plane of Fire. The leader of the Ashari, Cerkonos, noticed that she did not seem to mature like a normal human and saw that she possessed great power but he did not realize her true nature as a green dragon. Unbeknownst to Vox Machina, Raishan was still with the Fire Ashari when they arrived in the village to Keyleth comlepte her Aramenté.

Raishan planned to free Thordak from the fire plane at the celestial solstice when the barriers between the Material Plane and the other Planes of Existence grow thinnest. However, the power he was consuming from the soul anchor had started driving him mad. Therefore, she decided to initiate the escape at Winter's Crest instead, as she feared Thordak would forget their deal if she waited any longer.

Around the time of the Winter's Crest festival following the defeat of the Briarwoods, Raishan released Thordak by ripping open Pyrah's rift to the Elemental Plane of Fire. After Thordak was freed from the fire plane, Raishan realized that he had never meant to tell her the cure. She then began her plan to kill him and then make his spirit tell her how to rid herself of the illness.

Rise of Chroma Conclave
On 26 Duscar, 810 PD, six days after Thordak's escape, Raishan, along with members of the Chroma Conclave attacked Emon, when Sovereign Uriel Tal'Dorei II was giving his abdication speech. She released a smoke of her poison breath into the crowd and intimidated Vox Machina to flee to the Greyskull Keep by Keyleth's Transport via Plants.

Upon conquering Emon, Raishan, Vorugal, and Umbrasyl flew to their next objectives to the east, reacing Westruun within a few hours. Lady Allura Scryed across Tal'Dorei, revealing to Vox Machina that eastern towns, including Westruun, had been conquered. A few days after destroying Westruun, on 29 Duscar, 810 PD, the dragons had reached the Dreemoth Ravine and have attacked the flying dragonborn city of Draconia that had been tracking their movements, and was considered to be a priority target for the Conclave. During the attack, the dragons destroyed the brumestone contraptions that held the city aloft, causing it to crash down into the ravine.

For some time after the initial attack, Raishan seemed to disappear, with nobody seeing or hearing anything about her current activities. Shaun Gilmore explained to Vox Machina that attempts to scry Raishan's location had been hindered.

Raishan finally reappeared in Whitestone, where she revealed to Vox Machina that she had taken the form of Assum Emring. She proposed an alliance of sorts with Vox Machina, saying that she wanted to take down the Cinder King, Thordak.

Raishan proposed an alliance, explaining that with circumstances as they were, she thought that Vox Machina had very little choice, much like her. When Vax asked about her motives, she revealed her history to the party.

Raishan assisted Vox Machina during the battle against Vorugal. After Vex'ahlia dealt a fatal blow to the white dragon, Raishan flew down and tore Vorugal's throat out.

As Seeker Assum, Raishan wiped Kima's memory of her present disguise when Vox Machina arrived home. After some debate amongst Vox Machina and some of their allies, they agree to kill Thordak first. Soon after their decision, Percy threatened Raishan into showing herself and also revealed how they allied together to kill Vorugal. Caught, Raishan did reveal herself and also assured them that the real Seeker Assum was alive. After a plan was proposed to her, and a promise to return the real Seeker Assum safe and sound, she disappeared.

Vox Machina reports to Cassandra, Brom Goldhand, Seeker Assum, and Raishan (as herself, for once) about the events that took place at Fort Daxio. Raishan suggests that they use the armies to attack Thordak and draw him out of his lair. She adds on that she doesn't have a clue on what Thordak is building in the Cloudtop District.

Although some of their allies were wary of trusting Raishan, she was still a part of the plan. Raishan, disguised as "Larkin" this time, joined Vox Machina and their allies to begin the attack on Emon.

Raishan assisted Vox Machina in the battle against Thordak. After the red dragon was slain, Raishan walked up to his corpse and began casting a spell from a scroll. Vax'ildan then attacked her, having been told by Keyleth not to let the green dragon touch Thordak's corpse. Raishan fled deeper into Thordak's lair. Vax, Vex, and Keyleth chased after her and entered a lava-filled cavern containing five strange crystalline dragon eggs. From her position at the ceiling of the cavern, Raishan cast Meteor Swarm and dealt some heavy damage to the half-elves.

The rest of Vox Machina and their allies made their way down into Thordak's lair to join the fight with Raishan. Scanlan used the flute given to him by J'mon Sa Ord and the brass dragon soon arrived to aid them. During the fight, Raishan dealt heavy damage to Vox Machina, forcing them to focus on healing each other rather than attacking her. Both Vex'ahlia and Scanlan were temporarily killed during the battle. When most of them were laying injured or unconscious on the ground, Raishan took the opportunity to Teleport more than a mile away from Thordak's lair (out of reach of the Vex's Primal Awarness), taking two of his eggs and his corpse.

After Raishan's escape, she was exhausted from the battle and did not have the power to ward against magical surveillance. Thus Keyleth was able to Scry on her and saw an isolated island in the middle of an ocean. Her vision jumped into the caverns underneath its landmass and into a laboratory full of bookshelves. Within that laboratory, Keyleth saw Thordak's corpse, the two dragon eggs, and Raishan in the form of a humanoid woman with long green hair, furiously searching through the books then tossing them aside.

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The next day, Vox Machina infiltrated the island and, pushing through flameskulls and zombies, eventually reached Opash's laboratory, where Raishan in her humanoid form was still looking through his notes. However, when Vex and Vax attempted to cast Hunter's Mark in her direction, the spell had no effect. Vox Machina were drawn by the cunning dragon deeper within the cavern, searching for her present and clustering together in the narrow passage, — the moment couldn't have been more appropriate for the devastating Meteor Swarm, which instantaneously brought Kerrek, Allura, and Trinket into an unconscious state and prepared Scanlan for his soon demise.

Although all odds were in favor of Raishan, perched deeper within the cavern and hidden from direct attacks behind Greater Invisibility, she only had four legendary resistances. When the last one drew to its end and Greater Invisibility was Dispelled by Allura, the space was open for the decisive point of the battle. Keyleth contrived to successfully affect the dragon with Feeblemind, reducing her to a primal beast, who unable to use any spells, and devoid of her sense of self-preservation that would help her escape. Nevertheless, Raishan still managed to tear Percy apart, gutting his entrails across the stone floor, before she was struck by a Duskcrusher blow from Kerrek that inverted her skull inward with a flash of divine and finalizing might.

Keyleth
The relationship between Keyleth and Raishan is comparable to the rivalry between Percy and Ripley. But unlike Ripley, Raishan thought very little of Keyleth, considering her just another insect among many. She seemed to delight in taunting her over the destruction of the Fire Ashari and treating her like a child, which served to further enrage the druid. Keyleth later begrudgingly agreed to the alliance that Raishan had proposed to kill Thordak but she still reminded the dragon that the last thing she will see is Keyleth's face before she dies.

In their last encounter, Keyleth spoke up against the dragon, keeping her anger in check and mentioning her hope that during her very long lifetime she does not become like her. She gave Raishan a chance to surrender and be brought to justice, a far cry from their first proper encounter in Whitestone weeks before. Raishan refused the offer and instead attempted to kill or enslave them all, but her overconfidence and arrogance became her undoing as Keyleth effectively neutralized her with Feeblemind, destroying her very identity and intellect.

Thordak
After years of searching for a cure, failing to find one, she found Thordak. The red dragon claimed to know the disease, and even the cure for it. He offered to reveal to her the cure, in return she would be loyal to him. Desperate for the disease to go away, she accepted. Soon Raishan began serving under Thordak, in hopes of being told the cure for her disease.

When Thordak fell for the trap that landed him in the Elemental Plane of Fire Raishan freed him. She proposed and prepared the Chroma Conclave to him, while he was imprisoned. When he was free, Raishan hoped that he would now reveal the cure to her. But soon after freeing him, she realized he had no intent to help her after all that.

Thordak did not care about her disease. He was intent on exacting revenge now. Raishan promised herself that she would kill him and still get the cure from him. Her loyalty didn't last long. Raishan went behind Thordak's back and teamed up with Vox Machina to end Vorugal and Thordak. She helped bring his demise, with the help of Vox Machina.

Notable items

 * Magic scroll; cast a spell similar to Speak with Dead (used on Thordak's corpse)

Abilities
In the Monster Manual 5e, green dragons have no abilities to morph their appearance or shape. It's unclear if Raishan's capability to do so is homebrewed by Matt or she happened to have Shapechange or Polymorph  spells.


 * 520 hit point maximum
 * +14 constitution save modifier
 * +9 dexterity save modifier
 * Four legendary actions per round instead of three, usual for the ancient green dragon.

Behind the scenes

 * As revealed by Matthew Mercer during, right after Thordak's defeat and after she , Raishan cast an ancient, torturous version of Speak with Dead to learn the location of Opash's lair and the secret to her getting rid of the soul curse/disease that she knew Thordak had been truthful about from the beginning. He had told her about it in battle, said he could help her, and it was part of his plan to become a dracolich. When Vox Machina interrupted the ritual, she sealed them off with the Wall of Force to buy enough time and finish the ritual and get enough information to teleport to Opash labaratory on the Island of Viscan. There, she then got the rest of the information she needed to transition into a dracolich and leave her diseased body. If Vox Machina hadn't stopped her, she would have finished the transformation ritual and left Tal'Dorei, establishing a new lair on another continent.
 * Matt had planned for her to be a villain in the next campaign.

Appearances and mentions

 * Campaign 1
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina
 * The Legend of Vox Machina

Quotations

 * (during the Chroma Conclave attack on Emon) "Delicious cattle. Raishan enjoys the taste of fear."
 * (to Vox Machina just before their final battle) "You act as though the laws of the anthill affect the foot that crushes it."

Trivia

 * It was during the final battle with Raishan that Cabal's Ruin became exalted, after absorbing a Meteor Swarm spell cast by the Diseased Deceiver.
 * As of, Raishan holds the record of causing the most deaths among the members of Vox Machina and any other player adventuring parties with total of four. She was responsible for the deaths of Vex and Scanlan in , and of Percy and Scanlan (again) in.
 * Raishan is the only member of the Chroma Conclave to survive the episodes sharing their names, whereas Umbrasyl, Vorugal, and Thordak were all killed in their respective episodes (, , and ).
 * Raishan is the only member of the Chroma Conclave who suffered a killing blow by a guest character (Kerrek); her four colleagues were killed by members of Vox Machina: Vax'ildan (Brimscythe and Thordak), Vex'ahlia (Vorugal), and Grog (Umbrasyl).