Isharnai

Isharnai the Prism Sage is a hag who lives in the Cyrios Mountain woods north of the Bromkiln Hills. She often performs feats of magic for those that seek her out, charging highly for her craft. As an NPC, Isharnai is played by Matthew Mercer.

Appearance
Isharnai is a hag with elongated features, reminiscent of elves with high and prominent cheekbones, a pointed jaw, deeply sunken jowls, and dull green eyes, that were almost glowing. She has oily black hair that is very unkempt, and extended arms that each have an additional elbow, ending in extremely long, similarly extended fingers. Isharnai is around seven-and-a-half feet tall, but her incredibly hunched posture makes her appear only six-and-a-half. She moves with supernatural grace, alternating between languid movements and rapid ones.

When she met the Mighty Nein she wore tattered robes that were wrapped with golden twine holding it in place in a unique pattern. Above the dark robes, she wore a gray-brown stained cloak.

When Yasha threatened her, Isharnai's body briefly swelled and cast unnatural shadows across the room.

Personality
Matt describes Isharnai as a "very intelligent and conniving individual that has made their living feeding off the misery of other people that she's tricked them into." However, she did not approach Beau's father nor the Mighty Nein; they came to her. The willingness of the person to make the deal is important to her.

Isharnai is extremely old, claiming to have seen many lifetimes. She is unsurprisingly cautious. When the Mighty Nein appeared at her lair, she watched them invisibly from atop her house to observe them. Though they told her they wished to converse peacefully, she tried not to leave her back exposed, and only met with them one at a time inside her windowless house, where she can open and close the one door at will and perhaps see through the walls.

Isharnai has a habit of sniffing loudly when she gets close to people; she tells Beau that can smell her misery, and Beau's scent is "familiar" because they are already somehow tethered, but Isharnai does not immediately recognize it's through her father.

Before Campaign 2
At some point before 813 PD, Isharnai met Thoreau Lionett when he entered her cabin in the woods of the Cyrios Mountains north of Bromkiln Hills: down on his luck, living on the streets, and thinking he had not enough wealth to marry the woman he loved named Clara. Isharnai introduced herself as a fortuneteller, offering him a deal — in exchange for a fragment of his fortune, he would get what he was after. Thoreau agreed, so she told him to pick a place in the mountains and the ground would grow, that he would be a craftsman of fine spirits, and that "a young beau will take on the great name to continue the success, until everything eventually will humble [him] by that which [he] desired most". He borrowed what he could from Clara's family to buy derelict farm property in the hills on the north side of Kamordah and grew grapes on it, with amazing success. Lionett family is now very well off and their wine is famous.

About three and a half years after Luc Brenatto's birth or in about 834-835 PD, a goblin clan, local to Felderwin vicinity, kidnapped the Brenatto family and after holding them hostage "for weeks", Veth Brenatto and her family attempted to escape, but only her son and husband succeeded. She was cornered by the goblins and threw a vial of acid in their leader's face, killing him. The goblins recaptured Veth, and the wife of the deceased leader took her to Isharnai with the instruction to make Veth suffer. The spellcaster drowned Veth in a river, and though Veth believes that she died, she later awoke, being reincarnated as a goblin and afflicted by a curse, preventing her to permanantly escape the body of a goblin.

Campaign 2: The Mighty Nein
The Mighty Nein realized that the mysterious woman that transformed Nott into a goblin, and the soothsayer that foretold Beau's father Thoreau Lionett's business success were probably the same person, which Caduceus ultimately confirmed with Commune. Researching at the Cobalt Soul archives, they discovered the woman was likely named Isharnai the Prism Sage. Nott used Disguise Self to show the others her memory of the woman and Jester cast Scryed on her, successfully seeing her in her home casting runes. However, Isharnai looked up and saw the scry focus, saying, "Hello. Who's this I see? My curiosity is piqued. I hope this means I'm having visitors". She then crushed the focus between her hands.

The invisible Isharnai perched unseen on top of her hut when the party reached it after traversing mountains, a swamp, and a bramble forest. Fjord was able to see her when he cast See Invisiblity, and greeted her. Insharnai invited them inside one at a time to bargain with her, offering to lift the curse on Nott in return for a new source of the misery upon which to feed. Beau offered to walk away from her family, the Mighty Nein, and her position with the Cobalt Soul. Nott offered to sabotage the upcoming peace negotiations between the Empire and the Dynasty, and Yasha offered her book of collected flowers. Jester convinced Isharnai to believe she is about to agree to sacrifice her hands to have Nott's curse lifted, but actually sprinkled her Dust of Deliciousness on a leftover blueberry cupcake, which she shared with Isharnai. The Dust of Deliciousness lowered Isharnai's ability to save against charm effects, and Jester took advantage of this to then successfully cast Modify Memory on her. Jester made Isharnai believe that they had such a good visit that Isharnai promised to lift the curse just to please Jester. Jester then left the somewhat confused and distracted Isharnai and went outside to the others, urging them to hurry away.

Jester sent a dozen black moss cupcakes to Isharnai via a summoned quickling. Isharnai confirmed receiving them via Jester's Sending spell in, although from her response it was unclear whether she was still under the influence of Jester's Modify Memory or had dispelled/removed it in the meantime.

Abilities

 * Can see invisible objects
 * Invisibility
 * Reincarnate or similar spell or magical ability used on Nott
 * Magic Resistance

Home
Isharnai lives in a dark forest in the Cyrios Mountains. Her home is about 15 to 20-feet in size, with a large porch. It has no windows and no back door. The cabin is rooted into the earth and looks more like a number of trees bound together, rather than a building constructed from planks of wood. There are a number of chain and rope hooks of unknown purpose along the outside of the house, and a wooden rack for stretching leathers outside. The thatched roof is overgrown with moss and mold.

Most of the interior of the house is occupied by her collection, in a way that is densely packed but clearly organized. Her collection includes books, broken lanterns, animal bone fragments, jars and vials containing miscellaneous components, and a number of stones arranged in a pattern. The room is muggy, with a smell like a mix of mildew and herbs. In the middle of the room is a table bearing a single glowing lantern. The ceiling is lined with cages of varying sizes holding small animals, which hang suspended from ropes and chains.

Behind the scenes
Matthew Mercer imagines Isharnai, who is no longer under the effects of Modify Memory, has some respect for having been outmaneuvered, but will cross paths with Jester again.

Appearances and mentions

 * Campaign 2

Quotations

 * Isharnai: "I've seen many lifetimes. And I enjoy being tethered to misery. It feeds me. And your friend has been a delicious drip. [...] Existing misery is paltry. New misery... that is lasting."