Ehaba is an elf who has made his home within the Derkwuds, somewhere beyond the paths most travellers know and deeper than sensible people willingly go. Around Draktun and the roads skirting the forest, his name is spoken quietly, although he’s most commonly known as Lord of the Crows.
He was not always feared. Ehaba was once simply clever, curious and far too willing to investigate places others had already decided were best left alone. The Derkwuds fascinated him: the mist that distorted sound, the black structures that predated known history, the Tear whose waters seemed to swallow light.
Where the hidden Guardians learned caution, Ehaba learned appetite – and he kept looking.
Over years of study, he became convinced that the oldest parts of the forest preserved echoes of Lady Bune as she had existed long before the Mother worshipped in Aranthaes today. Beneath the restraint, mercy and divine order, he believed he could sense something older: draconic, predatory and immensely powerful.
Eventually, something answered.
Ehaba, Lord of the Crows
Medium Humanoid (Elf, Warlock: Level 12 – The Mother’s Shadow), Neutral Evil
Hit Points: 78
Speed: 30ft.
10 (+0)
18 (+4)
14 (+2)
18 (+4)
14 (+2)
20 (+5)
Skills: Arcana +8, Deception +9, Insight +6, Intimidation +9, Perception +6, Persuasion +9, Stealth +8
Damage Resistances: Fire; Necrotic and Psychic while bearing the Shadow
Condition Immunities: —
Senses: Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 16
Languages: Common, Elvish, Infernal, Draconic
Challenge: 10 Prof Bonus: +4
Actions
Eldritch Blast. +9 to hit, range 120 ft. Ehaba creates three beams, each dealing 1d10+5 force damage on a hit. Through Dual Resonance, he may instead cause the damage to become radiant, necrotic or psychic.
Dagger. +8 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4+4) piercing damage.
Crows of the Derkwuds (1/day). Ehaba calls a violent flock of spectral and living crows from the surrounding darkness. Four swarms of ravens appear in unoccupied spaces within 60 ft. and obey Ehaba for up to 1 hour, until destroyed, or until dismissed.
Features
The Mother’s Shadow. Ehaba draws power from the buried draconic and infernal nature Lady Bune has spent millennia restraining. Unlike many who walk this path, he regards the Shadow as something to cultivate rather than resist.
Dual Resonance. Whenever Ehaba casts a warlock spell or uses a warlock feature, he may invoke either Bune’s Radiant or Shadow Aspect. He almost invariably chooses Shadow. Shadow Resonance may change spell damage to necrotic or psychic and, once per turn after Ehaba damages a creature, impose disadvantage on its next saving throw before the end of its next turn. His presence becomes noticeably unsettling whenever he does so.
Echo of the First Form. When reduced to half his hit points or fewer, or when he fails a saving throw, Ehaba may use his reaction to invoke an Echo. He normally chooses Shadow Echo, rerolling the failed roll; if the new roll succeeds, the creature responsible takes psychic damage equal to Ehaba’s Charisma modifier + proficiency bonus. He may invoke an Echo four times per long rest.
Bearer of the Shadow. Ehaba normally chooses this burden after every long rest. He gains resistance to necrotic and psychic damage. Once per turn, when a creature fails a saving throw against one of his spells, he may deal an additional 5 psychic damage to it.
Fey Ancestry. Ehaba has advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic cannot put him to sleep.
Eldritch Invocations. Agonizing Blast, Devil’s Sight, Eldritch Sight, Mask of Many Faces, Repelling Blast, and One with Shadows.
Spellcasting
Ehaba is a 12th-level warlock (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). He has three 5th-level spell slots, regained after a short or long rest.
Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation
Warlock spells: Armor of Agathys, Bane, Darkness, Dissonant Whispers, Fear, Hunger of Hadar, Bestow Curse, Blight, Hold Monster
Mother’s Shadow spells: Black Benediction, Draconic Memory, Shadow of the First Flame, Relapse, Echo of the Dragon Below
Mystic Arcanum (6th): Eyebite
Methods
The Older Mother. Ehaba believes the benevolent Lady Bune worshipped throughout Aranthaes is only one portion of a vastly older being. He seeks fragments of the power she abandoned or suppressed and considers the Church’s version of the Mother incomplete.
Whispers from the Derkwuds. Ehaba has spent years studying the black structures and the Derkwuds Tear. Whether they truly allow him greater access to Bune’s ancient nature or merely convinced him that they do is unknown.
Lord of the Crows. Crows gather wherever Ehaba remains for long. He uses them as watchers, warnings and instruments of intimidation, and travellers have learned that an unnatural number of silent black birds usually means he is nearby.
Mind Before Blade. Ehaba prefers fear, suggestion, deception and psychological pressure to direct violence. He enjoys leaving enemies unsure whether their decisions were ever truly their own.
Equipment
Dagger, Studded leather armor beneath dark travelling robes, Arcane focus of polished black stone, Hooded cloak, Derkwuds maps covered in personal annotations, Black feathers and ritual tokens, Component pouch, Backpack, Bedroll, Rations (5 days), Waterskin
Ehaba now draws upon the darker aspect of Bune’s nature through the path known as the Mother’s Shadow. He has little interest in the balance or restraint practised by others who carry that power. To him, the Shadow is not a burden. It is the more truthful half of a god whose worshippers have spent centuries pretending that redemption erased what came before.
This belief has made him an uncomfortable enemy of the Church and a particular source of unease among those who understand the Derkwuds. Ehaba does not deny Bune’s goodness. He simply considers it self-imposed weakness.
His magic reflects that philosophy. Ehaba favours fear, curses, psychic intrusion and the slow dismantling of another person’s confidence. He rarely chooses open violence when a whispered suggestion, implanted doubt or carefully cultivated terror will accomplish more. Those who encounter him often leave uncertain whether every decision they made in his presence was truly their own.
Crows and ravens gather around him in unnatural numbers. Some perch silently nearby; others circle above the trees or appear along roads shortly before he does. Ehaba encourages the belief that they serve as his eyes and messengers, though whether every bird actually answers to him is impossible to know. Travellers have learned that a sudden gathering of silent black wings in the Derkwuds is reason enough to turn back.
He presents himself with an unsettling refinement. Ehaba is calm, articulate and rarely hurried, even when threatening someone. He has no desire to command armies or rule territory in the conventional sense. Power interests him at a more intimate level: knowledge withheld, fear cultivated, choices influenced and people made aware that he understands something about them they would rather remain hidden.
His relationship with the Derkwuds Guardians is openly hostile. They believe the oldest places in the forest exist to be watched, contained and approached with humility. Ehaba believes their caution has blinded them to opportunity. More than once, Guardians have attempted to drive him from places surrounding the black structures or the Tear. None have persuaded him to leave the forest entirely.
Where exactly he lives is unknown.
There are stories of a ruined black chamber deep among the trees where crows gather by the hundreds. Others speak of an abandoned settlement swallowed by mist, or a dwelling built against one of the ancient structures itself. Ehaba never confirms any of them.
Adventurers may encounter him as an enemy, reluctant source of forbidden knowledge or even a temporary ally when his interests align with theirs. Any agreement with Ehaba should be approached with care.
He is patient enough to wait years for a debt to become useful.