Asha

This page is about the character in Critical Role: Downfall. For the reilora encountered by Bells Hells, see Asha (reilora).

Asha
Official art of Asha, by Hannah Friederichs.
Type	Player Character
Actor	Taliesin Jaffe
Character Information
Name	Asha
Pronouns	she/her
Also known as	Wolf Queen
Creature type	Beast Humanoid (in Wild Shape)
Race	Wolf / Elf
Class	Monk (Way of the Long Death)
Age	38
Status
Status	Alive
Stats
Level	20
HP	188
AC	20
DC	19
Str	20
Dex	20
Con	20
Int	20
Wis	20
Cha	20
Appearances
First seen	"Downfall: Part One" (3x99)
Last seen	"Downfall: Part Three" (3x101)
Stream	Campaign Three (3 episodes)

Asha is a wolf who takes the shape of an elven monk, played by Taliesin Jaffe in Downfall. She is a mortal avatar of the goddess Melora, the Wildmother.

Description

Appearance

Asha appears to be a farmer or hunter of elven lineage, young although she doesn't look like it because she has clearly had a hard life. She looks unhealthy and too thin, her skin is ashen, and her dark hair is graying in patches. She has very bright yellow eyes. Her clothing, while once grand, is now old and carefully repaired multiple times. She has no shoes. Her expression is somewhere else. She has another form, that of a big timber wolf.

Personality

She is an intense and wild person, expressive whenever she feels angry or disappointed.

Biography

Background

After the main Exandrian pantheon agreed to collaborate in a plan to neutralize Aeor and their potentially dangerous technology, the Wildmother agreed to do her part, sending a mortal avatar of herself, Asha, to join their intended mission. She found several companions, like Madeen and Sherané, who were as rough as her and had been tested somehow, who stayed with Trist's family and helped defend Hawk's Hill after Asha departed for the flying city.

"Downfall: Part One" (3x99)

After receiving visions from Arcadia Cerenvetorix (the mortal incarnation of Ioun) Asha, accompanied by her team, traveled to Hawk's Hill, where she was supposed to meet others like her and take a ship to Aeor. They brought with them a wagon with a crate, and the monk was very protective of it, since it had been sent by Erathis. While they were there Asha noticed both Galdric and Dearest, the animal companions of Purvan Suul and Emhira (the mortal incarnation of the Raven Queen), noticing the scent of death in them; the wolf greeted Asha with respect and allowed her to pet him, after which she followed the raven until she found its owner, who was already with Ayden (the mortal incarnation of Pelor) and Trist (the mortal incarnation of Raei). Eventually, with the help of SILAHA (the mortal incarnation of Corellon), they boarded the Aeorian ship, and upon saying goodbye to her followers (who wanted to stay in Hawk's Hill to protect it), she told them to go home, take the night, and then find worthy people to test them like she would. While inside the ship the incarnated deities opened the crate, revealing The Emissary, a genasi agent sent by the Lawbearer, who told Asha that she was always with her, showing her some seeds; the monk, clearly disappointed because she expected a mortal incarnation of her lover, went to a corner and turned into a timber wolf, curling until SILAHA reminded her that it wasn't the time for sulking. After they crossed the Latimus Princeps (a barrier to keep gods outside) successfully, some Aeorian corporals started checking the wagons and crates they cast Zone of Truth, so Asha turned into a wolf again pretending to be Emhira's pet.

With some distractions they managed to leave the ship and take the Vermillion Line to move through the city of Aeor. As they were doing so, Asha stayed in wolf form, although complaining to her companions that she was hungry. They eventually arrived to the Chamber of Seasons, an extremely old and abandoned temple of Ioun where Arcadia was waiting for them, guiding them inside to meet four other people, incarnations of Betrayer Gods. They had a long and chaotic conversation about their goals in the city and their feelings about that world, during which Asha expressed she had come to the city ready to destroy whatever was necessary; at one point, Zaharzht (one of the mortal avatars, a horrible-looking tortle) looked at Asha and asked her if she would agree to be tortured by him forever if he promised to take good care of her, to which the monk gently refused. Noticing that there was some tension and that Arcadia might not be telling them all the information, Asha cast Detect Thoughts, but the archmage resisted it, and asked her not to mess with the mind she had been working on for years. Eventually it was agreed that Asha would be part of the team in charge of destroying the Obtenebrator (a device that was hiding Aeor from divine eyes), and Arcadia suggested her to bring the Emissary with her.

"Downfall: Part Two" (3x100)

Before she and her team left to find the Obtenebrator, she noticed that the Emissary was interacting with a statue of Erathis, so, irritated, Asha walked by him and used her telepathy to tell him to stop it. They, along with Zaharzht and Tishar (Gruumsh's avatar) traveled using the Vermillion Line again, hidden by Arcadia's Sphere of Invisibility, and Asha sat with the Emissary; she told him that she had prepared a gift for Erathis (a forest with rules so that the goddess of laws could give her opinions on them), and had expected to meet her mortal avatar, as a "reward" for herself after the mission. After the Emissary assured her that the Lawbearer wanted to be there but couldn't, and that she loved her, Asha stayed with him, leaning on him; with his permission, she lied to herself telling him that it was good that he was there, although immediately after she admitted that they did need him in the mission, and that strangely, the Betrayers' avatars seemed to understand their purpose better than the Primes'. Then the barbarian confessed his goddess had also a gift for Melora, revealing that she had planted her first forest, and that surprised Asha, who declared that sounded like a better present than hers. She then commented that she was hungry, and that she had been since they arrived to Exandria (and especially in that mission, since the Wildmother's gifts weren't very appreciated by Aeor).

When they arrived to the Genesis Ward they found a tree near a courthouse, a fruit tree sent by the Golden Scythe to the Magestri of Aeor. Asha, noticing that even if the tree got sunlight both it and the animals nesting there were isolated from nature, approached, and the birds there bowed to her, recognizing her, and telling her how Aeorians had removed most of the trees and no longer left food for them on the streets. The avatar of the Wildmother used her powers to take a piece of apple and extract as much life from it as she could, producing worms for the birds to eat (including those that arrived attracted by her), and then nourishing the tree itself, who told her that its roots went deeper than the mages thought, proving it by using them to open a way for Asha's team through the Onyx Pinnacle. Asha went in after taking a twig from the tree, and when the Emissary praised Asha's work looking at the tree, Tishar, annoyed, complained for being in the mission with "the couple"; after hearing that Asha commented that her divine self was always somewhat scared of the Ruiner, even before the Schism. Eventually they found a pool of inky shadow tended by an archmage and protected by two big constructs. The Emissary and Zaharzht immediately went after the wizard, but he managed to break free and move away from the Emissary, Misty Stepping as soon as he was far enough. However, Asha tracked him down and, after summoning her weapon, she used the herald of Erathis to propel herself, reaching the archmage and attacking him, bypassing his Shield, stunning him, and finally killing him by biting his throat out. After breaking the machines there, the avatars left through Emhira's Arcane Gate before the Aeorian authorities arrived.

"Downfall: Part Three" (3x101)

In the extradimensional room in the Ars Elysia the gods tried to convince Cassida Previn, one of the archmages working in the Factorum Malleus, to listen to them and help them, despite the fact that the Betrayer Gods she opposed were in the same team as the Prime Deities. When she explained that she wanted to help, and assured that she could help them destroy the machine and eliminate her own work (sparing Aeor in the process), Asha asked if she really could do it; when the wizard insisted she could, calling herself fool for not understanding all the circumstances surrounding the gods before creating the Factorum Malleus, Melora's avatar commented she didn't have a way to know.

After Umleta showed them a recording in which Acastriel (Pelor's solar, who Ayden recognized) talked with two of Cassida's colleagues and urged them to activate the Factorum Malleus, the avatars started moving, as Aeor shook surrounded by Kord's tempest. Before leaving the Ars Elysia Asha took a bottle of alcohol to drink something, and tossed another to Tishar. As they walked towards the tree Asha had nurtured before, she told Tishar that she didn't understand her concept of fun, to which the avatar of the Ruiner replied commenting how surprised she was that the Wildmother had more followers than Gruumsh. Asha focused on the sounds of the vermin of Aeor, confirming that there were tunnels in the city they could use, and when they reached the tree and rats started to come out of an opening, the monk teased Tishar back, telling her that she (Melora) had so many more followers. As they entered the tunnels Asha used her powers to produce a lot of fruit, so that all the little creatures that were helping them would have a wonderful meal before the end; at the same time, a wall of stone emerged from the ground to protect the tree from the storm. They decided that Arcadia, Emhira, Umleta, and Trist would accompany Cassida to the scroll bank connected to the Factorum Malleus, to destroy the information it contained while the rest of the team destroyed the wards of the machine following the archmage's instructions. When Asha and her team arrived to the chamber they found it protected by Acastriel and the two co-creators of the machine, assisted by constructs, demons, and dragons. A battle started, and Asha moved nimbly through the different sections of the Factorum Malleus, stunning a glabrezu and attacking an irrevocable construct several times, although consuming a lot of ki in the process. When SILAHA, who had been unable to attack until that moment, used his magic to cast Meteor Swarm, Asha used the magical connection created by Ayden to teleport next to the aeormaton, helping him avoid some of the impacts and moving him around the chamber as if they were dancing. After the wards of the Factorum Malleus were destroyed the Emissary disanimated the machine itself, but Selena Erenves (SILAHA's creator, who had used a Wish to spread the information of the Factorum Malleus to the mind of every wizard in the city) distracted the avatars with a glass emblem that Asha took, releasing Arcadia from it (revealing that the now missing Father Milo must have been replacing her during part of their mission).

Since SILAHA and the Emissary were staying in the chamber with the crumbling machine, Asha kissed the latter's forehead, and told him he was right; then she joined the avatars of the other Prime Deities and ran to the scroll bank. There they discovering the corpse of Cassida, and Asmodeus, already in his divine form, preparing to use a scroll to turn the weapon against them, although Trist stopped him by obliterating the scroll in his hand. As the destruction of Aeor started, Asha, feeling those were their last moments as mortals, became a wolf again and nuzzled Trist; after she saw Ayden becoming Pelor to make the Lord of the Hells leave, the Wolf Queen ran away to find Zaharzht. She found the tortured tortle struggling to keep his agonizing mortal form, and she told him that she missed him; he answered telling her that since the Wildmother had found Exandria, the suffering experienced in that world was her fault. Asha then transformed into an elf again and held Zaharzht, allowing him to hurt her and make her bleed as she abandoned her own mortal form that way; her blood also became juice, honey, and sap, a last gift that restored the body of the avatar of Torog (the brother she felt she had ruined) before his mortal form disappeared too. After Aeor crashed the Prime Deities that had been part of the mission gathered in Eiselcross, and were joined by Erathis, who explained that one of the reasons she hadn't joined the mission in person was that she knew if she saw Asha in danger she would break the rules to help her, and that's why she sent the Emissary instead. The deities spoke briefly about the possibility of leaving Exandria to stop hurting it (Melora didn't want to leave), and eventually decided to return to their realms. Erathis, remembering the conversation between Asha and the Emissary, asked her wife to tell her everything about her son, and the two goddesses walked away together, as the Wildmother started talking about the brave child that was the Emissary.

Character information

Notable items

• A twig from a fruit tree sent to Aeor from Avalir
• A staff that looks like a thorny and depressing version of Melora's symbol

Abilities

Feats

• Telepathic
• Wild Shape: Instead of a traditional feat Asha chose to develop the ability to Wild Shape into an elven woman at will.

Monk abilities

• Unarmored Defense
• Martial Arts
• Ki
• Unarmored Movement
• Dedicated Weapon (possibly)
• Deflect Missiles
• Monastic Tradition: Way of the Long Death
  • Touch of Death: When someone died next to Asha, by eating their throat she gained 25 temporary hit points.
  • Hour of Reaping: Creatures within 30 feet must succeed on a Wisdom save or be frightened.
  • Mastery of Death: When reduced to 0 hit points, can expend 1 ki point for 1 hit point.
  • Touch of the Long Death: As an action, touch one creature and expend 1 to 10 ki points. On a failed Constitution save, target takes 2d10 necrotic damage per ki point spent on a failed save, or half on a success.
• Slow Fall
• Extra Attack
• Stunning Strike
• Ki-Empowered Strikes
• Evasion
• Stillness of Mind
• Purity of Body
• Tongue of the Sun and Moon
• Diamond Soul
• Timeless Body
• Empty Body
• Perfect Self

Deity Abilities

• Divine Prowess: After calculating all bonuses, the Wildmother doubles the result of any skill check she makes. Her passive skill checks are also doubled.
• Divine Magic: The Wildmother may cast any cleric spell or domain spell of a domain she grants of any level once per turn without using a spell slot (it still takes an action, however). The Wildmother's spell save DC is doubled as is the range, area of effect, and duration of all her spells.
• Divine Vitality: Provided she hasn't taken damage since the beginning of her last turn, the Wildmother regenerates all hit points at the start of her turn. All her death saving throws are considered Natural 20s (bringing her up to 1 hit point automatically). Her maximum HP, current HP, and any temporary HP given by spells is multiplied by 10. Finally, she is immune to the poisoned, petrified, and paralyzed conditions, as well as any disease.
• Divine Potency: All damage the Wildmother deals by spells or weapon attacks is multiplied by 10. After rolling an attack roll, the Wildmother can double the result and use that instead. After calculating all bonuses, the Wildmother doubles her armor class. Her range with ranged weapons is also doubled.
• Divine Resistance: The Wildmother has five Legendary Resistances. After rolling a saving throw, she can double the result. The Wildmother is immune to all non-magical damage, damage from weapons that are not Artifacts, and damage from spells of 6th level or lower. She is also immune to two elemental damage types (likely radiant and psychic) and resistant to four elemental damage types (one of which is possibly fire).
• Divine Awareness: The Wildmother has truesight, blindsight, and tremorsense to a range of 120 ft. She can speak and understand all languages (spoken and written) and communicate telepathically to any creature she can see. She is immune to the charmed, frightened, stunned, blinded, and deafened conditions.
• Divine Vigor: The Wildmother regains all limited use class features at the start of her turn. She is immune to exhaustion, and after all bonuses are calculated, has her speed doubled. The Wildmother has three Legendary Actions per round.  

Appearances and mentions

• Campaign Three: Bells Hells
  • "Downfall: Part One" (3x99) (first appearance)
  • "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100)
  • "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101)
  • "The Cradle's Convocation" (3x104), in an illusion

Quotations

Fan art of Asha, by Khalliys.

• Asha: This place is beautiful as only an obscenity can be. They're very clever.
• Asha: I miss you in there, some days. I really do.
  Zaharzht: Why don't you come find me? I don't want to do this alone.
  Asha: I'm so sorry.
  Zaharzht: If I promise to take care of you, can I torture you forever?
  Asha: You already do.
• Ayden: I will go with Father Milo.
  Trist: Don't let him get into your head. He does not tell the truth.
  Asha: Don't let him get into your head. He only tells the truth. It's just... rotting.

Trivia

• The binary at the bottom of Asha's character card translates to "nature".
• Taliesin Jaffe confirmed that Asha's name was a reference to the Ashari.
• Taliesin described Asha as someone who lives "inside Melora", contrasting her with the other mortal avatars in a way that implies that the monk wasn't born and grew up like them.
• Asha's identity as an individual that alternates between elven and lupine form is reminiscent of a subrace of elves briefly mentioned in 5th Edition, the lythari, naturally shapeshifting elves able to take the form of full wolves, instead of the hybrid forms used by werewolves. Taliesin, however, confirmed that Asha's true form was an actual wolf, and that instead of taking a feat at higher levels she took the ability of Wild Shape into an elven woman, for convenience.
  • In the same interview where Taliesin confirmed that, he also said that, although in the past (specifically in "Critical Role: Sick Day" (Sx82)) he had talked about a monk built ready for a potential Exandria Unlimited-like series, he didn't used that built for Asha, and he's going to save it for a future game.
• In "Cages" (3x103) Ashton Greymoore made an indirect reference to Asha the first time he saw the Abundant Terrace in Vasselheim, commenting that he wished he had an apple in that moment.
• While he was communing with Melora Orym told the goddess about what he and his friends had learned about the fall of Aeor and the involvement of the gods, and upon hearing this her face transformed into that of Asha for a moment, before leading him to a forest in which howling could be heard.

References

Art: