What We Know About Thordak: A Summary

Thanks to @_dovaquiin for the art!

Following Vox Machina’s meeting with the leader of Ank’Harel, there has been a lot of discussion amongst the Critters about what we know about The Cinder King. We compiled a list of all relevant quotations about him in a document you can access here. Below the cut, we summarize all we know about him. Spoilers up through episode 66; all facts, no speculation.

• Thordak ruled in the Scalding Sands, an area that takes up nearly half of Marquet, for centuries. (Ep 40, 66)
• He got greedy and attempted to attack Ank’Harel, the city that J’mon Sa Ord rules and protects, with his armies of lizardfolk and other serpentine followers. (Ep 40, 66)
  • Ank’Harel was around 100-150 years old by this point. (Ep 66)
• J’mon and their forces defeated the armies and chased Thordak to the ocean where they mortally wounded him, saw him fall into the ocean, and presumed him dead. (Ep 40, 66)
• Thordak survived, however, and in the intervening centuries ruled over the island of Viscal in the the south Lucidian Ocean, terrorizing the nearby beaches and passing ships. (Ep 40)
  • It has been about 400 years since Thordak was shot down. (Ep 41)
• About 15 years ago, Thordak once again got greedy and began to raze the cities south of the Stormcrest Mountains and Verdant Expanse. (Ep 40)
  • This included Byroden, Vex and Vax’s home. (Ep 40, possibly confirmed again by Syldor in Ep 60 when he tells the twins to “avenge” her.)
• After unsuccessfully battling Thordak, Allura called upon the Arcana Pansophical to help devise a trap with her and her adventuring party that included Kima, Drake Thunderbrand, Ghenn, Cyrrus, and Dohla. (Ep 40, 57)
• This trap involved taking a Heart Stone from a primordial Fire Titan and made it into a Soul Anchor, that was supposed to anchor Thordak in the Elemental Plane of Fire. (Ep 40, 57)
• With the Fire Ashari’s help, Allura’s group convinced Thordak that he would be powerful enough to contain a Heart Stone. (Ep 45, 47, 57)
• Once he consumed it, the team was able to press him down and banish him to plane, they thought forever. (Ep 57)
  • While there, he got much larger and obsessed over his revenge. (Ep 40, 57)
• About 4 years ago, a 15 year old woman named Raishan came to the Fire Ashari, seeking refuge. The Ashari took her in, taught her some of their magic, and treated her as one of their own. (Ep 47)
• A year or a little more before the attack, Vox Machina found Brimscythe’s lair and heard the voice come from the jewels. They destroyed Brimscythe, who was a young/adult blue dragon. (Story of VM)
• In the months before the Conclave’s attack, Raishan took to spending days at a time alone in the Cindergrove. (Ep 57)
• During Winter’s Crest, Raishan tore open the rift between the Elemental Plane of Fire and the Prime Material Plane using very powerful magic. Old magic, even. (Ep 57)
  • Despite the use of Old Magic, the Conclave and its attack seem to be unrelated to Tiamat and her residence in Baator. (Ep 43)
• Thordak, leading the Chroma Conclave, destroyed the city of Emon, and sent the remaining dragons eastward while he remained to lead over Emon, claiming mercy upon the surviving residents of the city and declaring their new purpose to be to serve him. (Ep 39, 40)
• During the attack, Thordak, roughly twice the size of the other dragons, physically tossed Vorugal from Greyskull Keep in a show of dominance. (Ep 40)
  • White dragons, in particular, hate other dragons, and never forget a slight. (Ep 57)
• According to Gilmore, the Heart Stone was still visible within Thordak’s chest during the destruction of Emon. (Ep 41, 57)
• Since then, Thordak has made Emon into his new lair. The land is now volcanic, and he continues to dig and burrow. He’s enslaved sculptors to carve his likeness into the Cloudtop District walls, and he forces the residents to serve him and bring him gold. If they refuse, they die. (Ep 41, 57, 64)
• Lizardfolk patrol the city as Thordak’s police and army. (Ep 42)
• Every dusk, Thordak calls a gathering of the remaining population of Emon to worship him. Those that do not participate are eaten. He’s exceedingly vain, and Asum calls him “crazy.” (Ep 64)
• According to Asum, Thordak has a set of gems similar to those they saw in Brimscythe and Vorugal’s lairs. (Ep 64)
  • Though it was stated in Episode 64 that they had seen similar jewels in Umbrasyl’s lair that were already destroyed, it was said in Episode 56 that they did not see them because it was not Umbrasyl’s original lair.
• Thordak has an increasingly large network of spies. (Ep 64)
• The day VM got back from the Feywild, something (we don’t know for sure exactly what this was- there are a couple of options or combination of options) made him angry enough to send the majority of his wyvern guard eastward. An army of wyverns appeared to buzz Whitestone with Vorugal later that same day; it is unknown if this was the same army, especially since the timing would be tight for a flight from Emon to Whitestone (6 hours). (Ep 64)

Monster Analysis: Umbrasyl, The Hope Devourer (Part 2)

Thanks to Jet for this art piece!

• Encounter Appearance: 55 Umbrasyl
• Estimated Challenge Rating: 22
• Armor Class 22
• Speed 40 ft, Flying 80 ft
• Blindsight 60 ft, darkvision 120 ft, Passive 26
• Immune to acid damage
• Lair Actions, Legendary Actions
• Spellcaster
• Legendary Resistance (1 remaining and spent)
• Max HP: 825 (thanks to Matt for confirming!)
  • 759 damage taken away from lair
  • 574 healed between battles
  • 640 damage taken in lair
• 18 + 4 necrotic HDYWTDT by Grog

One dragon down, three to go. Too easy. (Not too easy.) See Part One of our analysis here.

In the Sky

With three rounds spent dealing with the direct attentions of a desperate, fleeing dragon and a final fourth and fifth spent plummeting, the only reason no party members died was pure ingenuity. Vax and Scanlan weathered Umbrasyl’s attempts to digest them, successfully fighting their way to the surface, while Grog kept steady on the creature long enough to fall at the most convenient time possible. The extra 68 points of damage didn’t hurt the party’s chances, either.

Vax’s acceptance as the Raven Queen’s champion, while not enough on its own to save him from falling to his death, granted enough time for him to be saved midair in addition to opening up the potential future support from the deity. Scanlan’s incredibly inspired uses of Bigby’s Hand, as well as the choice to drop it to make Grog a giant eagle (and also smarter) provided a very unexpected and heroic rescue for the three vestige bearers. Even Keyleth’s use of the gate stone, while not entirely mechanically effective, did get her closer to the troubled party members and resulted in one seriously badass moment of RP.

Art by Jason deBit

Between Battles

Over the course the party’s cautious trip up the mountain and their short rest, Umbrasyl healed up 574 points and set traps for their arrival. However, the party really needed the time to tend to their own wounds. Grog spent all of his hit dice recovering. Keyleth regained her Wild Shape, and Pike regained her Channel Divinity. Percy attuned to the Dragonslayer Longsword while Vax reclaimed his Displacer Cloak.

Additionally, any defenses the lair had in the form of terrain or traps held little threat against the party. Vox Machina (plus Shale!) was able to successfully scale the mountain with little issue, circumvent the Old Magic traps, and sneak right up to Umbrasyl without giving him an extra surprise round of attacks.

In the Dragon’s Lair

Umbrasyl took full advantage of his lair, about as much as a desperate ancient dragon on the verge of death could. Even for a makeshift home, it came fully furnished with pools of acid and every possible variation of lair action available. The swarming insects, the grasping tides, and the two bubbles of darkness were just wrinkles added to the fight.

His invisibility probably served him best of all, as the first couple of rounds proved not nearly as effective as the damage they were able to him deal out in the open. His last Legendary Resistance was spent to maintain it for another round against Keyleth’s first Faerie Fire, but a failed Concentration check made him visible to the invaders.

Most terrifying of all was his near constant use of his acid breath. The party was very fortunate that three uses of it were not concentrated on any particular individuals more than twice. Umbrasyl also made great use his legendary actions, spending all three for all rounds but the first (when it was just him verses Vax).

The Party’s Strategy

We’d consider Keyleth’s Faerie Fires the play of the battle. Although the first use lost Grog’s acid resistance and was negated by Umbrasyl’s final legendary resistance, this opened up Umbrasyl to fall victim to it in the third round. It’s here where Vox Machina took back the battle, with the party dealing 303 damage (42% of the damage from this portion of the battle!), much of which would not have been possible without advantage. This includes crits from Percy with the Dragonslayer Longsword (who dealt a total of 172 damage in that single round courtesy of his action surge) and Grog as a freaking barbarian (who dealt a total of 91 damage in that round with 4 fewer hits than Percy).

While Keyleth provided the offensive support, Scanlan provided extremely valuable defensive support. His Cutting Words, while miniscule, reduced damage from the acid breaths enough to ensure that the party stood until the very last round (e.g., Shale had 2 HP left, which would not have been without damage reduction). Cutting Words also ensured that Umbrasyl failed a number of key saves, including the aforementioned Faerie Fire. Scanlan’s Stinking Cloud also forced Umbrasyl to hold off an acid breath attack for another round. There was also the matter of, Bigby’s, um…

Bigby’s Wound Fingering Hand?

The party used the space of the cavern fairly well. Vax, Shale, Trinket, Grog, and Percy provided valuable distractions, whittling away at Umbrasyl while Vex fired from the shadows. Pike’s War God’s Blessing resulted in additional 22 points of damage from Vex and 27 from Grog, and her critical Guiding Bolt enema lit up the dragon in a way that proved just as useful for morale as for the damage total.

The final acid breath resulted in the first party KOs of the battle (which is pretty impressive on the party’s part). It also triggered Grog’s brand new 14th level barbarian reaction that also resulted in the HDYWTDT. (For those curious, Grog dealt an additional 27+ Unknown points of necrotic damage over the course of the battle thanks to five separate reminders!)

Damages

Speaking of damage, let’s get the final damage totals for this fight:

• Grog 370
• Percy 321
• Vex’ahlia 219
• Pike 117
• Vax’ildan 99
• Scanlan 93
• Shale 20
• Keyleth 8

Arrival Time to Gatshadow

Thank you for flying Umbrasyl Airlines. We hope you enjoy the embrace of your seat and the atmosphere provided by our one-creature flight crew. Please settle in and hold your breath for 66 minutes as our very experienced pilot guides you straight to your destination.

Okay, but seriously. Thanks to the work of @MCBE117 and @Trograf on Twitter, we can estimate that the distance from the battle field to Gatshadow is approximately 20 miles (105.600 ft). Using the calculations of the fastest methods of travel (all with Dash actions):

Umbrasyl (as the dragon flies)

• 160 ft per round
  
• 1600 ft per minute
• 105,600 / 1600 = 66 minutes

Broom of Flying (as the broom flies)

• 100 ft per round
  
• 1000 ft per minute
• 105,600 / 1000 = 105.6 minutes

Keep in mind that this assumes that the map is entirely to scale. Based on past descriptions, Umbrasyl has crossed the distance in significantly less time, and it is probable the same will hold true tonight, as well.