the Cinderbringer

Flaithreach wants to burn down the Iroborg Wood to allow it to renew and to save it from being permanently destroyed by an emergent pathogen. 

 Fragments of Flaithreach’s spirit have been planted in four treants within the forest. As long as one of these treants remains alive, Flaithreach cannot be destroyed. 

 Flaithreach mistakenly believes that humanoid races carry an emergent natural pathogen that causes forest dieback. He is intent on destroying them. 

The druid Flaithreach has watched over the Iroborg Wood for decades, just as his father did before him and his father’s father before that. For most of Flaithreach’s tenure, just as it was during the tenure of his ancestors, the forest was a thriving ecosystem, healthy and prosperous. The Iroborg was able to support the hunting, gathering, and occasional logging activities of several settlements on its outskirts, with which Flaithreach and the forest existed alongside in harmony. In recent years, however, as Flaithreach had grown old, a blight began to afflict the forest, its arrival coinciding with the discovery of a silver mine in the surrounding area. Discovery of the mine subsequently resulted in the establishment of new villages as well as the expedited growth of existing ones along the outskirts of the forest. Suddenly, swathes of trees were shedding their bark and dying off at a rapid pace, the blight seemingly spreading from one patch of the forest to another. When it would finally abate in one area, a different section of the wood would soon also become afflicted and begin to die. 

Distraught, Flaithreach set about to understand the cause of the diebacks. Through his investigations, he correctly concluded that a disease — a pathogen — was being carried through the forest, killing the trees in its path. Flaithreach incorrectly concluded however that the pathogen was carried by the humanoid peoples settling near the forest in increasing number. He communed with the spirits and prayed to the gods while he looked desperately for a cure. One day, while exploring an underground cave in search of a potential fungal remedy, Flaithreach stumbled upon a vortex to the Elemental Plane of Fire. Knowing that he could not let himself be the one to fail to protect the Iroborg, he took the vortex as a sign and the answer to his prayers. He reached into the vortex and called out to Igzus, god of elemental fire, to grant him the power to cleanse the Iroborg Wood with elemental flame so that it may eventually renew itself, free of disease. Igzus answered Flaithreach’s call, swallowing the druid in a pillar of fire, in one moment killing him instantly and subsequently reviving him as an elemental agent, binding the druid’s spirit to the Plane of Fire in return for a fraction of his divine power. 

Flaithreach knows he must begin by burning down the Iroborg Wood acre by acre so that it can be renewed. He believes the humanoid races that carry its pathogen must be extinguished, or at least driven away from the forest. Once the Iroborg Wood has been laid ashen, he will set his sights on other forests threatened by humanoid presence. But Flaithreach, in his fear of failing the Iroborg and his ancestors, has come to his conclusion too hastily. The pathogen causing forest diebacks has nothing to do with the humanoid settlers. It can be addressed through other means. Its timing was purely coincidental. Flaithreach, however, has made up his mind. Everything must burn so that it can be saved. 

Flaithreach’s fires have claimed the lives of innocents. Many of those who have perished in the fires remain bound to the Material Plane as furious 

 unable to meaningfully direct their rage. At first, it was just the odd hunter or traveller who was unfortunate enough to get caught in a blaze. But Flaithreach has started to attack the villages, and now there are multiple sites where dozens of apparitions roam through smoking and blackened ruins. These apparitions attack any in their path. 

Flaithreach recognized that his campaign to burn the Iroborg Wood and cleanse its surrounding settlements would provoke opposition. After Flaithreach was made undead and bound to the Elemental Plane of Fire by the god Igzus, the druid knew he must take further precautionary steps to save himself from destruction before his quest was finished. He infused a portion of his own spirit into four separate treants, turning them into 

 bound to his will and ensuring that for as long as at least a single treant remained alive, Flaithreach could reform himself if he was destroyed using the spirit fragment stored within. The treants did not submit to these rituals willingly, but were subdued by the druid and now serve as extensions of Flaithreach’s body and mind.  

Ignorant of the reason for the fires, a local village built and offered a wicker man to the forest spirits in the hopes of quelling the flames. Flaithreach, however, had his eye on the village and had other plans for the ritual. Using his own magic, he corrupted the ritual site before the gathering took place. As soon as the wicker man was alighted by the village, it was bound to Flaithreach’s will. It immediately became animated, attacking onlookers before disappearing into the forest. Flaithreach uses the wicker man to strike fear into the heart of the villagers, sometimes sending it to burn down a single building each night to intimidate the villagers into fleeing. Any who remain will eventually be incinerated. 

An animental normally must be birthed on an elemental plane, but Flaithreach’s fires on the Material Plane are infused with sufficient elemental power to spawn animentals on their own. Flaithreach has a particular affinity for wolves, and so each wolf that perishes in his fires he ensures is reborn as an 

. Because the druid can speak with the wolves, they serve as Flaithreach’s eyes and ears throughout the Iroborg Wood and also help him survey its surrounding villages.

 Several dryads call the Iroborg Wood their home. Flaithreach’s burnings have already turned some of these dryads into 

 without their bonded trees. Though Flaithreach has been able to convince a few of these severed dryads to join his cause, most of them are too anguished at the loss of their trees to entertain any notion of the “greater good.” These dryads would take any opportunity to strike back at Flaithreach and exact their revenge for his destruction. A severed dryad known as Plephione hopes to rally the other severed dryads of the wood in unified opposition against the druid. 

A leshen named Fhyrolbrynn has guarded the Iroborg Wood for centuries alongside Flaithreach and his forebears. Before Flaithreach began his burnings, he recognized that he would have to convince the ancient spirit of their necessity, for the leshen could be too powerful an enemy if not aligned with the druid. Luckily for Flaithreach, his shared history with Fhyrolbrynn allowed him to bring the leshen to his side when he explained that the humanoid races were responsible for the pathogen’s spread and that the burnings must be carried out to kill the disease. The druid bestowed Fhyrolbrynn with a portion of his elemental power, causing Fhyrolbrynn to become a 

Flaithreach is not afraid of direct confrontation with the party; he is willing to do whatever he feels he must to ensure that the burnings are carried out. The druid does, however, have eyes and ears throughout the Iroborg Wood as well as in its surrounding settlements in the form of his animental fire wolves as well as other smaller creatures such as squirrels and rabbits to whom he can speak. He uses these resources to gather intelligence and prepare himself for any who might oppose him. 

If possible before combat, Flaithreach prepares himself by casting 

Flaithreach can deal the most possible damage over three rounds by using his first action to cast 

, then actions during the second and third rounds to cast 

. He can use two legendary actions during each round to cast 

He uses his remaining legendary action each round to use his tree stride ability as necessary to avoid damage or move himself closer to vulnerable targets. 

This undead druid has made a pact with the Elemental God of Fire, and is convinced that the forests must be incinerated so that they might be renewed from the plague that they suffer from. 

Flaithreach

The Cinderbringer