The Astrodia Campaign

Howl

4 min read

Howl is Leif’s owl — his constant companion since he found her injured in the Purodetapo Forest with a hurt wing, and, since the Session 6 reveal, understood to be his Pact of the Chain familiar rather than an ordinary animal friend.

She is also, on the evidence of Sessions 8 and 11, something more than that. (Revealed in Session 12: Howl is a servant of Sorath, Leif’s patron. She told Leif so herself. What else she is remains unknown.)

What Howl Has Brought Him

  • The glass orb on top of Leif’s staff, his spellcasting focus — Howl brought it to him in the Purodetapo Forest at some point before the campaign began. Madame Verre took one look at it in Session 11 and abruptly gave the party everything they were asking for.

The Two Incidents

Session 8 — The Whispering One Spoke Through Her

In a dream on the road north, Leif had his usual nightmare — everything turning yellow, The Whispering One’s untranslatable voice — except this time the voice came out of Howl, whose eyes went completely yellow. Leif’s fear since: that the entity is trying to reach through, speak as, or take his familiar.

Session 11 — Aleister Knew Her on Sight

Walking to the guild hall on an ordinary morning in Pentamarone, Howl snapped her head around, started screaming, and bolted down a back alley — leading half the party to Aleister the Invoker, a man she had no reason to know.

Leif’s animal handling read the reaction precisely: not fear. Rage. She is furious at him.

Then Aleister looked at her, and she collapsed in on herself — feathers hunched, eyes on the ground, making herself as small as possible.

“Oh. I do know what this is, then.”

He would not say what. He asked Leif’s name instead, learned where she was found, and announced he would be visiting the Purodetapo Forest.

Session 12 — “Bad Man” (September 23, 2026)

After the fight, Howl came out of her shock and landed back on Leif’s shoulder. Asked how she knew Aleister, she whispered two words aloud, “Bad man,” and told Leif the rest privately (delivered to Emily in a DM).

What Leif later shared with the party, in a private room with the water running:

  • Howl is a servant of Sorath, and she is the one who told Leif the patron’s name.
  • Aleister the Invoker has fought Sorath before. That explains her reaction in the alley: rage, then submission, and why he recognized her at once.
  • She can help Leif contact Sorath, but not yet. If he opens his mind, he’ll be able to reach it at another time.
  • What Sorath wants with him, Howl is not at liberty to say.

Leif had chosen to hold his private audience with Madame Verre with Howl present: “I don’t know enough about you yet, and I think it’s time that we knew each other more.”

The Open Question

Three separate threads now point at this owl:

  1. The Whispering One used her as a voice.
  2. Aleister the Invoker, who summons beings from outside the world, recognized her instantly — and she recognized him.
  3. She brought Leif the glass orb that Madame Verre found so interesting she stopped negotiating.

Leif’s own reaction, in the guild hall, was the right one: “You been holding back on us?”

(Partly answered in Session 12: she serves Sorath, and Aleister has fought Sorath. Still open: what she actually is, where the glass orb came from, and what Sorath wants.)

First Appeared

Session 0, with Leif. Killed by a bandit’s scimitar in Session 1 and re-summoned. Became a plot thread in Session 8, and a much larger one in Session 11 (September 9, 2026). Revealed as Sorath’s servant in Session 12 (September 23, 2026).

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