Quick facts
Race: Half-orc · Born: Eldon Crushmore, of the Warhorde Clan · Title: The Bloodhowler · Family: Grommash Crushmore (brother), Wilbur (nephew) · Status: Dead (killed by Wilbur, C2 Session 19; destroyed in the in-between, C2 Session 32)
Eldon Reed was a poker player and crime boss on the Saline Coast, known in the city’s underworld by the initials “E.R.” In truth he was Eldon Crushmore, Wilbur’s banished uncle, and he carried the title and curse of the Bloodhowler. Wilbur killed him, and Reed reached out from beyond death to get his revenge.
Overview
In public Reed used a disguise spell. His true form was a monstrous half-orc nearly nine feet tall. He fought with a glaive, now known as The Bloodhowler’s Glaive.
According to the Warhorde Clan’s priestess, the Bloodhowler is not a single being but a title passed down through generations. It is a curse that consumes those who hunger for chaos, feeding on their darkest desires until they are wholly transformed.
History
Before the campaign
Eldon was the brother of Grommash Crushmore, leader of the Warhorde Clan. Grommash described him as cruel and violent, obsessed with the legend of the Bloodhowler, and hearing “whispers” that gave him orders. Grommash always suspected Eldon of killing their father during a hunt. He could never prove it, but he banished Eldon from the clan.
Eldon also destroyed the village of Nodur, of the IronJaw Clan, who hunted him for years afterward. The Whisper called himself a dear friend of Eldon’s.
”E.R.” (Sessions 3–10)
The note the party found after the half-orcs Yorn and Yagra burned Isabella Thorne’s house said they were acting on orders from “E.R.” (Session 3). Nelda identified him as a poker player named Eldon Reed (Session 8).
At the masquerade ball, Wilbur received a note from E.R. inviting him to a poker game at the Rusty Anchor. Over a heads-up game in Session 10, Reed offered smokes and chocolate truffles, accused Wilbur of killing his men, and complained that Mayor Eliza Windrider was letting the city fall into ruin. He wanted back the items from a “revenue source” that had been extinguished, and he asked Wilbur to join him. When Wilbur declined, Reed told him to leave town and made a veiled threat against Wilbur’s Warhorde clan. On the way out, a large half-orc with a great axe attacked the party.
The Bloodhowler (Sessions 13–19)
A note stabbed through the curtain of Wilbur’s market stall echoed the Bloodhowler’s earlier threat against his family (Session 13). At The Last Drop tavern on the edge of the desert (Session 16), Reed walked in. Escher, invisible, saw through his disguise. Reed told Wilbur, “I’ll make sure they remember you, Wilbur. Every last scream,” and Wilbur attacked him.
In the fight that followed (Session 17), the Bloodhowler laid Wilbur out and crushed Squeebles into the ground with his glaive. Wilbur landed a shot across his face with his laser pistol from a distance, and Nodur’s illusion of a cloud giant distracted him long enough for the party to escape.
He came for the Warhorde camp in Session 19, riding a skeletal giant elk at the head of a horde of zombies. By then Grommash had worked out that Eldon Reed was his long-lost brother. Kip turned many of the zombies, Wilbur blasted Eldon off a watchtower, and as Eldon tried to flee, Wilbur shot and killed him with his laser pistol. Nelda took his glaive.
The in-between (Sessions 31–32)
Reed had cursed his own killer to be brought to The In-Between on death, so he could take that person’s tether back to the world of the living. When Tobias Blackwood murdered Wilbur, Wilbur’s soul ended up in Reed’s tower of green flame. Reed planned to take Wilbur’s tether, kill Wilbur’s friends when they came to save him, and resume his reign of terror.
The party came anyway. Ellery blasted a beam of purple lightning through Reed that destroyed the lightning rod powering his ritual, freeing Wilbur. Nelda finished the weakened Bloodhowler by cutting off his head with his own glaive.
Relationships
- Grommash Crushmore: His brother, who banished him.
- Wilbur: His nephew and killer.
- The Whisper: Called himself Eldon’s dear friend.
- Nodur: Hunted him after he destroyed Nodur’s village.
Notable quotes
- “I’ll make sure they remember you, Wilbur. Every last scream.” (Session 16)
Appears in
Session 3, Session 8, Session 9, Session 10, Session 13, Session 14, Session 16, Session 17, Session 19, Session 31, Session 32