Qawasha

Qawasha () was a druid of the Emerald Enclave that sought to eradicate the undead that infested the jungles of Chult during the late 15 century DR. To this end, he worked as a guide alongside his vegepygmy companion, Kupalué.
==Description==
Qawasha was a Chultan man who stood tall and weighed . He was physically fit, capable of outrunning a ghoul.
==Personality==
He was a hard worker and had a calming demeanor, able to assuage people's fears and inspire their confidence, especially in the face of the dangers of the Chultan jungle. He was unafraid to travel into the dangerous depths of the jungle, and would sometimes seek the solitude of nature in such places. His many days spent wandering and meditating in the jungle had led him to certain understandings about the world, such as that death and decay were simply the other side of the same coin as life and growth, that silence was the key to communing with the jungle, and that evil had lodged itself like a painful thorn into the minds of mortals.
He worshiped Ubtao, and had come to believe that the reason for the god's disappearance was that the people of Chult had become lazy, corrupt, and disrespectful in their worship. He was bitter about this, but only shared these feelings with those whom he felt had pure hearts.
==Abilities==
As a druid, Qawasha was a spellcaster who entered combat by casting both shillelagh and barkskin. When using wild shape, his preferred forms were that of an ape or a velociraptor.
==Possessions==
Most of the time, Qawasha preferred to wear traditional Chultan tunics and vestments. When he ventured to face the dangers of the wilderness, he wore his jungle-ready vest, a durable and protective piece of clothing, or his gold-threaded tunic that was patterned akin to the hide of a velociraptor and inlaid with amethysts. Among sets of magical armor, Qawasha owned the Nature's Embrace, and a set of elemental vestments. Some of his notable weapons included regular iron claws, owlbear claws, a staff of the owlbear, a glowing blueleaf staff, a black raptor staff, sharp talons of the wild, Belchorzh's Teeth. and the legendary Needle's Rest claws made using the body of the green dragon Ormalagos, as well as Ubtao's Thorn staff.
==Activities==
As a guide, Qawasha worked for Jobal and operated out of Fort Beluarian and Port Nyanzaru, where his services became highly recommended. He spent a great deal of time speaking with curious new arrivals to Chult at the Port Nyanzaru docks, taverns, and markets, especially during the Summer months. Qawasha and Kupalué led groups of adventurers into the jungles at a cost of 5 gp per day. They waived this fee if their clients agreed to help them eliminate the undead they encountered.
As an experienced guide, Qawasha knew many old stories about Chult and its many ruins, including tales about the founding of Mezro as well as that city's true fate. He was familiar with the properties of the jungle's mysterious plants—such as star berries, strangler figs, tumtum trees, and wazingo nuts—and would call out the names of flora and fauna to his clients as they walked. He was skilled at building shelters from the leaves, trees, and vines of the jungle, and carried spices for cooking and teas for brewing—such as chatali—which he would share with his clients while camping. 
He knew of paths leading out from Port Nyanzaru, but preferred to take capable fighters through undead-infested parts of the jungle. Having seen how the Flaming Fist dealt with travelers who did not have a Charter of Exploration from Fort Beluarian, he encouraged all of his clients to purchase one. 
==Relationships==
Qawasha and Kupalué communicated using their own form of sign language. Qawasha would often refer to his companion as "Kupa" or as "Weed", short for the literal translation of "Kupalué" in the Chultan language, meaning "walking weed". Qawasha appreciated his vegepygmy companion for his unique perspective on the world and his dry sense of humor.
He had an affinity for the chwinga spirits that inhabited Chult and had communicated with them repeatedly throughout his travels. He had a knack for camping in places where they would find him.
Qawasha was a member of the Emerald Enclave. His home was in Port Nyanzaru, where he helped to support his extended family including his brother, sister, parents, and grandparents. His siblings enjoyed his stories about expeditions into the jungle with colorful clients.
==History==
Born and raised in Port Nyanzaru, Qawasha had always been drawn to the jungle. As he grew older and stronger, he began exploring the jungle, seeking to discover new plants, animals, and especially ruins, which had long been fascinating to him. At some point, there was an influx of foreign adventurers and treasure-hunters into Chult who sought to plunder these ruins, and as the known locations were picked clean, there was increasing demand for knowledgeable guides to take these foreigners deeper into the jungle. Qawasha thus became a guide while he was still a young man, and his hard work and charisma meant that he was quite successful. He worked for the merchant prince Jobal, and for a time he was chiefly motivated by the pursuit of money (and made quite a bit of it).
Eventually, Qawasha came to be disillusioned with the greed all around him, which he believed was making the jungle a more dangerous place. He began walking the jungle by himself once more, and eventually sought out tribal elders who recognized his good heart and trained him in the druidic ways. He was also introduced to the veneration of Ubtao, and came to believe that the god had abandoned Chult because of a similar disillusionment with the people's greed. He made it his personal quest to seek out any remaining trace of the god deep within the jungle, and pushed himself to take greater and greater risks in this pursuit. He also became familiar with and fascinated by tales about Mezro and the Temple of Ubtao that stood there, and dreamed of seeing the city in its prime.
It was during one of his trips into the jungle that he met and befriended Kupalué. Believing that their encounter was a sign from Ubtao, Qawasha spent several months traveling back and forth from the place where they had met. Slowly, they learned to communicate with each other and then to travel together. Qawasha also learned from his companion's unique perspective on the jungle, and discovered the value of slowing down and observing his surroundings more closely. 
The two of them travelled together for several years, learning about the jungle, working as guides, and fighting or fleeing from undead.
During the events of the death curse, Qawasha accepted a job to guide a researcher named Samrith Vess to the ruins of Mezro. Along with her bodyguard, Zara, Qawasha led her into the jungle and—intuiting that she was not greedy like so many other foreigners—confided in her about his wish to walk the Maze of Life in Mezro. His intuition about her appeared to be proven correct when, nearer to Mezro, she was approached by a chwinga who gited her a magic charm made from the cap of a mushroom.
Within the ruins of Mezro, the party was attacked by a horde of zombies, but were saved by the timely intervention of Kupalué and his tribe. Arriving at the ruined Maze of Life at the center of Mezro, Qawasha again despaired at the lost majesty of the location, and wished he could have walked the Maze to prove himself. Samrith, on a whim, handed him the charm she had received from the chwinga, and it transported him into a vision of Mezro at its height. The vision then sent him flying across the jungle to a sunken city where the personalities of nine trickster gods inhabited him and told him their story. He then beheld a terrible device connected to a grotesque monster, and came to realize the history of the Tomb of the Nine Gods. He was then transported back to the vision of Mezro where he spoke with a bara, who cryptically let him know that he was already on the right path. Awakening from the vision, he knew that Mezro still existed but could not return to Chult until the device he had seen was destroyed. Relaying this information to his companions, they made plans to return to Port Nyanzaru to gather their strength and then set out on this new quest.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===Appearances===
===Gallery===
Dragon+ 16 cover.jpg|Kupalué and Qawasha on the cover of Dragon+ Issue #16.
===References===
Category:Druids (5e)
Category:Humans
Category:Chultans
Category:Druids
Category:Members of the Emerald Enclave
Category:Inhabitants of Fort Beluarian
Category:Inhabitants of Chult
Category:Inhabitants of the Chultan Peninsula
Category:Inhabitants of Southwest Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Toril
Category:Worshipers of Ubtao
Category:Druids of Ubtao