The Last Applause
Armor Class 17 (lacquered wood and wire)
Hit Points 152 (16d10+64)
Speed 30 ft. climb 30 ft.
Saving Throws Dex +8, Wis +6, Cha +7
Skills Stealth +8, Deception +7, Performance +7
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16
Languages Common, telepathy 60 ft.
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP) Proficiency Bonus +4
Actions
Bonus Actions
Reactions
Legendary Actions
The Last Applause can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The troupe regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Lair
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the creature can take a lair action to cause one of the following effects; it can't use the same effect two rounds in a row:
- The House Lights Dim. Until initiative count 20 on the next round, all bright light in the lair becomes dim light and all dim light becomes darkness. The troupe can see normally through this darkness.
- A New Backdrop. At initiative count 20, the lair creates or moves up to three walls, platforms, curtains, or pieces of scenery. Each can occupy a space up to 15 feet long, 10 feet high, and 1 foot thick. They provide half cover and remain until destroyed or replaced.
- The Empty Seat. At initiative count 20, one creature in the lair must succeed on a DC 16 Charisma saving throw or be teleported into an empty theater seat, balcony, or backstage alcove within 60 feet. The creature is not restrained, but it is isolated by scenery until the next initiative count 20.
Regional Effects
The region containing the creature's lair is warped by its magic, creating the following effects:
- Within 1 mile of the theater, roads and corridors subtly curve back toward the building, making departure take twice as long.
- At night, distant applause and a muffled orchestra can be heard from empty houses, wells, and locked rooms.
- Objects left unattended within 300 feet of the lair are found arranged like stage props, often forming tableaux of people who recently visited.
If the troupe is destroyed, these effects fade over the course of 1d10 days. During that time, the theater makes one final attempt to recreate its dead puppeteer from coats, masks, furniture, and bound corpses.
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"Remain in your seats, please. The ending is almost ready." — painted on the Gloamglass Theater's locked doors
Lore & Description
Appearance
The Last Applause is a crawling troupe of lacquered marionettes bound together by hundreds of black, silver, and blood-red strings. A tall wooden king, a painted heroine, a grinning fool, a skeletal soldier, and a dozen smaller figures hang in a constantly shifting knot, their jointed limbs moving in perfect theatrical rhythm. Their faces are glossy and expressive but never quite identical from one moment to the next. The strings vanish upward into darkness, even beneath open sky, and a faint spotlight follows the troupe wherever it performs.
Behavior & Origins
The troupe belonged to Master Oren Vell, whose final production was interrupted when he died at the climax, still gripping the control bar. His marionettes interpreted his last motions as a command to continue until the audience applauded and departed. No audience has ever satisfied them. The troupe now inhabits the abandoned Gloamglass Theater, whose halls rearrange themselves whenever someone tries to leave. The marionettes remember every spectator by name and desperately want one specific person—Oren's estranged daughter, Mirelle Vell—to return for the final bow. A DM can use the troupe's invitation cards, each bearing Mirelle's name and a date that has not yet occurred, to draw characters into the theater.
Running The Last Applause
Tactics
The Last Applause opens with Falling Scenery to split the party, then uses Change the Set and Rehearse the Entrance to force isolated targets into its reach. It uses Puppet's Command against heavily armed characters and saves Finale of Knotted Strings for restrained or frightened victims. When bloodied, it becomes more erratic, flooding the battlefield with scenery and attempting to keep at least one creature inside the theater; it fights to the death unless someone convincingly promises to bring Mirelle Vell back for the final performance.
DM Tips
- Telegraph the danger with applause from empty seats, footprints that stop beneath the stage, and puppets that turn their heads whenever characters discuss leaving.
- Give the troupe a chorus-like voice: several wooden mouths speak at once, repeating the last few words of a character's sentence in cheerful stage diction.
- Make the lair feel active between rounds by shifting doors, curtains, balconies, and painted flats; describe changes clearly so players can exploit the new cover as well.
- For a weaker party, remove the psychic damage from Stringed Blade and reduce the save DCs to 14; for a stronger party, add two animated stagehands with 30 hit points each when Falling Scenery is used.
Loot
- Oren Vell's Control Bar — A blackened wooden crossbar carved with dozens of names. Once per long rest, it can cast command against a creature that can hear the holder, but the command must be phrased as a theatrical direction.
- The Unfinished Script — A stitched play containing blank pages after the final scene. Names written in its pages appear as minor characters in the theater until the book is burned or the troupe is laid to rest.
- Mirelle's Invitation — A silver-edged ticket addressed to Mirelle Vell. It bears a date seven days in the future and grants advantage on Charisma checks made to convince the troupe that its audience has not abandoned it.
