Ammalia Cassalanter

The vainglorious lady of House Cassalanter is schooled in the arcane arts. Her hobby is Lepidoptery, and she has a stunning butterfly garden at her manor, and collects exotic butterfly and moth specimens. Like her husband Victoro, she secretly worships Asmodeus, though to the outside world is a devout follower of Lethander..

The Pact

When they were young, Ammalia and Victoro signed a contract with the archdevil, trading the souls of their children for power, good health, and long life. The soul of Osvaldo Cassalanter, their eldest son, was taken immediately, and he was transformed into a chain devil. The souls of the younger twins, Terenzio and Elzerina, will be taken when they turn nine years old. A provision in the contract allows the Cassalanters to buy their way out of it, but doing so requires a tremendous amount of coin and a mass sacrifice of unfortunate people given in The Ceremony to Asmodeus . While Victoro hunts for Dagult Neverember's lost cache of gold. Ammalia makes plans to host a poisoned feast in celebration of Founders' Day. Ammalia is well mannered, well read, well traveled, and exceptionally shrewd. She is known for driving a hard bargain. Her hobby is lepidopterology. and her estate has the most beautiful butterfly garden. She allows her youngest children to play in the garden under her supervision.

Founder's Day

Ammalia plans on performing her half of the bargain at her Founder's Day Gala, a grand ball and feast welcoming the poor and homeless to join them in a night of celebration and splendor for the beautiful city of Waterdeep. In reality the celebration will be part of The Ceremony to Asmodeus

If encountered at home:

Lady Cassalanter reacts with surprise to the sight of uninvited guests, but quickly conceals her feelings with a welcoming smile. She attempts to gain the intruders' confidence by pretending to believe that they are guests of Victoro's and saying that she simply was not told of their presence. With this pretense established, she tries to learn the characters' true intentions, casting https://5e.tools/spells.html#charm%20person_phb on the party using a 5th-level spell slot (affecting up to five creatures within 30 feet) if necessary. Using magic in this way is illegal, but Ammalia has a lot of goodwill banked in Waterdeep, enough to curry favor with a magistrate.
Lord and Lady Cassalanter are formidable spellcasters and devoted to one another. If one is assailed within Cassalanter Villa, the other arrives as quickly as possible.
A direct confrontation with the Cassalanters will likely result in defeat for the characters, or-if the characters and the Cassalanters both escape with their lives-their arrest for assaulting nobility. The Cassalanters have no desire to kill the characters, even in self-defense. They take great pains to divide and subdue the party with their magic while not inflicting grievous harm.
If the characters reduce Ammalia to 30 hit points or fewer and Victoro is with her, he banishes her to safety for a few brief moments while he continues fighting. If either Victoro or Ammalia is reduced to 30 hit points or fewer and the other Cassalanter isn't present, they try to negotiate with or bribe their assailants.
The Cassalanters don't fear being arrested, since they have faith that their wealth, reputations, and contacts will keep them out of prison. They do fear the ticking clock of Founders' Day. They plead for the characters to allow them to carry out their plan, if only to save Terenzio's and Elzerina's lives.
Killing or injuring the Cassalanters carries grave legal consequences, but the characters can hinder the Cassalanters by destroying or stealing Ammalia's stash of midnight tears poison (area C22), destroying the statue of Asmodeus in the temple (area A7), or keeping Lord Neverember's gold out of their clutches.

Ammalia's Location

During the hours when Ammalia is home and awake, her location in the villa can be determined randomly:
d100 Result 1-70 She's tending to her butterfly garden (area C25). 71-90 She's smoking on the balcony (area C25a). 91-00 She's weeping before Osvaldo in the attic (area C24).

Publicly Known Lore

A successful DC 15 Intelligence (History) check reveals the following information about Cassalanter Villa and its inhabitants:

The Cassalanters fell on hard times a few years back, but they have since reversed their fortunes and restored their lucrative banking and money-lending business.
Victoro and Ammalia's eldest son disappeared three years ago when the family was on the verge of bankruptcy. They have two surviving children, young twins named Terenzio and Elzerina.
Lord Victoro Cassalanter is the only living heir of the late Caladorn Cassalanter, a former Masked Lord and a hero of the North.
Over the years, the Cassalanters have founded a number of philanthropic societies and made generous donations to temples dedicated to good-aligned deities. They are known to worship Lethander, and Siamorphe, a demigod whose ethos is the nobility's right and responsibility to rule.