Since before the cataclysm that destroyed the city, the Neverwinter region was being infiltrated by the Ashmadai, a particularly powerful cult of Asmodeus. There’s a lot of backstory here, which seems to tie into to a Drizz’t novel. Let’s try to go over it quickly.

So back before the Cataclysm, the Ashmadai mostly worked as flunkies for the Thayans, because the Thayan leader Szass Tam had in his possession a scepter believed to be an unholy relic of Asmodeus. They were the wizards’ muscle when they tried to destroy Neverwinter to build the Dread Ring, their super necromantic fortress.

After that plan fell through in a Drizz’t novel, the Thayans fled the area and left the Ashmadai to their own devices until recently, when this Thayan lich named Valindra came back and announced she was the unholy scepter’s new owner, demanding the cultists’ loyalty.

The cult now finds itself split into two sub-factions:

The traditionalists are older and less educated, and serve out of genuine faith in their evil god. They’re okay with going back to being Thayan flunkies because of the scepter, which they value highly. They’re led by a dwarf named Favria.

The “new guard” is less religious and a lot more pragmatic. They want to retain their independence and rule the region themselves. They’re led by a tiefling named Mordai Vell.

Goals

Those two sub-factions are actually quite friendly with each other. Their leaders meet regularly, even though their lower-ranking members have no contact. Favria will happily leave the Thayans’ service if Vell can steal the scepter from them. Vell also wants to capture Valindra’s soul vessel, which will let him extract some payback from the lich for all the abuse she has been heaping upon them.

Once they’ve attained their independence, the Ashmadai plan to move on to dominating the region. What exactly this means is up to the GM, and will inform their strategies. Do they want to rule the region openly as its new imperial masters? Do they want to establish themselves as a “legitimate” religion and rule that way? Do they want to be a power behind the throne? Do they want to harness Maegera’s power to do so?

That said, the Ashmadai are by far the weakest of the major factions from this book, so a lot of their more immediate goals revolve around fixing that and avoiding the notice of the others.

The pragmatist faction operates mostly from the shadows. Mordai Vell established a complex system of cells or “pods”, where the highest-ranking leaders report to him but don’t know each other, and this structure repeats down each leader’s hierarchy all the way down to the dumb muscle on the ground.

The traditionalist faction is more direct and violent, though they mostly keep out of town unless called upon. In areas already under their control, they paint their symbol on buildings and alleys as a way to remind the local populace who’s boss.

Like the aboleths, the Ashmadai are fond of kidnapping people. Their victims become sacrifices in a peculiar arrangement they have with their diabolic patron. For each devil they summon into the world, they must also bind a mortal to a devil’s spirit. These possessed individuals can look like mortals while using devil stats, or use their original stats with the addition of a couple of thematic powers. I guess this devil-summoning must be the Ashmadai’s primary means of increasing their firepower, but since those possessions are framed as the price of the summonings I’m guessing the possessed are not directly beholden to the cult’s hierarchy. Whether it’s possible to rescue them from this possession is up to the GM.

Player Tie-Ins

The Devil’s Pawn is on a collision course with the Ashmadai, who will make big efforts to recruit them. They will also go after people who look like they can rise to positions of power in Neverwinter, like the Noble.

Whether the cult tries to actively recruit the PCs or not, they can certainly use their services against the aboleth menace. PCs who would never accept working with diabolists might be approached by disguised agents intending to point them at their enemies.

It’s not actually stated anywhere within this entry, but other places in the book say the Ashmadai control the above-ground portion of Oghma’s temple, meaning Oghma’s Faithful is very likely to end up fighting them.

Relationships

The Ashmadai are hard at work trying to infiltrate New Neverwinter, but they haven’t managed to make any progress with Mayor Soman Galt (who, as we saw, is a pawn of the aboleths already). Mordai himself is busily trying to convert General Sabine of New Neverwinter to his cause, and has a good shot of managing this as her natural disposition is compatible with the cult’s.

The Abolethic Sovereignity is the competition, and they’re ahead. The cultists ideally want to seal the chasm leading to their base, or otherwise drive them off permanently, but they’re not even close to accomplishing this. The only reason the Ashmadai are still around is that the aboleths don’t consider them a serious threat.

As mentioned above, the Ashmadai are nominally serving the Thayans while looking for a way to break free of that servitude. They only do the minimum to prevent Valindra from suspecting them, but their rebellious plot is doomed to failure as Valindra does not have that relic scepter any more - she shipped it back to Szass Tam as soon as she was done showing it off.

The cult looks at the Netherese with much more genuine awe, though. They’ve begun holding secret talks to forge an alliance, though they’re still having to keep that hidden from the Thayans.

Impressions

As far as major factions go the Ashmadai are kinda weak. All of their major goals and strategies lead them down a path that ends in a face-first collision with one of the factions. They can’t recover the scepter because it’s not here any more. They can’t corrupt New Neverwinter entirely because the aboleths got there first. The direct approach to conquest doesn’t work because all the other would-be conquerors are stronger.

Of course, there’s a small chance that campaign events and PC actions end up giving them a leg up, if only because the PCs open a power vacuum the cult can exploit. I myself am not inclined to make them into a major threat, because it’s always refreshing to have a group of villains you can easily stomp into the ground.