The Ride of the Hellriders

The Ride of the Hellriders — in 1354 DR, the paladins of Elturel opened a gate into Hell and rode through it.

Devils sought to take the city. Rather than wait for the assault, Elturel's paladin corps opened a portal beside their fort, the Gray Watch — now Nuts Deep — and rode into the first layer of Hell, to fight the devils back on their own ground. They won, at terrible cost: the gate closed behind them, and only a handful ever found their way back, by various means.

Elturel's paladin corps still bears the Hellriders' name. Today's paladins are not those who rode, but they keep the pact: no devil shall hold influence in Elturel. The handful who returned rebuilt slowly, and for near a century the Hellriders remained a shadow of their former strength — until High Overseer Thavius Kreeg's patronage restored them into the strong force whose patrols today guard the Sword Coast cities' southeastern approaches. The portal's residue made the Gray Watch uninhabitable for long stretches; the residual energies have long since dispersed, and no infernal energy lingers at the site today — though Deez Nuts now garrison the doorstep of a former hellmouth.

The history was told to the party by Marshal Ulder Ravengard (S52) and a Dawnbringers Banneret (S53).