Elturel

From Deez Nuts' Sword Coast Campaign
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Elturel

A city on the Chionthar, ruled by High Overseer Thavius Kreeg and guarded by the Companion. Originally known to the party as the city where Leosin Erlanthar planned to meet with allies to coordinate efforts against the Cult; as of Session 52 it is the party's home base, with Deez Nuts granted a ruined fort — now Nuts Deep — on the ridge outside its walls.

Overview

Elturel (sometimes misheard as 'Erutel') is a city where Leosin intended to organize the next phase of resistance against the Cult of the Dragon. He offered the party 150 gold pieces each to rendezvous with him there after exploring the dragon egg caves.

As of Session 53, the city is actively provisioning for war: the Dawnbringers and the Hellriders are jointly stockpiling supplies and magic items in Elturel for the coming battles against Tiamat — moved by secret caravans like the one Deez Nuts saved at Nuts Deep.

The Companion

A giant floating orb of light hangs above Elturel — an unsetting second sun — pushing away darkness, undead and evil. Its light is death to the undead; its reach extends roughly to Nuts Deep, the edge at which undead can survive near the city. Its presence makes a direct assault on the city effectively impossible — which is precisely why the Cult of the Dragon's threat to Elturel is infiltration, not siege.

The history, as Elturel tells it (from a Dawnbringers Banneret, S53): in 1444 DR the city's leader was secretly taken over by a lich, who corrupted the minds of the other officials and turned the city toward his dark agenda. When his influence spread beyond the walls and was discovered, an uprising rose — and was hopeless; the people had neither the numbers nor the power. Then Thavius Kreeg — a man of an old Elturgard family, and a high priest of Torm renowned for his divination magic — came to the city and summoned the Companion. It descended from the sky, its light broke the lich's grip, and it has hung there ever since. Nobody knows what the Companion is or how Kreeg summoned it. The city's first High Overseer was the hero-paladin Tamal Thent; when she vanished with her entire caravan near Boareskr Bridge in 1450 DR, Elturel elected Kreeg to the seat all but unanimously, and he has ruled ever since, building up the Dawnbringers and the Hellriders. (See The Rise of the Companion.)

Elturel's Dawnbringers speak of the Companion as a blessing that "feels like the Morninglord's own regard." Baelgrum has speculated that his own boon might yet come from the Companion itself — and, more darkly, has noted that the Companion and the Hellriders' old gate to Hell occupy the same stretch of country: "a mysterious glowing ball and a demonic incursion all in the same area. That's interesting."

The Hellriders of Elturel

In 1354 DR — ninety years before the lich — devils sought to take the city. Rather than wait for the assault, the paladins of Elturel opened a portal near the old Gray Watch fort (now Nuts Deep) and rode into Hell — into the first layer — to fight the devils back on their own ground. They won, at great sacrifice: the gate closed behind them, and only a small number ever made it back by various means. The residual energies at the site have long since dispersed. (See The Ride of the Hellriders.)

Elturel's paladin corps is still called the Hellriders — today's paladins are not those who rode, but they keep the pact: no devil shall hold influence in Elturel. The corps that came home from the Ride was a shadow of what had gone through the gate, and for near a century it stayed small — until High Overseer Thavius Kreeg's patronage rebuilt the Hellriders into the strong force whose patrols today guard the Sword Coast cities' southeastern approaches.

Notable NPCs

  • Leosin Erlanthar – Harper monk coordinating anti-Cult efforts
  • High Overseer Thavius Kreeg – ruler of Elturel and, per S53, the summoner of the Companion. (Name garbled in recordings as "Fabius Krieg" — spelling treated as settled by usage.) His (unnamed) administrator manages Nuts Deep for the party.
  • The Banneret of the Dawnbringers (unnamed) – recruited Baelgrum into the militant order (S53)

Factions

  • The Dawnbringers hold their highest seat (the Dawnspire) in Elturel; Baelgrum joined their militant order in S53 and will collect his symbols and rank at one of their temples on his next visit.
  • The Order of the Gauntlet maintains its headquarters in Elturel — Xanphina's faction, and the source of her squire V.
  • Elturel's light-temples supplied Baelgrum's squire Rogar — himself a follower of Lathander, now joining the Dawnbringers too.

Nuts Deep

Nuts Deep — formerly the Gray Watch, the old fort of the Hellriders — sits roughly one mile northeast of the city on a rise, astride the main eastern road and within sight of Elturel's walls, at about the edge of the Companion's light. It was granted to Deez Nuts in Session 52, renamed by Keyleth, and successfully defended in Session 53.

Quests & Events

  • The Turnip Wagon Ambush – a Cult of the Dragon hit squad ambushed the party on the Elturel road, within reach of the city (S52).
  • The Battle of Nuts Deep (S53) – a Cult undead force with wyrmling air support chased a secret Elturel supply caravan to the fort and was annihilated; Thavius Kreeg is sending craftsmen and supplies in thanks.

Nearby Locations

Appearances

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