Welcome to Neverwinter

Premise

AMID THE wilderness and savagery of the cold North, Neverwinter once stood as a beacon of civility and warmth. Even after the Spellplague wracked the world, the Jewel of the North lost little of its luster. The city’s destruction thus shocked many when it occurred, despite the portents that warned of coming peril. Vague prophecies and strange events seemed like shadows of the Spellplague, nothing more. Even the earth tremors that began to disturb the area could not shake its citizens’ belief in a bright future.

Then Mount Hotenow, deep in Neverwinter Wood, awoke with the power of an angry god. The city could do nothing against such a foe. The earth yawned open and broke apart. Whole districts shuddered and sank while other areas shot up, forming sudden cliffs. The river, running warm throughout winter, exploded into hissing steam and lava as scalding clouds of ash roared through the streets like an advancing army. Thousands lost their lives as Neverwinter died that day.

Slowly, life has returned to this ruined landscape. Many hope to rebuild what has been lost, but an equal number see the tragedy as an opportunity to seize all they can. Yet those who scratch out lives in the scarred city fail to see the infection below the scab. Under their noses, beneath their feet, and even within their earshot, dark forces battle one another for control of the city.

Houserules

• I'm just going to do milestone leveling rather than precisely tracking experience.

• I'm not interested in closely tracking everyone's encumbrance but try to keep things reasonable on that front.

• We'll be using popcorn initiative, as Falkus described in this thread: https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/request-for-a-4th-edition-dnd-game-set-in-the-forgotten-realms-using-the-keep-on-the-shadowfell-modules.921348/. Basically, once combat starts 1 PC will go (on a first come, first server basis), then I'll have a NPC go, then another PC who hasn't acted yet will act, etc, until the end of the round, when the process starts over. Initiative won't serve any purpose, so you probably don't want to take any features that improve it.

PCs

• Cleo. Human Rogue. Dead Rat Deserter.

• Maria Fireheart. Human Mage. Harper Agent/Detective.

Neverwinter and the North

Even in safer times, the North’s reputation as the Savage North was well earned. Now, times are worse and the land more savage by far. Its great cities, once bastions of light and civilization, lie crippled. The small towns that served to shelter travelers stand empty—or have been claimed by murderous groups and hungry monsters. Roads etched into the earth with thousands of years of use are increasingly obscured by forest, bramble, and marsh. Communities now struggle alone amid the wilderness, fortunate if they see an outsider once in a generation. Neverwinter labors to breathe in the suffocating harshness of this new North, the sea its only lifeline. With few traders braving the increasingly long treks between settlements, the city’s docks now provide the area’s main means of import and precious little export. Gone are the days of plenty, beauty, and luxury. Today, Neverwinter struggles to break free of the forces that brought it low, still weak and surrounded by danger.

• Neverwinter: The City of Skilled Hands, the Jewel of the North—many were the accolades once heaped upon Neverwinter. Then, almost thirty years ago, the city died. Minor earth tremors that had plagued the region for months were the precursors of the eruption of Mount Hotenow. A portion of that volcano’s peak exploded with such force that lava and superheated ash poured across the city in an avalanche. Half of Neverwinter’s population died in a heartbeat, the city’s buildings razed. A great rift now known as the Chasm rent the surface where the shifting earth had pulled apart. Strange zombies roamed the land in the aftermath, their dead flesh turned to ash by the fires that consumed the city. Yet the people of the North have always been resilient. After the destruction, many who had fled at the first tremors returned. Opportunists and looters arrived. People began to rebuild. Lord Dagult Neverember, the Open Lord of Waterdeep, eventually arrived as well, along with an army of Mintarn mercenaries. Today, the city struggles back to life under the watchful rule of the self-styled Lord Protector.

• Neverwinter River: The bright water of the Neverwinter River runs warm throughout the year, a feature that helps to keep the city from being frozen in the winter months. When the cataclysm struck, dark ash choked the river for months before it began to flow from Neverwinter Wood through the city once more. Three bridges once spanned the river in Neverwinter— the Sleeping Dragon, the Winged Wyvern, and the Dolphin, each sculpted in the form of its name. Of the three, only the Winged Wyvern remains largely intact. Mintarn mercenaries in the hire of Lord Neverember patrol it day and night, watching traffic to and from the northern portion of the city and guarding against threats from Castle Never.

• Helm’s Hold: Once a small monastery and adjacent village dedicated to the deity Helm, the cathedral of Helm’s Hold now towers above the town and surrounding lands that bear its name. The death of Helm saw the monastery fall into disuse, but the fortified town became a refuge when the Spellplague hit during the year following Helm’s demise. Lord Neverember now exiles victims of the Spellplague to Helm’s Hold for treatment, and his mercenaries guard the town.

• Port Llast: This town was a great city in ancient times—the most northerly safe harbor on the Sword Coast whenever Luskan would fall to orcs or other evil forces. However, the rise of a relatively stable Luskan and ports farther north began to diminish its prominence. Then came the Spellplague, and with it the return of Abeir. The appearance of the new continent in the ocean to the west changed the tides around Port Llast, filling the harbor with silt and making Neverwinter an easier port to reach. With the docks of Port Llast failing and trade dying off, most of its citizens have long since abandoned their homes or died at the hands of marauders. Now a ghost town, Port Llast is known as the realm of the evil sea goddess Umberlee and as a home to sea monsters. However, some say that this reputation is simply rumor spread by those who want to keep the secrets of the town to themselves.

• Neverwinter Wood: For generations, this dark forest has been shunned by most people of the North. That magic exists in Neverwinter Wood cannot be doubted, but its nature—and whether it exists as a force of good or ill—remains unknown. The forest holds many secrets, and even on its fringes, one feels a sense of unease. Humans have never logged in this area, and the orcs of the North have traditionally avoided it during their incursions. Only druids and Uthgardt barbarians dare to pass into the deep forest.

• Thundertree: This small town once stood at the edge of the wood. Its inhabitants made a living by harvesting windfall timber to ship downriver to the Neverwinter and beyond. Now the forest has overgrown Thundertree’s abandoned and decaying buildings. Although the town survived the Spellplague largely intact, the ash zombies that arose after the destruction of Neverwinter overran it. As the dangers of Neverwinter Wood increase, the abandoned town and its unknown horrors are shunned.

• Mount Hotenow: For untold generations, this volcanic peak quietly fumed in the depths of Neverwinter Wood. Rumored to be the source of the warmth of the Neverwinter River, Mount Hotenow once featured in the bedtime stories of Neverwinter’s citizens as the home of fire giants, red dragons, and other blazing beasts. People looked upon the fantastic peak as a thing of beauty—until its wrath was unleashed against Neverwinter in the cataclysm. Now jutting like a broken tooth from the forest, Mount Hotenow still fumes, the land occasionally quaking with the echoes of its fury.

• The Crags: This long wrinkle of hills and ridges runs northeast from Neverwinter Wood. Goblins, gnolls, ogres, hill giants, and other wild peoples have dwelled within this rocky landscape for centuries. So too has the Sky Pony tribe of the Uthgardt barbarians. Rumors have long persisted that an entrance to Gauntlgrym lies somewhere in the Crags. However, the hundreds of ancient and now-dead mines that long ago brought humans to the area make for numerous false leads.

• Tower of Twilight: This enchanted tower long stood on an island in a small lake east of Neverwinter Wood. Home to a student of the great wizard Khelben Blackstaff, the tower stood invisible by day but would appear as the light failed. During the Spellplague, the tower vanished without a trace, though it now reappears infrequently and unpredictably at twilight. Who lives there now, where the tower disappears to, and why it returns remain a mystery.

• Conyberry: During the Spellplague, a portion of Abeir imposed itself upon the village of Conyberry. The terrain-altering effect of this transition forced the inhabitants of the village to come together with people dwelling in the regions of Abeir to which they were joined. However, in the intervening decades, the Gray Wolf Uthgardt tribe has sacked the settlement in retribution for this “invasion” of their lands, slaughtering Conyberry’s citizens or forcing them to join the tribe. The village now lies largely vacant.

• Old Owl Well: Known in ancient texts as Old Owlbear Well and in even older histories as Quesseer, this site marks the location of a Netherese outpost established millennia ago. The Netherese built a means of drawing water from the earth, using the site as a place of trade. For centuries, this water supply on a key trade route served as a source of conflict. Until the chaos of the Spellplague, orcs and humans from Neverwinter and Waterdeep still struggled to control the outpost. Now, it lies forgotten and abandoned. Until trade returns to these lands, the fate of the well and whatever ruins lie hidden in the surrounding hills remain unknown.

• Morgur’s Mound: Atop this foothill of the Crags, Uthgar—deity and founder of the Uthgardt barbarians— died after saving the North from Gurt, Lord of the Pale Giants. The mound is named for Uthgar’s brother Morgur (called Morgred by some), who is said to be buried there. Once, the bones of a great thunderbeast were spread atop the hill, marking it as the holy shrine of the Uthgardt.

• Luskan: An urban cesspool, the once-great City of Sails squats on the coastline like an open sore on the face of the continent of Faerûn. It lies about four days hard travel north of Neverwinter (about three days by sea, due to prevailing currents). Until some hundred years ago, Luskan choked in the grasp of the Arcane Brotherhood and its leader, Arklem Greeth. When a force of pirate-killers from Waterdeep along with the legendary hero Drizzt and his allies precipitated the destruction of the Hosttower of the Arcane, the city was destabilized and never fully recovered. Street gangs and pirates rule Luskan now, making the city a stomping ground for criminals, exiles from other lands, and hideous beasts.

• Gauntlgrym: This famous subterranean dwarven city has been the stuff of legend for centuries. Aside from the dwarves, most people of the North doubted Gauntlgrym’s existence—until the Summons, as it has come to be known. At that time, ghostly dwarves in ancient dress appeared before certain dwarves throughout the North and beyond, silently pleading for heroes to seek out Gauntlgrym. Some did set out in search of the lost city, though most counted themselves lucky when the ghosts troubled them no more. Many of those who sought Gauntlgrym did so in the Crags, for ancient legends mentioned an entrance there. Others plunged into Neverwinter Wood or scaled the Sword Mountains. Few returned from their quests, and those who survived almost never found any trace of their goal. Some dwarves seek the city still, but for the rest, Gauntlgrym remains a tantalizing legend.

• The Sword Mountains: The sharp peaks and hilly terrain of the Sword Mountains extend down the coast of the Sea of Swords for nearly two hundred miles. Long home to belligerent dwarf clans, orc tribes, trolls, dragons, and other fearsome creatures, this range is rarely traveled in these dangerous times. Those foolish enough to brave the mountains often do so in search of old mines and the ruins of civilizations past. However, most find only death in the end.

• Leilon: This sleepy mining town once served as a convenient resting place for travelers on the High Road. Now, the few travelers who still take this route shun Leilon, going miles out of their way to avoid even laying eyes on the town. The High Tower of Thalivar long stood as a landmark here, abandoned by a forgotten mage. For generations, the tower proved a tempting target for plunderers—and, too often, a grave for them as well. The people of Leilon knew that the tower held guardian monsters, and they were content to leave it alone. However, the Spellplague’s twisted magic unleashed the creatures trapped in the tower, which quickly ravaged the helpless village. Now, the tower is a place of terror, its magic allegedly freezing in place all creatures whose eyes rest upon it, even for a moment.

• Mere of Dead Men: This vast salt marsh contains the ruins of the numerous castles, manors, and farms it swallowed as it expanded. It takes its name from the great armies that were drowned here when a powerful lich flooded their battlefield. Whereas once the High Road skirted the swamp, what now remains of that highway plunges through its expanded borders. Those seeking to go south to Waterdeep from points north must often contend with the lizardfolk that claim the territory around the road. Alternative routes wind deeper into the mere or off into the Sword Mountains at the cost of extra days of travel and peril.

• Waterdeep: Once the greatest and grandest city in the Realms, Waterdeep’s star has dimmed slightly in the last century as the world has progressively darkened. The great port—about a week south of Neverwinter, or three days by sea—no longer sustains its own navy, relying instead on mercenaries from the island of Mintarn and the city of Baldur’s Gate to the south. The city has long existed as a relatively fair and just center of civilization. Waterdeep is ruled by a council of twenty Masked Lords (nobles hidden behind powerful illusions to obscure their identities) and one Open Lord. The current Open Lord is the boisterous and dangerous Dagult Neverember, the so-called Lord Protector of Neverwinter. Unlike most of the other Open Lords in Waterdeep’s history, Lord Neverember has demonstrated an expansionist and imperialistic bent. In recent years, he has set his sights on Neverwinter as the next territory in his growing empire.

City of Neverwinter

Neverwinter: A once-bustling metropolis, the northern city of Neverwinter lies mostly in ruins after a century of turmoil that culminated in a great cataclysm nearly thirty years ago. Fires, earthquakes, and evil portents destroyed or chased away most of the populace, but even the supposed waking of an ancient primordial could not kill the city completely. Some stubborn natives remained, carrying on in spite of countless hardships. Because of them—and because of the reconstruction efforts of the last decade—Neverwinter still stands, despite its tragedies. Today, the city is a center of trade, warfare both open and secret, and—above all—adventure. After so much abuse and neglect, much of the city’s architecture is damaged or lies in rubble. Recent repair efforts have given Neverwinter a patchwork appearance; slums are juxtaposed with new construction, all resting on the shattered remnants of old buildings. Certain districts are more intact than others, and former citizens have returned to such areas, thanks to the efforts of the city’s Lord Protector: Dagult Neverember, Open Lord of Waterdeep.

• • Protector's Enclave: The Lord Protector of Neverwinter rules the city from the Hall of Justice, the old temple of Tyr. Farthest from the source of the great earthquake that struck Mount Hotenow almost three decades ago, this area of Neverwinter suffered the least destruction. This good fortune also made the district a primary target for Lord Neverember. He moved an overwhelming force of mercenaries into the district, secured his base, and, ever since, has spent half his time here and half in Waterdeep. The Protector’s Enclave stands mostly intact, and many former residents of the city have returned to live here alongside new immigrants. Although this district is the most stable part of Neverwinter, it chafes under the firm hand of Sabine, the general of Lord Neverember’s forces. Spies watch every neighborhood and notable gathering place, and Mintarn enforcers march through the streets. The Enclave boasts the best-stocked market in the city, thanks to trade from Waterdeep and other cities along the Sword Coast. The city taxes all transactions made here at a steep rate that the natives have grudgingly come to accept. The taxes pay for the Mintarn soldiers who watch every newcomer to the district with a sharp eye. In the enclave, suspicious or unfamiliar characters do not stay hidden for long.

• • • Notable NPCS

• • • • Lord Dagult Neverember: The Open Lord of Waterdeep, Neverember arrived in Neverwinter about ten years ago and proclaimed himself the Lord Protector of the city. Over the past decade, Dagult Neverember has made progress in restoring the devastated city. Seeing an opportunity to add to his mercantile empire, Lord Neverember employed an army of artisans and carpenters to rebuild, and he hired mercenaries from Mintarn to keep monsters at bay and maintain order. Five years ago, Neverember established the Protector’s Enclave from his base in the Hall of Justice, and declared that section of the city safe for occupation once more. Since then, he has worked to tame the wild streets, rebuild the ruins, and coax refugees to return to their homes. The Open Lord of Waterdeep is a commanding noble. Big, boisterous, and affable, Neverember treats each new acquaintance as a friend. But beneath his congenial display, his quick mind is sizing up everyone in attendance, tallying potential gains or threats each could offer him. Neverember hasn't tried to claim the throne of Neverwinter (yet, at least), but he has floated the idea he is a descendant of Nasher Alagondar, a beloved lord from before the Spellplague. The protector’s savants have managed to trace the lord’s heritage to the adventurer Vers Never, a supposed bastard son of Lord Nasher Alagondar and younger half-brother to Bann, who succeeded their shared father as king. As Neverember tells it, Vers settled in Waterdeep and married Mirtria Ember, thus forming the “Neverember” name.

• • • • General Sabine: A tough-as-nails mercenary named Sabine leads Neverember's Mintarn forces. She serves as Neverember’s chief enforcer in the city and has come to represent the harsher aspects of his beneficence.

• • • • Soman Galt, Mayor of Neverwinter: Once a great explorer, Soman Galt has turned into a calculated politician who projects a cold, disconnected presence. The dwarf stares absently, his eyes seeming to watch something no one else can see, and he often mumbles to himself. He is capable of rigid focus, however, when the situation warrants it, and he takes his work seriously. A former government official, Galt was a natural choice when Neverember sought an underling to manage the city’s affairs. He oversees tax collection, grants of property, and city files.

• • • • Mordai Vell: Tall and dark, Mordai has luminous gold eyes even though most tieflings boast red or black ones. Charisma practically drips from him, setting all around him off their guard. His obvious wealth doesn’t hurt, either. As the last heir of a noble family (one whose holdings remained remarkably intact after the cataclysm), he exerts great influence over Neverwinter’s economy and politics. Mordai is arrogance incarnate. He pursues whatever interests him, regardless of how far he must reach. Mordai is a smooth operator—charming, rich, and always keen on how he might ally with new acquaintances and use them.

• • • • Liset Cheldar: This half-elf woman runs the Moonstone Mask with a wink and a smile. She genuinely likes most of the people she meets, and she flirts with anyone who seems receptive. A recently returned native of the city who inherited the inn, Liset was pleased to find the place still in one piece (and still floating). The legitimacy of her claim to the Moonstone was unclear, but, plying her natural charm, she successfully lobbied Neverember for funds to reopen the inn, and she maintains a bright smile thanks to his patronage.

• • • • Durham Shaw: The Captain of the Wall, he holds the command of it under General Sabine, seeing to its defense and coordinating patrols of it between the Mintarn mercenaries and the hardened natives who refuse to give up their stewardship. While he's not too harsh of a commander compared to Sabine or the Mintarns in general, he's resented by many people for a different reason—he has been allowed to stay in the city and work on the Wall even though he suffers from the effects of the Spellplague. Some say Shaw receives this special treatment because he is a personal friend or distant relation of Lord Neverember.

• • • • Loremaster Atlavast: The only priest who remained after the Prophet’s departure from the House of Knowledge, he is a middle-aged human who became the custodian of the library after the cataclysm. Fearing the worst as the cataclysm occurred, the loremasters of the temple sealed the inner sanctum, leaving the young Atlavast sealed within. As the ground shuddered and shook, Atlavast’s mind grew unstable. Now grown into an eccentric recluse, Atlavast keeps to the lower vaults, continually cataloguing and reorganizing. He is rarely glimpsed these days, and the main evidence of his existence is the occasional flickering light that filters up from cracks in the cobblestones in the dead of night. As a rule, no one ventures closer to investigate.

• • • Locations

• • • • Hall of Justice': The high walls and imposing stonework of Tyr’s former temple mark it as a timeless bastion of duty and honor. The great temple stands atop a seaside bluff, challenging all threats from the Sea of Swords or inland Faerûn. When Lord Neverember set his sights on the city, he chose the Hall of Justice as his base of operations for its practical value (the cataclysm left it almost untouched) and its emotional significance to the people of Neverwinter. The city had long served Tyr, the god of justice, and even after the deity fell nearly a hundred years ago, the residents refused to convert the temple to worship of another god. By restoring the temple to its former status, Neverember seeks to win over the city’s traditionalists and establish himself as a champion of just rule. He sponsors priests of Torm whose rites emulate the Tyrran tradition, hoping to attract new devotees to the temple (and to the Lord Protector’s cause). For the most part, the scheme has worked. Some of the locals, however—particularly the Sons of Alagondar—think that Neverember’s presence defiles the great temple, which they now call the “Hall of Never-Justice.” The temple itself is a radiant and beautiful structure, big enough inside for giants to walk comfortably or for dragons to rest in the great hall, beneath the high-domed ceiling. The trappings of the building reflect a bygone age, one dedicated to justice and temperance in all things.

• • • • The Lord’s Residence: From his office, which looks more and more like a throne room all the time, Lord Neverember issues edicts, coordinates the activities of his followers, and (when he can spare the time) holds audience with the impoverished citizens of the city. However, he has no facility for dispensing justice, and thus he has delegated that role to Soman Galt, whom he has appointed mayor of Neverwinter. The dwarf listens wearily to supplicant after supplicant, offering grudging mediation. Meanwhile, the lord enhances his image as the charismatic champion who does not stoop to petty politics. Neverember has decorated his private quarters after the fashion of Waterdeep, although he takes care to display no seal or coat of arms pertaining to his home city. He has taken the former high priest’s apartments for his own, and he garrisons most of his sellswords in the temple’s other chambers, with a score of servants to wait upon them. A few priests of Torm dwell in the complex, faithful to their god and his precepts.

• • • • The Moonstone Mask: A vertigo-inducing journey along a cliffside trail takes the adventurous to a new fixture of the Neverwinter skyline. The earthmote now known as the Moonstone floats beside the western edge of the Protector’s Enclave, high over the docks below. It hangs a hundred feet above the crashing waves of the Sea of Swords, bound in place by thick chains strung to heavy anchors. A bridge that runs between the earthmote and the docks allows visitors to enter and exit the Moonstone. The inn for which the mote is named, the Moonstone Mask, offers guests lavish quarters, pleasurable company, and a hard-to-beat view. In no small part, the Moonstone Mask owes its rebirth and current existence to Lord Neverember and New Neverwinter. It repays the favor by housing many of the city’s Mintarn enforcers, including their commander, General Sabine. As such, mercenaries dominate the once-genial atmosphere of the hedonistic inn, and Neverember’s sellswords are known to argue or fight with other patrons

• • • • The Wall: A great hodgepodge of wood and scavenged stone, the Wall separates civilized Neverwinter from the Chasm and the horrors it spawns. The Wall lets guards strike at targets from positions of relative safety, and it provides regular outposts for watchers. The thick mess of bloodstained refuse at the eastern base—not to mention the occasional rotting corpse of a more recent kill— speaks to the Wall’s success as a defensive fortification. In its early days, the Wall held off the monsters by shunting them toward parts of the city that had already been destroyed. When Neverember arrived, he made it a priority to reinforce what he saw as an effective defensive fortification with his own engineers and soldiers. At first, the Wall blocked only a few streets where attacks were common, but since the reconstruction started, it has expanded to stretch from the Neverdeath graveyard to the old House of Knowledge. In combination with the Neverwinter River, the Wall continues to provide effective containment, although people have spotted plaguechanged monstrosities in the northern River District and, more recently, near sewer holes around the city. The situation grows dire, and petitions for Wall expansion come before Mayor Galt every day.

• • • • House of Knowledge: At the far northeastern end of the Wall stands what was, in happier times, a flourishing temple to Oghma, god of knowledge and wisdom. Before the quake, the House of Knowledge served as a repository of chronicled learning, including maps, history, and hundreds of poems and chapbooks produced over the centuries. Today, it looks less like a library and more like a refugee camp, holding the area where the Wall approaches the Neverwinter River. After the cataclysm, leadership of the reduced flock at the House of Knowledge fell to Brother Anthus, an elderly human interested in studying the Chasm and the Spellplague-touched creatures that came from it. His research led to the temple’s use as a haven for Spellplague sufferers. After Anthus’s death under mysterious circumstances, a young woman in residence known as the Prophet relocated the makeshift hospital and the remaining clerics of Oghma to Helm’s Hold, claiming a prophesied disaster would befall the city if she did not. After the Prophet departed, the badly damaged temple stood empty and abandoned until recently, when a handful of squatters moved back into the House. These refugees from the River District earn their keep by ringing the temple’s bells when they sight a new wave of monstrosities spilling from the Chasm toward the Wall. Lord Neverember is said to be quite pleased with their resourcefulness, and the Mintarn mercenaries that guard the Wall are known to stop by with small gifts of food and drink to show their appreciation.

Helm's Hold

• Notable NPCs

• • Rohini, the Prophet of Helm’s Hold: Rohini is the main healer and head researcher of Helm's Hold monastery. Rohini earned her sobriquet through the foretellings she speaks of pivotal events to come, both good and ill. The Prophet claims knowledge of extraordinary mysteries beyond mortal understanding. She says this awareness gives her the power to purify the worthy. She bestows healing on individuals that have been visited by the Spellplague.