Eldrith

Eldrith the Betrayer was a powerful warrior who served as a general of the Company of the Crescent Blade in the city of Baldur's Gate in the early 13 century DR.

Personality
So masterful were Eldrith's tactics, so well trained were her soldiers and such was her individual combat prowess that she never lost a battle. Her undefeated status fed her pride, and she came to view Baldur's Gate as under her rulership, though she never actually staged a coup against the Grand Dukes.

So great was her pride that it persisted even after her death. Upon her defeat, however, she would be shown to have remorse for all that she did. She would admit that her rage had blinded her and that many that followed her died because of her. She also asked for forgiveness of those that defeated her. Resigned to her fate, Eldrith finally embraced her second death, never to trouble Baldur's Gate again.

History
She led her forces to victory in the first and last seasons of the Sundering War, the Crescent Port siege and, finally, the campaign against the Black Horde.

At the end of that last campaign, despite being outnumbered five-to-one, she scattered the orcs of the horde. However, half of the orcs survived and fled. Eldrith was desperate to pursue them, to make sure the orcs would never return, but the Grand Dukes refused, citing the fact that too many of the best soldiers of the city had fallen already. Those that were left were weary and the people of the city wanted no more of death, earnestly believing the orcs would not return. Eldrith was furious; she ignored them and led her fanatically loyal troops, weary though they were, after the remnant of the horde.

She cornered the orcs in a narrow defile, but with their avenue of retreat cut off, the orcs fought with greater ferocity, easily overwhelming Eldrith's outnumbered and tired warriors. Eldrith desperately sent a messenger for reinforcements but the messenger returned with word of the Dukes' refusal to help. Eldrith's army was slaughtered but she and a few severely wounded survivors made it back to the city alive.

But at the gates, she was informed that, for her disobedience, she and her company were banished. Again, furious at being barred from her city, she led the last ragtag remnants of her army in a siege of Baldur's Gate itself. The company was slain almost to a man and Eldrith reluctantly sounded the retreat.

Baldur's Gate's forces pursued though, all the way to the Marsh of Chelimber, where the last of her followers finally foundered and was put to the sword. Eldrith remained alive, though it was a miracle that she was. Fueled by anger and hatred, she stayed on her feet, her face completely unrecognizable from wounds that should have killed her several times over. Her pursuers still feared her ability in melee combat and instead gave her a cowardly execution with a volley of crossbow bolts. Eldrith was finally brought down.

But her rage was insatiable and, after the troops left, it was that rage that brought her back to life. Such was the power of her anger that not only did it grant her mysterious magical powers, it also brought into existence an Onyx Tower from which Eldrith plotted her revenge. She forged a "Dark Alliance" with various monsters, drow, lizardmen, and the Baldur's Gate thieves guild. She also discovered an artifact with great power over the undead—the Orb of the Undead—that she used to raise many such creatures in the crypts and sewers beneath the city.

In the, Karne, leader of the thieves guild, robbed a trio of adventurers who then determinedly tried to track down their stolen equipment and were sucked into defeating Eldrith's machinations by the Harpers. These adventurers quickly grew in power and tracked Eldrith back to the Onyx Tower where they eventually confronted her. When Eldrith was defeated, she finally expressed remorse for her evil actions, succumbing to death at last. Her life and the powers that were tied to her rage and anger faded along with it, including the Onyx Tower which collapsed moments later.

Appearances

 * Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance