The God Catcher

The God Catcher by Erin M. Evans is the fifth novel in the Waterdeep series. Erin introduces a few new characters to the Realms including Tennora and Nestrix.

"A fallen statue, caught in the cobbles of the city it tried first to save, and then to destroy.

Hollowed out, built over, and rented in pieces as apartments.

Dreams heavy with prophecy emanate from

The God Catcher

Tennora wants to master wizardry at the House of Wonder and forge a life in the bustling City of Waterdeep. Her plans are unfolding admirably until a madwoman arrives at the God Catcher, where Tennora has rented a room, and screams for the landlady—soon demonstrating she's more than a crazy woman with strong lungs. Quite a lot more.

The God Catcher is a wild adventure that rages from end to end of Waterdeep; it features vivid characters who have fascinating lives. I loved it, and you will too! —Ed Greenwood"

Summary
In the years before the Spellplague in 1385 DR, the blue dragon Clytemorrenestrix, who later became known as Nestrix, lived in the Calim Desert with her mate, the blue dragon Tantlevgithus. On the day that the Spellplague occurred, a thief named Lyra sneaked into Nestrix’s lair and attempted to steal a jeweled torque. Nestrix pursued Lyra into the desert and both of them were struck by the blue fire of the Spellplague. Lyra was magically transformed into a bronze dragon, but the stolen torque strangled her to death. Nestrix was turned into a human woman, but many of Lyra’s memories and possibly some of her consciousness were transferred to the former blue dragon. Nestrix’s lair and her eggs were destroyed by the Spellplague, and her mate was killed. Since she had nothing tying her to the Calim Desert any longer, Nestrix wandered throughout Faerûn for many years in search of a way to transform back into a dragon.

Around 1461 DR, Tennora Hedare was born into a noble family in the port city of Waterdeep, but her parents died during a featherlung epidemic when she was a child. Tennora was raised by her father’s brother and his wife, and she began to study magic at a Waterdhavian mage academy called the House of Wonder. Tennora eventually moved into a tenement building called the God Catcher, and she later learned that her mother, Liferna Uskevren, had been an accomplished rogue before she had married into the nobility of Waterdeep.

In 1478 DR, Nestrix killed a wizard named Ardusk Nagaenil in Cormyr in self-defense. Nevertheless, the War Wizards of Cormyr and the Nagaenil family put a bounty on Nestrix. The former dragon managed to escape, and in 1479 DR, she traveled to Waterdeep because she had heard rumors that the raptoran sorceress Aundra Blacklock knew a magical ritual to reverse the effects of the Spellplague.

Around that time, Tennora was dismissed from her magical studies by her tutor, the elf wizard Rhinzen Halnian, the Master of the House of Wonder. Rhinzen did not believe that Tennora had much potential as a mage, even though she was able to cast moderately powerful spells. Nestrix tried in vain to contact Aundra at the God Catcher, which was owned by the sorceress, but she was unsuccessful. Taking pity on Nestrix, Tennora decided to help the former dragon and arranged a meeting with Aundra. Nestrix explained her situation and Aundra agreed to turn her back into a dragon if she would steal a magical mask from an antiquary’s shop in the Trades Ward.

Unbeknownst to Nestrix and Tennora, the shop was secretly owned by Andareunarthex, also known as Dareun, a young green dragon and a player of the draconic game known as Xorvintaal. Despite Ahghairon’s dragonward, Dareun had entered Waterdeep and wanted to ultimately find a way to achieve dominance in the city. Using newly acquired thieving skills, Tennora helped Nestrix break into Dareun’s shop and steal the mask, but the two women were then confronted by some of the green dragon’s minions, including his chief agent, the assassin Ferremo Magli. Nestrix and Tennora defeated Dareun’s servants and escaped from the antiquary’s shop, but the green dragon, who had disguised himself in human form, soon tracked the young wizard to her apartment and attacked her. Even though he was weakened by the dragonward, Dareun was able to overpower Tennora. When Nestrix arrived at Tennora’s apartment during the fight, Dareun recognized her as a dragon and assumed that she was a fellow player of Xorvintaal who was making a move against him. With the assistance of Ferremo and a few of his other minions, Dareun subdued Nestrix and magically transported her to a secret chamber in the Waterdhavian sewers. Dareun tried to learn how Nestrix was not affected by the dragonward by forcibly interrogating and torturing her, but the former blue dragon did not provide him with any answers.

Tennora later met with Ferremo and bargained for Nestrix’s release by promising to steal the gorget of the Songdragon from the House of Wonder for Dareun. The gorget was a magical item that allowed a dragon to avoid the effects of Ahghairon’s dragonward and had been created for a song dragon that had aided Waterdeep after the Spellplague. Tennora infiltrated the House of Wonder and stole the Songdragon’s gorget, but as she was leaving, she was confronted by Rhinzen, who was intoxicated on the narcotic haepthum. In his drug-addled state, Rhinzen mistook Tennora for a devil and used a meteor swarm spell on the mage academy. The House of Wonder was destroyed, but Tennora escaped from the building and Rhinzen survived the structure’s collapse.

When Tennora made her way to Dareun’s shop, she was assailed and incapacitated by Ferremo. Once Ferremo took the gorget of the Songdragon, he bound Tennora and threw her into Waterdeep’s harbor in an attempt to drown her. Tennora escaped and returned to her apartment, where she encountered Veron Angalen, a half-orc bounty hunter who was tracking Nestrix. After Veron agreed to help Tennora rescue Nestrix, the pair found an entrance to the sewers beneath the God Catcher and eventually located Dareun’s lair.

Meanwhile, Dareun donned the Songdragon’s gorget in order to nullify the effects of the dragonward and kidnapped Antoum Mrays, the young son of the noblewoman Nazra Mrays, a Masked Lord of Waterdeep. Nazra was also the keeper of the Dragonstaff of Ahghairon, a magical artifact that made any dragon who touched it immune to the dragonward, and Dareun threatened to kill Antoum if Nazra did not give him the staff in a few days.

Dareun, Ferremo, and a couple of the green dragon’s other minions soon returned to the hidden lair in the sewers of Waterdeep with Antoum. Tennora helped Nestrix escape from imprisonment, and the two then fought Dareun and his servants. With the assistance of Veron, Tennora and Nestrix killed Ferremo and Dareun’s other agents, but the green dragon escaped and teleported to his shop with Antoum. Tennora, Veron and Nestrix found a teleportation item and used it to magically transport themselves to Dareun’s shop. Dareun had already left the shop, but Tennora and her companions were able to rescue Antoum.

Tennora, Nestrix, and Veron then made their way to Nazra’s manor and confronted Dareun, who intended to take the dragonstaff by force and transformed into his dragon form. Tennora and her two comrades engaged Dareun alongside Nazra, the noblewoman’s half-orc bodyguard Jorik, Aundra, and several members of the City Watch of Waterdeep. Veron and Nestrix were seriously wounded and around a dozen guardsmen were killed in the fight against Dareun, but the green dragon ultimately lost the Songdragon’s gorget and was driven from Waterdeep.

After Dareun was defeated, Nestrix and Veron received medical care and Tennora agreed to become Nazra’s personal agent and spy. Aundra had apparently been lying when she had claimed to have the ability to transform Nestrix back to dragon form and the plaguechanged female remained a human. Veron decided to no longer be a bounty hunter and began to contemplate becoming an adventurer. Nazra soon touched Nestrix with Ahghairon’s dragonstaff and named her a friend of Waterdeep, but it was doubtful that the magical item had any significant effect on Nestrix because the dragonward did not trouble her in her human form.

References