An adventurer known only as Drogan Droganson's pupil was active in northwest Faerûn in the late 14th century DR. A student of the retired Harper Drogan Droganson, they thwarted the medusa Heurodis and brought the Netherese enclave of Undrentide back to land, and later defeated the schemes of the drow Valsharess in the Underdark and even the archdevil Mephistopheles in Waterdeep and Cania.[1][2]
Relationships[]
The pupil's room at Master Drogan's house.
The student studied under the retired dwarf adventurer Drogan Droganson, alongside the dwarf cleric and rogue Dorna Trapspringer, the half-orc sorcerer and barbarian Xanos Messarmos, and the human paladin Mischa Waymeet.[1]
History[]
Early Career[]
These would-be heroes began their careers studying under former adventurer Drogan Droganson. Drogan was a dwarf wizard and cleric of Mystra, who'd retired from his own career to open an academy for aspiring adventurers out of his homestead near Hilltop in the Silver Marches.[1]
During the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, the academy was attacked by a group of kobolds that stole a collection of artifacts that Drogan had been protecting on behalf of the Harpers. During the attack, Drogan was struck with an exotic poison that was resistant to normal means of healing. Fortunately, fellow Harper Ayala Windspear arrived on the scene. She had been tracking the kobolds and tended to him while his top pupil led the fellow students into the surrounding territory to recover the artifacts, while Ayala and Mischa remained to defend Drogan.[1]
Among the foes they faced were the young white dragon Tymofarrar, with his force of kobolds, and the half-fiend elven sorceress J'Nah who was backed by a force of gnolls. The two had previously been allies in gaining the artifacts, though after a betrayal they became enemies. While confronting J'Nah, the hero learned that she was ultimately collecting the artifacts on behalf of a mysterious cloaked figure.[1]
The true target of the attack turned out a powerful magical sphere that had been hidden in a tower statue among the artifacts. The statue was held by the kobold Deekin Scalesinger, who was willing to trade it for his freedom from his former master Tymofarrar.[1]
The Anauroch Desert[]
As Drogan was still recovering, the top pupil, Xanos, Dorna, and Deekin traveled across the Anauroch desert with Katriana Dorovnia's caravan to a camp of Ao worshipers where Drogan's acquaintance, the archaeologist Garrick Halassar, was exploring Netherese ruins. Drogan believed that Halassar might be able to identify it. However, before they reached the camp, the desert posed its own challenges.[1]
First the caravan was attacked by a group of stingers, who kidnapped their desert guide, leading the hero to enter their underground lair to rescue him before he was sacrificed to Talona.[1]
Second, the desert oasis that the caravan stopped at to gain water from had come under threat from the powerful Netherese mummy lord Kel-Garas. Kel-Garas's powers had caused the oasis to dry and undead forces to attack the Bedine warriors who had been held the mummy at bay since he was entombed. The hero entered Kel-Garas's tomb to resolve the situation.[1]
Eventually, after arriving at the Aoists' camp, they met with Halassar, who positively identified the orb as a Netherese mythallar, a powerful artifact that focused large amounts of raw magiccal energy. Halassar was the only survivor of an attack on the expedition by the same cloaked figure, who had entered the ancient ruins he had been exploring, backed by a force of slaadi.[1]
The hero and their allies entered the ruins and fought their way through to a large magical gate, where the figure had entered. There they met with their old mentor Drogan, who had recovered enough to magically travel. They helped Drogan to activate the gate, but the old wizard realized too late that their adversary had hidden a deadly magical trap within the energies of the gate to deter pursuit. Drogan sacrificed himself to keep the gate open to allow his pupil and allies to escape the collapse of the ruins.[1]
The pupil is petrified.
They wound up at an unknown location deep in the desert, near the ruins of the crashed Netherese flying city of Undrentide. There, their adversary revealed herself to be the medusa sorceress Heurodis, who promptly petrified the adventurers and plucked the mythallar from the hero's stony grasp. She used it to raise the ancient city into the air once again, planning to use it and its ancient secrets to conquer Faerûn.[1]
Exploring Undrentide[]
While the sorceress was still performing the ritual to raise the city, however, the petrified adventures were discovered by thralls of the asabi slaver and merchant Ashtara. Mistaking them for a particularly realistic statue, they brought their find to their master, believing he would appreciate it as he currently had them scavenging the ruins of Undrentide for valuable artifacts for later sale. Ashtara recognized the "statue" as a living being as he had previously used similar magic to safely transport slaves across the desert without expending unnecessary resources. Thus he was able to restore them to life and used a magical slave collar that forced them to do his bidding.[1]
Recognizing the the adventurers' prowess, Ashtara first directed them to destroy the powerful golem guards protecting key areas of the city, which were hampering his scavenging efforts. After this was accomplished, he ordered them to explore the previously inaccessible areas of the ruins. Among the notable items that they discovered were three powerful magical spheres that together allowed access to the upper levels of the city, as well as an artifact that summoned a portal to the Plane of Shadow.[1]
Upon reaching the top level of the city, they again confronted Heurodis. The sorceress had bound her life force to the energies of the mythallar, becoming a powerful lich at the cost of her petrifying gaze. The heroes managed to destroy the medusa, along with the ring of conduits that focused the mythallar's magic, allowing the city to fly. The ancient flying city once again crashed into the sands, though the adventurers survived by escaping into the Plane of Shadows through the portal. Although the Harpers knew of the heroes' role in defeating Heurodis and downing Undrentide again, and sung of them as heroes, their fate remained unknown to the outside world.[1]
Lost in the Plane of Shadow[]
Ashtara was among those who died in the crash and with his passing the adventurers' slave collars shattered, so they were free again. However, they could no longer use the previous portal, leaving them trapped in the Plane of Shadow..[1]
At some point, Drogan Droganson's star pupil discovered a strange artifact that allowed access to a demiplane with portals to other worlds. Unaware of its true purpose or name, it was dubbed the Relic of the Reaper after the mysterious creature who oversaw the realm.[2]
Into Undermountain[]
After returning to the Material Plane, the hero was one of the heroes who came to Waterdeep to answer a call for aid with a growing crisis there. In Kythorn of the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, there had been an increase in attacks on prominent residents of Waterdeep by drow warriors and their allies. Durnan, the proprietor of the Yawning Portal inn, believed that there may have been a shift in power within the Underdark to account for their recent boldness. In addition, he believed that something may have happened to Halaster Blackcloak to allow for them to have apparent free access to Undermountain and its surface portals. Therefore, he proposed an expedition of heroes into Undermountain to investigate the matter and hopefully deal with any threat. Unfortunately, during his proposal, the inn itself came under attack by a force of drow and duergar who had come up from its passage to Undermountain. Although the surviving heroes managed to defeat the initial attack, a beholder emerged from from the portal and attacked, temporarily disabling Durnan and the adventurer. The other heroes, an established company consisting of Sharwyn, Tomi Undergallows, Daelan Red Tiger and Linu La'neral impulsively rushed to follow the creature, leaving behind Durnan, the adventurer, and Deekin (now an aspiring bard).[2]
After making preparations and possibly enlisting Deekin's aid again, the hero entered Undermountain to pursue the raiders and rescue the other adventurers. Ultimately, the hero learned that Halaster Blackcloak was indeed being held prisoner by the drow. These drow were followers of the Valsharess, a powerful leader who was attempting to conquer the Underdark and become its Empress.[2]
Blackcloak's disappearance had caused a power vacuum in Undermountain as well. In the upper levels, a conflict had broken out between factions of a fairy sorceress and an ogre magi, each vying for territory in the dungeon. After settling the dispute, the hero had to recover parts of a device to open the passage to the lower levels, which had been broken by a flesh golem that was loyal to its "father" Halaster. During the explorations, the hero also discovered the bodies of the four adventurers and restored them to life with a rod of resurrection provided by White Thesta in the Yawning Portal. They may have joined forces in fighting through Undermountain.[2]
In the deeper levels, they were met by increasing resistance from the Valsharess's warriors but were aided by the rebel drow assassin Nathyrra, a follower of Eilistraee, who belonged to a faction opposed to the Valsharess.[2]
The hero and their allies managed to free Halaster from his imprisonment but the Mad Mage placed a geas on the hero to destroy the Valsharess and teleported the allies to the Underdark city of Lith My'athar.[2]
The Underdark[]
Lith My'athar was one of the few remaining cities holding out against the Valsharess’s attacks on the northern Underdark. Thus it had become a haven for refugees, including Nathyrra's faction of Eilistraeans. Tensions in the city were high, not only from external threats but the differences between the worshipers of Eilistraee and those of Lolth.[2]
The Seer, a powerful Eilistraean priestess who led the rebel movement, explained that the Valsharess had made alliances with factions of beholders, illithids, and an undead cult lead by the dracolich Vix'thra. Not only that, but she had somehow bound the archdevil Mephistopheles to her service. The Seer tasked the hero and companions with weakening the upcoming attack by disrupting the alliances while seeking their own potential allies among the golems on the Isle of the Maker and another nearby island with a mysterious settlement of avariel.[2]
The adventurer was then placed in charge of co-coordinating the defense of the city, first at the main gate and then the city's port. However, the Valsharess appeared to the hero in a dream the night before the attack, attempting to seduce them into joining her cause.[2]
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Appendix[]
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Background[]
This hero is the player-character of the Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark expansions for Neverwinter Nights. As the name, race, classes, alignment, and other details may all be set by the player, nothing at all is known about the character, hence the unnamed and uncertain nature of this article. Moreover, it is not necessary for the player-character of Hordes to be the same as that of Shadows, though this is widely assumed to be the case. Nevertheless, some details may be gleaned, as the cutscenes depict a male human-seeming character, while the Shadows of Undrentide manual describes the students as "young". Dragon #322: "Silicon Sorcery: Shadows of Undrentide" again calls the player-character young.
Appearances[]
Video Games
Neverwinter Nights 2
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 BioWare, Floodgate Entertainment (June 2003). Designed by Brent Knowles, Rick Ernst. Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide. Atari.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 BioWare (December 2003). Designed by Brent Knowles. Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark. Atari.