Eidola of Neverwinter, a scion of the Boareskyr family, was the bride of Piergeiron the Paladinson in 1371 DR[note 1]. Their marriage was instrumental in securing a trade route between Waterdeep and Kara-Tur.[4]
Description[]
Eidola had bright, silvery eyes, long auburn hair, and pearly white teeth.[5]
Personality[]
Eidola was outgoing and focused on the things she wanted to achieve. She was not cruel, but was very demanding and adored luxury.[6]
Abilities[]
Eidola was a capable fighter who knew her way around plate armor and a sword. She was able to fight off a doppelganger with nothing but a hot iron brand bar.[7]
The doppelganger who consumed Eidola and assumed her personality and identity, also devoured several other creatures, giving her a selection of shapes and abilities to take on. These shapes included a shadow mastiff, a giant crocodile, an elven wizard named Jarin.[8]
Relationships[]
Eidola very quickly charmed Piergeiron with both her personality and looks. It helped that she was the striking image of his long-dead love Shaleen, whom he was often thinking about later in life.[9]
Rulathorn, the commander of the City Watch of Waterdeep thought Eidola of Neverwinter to be artificially beautiful, cold and calculating, and that when she lovingly looked into Piergeiron's eyes, she looked at her own reflection in them.[10]
History[]
Lady Eidola met her husband-to-be Piergeiron when he followed a scream to the side of a road. The young field-plate-armor-wearing woman was shaking a tree in front of her. The screaming was coming from a kobold on the tree who'd stolen Eidola's money purse. Piergeiron offered to help, and without waiting for acceptance started chopping the tree with his battleax. Only after the tree fell he noticed that the kobold had been coaxed off the tree a while before by Eidola using a piece of jerky. She quickly made a scaly friend and captured Paladinson's heart.[9] Unbeknownst to all but Khelben Arunsun and Aleena Paladinstar, Lady Eidola was killed and consumed by a greater doppelganger of the Unseen. The aberrant shapeshifters used a long-trapped soul of one of Piergeiron's wives – Shaleen, to mold shapeshifter Eidola's appearance and personality. The Unseen planned on magically enslaving the Open Lord and ruling through him over the City of Splendors.[3]
At some point, Khelben and Aleena came up with a temporary plan to render the doppelganger harmless. Open confrontation was out of question as Eidola exerted some strange influence over her paramour. The Blackstaff and his apprentice crafted an enchanted girdle of righteousness that locked the greater doppelganger into its current personality and shape. They managed to trick Eidola into putting the belt on and its magic effectively turned her into an ordinary human woman, unable to remove the girdle.[8]
On the 17th and the 18th of Eleint, the Year of the Unstrung Harp, 1371 DR, Open Lord of Waterdeep Piergeiron Paladinson and Eidola of Neverwinter held a lavish wedding ceremony at the Chapel of Ao in Piergeiron's Palace.[4]
The wedding was also used to create a trading pact with the Boareskyr family allowing the caravans from Waterdeep to pass through Boareskyr Bridge, making many factions of Waterdeep unhappy. Piergeiron was worried about Eidola's safety and had his trusted bodyguard Madeiron Sunderstone keeping her safe.[7]
The first attempt on Eidola's life came when she was lured away from the guests by a serving girl, in reality, a doppelganger. Eidola used a hot fire poker to attack the creature as Piergeiron finished it off.[7]
Another malicious plot against the newlyweds came from a gues, Laskar Nesher. The fat businessman was attempting to blackmail Eidola with information about her mysterious past.[11] The next nefarious player in the convoluted plot was the Master Mariners' Guild. Its members were seemingly planning an assassination, foiled by a young noble, Kastonoph "Noph" Nesher, son of Laskar.[11]
The third attempt on Eidola's life was stopped by Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun, who confronted and killed a group of doppelgangers posing as the lady's handmaidens during the ceremony. All of the swirling plots though ended up being a mere distraction. A set of beautiful candles given as a wedding gift was used during the ceremony, but summoned a group of basal golems that took on the forms of warriors, causing havoc and slaughter in a cloud of magical darkness. Piergeiron the Paladinson fought bravely but Eidola was abducted and taken to the faraway Utter East.[11]
The blushing bride was abducted by the desperate Mage Emperor Aetheric III of Doegan, who hoped that Waterdeep would send an army to look for Lady Eidola. The ruler plotted on using the said armies to battle for his kingdom's safety against the army of fiends and the Fallen Temple. Instead, Khelben assembled a small band of paladins to helm the rescue operation. The group included heroes of Phlan, Kern Desanea and Miltiades. Secretly, BLackstaff hired an assassin to dispose of the doppelganger making sure she never returned to Waterdeep. The assassin was Artemis Entreri.[8]
Eventually, the paladins found the bride in the royal palace of Eldrinpar in the kingdom of Doegan.[12] Noph Nesher thinking Eidola was a human, was tricked into removing her girdle of righteousness, unlocking her shapeshifting powers. She revealed her true nature by mangling the youth in her giant crocodile shape.[1][8] Escaping from the pursuing paladins and mercenaries hired to found her Eidola used an ancient Netherese gate to arrive first into Ularith in Anauroch and using another gate to Undermountain. The heroes finally located her inside an Unseen safe-house. Eidola was chased into a deadens and confronted. She revealed that a splinter of Piergeiron's soul was strapped inside the same soul gem that was used to mold her Eidola persona. As the doppelganger was getting ready to use the gem's magics to dispose of the pursuers, one of the mercenaries, Belgin Dree, interrupted the spell. Eidola's magic misfired, trapping her own soul within the gem.[13]
The doppelganger's body was destroyed by Miltiades and her soul was released from the gem by Khelben Arunsun, sending Eidola into afterlife.[8]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
- Novels
- The Abduction • Conspiracy • Uneasy Alliances • Easy Betrayals • The Diamond
- Referenced only
- The Paladins • The Mercenaries • Errand of Mercy
Notes[]
- ↑ The Abduction, p.6 states that the wedding of Piergeiron the Paladinson and Eidola took place in the Year of the Haunting, 1377 DR. However, that date is implausible. Khelben Arunsun died in 1374 DR as depicted in Blackstaff (novel). Furthermore, Aleena Paladinstar was stated to be gone from Waterdeep by 1372 DR, planeswalking (City of Splendors: Waterdeep). On the other hand, the events of the Descent to Undermountain took place in 1370 DR, during which Aleena was actively banned from adventuring and any danger by her father. In the events of The Paladins, as well as the finale of the DDTS, Aleena took a central role, no longer bound by her father's rules. She later, with all the experience she received from battling the Unseen and hordes of Tanar'ri, felt confident enough to use her magic to traverse the planes. This places DDTS events likely in 1371 DR. This also does not conflict with appearances by Artemis Entreri, and the Neshers.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 David Cook and Peter Archer (May 1998). Uneasy Alliances. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 6–7. ISBN 0-7869-0870-X.
- ↑ J. Robert King (February 1998). The Abduction. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 6, p. 78. ISBN 0-7869-0864-5.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 J. Robert King and Ed Greenwood (July 1998). The Diamond. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 5. ISBN 0-7869-0872-6.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 J. Robert King (February 1998). The Abduction. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 6. ISBN 0-7869-0864-5.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 J. Robert King (February 1998). The Abduction. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 2. ISBN 0-7869-0864-5.
- ↑ J. Robert King (February 1998). The Abduction. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 19. ISBN 0-7869-0864-5.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 J. Robert King (February 1998). The Abduction. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 10. ISBN 0-7869-0864-5.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 J. Robert King and Ed Greenwood (July 1998). The Diamond. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 4. ISBN 0-7869-0872-6.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 J. Robert King (February 1998). The Abduction. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 4. ISBN 0-7869-0864-5.
- ↑ J. Robert King (February 1998). The Abduction. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 40. ISBN 0-7869-0864-5.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 J. Robert King (February 1998). The Abduction. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 44. ISBN 0-7869-0864-5.
- ↑ J. Robert King (April 1998). Conspiracy. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 27–40. ISBN 0-7869-0869-6.
- ↑ Richard Baker (June 1998). Easy Betrayals. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 87–90. ISBN 0-7869-0871-8.