Linu La'neral was a female moon elf cleric of the elven goddess Sehanine Moonbow who hailed from the city of Evereska and became a renowned adventurer by the late 14th century DR[3][2] and a defender of Neverwinter in the late 15th century DR.[1]
Description
Linu was clumsy (some said unfortunate), often causing accidents in her wake. She was shy and had a somewhat naive worldview, but was well-liked by many people for her constantly positive outlook and her kindheartedness to others. She had a great deal of humorous lines and stories, including how she met her (later deceased) husband.[3] One of Linu's companions, Daelan Red Tiger, suggested that her clumsiness was purely due to her self-consciousness, noting that it completely disappeared when the woman was lost in thought.[2]
Linu possessed gentle facial features. She had short curly chestnut hair, brown eyes, and pale skin. Her adventuring garb varied, from blue chainmails of a Neverwintran defender, to blue robes and a blue cloak. She always wore a silver amulet that advertised Linu's devotion to Sehanine Moonbow.[1][2]
Activities
During her stay in Neverwinter, Linu spent several grueling months working at that Hall of Justice, the Neverwintran temple to Tyr. Of course, that time had its share of accidents. Once time, after several days of tireless work, Linu fainted whilst on duty, right atop a glass statue of Tyr's holy symbol, its balanced plates flew across the room and smashed spectacularly right above the head of the High Priest, who fell on his romp and right on a sharp shard of glass. She was asked to find another place to heal the sick and injured.[3]
Her clumsiness continues to wreck havoc in as she and the companions stayed in the town of Port Llast, where Linu bumped into a waitress, spilling drinks, knocking over a dwarf's dinner of ale and stew, who, in turn, crashed into a half-orc, leading to a bar brawl. And to top it all, Linu ended up falling into a muddy puddle outside the tavern.[3]
While the adventurers traveled to Beorunna's Well, Linu woke up from a nightmare about being chased by a dragon by unleashing a lightning magic bolt, which damaged the wagon she was traveling in minimally. Still, the blast felled a tree that fell onto another wagon, obliterating it. The woman had to pay for the destruction from her adventuring wages.[3]
Upon returning to Neverwinter after the war, Linu started chaos at the Bridge District after attempting to buy chicken for soup. The poultry victim escaped its captors, Linu dove to catch it, startling a cat, which jumped into a fountain, leading to a pack of dogs chasing it and spooking horses. Feeling guilty, Linu tried to chase the horses down, but ended up doing damage and causing a riot.[2]
And lastly, another classic La'neral incident took place in Neverwinter when she was dancing with a Sembian ambassador at Nasher's court function. Linu tripped, fell on a waiter, who, in turn, doused the ambassador in boiling hot soup. Flailing about in pain, the ambassador stumbled into a brazier and caught fire. Naturally, Linu tried to help, so she poured a bucket of water on him. Only the bucket contained brazier fuel, not water...[2]
History
14th Century DR
Linu La'neral's appearance in the 15th century DR.
Linu's father was a thief, something that ended up galvanizing the woman's disdain for criminals later in life. Linu's earliest memory, she carried close to heart for better others for worse, was her falling during a childhood game, then being teased about it for the rest of her long, elvish childhood. At a young age, Linu was sent away to study at a magely school for children with the Gift; however, that education was brief. On the first day of classless, Linu's curiosity led her to accidentally disrupt an instructor's spell. After this, in just a month, she accidentally ended up falling through a portal into another plane where she was to surely die. Instead, the young elf was saved by the intervention of Sehanine Moonbow, who had a task for Linu.[3]
The goddess revealed to Linu La'neral her quest: to find a seed from a special species of oak: the volcanis oak. Many centuries before Linu's time, Sehanine Moonbow discovered an oaken forest that adapted to survive eruptions of nearby volcanoes. The deity fell in love with the trees' majesty and was devastated to know that some time later, the oaks were destroyed. Searching for a seed from these beautiful oaks became Linu's life goal.[3]
When she reached adulthood, Linu met a well-respected Evereskan archeologist Synth La'neral, an elf with a pretty face, charisma, and intelligence. In Linu's typical fashion, her first meeting with Synth was marked by embarrassment, but instead of scaring him off, the man became smitten with the young woman. He set out to gain Linu's affections by climbing a ten-story wall to serenade her while she slept. The woman was startled by a late-night visitor and, without realizing the intruder's identity, kicked Synth La'neral in the face. The archeologist attempted to retreat by swinging off the balcony into a lower terrace, but by then, Linu recognized his familiar face and attempted to "save" him from falling, instead, stepping on Synth's hands. Subsequently, Linu prayed to her goddess for strength and pulled the dangling man onto the balcony, dislocating his shoulder in the process. Synth begged the object of his desires not to help him anymore, but Linu wanted to help him and popped his shoulder back into place, following it up with her healing magic and, lastly, making it all better with a kiss. The two married a year later.[3]
After their marriage, Synth put his adventuring on hold for a couple of years, but the marital bliss came to an end when he discovered the location of an ancient city. The timing was unfortunate as Linu had to work on her Temple of the Full Moon duties in preparation for a festival, while her husband went off on his archeological pursuits. The two remained in contact using a pair of enchanted journals created by Synth's wizard friend. Synth's side of the communications, however, ended up being his thoughts and philosophies, rather than updates on his actions and whereabouts. Synth's last message ended in a forbidding line that "they" were coming again.[3]
Soon, it became apparent to Linu that "they" killed her husband, but Synth's communications left no clues to where the ruins might be, and she was unable to find closure, her thoughts and realms haunted by her late husband's memory.[3]
Linu continued her work at that Temple of the Full Moon for the next six years until a thief stole a silver goblet from the temple – the artifact known as the Silver Chalice of Moonbow. Linu was tasked with the treasure's recovery as she was the one who let the hin thief into the temple in the first place, believing him to be a starving child. However, Linu welcomed the task as she received a vision from her deity about a fateful journey ahead. After a temple celebration of Linu's quest, she left Evereska. Subsequently, she found herself in the village of Llork and came across a mod that claimed a halfling, Tomi Undergallows, was a vile murderer. Tomi was innocent was was only guilty of stealing the chalice and trying to sell it to a Zhent merchant for 500 gold coins. The merchant took the chalice in the name of Bane, the deity of tyranny, and Tomi was "taken care of" by the Zhentish mayor of the town. Linu was outraged by the injustice. She stormed straight into the crowd, but tripped and accidentally instigated a brawl. Serendipitously, that was exactly what the hin needed to slip away from the accusers with the chalice in hand.[3]
Linu continued her pursuit of the chalice and ended up in the city of Neverwinter in the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR. There, she became a part of the events that led to the end of the outbreak of the Wailing Death plague that ravaged the city. Along with several other heroes, Linu was hired by Aribeth de Tylmarande, a paladin and a beloved hero, on behalf of Lord Nasher Alagondar, offering her adventuring prowess to the person who emerged to later be known as the Hero of Neverwinter. The Hero and Aribeth's adventurers became involved in the subsequent investigation and the Neverwinter-Luskan war.[3] Subsequently, Linu befriended the Hero of Neverwinter[4] and with their help, discover what happened to her late husband, who perished in a cave near the city of Neverwinter. However, it was unknown if Linu La'neral and the Hero of Neverwinter developed romantic feelings towards eachother.[3]
Following the resolution of the Neverwinter-Luskan war, Linu traveled to the city of Waterdeep when the City of Splendors became threatened by the drow from the Undermountain. The Masked Lords, rulers of Waterdeep, determined that the danger was indeed coming from Undermountain, and Durnan, the proprietor of the Yawning Portal, put out a call for adventurers willing to traverse the mega-dungeon and rout the evil within. Linu La'neral, Sharwyn, as well as some other companions of the Hero of Neverwinter, Daelan Red Tiger, and Tomi Undergallows, answered the call. She was part of a battle that emerged at the Yawning Portal when drow assassins poured out of the dungeon. Surviving the battle, Linu and other adventurers rushed into Undermountain.[2]
A brave adventurer, the famed Drogan Droganson's pupil, later known as the Slayer of Mephistopheles, followed them, armed with a rod of resurrection in case they came across any of the adventurers' bodies. Linu was overcome by a rakshasa and locked away – interred whilst still alive in a sarcophagus. When she came to it, the woman realized that she was trapped in a coffin. Even though she was rescued from the slow and terrifying death, the experience left Linu deeply shaken and thinking about ending her adventuring career, hoping to start a temple in Waterdeep with the money from the descent to Undermountain. Linu accompanied the Slayer of Mephistopheles on a larger-than-life adventure to the bottom the the mega-dungeon and across the planes. When it all was over, she returned to Evereska with the chalice in hand and earned the title of the High Priestess.[2]
Naturally, Linu's accidents still were the bane of her existence. A month into her High Priestess duties, the Temple of the Full Moon was reduced to ruins due to Linu's mishap. She returned to the City of Splendors, Waterdeep, where she guided good folk through troubled times, defended justice, and used her diplomacy. The Sage of Shadowdale, Elminster, once noted that Linu La'neral "held all the grace that her feet did not."[2]
15th Century DR
In the late 15th century DR, duty called Linu La'neral into action once again, and, as one of the defenders of Neverwinter, she stood against the rising threat of the Cult of the Dragon that abducted people from Evereska, and the dark deity Tiamat that was about to be unleashed on the Prime Material plane. Linu directed adventurers in a rescue operation to retrieve people who were to be ritually sacrificed to Tiamat. As the crisis was closing to its culmination, Linu joined the defenders in the final battle against the draconic deity's avatar.[1]
Later, Linu La'neral, as an agent of the Lords' Alliance, helped defend Gauntlgrym whilst aiding Bruenor Battlehammer and Drizzt Do'Urden, and descended into the Chasm underneath Spellplague-shattered Neverwinter to fight against the madness, demons, and aberrations that were pouring out, threatening the city. Her divine magics were instrumental in shielding the minds of adventurers and volunteers from the Chasm's madness. Eventually, Linu and her companions took on and defeated a powerful balor in the Chasm Depths.[1]
Appendix
Gallery
Appearances
Video Games
Neverwinter Nights: Doom of Icewind Dale
External Links
Linu La'neral article at the NWNWiki, a wiki for the Neverwinter Nights games.- Linu La'neral article at the Neverwinter Wiki, a wiki for the Dungeons and Dragons: Neverwinter MMORPG.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Cryptic Studios (June 2013). Neverwinter. Perfect World Entertainment.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 BioWare (December 2003). Designed by Brent Knowles. Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark. Atari.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 BioWare (June 2002). Designed by Brent Knowles, James Ohlen. Neverwinter Nights. Atari.
- ↑ Creative Titan Ltd. (February 2025). Designed by Luke Scull. Neverwinter Nights: Doom of Icewind Dale. Beamdog.
Connections
| Companions of the Hero of Neverwinter |
| Boddyknock Glinckle • Daelan Red Tiger • Grimgnaw • Linu La'neral • Sharwyn • Tomi Undergallows |
Deekin Scalesinger • Dorna Trapspringer • Xanos Messarmos
During the Valsharess' War
Aribeth de Tylmarande • Daelan Red Tiger • Deekin Scalesinger • Linu La'neral • Nathyrra • Sharwyn • Tomi Undergallows • Valen Shadowbreath