The Wailing Death was a magical disease that ravaged the city of Neverwinter in Tarsakh and Mirtul of the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR. Most of the citizens of the city were dead or dying within a tenday of the first reported case.[2][3] Neverwinter did not fully recover from the effects of the disease for an entire decade, and it left the city vulnerable to Netherese infiltration.[1]
History[]
The disease started in a region of the city known as the Beggar's Nest, one of the poorer districts. Clerics and healers were dumbfounded at the disease's resilience to both mundane and magical healing and hundreds were dead within days. The city was quickly quarantined to prevent the spread of the disease. Furthermore, a call was put out for brave persons to receive free training at the Neverwinter Academy in order to create a task force of adventurers who could combat the plague any way they could; they expected to be loyal to the city, or at least to gold. At the same time, Lord Nasher Alagondar petitioned Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun to come up with an arcane cure. Nasher's right hand, Lady Aribeth de Tylmarande, spearheaded these efforts with the aid of her fiancée, Fenthick Moss, and Desther Indelayne, the leader of an expedition of Helmite priests from Helm's Hold, who were the last people to enter the city before the quarantine.[2]
As the first and best of the newly trained adventurers gathered for a graduation ceremony, several strange mages teleported in with a small army of goblins and undead. Their intention was to steal away the reagents Khelben had sent to the city as the essential parts of the disease's cure. These reagents were the brain of an intellect devourer, the heart of a yuan-ti pureblood, a cockatrice feather, and a lock of a dryad's hair. The plans of the mages were foiled but the reagent creatures all fled into the city at large. The cure was gone and the city's hopes with it. Many among the student body and faculty were slain in the attack. Among the survivors was the adventurer who would be known as the Hero of Neverwinter.[2]
Due to mass riots, the remaining city militia was charged with peacekeeping and the task of finding the reagent creatures fell to that adventurer and allies. They were successful and soon the cure was back in the hands of city leaders, while several clues had turned up about a Cult of the Eye that might have been behind the attack on the academy.[2]
During the ritual to create the cure, however, a further setback occurred. Desther revealed himself and his priests to be agents of the Cult of the Eye and they stole the cure and fled through a portal back to Helm's Hold. The Hero of Neverwinter and allies followed them and retrieved the cure.[2]
The plague wasn't completely over, however. Afterward, the Hero of Neverwinter discovered that Commander Damas of Fort Ilkard had used blankets contaminated with the Wailing Death to infect the Elk tribe.[2]
Eventually, the plague was completely cured, but it had done its damage, weakened Neverwinter to such an extent that Luskan declared war on the city and invaded. Only with the help of the Lords' Alliance and the Hero of Neverwinter did the city repel the Luskan army.[2]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Matt Sernett, Erik Scott de Bie, Ari Marmell (August 2011). Neverwinter Campaign Setting. Edited by Tanis O'Connor. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 13. ISBN 0-7869-5814-6.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 BioWare (June 2002). Designed by Brent Knowles, James Ohlen. Neverwinter Nights. Atari.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 153. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.