Helm's Hold
Helm's Hold is a fortified city and cathedral dedicated to Helm found just off the High road in the Sword Coast North.
Helm's Hold is located around 20 miles southeast of the city of Neverwinter, not far from the edge of Neverwinter Woods. A stretch of the forest full of wild magic known as the Watcher's Forest is named for the fact it is tended by some residents of Helm's Hold.
Government
The Hold was originally led by its founder, First Guardian Dumal Erard. His title was a position that could only be passed on to another by means of martial combat.
Eventually a democratically elected City Council was chosen from among the city's populace. This council was composed of 'Speakers' that often resorted to ostentatious and self-serving behavior and at times even intimidation against their fellow members in order to pass legislation. The Chief Speaker led this forum and had final say on policy-making decisions.
Currently the chief speaker is Amarandine Wanderfoot.
Defences
After Dagult Neverember became the Lord Protector of nearby Neverwinter circa the Year of the Elves' Weeping, 1462 DR, he sent a detachment of Mintarn mercenaries led by Dunfield to Helm's Hold. While their leader was an associate of the lord who fell out of his favor, the mercenaries still hold enough power to impose martial law if so directed.
In recent years, the brutal Order of the gilded eye has become the de facto police force of the city.
History
Some time following the cataclysm of the Spellplague, Prince Clariburnus Tanthul of Thultanthar used the barbarous Uthgardt Gray Wolves of the Neverwinter Wood to take over Helm's Hold and retain control for some time. They were forced to give up the city after the eruption of Mount Hotenow in the Year of Knowledge Unearthed, 1451 DR, allowing it to be retaken after their Helm's Hold became a prime site for refugees fleeing Neverwinter's destruction, many infected with Spellplague energies. Though none of the residents held any preconceived notions against such people, many of the uninfected refugees brought theirs with them and persecuted any who showed signs of spellscars. Those who were persecuted against fought back, forming the Heirs of Azure to retaliate against their oppressors.
When Dagult Neverember began reconstruction efforts in Neverwinter, he put a call out to all skilled carpenters and masons to travel to his city. This left a dreadful lack of such tradesmen in the Hold and caused many of its buildings to fall into disrepair. Because of the already high population of spellscarred within the Hold's walls, and the success that some of the priests had shown in suppressing symptoms, Lord Neverember also issued the Protector's Law, an edict that required all those showing symptoms be sent to the Hold for treatment.
A leader of the Heirs of Azure named Rohini, known in the Hold as "The Prophet", capitalized on this turn of events and earned the trust of the Helmites with a divination of the return of Helm. Over time gained great influence in the area and corrupted many of the Helmite priests. She worked on behalf of the Abolethic Sovereignty to take claim over the city's unfortunate spellscarred to the Sovereignty to be used as servants and experiments.
In or around the Year of the Ageless One, 1479 DR, it was revealed that the Prophet Rohini was in fact a member of the Ashmadai who wanted the spellscarred for service to her god Asmodeus. Rohini's machinations were discovered, and the Helm's hold fell under siege. She summoned forth her fiendish allies to defend her domain against the Neverwinter Guard and their allies, who sought to take back the fortress of Helm. The Heroes of Neverwinter forayed into the streets of the city, infiltrated the Cathedral and killed the evil succubus, alongside her devil and aberrant allies. Helm's Hold was finally declared cleansed of evil influence.
Some time later, an adventuring member of the Order of the Gauntlet by the name of Javen Tarmikos, began experiencing signs of the god Helm's return. This event was followed shortly afterward by several others claiming the same visions. A veteran of the siege of the Hold, Javen started a splinter-group he named the Order of the Gilded Eye, which refused to follow the Order of the Gauntlet's ethos of attacking without provocation and actively sought out to destroy all hidden evil. Resorting to brutal tactics, the Order came to gain control over Helm's Hold.
As of the Year of the Warrior Princess, 1489 DR, followers of Helm received cryptic visions of aberrant creatures working below the Cathedral of Helm, despite its "cleansing" a decade prior. This implied that the threat of the Abolethic Sovereignty was far from over.
Points of interest
Noteable locations include:
Hungry Flame, a run down tavern that catered to the spellscarred residents of the city.
Venturer's Rest, another battered inn that was once known as the Old Dirty Dwarf.
Town Hall, the citys offical council chambers that once a former inn.
Heartward, the city central markert place.
Heartward Hall, a temple to Sune that formed from a small shrine located on the edge of the marketplace.
Helms Cathedral, the grand Helmite cathedral around which the city formed.
Sanatorium, the undergound asylum located immediately beneath Helms cathedral.
Crypts of the Vigilant Eye, the labyrinthe netwrok of crypts that long predated the hold itself.
The Warrens, an incomplete drainage system located underneath Scar alley.
Type
City
Location under
