E4: Elturel
Elturel, a large, orderly city overlooking the River Chionthar, is filled with merchants, river traders, and farmers’ markets. Its most distinguishing feature is a brilliant magical light that hovers above it, illuminating it day and night. This light is painful to undead and is visible from almost every corner of Elturgard (of which Elturel is the capital), appearing from afar as a star or distant sun.
The Order of the Gauntlet
Late in the evening, after a day when Frume has been suitably impressed by the characters, he sends one of his squires to summon them to a private room in the tavern.
Frume’s squire shows you to a private space off the tavern’s common room and closes the door when he leaves. Waiting for you in the room are the broad shouldered human paladin, the monk Leosin, and many pitchers of dark red wine. The paladin’s face wears a serious expression, unlike its usual open countenance.
“My friends, we have important business to discuss. At this point, you know almost as much about it as we do, and thanks to you, we know twice as much today as we did a tenday ago. Something rotten is afoot. We have no formal organization to oppose these rascals— not yet anyway. We’re working on that. And we need people like you, who know how and when to fight, and how and when to keep their heads down and observe. We can’t promise you anything except long days filled with danger and stress— but what could be better than that, eh?”
“My friends, we have important business to discuss. At this point, you know almost as much about it as we do, and thanks to you, we know twice as much today as we did a tenday ago. Something rotten is afoot. We have no formal organization to oppose these rascals— not yet anyway. We’re working on that. And we need people like you, who know how and when to fight, and how and when to keep their heads down and observe. We can’t promise you anything except long days filled with danger and stress— but what could be better than that, eh?”
Ontharr Frume and Leosin Erlanthar, along with a handful of other concerned leaders and scholars along the Sword Coast, are in the early stages of organizing against the Cult of the Dragon.
Erlanthar’s organization is the Harpers. Ontharr Frume represents the Order of the Gauntlet. His order shares many of the Harpers’
principles, but the two organizations are very different. The top concern of both groups is the Cult of the Dragon. In the past, the cult was more active to the east and it was focused on creating dracoliches. Its shift to the Sword Coast and new emphasis on living dragons and on Tiamat are cause for concern. The cult is on the move and it’s up to something big; the Order of the Gauntlet, the Harpers, and a third allied group known as the Emerald Enclave want to thwart the cult’s plans.
The Mission
Thanks to the characters, the Harpers now know that the cult is amassing treasure and shipping it north. Where exactly this treasure is going and what the cult plans to do with it are the next two questions that need answering. Frume and Erlanthar would like the characters to join the cult’s caravan and accompany it on the journey. They could get themselves hired as guards—if not by the cult’s wagon masters, then by other merchants who are traveling in the same direction at the same time. Merchants from different companies commonly join together to form larger trains for protection. Frume has contacts among the many merchants of the region and is certain he can arrange a job.
The tracks leaving the cultists’ camp and the map from Mondath’s chamber both indicate that the wagons were heading west to pick up the Coast Way road, where they would turn north to Beregost and Baldur’s Gate, a journey of about 550 miles. The wagons would take twenty-five to thirty days for that trip, depending on conditions.
The River Chionthar flows directly from Elturel to Baldur’s Gate. A sailing vessel can make that trip downstream in about three days if it ties up overnight for safety, or two if it risks pushing on through the night by lamplight. Frume has already arranged for such a boat to leave at dawn the next morning. They are also provided with 50 gp each to cover expenses on the trip.
The characters can bring their horses along on the boat if they wish. The horses won’t like it, but they’ll manage.
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