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Neverwinter

Dev Blog: Fiery Pit & Spinward Rise

By Akromatik | Wed 11 Feb 2015 10:00:00 AM PST

Greetings adventurers,

As you’ve seen already, the Cults of Elemental Evil have transformed Blackdagger Ruins and Helm’s Hold to further their goals, but now they’re moving in on other areas of the Sword Coast! Our content designers Randy Mosiondz and Phil Speer have provided us today with some intel to better understand the Cults of Elemental Evil and their nefarious goals! We covered the elements of earth and water last time, now we’re dealing with fire and air!

The Fiery Pit

At first, the lost Dwarven city of Gauntlgrym may seem like an odd choice to stage the Fire portion of our Elemental Evil storyline, but the more we delve into its past, the more it makes perfect sense. You may be asking yourselves, “Gauntlgrym? You mean the PVP area?” Well, yes and no. We decided to take one of the existing Gauntlgrym maps and rework it into a full PVE leveling area, changing the experience entirely. In doing so, we came up with all new stories, new quests, new foes, and it all adds up into what feels like a completely new experience!

When Gauntlgrym was rediscovered, descendants of the Delzoun Dwarves worked tirelessly to rebuild the fabled city and take hold of its wealth. However, they soon discovered that the task of rebuilding was monumental, and begrudgingly sought outside help. In doing so, they hired on a large team of inexpensive but skilled artisans from the surface who promised to speed up the reconstruction many times over what the Dwarves were capable of themselves. The artisans erected huge floating towers above the pit, serving as a base of operations for their work. They then began work on rebuilding the Great Forge, which the Dwarves used to tap into the power of the ancient imprisoned fire primordial, Maegera, who resides deep below Gauntlgrym in what is known as the Fiery Pit. Soon after the forge was rebuilt, the Cult of the Eternal Flame showed up and the artisans fled for their lives.

The Lords’ Alliance quickly received word of the attack and rallied troops to protect their allies and other interests in Gauntlgrym. They soon realized the size of the cultist force they were up against. Fire Giants, Fire Archons, Flame Spikers, and Magma Brutes allied themselves with the cult, as well as some new threats: Fire Striders, bipedal reptilian beasts which the cult has trained as deadly mounts. If matters weren’t dangerous enough, they also began to see an influx of hostile Duergar, the evil grey Dwarves who live in the neighboring caves. The Lords’ Alliance put out the call for skilled adventurers to come and bolster their fighting force. These brave souls will be working alongside the Lords’ Alliance, as well as some rather unlikely allies to defeat these new threats. Can these bold adventurers stop the Cult of the Eternal Flame and their prophet leader, the temptress, Vanifer, from carrying out their plans before they bathe the world in fiery destruction?

- Phil Speer, Neverwinter Content Designer

Next we have our Lead Content Designer, Randy Mosiondz, telling us what to expect from the wind-blasted battleground that is the Spinward Rise!

Spinward Rise

Spinward Rise is the last of the Elemental Evil Adventure Zones players will experience, but not the least! High above Neverwinter Wood, the Cult of the Howling Hatred with the help of the Nimbus family of cloud giants has built an impressive stronghold on a series of floating islands.  There they train new recruits, gather their allies, and prepare their deadly storm-filled devastation orbs to drop on unsuspecting targets across the Sword Coast.

Luckily, Harper wizards with the help of a cleric of Shaundakul and a flight of aarakocra managed to unearth a magical portal to take them to this place, and have pushed through and established a base camp on the lowest tier of this sky-bound land. But they need heroes to help them break through to the upper islands and prevent the Cult of the Howling Hatred from carrying out the destructive designs of Aerisi Kalinoth, the Air Prophet.

In addition to the Howling Hatred Cultists, heroes will fight a number of their allies: deadly axebeaks and owlbears, the sneaky crow-like Kenku, swift Air Archons from the Elemental Plane of Air, and the proud and powerful cloud giants. Raid the Air Cult Barracks, journey into the heart of the slaad-filled Howling Maw, and enter Nimbus Tower to fight the mighty cloud giants! Only you can save the Sword Coast from Cults of Elemental Evil!

- Randy Mosiondz, Lead Neverwinter Content Designer

Are you excited about these new areas? Let us know on the Neverwinter forums!

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