One thing which I'm really unclear of is a lot of stuff surrounding Elturel. Firstly, I was under the impression that some of the tiefling refugees were turned into tieflings in Avernus because of the infernal energy all over the place. Is that right? Also, how long was Elturel actually in Avernus? Zevlor was a Hellrider, and it sounds like they were working for Hell while they were in Avernus, given a name like that. So yeah, what's the story with all that?
The
Hellriders are the elite guard of Elturel, so-called because they once rode into hell on a mission (long before Descent to Avernus, though not entirely unconnected to Zariel’s enmity to the city as the linked wiki explains). If there’s not a book somewhere lying around in the game with some of that lore, then it feels as though there ought to be!
I’m not sure how long Elturel was in the hells, but according to its
Forgotten Realms wiki page it was pulled down in 1492 DR and from memory BG3 is believed to start in 1493 DR, so I’m guessing a few months to a year? I somehow got the sense it was longer than a few days or weeks, given that it’s stuck there for the duration of a campaign, though I guess weeks isn’t out of the question.
I’ll admit it never even occurred to me that some folk turned into tieflings while Elturel was in the hells. I’ll be interested in other people’s takes on that.
Btw, the Infernal Tides comic by Jim Zub has what I believe is a simplified take on the Descent to Avernus campaign with Minsc and his adventuring party and I found it brought some of that story to life. It’s the fifth in the series, just before the BG3 tie-in one, Mindbreaker. Or the first reply to
this Reddit thread gives what looks like a decent summary, though as I’ve not played the TT campaign myself I’m not in a position to confirm that!
