The Ring of Water Elemental Command

The Ring of Water Elemental Command (also identified as the Ring of Control Water Elementals) was a potent magical artifact with the power to subjugate and command the forces of elemental water. Manifesting as a pale, opal-blue band, the ring grants its wearer the ability to control water elementals, walk on liquid surfaces, breathe underwater, and swim at full speed, while also enabling the casting of water and ice spells.

History and Sewer Operations

Years prior to the war between Neverwinter and Luskan, Patricius, the city’s Head of Sewers and Waterways, acquired the Ring from an unnamed wizard. Burdened by a severe gambling addiction, Patricius utilized the artifact to resolve his operational struggles and debts. By using the Ring, he bound and enslaved a water elemental, forcing it to manage and power Neverwinter’s complex waterways and sewer systems for free. This allowed Patricius to maintain the city’s water levels without the need to hire or pay physical laborers, keeping his quiet arrangement hidden beneath the streets.

Disappearance and Pirate Capture

The delicate balance under the city collapsed when Patricius suddenly vanished along with the Ring. Without the artifact’s controlling influence, the elemental became unbound. This resulted in highly unstable sewer water levels and a mysterious, rushing torrent echoing upstream through the sewer system.

In reality, Patricius had been captured by a group of Luskan Pirates operating deep within the sewers. The pirates seized the Ring and turned its elemental-enslaving magic to their own ends, using the bound water elemental to manipulate sewer water levels to facilitate their clandestine movements.

Recovery and Aftermath

Learning of Patricius’s disappearance and the erratic water levels, the half-orc casino owner Anthony “the Gentleman” of the Cha-Ching negotiated a deal with the adventuring party known as the Magnificent Five. Desperate to restore sewer access for his own smuggling routes, the Gentleman tasked the party with locating Patricius and recovering the Ring in exchange for valuable intelligence.

The party infiltrated the sewers, successfully sneaking past guards and navigating the rising, tepid pools. They confronted the Luskan Pirates and defeated them in battle. While the party successfully recovered the Ring, Patricius was unfortunately killed during the conflict.

Theft and Environmental Redirection

Rather than returning the powerful ring to Anthony Calloway as promised, the Magnificent Five decided to keep the pale, opal-blue band for themselves, concealing it within a bag of holding. To maintain their deal, they delivered Patricius’s body to the Gentleman at the Cha-Ching club, falsely claiming that the Luskan pirates had already killed him and stolen the ring. Anthony Calloway accepted this deception, awarding them half of the negotiated bounty and providing a lead on Talis, who was imprisoned in Neverwinter’s high-security Peninsula Prison.

Following their escape from the city sewers, the party retreated to a glade in the Neverwinter Wood, where the fairy druid Nalini Nightbreeze successfully attuned to the ring in the presence of Nimiriel Nightbreeze. In a bid to heal the ailing forest, whose lifelines had been disrupted, Nalini focused her magic through the water-control ring, ultimately destroying it. She executed an intensive eight-hour casting to divert the waterways, enriching the land for roughly half a mile and accelerating the forest’s regrowth. This profound display of elemental manipulation and the willingness to sacrifice such a valuable artifact to mend the natural balance deeply impressed the ancient druid Esfaloth, who subsequently showed Nalini how to wild shape into flying forms to survey their progress over the regrown canopy.