Lenore De Hurst

Lenore De Hurst is a Cleric of Mystra who lived in the Arcane Tower, where she researched the magical properties of the Underdark. She is not available to directly interact with, but her former home can be visited, and she is referenced by a number of different characters, books, and item descriptions.

Lenore kept correspondence with other magic practitioners, including Lorroakan and Yrre.

History

Lenore is a cleric of Mystra who was studying the magical properties of the Underdark. Lenore and her partner, Yrre, a gnomish inventor, lived and worked together for a short time in the Arcane Tower. After a falling out, Yrre left the Underdark to pursue their obsession with storm magic, leaving Lenore alone with her research. Lenore remained in the tower, which moved around the Underdark, with only her pet dog Myrna and her construct Bernard for company.

At some point during her stay in the Underdark, Myrna died. Lenore buried Myrna in the Dread Hollow, overlooking the lake and with her favourite autumncrocus flowers. She later became enamoured with a Bulette who she found near Myrna's grave, taming it to become a guardian.

Lenore was fond of gardening, and in particular was interested in the antimagic properties of sussur tree bark and flowers, and used them to control the lighting and turrets in the tower. Lenore also created the tower guardian Bernard, a construct who only responds to poetry and play scripts. She programmed Bernard to remind her that she was loved, however, she grew lonely with no one else for company.

Lenore had just begun writing her treatise on sussur flowers, before being called away to Baldur's Gate to confer with her fellow Mystran clerics sometime in 1481 DR. Before departing the tower, Lenore left a message for Yrre, asking that they wait for her return with the hope that the two could reunite.

Lenore planned to depart the tower only for a short time. However, she never returned, her research and tower going untouched for a decade. Yrre eventually visited with the Spellsparkler, a staff they had made specially for Lenore, and Lenore's letter. They waited for some time in vain, but eventually left when she failed to return.

Lenore's last known location was during her conference in Baldur's Gate, when she was temporarily ensnared by an anomaly cause by a stranger (see Easter eggs).

Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite

Main quest article: Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite

In order to help Omeluum investigate the player's mind flayer parasite, Blurg will direct the player to Lenore's tower. Lenore took an interest in gardening, and grew several rare and dangerous species of fungi.

On the first and basement floors of the Arcane Tower are the required Tongue of Madness and Timmask Spores.

Easter eggs

Lenore's correspondence to Lorroakan includes a likely reference to Tarquin from Larian Studios' previous game, Divinity: Original Sin II. At the end of that game, Tarquin's dialogue provided easter egg information about Baldur's Gate 3, which was in pre-production at the time:

• 'How does one top the greatest feat of necromancy ever conceived? I might have the answer to that... tell me, have you ever heard of Gustavchen?' - A reference to Gustav, the internal project name of BG3, as well as the name of Larian CEO Swen Vincke's dog and the source of the 'Tav' default name for custom player characters in BG3.
• 'No, of course you wouldn't. It's a written language, unreadable to most... but myself, naturally. It comes from a mysterious race from another world - beings that feed on minds.' - A reference to Mind Flayers, which are central to the story of BG3. Possibly also a reference to how BG3's story and concept was being worked on by a small team of writers from 2016 to 2018 before the rest of Larian got involved.
• 'I intend to seek them out. This Gustavchen seems to guard portals to their realm. And once I've uncovered one, well... why settle for being the greatest mind in just one world, when there's another for the taking?' - Implies that the 'Tuqueen' referenced in Lenore's letter is in fact Tarquin, and he somehow managed to find his way to the Forgotten Realms shortly before the events of BG3.

Tarquin was later spotted at the House of Grief, undergoing the Mapping of the Heart under a pseudonym.

Related equipment

• Guiding Light, one of Lenore's inventions
• The Blast Pendant, invented by Yrre and inspired by Lenore
• The Sparkswall, co-invented by Yrre and Lenore
• The Spellsparkler, a staff Yrre invented for Lenore

Related literature

• A Query from DeHurst
• De Hurst's Diary
• Letter from Amarith
• Letter to Yrre
• Treatise on the Antimagic Properties of Sussur Tree Flowers