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Perilous
Gateways
Portals
of the Moonsea
By Skip Williams
The
Mulmaster Portal
Like
the portal at Zhentil Keep described in the second part of this
series, the rulers of Northkeep built this portal long before there
was any permanent settlement at the site of the current city of Mulmaster.
The portal was built here for many of the same reasons the Zhentil
Keep portal was built where it was: the area was a well-used campsite
on a major caravan trail that also offered a safe anchorage for ships
from Northkeep. The site also gave the Rulers of Northkeep quick access
to the eastern end of the Moonsea and a jumping-off place for operations
in the Earthspur Mountains, Cormanthor, and the Vast.
The portal
and the subterranean vault containing it also were similar to the Zhentil
Keep portal. The vault was located near the Moonsea shore, well
up the mountain slope that marks the site of the current city. As in Zhentil
Keep, the vault had a secret entrance disguised as a huge boulder. Also
like the Zhentil Keep portal, the vault had a well, sleeping niches,
and storage areas for supplies, and a second secret door hid the portal
itself, which was physically identical to the Zhentil Keep portal.
Also
like the Zhentil Keep portal, this portal was lost after
the fall of Northkeep, only to be rediscovered in later centuries as the
people of Mulmaster built their city. Unlike Zhentil Keep and Phlan, Mulmaster
has not suffered successive waves of destruction and rebuilding, and the
vault containing the portal still lies at its original depth of
about 20 feet below the surface. The area where the vault lies now serves
as Mulmaster's commercial district, and a multistory building stands at
the site. The building's upper floors house a mixture of working folk,
scholars, and young professionals and craftworkers who have not yet established
themselves in their professions or trades firmly enough to have their
own business or homes. Several of the residents are junior Cloaks of Mulmaster
(see page 161 in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting). The
building's ground floor contains several small shops, including a scribe,
a lampmaker, a tailor, and a bookbinder.
Below
the ground floor is a basement with a separate section for the shops above.
Each shop has its own staircase to its basement. The vault with the portal
is below the scribe's shop, and the vault's entrance is hidden behind
a fairly new secret door. The vault looks very much as it did during the
Northkeep years, except that the well has been converted into a staircase
that connects to an underground passage that leads to a warehouse down
at the harbor.
Like
the portal at Zhentil Keep, this portal here is behind a
secret door, is keyed, and can be activated only once a day. The key is
a knock spell, and the user also much touch the portal with
a coin minted in Northkeep and must specify a destination: home (Northkeep),
west (Zhentil Keep), or north (Phlan) spoken in Damaran. Failure to use
the coin or specify a destination originally sent the user into a holding
cell; however, this cell has since collapsed. Today, someone using the
portal incorrectly causes the portal to malfunction (see
Table 2-2 in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting).
The scribe,
one Avehola Longfingers, owns the building and also is a Cloak. Avehola
has kept the existence of the portal secret, but never used it
much until the vampire Podel from Zhentil Keep (see the second part) began
experimenting with the portal he controls. Now, Avehola actively
imports undead that the lich Akempus makes below Northkeep (see part 1).
Thus far, Avehola and her customers are satisfied with their undead servants,
but they do not suspect that the creatures might turn on them someday.
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Avehola:
Female human Cjr 8; CR 8; Medium-size humanoid; HD 8d4+11; hp 41;
Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 13, touch 12, flat-footed 12; Atk +4 melee
(1d6, quarterstaff), or +7 ranged (1d8/19-20, masterwork light crossbow
with masterwork crossbow bolts); AL NE; SV Fort +4, Ref +6, Will
+8; Str 10, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 20, Wis 12, Cha 8.
Skills and
Feats: Concentration +12, Craft (papermaking) +13, Knowledge
(arcana) +13, Knowledge (local) +13, Knowledge (religion) +13, Knowledge
(undead) +13, Profession (scribe) +9, Spellcraft +16; Brew Potion,
Empower Spell, Lightning Reflexes, Scribe Scroll, Spell Penetration,
Toughness.
Wizard Spells
Prepared (5/7/5/5/4; save DC 15 + spell level; prohibited schools:
Enchantment, Illusion): 0 -- arcane mark, detect magic, open/close,
prestidigitation, ray of frost; 1st -- expeditious retreat,
mage armor, magic missile (2), negative energy ray1,
shield, unseen servant; 2nd -- glitterdust, Melf's acid arrow,
see invisibility, summon swarm, web; 3rd -- flame arrow,
negative energy burst1, stinking cloud, summon monster
III (2); 4th -- empowered Melf's acid arrow, negative
energy wave1, stoneskin, summon monster IV.
Spellbook:
0 -- arcane mark, dancing lights, detect magic, detect poison,
disrupt undead, flare, light, mage hand, mending, open/close, prestidigitation,
ray of frost, read magic, resistance; 1st -- alarm, detect
undead, expeditious retreat, grease, identify, mage armor, magic
missile, mount, negative energy ray1, obscuring mist,
shield, summon monster I, 2nd -- arcane lock, fog cloud,
glitterdust, knock, Melf's acid arrow, resist elements, see invisibility,
summon monster II, summon swarm, web; 3rd -- clairaudience/clairvoyance,
dispel magic, flame arrow, fly, greater magic weapon, negative energy
burst1, phantom steed, sepia snake sigil, stinking cloud,
summon monster III; 4th -- negative energy wave*, Evard's
black tentacles, Leomund's secure shelter, minor creation, solid
fog, stoneskin, summon monster IV.
*Spell
from Tome and Blood.
Possessions:
Quarterstaff, light crossbow, 10 bolts, bracers of armor
+1, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, headband of intellect
+2, scroll of dimension door, scroll of ice storm,
scroll of wall of ice, wand of Aganazzar's scorcher*
(27 charges).
*Spell
from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
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Avehola
: Female human Cjr 11; CR 11; Medium-size humanoid; HD 11d4+14;
hp 0; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 14; Atk
+5 melee (1d6, quarterstaff), or +8 ranged (1d8/19-20, masterwork
light crossbow with masterwork crossbow bolts); AL NE; SV Fort +7,
Ref +7, Will +9; Str 10, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 20, Wis 12, Cha 8.
Skills and
Feats: Bluff +4, Concentration +15, Craft (bookbinding)+13,
Craft (papermaking) +13, Diplomacy +1, Intimidate +1, Knowledge
(arcana) +13, Knowledge (local) +13, Knowledge (religion) +13, Knowledge
(undead) +13, Profession (scribe) +9, Spellcraft +19; Brew Potion,
Empower Spell, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Maximize Spell,
Scribe Scroll , Spell Penetration, Toughness.
Wizard Spells
Prepared (5/7/6/6/5/4/2; save DC 15 + spell level): 0 -- arcane
mark, detect magic, open/close, prestidigitation, ray of frost;
1st -- expeditious retreat, mage armor, magic missile (2), negative
energy ray*, shield, unseen servant; 2nd -- glitterdust
(2), Melf's acid arrow, see invisibility, summon swarm, web;
3rd -- flame arrow (2), fly, negative energy burst* (2),
stinking cloud; 4th -- Evard's black tentacles, negative energy
wave* (2), stoneskin, summon monster IV; 5th -- cloudkill,
empowered flame arrow, maximized Melf's acid arrow,
summon monster V; 6th -- greater dispelling, summon monster
VI.
Spellbook:
0 -- arcane mark, dancing lights, detect magic, detect poison,
disrupt undead, flare, light, mage hand, mending, open/close, prestidigitation,
ray of frost, read magic, resistance; 1st -- alarm, detect
undead, expeditious retreat, grease, identify, mage armor, magic
missile, mount, negative energy ray*, obscuring mist, shield, summon
monster I, 2nd -- arcane lock, fog cloud, glitterdust, knock,
Melf's acid arrow, resist elements, see invisibility, summon monster
II, summon swarm, web; 3rd -- clairaudience/clairvoyance,
dispel magic, flame arrow, fly, greater magic weapon, negative energy
burst*, phantom steed, sepia snake sigil, stinking cloud, summon
monster III; 4th -- Evard's black tentacles, Leomund's secure
shelter, minor creation, negative energy wave*, solid fog, stoneskin,
summon monster IV; 5th -- cloudkill, Leomund's secret chest,
lesser planar binding, major creation, Mordenkainen's faithful hound,
summon monster V, wall of iron, wall of stone; 6th -- acid
fog, greater dispelling, planar binding, summon monster VI.
*Spell
from Tome and Blood.
Possessions:
Quarterstaff, light crossbow, 10 bolts, bracers of armor
+2, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, headband of intellect
+2, scroll of teleport, scroll of ice storm, scroll
of wall of force, wand of Aganazzar's scorcher* (27
charges).
*Spell
from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.
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Mohrg:
hp 91; see Monster Manual.
Vampire:
hp 32; see Monster Manual.
Zombie: hp
16, see Monster Manual.
(EL 10) Average
party level 10 (four 10th-level characters): Avehola at 8th level, 1
mohrg.
(EL 12) Average
party level 12 (four 12th-level characters): Avehola at 8th level, 2
mohrgs and 12 human (Medium-size) zombies.
(EL 14) Average
party level 14 (four 14th-level characters): Avehola at 11th level,
3 mohrgs, and 4 vampires (5th-level human fighters).
How to Incorporate
the Mulmaster Portal Into Your Campaign:
- The player characters
are hired to help guard a shipment leaving Mulmaster for some locale
north of the Moonsea. Unknown to the PCs, the shipment actually contains
a gang of undead (mohrgs and zombies). This fact is revealed when a
mishap releases the undead.
- When visiting Mulmaster,
the PCs find themselves suddenly confronting a gang of undead. The creatures
were put to work at some menial task within the city, but they strayed
from their work site.
- A senior Cloak
approaches the PCs while they are visiting Mulmaster and asks for some
help with a matter of some delicacy. It seems that the Cloak Avehola
Longfingers has gotten herself involved in some sort of smuggling operation.
It's nothing truly suspicious or sinister, but it is a matter for concern
and one best investigated quietly by outsiders who cannot be accused
of having any partisan interests in the matter.
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