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Dragon #106	-	Doors	-	Dragon magazine

". . . And then the fools fled deeper into
Undermountain,? Elminster said, ?but took
the wrong passage. They passed through a
Dread Portal, and then fell into the pit
beyond it, and their bones --"  ??

"?Pardon me for interrupting,? I said,
refilling his glass, ?but what is a Dread
Portal??"

?Ah. Oh.? The sage favored me with an
expression like that of a small boy who has
taken great pains to rob a cookie jar, only to
find it full of pats of dried mud. ?I suppose,
? he said, abandoning his tales of
hapless adventurers perishing in various
corners of Waterdeep?s vast and famous
dungeon, ?that you?ll get another article
out of this.?

?It is to be hoped,? I said expressionlessly,
staring at the ceiling.

Elminster chuckled. ?All right,? he said,
draining his glass in one swig and holding it
out to be refilled. His new weakness was a
beverage known as Mountain Dew, and it
looked like the three cases I?d bought
weren?'t going to be enough.

?Magical doors,? Elminster began, ?are
of course common in folktales and adventurers
? tavern-tellings; they are all too common
in tombs, old castles, ruins, and
dungeons in the Realms, and so are oft
encountered. There are too many different
types of these ? every amateur magician
and artificer has a go at doors, it seems ?
to tell you all of them even if you had
enough of this marvelous drink to keep me
sitting here a week. But there is one famous
craftsman of old, Nadrun the Artificer of
Waterdeep, who made thousands of doors.
He made them to order, but had twelve, ah,
standard models, of which examples of all
still exist in the Realms, even after more
than two thousand winters.?

?What happened to Nadrun?? I asked.

Elminster grinned. ?He grew very rich
by, and very skilled in the making of, his
magical doors. And one day the Artel ? a
tyrant who then ruled northern Amn ?
came to buy a door specially made to order,
and apparently decided to try to preserve its
secrets and save money by slaying Nadrun.
The Artificer, it is said, foiled his plans
when he stepped through an invisible door
and vanished.?

"?Vanished??" I asked on cue, refilling his
glass.

?"Vanished ? probably to another plane
or a remote corner of the Realms, for Nadrun
was never seen again. And the Artel, I
fear, found that the way he had come in was
blocked by bars and stone walls, and had to
try some of the other doors. He ran out of
servants and bodyguards in the trying,
although they found a passage that seemed
to lead in the right direction, until only the
Artel was left. The last door killed him, for
it was a Dread Portal.?"

?"Those words again,"? I prompted.
?What is a Dread Portal??

Elminster grinned and held out his glass,
empty again.

Over the next three hours, he told me
details of Nadrun?s doors (as well as a lot of
quite unrelated stuff; like any sage, he does
wander when his mouth is working), and
I?ve summarized what he told me below.

All of Nadrun?s doors radiate a dweomer;
they may be of wood, metal, or stone, and
always have heavy preservative magics laid
upon them. These preserve the materials of
the door and frame, and make them resistant
to shattering when struck. The twelve
?standard models? have magical powers as
follows:

Type #1: Unless a one-word password is
spoken by someone touching this type of
door within 2 rounds before opening it, it
will cast a 1" radius hold monster (60%
chance) or sleep (40%) on any creature(s)
standing before it or passing through it.
Some of these doors cast only one or the
other spell, not both, and in all cases the
spells are cast as though by a 12th-level
magic-user.

Type #2: Any creature(s) passing through
this type of door are instantly gated to a
specific or random destination (typically:
01-36%) elsewhere in the Realms, usually
deep in the northern mountains or glacial
wastes; 37-60%, Astral Plane; 61-82%,
Ethereal Plane; 83-92%, Nirvana; 93-98%,
the Nine Hells; 99-00% Limbo or another
specific chosen plane, usually the Abyss or a
parallel Prime Material Plane), such gating
occurring all of the time, or at a specific
trigger, or some of the time randomly or at
a set rate (i.e., every seventh time the door
is opened).

Type #3: This door bears a permanent
symbol (see the 8th-level magic-user spell
and 7th-level cleric spell) graven upon it,
usually covered by a sliding overlay panel,
which moves aside to reveal the symbol
whenever a living creature(s) approaches
within 1? of the ?outward? or ?active? side
of the door. (Too much casting of permanency
spells is said to have aged Nadrun
prematurely.)

Type #4: Every third time this type of
door is opened and closed, it upon closing
casts a silence 15? radius upon the back(s)
of any creature(s) who have passed through
it, the central focus of this spell being 15?
from the frame of the door.

Type #5: This type of door temporarily
negates (as a wand of negation) the powers
of magical items borne through it. Artifacts
are unaffected, but all magic items except
scrolls and other written magic (maps,
spellbooks, etc.) must save vs. spell or be
negated, all powers nullified, for a period of
1-4 turns. Characters? spell-casting abilities
and memorized spells are unaffected.

Type #6: Dead creatures (including characters)
who fall or are carried through this
type of door are temporarily animated (as in
an animate dead spell), such animation
lasting for 5-10 (d6 + 4) rounds. Such creatures
may be turned, ?dispelled? (which
will cause them to become simply inanimate
corpses again), or controlled by a cleric (roll
on ?Matrix For Clerics Affecting Undead?
table in DMG) if one is present; otherwise
such creatures will attack any living creatures
within 7?, as zombies or monster
zombies (depending upon the nature of the
dead creature).

Type #7: Any creature passing through
this type of door (or sometimes, every second
or third creature passing through) must
save vs. spell or be blinded and feebleminded
for 2-5 rounds. At the end of this
time, affected victims must save again, at
+ 2; if this save is failed, they remain feebleminded,
or blinded, or both (DM?s
choice) for a further 2-5 rounds.

Type #8: Any creature (or at DM?s option,
a few specific creatures with high
intelligence, or who fail a save vs. spell, or
who are chosen at random) passing through
this type of door will receive an extremely
clear and vivid mental image of a scene
(action, with characters and background),
being, or item, of up to 12 seconds duration,
chosen by the creator or activator of
the door.

Type #9: Anyone passing through this
door (or anyone failing a save vs. spell who
passes through, or at the DM's option some
other method of choice of a few individuals
out of a group) will be followed by 1-3 exact
duplicates of that figure, who will follow the
real creature, aping his or her actions, until
they merge with him or her, a process causing
1-4 points (per image) of electrical damage
and 1-2 rounds of confusion to the real
creature. These images are non-corporeal
illusions that cannot be dispelled or disbelieved
out of existence, but, although not
solid, can be destroyed by weapon blows or
spells such as magic missile, shocking grasp,
and the like, each image being destroyed
upon suffering a total of 12 points of damage.
The images can merge with (and
harm) only the creature they are modeled
after; they do not harm other creatures
coming into contact with them.

Ten percent of the time this door acts as a
mirror of opposition, 1-3 images being
created that actively pursue and attack their
real double(s).

Type #10: This type of door is metal, and
locked; if picked or forced, it electrifies
(dealing a 3d6 lightning-like discharge that
conducts through all metal). It can generate
an unlimited number of such discharges,
emitting one each time the door is forcibly
opened. Nothing will happen if the door is
unlocked by a key or password, and if the
door is opened and remains open, only one
initial discharge is produced, and another
will not occur until the door is closed
(whereupon it instantly locks) and is forced
open again.

Type #11: This type of door is usually
adorned with a beast-head knocker or doorknob;
if its lock is picked, or the jeweled
(usually rubies, emeralds, or amber stones)
eyes of the beast-head are disturbed, the
doorway will emit monsters within 2 rounds
of being thus disturbed (see monster summoning
IV). If the door is closed after being
disturbed, it will fly open again when the
monsters are released.

Type #12: The Dread Portal. This, the
most infamous type of Nadrun's doors,
contains an imprisoned wraith encased
within the door. The method of capture and
imprisonment within the door was lost with
Nadrun; all that is known is that anyone
touching the door directly is drained of 1
life energy level each time (or, if they remain
in contact with it for more than one
round, 1 life energy level is drained per
round). The wraith cannot be turned or
dispelled while in the door, but can be
turned or dispelled if the door is shattered
and it escapes (whereupon it will probably
attack all living creatures nearby).

Any or all of Nadrun?s 12 types of
magical doors can be combined with physical
traps, and most were. Nadrun had
many of these; the most common are as
follows:

--? handles (or doorknobs) containing
poisoned needles, or cavities with sliding
covers (activated by disturbing the handle
or knob) containing rot grubs, green slime,
or brown or yellow mold.

?-- bladders of poisonous gas (or vapor
laden with yellow mold spores) that will be
ruptured if door panels are struck with any
force.

?-- mechanism that fires daggers, spikes,
javelins, or darts into the backs of creatures
after being closed, unless deactivated with a
key.

?-- a pull-ring handle on the door pulls
out, causing (by means of cables and pulleys)
a sliding panel of floor in front of the
door to move, plunging creatures in front of
the door into a (spike-lined, water-filled)
pit.

-- ?a wide door-sill, if stepped on three
times (i.e. by three successive individuals)
triggers a pit opening immediately beyond
the door.

-- ? the entire door is hinged and weighted
so as to topple downward upon anyone
opening it by pulling on its pull-ring. Anyone
beneath it when it falls suffers 5d6
points of crushing damage.

Open question
Dear Editor,
    In issue #106, the article about enchanted
doors was very interesting and useful, but it
doesn't say anything about how to open the
Dread Portal safely or without destroying it.
Could you give me some advice?

Christian Lainesse
Arthabaska, Que.

    The description says that "anyone touching the
door directly" is affected by the imprisoned
wraith -- but you don't have to touch a door to
open it. Is that enough of a hint, or do I have to
knock you over the head? -- KM

?"Got all that?? Elminster asked, filling
his pipe. "?Good. Now, as I was saying, this
self-styled company of the Manticore now
lie somewhere in Undermountain, and
among their bones can be found several
items of magic, namely ?--"

At which point I got up and closed the
door.