| Goods and services | The darkened skyline | Tales of the past | Natives of Skullport | Heads up! |
| Skullport's "Best" | The rumor mill turns | An ominous exit | - | - |
| Dragon | - | - | - | Dragon 172 |
<Reason for inclusion: an article about swords refers to this article; I try to detail the references, regardless of whether they are OD&D, 1e, or 2e>
Working late at night can be quite relaxing,
when all the bustle and noise of the
day has died down and little intrudes on
the task at hand. We (Ed and Steven) were
at TSR after hours, poring over some of
the myriad mysteries of Undermountain to
tell the fans at the 1991 GEN CON game
fair, when an unexpected waft of perfume
came into the cubicle.
"Could ye use some assisstance, gentlemen?"
The low, musical voice took us both by
surprise. We spun around, maps and
papers flying. A tall, slim, very beautiful lady
stood smiling at us. It was Laeral, once
leader of the famous adventuring band,
"The Nine."
?Well met and welcome again, milady,?
we said together, making our bows. TSR?s
cubicles don?t offer lots of room for calisthenics, but our visitor
was, after all, an
archmage in her own right?and our guide
to Skullport.
Laeral smiled, took the most comfortable
chair, and patiently answered questions,
revealing only what she deems fit for
wider knowledge. The Lady Mage of
Waterdeep is our guide because, in disguise,
she (with Kitten of the Lords and
certain unrevealed others) keeps watch on
Skullport for Khelben ?Blackstaff? Arunsun. She took on this dangerous
and sometimes disgusting task because her lord
feels he must act when he sees the evils of
Skullport. The more tolerant Laeral (who
rightly sees the necessity for Skullport, to
keep The City Above from open lawless
ness) is able to turn a blind eye to things
that would goad her into angry spellcasting in Waterdeep.
Much of what Laeral uttered was in the
form of mysterious hints and tantalizing
phrases?and in that manner we pass this
information on to you.
Goods and services
Skullport serves as a smuggling and
trading base for cargo that is illegal or
obviously stolen in Waterdeep, and as a
home for those not welcome or safe in
The City of Splendors. Drugs and slaves
can be found in its dark ways, and its
inhabitants include mind flayers,
drow,
vampires, gargoyles, beholders, and
worse.
In such a violent place of constant intrigue and danger, beings and
their businesses come and go, but Laeral gave us a
beginner?s guide to what the unwary may
find in Skullport today, if they go looking?
and survive.
S l a v e s :
Slaves are the first thing most
visitors seek, having fancies of creating
sensual pleasure dens or eerie laboratories
where screaming unfortunates have monstrous limbs grafted onto them.
Little of
such things goes on these days, as both
extremes drive down the monetary worth
of slaves.
Most slaves are kept on Skull Isle, the
large island that serves as Skullport?s main
docks. Here the smell of crowded captives
is as far from the settlements as possible,
and the slaves are kept close to washing
and drinking water and to the ships that
bring them or carry them away. They are
also separated from a chance to escape
into the monster-haunted river depths.
Skullport has always been home to
?snatch bands? that can be hired to kidnap
people. Its most prominent professional
slaver at present is Zstulkk Ssarmn, a
yuan-ti abomination who heads a small,
well-trained band of pureblood warriors
and halfbreed ?whips? (jailers). Zstulkk?s
yuan-ti have extensive merchant contacts
in The Shining South, and some are skilled
in doctoring, for steep fees.
The Hand, a band of slavers who serve
the Eye (both detailed in the Ruins of
Undermountain boxed set), also has an
agent in Skullport: the dwarf Ahmaergo.
He can be contacted through various
?mouths and runners? at The Black Tankard. His office, somewhere under
Skullport, is reached through dark sewers and
guarded by several undead beholders
(death tyrants, described in the
SPELLJAMMER? accessory SJR1 Lost
Ships). Ahmaergo?s horn-adorned black
armor, which he never seems to remove,
harbors many magical weapons.
Drugs: Second in importance to slaves in
Skullport?s illicit markets are the wide variety of substances used
to alter the senses and
sensibilities of many different beings of the
Realms: drinkables, poisons, pain killers, and
potions. These are offered at every other
dark doorway and corner, but the two
sources with the largest stock and best (if
that?s the word) reputations are Vhondryl
and her rival Shaun Taunador.
Vhondryl has permanent rooms at The
Deepfires (some believe she may secretly
own the place; she has ready access to its
bodyguards and secret passages). She is
a
thin, silent, mysterious lady with chalkwhite skin, knee-length blonde
hair, and
rather plain features. Her eyes are straw
yellow, and she is known to ardently
worship Loviatar. She can supply any
drink, poison, or potion (and all antidotes)
known to the Realms on short notice,
commanding fabulously high prices. She
also has magical powers.
Her chief rival, Shaun Taunador, has
lower prices but a far more sinister reputation. Shaun does business
from a barge
on the river Sargauth moored just off the
docks, or in short-rented rooms at The
Crowing Cockatrice. A mind flayer of
awesome powers and a titan among his
own kind, Shaun is always surrounded by
a trained bodyguard of human thugs and
loyal monsters of controllable sorts.
Mhaug is an annis (see ?Hag? in the
Monstrous Compendium) who spends
much of her time watching events from
the doorway of her gruesome shop at the
edge of the docks. She hangs corpses by
their necks as ornaments until sold; the
floppy-headed undead created from them
are derisively called ?Mhaug hogs.?
Cryptkey Facilitations is a tomb-robbing
organization active in The City of the Dead
and in the countryside around Waterdeep,
procuring exhumed-to-order corpses and
body parts. The organization?s members
(estimates range from six to ten in number) wear masks and rarely,
if ever, speak.
For those who wish to create undead, the
mysterious mages who run Cryptkey sew
up wounds, wire bones together, and fix
bones and joints with magic, such as
mending and Nulathoe’s
ninemen spells
(the latter appears in FORGOTTEN
REALMS® Adventures, page 57). Their
shop in central Skullport is guarded by
many undead, including an impressive
skull-headed ettin and a scuttling legion of
crawling claws (as per volume 3, the
FORGOTTEN REALMS® appendix, of the
Monstrous Compendium).
Shradin?s Excellent Zombies is a dingy,
run-down shop in the inner reaches of
Skullport; parts of it seem more ruined
than usable. The haughty Shradin Mulophor is a seemingly unstable archmage
who has developed necromantic spells far
beyond what most mages know. He is
heavily armed with wands. He sells or
rents out ?claws? of controllable zombies
for guarding, carrying, and loading work.
A claw consists of four normal zombies
linked to the control of a ju-ju zombie
leader. Shradin?s scepters, each topped
with a severed hand, enable clients to
control particular leader zombies. The
Lord of Bones himself is said to have a
master ?Skull-Staff? that can override all
the scepters he sells.
Mercenaries: Skullport has always
held an ample supply of swords for hire,
from fully trained and equipped bodyguards to desperate outlaws. Deserters
from surface armies, adventurers down
on their luck, and ?bravos? (pirates too
untrustworthy to serve as regular crew,
or who currently lack a seaworthy ship)
are always plentiful. The presence of
large, organized bands of professional
warriors tends to keep open, widespread
warfare outside Skullport itself, though it
won?t prevent spontaneous brawls
The nature of this work tends to make
today?s hired hero tomorrow?s fading
memory, but two rivals currently share
Skullport?s hiresword stage: Rhaunaguth
and Dalagor.
Rhaunaguth is a gallant, dashing, handsome former pirate who leads his
band of
jolly, prank-playing, hard-drinking bravos
into action as guards or as ambush and
sabotage teams in Undermountain and
Waterdeep. His colorful, swashbuckling
style stands in sharp contrast to that of
Dalagor ?the Cold,? a calculating, vicious
man who provides the same service with
an army of ju-ju zombies and reckless,
fearless curst (a type of undead detailed
in
the Avatar-series module FRE1 Shadowdale; longtime DRAGON®
Magazine readers may remember it from issue #30).
Smuggling: Perhaps the wisest inhabitants of Skullport
are those whose prices
are lower, but whose trade is of less danger and wider variety than
others: the
traders, shippers, and moneylenders who
arrange smuggling, build containers with
false bottoms, or repack easily recognized
stolen goods so that they can be readily
resold?back to their original owners as
replacements, for instance. These beings
must be shrewd to survive for long, for
they cannot avoid Skullport's intrigues.
Most powerful in this field at present
are Misker and the drow Malakuth Tabuirr. Misker is called the ?Pirate
Tyrant?
(though not to his face), because he is an
old, wart-covered, very large beholder
who wears black eye patches over two of
his eyes. Those who have dwelt in Skullport a long time warn newcomers
that
Misker?s eye patches do not conceal missing or damaged orbs; instead,
he bears
unique eyes whose destructive blasts are
powerful enough to easily rend dragon?s
hide, magical armor, and adamantite alike!
The wise place no bets on the success of
anyone stupid enough to challenge Misker,
something that those who are wild for
entertainment?or who wish to learn more
about his powers?have been known to
hire fools to do.
Misker is not the only beholder regularly
found in Skullport, but the other two,
Seirtych Xantaun and Uthh, keep to the
shadows and operate in much greater
secrecy. Beholder rivalries are legendary
for cruel one-upmanship and cordial faceto-face relations, with much
death and
maiming between servitor underlings in
dark alleyways and the depths of Undermountain. Misker is clearly the
victor over
his rivals in present-day Skullport, but
some say that Misker lives only so long as
the Eye does not to come to town.
Malakuth Tabuirr is a scheming drow
who worships Vhaeraun (see FOR2 Drow
of the Underdark) and uses fellow worshipers as thieves
and spies in his service.
He trades poisons, deepwine, drow armor,
weaponry, and magical items in return for
slaves, whom he takes into the depths
(presumably to drow cities). Beautiful
human and elven females command his
highest offers.
The darkened skyline
Skullport teems with colorful, dangerous
folk, but what does the visitor actually
see? Well, it?s dark, always too dark for a
surface dweller?s comfort. The map in the
Ruins of Undermountain boxed set can?t
show the criss-crossing and ever-changing
network of rickety wooden catwalks that
link the homes and shops of Skullport on
many levels. These provide space for
hanging out washing?or the corpses of
defeated foes, left as grisly trophies and
warnings. They are also the many-levelled
stages for fast-paced and acrobatic sword
fights.
The catwalks and the upper areas of the
Skullport cavern are home to a wide variety of fearsome creatures.
Some very sly mimics lurk about these catwalks?and,
in
fact, are parts of the catwalks. The catwalks sometimes serve
a strategic purpose. In years past, a gigantic gray ooze
once lurked about Skullport, but soon
became too great a problem; it was destroyed spectacularly some time
ago by a
group of wizards on a high and wellplaced catwalk, after a long drinking
bout,
along with many of the nearby buildings,
lower catwalks, bystanders, and some of
the stone floor of the cavern.
Visitors to Skullport will also notice a lot
of will-o-wisps drifting about. These creatures never attack directly,
but try to lure
the unwary out of settled areas, to their
dooms deep in Undermountain.
The streets also hold cages of monsters,
which can be bought dead or alive (for
spell or potion components, experimentation, sport hunting, eating,
the pleasure of their company, or as guards). There are
dung heaps where enterprising goblins
grow exotic mushrooms favored by Waterdhavian nobles, and even shops
where
adventurers who make it this far can
purchase trophies and relics of Undermountain, such as dragon skulls,
to impress folks back on the surface.
Tales of the past
Undermountain and Skullport are insep
arable in all but name, though Skullport is
one area of the Under-Realms that Halaster Blackcloak, the Lord of
Undermountain, doesn?t include as part of his
dominion. Granted, he has been known to
gate in a few of his more fearsome ?pets?
now and again, but he himself never
overtly enters Skullport. This arrangement
has been in effect for the last two centuries of Skullport?s existence,
all due to the
power of the necromancer <aka death
master> Shradin Mulophor, the unofficial ruler of Skullport.
Halaster and his former apprentices all
honor a nonaggression pact with Shradin
and his shady port, some out of respect
for his power and some from fear of the
same. Strangely enough, Halaster honors
the pact out of friendship. Shradin, an old
comrade and contemporary from the
fading lands of Netheril, impressed his
fellow wizard in his mastery of the necromantic art, becoming one of
few beings to
have met (nay, exceeded) Halaster?s expectations. Shradin bided his
time in Netheril
and soon found his way to the Blackcloak?s
domain in Undermountain. Upon finding
the large skull-infested cavern (see "Heads
up!"), he simply asked for Skullport as a
personal demesne and was granted it.
When Shradin and Halaster first discovered the cavern complex that would
later
become Skullport, the floating skulls were
already there. Shradin?s intense investigations of these phenomena
continued for
nearly a decade, but how much the master
necromancer learned is unknown. Allegedly, Halaster quitted the place
nearly
years ago and has returned only three
times in the intervening years. Few pretend
to know what the Master of the
Underhalls thinks of Skullport, but many
point to him as the architect of Skullport's
macabre sentinels. The truth on this matter
is known only to Shradin, Halaster, and
the skulls themselves, and none of them
are quick to impart any information on
the matter.
Shradin and Halaster, it is told, took to
clearing out much of the rubble of an
older city within the cavern proper, a task
requiring one year alone. It is said that the
only building that predates those of the
current Skullport is Shradin?s own, the
tumbledown stone building that contains
his zombie shop.
Shradin spent an additional number of
years populating Skullport. Through Halaster?s work, the river Sargauth
was
magically connected with deeper rivers to
allow trade with the Realms Below. Shradin
set up the trade routesand agreements
with the svirfnebli and the Shunned
Races of Toril--the drow, duergar, and
illithids. A large number of Skullport's
denizens were drow and other Deep
races, until an increasing number of
adventurers forged their way into Skullport,
some tired of adventuring and others
quickly seeing the potential profiits involved
here. The Port of Shadows grew by
leaps and bounds, filling the cavern within
25 years. Buildings and homes were
constructed from the rubble of the previous
settlement as well as wood from the various shipwrecks out in the Sea
of Swords,
hauled in by Shradin?s undead and other
a g e n t s .
Within Skullport?s first eight years as an
active port, Shradin and his undead engineered and constructed the
massive hoist
in the South Seacaves to allow direct access to the port from the Sea
of Swords.
With this construct came the notice of the
Lords of Waterdeep; for the sake of Waterdeep?s order and trade, the
Lords were
actually glad to hear of the existence of
Skullport. Having used the Underhalls as a
place to banish certain prisoners, the
Lords of Waterdeep found that Skullport
was a perfect place to punish unscrupulous merchants as well as acquire
some
rare and wondrous items not found on the
surface Realms. As a result, a number of
truly dishonest Waterdhavian merchants
were sent to Skullport?s shadowed merchants? quarter. Few lasted long,
but a
small number thrived in the shadows.
After a decade of venturing down in the
Deep Realms, Shradin allegedly went mad
from encounters with unknown horrors
lurking far away from any civilized outposts. He returned to Skullport
a very
unstable personage and remains so to this
day. (However, see his character notes
under ?Skullport?s ?Best.? ?) Shradin no
longer commands the respect of the dwellers and traders of the Port
of Shadows,
though he is still given little trouble due to
his powerful wands and spell-casting.
Natives of Skullport
There are many other beings of interest
in this place of misfits and eccentrics, but
most notable to visitors are Thaglar and
the Hired Horrors.
Thaglar is a gruff, foul-mouthed dwarf
whose drinking bouts and crude pranks are
local legends. He makes customized armor
and alters or repairs armor and weapons,
specializing in fitting both with spring barbs,
poisoned needles, and other traps.
There is also a company known as the
Hired Horrors, run by several soft-spoken,
gentleman mages. They breed deepspawn
(beasts that produce other monsters, detailed in the Realms sourcebook
FR11
Dwarves Deep) in a secret location and
have developed spells to teleport such
creatures into desired areas. When hired,
they deliver a deepspawn directly into the
home or headquarters of a client?s rival or
enemy?in the cellar of a Waterdhavian
noble?s villa, for example, or the sewers
near an important warehouse. Until destroyed, the deepspawn will produce
many lesser but still deadly monsters.
Heads up!
The skulls of Skullport are the sentinels
of order in an otherwise dangerous place.
Shradin, being the first settler and merchant
here, set up an unwritten code that
is told to any arriving in Skullport: ?This
be safe haven to all traders and customers;
keep thy weapons and uncivil tongue
sheathed lest thee find the grinning skull
of Death smiling in thy face.? Only a select
few actually believe or even remember
this tale; many believe that the skulls set
up this law even before Shradin arrived.
The skulls enforce this beneficial code of
behavior as well as their own code. Unfortunately, the skulls don?t
divulge their
code, but simply order beings to perform
seemingly random, pointless tasks. Such
tasks in the past have included climbing to
the ceiling of the cavern and shouting a
certain name 12 times, going to the Crock
and Helm and polishing the bar, venturing
north of the city and into the caverns to
retrieve 10 rocks of a certain color, or
buying a slave of a certain name and setting him loose into the Sargauth.
The
skulls? demands often seem illogical, but
the power they appear to wield keeps few
from ignoring their requests. They rarely
make requests of clearly powerful beings,
though troublemakers and braggart adventurers often find themselves
subject to
the more degrading of tasks (?Go help that
poor goblin harvest his mushrooms. Surely such a hero as you can handle
that.?).
If the rule of safe haven is broken or if a
being refuses to follow the dictates of one of
the skulls, they summon a wizshade (from
MC7, the first SPELLJAMMER? Appendix
for the Monstrous Compendium) to escort
the offending being from the Port of
Shadows. If met with steel or spell, the
wizshade will attack in kind, removing the
lawbreaker from the port dead or alive.
Longtime natives of Skullport, few as
they are, also tend to deal harshly with
those who do not follow the law of Skullport. They have learned by
example how
much destruction and lost profit comes
from having the wizshades arrive. Many
merchants, as well as some frequent customers, will escort wrongdoers
away from
their businesses?if not out of Skullport
altogether?to prevent damage to their
goods when things get out of hand.
Skullport's "best"
Shradin Mulophor: AL NE; AC 2; MV
12; human necromancer M21; hp 38;
THAC0 14; #AT 1; Dmg by spell or weapon
type (dagger); ML 18; C 16, I 18, W 17.
To all appearances, Shradin Mulophor is
an unstable, doddering old mage who
many believe stays alive only because of
his marginal usefulness with undead. In
truth, Shradin is the Lord of Skullport,
though he makes sure no one realizes that
fact. He fakes his insanity and instability to
promote his foes? underestimation of his
power and ability. Without having to openly show his power, he is left
in peace by
the many unscrupulous inhabitants of the
Port of Shadows. If there are any foolish
enough to steal from Shradin?s own shop,
there are none left alive to brag of it.
Shradin?s shop takes the majority of the
space in his building, the laboratory and
main sales room occupying more than half
of the total building. There is a small room
in the back with Shradin?s sleeping pallet
and a small chest, but this is simply a
front. Concealed behind a lethal yet impressive array of deadly magicks
is a secret trapdoor that leads down to a
dungeon beneath Skullport. The main
dungeon covers two different levels, both
extending to the north and west under the
port, and was formerly a temple to a lost
god of the kuo-toan race. Shradin has here
created a luxurious palace filled with
magical and monetary treasures. He has
shared these secrets with only four people
in the past 200 years: Halaster, Raella Hiess
(of The Deepfires), Laeral (under her alias
as Irusyl Eraneth), and Vhondryl. He
trusts these people enough to drop his
facade of the idiot when in private (though
he wonders where Irusyl?s loyalties lie),
and they are privy to secrets that many
spies from The City Above would give
their souls to hear.
Shradin, despite his unassuming role as
a fool, carries an impressive and daunting
collection of magical paraphernalia on his
person at all times. In full view, he wears a
cowl of warding, bracers of defense AC 5,
a cloak of the bat, a wand
of fire, a wand
of paralyzation, a ring of protection +3,
and a ring of the ram. Hidden from view,
Shradin also habitually carries a Netherese
blast scepter a wand of fear, a wand of
size alteration, and a horned ring, a gift
from Halaster. (Nearly all unfamiliar magical items are from the
Ruins
of Undermountain boxed set.) His spells are
numerous and deadly, his spell books
containing every known necromantic spell
in the Realms (see appendix two of
FORGOTTEN REALMS Adventures).
<In 1e terms, Shradin might be a 12th level Death Master (Necromancer).
That leaves 9 levels unaccounted for.>
Aekyl Dafyre: AL N; AC 8; MV 12;
human T4; hp 15; THAC0 19; #AT 1; Dmg
by weapon type (dagger or short sword);
D 17, C 15, Ch 16
Aekyl Dafyre is a short, dour human
with thinning brown hair pulled back into
a ponytail, a pencil-thin moustache, and a
dark complexion. His mood is almost always bad; most people hear only
grunts
and grumbles when they speak to him.
Eight years past, Aekyl was the premier
cartographer and guide through Undermountain?s uppermost levels, guiding
thrill-seeking nobles and Watch parties
through the twisting tunnels of Halaster?s
lair. His sense of direction and skill at mapmaking were legend until
the corridors
and his luck took a wrong turn.
Escorting a trio of nobles through the
northwestern passages of Level Two,
Aekyl took an unfamiliar path, thanks to
Halaster?s teleports, and he failed to recognize warning signs
of active monsters.
Soon after, the party was ambushed by
two owlbears. Aekyl and one of the nobles
escaped with their lives, but Aekyl lost the
use of his left arm due to severe clawing.
Once safe in the Yawning Portal, the noble
ordered him arrested for the murder of
their companions. In a panic, Aekyl fled
back into Undermountain and made his
way to Skullport.
His injured arm prevented him from
safely adventuring and, being left-handed,
his mapping career ground to a halt. With
his meager savings, he secured rooms at
The Deepfires and began drowning his
sorrows for days and nights on end. The
skulls took notice of him, sending him into
the caverns east of Skullport to find a
?dragon?s tooth.? Aekyl returned to Skullport unharmed with a magical
short
sword of dancing (with ?Dragon?s Tooth?
carved into the blade in Dethek runes), a
pouch full of emeralds, and a pair of
boots. The skulls simply nodded and let
him keep his spoils.
Aekyl now operates his new mapping
shop close to the Deepfires, his customers
keeping him well fed and clothed in style.
His magical boots of guiding now do the
mapping for him, though his customers
don?t know this. All Aekyl does is walk
through the dungeons with slow careful
steps. After covering the areas required by
his contracts, he returns to his shop and
removes his boots; on a command word,
the boots shrink to the size of rice grains
and retrace the previous day?s steps in
permanent marks on parchments or vellum. His maps are well known as
?Aekyl?s
bootprints,? and their accuracy on a map
for the Lords of Waterdeep secured a
dismissal of charges for Aekyl?s alleged
crime. Now, Aekyl prefers the intrigues
and profits of Skullport, and he plans an
indefinite stay in the area.
V h o n d r y l : AL LE; AC 6; MV 12; human
Psi 13; hp 52; THAC0 14; #AT 1; Dmg by
weapon type (scimitar); W17, C18.
Vhondryl is one of the top dealers of
potions in the Port of Shadows, though
she keeps a low profile on this by working
through intermediaries. Only buyers of
rare or dangerous concoctions deal directly with Vhondryl. The petty
poisons
are not worth her time away from managing The Deepfires. This quiet
and cryptic
lady can supply any drink, poison, or
potion known on Toril, but commands
fabulously high prices; many find the
prices reasonable given the rarity of some
requests. Never one to be cheated or
threatened, she has strong powers of the
mind. If your campaigns do not use the
Complete Psionics Handbook or psionics,
Vhondryl can be changed to a 13th-level
transmuter (a specialist mage). Her psionic
powers are the following:
PSPs 171; psychoportation: banishment
(14), teleport (15), teleport other (12);
dimensional door (17), dimension walk
(16), teleport trigger (15), time shift (16),
time/space anchor (14); psychometabolism:
energy containment (16); body control
(14), cell adjustment (15); psychokinetics:
detonate (15); telepathy: contact (17), false
sensory input (14), identity penetration
(14), psionic blast (14); defense modes: all
Vhondryl has rooms at The Deepfires as
a secret gift from Raella Hiess, the inn?s
behind-the-scenes proprietress. Vhondryl
lets people believe she owns the establishment, while Raella, a lawful-neutral
8thlevel mage, acts as a simple barmaid.
Raella and Vhondryl have been companions for years, having saved each
other?s
lives numerous times. Vhondryl knows
that Raella uses The Deepfires as a place
to collect information for the Lords of
Waterdeep, but this secret is kept between
the two of them. Raella and Laeral are
relatively close acquaintances and exchange information often. Laeral
describes
Vhondryl as a ?powerful but vain and
petty potion peddler.?
The rumor mill turns
A lone adventurer was fished out of the
Sargauth two weeks ago. He died soon
after being rescued, muttering about ?gold
awash with blood, and thousands of eyes,
horrible green eyes!?
There are rumors of a cave under Skull
Isle?a cave with walls and floor of solid
mithril! Local dwarves have laid claim
to
it, despite a number of threats from powerful foes. The cave is reached
through
the Skullpool river basin, and only small
demihumans can fit through the tunnel
that surfaces into the cavern. No mithril
has been mined yet, though a few nuggets
have found their way into Skullport.
A sect of drow have taken over the
abandoned temple complex to the northeast of Skullport and dedicated
it to Eilistraee. Sources tell of their growing
numbers, not only from new worshipers
but from soldiers and slaves. Their purposes are mysterious, and they
guard the
complex closely and fiercely. There are
fears abroad that this growing temple may
disrupt the delicate balance of power
within Skullport.
Iljrene, a purported witch, has stunningly executed one of the Hired
Horrors in
plain sight on the streets of Skullport with
various pyrotechnic spells. To everyone?s
surprise, the Skulls didn?t respond in any
w a y w h a t s o e v e r .
Of late, an assemblage of silent phantom
humans has been wandering the streets
and catwalks of the port. Ephemeral, mute,
and totally oblivious to their surroundings,
these phantoms are dressed in ancient
battle armor, rich court clothing, or drab
muslin robes. The figures seem to be from
all walks of life with no connection to each
other at all. No one has successfully communicated with the phantoms,
and they
disturb the patrons of Skullport, absently
walking through people and buildings.
A recent adventurer entered Skullport
with a wild story regarding the Skulls of
the port. He claimed to have stumbled
across a cavern in which he saw, as he put
it, ?a whole ring of these skulls there!
They were talking low, so I didn?t hear
much, but they were talking fast and
furious. There were even a couple of fresh
skulls hanging there, still having beards
and flesh, but talking just the same!?
When the adventurer moved and made
some noise, the lights went out and the
skulls disappeared. The fighter claimed to
find this ?Council of Skulls? somewhere on
Level Seven of Undermountain. This can?t
be confirmed, since from the night he told
this to patrons of the Burning Troll, the
adventurer has been missing.
An ominous exit
Laeral paused thoughtfully, and we
waited attentively for her to continue.
?Alas, kind chroniclers, that is all I can
readily impart to you now. Milord Khelben
anticipates my return hence, and the
Blackstaff is not one to be kept waiting.?
She readied herself to leave, and then
paused, her black and silver gown swirling
with her sudden action. Enigmatically
smiling, she left us a final warning: ?Do ye
and yours tire of this dangerous port and
plan to tread a path back into Undermountain? Some advice for ye, then:
Avoid the passage known as Taglath?s Gap, which is
named for the ghost that lurks there,
where he was murdered. Your pardon?
which gap is it? Oh, but that would be
t e l l i n g ! ?