Mystra, he is an archmage mighty enough to make more than one world tremble-and he paid me handsomely to say this, too.
HALASTER BLACKCLOAK: A legendary villain in Waterdeep, 'the Mad Mage' is a lurking figure used to frighten children into good behavior. Not a few of them down the decades have had nightmares about the sinister Lord of Undermountain, whose very gaze can kill, who skulks the cellars and dark dungeon passages beneath the city, and hurls spells with crazed brilliance, slaughtering beholders, rending dragons… and sending bouquets of flowers walking up to startled young Waterdhavian ladies at their coming-out revels.
HERLE: 'Best Blade' of the Black Falcon Patrol of the City Guard of Waterdeep, Herle is a tall, courteous man-deadly with a sword and with his flashing eyes and skillful tongue. Ask any noble Waterdhavian lady he's been assigned to escort-when you're out of earshot of her husband.
ILBARTH: This quick-tongued leader is the master strategist of the Masked Mayhem thieving band of Skullport. Ilbarth is one of those lovable rogues who's almost as handsome as he thinks he is, knows folk almost as well as he thinks he does, and with much luck might avoid his grave for a season or two longer. Place no bets on this.
IRAEGHLEE: This illithid (mind flayer, of that mauve-skinned, mouth-tentacled race who like to suck, out the brains of humans who have any) might have had a longer career of manipulation and multifold intrigue if his arrogance had been a trifle weaker, and' his foresight a trifle stronger-flaws not unknown, I fear, to many human mages and adventurers.
LAERAL ARUNSUN SILVERHAND: The Lady Mage of Waterdeep is consort to the famous Khelben 'Blackstaff' Arunsun (Lord Mage of Waterdeep), who rescued her from the fell artifact known as the Crown of Horns. Laeral is one of the Chosen of Mystra and one of the Seven Sisters watched over by Elminster. She serves as the understanding, worldly representative of the Lords of Waterdeep in Skullport (often in disguise), and was once the leader of an adventuring group known as the Nine. Her grace and beauty are outstripped only by her mastery of magic.
MIRT: It is untrue to say that Mirt the Moneylender outmasses a horse. A pony, now… This shrewd, grasping, sarcastic old rogue is beloved by all who don't owe him money. He is sometimes called 'the Wheezing Warrior' by those too young to remember his days as Mirt the Merciless, a mercenary general feared from the quays of Calimport to the stony gates of Mirabar. Later he was the Old Wolf, canniest of all the pirate captains to plunder the Sword Coast. These days, he must content himself merely with being a senior Harper, a not-so-secret Lord of Waterdeep, and the city's busiest critic of newly opened taverns and houses of revelry.
NYTHYX THUNDERSTAFF: One of the young, pretty, and ruthless noble ladies with which Waterdeep abounds, Nythyx is a daughter of Anadul Thunder staff, an old friend of Durnan. While he lived, Anadul was brother to Baerom, head of the noble House of Thunderstaff. Nythyx has a taste for danger, feeling important, wielding power, and indulging in cruelties. She may well wind up ruling the city someday… if she doesn't get trampled in the rush of all the other young beauties of similar tastes and skills. Watch her, if you keep hidden, the entertainment's free.
SHANDRIL SHESSAIR: This young, heart-strong lass is pursued by half of Faerun (the evil, magic-wielding half) because she happens to possess the rare and awesome power of spellfire, with which she may someday just reshape the world… if she survives the almost daily attacks of those who want her spellfire, that is.
TORTHAN: A human male slave of the Lady Transtra, Torthan worships his mistress almost as much as he fears her. His tale is a sad one to date, but is a long way from ended. 'Torthan's lineage will surprise some, when at last 'tis revealed' (or so Elminster has said, in what I believe was an unguarded moment).
TRANSTRA: This cruel, worldly-wise lamia noble belongs to that deadly race of man-eating creatures. A slaver of some prominence in Skullport, 'Lady' Transtra is a sometime business associate of Mirt… and of some far more unsavory folk who thankfully don't appear in this tale.
ULISSS: A behir bonded to Transtra, Ulisss is one of a race of reptilian, snakelike carnivores that have many legs, can spit lightning, and devour many unwanted warriors and adventurers. Hatred and love for Transtra war within Ulisss, they both know that hatred will win out some day… in the form of a treachery that Ulisss fears Transtra is all too ready for.
VOUNDARRA: This young sorceress is met only briefly, on her helpless flight down an alley in Skullport to an unwanted meeting with Vulharindauloth. The spell that sent her on that journey, and the one who cast it, are secrets to be revealed elsewhere and else-when… as is Voundarra's fate.
VULHARINDAULOTH: A gigantic elder black dragon, Vulharindauloth is peacefully asleep in a wall of the cavern that holds the corner of Skullport we visit… or at least, is peacefully asleep until the dying moments of this tale (and I do mean dying…). How Vulharindauloth came to be there, and what he'll do in his awakened rage, are matters to be explored at later time-and from a safe distance. On the far side of) Selune, a century from now, perhaps.
XUZOUN: This beholder (eye tyrant) is old enough to know better, but too impatient with skulking not to try to place several mind-controlled doppleganger slaves in the places of Durnan and other important Waterdhavians, so as to set itself up as the true ruler the city. There are graveyards full of folk who've coveted that position… but Xuzoun did keep more of an, eye on things than most of them. (Sorry.)
YLOEBRE: An illithid (mind flayer) and fellow schemer of Iraeghlee, Yloebre shares his business partner's shattering fate. It's possible Yloebre might have a future career-but, knowing Halaster, not likely.
ZARISSA: The second and even more lushly beautiful sorceress we see plunging helplessly through the murky air of that alley in Skullport, Zarissa is on her unwilling way to awaken a black dragon. It's possible we'll learn about the spell that sent her along with Voundarra, its caster, and Zarissa's fate, in some other tale. And then again- perhaps not.
RITE OF BLOOD
Chapter One: Journey into Darkness
There were in the lands of Toril powerful men whose names were seldom heard, and whose deeds were spoken of only in furtive whispers. Among these were the Twilight Traders, a coalition of merchant captains who did business with the mysterious peoples of the Underdark.
There were perhaps six in this exclusive brotherhood, and all were canny, fearless souls who possessed far more ambitions than morals. Membership in this clandestine group was carefully guarded, achieved only through a long and difficult process that was monitored not only by the members, but by mysterious forces from Below. Those who survived the initiation were granted a rare window into the hidden realms: the right to enter the underground trade city known as Mantol-Derith.
An enormous cavern hidden some three miles below the surface, Mantol-Derith was shrouded with more layers of magic and might than a wizard's stronghold. Secrecy was its first line of defense: even in the Underdark, not many knew of the marketplace's existence. Its exact location was known only to a few. Even many of the merchants who regularly did business there would have been hard pressed to place the cavern on a map. So convoluted were the routes leading to Mantol-Derith that even duergar and deep gnomes could not hold their relative bearings along the way. Between the market and any nearby settlement lay labyrinths of monster-infested tunnels complicated by secret doors, portals of teleportation, and magical traps.
No one 'stumbled upon Mantol-Derith,' a merchant either knew the route intimately or died along the way.
Nor could the marketplace be located by magical means. The strange radiations of the Underdark were strong in the thick, solid stone surrounding the cavern. No tendril of magic could pass through-all were either diffused or reflected back to the sender, sometimes dangerously mutated. Thus, any attempt at magical inquiry into the mysteries of Mantol-Derith was fated to end in frustration or tragedy.
