future time of need. Later, Myrmeen Lhal joined them, one more wyrm in stasis.”
“Until something either went wrong, or they were awakened because the realm was in need.”
“Indeed, though its defenders knew that not. Szass Tam was greatly weakened after his failed attempt to become a god, during what’s come to be known as the Spellplague. He has always hungered for magic—the stored magic of items, if he can get such power in no other way—and of course, he forever finds himself in need of more. He knew of certain vaults beneath yonder Royal Palace, and tried to break into them from afar, but succeeded only in shattering the outermost ward. That was enough to rouse Vangey and his fellow guardian dragons.
“Wisely, Szass Tam abandoned his attempt right then, but—”
Mirt grinned. “There’s always a ‘but’ in this world, when you’re talking wizards!”
“Indeed. ‘But’ the arcanists of Thultanthar had their spies here in Suzail, for Cormyr was the largest and best stable source of food near the preferred location for their city, and one of them reported the destruction of the ward to his superior, who was competent enough to pass it on to the ruler of the Thultanthans, a man as overconfident as his self-proclaimed title suggests, and—”
“Oh, the ‘Most High’?”
“Aye, Telamont Tanthul. Another who had endless hunger for enchanted items. He presumed that there would be only one more ward, and that Cormyr had no defenders who could hold the vault against a strike force led by half a dozen arcanists. So weak did he think the defense would be that he sent along eight untried novices to lead the assault, as a test of their abilities.”
“And the guardian dragons destroyed them.”
“Handily. So aghast was the senior arcanist assigned to scry on them from afar that he abandoned his duty in the opening moments of the fray to go and convince one of the Princes of Shade—without telling the Most High, mind ye—that there was a serious threat to Thultanthar under the Royal Palace of Cormyr. He succeeded; that prince came racing back with a much stronger force.”
“And broke into the vault?”
“And failed, fleeing battered but wiser, leaving most of this second wave of arcanists dead. However, the song dragon Ammaratha also perished in the fray, Myrmeen Lhal was forced back into human form, and Vangey only survived through Laspeera’s desperate intervention; she forcibly merged him with a spiderlike guardian monster he’d imprisoned in stasis down in the cellars centuries earlier. Hence the way he looked until recently, a human head mated to a spidery body. The goddess Mystra herself restored him to hale and whole human form.”
“Laspeera’s work on him; that’s a tale I’d like to hear in more detail, someday,” Mirt murmured.
“So would I,” Elminster replied dryly. “I suspect Myrmeen has told me less than half of what went on—and Vangerdahast, of course, even less.”
“Was the ghost of Alusair in that fight, too?”
“Who do ye think saved Laspeera and Myrmeen?”
Mirt shook his head. “I thought Waterdeep was an all-too-exciting place at times, but we only had crazed or evil humans and a few beholders scheming and running about …”
“Welcome to Cormyr, the Forest Kingdom, beautiful land of deep forests, verdant farms, and enough trouble for any dozen realms,” Elminster replied. And smiled. “I love it.”
E LURAUNT M ALABRAK SMILED as the illusion of cracked and mold-covered wall sighed away into nothingness, and left him looking at a doorway into a storage niche crammed with things that glowed with magic.
His instincts had been right. This corner was where whatever wizard had once lorded it over this crumbling, nameless ruin of a tower had decided to hide his items of power. Now to decide which things to keep and hide elsewhere for himself, and which to take back to the Three.
This bracer, now, looked damaged …
“Not quite so fast,
“Until something either went wrong, or they were awakened because the realm was in need.”
“Indeed, though its defenders knew that not. Szass Tam was greatly weakened after his failed attempt to become a god, during what’s come to be known as the Spellplague. He has always hungered for magic—the stored magic of items, if he can get such power in no other way—and of course, he forever finds himself in need of more. He knew of certain vaults beneath yonder Royal Palace, and tried to break into them from afar, but succeeded only in shattering the outermost ward. That was enough to rouse Vangey and his fellow guardian dragons.
“Wisely, Szass Tam abandoned his attempt right then, but—”
Mirt grinned. “There’s always a ‘but’ in this world, when you’re talking wizards!”
“Indeed. ‘But’ the arcanists of Thultanthar had their spies here in Suzail, for Cormyr was the largest and best stable source of food near the preferred location for their city, and one of them reported the destruction of the ward to his superior, who was competent enough to pass it on to the ruler of the Thultanthans, a man as overconfident as his self-proclaimed title suggests, and—”
“Oh, the ‘Most High’?”
“Aye, Telamont Tanthul. Another who had endless hunger for enchanted items. He presumed that there would be only one more ward, and that Cormyr had no defenders who could hold the vault against a strike force led by half a dozen arcanists. So weak did he think the defense would be that he sent along eight untried novices to lead the assault, as a test of their abilities.”
“And the guardian dragons destroyed them.”
“Handily. So aghast was the senior arcanist assigned to scry on them from afar that he abandoned his duty in the opening moments of the fray to go and convince one of the Princes of Shade—without telling the Most High, mind ye—that there was a serious threat to Thultanthar under the Royal Palace of Cormyr. He succeeded; that prince came racing back with a much stronger force.”
“And broke into the vault?”
“And failed, fleeing battered but wiser, leaving most of this second wave of arcanists dead. However, the song dragon Ammaratha also perished in the fray, Myrmeen Lhal was forced back into human form, and Vangey only survived through Laspeera’s desperate intervention; she forcibly merged him with a spiderlike guardian monster he’d imprisoned in stasis down in the cellars centuries earlier. Hence the way he looked until recently, a human head mated to a spidery body. The goddess Mystra herself restored him to hale and whole human form.”
“Laspeera’s work on him; that’s a tale I’d like to hear in more detail, someday,” Mirt murmured.
“So would I,” Elminster replied dryly. “I suspect Myrmeen has told me less than half of what went on—and Vangerdahast, of course, even less.”
“Was the ghost of Alusair in that fight, too?”
“Who do ye think saved Laspeera and Myrmeen?”
Mirt shook his head. “I thought Waterdeep was an all-too-exciting place at times, but we only had crazed or evil humans and a few beholders scheming and running about …”
“Welcome to Cormyr, the Forest Kingdom, beautiful land of deep forests, verdant farms, and enough trouble for any dozen realms,” Elminster replied. And smiled. “I love it.”
E LURAUNT M ALABRAK SMILED as the illusion of cracked and mold-covered wall sighed away into nothingness, and left him looking at a doorway into a storage niche crammed with things that glowed with magic.
His instincts had been right. This corner was where whatever wizard had once lorded it over this crumbling, nameless ruin of a tower had decided to hide his items of power. Now to decide which things to keep and hide elsewhere for himself, and which to take back to the Three.
This bracer, now, looked damaged …
“Not quite so fast,
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