Swords Pool (village)

Swords Pool was both a pool and a village in the Vast, lying in a wooded dell on the North Road between Dead Tree Hollow and King's Reach.

Description
The village served as a stopover for travelers, and was notable for its high-quality inn, the Inn of the Nine Swords, which stood on the western side of the road. It was owned by the three Mellicot sisters: Melicent, Meliors, and Melusine.

Behind the inn lay Swords Pool itself, a deep and dark body of water. The Mellicots stocked the pool with trout and a type of very small fish with a sharp taste which they called "manyfins". They discouraged fishing, but some people did it anyway on dark nights.

Local legends
The pool was the source of a local treasure tale that gave it, the village, and the inn their names. In the early history of the Vast, when the Nine Swords Company disbanded, the famous sage, wizard and swordsage Thallastam of Procampur concealed his companions' nine swords using a spell he'd cast, to protect and preserve them. It was not recorded what types of magical swords these were. The swords could never be found in the pool by dragging it or dispelling magic, and were simply not present within it until the correct words were spoken. According to the sage Elminster, (who'd once met with Thallastam ) these were not written anywhere, but could be no more than seven words in the Common speech. Even a wish spell had to contain at least four of these words in its incantation, while a limited wish would require all of the words anyway.

Once the words were said, nine magical swords would rise dripping from the pool at a point where it was over 50 feet (15 meters) deep, more than 40 feet (12 meters) from the shore, making them difficult to reach. There, they would hang vertically, hilts pointing upwards, in a ring a dozen feet above the water. If a living person could reach the swords and touch a sword, it would be released and drop into the pond, unless caught, and would need to be retrieved else it would simply lay there and rust away. The other swords would stay in position until also touched. If the words were spoken again or ten minutes had passed the swords would be returned to where they were hidden.


 * A similar legend can be found in the Ring of Swords of Hultail in Cormyr.

In the mid-1370s DR, several young blade magicians of the Vast re-founded the Nine Swords Company, and used the Inn of the Nine Swords.