Arcane Chambers

The Arcane Chambers made up the second level of Undermountain. It used to serve as a laboratory for Halaster Blackcloak's apprentices, and was thus infested with sentient magical experiments and other leftovers.

Rooms

 * Hall of the Black Helm:The Hall of the Black Helm was a 80-feet (24 meters) high dark room. It was once decorated with tapestries of armored pegasi-riders hunting dragons. It was also the destination of a gate in a room from the Dungeon Level.


 * Helmwatch:People who passed the Ghost Gate entered the center of the Helmwatch-room. This 60-feet (18 meters) high room had a number of peculiarities. A white sphere with a translucent female elf inside that was circled by sixteen helmed horror guardians. The 10-feet (3 meters) radius circle that worked as the entry point of the gate and the 20-feet (6 meters) radius circle that worked as the protective circle formed by the helmed horrors were the only two places in the entire room, where magic worked. The rest of the room was effectively a dead-magic zone.


 * Lord Hund's Tomb:Lord Hund's Tomb was not a single room, but an entire complex that was not created by Halaster, but by people hired by Lord Hund, a necromancer who eventually became a mummy.


 * Pillars of the Society:Pillars of the Society was a 10-feet (6 meters) high warm room. It was illuminated by a green-white glowing mold. The entire room smelled like yeast and it had two pillars. One of them was plain, the other had cracks or other irregularities. The former was warm and Halaster enchanted it so that organic material that touched it were glued to it for about five hours, the victim effectively being at the mercy of whatever monster comes across.

Traffic
Halaster built a number of magical entrances and exits in this level.

Entrance

 * Ghost Gate:The Ghost Gate was a one-way gate. It was found in a shaft in a dead-end in one of Waterdeep's southern wards. It led to the Helmwatch-room.

Exit
The following ways could be used to leave the Arcane Chambers:
 * An Archgate in the northern part of this level connected it to an eastern cavern on Level 4.
 * An Archgate in the western part of this level connected it to a house in the center of Level 5.
 * An Archgate in the south-west part of this level connected it to a chamber in the east of Level 6.
 * The so-called Doomgate connected the Carnelian Cavern on the Sargauth Level with the Chamber of the Fallen.
 * There was also the Old Xoblob Gate that linked the Old Xoblob Shop in Waterdeep with the Cloaker's Chest in the Arcane Chambers.

Inhabitants

 * Goblins: The Rustbone tribe of goblins secured a large complex of chambers in the north of this level. It was a bazaar by 1493 DR. There were rumors it was originally a throne room.


 * Xanathar Guild: Unlike the Xanathar's Thieves' Guild's goals for the Dungeon Level, the representatives on this level would rather plunder it and sell the takings in Skullport to help their horrid economy. Around 1493 DR, they had two watch posts on this level, one commanded by Shunn "Spider Eyes" Shurreth, a drow, and Nadia the Unbent, a human berserker.


 * Drow: A drow mage allied with the Zhentarim had a hidden base in the center of this level around 1493 DR.