Revel's End

Revel's End was the prison built on a cliffside overlooking the Sea of Moving Ice in the Frozenfar region of the North. It was used by the Lords' Alliance as of the late 15 century DR to inter some of the Sword Coast's most heinous criminals.

Location
The prison was situated on the far northern coast of Icewind Dale due north of Lonelywood. It sat atop northward-facing cliffs overlooking the Sea of Moving Ice,  and was carved out of the northwest side of a massive rockface known as the Windbreak,  so-named because it also served to shield the prison from harsh winds off of the Reghed Glacier.

There was no road that connected Revel's End to the rest of civilization, so the most reliable ways to access the prison were by sea or by air. For travel by sea, a pier was located at the base of the cliffs with an elevator connecting up to the prison. The elevator was essentially just a large wooden box that followed a scaffold up the cliff, and was raised and lowered via a crane at the top. For travel by air, a mooring for airships was located atop the prison's tall central tower.

Structure
Revel's end was constructed as a panopticon, wherein individual prison cell encircled a central surveillance room. The primary prison structure was a single-story, tall building with a six-sided star shape that had four two-story,  tall guard towers erected at the northwest, northeast, southeast, and southwest "apex" points of the star. The northeastern and southwestern arms of the star were dedicated to open-air courtyards paved with flagstones, which granted prisoners some space for exercise when weather permitted. . The southeastern corner of the structure backed into the Windbreak from which the whole prison had been carved and constructed, and some interior rooms were tunneled into the rock itself. A four-story, central tower lined with arrow-slits rose above the panopticon surveillance room to loom over the rest of the structure.

Interior
Nearly the whole prison was magically heated to and illuminated via continual flames. It contained a number of limited amenities for the staff and guards, including a mess hall, barracks, armory, guest rooms, stables, a meeting room, and a storeroom. The kitchen contained an iron stove, and drew water from a magically heated cistern on the roof. In addition to a well-stocked pantry, the kitchen took advantage of the naturally frigid weather to create a cold storage area out of an an unheated side room. The prison also included a hospital, courtyards, and a privy, which were the only rooms a prisoner might see outside of their own cell if they were injured, given time for exercise (weather permitting), or if it was time to empty their waste buckets respectively.

The hexagonal "core" of Revel's End encompassed the prison's central surveillance hub and the two dozen individual cells immediately surrounding it. Each cell was intended to hold up to two prisoners, and contained only an iron bunkbed with two thin mattresses and a bucket for waste. From the surveillance chamber at the base of the central tower, guards could observe all cells through arrow slits. This room also contained a magical console that allowed the prison's guards to control the gate to each cell, magically amplify a speaker's voice throughout the entire compound, as well as adjust the intensity of the continual flames providing illumination throughout the whole of the prison.

Within the second level of the central surveillance tower, some above the prison's main level, was the Hall of Absolution. This chamber served as the meeting place for the prison's governing body, the Absolution Council. This floor also contained the warden's office and living quarters. The roof of the tower was situated another up, and had little protection from the elements save three  walls to the north, southwest, and southeast. A wooden drawbridge could be lowered off the tower's northeast edge to provide an airship dock.

Activities
Revel's End held individuals convicted of the most serious crimes committed against the member states of the Lords' Alliance, specifically those given the lengthiest sentences or proven too politically connected to be securely interred elsewhere. All prisoners were issued unremarkable and hoodless robes, given a unique identifying number, and were bound in manacles when not alone in their cells. Prisoners spent their time either in their cells or working in chain-gangs doing menial labor such as cutting ice from a nearby frozen river. The whole operation was overseen by a warden and by the Absolution Council, a ten-member committee formed of representatives from each of the Lords' Alliance's member states. This council determined if and when to release a prisoner on parole, with the warden serving as tie-breaker when the council was deadlocked.

Guards in cold-weather gear kept constant watch around Revel's End and its perimeter, always alerting the whole prison to anything suspicious to to anyone approaching prison. New arrivals&mdash;whether prisoners or visitors&mdash;could approach by land, sea, or air, and would be spotted from the guard towers. Visitors by land or sea were escorted to a guard room adjacent to their entrance where all weapons were confiscated and a meeting was arranged with the warden. The warden had leeway to offer shelter to visitors for up to two days, and could permit visitors to meet with a prisoner as long as the warden was also present for such a meeting.

Fresh supplies and rotating members of staff arrived by ship.

Defenses
The prison employed a variety of security measures to ensure the safety of its staff and guarantee its prisoners could not escape. Guards patrolled through the panopticon and the entrances every 20 minutes or less, and were hypervigilant for anything suspicious, ranging from the casting of spells to merely conversing with a prisoner using their real name instead of their number designation. Each cell was blanketed by a permanent antimagic field, and their barred gates were impossible to force open with brute strength. Every other door and hatch in the prison was made of reinforced iron and enchanted with the arcane lock spell, which only allowed prison staff to open them. Even if a prisoner managed to escape, they would have to flee across the tundra in weather or worse.

At any time, the warden could place Revel's End on high alert by uttering the command word "maristo", causing the whole prison to be illuminated in red light which signaled all 75 guards to arm themselves and granted them the ability to see invisible objects and people.

History
The thirteenth prisoner to ever be incarcerated at Revel's End was Korda Glintstone, who was locked up on behalf of Clan Axebreaker in hopes that she would divulge the location of their clan’s wealth, which she had stolen from them. This did not work, and instead she secretly managed to spend her ill-gotten riches from inside the prison to establish and direct a far-reaching spy network. At some point in the late 15 century DR, Varrin Axebreaker discovered the location of his clan's stolen wealth, but realized that he could not reach it without Korda's cooperation. After the Absolution Council denied a request to have her released, Varrin instead plotted to hire a crew to infiltrate the prison, meet with Korda, and perhaps even break her out if needed. In planning for this heist, he managed to acquire a breaker's map of the prison layout.

During the Everlasting Rime, some folk of Ten Towns didn't blame the event on Auril, but rather on Vaelish Gant, a prisoner interred within Revel's End. In the, Duvessa Shane&mdash;the mayor of Bryn Shander&mdash;feared that Gant and his allies in the Arcane Brotherhood might be plotting something, and so offered a reward to anyone who would make the rough trek to the prison to interrogate him.

At some point in the late 15 century DR, Edgin Darvis and Holga Kilgore were imprisoned at Revel's End following a botched heist of Korinn's Keep, a stronghold of the Harpers.

Staff
Leadership included the warden and the ten members of the Absolution Council, although it was rare for more than a few of them to actually be present at Revel's End owing to the poor amenities. The prison staff included 75 guards in the employ of the Lords' Alliance, who worked in eight-hour shifts. About one-third of the guards were on active duty at any given time, with twelve being stationed between the four guard towers, six between the two main entry rooms, and seven in the surveillance hub. The prison also employed six cooks, but all other duties fell to the guards.

Notable staff included:
 * Jarnathan, a member of the Absolution Council as of the late 15 century DR.
 * Lucas, a guard as of the late 15 century DR.
 * Marta Marthannis, the prison's warden as of 1489 DR.
 * Kriv Norixius, a member of the Absolution Council as of 1489 DR.
 * Tobias, a guard who oversaw prisoner chain-gangs in the late 15 century DR.
 * Jil Torbo, a member of the Absolution Council as of 1489 DR.
 * Voss Anderton, a member of the Absolution Council as of 1489 DR.

Prisoners
Inmates were only ever identified by their number, which was unique and indicated the order in which they had been admitted to Revel's End. As of 1489 DR, the most-recently admitted inmate was Prisoner 299 and the longest-serving one was Prisoner 6.

Notable prisoners included:
 * Edgin Darvis, a bard convicted of skullduggery and grand larceny, and incarcerated sometime in the late 15 century DR.
 * Vaelish Gant, aka Prisoner 237, a former associate of the Arcane Brotherhood who attempted to destabilize the economies of the Ten Towns and was incarcerated as of 1489 DR.
 * Korda Glintstone, aka Prisoner 13, a dwarven spy from Gauntlgrym who was incarcerated as of the late 15 century DR.
 * Gorg, a boorish hobgoblin murderer incarcerated in the late 15 century DR.
 * Grix, a goblin convicted of espionage and incarcerated as of the late 15 century DR.
 * Ishar, an elf convicted of conspiring to murder a noble family and incarcerated as of the late 15 century DR.
 * Holga Kilgore, a barbarian convicted of skullduggery and grand larceny, and incarcerated sometime in the late 15 century DR.
 * Pirouette, leader of a thieves' guild and incarcerated as of 1489 DR.
 * Barlo Rageblade, a reckless adventurer incarcerated as of 1489 DR.
 * Quillion Sardo, a halfling spellcaster convicted of using magic to influence others and incarcerated as of the late 1489 DR.
 * Gallia Strand, a smuggler of contraband luxuries incarcerated as of the late 15 century DR.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden • Keys from the Golden Vault: "Prisoner 13"
 * Film & Television
 * Honor Among Thieves
 * Books
 * Honor Among Thieves: The Junior Novelization • Heroes Unite! • The Quest Begins