Aulstaer Mrelgaunt

Aulstaer Mrelgaunt was a scholar of the Art of such skill that he retained his spellcasting abilities after becoming a ghost. In his afterlife, he haunted his tower in the foothills of the Nether Mountains known as Mrelgaunt's Turret.

Description
Aulstaer rarely had a need to manifest and preferred to whisper to non-threatening visitors to the upper room of his tower. Reports from adventurers indicated that he wore a cloak, bracers, rings, and an amulet; carried a staff, and even had incorporeal spell books.

Personality
Mrelgaunt was somewhat lonely as a ghost and loved "talking shop" with fellow spellcasters, gladly giving out advice on creating, casting, and modifying low- and mid-level spells. He was considered to be a friend by a number of mages&mdash;including active adventurers and serious researchers&mdash;listening to their problems and sharing his intricate knowledge. He was vague or confused about his death, the spells he used to preserve and fortify his tower, and the manner in which he became incorporeal with many of his possessions. He did not take kindly to vandals and thieves who tried to steal or destroy anything in his tower.

Abilities
Aulstaer was an expert spellcrafter and knew how to modify spells "on the fly", tailoring them to do very precise things or exactly exploit weaknesses in an enemy's defense. He could usually identify magical items that were shown to him, and would give out the locations of other sages and magical treasure caches to anyone that asked nicely, but his knowledge was often centuries out of date.

Mrelgaunt knew spells that could send and retrieve objects to and from extradimensional spaces, and would hold, hide, and protect items for friends. He kept a number of open, empty chests in his Turret that were somehow connected to these otherworldly storage areas. He could make an item placed in one of these chests disappear or reappear upon request. His price for this service was any news about progress in magical research.

Possessions
In life, Mrelgaunt had bracers of armor, a ring of protection, an amulet of natural armor, a cloak of resistance, two different rings of wizardry, a staff of frost, and seven spellbooks. All of these apparently became incorporeal with him when he passed into undeath.

History
Aulstaer was born to a wealthy merchant family sometime around the Year of the Orator, 980 DR, and showed an aptitude for magic at a young age. Before he could be indentured as a house-mage, he joined a passing caravan and disappeared. Documents preserved in Silverymoon state he intended to make his way to Candlekeep, but he never reached that destination and history lost track of him. He resurfaced in the early 12 century able to speak many languages and in possession of a small library of magical tomes. He hired a master stonecutter named Haelburt Downdelve to lead a crew of dwarves to build his Turret northeast of Everlund, and spent the remaining four decades of his life increasing his knowledge and mastery of the Art. One of his inventions, the whirlwind of bones spell, was used on intruders to great effect. Aulstaer died and became a ghost sometime around the Year of the Moonlight Tapestry, 1170 DR.