Spellgard

Formerly known as Saharelgard, Spellgard is the ruin of an ancient castle complex located on a rocky ridge were the southern tip of the Fallen Lands meet the eastern edge of the former Anauroch desert.

Spellgard was once ruled by Lady Saharel, a high mage of ancient Netheril. At it's apogee, Saharelgard was a rich storehouse of wealth, mighty magic, and luxuries of dress, decoration, furnishings, and food. Today it is a ruin, largely stripped of its riches by time, thieves, and abundant mosses, molds, and fungi that grow in its halls. It is a huge place of turrets, towers, crumbling walls, archways, balconies, and mile upon mile of interlinked stairs, galleries, and chambers. Spellgard sits atop a well, and is cool, dim, and damp inside. For this reason, until the return of Thultanthar and the regrowth of the Anauroch, Spellgard was a popular destination for the Bedine and other desert folk, and a strategic last known water stopping-place for outsiders about to enter the Anauroch desert.

A little known, one-way magical gate in a cellar-cavern of the High Castle in the High Dale (which pierces the Thunder Peaks to link Cormyr and Sembia, in the Dragonreach lands) leads to a grand inner hall of Spellgard. Anyone taking this magical transport must step out over the reeking cesspool of the High Castle at just the right place, and in just the right direction. A misstep means submersion in the cesspool; the proper step takes the user instantly into a cold, shadowed hall, lit by glowing mosses: Archmitre Hall, in the center of Spellgard.