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A stylized depiction of Castle Spulzeer.
Castle Spulzeer was a castle, finished in 795 DR for the Spellseer family. It was located a few miles south of Tethir Road, en route to Riatavin. Construction of the castle began in 755 DR[1].
History[]
For 35 years, the castle was a stop for all kinds of traffic, renowned for the carnivals thrown exclusively for visitors, the peace, gaiety, good food and drink earned the Spellseer family untold renown and prestige.
830 to 836 DR was a terrible time for the family however, as merchants, jealous of the Spellseer's success used forged documents and false testimony to decrease the family's prestige with the royal family of Amn. To make matters worse, the Archmage/Necromancer Kartak "the All-Seeing" Spellseer was tried and convicted of 14 murders in the region of the Tejam Hills and then escaped justice when he fled to the Iltkazar Range. 2 years later, the family patriarch Tregas II changed the family name to Spulzeer and brought the renamed family back into the people's good graces.
In 1090 DR, King Imnel IV of Amn was forced to cede all lands south of the Tethir Road to Tethyr in exchange for an undisclosed amount of money and enough military aid to rid Amn of its overpopulation of monsters which it was not at that time able to dispose of itself. Castle Spulzeer was on the wrong side of that road and now found itself a Tethyrian holding. It would take 170 years and some clever negotiations with king Haedrak II before the castle was again free of Tethyr's political constraints. A 3rd level was added in 1268 DR, making it the second largest castle in Tethyr for a time. Unfortunately the next patriarch of the castle, Kelamar, was a gambling man. With his new position he became incredibly bold, using the castle to host a variety of gambling enterprises, which became progressively dark and disturbing as the years went on. In 1315 DR the daughter of the mayor of Riatavin was found dead in a ditch near the castle, covered in wounds indicative of throwing knives. Kelamar was later captured on the Tethir Road, bound to a tree and shot repeatedly with crossbows. Kelamar's niece Kaisha (who's mother had previously eloped with a circus performer) suddenly returned with a son and daughter in tow. She immediately assumed the role of Lady Spulzeer, without consulting her family, and did not bother to clean up her late uncle's excesses.
The rest of the family left in disgust, taking the family funds out of the castle and using them to set up the Spellseer Inn further along the Tethir Road (which later grew to become the town of Trailstone). The castle degraded over time without the family money and with Kaisha's poor management skills. The 'entertainments' became less extravagant (although some say more evil) and Kaisha, with her son Chardath eked out a living until 1348 DR when Kaisha died and Chardath took her position.
Marble Spulzeer's murder at the hands of the brother Chardath Spulzeer.
His younger sister, a deaf-mute he named "Marble" (as Kaisha had never bothered to give her a name) had grown up into a beautiful, if silent woman. Chardath kept her locked away in the top floor of the castle; none of his acquaintances even knew she existed. Although she was allowed free reign of the castle, she had become afraid of everyone save her brother and stayed in family quarters when guests were around. Marble was Chardath's one joy and he hoped that now his mother was gone and he was lord, they could start a new, better life. But it was not to be. Chardath's ancestor Kartak, had turned himself into a lich and had previously been living in the Kuldin Peaks in Erlkazar advancing his powers until destroyed in a spellbattle with members of the Twisted Rune. His phylactery was a silver book hidden in Castle Spulzeer's library and his remains were hidden in a secret chamber beneath the castle. All it would take was one complex ritual to bring Kartak back to unlife.
Chardath had always been weak-willed and Kartak used that to his advantage. He possessed Chardath and made him take Marble down into the secret chamber where he performed the ritual which involved slitting Marble's throat with a magical dagger Aggarath. Chardath could only watch as Kartak performed the deed with Chardath's hands.
Kartak left the castle and Chardath's sanity degraded. He reinstated Kelamar's 'entertainments' and eventually grew to embrace them, becoming thoroughly evil by 1353 DR, fostering thoughts of revenge against his ancestor but thinking himself too weak to defeat the powerful lich. Every year however, on the anniversary of Marble's death Kartak was teleported back to the castle and somehow was unable to leave by any means for a full 24 hours.
In a drunken stupor in 1367 DR Chardath barged into Kartak's private chambers, unwittingly picking up a sword that was actually the key to the subterranean level of the castle that served as Kartak's former laboratory. He picked up the magical axe Maleffleunt, which stole the last shreds of his sanity, and also chanced upon a lamp which contained a djinni, Gentar, who granted him 3 wishes, the last of which was "I wish I had half of Kartak's powers." The wish was granted. Kartak suddenly found himself greatly weakened whilst Chardath was suddenly much more powerful. With Maleffleunt and his new found arcane might, Chardath finally felt he could have his revenge.
The heroes who ventured into Castle Spulzeer.
Shortly afterwards, in Eshpurta a band of adventurers rescued a wandering priestess from a mugger and in the end received a magical ruby for their troubles. Kartak contacted the adventurers, knowing the ruby to be the key to his destruction. He posed as Chardath, claiming that his cousin Kartak had expelled him from Castle Spulzeer with an army and, while the troops have now left, Kartak has government connections that prevent him from returning for 4 magical items he didn't have time to pack. The adventurers took the job, coincidentally arriving on the anniversary of Marble's death. They came upon her ghost, which reenacted her murder, and learned of their employer's true identity. Then they discovered the real Kartak downstairs, who implored them to restore the ruby to Aggarath, which was still on the floor of the chamber after all these years. But then Chardath burst in on them all with Marble's ghost materializing soon after. All three wanted the adventurers to replace the ruby on the dagger's hilt as none could touch it until then. The adventurer's gave it to one of the three, but no one knows which, for as soon as they did all hell broke loose. Everyone started attacking everyone else, but then Marble started to Keen and Kartak teleported away. Malleffluent and Aggarath met and then suddenly the whole castle began to spin. It got sucked into the dagger's ruby, transporting Castle Spulzeer and everything inside to the Demiplane of Dread. It is thought that the adventurers made it out of the castle alive. People still mysteriously disappear around the land that the castle once stood on, perhaps suggesting that the borders between Faerûn and the Demiplane of Dread are weak there[2].
References[]
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book Two: Amn”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 21. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo (June 2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 293. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5.