The Courtyard of Lolth was a temple dedicated to Lolth in Maerimydra and was destroyed during the Silence of Lolth.[1]
Location[]
Located on the noble plateau above the rest of Maerimydra, the Courtyard of Lolth was reached from the city proper by ascending a great sweeping staircase at the end of the Grand Boulevard.[2]
Structure[]
Exterior[]
The Courtyard of Lolth was constructed in the semblance of an enormous spider with an elegantly sculpted archway forming the stony fangs of the building. Each wall was adorned with designs of alien and distorted spiders.[1]
Interior[]
Inside the Courtyard of Lolth, the temple was formed of numerous rooms and its entrance was flanked by orbs of glowing, pale, blue-green magical light.[1]
After the temple's destruction in 1372 DR, the interior of the Courtyard of Lolth was nothing more than a blasted ruin, with a blackened crater at its center.[1]
Defenses[]
Merely passing through the archway of the Courtyard of Lolth rendered all invisible creatures visible. This was an invisbility purge effect that emanated from the glowing orbs in the archway.[1]
History[]
In −331 DR, the drow of Maerimydra stole the Warblade from Lord Orym Hawksong and ferried it from the Twisted Tower in Shadowdale to a secret vault beneath the Courtyard of Lolth.[3][4]
In 1372 DR, during the Silence of Lolth, the Courtyard of Lolth was stormed by Kurgoth Hellspawn and his army. Kurgoth's forces looted the majority of the temple's vaults. The clerics of Lolth that guarded the temple quickly fell without access to their spells. Shortly after this, Irae T'sarran managed to completely destroy the interior building of the temple with incredibly powerful magic that lingered for a full six days afterwards.[1]
The lingering negative energy that suffused the temple drew a powerful nightshade, known as a nightwalker, to the temple. The creature laired in the shadows near the central crater.[1]
At some point in 1373 DR, after the Silence of Lolth had ended, members of House Dhuurniv tried to resettle Maerimydra, but after a few failed attempts they returned to the Skull Subterranes beneath Azmaer's Folly. Despite their failure, they still managed to recover the Ary'Velahar'Kerym from the secret vault beneath the Courtyard of Lolth.[3][5]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 James Wyatt (September 2002). City of the Spider Queen. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 73. ISBN 0-7869-1212-X.
- ↑ James Wyatt (September 2002). City of the Spider Queen. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 37. ISBN 0-7869-1212-X.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 135. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Eric L. Boyd, Thomas M. Reid (July 2007). Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 150. ISBN 07-8694-039-5.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Eric L. Boyd, Thomas M. Reid (July 2007). Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 82. ISBN 07-8694-039-5.