Perilous Gateways

Okay, to close out the month of January, we have the beginning of a series on gateways in the Forgotten Realms. The series is Perilous Gateways, and our first entry is Voices of the Lost. This is set in the town of Illefarn, which should be familiar to old-school FR players and fans, as it was the site of the very first official Forgotten Realms adventure way, way back in 1987. It was called Under Illefarn, module code N5. And just because, here's the cover of that long-ago module:

Ah, that brings back memories.

Anyway, this is a fairly short article (clearly not written by Mr. Greenwood). It starts off with a history lesson about the ancient elven kingdom of Illefarn, which was at its peak even before the legendary Myth Drannor. Like Myth Drannor, Illefarn had a series of gateways or portals, though not as extensive as those in Myth Drannor. And unlike that cursed place's gateways, these weren't gates to other planes; they were instead teleportation portals that would take the user to different cities around Faerûn. Illefarn was not a warrior kingdom; they were philosophers and artists, with a foreboding that Illefarn, as awesome as it was, would eventually fall. So, they were prone to melancholic art and literature that reflected this feeling of doom. Yes, they were emo elves.

Anyway, Illefarn eventually did fall, but not in the usual 'conquest or destruction' way; instead, the elves made their own prophecy come true simply by leaving. There were wars and the like, but the elves weren't conquered. They just slowly left, their territory shrinking over time as fewer elves remained. Many of them made their way to Evermeet, the elven island sanctuary. Their capital was the last city to fall, taken by barbarians as the last of the Illefarn elves disappeared. That capital is now known as Waterdeep. Ooh, deep lore!

Now there are only three portals remaining, one of which is detailed in this article. And I just saw that there are actually multiple parts to this. The detailed path is called the 'Voices of the Lost' after the epic poem that was written that activates it. See, the ways these 'song paths' worked is by reciting the linked poem or song, which would activate the portals and transport the singer from place to place in time with the rhythm of the recitation. That is such an elf thing to do. Anyway, the portals were supposed to be deactivated entirely as the elves left, but in this case the last elven keeper decided to just take the poem away so no one but an elf could ever use this. So...why talk about it, if no one can use it?

The second part of this article describes this epic poem/song and how it works. The path's origin lies somewhere beneath Waterdeep and leads along the Delimbiyr River to places such as Daggerford (also in the original module). The third part of the article describes the locations of the six remaining portal stones for this particular song/poem. The original one, in Waterdeep, was broken down and used for building materials; if you're lucky, you might find some of the elven runes on the stones in the oldest streets of the city, although most won't be legible.

So, the six locations that still work are in Daggerford, part of the floor of the Lucky Lady Tavern. Since it takes fifteen minutes of recitation to activate the portal stone, there's no chance the party will accidentally use it and travel elsewhere. The second is at the confluence of the Delimbiyr and Hark rivers, on a hilltop just north of the High Moor. This hilltop is sometimes used for festivities originating in the local halfling and human villages, so it's entirely possible that someone using this might interrupt a party. And since the locals are used to monster incursions in the region, they aren't your typical terrified peasants; they'll be armed and ready, especially if a group makes a return trip.

I'll skip to the last one; the third is on an island in the middle of a waterfall, with a really impressive view. The fourth is near another ancient elven kingdom, and the area is inhabited by hungry griffins. The fifth is high up in the Nether Mountains, a few miles from Hellgate Keep. Oh, and there's a devil lurking about (the DM gets to pick what kind). The last one will cause the party problems, seeing as how it's buried 25 feet below the Lizard Marsh on the Sword Coast. So, the party's reward for going through this portal chase is being attacked by lizardmen and their giant lizard pets. And there's no other stones to transport them, so they're stuck here regardless and have to find their way back to civilization on their own.

So, how to use this magical transportation network? Well, the last part of the article tells us of a half-elven bard who is doing a special performance of an ancient elven poem in the Lucky Lady Tavern in Daggerford. The elves of the region are very excited to hear this; any elven PCs will likely want to be in the audience. Naturally, her performance is fantastic...right up until she disappears due to having unknowingly activated the portal stone. The PCs can use her notes to follow her if they want to; the elves will certainly want to do so for multiple reasons. So, this can be an interesting adventure for a party, if they can handle the swamp at the end.

So, that was longer than I expected, but it's an interesting read. I don't know if I'd ever end up running this as an adventure, but a lot of Realms material isn't really meant for playing anyway. This is almost entirely fluff, but it's good fluff.

And that will do it for the month of January, 2001. Next up...February begins! I still don't have the physical materials, but they'll get here eventually. And I'm not going to wait for them. Onward!