The Portal Ward

living and the dead. Here the Veil is at its thinnest, ghosts walk the street among the living, and the dead come back to life with surprising ease. Despite these goings-on, Manifest is also a functioning city, with all the resources and requirements that suggests.

Each ward has an atmosphere all its own, but some things are true throughout the city. Wherever you go in Manifest, you are likely to find dozens upon dozens of statues seemingly staring at you. There are statues on pedestals wherever traffic will allow, busts placed on all the cornices, and reliefs carved into the façades, molding, framework, and foundations of every building.

Manifest has a resident population of about 22,000 people, about one-third of whom are ghosts. Add to that another 10,000 nonresidents occupying the city at any given time, here to bring corpses from other corners of the world, meet with the ghosts of dead friends or family (or occasionally enemies), or just earn some gold working as merchants or other transient occupations (like being adventurers), and you have a goodsized city. Racially, Manifest is more cosmopolitan than many cities, with significant numbers of humans, elves, gnomes, halflings, and dwarves among the population.

There are even a surprising number of orcs and other wild humanoids who come here for the same reason that the other races do. They tend to lay low and keep to themselves rather than draw attention to their presence. It’s not uncommon at all to find a gnoll wrapped tightly in a hooded cloak, seeking his tribe’s dead chieftain with one final message, or a lizardfolk shaman bringing his own dead to the Grand Portal under the protection of an alter self spell.

The city is divided into five wards, each managed and governed by a warder. The Council of Warders meets weekly to discuss city issues and, more or less, rules the city. Theirs is a very limited power, however, for they can make no decision regarding the city that violates the Manifest Accord or any of the treaties and agreements made with the Arboreal Guardians (see City Government and Laws, below).

THE PORTAL WARD

The Portal Ward is the central hub of the city, where most of the people live and work. When visitors come to the city, this is where they always go first.

Built around the Grand Portal itself, wherever you are in this ward, you can see this strangely shaped spire. The cobblestone streets wind up and around the hill from which the tower rises, creating an almost spiral path amid shops and homes built in an older time, when the city was not divided into wards. The buildings are mostly made of gray stone and are old enough that most of the woodwork involved, particularly the wood shingle roofs, have been replaced several times. You won’t find many abandoned or run-down buildings here in the hub of the city. Although old, the buildings are well kept.

Statuary in the Portal Ward tends toward the classical, the figures appearing hale and hardy—in the peak of health and vigor. The nicely maintained cobblestone streets—almost always filled with throngs of people—are kept free of trash or waste by well-paid city workers.

Visitors here can find all manner of shops, not to mention the largest concentration of inns and taverns in the city. Since Manifest is a city with a large transient population, these range from fine hostelries to cheap flophouses (although even the flophouses are relatively clean and stylish in the Portal Ward).

The Portal Ward is the largest section of the city, and its warder is the most influential member of the Council of Warders. Currently, the warder is Jaesicha Millicen (female human Com10), a tall, elegant woman with a natural charisma but no special training. She is a devout follower of Aluvan and finds herself at odds with the Guild of Morticians (whose concerns deal mostly with corpses) and the Yisa-khardomas (whose concerns often favor ghosts over the living). Jaesicha is the foremost advocate for the living in Manifest and attempts to concern herself with the common people who live and work in the city in order to keep it functioning—beyond the people who work in industries or in organizations that deal specifically with Manifest’s unique nature.

Locations within the Portal Ward

The following entries detail locations of interest in the

Portal Ward:

P1. The Grand Portal: This huge, dwarf-built tower lies at the center of the ward and of the entire city. City streets spiral out from this strangely built tower, the doorway of which marks the start of the final leg of the trek known as the Ghostwalk—the path from the land of the living to the land of the dead.

The Grand Portal is two hundred feet high, made of black basalt, and decorated with silver gilt. Like all the other buildings, it is covered with statuary. Vague shapes seem to rise up and out of the dark tower, but the details seem to be different to every eye. Some people see gargoyles, others angels, demons, or simply people—it is considered a very good omen to see the image of someone you love among the shapes on the

Grand Portal.

Most of the building is a single open room entered immediately upon crossing its threshold. (The interior walls are similar in construction and appearance to the tower’s exterior.) A huge spiral stair leads down into the earth in the center of this large chamber, guarded by 10 elite Deathwarden dwarves. This is the beginning of the path to the Veil of Souls (see The Undercity, below). The only portions of the tower separate from this single chamber are a few small rooms in the rear where 10 more Deathwarden dwarf guards rest and store extra weapons.

P2. Temple to Aluvan: The two main temples in the city (this one dedicated to Aluvan and the other to Dracanish) are located in this ward, near the Grand Portal itself. Each is a vast complex staffed by hundreds of

clerics, acolytes, laypeople, and guardians. Aluvan’s temple is a tall, sweeping structure with white marble pillars and painted statues of the hundreds of saints devoted to the god. It is sometimes called the House of Sanctuary. The staff of this temple has a policy of helping anyone in need, particularly ghosts.

Johm Quiston (male human Clr17) is the high priest of Aluvan in the House of Sanctuary. Johm is a quiet, soft-spoken man who secretly would rather be out exploring the Undercity or fighting against the undead of Xaphan. However, he takes his duties seriously and would never abandon the temple for a foolhardy quest. He is quite fit for a man in his fifties and still has a full head of black hair.

Wares: Any potion that can be created by a cleric, as well as 2d8+5 randomly determined divine scrolls, are available here at any given time. Adventurers may obtain these at market price (in the form of a donation to further the church’s good work). Moreover, characters with enough gold can get any spell of 3rd level or less cast for them at 70 gp per spell level (available at any time), or any spell of 4th to 7th level at 140 gp per spell level (with 24 hours’ notice). Spells of 8th or 9th level require the direct intervention of Johm. It often takes 1d6+1 days to get a time when he is available for such spellcasting (at 170 gp per spell level). These prices do not include any necessary components, which must be paid for by the character requesting the spell.

P3. Temple to Dracanish: The other large temple in the city is a glistening palace of obsidian and bronze covered with frescoes of the thousands of cultists on the march to Manifest—the Great Pilgrimage, as it’s called now (which led to the Dead War). Unlike the images covering other buildings in the ward (which generally have calm, if somber, expressions), these cultists are shown with wild eyes and faces glowing in religious ecstasy. The followers of Dracanish attended biweekly services here or at one of the eight shrines throughout the city.

The Temple to Dracanish has been compared—both physically and metaphorically—to a huge black ship and thus is sometimes called the Ship of Souls. This “ship” supposedly carries the dead to Dracanish, where he draws them into his embrace for all eternity.

The high priestess of the Temple is Mearlis Stormshroud (female elf Clr18). To be more accurate, this is the clone of the original Mearlis, who died and in her will denied any attempts at resurrection. This Mearlis was created (through use of the clone spell) by a wizard named Weur the Ancient (male elf Wiz19), a member of the Piran Sedestadel and most likely the most powerful mage in the city.

Although the faithful of Dracanish and those devoted to Aluvan get along much better than they did in the days of the Dead War, the clerics in the Ship of Souls still look down upon their Aluvan counterparts. They consider them immature and unrealistic fools who are unwilling to accept the harsh realities of life and, of course, death.

Wares: The clerics here sell any potion that can be created by a cleric, as well as divine scrolls of any spell of 3rd level or less, at market price. Further, characters able to pay can get any spell of 3rd level or less cast for them at any time for 80 gp per spell level. With 1d2 days’ notice, a cleric is available to cast any spell of 4th to 8th level at 150 gp per spell level. Spells of 9th level are not available, as Mearlis does not cast spells for hire. All necessary components must also be paid for by the character requesting the spell.

P4. The Registry: This small, simple building sitting in the shadow of the Temple to Aluvan is often the first stop for any visitor to Manifest (whether they are living or dead). Notes, sealed letters, small trinkets, and messages of all descriptions hang from every inch of wall, ceiling, and rafter space. These are notes left by ghosts who, newly arrived in the city, want to leave a message for any living friends or relatives who might follow them to Manifest. Without some clue, it could take these people the rest of their own lives to actually find a particular individual in such a large city.

Of course, finding a particular note or message among those on the walls in the Registry can still take a week or more. The building is staffed by volunteers (mostly clerics and laypeople from the church) who make a concerted effort to keep the walls as organized as possible.

P5. Hall of Farewell: If you’re searching for a ghost in Manifest but are having no luck, the Hall of Farewell may be able to aid you. Run by the Yisakhardomas (see Other Groups and Organizations, below), this two-story office building is filled with municipal records pertaining to ghosts. The staff here (all of whom are ghosts) has lists of which ghosts have been arrested, whose bodies have been given over to the Deathwarden dwarves and whose still lie waiting in the Tombyards, and other such clerical minutia. The information here consists only of records that would be useful to the Council of Warders (or other civic organizations), so unless something unusual has happened to a ghost, he or she is unlikely to appear in these papers. But information is collected daily from no fewer than twenty different offices and organizations, so checking in the Hall of Farewell can save a searcher plenty of time.

Usually, there are four or five ghost adventurers loitering about the Hall of Farewell. When they see a person who is unable to find any record of the ghost he or she is looking for, these adventurers offer to help track the ghost down—for a price.

P6. Angel’s Wings: This is the most expensive and most lavish inn in the city. Prices for rooms start at 20 gp per night and go as high as 50 gp. Accommodations include multiroom suites, constant gourmet food service, scented linens and incense wafting through the entire place, in-room facilities, in-room bathing, laun-

dry services, and a vast selection of rare wines from around the world. Every fixture and piece of furniture in the building is handcrafted, and they all feature images of the inn’s founders or particularly beloved patrons.

P7. Deric’s Weapons: This simple place is almost certainly the best weapons shop in town, yet Deric (male human ghost Exp7; +12 Appraise, +13 Diplomacy) is no smith. He only buys and sells, but he always has the finest weaponry—he has a keen eye for his trade. Deric can tell the enhancement bonus of a magic weapon just by hefting it.

Wares: Deric stocks all weapons described in the Player’s Handbook and all common weapons listed in the DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide (see Weapons in Chapter 8: Magic Items) in masterwork quality. He also takes special orders for normal and masterwork weapons, but these require at least a one-week wait.

P8. Eariun’s Trinkets: Short and stout, most people think Eariun (male half-orc Com4/Sor1) is a dwarf. The half-orc runs a shop that buys and sells most anything, particularly valuables. Thus, adventurers coming up from the old ruined cities below Manifest’s streets frequently stop here and attempt to sell anything they might have found. Eariun is a shrewd merchant and, whether he is buying or selling, always haggles to try to get the best price possible.

Wares: Eariun has all manner of difficult-toobtain spell components in stock (like 100-gp pearls and expensive, well-made mirrors, miniature platinum swords, and so on), and gems, precious metals, and jewelry of various values (all available for resale at their appraised value). He also carries an assortment of other valuables, including (but certainly not limited to) candlesticks, tapestries, ornate boxes, urns, collections of monster teeth, jeweled weapons, fabulous silk garments, and ingots of precious metal. Eariun buys any such strange, valuable objects for no more than one-half their appraised value.

P9. The Watch House: This is the central post for the City Watch.

About two dozen city soldiers are stationed here at any given time, although about half are out on patrols. One out of every four members of the watch is a ghost. The

City Watch’s only responsibility is to maintain order. In times of great need (such as a riot or a fire) the watch is legally able to conscript anyone at hand to help them. The Watch House is a tall, three-story stone structure with a watchtower built into one corner.

The façade is carved with the image of dozens of city soldiers standing on one another’s shoulders (like a tremendous human pyramid)— as though their strength is what holds the structure together. The building is also attached to a long, stone, singlestory building that serves as a jail. The jail has fifteen holding cells. All the walls, interior and exterior, are covered with carvings of forlorn and repentant faces. There is also a Watch Post located in every ward that staffs a half dozen watch soldiers. P10. The Bank of Manifest: This large edifice appears to be well guarded. The impressive, marble structure is covered with symbolically protective statuary. The door frames are formed by images of burly warriors, the window frames consist of watchful sentries, and the columns and molding bear the images of mighty spellcasters. All these figures seem completely and eternally focused on safeguarding the institution. But security is much more than symbolic at

the Bank of Manifest. A staff of a dozen professional guards (War1, War2, or War3), are led by a security specialist named Jao Gadaen (male half-elf Rog6/Sor5), who maintains a tight watch.

The Bank of Manifest is no normal loan institution or depository. Wealthy individuals make deposits here to be drawn upon after their death by their ghosts. Only those with a special password (known only to the bank and the depositor) can get access to the funds.

The bank does make loans, but only to ghosts who have found themselves in Manifest without having had the forethought (or funds) to deposit money there ahead of time. The loan rate is 10%, compounded monthly, but a penniless ghost on the streets of the city sometimes finds himself in need of cash (although some ghosts get along just fine without it).

P11. Dras’ Wondrous Devices: Dras (male human Wiz11) creates a variety of wondrous items and puts them up for sale here. Due to the value of his wares, Dras keeps them in containers protected with arcane lock spells and guards his shop with magical traps. The shop is decorated with statues of imposing figures (mostly half-orcs and even more unsavory creatures), all of which are draped with actual pieces of armor (that Dras has not yet gotten around to enchanting) and wear suspicious, watchful expressions. One of these figures is actually a shield guardian that aids him in defending himself. Dras himself is a dark, moody sort of man with long black hair and a short beard.

Wares: Dras identifies the powers of magic items for a price of 50 gp per item. Dras sells anything that he can make (potions, wands, and wondrous items), and also buys used items for half their value. At any given time, Dras has 1d6+10 items rolled on the minor (01–60 on d%) or medium (61–00 on d%) wondrous item tables, as well as a like number of wands (on d%, use minor table 01–50, medium table 51–80, or major table 81–00).

P12. The Magic Swan Tavern: Named after a local legend about an immortal swan that lived in a pond where Manifest stands today, this is a large and always-busy establishment, bustling with wealthy adventurers and hungry mercenaries. There is always music and laughter filling this place, with the occasional flashy magic spell used to make a point by a customer—unseen servants grabbing drinks from trays, dancing lights flaring around the room, or a grease spell appearing under the feet of a drunken boor. It’s a wild place. Proprietor Thaff Chunny (male human Com2) barely keeps the tavern under control with the help of a halfling named Monn (male halfling Com1) and a pixie named Winimez, whom Monn befriended when he was a boy. Winimez uses her powers to entertain the clientele. P13. The Leafy Branch: Another tavern frequented by adventurers, the Leafy Branch is as calm and quiet as the Magic Swan is uproarious and wild. This is a place where powerful and influential people can carry out serious discussions in privacy and peace. Gaedros the Grim (male elf Rgr2) runs the place left to him by his father, despite the fact that he would rather be out exploring the Spirit Wood. He is a friend of the Arboreal Guardians but not an actual member. P14. The Armed Yard: During the day, this place serves as a training ground for all martial types of skills, but three nights a week it doubles as an arena where people can come see (and wager on) fights for entertainment. The fights are not terribly dangerous—the combatants use padded weapons—but they still draw a crowd (2 cp a head). The Armed Yard is also the place one would go to find mercenaries or just hired muscle. Whether you’re looking to train at the facility or to hire on to a squad, Aarom the Cleaved (female ghost dwarf Ftr7) is the person to talk to. She runs the place and has the reputation among most sword-swingers in town as being tough but fair in her dealings.

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