Is it safe to assume that an embassy in a big city like Waterdeep would have a permanent teleportation circle to go back to whatever country they’re from? @TheEdVerse #dnd
— NewbieDM (@newbiedm) April 4, 2022
1)
No. Such would not be allowed, for security reasons. Khelben trusted no one but himself, and made changes to Ahghairon’s wards. (The original wards have been augmented and modified many times over the years.)
From 1342 DR onwards to the present, you can’t… 2)
…teleport into or out of Waterdeep by means of spells or items, with one exception. You can teleport and dimension door (and use other translocation spells) WITHIN the wards (i.e. from place to place within the city), but you can't pass through the wards UNLESS..#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 5, 2022
3)
…you access one of the invisible, secret-location valves/doors through the wards. These are controlled by the Blackstaff (with three backup individuals, identities secret, but I’ll whisper to you right now that Mirt is one of them, and that all of these backups.. 4)
…only know how to access one to three of these secret valves, not the rest of them). If you're trying to use a spell to teleport into or out of the Deep, you need to speak the correct phrase for one of the valves, adding it to your usual incantation. If you do..#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 5, 2022
5)
…so correctly, your spell will work flawlessly, your teleport passing through the valve no matter where it is (i.e. if you’re standing in Dock Ward and want to teleport to the Rat Hills, but know of a valve on the beach in northern Sea Ward, your “jump” will… 6)
…loop back through that portal to get to the Rat Hills, despite the change of direction). There is a "master" incantation that opens all the valves, and there are both items and passive wardstones (aka ward tokens/pass tokens; see my VOLO'S GUIDES) that allow…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 5, 2022
7)
…”automatic” passage through the wards (i.e. without the bearer needing an incantation or even knowledge of the valve), but there is NO WAY an embassy would be furnished with this.
Just glance at the plots of published Realms novels that use Waterdeep as an… 8)
…in-story location; most don't make sense if anyone (or an army!) can just step through a teleportation circle.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 5, 2022
Makes sense, I am however pretty sure that a small network of Teleportation Circles did exist for HEAVILY CONTROLLED public use in Waterdeep in a book by @ErinMEvans (I am pretty sure it was at the start of "Fire in the Blood", since it connected to Cormyr).@newbiedm
[1/2]— Søren Kraak Wollenberg (@WollenbergGaard) April 5, 2022
1)
Oh, I’m not denying the existence of circles (though almost all of them in the Deep work by having a ward-token under them, that can be removed to close them just by lifting a tile), I’m saying that no EMBASSY would be allowed to have one. It’s a clear invasion…
#Realmslore 2)
…route, and smuggling route, and kidnapping extraction route. Nor would the Watchful Order stand by if, say, they so much as suspected a Red Wizard enclave had created one. They'd hire adventurers or unleash monsters to burst in and create a pretext for them…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 6, 2022
4)
…to snoop.
This was actually the setup for a GenCon Charity Adventure I ran some years back: the PCs were the adventurers sent in (well-paid, and guided by some half-truths) to be the diversion.
Meaning they got caught in a magical duel between furious…
#Realmslore 5)
…Red Wizards and furious Watchful Order Magists.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 6, 2022