Laeral Silverhand

Open Lord Anamanué Laeral Silverhand

Anamanué Laeral Silverhand was born in the Year of the Cowl (765 DR), the fifth of seven daughters of the goddess Mystra. Each of the Seven Sisters is a powerful and ageless beauty with a penchant for arcane magic.
Long ago, Laeral ruled a kingdom called Stornanter and held the title of Witch-Queen of the North. After that, she led a band of adventurers called the Nine. She met and married Khelben Arunsun, who would later become the Blackstaff, the Lord Mage of Waterdeep. After Khelben died, Laeral retired from public life. She resurfaced after the Spellplague and the Sundering, weakened by Mystra's death, rebirth, and withdrawal from the world.
Laeral's magic isn't as great as it once was, though she does her utmost to hide this fact. Only Elminster, her trusted friend and advisor, knows the extent of her decline. Despite her diminished abilities, Laeral remains a formidable, clear-headed wizard with plenty of magic at her disposal.
A few years ago, Dagult Neverember was ousted as Open Lord of Waterdeep. Laeral reluctantly stepped into the vacancy at the request of the Masked Lords and has served as Waterdeep's Open Lord ever since. Initially overwhelmed by the demands of the nobles and guildmasters, she has settled nicely into her new role. She uses her magic sparingly and relies on trusted advisors and deputies. As time allows, she likes to venture outside the Palace of Waterdeep in disguise, just to clear her head or check up on old friends (and enemies).
Laeral's relationship with Vajra Safahr, the current Blackstaff, has its challenges. For one thing, Laeral is much older, much wiser, and much more powerful than Vajra, whom she views as an insecure child. In addition, Vajra wields the Blackstaff, which has Khelben Arunsun's soul and the souls of all the other Blackstaffs bound inside it. Laeral covets the staff, because it contains all that's left of her husband. Not surprisingly, the two mages avoid each other as much as possible.
In times of great need, Laeral can command Vajra to unleash Force Grey. Until that order is given, Force Grey isn't allowed to conduct operations in Waterdeep, though Laeral's spies tell her that Vajra has secretly activated members of the elite order and sent them on a number of unauthorized missions. Laeral is reluctant to confront Vajra on the matter and rationalizes her inaction by framing it as a test of Vajra's competence.

Laeral Silverhand

Medium Humanoid, (Human), Chaotic Good

Armor Class 18 (robe of the archmagi)

Hit Points 228 ( 24d8+120 )

Speed: 30 ft

STR

13
( +1 )

DEX

17
( +3 )

CON

20
( +5 )

INT

20
( +5 )

WIS

20
( +5 )

CHA

19
( +4 )

Saving Throws Int +11, Wis +11

Skills Arcana +17, History +17, Insight +11, Perception +11, Persuasion +10

Damage Resistances fire

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities poisoned

Senses truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 21

Languages Common, Draconic, Dwarvish, Elvish, Giant, Infernal

Challenge Rating 17

Spellcasting. Laeral is a 19th-level spellcaster. Her spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 21, +13 to hit with spell attacks). Laeral has the following wizard spells prepared:

• Cantrips (at will): light, mage hand, minor illusion, prestidigitation, ray of frost
• 1st level (at will): detect magic, disguise self, magic missile, shield
• 2nd level (at will): detect thoughts, invisibility, misty step
• 3rd level (3 slots): counterspell, fly, sending, tongues
• 4th level (3 slots): banishment, greater invisibility, Otiluke's resilient sphere
• 5th level (3 slots): cone of cold, geas, Rary's telepathic bond
• 6th level (2 slots): globe of invulnerability, mass suggestion
• 7th level (1 slot): prismatic spray, teleport
• 8th level (1 slot): feeblemind, power word stun
• 9th level (1 slot): time stop

Actions

Multiattack. Laeral makes three attacks with her silver hair and flame tongue, in any combination. She can cast one of her cantrips or 1st-level spells before or after making these attacks.
Silver Hair. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d6) force damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 19 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Flame Tongue. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage, or 6 (1d10 + 1) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage when used with two hands.
Spellfire (Recharges after a Long Rest). Magical, heatless, silver fire harmlessly erupts from Laeral and surrounds her until she is incapacitated or until she uses an action to quench it. She gains one of the following benefits of her choice, which lasts until the silver fire ends:

• She can breathe underwater.
• She can survive without food and water.
• She is immune to magic that would ascertain her thoughts, truthfulness, alignment, or creature type.
• She gains resistance to cold damage, and she is unharmed by temperatures as low as -50 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the silver fire is present, she has the following additional action options:

• Cast the cure wounds spell. The target regains 1d8 + 5 hit points. After Laeral takes this action, roll a d6. On a roll of 1, the silver fire disappears.
• Cast the revivify spell without material components. After Laeral takes this action, roll a d6. On a roll of 1-2, the silver fire disappears.
• Release a 60-foot line of silver fire that is 5 feet wide or a 30-foot cone of silver fire. Objects in the area that aren't being worn or carried take 26 (4d12) fire damage. Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 21 Dexterity saving throw, taking 26 (4d12) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. After Laeral takes this action, roll a d6. On a roll of 1-3, the silver fire disappears.

Info from Before 1368 DR

The following info is from when Laeral was still the Lady Mage of Waterdeep and Khelben was still alive. Remember that Laeral is far more stern, depressed and less powerful nowadays, as is shown in Death Masks, 2016.
The Lady Mage of Waterdeep is a slim, lithe woman who moves her 6-foot-tall frame about with sensual grace, yet seems innocent of her beauty most of the time. All she usually lets slip in front of strangers is an occasional impish twinkle in her very large, emerald-hued eyes eyes that have been known to blaze with amber fire when she is angry.
She is charming by nature and has worked hard to become an almost telepathic judge of character. She tries very hard (and skillfully) to set folk at ease and make each one feel accepted as a friend. She is a consummate actress and can conceal her true feelings with iron control, but genuinelylikes most people, in all the variety of character Waterdeep presents to her daily. As a result, she has won the admiration of nobles, guildsfolk, and the poorer citizens alike. Many folk who have only visited Waterdeep briefly think of her as their only friend in that city. Every year, scores of young women and men seeking their fortune arrive on the steps of Blackstaff Tower because their parents (who did the same thing when they were young) told their offspring, When you get there, go and see the Lady Laeral. She'll show you around, give you a hot meal, a bath, and a bed. She's a true friend.
It is a measure of Laeral's character that she makes time to do just that for all those young hopefuls and when she is away on business, the apprentices of Blackstaff Tower and Waterdhavian ladies who value her as a friend (some of them powerful nobles) step in to serve visitors as she would do. As a result, Laeral is the heart of a huge network of folk who know each other because of her or through her. She can call on allies in hundreds of communities all over the Realms. Most of them are located north of the Calishite border and west of Westgate, but her contacts elsewhere are surprisingly broad and varied.
Her adventuring days and travels since have given her mental maps of much of the Realms, and skills at recognizing flora, odors, and even breezes; thus, she is an expert land navigator. In a campaign employing proficiencies, Laeral has direction sense, endurance, fire-building, healing, herbalism, hunting, mountaineering, reading lips, riding (land-based) horse, singing, survival (arctic, mountain, and woodland!), swimming, and tracking.
Though she is comfortable in homespun and a forester's skins and leathers, Laeral loves to dress up in splendid finery when a noble's party or a ceremonial occasion provides her with an excuse but she is not vain. More than once, when trouble erupted at such a gathering, she has torn off a gown to leap about and fight more easily, ruining the garment but obviously not caring. She tends to ignore soiled or torn garb unless it hampers her movement, and really does not care if she meets folk in her skin alone, muddy forest leathers, or finery that struts the height of current fashion.
In her travels, Laeral collects gowns and footwear she considers elegant. She also has a fondness for hand-sized or smaller carvings or castings of snails, toads, and frogs. The alert visitor to Blackstaff Tower who is so favored as to see the bedchamber Laeral and Khelben share will notice a small spell cloud (that harbors, thieves are warned, some awesome but unspecified defenses) above Laeral's bedside table. Some tiny exquisite snails and frogs carved from gems in long-lost Myth Drannor endlessly orbit within this twinkling, faintly glowing cloud. Laeral is also known to have a long, sheer silk stocking hanging somewhere in the Tower stuffed with gems she uses as currency when necessary. Laeral does not seem to be grasping or care overmuch how much things cost. When the Lady Mage of Waterdeep shops, she does not bother to haggle, much to the delight of many merchants.
All of the Seven have private names known only to each other, Khelben, Elminster, Lhaeo, and certain trusted Harpers. These truenames are used in messages and communication and guardian magics, so the Sisters can recognize each other without breaking any disguises. Laeral's truename is Myroune.

What Folk Think of Laeral

The Lady Mage of Waterdeep is widely loved by common folk in the North and Sword Coast lands, by most citizens of Waterdeep, Neverwinter, and Silverymoon, and by Harpers everywhere. Nobles, mages, and adventurers also tend to like her, but are wary of her both for her connection to Khelben (who is not nearly so tolerant asshe, and may act, they fear, on something she observes and happens to mention to him) and her time as the victim of the fell Crown of Horns, an artifact rumored to be cursed by an evil god. (What if its taint is permanent?) To trust Laeral and tell her things might deliver one into the clutches of evil in the future if she falls back into her crazed, violent ways as a result of godly influence or the return of the Crown. (Oh, aye, 'tis said Khelben destroyed it, but who can be sure of that? He could easily have hidden it away to use in a trade with another wizard or to punish someone later and it is then bound to get out and about again!)
Some older folk in the Sword Coast lands remember Laeral as a light-hearted, merry adventuress, hard-drinking and fearless, in the days before the Crown changed her. They tend to trust her, and they ignore all whispers about the Crown or about her being some sort of evil, longago sorceress in the North. Others (particularly in the cities of Amn and Tethyr, and in Baldur's Gate) know her only by different names and likenesses. When dealing for gear in cities while a young adventuress, Laeral often adopted magical disguises.

What Angers Laeral

Troublemakers and deceit infuriate Laeral (that is, deliberate untruths told for harmful reasons, not little white lies told as kindnesses). Why can't human and orc and elf  and dwarf all live together, side by side, in honest peace? she has been heard to say While she is not naive enough to think they ever will, she sees it as a goal all intelligent races should work toward rather than wasting each other's lives in bloodshed. At the same time, she knows it is the nature of intelligent folk that some do manipulate and exploit others. She sees herself as working to redress the greatest cruelties through magicand in showing little folk how to use magic against those who are stronger. Evil mages who misuse magic are Laeral's chief enemies, but she is no friend to slavers, dopplegangers, and all who oppress folk of lesser power.

What Pleases Laeral

Laeral loves to find, play with, and fine-tune item enchantments (as described above). She also loves dressing up, going to parties, and handling herself well in the thick of intrigues. That is, she like to manipulate other folk in a kind and deft way. She genuinely loves to help people, and she does not hesitate to set aside weighty matters to help a lost child or a frustrated beggar. As she has told Mystra herself on at least one occasion, there are no more weighty matters than helping a single being in need.

Daily Doings

Laeral works to maintain peace in Waterdeep and the cities of the Lords' Alliance linked to it, and thence to maintain the peace of more of Faerûn ultimately. Her current goals include crushing the Zhentarim in the North and Sword Coast lands and getting Cormyr to join the Alliance. She is also working to gain friends in Amn, which is her next target region to recruit into the Alliance, followed by Westgate and Luskan.
Laeral's everyday concerns, however, are far more focused on people, not items. As the Lady Mage of Waterdeep, she functions as the chatelaine of Blackstaff Tower, seeing to its stores and defenses, and mothering the ever-changing, often difficult brood of apprentices dwelling within its walls. As well as keeping young magic-wielders (who are often driven, twisted, or egotistical folk) from destroying each other or large portions of the Tower, Laeral gives them most of their actual magical teaching. Her patience and understanding far surpass that of her mighty mate, before whom most apprentices cower in trembling awe anyway
In addition to all of these full-time tasks, Laeral remains a confidant and friend to those who seek her out at the Tower, both waifs newly arrived in the city and troubled matrons of Waterdeep. Somehow she also finds time to function as the linchpin coordinating Harper information-gathering operations in the city, and to undertake similar work herself in the perilous darkness of subterranean Waterdeep. Add a little planar traveling to this, and the need to undertake jaunts to aid Alustriel or carry out the business of the Lords' Alliance, and it is a wonder she does not collapse from nervous strain or sheer physical exhaustion after a single day!
That she does not, of course, is a testament to her awesome organizational powers and her ability to remain calm. Her skillful diplomacy and manner instills this serenity in others. Around the City of Splendors, she is also known for her herbal teas. As well as setting folk at ease, she can brew concoctions that deaden pain and nausea, can bring on instant slumber, or can banish the need for sleep for a day or more, bringing a weary person to full alertness.
When in the thrall of the Crown of Horns, Laeral experienced horrors (including evil behavior on her own part) that she had never dared to nor dreamed of partaking in before. As a result, she is more familiar with evil ways and beings in the Realms than any of her Sisters. They may have fought or faced as many or more such villains down the years, but Laeral has been one. This allows her some insights (and therefore, foresight about the probable behavior of evil foes) that her Sisters cannot achieve though the Simbul and Syluné can match her in this regard when dealing with certain individuals known to them.
As leader of the Nine, Laeral also had a long and colorful adventuring career. Wild one is a term that could have been applied to her in those days just as fittingly as it has been hurled at her sister the Simbul. Few were the taverns and dungeons in the North that she had not seen every dark corner of in the midst of a merry band of valiant and capable comrades. Until the Crown twisted her and death came to the ranks of the Nine, shattering the fellowship forever, these companions-at-arms were family, friends, and mates to Laeral. She still maintains contacts with two of her surviving comrades: the ranger Thanadar and the bard Arnthiir Windrivv, as these worthies have been called since the fall of the Nine.
Thanadar and Arnthiir were known by other names before the fell Crown that Laeral wore, trying to defend itself from their attacks, decided to occupy all their time. It marked them as focal points for hordlings seeking to come to Toril. Any such being who learned the name of any of the Nine could simply utter it and be plane shifted into the presence of that unfortunate adventurer. Khelben Blackstaff Arunsun broke this magic, but in doing so, he compelled the adventurers to change their names.
Thanadar is a tall, urbane, quiet man of gray hair, steel-gray eyes and a dark green cloak. He travels the backlands of the northern Sword Coast region as the leader of an expert band of caravan guards he has trained himself. Well able to forage for its own food, and versed in the ways of the land, the discipline of this band’s members is such that they are one of the few groups of humans allowed to enter the Greycloak Hills without elven misdirection or resistance. Much changed from the proud and merry adventurer he once was, Thanadar is content to live out his days helping demihumans and humans to pass safely through the most perilous areas of the Sword Coast lands. He has been known to assist the Harpers, and Twilight Hall counts him a friend. Laeral teleports herself to him when she needs to relax, speak freely, and avail herself of level-headed advice.
Thanadar is a neutral good human male 17thlevel ranger of STR 17, who possesses a long sword +3 defender, a ring of shooting stars, and a seemingly endless supply of potions of healing that he took from the magical cache of the Stronghold of the Nine, along with a girdle of many pouches to keep them in. He is also said to have certain other magic (swords and daggers among it) hidden away in a cave refuge somewhere in the Marsh of Chelimber. He wears a blink ring that can blink twice a day, dimension door twice a day and teleport without error himself and one other being he is touching to a single destination, once a day: his cave refuge. This stalwart  took the name of his grand-uncle as his own. (His grand-uncle was Thanadar of Dragonrock, who was born in the now-vanished Amnian village of that name, and who died in Baldur's Gate of old age, some decades ago.)
Arnthiir Windrivv, by contrast, remains the hearty pranksome, hyperactive rogue he was in the glory days of the Ninethe sort of cheeky lone adventurer that innkeepers and tavernmasters alike know on sight as potential trouble. He took the name of a pranksome black sheep among his mother's ancestors. Arnthiir wanders the lands of Amn and Tethyr from inn to inn and tavern to tavern, telling stories and singing songs for his supper as if he were but a minstrel. (The North is too cold of winter nights for one who's neglected to bring a warm fireand a stout hall to house it inwith him, he has said.) Of the Nine's magic, he wears only a ring of the ram and a ring of spell turning, and carries only a dagger +2 that can be made to glow with a faerie fire -like radiance (hue of the wielder's choice) when grasped and ordered.
Arnthiir Windrivv is a neutral good human male 15th-level bard of DEX 18 and CHA 17. He serves Laeral (when she comes to him) as an agent to accomplish things of which Khelben would be shocked to hear. For example, he has helped to hunt down and kidnap respectable Waterdhavian citizens Laeral wished to speak to, arranged that a certain person be drunk at a given time, or made sure that a certain item was gained by or handed to someone else in Skullport when Laeral had other business to attend.
Laeral finds Arnthiir's jesting amusing, but his company exhausting. His irrepressible penchant for reckless daring and getting into scrapes for the thrill of it is too dangerous for the smooth unfolding of most of her plans, so she calls on him seldom. In return for his services, she procures any healing he may need, gives him several hearty meals and as much money as he wants, and returns him to his travels by teleporting him to his chosen spot.
Laeral makes sure that as few folk in Waterdeep as possible know of her contacts with these two onetime battle companions including, as much as possible, Khelben. She does this because both men prefer anonymity in their dealings (it suits their tastes and chosen lifestyles), neither man wants to be drawn into the society and intrigues of Waterdeep, and Laeral does not want their usefulness as her agents compromised.
No mention of Laeral is complete without mention of her wild nights. Even before her adventuring days, when she was a demure apprentice, Laeral loved to don a disguise and pass herself off as someone else once every three months or so, when the mood came upon her. She impersonates someone she knows (or has spoken with long enough to feel she can mimic) and goes to a party, meeting, or out for a night at a tavern, pretending to be this other person. This is a habit she continues to indulge. Not only is it great fun, she once admitted to Syluné, but I learn so much by stepping outside the routine and shape of Laeral to become this noble lady or that dockhand. I think every mage should do something like this and learn about the world outside of spellbooks.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Anamanué Laeral Silverhand was born in the Year of the Cowl (765 DR), the fifth of seven daughters of the goddess Mystra. Each of the Seven Sisters is a powerful and ageless beauty with a penchant for arcane magic.
After their mother died, Laeral, Dove, and Storm were placed into the care of Elminster until they came of age. When her sisters left the Old Sage, Laeral elected to stay with him as his apprentice. When she had finished her studies, she left to join the Harpers.
Laeral left the Harpers early and, in the Year of the Warrior's Rest, 806 DR, at age 41, she was a self-styled queen, ruling the realm of Stornanter from Port Llast. Many later sages believed that Laeral had named herself after this queen, not realizing that it was actually her. It was at this time that Laeral also attempted to rebuild and resettle the ruins of Illusk. Before she did so, she explored the Host Tower of the Arcane, where she encountered several liches who were members of the Grand Cabal, rulers over Illusk from centuries before. She sealed the liches inside the tower with magic before continuing with her other works.
Barely ten years into her reign, Laeral's court mage, Malek Aldhanek, with whom she had worked very closely, was apparently assassinated in a plot involving other nobles. Realizing too late that she was in love with Malek, Laeral quit her court and spent twenty five years wandering Stornanter. In truth, Malek was not dead—he'd never even existed—and was actually Khelben Arunsun in disguise. Khelben faked his death to deal with a dire prophecy he had discovered in the works of Alaundo.
During this period of wandering, Laeral came into conflict with Slarkrethel in the Year of the Leaping Lion, 834 DR and although the great kraken was driven off, he managed to steal Laeral's magical throne, which she had crafted with Malek.
Her activities attracted the attention of her sister Syluné, who desired to rule over the same region, and the two were drawn (some say manipulated) into spell-battle in the Year of the Hunted Elk, 841 DR. Having grown up separately, neither recognized the other so, before they destroyed each other, Mystra felt obliged to manifest herself before the two sisters and explain their heritage, offering them both the mantle of Chosen. They accepted and journeyed together for a time, under the guidance of Azuth.
Under an assumed name, Laeral eventually established herself as a hard-drinking and fearless adventurer, coming to lead an adventuring band known as the Nine. In the Year of the Wandering Maiden, 1337 DR, Laeral and the Nine discovered the ancient Netherese artifact known as the Crown of Horns in Yûlash. The Crown was actually planted for her to find by the Netherese lich Aumvor The Undying, who wished to use the Crown to influence her to marry him. The plot failed when Laeral donned the headpiece and the Crown's powers conflicted with Laeral's spellfire and drove her into madness.
Twenty years later, in the Year of the Prince, 1357 DR, Khelben Arunsun traveled to the stronghold of the Nine in the High Forest, freed Laerel Silverhand from the Crown of Horns, the malign intelligence contained within' and her madness. Laeral returned with him to Waterdeep for more healing, and after that, they were inseparable. She was referred to as Lady Arunsun, though they were never married. The mysterious circumstances surrounding Laeral and Khelben's meeting and subsequent partnership led some to believe that Laeral was enslaved to Khelben against her will. Laeral never denied this, instead preferring to let those who wished Khelben harm seek her out as an ally against him.
In the the Year of Lightning Storms, 1374 DR, Laeral was pregnant with her son Krehlan Arunsun, the future Blackstaff, whom she conceived with Khelben shortly before his death.
Laeral wrote "Lifelong with Regrets" in the Year of the Wrathful Eye, 1391 DR.
Thereafter, she and her sister Alustriel hid among the monks of Candlekeep to prepare the destruction of the wards so that no one could use them to get control over the Weave. In the Year of the Rune Lords Triumphant, 1487 DR, Larloch foiled their plans and absorbed the wards. Shortly thereafter, Laeral, Alustriel, Elminster, and the Srinshee prevented Larloch's ascension to godhood. Laeral remained a Chosen of the restored Mystra.
After the fall of Myth Drannor, Mystra herself appeared to Laeral. With the end of Luruar, stability was once again needed in the northern Sword Coast, and Mystra tasked Laeral with maintaining it by becoming Open Lord of Waterdeep. According to Mystra, her presence would actually restrain abuse of magic for personal gain, and therefore limit the possibility that the general population could turn against wizards, blaming them for eventual disasters, and blindly hunting all Art-wielders. Following Mystra's request, Laeral returned to Waterdeep, and swiftly managed to gain the support of the Masked Lords of the city, supplanting Dagult Neverember as Open Lord

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Year of Birth

765 DR 728 Years old

Circumstances of Birth

Bred by Mystra herself to be her chosen.

Current Residence

Waterdeep

Gender

Female

Hair

Long and Silver

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale

Height

6"

Known Languages

Common, Draconic, Elvish, Giant, Infernal