The Assault on the Doomvault

Military action

The Heroes of Daggerford, with the support of Syranna Sylvanne and the Harpers assault the Doomvault of Thay. They gain access to the Phylactery Vault of Kazit Gul, and destroy the phylacteries of Szass Tam and his most loyal Liches, striking a deathblow to Szass Tam's grip on power in the Thayan civil war.

Near the village of Daggerford on the Sword Coast, the Red Wizards of Thay plotted to extend the evil reach of their land and its master, the lich lord Szass Tam. At a site called Bloodgate Keep they built a powerful portal, fueled by elemental nodes, that could allow Thayans to instantly transport whole armies into the very heart of the Sword Coast. With this power, the Red Wizards would surely overthrow and take control of the North.   However, groups of heroes assaulted Bloodgate Keep and its master, the lich Tarul Var. With the help of a renegade Red Wizard named Mennek Ariz, this assault was successful. Bloodgate Keep fell, and Szass Tam’s plans of invasion were crushed.  These heroes became known as the Heroes of Daggerford.   What no one expected, though, was that despite the fall of the keep itself, parts of the Bloodgate Nexus (an interconnected series of teleportation circles) survived, and a Thayan Resurrection cell leader named Syranna Sylvanne devised a way to use it against Szass Tam. Syranna had been part of the team that originally assembled the Bloodgate Nexus, and knew that remaining nodes allowed direct access to a secret Thayan training ground known as the Doomvault.   Kazit Gul, a Thayan archmage, built the Doomvault to siphon the souls of those who perished within it for use in his dark experiments. One of these was the creation of an extradimensional vault in which he stored his phylactery. Eventually, Szass Tam and his followers defeated and enslaved Gul. They changed the Doomvault into a monstrous menagerie and arcane laboratory. Although the space was still called the Phylactery Vault of Kazit Gul, it also held the phylacteries of Szass Tam and all his elite lich servants.   The heroes successfully assaulted the Doomvault, destroying Kazit Gul and the phylacteries of Szass Tam and his leadership.  This was the pivotal blow in the Thayan civil war, releasing Szass Tam's grip on power.   The heroes also discovered a number of abducted Chosen - mortals who have been invested with the power of the gods so as to help shape the Realms to match the will of their divine benefactors.  These unfortunate souls were found being experimented on in an attempt to drain their powers into Szass Tam and fuel his ascent to Godhood.