Waterclock Guild's Crypts

The Waterclock Guild's Crypts, also known as the Clockwork Tomb, the Clockmaker's Catacombs, or the Waterclock Crypts, was a mausoleum built by the Waterclock Guild of Neverwinter. It was located within the city's Neverdeath Graveyard.
==Description==
The mausoleum itself was located within the Craftsman's Rest section of Neverdeath, and was unassuming from the outside. However, it contained extensive catacombs filled with a complex of gears, water clocks, waterfalls, and traps, all powered by water elementals bound to maintain the machines working for centuries. Seawater traveled through translucent veins in the walls, spilling out toward Luskan and Gauntlgrym. The complex echoed with the sounds of dripping water.
The floor of the central room of the mausoleum was a massive clock. Only by correctly calibrating the clock to five lesser clocks located in adjoining rooms could one access the depths of the crypts. These catacombs contained secret summoning chambers and laboratories which included notes about rituals to bind or to summon Maegera, the fiery primordial bound beneath Gauntlgrym and Mount Hotenow as well as artifacts associated with the Cult of the Dragon's rites for creating dracoliches. A network of rusted pipes connected water features across some rooms, with complex sets of cogs and hand-cranked wheels for controlling the water pressure. One chamber contained a large basin in which water elementals resided.
==Defenses==
In addition to its traps, the mausoleum's door was heavily reinforced and sealed with complex lock that made it extraordinarily difficult to access the crypts directly. Opening the door required that a series of mechanical seals be unlocked around Craftsman's Rest near the Crypts, as well as a metaphysical seal—known as the "Shadow Lock"—located in the graveyard of Evernight.
Access to the final chambers within the crypts' catacombs was warded and required answering a riddle known as the "Question of Time" before one could enter.
==History==
The Crypts were commissioned by Lucan Greenharrow, a co-founder of the Waterclock Guild, at some point before the 14 century DR, as he wanted a place to conduct his magical research in secret. The catacombs were built using the guild's most advanced techniques.
One of the high ranking Guild members, Romani Monini, was also a member of the Cult of the Dragon, and stored artifacts relevant to the Rite of the Dracolich within the crypts. In addition, when he was buried, he ordered that the young blue dragon Azharzel be sealed in the crypt alongside him.
At some point after the Spellplague, the Waterclock Guild abandoned the crypts, leaving almost all of the previously bound elementals to their own devices. However, when members of the Waterclock Guild began returning to Neverwinter in the late 15 century DR, some sought to reclaim the crypts, either to recover lost examples of the Guild's water clocks or to inter their guildmates who had died since the fall of the Guild. 
In the , a thieves' guild led by Palas broke into the crypts and stole a valuable water clock. They subsequently made plans to return and plunder the crypts further. 
Following the Siege of Neverwinter, Valindra Shadowmantle's Thayan forces broke into the Waterclock Guild Crypts in a race against the Cult of the Dragon, and obtained both Azharzel and the artifacts that would allow her to transform him into a dracolich. Sometime later, Mordai Vell entered the catacombs and discovered both the rites to awaken Maegera and the location of a secret tunnel to gain access to the primordial.
By the late 15 century DR, a section of the crypts became separated from the rest of the complex when a passage collapsed. During the 1490s DR, this section came to be occupied by cultists of Vecna led by Jerot Galgin, who evidently gained access via the catacombs of the neighboring Hallix Mausoleum. These cultists forced the elementals into submission and then used the area to imprison a group of four Neverwintian nobles—Eldon Keyward, Indrina Lamsensettle, Sarcelle Malinosh, and Umberto Noblin—prompting Lord Dagult Neverember to send adventurers to rescue them.
==Inhabitants==
In addition to binding water elementals and water weirds within the crypts, the Waterclock Guild bound a marid named Shanzezim, preventing him from leaving. Long after the fall of the Guild, he occupied himself by assembling clocks in a makeshift workshop in the catacombs.
After the Guild abandoned the crypts in the 15 century DR, they came to be occupied by undead as well as a massive giant spider known as Shoth the Tomb Queen.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===Gallery===
Clockwork Tomb ext MMO.webp|The exterior of the mausoleum.
Clockwork Tomb interior MMO.webp|The spider-infested catacombs.
===External Links===
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===References===
Category:Buildings
Category:Locations in Neverdeath
Category:Locations in Neverwinter
Category:Locations on the Sword Coast North
Category:Locations in Northwest Faerûn
Category:Locations in Faerûn
Category:Locations on Toril