Beggars' Palaces

The Beggars' Palaces was the collective name for the two larger of the three ancient ziggurats that rose above the Old City slums of Port Nyanzaru, Chult.
==Location==
The main road into the Old City from the walled sections of Port Nyanzaru passed between the two Beggars' Palaces, with the gate to the Merchants' Ward just north of them and the Executioner's Run just south. 
==Structure==
The Beggars' Palaces were crumbling ruins covered in vines. The shops and tenements of the Old City surrounded and climbed the Palaces, with bamboo structures densely crammed onto the ziggurat terraces. These shantytowns featured ramshackle markets near the base of the pyramids while the higher terraces were cleaner and less crowded than the lower ones. A wide wooden bridge connected the upper levels of the two pyramids. 
==Interior==
Catacombs extended beneath the ziggurats, some of which could be accessed via a secret passage in the city's refuse pit. Some of these catacombs included trapped rooms and ritual chambers while others were sweltering mazes and crypts filled with the smells of rot and copper. These areas were adorned with carvings ranging from wavy lines and circular patterns (which appeared to date to the same time period as some of the tunnels beneath the city's Harbor Ward) to images of humans hunting and sacrificing other humans to dark gods.
Beneath the eastern ziggurat was a small tomb in which its architects had been interred, with walls adorned with carvings of Chultan laborers building the tomb. Access to this tomb was located at the ziggurat's western corner and was hidden behind a stack of crates in a ramshackle marketplace.
==Activities==
The Beggars' Palaces were associated with the beggar princes: criminals who wielded more power in the Old City than did Port Nyanzaru's merchant princes.
In times of attack, the interiors of the Beggars' Palaces served as places of shelter for the people of the Old City.
==History==
By the late 15 century DR, the civilization that had built the Beggars' Palaces was long-forgotten, and the catacombs beneath them had been sealed for many years. It was believed that the ancient kings who had commissioned the ziggurats had buried the architects alive to serve them in death.
While not traditionally considered to be one of the Beggars' Palaces, the third and smallest of the Old City's ziggurats came to be the base of operations for the beggar prince Pock-Marked Po.
Following the end of the death curse, a wight necromancer named Jaru Tasca took up residence in the catacombs beneath the Beggars' Palaces, and plotted to use a piece of the Cyst—a powerful necromantic mass of flesh—to transform Port Nyanzaru's residents and adventurers into undead. Her minions soon threatened the Old City.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===References===
Category:Pyramids
Category:Ruins
Category:Slums
Category:Locations in the Old City (Port Nyanzaru)
Category:Locations in Port Nyanzaru
Category:Locations on the Bay of Chult
Category:Locations in Chult
Category:Locations on the Chultan Peninsula
Category:Locations in Southwest Faerûn
Category:Locations in Faerûn
Category:Locations on Toril