Defenses and Construction of the Citadel of Smoking Rain
by Chasmyr

"Welcome, Commanders. We have much to discuss on matters of the defenses of the Citadel of Smoking Rain."

          -Arin Stryker, Commandant of the Citadel of Smoking Rain

All of the weapons issued to the personnel serving in the Citadel are cold-wrought iron. Furthermore, all of these items recieved personal attention from a skilled psionicist using Molecular Arrangement. This gives the guardsmens weapons a +1 to hit. For obvious reasons, it took the Citadel many years to acquire all of these weapons, and stockpiles have been laid in, in the event of a full-scale assault.

Griffons have long been stabled within the Citadel to allow a measure of defense against air-borne troops. These griffons are ridden by specially trained and equipped cavalry.

In the event of attack, the griffon forces will augment any and all air ships currently docked at the 5 sky harbor towers located 100 yards from the outermost walls of the Citadel keeps. This allows a swing circle for the ships, while keeping them under the catapult and ballista fire in the event of assault. These ships are expected to aid the CItadel in the Citadels defense.

There are five surface keeps on the surface of the Citadel. The gates of all five face inward to a form central "courtyard." The keeps themselves are only about 100yards about. This creates a killing field where most ground assaults try to focus themselves. A sealable ramp allows access to the underground portion of the Citadel from the Grand Gallery of all 5 of the keeps. Much of this extensive underground portion has been abandoned due mainly to a lack of need.

Most visitors marvel at the presence of so many windows in a fortress. Most fail to realize that the windows have all been treated with a Glassteel spell(6th level, from Players Handbook). This provides excellent protection while allowing defenders an excellent view of the battlefield.

Creatures attacking the Citadel from the air will find themselves facing a most unexpected enemy-grease. Grease Slick(from Ruins of Undermountain) has been permanenced throughout the outer walls and roof areas of the Citadel. Only those areas where Citadel personnel are expected to need to use(battlements, etc.) and the first 10' of the outer walls are ungreased. A Preserve Food and Water spell(from Players Handbook) has been permanenced throughout the same area to keep the grease from going rancid and become a source for disease. These effects are maintained permanently via a Recast spell.

All of the tower-tops and battlements have another invisible defense against assault. A glassteeled dome in a movable design(sections are slid aside on runners to give the defenders access to the sky) has been Vanished(spell from Players Handbook) into the Ethereal Plane. These sections are quartered. These domes also have various Glyphs of Warding placed on them. No glyph using electricity is ever used.

All of the walls(including the outer walls) and doors have a layer of leaded material within it. This is present to prevent scrying within the tower. The glass used in all the windows and the green house is also of a leaded variety. All vents, and arrow slits have leaded caps as well. The underground portions of the Citadel have been surfaced with leaded bricks.

In addition to the doors being leaded, they have an airtight seal around their frames. The doors are surfaced and reinforced with harl'dan wood.

Vents have another defense built in, a fine veil covers the vent about a foot inside. This veil has a Filter spell(2nd level from The Complete Wizard's Handbook) permanenced on it to prevent gaseous attacks. A similar veil hangs as a curtain over any arrowslits not located on the battlements.

Glyph compartments have been built into the walls of each keep, and selected interior passages. These compartments have various means of being opened. The ones in the interior passages can be opened by any one as they go by, being structured like a 1" deep, 1' square cabinet in the wall. The ones in the outer walls can be opened by persons standing in the battlements via a mechanism built into the walls. This mechanism operates by filling a counterweight with sand or water to open a latch, which allows the spring-loaded lids to burst open. The empowered intelligence of the fortress(see below) can use Telekinisis to open these compartments.

Electricity is rarely used in defensive Glyph's of Warding in the Citadel of Smoking Rain. This is due to a simple fact of reality. Tanar'ri are immune to electrical attacks. This renders this application of magic pretty much pointless in the face of a fiendish horde.

Inside of the Citadel, several stone, non-load bearing walls have been Vanished(spell from Players Handbook) to the Ethereal Plane. These walls have capped arrowslits in them, and various Glyphs of Warding(spell from Players Handbook) have been carved on the side the attackers are expected to be on. These walls are meant to help protect invaders and to trap attackers. They are normally loacted inside of the larger spaces, allowing them to be broken down into more containable area.

In the unlikely event that the surface portion of the Citadel is ever over run again, massive sealing blocks have been Vanished into the Ethereal. When these blocks are recalled, the passages leading to the Citadel will be sealed behind 10 tons of lead lined stone apiece. Several glyphs of warding are believed to have been carved into the outer face of these blocks.

The entire Citadel has been treated with by a psionicist with Empower Fortress(a new Metapsionic Power, found on www.adnd.com). Various powers have been given to this empower effect. Receptacle is used on many gems mounted about the Citadel to provide an almost unlimited amount of PSPs to the fortress. One such set of gems is set throughout each chapel in each keep. Telekinetic Barrier is used to strengthen weakened areas of the keeps during assaults or to provide protection for defenders as needed. Kinetic Absorbtion is also available if neccessary to protect the keeps(this power is to be rarely used as it can and will damage the keep, there is no way for the keep to redirect the energy gained from this power). Telekinisis is also to be used by the intellect to operate defenses built into the keeps and passages. Molecular Agitation is used to ignite the grease on the outer walls to further discourage would-be invaders. It can also be used to "heat things up" for attackers inside the Citadel. Time Dilation is used on defenders to give them those few extra seconds in critical situations. Other powers may be available to the Citadel, but these are the only ones it has publically demonstrated.

The forges of the Citadel have a most unexpected occupant. A bound fire elemental keeps each forge at a roaring heat. The wizards of the keep have magic available to release and control these elementals if neccesary.

The Citadel of Smoking Rain has an unexpected surprise for teleporting visitors. A Teleport Shunt spell effect is permanenced through out the Citadel. This prevents the actions of any teleportation effects. These shunts redirect teleporters into some pre-constructed holding areas. These holding areas have been very carefully constructed to disorient and contain the teleporter. The containers are 14' diameter spheres hollowed into the bedrock near the Citadel. The interior of the sphere has Continual Darkness(from Players Handbook) and Silence 15' Radius(from Players Handbook) permanenced inside of it. This renders the sphere totally dark and silent. The sphere furthers disorients victims by means of a Nullify Gravity spell effect inside the sphere. This prevents teleporters from getting a grip on where they are. A Grease Slick(from Ruins of Undermountain) spell is combined with a Preserve Food and Water spell(from Players Handbook) to provide a frictionless interior surface to the sphere. This prevents victims from being able to examine the sphere by touch. The sphere normally has no physical door of any kind, but any attempts to teleport out of the sphere merely result in the activation of another Teleport Shunt spell effect to return the victim to the sphere he started in. For easy disposal of any creatures within the sphere, several small nozzles connected to a manual pump with a large reservoir of a powerful acid allows any person outside the sphere to fill the sphere with a fine acidic mist which will quickly dissolve the contents of the sphere.

Any fortress with an occupying force of any respectable size will accumulate a vast amount of garbage. To solve this problem, 5 live gelatinous cubes(from the Monstrous Manual) have been contained in shafts within the lower portions of the keep. These cubes are used for garbage disposal. They also make a very efficient and slow means of execution.