Referred to in this adventure simply as “Manshoon,” this clone of the ancient archwizard infiltrated Waterdeep years ago and has been hiding out in Kolat Towers ever since, in the city’s Southern Ward.

The original Manshoon was one of the founders of the Zhentarim. Evil to the core, he made enemies all across Faerûn, including other powerful spellcasters such as Khelben Arunsun and Elminster. Fearing that he might be destroyed by his foes, Manshoon magically crafted several clones — but a mishap caused all of them to be awakened at once, whereupon they tried to destroy one another in a series of conflicts that came to be known as the Manshoon Wars.

Now the original Manshoon is dead, and it’s widely believed that all his clones were destroyed as well. In fact, at least three are still alive. The one presently in Waterdeep escaped death by hiding out in Undermountain, where he eventually ran afoul of Halaster Blackcloak. After a brief spell duel, Halaster captured Manshoon and amputated his left arm at the elbow for reasons unknown. Manshoon escaped imprisonment and fled Undermountain, taking refuge in the city above. Attempts to magically regenerate his severed limb failed, forcing him to craft an artificial arm and hand for himself.

Manshoon took control of Kolat Towers, a crumbling residence in the Southern Ward that was abandoned years ago by the two wizards who built it. The edifice is surrounded by a magical barrier that has the properties of a wall of force. Manshoon rarely leaves the towers and uses a teleportation circle when he must do so, and thus is never seen entering or leaving.

Manshoon aims to rule Waterdeep and replace the City Watch with Black Network mercenaries that are loyal to him alone. By bribing and blackmailing the Masked Lords, he hopes to oust Laeral Silverhand as Open Lord and take her place, kill the Blackstaff, reduce the Masked Lords to mere vassals, and declare himself the Wizard-King of Waterdeep. Once the city is firmly in his clutches, Manshoon will then turn his attention toward Undermountain, destroy Halaster once and for all, and claim the dungeon’s riches.

When fighting inside his extradimensional sanctum, Manshoon can invoke the ambient magic to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Manshoon can take one lair action to cause one of the following effects:

• Absorb Extradimensional Energy. Roll 1d8 and restore a previously expended spell slot of that level or lower.
• Remove Gravity. All creatures within a square area 10ft on each side chosen by Manshoon are affected by a Levitate spell lasting one round, using Manshoon's spell save DC.
• Seal Room. All doorways in a room of Manshoon's choosing within his sanctum close and lock. (Iron door, AC19, 27 hit points, resist physical, immune to lightning, necrotic, poison and psychic, DC 17 lockpick, DC 25 athletics)
• Expel Intruder. One creature must make a Wisdom save, DC 16, or be forcibly expelled from the extradimensional sanctum. An expelled creature takes 4d10 force damage and appears in area K22 of Kolat Towers and cannot return to the sanctum via the Teleportation Circle there for the next 24 hours. A creature that succeeds its saving throw against this effect takes half damage and cannot be targeted by it again for the next 24 hours.

Manshoon can't use the same effect two rounds in a row.