Located in a wooded dell on the North Road between King's Reach and Dead Tree Hollow, this waystop village is notable mainly for the excellence of its inn. The Nine Swords stands on the west side of the road, between it and the deep, dark pool for which the village is named. The inn's name comes from the only local treasure tale-a local wizard, in the early days of the Vast, cast a spell to preserve and protect the magical swords accumulated by his adventuring companions. The spell outlasted both its caster and the swords' owners, confounding greedy adventurers to this day.

If the right words are spoken (Elminster claims they aren't recorded anywhere but must be seven words or less and in the Common Tongue), nine magical blades will rise in unison from the pool, dripping, and hang vertically in a ring a dozen feet above the water, hilts uppermost. The pool at that point is more than fifty feet deep and a good forty feet from shore, but if a living being can somehow reach the ring and touch a blade, that sword will be released from the magic and fall back into the pond, from which it can be fished (if not retrieved, it simply lies in the water until it slowly rusts away). The other blades remain hanging until touched in their turn or until ten minutes have passed, at which point the spell returns them to concealment.

While under the enchantment, these blades can't be found by dragging the pool or casting dispel magics; they "aren't there" until the words are spoken. For a wish to release them, Elminster says, the spell incantation must contain at least four of the seven or less correct words (a limited wish would need to include all of the words). Speaking the words a second time makes the remaining blades sink down again into concealment. What sorts of magical blades are included in the nine is not recorded.

Swords Pool has been stocked with trout and the tiny, sharp-tasting fish known as "manyfins" by the owners of the inn (three sisters named Melicent, Meliors, and Melusine Mellicot); illicit fishing is not encouraged but does occur on dark nights.