| Author |
 Topic  |
|
BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Jul 2013 : 04:43:58
|
That was fun reading, Kris! I love how you tweaked the canon lore, but still ended up with much the same results. And even with apparently tragic outcomes, there can still be heroes.
And they don't even all have to be dual-wielding green-cloaked pointy-ears! |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
 |
|
|
Kris the Grey
Senior Scribe
USA
422 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jul 2013 : 05:01:48
|
Thanks Beast, that means a lot coming from a RAS scholar of your magnitude. ;)
As I said, I'm toying with posting bits of the tale, we've written it largely 'just for fun' - Lol. It was important for me to keep events as near to canon as possible without making my players unable to actually change them. Funny enough, that time stream ended up being a pretty strong current, despite me giving them every opportunity to alter its flow.
Joebing, Beast (somewhere on this thread - or a related one) actually tackles that seeming contradiction pretty well (and lays out the dates). Thank you for the praise, if you decide to use the idea in your 3.5 game feel free to PM me for notes, background, etc. I ran the whole thing in Pathfinder (pretty 3.5 friendly that).
|
Kris the Grey - Member in Good Standing of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors, the Arcane Guild of Silverymoon, and the Connecticut Bar Association |
Edited by - Kris the Grey on 18 Jul 2013 03:49:31 |
|
|
|
BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jul 2013 : 22:15:39
|
quote:
Originally posted by Joebing
On the topic of Blingdenstone...
I noticed a few canon issues later as well, in the D&DNext playtest adventure "Reclaiming Blingdenstone". According to everything I have read from 3.x on Mithral Hall, many of the svirfneblin went there, however, the playtest says fewer than a thousand escaped, finding refuge in Silverymoon.
The highest-ranking, immediately known survivor of the fall of Blingdenstone was Burrow Warden Krieger. The largest group of refugees fled with him to Silverymoon.
Nevertheless, the Most-Honored Burrow Warden Belwar Dissengulp, was known to have lived with a group of ~400 deep gnomes in Mithral Hall, by mid-1372 DR.
My retcon explanation is that Belwar's group must've been thought lost after the fall of Blingdenstone, and it must've taken them some time to get un-lost, before finally arriving at Mithral Hall. There is no mention of them in "The Hunter's Blades Trilogy" in 1371 DR, or in The Orc King in early 1372 DR. They just suddenly are described as being there in mid-1372 DR.
There is no further mention of them in other works, so perhaps they moved on?
quote:
Also, it mentions how a century prior, Blingdenstone fell. Now if we say it fell, according to canon, in late 1370/early 1371 DR, this would place the playtest in 1470-71 roughly, which is PRIOR to 4e (1479 DR).
Can anyone figure how this works in?
Someone earlier in one of these Blingdenstone scrolls said that the playtest was actually set in the 1480s DR. Can we verify that?
When we're told that something happenend "a century prior", maybe that doesn't necessarily mean a literal 100.00 years. Maybe it's 110. Maybe it's 94. Maybe it was just roughly a century prior?
Example: In the first few Drizzt books, RAS wrote that Clan Battlehammer had been evicted from Mithral Hall about two centuries before; but when the dust finally settled, it turned out to be only 175 years. |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
|
|
|
Kris the Grey
Senior Scribe
USA
422 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jul 2013 : 03:48:43
|
After a bit of thought, and some consultation with my fellow gamers/story writers, we offer you all a snippet of our tale for your entertainment! Let us know what you think...
Do I go back?
Karyl hung magically suspended, twenty feet in the air, the great Hall of Miners stretching away before her, far beyond her sight into shadow. Down below her feet a battle raged. Gnomish soldiers and a scant number of Knights in Silver stood side by side in desperate battle lines, pinned into a corner near the cavern's entrance, slashing and hacking wildly. Near a dozen demons hemmed them in – spiders the size of large elephants, leaping forward and back with a scythe of claws and snapping bites. Bebeliths. Loathsome drow-called demons, brought in by the dozen to crush Blingdenstone completely. On the outskirts of the battle, their dark elf allies darted in and out, crossbows clicking with deadly accuracy.
Do I go back?
The words ricocheted through the tumult of her thoughts. In her hand, Darkfell muttered in dwarven. Noror! the sentient sword insisted, Enemies! and tugged at her mind, demanding that she join the fray. She did not. She floated there, staring down in horror, perched on the precipice of doubt. Her eyes picked out bastions of strength, points of light among the harried gnomish and human line. There was the Crown Prince Marktarn, the courageous keystone at the heart of the gnomes. There was Sir Joseph Wyrmslayer, the human battle commander of the Knights, his shining longsword Qualmanthor flashing left and right – wounded a dozen times, his bright armor dark with ichor and blood, beset from all sides but still standing strong, rallying his Knights with every shout. There was Nymara, the servant of Mystra Emma had called to assist them in this fight, fleet and nimble, a blur of silver fur and shining rapier, his voice raised in praise to Midnight as he slashed and cut in his goddess's name. His divine power laced the backbone of the line with iron and was all that kept it from crumbling.
This is not how it was supposed to be!
She was supposed to come sweeping in and call out for reinforcements, brave men and women who would race along with her to save her friends. Mere moments ago she had barely escaped the clutches of Bregan D'aerthe in the twisting passages to the north. The members of that band even now held a few of her Earth-born companions - Emma, Obie, and Nadelyne - captive. Only thanks to Emma's quick thinking – and the jingling chainmail that put Karyl at the back of the line – had she managed to slip away. They were depending on her now to find Wyrmslayer and the others, depending on her to come racing back with an army at her heels as they desperately stalled for time.
But from this...? She watched Wyrmslayer fall back, and back again, losing precious ground. His longsword lashed forward, caught a demon leg, and then Nymara was there, his melodic voice high and his rapier dancing, and it was the demon's turn to fall back. Yet, in that briefest of moments while Nymara's back was turned, another Knight in Silver went down under rending jaws, never to rise again. No, from this fight there would be no reinforcements.
Her gaze drifted south into the receding ever-twilight of the great cavern. Sir Wyrmslayer and the others had not succeeded in the real task they had come here to perform. They had not pushed deep enough into the cavern, had not stemmed the tide of demons that still poured unchecked into the city. Somewhere down there, in the deep gloom, the cursed priestesses of Lloth still kept vigil.
Do I go back?
Back, to warn the deep gnome illusionist Henkala Shadowsong, who even now hastened south with a small force, that no fewer than ten of the spider demons closed in on her position? Back, to try to free Emma and the others snared in Bregan D'aerthe's deadly ambush, though she was alone and without help? Back, to the House Center, seat of svirfneblin power, and on to the escape tunnels that led away from the city and disaster, away into freedom?
Back, and leave them all to die, admit to failure, give up the city, give up the lives of thousands?
We are promised that there will always be choices, she thought with a kind of terrible fatality. We are not promised that any of them will be good choices.
She took in a deep breath and shut all her doubts away. The plight of Shadowsong, the battle raging down below her feet, even Emma and the others – Stars help them all, for she could not. Three battles lay before her that she could fight, three battles she might even win, three battles that would surely lose this war. No. No, the only way left was straight ahead. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” she breathed, and with a sudden rush of will, broke into flight.
Up and on she arrowed, leaving the safety of the tunnel entrance behind. The floor dropped away. The battle dropped away. The cavern opened around her, a cool dark rush of space. She sped south, arcing high into the air, soaring up one hundred feet above the stony cavern floor. The torn red robes covering the riven remains of her armor flared out behind her, caught in the wind of her passing. In her left hand a moon blade, a boon bestowed upon her and her female companions at Selűne's altar in Silverymoon, flowed from her palm in a slash of silver; in her right, Darkfell burned black, blazing with enchantment. She made no attempt at stealth, wrapped in the magical veils of half a dozen spells that kept her up in the air, sheathed her in layers of protection, filled her with a fierce courage not entirely her own, and made her blaze bright to eyes attuned to magic. More than one such eye flicked to her from the battlefield below – she'd been seen. One of the massive spider demons broke away from the mad melee and pursued, skittering rapidly along the wall. She rose higher in her arc, pressing south, and then all at once there it was, far below her, fat and wide and flashing with green and blue and violet light.
The Portal.
It sat on the roof of the begemmed Miner's Hall. There were enemies all about it. Spiders swarmed and dangled from the walls and crawled over the stairs. Female soldiers from Menzoberranzan's First House stood sentry on the terrace and the steps that led to it, swords drawn. Behind them, a dozen undead gnomes, freshly conjured from the bodies of the fallen, ringed it. Above, on the roof itself, a cadre of priestesses of Lloth waited, as she knew they must. One of them must be the yochlol, one of Lloth's own handmaidens, hidden in drow disguise. Even from this distance she felt their combined malevolent power as it rolled toward her. Most fearsome of all, five more of the massive bebeliths kept guard, legs tensed for the springing jumps that would send them hurtling across the room. She shuddered at the thought of their claws closing around her, the remembered feeling of them ripping through armor and flesh...
A whisper of a thought reached out to her from behind and to the left, the skein of a message that just barely reached her consciousness. Well met, Lady Darkstar, said a high voice she recognized. Nymara had seen her as well. Are you venturing to close the portal?
Her eyes narrowed on the massive shape, seething and burning with arcane energies. Through that maw poured the destroyers of Blingdenstone. Through that maw came the spawn of the Abyss. Her response was short, sharp, and final.
Yes.
That was all, and then she had blazed past, the message cut short, out of range, headed on – alone – towards the magical construct, and the drow and demons alike who warded it. Above her heart her mark, the invisible brand all her earth-born companions bore, burned. She had only one star remaining of the seven it had started with. One star to set off in the portal's maw and pray that it would close. If she could get there. Past the spiders and the demons and the drow. Past the Handmaiden of Lloth and all the red-burning eyes that marked her approach, all the hands that tightened on swords, all the minds that reached for spells. A dozen forms of death, and any one alone outmatched her. Her arc reached its apex; she started to descend.
With a swell of magical power two of the waiting priestesses rose into the air, unfurled their snake headed whips, and began to close...
|
Kris the Grey - Member in Good Standing of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors, the Arcane Guild of Silverymoon, and the Connecticut Bar Association |
Edited by - Kris the Grey on 18 Jul 2013 04:20:41 |
|
|
|
Kris the Grey
Senior Scribe
USA
422 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2014 : 20:00:40
|
Hello all,
I recently posted a much greater section of the short story I 'teased' above detailing how the attack on the city was handled by the PCs in my home campaign based, in part, upon the advice I received from all of you here in this thread! If you'd care to see how said advice was reflected in the story, and how it all played out, please feel free to take a peek at the thread.
http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18961
Thanks again for all of your input on this issue (and enjoy the tale). |
Kris the Grey - Member in Good Standing of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors, the Arcane Guild of Silverymoon, and the Connecticut Bar Association |
|
|
|
Kris the Grey
Senior Scribe
USA
422 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2014 : 17:15:52
|
Gents,
The ultimate strategic/tactical considerations I took into account in deciding how the drow would attack the city were as follows:
- they would need a way to attack the city both from without (to keep the gnomes bottled up) and from within (to circumvent the bulk of the extremely deadly gnomish defenses)
- the attack would involve forces from all 6 of the 8 major houses that committed to it, but would be lead largely by House Baenre (as they were the prime movers and wanted to bear the lions share of the credit, so would need to take the lions share of the risks)
- the attack would heavily rely on summoned demons, particularly bebiliths (based on canon) - which makes sense as it was 1) sanctioned by Lolth and 2) the drow would be particularly risk adverse about their own casualties in light of the last drow attack on Mithral Hall (from which they were still recovering to some degree)
- armies of demons are very hard to manage, and they don't mix well with live troops, so you'd want a way to have them around only when you needed them and a way to keep their actions separate from your regular soldiers - use them as shock troops/a force of pure terror and destruction away from your own army
- in order to get demons into the city the drow would need some way through the massive system of wards that the deep gnomes placed around it and the army of elementals in place to protect those wards (see DDGTU for details)
- the drow would also seek to paralyze gnomish command and control by somehow neutralizing the gnomish leadership so as to keep the gnomish defenders off guard and stop them trying to evacuate the city in an effective fashion
So, with all of those strategic imperatives in mind, here is the assault plan I came up with.
1) achieve as much tactical surprise as possible by keeping the full extent of your movements a secret for as long as you can - I had this done by having the drow (using the services of Bregan D'aerthe) hire duergar mercenaries to raid deep gnomish caravans in and out of town and take over the nearest crossroads intersections to the surface (cutting off contact with the dwarves, etc) and make it appear as though the city was merely being harassed by duergar bandits instead of something more sinister
2) when the attack did come, draw gnomish eyes (and efforts) away from the real threat by having a small army of dark elven fighters and conjured fiendish spiders begin a protracted assault against the front gates of the city
3) get past the gnomish teleport wards by smuggling into the city a small but very potent magical device (crafted by no less than the Archmage of House Baenre himself) that could be used as a focus to teleport a single being (with a small force in a portable hole) through the wards and into the city - the ideal place for such a device to go off would be near the deep gnomish throne room (as you'd burst into the heart of gnomish command and control)
4) that small force would consist of 5 demons, 4 yochlols and a glabrezu - whose job it would be to a) kill the king and his key advisors while the deep gnomes were focused on their gates and b) open two other gates into the city from within the city itself - preferably in far flung corners of town where you could build up a gated in army before the defenders could muster to stop you (or even fully understand their peril)
5) your yochlols would open the two gates, small elite strike forces of Baenre females would pass through and widen the gates with clerical magics, and then your army of summoned bebiliths (conjured into a safe 'holding pen' in or near Menzoberranzan so they didn't need to be moved) would pour through those open gates and into the city - they would be under orders to simply spread out and slaughter as many gnomes as possible to spread terror, disrupt a retreat, and scatter the deep gnomish defenders
6) once the king and his commanders were dead, the city was in panic, and the forces at the front gates started to collapse, the drow main force could enter the city at their leisure to loot, take slaves, etc or simply wait at all the tunnels out of the city and scoop up gnomish civilians attempting to escape in groups as slaves.
Once I had that plan in place, the question was what would/could the PCs do to stop it? Especially since at least one of them knew an attack was coming, but no one knew exactly how it would play out (as the actual details of the attack had never been explicitly scripted out).
The PCs arrived at the city (stopping there on their way to Mantol Derith on an utterly unrelated errand) after having run afoul of two major groups of duergar raiders. They reported to the King and Council what they saw of the raiders and, being the heroic types, they offered to help the city with their 'duergar problem' not realizing (yet) that it was ever so much more than that. They figured they'd kill the last of the duergar and head out to straight away to attend to their mission in Mantol Derith.
In so doing, they became entangled in the behind the scenes intrigue underway, and drew the attention of the deep gnomish traitor that B'DA had recruited to eventually smuggle the ward piercing 'gem' into the city (the traitor thought he was doing his people a service and promoting peace). The traitor volunteered to lead a small deep gnomish force that was to accompany the PCs to aid them crushing the final duergar force occupying the strategic crossroads near the city.
In the course of that final battle, the PCs discovered a) the involvement of the drow and b) the identity of the deep gnomish traitor when they sprung an ambush against the PCs (trying to kill them all) along with the final batch of duergar. The PCs defeated the ambush, slew the duergar and most of the small B'DA drow force (taking a prisoner or two), and captured the gnomish traitor (without quite realizing why he had betrayed them). Figuring they had solved the problem, they then headed off to complete the mission they had come to achieve in Mantol Derith. However, two other things happened…
1) A certain overly clever NPC wizard traveling with the PCs (who had agreed to serve as a message courier and unofficial 'good will ambassador' to the deep gnomes on behalf of Lady Alustriel) decided to play at being 'James Bond' and used the presence of the drow as a convenient opportunity to attempt to infiltrate (basically magic jarred into the body of one of the B'DA drow) the city of Menzoberranzan to see why the drow were there in the first place…
and more unfortunately…
2) One of the PCs, who was a rabid fanboy of RAS (and all things dark elf) decided to parlay with one of the captured B'DA operatives in an attempt to become 'pals' with them. This lead the B'DA forces, who were otherwise pretty tweaked about the failure of their plans to that point, to become aware that the now potentially friendly PC was headed to Mantol Derith, which just happened to be where a certain charismatic dark elf was concluding a bit of business…
I'll spare the rest of the details of what happened and merely direct you to the story I posted about it all on this thread (http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18961) so you can enjoy it in a more narrative (and hopefully entertaining) format! Do let me know what you thought of my little schemes. As I said, I came to this plan in part through the input of you folks, so thank you for that! |
Kris the Grey - Member in Good Standing of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors, the Arcane Guild of Silverymoon, and the Connecticut Bar Association |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
Ideas on the Assault on Blingdenstone?
