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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
 Posted - 16 Jul 2004 : 16:17:38
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Castlemorn won't be here as soon as we would like:quote:
Coming soon! Ed Greenwood's Castlemorn Campaign Setting! 7/12/04
The next game release from Fast Forward will be a color hardcover d20 campaign setting straight from the fertile mind of the Forgotten Realms creator, Ed Greenwood. Ed's new fantasy setting is a world that is trying to pick up the pieces after a huge desolation. There are many strange and wonderous magiks around, but very little is known about them. If exploring and finding new races, items and treasures is what you like about role-playing, then Castlemorn is for you! Due this September!
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6666 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jul 2004 : 01:57:37
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
He suspects there’s no way they could have crammed all this (the street names in particular) into print, given their time and space constraints, and ended up with a legible map, so he asks you to report right back to us all with what didn’t make it, and he’ll try to “locate” the features for everyone, by the “See the tiny building three down from X?” method. :}
This is the key from DUNGEON #113:
1. The King's Tower
2. Ravensgar House
3. The Tankard of Eels
4. The Leaping Eel
5. The Roaring Griffon
6. Wavegallant Spires
7. Stormwinds Tower
8. Deepgreen House
9. The Wight on a Weredragon
10. The Amorous Anchor
11. Felgontar's Firehelm
12. Morningmist Hall
13. Chalanther House
14. Stormhold
15. Farcoins Moneychanger
16. Haelithtorn Towers
17. Swordspires
18. The Net of Pearls
19. The Old Oak
20. Luckfist Hall
21. The Masked Merfolk
22. Iyrinthorn
23. The Cloven Shield
24. The Platter of Plenty
25. Thundaerlyn Hall
26. Indur's Warehouses
27. The Drowning Flagon
28. Everet Villa
29. Mistwind Towers
30. The Drowned Sailors Society
31. Monthorhall
32. The Barrelstone Inn
33. Bracegauntlet Gard
34. Naval Drydock
35. Starwater Keep
36. The Harbortower
No street names put in. Changes appear to be:
1. We've lost: 13. Sharmran Isle (local nickname “Fishgut Rock”),
14. Antanmaran’s Isle (local nickname “The Prow”), 25. Dagohnlar House (tallhouse of the Dagohnlar noble family) and 36. Blackpillars (fortified tallhouse of Delthrin the Deadmaster, reclusive necromancer).
2. They've added 28. Everet Villa (which given the adventure is a quasi-Blackpillars - Everet is supposedly Delthrin's surname and the villa is a ruined remnant of his family's holdings (their status in Marsember is greatly reduced) and his lair.
2. They've added 34. Naval Drydock.
-- George Krashos
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"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jul 2004 : 07:00:35
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Ed Greenwood:
One of my players recently finished the novel, The Kingless Land. She enjoyed reading this work and wanted me to pass along her praise on a fine job. The second book in this series is in her hands and she plans to start it this weekend.
So thanks from her via me. 
SiriusBlack |
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Sarelle
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
508 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jul 2004 : 12:07:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Lord Rad
Oh the memories! I recall meeting Ed at GENCON UK a few years back! A fantastic experience...especially remembering his enactment of a court in Cormyr 
So for all your attendees of this years GENCON......remember, tie Ed down, get as much information out of him as you can, and report back here with your findings forthwith 
I'm so out of these things! Rad, do you know when the next UK GenCon will be? And THO, any plans by Ed for another UK visit in the near future? |
Chair of the The Rightful Return of Monster Deities to FR Society (RRMDFRS)
My character, drawn by Liodain: Sarelle / Sarelle (smaller) |
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jul 2004 : 14:43:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Sarelle
I'm so out of these things! Rad, do you know when the next UK GenCon will be?
Check out this site for dates on UK GenCon. |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jul 2004 : 15:39:15
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| Ed, could we get a yes/no on whether in your Realms psionics (the Invisible Art) works through the Weave? (Since it's always been something apart from magic, and the Weave is about magic, I've assumed not.) |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jul 2004 : 19:45:24
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Fellow scribes, I’ve pulled some strings locally and got my hands on a copy of DUNGEON 113. I haven’t yet examined the adventure, though at first glance it seems both playable and interesting (for example, the lore on page 36 of the DUNGEON issue, facing the map, is all “dead on” correct and feels right to me, as someone all too familiar with the city of Marsember).
The map of Marsember printed in the magazine is visually the best yet drawn, and quite accurate as to layout of streets and buildings when compared to my original Realms campaign map (Ed drew the originals for the FR Adventures hardcover maps, of course, and we ‘original players’ had photocopies even before TSR did).
However, it seems someone didn’t read Ed’s map closely, or couldn’t read the copy of it they received, or just didn’t bother following his lore very closely. Why, oh why make changes to Realmslore? Don’t those changing it realize that (at least in Ed’s head) everything is linked? Grrr. Consistency consistency consistency (goes off muttering, in usual daily editor’s grousing mode: * I * manage to keep things straight when I do MY editing -- what’s wrong with these folks? Grumble grumble mutter . . . ) Perhaps I speak too harshly: Ed’s earlier comments about the inclusion of streets making the map unreadable, plus my own knowledge of magazine publication deadlines, suggest he might have faxed the DUNGEON staff a map, and the result might well have been very hard to read.
Yet because it’s important that any published map of Marsember displays features that match up in locations with the published text of Ed’s recent novel ELMINSTER’S DAUGHTER, I’ve done a little revision work using the DUNGEON map’s key numbering and what Ed revealed to us, the players of inquisitive PCs, of his original campaign notes. All who’d like a truly accurate (though still incomplete) map of Marsember are invited to read on.
1. The King’s Tower (abode of the King’s Lord of Marsember, the Herald, and the garrison)
2. Ravensgar House (mansion of the Ravensgar noble family)
3. The Tankard of Eels (tavern)
Note: rather than the tiny building marked as “3,” the tavern is actually the large “U” or “C” -shaped building to the northwest. [The building marked as “3” is actually the home (upstairs) and shop (street level) of Amthur Ondamus, importer of exotic quaffs and philtres (= medicinal concoctions).]
4. The Leaping Eel (rowdy sailors’ tavern)
Note: rather than the building marked as “4,” the tavern is actually in the building marked “5” on the map. [The building marked as “4” is actually the home (upstairs) and shop (street level) of Arnthus Malree, Netmaker and Netmender.]
5. The Roaring Griffon (inn and tavern; formerly the Drowning Fish festhall)
Note: rather than the building marked as “5,” the Griffon is actually in the large building JUST inside the western gate of Marsember (occupying the angle immediately east of the central guardtower between the two gate-arches). [The building marked as “5” is actually The Leaping Eel tavern (see #4, above).]
6. Wavegallant Spires (mansion of the Wavegallant noble family)
7. Stormwinds Towers (fortified mansion of Szwentil Illeon, founder of the Six Coffers Market Priakos)
Note: “Towers,” NOT ‘Tower’ as the DUNGEON map has it.
8. Deepgreen House (shrine to Umberlee)
9. The Wight On A Weredragon (dining-house [restaurant])
Note: the map tag seems to float in the middle of a large stretch of harbor, which would make for rather damp dining. There should be an arrow connecting the numeral “9” with a particular building to the northwest. To find it, go northwest from the numeral across water to the two parallel docks or wharves jutting out from an island, and from those docks move west to a largish L-shaped building at about the centre of the SE side of the street that curves most of the length of the island (Hammarhantus Lane, but we’ll get to street names later). That L-shaped building is The Wight On A Weredragon.
10. The Amorous Anchor (festhall and smuggling den; connected via secret passages to many shop and warehouse cellars)
11. Felgontar’s Firehelm (large, popular, respectable dining-house [restaurant])
12. Morningmist Hall (temple of Lathander)
13. Chalanther House [home of Vindala Chalanther (illusionist, tutor and spellhurler-for-hire)].
Note: rather than the building marked as “13,” Vindala actually dwells in the isolated building immediately south of (the pointed southern end of) The King’s Tower (#1), fronting on a street just west of a bridge and sharing a waterfront with the walls of the Tower. This happens to be important to me, because my primary character once flung a rock through her window as a warning, from a boat in the harbor -- a feat that would have been godlike in power and accuracy, if I’d done it and managed to awaken Vindala in the building marked as her home on the DUNGEON map. Oh, I’m sure some will say she decided to move house for some reason, but knowing the lady as I do, I doubt she’d have ended up in #13, which is a busy (and filthy) smithy belonging to one Uorn Hallowhand, Armorer, Chainmaker, and Weaponsmith, surrounded by decaying warehouses used as storage for scrap metals, bones, rags, and other ‘gleanings’ that lowcoin Marsembans bring for reuse. The name of Vindala’s home has been added, but is entirely in keeping with Marsemban naming conventions for abodes of folk of her social station.
14. Stormhold (home of Filfaeril Stormbillow, sorceress and seller of magic items and potions)
Note: rather than the building marked as “14,” Filfaeril actually inhabits the odd ‘bent-shaped’ building immediately south of the wall-tower that’s “first tower west” of the numeral “14” marked on the DUNGEON map.
[The building marked as “14” on the map is Dagohnlar House (tallhouse of the Dagohnlar noble family), a location that features prominently in the action of ELMINSTER’S DAUGHTER. Again, narrow canals aren’t shown on any published Marsember map, but it’s a pity that this mistake has crept in mere months after the publication of that novel -- and NO, the Dagohnlars have NOT moved house to a far less fashionable address. :}]
15. Faircoins Moneychanger (moneylending, moneychanging, and contract-witnessing business, and shrine to Waukeen)
16. Haelithtorntowers, walled estate (home of Lady Joysil Ambrur)
17. Swordspires (city villa of the Thundersword noble family)
18. The Net of Pearls (curio shop)
Note: rather than the building marked as “18” on the DUNGEON map, the “Pearls” (as locals call it) is actually in the building immediately to the north of it, in the square building covered by the white fletching of the drawn arrow. [The building marked as “18” is actually the rundown former city villa of the long-exiled Merendil noble family, a crumbling four-storey structure that has for years has served as a rooming-house.]
19.The Old Oak (inn and tavern)
20. Luckfist Hall (shrine to Tymora)
21. The Masked Merfolk (nightclub)
Note: rather than the building marked as “21,” the Merfolk is actually in the building that stands in the southwest corner of the intersection of the street Luckfist Hall (#20, above) is on the east side of, with Calathanter Street (the east-west street that runs more or less parallel to the city wall here, “first south of the wall” and enters the walled naval base a block east of here). In other words, go due northwest from the building marked “21” over an intervening building and diagonally across a street, and you’ll reach the front door of the Merfolk. [The building marked “21” on the DUNGEON map is actually one of the largest “manydoors” houses ( = apartment houses with longstay tenants, rather than a shortstay rooming-house) in Marsember, built on a reputedly-haunted site used by a succession of several former mansions.]
22. Iyrinthorn (city villa of the Illance noble family)
23. The Cloven Shield (inn and tavern)
24. The Platter of Plenty (dining-house [restaurant])
25. Thundaerlyn Hall (meeting-hall and rental market- and revel-moot)
26. Indur’s Warehouses, overlying the Maranthar Undercellars (subterranean warehouse chambers, 120 feet below; constructed by the extinct wealthy Marsemban shipping family of Maranthar: contains hidden portal linking with a dead-end alley in the Trades Ward of Waterdeep).
Note: The arrow on the DUNGEON map points to a single building, but Indur’s is actually a complex of the four easternmost buildings on this isle (the one indicated on the published map being the westernmost of the northshore pair).
27. The Drowning Flagon (inn)
28. Everet Villa (Delthrin’s catacombs)
Note: this is of course a new feature added in the DUNGEON adventure. The catacombs, as mapped in the adventure, thankfully don’t interfere with the adjacent and extensive Maranthar Undercellars described in Ed’s novel, which lie partially beneath it.
29. Mistwind Towers (mansion of the Mistwind noble family)
30. The Drowned Sailors Society (club)
31. Monthorhall (mansion of the Monthor noble family)
32. The Barrelstone Inn
Note: rather than the building marked as “32” on the DUNGEON map, the “Barrel” (as locals call it) is actually the large U- or C-shaped building on the north shore of the same isle, but one bridge to the west. In other words, the building standing just southeast of the bridge crossed by the arrow for “25” that’s printed on the map. [The building indicated as “32” is actually the home (upstairs) and shop/bakery (street level) of ‘Mother’ Tanthra Bellbow and her three daughters (Amaera, Doroeva, and Phantra), popular throughout Marsember for her cheese buns and hardloaves of nut bread.]
33. Bracegauntlet Gard (fortified mansion of the Bracegauntlet noble family)
34. Naval Drydock. This map tag has been added to the key, but drawn from Ed’s earlier maps, and is correct in identification and location. It’s merely been separated from #35.
35. Starwater Keep (naval fortress)
36. The Harbortower
Missing from the published map are street names, island names (BTW, the Marsemban term for these islands or islets is “Isle”), and one building: Blackpillars (the fortified tallhouse of Delthrin the Deadmaster, reclusive necromancer). While I can appreciate that the design demands of the published adventure might have necessitated Delthrin moving house, the tallhouse he used to live in should still be marked.
A ‘tallhouse,’ by the way, resembles a New York or Chicago tenement in outward aspect (it might be called a ‘row house’ elsewhere), being tall (four to six floors counting from the street upwards; thanks to the sea, very few places in Marsember have dry cellars, or extensive cellars at all), narrow, and usually touching the neighboring structures. However, tallhouses in Faerun are VERY rarely built with adjacent buildings, nor do they resemble them closely enough to ever properly be called a “terrace,” such as the buildings put up by Wren in London.
To find the location of Delthrin’s former tallhouse, look at the “straight stretch” of city wall on the published DUNGEON map: that is, the run of city wall beginning at the tower next to the arrow for “2” and running east to the arrows for “14, 13, 15,” and so on. If the tower beside the 2-arrow is counted as the first tower, look between the second and third towers. The third building east of the second tower is larger than its neighboring buildings, and occupies the northern angle of a streetmoot. It is (or was) Delthrin’s tallhouse, which he rebuilt into a keep by purchasing two adjacent tallhouses and filling much of them with dressed and fitted stone from within, making them in effect VERY thick sidewalls to his own home (the exceptions being a few pass-through rooms to “firing-port” windows that he covered with hinged lattices of iron bars).
This post is running long already, so I’ll leave the other features for a second post, to follow.
Your servant in Realmslore,
I am pleased to call myself:
The Hooded One
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jul 2004 : 04:28:01
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Hello again, scribes. Still missing from our Marsemban map are island names and street names. Ed provided the DUNGEON folks with only enough of either for DMs and players to easily locate most city features by referencing isle and street names, but I can (extensively) use his notes to go just a bit further. In other words, I'm quoting Ed many, many times in what you read hereafter.
Turning to the islands first, it’s perhaps easiest to move across the map from west to east, and from seaward to landward. The bridges referred to hereafter are single arches of stone, with stone ‘manypillars’ side-rails, cobbled surfaces wide enough for a full-sized wagon and a rider to comfortably pass each other, small drainholes here and there, and a high enough clearance from the water for barges to pass underneath (tall persons standing on barges had better duck in most cases!).
1. The westernmost island (south of The King’s Tower and much larger than the island that’s due east of The King’s Tower) is Harmuth Isle (local nickname “The Old Ship”). Among the buildings on Harmuth is Wavegallant Spires (mansion of the Wavegallant noble family), map feature #6 on the DUNGEON map.
2. North of Harmuth and due east of The King’s Tower is Antanmaran’s Isle (local nickname “The Prow”). It’s connected to mainland Marsember by a bridge, and other bridges link it to Harmuth and to Nornsar Isle. The stretch of water between Harmuth and Antanmaran’s Isles and western mainland Marsember (dominated by The King’s Tower) is known as “The Long Run,” and reaches the West Basin or New Harbor part of the city docks.
3. Due east of Harmuth and connected to it by a bridge is West Darnmist (“Isle” is NEVER added to this name by Marsembans, only by ignorant outlanders). Bridges link it to neighboring East Darnmist and to Baerouth’s Isle, which lies to the north.
4. Due north of West Darnmist and linked to it by a bridge is Baerouth’s Isle (pronounced “Bayur-OOth’s”). Other bridges link this isle to Orm Isle, directly to the east, and Nornsar Isle (local nickname “The Nornsar”), which lies north of Baerouth’s, between it and the mainland. Deepgreen House, map feature #8 on the DUNGEON map, stands on Baerouth’s Isle.
5. Nornsar Isle lies north of Baerouth’s Isle, east of Antanmaran’s Isle, south of mainland Marsember, and west of Gauntan Isle (and is linked to all of these places by bridges). As explained in my earlier post, The Wight On A Weredragon dining-house (map feature #9 on the DUNGEON map) stands on Nornsar Isle. Due north of the Nornsar are the East Basin or Old Harbor wharves of Marsember (on the published DUNGEON map, the numeral “11” has been placed in the mouth of the Old Harbor).
6. East Darnmist lies immediately east of West Darnmist, south of Orm Isle, and west of Stormrock Isle. Two bridges link it to West Darnmist, and lone bridges link it to the other two islands. Stormwinds Towers (map feature #7 on the DUNGEON map) stands on the westernmost point of East Darnmist, overlooking the narrow passage between East and West Darnmist, a cut known to locals as “Floating Fish Run” because during calm waters it often fills with floating refuse (during storms, it turns into a roaring, churning stretch of roiling waters). As with West Darnmist, the word “Isle” is never used when Marsembans speak of this island.
7. Orm Isle lies north of East Darnmist, west of Baerouth’s Isle, and east of Stormrock Isle, and is linked to them all by bridges. Swordspires, map feature #17 on the DUNGEON map, stands on Orm Isle.
8. Gauntan Isle is north of Orm Isle, but no bridge links them (the body of water between them, enclosed by the islands all around, is known to Marsembans as Bargemoot, because it’s the part of the harbor most likely to be choked with barges moored to each other, and other boats trying to get past). Gauntan lies south of the mainland, west of Nornsar Isle, and east of Sharmran Isle, and is linked to all three locales by bridges. Morningmist Hall (map feature #12 on the DUNGEON map) stands on Gauntan Isle.
9. Stormrock Isle (more often spoken of by locals as “The Stormrock” or just “the Rock,” as in: “We’re going out to the Rock this even”) lies northeast of East Darnmist, south and east of Orm Isle, south of Dawnturtle Isle, and southwest of Aertoprann’s Isle, and is linked to all of them by bridges (to Dawnturtle only, by two bridges). The longest private wharf in Marsember juts northwest from Stormrock; it was built centuries ago by a shipwright and smuggler named Osril Lurth, and after his murder passed through a bewildering variety of owners. Nowadays, it’s owned by Juskul ‘Fishhook’ Dree, a sinister sophisticate of a fleet owner rumored to be involved in all manner of shady businesses and illicit practises -- and undeniably the host of some of Marsember’s wildest and most decadent revels. Among the buildings on the Stormrock are Iyrinthorn (city villa of the Illance noble family, and map feature #22 on the DUNGEON map) and The Cloven Shield (inn and tavern, and map feature #23 on the DUNGEON map).
10. Dawnturtle Isle (locals usually just say “Dawnturtle”) lies due north of Stormrock Isle, southeast of Sharmran Isle, and west of Aertoprann’s Isle. A lone bridge links it with Sharmran, but twin bridges link it with both the Stormrock and Aertoprann’s Isle. A bustling crossroads full of seedy, sagging wooden dwellings with external porches and balconies dripping with molds and mosses, Dawnturtle was traditionally where visiting sailors slept or found medical attention or sought low-priced companionship. Though such pursuits have spread throughout the eastern Marsemban islands, Dawnturtle remains the center of shopping, dining, and services that don’t involve ships docking, loading or unloading, or the warehousing of cargo. The Platter of Plenty dining-house (feature #24 on the DUNGEON map) stands at the heart of Dawnturtle.
11. Sharmran Isle (local nickname “Fishgut Rock”). No longer the exclusive haunt of reeking fishmonger’s cutting-houses and smokehouses, Sharmran remains an aromatic (okay, “stinking”) place much hurried through by visitors and Marsembans alike. It was named for the long-dead “Harbor Witch,” a darkly beautiful sorceress known to be able to take on aquatic shapes, and widely rumored to have seduced men and dragged them down to watery deaths, who dwelt in a long-vanished hut at its eastern end. Popular local lore insists she kept much treasure in underwater caves and clefts in the eastern face of the isle, but these have been searched many times over in the mucky water, and nothing beyond mussels and eels has ever been found.
12. Aertoprann’s Isle lies due east of Dawnturtle Isle (two bridges link them), northeast of Stormrock Isle (a single bridge links them), immediately west of Spraystone Isle (two bridges link them), and southeast of Wrauntwreck Isle (a single bridge links them). Mistwind Towers (mansion of the Mistwind noble family and DUNGEON map feature 29) stands on Aertoprann’s Isle, which is named for a long-ago bridge-builder and dredge-barge-operator of Marsember, who made a stupendous fortune by such activities -- and then mysteriously vanished one summer. Ilnter Aertoprann was probably murdered by shady business associates, but there are literally hundreds of wild local tales about his fate, from escaping pirates and smugglers who were trying to slay him by marrying into the Obarskyrs with the War Wizards changing his face and name for his own safety (and the royal family getting his millions in return), to Aertoprann getting tired of it all and buying access to a gate [3e: portal] to a distant corner of Faerun, to live out the rest of his life in anonymous idleness, reading books and making love to half a dozen hired Marsemban mistresses. There are also, of course, scores of tales about Aertoprann’s hidden riches awaiting lucky finders, somewhere (or a lot of somewheres) in Marsember.
13. Spaer Isle is linked to only one other Marsemban island: Old Arn Isle, which lies directly to the north of it, between it and the eastern end of mainland Marsember. The scene of much action in both the DUNGEON adventure and Ed’s recent novel ELMINSTER’S DAUGHTER, Spaer is home to Indur’s Warehouses (DUNGEON map feature #26), The Drowning Flagon (inn, and map feature #27), and Everet Villa (Delthrin’s catacombs and map feature #28). Most of the buildings on it are warehouses in various states of decrepitude, and it’s named for Ardreth Spaer, a fearless Marsemban seacaptain of old whose numerous (and far less famous or accomplished) descendants still work in many businesses all over the harbor.
14. Old Arn Isle (always just “Old Arn” to locals) lies between Spaer Isle, Sharmran Isle, east-end mainland Marsember, and Wrauntwreck Isle, and is linked to all of these places by bridges (two bridges to the mainland, and one span to each of the islands). The Barrelstone Inn (DUNGEON map feature #32) stands on Old Arn, though not where indicated on the published map (see my earlier post). Old Arn is where many harbor businesses, hiring offices, and dockworkers’ abodes are located. It’s named for ‘Old’ Dathmur Arnagus, a stonemason and quarry-owner whose workers built many harbor buildings and island-shore harbor wharves several centuries ago.
15. Spraystone Isle is the southeasternmost island of Marsember, and is linked by twin spans to both Aertoprann’s Isle to the west and Wrauntwreck Isle to the north. The busiest wharves and ‘offload’ warehouses are now located here, and ever-larger cranes are rising on the island. Formerly a pirate haunt of linked, labyrinthine warehouses, drinking-dens and hideyholes, it was scoured clean by a disastrous fire caused by a spell-duel between wizards whose names are now forgotten or disputed, that befell several decades ago. Spraystone is named for the almost constant spray of waves breaking on its jagged natural palisades of rocks that presided here until the workers commanded by Arnagus rebuilt this ‘useless’ rock into a succession of wharves and dock-basins. Offload warehouses are small, heavily-manned buildings used to store and shelter a cargo that’s just been unloaded from a ship, or one that is just about to be loaded onto a ship. Sorting occurs in them, for delivery to larger warehouses elsewhere in Marsember -- and because opportunities for theft (and tax evasion/smuggling) are high, so is security. Some ‘eyes’ belong to the warehouse owners, some to rival trade agents, and some to the Crown (various arms of government keep watch over each other as well as over dockside goings-on).
16. Wrauntwreck Isle (just “Wrauntwreck” to most Marsembans, most of the time) is north of both Aertoprann’s Isle (to which it is linked by a single bridge) and Spraystone Isle (joined to it by two spans), and southeast of Old Arn Isle (a single bridge links Old Arn with Wrauntwreck). Dominated by warehouses and the offices of cargo trading companies, coopers, and crate-makers, Wrauntwreck’s name comes from its tendency, in the days before Marsember’s islands were rebuilt into seawalls, docksides, and wharves, to be where all the ‘wash’ from shipwrecks ended up ashore. (To some small extent this still holds true, although salvagers in small skiffs and barges swoop VERY swiftly on all visible wreckage.) Among the buildings on Wrauntwreck are The Drowned Sailors Society (club; DUNGEON map feature #30), Monthorhall (mansion of the Monthor noble family, and map feature #31), and Bracegauntlet Gard (fortified mansion of the Bracegauntlet noble family, and map feature #33).
Hmmm, running long again, I see. Please be patient with me, Mr. Krashos, as I sign off now and return with a third post to deal with Marsemban street names. This “setting things straight” business is more than a full-time occupation; my admiration for you, and Mr. Boyd, and Faraer, and so many other Realms fans increases.
Steady winds for now,
THO
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fourthmensch
Acolyte
USA
32 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jul 2004 : 07:26:05
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To the indefatiguable Ed,
Just a quick question this time: can you give me some indication of Evermeet's heraldry? I know that this is an interest of yours, so I figured you would probably already have an answer that you could discuss at some length. I'm mostly interested in the symbol/crest of the royal house, but I would love any other details about the noble houses as well.
Thanks again Ed! |
I want you to go home and ponder the meaning of the word subversive.
Gully Foyle is my name
And Terra is my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination. |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6666 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jul 2004 : 09:03:22
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Hmmm, running long again, I see. Please be patient with me, Mr. Krashos, as I sign off now and return with a third post to deal with Marsemban street names. This “setting things straight” business is more than a full-time occupation; my admiration for you, and Mr. Boyd, and Faraer, and so many other Realms fans increases.
Steady winds for now,
THO
A labour of love, if it can be described, with a streak of masochism thrown in for fun. I especially love coming up with new Realmslore for Ed. It's akin to showing a yo-yo champion a new trick on his oldest, most favourite yo yo.
-- George Krashos
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"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jul 2004 : 23:59:17
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Time to wrap up Marsember at last. Or not, if I know my fellow inquisitive scribes.
It’s time to tackle street names, at least as much of them as I learned while running a character through the city in the ‘home’ Realms campaign. I can add very little to what Ed sent off to the DUNGEON folks, except of course locate them on the published map. With the islands named, it’s relatively easy (so you’ll need to reference my earlier post).
ASSANDER STREET runs north from a T-junction with another street near the south end of Harmuth Isle, and proceeds via bridges north across Antanmaran’s Isle to the mainland city, where it crosses Calathanter Street and curves northwest to a city walltower and then southwest again to end in a moot with Calathanter Street.
CALATHANTER STREET runs east from the northern arch of the western gate of Marsember to meet with the end of Assander Street (see above) and then run on east clear across the city to enter the naval base through its northernmost gate, and end in a moot with the Dockmarch there.
CHANCEVER STREET begins in a moot with Calathanter Street that’s between Calathanter’s two meetings with Assander Street. It curves northeast to run along the city wall, where Stormhold (the home of Filfaeril Stormbillow, sorceress and seller of magic items and potions; see my first post for the correct location of this building, which is DUNGEON map feature #14) fronts on it. Chancever then curves southeast across Calathanter, passes along the south walls of Haelithtorntowers, the walled estate of Lady Joysil Ambrur and DUNGEON map feature #16) and is carried onto Old Arn Isle by the more westerly of the two northshore bridges of that island. It then runs east along the spine of Old Arn, to end in a moot with Varanth Lane.
DAUNSUL STREET begins in a moot with Chancever Street just west of Stormhold (see above), and runs south and east to reach Nornsar Isle via a bridge, and there end in a moot with Hammarhantus Lane.
DOCKMARCH (almost always “The Dockmarch” to Marsembans) is the cobbled street that runs from The Harbortower (DUNGEON map feature #36) all around the docks of the naval base, to end near the tip of Watchfire Point (the most southerly cape or spit of the naval base, east of Wrauntwreck Isle).
FENDROL’S WAY enters Marsember via the southern arch of the city’s western gate, and runs east and south to cross (via bridges, of course) Harmuth Isle, West Darnmist, and East Darnmist, before ending in a moot with another street on Stormrock Isle, at the front gates of Iyrinthorn (the city villa of the Illance noble family, and DUNGEON map feature #22).
GELGULD LANE exits the naval base through the southernmost of its two gates and parallels the mainland city shore to a moot with Tarnsar Lane right outside the front doors of Felgontar’s Firehelm (large, popular, and respectable dining-house, and DUNGEON map feature #11).
HAMMARHANTUS LANE begins in a streetmoot at the center of Baerouth’s Isle, and takes a bridge north to Nornsar Isle, where it meets with the southern end of Daunsul Street ere continuing east via a bridge to cross Gauntan Isle and take another bridge on east to Sharmran Isle, and from there northeast via yet another bridge to Old Arn Isle, where it ends in a moot with Chancever Street.
TARNSAR LANE begins at a city walltower due north of the smithy belonging to Uorn Hallowhand, Armorer, Chainmaker, and Weaponsmith (mistakenly marked #13 on the DUNGEON map; see my first post about Marsember), and runs east and south to cross Calathanter Street and turn south to a moot with Gelguld Lane by Felgontar’s Firehelm (large, popular, and respectable dining-house, and DUNGEON map feature #11), and on southeast from there via a bridge to Gauntan Isle, to end there in a moot with Hammarhantus Lane hard by Morningmist Hall (the city’s temple of Lathander, and DUNGEON map feature #12).
THELVARSPIKE LANE begins at the front doors of Luckfist Hall (Marsember’s shrine to Tymora, and DUNGEON map feature #20), and runs south across Calathanter Street to curve southeast and then south again, and end in a moot with Gelguld Lane.
VARANTH LANE begins in a moot with Gelguld Lane just west of the southernmost gate of the naval base, and takes a bridge south and east to Old Arn Isle, where it meets the eastern end of Chancever Street and continues south via another bridge to Wrauntwreck Isle, where it curves southeast and then back southwest in a great arc around Bracegauntlet Gard (fortified mansion of the Bracegauntlet noble family, and DUNGEON map feature #33) to cross onto Aertoprann’s Isle, where it promptly ends in a streetmoot.
THE LIGHTLESS LAMP has recently become an important meeting-place and reference point for Marsembans, and features in the action in ELMINSTER’S DAUGHTER. It’s nothing more than a broken street-lamp on Thelvarspike Lane (which remains unfixed for reasons too complicated to delve into here), and is located at a point on Thelvarspike that can be readily found on the superbly-drawn DUNGEON map by counting buildings up the west side of Thelvarspike from its end-moot with Gelguld Lane. A building stands on the northwest corner of that moot, and another building abuts it to the north. Then there’s a little space before one reaches a large and oddly-shaped warehouse, that’s been extended to join another large warehouse to the southwest. Continuing past the warehouse up Thelvarspike, one next comes to a much smaller, almost square building standing alone -- which is the site of the Lightless Lamp.
And there you have it: ‘Marsember Mended,’ if you will. I hope this has been of help to scribes planning to use Marsember in a Realms campaign; I know Ed has been frustrated by several missed chances over the years for TSR and then WotC to print street names for Suzail and Silverymoon, because he takes the view that without the major streets being named in published products, it’s hard for DMs to use cities as long-term campaign settings without a great likelihood that future Realms products will grandly contradict whatever name a particular DM gives to a street -- and that it’s hard even to keep Realms novels and sourcebooks consistent, or easily pinpoint city locations and features, without named streets to refer to.
Yet I’ve tarried too long, and must away!
Cloak round me, and I ride to greet the day!
THO
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2004 : 00:50:25
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| Muy buen. Maybe we can prevail on Erik Mona to make the map available as a high-res unlabelled download. |
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David Lázaro
Acolyte
Spain
37 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2004 : 01:33:27
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
I know Ed has been frustrated by several missed chances over the years for TSR and then WotC to print street names for Suzail and Silverymoon, [...]
So, could we humbly request a similar treatment for Silverymoon, Lady Sir? 
There are some details available in the My Slice of Silverymoon article by Ed but it's been frustratingly hard trying to match the descriptions therein to the map. Besides, it only covers the Holowhar quarter and its surroundings. The good thing is that the map is publicly available at the article and any description provided by you should be easier to follow.
I must say that I love all the detail that has gone into Silverymoon since Silver Marches was published. It makes for a very interesting place to base a campaign. I'm planning on starting a low level campaign there next month. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2004 : 03:06:43
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Oh, dear: yes, in the fullness of time I hope you'll see Silverymoon get the same treatment. More than that I know I can't say, except to cry: NDA! NDA!
(Sorry)
THO |
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David Lázaro
Acolyte
Spain
37 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2004 : 03:28:39
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Oh...
If that means that there's more content on its way... One can always hope.
Well, thanks anyway. Maybe I'll be more lucky with some more general questions in the future (that is when I finish reviewing this thread ). |
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Lashan
Learned Scribe
USA
235 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2004 : 12:54:31
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| Dungeon has stated that they are going to start offering downloads for the various maps that they put in their magazine. Unfortunatly, that does not include this month's issue. I just checked on their website and don't see a downloadable map listed. Perhaps we can get them to put one up after they start to do it? |
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Archmage Daraath
Acolyte
Canada
2 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2004 : 16:21:06
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Thanks Ed, sorry it took me so long to thank you, but I don't come here often. While I'll admit to writing fanfics, I do so to tell the kind of stories that you'd never get way with, aka erotic. I have also written stories for the web that are non fan fiction, but are erotic. I didn't mean to suggest that you read any as that could put you in an problematic situation.
I'm not afraid of lawsuits, I've got squat for WOTC to take. Plus I hate corporations(I'd call them the Great Satans, but I'm a pagan and I didn't belive in Satan) so anything that pisses them off, as long as it doesn't hurt innocents like yourself, pleases me greatly.
I have another question, please. I personal I'm not upset at the fictualizing of various pagan Gods such as Tyr, because I can seperate the real historical God, from the fictional TSR one, but have you ever dealt with pagans that have found such actions offensive? |
"To thine own self be true, for it follows, as night the day, thu canst not be false to anyman" |
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Beowulf
Learned Scribe
Canada
322 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2004 : 00:07:12
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quote:
Originally posted by Archmage Daraath
I have another question, please. I personal I'm not upset at the fictualizing of various pagan Gods such as Tyr, because I can seperate the real historical God, from the fictional TSR one, but have you ever dealt with pagans that have found such actions offensive?
As a Teutonic heathen, and as a sworn of Tiw (aka TyR) in specific, I personally find the use of the gods of my folk rather disconcerting. It bothers me. It especially bothers me when I see some writer portraying one of the gods of my folk in a vain and overly human manner as in that Marco Volo adventure trilogy.
At the same time, I stand in wonder at who the heck and why the heck someone put Thunor's (aka ThorR) hammer in Tiw's hand. As far as Teutonic scholars and theologians go, I'm the only one to have ever advanced the theory that the hammer of the thunderer originally belonged to Tiw (a la Dyaus, Zeus, Jupiter). So, what gives? Other than that it seems perfectly logical of course.
All-in-all, I tend to just avoid the issue by not using those deities that make me feel like I'm profaning the holy. With Tiw its easy as Torm makes for a good substitute. Or we just resort to calling him Grimjaws.
I suppose it also helps that I tend to run the gods as being alot more mysterious then is typical of FR.
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"Ill tempered the wretch, who laughs at everyone. He cannot recognize, as he should, that he is not without faults." the High One, Poetic Edda |
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Gerath Hoan
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
152 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2004 : 13:12:35
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Hi Ed,
Sorry, i don't want to pile up yet more questions for you, but my curiosity just won't be satisfied sometimes. 
My main question is could you tell me a little about the humble activites of tea-drinking and smoking in the Realms? What substances are used and what are the methods of partaking in them? (tobacco? primative cigarettes or only pipes?) What little bits of culture and etiquette get bound up into these activities?
So far i only know of Elminster smoking his pipe, but i have no idea of the cultural origins of this activity or what precisely he smokes (tobacco i assume, but it could be any one of a number of things given that this is a fantasy world).
Its just this sort of everyday activity i like to highlight to give flavour to my games... i wasn't expecting you to provide cultural examples for the whole Realms though, gods forbid! My main interest is in Cormyr and the Dales (and to a lesser extent Sembia) and the North (meaning mostly the Silver Marches and to a degree Waterdeep). Any lore you could provide me with would be much appreciated.
Oh, and as an aside, i've just returned home for the summer to where my parents live in the Westcountry of England (Wiltshire to be precise), and after re-reading all my sources on Harrowdale (in response to your excellent Realmslore posted here not so long ago) i was wondering if this part of the world was an inspiration to you when first imagining that particular Dale? The descriptions really strike a chord with me and seem to match the beloved landscape of my home. Sigh.
Sorry for keeping you from your writings, i look forward to your next release!
Gerath Hoan |
Knight of the Order of the Keen Eye - Granted by Ed Greenwood, 30th January 2005 |
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Bergan
Acolyte
14 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2004 : 13:37:31
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Dear Ed and THO,
Since Elminster is so well known in the Realms one can understand his use of magical guises on an almost daily basis in order to get his work done.
Are there any he regularly employs in particular regions (particularly interested in Waterdeep and Silverymoon for campaign reasons). Or are they just ad hoc depemdent on whim? |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2004 : 15:19:00
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| Ed's told us what Elminster smokes here. I wonder how well-known Elminster really is; I dare say the name is commonly known to mages, and to *some* other folk, but I'm averse to the idea of any kind of Faerûnwide celebrity, and surely only a relatively few people know him by sight (albeit people he may not want to be seen by). |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2004 : 15:30:19
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Ah, such juiciness for Ed to bite into, the moment he has the time. Until then, it falls to me to relay what I know of his opinions and intent.
To David Lázaro: yes, it does mean more content (solid, meaty lore, and lots of it) is on its way, somewhere and somehow – but not soon enough to help with your campaign right now, I’m afraid.
Lashan, I’d LOVE to get my hands on a ‘blank’ Marsember map. Even if I didn’t itch to correct city locations, a blank map of every city visited should be part of every DM’s toolbox for use in play.
Archmage Daraath, Ed has one pagan among his original players, and play in the Realms has always reflected what we players like, dislike, and want to do (we vote on RSEs and rule adoptions, remember). In the case of the gods, Beowulf has hit upon Ed’s approach: eschew the Graeco-Roman view of making the gods “larger than life mortals with very human foibles” in favour of keeping them VERY mysterious. When Mielikki appeared to Florin, and we saw Mystra, we were literally shaking and sobbing with awe. Part of that was having Ed describing and roleplaying (he has few equals as a ham actor ), but part of that was how rare Ed kept godly appearances, and how he built them up so that we, through our characters, did believe in them and tremble at their presence.
Ed prefers manifestations rather than avatars striding around talking and doing things. An example of a manifestation: a worshipper of Lathander wonders aloud if an action is right, or a battle should be joined – and a rosy glow appears out of nowhere to surround their weapon, or point the way. Keeping things mystical avoids all of the problems of disrespect or incorrect divine details Beowulf mentions, makes for better roleplaying, and really makes us regard the gods as special.
Gerath Hoan, I’ll pass your queries about tea and smoking on to Ed (to join a long queue, I’m afraid). As for Harrowdale: yes, Ed was inspired in part by England’s Westcountry. He loves the countryside of all of the British Isles and visits as often as he can (not very often these days, I’m afraid). As for Ed’s next game release, now that Serpent Kingdoms is out (and not counting web columns, magazine articles, and sourcebooks by others that he just quietly helped with ‘behind the scenes’), that’d probably be CASTLEMORN, despite its ever-receding publication date. His next fiction release will probably be the novelette “Stormsong” in SUMMONED TO DESTINY (Realms of Wonder 1), edited by Julie Czerneda and published by Trifolium (an imprint of FitzHenry & Whiteside), which is yet another superb-for-gaming fantasy setting. I don’t know how he does it: world after world just spins off the man’s fingertips!
Bergan, you’re right about Elminster’s almost daily use of magical guises. Yes, whim often guides his choices (as do situations: if you want to get close to a merchant who’s entering a brothel, your choice of shape is rather obvious), but El tends to slip into characters he’s used and developed before, often traveling merchants, for which he has developed detailed histories, accents, etc. I’ll pass on your query to Ed, and we’ll see if he’ll reveal favourites (to me, one of his players, remember? ).
Ed tells me he has a day to read and blurb a novel by someone else and write a short story before he can finish Lathtarl’s Lantern for Borch. Sigh.
Until next,
THO
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Bergan
Acolyte
14 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2004 : 15:47:57
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Thanks Faraer and THO (phew, that was a speedy response) 
I doubt as well that Elminster is that well known as a personality - but his appearance is rather distinctive and would likely stick in people's minds. So agents of various nefarious organisations would hear pretty darn quick if he's been around if they ask. Especially in a major town like Silverymoon.
I was really wondering if he had any tried and tested disguises in the regions I mentioned: whether any of Alustriel's court, for instance, actually El when he needs to be around, and not a real person at all - or whether he "kidnaps" and temporarily replaces real people. Or if he makes more use of generic appearances.
My campaign is running on political and criminal underworld intrigues in Silverymoon, Neverwinter and waterdeep, so I wondered how El might slip in there. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2004 : 15:50:37
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By the way, Ed will be doing two sessions of a workshop for aspiring writers at GenCon. He e-shuddered when I asked him about its title, so I suspect it’ll be far more informal and helpful than any sort of Lecture From The Great Man; he usually likes GenCon events to be Q&A format so they can be as useful as possible to those who attend.
This is Ed’s GenCon schedule thus far (Elminster Q&A may or may not happen):
Ed Greenwood Tells You How writers workshop Thursday 11-12 am
Marriott Ballroom Section 8
WotC Booth Signing Friday 1-2
WORLD BUILDING FOR RPGS seminar (panel with many other pros) Friday 3-4 pm
Marriott Ballroom Section 8
Ed Greenwood Tells You How writers workshop Saturday 10-11 am
Marriott Ballroom Section 8
WotC Booth Signing Saturday 1-2
Spin a Yarn with Ed Greenwood seminar (the usual torture for straight woman Mary-Elizabeth Allen  ) Saturday 4-6 pm
Marriott Ballroom Section 9-10
WotC Forgotten Realms seminar (panel with the WotC FR team) Sunday 12-2
Marriott Ballroom Section 9-10
Your roving Realms reporter,
THO
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Gerath Hoan
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
152 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2004 : 17:07:52
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| Thanks for your help Lady Hooded One... and please pass on my sincere apologies to Ed for adding to his ever mounting workload! Its just we love his work so... |
Knight of the Order of the Keen Eye - Granted by Ed Greenwood, 30th January 2005 |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2004 : 19:17:10
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GenCon Indy attendees may have noticed the one real flaw in the venue: lack of smallish meeting rooms. This in turn means there aren't enough of the big ballrooms/function rooms to go around, and lack of them has cost us the Elminster Q & A this year.
However, Ed says you can still ask El questions at the Spin A Yarn and the FR Sunday panel, and he'll channel the Old Mage for the usual rude and windy responses. 
THO
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jul 2004 : 04:49:14
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Ed is busy trying to finish up a trio of short stories before he gets in the car and races off to the Conestoga Mall in Waterloo, Ontario, for the last stop on his current signing tour (he’ll be at the Coles there from 1-3 pm on Saturday July 24th, for any interested scribes in the area), so I’ll snatch this opportunity to belatedly reply to SiriusBlack and inform interested scribes in so doing.
Sirius, Ed is pleased your player enjoyed THE KINGLESS LAND, and hopes she likes the rest of the series. Being the first Band of Four book, “Kingless” works best of them all as a ‘stand-alone-I’m-only-gonna-read-one-of-these’ titles, but it is the first of four, the others being:
2. THE VACANT THRONE
3. A DRAGON’S ASCENSION
4. THE DRAGON’S DOOM
(These are all available in mass market paperback from TOR Books, and the earlier TOR hardcover editions may still be found remaindered or used; they’re also available on unabridged audio cassette from Blackstone Audiobooks, Inc.)
I found them all to be fast-paced, enjoyable romps.
The fifth Chronicle of Aglirta, THE SILENT HOUSE, is somewhat like CORMYR: A NOVEL in format, only with very abbreviated present-day scenes. In all of the Band of Four quartet, the haunted palace of the Silvertree noble family, Silvertree House, appears at least briefly as a setting: it’s a vast, sprawling crumbling ruin that seems to change by itself, with towers rising and falling, new wings sprouting, and so on. It is, of course, inhabited by monsters who feed on the many treasure-seekers who venture into the House in search of the fabled Silvertree riches. The nickname “The Silent House” comes from the fact that anyone of Silvertree blood goes mad if they spend too long inside the palace, so none of the Silvertrees dare dwell there (hence, it’s theoretically deserted and silent). THE SILENT HOUSE tells the story of this palace from when it was first built up through the centuries to the present day (that is, the time of the Band of Four, who appear only in the last few chapters). Most reviews of the first four books were of the “thrilling if you like game-related fantasy” variety, but for THE SILENT HOUSE Ed got the sort of review from Publishers Weekly that most writers would kill for; someone finally looked past the blood and monsters to note that Ed was writing superb, many-layered stuff. This book is hardcover only, right now, but there’ll be a mass market edition soon enough.
Ed’s editor for these books is Brian Thomsen, former head of TSR’s Books Department, and Brian wanted Ed to write books very much in the Realms mode, so the writing style shouldn’t be too much of a wrench for those used to TSR/WotC books (a trifle more adult, a smidgeon more sophisticated).
Ed tells me there are plans for at least two future books delving into the dawn of magic in Darsar (the world in which these books are set: “Aglirta” is the name of a single river-valley kingdom where almost all of the action in Ed’s books occurs).
No one should worry that Ed’s turning his back on the Realms, of course. There have already been discussions of the book Ed should write AFTER the Knights trilogy, and plans for at least two top-secret Realms projects (and probably a lot more I haven’t even managed to get a whiff of) directly involving Ed.
Your servant in Realmslore,
THO
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jul 2004 : 04:54:53
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I’m also going to respond to an entreaty by Krafus, and provide another little anecdote from the ‘home’ Realms campaign, as follows:
Early on in our time in Shadowdale, a Harper brought word to Storm Silverhand of an old Cormyrean noblewoman disappearing during a shopping visit to Hillsfar, and of the increasingly frantic attempts of her relatives to uncover her fate or whereabouts. Maalthiir’s clerks and envoys met the most direct queries with sly demands for funds to “help them conduct searches.”
This noblewoman, Bethra Battlebar, had been a Harper spy in her younger days, and remained a font of knowledge concerning private mercantile alliances among traders in Cormyr, Sembia, and Hillsfar (and attempts by Zhentil Keep and by various Thayan interests to infiltrate these), so her fate was also of interest to the Harpers.
Storm told Florin of this matter, and he agreed to go and try to find and bring back Bethra. Unbeknownst to him, he was being used by the Harpers as a decoy, to rampage around Hillsfar drawing Maalthiir’s interest whilst more experienced Harpers did the real snooping. Florin was wise enough to know that his activities as the envoy of Shadowdale had made him more than a little well-known in the northern Dales and vicinity, so he hit upon the plan of using magical disguises on himself and the rest of us Knights, so we could ‘take over’ as caravan guards for a caravan running up through Shadowdale to Hillsfar.
Jhaele Silvermane agreed to aid in the switch, knowing of a caravan master, one Lorthan Mendlen of Elturel, whose guards were giving him troubles (he’d lost some veterans to death or wounds, had others ailing of various sicknesses, had some green replacements on his hands, and also had some replacements he frankly suspected of being spies for the Zhents and just waiting to betray him into disaster). When Lorthan’s run from Amn reached Suzail, he lost two of his best guards in a suspicious knife-fight, and was forced to continue with two more possibly-unreliable replacements. He called in a favour and managed to find out when the next Court messenger was riding out to the the Cormyrean trade-agent in Mistledale (this was in the days before that unfortunate diplomat was murdered by the Zhents), and offered to provide the man with the escort of a caravan, so that the bodyguard the Court would have to find could be much reduced. This scheme worked: if any of Lorthan’s men were planning to betray the caravan to bandits or worse, they did nothing under the watchful eye of riders who were almost certainly retired veteran Purple Dragons drawing triple pension pay for bodyguard duty.
Lorthan knew who in Mistledale could get word to Alok, and ensure that a caravan picking its way up the narrow Ashabenford-bank trail through the woods from Mistledale to Shadowdale would have an elven escort that would keep forest marauders of all sorts at bay—elves who’d show themselves once or twice, to keep potential traitors among Lorthan’s men honest, too.
So it was that Lorthan reached the Old Skull Inn safely, Jhaele spiked some wine and ale, and one group of caravan guards were spirited away to a certain farm at the north end of Shadowdale for rest, healing, and a covert watch over them by Harpers to see who tried to steal away and make contact with someone, and who didn’t. An identical group of replacements (us) took over for the run through Voonlar (some tense moments there) and Yulash, to Hillsfar -- where the real fun began.
It seems that some of the merchants Bethra Battlebar had been gathering information on had become aware of her scrutiny, and decided to butcher the old lady. Wiser heads had remembered that she might be worth quite a ransom to her kin, and in the meantime could be pumped for all the other information she might know (especially about trade rivals). So she must be kept hidden but very much alive.
Sharp-witted old Bethra commenced to invent plausible but false information about all sorts of things and feed it to her captors -- but soon became aware that someone was magically sliding into her mind, to try to ‘listen in.’ She suspected it might be Maalthiir himself, and adjusted her revelations accordingly, trying to make her captors seem dangerous in his eyes and also trying to exaggerate the interest of various Sembians in being Maalthiir’s foe and eventual downfall.
Maalthiir soon sent some agents to take custody of her, but other interests covertly moving into the city (from Calaunt, Mulmaster, Thay, and Zhentil Keep), who had wizards of their own, were able to frustrate Maalthiir’s forces -- and a deadly cat-and-mouse game began.
We, of course, crashed right into the middle of it, and were initially thought by everyone involved to be slayers hired by one of the other parties involved. So we got clobbered from all sides, with Harpers coming out of the woodwork all over Hillsfar trying to keep us alive so we’d continue to be the diversion they needed, while they tried to track down and rescue old Bethra before Maalthiir himself could.
Our stay in Hillsfar became one long running battle, and I think we’d have perished the moment exhaustion claimed us if it hadn’t been for a little hidey-gem that Dove had given Florin, that provided us with an extra-dimensional safehold to retreat into for rest, spell-studying, and the like: at a cost of our life-forces (it drained anyone staying in it of hit points, more the longer their tarrying).
Lorthan didn’t understand anything of what was really going on, of course (though he knew quite well who we were), and he called in another favour trying to help us.
This consisted of rousing an old adventuring companion and onetime lover of his out of retirement to help us: a fat, sour, ugly-as-an-old-boot mage named Natharra Haedlun, who just wanted to be left alone to shuffle around her shop farting and smoking a gigantic pipe, and paint twee little pictures of large-eyed kittens and dancing miniature dragons to sell to anyone interested. Natharra happened to be a more powerful mage than Maalthiir and several of the wizards ranged against him combined, and handed them all their scorched-robe behinds whilst keeping her own identity entirely concealed from them.
From then on, she retreated from the fray but kept magical watch over us. Not to help us, but to watch us as her daily entertainment as we scrambled to stay alive and find Bethra. SHE located Bethra right away, of course, and left a nice little trap waiting for Maalthiir so that whenever he tried to sidle back into Bethra’s mind, or snuff it out, he got a backlash that left him senseless for the better part of a day.
Some of the Harpers eventually found Bethra and tried to rescue her. Unfortunately, she thought they were a new batch of nastier kidnappers, and did them much harm -- enough to allow some of the Zhents to find her, and do battle with said Harpers.
We hadn’t found Bethra or these Harpers, but we had tracked down a few of the Zhents, and as they converged across the city to vanquish the Harpers and take Bethra, we converged with them.
Wily old Lorthan wasn’t done helping us, however. He managed to get hold of a middling-rank Red Plume commander of some sort and point out all of this rapid and violent convergence -- and convince the man that Hillsfar was under attack.
So in the space of a few short hornblasts we had the Red Plumes converging, too! Florin muttered something about it would be much appreciated for once if Elminster bampfed in to stage a sardonic rescue, about now, and this apparently made Natharra almost choke with laughter.
She DID choke, a few breaths later, when a Zhent tried to put a blade through Bethra and she, yes, turned into Elminster on the spot, and promptly blasted more than a few of the Zhents and Red Plumes back across the city. Then the Old Mage grinned at us, announced that he’d just whisked Bethra Battlebar back to her mansion in Cormyr and taken her place, wished us a pleasant adventure -- and vanished into thin air!
We Knights, of course, were left in the heart of Hillsfar, with an apoplectic Maalthiir hurling orders and murderous forces right and left, the Red Plumes riding in from all directions looking for folks to kill, various Zhents and sinister forces of Calaunt and Mulmaster and the Watching Gods alone knew who else trying to slay us, and a few Harpers (holding a by-then-wounded Lorthan) giving us dark looks and muttering about our less than subtle tactics as they gathered around us.
It was Torm who thought of the sewers, of course. It was Jhessail who promised to pull every last one of his body hairs out by the roots, eventually, if she had to submerge herself entirely in human sewage and swim to safety -- and it was Islif who had the satisfaction of drowning two Zhentarim wizards in said sewage during our frantic flight.
The Harpers saved us all by knowing how to get to a gate (portal) that whisked us into the backwoods of Turmish. We never did find out who’d made that gate, or why, because our precipitous arrival in that distant country landed us right in the heart of another lot of adventures, beginning with this:
Suspicious farmer of Turmish, with pitchfork in hand: “Come out of there, all of you -- and come out crawling! Who by Beshaba the Bitchlass are you, anyway?”
Torm (entirely covered with stinking excrement, except for his eyes and a wide, cheesy “you’re not gonna believe this, are you?” grin): “We’re devout followers of Ilmater, doing our Dung Penance, sir! A great magic worked by our temple has transported us here, at your mercy -- and, uh, where IS here, anyway?”
Farmer: “Expect me to believe that, horse-thieves?”
Jhessail (spitting shit): “I don’t give a flying left nipple what you believe, old man -- but if you don’t take that fork away and let me climb into yon pond and wash, right away, I’ll make you believe we’re all mightly-pissed-off archmages who can blast you clear across the Vilhon in an instant -- and I’ll make you believe it the HARD way!”
Farmer: “Oh, well, lass -- why didn’t ye just SAY so? Pond, sure, there she be . . . uh, can ye really make yer left nipple fly?”
(THAT, of course, was the line Torm recalled for Jhessail’s benefit, farmer’s hopeful accent and all, many times during the year that followed, until she finally crafted an illusion spell, complete with spurting blood as the bodily feature in question apparently tore free of the rest of her that fooled him into thinking she’d done just that. She chose to do it while he was eating, of course -- and was it her fault that he’d just drunk a very fine jack of firewine, and was startled into returning most of it to Faerûn, via his nose?)
There you go, Krafus. See what you’ve unleashed?
(Yes, the other end of my leash is lying just over there. Go on, be brave. Try to pick it up.)
THO
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jul 2004 : 05:10:50
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Thanks THO for the information on Band of Four series. My player finished the second book but I have yet to talk in depth with her on what she thought of that novel. I know she has the first four books and plans to read all in a row. However, I'm not sure she has the fifth book or is even aware of its publication. Thanks for letting me know I have to ask her.
quote:
No one should worry that Ed’s turning his back on the Realms, of course. There have already been discussions of the book Ed should write AFTER the Knights trilogy,
Is the plan for the Knights trilogy to involve the publication of one title per year? |
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Josh Davids
Seeker
57 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jul 2004 : 06:13:15
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| (looks at the schedule for GenCon 2004 and mutters a bit) ok it is official I will sell my soul to attend this years GenCon, of all the years to miss, oyi. All of those I would be attending this year if I could. Ah well, one more regret in life. |
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Questions for Ed Greenwood (2004)
Topic Locked
