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Originally posted by AJA


MISC'LLANEA
Every night, Oghma had a thought. And every night before bed, Oghma took that thought and swallowed it, keeping it locked deep within his great belly.

And every night the insolent Lathander crept down the Binder's snoring gullet and stole that thought, and brought it forth upon the dawn, and whispered it into the ear of the Sun, so that the Sun might then rise and shout it forth across all Faer#251;n.
        -Excerpted from The Chondathan Book of Tales, various authors, compiled by Elskedra of Teziir, 1236DR)

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Originally posted by sleyvas

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Originally posted by AJA


MISC'LLANEA
Every night, Oghma had a thought. And every night before bed, Oghma took that thought and swallowed it, keeping it locked deep within his great belly.

And every night the insolent Lathander crept down the Binder's snoring gullet and stole that thought, and brought it forth upon the dawn, and whispered it into the ear of the Sun, so that the Sun might then rise and shout it forth across all Faerûn.
        -Excerpted from The Chondathan Book of Tales, various authors, compiled by Elskedra of Teziir, 1236DR)

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And lo, the roosters heard the idea best and would crow it upon the wind for all to hear who might be less inclined to listen with a pillow over their eyes. Thus its said that the best inventors wake up early with the cock crows and Oghma is made secretly pleased.

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Originally posted by AJA


and the independent steading of Nevermaiden (whose sons are all daughters, and dance beneath trestles of high-wreathed honeysuckle and thousand-starred wild twine)...

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Originally posted by sleyvas
On your notes regarding skyships, I have heard that not just any giant sea turtle shell will work towards the creation of skyships. In fact, the giant sea turtles whose shells can be used on skyships seem to have ties back to breeding with dragon turtles. While that would make most think that this would make their shells inclined to water travel, not air, it in fact makes these shells "elementally inclined", and the use of levitation spells works on the shells in a way that others would call a form of "metamagic".... taking the natural inclination of the shells and changing them from water oriented to air oriented. There have in fact been some wizards who have been rumored to have applied these same theories to turtle shells to allow them to sail on pools of lava unhindered or even sail across the earth by "metamagically enhancing" them with fire shield and stoneskin respectively.

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Originally posted by AJA

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Originally posted by sleyvas
On your notes regarding skyships, I have heard that not just any giant sea turtle shell will work towards the creation of skyships. In fact, the giant sea turtles whose shells can be used on skyships seem to have ties back to breeding with dragon turtles. While that would make most think that this would make their shells inclined to water travel, not air, it in fact makes these shells "elementally inclined", and the use of levitation spells works on the shells in a way that others would call a form of "metamagic".... taking the natural inclination of the shells and changing them from water oriented to air oriented. There have in fact been some wizards who have been rumored to have applied these same theories to turtle shells to allow them to sail on pools of lava unhindered or even sail across the earth by "metamagically enhancing" them with fire shield and stoneskin respectively.

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Interesting. Most interesting. I had an acquaintance down Veldorn way, who told tale of a wizardly cabal which harvested the living lungs of a red wyrm and installed them into the lower hold of such a vessel. His correspondence claimed that the ship then managed to achieve flight in the same way as those utilizing elemental propulsions. He also swore that the timbers of the airship constantly flexed and bowed, as if in macabre imitation of drawing and exhaling breath as it soared through the skies. And that the rudder was fashioned of dragonspine running up amidships, and even entwined into the bow (I did not dare to ask him what, if anything, was utilized of the brain!).

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Originally posted by AJA


Azurardham (N DM F6)
Son of Thoros, Blood of Khorddham. A princeling of the gold dwarves of Stonendror's Crag in the southern Shaar. Named for the draconic cohort of his grandfather, the blue wyrm Azaurdhaeghrul of the Thousand Thunderings. An avid hunter and gamesman. He has made himself no friends amongst the wemic tribes of the Shaaran grasslands, as they are currently his favorite prey. Travels with the Bold-Bloods, a coterie of young dwarven nobility, fellow huntsmen, overly-dramatic bardlings, and hard drinkers.

Baruskar
Born in Unther; has spent most of his adult life accumulating power in neighboring Chessenta. Gaunt, haughty, darkly-glittering. Hair of white-streaked blue-black, carefully curled and styled; thick dark beard. Deep voice, as penetrating as his stare ("he mutters incantations as others mutter swears"). Said to have a heart "as cold as the northern ice." Never found without his long-twined walking-staff, topped by a winged lion carved of living ruby ("a summoner of tooth and talon and roaring louder, ever louder, once enraged"). An adventurer of undeniable prowess; survived the siege of The Bireme Towers, the assault on The Vermilion Garrison, the extra-planar Cages of Bronze, and the personal enmity of Torusk of the Ingenious Chains (a Naer-Talun [Master of the Host] of the demon lord Graz'zt; handsome and vulgar; bathed in scents of rose and lily and drippings of scarlet pomegranate; gold chains in his ears, gold chains about his neck, gold chains linking his beringed fingers). Not a member of the Cimbaran Senate, but still one of the highest (and mightiest) among the Sceptanar's inner council. Quite willing to sell access to the ear of the Sceptanar; please beware of what payments he may ask in return.

Erlogar Sarhawk "The Curator of Unmasked Lords"
A Trades Ward sage with a very specific focus, that being the carefully-curated names and histories of known Hidden Lords of the past, their social stratus, public personas and recorded statements, and meticulous examination of what picture that forms of how the Lords traditionally choose to add to their ranks. Has the merchant Sammereza Sulphontis high on his list of current Lords (which few believe), as well as the powerful, outspoken and conservative noble Maskar Wands (which most seem to).

Orando the Well-Watcher
Fat, short, half-haired. Cheerful, amiable, a lover of gossip. A peripatetic seller of rush and floor-straw (along with the fragrant herbs commonly used to scatter among it). Well-known among the commonfolk of the Lower Wards. The communal wells and water pumps of Waterdeep are tied only with the city's taverns and tankard-houses as gathering spots for the exchange of gossip, slander, and salacious rumor, and Orando makes sure to frequent them all. Hears things, sees things. Reports back to Surrolph Hlakken, his contact among the Red Sashes. Occasionally sells a juicy morsel of information to other, less enlightened power brokers, but only if doing so won't imbalance the general status quo. Plus, a man's got to eat, after all.

Riorsk the Bull-Lion
A champion of the Thousand Thunders pride of the Western Shaar; enjoys the delights (and brawling challenges) of the festhalls and taverns of the cities of Ormpur and Shiertalar as much as the hunts and boundary skirmishes of his native lands. A great, cheerful wemic brute; powerful, rippling muscle, stout, of bright chestnut-sorrel, with cream-colored calves and tail and flowing mane, the latter of which he keeps dyed a vibrant blood-red. Everpresent in panoply of tawny lion's-mane cloak (lined inside with diamond-patterned cloth of gold and red), Calishite damasked-steel breastplate and bracers, and his accumulated scars of sword and hot irons. Legends claim at the dawnbreak celebrations before The Battle Beyond the Sunset ("where the red glow of the setting sun was long outshone by the awful crimson tide of blood on the starlit field of battle") he trod on the shadow of the goddess Reskurιdra (Red Knight), and in so doing gained great control in battle (the psionic wild talents of danger sense and adrenaline control). Wields a massive glaive of ebony and crimson steel which he won at the battle that gained him his fame but is of a much older, Ilythiiri design.

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&Addendum;

Azaurdhaeghrul of the Thousand Thunderings
(AHZ-aur-DAY-gruhl) Aided the wemic, allowing them to settle comfortably into seasonal camps and amass great herds of meat on the hoof, from which the wyrm would then come and dine at his pleasure; he aided the dwarves as well, who gave him gifts of precious metals and pretty things in return; and, when he caught wind of something he wanted, he would then send the wemic (on the surface) and the dwarves (down below) to raid and retrieve it for him. But then he died (in battle with enemies unhappy with his raids and with his political consolidation of the area) and the dwarves and the wemic were found with no real use for each other, and so here we are.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
An adamantine sai, its monouchi pointing downward and its tsukagashira with its embedded blue gem acting like its "head" to a degree floats forward. It briefly "coughs" as if clearing its "throat" to speak before saying, "Hello, forgive me, my name is Lorey Hisstory, psion sai cyclopedia, and I come with a query about the aforementioned staff of Baruskar with the "living ruby" of a "winged lion" atop it. Given my own nature, I have an extreme interest in living magic items, and I wonder how much you've had a chance to study this living ruby? I was perusing some lore in a treatise on the crystallization of the blood of magical creatures, and I quite wonder if the living ruby wasn't the blood of a sphinx. Do you think this might have been possible?

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Originally posted by AJA

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Originally posted by sleyvas
An adamantine sai, its monouchi pointing downward and its tsukagashira with its embedded blue gem acting like its "head" to a degree floats forward. It briefly "coughs" as if clearing its "throat" to speak before saying, "Hello, forgive me, my name is Lorey Hisstory, psion sai cyclopedia, and I come with a query about the aforementioned staff of Baruskar with the "living ruby" of a "winged lion" atop it. Given my own nature, I have an extreme interest in living magic items, and I wonder how much you've had a chance to study this living ruby? I was perusing some lore in a treatise on the crystallization of the blood of magical creatures, and I quite wonder if the living ruby wasn't the blood of a sphinx. Do you think this might have been possible?

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Oh! Oh gracious my! First of all! – good saer sleyvas, yes yes, I'm sure 'it has a mind of it's own' and all that, but, Good and Lawful Gods Above, you don't just whip it out like that! Have a care, man, that thing could take an eye out!


Ahem...On if I know anything more on these matters....unfortunately, no. Are such things as have been mentioned possible? Surely! – after all, what are the strange and myriad Realms Afar but endless possibilities!; and, as we both know, blood-magic and living bindings do become more common the further South-and-East one travels. But, I regret to admit that is about my sum of it. Lore from the East may be my occasional curiosity, but it is by no means my main area of expertise – that, of course, I leave to you; and in that manner I have felt that our collaboration has been most rewarding.

...I forget if it is specifically in Unther or Chessenta (or both) that you are a bit.... 'mage-assassin non grata' at the moment, but I trust that you still have your contacts and your methods. If you (or your, err... 'sai'), should uncover anything else on the subject, let it be known that I would be most interested in hearing whatever you have managed to come up with.


Bright Magic and Mystra Forfend,

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Originally posted by AJA


PAGES OF MAGES AND OUTRAGES (AND ALSO, PROBABLY, ROTTEN CABBAGES)

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Eneskϋl, The Book From Which No Words Might Escape
(Save By Invocation and Bewailing)

A bound and hard-spined tome of dark, tooled nagahide, mother-of-pearl inlaid metal edge-caps, and a circular cover-inset of white soapstone, etched with simple elder-runes for weavings, weirds, gladness, and sorrows. On the first interior page is written nothing but the word Eneskϋl; probably fashioned from the Talfir enaer askϋl, or meanings/declarations of dominance/bindings.

Spells of unexpected obstacles, bewilderments, disillusionments, and inexplicable ways. Believed to be crafted, written, and collected, at least in part, by Taldnir, "The Buried King Who Walks," during the first of his reigns. Known to contain the forgotten Talfir enchantments Dorelmandur's Burning Words (as burning hands but vocal; target only affected if in hearing range and can understand caster's chosen language), Izbuscra's Shadowy Seemings (distracting shades leer and leap out at the edges of vision causing -2 to hit in combat, -2 to morale checks, save to avoid instant failure during spell casting), Izbuscra's Utter Darkenings (combined blindness and ray of enfeeblement), Nasklur's Sickened Thinkings (target must save v. spells or psychologically manifest sickness; random roll on disease table for affliction; only curable by dispel magic, cure disease, or heal), and Jiljixsar's Nerve Spiders (target sustains massive dead-nerve ["pins-and-needles"] sensations in all extremities. All to hit and physical action rolls and all DEX-based checks made at -1, and personal movement speed reduced by -2 for duration of the spell); as well as the lesser-known Netherese invocations Yϋlustyry's Cheery Prospects (+2 to morale checks, +2 to saves vs. fear or panic-inducing effects – including dragonfear) and Eljedra's Stormy Passions (grants save v. death to avoid CON loss upon ensuing casting of any permanency spell; also +3 on any NWP check and +10 on any potion miscibility checks for spell duration; however, castor and/or castee suffers -2 to CON/WIS for 2d10 hours after end of spell).

The book first resurfaced in modern Faerϋn in the possession of the acrobatic, occasionally bat-winged thief Isilthϋnra "Dare-and-Do-All," but she is soon recorded in the annals of the Gallery Majesta of Calimport as having agreed to a (many-hundred-gold) lawful transaction with the adventurers of The Fellowship of The Storm ("The Fellowship of the Storm-Greyed Eyes, Formed-For, and Dedicated-To, She Who Bears Them," if you really must know), who claimed afterward to have made copy of most of its contents; but who also, not more than a year after, forfeit and voluntarily relinquished it in a rousing game of the tavern favorite Asleep's the Wyrm, to the dark and embittered heretic priestess of Lliira, Anniskaι "The Merry Nothing," who went on to make especial use of the spell Dorelmandur's Burning Words – and would always make sure to accompany it with a (completely unnecessary) trademark curtsy.
        Niskaι was slain some years after, in a falling-out with her erstwhile business-partner, Hoskras the Under-Dweller (guildmaster of The Hate-Fauchards – or, more colloquially, Them's What Hides Behind The Draperies – a derro thieves cabal long driven out from fallen Phalorm and come to new-found prominence in Scornubel); and the tome claimed by him, before fire and force-of-arms rousted them from their comfortable lair back into the deep warrens under Secomber that were once part of the ancient kingdom of Athalantar.
        Eneskϋl itself disappeared during the chaos of those battles, only to suddenly re-appear mid-1337DR, in the shop of the gnomish butcher and bellycheer Estesker, Son of Glusk, of The Deeproots, proprietor of Stesker's Sweetmeats and Sweetbreads (located in The Comfortable-Coin's Market, hard to the south-west of The Manytankards), a since-exposed contact for the lamia noble Talathtra of the Wicked Delights. It was found there, on a high shelf alongside various accounting scrolls and yellowed jars of preserved meats of uncertain age and provenance, by the mage Braedos of Daggerford. According to entries in Braedos' personal journal, Estesker was unaware of exactly when or how he had acquired the tome, yet seemed curiously reluctant to entertain offers for it.
        Regardless of that, at some point the book made its' way out of Scornubel and into the wilds, where it presumably rested for a time until coming to light in the hands of Jandrasco Sashenstar, a nephew of the legendary explorer Dabron, who snuck it forth from the unearthly eminence of the Isilthorn (a druids' madness, formed and supported by rough hardstone and columns of red porphyry, where faithlessly awakened souls, enflamed by strange wild-fire, danced above great unsettling mosaics either brightly-illumined or very dark). Jandrasco was later lost in an ambush by orcs in the foothills of the Unicorn Run, and the book along with him; no doubt destined to be spirited away, to the desolate ruins of some goblin warren in the nearby Ebonmallows, to never be heard of again – but it is instead, thanks to the little-read broadsheet Vardalbar's Eye-Opener (An Accounting of Such Things That Should Be Noted And Commented Upon), that dutiful sages now know that Eneskϋl was later confirmed to be in the possession of the adventurer – and rumored Harper – Selϋne-Splashed (an Ice Hunter runecaster; great, noticible mottles of bone-white randomly scattered across her dusky skin; considered a child of the moon, blessed in divination, luck, and the seeing of things unseen [except under the light of the pure moon]), who is then said to have taken the book northward into the icy wastes, and who has – thus far – not returned.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
Butcher and Bellycheer.... love that...

Is it true that that book attracts Wendigo?

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Originally posted by AJA



"That night Helm dreamed a strange and disturbing dream.

First he dreamed his sword turned to a snake in his hand, and it bit him deeply.
Then he dreamed his shield burst into seven pieces, shining red as stars, and fell to his feet.
Then he dreamed of Faerϋn, first green and lush and then turned burnt and bleak, erupted with great bubbling pools of chaos.
Overlooking all of this were two manifest eyes, bright and terrible.
And then – he awoke. His sword and shield lay next to him, shining with purpose and strength.

And in that moment Helm knew what was to come, and what he must do to stop it."
        'Helm Steadfast At The Stairs'
        excerpted from The Book of Eternal Vigilance
        (paeans and prose on the lucidity of order and the guardianship of Helm)
        Elembra Rurrae, "Old Ember," Keeper of the High Shelves, Honored Laity of Helm's Hold
        Year of the Wyvern, 1363DR

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Originally posted by ericlboyd
Glad to see you back at these.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
This one looks very fun to play with. Obviously you're hinting to the ToT, but the rest could have some interesting spins. Any particular concept in mind?

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Originally posted by AJA

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Originally posted by sleyvas
This one looks very fun to play with. Obviously you're hinting to the ToT, but the rest could have some interesting spins. Any particular concept in mind?

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Yea, this was written solely with 'Helm and Mystra at the Celestial Stair' in mind (and keep in mind it is meant to be written in-universe as religious fable by a worshiper of Helm, with all of their biases and/or official dogma on display).

That said, it's all pretty standard reference;
'seven...red as stars' is allusion to Mystra, through her holy symbol
'bubbling pools of chaos' is obviously foremost the upcoming "Helmlands" and also the general topographical chaos of the ToT
'overwatching eyes', Ao (could also be Mystra again, the Helmite version being that she forced all of this through her machinations)

The 'sword to snake' is the age-old 'treachery', 'betrayal', as in the upcoming 'betrayal' of his guardianship by the goddess Mystra, 'attacking' him at the Celestial Staircase

In an early draft I also had the sword turning into iron manacles instead, which then wrapped around and bound his wrists. Something, something 'inevitability' and being 'bound' to this duty/fate.
Really, a lot early-on kept leaning hard on the motifs of 'duty' instead of 'guardianship', which can be tricky to distinguish; hopefully the final version reads like it is written for Helm, and not so much for Torm.

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