"Despite the self-aggrandizing puffery of those windbags at Twilight Hall, the Blackstaff stands, as ever, unbowed. But then again, that's what makes him so much fun to tease."
-Kyriani Agrivar
THIS is an absolutely marvelous quote, and I'm very curious as to its origin. I'm 98% certain that I never wrote it, and I was under the impression that I was among the blessed few keeping that little minx in print and continuity. Found the quote on WotC's boards, and I'm just dying to find out from whence it came. Wooly? Anyone?
Page 84 of City of Splendors: Waterdeep. Each of the Prestige Class descriptions includes a quote from a member of that class; this quote is from the Moonstar Agent PrC. The "oh-so-dishy" Kyriani (to use your past words) is now a Wizard 11/Moonstar Agent 3.
And I think you'll like the fact that people who take the Moonstar Agent PrC can continue to advance as Harper Agents, and vice versa.
Edit: My bad. They can't continue to advance in the "rival" class, but they retain all of their abilities from that class -- so a Moonstar Agent who was originally a Harper is not considered an ex-Harper (at least, not game-wise). And vice-versa.
"Despite the self-aggrandizing puffery of those windbags at Twilight Hall, the Blackstaff stands, as ever, unbowed. But then again, that's what makes him so much fun to tease."
-Kyriani Agrivar
THIS is an absolutely marvelous quote, and I'm very curious as to its origin. I'm 98% certain that I never wrote it, and I was under the impression that I was among the blessed few keeping that little minx in print and continuity. Found the quote on WotC's boards, and I'm just dying to find out from whence it came. Wooly? Anyone?
Page 84 of City of Splendors: Waterdeep. Each of the Prestige Class descriptions includes a quote from a member of that class; this quote is from the Moonstar Agent PrC. The "oh-so-dishy" Kyriani (to use your past words) is now a Wizard 11/Moonstar Agent 3.
And I think you'll like the fact that people who take the Moonstar Agent PrC can continue to advance as Harper Agents, and vice versa.
Isn`t there some crazy harper in waterdeep that wants to kill all harpers not loyal to twilight hall?
If I were a ranger, I would pick NDA for my favorite enemy
Isn`t there some crazy harper in waterdeep that wants to kill all harpers not loyal to twilight hall?
Not quite... The Harpers have dispatched an agent to Waterdeep to clean up the ranks. Eather Heilean is a paladin and Harper Paragon, and she's trying to make sure all Harpers in the City of Splendors are not helping the Tel'Teukiira and are loyal to Twilight Hall.
As both a paladin and a Harper, she really can't go around killing people -- especially people whose only transgression is to not be loyal to Twilight Hall.
Not at all, Stiven. I know, how bad it is, when you haven't time to answer all questions, which another people try to ask you. So...I'll be wait and hope :).
I acquired Mr. Boyd's latest work on Waterdeep a tiny tenday ago, and I noticed something that I found a bit odd. In the section that details Khelben, Laeral, and their little "magic school" a list of apprentices were given, and one of these apprentices were a gentleman named Aznar Thrul.
I was wondering if you could perhaps provide some insight into how a man of thayan ancestry came under the Blackstaff's wing/cloak, and what made him leave (in order to later become the charming Zulkir of Thay that we all love and odore :) ).
I would also like to say "thank you" for providing sourcebooks filled with lore and plot hooks. In my current campaign set in the Dalelands (3+ years and still kicking) I keep returning to your books on Cormanthyr and the Fall of Myth Drannor for inspiration and ideas on all things elven.
I was in the market for some lore on the fall of Ascalhorn (Hellgate Keep), and I thought I'd consult the mind behind much of the info on it -- the indomitable SS. Also, other scribes' input would be more than welcome, of course!
I'm looking for details on the process of Hellgate's fall -- specifically, when precisely it occurred, what kind of battles (spell and/or mundane) were fought, the spells used to raise it. What kind of monsters were within? Which Chosen were involved? Which organizations? How many casualties? What did the Keep LOOK like before and after?
Any details would be superlative.
Also, if someone would like to point me toward a source of additional info on the subject, that would be cool too!
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars"
I acquired Mr. Boyd's latest work on Waterdeep a tiny tenday ago, and I noticed something that I found a bit odd. In the section that details Khelben, Laeral, and their little "magic school" a list of apprentices were given, and one of these apprentices were a gentleman named Aznar Thrul.
I was wondering if you could perhaps provide some insight into how a man of thayan ancestry came under the Blackstaff's wing/cloak, and what made him leave (in order to later become the charming Zulkir of Thay that we all love and odore :) ).
This is a buried reference to an adventure hook I included in Powers & Pantheons, pages 152-153. This in turn builds off Steven's Dragon article on Series Magic a long time ago (in the first half of the 200s, IIRC, don't have the reference handy).
Erik, not to be confused with Eric, have you checked out 2e's Hellgate Keep? :)
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
I acquired Mr. Boyd's latest work on Waterdeep a tiny tenday ago, and I noticed something that I found a bit odd. In the section that details Khelben, Laeral, and their little "magic school" a list of apprentices were given, and one of these apprentices were a gentleman named Aznar Thrul.
I was wondering if you could perhaps provide some insight into how a man of thayan ancestry came under the Blackstaff's wing/cloak, and what made him leave (in order to later become the charming Zulkir of Thay that we all love and odore :) ).
This is a buried reference to an adventure hook I included in Powers & Pantheons, pages 152-153. This in turn builds off Steven's Dragon article on Series Magic a long time ago (in the first half of the 200s, IIRC, don't have the reference handy).
I acquired Mr. Boyd's latest work on Waterdeep a tiny tenday ago, and I noticed something that I found a bit odd. In the section that details Khelben, Laeral, and their little "magic school" a list of apprentices were given, and one of these apprentices were a gentleman named Aznar Thrul.
I was wondering if you could perhaps provide some insight into how a man of thayan ancestry came under the Blackstaff's wing/cloak, and what made him leave (in order to later become the charming Zulkir of Thay that we all love and odore :) ).
This is a buried reference to an adventure hook I included in Powers & Pantheons, pages 152-153. This in turn builds off Steven's Dragon article on Series Magic a long time ago (in the first half of the 200s, IIRC, don't have the reference handy).
--Eric
"Series Magic" appears in issue 213.
Aha! Thank you, Eric and Wooly. Unfortunately, Dragon 213 is not in my library, but Powers & Pantheons is. One can't have everything, I suppose :).
Aha! Thank you, Eric and Wooly. Unfortunately, Dragon 213 is not in my library, but Powers & Pantheons is. One can't have everything, I suppose :).
I'm going to have to check the Powers & Pantheons reference, myself. I just read the "Series Magic" article (I long ago flipped that one to Word, and copied it to my work machine), and I'm not seeing what was built on.
See? The depths of knowledge of these scribes. I'll look for those.
My previous experience with supplements is that they often go a little loose on the details, so DMs can do their thing. . . What I'd really like as well is supplementary info.
UPDATE: I've got the North, and the Savage Frontier, but this mysterious 2E Hellgate Keep yet eludes me. Anyone know where a download might be found?
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars"
Edited by - Erik Scott de Bie on 04 Aug 2005 06:26:20
See? The depths of knowledge of these scribes. I'll look for those.
My previous experience with supplements is that they often go a little loose on the details, so DMs can do their thing. . . What I'd really like as well is supplementary info.
UPDATE: I've got the North, and the Savage Frontier, but this mysterious 2E Hellgate Keep yet eludes me. Anyone know where a download might be found?
See? The depths of knowledge of these scribes. I'll look for those.
My previous experience with supplements is that they often go a little loose on the details, so DMs can do their thing. . . What I'd really like as well is supplementary info.
UPDATE: I've got the North, and the Savage Frontier, but this mysterious 2E Hellgate Keep yet eludes me. Anyone know where a download might be found?
Cheers
Loose on details? Us?
Send me an email on this, Erik. I think I can help you out by digging up the files. Just include exactly what info you're trying to dig up and I'll see what I put in print (and what I left in the cobwebbed corners of hard drives in note form).
I acquired Mr. Boyd's latest work on Waterdeep a tiny tenday ago, and I noticed something that I found a bit odd. In the section that details Khelben, Laeral, and their little "magic school" a list of apprentices were given, and one of these apprentices were a gentleman named Aznar Thrul.
I was wondering if you could perhaps provide some insight into how a man of thayan ancestry came under the Blackstaff's wing/cloak, and what made him leave (in order to later become the charming Zulkir of Thay that we all love and odore :) ).
I would also like to say "thank you" for providing sourcebooks filled with lore and plot hooks. In my current campaign set in the Dalelands (3+ years and still kicking) I keep returning to your books on Cormanthyr and the Fall of Myth Drannor for inspiration and ideas on all things elven.
Many thanks in advance.
I'll have to do a check on Aznar Thrul in my files; could be that all the thought that went into him went into that article in Dragon 213 and I've not given it a thought since. This could change, though, when I find and reread that old article....
Steven Who was reminded of that article last when he wrote SEA OF FALLEN STARS to use one of the five Blades of Ochiir Naal....
I'll have to do a check on Aznar Thrul in my files; could be that all the thought that went into him went into that article in Dragon 213 and I've not given it a thought since. This could change, though, when I find and reread that old article....
Steven Who was reminded of that article last when he wrote SEA OF FALLEN STARS to use one of the five Blades of Ochiir Naal....
I have it as a Word document... If you need it, I'll email it to you.
I'll have to do a check on Aznar Thrul in my files; could be that all the thought that went into him went into that article in Dragon 213 and I've not given it a thought since. This could change, though, when I find and reread that old article....
Steven Who was reminded of that article last when he wrote SEA OF FALLEN STARS to use one of the five Blades of Ochiir Naal....
I have it as a Word document... If you need it, I'll email it to you.
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars"
Edited by - Erik Scott de Bie on 05 Aug 2005 02:11:29
There's no other information on the fall of Hellgate Keep other than the sources noted above. No fiction at all on this event.
There is a small reference to the fall of Ascalhorn (when this place BECAME Hellgate Keep) in the old FR4 The Magister accessory. In the write-up of Jaluster's Orizen it talks about how he fought and died there and mentions one of the few survivors of that event back in 882 DR, the bard Maerstar.
Similarly, look at Eric's "Mintiper's Chapbook" series on the WotC FR website (now in the archives) for some lore on Hellgate Keep, specifically the Brotherhood of the Black Hand offering.
Oh, and you might want to read up on the Gatekeeper's Crystal artifact in Volo's Guide to All Things Magical.
-- George Krashos
"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus
There's no other information on the fall of Hellgate Keep other than the sources noted above. No fiction at all on this event.
There is a small reference to the fall of Ascalhorn (when this place BECAME Hellgate Keep) in the old FR4 The Magister accessory. In the write-up of Jaluster's Orizen it talks about how he fought and died there and mentions one of the few survivors of that event back in 882 DR, the bard Maerstar.
Similarly, look at Eric's "Mintiper's Chapbook" series on the WotC FR website (now in the archives) for some lore on Hellgate Keep, specifically the Brotherhood of the Black Hand offering.
Oh, and you might want to read up on the Gatekeeper's Crystal artifact in Volo's Guide to All Things Magical.
-- George Krashos
Hmm. I dimley recall some info being in Savage Frontier as well..... :)
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars"
Edited by - Erik Scott de Bie on 05 Aug 2005 05:10:22
I acquired Mr. Boyd's latest work on Waterdeep a tiny tenday ago, and I noticed something that I found a bit odd. In the section that details Khelben, Laeral, and their little "magic school" a list of apprentices were given, and one of these apprentices were a gentleman named Aznar Thrul.
I was wondering if you could perhaps provide some insight into how a man of thayan ancestry came under the Blackstaff's wing/cloak, and what made him leave (in order to later become the charming Zulkir of Thay that we all love and odore :) ).
I would also like to say "thank you" for providing sourcebooks filled with lore and plot hooks. In my current campaign set in the Dalelands (3+ years and still kicking) I keep returning to your books on Cormanthyr and the Fall of Myth Drannor for inspiration and ideas on all things elven.
Many thanks in advance.
Still haven't done the research, but some ideas rattled loose this a.m....
Aznar could have simply shown up on the Tower's doorstep and been accepted simply as a student of potential. While I doubt it was a long-term idea that he'd become a major Red Wizard, Khelben often takes in students from many walks of life in the hopes that they learn as much about morality as they do about magic.
While he's got many successful apprentice/graduates like Malchor Harpell or Nain Keenwhistler, he's also got his "failures"--mages of power who have forgotten some basics on ethics or simply let the power go to their heads. Maaril the Dragonmage is hinted at being one of them, though folk argue on this and Khelben keeps his own counsel.
Alas, while Khelben is an exceptional teacher (when he finds the time), he's not that hot as a parent. In his mind, his greatest failures are his inability to protect his children from harm as his parents protected him through his 20s...
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars"
I acquired Mr. Boyd's latest work on Waterdeep a tiny tenday ago, and I noticed something that I found a bit odd. In the section that details Khelben, Laeral, and their little "magic school" a list of apprentices were given, and one of these apprentices were a gentleman named Aznar Thrul.
I was wondering if you could perhaps provide some insight into how a man of thayan ancestry came under the Blackstaff's wing/cloak, and what made him leave (in order to later become the charming Zulkir of Thay that we all love and odore :) ).
I would also like to say "thank you" for providing sourcebooks filled with lore and plot hooks. In my current campaign set in the Dalelands (3+ years and still kicking) I keep returning to your books on Cormanthyr and the Fall of Myth Drannor for inspiration and ideas on all things elven.
Many thanks in advance.
Still haven't done the research, but some ideas rattled loose this a.m....
Aznar could have simply shown up on the Tower's doorstep and been accepted simply as a student of potential. While I doubt it was a long-term idea that he'd become a major Red Wizard, Khelben often takes in students from many walks of life in the hopes that they learn as much about morality as they do about magic.
While he's got many successful apprentice/graduates like Malchor Harpell or Nain Keenwhistler, he's also got his "failures"--mages of power who have forgotten some basics on ethics or simply let the power go to their heads. Maaril the Dragonmage is hinted at being one of them, though folk argue on this and Khelben keeps his own counsel.
Alas, while Khelben is an exceptional teacher (when he finds the time), he's not that hot as a parent. In his mind, his greatest failures are his inability to protect his children from harm as his parents protected him through his 20s...
Steven
Hi Steven, and thanks for the reply.
Just to add a few speculations of my own :) : I browsed through Magic of Faerun, FRCS, Lords of Darkness and Unapproachable East this weekend, and unless I have misunderstood something each Thayen Enclave is sponsored by a zulkir. Waterdeep : CoS says nothing about who sponsors the enclave there, and I can't remember seeing anything that "hints" towards any one zulkir in particular. In fact, I found it interesting that the head of the enclave is stated out as "WizardX/Red WizardY", instead of "EnchanterX/Red WizardY" or "Wizard[Ench]X/Red WizardY" :). This might just be an oversight, but I prefer to think of it as "someone didn't tell our trusted reporter, Mr. Boyd, all the details :)".
Anyway, two obvious options (in my mind at least) are that 1) Aznar entered as an apprentice in order to gain knowledge and/or information that he some day might use
2) Khelben took the ambitious thayan as an apprentice, hoping to gain an ally (or at least a "friend") who might some day be a prominent member of the Red Wizards.
Further: Is it possible that Aznar is the sponsor of the Waterdeep Enclave, and that he has used contacts and knowledge to gain a foothold (so to say) in the City of Splendours?
Well, those were some of my initial thoughts on the subject :). And now, as they say on the David Letterman Show....
Questions for Steven Schend
Posted - 30 Jul 2005 : 19:27:39
