D&D 5E 5th Edition and Cormyr: Flexing My Idea Muscle and Thinking Out Loud

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Cormyrean themed toys I wish Hasbro would produce and sell.

1. Azoun IV action figure. Comes with bed.

2. Queen Fee action figure. Comes with throne.

3. Steel Regent in full armor action figure. Comes with horse.

4. Vangerdahast action figure. Comes with "invisible" chair for Vangey to sit on (made of clear plastic).

5. Huge Thauglomorious (spelling?) action figure. Bigger than the Red Dragon WotC produced for the miniatures line some years back.

6. Amarune and Arclath Delcastle action figures. Sold as a set.

7. The Throne Chamber and Swords of State room play set. Includes secret doors and detachable swords. Purple Dragon guards in ceremonial tabards sold separately.

8. Spawnhall playset. Includes Deepspawn.

9. The Goose of Doom dockside hole in the wall playset.

10. Giogioni (spelling?) and Cat Wyvernspur action figures, sold as a set. Giogioni in Wyvern form sold separately.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Things I want to see in future Cormyr sourcebooks/DMs Guild products

1. A map of the Wolf Woods, when Iliphar and the elves were at the peak of their power, that's on par with the Mike Schley map found in the free Backdrop: Cormyr download (article by Brian R. James) available from the WotC website. Show me where the settlements were. What were their names? What places did the elves discover that were of no interest to Old Thauglomorious, but that posed a danger to the elves? Give me a glimpseof the surrounding lands in that map too. This is how you jumpstart my imagination.

2. A noble family focused on in detail. Show me where their holdings are. Give me the names of their residences and castles and show me where they are on a regional map. Give me pictures of those locations and a couple of detailed maps for them. Tell me who is important, who is locked up in Irlingstar, who is a traitor and who is a no account waste of time. Tell me about family treasures, family secrets, moments of bravery, where they died and how they became ennobled. Tell me their titles, ranks at court, status vis-a-vis the a purple Dragons, how the Crown views them and why it's a good idea for PC nobles to come from this family and/or for a DM to use this family in a campaign. Give me lots of names and a lengthy family history from the founder to the modern era.

3. A full page portrait depicting a Deepspawn as it's birthing a creature.

4. Tell me when, and to what extent, the drow were most active on the surface of Cormyr, even if this happened before Cormyr existed.

5. Give me an honest to goodness three to four years of current clack writeups for Cormyr, set in the modern era.

6. A portrait of Iliphar on his throne, surrounded by his closest advisors and his rivals.

7. A giant list of lost treasures, who supposedly lost them, and where the loss took place.

8. A list of Cormyrean dungeons that does not include the Haunted Halls.

9. A handful of currently active adventuring companies, some with rosters.

10. A monthly series of articles, published online or in print form, that covers unique rooms in the Royal Court, and that meanders from one room to the next by describing what hallways, passages, doors, secret doors, etc., link these rooms.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Multimedia: Ideas for sounds to be used in a D&D game set in Cormyr

If WotC ever expanded their offerings to include sound files a DM could call up from a laptop or tablet, here's what I'd like to see included. Not all of these are exactly PG-13, but hey, I'm sure you have your own list of sounds you'd like.

1. The sound of Storm Silverhand's voice as she sings to a newborn baby so the mother can get some rest, somewhere in Cormyr.

2. The sounds in and around Suzail's docks, at the start of a busy day.

3. Nobles conversing in any of the highcoin establishments they frequent in Suzail.

4. Vangerdahast crying.

5. Crown mages practicing with wands that hurl forth magic missiles, fireballs and lightening bolts.

6. Azoun IV making love to Queen Fee.

7. A Xraunrar beholder smacking its lips in anticipation of a meal, somewhere in the Thunder Peaks.

8. Myrmeen Lhal conducting business in Arabel.

9. A wyvern's call.

10. Any good ghost story told by Cormyrean commoners.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Troll variants, ghostly animal companions, spell ideas.

1. Can a ghost be an animal companion? Something that lingers near a PC, and grants the PC abilities whenever the PC calls upon the ghost to possess him/her?

2. Spell Idea: Weight of the Mountain
A spell that compliments Heal Metal in that it is used in game to target medium and heavy armor wearing foes. It basically doubles or trebles the weight of a metal item. The spell effect could scale with level, so perhaps if cast in a 9th level spot the weight is multiplied by 10. Alternatively the caster could select more targets. Might be some fun variations here.

3. Monster Idea: Ankle Biters
Troll heads that have been grafted to insect bodies. Delivers a nasty bite and always attacks in swarms.

4. Monster Idea: Throat Crushers
Individual troll arms that have been magically manipulated to grow eyes, such as in the center of the palm and along the forearm and upper arm.

5. The arms feed from a toothy maw where the upper arm would normally attach to a troll shoulder.

6. The creature's instinct has been forged by magic (divine or arcane, whichever works best for your campaign) so that it grapples humanoids with its one hand and tries to get the hand around the humanoid creature's neck.

7. It chokes out its foe while the mouth burrows into the humanoid's gut.

8. It eats out the belly and injects spores that form into newborn trolls in 5+1d10 days.

9. They eat their way out of the corpse and then the Throat Crusher dies.

10. After these newborn trolls become fully grown, if they should ever lose an arm then the limb has a 25% chance (1 on a 1d4) to form into a Throat Crusher.

Good monster idea for the adventure I'm working on in this thread (see a few pages back).

Thanks for reading!

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Cormyrean NPCs that are unusual/playing against type

1. A heavily muscled War Wizard, shorn of all body hair, his or her skin oiled and smooth.

2. A noble bent over and digging in the dirt by hand, wearing old worn out clothes, indistinguishable from the laborers on either side of him.

3. A dwarf swimming happily in the Wyvernwater.

4. An opulent fortress mansion in the Stonelands.

5. A priest of Mystra hoarding spell scrolls and spellbooks.

6. A Chancepriest with really bad luck.

7. A group of elves digging a mine below the Stormhorns.

8. A group of nobles handing out food and coins to the impoverished and destitute in Suzail.

9. Chartered Adventurers returning all the coins, gems, and lost treasures they just recovered to the original owners of those objects (or possibly their descendants).

10. A squad of Purple Dragons all afflicted with minor magical powers.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Let's kill Sraece Telthorn.

First, off, lets pick out all the maneuvers that are flashy from the list created earlier in this thread:
Disarming Attack, Evasive Footwork, Feinting Attack, Lunging Attack, Parry, Riposte

Second, let's review a little bit about Sraece Telthorn (text by Ed Greenwood):
...is a smallish, agile, almost feminine man who can dance, tumble, balance, and spring with a skill and precision matched only by the greatest acrobats (once leaping off a parapet to land perfectly balanced on a sloping, protruding flagstaff far below, for instance, and often springing over the slashing swords of opponents). He teaches “swordplay” (fencing) in Yhaunn and Waterdeep, and is believed to travel between the two by means of secret portals of unknown origin and location. Telthorn lives simply, is unambitious (avoiding power and important patrons, and giving much of his coins away), and is beloved by many pleasure-lasses of Waterdeep, who regard him as a kind friend or honorary brother as well as a frequent client. (via Ed Greenwood/Candlekeep)

Third, let's figure out how Sraece' considerable talent at swordplay ended up in magic items that, if worn by a PC, allows him or her to pull off the flashy maneuvers listed at the top of this post:

1. Sraece was doomed, he just didn't know it yet. But of course we're all doomed in one fashion or another...though I wonder how many of us can say that we've earned the enmity of a dragon we skewered through the heart?

2. Sraece put his best sword through Iymrith's heart when she was riding the body of one her many gargoyles.

3. Note: Not all gargoyles are the stuff of Elemental Earth come to life. Iymrith's are of her own creation, and each successive generation is more sleek, powerful and deadly than the last.

4. Iymrith chose to travel on a lark, and to test a new magic of her own devising that allowed her to see and experience the world through the eyes of a specially prepared gargoyle.

5. She teleported herself as she would her gargoyles. She didn't expect a human to be standing where she appeared, nor did she think he would attack with bared sword.

6. Sraece's lunge was swift, his form perfect. Twelve inches of rapier emerged between the gargoyle's wings, and the exposed length of steel was withdrawn just as swiftly. Iymrith felt little pain before she died.

7. For his part, Sraece did not linger in front of the Gate that had awakened at his presence. He assumed the arrival of the gargoyle was the work of an as yet undetermined foe who'd tracked his covert movements to one of the handful of Gates that carried him between his twin homes of Yhaunn and Waterdeep.

8. For her part, Iymrith had proved a theory that has passed among sages for centuries in the Realms: Teleport spells are not random simply because the magic is difficult to control, but because the presence of powerful magical objects like Gates (Portals to you young whippersnappers) tug on the magic of teleport spells, and sometimes cut the journey short. If your journey goes awry, it's likely there's a Gate nearby.

9. Iymrith did not die. Her defenseless essence was flung brutally back into her body, where the dragon laired in the heart of the nameless city she'd claimed as her own. Her agony and spasms lasted days. It took months for her to learn how to walk again, much less fly. Her stumbling movements destroyed much of what she'd labored to create, and the captive adventurers she'd kept close to her lair fled for their lives as the ground shook around them.

10. The Dragon of the Statues made learning all she could about portals her purpose. But more important was her vengeance. Thus Sraece lived a charmed life. He never saw another gargoyle, and he found that anyone who desired his doom soon discovered others to share their enmity with. Iymrith's reach was long, and she would not allow a mortal to take what she desired most.

11. Sraece was torn apart on the day he died. The stuff of his person was slowly ripped away, one iota at a time, thanks to a trap that captured him when he stepped through a gate. His agony was a thousand times what the dragon experienced. But this was only the beginning.

12. Iymrith's Gate Trap laid bare Sraece' soul, and the dragon tore it apart. She took the essence of his personality and cast it into the silvery in-between that links any two Gates together (where it lingers still, invisibly peering through Gates at will), keeping only his battle experience and knowledge of swordplay. This she bound to his weapons and equipment, to make a servant out of it.

13. For decades after, a whirling and dancing creature composed of nothingness yet wielding rapier and wearing simple clothes terrorized Bedine nomads and anyone foolish enough to approach the Towers Unattainable.

Tomorrow let's figure out how Iymrith lost control of her new servant, and perhaps start work on the sword(s) and clothing of Sraece that have been imbued with the essence of his formidable skill.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Devoting our attention to what remains of Sraece

1. The mind of Sraece Telthorn is trapped between two magical Portals (Gates for us old timers). One opens in the vicinity of Waterdeep. The other near Yhaunn.

2. I figure Sraece is some sort of ghost-like creature. How about a Gate Haunt?

3. This would be a new kind of monster. Something that you can see out of the corner of your eye when the creature is not lurking in the in-between--the indefinable something that was forged when two places far part were linked together. The Gate Haunt watches both Gates, waiting to see if someone is coming.

4. I figure Sraece can implant ideas in people's heads when they pass through the Portals, or if they camp near to one of the Portals. Like visions of who or what he was, and the last thing he saw/experienced (the dragon Iymrith ripping him apart in the in-between), to try and get recipients of his visions to search for the dragon's lair, or to send messages to his loved ones, or find a way to free him.

5. I can't imagine Sraece can possess someone like a standard ghost--at least he can't yet. If a PC or NPC figured out someone was in the space between the gates and willingly tried to reach out while stepping from one side to the other, well then Sraece might be able to free himself. Developing stats for a Gate Haunt will be a Topic For Another Day.

6. As for his items: These need to be moved forward in time and separated from the direct control of Iymrith. Sraece was captured around 1375 DR, which is before the Spellplague. And the Spellplague is just what we need. Let's say that the unseen servant-like aspect of the animated swords and gloves and cloak and boots and hat that once belonged to Sraece was either washed away or consumed outright by the Blue Fire, leaving the items behind.

7. Iymrith had probably grown fond of using the servant, and may have sent it further afield over time. After all, the Dragon of the Statues was becoming known for using gargoyles as its eyes and ears in the world, so why not keep an Ace under its wing for use in matters most important to the dragon?

8. So when the Spellplague hits, the magical servant made of force wearing Sraece' gear could have been just about anywhere in the Realms. And when you advance the timeline to 1479 Dr, then there's a good century for them to have been recovered, lost again, and spread out across the continent of Faerûn.

9. There's also the fact that the dragon may well want her prized possessions back. And that's good, because any character/party trying to complete a magic item set ought to face opposition on par with an ancient blue dragon.

10. The magic items bear the essence of Sraece' swordfighting talents. In game terms these are maneuvers granted by the items plus one superiority die, even if you're not a Battle Master. So...

• Disarming Attack - Either his secondary rapier, or possibly a long dagger. Sraece' fighting style was that of the Duelist, so he didn't fight two-handed unless he had to, and he likely kept a backup rapier in the event he was disarmed, as well as one dagger.
• Evasive Footwork - why of course, Sraece' boots.
• Feinting Attack - Sraece' buff coat. A good sturdy buff coat, such as one made of fine leather and quilted on the inside, can turn away daggers and blunt the attack of swords. All the better when you feint and leave yourself open in order to draw your foe in.*
• Lunging Attack - His primary rapier. It's his signature move, man.
• Parry - His gloves. These ran from the tips of his fingers to just below his elbows, and were threaded with steel wire. So they were sturdy, but not true gauntlets.
• Riposte - Sraece' cloak. A cloak can ward off more than the rain. Used wisely, it can bind a foe's weapon long enough to turn their missed thrust into your successful counterattack.

And that's the first set done. I suppose a couple of these items could find their way into the Sundered Tomb. Perhaps the Mercenary Captain owned them right up until the point where she died.


* As noted in Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste, page 18.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Turning My Attention To Turning Points

Time to think up more Turning Points (first discussed here).

On with the ideas!

1. Escapee From Irlingstar – A turning point that fits nicely with the Criminal or Noble backgrounds.

From time to time Cormyrean nobles sentenced to a term of imprisonment for violating Crown law escape their confinement. Thus, you may have recently escaped from the prison castle of Irlingstar, where male nobles who’ve committed crimes against the Crown are imprisoned and made to serve out their sentences far away from the civilized parts of the Forest Kingdom. You may have been smuggled out of the formidable fortress of High Horn or otherwise made your escape from one of the numerous remote hunting lodges owned by the Crown, as both fortress and lodges are used to house female noble prisoners. Now you have decided to make a grand life while you can, or perhaps you've sworn to prove your innocence by obtaining proof that you committed no crimes/bring those who did to justice.


2. Awakened Sword – Supposedly the Ghazneths destroyed Cormyr's mightiest heroes, aka Those Who Sleep, but I say pooh on that. This Turning Point is a good match for the Noble background. Or possibly the Courtier background. (see Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide 146-147)

You are one of the last of Cormyr’s bright young heroes to have been interred in Needlespires, in the Stonelands, alongside the bravest and boldest warriors Cormyr had yet produced. You were meant to sleep away the centuries until the day when all of the Forest Kingdom was imperiled, so that you and yours could be awakened and stand fast against a mortal threat to the Land of the Purple Dragon. You and your fellow sleepers were set upon by a gaze of beholders, and the battle that followed shook the earth. You escaped through a barely functioning portal--one of several meant to guide your fellows to wherever in Cormyr you were needed most. Now you roam a Cormyr that is far older than the land you left behind, and you watch for beholders and their spies wherever you go.


3. Adventurer in Parchment – Here’s an idea I’ve been kicking around in my head for months now. Listing it here so I have everything in one spot.

You were captured and imprisoned by a nefarious Amnian merchant. He kept you in a magical tome that served as both prison and trophy case, its metal frame pages filled with lifelike paintings depicting the startled visages of rival merchants, failed assassins, adventurers and others, all of whom ran afoul of the merchant.


4. Spawn of the Legion Tree – When you mix rebooted Cylons from Battlestar Galactica with ancient elf war magic from the Forgotten Realms, you might get a character like this.

Your understanding of who–and even what–you are is incomplete: you were not born from flesh and blood, but from roots, soil, and leaves. You eat, drink, breathe and love, but your true kin are not mortals. You were a castoff; imperfect and found wanting. The dryads of Aloushe (see THIS MAP) collected you when others of your kind dumped your body near the borders of the Dryad’s woodland realm. They warned your memories are not yours, and that somewhere in the Forest Kingdom there is at least one other person that looks, talks and walks just like you. There may be more. Before the dryads turned you out they warned you to be careful, for the Legion Tree that birthed you most likely assumed you would be seen as an abomination and slain by the dryads. If it discovers you are alive then its minions will come for you and do what the Dryads failed to.


5. Interloper Among the Stalwart – For PCs who may have stumbled their way into a club for adventurers in Suzail. I don’t want to make this a new Background, though it could be.

You found yourself walking alone in the halls of the Society of Stalwart Adventurers, in Suzail. You may have gained access by accidental magic, by a door left unlocked, or by other means. Regardless, the club’s many tomes and magnificent trophies were yours to peruse for the night. Tymora smiled on you, for none of the traps and terrors that lurk in the club snuffed out your life. The next morning you were summarily thrown out with a warning never to return. But no matter, your mind was set: One day you would become an adventurer and earn your way back into the Society, this time as a full member.


6. Victim of the Whorl – For those times when you want to port a character in from another setting or campaign world. This would put a character’s “home base” in the King’s Forest, near Mouth O’ Gargoyles.

You have no memory of who you are or where you came from. You spent the last year recuperating in a forest lodge among others with injuries to their brains and minds. You suffered no physical trauma before you were found wandering in the King's Forest, but the loss of your memories hurts all the same. The day you were declared fit to be released from the lodge was the day you were told that you came from another world.


7. Friend of the Grinning Ghost – Ghosts sometimes reveal things needing done, or that must be set right. The Grinning Ghost is one of several ghosts that linger at Taverton Hall (located at hex 32-M on this map). This puts a character’s origin at or near the ancestral home of the Paertrover noble family, so any of several backgrounds could be chosen to go along with it. Or this may have been an experience had while visiting Taverton Hall or the vicinity of it.

8. Thrall to a Ballad – What kind of ballad? Any one would do, such as the Ballad of the Troll King; aka Woodbrand’s Demise. To me it seems totally plausible that a talented bard singing a song of adventure, or of past events still fresh in the memories of the elders in a village, might entice a young mind to take up the mantle of an adventurer.


9. Spawnhall Flotsam – This Turning Point is not so much an event, as a revelation.

When you came of age, you were told why you have no memories of your childhood. You learned that you were found among the countless fish disgorged by one of the enormous Deepspawn that are housed near the docks in Hultail. No one recognized you. No one claimed you as missing. Crown officials determined you were not abandoned, therefore you were the product of the Deepspawn. The Wizards of War have carefully separated your mind from the will of the Deepspawn–-it has no control over you. You were informed that somewhere in the past the original you was fed to the creature--most likely to dispose of your dead body--and the fact that you exist at all means that body was still alive when the Deepspawn consumed it. You may be a copy but your will is your own, and you are determined to live the life denied to your progenitor. If Tymora smiles upon you then you will uncover the truth behind the death of your progenetor, and learn why the Deepspawn produced you.


10. Child of the Sad Queens – This one ties nicely into Courtier background. Possibly the Noble background too (if the character was of noble blood). Also a possible choice for the Bard class.

You were abandoned among the ghosts and undead that lurk in the Haunted Wing of the Royal Palace, in Suzail. No one claimed you and your parentage could not be determined. That you lived long enough to be found was due to the protection of the “sad queens”--ghosts of court ladies that moved as gracefully in life as they do now in undeath. They kept the other undead of the Haunted Wing at bay while ghostly minstrels put up a racket that drew forth someone made of flesh and blood to see what was the matter. You were raised as a ward of the Palace, and the subject of your parentage has long been a topic of idle converse within its walls.



EDITP Woohoo! This is the last archived thread. Thanks to everyone who rallied in the wake of the database crash by posting instructions on how to recover lost threads via Google. I appreciate it.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Future Cormyr/Realms Product Ideas

1. A map book of modern day Cormyr, that divides the Forest Kingdom up by regions and features detailed maps of those regions. Cities, towns, hamlets, abandoned towns, ruins, odd terrain features, regular terrain features, wizard's towers, noble estates, merchant estates, Crown fortifications, old quarries and mines, battle sites, temples...you name it, it's on the map. And don't include explanations of what everything is. As a DM I can do that. Just give me the names to help me get started.

2. A book of castles...no, scratch that. An ongoing monthly series that focuses on castles in Cormyr. There are SO many of them. I would like to see this series focus on Azoun's Hold and Castle Nacacia to start. Layouts and cutaway artwork a must. Sidebars on the history of castle building in Cormyr would be awesome. Then move on to the castles that have been repurposed to house insane war wizards, retired Purple Dragons and noble criminals.

3. The depths below the Thunder Peaks. Show me where some (not all) of the active and inactive dragon lairs are at. What about illithids and beholders? Where do the Xraunrrar lair? What of the Giants of old? Have sky castles fallen to earth that have yet to be discovered? Where are the dwarves and the drow and the gnomes? The orcs and the hobgoblins? Then tell me how the denizens of the Thunder Peaks have influenced Cormyr down the centuries.

4. A one hundred page book of encounters, with both color and black and white drawings. Not just endless encounter lists, mind, but a concise "why things are the way they are" description of different parts of Cormyr that helps me as a DM to build my own encounters. Compare and contrast different areas to help me get the point. Then tell me about crazy things that happened in Cormyr's past so I can see examples of just how wild it can get. THEN give me the lists and I will be way more amped to use them.

5. Volo's Guide to Magic In Cormyr. And no I don't want yet another description of the magical gear war wizards and Purple Dragons use. Don't spend too much time on the wards of the palace and court, or the creations of the Sword Heralds. Give me everything else instead: all the baubles and trinkets made by mages that have gotten loose, the nature and kinds of magical cast offs that seem to litter the environs around war wizard schools (like the one at Espar), the endless variety and styles of wand crafting and spellbook making--tell me who has influenced the craft and how a PC might distinguish one style from another. Then give me a sample Council of Mages meeting by Ed Greenwood and intersperse the dry details of how such a meeting works around the story. Tell me about still lingering elf magic and what it was old Thauglomorious did to the Weave down the years. Give me mechanics, but keep it light. Tell me where awesome spell ingredients and materials to craft items for spellbooks can be found so I have a direction to send PCs in.

6. Expand Brian Cortino's "Crowns and Mantles: the Ranks and Titles of Cormry" into a full 48 page softcover sourcebook. Give me NPC names that hold various titles and/or ranks at Court. Likewise for the Purple Dragons. Show me what the difference is between a Dragonfang Lord Investigator and a Sceptre of Justice. In other words, use this book as an opportunity to bust out some of the really cool courtly titles and give me the 411 on what the duties they entail and powers they confer.

7. A book of dungeons for Pete's sake! There are enough abandoned castles in Cormyr that some of them must have cellars and tunnels below, so give me names, locations and a few maps, as well as spots sparse on details so I can fill them in myself.

8. A sourcebook featuring an unreliable narrator.

9. An article discussing the Haunted Wing of the Royal Palace, with a cutaway view and some history of this Palace wing.

10. A sourcebook that TEACHES me how to build believable dungeons in Cormyr. I.e. places that make sense, are not out of place and are not just randomly there. This is a book for Ed Greenwood.

11. Any sourcebook, adventure, article or novel set in Cormyr that is the product of a Jeff Grubb and Ed Greenwood team up. Those two make the magic happen.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

More Encounter Ideas Set In Cormyr

1. A handful of Purple Dragons and a few war wizards battling orcs and an ogre magi. Swords paused mid-swing; spells unleashed, yet fixed in place and unmoving; blood suspended in the air; cries of agony and roars of rage stilled by a force unseen. Who among the PCs will be first to walk into the midst of a battle frozen in place?

2. Every time one of the PCs enters a settlement after a short time away, or finds him or herself in a new location teeming with humanoid NPCs, that PC is always approached within the first ten days by cutthroats and criminals, and the PC is a perpetual magnet for cats of all kinds (including Tressym; see Storm King's Thunder, page 242). These hangers on try to start a conversation (the cats are just friendly), but they don't cause trouble unless accosted, and seem genuinely disappointed if the PC leaves the location or ignores them. Offers to join in on the latest criminal activity are frequent.

3. A merchant mage hawking wares in Arabel. Among the items is a tuning fork that when struck against the metal of any weapon and then placed close to one's ear will whisper the name of the last being to be slain by that weapon. The tuning fork vibrates, but makes no discernible noise, when struck against anything else. The merchant offers to demonstrate its properties to the PCs, if they will just allow her to strike the fork against one of their weapons. The tuning fork costs a paltry 10gp. Double the price of the PCs want to know the origin story of the tuning fork. Alternately, the PCs may have the fork for free if they will trade to the merchant any item they own on which they have bled copiously. (The origin story still costs 10gp, however).

4. Felgolos the Flying Misfortune happens to the PCs. What else do you need?

5. A pair of rooms below ground that are not so much hidden away as rarely ever used, somewhere in southern Cormyr that render into infants anyone who enters the first room, and into elderly old men or women anyone who enters into the second room. The effect is instant, and cannot be prevented by any known magical means (including, Wish spells and similar, as well as antimagic effects). The strange property of the two rooms may be reversed simply by exiting either chamber. Rumor claims any being with at least one Obarskyr ancestor is immune to the effect of the chambers. Still other rumor claims the rooms are leftover remnants of early attempts (read: failures) by the legendary Sword Heralds to create extradimensional spaces. Regardless, the family living above ground have never experienced the effect, though they've all been in the pair of old rooms, and the other chambers and hallways that stretch away from them.

6. A blind young boy, scion of lesser nobility, who can only see when he touches one of the five large scrying spheres found in the cellars below Wizard's Run (see THIS sourcebook). The boy is slowly learning to command the scattered remnants of once animated objects that litter the keep and surrounding lands. He has taken to spying on the residents of nearby farms via a floating gauntlet, through which he can see and hear. Each night the boy searches for more pieces of armor, and hopes to someday have a full suit gathered together. These plans are set aside when his flying gauntlet comes upon a group of adventurers camping for the night (the PCs), whom the boy intends to spy on to learn of their exploits.

7. One thousand gnomes. Maybe they're angry, maybe not. Either way, they're all moving in the same direction and the PCs are in the way. You are the DM; take it from here.

8. Ten thousand hobgoblins march on the Stonelands under Bane's banner. The Hobgoblins make no claim on Cormyr proper, but promise to make war on any force that challenges their claim to the Stonelands in its entirety. Cormyr's ruler offers noble titles to anyone who gives battle to the host and manages to stay their advance long enough for the forces of the Purple Dragon to rally together and march north to defend Cormyr's territory.

9. A small town or village is afflicted with extreme cold, no matter the time of year. The settlement's children appear to do the lion's share of the daily work, while the adults remain indoors until nightfall, when they can be seen milling about their homes. That all the adults in the settlement were slain simultaneously by fell magic is not a secret to the Crown of Cormyr, nor is the presence of a goodly vampire archmage whose skill at Art kept the terrible spell from consuming the lives of everyone in the settlement. That same vampire buried all of the dead and placed a magical token in each of the burial plots that allows willing spirits to materialize in and near their homes, and to speak. The children are very much alive and seem immune to the cold wrought by the presence of so many spectral dead, and they are getting on as best they can. Something lingers outside the village, and it very much wants the children, but it cannot enter thanks to the Vampire's warding magic. Vampire and unknown entity wage a quiet battle while Crown War Wizards search fruitlessly for the entity. Enter PCs stage left, who are drawn in as pawns on one or both sides of the conflict.

10. Another rumored Sword Herald failure: An unassuming cellar room within a nigh-ancient farmhouse north of Marsember. Within the room gravity is reversed, and for the duration of one's stay in the room they do not age. In point of fact the Wizards of War have determined that the room makes living creatures younger; a day inside becomes a day younger, a month for a month, and so on. The farmhouse is occupied and its residents know to avoid the cellar room, but they are unprepared for the arrival of the PCs, whose most recent teleport spell sent them to the cellar room instead. Likewise for the arrival of cuthroats at the command of a nefarious Thentian slaver--the later having been given to believe that the teleport ring he just employed would send him and his force into the midst of an unsuspecting minor noble family from whom the slaver hoped to capture and ransom several of its members. More unusual arrivals will follow.

Thanks for reading.