When Jesse Decker took over as editor of Dragon from Dave Gross, I had five unpublished "Ecology" articles on their collective editorial desk. Sadly, Jesse decided to move away from the "fiction and footnote" format for "Ecology" articles, so the articles were rejected and returned to me. I've held on to them, hoping against hope that each subsequent Dragon editor might change his mind and return the "Ecology" article formats back to the way they were, with no luck thus far.
In Dragon #330, Mike Mearls had his "Ecology of the Chuul" published. While he did a good job with it (given the constraints of the current "Ecology" format), I realized that there went any hope of my own version of that article ever seeing print, "The Ecology of the Chuul" being one of the five that had been returned to me by Jesse years ago.
So, I figured -- why not post it here, in the Story Hour forum? Being of the old "fiction and footnote" format, it's definitely a story, although it differs from most Story Hour entries in that it's not the retelling of a game session, merely a bit of fiction designed to lead to the specific footnotes containing information I wished to pass on about the chuul. I should also point out that this was written under the 3.0 rules, and I'm leaving it as originally written, so there are some things that are no longer true, like the chuul being unable to speak. (Although actually, I prefer it not being able to speak. I just don't see what boils down to a giant crustacean - even an intelligent one - being able to speak Common, or any other standard language; I seriously doubt that the creature's physiognomy would support the necessary vocal apparatus.)
In any case, what follows is my own version of "The Ecology of the Chuul," originally submitted to Dragon on 5 Feb 01. This article uses characters from an ongoing series of "Ecology" articles from previous issues of Dragon dating back to the AD&D 2nd Edition days. Specifically, we have Shandrilla, a female human rogue; Javorik the Bold, Illusionist Extraordinaire, her male gnomish illusionist companion; Federico, a male gnomish fighter and Javorik's cousin; and Ardorrak, Thorvin, and Haaj, three male dwarven fighters that they met in a recent adventure. For those interested, here are their previous appearances:
Dragon #219, "Ecology of the Black Pudding" - Shandrilla and Javorik go spelunking for the first time in the Underdark and end up being stalked by a hungry black pudding.
Dragon Annual #4, "Ecology of the Gray Ooze" - Javorik and Federico trick Shandrilla into retrieving a treasure chest they found but could neither open nor lift, and the three get attacked by a gray ooze in the process.
Dragon #267, "Ecology of the Carrion Crawler" - Reentering the Underdark to finally retrieve the contents of that chest, Shandrilla, Javorik, and Federico encounter three dwarven adventurers battling a carrion crawler.
Dragon #275, "Ecology of the Darkmantle" - The six return to the Underdark to examine the glowing eyes of a stone statue, where Shandrilla ends up fighting for her life against a darkmantle well out of the reach of her friends.
Okay, enough backstory; here's my own unpublished take on "The Ecology of the Chuul." As always with Shandrilla/Javorik storylines, I alternate between the points of view of the adventurers (in normal print) and the monster in question (in italics). I hope you enjoy it!
Johnathan
In Dragon #330, Mike Mearls had his "Ecology of the Chuul" published. While he did a good job with it (given the constraints of the current "Ecology" format), I realized that there went any hope of my own version of that article ever seeing print, "The Ecology of the Chuul" being one of the five that had been returned to me by Jesse years ago.
So, I figured -- why not post it here, in the Story Hour forum? Being of the old "fiction and footnote" format, it's definitely a story, although it differs from most Story Hour entries in that it's not the retelling of a game session, merely a bit of fiction designed to lead to the specific footnotes containing information I wished to pass on about the chuul. I should also point out that this was written under the 3.0 rules, and I'm leaving it as originally written, so there are some things that are no longer true, like the chuul being unable to speak. (Although actually, I prefer it not being able to speak. I just don't see what boils down to a giant crustacean - even an intelligent one - being able to speak Common, or any other standard language; I seriously doubt that the creature's physiognomy would support the necessary vocal apparatus.)
In any case, what follows is my own version of "The Ecology of the Chuul," originally submitted to Dragon on 5 Feb 01. This article uses characters from an ongoing series of "Ecology" articles from previous issues of Dragon dating back to the AD&D 2nd Edition days. Specifically, we have Shandrilla, a female human rogue; Javorik the Bold, Illusionist Extraordinaire, her male gnomish illusionist companion; Federico, a male gnomish fighter and Javorik's cousin; and Ardorrak, Thorvin, and Haaj, three male dwarven fighters that they met in a recent adventure. For those interested, here are their previous appearances:
Dragon #219, "Ecology of the Black Pudding" - Shandrilla and Javorik go spelunking for the first time in the Underdark and end up being stalked by a hungry black pudding.
Dragon Annual #4, "Ecology of the Gray Ooze" - Javorik and Federico trick Shandrilla into retrieving a treasure chest they found but could neither open nor lift, and the three get attacked by a gray ooze in the process.
Dragon #267, "Ecology of the Carrion Crawler" - Reentering the Underdark to finally retrieve the contents of that chest, Shandrilla, Javorik, and Federico encounter three dwarven adventurers battling a carrion crawler.
Dragon #275, "Ecology of the Darkmantle" - The six return to the Underdark to examine the glowing eyes of a stone statue, where Shandrilla ends up fighting for her life against a darkmantle well out of the reach of her friends.
Okay, enough backstory; here's my own unpublished take on "The Ecology of the Chuul." As always with Shandrilla/Javorik storylines, I alternate between the points of view of the adventurers (in normal print) and the monster in question (in italics). I hope you enjoy it!
Johnathan
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