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

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Ten Things Thauglorimorgorus the Black Doom Might Have Done, Or Attempted To Do, To The Weave Of All Magic

Thauglorimorgorus was THE Purple Dragon of old. Thauglor ruled over an unbroken expanse of woods bordered on three sides by mountains, with a star-shaped lake in its center. This land would one day be known as Cormyr.

Iliphar, Lord of Scepters, defeated Thauglor in a feint of honor. This after years of the elf lord's forces stealthily moving through the dragon's demesne and slaying its lesser kin and vassal dragons.

Eventually humans settled the coastal edges of the elf lord's realm. In time the elves retreated from the Wolf Woods.

After nearly 1500 years of rule by humans, what remains of Thauglor's designs in Cormyr, aka the Land of the Purple Dragon?

More to the point, what did Thauglor do to that part of the Weave of all Magic that existed in its domain? After all, dragons and other powerful creatures have tampered with and even modified the Weave in the past, and Thauglor was truly a mighty dragon.


1. Perhaps Thauglor modified the Weave so that it would act as a shield protecting the dragon from the madness brought on by the King Killer Star.

2. Made it possible for the dragon to see and hear anywhere in the geographic region claimed by the dragon, as though it was all one enormous lair.

3. Learned to fall into the Weave and become a part of it, and perhaps become aware of and see the doings of magically gifted mortals, and sense and see/hear whatever is in the presence of magic items.

4. Inadvertently created a magical redoubt that resisted the worst of the Spellplague and so allowed Mystra to have a place to survive until her ascension a century later.

5. Maybe Thauglor searched for extradimensional pockets in the Weave, or created them outright, the better to portion out the dragon's hoard and secret it away. This would have left things ripe for mysterious groups like the Sword Heralds to get to work hunting for the dragon's treasures, and thus leaving plenty of handy extradimensional safeholds in the process (these exist in modern day Cormyr, and are the subject of much conjecture and debate).

6. Made it easier to cow the minds of lesser dragons.

7. Created pockets of raw magical might. Something that could be called upon when Thauglor faced one or more hostile dragons, or several mages of power.

8. Smoothed out the rough edges in the Weave, untied any Weave tangles, and ensured areas of dead magic were few or otherwise remote and walled off so no spy could use them to hide from the Dragon.

9. Left Weave Whispers and echoes of his commands and instructions to his spawn and to his agents, that can be heard in specific places whenever the right spell or spells are cast in that area.

10. Turned it into the ultimate phylactery, and tied it into the blood of Iliphar, and later the blood of the Obarskyrs. So long as the Weave exists (no matter how diminished) and mortals of Royal blood draw breath, Thauglor can never truly die.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Treating Magic Items Like Spell Variants.

Earlier in this thread I talked about spell variants. (I just can't remember exactly where in the thread, because I want to link to that post.) It occurred to me on the drive home from work tonight that the basic idea behind spell variants could also apply to magic items.

That is, it's possible to either change or add something to a magic item to make a variant. The variant needs its own name, and it need only point to the original item it mimics, plus list what is different.

To wit (example of a spell variant):

Sling Stone (Variation: Magic Missile)
1st-level conjuration
This spell functions exactly like Magic Missile except that you create hard stones instead of glowing darts of magical force. The damage is bludgeoning.

Just like Magic Missile, there are plenty of magic items in the DMG that players are already familiar with, so they won't need to look them up, and if they do then at least it's in a book they already own, as opposed to having to read text in a product that's mostly a reprint (which is a serious waste of space, in my not so humble opinion, and something a reader would have to be charged extra money for and that is not cool in my not so humble opinion).

OK then. Let's pick a base item. How about the Dancing Sword (DMG:161).

This is a pretty cool item. Flies off and chops foes for you. Keeps your bonuses. Moves around at your command (bonus action, up to 30') and falls to the ground after a quartet of rounds if you're not close enough to grab it out of the air. Oh, and it's very rare (honestly, I think it should just be rare, but no worries) and requires attunement.

So, what are some things we can tweak? We can...

1. Add a bonus. +1, +2 or +3.

2. Double the flight speed to 60'.

3. Change the weapon type to something other than swords.

4. Increase the number of rounds it can hover and attack.

5. Give it another ability, such as being able to perform one of the maneuvers from the Battle Master Archetype.

6. Subtract attunement along with other abilities to make a lesser/less fancier version of the magic item.

7. Tie a theme to the item, to help guide what changes to make to it.

8. Tie a backstory to the item, to help guide what changes to make to it.

9. Create a pair of the magic item, then note how the two items behave slightly differently when in close proximity to each other.

10. Create a version that can pass on the Dancing property to another item once per day.


That's ten ideas, and a good start. Some of these ideas do stray into "whole other magic item" territory, and that's OK too. Let's use one of the ideas to make a variant of Dancing Sword. I like idea #5, so...


Ricocheting Blade (Variation: Dancing Sword)
Weapon (any sword), legendary (requires attunement)

This sword functions exactly like a Dancing Sword. Additionally, if you expend a bonus action to cause the sword to fly up to 30' to another spot within 30 feet of you to attack one creature within 5 feet of it, then you may also apply the effect of a Sweeping Attack (PHB:74) if your attack hits. If you do so, you must choose another creature within 5 feet of the sword to attempt to damage, and you roll one d12 for the superiority die.


Cool! Powerful, but I don't think it's crazy powerful for a Legendary item.

What do you think, Dear Reader? Let me know.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Modeling Rules for Minor Magic Item Properties on Blessings and Charms, Plus New Minor Properties

1. Minor Property: Bloody.
Whenever water touches this magic item, the water is transformed into blood as soon as the water falls away from the item.

2. Lore:
At least one such "bloody" cloak is locked away in the King's Tower in Marsember. Among the Wizards of War who've been tasked to look in on the cloak to confirm its continued presence in the Tower, a story is passed along about vicious street hunts in Marsember's darker days (read: before Cormyr conquered the rebellious independent city once and for all) led by followers of Malar who dwelled in the nearby woodlands.

3. These followers possessed magic capable of cursing a target's outerwear (almost always cloaks in rainy Marsember) that caused them to "bleed" in the frequent downfalls, so the target could be easily tracked on the wet streets.

4. This power was not held exclusively by followers of the Beastlord. The Queen of the Deeps (aka Umberlee) gifted this power to her most loyal followers, who in the past were charged with leading groups into the waters of the Dragonmere to test their faith. Anyone that Umberlee found wanting is said to have been "made to bleed" by her most trusted, and so were easy prey for freshwater predators who long ago learned to heed the siren call of the Queen of the Deeps.

5. Minor Property: Seeding.
Each day this item is worn, held, or its properties are activated, it produces one seed. The seed produced is always the same, and if planted will grow into a non-magical, non-monstrous plant (DM's choice). [Boots]

6. The last word in entry #5 is something I've been experimenting with for the page on magic item properties I hope to include in the next update to my Cormyr sourcebook. The DMG advises Dungeon Masters to pick a new minor property if the one rolled up doesn't make sense (DMG:141), but I think it's also a good idea to include a word in brackets for the sort of magic item that best fits the property.

7. Magical boots that produce a seed when worn makes sense to me. If you're wearing them and walking, a seed that appears under the sole of your boot or that drops from the surface of the boot (or I suppose one that materializes inside your boot, causing you to stop and take the boot off so the seed can be gotten out and tossed away) is likely to find its way into soil and grow.

8. This might make for an interesting surprise if a group of PCs return to an adventure location they had visited several levels ago. Likewise if the PC descendants of an older group of PCs come along to a place where their predecessors had adventured. In either case, the PCs could encounter one or more trees (for example) that all grew tall at or near places where the PCs camped or journeyed somewhere in their past.

9. Another idea I had about magic item Minor Properties and (possibly) for Quirks are a couple of new categories for these Special Features: Inherited and Temporary. These two sub-categories of Minor Properties are sort of like Blessings and Charms (DMG:228), but they only effect magic items.

10. An Inherited Minor Property is one that a magic item gains permanently, by virtue of powerful magic unleashed, exposure to magic that is bent or warped over time, or while in the vicinity of a highly magical place. Some examples might include:

• A wizard breaking a Staff of Power, for which the explosion might force some of the wizard's inherent magical power into nearby objects, or even items of the wizard's that survived the blast. All the more so if the blast slays another wizard of power.
• The long-term exposure of a magic item to a Mythal. (Sort of an enormous, invisible, permanent magical bubble that surrounds and protects an elven city, and affords the city residents certain personal magical protections and powers. The most famous was the mythal over Myth Drannor.)
• A magic item that lay in a treasure pile while in close proximity to an artifact, or a magic item left on an altar most holy of a deity.
• Ancient dragons may imbue items in their hoard with minor properties through sheer dint of the dragon's raw magical power (and so no item found in a dragon's hoard that is not a recent addition should ever be of the mundane, here's-the-description-in-the-DMG variety).

11. A Temporary Minor Properties are gained by magic items for a short period of time. The power may slowly fade away, or it may cycle through 1-3 different properties before disappearing altogether. A temporary property could be gained by:

• A new spell crafted by any caster, and one that is designed to grant a Minor Property to a magic item for a limited duration. I.e., a spell that leverages the already-magical nature of a magic item to boost that power in some minor way.
• A deity, dragon, or other supernatural being gifting the power to the magic items of PCs for acts of courage or valor that are in the range of actions that might allow PCs to receive Charms.
• An object, magic item or hanging spell designed to aid the PCs on a quest.
• A ghost or other spectral being that cannot rest until a wrong/misdeed is made right.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Anchoring Spells With Magic Items

1. So...anchoring spells. Seems like magic items would make for good anchors to hang a spell on. Might help in games where there's a spare item that nobody is using, too.

2. What kind of spell to anchor? Hrm...I suppose a spell that targets the caster. Or perhaps one that can target objects. It'd have to be something that doesn't go off instantly (like a Fireball).

3. Magic item creation is never a simple thing (I'm thinking in-world here, and not rules-wise). It's a lot like spellcasting: i.e. highly personal, even when spell formulae are used. That, and magic is magic. It's highly unpredictable, even capricious. And despite what David Gerrold might tell you (in his immediately useful book "Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy"), magic doesn't always follow a strict set of rules--especially in the Forgotten Realms, where the rules of magic get rewritten and magic from other worlds is a thing.

4. So not just any old magic item will do for anchoring a spell. The spellcaster using a spell anchor would need to target an item that they are attuned to, or that they've personally crafted themselves.

5. That last bit might unbalance casters in general, but let's leave it for now. Some DMs don't even allow item creation in their games.

6. What else? If you anchor a spell to a magic item, that magic item's properties are suppressed. Period. No getting around this.

7. How long should an anchored spell last? I'd say for as long as the caster remains attuned to the item, or until they spend an action to end the spell. If the spell anchor is an item the caster made, then I suppose the spell would last forever (even if the caster dies). This might be a fun thing to encounter in a dusty, long forgotten dungeon. One way for a rogue, say, or a spellcaster, to know that an item the party just found was made by whomever cast the spell anchored to it.

8. Which leads to another question: What if someone else besides the caster comes along and wants to attune to the item that's being used as a spell anchor? You've already emphasized in #6 above that the item loses all of its properties while a spell is anchored to it...does that include attuning?

9. Well, the DMG (page 136) says a creature must form a bond with an item before its "magical properties can be used." Seems to me like attunement falls outside the prohibition in #6 above. Thus, a creature can attune to a magic item that is being used as a spell anchor.

10. It would be cool if the spell stayed anchored to the item, but no. If a new creature attunes to an item being used as a spell anchor, the anchored spell ends.

11. And as much as I like the idea of a spellcaster being able to anchor spells to any item they have made, I think I am going to scrap that concept for now. It adds another level of complexity/exceptions, and if there's anything that's true about Fifth Edition D&D then it's this: Keep It Simple.

12. I do thing there's room to maybe steal spells that are anchored to items, though. That might be a spell all its own.

13. Anything else? How about limiting what kinds of items can act as anchors, and what level of spells can be anchored? This might add complexity, but maybe it will keep the cheese out, too.

14. Let's say that Uncommon and Rare magic items can act as spell anchors for cantrips, and spells of 1st, 2nd and 3rd level. Note: There are no Common magic items that requires attunement (I just checked the DMG). However, there are a TON of Uncommon magic items that do. Anyway, Rare items can be anchors for spells up to 6th level, Very Rare magic items can be used to anchor a spell of 1st to 8th level, and Legendary magic items can anchor a spell from 1st to 9th level. Again: this only applies to spells with a range of Self or Touch, and with a duration longer than Instantaneous.

15. You know what? Let's limit it to spells that require Concentration only. Fits the theme of this topic a lot better, too, because the spell would free up a spellcaster from always having to concentrate on a commonly used spell.

16. A Topic For Another Day will be to create spells that go outside of these limitations, and tie them to famous casters of the Realms and other worlds, such as Leomund or Agannazar or Otiluke or Presper.

17. Might be a magic item in this, too. A kind of item that readily accepts spells requiring concentration, and then powers that spell until it's either dismissed by the caster, ended by a Dispell Magic, or another spell is cast into the item. That's a Topic For Another Day.

With all this in mind, let's take a crack at writing the actual spell:

Spell Anchor
3rd-level abjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (one magic item to which you are attuned; see text)
Duration: Instantaneous

You touch a magic item to which you are attuned and cause it to become an anchor for a spell you are maintaining by concentration.
For as long as the spell is anchored you do not need to concentrate to maintain it. During this time all of the magical properties of the targeted magic item are suppressed.
You may spend one action to sever the anchor. Whenever the anchor is severed, the anchored spell ends and the magical properties of the targeted item return.
If you become unattuned to the targeted magic item, if the targeted magic item is destroyed, or if the targeted magic item and the point of origin of the anchored spell are ever separated by a distance of one mile or more, the anchor is severed and the spell ends.
Any other effect that ends the anchored spell (such as a Dispel Magic) severs the anchor.
The rarity of the magic item limits the level of the spell that you can anchor, and determines the maximun distance by which the targeted magic item and anchored spell's point of origin may be separated, as follows:
Common: Cannot be used to anchor spells.
Uncommon: 0 to 3rd level spells; 1 mile.
Rare: 0 to 6th level spells; 10 miles.
Very Rare: 0 8th level spells; 100 miles.
Legendary: 0 to 9th level spells; same plane of existence.

Spells that can be cast with a higher level spell slot require the use of rarer items in order to be anchored. Consult the table above to determine the rarity of the item required to anchor your spell.

********

If someone wouldn't mind finding ways to break this spell, as well as leaving a post here describing the ways it can be cone, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Warlock Fey Pact vis-a-vis The Dryad Queen Radanthe of Aloushe (King's Forest, Cormyr)

If the examples given for Archfey and Great Old Ones that can serve as Warlock Patrons (and as found in the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide) don't work for you, you can always go with Queen Radanthe, ruler of the Dryad Realm of Aloushe within the heart of the King's Forest, in Cormyr.

What are some of the things Radanthe would want a Warlock to do? And what secrets will she reveal to a Warlock she makes a pact with?

Read on.

1. Radanthe desires for Warlocks to do battle with all beings that hunt, capture or slay fey.

2. She wishes to see all fey set free that are currently imprisoned, being experimented on, or are enslaved--especially fey that are being magically compelled to act against their will.

3. Radanthe desires humans to know about fey in general. Because she despises tales of treachery or doom that falsely identify fey as the culprits, as well as stories that don't hew to the truth of what fey are and are not, she expects Warlocks to speak truth to such stories whenever they are overheard.

4. Because the Sundering realigned the planar cosmology of the Forgotten Realms, and because the Sundering largely shored up planar boundaries, many creatures from the Feywild have become stuck in the Realms. While any fey creature seeking to return to the Feywild can do so by traveling to Aloushe and similar fey realms, and from their cross over to the Feywild, it's also true that places like Aloushe are isolated, the journey to them is difficult, and not all fey know where the places in the Realms ruled over by fey are located.

5. Thus, Radanthe will unveil the existence of Fey Crossroads (see the Third Edition sourcebook Magic of Faerûn) to Warlocks she has come to trust, as well as the general location of fey in need, so Warlocks and their allies can accomplish two things.

6. First, they can explore the Crossroads and scour them of any dangers that occupy them, and help any beings lost in the Crossroads to find their way to safety. After all, planar realignments are good for shifting creatures against their will into the spaces between worlds.

7. Second, a Warlock and their companions can locate lost or isolated fey in the Realms, and then guide them back through the Crossroads to Aloushe or a similar fey realm, so the lost fey can either join the Dryad Realm or depart for the Feywild.

8. Because Radanthe's greatest fear is that humans will come to see **all** fey as evil, and so decide to slay fey wherever they are encountered, she will want to know the disposition and doings of fey beasts, and all other terrors associated with fey that humans believe have may have found their way into the Realms from the Feywild.

9. This includes the trolls that have come to plague the region of the King's Forest centered around Waymoot. Combat-minded Warlocks will be the first to receive news from Radanthe about trolls and other terrors that need taking care of. (See Map below)

10. Some beasts will need to be led deeper into woodlands where humans rarely go (such as the Hullack Forest, or the deepest part of Hermit's Wood in southeastern Cormyr), the better to preserve those woodlands and keep humans from despoiling them.

11. In rare cases these creatures will cross back over to the Feywild naturally, provided they are led deep enough into the woodlands. Player character Warlocks will have learned from Radanthe that they have gone far enough into the woods when their shadows no longer stand opposite any light source, but instead always point away from the deep darkness of the wood and in the direction of safety.

Tip of the hat to Aaron Dodson over at the Forgotten Realms Archives group on Facebook for nudging these ideas out of me.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Yon Wizard's Tower Is Not What It Used To Be.

Many an independent mage* calls the Forest Kingdom home.

Some dwell in Cormyr's three principal cities (Arabel, Marsember and Suzail), while others have settled in any of the several villages and trading towns that dot Cormyr's countryside and forests.

Despite the stereotypical notion of wizards as tower-dwelling recluses, the actual number of tower-dwelling wizards residing in Cormyr are not as numerous as one might think. Wizards that desire to live away from Cormyr's population centers are more likely to take up residence in abandoned mansions or any of the dilapidated "foursquare" keeps that have been built, torn down, and then built again over the centuries as Cormyr's borders expanded, as opposed to selecting a site and then constructing a fortified, defended-by-magic tower from scratch.

Of these, few prefer to live like hermits. Most independent practitioners of the Art in Cormyr that have attained a residence in which to practice their Art make use of servants, errand runners, agents and apprentices, and may call upon the help of other mages as well. After all, each task performed by an assistant is one less spell cast per day.

To pay for the help, these mages provide services magical to those that can afford them, while the bulk of their coin is made by selling their expert knowledge of one or more non-magical topics to visitors in need of assistance. (Just like many a sage in Cormyr.)

True tower-dwelling loners don't last long, even in relatively peaceful Cormyr. Most believe their magic to be far more unique than it actually is; likewise their skill at Art. When they attend the monthly Council of Mages meeting in Suzail they are likely to brag above their station, and may sow the seeds of their demise if word of the power they have supposedly attained reach the ears of other rivals or anyone capable of slaying a mage and selling the caster's stolen wares quickly. Such mages have few friends, if any, and the lack of their presence is not likely to be noticed should they fall prey to accident, spell-mishap or treachery.

Wizards of War are believed to place bets on how soon the most arrogant of mages that have recently setup shop in a tower will perish.

Thus, for Dungeon Masters that would like to add a twist to the same old experience of PCs visiting a wizard's tower, I present some ideas below on how to make things interesting.

The tower the PCs are seeking is...

1. …on fire; the door blasted off; smoke erupting from windows absent any glass or shutters, and out of cracks and holes in the tower stone.

2. …falling over. The place literally falls on its side, crashing into the earth with a sound like thunder and sending a rumble through the ground that shakes the earth under the PC's feet as they round the bend.

3. …gone. It was there last time, and filled with what you’d expect to find in a wizard’s tower (at least the parts of it the wizard, her apprentices, and whomever else runs the place allowed you see on your last visit).

4. …small. Very, very, small—about as tall as a dwarf. The wizard walks out, casts a spell to amplify her voice, and proceeds to inform the PCs as to what happened.

5. …surrounded by merchant carts, laborers, factors, horses and the curious. The wizard is nowhere to be found, her servants and students are gone too, and the locals have decided to empty the place out.

6. …not where it used to be. That is, it’s no longer standing in a round clearing surrounded by low hills, just around the bend. Now it stands on the highest of the low hills.

7. …now one of two identical looking towers standing just around the bend. As the PCs turn the corner the wizard appears, waves her hands to signal the PCs to go back the way they came, and follows them. She says the second tower is a rare form of mimic—a gargantuan tower mimic—and they must approach invisibly, because the creature is hungry.

8. …the way it’s always been. However, a different wizard answers the door and he has no idea who it is the PCs are asking after.

9. …no longer there. A sign posted where the tower stood informs the reader as follows, “We’ve moved! Find us in the heart of Redspring (ten miles to the east, as the raven flies).”

10. …not taking visitors, but is hiring guards. A mage moot is taking place inside, and trouble always follows.


* The word "independent" in this case meaning any arcane spellcaster residing in Cormyr that is not a Wizard of War, or a House mage in service to any of Cormyr's noble families.

Until next time, Dear Reader!

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Birds of the King’s Forest: The Dwarfbeard Finch

Knowing something of the more mundane creatures and fauna to be found in places like the King's Forest, in Cormyr, is good for Dungeon Masters running campaigns where the Player Characters are low level.

Likewise for generating encounters that help to break the tedium of rest, quest, fight, rest.

Let's start with one of the more colorful--and covetous--birds to be found in Cormyr's largest woodland.

********

1. Dwarfbeard Finches are so named for the thick, colorful feathers that adorn the face and breast of male finches.

2. Dwarfbeard males are of one solid color, usually black or deep blue. Females tend to colors ranging from rock-grey to dun-brown. From beak to tail, a typical male finch is about as long as a handkeg is tall. Females are about half again as large as males.

3. The “beards” of male finches appear during mating season. Males inflate their cheeks and breast, causing the feathers over their faces to extend outward like mustachios and curl downward into the feathers of their breast, the later flowing downward past the finch's clawed toes. Beard feathers change color during mating season: vibrant reds, wholesome browns, straw-colored blonds and loamy blacks. A rare few are the color of snow.

4. Dwarfbeards have not been sighted anywhere else in Cormyr since the forested lands north of Suzail were cleared away and separated into what would one day become the King’s Forest.

5. Males build nests on sturdy branches, over the point where another strong branch grows out from the first. The nests are round and one side is built up into a sort of half-dome roof over the nest.

6. A female finch will land on one of the two branches that run out from the junction that the nest is built on. The male finch will come out from the nest and scamper, elaborately preen, dance and wiggle up and down the other branch, doing his best to coax the female towards the nest.

7. This process almost always fails if the male hasn’t placed a shiny object in the heart of the nest. If the object is suitable, the female will enter the nest, and then the male must sing for as long as it takes for the female to settle in. If she does then the birds will mate, and become a mated pair for life.

8. During the nesting season, male Dwarfbeards are notorious for landing in groups on forest travelers wearing items of clothing and jewelry that shine or flash in the sunlight. Likewise on anyone carrying gleaming magic items or richly adorned armor and weapons (a longsword with a ruby set in its pommel, for example, or armor burnished to a bright sheen). The birds will peck and poke with their long beaks, seeking to dislodge an item and to carry it off before another finch gets it. More than once this has given away the position of an adventurer ignorant of forest lore.

9. Forest goblins and hunters will sometimes lay out glimmering objects in the center of box traps, in the hopes of catching a small meal. These same individuals will climb trees and raid Dwarfbeard nests in the hopes of finding a bauble that can be sold for coin, despite the risk of falling to their deaths or of losing an eye or finger to the sharp beaks of males finches.

10. The lore of Dwarfbeards becomes unreliable as one travels further from the forest. In Suzail, innumerable tales have been printed in chapbooks that claim Dwarfbeards have a knack for finding lost treasures. In Arabel, it's common to claim that a small lost item that can't be found was stolen by a Dwarfbeard (Dwarfbeards are pure forest dwellers, mind, and the few that have been trained as pets or coerced by magic into stealing never stay long with their masters). In villages throughout Cormyr, children are told that male Dwarfbeards continue to embroider their nests with jewels, necklaces, rings and coins. Likewise that the easiest way to send an adventurer up a tree is to tell them a mated pair of Dwarfbeards lives in it.

11. One tale told throughout Cormyr claims a stubborn finch made off with the sapphire-adorned crown of an early king of Cormyr (though just who the King was varies from one telling to the next), and that the crown was used as a frame to build a nest around while the largest sapphire was plucked from its setting by the finch and placed in the center of its nest to attract a mate.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

"Dragon Dreams Of The Forest Kingdom"

1. Catchy title, don't you think?

2. There are more dragons sleeping in lairs in the Thunder Peaks and Stormhorns than you might imagine--far more.

3. If all of these dragons were to wake up and go gallivanting through Cormyr, raiding and eating and causing mayhem as they went, they'd all of them be breaking treaties and Draconic Law.

4. Draconic Law bound the mighty black dragon Thauglorimorgorus, when that creature lost a Feint of Honor to the elf Iliphar, known widely in Cormanthyr to the northeast as the Lord of Scepters. And so rule over the Forest Country passed from dragon to elf in the Year of Good Hunting, -205 DR.

5. 231 years later, the Fair Folk of the Forest Country bound themselves by treaty to the human settlers that lived along the southern coast of Iliphar's realm. And so rule over the Forest Country passed from elves to humans in the Year of Opening Doors, 26 DR.

6. Humans have ruled what is now called the Forest Kingdom for fourteen and a half centuries. But the dragons who were once vassals of the mighty Purple Dragon--as Thauglorimorgorus was known--remember when all the forests and mountains were called the Lands of the Purple Dragon. Likewise the dragons that came to the mountains after elves and men took over, the former quietly settling in and waiting.

7. The madness that overwhelms all dragons in the Realms bathed Cormyr--and much of the Heartlands--in destruction. No treaty or Law of Dragons could prevent what occurred in 1018 DR, Year of the Dracorage. If the rumors were true then Old Thaug himself was pulled out of his slumber only to die an unworthy death at the hands of humans of the Forest Kingdom.

8. Yet the dragons that survived saw an opportunity to raid the lairs of their less fortunate kin. Some did this immediately, while others saw first to the defense of their own lairs and the slaying of rivals sure to come knocking at the door, before searching out that rival's lair to take all that could be found. But the lair of Thauglor was never found. Or at least, it was never found in the decade or so following the Rage of Dragons.

9. As the dragons settled back into their lairs, they wondered, "Whither Thauglor?" If the Purple Dragon was truly slain, did it not follow that a grand hoard lay unguarded? The rumblings that ran scattershot through the Thunder Peaks and Stormhorns over the next decade were not earthquakes, but draconic shivers of delight at the thought of so much treasure waiting to be claimed.

10. Some dragons shivered in fear, however, knowing as they did that Thauglor was no mere trickster, but a cunning dragon that had defeated all challengers once century after the next. To hunt for Thauglor's lair was to court disaster--but even they could not resist.

11. The search for Thauglor's lair continues in modern-day Cormyr. Bold adventurers oft proclaim they are searching for it, and these are almost certainly not agents of any of the sleeping dragons that lair in the mountains that surround Cormyr on three sides.

12. Humans and members of the other lesser races who do search for the Lair Most Coveted do not realize they are doing the work of dragons. The few that do often end up dead. A rare few are given to understand just who they are working for; for some this is a thrill, for others a terror. Regardless, the work continues.

13. To be thrall to a dragon is to carry a mark. Usually a tattoo or other subtle mark not easily visible, such as the image of a dragon's head no wider than a fingertip placed behind one's ear that is the color of the dragon to whom the thrall is bound.

14. Such individuals are pieces on a grand chessboard that all the sleeping dragons can see in their mind's eye while they sleep.

15. The minds of sleeping dragons ride the ebb and flow of magic. Simply casting a spell can lure to one's self the Sleeping Eye of a dragon. The caster won't see the eye--it's something far more subtle than the invisible sensor from a Scrying spell--nor will the dragon speak or try to communicate through it. The dragon is after all sleeping, and the eye only watches.

16. Sages have speculated over how sleeping dragons can seem unaffected by centuries of slumber; how they move about as though the changing world never passed them by. The answer is simple: The mind of a dragon remembers what it sees in its sleep. Older dragons are capable of seeing many events at the same time. The eldest can ever so subtly influence these events--if they relate to magic.

17. And with all that out of the way, I think the next best question to ask is: What do the sleeping dragons that lair around modern-day (1491 DR) Cormyr see? Who do they focus on? And what do they truly dream about when the focus of their sleeping minds turns away from the world to ponder ideas or tactics, and imagine outcomes? What does Cormyr under their dreaming draconic thumb look like? And when they are awake, what moves will they make to see their vision turned into a reality?

18. This is fodder for a DMs Guild sourcebook.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

The Hall Of Living Statues

Secrets are best kept close.

The better to guard them that way.

But dangerous secrets are best shared with trusted friends and allies, the better to share the danger, and the better to act swiftly and decisively when the secret threatens to burst its bonds and wreak havoc.

Let's take a look at one of Cormyr's oldest secrets--one that unfortunately grows with time as more unsuspecting victims are found. It lurks in the Royal Palace, and brings swift doom to anyone not prepared to face it.

********

1. Among the more mundane and rarely visited chambers to be found in the Palace is the North Hall of Storage. It is one of many such storage halls located throughout the Royal Palace, which are used to keep furniture, draperies, linens and all manner of objects, much of which is rotated back into the Palace over time as the tastes of new rulers and senior courtiers determines the appearance of the Palace proper.

2. A handful of persons know the true name of the North Hall, as well as its purpose. These including various of the Royal Family, the Mage Royal and Crown Mage, the senior duty wizard assigned to the Hall’s defense, the Purple Dragons that stand guard at the entrance to the Hall, and the blind attendants that maintain the hall day and night.

3. To these persons the North Hall is properly known as the Hall of Living Statues. This hall is not a complete mystery, and like other "legendary" rooms in the Palace it is hidden in plain sight. The stories surrounding such rooms have been for centuries used by fodder for stories told by off duty courtiers seeking free drinks, and to scare the children, doorjacks and apprentice courtiers that live and work within the Royal Court and Palace.

4. This is by design, and so the Hall of Living Statues is known by a thousand stories and rumors, and is one of many places in the Palace (and in greater Cormyr) that everyone has heard about but nobody has actually seen.

5. Within the Hall, one may find over four hundred and fifty lifelike statues of Cormyreans (and not a few outlanders), all exquisitely detailed and lifelike. They statues depict nobles and well to do merchants, their servants, along with a handful of others one might expect to find at any of the exclusive eateries along the Promenade; everyday Cormyreans in the dress of laborers and farmers, with the tools of their trade in hand.

6. The oldest pieces depict Cormyreans from over twelve hundred years in the past. The most recent additions to the collection depict Cormyreans in modern styles of dress.

7. All the statues share one trait in common, for black hoods have been placed over the heads of all the statues. The blind attendants remove the hoods every morning, and replace them in the evening.

8. The Hall is tall, its while walls undecorated, its iron barred windows spaced evenly along one side of the room and standing over twenty feet in the air. The windows are square and small, and little sunlight passes through them. Old enchantments still bathe the windows, and so they throw radiance into the Hall as though the sun were shining directly into it for as long as the sun rides the sky.

9. The attendants greet each statue by name. For the oldest statues, all are addressed as “Lady” or “Lord,” for the names belonging to these statues are unknown.

10. Of late, a woman has visited the Hall, first in the presence of the Keeper and the blind attendants, and lately on her own. She wears a blindfold and speaks in an accent archaic. Her clothing is ancient, but it echoes the styles worn by the eldest of the statues.

11. The flesh and blood eyes of the eldest statues have only started to register her presence. The eyes of the younger statues betray their keen interest in the woman.

12. Her presence is welcomed by the blind attendants, who hope she will find kin among the elder statues, and perhaps remember their names. The other guardians have fallen to gossiping over the provenance of the woman, who is properly styled a Lady, and when not in her presence they wonder aloud if the rumors of her arrival in the Palace are true.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Of Kelemvor and the Raven Queen

1. By the year 1491 DR (approximately the current game year in the Forgotten Realms), one may find in certain temples of Kelemvor that the deity is being depicted not strictly as male, but also female. Such places include the Vault of Restful Dead (in Cormyr), and in various lesser temples as may be found throughout the Heartlands as far west as the Sword Coast.

2. Some worshipers living near these temples have purchased special coins of oversized make (about as large as a human palm) that depict Kelemvor in profile on one side and a woman on the other. Just what boon these coins are meant to grant remains a topic of debate throughout the Heartlands.

3. A rare few of the coins—those possessed by priests of the aforementioned temples—show a panther on one side and a raven on the other.

4. These changes have not gone unnoticed; scholarly debate among sages versed in divine lore rides the merchant roads in the form of letters, broadsheets and competing books of sagely lore and thought on the topic of Kelemvor's "changing face."

5. Those same roads carry itinerant priests of the Lord of the Dead accompanied by armed and armored Doomguides, the former carrying messages in their minds that are meant only for the most holy ears of the high priests of certain Kelemvorite temples, where debate over the behavior of the priests of lesser temples has risen to the level of concern, but not quite alarm.

6. The contents of these messages vary; some decry the changed face of Kelemvor and call for any priest espousing such ideas to be rooted out and banished.

9. Others council patience, and claim that if these change be a true one then Kelemvor will reveal the truth in due time.

10. If it not be a true change, then the deity will reveal this as well, and then work can begin to cleanse the faith of the influence of whatever interloper power is at work.

11. At least two sages—one in Priapurl, the other in Baldur’s Gate—claim knowledge of a deity of death with a reach that spans many worlds, but whose influence is not yet great in Faerûn, and both sages refer to this deity in their writings as the Raven Queen.

12. This last fact is the only point of agreement between the two sages: the first is Haphstil of Priapurl, who catalogs and publishes (often without consent) the most sacred of divine rights, chants, prayers and other activities of the worshipers of several deities; the second is called Alcalebra and she is as much seer as sage, and she may be found in the disrespectfully named (in Alcelabra's opinion) community known as Little Calimshan, within the city of Baldur’s Gate.

13. Haphstil claims that Kelemvor is simply growing as a deity, and becoming more accessible by doing much the same as other, older deities have always done in the Realms by manifesting as man or woman as the situation requires--the resemblance to the Raven Queen being only superficial in nature.

14. Alcelabra claims that Kelemvor is still young by divine standards, that he yearns for companionship, and that he has found it in the Raven Queen, herself a diety Alcelabra is certain is already taking advantage of the situation, and who will someday subsume Kelemvor entirely.