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

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Eleint - The Fading
Sixth day of the first tenday
1500 DR - Year of the Sea's Secrets Revealed

Adventurers spy floating keep. Tavern debt paid in Monksblade. Knight addresses Queen.

HULTAIL - The Dragon Chasers arrived in Hultail bearing a strange tale. While sailing across the Wyvernwater from Immersea, the Chaser’s hired ship was overcome by fog. Its crew were first to spot an enormous keep floating on the water through the mist, but the ship’s captain refused the Chaser’s frantic request to drop anchor and allow them use of her ship’s boat to sail for the keep. The winds shifted then, obscuring the keep and driving the ship away. The fog dissipated soon after, revealing naught but the gently rippling surface of the Wyvernwater.

MONKSBLADE - The adventurer Ruthgul of Marsember, known to friend and foe alike as the Ravager, paid off the tavern debts for all the regulars of the Hunting Knight, a popular tavern in Monksblade that caters to retired adventurers (“retired” in this case meaning elderly or permanently injured) and old farmers that have given care of their fields to their grown children. Ruthgul made the payment without preamble or celebration, and left when the deed was done. The other members of the Company of the Bottled Fiend were seen inside various shops and eateries in Monksblade throughout the day, and entering the homes of friends. The adventurers withdrew from the village later in the day. Soon after, an enormous crack of thunder rolled over the village. At the sound, a regular of the Hunting Knight was heard to say, “ That was Eldrem’s doing. He called to Talos to send them all on an adventure. Wherever they are now, no doubt much blood has already been spilled.”

SUZAIL - Lady Ruvelle Keskrel addressed Queen Raedra at court today. The seldom seen noblewoman, dressed in battle-worn armor and standing as though she were ready to draw steel at any moment, announced to the Queen the following: “The wood has turned. The door is open. So shall it remain through Deepwinter.”

Court attendees observed a look of shock on Raedra's face, but only briefly, as she was swift to give the traditional, albeit ancient, reply: “We thank the Knight of Owl Well for her service. Will she hasten to find her replacement before the wood turns again and the door is closed?”

“Aye, she will,” was Lady Ruvelle’s reply. Then she bowed to the Queen and departed without another word.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Eleint - The Fading
Seventh day of the first tenday
1500 DR - Year of the Sea's Secrets Revealed

Noblewoman knocked into cook fire. New Knight of Owl Well to be chosen.

Dear Reader,

It helps to have a good map of Cormyr. You can find one here.

On with the show!

HILLMARCH - A rowdy brawl inside the Blazing Pick—one of several taverns populating the mining town of Hillmarch—saw tables overturned and chairs used as weapons. One unfortunate miner made an unlucky swing that missed his intended target and struck Lady Jaleskreene Lionsyn square in the bosom instead. Lady Jaleskreene was thrown backward onto the blazing embers of a hearth fire used for warming the hearty soups sold by the handkeg to the Pick’s guests. In lieu of screams and agony, the noblewoman’s eyes glowed a boiling amber hue as she calmly picked herself up off the embers, selected a sturdy-looking chair, and hurled it at the miner. As ever, much blood and ale was spilled.

SUZAIL - At this evening’s “Informed Gathering” within the lofty first floor of Dragonhaven, the subject of the Knight of Owl Well was put to the gathering’s host, the sage Farlthast, owing to the Knight’s brief appearance at court the day prior. According to Falrthast, the Knight of Owl Well is an unusual title, of the sort that it is passed between members of noble houses, specifically the oldest houses of Marsember whose families extend back to the days when the city was independent of Cormyr, and then only among the women of those families. “The Keskrels of Marsember have borne the weight of this responsibility for one hundred and sixty consecutive years. All that time a Keskrel has patrolled the Hermit’s Woods, ensuring none of the horrors that lurk in its heart escape, and rescued lost travelers from its depths. The Lady Knight’s announcement at court means the mantle of responsibility has shifted from her shoulders to another. I quite wonder if the other houses remember the burden their daughters share?”

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Eleint - The Fading
Ninth day of the first tenday
1500 DR - Year of the Sea's Secrets Revealed

Steel Regent remembered

Across Cormyr, Hammers of Tempus welcomed the battle-touched daughters of lay worshippers to shrines and moots, there to be consecrated to the Lord of Battles. Upon completion of the ceremonies, the Hammers shared war stories of, and sang ballads about, the Steel Regent Alusair Nacacia Obarskyr, whom they commemorate each year on the ninth day of Eleint, the day of her birth. A variety of weapons were made available at fair prices plus one silver to interested buyers, while minor repairs to weapons and armor were completed free of charge.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Eleint - The Fading
First day of the second tenday
1500 DR - Year of the Sea's Secrets Revealed

Merchant stabs war wizard, claims innocence.

THE HIGH DALE - A brazen daylight attempt on the life of the war wizard Kortha Margaster has left her on her deathbed, and the people of the High Dale shaken. Her attacker, a Sembian merchant known to few folk in the Dale, uttered a blood curdling shriek as she drew a mundane-seeming dagger and plunged it into the war wizard while she went about purchasing food for an evening meal.

The dagger proved to be enchanted, however, as did the merchant, hight Telsharnra Maelrim of Yhaunn. According to the guards placed on first watch over her, Telsharnra’s wits returned as swiftly as the confiscated dagger glowed a bright red and crumbled into dust. “Right soon she was demanding to who’d jailed her, demanding her freedom after we told her why she was locked up, and insisting she had no memory of attacking anyone,” according to Darve Manycoats, militia Constable.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Eleint - The Fading
Second day of the second tenday
1500 DR - Year of the Sea's Secrets Revealed

Ladies lash brigands.

DHEDLUK - A half score and two brigands tried to ambush a carriage on the Starwater Road. It was the misfortune of the brigands to have assailed a carriage filled with apprentice spellcasters, however, for ‘twas by spells and wandwork the brigands were subdued and then forced to march one after the other into Dhedluk, where they were turned over to the Purple Dragons. The carriage and its badly wounded driver were left behind, the later tended by local healers, whilst the spellcasters bought horses and supplies, packed their belongings into satchels, and set out for Waymoot on the Ranger’s Way. Later that night, a Purple Dragon was overheard to explain why the travelers were in such a rush, “Students of Blackthorne, every one of them. They keep wyverns as pets there. What is Blackthorne? Oh, that’s a finishing school for ladies on the outskirts of Eveningstar. Bloody battles took place there when the fourth Azoun was king.”

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Eleint - The Fading
Seventh day of the second tenday
1500 DR - Year of the Sea's Secrets Revealed

Ghost guides Immerfolk to treasure.

IMMERSEA - The people of Immersea are sharing stories of strange, unexpected whispers heard both day and night. Folk roundly agree the voice is that of an older man, his words spoken in somewhat outdated Common. No face or form accompanies the whispers, nor has anyone discovered a prankster in hiding after hearing a whispering voice. The Queen’s Lord has gone so far as to send Purple Dragons across the town to take count of every spellcaster present—including War Wizards—and obtain statements of their activities in town. This questioning has established one commonality: every mage has heard at least one whispered message within the last few days.

To its credit, the “Whisperer” appears to be mostly helpful. “It told me where to find a chest of preserves half-buried in the dirt off the Way!”(1) This, according to Telmra Ormshield, a manygoods peddler that likes to winter in Immersea when she has the coins to afford it. Orntal Mahalrym recounted the following: “‘Count ten stones round the well, find Dathur’s necklace hidden well’ was the words I heard. I went up Spring Hill to count stones and started digging. And there it was, my great, great grandfather Dathur’s gold and silver necklace! I cried more tears than there’s water in the Immer Stream.”

Where the Whisperer has been less than kind, its words have come in the form of stern warnings. The farmer and landowner Ildra Hethcanter described a terse, scolding voice assaulting her in the midst of signing documents to transfer ownership of a trio of farms. “The voice told me my great grandmother had made a promise never to sell those farms unless it was the folk working them. By All the Watching Gods, it was as though I could see Imra(2) herself in my mind’s eye when I heard the Whisperer! Then it told me I’d lose my own farm if I signed the deed.”

1
“The Way” in this case meaning Calantar’s Way, the large overland highway connecting Immersea to Suzail in the south and Arabel in the north.

2
Imra Danae was the great grandmother of Ildra Hethcanter. A handful of Immerfolk have reported seeing visions when they heard the Whisperer’s voice.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Eleint - The Fading
Ninth day of the second tenday
1500 DR - Year of the Sea's Secrets Revealed

Black Heldar's Roost located. Adventurer corpses found in Larder.

THUNDER PEAKS - Adventurers sponsored by House Yellander have discovered the remains of Black Heldar’s Roost. Named after the legendary robber baron “Black” Heldar Hornfast, the Roost has long been the focus of adventurers and mountain explorers hoping to recover the many, many treasures Black Heldar won through banditry and force of arms. His victims were not only merchants and agents of Cormyr and Sembia, but the other robber barons who’d built their own keeps along the west-facing slopes of the Thunder Peaks. Black Heldar had gone so far as to proclaim himself the Bane of Dhalmass, but this title died as swiftly as Heldar himself after the Warrior King swept in on griffon-back to lead an attack on the Roost.

Popular lore claims Dhalmass defeated Black Heldar in single combat, causing Heldar’s forces to retreat below the castle and flee into the maze of underways the bandits had used to travel to other parts of the Thunder Peaks unseen and emerge to set ambushes. The Roost is thought to have been plundered, though no reliable records exist that can confirm if the castle was destroyed afterward or simply left to crumble over time under the constant deluge of storms and lightning that give the Thunder Peaks its name.

RAVAER’S STRONGHOLD - Purple Dragons manning this earthen redoubt were shocked to discover the bodies of dead adventurers in the heart of the stronghold. Instead of cabbages, firewood, waterskins, and sausages sealed in clay, the corpses of six adventurers were crammed inside a series of stone storage niches. The identities of the dead and their histories as adventurers were confirmed by the Lionar in charge after an adventuring charter was recovered from the bodies. The corpses were loaded onto a wagon, then both wagon and a trio of Dragons on horseback were dispatched to deliver the bodies, along with the charter, to the Queen’s Lord of Hultail.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Eleint - The Fading
Tenth day of the second tenday
1500 DR - Year of the Sea's Secrets Revealed

Orcs clash with hobgoblins.

MALOREN’S REST - Disaster was averted at Maloren’s Rest after a horde of orcs avalanched out of the Sunset Mountains and crashed into a legion of hobgoblins marching on the village. The orcs were joined by a hastily assembled army of Tunlanders that attacked the hobgoblins from the south and east. The battle turned into a rout, and the hobgoblins retreated northwest. The Tunnish war leader and the Orken warlord met in the middle of the carnage, were seen to trade words and salutes, then both departed to their forces. The Tunlanders took weapons from fallen hobgoblin soldiers, broke them, and made offerings to Tempus, while the orcs gathered crossbows and replaced their lesser swords and shields with finer weapons of hobgoblin make. Hobgoblin supplies and foodstuffs–including some bodies–were taken too, for later eating by the orcs. According to the Tunnish war leader, the orcs are from a distant land beyond a great range of endless mountains. They fight for the Zhentarim.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Eleint - The Fading
Autumn Equinox
First day of the third tenday
1500 DR - Year of the Sea's Secrets Revealed

Flamefiend frightens Vale folk.

FIREFALL VALE - Vale folk have fled to Firefall Keep after a dragon was sighted among the clouds over Mount Glendaborr. Lord and Lady Summerstar have sent riders to all corners of the upper and lower Vale to encourage folk to retreat to the castle for the remainder of the tenday.

The Summerstar house mage and Wizard of War Lethreene Hawkspike was quick to remind Vale-folk of the presence of the red dragon Thraxata, “The Flamefiend,” who resides a short flight (for dragons) away inside the smooth, blackened form of The Bloodhorn, a mountain nigh the Thunder Gap. While Thraxata is known to be a descendant of one of the dragons slain by Glothgam Summerstar1, folk have yet to identify the dragon sighted over the Vale. At Lord Summerstar’s request, Lethreene sent a magical warning to her counterparts in the Houses of Yellander and Indesm (both families have holdings nearest to the Vale) and to the senior Wizard of War resident in the nearby town of Immerford.

Those Who Harp count Lady Summerstar a close friend, and have quietly informed her it was indeed Thraxata that flew so close to the Vale (the Lady has chosen to keep this information to herself, for now). The Harpers advised Lady Summerstar that the dragon alighted at the base of Mount Glendaborr and spent the better part of a day digging out a rockfall. Thraxata left with something clutched to her breast, though the Harper scouts could not see what it was. They did see the dragon cast a series of intricate spells before her departure, and warned Lady Summerstar that more than one spell trap awaits anyone who tries to search the remains of the rockfall.2

1
The exact day when Glothgam Summerstar, founder of his proud House, wielded the Sword of Summer Winds to drive off a flight of dragons that challenged him for control of the Vale has been lost to time, though their living descendants never fail to ride the clouds over the Vale each year as a reminder of the doom promised to all who might dare to expand the Vale’s borders beyond its traditional boundaries.

2
The spell traps are linked. Setting off one triggers the rest, and culminates in the shearing off of another portion of the cliff that borders the southeastern face of Mount Glendaborr, thereby burying anyone standing among the remnants of the first rockfall. Thraxata could just as easily have shorn away more rock and buried whatever it was she wants hidden, but her nature is always to leave a trap or danger lurking where another dragon might choose to hide its tracks.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Marpenoth - Leaffall​

Sixth day of the first tenday​

1500 DR - Year of the Sea's Secrets Revealed.​

Street collapses in Arabel. Villagers prepare for Mistwalk. Necromancer apprehended in Suzail.

ARABEL - A street between two warehouses collapsed this morning. One wagon hauling goods meant for sale in Eveningstar was caught in the collapse, resulting in the deaths of the driver and two of their packbeasts. The bodies of at least three other people were visible in the rubble, which revealed someone had been covertly digging a tunnel that would likely have connected the two warehouses if not for the mishap. By nightfall there were still Purple Dragons guarding the scene, and more than the usual number of war wizards were seen lowering themselves by means of magic into the sinkhole. Word has since spread between day workers that the tunnel leads to a network of passages between warehouses and, perhaps, the cellars of nearby residences and shops.

BLUSTICH - Naranralee, Bard of the Dead, has returned to Blustich in anticipation of the yearly Mistwalk. Folk in nearby Marsember discount the stories of ghosts appearing in the fog that cloaks Blustich after the seasons turn as “yet one more folktale among many spun by villagers with too much spare time and too little work to do.” Such opinions are not shared by all, however. Lady Tallashae Keskrel (nee Mallowbridge) is rumored to have gathered her four children and bundled them into a Keskrel-owned vessel and set sail to Blustich to attend “this most important of Deadwalks.” The unnamed servant that supplied this information wished to emphasize their Lady uses “only the correct words for things; the term “Mistwalk” was coined long ago by the leaders of Blustich to keep prying eyes and dark rumors from driving the ghosts away.” The Bard of the Dead is expected to lead the harp song played on the graveyard plateau overlooking Blustich, while the eldest women of each family join in song to call the spirits of their departed family members into the mists, so they may descend into the village and enter through open doors into their old homes. No fires are lit during this time, lest the ghost-gathered mists melt and the spirits fade away.

SUZAIL - Alashendal, a necromancer based in Marsember, was escorted into the Royal Court in the company of two armed and armored Purple Dragons. Each Dragon wore a ring on their left index finger that glowed an angry purple. There were no Wizards of War present, though this fact did not keep folk from assuming there were war wizards watching from the Royal Court and from covert locations along the Promenade.