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I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
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<blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 8463671" data-attributes="member: 8461"><p>I'm trying to remember if this is the first time we've ever actually been to Ched Nasad proper. It's been name-dropped fairly often insofar as drow cities go; I think that Salvatore came up with the place, saying that it was Menzoberranzan's closest neighbor, but I can't recall anything more than superficial descriptions in places like <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17547/Drizzt-DoUrdens-Guide-to-the-Underdark-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark</em></a>. Even Maerimydra got decent coverage in <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/25111/City-of-the-Spider-Queen-35?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>City of the Spider Queen</em></a> (which, incidentally, takes place during these same novels; the adventure is basically what happens in Maerimydra during Lolth's Silence).</p><p></p><p>Of course, it's all fairly pointless anyway, since the city is never fully restored. It doesn't completely cease to exist; both <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/28621/Underdark-35?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Underdark</em></a> and <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/168539/Menzoberranzan-City-of-Intrigue-4e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue</em></a> confirm that much, but it's never rebuilt, instead hobbling along as a shadow of its former self, which is kind of appropriate considering who runs the place after that.</p><p></p><p>The appearance of Aliisza the alu-demon (though my 2E upbringing always comes through here, since I keep wanting to call her an "alu-fiend") was something that caught me by surprise when I first read this book. While I didn't own a copy of <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16858/Hellgate-Keep-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Hellgate Keep</em></a> at the time, I had flipped through it, and knew she was an NPC from there. I'm not sure what prompted Thomas M. Reid to include her here (he wasn't the author of the module in question) beyond an idea that she was a power-player in the general region and so should be involved.</p><p></p><p>As it stands, I mostly regard Aliisza's character as an impressive one, but more for her game stats than her presentation. The 2E lore was oddly consistent about the fact that alu-<s>fiends</s>demons could only gain wizard levels if they had an 18 Intelligence (the highest they could conceivably have under the game rules), and even then were limited to 12th level...which is exactly how Aliisza is portrayed (even if, as far as I know, she never had stats outside of 2E). It's nice when the lore is self-consistent, rather than needlessly contradicting itself.</p><p></p><p>With regard to Jeggred, I got the feeling that he was there as a walking advertisement for <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/29509/Monster-Compendium-Monsters-of-Faerun-3e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerûn</em></a>, since that's where draegloths first appeared (and this book came out less than two years later). Of course, your average draegloth doesn't have anywhere near the power to compete with high-level characters like this series' protagonists, so it was little surprise when <em>Dragon</em> #302 said that Jeggred was a barbarian 9/fighter 4 with several unique magic items. With that level of power, and his Chaotic Evil alignment, you'd think that Jeggred wouldn't be quite so loyal to his mother Triel Baenre, and yet the thought of anyone disobeying her tends to make him very upset. Presumably calling him a mama's boy makes him immediately activate his barbarian rage.</p><p></p><p>Far more interesting were the Jaezred Chaulssin (though the name was, like so many other instances of drow nomenclature, seemingly designed to confound people trying to type it out on the Internet). Cabals of that sort are campaign fodder, and this was no exception. We wouldn't get more solid information on them until <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/57386/Dragons-of-Faerun-35?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Dragons of Faerûn </em></a> put out its "City of Wyrmshadows" <a href="http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/files/FR_WYRMSHADOWS.zip" target="_blank">web enhancement</a>, which presented a thorough look at the organization, with the dizzying mechanical complexity that I so loved about 3.5E.</p><p></p><p>Lots of good times here, in other words. Also, the plot was of the novel was fun too. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p><em>Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alzrius, post: 8463671, member: 8461"] I'm trying to remember if this is the first time we've ever actually been to Ched Nasad proper. It's been name-dropped fairly often insofar as drow cities go; I think that Salvatore came up with the place, saying that it was Menzoberranzan's closest neighbor, but I can't recall anything more than superficial descriptions in places like [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17547/Drizzt-DoUrdens-Guide-to-the-Underdark-2e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark[/I][/URL]. Even Maerimydra got decent coverage in [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/25111/City-of-the-Spider-Queen-35?affiliate_id=820'][I]City of the Spider Queen[/I][/URL] (which, incidentally, takes place during these same novels; the adventure is basically what happens in Maerimydra during Lolth's Silence). Of course, it's all fairly pointless anyway, since the city is never fully restored. It doesn't completely cease to exist; both [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/28621/Underdark-35?affiliate_id=820'][I]Underdark[/I][/URL] and [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/168539/Menzoberranzan-City-of-Intrigue-4e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue[/I][/URL] confirm that much, but it's never rebuilt, instead hobbling along as a shadow of its former self, which is kind of appropriate considering who runs the place after that. The appearance of Aliisza the alu-demon (though my 2E upbringing always comes through here, since I keep wanting to call her an "alu-fiend") was something that caught me by surprise when I first read this book. While I didn't own a copy of [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16858/Hellgate-Keep-2e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Hellgate Keep[/I][/URL] at the time, I had flipped through it, and knew she was an NPC from there. I'm not sure what prompted Thomas M. Reid to include her here (he wasn't the author of the module in question) beyond an idea that she was a power-player in the general region and so should be involved. As it stands, I mostly regard Aliisza's character as an impressive one, but more for her game stats than her presentation. The 2E lore was oddly consistent about the fact that alu-[S]fiends[/S]demons could only gain wizard levels if they had an 18 Intelligence (the highest they could conceivably have under the game rules), and even then were limited to 12th level...which is exactly how Aliisza is portrayed (even if, as far as I know, she never had stats outside of 2E). It's nice when the lore is self-consistent, rather than needlessly contradicting itself. With regard to Jeggred, I got the feeling that he was there as a walking advertisement for [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/29509/Monster-Compendium-Monsters-of-Faerun-3e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerûn[/I][/URL], since that's where draegloths first appeared (and this book came out less than two years later). Of course, your average draegloth doesn't have anywhere near the power to compete with high-level characters like this series' protagonists, so it was little surprise when [I]Dragon[/I] #302 said that Jeggred was a barbarian 9/fighter 4 with several unique magic items. With that level of power, and his Chaotic Evil alignment, you'd think that Jeggred wouldn't be quite so loyal to his mother Triel Baenre, and yet the thought of anyone disobeying her tends to make him very upset. Presumably calling him a mama's boy makes him immediately activate his barbarian rage. Far more interesting were the Jaezred Chaulssin (though the name was, like so many other instances of drow nomenclature, seemingly designed to confound people trying to type it out on the Internet). Cabals of that sort are campaign fodder, and this was no exception. We wouldn't get more solid information on them until [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/57386/Dragons-of-Faerun-35?affiliate_id=820'][I]Dragons of Faerûn [/I][/URL] put out its "City of Wyrmshadows" [URL='http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/files/FR_WYRMSHADOWS.zip']web enhancement[/URL], which presented a thorough look at the organization, with the dizzying mechanical complexity that I so loved about 3.5E. Lots of good times here, in other words. Also, the plot was of the novel was fun too. ;) [I]Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.[/I] [/QUOTE]
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