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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5989703" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 289: November 2001part 5/7Rogues gallery: Sembia really is taking over around here. This is the third merchant family to get detailed, 6 months after the last one. I suspect these articles coincide with the staggered release of the books in the series. 4 so far? And more to come? Still, they're unlikely to get up to the 16 the Harper series managed. Now that would take years to cover all the characters. Rusk the huntsmaster is a cleric of Malar who's lost his arm, and is now scared that he's lost the favor of his god. Well, if you're going to follow a savage monster who discards you as soon as you start becoming feeble, you deserve everything you get. Red in tooth and claw sounds good as long as you're doing the ripping. When you aren't compassion and helping the needy starts to look like a more sensible option. Stannis Malveen is another guy who's died and come back, and is determined to get his revenge on the Uskevrens. Only instead of being a damned soul, he's a repulsive eel-vampire thing which wears a veil that really doesn't help. He's insane and flamboyant with it, which makes him an amusing villain to face, presuming your characters survive. Much fewer moral dilemmas than the one that appears to be polite and helpful. Radu Malveen is the brother who provides the human face in this partnership. Actually, it seems he's the dominant one here, being an exceedingly competent fighter and focussed businessman. But he's still a creepy bugger. This'll probably let him down in the long run. Get yourself some actual friends. Elminsters guide to the realms could theoretically have been in theme, but isn't either, as they're more interested in Rokugan than Kara-Tur this time round. They are at least a little eastern though, detailing a minor Red Wizard hideout, and the tricks and traps they use to make it hard to spot and easy to defend. Since they're wizards, most of these are magical, and they don't have any trouble getting in some high level stuff like symbols of death from the home base. Where some of these instalments have been aimed at lower level characters, this one reminds us that there are some big villainous groups that you won't be able to do more than dent at less than epic levels, and doing so may result in escalating reprisals. And if you're dumb enough to take one of their enchanted items that let them track you wherever you go, then that becomes a foregone conclusion. So kill them and take their stuff (unless you fence it fairly fast afterwards) is a rather bad idea here. People who think like stereotypical adventurers will have problems. This is what happens when the villains have years of getting beaten and become self-aware. The Realms continues to evolve, and slowly become ever less generic. Let's hope it can remain gameable despite this. Bazaar of the Bizarre: Cups? Well, we've had two whole articles on bottles before. And the holy grail is a pretty famous item. I believe we can work this. Once again, it seems that ironically, the amount of rehash has actually gone down since the new edition started. Alchemist's Glasses allow you to perfectly combine or separate any materials, even those that can't normally be mixed. This will require a bit of intelligence to get full use out of. Bardic Cups identify liquids poured into them by singing certain songs. The code is fairly easy to figure out. Stay well away if it starts making death metal screams. Dwarven Rune Steins give you a whole bunch of special powers if you invoke the right runes while drinking. It's basically a whole bunch of reusable potions. Another one any party will get a lot of use out of. Caine's Flagons of Shadows creates liquid shadow, that can be used to boost your ability to cast shadow magic, or simply make sculpted areas of shade. A low-key but valuable item for your evil wizard looking to build a stylish lair. Chalices of true seeing give you exactly that if you drink the liquid it produces. No surprises there. Dragon's Goblets produce flaming liquid that you can throw, or drink and then use to get a breath weapon. Mind you don't burn your throat in the process. A Rose of Kings is a neat device for ensuring honesty in your deals. It's reciprocal, so like the round table, it's puts everyone on an equal footing and should keep everyone trustworthy. Drink away, you have nothing to fear save your own secrets. Spy Glasses let you see through walls. A basic but effective little trick that'll give you a few more chances not to be horribly screwed over by monsters and traps in the dungeon. Talking Cups provide you with a rather fragile walkie talkie. Fill them with water, and they can transmit messages to each other. But any spillage wrecks them. You'll have to fit a stein container to make them more durable. Vampiric Goblets drain the bluud of the drinker. But if you know the command word, you can get back those hp later. Like a real blood bank, this becomes a lifesaving service that'll add another bit of aid on top of the cleric. War Mugs of the Ogre Magi are incredibly useful in barroom brawls. Not only do they do as much damage as a regular sword, but they never spill, no matter how vigorously you swing them. I can think of quite a few fighters who'd make this their weapon of choice all the time. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> I once again approve.</blockquote>

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