ShadowDale question

[ShadowMaster]

Who is the lord of ShadowDale? And is it possible for an army of Zentharim to destroy Elminster's tower?

 

[Jeremy]

Anything is possible in the Realms. Difficult to the point of ludicrous, yes. Especially in the state the Zhentarim are currently in. But with some divine help, great planning, supreme amounts of firepower and counter spells, and--most importantly--complete surprise, it is certainly possible.

Of course the side effects would be tremendous. It'd bring every high-level adventurer in Faerun who wanted to make a name for himself, to come stomp the Zhents because of the demonstration of so much power. It would be tremendously devastating to the Dales and Shadowdale in particular as they lose a huge symbol and their greatest protection against the Drow in one strike (oh yeah, and the huge Zhentarim army occupying them wouldn't help). The Drow being held back by Elminster's tower would have the perfect chaos to do just about whatever they please...

But Elminster would survive, the Realms would survive and you'd have one helluva campaign on your hands.

I hope you have some idea of how to give hope and some small victories to your PC's after such an injury to the (pride of) good.

 

[Veldrane]

Mourngrym , and no, it's not possible, at least if they don't first defeat El himself, Khelben, Storm, Alustriel, The Simbul and so on... ...the tower is well protected even without those, so... ...no...

Edit: Mourngrym spelling, thnx Ruleslawyer

 

[Victim]

It would be possible, but very hard. Let's put it this way, if Elminster's tower could be destroyed by a Wish, someone who have done it by now. Think massive spell-battle, with the best casters of the Zhents and some Bannites on one side, and Elminster, maybe one or 2 other Chosen of Mystra, and probably a bunch of other adventurer types who were just around when the fighting breaks out.

However, the risk is so great that I doubt anyone but the truly insane would try it. Let's say the Zhents win, killing or driving off Elminster, destroying the tower, and siezing control of Shadowdale. How many powerful spellcasters did they just lose? How much gold did they spend to organize the attack? How many powerful people did they just upset? There's no way they could realize any long term gains because they'd draw so much fire from both Elminster's friends, opportunist groups like the drow, or maybe Sembians. I'd imagine that some red wizards might drop in to kill some Zhent mages while they're out of spells, or the Shades might start swooping in.

Big FFA battles between the Realm's heavy hitters are going to be too risky for most people to enjoy, and will draw too much unwanted attention for the winner to make good his escape. That's why they rarely have major battles and why the PCs have things to do.

 

[ShadowMaster]

Thanks folks. I didn't know that this small town was so hard to take. I always though that the Zents were very very strong and could do it.

 

[ruleslawyer]

To clarify...

The Lord of Shadowdale is Mourngrym Amcathra, a former member of the Knights of Myth Drannor (a locally-famous adventuring company).

Shadowdale is protected by some pretty powerful folk; Elminster, the bard Storm Silverhand, and the Knights, as well as a relatively experienced yeomanry that's fought off Zhent forces on several occasions. The reason that the Zhents don't conquer Shadowdale is that, while they keep trying, they just fail at it. Basically, the Black Network doesn't have the resources to crush an army of determined freemen fighting on its own turf, led by a bunch of experienced (read: high-level) adventurers, a VERY high-level bard, and an INSANELY high-level wizard.

 

[Gromm]

The Zhents could probably win in an all out assault, though the Big E would easily escape them and come back with reinforcements and reclaim the area.
The bigger problem would be it might just be the sort of mistake the Shades have been waiting for- the Zhents all out attack the Dale, Shade moves over a weakly defended Zhentil Keep.
The badly hurt Zhents are attacked from behind in short order, handing the region over to the Shades.
Not to mention the effects it would have on the other dales, Cormyr and Sembia.

The Zhents could probably pull it off, but a frontal assualt isn't the answer, they'd risk too much. Hence the sneakier approach seems the way to go - which is where PCs and adventures come in. Maybe the Zhents have plan to take the dales, but they need to do somethings to pull it off. Sounds like a campaign idea to me.

 

[Howling Coyote]

If you can, read the book Shadowdale, it's the first one in the avatar trilogy. It describes a massive battle between the Zhents and Shadowdale, where Bane and Manshoon lead the massive Zhentish army against Elminster, the Knights of Myth Drannor, some adventurers, and Shadowdales militia.

 

[Veldrane]

If you can, read the book Shadowdale, it's the first one in the avatar trilogy. It describes a massive battle between the Zhents and Shadowdale, where Bane and Manshoon lead the massive Zhentish army against Elminster, the Knights of Myth Drannor, some adventurers, and Shadowdales militia.

Ya, and think they're talking about the Time of Trouble, so, basically no magic functioning (and no El helping against the army), and still Shadowdale resisted.
Basically try to think at Shadowdale (small town that resist the mighty Zhents) as you think of The Simbul, who holds Thay and his Red Wizards at bay alone... ...they're not Chosen for nothing...

 

[Howling Coyote]

Darn, forgot to mention that Times of Troubles part. Anyway magic did work, but there was a high chance of mishap. Basically everything was a wild magic zone, so a high level spellcaster could still cast simpler spells mostly successfully. And if I recall correctly Mashoon did cast a heckuva lot of fireballs in that battle.

To comment on the Chose of Mystra, Simbul is one of the Seven Sisters, who are daughters of the previous Mystra. Elminster and Khelben are also Chosen of Mystra, but I can't recall why they are chosen.