| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| YRM |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 04:44:04
Hi all,
I don't post here frequently, but, I too run a detailed FR Campaign that started at the beginning of the Year of Rogue Dragons.
My campaign is set in Dagger Falls, where I feel that I have enough free reign to do what I want with Daggerdale, but it's at a crossroads of several major campaign plotlines. I didn't expect that my players would cross over into the Silver Marches much, but, there is a minor plot thread that will eventually take them into the Kingdom Dark Arrows.
I'd like to know the timeline on the Hunter's Blade Trilogy. Can you help? When did Obould start his invasion? When did he pin the armies into Mithril Hall? When did Obould begin to fortify his kingdom? When did he finish those fortresses and towers?
I see no dates in the Hunter's Blade books, and I can't find references on any timeline that I have found.
The three main plots that my PCs weave in and out of are:
1 - Sammaster's plot, Cult of the Dragon, and Raging Dragons. The PCs have already impacted a Cult Stronghold just as was rumored to happen across Faerun at the end of the first Rage book.
I may spring a Monestary of the Yellow Rose style attack on them at some point to retake the cult stronghold that they captured and have fortified with hired soldiers.
2 - Zhents, Goblins and Devils out of Tethyamar are still threatening Dagger falls. In my campaign, Zhentil Keep wants to retake Daggerdale as a buffer between them and the City of Shade, since Zhent allied Beholders allied with the Phaerum against the Princes of Shadow.
3 - There's a struggle between Thieve's Guilds in Dagger Falls as a bad organization may be replaced by a far worse organization (night masks) if the PCs don't stop it.
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On top of that, the Dwarf in the group has uncovered a Weapon of Legacy... a Dragon Bane Dwarven Waraxe... once used by a Delzoun Hero, enchanted by a Netheril wizard, and the axe made it's way across the desert via Dwarven Prospectors going to Tethyamar, and was taken from a Zhent Caravan by Cultists (looking to acquire gifts to bribe dragons into becoming dracoliches with).
Eventually, the PC dwarf will have to visit the tomb of the dwarven hero, and that tomb is located smack in the middle of what will be, or is now, Obould's Dark Arrow territory.
I'd like what the PCs find there to be as accurate as I can make it, based on the actual timeline of events.
Many thanks in advance to any who can give me insight into this. |
| 9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Chosen of Bane |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 10:09:44
There is a story that takes place just after Hunter's Blade in Realms of the Elves and it is dated 1371.
RAS novels generally aren't set in the current timeline and the events in Hunter's Blade contradict much of the lore printed in the FRCS and the Silver Marches. It is a major pain for us who play in the realms but I think WOTC is okay with it since he is the settings most successful author. |
| KnightErrantJR |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 05:32:51
I have a deep abiding love for all things Jotun . . . so I'll not critisize anyone over including a giant encounter. |
| YRM |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 05:32:00
quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
According to RAS, yes that is the date they took place or around that year. However, remember that the FRCS and Silver Marches came out before RAS finished the tale..... So, some of the material in the sourcebooks is different.
Great. I will go with 1371 as solid then. It works out well for what I'd like to do anyway.
Many thanks. |
| YRM |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 05:30:57
Yeah, I agree that the kingdom wouldn't be typical.
Yet, a lot of Obould's orcs and Frost Giant allies would jump at the chance to squash an uninvited party that is nosing about ancient Delzoun ruins or digs.
I'm sure the dwarf and barbarian in the party won't look kindly at orcs having over-run the Silver Marches (their PCs moved East before 71, and they may not even know about it).
I see a series of running encounters that, perhaps, culminates in some kind of showdown with Obould and an overwhelming force. Obould would probably give them a chance to negotiate some kind of challenge or payment for which the party is permitted to leave Dark Arrows (to spread word of the Orc's power and organization and deter attacks).
Perhaps Obould issues a challenge where one or more of his other upstart sons challenges the party champion or champion, and if the PCs are victorious, they can leave (and Obould has eliminated some competition).
Even if the group doesn't meet Obould, I can certainly run them up against Frost Giants and Orcs. Hate to base an encounter around a mini, but I MUST use the Frost Giant on Mastadon in my campaign somehow (probably with the other Frost Giant and a ton of orcs).
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| Kuje |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 05:28:22
According to RAS, yes that is the date they took place or around that year. However, remember that the FRCS and Silver Marches came out before RAS finished the tale..... So, some of the material in the sourcebooks is different. |
| KnightErrantJR |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 05:22:37
I think the stats work, and the armor and traits, but I don't know that I would consider him Gruumsh Chosen, only because other Chosen seem to have a sort of connection to their god, and if they don't quite verbally commune with them, there always seems to be at least an empathic bond. Obould still seems very pragmatic about Gruumsh, so it could just be that Gruumsh just enchance Obould because he was the "best game in town" for giving the orcs a hero. Of course, that doesn't mean that other orcs don't see Obould as Chosen, since that was pretty much implied in the books (or at least as well as most orcs would understand the concept of Chosen).
In my own mind, the way I picture Obould's "expansion" is to make his kingdom more like the "civilized" nations around him. In my campaign, he has half-orc spies that live in various towns of the Silver Marches as sleeper agents, passing on information to the kingdom of Dark Arrows. Especially those few half-orcs that can more or less pass for human.
Another thing I started toying with (since my players didn't spend too much time in the Silver Marches), was to assume that Obould is doing a lot of "assimilate or die" against other tribes of humanoids, aquireing their treasure and their people as slaves if they don't submit to him as their sovereign. This lets him still make some gains without making a major push to attack the Silver Marches . . . yet. |
| YRM |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 05:13:31
Thanks.
I thought that Obould became far more powerful in the Hunter's Blade Trilogy that he'd been listed or described in any FR Source book, and in those books, they talk about Obould as a "growing threat" rather than a settled king.
Do you know where it was said that the Hunter's Blade events happened in 71?
On a side note, if my party meets Obould at a higher level, (obviously, he'd have much support), I plan on giving him some kind of Chosen of Gruumsh template.
+4 to All Stats (this is hinted at in the books)
+3 Plate Armor that offers DR5 against Slashing or Piercing
Some kind of bonus to save against magic, and probably near immunity to mind control.
There such a huge difference between Obould at the beginning of the Trilogy (where he's more like they describe him in the FRCS), and the end, where he goes toe to toe vs a near epic level Drizzt.
Unless I see proof otherwise, I'll probably go with that "Dark Arrows is there and established" angle... it's the most interesting anyway.
I'm open to any and all new information though. |
| KnightErrantJR |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 04:55:55
For now I would go with the idea that Obould has settled into his areas, that the Silver Marches have officially formed, and Obould has what he can keep his hands on for now. The Silver Marches sourcebook, which is set later than the timeline for the novels, still metions the Kingdom of Dark Arrows and Obould, so, at least until someone says something to the contrary, I would assume that the forces of the Silver Marches are content to contain and minimize Obould's threat. |
| Kuje |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 04:52:08
RAS has said, in one of his novels, that the events took place in and around 1371. |
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