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Longtime Lurker
Seeker
51 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Sep 2008 : 19:53:25
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Dear Ed and THO,
I have an unusual request. A friend of mine is getting married, and he and his lady would like to have the wedding feast consist of Realms dishes (some appetizers/finger food, a main dish, and a dessert that can be served in a glass [need not be liquid, though]). Any suggestions? Any of your published recipes that really "work"?
Thanks! |
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Blueblade
Senior Scribe
USA
804 Posts |
Posted - 19 Sep 2008 : 20:45:28
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Dear Ed and Lady THO,
My latest question (ta dah!) concerns walking sticks. In fashion, anywhere in the Realms? Nobility only, or wannabes, or by guild, or--? Older generations only, or "cool" among the up-and-comers? Restricted by law or custom anywhere to particular ranks, races, groups, etc.?
Thanks!
BB |
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Baleful Avatar
Learned Scribe
Canada
161 Posts |
Posted - 19 Sep 2008 : 22:09:05
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Hi, Ed and THO,
In the "new" Realms (post-Spellplague) are there any realms that brand human criminals? Does any guild or organization brand members?
Thanks! |
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createvmind
Senior Scribe
490 Posts |
Posted - 19 Sep 2008 : 23:57:31
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Hello All,
Ed I'm curious for terms used by bandits and such, like "Stand and Deliver", what would a city rake say as opposed to a pirate seeking valuables on a boarded ship. What is say when one is relieving a lady of her jewels in Baldur's Gate compared to whats said to a barbarian who robs a caravan in the north?
Just any colorful terms and slang across faerun that you recall. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 20 Sep 2008 : 01:46:05
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Hello all, I bring you Ed's reply to this query, from Marek: "Is there a list of all Thayan enclaves in the Realms? I realized those listed in the paragraph in Lords of Darkness are not all. Thanks!"
Ed replies:
Hi, Marek. No, the Realms designers (this is the 3e team I'm speaking of) deliberately did not want to list them all, so a DM would be free to have either no Thayan enclave in a given settlement (with the exception of the relatively few specified in canon printed lore), or to place a small, hitherto-unknown (or even secret, save from a ruler or a powerful cabal of nobles) local Thayan enclave in whatever locale the DM desires to, in his/her campaign.
In other words, don't worry about having a complete list; do what fits your campaign.
This is the same reason I long ago established the "loose ends" rule: for every "loose end" you explain away in the Realms (as a game or fiction writer), generate at least three new ones, so as never to run DMs out of "elbow room." The best have followed this rule whenever possible.
So saith Ed. Creator of the Realms and THE Master of "making it all seem real."
love to all,
THO |
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Malcolm
Learned Scribe
242 Posts |
Posted - 20 Sep 2008 : 01:54:26
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Aha! Been thinking about that reply of Ed's re. the hair and the headgear, a page back in this thread, and Rino wanting to see a picture.
Ed, re, the hats: would some of the (simpler, early) hats in THE 500 HATS OF BARTHOLOMEW CUBBINS (think I've got the title right; the Dr. Seuss classic, anyway) be right, in appearance? It sure sounds like it! |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 20 Sep 2008 : 05:07:48
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quote:
Originally posted by Blueblade
Dear Ed and Lady THO,
My latest question (ta dah!) concerns walking sticks. In fashion, anywhere in the Realms? Nobility only, or wannabes, or by guild, or--? Older generations only, or "cool" among the up-and-comers? Restricted by law or custom anywhere to particular ranks, races, groups, etc.?
Thanks!
BB
... And what modifications do they typically have? The walking sticks, not the people.
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Ardashir
Senior Scribe
USA
544 Posts |
Posted - 20 Sep 2008 : 20:41:56
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And now I harass poor Mister Greenwood with my lunacy again...
There's a rather interesting thread here http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7441&whichpage=1 which talks about 'changing your race' in the Realms.
I do remember Mister Greenwood did mention that this does happen sometimes in the Realms. I think the book about the Harpers said that sometimes Harper agents have to accept changes of race or even species for a mission, but I would like to know just how is 'race-shifting' regarded in the Realms?
For that matter, if someone gets reincarnated and comes back in a vastly different form, just how do most Realmsian societies react to them? I can't help but to think that at least a few people would be suspicious when some bugbear or gnoll shows up at the front door claiming to be Lord or Princess Whoever, "But I was killed and then a druid brought me back! No, really! Ask me anything, I'll prove it!"
Eagerly and respectfully awaiting a response. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 20 Sep 2008 : 22:37:43
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Hi again, everyone. This time I bring you Ed's response to Malcolm's post: "Aha! Been thinking about that reply of Ed's re. the hair and the headgear, a page back in this thread, and Rino wanting to see a picture. Ed, re. the hats: would some of the (simpler, early) hats in THE 500 HATS OF BARTHOLOMEW CUBBINS (think I've got the title right; the Dr. Seuss classic, anyway) be right, in appearance? It sure sounds like it!"
Ed replies:
Sounds like it and IS. You've got it exactly, if you picture that sort of hat mated to long hairpins (not the "straight pin" sort, but the bobby-pin two-pronged type) that can "clip" around tresses of hair and at the same time penetrate the hat, to hold it securely. Two or three of those used to keep the front point ('prow") of the hat down and the rear of that hat "up," so the result is headgear pinned diagonally, front low and rear lofting into the air.
So saith Ed. Primping well-dressed Waterdhavians everywhere. 
love to all,
THO |
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Blueblade
Senior Scribe
USA
804 Posts |
Posted - 20 Sep 2008 : 22:40:36
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Do my spies deceive me, or has Phantasm, the annual gaming con in Peterborough, being held again?
If so, will Ed be there?
BB |
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Broken Helm
Learned Scribe
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 20 Sep 2008 : 22:46:08
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As in: Peterborough, Ontario, Canada?
Rather a long trip for many of us. 
Sigh.
Yet (as usual) another Realmslore question occurs to me, while watching college football. Is there a football-like (American, I mean, with thrown balls and plays from scrimmage) game played in the Realms, with local rivalries and betting on outcomes and suchlike? (I'm assuming there's a soccer/British football equivalent, just because the slightly simpler "two teams kicking a ball, trying to get it into opposing team's goal" games seem to exist in all cultures (and I seem to recall mention, somewhere, of orcs playing a version of soccer in the Realms using severed heads for the balls).
Thanks! |
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althen artren
Senior Scribe
USA
780 Posts |
Posted - 20 Sep 2008 : 23:21:49
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Spells stilled, scribes:
This question is for you Madam Peekaboo (what is under
that lovely hood I wonder  ?),
In any of Ed's games, have you ever got the impression that the
Srinshee was one of the winged elf race. I have looked over
some of the older material and just get this feeling that it might be a possibility.
For Ed, who among the Chosen or the lost arcane masters of the
past have studied in the Golden Grove of Knowledge that are outside the list CEoE. If you can't remember, that's okay, I know it is a pretty obscure question. |
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Malcolm
Learned Scribe
242 Posts |
Posted - 21 Sep 2008 : 04:08:27
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althen, what is "CEoE"?
I know I should know, but my tired brain is drawing a blank.
So: ? 
Thanks. |
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Pasta Fzoul
Seeker
USA
79 Posts |
Posted - 21 Sep 2008 : 04:19:44
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quote:
Originally posted by Malcolm
althen, what is "CEoE"?
I know I should know, but my tired brain is drawing a blank.
So: ?
Thanks.
Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves, I'd guess. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 21 Sep 2008 : 15:58:03
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Hi again, all. This time I present Ed’s response to Blueblade’s query: “Hi Ed and THO, I have yet another Realms question, too. Fish. Taken well inland, for sale as food. Customarily: Dried? Smoked? Salted and dried? Made into cakes or something? Packed in clay jars, in oil?
(?) Thanks! BB”
Ed replies:
Heh. All of the above. In Waterdeep, you can buy it all of those ways, though salted-and-dried is intended for long-term travel and storage (i.e. you’d buy it to consume during a long overland journey, or if you were a caravan merchant intending to resell it along the way or at the end of your “run” (overland journey).
In the Sword Coast north, smoked (and North American scribes please note: this really means smoked, in smokehouses until dried out, NOT chemically bathed with a flavoring agent the way most supermarkets sell so-called “smoked salmon”) fish that’s packed in wax-sealed clay pots of oil is the most popular way that “fish or shellfish from afar” (as opposed to fresh-caught local fish, which is abundant across the North, from crabs and river clams to all manner of fish) is offered for sale.
A “tile” or square of wood about two feet across, on a side, is fashioned with three layers: a bottom and a top that are latched together with rope or metal bolt-and-crosspin corner fastenings, so as to sandwich a centre layer wood square pierced with holes. The clay pots, which are really circular lidded bowls, fit snugly into round holes in the centre wooden square, and are held immobile by the “top” and “bottom” squares (plus, usually, some old scrap cloth padding that’s clamped between them).
Traditionally, a few spices have been added to the oil, which is typically saved by the purchaser after the fish has been consumed, and used for other “keep from the air and therefore from rotting” food storage, i.e. for some cheeses, for small cooked meat scraps, and the like. (However, please don’t infer from this that they are strongly or “hot” spiced; the spices tend to be a gentle mix that’s either “tarragon plus sage plus wild leek” or some variant of same, NOT hot peppers or anything of the sort. The LAST thing most folk of Faerûn desire is to have the mild flavors of no-longer-fresh fish overwhelmed and hidden by seasonings.
So saith Ed. Whose notes were at the ready for this one, I see.
love to all,
THO
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 21 Sep 2008 : 16:06:32
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Malcolm, I can't confirm if it was Phil Athan's first GenCon, but it was indeed the famous "doo doo doo" reading, and the bedchamber scene was an outtake from CROWN OF FIRE. Embarrassed Jeff Grubb but left his wife Kate whooping with laughter, as I recall. . .
And I echo Blueblade's comment: great Cormyr rakes reply (as usual) Garen!
love to all,
THO |
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althen artren
Senior Scribe
USA
780 Posts |
Posted - 21 Sep 2008 : 17:48:58
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Spells stilled, Scribes:
Indeed, CEoE is Cormanthor. I've seen acronyms being used for accessory and book
titles and have taken to doing so myself. Sorry if I have lead some confusion. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 00:03:43
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Hello again, all. althen artren, your Ed question has been passed along to Ed, but as for your queries to me:
No, no, I'm The Hooded One.
Madam Peekaboo was a SUPERB stripper, but she's 94 years old now, and hasn't been performing for years. Thanks for the compliment, though.
And under my hood are the usual things. Including two warm, parted, willing and welcoming lips, and a tongue that never quits . . .
HEL-lo, althen . . . 
Ahem.
As for your other query ("In any of Ed's games, have you ever got the impression that the
Srinshee was one of the winged elf race. I have looked over some of the older material and just get this feeling that it might be a possibility."), I'm afraid my answer is: no.
The Srinshee is short (and of petitebuild, in all ways), and VERY old, and my character has met her only a handful of times in play (with Ed as DM, of course). The matter of her race has been answered three times: two different ways in official canon game material, and definitively by her (in a short story Ed wrote, that is ALSO official Realms canon material). I've no reason to doubt the man, but will query him just to remove all doubt, okay?
love,
THO |
Edited by - The Hooded One on 22 Sep 2008 00:07:36 |
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Zandilar
Learned Scribe
Australia
313 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 00:46:50
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Heya,
A question for you Ed...
Is there a common Realmsian expression that's equivalent to our 24/7/365? ie: Someone does such and such 24/7 365 days of the year. |
Zandilar
~amor vincit omnia~
~audaces fortuna iuvat~
As the spell ends, you look up into the sky to see the sun blazing overhead like noon in a desert. Then something else in the sky catches your attention. Turning your gaze, you see a tawny furred kitten bounding across the sky towards the new sun. Her eyes glint a mischevious green as she pounces on it as if it were nothing but a colossal ball of golden yarn. With quick strokes of her paws, it is batted across the sky, back and forth. Then with a wink the kitten and the sun disappear, leaving the citizens of Elversult gazing up with amazed expressions that quickly turn into chortles and mirth.
The Sunlord left Elversult the same day in humilitation, and was never heard from again. |
Edited by - Zandilar on 22 Sep 2008 00:47:17 |
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Vangelor
Learned Scribe
USA
183 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 01:02:31
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| As I understand it, the Srinshee was originally a sun elf high mage, then a baelnorn, then divinely revived as a living moon-elf and can now appear as whatever sort of elf she feels like (including avariel if it suits her), and is quite past the point of endorsing any kind of divisiveness among elves based on racial or cultural differences - with the possible exception of unreformed daemonfey, fey'ri or drow. But let's hear it from The Man. :) |
Edited by - Vangelor on 22 Sep 2008 01:05:18 |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 01:29:08
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Hello, all scribes.
I have some sad news to impart.
Brian Thomsen, former head of TSR's Books Department, the editor and instigator of some classic Realms novels, and Ed Greenwood's very good friend (not to mention a close friend of Jeff Grubb's, and a friend and guide to many, including several scribes on these boards who attended GenCon this year and talked with him about fantasy writing), passed away suddenly last night.
Death comes for us all, but it's never welcome when someone finds it young, suddenly, and with so much left to do.
I'll raise a glass.
love to all,
THO |
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Christopher_Rowe
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
879 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 01:34:09
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| Oh, I'm so sorry to hear this. My sincere condolences to all his family, friends, and colleagues. |
My Realms novel, Sandstorm, is now available for ordering. |
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createvmind
Senior Scribe
490 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 01:36:37
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| Best wishes to all he touched and knew. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 02:01:52
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Hello, all scribes.
I have some sad news to impart.
Brian Thomsen, former head of TSR's Books Department, the editor and instigator of some classic Realms novels, and Ed Greenwood's very good friend (not to mention a close friend of Jeff Grubb's, and a friend and guide to many, including several scribes on these boards who attended GenCon this year and talked with him about fantasy writing), passed away suddenly last night.
Death comes for us all, but it's never welcome when someone finds it young, suddenly, and with so much left to do.
I'll raise a glass.
love to all,
THO
We appreciate you sharing this news with us here at Candlekeep, my Lady.
'Twas often partly because of seeing Brian's name as editor on some of my favorite FR novels, that I knew I'd thoroughly enjoy the forthcoming tale.
He will be missed. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 02:22:29
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Hello, all scribes.
I have some sad news to impart.
Brian Thomsen, former head of TSR's Books Department, the editor and instigator of some classic Realms novels, and Ed Greenwood's very good friend (not to mention a close friend of Jeff Grubb's, and a friend and guide to many, including several scribes on these boards who attended GenCon this year and talked with him about fantasy writing), passed away suddenly last night.
Death comes for us all, but it's never welcome when someone finds it young, suddenly, and with so much left to do.
I'll raise a glass.
love to all,
THO
Sorry to hear that. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 03:23:41
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| Oh man, that bites. :( Condolences. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 03:25:31
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Here's a quick question that either Ed or THO could answer. On page 32 of the Cyc of the Realms from the Grey Box it says Allyia came from Evenstar. Is that supposed to be Eveningstar?
Just wondering if that is another typo because I need it for our project and I can't recall a place named Evenstar.
Edit: I should know this, since I wrote about Corm Op, but is the ruler's surname Hultel or Hulrel? Page 31 says Hultel but page 32 says Hulrel.
Edit 2: Samtavan Sulacar on page 33 is Samtavan Sudacar on page 52, which is correct? :) |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
Edited by - Kuje on 22 Sep 2008 05:58:15 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 14:12:57
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quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
Edit 2: Samtavan Sulacar on page 33 is Samtavan Sudacar on page 52, which is correct? :)
The name Sudacar was used throughout The Wyvern's Spur. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 17:47:05
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I've been holding onto this PM from Ed since June but since I just ended my other campaign, I can finally post this!
Hi! I am happy to report that a long-standing NDA has fallen, and Ed is now free to answer questions about the gate (3e: portal) linking Drawn Swords with Berdusk. To whit:
The Berdusk end of the gate is located in a cellar beneath Castleview Rise, the centermost of the trio of high-class “manyhearths” (we modern real-world folks would call them low-rise luxury apartments) immediately southwest of (across the street from) The Running Stag inn and tavern.
The Stag is Feature 35 on the Berdusk map included in VOLO’S GUIDE TO THE SWORD COAST, and best seen in the “Castle Hill” detail map. For those who have access only to my original FORGOTTEN REALMS ADVENTURES sourcebook map, the Stag is the large, “almost a closed figure, slightly more than three-sided” building west-northwest of Feature 1, The High Lady’s Castle (a clump of trees in the Castle gardens, two small buildings, and a road separate them). On the FRA map, Castleview Rise is right across the street from the “curving” end (actually, it’s a tower) of the sprawling Stag building. (That street, by the way, is Woodrun Lane, better known to all Berduskans as “the Woodrun,” and retains that name right out to the Wood Gate.)
The Stag has open-air “galleries” (continuous balconies, like many a modern real-world motel) running around its interior walls (that open into a parallel enclosed passage, used in winter, when the balconies serve as firewood storage dumps; the passage in turn opening into the various rental bedrooms) and rises four floors above ground level, as well as plunging three levels of cellars deep, below grade. Two large “ready rooms” (used for storage and assembly of “gate-run” goods and persons) on that bottom-most cellar level are connected to each other and to a tunnel running under the street (and turning a wide “dogleg” corner while doing so, to absorb magical blasts without allowing their fury to fly right in under the Stag) into the lowest of the two levels of cellars under that manyhearths, where the gate itself flickers and glows, its Berdusk end being identical in appearance to its Drawn Swords end (just stepping into the gate, in either direction, triggers a “single step” journey to the gate’s other end).
A spiral stair inside the interior walls of Castleview Rise links the cellar gate room to the back of a storage room in one of the ground-level “homes” (suites) within the manyhearths, and also leads (along a VERY narrow inside-the-walls ground-floor passage) to a secret door in the outside (northwest) wall of the manyhearths (where there’s a iron-bars-walled, but unlocked, terrace, shared by the residents of Castleview Rise and Prospect rise, next door; completists should know that the manyhearths on the other side of Castleview is known as Swordsar Rise [after the surname of its builder, the long-dead Amhro Swordsar], and is by far the most “exclusive” address of the three manyhearths).
These “secret ways out” from the cellar gate are nigh-forgotten (except by a handful of master and senior Harpers) and almost never used, these days (with most of the inhabitants of all three Rises being utterly unaware that the lingering Berduskan talk of “ways to walk clear across the Realms, under our very feet!” have anything to do with where they live; the owner of the ground-level home with the secret door in its storage room, a retired Harper fighter by the name of Laernduth “Leapingflame” Duskriver, being one of the exceptions to this blissful ignorance).
Almost all gate traffic moves via renters of the Old Stag meeting-room, on the ground floor of the Stag. This meeting room has a serving-kitchen in its rear wall, which has a wide, easily-used ramp down into the cellars to access pantries (and the next cellar level down, and therefrom, the deepest cellar level, right at the doors of one of the gate “ready rooms.”
The Stag is a busy, cozily-furnished, expensive but worth it establishment. Luxuriously comfortable, upper-crust without any of the haughty airs (what many travelers fervently wish all lodgings were like). It’s well-loved by visitors (many of whom become loyal repeat clientele) and Berduskans alike; its staff is riddled with Harpers who cheerfully spy on all guests as a matter of habit, because those ground-floor rental “function rooms” are used by Berduskans for all sorts of interesting get-togethers, trade-related and otherwise.
So saith Ed. I am PMing this to Gelcur, Asgetrion, Kuje, and Damian, with the hopes that Kuje will tell everyone the moment the “gate location secret is out of the bag” in his campaign, so that this lore from Ed can then be made public at Candlekeep.
I’m also hoping everyone involved will keep it secret until then, for maximum roleplaying fun. “In the Realms,” the location of this gate is always on the verge of being publicly revealed just because so many Harpers use it, and that means a large number of people have to try to keep a secret (never a good idea).
love to all,
THO |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 18:30:19
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| Thanks for posting that, Kuje. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Questions for Ed Greenwood (2008)
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