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Page 15: Centuries ago, Eilistraee appeared to Qilue Veladorn and commanded the young dark elf and her playmates from part of the now-vanished drow settlement of Buiyrandyn-a small, poor gathering of drow families too small to be considered a city-to take up the singing swords provided by the Dark Maiden and destroy the Pit of Ghaunadaur. The Pit was a mile-deep shaft whose upper terminus opened into the third level of Halasters {sic} Halls. After a great battle that resulted in the destruction of an avatar of the Elder Eye as well as the most of its slithering, oozing, and creeping worshipers, the Pit was filled with rubble and the caverns around its opening collapsed. (The rubble-filled Pit of Ghaunadaur is located in the area north of Skull-port and west of Eilistraee's Promenade. The only remaining access to the rubble-filled Pit is via a long, twisting staircase capped by Eilistraee's Mound.) Qilue and the rest of the Chosen of Eilistraee then took up responsibility for patrolling the region in armed, vigilant tours mockingly referred to as promenades by other inhabitants of the area.


Page 20: Major Centers of Worship: In the South, deep beneath the heart of Sarenestar (also known as the Forest of Mir) is a place of great power sacred to Ghaunadaur. This ancient subterranean site was discovered by Clan Hune of Ilythiir prior to the Fourth Crown War. Following their discovery, the dark elves built a great temple around a massive pit in which dwelt a monstrous creature of evil placed there by the Elder Eye. When the temple, known as the Elder Orb of Ooze, was completed, the leaders of Clan Hune sought to draw on Ghaunadaur's power in preparation for the coming conflict with Keltormir. The inscrutable Elder Elemental God was displeased, however, and it lashed out of {sic} the fools who dared call on its name by causing countless oozes, slimes, jellies, and other horrid monsters to erupt from the pit and attack everything they encountered. Many of Clan Hune's leaders were destroyed, and the temple was abandoned shortly thereafter. Although its location has been long-since forgotten, the ruined temple still exists today, its defenses still active. Ghaunadaur assuredly inflicts his wrath on any solid foolish enough to profane his place of power, and some believe that fate of the wizard Shond Tharovin was sealed when the would-be tyrant removed the Living Gem from the temple.


In the North, the Elder Eye's place of greatest power was the Pit of Ghaunadaur, located deep beneath Mount Waterdeep. Several years after her birth in the Year of the Awakening Wyrm (767 DR), Qilue Veladorn, Chosen of Mystra and Eilistraee, led a handful of her dark elven playmates from their tiny, now-vanished settlement of Buiyrandyn in an assault on the Pit of Ghaunadaur. After destroying an avatar of Ghaunadaur resident therein and causing its minions to flee or be destroyed, the Chosen of Eilistraee (as the dark elven children were collectively known) sealed the downward fissures and tunnels in the temple by which Ghaunadaur's surviving minions had fled and caused a rockfall that filled what was left of the Pit of Ghaunadaur. After centuries of patrolling the passages around the Pit, the Chosen built a temple of Eilistraee, which they named the Promenade, atop the long-sealed Pit. That Which Lurks has never accepted the loss of its place of power in what is now the third level of Undermountain north and east of the subterranean city of Skullport, and its minions have remained active in the region. For several years, a circle of ghaunadan based in a small temple to the Elder Eye in a hidden cellar beneath a warehouse in Dock Ward have been active in Waterdeep and Halastar's Halls. In the Year of the Banner (1368 DR), Ghaunadaur's cultists-12 ghaunadan commanders and approximately 50 semi-intelligent slimes and oozes - began a full-scale assault on the Promenade from the northern and eastern caverns that lasted several months. While the Chosen of Eilistraee ultimately prevailed-thanks in part to the assistance of Qilue's sister, Laeral Silverhand-and drove off their foes, the followers of Ghaunadaur were not destroyed, and the cult continues to rebuild its strength in preparation for another assault.

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Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen

Thanks. At the moment I can't check to see if I have #176, but I shall now go hunting for it.

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

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Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen

Thanks. At the moment I can't check to see if I have #176, but I shall now go hunting for it.

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Ping me with your email address. I long ago copied the article -- and the map -- to Word, so I can send it to you. I'll replace the screencapped map I put in the document with one extracted from the actual file, if I can.

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Originally posted by The Sage

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

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Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen

Thanks. At the moment I can't check to see if I have #176, but I shall now go hunting for it.

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Ping me with your email address. I long ago copied the article -- and the map -- to Word, so I can send it to you. I'll replace the screencapped map I put in the document with one extracted from the actual file, if I can.

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I was actually going to offer to do that myself, but I know Jamallo likes to have access to the actual printed stuff, so I didn't bother.

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Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen
[br(Way off topic, but since you are the "cool kids" and probably know: how much of the "Rules Cyclopedia" was taken up with what we would today call "Epic levels" -- i.e. the "Immortals"? I have toyed with getting a pdf of it or even -- fat chance! -- buying a cheap copy from eBay, but if there isn't much of what I am interested, I may go the pdf route. Class...?)

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

Ping me with your email address. I long ago copied the article -- and the map -- to Word, so I can send it to you. I'll replace the screencapped map I put in the document with one extracted from the actual file, if I can. I didn't have the full version of Adobe when I first made that file, several years back.

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Originally posted by Ardashir

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

Ping me with your email address. I long ago copied the article -- and the map -- to Word, so I can send it to you. I'll replace the screencapped map I put in the document with one extracted from the actual file, if I can. I didn't have the full version of Adobe when I first made that file, several years back.

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If you can (legally) send conmeone a copy of that article, I'd love to have one myself if that's okay.

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Originally posted by Thauramarth

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Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen
[br(Way off topic, but since you are the "cool kids" and probably know: how much of the "Rules Cyclopedia" was taken up with what we would today call "Epic levels" -- i.e. the "Immortals"? I have toyed with getting a pdf of it or even -- fat chance! -- buying a cheap copy from eBay, but if there isn't much of what I am interested, I may go the pdf route. Class...?)

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The Rules Cyclopedia did not cover immortals - it covered OD&D levels 1-36 (bascially the same scope as the old Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master sets). Immortals were covered in a separate boxed set, Wrath of the Immortals. In my view, regardless of whether it covers Immortals or not, the Rules Cyclopedia is one of the best (A)D&D books ever produced.

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Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen

There is a brief section on Immortals in the Rules Cyclopedia, but I've only seen a broken pdf copy of it and don't know how many pages there are in it on Immortals.

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