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Originally posted by The Hooded One

Hi, Ashe. Give me ten minutes or so to hack into Facebook (for some reason, it's blocked from the computer I'm at now . . . and Ed tells me he can't access it right now, either (the log-in page just freezes). I'll get back to you.
Ahhh, advanced technology...more like magic than ever.
love,
THO

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Originally posted by Nicolai Withander

Now I know you THO wont tell us about your character you play, even thou im pretty sure I could guess whome you do/did play.

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

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Originally posted by Nicolai Withander

Now I know you THO wont tell us about your character you play, even thou im pretty sure I could guess whome you do/did play.

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I should like to ask that we honor the lovely Lady Hooded One's need for discretion on this particular topic, and not publicly guess or speculate on it. It's better all around if we keep any such speculations to ourselves.

Not singling out Nic or anyone else -- just sayin'.

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Originally posted by The Sage

As you likely already know from previous editions of the "Questions for Ed Greenwood" scroll, this is the type of question that the Lady Hooded One can't really answer to any specific degree. There's just certain details that would have to remain vague and/or ignored to ensure privacy issues and avoid any legal complications that might arise from the revealing of such info.

Your best best, is to simply search through the "So Saith Ed" archives and read the few replies from the Lady Hooded One herself that feature a small sampling of tidbits about some of her adventures at Ed's gaming table.

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Originally posted by Nicolai Withander

I woul like to say that im not going to guess anything, I totally respect her wishes on that part! I hope thou that the rest of my question is ok to ask and that she will aswer it. If not I respect that aswell!

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Originally posted by The Hooded One

No, he'd not be done yet.
Gauntulgrym was, of course, an Ed creation, and appeared on Ed's original maps of the Sword Coast North, the Fonstad FR Atlas, and the relevant early "FR" products. Although both the Company of Crazed Venturers and the Knights of Myth Drannor (briefly) visited that complex of underground city/dungeon/labyrinth/linked caverns beneath (as did players in Ed's for-charity D&D tournament at GenCon 20), Ed purposely kept lore about Gauntulgrym - - which exists in his pencil notes and maps as a huge mapped (but not completely mapped; Ed stopped after about 70 8.5"x11" grid graph paper sheets) place - - spotty and sparse, to give everyone else using the Realms maximum freedom.
The "original" Edlore history of Gauntulgrym mentioned linked natural caverns, formerly water-filled (and created) but later left dry as the rock-cleaving waters descended into lower levels, and at least three separate times of inhabitation and tunneling by dwarves, et al (not to mention a DRAGON lairing in a mountaintop cavern above most of the rest of it). At least two of those periods of habitation produced extensive networks of chambers with stone doors both obvious and hidden, many halls and passages, etc.
In other words, allowing for maximum utility and freedom for DMs, writers, and game designers. Check out Ed's unedited prose wherever you can, and you'll see that Ed is a master of "weasel-wording" (e.g. "it is thought that" rather than bald statements of fact) that allow for different interpretations to easily be made without introducing inconsistencies.
In short, Bob should be free to have fun and tell a great tale.
love to all,
THO

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Originally posted by Nicolai Withander

I woul like to say that im not going to guess anything, I totally respect her wishes on that part! I hope thou that the rest of my question is ok to ask and that she will aswer it. If not I respect that aswell!

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Originally posted by Jakk

My question is twofold: a more precise location for Gauntlgrym from whomever can provide it first (I'm all for lessening Ed's workload when possible), and anything more that can be said (by Ed or anyone else in the know) about this mysterious "Gate".

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Originally posted by Kyrene

For Gauntlgrym's location, I used The North as source. You may want to have a look, as it's both on the maps in the back of that and I seem to recall something written about it too.

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Originally posted by Melfius
6 October 2004

<chop; questions reposted with answers in THO's posts below>

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Originally posted by The Hooded One
8 October 2004

Melfius, I bring you the rather frisky (and incomplete; see hereafter) replies of Ed, as follows:

1. What is the name of the seventh apprentice? Was it Ezzat as detailed in the Ruins of Undermountain II? Or is Nandel Greenward? Hmmm. That makes eight. I hate mysteries.
[NDA]
2. Do any of the aforementioned apprentices have last names?
Yes, but they’ve not been remembered by, or are not known to, our Realms sources consulted thus far. Perhaps they’ll be revealed in the fullness of [NDA]
3. Has there been documented anywhere any descendants of any apprentices?
No. However, that doesn’t mean no offspring exist. In fact, [NDA]
4. Did Halaster begin holding the MageFairs on his own, or was he working with a group?
Halaster thought he was establishing MageFairs on his own, but in fact more than one deity of magic was whispering subtle suggestions in more than one mortal ear to bring it about. Otherwise, given the paranoid nature of most mages, it’s likely the MageFairs would never have been more than Halaster waiting in some tranquil, remote locale for one or two mages to show up (and the Fairs would have ended the moment one arriving mage attacked, or was attacked by, another). As for who these deities and other mortals were, specifically, I’d have to say [NDA]
5. At what point did Halaster decide to change his name from Hilather?
[NDA]
6. Where/When was Halaster born?
A long time ago, specifically [NDA] in [NDA]
7. What changes have been made to Halaster since Elminster in Hell? (i.e. Is he sane now?)
Like any long-lived mage, Halaster isn’t what most other mortals would call ‘normal,’ and never will be. However, Mystra did some major mental healing (that also involved binding Halaster more closely to her service), ‘offstage’ in the latter part of ELMINSTER IN HELL and thereafter. Halaster did NOT become a Chosen, but reached a ‘separate peace’ with her in return for serving her as an agent (in the events recounted in ELMINSTER IN HELL). He still has his ‘raving times,’ but they’re fewer, shorter, and less severe than before (i.e. he’s far more in touch with reality, and more cunning and less reckless whilst in the throes of them); most of the time he’s in complete control of himself - - and this is no longer governed by his location (in Undermountain or outside of it). That doesn’t mean he’s a ‘happy camper.’ For one thing, he’s both enraged and ashamed at how many years he’s wasted ‘drifting’ in sub-sanity, and is just climbing out of considering himself an utter failure and a rot-fungus on the face of Faerun and into deciding what he’ll devote the rest of his life to. Consider him a magical whirlwind that’s stopped spinning and is poised to decide what to do next. Tremble, Faerun, tremble.
8. When Halster claimed to have been touched by Shar, does this mean he has access to the Shadow Weave?
Halaster HAD access to the Shadow Weave; much of his madness was due to Shar’s whisperings (attempts to mind-control him), which is specifically what he meant by her ‘touch.’ Shar’s influence gave him access to the Shadow Weave, but Halaster’s aged, busy, brilliantly-magic-creative mind couldn’t simultaneously handle mastery of both Weave and Shadow Weave, and so he was losing his sanity (and only thereby keeping Shar at bay: she couldn’t control a mind in such internal chaos). Mystra in effect thrust Shar out (in any contest of pure magic and of mortal mastery of magic, in which Mystra and Shar can exert equal forces against each other, Mystra will always win, because she IS magic, and has supremacy) of Halaster’s mind, banishing all traces of the Shadow Weave forever. What she left behind makes Halaster one of the few mortals whom Shar can never subvert, now. She can break his mind and his body, but not corrupt and come to control him. (In other words, he’s equal to a Chosen of Mystra in this regard. The Chosen who’ve failed Mystra in the past have lost their sanity and ‘fallen away from her love,’ and so become corruptible.)
9. Are there any anecdotes about any of your gaming groups’ encounters with Halaster?
Yes. :} :} :}
Oh, ALL right: I'll unleash THO to answer this when she can (I know she's very busy this weekend), and at that time return with some feeble attempts to answer your other three questions, too.
Ed

So saith the Master. Gawds, Halaster [shudder]! You WOULD have to make me relive those disasters, wouldn't you?
THO

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Originally posted by The Hooded One
12 October 2004

Hello, all.
<chop>
10. Where/When did Halaster begin training his apprentices?
A long time ago, specifically [NDA], in a [NDA] far, far away, a ragtag [NDA]
11. Who trained Halaster?
My reply: [MAJOR NDA MAJOR NDA MAJOR NDA ASSUME CONTROL ASSUME CONTROL]
Ahem. It will probably come as no surprise to you to learn that my answers to 12 (What would Halaster’s alignment have been a) when he began training his apprentices b) when he created Halaster’s Hold?) must also be the grim silence of the NDA fortress wall. (Sorry. I am, truly.)

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Originally posted by Jakk

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Originally posted by Melfius
6 October 2004

<chop; questions reposted with answers in THO's posts below>

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Originally posted by The Hooded One
8 October 2004

Melfius, I bring you the rather frisky (and incomplete; see hereafter) replies of Ed, as follows:

1. What is the name of the seventh apprentice? Was it Ezzat as detailed in the Ruins of Undermountain II? Or is Nandel Greenward? Hmmm. That makes eight. I hate mysteries.
[NDA]
2. Do any of the aforementioned apprentices have last names?
Yes, but they’ve not been remembered by, or are not known to, our Realms sources consulted thus far. Perhaps they’ll be revealed in the fullness of [NDA]
5. At what point did Halaster decide to change his name from Hilather?
[NDA]
6. Where/When was Halaster born?
A long time ago, specifically [NDA] in [NDA]

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Originally posted by The Hooded One
12 October 2004

Hello, all.
<chop>
10. Where/When did Halaster begin training his apprentices?
A long time ago, specifically [NDA], in a [NDA] far, far away, a ragtag [NDA]
11. Who trained Halaster?
My reply: [MAJOR NDA MAJOR NDA MAJOR NDA ASSUME CONTROL ASSUME CONTROL]
Ahem. It will probably come as no surprise to you to learn that my answers to 12 (What would Halaster’s alignment have been a) when he began training his apprentices b) when he created Halaster’s Hold?) must also be the grim silence of the NDA fortress wall. (Sorry. I am, truly.)

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Originally posted by The Hooded One

Hi again, all!
Yes, I was there, concealing myself behind a lot of makeup and a rather risque Steampunk burlesque costume ...

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