quote:

---

Originally posted by xaeyruudh

Sounds nicely devious. The way the palace investigation is worded, it sounds like all the agents were in place for quite a while before acting... why? Vangerdahast had time to (1) investigate the newbie wizard's report, (2) find spells that would penetrate the item's illusion (how was this done if he didn't have one of the devices in order to study it?), (3) find all of the Fire Knives in the palace, and (4) plan and place a trap.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by xaeyruudh

Wouldn't the device include some means of communicating with the other wearers of the devices? It seems remarkably shortsighted to design a set of devices to be used together in a coordinated strike, and not put in some kind of sending spell to let them communicate with each other. But if this capability is present in the devices then it would be difficult/impossible for Vangerdahast to capture/kill the "maid" without being discovered... this just strengthens the suggestion that he didn't have one of the devices in order to determine which divinations would penetrate the disguise generated by the devices.

In any case, I like the story and the devices.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by George Krashos

Xaeyruudh notes the two most important points - there should be a way for other wearers to identify each other and the assassination attempt in terms of just getting to Azoun sounds pretty random. Now if they were planning to kill him at a meeting or event in the palace, that would make much more sense. Perhaps the Fire Knives became aware that Azoun was meeting with a group of 'somebodies' for 'something' in a nice intimate meeting setting, and hoping to take him there. The issue I have is that any attempt in the Palace with all the built in wards and protections would be almost impossible to pull off. The attempt would be better if it occurred in one of the minor cities (pick a non-standard one like Dhedluk) during a 'visit the troops' tour or celebration of the victory over Magrath the Minotaur. The rest is good and just needs some names. If you can dig up any, only-mentioned names or references to put in then all the better. A cool name for the masks is essential.

-- George Krashos

---

quote:

---

Hi, Damian! I hope this isn’t entirely too late for Liz. My notes on the church of Helm are (like those of most of the clergies, because events in the published Realms keep changing the priesthoods, and I’ve been just too busy with other lorework to completely keep up) incomplete, but in addition to the holy day and ceremonies noted on page 28 of FAITHS AND PANTHEONS, there are more than seven annual “Laudays” (festivals).
I say “more than seven” because some local temples celebrate an additional Lauday or two, to commemorate local guardians and protectors of note (almost always individuals who gave their lives to protect others). None of these additional festivals are observed in Cormyr.
Laudays are open to all, not just devout followers of Helm.
The seven widely-celebrated ones are:

THREEAN (Tarsakh 4): Durendar Threean was a long-ago blacksmith of Secomber. He learned of the existence of a fell mage-led army (not a horde, but an organized warband) of orcs and hobgoblins moving down the western verge of the High Forest with the intention of storming Daggerford just as caravans were gathering there for a trade-fair. Seeking to have the army stopped before it could destroy Daggerford or harm Secomber, he walked and rode day and night through deep snow and howling blizzards, on a succession of mounts hastily purchased along the way, to Waterdeep, and forced his way into the Palace to be heard, being wounded by guards there and then slain by a Watchful Order magist on duty to defend the Palace.
When Khelben learned what had befallen, he farscried the army, teleported his apprentices to nearby vantage-points with battle-spells, and the force was routed before it could reach any settlements.
The day of Threean’s death is now marked with feasting (platters of food delivered by hard-riding or running priests, in remembrance of Threean’s wild ride), at which stirring sermons are preached about always spreading warnings of fell deeds and suspicious occurrences one may have witnessed, even if others disbelieve.

JORRIST (Mirtul 9): Althan Jorrist was malformed from birth, and much mocked. His bandy, uneven-length legs could never support him to walk, and his head was far too large for his body and had one large eye set lower than his smaller, higher other eye. Yet despite folk shunning or hurling stones at him, he chose to serve his neighbours in his home city of Elturel by spending his days magically standing watch over the lands around, making it easy for Elturel’s riders of the time (sone seventy years ago, now) to track down brigands, fleeing fugitives from justice, and prowling monsters).
Once Jorrist’s aptitude for arcane magic was evident, he was taken in by the sorceress Tartella Wyndsar of Elturel (a plain, dumpy, no-nonsense woman who served a succession of city rulers as advisor, eyes and ears, and magical muscle), but taught only detection and scrying spells, for fear he’d try to take vengeance on all who’d mistreated him. He did nothing of the kind, and in the end perished at Wyndsar’s side, on the night of Mirtul 9th in 1304 DR, when the Calishite mage Arash Ildroun teleported into her tower to remove her from the local scene (she’d been thwarting attempts to menace and so control local merchants by a cabal of Calishite wizards, of whom Ildroun was a member).
Jorrist’s lauday is marked by a musical processional (which interested passersby and members of the community can join or follow) of Helmite clergy to a chosen place (often their temple, but where possible a local hilltop or other vantage point, natural or man-made), where clerics (and sorcerers and wizards friendly to Helm or to this observance) will for free farscry, either by spell or item (usually crystal balls), persons and places chosen by folk who joined in the processional. The intent is to give members of the general public (with preference to devout Helmites, and secondly to those who joined in the processional) direct view of what is seen in the scrying, so they can “see for themselves” and even direct movement of the scrying.
If demand and resources permit, this process will continue until dusk, when persons who make monetary offerings to Helm (however small) by throwing them into upturned helms placed on stands and guarded by priests, are feasted in a generous meal (with wine and ale) at the priests’ expense. (In small villages, Jorrist may consist only of one priest with a crystal ball, and the feast a meal at the local inn or tavern for which he pays for the wine and ale, and the diners contribute food (what we modern real-world folk usually call “potluck”).

STORMGUARD (Kythorn 6): Kulthan Stormguard was a Purple Dragon knight who was killed on this day in 1322 DR while single-handedly fighting outlaws in the King’s Forest, to defend woodcutters the outlaws had been terrorizing, robbing, and murdering. He had spent the last three years of his life riding hard from forest camp to cutters’ glade to hunting lodge to steading, trying to be everywhere at once in his attempts to make the King’s Forest safer. His death spurred the Dragons of the day to “scour out” the forest, markedly lessening brigand and monster attacks for more than a decade.
Today, the lauday of Stormguard is celebrated by martial demonstrations, contests, and tournaments throughout Cormyr, hosted, administered, and largely participated in by Purple Dragons (though anyone is welcome to participate, so long as they wear or use nothing magical, relying entirely on “prowess of arms”). It is a day when “all ranks are equal” in etiquette (and repercussions afterwards!) and policing, both overt and farscrying, is performed by the War Wizards.
The events of Stormguard, from endurance races in full armor to naked wrestling to swordfighting atop logs to lance-jousting in full armor on horseback, are performed in marketplaces and other venues where the public can gather to watch, cheer, and wager, and are accompanied by recruiting drives conducted by retired ex-Dragon veterans (who are handsomely paid for the day).
Drinking is forbidden and frowned-upon by Dragons taking part in Stormguard, but the Crown sponsors HUGE public feasts that begin at dusk. These are often enlivened locally by dancers on tables (sometimes local coinlasses looking to attract business for the wee hours) or by hedge-wizards performing spell-spectacles.

MAELRA (Flamerule 4): Maelra Hallowhand was a tall, strong farmer’s daughter who rose to fame as a horse-archer in the reign of Duar; she led a small local band of local youths (both hes and shes) in rides about the countryside northeastern Cormyr, keeping the peace and hunting prowling monsters (far more numerous in those days). Maelra was slain on this day in 471 DR by a villainous local baron who paid for his deed with his life, once the King discovered what had befallen.
Maelra’s lauday is celebrated with archery contests (in Cormyr, cash prizes for winners are provided by the Crown, via local lords, Purple Dragon commanders, and even tax collectors sent to smaller communities for this purpose), followed by evening feasts at which women famous for having guarded, defended, or watched over others are lauded with numerous toasts, pageants, and tale-telling.

SCORTRYN (Eleint 14): Elkar Scortryn was a mage of Neverwinter whose vigilance saved that city from a sneak attack that would otherwise probably have overwhelmed and destroyed it. Most orc hordes stream over the surface, in a vast moving mob of often-fractious tribes and factions whose leaders send out side-parties as much to keep them from fighting with each other as they are to seek out foes and plunder.
One that arose in 1339 DR came at the city through caverns and underground granaries, storage-chambers, and tunnels, moving on the surface only by night or under the cover of thick forest. By chance Scortryn noticed some orcs while farscrying a trail for a merchant client worried about a shipment that hadn’t shown up - - but on his own initiative the wizard started spell-searching known caverns between Neverwinter and the orcs he’d seen, and so discovered the horde.
On his own he gathered hedge-wizards, novice magelings, and adventurers in need of his coins into a defensive force that collapsed several caverns onto the heads of most of the horde, forcing the remnant to the surface where the hitherto-disbelieving folk of Neverwinter hurriedly mustered to arms and destroyed them in a series of bloody skirmishes that reached almost to the gates of Neverwinter itself.
The lauday of Scortryn is celebrated by priests and devout followers of Helm all across Faerûn feasting wixards, sorcerers, and especially novices, apprentices, untrained-in-Art talents, and would-be magelings, giving them gifts as well as food and drink, and proclaiming their names in local speeches (often bringing them to the attention of potential clients or tutors). Tales are told of vigilant mages who aid those around them benevolently (as opposed to the more common stories of local mages being either recluses or tyrants).

ANNTARRAVIN (Marpenoth 21): Torntyn Anntarravin was a weaponsmaster of Tethyr centuries ago, who served in several duchies of that realm training the soldiery - - not in battlefield tactics or war per se, but in personal vigilance while guarding places, valuables, or people (being properly equipped, remembering faces and names, varying where and when places are searched or looked at, working together properly so a guardian can never be caught alone, and so on). He’s credited for much of the effectiveness of bodyguards and gateguards in that realm, and by extension (as others observed and copied) other lands, too.
The lauday of Anntarravin is marked by local feasts of thanks for guardians (who have the day off, their duties typically being performed by priests of Helm, War Wizards or equivalent organizations, local guilds, and so on), whereat guardians can eat and drink for free. In recent decades, Anntarravin has also become a day when weapon makers and vendors, and especially makers and sellers of armor, helms, and shields, gather in trade fairs or set up their own “open tables” to sell their wares. (In Cormyr, the prohibition on carrying weapons is lifted for the day, so folk can shop without hindrance.)

BORDROS (Uktar 10): Bordros was a “robber baron” (self-styled lord, who ruled a band of raiders from his own mountain castle) active centuries ago in the mountains that now gird northern Amn. A large, brawling bear of a man, given to butchery, he had one redeeming quality: all priests, from hermits to those who dwelt in abbeys, were strictly “off limits” when it came to plunder and ill-treatment - - even those who took up arms against him! Moreover, he often came riding like nightwind [nomenclature note: “run like nightwind” or “ride like nightwind” is the Faerûnian equivalent of “pell-mell” or “hell for leather”] to the aid of temples, abbeys, and even individual priests if he heard they were threatened by others. Bordros gave his own offerings most heavily at the altars of Helm, but defended the religious of all faiths.
The lauday of Bordros is observed by local races, either afoot in full armor or mounted in full armor and gear (or both). These contests often have prizes, and are usually for long distances across country, with steeplechase-like walls, streams, and ditches to jump (as opposed to short dashes in confined areas), though in some cities they are great circuits through the city. The races have a history of violent spills and collisions. When the races are done, Helmite-sponsored feasting takes place until the next dawn, often accompanied by hard drinking and debauchery (it’s a no-consequences, let-one’s-hair-down time, even for the most devoute Helmites).


Ed was saying he didn't detail the additional laudays because they weren't observed (yes, celebrated) in Cormyr, which is where the questor's campaign is based. All of the laudays Ed did detail are celebrated almost everywhere in the known Realms, among faithful of Helm. This includes Cormyr.

---