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青萝 2008-1-14 19:30

Dragon合集未翻译的几章我把英文贴在这里了，不全

[b][color=red]P80- Cormirian Contacts[/color][/b]
by Ed Greenwood ? illustrated by Ron Spencer

Volothamp Geddarm, at your service, gentles, setting truths of the Realms before you like a row of perfect mates for as many love-lorn suitors. This day I write of the right people for your needs.7V\6f8[3O
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Those who desire to make their for?tunes in the rich realm of Cormyr often try to ingratiate themselves at court or with nobles they deem powerful—and find themselves inevitably at the bottom of a long line of grasping social climbers, lim?ited from rapid advancement in their fortunes and in anyone's regard by the alliances they've just made.a:Z d ?}*rtX

Those whose purposes are a trifle shady or less than respectable (adventur?ers, for example) often find court officials, feuding nobles, or established merchants to be unsuitable contacts for getting things done with any speed or efficiency. It is to fill this pressing need that I set down cer?tain contacts I have made, or learned of, who are active or interested in the Forest Kingdom of today.

Here then, in no particular order, are some folk who might be useful to the newcomer to Cormyr. These are by no means all who can serve such ends, and many Cormyrians might find some of my choices surprising. Unlike almost all other advisors, I dismiss most courtiers, who are far too adept at twisting the strivings of those who come to them to serve their own ends. Moreover, unlike most, I do not neglect the elves who preceded the human realm and still remain, nor yet avowed foes of the realm-though finding these might well be difficult, and working with them perilous. Undertake such over?tures at your own risk, for I, Volo, did not send you off upon them, nor did I by any means recommend such persons.
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Darlutheene Ambershields!@e!Mk)to
(1317 DR-)
An overweight, gossipy lady of the court whose pretentions far outstrip the actual station of her family (longtime Palace ser?vants), Darlutheene's naked greed at the feast-table and shallow selfishness denied her a mate when her charms might have snared her one. These days, in a succes?sion of increasingly tight and outlandishly flamboyant gowns, she seeks a man-any man-whose station is such that she'll profit from the match.;}-rT [5sW#R$j

A lifelong resident of Suzail, Darlu?theene now attends the most drunken of court revels and firmly leads many a stag?gering noble into the darker bowers of the Royal Gardens. Come morning, none of them evidence any desire to remain in her company for so much as morningfest, let alone for the rest of her lifetime. She's growing desperate-but that doesn't stop her from sneering condescendingly at the younger beauties at court and pretending to have been overly familiar with every?one from the Court Wizard to the First Trumpeter of the Gate.
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Darlutheene has curly blond hair (usu?ally tinted green and pink at the temples), and long, false, green eyelashes frame her striking violet eyes. Her several chins always sport artfully-applied beauty spots. Her figure is, well, ample, and her gowns are an extravaganza of daring plunges and cutouts, upswept plumes, and tinkling glass pendants cut to look like diamonds. She is a ridiculous figure, and many of her catty observa?tions are unintentionally hilarious.
GM;f&G-Nax/}M
"Ambermouth" (as she's known behind her back) might best be found at a revel, but best cultivated at her home, the green-tile-trimmed tallhouse that stands on the south side of the Promenade, four doors west of the Old Dwarf tavern, directly across from the Royal Court.&jK'o%c$L,a4z;CA
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Blaerla Roaringhorn
(1326 DR-)&XX`_'{-eB-L#tg
A slightly lighter, shorter brunette version of her friend Darlutheene Ambershields, Blaerla is a spiteful, judg?mental loosetongue' who never stops peeking and eavesdropping except when she's excitedly passing on what she's seen (and, of course, embroidering it in the process) to belittle someone else at court. This makes her ideal for an out?sider who wants to spread word of his arrival or doings—so long as Blaerla can sniff some hint of mystery, deceit, or scandal, her tongue wags ceaselessly on your behalf. Cautioning her not to say something almost guarantees it being all over the Palace by the next nightfall!

A lady-in-waiting to Alusair (when that princess is at the Palace—hitherto a rare event indeed), Blaerla has much idle time to gather Palace gossip and pass it on to all who'll stop in the rooms she's charged with minding,' chatting over mint wine or the drinks called "white frothies." On one memorable occasion, she even rattled on to Vangerdahast, who was in magical dis?guise—until she passed on a juicy rumor about how the Royal Magician spent his nights! (Blaerla's noble lineage saved her from dismissal, but her duties became, if possible, less important overnight.)

These days, Blaerla's nigh-constant partner in gossip is her friend Dar?lutheene, who is perhaps her only friend. Blaerla" dotes on "Darling Dutheene," whose secrets she really does keep, but Darlutheene seems too mad for men to really notice.T!u&k5Z)~

Blaerla is always teetering on the brink of plunging from robust plumpness into being clearly and simply fat. She has snap?ping brown eyes and very red lips, and colors prettily (and often) when excited.5HfMGe#Ih qe(^
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Known as "the Roarer" to those amused by her, and "the Tongue That Never Sleeps" or "the Shrieking Horn" to those less enchanted, Blaerla can best be contacted at her house, a triple-balconied tallhouse on the south side of the Prome?nade across from the Royal Court, and some seven doors down from the Dragon's Jaws tavern.

HULDYL RAUTHUR
('335 DR-);AA)kW}-_}j
This war wizard of Cormyr is short, burly, and brown-haired, sporting a moustache big enough to hide his mouth. He has amber eyes, likes to wear lots of rings, and enjoys ale. Loyal to the Crown, he is in awe of Court Wizard Vangerda?hast, and works hard at perfecting small spells and presenting them to the master mage as gifts.{;\`O3R@Y8p

Vangerdahast is amused and approv?ing; he sees Huldyl as a useful servant of Cormyr who could grow to be quite a capable battle-wizard if never overly embarrassed at court or challenged with too great a crisis.
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Unfortunately, the Abraxus Conspiracy handed Huldyl such a crisis, and he retreated for a time into grim watching and waiting, drinking heavily and playing endless games of chess with his close friend and fellow War Wizard Kurthryn Shandarn.OY6pQ0G$z;t

Only now is he again seeking a bolder role in court affairs, but he has found him?self lacking in matters to be important about. This need, coupled with his relative lack of shrewd judgment (when compared with his superiors Vangerdahast and Laspeera), makes Huldyl ideal as a voice for outsiders seeking things done at court in Cormyr.8U o S3g VZ$wM6Y
Huldyl dwells in the War Wizard apart?ments in the upper floors of the Horngate (where the Way of the Dragon enters the city of Suzail), but spends most of his waking hours either traveling about southern Cormyr on official business or in the Royal Court complex, consulting with Vangerdahast and doing the Royal Magician's go-between and fetch-and-carry work.X%Xv6Kt ok
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ingleiyr tammarast, Lord of LanduthGil7{-umZ)@
(1352 DR-)
An impoverished minor border lord among the nobility of Cormyr, the young Lord of Landuth only recently inherited his holdings, which lie on the western verge of the Vast Swamp, east of Ghars.
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Ingleiyr's father invested unwisely in schemes for farming floating water plants in the swamp, and the new Lord of Lan?duth found himself ruling over a tumble?down keep, two hamlets, and fourteen or so farms between them, all of which were in need of coin.s _ w8KkVb.v

Ingleiyr has been trying to make ends meet by raising cattle-cattle he'd like to sell to Sembia more cheaply overland, through Daerlun, than through the Marsember route that royal decrees force him to use.
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When Chalipur Hathangos offered him a covert arrangement of mutual advantage, Ingleiyr listened-but was infuriated to learn that the Sembian wanted him to leave Cormyr and join Sembia!;M#K FAoR ^

Lord Landuth will listen to you, too-so long as there's money in it for him. Need goods or people (even a modest army) housed and hidden for a time? Kept captive? Brought into a Cormyrian fortress—or even the Palace itself-as part of the retinue of a minor lord of the realm? Tammarast is your man-not dis?loyal to Cormyr or to the Crown, but with no time for courtly rules or nig?gling laws, which are fripperies he liter?ally cannot afford. He's also not adverse to a iittie adventure, even if it means tricking Purple Dragons and their offi?cers.5k0GQD+Qp6]2k
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Ingleiyr has a tousled mane of black hair, brown eyes, a rough voice and rougher hands, and customarily wears plain leathers—the same breeches and vest that his men working down in the pens and the fields wear. He offers his guests mint wine and beer, lacking the funds to give them more than the plain bread and stew he himself eats. He'll be found either at Landuth Castle, at the southern edge of his holdings, or more likely in the fields with his herds.O,C-Zc2^7g*_UT
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CHALIPUR HATHANGOS`"]m:j2d_
(1333 DR-) nLW UUSv
This rich, fat Sembian merchant has a silken-soft voice, fat white hands that have never known toil, billowing silk robes embroidered with dragons eating their own tails ("Appropriate," Ingleiyr Tammarast once murmured), and is bald-ing; what little hair he has left (above his ears, and fringing his mouth) is red and curly. Hathango's many ruby rings mir?ror the strange red hue of his eyes, and he customarily wears a body-scent closely acquainted with exotic Thayan and Chessentan spices. The only armor he wears consists of magical bracers— and his own self-importance.WU"DbNPi

Inheriting a fortune built in the textiles and gems trade, Hathango now owns his own shipping fleet, though he itches to do something bold and successful that wasn't already done for him by his late father, Ghalador. He's looking to become a major force in livestock rearing, hence his need for lands he can dominate without having to pay for them, and his overtures to Tammarast. (See the previous entry.))Ayn,BOb&`Q
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He smokes incense-laced tobaccoes from Thay and drinks cherry-flavored liqueurs from Chessenta and Threskel. Offers of beer, mint wine, and lesser bev?erages will be accepted-but with a sniff and a curled lip.P6Q+bfI5^3[LO
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Hathango can be found most often in Daerlun, but might also be Pound from time to time in Wheloon, Suzail, or Immersea. Look for the most expensive and luxurious accomodations, and ask for him there. Be aware that Hathango goes nowhere without two hulking bodyguards, a pair of acrobatic slayers-for-hire who keep a lower profile but are seldom out of range of aiding their employer.m"v m_ps*Z#B
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Sabran Cormaeril
(1350 DR-)_k(bv;cZ%Q`
Sabran is a young, ambitious, scheming "blade" of the court—who slew or tried to slay-several nobles during the recent Abraxus Conspiracy. Now in exile, Sabran heads a shadowy band of dispossessed young nobles and dreams of one day ruling Cormyr.

Sabran delights in sending agents (hirelings, servants who left the Forest Kingdom with their masters, and other young exiled nobles who are exiled but can't resist a trip home in disguise) into Cormyr—south of the Starwater, that is. To Sabran, the rest of Cormyr has always been a wild backwaters where hunters and farmers toil, and he has no desire to dirty his hands among them.
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Sabran's eyes and brows are black, his hair is a dirty blonde, and he's short, slen?der, agile, and clean-shaven. His clothes are the most dashing that fashion allows, and he always goes armed, swaggering about the many taverns of Westgate or Selgaunt (he slips from one to the other "to keep Obarskyr assassins guessing," though I think he fancies himself far more important than the Crown does) as if he was a royal prince, just as he once strut?ted in Suzail. He surrounds himself with many well-armed louts, of course, and his agents are willing to do anything in Cormyr, from carrying messages and delivering funds (at which, surprisingly, they can be trusted) to arson, slayings, and stealing wagons or even ships in harbor!

The best way to contact Sabran is to leave word at upscale tipple-houses, and await a response from one of his bravos.
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Shaundyl Berethryl)U3{T o:F'R
(-998 DR-)^Xt!^0x6b!B2ed
Six feet tall, soft-spoken, lithe in his move?ments, and menacing in his dealings with humans, this gold elven warlord dresses in close-fitting black garments adorned with everbright silver and is seldom without a small forest of throwing knives on his person (sheaths for one or more are worked into every ornament).
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Arrogant and energetic, he bristled with fury at having to surrender Lytht-lorn3 to "bestial, unwashed" humans. Shaundyl dwells now in the depths of the Hullack Forest, surrounded by fearsome forest beasts that he dominates into serving him as guardians when hunting parties make forays into the green depths. He dreams of the day elves will rule all of Cormyr again. He will do nothing to harm the land (its forests in particular), but will otherwise covertly aid any humans inter?ested in shattering the Obarskyr rule, weakening the War Wizards, or in bring?ing down general slaughter and unrest upon the realm. Those who use fire or chop trees he will never trust, no matter what goals they profess.}G_t ]1U7sB

Shaundyl can best be contacted by leaving a written message for him within the edge of the Hullack Forest and waiting patiently at a country inn or cottage nearby specified in the message. He'll be aware of any forays into his forest and will eventually recover the message and come to where you wait with many magi?cal and bestial allies, ready for treachery on your part.

Others
I, Volo, am well aware that many other exiled or discontented nobles are ripe for use as agents in affecting change in Cormyr. Nor have I forgotten that Red Wizards of Thay are rumored to have been involved up to their blood-drenched elbows in the Abraxus Conspiracy. At present, however, I'm seeking safer allies and contacts within the Forest Kingdom and might present my findings, if they shine well enough, at some future time. j$Bu~O2Y4O&L

---------------
1 Ye would say "blabbermouth". Ah, the joys of explaining Volo ...r*`5Tcd4n.wl@
-ST ia~9G
2. These would now be the Western Robing Room (where courtiers-not nobility-can change their garb or more often adjust their garments, hair, and applied cosmetics), Lord valdasher's Solar (given over to an untidy and growing collection of plants banished by the Crown Princess from the rest of the Palace), and the Room of the Ruby Archers. This last is named for a series of rather voluptuous red-dyed stone statues of female foresters plying their bows in a line down the center of the room. Seats have been placed backing onto each statue's plinth, and the out-of-the-way room is much used each day by lady courtiers for gossip, gossip, and more gossip.
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3 Know ye that "Lythtlorn" was a name used by some local Fair Folk to describe the Wolf Woods, or what is now Cormyr.
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-------------------------------------

青萝 2008-1-14 19:31

[b][color=red]P165- The Black Dwarf Mine[/color][/b]
by Ed Greenwood ? illustrated by David Day

The countryside due east of Waterdeep consists of open grazing land, long denuded of trees and bushes by Waterdhavian mil?itary decree-and kept that way by foragers in search of any firewood they can sell to citizens in the often chilly and fog-shrouded port city.
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An endless succession of caravans and driven livestock keeps the terrain of the "Bare Hills" close-cropped and muddy. The topography of this stripped land is obvious to the casual eye: a series of small, rolling hills whose sides occasionally break into rocky outcrops and faces, known as tors.,P1s kf&I?%]r

For years small children in search of baubles and adults in search of mineral weallh have chipped away at exposed rock here and there on these tors, creating several small, shallow caves. These often serve foxes or wild dogs as dens and occasionally shelter more dangerous beasts---until word spreads and soldiers sally forth from the city to "cleanse the holes" again. Some six summers back, persistent probing of the hills began. The prospectors were a handful of dwarves driven from the Sunset Mountains by Zhentarim attacks.$R,S%a,\l.VDw

These dwarves couldn't accept that the stones of so many hills could hold nothing of value. They spent three years digging holes, into which enterprising Waterdhavians promptly began dumping more embarrassing sorts of refuse (such as corpses and stolen items too easily identified to be salable). Eventually the dwarves worked their way to a point about 7 miles east of Waterdeep. There they found a long, low ridge whose roots held an extensive and very pure vein of iron ore, and what's come to be called the Black Dwarf Mine began its legitimate operations.1_W6u^#q'E

The name comes from the chief trade negotiator among the five dwarves. Aldurghen Stormhammer (N male dwarf War 3/Exp 6). Gruff-voiced but often joking, he is distin?guished by two things: crude, black, homemade armor (a knee-length mail shirt studded with armor plates and an iron helm) and an ankle-length and always-filthy beard.

Stormhammer is seldom seen in Waterdeep without his armor, but when he does doff his helm, he reveals a face that is equally blackened (either permanent pig-mentation or the result of never washing)-hence his nickname: the Black Dwarf.Xx9~[mH,{~/S8f
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Stormhammer comes to Waterdeep accompanied by at least two dwarves, whose backbreaking labor has left them not only strong but with a very low tolerance for pranksters and thieves. Not that many folk have the strength to steal from them: They typ?ically sell pig iron and cast-iron pots, pans, fire screens, clothes irons, boot?jacks, door "dragons" (ornamental weights That hold doors open), and trivets. They transport these wares in a handcart, the finished goods stored under a braced bottom weighed down by hundreds of pounds of pig iron. At the end of a trip to Waterdeep, the cart is instead filled with smoked sides of meat and several kegs of strong drink, leaving behind the cargo of iron-and words muttered in a few shrewdly chosen ears by Stormhammer about what's "in back" of his mine (described below).
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WHAT MEETS THE EYEwn~+g7L1X
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The Black Dwarf Mine comprises a series of tunnels bored into the west?ern upper face of a bare rock ridge, with gravel paths linking them to a heap of tailings and a furnace. The dwarves work the mine with pickaxes and tip-carts, carrying ore and stone rubble out of the tunnels to the fur?nace or the tailings heap, respect?ively. Two other paths lead away from the mine: One connects to a drovers' trail running down to that Waterdeep-bypass spur of the Trade Way known as "the Run." and the other winds westward across the hills to a lime?stone quarry.)P#R hC!si
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There are also two large, ramshackle wooden sheds with watertight roofs. One just below the furnace covers the casting trough into which molten iron is poured. The other-off to one side-stores charcoal, carts, and piles of raw materials. The dwarves do not use it for shelter; in wet weather, they sleep with their finished iron in one of the worked-out tunnels. Only exhaustion, not storms, can stop the near cease?less forge-work.

The furnace is a squat stone chimney lined with firebrick beside a spring of rushing waters that turn a water wheel. The wheel's axle in turn drives two vertical wooden pistons through a series of cranks. The pistons rise and fall inside cylinders that look like over?sized, straight-sided kegs, although with far heavier strapping: the cylinder tops have flap valves that let them "breathe" in and out. The pistons force air through pipes into a mixing chamber, and thence via a tapering copper pipe into the depths of the bulbous furnace, to keep its fire hot.

The dwarves Tip cartloads of iron ore, limestone from the nearby quarry, and charcoal into the furnace from above through the "maw," a hole in the side of the chimney above the fire. The limestone serves as flux: During smelting, it combines with non-metallic parts of the ore to make glassy slag (waste tailings). The dwarves buy charcoal from the busy human and halfling woodcutters along the fringes of the High Forest. They know very well how to burn charcoal for themselves, but their forge-work simply doesn't allow them time.5kA [:h!lT
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Day and night, the dwarves "feed the maw," dumping successive layers of ore, then flux, and then charcoal atop the air-blasted fire. Two and a quarter tons of ore, a ton and a half of flux, and a hundred handcarts of coal make a ton of Black Dwarf iron (in less-rich ore deposits, two and a half tons of ore and 150 carts of char?coal would be needed). The stack can't be more than about 35 feet high, or the weight of ore crushes the charcoal and chokes off the fire.r SkF T Zoc

The metal melts and runs down to the bottom of the furnace into a small cru?cible, the "hearth," where it builds up behind a clay plug. The dwarves open a large cinder hole just above the hearth hourly to rake out the slag from atop the molten iron. The plug is broken every 12 hours or so to let the liquid iron run out. It flows out into a channel dug in the deep sand under the adjacent shed, into a long central trench (the "sow") that branches, like the veins of a leaf, into rows of smaller side cavities (the "pigs"). When these are all filled, the hearth-dam is plugged again. After the bubbling, smoking metal cools and hardens, the dwarves use hammers to break the pigs apart from the sow, then lift the smelted iron with hooks to pre?pare the trenches for the next pour. A pig of Black Dwarf iron weighs 75 pounds, and a sow 250 pounds.

Smaller tappings of the hearth fill fire-hardened clay molds buried in the surface of the sand to make pots and pans, or run into a clay-lined casting ladle set info the sand. A casting ladle is a long-handled pan with a beaklike spout on one side, which is lifted our when full to pour the iron into smaller, more deli?cate molds.(tOZBg4I1C8p
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Pig iron is hard and brittle because it contains a lot of carbon. Producing malleable wrought iron requires removing the carbon, and the dwarves of the Black Dwarf Mine have begun doing this too. Directly north of the furnace they have built three smaller forges-open fireboxes that burn char?coal with forced-air drafts from another trio of water wheel-and-cylin-der assemblies."w&M*\ |#fT
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Many dwarves consider all of this backbreaking but simple work too crude for their skills ("leave such to The gnomes" is a common dwarven expression), but these landless out?casts don't seem too proud for it, and They obviously enjoy their forays into Waterdeep. They incur no shipping costs, so they can undercut the prices of all other ironworkers and thus cap?ture the market.f+fc'y,s L^
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In just a few seasons the Black Dwarf five have become very wealthy-not just from their iron, but also from their work "in back."
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"IN BACK"
In its first year of operations, many folk of Waterdeep dropped by the Black Dwarf Mine out of curiosity-and suspi?cion. After dark rumors of "walking metal men" and other dangerous weapons swept through the Dock Ward, they wanted to see for themselves what the dwarves were up to.7IFXw1V#Zm7GK

Most came away with the impression that Sformhammer and his fellows work far too hard to be up to anything. So drenched with sweat that they often stagger into the millstream to drink and cool themselves at the same time, The fire-blackened dwarves toil nonsTop with their hammers and tongs, in austere sur?roundings resembling a cave more than a building, and in heat and din so fierce that humans must peer at what's going on from a fair distance.&`\q}hB/S&i(I
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However, the mine does indeed have a very profitable secret sideline: dis?creet, short-term, high-fee storage of "hot" goods and other items folk want swiftly hidden. This is what the Black Dwarf five refer to as "in back." Valuables are stowed in the worked-out back caverns, often behind temporary walls of heaped rubble that look for all the world as if the digging ended there. Corpses, monster body parts, and more dangerous goods are often buried under the slag heaps (covered by an over?turned tip-cart if such treatment would harm them).

ELMINSTER'S NOTES

Ye should be aware that what makes Aldurghen Srormhammer's armor and skin black is not the iron at ail, but a grimy preservative oil in which he reg?ularly submerges both his tools and his armor. This edible but horrible-tasting oil, called "thaolet"by dwarves, is a mixture of specific stone dusts and oils derived by boiling particular plants. It serves two purposes: to drive out dampness, and to dissolve rust and tar?nish by undoing what ye call the "oxidi-fication" that occurs when air, water, and most metals meet. Many dwarves keep a small open barrel of thaolet on a worksite to stand tools in, or to wash away the blood of foes from weapons after battle.
~0q?dYe5A
Most dwarves prefer not to look like wet coal-heaps when dealing with humans, and wash thoalet away with clear oils before donning their armor for "public viewing", but Aldurghen cares not. Humor and whimsy rule him. although he's shrewd behind his jests and air of wide-eyed deviltry. Let not his act conceal from ye a mind as sharp as honed steel and a gaze that misses nothing.
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As for what's "in back"at the Black Dwarf mine, all I'll say is: Veil be surprised.Qo lN#pm\v|

ALDURGHEN STORMHAMMER Aldurghen Stormhammer. Male Dwarf War 3/Exp 6: CR 8; HD 3d8+6d6+27; hp 62; Init +0; Spd 15 ft.; AC 17, touch 10, flat-footed 17: Base Atk +7; Grp +10; Atk +11 melee (1d8+4, +1 warhammer); Full Atk +11/+6 (id8+4, +/ warhammer): AL N; SV Fort -no. Ref +3, Will +7; Str 16, Dex 11, Con 17, Int n, Wis 12. Cha 13.B8Dx(yx Sk

Skills: Appraise +5. Bluff +5, Craft (armorsmithing), +8, Craft (black-smithing) +4, Craft (weaponsmithing) +6. Climb +5. Handle Animal +3, Intimidate +7, Sense Motive +5, Spot +5, Profession (iron worker) +13, Use Rope +4.*B(U ?6xP1`cIJ#f4ua
Feats: Endurance, Great Fortitude, Neogotiator, Skill Focus (Profession (iron worker)).

Languages: Common, Dwarf.
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Possessions: Masterwork spiked chainmail. +/ warhammer. +t dagger, bracers of armor +2, z potions of bull's strength. 47 gp.W+v?NTAY*eYJ
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1. Behind several slag heaps are shallow caves (mine shafts abandoned early). The dwarves use these to store lip-carls, replacement water-wheel buckets, chains, puleys. and other valuables they don't want stolen.
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2. If the dwarves need to hide contraband in a hurry or anticipate a search, they typically scoop a hole in one of their paths (built up from tailings), bury the loot, and then replace the path. They then resume their mining, pushing a stream of heavily laden lip-carts of ore, flux, and charcoal right over whatever's hidden.

3. More than one dishonest merchant of Waterdeep has been induced to confess or impart secrets after sweating out hours suspended head-down from a pulley in one of the hot. smoky, noisy forges. The Black Dwarf five terrify such captives by moving them to hang directly over molten metal or an anvil where their hammers are thudding down.8i"Vd0@0p_9N;E
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4. This disused passage is full of empty ale barrels brought back from the city. The dwarves, wasting nothing, sell these to traders who wish to reuse them (or hide contraband in them).
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青萝 2008-1-14 19:32

[b][color=red]P299- Interview with ED Greenwood[/color][/b]
[b][color=red]Volo's Guild to the Master of the FR[/color][/b]:t`*D5q W
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This month, Dragon presents an interview with Ed Green?wood, creator of Watcrdeep and the Forgotten Realms.
How did you get your start in the writing business?$c-W Gr5E-D

I've always been "a writer," jotting down tales and scenes and fragments for my own amusement from the moment I could form the letters of the alphabet with a pencil, and writing (pretty awfully at first) stories of "what happened next" to favorite fictional characters bv the time I was six (which is why the Realms began when I was seven or eight).
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1 come from a family of writers and all through my youth worked on school yearbooks, "little" literary magazines, senior citizens' center newsletters, church bulletins, and magazine articles. I'm Canadian, and at that time the Canadian literary community was a small, cozy family; 1 had some books of mine published early on.g)C3GK'r
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How I got started in the game writing business was simple: I started writing articles for Dragon magazine (or The Dragon, as it was then—a name I still vastly prefer). They started pub?lishing them (the "Curst" monster in issue #30 was my first), Kim Mohan was impressed by the use of footnotes in my Gates article (in Dragon #37) and that soon led lo a "Contrib?uting Editor" position (which meant they were interested in seeing all of the steady flood of articles 1 sent them) and lots of appearances in Dracon. 1 worked Forgotten Realms references into my articles to give my players some fun.!}t#_3g8R ^m6\9u/b

These got noticed, and when TSR was looking for a new campaign world set?ting they contacted me, and the rest, as they say (ahem), is history.

What was the most difficult part of designing the early Realms?
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lf by "early Realms" you mean before TSR started publishing it (and the most difficult part became the "traf?fic cop" role of making sure Writer A didn't kill off Character X before the time of Writer B's novel that starred Character X, or destroy a kingdom that Writer B was going to use, and so on), it was finding time enough lo give every spot on the ever-increasing maps the same level of rich detail. Even now, the published Realms concentrate on the Heartlands and neglects more distant areas (although the third edition Realms sourcebooks are trying to paint in some of those forgotten corners). 1 not only had to give the tourist-guidebook details ("That spire on your left is the blah blah blah, and the field on your right is planted with barley"), 1 had to give the underlying reasons ("Barley sells well in the markets of Sembia, so of course the farmers here plant blah blah blah") and the life of ever)' locale (not just "the Hatfields hate the McCoys" stuff, but which merchant has a covert trade agreement with another merchant, local attitudes toward other villages or the distant ruler or strang?ers or all gnomes, and so on). I've had a busy life (yes, outside gaming! Imagine!) and have never had quite enough time to do a really satis tying job.

Now, I'm not advocating that all gamers use or need that level of detail, or that folks should feel bound by any "canon" details in their own game. I'm saying that as a writer of imaginary fantasy settings gamers have to pay for, I believe 1 must provide such a level of detail (to give value for money, if nothing else).zD+bu1NE*G

With the advent of third edition and 3.5, what do you think of the direction that the Forgotten Realms are heading, taking into consideration your earlier vision of what you wanted it to become?

I'm not a fan of endless prestige classes. My ideal Realms sourcebook would have no slat blocks and minimal class and "hard" game notations (it's enough to say that "Roldro is a pow?erful wizard (perhaps a wizard 12]"), because I want to use the space on the pages to give gamers the maximum amount of usable over-and-ovcr lore ("Roldro collects old maps, and will pay handsomely for any good ones of XXX, but he's not the prissv old collector he likes to pretend to be. A retired former herald, he's keenly aware of the gene?alogies of six kingdoms, and very qui?etly makes a good living identifying lost heirs and throne claimants for every cabal willing to pay for such informa?tion—evrn if it leads to coups and bloody civil wars and shattered thrones. Moreover, Roldro once received The Tome of Ineffable Magicks in payment of a debt, and has mastered..."). That sort of stuff is far more useful to DMs trying to spin plots and subplots in their own campaigns than stats for Orc Encoun?ter #36. After all, there are already tons of published stat blocks those DMs can use for such needs.
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With that said, I'm happy that Realms sourcebooks are continuing to lie pub?lished and are continuing to "paint in the map" of the Realms, covering the fuzzy areas and adding more detail. I'm also pleased that Realms novels go from strength to strength in the field, because the more stories going on in the Realms, the more gamers think about the Realms, the more it seems alive, and the more interesting it stays.

In what direction would you like to see Dungeon & Dragons go? Is there an area of the game that has not been explored that you would like to see fleshed out in a book or supple?ment or module?7mYj9n]GneJ

1 would love to see a sourcebook that deals with merchant shipping, cara?vans, banking (currency, trade flows, and commerce), heraldry, courts (laws and justice, not just enforcement and sentencing) and Court etiquette ("How do I ask to see the king?"), so that gamers could have a sample business contract in mock-medieval language that they could photocopy and "fill in the blanks," and so on. A book that cov?ers all the neglected stuff if you will.?'r X]o

Now, a gaming business person will tell you (as many have told me) that something like this would never sell, but I think it's a matter of dressing it up in the right attractive clothing. Stuffing in enough goodies, if you will. Give me photocopy-able handouts DMs can give to players (writs, proc?lamations of thanks for PC heroism, "Wanted" posters for fugitives, char?ters for adventuring companies and grants of arms for nobles and the just-knighted, and so on). To use a Realms example, sneak in a simplified Sword Coast "Pirate and Traveler" style board game that gives me a deck of cargo cards that I can draw from. To tell me very quickly "what's in this wagon" or "what's down in this ship's hold besides the slave girls we're rescuing— if they're chained to bombs, I'd like to know that before I go down there with my flaming torch in my hand."Zh8XR m2oQz)C~
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That s just one idea off the top of my head, of course. Like any gamer, I have many others.{XFO ~w
What other games do you enjoy playing?

Lots of games, from hoard games (like Arkham Horror, Awful Green Tilings From Outer Space, Empires of the Middle Ages, Kingmaker, and International Oil?man) to rolcplaying games (like Call of Cthulhu and Metamorphosis Alpha), I rarely have time to sit down and really enjoy games these days, but I like simple card games and board games with simple mechanics but strategic difficulties (especially if the board itself is beautiful to look at). Many of the Cheapass Games appeal to my sense of humor and desire for fast-playing, enjoyable games that don't appeal to rules lawyers or are likely to end in furious dis?agreements over how well they've accurately simulated this or (hat real-world military detail.2R?*A8vkA]~ z%P

You have said that your gaming group gets together about once or twice a year for a marathon gaming session lasting up to three days. Do you still have these marathon sessions?9u5m)du!}G$\.m

Whenever we can, which isn't nearly often enough. Yes, things are falling apart for the home Realms players, which isn't surprising when you consider that we're scat?tered all over the world now, with busy professional lives and young families of our own. (It's hard to get people to show up for a gaming session when they're on the other side of the world, backpacking alone from ancient monument to ancient monument. It's even harder when they're tenured professors teaching heavy class loads at a large univer?sity, trying to stay fit, AND juggling infants at home.)That's the problem with having a group of incredibly bright, imaginative, inquisitive, and handsome people: they can go far in life—and have.

Who is the most underrated NPC bad-guy from your home realms cam?paign? How about from the merchan?dised Realms?8| T.^7c,~r

Manshoon is the most underrated NPC villain in the published Realms, because the TSR Code of Ethics pre?vented me from showing the Zhentarim as really competent, early on, and I was never able to dwell on the extent and sophistication of Manshoon's Machia?vellian plotting and subtle spread of influence. For a man not directly supported by a deity (as, for instance, Elminstcr is), Manshoon achieved more than anyone else in the current Realms, in matters of acquiring information and in being able to influence others.
He was well on his way to having a Realms-wide network of informants and agents that could persuade a farm-wife in Halruaa to purchase this sort of cloth instead of that sort so subtly that she might not even be aware her decision was being influenced. Why does that matter? Well, if you do that to several thousand tarmwives, you change entire markets, profiting thereby and ruining rivals. (This is something modern-day multinational business concerns understand all too well.) Lar-loch could establish the same degree of influence, but isn't interested in doing so—and is far less "in touch and in tune" with daily life in the Realms than Manshoon is, and so could never match Manshoon's subtlety. So the "real" Manshoon is the master manipulator, not Fzoul's puppet. (In fact, this could just he his ploy: set Fzoul up to be the figurehead, er, target, while the sly and urbane Manshoon schemes unham?pered in the background... heh-heh.) n;o^h p9R

In the original "home" Realms cam?paign, the most neglected villain was a certain Lord of Waterdeep whose identity I'm going to keep secret because the Company of Crazed Ven?turers (the PCs) still haven't stumbled into understanding the depths of his villainy. He's been quietly in the back?ground of almost every guild scandal and important-NPC murder they've seen, and they've just never picked up on the clues. I think I may have him try to romance one of the Venturers with an eye to marrying her (and try?ing to slay most of the Venturers on their ways to or from her wedding least), acquiring her land and wealth, and then have her slowly poisoned, just to see if they notice this guy then. Perhaps if he put on a dragon suit and roared at them...aGSuRA%p`
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Now that Eberron is here, what do you see for the future of Forgotten Realms? Do you think it will be over?shadowed and essentially phased out like Greyhawk was with the advent of second edition?
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We've had a good, long run.
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The Realms could quite possibly end up as a fiction-only setting, as Dragonlance did for a time, or even be licensed out to another company. Those aren't my decisions—which is a good thing, because I'd probably be a terrible busincssperson.
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Under the original Realms agree?ment, there are conditions under which the Realms "reverts" to me, so I doubt the current copyright holders will let those conditions happen.y7{ Z6D9slXb
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I am privy to the very good business reasons for the creation of Eberron, and agree with them, but the Realms novels are selling so well that it would seem foolish to make the Realms "go away." Thetre's also the proven track record of the Realms, which has been a profitable financial engine for far lon?ger than most settings in the fantasy gaming world have lasted (popular settings have been "brought back" repeatedly, but that's not the same thing). If you have a winning racehorse and you buy a new one (let's call it, er, Eberron), you'd better make sure it can win races before you send your proven winner to the glue factory.,t%I0cxGs
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However, as a game designer, I'm interested in seeing what's done with Eberron (I view it as "another plat?ter on the buffet" for all gamers, not as a rival or enemy to the Realms), and the Realms has built up a fan-dom over the years that will not let the setting die (like Tolkien's Middle Earth and Star Wars and Star Trek and so on). Even if the published Realms ended tomorrow, the Realms will go on—something that pleases me very much. I have friends all over the world because of the Realms, I'm regularly asked what Realms char?acter names mean because people want to apply them to their babies, I get asked to perform marriages as Elminster... so the Realms has a life of its own, now, far larger than any one person or company. Elminster is probably the single most recognized NPC from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Selling. How did you create such a living personality?
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I needed someone too power?ful for lazy roleplayers to have their characters casually slay to shut him up (hence the "has powerful magic" part), who could be an unreliable and cantankerous source of advice (add the "old wise sage with major atti?tude" part). This gave me someone PC adventurers needed, but couldn't push around or always go running to (because he might be off saving the world somewhere else, so couldn't they handle their scraped knees them?selves for once, hmmm?).zoS4?M3qz

This gave me how he had to be. Mostly 1 wanted an old fart that could bluntly tell the emperor that he had no clothes and always get away with doing so. The guy who causes utter silence at a wild party by saying what everyone sus?pects but no one dares to say out loud.
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from that needed role, the rest of him developed, step-by-step. So he's not a Merlin clone (though that's the role he's mostly playing), or a Gandalf rip-off or a Belgarath parody, and he's NOT my alter ego. He's the guy so powerful that he can take your best shot, yawn, and then stand there without retaliating, and calmly say, "Ye seem more hostile than most adven?turers who come here seeking to slay me. Why. may I ask? Is thy codpiece loo tight? Crown on crooked, this morning? Bored with slaying helpless children? Or just seeking glory and too stupid to think there might be a reason for my reputation? Hmnim?" \0H*K*G"GH]#|

He's not a munchkin (too tall and too low a voice, for one thing), he's the lover and most trusted servant ofthe most powerful deity in the world he lives in, beyond all munchkinism. Which lets me use him to examine more important issues than merely chasing power, such as: What do you do with all that power once you've got it? Once you've had it for centuries, and outlived everyone you cared about, and most of their coun?tries, too? What's it like to go insane because you're just so tired of it all, but aren't allowed to just lie down and die? How do you read when you know that's the trap you live in? What keeps you going? What do you still believe in, and care about? And then, when you start the final fall-apart anyway, what do you rush to do in the dwindling time you have left? What does it really mean to love entities (gods, individual people, horrible scaly monsters)?To love ideas? Countries? A world?

If you follow along watching what this Elminster guy does and says, and jot it all down, well—he creates him?self as he goes. Just like real people do.

Did you expect Elminster to become so legendary?
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No, 1 expected Elminster to be the Old Storyteller narrator of the Realms, who introduced us to other characters and their unfolding stories, and then faded away off the page as the harp strings thrummed, and the reader plunged into those stories, I expected him to be the old guy people went to consult (like the oracle at Delphi, whom the reader never directly sees in the old talcs), rather than onstage much. However, the books peo?ple at TSR thought differently, so I ended up writing a series of Elminster books. His tale isn't quite done yet, but the Old Mage's legendary status is a perfect illus?tration of the way commercial writing works; It's not about what you the writer want to say, it's about what your audience wants to hear. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle grew to hate Sherlock Holmes and killed him off—and his readers demanded his return and didn't want to buy anything else by Doyle.

A lot of vocal gamers and readers hate Elminster and want to see him gone— but the sales figures tell the different opinion of the more silent majority.YU"s%m I'i
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Was Elminster patterned after you or one of your original gaming group?
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No, he isn't me, and was never an echo of any real person (or gaming character, PC or NPC). His speech and manner?isms and character have all developed on their own over the years, making him increasingly unique (despite what some believe). I'm often asked to pick actors I'd like to see portray El in a movie, and I can say that Nichol Wil?liamson's Merlin in the movie Excalibur (which came out well after Elminster's character was established, of course) is pretty close in manner of speech, tone of voice, and accent. Ditch the earring and skullcap, and change the red hair to flowing white, of course.
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Over the years I've often put on a costume and portrayed Elminster at conventions, but please understand that this is a fat fantasy author playing the Old Mage, not anything like the Old Mage himself.C;IRF!ID

Is Waterdeep the greatest city in the Realms?hgs7f}5t{
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Just as in the real world, the answer to that depends on whether the answerer is a fan ofWaterdeep or not. It's cur?rently one of the most important and best-known trading cities of Faerun. for two reasons: The lumber, mined metals, livestock, and other foodstuffs now flowing out of the Sword Coast North are greatly needed by the rest of the Realms (a trade Waterdeep dominates, for reasons of geography and climate more than anything else), and Waterdeep is a human-dominated cos?mopolitan trading city where coins rule, half the creatures of Faerun rub shoul?ders, and tolerance is legendary.;g(BM+Nd^~#O;Q

That combination of tolerance, vari?ety of goods and skills, and freedom from daily oppression by a strong ruler is hard to match anywhere else in Faerun. So people keep coming, and the coins keep flowing.2u4D$E I(iq4K0H'c

How do all the nobles of Waterdeep get (or stay) so rich? They certainly seem to spend a lot!pcR Cs"fEmx(k9W
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The nobles ofWaterdeep got that way in part because they were very success?ful merchant families, usually long ago. In other words, because it's now so hard to become a noble in Waterdeep, the nobility you see now are "old money."g R0qK2zH,g

So most of them have extensive crofts (farms) and ranches somewhere in Dessarin Vale or more southerly lands, and have made money from these for decades. All those people crowded inside the walls of Waterdeep have to eat and drink daily, and most nobles own breweries, wagons, and warehouses, so they provide the provender to the city, at city street prices.9\ B3l+\B"Pd

The costs of running these country properties are often low because kin of the nobles and loyal servants live on the lands and receive most of their pay as "roof and platter" (room and board, which of course their own daily work provides). In other cases, nobles have far more land than they can work, and rent it out to tenant farmers.

In addition to their primary busi?nesses (listed in various Waterdeep sources over the years), many Waterdha-vian noble families also own small—or not so small—fleets of ships carrying cargoes up and down the Sword Coast, and invest in caravan costers. They also invest in hundreds of small Waterd-h3vian businesses (supporting shop?keepers and craftsfolk who'd otherwise never have coin enough to get started or weather cash flow problems), and most importantly are landlords, getting rent from rooms and buildings in crowded Waterdeep, and from way-inns they own on the roads outside the city, too!*]Np)Y-j,@ g`6ZXp%a
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1 louses maintained by most Watcr-dhavian noble families in Amn. Tcthyr. Silverymoon and elsewhere usually have a few "country cousin" kin living there—and working as factors (trade agents) for the family.

A few noble families of Waterdeep have fallen on hard times, but often replenish their coffers by allowing rich, ambitious "wannabe" nobles to marry into their ranks. Nobles also have a few legal rights, and a lot of social influence (including unwritten customs or rules that aren't actually laws) that other Waterdhavians lack, that help them prosper in competi?tion with visiting "outlander" mer?chants or commoners.

So if nobles wander the streets stagger?ing under the weight of so many coins, why don't they get robbed all the time?
Well, there are such things as body?guards. More importantly, citizens of" Waterdeep know that most nobles don't carry much coin at all. They have their bills paid for them by their stewards (servants), who "come around" to places the nobles shop at, a day or so later, and settle up.
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Nobles are scrupulously honest about settling all accounts, by the way, because if word gets around that a par-ticular family is disputing or denying bills, their reputation is stained—and that ruins thru credit, meaning other traders won't deal with them or will demand harder bargains.7vb![V h;dEu
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So a "wild young blade" of a noble who spends lavishly, gambles, or goes on sprees of breaking things will have his costs covered. Even if the family patriarch or matriarch is enraged (and almost always they've established pro?cedures where they must approve large drafts on the family vaults, so nothing can be hidden from them), they'll pay.
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Family spendthrifts are often encouraged to make investments or start sideline businesses to earn their own spending money. Less wealthy nobles usually do this with their children. Wastrels "beyond rescuing" might be publicly disowned, quietly killed in "accidents," shipped off in virtual slavery (drugged or coerced) to far corners of the world to make their own fortunes, serve as hireswords (in hopes that battle will soon kill them), or even sent on family business far from Waterdeep and there poisoned by hired agents.
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So the heads of noble houses decide who gets lavish spending money, and even which family members get to live in the Iamily mansions. They dare not mistreat spouses or heirs in ways the watching city can detect, however, or the family status—and as I said, business opportunities, and therefore, wealth—will be permanently harmed.
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So how docs the rest of Waterdeep handle, and think about, money? {B-n4i/tPz
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In lots of different ways, just as with any large group of people. After all, Waterdeep is home to: near-slaves (the 'prentices of cruel masters, lowly ser?vants of the most ill-behaved nobles, those too old or sick to work, and Dock Ward street urchins), a lot of "short-coin" laborers (non-guild workers paid by the day or by the task), "guilded" workers, independent (not guilded) shopkeepers, rising or successful mer?chants (who no longer have to work daily in their own shops, but have hired a staff; who also usually own more than one property; and are becoming landlords or part-owners of busi?nesses other than their own original one, sometimes little shops started by their sons and daughters), established merchants (born into a successful busi?ness or who've become a confident and settled landlord or multi-business owner, no longer grasping and clawing for coins), really rich wannabe-noble merchants (who spend coins like water to impress the city, and want to he socially important), and the nobles.
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Most Waterdhavians don't want to reveal full details of their wealth, assets, debts, and prospects to any?one—and don't, often taking elabo?rate troubles to conceal things from tax collectors, business partners and fellow guild members, and even close kin (using trade agents and go-betweens in negotiations, setting up "dummy" companies, and so on).}`7Dkn H/mc
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Folk in Waterdeep love to discuss trade prospects,and "who will prob?ably do what—Just you watch!" Such conversations take the place of the weather tor casual daily discourse; other usual topics arc: "What's hot?" (meaning new products, processes, fads and fashions or "who's buying what?") and "What's the news?" (business feuds and announcements, and the usual city gossip about murders, trysts, weddings, breakups, robberies, scandals, fights and insults, and so on). Waterdhavians want to tell you all about their latest business venture (particularly if they want you to invest in it), but they usu?ally want to limit what they say to just that, and gloss over what else they own, are doing, or how their other business concerns arc performing.
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Waterdhavians are always looking for a deal, and love getting not just a low price but bargaining shrewdly. Someone who pays high prices for things without question is either a fool (usually in love), an outlander (ignorant of the proper current "street price"), or a noble or wannabe-noble with money to burn who wants everyone to know how much coin he can afford to waste. Of these, only nobles or wannabe-nobles impress most Waterdhavians, and observers judge if a big spender belongs in one of those two groups byjudging manner, speech, dress, and company kept, not just the amount of coins spent. If so judged, you impress, without anyone knowing exactly how much your complete holdings are (which allows con men to operate).
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Also, Waterdhavians aren't impressed by someone with large amounts of coin but no assets (property, ships or shares in ships, or goods owned) or investments. They regard such people suspiciously, as thieves, agents of foreign interests up to no good, or fools. So impressing a Water-dhavian always involves more than just a sum of money.

What's it like on the streets of Water-deep? Are there rush hours?*oc,y-z~a*uH?t
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Crowded, with lots of people walking (many of them wheeling along delivery handcarts), and wagons and horse-riders trying to cleave through all the pedestrians. There are daily rush hours, when the city gates open (almost always at dawn) and before they close (almost always at dusk, though sometimes they're kept open a little later when caravans are assembling outside the city and there are lineups of wagons jammed inside the gates).;Ni+jc3o$V3wY.K

Traffic jams may happen due to goods-wagons moving to and from the docks when many large ships are loading or unloading, during festivals, guild parades, large contests at the Field ofTriumph, and extraordinary events like the first warm bathing days of a year (everyone heads to Sea Ward to get to the beach), market fairs outside the walls (when multiple caravans arrive and the City Guard keeps them from entering due to crowding, so street vendors and eager shoppers go out to them), or when the city's under attack.gY-CC6Gke
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Wagon traffic tends to disappear from Sea Ward and North Ward except during daylight hours, so as long as you're nimble enough to avoid nobles' galloping horses and coaches whizzing about, pedestrians can get around easily after dusk. That "easier after dark" rule holds true—if one dares to go out— everywhere in the city except around Caravan Court and right along the docks (though much of Dock Ward can be slow going for someone not large, ugly, obviously well-armed, and walking with a lot of friends).
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The City Guard controls access to the city (the various gates, plus a harbor patrol) but the Watch commands the streets, calling in the Guard only when there's a riot or pitched battle. (Their horncalls can also summon Watchful Order "magical reinforcements" when necessary.) The Watch has wagons that trundle arrested persons off to dun?geon cells under Castle Waterdeep, where their release can be obtained the next day upon payment of a fine.

The City Guards at all city gates routinely inspect wagons (due to sheer volume of traffic, they can't do every one or search most crates and coffers thoroughly; instead, they spot-check when suspicious). 'Ihe Watch usually searches only to force someone into moving a wagon they seem unwill?ing to move ("All right then, Master Thorgund, I guess we'll just have to see what you consider so precious that it can't be moved one wheel-turn! Right, lads, let's have it all out and down onto the cobbles!"). Both the Guard and the Watch have the right to search any handcart or conveyance, at any lime. Anything suspicious will be seized, along with the wagon and its tenders, and "brought along" to Castle Waterdeep for a full inspection (under the eyes of grim City Guard types with loaded crossbows, and Watchful Order duty magists irritated at having their card and dice games interrupted).

By the way, few Guard or Watch offi?cers accept bribes, but they will report all attempts to offer such. Nobles get lenient treatment, but outlanders and known troublemakers receive "hard eye"attention. Familiar local carters and peddlers usually get a nod, a wave, and a quick inspection.

青萝 2008-1-14 19:35

[b]P213- The Wyrmworks, a Horde of Dragons（已有人认领）[/b]
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The fair city of Silverymoon bristles with small, eccentric, poorly publicized boutiques that sell fascinating wares Front parlors host some of these, and many have no street sign, or only the most discreet advertising. One of the most fascinating of these shops is "the Wyrmworks," an establishment that's heen open for barely a year on Many Cats Lane in Northbank (the older part of the city north of the River Rauvin).

The Wyrmworks specializes in sales of dragon fangs, scales, blood, and preserved eyes, tails, talons, and pieces of wing. Its proprietors also sell maps to (and of) known dragon lairs and rent out a magically preserved and animated red dragon head.$i l"|mC/J&O
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WHAT MEETS THE EYE
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The shop is one of the more spectacular in the Forgotten Rcalms, The huge preserved wing of a blue dragon dominates the v/indowless chamber whose vaulted stone ceiling wouldn't be out of place in a temple. The wing stretches out in a grand curve from the door to the stairs on the right (a landing from which the cellar stairs go down and the steps to the living quarters of the owners and their guards ascend) around the back of the room to the door to the workshops on the left.+w!H~Wp,C6X.f

Beneath the sheltering magnificence of this great wing, the back wall of the shop contains a dozen maps to dragon lairs—colorful items of pure fancy painted for their looks, with small round scenes of points along the way superimposed on a verdant landscape marked v/ith the trail to the lair.
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Smaller copies of each of these maps-sans most of the painting—are for sale, stored in rothe-horn tubes in racks beneath each map. The top of each rack supports a small, mirrored lamp whose angled panes serve to reflect and throw all of the lamplight up onto the map above.;`V#bO'o4~P+F

The back room holds more expensive and detailed maps, available only to those who ask for them. Dragon blood and organs are handled in the same way. It should be noted that the seller never leaves customers alone in the shop and rings a bell to summon other staff to fetch such items.

The central counter is surrounded by an open aisfeway that allows customers to freely walk about and view wares, a ring-shaped affair whose wooden walls are split, just below the countertops. by shallow glass display cases containing small pieces of dragon remains (mainly fangs) and trophies of rusty treasure and broken weaponry, skulls, and the like from victims or failed adventurers brought back from dragon lairs. Any dragon skulls available for sale hang suspended from the ceiling (like the lamps that illuminate the shop), usually directly above the central sales counter.6S/gU5jb2gG
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Considered trade secrets at the Wyrrnworks, cleansers and preserva?tives for dragon remains-mostly a variety of plant oils-are never offered for sale or identification. The sales staff tells persistent customers who want to know such things, "We leave such matters to experts who desire to keep their work a mystery, and we dare not offend them lest we lose access to their services."

The usual centerpiece of the shop display is Old Roaring Rage, the famous preserved red dragon head. It's usually mounted on its ov/n glossy, carved wooden stand off to one side (the owners discovered that placing it front and center to confront buyers caused a lot of folk to promptly turn around and leave). If the dragon head is rented out, the splendid snarling head of some fanciful, unknown sort of dragon, crafted of shining eleclrum by Uraerik Thaurongol (a dwarven craftsmith of Everlund), is displayed in its place. Neither head is for sale, but smaller and less ornate metal replicas (made by lesser dwarven smiths of Silverymoon) are sold for 2oo to 400 gp each, depending on size and$u?{,w3C0{_:D
appearance. They're kept in a back room until requested.

The two floors of living quarters above the shop sport balconies, bay windows, and slate roofs. Levers at various places in their floors allow persons above to drop down portcullis like bars to wall off all doorways in the shop below—something done at any time of night or day when suspicious noises are heard from the shop, during deliveries, or whenever rhe shop is closed and the owners' bodyguards are unavailable.

TRADE AT THE WYRMWORKSP"K9sh3|&A x+Pj
-EfL tX6p
Business at the shop began slowly-prices for dragon remains tend to be high, and the number of persons able to use them for more than decorative ornaments is relatively low-but has become so brisk in the last few months that the owners are contemplating opening a branch office in Waterdeep.k7_lOJz2H
xFP;IT ~
Dragon remains are rare and dangerous to obtain: There's the trifling matter of slaying a dragon, the minor annoyance of butchering a cottage-sized carcass before something hungry comes along to devour it, and then transporting what you've carved off before it rots— usually through difficult terrain in remote areas. Prices rise and fall with availability of desired dragon parts, but haggling determines all sale prices.?nvS/E
c*]1tu,Fin#f$bD(E
The Owners of the Wyrrnworks sharply raise prices if they think a potential buyer is apt to become a danger to them or the wider Realms once furnished with dragon remains. A Red Wizard of Thay or member of the Arcane Brotherhood is charged far more than a mage of Silverymoon v/hose character is known to the sellers, for example. Scarcity in the face of demand also raises prices.

When buying such materials from adventurers, the Wyrmworks typically pays 50% to 75% of curreni sale prices, with 60% being the norm.Ng-MEI7zZ)X

RORYK AND DELGRATH

The owners of The Wyrmworks are two while-haired, paunchy, gruff, and successful old adventurers who are crazy about dragons. They love to hear tales of dragon sightings, hunts, slayings, and battles-and try to keep abreast of which dragons are currently lairing and hunting where. Constant companions and firm business partners, the two men live above the shop and staff it in shifts, their bodyguards acting as fetch-and-carry assistants.

Roryk (CG male human Ftr9) is slightly kinder and Delgrath (CN male human Sorn) more irascible, but both are worldwise veterans who keep abreast of news and possible perils. Roryk and Delgrath employ a maid—a trusted, sharp-tongued, and attentive human woman named Alrue. "This fall and rangy, dusky-skinned beauty hails from Calimshan, and assists "the Old Boys" in preparation of materials, seeing to customers, and keeping all floors of the Wyrmworks clean. In a stainless steel flask, Alrue always carries a potion of invisibility they've given her. and is under orders to use it if she ever observes a theft or break-in (to try to identify and follow the culprits, and then report as soon as possible to Roryk and Delgrath).
6Ul0X@DP
OLD ROARING RAGE

During their adventuring days, the owners of The Wyrmworks found this magically-preserved and animated red dragon head among the furnishings of an abandoned wizard's tower. They have no idea what magic powers keep it supple and looking lifelike, and couldn't repair or replace it if anything happened to it. Roryk gave the head its present nickname.

Old Roaring Rage is about the size of six human heads and appears to have come from a young adult red dragon. The head has the same features today as when found; its crafters and original purpose remain mysteries.
&zqg(v1n3P+b
Old Roaring Rage has been hollowed out inside and fitted with a headband and shoulder-rest harness so a strong human can wear it. The neck turns, and the scales and skin shift when such move?ments occur, as if living muscles moved beneath. The jaw articulates, the tongue moves and looks damp, and the lips can draw back from the teeth in an expression of rage (although the nostrils don't flare). The dragon eyes arc artificial—although they look real-arid move in tandem to follow the direction of the wearer's head or a lever.
LA,~o"?e
Another lever works the jav/s to move in time with speech. Words said into a short speaking-tube inside the head are magically deepened, amplified, and made to sound wet and hissing in character.
M-K} FW re"hn`#J
Two faintly-glowing words are graven inside the head: "Raulithus" and "Torthar." Saying the former causes the head to seem awake and alive, even when unattended. It appears to breathe, it yawns slightly from time to time, it turns from side to side and the eyes seem to peer about-although of course it doesn't respond to events or movements around it. Saying "Torthar" causes the head to seem asleep; the eyes sag closed and stay that way, it breathes slowly and deeply, and it occasionally growls softly in its throat and shifts position slightly. Saying either word a second time ends its magical animation.%|lZ@5B(_P-v\j
Q(d%Z"R j?+b7m
The Wyrmworks rents out Old Roaring Rage for 100 gp per day. Faint illusion and necromancy; CL 51b; Craft Wondrous Item, gentle repose, major image; Price 2,600 gp: Weight 60  lb.

ELMINSTER'S NOTES

Ah, the ironies of life pile swift and deep when one talks of the Wyrm?works! Know ye what Roryk and Delgralh do nor: that Alrue Crownshield is no Calishite at all. but a song dragon! (An "adult" of that species, I believe.))Fg$b8rm:K0p

Although Alrue loves her employers, she covertly works to foil depredations against dragonkind by drawing deliberately incorrect dragon-lair maps, which she sells (through intermediaries) back to her employers. Alrue's maps omit traps and warning telltales she knows of, or misdirect adventurers following them into other perils along the way. She's careful to employ different styles of mapping, varying inks and the materials she draws on. and is careful never to supply too many maps and so dominate the stock at the Wyrmworks.
xdu-W(_eB2Y
We've spoken together, and she told me she's content with her life-when -ever she grows restless or angry, she takes dragon form when she can do so unobserved and dives down to give the Old Boys from the shop a fright. Once, desiring a little vacation, she invented a theft and spent some days wandering Silverymoon "investigaling it" (really seeing who was in town, hearing gossip, and looking at all the latest shops, goods, goings-on, and fashions).
------------------------
THE WYRMWORKS
c:d]1bRS
1 The lowest reaches of' the roof have loose slates that dangle askew, These are traps: if anyone or anything slides a slate out of the way and reaches into the revealed Cavity beneath, a wire noose snaps about the intruding object, hand, or creature, ringing a bell inside the guardroom above the shop. Wire Alarm Trap; CR 1/2: mechanical: touch trigger; manual reset: Atk +16 melee touch attack (to establish grapple), grapple check -14 (alarm sounds on successful hold attempil; Search DC 2o: Disable Device DC 18, Market Price: 1,090 gp.

2. A foot-treadle alarm behind The central counter rings a small bell beside a bench across the street. Youths paid by the Old Boys loiter there and follow any non-Wyrmworfcs staff they see leaving the shop after the bell rings. Their orders are to see where such persons go and what they do (without being detected).e*SK,h'SHpq_
3z%^!I?;^R-^n
3. To discourage unauthorized entry onto these stairs (and give ignorant thieves something worthless to steal), false "dragon claws" fashioned of rothe horn, reptile skin, and modeling clay are positioned around the insides of all doorframes leading off the stairs.m[1|x+Fx

4. One step of the cellar stairs lifts (when the correct nearby wall-stone is removed and a revealed lever is pulled) to permit access to a hidden coin storage cavity under the steps. A DC 20 Search check reveals the existence of this storage area.
----------------------$g#M Y"r7Mxr

@bm%Y1zI

[b]P161- Tatha's Broomworks（已有人认领）[/b] Q(C"uXQ@V~W c:]U|
by Ed Greenwood ? Illustrated by David Day4Phx%i}7|.n3N I
LC8o@T(n"T'|;N6[3c
Many farms lie on both sides of the Skuldask Road running west out of Elturel. They nestle between the countless gentle hills of the rolling, unfenced countryside. Light woods cloak the heights and swampy backwaters of the area, and all else is tilled or grazed—save only very few leaf farms, newly invented hybrids between conservation and commerce.6Xnry;Q-Q-b'fh'j@0Y

One of these is Aloum Lyndren, the home and livelihood of Tatha Beruel. It's called a leaf farm because Tatha rears trees that are planted and tended for specific purposes, a relatively recent practice encouraged by some elves to keep human depredations of the forest to a minimum.@Vx4Wf7O

Aloum Lyndren is named for the elf who helped Tatha found the farm around a small natural spring. Aloum Lyndren was a sun elf whose kin dwelt among humans along the Sword Coast for several centuries. All of them, Aloum included, have gone to Evermeet, the elven refuge to the west.c#@"S$o`r^
zz'm0UB([.F5e
Tatha's farm lies on the north side of the Skuldask Road running west out of Elturel, close enough to that city to just be able to see its walls from atop the farm's easternmost hill. Tatha's farm is a destination for many folk not much interested in the brooms she makes or the herbs and wooden spars she sells. W B7P5v;Bx6}d

They come for what Tatha calls "her gift from Mystra." Tatha has the ability to see scenes of past uses of a magic item. This ability operates fitfully, sometimes failing altogether and sometimes operating very strongly (though almost always briefly), and it involves Tatha touching the item to be examined and then falling into a brief trance. The curious, the desperate, and the wise come from all corners of Faerun seeking Tatha's gift, and they pay handsomely to make use of it (from 20 to 2,000 gp per attempt).
During trances, she sees vivid mental images of events involving the use of the item. Most of these images are glimpses of a single instant, but some, usually events involving great magical energies, reveal a short scene lasting no longer than a few seconds. Sounds, smells, and physical sensations are never conferred by Tatha's ability.Hn5y;Z$xT0^7@t

Tatha slips out of trance quickly, and she is never disoriented or prevented from immediate action. She remembers what she's seen perfectly, although she's under no compulsion to describe her visions, and over the years has become quite skilled at accurately describing the images she sees. Of course, the fragmentary images quite often reveal some of the powers of the item; the identities, natures, or purposes of previous owners of the item; and uses to which the item has been put.
Uzs+r H3?I.c [
Tatha Beruel is a chaotic good female half-elf. She has long, lustrous black hair (usually worn bound up with leather in a "mare's tail"), golden-hued skin, delicate features, and large green eyes. She's slender with shoulders and arms corded with muscle and scarred from cuts suffered in farm work. Few things frighten her, and she dislikes individuals who try to coerce or scare her or anyone else to do anything.

Although it's unclear how closely Mystra watches over her, Tatha seems to regard herself as immune to all threats and harm, denying sinister wizards, raiding orcs, and slavers with the same calm demeanor.
p"{9N8n/uj3T&D_C
She dwells alone at Aloum Lyndren, having survived there for 20 years apparently unscathed despite known encounters with hungry winter wolves, murderous brigands, and at least a dozen slaver bands sent specifically to capture her. "Mystra provides" is her calm explanation for many things, her own survival among them.

Tending farm plants and trees, the ongoing process of making brooms in bulk, and feeding herself keeps Tatha steadily—and apparently, contentedly-busy. She is known to enjoy reading and dancing, and she often buys books from peddlers.c{&e#B1D.N

WHAT MEETS THE EYE:_3@opUfz
Visitors to Aloum Lyndren first see a pleasant, horn-shaped expanse of trees fronting on the Skuldask Road. The farm lies on the north side of the road, between (and including) two hills, and encompassing a third, smaller hill well to the north, about 2 miles off the road. This small forest is surrounded by rolling grazing land belonging to other farmers (the half-orc cattle-breeder Ohlongh Vrurr to the west; the mixed stock farm of the Trindle human family to the north, and the energetic, human rancher Elmair Broruk to both the east and to the south).:pf'j/g+T2~a`0Z
E'jW#N5S*I
Tatha Beruel apparently enjoys cordial relations with all of her neighbors, and she occasionally provides them with herbal remedies for their own complaints and ailments affecting their livestock.)a!q~;Y.EL^$i f1j
B!m:Eg`)G+@|b
Small trails wind from one small clearing to another in Tatha's forest, and alert observers notice that although trees of all sorts grow mixed together, there's a prevalence of maples on the slopes of Sundown Rise (the hill on the west) and an abundance of oaks across the southern border of the farm to Vixen Rise (the hill that forms the farm's eastern flank).j7ou2h)t
ej1~`*Xl8l
Heading north through the farm, blueleaf trees take over as far as the summit of Dark Rise (the third hill on the farm), and from there to its end at the Graw Rocks in the northeast, hazel, hornbeam, and ash trees are the most numerous.
Casual observers traveling on the Skuldask Road could easily mistake the farm for a remnant of a larger forest left behind after woodcutters had felled all the best and biggest timber, home now to nothing larger than deer. Tatha's home and main broom barn are both hard to spot, because they're stone structures sunk so greatly into the ground that their sod roofs (both planted with herb gardens) seem to be no more than tiny hillocks.

Tatha's home has a main room and two sleeping chambers, one of them largely used for storage (housing the products of Tatha's whittling, a large loom, and general household oddments). Most of her broom making is done outside, before the doors of her broom-barn, unless poor weather drives her inside its doors. She keeps her shavings for kindling.
:h2@1AHB}nj5A
The buildings occupy two of the smaller clearings on the farm. Cutting has created three larger clearings spaced about the forest. Tatha owns two draft horses (boarded at a neighboring farm) that she uses to pull out stumps and the largest tree trunks. However, she prefers to cut and carry everything herself.

Tatha's preferred method of harvesting trees is to climb the largest ones if need be to trim branches, fell the trees, cut them on-site, split them on the spot if she's making firewood, and take finished cuts back to her barn, collecting the bark and shavings last of all.%Y}r8t X
+Dm:^;t7hYp7n\;G
On most days, visitors can readily locate Tatha by either the sound of her axe or by spotting her sitting out in front of her barn at work on brooms. Her house is the stone-walled garden mound that has the bell and sign out front and the pair of outhouses out back, whereas the barn sports a chopping-block, two sawhorses, and three targe, rustic wooden chairs.!l5w!E[A.x4WY

AN EXAMINATION OF MAGIC
\*zMuw#b4L:WOw7F
A recent example of how Tatha's gift works is provided by a caravan merchant from Scornubel, who on a run through Elturel to the coast called in at the Broomworks and asked Tatha to examine a wand he'd found in a cottage he'd seized in lieu of debts after its owner died. The merchant suspected he had a wand, at least, because it was a rare polished, foot-long stick of tapering bone that was stored in its own box, wrapped in moldering silk. Tatha charged him 100 gp (if he'd been a kinder, more polite, or poorer man, her fee might have been as low as 50 gp), laid herself down on a patch of moss outside the door of her house, and he put the wand into her hands.xOK"wy

She saw a dark cave, lit by lantern-light, and the eager faces of men with picks and shovels, moving purposefully to a spot on one stone cavern wall with the wand held in front of them. That vision faded into darkness, and next she saw the furious face of a dwarf in armor, glaring at her as his greataxe whirled back behind his shoulder-and then came cleaving down. The vision exploded into brightness that left her blinking and shuddering . . . and gave way to a third vision: the item being placed onto a heap of treasure at the feet of a dead dwarf laid out in splendor, with grim dwarves standing all around. That vision in turn gave way to the last: torchlight in the same tomb, and eager human faces crowding close as someone reached down into the thick dust all over the same treasure-heap and grasped the item.`|3tN.n6@2M}K
:^tm.]e s3i"f7oO
In all of the visions, the item looked like an ornately worked (smooth, but chased and riddled with sculpted holes), rod of shining silver with a flared end.x/Wu1~V5F

When Tatha emerged from her trance, she asked the merchant what the bone stick had looked like while in her grasp. He confirmed that it flickered momentarily into a semblance of a "rod of fine silver" on several occasions. Tatha then told him that it was her guess that he was the owner of a rod of metal and mineral detection that resembled a wand when inactive. This guess later proved to be correct, but it was a rare instance-usually Tatha doesn't venture opinions, but limits herself to careful and extensive descriptions of her visions.  dM0V/@"R
A.dMI%DT:DXI k
--------------T5PE? A9@0u
ELMINSTER'S NOTES:pI Z(|(b5Zw:c

Tatha regards her gift from Mystra as a sacred trust, not to be misused-and has said as much, several times, to visitors who desired to hire her services for themselves alone, or offered her coin to mislead other individuals as to the nature and powers of a particular magic item.bV dD\

However, I know that she does mislead clients from time to time-either by saying she can't learn anything about an item, and therefore only owe her the minimum 20 gp fee, or by understating or omitting powers she's discerned. She does this when she judges that owners of items she examines will misuse them based on the information she gives. Usually, she fears they'll be emboldened into tyranny and wanton destruction.
E*| s#wnZ-Mc
Tatha told me that she doesn't view this as slighting Mystra, because those who misuse magic in such ways destroy the lives and freedoms of others who would otherwise be free to use magic themselves, and thereby also increase the general fear and oppression of wizards and sorcerers. Further, she informed me that Mystra hath personally and directly assured her that she is correct in this view-and her description of the manifestation of the goddess leads me to the inescapable conclusion that Mystra did indeed appear to her.
,?sa Df2c
Additional evidence of the Mother of Magic's personal interest in Tatha is this: On several occasions, unscrupulous merchants and slavers have attempted to take advantage of Tatha's trances to confine her and transport her elsewhere.
(ctO x5m Zp
In all such instances, she has been teleported back to her farm unscathed, and those who made such attempts against her were affected as if by a feeblemind spell, their feebleness of wits lasting for two tendays or more. Tatha herself has no trained skill at magic, and no means of causing such effects.

---------------
TREASURE?F-?)K1oq%O C{-J$h
1. Two outhouses stand side by side here—one of them in use, and one obviously in ruins. Cleverly placed stones allow easy climbing down into its privy-pit. where hefting aside a stone in the side of the pit wad closest to the aromatic active privy allows access to a large earthen pot set into the earth. Inside, Tatha keeps her amassed wealth. It takes a Search check (DC 30) to find the hidden wealth.
HIDDEN WEAPONS
2.  In a hollow tree near a small swamp at the edge of the farm, Tatha keeps larger, bulkier valuables-including, according to rumor, several magic weapons left by visitors who feared the visions she reported to them. It lakes
a Search check (DC 25) to find this cache.a2U@p4AEy&]9nR!X3x
BOLT HOLE
3. The stone foundations of a very old structure-probably human-built-are located here, overgrown by the forest. If Tatha needs to hide (or hide a visitor), two readily moveable stones offer access to an underground, stone-lined cellar equipped with cots and basic provisions. The hidden cellar can be found with a DC 20 Search check.
TOOL ROOM q{5_ w5{.Y_#c._
4. Tatha keeps her most valuable tools (her best axes, stump-chain and spikes, mallet and wedges, and her favorite splitting maul) hidden in stone-lined storage pits hidden under old tree stumps. The storage pits can be found by DC 20 Search checks.P}EW\

------------------------------

skywalker77 2008-1-14 19:59

P80- Cormirian Contacts!D.|TPEp zz
我译这个。明天上班时译。9tXA*z3gKB0iO%] w0Pm
有难度，快弄了5小时了，还不到一半。

加三的钉子 2008-1-15 17:58

我能接P299- Interview with ED Greenwood（不包括Volo's guide to the master of FR)么？1xx;m:Fi\9j$l9c
感觉这个访谈比较简单不涉及到很多人文地理知识而且最近放假应该有时间所以想试试

夜空的守望者 2008-1-19 16:44

P165- The Black Dwarf Mine－黑矮人矿井奇

我翻译这个吧[s:1]

青萝 2008-1-24 21:53

P154- The Shrine of Swordsv5NCx.y7G%~

The eastern side of the High Road south of Neverwinter is lined by many wooded dells. Some of them are sinkholes, some abandoned quarries, and some of unknown origin-but all are ideal camping-places in harsh weather. One that has felt far fewer firewood-seeking axes than most has been made into a wayside shrine to Tempus.
"LvP)@JfJ
Visitors will see a lone dome-like chamber made of used armor and weaponry welded together In the shape of a gigantic gauntlet or armored hand. The structure encloses a glowing altar fash-ioncd of shields, which is  supported by a network of interlaced swords upon a flagstone floor the place provides spare accommodations, but it  is available for a day and night to all who make
offerings of  weapons, and it often provides vital protection against pursuing brigands or wolves, for no one con draw Wood within rhe sanctified  area 01 the shrine, save in a ritual dedicated to Tempus, without awakening the seven animated blades that  guard the shrine. Any priest of Tempus within sigh of the shrine can mentally command the blades to strike in accordance with his or her will (as a free action, but the character can only select targets for the blades, not control them otherwise).|!fJ ?,]E$f-|

Intruders who find the concealed flagstone trapdoor and try to descend the shaft beneath if into the rooms reserved for clergy or Tempus and their guests also face attack by the blades. If they try to take anything from the underground armory without uttering the proper pass-phrase. they'll suffer attack from the helmed horror waiting there, Only a priest of Tempus can call off these guardians once they are activared, but the horrors do not pursue targets outsit the temple's holy ground.
/r x+zjA-rd%s
The Shrine of Swords was established some twenty summers ago by several wandering priests of the Wargod, and it has been expanded since then and is often both restocked with weapons and stripped of offerings by needy clergy. Without revealing rituals to unbelievers, it can be said that the shrine exists as a stopover place for all fairhful of Tempus, and its altar allows for the full range of nomal---thar is, non-bar-tlefleld and non-monsterslaying-devotions such as vigils, weapon consecrations, prayers for guidance,  " honor woundings." and daily offering and reverences.9Z}'LhLeu

PASS-PHRASES/Lc3gm7}fuX@
The underground areas are reserved for the use of clerics of Tempus and those who accompany them, and the guardians are governed by the following pass-phrases that must be uttered while, touching either a metal weapon or the buckle or Listening of a piece of armor. Priests of Tempos and those in physical contact with them need nor use te pass-phrases.
• The password 10 pass the blades in the shaft when going down is. "Bright blades forfend." Upward travel is harmless unless the helmed horror is active, whereupon thus pass-phrase must be used to avoid attack.{'YB2iuOSOD?V.`
•  To open the armory door from the wall chambe- side without activating the helmed horror one must say, "For ibe sharpest need."
• Any weapon taken from thearmory past the helmed horror will awaken it unless the words "Tempus arms me true" are spoken.THU._ pN/d"Vi

The fallowing phrases work only ifuttered by clergy of Tempus:ap]G%CmysWE
•  To halt any guardian: "Mercy behind the blade'
•  To return any guardian to its former position [after halting it, this phrase has no effect on an active guardian) : "Vigilance before all."1NimJo"ad%j

[ P6d8ZFf5z.j:[
THE WILL OF THE WARGOD
Some powers of the shrine arc extended to non-believers only if they make an offering of either a weapon or blood shed in battle (usually a vial of such blood, but bloodstains are acceptable if the garment is left on the altar, whereupon it, like a weapon offering, will silently fade away before the power takes effect). These powers come without price to the faithful of Tempus.
I-{5r+` |f5y'{FU
• The faithful of Tampus or a person who made an offering gains the effect of a ring of warmth throughout the sanctified area (includes under ground areas).|2vvAlAZ%_N$s"c

• A weapon touched to the altar by a creature who wills it not to be given as an offering but rather to know more about it, will emit visions-scenes that appear above the altar, and remain frozen there, in  three dimensions, for some minufes-first of its most recent use to draw blood, and then one of its most important or bloody uses.
N#ev\1^$@V X9^
If the weapon has an alignment. sentience, inherent magic, or temporary enchantments, all of these things will be made known to the being holding the weapon. The Shrine also reveals if such weapon properties have recently changed (for example. it a permanent or Temporary enchantment have recently been applied) .

• A poisoned weapon will be purged ot such taints instantly upon contact with the altar (this power causes the altar to emit a deep, bell-like tone).

凡鸟 2008-1-24 22:48

谢谢青萝大大，我已经保存下来了，这次一定会比上次快一些的，不过由于过年的原因可能得年后才能完成。

夜空的守望者 2008-1-24 23:33

现在合集还有几篇是没人翻译，或者认领的？

青萝 2008-1-24 23:41

[quote]原帖由 [i]夜空的守望者[/i] 于 2008-1-24 23:33 发表 [url=http://www.odyguild.net/bbs/redirect.php?goto=findpost&pid=86572&ptid=11422][img]http://www.odyguild.net/bbs/images/common/back.gif[/img][/url]
现在合集还有几篇是没人翻译，或者认领的？ [/quote]ohW9d6@)s6J|)b
:A1v@a4c
P72- The Stag Lass（鹿女）{w1Ms \#T5U/CY*z

貌似这个还没人认领，其他的暂时都有人认领了。

skywalker77 2008-1-25 15:42

2. These would now be the Western Robing Room (where courtiers-not nobility-can change their garb or more often adjust their garments, hair, and applied cosmetics), Lord valdasher's Solar (given over to an untidy and growing collection of plants banished by the Crown Princess from the rest of the Palace), and the Room of the Ruby Archers. This last is named for a series of rather voluptuous red-dyed stone statues of female foresters plying their bows in a line down the center of the room. Seats have been placed backing onto each statue's plinth, and the out-of-the-way room is much used each day by lady courtiers for gossip, gossip, and more gossip.3J6Wmx9Q&Em7]t
这段是不是配图说明的，我怎么搞不懂他在讲什么．

glenrice2002 2008-2-18 22:50

回复 #11 青萝的帖子

P154- The Shrine of SwordsL |g A0O'X ?c(P
5WNk4u ^![c;Q
萝卜这篇有人领么？没有的话我领走了。

青萝 2008-2-18 23:21

[quote]原帖由 [i]glenrice2002[/i] 于 2008-2-18 22:50 发表 [url=http://www.odyguild.net/bbs/redirect.php?goto=findpost&pid=90980&ptid=11422][img]http://www.odyguild.net/bbs/images/common/back.gif[/img][/url]
P154- The Shrine of Swords!Pw4[z1iho
DtNTR~O
萝卜这篇有人领么？没有的话我领走了。 [/quote]3p9z6qJ)H
[s:1] 貌似还没人认领，感谢啊！

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查看完整版本: Dragon合集未翻译的几章我把英文贴在这里了，不全

查看完整版本: Dragon合集未翻译的几章我把英文贴在这里了，不全

Dragon合集未翻译的几章我把英文贴在这里了，不全

回复 #11 青萝 的帖子

回复 #11 青萝的帖子