Little Realms Things - Unsupervised Wizard mug

 Ed Greenwood has been a person I’ve written about much here. For good reason, he’s the creator of the Realms and still active in that creation and participating in the TTRPG community. I’ve purchased a few things from his merchandise store, like the Purple Dragon Might T-shirt. 

Unsupervised wizards are like the sorcerers of old sword & sorcery, they’re often the key villains in the Realms. Off doing evil where certain heroes can intervene. This is one of my favorite mugs. 

Funny story, when I ordered this I lived on the third story of an apartment building. My children loved chatting from the balcony with the mailman and encouraged him to throw the package we had gotten that day up to them. Suffice to say the difficult shot failed and the package crashed on the cement on the ground level. The package held this mug, though when I got it there were several fractures and it was in pieces. Thankfully I got a new one sent to me, free of charge. 

I have been busier than normal, this October, but my apologies for a lack of posting. It’s been about a month and a half since I have played any tabletop game at all, and a bit longer since I’ve been in the Realms.

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You can track my current progress here.

Review: Stormlight by Ed Greenwood

 “You should not give in to evils, but proceed ever more boldly against them.”

 Storm Silverhand, Bard of Shadowdale. 

1996

Ed Greenwood

Before Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, there was a Forgotten Realms novel, number 14 in The Harpers, but truly a standalone, called Stormlight. 

The prologue introduces Lord Athlan Summerstar in Firefall Vale, looking at the sunset behind the Thunder Peaks from the edge of Hullack Forest: that’s Cormyr, FYI. We are told this will be his last sunset, though he does not know it. It is Flamerule, a Summer month, in the Year of the Sword, 1365 DR. 

Athlan is a Harper, acquainted with Storm Silverhand and some magic. Shortly, a magic book in his tower that proves his doom. 

Then we meet Storm fighting a cambion and a marilith with Maxer. The latter is her lover and is doomed similarly to Athlan. Or is he? Sylune, a ghost and sister of Storm’s, comforts her during these presaging events. Storm is a daughter and Chosen of Mystra, Lady of Mysteries and goddess of magic. She has silver hair and is immortal as far as aging goes; she can die from harm. She’s also a Harper. 

Characters include Pheirauze Summerstar, the dowager matriarch of the noble family. Renglar Baerest, the family seneschal. Ergluth Rowanmantle, the local Boldshield, a commander for the Purple Dragons, and more. It starts bloody and gets bloodier swiftly. 

“Whenever I think I can relax at last, someone hastens to brutally point out to me that I’ve fresh work to do: it’s time to save the world again.”

There is Greenwood’s penchant: casual nudity. And on the second chapter it became evident that I was in for yet another murder mystery set in Cormyr. One where the Harpers, and particularly Storm, have an interesting involvement with local Purple Dragon authorities. 

Storm is bold and takes her job seriously, but is polite where appropriate. She is nonchalant in nudity, saying “Look all you want! I’m not ashamed of this body—but it still amazes me how many men are!” and the opposite of a prude. I do wish we had as many men naked as women, make it more equal? It does happen, but not as much.

The story is rather straightforward. Sure, we get some ideas of the Realms from its creator, information, and certain flairs other authors don’t have for the setting, but he is rather controlled, and the tale is pretty straightforward. It’s a very bloody one, with some power-hungry characters and others simply misguided. Some quotable lines in this one and small details that actually come back to matter, which is nice to see in a murder mystery. 

Ed is generally divisive,  and he does fluctuate in his focus. He is pretty focused here, not too many absurdities and asides, but he’s not tame, never tame. This one made me chuckle, or was it giggle, a couple of times; quite funny. Bold jokes and pantie raids…

It’s also horrifying and full of immolation and gruesome deaths. That’s also typical of Greenwood. Written in a different manner, this is easily horror, and it can at times be chilling. 

And for a setting and book with so many novels, they do largely preen and complain bullheadedly. There is some comeuppance, though. Not everyone in power deserves it, and “sometimes mighty mages are just as tired and careless as the rest of us”.

Also, Storm, as a seemingly immortal character, is very different than the bored and melancholy variety; she may be a tad mad, though. Lots of madness and death, that might be a complaint and a compliment, Greenwood is not afraid to kill off character,s but many I like die, and many we don’t get enough time to know well. 

And for those interested in the god Bane, this has some interesting bits concerning him after his death during the Avatar Crisis and his rebirth in 1372 DR. 

Greenwood doesn’t give us much obscure Realms lore, besides some local geography, but does provide some strange spells like fingersword and blood lightning. And all that being said, the novel gets super repetitive later on, lots of action. To some that will satisfy, to me, not so much. So while enjoyable and with Greenwood's good, it also has some of his bad. With the messier back half the book really is just Acceptable.

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“I don’t want to rule anyone, so I don’t. I do love growing things and being able to walk among forests and gardens, so I do. I love music, and meeting people, so I harp. And the Harpers want to help people and fight evil by turning out secrets before they become bigger, darker things—they don’t want to rule, either, and so don’t.”

Review: How the Bridge Was Held by Ed Greenwood

 I know last time it was another Greenwood short story, but they're fun. This one, How the Bridge Was Held is another Edtime Story, similar to The Madness of the Executioner, which I reviewed previously. This is in video format, essentially a story told around a fire. There seems to be a text version as well on Patreon. It was released in December 2023.

The story focuses on Alustriel, who, with the aid of Mystra, comes to the aid of a single woman guarding a bridge leading to Arranth (a location I have never heard of), against a host led by Warlord Vranth of the Golden Spears. It is a simple story about one encounter, with Greenwood flair and one of his recurring characters. It was an exceptional time to hear it narrated by Ed!

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You can track my current progress here.

Review: The Lady of the Mists by Ed Greenwood

 The Lady of the Mists is the fifth Spin the Yarn short story from the 2005 event, published in August 2006. I have previously reviewed the first four.

As before, Ed Greenwood has taken random, absurd, and outrageous suggestions from a crowd and has written a short story set in the Forgotten Realms. You can read this one here.

The story begins with a misty night in Dockward in Waterdeep, quite the scene is set. It reminded me of "The Cloud of Hate" by Fritz Leiber. Marduck Jaesur resigns himself to a damp night indoors, until he meets a ghost. We get some out of pocket lines early, such as this from a broadsheet: "Wild Magic at Seven Sisters Surprise Party Leaves Wizard Elminster Pregnant With Twins on His Birthday/Khelben To Be Midwife/Halaster Blackcloak the Father!" These are the work of Marduck, a journalist writing for the papers.

This is a rollicking tale, perfect for Greenwood, as heretofore seen. We have a game of truths, we learn of a Harpell family member, a cursed ring of sorts. It's is light-hearted, and while a sense of the macabre is present, it mostly leans into the surprisingly nice that Greenwood is good at. It works as a heartfelt piece and is a bit erotic, unsurprisingly.

"Prestidigitation," she purred, "is a spell with many uses."

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You can track my current progress here.

News: A New Novel by Ed Greenwood!

 Recently on Twitter, leading up to Gen Con, I saw a post from Rhys Yorke. He mentioned that he has written a novel with Ed Greenwood: Souls for the Taking, book one in a series called The Return of Larloch. It looks as if it will be published through DMs Guild, but seeing as Ed--if not directly contradicted by WotC--is the arbiter of lore for the Forgotten Realms, this is very exciting and technically official! 

This is the first longer Forgotten Realms fiction work he has done since Death Masks released in 2016. He has been keeping us entertained with short stories like The Madness of the Executioner or Golden Simril Gifts, the latter of which was also co-authored. As I write this, it is the release date of Dealing with Dragons. That was a book I have mixed feelings on, this news brings me great joy and I am very eager to get my hands on it. I will, of course, keep you updated on how that progresses!

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You can track my current progress here.

Community Spotlight: Forgotten Realms Reader

 This is the series where I point out other creators that either have their material focused partially or completely on the Forgotten Realms.

Today I want to mention another blog, this one found at Forgotten Realms Reader. I became aware of this one on accident! As you can see, my url is really similar. I wanted to have my domain as Reader, and not Reading, but I discovered it was already taken. What a pleasant surprise. While Silver, the blogger, is not as active as I am here, there are still some good articles on their site that work in tandem with some of mine, and others covering books I have yet to read. Silver, for example, is caught up with Drizzt, while I am in the middle. Silver's blog also began in 2009, many years before this one!

Check it out!

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You can track my current progress here.

Review: Elminster in Hell by Ed Greenwood

The fourth Elminster novel, Elminster in Hell, was released in 2001. We are in contemporary Forgotten Realms this time, unlike the first three novels (Making of a Mage, Elminster in Myth Drannor, and The Temptation of Elminster). I read this March 2024. If you would like to listen to my thoughts, do so here.

The year is 1372 DR, however, there are several flashbacks/memories intermixed with in the present story which take place at various times. There is a section at the start of the book called Realms Lore that tells us the date of these. 

Alassra opens our tale, about her lover, Elminster. She is of course the Storm Queen of Aglarond, she is commonly called The Simbul. 

This tale is about Elminster in the Hells, surprise! The story starts with him going through a rift to Avernus. He quickly faces Abishai when he tries to escape, he doesn’t want to be there. He quickly encounters an erinyes and something great and draconic. 

Nergal has kept him here. He is an archdevil exiled to Avernus, having no actual ruler-ship in the Hells. He gets the drop on the archmage, the Chosen of Mystra, after he is exhausted closing the rift. 

As this is a long story of torture, the raping of memory to steal them and make Elminster impotent and take his Silver Fire really highlights the story as it gives what is otherwise fiery and hellish flavor. And it has a variety: many of the memories are not even Elminster’s, but those of other mages received from Mystra. These include the common appearances in Greenwood novels: The Blackstaff, Seven Sisters, Obarskyrs and those close to them, Mirt the Moneylender, and Knights of Myth Drannor. Some of these are also in the present as they aim to rescue the Old Mage. 

There is quite a bit of high emotions, which Greenwood often does quite well. It starts with the immolation of his favorite pipe and gets much more personal and interpersonal. 

My favorite part is the Myth Drannor connection, but otherwise, this is my least favorite Elminster novel. It’s not bad, but I like the first three more. Regardless of that, Greenwood does manage to get the emotional response he usually manages (while few other authors do) and so I deem the book Good.

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You can track my current progress here.