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LordofBones
Master of Realmslore
1594 Posts |
 Posted - 06 May 2023 : 07:54:43
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| Next we're going to hear all about how Greyhawk was Faerun all along. |
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Athreeren
Learned Scribe
193 Posts |
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Gyor
Master of Realmslore
1632 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jun 2023 : 13:16:51
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quote:
Originally posted by redking
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
So yeah, this is a huge retcon, and it's another sign that the current "design" team just doesn't care about continuity and thinks the Realms is a salad bar they can pick and choose from and ignore anything they don't like.
I am sick of hearing about how the current design team "loves the Forgotten Realms setting" as the excuse for every loathsome thing that they do to the setting. They may love the setting, but they don't respect it.
The Realm is great but it's a different setting that is worth exploring separately.
Finally watched the cartoon, dispite the name the realm, its not the Forgotten Realms so its left unexplained how they got FR,especially since only Presto was left in the Realm at the end.
I never saw the cartoons as a kid and then watched the entire series again last year. Retcons aside, "the Realm" is not Toril. It could be a demiplane as you say. It could even be another world on the prime material plane. |
Edited by - Gyor on 25 Aug 2023 23:53:35 |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
8053 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jun 2023 : 14:54:51
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I saw those D&D kids running around a gaming arena/gauntlet in Neverwinter once ...
I suppose if the movie is canon set in the Realms, then the characters in the movie are canon set in the Realms.
I suppose the people I saw on screen might just be some randoms who happened to share physical appearances and costumes. Though the resemblance is strikingly and uncanny so I think they must be the cartoon characters.
I admit the short barbarian seemed older and tougher than I expected. Isn't he a 10-year-old kid in the cartoon? |
[/Ayrik] |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36989 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jun 2023 : 16:05:02
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quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
I saw those D&D kids running around a gaming arena/gauntlet in Neverwinter once ...
I suppose if the movie is canon set in the Realms, then the characters in the movie are canon set in the Realms.
I suppose the people I saw on screen might just be some randoms who happened to share physical appearances and costumes. Though the resemblance is strikingly and uncanny so I think they must be the cartoon characters.
I admit the short barbarian seemed older and tougher than I expected. Isn't he a 10-year-old kid in the cartoon?
The movie credits list the kids by name, and it's the same names as the kids from the cartoon.
It could be a coincidence that they more or less look the same, have the same names, and wear the same clothes... But I for one won't put money on that possibility. |
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Master Katarn
Acolyte
32 Posts |
Posted - 07 Aug 2023 : 20:16:26
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| The comic run has been over for some time now, yet none of the questions brought up here were ever answered. I guess it's just a given now that the kids were in the Realms the entire time, but even the timeframe is not clear nor is any attempt made in the comic to connect with the cameos in the movie. |
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Delnyn
Master of Realmslore
USA
1079 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2023 : 23:22:54
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| Long story short: The Realm is not The Forgotten Realms. My stance is to use the Nick Fury quote from the Avengers movie about councils making decisions. |
Edited by - Delnyn on 08 Aug 2023 23:28:37 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36989 Posts |
Posted - 09 Aug 2023 : 01:27:52
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My headcanon is that they made it home, decided to go back to the Realm, and then later moved from the Realm to the Realms.
I say they made it home because there was an episode with a girl who dreamed of the future, and she dreamed of seeing Bobby at her school where he returned the necklace she'd given him. In my opinion, this makes it clear they returned home and back to their previous lives.
But the (horrible!) Grand Tour comic puts them in Shadowdale, and they're referenced in one or more of the Baldur's Gate games, and there's also the movie cameo... So either they left Earth and went to Toril, or they went back to the Realm and then took one of the gates there to Toril. I lean towards the latter since there seemed to be some long-lasting connection between the Realm and that theme park, and we know that both the Realm and the Realms have a lot of gates to other places.
As for why they would return to the Realm in the first place... This is all pure homebrew, not supported by anything at all:
I figure both Presto and Eric had some home situation they weren't happy with and wanted to get away from (because of their personalities). Everyone else had at the least normal home lives... But then there was an accident, and Bobby and Shiela lost their parents, and both of them suffered permanent injuries as well -- like a lost limb or paralysis. One of the other kids said something about wishing they were still in the Realm where healing magic was available, and the idea took hold. Bobby and Shiela no longer had anything tying them to Earth, and Presto and Eric were more than willing to bail, so Diana and Hank agreed, as well, and they all went back to the theme park and then to the Realm. Maybe there was some caveat about healing or their voluntary return meaning they couldn't leave, or maybe they just collectively preferred the Realm, but the end result was that they stayed there.
Again, pure homebrew, not supported by anything. It was just me trying to make everything make sense. |
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Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 09 Aug 2023 01:29:01 |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
8053 Posts |
Posted - 09 Aug 2023 : 02:44:15
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quote:
Originally posted by Delnyn
My stance is to use the Nick Fury quote from the Avengers movie about councils making decisions.
Funny that there's an exactly opposite stance using a Mace Windu quote from the Star Wars movie about councils making decisions. |
[/Ayrik] |
Edited by - Ayrik on 09 Aug 2023 02:45:55 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36989 Posts |
Posted - 09 Aug 2023 : 05:40:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
quote:
Originally posted by Delnyn
My stance is to use the Nick Fury quote from the Avengers movie about councils making decisions.
Funny that there's an exactly opposite stance using a Mace Windu quote from the Star Wars movie about councils making decisions.
I have a custom Lego Minifigure I made by putting the head of Nick Fury on the body of Mace Windu.
I call him Darth Fury. |
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Seethyr
Master of Realmslore
USA
1254 Posts |
Posted - 09 Aug 2023 : 20:08:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
My headcanon is that they made it home, decided to go back to the Realm, and then later moved from the Realm to the Realms.
I say they made it home because there was an episode with a girl who dreamed of the future, and she dreamed of seeing Bobby at her school where he returned the necklace she'd given him. In my opinion, this makes it clear they returned home and back to their previous lives.
But the (horrible!) Grand Tour comic puts them in Shadowdale, and they're referenced in one or more of the Baldur's Gate games, and there's also the movie cameo... So either they left Earth and went to Toril, or they went back to the Realm and then took one of the gates there to Toril. I lean towards the latter since there seemed to be some long-lasting connection between the Realm and that theme park, and we know that both the Realm and the Realms have a lot of gates to other places.
As for why they would return to the Realm in the first place... This is all pure homebrew, not supported by anything at all:
I figure both Presto and Eric had some home situation they weren't happy with and wanted to get away from (because of their personalities). Everyone else had at the least normal home lives... But then there was an accident, and Bobby and Shiela lost their parents, and both of them suffered permanent injuries as well -- like a lost limb or paralysis. One of the other kids said something about wishing they were still in the Realm where healing magic was available, and the idea took hold. Bobby and Shiela no longer had anything tying them to Earth, and Presto and Eric were more than willing to bail, so Diana and Hank agreed, as well, and they all went back to the theme park and then to the Realm. Maybe there was some caveat about healing or their voluntary return meaning they couldn't leave, or maybe they just collectively preferred the Realm, but the end result was that they stayed there.
Again, pure homebrew, not supported by anything. It was just me trying to make everything make sense.
Here’s an addition with slight alterations. Presto remained in the Realm after with the redeemed Venger when all the kids went home in Requiem.
Perhaps Presto, slightly older and having been mentored by Venger, found his way to Toril through a portal.
Here he tried to apprentice to Elminster like mentioned in that awful book, but then when setting out on his own he came across a threat he couldn’t overcome in his own, thus using his magic to contact his old buddies back on Earth using Els contacts. Voila
It seems they also got their weapons back which perhaps Venger helped with. |
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Master Katarn
Acolyte
32 Posts |
Posted - 10 Aug 2023 : 01:11:37
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So we have an appearance in the 1300s with Elminster in the Grand Tour comic, and then suddenly the kids are still alive in 1490s Faerun for the movie. All alive too, despite a very deadly Spellplague in between that should've turned Presto at least into a goner.
I'm guessing they got home and were on Earth at least during the Spellplague. How or why they came back in time for the movie is still unclear. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36989 Posts |
Posted - 10 Aug 2023 : 02:16:04
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quote:
Originally posted by Master Katarn
So we have an appearance in the 1300s with Elminster in the Grand Tour comic, and then suddenly the kids are still alive in 1490s Faerun for the movie. All alive too, despite a very deadly Spellplague in between that should've turned Presto at least into a goner.
I'm guessing they got home and were on Earth at least during the Spellplague. How or why they came back in time for the movie is still unclear.
It's possible that they were in the Realms for over a century, and like many others, found some convenient "keep them in play" McGuffin that brought them back after the Spellplague.
But I think it's all a moot point. The comic retcons the cartoon and prior appearances by them in the Realms, and thanks to WotC's stance on canon, the comic, the movie, and the current published Realms are all different canons -- so they're not even going to think about explaining anything. |
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Gyor
Master of Realmslore
1632 Posts |
Posted - 25 Aug 2023 : 23:55:20
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| Did anyone actually read these new comics! |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36989 Posts |
Posted - 26 Aug 2023 : 04:40:07
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quote:
Originally posted by Gyor
Did anyone actually read these new comics!
I read the first one. It was not enough to motivate me to get the rest. |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12213 Posts |
Posted - 19 Dec 2025 : 16:29:16
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(Threadis Necromantis>
Rather than create a new thread, figured I'd add to this old one. I just found that on the Roku Channel you can watch this series for free. In the back of my mind, I've kind of felt that it might be a good idea to simply link this cartoon to Abeir to fill out that world. They could then come to Toril during the second sundering. So, that being said, to simply play with the idea, I'm rewatching these episodes today, and with each episode I'm taking some notes. BTW, if anyone knows where anyone has done something like the FR Wiki in relation to this cartoon, let me know.
S1 E1 NOTES
Town of Helix assaulted by dragons over a millenia ago. Saved by a "Merlin" who banished the dragons and protected the town with a spell. Said spell could only be reversed by a good magician. Venger tricked Presto by posing as Merlin and changing the description for the spell that releases the dragons, such that Presto believed the spell would make a portal home. It actually seemingly opened a "portal" to wherever the dragons (I'd call them drakes more like) were banished.
Other notes:
Tiamat appears in the world and is challenged by beings as puny as the party. I would assume that this is some lesser aspect of Tiamat trapped in this world .... possibly something akin to the godkings of Unther ... could potentially link this manifestation actually TO Unther and its godkings.
At one point, we see two "white lights" like suns, but not yellow, in the sky. Potentially, just like in Toril, people may have discovered means to make localized suns. This may be why some areas are devastated wastelands.
Venger (posing as Merlin) owns a cloud castle that he can fly about.
Earthmotes are seen floating all over the "wasteland". This kind of thing is partly what makes me want to link the cartoon to Abeir.
S1 E2 - Eye of the Beholder
First scene shows 4 white lights in the sky like "suns" rather than just the two mentioned previously. 3 are smaller than the primary one. They are specifically referred to as 4 suns, and it is noted that the place is way hotter than normal.
Some "cowardly knight" named Sir John (Jon, Jonh, Jahn, Jawhn) is at the start, and he says he's from the village of Pendrake. His son is named Timothy (Timothee, Timothie, Timuthee). The leader of this town specifically wears a large sun amulet on a golden chain.
The "Valley of the Beholder" was once lush, but the beholder came up from the underdark and made the place desolate by destroying "all things of beauty". Dungeon Master says "only beauty can defeat the eye of beholder"
The kids somehow enter a place filled with giant mushrooms, that's dark, and filled with snail people. So, I would presume that at some point they entered the underdark that the beholder came from in an effort to get away from the devastating heat of the sun. These snail folk are adversely affected by light. In this place, Diana picks some purple flower that she gives to Sir John.
Venger blackmails Sir John into betraying the "young ones" by holding Timothy captive. Presto summons a garbage can lid to serve as Sir John's shield. The purple flower, when shown to the beholder, somehow deflates it and opens a portal to the "young ones" home. Venger turns on Sir John. The "young ones" come to Sir John's aid and chase off Venger rather than return home. The "deflated" beholder slides through a crack in the earth into the underdark and suddenly the land is lush again.
Personal Notes: so this beholder isn't standard fare apparently, and the place seems somehow cursed, such that when the beholder is "deflated" the curse is removed. So, backstory of why/how this was all setup is wide open for development
S1 E3 - Hall of Bones
opens on some forested landscape and the "young ones" are being attacked by brown furred flying monkeys or something akin to Alaghi with wings. The wings are bat like, so they could be demonspawn ... or have been bred by a similar figure of power like Camazotz, demipower of bats who Ed placed in the realms. Or could simply be a creation of Venger's or something like half-draconic alaghi. Possibly having Camazotz "somehow" enhancing some Alaghi, and could play with this as being Anchorome transferred to Abeir during the spellplague years .... and the place being the Adusgee Forest in Anchorome that me and Seethyr had developed.
The kids special weapons need to get recharged, and they have to get recharged in the Hall of Bones. Its in some mountains surrounded by the bones of some of the land's greatest fallen warriors.
The kids enter some village with medeival cobblestone buildings and a huge mix of races (bugbears, lizard folk, orcs, trolls, ogres, hobgoblins, etc..). At first thought, if Fort Flame has a "sister city" of exiled Thayans (what I've shown as the city called the "Balduran Bay Trade Enclave"), they might have a lot of these types of humanoids as servitors brought over from Faerun.
In this village, they get led into the underdark in an alleyway by a pale-skinned woman who ends up being "Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders" and is working in league with Venger. The kids fall into a spider web above a bottomless pit with some kind of portal looking light at the bottom, and Venger sends the "flying monkeys"/"flying alaghi" to steal their magic items. The kids escape, Lolth falls into the bottomless pit.
So, that being said... Thayan enclave gets built atop an unholy site with a "pit" like many that we see in Faerun. If this is post spellplague in Abeir, having Lolth and Tiamat both having weak powered "aspects" of themselves in the world works with a lot of the story lines I've discussed over the last few years ... and this makes it more palatable that the "young ones" encounter them and survive if these beings are way underpowered.
Moving on, the "young ones" travel through the underdark until some kind of earthquake suddenly opens a way to the surface. They find Venger and Tiamat fighting, with Venger using the magic items he acquired (but he finds out they need a recharge). In theory, the two of them fighting blasted the hole that the kids came out of. Venger flees with Tiamat chasing, and a shadow demon in service of Venger discovers that the kids are going to the "Hall of Bones".
The children meet a halfling named Hector the halfling on a lush, flowered road, and he offers to lead them to the "Hall of Bones", which leads to a series of rocky canyons. Eventually, a castle in the shape of vaguely skull like shape with "rib" like spokes poking out and a long bridge to it is seen. A volcano is in the background. In the Hall of Bones is a "primordial head sized" skull known as "The Skull of Power" that's said to be infused with the power of the dead warriors that surround the Hall.
The kids charge their weapons, "Hector" is revealed to be Venger, and then the spirits of the dead (all very knightly and somewhat European / Viking looking with spears and swords) emerge to defend teh children's escape. Venger destroys the Hall of Bones as the source of the ghost's power since he cannot defeat them.
SUMMATION: So, from this we have a few things.
The Skull of Power was from a being of ENORMOUS size. I'd feel fair in saying a fallen primordial / deity / or "giant". So, let's go with all three. Let's also build in some history of these fallen warriors actually being from a society related to the Metahel long ago that was once on Anchorome and that fell.
So, the "viking-like"/Northmen of this culture once faced off against a powerful Primordial Giant who was worshipped as a deity (a Ymir like being). They killed him, turning the surrounding land into a wasteland. They built the "Hall of Bones" out of his and his servant's bones.
They also took from this primordial beings body pieces that they then turned into weapons. For instance:
From a portion of his tendor, they created a bowstring that when attached to a wooden bow created Hank's energy bow
From this being's arm hairs, they created cloth which they sewed into an extremely powerful cloak of invisibility that inhibited all kinds of magical forms of discovery, and this would become Sheila's cloak. Some of this cloth was also turned into a very green bag of tricks and matching set of robes (Presto's robe, and what he incorrectly believes is and wears as a hat).
From this being's brown thumb bone, a powerful club which could cause earthquakes was created that became Bobby's club.
From the flesh of this being's foreskin, Diana's staff which grows on command was crafted (turning green over time as dead flesh is wont to do)
From this being's toe nail a shield is made which can create a field of force (i.e. Eric's shield).
These items are all very powerful, but they must be periodically recharged every 300 years or thereabouts. Nor are these ALL the items created from this body of this primordial being, but they ARE all the items that the kids have. They must be recharged by being placed within the "Skull of Power" which is crafted from the Skull of this Primordial giant. TO NOTE: later we find out that these weapons all came from "The Dragon's Graveyard"... will need to watch that episode first before going further with that.
Exactly who this being was, who these metahel ancestors were, what the name of their society was, etc.... and where its placed may come out later after watching a good bit more of these episodes... but these are my initial thoughts. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
Edited by - sleyvas on 22 Dec 2025 19:26:14 |
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TBeholder
Great Reader
2518 Posts |
Posted - 22 Dec 2025 : 11:20:34
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| Is this the kind of "Bu-ut will THE REALMS be returned to non-peanut state before the squirrels get it? Read in the next issue!" kind of thing? Because it sounds like one of those. |
People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12213 Posts |
Posted - 22 Dec 2025 : 13:48:11
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quote:
Originally posted by TBeholder
Is this the kind of "Bu-ut will THE REALMS be returned to non-peanut state before the squirrels get it? Read in the next issue!" kind of thing? Because it sounds like one of those.
No, its me entirely trying to take a celebrated method of world design for the realms. Take something someone else did, accept it face value with some possibly "misinterpretation" of facts at points, and see if we can ACTUALLY do what people say and fit it into the realms without breaking things. One thing I very much learned in working with Seethyr on Anchorome is that you can have a campaign world which very much has one strong them ... and then fit in an entirely different feel into the same or surrounding areas. So, if you l9ok at what he did, he was trying to stay very true to a world that somewhat mirrors ancient south and north american mythologies. Where Fort Flame was, he was trying to stay true to the written record of Faerunians being there from Baldur's Gate.
Then look at what I did, and in the Adusgee forest he made full of sasquatches and horned/cannibal sasquatches, and I threw in a whole forest of kercpa, full sized deer centaur folk (Anikiwah as opposed to Hybsil, being less fey than Hybsil), moose/deer tauric humanoids (Shatjan), woodland uldras (basically a little bigger version of smurf), small fox bottomed tauric folk called Ee'na'li or foxiytaurs, woodland bear folk (urskans), a hidden gnome village of gnomes that came to Anchorome from another world and which has some of its own folk transformed into raccoon and badger folk along the way.
Around the same he turned around and adapted the northlands to include snow elves, urskan bear folk resembling their more classic view but also bear folk from like the golden compass series (i.e. less upright). I added frost sprites into this mix.
Meanwhile, down in Fort Flame, I included Thayan exiles bringing over their own humanoid slaves (some of whom, centaurs, fled into the plains), and had these same Thayans taking over abandoned communities and trying to rebuild in them. I looked at the metahel and saw vikings (which is what I truly think the original person wanted mind you).
So, in the end, you end up with a kitchen sink scenario starting to form, which is what the realms was meant to be. You can have children enjoying a light hearted game alongside a very serious/stoic story of starvation and cannibalism in the neighboring community.So, my goal in trying to do what I'm doing is "Can we take the very childish stories in the old D&D cartoon and fit them in over in these undiscovered lands to flesh them out, during the spellplague years, and actually do ourselves a service in the end". So, just because these stories are childish doesn't mean they can't have a kernel of something that you develop more.
For instance, there's a story revolving around a skeleton warrior who betrayed a "knightbood". They flew on "warbirds"... giant eagles .... well, there's a whole group of Maztican people who are known as eagle knights. Can we conflate this group that some can't change into eagles, but rather they learned to be aerial cavalry? Did some Faerunians that came to Maztica influence these people and vice versa?
I don't know if this will work... but it can be fun to try. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12213 Posts |
Posted - 22 Dec 2025 : 19:23:41
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S1 E4 Valley of the Unicorn NOTES
The "young ones" are in a forest. A black unicorn with a silver mane (named Silvermane) is assaulted by a pack of wolves under the command of "Kelek the Sorcerer" (more notes found here https://dungeonsdragons.fandom.com/wiki/Kelek ). To note, Kelek has either claws or just really long and sharp fingernails. His mount is a giant wolf / dire wolf / or maybe a worg. He captures Uni and plans to extract his horn to a multi-armed idol of a demonic figure that will serve to give him enough power to challenge Venger (whom he apparently serves).
In the forest there appear to be some trees that might be intelligent and evil.... or they could just be carved. In between the forest and Kelek's home is a great field of enormous brambles. Kelek's home is beneath the bramble floor and "rises" from the earth. Its covered in numerous carvings of bestial creatures looking vicious (invluding raptor heads, what look like bear heads, and other fanged creatures, or just abstract claws).
Inside of his home is a hugely tall status of a fiend with two red eyes, a gaping fanged maw, 3 sets of horns on his head, 2 legs, and 20 arms holding 16 unicorn horns. He extracts Uni's horn and then makes a big show of taking some amulet and saying he'll go find "the Valley of the Unicorns" and find the last 3 horns he needs. The kids find the rest of the unicorns imprisoned and decide to have them lead the kids to the "Secret Valley of the Unicorn". Kelek and his wolves follow in secret. The way leads to a waterfall that is separated into 4 color streams of violet, blue, yellow, and orange, and behind the waterfall is a long tunnel that opens onto the Valley of the Unicorns.
Kelek appears, using his circular amulet with some kind of white stone, to magically ensnare "the last" 3 unicorns (Silvermane and 2 others) and excape with them. He brings them back to his home. Presto decides that informing Venger to have him take out Kelek is the best path forward, but in true Presto fashion rather than summoning Venger, he transports himself TO Venger. Meanwhile, the rest of the kids head back to Kelek's home to stop him... planning to distract him by having Eric make "ghost moaning" sounds by blowing into his boot... which works. Sheila tries to free Silvermane invisibly, but the other kids fighting alerts him. Kelek sends his wolves in to attack.
Venger shows up, uses some spell that turns all the wolves a few years younger (making them puppies), and starts threatening Kelek. Kelek refers to Venger as his master, but turns against him. An errant blast from Kelek destroys his fiendish statue. While all this goes on, Presto tries to restor all the horns to all the unicorns. He ends up putting bulb horn musical instruments on their heads. But then Eric reminds him "Dungeon Master said the fate of one is shared by all" ..... and so "Abracaruni give the horn back to Uni".... and all the unicorns get their horns back. We then cut to Venger using Imprison on Kelek, and so Kelek's castle starts collapsing. The kids mount the unicorns and escap via unicorniportation. Venger is trapped in the collapsing castle, but appears in a giant "smoke cloud" form after it collapses into the ground.
Cut to the valley of the unicorn again, where Uni is playing with some other unicorns, Bobby is moping because he doesn't want to leave Uni behind.... ane Eric is being assaulted by wolf puppies whom Sheila brought back to be raised to defend the Unicorn glade. At the end, when they all think Uni is staying behind, she races out to go with her human friends on their adventures.
DEVELOPMENT NOTES: So, we already have a "valley of the unicorn" on Toril (called the Place of the Unicorn in the North Boxed set, page 37). Its believed to be an extradimensional space, and therefore in theory can be reached from multiple locations. So, the location of this "story" can be anywhere that matches having a forest and an area of huge brambles nearby.
Exactly what the great power was that was to be acquired by getting 20 unicorn horns is still never known, but it was enough that Kelek though it would give him more power than Venger. It would definitely have given some teleportation power. Would it have done something more? Given control of fey gates?
Exactly WHO the 20 armed fiendish figure was that would have held the 20 unicorn horns are is also unknown, but should be developed. Was this being some demon, devil, primordial, or even just some representation of someone like Malar but with multiple arms?
Kelek is said to be a sorcerer, so perhaps best to keep him as such. However, what's his lineage that then gives him this natural spellcasting? Well, given that he seems to have clawed hands and some affinity for wolves and other bestial beings, perhaps he's a shifter or lyncanthrope. However, he also seems to have a thing for fiends, so it might be better to give him fiendish blood.
As far as notes for this one... in a broader scale this one has little to add to the development of the campaign itself. It does add though that Venger has servitor mages and one is named Kelek. Beyond that, this seems to be viable to be placed near anywhere in the realms that has a forest, wolves, etc....
S1 E5 In Search of the Dungeon Master NOTES
Starting the episode, the young ones are in "The Forest with Know Trees" . The trees in this forest grow with "rings" of limbs and leaves moving upward. In appearance, they somewhat resemble blueleaf trees for their grouping of "spiderweb like sets of limbs", except their leaves are green and they're big like oaks. So, this sounds like a good new "tree" type for development.
Know Trees appear to be intelligent trees similar to a treant, but which seem to have some kind of divinatory ability. They also have some kind of illusory ability to hide their faces.
Dungeonmaster is seen later riding a giant snail and with a sprite flying beside him. He encounters bullywugs working for Warduke that try to entrap him. Eventually, Warduke does entrap Dungeonmaster in ice using a magical sword. Somehow the Know Tree knows this and tells the young ones that Dungeonmaster is in trouble.
The kids encounter the same bullywugs and end up fighting with them until Presto releases a bunch of giant flies from his hat which distracts the bullywugs. The sprite then tells the kids he will lead them to find Dungeonmaster (Sheila seemingly speaks fey). This eventually leads to some cliffside trail. They end at a point where they must fly to the other side, and some lammasu come out of nowhere to carry them over (ok... this can get dropped or maybe have the sprite summon them somehow.. seems to have no point). They eventually end up outside Warduke's cave (which is carved to have two eyes, and stalactite fangs over its entryway).
Warduke meets with a shadow demon in service to Venger and offers to sell Dungeonmaster.
Meanwhile, the kids enter the cavern. They encounter some kind of stone construct with red gem eyes and crystalline claws, followed by a group of orcs with a magical key. This key opens the wall up onto "The slave mines of Derromore" (possibly "Dhaerowmore" or "Darrowmore"), and the kids are put into slavery (remind me to never trust a sprite or a bunch of lammasu). The orcs seemingly have also enslaved a large number of dwarves, who inform them that Dungeonmaster is on the other side of a thick mine wall (how they know?). Meanwhile Sheila is wandering the mines invisibly.
Eric meanwhile wanders a swamp filled with monsters.
Sheila frees Uni and then recovers the party's weapons. They blast through the wall to find Dungeonmaster... and Warduke, Venger, and Warduke's bullywugs.
Eric meanwhile stumbles into a crack that drops him into the same room, right onto Warduke, and the party goes into action to free Dungeonmaster. Eventually Hank shoots Warduke's weapon out of his hand, and the weapon hits and frees Dungeonmaster. Venger attack Dungeonmaster, but Dungeonmaster perverts the magic and turns it against him. He then says something like "Hurry, he will reform again later". The party then leads the dwarves out of the mines. Warduke and his minions pursue, until Dungeonmaster causes the ground to swell with lava (this ending could be modified)
NOTES: So, we have "The Forest of Know Trees" bordering on a swamp and some mountains. The mountains meanwhile have a cave system that leads into the upperdark at least. How does it get from so high to so low so quickly however? This would absolutely make no sense except for one thing... the key the orcs use to make the wall open onto "The slave mines of Derromere" actually activates a portal ... not "opens the wall". The "slave mines of Derromere" must exist beneath the swamp that Eric was wandering. This might mean that the swamp above is a "mere" or shallow lake which was named for people having seen "Derro" there... thus Derromere.
So, "Forest of Know Trees" near a swamp known as "Derromere" and on some other side of the forest, some mountains which open onto a cave. bullywugs inhabit the swamp of Derromere. Orcs seemingly inhabit the mountains, but they oversee the mine work. Warduke oversees this whole operation seemingly.
History wise, it would seem that either the derro were run out OR the dwarves working the mine were in fact derro (prefer not... prefer a history of derro first, then other dwarves taking over, then orcs enslaving the dwarves). Where are the derro now? Possible development opportunity.
S1 E6 Beauty and the Bog Beast NOTES
Opening scene, Dungeonmaster comes to the party walking invisibly across boiling lava.
Dungeonmaster tells them that they must find "The River that Rains Upside Down". Once a year for 60 seconds, the waters of this river defy gravity and float into the air where they open portals to wherever you want to go. But, along this path is "The beauty that breathes the Beast" that they must avoid...
So, off they go, until they come ot a fork. Hank, Sheila and Bobby take on path. Presto, Diana, and Eric go the other.
Bobby end up in a vine enshrouded area of plant growth until they run into a gigantic iron colossus wearing a centurion like helmet (it looks like a 1e iron golem, but its way bigger). It picks up Bobby and Uni and threatens to smash them, but Hank uses his bow to "give them a ride on a lightning bolt arrow". He then uses his bow to weld its feet together (yeah, that bow can do anything). It then tries to take a step, trips, and falls apart. They then crawl onto the body to look over the forest... to find a desert on its edge (WTF...)
Cut to the other people on the other path. Diana sees a violet flowing growing on a vine. Eric picks it, only to have it spray him. It turns him into a fanged toad like humanoid (a "bog beast"). Presto tries to fix it, but instead makes him grow long, curly hair... and then gives him a potion that makes him look like a large draconic like being for a minute... Dungeonmaster then hints that he needs to find other bog beasts in order to change back.
Meanwhile, rather than turn around... the three other kids kept going into the desert. They see a mirage of water and then Hanks bow starts acting funny. He fires into the air, and it comes straight down, explodes into the sand.... and suddenly there's a drain of sand into a sinkhole dragging them down into it (amazing what that bow can do). This opens into a subterranean river surrounded by vegetation ... and bog beasts wielding tridents. The bog beasts are frightened and reveal that the river has been dammed upstream by "Cawamung" (sp?). They then reveal that they have a legend that someone "like us but who not like us" will come to lead them against Cawamung... and he'll fall from the sky.
So, then Eric and company, who were walking in a swamp, fall into a hole and then from the sky directly into the bog beast cavern. The bog beast instantly proclaim him their leader.
So... the first group came here from a sinkhole in a desert.... the other group via a whole in a swamp... wow, this is going to turn into something weird geographically.
So, the bog beasts reveal that the river that's been dammed by Cawamung is in fact "the River that Rains Upside Down". Eric agrees to lead them against Cawamung if they'll help him return to normal human form. The bog beasts reveal that the secret to defeating Cawamung is to destroy his medallion.
They march on to wherever Cawamung is upstream, but still in the underdark... and still with vegatation growing all over... to find that he's an Ogre-magi with an enslaved group of dwarves making weapons that he intends to use on the bog beasts. Hank tries to destroy his medallion only to discover it was an illusion. The real medallion (a yin yang symbol), was invisible. He then uses it to disintegrate a tree that Hank was just hiding behind. Combat ensues. Eric uses his shield to deflect rays from the medallion. The bog beasts run. Eventually, Presto summons a frisbee that he thinks will do nothing, but it shoots into the cogworks of the dam and destroys it.
Water rushes downstream and then UP into a "reverse waterfall". So, the river is raining upside down. But the ogre magi has Uni, Bobby, and Sheila, so the "young ones" give up their opportunity to return home to save their friends. Diana leaps onto Cowamung's neck, pulls off the medallion.... and he changes into a bog beast. The dwarf slaves then chase after their former master.
The kids realize that the medallion can probably change Eric back, but they need to use the river. So, they ride through and return home and put the medallion on Eric.... but it doesn't work on earth. So, he returns to change himself back, and the rest follow him back. Eric returns to his normal human self.
Development notes:
Okay, this one is a doozy for geography... a place with lava, a forest, a desert and a swamp all near one another and residing over an underwater river in a huge underdark tunnel. So, picturing the underdark being localized lava tubes that have become segregated from the volcano for some reason (likely having to do with periodic strange gravity and portals). Guessing the desert to be where the ground is still affected by the volcanic activity, and the forest/jungle are where the volcanic activity made the land fertile and the swamp is simply farther away from all of this. Where exactly this fits... no idea. It could be on the moon or another plane for all I know, since there are no site references in this episode
S1 E7 Prison without Walls NOTES
Opening scene... rocky wasteland again... They wander into an open pit with gems lining its walls. Gnome slave are forced to mine the gems by orcs. The kids defeat the orcs and want to help the gnomes leave, but its revealed that Venger has made it so no gnomes can leave because Venger has put a spell that will kill them if they leave. Venger wants to know the secret of the dragon's heart (a giant statue of a dragon is there with a spot of a gem hear), but only the dwarf mage Lukyon knows the info.
"Swamp of Sorrow" lies "to the south, beyond the forest". |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
Edited by - sleyvas on 22 Dec 2025 22:36:05 |
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D&D cartoon IDW comic say show set in FR all along
