#forgotten realms
Almost finished the Hierarch Modrons. New video out today with their lore and stats.
Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPcFsxfrenLv_Nx0oxSmBhA
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Part 2 of me stating out the hierarch modrons. CHeck out my channel for the video and some optional traits.
Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPcFsxfrenLv_Nx0oxSmBhA
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Reintroducing the 3.5 howling dragon to 5th edition. These mad dragons come from Pandemonium and will mess your party up. Check out my channel for some lore and descriptions and more videos like this.
Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPcFsxfrenLv_Nx0oxSmBhA
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Commish for 1panathas ’ (on DA) character JenTai! A demi-Drow vampire you wouldn’t want to stumble into in a dark alley
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[[ I’ve read the Advanced Reader Copy of Starlight Enclave, ask me anything! The book officially releases on August 3rd, are you deliberating between getting it right away or waiting to get it later? Maybe I can help with that. :P
You can order it from Amazon,HarperCollins directly, personalized copies from RAS’ online store, or pick it up from your favorite local bookstores.
All answers that contain spoilers will be hidden under a Read More. ]]
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[[ This is about how close Bobbert will ever get to actually showing the canonically pansexual character as not straight.
Source: Starlight Enclave chapter 3 ]]
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[[ The content of this post is focused on Artemis Entreri and contains spoilers. Do not expand the Read More cut if you’d like to avoid spoilers.
The events of the novella take place after Relentless, which ends in 1488 DR. I would estimate that it transpires about a few months after the conclusion of Relentless. The following is a summarization of Artemis’ appearance in One-Eyed Jax:
- Artemis does not seem to have gone after Dahlia after the conclusion of the demon war in Relentless. It seems that his contemplations about going after her remained just that: contemplations.
- Artemis is either living in or spends most of his time in Luskan, working for Jarlaxle. Unlike Regis, Wulfgar and Drizzt, Jarlaxle didn’t have to go out of the way to fetch Artemis, thus implying that like Jarlaxle’s Bregan D’aerthe agents, Artemis lives nearby.
- Artemis is clearly a trusted go-to for Jarlaxle, but it’s unclear if Jarlaxle is paying him or what arrangement they have.
- Regis is sent to meet with Artemis as per Jarlaxle’s instructions. His friends don’t find this very safe, so they assign guards to accompany him. Artemis sends Regis’ guards, Pwent and Athrogate, onwards to the One-Eyed Jax tavern with the promise of beer, intercepting Regis and takes the halfling to the meeting with Jarlaxle.
- Regis chats with Artemis while the halfing has his second breakfast and reviews the notes for a role he’s supposed to play, but no insight is given into what he talks about with Artemis or what Artemis is doing while Regis is eating and reading.
- Artemis poses as an attendant during Regis’ high-stakes gambling, for the purpose of switching the fake ruby pendant for the real one. He does so with an impressive sleight of hand, in which he removes the fake pendant from around Regis’ neck and puts on the real one within a second, and with Regis only feeling a gentle pull on the back of his neck. Regis reflects that he thought himself an accomplished thief, but compared to Artemis, he was a bumbling novice.
- During the staged fight between Athrogate and Pwent, Artemis catches the target carrying damaged coins that were the sought after pieces of evidence. He eases the target to the floor while cutting open the man’s coinpurse, spilling the coins. Artemis retrieves a few pieces of the damaged coins, and while these are enough evidence for the rest of the cast, Artemis goes after the target and manages to coax more damaged coins from him. Artemis also gets the target to tell him that he’d been receiving a lot of suspicious items and wet items from the crew of the Narwhal as payment. Artemis uses leverage at Jarlaxle’s expense to do so, bribing the target with a full year of free drinks at the One-Eyed Jax.
- Artemis recognizes that the flag that Narwhal flies is that of Lantan, correcting a mistaken identification of Mintarn. Knowing the Lantanese nature of the vessel is what allows Jarlaxle to make key inferences.
- Artemis was aboard the Deudermont’s Revenge, Jarlaxle’s hunter schooner that went after the Narwhal.
- “Seemed to work well enough on you”, Artemis remarks of Drizzt when the ranger disparages smokepowder. Drizzt was shot by a smokepowder pistol, but despite the content of Artemis’ jab, “his voice revealed a great discontent, a sourness that was not usual for the grim man anymore.”
- Dahlia’s signature weapon, Kozah’s Needle, is found in the hold of the Narwhal, along with all the treasures from other ships sank by the Narwhal. Regis surmises that she was among those killed by the Narwhal.
- The text refers to the cast on Deudermont’s Revenge as, “the companions” and “the friends”. This includes Artemis.
- Artemis is included by implication in the characters on Deudermont’s Revenge cheering as Narwhal blows itself up. Artemis is also similarly included in the cast celebrating Regis and trading boasts about who would’ve killed more had the two ships’ crews engaged in hand to hand combat.
- Deudermont’s Revenge takes just Artemis to Mintarn. He alights from the ship before it fully pulls into the port. The crew talks about how he’s going on a “scouting mission”, but it’s revealed that Artemis found out who designed the smokepowder cannon on Narwhal. Bonnie Charlie, the captain of Deudermont’s Revenge, comments that she doesn’t think it’s accurate to describe Artemis’ mission as a scouting one, for he loved Dahlia once.
- Later, in a conversation between Jarlaxle and Drizzt, Jarlaxle reveals that Artemis returned earlier and that he’d found the one who designed the cannon. Drizzt asks if Artemis brought the designer back, and Jarlaxle responds, “Only the part of him that did the thinking”. Jarlaxle further reveals that Artemis told him to shoot it as the first shot out of the Lantanese cannon if he were to rebuilt it.
- Jarlaxle invites Drizzt to join him as he sets off to find Artemis for dinner for he suspects that Artemis would be in a bad mood.
My thoughts:
- Overall, the story harkens back to the earlier Drizzt books, where they’re not always savying/changing the world, and more concerned with local stuff. Those stories read more true to the setting and more like the stories told by the vast bulk of the other FR novels. In that regard, I found One-Eyed Jax more enjoyable than Drizzt versus the latest god-like thing.
- That said, it is more than a bit strange that Drizzt would concern himself with such a small-scale situation, especially when he’s got a baby, his first child at that, at home. Even if Catti-brie told him that it’s ok and that she can take care of things, if Drizzt were a good dad, shouldn’t he be realizing that being there for his child is the most important thing? For someone who goes on and on about how important love, family, friends and bonds are, his behavior is strange. It makes some degree of sense for him to be out there running around fighting stuff when the world is at stake, because in that case he’s fighting for there to be a world for his child to live in. However, Jarlaxle losing some money, even some people dying, is hardly enough justification for him to leave his baby, especially when Jarlaxle has tons of capable help at his disposal. In this sense, One-Eyed Jax is just pandering to the fanbois.
- There’s a fair amount of review, and within those reviews, exultations of Drizzt and the Companions of the Hall. Unnecessary and ego-stroking, and while the recent novels have been like that, normalization in this sense is hardly a good thing.
- Killing Dahlia off-screen is beyond not cool, it’s bad, lazy writing. There’s a chance that Dahlia might not be dead, after all there is the whole, we didn’t see the body so she’s most likely still alive trope, but I wouldn’t put it past Bob to kill her off off-screen, not even in a main novel. Dahlia’s increasing unpopularity means that any space she takes up in a novel is space that could go towards getting Bob more money. I would hope that he doesn’t go this route, as it would be an even bigger sell-out, but he’s been selling out and there’s a note of finality to Dahlia’s disappearance. Although I wasn’t a fan of Dahlia and Artemis as a pairing, I’m dreading what Dahlia’s death means, I suspect that unfortunately Bob has plans for someone else to pair with Artemis. I’m betting that it’ll be Yvonnel II, which is rather unfortunate.
- It seems like Bob’s making a token effort to have Artemis retain some of his teeth, but the effort doesn’t feel genuine. Artemis’ sarcastic remark at Drizzt is immediately clarified to be something else, I’m not sure what Bob is getting at but I sincerely hope it isn’t making Artemis into a tsundere. While Artemis doesn’t have any compunction about killing someone he holds responsible for Dahlia’s death, Drizzt’s total lack of reaction to it is strange for a supposed hero of righteousness. It’s the same back when Narwhal blew itself up, only Regis is portrayed to feel remorse and guilt. It’s understandable that Jarlaxle and Artemis wouldn’t, as well they shouldn’t, and even Wulfgar to an extent. But Drizzt was cool with it as well.
- Jarlaxle destroys the plans for the smokepowder cannon rather than using it in his own ship, saying that power should be gained from years of study. This pleases Drizzt. Jarlaxle, the master of opportunities, who’d stop at nothing to gain an upper hand and claw a place for himself in the world, doing this just feels incredibly out of character. It feels like another instance of Salvatore bending his character the wrong way to convey a personal belief or to further elevate his golden boy.
- As far as the lore of the greater world is concerned, One-Eyed Jax does harken to some of the stuff that happens in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, the official module set roughly four years later. The novella makes references to Jarlaxle’s trip to Lantan to commission his manta ray-shaped submarine, the Scarlet Marpenoth. However, it also breaks the lore in a non-insignificant way, in fact upsetting the entire premise of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist in stating that Neverember’s embezzled wealth has been restored to its rightful owners. That embezzled wealth, exactly 500,000 gold dragons, is what the four “villains”, Jarlaxle included, are going after, that the players try to prevent the theft of.
- Mintarn is an island off the Sword Coast that’s pretty far south from Luskan, about as far south as Baldur’s Gate. Lantan is farther still, however it should’ve taken many tendays for Artemis to make the round trip. The way it’s presented made it sound like he was there and back in a few days’ time.
- I found it both really amusing and really irritating that Drizzt, who achieved the super duper monk ability of true transcendence, an ability that doesn’t even exist in 5e, can only catch a projectile but not throw it back. Even the disaster monk in my current D&D game, who regularly falls off the balcony while doing his morning exercises, can catch a projectile and throw it back in the same action. ]]
[[ Sculptor:MD Dragons
Post-bake touched up version:
Another commission by Maga of MD Dragons! For the previous and first commission I got from her, visit here. That older post also includes more information about the artist and the process of commissioning her. Since I don’t have anything to say that wasn’t said before, please refer to that post for those details.
I really wanted another piece by Maga (and of course, more Artemis). This is also, as far as I’m aware, the first of her mounted character sculptures, so I really didn’t know what to expect. She’d done characters sitting in chairs before, but for this concept, the Nightmare was more of an entity than an object/prop, so the commission was treated as a two characters project. Maga was as wonderful as ever and discussed ideas with me before starting, I originally wanted another Artemis and Jarlaxle piece with both of them mounted on their respective Nightmares, but that concept wasn’t viable because as a singular piece, it would be too crowded. I could always commission a companion piece to this one of mounted Jarlaxle, but I don’t think that I will since I’m not as invested in his character.
Since I’d already given Maga all the various art references for the first commission, I left the design of this one entirely to her artistic liberty. She still ran some details through me to approve first, such as her idea for the background, but otherwise, the pose, expressions, and all the details were entirely her creativity. I did ask her to darken his skin after she showed me the original finished images (the first bunch). Even though she’d used the same clay for his skin as she did for my first commission, apparently clay colors can differ quite a bit from batch to batch despite being marketed as the same color. I was a bit worried about how the post-bake darkening would look, but it came out really well and I like it more than a straight up uniform color. The manual coloration adds a sense of texture and shade differentials as would be seen in real skin, so I’m quite happy with it.
As with the first commissions, there are so many wonderful little details, even in areas that aren’t readily visible, which really adds to the quality and sense of life of Maga’s creation. Observe the texturing on the saddle in the below image, with a belt strapping it to the Nightmare, the braided reins and cords, and the suggestion of additional supplies tucked beneath it on the Nightmare’s rear. Note also the details on Artemis’ boot: the belt, the kneepad, and higher up, the belts on his thighs. There’s also the end of a belt, knotted realistically, and the bone hilt of Charon’s Claw unforgotten despite the blade being sheathed.
The above picture was taken with normal ambient light and shows how harmonious the color is. Under camera flash, we can see all that there’s quite the range of hue. It’s also really cool that the Nightmare is a very dark midnight blue rather than pitch black. It also has an iridescent quality to it, similar to Jarlaxle’s skin in the previous sculpture.
In the below image, although mostly hidden away by other parts of the sculpture, is Artemis’ jeweled dagger, with its green gem. Beneath the sheathed dagger we can see the twin belts over his other thigh, and while the flash from the camera garishly makes everything too bright, it enables us to see that in all of these seeming shades of darkness, there’s actually a lot of different tones, with none of them being a pure black. You can also see the texturing on the tiny scabbard.
The next photo shows the details of an area that isn’t visible unless you’re looking straight down into the sculpture. You also need to be pretty close to it to see these details. Yet, despite this, Maga did not cut any corners.
Here is one of the differences in Artemis’ armor from the previous sculpture: two belts emanating out of his cloak clasp insignia instead of one. I’d commented in my post about the first sculpture that this is how I prefer Artemis to be depicted since that is how he appears in Lockwood’s paintings, so I wonder if Maga saw my previous review? It’s pretty amazing either way. In any case, note the other details in this shot: the shoulderpads, the elbowpad and the cuirass. Each piece has been carefully and attentively worked.
Another shot from the same angle, tipping the camera further in. Note Artemis’ twin leg belts on both thighs. The buckles of the left ones are visible from the side, but the belt loop on his inner thigh isn’t, yet it’s still fully formed. The twin belts on his right thigh aren’t really visible from the outside, but they’re fully formed as well. Remarkable.
With the “Summer of Drizzt” announced, I wonder if some of the merch will be of Artemis and/or Jarlaxle. I had these, as well as many other items, done because there wasn’t any official merch, and honestly, I think that they’ll still be centerpieces in my collection even if official merch of Artemis is released.
Again, here’s Maga’s site: https://mddragons.com/en/
I can’t recommend her enough. ]]
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[[ Despite being a big fan of Jeremy Crawford’s efforts towards representation in D&D and following him for years, this is only the second time that I’ve tweeted at him. I don’t expect a response, but I hope that he at least will see my messages.
In other news, I can’t help but be filled by a sense of dread by this whole entire summer celebrating Drizzt thing, for the reasons stated in the above screenshots, and for Bob really not needing more encouragement to write worse with each new book. ]]
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[[Political Map of Faerûn as of 1492 DRbyJohnovick.
Full res version here.
1 hex = 20 miles as of the last update. ]]
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Reposting this because I haven’t noticed all this time that the original post and all of its reblogs were nuked by Tumblr’s Dec 2017 purge. This was one of my earliest Jartemis works, it’s a pretty rough and sketchy piece but it was ok for what it was for.
The Scar
The searing light from a nearby bolt of lightning blasts into the unremarkable room. It is as if the room were being recreated in this overwhelming wave of illumination, though it lingers for only a single heartbeat. During that most ephemeral moment, colorless tones and dull shapes surge into sharp relief, birthing themselves from the gray-toned indistinct outlines previously visible to darkvision, violently erupting into poignant hues exaggerated by the blindingly white light. Within a breath, all fades back into the gray, yet that tranfigurational moment was enough for the drow to ascertain what he’d previously wondered at with delicate ebony fingers.
“That scar,” he marvels with a soft gasp, “Is that from–”
The resigned man’s sigh halts his words as surely as if the human had shot up a hand to clasp the black throat. “Yes, inside Crenshinibon,” the weary voice replies. Although he fears what he may see, curiosity compells Jarlaxle to look up and consider his abbil’s visage, whereupon he discerns the barest hint of a self-deprecating smile on the otherwise plaintive features.
“A fine throw,” Entreri adds in a whisper so hushed that the despair-struck mercenary would have bet on all eight of Lolth’s legs that had the assassin spoken the words instead, his voice would almost certainly have broken.
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[[ Final Wombo creation for now. I feel a bit bad doing this to Artemis, but the eyebrow thing is too hilarious not to share.
The art used for this animation is by Todd Lockwood, for the cover of the novel, Road of the Patriarch, published by Wizards of the Coast. ]]
[[ The cover for the next Drizzt book is revealed. THIS IS NOT A HOAX. Despite how it looks like a bad drawing for a bad fanfiction, it’s actually the official art for the next book. Source: https://thenerddaily.com/starlight-enclave-by-r-a-salvatore-cover-reveal/
My god, it’s bad. Everything about it is a fucking disaster. The “art”, the font, the text layout… all wtf. I think it’s supposed to be Catti-brie and Artemis, but holy moley, what a far cry from Lockwood’s art. Heck, what a far cry even from Briclot’s work. They both look like they’re wearing some sort of cheap fantasy/sci-fi fusion cosplay and Catti-brie’s bow looks like the Halloween prop, to say nothing about how she’s supposed to be a beautiful woman but very much isn’t. And Artemis… aye yai yai. So many issues. x_x
Given the trend that these books have been going in, at the very least, this cover will be a proper correlation for the quality of the writing. Also, the trilogy is called “The Way of the Drow” ffs. Bob’s really trying hard at the monk thing. ]]
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[[ Another Wombo creation, this time featuring my beloved muse. I’ll show myself to Nessus now. XD
The art used for this animation is by Todd Lockwood, for the cover of the novel, Servant of the Shard, published by Wizards of the Coast. ]]
[[ I made an even more cursed thing. XDDDD
I didn’t think that anything could be more cringey than Gunther’s live performance of his Ding Dong Song. Jarlaxle singing along to it is definitely a top contender. >_>
On a more serious note, I went through at least two dozen tries getting this to work, with most of them sunk in failed attempts in which the app rendered him with his neck singing. This is the best result, but still far from perfect, but at least it’s his mouth opening most of the time.
The art used for this animation is from the official D&D 5e module, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, published by Wizards of the Coast. ]]
[[ I made a cursed thing. XD
Wombo is lip sync app that, like Deep Nostalgia, can work with most photos. Its algorithm looks to be dependent on the way the image is cropped. Front-facing portraits cut off at the neck and shoulders are the best candidates for the app, but it will work on partial side views, video game screenshots, artwork, etc. Some images will yield cleaner results than others.
There’s a set list of songs you can get the image to lip sync to. Rick Astley’s voice is totally wrong for Jarlaxle but I thought it would be hilarious. XD
The art used for this animation is from the official D&D 5e module, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, published by Wizards of the Coast. Tyler Jacobson is the artist for the adventure’s cover art, from where this image originates. ]]
[[ Ok but is there an option to NOT play as one of the Companions of the Hall in the new Dark Alliance game? >_>
Also, the footage of Drizzt and Catti-brie backpedaling like scrubs was pretty funny. ]]
[[ Final Deep Nostalgia post for now. The app had a lot of trouble with Jarlaxle, specifically with not being able to identify a face in the various artworks featuring him. I would guess that primarily his hat and secondarily his eyepatch confuses the software, and the pointy ears probably do not help either. Even the “successful” animation above shows a lot of issues (source: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist interior art).
These are the artworks that I’ve tried with Deep Nostalgia that the app couldn’t find a face in:
(Credit: Todd Lockwood’s cover art for Promise of the Witch-King)
(Credit: Aleksi Briclot’s cover art for Maestro)
(Credit: Tyler Jacobson’s cover art for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist)
(Credit: Todd Lockwood’s cover art for Road of the Patriarch)
The last one is especially disappointing as he doesn’t have a hat on his head getting in the way for the app, but I guess the eyepatch throws off the app too much. The dramatic lighting and lack of hue diversity shouldn’t hinder the app, as with the former I was able to successfully animate a fanart of Artemis and if the latter was an issue, the app shouldn’t be able to handle black and white photos, which it does.
I didn’t try the Jarlaxle from the cover of Servant of the Shard due to it being a total profile shot. I also didn’t try the Jarlaxle from the art for cover of The Legacy, as this was the largest image that I could find of it:
(Credit: Todd Lockwood)
The size and resolution (or rather, lack thereof) falls beneath Deep Nostalgia’s minimum threshold. ]]
@yearningtobemeRequested:
Could I please get an illithid-kin (gnome ceremorph if you can, but not nessasary) moodboard with a goblincore twist? (Plz don’t add an image of an illithid however… thanks)
~
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