[Campaign] [1111] Elminster's Ecologies.pdf

Explorers Manual

Table of Contents

Introductory Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Excerpts from An Investigation into

the Natural Systems of Organisms

and Their Surroundings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Encounter Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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Introductory Remarks

ow that bottle ought to hold thee

for a time. Now, settle down!

Don't get they antennae in an

uproar and do stop screeching at

me.

Uh, excuse me? Elminster?

Huh? Oh, sorry. I didnt see thee. Elminster, aye,

thats me. Well, dont stand there gawking. Come

in, come in. Just dont get too close to this table.

And stand clear of the bottle.

Why? Its only a cockroach.

A cockroach? A cockroach? Not hardly. Looks

like thou arrived just in time.

You know why Ive come?

Do I know why thouve come? Listen, youngster.

I know why a snappersaw turns green in a rain-

storm. I know the names of the meanest dog in

Shadowdale and the last 20 people she bit. Of

course I know why thouve come.

You read my mind! Your magic is strong!

That it is. But, er, actually thy mother told me

thou were coming. I ran into her last week when I

was buying eggs at Bestils farm. She told me her

oldest child was itching to see the world. She says

thou know the ways of peopleat least enough to

get bybut thou art somewhat ignorant of the

ways of the wilderness.

Now take my great-nephew. Very brave, but a little

empty in the attic, if thou gets my drift. If he had come

to me before he tried to net that thing in the jar over

there . . . well, thats another story for another time.

Whats wrong, child? Are thou deaf? I said come

in! Take a seat and make thyself comfortable. Move

those books off the bench.

That gray books on fire!

What gray book? Oh, that gray book. It always

smokes a little. Just pick it upcarefully!and set

it by those herb barrels.

There thou go. Now, where were we? Ah, yes. A

restless youth, eager to make thy mark. I know the

type. Thou has heard stories about the Thunder

Peaks and the Farsea Marshes, but thou wants to

see for thyself if the stories are true. Mind if I ask of

thine intentions? Once I get thee educated, what

are thy plans? Explorer? Tracker? Trader?

I havent made up my mind.

Treasure hunter?

Could we proceed?

Hmph. I see thou could use some manners, too. But

dont count on Elminster to teach thee everything.

Where were we? Ah, yes. Thy mother tells me thou

are a hard worker and as sharp as a slaads tooth. She

says thou art good with a sword. Thou can read a map

and hast mastered a language or two. And thou hast

sense enough not to shake hands with a revenant. But

if thou planst to go tromping through the wilderness

and expect to get home in one piece, thou needst to

know thine animals. And Ive got some books around

heresome- placethatll teach thee all about the

natural order.

The natural order?

Theres a reason why corn doesnt grow in the

Great Glacier, and why polar bears dont live in the

Desertsmouth Mountains. The world is designed so

that every organism has its own place and its own

role. A balance exists between all living things and

their surroundings. Put simply, everything affects

everything else.

Is that important to know?

It is if thou want to live to have grandchildren.

Come over herecareful of the bottle!and take

a peek out the window.

See the old man pushing the wheelbarrow? The one

with his arm in a sling? Thats Fletcher Bockmann, a

good wheat farmer, but a poor student of nature. A

giant raven mauled him, nearly ripped his arm from its

socket. Ravens are docile for the most part, but

Fletcher didnt know they get grumpy this time of the

year when theyre looking for girlfriends.

Does that answer thy question?

Give me the books.

Keep thy trousers on. Thou remindest me of the

ranger who thought he could make friends with a

hydra because he was sure a couple of the heads

would like him. They liked him, all right. They

liked his arms, legs, toes . . . So sit still and listen.

The books wont be of much use if thou knowest

not what thou readst. And I havent the time or

the patience to explain every line.

Sorry . . .

Thats better.

First of all, there are nine books. I wrote only the

first, which accounts for the variation in styles and

approaches. The authors, however, are experts, as each

has studied a particular region in depth. Since all of

them are friends and colleagues, I can vouch for the

accuracy of their information. But be forewarned that

personal prejudices may sometimes color the facts.

Bryn Ohme, for instance, the gentleman responsible

for the book on the settled lands, thinks the world

revolves around farming. As a result, Bryn looks at the

natural order from an agriculturalists point of view,

and his work reflects his bias. Note, too, that the

authors acquired their information from many sources,

including direct observation, local legends, ranger

reports, and bits of gossip. For this reason, contradic-

tions may exist between authors versions of an identi-

cal phenomenon. Where such contradictions occur,

assume the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Ultimately, thine own experiences will verify or

disprove the authors conclusions. While I had nei-

ther the time nor the inclination to rewrite my co-

authors efforts, I insisted that each follow the same

format for the convenience of the reader. They

complied, for the most part. So, with the exception

of this bookwhich Ill discuss in a momentthe

volumes comprise these sections.

Each opens with an autobiographical note,

explaining the authors background and credentials,

and what prompted him or her to write about that

particular area. I encouraged them to say whatever

they wanted here, within reason. The only one who

gave me any trouble was Lyra Sunrose. She included

a lot of flowery reminiscences about aneralleged

relationship with me. I cut out most of that claptrap

to spare her embarrassment.

Next comes an overview of the area, a general

discussion of the geography and the climate, and a

look at points of interest.

Following the overview is a look at the areas com-

mon flora and faunatrees, flowers, birds, and beasts.

Of course, even though theyre common, they can still

be nasty. One bumblebee might not be too trouble-

some, but Id hate to run into a hundred.

The next section I consider the most critical.

This concerns monstersthe magical ones, the

brutish ones, the ones thou want not to mess with.

Thou will learn their activity patterns: when they

migrate, when they hibernate, when theyre in the

mood to snack on strangers. Thou will learn how

they interact with other creatures in the region,

who they terrorize and who they fear, who they eat

and who eats them. Why do they live where they

do? Are they territorial? How do they behave dur-

ing mating season? What do they think of humans?

In short, thou will learn what makes these creatures

important to the regions natural order, and what

thou need to do to get along with them.

Of course, not every entry will address all these

questions. Some information isnt especially impor-

tant, some simply isnt known. And the books dont

discuss every single monster in the region. There

wasnt enough room for all of them, so I told the

authors to pick and choose, concentrating on the

most important, most unusual, most dangerous.

Finally, each book ends with a few rumors about

the area. Most are from reliable sources, some are

educated guesses, the rest may be just good stories.

Are they all true? Are any of them true? Whos to

say? Find thou the answers, and let me know.

So there it is. Ill fetch the proper books if thou

tellst me where thou want to go.

Everywhere.

Everywhere? I dont have a book for that.

Ever seen an amphisbaena? Its a serpent with

two heads, one on each end. If one head wants to

crawl into a cornfield and hunt mice, and the other

wants to crawl up an oak tree to chew on sparrows,

know thou what happens? It goes nowhere. It just

writhes on the ground and ties itself into a knot.

Suppose we try this. Ill tell thee the regions cov-

ered in each book, and maybe thatll aid thee in

making up thy mind. Now pay attention.

Book One: An Investigation into the Natural

Systems of Organisms and Their Surroundings.

Thats mine. Im not quite finished yetperfection

takes time, know thou that!but when its done it

will be the definitive treatise on the science of nat-

ural order. The information Ive gathered applies to

the entire world, not just a particular region.

Book Two: Cormanthor. Cormanthor, also

known as the elven woods, was perhaps the mighti-

est elven kingdom of all time. The book isnt con-

cerned with the elves, but rather the forest itself

and the wildlife that lives theresome of it mighty

wild indeed. This is probably the most complex

natural system discussed in the books, as it com-

prises not only the forests (several of them, in fact),

but also the ruins of Myth Drannor. The magic of

Myth Drannor has had powerful effects on the

elven woods, some good, most bad.

Book Three: Anauroch. Anauroch, the Great

Desert, is dry, desolate, and deadly. A steppeland

where water is more precious than diamonds, a cool

day as rare as an educated orc.

Book Four: The Storm Horns and the Thunder

Peaks. These are two of the worlds most formida-

ble mountain ranges. Nearly impenetrable, home to

vultures, desperadoes, and dragons. The weather

here is nearly as treacherous as the peaks them-

selves, with pounding windstorms strong enough to

level the tallest trees and blizzards that can dump

ten feet of snow in an hours time.

Book Five: The Cormyrean Marshes. Marshlands

and swamps of staggering size, a haven for snakes, a

nightmare for men. Hot, humid, and miserable.

Book Six: The Stonelands and the Goblin

Marches. A pair of desolate plains, the first a

dried-out dust bowl, the second a boulder-strewn

wasteland. Both are crawling with monsters.

Book Seven: The Sea of Fallen Stars. A coastal

locale, rife with creatures of the land and water.

Book Eight: The Great Gray Land of Thar.

Hast thou a heavy coat? This is a bitterly cold step-

peland where the temperatures sink low enough to

freeze thine eyeballs.

Book Nine: The Settled Lands. This covers the

farmlands of Cormyr, Sembia, and the Dalelands,

where humans attempt to live in harmony with the

natives. In this instance, the native include a wide

variety of animals and monsters, some of them less

than ecstatic about having humans for neighbors.

Thats it. So, tell mewhere dost thou want to go?

Im not sure. . . .

Still not sure? I think thouve some amphisbaena

blood in thee, my friend.

Heres an idea. Take the whole stack. Begin with

my book, An Investigation into the Natural Systems of

Organisms and Their Surroundings. In it, thou will find

concepts that apply to all regions discussed in the

subsequent volumes. It will give thee a foundation for

understanding what the other authors have to say.

Ive marked the relevant passages.

After thou have finished, go on to any of the

other books that strike thy fancy. Thou need not

read them in order. Thou need not read them all.

Concentrate on whatever looks interesting. How

does that sound?

Great. Ill do it. But may I ask a question first?

Of course.

What about the cockroach?

The cockroach? I told thee, thats no cockroach!

Come over here. Take thou a good look. Does

that look like a cockroachs head?

It looks like a skull.

That, my friend, is a lichling, one of the worlds

most loathsome creatures. It has the body of an

insect, the head of a human skull, and the disposi-

tion of a rattlesnake. Hear it hissing? If thou ever

see one of these in thy kitchen, pack thy bags.

This particular specimen was crawling around the

Flour Pot, one of Shadowdales finest bakeries. My

nephew, who fancies himself a great collector, tried to

catch it with a net. It went straight for his throat. By

the time I arrived, it had nearly separated his head

from his neck. Im planning to study it for a time, then

send it on a one-way trip down Mount Bandalin.

The volcano?

Thou knowest thy geography, at least.

How did a lichling get into a bakery?

Keep reading. Thou will find out.

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