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• Inspired by recent news, Ruf explored Baldur's Gate: its history, its politics, its people, its defenses, layout, and more. He mapped its Upper City and visited the grand High Hall, the seat of government, where he hobnobbed with the noble "patriar" families, such as the unlucky Dluskers.
• Looking for a new way of getting around the planes? Lhynard studied the color pools (aided by Emolyn) in the Astral Plane (just mind the githyanki pirates) and the just-as-colorful ethereal curtains in the Ethereal Plane. He took a faceted-green color pool to Wenimats, home of the Azuposi gods.

• Meanwhile, Sir Whiteout heard the music of the planes and impressively recorded all the planar tuning fork sounds needed for the plane shift spell, in convenient six-second durations. But experimenting with F♯ ( listen) sent him to Cania and Nessus, bottom two of the Nine Hells, and he had to follow the River Styx out.
• We welcome back Gem Hound, who took one of those color pools into the mind flayer city of Oryndoll, City of Loretakers. Passing through the Thrall Caverns, she stopped at the Spinal Tap (no heavy metal, just the dread music of the bonethriven) and took in a show at the Amphitheater, until she was caught poking around in the Undervaults of Ilsensine. We hear the drooling has stopped now…

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Ioun stones were rare but renowned magical stones and gems that orbited their owner's heads and bestowed a wide variety of powers and enhancements according to their shape, color, and composition. They could only be crafted by experienced spellcasters well-versed in the creation of magical items. Only certain gems could be used, known collectively as "the nine secrets", though there were at least ten. Some unique ioun stones carried essences and souls from once-living beings, which gave them their power.

They were first created in the year −3462 DR by the precocious young Netherese arcanist Congenio Ioun, marking him as one of the greatest arcanists of his age. By the 14^th century, ioun stones were much desired and highly valued, though Congenio Ioun himself had been long-forgotten, with only his name surviving in his creation. Great collections were found in Athalantar, on the Wyvern Crown of Cormyr, and around the head of the mighty lich Larloch, the Shadow King of Warlock's Crypt.

New & Upcoming Releases

The D&D Essentials Kit received a limited release on June 24^th, 2019. This boxed set is intended as an introduction to D&D for newer players, and contains a basic ruleset, a dice set, and a map of the Sword Coast. Also included is the adventure "Dragon of Icespire Peak," which ties into the introductory adventure in the earlier D&D Starter Set. The Essentials Kit will be available everywhere on September 3^rd. Dragon+ 26 was released on June 18^th, 2019.

This issue has previews of many upcoming products including the Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus book, the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit boxed set, the Dungeon Mayhem: Battle for Baldur’s Gate card game, the Warriors of Waterdeep mobile game, the Infernal Tides comic series debut, and the pièce de résistance: Baldur's Gate III!

Also, a celebration of the recent D&D Live 2019 event with video of all five live games.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh by Mike Mearls and Kate Welch is a 5^th-edition Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook that updates and adapts seven sea-themed adventures from earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons. It was released on May 21^st, 2019.

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This supplement introduces the port town of Saltmarsh, the perfect starting point for a nautical campaign. Seven sea-based adventures, including the classic The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh and its sequels, take characters from 1st to 12th level. Also inside are rules and DM advice for ships and sea travel, as well as deck plans for various vessels. An appendix provides rules for the new and classic monster in the adventures. Hoist your sails, pull up anchor, and set a course for adventure!

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Storm King's Thunder is an adventure module and sourcebook for the Forgotten Realms using the 5th-edition ruleset of Dungeons & Dragons. Set in the Savage Frontier region of the late 15th century DR, it pits players against giants of many varieties.

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To Fight Giants, You Must Be Giant Ages ago, giants and dragons waged war across the Savage Frontier. These battles are long forgotten by the human civilizations of today, but ancient relics remain. And now, the land shudders once more with the thunder of giant footsteps. Hill giants raid farms for food and livestock, as stone giants lay waste to settlements in their path. Frost giants plunder coastal towns, as fire giants gather slaves. Cloud giant castles drift across the sky, casting ominous shadows on the cities of the North. But no threat compares to the wrath of the storm giants, who stand betrayed. Puny adventurers must rise to the challenge, gather their strength, unlock the power of ancient runes, and take the fight to the giants' doorsteps. Only then can they discover a hidden evil fomenting a war between giants and small folk. Only then can they forge an alliance to end the war before it begins. A Dungeons & Dragons® adventure for characters of levels 1–10. For use with the fifth edition Player's Handbook®, Monster Manual®, and Dungeon Master's Guide®.

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Today in the Realms...

...it is 16 Flamerule, or the 16th of Summertide. Selûne is a new moon .   

Realmslore

• The Vodoni Empire was a powerful and expansionist realm in the phlogiston. Their attempted invasion of Realmspace led to the War of the Spheres.
• Hamadryads were fey who acted as protectors of nature. They required no traditional sustenance, instead drawing nourishment through photosynthesis.
• Quickgrowth, a spell known to the shugenja of Kara-Tur, allowed a caster to rapidly accelerate the growth cycle of a plant.
• The term drow-dragon usually referred to half–shadow dragon drow, but could also apply to the exceedingly rare offspring of a drow and a deep dragon.
• A rope of climbing could tie or untie itself and support a weight of up to 3,000 lbs. These qualities made it highly valuable for pursuits in climbing.
• Starzad, a vorpal scimitar, was forged in Qudra, carried to the Elemental Plane of Water, sent to Sigil, then stolen away to the Abyss.

And, from the archives:

• Crown Prince Alemander V of Tethyr was suspected of having started the fire that killed him and the whole royal family.
• In an evil mystic's candle magic, the burning of a black curse candle inflicted a debilitating curse on those nearby.
• A bushi or chanshi was a Kara-Turan fighter who fought for coin rather than feudal obligation, but tried to maintain honor.
• A chaggrin, an elemental vermin, appeared as a bipedal lump of clay in the Plane of Earth and as skull-faced mole in the Prime.
• Benju Matsumoto, the lord of Aru in Wa, enjoyed music and had a hobby of acting in noh plays with Yuji Takaesu.

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