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• The FRW has passed its 27,000^th page! Lucky number 27,000 was Lhynard's Quasi-Elemental Plane of Salt, but don't get salty that it's a stub. Check out the Fountains of Creation and Swamp of Oblivion for other obscure elemental planes that helped him make that thousand.
• After proving adept in Dungeon Command, Regis87 has thrown down the gauntlet, challenging her fellow editors to uncover lost spells in the Missing Magic Project! She added dying curse, stumble, and army for a strong start.
• Artemaz ventured down the High Walk, meeting a dwarf actually named Surly Grumble. Boating down the Goliad River and Great Imphras River, he explored Damara, taking in the Halfling Downs, Waukeshire, and Soravia.
• Ir'revrykal (named for a githyanki greatsword, we learned) documented twig blights, the dwarf cleric of Grumbar Boon Silverhoarde, the Tyrran Order of the Even-Handed, and the amulet of the planes, not to mention the books The Prince of Al-Qadim, Red Bess and the Kelpie's Regret, and How to Kiss Better. But who am I to judge guilty pleasures?

Featured Article

The Cathedral of Emerald Scales was a temple to Varae, the beast cult aspect of Sseth, located in the heart of Hlondeth in the Vilhon Reach. It was a huge green dome squeezed by a spiraling constrictor snake sculpture with an upturned head that spouted water. The fountain not only kept the surrounding swatch of jungle misty, but water filtered through the porous dome to create a constant gentle rain beneath. The dome was held up by 30 massive pillars carved with snakes, giving the area under the dome the name Forest of Serpents. Outside, the jungle garden was ensorcelled so that trespassers got lost for days in a steamy trap filled with tropical animals, birds, insects, and plants, many of them deadly. The entire compound was surrounded by a high, hollow wall known as the Wall of the Amphisbaena because it was sculpted to resemble a gigantic snake with a head at both ends.

Below the Cathedral were catacombs designed to be traversed by bodies with serpentine features and impede bipeds. Here were living quarters for the priests, staff, and ophidian guards; brood chambers tended by histachii; laboratories for bizarre experiments that produced things akin to mongrelfolk; "prison pantries", where a menagerie of creatures were grown for food (including a deepspawn or two); and the lavishly furnished chambers of the high priestess, a yuan-ti abomination named Medusanna Mhairdaul.

Featured Source

Tomb of Annihilation, designed by Christopher Perkins, Will Doyle, Steve Winter, and Adam Lee, is an adventure module set in the Forgotten Realms using the Dungeons & Dragons 5th-edition ruleset. Set in the late 15th century DR, it explores the distant land of Chult and introduces the mighty lich Acererak to the Realms.

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Dare to defy death in this adventure for the world's greatest roleplaying game. The talk of the streets and taverns has all been about the so-called death curse: a wasting disease afflicting everyone who's ever been raised from the dead. Victims grow thinner and weaker each day, slowly but steadily sliding toward the death they once denied. When they finally succumb, they can't be raised—and neither can anyone else, regardless of whether they’ve ever received that miracle in the past. Temples and scholars of divine magic are at a loss to explain a curse that has affected the entire region, and possibly the entire world. The cause is a necromantic artifact called the Soulmonger, which is located somewhere in Chult, a mysterious peninsula far to the south, ringed with mountains and choked with rainforests.

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New & Upcoming Releases

Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a 5^th-edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure set in the city of Waterdeep and a sequel to Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. It was released on November 20, 2018.

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The Greatest Dungeon of Them All Explore the mega-dungeon of Undermountain in this adventure for the world's greatest roleplaying game. In the city of Waterdeep rests a tavern called the Yawning Portal, named after the gaping pit in its common room. At the bottom of this crumbling shaft is a labyrinthine dungeon shunned by all but the most daring adventurers. Known as Undermountain, this dungeon is the domain of the mad wizard Halaster Blackcloak. Long has the Mad Mage dwelt in these forlorn depths, seeding his lair with monsters, traps, and mysteries—to what end is a constant source of speculation and concern. This adventure picks up where Waterdeep: Dragon Heist leaves off, taking characters of 5th level or higher all the way to 20th level should they explore the entirety of Halaster's home. Twenty-three levels of Undermountain are detailed herein, along with the subterranean refuge of Skullport. Treasures and secrets abound, but tread with care!

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Dragon+ 23 was released on December 6, 2018.

This issue presented a new "miniature" in the Icons of the Realms series—an entire sailing ship! Based on drawings made by Chris Perkins when he was a teenager, this is an amazing piece of work that brings immersion to the game without sacrificing playability.

The saga of Braya the young thief in Waterdeep continues in Raven's Reckoning; Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms invades consoles; Maps of the Month includes isometrics of the new ship miniature plus three retro black and white maps from Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage; and Dragon Classics harks back to Aurora's Undermountain Sale and more from that most dangerous of dungeons.

Today in the Realms...

...it is 15 Nightal, or the 15th of the Drawing Down. On this day:

• In 1374 DR, Elminster's tower in the town of Shadowdale was attacked by Sharran assassins and destroyed after a pitched battle. Elminster disappeared and what was left of his tower got shifted to another plane.
• In 1486 DR, members of the Liberators of the Steel Sky opened a portal to Abeir in the Catacombs of Djerad Thymar, believing they would save the dragonborn inhabitants of that world. However, one of the maurezhi servants of Gilgeam was accidentally sent to Toril through the portal, and killed all members of the Liberators before it set loose on Djerad Thymar.

Realmslore

• Nurneene's Marvelous Masks, purveyor of luxury costumes for the nobility of Waterdeep, also housed a small shrine to Mask.
• The Three-Faced Sun heresy was a heresy that maintained Amaunator and Jergal were aspects of the sun as an overdeity.
• Warden was a warforged warlock from Eberron who roamed Realmspace to collect souls for the Elder Evil Hadar.
• Celestial maces were heavy weapons carried by astral devas, noted for their ability to inflict disruption on foes.
• Jalester Silvermane was an agent of the Lords' Alliance who frequented the Yawning Portal to monitor the adventurers of Waterdeep.
• Ambrosia, manna of the celestials of the Seven Heavens, was a liquid manifestation of pure joy with both soothing and healing qualities.
• The squirrel Percival helped the clerics of the Edificant Library overcome both the Chaos Curse and a vampire infestation.
• Snowmantle, once a peaceful village in Daggerdale, was transformed into a slave labor camp following a Zhentarim occupation.
• Kazerabet traveled to the island of Sahu and bargained with a lich to gain further insight into the dark arts of necromancy.
• A badge of the Watch was awarded to captains of Waterdeep's City Watch. It helped them defend against attackers and, if lost, could inform the Open Lord as to their whereabouts.

And, from the archives:

• Teshwave, a small town in Teshendale, was controlled by Zhentil Keep and guarded by Zhent-serving orcs, gnolls, and ogres.
• The lessen gravity spell would reduce the strength of gravity in an area, and three castings would eliminate it entirely.
• Clear Whirl River, beginning at Lake Woe, flowed through the kingdom of Hartsvale and emptied into the Endless Ice Sea.
• The Fountains of Memory, once sacred to deep gnomes, offered glimpses of history to those who peered into them.
• The create baneguard spell was known to priests of Bane until his death, when it spread to followers of other dark deities.
• Jhachalkhyn was a drow city where the power of Lolth's matriarchy passed, and it fell into the grip of the Jaezred Chaulssin.
• A devourer was a horrific breed of fiend serving Orcus that trapped victims in its chest and slowly transformed them into undead.
• Arton Githsberry, a 6th-century ruler of Turmish, refused to wind down logging in Gulthmere Forest when asked by local druids.
• Sir Jerold Keegan, a 3rd-century knight of Cormyr and noted dragonslayer, famously banished the shadow dragon Shadraxil.
• The aging Catlord, the ruler of all felines, led his charges from the jungles, but recognized that his heir must prowl the cities.

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