In the Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft adventure The House of Lament the players can find a cryptic note... “Shadowed fingers. Eyes like glass. Beware the below. —L. Dolan.” What do you make of this and does "—L. Dolan." mean anything to you?
Who deduced that L. Dolan is in all probability a reference to Landall Dolan, formerly a artist before becoming a priest of Ezra who created Lumina, a glass golem. Their story can be found in a 2e book “Children of the Night: The Created” Lumina - Graven Images by Cindi Rice pg77.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Other than it being written by the sculptor, it just seems sort of foreboding ambience rather than a truly constructive clue. At least, I've not found it any more than that. I mean there are creepy hands al, over the place, and characters should feel "watched."
Again, not finding a "plot" propelling reason, I'd allow it as an atmospheric red herring, everytime the party encounters a hand or feels watched let the party decide if they feel "this" is what the note was going on about.
Been keeping "House of Lament" in reserve depending on whether one of my games' parties wants to linger in the Shadowfell a little longer after their present adventure, so I've been over it but haven't done a deep read of it yet, so a few grains of salt should be consumed with this take.
Thanks @MidnightPlat yeah it's definitely serving the "foreboding ambience" purpose with my players currently, plot wise I could see it referring to what is under the house of lament, I was wondering with so many domains of dread in VRGtG it might be a reference to another realm etirley or "—L. Dolan." being a little inside joke/reference to an author or artist in the D&D community... kinda glad your reply isn't something along the lines of "oh that's a really obvious reference to HR GIGER" Thanks again MidnightPlat can definitely recommend The House of Lament plenty of scope to make it your own and I'm very much enjoying running it.
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
I wondered this myself as my players just found the note and after some extensive googling (which is also how I found this thread) I discovered that it seems more like an old school Easter egg adding flavour to the atmosphere than an actual part of the plot, possibly to reflect the many domains the house has appeared in.
L. Dolan is Landall Dolan, a priest of Ezra who created Lumina, a glass golem. Their story can be found in a 2e book “Children of the Night: The Created” pg77.
Fantastic! @TheWargamerNextDoor thank you so much for sharing that
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
In the Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft adventure The House of Lament the players can find a cryptic note...
“Shadowed fingers. Eyes like glass. Beware the below. —L. Dolan.”
What do you make of this and does "—L. Dolan." mean anything to you?
EDIT UPDATE
And The Honorary Investigator award goes to TheWargamerNextDoor
Who deduced that L. Dolan is in all probability a reference to Landall Dolan, formerly a artist before becoming a priest of Ezra who created Lumina, a glass golem. Their story can be found in a 2e book “Children of the Night: The Created” Lumina - Graven Images by Cindi Rice pg77.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Other than it being written by the sculptor, it just seems sort of foreboding ambience rather than a truly constructive clue. At least, I've not found it any more than that. I mean there are creepy hands al, over the place, and characters should feel "watched."
Again, not finding a "plot" propelling reason, I'd allow it as an atmospheric red herring, everytime the party encounters a hand or feels watched let the party decide if they feel "this" is what the note was going on about.
Been keeping "House of Lament" in reserve depending on whether one of my games' parties wants to linger in the Shadowfell a little longer after their present adventure, so I've been over it but haven't done a deep read of it yet, so a few grains of salt should be consumed with this take.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Thanks @MidnightPlat yeah it's definitely serving the "foreboding ambience" purpose with my players currently, plot wise I could see it referring to what is under the house of lament, I was wondering with so many domains of dread in VRGtG it might be a reference to another realm etirley or "—L. Dolan." being a little inside joke/reference to an author or artist in the D&D community...
kinda glad your reply isn't something along the lines of "oh that's a really obvious reference to HR GIGER" Thanks again MidnightPlat can definitely recommend The House of Lament plenty of scope to make it your own and I'm very much enjoying running it.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
I wondered this myself as my players just found the note and after some extensive googling (which is also how I found this thread) I discovered that it seems more like an old school Easter egg adding flavour to the atmosphere than an actual part of the plot, possibly to reflect the many domains the house has appeared in.
L. Dolan is Landall Dolan, a priest of Ezra who created Lumina, a glass golem. Their story can be found in a 2e book “Children of the Night: The Created” pg77.
Fantastic! @TheWargamerNextDoor thank you so much for sharing that
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
That is a cool catch, cool.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.