The isle of Garald the Blue
by Robin
Havard requested information on the island of Garald the Blue from the Basic D&D Companion boxed set (DMG book pages 60-61).
I had this older map still lying about, cleaned it up a bit (I was less precise in mapping then), added some monster lairs, altitudes and added the picture of Garald the Blue and his castle as well brought the picture's details into this map.
Enjoy.
Ok this spurned an interesting discussion on Pandius;
WingofCoot wrote:
That is really cool!
What monsters did you have in mind for the two "monster lair" spots marked?
Robin wrote;
Thanx
My DM notes said, Chimera and a clan of about 30 Ropers, yet I have no logical reason why / how these warped goblinoids came here.
The Chimera (couple)and wyverns (10!)came flying in and use this as a safe roosts to nest. My note calls these 20-30' long and wingspan wyverns as sea-wyverns from some fanon source I liked, which are colored like seagulls/Albatross. They had 2HD more than common, and could sleep while flying at 240' instead 360' awake. These hunted dolphins, small whales and large fish. And could fly up from the waters. (I assume now they have feathers like seagulls to enable this).
Robin wrote:
Garald's island is west of the scale hex and is a hill island roughly 4 miles in size
Cab Wrote;
Great find Robin! I ran across the island in Landfall and didn't think to check the other fan gazetteers to see if there was more description or an actual map placement like you found. There are a few mentions in the text of the Heldannic Territories fan gazetteer as well -
Page 10 - "Far out to sea is the island stronghold of the pirate Garald the Blue. Garald avoids Freiburg, but the other coastal settlements are seen as fair game. The Knights have yet to properly locate the isle."
Page 36 - "Garald the Blue: F30, C. Garald the Blue is an infamous pirate and kidnapper whose lair is an uncharted rocky isle due west of Heldann or north-northwest for Vestland. Garald has been careful to not lead the Knights back to his ocean castle, but this might not last forever."
(note East-West is again confused, as noted by cab above)
Page 43 - "Garald the Blue: While making their way along the coast, the party is kidnapped by Garald the Blue. They must survive his wrestling pits and then escape the isle to return to the freedom of Heldann."
WingsofCoot wrote;
Perhaps the Ropers were introduced by Garald (maybe he is stocking monsters on the island as part of the same project as the Arena itself) or by some other Chaotic being working with him or influencing him (if he's pursuing a path to Entropic Immortality, maybe his patron is causing monsters to crop up).
Cool! A feathered wyvern sounds really interesting. It might look something like some of those not-quite-bird dinosaurs. A couple of them apparently even had both membranous wings and feathers!
Robin Wrote;
That sounds reasonable. A 30th level pirate fighter certainly has the means and skills to capture a bunch of Ropers.
I vaguely remember my then(1986) Party had to fight all the men listen in the Companion box section on Garald, and these were nasty opponents. of the 8 PC's only 2 survived, of which one by a Raise Dead with 1 hp thereafter only, both escaped by a badly cast Teleport, of which the caster partially fused with a wall and lost its arm. so both were out of order for several Mystara time months to recover.
What I have more on Garald;s island, is the following from some rather destroyed scraps of paper.(mice damaged scraps)
A strong consistent wind 7+ beaufort, blows from NE to SW, changing only to W or S.
The island is no longer volcanic active, yet heat still emanates from below, making each level; underground deeper, than the surface level 10 degrees Celsius warmer. The average temperature on the surface is 5 degrees Celsius.
The castle has warm water through Thyatian water pipes from below. And is lusciously decorated. It has Thyatian (greek) styled open area, as well as Thyatian (Roman) styled enclosed chambers
In the rock beneath the castle is the first Arena(or Arena Primus), and most beautiful, for 100 viewers (excluding in this counting the 3d4servants and 3d4 slaves for each) each in their richly decorated niche, and is about 20 yards below the viewers, 100 yard wide and 280 long. It is further similar to the Colosseum, in that the floor can be changed (physically as well as magically---probably illusion together with magical summoned weather, as it could rain heavily in here), and is 10 degrees warmer. There are several chambers at this level for crew, animals/monsters prisons, maintenance, storage, etc.
The secondary level is located in a cave in the middle of the island, for 45 viewers (excluding in this counting the 3d4servants and 3d4 slaves for each) each in their richly decorated private chamber viewing the arena below, which is about 30 yards below the viewers, 1000 yard diameter. it contains a lush forest with 30 yards high trees, underneath a hole in the ceiling, with mirrors to reflect sunlight below, as well as rain--as such only the central area is 500 yards diameter or so forested, while the 250 yards rim around that is more sparse, containing only grass and low bushes. It is 20 degrees warmer here and very moist (this is called the Damp Arena- Arena Humidus ) Here are also planted various dangerous carnivorous plants, including at least 2 killer trees. There are several chambers at this level for crew, animals/monsters. prisons, maintenance, storage, etc.
The third arena lies beneath a intermediary area containing a maze, stocked with various opponents but mostly Ropers. This maze had access to the surface and only the Ropers could crawl through the blocking bars. Viewers from area 3 could see all by use of several crystal balls. It is 30 degrees Celsius warmer here). The arena is bypassed by corridors between the second and 4th level
The 3rd Arena (Arena infernus) is a cross-shaped area with cut corners. of 100 yards long and 40 wide, and the perpendicular of 80 yard long 50' wide. for 30 viewers (excluding in this counting the 3d4servants and 3d4 slaves for each) each in their richly decorated private chamber viewing the arena 35 yards below, It is 40 degrees warmer here. Cold seawater is brought in to cool these chambers, and the pipes are white salt encrusted at the ends. Freshwater still must be brought in manually or by use of Create water spells.
here are also several chambers at this level for crew, animals/monsters. prisons, maintenance, storage, etc, yet there is no water here, other than the few buckets for the living (barely) prisoners and animals. There is at least on Chimera here imprisoned.
There is another lower level which is even warmer +50 degrees Celsius(called Hades' Inferno), holding a 50 yard by 60 yard 40 yard high cave, with only a few unfinished chambers and corridors, yet the circumstances were too unbearable to finish this level. Several undead wander around with dried almost mummified husks. They appear mummy like as such, but are in fact ghouls.
All arena levels contain traps; spear/blade , poison spray, shower, glue, darts, and similar traps (reset by slaves after the arena is empty)
I hope this helps . I have no more (readable/or sort of whole) information. I could redraw the arena maps if needed, but the paper is too degraded to be scanned.
Lets say, this arena set was deadly, even without enemies.
Ironclad Wrote;
Garald turns up in a small but memorable way (in my opinion :D) in my fanfiction. It was circa AC973ish, so he is much younger, early-mid twenties. The Garald we meet in the Companion set would have been encountered sometime after AC1000, assuming most DM's start their campaign then and after taking a few years to reach Companion level. In my story he has a small crew, is encountered in Ljosholl (later renamed Lighthall) and is nicknamed "The Fisherman". He does not yet have the moniker "The Blue".
Nice...That can certainly used as a character building background.
I questioned myself, what the nickname meant, so I found this;
The Blue; The nickname Blue for a irish redhead originated from the gold fields in the 1860s. An influx of Irish fellows - many of whom had red hair - were considered feisty - especially after drinking, and would be the instigators of fights (a blue= a fight in irish language). Hence the catch cry - "There goes a blue" - when a redheaded Irishman passed.
When following this; Garald may have his roots on the Isle of Dawn, where the Irish tongue roams according most lovely fanon
Havard wrote;
Being a Norse Dude, I assumed his name was based on Harald Bluetooth (Harald Blåtann) of Denmark. Although I also kinda like the idea of him being based on Bluebeard. He does have a big beard afterall.
Ironclad wrote;
The Companion box set says that Garald got the name due to "the definite bluish tint of his great hooked nose. He is very sensitive to insults on this matter".
In my story (spoiler spoiler) he gets the bluish tint due to an injury he received taking part in a bout with one of the main characters in my fan fiction. I'll say no more.
Robin Wrote;
interesting. :shock:
Biologically/Physically :ugeek: you get a Bleu(ish) nose when there isn't enough oxygen in your blood. Cyanosis is a symptom of various heart and lung conditions, autoimmune disease, and drug overdose. The blue tinge of cyanosis means your muscles, organs, and other tissues may not be getting the oxygen they need to operate properly.
That would mean Garald :o hides a physical weakness like blood depletion, orrrrr..... :twisted: blood draining, is het on the verge of becoming a vampire, and does all he can to suppress the condition?. it would certainly explain his more violent streaks, and desire to look upon blood fights. On the other hand a 30th level fighter has not only the chance to meet and fight vampires, but could infect him as well.
WingsofCoot wrote;
If the arena and bringing monsters to the island is part of some weird Entropic Immortality path, a slow undead transformation might fit.
Maybe it's a kind of test of worthiness/curse from his patron, where he has to get to Immortality in a certain number of years or turn into a vampire.
Maybe it's an evil 'gift' where his patron sees vampirism as an upgrade but Garald doesn't.
(Maybe his patron is Alphaks? He could be pretty well positioned to raid Alphatian shipping, and Alphaks was involved in turning Morphail into a vampire.)
Robin wrote;
All possibilities. My personal feeling tends to all three together. Garald might not even know as of yet he is guided towards sponsorship.
Thanx.
a pity nothing more complete was survived, As I have written it here, I have tossed it away, as it stank dried mice urine.
So thanx for the question, which caused me to dig this (and some other stuff still to check) up and share
The unchecked rest is now in a close kitchen box, to prevent the stench permeating into my living areas(I stored this in an open box while I was homeless, but dumped the box in my basement as it was to chaotic till now---tossed a lot of snippets away, due being illegible or just to filthy)
That said, I tried to use the environment into the battle scene by implementing constitution checks penalized by 1 for each lower floor due the heat. for humans and demihumans for each round combat beyond the original constitution in rounds .to prevent Fatigue to hit see here
The changing of the upper area was in RL history done fore, but in a magical scenario like Mystara, could well done while combatting. giving another nasty environmental hindrance to conquer beside corporeal, and opponents
Greenbrier wrote;
Found another mention of Garald in the Landfall fan gazetteer, an escapee on page 31! -
"Kimball Black: F10, N, Wis8, Dex8, 5’10”, 175lbs. Kimball is a brooding fixture of the cantinas in his dark grey clothes and dark cloak. Kimball is loyal to those who hire him out, but he does not seem to fit with any particular faction. He still bears the scars of old slaver chains, and he is the only man to have survived Garald the Blue’s wrestling pits long enough to escape. He unfortunately has no way of knowing how to get back to the rock."
Robin Wrote;
Oeh, and nice...a survivor