307. Grotto

[Scott]

Where the leucrotta dwell.
I think this has come up before, maybe on my old boards.
The description states, "note that anyone bearing the "branched staff", described in area 427, commands their respect".
Well, there is no "branched staff" in area 427, or anywhere else. Any thoughts?

[Scott]

Sounds a bit like the tentacle rods from the D series. Sounds like another bit leftover from Gary's original draft.

[GT]

I never caught that... I'll have to look! ^__^

[GT]

I suppose we could e-mail Frank... he's probably had it brought to his attention at some point.

[Scott]

In the slim hope he kept a copy of EGG's manuscript, and he's willing to investigate.

[Scott]

You know what I would give to get a look at that thing, btw.

[GT]

Frank was totally cool in all of the encounters I had with him in the 90's, so if he has the info, I'm willing to bet he'd share it...

[GT]

...remember, though--the version Gary gave Frank did not include the EEG temple (you know that long story, yes? involving Gary's getting sent out to California to shop "entertainment ideas", etc.), so anything along those lines he found out about afterwards! ^__^

[Scott]

Frank seems like a totally cool guy.
I have no info on what was in the version Frank had.

[GT]

Pretty much everything you saw in the module--the dungeon levels were apparently all Gary's, but the nodes were mostly Frank. Unfortunately, the EEG temple was not included by accident, and Gary had been removed to California at the time, so Frank had no idea...

[Scott]

So then there is a chance Frank's got the scoop.

[GT]

Yeah, if nothing else, he's probably aware of the glitch and what it was supposed to be.

[geneweigel]

Falrinth has an "oddly branched" candelabra. This branch reference made me think of the 1980 "demoniac" rune for some reason.

[Scott]

Hmmm, I wonder if that was it, and the extra details were dropped. He has a Lolth connection too.

[Scott]

Well, I asked Frank:
"How about this little ToEE mystery:
In area 307. Grotto
Where the leucrotta dwell.
The description states, "note that anyone bearing the "branched staff", described in area 427, commands their respect".
There is no "branched staff" in area 427, or anywhere else. Any ideas?
It sounds like it could be one of the tentacle rods from the D series. Just wondering if this was another reference from the Lolth version that made it in."

His reply:
"Exactly right; good show. I should have twiddled that one, tho, since anyone going thru the D's should have ended up far too high in level to be challenged by the Temple. Gary had written much of ToEE shortly after the D series, so a lot of that was still on his mind."

[geneweigel]

So if thats so then one can assume that the 4th level would have contained the EEG anomaly?

[Scott]

I don't think, since the 4th level archacnid map was EGG's too, but there must have been a follower of the EEG there. The EEG temple was to be a whole nother level I believe, beneath the detailed four.

[Scott]

BTW, Frank did confirm that the Greater Temple map was Gary's design, and it was spider-inspired.

[geneweigel]

Did you mention my story from last year?

LGGC

The highlight of the last trip was telling Gary that now that he's pinned out in the smoking lounge he's going to answer my "toee spider map is the true demonweb" theory once and for all. He answered with a growing smile that the introduction to Q1 was a fabrication on his part. THERE NEVER WAS A MAP OR AN ADVENTURE! (Solely because of him being stretched on business matters at the time. The fact that it looked like a spider, he explained was a coincidence: 8 radiating spider legs/4 element paths with symmetrically mirrored map plans) So how can I ever one up that?

He really was insistent about it not being a spider.

I think Frank was nearby when I asked Gary but he was bullshitting with some guy.

[Scott]

I knew the whole Q1 story was BS.
I don't know how much detail was done, it may have been just a collection of ideas, but I do know that Gary was working on a conclusion for the GD series.
The spider thing may have been an assumption. It's an easy one to make.