LETTERS
Cryptic cover
Dear Dragon,
I read DRAGON issue #174 from cover to
cover. The only thing I can say is that it was
terrific, but there is one part I really enjoyed:
the cover painting. It was great. Did you know
that you can decipher the tombstone? I won’t
give it away so you can do it yourself, but I will
leave you a clue: Use the FORGOTTEN
REALMS® boxed set’s Cyclopedia of the Realms.

Jeff Bourdon
Freeland MI
(Dragon #179)

A number of readers, including Yves Nida of
Talant, France, wrote in with correct translations
of the tombstone. Readers who lack the
FORGOTTEN REALMS boxed set might also use
the article “Runestones,” from DRAGON issue
#69 (reprinted in the Best of DRAGON Magazine
Anthology, volume IV), or FR11 Dwarves Deep.
All three sources are by our foremost Realms
scholar, Ed Greenwood. Of course, the translation
begs one question, asked by John Sheerin,
of Nutley, N.J.: “What self-respecting dwarven
smith would carve that into a perfectly good
slab of stone?”