My mistake on the lance rules, I was thinking of the PF version.

To be honest, I think you need to revisit your character concept. For one thing, it doesn't fit into the beginning-of-2e timeline of the adventure. Bane is dead, the Zhentarim mostly follow Cyric, who's only been a god for a few years, and the Shadovar are still on the plane of Shadow. For another, the idea of a character who is a member of the Zhentarim really just doesn't fit in with the adventure as written. An adventure, I hasten to add, which you requested by name.

As far as books go, I'm pretty familiar with Core+Complete+MIC so that's what I allowed. I made an explicit exception for regional feats and FR versions of races because I felt they were small and flavorful enough to be a nice add. I wouldn't have bothered writing out an allowed list of books if I was just going to approve everything anyway.