Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

Major Geographic
Features
The two defining features of the Great Dale are the massive
forests that bound it to either side. The Rawlinswood runs to
the north of the dale from which the land gets its name, and
the Forest of Lethyr borders the south. The dale climbs
steadily from west to east, reaching an elevation of nearly
2,000 feet above sea level at Ashanath.
The Dale
The most prominent feature of the Great Dale is this long,
windswept gap between the Forest of Lethyr and the
Rawlinswood. When the world was young, some arm of the
Great Glacier scoured a path between two slightly higher
stretches of land, and since that long-ago time, the great
forests have been unable to take root in the vale between.
The Dalesfolk tell other stories to explain the gap; some say
a great dragon burned a path through one great forest,
while others claim that Shaundakul and Silvanus held a contest
to determine whether wood or wind would rule this
land, and that Auril the Frostmaiden intervened to set
winter over both.
Whatever its origin, the gap averages forty to sixty miles
in width and stretches nearly 250 miles in length. (The
region known as the Great Dale includes the two forests and
is quite a bit larger than the dale itself.) Rumpled ridges of
bare rock rise from its thin soil, growing steeper and more
rugged toward the forests that flank north and south. In
sheltered spots, the topsoil is thick and fertile, but most of
the land is suited only for raising hardy livestock such as
goats and sheep.
Most of the people of the Great Dale live in the western
reaches of the land, near Uthmere. As one travels east, settlements
become fewer and farther between; most folk live on
the edge of the two major forests or just inside their eaves. The
canopy of the trees is so thick, even in the heart of winter,
that almost no light passes through, casting vast portions of
the land in twilight even at the height of the day. While this
also provides for shelter from the rains, sun, and snows, it
makes for poor farming.
A long road—the only well-traveled one in the territory—
runs from Uthmere all the way to the Cold Road in the east.
Technically called the Great Road, it is known by many names
throughout the region, but most of the area’s residents just
refer to it as “the Road.” Since there aren’t any other major
roads, it’s clear which one is meant.
The dale is known for its fierce winter winds. Those farms
and settlements not sheltered by the woodlands are scoured by
harsh west winds that blow down the length of the gap as if
Shaundakul himself were racing along the Great Road.
THE GREAT DALE
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THE GREAT BARROW
About seventy miles up the Great Road from Uthmere looms
the Great Barrow, a vast dark mound. A number of lesser barrows
ring it like cold sentinels, the long brown grasses of their
rounded sides hissing endlessly in a chill north wind that never
dies away completely. No one knows who is interred in the
Great Barrow, or what forgotten people raised it, but stories
say that a cruel human tribe once roamed these lands before
even the rise of Narfell, and that their god-born champion lies
buried here. Naturally, the place is said to be haunted by restless
spirits.
A century ago, an Impilturan lord named Elphras mocked
the old stories and raised a small stone keep on a nearby hill,
claiming the barrowfield along with the land for miles about.
Some unknown catastrophe overtook Elphras and his entire
household, for the Impilturan lord, his family, and a keep full
of guards and servants disappeared one cold night, leaving
behind an empty and cheerless tower.
VAL-MURTHAG
North and east of Bezentil lies the wreckage of the old fortress
of Val-Murthag, one of the largest Nar ruins not covered by
forest. This great castle stood watch over the eastern approaches
of the Dale, a formidable rampart in the path of any
attack from Raumathar to the east. Val-Murthag was a place
of madness and horror, the spiritual center of the demonic cult
that dominated the dark empire’s final days, and Raumathari
battlemages visited untold destruction on the place in the final
battle of the two realms. Little of Val-Murthag remains to be
seen, except for sprawling old walls of weathered black stone
that run for miles across the cold downs and the shattered
stumps of watchtowers amid heaps of battered stone.
The ghosts of Nar demonpriests are said to haunt the ruins,
and most of the Dalesfolk give the place a wide berth.
Firward Mountains
At the northeastern end of the Rawlinswood, hard by Lake
Ashane, stand the Firward Mountains. This range lies
midway between the Giantspires of Narfell and the northern
Sunrise Mountains of Rashemen. The Firwards are unlike the
forbidding ranges of the neighboring lands. Relatively low,
they are densely forested to their summits and unusually cold
and snowy in wintertime. Narfell, Rashemen, and the Great
Dale all could claim the Firwards, but the mountains rise between
the least populous portions of all three countries, so
they form an uncontested border between them.
Even in the days of ancient Narfell, the Firwards were not
heavily populated, although some of the kingdom’s more powerful
archsummoners raised demon-built fortresses in their
cold isolation. These days, the Firwards are home to the
Horned Skulls (a large, fierce tribe of bugbears), bands of frost
giants, and several clans of vicious taers. Beneath their frozen