Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

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A ghost of the Great Barrow THE GREAT DALE 116 peaks lie the delvings of a handful of shield dwarf clans, and below those, extensive Underdark caverns dominated by demon trolls. Forest of Lethyr The Forest of Lethyr occupies the southern half of the Great Dale and is a natural boundary between that land and Thesk. The portion of the forest south of the River Flam is considered Theskian land. The residents of the Great Dale hardly notice. This area has been constantly logged over the years, making it the poor cousin of the northern reaches. Close to the Golden Way, these lands are too near civilization for comfort in the minds of druids and rangers. The Forest of Lethyr is home to the Nentyarch (N male human Drd17/Hie5/Sor6), the most powerful druid in northeastern Faerûn. The Nentyarch leads the Circle of Leth and their agents, the Nentyar hunters. From his seat at Yeshelmaar, the Nentyarch and the druids who serve him defend the forest against wanton cutting and oversettlement. The Nentyarch is also the master of the Rawlinswood, but two years ago the frenzied hordes of the Rotting Man stormed Dun-Tharos, his former seat of power, and drove the Circle of Leth to the southern forest. Separated by the sparsely populated valley of the Great Dale, these two opposing forces are engaged in a mortal struggle for both woodlands. The Forest of Lethyr is filled with all sorts of creatures, but the most prominent ones are the treants who work with their humanoid friends to protect the woods. Lethyr is also home to several villages of secretive wood elves, as well as a handful of volodni bands. Human settlements are limited to the forest’s southern edges. Spearsmouth Dale is nestled on the edges of the treeless valley closest to the source of the Flam. The next valley to the northeast along the forest’s edge is home to Mettledale. FORTRESS NARDER Like Clymph Tower in the Rawlinswood, this ruin in the Forest of Lethyr is twisted and evil. Some buried taint of ancient Narfell lurks in the dungeons beneath the ivy-grown stones, poisoning the groundwater and sickening the trees and forest creatures of the surrounding area. While it is tempting to blame this baleful influence on the Talontar blightlords of Illustration by Matt Faulkner
the Rawlinswood, the evil here is different. Its foulness is not Talona’s blight—in fact, the Rotting Man is keenly interested in the mystery of Fortress Narder and sends parties of blightlords here, hoping to unearth something from its horrible dungeons. Under the direction of the Nentyarch, the Circle of Leth is calling treants to move the remaining healthy trees to safer parts of the forest. Then the druids plan to quarantine the area and destroy the corrupted flora and fauna. This will create a hole in the heart of the forest, but in time the wound should heal over. If the druids have anything to say about it, none but they and the Nentyar hunters will know there was anything wrong here. In the meantime, monstrous creatures spawned in Fortress Narder’s dungeons creep out to hunt and slay in the forest nearby, delaying the druids’ plans. The Nentyarch fears that simply quarantining the ruins may not be enough. He may have to find someone to uncover the source of the horrible evil and destroy it once and for all. MAUBERG’S OAK Mauberg’s Oak is a huge tree located in the northwestern reach of the Forest of Lethyr, about a hundred miles southeast of Uthmere. The tree measures 50 feet in diameter at its base and stands over 300 feet tall, towering over the canopy of the forest around it. Its branches shade a vast area, and its leaves are thick and green all year round, even in the dead of the harshest winters. Although still living, the tree was long ago hollowed out by the powerful druid Mauberg. He magically worked the wood to build a massive tower hideaway in the heart of the amazing tree. Although Mauberg has been dead for over a century, his legacy lives on. He crafted the oak to house a school for young druids and to display the awesome power of nature. The tower features almost a dozen levels on the inside of the tree and extends below the soil for three more levels. The school’s headmaster, a Theskian woman known as Oakandra (NG female human Drd13) is wary of strangers, even new applicants. Only those who prove their dedication to nature by passing various tests, both magical and mundane, are allowed to enter the tree itself. Others are permitted to sleep under the eaves of the oak if they are of either good or neutral alignment. Evil visitors are run off immediately. A large colony of treants lives under the oak’s canopy. They provide Oakandra with an early warning system against incoming threats. A dozen aarakocras live in the upper branches of the tree, watching the skies for danger from above. The leader of this group, Chir’kawta (NG male aarakocra Drd12), is a powerful druid who once studied here under Oakandra herself. THE MUCKLESTONES This ancient druidic holy site is located in the northeastern Forest of Lethyr. Its unusual clearing features no tree trunks THE GREAT DALE 117 but is protected from the sky by the bordering trees, which meet over the center of the open space. Within this space stand a number of weathered stones about 6 feet in height, 4 feet across, and 2 feet thick. Their surfaces are covered with nature-runes. The stones form an elaborate arrangement that shifts from time to time, as the stones occasionally move about. Elder druids who have tracked the progression of the Mucklestones over the years claim that sometimes the entire clearing moves, taking the stones along with it. It never moves very far, though, and the druids have always been able to track it down. Each of the Mucklestones is a portal to a different part of Faerûn. The nature-runes on a given stone indicate where it leads, but they are difficult to puzzle out—they are carved in an ancient dialect of the Druidic tongue (Decipher Script check DC 30 or knowledge of the secret language of druids). Some of the runes have faded over the years, making it impossible to know where the portal might lead. At least one of these portals connects to the Sunglade deep in the Yuirwood (see Chapter 8: Aglarond). The druids of this area sometimes use it to meet with the Masters of the Yuirwood, and sometimes they bring along young rangers who wish to study with the foresters of those elder woods. The Mucklestones aren’t the property of any person or group. Still, the Circle of Leth guards the area jealously for fear that evil creatures might locate the stones and destroy them. A high druid named Briartan (LN male human Drd13) lives nearby, and he coordinates the efforts of his fellows to keep the Mucklestones safe. These people sometimes call themselves “the Mucklefriends,” but rarely in the company of strangers. YESHELMAAR Not far from the crossroads of Bezentil, near the center of the Great Dale, a great rocky tor rises from the forest. A pristine lake of clear, cold water stands at its foot. Carved into the tor is an old wood-elf stronghold known as Yeshelmaar, built in the days when the Lethyr elves faced destruction at the hands of the sinister Empire of Narfell to the north. The threat of old Narfell has long since passed away, but so too have most of the elven folk. Of the wood elves who once lived here, only a few small villages survive. The old elven stronghold has become the new fortress of the Circle of Leth. The Nentyarch and his High Druids formerly inhabited Dun- Tharos in the Rawlinswood, but two years ago they were driven out by the Talontar blightlords, and Yeshelmaar became the Nentyarch’s seat-in-exile. Yeshelmaar is the informal capital of the Great Dale, or at least its eastern half. The folk of the lonely clanholds hold a deep reverence for the Nentyarch. At any given time, a dozen druids of various ranks and twice that number of rangers, hunters, and foresters occupy the stronghold or the woods nearby, along with a handful of Dalesfolk come to seek advice or assistance. The Nentyarch is occupied in a fierce contest against Talona’s Rotting Man for the very soul of two great forests, but his druids do what they can to help out
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Contents Introduction . . . . . . .
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Across the wide lands of Faerûn, b
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Chapter 5: Magic Items. The Red Wiz
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Races The races commonly found in o
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Star Elf Racial Traits Star elves h
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of adventuring party. At best, a gn
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ability, regardless of actual level
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Alignment: Volodnis are not activel
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The Unapproachable East is home to
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The griffon retains its own type an
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CLASS FEATURES All the following ar
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Telthor Companion: Beginning at 3rd
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Nar demonbinders are most often cle
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8th level—flensing (FRCS), greate
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CLASS FEATURES All the following ar
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Scribe Runescar (Sp): At 1st level,
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to his monk levels and use the unar
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+1d6 points of bonus cold damage on
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extension of their aggression, as w
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As a crossroads of Faerûn, the lan
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human lands around them to take oth
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Great Stag Berserker REGIONS AND FE
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The Unapproachable East is known th
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other monsters or beings of the sha
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You fire a brilliant blue ray at a
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Focus: A slender gold-chased adaman
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The Red Wizards are renowned as Fae
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Caster Level: 9th; Prerequisites: C
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The following spell powers drain on
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all respects. Animated trees lose t
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Dread Warrior Dread Warrior Human W
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MONSTERS OF THE EAST Shrieking Hag
Page 66 and 67: Hagspawn have the following abiliti
Page 68 and 69: divide at the end into stubby, stro
Page 70 and 71: work normally. Orglashes can be rai
Page 72 and 73: Spirit folk are the descendants of
Page 74 and 75: • +4 Strength, +2 Constitution, -
Page 76 and 77: Thomil A thomil is an animate piece
Page 78 and 79: COMBAT A fell troll’s tactics are
Page 80 and 81: Skills: Bluff +9, Diplomacy +5, Dis
Page 82 and 83: Artifacts of terrible power lie ent
Page 84 and 85: A Shadowmaster at work ADVENTURING
Page 86 and 87: Dungeons in the Unapproachable East
Page 88 and 89: that are stopped or camped normally
Page 90 and 91: 16-17 14-15 Blooded one (UE) 1d3+1
Page 92 and 93: TABLE 7-9: LAKE ASHANE (COLD RIVER/
Page 94 and 95: TABLE 7-15: UMBER MARSHES (TEMPERAT
Page 96 and 97: Major Geographic Features From its
Page 98 and 99: The Fang The Fang is the part of th
Page 100 and 101: The Wizards’ Reach is not part of
Page 102 and 103: with the half-elves left for the we
Page 104 and 105: History of Aglarond The past of Agl
Page 106 and 107: Government “Loose” is a generou
Page 108 and 109: (47); Militia: War1 (241), Com1 (65
Page 110 and 111: NOTABLE BUSINESSES There are two ex
Page 112 and 113: inflamed the anger of the society
Page 114 and 115: Major Geographic Features The two d
Page 118 and 119: the Dalesfolk and shield them from
Page 120 and 121: While the Dalesfolk don’t like ou
Page 122 and 123: -970 The Nentyarch of Tharos builds
Page 124 and 125: the only other settlements that mig
Page 126 and 127: Mettledale and Spearsmouth Dale Alo
Page 128 and 129: Foreigners view Rashemen as a myste
Page 130 and 131: with earthquakes, freakish storms,
Page 132 and 133: wealth. The water is glacial runoff
Page 134 and 135: others believe it is a gift from th
Page 136 and 137: People of Rashemen The people of Ra
Page 138 and 139: and are the face of the Rashemi peo
Page 140 and 141: THE VREMYONNI While the wychlaran s
Page 142 and 143: Rashemen’s forces except the Witc
Page 144 and 145: efore reaching the keep, and the go
Page 146 and 147: Mulsantir (LARGE TOWN) At Mulsantir
Page 148 and 149: Best known for the crimson-robed Re
Page 150 and 151: more than 17,000 feet high. In the
Page 152 and 153: Thayan bombards (see Chapter 5: Mag
Page 154 and 155: into the rock, highlighting the dif
Page 156 and 157: those on foot. As well, the lands a
Page 158 and 159: Tyraturos The tharch of Tyraturos i
Page 160 and 161: nobles, and his sergeants are Rashe
Page 162 and 163: The most successful soldier-breedin
Page 164 and 165: The zulkirs appoint tharchions, or
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Aglarondan spy who keeps an eye on
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too juicy a target for the Shadowma
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This has built up some resentment o
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Thesk is most famous for the Golden
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potential to be the most fertile la
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slaves of the Tuigan Horde or refug
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disciplined mercenary companies. Th
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Today, the Shadowmasters control or
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on supplies. Orc miners take over P
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his prodigious fortune and business
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hands just outside its walls. The 3
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The Wizards’ Reach Between the Th
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sinister past, concerned as they ar
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An Unapproachable East FORGOTTEN RE
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20 ft.; AC 16, touch 12, flat-foote
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usiness. Use the statistics below,
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from the next encounter called The
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