Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

he had crafted his demon-trap so well that the fiends could not
escape except through one portal leading to Tower Threespires,
and that door is sealed. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of demons
are still trapped in the fell tower Clymph raised centuries ago.
Today, those few people who dare to approach the ruins
report that its stones glow red with heat and that massive fires
crackle from the depths. Even the most daring adventurers
give the place a wide berth.
TOWER THREESPIRES
The legendary Clymph reputedly built this tower as well.
Three stone spires stab out of its broad base. It would have
fallen over years ago if not for the thick network of vines that
wrap around every inch of the place. If the vines were to
wither and die, the tower would come down along with them.
From a distance, the vine-engulfed tower looks like nothing
so much as a giant, three-fingered hand reaching up out of the
Rawlinswood.
The tower is maintained by a small group of druids who are
the descendants of a special order of guardians created by the
Nentyarch hundreds of years ago. The peak of the north tower
features a portal that leads right into the heart of Clymph
Tower. The druids perform a ritual every Feast of the Moon
to keep the portal sealed up tight, preventing the demons
trapped therein from escaping into the world. The druids who
perform the ritual are no longer certain if the legends about
the demons of Clymph Tower are true, but they hold to their
appointed task.
The druids of Tower Threespires are suspicious of strangers.
They never allow anyone into the tower, no matter how dire
the need, for fear of opening the portal and unleashing the
demons of the Abyss on the Great Dale.
NIGHTHAWK TOWER
Brave souls who skirt the Narfell edge of the Rawlinswood
on their way east and south toward more welcoming lands
eventually come to Nighthawk Tower. City dwellers may
not immediately recognize it, since it’s actually a mighty oak
tree—about 100 feet tall—the branches of which are filled
with platforms constructed with sturdy rope and roughhewn
wood.
Nighthawk Tower is the home of Hensoi (NG male human
Drd12 of Silvanus), who has a reputation—deserved or not—
as the friendliest druid in the Great Dale. In other words, he
doesn’t hide at the first sight of other people, nor does he run
off visitors before they’ve had a chance to speak. Hensoi is
fond of the region’s birds, and at times the boughs of
Nighthawk Tower seem like a giant aviary. The local raptors
often rest here.
Hensoi isn’t outgoing, but he is willing to talk to strangers,
which is more than most druids in the area do. Underneath his
gruff exterior, he’s softhearted. When presented with good
people who need his help, he grudgingly agrees to do what he
can, although he complains about it the entire time.
THE GREAT DALE
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When confronted with evil, Hensoi sends his avian friends
high into the sky to screech for help. The druids and rangers
in the region recognize the signal, and when they see it, they
dash for the tower to offer their help. The locals may think
Hensoi a bit too free with strangers, but he’s one of them, and
they won’t let him come to harm.
People of the
Great Dale
The people of the Great Dale are honest, hardworking folk
who simply want the outside world to leave them alone. For
the most part, they’ve gotten their wish, since few people see
much reason to travel here. If it were not for the Great Road
connecting Uthmere to the east, there would not be any traffic
through the region at all.
The people of the Great Dale are a mix of old Chondathan,
Nar, Theskian, and more recently, Impilturan blood. The clanholds
possess the oldest bloodlines of the land, with more than
a little of the ancient Nars. The folk of the Great Dale place
little importance on race or ethnicity—a good neighbor is a
good neighbor. The older families do not always get along with
Impilturan homesteaders pushing eastward from Uthmere,
who see miles of empty land and believe they’re free to settle
where they wish. This has led to bloodshed, but for the most
part, the Impilturan colonists have found land that doesn’t encroach
on the holds of the earlier Dalesfolk.
The people of the Great Dale dress simply and for the
weather. They favor homespun linen fabrics in the summer
and leathers and furs in the winters. Although sunlight barely
reaches the floor of the great forests, the ground underneath
them is well protected. The canopy of these elder woods is a
blanket in the winter, a shade in the summer, and an umbrella
when the rains come.
Races and Cultures
Once wild elves, wood elves, volodnis, and perhaps other races
populated the Great Dale. Few traces of their presence remain
in the land between the forests; since ancient times, this has
been a human land. Settlers fleeing the destruction of ancient
Jhaamdath moved into the area over sixteen centuries ago only
to end up under the crushing boot of the Empire of Narfell.
When that realm was destroyed in its war against Raumathar,
the residents of the Great Dale were suddenly ungoverned and
independent. They have avoided foreign rule ever since.
The people of the Great Dale are almost exclusively human.
The only exceptions, other than the odd wanderer, are the few
nonhumans who have settled in Uthmere, the only place in
the region that can lay claim to the label “civilized.” In the
wild eastern part of the Dale, that word is synonymous with
“worthless” and “weak,” carrying overtones of conniving and
deceit. Using it usually leads to an all-out brawl.