| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Colman |
Posted - 24 Jul 2008 : 07:30:54
I'm looking for lore on the Thunder Peaks: I have the Elminster's Ecologies, and a couple of source books that contain references, but there doesn't seem to be anything detailed.
Am I missing something? It seems strange that mountains in such an active adventuring area are largely uncharted. |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| crazedventurers |
Posted - 11 Jan 2009 : 00:12:30
Ed posted this on Thunderstone.
Hello again, all. I bring you Ed’s latest serving of Realmslore, this time a beginning on replying to the eight Thunderstone-and-vicinity questions posted by Asgetrion back in mid-December.
Here’s the query Ed’s dealing with in today’s post:
“Greetings, Milady THO and Ed! I have been running a Pathfinder Beta playtest campaign, which is set in Thunderstone, in Cormyr. I have written a lot of material for it, but since a lot of the events in the campaign have taken place outside the town, the players have not interacted a lot with NPCs outside their "inner" circle (i.e. families and shopkeepers and prominent allies, such as tutors). I'm still fleshing out details, and filling in stuff as the campaign progresses and the PCs are drawn deeper into local intrigue, and therefore I have a plethora of questions for you:
1) Which noble families have holdings in or around Thunderstone?”
Ed replies:
(The time of the lore that follows is around 1370 DR.)
Between the Thunderflow and (a line of hills that borders) the Vast Swamp is a verdant band of farming and ranching country (rolling, grassy hillsides, hedgerows, wandering dirt lanes and small woodlots) and it’s also what’s sometimes referred to in our real world as “karst” country (springs rise, run along the surface, and then disappear down sinkholes, and there are lots of subterranean streams, hidden caves, and limestone, which means most waters run clear and pure). It’s well-watered by meltwater streams running southwest, down from the Thunder Peaks, and the prevailing winds (usually fairly constant, steady, mild breezes) mean it gets a lot of sun; clouds tend to scud swiftly across the sky, not settle in and cause overcasts. As a result, crops grow well and livestock fattens up swiftly, so a lot of wealthy Cormyrean families (and that of course includes the nobles) have holdings here, even if they’re only farms worked by commoner tenants.
That doesn’t mean that the same “lot” of noble families visit Thunderstone often, or own dwellings in or near the village.
In Thunderstone proper, the Hawklin family owns a row of stores along “the Rise,” the main street (that parallels the Thunder River), and two homes: a modest dwelling with stables in its own small walled orchard and garden, hight “Thundershaws” and used for putting up guests, business clients, and sometimes by certain Hawklins who want to entertain away from the rest of their kin; and Hawklinforce, a stone mansion with its own high stone walls, stables, wagon sheds, and brewhouse. From “the Force,” local factors (trade agents) of the Hawklins administer the dozen ranches and crop farms (cabbages, barley, oats, and parsnips) owned by the family, and rent out family coaches and wagons to locals for divers purposes. As a result, the Hawklins are prominent locally, their views respected and heeded.
The Huntsilvers maintain a lower local profile. Their tall-towered stone mansion is known as Hunting Castle, and has an impressive stone wall and stout front gates, but isn’t otherwise fortified. It is perhaps the most defensible large building in Thunderstone, but its small enclosed grounds are crowded with large, old trees (oaks and duskwoods), the boughs of some of which offer easy access to some of the lower Castle windows. There are persistent local rumors of secret tunnels connecting the cellars of Hunting Castle (which are said to contain all manner of gruesome sacrificial cult altars or Loviatar-loving flogging and trysting “dungeons”) with secret passages in the walls of scores of local buildings. According to Elminster, there are two secret passages, meant to allow olden-day Huntsilvers to arrive and depart without being seen by kin or slayers hired by rival noble families, they are guarded by helmed horrors, and there are no altars or pleasure-dens.
In Thunderstone, the Huntsilvers generally keep to themselves, moving about the village in closed coaches or on fast horses. They use Hunting Castle very much as a retreat, in which to read and catch up on hobbies (such as, for several Huntsilver ladies, crafting gowns and practicing at the lute, handharp, and with voice, and reportedly for some Huntsilver males, wenching with “laugh-pretties” brought up from Suzail for such purposes). The family owns about thirty farms, all worked by tenants, well to the south and southwest of Thunderstone.
Hunting Castle and Hawklinforce both back onto the Thunderflow, having their own (modest and largely disused) docks and boathouses, and face onto the “best” street in Thunderstone, the winding Nightcloak Ride, which is lined with most of the better old stone dwellings in the village. It lies largely north and west of the Rise, but hooks sharply south just west of Stag Skull’s Bridge, to intersect with, and end at, the Rise.
The Illances, Naerinths, Summerstars, and Wyvernspurs all own modest walled stone homes in Thunderstone, but visit them seldom (in the general way of nobility, such “nighthearth” houses are used as overnight way-stops when travelling, to host occasional meetings with business associates, and as retreats or trysting sites by individual family members. These four families are locally most active elsewhere (the Summerstars in Firefall Vale, which I shared lore about back in the 2004 replies here at the Keep, I believe [Sage or Wooly or Kuje, please jump in and correct my dating if I’m misremembering], and the other three noble houses largely to the north of the Hullack, or at least of the Thunderflow.
The Immerdusk noble family owns four old but solidly-built homes in Thunderstone, and owns six farms just south of the village proper. All are worked or inhabited by tenants, and Immerdusks are so seldom seen in this region that many locals believe them to be extinct, and that the factors speaking for them are actually courtiers working for the Crown, who just won’t admit that they’ve taken over the chattels and holdings of the Immerdusks.
House Indesm owns a shop on the Rise and maintains very modest lodgings (a suite of four rooms, occupying an entire floor) above it, with the shopkeeper and his family dwelling in the gabled and dormered attic above them. However, they are seen in Thunderstone seldom, and come and go without fanfare or much in the way of coaches, outriders, servants, and the like. The Indesms own sixteen ranches and farms, mainly east of Thunderstone. All are worked by tenants, though the Indesms visit and inspect them often. This family keeps mainly to the hold of Hawkhar (sometimes called Hawkhar Keep or more often and formally “Hawkhar Hall,” though most folk these days now call it simply “Hawkhar”), consisting of a fortified stone mansion and tower at the heart of a walled horse-farm where many fine mounts are bred, reared, and trained. The walls also enclose a small woodlot and orchard, and have an outer “thrust” or loop of wall, pierced by two always-open gates, that cradles the hamlet of Hawkhar, a small settlement dominated by the families of Indesm servants.
The Indesms are typical of most Cormyrean nobility in the countryside; they have and dominate their own settlement or hold, and only visit and rent or own dwellings in the villages, towns, and cities of the realm. The other three Thunderstone-home-owning noble families follow this pattern, too; they are the Houses of Buckfast, Haelbroke, and Yellander.
For more about the Yellanders, interested readers are directed to SWORDS OF DRAGONFIRE. This House did not end with the execution of the lord who featured therein, because King Azoun would not hear of the three estranged and blameless-of-treason Yellander nieces who dwelt in Suzail being shamed and paupered by the actions of Lord Prester Yellander. The War Wizards had already thoroughly upset the three with sudden, brusque mind-reamings (which confirmed their utter innocence; they were wholly unaware of Lord Prester’s drug-smugglings, or his assembling of a private army and the murders he directed them to do). One of the three nieces, Anathae, was a longtime friend and confidant of Queen Filfaeril, who took charge of the rather dazed Anathae and briskly steered her into marriage to a commoner she’d long had eyes on, a Palace courtier by the name of Hresker Falbruin. So there’s now a capable and tactful Lord Hresker Falbruin, charged by Queen Fee with finding suitable and happy mates for Anathae’s two sisters, Paerile and Tannaura (a process that is taking years because both of them are rather shy, delicate ladies and Hresker, Anathae, and Filfaeril are all agreed that the very last thing that should happen is settling them with less than ideal partners).
Hresker and Anathae Yellander now dwell in Whitewings (the renamed Yellander seat in Galdyn's Gorge, a modest, unwalled keep-and-attached stone mansion surrounded by gardens and a deep, wooden-spike-filled ditch to discourage marauding wilderland monsters; its new name comes from all the doves raised for food by Anathae’s longtime maids, who came from farming families known for their flavourful dove pies), visiting Suzail only for major Councils and at the end of summer. Prester Yellander’s simple, rustic hunting lodge on the edge of the Hullack Forest sits disused, and will soon fall into ruin if not maintained.
Less well known in Suzail are the poorer, more rustic local noble families of Buckfast and Haelbroke. These “true bloods of the Thunderflow” lead lusty lives of running their farms directly, brewing and distilling, imbibing the results, and hunting from the saddle.
They also seem to have “ridden” great numbers of willing local lasses, and are impoverished in part because of all the bastard offspring they help to support - - which has linked them, time and again, to divers local families, businesses, and farms.
Their byblows have been sent literally by the score into the ranks of local Purple Dragons, who are inclined to look the other way at Buckfast and Halebroke indiscretions, which in turn has encouraged male members of these houses to becoming accomplished rakes, drunkards, and local “rowdies” behind many a local brawl, wildly whooping midnight gallop, accidental fire, and prank.
The current patriarch of the Buckfasts is Lord Rothtil Buckfast, whose hardy, lusty, fun-loving mate is Lady Suvreene Buckfast, and they dwell with three sons (including the family heir, Ravance) and five daughters at the family seat of Buckhaven Hall, a walled manor house and ‘home farm’ in the countryside east of Thunderstone. This “heart of the Buckfasts” household also rents rent two rooms above a chandler’s (“Maerikho Hayhondlow, Chandler to High and Low”) on the south front of the Rise.
Other prominent Buckfasts include Melhard, a fat and blustering old bellower of a rake with a legendary capacity for drink, and Sargram, an aging but still deadly fighter-of-duels and bedder of anyone female and handy (the reason for a lot of those duels; noble wives are his favourite quarry, and his outrageously leering flirtatiousness [or “charm” as the ladies tend to prefer to call it] seems to conquer many of them).
The current head of House Haelbroke is Lord Larandyr Haelbroke, a haughty, humourless retired soldier (he recently departed the rank of ornrion, a West Reach posting, in the Purple Dragons when his father Lord Uskarr Haelbroke died, his mother Dardorra having predeceased Uskarr). Larandyr’s stunningly beautiful wife is Lady Mirljarla Haelbroke (formerly a Truesilver), and they dwell with their two daughters, Tasharra (the family heir) and Raedaera at the family seat of Buckhaven Hall, a rather spartan walled keep and ‘home farm’ in the countryside west of Thunderstone. They also rent a luxurious house on Nightcloak Ride in Thunderstone (Nightowl Roost, which is owned by Storm Silverhand but managed for her by the suave estate manager Maland Orlstand of Suzail, a secret Harper) where Lady Mirljarla spends increasing amounts of time entertaining noble lady friends “come out from Suzail to see the rustics.” A glowering Lord Larandyr rarely attends these visits, and the couple’s two daughters are caught in a tussle between their parents for their time and attention (although Tasharra and Raedaera, who have both inherited their mother’s raven-black hair and smoky-eyed good looks and buxom curves, dearly want to see the latest “cityside” fashions and manners, they both LOVE riding, ruling, weapons-practice, and all the other “lordly” stuff their father wants to teach them and do with them, that are more often the province of male nobles when their female counterparts are confined to empty-headed chatter in parlors and “lace-chambers”).
Other prominent Haelbrokes include Galragar, Mresper, and Borlingar. Galragar, the eldest, is Larandyr’s uncle, and the other two are his cousins. Galragar is a fair-haired, unshaven, rollicking meaty bull of a man, load and coarse and jovial. Borlingar is a younger, dark-haired echo of Galragar, whereas Mresper is sly, witty, slender, and agile. All three are tirelessly-energetic roisterers, wenchers (Mresper may on occasion also prefer young and handsome male partners), and fun-seekers, the bright stars of every revel they take part in. They are always thinking up some new “society” or club or prank, some entertainment for themselves and those who “ride with them” to take part in; Larandyr’s last attempt to host a solemn feast for Suzailan lords he desired to impress was “pranced” (in the real world, we would say “crashed”) by Galragar and Borlingar leading a dozen strapping local lads, most of them wealthy or highborn or both, all riding horses and wearing heavy makeup and beautiful womens’ gowns, garters, and all, into the ballroom to a skidding dismount and wild dance with the attending - - and utterly astonished - - noble lords. This is a typical prank, neither a highlight or lowlight, but it strengthened Larandyr’s cold distaste towards all three of his “wild wolves” of kin, whom he disowns and shuns at every opportunity. (His house wizard, a lean and homely mage by the name of Baerglan Dunstag, who is of course a War Wizard, refuses to let Larandyr bar his gates to the three or move to try to legally dispossess them [an effort that would fail, anyway, as only the Crown can strip someone of their rightful heritage, and then only by exiling them and taking away their citizenship as well], but Larandyr refuses to recognize or speak to them, always addressing cutting remarks to any of the three to any handy servant or statue or potted plant, loudly enough for the shunned kin he wants to hear, to do so. For their parts, the three are amused at Larandyr’s attitude, not upset or ashamed.)
Those are the living nobles. There are indeed a handful of extinct ones that will serve for answering your second question. For now, enjoy (I hope) this lore.
So saith Ed, whose deep love for Cormyr shows. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 12 Aug 2008 : 00:28:08
I'd have one of Cormyr done by now, but several other projects wound up getting bumped to the front.
Which reminds me... 3e Turmish and Vilhon Reach should be up later today.  |
| Colman |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 21:58:40
I'm hoping you're going to produce a map ... anyway, there's little point keeping it to myself.
I'll update it as I fill in some more of the detail (and fix the spellings of names!) |
| Markustay |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 20:50:38
Thanks for that - the map will prove very helpful...
AS will the rest - it will save me many hours of doing my own research.
Cheers - Mark |
| Colman |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 14:54:18
Here's the list of stuff I've found, by source, if its of help to anyone:
http://homepage.mac.com/careilly/.Public/ThunderPeaks.html/index.html
Any more suggestions for things I'm missing? |
| Colman |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 10:55:17
Ah, confusion resolved: I'd forgotten those flavour paragraphs entirely. I don't think I've seen them in ages. Well, that makes "The Shattered Statue" canon, I'd say. To make sure that anyone else who is as easily confused as I am - a rather small group, I suspect - is clear, the narrator in "The Savage Frontier" is a character from "The Shattered Statue" who makes references to events during that adventure.
I hunted up the "Shattered Statue" and have those references too - I'll include them in the summary I'm doing.
The mention in VGttD is a single line, but enough to reinforce Volkumburgh as canon.
The "TSR Jam 1999 - Vale of the Dragon Oracle" - introduces another site linked to CotD - "The Chantry of St Sammaster" (which I think needs a renaming?) and is also based in Volumburgh. Busy place.
Putting it all together, it appears the Thunder Peaks are riddled with hidden vales, isolated villages and so on. |
| Faraer |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 10:52:46
I just pulled TSR Jam 1999 out of a cupboard. I forgot about this adventure because I never got around to reading it. 'Vale of the Dragon Oracle' by Bryon Wischstadt, four to six characters of 5th to 7th level, tie-in with Cult of the Dragon. The book also has a mind flayer adventure by Sean Reynolds and a Planescape adventure by one Chris Perkins. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 11 Aug 2008 : 01:57:53
The reference Faraer noted earlier for the 'Vale of Volkumburgh' in Volo's Guide to the Dalelands is on pg. 164.
Also, I don't have a copy, but wasn't there a "TSR Jam" adventure module that began in Volkumburgh -- Vale of the Dragon Oracle, or something like that? I have a reference, just not the actual source. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 10 Aug 2008 : 18:19:48
Feraer quoted the exact (and only) line above - without that, I would have never found it.
It isn't in the 'lore' part of the product, its in the 'personality' part (the italicized text). I missed it the first time through (its near the beginning), but as I said Feraer quoted the one and only mention.
Stilll looking for it in the Volo's guide.
Buying Shattered Statue pdf right now from Paizo... |
| Colman |
Posted - 09 Aug 2008 : 15:06:37
quote:
EDIT:
Okay, re-read the entire thing, and now I understand the reference (sort of). VERY obscure, but it is indeed in there.
Want to give me a hint what it is or do I have to go hunt it down myself?! |
| Markustay |
Posted - 09 Aug 2008 : 04:14:48
THAT Cormyr map is NOT supposed to be useful - it was just an overlay of both editions map to compare the coastal differences.
I should get rid of that now that the discussion is over. 
I'll be going through those sources myself (I have the Volo's guides), but I was just wondering why something in the Thunderpeaks would appear in the Savage Frotier. 
EDIT:
Okay, re-read the entire thing, and now I understand the reference (sort of). VERY obscure, but it is indeed in there.
Now on to the Volo's guides.  |
| Colman |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 09:21:36
I'm chewing through sources at the moment, compiling a big mind map thingy of the lore I can find - EE and VGTOD are the most meaty so far - I'll have to hunt down some of those other sources you mention now ... hah all available on-line, including "The Shattered Statue". There goes another twenty four of those funny American dollars.
|
| Faraer |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 06:02:15
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
Now I'm confused.
It's OK.quote:
You know, Erek, if Elminster had't been so kind to us when were were, um, avoiding the rather unfortunate consequences of that incident in Volkumburgh, I would never have agreed to this project. After all, how was I to know WHY the awtawmatawn had been shattered in the first place?
|
| The_DarkAngel |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 03:46:07
You map "Old +New Cormyr is too small and very hard to read other wise I could point out exactly were all 5 locations i mentioned are. |
| The_DarkAngel |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 03:39:58
Yes it's also briefly mentioned in Volo's Guide to the Dalelands too. Theres really not a whole lot to the vale and it's not the only vale either.
I would assume it's cannon (atleast FRCS 1) but either way it really doesn't matter.
Volkumburgh is south of the thunder gap towards the western side and sits along the "little thunder river". North east is the High Pasture, another valley, and both ruined colleges are south west of volkumburgh.
Volkumburgh like many of the inhabbited settlements have very little if at all dealings with the rest of the heartlands. Any interaction at all mostly comes from the highdale.
There is also the "Temple of the Dragon Oracle" east of the colleges. This temple was created by the cult of the Dragon about 3 centuries before the opening date of the grey box campaign setting. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 03:03:21
But that would place it nowhere near the Thunderpeaks.
Now I'm confused. |
| Faraer |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 02:35:53
Volo's Guide to the Dalelands and FR5 The Savage Frontier mention the Vale of Volkumburgh. Whether all of DQ1 is canonical I don't know; I don't have a copy. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 02:21:23
I had to just research that - is that even considered FR canon?
It was created for the DQ game, and was later adapted as one of those duel-system modules that never caught on. I know some of the stuff from DQ made it into FR canon (like Karsus), but I don't know if I'd consider the entire module canon.
Anyone have any thoughts?
If its canon, that means I need to get it. |
| The_DarkAngel |
Posted - 08 Aug 2008 : 00:13:20
There is an old AD&D adventure called the "Shattered Statue" that is based in the Thunder Peaks.
The Thunder Peaks is loaded with Vallies. The Highdale is a good example.
This adventure is located in a valley North and deeper into the Thunder Peaks where 2 old (but destroyed) Arcane colleges where once located. The Valley's name is called "Volkumburgh" (under the yoak of a Red Dragon that is paid tribute) and the 2 destroyed colleges are "College of Rune Magics" and "College of Shaping Magics".
The adventure itself is about a lord in suzil that wants a group of adventures to help this wizard locate that colleges and find lore about this huge statue (or Awtawmatawn) that they were working on. This statue can do the work of 200 men. The statue the colleges where trying to build is based on the walking statues of Mulhorand. It became possed by a devil and destoyed bolth colleges before itslef was destroyed.
Basically, you can create any thing you want. Think of a good name for a valley, and do what you like. Many Orc tribes and more than a few dragons reside in the ThunderPeaks. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 03 Aug 2008 : 17:06:56
I think this scroll would be a wonderful place to collect lore for the region. 
quote:
Originally posted by Icelander
Is this impression false? Does Prayers from the Faithful really have Realmslore that makes it worth downloading and perusing?
You're kidding, right? It was written by Ed!
The mechanics are barely visible and only a small portion of whats there - every page drips with FR history. I'm ashamed to admit that although I've had this tome since the day it came out, I only started reading through it cover-to-cover the other day and can't believe I never bothered before! I'm now going through it a second time with a fine tooth-comb because it mentions at least a dozen locales not mentioned anywhere else.
quote:
Originally posted by crazedventurers
Look forward to seeing your work, especially as the wilds of the 'border country' need more info. Just a quick question are you encompassing the Storm Horns as well as the Thunderpeaks or just the 'settled' lands north of Arabel? (up through Gnoll pass etc)
Ummm... actually I was thinking of the Stormhorns, not the Thunderpeaks. My bad.
Since Brian was gracious enough to make some of my work canon, I've decided to go ahead and flesh it out.
However, if this thread starts coming up with lots of Thunderpeaks lore, I may try something new and do a detailed area map just of the Mountain Range.
I suppose I'm going to have to go through the Dragons of Faerûn book and a ton of Dragon Magazine articles as well.
Joy. |
| crazedventurers |
Posted - 03 Aug 2008 : 11:09:09
quote:
Originally posted by Icelander
[quote]Originally posted by The Sage
[I'll get Dwarves Deep for sure, but I've deliberately avoided Prayers from the Faithful until now. I'm concerned that as a list of spells, it's light on the lore and heavy on
Prayers from the Faithful (2E) has lots of useful lore IMO.
Having reread it this week for info regarding adventuring companies of the Realms I was surprised by how much info there was in there.
Specifically for Cormyr:
Page 22 - Eldathyn community (including names and further lore) who moved to the Hullack
Page 26 - Adventuring band and dragon name
page 97 - Lathanderan tome/adventure hook for the Stonelands.
Hope this helps
Damian |
| The Sage |
Posted - 03 Aug 2008 : 04:14:36
Do you have Pages from the Mages? The entries for the various divine-related items in Prayers from the Faithful are presented in a similar fashion, with plenty of background Realmslore and information on each of the items contained within the tome.
|
| Icelander |
Posted - 03 Aug 2008 : 04:02:27
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
Both of those tomes can indeed be purchased as PDF downloads from paizo.com.
Thanks. Lazy of me not to search for it myself, I guess.
I'll get Dwarves Deep for sure, but I've deliberately avoided Prayers from the Faithful until now. I'm concerned that as a list of spells, it's light on the lore and heavy on mechanics. D&D game rules are useless to me (and I probably already have all Divine spells for the 2e in the Priest Spell Compediums if I ever need them).
Is this impression false? Does Prayers from the Faithful really have Realmslore that makes it worth downloading and perusing? |
| The Sage |
Posted - 03 Aug 2008 : 01:22:54
Both of those tomes can indeed be purchased as PDF downloads from paizo.com.
|
| Icelander |
Posted - 02 Aug 2008 : 19:27:43
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
Yes, I've been finding quite a few in odd places, like Dwarves deep and Prayers from the Faithful. It seems there is actually quite a lot of lore to be had about them, but it is spread thinly throughout all sources.
Would this scroll be appropriate for an effort to collect this lore?
I've placed a village (hamlet, really) of shepherds of Talfiric stock there, so I'm interested in knowing as much canon as I can, so I don't contravene any of it accidentally. I have Elminster Ecologies, Cormyr, Volo's Guide to Cormyr and all the core setting boxes and the FRCS. I don't have Prayers from the Faithful or Dwarves Deep. What lore is there? Can these be bought online from Paizo?
Where else can I find lore? |
| Markustay |
Posted - 02 Aug 2008 : 19:21:59
Yes, I've been finding quite a few in odd places, like Dwarves deep and Prayers from the Faithful. It seems there is actually quite a lot of lore to be had about them, but it is spread thinly throughout all sources. |
| Faraer |
Posted - 02 Aug 2008 : 03:03:28
quote:
Originally posted by Ahwe Yahzhe
...I haven't seen a conversion guide for it yet, but H2 - THUNDERspure Labyrinth is an obvious choice for filling a blank slate area like the THUNDER Peaks...
It's actually one of the more densely covered wilderness areas in Faerûn, with eight named peaks, a noted density of dragon lairs, hidden valleys, wizards' safeholds, a lost dwarven city, and giant and bandit strongholds. Most of them are ye olde scattered references, outside VGD. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 01 Aug 2008 : 00:26:57
Yes - excellent; I'll have to make a note of that source (I'm doing Cormyr ATM). |
| Wandering_mage |
Posted - 31 Jul 2008 : 05:01:17
Good info Dude. |
| crazedventurers |
Posted - 30 Jul 2008 : 11:22:52
quote:
Originally posted by Wandering_mage
Volo's Guide to the Dalelands might have some info about the Thunder Peaks
Excellent point.
From VGttD free at the WoTC webpage.
The southern end of the Thunder Peaks are known as the Marching Mountains in Archendale.
An orc horde poured out of the Thunder Pass 'nearly 200 years ago' to attack Deepingdale.
All info relating to Highdale is relevant with a few nice snippets of lore (hidden valleys with gnomes settlements etc).
Western Mistledale is plagued by 'numerous fell creatures' sweeping down from the Peaks, which suggests they breed unchecked in the mountains.
And to clarify the routes through the Peaks (something that always confuses my players, as sages from the past/not local travelers/locals etc refer to them inconsistently......   )
The Thunder Way is the road that links Cormyr and Sembia via Highdale, and passes through the Thunder Gap. The other route is via the Thunder Pass which links Cormyr with the Dalelands.
In my campaign the Cormyr side of the Thunder Way as it reaches the foothills of the Thunder Peaks on the road towards Thunderstone is known as Thunder Vale.
Cheers
Damian
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