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Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer

Edit: what if you took the stone heads and mortared them into a defensive wall? Hah!

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Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer

a dinner plate-sized flat disk of gold, with the face the golden lion and set into a dust and web covered desk in the heart of the Haunted Wing in the Royal Palace, which began to emit a three toned chime, attracting the attention of nearby undead.

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Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer

7. A newly risen temple consecrated to both Tyr and Bane. A pair of priests and their followers run the place. Both claim to be descended from other such priests of each faith that have quietly worked together for centuries in Cormyr.

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Does that mean we get to say mean things to you then since you will be missing a day (or 300)

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Oh and congratulations.

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Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer

Looks like we'll be having a baby tonight, so no regular daily post from me.

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Oh and i now have the means for Ghazneths to appear.

If dragon's blood can extend the life of a person. Perhaps dead dragon's blood (necromantically infused of course) can bring a person back to unlife, in some hideous undead fashion.

I wont be making the Ghazneths invincible, but powerful undead nobles augmented by large quantities of dragon blood are going to be quite a dangerous weapon.

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• Giant ants. In the center of the hills, still guarded from discovery by the swamp and great colonies of giant ants, is a strong and growing formian society. They have three cities, and two more are nearing completion, with work beginning on several more. The (currently) five queens cooperate and share information. Through charmed captives they've learned much of Sembian politics and defense. Myrmarches have overseen the digging of tunnel networks under Daerlun, Kulta, and much of the High Dale; it's planned that taskmasters and warriors will dwell therein to supervise the human workers when they are incorporated into the formian colonies. Whenever the queens give the order...



• Bats. The hills have been eroded by a combination of rains and fogs coming off the Inner Sea and scouring winds out of the Thunder Peaks. Patches of soil remain in the valleys, supporting thickets of undergrowth and small copses of trees. The barren rocky heights and ridges are riddled with caves, mostly shallow but some with deeper recesses. Inevitably, some hold tunnels leading down into the darkness, but no modern explorers have gotten past the bats to find them. The caves are home to millions of bats, ranging from small insect-eaters to huge beasts that henceforth haunt the nightmares of those who see them. Over the 1000+ years of human habitation in these lands, several outlaws and recluses have chosen these hills for their escapes and some of their bloodlines have survived to the present day... in a manner of speaking...



• Beasts of Malar. The proliferation of these creatures surrounds a fortified abbey in the hills, controlled by the followers of Malar. Despite the distinctive coloration of the beasts, few people have encountered them and survived to tell about it, and most who do assume that they are just exceptional specimens with bloody claws and maws. Thus, the Malarites' base has developed unsuspected. However, that will change in the near future... the population of beasts has grown to where they hunt across eastern Cormyr and western Sembia.



• Carnivorous plants. Assassin vines, phantom fungus, and so on. The hills are covered with a thick tangle of nettles and vines and creepers. The plants are spreading, creating a constant battle for farmers in western Sembia.



• Cockatrices. Nuff said.



• Death kisses. Mutant beholders, with blood-draining tentacles in place of eyestalks.



• Deepspawn. Not a bad idea, but in danger of being over-used in my opinion. They seem to be a go-to monster when you need a lot of monsters. Not that there's anything wrong with that; I just wanted to explore some other possibilities.



• Eyeballs. Tiny beholderkin. Individually, not much of a threat to an armed adventurer, but if dozens of them find you at the same time...



• Firenewts. Relatives of the lizardfolk. In this case there needs to be a volcanic hotspot under the hills or a portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire... some way to make them significantly warmer than the surrounding region.



• Gibberlings. The hills are alive, with the sound of Taz.



• Goblins. Of course there could be an offshoot of the Stonelands tribes over here, but it's going to involve some extra work to explain why the Infested Hills have never been identified as a source of goblins (or anything else) in past products. The infestation needs to be pretty low-key, at least up through the 1370s, and goblins are not low-key.



• Grigs. These sprites are about 1.5 feet tall, with kinda grasshopper-like bodies. They're described (3.5 MM 235) as mischievous and lighthearted, but also as fierce and fearless. Put enough of them together, and give them the idea that the hills are their homeland, and you have a belligerent and deadly threat to human explorers. The grigs will capture and drive-to-insanity anyone who comes into the hills, and make retaliatory invasions into human-controlled areas to destroy farmland and homes, sabotage equipment, steal food, and kidnap children. Children, after all, aren't totally human yet -- they appreciate tricks and pranks, they laugh easily and eagerly, and they can be taught to respect the fey... in short, there's still hope for them, if you reprogram them early enough.



• Groundlings. Badger-like humanoids have been reported in Cormyr, Sembia, and the High Dales, but the common belief is that some kind of lycanthropes are dwelling in the hills. The ancestors of these groundlings (MoF 57) believed they'd escaped the Zhentarim; they didn't realize that the Black Network's control runs in their blood. The Zhentarim is letting them build up their numbers before retaking control, in order to pursue their long-term plans in Cormyr, Sembia, and the Dragonreach. Unaware of their eventual fate, the groundlings are just trying to survive, which means remaining as unseen as possible... contrary to Daerlunians' fears, they don't have the ability to take human form.



• Hellwasps. Swarms of hellwasps (3.5 MM 238) cover the hills. Their inhabit ability explains the unwillingness of Cormyrean and Sembian forces to purge the hills.



• Jermlaine.



• Killmoulis.



• Kobolds. This would be a possible place for a kobold kingdom -- perhaps in decline or perhaps just 95% subterranean. If the kingdom is thriving, that would suggest that some places in Cormyr, Sembia, and the High Dale (anywhere with a nearby tunnel giving the kobolds access to the surface) have a perennial problem.



• Leucrotta.



• Otyughs.



• Phasms. I find this to be an interesting choice, because I haven't read anything about them being present elsewhere in the Realms. Phasms (3.5 MM 208) are highly intelligent shapechangers who can assume any form up to large size. This means they're able to judge a threat and respond accordingly, giving human intruders the impression that the hills are infested with wild beasts when in fact the phasms have probably long since killed everything that's big enough to pose a threat to them. The small variety and possibly large numbers of beasts they find in the hills might lead humans to suspect deepspawns, which are intimidating or impossible to get rid of, thus lowering human motivation to clean up the hills. The phasms take human form often, and walk the streets of nearby settlements. Some of them become adventurers and leave for a time, but most travelers return to bring back knowledge of the world around and to enjoy being among their own kind. In some ways they're more dangerous than doppelgangers --they're more intelligent-- but they might not have the doppelgangers' callous disregard for other beings. In short, they're only dangerous if provoked, but they provide the DM with lots of opportunities for spreading information and misinformation (any creature or object nearby can overhear PCs' and NPCs' discussions and mention it to other humans in its effort to blend in with civilization).



• Rust monsters.



• Shocker lizards.



• Spider eaters. Of course, where there are eaters there must be spiders too, but unlike the Spiderhaunt Woods and other places named for the spiders, the eaters are dominant here. Still, the spiders are enough of a threat to humans to prevent the hills from being cleansed.



• Stirges.



• Tarrasques. Billions of these suckers, all over the hills. Just seeing if you're paying attention.



• Troglodytes.

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Have you any suggestions on some enemies?

I like to keep things almost the same but not quite, but thats just so that anyone can use it (including people that like the novels or not but havent got the time to plot their own campaign in the area). The changing of backstory is not quite what i've done, they will be servants to the devil dragon (or so she thinks) they will be formerly dead enemies of Cormyr, but their method of reanimation will be different (mostly because i dont know how they were originally animated).

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Among the dwarven tales I have come across is the story of a sapphire dragon deep below the surface of the Storm Horns. The tale is ancient, dating back many generations, but not so old as to be legendary.
The sapphire dragon was hunted for some time by dwarves who viewed it as a racial enemy. The dwarves were finally able to determine where its lair was, but were unable to ultimately defeat the dragon. Its treasure hoard was never discovered, and it is believed that it is either too well hidden or has been made inaccessible by normal means.

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The Drovers are a race of humans, apparently occupying the region after an ancient disaster shattered the region’s previous civilization.

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the regions now occupied by the Tun and the Farsea were once the lands of two prosperous kingdoms.
Legend claims that the prince of one kingdom fell in love with the princess of the other, and stole her away in the night. This triggered a steadily-escalating war between the kingdoms, culminating in the magical destruction of both. In some tales, the kings were urged on in their mutual destruction by a mysterious female advisor, who is in the end revealed to be the goddess Talona.

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The Marsh Drovers claim that a kingdom once occupied the marshes many thousands of years ago. It was destroyed to punish its rulers’ wickedness, and so that the Drovers themselves could then occupy the land.

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A fallen civilisation that predated the elves rests in this ugly marsh. Its only remnants are ornate buildings made of glass as strong as steel. Those who have seen these structures seldom live long, however, for the swamp is thick with pestilence and plague.

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The two marshes share another feature, for each is reputed to have been the home of a great forgotten civilization. Such a civilization would have to have existed before the elves themselves, for there is no record among them of anything other than swamp in the area. Yet, adventurers have described ruined buildings of ornate shapes made of glass strengthened to the resiliency of steel being here. Such declarations are usually followed by the quick sickness and death of the speaker, since these swamps are also the home of pestilence and plague.
Without any idea of the facts, bards have fitted in a story of two great city-states ruled by lovers who had a falling out, a disagreement that escalated into a magical war which sank both cities, poisoned the land, and bred all manner of disease. Each was supposedly advised by an old woman, who is revealed at the end of the tale to have been Talona.

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Local legends say both marshes were once the seats of ancient civilizations, but even the elves have no record of either one. Nevertheless, there have been many reports of fantastic buildings and ruins located within the marshes.

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The Tunlands were once part of the massive forest of Arcorar, in particular the area was known by the elves as the Gods' Theatre due the shape of the surrounding mountains. It was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of all the Crown wars - the Battle of the Gods' Theatre wherein over 70,000 elves were killed when the forces of Aryvandaar and Shantel Othreier were both attacked by a massive orc horde.
After the fall of Shanatar, the Tunlands (or at least the tunnels underneath it) were the location of the relatively short-lived dwarven realm of Oghrann.

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quote:

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Originally posted by xaeyruudh

Gah! The sword that destroyed Nyrax reminded me of a short story involving Elminster bringing a young man to Myth Drannor. The kid had recently inherited his father's sword, a legendary weapon said to destroy undead on touch. I think he had pledged himself to destroying the lich that killed his father, and Elminster brought him to her... only she turned out to be an ancestor of his, and instead of fighting her he learned more about his father, and about her. Something like that. But I can't remember where the story was and Google is laughing at me.

Point is it sounds like it could be the same sword.

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

so the legend pointing to before the elves and millennia ago cannot have referred to the creator races because they would have had no knowledge of them ever having existed.

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Real world history only stretches back a few thousand years before becoming horribly muddled to the point of near uselessness, so the same should apply to FR history.

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

The ruins made of glass could actually be a crashed enclave which in Ed's game many of them were small and made of force barriers (which might be made to look like glass).

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

The fact that the elves had no mention of this kingdom is not surprising, their documentation of human civilisations is not great because it is rarely long lasting and in this instance the kingdom would be very small.

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The Goblin Marches and High Moors were once much wider and wetter than now. The Great Desert Anauroch’s southernmost limits were 50 to 150 miles farther north than now, making the local weather cooler and moister. The Farsea Marsh was a freshwater lake ringed by forests and well-watered fields. The soil was rich, moist, and deep.

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