A City of Splendors FORGOTTEN REALMS® Web Enhancement Environs of Waterdeep NEW HISTORICAL AND Preparation GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION You (the DM) need the D&D core rulebooks—the P l a y e r ’ s FOR USE WITH CITY OF H a n d b o o k , the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the M o n s t e r Manual—as well as City of Splendors: Waterdeep (CoS:W)—to uti- SPLENDORS: WATERDEEP lize the material in this web enhancement. Environs of Waterdeep also draws on material from Champions of Ruin (CoR), Champions City of Splendors: Waterdeep provides the most in-depth description of Valor (CoV), Draconomicon (Drac), Epic Level Handbook to date of the famed city of Waterdeep in the FORGOTTEN REALMS (ELH), Fiend Folio (FF), FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting Campaign Setting. The book also offers new prestige classes, feats, (FRCS), Lost Empires of Faerûn (LEoF), Monster Manual II monsters, and magic items. But space did not permit an exhaustive (MM2), Monsters of Faerûn (MoF), Player’s Guide to Faerûn description of the areas around Waterdeep, so author Eric Boyd has (PGtF), Power of Faerûn (PoF), Serpent Kingdoms (SK), The Fright provided a complete description and history of those areas in this at Tristor (TFaT), and Underdark (Und). Other parenthetical notes web enhancement. refer to the map key in this web enhancement or in City of As always, feel free to adapt the material presented here as you Splendors: Waterdeep. The information presented here utilizes the see fit to make it work with your campaign. D&D v.3.5 rules. Credits Design: Eric L. Boyd Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All Wizards characters, character names, Editing: Penny Williams and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by Typesetting: Nancy Walker Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This material is protected under the Cartography: Rob Lazaretti copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or Web Production: Bart Carroll unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is Web Development: Mark A. Jindra prohibited without t he express written permission o f Wizards of the Graphic Design: Robert Campell, Cynthia Fliege, Dee Barnett and Coast, Inc. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual Jen Page people, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental. This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game Content. Based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game by E. Gary No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without Gygax and Dave Arneson and on the new edition of the written permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming License DUNGEONS & D RAGONS game designed by Jonathan Tweet, Monte and the d20 S ystem License, please visit www.wizards.com/d20. Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison. ©2006 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All rights reserved. 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The lands surrounding the City of Splendors 9 Phylund Hunting Lodge (fort) make up the Waterdeep region discussed in the FORGOTTEN REALMS 10 Reluraun’s Tomb (ruin) Campaign Setting and the Player’s Guide to Faerûn. In addition to 11 Floshin Estates the human-dominated city, this region includes dwarfholds in the 12 Harpshield Lands Forlorn Hills and the Sword Mountains, the moon elven lands in 13 Dungeon of the Shield 14 Talmost Lands and around Ardeep Forest, and the lower Delimbiyr and Dessarin 15 Talmost Keep (ruin) valleys. The environs of Waterdeep are commonly divided into nine dis- Delimbiyran 16 Delimbiyran (ruin) tinct sections: Ardeep, Delimbiyran, Elembar, the Forlorn Hills, the Lower Dessarin Vale, the Mere of Dead Men, the Northern Coast, Duchy of Daggerford the Southern Coast, and the Sword Mountains. Each of these regions 17 Daggerford 18 Black Helm Tower includes human thorps and hamlets, dwarven clanholds, and elven 19 Mount Illefarn steadings, most of which are too small to warrant mention. 20 Laughing Hollow However, their total population exceeds that of Waterdeep by a fac- 21 Sword Hills tor of two (in summer months) to ten (in winter months). Elembar In general , Waterdeep’s environs sport at least one community 22 Moon Tower of Elembar (ruin) every 20 square miles, although small thorps are much more con- centrated in the lower Dessarin Vale. Human communities, Forlorn Hills 23 Crumbling Stair (ruin) located primarily in the open lowlands , are surrounded by lands 24 Watchers of the North used primarily for farming and herding . Elven communities usu- 25 Torstultok (Hall of Grand Hunts, Firehammer Hold) (fort) ally lie w ithin small w oodlands, w hich t he F air F olk tend much as Lower Dessarin Vale a human farmer tends his fields . Dwarven communities , mostly 26 Amphail (village) located in the Sword Mountains and the Forlorn Hills , rarely 27 Death Shallows leave c lear aboveground f ootprints, e xcept i n t he immediate v icin- 28 Dolblunde (ruin) ity of underground excavations. The less common lightfoot 29 Goldenfields (city) halfling and r ock g nome communities resemble hu man and shield 30 Maiden’s Tomb Tor (village) 31 Gauster Creek dwarf communities , respectively. 32 Sarcrag 33 Stump Bog Northern Coast Ardeep 34 Circle of the Deepening Moon (ruin) 35 Thornhold At various points in history, the Realm of the Deepening Moon was 36 Redcliffs a vassal of the elven empires of Aryvandaar, Shantel Othreier, and 37 Red Rocks Illefarn. Circa –1,100 DR, Illefarn fragmented into three realms: 38 Alsapir’s Rock Ardeep, Iliyanbruen, and Rilithar. At its height, Ardeep encom- 39 Hall of Reflected Moonlight passed the lands between the Sword Mountains and the lower Southern Coast Delimbiyr Vale. 40 Bryndraeth Estate (fort) The rulers of Ardeep were known as laranlors (masculine) and 41 Roaring Dragon House (fort) laranlas (feminine), elven terms meaning regal lord and regal lady, 42 Zundbridge (bridge) respectively, and used to denote the king or queen of an elven vassal 43 The Selpir 44 Rat Hills realm or minor kingdom. Laranla Fildaerae “the Night Flame” died in the Year of Ashen Faces (–395 DR) and was succeeded by her Sword Mountains grandniece, Imdalace. When Laranla Imdalace disappeared in the 45 Hall of Whirling Blades (ruin) Year of the Slaked Blade (4 DR), rulership of Ardeep passed to her Mount Araddyn kinswoman Embrae Aloevan. Laranla Aloevan became a Chosen of 46 Olothontor’s Lair (ruin) Mystra and Sehanine in the Year of Frostfires (292 DR). Shortly Mount Helimbrar thereafter, in the Year of Promise (308 DR), she descended into 47 Marune’s Stronghold (fort) madness and death, consumed by the silver fire of Mystra. Mount Sar Aloevan’s successor, Laranlor Ruardh Lightshiver, forged the 48 Hespheira (ruin) Alliance of Illefarn with the shield dwarves of Dardath (now the 49 Nasaqh Estates (fort) Forlorn Hills) in the Year of the Cantobele Stalking (342 DR). In Mere of Dead Men 50 Mere of Dead Men 2 City of Splendors Web Enhancement 3 City of Splendors Web Enhancement the Year of Trials Arcane (523 DR), this combined region became PHYLUND HUNTING LODGE (9) Phalorm, the Realm of Three Crowns. Ruardh ruled as the elf king of Phalorm until the Year of Melding (557 DR), when he fell In the Year of the Bloodbird (1346 DR), Lord Urtos Phylund I built against a horde of hobgoblins at the Battle of Blunted Fangs, near a stone hunting lodge in the western depths of Ardeep Forest. Ever the site of present-day Dragonspear Castle. His successor, King since, the family has used this building as a base from which to Ellatharion, ruled until the Year of the Immured Imp (604 DR), launch carefully planned hunting expeditions for wealthy when he vanished along with a contingent of elves and halflings last Waterdhavians. The object of such hunts is always a rare and fan- seen pursuing an orc horde into the High Forest. The last elf king tastic creature brought in from elsewhere in Faerûn and released of Phalorm (and hence Ardeep), Lathlaeril “Leafspear,” died in the just prior to the event’s commencement. Lords Urtos I and Urtos II Year of the Jester’s Smile (612 DR) at the Battle of Firetears, which have both made small fortunes hosting such events—enough to con- was fought south of modern-day Triboar against the orcs of the sider establishing similar camps in the Sword Mountains or the illithid-led Everhorde. Sickened by the endless warring, most of Forlorn Hills. Ardeep’s moon elves abandoned Phalorm in the Year of the Lamia’s No one has yet noticed that these hunts never take place during Kiss (615 DR) and took ship to Evermeet. nights of the full moon, or that Lord Urtos II always visits the The elven realm of Ardeep was refounded in the Year of the Phylund hunting lodge on such nights for a “private hunt.” In fact, Curse (882 DR), when the area was resettled by moon elves from Urtos II is an afflicted werewolf, and he stays at the lodge during Eaerlann who had fled the demons erupting from Ascalhorn.