Advanced Dungeons^pragons

OFFICIAL GAME ADVENTURE

Moooshae by

Credits:

Editing: Mike Breault Cartography: Dave S. LaForce Cover Art: Tim Hildebrandt Typography: Kim Janke Interior Art: George Barr Keylining: Stephanie Tabat

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank Graeme Morris, Jim Bambra, and Phil Gallagher for their ideas and input as the islands were begin- ning to take shape.

The Korinn Archipelago was created by and is detailed in moduleSample N4, . file

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ISBN 0-88038-494-8 $7.95 US 9217

9217XXX1501 Sample file Tkble of Contents

Introduction 4

5-:: Overview 7 Character Races of the Moonshaes 7 Character Classes of the Moonshaes 7 Character Levels 9 Common Conflicts 9 Economies of the Moonshaes 12 Moonshae Climate 12 Moonshae Topography 15 Wildlife of the Moonshaes 19

Deities of the Moonshaes 21 The Goddess 21 The Children 23 Kazgoroth the Beast 27

Specific Locales of the Moonshaes 31 Callidyrr 32 Corwell 34 Moray 39 Snowdown 42 < Norland 44 Norheim Sample file 46 Oman 48 Gnarhelm 50 Korinn Archipelago 53 Myrloch Vale 54 Synnoria 56 Flamsterd 58

I Appendices 60 Using the Moonshaes 60 Magical Items of the Moonshaes 61

s; INTRODUCTION

The goddess has been in the Moonshaes above all, and the first two of her chil- The children of the goddess, and the for many centuries—since before the dren were peaceful, nonthreatening animals, and the Llewyrr and the coming of the humans or even the Lle- creatures. Tb balance them, the god- dwarves, fought the Beast as best they wyrr. Alone, she nurtured and cared dess gave birth to her third child—the could, holding its dark force at bay. The for the isles, seeing them green and ver- youngest and deadliest of her brood. Beast could not be defeated, but neither dant through the summers, white and The goddess brought forth onto the could its might grow such that it would slumbering through the long winters. Moonshaes the Pack, the congregation overcome the goddess. Thus, the Bal- She watched her body, the land, of wolves whose hunting song would ance was maintained. change with the passing of years, yet so strike terror into the hearts of lesser The Beast called its own followers slowly that it always seemed to remain creatures, and whose cruel jaws would who rose, dripping, from the sea to the same from year to year. She gave end the lives of many a helpless doe and crawl forth on land. The firbolgs birth to lakes and low marshes became unwary rabbit. claimed the Moonshaes as their own, grassy fields. Mountains slipped slowly, For the Balance demanded that life be ruthlessly slaying any who stood in eroding into the valleys below, while countered by death. And so the Pack their way. The ugly giants gradually rivers grew in size, becoming more roamed the Moonshaes, wild, singing, took to the land, forgetting their origins placid with the years. Occasionally a and free, as the goddess's agents of in the sea, and spread across the Moon- river would change its course, racing death. shaes with relentless strength. eagerly along a new path until the pass- As time passed, more and more ani- The dwarves and the Llewyrr mar- ing of the centuries pacified its turbu- mals arrived to populate the rugged, shalled their forces to stand against the lent ways. yet peaceful isles. The most serious threat of the giants and the Beast. For The goddess could see the isles threats to the land were the winter many decades, war wracked the isles, through the Moonwells, windows she storms that swept off of the Trackless but finally the firbolgs were driven into created in the land. Each Moonwell was Sea, scouring the weak and the frail small corners of the isles, where they a clear, placid pool of cool water that lay from the islands, leaving the strong to were carefully watched by the protec- in a secluded grove or remote mountain multiply and prosper. Thus, even the tors of the Balance. glen. Through the Moonwells, the god- storms played their role in maintaining For centuries this remained the way dess watched her world take shape, the Balance. of the Moonshaes. Little changed, for and she watched it grow and change. Then one day the Llewyrr arrived. the Llewyrr and the firbolgs were not And finally, she watched the coming The elvenfolk came over the sea, per- builders, and the work of the dwarves of life to her world. haps interrupted in some mysterious progressed mainly underground. And She remembers times, long past, journey toward places even farther thus it might have remained for all when the only creatures upon the isles west. SampleThey claimed the file Moonshaes as time, but for the coming of man. were her children. The great leviathan their own. They lost touch with their The first humans arrived from the was the first of her offspring to come kin throughout the Realms, and passed south, sailing slow but seaworthy cora- upon the shores of the Moonshaes, its peaceful centuries of pastoral solitude. cles from an unknown land. These men great, gray back breaking the surface Later came the dwarves—mysterious fled a mighty foe and erected fortresses of the Sea of Moonshae like a freshly folk who seemed to sprout from the and palisades to protect themselves. rising island, as broad and solid as a ground itself, for the goddess does not But whatever they feared, it did not small land mass. For many years, the recall their arrival. They lived in peace pursue them here. spuming cloud of the leviathan's breath with the Llewyrr, for the dwarves More and more of the men arrived, was the only sign of animal life along shunned most of the surface world. soon claiming most of the large isle of the gravelly shores and deep firths of Those places they inhabited were bar- Alaron as their own. Grudgingly, the the islands' rugged shorelines. ren and rocky—terrain the Llewyrr Llewyrr moved aside, withdrawing to Then came the unicorn, Kamerynn, had no wish to populate. the wilder reaches of the isles. But it whose snowy mane flashed through And then, in the heart of a cruel win- seemed that the human arrivals would the fields and glens of the isles. The ter, the Moonshaes felt the first heavy never stop, as word spread of a place mighty creature lived first on Gwyn- tread of the beast. where none need fear the tyrant's boot neth, but then on Alaron, Moray, and The mother knew not whether it or the evil sorcerer's spell. other islands until finally it had dwelled emerged from the storm-tossed sea or The people who came to the Moon- upon all of the isles. Legends say that from the depths of some seething ocean shaes called themselves just that: the the offspring of the unicorn, the horses, of lava far beneath her skin. She knew People or in the language of the isles, roam all of the Moonshaes because of only that the monster stalked the land "the Ffolk." The Ffolk prospered, and the wanderings of their ancestor. with foul purpose, grievously threaten- their cities grew. They spread to Gwyn- But the goddess required Balance ing the Balance. neth, to Moray and Snowdown, and—in lesser numbers—to the more barren Realms. But the northmen quickly tired of isles of Norheim and Norland. For a time the Moonshaes saw peace raiding and chose to settle. They With the Ffolk came the , for and prosperity as the realm of Cymrych claimed the isles of the north as their the little people dwell in the Realms Hugh and his descendents held the own; the divided kingdoms of the Ffolk wherever they can find human targets Ffolk together. Gradually, with the pass- could not gather to resist. As time for their mercantile dealings. The ing of generations, the memory of the passed, the northmen became more human and habitations drove first High King dimmed, and the strong powerful and conquered more of the the Llewyrr far into the wilds of the bonds uniting the Ffolk began to fray. islands. If the tide is not reversed, the isles, as the elvenfolk shunned contact Soon, the islands were once again a col- years of the Ffolk's reign upon the with these shorter-lived and aggressive lection of small kingdoms waging petty Moonshaes are drawing to an end. newcomers. wars. Clerics have arrived among the Ffolk, The Ffolk soon claimed all the isles as These bickering kingdoms were easy preaching of the new gods—the gods their own—not as a united people, but prey to the savage onslaught of the worshiped in Waterdeep, Calimshan, as an assortment of small, bickering northmen, the yellow-bearded war- and Thay. These clerics have not elimi- kingdoms. They waged petty wars, riors who sailed from Waterdeep to nated the faith of the Ffolk in their god- seeking more to annoy than destroy. seek new lands to the west. The long- dess, but they have raised doubts. Slowly, the large islands of Alaron and ships landed first along the Norheim The goddess can now feel her Gwynneth became focal points of Isles, taking tribute from the tiny king- strength waning, and she knows that power, though three or four separate doms of the Ffolk they found there. her life has become bound into the life kingdoms on each still vied for ultimate Next Norland and then Oman and of the Ffolk. authority. Moray shuddered under the attacks of And again the Beast has begun to stir. As the dramas of humans, Llewyrr, the raiders. and other lesser creatures unfolded across the stage of the Moonshaes, the Beast slept. The vigilance of the goddess waned, as she relished the flourishing of life upon her body. And slowly the Beast awakened, sur- reptitiously sapping power from the goddess through a Moonwell. When it was ready the Beast took a name, and Sample file walked again upon the land. Its name was Kazgoroth. Now the Beast walked the land with death as its purpose. It slew relentlessly indiscriminately It thrived and grew as it killed. And it drove the Ffolk together to fight against it. A king arose from the kingdom of the Callidyrr on the isle of Alaron: Cymrych Hugh. With the blessings of the goddess and a sword forged for him by the fin- est of dwarven craftsmen, Cymrych Hugh faced Kazgoroth. The might of the sword and the king drove the Beast back to the darkened recesses of its home, badly wounded but not killed. There it would remain for many centu- ries. Cymrych Hugh united the Ffolk of the Moonshaes into one kingdom for the first time. He erected a mighty citadel at his home—Caer Callidyrr; it became fabled throughout the Forgotten Sample file