Courtesy Wizards of the Coast, Art by David Tidd & Mark Tidd
Since there is an arcanist in the party, it’s very likely her knowledge came from somewhere. She is a wizard, not a sorcerer, meaning her abilities came to her through study rather than appearing spontaneously. The knowledge of wizards in the lands beyond the Nentir Vale flows from a single place, the Tower of the Arcane.
Located on the southern shore between Fortune’s Harbor and Meloravia, the Tower of the Arcane is the bastion of higher knowledge throughout the land. Pilgrims from every corner of the Empire search for it, but it can only be found by those who have been there previously. This means that only apprentices who travel with their masters can find the Tower. The Tower is administrated by the Five Archmages, studied arcanists chosen by their peers after decades of continued research and correspondence.
Throughout all the changes of power and political and military struggles, the Tower has remained staunchly neutral. The reasoning of the Five Archmages is that magic itself holds no allegiance, therefore they should not. This caused many refugees from war-torn areas of the land to seek the Tower, but without a wizard with them, most either were forced to turn back or became lost forever.
Upon taking power, Emperor Lysander issued an edict for the Tower to open to him and pay homage, but as he is not an arcanist, the Five Archmages refused. The Emperor sent a regiment of his troops, backed by Iron Circle mercenaries and priests of Bane, to find and take the Tower. None have yet returned. Wizards have also withdrawn from the court of the Emperor, with only one remaining to serve him as an advisor. However, upon saying something the Emperor didn’t like, Lysander had the man’s tongue removed. It grew back thanks to magical healing, but the wizard has since kept his own counsel. Bane’s men are eager to try new methods of shutting him up.
For now, the Tower and its secrets remain closed to all save those few who carry their power in tomes, scrolls and the forgotten lore of the arcane…
The Nentir Vale is a campaign setting provided to new players of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. It’s present in the Red Box and most of the starting materials. For a party almost all completely new to D&D and a DM re-familiarizing himself with the latest edition, it’s a great place to start a campaign. This will be an ongoing recollection of what happens to the party as they make their way through the Nentir Vale. Enjoy.
As the party took stock of themselves and made sure none of them were badly wounded, a loud croak was heard from outside the caverns. Recognizing it as the call of bullywugs not unlike those they’d just slain, the party readied itself.
“I draw my axe!” “I draw my sword.” “I draw my… boobs?” – Mike, Ben and Eric preparing for battle
The bullywugs outside were accompanied by a pair of giant frogs and a halfling bow at the end of the rope. The bullywug champion Uggloor had captured the boy when his friends had fled and he’d unfortunately slipped and fallen in the mud. As the party moved to take on the raiders, Lyria tumbled down the ledge behind Uggloor and her daggers found their mark. His minions tried to skewer the party with their javelins, and the frogs attempted to grab hold of one of the intruders with their sticky tongues.
“It tries to tongue you, and misses.” At this description, Ben died of laughter.
At the first sign of trouble, the halfing boy fled. Lyria kept Uggloor occupied to prevent him from giving chase. Be it from this focus or the notion of the abuse of a kinsman, she didn’t stop until the champion had croaked his last.
“She hit him so hard he leapt off the board!” – Ben
Meanwhile, the rest of the party resolved to deal with the remaining pair of bullywugs and their pet frogs. The tendency of their foes to leap about made bringing them down somewhat difficult. Keeping the bullywugs rooted to one location and dealing enough damage to prevent them leaping away became a top priority.
“I’m moving off the map.” “You can move off the map?” “Why do we even have a map?” – Danielle, Eric and Mike discussion spatial positioning in combat.
Eventually, one of the frogs grabbed hold of Andrasian and drew him into its gullet. The party laid into the frog, moving quickly to cut their friend free. The remaining frog didn’t stay around long enough to get carved up.
The halfling youth, a member of the Reedfoot clan, was very grateful for the rescue. He told the party that his uncle ran one of the many flatboats that traversed up and down the White River through the Harkenwold, trading with towns like Albridge and the farms in between. Before taking him home, the party returned to Tor’s Hold to report their success.
Bran Torsson was very happy with the news, and agreed to send warriors from Tor’s Hold in the fight to come. he also asked Krillorien, on the sly, to bless his house in which many of the soldiers were training, dining and sleeping. He felt Pelor’s blessing would inspire the troops, and it’d also piss off his shrill wife. Krillorien happily agreed.
From there, the party traveled towards the river. They found several halfling flatboats heading towards Albridge. One of them was captained by the youth’s uncle, Willet. He gently chastised the lad for losing his footing, and recognized Lyria as a Thorngauge, knowing her uncle Bobbin very well. The Thorngauges ran a caravan similar to the Reedfoot’s flatboats, only on wagons between Stormwatch and Erathgate to the south. Puffing on his pipe and concealing a brace of knives under his waistcoat, he had no trouble sneaking the party into Albridge.
On their way to the livery where Dar Gramath was organizing the resistance to the Iron Circle, the party stopped at a tavern. Inside, members of the selfsame Iron Circle were carousing and carrying on, drinking their fill without paying and harassing the staff and locals. Andrasian admonished them to stop. The head brigand responded by saying that the newcomwers needed to surrender their weapons, as only Iron Circle members could carry arms. Andrasian chellenged the mercenaries to take their arms.
“Now now, boys,” Melanie said as she swept into the tavern. “There’s no need to fight.”
There was a pause.
“Kill the elf-men and the shortstack,” the Iron Circle brigand replied. “Leave the woman for me.”
“Oh, balls. CHEESE IT!” – Eric’s reaction to the Brigand’s orders.
During our last D&D session, I tried to expand a bit on the history of the land outside of the Nentir Vale. My players, ever helpful, asked me to put everything down in a post they could read rather than having me go through it when they should rightly be slaying monsters and collecting loot. So, here goes.
According to the D&D Essentials materials, the Nerathan Empire existed to the south of the Nentir Vale and ‘began to crumble about a century ago.’ Emperors being who they are, the old Emperor tried to hold onto his power. The Barons, seeing the writing on the wall and tired of the Imperial laws that bled their lands dry, united to oust their rulers from Nerath. The Imperial Palace was besieged and burned, most of the family within put to the sword.
The Barons, glad to be free of the Imperials but unwilling to shed each others’ blood to determine the course of their lands from that point, agreed to non-lethal single combat. The victor became King of the Baronies, with his last opponent Duke of Nerath. Other dukes and earls were given their titles based on their standing and the size of their lands. This was the first Royal Games, followed by the first Convocation of Barons.
Every five years, the Barons (since you had to be at least a baron to participate) reconvened in Nerath to hold another Royal Games. Tax revenue was collected, grand balls thrown and in the end it again came down to single combat in an arena. If the King was able to defeat his opponent, he continued to reign; if he were unseated or too old to participate, he became the Duke of Nerath, administrator of the great city and advisor to the King.
This system wasn’t entirely popular with the people of the Baronies. For one, without more direct oversight from Nerath the Barons were able to impose more taxes and other policies upon their lands. For another, there was always the question of how much of the combat at the Games was honorable and if the outcome was ever fixed.
Most of these questions and concerns went unresolved, as the kingdom was relatively peaceful for a century. Recently, Duke Alphonse Markelhay had opened up negotiations for an alliance with the eladrin and elves in the Feywood, and was already on good terms with the dwarves of Hammerfast. His brother, Feron the Lord Marshal of Fallcrest, was ensuring that goods from that community as well as the rest of the Nentir Vale were finding their way to Adamantine. Alphonse was favored to win the Games, and the prevailing sentiment was that alliances with the other races would put him in a position to demand a change in policies throughout the Lands, as the Duke was well-liked by his people and saw to their needs before filling his coffers.
However, after the sitting King was defeated in the Games, Lysander Nerath arrived with his dark forces to reclaim the Imperial throne of his ancestors. He told Alphonse, the uncrowned King, to hand over his lands and contacts with the other races to ensure a peaceful transition of power. Alphonse refused. In response, Lysander killed Perrin II, took his crown and declared himself Emperor. In the ensuing chaos, Alphonse was secreted out of the city by an eladrin advisor, who was subsequently captured and put to death. Alphonse was last seen on the road to Adamantine, which was since renamed Sarthel in honor of Lysander’s late father. The uncrowned King’s party was set upon by Iron Circle mercenaries and priests of Bane. Nobody knows what the true outcome of the battle was. Neither party reported back to their homes and search parties turned up no bodies, only discarded weapons, broken armor and too little blood to form a conclusion.
With Lysander has come more oppressive taxes, the dissolution of the Baronies and a simple order issued by the Emperor: “Unite under the Nerathan banner or be put down by Imperial forces. You can live under my rule or watch your children burn.”
The Nentir Vale is a campaign setting provided to new players of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. It’s present in the Red Box and most of the starting materials. For a party almost all completely new to D&D and a DM re-familiarizing himself with the latest edition, it’s a great place to start a campaign. This will be an ongoing recollection of what happens to the party as they make their way through the Nentir Vale. Enjoy.
On the road to the druid’s grove, Krillorien recalled a conversation he’d had with Bensun Stonecarver, the dwarven majordomo of the house his father had given him. Despite having won the manse in a game of Three Dragon Ante with a compatriot, Krillorien’s father had never lived there, opting instead to remain with his people in Meloravia. Now that the manse was repaired and the threat of kobold or goblin invasion ended, Krillorien asked Bensun if he’d be willing to shut up the house and take his dwarves north past Winterhaven, to work on restoring the Keep on the Shadowfell. Bensun agreed, then told Krillorien to think up a new name for the place while he and his friends were out adventuring.
Krillorien and his friends were soon in the grove of the druid. The Iron Circle had, so far, left the grove of ancient trees untouched. A small cottage sat near the grove’s central menhir, tended to by a halfling woman and a young male human. Emerging from the cottage was Reithann, spry and bright-eyed despite her advanced human years. She told the adventurers that many potential warriors could come from Tor’s Hold to uproot the Iron Circle from the Harkenwold, if they could be freed from protecting their hamlet from bullywug attacks. Frog-like humanoids, the druid called them unnatural and said that by harassing the people of western Harkenwold, they were preventing Tor’s Hold from joining Albridge in open resistance. The party elected to deal with them first.
“Go, but be careful,” Reithann advised them. “On a cloudy day, the mouse does not see the hawk’s shadow.”
The party went to head west down the road, but Lyria stopped. “Wait… what?”
“Is it going to be an indoor or outdoor encounter?” – Mike
“Both.” – me
“*gasp* YOU JUST BLEW MY EVERYTHING!” – Eric
“I’m so excited I rolled!” – Mike
They moved down the road at speed. Without mounts, they kept to a brisk jog.
“She’s going to end up with two black eyes if we jog at 10 miles an hour.” – Ben, referring to Eric’s character
The elder of Tor’s Hold, Bran Torsson, was happy to see help arrive in dealing with the “damn croakers.” His wife, however, was feeling less than hospitable, especially when Krillorien offered to help with the wounded. A few jabs and insults later, Bran explained that she had run afoul of a priest peddling the blessings of Pelor for coin. He apologized for her behavior and for the fact that he could not send help with them to deal with the bullywugs.
The hideout known as the Toadwallow Caverns was a thoroughly unpleasant hole in a hillside overlooking the White River. A small waterfall spilled from the cavern entrance, feeding a stream that flowed south to the river. Lyria climbed up the 10-foot ledge first, on the lookout for patrols or traps.
“So if there are any traps there, you want to do them?” – Eric
“Maybe I like traps.” – Danielle
There was a small guard posted just within the cavern, but once the party was up on the rocks they took the bullywugs by surprise. Amongst the colorful mushrooms they did battle with the humanoid toads. As they fought, stirges swept in from above a nearby pool to assault the intruders. Even with the large insects seeking blood, the party managed to make short work of the guard.
Walking deeper into the cavern, they found a large central chamber dominated by a dragon skull. Beady eyes watched their approach and a croak carried a command. Minions emerged from the shadows to fall upon the party… …and were quickly dispatched. Oozes slid towards the newcomers, and Andrasian occupied them for the most part as the others tried to draw the bullywug chieftain out of his hiding place. Out of the protection of the ancient skull, he did not last long.
The party checked over their loot, took a moment to rest, and then gathered their belongings to leave the cavern…
No D&D this week, but I took the opportunity to expand a bit on the geography and current events beyond the Nentir Vale (pictured above). The map I’ve sketched is on graph paper in pencil, and I don’t have access to a scanner yet.
North of the Vale
The orcs that brought the Bloodspear War into the Nentir Vale continue to thrive between, under and on the Stonemarch, in their vast warrens called the Fanged Jaws of Kulkoszar. Cheif Urfeng Bloodspear eyes the Nentir Vale, and Fallcrest in particular, as irritants that must be stricken from the memory of his people. The Keep on the Shadowfell stands in his way.
West of Kulkoszar and leading north out of the Winterbole Forest is the Glacial Pass, a wind-swept and narrow plain emptying into a wide taiga. Above this frozen stretch of land rise the Frostjaw Peaks, a cluster of jagged mountains dominated by the Titan’s Vigil. It is said that a structure of some sort exists above the clouds that always conceal the top of the Vigil in darkness and the occasional flash of lightning. None who have dared to test the Vigil have returned.
South of the Vale
The King’s Road leads south out of the Nentir Vale to two very different cities, each about the size of Fallcrest. To the west along the coast is the stoic walled port of Stormwatch. Its lighthouse is one of the largest in the world. Princess Tavia Stillwater maintains control of the city, though threats of the Iron Circle and a possible blockade coupled with increased tariffs seem poised to choke her and her city into submission.
On the other side of the King’s Road through the Vale is the city formerly known as Adamantine. When Emperor Lysander seized power, King Alphonse Markelhay of Adamantine was among those who refused to kneel to the new potentate. He was returning to Adamant Keep to prepare for war when he disappeared. It is rumored he was slain by highwaymen of the Iron Circle. Indeed, the mercenary force moved into the city backed by the Emperor’s sorcerers and vicious beasts, putting down resistance and claiming it for their own. The Emperor declared the city be renamed Sarthel, in honor of his late father.
Resistance remains in Erathgate, the coastal city south of Stormwatch. Baron Silas Shandra pays homage to the Emperor but does all he can to keep commerce flowing to Stormwatch and his own ports rather than the Imperial-controlled Junction or the free city of Daggerport. He is a prudent and cautious man, and does not wish to call undue attention to his sympathy towards the anti-Imperial forces.
The Second Nerathan Empire
South of Erathgate, the King’s Road becomes known as the Imperial Highway. It leads to Junction, the largest city outside of Nerath itself and a crucial part of the Emperor’s strategy of securing his rule. Duke Karl Calebros, the Emperor’s finest warrior outside of the Executioner, has ensured that all commerce worth having comes into Junction, having raised tariffs on shipping to and from Stormwatch and exaggerating the dangers of Daggerport.
Along the Highway to the east is Nerath itself. Easily twice the size of Fallcrest and seated where the Nentir River splits in three, it maintains control of most of the commerce flowing through the region. Until recently, it was a city administered by a duke and every five years played host to the Games of Ascension. If the current king could be defeated in an honorable tournament, he would be come Duke of Nerath while his opponent became King, at least until the next Games. King Perrin II had been king for twenty years before Prince Lysander Nerath arrived with his Iron Circle mercenaries, dark sorcerers, priests of Bane and tamed beasts to seize the city and declare himself Emperor.
South of Nerath along the Imperial Highway, which follows the Scintil River, Shoredale rests near Lake Iris. It is a quiet and peaceful town, a bit smaller than Fallcrest, where the farmers of the southern plains gather to trade goods and barter for new equipment as caravans travel between Nerath and Fortune’s Harbor to the south. Baron Gabor Zoltus capitulated to the Emperor without contest.
Fortune’s Harbor serves as the gateway to both the Eladrin leading north to the elven lands and the mysterious Caliphate of Seven Stars to the south. Earl Carlson Everdawn ascended to ruling the city after his mother, a favorite to become Queen, was poisoned by her chancellor, who now advises the Earl not to contend with the will of the Emperor.
Daggerport
The only openly free city in the Nerathan Empire lies along the Low Road, across the long stone bridge called The Hilt. The delta of the Nentir Vale, The Knives, frames the city to the west. The natural defences of the coast allow the shipping to and from Daggerport to avoid some of the Imperial patrols, just as they did the Royal Coast Guard before it.
Daggerport is not ruled by a noble or even a particular group of individuals. However, anybody living or trading in Daggerport knows they had better not cross Szcathia, the drow reportedly in control of Daggerport’s network of thieves and assassins. To engage in commerce in Daggerport is to engage in crime, and Szcathia is Daggerport’s criminal mastermind.
Dwarves & Elves
East of the Nerathan Empire are two of the most extant threats to the new potentate. As soon as he seized control of Nerath, Emperor Lysander sent emissaries to the Dawnforge Dwarves. The messages spoke of a pact of non-agression between the dwarves and the Nerathan Empire. The dwarves agreed, but not before allowing some of the elite forces of Adamantine to flee into their holds. Before Lysander could protest, the mighty stone doors in the shadow of Adamant Hold rolled shut, leaving Hammerfast the only open road into dwarf territory in the region.
South of Sarthel is the Moonwood, seperated by the greater Feywood by the city of Sehavia. While the city boasts some idyllic mountain retreats, natural hot spring baths and all the wonders of the Feywild available for sale or trade, it is also a place for the exchange of secrets. Eladrin and tieflings are common sights in the city, far moreso here than in any other city in the region.
The Feystride takes travellers south from Sehavia to the other sylvan city in the region, Meloravia. A port city far from Fortune’s Harbor, Meloravia rests at the apex of the Eladrin Bay. Intrepid explorers can seek adventurous crews to take them around the Black Marsh towards the Bay of Bahamut, rumored to be a gateway to a realm of metallic dragons and untold hoards of treature. However, the waters in the bays are treacherous, and more than a few crews have washed up in the turgid, stinking waters of the Black Marsh to make their sticky way home, while others are never seen again.
The Feystride then leads east into the Feywood. Little is known of this place. It is said the elves (not eladrin) hail from this realm, and that it is a shard of the Feywild itself, just as ways to the Shadowfell lay concealed beneath the Stonemarch.
