the land such that all that remained was a blasted moor.
It is a rocky wilderness infested with trolls and gobli-
noids and all manner of other dangers for anyone who
treks across it instead of going around.
As the name suggests, the High Moor is a raised area
extending for many miles of heath, lichen-covered out-
croppings, and hidden gullies. Herd animals wander
the land, from sheep to ro ck ponies to the occasional
rothe. These beasts graze without great risk, because
wolves and other predators that would thin the herds
are themselves the prey of the trolls and goblinoids
that otherwise rule the moor. These two-legged threats
sometimes seed the High Moor with traps, but are nor-
mally occupied with fighting and killing their prey and
each other. There is something of a cycle to the hunts of
the High Moor: wolves are killed off by the hobgoblins
one year, leading to more sheep grazing, which brings
the trolls out (the local trolls enjoy mutton, it seems),
which brings intrepid adventurers to deal with the
growing m enace, enabling just e nough of the wolves to
s urvive that they aren't wiped out completely.
Human barbarians also inhabit the High Moor, living
mostly on its western fringes with large herds of sheep
a nd goats, the soil being too thin and too poor for farm-
ing. They aren't Uthgardt or related to them, but they
might have some distant ties to the Northlanders, as
they seem to be of Illuskan stock. They speak a dialect
of Illuskan I'd not heard before, and my first meetings
with them were quite tense and filled with misappre-
hension. However, I came to know people from both
the Girondi and Belcondi tribes, all of whom acted with
bravery, honor, and good humor in my presence. Trav-
elers in this region should note that the human tribes
share the suspicion of magic common among many
Northlanders, but thankfully it isn't the fanatic hatred
s hown by the Uthgardt.
There are also some small ore tribes, Redclaw and
Blue Feather, among th em. The humans and goblinoids
both despise the ores, and my hosts said they allied
with one another in the past when the ores grew great
in number.0ROGOTH
For such a large expanse, th e High Moor contains few
known ruins. One such is Orogoth, the former villa of
a noble family of old Netheril. Local legends say the
family dabbled in dragon magic, attempting to capture
those powerful wyrms and acquire their powers. The
tales differ as to what folly led to the family becom-
ing immolated in its home, but most agree the culprit
was a dracolich, of all things, residing in the ruin andCHAPTER 2 I THE SWORD COAST AND THE NORTH