62 Chapter 2: Gazetteer of tal’Dorei
The Cliff keep Mountains
Spanning the northern reaches of Tal’Dorei, the Cliff keep Mountains are an impenetrable barrier between the known realm
and what lies beyond in the distant north. The Cliff keeps’ southern foothills are dotted with forests and pockets of civilization,
standing resolute against the unwelcoming topography. Deep within the earth itself, the dwarven stronghold of Kraghammer
flourishes and expands, just a few scant leagues above ancient caverns that plunge into a domain of unknowable horrors.
The Cliff keeps are the largest mountain range in all of Tal’Dorei, home to myriad peoples: scattered tribes of kobolds scav-
enge in the wake of hungry ettins, roving clans of frost giants, and mobs of trolls ravage those who camp too high into the old
paths. Wild wyverns can be heard screeching into the valleys, and some scattered goliath herds even tame wyverns for mounts.
Near the earth elemental rift and the Ashari village of Terrah, the mountains themselves seem to rise up in defense as
earth elementals spring from the living stones. Northward brings higher peaks and colder winds, as snow and ice take the
lands to become the frozen waste that is the Neverfields. These challenges keep the common folk at bay, the secrets and
spoils held within these crags calling only to the very brave, very clever, or very stupid.The Emberhold...............................
A passage from the Keenstone Quarry in Kraghammer
leads below the earth. Deep. Deeper. Until the light of
day is entirely gone, and then deeper still. Across chasms
miles-deep and full of magma, beneath great hanging gar-
dens of glowing malachite, lies the Emberhold. It stares
imperiously over the underground kingdom of the dark
dwarves, the ash-skinned duergar.
Millennia beneath the ground have made these dwarves
paranoid and cruel creatures. Their eyes are wide and
white, nearly-sightless, and over all things they seek the
destruction of their cousins in Kraghammer above, who
have no love for their vicious, subterranean neighbors.
Untold dozens of duergar villages span the glassy lava-
plains that the Emberhold is built upon, with mighty
warbands constantly coming and going, sometimes returning
with just a few bloody survivors, other times returning with
a dozen slaves in chains, and other times returning not at
all. No one in Tal’Dorei knows why the duergar so hate the
world above them; no captured dark dwarves ever tell. When
posed the question, wise Ironkeeper Gradim Greyspine
merely shakes his braided head and sorrowfully replies, “It’s
been so long, I doubt even they know.”
The Emberhold itself is a fortress built of black stone
and obsidian, framed by rivers of molten rock, and sur-
rounded by a massive city of ramshackle dwellings and
towers that mark their domain. Vox Machina’s assault of
the Emberhold recently cost the duergar their king and
queen, though rumors of a lost princess of Ember are
beginning to circulate through the realm.
Ironically, the very heroes that slaughtered their king and
queen also freed them from K’Varn, an aberrant tyrant that
dominated their people for generations. Despite rumors of
a lost heir, surviving members of the Emberhold court have
rebuilt their hierarchy from the bloodline of Thangrul, a
lesser war-duke, and resumed their unending war with the
other creatures that share these caverns.emberholD aDventures
the lost heir
For mid-level characters: King Murghol of the Emberhold
was killed in combat by Scanlan Shorthalt, gnome bard ofVox Machina, and his wife, Queen Ulara, was slain by the
aberrant tyrant K’Varn. All of the Emberhold knows that
the King and Queen had a young daughter—only six years
old at the time of their death—but none seem interested
in seeking out the missing heir to the Emberhold. Than-
grul, a war-duke poised to be crowned as the new king
of the duergar, grows particularly fiery whenever anyone
mentions the name around him.Fort Daxio
Nestled within the Othendin Pass, Fort Daxio is a mas-
sive stronghold and series of military structures under
the rule of the Tal’Dorei Council that trains and holds
the bulk of the mobile army of Emon. The fortress was
constructed following the Scattered War as an answer to
both the opportunistic assaults of the giant clans from the
Cliff keep mountains, and as a hidden reserve of military
might against Errevon during the Icelost Years.
Currently helmed by Warmaster Mikael Daxio, a deco-
rated soldier and long-time friend of the late Uriel Tal’Dorei
II, the fort keeps around 4,400 standing soldiers and 500
civilians who are responsible for upkeep of Fort Daxio and
supplying most of the needs of the army. The forces are
divided into four different regiments: The Dusk Regiment,
the Gale Regiment, the Aegis Regiment, and the Tide Reg-
iment. Each regiment is lead by their own assigned general,
all answering directly to the Warmaster, and it’s not uncom-
mon for regiments to be sent out across the land to aid and
defend other territories or allies to the Council.
General Fei Yujian is the unusually cheery commander
the Dusk Regiment, and General Jillian Sylph is the calm,
tactical commander of the Gale Regiment. The Aegis
Regiment is overseen by the dour General Elle Gorgofon,
while General Kay Clearsight is the spell-slinging com-
mander of the Tide Regiment.fort Daxio aDventures
froZen blooD
For high-level characters: Warmaster Mikael Daxio has been
found dead on the bottom floor of the Watchman’s Rest, a
popular public house in Fort Daxio. He was stabbed through