Tal'Dorei Campaign Guide PDF

80 Chapter 2: Gazetteer of tal’Dorei

East of the Stormcrest Mountains, hundreds of miles of massive, unbridled forest shrouds the landscape in mystery and

shadow. Widely understood to be the domain of the elves within Tal’Dorei—or Gwessar, as the continent is called in their

tongue—the dense timberland is traversed by few beside the elves of Syngorn. Brave, well-protected merchants travel from

Emon to Syngorn along roads sanctioned for trade, hunters both human and elven alike seek glory in tracking the wild

beasts that roam the untamed wilderness, and the occasional band of dark elf raiders from Ruhn-Shak prowls the forest

under cover of night. The enchanted nature of this wood holds the decay of the seasons at bay, the trees blooming evergreen

year-round.

The Verdant Expanse sprung from the ley energies that shifted here following the Calamity, bringing vibrant, acceler-

ated growth, and rampant magical flux to the region. This has instilled the forest with countless factions of stranded fey

folk, and displaced aberrations that call the darker groves their home. Ruins slowly fall to the swelling overgrowth, and

some say that parts of the wood move and hunt on their own, claiming the lives of those who wander too far from the

points of civilization. Even so, much of the Expanse is under watch of the Wardens of Syngorn, granting a measure of

safety to those who travel beneath its dusky boughs.

Natural creatures often wander from the Mirescar altered

or touched by darkness, lending to population surges of

dire beasts and fey abominations.

While the source of the Mirescar’s corruption has many

myths in Syngornian folklore, none have yet been able to

define the purpose nor reason for the darkened region.

While many scholars find fascination with this curiosity,

the few who proceed do so with caution, as a number who

have delved deeply into the Mirescar either fail to return,

or do so with but a shred of their former sanity. These

tales lead most denizens to avoid the area altogether,

instead using the fables to frighten young elven children

into not wandering the forest alone.

miresCar aDventures

a sicKness spre aDs

For mid-level characters: Whispers within the scouting

circles speak of nervous observations: The ever-localized

shadow of the Mirescar appears to be slowly spread-

ing, the corruption reaching out to consume more and

more of the Expanse. New, wild terrors spring from the

shaded tangle, and the Wardens reach out in hopes of

finding trustworthy investigators to find the cause of this

expanding darkness, perhaps even finally unveiling and

destroying the true source of the Mirescar.

The Shifting Keep

Built within and around a cluster of massive, living trees

that form the heart of the Expanse, and enchanted with

the most powerful illusion magic Syngorn could muster,

the Shifting Keep acts as the satellite military compound

for the Syngornian scouts and rangers that patrol and

defend the forest here. The enchantments embedded

within the keep’s foundation allow the fortress to cloak

its presence, falsely projecting its location anywhere

within a mile.

This advantage played a major role in the historical vic-

tory over Neminar in the Scattered War, and lent to the

mystique that now surrounds the outpost. Nearly a thou-

sand trained elven warriors, hunters, and spies call the

The Verdant Expanse

The Gladepools

Surrounding the southern edges of the Expanse lies a

cluster of broken ponds and lakes that ever draw fresh

water from the Stormcrest Mountains to the east, and salt

water from the Ozmit Sea to the west. The strange mixes

of habitats across this somewhat marshy grassland has

led to unusual ecosystems and odd, dangerous denizens,

which in turn has drawn the attention of many fishermen

from the Rifenmist region, and Syngornian hunters from

within the Verdant Expanse.

The clay and silt gathered along the shores of the

salt-water lakes can be refined into fine ceramics and

simple constructs that fetch fair prices in northern

Tal’Dorei. Syngornian tradition speaks of an oracle’s spirit

that is bound to the lakes, and when given sufficient offer-

ing and respect, the oracle will come to parlay a trade for

information of one’s fate.

Gla Depools aDventures

no basis for a systeM of Gov ernMent

For characters of any level: While traveling along the edge

of the Gladepools, a fighter or a paladin notices a gleaming

longsword embedded in the bank of the lake. No one but

that character can see it until they draw it from the mud.

A phrase in dark elvish Undercommon is written along

the side, saying “Whosoever draws this blade has the power to

free Ruhn-Shak from madness.” If translated in Syngorn, the

translator pauses before the name Ruhn-Shak, then stam-

mers instead, “the, uh, city... from madness,” and refuses to

help further.

The Mirescar

Deep within the western reaches of the Expanse lies a

section of extremely dense forest that allows nearly no

sunlight to enter. Existing since the birth of the Expanse

itself, the trees cluster and twist together into a labyrinth

of knotted roots and branches, while a tangled canopy of

drooping foliage and gray moss choke the sky from view.