Cells of Zhentarim agents were cut loose, and without
connections or direction, they dissolved or were crushed
by rivals. The Zhentarim was no more.
Or so it seemed. There was one stronghold of the
Zhents that had not fallen and whose leader never
wavered in his dedication to the organization. Darkhold
stands deep in the mountains of the Western Heart-
lands, and there the remnants of the Zhentarim quietly
gathered. There they swore allegiance anew to the
leader who promised to reforge the organization into
something stronger than before.
The man to whom this new Zhentarim owed fealty
was a dark knight known only as the Pereghqst. The
Pereghost had long led the armed forces of the Zhen-
tarim at Darkhold, and his vision for the revival of the
organization was along military lines. After a time of
recruitment and training, the Zhentarim emerged from
Darkhold not as conquerers or as bullying capitalists
but as mercenaries willing to serve others instead of
forcing them to serve.
In the years that followed, the transformation served
the Zhentarim well. They earned a reputation for ster-
ling service, and their ranks swelled. Those who knew
of Darkhold thought of it as the headquarters of this new
version of the Zhentarim.
Membership in the Zhentarim is difficult to assess,
but my source told me they might have greater num-
bers now than before their organization's fall. New
leadership for this larger group has led to a shift in
focus. While still a source of capable mercenaries, the
Zhentarim have diversified into mercantile pursuits.
Zhent guards now ride alongside caravans of their own.
And whereas a military organization served it well in
the chaotic period after its fall, my source frequently
described the Zhentarim as a "family" and leaders as
"my good friend."
My source also spoke in awed tones of the Pereghost,
as though that figure were still alive and a leader of
Darkhold. The Pereghost is never seen without his full
armor and a face-covering helm. If it isn't an elf behind
the mask, then I suspect a series of humans might have
masqueraded as the Pereghost during the past century.
DARKHOLD VALE
I was curious about my source's tale, and so when I
had cause to be in the region, I made my way toward
Darkhold. An enormous mountain peak called the Gray
Watcher of the Morning looms behind Darkhold to the
east, casting a great shadow over the keep from sunrise
until nearly midday. Darkhold sits in a cleft in the side
of the Gray Watcher, the highest point of permanent
occupation in a relatively fiat and defensible valley called
Darkhold Vale.
Darkhold Vale contains a small settlement of the
same name, consisting mostly of shepherds who tend
their flocks in the high meadows of the Sunset Moun-
tains, and a few farmers who coax fine crops from the
soils that cling to the vale's fields. The settlement's main
source of prosperity is the black stone quarry at the
southeastern edge of the vale; the heavy carts groan-
ing with slabs of stone for sale and the large, muscled
workhorses that pull them are common sights here.
The common folk of Darkhold Vale tend to be surly
and suspicious of outsiders, though they are careful to
avoid offense.
This settlement of about a hundred or so is utterly
under the dominion of Darkhold and has seen some
benefit from the situation: the vale folk see a great deal
more traffic and trade than the little hamlet would ever
expect otherwise. Until recently, all the caravans bound
for Darkhold could seek sanctuary only in the shadow of
the keep itself. Now the people of the vale have recently
built both an inn, called the Wyvern's Rest, and a sepa-
rate tavern, called the Rookery.
Some of the locals send to market bales of the thick,
rich wool they shear from their sheep. Others make a
living hawking the dandelion wine that Darkhold Vale
has always produced, but only recently begun to sell
abroad. The vale has a small militia, technically under
the command of the Pereghost, but which answers to a
local captain named Sulvarn.
To those who've come into conflict with the Zhen-
tarim, living in a place so firmly in their power seems
unthinkable, but the reality is that life is sedate here.
Certainly, the soldiers in the castle aren't to be trifled
with, but they hardly ever engage in the acts of petty cru-
elty that one expects from warriors serving a local lord.
Those who misunderstand the Zhentarim often do so
because they imagine them to be cackling villains in the
vein of the Zhen ts of yore. In reality, they are pragmatic,
willing to do whatever necessary to achieve their ends.
But they have no need to terrorize the folk of Darkhold
Vale, for one simple reason: they already control them.
In years past, these folk lived in fear and suspicion,
with a hearty helping of racial prejudice; my first visit to
Darkhold nearly a century ago was occasion for me to
hear some of the vilest epithets attached to my kind thatI've ever heard-even worse than those that fall from the
foul lips of ore raiders in the North. The attitudes of the
vale folk have changed over the years, however, no doubt
due in part to the orders of the Pereghost when he reen-
gaged the Zhentarim with the wider world.