Settlement of Harken The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

The Village of Harken is a small village nestled near the White River, along the old King’s Road in the southeast corner of the Nentir Vale. It has a population of 212; another 100 or so live in the countryside around the village. The people of Harken are mostly humans with a few dwarves, and halflings.

The human noble Jonn Stockmer is the baron of Harkenwold. He oversees justice, defense, and laws within the six villages and surrounding countryside that makes up the Harkenwold. The baron appoints village elders to help with the daily governing of the Harkenwold. One of the town elders is called Old Kellar, an ancient and respected dwarf.

Harken village has no standing defences, but 30 or so able-bodied warriors can be raised from the population relatively quickly.

If the need arises, the baron can call up 150 militia at need from the whole of Harkenwold. Being the largest settlement within the Barany of Kardkenwold, it gets far more traffic in and out from traders and merchants.

Harken Keep is the home of Baron Stockmer and his family. It stands on top of a short, steep-sided hillock overlooking Harken Village and the King’s Road. The trees and ground cover on the hillside are cut back at least 100 feet from the walls, leaving a bare grassy slope. The hill rises precipitously on the eastern side. The other approaches are more gradual, but none flatten out until about 100 feet above the village. A causeway of hard-packed dirt climbs around the hilltop to the castle’s front gate, exposed to archery fire from the towers and walls for most of its length.

Soldiers built the great tower and upper bailey 200 years ago to guard the King’s Road and the White River valley against monsters attacking from Thunderspire or the Dawnforge Mountains. When Jonn Stockmer became baron 45 years ago, he embarked on a decades-long rebuilding and expansion of the stronghold, adding the lower bailey and repairing the rest of the castle (sorely needed at the time). Old Kellar from Harken was the chief stonemason of this work, and knows the castle like the back of his gnarled hands.

Under Iron Circle occupation, the castle will be renamed Iron Keep, and is the stronghold of Nazin Redthorn and his Iron Circle soldiers.

Notable Locations
• Nonnie's Place
• Cliffside Brewery
• The Broken Goal
• Harkenwold Trading Station
• Harken Temple
• The Tower of Green Flame
• Harken Jailhouse
• House of Faith
• The Broken Gaol

Dardun The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

Surrounded by apple orchards, grain fields, and vineyards, Dardun is known for mild white wines, cheeses, and (of course) apples. Dardun’s elder is a proud half-elf woman named Madera Lirr, the matron of an old family of orchardists and cider-makers. Dardun’s population is about 140 inhabitants.

Notable Locations
• Dardun Inn
• General Store

Mayor's Office The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

This large building is the Town Hall of Nenlast for the Lord Mayor, the center of government in Nenlast which includes the office of the lord mayor Thure Karn, an elderly human male noble. This location is also the public meeting place for the residents of Nenlast and its governing body. The town hall is located in the center of Nenlast.

The hall is a large three story building made of good quality stone and wood, the largest building in the small settlement. The roof was made of wood with a bell tower rising from the back of the building. A noticeboard near the front door displays bulletins and information for residents and newcomers to town, some offering rewards for certain tasks.

1st Floor
The bottom floor of this building is used for multiple purposes but is mainly used for council and town meetings and such with two large oak tables with chairs seated around them. A large hearth in the back of the room warms this side of the floor during the colder months of the year.

The lord mayor will meet here monthly with most of the prominent business owners in Nenlast to discuss matters of importance. Job boards are also posted outside the building for anyone to accept.

All rewards for completed jobs are paid out of the towns hall by the lord mayor or one of his council members. Visitors who come here to speak to either the lord mayor or the council included will do so on the bottom floor. Outsiders will never gain access to the second floor or above.

2nd Floor
The second floor is mainly used as a large lounge area for the not so formal meetings the lord mayor might have. A large hearth is in the back of the room which is connected to the one downstairs. Whenever the townmaster hosts a large banquet for the council during council meetings they are done on the second floor. The food is brought in from the Grey Hare to be served.

3rd Floor
The third floor is the official residence and living room of the lord mayor of Nenlast. Large designer rugs lay across most of the floor with expensive furniture and such spread across the large room. Chairs, couches and such are arranged through the room. It also contains a large hearth that is connected to the lower two floors hearths.

The room itself is very relaxing and when the lord mayor is not found around Nenlast, he can be found here. One side of the large chamber contains a large deck with two tables on each side of it filled with paperwork and such.

Lake Wintermist The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

Perpetually shrouded in icy fog, Lake Wintermist provides ample supplies of fish for the human clans of the Winterbole Forest, the western shore village of Mistwatch, and a few homesteads along its southern shore. White dragons frequently appear in the northern reach of the lake, particularly in the dead of winter when they seek out mates.

Fed from the icy glacial runoff of the Cairngorm Peaks and dark waters of Winterbole Forest, Lake Wintermist is a mysterious place. Hot volcanic springs on the western shores of the lake keep the place shrouded in mist which perpetually falls in freezing sheets, refracting the light into thousands of colorful sparkles. It is said that the fey Winter Court once favored this place before the fall of the Winter Queen. The Winter River carries the icy waters of the lake to meet the Nentir River below the Gray Downs.

Lake Wintermist is a more secluded body of water within the Nentir Vale. Residents of Winterhaven might have more information on this section of the region, but those to the Southern and Eastern parts aren’t familiar with its history. Most people who don’t live on the Western side of the Nentir Vale aren’t interested in visiting the lake due to all the strange activity going on within the Winterbole Forest, which encircles half of the lake. All anyone cares to know is that the lake exists, and lies to the northeast of Winterhaven.

Cairngorm Peaks The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

The Cairngorm Peaks are a mountain range running north to south along the border of the Nentir Vale and the Stonemarch. The eastern side was inhabited by goblins and kobolds, who used it's protection to stay safe from the more savage monsters of the Stonemarch.

The Cairngorm Peaks were also the location of a rift that lead to the shadowfell. A keep was later built over this, known as the Keep on the Shadowfell.

Winterbole Forest The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

This vast ancient boreal forest stretches the expanse of the northern borders of the Nentir Vale from the Cairngorm Peaks to the Dawnforge Mountains. This boundary separates the Nentir Vale from the northern arctic tundra and frozen wastelands.

Almost primordial in age, ancient ruins from before the rise of civilized man lay deep within its borders. Here and there are places where the barrier to the realm of Faerie is at its thinnest. Many an elf city from the Feywild appears from time to time deep within the forest when the stars and seasons are right.

The elves of this faerie woodland claim the deeper parts as sacred to them and defend themselves fiercely.

The vast expanse of the Winterbole Forest defines the northern border of the Nentir Vale and the limit of Nerath’s expansion at its height. The local inhabitants, fierce humans who revere the primal spirit called the Hunter of Winter as their totem, were never brought under Nerath’s sway, and remained uneasy neighbors of the empire at its height. They trade with the people of Nenlast at times, but in harsh winters they have also been known to attack the village and simply take the food and weapons they need.

Being so near the northernmost region of Nerath, this woodlands remains relatively cool during the warmer months of the year but during the winter becomes extremely cold.

The white dragon Bitterstrike holds sway over a large part of the forest. Several of the Winterbole’s denizens, most notably the Tigerclaw barbarians and the Frost Witches, pay fealty to the dragon. They keep her pacified and help her when she demands it, but none of them are truly and honestly on her side.

The Tigerclaw barbarians consider themselves the real power to be reckoned with in the Winterbole. This wide-ranging band of humans and shifters were never brought under Nerath’s sway, and remained uneasy neighbors of the empire at its height.

They claim to be descended from a great primal spirit known as the Hunter of Winter, from which they draw their fighting skill and their determination. They trade with the people of Nenlast at times, but in harsh winters they have also been known to attack the village and simply take the food and weapons they need.

The Frost Witches are not nearly as numerous as the Tigerclaws, but their desire for domination is no less strong. Clenderi, the witches’ leader, would like nothing better than to convince Bitterstrike to join their cause in service to Cryonax.

The coniferous treants of the Winterbole Forest contribute some of their ranks to the cadre of Bitterstrike’s vassals, and they typically stand with the dragon when it becomes necessary to put down an incursion into the forest by humanoids. But their true enemies are the treants of the Harken Forest. These two groups harbor an enmity that dates back to the time when the two forests were a single expanse of green that covered nearly the entire vale.

Winter River The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

This river flows from Lake Wintermist through the southern edge of the Winterbole Forest and turns south to flow into with the Nentir River at Fallcrest. It is an important trade route between Winterhaven and Mithraldelve and Fallcrest and points south.

Andok Sur The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

Andok Sur is an ancient necropolis mostly buried under the Old Hills in the northeastern reaches of the Nentir Vale. It was ancient even before the rise of Bael Turoth. The site was dedicated to the demon prince Orcus and warriors of the eastern valley would entomb their enemies there, while thy were still alive. Tombs and mausoleums lined the streets, like houses in a normal city. A large portion of this ancient necropolis remains above the surface but much of it is buried below.

Then, centuries ago, the vampire Zarguna turned the city into the capital of a thriving empire of the dead. Much of what would become the Nentir Vale fell into his grasp as the living became slaves and cattle of the undead.

This brought the city to the attention of Bael Turoth, Arkhosia, the dwarven empire of Mithralfast, and even the gods themselves. At the height of the empires power, a mighty earthquake cracked the ground beneath the city and it was swallowed by the earth and buried. There it would lay, forgotten by memory and by time. Or so it was believed.

The coming of the litch Malgrim awoke the city and attempted to resurect the city of the undead. Although Malgrim was defeated by a group of adventurers, they did not destroy all the undead. With the way to Andok Sur open again, undead have begun wandering the Old Hills, posing a new threat to the living. Even more concerning is the rumors that a fiendish green dragon has claimed a portion of the city as it's lair.

Old Hills The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

Though the hills themselves are no older than any other geographical feature in the Vale, the Old Hills bear signs of the first human settlements in the region: ancient ring-forts built by the same hill-tribes that erected the barrows in the Gray Downs. The remains of these ancient forts appear across the entire length and breadth of the hills, from near Nenlast to Raven Roost and Fiveleague House, both of which were built atop old ruins.

Five League House The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

Fiveleague House is more properly known as the Fiveleague Inn. It’s a strongly built innhouse surrounded by a wooden palisade. Fiveleague House caters to travelers and merchants coming or going from Hammerfast, a day’s journey (five leagues) farther east. The proprietor is a big, bearlike human named Barton.

Located on the Trade Road between Hammerfast and Thunderspire, Five-league house is a strongly-built fortified manor. A full-service inn, it caters to travellers who make use of the road. It is located at the intersection of the route northward to Nenlast. A days journey west of the dwarven stronghold, it is well appointed and known throughout the Nentir Vale.

Five League House sits on the main road going east to Hammerfast and west to Fallcrest. The Inn is a rustic inn found alongside Trade Road. The Inn is rather ordinary looking but has a warm, comfortable feel to it. The taproom in the cellar offers drinks to those who enter while the chambers above are available to rent. The prices of the food and drink served here are of reasonable prices but this establishments services are well worth the coin.

Five League House may be common in appearance but the food and drink served here is known across the region, even if the inn is of more common build, the food and drink are excellent. Respectable customers are always welcome as long as they have the money for their drinks and meals. Meals are served on pottery, pewter or copper services according to the customers order. Various leather jacks, pottery mugs, wooden tankards, pewter steins, glass flagons, crystal goblets, or silver chalices are used for the beverages.

The furnishings in the dining area such as the tables and chairs are worn and smooth from years of use. Many candles are scattered through the main floor for maintaining a comfortable ambience for its customers. The furnishings in the dining area such as the tables and chairs are worn and smooth from years of use. Many candles are scattered through the main floor for maintaining a comfortable ambience for its customers.

The main floor of this establishment is for the most part an open area with a large hearth set into the southernmost brick wall. Despite the rustic appearance of the inn, this structure appears to have been kept remarkably clean and organized. The second floor of the building is where all of the guest rooms are located, a total of six rooms are available. Usually most of them are vacant due to this towns remote location.

Each room has a comfortable single sized bed, several covers & blankets, a wash stand, chamber pot, a couple of towels, pegs for garments, and a comfortable sitting chair. All of the guest rooms are identical in appearance, all stocked with the same exact items. Each room is the same price and they each sleep a single person.

BREAKFAST MEALS
Peppered Bread: 12cp
Oatmeal: 8cp
Boiled Goose Eggs: 1sp
Chicken Eggs: 1sp
Fruit and Cheese: 10cp
Fried Potato Wedges: 5cp
Pork Sausages: 1sp

AFTERNOON MEALS
Beef Stew: 1sp
Spiced Sausages: 1sp
Roast Duck with Apples: 1sp
Cheese rolls with a Filling of Nuts, Honey and Vegetables: 8cp
Smoked Salmon Salad: 1sp
Apple Stuffed Mushrooms: 9cp
Kidney Pie: 2sp
Roast Goose: 1sp
Venison Steak: 2sp
Roast Beef with Cranberry Sauce: 1sp
Cornish Hens with Olives: 1sp

BEVERAGES
Whiskey: 9cp
Rum: 11cp
Beer: 6cp
Heavy Beer: 6cp
Ale: 7cp
Spiced Ale: 10cp
Mead: 4cp

The upper rooms are very clean, and all except the common rooms are heated. Each room has a fine bed, many covers & blankets, a wash stand, chamber pot, towel, pegs for garments, and several chairs and stools. The larger, more expensive rooms, have arm chairs, tables, footstools, bed warmers, curtained beds, and good rugs on the floor and wall hangings as well.

ROOM NIGHTLY PRICES
Guest Room: 7sp

Available Classes The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

• Acolyte
• Acrobat
• Arcane Bard
• Barbarian
• Bard
• Beast Master
• Cleric
• Druid
• Fighter
• Knight
• Mage
• Monk
• Paladin
• Ranger
• Thief
• Warden
• Wizard

Character Alignments The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

All beings, whether PCs, NPCs, or monsters, adhere to one of three philosophies or spheres of behaviour, known as alignments. These spheres are Law, Neutrality, and Chaos. A player must choose one of these paths when creating a character.

Law: Lawful beings believe in truth and justice. To this end, they will follow laws and believe all things must adhere to order. Lawful beings also believe in sacrifice to a greater good and will choose the good of a larger group over the good of an individual.

Neutrality: Neutral beings believe in a balance between the ideas of Law and Chaos and, in their actions, tend to do what will serve themselves. They might commit good or evil acts in order to further their own ends and generally will not put others’ needs ahead of their own.

Chaos: Chaotic beings are in direct opposition to Law. These beings should seldom be trusted, for they tend to act in “evil” ways and are utterly selfish. Chaotic characters believe in chance and that there is no innate order to life.

Fallcrest Cemetary The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

Along the southern slopes of Moonstone Hill lies a large cemetary. Within this area lies a large stone cathedral, dating back to the founding of the city.

In the northern section of Fallcrest, on the highest hill within the city stands a massive long closed cathedral: a gigantic structure of stone that stands in the center of the cemetary itself, and it reaches fifty feet up into the air. Even though this structure is no longer used, it still has a magical light that appears right after dark which shines over the cemetary until the sun returns each morning. The cathedral sits within a large grove which makes up the city cemetary.

Legend has it that if one were to pledge his or her love to someone while standing on the main platform within the cathedral they would magically fall in love with them. This was no small feat since the cathedral is always closely guarded "being the noble cathedral of Fallcrest that it once was" by the city watch.

The seemingly harmless legend turned deadly one night when a young maiden named Isadel braved the eerie night time glow of the cemetery in order to properly speak her loved one’s name so that they may be eternal. She climbed to the top of the cathedral near the everglowing night time light so that she could both stay out of sight of the nearby city watch and bodly pledge her devotion to her love’s name highest that has ever been done. Unfortunately for Isadel, when she nearly completed her task, she slipped and fell from her high up perch at the top of the cathedral and fell to her death upon a magnificent grave stone resting near the structure.

When Isadel let go of her last breath upon the grave of a stranger a dark energy burst into existence that cursed the poor girls soul to forever haunt the grove that surrounds the ancient cathedral. And through the generations, as her spirit wandered the dark, people learned to fear the area so much in fact that bordering neighborhoods became vacant over time for no one could live peacefully with the spirit’s dark love songs dancing on the winds of the night.

Coin Weight The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

How many coins can a specific container carry before tearing or to heavy to carry? Below is our table with a "rough" estimate of what we use as a guideline.

Backpack 400gp

Large Belt Pouch 200gp

Small Belt Pouch 75gp

Large Box 200gp

Small Box 50gp

Wooden Chest 15gp/gp of Encumberence

Iron Chest 3gp/gp of Encumberence

Large Sack 400gp

Small Sack 100gp

Large Saddlebag 1000gp

Small Saddlebag 250gp

Kalton Manor The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

Back in the days when Nerath was settling the Nentir Vale, minor lords in search of land to call their own established manors and holds throughout the area. Kalton Manor was one of these, a small settlement raised by Lord Arrol Kalton about two hundred years ago. Lord Arrol intended to settle the lower vale of the White River, but it was not to be – the bog coughed up horrors beyond counting to drive off the settlers and crash against the Kalton Manor’s walls. At the end, Arrol and a handful of his servants and family lived alone in a half-finished keep slowly falling into ruin until they disapeared as well. Stories tell of a hidden treasure – the old Kalton fortune – hidden in secret chambers beneath the runied keep.

The Kaltons were always a noble family of dubious reputation. While many believed that the family died out with its half-finished settlement, but the truth is far more tragic. Survivors fled the area, but they carried its taint with them. A few of these bred a reclusive, twisted family that is poisoned by the Fens’ dark influence and whose members ponder death’s mysteries. The last Kalton to return to live at the ruins was said to be Anarus Kalton who, by all accounts, was the worst of the lot. In the ruins he was said to have explored the forbidden and the perverse. Rumour has it he was murdered by his own apprentices, who saw danger in what Anarus was trying to attempt. Others say the apprentices were worse than Alton and murdered him for his possessions and knowledge.

Kalton Manor is now a set of ruins comprising many buildings including a half built manor-keep, servants quarters, stables, kennels, barns, as well as nearby buildings once inhabited by those who were to work the land. All of these are decrepit ruins, roofless and open to the sky. One of Kalton Manor’s more notable ruins is the so-called Ghost Tower whose stones shine in the moonlight, but even this is now just a shell.

The Ghost Towers The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

Legend has it there are three so called “ghost towers”. One is located in the ruins of Kalton Manor on the edge of the Witchlight Fens. Another is said to be in the ruins of Castle Inverness, about three days south of Hammerfast. The location of the third is unknown.

The ghost towers are called such because when the light of the full moon shines upon them the stones of the towers, both those still part of the tower and those which have tumbled down if it is in ruin, all glow with a ghostly radiance.

How these towers are linked, or why they are legendary, is unknown. Rumors say that extensive dungeons lie beneath each of these towers harboring great evil.

Ruins of Fastormel The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

Once a prosperous town on the shores of Lake Nen, Fastormel was destroyed by Clan Bloodspear and has never been resettled. The town was ruled by a Lord Mage (the most powerful wizard in town claimed the ruler’s scepter), and the Mistborn Tower of the last Lord Mage still stands amid the ruins of the town. The tower is shrouded in a strange silver mist that never dissipates, no matter what the weather would otherwise dictate.

Nentir Vale The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

The Nentir Vale is a northern borderland region of the continent of Nerath. The vale is now mostly empty, with a handful of living villages and towns scattered over this wide area. Abandoned farmsteads, ruined manors, and broken keeps litter the countryside.

Bandits, wild animals, and monsters roam freely throughout the vale, threatening anyone who travels more than few miles away from one of the surviving settlements. Travel along the roads or river is usually safe—usually. But every now and then, travelers come to bad ends between towns.

The Nentir Vale is a northern land, but it sees relatively little snow—winters are windy and bitterly cold. The Nentir River is too big to freeze except for a three to four weeks during the coldest part of the year.

The "clear" parts of the map are covered in mixed terrain—large stretches of open meadowland, copses of light forest, gently rolling hills, and the occasional thicket of dense woodland and heavy undergrowth. The downs marked on the map are hilly grassland, with little tree cover. The hills are steeper and more rugged, and include light forest in the valleys and saddles between the hilltops.

The Nentir Vale is neighbored by the Stonemarch to the west, the Harken Forest and the Witchlight Fens to the south, the Dawnforge Mountains to the east, and the Winterbole Forest to the north.

The vale is a cold and sparsely populated land, mostly covered in grasslands and light woods. The Nentir River and its tributaries run through the vale, ending in two main lakes. Despite its location, the Nentir Vale sees heavy snow during the winter months. The Nentir River only freezes a few weeks during the coldest part of the year, and summers are cool and mild.

In the age before recorded history, the Nentir Vale was a huge forest known as the Nentir Forest. This forest was home to a commune of treants that used magic to protect their home from the dragon overlords of the elder world. It is believed that the first elves that left the Feywild after the Kinstrife Wars ended came to the World in the southern region of this forest, a place now known as the Spiderhaunt Thicket.

Eventually, the Nentir Forest was destroyed when Malorunth the Eternal Ash died, and scores of dragons invaded the forest, triggering the so-called War of Endless Branches that destroyed most of the old forest. The region, now divided into the Winterbole and Harken Forests, became known as the Nentir Vale.

Before the age of the Ancient Empires, the Nentir Vale was dominated by the undead city of Andok Sur. In time, not even the gods could abide the evil actions of the inhabitants of the city, and they triggered an earthquake that destroyed Andok Sur, burying it below the region now known as the Old Hills.

In time, the empires of Arkhosia and Bael Turath conquered the lands of the Nentir Vale. Arkhosia built enclaves in the Winterbole Forest and in the Ogrefist Hills, while Bael Turath constructed theirs in the Witchlight Fens. During the Arkhosian-Turathi Wars, the vale was the battlefield of some of the most violent battles of those wars.

Up until about 400 years ago, the Nentir Vale was thinly populated. Human hill clans lived in the area along with remote domains of dwarves and elves. Stories of the hero Vendar and the dragon of the Nentir Falls date to this era, as do some ruins in the Gray Downs and the Old Hills. Giants, orcs, ogres, and goblins troubled the area. Saruun Khel, a city located in the depths below Thunderspire Mountain, was the center of an oppressive minotaur kingdom that subjugated most of the central and western lands of the vale.

When the southern Nerathi Empire was at its height, settlers began to travel to the north of the continent in order to expand the borders of their nation. Those brave would-be settlers navigated the Nentir River through a trackless swamp or traversed the uncharted Harken Forest that separated the region from the Empire. The first soldiers and paladins of Bahamut who came from the south founded the Gardmore Abbey as a key fortress, and launched their Crusade of Conquest to defeat both monstrous humanoids and the indigenous human hill clans to pave the way for the Nerathi colonization of the vale.

At the same time, a thane from the nearby dwarven kingdom of Shatterstone sent a battalion of dwarf warriors to establish a forward operating fortress in the mountains to help quell dragon assaults that were razing the new settlements founded nearby the Dawnforge Mountains. The dwarves named that fortress Hammerfast.

Along with the village of Fastormel, Gardmore Abbey defined the northern frontier of Nerath until the founding of the village of Winterhaven and the Barony of Harkenwold three decades later. As the borderlands became more settled, the heirs of Nerathi noble families began to move to the region and claim land of their own.

They established manors, settlements, and even monasteries through out the region. About 310 years ago, the Nerathan hero Aranda Markelhay built a tower near Nentir Falls. Around this tower, and the Moonstone Keep that was built later, the city of Fallcrest began to grow, until it became the center of trade in the region for the next 200 years.

150 years ago, Gardmore Abbey was destroyed when a resurgent force of orcs from the Stonemarch laid siege to the abbey. And a few years later, the Nerathi Empire fell as well, destroyed by the demonic hordes led by the "Ruler of Ruin".

Even without the Empire, the people of the vale prospered for a time. However, 90 years ago, chaos and ruin came to the Nentir Vale when an orc horde called Clan Bloodspear swarmed down out of the mountains to the northwest. Without the Imperial Knights to aid them, Fallcrest's army was defeated in a rash attempt to halt the Bloodspears in the Gardbury Downs. The orcs burned and pillaged Fallcrest and went on to wreak havoc all across the vale, destroying all in their path until they found their match in Hammerfast. The orcs suffered great losses and were forced to withdraw, leaving behind a broken and battered land.

The vale is mostly empty now, though there's a handful of towns and villages scattered around. Fallcrest and Hammerfast are shadows of their former selves. Abandoned farms, manors, and keeps can be found scattered throughout the countryside. Anyone traveling beyond a few miles from settlements risks attack by bandits, wild animals, and monsters.

This is a place in need of heroes.

Notable States
• Barony of Harkenwold

Major Settlements
• Fallcrest
• Bedlam
• Hammerfast
• Treewater
• Mistwatch
• Nenlast
• Desul Torey
• Renefik
• Restwell Keep
• Winterhaven
• Wenly Halt
• Fellis's Farm
• Phandalin
• Highpeak Fortress
• Taldren

Notable Structures
• Five League House
• Raven Roost
• Temple of the Yellow Skulls
• Daggerburg

Geographic Features
• Cairngorm Peaks
• Chaos Scar
• Stravalla's Tower
• Cloak Wood
• The Old Barrow
• Dawnforge Mountains
• Gardbury Downs
• Gray Downs
• Harken Forest
• Lake Nen
• Lake Wintermist
• Moon Hills
• Old Hills
• Ogrefist Hills
• Stonemarch
• Thunderspire Mountain
• White River
• Winter River
• Winterbole Forest
• Witchlight Fens

Ruins & Dungeons
• Andok Sur
• Chad'Maragh, the Dark Magic Forge
• Fastormel
• Gardmore Abbey
• Dungeon of the Fire Opal
• Dunmere Ruins
• Gorizbadd
• Crestwater Tower
• Arkhosian Ruin
• Inverness Castle
• Kalton Manor
• Kobold Hall
• Raven Roost
• Shadowfell Keep
• Temple of Yellow Skulls
• Blackleaf Ruins
• The Ghost Towers
• Rolaz-Gaar

Regions & Terrain The Nerath Campaign & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Nerath campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

Nentir Vale