Sword Coast Locations

Sword coast locations travelled by Frimly Greenish, Thora Grid El, Mirafir Roven, Sigune Feldscmlachter, Father Almuric Tobias, Sir Hector Ly, Galan Tara and Vicross Silver of Faerûn.

Sword Coast Locations

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ATHALANTAR:

Athalantar was (also known as the Realm of the Stag) whose capital, Hastarl, stood on the site of the settlement of Secomber and was a small human kingdom in the North.

The Unicorn Run River made its path through the middle of Athalantar, creating rich farmlands on its way to the Delimbiyr in the South where, the capital, Hastarl stood. The Northern border of Athalantar was defined by the edge of the High Forest that was slowly expanded by diligent foresters over the years.

Athalantar’s capitol and only true city was Hastarl and though it was as crowed and filthy as any city on Faerûn, its residents were quite proud of it and firmly believed that it would one day be a pinnacle of human culture and learning. The rule of the Magelords largely quashed that dream, and the destruction of the kingdom in 342 DR snuffed it out completely. Later, the town of Secomber, which was built over the ruins of Hastarl, became a base of operations for many modern adventurers in the Western Heartlands.

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BOWSHOT:

This hamlet stands on the Western side of the Trade Way, a day’s and a half’s ride South of Liam’s Hold, and two day’s ride North of the Way Inn. Named because it was just a ‘Bowshot’ away from the Misty Forest, it has been a logging center for a hundred years—and it has been so successful that the forest is now miles away to the east.

Bowshot consists of the Bowshot Inn, a Sawmill, 6 farms (2run by men who shoe horses as well as any smith), and almost a dozen home woodcarvers who turn out yokes, coffers, wheel spokes, tool handles, and whimsical carvings. The place deserves mention because of recently discovered caves beneath its Western fringes. They are entered from the horse-well behind the inn, and by at least one cave mouth in the stands of trees North and West of the hamlet.

The Bowshot caverns show evidence of connections to deeper subterranean areas and of past use by smugglers. Some stolen goods were recently recovered from the caves and returned to their rightful owners in Waterdeep. With them were crates of Ore very rich in Silver, presumably mined in the deeps below the caverns.

There is local talk of hiring or inducing an Adventuring company to dwell in Bowshot and mount a constant guard over the cavern entrances—and even of founding a company to mine and smelt Silver in the depths, its workers protected by the hired Adventurers. So far, no Adventurers have agreed to such a defensive role. Many have come to the caverns and then moved on, talking of manspiders in the deep ways.

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ANDALOR’S MILL:

Andalor’s Mill is an always-busy sawmill that provides Waterdeep and Daggerford with cheap, plentiful green lumber. 1 copper piece will buy 3 posts as tall as an adult human male, or five 3-hand’s-width boards of the same length.

The Mill is owned and run by Ulmyn Andalor a male Tethyrian human . Ulmyn Andalor appears to be an affable, portly man with a curly white beard and a bald pate who goes about covered with sawdust.
Ulmyn Andalo takes pleasure in efficiency, and can identify both common and exotic woods better than most carpenters. He makes his living as a miller in the roadside hamlet of Bowshot, north of the Way Inn, and his sawmill is always busy. Ulmyn, who never seems to sleep, can be seen trotting about night and
day, covered with sawdust, overseeing a large staff in turning out cheap, plentiful cut lumber for sale in Waterdeep and Daggerford.

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DAGGERFORD:

On the hillside, in the floodplain of the River Delimbiyr, stands the walled City of Daggerford, above which rises a three-story fortress governed by the Duke of Daggerford. Beyond the walls of Daggerford there are dozens of farms and several small settlements – all under the protection of the Duke and the Lords Alliance.   Daggerford is a land of pastoral pictures. The rolling hills offer calming views, but they are sometimes spoiled by bands of Orcs or Goblins – Robbers. Often Caravans passing through Daggerford, heading North to Waterdeep, or south to the Baldur’s Gate, often need help with Guards, for which they can turn to Daggerford and at the same time tell news of both these Cities and the Settlements between them.

There are a few Inns in the City that can offer overnight accommodations except during the busiest periods of trade or holidays, when they fill up quickly and when locals begin hosting visitors in their homes. Warriors in search of a livelihood may find it by offering their services to train the local Militia or participating in patrols with the guards of the city.

The day-to-day running of the city is in the hands of the Guild Council, composed of the heads of the city’s informal trade groups. These members of the Council think they are more powerful than they really are, mimicking the Lords of the Deep Sea by coming to Council meetings wearing masks and robes. This circus activity borders on the farcical, because everyone in Daggerford knows who a member of the Council really is, and their voices and manners are not hidden by any magic, so a normal spy can understand who is who in one or two evenings of close supervision.   The largest and oldest building in the city is the Ducal Castle, a three-tiered fortress surrounded by a two-story wall that houses a spacious plaza forge and stables for a large number of mounted animals. The rulers of Daggerford always maintain a decent supply of provisions with which to feed the castle’s inhabitants and the townspeople who take refuge in it in the event of a siege.

There are three gates that lead to Daggerford: the River Gate, which faces the river and through which goods transported by it enter the town; the Caravan Gate, through which most of the overland traffic, including overland trade, occurs; and the Farm Gate, which is open most of the time, but is wide enough for no more than one cart to pass through it at a time.   Daggerford is guarded by the militia, service in which is compulsory for all medically fit adult citizens. The term of service is twenty years.   All citizens are instructed by the Duchess’s personal warriors in the use of lances and other warrior’s equipment, and must devote a minimum of one day a month to protecting the city by standing guard on the walls or patrolling the surrounding roads. Such training means that, if necessary, any common citizen will not yield so easily to intimidation to obtain items, money, or the right of passage to the city, and may be slightly more likely to go to work as a mercenary, a caravan guard, or become an adventurer. Though not as friendly as her brother was, Lady Morwen has earned a reputation as a more successful ruler than Duke Moldwyn. She is liked by the people, who understand that she has a pure heart and that she wishes good for the city. She trains regularly with the militia, and she can be seen wearing armour as often as she wears more refined outfits appropriate to her status. She regularly attends the Temple of Tempus, which only adds to her reputation as a righteous woman. Her features are only now beginning to show signs of age, as if to catch up with her snow-white hair.

Most people in Daggerford are familiar, at least superficially, in person. They treat strangers with hospitality, especially if they’re willing to spend a certain amount of money in the city, as long as the strangers aren’t waving their weapons about aggressively for no good reason at all. The guards at every gate note the newcomers but do not take any aggressive action against those they do not recognize without reason.   The largest inn in town, Shining River Tavern, is Daggerford’s second largest building and the site of many local celebrations and gatherings. Rich people come here to relax and eat. The inn is very old, it is said to be older than the Duke’s castle and for many it is the soul of Daggerford. The Silver Flood Inn and the Lizard’s Belly also offer rooms, though the latter does not offer food – only lodging.   One of Daggerford’s most unusual businesses is the Sword Coast Merchant Bank, which offers merchants the opportunity to make a deposit at a local branch and receive the same amount at a branch in Deepwater or Baldur’s Gate. Lady Belinla Anteos (from one of the noble houses of Deepwater) ensures that her business complies with safety standards, and the magical way information about the exact sums of money is transmitted between cities cannot be influenced by outside scammers.

Members of local guilds doing business outside the city do not fully trust the Merchant Bank, preferring to borrow money from the Halfling family of Hardchis, who own the Happy Cow tavern. Officially, the Alliance has no preference for one of these financial institutions, but I personally find Lady Anteos trustworthy enough to consider her a good alternative to taking large sums with you on the road. It is easier to part with a small amount of money as a commission than to give it all up when encountering a gang of robbers while traveling through the wilderness.

Visitors to Daggerford are advised to avoid the Raw Mouth west of the town and to pass Tyndall’s Bridge as quickly as possible when approaching the town from the south. The Chimney is located on a hill and as a result, the stench it emits as it works spreads far and wide and the local Watermen’s Guild dumps the town’s sewage directly into the river over the edge of the bridge. On hot days, the smell from both places is killer, so I’ve asked the Alliance to assign another agent to visit Daggerford during the following summers.

Tyndall’s Bridge is a low stone structure where travellers approach the town from the west, and where a local boy named Tyndall defeated several attacking man-eaters while armed with a single dagger. Then he grew up, married the daughter of the local governor, declared himself Duke, and built Dag Herford over the ruins of the old castle. This legend and many other episodes in the history of Daggerford can be gladly told by Sir Durfin Flosin, an elf who is older than the town itself. He would like to see the closer cooperation between humans, dwarves, and elves that once existed in the kingdom of Falorme. Durfin has been an advisor to many.

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GILLIAN’S HILL:

This hamlet stands on the East side of the Coast Way a half-day’s ride south of Daggerford and about as long a ride from Liam’s Hold. The community is named for Gillian Cantilar, a now-dead Half-Elven Ranger of great beauty.

Gillian Cantilar dwelt here in a long-vanished house atop a wooded knoll overlooking the road. Today, Gillian’s Hill is a grass-girt mount topped by a covered fire cairn used as a signal beacon to warn Daggerford of approaching enemy armies from Dragonspear Castle or the Serpent Hills, presumably.

Typical of a hundred or more small farming settlements in the Sword Coast region, Gillian’s Hill wouldn’t even be mentioned in this guide except for a surprisingly good shop there and a Dungeon that has both lured many Adventurers hither and slain many. The Dungeon seems to be a truly ancient human tomb as old as Netheril, or older where someone of Magical Power and political might was laid to rest. Just who was entombed here isn.t clear. The tomb was pillaged long ago from the Underdark beneath it!

The location now serves as a spell-guarded entry to the Realms Below. Unfortunately, those ancient and mighty binding Spells originally set to stabilize and guard the tomb make it an ideal lair for creatures of the Underdark. About 20 winters ago, a band of Illithids used it as a base from which they stealthily stalked and raided passing caravan merchants, controlling the minds of unfortunate victims to make them lure many others to a mindless doom.

A brave band of Adventurers defeated the mind flayers, but warned that the danger could well recur. It seems that an even greater evil has moved in.

A Harper note was found recently on the slopes of the hill that said only:

Beware Phaerimm!

Spread the warning!

The writer of the note presumably perished beneath the hill, as no further news has come to light as to its authorship or its subject.

From the surface, the Tomb in the Hill can only be entered by wandering about until one finds the precise location of one of several invisible portals snatch gates that whisk any person or object entering them into the heart of the Hill. Egress is by the same method, although the exit spots inside the Tomb are apparently different sites than the entry or arrival locales, and hard to find.

Attempts to tunnel into the hill uncover stone walls that emit ‘Bolts of Lightning’ when exposed to air.

These effects are like two bolts of chain lightning, each causing 12d6 points of damage per round, when one translates Elminster’s description. He added the dry admonition:

Leave this alone, if ye have any sense but (sigh), ye won’t, will ye?

Bolts that continue to lash out until some earth is thrown onto them, and they.re covered again! This magical lightning can easily stab across the trade road, imperilling all passing traffic. Several Mages of power have tried and failed to remove the Spells that cause this deadly effect.

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LIZARD MARSH:

This tangled mess is the home of several otherwise rare creatures. The most significant of them are the Lizardmen whose ancestors are said to have ambushed the boy whose actions gave Daggerford its name. There are also known to be a number of Dinosaurs in the Lizard Marsh, including some nasty carnivores.

The proximity of the Lizardmen to Humans has increased their level of civilization to the point of using Shields, Clubs, Darts, and Javelins. While metal weapons are rare, due to their tendency to rust in the Swamp, they do exist. And the Lizardmen know how to use them.  It is rumoured that some of the lizard men have been equipped with metal weapons by various Evil influences at work in this corner of the world. However, these weapons tend to rust in the swamp because the Lizardmen are unable to take care of them properly, so they are rarely any more potent than a club in a lizardman’s hands.

Many years ago, a group of Heroes entered the swamp and helped the Lizardman leader known as Redeye. In recent months, however, reports have surfaced that a Lich calling itself Redeye is taking control of the Lizardmen once again. If this is the same creature that was reported killed many years ago, many organisations good and evil alike would be interested in knowing how the transformation into Undeath occurred.

Some of the lizard men are organized around a leader known to humans as Redeye. He is reputed to have magical powers and to have used them to rally about half the populace of the swamp around himself. The others feud with this megatribe and each other. Redeye has actually contacted Daggerford merchants for the purpose of trading rare swamp bird feathers and certain delicacies for weapons and other aid, but the Council of Guilds is apprehensive about aiding an old foe.

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