Battledale

For its size, Battledale is nearly as diverse as Waterdeep. Merchants of Turmish settle in the country, then raise children who move out into the Belt or join the local militia. Refugees from the wars in Tethyr come to Battledale to serve as hunters for a Sembian estatelord and stay on after their Sembian employer passes away, sending

messages to Tethyr to bring their other relatives.

On the other hand, Battledale's children leave as adventurers,

traders, or travelers, many of whom never return. The dale is large,

but its population is relatively small. In some areas, overgrown ruins

outnumber lived-in cottages. Battledale's biggest town, Essembra,

isn't even in the dale. It rests about thirty miles north, inside the

elven woods.

Essembra is the closest thing Battledale has to a capital, but

Ilmeth, the lord of Essembra, has little authority over the rest of

the dale. Nor does Battledale possess any formal system of laws.

Neighbors usually enforce law and order themselves. Serious matters

such as banditry, arson, or murder are taken to Ilmeth if they can't

be handled locally, but he is under no official obligation to deal with

problems outside Essembra. In practice, since Ilmeth is a good and

just lord, Battledarrans listen to his advice.

To most outsiders, "Battledale" means the pleasant meadows and

fields alongside Rauthauvyr's Road. In fact, this dale has several disparate

regions.

The Belt: This region of open rolling farmland by Rauthauvyr's

Road is pleasant country, consisting mainly of small walled orchards,

fenced-in farms, and large expanses of sheep-grazing land. The country

folk live in walled cottages or palisades, since banditry and dangerous

beasts from Cormanthor are constant problems here.

Streams and ponds full of fish are sprinkled through the Belt,

often alongside small shrines to Chauntea or Silvanus. Chauntea's

shrines are stone tables that travelers and Belt-dwellers heap with

offerings of food meant to be consumed by hungry travelers. Silvanus's

shrines consist of small bells hung above pools or woodland

springs.

Three Rivers Land: The lands where the Semberflow and the

Glaemril join the River Ashaba northwest of the Pool of Yeven are

fertile and beautiful but sparsely settled. Burnt-out ruins of nowdead adventurers' keeps and manors testify to the viciousncss of the

owlbears, lycanthropes, and other magical beasts that occasionally

plague Three Rivers.

Yevenwood: This ancient wood has plentiful game, no dangerous

inhabitants, and a delicious edible mushroom, the relshar. It has held

a dozen names over the centuries, including the Wood of Many

Names. It was also called Battlewood (during the years when it was

forcibly cleared of monsters), Satyr's Run (after a famous satyr sorcerer

who eventually disappeared into the Underdark), and

Forester's Freehold (after the years when the wood was occupied by

emigrants from Aglarond who weren't yet certain they wanted to be

part of Battledale).

Unlike those dales that consist of one interesting town and an

assortment of mundane cottages and orchards, Battledale is known

for dangerous locations within a half-hour's walk of places that are

relatively safe.

Abbey of the Sword: Fourteen years ago, during the Time of Troubles,

Tempus appeared on the battlefield of Swords Creek in Mistledale.

An Amnian priest named Eldan Ambrose traced Tempus's

path to the battlefield and discovered that the god had arrived in

Faerun in the shell of a shattered castle in Battledale. Ambrose established

a temple, the Abbey of the Sword, in a rebuilt portion of the

castle. About fifty to one hundred worshipers of Tempus took it upon

themselves to guard the temple and the numerous portals in its subcellars

and in the local Underdark tunnels.

In 1371 DR, a strong force of Vhaeraunian drow, the vanguard

of the Auzkovyn clan, attacked the Abbey. The drow came up through

an unwatched portal in a nearby deep cavern and smashed past the

Abbey's defenders. Eldan Ambrose himself perished in the assault,

devoured by a demon after he had destroyed the portal. His actions

prevented the whole strength of the Auzkovyn from descending on

an unguarded Battledale.

Unfortunately for the defenders of the Abbey, the drow vanguard

slipped away into the forests despite fierce fighting. The Auzkovyn

later managed to open another portal somewhere in the

forests north of Battledale, bringing the rest of their people to Cormanthor.

The defenders of the Ahbey of the Sword no longer have

enough warriors to guard all of the portals below, and even true resurrection

spells cannot bring back Ambrose until the demon that

devoured him is permanently slain.

Aencar's Manor: Four miles south of Essembra, in plain view of

Rauthauvyr's Road, stands one of the most deceptively inviting ruins

in Faerun. Unlike many haunted estates, Aencar's Manor still looks

l i k e a splendid and stately home, albeit the home of a warlord, judging

from the relief carvings of mounted knights covering the outside

of the manor. Indeed, the outer gardens and environs of

Aencar's Manor are safe enough to serve as the site of the great Battledale

Shieldmeet festivals.

The manor's interior is another matter. It's certain that the

manse is haunted, but the wraiths do not disturb everyone who

comes in. The Cult of the Dragon has a secret stronghold in one of

the building's cellars, which is accessible through tunnels from the

Underdark.

Essembra(Large Town, 2,804): Battledale's largest town does not

demand respect like Archenbridge, or impress visitors with its beauty

like Highmoon. Deep within the elven woods, Essembra is a long lane

is dotted with watchposts—small wooden archers' towers outfitted

with road-blocking equipment that are usually left unmanned. Only

a few cross-streets lead between these cottages to other cottages in the

woods—and those paths are more trails than alleys.

Toward the center of Essembra, the great walled courtyard of

Battle Court leads to the only part of the town that city folk think

of as a town, a grouping of fifty or so residences, taverns, shops, a

temple to Gond, and one official building, Ilmeth's Manor. The

temple, known as the House of Gond, is quite impressive, but visitors

accustomed to Gondar enthusiasm for new ways of doing things may

be disappointed. Clerics who favor Gond's aspect as a god of craftsfolk,

not inventiveness, staff Gond's Battledale temple.

Ghost Holds: For every estate owned by a Sembian nobleman,

there are two or three more that went to ruin and were overgrown

by the forest. With all the attention focused on confronting the

drow of Cormanthor, Battledale's roads and countryside are not as

safe as they used to be. Bandits have taken to occupying these

ruined estates for days at a time. Ilmeth is seeking companies of

reputable adventurers to clean out the "ghost holds," since the few

soldiers under his command have been busy patrolling against

drow raids.

Hap (Village, 467): This spot of twelve permanent buildings and

many outlying farms has a blacksmith, a sawyer, a tavern, a shrine

to Lathander, and a permanent guard of five to fifteen of Ilmeth's

Lord's Men. The guards spend their time hunting, gambling, or

practicing at arms, but they also keep an eye on the traffic along

Rauthauvyr's Road and another eye cocked warily up Haptooth Hill.

Haptooth Hill: An old wizard's tower crowns this granite hill

overlooking Hap. Not so long ago, it was occupied by a Red Wizard

named Dracandros. Adventurers slew him and dealt with his drow

allies, who had built up some hidden strength in the passages riddling

the hill. Now that drow have returned to Cormanthor, the folk of

Hap fear that some of these new invaders may seek to reoccupy

their old stronghold beneath the wizard's tower.

Ilmeth's Manor: The present Lord of Battledale lives in a moated

keep inside the greater enclosure of Battle Court, the walled east side

of Essembra. Ilmeth (LN male human Ftr8/Chm3 of Helm) is a

fair man, but grim and somewhat obsessed with his responsibilities.

Chief among these is command of Battledale's small army, a hundred-

warrior squadron known as the Lord's Men. If adventurers stay

out of Ilmeth's way (and most especially stay out of his manor!), he

grudgingly tolerates them as useful scouts and extra swords that he

does not have to feed, arm, or heal.

Battledale began as pieces of older dales, stitched together when

their governments proved untrustworthy and the people decided to

settle their affairs themselves.

Essembra, Battledale's most influential settlement, has a better known

story. The town is named after a red-haired adventurer, a

woman who carved a name for herself with a sword and a fierce wit.

Essembra the adventurer spurned an elf lord, strangled a dwarven

king with her bare hands in a wrestling match, and finally revealed

her true song dragon nature by marrying a silver dragon. Some say

that descendants of Essembra's part-dragon children still live near

the town that bears her name. It's certain that modern Essembra

produces far more than its share of skilled sorcerers, humans and

half-elves whose magical talents flow free instead of fitting into the

harness of wizardry.

Slightly over three hundred years ago, Battledale gave the Dalelands

the closest thing they have had to a High King. Aencar became

warlord of Battledale in the year 1050 DR. He took the title of the

"Mantled King" and began a campaign to unify the Dales. After

some early success, the man who would be High King accepted an

invitation to a feast in Essembra that turned out to be a trap.

Aencar was slain by a dracolich summoned by one of his enemies.

Shadowdale and the other dales owed Battledale itself nothing; their

of well-spaced cottages on both sides of Rauthauvyr's Road. The road

allegiance had been to Aencar, so the dream of a united Dales died

with the Mantled King.

A descendant of Aencar's chief swordcaptain still rules Essembra.

Chancellor Ilmeth, Essembra's current lord, is a brooding warrior

who serves as Battledale's delegate to the Dales Council.

Along with Deepingdale, Battledale is heavily committed to combating

the drow now occupying parts of Cormanthor. Essembrans in

particular have always been good friends of the elves of Cormanthor,

and they feel strongly about the drow invaders since the attack

at the Abbey of the Sword.