Highmoon
Native Name |
??? |
---|---|
Conventional Long Name |
??? |
Common Name |
Highmoon |
Government |
Meritocracy |
Population |
3,505 |
Demographics |
Human 70%, half-elf 20%, elf 9%, other 1% |
Coat of Arms | |
Total Assets |
525,750 gp |
Purchase Limit |
3,000 gp |
General Alignment |
Neutral Good |
Official Languages | Chondathan, Elven |
Authority Figures | Deeping Lord Theremen Ulath, Rauntides of Spell Hill |
The town of Highmoon is the largest population center in Deepingdale, and it is
growing fast. Easygoing friendliness and
tolerance is the daily tone of Highmoon.
Most travelers who find trouble here go
looking for itor make their own. Travelers
on the East Way find Highmoon a
pleasant stop, and if they require mercenary
guards or provisioning before or
after a trip through Thunder Pass, Highmoon's supplies may well prove vital.
Highmoon's name comes from Highmoon Hill, the nearly forgotten name of
the ridge on which the Tower of the Rising Moon was built by the half-elven hero
Aglauntaras in the Year of the WanderingWyvern (1022 DR). Always important as a
stronghold from which Thunder Pass and
the nearby ford of the River Glaemril could be
controlled, the Tower attracted settlers to
the safety of its shadow, particularly after
the militant Alantar and Soryn elven families
took up arms against all Fair Folk who
were content to dwell in peace with
humans. The Deeping Princess took over
the Tower upon the death of Aglauntaras,
ruling as co-regent of Deepingdale with his
daughter Alanshara.
From that day to this, elves, half-elves,
and humans have dwelt together around
Highmoon Hill in a community of trees,
winding lanes, small cottages, and splendid
gardens. Such features are today
being pushed to the lands around the
town as the walls of Highmoon have
been completed and buildings have
begun to appear that rise three floors
above the street. Already some of Highmoon's inhabitants talk of expanding the
walls, and visitors are warned that this
topic is one that arouses strong feelings.
It is best to keep silent and voice no opinion
if one is asked about it. Though monster
raids from the mountains and forays
by Lashan's troops have both come
within sight of the Tower, no army has
assaulted Highmoon in centuries, so the
protection of the walls may be more symbolic
than vitally necessary. However,
many folk in Deepingdale believe that
their completion is the only thing that
has kept Archendale from raising arms
to annex its rich neighbor. Arkhenfolk, it
should be noted, receive a rather cool
reception in Deepingdale.
Farms still nestle in closely around the
walls of Highmoon, and visitors can still
see more trees and flowers within its
walls than in any other town in the Dales.
Cobbles are being laid in the streets for
the first time, covering the last mud and
corduroy (log-paved) stretches. Well over
three thousand folk dwell here, plus the
Swords of Deepingdale (Oak Companyand Spear Company, both fielding 70
mounted elven archers), the 30-strong
Tower Guard, and as many folk of theTower household.
Places of Interest
Highmoon has grown rapidly in the last several years from a quaint backwater to a burgeoning city. With it's oldest buildings over three hundred years old, and the cobbled streets and granite walls being less than a year old, it is a study in controlled but rapid modernization. The following offer brief introductions to some of the most interesting sites in the town.
1. Rhautides' Tower
Main Article: Rhauntides' TowerThis small tower which stands atop so-called Spell Hill is the current residence of the archmage Rhauntides and his beautiful apprentice, Shaunil Tharm. The old wizard only sees clients on a by-appointment basis, and is generally protective of his privacy.
2. The Rising Moon
Main Article: Rising Moon InnThis popular inn is cheap, warm, and
cozy. It feels like guests are being made
welcome in someones home by casual
hosts who do not care if people put their
feet up on the tables, so long as they enjoy
being there and do not pick fights with
other guests.
3. Silverhand House
This imposing stone manor is the
headquarters of the Silverhand House
coster founded by the retired elven
adventurer Gaelin Silverhand 60-odd
years ago (no relation to the Seven Sisters
of that name). The tall, proud elves and
half-elves of this organization run swift,
well-guarded caravans east to Ordulin
and west to Arabel from here, taking rare
woods, resin, amber, and the finest
beaver and marten pelts to long-standing
buyers in those places.
Here the Silverhand House coster
recruits mercenaries its members have
seen and liked in action to begin the long
and rigorous moral testing and training
process that ends in discharge, full staff
status, or actual partnership in the
House. Here is also where its members
buy good specimens of the wares they
deal in from passersby, such as
adventurers who have ventured deep
into the Elven Court woods beyond Lake
Sember.
This coster pays well and is open and
fair in its dealings. If one in turn deals
honestly with its members, they try to
maintain an ongoing, lifetime trading
relationship. This forthright, loyal
behavior makes the coster members very
bad to have as enemies and wonderful as
allies; Silverhand House maintains a
loosely affiliated adventuring company it
uses to take covert action to avenge itself
on any who cheat its members. Around
the Dragon Reach Silverhand House has
won a reputation for reliability second to
none. "Stay small and stay good" is
Gaelins motto, and his coster follows it.
4. Royal High House
This pair of crammed, barnlike shops on
the East Way are together known as Royal
High House, the home of Royal Provisioners
of Highmoon. The Royal in the
places name comes from the fact that the
Deeping Princess started this business asa service to the humans she was enticing
to her new settlement. Today, these shops
cater to the caravan trade. They sell tack,
tents, tarpaulins, tools, harness, and even
new, ready-to-roll wagons. They claim the
finest and most varied selection of traveling
rations anywhere, and it seems they have
called upon the herb gardeners of the
Dale to season their dried food so that it
just might be the finest anywhere.
Wineskins - items rarely plentiful
enough in any outfitting shop - are to be
had in profusion here, as are ready-dried
kindling, horse liniment, slow candles,
and a host of other usually unobtainable
things. If something is necessary for
camping, it is to be found here somewhere.
The Royal High Houses on-the-street
convenience costs you about 10%
more than the average prices, but if you
are in a hurry, it is more than worth it.
5. The High Market
This large, open market is different from
most others of its kind in that vendors
have the use of a public bathhouse and
privy at the east end of the market and
that a huge variety of herbs and herbal
concoctions (from flavored drinks to
medicines) are offered for sale here.
Merchants from Cormyr are the most
frequent shoppers here in all but the
coldest months; many fast caravans bring
the wares of Marsember and Suzail here
in exchange for good furs and herbs.
Tressym, the winged cats found thick asthieves in Eveningstar, are very popular
with the Deepingfolk, and many are
brought here by Cormyrean traders
and the folk of Deepingdale also seem to
have a taste for the sharper cheeses made
in Cormyr. Sembian merchants compete
for Deepingdale coins with elaborate
games and blown glass items brought by
ship from hotter lands, and minstrels
often play in the market for the coins
tossed their way. All in all, this market is a
great place to browse, and it is even
carefully planted with hard mosses so as
to be less muddy than most.
6. The Oak and Spear
The signboard of this inn shows a spear
buried in the trunk of an old oak. The
shaft of the spear passes through both an
orc skull and a harp. The skull recalls agreat local victory over an orc horde that
poured through the Thunder Pass almost
200 winters ago, and the harp symbolizes
good cheer, which is what this dimly lit,
cozy drinking spot is widely known for
now.
A mug of draft beer costs 8 cp or a
good song; most minstrels and bards
who pass through town make a point of
stopping here. If you want quiet
seclusion for your drinking, come during
the day when harpists play gentle,
washing-the-strings background music.
The rest of the time this place is apt to be
cheerfully noisy because each
entertainer always tries to outdo the
others.
A full range of ales, lagers and stouts
can be had here as well as zzar, a few
sherries, a brandy, and some wines, but
most patrons do not bother. The draft
brewed on the premises, Highmoon
Dark, is justly famous across the Dragon
Reach. It is a dark, smoky beer with a
rich, nutty, almost bacon-like aftertaste.
The Oak and Spear is the only place one
can get it, so patrons drink it in copious
quantities.
7. Andelmaus Logging
In this aromatic shop on the edge of the
market, Andelmaus Logging sells odd-sized
cuts of wood and special orders and
buys timber from anyone who brings it in.
This company specializes in supplying
fine and rare woods to the cities of
Sembia, and to get huge shadowtop sparsor wagonloads of duskwood it has more
than once cut more trees in the Dale than
the foresters allow. (The owner paid the
fines and charged them to her customers
as special fees.)
The owner - purring, catlike, totally
unscrupulous coin-clutcher named
Kessia, who is obviously at home in themost cutthroat Sembian merchant circles,
is unrepentant but does not want to get
run out of town. She buys timber here
without asking questions as to its origin
and runs heavily armed woodcutting
wagon trains into former Sessrendale to
cut trees along the western edge of the
Elven Court woods. These teams cut
down everything and trample what is left,
and they take a lot, pushing the forest
back year by year.
Consequently, the local elves do not
like Kessia at all. Her guards and her
purchased magical items keep her
personally safe, but the elves made sure
that Arkhen woodcutters were alerted
when she tried to sneak a cutting team
into the Arch Wood. Not a hireling, adz,
ox, or wagon of that team ever returned
to Highmoon.
Kessia is currently rumored to be
hiring adventurers to explore for new
places to cut wood. Locals hint darkly
that what she is after is a private strike
force so that she can arrange accidents
to befall elves that stand in her way
(physically or metaphorically) in the
woods and other foes who decry her
business practices.
8. Hanseld's Emporium
The whimsical half-elf who runs this
shop is apt to be seen dancing along the
roof ridge or playing a longhorn atop a
pile of crates out back when a more, er,
normal shopkeeper would be inside selling
thingsor at least watching to see
that patrons do not just help themselves.
But Hanseld is, well, Hanseld, and people,
especially children, love him just the
way he is - the local source of free entertainment.
Hanseld can outplay or out-sing
a minstrel when he is of a mind to,
but he is usually too busy closeted in a
back room seeing to the personal needs
of clients who have traveled a long way to
reach his shop.
Most folk think that people come to the
shop from so far because Hanseld's
Emporium is the only place they can get
the rare and exotic spices and curios from
Impiltur, Chessenta, the Tashalar, and Calimshan that he sells, to say nothing ofthe finely crafted lamps, tables, and
lounges from Marsember and Selgaunt.
But in truth all of those things can be had
in Suzail, Westgate, and Sembia, and a lot
of those clients he spends time behind
closed doors with come from those very
same well-supplied places.
The true draw of his quaint little shop to the steady stream of foreign visitors that he gets almost every day, remains part of his mystery.
9. The Leaves of Learning
Main Article: The Leaves of LearningThe Leaves of Learning is the only major temple within the town of Highmoon, dedicated to the worship of the gods of learning, chiefly Oghma, but to a lesser extent Deneir, Milil, and Gond as well. It occupies a prominent spot, sharing the crown of Highmoon Hill with the Tower of the Rising Moon, just across the way.
10. The Tower of the Rising Moon
Main Article: The Tower of the Rising MoonTruly the oldest structure in town, the tower (actually a three tower keep) is the center of government for both the town and the Deepingdale itself. It is the residence of the Deeping Lord Theremen Ulath, and the meeting place for the Council of the Dale.
11. The Lord's Barracks
This walled compound of armory and
barracks buildings has its own gate in the
town walls opening directly into the
caravan campground so that army forces
can charge into that ever-changing tent
city in an instant if need be. The gates and
walls of this compound are alertly
guarded all day and night through
because more fine weapons are stored
here than in all the other Dales
combined. (Swordpoint in Archendale
can boast more arms, but not better
arms.) The town watchmen, who patrol
the streets and market, operate out of the
barracks and the Swords are based here,
though at any given time half of them are
out in the Dale on patrol. Visitors are not
encouraged to nose about here, but the
admirer of fine horseflesh is in for a treat
when a mounted East Way road patrol
sallies forth: Many Swords soldiers like to
coax their horses to rear up and dance,
flinging their hooves out in fighting
strikes, as they emerge through the gates,
12. Caravan Compound
Formerly a camp for hired workers constructing
the town walls, this muddy
chaos of buildings is now the center of an
ongoing horse market and caravan camping
area. It has all the untidiness so happily
missing from the High Market, but it
also boasts frequent and heavy watch
patrols to keep things far quieter and
more law-abiding than in most such caravan
grounds.
This campground is where to go to see
caged monsters from far lands, jugglers,
contortionists, and freaks of nature (usually
these last are subtly shapechanging
dopplegangers or simply races normallyunknown in the Dales region). This area is
where the shadier business deals in Deepingdale are made. This is also where most
ordinary hireswords pitch their tents,
awaiting a patron to pay them to guard
things or kill things.
13. The Silver Shield
The mirror-bright hanging shield of this
wayhouse is the first thing travelers
approaching Highmoon from the east
see. It heralds a house of quality,
pretentious quality. The Starnar
elven family, who run this inn, mean
well. They go for spotless cleanliness and.
expensive furnishings that scream luxury
and money. However, the service is so
haughty and slow and the rooms so cold
that the disappointing final effect is one
of being unwelcome.
The 13 sp per night per head fee does not help, either, when everything from a tall glass of chilled mintwater to stabling is extra. A careless traveler can easily run up a bill of 15 gp or so for an overnight stay with a bath, evenfeast meal, drinks, and the like.
Still, for snobs or folk with so much
money that they want to be rid of its
irksome weight, this is surely the
cleanest and most exclusive lodging in
town. The careful traveler who dines,
drinks, and stables a mount elsewhere
than the Silver Shield will enjoy a stay of
average cost at an inn that is a very clean
and pleasant but otherwise average
and pretends to be much, much more.
14. Darian Stables
An always-calm, patient former warrior
from far Impiltur, Alamus Darian
breeds, trains, and sells horses here and
at a much larger ranch well down the
Glaemril. He is considered an expert
trainer and a fair judge of diseases and
injuries, but he never buys horses. He
sells tack and harness, trained riding
mounts, and draft animals for average
prices. He charges 1 sp per horse
examined for consultations about
equine health, but he does not travel to
look at any beast further away than as
far along the East Way as one can get
while still keeping the Tower of the Rising Moon in sight.
15. Bunstable Street
16. The Deeping Run
17. Stallion Lane
18. Acorn Lane
19. Torlar's Street
20. White Arrow Way
21. Glaemril Ford
This unremarkable ford of the Wineflow,
a tributary of the Glaemril, located just
north of the town walls is mentioned
here because of a strange magical power
it possesses that is said to be the blessing
of the Laughing Princess: From time to
time, random folk crossing the ford are
cured of all diseases and hurts, and a
random wizard spell comes into their
minds for them to cast later without
incantation or material components.
This usually befalls non-wizards, and
some of them are momentarily beset by
yet a third property of the ford: They
levitate straight up into the air for a few
breaths.
Several priests and mages, including
the nearby Rhauntides, have investigated
the ford, but they have found no cause or
source for these odd but consistent
occurrences. Some folk of the Dale even
talk of forming a club, or worse, a cult
of people who have been blessed by the
ford. Despite queries put to various sages
and Danali's Index, the origin of these
manifestations remains mysterious.