Page 89 - D&D - Player's Handbook

the land such that all that remained was a blasted moor.
It is a rocky wilderness infested with trolls and gobli-
noids and all manner of other dangers for anyone who
treks across it instead of going around. of Illuskan I'd not heard before, and my first meetings
As the name suggests, the High Moor is a raised area with them were quite tense and filled with misappre-
extending for many miles of heath, lichen-covered out- hension. However, I came to know people from both
croppings, and hidden gullies. Herd animals wander the Girondi and Belcondi tribes, all of whom acted with
the land, from sheep to rock ponies to the occasional bravery, honor, and good humor in my presence. Trav-
rothe. These beasts graze without great risk, because elers in this region should note that the human tribes
wolves and other predators that would thin the herds share the suspicion of magic common among many
are themselves the prey of the trolls and goblinoids Northlanders, but thankfully it isn't the fanatic hatred
that otherwise rule the moor. These two-legged threats shown by the Uthgardt.
sometimes seed the High Moor with traps, but are nor- There are also some small ore tribes, Redclaw and
mally occupied with fighting and killing their prey and Blue Feather, among them. The humans and goblinoids
each other. There is something of a cycle to the hunts of both despise the ores, and my hosts said they allied
the High Moor: wolves are killed off by the hobgoblins with one another in the past when the ores grew great
one year, leading to more sheep grazing, which brings in number.
the trolls out (the local trolls enjoy mutton, it seems),
which brings intrepid adventurers to deal with the 0ROGOTH
growing menace, enabling just enough of the wolves to For such a large expanse, the High Moor contains few
survive that they aren't wiped out completely. known ruins. One such is Orogoth, the former villa of
Human barbarians also inhabit the High Moor, living a noble family of old Netheril. Local legends say the
mostly on its western fringes with large herds of sheep family dabbled in dragon magic, attempting to capture
and goats, the soil being too thin and too poor for farm- those powerful wyrms and acquire their powers. The
ing. They aren't Uthgardt or related to them, but they tales differ as to what folly led to the family becom-
might have some distant ties to the Northlanders, as ing immolated in its home, but most agree the culprit
they seem to be of Illuskan stock. They speak a dialect was a dracolich, of all things, residing in the ruin and

CHAPTER 2 I THE SWORD COAST AND THE NORTH