Page 92 - D&D - Player's Handbook

the majority of the denizens in these lands are lizard-
folk. Once a Netherese principality, ruled by vampires, more than low hills in the forest today, Dhosun told me
and then a holding of the Zhentarim, the Marsh of that deep inside the ruins lies the Shrine of the Cowled
Chelimber is solidly within the grasp of Najara today. Serpents, a site of pilgrimage for the serpent-folk.
Though each tribe of lizardfolk is dominated by a chief- A place of great danger within the forest is Thlohtzin,
tain from among their kind, each of those leaders has once the citadel of a lich and now an important site in
sworn fealty to the King of Najara. Najara's slave trade. Slavers from around the region
know that the serpent-folk pay good coin for slaves
FOREST OF WYRMS brought here. They are then usually transported to other
In the end, it was through the Forest of Wyrms that I places in Najara for service.
fled Najara, though Dhosun advised me against doing I chose to make my escape from Najara through the
so. Ultimately, I chose it for the same reason he tried Forest of Wyrms because, though serpent-infested, it
to discourage me: because only a fool would enter this is a woodland yet, and I am at home in such places. I
wood intentionally. The forest is infested with a great moved through its shadows, remaining deep enough
many serpents of both normal and monstrous varieties. within the forest to avoid notice but not so far as to come
Sages who have studied the serpent-life of the forest near its heart, and then skirted its edges until I could
claim that some force seems to draw ophidian creatures see the hills of Tri el ta in the distance.
here and then changes them- varieties of snake that
ought not be poisonous bite with envenomed fang in this TRIELTA HILLS
forest, and most breeds of snake grow to nearly double In the rolling terrain of the Trielta Hills, scattered with
their size here. Ralionate, an ancient green dragon small settlements of gnomes and halflings, life seems
apparently not aligned with the yuan-ti, makes this pastoral and idyllic. Halfting farmers tend to their plots,
forest her lair. It is good terrain for her; tall redwoods and gnome miners scrape out the interior of the hills
and coarse pines create a dense, dark canopy. seeking the bits of gold and silver they may find waiting
Dhosun warned me that the ruins of Ss'thar'tiss'ssun, there. No warlords threaten this land, no liches or drag-
an ancient temple-city, lie in the northern fringes of the ons plot to seize it for themselves. There are no great
forest. At some point in the distant past, humans built castles to covet here, nor ruins to pillage. All told, the
a small settlement, once called Serpent's Cowl, above place seems dull and unremarkable.
these ruins, but it now stands empty, likely due to the That, of course, is just the way its residents like it.
depredations of yuan-ti. Though discernible as little They enjoy their solitude, which is broken only rarely.

CHAPTER 2 I THE SWORD COAST AND THE NORTH