Page 107 - Serpent Kingdoms

REALMS

River Catherine: This small stream winds through the south- the Serpent’s Tail to rise high above its banks, and from time
ern Serpent Hills until it joins with the Serpent’s Tail Stream to time the rising waters reveal the entrance to a long-forgotten
and, eventually, the Winding Water. This waterway is home to Anaurian crypt.
many of the same creatures as the Serpent’s Tail Stream. The Eastern High Moor: The eastern reaches of the High Moor
central arch of the Great Petrifi ed Serpent spans the River Cath- are desolate and rocky. The small ravines and narrow ridges that
erine at its widest point. mark this portion of the wilderness gradually rise up to form the
Serpent Hills: These rocky hills roll along a great expanse, Serpent Hills. The moors due west of the central Serpent Hills
broadening to the west until they become the High Moor. The are home to numerous hobgoblin tribes, most of which venerate
Serpent Hills average 500 feet in height, with the tallest just one of the resident wyrms of the region and war intermittently
below 1,000 feet. This region gets more rainfall than the moor, with the serpentfolk. The moorlands to the west of the northern
and its scrubby growth and groves of hardy trees provide cover Serpent Hills are home to savage human tribes of Tethyrian
for the region’s innumerable snakes. Many streams, the largest heritage, descended from the long-ago union of House Orogoth’s
of which is the River Catherine, emerge from freshwater springs Netherese servitors with scattered clans of primitive humans.
and then carve their way through the rocky hills to join with The human tribes have long warred with the ophidians of the
the Serpent’s Tail Stream. Serpent Hills, but in recent years pureblood yuan-ti interlopers
Most of the rock faces have been carved or quarried, and have transformed many of their human chieftains into tainted
the landscape is dotted with ruins, many of which are Anaurian ones in order to keep the barbarians in check.
crypts that date back to the era immediately following the fall Tor of Swords: This granite upcropping stands just east
of Netheril. The hills themselves are primarily granite, though of the most northeasterly loops that the ever-twisting Wind-
deposits of iron and silver ore, veins of salt, and pockets of fi ne ing Water makes. Named for the quintet of Anaurian blades
marble make them a rich resource. Much of the exposed marble entombed within the hill before the erection of the Standing
has already been quarried, but many deposits remain under- Stone, this tor is often confused with the nearby Dungeon of
ground. Only a few shallow caves lie directly beneath the hills, Swords and hence rarely visited by adventurers.
but some of them connect with the more extensive limestone The hill once marked the northern border of the Helbryn,
caverns that make up the uppermost reaches of the Underdark. the great hunting preserve of the long-ago dwarven kingdom of
In addition to lizardfolk, nagas, ophidians, and yuan-ti, the Oghrann. Caverns hewn from the base of the tor form Endar
Serpent Hills support a colony of black caimans (crocodiles), a Aglandtor, the Sword Grotto, which serves as an abbey of Haela
school of bulettes, a handful of beholder variants with vipers Brightaxe. The ablest swordswomen of Haela’s Host now wield
in lieu of eyestalks, dinosaurs (deinonychus, known locally as the magic blades for which the tor is named, often clashing with
razortails, and small stegosauruses, known locally as spiketails), the serpentfolk who venture down from the hills to plunder the
fi redrakes, giant frogs, muckdwellers, urds (treat as kobolds with battlefi elds where dwarf warriors fell in ages past.
the winged template; see Savage Species), and strange monstrosi- Upper Winding Water: The upper reaches of the Winding
ties bred by the yuan-ti. The harmless forms of wildlife include Water wend from the heart of the Marsh of Chelimber to
frogs, at least four varieties of skinks, snake-necked turtles, and Boareskyr Bridge. Above the bridge, the river’s water is potable,
toads. All manner of snakes make their homes here as well, in- but many intelligent creatures avoid it anyway for fear of con-
cluding adders (Small vipers), loopsnakes (amphisbaena), striped suming “Bhaal water.” The Winding Water is slow and turbid,
boalisks, tree pythons, two-headed adders, whipsnakes, winged making its way along a wide and marshy bottomland and
vipers, and other harmless varieties. leaving small swamps and oxbow lakes in its passing. Black cai-
Known dragons include Borcher (male adult bronze dragon), mans (crocodiles) and swimming vipers are the most common
Chellewis (female adult copper dragon), Girac (male old brass predators along the river, but many monsters haunt its banks
dragon), Janic (female old brass dragon), Narbdy (female young as well.
adult brass dragon), Nusas (female adult bronze dragon), Naelere
and Thyka (female old bronze dragons), Kasidikal (female Important Sites
mature adult black dragon from Orogoth), Landillew (female
very old red dragon), Mejas and Miteach (male young copper The Serpent Hills feature numerous sites of interest to travelers
dragons), Topher and Sivert (male adult brass dragons), and and adventurers.
Troberdene (male red wyrm). Anaurian Crypts: Ancient tombs of the Netherese dating
Serpent’s Tail Stream: Winding along the eastern edge of back to the time of Anauria (–339 DR to 111 DR) are scat-
the Serpent Hills, the Serpent’s Tail Stream is fed by count- tered throughout the Serpent Hills. Each of these crypts is
less streams as well as the River Catherine. Like the Winding linked to the rest via a network of portals, with the lower levels
Water to the south, which it eventually joins, this small river of the Dungeon of Swords serving as the portal nexus. One
serves as a hunting ground for the black caimans (crocodiles) portal in the Dungeon of Swords leads to an empty tomb in the
and many swimming snakes that live along its banks. Ophidian Evermoors, and at least one other exits in the undercroft of a
hunters often fi sh from the western bank of the river, regularly vanished temple of Jergal beneath the shifting sands of what was
landing scaled salmon and horned trout. Periodic fl oods cause once Anauria, in the eastern reaches of Anauroch.

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