Page 131 - Serpent Kingdoms

REALMS

In recent years, agents of the Jennestas tribe have man- Thindar to the docks of Narubel, bypassing the dangerous seas
aged to introduce a wide variety of predatory snakes into the around the Jungles of Chult. But the Sauringars, who had been
grasslands south of the city while placing a number of variant driven out of the Sanrach Basin in the Year of Hounds (293
sympathy-like effects within the city to attract them. Increasing DR), came to power in Narubel by allying themselves with the
numbers of Delselar’s inhabitants have fallen victim to attacks spirit nagas of the Chultengar. The nagas deliberately isolated
by snakes and wereserpents, but all efforts to avert the incur- the city from the rest of Thindol by arranging targeted attacks
sions have failed, primarily because of the city’s narrowness on overland caravans by the pterafolk tribes in their charge.
and length. These constant attacks ended all caravan traffi c more than a
Deltar (Large Town, 2,863): Home to clammers, fi sherfolk, century ago.
and deep sea divers, Deltar is notorious for the large number Since then, the City of Seasnakes has become the home
of submerged islets that lie just offshore. Resident rogues row port for most of the pirate ships that stalk the Shining Sea.
out with lanterns during storms, deliberately trying to make All efforts to muster a fl otilla against the pirates from the
ships heading for the Thingulph founder. Because of this prac- navies of the Tashalar, Lapaliiya, and Calimshan have come
tice, numerous wrecks dot the local depths. Many still contain to naught, thanks in large part to the whispered words of
lost treasures, since the large number of aquatic monsters that yuan-ti agents in the courts of those realms and the infl uence
choose to lair in them deters plunderers. of the Rundeen. In payment for the long-ago service rendered
Gurdeth (Large City, 17,991): The City on Stilts is built by the pterafolk and their spirit naga leaders, a fraction of
atop a large island at the mouth of the River Gur. Most of its every cargo seized by the pirates of Narubel is sent into the
buildings stand on poles above the ground and are lashed to their Chultengar as tribute.
neighbors for support against periodic fl oods. Because of this Psamma (Small Town, 1,936): This river town lies along
unusual arrangement, most of the city’s roads lie underneath the the southern banks of the River Gur, almost at the midpoint of
structures and thus are always dark and shadowy, even during the triangle formed by the ports of Deltar and Gurdeth and the
the day. fortress-town of Samagard.
Like their counterparts in Thindar across the bay, the ruling Aside from its role as the local trading center, Psamma is
merchants of Gurdeth are quite wealthy, though much of their notable for what lies beneath the streets. Two decades ago, ef-
wealth was acquired by disreputable means. Those who walk forts to sink a new well revealed a series of natural caverns that
the city’s underroads are advised to go armed, and those who the yuan-ti had used as tombs in ages past. The fi rst explorers
dare Gurdeth’s Byzantine politics had best expect a dagger in brought back a handful of serpentine artifacts, but the town
the back. council quickly banned any further exploration. Despite the
Lundeth (Large City, 23,791): The City of Whirring Waters continuous presence of armed guards blocking entrance to the
lies at the foot of the Cascades, where the River Lundeth has well shaft, however, a small number of such bibelots continue to
been harnessed to operate a series of small watermills. These surface for sale, suggesting that one or more other connections
devices power all manner of technological contraptions, includ- have been dug in secret.
ing a set of presses that can each create up to one hundred Samagard (Large Town, 4,106): Built across the River Gur
swords per day. Despite the involvement of gold dwarf overseers, from a small keep that defends the eastern end of Sormarl Pass,
weapons produced in this fashion are still quite shoddy. Such a Samagard is the only Thindolese settlement in which Samara-
weapon commands less than 10% of its normal price, and its chan merchants can exchange their wares for coin or bartered
break DC is one-half that for a normal specimen. Nevertheless, goods. Once a great deal of trade fl owed through the pass to
efforts to refi ne the process continue. A small number of Lan- what was then western Thindol, but today that commerce is a
tanna expatriates have recently settled in this city, bringing with mere fraction of what it once was. Nevertheless, the merchants
them missionary priests of Gond. of Samagard earn a tidy sum supplying their neighbors to the
Narubel (Small City, 11,301): Nominally the northernmost west with trade goods at exorbitant prices.
city of Thindol, the City of Seasnakes lies at the western end of Unbeknownst to either country, the yuan-ti have success-
the Tashtan Coast, near the eastern edge of the Jungles of Chult. fully inserted several agents high in the ranks of the local trade
The city is built into the sea caves that honeycomb the walls of a consortiums. Their primary mission is to learn about both
small natural harbor surrounded by steep cliffs. Narubel claims countries’ weaknesses by observing what each needs to acquire
the territory that stretches from the eastern edge of the Jungles in trade, but they also work to exacerbate tensions between the
of Chult to the Tching Mountains and from the northern slopes two realms in order to prevent them from uniting against their
of the Sanrach Mountains to the Shining Sea, although most of common foe.
that land is unsettled wilderness. Tchinggult (Large Town, 3,413): Once a waystop along
Founded by Tashlutan merchants seeking to plunder the the road from Thindar to Narubel along the banks of the
Jungles of Chult in the Year of the Carved Cliffs (29 DR), River Tching, Tchinggult fell into disrepair when trade along
the City of Seasnakes is now an independent city-state ruled the route declined and a chaos roc MM2 began to hunt the area.
by yuan-ti purebloods of the Sauringar tribe. When the city Today, only human outlaws and small bands of lizardfolk
was in the hands of humans, overland trade fl owed north from inhabit this ruined town. At least three major gangs and a

130

620_96566_SerpentKin92-135.indd 130 5/12/04, 4:22:35 PM