River Surbrin

The River Surbrin was a river in the Silver Marches and Savage Frontier. The land around it was known as the Surbrin Valley.

Geography
It flowed from the glaciers of the Endless Ice Sea and the Spine of the World, after which it was joined by the River Rauvin, and later the Goblintide River, the Laughingflow, and Horn Stream. The River Surbrin then fed into the River Dessarin.

The River Surbrin flowed only a few miles to the south and east of Mithral Hall, north to south along the eastern edge of the Spine of the World. In the Underdark, the drow city of Menzoberranzan lay below the Surbrin at one point along its length.

Description
Downstream of Silverymoon, the river was generally around in breadth, sometimes reaching about  and rarely. It flowed swiftly and steadily through hard rock and was scoured by boulders, so the riverbed was largely stones and pebbles and it had very little in the way of meandering curves, oxbows, sandbars, or backswamps.

Given their glacial origin, the waters of the Surbrin could be somewhat icy, though they were a little warmer by the time they flowed into the Dessarin. The river was navigable as far north as where it was met by the Rauvin, though it was possible with a small boat and lot of luck to continue up the Surbrin almost to its headwaters and up the Rauvin as far as Dead Orc Pass. The upper reaches of the Surbrin river valley, however, were still considered remote and quite hazardous.

In the spring, there was terrific flooding of the land around the junction of the Surbrin and Laughingflow, though the settlement at Mornbryn's Shield there was protected by the namesake ridge.

Trade
It was not uncommon for merchants to take a barge up the Surbrin to Mornbryn's Shield to load their holds with Shield moss. There was heated competition for it, and they paid 50 to 75 gp for a bargeful.

Notable Locations
The town of Nesmé sat on the eastern side of the River Surbrin, with a large fortified bridge across it to the stronghold of the Riders of Nesmé.

The hamlet of Mornbryn's Shield lay on the north bank where the Surbrin was met by the Laughingflow.

Further south, the town of Yartar stood at the confluence of the Surbrin and Dessarin rivers; it too had a bridge over the Surbrin. Its people fished the Surbrin, Dessarin, and Laughingflow (which they called "the Three Rivers").

History
The Harpell family of Longsaddle finished building a new bridge over the Surbrin, permitting trade north of Nesmé to Silverymoon in the.

In the late 1490s DR, the thieves Edgin Darvis, Holga Kilgore, Simon Aumar, and Doric crossed a rocky tributary of the River Surbrin in a marshy area on their way to the Evermoors cemetery.