Hilp

Hilp was a small town in southern Cormyr. It was located on Calantar's Way between Immersea to the northeast and Suzail to the southwest. Hilp marked the western terminus of the Way of the Manticore, which ran east to the town of Wheloon and beyond.

Geography
Hilp was surrounded by farmland and grazing pastures. It was situated just north of Starwater River and just outside the southeastern edge of the King's Forest.

Government
The lord of Hilp was Doon Dzavar, a former merchant. He was not from Cormyr, but during his governance he earned positive regard from the townspeople and the king.

Doon's herald was the wizard Baldask Delzantar.

Architecture
Hilp had many tall, narrow shops with homes above them and these were shingled with slate.

Trade
Hilp was a market town for the local farmers, and had thriving trades in the making of barrels and wagons.

A shrub known as stelk was grown commercially in Hilp as fish bait. A stelk shrub resembled a cluster of brown, fist-sized cabbage heads. Aquatic creatures, from goldfish to dragon turtles, were unable to resist it. A species of freshwater electric eel inhabited the Lake of Dragons that could release an electrical discharge deadly to humans. Any eel eating a head of stelk was unable to use this ability for a week.

Defenses
In 1357 DR, Hilp was an unfortified town and was defended by the militia.

By 1367 DR, the town had defensive walls, though the buildings kept outgrowing them along the major roads.

History
Hilp was named after its founder, a warrior who killed or drove out the trolls that infested the area.

Volo, the well-known traveler and guidebook author, provided a different historical account. He claimed Hilp was named after a Cormyrean court jester who was granted extensive farmlands at the site.

Notable Locations

 * The Slipper Shop:
 * This shop was run by a kindly, elderly, female elf who enjoyed talking to her customers about Myth Drannor. She sold perfumes, cosmetics, herbs, pomanders, and medicines. She also sold magical potions, but only if she was asked with proper courtesy and respect. The name of her shop came from the fact that all her products were sold packed in comfortable, embroidered cloth slippers.


 * Handiber's Stelk Farm:
 * This farm was located to the west of Hilp at the edge of the forest and was owned by Handiber, a gruff and dry-humored stelk farmer. He brought his crop into town to sell, and the strong varieties he bred commanded high prices.

Inhabitants
Local nobility included members of the Cormaeril family.

Rumors and Legends
Orncibl Rhommd was a weaver of Hilp who, along with his two apprentices, claimed to have stumbled upon the location of the Crypt of Dragons in 1356 DR. The Crypt was a vast subterranean tomb and shrine to the dragon god Null, somewhere within a day's travel of Hilp, though the exact location was long forgotten. Orncibl said that the tomb contained several mummified dragon corpses laying upon piles of gold and gems. Orncibl's apprentices were killed by fields of blue energy when they got too close, but Orncibl escaped. Unfortunately, he disappeared before he could reveal the cavern's whereabouts, and ever since that time, agents of the Cult of the Dragon searched the region for the entrance to the Crypt.