Black Holes of Sunderland

The Black Holes of Sunderland, also called simply the Black Holes, were a region along the slopes of the southern Galena Mountains of Vaasa pocked with monster-infested caves.

Description
The Black Holes were notorious for having one of the densest populations of unfriendly beasts and monsters in Vaasa, making its proximity to the farming and mining communities of the heavily populated Sunderland a central reason why the Vaasan people were known to be always ready for a fight. During the rule of King Gareth Dragonsbane of Damara, the Black Holes became a popular destination for adventurers and mercenaries seeking to claim the generous bounties posted on the Holes' monstrous inhabitants.

Geography
The Black Holes lay in the slopes of the Galena Mountains at the southern edge of the Sunderland grasslands.

Geographical Features
The caves that comprised the Black Holes were varied in terms of size and depth. Some were shallow and just large enough for a monster to hide within, while others were deep and part of an interconnected network of caverns leading to the Moondeep Sea in the Underdark, while still others were said to be tunnels that stretched as far as Damara or Thar.

Flora & Fauna
Local monsters used the Holes for shelter from the harsh Vaasan winters, making them into lairs and nests. Goblinoids and giantkin were common, and leucrotta, owlbears, and quaggoths were not unheard of.

History
While the Black Holes had always been dangerous, they became even more perilous after the defeat of Zhengyi the Witch-King in the, when the remnants of his monstrous armies were said to have fled to the caves to regroup. This led to an aggressive, decades-long effort to incentivize bounty hunters to pacify the area.

Among the stragglers of Zhengyi's forces was the Cult of the Goat's Head, a group dedicated to the demon lord Orcus that was once led by Zhengyi himself. Their presence drew the attention of drow faithful of Kiaransalee dwelling in V'elddrinnsshar deep below the Black Holes, who began launching attacks against this cult to their goddess's rival. Within a decade, they had nearly wiped out the Orcus worshipers, and inadvertently provided a great service to the surface-dwellers of Vaasa and Damara (who mistook the drow for Zhengian allies if they ever came across them).

In the late 15 century DR, one of the rising threats from within the Black Holes was a tribe of deranged quaggoths who worshiped The Render, an aspect of Malar more commonly venerated as the Bear God of the Great Glacier.