Dragon Falls (village)

Dragon Falls was a small village in the Vast, lying between Dead Tree Hollow and Glorming Pass, where the Hlintar Ride met the North Road. It was located on the north side of the Fire River and was named for the nearby Dragon Falls.

Description
Though a small village, Dragon Falls was the biggest settlement on the North Road between Tsurlagol and King's Reach.

The village sat upon a crag looking south over a thundering waterfall, the only major cataract on the Fire River. However, the Dragon Falls themselves were actually a spring that cascaded over a bluff alongside the road and joined the Fire River.

Places
A ferry, pulled across the river on ropes, was operated as a service to merchant caravans. This was located about above the village.

The Inn of the Dragon, once the adventurers' stronghold, was a fortified inn that dominated the village.

A shrine to Silvanus stood at the head of the falls. This was maintained, but more often ignored, by Keldar of the Forest, the village's resident priest.

History
Local legend says the falls were once home to a powerful red dragon, Halarglautha Firewings, who once rampaged across the Vast and gave both Fire River and Dragon Falls their names. Halarglautha's reign of terror finally ended when she was slain by the spells of a band of human adventurers, and her lair was destroyed, along with much of her treasure. However, plenty of treasure remained and the survivors took possession of the dragon's hoard of coins.

But instead of carrying the loot away, they chose to stay and constructed themselves a stronghold and settled there while a village grew around them. They divided the loot up amongst themselves, then among their children and so on each generation. By 1370 DR, their great-grandchildren made up most of the population of the village of Dragon Falls and the treasure had all been spent.

Local Legends
Rumor had it that not all of the dragon's treasure had been spent, claiming that much of it still lay hidden or buried about the village, supposedly in small caches beneath the cottages and gardens. Naturally, adventurers with shovels were unwelcome.

Similarly, a local tale held that beneath the crag were dwarven storage-caverns full of gold. Supposedly, Halarglautha laired at the Dragon Falls, rather than a more defensible peak, because she knew of these vaults and planned to one day have smaller creatures retrieve the gold for her.