Parnast

Parnast was a small village in the Savage Frontier region of the North. It had a long history of being controlled by less-than-reputable organizations, such as the Zhentarim and the Cult of the Dragon.

Description
"The problem in Llorkh was that he got lost and asked the wrong person for help. Parnast's smaller. There's only one street, one stable, one tav–."

- The mage Galimer "Longfingers", before being interrupted.

Parnast comprised a central town square, around which were built several dozen simple structures, built within a wooden palisade. The wary and hardworking Parnasters earned their living as farmers, laborers, crafters, transporters, and loggers.

After Zhentarim influence in Parnast waned, the area in town around the group's old chapterhouse came to be known as Old Parnast. Parnasters moved some ways south outside the walled portion of town.

Geography
Parnast stood on the Dawn Pass Trail in the foothills of the Greypeak Mountains, between the mountains themselves and Weathercote Wood. A small path led northward from the towns, north into the woods proper.

About from the village in the Greypeak Mountains, was a hunting lodge owned by Lord Marsten.

Trade
While under Zhentarim control, one tenth of all goods that passed through town were taken by the local lord and redistributed to the Black Network. Zhent caravans regularly passed through town. While most traders traveled the north-south route between Llorkh and Scornubel, others passing through Anauroch stopped by Parnast on occasion, bringing exotic goods from the desert lands to the east.

History
Parnast was believed to have been founded no later than the last decades of the 13 century DR.

Around the, the Zhentarim openly took control of Parnast and installed Lord Amarandaris as its de facto ruler. While the small village enjoyed some prosperity, the presence of the Zhents was merely tolerated by the local Parnasters.

In the years leading up to the, Parnast was nearly overwhelmed with goblin refugees that fled from their homes in the mines of Dekanter.

A regional agent of the Moonstars operated from within Parnast around the same time. They monitored the central Sword Coast, from the Delimbiyr Vale and the High Moor to the Winding Water and the Greypeaks.

Lord Amarandaris ruled Parnast for over 20 years before his death, an event that caused business coming through Parnast to wane and the village to fall into disrepair. After years of decline, the village came under the control of restored Cult of the Dragon for over a year during the 1480s DR. The cult used the village as a stopover for their caravans that transported goods across the North, and kept their wyvern mounts in the local stables. The local leader of the cult, a black half-dragon named Rezmir, formed an alliance with the cloud giant Blagothkus of Skyreach Castle. For a time, Parnast became the anchorage for the giant's flying cloud-castle, before it took to the skies with the local Dragon Cult leaders for lands beyond.

Some time after the Skyreach Castle made its final departure, a band of adventurers drove the remaining cultists from Parnast. Unfortunately the town's stores of resources were depleted, and local food sources became scare in the years following the cult's occupation. The people of Parnast suffered raids led by the ettin named Gralm, and the town itself was besieged by the hill giant Bad Fruul and his horde of orcs and other monstrous creatures.

Around that same time, an agent of the Lords' Alliance named SEER began taking actions to convince the beleaguered leader of Parnast to join the confederacy of towns and cities of the North.

Notable Locations

 * Golden Tankard, the town's inn and tavern that drew its name from a finely-crafted tankard of plenty recovered by its owner, Raggnar Redtooth.
 * Shrine of Axes, a small shrine that featured a statue of Angharradh, along with four Faerûnian deities, each of which represented one of the four seasons.

Inhabitants
Circa the mid–14 century, about 20 or so families permanently lived within Parnast, alongside those folks that just passed through town or stayed on a seasonal basis.

Notable Inhabitants

 * Azam, a leader among the local carvaneers and a member of the Lords' Alliance.
 * Chandra Stol, the priestess of Mielikki that emerged as a local leader in town.
 * Veradda Stoor, a rather well-known treasure hunter.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Hoard of the Dragon Queen
 * Novels
 * The Nether Scroll
 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * Storm King's Thunder (Treasure of the Broken Hoard • The Black Road • Uninvited Guests • Giant Diplomacy • Parnast Under Siege)
 * Beneath the Fetid Chelimber • Chelimber's Descent
 * Beneath the Fetid Chelimber • Chelimber's Descent