Maskyr's Eye

Maskyr's Eye or simply the Eye, was a village and vale in the Vast in north Faerûn. It was named for the archmage Maskyr One-Eye, who gave his right eye in payment for the vale.

Geography
The village of Maskyr's Eye lay within a wooded vale, at the base of the Giantspike Mountains and Earthspur Mountains, beneath the Glacier of the White Worm. It was known to be cloaked in mountain mists on some mornings. The soil was mixed with rocks, making the plowing of new fields hard work and small stones regularly turned up even in existing fields. To the east rose the bare rock of the mountain shoulders. It was located on the North Road between Mulmaster and Kurth. A little to the north of the vale, a wooded knoll rose beside the road. Atop it stood a shrine of Tymora and the hut of its attendant priest behind it.

To the west, a clearing in the woods held a disturbing stone altar dedicated to Malar. A boulder with a flat upper surface, it was adorned with animal horns, rotting hides, and much old spilled blood. Behind it, the large skull of a stag with a full set of antlers mounted atop a standing stone looked over the scene. Although grisly, it was simply a place for local hunters to make prayers to the Beastlord before setting off on lengthy, vital, or hazardous hunting expeditions.

Overlooking the vale, a rocky vale rose out of the woods nearby; it resembled the prow of a ship facing the Coldstars peaks in the Earthspurs. This was the former site of Maskyr's Tower.

Description
An overgrown and idyllic little place, it was a small community, consisting of twenty main buildings, mainly cottages and barns built of timber and stone with thatch roofs, and wooden outhouses behind them. Much of the stone used in the walls was once part of Maskyr's old tower. Meanwhile, boundaries between fields were formed from fieldstone and earth loosely piled up in wedge-shaped ridges; these quickly grew over with creepers, shrubs, and quicklimb sapings and could be handy places to hide valuables, if one didn't forget just where. The farms sprawled about the vale, but there was little need for a map to get around. Those east of the road often had narrow frontages and stretched back toward the mountains in long, thin bands; these were mostly family owned. Those west of the road were also thin bands but ran parallel to it. They were securely fenced for they were the horse breeders and trainers. On steep hillsides at the vale's eastern edge were planted vineyards to avert erosions and landslides, but the cold, damp weather saw the grapes troubled by blackweb.

Fresh water was supplied by four small creeks descending from the mountains and running through the woods west of the road, and ultimately draining into the Flooded Forest in the east. While three of the creeks were steady year-round, the fourth usually only in spring. Previously, the North Road through the vale had to pass over three or four wide and muddy fords, together making the road a veritable river of mud deep as one's ankle almost year through. However, in the mid-1300s DR the villagers diverted the streams into a pond and replaced the fords with a single wide stone bridge. The pond lay between the inn and the smithy and was used for bathing, washing vegetables by the cartful, and letting livestock and horses drink.

However, Maskyr's Eye was also home to what was probably the finest inn in the Vast and one of the best in Faerûn in the mid-to-late 14 century DR—The Wizard's Hand. It was, of course, also named for Maskyr One-Eye, and was rivaled only by The Worried Wyvern in Sevenecho. Next to the inn was the House of Plenty, a temple to Chauntea.

Notable Locations

 * Landmarks
 * The Dwarfstone, also known as Durn's Finger, a standing stone that marked the southern edge of Maskyr's Eye and traditionally avoided by the villagers.
 * Ruins of Maskyr's Tower
 * Taverns & Inns
 * The Wizard's Hand: A high-quality inn and occasional village council meeting place, established around 1277 DR.
 * Temples & Shrines
 * House of Plenty: A temple dedicated to Chauntea.
 * Shrine to Tymora.
 * Shrine to Malar.

Government
The village was governed by a Council consisting of every farmer of the vale, and a few prominent individuals in the village, such as the apothecary or herbalist, the innkeeper, and the smith. They resolved disputes over land and boundaries and organized responsibilities for road maintenance and helping one another with brush-cutting. The Council elected an Elder from among their number who had additional powers over trade and the defense of the vale. However, the Council could override any decrees made by the Elder and could also eject them from their post. Elections were held every twelve years on Midsummer Eve or when an incumbent Elder resigned, became too ill to serve, was challenged by a local landowner (who need not be elected in their place), or was dismissed by the Council, and were conducted via nomination of candidates (who could decline with no rancor) and an open majority vote.

Circa 1357 DR, the current Elder was Baernoth, a well-respected local turnip farmer. In living memory, two previous Elders had been dismissed: Kaerasz an unpopular dairy farmer for his arrogance and ill temper and Ssuntyr the cobbler for his criminal misuse of magic and dealings with drow.

The Council's chief concern in the mid-1300s DR was a project for the provision of water, having spent the last two decades establishing irrigation of every farm and diverting the streams into the pond. This also allowed them to replace the three to four fords with the stone bridge.

Trade
The primary trades were farming and the breeding and trainng of horses. Maskyr's Eye was known for producing a rugged breed of horse, popular all over the Vast, called the 'blackhair'. These steeds could easily fetch 400 gold pieces, though local Maskyrvians rarely paid more than 75 gold pieces unless they were expected to take it to far-off lands. For fear of horse thieves, stable-hands and laborers from beyond the vale were rarely hired.

Otherwise, the farms cultivated root vegetables such as carrot, garsar, potato, and turnip, which grew well in the vale, and also wildsage and brambleberry. Less popular were the two wines made here, sund (made from the locally grown grapes) and brambleberry wine. For livestock, they produced chickens, hogs, cattle for dairy and meat.

Game was also hunted in the woods, including porcupine, squirrel, boar, wild sheep and goats, and black-masked bear. Wild honey was also gathered in summer. The hunters were capable guides, going to most places in the area, to the mountain heights only in spring, and staying away from the Flooded Forest. There was only one family engaged in hunting; game was not sufficient to support another.

Two or three times a year, dwarves journeyed out of the mountains and stayed in Maskyr's Eye to trade for around four days, purposefully giving no warning or notice of their coming. Hearing the news, merchants from Mulmaster would then rush to the village to trade their goods for the fine metalworks the dwarves brought with them. Much of value was bartered or bought with coin, with the dwarves selling axeheads, bracers, daggers, knives, and short swords in exchange for barrels, foodstuffs, wine, clothing, lamp oil, pitch, rope, and scents. Though it was brief, Maskyr's Eye was a packed and bustling place over this period, The Wizard's Hand would fill with guests, and the left overs paid to stay at a local farm or camped by the road on the north or south sides.

Law & Order
Maskyrvians paid close attention to strangers in the village, watching those wandering behind the farms in daylight and challenging trespassers in their fields and barns, and such confrontations could lead to fights. Such fights were common in the 1350s DR, with increased numbers of adventurers and others passing through. Maskyrvians were quick to defend themselves and their village with whatever tools or weapons came to hand.

Most trouble came during the dwarven trade meet, with occasional thefts and fighting. As the dwarves arrived unexpectedly, the villagers had no chance to set up any kind of police force, so the village elder could do little to quell the chaos. Should questioning be required, they had to send to Kurth for the nearest cleric capable of casting a detect lie spell, Glauroth Mahulkyn.

History
In the 7 century DR, the powerful archmage Maskyr came to explore the newly opened Vast, seeking a place to live in solitude. One morning in the, Maskyr came upon a wooded vale that he found quite beautiful, serene and veiled in mountain mists. He decided to make his home there, and nowhere else. Unfortunately, it was claimed by the dwarf kingdom of Roldilar. Maskyr gained an audience with Deep King Tuir Stonebeard and asked his price for the vale. Thinking to discourage him, Tuir offered the whole vale, from rim to rim and the earth below as deep as four men, at the cost that Maskyr pluck out his own right eye and give it to him, there and then. Shockingly, Maskyr did just that.

Tuir kept the bargain and granted him the land. He also ordered that no dwarf trespass in the vale nor disturb the archmage. Maskyr then went and dwelled there, erecting Maskyr's Tower for his home, with the vale becoming known as Maskyr's Eye. Maskyr was said to have lived peacefully and alone in his tower until he disappeared while planes-walking and was presumed killed.

In time, more humans came and settled in the vale, clearing land for farming, and some retired adventurers settled nearby. A small settlement of the same name soon arose in the vale. Although the farms flourished, plowing was initially difficult because of the stony soil.

In the, Maskyr's Eye was the site of the one of the last skirmishes of the fall of Roldilar, as the elven hero Beluar hunted down the last routed orc from the battle at Viperstongue Ford and slew him on the road outside the smithy at dawn the next day. The smith had the opportunity to examine orcish armor, and found it poor quality, comparable to the basic hardware known as blackwork.

Occasionally, mages and adventurers would try to enter Maskyr's abandoned tower, with no success. Eventually, some time in the late 12 or early 14 century DR, a retired adventurer known as Gathen Swiftsword, along with thirty men hired from Mulmaster, attempted to breach the wards around the tower and, after two days, managed to make a hole in the wall, through which Gathen ventured. That dusk, the tower collapsed and out of it emerged a massive dragon, which flew off to the north. Treasure hunters descended on the village and surrounding farmhouses, determined to take Maskyr's magical loot for themselves but they didn't turn up anything. Some threatened or enchanted the villagers for information, causing trouble. The wizard Loathren of Phlan later tried to build his own tower on the site, only for the ruins of the old tower to magically whip around in a vortex before crushing Loathren and his camp. The tower's ruins came to be known as cursed as a result, leading to far fewer treasure hunters since. Eventually, the farmers took even the stones away for reuse.

Circa 1341 DR, the local cobbler, wizard, and then Elder of the Council Ssuntyr was discovered to have dealings with drow and even worse creatures of the Underdark. Worse still, he used his art to make a neighbor ill and force her to sell him her farm prior to her death. The Council deposed the villain and the villagers drove him out of the village, but the fight turned bloody, seriously injuring two farmers and killing a third, Thurl Northmane. Finally, Arbrest Thunwyllun pierced Ssuntyr with his pitchfork and Hulthoon Maer almost lopped off one of his hand's with his axe, but Ssuntyr escaped through a portal of fire opened by a magical device.

Culture
Life here was slow and taken up by hard work on the farms and the need to collect and store food to make it through the cold, difficult winters. Folk had hardly any time to go exploring, not the vale's environs and not lands further afield. Most could only dream of traveling elsewhere or even marrying some from outside the vale. Yet the majority of Maskyrvians were satisfied with their lot, and had little desire to live any place else or abandon or betray their kith and kin. However, they were not backwards nor disinterested in the wider world.

Not much happened in Maskyr's Eye to break up the routine beyond the travelers coming down the road, and few of them thought about staying. In the evenings in good weather, Maskyrvians regularly went to The Wizard's Hand inn, where they met up in the taproom to drink beer, sund, and brambleberry wine and to hear news, clack, and music from the travelers, adventurers, and itinerant minstrels that passed through. If bidden, the Maskyrvians told their own stories of the area, sometimes growing quite exaggerated. Bards were especially welcome, with audiences gladly giving coin for a ballad or dramatic story, despite how often it might've been heard before. Some of these wandering bards, like Sshansalue Wonderharp, were hailed as old friends of the villagers.

Maskyrvians had a pithy sense of humor with several in-jokes based on the tales they'd heard. For example, on seeing anyone or anything who looked particularly messy, broken, or filthy—such as a disheveled traveler to a couple discovered naked in the woods to a farmer who'd fallen in his own cesspit, or The Wizard's Hand taproom following a fight—they might remark "Ah! 'Tis the latest style in Alphar Isle." or "The latest style in Alphar Isle, no?" or variations upon that phrase, referring to the practice of pirates to dump sick, injured, or otherwise unfortunate people on faraway Alphar Isle where their conditions would only deteriorate further. Another phrase, when a Maskyrvian saw the need to get into a fight, was "Nice weather we're having, no?", probably referring to the habit of strangers to make small talk by referring to the weather.

Natives of Maskyr's Eye held great disdain for people who lived in Mulmaster and Calaunt. Calling someone a Mulmasterite, if they were not in fact from Mulmaster, was intended as a vile insult, typically given to those who cheated on business deals or were spendthrifts with a "Not from Mulmaster, are ye?" or "Ye were born in Mulmaster, no?" Arrogant, reckless, or foolish people were called "Calaunt-heads" or told to "go on an outing to Calaunt". As a pastoral people, Maskyrvians loved their animals and anyone seen mistreating an animal in their presence would be verbally or sometimes physically attacked, and viewed suspiciously, with some asking "Kick yer wife, too?"

Traditional meals of the farm-folk included wildsage stew made with game meat, hardbread spread with bloodlick, drunk with beer. For dessert, they had thin-sliced and toasted hardbread spread with wild honey or brambleberry jelly. At The Wizard's Hand, a typical meal could include roast stag with wildsage vegetable stew, sweet tarts with brambleberry jelly, and bowls of sugarbread soaked in brandy and coated in cream.

Inhabitants
There were no people of great power dwelling in Maskyr's Eye in the 1350s and 60s DR.

Notable Inhabitants

 * Khonduil Ammargath, former adventurer and priest of Tymora
 * Lharathuel Hesmyr, a priestess of Chauntea
 * Gundul Hulvesper, a well-respected horse-breeder
 * Torzhin Hulvesper, an acolyte of Chauntea
 * Lhullbannen Orlsyr
 * Elephon Stoneshoulder, another well-respected horse-breeder
 * Jhenta Sulpir, an acolyte of Chauntea