Misty Vale

The Misty Vale was a vale and temple to Eldath located in the Brynwood forest in the Vast. It laid a league (5.5 kilometers) from Dura's Vale.


 * Though not named as a temple, the stone circle, sacred grove and still pool suggest a holy site of Eldath, and resemble other temples and groves dedicated to her.

History
The Green Lady, a druid of Eldath, settled in the Misty Vale around 1349 DR. She went into semi-retirement and lived there in seclusion.

On 28th Eleasis of the Year of the Gauntlet, 1369 DR, Dura Gerathu, a ranger friend of the Lady, visited the vale to her to tell how he'd discovered the Viper's Nest, before he left to watch it further. However, the Vipers bandits slew Dura and came to the vale to kill the Lady for what she knew about their hideout. Forewarned and aided by the sprites she lived with, she conjured obscuring mists and hallucinatory forests to confuse and drive the terrified bandits off. Calispar Delgorth, the leader of the assault, vowed to return and finish her later.

Afterwards, the Lady sent two sprites to check on Dura, who reported his death. At the sad news, she fell into deep mourning, not eating, sleeping, nor speaking. She waited the return of the Vipers to kill her too.


 * As "Into the Nest of Vipers" is an adventure module, these events are officially unresolved. Successful progress would see the PCs rouse the Lady and defeat the Vipers.

Inhabitants
The Lady, a druid of Eldath, made her home in the Misty Vale.

She shared the vale with a clan of fey sprites, who served as her eyes and ears and defended her against invaders. They numbered twenty-four were armed with swords and bows with drugged arrows that induced sleep. They had magical powers of invisibility and sensing good and evil.

Description
It was a bowl-shaped vale that was constantly wreathed in mists or thick fogs and scattered with illusory forests. These measures kept out intruders and made it a mysterious place.

At the base was a sacred grove of ancient oak trees standing in a dense ring. Inside this was a stone circle consisting of fifteen large stones placed to form five crude arches. At their center was a small pool of still water, forming a tarn.

The stone circle emanated a powerful enchantment aura that enabled people to memorize, pray for, or recover spells twice as fast while in the Misty Vale.

The Lady's home lay at the center of the vale itself.