The fire marshes were a spread of hazardous marshlands and peat bogs in the High Moor, lit with everburning flames that made them into dangerous, inhospitable areas.[3]
Description[]
Once, the fire marshes were nothing but just regular wetlands, filled with peat and other decaying matter. But one man's attempt to exterminate a local population of trolls resulted in the peat being lit aflame with either permanent spells or magic items of some description, creating the "fire marshes." Adventurers stupid enough to travel across the fire marshes were in constant danger of tripping over a flame jet, sending forth a column of fire and hissing smoke. This magical flames were activated by any creatures found in the area. However, an application of the dispel magic spells could quell a small portion of the swamps, making it unable to produce flames for several minutes.[3]
Geography[]
The fire marshes were spread across the breadth of the High Moor, east of the Trollbark Forest, southwest of the South Wood and north of the Dragonspear Castle.[1]
Flora & Fauna[]
The fire marshes were home to many species of moss with sphagnum moss that died and turned into peat being amongst the most common.[4] Some creatures were not bothered by the swamp's flammability and were found in the fire marshes, offering even more danger to those traversing them. These creatures and plants adapted to the flames, granting them an innate resistance to fire and ensured that they rarely were seen outside the fire marshes. Tanglers, a local variety of giant sundews of green body with pink splotches, was not bothered by the acidic swamp nor by the flames.[5][6] The marshes were also home to fyreflies and various species of mundane and giant dragonflies – dangerous predators that came in many colors, metallic being the most prevalent.[7] Other creatures of fire nature that called the bogs home were fire toads, fire lizards, and pyrohydrae. Planar creatures of fire were also not an uncommon sight, such as hell hounds, fire snakes, fire mephits, fire elementals and salamanders.[6][8]
Other creatures that were occasionally seen in the fire marshes were black dragons, fire bats, rabbits, moon rats, swamp ferrets, leeches, will-o'-wisps, frogs, kestrels, owls, as well as undead as they did not trigger flame eruptions (young and ancient Netherese wights, zombies, skeletons, ghouls, haunts, phantoms).[9]
History[]
Sometime during the life of Daeros Dragonspear, a 13th century half-dwarven adventurer, he thought it to be a good idea to fight the ever-growing population of trolls in the High Moor with fire, creating an environmental disaster and wrecking an ecology at the heart of the Moor. The half-dwarven adventurer and his friends created spells or used some unknown magic items to create sporadic flame bursts in the peat bogs to kill or at least drive the trolls away. The plan worked too well, killing many trolls but the fire magics used had permanency and turned the bogs into the deadly fire marshes.[3]
In the late 14th century DR, a goblin tribe near the fire marshes began worshiping a salamander that resided there. The planar creature demanded increased amounts of meat from its worshipers. These stupid goblins lived to the south of the bogs and became a great danger, attacking anything and everything.[8]
Notable Inhabitants[]
One notable inhabitant of the fire marshes was a pit fiend, some believed to be called Deref. This hideous 12 feet (3.7 meters) tall monster occasionally tried to wrangle up an army of fire creatures and humanoids in the marshes from time to time.[10]
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tim Beach (October 1995). “The High Moor”. In Julia Martin ed. Elminster's Ecologies Appendix II (TSR, Inc), p. 5. ISBN 0786901713.
- ↑ Tim Beach (October 1995). “The High Moor”. In Julia Martin ed. Elminster's Ecologies Appendix II (TSR, Inc), p. 26. ISBN 0786901713.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Tim Beach (October 1995). “The High Moor”. In Julia Martin ed. Elminster's Ecologies Appendix II (TSR, Inc), p. 4. ISBN 0786901713.
- ↑ Tim Beach (October 1995). “The High Moor”. In Julia Martin ed. Elminster's Ecologies Appendix II (TSR, Inc), p. 14. ISBN 0786901713.
- ↑ Tim Beach (October 1995). “The High Moor”. In Julia Martin ed. Elminster's Ecologies Appendix II (TSR, Inc), p. 16. ISBN 0786901713.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Tim Beach (October 1995). “The High Moor”. In Julia Martin ed. Elminster's Ecologies Appendix II (TSR, Inc), p. 27. ISBN 0786901713.
- ↑ Tim Beach (October 1995). “The High Moor”. In Julia Martin ed. Elminster's Ecologies Appendix II (TSR, Inc), p. 21. ISBN 0786901713.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Tim Beach (October 1995). “The High Moor”. In Julia Martin ed. Elminster's Ecologies Appendix II (TSR, Inc), p. 30. ISBN 0786901713.
- ↑ Tim Beach (October 1995). “Encounter Tables”. In Julia Martin ed. Elminster's Ecologies Appendix II (TSR, Inc). ISBN 0786901713.
- ↑ Tim Beach (October 1995). “The High Moor”. In Julia Martin ed. Elminster's Ecologies Appendix II (TSR, Inc), p. 28. ISBN 0786901713.