The Skondarr was a series of caves in the Dragonspine Mountains in the western Moonsea region. It was named after a bandit lord who used it as a stronghold in the early days of the 14th century DR.[1]
Geography[]
The Skondarr was located beneath Mount Tesh in the western Dragonspine Mountains north of Teshwave. Its entrance was on the southwestern side of the peak.[1] The entrance was well camouflaged and difficult to see even standing two or three strides away.[2] It was often choked with detritus from avalanches, heavy rains, and dead vegetation ranging from brush to trees.[1]
Interior[]
Entrance and Dead Bear Cave, with live bear occupant.
Every room in this hideout had its own name and story. The descriptions of the rooms given below were accurate as of around the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, but the contents and occupants changed over time as people and creatures moved in and out, visited and revisited, and were displaced by others.[1]
Dead Bear Cave[]
After descending the scree at the entrance to the Skondarr, the first room was known as Dead Bear Cave, named for the extraordinarily large bear that was defeated by a group of adventurers at some point in history.[1] This cavern had a few stalactites hanging down and a floor that was mostly covered in rubble and sloped downward.[note 1] The walls here had a few level ledges jutting out that held sand in which obvious symbols had been traced. These symbols varied over time and appeared to be a form of communication.[1]
Durgath's Death, showing niches carved in the cave formations.
Durgath's Death[]
At the bottom of Dead Bear Cave was a smaller room called Durgath's Death, named for a talkative prospector that fell victim to a trap here, sometime around the Year of the Watching Cold, 1320 DR. The stalactites and stalagmites in this limestone cavern were carved by many hands over the years to hold small items like coffers, drinking flasks, daggers, and the like. Some of them were even labeled in crude letters to say things like "Berith", "Hooks", and "The Best". These open cubbyholes were also known to contain keys, rings, scrolls, nails, kindling, and even coils of fine Calimshan wire.[1] The flame-jet trap[3] that killed Durgath was a hole on the south wall at a height that required a short climb to reach, but blasted anyone who reached inside.[2]
The Altar[]
The Altar, showing entrance to the Hidehole in the ceiling.
At the other end of Durgath's Death was a crawl-way to a larger cavern known as The Altar because it contained a large, dark, flat rock formation that was obviously used as an altar for various rituals. The slab did not match the composition of the cave walls and it was a mystery how it got placed here.[4] Animal carcasses left behind as sacrifices usually attracted scavengers or the occasional carrion crawler, or worse.[1] There were two other exits from this room. The obvious one was through a gap in the back wall, but another was located in the roof of the chamber.[5] The fissure was hard to see without proper lighting and reaching it was very difficult without magic. To access the Hidehole, a regular climber had to navigate an upside-down course on a wet, slippery stalactite-covered ceiling.[2]
The Hidehole[]
Coronal's Doom, showing the opening to Horthal's Neck in the floor.
Once a person reached the fissure to the Hidehole, the climb got much easier because it was a short, narrow passage. The Hidehole was a small room that was easy to defend and was often used as a place to rest, sleep, or guard treasure. Potable water with a strong mineral taste slowly dripped into a naturally formed basin on one wall. A horizontal shelf could be used (by a man-sized creature laying prone) to conceal themselves from, or attack, anyone entering the Hidehole. At one end of this shelf were two unusual symbols of unknown power chiseled into the stone wall.[2][5] The symbols were a circle holding two triangles that touched at a vertex, and a wide-open eye with three tears falling.[1]
Coronal's Doom[]
The easier exit from The Altar opened up into another limestone cavern named Coronal's Doom for a plot that was hatched here. In this case, Coronal did not refer to an elven king, but to a human patriarch of a powerful family that lived in Zhentil Keep.[1] Tiny cracks decorated the walls of this room. Most were too thin or shallow to hide much of anything except cave-dwelling insects and invertebrates, but some could be used to hold one edge of a map or a scroll. The most noticeable feature in the room was the 80-foot (24-meter) shaft in the floor, known as Horthal's Neck, that led to the lower reaches of the Skondarr.[5]
Horthal's Neck, with traps.
Horthal's Neck[]
Horthal was an adventurer of wide repute, but he met his end falling down this nearly vertical, trap-laden shaft and breaking his neck. The sides of Horthal's Neck were conveniently riddled with niches and holes that made for easy climbing, except for the many magical and mechanical traps that had been placed there over the years, some quite deadly. It was much safer to try and thread the needle by using a rope down the center and avoiding the walls as much as possible. At any given time, for the foolish, brave, or clever, the Neck contained all sorts of items, including, but not limited to: maps, scrolls, potions, wands, coin purses, and even deeds to properties in Selgaunt, Suzail, and Yhaunn.[5]
Wyvernbone Pit[]
The bottom of the Neck opened into the roof of a chamber strewn with bones. The name was somewhat misleading (since most of the bones in this necromancer's playground were human, and the room was a long cavern with a low ceiling) but it tended to be the dumping ground for all things unwanted. It was rare to find anything of value here.[5] Every so often (no more frequently than once a day, but no less than twice in a tenday) a vortex of light 15 feet (4.6 meters) in diameter appeared briefly, indicating that an invisible portal had opened up. The portal was a two-way connection to a ruined illithid settlement somewhere deep in the Underdark.[2]
Wyvernbone Pit, showing location of the portal to the Underdark.
Dunsral's Stair[]
Dunsral's Stair and the Vault of the Crown.
At the far end of the gently sloping Wyvernbone Pit was a series of cascading ledges that formed irregular steps leading downward. These steps were treacherous when wet, and they were always wet as water seeped and ran to the lowest level of the Skondarr. Another locally famous adventurer, the gnome Dunsral, once constructed a fine staircase down this passage, but over the years it was scavenged and fell into decay until nothing was left. Others later hacked steps into the stone itself, but the name remained. A colony of small bats made their home here, and their droppings contributed to the slipping hazard.[5]
Vault of the Crown[]
At the bottom of Dunsral's Stair was an opening into an ovoid-shaped chamber—wide at the bottom, narrowing to a dome at the top. Stalactites covered the ceiling and the wet, sandy floor was pierced by stalagmites.
The name of this room came from the phantom manifestation of a crown seemingly made of intangible white light. It appeared whenever strong magic was used in the room, but only if sufficient time had passed since its last appearance—an interval usually measured in days, but less than a tenday. The crown was a full circlet with vertical spires of unequal lengths around its circumference, and floated about the area for one or two hours as if it were worn by a being about 6 feet (180 centimeters) tall that was aware of and curious about the other beings in the room. Very rarely, small motes of twinkling light were emitted from the spires to drift around the Vault at random until they faded away. The motes were also intangible and could pass through objects or people with no effect or sensation.[5]
When the crown was manifest, spells cast in the Vault tended to be boosted in size, range, damage, or efficacy. Though difficult to prove, the appearance of the dancing motes seemed to precede the finding of a magic item or some other magical effect manifesting in the Vault. The sand was deep enough that it made for an excellent place to bury ill-gotten gains.[5][2]
Darkpool Delve[]
Darkpool Delve.
Opposite the Stair entrance, a short crawl-way descended from the Vault of the Crown to a mostly flooded cavern known as Darkpool Delve—"Darkpool" because the water was black as ink and "Delve" because it was rumored to be a mine abandoned by the dwarves. In truth, the water color was due to a harmless algae and there was no evidence that dwarves ever worked this location. If not contaminated with a decaying corpse or other refuse, the water was drinkable. The floor of the pool dropped so rapidly that a single stride was enough to put a medium-sized human in water over their head. Like Wyvernbone Pit, Darkpool had its share of debris, but it was also used to hide things people did not want to be found. The evil-looking waters sometimes concealed small monsters and great treasures.[5]
Rumors & Legends[]
A set of keys found in a cubbyhole in Durgath's Death were said to fit all the locks in the Royal Palace in Suzail.[1]
The Altar was used by a Malarite cult for rituals of sacrifice, but the cult was eradicated by Tharaundarr, a wizard from Calaunt, after his favorite hunting cat was killed. Afterwards, only individual Malar worshipers occasionally performed rituals here.[1]
The symbols in the Hidehole were said to be the mage sigils of two wizards, Thamburkh of Athkatla, and Dathlarra of Iriaebor. Touching them in the correct pattern was thought to teleport an individual to the home of the mage who trained them, but the magic faded long ago. As of the 1370s DR, the symbols had been used as glyphs of warding by someone, just for spite.[1][2]
The conspiracy against the "Coronal" in Zhentil Keep was so successful that the entire family was eliminated and their fortune in gems was brought back to the Skondarr for dividing. However, greed got the better of the conspirators and they killed each other in a protracted battle. Coronal's Doom was likely picked clean over the years, but it was said that many of the gemstones were hidden in caches on the mountainside within a short walk of the entrance.[1]
The rumors surrounding the cause of Horthal's death were about evenly split between treachery and a trap.[5]
Legend had it that the bones in the Wyvernbone Pit could form flying skeletons to attack invaders, but this did not happen without someone casting animate dead, whirlwind of bones, or some similar spell.[5]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Description based on artist's rendering.
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Ed Greenwood (January 2002). “Elminster's Guide to the Realms: The Skondarr”. In Jesse Decker ed. Dragon #291 (Wizards of the Coast), p. 80.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Ed Greenwood (January 2002). “Elminster's Guide to the Realms: The Skondarr”. In Jesse Decker ed. Dragon #291 (Wizards of the Coast), p. 83.
- ↑ Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Skip Williams (July 2003). Dungeon Master's Guide v.3.5. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 72. ISBN 0-7869-2889-1.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood (January 2002). “Elminster's Guide to the Realms: The Skondarr”. In Jesse Decker ed. Dragon #291 (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 80–81.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 Ed Greenwood (January 2002). “Elminster's Guide to the Realms: The Skondarr”. In Jesse Decker ed. Dragon #291 (Wizards of the Coast), p. 81.