From the Grove to Galaths Roost



After their recovery of the Tomb of Corellon and its return to the Grove, all of the players are blessed by Corellon. That night they have dreams that will plot out their lives for the next few months.

Duathamper AKA Elvenflow
was one of two major rivers running through Cormanthor. (The other was the River Ashaba.) It ran along the southeastern border of the forest. The river was generally deep (more than 30' (9 m) in most places) and wide, although it did become narrow and shallow enough in places to wade across.[1]
Crossing - Despite the river being deep and wide in most places, it was possible to find spots where one could wade across. It was spanned by three black granite bridges, constructed by the elves.[1]
Fishing - The river had a large population of bass, catfish and trout. The larger trout could be baited by button fungus, which was often found growing underneath birch limbs.[1]
Streams - Dozens of narrow shallow streams diverged from the river as it ran its course, although these were rarely found on maps, and they often ended in small ponds.[1]
Flooding - Every spring, the heavy rains had a chance of causing the river to flood its banks. Although the flooding was not severe, it would cause hundreds of fish and frogs to become stranded in the muddy river banks.

Tangled Trees - AKA -Tangled Vale


The Tangled Trees was one of the four old elven communities of Cormanthyr (the others were the Elven Court, Myth Drannor, and Semberholme) in the great forest of Cormanthor. Hundreds of elves still occupied the area in the 14th century DR, but they were extremely hostile to outsiders and were likely to attack on sight. The elves of the Tangled Trees typically worshiped Rillifane Rallathil.[citation needed]

The village itself as large by the standards set after the Retreat in 1344 DR, though many of its residents were on patrols or otherwise wandering among the Tangled Vale along its networks of twisted paths and webbed throughways from connected tree forts to other platforms high in the branches. Its population was largely comprised of youngsters, adventurers, and others who did not join the Retreat.[1] The village was once called Faelorin, though it was destroyed by the dragon Venom after its mate was slain. The rebuilt village became known as Tangled Trees.[2]
Geography
Tangled Trees and its surrounding vale encompassed the Vale of Lost Voices to the north, and stretched east to Elven Court and southwest to the River Verire, though much of that territory was taken over by wyverns and the humans of the Dales. The territory was defined primarily by the twisted, tangled nature of the trees, a relic of the days of the dragon Venom, and was inhabited primarily by the green elves of Cormanthyr. Tangled Trees lay on a higher elevation than the rest of the forest, and was home to many valleys and hills from the river's run off. The River Duathamper was the primary water source for the realm's inhabitants.[3]
Flora
Tangled Trees was comprised primarily of oaks, firs, and elms, though they were the twisted variety that rendered travel nearly impossible in some places. The central and southern areas were more thickly populated by the trees, while the area near Rauthauvyr's Road was thinner and home to more humans.[3] Some oak trees in the area had canaries carved into them. The canary was believed by the local elves to be the favorite creature of Rillifane Rallathil (the work of Makk Fireseed), and these oaks had been turned into shrines. Their upper branches were often adorned with the skulls of anyone who was caught interfering with them and subsequently killed.[4][5]
Fauna
Tangled Trees remained home to a healthy population of deer, rabbits, and squirrels, though much of the former population was destroyed by the reign of Venom the dragon. The place used to be home to a large group of centaurs, though they fled east after the dragon came and never returned to the tangled woods.
History
The area known as Tangled Trees lay in the Tangled Vale, the woods south of Elven Court. The area was once called the Emerald Vale, and during the rise of Cormanthyr, it was home to a sparse few wild elves. The area came to the forefront of the elves' attention in the year −982 DR, when the woods and the hills of the area became inhabited by the great green dragon Venominhandar, or "Venom" for short, and his draconic followers. Venom was no ordinary dragon; the elves quickly recognized his startling intelligence, magic resistance (even to Elven High Magic), and his sway over the draconic forces he commanded, including young green and black dragons and many wyverns. What was worse, the dragon never seemed to sleep like others of his age and was never caught off guard.[7]
Over the course of five hundred years, Venom repulsed attack after attack from the elves, and gained more and more territory with each retreat the elves were forced to follow. The dragon used his innate powers of warp wood to shift the trees in his domain, twisting them together and forming a tangled, resistant terrain that the elves had difficulty penetrating, and thus arose the name of "Tangled Vale". By −400 DR, his territory stretched to the River Verire to the south and west, and Old Elven Court to the north and east. Venom became a major threat to the elves and to Cormanthyr.[7]
By −291 DR, the Cormanthyran army was spread out across the woods' northern borders, dealing with the Netherese exodus and survivor state conflicts from that nation, and thus could do little to fight Venom at the time. Green elves, growing frustrated with the army's lack of efforts in their homeland, were retiring from the Akh'Velahr and joining a resistance movement under the command of General Halflar Audark. For fifty years, Halflar led a crusade against the dragon, killing many of his minions in the time. In −249 DR, the General, along with 300 of his men, finally stormed the lair of the wyrm and slew it decisively, driving off many of its minions in the process. Swelling with victory, they marched back to Myth Drannor with the dragon's head, when disaster struck.[8]

It turned out that the reason Venom was so alert was because he was in fact two dragons, a mated pair, thus also accounting for the amount of green wyrmlings in their command. Halflar had slain the female, and the male caught up with the general and slew his entire brigade. The place of death was henceforth known as the Vale of Lost Voices, and became a place to lay elven warriors to rest. Despite the dragon's revenge, the damage had been done. He grew older and his territory shrunk, before his end finally came in −206 DR. A moon elf warrior by the name of Jassin Aunglor, armed with a moonblade, entered his lair and attacked. After a great battle, the roof collapsed, and the dragon, Jassin, and the blade were never seen again.[8]

After the fall of Venom, the elves slowly moved back into the woods, trying to undo the tangled effect on the trees to little avail. Eventually, with the raising of the Standing Stone in 1 DR, the elves gave much of the territory to the Dalesmen and carved a road through the forest to facilitate trade. It took two centuries after the Dales Compact, but eventually, the Tangled Vale became a habitable environment once again.[8]

On Tarsakh 5, 1373 DR, the red dragon Narlgathra appeared from the ruins of Myth Drannor and attacked Tangled Trees, killing almost all of its inhabitants.[9][10]

Other SettlementsEdit

Tangled Trees was the only major settlement left in the area, and thus its name became used for the village as well as the entire vale or community. However, the area was once known to house other settlements, such as:[11]


Vale of Lost Voices
The Vale of Lost Voices is a sacred burial place for honored elf warriors. Created on the spot where Venom ambushed and killed those who had killed his mate, the Vale of Lost Voices is now guarded by baelnorns from the sylvan elf clan Audark. Over time this place has been used by other elves to bury their honored dead. Rauthauvyr's Road passes though the middle of the vale and while travelers are not disturbed if they stick to the road, any attempt to interfere with the tombs and mausoleums usually ends poorly for the adventurer. Cormanthor drow give this place a wide berth.[1]


The Standing Stone
The Standing Stone was a large, imposing stone obelisk that served as a symbol of unity between the elves of Cormanthyr and the humans of the Dalelands. More specifically, the monument celebrated their alliance that grew out of the agreement known as the Dales Compact. It also marked the beginning of the use of Dale reckoning calendar, which gained widespread use throughout Faerûn.[4] It was located just south of Myth Drannor within the forest of Cormanthor, at the junction between Rauthauvyr's Road and the Moonsea Ride,[5][6] about halfway between Blackfeather Bridge and Hillsfar.[1]

This dark, glossy-gray monolith stood 20' (6 m) tall[1] and was covered in Elven runes that specified the terms of the treaty known as the Dales Compact.[7] It was magically enchanted in such a way that any attempts to deface, or vandalize its surface rapidly repaired.[1]

History

Located deep within the forest of Cormanthor, the Standing Stone was originally, after its construction, not accessible by humans. However, when Raythauvyr of Sembia demanded a road be built through the region, under threat of war, it was routed to pass within viewing distance of the monument. This gesture was meant to exemplify the lack of need for violence required from the allies of elves to achieve what they so desired.[7]

In the 900s DR, the region around the Standing Stone succumbed to more frequent and vicious attacks by the bandit-lord Galath, led from a nearby overlook. He and his forces were thwarted by a group of mages assembled from merchants of the nearby, rapidly growing nation of Sembia.[8]

In the 1360s DR, a glowing, floating scroll appeared at the Standing Stone. It read: "List of humble folk in Archendale" but was otherwise blank. This passive-aggressive note was put up in response to a 25-gp "bounty" set up by the captains of the Archenriders for information or other means to embarrass or humiliate Elminster of Shadowdale.[9]

On Flamerule 21 1374 DR, the fey'ri of House Dlardrageth destroyed the Standing Stone after a decisive battle against the army of Hillsfar.[2]

It was rebuilt just over 50 years later by the people of Ashabenford, the then-permanent home of the Dales Council, after reaffirming the Dales Compact with the restored city of Myth Drannor.[3]

Spiderhaunt Wood
Spiderhaunt Wood was a forest on the southwestern edge of Shadowdale in the Dalelands. The North Ride ran just south of the woods, and the Tethyamar Trail ran the whole eastern border of the wood.[1] A single trail, the Arachnid Pathway, led from the Tethyamar Trail into the heart of the wood.[3]

Spellcasters of all types came to the Spiderhaunt Woods to gather spider-related spell components.[1]