Elminster's Ecologies, Appendix 2.pdf

The High Moor

Table of Contents

Common Flora.................................. 14

Trees and Shrubs .......................... 14

Grasses and Mosses.. ................... .14

Berries and Miscellaneous .......... .15

Uncommon Flora ............................. 15

Lets Talk Fungus .............................. 16

The Common Animals ..................... 18

Mammals .......................................... 18

Birds .................................................. 19

Insects ............................................... 20

Miscellaneous ................................... 21

The Monsters ................................. 22

Tribal Creatures............................... 22

Goblins ........................................ 22

Hobgoblins................................... 23

Humans ........................................ 23

Orcs .............................................. 25

Other Goblinkin.......................... 25

Elves ............................................. 26

Other Monsters................................. 26

Leucrotta ...................................... 26

Trolls ............................................ 26

In the Fire Marshes ........................... 27

In the Undermoor ............................ 27

The Abominations ............................ 28

Baatezu .............................................. 28

Dragons ............................................. 28

Undead ............................................. 29

Adventurers: Too Stupid to Live...... 30

Miscellaneous ................................... 30

Rumors and Legends ........................ 31

Credits

Design: Tim Beach

Editing: Julia Martin

Cover Art: Fred Fields

Interior Art: Matthew Cavotta

Cartography: Dennis Kauth

Typography: Angelika Lokotz

Production: Dee Barnett

I Think Not .......................................... 1

The Environment ................................ 3

Geography .......................................... 3

The Moors ..................................... 3

The Fire Marshes ........................... 4

The Red Cliffs ................................ 4

The Misty Forest ............................ 5

The South Wood ........................... 6

Highstar Lake................................. 6

The Rivers ..................................... 6

The Serpent Hills .......................... 7

The Underdark .............................. 7

Weather .............................................. 8

Arcane Forces ..................................... 8

Ruins ................................................. 10

Dragonspear Castle ...................... 10

The Dungeon of the Hark ........... 11

Halls of the Hammer ................... 11

Hammer Hall ............................... 11

Ruins of Highstar Lake ................ 12

Orogoth ........................................ 12

Ruins Beneath Secomber ........... .12

Ruins of the Undermoor.. ........... .12

Nearby Ruins ............................... 12

Nearby Settlements .......................... 13

Secomber ..................................... 13

Daggerford .................................... 13

Soubar .......................................... 13

The Flora ............................................ 14

Special Thanks: Barb Emmerich

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I Think Not

want to state something very important right

now: I dont like people. Well, at least I dont

like very many of them. There have been a

few I have come to know and to respect in a

limited fashion. For instance, I met an inter-

esting rogue several months ago and spent some time with

him. And theres a barbarian warrior whom I enjoy talking

tobecause he reminds me of me.

And then theres Elminster. Hes a special case. I would

have to say that I like the old rascal a little and I respect him a

great deal. That, and nothing else, is the reason I agreed to

write this treatise on the ecology of the High Moor. Elminster

told me what he wanted, and I agreed to do it, but heres the

deal: What you learn, you use the right way. Okay?

And whats the right way, you ask? Well, youre not as dumb

as you look. No, I cant see you, but I know you must look

dumb, because to me all adventurers look pretty silly. And

according to the Grand Old Mage, youre probably poring

through this book because you want to go adventuring.

Thats one of the reasons I dont like people. (Lets be clear

here: I mean all peoplehumans, elves, dwarves, and so

forth.) See, there are living things all around this world of

ours. I live in a place that happens to have a lot of unusual life

forms that some people call monsters because they dont

understand them or dont see how they fit into the grand

scheme of things. Im not saying there arent true monsters

aroundcreatures that are evil and destructive. Its just that if

youre going to go around killing things, you ought to know

what impact its going to have on everything else.

And dont worry, I didnt forget. Ill tell you the right way

to use my information in a minute. You just read right

nowdont be jumping ahead to the important parts.

Heres a little note on what youre going to read. Its about

ecology. That might be an unusual word for you, so Im going

to explain what it means. Ecology is the relationship

between organisms and the environment. An organism is

usually defined as any living thingplants, animals, and

those creatures usually called monsters. The environment is,

to put it roughly, the place where those organisms live. The

environment includes such things as geography, weather,

and natural and arcane forces. All these elementseach

part of the environment and each organismform a tapes-

try known as the ecology. And like a tapestry of cloth, this

one can suffer severe damage if a single thread is removed,

no matter how ugly the thread.

For example, suppose you come by the High Moors and

kill a troll. Most people would say thats a good thing, and Id

be hard pressed to disagree. Trolls are vicious and destruc-

tive, and theyre just smart enough to be really annoying.

On the other hand, suppose you came in and killed all the

trolls. Then there would be no control on the population of

sheep, and their numbers would grow. Theyd eat all the

vegetation they could findand there isnt that much vege-

tation in the High Moor to start with. When they eat the

vegetation, it takes away food from the moor rabbits, and

they die in droves. Then, the lesser carnivores that live on

rabbitslike the swamp ferretsdie out because they

havent any food. Meanwhile, the wolf population increases

because there are more sheep. Then the sheep population

reaches its maximum; the wolves arent able to keep up, so

the sheepbeing too dumb to know any betterovergraze

and destroy their own food supply, and they die too. This

leaves a surplus of wolves to venture out and start raiding

livestock.

Dont miss my irony here: Sheep dont know any better

than to destroy their food supply because they are dumb ani-

mals. Im trying to educate you past this level so that you

arent so stupid as to destroy your own food supply.

Im going to do this by telling you about the environment

of the High Moor, the plants and animals that live there,

and how they all fit together. Thats what Elminster said to

do, and thats what Im doing. Get this straight, though: Im

doing this to show you the balance of nature, not to guide

you to which animals need killing, where there are hidden

treasures, or anything like that. Im telling you this so that

you can preserve the ecology, not wreck it.

Incidentally, part of Elminsters standard format includes

a little bit about me. Im Bara, Im female, and Im a druid.

Im human, but please dont hold that against meand Ill

try to do the same for you. Im young for this profession since

Ive not yet seen 25 wintersbut I have seen a lot of other

things.

Ill be watching for you, so dont traipse around like you

own the place and expect me to fall for the handsome war-

rior in your group. Im thinking thats unlikely to happen.

So you want to learn about the High Moor so that you

can come by and kill whatever you see there?

I think not.

The Environment

o reiterate, in case you werent paying atten-

tion before, an environment is what sur-

rounds us. This includes physical features of

the land, the weather and other forces in the

area, and anything external that affects the

organisms living within it. Unfortunately, in the case of the

High Moor it includes several settlements of people as well.

This part of my treatise covers the most important facets of the

environment of the High Moor. The area is simply too large to

cover in great detail in the space here.

The size of the High Moor is important: It is as big as

most nations of Faerûn, if not bigger. Fortunately, most of its

terrain is of a similar typea dreary moorso it isnt diffi-

cult to describe. However, the size of the area does mean

that the tapestry of life within it is large, too. What some-

one does in one small area probably wont have too much of

an impactbut if something major occurs (like wiping out

all the trolls in an area), the impact can be incredibly far-

ranging. Be careful.

building materials. These early peoples were mostly human

tribes. Dwarves contributed a little to the clearing but werent

interested in building except in stone, goblinkin werent

much interested in either building or farming, and elves have

never been ones to clear forests. In other words, the High

Moor is an environment created by humans. It is not a very

pleasant place, and it clearly demonstrates the negative

impact that humans can have on an environment.

Anyway, the High Moor region is now mostly moor, but

it also encompasses some other terrain features such as the

fire marshes. The Misty Forest borders the High Moor on the

northwest, and the Serpent Hills lie to the southeast. In the

northern portion of the High Moor, Highstar Lake sits in a

bowl upon the plateau.

The Moors

The High Moor is the largest moor region on the continent of

Faerûn and perhaps the largest such area in the world. The

majority of the High Moor sits on a large plateau composed

mainly of limestone. To the east, south, and west, the plateaus

edges slope rather gently to the level of the surrounding area

though in the southeast, the land slopes down only a short dis-

Geography

he High Moor is located not far from the Sword Coast

in the region of Faerûn called the Western Heartlands

by most humans. (Incidentally, dont confuse this region

with the High Moors, an area south of Anauroch and near

the Stoneland. Thats a much smaller region.) From the city

of Waterdumpexcuse me, Waterdeepto the High Moor

is a journey of almost 600 miles east-southeast. Dont mis-

take this for an invitation to visit.

The most obvious geographical feature of the High Moor

region is the moor itself. For those who havent traveled very

much, a moor is an expanse of open land broken up by peat

bogs and patches of low shrubs and other herbage. Or, to put

it another way, a moor is a desolate wasteland with some

scrub vegetation and some swampy places. At least thats the

way it appears on the surface. However, a moor, and espe-

cially the High Moor, is not as desolate as it may first appear.

The High Moor is full of life, if one knows whereand

howto look.

Take note of something here: The High Moor wasnt

always a desolate moor. Quite a lot of evidence suggests that

the High Moor (and indeed, any other moor) was once cov-

ered with rich woodlands. However, early peoples cleared the

forest to make fields for crops and to provide themselves with

Sinkholes

inkholes are almost perfectly round holes into

which the surrounding earth (and other materials)

has collapsed because the underlying rock beneath the

surface material has been eroded away. They may be par-

tially or completely filled with water.

Water erodes limestone, and an underground stream

erodes limestone from the inside. A sinkhole forms when

such a stream hollows out a great cave with no access to the

surface except, perhaps, through the stream that created it.

The cavern grows close to the surface, leaving only a thin

shell of rock between the surface above and the cavern

below. Over the years, this shell gets thinner and thinner. A

heavy weight or simple erosion eventually breaks through

this crust, causing it to collapse into the cavern beneath.

Sinkholes, incipient or fully formed, present a hazard to

safe travel. Even a fully formed sinkhole can be difficult to

see until one is right on top of it. It is also possible for a per-

son or large animal to be trapped in the collapse of earth

inherent in the formation of the sinkhole if the timing is

right, but this is a rare occurrence at best.

tance before rising again into the Serpent Hills. On the north,

the plateau is bordered by cliffs of pink granite. Granite also

protrudes through the limestone in various places, especially in

the northern part of the moor, so various crags dot the other-

wise flat highland here and there.

I have an acquaintance, Vincin, the Gray Druid of the

High Moor, who claims this arrangement is unnatural. Like

most other gray druids, he lives in caverns. In his case the cav-

erns spread out beneath the broad plateau of the High Moor.

(I never really understood wanting to live in a cave instead of

a forest, but I suppose fungus and lichen might occasionally

need druidic protection, too.) Having lived in a cave for most

of his life, he knows a little about rocks. According to him,

limestone results from sediments collecting in oceans, while

granite is produced by pressures within the earth. Vincin says

the granite might have been formed beneath an ocean. After

the granite formed, the limestone might have formed above it

on the ocean floor, and then geological pressures could have

caused both types of rock to rise. But according to Vincin, this

would be unusual, and besides, a lot of odd things have formed

from time to time beneath the High Moorlike rivers that

flow upward. Vincin suspects one of the ancient magical civi-

lizations in the area is responsible for the odd mixture of rock

types. I dont really know. If you have a question about ani-

mals, I can answer it, but if you want to know rocks, ask

Vincin.

So most of the plateau is limestone. Over the centuries,

water has cut through the limestone, forming a lot of ravines

and canyons. Springs bubble forth out of nowhere through

the limestone, and streams disappear and reappear in the

ravines. Occasional waterfalls flow into short streams that dis-

appear into deep holes. A lot of sinkholes dot the countryside,

too, offering many entrances to the Underdark.

On top of the great limestone shelf of the plateau lies a thin

layer of soil. This topsoil is too thin for decent farming, but just

thick enough to support the growth of various grasses and shrubs

in patches. At one time, there was better topsoil on the moor,

but the long-ago removal of the forests allowed the earth to

erode and exposed the ground to the regions cool, damp, windy

weather, which leaches nutrients from the soil. The moors are

therefore mostly barren and rocky. In places where some soil has

accumulated and enough water collects to support plant life, a

marsh is the usual result. Few of the marshlands of the High

Moor still support much life, however. Most marshes have

degenerated into cold bogs clogged with peat. (Peat is formed

from the remains of many generations of plants, mostly mosses.)

These soft, waterlogged strips of land are another hazard for trav-

elers in the region.

The Fire Marshes

A long time ago, the fire marshes were just normal, natural

marshlands. However, under certain conditions, plant matter

turns into peat after it dies. Peat is a muddy, gritty substance

that can burn. A while back, a person named Daeros Dragon-

spear decided he would wipe out all the trolls in the moors.

(Remember the example of wrecking an ecology that I men-

tioned before?) One of the things he and his friends did was to

use some sort of magic to create occasional flames in several of

the peat bogs. Their logic, of course, was that the fire would kill

the trolls or at least drive them out into the open where they

would be easier to hunt. Well, this strategy worked, and Daeros

and his friends killed a lot of trolls.

Unfortunately, the spells or items these people used had

permanent effects. Ever since Daeros meddled with the peat

in the fire marshes, flame has tended to shoot up whenever a

living creature walks by certain areas in these peat bogs.

Theres usually a brief intake of air, then some of the peat

catches on fire and a small jet of flame comes out. This flame

lasts for only a second, after which the peat burns calmly for as

long as a minute before dying out. (Ive marked the locations

of the fire marshes on the map at right.)

In the Fire Marshes

he fire marshes can be quite dangerous. In game

terms, for each turn spent in a fire marsh, an individ-

ual has a 1-in-6 chance of tripping a flame jet. Check for

each member of a party once per turn. If the die roll indi-

cates a flame jet, the character is allowed a saving throw

vs. paralyzation to avoid the jet because of the telltale

sound that precedes it. If the saving throw is successful, the

character takes no damage; if the saving throw fails, the

character suffers 1d6 points of damage and some of that

individuals flammable possessions might catch on fire at

the DMs discretion. (Consult the item saving throws table

in the D UNGEON M ASTER ® Guide.

A dispel magic can affect an area of fire swamp, render-

ing that area incapable of producing flame jets for 1d4

rounds. The area affected is equal to the area of effect for

the dispel magic (a 30-foot cube). For the purposes of

resisting the dispel magic, the fire swamps are considered

12th-level magic.

The Red Cliffs

As I mentioned, the northern side of the High Moor plateau

is composed mainly of granite cliffs. Though they are called

red, their color is really more pinkbut I suppose Pink

Cliffs just doesnt have the same ring to it as Red Cliffs

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