Greycloak Hills

The Greycloak Hills (also seen as Graycloak Hills) was a small group of hills and mountains located north of Evereska, at the very edge of the Western Heartlands and the Anauroch Desert. Some accounts considered the low mountains and hills surrounding Evereska to be part of the Greycloaks even though they were separated by a wide valley. Before they were settled by moon elves from Evereska, they were known as the Tomb Hills.

Geography

The Greycloak Hills were located on the western edge of Anauroch, bordered by the Lonely Moor roughly to the north and the Marsh of Chelimber roughly to the west. The southern border was somewhat a matter of interpretation. If Evereska was not considered part of the Greycloaks, then it was the southern border. If Evereska was included (as described by Aedyn Graymantle in her treatise Far from the Misty Hills) then the rolling hills of eastern Najara were the end of the Greycloaks. A woods known as the Forgotten Forest stood roughly between the Greycloaks and the Marsh of Chelimber, but its extent either migrated over time or various cartographers disagreed on its exact location.

Geographical Features

The ridges formed by the tall hills were covered with weeds, grass, and scrub, with an occasional copse of small trees. The Greycloaks were riddled with old tombs from the Fallen Kingdom and included both human and elven graves. After the moon elves of Evereska settled this area, they caused the hills to be shrouded in constant mists of a magical nature. These ever-present mists and the everyday gray clothes and cloaks that the residents wore gave the locale its new name.

Government

The Greycloak Hills were officially annexed by the moon elves in the Year of the Snow Winds, 1335 DR when they presented the Evereska Charter to the outside world. A local leader named Erlan Duirsar became the first Watcher Over the Hills and was still in charge as of the Year of the Shield, 1367 DR. By the Year of the Ageless One, 1479 DR, he had become High Lord of the Hill Elders of Evereska and the Greycloaks were under the protection of a division of the military called the Tomb Guard.

Politics

As of the Year of Lightning Storms, 1374 DR, there were cells of the Eldreth Veluuthra operating in the Greycloaks and Evereska with the cooperation, or at least tolerance, of the local governments. At this time, the City of Shade, Thultanthar, in Anauroch was threatening its neighbors and even unsavory allies were not turned away.

Trade

In the early days of the settlement—called Greyhome by the residents—they made musical instruments that they traded with select merchants in the town of Hill's Edge far to the south where the Dusk Road crossed the River Reaching. Some examples of their crafting were pipes, harps, lutes, and various types of horns. Once the Halfway Inn was built, it became the center of trade with the outside world for Greyhome and Evereska. Luxuriously beautiful works of art, some magically enhanced to add moving creatures, or even an elf lord or lady to the scene, were available for purchase here. Around 1367 DR, the troops guarding the Greypeaks were in the market for the best horses they could acquire for their fighting force.

Defenses

The wardmists that enshrouded the Greypeaks reduced visibility to that of complete darkness unless a visitor possessed a ward token that granted them immunity to the effects. The caster(s) of the wardmists received a warning when an intruder without a token crossed into the warded area. According to some reports, the mists also revealed the alignment and any magical enchantments present on beings that passed through. The mists typically formed a ring around the hills that was a hundred yards (over ninety meters) thick and could be extended if necessary to ensure unwelcome visitors got lost.

Regular patrols were kept running since the settlement's founding. They typically consisted of fourteen or sixteen archers in chainmail running along the ground while mages with rings of flying and various wands flew overhead. By the Year of the Tankard, 1370 DR, the infantry had become mostly mounted cavalry wielding lances and bows. These warriors wore an unofficial badge of heraldry described as a dark purple lightning bolt edged in silver, flashing down from upper right to lower left. The bolt was superimposed by a left-hand metal gauntlet, upraised, with blue-white stars at the tips of the fingers. It was unknown if these badges were ward tokens, but they were worn with pride by some who served even after they moved on to other pursuits.

Erlan Duirsar created a golem that appeared to be made of solid mist and he named it the Walker in the Mists. It was as powerful as an iron golem but could not rust, and it blended into the fog that shrouded the hills.

Travelers passing close to the Hills occasionally reported seeing human skeletons rotting in rusty iron cages and presumed they were left as a warning to would-be tomb robbers.

History

The elves established Evereska around −8600 DR but the surrounding hills were left relatively untouched until humans began using or inhabiting them, perhaps going back to the days of ancient Netheril or beyond. Tribes of humans in the area finally discovered the existence of Evereska in the Year of the Elfsands, 244 DR, but cooperatively kept it secret for many hundreds of years.

Both humans and elves used the hills as a burial place for their honored dead, but eventually the Tomb Hills (as they were called) became infested with banshees. Eliminating the restless undead was ostensibly one reason for the unilateral declaration of the Evereska Charter in which the moon elves claimed the hills for settlement in 1335 DR. The Charter also stated that tomb raiders violating the cultural heritage of any race would face harsh punishment.

The village of Halfway Inn was established sometime before 1367 DR as a resting place for caravans and an outpost for trading with the elves of Greyhome and Evereska, and contained an inn of the same name.

Rumors & Legends

Ever since the Evereska Charter was declared, there have been rumors and speculation about why the elves claimed the area and why they chose to live underground. Some speculated that they were preparing a retreat in the event that Evereska was attacked. Other rumors suggested that the elves found something that they didn't want to fall into the hands of people like the Zhentarim. Maskar Wands, of the noble Wands family of Waterdeep, openly declared that he thought the elves had discovered an ancient Netherese city or fortress or some other source of powerful magic buried in the Hills and wanted to keep it for themselves.

One rumor spoke of there being a pit somewhere within the Hills that contained a gate to the Demiplane of Dread.

The druid Tharnn Greenwinter and a traveling companion were once attacked by a roc near the Hill of Lost Souls. He speculated that it had come from either the Greycloak Hills or the Sunset Mountains.

Notable Locations

• Evereska: the "fortress home" of the elves since The Founding Time.
• Greyhome: the settlement deep in the hills, accessible through secret passages in some of the well-guarded tombs.
• Greyshield: a guest home for visiting Harpers or anyone the elves wanted to shelter and/or aid back to health.
• Halfway Inn: a trading post compound and caravan stop with an inn of the same name.

Inhabitants

The elves and half-elves of Greyhome were mostly of moon elf stock, but there were sun elves and a few wild elves living and training there. Halfway Inn was settled by dwarves, halflings, humans, and half-elves.