Esmerin

The Lortmils have always been famous for their gems and precious metals, and stories abound of hidden settlements in which the dwarves, gnomes, or halflings are as rich as kings. Some of these have a firm basis, though in fact the wealth of the inhabitants is greatly exaggerated gems and gold are worth a good deal less near their source of supply, and the expense of safe export is high, even since the Hateful Wars of CY 520. Nevertheless, one of the more extravagant tales may have been true after all.

In Growfest of 556 the simple riverfolk of a river that flows into the Jewel south of Courwood discovered a bronzewood casket of exquisite workmanship lying on a sandbar. When they opened it they found the body of a young halfling of tallfellow race, with unusually handsome and noble features, preserved in a sweet-smelling resinous liquid. He was clad in silks and gold brocade worked with emeralds, and wore armlets, rings, and necklaces of gold and emerald, together with much other treasure. Perhaps because of elvish influence the rivermen of that region are not as other men. They took each a single ornament, as it is their custom that pallbearers are entitled to an item from the gravegoods, and buried the casket in a secret place, each swearing never to reveal its location. Nevertheless the story spread up and down the river like wildfire, and soon listeners as far away as Gradsul and Highport were speculating as to the casket’s origin.

These events reawakened a tale long dormant set down by Pontus Hardiggin, a halfling traveler who ranged widely about the world between the years 350 and 390 before retiring to write his memoirs. Among other stories, some obviously fabricated, Hardiggin described a visit to an idyllic land in which halflings and giants lived in peaceful cooperation, blessed with fertile soil, health, and a great deposit of gold, emeralds, and useful metals, and most of all with concealment from the outside world. Hardiggin placed this land in the Yatils, but this may have been intended as a joke, or simply to protect the inhabitants of that happy land. There are a number of surprising coincidences between his account and the story of the casket: the nature of the halflings (tallfellows, unusually handsome), the nature of the land’s treasures (silk, gold, emeralds, resins), and even funeral customs (placement in a cave in a bronzewood casket). It seems unlikely that simple riverfolk could perpetrate so elaborate a hoax as to duplicate an old tale no longer widely known, or so expensive a hoax- two of the emerald ornaments have since surfaced in jewelers’ shops on the Wild Coast, and they are flawless and of distinctive design.

Nevertheless it is difficult to see how the land and people Hardiggin described could go so long undetected. His descriptions make the entire valley at least ten miles across, and in any case a large settlement including giants is hardly inconspicuous. There may be, however, a number of contributing factors. The slopes of the nearby mountains as Hardiggin describes them are foggy and thickly clad in dense forest, and the only passes require one to scale sheer cliffs or seek out secret passages hollowed into the rock. In either case the high altitude is debilitating, and the entire way is guarded. The only other means of entry to the land of Esmerin is by means of a river which flows through underground caverns after disappearing near a whirlpool in Esmerin’s eastern quarter. This is certainly a route even more difficult. As for views from the air, only the giant eagles and the aarakocra are likely to gain such, and these were described by Hardiggin as allies. Last but not least the land of Esmerin is described as protected by the magi- cal power of a huge emerald “as big as a giant’s head,” which stands in a pavilion at the center of the chief settlement. Hardiggin described this emerald as having the power to alter the appearance of a land as seen from the distance. He also attributes powers to control the weather and various other matters to this agency.

According to Hardiggin, those who somehow stray into Esmerin are compelled by the inhabitants to remain (or if they are evil, they are simply killed). This is done in cases of apparent recalcitrance by means of a geas placed on the intruder never to leave. The charming Hardiggin narrowly escaped the imposition, or at least delayed it long enough, to escape by a perilous route down the caverns running alongside the underground river that leaves Esmerin, past the burial chambers, and through several siphons (one wonders why so foolhardy an individual lived to write his memoirs). It is possible that somehow, with the exception of Hardiggin, all outsiders have been deterred or detained.

Whatever protections Esmerin may have, it most surely has need of them. Hundreds of fortune seekers have traversed the Lortmils in search of it over the past two decades, and many are of a dire and evil nature. Certain well-equipped expeditions from the Pomarj have made incursions into the Lortmils via the Suss forests, for instance. So far none have returned with any report, but this may well be only a matter of time given the hard evidence of the emerald ornaments. One hopes, too, that the casket will not be discovered and its contents (and possibly the spirit of the corpse) examined.

Notes to the Dungeon Master

The inhabitants of Esmerin are 1,600 tallfellow halflings and 400 stone giants. All are well-fed, well-educated, healthy, peaceful, and handsome, and there are maximum numbers of exceptional individuals among them. They have two colonies of giant eagles as allies. In the center of the major settlement is an artifact as per the DMG. In addi- tion to any other properties, it is intelligent, can use the senses of its bearer, and can cast spells as an 18th-level cleric/l4th-level druid. It can also create hallucinatory terrain sufficient to conceal Esmerin from the air. Within a five-mile radius of the emerald, crop yields are doubled and minerals in the natural state regenerate themselves in 2d10 years. It is quite naturally very well guarded, and will if necessary defend itself.

The stone giant-halfling civilization has existed since before the Bakluni-Suel wars, and has been isolationist since its inception. The two races have somewhat influenced one another, to the point where many of the halflings have decidedly neutral tendencies and the stone giants lawful and good tendencies. They do not like to take lives, but will fight hard to maintain their peaceful isolation. In a freak accident the burial casket was dropped into the river that leaves Esmerin, and ever since they have been on guard (remember, halflings and stone giants live longer lives than humans, so the memory has not yet faded).

Player characters may, if they are of good alignment, feel compelled to help repel evil invaders, who will be closing in on the settlement at about the time the PCs first arrive. In any case it will be difficult to persuade the inhabitants of Esmerin to allow the adventurers to leave.