Ambershields Folly
Northwest of the Tower Tranquil sit the Twin Peaks of Urlspur, out of which the Immerflow starts its long, winding journey into Cormyr before emptying into the northern reaches of the Wyvernwater.[1]
Less well known are the numerous abandoned mines that sit just below the high peaks of Urlspur, carved into the face of the mountains by man and dwarf alike, ere hobgoblins drove them off and sent their bodies tumbling down the high mountain passes into the valleys below, where flights of hippogriffs feasted on their corpses.
The hippogriffs yet remain, but in the decades since the last miner’s dreams of riches were extinguished no hobgoblins have been sighted by travelers on the Moonsea Ride, nor has word of hobgoblins made its way to nearby Hillmarch.
Much further inland, Cormyrean nobles sit in their tallhouses and mansions, plotting how best to expand their influence and capitalize on untapped resources, by increasing Cormyr's reach and influence while raking in coins for their efforts.
No less than the august personage of Lord Ambershields sensed opportunity in the faraway Twin Peaks and, under the guise of funding an exploratory party to determine the exact source and location of the Immerflow, outfitted and dispatched a caravan from Arabel to find and map the locations of the lost mines.
The caravan passed safely through the Hullack and broke off from the East Way when they sighted Urlspur’s distant peaks to the north. Three days later they set a base camp at the Falls of Tumbling Stars.
Teams of eight men were sent into the hills and valleys, and within a tenday word arrived at camp that several mine shafts had been found.
But this was not all. At each entry point were trail markers carved into the stone: warnings left by hobgoblins that danger and death lurked in the darkness beyond.
The explorers tread carefully, forming teams of twenty before entering the first of the mines. They found that the hobgoblins had expanded and reinforced some mine shafts, turning them into living spaces. Other sections had been dug out and opened up (from where dwarves had unleashed rockfalls to hamper and slay hobgoblin invaders) and the mining renewed.
Yet there were no signs of the hobgoblins. They truly seemed to have vanished.
A second and third mine were explored, with similar findings. At the same time rough gemstones were discovered in the first mine.
Not long after, rich veins of copper were found in the second.
The third mine yielded up a trove of dwarf-made shortswords and daggers, mining tools and armors, and one hundred ingots of pure copper.
Heady with success, a ride of ten men was dispatched from the campsite, a senior Ambershields factor leading them, to deliver samples of their findings to Arabel along with a request for more men and supplies with which to further fortify the mines and secure the claim before Auril’s cold grasp took hold.
In a month’s time the riders returned to the base camp with an additional forty men.
They found the campsite empty of habitation and the mines bereft of explorers, though recent signs of their work were visible for all to see. After setting camp and establishing a perimeter, the senior factor left with four men to Arabel to report his findings.
By the time word came to Lord Ambershields in Arabel of the loss of his first party, most of the second party had disappeared as well. Lord Ambershields did not learn their fate until a hiremage was employed to farscry the base camp and confirmed there was no sign of activity from either contingent of men.
Lord Ambershields felt the loss keenly, having invested ample coin and some of his best men in the expeditions. The winter months prevented him from pursuing the matter, but as soon as the trails thawed he dispatched a chartered adventuring company[2] along with the road-weary factor who’d returned the year before.
That same man returned one and a half months later claiming the base camp was still uninhabited. Worse, he reported that the adventurers made their way into the first of mines and never came back out.
Despite Lord Ambershields best efforts at secrecy, word spread that the mines of Urlspur are open and awaiting any bold enough to claim them and the riches they hold. Rumor has circulated within noble circles that the riches of the lost mines are so great that the otherwise reliable agents of Ambershields made off with fortunes grand enough to fund their retirement in nearby Sembia.
Some claim, however, that death itself stalks the lost mines and only fools would dare venture to what has become widely known (in Cormyr and parts of the Dales and Sembia) as Ambershields Folly.[3]
Lord Ambershields bristles at this name and sees the mines as a stain on his reputation. He is lobbying the Crown to send a contingent of Purple Dragons backed by War Wizards to secure the mines, after which he plans to further lobby for the rights to them.
His efforts have not gone unnoticed and have spurred interest by rival nobles and explorers to be the first to reach the lost mines and claim the riches within.
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[1] DMs wanting a map showing these locations can download one (for free) by following this link to the Backdrop: Cormyr article hosted on the WotC website.
[2] The Men of the Moon Door. A chartered adventuring company consisting of far traveled veteran fighters and rogues hailing from Silverymoon and the savage north. When not adventuring, the "Men of the Moon" specialized in the discrete, secure delivery of small parcels and packages up and down the Sword Coast, particularly in the winter months. Calamity befell them on one such delivery, resulting in the loss of their two wizards and cleric, and with it their easy (read: magical) means of winter travel. They relocated further inland to Cormyr where they found quick employment with Lord Ambershields.
[3] This last rumor is not far from the truth. Lord Ambershield’s man will not return a third time to the mines. He is plagued by nightmares: visions of his fellows being slain, one at a time, by a hooded figure, their deaths a preamble to the man revealing a flat medallion from within his robes that he raises to his lips and bestows a smiling kiss upon.
The nightmares end as the face of the medallion fills the man’s vision, revealing a skull surrounded by blazing red tears.
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