Mouth o' Gargoyles
Mouth o' Gargoyles was a village in the King's Forest in Cormyr, situated on the Starwater Road (where it crossed Starwater River) between Dhedluk to the northwest and Immersea to the east.
Government
Signs were posted throughout Mouth o' Gargoyles for everyone to see, clearly stating that using magic was against Crown law because of the dangers. Violators were typically imprisoned for a tenday and had their carried goods confiscated. Guilty adventurers had their charters revoked, or suspended for at least a month. Those who could prove their use of magic was purely accidental (which was difficult) received lighter sentences.
War Wizards and officers of the Crown were not bound by this law, but they had their own strict policies about breaking it.
Industry & Trade
Professional trades engaged in by the villagers included woodcarving, furniture-making, and the production of oils (oilmakers were known as "lighters"). The lighters pumped natural oil from deep fissures near the site of the destroyed cave. The danger of this was that once in a while a fireball or a jet of flame would burst from the earth and hurl the lighter into the air. There was also a bad smell around the rocks that made many people sick. One type of oil produced and sold by the lighters was amberglow. This was used as a lubricant and to prevent blades from rusting.
History
The village's name originated with a long-dead wizard who lived in a cave on the site. He used gargoyles to launch raids at night against river cargoes and against travelers who camped in the area. Eventually, other wizards were hired to get rid of the winged terrors and their master. The magical battle that followed destroyed the cave, which was previously known as the Mouth of the Gargoyles, and only its name lived on.
That titanic battle also caused an area of wild magic to manifest where the village later sat. This eldritch curse made the entire place extremely unpredictable for the use of magic, whether through spells or the activation of magic items (but not the mere presence of them). The use of such powers usually resulted in all kinds of strange, random, often harmful effects. This led to a permanent ban on the use of magic within the village by order of the Crown.
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