Smouldercrown Mountains

Smouldercrown Mountains
Location information
PlaneMaterial Plane
WorldExandria
ContinentMarquet
Ecological information
TerrainMountain, forest
FloraVafall tree

The Smouldercrown Mountains are a distinctive formation, only a few miles across but towering, located approximately 290 miles southeast of Ank'Harel[1] on the continent of Marquet. The Smouldercrown Mountains are so named because their striking, jagged spire peaks form a round shape resembling a crown, only three or four miles across, between which is a small valley protected against the sandstorms of the desert.[2] The mountains are situated in the Smoldercrown Forest.[3]

Description[edit | edit source]

The soil in the valley is dried, cracked, and red.[2] The formation appears to be natural and seismically formed, but not from tectonic plates meeting.[4] The landscape is reminiscent of the vicinity of Pyrah with its general heat and barren aspect.[5]

Inside, the mountain range is streaked with numerous tunnels. There are three different entrances, the safest one, in the central portion of the mountain range, was intentionally caved in by the Remnants after they caught the scouting mission of Lionel Gayheart.[6] There is one entrance near the top of the spire, and another[7] is hidden behind an illusion, making it seem like a sheer mountain side,[8] and a little bit further in a featureless face carved into a wall of the entryway to the cavern works as a trap. When activated, two eye sockets, a mouth, and a nose flash with green light. Affected creatures must succeed on a Constitution saving throw greater than a 10 or suffer the full brunt of necrotic damage.[9]

The chamber housing the ziggurat is a 50-foot-tall, 70-foot-wide natural cavern and rounds out over the top. Two pillars near the single entrance to this cavern both holding identical, defaced statues of a woman with removed heads. In 812 PD, the ziggurat was buried almost completely, except for its top.[10]

Notable locations[edit | edit source]

Wildlife[edit | edit source]

Within the valley, the Smoldercrown Forest has some sparse scrub brush and sporadic trees,[14] adapted to survive extreme droughts. The trees are dry, with brown, withered leaves, yet they are fruit-bearing.[15] One of them is a vafall fruit that Grog found to be unpleasant.[16]

Some sort of "desert duck" was summoned by Lionel at one point to help them answer some of their questions, though it was uncertain whether such a species is normally prevalent in the Rumedam Desert.[17]

References[edit | edit source]

Art: