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Orlbar was a village on the junction of the Loagrann and Greyflow rivers in the Delimbiyr Vale in the mid-to-late 14th century DR.[1][2][3][4][5]

Description[]

It lay on the north bank of the confluence of the Greyflow and Loagrann.[1][2][3][4][5]

History[]

In the Year of the Bright Blade, 1347 DR, on a mountaintop deep in the Greypeaks, a cult of Talos summoned the Tempest, a storm elemental, and unleashed it on Orlbar and Llorkh. The Tempest tore apart cottages with its terrific winds and assaulted the land with a barrage of rain. It seemed driven to lay the whole Grayvale to waste before the Green Regent Kalahar Twohands destroyed it.[6][7]

Orlbar was once known as a simple, sleepy village.[1][2][3][4] But then, in the summer of the Year of the Gauntlet, 1369 DR, a Zhentarim caravan rolled into town and set up a new government, and put an end to the people's freedom. A former lieutenant of Geildarr Ithym of Llorkh, Felishar Ivarzin, became leader of the village.[2]

The construction of a temple to Xvim—said to have been done with the help of devils—dashed the last hope of the people of Orlbar for freedom. They soon revolted against the Zhents' tyrannical rule, and the leadership of Loudwater backed them. Unfortunately, Jesym Rein of Loudwater turned traitor to both the Orlbar rebels and the Loudwater soldiers by revealing their battle plans and their concealed caches of weapons and potions to the Zhentarim. Thanks to her, the Zhentarim and clerics of Iyachtu Xvim brutally crushed the rebellion and Loudwater was forced to sign the Oath of Orlbar, a peace treaty that marked a border between the two states in the years after and ensuring the Zhentarim's control of the village.[3][8][9]

During the Gray Migrations of the High Forest orcs in the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, by Eleasias a story was going around the Grayvale that Thelbrimm's Nine had found five families in a homestead east of Orlbar massacred by orcs and their homes destroyed, and that the orcs had taken nothing and done it for kicks.[10] Another version said it was Thelbrimm's Four, that it was only two families killed but also all their animals, including the cats.[11]

In time, Orlbar became a simple shepherding village once again. But after 1485 DR, the village was abandoned, with its last inhabitants driven away by the stone giants of Deadstone Cleft, as part of Thane Kayalithica's campaign against human civilization. Utterly erasing the village, the giants leveled every building, buried the lumber and iron debris, and made piles of the stones. After they moved on, a stone giant hermit named Zorkh stacked these stones in interesting arrangements up to 20 feet (6.1 meters), forming a small stone forest. The survivors fled to Loudwater.[5] A Zhentarim-occupied fortified tower watching over the Delimbiyr River west of Orlbar was abandoned in the face of another stone giant attack, and the stone giants began to dismantle it unless interrupted by adventurers.[12]

Government[]

Since the Zhentarim takeover, the wizard Felishar Ivarzin reigned in Orlbar.[2][3][4] He remained a crony of Mayor Ithym of Llorkh.[3]

Trade[]

Trade in Orlbar was tightly controlled by the Zhentarim, and those who engaged in unauthorized trade, or even just tried to, would be imprisoned or even disappeared. Those who informed on those who did, meanwhile, were well rewarded.[3][4]

Circa 1370 DR, the Zhentarim of Orlbar and Llorkh worked to re-establish a portage around Shining Falls, in order to open a route to Sundabar and exploit the northern lands no longer in the shadow of Hellgate Keep. However, the treants of the Heartblood River fork stood in their way.[13]

Inhabitants[]

Around 1365 DR to 1370 DR, it was a sleepy village supporting about 450 people, mostly shepherds.[1][2] By 1372 DR, the population had swelled to almost 800.[3][4]

Living under Zhentarim tyranny and their informants, the people of Orlbar soon became an insular and paranoid people. They were utterly unwilling to talk with their own neighbors, let alone visitors, whom they'd need permission from Ivarzin to speak to.[3][4]

Description[]

Orlbar and Fortress of the Eternal Despot

The Fortress of the Eternal Despot looming over the oppressed village of Orlbar.

Orlbar was once an unremarkable and, indeed, boring little village. Volo, in his guidebook, wrote it had "absolutely nothing to recommend it to the traveler".[1][2] Bara, a High Moor druid, called it "inconsequential and inoffensive".[14] Of course, all this changed after the Zhentarim takeover.[2][3][4]

Here, a traveler could get basic food and shelter while on their way to somewhere more interesting. It had a small shrine—more like a warehouse, bare and drafty—that was shared by several faiths and where those who needed a place to sleep could do so on the floor.[1][2][3][4]

Notable Locations[]

  • Fortress of the Eternal Despot: Built by the Zhentarim occupiers, this was a temple to Iyachtu Xvim[2] that was reconsecrated to Bane when he was resurrected in 1372 DR.[3][4][9] It was built on a bluff that had a commanding view of the entire village.[4][9] Though services were held every tenday, it was largely empty except when a Zhentarim caravan came through.[2]
  • The Unblinking Eye: The only tavern in Orlbar, it didn't take any boarders and sold watery ale.[3][4]

Rumors & Legends[]

According to rumor, the overgrown ruins of Netherese castles and stately homes could be found on the forested mountain slopes to the north. These sometimes drew adventurers.[1]

Appendix[]

Notes[]

Appearances[]

Adventurers
Storm King's Thunder
Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
Gray HuntHumilityTyrannyAs Seconds Slip Away

Referenced only

ExterminationKey to Phantoms' CloisterEpidemicThe Howling of a Mighty StormThe Truth of HeartsDungeon of the HarkUndermountainThe Ruins of Karse

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Ed Greenwood (1993). Volo's Guide to the North. (TSR, Inc), pp. 189, 214–215. ISBN 1-5607-6678-6.
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 slade, et al. (April 1996). “Cities & Civilization”. In James Butler ed. The North: Guide to the Savage Frontier (TSR, Inc.), p. 62. ISBN 0-7869-0391-0.
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 Ed Greeley (2003). Legacy of the Green Regent: Gray Hunt. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 5–6.
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 Christopher Lindsay (2004). Legacy of the Green Regent: Humility. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 11–12.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Christopher Perkins, et al. (September 2016). Storm King's Thunder. Edited by Kim Mohan, Michele Carter. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 97, 103–104, 145. ISBN 978-0-7869-6600-4.
  6. Eric Menge & Stephen Radney-MacFarland (2003-07-17). What is the Green Regent. Legacy of the Green Regent. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2016-11-01. Retrieved on 2021-09-03.
  7. Greg Marks (2005). Legacy of the Green Regent: The Howling of a Mighty Storm. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 3.
  8. Christopher Lindsay (2004). Legacy of the Green Regent: Humility. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 11, 19.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Christopher Lindsay (2004). Legacy of the Green Regent: Tyranny. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 5, 10.
  10. Stephen Radney-MacFarland (2003). Legacy of the Green Regent: Extermination. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 5.
  11. Ed Greeley (2003). Legacy of the Green Regent: Gray Hunt. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 4.
  12. Christopher Perkins, et al. (September 2016). Storm King's Thunder. Edited by Kim Mohan, Michele Carter. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 80. ISBN 978-0-7869-6600-4.
  13. slade, et al. (April 1996). “The Wilderness”. In James Butler ed. The North: Guide to the Savage Frontier (TSR, Inc.), p. 56. ISBN 0-7869-0391-0.
  14. Tim Beach (October 1995). “The High Moor”. In Julia Martin ed. Elminster's Ecologies Appendix II (TSR, Inc), p. 13. ISBN 0786901713.
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