Hill's Edge

Key to Hill's Edge:

T) Wall towers. These small, 50' towers are usually unoccupied, though each could house a garrison of twenty men. Currently they are patrolled by the Wall guard, 30 men-at-arms who patrol the wall in groups of ten at odd intervals, day and night. These men carry light crossbows, broadswords, and wear studded leather armour. All wear a tabard with the Mayor's personal coat of arms, a black bat, wings outstretched, on a red field.
At any one time one squad of ten is on patrol, one squad is sleeping in one of the towers, and one squad is off duty. The towers by each of the gates are exceptions, each gate has a permanent garrison of 5 men, armed as above, who take turns watching the gate during the day. They sleep in one of the gatetowers at night, when the town gates are closed. It is known that the gate towers each have a medium ballista mounted on their roofs, with a 360' arc of fire. Hill's Edge charges a minimal gate tax of 1 sp per wagon, cart, or pack animal entering the town. This is the towns only tax, and it took the Trader's Council two years to approve that!

1. Mayor's Tower. The current mayor is one Aziz of Dambrath, a mysterious adventurer who claims to be from lands far to the south. Aziz speaks with an odd accent, is slight of build and average height. He has pure white hair over bright blue eyes, a striking contrast with his dusky skin. He appears, despite this strange coloration, to be fully human. He dresses very fashionably, and often wears red and black (he is always seen with a black Cormyrean half-cloak). He has never been known to wear armour, and is known to be a wizard. A former member of the Oath Bound adventuring band, Aziz took the Mayorship when his companion, Lord Chan of the Irieaboran House Legermain, turned down a second term. Aziz has not been reluctant to seek a second term of his own, however, and seems to have taken a policy route removed from his former companions. Though he openly deals with the Lord's Alliance, even sponsoring a merc company to fight with them against Hellgate Keep in the recent Battle of the Shining Falls, he also deals with the Zhentarim. One of his first actions as mayor was to reverse Mayor Chan's edict forbidding Zhentarim caravans from entering Hill's Edge (He has also been pushing hard in the Trader's Council for a ban on all slave trade, so far to no avail). Aziz has a reputation for shrewd political moves, he has one several major votes at the Trader's Council that he was expected to lose. It is believed he will introduce a motion to lengthen the mayors term in office beyond one year if he wins this second election.
   He is known to have many agents, and maintains a tower guard of unknown numbers. His men are very loyal, as he pays well and always seems to know what they are thinking and/or needing. A few traitors have been swiftly found out and executed.
   The "Mayor's Men" as his troops are called, wear studded leather, and carry broadswords and light crossbows. Several have shown minor magical powers, though all wear the armour. When acting openly the always wear tabards with his coat of arms, a black bat with outstretched wings on a red field.
2. Fist of the Future The black banners on the walls of this frowning war fortress of a temple are all adorned with the skull and starburst of Cyric. They stare coldly at all who walk the streets, and like pirate flags, they make citizens and visitors alike reach for weapons and watch warily.
   The Cyricists in Hill's Edge are a fast-growing group, sponsored by Zhentarim gold and the energy of the ambitious High Dark Priestess Emana Gortho. She seems bent on turning the city into a huge robber-baron's hold and is fast attracting all the down-on-their luck rogues, thugs, and crazed-wits in the Vale with promises of good gold, and good beer and brotherhood to go with it, with regular opportunities for bullying and bloodletting. She now has hundreds of dark hands to do her bidding, but they are ill-trained, undisciplined, and essentially selfish hands, and have several times defied the orders of priests leading them to pursue ready loot and foes.
   Mysterious spell attacks have twice ruined armories and engines of war smuggled into the temple, smashing plans for an uprising, destruction of the temple to Lliira, and the establishment of martial rule over the city. Emana suspects Harper spies of causing the assaults, though she has no idea which powerful wizards they hired or cajoled into making the actual attacks. On both occasions, word was all over the city in hours, accompanied by the general opinion that such doings were to be expected, because: "We don't like folk bringing armies into this town or whelming for war."
   The High Dark Priestess has accordingly turned to ever darker and wilder spells, accompanied by risky attempts at spellcasting in groups, sacrifices, and summonings of powerful evil beings from other planes. She speaks openly of such things, trying to awe citizens into obedience or flight, but has so far misread the folk of Hill's Edge, who've merely turned to planning how best to bring about her downfall.
3. Cry of Joy. Temple to Lliira. The star-mantled, orange-, red-, and yellow-robed priestesses of Lliira tend to be beautiful, acrobatic, and silverthroated. They pass on jokes, make merry, and generally provide much of the gaiety and colour in Hill's Edge. The Harpers always provide music at their festivals--wild parties to which all folk in the city are invited. Harpers also covertly provide security during these events, foiling hostile magic and deliberate disruptions.
   The only enemies these Joymaidens have are the followers of the Dark Sun, Cyric, and the local professional escorts, who view the festivals as very bad for trade. In the escorts' opinion, revellers get free what the escorts expect folk to pay for. This is the only reason, aside from the free drink, many say cattily and spitefully, that anyone goes to one of these revels at all.
   The Cry of Joy resembles a miniature castle. Little larger than a prosperous manor, it sports high stone walls, a portcullis, and turrets adorned with Lliira's yellow, orange, and red star-girt banners. Its coffers bulge from two sources of income: superb black bitter ale brewed in the temple cellars and exported all over Faerun, and best-selling chapbooks of amorous adventure penned anonymously by the clergy-and also sold all over Faerun.
   The Lliirans are led by a young, enthusiastic reveller, Joybringer Caseldown, also know as the Rose-red Lady in the town. She works in secret with Harpers (well, her plans are secret, though most folk know meetings go on,) to see to the security and cultural growth of Hill's Edge, so that it continues to be a pleasant place to live. There's a rumour around the city these days that the Joybringer has strange magical powers.
4. Six Soft Furs. A very expensive festhall built scandalously close to the Mayor's Tower. Still, none have seen Mayor Aziz enjoying its wares. This house of pleasure is famous Valewide for its luxuries, wanton escorts, and flavoured syrup baths that are rarely enjoyed alone. Rumoured to have been built by a mayor (to attract tourists, of course), it boasts very high prices indeed--an evening's pleasure can easily cost 300 gp. Some escorts here specialise in a combination of pleasant (and surprisingly learned) conversation and kneading out the pain from long journeys and old battle injuries with their hands and feet, for those who don't want to indulge in the exotic.
5. The Tarnished Trumpet. A large, well known tavern. It is often judged the best in Hill's Edge, and is rather expensive. This tavern faces the Mayor's Tower across the open cobbles and is the largest and best drinking spot in Hill's Edge. On most evenings, even in the bitterest winter weather, it's crowded with jovial adventurers swapping stories of their bravery, close escapes, and latest finds in the Netherese ruins north and east of the city.
   A blackened, battered trumpet hangs behind the bar. More than a few folk in town say it's an iron horn of Valhalla the bartender can blow to defend the tavern against attack. This rumour is supported by the fact that all of the six folk--four men and two women who tend bar around the clock (a water-drip model from far Chessenta, that chimes tiny bells to mark the hours) always wear swords at their hips and daggers in various spots.
   Many of the prospectors who work out of Hill's Edge view the Trumpet as their home, even though they sleep somewhere else. The staff encourages them to think so, keeping messages for prospectors out in the mountains, and providing comfy old armchairs and a fireplace to warm wet feet and dry wet stockings and hose at around the side of the bar.
6. The Happy Hippocampus. A very good, and expensive inn. This inn deserves to be much better known. It's one of the best in western Faerun, complete with an attentive liveried staff who pamper guests personally, a hot communal tub with scented water (clouded with lavender to preserve the modesty of bathers), and food among the best anywhere.
7. The Stone Saddle. A cheap, poor inn which pride's itself on its stabling facilities, which are quite good. This cheap, chilly old barn prides itself on good stables and hostlers. I dare say mounts get better care than their owners. Still, doors bolt securely, and the beds are comfortable, but sag somewhat in the middle. If you don't mind indifferent food, such as meatballs of mysterious origin in onion dominated tomato broth, this is a cheap, tolerable place to sleep.
8. The Storm Griffin. A good inn with only average prices. Travellers can easily find this downtown inn thanks to the rampant stone griffon statue out front. It's as tall as the three-story inn behind it and from time to time spectacular but harmless illusory lightning's flash and crawl over its surface. It was once the figurehead of the favourite ship of the inn's builder, who was a rich textiles merchant.
   The inn beyond it is surprisingly good. Rooms are cosily and sometimes luxuriously furnished, and the services of in-house barbers/coiffeurs, tailors, and custom shoemakers are available for extra fees. Bath servants carry hot water to the tubs in each room and assist in bathing if desired. Their services are free. For a copper one of six hall boys will carry messages or small items anywhere in the city. (By all accounts, they're trustworthy.)
   The dining room is excellent, specialising in delicious hot and cold soups, fried breads, and fish stuffed with egg, leek, and river crab mixtures. At its best, the kitchen of the Griffin matches anything to be had in proud, distant Waterdeep.
9. The Worried Wyvern. An average Inn. This is the closest Hill's Edge comes to an average inn of quality--a clean, three-level, fairly new establishment boasting interconnected suites of rooms on the uppermost floor, messenger pigeon service to an errand running service in Iriaebor, and a good dining room. The chef has mastered a spiced river fish and asparagus omelette to accompany the usual bacon, toast and drippings, and sausages for morningfest and highsunfest. Evening meals are a nice variety of roasts, accompanied by pleasant surprises like chicken livers in mushroom sauce and green peppers stuffed with rice, tomatoes, and ground meat. A rather bad, bored harpist plays away the evenings, making background music to drown out conversations at adjacent tables. A safe and pleasant, if unexciting, waystop.
10. The Dancing Bear. A dive of a tavern. This dive is like the Stag but noisier, dirtier, and more dangerous. Here patrons play with hurled daggers, and there's a steady stream of supplicants shuffling to trade scraps of information for the few coppers needed for another drink or two to the tables where Zhentarim spies and their bodyguards sit.
    The Bear is not a place one dare relax in. I saw two purse cuttings while I was there, and when the second victim noticed and rounded on the thief, he got a blade in his throat and another in his ribs. The thief was out one of the three side doors before the body slumped to the floor.
    Others share my opinion. The tavern does a brisk trade in carry-out skins of (watered-down) wine at 4 sp each.
    There's no bear dancing about in accordance with the tavern's name. Its stuffed head snarls down from over the bar, eyes red and glittering thanks to a little glass and a cantrip. I was not impressed.
11. The Scarlet Stag. This drinking hall is of the smoke filled, rowdy, rustic sort. I found the tables and booths cramped and crowded, and the servers both surly and harried; moreover, some clever guest seems to enjoy hurling chestnuts at random around the darkened taproom. One plopped into my tankard, but a woman nearby was struck on the temple and dazed. Go to get drunk if you must, but don't expect to relax or chat in any sort of quiet.
12. The Bent Bow. An expensive archery shop.
    This is one of the best archery shops I've seen anywhere: a bright, breezy place where one can buy any size of bow or crossbow. One can also purchase, of course, all sizes of shafts and bolts and a variety of arrowheads, including bulbous fireheads guaranteed not to go out before striking their target. These heads are cast spheres containing felt that are doused in alcohol and lit before firing.
    Adventurers and merchants alike come here to buy wagonloads of shafts and bolts. If one buys 10 guaranteed waterproof leather quivers of 21 missiles each or more, it's at a discount price of 6 sp each, instead of the usual 1 gp.
    The proprietor, Master Fletcher Sumbarl Ardusk, is expert at detecting out-of-true shafts, and at soaking, stretching, and spot heating to make them straight.
13. Belkin's Black Blade. An average weapon's shop.
    In contrast to the haughty splendour of the Knight in the Morn, this place is a down-to-earth, hard-core weapons shop: a large, dimly lit house that smells of oil and cold steel and is crammed with racks of swords, daggers, maces, morning stars, war hammers, spears, arrows, bolts, and battle axes.
    Belkin Orgul is a fat, puffing shrewd old warrior who stumps and wheezes around the shop, forever pushing unruly gray-white hair out of his eyes to glare at customers. He sells helms, gorgets, and gauntlets as well as weapons. Spike-knuckled gauntlets are a perennial favourite at 25 gp for the pair.
14. The Knight in the Morn. An expensive armourer and blazoner with a bad reputation.
    This proud, colourful shop sells suits of armour, some of which look very grand. They vary from mediocre (the source of the old wisecrack: "Ah, Sir Rustbucket. Knighted in Hill's Edge, I presume?") to not bad. They also sell lances and shields, but some shields have been known to crumple under a single blow. To top the lances, they sell pennants and full-sized banners.
    The need to adorn these banners has expanded over the years from two old women skilled with the needle to a staff of six seamstresses and four master limners. You can order your shield, breastplate, helm, or anything else adorned with your badge, coat-of-arms, or favourite colour.
    Such adornments typically cost 60 gp each for painted work and 100 gp for sewn. This shop is usually at odds with Hillhorn, the local Herald, for allowing patrons to walk out wearing arms and badges that properly belong to others. In the past, much of the shop's trade came from brigands intending to impersonate others to effect swindles, kidnapping's, and the darkening of certain reputations.
    This is still the place to come if you want a blazon of your own design painted--a blazon, that is, that's not lawfully registered with, or recognised by, the Heralds. The shop gets away with this practice by claiming they were told the work was a first flower (the painting of arms made by a supplicant to show to a Herald in hopes of getting the design approved). The close watch now kept on the shop by Harpers makes criminal use of the arms of others less likely to be profitable, but as a place to get fanciful arms painted up, or those intended forever to be fictitious, the shop continues to do a roaring trade.
    Note that all blazonwork that comes to the shop without written certification from a Herald will cost double. Regular patrons of the shop tell me its lances are of excellent quality.
15. Lionstar Services. This shop is a ramshackle wing of the vast Lionstar Warehouses complex out by the wall in the northeast quadrant of the city. For modest fees, the experienced packers here will securely pack and seal all sorts of small shipments (precious or fragile items, for instance for caravan travel all over Toril. Their specialty is disguising an item by its packaging to make it appear to be something else. This generally costs double. False documentation can cost 100 gp on top of that--more if it involves forging the signature or seal of a mage, ruler, merchant company, noble family head, or other important personage.
    Lionstar Services has several wizards on retainer to magically examine, shield, or protect parcels. Their services cost extra--a lot extra! Exactly how much depends, of course, on just what they have to do.
16. Eldritch Ebony. A mysterious shop that sells monsters.
17. A Handful of Eyes. This dark, cavernous converted old warehouse is a labyrinth of creaking pillars, rusting cross braces, sagging floors, and little flights of steps linking levels that don't quite meet. Cages of all sizes are everywhere. Citizens whisper that folk who argue prices too strenuously sometimes disappear into them.
    This shop is lit by a dozen or so glowing white eyeballs that float about like curious insects, hovering to inspect or accompany shoppers with an unblinking gaze that most folk find eerie. The proprietor is a masked, hooded male who seems able to see whatever the eyes can, however distant, and who is thought to be a mind flayer by at least one regular supplier of the shop.
    For all this eccentricity, A Handful of Eyes is probably the most reliable of the monster shops in Hill's Edge--that is, it can most quickly supply a particular beast, dead or alive, to a purchaser, and it carries a larger stock than competitors, some of whom deal only in a few species (such as Eldritch Ebony, a shop that discreetly deals in drew to very rich and totally unscrupulous buyers). Most buyers are merchants acting for wealthy, decadent thrillseekers or mages in Calimshan, Waterdeep, Sembia, Amn, and the city-states around the Sea of Fallen Stars.
    A live monster can cost from 25 gp for a particular type of nonpoisonous rat, spider, or snake to 350,000 or more for a ki-rin or other rare or powerful creature. The Eyes does not deal in slaves, nor does it kidnap humans for a fee--not since a captive wizard blew apart the southern end of the shop with an unexpected spell and escaped.
18. The Old Sharp Sword. Shrine to Tempus.
19. Kiss of the Lady. Shrine to Tymora.
20. Barea's Barges. dock where barges run down the River Reaching to Scornubel. The trip is always one way, the boats are sold as is, or as scrap, when they reach Scornubel. Still, a fairly cheap way to get produce to market.
21. The Windrider's Trading Coster Offices. A young, adventuresome coster based in Scornubel. They maintain a stable and waystation here.
22. The Happy Satyr. A cheap, rather dingy festhall.
23. Cordeleone's Gambling House. The place most of the local hunters and prospectors lose their fortunes. Staffed with twenty well-armed bouncers.
24. Zoplay's Laundry.
25. House of Lakmed the Alchemist. Trader's Council member.
26. Alenella's House of Fortune. Not as pretty as Cordeleone's, but better odds.
27. Townhouse of Sidonius Appolinaris. Landowner, farmer, Trader's Council member.
28. Townhouse of Lady Raisa Enshada of Calimshan. Trader's Council member.
29. Mavia's Mounts and Draftbeasts.
30. Cato's Camels.
31. Town Cemetery.
32. House of Drawn Dagger. Herald of Hill's Edge. Honorary Trader's Council member.
33. House of Sonya Dell'Anar.
34. Shanty town.
35. Dameron's Tannery. Trader's Council member.
36. Embassy of the Lord's Alliance. Lady Friela Gruntor of Baldur's Gate, and a small bodyguard of twenty members of the Flaming Fist Merc company.
37. House of Lord Tar Dobion. Zhentarim envoy to Hill's Edge. Lord Dobion was a very well known bounty hunter who many claim was killed by the Oath Bound in Shadowdale, only to be resurrected by his then employer's, the Zhents. Others say the Tar Dobion killed by the Oath Bound was one of many imposters, hoping to cash in on the name of the most notorious bounty hunter on the Sword Coast. Regardless, this tar Dobion wears his trademark pair of sabres, and has already slain six miners who insulted him in the common room of the Six Soft Furs, before his bodyguards could even draw steel. A dangerous man.
38. Known Zhentarim-owned warehouses.
39. Pantaleone the Baker. Trader's Council member.
40. Blackhammer Forge. Dwarf led forge that receives all of its raw materials, and much of its finished goods from dwarfholds in the Far Hills. The dwarves who run the place are ready with a waraxe and very closed mouth.
41. High Horse Stables.
42. Hippogriff Stables.
43. Crazy Akbar's Cheap Monsters. The place to go for diseased or otherwise defective monsters.
44. The Gaff and Slasher Tavern. A hangout for thugs, thieves, Cyricists, and Zhents.
45. House of Armand D'Artigan. Captain of the infamous merc company Legion of the Red Cape (a group of swashbuckling horsemen). Trader's Council member.
46. House of the Deepskull Delvers adventuring band. A group with a nasty reputation.
47. Office of the Merchant League.
48. Office of the Legermain Trading House of Irieabor.
49. Thousandshead Trading Coster yards and offices.
50. Dragoneye Trading Coster yards and offices.
51. Lynick's Spelljamming Dock and Landing Field. Nobody really knows what to make of this. After the last Zhentarim Battle this stretch of ruined buildings was bought by a mysterious investor, who had most of them leveled, and a strange serious of structures built in their place. A group of four Hippopotamus headed humanoids (they call themselves Giff) run the place, though what the run is anyone's guess. The leader is called SgtMjr Lynick, the dock is named after him, though he claims not to be the owner. He keeps saying that this dock will "Open Hill's Edge to a whole new world of possibilities."

About Hill's Edge

This city is sometimes called the Forgotten City of Sunset Vale. Many folk on the Sword Coast and in the Inner Sea lands alike simply forget it exists. Many guides and histories omit it or gloss over it as if it were·e a minor village or waystop well. Even recent accounts call it a town and r·refer to it as small but prosperous.

Yet Hill's Edge is, and always has been, an interesting place. Its location at the western end of yellow Snake Pass has brought it both monster raids and caravan trade down the years--and with the advent of the Zhentarim, the former have declined but the latter have increased, making the Dark Network a force to be reckoned with in this city. Here Zhents are tolerated, if not liked, but the independent-minded citizens--many of whom are powerful and experienced adventurers--have made it clear to more than one emissary of Darkhold that any attempt to conquer Hill's Edge or even harass its citizenry by magic, poison, unfair trade practices, or threats will bring Waterdhavian armies assisted by senior Harpers into the city for an all-out battle.

The High Mayor of Hill's Edge who last made this declaration was Asimel Elendarryl, a sorceress who hailed from Neverwinter, and was openly an agent of the Lords' Alliance. She claimed that over 40 citizens knew the locations of and ways to open over a score of magical gates hidden all over the city that could bring these forces swiftly into the city. Asimel vanished some months after her term of office ended. Cynics in the city mutter that Zhentarim torturers got her, but it is known that Zhentarim agents in the city have been actively searching for the alleged gates since her disappearance.

On more than one occasion known Harpers have suddenly appeared in the city, though some citizens believe they came by means of spells, deliberately attempting to fool the Zhentarim into thinking the gates do exist. Control of any center containing so many instant transportation routes would be the greatest prize in Faerun short of conquering Myth Drannor.

This tense situation, with agents of the Red Wizards, the Cult of the Dragon, the Zhentarim, and probably a dozen or more wizards' cabals and merchant companies sniffing around Hill's Edge looking for gates, is made worse by the character of the citizenry. Inhabitants of Hill's Edge are a wary, self-sufficient lot. Many are seasoned adventurers and guides. Monster hunting, combined with a little exploring and prospecting, is the traditional local sport. Most everyone is skilled with a weaponry and the smithies of Hill's Edge turn out hundreds of armours and thousands of blades each year--in fact, this city is the source of much of the average-to-poor, but serviceable, weaponry and battle harness used all over western Faerun.

The city's name comes not from any hill, but from a long-dead adventurer, the halfling warrior Uldobris Downhill. He found rich iron in the red eastern bank of the River Reaching here and took on gnome partners to build and maintain pumps to keep the river waters from flooding his mine, which was dubbed the Edge because it was always on the brink of flooding. Miners dug feverishly to the din of the constantly hammering pumps, tossing ore onto skids that mules dragged up to the surface. In six short years the consortium Uldobris had founded, the Clasped Hands, brought up more iron than had ever been taken out of one mine before. In the seventh year, the waters came in.

The flooded, unstable tunnels of the Edge still lie beneath the city, sloping sharply down and southeast. Local rumours as to just what inhabits them now vary widely--·from freshwater morkoth to aquatic liches--but seem to agree that something sinister dwells in the lightless waters now. Five separate gnome-led pump-out attempts of the Edge over the years have ended in the sudden disappearance of all the delvers.

Hill's Edge began as a fort built to protect the minehead and smelter and grew into a walled town of smithies and outfitters, serving as a base for hunters and prospectors venturing north and east into the Sunset Mountains and the Reaching uplands. It has grown steadily, becoming a waybase for merchant concerns.

Warehouses now occupy a lot of the space inside the city walls. Their owners dwell above the storage areas. Hill's Edge exports steady streams of oiled and crated armour, crated finished weapons and oiled bundles of sword blades, and caged exotic beasts of all sorts. If one wants a monster or a few of its body parts anywhere in western Faerun, the source, some times via several middlemen, is usually the hunters of Hill's Edge.

If life in Hill's Edge seems a perilous, exciting existence to the reader--it is. A steady stream of would-be prospectors and adventurers come to the Old Edge. Many dwarven delvings and the cellars or burial areas of both Netheril and vanished giant kingdoms are known to lie in the Reaching uplands and farther north. Hill's Edge has always been the base for those eager to explore them. Talk in the taverns of the Edge is always of the latest finds and forays-of old, fey magic found and monsters fought. It's no wonder that the Zhentarim hunger to rule here, or that the Harpers and the Lords will do all they can to prevent that. It seems a splendid home for those who thirst for adventure--and perhaps death that may come to them swift and soon.

Hill's Edge is a city of cobbled streets and sturdy stone buildings with slate and tile roofs. Large warehouses hulk everywhere, and all the (nameless) streets are broad enough to allow a team of six horses or oxen to turn a wagon around. In an open plaza at the center of the city rises the Mayor's Tower. The mayor has a bodyguard of 12 warriors, and another 20 soldiers collect the gate tax and keep watch from the walls and on all who enter or leave the city, but there is no militia, city guard, or army. The Traders' Council, which advises the mayor, wants to keep it that way. (The Traders' Council meets in the Tower once a tenday, and more frequently in emergencies.)

As a result, this is a city of private bodyguards and lookouts hired by well-armed merchants who guard themselves and their wares at all times. The merchants' homes tend to be atop their warehouses or near the city walls, where the smithies, paddocks, most of the rooming houses and failed businesses can be found, too. I saw at least two score bearded-up, abandoned buildings during my visit.

The inns, taverns, and prosperous shops of the city tend to be clustered along the streets radiating out from the central Tower. There's no open marketplace in the Edge--instead, stalls can be found all around the city wall on its inside. (They are icy-cold quarters in winter, I'm told.)

Hill's Edge has a high stone wall surrounding it studded with many watchtowers and pierced by four gates: the Reaching Gate on the northeast, Rivergate on the northwest, Vale Gate on the southeast, and Clasped Hands Gate on the southwest. Perhaps 6,000 folk call Hill's Edge home in winter, and 10,000 can be found inside its walls in summer It's fairly small, and the wide streets make for quick travel. It has a reputation for winter cold harsh enough to kill many folk every year.

The visitor to Hill's Edge should note that although the Zhentarim presence grows ever stronger in Hill's Edge, the Dark Network has received several sharp rebukes (that is, sharp as in sword points) from citizens whom they tried to cheat, threaten, or bribe at too low a price. The Zhentarim pressure has made fewer folk than ever want the thankless task of being High Mayor for a year--but every candidate in any way supported or influenced by the Zhentarim has been decisively refused by the electors. The Traders' Council is running the city at present while they seek a new High Mayor from among the returning prospectors and adventurers.

Overshadowing all the political tensions in town is the ongoing conflict between the Rose-Red Lady and the Black Lady, the high priestesses who lead the two rival temples in town. They wage an endless duel for supremacy in what passes for high society in the Edge--as well as in its alleyways, cellars, and spell chambers. When one temple gathers for an important ritual, the other does too, just in case the "villains" in the other temple plan any magical assault. Like the Zhentarim, the two priesthood's have eyes everywhere in the city. Unless you have power enough to withstand and hurl back the magics of an aroused temple, it is best not to openly support one side or another. You have been warned.

Note: The walls around Hill's Edge are very recent. The Lord's Alliance and others funded their construction after the last attempt of the Zhents to take the town.