…. though elsewhen'd be interesting, too.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 3, 2020
1)
PART TWO OF REPLY:
This holds true for the second leg of the journey, too, via Ten Trail through the mountains. There’s less cover in the rising, rocky country for ambushers, but more access to stones they can fling down at…2)
…wayfarers, though avalanches grow less and less likely as the years pass, and the loose rock that can readily fall has already done so, leaving the road in an increasingly-wide, relatively safer pass.
The Trail follows…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 3, 2020
3)
…deep-cut stream gorges, and there’s always the danger of falling—and even, in spring or when the (very rare) earthquakes hit, of portions of the road breaking off and plunging down into the neighbouring gorge. 4)
Hundelstone (which I gave some details about in tweets a few days back) is the supply center along the way, and armed “guides” (bodyguards) can be hired there to accompany you on your journey, typically for a 5 gp fee plus…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 3, 2020
5)
…costs (generous patrons give costs plus a tip, bringing the total to 8 or 10 gp, upon safe arrival in Bryn Shander).
Ice that can be sucked on, or melted in a cauldron over a fire, is plentiful in the mountains, but food is 6)
…scarce, as anything that can be reached from the road without perilous scrambling has typically already been harvested by this time of year. The Trail is busy, though the depths of winter is its time of lightest use, and…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 3, 2020
7)
…veterans avoid “the fog times” as the most dangerous for ambushes and for traveler and beast to slip and fall; a broken leg can mean death in this country.
Stands of trees are almost entirely absent between Hundelstone and 8)
…the north bank of the Shaengarne, with only stunted lone trees clinging to high ledges here and there. Mountain goats and snowcats inhabit these peaks, but are rarely seen from the Trail. Perytons, eagles, hawks, and…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 3, 2020
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…vultures are more likely sightings, as none of them move south for winter, and all will be ravenous by this time of year save the vultures, who are usually well-fed by now, some years even approaching fat and lazy. 0)
The saddle or high point on the Trail is Three Daggers Ridge, home to a windswept campground and little else, a dragon skeleton that used to festoon it having being entirely carried away, bone by bone, for sale to alchemists…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 3, 2020
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…and noble collectors over the years (beware back-alley shops in Bryn Shander offering to sell you the dragon’s skull, fangs, or talons; they are passing off wyvern skulls and fake fangs and talons carved from the long-frozen… 12)
…bones of giant rothé).
No brigand could make a living on the Trail, but there are some who head out from Bryn Shander posing as legitimate travelers, only to turn and attack travelers who reach the Ridge just behind them.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 3, 2020
13)
The Trail emerges from the mountains between two peaks known as Hartooth and Marlaxe, after dwarves who perished under the jaws of wolves hereabouts in the late 1200s DR, then switchbacks down a steep slope to the rail-less 14)
…bridge over the narrow but deep Shaengarne Gorge, known to folk of the Ten Towns as “the Sword Cleft” (to them, it’s where their country ends, and the dangerous and strange ‘rest of the Realms’ begins).#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 3, 2020
15)
Trees remain rarities from the Cleft on to Bryn Shander, but you’ll see countless drumlins and eskers, cloaked in snow and ice, on all sides. Many rills and brooks can be heard running under this “whitecloak” and the 16)
…approach of any creature of size can be observed from some distance away—unless ground-fog or a blizzard rolls in, and brings a complete whiteout.
At other times of year, subtract the fog and add a little warmth, a lot of… #Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 3, 2020
17)
…insects, and cover in the form of foliage to that part of your journey that lies south of Hundelstone, and you now know what you’ll see along your way. The gods grant you safe travels.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 3, 2020