Halen's Vale

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Halen's Vale is a bowl-shaped valley in the Gray Mountains that was carved out by a glacier that receded long ago. The mountains around the vale are very high and nearly impassable except for Silver Pass. The vale is far to the north and at a high elevation; the climate is arctic and Silver Pass is only open six months out of the year (roughly May through October). The bottom of the vale is fairly flat and mostly covered in evergreen forest. The edges of the valley grow steeper and rise above tree line quickly however.

The vale is home to a variety of fauna, including wolverines, bears, caribou, hares and giant snow owls (whose eggs are highly prized because of their potential to be raised as aerial mounts). Goblinoid infestations are also not uncommon and can pose a significant threat to travelers, trappers, and hunters. These infestations are generally small and they usually get detected and exterminated before posing a serious threat to the town however.

The Town of Halen's Vale

Halen's Vale was founded approximately fifty years ago on the banks of Icewind Lake by the great explorer Halen, who is now deceased. This small town of ~200 people mostly consists of hunters and trappers who traded in pelts and people who capture giant snow owl eggs and chicks for training as aerial mounts. Obtaining giant owl eggs is difficult and dangerous work but a single egg can fetch as much as 2, 500 gp! Other local activities include fishing Icewind lake (ice fishing in the winter) and some agriculture. The town is so small, out of the way, and insignificant that none of the noble houses even pay much attention to it. Although house Nithor does tax goods coming out of the Vale along the road after the Vitas Magnus Bridge. At least this is the way things were before two years ago....

Two years ago the the ruined top of what appeared to be an ancient tower was discovered poking through the glacial ice in the north east corner of the vale. Further investigation revealed this tower seemed to part of an ancient and expansive human citadel from the 3rd epoch of history. Suddenly Halen's Vale became the center of attention in Durandor.

The initial exploration of the ruin demonstrated great wealth and great danger awaited within. Many artifacts were recovered but the exploratory group encountered undead as fiends from the ancient world, a suffered a number of casualties. Faced with the prospect of great wealth beneath the ice, but the lacking the resources to effectively explore them the noble families decided to open exploration of the ruins to any brave enough to take up the challenge..... and to heavily tax all of the wealth that is discovered.

Now Halen's Vale is a boom town. In the summers when the Silver Pass is open and entrance to the ruins is not covered in snow, Halen's Vale is crawling with adventurers, merchants, dealers in antiquities, dignitaries from guilds, noble houses and countless others who have interests in the ruins or in those that explore them. In the summer months the population far outstrips the towns ability to house everyone; large tent cities get erected outside of town. These tent cities are literally cities in there own right, merchants erect tents and all manner of goods are bought and sold there.

The campaign will begin in the beginning of the 3rd summer since the ruins were discovered. In the middle of the month of May.