Desertsmouth Mountains

The Desertsmouth Mountains form the western border of the Dales and serve as a barrier between them and the Desert of Anauroch. These forbidding peaks are laced with hidden trails and long-forgotten outposts, many dating back to the days before the desert came, when the land was rich and vibrant. Now the area is mostly a monster-haunted wasteland.

The Desertsmouth Mountains were once the home of one of the greatest dwarven communities in the North, the Mines of Tethyamar. These wondrous mines and caverns were bored by generations of dwarves who looted the earth of her valuables and sold them to humans and elves, sending rafts of riches down the River Tesh to the Moonsea and beyond. The mines were ruled by the Iron House, the royal court of this great nation. Tethyamar has perished within dwarven memory, overrun by fiends and hordes of orcs and ogres. Its last king, Ghellin, still lives as the king-in-exile, his present whereabouts unknown. Dwarves in the Inner Sea lands speak of and work towards the day when ‘the king shall take his throne again..

The Desertsmouth Mountains are also home to the Lost Vale of Tarkhaldale (see the earlier Tarkhaldale section for more details) and are the reputed lair of Aghazstamn the Dracolich. Though destroyed, Aghazstamn’s lair reportedly contained a rich load of sparkling, flickering glowstone, known as beljuril.