The place is no fair mountain village of songs. Travelers approaching its gate are met by the stink of beasts, dung, smoke, and close-packed folk, though the hard mountain winds do much to scour such smells away when they choose to blow. A crooked sign at the gateway names the settlement and gives its population, though locals and passing wits have been known to cross out the number and “correct” it. The hamlet is enclosed by a gated stockade, locked by night, though coin and the right tone of voice have been known to persuade guards that late passage is not impossible.

The Crag and the Skull

The settlement takes its name from the white skull-shaped crag that looms over it, a polished and chiseled outcrop of pale stone that has long served as a shrine. In earlier days it was associated with Myrkul, then with Cyric, and by the present age with Kelemvor. Such a place naturally draws pilgrims of a morbid or desperate cast, some seeking visions, some revelations, and some merely the favor of powers concerned with death. The local vultures, I am told, have profited from more than one such pilgrimage.

Skull Crag is also notable for the way parts of the hamlet are cut directly into the mountain. Some buildings and passages are hewn from the stone of the Storm Horns themselves, and at least one such passage links the town with Skull Crag Keep, while another is said to run directly toward the town gates. These passages are useful in foul weather, siege, and worse troubles, though the wise traveler does not go wandering through military stoneworks without invitation.

Defenses

More than half the folk of Skull Crag are Purple Dragons, here as part of the Roadwarden strength that keeps the High Road open and watches the western approaches of Cormyr. Their patrols range up and down the road, and not all of them do so on foot or horseback. The Crag’s defenders also patrol the air above the Storm Horns with the aid of hippogriffs, and the hamlet has a tower staffed by no fewer than nine War Wizards. This combination of sword, spell, and wing makes Skull Crag far more formidable than its size would suggest.

The local soldiers are not here for ceremony. They guard against Zhentarim trouble, Tunland brigands, orc bands, hobgoblins, and whatever else descends from the high places or prowls out of the harsher lands beyond Cormyr’s settled roads. The Roadwarden Guard, based from Skull Crag Keep, is charged with keeping the High Road passable and trade moving. The Roadwarden commands the guard, with the Chief of the Roadwarden Guard serving beneath that office. The keep itself admits only those carrying proper writs of passage, a rule worth remembering before one rides boldly up to its gate.

Trade and Work

The military presence has made settlement possible where otherwise only the desperate would linger. Shepherds have claimed the rolling fields north of the hamlet, while miners work Old Blind Mage Mountain itself. The shepherds produce more meat than the hamlet can eat, and the excess is preserved by magic and sold to passing merchants and caravans. The mines yield iron, nickel, and copper, with iron being of particular value to Cormyr’s armies.

Local miners speak of a lost mine somewhere in the peaks east of Old Blind Mage Mountain. No one now living has found it, though that has not stopped expeditions from setting out in search of old shafts and hidden caverns. Such ventures have become increasingly perilous, for perytons and other predators have moved into the surrounding heights, drawn by the abundance of sheep, humans, and pack animals.

Adventurers are often hired here to scour the higher slopes of monsters, escort miners, or search for lost workings. There is even talk among some locals of using titanic magic to blast a pass eastward through the Storm Horns, opening a new way into Cormyr’s heartlands through the lower mountains south of the Crag. This notion gives many Purple Dragon officers great distress whenever it is raised, and with reason: a road useful to Cormyr may also prove useful to everything waiting beyond it.

Skull Crag Keep

Skull Crag Keep stands above the hamlet and has the air of a place older and darker than its present banners suggest. Beyond its guarded main gate lies an open courtyard surrounded by the keep’s working buildings. The Great Hall stands across from the gate, flanked by a Chapel of Sune and the keep quarters, with the Roadwarden’s own chambers above. Stables, guest quarters, smithy, training hall, barracks, and private rooms fill out the rest of the compound.

Beneath the keep are older workings. The upper tunnels serve practical purposes as storage rooms, provision cellars, wine cellars, armory, and prison. Deeper still lie passages once used for a crueler purpose: monsters were caged and released to hunt fleeing prisoners through the dark. It is whispered that some of those old horrors, or their descendants, may still haunt the lower halls. Deeper yet is said to be an elegant burial chamber, a square mausoleum heavy with ancient malevolence.

The keep was not always in Cormyrean hands. In older tales it belonged to the vampire lord Khulzond and his consort Mordroka, both said to be ancient even by the 1360s DR. They were driven out when Purple Dragon Knights took the place and established the Roadwarden Guard, though the two undead survived and swore vengeance. Later troubles involving Roadwarden Arelin Starbrow, her family, Sir Dutiocs, and the lost Arms of the Roadwarden are still spoken of in Skull Crag, particularly by those who enjoy warming cold evenings with grim tales of betrayal, monsters, and old blood returning to claim its halls.

Shrines and Faith

The white skull of the Crag is the most striking religious site, presently serving as a shrine to Kelemvor, though its older associations with Cyric and Myrkul are not forgotten. The hamlet also has a humble Temple of Tymora on its northern side. This shrine to the Lady Who Smiles serves as a place of worship, healing, and divine aid for travelers and adventurers. In the keep itself, the Chapel of Sune offers another sacred presence, and by mid-14th-century accounts the Tymoran shrine and the keep’s Sune chapel were the chief sources of healing in Skull Crag.

Places of Interest in Skull Crag

Skull Crag Keep

The keep is not a place for casual sightseeing. Its gate is heavily guarded, its passages are military property, and those lacking a writ of passage are best advised to admire it from below. Still, it dominates the hamlet both physically and politically, and no traveler can understand Skull Crag without knowing that the keep watches over every road, roof, and gate beneath it.

Caravan Stables

Skull Crag’s caravan stables are cut directly into the rock, with ventilation holes drilled from above. For all their mountain setting, they are said to be dry and warm, a blessing to anyone who has brought horses through cold rain, sleet, or worse along the High Road.

The Weary Wanderer

The Weary Wanderer is a gruff and unwelcoming inn, much used by caravaners and their hirelings. It offers private rooms to those with coin and common-room lodging to adventurers and caravan guards, even if the proprietress thinks them riffraff. The establishment is not fastidious about its clientele; humans, dwarves, and even oni mages are said to have found lodging there so long as they could pay.

The Thirsty Traveler

The Thirsty Traveler is a popular tavern and eatery serving those who have endured the mountain road and are ready for drink and hot food. It stands next to the caravan stables, a placement that gives it a memorable scent when the wind is wrong. Its kitchen is run by an old woman of formidable temper who tolerates no interference in her domain.

Generous General Store

Despite its name, the Generous General Store is not known for gentle prices. It is the hamlet’s general shop and carries the expected mundane goods needed by travelers: cloaks, belts, boots, robes, mirrors, and other such necessities. Those expecting generosity may find the name a jest at their expense.

Molar’s Artful Armourer

Molar’s Artful Armourer, also known as Molar’s Very Well-Equipped Voyager, is one shop reached by two doors, each bearing its own sign. Whether one enters by the Armourer’s door or the Voyager’s, one soon finds the same proprietor, Molar, and the same establishment. It is the hamlet’s only real source for arms and armor, and its prices show the advantage of monopoly.

The Tricky Thief

The Tricky Thief is a curio and magical miscellany shop on the southern side of the village. Its shelves are crowded with odd arcane trifles, among them stinging magical stones and inflated goat bladders that make strange noises. Its hours are irregular, its lunch breaks long, and its wares of most interest to travelers who enjoy handling things before asking what they do.

Trade and Exports

Skull Crag’s useful exports are meat, magically preserved for caravan trade, and the ores drawn from Old Blind Mage Mountain: iron, nickel, and copper. The iron is the most important to the Crown, for good Cormyrean blades and armor require dependable metal, and the mines here help provide it.