The town is both a trading post and a military stronghold. Caravans, drovers, soldiers, pilgrims, and merchants all pass through its gates, and the place is livelier than its stern walls first suggest. Greatgaunt is especially known for the Moon Dance, a monthly gathering of Selûne’s faithful that has grown into something of a trade fair, drawing folk who come as much to buy and sell as to worship.

Greatgaunt is also home to Tansard Famwell, known as the Singer Among the Harpies. He is a youth of remarkable voice, said to be able to counter the magical charms of harpies by singing. He is also an accomplished mimic and may be hired as an impersonator, though there are limits to such work. He once played the part of Vangerdahast so convincingly that he nearly dragged the War Wizards into scandal. He has since been warned that any such performance repeated in dangerous company may earn him death for treason—or the loss of the vocal cords that make his gifts possible. Still, rumors persist.

Greatgard Castle

Greatgaunt is dominated by Greatgard, the vast castle that rises at the southern end of the walled town. It frowns down over the High Road from the full height of the town ramparts and the cliff beneath them, and its military purpose is plain to all who look up at it.

The castle walls are crowded with great engines of war. Espringales, catapults, and mighty trebuchets stand ready to hurl stones nearly a mile down the road south of town. It is even said that bombards are hidden behind some of the downward-sloping fire chutes, placed so they can rake the ground below the walls should attackers come too close.

Yet the machines are not the town’s only defense. Greatgaunt has a long and proud tradition of archery. On-duty archers practice for hours each day, loosing at mark poles set beyond the walls. Defenders here have been known to shoot riders from the saddle at ranges so great that the targets were almost at the limits of human sight. Greatgard has held against orc hordes and even Zhentilar attacks, and its importance as a military base grows as Tunland brigands become bolder and Cormyr looks westward with greater interest.

Greatgates Manor

At the northern end of the plateau stands Greatgates Manor, the ancestral home of the Greatgaunt family. It overlooks a broken ravine so jagged and difficult that no attacking force has ever come against the town from that direction.

The manor is a small castle in its own right, though more graceful than Greatgard. Its inner walls are famed for their magnificent stained glass windows, which look down into a courtyard and display the family arms: a right-hand gauntlet clutching a dove in its fist.

The courtyard holds the Steaming Fountain, an enchanted fountain whose waters remain warm throughout the year. In winter, vapor rises from it in great streaming clouds when the air grows cold. Citizens may draw water there at any time, a practical kindness in a town where the deep-well pumps in the marketplace often freeze during harsh mountain storms.

Streets and Houses

Space within Greatgaunt’s walls is precious, and visitors should not expect broad gardens or leafy lanes. The town is a close-packed mass of tall, slate-roofed houses pressed wall to wall along narrow cobbled streets.

Bronze handrails, green with age, are fixed into walls throughout the town, allowing walkers to keep their footing where the streets slope in icy weather. Children of Greatgaunt make sport of the same slopes, sliding down them on their backsides or on borrowed shields until they crash into a bale of straw—or, when less fortunate, into a wall, barrel, or cart.

The Marketplace

At the southern end of town, facing Greatgard, lies the large open marketplace. It is more livestock fair than elegant market square, for drovers are permitted to camp in its center with their beasts. This means dung and straw are never far away, and only a single ring of booths is allowed around the edge.

For all that, the marketplace is busy and useful. Traders, drovers, pilgrims of Selûne, armsmen, farmers, and caravan folk all pass through it, and on the nights of the Moon Dance it becomes one of the liveliest places in the town.

Moonrise House

Across the marketplace from Greatgard stands Moonrise House, the local temple of Selûne. It was founded only about a decade ago by Marijel Dhallard, a beautiful and charismatic priestess formerly of Selgaunt. Under her guidance, the temple has grown quickly into a force for order, growth, and harmonious living according to the cycles of nature.

Moonrise House lends particular aid to those who must work by night and sleep through the day. As the faithful of Selûne love moonlight best, many of them now serve in Greatgaunt’s Night Watch, the town’s shop and market police active from dusk until dawn. Selûnians are also numerous among the Purple Dragons assigned to night-duty shifts.

The temple celebrates every full moon with festival rites. At moondark, or the new moon, it holds solemn sacrificial rituals in which silver statuettes are melted in flame. The faithful prefer planting and beginning craftwork while the moon waxes, and give themselves to cleaning, cooking, and other chores while it wanes. This rhythm shapes the town in quiet ways. At almost any hour some folk are asleep, the streets are seldom truly crowded, and many buildings have thick walls and heavily padded shutters to deaden sound. Greatgaunt is therefore a more peaceful place than many walled towns of similar size.

Places of Interest in Greatgaunt

Shops

The Shield of Glory

Armor and Weaponry

The Shield of Glory is a well-stocked armor and weaponry shop, suitable for adventurers, armsmasters, guards, and those who think themselves any of the three. A customer may outfit themselves here in anything from leather underbreeches to full tourney coat-of-plate.

Arrows are the one notable absence, save for a few exceedingly expensive enchanted arrows of slaying. Bowyers and fletchers elsewhere in town deal in bows and ordinary arrows, leaving the Shield to specialize in blades, armor, polearms, shields, and accoutrements. Lances sell surprisingly well here.

The proprietor is Narthalin, a dwarf armorer who takes particular pride in his belts of six matched-balance everbright daggers. These sell for 20 gp a set, with no haggling entertained.

Local legend claims that the cellar caverns beneath the Shield have long served the Greatgaunt family as an armory. The same tales say these caverns contain an access gate to an ancient refuge made for the Greatgaunts by the mysterious Sword Heralds. Narthalin refuses to discuss the matter. The refuge is also said to be reachable through a certain closet in Greatgard and a hidden passage in Greatgates Manor.

Taverns

The Twelve Dancing Knights

The name of this old tavern comes from a ballad by Shalivarr of Iriaebor, long dead now but not forgotten here. A couplet from the song is carved on a large plaque above the door:

O, twelve bold knights here made merrie,
And when they left, a-dancing they be.

The song concerns some rowdy nobles of early Cormyr, and it is easy to see why such folk would have favored the place. Within lies a smoky, warm-hearted taproom where drink is served promptly by handsome men and comely maids. Cozy booths are adorned with old weapons and battle regalia of the realm, and platters of free hand food rest on the boards.

The fare set out for drinkers includes grapes, butter biscuits, wedges of strong cheese, and slices of cold spiced sausage. The Twelve Dancing Knights is a simple but thoroughly enjoyable house, and a worthy place to slay thirst after a cold ride in from the road.

Several retired miners and soldiers spend their days gaming by the fire. They are fond of telling tales of mountain lore, dragon treasure, and old battles to anyone willing to buy them a pint of bitter black.

Inns

The Old Bucket Drops

The Old Bucket Drops is a fair enough inn, though somewhat overpriced for what it offers. No food is served, and the only drink available is the water placed in each room for washing.

The inn does have one virtue much appreciated by weary travelers: for 3 sp, one may have a hot bath brought to the room in a copper carry-tub. This is filled by a line of servants bearing steaming kettles, and in cold weather such a luxury is not to be dismissed lightly.

Trade and Exports

Greatgaunt is less a manufacturing center than a fortified market town. Its monthly Moon Dance has become a trade fair, and its marketplace sees livestock, caravan goods, arms, and mountain wares pass through in steady measure. Its archers, armorers, and soldiers also give the town a strong martial character, and trade connected to defense and campaigning is never far from hand.