Editor's Introduction
Enthusiasm for one's work is a wonderful
trait, though it does have its drawbacks.
The dynamic team of Ed Greenwood
and Jeff Grubb was able to generate
an enormous amount of material for the
FORGOTTEN REALMS Adventures hardbound
campaign book for the AD&D® 2nd
Edition game. However, Jeff and Ed created
too much material, and some of it had
to be cut to make everything else fit in. So
what can you do with a neat little town in
Cormyr that is suddenly cut off from the
rest of its nation in the book?

"We could give it to DRAGON® Magazine,
" said Jeff. And So they did.

Eveningstar is one of a series of towns
and cities described in FORGOTTEN
REALMS Adventures, each especially
designed as a base of operations for adventurers.
Each town is described in practical
terms: who rules, who defends, what can
you buy, who's worth knowing (and who
may cause problems), and where all the
local adventures happen to be. The NPCs
are described in a shorthand system that
gives the alignment, race, sex, class, and
level of each such character. For example,
Lord Tessaril Winter (CG hf F10, previously
W12) is a chaotic-good human female
and a 10th-level fighter (she was
formerly a 12-level wizard).

Eveningstar appears in the Cyclopedia of
the Realms, one of the booklets in the
FORGOTTEN REALMS boxed set, on page
43. It also makes a guest appearance in
FRE3 Waterdeep. This article expands on
this information greatly, turning this
"crossroads village" into a place from
which your group's player characters may
explore the mysteries of a fantastic land.

Welcome to Eveningstar!

Cartography by Diesel

Map Key
1. The Lonesome Tankard inn
2. Eveningstar Hall (meeting house,
guard barracks, jail)
3. The House of the Morning (temple
complex of Lathander)
4. Market Square
5. House of Lord Tessaril Winter

Eveningstar
Who Rules: Lord Tessaril Winter (CG
hf F10, previously W12), who owns a
necklace of missiles and a wand of magic
missiles. She once masqueraded as a male
adventurer, ?Tessar the Mage,? and is per-
ceptive, considerate, and utterly loyal to
Azoun.

Who Really Rules: Azoun IV, ?the
Purple Dragon,? King of Cormyr. Azoun?s
rule is maintained by: Lord Tessaril; Tzin
Tzummer, the local herald (NG hm B7);
Auldo Morim, the town clerk and purser
(NG hm F3); and the local Purple Dragon
contingent.

Population: 800 (estimated), including
temple folk but excluding travelers and
outlying farmers.

Major Products: Wine, parchment,
wool, farm produce (milk, cheese, eggs,
poultry, mutton, beans, carrots, parsnips).

Armed Forces: Nine Purple Dragons
(the Official Cormyrian army, also called
the Purple Dragoons) and four hostlers.
The local militia numbers 45 well-trained
1st-level fighters and four 2nd-level fighters,
all poorly armed and armored.

Notable Mages: Aside from Lord Tessaril,
Eveningstar has only one known
mage: Syndair Thorn, weaver and dressmaker
(CG hf W5), who uses her magic to
entertain and to tutor mages.

Notable Churches:
? The House of The Morning, temple
complex to Lathander; Patriarch Charisbonde
?Trueservant? Belon (NG hm P11);
28 priests, 170 followers.

? No other temples or shrines exist, but
the Lord allows temporary shrines to be
set up in the market for up to three days
(dawn of the first to sunset of the last).

Notable Rogues? and Thieves?
Guilds: None known. At least one Zhentarim
agent is active in Eveningstar
(Maethlin son of Maglor; Maethlin is the
apothecary?NE hm T5?and secretly
makes poisons).

Equipment Shops: Items costing 100
gp or less are readily available, but there is
only a 10% chance of finding items costing
from 101-499 gp; more expensive items
are available only by DM?s whim. In the
wintertime, only items costing 10 gp or
less are available, with a 10% chance for
items costing 11-99 gp.

Adventurers? Quarters: The village
has only two inns (aside from the temple,
which houses guests of most good and
neutral faiths for a nightly fee). A third
inn, The Welcoming Hand, is a burnt-out
ruin, although there are plans to rebuild.
The available lodgings are:

* The Lonesome Tankard inn and tavern:
warm, famous, and welcoming-the locals?
nightly meeting-place (excellent quality,
cheap; see FRE3 Waterdeep for maps and
details).

* The Golden Unicorn Inn, a cozy, quiet
backstreet place (good quality, cheap).

Important Characters:
    * Arbold Tethyr (LN hm F2), a fat and
greedy master harness-maker. He owns a
wagon making and repairing shop, a
rooming house, and a hardware store.

    * Dunman Kiriag (NG hm F5), a jovial,
kind man who is secretly a Harper.

    * Jelde Asturien (NG hm P9) of Lathander,
formerly ?Semoor Wolftooth?? a wary,
sarcastic retired Knight of Myth Drannor,
who is the temple?s secular liason and is
never without his ring of spell storing.

    * Maea ?Iron Eyes? Dulgussir (CN hf W4),
a secret mage who owns and runs the Low
Lantern tavern, dance hall, and theater.

Important Features in Town: The
small, quiet, beautiful village of Eveningstar
lies where the High Horn trade road is
joined by the road from Dhedluk. A prosperous
farmers? market and travelers?
way-stop, it commands the mouth of a
rocky gorge which carries the River
Starwater down from the Stonelands, and
provides an easy route up into the rocky
heights of that dangerous region.

The Eveningstar gorge is the only major
break in a craggy, limestone rock escarpment
that rises like a wall along the High
Horn trade road from Tyrluk to near
Arabel, barring the easy expansion of
Cormyr northward. There are many
tracks and scrambles up and down the
?Stonecliff,? but no other routes by which
mounted men or livestock less agile than
goats and sheep can pass from Cormyr to
the high moorland of the Stonelands, and
vice versa. The Stonecliff stands like an
everpresent backdrop to the peaceful
greenery of the village and the farms
around. The gorge itself is thickly grown
with thickets and scrub woodland, and it
is the favorite playground of the bolder
local children, who in season pick many
baskets of berries there.

The village of Eveningstar is full of trees
and gardens. It rises out of the surrounding
farms ?like an orchard with buildings
in it,? as Elminster says, dominated by the
Stonecliff and the prosperous farm of the
spired temple of Lathander that sprawls in
the mouth of the gorge. It is one of the
bucolic beauty spots of Cormyr, a place of
soft, glorious sunsets and sunrises, and
gentle, starlit summer skies.

Local Lore: Part way up the western
side of the Eveningstar gorge is the entrance
to the ?Haunted Halls,? a subterranean
stronghold built by the dwarves long
ago for a human bandit-lord, Rivior, and
since become home to kobolds and worse.

Rivior was slain some two hundred
winters ago, when Enchara, Warrior-
Queen of the fledgling realm of Esparin
(since absorbed into Cormyr), knowing
Rivior?s band to be short of food, tricked
his band out into the winter snows with a
false ?desperation food and pay? caravan,
and slew the bandits to the last man.

The deserted hold was soon home to
monsters (rumored to have been brought
there by evil Zhentarim mages who took
up abode in the hall to discourage intruders),
and was often visited by adventuring
bands seeking to win experience
and fortune. The undead remains of some
of these intrepid (and reckless) souls gave
the former bandit -hold its present name.

Among the more famous adventuring
exploits of the halls are the titanic battle
between the young, unproven Knights of
Myth Drannor (for whom the halls was
their first real adventure) and the evil
mage Whisper, and the explosive encounter
between the Company of the Unicorn
and a circle of nine levitating, fireballcasting,
black-robed mages before the
entrance to the halls. The knights dealt
with the immediate threat of these villains,
but the depths of the halls themselves
have bred further monsters to replace the
losses.

Despite continuing patrols, the Haunted
Halls remain the lairs of many dangerous
monsters. There are also continual problems
with trolls in Eveningstar?s vicinity,
particularly to the east, in the troll-caves
traditionally known as the ?Caverns of the
Claws.?

Eveningstar's farmers keep sheep on the
edge of the Stonelands plateau (in the
commonly held, stonewalled "High Pasture
"), and they gather once every 6 days
for a market, bringing produce that is
often snapped up by visiting caravans.

The village is a favorite stopover for
overland caravans, most of whose masters
are good friends of Dunman Kiriag, who
keeps the Lonesome Tankard, one of the
best inns to be found anywhere. On many
soft summer evenings, dozens of caravanmasters
can be seen fishing from the
Starwater bridge and enjoying a pipe or
two, or simply strolling the evening
streets, while their caravan guards bathe
in one of the Starwater?s swimming holes
to drive off the dust and sweat of the
road, put on their best, and slip out to the
Low Lantern for some late-night fun.

Eveningstar is also one of the favorite
spots of King Azoun, who likes to come
here to relax. He usually comes cloaked in
magical disguise by Vangerderhast (who
accompanies him). He enjoys a stroll, a
tankard or two at the Lonesome Tankard,
and an evening of dancing at the Lantern.
More than once he has been moved to
shed his disguise there, usually at finding
Tesssaril dancing too. The locals regard
Azoun as their own, with respect and
affection. Zhentarim agents with poisoned
blades once came for Azoun in the Lantern
but were attacked barehanded by
everyone in the place, who rushed to form
a human shield-ring around the King, until
the Purple Dragons, alerted by excited
youths up after their bedtimes, came with
Tessaril to rout the intruders.

Visitors used to the late or all-night
hours kept in many cities are often disappointed
to find that except for the inns,
the Low Lantern, and the temple, Eveningstar
completely closes down early in the
evening.  Farm folk here eat heavily and go 
to bed early, to rise with or before the 
dawn and get out into the fields again.  
Many nap at highsun (noon), making the 
early afternoon another quiet Time in the 
village. 

An oddity found on occasion in Eveningstar
?s streets and trees are small, fluffy,
winged cats. These cute, mischievous little
terrors are semiwild and thought to be the
result of some long-ago wizardly experimentation.
Villagers feed them and try to
prevent the worst of their vandalism and
aerial catfights, valuing their owl-like
rodent control in the fields. Most of the
flying cats lair in the gorge and hunt the
farm fields night and day, avoiding local
cats and dogs rather than fighting or tormenting
them. A few mages have come
seeking these creatures as familiars. At
least two (Lord Tessaril and Maea Dulgusir, 
who still conceals her magical skills 
from locals and visitors alike) have done so
successfully.  The flying casts have the same 
stats as listed for "Mammals, Small" in the 
Monstrous Compendium, volume 2, with 
the addition of flying movement 10 and 
maneuverabiltiy clas C. 

Of old, many mages dwelt near Eveningstar,
in the woods or in small, now-ruined
towers or caves on the edge of the Stonelands.
Their spells and magic are still
hopefully sought by many, and at least one
adventuring band each summer comes to
try its luck at gleaning treasures from the
Haunted Halls (notably fewer stalwarts
come exploring the halls in winter).

Harsh winters hereabouts are known as
?wolf winters? because of the wolves from
the Stonelands, which come down the
gorge to hunt in Cormyr. The rest of the
year, the wolves? distant, haunting howls
can be heard at night.