Great Crag

**The Great Crag** is the capital of Droaam, and the seat of power of the Daughters of Sora Kell. It is a fast growing yet primitive city, though many hands work tirelessly day and night to ensure that one day it will be counted as a one of the greatest settlements of Khorvaire. The order in the city is maintained by Sora Maenya's elite troll guards, assisted by gnoll mercenaries.

## Location

The Great Crag, as its name implies, is built inside of a vast mountain peak standing at the very center of Droaam. Ancient passages dating from the time of the Dhakaani Empire honeycomb the mountain, and Dhakaani ruins dot the fertile plains which surround it. The hags' court can be found mostly inside of the mountain proper; however the Crag's population outstrips its size, and so many of its citizens have either moved into the ruins that surround it or have built barracks, houses and hovels amid them. One trade route brings goods from Breland and Greywall into the city by road.

## History

It is believed that before the Daelkyr War, a great Dhakaani metropolis occupied the plains surrounding the Great Crag, the ruins of which remain to this day. In that time, the mountain did not have its current form, and might not have been a mountain yet at all; according to legend, it was torn out of the ground during the war, when the Daelkyr turned the hobgoblins and goblins of the city to stone. The sight of the stone statues kept intelligent creatures away from the Great Crag for millennia, as rumors whispered that the vengeful spirits of the petrified still lurked within their stone bodies, eager to strike out at warm bodies and petrify them as well.

The Daughters of Sora Kell proved these rumors false when they appeared in 986YK and made the mountain the base for their new capital of Droaam. Since then the city has grown exponentially as monsters flock to the hags' banner, its total population now numbering among those of the other great metropolises.

## Architecture

The city is an intriguing mix of perfectly restored Dhakaani architecture, sophisticated medusa stonework and rougher contributions by the various other monstrous races. Harpy roosts dot the mountainside, ogre laborers erect sturdy but rough structures and Znir Pact barracks stand side-by-side with the hovels housing thousands of goblin squatters. Much of the citizens do not live in permanent structures at all, instead using tents until more homes can be built for them. The Great Crag is thus a perfect analogy for Droaam as a whole: a mix of various different monstrous influences that somehow still work together.

## Important Locations

* Upper City
	+ Thunderverge Sprawl.
	+ To'thraa's Villa.
	+ The Shrines
	+ Last Dirge Harpy's Nest
* The Central Market
	+ The Gristmill. (Edge of mountain, ventalated)
		- Bøyg's Gristery.
	+ The Brass Hammer. A blacksmith’s forge lies on a street a fair distance away from the Crag’s grist mills. A sign is attached above the door, depicting a hammer and an anvil. It’s just ornate enough to stand out among the other shops, and while most of it is made out of black iron, the hammer is shaped out of brass, long tarnished by Droaam’s weather. The shop does not have a name, but over time that hammer has become its most defining marker.
	+ Little Crag Coffee Shop.
	+ The Dull Dorn.
* Lower City
	+ The Bumbling Bear.
	+ Nasree's Forge.
	+ The Seam Lounge - Truadite Abode.
	+ **House Tharashk** **enclave.** House Tharashk is the only foreign power to maintain an outpost within the town, though the on in Greywall is likely more important to their operations.
	+ Vult's Dream. A dreamlily den, mostly patronised by dwarves and other Fivers who need to chase lily dreams to cope with their work here in The Crag. Its sign bears a grey crescent moon painted with a swirling dragonmark in blue.
	+ Druid Marmee's Shop. The grizzly druid woman who upkeeps the small storefront and house leaves a small patch of blue flowers near the window, just for Whist. She hasn't told Whist her name. "Call me Marmee," she says, her smile bladed with cunning. Secrets for secrets.
	+ The Talhouse Brothel.
	+ Veins of the Crag - Hidden Tunnel Complex.
	+ Piir'Sarech. The bloodthirsty warlord Turakbar sent his champion and kin, ⁠Manuzak, to the Great Crag. His first act on entering the city was to displace a kobold district formerly known as Piir'Sarech. What kobolds used to live there have been slaughtered or scattered when the minotaur gang took over. The main attraction here now is the bloody Kor'mur Arena, run and operated by Gorehorn Vettra.
* **Court of the Hags.** The inside of the Great Crag is used mostly by the Daughters of Sora Kell, warlords staying at or visiting the court, foreign ambassadors, guards and the servants who serve all of them. Most of Droaam's citizens can see in the dark, there are therefore no sources of light inside of the tunnel. Foreign dignitaries are dependent completely upon torches and guides to find their way, no doubt a tactic by the hags to put them ill at ease and so gain an advantage during negotiations. The chambers of the top warlords and the hags offer some comforts, but the rest of the rooms and tunnels are quite bare.
	+ Amphitheater.
	+ **The Arena.** The arena is the greatest source for spectacle and entertainment within the Great Crag. It is absolutely massive in order to best accommodate the Crag's large (in more ways than one) population, and races, gladiatorial combat, and blood sports of all kinds are performed here at almost all hours of the day and night. The arena also serves as an execution ground, as well as a training facility for Droaam's guards and mercenary forces.
	+ The Stone Court. Overseen by the medusa Magistrate Aiakos the Curt.
* Field of Cloth and Stone.
	+ Toryc's Fighting Pit.
	+ Rotwing Harpy's Nest.
	+ The Red Hut. Headquarters of the Red Caps
	+ Vadalis Research Ranch.
	+ War Tent of the Ara'shan Taarka.
	+ House Deneith's Sentinel Station
* Catacombs.
	+ The House of Night. The Shadowtongues serve in their capacity to help the dead, to ensure the Keeper has gotten his fill.
	+ **The Ossuary.** The statues of the city's original inhabitants have not been smashed, but have all been gathered in one ancient Dhakaani building: the ossuary. Here the remains of an entire city (and, somehow, a hydra too big to fit through the gates) slumber, souls trapped in their petrified body. Even after thousand of years it is still possible to return one of the statues to life (provided it is whole and unbroken), but long, long years of imprisonment have twisted their minds so that few are willing to try.
	+ The Cairns. Gardens of bone and black roses mark the area surrounding tunnels below; entrances along the base of the mountain where the catacombs have stretched far enough to see sunlight. Few are buried here now but the cairns have been outside the Crag long before Droaam was formed. For countless generations this mountain was shunned and considered haunted - perhaps rightfully so, but those who fell near the Crag were not interred within it. If they were not consumed or harvested, their bodies laid here.

## Additional References

1. ↑ ***The Queen of Stone***.
Keith Baker (November 2008). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5009-6.