Stillreach

A village without roads

Stillreach lies in an otherwise empty region of the Lower Underdark, beyond dependable roads, mines and kingdoms. Nhalis fields, abandoned caverns and the black sands of the Lantern temple separate it from the wider world.

The settlement takes in those who become lost below regardless of ancestry or allegiance. Its residents include many peoples, surface exiles and descendants of escaped slaves, though the Nethren form its largest community.

Liberation

For generations the Nethren were enslaved by Drow families occupying a nearby ancient fortress. Roughly thirty years before the Heart expedition, Gorran Chainbreaker carried his wider slave revolt into the Underdark, broke the garrison and freed its captives.

The liberated people established Stillreach beyond the fort's immediate control. In the village square they raised a crude stone statue of Gorran bearing an axe and a broken chain. Its workmanship is poor and its importance absolute.

Sanctuary

Stillreach claims no surrounding territory. Its safety rests upon remoteness, cooperation and the shared belief that freedom cannot belong only to its founders. Customs from dozens of displaced peoples coexist within its homes and meeting places.

The Drow still regard the village as stolen property and its people as escaped assets. Stillreach regards its continued existence as proof that ownership can be broken.

The Heart expedition

Marlo, Erynd, Vorstag and the Devil reached Stillreach after losing their memories in a nhalis canyon. There they learned whom the village statue represented, and Vorstag first confronted the possibility that Merynn had died.

An elite Drow force later entered the village under concealment to seize them. The battle ended only when the commander ordered a ceasefire and took the expedition into the fortress.

Notes and record

This article combines campaign record, spoken lore and the mythic account preserved in the Earin archive.