Leilon

Leilon is a small mining town that serves as a convenient resting place for weary travellers on the High Road along the Sword Coast between Neverwinter and Waterdeep. Just south of the town lies the Mere of Dead Men. In the east are the Sword Mountains where there used to be many dwarven mines, some of which have long since been abandoned.
The city is in good standing with the Lords' Alliance and thus trades a lot with those cities.

Notable Locations

High Tower of Thalivar

This abandoned wizard's tower is located in the centre of town and was protected by a magical ward and deadly guardian monsters. In 1482 DR, Dagult Neverember arranged for the monsters to be dealt with, but the tower remains empty.

The Mines of Leilon

These mines east of Leilon contain rich deposits of copper, nickel, and silver and are heavily guarded by the Lances. The mountains were networked with many tunnels and shafts, some of which open into the town itself.

The Orc's Tusks

Referred to as the Tusks, this is the favoured tavern of the locals. It is friendly, crowded, and cheap. The taproom is dominated by an orc skull with large tusks on which the patrons like to hang various amusing items.

The Knight's Goblet

Referred to as the Goblet, this tavern caters to travellers and was described by Volothamp Geddard as "clean, boring, and overpriced". The proprietor roasts whole boars in the taproom hearth and serves large loaves of bread with large slabs of meat.

The Sword of Leilon

This inn is a virtual labyrinth of small rooms where guests often get lost and wander, by accident, into other people's rooms. It is built on the site of an older inn where the defenders of Leilon would gather because of its large size. That earlier inn burned down through misadventure, but the name of the newer one is a reminder of those former days of local glory.

Shrines

The town has shrines devoted to Lathander, Tyr and Tymora.

Defences

Leilon does not have defensive walls but instead had an earthen rampart with a wooden palisade and surrounding ditch. This protects it on the landward side except for the gateless entrance.
The Leilon military, known as the Lances of Leilon, consists of a force of 200 mounted soldiers. Each is fully armed with sword, axe, knife, lance and a light crossbow that can be fired from horseback with great skill. They wear chain mail with shields strapped to their chests and backs. These warriors are always on patrol, vigilant against raids by orcs, trolls, bugbears, bandits, and pirates. They are also placed as guards on the mines, upon which much of Leilon's economy depended.

Industry & Trade

Trade by sea is dangerous, as the nearby shore is a shallow mudflat and the method used to transfer cargo from ships at sea to the land is perilous. A fleet of a dozen barges, magically warded against fire and rot, are poled out to meet the ships, whereupon cargo was transferred using rickety cranes that were impossible to use in high winds. Instead of relying on this form of trade, most of Leilon's imports came by caravan out of Waterdeep. Leilon's eastern mines contained copper, nickel, and silver that was sold to Waterdeep merchants.
Once a month (except during winter) a band of gnomes come to Leilon to engage in trade. They are from the gnome village of Leirithymbul in the western Sword Mountains.

History

In 1358 DR in the month of Kythorn, a patrol from Leilon secretly followed a band of lizardfolk from the Mere of Dead Men. They counted at least twenty of them including a shaman. The lizardfolk crossed the Dessarin River and continued east.
In 1358 DR in the month of Eleasis, twenty longships invaded Leilon. The raiders burned farms, stole livestock, and sank eight of the twelve barges. The Lances of Leilon inflicted heavy casualties and drove them off, but the raiders killed almost 200 townspeople and caused three months worth of Leilon's ore output to sink to the bottom of the ocean with the barges. None of the longships flew identifying colours, and magical interrogation of the dead provided several different answers including Luskan, Ruathym, Moonshae Isles, and the Whalebones.
In 1358 DR in the month of Eleint, Lord Piergeiron of Waterdeep withdrew his ambassadors from Luskan and Ruathym and demanded reparations for the attack on Leilon from the High Captains of Luskan.
In 1490 in the month of Deepwinter, a group of frost giants attacked a couple of farms just north of Leilon, near the Triboar Trail.

Architecture

The town contains many stone cottages with slate or thatched roofs, the latter covered with hardened mud. The town itself is mostly constructed to let travellers pass through. Most of the population actually live on farms outside the town palisade.

Type

Town