Ashen Gorge

The Dragon's Throne

One mountain stands out among the Stormcrests. Its twin peaks rumble with fury, breathing fire and smoke into the sky to mingle with the storm clouds that surround the mountains. Lightning tears through the ashen clouds with giddy excitement, making it clear to all who behold it that this is a place of supernatural power. Cartogrophers in Emon call this crater the Ashen Gorge, but the people of the low valleys call it the Dragon's Throne, for they know what creature once lived atop the mountain. They remember when they too were under the dominion of Thordak the Cinder King.
Today, several tenuous alliances of lizardfolk, dragonborn,  kobolds, and even a few young dragons trying to expand their treasure hoards battle for dominion over this ruined vale. When the mountain was the lair of the Cinder King during his first incursion into Tal'Dorei, the lizardfolk and kobolds flocked to his side, worshiping his might and cruelty. Though Thordak is slain, his influence yet lingers, and his legend draws treasure hunters and would-be tyrants to this place. Gold, jewels, and magic items from all ages of the world lie in wait within the dozen or more secret vaults of the Cinder King's lair.
When the king of dragons still held dominion here, he had thousands of loyal scaled minions at his beck and call, moving invaluable treasures into deeper and deeper holds. Beyond the main cavern of the lair, even the Cinder King himself had to magically take humanoid form to traverse the winding tunnels his servants carved through the rock.
The descendants of Thordak's servitors now fight an endless war over his treasure. Every year, it seems a petty new "Cinder King" rises to power within the Ashen Gorge, but they are always dethroned before their minions can enter the ancient vaults. To steal Thordak's greatest treasures, an adventureing party would have to either broker a peace between the warring clans or somehow sneak into the mountain undetected.

Warring Clans of the Gorge

The following major factions fight for control over the Ashen Gorge. They make and break their alliances with one faction or another, and then break their new alliances just as readily.

Scions of Flame

This cult of black-scaled lizardfolk claims to have been Thordak's elite guard in ancient times, and are the current rulers of the gorge. They are led by a five-hundred-year-old druid named Burning Oak, and while his awesome magic keeps the other tribes at bay, his frailty makes him vulnerable to attack—and the other tribes know it.

Tinysoot

Any kobold will tell you that their people are small, but fierce! Every ten years brings a new generation of kobolds, and while the Tinysoot tribe's warriors are not the mightiest, their numbers have allowed them to overwhelm even the greatest of the Flame Scions' champions. The Tinysoots' leader, a zealous young warqueen named Yabber Tinysoot XIX, wears around her neck the key to Everflame Crevasse, Thordak's deepest treasure vault.

Black Snow

When Thordak's ally, Umbrasyl, was slain atop Gatshadow, his caustic blood seeped into the corpses of a dozen goliath scouts from the Herd of Storms. The black dragon's magic, combined with the foul power of Gatshadow, transformed the goliaths into a squadron of undead black dragonborn warriors. Skeletal wings sprouted from their backs, and the Black Snow tribe flew instinctively to the Ashen Gorge, drawn to the Ruby of Oblivion, a pitch-black ruby of immense unholy power—now stored within the Obsidian Geode, a treasure vault guarded by a legion of golems and elementals. This squadron of hateful revenants is small, but each one of them wields the strength of twenty lesser warriors.

Tatterwing Kin

Toxoshuul, Chloroxodon, and Snagglefang, a trio of young green dragons, long to plunder Thordak's lost vaults for their own hoards, and demand tribute from the other factions of the Ashen Gorge in exchange for their aid in battle. All three are the children of Tatterwing, a feared dragon of the Kirmont Valley, and even if they find themselves on opposite sides of a skirmish, they never fight one another, only annihilating the pathetic humanoids beneath them with their toxic breath and razor-sharp talons.

Type

Gorge / Rift

Location under

Stormcrest Mountains