Noanar's Hold
This village on the edge of the High Forest grew up around a famous hunting lodge built over two hundred years ago. In its heyday, Noanar's Hold hosted wild hunts that attracted the wealthiest nobles and merchants of Faerûn. Some who ventured to Noanar's Hold never returned, spurring dark rumors that the five Hunt Lords who ruled Noanar's Hold were arranging wanton slaughters to amuse their guests and even allowing their guests to hunt one another. The place was shunned, and the village fell on hard times.
As it happens, the rumors are true. The Hunt Lords played all sorts of terrible games at the expense of their wealthy employers. A century and a half ago, to escape their inevitable deaths, the Hunt Lords forged a pact with Orcus, who transformed them into five wights. Necromancers in the demon lord's service helped the Hunt Lords turn the inanimate bones of their long-dead horses into five animated warhorse skeletons.
Every night, after sunset, the Hunt Lords ride out on their skeletal steeds to patrol the lands around Noanar's Hold, looking for worthy prey to hunt. They always return to their keep before sunrise the following morning. They have no interest in harming the local villagers, whom they view as their subjects. The villagers are well aware of the Hunt Lords' escapades, but Noanar's Hold is so isolated that few others know that the Hunt Lords still exist. A handful of villagers have moved away from Noanar's Hold over the years, but most are too frightened to flee, believing the rumors (although they are false) that the Hunt Lords track down and kill villagers who try to leave. Today, residents of Noanar's Hold rarely stray far from their homes. They don't speak of the Hunt Lords, nor do they warn visitors away. Fearing the Hunt Lords' wrath, they keep to themselves and say little ornothing about their undead masters.
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