Early History
Llorkh was originally founded by Netherese refugees fleeing the downfall of Netheril, sometime after its fall in the Year of Sundered Webs, −339 DR. The neighboring settlement of
Loudwater was founded around the same time.
Later on, further settlement of Llorkh and
Loudwater, as well as Longsaddle,
Secomber, Triboar, and others, was undertaken by pioneers from
Waterdeep after the establishment of the Lords of Waterdeep there in 1032 DR. These pioneers were sponsored by noble and mercantile Waterdhavian families.
Llorkh grew to become a sleepy mining town, its people busy working mines in the nearby hills and farming the surrounding land. The town was led by a series of lords, well-respected retired miners and warriors. However, production soon started to wane and Llorkh began to dwindle. Only stubborn miners and many sheepherders were expected to remain.
Zhentarim Take-Over
Finally, shortly before 1357 DR, the last of the old lords, Phintarn "Redblade", was found dead at the foot of the Lord's Keep. Overnight, the mage Geildarr Ithym seized the Lord's Keep and claimed the throne. Soon after, four hundred "Lord's Men" arrived and in a handful of battles slaughtered all of the existing militia under the pretext that they were trouble-makers. The citizens found themselves under the "protection" of the Lord's Men. Thus, Llorkh was quickly and quietly conquered by the Zhentarim and made their puppet.
Thanks to this brutal occupation, the townsfolk had no liking for Geildarr. In the aftermath, Phintarn's brother died mysteriously one night, and his inn was razed the very next day. Lord Geildarr named the aged dwarf cleric Thianos "Ironskull" an outlaw and ordered his troops to find him. Since the takeover, the dwarves of Llorkh steadily and discreetly departed, even disappeared.
Zhentarim Control
As soon as their control over the town was consolidated, Zhentarim caravans began to arrive from across the Anauroch. They required accommodations, food, water, animals, wagon repairs, and so the townsfolk were pressed into work supplying these. They erected rough inns and taverns to cater to the caravans.
By 1357 DR, the fiendish forces of Hellgate Keep advanced on newly conquered Llorkh. The Lord's Men met them on the banks of the Delimbiyr river above Shining Falls. They fought a major battle, but beat the demons back.
In Uktar of the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, one particular Zhentarim caravan was secretly transporting a menagerie of monsters in locked wagons for unknown reasons on a journey to the south. One night, one monster—eyewitnesses described something huge, dark, man-shaped, and with vicious insectoid mandibles, suggesting it was an umber hulk—escaped from its wagon, knocked over three others, and destroyed an inn and three other builds, and finally bolted in the hills. Meanwhile, other monsters spilled from the knocked-over wagons and roamed the streets before the Lord's Men came to deal with them. The caravan masters absconded into the night, and daylight found thirty monster zombies, undead ogres, bugbears, and minotaurs destroyed and ten soldiers and civilians killed.
The travelogue writer Volothamp Geddarm, when visiting Llorkh, once stopped at the Ten Bells. There he was accosted by four thugs, whom he suspected to be Zhentarim agents, and defended himself with magic. Leaving burning bodies behind, he promptly fled town, not desiring to return.
In the mid-1360s DR, the House of Klond, a small caravan trading company, was suspected of smuggling metals out of Mirabar and transporting them to Llorkh to pass to the Zhentarim.
Circa 1372 DR, Lamris Kholl (a former inhabitant of Llorkh) and Adama Miiralin managed to rescue the Kholl family from Llorkh and Zhentarim rule.
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