The Burning Lands are still called Bergolast to this day.
The Doom That Was in Bergolast
Connects to: 02.22, 05.20, 15.01, 29.14.18, 29.14.24, 29.14.36, 30.15, 31.27, 32.32, 37.01.01, 39.31, 40.20, 43.03, 45.24, 48.24, 51.12, 51.29, the World’s Edge and the City of Shuttered Windows.
For long centuries the great city of Bergolast stood in what is now the Burning Lands, but Bergolast stands no more. The Gates of the Nine Directions have been torn down, the glazed bricks of a thousand colors crushed to dust, only jackals and fouler things walk on its onyx streets and the Tarrasque has been freed.
It was as had been foretold by Jarmond of the Knife (29.14.18), a priest of Alberon who went to Bergolast to preach of the glory of his god. The Bergolasti laughed and told him that they had no need for any but the Tarrasque that lay imprisoned at the heart of their city. Did not its ever-flowing blood feed them, did the flesh of its liver grant them strength each day and did not the adamantine chains that bound it protect them from its howling wrath? Before being flung down the Tarrasque’s gullet, Jarmond of the Knife pronounced doom upon the city and so it came to pass that following the death of Tiamat, the Shrouded Lands shook, the Keening Sea raged against its shores (51.12) and the Tarrasque tore free from its bonds.
The wounds of centuries healed in moments and it gleefully ravaged the great city and pursued its people from the World’s Edge to the Keening Sea to the Sartanger Falls leaving great footprints in its wake (48.24) before stalking away into the west where it is now stalked by the Lords Sanguine.
The men of the City of Shuttered Windows and the dwarves of the north came to Bergolast to loot its treasures (31.27) and claim the shattered links of adamantium that had bound it. Strangely, little gold and only a few links of the adamantine chains were ever claimed and many (51.29) claim that much of the wealth of Bergolast remains there still, hidden away by the last sorceries of its people.
Today the remnants of the Bergolasti people are the trolls of the Shrouded Lands. Centuries of feasting on Tarrasque flesh has left a mark on them that can never be erased and they are foul to behold but regenerate from wounds just as the Tarrasque does. They are an ignorant folk and have forgotten most of their heritage, but some (15.01) remember enough to reenact the old Bergolasti rites in their own crude way.
Earlier description: “perhaps it was not wise to keep the Tarrasque chained within their city.”
Connections:
- While it thrived, Bergolast lay amidst the Land of Verdant Snow, but only a fragment of the old climate remains (39.31).
- The old Kings of Gore once drank the blood of the Tarrasque before their fall.
- A certain troll (15.01) still carries out a version of the old rituals of Bergolast but they have been corrupted and debased by years that have passed since the fall of Bergolast.
- Hyadovere (40.20) was a colony of Bergolast.
- One of the skulls of the Tarrasque lies not so far from here (45.24). Many others have been collected far to the west (02.22).
- The Cord of Binding that was used to capture the tarrasque can now be found within the Temple of Seven Shadows (37.01.01).
- The best guide one could hope for when traveling to Bergolast is a gnollish bard who knows the Song of Dust and Flame (32.32).
- A strangely-erudite troll who goes by the name of Master Var claims to have seen the fall of Bergolast with his own eyes (43.03).
- The Scroll of Seven Shadows tells of the founding of Bergolast and how the tarrasque was bound (29.14.24).
- Some say that the fall of Bergolast is responsible for the fact that in these lands it rains but once a year (29.14.36).
Hooks:
- How did the people of Bergolast catch the Tarrasque to begin with?
- Aside from eating it, what else did they use their endless supply of regenerating Tarrasque for?
- Eating of the Tarrasque turned the people of Bergolast into trolls. What were they originally?
- What is the Sartanger Falls?
- What happened to all of the treasure of Bergolast, especially the adamanium? Why does the Great Mother of the gnolls (51.29) think she can get it?
- How much does the Prophet of Grahakzahak (15.01) know of his ancestors? It appears that by feeding his flesh to others he is trying to play the role of the Tarrasque in his strange little cult.
- Two trolls have been mentioned (15.01 and 30.15). Are there any others about?
