Although usually not as intelligent as humans, the various giants, humanoids, and monstrous humanoids living in and near Darkmoon Vale pose no little danger to the human and demihuman inhabitants of the vale. The following creatures congregate en masse and threaten what peace and stability exist within Darkmoon Vale. In addition to these, reports of individuals and small groups of bugbears, gnolls, ogres, and orcs occasionally surface in the region.
Harpies: Nests of these foul and loathsome creatures perch on low cliffs throughout the foothills of the Five Kings and Aspodell Mountains and the rough, rolling peaks of the Wolfrun Hills. Fortunately for residents of Darkmoon Vale, most of these creatures spend their time fighting among themselves and can scarcely bother with attacking or harassing others. Every few years, though, a particularly powerful nest matron gains control of a sizeable flock and takes her followers on a series of raids throughout the vale.
For the most part, though, harpies patrol or hunt either solitarily or in very small groups. These patrols tend to attack on sight, whether they spot other harpies or other living creatures.
Hill Giants: Like most of the creatures that terrorize the region, groups of hill giants (as their name implies) live in the hills surrounding Darkmoon Vale. Most live in the foothills of the Five Kings Mountains, traversing the low passes between the imposing range’s peaks to harass both Darkmoon Vale and the lands to the north of the range. Traveling in small tribes of no more than two dozen individuals, the hill giants usually descend into the surrounding lowlands to hunt alone or in pairs.
One particularly bizarre exception to the well-deserved stereotype of evil hill giant thuggery is a lovingly married hill giant couple who make their home within Darkmoon Wood. Most folk believe Kardoblag and his wife Morgsa live in the wood as exiles, although to date no one has dared come close enough to them to verify the hypothesis. For the most part, Kardoblag and Morgsa are content to keep to themselves, although Kardoblag frequently wanders the wood in a drunken stupor.
Hobgoblins: A small hobgoblin settlement stands in the northern reaches of Arthfell Forest. For the most part, these hobgoblins keep to themselves in the forest and continuously scheme, having lost multiple battles against both the Diamond Regiment and Fangwatch. The hobgoblin leader, Thatch Wormtar, longs to conquer Olfden and make it the seat of his power, but every attack made on the town has resulted in failure. Even the combined strength of his hobgoblins allied with the forest’s werewolves (to which he lost several hobgoblins) that launched the Night of Silver Blood could not penetrate Olfden’s walls. With each attack on Olfden or the farms near it, Thatch’s army weakens.
Grung Knifetongue, a gray-skinned hobgoblin with a prodigious cleft palate, lives alone in the northern reaches of Darkmoon Wood, surviving as a hunter and trapper. Long ago, Grung served in Thatch’s army as a scout, but after too many years of ridicule because of his disfigurement, Thatch left Arthfell Forest for Darkmoon Wood. His favorite trick is to snare a firefoot fennec (see Fauna sidebar) and use it as bait to lure in larger prey, such as a Darkmoon wolf, giant moorsnake, or other curious passersby. Numerous razorcrows follow Grung, but it is unclear whether they assist him in some way or they merely wait to dine off his scraps.
Kobolds: These diminutive nuisances infest almost the entire length of the Five Kings Mountains and remain among the range’s most annoying—if only occasionally dangerous—hazards. When Tar Taargadth ruled the range, the dwarves nearly succeeded in wiping out the kobold population there. Once that empire collapsed, though, it only took a couple decades for the kobolds to once again infiltrate into the mountain range, finding places to live in those nebulous areas between dwarven kingdoms.
For hundreds of years, kobolds lived in the places forgotten or ignored by the dwarves, mostly undisturbed (usually only because the dwarves never noticed them). Like a fungus, they spread across the region, choking out other savage humanoids living on the fringes. Natural kobold fecundity and the relatively few predators who could reach them in their dwarfabandoned tunnels ensured the constant expansion of the race. This ceaseless growth eventually exceeded a number tolerable to the dwarven kingdoms, and once again the dwarves turned their attentions to eradicating the pests. A series of conflicts led to an overall decline in the kobold population living in and around the range.
Still, the kobolds tenaciously clung to life in the parts of the range ignored by the dwarves, and over time they stripped the mountain sides clean of edible plants (and in some cases, because they are kobolds, even the inedible ones).
Then the Rending rocked southern Avistan, cracking the earth and the dwarven holds dug throughout it. Many of the old natural caverns and dwarven tunnels within 100 miles of Droskar’s Crag filled with—or at the very least, offered passage to—molten lava, superheated steam, and poisonous sulfuric gasses. No one can begin to estimate the number of kobolds killed by the Rending (because no one, not even kobolds, knew how many lived in the tunnels before or after the event), but most sages who even nominally care agree that it was “a lot.” The superstitious kobolds took this event as a sign (of what, they didn’t know) and abandoned the devastated area.
Eventually, of course, the short memories of the kobolds bested their vague dread of the Five Kings Mountains, and they returned to the mountain range only to find the dwarven nations there in decline. Some historians speculate that the return of kobolds contributed greatly to the final collapse of the five kingdoms. Today, small settlements of kobolds infest the hills and foothills surrounding Droskar’s Crag and the Five Kings Mountains. Where they can, the kobolds live within dwarven ruins, such as Droskar’s Crucible and the tunnels beneath Hexagonal Tower.
In the foothills between Droskar’s Crag and Darkmoon Wood, Merlokrep, first of his name, allmighty Dragon King of the Truescale Kobolds, commands a relatively large tribe of kobolds. Housed in the tunnels beneath Droskar’s Crucible, the Truescale Tribe until recently contented itself with living deep within the earth, far away from the prying eyes and sharp swords of humans. Recent reports, however, speak of an increase in the number of kobolds on the surface near Droskar’s Crucible.