Who Rules: His Most Exalted Honor the 1st Lord Arnas Rheged Manton Markel the Mighty (CG, Human Male, F4) is a very small, sniveling and seemingly spineless excuse of a man. But, his prowess with his weapons and his exceptional intelligence has allowed him to fairly and justly rule the city for nearly 15 years.

Who Really Rules: The 1st Lord rules completely, but his personal advisor, Lady Darla Aelle (NE, Human Female, T9) uses her incredible beauty and her lustful appetite to ensure that her hand often guides the 1st Lord to suit her needs. She isn't greedy, though, and no one suspects at how truly great her influence is within the city. Of course, her feigned "empty-headedness" helps greatly.

Population: 7,500 (70% human, 20% elf, 5% dwarf, 5% mixed).

Major Products: Glass, lumber, black marble, coal, furniture, wagons, wheels, and Black Ash, a great tasting and full-bodied dark ale that is blacker than coal and tastes faintly of smoke.

Armed Forces: A standing army of 650 (350 heavy infantry, 150 light archer/scouts, and 150 artillerists/sappers). A militia of an additional 1,000 infantry can also be raised relatively quickly.

Notable Mages: Nyle Black Rock (LG, Elf Male, W17) founded this city over 300 years ago after he discovered a giant mound of black rock rising out of the desert. He built a tower on top of the rock and people starting settling around him. He specializes in spells dealing with the weather, the desert, and transmutation.

Ahine Cheenshy (LN, Human Female, W10) is a very tall gangly woman who seems out of place in her own body. She is decidedly unattractive but possesses a personality so full of warmth and caring that people cannot help but like her. She was never able to really become an adventurer because of her awkwardness but she lives that life vicariously through others by providing magical assistance to adventurers at a discount, on the condition that when they come back they regale her with their stories. Many a young adventuring mage has got their start as her apprentice and many an adventuring party has been initially funded by Ahine.

Notable Churches: Mielikki, Tymora, Waukeen, Gond, Lliira, Solinar, Clanggedon Silverbeard, and Lathander.

Notable Rogues' and Thieves' Guilds: The Black Hand recently overthrew the former guild (The Rock Hounds, formerly led by Minaxa Aelle, sister to Lady Darla Aelle). The current leader, Gar-issum Ceur (NE, Human Male, T19), is a ruthless leader who loves violence and has a low tolerance for failure. Because of her assistance in taking over the guild, and because her cold-blooded murder of her own sister scares the wits out of Gar-issum, Lady Darla Aelle is the only non-guild thief allowed to operate independently of the guild. Non-guild thievery within the city is punishable by death, without exception. Even jailed non-guild thieves have been slain.

Equipment Shops: Full, desert equipment cheaper than normal.

Adventurers' Quarters: Adventurers are welcome throughout all of Black Rock, though they tend to favor The Outcropping and The Arrogant Halfling, both of which are on the north side of the town and look out over the desert.

Important Characters: Ulmit Eus (LN, Human Male, P14) is a Priest of Lathander who is often found in his temple putting together backpacks designed for the various adventurer types. He then gives these out to beginning adventurers. He is an expert on most adventuring equipment and if it exists he'll know where to get it.

Sulwina Redwing (NG, Elf Female, R14) is an expert on desert travel but she hates traveling out into The Black Desert. She would rather spend her time roaming the woods to the West of Black Rock. Because of her high level of expertise in desert travel and survival she is highly sought after by many people seeking to travel the desert. Because of her hatred of the desert, though, her prices are outrageously high if people want her to act as a guide.

Important Features in Town: Black Rock is built on top of a large outcropping of black marble that starts about 7 miles in The Chondalwood and extends eastward roughly 5 miles out into the desert. It is generally about a mile wide and is a uniform height of 50'. The city is surmounted by a 30' tall wall and has two gates. One is situated in the west wall, which is about a mile from the edge of The Chondalwood, and the other is set in the east wall. Outside of the east gate there are several docks that serve a handful of desert sailing ships that sail on skies. There are several temporary wooden turnstiles in various parts of the city with steps that lead down to the desert. These stairs are heavily guarded and are designed so as to be easily cut away and dropped to the desert below.

At roughly 1 x 4 miles the city is quite large in regards to its size and it is blessed with a lot of room. Most of the buildings are grouped in two clusters at both the east and west ends of the city. The area in the middle is dominated by large mansions and numerous small parks. Nearly all of the dwarves in the city live in one-story buildings with several elaborate underground basements. The dwarven community is currently working to connect various parts of the cities with underground tunnels and businesses and because of this the dwarf population of the city is growing quite rapidly. The most prominent feature of the city is the Tower of Black Rock, which rises to a height of nearly 100' in the exact center of the city. No other building in the city is higher than 40' tall.

Local Lore: Surrounded on three sides by inhospitable desert, Black Rock is a lively city that attracts a lot of adventurers and frontier-type people. The dangers of the Black Desert are wide and varied and a lot of them, especially the séshell race of lizardmen, are not content to stay in the desert. Several times a year the city is subject to a raid of some sort from the desert. There are numerous hidden temples and tombs buried in the desert to tempt many an adventuring group to face the dangers of the desert in an attempt to win wealth and renown. The most famous of all is the lost temple of Tienna, a female elf who attempted and failed to transform herself into a lich. Her tower was swallowed whole by the desert after her death and it is rumored that Starsheen, a blue wyrm of considerable power has found the tower and made it her home. Many an adventuring group has gone in search of the Tower of Tienna and never returned.

The Chondalwood in this area is, for the most part, generally safe. However, goblin and kobold activity has been on the rise in the area and it is believed that a pair of old Green Dragons have taken up residence in a series of caves that lie about 50 miles to the southwest of the city. Nyle Black Rock is believed to be feared by dragons in the area and the city has become a small haven for dragon hunters looking for the opportunity to practice their trade.