From The Everwinking Eye: Treasures of the Vast, Part Two by Ed Greenwood (Polyhedron #89, November 1993) as revised in The City of Ravens Bluff:
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A wooded village located where Feldar's Trail meets the Tantras Trail, Highbank Forest is a sleepy place today. It is best known for its skilled woodcarvers, who make furniture and toys of the finest quality and intricacy. The carvings of Highbank Forest are justly famous and quickly bought up by enterprising merchants for sale to the nobility and the wealthy all over the Realms.
Highbank Forest gets its name from a steep-sided wooded hill just to the north of the village proper; its flanks shelter the cottages of the village from the worst winter winds. Of old, a keep stood atop the hill. Now only ruins among the trees remain, with a central shaft leading down to the disused dungeon levels below. The villagers throw their garbage and carrion into it (including dead strangers), and children playing nearby know well enough to avoid the pit, as none who have gone down it have ever sent anything back up other than their screams.
Unbeknownst to all, a huge gibbering mouther lurks at the bottom of the shaft, waiting eagerly for anything that falls in. The mouther is trapped in a large central room (empty save for a well); all three of the doors leading out of the room are guarded by walls of force that must be dispelled before anyone can touch (much less open) them. The areas beyond contain the spellbooks, half-finished magical items, wealth, spell components, and personal belongings of eleven apprentice wizards. They were all slain years ago by brigands using poisoned arrows and trained monsters, who tricked their way into the keep and slew the wizards of the school one by one. The last dying wizard released the mouther (kept as a trapped guardian) and used her spells to bring the keep crashing down atop them all.
The villagers know nothing of this lost school of wizardry. As far as they know, the keep belonged to a brigand who set himself up as a local ruler. Under the title "Lord Wolf," he and his band preyed upon caravans for many years, until the nearby cities of Ravens Bluff and Tantras hired an army to eliminate him. In fact Lord Wolf did exist, but he dwelt in hiding in an outlying cottage of the village, using the ruined keep only as a rallying place for his men before mounting a raid.
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From The Trumpeter: The Newsletter of Ravens Bluff (Special Edition, April 1997) [with further input from Dan Donnelly]:
In a battle known as the "Burning of Highbank Forest," a regiment of archers and rangers harass and destroy many enemy caravans moving through the forest. The enemy tires of the losing battle and burns much of the forest to the ground. The fires spread to the village of Highbank Forest, and many of the buildings are destroyed. All of the village's residents are killed or flee the area. The charred remains of the village are abandoned. The forest itself recovers very slowly.
From The Trumpeter: The Newsletter of Ravens Bluff (Volume 2, Issue 7) [with additional information from Kenn Boyle]:
Lord Silverspear (played by Kenn Boyle), Coronal of the Highbank Elves, has founded a new elven settlement in the remains of Highbank Forest. Lord Silverspear and other druids are repairing the forest, which is currently inhabited only by elves, priests of the elven gods, and other sylvan races. More information on Highbank Forest is available from a resource maintained by Kenn Boyle at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/2191.
From Revenge is Harder than Stone by Richard Reiter (currently unpublished, scheduled for 1998-99):
Seven miles southwest of the remains of Highbank Forest along the Mosstree Trail, a small group of homes collectively known as "Flat Burrow" is found. Flat Burrow consists of seven burrow mounds, three wooden buildings, and a stone-walled inn. Only thirty halflings, two humans, and a half-elf reside within this settlement. As such, Flat Burrow is rarely found on any maps and most people had considered it merely an extension of Highbank Forest. (A joke that had been shared amongst the former residents of Highbank Forest suggested that it was founded by halflings traveling to Highbank Forest to make new homes; they got tired and instead decided to live where they rested rather than finish the last seven miles of their journey.) Most of the residents are farmers.
While Highbank Forest was destroyed during the war, Flat Burrow survived reasonably unscathed. The destruction surrounding this settlement, however, has brought on some hard times.
One of the three wooden buildings in Flat Burrow is a church, presided over by a female halfling known as Hawilla Cather, who serves Cyrrollalee, the Faithful. Another wooden building, standing adjacent to the church of Cyrrollalee, is dedicated to Avoreen.
A third wooden building is the Red Berry, a small herbalist's shop. It is run by Tames Grenwell, a male half-elf, who specializes in ointments and anti-venoms. Tames has a broad selection of herbs for sale, and occasionally has limited supplies of special concoctions.
The stone building is the Bearded Mug, an inn run by a human couple, Shy and Judy Rangees. Former farmers, the Rangees purchased the Bearded Mug from the previous owner several years ago, hoping to leave the back-breaking work of farming behind. The merry residents of Flat Burrow ensure that dinner within the Mug is always a boisterous occasion. Rooms are available at 1 sp per night.
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