Start Your D&D Journey at Valewatch Castle (Cormyr)

About the adventure

The wind off the Stormhorns tastes of snow and smoke as you crest the last rise. Below, clinging to a ledge above a harsh mountain vale, stands Valewatch Castle—a lonely fortress of purple banners where Cormyr ends and danger begins. Northwest of Arabel, near the jagged peaks called the Mule Ears, this is where your story starts. Maybe you arrive with a battered pack and borrowed steel, a spell half-learned, or a noble signet hidden under travel-stained gloves—but you all come for the same reason. Crown Prince Irvel Obarskyr has ordered Valewatch reinforced and its surroundings watched. From these walls, fresh faces like yours stand between the realm and the threats that gather in the hills: orc raids, goblin warbands, and shadowy smugglers said to serve Zhentarim agents. Recently, King Foril Obarskyr issued a royal decree: a Call for Adventurers. Any band of free folk who answers at Valewatch, proves their worth in service to the realm, and holds together as a company may be granted an adventuring charter paid for by the Crown for their first year. You are not soldiers posted here—you are volunteers and would-be heroes drawn by the promise of recognition, reward, and a place in Cormyr’s story. To the south lie the Helmlands, a region where wild and dead magic clash in the wake of the Time of Troubles, when Helm struck Mystra down. Strange lights flicker on the horizon at night. Patrols report eerie silences and tracks that don’t match any known beast. The Shadovar have not yet struck openly at Cormyr, but the signs are there for those who know how to read them: something dark is coming. In Heroes of the Borderlands: Valewatch of Cormyr, you play adventurers answering that royal call. This is your first taste of danger beyond city walls and your chance to earn a name in service to the Crown. You’ll operate out of Valewatch Castle itself: rubbing shoulders with Purple Dragon recruits, seeking omens from a Tymoran priest in the chapel, and trading wary glances with the lone War Wizard who watches the southern sky too closely. This is a level 1–3 campaign designed as an approachable introduction to D&D and to the wider Cormyr meta-campaign. You’ll learn the game as you go, with clear missions and stakes: scouting the vale, escorting caravans, hunting raiders, tracking smugglers, and confronting whatever stirs near the Helmlands. You’ll experience life in a frontier castle—drills, downtime, and politics—without needing any prior rules knowledge. Your choices matter: do you play it safe and secure the immediate border, or chase rumors of deeper threats and secret pacts? If you fall in love with the setting, this game is also a gateway into my larger Cormyr campaigns. Prove yourselves at Valewatch, and your characters may be promoted into one of my ongoing groups, such as Crimson Wolverines or Dragons of the Gate. Or earn an Adventuring Charter from the Crown and spin off as your own company, continuing your story elsewhere in Cormyr.