This small fishing village appears on few maps of the Realms, and most merchants don’t even know it exists. Part of this seclusion is because of its marshy surroundings, and part is due to its proximity to the dangerous lich hold of Larloch’s Crypt. (Larloch’s Crypt has become corrupted over the years into Warlock’s Crypt, and that’s as good a warning to travelers, I suppose). Lathtarl was a pirate some 300 winters ago whose greed drove him to fall afoul of the elven ships out of Evermeet. Forced to flee for his life in a sea fight, he ran his ship ashore here as a wreck, most of his crew dead and himself a cripple, the arm and leg on one side of his body useless. The wreck gave him an idea, and he became a wrecker, luring ships ashore by lighting many lanterns along the coast to fool sailors running along the coast in storms into thinking that they’d reached Baldur’s Gate, Orlumbor, or some other secure harbor. Instead, if they turned ashore they found rocks, with a pebble beach just beyond. Sailors who didn’t perish in the wreck were slain by Lathtarl’s surviving crew or held for sale into slavery or for ransom. Calishite slavers and all the Sword Coast pirates soon discovered Lathtarl’s existence, and made him a transfer point for slaves and contraband - their ships would stand well offshore on clear nights, and boats would cross the rocky bar from ship to shore and back.
The other king was Bevedaur of Cortryn, a vanished realm that is now northeastern Amn. He camped in the marsh while pursuing his favored sport, serpent hunting, and was overwhelmed with all his court by a night attack from an army of lizard men. Ghostly knights are still said to drift over the marsh by night, spectral blades in hand. Lathtarl is long dead of disease, and several times the Lords of Waterdeep and merchant houses of that city and of Amn have placed agents in the village to intercept and battle pirates and smugglers. Threats have been made that the entire village would be burned to the ground, and the villagers slaughtered, if the practice of light luring continued. These threats have been heeded, but there’s still an occasional real shipwreck in the vicinity, and pirates have taken to running stolen ships ashore here that they can’t use as pirate vessels (usually old, slow, leaky cogs). Lathtarl’s Lantern would not be mentioned in this guide (few today embrace the old nobles’ sport of lizard man hunting, and adventurers looking for lost crowns always seem to hear guiding rumors without benefit of a guidebook).
