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The Valley of Darkness:The Main Plot

2008-03-26T06:51:13Z

Feniqs:

== ONLY GMs SHOULD READ THIS PAGE ==

== From Darkness Into Light ==

'''Please, if you are not a GM, then don't read any further! You wouldn't want to ruin the story would you?'''

Essentially, the objective of this whole adventure is to rescue the valley from the constant darkness. So, there are several stages which will bring this about, and how you have the adventurers discover the clues, empower the items, and awaken the sleeping heroes, is up to you. What has to happen, when it all comes down to it, is that The Shadow Demon Lord who is responsible for the darkness must come to the valley, be confronted and destroyed.

Easily said, nearly impossible to accomplish. :)

[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/The_Valley_of_Darkness:Main_Page[Main Page]]

=== The Truth Behind the Darkening: ===

To cut to the chase, the truth is that the valley is mostly in the Plane of Shadow (PoS). The Shadow Lord Hexablacorps (a silly name I gave him, that has no meaning) put certain events into action over the past millennium that ultimately resulted in a very significant portion of the valley being shunted so that it is mostly in the PoS.

Much to Hexablacorpse's shagrin, the great ritual event only brought the valley into his plane partially. His original intent was to bring the majority of the valley into his plane. By saying the valley is partially there, and that he wanted the majority it, is to make a very deep statement of magical theory. The movement of the valley to the PoS would not be a physical movement, as all great minds of magical theory understand, the valley, and all other geographical, as well as many very old or very magically powerful buildings and constructs, already have physical representations in the PoS, it is the spiritual and magical existence that important to Hexablacorpse. It was his desire to make a passage between the PoS and the valley much easier for he and his kind.

If his original plan had succeeded as Hexablacorpse had intended, then not only would he, and the denizens of his section of the PoS have direct access to the valley, there would also be easier movement from the PoS to the Prime Material Plane of Toril. However, as it worked out, only the weakest of his subjects have any access to both the sliver of the Prime Material Plane of Toril, in the form of the valley, but they have an even more limited access to Toril as a whole. Hexablacorpse has found this to be infuriating.

=== What Went Wrong: ===

'''Prophecy'''
There was a prophecy back when time was first beginning in Toril. The races of the Elves and Dwarves were still young but somehow they knew it was prophetic and would impact their valley, somehow, someday. So they committed the prophecy to their history annals. As the millennia passed, most if not all forgot about the prophecy, nothing was done, for it seemed so odd, none could see how it could in fact be about their valley, their world, there were no creatures calling themselves Human. But then there came into their valley a new race.

The Elves & Dwarves were friendly with each other in the early days, not seeing their racial differences as reason for distance. When this new race came to their valley, their first impressions were that it was not more than another orc or goblinoid, that would be equally as warlike, and bicker amongst itself, and never rise to pose a threat to them in their incredible supremacy. But there were those, amongst each of these proud races who ventured down, and mingled with this new race - it was these these adventurous types who came back saying they called themselves Human, but none saw that as anything special, for the prophecy had been all but forgotten.

From their limited exposure to the Elves and the Dwarves, the humans learned much, they quickly began to build more useful tools & dwellings. Their communities began to organize, and solidify more quickly. Then they began to carve out large areas of territory that they claimed for themselves, warring with the orcs and goblins...all this time, the Elves and Dwarves kept their distance as a whole, w/ only some rare adventurous types moving amongst the human communities.

There were some who were very learned and studious members of the Elder races, and occasionally they spoke with those who traveled the world, seeking adventure. It was a one such Dwarf who Re-found the Prophecy. He brought it up amongst the elder librarians, and discourse was begun about this so called prophecy. Eventually, someone amongst the dwaves mentioned the find, and a reference to the elves, to one of his elven collegues. The elf went to their archives and after some searching, he too found reference to the prophecy - more energetic discourse ensued.

By this time, the Humans had proven they were far superior to the Orcs in intellect, defeating them in military conflict due to discipline, tactics and equipment. They were not as warlike as the goblinoids & orcs, but they were very short lived. It was still difficult for the Elves and Dwarves to understand how these inferior beings could ever be considered a threat to themselves. But then the humans began to forge near mastercrafted metal instruments, and they began to weave powerful magics, magics that rivaled that of the elves even. Something must be done.

At first, war was considered, there were those who said that if they were to remove the humans from the equation, would solve the prophecy for they could not bring eternal darkness if they were not around to do so. But when the Dwarves took up arms and marched against the Humans, they learned then that the Humans were here to stay, for they were too numerous, their equipment good enough to work against even master crafted dwarven equipment, and their ability to mix powerful magic with martial skill & ferocity, was freightening. The dwarves withdrew and were forced to abandon their surface communities, for they had a few in the early days, when the humans pursued them into the mountains.

There were many elves who wanted to join the dwarves, saying they could make the difference, and swing the course of history in their favor. But there were more, and more influencial elves who took the stance that a prophecy is just that, it Will come to pass, no matter the efforts of those who tried to stop it. The trick of prophecy, according to these philosopher elves, was to be able to right the ship after the prophecy comes to pass, in this case, to once again bring light to the eternal darkness. This, along with many other differences of opinion brought civil conflict to the elves, and those who were more militant in their approach to the humans were eventually chased out of elf society. They were hunted and slain at every oportunity, so they went underground, eventually becoming the Drow.

The internal conflict amongst the elves, and the slow recovery of the dwarves, meant that thousands of years passed without anything significant being done to deal with the imminent prophecied events. Fortunately for them and all the members of the valley, the humans were constantly warring amongst themselves. They had risen quickly to a level of competency, but they still had a long way to go. This did not stop them from expanding however. In spite of their regular warring, the humans numbers grew with what the dwarves and elves saw as amazing rapidity. They moved beyond the walls of the valley, they forged nations, they met and delt with nearly all other races of Toril - they were slowly becoming a mature race.

There were some amongst them who came to live amongst the elves and dwarves. They studied their ways, befriended them, defended them as need arose, true respect was eventually developed between them. One day, one of those adventurous types came across the prophecy which had yet again been mostly forgotten.

One of the beauties of the human race, is their passion for life. They seem to realize they don't have long to live, so they try to squeeze as much as they can into their short years. This passion was conveyed to the elves and then the dwarves, and finally after many millinea, preparations were begun to deal with the inevitable event.

== Hexablacorpse's Recovery ==

By the time the Elder races, at the urgings of the humans actually started to make some headway in developing some way of recovering from the imminent prophecy, the Drow elves, and some evil humans, and the Duregar were consorting with the occupants of the outer planes. None trully know who, or which race tipped him off, but Hexablacorpes became aware of the prophecy about this time.

At first, he was not too concerned, but then his spies started to report some disturbing news, Hexablacorpse became concerned for the outcome of his plan, he began to try to intervene. At first, he would send what minions from his realm he could, to intervene, but they were too weak. Then Hexablacorpse tried sending worshipers and assassins from toril, but they too were thwarted overall. There were some minor successes, but nothing that trully impacted the development of the solution.

Finally, Hexablacorpes decided that he would have to end it from the inside. So he began to infiltrate those who were working to thwart his plans. Even the infiltration was difficult, his shadow minions were smelled out quickly, and slain - it was as if they had outside help - but Hexablacorpes was certain none would help this pathetic world, still, he had some of his greater lieutenants look into the possiblity that the Faerunians were receiving outside assistance. Eventually he was finally able to get some Torilians, whose loyalty he was able to ensure was unwaivering, infiltrated into the lower levels of the organization behind the development of the solution.

Through this infiltration, he was able to learn that they mortals of Toril truly were on the right path to thwarting his long developing plan - Hexablacorpse was enraged, but no fool, he recognized that he would have to intervene without them knowing he was doing so, in order to achieve the greatest success. He was able, after many decades, to get some of his spies involved in the actual creation and implementation process of the major components, most specifically, the Soul Stones and the ritual. He knew that if he could taint just a couple of the Soul Stones and somehow interfere w/ the ritual just enough, his plan could be saved.

He was able to taint two of the Soul Stones with the souls of devoted servants, and he was able to have some of the syllables in the ritual to be minorly mispronounced, thus changing their meaning and outcome. Additionally, he was able to implement a secondary function of the ritual, which would petrify all of the participants in the ritual. Each of these were done through unafilliated cells, reducing the likelyhood of the failure of one group leading to the failure of others. And there were failures, but for the most part, Hexablacorpse was able to pull off his great scheme, or so he thought.

The entire valley was shunted into shadow, but access to the valley was somehow almost impossible. Entrance into Toril was easier than forseen, but this was of little consequence, since the entire world was at war, there were very few mortals actually remaining to make the trip into Toril worth the effort.

>>>

User:Feniqs

2008-03-26T02:03:28Z

Feniqs:

[[The Valley of Darkness:Main Page]]

The Valley of Darkness:The Main Plot

2008-03-18T18:55:00Z

Feniqs:

== FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT: ONLY GMs should read this page ==

'''Please, if you are not a GM, then don't read any further! You wouldn't want to ruin the story would you?'''

Essentially, the objective of this whole adventure is to rescue the valley from the constant darkness. So, there are several stages which will bring this about, and how you have the adventurers discover the clues, empower the items, and awaken the sleeping heroes, is up to you. What has to happen, when it all comes down to it, is that The Shadow Demon Lord who is responsible for the darkness must come to the valley, be confronted and destroyed.

Easily said, nearly impossible to accomplish. :)

[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/The_Valley_of_Darkness:Main_Page[Main Page]]

== The Truth Behind the Darkening: ==

To cut to the chase, the truth is that the valley is mostly in the Plane of Shadow (PoS). The Shadow Lord Hexablacorps (a silly name I gave him, that has no meaning) put certain events into action over the past millennium that ultimately resulted in a very significant portion of the valley being shunted so that it is mostly in the PoS.

Much to Hexablacorpse's shagrin, the great ritual event only brought the valley into his plane partially. His original intent was to bring the majority of the valley into his plane. By saying the valley is partially there, and that he wanted the majority it, is to make a very deep statement of magical theory. The movement of the valley to the PoS would not be a physical movement, as all great minds of magical theory understand, the valley, and all other geographical, as well as many very old or very magically powerful buildings and constructs, already have physical representations in the PoS, it is the spiritual and magical existence that important to Hexablacorpse. It was his desire to make a passage between the PoS and the valley much easier for he and his kind.

If his original plan had succeeded as Hexablacorpse had intended, then not only would he, and the denizens of his section of the PoS have direct access to the valley, there would also be easier movement from the PoS to the Prime Material Plane of Toril. However, as it worked out, only the weakest of his subjects have any access to both the sliver of the Prime Material Plane of Toril, in the form of the valley, but they have an even more limited access to Toril as a whole. Hexablacorpse has found this to be infuriating.

== What Went Wrong: ==

'''Prophecy'''
There was a prophecy back when time was first beginning in Toril. The races of the Elves and Dwarves were still young but somehow they knew it was prophetic and would impact their valley, somehow, someday. So they committed the prophecy to their history annals. As the millennia passed, most if not all forgot about the prophecy, nothing was done, for it seemed so odd, none could see how it could in fact be about their valley, their world, there were no creatures calling themselves Human. But then there came into their valley a new race.

The Elves & Dwarves were friendly with each other in the early days, not seeing their racial differences as reason for distance. When this new race came to their valley, their first impressions were that it was not more than another orc or goblinoid, that would be equally as warlike, and bicker amongst itself, and never rise to pose a threat to them in their incredible supremacy. But there were those, amongst each of these proud races who ventured down, and mingled with this new race - it was these these adventurous types who came back saying they called themselves Human, but none saw that as anything special, for the prophecy had been all but forgotten.

From their limited exposure to the Elves and the Dwarves, the humans learned much, they quickly began to build more useful tools & dwellings. Their communities began to organize, and solidify more quickly. Then they began to carve out large areas of territory that they claimed for themselves, warring with the orcs and goblins...all this time, the Elves and Dwarves kept their distance as a whole, w/ only some rare adventurous types moving amongst the human communities.

There were some who were very learned and studious members of the Elder races, and occasionally they spoke with those who traveled the world, seeking adventure. It was a one such Dwarf who Re-found the Prophecy. He brought it up amongst the elder librarians, and discourse was begun about this so called prophecy. Eventually, someone amongst the dwaves mentioned the find, and a reference to the elves, to one of his elven collegues. The elf went to their archives and after some searching, he too found reference to the prophecy - more energetic discourse ensued.

By this time, the Humans had proven they were far superior to the Orcs in intellect, defeating them in military conflict due to discipline, tactics and equipment. They were not as warlike as the goblinoids & orcs, but they were very short lived. It was still difficult for the Elves and Dwarves to understand how these inferior beings could ever be considered a threat to themselves. But then the humans began to forge near mastercrafted metal instruments, and they began to weave powerful magics, magics that rivaled that of the elves even. Something must be done.

At first, war was considered, there were those who said that if they were to remove the humans from the equation, would solve the prophecy for they could not bring eternal darkness if they were not around to do so. But when the Dwarves took up arms and marched against the Humans, they learned then that the Humans were here to stay, for they were too numerous, their equipment good enough to work against even master crafted dwarven equipment, and their ability to mix powerful magic with martial skill & ferocity, was freightening. The dwarves withdrew and were forced to abandon their surface communities, for they had a few in the early days, when the humans pursued them into the mountains.

There were many elves who wanted to join the dwarves, saying they could make the difference, and swing the course of history in their favor. But there were more, and more influencial elves who took the stance that a prophecy is just that, it Will come to pass, no matter the efforts of those who tried to stop it. The trick of prophecy, according to these philosopher elves, was to be able to right the ship after the prophecy comes to pass, in this case, to once again bring light to the eternal darkness. This, along with many other differences of opinion brought civil conflict to the elves, and those who were more militant in their approach to the humans were eventually chased out of elf society. They were hunted and slain at every oportunity, so they went underground, eventually becoming the Drow.

The internal conflict amongst the elves, and the slow recovery of the dwarves, meant that thousands of years passed without anything significant being done to deal with the imminent prophecied events. Fortunately for them and all the members of the valley, the humans were constantly warring amongst themselves. They had risen quickly to a level of competency, but they still had a long way to go. This did not stop them from expanding however. In spite of their regular warring, the humans numbers grew with what the dwarves and elves saw as amazing rapidity. They moved beyond the walls of the valley, they forged nations, they met and delt with nearly all other races of Toril - they were slowly becoming a mature race.

There were some amongst them who came to live amongst the elves and dwarves. They studied their ways, befriended them, defended them as need arose, true respect was eventually developed between them. One day, one of those adventurous types came across the prophecy which had yet again been mostly forgotten.

One of the beauties of the human race, is their passion for life. They seem to realize they don't have long to live, so they try to squeeze as much as they can into their short years. This passion was conveyed to the elves and then the dwarves, and finally after many millinea, preparations were begun to deal with the inevitable event.

== Hexablacorpse's Recovery ==

By the time the Elder races, at the urgings of the humans actually started to make some headway in developing some way of recovering from the imminent prophecy, the Drow elves, and some evil humans, and the Duregar were consorting with the occupants of the outer planes. None trully know who, or which race tipped him off, but Hexablacorpes became aware of the prophecy about this time.

At first, he was not too concerned, but then his spies started to report some disturbing news, Hexablacorpse became concerned for the outcome of his plan, he began to try to intervene. At first, he would send what minions from his realm he could, to intervene, but they were too weak. Then Hexablacorpse tried sending worshipers and assassins from toril, but they too were thwarted overall. There were some minor successes, but nothing that trully impacted the development of the solution.

Finally, Hexablacorpes decided that he would have to end it from the inside. So he began to infiltrate those who were working to thwart his plans. Even the infiltration was difficult, his shadow minions were smelled out quickly, and slain - it was as if they had outside help - but Hexablacorpes was certain none would help this pathetic world, still, he had some of his greater lieutenants look into the possiblity that the Faerunians were receiving outside assistance. Eventually he was finally able to get some Torilians, whose loyalty he was able to ensure was unwaivering, infiltrated into the lower levels of the organization behind the development of the solution.

Through this

>>>

The Valley of Darkness:The Main Plot

2008-03-18T18:06:47Z

Feniqs:

== FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT: ONLY GMs should read this page ==

Essentially, the objective of this whole adventure is to rescue the valley from the constant darkness. So, there are several stages which will bring this about, and how you have the adventurers discover the clues, empower the items, and awaken the sleeping heroes, is up to you. What has to happen, when it all comes down to it, is that The Shadow Demon Lord who is responsible for the darkness must come to the valley, be confronted and destroyed.

Easily said, nearly impossible to accomplish. :)

[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/The_Valley_of_Darkness:Main_Page[Main Page]]

== The Truth Behind the Darkening: ==

To cut to the chase, the truth is that the valley is mostly in the Plane of Shadow (PoS). The Shadow Lord Hexablacorps (a silly name I gave him, that has no meaning) put certain events into action over the past millennium that ultimately resulted in a very significant portion of the valley being shunted so that it is mostly in the PoS.

Much to Hexablacorpse's shagrin, the great ritual event only brought the valley into his plane partially. His original intent was to bring the majority of the valley into his plane. By saying the valley is partially there, and that he wanted the majority it, is to make a very deep statement of magical theory. The movement of the valley to the PoS would not be a physical movement, as all great minds of magical theory understand, the valley, and all other geographical, as well as many very old or very magically powerful buildings and constructs, already have physical representations in the PoS, it is the spiritual and magical existence that important to Hexablacorpse. It was his desire to make a passage between the PoS and the valley much easier for he and his kind.

If his original plan had succeeded as Hexablacorpse had intended, then not only would he, and the denizens of his section of the PoS have direct access to the valley, there would also be easier movement from the PoS to the Prime Material Plane of Toril. However, as it worked out, only the weakest of his subjects have any access to both the sliver of the Prime Material Plane of Toril, in the form of the valley, but they have an even more limited access to Toril as a whole. Hexablacorpse has found this to be infuriating.

== What Went Wrong: ==

'''Prophecy'''
There was a prophecy back when time was first beginning in Toril. The races of the Elves and Dwarves were still young but somehow they knew it was prophetic and would impact their valley, somehow, someday. So they committed the prophecy to their history annals. As the millennia passed, most if not all forgot about the prophecy, nothing was done, for it seemed so odd, none could see how it could in fact be about their valley, their world, there were no creatures calling themselves Human. But then there came into their valley a new race.

The Elves & Dwarves were friendly with each other in the early days, not seeing their racial differences as reason for distance. When this new race came to their valley, their first impressions were that it was not more than another orc or goblinoid, that would be equally as warlike, and bicker amongst itself, and never rise to pose a threat to them in their incredible supremacy. But there were those, amongst each of these proud races who ventured down, and mingled with this new race - it was these these adventurous types who came back saying they called themselves Human, but none saw that as anything special, for the prophecy had been all but forgotten.

From their limited exposure to the Elves and the Dwarves, the humans learned much, they quickly began to build more useful tools & dwellings. Their communities began to organize, and solidify more quickly. Then they began to carve out large areas of territory that they claimed for themselves, warring with the orcs and goblins...all this time, the Elves and Dwarves kept their distance as a whole, w/ only some rare adventurous types moving amongst the human communities.

There were some who were very learned and studious members of the Elder races, and occasionally they spoke with those who traveled the world, seeking adventure. It was a one such Dwarf who Re-found the Prophecy. He brought it up amongst the elder librarians, and discourse was begun about this so called prophecy. Eventually, someone amongst the dwaves mentioned the find, and a reference to the elves, to one of his elven collegues. The elf went to their archives and after some searching, he too found reference to the prophecy - more energetic discourse ensued.

By this time, the Humans had proven they were far superior to the Orcs in intellect, defeating them in military conflict due to discipline, tactics and equipment. They were not as warlike as the goblinoids & orcs, but they were very short lived. It was still difficult for the Elves and Dwarves to understand how these inferior beings could ever be considered a threat to themselves. But then the humans began to forge near mastercrafted metal instruments, and they began to weave powerful magics, magics that rivaled that of the elves even. Something must be done.

At first, war was considered, there were those who said that if they were to remove the humans from the equation, would solve the prophecy for they could not bring eternal darkness if they were not around to do so. But when the Dwarves took up arms and marched against the Humans, they learned then that the Humans were here to stay, for they were too numerous, their equipment good enough to work against even master crafted dwarven equipment, and their ability to mix powerful magic with martial skill & ferocity, was freightening. The dwarves withdrew and were forced to abandon their surface communities, for they had a few in the early days, when the humans pursued them into the mountains.

There were many elves who wanted to join the dwarves, saying they could make the difference, and swing the course of history in their favor. But there were more, and more influencial elves who took the stance that a prophecy is just that, it Will come to pass, no matter the efforts of those who tried to stop it. The trick of prophecy, according to these philosopher elves, was to be able to right the ship after the prophecy comes to pass, in this case, to once again bring light to the eternal darkness. This, along with many other differences of opinion brought civil conflict to the elves, and those who were more militant in their approach to the humans were eventually chased out of elf society. They were hunted and slain at every oportunity, so they went underground, eventually becoming the Drow.

The internal conflict amongst the elves, and the slow recovery of the dwarves, meant that thousands of years passed without anything significant being done to deal with the imminent prophecied events. Fortunately for them and all the members of the valley, the humans were constantly warring amongst themselves. They had risen quickly to a level of competency, but they still had a long way to go. This did not stop them from expanding however. In spite of their regular warring, the humans numbers grew with what the dwarves and elves saw as amazing rapidity. They moved beyond the walls of the valley, they forged nations, they met and delt with nearly all other races of Toril - they were slowly becoming a mature race.

There were some amongst them who came to live amongst the elves and dwarves. They studied their ways, befriended them, defended them as need arose, true respect was eventually developed between them. One day, one of those adventurous types came across the prophecy which had yet again been mostly forgotten.

One of the beauties of the human race, is their passion for life. They seem to realize they don't have long to live, so they try to squeeze as much as they can into their short years. This passion was conveyed to the elves and then the dwarves, and finally after many millinea, preparations were begun to deal with the inevitable event.

>>>

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-18T17:09:56Z

Feniqs:

[[Category:A D&D 3.5 Edition Campaign Adventure]]

[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/The_Valley_of_Darkness:The_Main_Plot[The Main Plot]]

== An Overview of the Valley: ==

This is a very large valley set in a moderate, temperate region. The Western edge of the valley is set against a large bay, the three other borders are defined by Rugged Mountains that had no less than 2 passes each, allowing for robust trade with the nations and regions beyond the valley prior to the 'Darkening.'

Set against the bay there are 3 fairly large cities, Pillinqual is the largest of these, as well as the largest city of the valley. Pillinqual is built into the cliffs that border the sea for most of the western coast. The two rivers that flow into the sea are on the northern and southern sides of the plateau upon which Pillinqual sets. I had the adventure begin here in Pillinqual. There is a rivalry between these 3 cities, each claiming to have rightful claim to rulership over the valley. In Pillinqual, they refer to their leader as the Emperor. The emperor is ruler over the largest region of any of the cities, including several other townships, giving him the largest population to pull from for armed forces, and other resources.

In spite of the prominent rivalry, there is still a vibrant trade system between the cities, and each of them sends royal contengents to compete in gladiatorial tournaments regularly. Each city hosts no less than 2 major gladiatorial tournaments per year. The true reason for hosting these gladiatorial events, is to give cause for travel between cities for rich merchants, dignitaries and persons of power who are interested in the rampant slave trade market in each city. Approximately 75% of the population of each of these cities consists of slaves.

The slave trade is a very vibrant form of income for the valley as a whole. Nearly all communities, no matter the race, have been victimized by slavers, or used the slave market to help them carve a nich for themselves. There are slaving groups that act very similarly to the way the Privatiers of the 1500's did. They are licensed to operate by one of the rival ruling parties, but considered outlaws and thieves by the other ruling party. The slave market is not exclusive to any race, creed, or socio/political stature, they are all possible slaves; though it is dominated by the minority races (Orc, Dwarf, Elf, etc...). All of the slaves have a magical mark on them that is recognizable by anyone who does not have that mark.

Deeper into the valley, which is 500+/- miles East to West and 350+/- miles North to South, there are numerous communities, a few of which rival Pillinqual in size and diversity. Typical traveling to and from these communities can be either by river or road. Most of the communities deeper into the valley have little or no slavery, they are the communities most commonly victimized by the slavers, and have developed a dislike for it.

The western end of the valley is difficult to travel through without the roads or rivers for it is rife with plateaus and deep river canyons. There are many bridges and switchback trails that lead into and out of Pillinqual, and the other two cities on the coast, but each of these cities have direct access to each other by sea, and to the valley by the rivers. Skald and Ermach have easier access to the eastern portions of the valley by land because they are ouside the area with all the canyons.

Set in the heart of the valley, is a fairly large mountain range that is known to be the home of numerous savage species, as well as two strong, successful dwarven clans. There are a couple big townships that have sprouted up in the foothill surrounding these mountains. In the northern and southern corners along the far eastern border of the valley, there are two fortress communities who have storied histories dating back before the darkening, but they are mostly remembered for their roles in allowing the darkening to occur.

== Races of the Valley: ==

I ran this valley with Orcs and 1/2 Orcs as regular members of society. Yes, they are nearly always left in the dregs, scraping and fighting to make a living, but they are accepted as another of the civilized races - barely. Therefor, full Orc can be taken as a Player Character.
STATS: As per the Monster Manual 3.5 except that I gave them an additional +2 Con. If you compare the Orc from the MM w/ the common Dwarf, there is no reason not to give the orc the extra Con. (in my humble opinion)

Drow Elves are common members of society, however, their 3 centures of exposure to the pseudo-sun and fresh air have had an effect upon them similar to the effects it has upon their magical armor & swords - their powers and abilities have diminished greatly. Drow no longer have spell resistance and their dark vision is cut down to 60'.
STATS: No Spell Resistance, Dark Vision 60 ft., No Light Blindness, No Dancing Lights, No Faerie Fire, Light Sensetivity (dazzled in bright light). All other stats are identical to those from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting rule book, pg. 13.

Mountain Dwarves; These are a sturdier race of dwarf that come from the Dragon Scale mountains - the range of mountains in the heart of the valley. These dwarves are refered to as Mountain Dwarves, their homes are more like the cliff face homes of the native american tribes of the american south west. These dwarves average 9" taller than typical dwarves.
STATS:+2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Cha, +2 attack vs orc, goblinkin, & giantkin, base speed 30, +2 AC vs giant, no appraise bonus, Low Light Vision, No sense of Depth underground, no bonus to saving throws vs spells, no bonus to stone-crafting skills.

No race with outsider blood was allowed. As the story goes, the people of the valley learned to loath and mistrust any creature from the outerplanes, for they are the reason the valley has become what it is today. All regions of the valley, and all levels of society, will draw together to slay anyone they feel has outsider blood. Therefor, no Aasimar, Genasi, Tiefling or any other powerful race should be allowed.

== Slavery in the Valley: ==

It is vile and despicable, it is reviled by most, and yet it is pretty much everywhere. Even the people of the valley who have little exposure to slavery take it for granted and are unwilling to help any who are trying to escape it. It has been a part of the culture of the region since before the Darkening, though before the Darkening they were not victimized by slavers, nearly all of the slaves came from beyond the valley, with a small few consisting of convicted criminals.

There is a society and hierarchy for the slaves. There are three basic catagories under which the vast majority of slaves fall:
Household
Worker
Gladiator
Of these catagories, the gladiators have the quickest road to freedom, they can earn it through enough successes in the ring. However one defeat will send them down to start over again. While death occurs constantly upon the sands of the ring, few of the deaths are permanent, at least for successful or charismatic gladiators. Magic allows their owners to preserve their lives, allowing them to again foray into the ring.

This adventure will begin with all of the group being slaves who have one way or another found their way into the gladiatorial rings. Either they are too unruly or just plain built for life in the ring and have been trained there ever since.

Withing the Gladiatorial slave society there too is a hierarchy. This hierarch is coveted by those at the bottom and brutally protected by those at or near the top. Within this society, the concern of overzealous bosses is rampant, many work to constantly keep those beneath them, beneath them. There is a Ranking system, to which all of the slaves answer and most aspire to ascend:
Slave
Private
Seargent
Lieutenant
Captain
Each of these ranks have privileges or lack there of, based upon their station. While the slaves sleep in cold dank rooms with straw strewn upon the floor, holding no real possessions, the captain has a suite of rooms all to himself, a wench or two upon whom he can call any time and access to better parts of the city. Slaves have no access to any shops, they are provided a cloth smock for clothes and eat & drink all from the same trough, like livestock. Slaves typically are crowded into a room about 15 per 100 sq feet.

Those who rise above slave find they are privates. As privates, they will get a miniscule share of the purse for each victory, they are allowed to visit a very select few shops to improve their clothing and possibly even buy shoes. After any victory they achieve, they will be allowed one watered down beer or ale. Their rooms are slighly less crowded, about 10 people per 100 sq feet.

Seargents have it much nicer, but rising from private to seargent is probably the most difficlt ascension of them all. Once a slave achieves seargent, he/she is allowed to visit the shops of the poorer part of town, they get a larger portion of their purse, which they can spend on anything but weapons or items that could be perceived/used as weapons (bat guano for instance). Seargents are sheltered in rooms of about 3 per 100 sq feet, given straw matresses and allowed to hold their possessions in locked boxes.

'''The Broken Dagger''' is a well organized group of thieves, thugs, & cripples who, in addition to their more commonly expected forms of employment, work to assist slaves in escaping their bonds. This group has some powerful wizards who are capable of removing the slave mark, with no residual mark remaining. For an additional fee, the Broken Dagger will arrainge for the freed slave to leave the region of the heaviest slaving. This process is not cheap, but it comes with guarantees and the Broken Dagger are the real deal. In fact, the Broken Dagger also works to protect the slave market; they like the slaves being enslaved, so they have reason to pay for their freedom. They also work to protect their market, they come down hard on anyone trying to break into the outlawed slave freeing market.

== The Darkening: ==

History tells the inhabitants of the valley that for more than a century, prior to the Darkening, the world around their valley had erupted into catastrophic war. The war, it is said, reached unimaginable levels of horror, depravity and destruction, wizards and priest around the world had invited creatures of the outer planes to come over and assist them in their pursuit of their goals. Somehow, this valley had managed to stay mostly free of much of the conflict that went on around them, however, and many began to realize that something drastic must be done.

So the people of influence from around the valley began to work on a way to prevent the war from overlapping into their relatively peaceful home. As time passed, pressure mounted for those involved to succeed, so they too started to recruit help, but only from outside their valley, they limited their recruitment, allowing only mortals to contribute. This collaboration is why Drow are regular members of society, for they were amongst some of the greatest wizards contributing to the ritual spell they eventually cast.

Sadly, something went terribly wrong with the casting of the spell, for all those involved were permanently turned to stone: every form of enchantment breaking magic and transmutation has been used upon them since the Darkening, all to no avail. However, it appeared to accomplish that which they said it would, albeit with some unexpected side effect.

Upon the completion of the ritual a thick, miasmic darkness descended around the valley in a palpable line. In the early years, many people would cross over the line of darkness, seeking news from the outside, brave adventurers seeking unknown glory, lovesick family members or sweethearts searching for a lost loved one, they all went into the shadows but never returned. The Darkness stretches around the entirety of the valley, beginning just where the statues of those great wizards, priests and other people of power stood to enact their one last hope. Even out in the mouth of the Bay, there is a line of statues that appear to be standing upon the surface of the sea, where the heroes who were there to contribute to the ritual, were levitating or flying.

The only remnant of the bright, beautiful realm they lived in before the darkening, the people of the valley have is their subdued sun. While their sun rises and sets every day, as it has done since the creation of their world, the darkness seems to sap away some of its light, subduing it, making it appear to be twilight, even in the middle of the longest day of the year.

Many, if not most of the people have come to hate the darkness, saying they should have taken their chances with the war. At least then they would have died normally. There are those who believe this darkness is supernatural and not of their world, that it is cold, and smacks of the freightful, Dark Goddess Shar, Mistress of the Night.

== Magic & Healing in the Valley: ==

Immediately after the completion of the Darkening ritual, manny users of magic around the valley began to notice very profound changes in the way magic works:

Teleportation, Dimension Door, and all other forms of immediate travel have ceased to work.

Spells that use extra-dimensional effects, such as Magic Rope, or Meld Into Stone, no longer function.

Effects such as Fly, Levitate and Wind Walk have their effects significantly restricted. They move at a greatly reduced pace, while the maneuverability, and duration require significant concentration - on a plus side, however, they all now last at least as long as their caster can hold his/her concentration and most of them last a little longer, based upon the caster's level.

Healing effects of priests, druids, shaman & bards have increased significantly:
The orison 'Cure Minor Wounds' heals 2 pts + 1 pt per 5 levels of the caster.
All of the other Curing spells add the casters level x 1.5 to the dice roll, and all healing dice have been increased from a D8 to a D10.

Additionally, spell casters who traditionally have had access to powerful magic, but not to powerful healing magic, have found a new connection to the magical weave, allowing them to cast some worthwile healing spells.
2nd lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Minor Wounds' heals 1d6+1/2 lvl. (Maximum +5)
4th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Moderate Wounds' heals 2d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +10)
7th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Serious Wounds' heals 3d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +15)
9th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Critical Wounds' heals 4d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +20)

== Religeons of the Dark Valley: ==

THE NINE
Practiced Primarily in Pillinqual, the Nine are new gods that have enjoyed a great increase in their following over the past 200ish years. After the Dark War and the collapse of the rest of civilization, The Nine were attributed with leading the High Wizards to contact the Drow and convince them to come up from the depths to aid the citizens of the Dark Valley. It is taught that The Nine were the creators of this world, forgotten for millennia, awaiting the coming of the Dark War and their rediscovery.
THE HAG - Mistress of Death, The Crone, Queen of the Dark, Web Weaver
Followers are typically NE,
Favored Weapon: Hand Crossbow and Club
THE ALL FATHER - Rager, Storm Bringer, The Judge
Followers are typically CG
Favored Weapon: Battle Axe and Spear
THE PRINCE - Blade Master,
Followers are typically LG
Favored Weapon: Long Sword, Bastard Sword and Heavy Repeating Crossbow
THE PRINCESS - Beauty Queen, Life Bringer, Morning Glory
Followers are typically NG
Favored Weapon: Scimitar and Light Crossbow
THE JESTER - The Clown, The Fool, Keeper of Secrets, Gossip Monger
Followers are typically CN
Favored Weapon: Dagger and Dart
THE GENERAL - Tactician, Battle Master
Followers are typically LN
Favored Weapon: War Hammer and Horn Composite Bow
THE MISTRESS - The Seductress,
Followers are typically CN
Favored Weapon: Dagger (melee & thrown)
THE ORACLE - Harbinger,
Followers are typically N
Favored Weapon: Scythe and Javelin
THE WIZARD - Moon Rider, Dark Spirit
Followers are typically LE
Favored Weapon: Stave and Sling

THE ONE TRUE GOD
A new, volatile religion that is gaining more and more momentum in the outlying towns and villages. Much of what is taught by this following is very similar to the Muslim faith of today. Specifically that it is acceptable, even expected that those who are not believers are not worthy of respect; that it is okay to enslave them, or even slay them. They are fervent believers in a keeping purity within the races. It is also taught in this faith that men are expected to have more than one bride/lover to more quickly spread the good word, and that women are to respect their men, who are their superiors.
THE GODS OF OLD
When the Dark War ended, most of the citizens of the Dark Valley abandoned the old gods, especially since their ability to communicate with the people of the valley was severely hampered by the warding that currently keeps the valley safe from the Demonic
denizens of the world. Only these few Gods of Old have been able to keep much of a following in the valley, and it is mostly in Skald and Emach where they have anything resembling a strong following. These gods have even adapted some, to better fit the needs and demands of their believers. It is taught by the fellowship of the Gods of Old that the Dark War was planned, orchestrated, and put into play by The Nine.
MYSTRA - NG
KORD - CN
BANE - LE
TYR - LG
HELM - LN
SHAR - NE
EHLONA - CG
CYRIC - CE

The Valley of Darkness:The Main Plot

2008-03-18T07:05:15Z

Feniqs:

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-17T22:56:40Z

Feniqs:

[[Category:A D&D 3.5 Edition Campaign Adventure]]

[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/The_Valley_of_Darkness:The_Main_Plot[The Main Plot]]

== An Overview of the Valley: ==

This is a very large valley set in a moderate, temperate region. The Western edge of the valley is set against a large bay, the three other borders are defined by Rugged Mountains that had no less than 2 passes each, allowing for robust trade with the nations and regions beyond the valley prior to the 'Darkening.'

Set against the bay there are 3 fairly large cities, Pillinqual is the largest of these, as well as the largest city of the valley. Pillinqual is built into the cliffs that border the sea for most of the western coast. The two rivers that flow into the sea are on the northern and southern sides of the plateau upon which Pillinqual sets. I had the adventure begin here in Pillinqual. There is a rivalry between these 3 cities, each claiming to have rightful claim to rulership over the valley. In Pillinqual, they refer to their leader as the Emperor. The emperor is ruler over the largest region of any of the cities, including several other townships, giving him the largest population to pull from for armed forces, and other resources.

In spite of the prominent rivalry, there is still a vibrant trade system between the cities, and each of them sends royal contengents to compete in gladiatorial tournaments regularly. Each city hosts no less than 2 major gladiatorial tournaments per year. The true reason for hosting these gladiatorial events, is to give cause for travel between cities for rich merchants, dignitaries and persons of power who are interested in the rampant slave trade market in each city. Approximately 75% of the population of each of these cities consists of slaves.

The slave trade is a very vibrant form of income for the valley as a whole. Nearly all communities, no matter the race, have been victimized by slavers, or used the slave market to help them carve a nich for themselves. There are slaving groups that act very similarly to the way the Privatiers of the 1500's did. They are licensed to operate by one of the rival ruling parties, but considered outlaws and thieves by the other ruling party. The slave market is not exclusive to any race, creed, or socio/political stature, they are all possible slaves; though it is dominated by the minority races (Orc, Dwarf, Elf, etc...). All of the slaves have a magical mark on them that is recognizable by anyone who does not have that mark.

Deeper into the valley, which is 500+/- miles East to West and 350+/- miles North to South, there are numerous communities, a few of which rival Pillinqual in size and diversity. Typical traveling to and from these communities can be either by river or road. Most of the communities deeper into the valley have little or no slavery, they are the communities most commonly victimized by the slavers, and have developed a dislike for it.

The western end of the valley is difficult to travel through without the roads or rivers for it is rife with plateaus and deep river canyons. There are many bridges and switchback trails that lead into and out of Pillinqual, and the other two cities on the coast, but each of these cities have direct access to each other by sea, and to the valley by the rivers. Skald and Ermach have easier access to the eastern portions of the valley by land because they are ouside the area with all the canyons.

Set in the heart of the valley, is a fairly large mountain range that is known to be the home of numerous savage species, as well as two strong, successful dwarven clans. There are a couple big townships that have sprouted up in the foothill surrounding these mountains. In the northern and southern corners along the far eastern border of the valley, there are two fortress communities who have storied histories dating back before the darkening, but they are mostly remembered for their roles in allowing the darkening to occur.

== Races of the Valley: ==

I ran this valley with Orcs and 1/2 Orcs as regular members of society. Yes, they are nearly always left in the dregs, scraping and fighting to make a living, but they are accepted as another of the civilized races - barely. Therefor, full Orc can be taken as a Player Character.
STATS: As per the Monster Manual 3.5 except that I gave them an additional +2 Con. If you compare the Orc from the MM w/ the common Dwarf, there is no reason not to give the orc the extra Con. (in my humble opinion)

Drow Elves are common members of society, however, their 3 centures of exposure to the pseudo-sun and fresh air have had an effect upon them similar to the effects it has upon their magical armor & swords - their powers and abilities have diminished greatly. Drow no longer have spell resistance and their dark vision is cut down to 60'.
STATS: No Spell Resistance, Dark Vision 60 ft., No Light Blindness, No Dancing Lights, No Faerie Fire, Light Sensetivity (dazzled in bright light). All other stats are identical to those from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting rule book, pg. 13.

Mountain Dwarves; These are a sturdier race of dwarf that come from the Dragon Scale mountains - the range of mountains in the heart of the valley. These dwarves are refered to as Mountain Dwarves, their homes are more like the cliff face homes of the native american tribes of the american south west. These dwarves average 9" taller than typical dwarves.
STATS:+2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Cha, +2 attack vs orc, goblinkin, & giantkin, base speed 30, +2 AC vs giant, no appraise bonus, Low Light Vision, No sense of Depth underground, no bonus to saving throws vs spells, no bonus to stone-crafting skills.

No race with outsider blood was allowed. As the story goes, the people of the valley learned to loath and mistrust any creature from the outerplanes, for they are the reason the valley has become what it is today. All regions of the valley, and all levels of society, will draw together to slay anyone they feel has outsider blood. Therefor, no Aasimar, Genasi, Tiefling or any other powerful race should be allowed.

== Slavery in the Valley: ==

It is vile and despicable, it is reviled by most, and yet it is pretty much everywhere. Even the people of the valley who have little exposure to slavery take it for granted and are unwilling to help any who are trying to escape it. It has been a part of the culture of the region since before the Darkening, though before the Darkening they were not victimized by slavers, nearly all of the slaves came from beyond the valley, with a small few consisting of convicted criminals.

There is a society and hierarchy for the slaves. There are three basic catagories under which the vast majority of slaves fall:
Household
Worker
Gladiator
Of these catagories, the gladiators have the quickest road to freedom, they can earn it through enough successes in the ring. However one defeat will send them down to start over again. While death occurs constantly upon the sands of the ring, few of the deaths are permanent, at least for successful or charismatic gladiators. Magic allows their owners to preserve their lives, allowing them to again foray into the ring.

This adventure will begin with all of the group being slaves who have one way or another found their way into the gladiatorial rings. Either they are too unruly or just plain built for life in the ring and have been trained there ever since.

Withing the Gladiatorial slave society there too is a hierarchy. This hierarch is coveted by those at the bottom and brutally protected by those at or near the top. Within this society, the concern of overzealous bosses is rampant, many work to constantly keep those beneath them, beneath them. There is a Ranking system, to which all of the slaves answer and most aspire to ascend:
Slave
Private
Seargent
Lieutenant
Captain
Each of these ranks have privileges or lack there of, based upon their station. While the slaves sleep in cold dank rooms with straw strewn upon the floor, holding no real possessions, the captain has a suite of rooms all to himself, a wench or two upon whom he can call any time and access to better parts of the city. Slaves have no access to any shops, they are provided a cloth smock for clothes and eat & drink all from the same trough, like livestock. Slaves typically are crowded into a room about 15 per 100 sq feet.

Those who rise above slave find they are privates. As privates, they will get a miniscule share of the purse for each victory, they are allowed to visit a very select few shops to improve their clothing and possibly even buy shoes. After any victory they achieve, they will be allowed one watered down beer or ale. Their rooms are slighly less crowded, about 10 people per 100 sq feet.

Seargents have it much nicer, but rising from private to seargent is probably the most difficlt ascension of them all. Once a slave achieves seargent, he/she is allowed to visit the shops of the poorer part of town, they get a larger portion of their purse, which they can spend on anything but weapons or items that could be perceived/used as weapons (bat guano for instance). Seargents are sheltered in rooms of about 3 per 100 sq feet, given straw matresses and allowed to hold their possessions in locked boxes.

'''The Broken Dagger''' is a well organized group of thieves, thugs, & cripples who, in addition to their more commonly expected forms of employment, work to assist slaves in escaping their bonds. This group has some powerful wizards who are capable of removing the slave mark, with no residual mark remaining. For an additional fee, the Broken Dagger will arrainge for the freed slave to leave the region of the heaviest slaving. This process is not cheap, but it comes with guarantees and the Broken Dagger are the real deal. In fact, the Broken Dagger also works to protect the slave market; they like the slaves being enslaved, so they have reason to pay for their freedom. They also work to protect their market, they come down hard on anyone trying to break into the outlawed slave freeing market.

== The Darkening: ==

History tells the inhabitants of the valley that for more than a century, prior to the Darkening, the world around their valley had erupted into catastrophic war. The war, it is said, reached unimaginable levels of horror, depravity and destruction, wizards and priest around the world had invited creatures of the outer planes to come over and assist them in their pursuit of their goals. Somehow, this valley had managed to stay mostly free of much of the conflict that went on around them, however, and many began to realize that something drastic must be done.

So the people of influence from around the valley began to work on a way to prevent the war from overlapping into their relatively peaceful home. As time passed, pressure mounted for those involved to succeed, so they too started to recruit help, but only from outside their valley, they limited their recruitment, allowing only mortals to contribute. This collaboration is why Drow are regular members of society, for they were amongst some of the greatest wizards contributing to the ritual spell they eventually cast.

Sadly, something went terribly wrong with the casting of the spell, for all those involved were permanently turned to stone: every form of enchantment breaking magic and transmutation has been used upon them since the Darkening, all to no avail. However, it appeared to accomplish that which they said it would, albeit with some unexpected side effect.

Upon the completion of the ritual a thick, miasmic darkness descended around the valley in a palpable line. In the early years, many people would cross over the line of darkness, seeking news from the outside, brave adventurers seeking unknown glory, lovesick family members or sweethearts searching for a lost loved one, they all went into the shadows but never returned. The Darkness stretches around the entirety of the valley, beginning just where the statues of those great wizards, priests and other people of power stood to enact their one last hope. Even out in the mouth of the Bay, there is a line of statues that appear to be standing upon the surface of the sea, where the heroes who were there to contribute to the ritual, were levitating or flying.

The only remnant of the bright, beautiful realm they lived in before the darkening, the people of the valley have is their subdued sun. While their sun rises and sets every day, as it has done since the creation of their world, the darkness seems to sap away some of its light, subduing it, making it appear to be twilight, even in the middle of the longest day of the year.

Many, if not most of the people have come to hate the darkness, saying they should have taken their chances with the war. At least then they would have died normally. There are those who believe this darkness is supernatural and not of their world, that it is cold, and smacks of the freightful, Dark Goddess Shar, Mistress of the Night.

== Magic & Healing in the Valley: ==

Immediately after the completion of the Darkening ritual, manny users of magic around the valley began to notice very profound changes in the way magic works:

Teleportation, Dimension Door, and all other forms of immediate travel have ceased to work.

Spells that use extra-dimensional effects, such as Magic Rope, or Meld Into Stone, no longer function.

Effects such as Fly, Levitate and Wind Walk have their effects significantly restricted. They move at a greatly reduced pace, while the maneuverability, and duration require significant concentration - on a plus side, however, they all now last at least as long as their caster can hold his/her concentration and most of them last a little longer, based upon the caster's level.

Healing effects of priests, druids, shaman & bards have increased significantly:
The orison 'Cure Minor Wounds' heals 2 pts + 1 pt per 5 levels of the caster.
All of the other Curing spells add the casters level x 1.5 to the dice roll, and all healing dice have been increased from a D8 to a D10.

Additionally, spell casters who traditionally have had access to powerful magic, but not to powerful healing magic, have found a new connection to the magical weave, allowing them to cast some worthwile healing spells.
2nd lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Minor Wounds' heals 1d6+1/2 lvl. (Maximum +5)
4th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Moderate Wounds' heals 2d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +10)
7th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Serious Wounds' heals 3d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +15)
9th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Critical Wounds' heals 4d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +20)

== RELIGEONS OF THE DARK VALLEY: ==

THE NINE
Practiced Primarily in Pillinqual, the Nine are new gods that have enjoyed a great increase in their following over the past 200ish years. After the Dark War and the collapse of the rest of civilization, The Nine were attributed with leading the High Wizards to contact the Drow and convince them to come up from the depths to aid the citizens of the Dark Valley. It is taught that The Nine were the creators of this world, forgotten for millennia, awaiting the coming of the Dark War and their rediscovery.
THE HAG - Mistress of Death, The Crone, Queen of the Dark, Web Weaver
Followers are typically NE,
Favored Weapon: Hand Crossbow and Club
THE ALL FATHER - Rager, Storm Bringer, The Judge
Followers are typically CG
Favored Weapon: Battle Axe and Spear
THE PRINCE - Blade Master,
Followers are typically LG
Favored Weapon: Long Sword, Bastard Sword and Heavy Repeating Crossbow
THE PRINCESS - Beauty Queen, Life Bringer, Morning Glory
Followers are typically NG
Favored Weapon: Scimitar and Light Crossbow
THE JESTER - The Clown, The Fool, Keeper of Secrets, Gossip Monger
Followers are typically CN
Favored Weapon: Dagger and Dart
THE GENERAL - Tactician, Battle Master
Followers are typically LN
Favored Weapon: War Hammer and Horn Composite Bow
THE MISTRESS - The Seductress,
Followers are typically CN
Favored Weapon: Dagger (melee & thrown)
THE ORACLE - Harbinger,
Followers are typically N
Favored Weapon: Scythe and Javelin
THE WIZARD - Moon Rider, Dark Spirit
Followers are typically LE
Favored Weapon: Stave and Sling

THE ONE TRUE GOD
A new, volatile religion that is gaining more and more momentum in the outlying towns and villages. Much of what is taught by this following is very similar to the Muslim faith of today. Specifically that it is acceptable, even expected that those who are not believers are not worthy of respect; that it is okay to enslave them, or even slay them. They are fervent believers in a keeping purity within the races. It is also taught in this faith that men are expected to have more than one bride/lover to more quickly spread the good word, and that women are to respect their men, who are their superiors.
THE GODS OF OLD
When the Dark War ended, most of the citizens of the Dark Valley abandoned the old gods, especially since their ability to communicate with the people of the valley was severely hampered by the warding that currently keeps the valley safe from the Demonic
denizens of the world. Only these few Gods of Old have been able to keep much of a following in the valley, and it is mostly in Skald and Emach where they have anything resembling a strong following. These gods have even adapted some, to better fit the needs and demands of their believers. It is taught by the fellowship of the Gods of Old that the Dark War was planned, orchestrated, and put into play by The Nine.
MYSTRA - NG
KORD - CN
BANE - LE
TYR - LG
HELM - LN
SHAR - NE
EHLONA - CG
CYRIC - CE

The Valley of Darkness:The Main Plot

2008-03-13T04:41:10Z

Feniqs:

The Valley of Darkness:The Main Plot

2008-03-13T04:32:00Z

Feniqs:

The Valley of Darkness:The Main Plot

2008-03-13T04:29:55Z

Feniqs:

The Valley of Darkness:The Main Plot

2008-03-13T04:24:46Z

Feniqs:

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-13T04:24:17Z

Feniqs:

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-13T04:19:38Z

Feniqs:

[[Category:A D&D 3.5 Edition Campaign Adventure]]

[[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php?title=The_Valley_of_Darkness:The_Main_Plot&action=edit]]

== An Overview of the Valley: ==

This is a very large valley set in a moderate, temperate region. The Western edge of the valley is set against a large bay, the three other borders are defined by Rugged Mountains that had no less than 2 passes each, allowing for robust trade with the nations and regions beyond the valley prior to the 'Darkening.'

Set against the bay there are 3 fairly large cities, Pillinqual is the largest of these, as well as the largest city of the valley. Pillinqual is built into the cliffs that border the sea for most of the western coast. The two rivers that flow into the sea are on the northern and southern sides of the plateau upon which Pillinqual sets. I had the adventure begin here in Pillinqual. There is a rivalry between these 3 cities, each claiming to have rightful claim to rulership over the valley. In Pillinqual, they refer to their leader as the Emperor. The emperor is ruler over the largest region of any of the cities, including several other townships, giving him the largest population to pull from for armed forces, and other resources.

In spite of the prominent rivalry, there is still a vibrant trade system between the cities, and each of them sends royal contengents to compete in gladiatorial tournaments regularly. Each city hosts no less than 2 major gladiatorial tournaments per year. The true reason for hosting these gladiatorial events, is to give cause for travel between cities for rich merchants, dignitaries and persons of power who are interested in the rampant slave trade market in each city. Approximately 75% of the population of each of these cities consists of slaves.

The slave trade is a very vibrant form of income for the valley as a whole. Nearly all communities, no matter the race, have been victimized by slavers, or used the slave market to help them carve a nich for themselves. There are slaving groups that act very similarly to the way the Privatiers of the 1500's did. They are licensed to operate by one of the rival ruling parties, but considered outlaws and thieves by the other ruling party. The slave market is not exclusive to any race, creed, or socio/political stature, they are all possible slaves; though it is dominated by the minority races (Orc, Dwarf, Elf, etc...). All of the slaves have a magical mark on them that is recognizable by anyone who does not have that mark.

Deeper into the valley, which is 500+/- miles East to West and 350+/- miles North to South, there are numerous communities, a few of which rival Pillinqual in size and diversity. Typical traveling to and from these communities can be either by river or road. Most of the communities deeper into the valley have little or no slavery, they are the communities most commonly victimized by the slavers, and have developed a dislike for it.

The western end of the valley is difficult to travel through without the roads or rivers for it is rife with plateaus and deep river canyons. There are many bridges and switchback trails that lead into and out of Pillinqual, and the other two cities on the coast, but each of these cities have direct access to each other by sea, and to the valley by the rivers. Skald and Ermach have easier access to the eastern portions of the valley by land because they are ouside the area with all the canyons.

Set in the heart of the valley, is a fairly large mountain range that is known to be the home of numerous savage species, as well as two strong, successful dwarven clans. There are a couple big townships that have sprouted up in the foothill surrounding these mountains. In the northern and southern corners along the far eastern border of the valley, there are two fortress communities who have storied histories dating back before the darkening, but they are mostly remembered for their roles in allowing the darkening to occur.

== Races of the Valley: ==

I ran this valley with Orcs and 1/2 Orcs as regular members of society. Yes, they are nearly always left in the dregs, scraping and fighting to make a living, but they are accepted as another of the civilized races - barely. Therefor, full Orc can be taken as a Player Character.
STATS: As per the Monster Manual 3.5 except that I gave them an additional +2 Con. If you compare the Orc from the MM w/ the common Dwarf, there is no reason not to give the orc the extra Con. (in my humble opinion)

Drow Elves are common members of society, however, their 3 centures of exposure to the pseudo-sun and fresh air have had an effect upon them similar to the effects it has upon their magical armor & swords - their powers and abilities have diminished greatly. Drow no longer have spell resistance and their dark vision is cut down to 60'.
STATS: No Spell Resistance, Dark Vision 60 ft., No Light Blindness, No Dancing Lights, No Faerie Fire, Light Sensetivity (dazzled in bright light). All other stats are identical to those from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting rule book, pg. 13.

Mountain Dwarves; These are a sturdier race of dwarf that come from the Dragon Scale mountains - the range of mountains in the heart of the valley. These dwarves are refered to as Mountain Dwarves, their homes are more like the cliff face homes of the native american tribes of the american south west. These dwarves average 9" taller than typical dwarves.
STATS:+2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Cha, +2 attack vs orc, goblinkin, & giantkin, base speed 30, +2 AC vs giant, no appraise bonus, Low Light Vision, No sense of Depth underground, no bonus to saving throws vs spells, no bonus to stone-crafting skills.

No race with outsider blood was allowed. As the story goes, the people of the valley learned to loath and mistrust any creature from the outerplanes, for they are the reason the valley has become what it is today. All regions of the valley, and all levels of society, will draw together to slay anyone they feel has outsider blood. Therefor, no Aasimar, Genasi, Tiefling or any other powerful race should be allowed.

== Slavery in the Valley: ==

It is vile and despicable, it is reviled by most, and yet it is pretty much everywhere. Even the people of the valley who have little exposure to slavery take it for granted and are unwilling to help any who are trying to escape it. It has been a part of the culture of the region since before the Darkening, though before the Darkening they were not victimized by slavers, nearly all of the slaves came from beyond the valley, with a small few consisting of convicted criminals.

There is a society and hierarchy for the slaves. There are three basic catagories under which the vast majority of slaves fall:
Household
Worker
Gladiator
Of these catagories, the gladiators have the quickest road to freedom, they can earn it through enough successes in the ring. However one defeat will send them down to start over again. While death occurs constantly upon the sands of the ring, few of the deaths are permanent, at least for successful or charismatic gladiators. Magic allows their owners to preserve their lives, allowing them to again foray into the ring.

This adventure will begin with all of the group being slaves who have one way or another found their way into the gladiatorial rings. Either they are too unruly or just plain built for life in the ring and have been trained there ever since.

Withing the Gladiatorial slave society there too is a hierarchy. This hierarch is coveted by those at the bottom and brutally protected by those at or near the top. Within this society, the concern of overzealous bosses is rampant, many work to constantly keep those beneath them, beneath them. There is a Ranking system, to which all of the slaves answer and most aspire to ascend:
Slave
Private
Seargent
Lieutenant
Captain
Each of these ranks have privileges or lack there of, based upon their station. While the slaves sleep in cold dank rooms with straw strewn upon the floor, holding no real possessions, the captain has a suite of rooms all to himself, a wench or two upon whom he can call any time and access to better parts of the city. Slaves have no access to any shops, they are provided a cloth smock for clothes and eat & drink all from the same trough, like livestock. Slaves typically are crowded into a room about 15 per 100 sq feet.

Those who rise above slave find they are privates. As privates, they will get a miniscule share of the purse for each victory, they are allowed to visit a very select few shops to improve their clothing and possibly even buy shoes. After any victory they achieve, they will be allowed one watered down beer or ale. Their rooms are slighly less crowded, about 10 people per 100 sq feet.

Seargents have it much nicer, but rising from private to seargent is probably the most difficlt ascension of them all. Once a slave achieves seargent, he/she is allowed to visit the shops of the poorer part of town, they get a larger portion of their purse, which they can spend on anything but weapons or items that could be perceived/used as weapons (bat guano for instance). Seargents are sheltered in rooms of about 3 per 100 sq feet, given straw matresses and allowed to hold their possessions in locked boxes.

'''The Broken Dagger''' is a well organized group of thieves, thugs, & cripples who, in addition to their more commonly expected forms of employment, work to assist slaves in escaping their bonds. This group has some powerful wizards who are capable of removing the slave mark, with no residual mark remaining. For an additional fee, the Broken Dagger will arrainge for the freed slave to leave the region of the heaviest slaving. This process is not cheap, but it comes with guarantees and the Broken Dagger are the real deal. In fact, the Broken Dagger also works to protect the slave market; they like the slaves being enslaved, so they have reason to pay for their freedom. They also work to protect their market, they come down hard on anyone trying to break into the outlawed slave freeing market.

== The Darkening: ==

History tells the inhabitants of the valley that for more than a century, prior to the Darkening, the world around their valley had erupted into catastrophic war. The war, it is said, reached unimaginable levels of horror, depravity and destruction, wizards and priest around the world had invited creatures of the outer planes to come over and assist them in their pursuit of their goals. Somehow, this valley had managed to stay mostly free of much of the conflict that went on around them, however, and many began to realize that something drastic must be done.

So the people of influence from around the valley began to work on a way to prevent the war from overlapping into their relatively peaceful home. As time passed, pressure mounted for those involved to succeed, so they too started to recruit help, but only from outside their valley, they limited their recruitment, allowing only mortals to contribute. This collaboration is why Drow are regular members of society, for they were amongst some of the greatest wizards contributing to the ritual spell they eventually cast.

Sadly, something went terribly wrong with the casting of the spell, for all those involved were permanently turned to stone: every form of enchantment breaking magic and transmutation has been used upon them since the Darkening, all to no avail. However, it appeared to accomplish that which they said it would, albeit with some unexpected side effect.

Upon the completion of the ritual a thick, miasmic darkness descended around the valley in a palpable line. In the early years, many people would cross over the line of darkness, seeking news from the outside, brave adventurers seeking unknown glory, lovesick family members or sweethearts searching for a lost loved one, they all went into the shadows but never returned. The Darkness stretches around the entirety of the valley, beginning just where the statues of those great wizards, priests and other people of power stood to enact their one last hope. Even out in the mouth of the Bay, there is a line of statues that appear to be standing upon the surface of the sea, where the heroes who were there to contribute to the ritual, were levitating or flying.

The only remnant of the bright, beautiful realm they lived in before the darkening, the people of the valley have is their subdued sun. While their sun rises and sets every day, as it has done since the creation of their world, the darkness seems to sap away some of its light, subduing it, making it appear to be twilight, even in the middle of the longest day of the year.

Many, if not most of the people have come to hate the darkness, saying they should have taken their chances with the war. At least then they would have died normally. There are those who believe this darkness is supernatural and not of their world, that it is cold, and smacks of the freightful, Dark Goddess Shar, Mistress of the Night.

== Magic & Healing in the Valley: ==

Immediately after the completion of the Darkening ritual, manny users of magic around the valley began to notice very profound changes in the way magic works:

Teleportation, Dimension Door, and all other forms of immediate travel have ceased to work.

Spells that use extra-dimensional effects, such as Magic Rope, or Meld Into Stone, no longer function.

Effects such as Fly, Levitate and Wind Walk have their effects significantly restricted. They move at a greatly reduced pace, while the maneuverability, and duration require significant concentration - on a plus side, however, they all now last at least as long as their caster can hold his/her concentration and most of them last a little longer, based upon the caster's level.

Healing effects of priests, druids, shaman & bards have increased significantly:
The orison 'Cure Minor Wounds' heals 2 pts + 1 pt per 5 levels of the caster.
All of the other Curing spells add the casters level x 1.5 to the dice roll, and all healing dice have been increased from a D8 to a D10.

Additionally, spell casters who traditionally have had access to powerful magic, but not to powerful healing magic, have found a new connection to the magical weave, allowing them to cast some worthwile healing spells.
2nd lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Minor Wounds' heals 1d6+1/2 lvl. (Maximum +5)
4th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Moderate Wounds' heals 2d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +10)
7th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Serious Wounds' heals 3d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +15)
9th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Critical Wounds' heals 4d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +20)

The Valley of Darkness:The Main Plot

2008-03-13T04:09:14Z

Feniqs:

== FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT: ONLY GMs should read this ==

Essentially, the objective of this whole adventure is to rescue the valley from the constant darkness. So, there are several stages which will bring this about, and how you have the adventurers discover the clues, empower the items, and awaken the sleeping heroes, is up to you. What has to happen, when it all comes down to it, is that The Shadow Demon Lord who is responsible for the darkness must come to the valley, be confronted and destroyed.

Easily said, nearly impossible to accomplish. :)

== The Truth Behind the Darkening: ==
To cut to the chase, the truth is that the valley is mostly in the Plane of Shadow (PoS). The Shadow Lord Hexablacorps (a silly name I gave him, that has no meaning) put certain events into action over the past millennium that eventually shunted the valley so that it is mostly in the PoS.

Much to Hexablacorpse's shagrin, the great ritual event only brought the valley into his plane partially. His original intent was to bring the majority of the valley into his plane. By saying the valley is partially there, and that he wanted the majority it, is to make a very deep statement of magical theory. The movement of the valley to the PoS would not be a physical movement, as all great minds of magical theory understand, the valley, and all other geographical, as well as many very old or very magically powerful buildings and constructs, already have physical representations in the PoS, it is the spiritual and magical existence that important to Hexablacorpse. It was his desire to make a passage between the PoS and the valley much easier for he and his kind.

If his original plan had succeeded as Hexablacorpse had intended, then not only would he, and the denizens of his section of the PoS have direct access to the valley, there would also be easier movement from the PoS to the Prime Material Plane of Toril. However, as it worked out, only the weakest of his subjects have any access to both the sliver of the Prime Material Plane of Toril, in the form of the valley, but they have an even more limited access to Toril as a whole. Hexablacorpse has found this to be infuriating.

>>>

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-13T03:00:16Z

Feniqs:

[[Category:A D&D 3.5 Edition Campaign Adventure]]

== An Overview of the Valley: ==

This is a very large valley set in a moderate, temperate region. The Western edge of the valley is set against a large bay, the three other borders are defined by Rugged Mountains that had no less than 2 passes each, allowing for robust trade with the nations and regions beyond the valley prior to the 'Darkening.'

Set against the bay there are 3 fairly large cities, Pillinqual is the largest of these, as well as the largest city of the valley. Pillinqual is built into the cliffs that border the sea for most of the western coast. The two rivers that flow into the sea are on the northern and southern sides of the plateau upon which Pillinqual sets. I had the adventure begin here in Pillinqual. There is a rivalry between these 3 cities, each claiming to have rightful claim to rulership over the valley. In Pillinqual, they refer to their leader as the Emperor. The emperor is ruler over the largest region of any of the cities, including several other townships, giving him the largest population to pull from for armed forces, and other resources.

In spite of the prominent rivalry, there is still a vibrant trade system between the cities, and each of them sends royal contengents to compete in gladiatorial tournaments regularly. Each city hosts no less than 2 major gladiatorial tournaments per year. The true reason for hosting these gladiatorial events, is to give cause for travel between cities for rich merchants, dignitaries and persons of power who are interested in the rampant slave trade market in each city. Approximately 75% of the population of each of these cities consists of slaves.

The slave trade is a very vibrant form of income for the valley as a whole. Nearly all communities, no matter the race, have been victimized by slavers, or used the slave market to help them carve a nich for themselves. There are slaving groups that act very similarly to the way the Privatiers of the 1500's did. They are licensed to operate by one of the rival ruling parties, but considered outlaws and thieves by the other ruling party. The slave market is not exclusive to any race, creed, or socio/political stature, they are all possible slaves; though it is dominated by the minority races (Orc, Dwarf, Elf, etc...). All of the slaves have a magical mark on them that is recognizable by anyone who does not have that mark.

Deeper into the valley, which is 500+/- miles East to West and 350+/- miles North to South, there are numerous communities, a few of which rival Pillinqual in size and diversity. Typical traveling to and from these communities can be either by river or road. Most of the communities deeper into the valley have little or no slavery, they are the communities most commonly victimized by the slavers, and have developed a dislike for it.

The western end of the valley is difficult to travel through without the roads or rivers for it is rife with plateaus and deep river canyons. There are many bridges and switchback trails that lead into and out of Pillinqual, and the other two cities on the coast, but each of these cities have direct access to each other by sea, and to the valley by the rivers. Skald and Ermach have easier access to the eastern portions of the valley by land because they are ouside the area with all the canyons.

Set in the heart of the valley, is a fairly large mountain range that is known to be the home of numerous savage species, as well as two strong, successful dwarven clans. There are a couple big townships that have sprouted up in the foothill surrounding these mountains. In the northern and southern corners along the far eastern border of the valley, there are two fortress communities who have storied histories dating back before the darkening, but they are mostly remembered for their roles in allowing the darkening to occur.

== Races of the Valley: ==

I ran this valley with Orcs and 1/2 Orcs as regular members of society. Yes, they are nearly always left in the dregs, scraping and fighting to make a living, but they are accepted as another of the civilized races - barely. Therefor, full Orc can be taken as a Player Character.
STATS: As per the Monster Manual 3.5 except that I gave them an additional +2 Con. If you compare the Orc from the MM w/ the common Dwarf, there is no reason not to give the orc the extra Con. (in my humble opinion)

Drow Elves are common members of society, however, their 3 centures of exposure to the pseudo-sun and fresh air have had an effect upon them similar to the effects it has upon their magical armor & swords - their powers and abilities have diminished greatly. Drow no longer have spell resistance and their dark vision is cut down to 60'.
STATS: No Spell Resistance, Dark Vision 60 ft., No Light Blindness, No Dancing Lights, No Faerie Fire, Light Sensetivity (dazzled in bright light). All other stats are identical to those from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting rule book, pg. 13.

Mountain Dwarves; These are a sturdier race of dwarf that come from the Dragon Scale mountains - the range of mountains in the heart of the valley. These dwarves are refered to as Mountain Dwarves, their homes are more like the cliff face homes of the native american tribes of the american south west. These dwarves average 9" taller than typical dwarves.
STATS:+2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Cha, +2 attack vs orc, goblinkin, & giantkin, base speed 30, +2 AC vs giant, no appraise bonus, Low Light Vision, No sense of Depth underground, no bonus to saving throws vs spells, no bonus to stone-crafting skills.

No race with outsider blood was allowed. As the story goes, the people of the valley learned to loath and mistrust any creature from the outerplanes, for they are the reason the valley has become what it is today. All regions of the valley, and all levels of society, will draw together to slay anyone they feel has outsider blood. Therefor, no Aasimar, Genasi, Tiefling or any other powerful race should be allowed.

== Slavery in the Valley: ==

It is vile and despicable, it is reviled by most, and yet it is pretty much everywhere. Even the people of the valley who have little exposure to slavery take it for granted and are unwilling to help any who are trying to escape it. It has been a part of the culture of the region since before the Darkening, though before the Darkening they were not victimized by slavers, nearly all of the slaves came from beyond the valley, with a small few consisting of convicted criminals.

There is a society and hierarchy for the slaves. There are three basic catagories under which the vast majority of slaves fall:
Household
Worker
Gladiator
Of these catagories, the gladiators have the quickest road to freedom, they can earn it through enough successes in the ring. However one defeat will send them down to start over again. While death occurs constantly upon the sands of the ring, few of the deaths are permanent, at least for successful or charismatic gladiators. Magic allows their owners to preserve their lives, allowing them to again foray into the ring.

This adventure will begin with all of the group being slaves who have one way or another found their way into the gladiatorial rings. Either they are too unruly or just plain built for life in the ring and have been trained there ever since.

Withing the Gladiatorial slave society there too is a hierarchy. This hierarch is coveted by those at the bottom and brutally protected by those at or near the top. Within this society, the concern of overzealous bosses is rampant, many work to constantly keep those beneath them, beneath them. There is a Ranking system, to which all of the slaves answer and most aspire to ascend:
Slave
Private
Seargent
Lieutenant
Captain
Each of these ranks have privileges or lack there of, based upon their station. While the slaves sleep in cold dank rooms with straw strewn upon the floor, holding no real possessions, the captain has a suite of rooms all to himself, a wench or two upon whom he can call any time and access to better parts of the city. Slaves have no access to any shops, they are provided a cloth smock for clothes and eat & drink all from the same trough, like livestock. Slaves typically are crowded into a room about 15 per 100 sq feet.

Those who rise above slave find they are privates. As privates, they will get a miniscule share of the purse for each victory, they are allowed to visit a very select few shops to improve their clothing and possibly even buy shoes. After any victory they achieve, they will be allowed one watered down beer or ale. Their rooms are slighly less crowded, about 10 people per 100 sq feet.

Seargents have it much nicer, but rising from private to seargent is probably the most difficlt ascension of them all. Once a slave achieves seargent, he/she is allowed to visit the shops of the poorer part of town, they get a larger portion of their purse, which they can spend on anything but weapons or items that could be perceived/used as weapons (bat guano for instance). Seargents are sheltered in rooms of about 3 per 100 sq feet, given straw matresses and allowed to hold their possessions in locked boxes.

'''The Broken Dagger''' is a well organized group of thieves, thugs, & cripples who, in addition to their more commonly expected forms of employment, work to assist slaves in escaping their bonds. This group has some powerful wizards who are capable of removing the slave mark, with no residual mark remaining. For an additional fee, the Broken Dagger will arrainge for the freed slave to leave the region of the heaviest slaving. This process is not cheap, but it comes with guarantees and the Broken Dagger are the real deal. In fact, the Broken Dagger also works to protect the slave market; they like the slaves being enslaved, so they have reason to pay for their freedom. They also work to protect their market, they come down hard on anyone trying to break into the outlawed slave freeing market.

== The Darkening: ==

History tells the inhabitants of the valley that for more than a century, prior to the Darkening, the world around their valley had erupted into catastrophic war. The war, it is said, reached unimaginable levels of horror, depravity and destruction, wizards and priest around the world had invited creatures of the outer planes to come over and assist them in their pursuit of their goals. Somehow, this valley had managed to stay mostly free of much of the conflict that went on around them, however, and many began to realize that something drastic must be done.

So the people of influence from around the valley began to work on a way to prevent the war from overlapping into their relatively peaceful home. As time passed, pressure mounted for those involved to succeed, so they too started to recruit help, but only from outside their valley, they limited their recruitment, allowing only mortals to contribute. This collaboration is why Drow are regular members of society, for they were amongst some of the greatest wizards contributing to the ritual spell they eventually cast.

Sadly, something went terribly wrong with the casting of the spell, for all those involved were permanently turned to stone: every form of enchantment breaking magic and transmutation has been used upon them since the Darkening, all to no avail. However, it appeared to accomplish that which they said it would, albeit with some unexpected side effect.

Upon the completion of the ritual a thick, miasmic darkness descended around the valley in a palpable line. In the early years, many people would cross over the line of darkness, seeking news from the outside, brave adventurers seeking unknown glory, lovesick family members or sweethearts searching for a lost loved one, they all went into the shadows but never returned. The Darkness stretches around the entirety of the valley, beginning just where the statues of those great wizards, priests and other people of power stood to enact their one last hope. Even out in the mouth of the Bay, there is a line of statues that appear to be standing upon the surface of the sea, where the heroes who were there to contribute to the ritual, were levitating or flying.

The only remnant of the bright, beautiful realm they lived in before the darkening, the people of the valley have is their subdued sun. While their sun rises and sets every day, as it has done since the creation of their world, the darkness seems to sap away some of its light, subduing it, making it appear to be twilight, even in the middle of the longest day of the year.

Many, if not most of the people have come to hate the darkness, saying they should have taken their chances with the war. At least then they would have died normally. There are those who believe this darkness is supernatural and not of their world, that it is cold, and smacks of the freightful, Dark Goddess Shar, Mistress of the Night.

== Magic & Healing in the Valley: ==

Immediately after the completion of the Darkening ritual, manny users of magic around the valley began to notice very profound changes in the way magic works:

Teleportation, Dimension Door, and all other forms of immediate travel have ceased to work.

Spells that use extra-dimensional effects, such as Magic Rope, or Meld Into Stone, no longer function.

Effects such as Fly, Levitate and Wind Walk have their effects significantly restricted. They move at a greatly reduced pace, while the maneuverability, and duration require significant concentration - on a plus side, however, they all now last at least as long as their caster can hold his/her concentration and most of them last a little longer, based upon the caster's level.

Healing effects of priests, druids, shaman & bards have increased significantly:
The orison 'Cure Minor Wounds' heals 2 pts + 1 pt per 5 levels of the caster.
All of the other Curing spells add the casters level x 1.5 to the dice roll, and all healing dice have been increased from a D8 to a D10.

Additionally, spell casters who traditionally have had access to powerful magic, but not to powerful healing magic, have found a new connection to the magical weave, allowing them to cast some worthwile healing spells.
2nd lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Minor Wounds' heals 1d6+1/2 lvl. (Maximum +5)
4th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Moderate Wounds' heals 2d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +10)
7th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Serious Wounds' heals 3d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +15)
9th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Critical Wounds' heals 4d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +20)

The Valley of Darkness

2008-03-13T02:50:52Z

Feniqs: The Valley of Darkness moved to The Valley of Darkness:Main Page: Got in a hurry and didn't pay attention to the suggestions on how to build a multi-page file.

#REDIRECT [[The Valley of Darkness:Main Page]]

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-13T02:50:52Z

Feniqs: The Valley of Darkness moved to The Valley of Darkness:Main Page: Got in a hurry and didn't pay attention to the suggestions on how to build a multi-page file.

[[Category:A D&D 3.5 Edition Campaign Adventure]]

== An Overview of the Valley: ==

This is a very large valley set in a moderate, temperate region. The Western edge of the valley is set against a large bay, the three other borders are defined by Rugged Mountains that had no less than 2 passes each, allowing for robust trade with the nations and regions beyond the valley prior to the 'Darkening.'

Set against the bay there are 3 fairly large cities, Pillinqual is the largest of these, as well as the largest city of the valley. Pillinqual is built into the cliffs that border the sea for most of the western coast. The two rivers that flow into the sea are on the northern and southern sides of the plateau upon which Pillinqual sets. I had the adventure begin here in Pillinqual. There is a rivalry between these 3 cities, each claiming to have rightful claim to rulership over the valley. In Pillinqual, they refer to their leader as the Emperor. The emperor is ruler over the largest region of any of the cities, including several other townships, giving him the largest population to pull from for armed forces, and other resources.

In spite of the prominent rivalry, there is still a vibrant trade system between the cities, and each of them sends royal contengents to compete in gladiatorial tournaments regularly. Each city hosts no less than 2 major gladiatorial tournaments per year. The true reason for hosting these gladiatorial events, is to give cause for travel between cities for rich merchants, dignitaries and persons of power who are interested in the rampant slave trade market in each city. Approximately 75% of the population of each of these cities consists of slaves.

The slave trade is a very vibrant form of income for the valley as a whole. Nearly all communities, no matter the race, have been victimized by slavers, or used the slave market to help them carve a nich for themselves. There are slaving groups that act very similarly to the way the Privatiers of the 1500's did. They are licensed to operate by one of the rival ruling parties, but considered outlaws and thieves by the other ruling party. The slave market is not exclusive to any race, creed, or socio/political stature, they are all possible slaves; though it is dominated by the minority races (Orc, Dwarf, Elf, etc...). All of the slaves have a magical mark on them that is recognizable by anyone who does not have that mark.

Deeper into the valley, which is 300+/- miles East to West and 200+/- miles North to South, there are numerous communities, a few of which rival Pillinqual in size and diversity. Traveling to and from these communities can be by either river or road. Most of the communities deeper into the valley have little or no slavery, they are the communities most commonly victimized by the slavers, and have developed a dislike for it.

The western end of the valley is difficult to travel through without the roads or rivers for it is rife with plateaus and deep river canyons. There are many bridges and switchback trails that lead into and out of Pillinqual, and the other two cities on the coast, but each of these cities have direct access to each other by sea, and to the valley by the rivers. Skald and Ermach have easier access to the eastern portions of the valley by land because they are ouside the area with all the canyons.

Set in the heart of the valley, is a fairly large mountain range that is known to be the home of numerous savage species, as well as two strong, successful dwarven clans. There are a couple big townships that have sprouted up in the foothill surrounding these mountains. In the northern and southern corners along the far eastern border of the valley, there are two fortress communities who have storied histories dating back before the darkening, but they are mostly remembered for their roles in allowing the darkening to occur.

== Races of the Valley: ==

I ran this valley with Orcs and 1/2 Orcs as regular members of society. Yes, they are nearly always left in the dregs, scraping and fighting to make a living, but they are accepted as another of the civilized races - barely. Therefor, full Orc can be taken as a Player Character.
STATS: As per the Monster Manual 3.5 except that I gave them an additional +2 Con. If you compare the Orc from the MM w/ the common Dwarf, there is no reason not to give the orc the extra Con. (in my humble opinion)

Drow Elves are common members of society, however, their 3 centures of exposure to the pseudo-sun and fresh air have had an effect upon them similar to the effects it has upon their magical armor & swords - their powers and abilities have diminished greatly. Drow no longer have spell resistance and their dark vision is cut down to 60'.
STATS: No Spell Resistance, Dark Vision 60 ft., No Light Blindness, No Dancing Lights, No Faerie Fire, Light Sensetivity (dazzled in bright light). All other stats are identical to those from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting rule book, pg. 13.

Mountain Dwarves; These are a sturdier race of dwarf that come from the Dragon Scale mountains - the range of mountains in the heart of the valley. These dwarves are refered to as Mountain Dwarves, their homes are more like the cliff face homes of the native american tribes of the american south west. These dwarves average 9" taller than typical dwarves.
STATS:+2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Cha, +2 attack vs orc, goblinkin, & giantkin, base speed 30, +2 AC vs giant, no appraise bonus, Low Light Vision, No sense of Depth underground, no bonus to saving throws vs spells, no bonus to stone-crafting skills.

No race with outsider blood was allowed. As the story goes, the people of the valley learned to loath and mistrust any creature from the outerplanes, for they are the reason the valley has become what it is today. All regions of the valley, and all levels of society, will draw together to slay anyone they feel has outsider blood. Therefor, no Aasimar, Genasi, Tiefling or any other powerful race should be allowed.

== Slavery in the Valley: ==

It is vile and despicable, it is reviled by most, and yet it is pretty much everywhere. Even the people of the valley who have little exposure to slavery take it for granted and are unwilling to help any who are trying to escape it. It has been a part of the culture of the region since before the Darkening, though before the Darkening they were not victimized by slavers, nearly all of the slaves came from beyond the valley, with a small few consisting of convicted criminals.

There is a society and hierarchy for the slaves. There are three basic catagories under which the vast majority of slaves fall:
Household
Worker
Gladiator
Of these catagories, the gladiators have the quickest road to freedom, they can earn it through enough successes in the ring. However one defeat will send them down to start over again. While death occurs constantly upon the sands of the ring, few of the deaths are permanent, at least for successful or charismatic gladiators. Magic allows their owners to preserve their lives, allowing them to again foray into the ring.

This adventure will begin with all of the group being slaves who have one way or another found their way into the gladiatorial rings. Either they are too unruly or just plain built for life in the ring and have been trained there ever since.

Withing the Gladiatorial slave society there too is a hierarchy. This hierarch is coveted by those at the bottom and brutally protected by those at or near the top. Within this society, the concern of overzealous bosses is rampant, many work to constantly keep those beneath them, beneath them. There is a Ranking system, to which all of the slaves answer and most aspire to ascend:
Slave
Private
Seargent
Lieutenant
Captain
Each of these ranks have privileges or lack there of, based upon their station. While the slaves sleep in cold dank rooms with straw strewn upon the floor, holding no real possessions, the captain has a suite of rooms all to himself, a wench or two upon whom he can call any time and access to better parts of the city. Slaves have no access to any shops, they are provided a cloth smock for clothes and eat & drink all from the same trough, like livestock. Slaves typically are crowded into a room about 15 per 100 sq feet.

Those who rise above slave find they are privates. As privates, they will get a miniscule share of the purse for each victory, they are allowed to visit a very select few shops to improve their clothing and possibly even buy shoes. After any victory they achieve, they will be allowed one watered down beer or ale. Their rooms are slighly less crowded, about 10 people per 100 sq feet.

Seargents have it much nicer, but rising from private to seargent is probably the most difficlt ascension of them all. Once a slave achieves seargent, he/she is allowed to visit the shops of the poorer part of town, they get a larger portion of their purse, which they can spend on anything but weapons or items that could be perceived/used as weapons (bat guano for instance). Seargents are sheltered in rooms of about 3 per 100 sq feet, given straw matresses and allowed to hold their possessions in locked boxes.

'''The Broken Dagger''' is a well organized group of thieves, thugs, & cripples who, in addition to their more commonly expected forms of employment, work to assist slaves in escaping their bonds. This group has some powerful wizards who are capable of removing the slave mark, with no residual mark remaining. For an additional fee, the Broken Dagger will arrainge for the freed slave to leave the region of the heaviest slaving. This process is not cheap, but it comes with guarantees and the Broken Dagger are the real deal. In fact, the Broken Dagger also works to protect the slave market; they like the slaves being enslaved, so they have reason to pay for their freedom. They also work to protect their market, they come down hard on anyone trying to break into the outlawed slave freeing market.

== The Darkening: ==

History tells the inhabitants of the valley that for more than a century, prior to the Darkening, the world around their valley had erupted into catastrophic war. The war, it is said, reached unimaginable levels of horror, depravity and destruction, wizards and priest around the world had invited creatures of the outer planes to come over and assist them in their pursuit of their goals. Somehow, this valley had managed to stay mostly free of much of the conflict that went on around them, however, and many began to realize that something drastic must be done.

So the people of influence from around the valley began to work on a way to prevent the war from overlapping into their relatively peaceful home. As time passed, pressure mounted for those involved to succeed, so they too started to recruit help, but only from outside their valley, they limited their recruitment, allowing only mortals to contribute. This collaboration is why Drow are regular members of society, for they were amongst some of the greatest wizards contributing to the ritual spell they eventually cast.

Sadly, something went terribly wrong with the casting of the spell, for all those involved were permanently turned to stone: every form of enchantment breaking magic and transmutation has been used upon them since the Darkening, all to no avail. However, it appeared to accomplish that which they said it would, albeit with some unexpected side effect.

Upon the completion of the ritual a thick, miasmic darkness descended around the valley in a palpable line. In the early years, many people would cross over the line of darkness, seeking news from the outside, brave adventurers seeking unknown glory, lovesick family members or sweethearts searching for a lost loved one, they all went into the shadows but never returned. The Darkness stretches around the entirety of the valley, beginning just where the statues of those great wizards, priests and other people of power stood to enact their one last hope. Even out in the mouth of the Bay, there is a line of statues that appear to be standing upon the surface of the sea, where the heroes who were there to contribute to the ritual, were levitating or flying.

The only remnant of the bright, beautiful realm they lived in before the darkening, the people of the valley have is their subdued sun. While their sun rises and sets every day, as it has done since the creation of their world, the darkness seems to sap away some of its light, subduing it, making it appear to be twilight, even in the middle of the longest day of the year.

Many, if not most of the people have come to hate the darkness, saying they should have taken their chances with the war. At least then they would have died normally. There are those who believe this darkness is supernatural and not of their world, that it is cold, and smacks of the freightful, Dark Goddess Shar, Mistress of the Night.

== Magic & Healing in the Valley: ==

Immediately after the completion of the Darkening ritual, manny users of magic around the valley began to notice very profound changes in the way magic works:

Teleportation, Dimension Door, and all other forms of immediate travel have ceased to work.

Spells that use extra-dimensional effects, such as Magic Rope, or Meld Into Stone, no longer function.

Effects such as Fly, Levitate and Wind Walk have their effects significantly restricted. They move at a greatly reduced pace, while the maneuverability, and duration require significant concentration - on a plus side, however, they all now last at least as long as their caster can hold his/her concentration and most of them last a little longer, based upon the caster's level.

Healing effects of priests, druids, shaman & bards have increased significantly:
The orison 'Cure Minor Wounds' heals 2 pts + 1 pt per 5 levels of the caster.
All of the other Curing spells add the casters level x 1.5 to the dice roll, and all healing dice have been increased from a D8 to a D10.

Additionally, spell casters who traditionally have had access to powerful magic, but not to powerful healing magic, have found a new connection to the magical weave, allowing them to cast some worthwile healing spells.
2nd lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Minor Wounds' heals 1d6+1/2 lvl. (Maximum +5)
4th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Moderate Wounds' heals 2d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +10)
7th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Serious Wounds' heals 3d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +15)
9th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Critical Wounds' heals 4d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +20)

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-12T02:57:46Z

Feniqs:

[[Category:A D&D 3.5 Edition Campaign Adventure]]

== An Overview of the Valley: ==

This is a very large valley set in a moderate, temperate region. The Western edge of the valley is set against a large bay, the three other borders are defined by Rugged Mountains that had no less than 2 passes each, allowing for robust trade with the nations and regions beyond the valley prior to the 'Darkening.'

Set against the bay there are 3 fairly large cities, Pillinqual is the largest of these, as well as the largest city of the valley. Pillinqual is built into the cliffs that border the sea for most of the western coast. The two rivers that flow into the sea are on the northern and southern sides of the plateau upon which Pillinqual sets. I had the adventure begin here in Pillinqual. There is a rivalry between these 3 cities, each claiming to have rightful claim to rulership over the valley. In Pillinqual, they refer to their leader as the Emperor. The emperor is ruler over the largest region of any of the cities, including several other townships, giving him the largest population to pull from for armed forces, and other resources.

In spite of the prominent rivalry, there is still a vibrant trade system between the cities, and each of them sends royal contengents to compete in gladiatorial tournaments regularly. Each city hosts no less than 2 major gladiatorial tournaments per year. The true reason for hosting these gladiatorial events, is to give cause for travel between cities for rich merchants, dignitaries and persons of power who are interested in the rampant slave trade market in each city. Approximately 75% of the population of each of these cities consists of slaves.

The slave trade is a very vibrant form of income for the valley as a whole. Nearly all communities, no matter the race, have been victimized by slavers, or used the slave market to help them carve a nich for themselves. There are slaving groups that act very similarly to the way the Privatiers of the 1500's did. They are licensed to operate by one of the rival ruling parties, but considered outlaws and thieves by the other ruling party. The slave market is not exclusive to any race, creed, or socio/political stature, they are all possible slaves; though it is dominated by the minority races (Orc, Dwarf, Elf, etc...). All of the slaves have a magical mark on them that is recognizable by anyone who does not have that mark.

Deeper into the valley, which is 300+/- miles East to West and 200+/- miles North to South, there are numerous communities, a few of which rival Pillinqual in size and diversity. Traveling to and from these communities can be by either river or road. Most of the communities deeper into the valley have little or no slavery, they are the communities most commonly victimized by the slavers, and have developed a dislike for it.

The western end of the valley is difficult to travel through without the roads or rivers for it is rife with plateaus and deep river canyons. There are many bridges and switchback trails that lead into and out of Pillinqual, and the other two cities on the coast, but each of these cities have direct access to each other by sea, and to the valley by the rivers. Skald and Ermach have easier access to the eastern portions of the valley by land because they are ouside the area with all the canyons.

Set in the heart of the valley, is a fairly large mountain range that is known to be the home of numerous savage species, as well as two strong, successful dwarven clans. There are a couple big townships that have sprouted up in the foothill surrounding these mountains. In the northern and southern corners along the far eastern border of the valley, there are two fortress communities who have storied histories dating back before the darkening, but they are mostly remembered for their roles in allowing the darkening to occur.

== Races of the Valley: ==

I ran this valley with Orcs and 1/2 Orcs as regular members of society. Yes, they are nearly always left in the dregs, scraping and fighting to make a living, but they are accepted as another of the civilized races - barely. Therefor, full Orc can be taken as a Player Character.
STATS: As per the Monster Manual 3.5 except that I gave them an additional +2 Con. If you compare the Orc from the MM w/ the common Dwarf, there is no reason not to give the orc the extra Con. (in my humble opinion)

Drow Elves are common members of society, however, their 3 centures of exposure to the pseudo-sun and fresh air have had an effect upon them similar to the effects it has upon their magical armor & swords - their powers and abilities have diminished greatly. Drow no longer have spell resistance and their dark vision is cut down to 60'.
STATS: No Spell Resistance, Dark Vision 60 ft., No Light Blindness, No Dancing Lights, No Faerie Fire, Light Sensetivity (dazzled in bright light). All other stats are identical to those from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting rule book, pg. 13.

Mountain Dwarves; These are a sturdier race of dwarf that come from the Dragon Scale mountains - the range of mountains in the heart of the valley. These dwarves are refered to as Mountain Dwarves, their homes are more like the cliff face homes of the native american tribes of the american south west. These dwarves average 9" taller than typical dwarves.
STATS:+2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Cha, +2 attack vs orc, goblinkin, & giantkin, base speed 30, +2 AC vs giant, no appraise bonus, Low Light Vision, No sense of Depth underground, no bonus to saving throws vs spells, no bonus to stone-crafting skills.

No race with outsider blood was allowed. As the story goes, the people of the valley learned to loath and mistrust any creature from the outerplanes, for they are the reason the valley has become what it is today. All regions of the valley, and all levels of society, will draw together to slay anyone they feel has outsider blood. Therefor, no Aasimar, Genasi, Tiefling or any other powerful race should be allowed.

== Slavery in the Valley: ==

It is vile and despicable, it is reviled by most, and yet it is pretty much everywhere. Even the people of the valley who have little exposure to slavery take it for granted and are unwilling to help any who are trying to escape it. It has been a part of the culture of the region since before the Darkening, though before the Darkening they were not victimized by slavers, nearly all of the slaves came from beyond the valley, with a small few consisting of convicted criminals.

There is a society and hierarchy for the slaves. There are three basic catagories under which the vast majority of slaves fall:
Household
Worker
Gladiator
Of these catagories, the gladiators have the quickest road to freedom, they can earn it through enough successes in the ring. However one defeat will send them down to start over again. While death occurs constantly upon the sands of the ring, few of the deaths are permanent, at least for successful or charismatic gladiators. Magic allows their owners to preserve their lives, allowing them to again foray into the ring.

This adventure will begin with all of the group being slaves who have one way or another found their way into the gladiatorial rings. Either they are too unruly or just plain built for life in the ring and have been trained there ever since.

Withing the Gladiatorial slave society there too is a hierarchy. This hierarch is coveted by those at the bottom and brutally protected by those at or near the top. Within this society, the concern of overzealous bosses is rampant, many work to constantly keep those beneath them, beneath them. There is a Ranking system, to which all of the slaves answer and most aspire to ascend:
Slave
Private
Seargent
Lieutenant
Captain
Each of these ranks have privileges or lack there of, based upon their station. While the slaves sleep in cold dank rooms with straw strewn upon the floor, holding no real possessions, the captain has a suite of rooms all to himself, a wench or two upon whom he can call any time and access to better parts of the city. Slaves have no access to any shops, they are provided a cloth smock for clothes and eat & drink all from the same trough, like livestock. Slaves typically are crowded into a room about 15 per 100 sq feet.

Those who rise above slave find they are privates. As privates, they will get a miniscule share of the purse for each victory, they are allowed to visit a very select few shops to improve their clothing and possibly even buy shoes. After any victory they achieve, they will be allowed one watered down beer or ale. Their rooms are slighly less crowded, about 10 people per 100 sq feet.

Seargents have it much nicer, but rising from private to seargent is probably the most difficlt ascension of them all. Once a slave achieves seargent, he/she is allowed to visit the shops of the poorer part of town, they get a larger portion of their purse, which they can spend on anything but weapons or items that could be perceived/used as weapons (bat guano for instance). Seargents are sheltered in rooms of about 3 per 100 sq feet, given straw matresses and allowed to hold their possessions in locked boxes.

'''The Broken Dagger''' is a well organized group of thieves, thugs, & cripples who, in addition to their more commonly expected forms of employment, work to assist slaves in escaping their bonds. This group has some powerful wizards who are capable of removing the slave mark, with no residual mark remaining. For an additional fee, the Broken Dagger will arrainge for the freed slave to leave the region of the heaviest slaving. This process is not cheap, but it comes with guarantees and the Broken Dagger are the real deal. In fact, the Broken Dagger also works to protect the slave market; they like the slaves being enslaved, so they have reason to pay for their freedom. They also work to protect their market, they come down hard on anyone trying to break into the outlawed slave freeing market.

== The Darkening: ==

History tells the inhabitants of the valley that for more than a century, prior to the Darkening, the world around their valley had erupted into catastrophic war. The war, it is said, reached unimaginable levels of horror, depravity and destruction, wizards and priest around the world had invited creatures of the outer planes to come over and assist them in their pursuit of their goals. Somehow, this valley had managed to stay mostly free of much of the conflict that went on around them, however, and many began to realize that something drastic must be done.

So the people of influence from around the valley began to work on a way to prevent the war from overlapping into their relatively peaceful home. As time passed, pressure mounted for those involved to succeed, so they too started to recruit help, but only from outside their valley, they limited their recruitment, allowing only mortals to contribute. This collaboration is why Drow are regular members of society, for they were amongst some of the greatest wizards contributing to the ritual spell they eventually cast.

Sadly, something went terribly wrong with the casting of the spell, for all those involved were permanently turned to stone: every form of enchantment breaking magic and transmutation has been used upon them since the Darkening, all to no avail. However, it appeared to accomplish that which they said it would, albeit with some unexpected side effect.

Upon the completion of the ritual a thick, miasmic darkness descended around the valley in a palpable line. In the early years, many people would cross over the line of darkness, seeking news from the outside, brave adventurers seeking unknown glory, lovesick family members or sweethearts searching for a lost loved one, they all went into the shadows but never returned. The Darkness stretches around the entirety of the valley, beginning just where the statues of those great wizards, priests and other people of power stood to enact their one last hope. Even out in the mouth of the Bay, there is a line of statues that appear to be standing upon the surface of the sea, where the heroes who were there to contribute to the ritual, were levitating or flying.

The only remnant of the bright, beautiful realm they lived in before the darkening, the people of the valley have is their subdued sun. While their sun rises and sets every day, as it has done since the creation of their world, the darkness seems to sap away some of its light, subduing it, making it appear to be twilight, even in the middle of the longest day of the year.

Many, if not most of the people have come to hate the darkness, saying they should have taken their chances with the war. At least then they would have died normally. There are those who believe this darkness is supernatural and not of their world, that it is cold, and smacks of the freightful, Dark Goddess Shar, Mistress of the Night.

== Magic & Healing in the Valley: ==

Immediately after the completion of the Darkening ritual, manny users of magic around the valley began to notice very profound changes in the way magic works:

Teleportation, Dimension Door, and all other forms of immediate travel have ceased to work.

Spells that use extra-dimensional effects, such as Magic Rope, or Meld Into Stone, no longer function.

Effects such as Fly, Levitate and Wind Walk have their effects significantly restricted. They move at a greatly reduced pace, while the maneuverability, and duration require significant concentration - on a plus side, however, they all now last at least as long as their caster can hold his/her concentration and most of them last a little longer, based upon the caster's level.

Healing effects of priests, druids, shaman & bards have increased significantly:
The orison 'Cure Minor Wounds' heals 2 pts + 1 pt per 5 levels of the caster.
All of the other Curing spells add the casters level x 1.5 to the dice roll, and all healing dice have been increased from a D8 to a D10.

Additionally, spell casters who traditionally have had access to powerful magic, but not to powerful healing magic, have found a new connection to the magical weave, allowing them to cast some worthwile healing spells.
2nd lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Minor Wounds' heals 1d6+1/2 lvl. (Maximum +5)
4th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Moderate Wounds' heals 2d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +10)
7th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Serious Wounds' heals 3d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +15)
9th lvl. Wiz./Sorc. spell 'Mend Critical Wounds' heals 4d6+1/lvl. (Maximum +20)

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-12T02:29:37Z

Feniqs:

[[Category:A D&D 3.5 Edition Campaign Adventure]]

== An Overview of the Valley: ==

This is a very large valley set in a moderate, temperate region. The Western edge of the valley is set against a large bay, the three other borders are defined by Rugged Mountains that had no less than 2 passes each, allowing for robust trade with the nations and regions beyond the valley prior to the 'Darkening.'

Set against the bay there are 3 fairly large cities, Pillinqual is the largest of these, as well as the largest city of the valley. Pillinqual is built into the cliffs that border the sea for most of the western coast. The two rivers that flow into the sea are on the northern and southern sides of the plateau upon which Pillinqual sets. I had the adventure begin here in Pillinqual. There is a rivalry between these 3 cities, each claiming to have rightful claim to rulership over the valley. In Pillinqual, they refer to their leader as the Emperor. The emperor is ruler over the largest region of any of the cities, including several other townships, giving him the largest population to pull from for armed forces, and other resources.

In spite of the prominent rivalry, there is still a vibrant trade system between the cities, and each of them sends royal contengents to compete in gladiatorial tournaments regularly. Each city hosts no less than 2 major gladiatorial tournaments per year. The true reason for hosting these gladiatorial events, is to give cause for travel between cities for rich merchants, dignitaries and persons of power who are interested in the rampant slave trade market in each city. Approximately 75% of the population of each of these cities consists of slaves.

The slave trade is a very vibrant form of income for the valley as a whole. Nearly all communities, no matter the race, have been victimized by slavers, or used the slave market to help them carve a nich for themselves. There are slaving groups that act very similarly to the way the Privatiers of the 1500's did. They are licensed to operate by one of the rival ruling parties, but considered outlaws and thieves by the other ruling party. The slave market is not exclusive to any race, creed, or socio/political stature, they are all possible slaves; though it is dominated by the minority races (Orc, Dwarf, Elf, etc...). All of the slaves have a magical mark on them that is recognizable by anyone who does not have that mark.

Deeper into the valley, which is 300+/- miles East to West and 200+/- miles North to South, there are numerous communities, a few of which rival Pillinqual in size and diversity. Traveling to and from these communities can be by either river or road. Most of the communities deeper into the valley have little or no slavery, they are the communities most commonly victimized by the slavers, and have developed a dislike for it.

The western end of the valley is difficult to travel through without the roads or rivers for it is rife with plateaus and deep river canyons. There are many bridges and switchback trails that lead into and out of Pillinqual, and the other two cities on the coast, but each of these cities have direct access to each other by sea, and to the valley by the rivers. Skald and Ermach have easier access to the eastern portions of the valley by land because they are ouside the area with all the canyons.

Set in the heart of the valley, is a fairly large mountain range that is known to be the home of numerous savage species, as well as two strong, successful dwarven clans. There are a couple big townships that have sprouted up in the foothill surrounding these mountains. In the northern and southern corners along the far eastern border of the valley, there are two fortress communities who have storied histories dating back before the darkening, but they are mostly remembered for their roles in allowing the darkening to occur.

== Races of the Valley: ==

I ran this valley with Orcs and 1/2 Orcs as regular members of society. Yes, they are nearly always left in the dregs, scraping and fighting to make a living, but they are accepted as another of the civilized races - barely. Therefor, full Orc can be taken as a Player Character.
STATS: As per the Monster Manual 3.5 except that I gave them an additional +2 Con. If you compare the Orc from the MM w/ the common Dwarf, there is no reason not to give the orc the extra Con. (in my humble opinion)

Drow Elves are common members of society, however, their 3 centures of exposure to the pseudo-sun and fresh air have had an effect upon them similar to the effects it has upon their magical armor & swords - their powers and abilities have diminished greatly. Drow no longer have spell resistance and their dark vision is cut down to 60'.
STATS: No Spell Resistance, Dark Vision 60 ft., No Light Blindness, No Dancing Lights, No Faerie Fire, Light Sensetivity (dazzled in bright light). All other stats are identical to those from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting rule book, pg. 13.

Mountain Dwarves; These are a sturdier race of dwarf that come from the Dragon Scale mountains - the range of mountains in the heart of the valley. These dwarves are refered to as Mountain Dwarves, their homes are more like the cliff face homes of the native american tribes of the american south west. These dwarves average 9" taller than typical dwarves.
STATS:+2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Cha, +2 attack vs orc, goblinkin, & giantkin, base speed 30, +2 AC vs giant, no appraise bonus, Low Light Vision, No sense of Depth underground, no bonus to saving throws vs spells, no bonus to stone-crafting skills.

No race with outsider blood was allowed. As the story goes, the people of the valley learned to loath and mistrust any creature from the outerplanes, for they are the reason the valley has become what it is today. All regions of the valley, and all levels of society, will draw together to slay anyone they feel has outsider blood. Therefor, no Aasimar, Genasi, Tiefling or any other powerful race should be allowed.

== Slavery in the Valley: ==

It is vile and despicable, it is reviled by most, and yet it is pretty much everywhere. Even the people of the valley who have little exposure to slavery take it for granted and are unwilling to help any who are trying to escape it. It has been a part of the culture of the region since before the Darkening, though before the Darkening they were not victimized by slavers, nearly all of the slaves came from beyond the valley, with a small few consisting of convicted criminals.

There is a society and hierarchy for the slaves. There are three basic catagories under which the vast majority of slaves fall:
Household
Worker
Gladiator
Of these catagories, the gladiators have the quickest road to freedom, they can earn it through enough successes in the ring. However one defeat will send them down to start over again. While death occurs constantly upon the sands of the ring, few of the deaths are permanent, at least for successful or charismatic gladiators. Magic allows their owners to preserve their lives, allowing them to again foray into the ring.

This adventure will begin with all of the group being slaves who have one way or another found their way into the gladiatorial rings. Either they are too unruly or just plain built for life in the ring and have been trained there ever since.

Withing the Gladiatorial slave society there too is a hierarchy. This hierarch is coveted by those at the bottom and brutally protected by those at or near the top. Within this society, the concern of overzealous bosses is rampant, many work to constantly keep those beneath them, beneath them. There is a Ranking system, to which all of the slaves answer and most aspire to ascend:
Slave
Private
Seargent
Lieutenant
Captain
Each of these ranks have privileges or lack there of, based upon their station. While the slaves sleep in cold dank rooms with straw strewn upon the floor, holding no real possessions, the captain has a suite of rooms all to himself, a wench or two upon whom he can call any time and access to better parts of the city. Slaves have no access to any shops, they are provided a cloth smock for clothes and eat & drink all from the same trough, like livestock. Slaves typically are crowded into a room about 15 per 100 sq feet.

Those who rise above slave find they are privates. As privates, they will get a miniscule share of the purse for each victory, they are allowed to visit a very select few shops to improve their clothing and possibly even buy shoes. After any victory they achieve, they will be allowed one watered down beer or ale. Their rooms are slighly less crowded, about 10 people per 100 sq feet.

Seargents have it much nicer, but rising from private to seargent is probably the most difficlt ascension of them all. Once a slave achieves seargent, he/she is allowed to visit the shops of the poorer part of town, they get a larger portion of their purse, which they can spend on anything but weapons or items that could be perceived/used as weapons (bat guano for instance). Seargents are sheltered in rooms of about 3 per 100 sq feet, given straw matresses and allowed to hold their possessions in locked boxes.

'''The Broken Dagger''' is a well organized group of thieves, thugs, & cripples who, in addition to their more commonly expected forms of employment, work to assist slaves in escaping their bonds. This group has some powerful wizards who are capable of removing the slave mark, with no residual mark remaining. For an additional fee, the Broken Dagger will arrainge for the freed slave to leave the region of the heaviest slaving. This process is not cheap, but it comes with guarantees and the Broken Dagger are the real deal. In fact, the Broken Dagger also works to protect the slave market; they like the slaves being enslaved, so they have reason to pay for their freedom. They also work to protect their market, they come down hard on anyone trying to break into the outlawed slave freeing market.

== The Darkening: ==

History tells the inhabitants of the valley that for more than a century, prior to the Darkening, the world around their valley had erupted into catastrophic war. The war, it is said, reached unimaginable levels of horror, depravity and destruction, wizards and priest around the world had invited creatures of the outer planes to come over and assist them in their pursuit of their goals. Somehow, this valley had managed to stay mostly free of much of the conflict that went on around them, however, and many began to realize that something drastic must be done.

So the people of influence from around the valley began to work on a way to prevent the war from overlapping into their relatively peaceful home. As time passed, pressure mounted for those involved to succeed, so they too started to recruit help, but only from outside their valley, they limited their recruitment, allowing only mortals to contribute. This collaboration is why Drow are regular members of society, for they were amongst some of the greatest wizards contributing to the ritual spell they eventually cast.

Sadly, something went terribly wrong with the casting of the spell, for all those involved were permanently turned to stone: every form of enchantment breaking magic and transmutation has been used upon them since the Darkening, all to no avail. However, it appeared to accomplish that which they said it would, albeit with some unexpected side effect.

Upon the completion of the ritual a thick, miasmic darkness descended around the valley in a palpable line. In the early years, many people would cross over the line of darkness, seeking news from the outside, brave adventurers seeking unknown glory, lovesick family members or sweethearts searching for a lost loved one, they all went into the shadows but never returned. The Darkness stretches around the entirety of the valley, beginning just where the statues of those great wizards, priests and other people of power stood to enact their one last hope. Even out in the mouth of the Bay, there is a line of statues that appear to be standing upon the surface of the sea, where the heroes who were there to contribute to the ritual, were levitating or flying.

The only remnant of the bright, beautiful realm they lived in before the darkening, the people of the valley have is their subdued sun. While their sun rises and sets every day, as it has done since the creation of their world, the darkness seems to sap away some of its light, subduing it, making it appear to be twilight, even in the middle of the longest day of the year.

Many, if not most of the people have come to hate the darkness, saying they should have taken their chances with the war. At least then they would have died normally. There are those who believe this darkness is supernatural and not of their world, that it is cold, and smacks of the freightful, Dark Goddess Shar, Mistress of the Night.

== Magic & Healing in the Valley: ==

..

..

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-12T02:21:19Z

Feniqs:

[[Category:A D&D 3.5 Edition Campaign Adventure]]

== '''An Overview of the Valley:''' ==

This is a very large valley set in a moderate, temperate region. The Western edge of the valley is set against a large bay, the three other borders are defined by Rugged Mountains that had no less than 2 passes each, allowing for robust trade with the nations and regions beyond the valley prior to the 'Darkening.'

Set against the bay there are 3 fairly large cities, Pillinqual is the largest of these, as well as the largest city of the valley. Pillinqual is built into the cliffs that border the sea for most of the western coast. The two rivers that flow into the sea are on the northern and southern sides of the plateau upon which Pillinqual sets. I had the adventure begin here in Pillinqual. There is a rivalry between these 3 cities, each claiming to have rightful claim to rulership over the valley. In Pillinqual, they refer to their leader as the Emperor. The emperor is ruler over the largest region of any of the cities, including several other townships, giving him the largest population to pull from for armed forces, and other resources.

In spite of the prominent rivalry, there is still a vibrant trade system between the cities, and each of them sends royal contengents to compete in gladiatorial tournaments regularly. Each city hosts no less than 2 major gladiatorial tournaments per year. The true reason for hosting these gladiatorial events, is to give cause for travel between cities for rich merchants, dignitaries and persons of power who are interested in the rampant slave trade market in each city. Approximately 75% of the population of each of these cities consists of slaves.

The slave trade is a very vibrant form of income for the valley as a whole. Nearly all communities, no matter the race, have been victimized by slavers, or used the slave market to help them carve a nich for themselves. There are slaving groups that act very similarly to the way the Privatiers of the 1500's did. They are licensed to operate by one of the rival ruling parties, but considered outlaws and thieves by the other ruling party. The slave market is not exclusive to any race, creed, or socio/political stature, they are all possible slaves; though it is dominated by the minority races (Orc, Dwarf, Elf, etc...). All of the slaves have a magical mark on them that is recognizable by anyone who does not have that mark.

Deeper into the valley, which is 300+/- miles East to West and 200+/- miles North to South, there are numerous communities, a few of which rival Pillinqual in size and diversity. Traveling to and from these communities can be by either river or road. Most of the communities deeper into the valley have little or no slavery, they are the communities most commonly victimized by the slavers, and have developed a dislike for it.

The western end of the valley is difficult to travel through without the roads or rivers for it is rife with plateaus and deep river canyons. There are many bridges and switchback trails that lead into and out of Pillinqual, and the other two cities on the coast, but each of these cities have direct access to each other by sea, and to the valley by the rivers. Skald and Ermach have easier access to the eastern portions of the valley by land because they are ouside the area with all the canyons.

Set in the heart of the valley, is a fairly large mountain range that is known to be the home of numerous savage species, as well as two strong, successful dwarven clans. There are a couple big townships that have sprouted up in the foothill surrounding these mountains. In the northern and southern corners along the far eastern border of the valley, there are two fortress communities who have storied histories dating back before the darkening, but they are mostly remembered for their roles in allowing the darkening to occur.

== Races of the Valley ==

I ran this valley with Orcs and 1/2 Orcs as regular members of society. Yes, they are nearly always left in the dregs, scraping and fighting to make a living, but they are accepted as another of the civilized races - barely. Therefor, full Orc can be taken as a Player Character.
STATS: As per the Monster Manual 3.5 except that I gave them an additional +2 Con. If you compare the Orc from the MM w/ the common Dwarf, there is no reason not to give the orc the extra Con. (in my humble opinion)

Drow Elves are common members of society, however, their 3 centures of exposure to the pseudo-sun and fresh air have had an effect upon them similar to the effects it has upon their magical armor & swords - their powers and abilities have diminished greatly. Drow no longer have spell resistance and their dark vision is cut down to 60'.
STATS: No Spell Resistance, Dark Vision 60 ft., No Light Blindness, No Dancing Lights, No Faerie Fire, Light Sensetivity (dazzled in bright light). All other stats are identical to those from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting rule book, pg. 13.

Mountain Dwarves; These are a sturdier race of dwarf that come from the Dragon Scale mountains - the range of mountains in the heart of the valley. These dwarves are refered to as Mountain Dwarves, their homes are more like the cliff face homes of the native american tribes of the american south west. These dwarves average 9" taller than typical dwarves.
STATS:+2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Cha, +2 attack vs orc, goblinkin, & giantkin, base speed 30, +2 AC vs giant, no appraise bonus, Low Light Vision, No sense of Depth underground, no bonus to saving throws vs spells, no bonus to stone-crafting skills.

No race with outsider blood was allowed. As the story goes, the people of the valley learned to loath and mistrust any creature from the outerplanes, for they are the reason the valley has become what it is today. All regions of the valley, and all levels of society, will draw together to slay anyone they feel has outsider blood. Therefor, no Aasimar, Genasi, Tiefling or any other powerful race should be allowed.

== '''Slavery in the Valley''' ==

It is vile and despicable, it is reviled by most, and yet it is pretty much everywhere. Even the people of the valley who have little exposure to slavery take it for granted and are unwilling to help any who are trying to escape it. It has been a part of the culture of the region since before the Darkening, though before the Darkening they were not victimized by slavers, nearly all of the slaves came from beyond the valley, with a small few consisting of convicted criminals.

There is a society and hierarchy for the slaves. There are three basic catagories under which the vast majority of slaves fall:
Household
Worker
Gladiator
Of these catagories, the gladiators have the quickest road to freedom, they can earn it through enough successes in the ring. However one defeat will send them down to start over again. While death occurs constantly upon the sands of the ring, few of the deaths are permanent, at least for successful or charismatic gladiators. Magic allows their owners to preserve their lives, allowing them to again foray into the ring.

This adventure will begin with all of the group being slaves who have one way or another found their way into the gladiatorial rings. Either they are too unruly or just plain built for life in the ring and have been trained there ever since.

Withing the Gladiatorial slave society there too is a hierarchy. This hierarch is coveted by those at the bottom and brutally protected by those at or near the top. Within this society, the concern of overzealous bosses is rampant, many work to constantly keep those beneath them, beneath them. There is a Ranking system, to which all of the slaves answer and most aspire to ascend:
Slave
Private
Seargent
Lieutenant
Captain
Each of these ranks have privileges or lack there of, based upon their station. While the slaves sleep in cold dank rooms with straw strewn upon the floor, holding no real possessions, the captain has a suite of rooms all to himself, a wench or two upon whom he can call any time and access to better parts of the city. Slaves have no access to any shops, they are provided a cloth smock for clothes and eat & drink all from the same trough, like livestock. Slaves typically are crowded into a room about 15 per 100 sq feet.

Those who rise above slave find they are privates. As privates, they will get a miniscule share of the purse for each victory, they are allowed to visit a very select few shops to improve their clothing and possibly even buy shoes. After any victory they achieve, they will be allowed one watered down beer or ale. Their rooms are slighly less crowded, about 10 people per 100 sq feet.

Seargents have it much nicer, but rising from private to seargent is probably the most difficlt ascension of them all. Once a slave achieves seargent, he/she is allowed to visit the shops of the poorer part of town, they get a larger portion of their purse, which they can spend on anything but weapons or items that could be perceived/used as weapons (bat guano for instance). Seargents are sheltered in rooms of about 3 per 100 sq feet, given straw matresses and allowed to hold their possessions in locked boxes.

'''The Broken Dagger''' is a well organized group of thieves, thugs, & cripples who, in addition to their more commonly expected forms of employment, work to assist slaves in escaping their bonds. This group has some powerful wizards who are capable of removing the slave mark, with no residual mark remaining. For an additional fee, the Broken Dagger will arrainge for the freed slave to leave the region of the heaviest slaving. This process is not cheap, but it comes with guarantees and the Broken Dagger are the real deal. In fact, the Broken Dagger also works to protect the slave market; they like the slaves being enslaved, so they have reason to pay for their freedom. They also work to protect their market, they come down hard on anyone trying to break into the outlawed slave freeing market.

== The Darkening ==

History tells the inhabitants of the valley that for more than a century, prior to the Darkening, the world around their valley had erupted into catastrophic war. The war, it is said, reached unimaginable levels of horror, depravity and destruction, wizards and priest around the world had invited creatures of the outer planes to come over and assist them in their pursuit of their goals. Somehow, this valley had managed to stay mostly free of much of the conflict that went on around them, however, and many began to realize that something drastic must be done.

So the people of influence from around the valley began to work on a way to prevent the war from overlapping into their relatively peaceful home. As time passed, pressure mounted for those involved to succeed, so they too started to recruit help, but only from outside their valley, they limited their recruitment, allowing only mortals to contribute. This collaboration is why Drow are regular members of society, for they were amongst some of the greatest wizards contributing to the ritual spell they eventually cast.

Sadly, something went terribly wrong with the casting of the spell, for all those involved were permanently turned to stone: every form of enchantment breaking magic and transmutation has been used upon them since the Darkening, all to no avail. However, it appeared to accomplish that which they said it would, albeit with some unexpected side effect.

Upon the completion of the ritual a thick, miasmic darkness descended around the valley in a palpable line. In the early years, many people would cross over the line of darkness, seeking news from the outside, brave adventurers seeking unknown glory, lovesick family members or sweethearts searching for a lost loved one, they all went into the shadows but never returned. The Darkness stretches around the entirety of the valley, beginning just where the statues of those great wizards, priests and other people of power stood to enact their one last hope. Even out in the mouth of the Bay, there is a line of statues that appear to be standing upon the surface of the sea, where the heroes who were there to contribute to the ritual, were levitating or flying.

The only remnant of the bright, beautiful realm they lived in before the darkening, the people of the valley have is their subdued sun. While their sun rises and sets every day, as it has done since the creation of their world, the darkness seems to sap away some of its light, subduing it, making it appear to be twilight, even in the middle of the longest day of the year.

Many, if not most of the people have come to hate the darkness, saying they should have taken their chances with the war. At least then they would have died normally. There are those who believe this darkness is supernatural and not of their world, that it is cold, and smacks of the freightful, Dark Goddess Shar, Mistress of the Night.

..

..

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-12T00:20:07Z

Feniqs:

[[Category:A D&D 3.5 Edition Campaign Adventure]]

== '''An Overview of the Valley:''' ==

This is a very large valley set in a moderate, temperate region. The Western edge of the valley is set against a large bay, the three other borders are defined by Rugged Mountains that had no less than 2 passes each, allowing for robust trade with the nations and regions beyond the valley prior to the 'Darkening.'

Set against the bay there are 3 fairly large cities, Pillinqual is the largest of these, as well as the largest city of the valley. Pillinqual is built into the cliffs that border the sea for most of the western coast. The two rivers that flow into the sea are on the northern and southern sides of the plateau upon which Pillinqual sets. I had the adventure begin here in Pillinqual. There is a rivalry between these 3 cities, each claiming to have rightful claim to rulership over the valley. In Pillinqual, they refer to their leader as the Emperor. The emperor is ruler over the largest region of any of the cities, including several other townships, giving him the largest population to pull from for armed forces, and other resources.

In spite of the prominent rivalry, there is still a vibrant trade system between the cities, and each of them sends royal contengents to compete in gladiatorial tournaments regularly. Each city hosts no less than 2 major gladiatorial tournaments per year. The true reason for hosting these gladiatorial events, is to give cause for travel between cities for rich merchants, dignitaries and persons of power who are interested in the rampant slave trade market in each city. Approximately 75% of the population of each of these cities consists of slaves.

The slave trade is a very vibrant form of income for the valley as a whole. Nearly all communities, no matter the race, have been victimized by slavers, or used the slave market to help them carve a nich for themselves. There are slaving groups that act very similarly to the way the Privatiers of the 1500's did. They are licensed to operate by one of the rival ruling parties, but considered outlaws and thieves by the other ruling party. The slave market is not exclusive to any race, creed, or socio/political stature, they are all possible slaves; though it is dominated by the minority races (Orc, Dwarf, Elf, etc...). All of the slaves have a magical mark on them that is recognizable by anyone who does not have that mark.

Deeper into the valley, which is 300+/- miles East to West and 200+/- miles North to South, there are numerous communities, a few of which rival Pillinqual in size and diversity. Traveling to and from these communities can be by either river or road. Most of the communities deeper into the valley have little or no slavery, they are the communities most commonly victimized by the slavers, and have developed a dislike for it.

The western end of the valley is difficult to travel through without the roads or rivers for it is rife with plateaus and deep river canyons. There are many bridges and switchback trails that lead into and out of Pillinqual, and the other two cities on the coast, but each of these cities have direct access to each other by sea, and to the valley by the rivers. Skald and Ermach have easier access to the eastern portions of the valley by land because they are ouside the area with all the canyons.

Set in the heart of the valley, is a fairly large mountain range that is known to be the home of numerous savage species, as well as two strong, successful dwarven clans. There are a couple big townships that have sprouted up in the foothill surrounding these mountains. In the northern and southern corners along the far eastern border of the valley, there are two fortress communities who have storied histories dating back before the darkening, but they are mostly remembered for their roles in allowing the darkening to occur.

'''Races of the Valley'''
I ran this valley with Orcs and 1/2 Orcs as regular members of society. Yes, they are nearly always left in the dregs, scraping and fighting to make a living, but they are accepted as another of the civilized races - barely.

Drow Elves are common members of society, however, their 3 centures of exposure to the pseudo-sun and fresh air have had an effect upon them similar to the effects it has upon their magical armor & swords - their powers and abilities have diminished greatly. Drow no longer have spell resistance and their dark vision is cut down to 60'.

Mountain Dwarves; There is a somewhat sturdier race of dwarf that lives in the Dragon Scale mountains - the range of mountains in the heart of the valley. These dwarves are refered to as Mountain Dwarves, their homes are more like the cliff face homes of the native american tribes of the american south west. These dwarves average 9" taller than typical dwarves.

No race with outsider blood was allowed. As the story goes, the people of the valley learned to loath and mistrust any creature from the outerplanes, for they are the reason the valley has become what it is today. All regions of the valley, and all levels of society, will draw together to slay anyone they feel has any outsider blood.

== '''Slavery in the Valley''' ==

It is vile and despicable, it is reviled by most, and yet it is pretty much everywhere. Even the people of the valley who have little exposure to slavery take it for granted and are unwilling to help any who are trying to escape it. It has been a part of the culture of the region since before the Darkening, though before the Darkening they were not victimized by slavers, nearly all of the slaves came from beyond the valley, with a small few consisting of convicted criminals.

There is a society and hierarchy for the slaves. There are three basic catagories under which the vast majority of slaves fall:
Household
Worker
Gladiator
Of these catagories, the gladiators have the quickest road to freedom, they can earn it through enough successes in the ring. However one defeat will send them down to start over again. While death occurs constantly upon the sands of the ring, few of the deaths are permanent, at least for successful or charismatic gladiators. Magic allows their owners to preserve their lives, allowing them to again foray into the ring.

This adventure will begin with all of the group being slaves who have one way or another found their way into the gladiatorial rings. Either they are too unruly or just plain built for life in the ring and have been trained there ever since.

Withing the Gladiatorial slave society there too is a hierarchy. This hierarch is coveted by those at the bottom and brutally protected by those at or near the top. Within this society, the concern of overzealous bosses is rampant, many work to constantly keep those beneath them, beneath them. There is a Ranking system, to which all of the slaves answer and most aspire to ascend:
Slave
Private
Seargent
Lieutenant
Captain
Each of these ranks have privileges or lack there of, based upon their station. While the slaves sleep in cold dank rooms with straw strewn upon the floor, holding no real possessions, the captain has a suite of rooms all to himself, a wench or two upon whom he can call any time and access to better parts of the city. Slaves have no access to any shops, they are provided a cloth smock for clothes and eat & drink all from the same trough, like livestock. Slaves typically are crowded into a room about 15 per 100 sq feet.

Those who rise above slave find they are privates. As privates, they will get a miniscule share of the purse for each victory, they are allowed to visit a very select few shops to improve their clothing and possibly even buy shoes. After any victory they achieve, they will be allowed one watered down beer or ale. Their rooms are slighly less crowded, about 10 people per 100 sq feet.

Seargents have it much nicer, but rising from private to seargent is probably the most difficlt ascension of them all. Once a slave achieves seargent, he/she is allowed to visit the shops of the poorer part of town, they get a larger portion of their purse, which they can spend on anything but weapons or items that could be perceived/used as weapons (bat guano for instance). Seargents are sheltered in rooms of about 3 per 100 sq feet, given straw matresses and allowed to hold their possessions in locked boxes.

'''The Broken Dagger''' is a well organized group of thieves, thugs, & cripples who, in addition to their more commonly expected forms of employment, work to assist slaves in escaping their bonds. This group has some powerful wizards who are capable of removing the slave mark, with no residual mark remaining. For an additional fee, the Broken Dagger will arrainge for the freed slave to leave the region of the heaviest slaving. This process is not cheap, but it comes with guarantees and the Broken Dagger are the real deal. In fact, the Broken Dagger also works to protect the slave market; they like the slaves being enslaved, so they have reason to pay for their freedom. They also work to protect their market, they come down hard on anyone trying to break into the outlawed slave freeing market.

== The Darkening ==

History tells the inhabitants of the valley that for more than a century, prior to the Darkening, the world around their valley had erupted into catastrophic war. The war, it is said, reached unimaginable levels of horror, depravity and destruction, wizards and priest around the world had invited creatures of the outer planes to come over and assist them in their pursuit of their goals. Somehow, this valley had managed to stay mostly free of much of the conflict that went on around them, however, and many began to realize that something drastic must be done.

So the people of influence from around the valley began to work on a way to prevent the war from overlapping into their relatively peaceful home. As time passed, pressure mounted for those involved to succeed, so they too started to recruit help, but only from outside their valley, they limited their recruitment, allowing only mortals to contribute. This collaboration is why Drow are regular members of society, for they were amongst some of the greatest wizards contributing to the ritual spell they eventually cast.

Sadly, something went terribly wrong with the casting of the spell, for all those involved were permanently turned to stone: every form of enchantment breaking magic and transmutation has been used upon them since the Darkening, all to no avail. However, it appeared to accomplish that which they said it would, albeit with some unexpected side effect.

Upon the completion of the ritual a thick, miasmic darkness descended around the valley in a palpable line. In the early years, many people would cross over the line of darkness, seeking news from the outside, brave adventurers seeking unknown glory, lovesick family members or sweethearts searching for a lost loved one, they all went into the shadows but never returned. The Darkness stretches around the entirety of the valley, beginning just where the statues of those great wizards, priests and other people of power stood to enact their one last hope. Even out in the mouth of the Bay, there is a line of statues that appear to be standing upon the surface of the sea, where the heroes who were there to contribute to the ritual, were levitating or flying.

The only remnant of the bright, beautiful realm they lived in before the darkening, the people of the valley have is their subdued sun. While their sun rises and sets every day, as it has done since the creation of their world, the darkness seems to sap away some of its light, subduing it, making it appear to be twilight, even in the middle of the longest day of the year.

Many, if not most of the people have come to hate the darkness, saying they should have taken their chances with the war. At least then they would have died normally. There are those who believe this darkness is supernatural and not of their world, that it is cold, and smacks of the freightful, Dark Goddess Shar, Mistress of the Night.

..

..

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-11T22:07:32Z

Feniqs:

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-11T18:23:13Z

Feniqs:

The Valley of Darkness:Main Page

2008-03-11T17:38:11Z

Feniqs:

[[Category:A D&D 3.5 Edition Campaign Adventure]]

== '''Description''' ==
'''An Overview of the Valley:'''
This is a very large valley set in a moderate, temperate region. The Western edge of the valley is set against a large bay, the three other borders are defined by Rugged Mountains that had no less than 2 passes each, allowing for robust trade with the nations and regions beyond the valley prior to the 'Darkening.'

Set against the bay there are 3 fairly large cities, Pillinqual is the largest of these, as well as the largest city of the valley. Pillinqual is built into the cliffs that border the sea for most of the western coast. The two rivers that flow into the sea are on the northern and southern sides of the plateau upon which Pillinqual sets. I had the adventure begin here in Pillinqual. There is a rivalry between these 3 cities, each claiming to have rightful claim to rulership over the valley. In Pillinqual, they refer to their leader as the Emperor. The emperor is ruler over the largest region of any of the cities, including several other townships, giving him the largest population to pull from for armed forces, and other resources.

In spite of the prominent rivalry, there is still a vibrant trade system between the cities, and each of them sends royal contengents to compete in gladiatorial tournaments regularly. Each city hosts no less than 2 major gladiatorial tournaments per year. The true reason for hosting these gladiatorial events, is to give cause for travel between cities for rich merchants, dignitaries and persons of power who are interested in the rampant slave trade market in each city. Approximately 75% of the population of each of these cities consists of slaves.

The slave trade is a very vibrant form of income for the valley as a whole. Nearly all communities, no matter the race, have been victimized by slavers, or used the slave market to help them carve a nich for themselves. There are slaving groups that act very similarly to the way the Privatiers of the 1500's did. They are licensed to operate by one of the rival ruling parties, but considered outlaws and thieves by the other ruling party. The slave market is not exclusive to any race, creed, or socio/political stature, they are all possible slaves; though it is dominated by the minority races (Orc, Dwarf, Elf, etc...). All of the slaves have a magical mark on them that is recognizable by anyone who does not have that mark.

Deeper into the valley, which is 300+/- miles East to West and 200+/- miles North to South, there are numerous communities, a few of which rival Pillinqual in size and diversity. Traveling to and from these communities can be by either river or road. Most of the communities deeper into the valley have little or no slavery, they are the communities most commonly victimized by the slavers, and have developed a dislike for it.

The western end of the valley is difficult to travel through without the roads or rivers for it is rife with plateaus and deep river canyons. There are many bridges and switchback trails that lead into and out of Pillinqual, and the other two cities on the coast, but each of these cities have direct access to each other by sea, and to the valley by the rivers. Skald and Ermach have easier access to the eastern portions of the valley by land because they are ouside the area with all the canyons.

..

..