The Wilderlands of Absalom
- While the road to Rocky Peak has been little used and ill-maintained over the past century, the occasional bold merchant or brave adventurers made the treacherous journey between the two cities. A dozen or so years ago, however, a pride of manticores staked their territory western edge of the forest, effectively shutting down transit between Rocky Peak and Junction. Mr. Hand, the factor in the adventurer's employ, notes that Rocky Peak was for years a source of iron and gemstones, two commodities that Junction is sorely lacking.
- Far to the west, at the base of an active volcano, sits the legendary city of Pesh. Even before the darkness fell the route to Pesh was long and circuitous, for there is only one road onto the plateau where it is built, and the causeway is -- or was, rather, controlled by a fierce band of lion-men who demand tribute to those who would pass. Pesh is noted, however, for its great libraries containing books and scrolls of esoteric nature and for the veritable army of brass-skinned smiths who forge puissant weapons in the heat of the looming volcano. Were one to open a road to Pesh it would certainly bring great wealth to the indomitable individual.
- Gold ingots are also in high demand in Junction, and a wild-eyed man has been spreading tales of a gold mine he stumbled across in the hills south of the Principality, abandoned for nigh one hundred years but barely touched. He is willing to sell a map to the mine for 500 gold coins.
- A band of river trolls has established themselves in the River Sarn, demanding heavy tribute for those wanting to reach the Silver Sea and the markets beyond. The Scarlet Prince has offered a reward of 5000 gold alcedes to those able to defeat the trolls and open the waterways south. They are rumored to lair where the verdant grasslands turn to hills, some fifty miles southwest of Junction.
- All agree that the most fertile, prosperous land in Absalom is to be found almost due west of Junction. They say the ground is so fecund that one need only scatter seeds on the soil and wait for the most bountiful of harvests.
