Hex by Hex

From this thread, creating a 16 by 12 hex sandbox campaign setting. This wikipage collects the entries and the map:

http://www.houseofgenius.com/images/sandbox.png

Right now, the hexes are organized by column.

1

Aire'ennyn

This is a massive coral fortress that lies in the waters a few miles away from the towering coastal cliffs of Jaeger's Point and serves as a border post for the sea elves who rule a small domain in the western ocean.

The elves are very territorial but have been known to interact with the merchants of windhook and also to serve as guides-for-hire through the Dagger Reefs.

Dagger Reefs

Access to the harbour at nearby Windhook is treacherous through this region, and many an inattentive captain has found his ship wrecked on the rocks that lie just below the surface.

Harbor Approach

This is the safe passage to the Windhook harbors, avoiding the dagger reefs. The Great Desert of Ashok verges on the waters of the Windswept Sea here. This relatively constricted access to Windhook makes it an attractive area for pirates, so the Windhook governing employs a number of small, fast fighting ships to patrol the harbor approach.

Still, one must always be on the lookout for cutthroats and privateers.

The Desert Wastes

Once a fertile grassland, in recent generations the Great Desert of Ashok to the west has encroached on this area, driving out the farmers who resided here. In their place, nomad tribes now prowl amongst the dunes and wind-blown ruins of past settlement.

Though occasional oases may still be found here, voyaging further west into the heart of the desert is considered a dangerous proposition.

The Desert Wastes, Continued

The desert continues southwards here.

The Oasis of Esau

This unnaturally large oasis is the size of a small lake and fed by several fresh water springs that spring, seemingly magically, from a series of rocky outcroppings that poke out of the surrounding desert sands.

It not only serves as an important water resource for all the creatures of the desert, but is also held sacred by the desert centaur tribes. They claim that it was created millenia ago when an ancient human prophet, leading his tribesman out of captivity from the south, smote the rocky outcroppings with his staff and presented the oasis as a treaty offering between his people and the centaurs.

The Desert Centaur Tribes all meet and drink from the oasis, but none may fight, however much they may hate their tribal enemies. Non-centaur races are not allowed to drink from the oasis without first gaining the protection and escort of one of the centaur tribes. This can be obtained many ways and certain merchant caravans have long standing and profitable agreements with specific tribes to allow them to use the oasis on their trips north and south...

2

Fayline Falls

This is a huge fall that makes Delnair Falls look like small potatoes. Behind the waterfall is a huge dungeon--about eight floors above and below the sea level--not counting the sea level entrance floor. In the center of the bottom eight sub-floor, lives a white dragon named Kortoniara. Kortoniara is a young dragoness who had a hatred for her teacher: Onsamiath. They is one thing she hates more then Onsamaith is the near-by werewolf and his skeleton pals. They had causing death of her monsters--usually for werewolf to use as food on his travel to Floorboard.

Kortoniara appears to a shining example of dragonkind. She appears to a very large female dragon. Unlike most female dragon, she doesn't have a temper. Kortoniara has protected her home with the following monsters: succumbs, water elements, skeletons of dead sirens, a tribe of drows, and two beholders who in charge of her home's monster.

Siren's Dam

Year ago, a famous mermaid Serina used magic to become a human. Serina had a rival with air creatures. One of them killed her. Her human lover researched mermaid death rituals and discover that the mermaids killed underwater would be cooked--while above the water, they would be buried. He built a dam on Feyline river.

The tomb is home to a crazy werewolf and his skeleton pals. This is the same werewolf that's been causing problems in Floorboards.

The tomb/dam no longer fully contains the Feyline river.

Feyline Traders

The Feyline river flooded this area when the tome/dam first ceased to fully hold it back. A number of markets and trading outposts have opened here on top of the water ruined villages. Riverboats routinely make a course with exotic goods down towards Whitewater Junction.

Many of these boats ask little from their passengers except the money of passage, and it is known that fugitives from northern communities as well as monsters able to masquerade as (demi)human make use of these boats to travel south to escape justice or find new victims.

Exotic furs and preserved meats are what primarily get sent down. There is a strong trapper community living side by side with the merchants that ply the rivers. While the trapper camps and communities are mostly adjacent to this territory, there are a number of taverns and meeting halls amongst the market where the two mingle after discussing wares.

Recently, a new sort of pelt, that seems to be actual gold, has been trickling in to the markets and the first few have just arrived to the south, to the delight of all involved.

Jaeger's Point

This massive cliff is a mile wide, half a mile high and sheer except in the center where a massive carving of some hero of old juts out from the cliff face. Who he is and what he did is lost to antiquity, only his name remains.

SECRET: The entire rock outcropping is only the face of a massive underground lair built as a fortress-tomb for the ancient warrior who saw his kingdom razed to the ground and his family slaughtered by usurpers before being slain himself. His followers managed to spirit his body away to his tomb along with that of his family, but their spirits never moved on and await the day when they can take back their kingdom and claim vengence on the descendants of their conquerers.

Recently, faint emanations of paranoia and hate have reached his sleeping corpse and have revived him. As his power slowly grows, he sends forth sentinels of darkness to scout the land and prepare the way to reclaim his rightful throne...

Windhook

This thriving maritime settlement on the Great Windswept Sea bustles with members of all races and cultures, goods from a dozen lands, and no shortage of jobs for eager adventurers. Join a ship's crew and see new lands; escort a caravan to the interior, facing who knows what peril; sign on with a mercenary company to pacify rebellious settlements...the possibilities are endless.

Lately, Windhook has been under pressure from several shipping guilds to adjust their tariffs, or face a trade war. At the same time, mysterious thefts, murders, and accidents have been happening to ships at the Windhook port. The governing council thinks the accidents are the work of the Guilds, but are they?

Places to be sure to visit: The Bilge Rat, Lady Nerissa's Lounge, the Leeward, and Mad Mindros General Store.

Windhook also marks the mouth of the Delnar river, where its waters empty into the Windswept Sea.

Wetlands Meet Desert

This area, marking the point where the wetlands around the Delnar basin meet the northern edge of the western desert, is home largely to scrabbly low-growing grasses and plants.

Council Stone

This vast field of desperate grass has a giant slab of stone at the center. Here tribes of desert centaurs come to meet, feeling safe in the mutual risk of the writhing sands nearby. It is also where the centaurs come to deal with those from Windhook.

Beyond meeting centaurs conducting business here, those traveling through often encounter the ghosts of centaurs who are drawn here and more able to speak near the stone, giving council to their descendants. There are darker spirits as well in this area, sorcerers who have sought to assault the mystic tower deeper in the desert and djinn who have dwindled due to being bound to earthly elements. The centaurs remove all dead bodies from this place, and many say it is for more than simple fear of providing an easy host to the ghosts that reside here.

There are a few animate skeletons in this area, and they are possessed of a keen and terrible intelligence, one that often surpasses the living mind that once resided there.

The writhing sands

A region of desert covered in silt sands that flow and move across ever moving windstorms. A navigation piece used by those traveling the desert to gain their barrings from a distance. The winds are surely unnatural and many a caravan has seen on relatively clear days a shining spire of glass and mirrors within. Through rumor it has recently been heard that for one week every five years, the storm dies, raining tons of sand around the region that billow out in a dust cloud...and reveal the shining spire in its smooth and sunlit glory, along with a tattered tent and windswept clay city at it's base.

When the winds die, men and women in robes fly by their own magic or that of another as riders from the place burst from below aback cruel beasts that glide through the sand like sharks on the sea, some leaving claiming to have finished their studies, others off to find the next class for this secure and sequestered school of Wizardry, Boraro's tower.

3

Pillar of Onath

A large stone piller juts up from the broken ground here. The piller resists all attempts to damage it and appears in remarkable good condition despite being in place for a long, long time.

SECRET: The Pillar of Onath was built years ago to contain the mighty power of the White Dragon Kortoniara by not allowing her to out of the Feyline falls, trapping her within. She will go to any lengths to see it destroyed and at any point has a dozen plots in progress to see it gone. So far, none have worked, so far.

SUPER SECRET:

About half of any of those dozen plots to do in this landmark--comes from beholders under the command of Kortoniara.

Feyline Rapids

Here the Feyline river is at it's most violent, it's crashing, churning waters have claimed many a life over the years. No bridges cross the river here.

Bullywugs' Cavern

Just above the black dragon's lair before the Fayline-for a back of better words-smashes into Delnair at White Junction. Bullywug's Cavern is home of the black dragon's favorite food.

Bullywugs aren't too happy with the black dragon--and trying to locate good creatures of the land to take care of that annoying black dragon.

The Bullywugs' caverns are located in the hills that rise up, semi-circular, near the stench fens and Whitewater Junction and help give Jaegar's Point its elevation.

Onsamiath's Lair

An extension of the Stench Fens, the old black dragon Onsamiath lives in this tract of swamplands. It is a sorcerer of some repute and is fascinated by the magical energies in the Stench Fens. In pursuing his study of the Fens, Onsamiath has developed a wasting disease that is sapping the life out of him.* Not knowing the cause Onsamiath is seriously contemplating dracolichdom to avoid an ignoble death.

In the past Onsamiath attempted to exact tolls from river traffic to build his horde but after an encounter with a band of adventurers near five decades ago still has him extremely cautious about exposing himself to outsiders. Bullywugs, on the other hand, are his prime food source.

• Currently Onsamiath looks very gaunt and exemplifies the blakc dragon epithet of, "skull dragon."

Ruins of Grey

Here, along rolling hills on the banks of the Delnar lie the ruins of Grey. This accursed place has been abandoned for the past fifty years after it was destroyed in the titanic struggle between a band of adventurers and the near by Black Dragon. Some say these "Heroes" deliberately used Grey as bait for the Dragon, ensuring the deaths of all it's people.

At night some people say you can hear the wails of pain and agony of the towns residence crying out for vengeance. Nearly everywhere else the adventurers are hailed as true heroes for "killing" the Dragon.

The Tower of Al-Jazeera

Surrounding Terrain (2.12, 3.11, 4.11, 4.12) : Desert

This ancient wizard's tower was long abandoned and almost completely buried until rediscovered by a fugitive sorceror from the southern desert kingdoms. Having conquered the magical defenses of the tower and raised it back above the sands, the renegade, one Ali Ababba Al-Jazeera, has enacted a cunning plan.

The tower grants its owner control over 8 enslaved Djinn, one for each of the 8 cardinal directions. He has tasked these Djinn with transmitting thoughts of paranoia and hatred into the ether surrounding the tower. As the transmissions emanate further and further from the tower, Al-Jazeera is hoping it will incite the surrounding kingdoms to eventually start fighting amongst each other and start an age of war and bloodshed.

As the kingdoms are weakened, he will take them over one by one until he has all the kingdoms of men under his thumb as a Grand Sorceror Sultan and can exact slow, excruciating revenge upon those who dared to exile him...

SECRET: This tower was originally built for the same purpose by the fox-were magus Perrut Dochrum, whose soul is trapped in a sky-blue topaz encased in a lead box and buried beneath a flagstone on the lowest floor. If the gem is ever broken, he will manifest as a lich and regain control of the djinn.

4

Bachmaur

This city's fortune is barely apparent in its modest buildings and stinking places of business. It is a famed source of leather goods, taking animals herded in the surrounding area by skinning them. As such it also has a healthy butchery business, including making famed jerky.

While the skinning focuses on conventional animals in the area, the town is well aware of how to skin and tan far more exotic creatures.

Whitewater Junction

Here, the Feyline River feeds into the Delnar, and the meeting is anything but peaceful. Rocky terrain in the riverbeds forms a series of powerful, fast-moving rapids that make passage up- and downriver impossible for many of the heavily laden river barges that travel the Delnar and the Feyline. An industrious and entrepreneurial halfling family, the Doskins, set up Camp Whitewater decades ago to offer their services in moving cargo across the rapids - or around them - on cargo trains. The business rapidly grew, and with it the camp.

Now a major town, Whitewater Junction offers services of all kinds to the river crews and travelers who use the Delnar and Feyline rivers to cross the wilds. However, their core business - getting boats around, through, or over the rapids - remains a thriving endeavor, and visitors to Whitewater Junction will see seemingly endless convoys of porters, wagons, and sleds carrying cargo of all sorts from the docks on Lowside - below the rapids - to the Highside docks. The Doskins oversee the operation of all of the Portage Companies in Whitewater Junction, acting as a "guild" to preserve competition...and to rake in a handsome profit.

Stench Fens

This swampy area, just south of where the Feyline River joins the Delnar*, is suffused with the stink of decay; bubbles slowly rise through the loose mud to loose a gut-churning miasma over the area. Wizards and scholars do not believe the smell in this place could be natural, and some scholars believe it is the remnants of a curse or a mighty magical weapon used eons ago, leaving the earth here hopelessly corrupted. Fortunately, whatever ancient plague corrupts this site does not seem to contaminate the waters of the Delnar...yet.

The Stench Fens are home to several Bullywug tribes, including one led by Krebbok, a Tribal Shaman of great power. It is said that Krebbok wears amulets of power recovered from numerous burial mounds that lie beneath the mud and greasy water of the fens.

5

Old King's Road Follows River

Here, Old King's Road - little more than a rough trail - follows the course of the Delnar for a time before curving northward, heading into parts unknown.

Hag's Crossroad

Two ruined roads cross in this bog riddled area. It is home to brutish creatures that labor under a coven of hags that have maintained control for generations, abducting and inducting girls from surrounding settlements into their dark secrets. Occasionally a female magic user will seek them out for their arcane secrets, or to join the coven.

The hags occasionally parlay with communities nearby, sending dominated monsters into town and speaking through the brutes. They do not wish to disrupt the balance of power that allows them to remain there.

Some suspect they wish to usurp control of the Stench Fens nearby, but that some power prevents them from doing so.

Heroes' Grave

Tombs and monuments to ancient heroes fill this area, sprawling out into ruined necropoli that bear the brunt of the sands. Centaurs still come here to deposit their honored dead—even if it is just their bones or ashes. Many of the crypts and other structures show signs of being forced open, and desperate grave robbers and fledgling necromancers both still come seeking some hidden scrap of wealth or power.

A road extends out to the east from here. Its old name is the Final Road, but in recent times it is simply called the Southern Road or South Way. The road is a major thoroughfare still for southern settlements, who use it to reach the Splendor and beyond. It is considered far safer than other routes to travel. Some say it is due to the shrines and crumbled statues of heroes that still line some of the way. Others because it is nestled between a sorcery riddled desert and the power of the Splendor.

6

Tower of Arun Tor

The Tower of Arun Tor sits atop Dol Arun, a hill in the Highlands of Erenby. Formerly the home of Pertwee Village's lord, it was abandoned a generation ago when the last resident, Lord Bascom, died without a known heir.

The tower is four stories high, each slightly smaller than the one beneath. Unknown to most, the tower has just as many sub-levels underground, where Lord Bascom plied his second, secret trade-that of a necromancer.

It is uninhabited today and rumored to be haunted-a rumor that may be true, considering its history.

The Village of Pertwee

Pertwee Village lies amidst the rolling Hills of Erenby. The primary occupation of its residents is herding goats and sheep on the grassy slopes, though they also forage for mushrooms in the many shallow caves that dot the hills. The village itself is surrounded by a wooden stockade for protection from bandits and lesser humanoids that also inhabit the hills.

A stone tower called Arun Tor rises on a hill overlooking the village, formerly the residence of the local lord. He died a generation ago without an heir, and the tower has been abandoned since.

Old Road Diminishes

As the old road from King's Bridge continues to the northwest through this lightly wooded region, weeds, shrubs, and other plants sprouting between the stones become more frequent. Eventually the road becomes little more than a trail, with only the occasional cobblestone or weather-worn marker to tell of what it once was.

Tomb Pass

Here the Southern Way crosses over part of the Baskin Mountains in what is locally known as "Tomb Pass" due the presence of so many graves near the entrance.

A large population of Dwarfs used to make their home in the Baskins and were a fairly common sight when crossing the passes. About a generation ago the Dwarfs became more and more insular, until finally they drew back from the world entirely. In the last months of their interaction with the world the Dwarfs were more and more fearful, not only for themselves but for anyone they talked to.

No one knows if the Dwarfs are still around, or what ever became of them.

7

The Kings Bridge

A large stone bridge across the Deinar which used to carry wagons two abreast in ancient times. Crumbling statues of forgotten kings flank it.

Vagabond's Echo

Taller hills than normal for the area rise up here, a final push for the Vagabond mountain range before only hills remain. Hunting and farming occurs among the hills, with the territory uneasily shared by the locals from various towns and villages.

The King's Road passes through the levelest course available in Vagabond's Echo, including an area that looks as if magic were used to carve a clear course.

8

Desolate Fields

The abandoned farm land here begins to give way to resurgent forest. Wild animals are the major threat here, followed by outlaws passing through to richer pickings.

Silkweed Plantation

The ruins of a manor farm house, of the sort a noble or wealthy merchant might own, occupy the center of this area. Fallow fields overgrown with silkweed surround it. There are an abundance of large, healthy insects and serpents in the fields who hunt animals that come for the grains and vegetables that grow wild closer to the ruins.

Inside, the ruins host a colony of giant, intelligent spiders who search endlessly for a way out of the haunted estate that has become a prison as much as a home.

Hills Flanking Delnar

Here low rolling hills flank the River Delnar, creating an ideal site for farmland if anyone would bother. The remains of farmsteds can be found throughout the area. Once settled the newcomers invariably leave for within a generation for reasons they keep to themselves.

Only one creature makes this area it's home. A monstrously huge, powerfully ugly and astoundingly dim-witted Troll.

The village of Floorboards.

Population: ~150 Major trade: Fishing Government: Lord Anglethorn

Floorboards is a small fishing community on the banks of the River Delnar. Somewhat prosperous but suffering under high taxes and the heavy hand of the local sheriff. Floorboards boasts a small tavern and a very skilled master glassblower.

In recent months the town has been plagued by a werewolf.

Scholar Artemis Thorn is staying at the village tavern. He is taking drawings of the remaining statues on the bridge, and avoiding the sherrif as much as possible for some reason.

Withaive hills

Here, west of Hobb's shire, the gentle rolling foothills of the Baskan Mountains begin in ernest. Two small towns nestle in the hills below Ragnar's Peak, both competing for the rich mineral resources of the nearby mountains. Recently the mood has grown grim as the citizens of each town have grown ever more distrustful of their neighbors. Unheard of before the townsfolk have started raiding each other, so far only a few buildings have burned but the situation is getting worse by the day.

SECRET: the recent conflicts are the result of the waves of hatred and paranoia coming from the desert in the west.

9

Red Woods

This region is a dense needleleaf forest intermixed with bogs. Originally inhabited by small villages of wood elves and shifters, the recent incursion of a covey of hags* and their lycantropic minions have pushed the elves back to Ionavalon. The shifters remain and fight a low intensity war with the hag. The shifters, led by a werebear, are allied with treants, dryads, wood woads and local spirits; while the hags command many plant creatures (shamblers, battlebriars, assassin vines, predatory vines and vine horrors), otyughs, a tribe of werewolves and a group of trolls from the Black Muskeg 8.1, a cold swamp to the west.

Secret: Deep below the Red Woods is a bound deity of rot and corruption whom the hags seek to revive.

• Two green hags and an annis.

Highlands of Erenby

A spur of small, densely wooded mountains, an offshoot of the Vagabonds, separates the Red Woods and Delnar Wood. The source of the Sadhur bubbles up under a lake located on a high plateau here, and falls down towards Ionavalon to the east. (See the description of 10.2 for more details on the Sadhur.)

A traveller who braves the slopes to find the lake will be struck by the beauty as the sun strikes its crystal waters, casting shimmering light everywhere. It may be this very beauty that caused unknown hands to raise a temple on its shores. Long abandoned, locals can not recall who built it or who it was dedicated to. Wind and rain have obliterated carvings that may have given a clue to the answer, but a single statue remains that retains enough of its form to tell that the deity was at least humanoid in form; all other features -- race, age, gender -- have been since lost to the elements.

Heartwood Forest, cont

Here the Heartwood covers the land with think trees and heavy undergrowth. Still the forest has a groomed quality, belying the influence of the nearby elves.

Farmland

Though sparsely populated, this area has been cleared of major vegetation, and the local inhabitants have made use of the waters of the Delnar in order to provide irrigation for the fields that now cover the landscape.

Ore Road

Here a small road leads from the nearby mining towns to Hob's shire, where they meet merchants to sell their ore.

The road has become dangerous of late as the guards the mining towns used to patrol the path have been recalled to fight their internal struggle. A group of Hobgoblins, drawn to the area by tales of glory from their people's history, has made camp in the area.

10

Ionavalon

In a forest glade lies Ionavalon, Citadel of Dreyal, Queen of the Bright Elves of Heartwood. The Citadel sits on the Sadhur River, which flows out of the Highlands of Erenby to the west and joins the Delnar further east.

Ionavalon is not so much built as grown, through careful cultivation and tending of the forest-and a small amount of magic as well. Similar, though much smaller, houses surround it on all sides.

Though the Bright Elves have dwelt in Heartwood since before the coming of other races, throughout their history they have sought neither to expand their holdings or conquer others, but have been content to merely keep and watch over their small territory. They do not often seek contact with outsiders, but are welcoming to those of good heart who find themselves in the Heartwood.

The Deepening Forest

The forests south of Iovanalon deepen and thicken, blocking out the sun in places. Eventually, the woods grow nearly impenetrable as travelers approach the Skittering Dark.

The Skittering Dark

A section of deep forest no longer traveled by local huntsman and trappers after a wave of disappearances a few years ago. Foresters keep their distance and speak of the unnaturally large insects and spiders which give this area its name.

SECRET:

Actually it's just spiders. They have multiplied in this area under the influence of a Shrine to Lolth. A Drow priestess emerged from the Underdark to build the shrine here because of ancient magical power in the location. This is due to an ancient temple to a fallen god (or primordial) which resonates with magical power for those who can claim it.

After building the shrine, the priestess contracted with Duergar to construct a temple around it. Their hatred for the surface world has made this process painfully slow, but she does not have the means to do the stonework herself. There is a seemingly innocuous forested hill cave in this hex, which is deceptively deep and acts as the highway to the Underdark which brings the Duergar workers to the surface. The path between here and the temple itself has become increasingly well-worn over the years.

Hazards: giant spiders (including demonic variants), duergar parties, the long-buried temple beneath the shrine (now with surrounded by the skeleton of its own temple under construction), a passageway to the Underdark and all that it contains...

Hobs Shir

Named for the infestation of hobgoblins that long ago kept this fertile land from being used, numerous hamlets and villages crowd in to take advantage of the pleasing fruit trees and good growing conditions.

Notable settlements include Apple Hall, Cherry Pond, and Kaitlen's Walk. These small communities offer up a "fair" share of their bounty to the Splendor, with most of the rest going to secular leaders. Still, there is enough to avoid starvation during all but the worst growing seasons.

Dangers of Hobs Shire include cults that worship the native gods, including the alien and twisted fertility goddess (and goddess of centipedes and other such creatures) that the hobgoblins once venerated. There are also a few degenerate communities where human and hobgoblin blood have mixed.

11

Dragon Hollow

Near the Eastern edge of the Heartwood Forest lies the petrified bones of a great Red Dragon, half-buried in a hill-side. The origin of the bones have been lost even in legend, but it is said that under the lies what was once the great horde of the Dragon, waiting to be claimed by one brave enough. Even still, very few people find reason to approach the site, as few who go ever return.

SECRET: The hill is, in fact, the home-base for the Bardinian Rangers, a group of primarily Human and Half-Elf outcasts who have withdrawn from society to roam the Wilderness.

The Rangers are, for the most part, good folk, and hold an uneasy truce with the Elves of Lonavalon, mostly ignoring each other. The Rangers are made up of people of many different skill sets. From actual Rangers and Druids, to Artisans and Bards.

The lair of the Rangers is accessed through the mouth of the dragon, and includes an underground stream and many large Caverns.

The area around the hill is well-defended, and the main reason few return is that those who have found the lair never leave, being required to join the Rangers.

Bellicose Castle

The current Lord of the area, Baron Tyran Bellicose, lives in a mighty fortress overlooking the Old King's Road. He is a iron-fisted Lord in many respects, but fair. He does not tolerate disobedience, dealing harshly with any sort of challenge to his authourity, but he doesn't squeeze the locals mercilessly and deals squarely with all regarding taxes, treaties and the like, so he is generally well respected, if not actively adored, by his subjects.

Recently, however, these subjects have started to adopt a much more aggressive attitude towards the Baron's soldiers and tax-collectors, and in some areas, such as the Withaive hills, they've actually dared to attack them. The Baron grows increasinlgy paranoid that a usurper is working behind the scenes to incite the people against him and remove him from power. Perhaps one of his brothers or maybe his son. His spys are even now keeping tabs on his entire family.

Perhaps he has been too soft on the commoners and needs to visit such destruction on these Winterhaivian rebels so as to leave no doubt about his power and then, maybe, he'll figure out who in his family is responsible for stirring them up and deal with them in turn...

Crossroads

A crossroads exists here where Old King's Road meets roads leading south towards Splendor and north towards Aerth Aelwyd and the Vagabond Mountains.

Grasslands

East of Hob's Shire, the land is uncultivated grasslands verging on the forests of Ehlonna's Splendor.

Ehlonna's Splendor

Situated amongst lightly forested areas giving way to meadows is a grand, open air temple-city dedicated to nature and fertility. Several regional gods and goddesses have representations among the statuary, with the current primary goddess venerated being Ehlonna.

Near by communities pay tithes to receive the blessings of fertility and good hunting. The priests who serve in the Splendor (as the temple-city is called) serve as unofficial advisors to many nearby governments.

While the surface of life there is focused on the business of venerating the deities and serving surrounding communities, as well as educating the next generation of priests and priestesses, there is constant rivalry between the loose and conflicting hierarchies of worship. Schisms and heresies occur beneath the surface, occasionally erupting to the surface in the prayer sessions and scriptural study that makes up civic discourse for the Splendor.

Rumor has it that the reach of the Splendor was once far greater, and that the desert south of Windhook was blighted into its current form by the priestesses of that time. To those spreading this rumor, the current arrangement of gods--especially with Ehlonna as chief goddess--is a compromise that purposefully cripples the power of the Splendor.

12

Delnar Woods

Though the river does not touch these woods, save for a few small streams and creaks that split off of the main body, it shares the namesake. A few logging communities work in these woods, feeding lumber to those nearby. It is dangerous work, as the trees are hardy and often resist being chopped down through means not always natural.

SECRET: A group of druids died to preserve the natural divinity of this place from a wizard eager for its power. Their spirits have infused the woods, creating treants, dryads, and other arboreal creatures to continue protecting the slumbering divinity and its power.

Delnar Woods

The Delnar Woods thin here, as centuries of logging causes the trees to slowly give way to the rolling hills around Arth Aelwyd.

Arth Aelwyd, the Hollow Hill Inn

There is a bend in the Delnar River where it takes a turn to the west around a single, low hill. Formally named Arth Aelwyd, it is oft called simply the Hollow Hill after the riverside inn that has been built inside it by the Strongberry Halflings (they are also known for their potent wine, and they tend a small but productive vineyard in the vicinity as well). It is a pleasant stopping place for those journeying through the area-as long as one doesn’t inquire of their hosts why they have chosen to dwell so far from established Halfling territory, or venture into the lower levels of the Hollow Hill.

Bellaca

The effective capital city of the region is intensely loyal (at least in appearance) to its native son and inheritor to ancestral rule, Baron Tyron Bellicose. This city is also the edge of the Splendor's influence, with a few priests and representatives sitting on the council of nobles that manage details that the Baron does not care to.

Soldiers of the Baron not in his fortress are often here, and there are barracks within the city. Parades of the soldiers are quite common.

Recently, however, the unrest has come here. Not in the form of outright rebellion from the citizens, but in mysterious acts of vandalism and petty violence that has set the city on edge against outsiders.

Unnamed Meadow

An unnamed empty meadow. It's lovely, and there are wildflowers.

13

Hermago Heights

The lowest peaks of the Vagabond range, covered in evergreens save for the gray tips. Isolated and unexplored wilderness and rumored to be the home of the lost and untamed, and some say primordially bestial ancestors, of the elves. Recently, somewhere within the range a hive of giant wasps has begun construction...these flying beasts have begun terrorizing those who come to close and nearby settlements and might be driving out the primordial elves...whose shadows have begun being spotted in the south and to the west.

Kaunite's Peak

Part of the Vagabond mountain range, the peak is a tall mountain surrounded by its siblings whose natural springs and melting caps feed the Delnar Falls and River. Along these high streams near where the waters gather a number of mill hamlets have sprung and over time may connect into a city in on the slope of the high mountain, not often traveled to from beyond in part both to the fey creatures at the bottom of the falls and the terrible things that sleep deep in the mountain. While the lower platueas of this peak are lush with flora, fauna, and small civilization, the caverns beneath the mountain feed into a foul and monstrous worm nest, sometimes the hunting ground of a civilization not yet seen so deep in the ground that it is the perfect inverse of Kaunite's Peak.

3 main Milling hamlets: Morrisston, Valenshold, Nearfall.

Features: Mountainside, worm caverns, Kaunite's Depths undercity.

Delnar Falls

Here, the river Delnar tumbles down from its high mountain vale to the plains. The area is known for its prosperous mountainside forest, populated by fey things and containing many herbs sought by human mages and apothecaries. Beyond the waterfalls, an entrance leads into a system of caverns (naturally!).

Forests Flank Delnar

Heavy forest flanks the banks of the Delnar in this region, providing refuge for numerous herbivores but also cover for those creatures that hunt them.

(Encounters: Packs of wolves and occasionally 2-3 dire wolves, herds of deer, solitary bears, goblinoid hunting party)

Spire Lake

In the foothills, the Delnar river spills into a valley lake. The forests reach the north shore, but to the south is open hillside where halfling shepherds can often be seen leading their flocks. The lake itself it flat and calm, almost having a mirror surface except when whipped up by an autumn wind. Near the centre of the lake, a cracked stone spire breaks the surface. The druid Aedelraed knows its history, but is rarely seen these days.

14

The Charred Ridge

A section of the Vagabond mountain range with few distinguishing peaks or passes. Named for the damage done during past volcanic activity that has left the range looking singed. A few settlements eek out existence in the foot hills, under the heel of bandits who find the desolate mountains excellent for a base of operation.

Abandoned silver mines

The mountains next to Kaunite's Peak used to contain rich veins of silver but almost all of these mines were exhausted a generation ago. The mine were then abandoned and the human and dwarven miners moved on to other parts. The area is studded with ghost towns built during the first rush and now empty. There are occasional rumors of miner's treasure hidden up in the mountains or a vein that wasn't completely mined out but investigating these rumors is dangerous as several tribes of goblins have moved into the area.

When the area was populated it was home to several gangs of bandits. The largest of these, the Red Jacks, were eventually all caught and hung but they died without telling where their loot was stored.

Terrain type: Mountainous/conifer forest Settlements: Calamity (abandoned) Encounter ideas: Goblins in abandoned mine, ghosts of miners, old prospector, bandits

Broken Cart Tavern

This section of the road is treacherous and not as well maintained as it was when the border was more seriously contested. Away from most settlements, a traveler's tavern provides for the needs of the soldiers and others who come by this way. The son of the owner is quite handy at repairing the damage done to wagons and other vehicles that pass through this unpleasant stretch of road, while his twin sister is excellent at mending travel worn garments and performing repairs on smaller goods, from knives to ancient books that need to be meticulously pieced together again.

15

Horn Holds

The remains of a large stratovolcano that erupted cataclysmically many years ago. The collapsed cone formed a lake in the caldera with an island in the middle. This island serves as the main entrance to the Horn Hold, a dwarven settlement renowned for thier metal smithing. Deep within the old lava tubes and vents are veins of rare and wonderful metals and minerals.

The dwarves have not mapped all of the tunnels as of yet and will not in the near future as long range exploration parties have come under attack from worm like creatures. It is quite possible that due to past seismic activity fissures and magam tunnels have made connections to the tunnels under Kaunite's Peak.

Horn Hold is a fairly new dwarven settlement and is not as closed to outsiders as more established holds. Being founded by a priest of Moradin there is a strong religious feel to the city, and while areas are open to traders the wrokings of the foudaries and furnaces are strictly limited to the dwarves. The forges have made major advancements in metallurgy including the working of alloys of various metals* and treatments not used by humans.

• Equvalent metals would be aluminum, nickel, manganese and magnesium.

Stone Fort

This point marks both the eastern end of Old King's Road as well as part of the historic border between this land and the Eastern Kingdoms. A small stone fort, manned but falling into disrepair, stands testament to this fact.

Terrain type: Grassland (any forest that was once present has been cleared so as to provide an unobstructed view of the land on either side of the border). Potential encounters: border raiders, smugglers, invading armies if the GM so wishes

Fangula

A old city called Fangula sits. People who visit it had found nothing but a enough fog to give a dragon a chill. Anyone sent to Fangula at night disappears for ever--never to return!

SECRET: Fangula is home town of evil monsters. Count Volexa is the latest monster ruler of this time. He tossed out the last ruler of town a werewolf. Fangula has been plotting on getting rid of all the humans and turning this country into a evil monster--for lack of better words--factory.

16

White Plains

This grassland was once the site of a massive battle with the Eastern Kingdom. Where is surrounding lands are fairly flat (16.7, 16.9 and 15.8) this area is hilly. All of the hills are fairly low and flat as they are man made. Huge barrows for all of the dead killed in the long forgotten battle. The bones of the weathered mounds have begun peaking through give the name, White Plains. Many non corporal undead roam this haunted region. Along with treasure hunters seeking ancient magical panoplies that are sure to be still buried here.

The Monastery of the Celestial Dragon

Located high in the spine of the Dragonback Mountains (which wind in a serpentine fashion through 14.9, 15.10, 15.11, 16.11 and 16.12) lies what was once the westernmost outpost of a sect of warrior-monks known as the "Order of the Celestial Dragon."

Six years ago, however, the monastery was invaded by the 'Orange Horde,' a massive nomadic tribe of Hobgoblin Warg Riders and ogres led by a cunning Ogre Mage named Shan Yur. The ogre has decided to establish the monastery as the center of a new empire and is gathering evil humanoids from all across the land to burgeon his armies. He has sent out ogre hunters to gather the most dangerous beasts and monsters to master and unleash upon his enemies.

The monks were not all killed during the invasion, however, and many roam the lands trying to gather their strength to retake their home. In their desperation, they've even begun training westerners and some of the non-human races in their mystical arts to bolster their numbers. Soon all the members of the order will gather with their new pupils and the Celestial Dragon will reach out to consume the hordes of Shan Yur...