Here is a revisit of Grid Map A whose encounter locations are entered just below in some previous blog postings.
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Sunday, May 12, 2019
Grid Crawl Maps
The green squares indicate light woods. The camo green squares indicate areas of dense woods. The dark green squares indicate areas of deep forest where encounters are the most dangerous.
Grid maps help me to create the terrain = encounter level style of wilderness I am aiming for. On a grid you can more easily drop in a more dangerous section of terrain, forcing the party to make the decision to either find a longer way around or to risk cutting straight through.
Combing this style of map with major encounter areas directly related to an adventure, minor encounter areas which may or may not be directly related, custom random encounter tables and terrain description cards creates a very immersive experience for the players.
Saturday, May 11, 2019
Plants, Herbs and Trees Fantastical
As some of you already know, two factions of Druids wrestle over power in the Warholds of the North. These are the Ragged Cloak Druids, who are lycanthropes and The Druids of the Henge, which broke from the traditions of natural magic and were seduced by the Dark, Cosmic Sorcery of the Kingdom of Asmorgar.
All of this comes out of writing up a world over many years which includes notes about whole varieties of plants and herbs which have direct interactions with the world around them. In Chimera you can sometimes tell that an undead creature has risen in a graveyard because the presence and properties of certain plants will tell you this. A knowledgeable player character, someone playing a spell caster with an interest in lore and occult knowledge will pick up in real player knowledge what plants grow where, and why. They can look around the natural world and get clues about what has been happening in an area or at the very least find interesting and useful specimens for brewing their own herbal concoctions.
Chimera has three moons and a wheel of stellar constellations which directly interact with the ancient standing stone circles scattered around the world. Reading the sky can tell you whether a ley line of magic is waxing or waning or whether a new branch may be appearing or an old area of magical power fading.
I have a long list of many herbs and plants from my Dragonsmarch adventures over on my campaign web page. The Dragonsmarch is the heartland of my world of Chimera, made up of the Kingdoms of Daria, Etruria and Kyrene. For the last year or so I have been working hard on adventures more in the North, in the lands of the Warholds of the Northmen and because of this I have greatly expanded upon the original list of herbs and plants written for the heartlands area. Unfortunately time being what it is, everything is a balancing act of deciding where you invest your time. Do you focus on the book(s) you want to get out for the North? Do you write the blog? Do you update the old campaign website? Everything has to be done with a certain care for priorities.
Here are some glimpses into some of the herbs and plants I've made up for my world. At the end of this short sample list I will include a link to the Dragonsmarch list of herbs and plants which has simple rules for what happens when you combine them at the bottom of that page.
Butcher's Grass
Butcher's Grass grows in broad sharp stalks often as tall as a man's hip. The edges of these sturdy blades of grass are a light green but the center of the grass stalk in a deep red growing more black in the center. Butcher's Grass grows native in the far East, in places like The Necrogarchy of Leng or the Ancient Kingdom of Petrurias. It is believed that seeds of this grass were carried in the rotted armor and rotten clothing of the undead army driven into the Kingdom of Daria by the Necromasters during the Nightshade War. Today Butcher's Grass can be found in scattered patches wherever the ground is soft and damp and where shade is abundant. Butcher's Grass does not grow in dry or sunny locations well.
Butcher's Grass is tough and resists cold and even the heat created by a natural fire. Harvested with a scythe it can have the sharp edges trimmed away and be woven into sturdy baskets or twisted to create fibers for making rope.
Butcher's Grass has a reputation for growing where a considerable amount of blood has been shed, usually through some violent deed. It is believed to commonly grow around gallows or in patches where battles have been fought.
Herb Lore - When boiled Butcher's Grass releases an agent which can add to the potency of salves and potions which heal wounds. Herbal wound salves and potions generally add 1 or 2 points to the rate of natural healing over the course of a full days rest with limited or no physical activity.
Value: 1 Gathering = 3 to 5 plants = 3 silver pieces.
Bar Weed
This plant has broad leaves like a fern but covered in a light fuzz. The plant remains green most of the year until well into the winter when it becomes dormant and its leaves and stems die leaving only the roots intact to regrow the next spring. Bar Weed can be identified from other ferns because of the soft velvet feel of its leaves and the slightly purple sheen the leaves have when turned in the light. Bar Weed stalks are edible and have a satisfying crunch like celery. The roots of the plant are also edible and have a peanut flavor. Bar Weed roots are sometimes used in cooking. The leaves of the plant can be left in a jar of water out in sunlight for a day and they will turn the water into a potent tea with very nearly but not quite exactly the same flavor as a cheap American beer.
This tea can be left to sit for several days and it will ferment slightly becoming a weak alcoholic beverage popular among local farmers and small villages. In most places the drink created with Bar Weed is known as Weedle. The halflings in particular are fond of brewing up batches of the stuff as Bar Weed grows wild and can be found almost anywhere in the Shire. Family secret recipes are closely guarded and might include berries or potatoes or even bacon for flavor.
Most taverns in the Dragonsmarch keep at least a barrel of this poor man's ale handy. A tankard of Weedle sells for 5 copper coins on the average while a tankard of proper beer or ale will usually run a full silver coin. In the large halfling village of Kettlebee there are annual competitions which involve the baking of pies, stews, the brewing of all manner of drinks including recipes of Weedle.
Value: 1 Gathering = 5 plants = 1 silver piece. One gathering of Bar Weed is sufficient to brew five gallons of Weedle.
Cave Whistle
This strange fungus grows like a cane plant but in caverns. The stalks grow about three inches every hear but the fungus is very hard and sturdy like bamboo. Air currents which blow over the open holes and tubes of this cavern dwelling fungus create soft whistles and moaning noises sometimes attributed to monsters or a ghostly presence. Cave Whistle can be cut with an axe or other sturdy chopping implement. Left to grow long enough the stalks of this plant can grow up to fifteen feet in height. Subterranean dwelling intelligent races have used Cave Whistle as an underground substitute for wood when crafting items, constructing huts or underground buildings.
1 Gathering = 3 feet of cane stick = 1 gold
Crawler Berries
These inedible berries are a bright lemon yellow in color. They produce a strong smelling paste when crushed which can act as a repellent against giant centipedes, giant ants, giant spiders and even the dreaded carrion crawler. Goblins and Orcs sometimes cultivate bushes of the stuff to use in keeping dangerous creatures away from their tunnels. The down side of this goop is that it produces a very strong reek detectable to even the nose of a human out to a distance of 120 feet. The odor produced has been compared to that of a wet dog rolled in a pig trough and then pelted with cow dung. In short the stench is very close to the smell one detects commonly in an orc or goblin lair.
The creatures repelled by this berry will retreat to a distance of at least 120 feet and will avoid making contact unless attacked.
1 Gathering = 1/2 Pound of Berries (Usually 20 to 30) = 2 Silver Pieces
Darkling Tree
This is a strange tree with a leafy appearance bred by magic to consume the slight negative magical aura generated by darkness rather than sunlight. The trunk and the branches of this tree are bone white and smooth, they grow slim and crooked. The upper side of the leaves of this tree are a dark purple and the underside of the leaves are a dark red. It is said that the Elves created these trees for gardens built deep underground, for reasons which are now a mystery even to the greatest minds. Dwarves dislike these trees and say that they attract the presence of evil wherever they are found. Dwarves complain that the roots of these magical trees are corrupted and that they weaken the stones in the area where the trees grow.
Darkling Trees are found in strange areas deep underground, in the darkest areas of the deep forest and sometimes in the ruins left behind by the civilization of the Elves.
1 Gathering = 1/2 Pound of Wood = 10 Gold
Elder Root
The Elder plant is a green shrub favored for gardens because its branches grow together in a dense fashion which allows the plant to be easily pruned into amusing sculptures and shapes. The root of this bush can be crushed, chopped and dried. The dried form can be brewed into a tea which soothes headaches, eye strain and helps the user relax. Elder Root tea is favored by sages, wizards and other characters who spend long periods of time each day reading or studying.
1 Gathering = 1 Plant / Roots = 3 Silver Pieces
Gallows Slipper
A Gallows Slipper is a flowering plant with a structure very similar to that of a common daisy but with violet petals so dark as to appear very nearly black. This wild growing flower is sometimes worn in the hair on tucked into the button hole of common folk on their way to a funeral or during somber religious observances. Condemned criminals sometimes have wreaths of these flowers delivered to them prior to their execution. In the Kingdom of Etruria and in other places laurels of woven Gallows Slippers are put on the heads of individuals shortly before they are hanged.
Gallows Slipper grows wild in field country or in and around cultivated lands. It can be found in areas of light forest growing at the base of trees or along roads next to stone walls or fences.
1 Gathering = 10 Plants = 2 Silver
Graves Blanket
Graves Blanket grows in masses of pretty white flowers about the size of a person's thumb. These flowers are planted in and around graveyards because they change from their usual white color to an unmistakable purple coloration like that of a deep bruise whenever they are exposed to negative or necrotic energy, the sorts of energies usually associated with undead. Those who tend to graveyards use these flowers as a sort of detection against the presence of undead who may be drawn into the area seeking a hiding place or for some other nefarious reason.
1 Gathering = 3 Plants = 3 Silver
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Wraiths, Mummies and Liches
Wraiths
The Wraith first appear in the Warholds region just two hundred years ago during the evil Kingdom of Asmorgar. It is said that the King of Asmorgar was a Necromaster who came to the North after the defeat of the armies of the Necrogarchy of Leng in the Nightshade War.
The Necromasters developed some occult agency to both mark their chosen Captains and to make them fearless and nearly indestructible. The side effect of this eldritch gift was that such a soul marked Captain in service to the Necromasters who finally died, usually slain in combat, would rise as a wraith within a week of their death.
Wraiths are powerful undead and usually independent of the control of magicians. Even the Necromasters rarely command these beings and so the dead Captains of the Kingdom of Asmorgar were buried quickly and often deeply in stone lined barrows so that the rising wraith would appear well away from the settlements and business of living men, or their former master.
A barrow is more than a simple stone cairn. It is structured in such a manner and certain talismans and objects owned by the wraith in life are buried there so that the creature is tied to its barrow. Wraiths cannot venture forth from their barrows during the daylight hours and few, except the most powerful can wander more than a few dozen yards from the barrow after darkness falls.
When a wraith kills a mortal, that mortal's spirit returns as a Shadow and is a dull witted and cursed being with no real memories of who they were in life. These shadow creatures sometimes accumulate within a barrow where graverobbers have foolishly come poking around. The shadows are tied to the Wraith and must serve its will, often they cannot exit the barrow within which they were slain.
A soul marked Captain of one of the Necromasters of Leng, slain and left to rot in a field or hang from a gibbet would rise as a powerful and independent from of undead. That wraith would be free to roam and attack at will, whenever it was night and conceal itself in dark places during the day, lest the light of the sun destroy it. Such a being would bring plague and suffering on the world, consuming the spirits of the living and turning them into Shadows which would follow in its train, constantly having the victims of the wraith add to their strength and numbers. A free roaming Wraith like this who has accumulated a dozen Shadows to serve it becomes a Night Gaunt, one of the most dangerous and terrifying forms of undead in the world.
Wraiths as a whole only appeared during the Nightshade War, when the Necrogarchy of Leng invaded the neighboring Kingdoms of Etruria, Daria and Kyrene within the lands known as the Dragonsmarch. It is believed that the Necromasters went about perfecting their ability to soul mark their most loyal Captains as a part of their plot to invade and conquer all of the free Kingdoms in the heartland of the world.
Mummies
The Rakian Empire is a great and powerful place whose lands are now overtaken by vast stretches of parched desert. The Piper and the Rag Man are some of the dozen or so strange and horrible Immortals long worshipped in temples and shrines throughout the great cities of Rakia.
Rakia is ruled by a class of elite priest kings, each of whom commands absolute power over their particular city state. Over the priest kings is the strongest and most powerful of all of these warlords who bears the title of God Emperor and whose word is law all throughout the Rakian Empire.
The God Emperors of Rakia have long extended their ability to remain in power and rule by the slow and horrifyingly painful process of mortal mummification. Through this process certain organs are removed and sealed in carefully prepared jars and wrappings and packings of bandages bearing powerful spells are used to keep the individual alive even after their mortal organ has been removed. In this fashion the God Emperor passes from mortal life into an immortal, undead state of existence.
Yet even the spells animating the God Emperors of Rakia have their limitations and after a hundred and fifty years of rule, the God Emperors find wakeful action more and more exhausting and they retreat to the cool silence of deeply buried sarcofagi to rest for longer and longer periods. Over the following decades the God Emperor fades from power and becomes one of the sleeping lords of Rakia who only arise when their dreaming is disturbed by the presence of the living, usually grave robbers bent on plundering the tomb complexes which surround them.
This process of slow mummification is one of the most ancient methods whereby a supremely powerful and wealthy ruler may obtain a certain immortality through undeath.
Lich
The secrets of mummification were eventually stolen by the Sorcerer Kings of Leng, roughly a thousand years ago. These Sorcerer Kings sought the means to greatly extend their lives and ability to rule over their Kingdom, even beyond that which had been achieved by the God Emperors of Rakia.
It was the most powerful of the Sorcerer Kings who finally came upon the means to transform themselves into a Lich, by securing their spirit within a phylactery and applying some of the spell inscribed wrappings used in the process of slow mummification over their slowly desiccating physical bodies.
Today, a council of five Necromasters rules over the Necrogarchy of Leng. All of these rulers are by design powerful sorcerers and Liches. A Necromaster, by tradition, is allowed to retain their seat on the ruling council for two hundred years. After that time they are supposed to retire from active government to join the Dread Lords who slumber for longer and longer periods in a great and secret chamber below the capital city of the Necrogarchy of Leng.
The current ruling Necromasters sometimes go down into these vaults to seek the guidance of their forerunners or to insure their favor over the current decisions of the council. Occasionally, should the ruling council greatly displease the Dread Lords, they have been known to rise from their stone seats to march up into the city above to level death and horrible suffering upon the population of the city.
The Wraith first appear in the Warholds region just two hundred years ago during the evil Kingdom of Asmorgar. It is said that the King of Asmorgar was a Necromaster who came to the North after the defeat of the armies of the Necrogarchy of Leng in the Nightshade War.
The Necromasters developed some occult agency to both mark their chosen Captains and to make them fearless and nearly indestructible. The side effect of this eldritch gift was that such a soul marked Captain in service to the Necromasters who finally died, usually slain in combat, would rise as a wraith within a week of their death.
Wraiths are powerful undead and usually independent of the control of magicians. Even the Necromasters rarely command these beings and so the dead Captains of the Kingdom of Asmorgar were buried quickly and often deeply in stone lined barrows so that the rising wraith would appear well away from the settlements and business of living men, or their former master.
A barrow is more than a simple stone cairn. It is structured in such a manner and certain talismans and objects owned by the wraith in life are buried there so that the creature is tied to its barrow. Wraiths cannot venture forth from their barrows during the daylight hours and few, except the most powerful can wander more than a few dozen yards from the barrow after darkness falls.
When a wraith kills a mortal, that mortal's spirit returns as a Shadow and is a dull witted and cursed being with no real memories of who they were in life. These shadow creatures sometimes accumulate within a barrow where graverobbers have foolishly come poking around. The shadows are tied to the Wraith and must serve its will, often they cannot exit the barrow within which they were slain.
A soul marked Captain of one of the Necromasters of Leng, slain and left to rot in a field or hang from a gibbet would rise as a powerful and independent from of undead. That wraith would be free to roam and attack at will, whenever it was night and conceal itself in dark places during the day, lest the light of the sun destroy it. Such a being would bring plague and suffering on the world, consuming the spirits of the living and turning them into Shadows which would follow in its train, constantly having the victims of the wraith add to their strength and numbers. A free roaming Wraith like this who has accumulated a dozen Shadows to serve it becomes a Night Gaunt, one of the most dangerous and terrifying forms of undead in the world.
Wraiths as a whole only appeared during the Nightshade War, when the Necrogarchy of Leng invaded the neighboring Kingdoms of Etruria, Daria and Kyrene within the lands known as the Dragonsmarch. It is believed that the Necromasters went about perfecting their ability to soul mark their most loyal Captains as a part of their plot to invade and conquer all of the free Kingdoms in the heartland of the world.
Mummies
The Rakian Empire is a great and powerful place whose lands are now overtaken by vast stretches of parched desert. The Piper and the Rag Man are some of the dozen or so strange and horrible Immortals long worshipped in temples and shrines throughout the great cities of Rakia.
Rakia is ruled by a class of elite priest kings, each of whom commands absolute power over their particular city state. Over the priest kings is the strongest and most powerful of all of these warlords who bears the title of God Emperor and whose word is law all throughout the Rakian Empire.
The God Emperors of Rakia have long extended their ability to remain in power and rule by the slow and horrifyingly painful process of mortal mummification. Through this process certain organs are removed and sealed in carefully prepared jars and wrappings and packings of bandages bearing powerful spells are used to keep the individual alive even after their mortal organ has been removed. In this fashion the God Emperor passes from mortal life into an immortal, undead state of existence.
Yet even the spells animating the God Emperors of Rakia have their limitations and after a hundred and fifty years of rule, the God Emperors find wakeful action more and more exhausting and they retreat to the cool silence of deeply buried sarcofagi to rest for longer and longer periods. Over the following decades the God Emperor fades from power and becomes one of the sleeping lords of Rakia who only arise when their dreaming is disturbed by the presence of the living, usually grave robbers bent on plundering the tomb complexes which surround them.
This process of slow mummification is one of the most ancient methods whereby a supremely powerful and wealthy ruler may obtain a certain immortality through undeath.
Lich
The secrets of mummification were eventually stolen by the Sorcerer Kings of Leng, roughly a thousand years ago. These Sorcerer Kings sought the means to greatly extend their lives and ability to rule over their Kingdom, even beyond that which had been achieved by the God Emperors of Rakia.
It was the most powerful of the Sorcerer Kings who finally came upon the means to transform themselves into a Lich, by securing their spirit within a phylactery and applying some of the spell inscribed wrappings used in the process of slow mummification over their slowly desiccating physical bodies.
Today, a council of five Necromasters rules over the Necrogarchy of Leng. All of these rulers are by design powerful sorcerers and Liches. A Necromaster, by tradition, is allowed to retain their seat on the ruling council for two hundred years. After that time they are supposed to retire from active government to join the Dread Lords who slumber for longer and longer periods in a great and secret chamber below the capital city of the Necrogarchy of Leng.
The current ruling Necromasters sometimes go down into these vaults to seek the guidance of their forerunners or to insure their favor over the current decisions of the council. Occasionally, should the ruling council greatly displease the Dread Lords, they have been known to rise from their stone seats to march up into the city above to level death and horrible suffering upon the population of the city.
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Cartography / Art / Adventure Module Business
Progress continues to be made on publishing a couple of adventures and some campaign source material over the course of the summer.
I have an official logo and I now own the domain name VintageDM.com where my art and map portfolio, price lists, projects and links to books will be located.
Lots of work to do still on everything but over the course of this year I hope to have a nice little business venture going.
Monday, May 6, 2019
Book of the North: Map A - Encounters 13 to 28
Encounter #13 (H9)
Ulf's Camp
The farmer rumored to have gone missing while trying to pull treasures out of Grolbeak Swamp, constructed a semi-permanent base camp amidst the trees in this location. Here there is a simple A frame cottage with a roof of branches and thatch. It is only a single story structure with a stone hearth and small fireplace set into the North wall. The cottage has one window on the South wall and a single wooden door on it's West side.
Outside of the cabin there is a medium sized stump from a Cedar tree which has been carved into a totem for the Northern god Gymir, Winter god of feasts and gold.
The single door into the cabin is closed with a simple wooden latch and is not locked. Inside the cabin is furnished with a large wooden frame bed with a rope mattress covered in thick layers of pelts, the small stone fireplace and hearth, a narrow table and above that a trio of shelves lined with clay jars filled with salt, pastes of herbs and dried jerky. A short bow of yew leans in one corner with its string wrapped around the haft. Next to this is a quiver containing nine arrows. A hand axe hangs from a leather thong next to the table along with a large curved knife.
There are two simple stools for sitting and a chest. The chest is secured with a heavy iron lock. Inside of the chest there are several sacks containing strange curved pieces of a shimmering metal. The metal pieces have occasional marks and runes on them. A careful study will reveal these to be debris of some ancient elven origin. Also in this chest there is a velvet bag containing 9 of the valuable glowing gems, coins of the ancient elven civilization. These gems are worth 20 gold pieces.
A lightly worn foot trail leads from this cabin to the Northwest in the direction of Grolbeak Swamp.
Encounter #14 (G8)
The trail from Ulf's camp leads to this grotto which cuts into the steep cliffs surrounding the swamp. The trail cuts back and forth down the grotto at a steep descent. In places where the terrain because steeper than can be easily traversed, Ulf has added short sections of steps, all made from rough hewn wooden planks.
This is one of the only easy ways to descend down to the edge of the swamp. For miles around the cliffs are sheer drops of up to a hundred feet and would require a descent using ropes and spikes.
Encounter #15 (F6)
At the center of Grolbeak swamp there is a shallow, brackish lake. At the center of this lake a large rock formation rises up, towering more than a hundred feet into the air. The rock has a strange appearance, almost as if it were once a carved tower but which was somehow melted in the ancient past. It is said that there is an opening up in the side of the rock which leads into some strange interior chambers, long ago abandoned by an unknown race.
The swamp is dangerous, filled with many sink holes and boggy spots. Animals which sometimes escape and wander into this area usually become mired. Farmers usually abandon any animals which wander down into the swamp because of the danger involved in trying to recover them.
Note: An entire dungeon adventure entitled "The Abandoned Outpost" is written for Grolbeak Swamp and the spire of rock at it's center. This adventure will be available in a few months.
Encounter #16 (G4)
A small group of Gnoll scouts have set up a lookout at this spot. The Gnolls are encamped in the areas of light woods further to the West. Over the previous weeks the Gnolls had spotted Ulf as he came and went through the swamp, sometimes hauling sacks of something back towards his cabin. The Gnolls tried to ambush Ulf a few weeks prior but Ulf turned out to be much tougher than they had counted on. Here there are always three Gnolls.
The Gnolls may send down a small raiding party of 10 members to attack the adventuring party while they are traversing the swamp.
Encounter #17 (B2)
Here amidst the tall grass fields full of herbs and wildflowers between the Old Wood and the hills of the Ravensfeud there is a small village of Neanderthal. The Neanderthal have dwelt in this region for thousands of years but over time they have dwindled in numbers. Confrontations between the Neanderthals and Northmen are fairly uncommon. The Neanderthals avoid settled areas and do not raid. The Northmen, for the most part, have come to understand that the Neanderthals just want to be left alone.
This village is a circle of seven large round huts. These huts are cut down into the earth about three feet with walls lined by flat rocks pulled from the surrounding fields. Walls of wood are constructed in a circle for the walls of each hut and the roofs are cones made of wood covered in a layer of turf. At the center of each hut is a hole for allowing the smoke of an interior campfire to escape.
There are fifteen Neanderthal warriors dwelling at this village and forty more who are females, elders and children. The Neanderthal hunt with spears and stone axes. They usually have a supply of excellent pelts on hand for trade with humans who might wander nearby. The Neanderthal are usually interested in trading for bows, arrows and weapons made from iron.
The Neanderthal are led by Grook, a tremendously beefy and muscle bound chieftain who stands a full foot over all of his warriors. Treat Grook as a 6 HD monster. He has 36 hp. He wears a mix of hide and mail armor, a suit traded to his Father by the old Jarl of Bolgrad after saving his life.
Neanderthal
No. Enc: 1d10 (4d10)
Alignment: Lawful (neutral)
Movement: 120' (40')
Armor Class: 8
Hit Dice: 2 (12 hps)
Attacks: 1 (weapon)
Damage: 2d4 (weapon)
Save: F2
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: XX
XP: 20/320
Encounter #18 (E15)
The East Bridge
This long wooden bridge crosses the Warfang River. The river marks the border between the Kingdoms of Ostvick and Morgwen. At all times a small patrol of guards, sworn men loyal to the Kings of Ostvick and Morgwen are present, each guarding the side of the bridge respective to their home territories.
Mounted patrols of warriors arrive at the bridge every three days from the village of Bolgrad on the Ostvick side and every two days from the village of Soddenford on the Morgwen side. The patrols check the status of the guards at the bridge and should a problem be encountered it is likely that both sides will heavily reinforce the bridge within forty eight hours.
Orcs and other monsters dwelling in the surrounding countryside avoid the bridge because the road and the bridge in this area are so heavily patrolled.
A cabin and shelter for horses has been constructed on both sides of the bridge. The cabins are two story with an attached watch tower and surrounded by a stone wall. The cabins have sufficient room to provide a barracks for the men guarding the bridge. There are always a dozen warriors assigned to guard the bridge from each Warhold. The guards take in turn to stand post on their end of the bridge in groups of four. Four guards are usually busy performing duties at the cabin and four are sleeping.
The guards on both sides are first level human fighters, each group is led by a second level leader. Both groups are attended by a cleric.
The guards will cooperate to defend the bridge from outside threats. Because they spend a considerable amount of time assigned to this post, the guards on both sides get along reasonably well. Individuals who use the bridge are expected to pay a toll of 2 silver coins each. Mounted travelers are asked to pay a 3 sp toll. Persons bringing goods over the bridge in a wagon or cart are expected to pay a 5 silver coin toll.
Encounter #19 (F13)
Here a whisper thin trail cuts North away from the Soddenride and up into the surrounding trees of the Old Woods. The start of the trail is marked by a tall wooden carving dedicated to the Goddess Gullveig. The statue looks like a long haired woman whose braids cascade down to her feet. Her brow is encircled by a carved crown of snowflakes and ice cycles. The statue is surrounded by a small herb garden. In front of the statue is a smaller flat stone for offerings.
Three isolated farm steadings are known to exist up this trail. These villages are inhabited by Northmen more or less loyal to the King of Ostvick but who are known to be odd and reclusive. Few outsiders travel up the trail beyond the first village which is called Kalbeak.
Referee's Note: An entire adventure entitled "Witch Hunter" is written for the Old Woods and the villages up this trail. The adventure will be published in a few months.
Encounter #20 (E13)
At this point along the path any travelers are forced to make a saving throw versus the spell generated by the "Dark Heart" monster located at encounter area #21. If the save versus spell is successful, the individual is aware of the creeping touch of strange, evil magic but they are otherwise unaffected. If the save fails the character will slip into a trance where they will stand in place, dropping whatever they were holding in their hands and stare, doing nothing else for a full thirty minutes. Taking damage will allow the character to make a new saving throw versus spell to shake off the magic.
Encounter #21 (E11)
Here, hidden away in a landscape of deep woodlands, where overarching limbs and moss covered trunks of black oaks cast a shroud of dwimmer dark over all, is the pulsing "Dark Heart" responsible for the recent magical assaults against Kalbeak Steading to the East. Only the pale, immobile face and fingers of the left hand are visible of the victim ensnared and used through guile and evil to create this Druidic abomination. Thick mud encrusted roots rise from the base of the nearby trees and wrap all about the victim's body and a thick oozing amber colored sap has been excreted from the roots to entomb almost the entire form of the once human villager in a gigantic clot which pulses and glows softly, filled with eldritch wizardry and menace.
This is but one of several horrors which assail the folk of the Northman steadings up and down the whisper thin trail connecting their homes and hearths to the Sodden Ride, the main road leading through the heart of the Kingdom of Ostvick.
Referee's Note: A full write up of this monstrous creation is found in the Witch Hunter adventure I've been writing up for this area.
Encounter #22 (C12)
The Tanner, who once dwelt in Kalbeak Steading is buried here. His grave and monument stone were set a far beyond the borders of the village on account of his having hung himself. His beloved wife rushed after another of the village children called out into the surrounding menace of the Old Woods but stumbled out shortly after, throat slashed near to the bone by nobody knows what, and no sign of the child anywhere which prompted her to chase it into the trees. When the Tanner's body was found, swinging and creaking by a rope of twisted rawhide from the rafters of their cottage it was blue white as river ice and all covered in a layer of frost. Both of them were laid out and what prayers could be managed spoken over them but come but a few hours later to wrap the bodies in their grave coverings the Tanner's wife was gone and spattering trail of her dead blood leading down under the boards of their raised floor and out towards the village walls, skirting from building crawl space to crawl space until a thick smear of it marked where...whatever she was now, dragged itself right up over the palisade and off into the woods.
Horrible and more horrible. No one from Kalbeak will willingly go into the light woods to where the Tanner's stone marker is set. Since his death and burial the trail leading North from Kalbeak has grown increasingly dangerous. A few folk have vanished altogether and nobody travels from Kalbeak up towards Kaldrboth these last weeks and none come down the trail from Kaldrboth either.
In a hollow of a vast and half rotted ancient tree just a stone's throw to the East of the Tanner's grave marker is where his wife, now turned into one of the monstrous creatures called a Kinder Ghoul lairs. The child formed Kinder Ghoul what slew and damned her into this undead form is there along with two others, victims of the pair of those they have tricked and stalked and slaughtered trying to travel up the trail. All the machinations of the last Black Druid of the Henge still in The Old Wood, their order thought to have been cleared out of this forest years ago by the King's Father.
Referee's Note: Stats on the horrifying monsters known as the Kinder Ghoul and the plot of the last Black Druid of the Henge in the Old Wood are detailed in my adventure "Witch Hunter", coming soon.
Encounter #23 (B9)
Here the "Dark Heart" responsible for the destruction of most of the population of Kaldrboth Steading resides. The brave Northern hunter who set out alone, trying to track the vile Druid is the victim here and the Druid has him suspended upside down, dead eyes and outstretched arms dangling down trapped within the glowing amber clot within wrappings of roots and thick vines.
This source of evil in the woods has been here longer, months rather than weeks and so it has had a longer time to root and grow and become a mark of blasphemous power in the Old Woods. Destroying this menace will be more difficult than the first. A Witchling protects it and a half dozen Kinder Ghoul which hunt the surrounding forest after dark like a pack of the damned gone feral.
Encounter #24 (A7)
Here is the site of the Old Grove, the ring of tremendously antiquated standing stones covered with undecipherable markings which are said not to even belong to this plane of reality is here. The surrounding dense forest of the Old Woods presses in so heavily that traveling for miles through it is impossible for someone attempting to travel by mount.
For centuries this was the powerful grove of The Druids of the Henge who sought to maintain power over the Kingdom of Ostvick. The Druids of the Henge traced their origins all the way back to the evil Kingdom of Asmorgar which once controlled all of the lands of Ostvick and Hraedir. The very wise and scholarly know the legends of how the Necromaster, that dark and terrible sorcerer of old, came into these lands after the defeat of the Necrogarchy of Leng during the Nightshade war. Here he was opposed by The Ragged Cloak Druids, the original order of Druidry in the North. Through treachery and enchantment the Necromaster seduced and corrupted some of the Druids with promises of greater power. The Druids split and the rebellious members of the Druids of the Henge began to interact with the strange and very, very old standing stones found scattered throughout the Kingdoms of the North. Nobody in those days knew much about them. The were said to predate the arrival of men into these lands, thousands upon thousands of years ago, but the Necromaster knew.
After the fall of the Necromaster and the burning of Asmorgar the Northmen in these lands were free but the Druids of the Henge still remained. They still sought to exercise their own power and rule over the Kings and peoples of the North and for generation after generation the Chieftains were required to provide them with human sacrifices to avoid their displeasure.
It was during the younger days of King Gudbrand's Father that he and a host of his sworn men marched in secret, protected by a weave of sorcery cast by Queen Gerrid herself. They killed most of this particular grove of the Druids of the Henge, pulled down some of the stones and scattered those few who survived. Of the thirteen original evil Druids only three remain. One, has become a reclusive enchantress dwelling somewhere in the wild hills of the Ravensfeud to the West. Another, the heir to the title of Grand Druid of that circle now wanders the territories of Ostvick, Hraedir and Morgwen Holds. He doesn't dare travel into the lands of Skyerga Hold where Queen Gerrid rules for the Druids of the Ragged Cloak are there in numbers and they would hunt and kill him if they could find him. The last of the three returned to the damaged circle, the site of the Old Grove three years ago and has set about his own plots of dark revenge and murder against the folk of the Kingdom of Ostvick.
Encounter #25 (A13)
This is the location of the camp of Narl, Ragged Cloak Druid. The Druids of the Ragged Cloak are the original spiritual leaders for the human barbarian clans which settled here in the far North. They get their name from a practice whereby local villagers would come to the Druid to ask for wisdom or healing and as a ritual payment would sew into the fabric of their large cloaks a piece of leather or cloth made by themselves. Thus the cloaks of the Druids were this chaotic patchwork of hundreds and even thousands of small scraps, each one a offering and blessing sewn into their cloak by someone they had helped.
The Ragged Cloak Druids are especially connected to the Northern Immortals called Gerda and Freyr. Gerda is the Goddess of the Spring and Freyr is the God of the Autumn. Both of these immortals are shape shifters. All of the Ragged Cloak Druids are also shape shifters. They receive the mark of lycanthrope as a blessing instead of a curse. In my world lycanthropes have preferred animal forms they can shift into but they can also transform themselves into other animal forms, usually for much shorter durations. A wolf shifter is not aligned with evil. They are just a Druid (usually) who is a lycanthrope and able to change into a wolf.
The Ragged Cloak Druids are led by Queen Gerrid, the ruler of the Kingdom of Skyerga. She is a prophetess and although she looks to be a woman of noble bearing perhaps in her late forties or early fifties she has sat on the throne of Skyerga for more than a century. Some say she has elven or faerie blood in her. At any rate she is unusually long lived.
The Ragged Cloak Druids and the Druids of the Henge have been enemies for hundreds of years, going all the way back to the days of the evil Kingdom of Asmorgar. Narl was sent to this area to keep an eye on the evil power rising again in the Old Woods. He is not allowed to cross the Warfang River into the Old Woods to confront the evil personally as this would violate a long standing cease fire between the still powerful grove of the Druids of the Henge which operates in the Kingdom of Morgwen and the Ragged Cloak Druids. Queen Gerrid has sent him to make sure that whatever evil is growing in the Old Wood does not successfully cross the Warfang River into the woods on the East bank. Meanwhile Queen Gerrid and King Gudbrand are hoping to dispatch a party of mercenaries into the Old Woods to deal with the evil there. Gerrid knows that the power rising in the Old Wood is Druidic in nature but her gift for the sight is blocked from penetrating the borders of the Old Woods. Even she cannot say with any certainty who exactly is behind the evil growing there or what its exact nature is.
A small number of villagers from the Old Woods have crossed the Warfang River into the Eastern woods and have found sanctuary under the protection of Narl. In particular some of the few villagers holding out in Kaldrboth Steading know that if one can safely cross the Warfang River and get to the Eastern woods that protection awaits them there.
Encounter #26 (A19)
Halfdan the Old has ruled over the Kingdom of Morgwen for 40 years and this area of forest lies well inside his Western border which runs along the length of the Warfang River. Halfdan the Old has partly remained in power by aligning himself with the last powerful grove of the Druids of the Henge, which is located in the Eastern lands of his kingdom. Halfdan's connection with the Druids of the Henge has put him at direct odds with Queen Gerrid and the Ragged Cloak Druids who are in the Kingdom of Skyerga on his Southern border.
Over the last several years border skirmishes and flare ups between the rival orders of Druids has escalated into a period of open warfare and raiding across the border. To supplement his body of sworn warriors, Halfdan has opened his Kingdom up to every imaginable type of brigand, mercenary and pirate imaginable. Some of these have adjusted well enough to serving in his war band but there are still those who are simply too corrupt to be trusted even with raiding over the border into Skyerga.
This location is an encampment of some of those brigands who at first joined Halfdan's war band but who later deserted and have plied a trade in banditry ever since. There are twenty six bandits camped here at a semi-permanent location set up deep in the woods. For now the bandits have made it a habit to scout the East Ride from just about a mile or two East of the bridge to about ten more miles down the road as it passes the woods.
Halfdan the Old's warriors have been to tangled up in the border raids and back and forth fighting with Skyerga to have the resources to track down these bandits. The guards posted at the bridge from Morgwen are aware of the bandits but they lack the manpower to do much about them at the present time.
Encounter #27 (D17)
Just a few short miles East of the bridge are the remains of an earlier bandit attack against a pair of merchant wagons. The attack happened weeks ago but the two wagons still rest abandoned off to the side of the road. There are no bodies here and no dead animal remains. All of that was discovered and cleaned up by the patrol of guards days ago. A few arrows still stick out of the wooden sides of one of the wagons and a large stain of old blood remains in the back of the other wagon.
Just to the South where the bank next to the road rises up into the surrounding fields there are five stone markers set up. None of these bears any specific inscription or identification outside of the simple drawing of a skull in white chalk. This mark is a common symbol found on graves which is meant to invoke the power of the Immortal, Death over the soul of the deceased. There are no treasures remaining here and the dead merchant and his several servants were dumped into their graves blissfully free of anything of real value other than the clothes on their backs.
Encounter #28 (E19)
"Hunter's Camp"
Several miles South of the East ride, off in the midst of an area of rolling plains full of waist high grasses and purple to white wild flowers one can stumble upon the camp of a trio of hunters. To a casual observation this appear like any temporary camp with a simple stone ring around a small fire, a couple of small, low to the ground tents constructed with waxed animal hides and a wooden frame where four fat rabbits hang awaiting the next meal. Next to the tents are several large packs wrapped in rolled hides and furs.
The three hunters here are well equipped with studded leather armor, strong longbows with quivers filled with broad headed arrows. Two favor one handed battle axes for hand fighting and one wears a sword on his hip. All of these hunters are in their late twenties to early thirties, making them prime age for fighting in the war band of King Halfdan the Old who rules over these lands. The men wear cloaks and wrappings of fur both for warm and to obscure the decorative arm rings every sworn warrior in Warholds region wear. Arm rings adorned with animal or creature heads and shapes meant to identify which Chieftain they have sworn their allegiance to.
This is because all three of these hunters are spies from the Kingdom of Skyerga to the South. They keep a hunting camp in the general vicinity of this region of wind swept plain because it is very rarely travelled. They are here to provide support to the Ragged Cloak Druid, Narl who is watching the goings on in the Old Woods further to the North and also to be a way station and stopping point for Queen Gerrid.
Gerrid is something of a risk taker. Fierce, independent and seemingly unafraid. She occasionally slips out of her own lands accompanies by a small body of Ragged Cloak Druid bodyguards, all of which are lycanthropes, and travels through the wilderness along the Eastern side of the Warfang River up to this general vicinity. From here she will ford the Warfang River some miles South of the bridge and ride into the lands of Ostvick to an arranged meeting place where she can speak directly with King Gudbrand the Cruel. Gudbrand and Gerrid are close allies and Gerrid seems to be of the mind that she would rather do most of her negotiations and discussions personally instead of sending a rider whose messages might be intercepted.
The "hunters" keep their camp available as a safe stopping point for the Queen on the occasions when she makes the trip up to see her ally.
Ulf's Camp
The farmer rumored to have gone missing while trying to pull treasures out of Grolbeak Swamp, constructed a semi-permanent base camp amidst the trees in this location. Here there is a simple A frame cottage with a roof of branches and thatch. It is only a single story structure with a stone hearth and small fireplace set into the North wall. The cottage has one window on the South wall and a single wooden door on it's West side.
Outside of the cabin there is a medium sized stump from a Cedar tree which has been carved into a totem for the Northern god Gymir, Winter god of feasts and gold.
The single door into the cabin is closed with a simple wooden latch and is not locked. Inside the cabin is furnished with a large wooden frame bed with a rope mattress covered in thick layers of pelts, the small stone fireplace and hearth, a narrow table and above that a trio of shelves lined with clay jars filled with salt, pastes of herbs and dried jerky. A short bow of yew leans in one corner with its string wrapped around the haft. Next to this is a quiver containing nine arrows. A hand axe hangs from a leather thong next to the table along with a large curved knife.
There are two simple stools for sitting and a chest. The chest is secured with a heavy iron lock. Inside of the chest there are several sacks containing strange curved pieces of a shimmering metal. The metal pieces have occasional marks and runes on them. A careful study will reveal these to be debris of some ancient elven origin. Also in this chest there is a velvet bag containing 9 of the valuable glowing gems, coins of the ancient elven civilization. These gems are worth 20 gold pieces.
A lightly worn foot trail leads from this cabin to the Northwest in the direction of Grolbeak Swamp.
Encounter #14 (G8)
The trail from Ulf's camp leads to this grotto which cuts into the steep cliffs surrounding the swamp. The trail cuts back and forth down the grotto at a steep descent. In places where the terrain because steeper than can be easily traversed, Ulf has added short sections of steps, all made from rough hewn wooden planks.
This is one of the only easy ways to descend down to the edge of the swamp. For miles around the cliffs are sheer drops of up to a hundred feet and would require a descent using ropes and spikes.
Encounter #15 (F6)
At the center of Grolbeak swamp there is a shallow, brackish lake. At the center of this lake a large rock formation rises up, towering more than a hundred feet into the air. The rock has a strange appearance, almost as if it were once a carved tower but which was somehow melted in the ancient past. It is said that there is an opening up in the side of the rock which leads into some strange interior chambers, long ago abandoned by an unknown race.
The swamp is dangerous, filled with many sink holes and boggy spots. Animals which sometimes escape and wander into this area usually become mired. Farmers usually abandon any animals which wander down into the swamp because of the danger involved in trying to recover them.
Note: An entire dungeon adventure entitled "The Abandoned Outpost" is written for Grolbeak Swamp and the spire of rock at it's center. This adventure will be available in a few months.
Encounter #16 (G4)
A small group of Gnoll scouts have set up a lookout at this spot. The Gnolls are encamped in the areas of light woods further to the West. Over the previous weeks the Gnolls had spotted Ulf as he came and went through the swamp, sometimes hauling sacks of something back towards his cabin. The Gnolls tried to ambush Ulf a few weeks prior but Ulf turned out to be much tougher than they had counted on. Here there are always three Gnolls.
The Gnolls may send down a small raiding party of 10 members to attack the adventuring party while they are traversing the swamp.
Encounter #17 (B2)
Here amidst the tall grass fields full of herbs and wildflowers between the Old Wood and the hills of the Ravensfeud there is a small village of Neanderthal. The Neanderthal have dwelt in this region for thousands of years but over time they have dwindled in numbers. Confrontations between the Neanderthals and Northmen are fairly uncommon. The Neanderthals avoid settled areas and do not raid. The Northmen, for the most part, have come to understand that the Neanderthals just want to be left alone.
This village is a circle of seven large round huts. These huts are cut down into the earth about three feet with walls lined by flat rocks pulled from the surrounding fields. Walls of wood are constructed in a circle for the walls of each hut and the roofs are cones made of wood covered in a layer of turf. At the center of each hut is a hole for allowing the smoke of an interior campfire to escape.
There are fifteen Neanderthal warriors dwelling at this village and forty more who are females, elders and children. The Neanderthal hunt with spears and stone axes. They usually have a supply of excellent pelts on hand for trade with humans who might wander nearby. The Neanderthal are usually interested in trading for bows, arrows and weapons made from iron.
The Neanderthal are led by Grook, a tremendously beefy and muscle bound chieftain who stands a full foot over all of his warriors. Treat Grook as a 6 HD monster. He has 36 hp. He wears a mix of hide and mail armor, a suit traded to his Father by the old Jarl of Bolgrad after saving his life.
Neanderthal
No. Enc: 1d10 (4d10)
Alignment: Lawful (neutral)
Movement: 120' (40')
Armor Class: 8
Hit Dice: 2 (12 hps)
Attacks: 1 (weapon)
Damage: 2d4 (weapon)
Save: F2
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: XX
XP: 20/320
Encounter #18 (E15)
The East Bridge
This long wooden bridge crosses the Warfang River. The river marks the border between the Kingdoms of Ostvick and Morgwen. At all times a small patrol of guards, sworn men loyal to the Kings of Ostvick and Morgwen are present, each guarding the side of the bridge respective to their home territories.
Mounted patrols of warriors arrive at the bridge every three days from the village of Bolgrad on the Ostvick side and every two days from the village of Soddenford on the Morgwen side. The patrols check the status of the guards at the bridge and should a problem be encountered it is likely that both sides will heavily reinforce the bridge within forty eight hours.
Orcs and other monsters dwelling in the surrounding countryside avoid the bridge because the road and the bridge in this area are so heavily patrolled.
A cabin and shelter for horses has been constructed on both sides of the bridge. The cabins are two story with an attached watch tower and surrounded by a stone wall. The cabins have sufficient room to provide a barracks for the men guarding the bridge. There are always a dozen warriors assigned to guard the bridge from each Warhold. The guards take in turn to stand post on their end of the bridge in groups of four. Four guards are usually busy performing duties at the cabin and four are sleeping.
The guards on both sides are first level human fighters, each group is led by a second level leader. Both groups are attended by a cleric.
The guards will cooperate to defend the bridge from outside threats. Because they spend a considerable amount of time assigned to this post, the guards on both sides get along reasonably well. Individuals who use the bridge are expected to pay a toll of 2 silver coins each. Mounted travelers are asked to pay a 3 sp toll. Persons bringing goods over the bridge in a wagon or cart are expected to pay a 5 silver coin toll.
Encounter #19 (F13)
Here a whisper thin trail cuts North away from the Soddenride and up into the surrounding trees of the Old Woods. The start of the trail is marked by a tall wooden carving dedicated to the Goddess Gullveig. The statue looks like a long haired woman whose braids cascade down to her feet. Her brow is encircled by a carved crown of snowflakes and ice cycles. The statue is surrounded by a small herb garden. In front of the statue is a smaller flat stone for offerings.
Three isolated farm steadings are known to exist up this trail. These villages are inhabited by Northmen more or less loyal to the King of Ostvick but who are known to be odd and reclusive. Few outsiders travel up the trail beyond the first village which is called Kalbeak.
Referee's Note: An entire adventure entitled "Witch Hunter" is written for the Old Woods and the villages up this trail. The adventure will be published in a few months.
Encounter #20 (E13)
At this point along the path any travelers are forced to make a saving throw versus the spell generated by the "Dark Heart" monster located at encounter area #21. If the save versus spell is successful, the individual is aware of the creeping touch of strange, evil magic but they are otherwise unaffected. If the save fails the character will slip into a trance where they will stand in place, dropping whatever they were holding in their hands and stare, doing nothing else for a full thirty minutes. Taking damage will allow the character to make a new saving throw versus spell to shake off the magic.
Encounter #21 (E11)
Here, hidden away in a landscape of deep woodlands, where overarching limbs and moss covered trunks of black oaks cast a shroud of dwimmer dark over all, is the pulsing "Dark Heart" responsible for the recent magical assaults against Kalbeak Steading to the East. Only the pale, immobile face and fingers of the left hand are visible of the victim ensnared and used through guile and evil to create this Druidic abomination. Thick mud encrusted roots rise from the base of the nearby trees and wrap all about the victim's body and a thick oozing amber colored sap has been excreted from the roots to entomb almost the entire form of the once human villager in a gigantic clot which pulses and glows softly, filled with eldritch wizardry and menace.
This is but one of several horrors which assail the folk of the Northman steadings up and down the whisper thin trail connecting their homes and hearths to the Sodden Ride, the main road leading through the heart of the Kingdom of Ostvick.
Referee's Note: A full write up of this monstrous creation is found in the Witch Hunter adventure I've been writing up for this area.
Encounter #22 (C12)
The Tanner, who once dwelt in Kalbeak Steading is buried here. His grave and monument stone were set a far beyond the borders of the village on account of his having hung himself. His beloved wife rushed after another of the village children called out into the surrounding menace of the Old Woods but stumbled out shortly after, throat slashed near to the bone by nobody knows what, and no sign of the child anywhere which prompted her to chase it into the trees. When the Tanner's body was found, swinging and creaking by a rope of twisted rawhide from the rafters of their cottage it was blue white as river ice and all covered in a layer of frost. Both of them were laid out and what prayers could be managed spoken over them but come but a few hours later to wrap the bodies in their grave coverings the Tanner's wife was gone and spattering trail of her dead blood leading down under the boards of their raised floor and out towards the village walls, skirting from building crawl space to crawl space until a thick smear of it marked where...whatever she was now, dragged itself right up over the palisade and off into the woods.
Horrible and more horrible. No one from Kalbeak will willingly go into the light woods to where the Tanner's stone marker is set. Since his death and burial the trail leading North from Kalbeak has grown increasingly dangerous. A few folk have vanished altogether and nobody travels from Kalbeak up towards Kaldrboth these last weeks and none come down the trail from Kaldrboth either.
In a hollow of a vast and half rotted ancient tree just a stone's throw to the East of the Tanner's grave marker is where his wife, now turned into one of the monstrous creatures called a Kinder Ghoul lairs. The child formed Kinder Ghoul what slew and damned her into this undead form is there along with two others, victims of the pair of those they have tricked and stalked and slaughtered trying to travel up the trail. All the machinations of the last Black Druid of the Henge still in The Old Wood, their order thought to have been cleared out of this forest years ago by the King's Father.
Referee's Note: Stats on the horrifying monsters known as the Kinder Ghoul and the plot of the last Black Druid of the Henge in the Old Wood are detailed in my adventure "Witch Hunter", coming soon.
Encounter #23 (B9)
Here the "Dark Heart" responsible for the destruction of most of the population of Kaldrboth Steading resides. The brave Northern hunter who set out alone, trying to track the vile Druid is the victim here and the Druid has him suspended upside down, dead eyes and outstretched arms dangling down trapped within the glowing amber clot within wrappings of roots and thick vines.
This source of evil in the woods has been here longer, months rather than weeks and so it has had a longer time to root and grow and become a mark of blasphemous power in the Old Woods. Destroying this menace will be more difficult than the first. A Witchling protects it and a half dozen Kinder Ghoul which hunt the surrounding forest after dark like a pack of the damned gone feral.
Encounter #24 (A7)
Here is the site of the Old Grove, the ring of tremendously antiquated standing stones covered with undecipherable markings which are said not to even belong to this plane of reality is here. The surrounding dense forest of the Old Woods presses in so heavily that traveling for miles through it is impossible for someone attempting to travel by mount.
For centuries this was the powerful grove of The Druids of the Henge who sought to maintain power over the Kingdom of Ostvick. The Druids of the Henge traced their origins all the way back to the evil Kingdom of Asmorgar which once controlled all of the lands of Ostvick and Hraedir. The very wise and scholarly know the legends of how the Necromaster, that dark and terrible sorcerer of old, came into these lands after the defeat of the Necrogarchy of Leng during the Nightshade war. Here he was opposed by The Ragged Cloak Druids, the original order of Druidry in the North. Through treachery and enchantment the Necromaster seduced and corrupted some of the Druids with promises of greater power. The Druids split and the rebellious members of the Druids of the Henge began to interact with the strange and very, very old standing stones found scattered throughout the Kingdoms of the North. Nobody in those days knew much about them. The were said to predate the arrival of men into these lands, thousands upon thousands of years ago, but the Necromaster knew.
After the fall of the Necromaster and the burning of Asmorgar the Northmen in these lands were free but the Druids of the Henge still remained. They still sought to exercise their own power and rule over the Kings and peoples of the North and for generation after generation the Chieftains were required to provide them with human sacrifices to avoid their displeasure.
It was during the younger days of King Gudbrand's Father that he and a host of his sworn men marched in secret, protected by a weave of sorcery cast by Queen Gerrid herself. They killed most of this particular grove of the Druids of the Henge, pulled down some of the stones and scattered those few who survived. Of the thirteen original evil Druids only three remain. One, has become a reclusive enchantress dwelling somewhere in the wild hills of the Ravensfeud to the West. Another, the heir to the title of Grand Druid of that circle now wanders the territories of Ostvick, Hraedir and Morgwen Holds. He doesn't dare travel into the lands of Skyerga Hold where Queen Gerrid rules for the Druids of the Ragged Cloak are there in numbers and they would hunt and kill him if they could find him. The last of the three returned to the damaged circle, the site of the Old Grove three years ago and has set about his own plots of dark revenge and murder against the folk of the Kingdom of Ostvick.
Encounter #25 (A13)
This is the location of the camp of Narl, Ragged Cloak Druid. The Druids of the Ragged Cloak are the original spiritual leaders for the human barbarian clans which settled here in the far North. They get their name from a practice whereby local villagers would come to the Druid to ask for wisdom or healing and as a ritual payment would sew into the fabric of their large cloaks a piece of leather or cloth made by themselves. Thus the cloaks of the Druids were this chaotic patchwork of hundreds and even thousands of small scraps, each one a offering and blessing sewn into their cloak by someone they had helped.
The Ragged Cloak Druids are especially connected to the Northern Immortals called Gerda and Freyr. Gerda is the Goddess of the Spring and Freyr is the God of the Autumn. Both of these immortals are shape shifters. All of the Ragged Cloak Druids are also shape shifters. They receive the mark of lycanthrope as a blessing instead of a curse. In my world lycanthropes have preferred animal forms they can shift into but they can also transform themselves into other animal forms, usually for much shorter durations. A wolf shifter is not aligned with evil. They are just a Druid (usually) who is a lycanthrope and able to change into a wolf.
The Ragged Cloak Druids are led by Queen Gerrid, the ruler of the Kingdom of Skyerga. She is a prophetess and although she looks to be a woman of noble bearing perhaps in her late forties or early fifties she has sat on the throne of Skyerga for more than a century. Some say she has elven or faerie blood in her. At any rate she is unusually long lived.
The Ragged Cloak Druids and the Druids of the Henge have been enemies for hundreds of years, going all the way back to the days of the evil Kingdom of Asmorgar. Narl was sent to this area to keep an eye on the evil power rising again in the Old Woods. He is not allowed to cross the Warfang River into the Old Woods to confront the evil personally as this would violate a long standing cease fire between the still powerful grove of the Druids of the Henge which operates in the Kingdom of Morgwen and the Ragged Cloak Druids. Queen Gerrid has sent him to make sure that whatever evil is growing in the Old Wood does not successfully cross the Warfang River into the woods on the East bank. Meanwhile Queen Gerrid and King Gudbrand are hoping to dispatch a party of mercenaries into the Old Woods to deal with the evil there. Gerrid knows that the power rising in the Old Wood is Druidic in nature but her gift for the sight is blocked from penetrating the borders of the Old Woods. Even she cannot say with any certainty who exactly is behind the evil growing there or what its exact nature is.
A small number of villagers from the Old Woods have crossed the Warfang River into the Eastern woods and have found sanctuary under the protection of Narl. In particular some of the few villagers holding out in Kaldrboth Steading know that if one can safely cross the Warfang River and get to the Eastern woods that protection awaits them there.
Encounter #26 (A19)
Halfdan the Old has ruled over the Kingdom of Morgwen for 40 years and this area of forest lies well inside his Western border which runs along the length of the Warfang River. Halfdan the Old has partly remained in power by aligning himself with the last powerful grove of the Druids of the Henge, which is located in the Eastern lands of his kingdom. Halfdan's connection with the Druids of the Henge has put him at direct odds with Queen Gerrid and the Ragged Cloak Druids who are in the Kingdom of Skyerga on his Southern border.
Over the last several years border skirmishes and flare ups between the rival orders of Druids has escalated into a period of open warfare and raiding across the border. To supplement his body of sworn warriors, Halfdan has opened his Kingdom up to every imaginable type of brigand, mercenary and pirate imaginable. Some of these have adjusted well enough to serving in his war band but there are still those who are simply too corrupt to be trusted even with raiding over the border into Skyerga.
This location is an encampment of some of those brigands who at first joined Halfdan's war band but who later deserted and have plied a trade in banditry ever since. There are twenty six bandits camped here at a semi-permanent location set up deep in the woods. For now the bandits have made it a habit to scout the East Ride from just about a mile or two East of the bridge to about ten more miles down the road as it passes the woods.
Halfdan the Old's warriors have been to tangled up in the border raids and back and forth fighting with Skyerga to have the resources to track down these bandits. The guards posted at the bridge from Morgwen are aware of the bandits but they lack the manpower to do much about them at the present time.
Encounter #27 (D17)
Just a few short miles East of the bridge are the remains of an earlier bandit attack against a pair of merchant wagons. The attack happened weeks ago but the two wagons still rest abandoned off to the side of the road. There are no bodies here and no dead animal remains. All of that was discovered and cleaned up by the patrol of guards days ago. A few arrows still stick out of the wooden sides of one of the wagons and a large stain of old blood remains in the back of the other wagon.
Just to the South where the bank next to the road rises up into the surrounding fields there are five stone markers set up. None of these bears any specific inscription or identification outside of the simple drawing of a skull in white chalk. This mark is a common symbol found on graves which is meant to invoke the power of the Immortal, Death over the soul of the deceased. There are no treasures remaining here and the dead merchant and his several servants were dumped into their graves blissfully free of anything of real value other than the clothes on their backs.
Encounter #28 (E19)
"Hunter's Camp"
Several miles South of the East ride, off in the midst of an area of rolling plains full of waist high grasses and purple to white wild flowers one can stumble upon the camp of a trio of hunters. To a casual observation this appear like any temporary camp with a simple stone ring around a small fire, a couple of small, low to the ground tents constructed with waxed animal hides and a wooden frame where four fat rabbits hang awaiting the next meal. Next to the tents are several large packs wrapped in rolled hides and furs.
The three hunters here are well equipped with studded leather armor, strong longbows with quivers filled with broad headed arrows. Two favor one handed battle axes for hand fighting and one wears a sword on his hip. All of these hunters are in their late twenties to early thirties, making them prime age for fighting in the war band of King Halfdan the Old who rules over these lands. The men wear cloaks and wrappings of fur both for warm and to obscure the decorative arm rings every sworn warrior in Warholds region wear. Arm rings adorned with animal or creature heads and shapes meant to identify which Chieftain they have sworn their allegiance to.
This is because all three of these hunters are spies from the Kingdom of Skyerga to the South. They keep a hunting camp in the general vicinity of this region of wind swept plain because it is very rarely travelled. They are here to provide support to the Ragged Cloak Druid, Narl who is watching the goings on in the Old Woods further to the North and also to be a way station and stopping point for Queen Gerrid.
Gerrid is something of a risk taker. Fierce, independent and seemingly unafraid. She occasionally slips out of her own lands accompanies by a small body of Ragged Cloak Druid bodyguards, all of which are lycanthropes, and travels through the wilderness along the Eastern side of the Warfang River up to this general vicinity. From here she will ford the Warfang River some miles South of the bridge and ride into the lands of Ostvick to an arranged meeting place where she can speak directly with King Gudbrand the Cruel. Gudbrand and Gerrid are close allies and Gerrid seems to be of the mind that she would rather do most of her negotiations and discussions personally instead of sending a rider whose messages might be intercepted.
The "hunters" keep their camp available as a safe stopping point for the Queen on the occasions when she makes the trip up to see her ally.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Awesome Stuff
Three Line Studio - The Living Room
Rob Kuntz is putting out an awesome romp in his iconic old school encounter for "The Living Room". This is sure to be a fun and probably deadly romp for your favorite group of OSR players.
Rob has a whole line-up of cool offerings coming over the course of 2019 and 2020 and I cannot wait to see what he has in mind.
Full disclosure - I will be doing some cartography work and some spot illustrations here and there for Rob's up and coming projects.
Please give his company website a visit and a like.
Cartography for Hire
If you are an active DM and you have your own world, kingdom or city, how about getting a really nice hand illustrated map to put up on the wall of your gaming cave?
I will do an awesome custom map for your campaign which you can be proud to hang up on your wall for a -more- than reasonable rate.
This isn't just some digital copy. I will send you the original piece on Bristol or a big sheet of parchment. It is a piece of personalized campaign artwork you can enjoy for many years.
Rob Kuntz is putting out an awesome romp in his iconic old school encounter for "The Living Room". This is sure to be a fun and probably deadly romp for your favorite group of OSR players.
Rob has a whole line-up of cool offerings coming over the course of 2019 and 2020 and I cannot wait to see what he has in mind.
Full disclosure - I will be doing some cartography work and some spot illustrations here and there for Rob's up and coming projects.
Please give his company website a visit and a like.
If you are an active DM and you have your own world, kingdom or city, how about getting a really nice hand illustrated map to put up on the wall of your gaming cave?
I will do an awesome custom map for your campaign which you can be proud to hang up on your wall for a -more- than reasonable rate.
This isn't just some digital copy. I will send you the original piece on Bristol or a big sheet of parchment. It is a piece of personalized campaign artwork you can enjoy for many years.
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