*** THE STONEMARCH ***
- [00.01] There are strange lights - fires - that you can see for miles at night coming from one of the higher north-western peaks. Firetop Mountain, they call it.
- [01.02] Rumour has it that a band of dwarves went into the Stonemarches in search of gold and glory shortly after the Bloodspear War. No one has heard or seen any sign of them since.
- [02.02] The Stonemarches are crawling with orcs - the Bloodspears. You can hear the echo of their wardrums if you get too close; they only do that when their numbers have reached a breaking point and they're preparing for war. No one goes there, and sometimes the orcs come down in raiding parties. There have been more lately. They've made the trail (Nentir/Markelhay's Folly) impassable; anyone who treads on it is likely to come across one of their raiding parties.
- [03.00] If you take the old trail north-west through the hills (Nentir/Markelhay's Folly) leading into the high mountains of the Stonemarches, at the end of your first day of travel you should see a strange black ziggurat just off the trail in a mist-shrouded valley. No one knows who or what built it - it was there long before Nerath expanded into the Vale. It is cursed, and no one who goes there returns. Even if it isn't, some travellers - when people used to be able to travel the north-west trail, when it wasn't so dangerous - said that, during certain times of the month, they saw the valley literally crawling with snakes. Poisonous snakes, snakes over 30 feet long that can crush a man to death in seconds, and even snakes who spit fire!
- [04.01] Just after the bend in the north-west trail (Nentir/Markelhay's Folly), there's a small community of stoneworkers. They mostly stick to themselves, but they must be dealing with the orcs if they're somehow still alive. Whenever someone from there comes into town, they have little to say.
*** THE CAIRNGORM PEAKS ***
- [05.02] There's a small settlement of a few families about half a day's travel along the trail (Nentir/Markelhay's Folly), mostly stoneworkers. There were once more of them, but with the renewed orcish activity in the mountains most families have moved out.
- [04.03] If you head west/southwest off the (Nentir/Markelhay's Folly) trail, you'll come into the Valley of the Dead. The nobles in the Vale used to bury their dead here; tombs and crypts line the interior of the valley. Some people have seen the dead walking recently - skeletons, dessicated men in full battle armour, and worse - and the trees in the valley never bloom.
- [04.04] Goblins line the interior of the Valley of the Dead. No matter how many we kill there always seems to be more of the little bastards. They seem to have trained a number of wolves, and they use them to conduct their raids. They've been strangely inactive lately; hopefully they've moved out. Still, we'd need an army to take care of them, there's probably somewhere around four hundred of them in the caves.
- [04.05] An old monestary on the interior of the Valley of the Dead. They take care of the tombs and have for hundreds of years. They survived the Bloodspear War, since their monestary is unreachable except through a basket they raise up. They tend to keep to themselves; most have sworn an oath of silence. Every now and then they will come down for supplies, and somehow they convince a handful of strong youths to join their order. Those that leave are rarely, if ever, seen again.
*** WINTERHAVEN VALLEY ***
- [05.04] The Keep on the Shadowfell. It was built when Nerath was trying to pacify the Vale. Legend has it that its ruler, Sir Keegan, went insane and butchered his family and over a dozen guards before being put to rest. It is a dark place, haunted, and even the goblins avoid it.
- [05.05] Winterhaven. A small village ruled by Lord Padraig, a noble who came here some 10 years ago to lay claim to his ancestral lands. It sits atop a hill on the foothills of the Cairngorm Peaks, and commands a view of the Winterhaven Valley. It's been rebuilt since it was sacked during the Bloodspear War by a company of hobgoblin mercenaries. Those mercenaries held it, repaired it, and protected the farmers in the valley once the humanoid tribes split after the Battle of Gardbury Abbey.
- [05.06] Three of Winterhaven's oldest families raise sheep in the valley here. These families (Angons, Gurners, and the Vurleys) have lived in the valley since Winterhaven was first settled and somehow survived through the Bloodspear War. Legend has it that they are all cursed... the Angons for betraying Erathis and worshipping Bane, the Gurners for betraying Winterhaven to the hobgoblins, and the Vurleys for betraying Markelhay and the army of good at the Battle of Guardbury Downs.
*** GARDBURY DOWNS ***
- [01.09] Not far north of the King's Road on the south-western edge of the Gardbury Downs there's a rickety, old, half-burned fort. Lots of skulls on pikes leading up to it; legend has it that some gnolls built it only a few years ago, but left it there. Who knows why.
- [02.08] There's a set of blocks formed into an arrow pointing south on the north edge of the Downs.
- [03.10] DUNGEON
- [04.10] Jano Nox and his band prey on the western part of the King's Road leading through the Downs. Jano came here with a few trusted mercenaries including two goliaths and an eladrin, but after causing a lot of trouble with the ladies who work in The Lucky Gnome Taphouse in Fallcrest he was outlawed by Markelhay. He's attracted a number of bandits and outlaws to his side. He is sadistic and wants to destroy any pleasure people can eke out of their short, miserable lives.
- [05.08] As the King's Road leaves the Downs to the south-east, just after the trail that leads to Gardbury Abbey, a group of devil-dwarf slavers preys on the weak. They won't trouble a dozen men armed with crossbows on a caravan, but anything less than that... Little is known about them or their leaders, but they must be working with someone.
- [05.11] This area is crawling with rats.
- [07.05] Watcher's Hill - an old fort (think Weathertop), built during the Bloodspear War to protect Winterhaven's flank and keep the road open. It looks down across the Winterhaven Valley, across the plains to the east, to the mist-shrouded shore of Lake Wintermist, and even the trail (Markelhay's Folly) heading north. Destroyed by the Bloodspear orcs after a long siege, it has lain empty for a hundred years. Local legend has it that Watcher's Hill is haunted, patrolled by the restless spirits of those who fell during the Bloodspear War. Strange lights have been seen on dark nights and during the full moon, and it is eerily quiet - no birds sing their songs nearby, no crickets chirp, no wolves howl on that haunted tor.
- [07.06] This area is thick with rats and blood-sucking plants. Hunters who have braved the dangers have seen strange cairns appear overnight, only to disappear the next day.
- [08.09] A leper colony is here. They gather rare herbs from the moor, and some brave people (Delphina Moongem) trade with them. The outlaws and brigands that plague the Downs leave them alone.
- [10.09] GARDBURY ABBEY
- [10.11] A cave bear lairs somewhere off the south-eastern edge of the King's Road as it exits the Downs.
- Brigands raid the south-eastern side of the King's Road. They have a hideout somewhere on the Downs. They are vicious warriors led by a highly-skilled warrior who still bears the runed choker of a hell-bound slave gladiator. There are about three score of them, and some have horses. They take prisoners and trade them for ransom, but those who have no one to pay for them are tied to posts as the King's Road enters the Downs and left for the crows. [10.12]
- [11.10] THE BATTLE OF GARDBURY DOWNS
*** LAKE WINTERMIST ***
- [07.02] People say that, on the northern coast of the mist-shrouded lake, you can hear a haunting song in the crashing of the breakers. The song is in elven and alluring. The legend says that a woman, despairing for her lost love, cast herself off the cliffs and to her doom.
*** WINTERBOLE FOREST ***
- [09.00] Gnomes and other fey creatures are often seen on the northern shores of Lake Wintermist.
- [10.00] DUNGEON
- [10.02] On the edges of the forest, near the eastern edge of Lake Wintermist, one can see a tall, ruined black tower.
- [11.01] There have been sightings of ogres in the woods and plains near the eastern shores of Lake Wintermist. Rumour has it that they have a strange fascination with cheese.
- [13.00] Tigerclaw Barbarians hunt in the western reaches of the Winterbole Forest. They trade furs for tools and steel.
- [13.01] -- Barbarian meeting ground, barbarian hunters - let's keep this hidden --
- [16.00] Dangerous creatures abound in the Winterbole Forest - things that even the stoic Tigerclaw Barbarians fear.
- [16.02] A few weeks ago something fell from the sky, crashing into the midst of Winterbole Forest, west of Lake Nen near the Tigerclaw encampment. There was a great clap of thunder and the forest exploded in flame. Of the four stout barbarian warriors who went there, only one returned, and he will not speak of what he saw.
- [16.03] Near the southern edge of Winterbole Forest, just north of the Gray Downs, there is a large encampment of Tigerclaw Barbarians. They trade with the villagers in Nenlast, furs and meats for iron and steel tools and weapons. They are a proud people, descendants of those who survived the Bloodspear by fleeing into Winterbole Forest. They worship the tiger for its strength and stealth. They do not allow outsiders into their lands; if you want to speak with them, the best way is to meet with their traders at Nenlast.
- [17.00] There are some orcs lairing somewhere in the Winterbole Forest - you can tell, because the Tigerclaw Barbarians always have orc scalps and shrunken heads with them - fresh ones. The Tigerclaws don't seem concerned by the orcs.
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