Let’s Make a Hexcrawl Setting

[chutup]

The Caves of the Dust Walkers (23.23)

Not far from the mysterious ruined city in 22.25, there lies a rocky hillock where the earth is ochre brown and nothing grows save pampas grass and poppies. This hill is riddled with caves, where dwell a tribe of stunted, dark-skinned gnomes. Scholars may refer to them as 'desert gnomes', but the name they give to themselves is Dust Walkers.

The society of the Dust Walkers is secretive and complex, but it is known that they value moral turpitude and blamelessness above all else. To signify this they adorn themselves with white paint, representing purity. Repentance is unknown to the Dust Walkers; the stain of a sin committed can never truly be washed away.

The Dust Walkers know the secret of preparing a strong hallucinogenic brew from the poppies that grow near their home. Its effect is to make any imagined or visualised event have a real somatic effect upon the imbiber. Thus, a person under the influence of this drug can be slain by an illusionary sword or trampled by an imaginary horse. The drug is of course much prized by illusionists, but the Dust Walkers jealously guard the secrets of its manufacture.

The purpose to which they create this brew is to use it in a rite of passage ritual; all Dust Walkers must undergo this when they come of age, and again if they are challenging for the position of chieftain. After drinking the preparation, the gnome who is to be tested will take a pilgrimage to the ruins in 22.25, there to drink from the bone-white fountain. The combined effect of the two drugs is to make the subject suffer an incredibly harrowing experience for each of their great guilts. Those who have anything less than a spotless conscience are unlikely to survive the ordeal.

The Dust Walkers are suspicious of outsiders and will most likely seek to capture them and subject them to the trial of the fountain. Those who pass the test are considered worthy of respect, and can expect aid and friendship from the desert gnomes in future.

Hooks:
- Who's willing to pay money for the recipe of that brew? And how would you get your hands on it?
- Are there any outsiders who have passed the test and established good relations with the gnomes?
- Are all the chieftains of the tribe pure and righteous? Or is there a way to circumvent the trial?
- Do the Dust Walkers know anything about the ruined city and its people?

 

[Daztur]

No map or compilation update tonight. Here are two entries, one of which fills out Shuttered a bit more and provides some links between it in the NW bit of the map and the second of which introduces the mainstream dwarven culture in this area.

For the balloons I'm imagining them being hand-painted in garish color.

The Balloons of the City

In the City of Shuttered Windows (29.14) the rich and powerful live high above other men. Not only do their towers strain towards the sky but many of elite never set foot on the fetid muck that the city is sinking into. When they visit the towers of their peers they cross the high bridges and causeways or well they sail through the air above the city in hot air balloons. While the Electors sit haughtily in their gondolas looking down at the people scuttling below, their tow cables are pulled by carts or winched across a network of ropes that crisscross the sky.

The richest of the Great Families and the Doge himself can afford magical means of propulsion for their balloons and their great painted blimps are wonders to behold. The Doge himself owns a number of aarakocra slaves (no doubt acquired from 04.00) that serve as bodyguards, servants and dancers. They can often be seen wheeling above the city’s spires.

Recently a storm blew in off the Keening Sea and the balloons of those fools who were still aloft were blown far and wide, but none farther than that of a minor Elector named Ilace and her brother Jerrod. After their tow cable snapped, they were blown all the way to the Tashtan Plains (02.08) where their golden gondola crashed into a nest of giant centipedes.

Luckily, the thrashing of Jerrod's valet as he was eaten alive so distracted the centipedes that the rest of the party was able to flee to safety. They are currently rooming at Uncle Bertie's Trading Post where Ilace and Jerrod often engage in heated discussions of all manner of subjects: how to recover the gondola? what duties should Ilace's maid perform for poor Jerrod in his valet-deprived state? should they ask for help from the Delasars (07.04)? is it safe to eat that? should they pawn the rubies in Ilace's earrings? whatever are we to do?

The rubies in question were given as a gift to Ilace last year after a young bravo by the name of Giles Chosard pried them from the eye sockets of an idol that lies in the Ziggurat (06.10).

Hooks:
-Who is in the market for aarakocra slaves or eggs? There must be someone in the City who wants to match the Doge.
-How do you keep slaves that can fly from running away?
-Tell me about some of the niftier airships and the famous artists who paint them!
-Was it wise for Giles to pry the rubies out of the idol's eye sockets? Why did he give them to Ilace?

The Dwarves of the Titan’s Skull
Hex 33.00

Travelers wonder if the dwarves know how to work the metal that The Broken Spear (40.06) is composed of. The answer is no, at least in the case of the Dwarves of the Titan’s Skull. Their silver mines have made them rich and wealth has changed them, there are few now that would even be able to recognize the substance. These days, the dwarves do not swing their hammers in the mines; there are slaves, servants and prisoners enough for that and many of the dwarves have left their ancestral mines and settled in the lands of men, building great stone compounds that seems plain and blocky from the outside but are well enough adorned within to inflame the greed of any man. Within the homes of the dwarves and in their vaults, scamper tongueless goblins, that were bought in their youth by the dwarves, bound to silence and taught obedience.

Within these stone halls some dwarves grow fat enough to be unable to walk unaided, others shut themselves away to work for years on intricate objects of no certain use, while others attend to the trades that bring the dwarves wealth in these days. The gem trade is firmly in their grasp and their jewelry is exquisite, but their chief source of wealth is the The Hoard. It is a network of banks that few dare to rob, (rumors say that Drogo (29.01) has raided The Hoard’s Great Vault, but if that is true, then why is he still alive?) fewer dare to not repay and where a man can get his hand on ready gold with nothing but a dwarfish scrawl. The Hoard has a presence in may cities and holdings including the City of Shuttered Windows (29.14), and it is said that the dwarves beat their hammers into the rock beneath their banks' vaults, telling tales of hidden silver and interest due that travel from vault to vault.

But even in these days there are things of old that the dwarves remember. Things that they hold true to:

1. The Hoard will have its due.
2. Do not flaunt evidence of one’s gender before the eyes of outsiders.
3. He who slays a dwarf will be repaid sevenfold.
4. He who saves the life of a dwarf will be repaid sevenfold.
5. When away from one’s home, a dwarf must carry a sharp axe and wear a stout helm.
6. Do not destroy what could be of use.
7. Do not sleep without one’s back to the ground.
8. Do not disagree with another dwarf before the eyes of outsiders.
9. Do not break one’s sworn word.
10. Relieve silver from those fools who cannot keep it.

At least most of the time. When it’s convenient.

Few dwarves still remember much of the old ways, the Deep Dwarves who tunnel below the Titan’s Skull say that they (and they alone) still do, but they have grown lean, twisted and strange in their sunless caverns.

Although all dwarves appear much alike to outsiders, bitter conflict often break out within their halls. How could it not, with all of the silver of The Hoard at stake? These days, many young dwarves leave the halls of their parents, some to try to find some of what was lost when The Hoard was won, some to pile up silver of their own, others retreat from the world into lives of contemplation (03.04) and others to mingle with the outsiders that their parents shun.

Hooks:
-Why is the great mountain beyond the Kingswood called the Titan’s Skull?
-Who is especially deep in debt to The Hoard?
-Are the minds of the Deep Dwarves as twisted as their bones?
-The dwarves claim that all of the silver that made them rich came from their mines under the Titan's Skull. Is this actually true?

 

[chutup]

The Weremen of Brindlebrook Swamp (18.10)

This is a strange story that begins with a wizard named Barnabus Bludenoss. Like Dormond of the Crooked Oak, he was a student of the famed wizard Severard, and studied in his tower (13.08) before the unfortunate spider-related incident. Barnabus was, like many wizards, obsessed with the idea of attaining immortal life. He considered becoming a lich, but did not want to be mad, undead, or hated by mortal society. So his researches continued. After ten years of study, Barnabus finally completed his new and bizarre spell: he turned himself into the world's first were-man.

When Barnabus bites someone, they become infected with a form of lycanthropy. On the full moon, they will transform into clones of Barnabus Bludenoss, with his powers, his desires, and his memories up until the time that the infection was passed on. They even have his clothes - a dark robe and a broad-brimmed hat. In this way, Barnabus plans to live forever as a viral organism.

Some way south of the old Verlime citadel (18.07), there is a dank and wretched swamp. Deep in this foetid place one may come across a small community of wooden huts built in the treetops. Those who dwell there are all weremen of Barnabus Bloodnose. Their close proximity to each other sets up a magical resonance which enhances the power of the disease, strengthening the Barnabus persona and subduing the unfortunate host body. Because of this, the weremen spend most of their time as Barnabus, but transform back into their original bodies at the full moon. During the period of their transformation, they hang themselves upside down from the tops of trees so that they cannot escape. The varied host bodies wail and cry for help, but none hear them, and in the morning they turn back into Barnabi. Someone who lives nearby has been contracted by the Barnabi to cut them down each month after their transformation.

There is at least one other wereman who does not dwell with his brethren. This is Zeem Olmsted, head of House Olmsted, who was bitten several years ago. Of course, the family keeps this infection secret; each month, they tie up Zeem Olmsted before he can transform into Barnabas Olmsted, though his vile imprecations can sometimes be heard echoing over the keep. He desires above all to escape the keep and join his fellows, whom he can sense far away in the swamp. For his part, Zeem regards this infection as a relatively minor inconvenience, and tries to manage the problem while continuing to rule over the Olmsted family just as he always has done.

Hooks:
- Where is the original Barnabus now?
- Who lives near the Barnabi who is willing to aid them by cutting their ropes each month?
- Is there a way to cure Zeem Olmsted? What about the other weremen?
- Who are the other weremen when they're not Barnabus? Anyone interesting or important among them?

(Thought I would use the naming mix-up as fodder for more content )

 

[chutup]

The Black Balloon

Of all the balloon-artisans in the City of Shuttered Windows, the most respected was Yilbar the Illustrious. Owning an entire studio of builders, designers and painters, he was the creator of the Doge's current air-barge, as well as many other fine balloons.

His greatest work yet was to be the Black Balloon. Painted primarily black, with white frescoes depicting grand moments in the history of the City, it was filled with a new type of gas (also black). Yilbar had acquired the gas from some distant place, but the specifics of where and how he would not divulge.

In any case, the black gas when heated was extremely buoyant, allowing the Black Balloon to rise higher than any other before it. The Doge didn't like this, but Yilbar assured him that the balloon represented the glory of the entire City, and besides it was only being taken up for a test flight.

The whole City turned out to watch the Black Balloon rise. Yilbar was on it, along with his twin daughters Ysmara and Ynae. The Balloon rose until it was merely a black spot in the sky. It didn't come down again. In fact, it floats there still, and can be seen from the ground on a clear day.

Nobody knows why the Balloon is not returning. However, a few hours after its ascent, a flaming body was seen to fall from it before bursting into ashes on the pavement. A distinctive silver ring identified the body as Yilbar the Illustrious.

Hooks:
- Where did the black gas come from?
- What happened to Yilbar, and why hasn't the balloon come down?
- Yilbar's son is offering a handsome reward to anyone who can get up to the balloon and rescue his sisters, if they still live. But how would anyone get up that high?

 

[Daztur]

Note: the map will be updated shortly, the compilation will be updated tomorrow (Korean time).

chutup:
What you've done with the ostrlich and the Zeem/Barnabus issue (besides being more awesome than words can express) reminds me a great deal of this blog post: Playing D&D With Porn Stars: Say "Why not?" and THEN ask "Why?"

A lot of the best bits of setting have come from taking inconsistencies at face value or playing goofy setting elements razor straight. You can't get too much goofier than undead ostriches but if you take the silly idea seriously you get something that goes quite a bit beyond silliness.

Also we need to steal that idea for a goddess in that blog post, I have no specific ideas for how to do it but if nobody else riffs off it in the next week or so I'll do something with it myself for our setting's moon goddess. For myself, I'm brainstorming up ideas for the elven library, I should post something on it tomorrow...

Melnir’s Mount
Hex 51.12

Melnir’s Mount is an active volcano that rises high above the thin strip of land that separates the Keening Sea (the freshwater sea that the City of Shuttered Windows (29.14) borders) from the World’s Edge (12.07). Long ago an earthquake rocked these lands and great waves roiled the sea. The land upon which Melnir’s Mount now lies shuddered and cracked and it seemed that the waters of the Keening Sea would pour out over the World’s Edge, drowning those lands and leaving the Shuttered City sitting next to a sunken desert.

In order to prevent this one of the greatest human mages of those days, a northerner by the name of Melnir, went forth and struck the earth with his staff, summoning the molten blood of the earth to him. Within days the great fountain of magma that erupted from the ground had become the volcano which still vents smoke daily. Of Melnir nothing more was ever heard.

The growth of the volcano has kept the Keening Sea penned within its banks but its magma flows have softened the sheer wall of the World’s Edge making this one of the easier spots to climb down into the world below.

Hooks:
-Is there any danger that the Keening Sea could pour down over the World’s Edge in the future?
-Is there anything left of Melnir? It seems strange for a powerful wizard to do something suicidal…

The Ancient Gardener
Note: this entry has been lightly adapted from a post by "drek" on rpg.net
Wandering NPC within the Kingswood and outlying lands.

An elf older than any other within the Court (29.07), who uncharacteristically for elves shows her age, wanders freely through Kingswood, occasionally making unexpected stops in nearby lands. She dressed in layer upon layer of wispy, colorful, ragged silks, with her mottly dreaded mass of grey hair entwined with vines. Her face isn't wrinkled, but is undeniably ancient -- nearly skeletal, with the most pallid of skin. She only refers to herself as the the Hierophant, having long since forsaken her given name and title of Amelar the Immaculate (see 36.04). In fact, the Hierophant will speak of Amelar as if the two were separate people entirely. Although she is an elf of the Bloodied King's Court, she is in many ways above the King and above elven (and round-eared) politics.

While she is unquestionably the most powerful druid in the Shrouded Lands, unlike the more militant druids more directly aligned with the Court, the Hierophant takes a strict hand-off policy when dealing with the world. She only observes people, often unseen, even if they are directly harming one of her many gardens, only repairing the damage once the interlopers have left.

Those that show respect for her gardens, in particular her favorite rose garden, can (on rare occasion) achieve her attentions. She speaks casually about horticulture and druidic philosophy, seemingly ignoring questions about more pertinent subjects with an aura of airy indifference or via claiming flighty memory. However, those that listen carefully may notice that her words are veiled riddles. A discussion on tending to rot on the ancient tree of the Mirror Lake (37.01) may be an allegory for the Prince of Men, for example.

If attacked she steps into the ground, and is never seen again by the aggressors. The Hierophant doesn't hold grudges, but if an elf of the Court should happen to spy a someone attempting to bully her, her attackers would be on the wrong end of an elf-Hunt that never ends. The Weeper, (13.08) in particular, takes a personal interest in stories of those attacking the Hierophant -- one of the few times that he leaves his tower behind is to join a Hunt called against one who attacks her. No elf will speak of it with an outsider, but it is common knowledge within the Court that Amelar is the Weeper's grandmother.

Those of any race that display particular wisdom and connection to growing things are sometimes mentored by the Hierophant, though her apprentices cannot expect her to appear to impart lessons with any regularity.

 

[chutup]

(Here's a new idea: take a prewritten module of sufficient awesomeness and modify it to plug into the setting.)

The Menagerie of Pandelar

Somewhere deep in the vaults of the Undercity, rumour has it that an ancient zoo lies hidden - bricked up now and deserted, yet still inhabited by a variety of strange animals who are preserved in eternal life by an enchantment placed upon the building. The Menagerie was created long ago by an elf named Pandelar, who unusually for elves travelled far from the Kingswood. Pandelar built the menagerie to repay the Doge of the city for a great service rendered unto him. Today, Pandelar dwells once again in the Kingswood, but is known only as The Weeper (43.08).

There are collectors in the upper city who would pay handsome prices for the rare beasts that dwell in the menagerie. Creatures from all over the Shrouded Lands may be found there, some of which are no longer extant anywhere else in the world. It is said that the terrible goatscorpion is there, who was one of the seven firstborn sons of Chimalia, goddess of chimerical creatures. Another rumoured creature is the xortoise, an enormous creature from beyond the World's Edge that was subdued by Pandelar in a hunt lasting three days.

For full details on the Menagerie of Pandelar, refer to Vornheim, by Zak S., the section 'Immortal Zoo of Ping Feng'.

Hooks:
- What other weird creatures dwell in the menagerie?
- What and where are the other seven firstborn of Chimalia?
- What was the favour that the Doge did for Pandelar?
- Why did Pandelar eventually abandon the zoo? Was it something to do with the death of his daughter?

 

[chutup]

And because that's not really a new piece of content:

The Cornfields (03.30)

This area is covered in ripe fields of corn which seem to grow all year round. The farmers of this crop dwell in a small and dusty village at the centre of the hex. Insular in the extreme, they are also dangerously hostile to anyone who they think they can defeat. However, a show of force will easily cow them into submission.

The corn farmers drug and kidnap unlucky adventurers who pass through their town. They then steal all their victims' posessions and, bizzarely, pull out all their teeth, before dumping them in the nearby Thorny Gulch. The teeth are ground up and used to fertilize the corn crops; each corn has a different property depending on the type of tooth. Molar-corn, for example, grants the ability to crush objects between one's palms. Corn from wisdom teeth is used by shamans of the corn people, though its exact properties are still a secret.

It is a strange fact of the corn farmers that they consider teeth to be a rich treasure, but have no use for gold or magic items. These objects make them a target for bandits who are rife in the area, so they dispose of them by dropping them down the old well in 04.31. There, the treasure is consumed by the sentient black sphere known as the Nothing.

One would assume that such treasure is irretrievably lost. However, Dormond of the Crooked Oak returned to the Shuttered City(29.14) bearing a single gemstone of unique colour but relatively low value. He claimed that he had traced this gem's lineage from the Hoard Bank to a party of adventurers lost in the southwest over a century ago. This was proof, he claimed, that matter could be retrieved from within the Sphere. Before he could explain more, however, he disappeared.

Hooks:
- What other types of corn can be grown, and who would pay for them?
- Tell me more about the bandits of the southwest.
- There must be an incredible treasure hoard hidden inside that Sphere! But how to get it out?
- What's in Thorny Gulch? Will adventurers survived being dumped there naked and unarmed?

(In my first draft of this, the corn people just murdered their victims. But that was a bit too grim, and I like the idea of a whole party of toothless players who are... gumming for revenge!)

 

[Daztur]

Edit: I've added a good bit of content to the compilation, only the last few entries are missing.

The map has been updated, with the Welt Road added in. I hope to be able to update the compilation within the next few hours.

chutup: I've been ripping off all kinds of stuff in my posts and will continue to do so shamelessly, but it's probably a good idea to file the serial numbers off, just to make sure that we're not violating anybody's copyrights, but I see that you've done that in any case (i.e. Ping Feng -> Palendar).

Also, I've really got to buy Vornheim, but I've drained my RPG fund for now buying some of John M. Stater's hexcrawl stuff (Land of Nod and Hexcrawl Chronicles) which I'll start using for idea fodder once I've finished squeezing all of the creativity out of some hexcrawl building forum threads.

I do like the idea of toothless adventurers. I've got no ideas for what's in Thorny Gulch, but I do have some ideas for your desert gnomes.

Here's a couple entries.

The Lair of Tharaxes, the Blue Death
Hex 20.24

Perhaps something still lurks in the abandoned city (22.25), but that is not what keeps travelers away from those lands, it is the great dragon Tharaxes the Blue Death a great blue dragon of enormous power. It appears without warning out of the blue sky with claws that slash through rock and lightning breath that can split a tree in a moment. Only would-be dragon slayers, fools and very rare and very heavily guarded caravans enter these lands, which is just how the local desert gnome (23.23) population wants it. The Dust Walkers know the evil that outsiders do, deep unforgivable evils, and do not want too many of them intruding in their lands so they created the Blue Death out of smoke and glamour, chiseled its claw marks into canyon walls and artfully burn and split many of the few scrub trees that grow in these lands.

This serves to keep most intruders out of the lands of the desert gnomes, but those pesky would-be dragon slayers remain. If possible the gnomes try to capture them and subject them to the trial of the fountain but for those who seem to powerful the gnomes, who do not want to stain themselves indelibly with sin, merely lead on a wild goose chase. But those outsiders who are especially evil (as the gnomes define it) are lead to the “lair” of Tharaxes: a tall and lonely plug of rock that rises suddenly out of the plains. There is no dragon and no treasure to be found there, but danger enough…

Hooks:
-What sort of danger can be found in the “lair” of Tharaxes if there is no dragon there?
-Has anyone managed to see through the gnomes’ illusions?
-What sort of interesting tricks have the gnomes played on outsiders by using “Tharaxes”?
-What sorts of things do the desert gnomes consider unforgivably evil?

The Rojarshans
Additional information about Hex 28.07

There was once a handsome lad named Roger who was taken into the Kingswood by an elfish lordling. This elf was feeling somewhat bored one day so he sent Roger, along with several of his other playthings, down into the library to fetch his dear grandmother’s mushroom cookbook and to tidy things up a bit while they are there.

Roger himself died long ago but his sadly rather inbred descendants, a tribe now known as the Rojarshans, live deep down in the dark stacks forgotten by even the librarians. There they have constructed crude huts made out of discarded shelves and live on the bloated white worms that gnaw on the leather covers of books while the sunlit world recedes ever farther into myth and legend.

One day the Rojarshans will uncover the holy writ itself, the book spoken about only in whispers, The Delights of Edible Fungus and ascend up into paradise as was promised. But until that blessed day the Rojarshans continue to “tidy up” the library and now large swaths of the it have had their books organized according to an impenetrable system that only the Rojarshans understand.

Hooks:
-How have the negative effects of inbreeding (due to a very small founder population) manifested themselves among the Rojarshans?
-What are the myths that the Rojarshans tell each other about the outside world?
-How do they react to strangers that come among their selves?
-What strange and interesting books that even the elves have forgotten have the Rojarshans found and read? What effect has living among so many strange books had on them?
-Will they ever find The Delights of Edible Fungus?

The People of the Claw
Hex 48.13

Note: this post is based on a blog post at the excellent Monsters and Manuals blog, but all of the text and many of the details are mine. The previous post about the Rojarshans is inspired by another post on that blog but all of the ideas except for the basic concept of “people living all their lives in a giant library” are original. If you don’t follow that blog already you really should…

Near where Melnir’s Mount (51.12) now stands, there was once a colony of the City of Shuttered Windows (29.14). Its founders hoped that it would be a staging ground for caravans bound for the lands beyond the Keening Sea. Their hopes came crashing down when the town was badly damaged by earthquake and flooding and then destroyed when Melnir called forth rivers of liquid rock from the quivering ground.

However, some of the colonists refused to be evacuated to Shuttered and stayed in these lands, rebuilding the lost colony into a humble village that now owes no allegiance to their ancestral home but rather to their strange god.

Their god is indeed strange. Everyone knows that giant crayfish never stop growing and one that lives in the eastern waters of the Keening Sea grew to enormous size. A theologically innovative priest of the old colony viewed it has a manifestation of the God of the City of Shuttered Windows but generations of villagers have forgotten that distinction and now worship the creature as a god and their prayers have made it so.

The nameless crayfish god is now the size of a blue whale but is still a crayfish and knows nothing but cold hunger and unconsciously impels his worshipers to satisfy it. They do so by doing anything they can to lure travelers towards their lonely corner of the Keening Sea so that their god may feast on them. Any travelers that the locals can catch are also tied to posts sunk into the mud offshore while the villages pipe and drum to call forth their god to feed.

The chief of the village, the self-styled Voice of the Claws, dominates the rest with threats about what will happen if they fail to do the will of their mindless god while his wife, the village wise woman, often shrieks out during the strange watery dreams that haunt her nightly...

But for the most part, the villagers are simple fisher folk who spent all of their lives in and around the water of the Keening Sea and often bathe in it to preserve their skins from the dry air.

Hooks:
-If the giant crayfish is a (very) minor god, what powers does it have? What powers can it grant its followers?
-Are there any interesting ruins of the original colony?
-Dry air? What?
-What techniques do the villagers use to attract travelers?

 

[Daztur]

The Wedding Band
Hex 30.15

Just off the coast of the City of Shuttered Windows (29.14) a series of low-lying islands rise out of the Keening Sea. They are little more than mounds of mud, but a century ago a band of smugglers discovered an enormous ring of silvery metal buried deep the muck of one of these islands.

After being excavated, the sages of the city discovered that this silver ring had powerful anti-magical properties and that it could very well be the wedding band of the Green Lady herself, the elven goddess who was once the consort of the God of the City of Shuttered Windows (Alberon). Some said that it should be chopped up and sold, but cooler heads prevailed and the wedding band was left intact.

These days the band serves to mark the boundary of a gladiatorial arena, its anti-magic keeping outside wizards from cheating or any magic from the beasts and gladiators within from hurting the gathered spectators. The causeway that links the island of the band with the City itself and the Doge is only too glad to have such dangerous sport located far away from his palace.

The neighborhood surrounding the band is a deeply unpleasant mix of bars of the worst sort, brothels and the holding pens of various strange beasts. The Doge's law means little around the band and the island is dominated by an aristocracy of bosses. A rising member of this group is a halfling by the name of Bogarus Bolger. Once famous for capturing and supplying a number of strange beasts for the games, he has now settled down to run his blink dog kennel and other business interests.

Bolger's manner can be disarming, for he acts much like a gentleman halfling farmer from the Freeholds and is always unfailingly polite. He often apologizes to his victims before feeding them to his henchman, a uncommonly cunning troll of great and varied hungers (Bolger generally pays him in the bodies of exotic creatures and gladiators killed in the games and he is steadfastly loyal to his employer and always hungry...). Currently Bolger is in the market for captured leucrotta (04.07) and is willing to pay handsomely for them.

Hooks:
-Who are the most famous gladiators and trainers of the band?
-How did Bolger acquire a troll henchman? What were some of his adventures in his younger days?
-Who are some of the other bosses of the band?
-Has anyone brought a beast to the band that might break loose?

The Factions of the Elves
Note: this is adapted from a post by "drek." Time to go to bed now, will edit it a bit more thoroughly tomorrow.

The elves of the Court (Vo Tume in their own language) are all bound by the same fey contracts, and all ultimately answer to the same Bloodied King. The King is named Tuma Yedaard plus a hundred other titles and names dependent upon the situation. Tuma Yedaard is also their name for the forest itself.

Elves are flighty creatures, and their whims change with seasons and sometimes day by day, and sometimes those whims put one elf at odds with another. However, on any given sunny day, an elf will fall into one of four factions.

1) The Simple are akin to the Heirophant, and may cite themselves as following her path, if they do so for an appreciable amount of time. These are the elves that simply exist, enjoying the sun and the forest -- performing simple tasks to keep themselves fed and entertained. Some tend to wander, some tend to stay close to home. Those recognized to be on the path of the Heirophant's example, and keep to it for century or more, will often drop their given and family names, referring to themselves by profession or attitude instead. The Weeper, for example, would be considered one of the Simple.

2) The Loyal specifically follow Tuma Yedaard and his edicts. While all elves are in theory bounded by his contracts, the Loyal make a special effort at it. These are elves that would prosecute a war or an Elf-Hunt, and guard the forest from greedy men, savage beasts from the Edge or elsewhere, or maliciously mischievous fey. They enforce contracts, and to an outsider can generally come off as cold and unyielding. The Loyal are the army of Kingswood, and are the only faction to have official titles and licenses handed down from the King. Though, it's not unheard of or considered particularly strange or bad for a titled elf to switch to a different faction -- indeed most of the long-lived elves have spent at least some time working directly for the Court, and have a title prove it.

3) The Bound Bargainers largely inhabit the secret flipside of the forest, the paths that lead through the Fey-Realm. Their concerns are pleasing faeries with gifts, and often they have and hold contracts to deliver certain items in exchange for services to their family. Even the King himself has contracts with the fey that must be upheld (such as the delivery of a quantity of human infants per season), though it often falls to the Loyal to complete these contracts.

The Bargainers work through the Drow of Olmsted Keep to procure trades with the outside world, but also procure material via hunts and trades within the Forest and elsewhere. The paths through the Fey-Realm allow them to travel far and wide -- though of course there is a price to pay to each resident fairy for using these roads.

A sizable number of Bargainers are paying off debts incurred whilst raiding, and might well continue to pay off these debts with yet more raiding and theft. Those that are caught doing so by the Loyal tend to incur yet more debt and other punishments.

4) Known as Raiders to the outside world and Disloyal to the Court, the final faction are the elves most likely to be waiting above the Welt Road and other avenues of travel to prey on outsiders (and occasionally even elves). Technically, they are bound by the King's law and forest's contracts, and some even take the contracts seriously. Being a thief is not an evil occupation, to an elf. Elves appreciate a rebel, even the King himself and the highest members of his Court enjoy a good story about a daring raid or theft.

However, being caught red-handed -- without the excuse of an excellent cover story -- is a crime of incompetence. The worst offenders are bounded over to the Fey's service. Other punishments include sitting and staring at a particular patch of ground for a decade -- moving only to take in sustenance (and shelter during the night), or taking quick look into the Mirror Lake.

So the raiders will take some care in disguising their identities, with enchanted masks and false names. The most successful raiders will have prearranged passage through the Fey-Realm to avoid the patrols of the Loyal. The absolute top-tier raiders also maintain positions within the Court. Rumors persist that Tuma Yedaard himself is the legendary Huu Vo Malkus, a mysterious raider who single-handily makes a big score once every decade or so, donating the entirety of his catch to the Weeper for distribution among the Simple.

 

[Daztur]

The Treasure Stash of Giles Chosard
Hex 09.06

In an otherwise-uninteresting stretch of plains a young bravo named Giles Chosard has stashed a collection of treasure and equipment under a large rock.

After committing crimes that the Priests of the Temple Invisible will take a man's tongue out for speaking of, the father of Giles Chosard barely escaped the City of Shuttered Windows (29.14) with his life for lands far to the south. There the man, who had once been a wealthy Elector, filled his young son's ears with tales of his lost home, the greatest and most beautiful city on the face of the world: the high towers ringed with walkways that seem to stretch to touch the bright balloons that sail through the sky, the ladies clad in bright feathers, the great beasts howling their death cries within the Wedding Band (30.15) and all the rest.

When he came of age, Giles Chosard took passage to the Shrouded Lands, but found the gates of Shuttered barred to him. Since then he has wandered the Westmarches seeking enough glory and wealth to blot out the misdeeds of his father and allow him to set foot in the glorious City.

He has pried out the gems of an idol in the ziggurat (06.10) and gave them freely to a lady of the city (Ilace, currently located at 03.08 after a ballooning mishap) among several other adventures. Giles has quick hands and a quicker tongue, but he is not nearly as good of a swordsman as he believes himself to be and much of his success has come from more luck than skill. To citizens of the City, Giles Chosard cuts a somewhat ridiculous figure, his clothing and manner slavishly follows the fashions in the City during his father's day and in all ways he tries to act how be believes a gentleman of the City should act, taking such things far more seriously than any of the actual inhabitants of the city do.

Hooks:
-What crime did Giles' father commit?
-Just what kind of things does Giles do because that's what he thinks is the proper way for a gentleman of Shuttered to act?
-What adventures has Giles gone on?
-What treasure lies in his stash?

The Cloud Forests
Hex 47.00

The World's Edge extends in a great loop far beyond the lands of the elves. The terrain where it crosses the Grey Mountains north of the Withered Moors (41.02) is truly spectacular. Dozens of great mountains were shattered to pieces by the cataclysm that created the World's Edge, some leaning drunkenly over the Edge and others cut as sharply as if by a knife. However, it is a rare day when a traveler can cast his eyes upon the sights for these lands are almost constantly shrouded in mists and clouds blown in from the east. Their moisture nourishes a surprising profusion of plants, some clinging to the very cliff of the Edge itself. These plants are noted for their potent poisons, as are the animals that lurk among them, and are highly valued by the Smiling Men of the City of Shuttered Windows (29.14).

Hooks:
-What withered the Withered Moors (that's the area where Crossbow Henry lives since it's the most godforsaken place imaginable)?
-Why so much poison in the cloud forests?
-Who are the Smiling Men of Shuttered?