Thread Recompilation - Places

[Kahuna Burger]

A good description of what promises to be a popular adventuring location:

there is further information in "Murder is the Pits" about the arena, the nature of slavery in Earling, and the intricacies of the house betting office.

 

[El Jefe]

I thought the Grellgo was on the east side of Orussus, and ran south?

That's correct, I edited my post to fit.

 

[El Jefe]

(Judge) Judges gather here, please...

Lots of location meta-discussion, but no location discussion.

 

[El Jefe]

Adventure - (Adventure) The Island of Varras'zul (Manzanita Judging) (Concluded)

This was set in an interesting adventure location, which was well-described.

• The Island of Varras’zul is about one week’s sail west of Orussus.
• Varras’zul has a warm climate, with golden sand and rocks surrounding a densely vegetated interior.
• There is another island near Varras’zul where a ship may take shelter from foul weather.
• There are ruins on Varras’zul.
• From a map, it appears that the ruins are a 2 or 3-day march from the coast, with the first day in jungle and the second in marsh.
• The ruins on Varras’zul were once the tower of a wizard who studied the planes, then disappeared.
• Except for a recent expedition, no one has visited the ruins on Varras’zul for a century, although they were well-explored prior to that.
• The jungle of Varras’zul is unnaturally quiet.
• As quiet as Varras’zul is by day, it is noisy by night. There are many insects and there are stinging caterpillars in the trees.
• After a day and a night of marching through the jungle on the Island of Varras’zul, the jungle gives way to marsh.
• The marsh and ruins on Varrras’zul are covered with a thin but ominous mist.
• The ruins on Varras’zul include the base of a ruined tower with steps that lead down.
• The stairs leading down from the base of the ruined tower on Varras’zul are covered with a thin coating of very slippery moss.
• About 50 feet from the ruined tower on Varras’zul is a patch of deadly quicksand.
• Very unlike the nearby jungle, the marsh on Varras’zul is nearly devoidof plant life.
• The stairs leading down from the base of the tower in Varras’zul connect to a room 20 feet underground. It is flooded by 1 foot of water.
• Near the ruined tower on Varras’zul is an overhanging rock formation that provides some shelter against the elements.
• The room at the bottom of the stairs under the ruined tower at Varras’zul has a high ceiling, a treacherous floor, and an awful stench.
• The room at the bottom of the stairs under the ruined tower in Varras’zul has two doors. Both open into rooms that have water pouring into them. Another set of stairs leads down from this room, and water flows down the stairs.
• The first room two levels below the ruined tower on Varras’zul has a depression that drains the water rushing down the stairs. It also has six pillars holding up the ceiling, and a flagstone floor.
• The depression in the floor two levels down from the ruined tower on the island of Varras’zul is actually a blast crater from some long-ago combat.
• After the room with the crater under the ruins of Varras’zul is another room that is a mirror image of the crater room, only with a large crack in the middle of the room. The first doorway is in ruins and impassable.
• The large crack in he middle of the floor of the room two levels below the ruined tower on the island of Varras’zul ends at a set of stairs leading down.
• At the bottom of the stairs three levels down from the ruined tower of Varras’zul is a large chamber. A closed door is immediately to the left of the stairs, the ceiling is split by a large crack (that is the floor of the room above), a dark hemisphere lies in the middle of the room, and the northwestern corner is collapsed rubble.
• At the far end of the room from the stairs three levels under the ruined tower of Varras’zul lies a huge metal door.
• Beyond the small metal door 3 floors down is a modest library. Another secure door was at the opposite end of the "library", but it has been smashed.
• The northeast corner of the chamber 3 levels below the ruined tower of Varras’zul has a partially open stone door.
• Behind the stone door leading off from the chamber 3 levels below the ruined tower of Varras’zul lies a room filled with cages, some containing skeletons of creatures.
• Beyond the smashed metal door at the far end of the library 3 levels under the ruined tower of Varras’zul lies a small chamber with a pedastal.

 

[El Jefe]

Adventure - M2: The Search for Goblin HQ

Our intrepid heroes return to Monemvasia to deal with those pesky ghouls...and goblins...and...Jezibel

• About 20 feet past the avalanche site on the abandoned road leading north from Monemvasia lies what appears to be a game trail, which leads to a crudely dug cave.
• Past the avalanche, the abandoned road leading north from Monemvasia leads through low hills and light forests, then downhill into a valley that contains a run-down moathouse.

We also have the following description of the lands surrounding the long-anticipated ruined moathouse:

You are able to approach to a clump of trees about 100 feet East. You have noticed by now that a the river seems to flow right by the moathouse, forming a moat, at least on the South and East sides (the only sides you have been able to observe). There is a drawbridge on the South wall, which is in the down position, though you haven't been able to get an angle to see through to the inside. The SE corner of the structure has collapsed, and the rubble has spilled into the river/moat, though you'd still have to cross some river to get in that way. The rubble is about 10 foot high. The other walls appear to be in poor repair, crumbling and spotted with lichen. The structure is roughly a square, 100 feet on each side.

The whole place seems deserted. No smoke rises from within. The land around the moathouse (on the South and East, anyway) seems uncultivated. It was perhaps farmland, however, as there are no large trees near the structure. There are some bushes and stumps. A stealthy person could quite possibly approach undetected, even if there were someone watching.​

Yet more description of the east side of the aforementioned moathouse:

The cover leading up to it from the clump of trees where the party resides is scarce. Approaching the moathouse directly would lead Nurlan to the the river, about 15 feet wide at that point, across from a stone wall, about 20 feet high. There are two portions of the wall on the East which are crumbled. One at the SE corner, the other on the SE corner of a prominatory on the NE. Getting closer to these points might reveal whether the river is fordable there. The crumbled walls could probably be climbed, assuming the party could cross the river, though it would be slow and potentially dangerous. There is an open drawbridge on the South wall.​

And even more descripion of that moathouse:

A well-traveled road leads to it, probably from the path from where the PCs came. It splits just before reaching the drawbridge. One road leading East, towards the Sea. The other mostly South, from whence the party has come.

On the other side of the drawbridge, there appears to be an overturned wagon, and various sacks, crates and barrels, forming a crude baracade. A fortified tower rises next to the drawbridge on the west. Arrow slits point down at the approach, although the SW corner of the tower has crumbled. Other arrow slits have been visible on the parapet that Nurlan has passed. The river seems to form a moat around the entire fortress. The banging is irregular, but seems to be coming from the area around the tower and drawbridge.​

And a couple of moathouse tidbits:

• The crumbled southeast corner of the moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia partially blocks the river that forms the moat. At its narrowest point, the water is only 5 feet wide.
• At the crumbled southeast corner of the moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia, it is possible to climb the rubble and either gain entrance into the room on the southeast corner of the moathouse, or to continue climbing the rubble all the way to the parapets.

Another description, this one of the courtyard of the moathouse:

The courtyard is about 60 foot square. From the vantage of the doorway, the party can see the entire clearing. The place looks deserted. There is a door into the tower next to the drawbridge. This door is closed. The overturned wagons and barrels make a barricade in front of the gate, but would not hinder the party much as long as no one was dropping burning oil on them. The West wall has been reduced to rubble in the middle. The clearing contains several garden plots, fairly well maintained, with crude wooden fencing protecting it from the small heard of goats which nibble the grass and take no notice of the party.​

Here's what lies under the moathouse:

• In the southwest corner of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia is a tower. The first floor is a single room some 20 feet in diameter.
• The door to the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia is oak, bound with steel, and can be barred from the dungeon side.
• The stairs leading to the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia are 5 feet wide and curve to the right.
• The room at the bottom of the entrance stairs on the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia is about 25 by 35 feet, with doors in the east and west walls. A curtain shrouds the south wall and a passage leading off to the south in the southeast corner of the room.
• To the south of the room at the bottom of the stairs leading to the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia is a room wih a flagstone floor about 50 feet long, with 5 small cells on the west wall.
• One of the flagstones on the floor of the room by the cells on the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia conceals an opening.
• Under the flagstone in the room by the cells on the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia is a dirt tunnel about 5 feet in diameter that curves down and south.
• The doors to the east and west of the room at the bottom of the stairs leading to the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia open up to storerooms. The one to the west is 10 feet square, and the one to the east 20 feet square.
• The store room to the east of the room at the bottom of the stairs leading to the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia has a secret door leading to a 5-foot wide descending passage.
• The secret passage from the eastern store room in the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia extends for about 40 feet, then splits into south and east passages. There is a portcullis trap just before the split.
• The south fork of the secret passage from the eastern store room in the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia continues for about 120 feet, then opens into a room with three oak doors on the south wall and a passage leading west for 20 feet to another door.
• The door to the southeast in the south wall of the room at the end of the south fork of the secret passage from the eastern store room in the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia leads to a narrow corridor heading south.
• The door at the end of the 20-foot passage to the west of the room at the end of the south fork of the secret passage from the eastern store room in the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia leads to a small, dirty room that can be used as a cell.
• The passageway beyond the southeast door in the south wall or the room at the end of the secret passage from the eastern store room in the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia heads south for 20 feet before forking to the southeast and continuing due south.
• The southeast fork of the passage beyond the southeast door in the room at the end of the secret passage from the eastern store room in the lower level of the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia continues for 60 feet and ends at a door. Beyond that door, the passage continues due east, sloping upward and illuminated by outdoor slight some 100-200 feet beyond. There is a door in the north wall of the passage, just to the exterior of the door where the passage bends.
• The door in the north wall of the passage sloping up to the exterior under the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia leads to a long corridor heading north.
• The corridor behind the door in the north wall of the passage sloping up to the exterior under the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia goes north for about 30 feet, then turns a corner into a 10 by 15 foot room.
• Past the 10 by 15 foot room, the corridor behind the door in the north wall of the passage sloping up to the exterior under the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia turns another corner, then enters a 15 by 15 foot room from the east. A passage extends south from this room, blocked by a portcullis trap.
• A door in the west wall of the 15 by 15 foot room in the passage behind the door in the north wall of the passage sloping up to the exterior under the ruined moathouse on the abandoned road north of Monemvasia leads to a study.

Here's a description of the study under the moathouse:

The study is only about 10 foot square. It is thickly packed with shelves, a desk and a closet. The closet contains several sets of comfortable silk sets of clothes. The carpet on the floor is lavishly decorated, and of rich weave. There are several scroll cases on the shelves, contianing maps of the area. There are jars of perfume, silver tableware and some complex astronomical equipment. The items are diverse, and don't go together well, but would be of significant value if they could be safely taken back to a major trading center. Over 1000 gps.

There is also a large heavy ironbound chest with an interesting locking mechanism. It looks like the key would be somewhat spherical in nature.

There is also a fireplace, with a low fire smoldering. The chimney must go up through the moathouse above.​

Finally, some info on what lies beyond the moathouse:

• The road leading west from the abandoned moathouse north of Monemvasia is smooth and easy to travel.
• A day’s travel on the road west of the abandoned moathouse north of Monemvasia leads to a section that passes through a narrow gorge within sight of the ocean.
• Just west of a large boulder obstructing part of the gorge that is a day’s march from the abandoned moathouse north of Monemvasia is a beautiful cove with a white, sandy beach and two huts. There is a cave on the north west edge of the cove.

 

[Bront]

How ironic that you had to recompile the recompilation thread.

 

[Velmont]

I had to do the same... Orussus thread is back with all information related to Orussus I have gathered.

 

[El Jefe]

Adventure - Faerie Woods: Persephone Alone [Concluded]

This was an excerpt from a larger adventure...a split thread when a character left the party for a bit. There were a comple of location items:

• Under-the-Hill has at least one bedroom with a single door.
• The throne room of the Fey Lord in Under-the-Hill is a quiet room with an elaborate wooden throne.

That's it. The rest is in the main thread.

 

[El Jefe]

Adventure: Wreck ashore (El Jefe judging) (Finished)

Originally posted by Salix:

Wreck Ashore
Started at 08-18-05 11:38 AM by Someone
Visit at http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=144616


I include a map with the location of Orussus, Gotian and Seawell. Expected time travels and costs (passage, inns, food, etc) would be:

Gotian: Walking: 15 days, at least 45 silver coins each. By sea: 10 days, 5 gold coins each.

Seawell: Walking: 10 days, at least 3 gold coins each. By sea: 5 days, 25 silver coins each.

THE ROAD NORTH TO SEAWELL
The group finally arrived at one crossroads. The man that walked with them, a short scholar in his way to Gotian, warned them that the town of Seawell lies just north of there.

So the next two days they continue their way north, following the coast. At your right there´s a never ending beach that at some points have devoured the road, and at your left the land becomes pogressively flatter, and only groups of trees and sand dunes break the horizontal monotony.
SEAWELL
Finally, Seawell. There´s little to describe: you only see a large and well built wooden palisade that would be better described as wall. It hides the buildings inside, but you judge that the entire village can´t hold than two or three hundred people

There are indeed guards on top of the palisade. Once you get near it, you see that the road leads to a gate just wide enough to let a cart pass, built into a small fortified tower no more than 12 or 13 feet high. The gate is open, and beyond it the village seems normal.

NPCS Jeff and his brother in law (apparently a plus one)
At least two of the guards are fairly comical:
[Stop! commands the guard, a wiry man clad in an old chainmail. Before you can ask why, he disappears from sight, but you can hear the conversation going on behind the wall:

Jeff, you have to come. There are people at the gate.

It´s sergeant for you. What´s the matter? Are they lizardmen?
Stop that crap, you´re my brother-in-law. No, but they got an orc.

Seconds later the sound of metal announces another man, most probably the mentioned Jeff, who´s coming through the gate adjusting his weapon´s belt. He looks surprised.]

The sun shines over you, and you are starting to get hungry, but fortunately the major is easy to find even when he´s not at home but at the port. The port is really just a beach where small fishing boats of many colors bleach under the sun, open to a small bay; currently empty of ships- protected by a natural breakwater. Some guards patrol near the water.
NPC Major Wil- he runs Seawell
The major turns to be a tall and strong man with a wrinkled and tan face covered by a bushy beard, who´s working in his nets and smoking a pipe. His name, as you learned earlier when you were looking for him, is Wil. You tell him what´s brought you to Seawell, and he nods.

Wil looks at the fisherman, turns to you again and then continues: We think something must be wrong, but we can do little. The marshes are dangerous for peaceful people like us, and our militia is needed here now that the lizardfolk are growing restless.

The Kojars live at the lighthouse, they are fine people, honest and hardly. Says Wil. They come once in a while, if they need something they can´t hunt, fish or craft there, and yes it´s a good place to start asking. But I wouldn´t go unprepared, unless I wanted to end in a cocodrile´s belly.

Maps are useless. Much of what lies north of there floods in winter and spring, reshaping the whole land. Now it´s dry, but that doesn´t make thing less dangerous. You´ll need a boat or else a good guide, and won´t reach the lighthouse in under two days, that´s for sure.

"Did the missing ships carry weapons? maybe the lizards got them from a ship? He continues asking the mayor questions: "Do the ships come near land on the way to here? I think we have to find out if they where attacked by ships of men on land..
"How long ago did the ships start getting lost? and how long ago did the lizardmen started making trouble?"

I don´t know for sure, only a handful of them stop here looking for fresh water replies Wil. But it can´t be more than a couple months ago, maybe.
RELATIONS WITH THE LIZARDMEN
The lizardmen have been always a trouble. And sometimes they get their claws on a good weapon or a metal shield, but now they are a real pain. We now have raids at least twice a week, and they start coming in groups larger than just two or three. And everyone packs a steel javelin or a good shield, since, well, a couple months ago Wil seems puzzled at the revelation, too.

NPC-RODAC WILL HIRE HIS BOAT OUT TO ADVENTURERS
That same afternoon the party finds an available boat and his owner, a small fisherman called Rodac and agree on a 2 silver pieces per day fee (plus the food*) for leaving tomorrow. You spend what´s left of the day doing your business **, and sleep on Rodac´s home; it´s a small house, but he´s single since his wife died a couple years ago and his children already grew up and left the village and you can understand why: it´s a boring place in the middle of nowhere.

One of them turned to be a witch comments Rodac. I think that came from her mother´side. They said she was ´charming´, and they were quite right: she was able to make a man do what she wanted just speaking some funny words. I´ve not seen her for a long time, I wonder where she is.

The next day, when the sun is already hurting Hulgyr´s eyes, Rodac leaves to prepare the boat, and soon you´re on your way. It´s a good change of pace, after ten days walking to have a rest and let the wind shower you with froth, and you wonder how a ship could sink in these waters.

Elbereth Sound Bay
It´s not that difficult says Rodac. The waves are small because the Elbereth Sound bay is small as bays go and closed by those islands the fisherman points north, to some barely seen land resting on the horizon. But is also shallow, and dangerous, because you just need 7 feet of water to drown a man, and every rock bottom is a danger. See those white patches of white water? There are reefs there. Unless you´re a very experienced captain, you´ll use the normal routes, and only when you´re sure. That´s why they made the lighthouse: there´s a particulary difficult pass over there, and it saves a lot of time.

At the same time, you watch the land parade at your left. At first sight, is sandy, arid, and very flat, but there are numerous groups of trees growing tightly in the places where the land is raised only a couple feet, and bushes cover most of what´s left. And sudden movements betrays the presence of many animals, and some of them must be quite big.

The sun sets and Rodac refuses to continue. It would be dangerous to in the dark. We´ll continue tomorrow affirms, and carefully runs aground the boat. At the light of the dying sun you see a sandy beach, and beyond more marshes. ***

NPC ORGANIZATIONS-JAVECARS
Wilhem: You recognize the term jav-car. It´s really javecar, in turn a deformation of an elven word, hav´caaren. It originated in an elven rebellion you don´t remember what kingdom, where the elves organized allied with a foreing army, and organized themselves as small war parties; that war was famous by the atrocities commited by all parts. The javecars were unscrupulous individuals who sold the elves equipment and supplies, and now the term applies to those that commerce with bandits, humanoid warbands, etc. As you can imagine, most of them are the worst kind of scum that walks.]

DANGLING PLOT THREAD-TWO GROUPS OF LIZARDMEN? LOCATION 1.5 miles south of the lighthouse, looks like it gets marshy before the beach
As Eroin advances, the lizardman retreats. "We not attack... town!" replies. "The ones over there do, with YOUR metal, jav-car, killers! We live we always, hunting!"

With that, the lizardman turns and runs inland, towards a small lake.



THE LIGHTHOUSE
But it´s when it has declined and dyeing the sky in pink when Rodac says: We´re arriving pointing at a tower, about 50 or more feet tall, barely visible. And for the look of it, you won´t arrive before the night falls. Rodac makes an effort, but when he and Wilhem are unable to see beyond their own hands he admits defeat and looks for the nearest beach.

Roddick and Eroin can see the lighthouse, just two miles ahead. And no light shines in the dark.
That same day, by midday, you arrive at the lighthouse. No sign of life can be felt, and in fact black patches around windows betray a recent fire.

(the lighthouse is rather typical: 60 feet tall, round plant, no addicinal buildings. There are windows, but they are too small for a Medium size creature to pass through. The only way in a is a sturdy wooden door, left ajar. You are 100 feet from he lighthouse or so.)

You go around the small promontory in which the lighthouse stands; it only takes half a minute. There´s nothing strange that you haven´t seen before, except that you notice now the slight smell of rotten meat that comes from within once you´re next to the main door.

The sturdy door opens, and you see a narrow spiral staircase going up. Naturally, you can´t see beyond the first steps, but you can feel something wrong in the air, beyond the sad abandoned state of the building. The smell of death may have something to do with it.

[ooc: The building is quite big, and it would take us very long to explore it room by room. Post how you´re going to explore the lighthouse -like if you´re going to spend a lot of time searching, etc- and things like your marching order if you think t would be needed.]

Few steps after starting to climb you find a door, while the stair continues twisting up. It leads to a somewhat large, slightly circular room: the last remains of a table and hooks for cloaks are here, smashed and half burned. The rest of this level continues the trend: a kitchen, with a stone oven, and a table turned over smashed pottery, fallen from destroyed shelves. Another room, probably devoted to storing, but now a ruin of broken and burned wood; other one, very small, contains just four holes that sink in the floor, covered with a cloud of buzzing flies.

Having found nothing else, the group moves carefully upstairs. The next door opens to what was a workroom: some tools and pieces or iron and glass lie in the floor; there´s also a large and heavy table and tool racks. Almost all of it has been destroyed. Opening the other doors you find some bedrooms; also burned. One of them had a shelf with some books: Wilhem picks the stabbed remains of one of them, and reads a bit about astronomy and the positions of stars. The last room contained a sofa, some chairs and a small table. Eroin lifts one of the chairs and finds a small bag with some wool and knitting needles.

The smell of rotten meat is becoming stronger, and just five or six over the second level you find a corpse. Now it´s just a skeleton, torn by the scavengers and wild animals you know well live in the marshes; it´s impossible to know just that he (she?) was quite tall. A broken sword lies at his feet. Beyond that, you find the rest of the Kojars. Three other bodies lie in different bedrooms, burned or just covered by discarded clothes and stripped of flesh by the carrion eaters and maggots. On other, you can still see the tethers that tie the hands to the bed.

Finally you arrive at the end of the stairs. It´s open to the air, with just a roof over it, and it´s covered by shattered glass. One of you pick a piece of it, and it gleams and sparkle with the sunlight. At the room´s center lie bended pieces of copper that were the lighthouse´s lamp.

You have a good view of the marshes from this point, but still you can´t see nothing out of the ordinary from this vantage point, even when the sun it still on it´s highest point.

AFTER LEAVING THE LIGHTHOUSE
You leave the lighthouse, some of you thinking that Oren was very lucky of having fled. After that, you follow the coastline, crossing through sand dunes, small bays and one or two lone promomtories. The march is accompanied by the monotonous rithm of the crashing waves.

Some hours of march after, the sun sets and night falls. You ready to prepare the camp, and thankfully nothing hostile jumps on you. Eroin, however notices something. At first, you think it´s a star, but soon it´s evident it´s a large fire. You estimate you´ll arrive at the location where it´s burning tomorrow at noon.

The Brigands camp wasn’t far at all from here. They killed the pirates and found their device for making false lighthouse signals.

DANGLING PLOT LINE- THEY STOPPED THE PIRATES, BUT WHO WAS BEHIND ALL OF THIS

The following are representative images of the terrain that Wreck ashore was set in (submitted by Someone):

 

[El Jefe]

(Tavern) City of Orussus, The Red Dragon Inn VII

A looong tavern thread, with a few location references. Most have come up somewhere else previously, but some of this was new:

• The Red Dragon Inn serves a drink called Stonehearth Ale (popular with dwarves).
• There is a mortalist’s Hospice a day’s hard ride north of Orussus.
• Despite past hostilities, Medibaria and Hendralia are staging a festival in Tharol, complete with tournaments in joust, sword play, dance, card playing, drama, etc.
• It is possible to get a bath in the Red Dragon Inn.
• There is a place in EnWorld called the Siu Lin Monastery.
• The Red Dragon Inn has a flagstone floor.
• A drink called Frost Giant Tears is served in the Red Dragon Inn.