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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Daztur" data-source="post: 5841728" data-attributes="member: 55680">One hex and one region for today. The hex is inspired by a post on the hexcrawl thread on therpgsite but is written in my words and has been changed, expanded and ostrichified. The NPC comes from a post on the hexcrawl thread on rpg.net by “Pillsy” and has been lightly adapted but the bulk of the words are his. The region describes the area around the Citadel of the Verlimes (see above) and its history.The Last SkirmishHex 17.03When the Verlimes still styled themselves Dukes (see 18.07), Duke Oster Verlime lead an army (if such a mob, with each man who had brought anyone else along willing shout his name calling himself a general, could be a called an army) against the orc tribes to the west of the Titan’s Skull. After many bloody skirmishes and more inclusive blundering about, the army disbanded and staggered back home.On the long march southwards, a company of archers somehow mistook a troop of halfling ostrich cavalry for a warg pack and opened fire. Before the two units could get disentangled, the ostriches had run amuck and several men lay crippled or dying.Even now, the ghosts of the men and halflings scream insults at each other nightly and are accompanied, some say, by the ethereal shrieks of maddened ostriches. For obvious reasons, this land is now unsuitable for agriculture and the locals keep their herds well away from it.Thad Breen, (15.04) who sometimes claims to have been alive during the Last Skirmish, claims that the ghosts can only be laid to rest if a plow made from a magical sword is drawn through the field of the fight by a proper red cow.Hooks:-Just how old is Thad Breen anyway? There hasn’t been a Verlime duke since the elves sacked their citadel 150 years ago! How does he know about how to break curses? Is he not quite human or just a consummate liar?-What are the nearby halfling communities like? Do they have an ostrich derby? They really should have an ostrich derby.-Are there really undead ostriches there? What are they like?The FreeholdsThe lands surrounding the Citadel of the Verlime were known far and wide for their mild climate and fertile soil, and the House of Verlime built its doomed fortress on the proceeds of the taxes on the farmers who worked those lands. The wine, pipe-weed, and distinctive purple honey produced there were famous as far away as the Bitter Coast, and the region provided much of the grain, pork and ostrich meat necessary to feed the south. When the Citadel of Verlime fell to the elves, many fled for fear that the elves would soon turn their attentions beyond the ruined fortress, but the sack never came. The next five years were hard on the farmers, and though the elves left them be, bandits and orc raiders were not so kind. Food shortages lead to widespread hunger and some venerable vintages vanished forever. Soon, however, the lean times drove humans and halflings from far and wide to working the fallow fields of the Verlimes, either out of greed or out of a simple desire to have enough to eat. The farms no longer were under the protection of any noble house, but the farmers would pay small bands of mercenaries to protect them from the orcs. To this day, many young adventurers get their start defending the Freehold for the customary wage of 15 sp a day, and many old adventurers retire there after a big score.Today, though, some of the richest families are beginning to consider themselves aristocracy, and are no longer satisfied with mere wealth. Some, like the noble families they ape, have simply decided to call themselves a House, while others, like the Furhoofs, have bought titles from the Duke, and all five of the Blackwort brothers have purchased citizens' charters from the City. Worse, wealthy Freeholders are starting to hire their own men at arms, and have started raising their eldest sons and daughters to be warriors instead of farmers, and those would-be knights threaten to tear the community apart with drunken brawls that escalate into violent family feuds.Hooks:-A visiting group of adventurers could easily get drawn into one of the growing feuds.-Though the elves have let the Freehold be for well over a century, the reason for their restraint is a mystery. Is it one of the terms of their treaty with the Prince of Men?-Why in blazes is the honey purple? Does this have anything to do with the giant bees?</blockquote>

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