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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sanglorian" data-source="post: 6031836" data-attributes="member: 83822">I wanted to bring Minecraft's Endermen to the Shrouded Lands.I've also updated Those Vexatious Caves and given them a hex.THE MISPLACED OBELISK (46.01)   In the central park of Jahar is a chain of dark mable obelisks, each indistinguishable from the ones three paces before and after it. Towards the end of the chain is a gap of six paces.    Half an obelisk of identical size and make, though toppled on its side, has been unearthed on a cliff overlooking the Maw by a band of Hoard dwarves who reported the discovery to the Foolish Sages but otherwise refused to explain their business by the Maw.    Simple farmers who live near the obelisk report that by night strange tall figures - half again the size of a man - appear around the obelisk. They shift dirt and stone, reshaping the landscape for their own inscrutable purposes. Whether they are violent is unknwon; recently some members of the town have gone missing.    The children have recently learned or invented a nursery rhyme that warns against making eye contact with the ‘Men of the End’, because when it is broken they swallow you up and carry you in their bellies to their home. The children will not comment on who introduced them to the rhyme.   Hooks  Who are the Men of the End?  What is their home?  How did the children learn the rhyme?  If people have been stolen away, how can they be retrieved?  Why is the one obelisk misplaced?  Have the Men of the End appeared in Jahur too?  What do the Jahuri think of the obelisks?  What were the Hoard doing by the Maw?  BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE (08.05)  The villagers of Greyfaust have an unusual ritual. Those young men and women wishing to marry will choose a ‘girdle’: a person in the village who guarantees that the couple are in love and who advises them on their relationship. Only a girdle can annul an unhappy marriage.    The couple and their girdle each takes a bell, a book or a candle, chosen by the elders for their significance to the three. The village augur cliams that there is tremendous significance to which item each person chooses.      The couple and their girdle must then pass through a valley near the village with nothing but their clothes, the bell, the book and the candle. The three are met with hideous beasts—or perhaps masked elders from the village—that must be warded off by the correct, clever and brave application of these three items.  Hooks  Are there truly beasts in the valley?  What happens to couples that fail?  What is the use of these mundane items?  THOSE VEXATIOUS CAVES (14.02)  In a valley of the Grey Mountains, those cold and forested lands ruled not by Man but by a beast, lies the ruin of one of the great dwarven fastnesses. This nameless fortress was completed and manned, but it did not survive its first siege. The reason for this is not spoken of among the dwarves, but perhaps the answer is somewhere in the ruins.    Into the basements and surviving rooms of the fortress, as well as a few natural cave systems that were nearby, have moved several groups of humanoids. They currently respect an uneasy ceasefire, but there is no guarantee that the situation will remain this way. The ruins of the fastness have the distinct Titan-Grumludish architecture that defined dwarven building in that age, and it should be familiar to anyone who has visited Grumluda, Hoth Achar or Titan's Skull.    A garrison of orcs from Hoth Achar have taken up residence in the ruined fortress. They are under orders to investigate as best as they are able without creating problems with the other humanoids. The female orcs brought their whelps with them or bore them after arriving, as is expected under the Double Duty. The orcs are keen for information about the ruins and the other humanoid groups; their superiors are planning to mobilise Hoth Achar, drive out the other humanoids and rebuild the fastness.  Long-time inhabitants of the valley, the hobgoblins have been steadily forced from each section of the caves as other groups have moved in. They are convinced that their tribe has been cursed with misfortune, and their scheme to leave for another part of the Mountains may amount to something if they ever run out of shroom wine. They seek protection and news of other places to live; one night they may sneak off and settle somewhere else.  A faction of goblins that once lived among the Ten Thousand Stumps now fumes in this valley. They aim to replant their oak groves, but the ground here is stony and hard. It would take blood to sustain their trees. The goblins seek living sacrifices for the oaks, and if they manage to secure them the oaks will grow tall and strong and the goblins will be numerous.  The kobolds of the Broken Speak sent many of their cleverest and strongest to the caves, their leader carrying a strange flashing device that spoke directions to them. The kobolds believed this to be the voice of Alberon—whom they do not worship, but do fear and respect—guiding them to the promised land. The device instructed them to enter the caves occupied by the cultists, but they were repulsed and lost many of their numbers. The kobolds moved into one of the cave systems and are biding their time, while the device still patiently and regularly orders them to travel into the cultist's cave. The kobolds are desperate for an opportunity to enter the cultist's cave; if they managed to enter they would slaughter the cultists, clear the mysterious passageway and follow it into the earth.    The gnolls of the Broken Spear saw the kobolds leaving with the device and the pack split on the question of whether to follow them. The group that supported pursuit followed the kobolds to the caves and then claimed a cave for themselves. The followers of Snaptooth, the leader, are starting to suspect that he enjoys his position of authority and has no plans to attack the kobolds and claim the device. Different factions of the gnolls are interested in allies to defend or defeat Snaptooth. If they are not interferred with, the tribe will tear itself apart.  One of the cave systems is occupied by cultists who believe that necromancy can bring back Dead Tiamat, and so they have experimented with the dark arts. So far, they have only mastered human skeletons and shamblers: they created a stronger undead, the wight, but it was beyond their powers to control and they imprisoned it only with great difficulty. They are interested in protection from other tribes, necromantic lore and dragon parts; if no one stops them, they may eventually create a dracolich.    A minotaur, a former citizen of Lastmaze exiled after he clashed with Ja the Red, has painstakingly carved out a labyrinth. Chimalia displayed her pleasure by enchanting it so that those who enter are dazed and disoriented. The minotaur is keen for news of Lastmaze or an opportunity to slaughter orcs. If he continues to protect and expand the labyrinth, Chimalia may bless him by fusing him with some other beast to create an even more hideous chimera.  One of the caves is occupied by a band of bugbears whose purpose in the north is unknown. Rumours circulate. One such rumour is that they are searching the north for a pole that holds up the sky. Another is that they will pay generously for slaves, particular children. According to the bugbears themselves, they are kindly souls who provide a hot meal and bed to passing travellers and ask nothing in return except to smoke catnip and spin stories. A worried dwarf family that lives nearby claims that their son-daughter was kidnapped by the bugbears and sent south; the family lives in the woods without any iron implements.  Fire beetles live in some of the caves. However, they lack some essential nutrient that their brethren in the Badlands consume; as such, they do not have poison or fire.  There is also an ogre living in one of the caves.CULTURAL ELEMENTSThe Double Duty (26.01.xx): Among the orcs of the Grey Mountains, women are entitled to fill any male role provided they also fulfill every duty of a woman. Stories are told of legendary orc soldiers fighting with their whelps strapped to their back. Some orc matrons will even marry other women, acting as provider and protector for them.The Beard-Mask (33.00.xx): The dwarves of Titan’s Skull place a veil beneath their nose to hide their beard and disguise their gender while in public. This is a strict interpretation of the Hoard’s second law on gender, with ‘outsiders’ sometimes interpreted to mean anyone outside one’s immediate family. The nature of the veil depends on the dwarf’s station and personal preferences. Particularly conservative dwarves may cover their entire face, arguing—probably correctly—that a dwarf’s gender can be surmised from facial structure.</blockquote>

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