Location idea resource

[Bran Blackbyrd]

Sorry... Next Topic: The Conduit of Lost Souls

I hate to break it to you, but you were actually supposed to go with the last listed subject. You appear to have replied to the last post on the first page.

Therefore the next subject is...

NEXT: The Humming Stones of Hatterrin Heath

 

[GladiusNP]

The Humming Stones of Hatterrin Heath

Hatterin is a small, quiet village in the midlands. Though to the west, north, and east, free-holdings and farmsteads dot the landscapes, to the south lies a long swath of empty, rolling grassy hills. About one days’ walk south (into what is called ‘the heath’ by locals) lies a small, swift river. The only ford across the river is carpeted with small, grey pebbles.

Curiously, when a handful of these are cupped in one's palm, a strange, barely audible hum seems to fill the air. At least one scholar has travelled to these pebbles, but none have managed to discover exactly why the stones hum. Few have any reason to travel this way, however, and the humming stones of Hatterin heath remain a mystery.

Next Topic - The Hrothull Fijords.

(Edit - Grammar)

 

[d12]

The Hrothull Fjords.

In the coldest lands of the North, men have long struggled for survival. Some of these men have found the struggle too much to bear, and their souls simply shatter. They lose all sense of humanity. Gone is their hope and fear, their greed and generosity, their mercy and wisdom. They become worse than animals for they live only to kill other men. These men band together in caves near the Hrothull Fjords and pass the long winters cannibalizing one another and marking themselves with intricate scars.

In the spring, when the waters of the Northsea thaw, the Hrothull-men sail south in longships, bearing banners made of human skin. They fall upon the cities and villages of the coast and fight with great cunning but without any sense of self-preservation.

Old sea dogs tell the story of a time 40 years ago when a fleet of Hrothull ships sailed against Lehtmaar. The Lehtmaar wizards blasted their ships with fire and lightning and the navy sent out a fleet that sank the rest. A single Hrothull ship reached the shore where the insane cannibals killed ten fighting men of Lehtmaar for every one of the Hrothull-men that fell.


Next - Watchtower of the Most Faithful Guardian

 

[Tonguez]

Watchtower of the Most Faithful Guardian

At the heart of a wild and windswept moor far away from any town, village or even single homestead there is a cairn of stones, a sacred place that pilgrims call the Watchtower.
Once those that came here would leave small tokens of thanks and respect, but that was long ago and now few ever come here and those that do have forgotten why the Watchtower even exists.

Occasionally people have come pass and thought to take a stone from the cairn, but always something has stayed their hands, and rumors persits of those who have been found dead with the stone clutched in their hands.

But those who remember will tell you that far below the Watchtower in a sealed chamber in a shaft of eternal light sits Sister Carmelyon, of the Faithful Order of Guardians.

For almost two hundred years she has sat in this place, and before her many other Guardians have also sat here watching the Gates of Oblivion. It is there sacred task to watch and keep the gates closed, for should the gates ever be opened that Oblivion shall come unto the World.

and now Sister Carmelyon, the Faithful Guardian is dead and no one remains to take her place...

NEXT: The Conduit of Lost Souls
because I'm a nice guy

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

because I'm a nice guy

Heh, I was going to do this the next time I posted on a subject, but who knows when that would have been.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

The Conduit of Lost Souls

In ages lost, the mortal known now only The Corruptor fell ill, and lay near death for several weeks. During this time, he slipped into and outof a state of death. His will was such that he was able to defy the gods that would take him from this mortal coil. And as he stay near his half state of death, he found he could see the souls of the living as they await the call of the gods to their eternal reward.

The Corruptor found he could interact with those souls. More importantly, he found he could cause them anguish not possible in the realm of the flesh. Even better, he could ruin those souls, and make them do as he pleased, or he could destroy them. When he realized he could do this, he first destroyed his own soul, so that the gods could no longer compell him against his will. With his soul destroyed, the gods twisted his mortal body into a mockery of its self, creating a creature with a mind twisted by its own evil, a body that was a punishment of the gods, and no soul to speak of. This was the first goblin.

When the corruptor found that the gods could still cause him harm, he went about his revenge. The corruptor set them about creating a temple, and he used the souls of others to create a matching temple in the Astral plane. The temple was constructed from the bodies and souls of the followers of the most devout gods. The corruptor released those souls to their gods, but bound them to the temple. If the temple were destroyed, so too would the souls of the gods followers be destroyed.

Within this temple, the Corruptor created his first mortal followers, and set them about destroying the works of the gods who had angered him. While his goblins had souls, they were souls that were twisted by the Corruptor to be worthless to all but himself. And each time a goblin killed, its soul was lost to its god unless the corruptor wished to release it. And each soul was bound to the astral reflection of the Corruptors temple.

Soon, the corruptor began constructing a conduit of these lost souls to allow him to reach the home of the gods, the one place that they would be vulnerable to him. His followers multiplied, and became a plauge upon the world, united by the Corruptor. The gods knew their danger, and united their mortal followers, the Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings, Humans, and Orcs to strike back at the goblin hordes.

As the Corruptor was about to reach the threshold of the gods home through his conduit of Lost Souls, the armies of mortals defeated and scattered his goblins (after all, other then being horrificially evil, the goblins werent that strong or dangerous), and seized the Corruptors mortal body, and tried to destroy him. It was the Orcs, the most favored mortals of the gods, and their best warriors who succeeded in bringing the Corruptor low.

The Mortals could harm The Corruptors mortal body but the Corruptor had no Soul, and could not die. This was because the Corruptors very body WAS the Conduit of Lost Souls. Destroying him would destroy all the souls of all the people ever slain by a goblin. And the gods argued among them selves on who would keep the Corruptors body. It was decided to entrust the Conduit to the mortal races who destroyed the Corruptor.

It was the Orcs, the favored race of the gods and their most powerful warriors that finally slew the Corruptor, and it was the Orcs who paid the price for their success. They tried to consume the essence of their vanquished foe as they always did, to gain the strength of the vanquished. They became as twisted and brutal, as the goblins. The gods could not undo this, and the Orcs have hated the gods and the mortals who failed them ever since.

The other races saw the orcs fall from grace, and knew that to keep the remains among themselves would some day ruin them. So they constructed several tombs.

Eventually, the goblins found new masters and gods to serve, but they still remember their creator, known to them as Bokobok [The great corruptor].

Next: The 7 Tombs of Bokobok /*Because I am not a nice guy*/

END COMMUNICATION

 

[thol]

The Seven Tombs of Bokobok

In the early days after the Sarcon War, amongst the chaos of refugees, famine, and plague, things that were once important became trivial. Adventure gave way to survival, purpose to tedium, and worship to aversion. The gods were nothing more than unreliable and unfeeling beings who gave no care to the suffering of humanity, concerned only with there petty godly schemes. With worshipers almost nonexistant, many clerics abandoned their churches, and paladins of lesser mettle forgot their duties, trading their fight for righteousness in favor of a fight for life. For a few such individuals, however, this was far from the case. They were the last of the Sepulchre Knights.

The Sepulchre Knights were a small, but devoted group charged with but one task: to defend the locations of the Tombs of Bokobok from those who would seek to use their evil for their own ends. The times were grim for the Knights, as the war had claimed most of their number. Many who died did so defending the Tomb of Cupidity against the Horde of Kayle, and the rest were lost while saving the Tomb of Saturnalia from capture at the hands of Eyle the Conqueror.

Scattered across the lands, the Seven Tombs of Bokobok were little known in the Time of the Hundred Kings. Long ago forgotten to all but the most studious sages and venerable elves, the Knights were the keepers of both their safety and their legacy. The Tombs held the key to the return of the Corrupter, and those who would wish him return were to be thwarted and destroyed. Their tasks were not just martial, and much of their work was subterfuge and intelligence. To keep the Tombs safe was not only to physically defend them or to conceal their locations, but to keep their very existance secret.

Each Tomb held one piece of the Corrupter's essence, each one itself a powerful, evil relic. If they were to be brought together, the return of the very definition of evil was assured. This was something the gods could not let occur, and entrusted the Knights with their task so many eons past. Still they exist, ever vigilant, but their numbers and power to carry out their task waning.

Now, twenty years after the War, their darkest hour is upon them. Word has come to the remaining Knights that the Tomb of Slaughter has fallen, the Knights defending it slain, their souls consumed by the Blade of Entropy kept there, wielded in the hands of one known only as the Reclaimer.

Next: The Grey Lake of Ostermoor

 

[der_kluge]

Past the hills of singing winds, and beyond the desolate valley of the king, lies the Grey Lake of Ostermoor.

Nestled amidst the Wild Horse canyons, the Grey Lake is an oddity. Nothing lives in the lake, despite it being a fresh water lake. No fish, eel, turtle, or water moccasion ventures with 50 paces of the lake without skittering and turning around. Birds avoid it, and even insects dare not light upon its surface. The lake is always still, and barely ripples. It's as if the lake itself wishes to be left alone to its own devices.

The lake gets its name from the strange grey waters that make up its depths. It's always cool to the touch, even in the hot summer months, but despite the trepadations by the fauna, it's never brought any harm to anyone so long as anyone can tell.

Like many things in the Ostermoor wilds, the Grey Lake's mysteries will outlive all of mankind.

Next: Hills of Singing Winds

 

[CaptainCalico]

The Hills of the Singing Winds

Between the eastern Rothos Mountains and the Narwhal Sea lie the desolate Hills of the Singing Winds. No trees grow past waist height here due to the constant winds off the ocean, and the semi-nomadic clans of humans and halflings are a hardy people, as stoic as the rugged livestock they herd. Outsiders are welcomed with roast mutton and a place by the fire, and warning not to disturb the clusters of standing stones that scatter the hillsides. There the sound you hear might be the wind playing around the rocks, or it might be one of Those Who Dwell Beneath the Hills, calling for reasons of their own, be it fair or be it foul…………………………..

Next: Pephedro's Windmill

 

[Piratecat]

Pephedro's Windmill

It sits on top of the highest hill to the west of the city, named after the bard whose monies built it four hundred years ago. When its massive blades turn you can hear faint music. Is it the song of Pephedro, brought back through the ages? Is it raising his ghost to sing up the wind? No one is quite sure.

No one is sure why the windmill was built, either. It certainly wasn't constructed to mill grain. Some engineers believe that the mechanisms drive some sort of machinery deep beneath the earth. Pephedro placed a riddle in musical notation upon the inside of each blade; a local sage believes that the riddle holds the key to opening some doorway inside the windmill.

In truth, the windmill is enchanted to keep one of Pophedro's enemies in his underground cell. If anyone stops the blades for more than a week, the magical energies will dissipate enough for the creature to reawaken.

Next: The Tower of Black Ice.