Roaming House of the Elkmen King - Week of Adventures Location 7

In the wide and open Fields of Aton of the Sildur Reaches, east of the Greywater River, there is a nomadic tribe of people that have merged with a roaming great herd of Giant Elk.  There, moving across the Fields of Aton, is the site of this adventure location - the Roaming House of the King of the Elkmen.  This was originally described as part of the River Jarl setting, in the writeup of the Steading of Mead Hall.  It was Location number 7 in the Week of Adventure Locations.

Adventure Location: East of Mead Hall, out across the Fields of Aton, between the Greywater River, and the Barony of Na Kram, roam the Mongrelbeast Herds.  These are herds of giant elk, as found in other regions of the valley north of the Great River, but the herds here have been affected by some foul strain of Old One magic.  A long time ago, a savage primitive people, similar to the Sword People north of the King's Highway in the same region, would wander and travel with the Giant Elk herds that have been trapped south of the King's Highway, since it was constructed.  These people, called the Elkmen, would wander with the herds, culling some now and again for food and skins, but mostly living with them in peace, and for protection.  The Elkmen had semi-domesticated some of the beasts to pull their great wheeled huts.  The king of the Elkmen lived in a massive giant wheeled hut called the Roaming House.

Giant Elk, roaming the Fields of Aton during winter.

However, at some point, something occurred to merge the the Elkmen with the Elks.  Now the herd consists of Giant Elks, Elkmen, and all manner of merged beings with attributes of both.  This includes, giant Elkmen, with the heads of elks; centaur-Elkman type mixed animals; giant elks with arms and hands sprouting out of their shoulders; Elks with Elkman type heads - all sorts of mixes.  These mixed beings are called Mongrelbeasts, and are barely tolerated by the tribe.  It is widely believed that the source of the magic that caused this change is an artifact of the Old Ones, and it is kept in the Elkman king's Roaming House.  In addition to merging the two beings - the Elkmen and the giant elks - into the Mongrelbeasts, the change also granted some of them fearsome magical powers, such as the ability to sound a horrid baying noise that has the power to kill, or a hoary breath that melts metal.  Each individual Mongrelbeast is completely chaotic and unpredictable.